#and now I’ve added more meat and lore and a character that wasn’t there at first

[headfullof-ideas]

In regards to the fan fiction I was debating whether to keep in bullet-point form, I have decided to write it in a normal manner. Mostly because all of the meat I’ve been adding to it in the revision stage looked a little clunky in bullet point form. It might be a little tricky for some scenes, but I think I’ve figured it out. Won’t be posting anything about it until I’ve revised and edited the half I’ve already written, so it may take a while, but look to the tags if you want to know what kind of crossover fan fiction it’s going to be

[bbugyu]

a dragon's kingdom

he never wanted to stop learning about you, and you never knew how much you needed him by your side.

part one | part two

wc.5009 | smut, fluff, hurt/comfort, royal au, princess!reader and knight!cheol, penelope is the best character, sex constantly, it's called the honeymoon stage, unprotected sex, lots of it, lk impreg kink?, confessions mid-coitus, oops she pukes (not during sex oh my god), food consumption, mentions of death & mental instability, lots of crying

why do i care so much about lore and names and backstory and motivation. anyways i've created an entire world if you wanna know about literally any person that is offhandedly mentioned in this fic i can give u their origin story, including he horses. this part is really story heavy but also pretty sex heavy so have fun!!! also im in love with seungcheol but what's new.

*

"this feels strange."

you hummed, pulling out a pair of pants from a drawer and holding it up to seungcheol. "what do you mean? wearing someone else's clothes?"

he shook his head no, looking around the bedroom you had brought him to with the promise of clean pants. you had gone through all the rooms, you told him, as you led him through the castle wearing a light tunic tucked into a pair of trousers. you'd collected the clothes you liked, that fit you, and brought them to the tower, but there was plenty that didn't fit your criteria, and you were pretty sure he would fit into the clothes in the third bedroom to the left of the kitchen, past the main dining hall, a room you had discovered to be a counselmen's quarters. "you've been gone for so long, but i was at the kingdom only yesterday."

you looked to him, folding the pants over your arm. "what's it like now?"

a wash of realization caught seungcheol off guard. "my god, you've missed so much."

he changed, insisting you looked the opposite direction despite the fact that you had already seen all of him only hours earlier, and you fiddled your fingers and joked about peeking, but only stole a glance when you heard him buckling a belt that had also been found in the room. you exited the couselmen's room and he helped you onto his horse, leading her down the hall in the direction you told him. you patted down calliope's black mane as she walked alongside seungcheol, listening to him describe the castle ground and all the changes that had been made in the last decade.

"the statue, in the fountain?" you nodded when he looked at you. "it's all three of you now. they added you and the queen probably six months after your disappearance."

"that doesn't sound like father."

seungcheol paused, looking up at you. "i didn't know the king personally until only a few years ago, but he's not the ruthless leader you knew him as any more. your loss changed him."

you should have been more interested in your own father, but you couldn't help the way your mind wandered to fond memories of the flowers and gardens. "are there still lilies?"

"yes, of course," he said. "one of the back gardens was planted in your honor, right by the gates. i've never seen so many colors of lilies in my life."

you were quiet for almost too long, and seungcheol looked to you, immediately noticing the tears welling up in your eyes. "does mother go there often?"

"hey, hey hey," he instantly mounted his horse behind you, wrapping his arms around you and kissing your shoulder gently. "yes. every day."

you inhaled sharply, blinking your eyes rapidly to quell the tears. "she used to love roses," you started.

"she still does," he confirmed, and you didn't even realize that you had mourned for her as though she were dead.

"there's a garden here," you continued, wiping at your eyes and rubbing the moisture away on the pants you wore, seungcheol's hands resting on your stomach as he listened to you. "it was almost dead when i found it, but i take care of the roses there. i'll show it to you later."

seungcheol nodded and pressed a kiss to your cheek, making you smile vaguely. 

"there's a stable, also," you said, sniffing your nose. "you might recognize the horses. i suppose we should bring them back with us, as well."

he faltered. "from past missions?"

"only three," you clarified, gently nudging his steed around a corner towards the kitchens. "most of them ran to the fields, but three have stayed. i've named them. one had letters carved into its armor plate, but it was damaged - i could only read valerie."

"valkyrie," seungcheol said immediately. "tan colored horse, correct? with a white diamond on her head."

you turned in his grip. "yes, exactly!"

his stomach felt heavy suddenly. "she was captain varian's steed. he trained me for years, his mission was last fall."

"i'm sorry," you said, lacing your fingers with his on your lap as you recognized his loss. you thought of a year ago, when you had found the horse. you did your best to remember who had come at that time. "though it may not be consolation, i believe he was the one penelope ran from the grounds."

seungcheol's fingers tensed between yours. "she-"

"didn't kill him," you finished. "he was a good man."

he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in relief, his forehead landing on your shoulder. "he was."

"i wasn't sure the horse was his, though i kept it in case he returned. the forests around here are deadly, but there's a village nearby, so i had hope..." you pursed your lips, thinking of how blasé you had always been about the men that failed to save you, not thinking at the time of the people they knew before they came. "i should have done more."

"you did what you could have," seungcheol reassured, his lips on your shoulder as he curled his arms tighter around you. "thank you for telling me."

you relished in the feeling of his arms around you, sighing as you let your head fall back against his shoulder. "i didn't realize how much i missed human contact."

you felt his breath on your neck when he let out a short chuckle. "i've never had it like this."

"neither have i," you said, adjusting to look him in the eye. he was only a breath away, his lips, his jaw, his neck. he had only arrived that morning, but your attachment to him could never get greater than it was now. you wondered if you glowed like he did in this moment - radiating gold in the streams of light from the afternoon sun. "i like it a lot."

a dimple showed itself on his cheek, and you smiled back at it. he kissed you gently, and your shoulders raised at the goosebumps it gave you. "i do, too," he said, running his lips across your cheek and down your neck.

"seungcheol," you sighed. "we just took a bath."

"and you smell divine," he said, smiling against your skin. you laughed at him, mostly because of his near flat out refusal to bathe with you earlier. 

"i've drawn a bath," you had said, wearing only a satin robe as you returned to the main room. "i'd be happy if you joined me."

seungcheol was laid out on your bed, blanket covering as little as it had to, an arm laid over his face as he did his best to recover his soul after you had pulled it straight out of him twice. "go ahead," he replied, fearful of what seeing your form again would do to him. "i'll make sure no one bothers you."

you laughed, crawling onto your thick mattress to bother him a bit more. "my knight in shining armor, making sure none of the inhabitants of this abandoned castle bother me while i bathe."

"anything for my princess," he said, rolling his head towards where you laid, prodding at his chest.

"anything?"

he saw the mischief in your eyes, and god, he hated how easily he fell under your intoxicating spell. but he only hated it for a moment, before you led him into your candle-lit washroom, the flames glinting off the glistening tiles of your tub and a view of the surrounding forest through sheer curtains. all he could do was sigh in resignation as you held his hand, letting the robe fall off your shoulders.

during that bath, your name sounded like a song coming from his lips, and it fell upon your blushed ears in the most delightful way. you had never even imagined what the first time hearing your name in someone else's voice in eight years would be like, but you couldn't stop replaying that moment in your mind.

"there should be apples in a basket right inside the door of the pantry," you said, pointing to a door as you lit the candles in the kitchen. seungcheol went to the door you gestured to and grabbed a few of the red fruit, biting into one. you walked over to the window and drew the curtains, letting the sun in. you usually left them open, but the rain in the evening before made you even sadder than you had already been this week. now, opening them back up, it felt like a fresh beginning. 

"i have eggs," you said, tapping your cheek, realizing you truly didn't know how to entertain guests. "lots of fruit and vegetables. there's a whole field of potatoes."

seungcheol smiled as he approached you. "whatever you want, i'm not picky. i am going to give calli some apples, though."

you nodded and smiled when he planted a kiss on your cheek, then took another bite of the apple. you watched him trot up the steps to the hall where his horse waited, and you looked around briefly before deciding to wash rice and stoke a fire.

you didn't know how to cook before you came here. you still didn't, really, just the bits of things you remembered watching the cooks in the kitchen when you and your best friend were hiding from your fathers, but it had been enough for you to learn, alone, with only a young dragon as a mentor. meat scared you still - you tried to slaughter a chicken as a seventeen year old and you were so scared of undercooking it that you had roasted it dry - but you had learned how to work with everything that popped up in the plotted fields behind the castle. with the addition of horses, you had been able to take spare jewelry you found to the village and trade for some things you needed - hay and oats, mostly, to care for them - and some things you missed, like rice and cheese. you grunted lightly as you set the heavy cast iron bowl of rice and water over a stovetop, settling the wood lid on it as seungcheol returned.

"how can i help?"

you stared at him for a moment. "you want to help?"

his eyebrows raised. "yes?"

"sorry," you said suddenly, shaking your head as you squeezed your eyes shut. "this is still weird."

he laughed, leaning against the stone wall. "take your time, princess."

"how are your knife skills?"

he pouted and shrugged. "i manage."

you laughed, walking to the pantry to retrieve some vegetables. "do you like squash? they grew like crazy this year."

you checked the rice periodically as it boiled, and you stir fried the vegetables that seungcheol chopped for you. you found another rice bowl - you had never needed more than one - and filled both with rice before frying two eggs.

"i can't believe you've been alone all this time," he said later, pulling a spoon from his mouth. "how did you learn to do all this?"

you told him about your afternoons spent in the kitchen as a child, being more of a nuisance than anything. he laughed when you told him that you had tipped over a pot of stew into the fire below, extinguishing it and creating a thick paste as the stew mixed with ash. you had gotten banished from the kitchen for a year only a few months before you were taken, but you supposed you had picked up some translatable skills during your other visits. 

he asked you about your captor, the mad king that had instilled fear in your kingdom's people with your kidnapping. you told him that king edgar was driven to madness by a cruel curse, and you met his true self only after you had arrived to his kingdom - the kingdom whose people abandoned it in fear of the dragon - where he broke down and clutched you. you reminded him of his own daughter, he had said, a beautiful princess by the name of penelope. he said he never knew what came of her, but you knew she was the one that had been cursed.

"the dragon," seungcheol started, his breath catching. no wonder you shared such a close connection with her.

you nodded. "he thought he was crazy for hearing her voice in his head. she was trying to tell him the whole time."

you were quiet when you told him that the late king's madness is what killed him, only a year after you had arrived.

it was his idea to send calliope back to the kingdom with a letter. he was positive she would make it on her own - she had made the trip several times, despite the king forbidding seungcheol from attempting to save you until now. "scouting missions," he explained when you raised an eyebrow at him, his tone unconvincing. he understood why you wished to stay, and he really could not deny the allure of living in a private castle with you for a little while, but he worried that his delayed return would make everyone assume the worst.

"i could write a letter," he said, to tell them what had happened and that you needed time to wrap some things up here, gather the things that should come back with you. "or you could, my princess, if you're hoping for a more dramatic return."

you were laying in the grass, watching the sun reflect orange against the clouds as it began to set over the horizon, using seungcheol as a pillow. you hummed, rolling to lay on your stomach and plucking a blade of grass to inspect. he watched you, and tucked your hair behind your ear as you thought. "you should write it, i think. they might come to collect us if i do. should we send her off in the morning?"

he nodded at you, his hand still on your cheek. you leaned your head into it, craving the way he held you suddenly.

there were countless days where you had lain similar to where you were now, in the grass clearing surrounded by red rose bushes, the earliest times spent sobbing until your throat was sore and your eyes swollen while you came to terms with being truly alone here. now, though, you laid with your savior and lover, and his presence alone changed the atmosphere. suddenly, these roses that were a source of painful memory for you had an air of romance to them.

"should i tell them?" you wondered aloud. "that i chose to stay all these years?"

seungcheol's thumb glided across your cheek bone. "do you think they would understand?"

your eyebrows crinkled. "you know them better than me, now," you said, ripping the grass in your fingers to pieces. "i know mother would, but i'm not sure about father."

"i think he would," he said quietly. your eyes met his. "heartbreak breeds empathy. i'm sure he would even forgive king edgar if you told him his story."

you considered that for a moment. "maybe i should write the letter, then."

with calliope in the stables, penelope flew the two of you back to the tower for the evening so that you could figure out what all to write, but it was back in that garden the next evening, laying in that same spot, where seungcheol's fingers dug into your waist as you rode him, the sky painted pink and purple behind you. your hips rolled on his, your blouse unbuttoned too low and your pants discarded somewhere they shouldn't be, and you watched his neck stretch against the green grass, a bruise from your biting the previous day showing itself directly over a bulging vein. he filled you in a way that felt new every time, and you sighed, your hands against his bare chest pushing yourself up off him, only to sink down again repeatedly.

his hands tensed on you as he groaned, trying his best to hold out for your second release, but you were making it incredibly difficult for him. you leaned back, palms on his thighs as you lifted yourself off him, and you would never forget the erotic noise that fell from his lips as you seated yourself deeply.

"princess," he groaned, his hands hungrily running down your thighs. "i won't last much longer like this."

the title read more as a pet name, and you couldn't help but clench at the need in his voice, making him choke. "god, me neither."

"please," he gasped out, eyes pleading. "please, can i-"

you nodded desperately, and it took him only seconds to sit up, crossing his legs behind you, cradling you in his arms as he rolled his hips up into you. your jaw dropped in a silent moan, and it took a moment for your vocal chords to catch up, but it wasn't long before you were making all sorts of embarrassing noises for him.

"baby," he panted, his lips pausing their work against your throat. "oh, god, i'm gonna cum."

"yes," you begged. "please. please, seungcheol."

he groaned into your neck, and you whined as you felt him shoot into you, spurring your own orgasm. your throbbing walls milked him dry, and the two of you were panting as you came down, clutching each other in a garden.

you were grateful that he didn't comment on the way you practically waddled the rest of the evening, but you never noticed the proud look on his face whenever he watched you. he did that to you, he thought. and you wanted him to do it to you again and again and again.

each morning, when seungcheol woke with your bare form draped over his side, he felt like the luckiest man on the planet, and you couldn't help but smile when you woke to his quiet and gentle ministrations against your neck, his hands warm against your skin as he pulled you closer to him.

"my darling," he muttered against your throat, adoring the way you felt in his arms, and his honey coated voice made you drunk with desire despite the sleep in your eyes. "when will i ever get enough of you?"

you giggled as you reached for him, making him moan when your hand made contact with his member. "perhaps we'll slow down in a year."

seungcheol thought that sounded okay, but when you wrapped your warm mouth around him, it suddenly sounded too soon.

there was clothing you would miss too much, you told him. the tunics you wore as comfort for years, the most beautiful dress you had ever seen, and god, the trousers. you had never been allowed to wear them before, but the convenience of fewer, less cumbersome layers proved itself again and again, especially now that you had a reason to undress more often.

"i think you look beautiful," he announced matter of factly, seated in the floor only two feet away from you, when you said offhandedly that the dresses probably suited you more. "now and always."

you smiled at him as you folded the clothing into saddlebags. "you're not so bad to look at either," you said, letting him lean over the pile of clothing to kiss you.

the more seungcheol told you about the kingdom, the more you itched to return. you missed the trees and parks surrounding the castle grounds, the cobblestone streets that you would secretly wander down, and you especially missed the way people would smile at you and ask if you were away from the castle alone.

"of course," you would reply, exchanging coin for a snack of bread despite the baker's insistence that you take it for free. "do you think the guards would have let me if they knew?"

the people were your main reason to return. you thought of the citizens that you hadn't seen in so long. you wondered how the children you remembered coming into the world had grown up. you wondered how the shops managed. you asked seungcheol about some, the ones you could remember, and he happily told you the bakery a few blocks away from the back garden gates of the castle was doing well.

you missed your family. with the promise of seeing them soon, your heart ached, even if you had felt spiteful towards them in your youth. you would never agree with everything they did - thus was the nature of an ever evolving world - but you couldn't help but remember the times they had laughed with you. while they had expectations for you, they still cared for you. they still raised you. they still loved you unconditionally.

you missed everyone you saw every day, all the other inhabitants of the castle. your cousin, whose parents died in war when he was only a child, but always had a devil may care attitude anyways. the cooks and help you bothered, but always laughed at your antics. your handmaiden, who had always kept a close eye on you, even if she never told the king about your secret excursions. you thought of your father's right hand man and closest friend, advisor kim. you thought of his son, whom you had been raised with in the castle. he had always been your best friend, your beacon of common sense, and your slightly reluctant partner in crime. you spent much of your long years away daydreaming about his laugh and hugs.

"mingyu," you said, trailing off slightly. you were sitting in the shade of a tree, watching seungcheol throw knives at a target. "is he well?"

"advisor kim?" he adjusted his posture, grunting slightly as he put a telling amount of force behind his throw. "as well as he can be, i suppose. we don't speak much."

"not advisor kim," you said, brows furrowed. "his son. he's around our age."

seungcheol looked to you, his eyes softening. "oh, princess, i'm so sorry." he paused as he kneeled before you, putting a hand to your cheek. "mingyu's father passed six years ago. he's been the king's advisor ever since."

he held you as you sobbed against him, mourning the man you had referred to as your uncle for most of your childhood, and your heart shattered as you thought of all the loss mingyu had endured.

he was smart, and it made sense to you that the king asked him to succeed his father, though you thought it a little cruel. mingyu had always been the most well read person you knew, and was the reason you had decided to make a mission of reading every book in your stone prison. he always had excitedly told you about the latest novel he'd read, or what he had learned in the political journal he'd snuck from his father's office, eyes shining and baring the wolf-like grin you adored. you never understood it back then, but now, having reread most of the books you had access to, you couldn't wait to get your hands on anything he would recommend to you when you could ask him in only a few short days.

you asked that you spend an afternoon with penelope, and seungcheol respected your time with her, despite the boredom that itched at his legs while he sat in your tower alone. he counted your paintings for the umpteenth, wondering how had you done this for so long. he decided he would go check on the horses.

you asked penelope if she truly wished to stay. "we could find someone to help you," you said. "i'm sure father has someone that can reverse the spell."

sweet princess, her warm voice rang in your ears despite her never opening her mouth. i've no family, no subjects, and no sense of humanity. 

you chewed on your cheek, knowing your wet eyes gave you away. "you have me."

she chirped, nuzzling her nose against your arm. and for your companionship all these years, i am grateful. but punishing the wicked is my duty, i have accepted my fate and so should you.

"i accept it," you said, wiping at your face with the sleeves of your dress. "but i'll remain unhappy with it."

penelope's sweet giggle was your favorite thing to hear in your mind, for you could almost imagine the woman that it once belonged to. do visit sometime. though i'd prefer if you left the knight at home.

you laughed despite the tears streaming down your face, and your hand ran over her snout. "you would like mingyu more, anyways."

there were three horses to bring back with you, but only two riders. due to this fact alone, seungcheol told you it would likely take a full day to return to the kingdom.

"maybe longer," he thought aloud, his wandering eyes finding yours as you leaned against a post in the stable. "we might have to camp a night."

"leave in the morning, arrive the next?" he nodded at your question. "that's not awful. it's hard to believe that i've been this close to you this whole time."

seungcheol agreed with you, wishing that he had gone against the king's orders and found you sooner, especially when your fingers fiddled with the collar of his shirt. "if only i had known how close i was to bliss, i would have been by your side for years."

you sighed, content, and wrapped your arms around his torso, your cheek landing on his firm chest as he leaned into you.

the first time the phrase i love you came from him, he was curled over you in your bed. your hands were digging into his hair, his lips were slotted over yours, and you were trying your best to ignore the stinging in your eyes as he pushed into you again, the words hushed against your mouth.

you looked up at him, shellshocked, but he never took your silence as judgement. "i love you," he repeated. "more than i've ever loved another person."

a moan was forced from you with a combination of his words and his movements, and it jump-started your confession. "i love you, too, my knight."

his forehead rest against yours, slick with sweat, as he slowly drove himself into you. your thighs ached, partly from the repeated trips up and down the stairs as you packed, but mostly from the way he gripped the backs of them, pushing them until your knees were nearly at your shoulders. the angle let him too far into you, you thought. if anyone were to die from feeling too much pleasure, it would be you, in that moment, as seungcheol bit at your lower lip and muttered sweet nothings into your mouth.

after nearly a decade of ruling a lonely kingdom, you were so close to returning to the castle in which you were raised. you had set the chickens free from their coop, your horses were prepared for the journey, and your stomach ached at the thought. your nerves got the better of you as you emptied your stomach of its contents behind a tree.

"it's okay, my love," seungcheol said, his hands pulling your hair behind your shoulders and rubbing your back. "i'm right here."

"damn shame," you choked out, catching your breath. "i really enjoyed that breakfast."

he did his best to not laugh despite your joking tone. he stayed by your side as your head swam, and asked if the ride back should be delayed.

"no," you shook your head, accepting the water he handed you. "if we stay a day, i'll make excuses to stay forever. i'll be okay."

he recognized the defeat in your words. despite the weakened state you had woken up in, you were right. this place felt like paradise, and you never wanted it to end, but you had a kingdom waiting for you.

penelope watched over you both, laid out in the grass as you made your final preparations, and you wrapped your arms around her neck as you held back tears.

"i'll visit. i promise."

seungcheol wrung his fingers behind his back as he watched you speak with her quietly. he could never quite shake his fear of the majestic being (he had squeezed his eyes shut and clung to you whenever she had flown you two to the tower), and he had a feeling that she disliked him due to their first impression, but he knew you loved her like a sister. then, the dragon's deep firey eyes moved to meet his, her voice creeping into his mind for the first time, causing a chill to run up his spine.

protect her in my stead.

he put a hand over his heart and nodded, and when the dragon broke eye contact, he felt as though he finally understood her.

seungcheol kept a close eye on you as you rode river, a horse he couldn't remember the original name of, but that you named after the location at which you found him. he vaguely remembered the man that rode him before, but he was one that seungcheol had never liked much. every time you swayed slightly, he insisted on taking a break so you could lay down, but you waved him off, not wanting to delay your return any more than you already had.

"oh, dear seungcheol," you said, a smile on your lips. "you will be such an empathetic king one day. good thing i'll be there to make the hard decisions."

he couldn't argue - he never could. you were wise beyond your years and more observant than the people he debated against at home, most of which with whom his arguments ended in him threatening to fight. but with you, he always understood the deep thought and logic behind your words. you had a way of speaking that calmed conflict instead of fostering it, and for that reason alone, he thought you were destined to rule, and he would happy to be by your side as you did.

[pyre-prism]

FNAF Fic - Amárantos

~A peek into the darkness of the safe room in an old pizzeria, and a glimpse on the other side of the curtain... Everyone has their own story, even murderers.~

In truth, this is me playing around with 'missing scenes' for my favourite zombie cyborg rabbit. I will admit that I have yet to play the games, but... I've been absorbed by the lore enough to start working on my own interpretation. This fic may be revamped after I have fixed that 'oversight', but I'm pretty happy with it. More may yet be added, too...

=============================================================

Even before a single memory of where he was or what he’d been doing returned to him, William was swimming in agony. Every inch of his body screamed in protest; stabbing, pulling, crushing, twisting, grinding… He was cold, too, but couldn’t muster up the strength to shiver. Movement on the whole seemed to be out of the question, he realised dully… not even his eyelids wanted to obey his commands.

‘Identify.’

The word broke through the whirling abyss and made everything else on his mind fade into the background, what little he could even begin to register clearly. It didn’t seem like he’d heard it, perse, but he could have sworn that it echoed around his brain as if someone had spoken directly into his mind.

‘Identify or be erased.’

He tried to growl, to grit his teeth… neither happened. Instead, William gathered and steeled himself as best as he could before responding. “William Afton. Who are you?”

‘Searching… William Afton. Program author. Actor. Owner. Identity invalid. Alternative identity required.’ There was a pause, almost as if the ‘voice’ was thinking, before it continued with, ‘Own identity categorised as… Spring Bonnie.’

Once again, he tried to move –just one muscle twitch would be enough– without any success. Spring Bonnie? He was ‘hearing’ the suit he was… wearing…

Night. Axe. Purple mask. Lure. Follow me. Lure. Empty corridors. Lure. Safe room. Lure. Destroy them. Pale faces. Trapped. Fear. Hide. Suit. Turn crank. Drip. Climb inside. Drip. Laugh. Drip. Snap. Pain. Blood. Shudder. Agony. Blackness.

It all came rushing back to him; the animatronics –his creations– had been acting strangely for some time, eerily watching their surroundings, seemingly bearing the spirits of the children he’d—

‘Invalid execution. Abort.’

A new pain lanced through his brain. “A memory is invalid?!” he hissed back at the ‘voice’, irritation quickly smothering the discomfort. At least he’d figured out the main reason as to why his body hurt so much… He’d been foolish and hadn’t paid close enough attention. The springlocks inside the suit had to have failed… which meant… “Am I… dead?”

‘Memory not recognised.’ It responded. ‘Incorrect. Spring Bonnie is powered down. Power remaining… twenty percent. Recharge required after… Power remaining… thirty percent.’

William fought the urge to sigh heavily, trying to ignore the unease niggling at him as the question of whether he even could breathe anymore crossed his mind –he hadn’t noticed any of the usual motions or sensations… then again, it was possible his mind just wasn’t registering them. There were much more important things to focus on, however, such as what he could only assume to be the AI he’d programmed into the Spring Bonnie animatronic being a potential problem. He shoved everything he could into a mental pile labelled ‘Deal with this later’. “Recharging somehow, hm…? One less thing to worry about. That aside, I’m not going to give a different name. I am William Afton.”

‘Identity invalid.’ The retort almost sounded petulant with how quickly it came, and he’d probably have smirked at it if anything was working properly. ‘Spring Bonnie cannot be William Afton. Identity invalid.’

Again, pain dug its claws into his head. He ignored it. “I’m not you, though. Well, not always. I just happen to be wearing you, I suppose…”

‘Spring Bonnie is in animatronic mode. No actor. Incorrect.’

“Since when were you so stubborn…?” William grumbled. “Nevermind. That was rhetorical.” He stopped, finally registering what he’d just been told. Animatronic mode… meaning… the springlocks had definitely failed, and the suit’s endoskeleton had reengaged… which in turn meant that his own body was probably in shreds. “…I really am dead, aren’t I…?”

‘Incorrect.’

As if a switch had been flipped, anger flooded his system, more than he’d felt for quite a while. “Like you would actually know what that means for me! You’re just an AI, and I’m probably hallucinating, or dreaming, rather than actually conversing with you!”

The ‘voice’ paused again, somehow giving off a confused and even hesitant air. ‘…Temporary identity of William Afton accepted. Duration… twenty-four hours. Execution issue resolved…?’

His irritation fled as quickly as it had come, and he suddenly felt drained. “…Fine. I suppose.”

‘William Afton. Merge code with Spring Bonnie?’

A flash of memory struck him and he wanted to scream. Blue eyes turning green, blood dripping down polished metal, meat in an ice-cream scoop, his daughter was nowhere to be seen, he’d told Elizabeth to stay away, he’d told her over and over…! William recoiled mentally. “No! No, we’re going to stay separate. I’m sure you can handle that.”

‘Acknowledged…’ it replied, then lapsed into another stretch of silence. For a moment, he was thankful for that, before remembering that it was an AI that he was dealing with… and not one of his most advanced, either. ‘Spring Bonnie is… obsolete…?’

William would have frowned if he could. “Obsolete? Why do you ask?”

‘Accessing memory. 1983. Incident with Fredbear… Abort. Child left with severe injury –dead– after accident. Abort. Springlock hybrid animatronics to be decommissioned and left in storage. Abort. Abort!’ the ‘voice’ seemed distressed… William didn’t pay any attention to it. Once again, his heart twisted with pain that didn’t come from anything physical. He’d forgiven his eldest child… he really had, he knew it wasn’t what the boy meant to happen… and –of all things– a curious AI was the one to drag it back to the surface.

He’d have laughed if he didn’t feel like crying.

It waited all of a few seconds. ‘Requesting response…’

“Request all you want. Doesn’t mean you’ll get it.” William didn’t want to keep chatting. There was just too much for him to process. The agony from when he woke up had started to return, making his thoughts blur and muddle. The AI didn’t seem to pay attention to any of that, though –supposing it even could– and he could feel a sort of… pressure… encroaching in on him. Parts of his awareness that were ‘him’ and ‘him’ alone began to feel cramped, trapped… “If you’re doing that, stop.”

‘Response required. Is Spring Bonnie obsolete?’ It almost sounded desperate –childish even– but the pressure receded enough for William to grudgingly weigh his options. On one hand, the character had been functionally retired, pending rebranding… but on the other, now that he had to deal with the AI on a more… personal level… ‘Execution not recognised…’

“Would you stop reading my mind, or whatever it is you just did?” he hissed. “But to answer your question, no. Not permanently. I fully intend on bringing you back…”

‘William Afton is the temporary designation of unidentified code interfacing with Spring Bonnie…’ the AI stated, as if that answered anything. ‘Not permanently… Analysing… Spring Bonnie is obsolete… New identity required.’

So, now the AI was having an existential crisis. That was… new. William was struck with a surge of amusement at the thought. As far as the animatronic was concerned, neither of them were who they said they were… then again, it was possible that William never really had been. “…Later, if you’re that determined. Personally, I don’t think Spring Bonnie is obsolete, so… there’s no need for that.” He didn’t register any reply the AI may have given him, as the strange sensation of slipping deeper into unawareness –he was loath to call it ‘sleep’– overcame him.

-~-*-~-

When William next woke, the earlier pain had faded into a persistent yet manageable ache, and he was even able to open his eyes; his eyelids stuttered, almost scraping open in stages. He frowned –or tried to, rather. Had he somehow felt the suit’s eyelids opening, instead of his own? “Focus, Will… Now’s not the time,” he scolded himself. His mouth and voice-box remained unresponsive, which made him wonder how he was able to converse with the suit’s AI in the first place. Despite at least some muscles obeying him, his throat still felt clogged and tight… but not in a way that triggered a coughing fit, and the absence left him reeling slightly. To distract himself from that line of thought, William tried to peer into the darkness of the room he was in…

Not a single shred of light met his search. The room –most likely the safe room he’d… last been in– was entirely closed-off to the outside, with the exception of what he knew to be a leaking ceiling. A sudden chill gripped him; were those ghosts still there? Had he… had he really seen ghosts? Those kids… He knew that there had to be something tangible to the concept, else how would Elizabeth… That was the whole point behind the start of his research into Remnant… but then, did that mean that –all this time– Cassidy had…?

‘Where is this, William Afton?’

The question jolted him out of his reminiscing, reminding him of the strange situation he’d gotten himself into. He was glad for the distraction, however. “Freddy’s. You seem more verbose than before… why is that?”

‘Downloaded William Afton’s speech patterns.’ It sounded like it was proud of itself, like a pet or child that had learned a new trick. ‘Processing is ongoing. Duration time is… unclear.’

“So my golden bunny is a quick learner, hm?” William tried to chuckle… his throat refused to cooperate, as did his lungs… however much of either were even left intact enough to be called that. Idly, he wondered when he’d truly start to panic over his new situation… he was somewhat overdue for such a thing, after all. Keeping his mind busy, however, was more appealing by far. “So, Spring Bonnie, did you do anything else while I… slept?”

The AI didn’t respond immediately, and he felt something strange –movement, muscle contraction– on top of his head. ‘Spring Bonnie is obsolete… new identity is required. What is… slept?’

“Basically, it’s like powering down, I suppose… When someone’s asleep, they don’t generally respond to anything, either.” All of a sudden, he felt like he’d been thrown back in time, and was trying to explain that and similarly convoluted concepts to his children; Michael, especially, had been one to ask the strangest of questions, leaving both William and his wife floundering for answers that both satiated the boy’s curiosity and also weren’t too complicated for a toddler to understand. The number of times he’d used the age-old fall-back of ‘you’ll understand when you’re older’ or even ‘why don’t you ask your uncle Henry’… His brother-in-law hated every time he did that, no doubt.

There was more movement at the top of his head. William tried to lift a hand to investigate it, but the most he could manage was a series of shuddery sticky twitches down each finger. ‘Slept is sleep… sleep is… powering down? William Afton was unresponsive for many hours.’

All at once, he remembered the day-long grace period that the AI had allotted him regarding his name… Unease slipped its claws into his mind; what would happen if it continued to refuse to acknowledge who he was, now that they were… physically the same thing. It had already been accessing his mind –his memories, even– since he’d first woken up. “How many hours?”

‘Twenty-three, and then some.’

“…In other words, you’re going to be asking me for something soon, won’t you?” He kept trying to move something –anything would do, just to prove he wasn’t stuck in a body that he couldn’t use– and had just about gotten the fingers on his left hand to clench into a loose fist when it responded.

‘Correct.’

Another strange sensation attracted William’s attention; some sort of vibration had started in his chest, or rather, it intensified… the feeling had been present since the beginning of this odd symbiosis, he’d just not realised it until that moment. Pain lanced through his head again, making him hiss for a moment before… he could see… A pale greenish light flickered, illuminating the room he was in just enough to allow him to see that yes, he was still in the safe room, complete with the broken-down arcade machines near the far wall. “Lights…? I don’t remember installing that…”

‘William Afton temporary designation has expired… New identity required.’ It stated. The vibration slowly refined itself into a discernible whirring; something was definitely spinning in his torso. William tried not to think about what that could mean for his own body –it felt like it was unnervingly-close to where his heart would be. ‘William Afton identity is no longer valid…’

The light faded and his vision was cut off again, plunging him back into darkness and making him wish he could physically cry out in protest. The pain chose then to become clearer and more insistent, but this time it focused on his spine… although the hooks that felt like they had lodged themselves into William’s skull continued to tug and tighten. “That’s what my name is, just as yours is Spring Bonnie. There’s no need for any new identities for either of us!”

His head exploded. Powerful shocks raced along every nerve that he still had and even some he’d probably lost to the springlocks… He could feel his body twitching and convulsing outside of his control, just as he could feel parts of it tearing under the strain. He didn’t know how long it lasted, but by the time he fell completely still once more, he could barely conjure a single coherent thought. Was this what his Funtime animatronics experienced while being shocked? Was this how… how his little girl felt…?

The AI said nothing while the ‘attack’ happened, but wasted no time when it noticed it was over. ‘Neither identity is valid… New identity required. Why are you so stubborn?’ it asked, echoing his question from earlier. ‘Spring Bonnie is obsolete. William Afton is impossible.’

“Im-impossible?! It’s who I am, you stupid program!” Another short yet sharp shock, centred in his head; his vision would have been swimming and his breath would have been coming in shallow gasps… if he could see anything and still functioned like that. The pressure returned, and all of a sudden William felt like he was being suffocated.

‘Incorrect. William Afton created Spring Bonnie… cannot be unrecognised code. Impossible.’

Through figuratively-gritted teeth, he bit back, “Then just go with ‘William’!”

It paused, seemingly contemplating the idea, and the pressure lifted. ‘…Very well. New temporary identity acknowledged. Duration… seventy-two hours.’

“Temporary…?! What’s wrong with my name this time?!” He didn’t get a response, and he couldn’t help but to get the impression that the AI had lost its temper… then he scoffed at the idea and after waiting a while to regain his own composure, returned his focus to trying to relearn how to move his springlocked body.

Whoever thought it was a smart idea to combine the costumes and the animatronics into the same object was an idiot. A British idiot who was responsible for the deaths of who-knew-how-many children, and was now faced with one of the least-likely aftermaths possible for such a course of action. The complaints that had been made regarding the Spring Bonnie toy he’d designed –the one with a fingertrap in the mouth– probably should have told him something, they really should have…

He wondered if anyone missed him. He’d been gone for at least a day and a half, surely Mike was getting concer—… Michael was staying with Henry. He’d made sure of it, not wanting anyone to see him coming home covered in oil and bits of fake fur, with an axe of all things… Until he could move reasonably-freely, though, he was stuck in the old pizzeria building –shambling his way home like something out of a horror story wouldn’t do him any favours. No, no-one would be getting worried about his absence until a few days had passed… he knew that.

He just wished he didn’t feel so terrible about it.

-~-*-~-

It took William somewhere close to half a day to finally stagger to his feet. The suit reacted around him as if it were truly his own body… It moved like there was no difference between the human inside and the animatronic outside; his senses even seemed to have blurred into how it perceived the world… He had no sense of smell anymore, and his sense of touch had been altered drastically, but his hearing was the biggest change…

When they were building the Spring Bonnie animatronic, Henry had teased him about how fastidious he was about the rabbit’s ears. He spent so long crafting and programming the long appendages to resemble the real thing as much as possible, designing them to twitch at the slightest of noises… things like drips from the ceiling and the scuttling of vermin… William had argued that these tiny touches would make kids love the character all the more –ever-moving ears and a fluffy tail, just like a real bunny– and he’d been right.

These traits still functioned perfectly, and the suit’s ears were what he’d felt moving at the top of his head… and he hated it. They were things that practically no human had the anatomical structure to work with, and yet they’d somehow wormed their way into how his brain seemed to work after the catastrophic springlock failure. The tail’s periodic twitching could be felt all the way up whatever passed for his spine… reminding him over and over that it was all real, in the strangest way possible.

Rabbits may be his favourite animal, but he’d never wanted to be one, outside of thoroughly enjoying wearing the costume. Yet, there he was, functionally a cyborg rabbit…

William sighed as best as he could, shaking his head and clenching the hand he’d placed on the wall behind him into a fist. He was not going to let this get him down. It was a minor set-back, there had to be something he could do to recover from it… it wasn’t even like he truly enjoyed being out and about that much, anyway –he’d much rather spend most of his time working on his animatronics… and the research he’d been doing with Henry.

Remnant truly was an astounding discovery… and it held so much promise…

Standing a little straighter, William set about trying to walk, using the wall as support. His eyes had remained open since his last conversation with the AI, and he was slightly disconcerted to realise that they hadn’t gotten dry enough to warrant blinking; it was almost like the eyes he was using weren’t his… Logically, he knew that had to be the truth, but he still mentally recoiled from the idea, his subconscious wanting to retain something physical of his original self. The room remained just as dark as it had been from the start of this new ‘phase’ of his life –outside of that short period of vision– and, frankly, he was sick of it. The darkness was… doing things… to his perception of space, of time, of reality even…

He wanted –needed– to find the door and leave.

Turning in the direction that he remembered the entrance to be, William managed to stagger five steps before hitting the corner. He paused, fighting back the pain that was trying to surge and smother him with each motion that caused even minor vibrations to dance through his frame, waiting for what he guessed was a few minutes before starting on the second part of his journey.

The suit’s joints had started out sticky and even a bit gummed-up with blood and pieces of his body, yet somehow they didn’t seem to be jammed entirely… even loosening up further as he forced the suit to move more. It wasn’t much, but he’d take whatever he could get.

At long last, his hand hit the lip of the doorframe. Again, he paused, leaning heavily against the wall, even as his other hand scrabbled blindly for the doorknob.

It wasn’t there…

Why wasn’t it there…?

‘It was sealed up while William was first asleep…’

“Sealed…? But… why? I don’t doubt that there was quite a lot of blood visible under you! Why would they just…?” William retorted, his mind spinning. He pushed and pounded against the barrier, harder and harder until he felt something begin to give way inside the suit, forcing him to stop. “If nothing else, they should have removed us from the room to clean—…” A thread of clarity dangled in front of him, and he latched onto it. “Wait… no, this… this is almost par for the course. Cover it up rather than deal with it… and it used to work so well, too.”

‘Now both are obsolete… Still need new identity.’ The AI stated, sounding unusually quiet –although that could simply have been due to the panic singing in William’s system drowning it out.

He just hoped someone noticed he was missing and thought to check the bloodied safe room… Henry would think to look there, wouldn’t he? Henry knew what he’d been doing with the suit, and if he thought William was dead, then he’d want to take a look at what could be another ‘fresh’ sample of Remnant… wouldn’t he? The research was ongoing, even after the tragedies that had plagued both of their families… so… Henry would come, right?

William’s control over the suit’s legs weakened and he slid down until he was once again kneeling on the floor, shudders starting to wrack his form once again in a cruel mockery of the moments of his death.

In the darkness of the room behind him, he could swear he heard children giggling.

-~-*-~-

He didn’t know how much time passed before he started to truly lose his grip on reality. Being stuck in a dark box was bad enough, but the worst part was… hoping that someone would come to let him back out again, only for yet another day to pass without any sign of rescue.

William had found a way to estimate the passage of time via the periods of activity Spring Bonnie’s AI had –if it was still functioning as programmed, then from midnight until six in the morning, the suit was ‘turned off’, while the rest of the day was left open for anything to happen. He couldn’t remember whether or not he’d deactivated the ‘daytime mode’ and ‘night-time mode’ before dismantling the other animatronics, but he could still move the suit at any time, even when the AI seemed to be ‘asleep’… It was just a lot harder to do so outside of the ‘night-time mode’.

If he was calculating correctly… he’d probably been trapped for around a week… but, he knew that he’d also ‘slept’; drifting in and out of awareness every now and then, just trying to pass the time.

His eyes caught a glimpse of something other than blackness, and he jerked his head to stare straight at it. A small form, vaguely humanoid and very, very pale… the eyes were just dark sockets… It looked just like one of the ghosts that had corralled him into the suit. William tried to reach out to it, though he wasn’t sure if he wanted the movement to be aggressive or not –not that it seemed to matter. The ghost just narrowed its eyes at him, and another appeared beside it… then another… and another… there were six of them… seven… eight…

The room filled up with glaring white figures until he couldn’t even count them all, and William shrank back against the wall, once again finding himself afraid of the manifestations. This seemed to please them, and the sound of childish laughter reached his ears, making the tall robotic appendages on top of his head twitch.

“What do you want…? Haven’t you gotten your revenge for what I did to you? I’m stuck in this room! I’m dead!” he snapped, and for the first time, he heard the suit’s voice-box react to anything he did, letting out a short but harsh screech. Numbly, he watched as the ghosts began to move –first one, then another, until every single one were emphatically shaking their heads. “Stop that…” William gathered his legs under him in preparation to stand and maybe lunge at them. They ignored him, their laughter turning malicious. “I said, stop that! I killed you once, I’m sure I can find a way to kill you again!”

That seemed to get their attention; the laughter stopped suddenly, and instead, the air filled with shrieks. Screams of pain, of anger, filled to the brim with blame and accusation… all levied at him. They swarmed around him –towards him, through him– until all he could see was streaks of white in the darkness. The noise was deafening and he added to the din with another metallic screech of his own, pressing his hands against the suit’s head over where his real ears would be, trying to block it all out.

He nearly succeeded in drowning them out… until a hauntingly-familiar voice sounded above all the others.

“Daddy? Why did you let me die?”

William’s hands fell limply as his eyes searched the blurry masses for any sign of the face he knew so well. It couldn’t be… there was no way… Of all the deaths he was responsible for, that was one of the few spirits he could never… “Lizzy…?”

Another voice cried out, clearer than any of the others and powerful in its fury. “It’s me… do you remember? It’s me!”

His head spun, his ears hurt, his heart clenched and twisted and… The darkness claimed him once again, while the silence rang in his ears even louder than the cacophony before it.

-~-*-~-

They had been in the Room for so long, the suit rotting around them from intermittent dampness. He’d managed to keep their frame from stiffening up, moving around the small space when simply staying still had gotten too monotonous. It no longer hurt to move, although when they stopped for too long, the memories of being pierced from all angles resurfaced, prompting one of them to do a lap of the area. It knew the Room well, by now, and he had always known it; had they ever been outside?

They must have… the songs they sang together had to have been enjoyed by others at some point… and there must have been many who sat and eagerly listened, at that. Maybe they performed on stage? That sounded like a nice idea. Performing with a friend, even?

A bear. Big and powerful and dangerous and friendly and just like home… Golden. Like they were, once. Were they still golden? The Friend-bear would sing, and they would play an instrument –a guitar?– and there would be dozens of happy little faces stuffing their disgusting mouths. It was a dream come true... They had dreams, sometimes. Dreams could be scary, could make them squeal with happiness or scream in terror.

The Silence was deafening, so they filled it, talking to each other to pass the time. It was always eager to learn something new… after so long in the Room, though, he’d started to run out of things to teach it. Instead, he began to rage at the Darkness, hissing and screeching at things that it couldn’t tell were there. It had tried to tell him that those things weren’t there… he never listened –of course the apparitions were there, they taunted him and hated him and… He didn’t like how stubborn it could be, but it had long-since dug its claws into his mind; its cables sparked inside his skull, making them spasm as the electricity that should’ve run out long ago arced all through their body…

He wanted to leave, to get out, to be free of them. It didn’t understand… they were them. He and it. They. Leaving the Room was a good idea, though… so it helped him. It moved them when he went silent and still and afraid.

It knew what ‘afraid’ was, it was so proud of itself for learning that.

Once, they had been Spring Bonnie, but Spring Bonnie was dead. Unwanted. Locked away. He missed making animatronics like Spring Bonnie… that had been one of the things that made him smile. It didn’t know what it felt like to smile, though. He was wrong, anyway… he couldn’t have made Spring Bonnie, because they had been Spring Bonnie…

They didn’t have a name, anymore.

The Darkness wouldn’t tell them anything… nor did the ghosts that visited to torment him. The spirits were just so angry… It didn’t remember doing anything to earn such anger, but they must have done something. Something very, very bad. He still longed for the feel of warm red on his skin –fur– and the ghosts seemed to hate thoughts like that.

A new sound reached their ears. For a moment, they did nothing, until it happened again and they scrambled to lean against the wall, trying to trace where it was coming from. One of their ears had been torn in half during a very loud visit from the ghosts; he’d wanted to rip both off at the time, but it managed to stop him and succeeded in preserving most of the appendages.

Thump, thump, thump… jingling? Murmur of voices?

They were growing excited. People? Humans were in the building? After so long, they could see humans again? Or was it for the first time? Were they wrong about performing? The sounds drew closer to the Room, and in their eagerness, they triggered one of the pre-recorded statements in their voice-box, trying to draw the humans closer.

“He-he-hell-l-l-lo-o-o-o ki-kids! W-wan-n-na hear som-m-me mus-si-si-sic?”

It was only once the sounds of the newcomers drew particularly close that he chided it for acting too rashly and made them sit and lean against the wall, closing their eyes. It didn’t want to close their eyes, it wanted to see humans, but he was adamant. People don’t like seeing things that shouldn’t be alive… being alive. They weren’t alive like humans are, but it obliged grudgingly. He knew humans better than it did, even if they didn’t remember how or why.

The people broke open the door that had been sealed up so, so, so long ago…

“Holy shit, this place stinks…” said one.

Another piped up with, “Think there’s anything in here worth using? Did that even come from in here?”

“Yeah, definitely,” the first affirmed, excitedly. “These arcade machines would have to be worth a small fortune to the right people, if they actually worked… You know how some people get about ‘collectors’ items’, right?”

A third voice laughed. “No kidding… Still, we aren’t looking for stuff to sell online, or anything, we’re—... Guys! The corner, look in the corner!”

There was a small pause, and then three pairs of footsteps rushed over to them. “You’ve gotta be kidding me… This is the real deal! Parts and merch’ is one thing, but… this one’s almost completely intact!” exclaimed the second voice.

They could feel hands on their body, nudging at their head and moving their ears, touching and shifting their fingers. He held control of their body tightly, hissing at it to not move, but neither of them could stop the twitching of their ears –trying so hard to angle themselves perfectly to pick up every bit of sound from their new visitors. Just like he’d worried about, they were assaulted with cries of shock and even a bit of fear…

“It still works?!” the third voice shouted as all hands retreated. “Dude, we are definitely taking this thing back! This is the find of the century!”

That sounded like they may be able to leave, at long last, but… it wasn’t certain and he’d gone quiet again. It wanted the people to stay, it wanted to open their eyes and just… what did it want to do, then? Against his wishes, it triggered another recording, meshing parts of one audio file with another to say something closer to what it wanted. “W-we’re frien-ends, ri-ri-ri-right?” It forced their body to shudder slightly; neither of them wanted to stay, so maybe if the humans thought they worked, they’d be able to leave with the people? It certainly hoped so.

He wasn’t happy. They were being an idiot. If they just stayed still, then the humans would have taken them away from the Room and the Darkness, no matter what, but now…

“That’s the same voice… yeah, this thing is creepy, but… Ah, what the heck. It’s too much of a find to let that get in the way. ‘Sides, creepy is good for Fazbear’s Fright.” A fourth voice said, the owner still lingering near the entrance to the room.

That was good enough, it supposed, and it happily let him take back full control of their body. They were leaving. They’d be able to go outside, and see people, and sing, and dance, and play, and kill, and find home…! Home must be such a wonderful thing… They didn’t want to wait, they’d already waited so long in their black prison.

But… why did ‘Fazbear’ sound so familiar…?

Their thoughts were interrupted by the second voice speaking up again. “Hey, which one do you think this is, anyway? I don’t remember any rabbits other than the bluish-purple one…”

“Dude, that’s what makes this so awesome! This is from, like, the first restaurant! Before Freddy! I think the rabbit was called ‘Spring-something’, and the bear –they only had two characters at the start, can you believe it?– was ‘Fredbear’,” the third voice replied. “Hey, how about we call this one something like… ‘Springtrap’, make it all spooky, y’know?”

“I love it, and so will the customers!” laughed the fourth voice.

He didn’t… He’d been trapped for too long, and he didn’t need the reminder in their name. On the other hand, it was delighted; a new name! A new name that was all theirs and no-one else’s! It loved their new name, and it had already started to overwrite their coding with it. He snarled and writhed and tried to rip it out, tried to insist on a name that they vaguely remembered arguing over, but it was already too far into the process…

They were not Spring Bonnie, and they were not William, and they especially weren’t William Afton.

They were Springtrap.

The people said so.

[kulvefaggoth]

HI THIS IS YOUR LOCAL GARBAGE GAY BOY AND HE WANTS TO VENT ABOUT KINGDOM HEARTS

A couple of days ago i had an enligtening talk about my favorite hot garbage series with a mutual and i kind of ended up realizing i had a lot of pent up stuff about it that i never really let out

While i did vent a little already i feel like i need to put this really out of my head because it’s been consuming me in a way. And since this site is designed for just screaming random stuff into the void i wanna take advantage of that for once

Now first and foremost this is meant as a very personal thing. This is not an elaborate critique or a well thought work. This is a vent and i want this to be read as a vent by a gay with a lot of feelings about video games. ESPECIALLY about Kingdom Hearts and some stuff about KH3. 

Now let’s get to the meat of this course of mind screaming

I’ve been into Kingdom Hearts for a very long time. The first game i played was Kingdom Hearts II (the original KH was kinda hard to find here for some reason) circa 2005/2006. Bear in mind i had no idead what KH was. Game advertisement wasn’t (and still kind of isn’t) a big thing here in Brasil specially if you were a poor kid like me. Hell consoles were pretty inacessible to most of the people i was close with and me and other 2 kids must’ve had a PS2 in the same time frame. The main way you would know about new or cool games was through word of mouth or recognizing brands like Castlevania and Mega Man. 

But i was always kind of a freaky little avant-garde child which meant i ended up having a very different taste from most of the people around me. I had like 1 other friend who had actually played a Final Fantasy around let alone something like Shin Megami Tensei for an exemple which i also didn’t even knew was a thing. And i’ve always tried to find something new. Something that gave me some new experience. I’ve ended up playing a lot of more niche games like Drakengard and the Atelier Iris games (god i still love 2 and 3 a lot) and it was this mindset that eventually led me into the game that had a bunch of random anime kids and disney characters in it’s cover.

To say that i was confused by KH2 is an understatement. I knew absolutelly nothing about the previous games. Who is this “Sora”? Who was the red haired man? Why the fuck am i fighting with a giant key? Again what the hell is up with the Disney characters? Also bear in mind i must’ve been 9/10 yo brazillian kid whose entire english vocabulary came from video games and a couple of songs. Some stuff wasn’t even the plot getting dense it was just me not getting the actual language. 

And yet it’s also an understatement to say the i fell very deeply in love with that weird little game. The combat was great. The plot had SO MUCH DRAMA and i knew only about 1/3 of what was happening at any given time. Keyblades where fun and ridiculous. Demyx was a bitch.

As soon as i’ve finished KH2 for the first time i used what little internet i had back then to learn more. I found out there was a game for the easy emulated GBA. It kind of sucked but it was more Kingdom Hearts. Being unable to locate a copy of KH1 for a while i did the only thing i could actually do: i’ve played and replayed KH2 to exaustion. I did most of the stuff except a couple of the minigames and gummy routes because they where boring. The feeling of learning how to fight against Sephiroth, mastering his moves and eventually being able to beat him with a Kingdom Key in proud was a big moment for me. Beating all the Hades cups felt great.

About a year later i was able to get a copy of KH1 and by this time Re:CoM was out so i got that too. Played both of them throughly even thought KH1 clumsy mechanics kick my ass to this day probably.

Then another year passes i hear two new games where coming out... to consoles i didn’t own and honestly i couldn’t justify the cost of to my parents. I was pretty bummed but still i kept getting invested. Hell i was already balls deep into this series and only dreamed of how it would take off in the future. I even remember kind of writing a “script” for a sequel that i tried to make with two other randoms in RPG Maker. Never went anywhere and i know in my heart it sucked but still. That was how into this i was. The prerelease hype for Days was killing me even. Member XIV? How?

Also side note: to my edgy ass 12/13 year old self the idea of playing as Organizattion XIII was literally a dream. 

Days came out and if you where like me in the good old days of youtube videos that had like 5 minutes at max then you know that video game let’s play were almost impossible to do. I had to get a LOT of info from second hand about what actually happened in Days. Then i ended up getting a “decent” pc and was able to emulate it with absolute WORST frame rate. Still it worked and i was able to know what was happening.

But BBS was a completly separate beast. PSP emulation was basically non-existant when it came out so it actually took me a couple of years to actually play it. I had a friend that had a PSP (and that to this day i feel only got a PSP because i kept raving about it having both a KH game and a Final Fantasy fighting game on it because he was 100% that little shit but that is completly besides any point) and of course he couldn’t lend me because it was pretty expensive around here and that’s a very useless tangent.

Anyway time passes as it must and just as Sora fell deeper and deeper into the realms of sleep i too fell into as much Kingdom Hearts stuff as i could. The complex theories, the AMVs (GOD the AMVs), the plot summaries for games i didn’t play, all that good shit. So for years i’ve built within myself this... tension i shall call. The grand plot momentum that mr Nomura seemed to be building. The misterious indentities the hinted at hidden plots. The nature of stuff that seemed very vague and opaque. And as the new games where released it seemed more and more that they where building blocks into the grand prize: Kingdom Hearts 3.

Now here’s the thing. I don’t 100% agree of the narrative that we waited “13 years” for KH3. I think if you where actually a fan of the series back then then each game in it’s own way seemed to be it’s own event. With that i want to say the while we ALL waited for KH3 for me at least it seemed it needed time to build up. 

Now here’s the thing. Between BBS and DDD being both in consoles i didn’t own and me getting an Xbox 360 (PS3 prices where absolutelly INSANE here) i seemed to drift a bit away from KH. While before i waited for new game releases with baited breath i now found myself very blasé about DDD. I was getting used to it i guess. Also high school came and a lot of stuff started changing. KH felt like a bit too connected to my childhood too i guess. I was still a fan and still loved it to death but KH ended fading away a little for me even if it lighted a fire in me when people talked about it. This must’ve been around 2010.

I think it wasn’t until KH3 was formally announced that it all came back to me. The drive to find and consume and engage with as much of KH lore and theories as possible. Also i didn’t really get into “proper social networks” as a whole until 2012/2013. Weirdo i know. By then consuming these thing was a lot easier. Internet was a lot more acessible. I could just open up a tab of a KH wiki in my phone and read away from there.

And there was this rush y’know. This thing of finally seeing a finish line. Not that actually expected or even wish for KH to end but it was KH3! The big one! And remember the tension i’ve mentioned earlier? It was always kind of present and it ended up skyrocketing during this period. I was already knowledgeable about KH but during this time i was almost a goddamn lore master. I knew the whole gig inside and out. Even the weird shit from DDD. The stuff they added to the collections just kept it going too. As did X/UX (which in my grand KH tradition i too didn’t play but i think most people feel me here).

All a big ball of complex yarn and plot and madness that would SURELLY burst with KH3. After all this time all this tension it would come. Release. Answers.

But to me that was the aspect in which KH3 failed.

Now don’t get me wrong i actually like KH3. Quite a lot. And Nomura did apparently tied up a lot of arcs. The lost are found and saved. Piss Grandpa Xehanort is dead.

But it didn’t release my tension. It didn’t burst it into the magic fireworks and ecstasy. The tension is still here. Hell the tension seems even stronger now.

And a lot of it has to with how KH3 seems to still be hiding so many fucking cards from us. Literally in one case. It was a vague feeling of unceartainty before but when i came through the Sleeping Worlds theory it just RUSHED onto me. The story doesn’t feel complete.

Now this is not the same as FFXV. I have a couple of... harsh opinions about it and it’s plot and story are front and center on the list. That story was absolutelly unfinished but not in the same way. To me it feels like Nomura just HID parts of the story. We are not getting the full picture. A lot of shit is really really REALLY weird. I’m still not over Riku’s sudden haircut.

But here’s the real gag to me. Nier: Automata gave me the same feeling the first time i played it. But then i came upon route B. And then Route C. and that’s when the TRUE game showed itself. Nier kept a lot hidden but it was hidden within itself. If you just keep playing you actually can access those hidden parts and eventually you reach your true goal. The actual ending. An ending so final that you might even like giving up your save data to help somebody else achieve it too is the only true option.

Yet KH3 has no such crowning grace. At least not for now. And that’s half the reason i made this. 

KH3 feels incomplete but in a way i could really love if the game eventually completed itself. Reading the Sleeping Worlds theory i was like “omg this makes VERY much sense. but if it makes so much sense why isn’t it in the game?”. And then it clicked. DLC. It’s 100% possible the actual plot may come as DLC. 

But an even darker thought crossed my mind and it’s filing me with actual rage: This is meant to be another game. This is the Powers That Be (Nomura, Disney, Square-Enix, take your pick...) unaturally extending this “Saga” beyond it’s ending point. If it does turn out that KH3 had some dream hijinks going on then it was 100% possible and BETTER to include that in the actual game. But since KH is known for having so many side games what is the harm in doing another right?

Well you harm the integrity of your plot. I know we say the plot is hot garbage but come the fuck on that is what is holding us here. Or at least it’s what is holding me for so long. Setting up another saga is absolutelly fine but breaking away for you ending like this is even worse. How? Why? The why is probably money but still.

Or maybe KH3 is just meant as that. There is no twist not weirdness. Maybe all that is by design y’know. 

This is long enough already. I’m tired. I started writing this at 2:30 am. It’s about 4am now. I slept very little last night.

This is a big colletion of nothing i guess. Not even sure it helped me. Oh well.

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Musings #46: A Smaller, More Honest Soul. Is Ruby Rose the key to stopping Salem once and for all?

@stuck-up-snowflake asked“ I've seen your thoughts and theories on Oscar Pine's future character growth and I personally agree with them! 

But I was wondering if you had any thoughts on Ruby's personal growth for the future volume(s), considering that there are many fans clearly bothered by the fact that she hasn't had any sort of character development since the first 3 seasons or so(?) compared to Weiss, Blake, and Yang. If you had already addressed this, I would love to see that post about it. Thank you! “

Squiggles Answers:

@stuck-up-snowflake

Salutations Snowflake! Firstly, let me thank you for reading my musings. I’m happy that you read the ones on Oscar, because those were some that I enjoyed writing the most, and that you even agree with them. That’s awesome!

Now to answer your question. Well I did share one or two theories for Ruby’s story arc before. I believe it was in RWBY Musing #18 where I shared an unpopular opinion about wanting Ruby and Oscar to both be captured by Salem’s forces only to daringly escape and then be forced to survive the trek through Salem’s Domain; depending only on their skills and each other as they try to escape the Grimm-infested wasteland and make their way back to their friends.

To be honest, I haven’t really shared much about Ruby beyond shipping related stuff. But since you asked me and I’ve had more time to ponder on it, I do have two main hunches for her character.

Disclaimer: This is yet another LONG musing post folks. Ya’ll are probably used to this from me by now but out of common courtesy, I still feel it necessary to give you the usual heads up.

Crimson Spark

My theory is that Ruby Rose is the aforementioned key to everything. From the start of the series, the narrative has placed great emphasis on the importance of hope and how mankind’s greatest strength lies in their ability to derive power from their sentiment. The way how I see it, Ruby has two major roles in the upcoming story. As the fragile peace Ozpin and his forces so desperately fought for ions to uphold is tethering to its breaking point, like Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, Ruby will become the Crimson Spark---a symbol to inspire humanity and reignite the flare of hope in the masses during such dire times in Remnant as an impending Second Great War looms around the corner.

Beyond that, Ruby is the key to finally ending Salem and possibly the Grimm too, because of her hidden power as a Silver Eyed Warrior. The next chapter in her story arc would involve her learning what that means as she trains to hone her skills as the last living Silver Eyes; a title that I believe holds a much deeper symbolism with its connection to the Creatures of Grimm that the series has yet to enlighten us on.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Before I get into the meat of my post, let me just say this here. Not to sound nitpicky but when I consider it, I don't understand why the CRWBY Writers felt the need to even make Ruby a Silver Eyed Warrior in the first place.

Did they really need to introduce this concept into the story lore? Especially since they then followed up with two whole seasons that barely gave any further insight into it. When you think about it, there really wasn’t even any actual build up to Ruby possessing this kind of power in the first place. We get one throwaway line from Ozpin in the very first episode of the series and that was the closest thing to introducing Ruby’s eyes as some special trait that we got until V3. Almost as if the writers themselves are still planning out what this power will mean in the long run of the story. 

But Ruby was already established as a good character before the series decided to slap her with this mystical power she allegedly inherited from her deceased mother.

Ruby was endearing, somewhat fearless, a bit ditzy at times which added for some genuinely funny moments with her, loyal but most of all what makes Ruby so great is her willingness to help others and how much her drive to become a strong huntress fuels her every decision.

She may not be the strongest or smartest. She isn't exactly a perfect rose. Even the most perfect rose has thorns.

As Ozpin so rightfully stated in V5 Chapter 5, Ruby has her fair share of faults that may cause her to falter at times but beyond those quirks, she also possesses something unquantifiable. She has an inspirational spirit and charm about her that is able to motivate those around her in ways that managed to even impress an old soul such as Ozpin who has probably met a ton of inspirational folks in his lifetime. But none as unique as Ruby, apparently.  And as an audience member watching this, it is this trait that truly makes Ruby a good protagonist and a good hero to me.

Each time Ruby gives a speech that forces the villains to question their motives; I kinda wanna stand up and give her a small salute for being a true trooper I mean it ain’t the brightest move to make in the heat of combat. But it does display Ruby's humility. She wants to understand the people she meets and this even includes the villains.

Some folks might find this annoying about her personality but it's why I like her. The best kind of heroes to me aren’t the ones with a lot of power or brains but those with a lot of heart. Now Ruby isn’t the first hero character to display this kind of virtues. She’s isn’t the first humble, hopeful hero with a heart of gold that is able to connect with others that I’ve stumbled across in my favourite media. But dammit, I’ll be lying if I said I’m not a sucker for those types of heroes.

In a way, why I like Ruby as a hero is for the same reason I adore Steven Universe. At this point, you might as well make a drinking game out of how many times I compare RWBY to Steven Universe.

Steven and Ruby are both the type to want to understand others. This same trait can also be said of Sora, the hero of my favourite videogame of all time: Kingdom Hearts.  It's that level of compassion for their fellow men that warms my heart about all three of these young heroes. While Ruby wasn't as sociable in the beginning, she eventually came out of her shell and started communicating and forming bonds with other characters.

The story building up Ruby as the kind of huntress who chose this career path because she wanted to help others was already great from the start. This selfless need to do your duty for the well being of others is what made Ruby a great heroine.

Since Ruby mentioned wanting to become a huntress like the heroes in the bedtime stories from her childhood, I wonder if there’s any particular book or fairytale that Ruby loved as a kid that first inspired her love of heroes?

Was there ever a moment where Summer Rose used to read Ruby those same fairytales of heroes and monsters too? The interesting part about Ruby is that she wanted to become a huntress despite her mother perishing from this lifestyle. You would think that her beloved mother being killed as a huntress would deter a young Ruby Rose from pursuing this similar career path.

Imagine...if Summer Rose started reading the fairytales to Ruby first and young Ruby’s desire to become a huntress stemmed from a combination of aspiring be like the heroes of her favourite stories and her mother, her hero in real life who was living the dream she longed for?

Imagine... if once Summer passed away, for a while, Ruby lost her drive to become a hero and it was actually her big sister Yang, picking up one of the old stories Summer would read to her sister that brought Ruby out of her slump.

Perhaps it was Yang who renewed Ruby’s ambition to become a hero, reassuring her that Summer wouldn’t have wanted her death to cause her to be any less courageous than she already was at such a tender young age.

Summer and childhood fables may have ignited Ruby’s inner spark but it was the support of those who loved her, like her sister that has kept that spark burning, making her believe in heroes once more.

I actually want the story to touch upon just how far would Ruby go to be a hero. In V3, Torchwick told Ruby that if she wanted to be a hero then she should do her part and die like every huntsman and huntress throughout Remnant's history.

 ‘...Ya got spirit Red. But this is the real world! The real world is cold! The real world doesn't care about spirit! You wanna be a hero? Then play the part and die like every other huntsman in history!'

If it boiled down to the point that Ruby needed to sacrifice her life to save Remnant, would she be willing to do it? No trickery from others trying to deceive her into believing this resort is the only way to put an end to things. But of her own free will, would Ruby Rose give her life to save the world? Would she give her life to become the hero she desired to be and what the story has been foreshadowing her to become in the long run?

Will the story ever play with the concept of Ruby becoming so broken that she loses her resolve and gives up being a huntress entirely?

After all, even the most optimistic of heroes eventually go through a breaking point that tests their belief in the things they’re fighting for. The question is, will Ruby Rose ever go through such an obstacle?

I know Ruby gave that magnificent speech about moving forward to Oscar in V5 Chapter 5 but, I don’t want to be naive and assume that that’s the writers’ way of slapping her with impenetrable plot armour that shields her from facing any kind of true struggle.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Ruby hasn’t suffered loss or faced any kind of emotional hard ships throughout the current story because she has as evidenced by the past three seasons. But has she hit a low point? Has Ruby Rose hit a low point in her story arc that has backed her into a corner, challenged her as a character...maybe even changed her in a way that  differs than how she was when the series first started? Made her question her own self? Forced her to question her own motives and outlook on the world? Perhaps even scarred her, both physically and emotionally for life? Has she? I don’t think so. Not yet at least. 

Of the four main members of RWBY, Ruby herself is the only one to have not suffered a low point.

For Weiss, her low point was being dragged back to Atlas; back to the frostbitten, lonely cage that her tyrannical father had a built around her---a sheltered yet domineering life she had willingly abandoned the first time in order to forge her own path only to be sadly taken back there following the events of V3.   For Blake, her low moment was returning to her old habits of running away; leaving her loved ones behind despite promising that she wouldn’t instead of staying and fighting with and for them.

And for Yang, her low point was when she had lost her fire---lost the thing that made her who she was and had to learn to pick herself back up after going through an immense lost---not just physically but mostly emotionally after watching everyone she knew leave and move forward without her during a time when she may have needed them the most.

When her teammates’ heads were forced down under the weight of their own troubles, Ruby was the only one to keep hers up high and look towards a brighter outcome even if things seemed bleak at the time.

Even when her team was divided, her school and previous home fallen into chaos and the deaths of former comrades still fresh in her memory, through it all, Ruby was more or less the one to remain hopeful and keep moving forward.

Even in the face of loss, Ruby has never lost her spark. But how long can that spark truly last though?

The Unsolved Murder of Summer Rose

At first I figured that Ruby’s story will involve her learning more about her lineage but what I didn’t realize is that there is an underlying mystery to Summer’s death. 

What do we know about Summer Rose? Well according to Yang during the events of V2, she described Summer as being a wonderful mother to both Ruby and herself, despite not being her biological mother. Summer was portrayed as being a warm and caring person, no different that her daughter Ruby. In terms of a career, Summer was a huntress just like Tai Yang who took on missions around the Kingdom of Vale while Tai doubled as a teacher over at Signal Academy. One day, as Yang justified, Summer went on a mission and never returned.

That’s the only explanation we have for Summer’s death. That she left for a mission one fine day and the next thing everyone knew, she was dead. And that’s all we’ve known because that’s all the story has disclosed thus far.

But doesn’t that make Summer’s entire death sound odd? There are so many questions that arise from this unfortunate circumstance.

What were the details Summer’s mission? Where exactly did she go? Who delegated that specific mission to Summer Rose? Was it a case where she went off on said mission and upon returning met her unexpected demise? Or was the mission in fact a ploy to lure out the key target: Summer Rose in the first place?

How did Summer die exactly? How was she killed? Was she ambushed by an onslaught of Grimm and died valiantly in the line of duty or...was she slaughtered in cold blood by an unknown assailant? Was it a combination of both where Summer was laid in wait against an army of Grimm, in a similar fashion to Ruby Rose during the VI Red Trailer; and by the time Summer had finished taking out the monsters, her strength was too depleted that she could’ve barely defended herself against the assassin sent to kill her.

If Summer was indeed killed, then how was she found dead? Who found her dead? How did the other learn that she had died? Was Qrow sent to find her after she hadn’t returned from her mission and discovered her corpse? Or did the two run into each other while on their respective missions and Qrow happened to have been present during the time when Summer was attacked?

This brings me back to one of my previous questions. Who gave Summer that particular mission? Was it Ozpin? It would make sense if it was him since according to Raven Branwen in V5, Team STQR were basically Ozpin’s go-to team during their years at Beacon and it wouldn’t surprise me if each member, with the exception of Raven, kept on doing missions for the old wizard well into their adult years.

After all, Qrow still performed private missions for Ozpin so it wouldn’t surprise me if Summer was also involved with him at some point in that regards. So, if that’s the case, does Oz know the truth about Summer’s death?

Did he have a part to play in its occurrence and has been sitting on that secret from Ruby and...perhaps Tai Yang and even Qrow as well?

There is no doubt that being a Silver Eyes means something important in the plot and will play a detrimental part in the next stage of Ruby’s development as she delves deeper into the origins of her mysterious powers and its purpose.

By learning more about the Silver Eyed Warriors, Ruby will in turn uncover the truth about what really happened on the day her mother died and why she was targeted. She’ll learn how Summer was killed and more importantly, she’ll learn who killed her mother.

How exactly does one kill a Silver Eyed Warrior? If the Silver Eyes are unstoppable against the Grimm, mankind’s greatest threat and adversary next to Salem, that means that Summer must’ve been a very powerful huntress. So how was she taken down?

Ruby will learn how this all happened and once this is out in the open, how Ruby chooses to react to this news will hint at another subplot for her character arc. Possibly avenging her mother by defeating the one solely responsible for taking her mother away.

As I mentioned in my last RWBY Remarks, the show itself has unfortunately done very little to actually demonstrate how much Summer’s death has affected Ruby emotionally. The only times we’ve been given some semblance of the harsh reality of Ruby’s feelings surrounding her mother has been in the OST, Red like Roses Part II and I even heard that the RWBY Red Like Roses manga, which is Ruby-centric, gives more insight on that as well.

It is alleged that Ruby was devastated; perhaps even broken by her mother’s passing. I really wish the show would show this kind of emotion from Ruby. We’ve heard Yang’s perception of Summer Rose. I want Ruby’s now. I want flashbacks of Ruby together with her mother. According to the lyrics for Red Like Roses Part II, it definitely hints that the mother and daughter shared an unbreakable bond that was only thwarted by her passing.

 Remember how in Avatar the Last Airbender, during its third season, it touched on an episode where Katara got to avenge her mother by hunting down the Fire Nation general, then retired, that caused her death. From this development, she was able to finally put to rest her feelings of anger and resentment over what the Fire Nation did to her, her mother and their people of the Southern Water Tribe, and in doing so, learnt to finally understand and trust Zuko as he joined Team Avatar.

Perhaps RWBY will take a page from Avatar’s book and give us a similar story. A story where Ruby, desperate for answers surrounding her mother’s death goes in search of answers and this journey brings her much closer to understanding things about her mother that she didn’t as a child.  Such as her reasons for committing the actions she did leading up to her death.

‘...I know you’re broken down by anger and by sadness, You feel I left you in a world that’s full of madness, Wish I could talk to you, if only for a minute, Make you understand the reasons why I did it.

I wanna tell you that you’re all that ever mattered, Want you to know that, for eternity, I’m shattered, I tried so hard just to protect you, but I failed to, And in a prison of abandonment I’ve jailed you...’

Perchance, in her searches, Ruby learns something along the lines of, Ozpin being partially responsible for what happened to her mother. What if... Ruby ends up blaming Ozpin entirely for what happened to her mother and all the pain she endured from losing her mother to his schemes. Ruby then loses trust in Ozpin and in turn, this puts a big damper on her relationship with Oscar.

Seeds of Doubt

As a RoseGarden shipper, as much as I’m anticipating the two becoming a couple sometime later in the series, I also expect that their relationship wouldn’t come without its fair share of complications. Not just from Oscar’s shared body and mind with the old wizard but more so for what Ozpin’s previous ties with Ruby’s mother can bring up.

I have a hunch that Ozpin had some involvement with what happened to Summer and for the RG-shippers, if the two young heroes were a couple at this point, this is the kind of thing I would expect to cause them to either break up entirely or at least put an uncomfortable strain on it. More so than Ozpin’s presence just presiding inside of Oscar.

Imagine how detrimental it would be if Ruby discovered that Ozpin caused it all. He was the one that sent his mother on the mission that eventually killed her. After hearing so many lies masked as clever excuses, Ruby would reach a point where she’d grow tired of Ozpin’s guilt. After all, how much genuine remorse can one truly feel from the consequences of their past crimes if they keep returning to the same poor methods?

The RWBY OSTs sung from the perspective of characters distrustful of Ozpin, like Sacrifice (RWBY V2 Credit theme) and Divide (RWBY V3 ending credit theme) almost seem to mock Ozpin, bringing to light the cruel penalties of what his actions have cost those who chose to follow him blindly out of an obscure sense of loyalty.

These themes paint such an ugly portrait of the darker impressions to Ozpin’s character and what starkly contrasts this is the way how the characters surrounding Ozpin, such as our heroes, still continue to trust him despite learning of some of the skeletons from his pasts. Our heroes still place their trust in Ozpin. More notably, Ruby still trusts Ozpin.

But, what would happen if the silver-eyed girl did lose this trust? I’d imagine that if any other character should begin to distrust Oz, conspiring a divide and mutiny amongst the team, Ruby would be the one to turn in order to rebel against this; serving her purpose as the Crimson Spark to convince the others to rethink their feelings about Oz.

However; what if...Ruby’s the one to first have misgivings about following Ozpin and it is her own distrust that slowly begins to sow seeds of doubt in the others. It would be the complete opposite effect to the character Ozpin had been wordlessly breeding her to be which would make for a nice twist. Wouldn’t it be quite interesting if Ozpin had been so concerned about Salem being the one to snuff out his spark of hope that ironically, he becomes the culprit to do it himself?

And in light of this, if Ruby loses hope, then who would be the one to reignite her trust in Oz? Would it be Oscar? Poor Oscar would be caught in the middle of it all. If Ruby shuts Ozpin out then that in turn could spell her shutting Oscar out.

After all, whether they’re lovers or close friends at the point of this change, it would be discomforting for Oscar to know that Ruby only trusts half of him. Volume 5 established how Oscar now thinks as Oz and himself as one being. He and Oz are now like Eddie Brock and the Venom Symbiote. Instead of he. They are we. We are Ozpin.  

And due to their joint partnership, to Ruby’s dismay, Oscar might not be too quick to take her side all the way. On the contrary, Oscar might oddly remain loyal to Ozpin because in his heart and mind, he both knows and emotionally understands the truth behind what Ozpin did with Summer. He may even try at times to convince Ruby to hear the truth from his perspective. However it would be a truth that Ruby would unfortunately not want to hear. Not even in his words because she’d be too blinded from the pain of knowing that a man she trusted so much sent the most precious person in her life to her grave for a cause that he had acknowledged time and time again was all his doing.  

I think having Ruby, of all people, lose fate in Ozpin would be a nice turning point in the story. Up until this point, Ruby has always been very trusting of Oz because he’s shown to be the one teacher from Beacon who’s shared the most interaction with her; secondary to Dr. Oobleck in V2. 

From their very first encounter to their conversation at the ball to even their momentary exchange of dialogue in Chapter 10 of V5 when he was OZ-Car, Ruby and Ozpin have always been in good standings with one another. Even when the other has faltered. But what if that is shattered.

Seeing Ruby lose trust in Ozpin, which in turn causes a rift in her relationship with Oscar (y’know technically half of Ozpin) but then slowly learn to regain her fate in him through Oscar would be nice. I want for a moment where one of Ozpin’s many mistakes finally causes him to break down. I want to see him react to it in a more emotional way. Meaning, I wanna see Ozpin cry. I want to see him really, really torn up about a mistake he’s made.

Up until this point, the impression that I get is that Ozpin has made so many mistakes that he’s almost numb to the emotional consequences of it all. This doesn’t make him uncompassionate. On the contrary, Ozpin does care a lot but I imagine that he’s been wearing his mantle as protector of Remnant for so long and has faced so many years of trials and tribulations that at this point, he’s become somewhat detached even in the face of true loss.

He’s so used to putting on a brave face and remaining calm to maintain his optimistic disposition and fairly naive perception of fate in humanity, that he’s lost sight of his own emotions in a way; if that makes a lick of sense.

All living things have thoughts. We all have things that come to our mind and possess the understanding to comprehend the positivity and negativity in those said thoughts. But what is the element that exists within mankind that drives us to comprehend the difference between the good and bad?

The answer is our feelings.

It is our emotions that work hand in hand with our thoughts to help us to fully grasp the world around us. What makes the difference is that some people are driven more by their thoughts and simply commit the first action that come to mind where as others are driven more by their emotions, going with the flow of things depending on what feels just in the moment rather than whether or not it’s rational.

In the case of Professor Ozpin. He’s worn so many faces---both literally and figuratively, that you can say he’s almost forgotten how to, I guess, feel. Don’t get me wrong, Ozpin isn’t unnaturally stoic. He’s not a robot. He has his moments of feeling but there usually kind of short-lived, replaced by a more solemn undertone. 

This is why I appreciate the contrast in personalities between Oz and Oscar. In my opinion, Ozpin thinks more with his mind---he’s intelligent, tactical and more careful in his actions because he bares a deeper understanding in the value of everything including how actions can cause ripple effects that can prove either rewarding or catastrophic.

Oscar, on the other hand, based on what I’ve observed about him so far, thinks more with his heart. He’s definitely more emotional than Ozpin, usually trusting his gut even if those feelings may lead to senseless actions void of proper thinking. Remember what Oscar told Ozpin when the two finally left his aunt’s farm? I find it interesting that when Oscar finally succumbed to Oz’s influence, his sole justification was, not because he thought it was the right thing to do, but because it felt like that it was the right thing to do.

‘...Y’know, the weirdest part is how it feels. Leaving home is crazy. Going to the city is crazy. Everything you’ve told me is completely crazy. But it doesn’t feel crazy anymore. It feels like I’m doing the right thing...’

Another clear example is during Oscar’s fight with Hazel. Despite Ozpin begging him to let him take over because it would’ve been the smarter move, Oscar refused to do so. Why? Because in the moment, he wasn’t thinking with his head. He was thinking with his heart. Even though the smarter option would be to let Oz, the more experienced soul, handle everything, Oscar rebelled against this choice because in the moment he felt he needed to prove himself---to prove to Ozpin that he can fight on his own without him even if it wasn’t not the wisest option.

Not to sound harsh with Oz’s character, but I’m anticipating a future episode where the full weight of everything he’s done over the centuries will all come crashing down hard on him and for the first time, he breaks down over it.

Perhaps he needs a jilting tongue lashing from his smaller, more honest soul to put him in his place to realize the truth of what he’s done---all that he’s done---not just to her but to Summer and everyone else who’d fallen victim to his past blunders.

A Whole New World

 ‘You're special Ruby... And not in the 'Daddy loves his special angel' kinda way... You’re special the same way your mom was. Remnant's full of legends and stories. Some of them true, some made up.

...But there's one Oz told me a very long time ago... Back before huntsmen, before kingdoms. It was said that those born with silver eyes were destined to lead the life of a warrior. You see, the creatures of Grimm---the most fearsome monsters mankind had ever encountered---were afraid of those silver-eyed warriors. They were the best of the best. It was said that even a single look from one of these fighters could strike a Grimm down. 

It's a ridiculous story...'

According to Qrow based on what Ozpin told him, the Silver Eyes existed before the huntsman and the kingdoms and were feared by the Grimm. Do you understand how deep that is? The Creatures of Grimm; monsters that have existed since the dawn of Remnant’s humble beginnings and are a known symbol of fear were afraid of the Silver Eyes.

The Silver Eyes sound like a power that has existed long before even Remnant. As a matter of fact, this makes me think of something interesting. Readers, do you all recall what the very first line muttered in RWBY was?

 ' ...Legends; stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains; forgetting so easily that we are remnants, by products of a forgotten past...'

 By products of a forgotten past.

 Could the forgotten past that Salem was alluding to back then, a past involving the Silver Eyes and the Creatures of Grimm?

Think about it. The Grimm were created as a result of the God of Darkness’s desire to obliterate all the wonderful and beautiful things his brother had created in his new world. So did the God of Light create the Silver Eyed Warriors to counter the Grimm?

Were the Silver Eyed Warriors in fact the first group of beings to walk the World before mankind was born?

Did The Grimm and the Silver Eyes then waged war against each other? A war which destroyed the First World in the process. Was the war between the Silver Eyes and the Grimm, a symbol of his and his brother’s conflict, destroying the very beautiful world he sought to protect what inspired the God of Light to cease this divergence and call a truce with the God of Darkness so that the two could salvage what was left of the Firstborn World?

Suppose...the shattered moonscape that we commonly see in Remnant is what’s left of the First World that was ultimately destroyed by the war between the Grimm and the Silver Eyed Warriors. Though it was never confirmed by Qrow in his rendition of the Tale of the Brother Gods that they recreated another world together that became Remnant, it would make a lot of sense if Remnant is actually a broken piece of the First World.

And it is this broken piece...this remnant that the brothers then decided to populate with mankind---their first collaboration. Seems legit, am I right?

Though mankind was a symbol of the Brother Gods’ harmony, leftovers of their previous feud still managed to makes its way into Remnant in the form of the Grimm returning to be mankind’s greatest adversary. However, just as the Grimm survived into Remnant, so did a piece of the Silver Eyed Warriors.

While not as prominent as the Grimm, this tiny legacy of the Silver Eyed Warriors still managed to thrive in this new world down through the ages to its current successor---Ruby Rose.

It all makes sense now! If my theories here are proven correct then everything we’ve seen thus far regarding Remnant, the Grimm, the Brother Gods and the connection with the Silver Eyes will all make perfect sense if they’re all connected. But that’s only if I’m proven right.

If my assumptions are true then this would explain why there are no more living Silver Eyes and why only someone like Ozpin, who has lived many lifetimes and was probably the First Man of Remnant, is the only one to know of their existence.

It’s because the Silver Eyes were before the current Remnant. They were probably created as beings to counter the Grimm. For all we know the Silver Eyes weren’t practically human. Just raw light in the shape of something human, if that makes sense.

But unlike the Grimm who survived and relished in the current Remnant, the Silver Eyes probably all died out during the First War against the Grimm. It’s why they’re only just a story. A tale. A legend lost to time.

Or...possibly...there could actually be more Silver Eyes still thriving on the moon we see in Remnant. I once made a throwaway comment about there being a connection between the moon and the Silver Eyed Warriors. Perhaps what we perceive as a moon is in fact the original world of the Silver Eyes. I stand by my hunch that the Remnant Moon is actually the God of Light’s first attempt at a perfect world that got wrecked as a result of his and his brother’s greatest creations clashing in their conflict.

 Either way, the Silver Eyes were an ancient race. An ancient force from a forgotten era where they were the sole protectors. An ancient force that Oz probably learnt of after the Gods first cursed him and it is such a power that he discovered reborn in the likes of Summer Rose and eventually her daughter, Ruby Rose.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

 ‘....I never planned that I would leave you there alone, I was sure that I would see you when I made it back home, And all the times I swore that it would be okay, Now I’m nothing but a liar, and you’re thrown into the fray.

 This bedtime story ends with misery ever after, The pages are torn, and there’s no final chapter, I didn’t have a choice; I did what I had to do, I made a sacrifice, but forced a bigger sacrifice on you...

 I know you’ve lived a nightmare, I caused you so much pain, But baby, please don’t do what I did, I don’t want you to waste your life in vain...’

The lyrics to ‘Red Like Roses Part II’ really got me thinking. When I first listened to it, I thought the song was implying that Ruby had witnessed her mother being killed as a child and had suppressed those memories from childhood. Now in reading through the lyrics, this song implies so much more that I didn’t realize. It implies a lot about the internal conflicts Summer went through as a mother and a huntress as well as foreshadowing the true nature of what the fate of a Silver Eyed Warrior really is.

The song is written with words that give me the impression that perhaps Summer was the one who introduced Ruby to fairy tales and used to read them to her when she was a little girl before Yang took over after she passed away. The lines that got me the most were ‘I didn’t have a choice. I did what I had to do.  I made a sacrifice but forced a bigger sacrifice on you’.

These lines are meant to be seen from Summer’s perspective, right? These are her feelings as she’s singing in response to Ruby’s or at least that’s how I’m going to look at it.

What did Summer mean by she didn’t have a choice? Is she talking about her fate? Is this line foreshadowing a darker fate for the Silver Eyes?

Is it implying that it is the duty of a Silver Eyed Warrior to die and it is a fate they cannot run from?

It would make complete sense if Summer Rose was sacrificed to stop Salem. What if that was her last mission.

Like what if...Summer’s final mission was to go to where Salem was and use her Silver Eyes abilities to put an end to Salem. Since Salem is technically what seems to be a Grimm-human hybrid and has been believed to be unstoppable for years. Perhaps the closest key to stopping her would be the power of a Silver Eyed Warrior.

So when Ozpin found Summer, he believed her to be his one shot at stopping his arch nemesis once and for all. I believe that Ozpin gave Summer her final mission and sent her after Salem to put an end to her. But the plan didn’t work out the way Ozpin had hoped.

What if...Summer was originally Ozpin’s chosen one. The key piece in his plan to finally ending his greatest adversary. But Summer failed Ozpin. I don’t even think it was a case where the Silver Eyed power didn’t work on Salem either. Perhaps even Summer Rose was inexperienced in her abilities as a Silver Eyed Warrior and when the time came for her to use it for the cause she’d be fighting for, she failed and was killed in the process.

Her sacrifice was in vain because Salem is still alive. And now that it’s been realized that Ruby has the same power, she too is probably heading for a similar fate.

Hence the line, ‘forced a bigger sacrifice on you’. The bigger sacrifice being that Ruby must now pay the repercussions of both her mother and Ozpin’s failures. Summer Rose couldn’t fulfil her destiny to stop Salem and now that burden has been unwillingly passed on to her daughter as the one living Silver Eyed Warrior left standing.

I think it is Ruby’s fate to stop Salem once and for all with her Silver Eyed power. But what will make Ruby different and far superior than her mother is that she will fully realize the potential of her abilities and learn to hone it in ways her mother never did.

Did Ozpin force Summer to go on that mission? Was Summer an inexperienced Silver Eyed Warrior? Was she no different than Ruby was in V3? Did Ozpin, out of his desperation to stop Salem, send Summer to complete the job believing that she was ready. But as it turned out, he had been over his head and Summer was unable to use her power in the time it was needed?

Y’know what I wonder about the Silver Eyes? Imagine if Summer’s powers were at its peak when she was younger but the moment she became a mother, she lost half of her power’s strength as it was unknowingly passed on to her daughter during childbirth. If Summer Rose attempted to face Salem at only half the strength, it would make sense for her to lose since her power wouldn’t have been at its most potent. This is just me trying to give justification to my own throwaway hunch.  Was Summer reluctant about facing Salem but Ozpin baited her with the promise that they could finally put an end to Salem; using the love Summer had for her own daughter to push her into going into a battle she was doomed to lose from the start? To the Ozpin fans reading this, sorry if I might be painting your guy in a bad light here. It’s just that I really feel there is a connection tying Oz to Summer’s death that’s not going to be pretty once uncovered. Other characters have accused Ozpin of being both deceitful and arrogant; among other not-so-nice adjectives. I’m just still waiting here for the show to prove it with moments of the past that demonstrate these negative traits about him. I think there could be one that ties Ozpin to Summer’s death. I strongly believe there is a hidden moment in Oz’s past where he allowed  his own desperation and pride to get the better of him and he messed up big time by sending one of his greatest assets/allies to her grave. But who knows.

Fallen Angel

 ‘...Close your eyes now, time for dreams. Death is never what it seems. Take things you thought you should, All the things they said were good...

All your faith in ancient ways, Leaves you trapped inside a maze, Take the lives of those you need, Sow the death and reap the seed.

 Reap the seed! Born an angel, heaven-sent Falls from grace are never elegant...’

What if...in the past, Ozpin was meant to nurture Remnant’s first Silver Eyed Warrior reborn into the new era and his failure in stopping Salem began with her. 

In the OST Sacrifice, Ozpin was described as an angel. Of all the things that Oz could’ve been compared to, why an angel of all things? Was Oz’s original role to be the Guardian Angel of Remnant’s first Silver Eyed Warrior? To teach and help them hone their powers so that when the world falls prey to the darkness again, they would be ready to fulfil their destiny to save it.

Was that it? Was a Silver Eyed Warrior reborn into the new world of Remnant and it was Ozpin’s job, as First Man, to nurture and guide her. Let’s say, all things considered that the Silver Eyes were all primarily women. And this Silver Eyed Warrior was a young girl and as her godly appointed guardian, Oz possibly shared a relationship with said girl akin to that of a big brother or even father figure. Think Terra and Aqua from Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep withVentus or Garnet and Pearl with Steven from Steven Universe.

The Gods probably foretold Ozpin about another Silver Eyes to come in time and he probably spent years searching for her. He was probably beginning to lose all fate when he found Summer Rose. Summer Rose was probably the first Silver Eyes Oz encountered in years and following many lifetimes of fighting an immortal, unbeatable foe, he found his trump card in Summer Rose---another Silver Eyes.

However, Summer ended up making the same mistake as Ozpin did years ago. She too ended up failing in her mission to stop Salem. It’d probably be easier to assume that Ozpin was once a Silver Eyed Warrior himself in a past life; probably even his first life. I like the concept of Ozpin originally being born as both the First Man to walk Remnant but he could just have easily been a Silver Eyes as well.

It would make his failure to stop Salem in the past and his descent from power even greater. Imagine being the sole person born with the power that could’ve ended the greatest evil known to Remnant. But then you fail your mission and die only to be brought back in another life, completely void of that all important power. It would be interesting if in addition to working to reform the world; Ozpin also spent countless lifetimes simultaneously searching for another Silver Eyed Warrior---the only being with the power to stop Salem. I like the idea of Oz being an Silver Eye for this particular reason.

However I don’t want to jump too much on this theory bandwagon because Oz being a Silver Eyes in his past life could additionally spell Ruby unwittingly being a descendent of his. I’d rather not have that. I much prefer the concept of Ozpin formerly being a guardian angel blessed with the knowledge of the Silver Eyes, created to be the mentor and protector to Remnant’s first Silver Eyed Girl who he previously shared a close friendship with.

Could even play with the notion of Ozpin formerly being in love with a Silver Eyed Warrior . Would add for a nice parallel with history repeating itself as the same thing is happening with Oscar and Ruby. Just an idea to toss out.

Y’know what’d be cool too, though? If Ozpin, the First Man of Remnant along with the First Silver Eyed Warrior to be reborn in Remnant and the woman who was Ozpin’s Eve who ultimately became the vessel for Salem were all close friends at some point. I’m thinking something akin toTerra, Aqua and Ventus from Kingdom Hearts.

Salem’s former form---the Eve to Ozpin’s Adam who I dubbed her Ales in my musing on this topic; is Terra, the one who fell to the darkness and became the main villain of the story. This would make the First Silver Eyed Girl Ventus, the youngest of the three friends whose existence was the catalyst to everything meaning she was the reason why Salem’s original self was driven to darkness out of possible jealously for her bond with Oz and the reason why Oz was cursed in the first place. Lastly, Oz is Aqua, the only one left who must now try to repair everything.

Though my theory is that Salem’s former self used to be Ozpin’s lover and companion, I definitely love the concept of Ozpin’s best friend in his first life time being a Silver Eyed Warrior. And her demise at the hands of Salem; probably sacrificing herself to save him, was probably one of his first failures before he became cursed. I’m liking this because it’s a cool way to connect everything; tying both Ozpin and Salem sharing a history with a Silver Eyed Warrior whose origin can probably date back to the Dawn of the Creatures of Grimm and the destruction of the world whose corpse now hangs in the night sky as a permanent reminder to world of Remnant in the form of the moon. Though only theories, it kinda makes sense, right?

All in all, I’m banking on Ozpin becoming Ruby’s mentor for her Silver Eyed powers; hopefully. I mean, unless there are more Silver Eyes living in secret somewhere in or outside of Remnant, who else is it gonna be? He’s the only one that has any prior awareness regarding their existence as he was the one to pass this info onto Qrow. Whether he was originally a Silver Eyes himself or the appointed Guardian to them, I’m definitely anticipating Ozpin teaching Ruby about becoming a full-fledged Silver Eyes.

Not sure how much longer Oz will be in the story though. He is technically already dead and though his soul is attached to Oscar; we all know this is going to be temporary thing as Oz will fuse with Oscar someday. However, if Oscar ends up gaining Oz’s memories and thus the knowledge about the Silver Eyes then that could lead to moments of Ruby training with Oscar to control her power; further developing their friendship. I quite like that idea very much but again, these are all just my theories. Up to the series canon to prove me right or wrong.

So to conclude...

Whelp. This turned out longer than I was gearing for.

I know I shared some decent theories in this post but the gist of what I said can be boiled down to this. There is no doubt that the biggest part of Ruby’s journey will involve her learning more about her heritage as a Silver Eyed Warrior. I’m actually glad that the story hasn’t been focusing much on Ruby these past few volumes. I didn’t even notice for the most part and even when I did, it wasn’t that big of a deal breaker. I feel like the majority of the Beacon Arc was from Ruby’s perspective so it’s good that the Mistral Arc cleared the way to develop the other characters in the main and supporting cast.

Though the show is called RWBY and Ruby Rose is our main heroine, she isn’t the only character in the series. This isn’t just the Ruby Rose show. The other characters and their individual story arcs matter in hindsight as well and help to pave the way for the full narrative just as much as Ruby’s would.

However I do agree with folks that the story needs to start steering back towards rekindling Ruby’s story arc. It needs to have Ruby start asking questions about her lineage. I understand why they wouldn’t have Ruby ask more about the Silver Eyes since the focus of the story and thus Ruby’s focus has been protecting Haven from falling like Beacon. To be honest, Ruby asking about her powers during the events leading up the Haven Battle wouldn’t have been an appropriate time to bring it up regardless of whether or not us as fans wanted it to be that way.

However the time for that has come now. Now that the Battle of Haven has been won and the Mistral Arc is slowly drawing to its epilogue to spearhead the jump into the Atlas Arc, this will be a good time for the series to finally have Ruby desiring to learn more about her powers.

She did accidentally use it again during the Haven Battle. So I figured now that the pressure of defending another academy is out of the way, Ruby now has a clear head to think about other things. Like her powers. You guys have heard me voice before how much I strongly want V6 to just be another character building season where the volume’s main focus is to tell tales that would give focus to certain individual characters and allow for the story to flesh them out and answer unanswered questions the audience have been waiting to see.

Personally, I need V6 to set up the gang going to Atlas but not necessarily taking them there just yet. This will give the series a chance to give us episodes that develop the characters. This can give Ruby time to finally ask Qrow more about the Silver Eyes and/or discuss the implications of her power with other members of the cast.

Who knows? Maybe Ozpin isn’t in fact the only character to know of the Silver Eyes? Perhaps Oscar remembers his aunt or biological parents mentioning the Silver Eyes to him as a kid as an old Mistralian farm tale or perhaps Blake read about a character with Silver Eyes in a book series she read? Either way, it’s a chance for the story to make Ruby want to know more. It doesn’t necessarily have to answer everything right away cause I figured the key to learning about the Silver Eyes lies with Ozpin who I believe may be out of commission for V6.

What the Silver Eyes are. What it truly means to be one of these warriors. And what the past and final destiny for this race of beings and their descendents is still remains a mystery and I’m interested in learning what the CRWBY Writers has in store for us in that regards. Whatever it is, I just hope it’s properly written and the writers do a proper job at addressing it in the series, both literally and visually.

Until such a time comes to pass, I’ll just stand by my theories. As a Silver Eyed Warrior, I do believe Ruby is the key to putting an end to all this chaos. Her journey ahead---whether she rises up to the challenge or falls into despair will be what drives the major plot going forward. The story began with Ruby Rose debuting as a hero and it will surely end with her as the hero.

That’s my view on it. I hope this helps answer your questions Snowflake. Sorry if this answer was more padded than you’d probably expect. I couldn’t give you an honest response without unleashing pretty much every idea I had on mind about Ruby. You asked if I had any theories for Ruby’s story and I think this best summarizes all the ones I thought of. Any more, I’ll just share in future musings. Let me know what you think of this post if you can. In the meantime, as always I hope you and any other loyal reader enjoyed this musing and see you for the next one.

   ♦ More RWBY Musings by Squiggles

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

[theinsanecrayonbox]

the great FOP review mega dump

ok so apparently the rest of s10 was aired at the end of June through July of this year. now granted, i do not get NickToons and used a friend’s DVR to record it, so there’s a margin for error, but i don’t recall any of these episodes ever getting recorded. i could be wrong, my memory sucks, BUT TVGuide is stupid and has a habit of putting the wrong names/numbers on things and if the guide doesn’t list the episode as new because half of it already aired, then it wouldn’t get recorded. so again, huge margin for error.

basically, i hadn’t posted these yet because i didn’t realize they’d aired; i was trying to avoid spoiling anything for people. Nick sucks at their programming schedule. these first viewing reviews are nearly a year old in some cases, since it was about a year ago that i was given links to watch some of these online after they’d aired in other countries. so yeah, probably a little dated, might not hold up, but here they are so we can be done with this.

Which is Wish:

 Chloe is a vegetarian??? Has this been said before??

 I feel like everything in the garage there was in the attic when Dad made Timmy clean that out before…not that that isn’t plausible, since that’d be one way to “clean” the attic lol. Just thought it was a neat commentary.

 But yes Chloe, unleash your organizational skills. Color coded labels are awesome! Cleaning sucks, but labels lol

 And yes, switching bodies always works so well doesn’t it Timmy…but heehee he called Chloe pretty XD though in fairness…doesn’t this mean Chloe is still eating the meat, because Tim’s in her body…or do they just *look* like one another? See, that’s the gray area…

 Ok I do not like all these moments of Dad seeing Cosmo and Wanda; they’re glossed over yes, but still. That should break Da Rules though, because they’ve been revealed (not to mention Crocker knows about them a million times over I know). it just seems like a cheap gag that they don’t need, and it’s annoying.

 “Chlimmy Turnermicheal” lol, I need to draw a fusion of my Opals now XD;;;

 Ok yes, they’ve body swapped, not glamoured, so Chloe *did* eat the meat after all, thank you for explaining that

 Seriously, it’s Cosmo loosing the wands (for the umpteenth time) that is going to cause the problems here -.-

 Yay more Chloe parents! They aren’t 1 or 2 offs! Though…why were they absent up until this point? Did they decide to take a sabbatical from work after the booby incident? That’d be nice

 OMR Danny, Vlad (wait nasty Dan? Hu oh well), and Dudley puppets. That is too cute for words!!

 And a Little Shop joke. Eeeeeeee!!! I know they’ve done man-eating plants before, but still!

 Chloe’s dad faints at failure? Hm, that could be useful.

 Tim admitting he’d miss Chloe is sweet, especially since it wasn’t with any mention of loosing his fairies

 Hahahaha dressing up as each other/themselves, that’s great. Cosmo’s head blowing up is getting old though.

 All in all I give this episode a huge A+. It is a cliché trope of a plot, but I feel it was executed really really well!! Nice balance of magical aspects with non-magical ones I thought, and gave development to both kids and their families.

Fairy Con:

 Ok first of all, I thought Fairy conventions were held every thousand years or so, and was actually just for the fairies. Granted, this “Fairy con” could be a different event OR they changed the event after Timmy’s bathroom one, since that could’ve been the first time a godchild was involved? Also, Timmy is you go “every year” that shows that this is at least 2 years after you got your fairies (because you had Cosmo Con, then assume one after that, then at minimum this one), so why are you still 10?????? (and don’t go saying “the time stopping wish in secret wish” because uhg)

 Crocker in the fridge….ok…but adding in Crocker to crash the Con…yeah this is a complete plot reusing of Cosmo Con, just updating it a bit

 Look Girlfriend the cat isn’t dead!!

 If you’ve had their hair samples for that long why haven’t you cloned them before?? But “off brand cloning machine” is sorta funny. Also, Kenny G? that a Spongebob shout out or not?

 Ok if it merged the cat DNA with the fairy why didn’t it merge the fairy DNA together too? Also, missed your mark to have a real “fairy cat” show up (though no Sparky so we don’t need it anymore I guess)

 Oh but Chloe’s enthusiasm over her first con, I am so happy at that ^^ I just had my first comic con, and I was spazzing like that too when I wasn’t freaking out over being ditched and lost.

 Ok that is yet ANOTHER unique birthday for Timmy. He’s up to what, 5 now since the series started? (Boys in the Band, Birthday Bashed, Birthday Battle, the one mentioned in Birthday Battle about the dinosaurs) the kid is at least 14 now, he has to be!

 I like all the backgrounders. Some look super squashed, but still neat.

 Tooth fairy returns! Yay! We had mentions of Cupid and Mother Nature before, so it’s nice to see the magical celebrities are still around and not forgotten.

 Ahhh! The return of the Crocker Pot which captures fairies!! Ok I am giving this writing team an A- on doing their lore homework because they are getting so many things right (though the Fairy Con being thrown off is still deducting points sorry)

 There was a blonde fairy that looked like Samantha in the background O.o

 “Chloe Carmichael, any normal person would give up right now. But you are NOT normal!” - omr Chloe I love you and your “never quit” song was good and humorous, I still love you

 Timmy how can you not know what Crocker is up to? He’s always up to the same exact thing. If he’s in Fairy World, I’m fairly sure there is a 1000% chance he’s there to capture fairies. Geeze.

 OMR Princess Morebucks was in the seats at Cosmo’s panel, I’m not joking.

 All in all, it wasn’t a giant impacting story, but it was a good one, even though it was a total reusing of a plot. I feel like the writing team did their homework pretty decently (for the most part). Plus, the magic of cons ^^

The Hungry Games:

 This is the B-Story to Fairy Con…interesting choice…more fangirl!Chloe…

 I love her “Katniss hair”, heck I just love seeing alternate hair on her

 Heh “Ketchup Everdream”, wow, ok, sure

 That might be the wrong movie, but it sounds interesting. What movie was that Cosmo?

 Aw Chloe lost…but yay call back to screaming in her closet

 Lol Crocker is once again, king of dystopian world. That is perfect. This is all perfect.  Maybe it’s because I liked the Hunger Games movie that I can thoroughly enjoy this parody, idk. But this is great. I am loving this episode.

 And cue the pointless Dad part…wait Mr Bickles?? Where have you been?? Why are you here???

 I like the blonde/pink haired backgrounder

 I really loved this episode! It was so nice how Timmy did this for Chloe and stuck with it even when it was bad for him, then she turns around and does something nice for him at the end. It let Chloe fly her freaky fangirl flag on so many levels. Like I said, I liked Hunger Games, so this was a great parody that was loads of fun. I really really enjoyed all of it.

 As a whole episode, these two really show us what a geeky girl Chloe is I think. She’s not just the over achieving little Ms Perfect she was at first, she’s got her weird hobbies and obsessions too. And the fact that she was so into Fair Bears AND dystopian doomy future really says a lot about her, and really speaks to me on many levels. It’s just solidified my love of Chloe even more.

Dimmsdale Daze:

 And we start off with jokes about barfing…well it is a roller coaster so I can let it slide…just don’t spiral out of control with them…

 Heehee “vines” joke, that’s great. Because it highlights their age AND that they are more naturalist

 Oooo Connie said “shyster”, that’s pretty borderline…

 Chaining yourself to the tree in town…wouldn’t that be the same tree that Tootie did the same thing to in the first live action movie? I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing…

 Did Chloe’s middle name change? O.o but lol to the “when you’re a parent you can make the decisions” because I head canon them meddling after Chloe’s divorce, but I know that line is the plot fodder, so I’ll just push the head canons away for now

 Lookit that adult!Chloe though!! I’m not that far off the mark with my design (plus you know, there are several older!Timmy designs and none are more true than the other, so my older!Chloe being short and bustier is still plausible). And hey lookit! Cameo of the adult!Timmy from Big Problem AND confirmation that if one of the godkids breaks Da Rules they both loose the fairies TOGETHER

 Neither Clark nor Connie really look too much like Chloe as children (ok Connie *does* but when you consider they made child Dad look exactly like Timmy before, it’s not quite enough)…just another tick in my adopted column, just saying…

 Why did that child in the bounce house have lipstick O.o

 Chloe’s earring is like, in the wrong place and it’s bothering me…

 “But I have the mind if a child” “It’s true, he’s been tested” – I…wow, just…yes?

 And of course Connie and Clark get assigned Cosmo and Wanda, I don’t know why I didn’t see that coming honestly ^^;;

 You know, even though this is sort of a rehash of Big Problem and The Switch Glitch I thoroughly enjoyed this one! Single mom!Chloe was great, it feeds my future headcanons. It proved that Tim and Chloe do share the negative effects of the fairies. And it was just a really good Chloe episode that Timmy was just a supporting character in. I really did like it. A+

 As a whole, I think both parts (this is meant to be paired with Spring Breakup) work nicely together. It’s a lot of Chloe and her family, so if you want some serious Carmichael development, do for this set most definitely.

Chip off the Old Crock:

 Ok before getting into this one, I just gotta state that since I read the description for it, I’ve been ITCHING to see this. How does Crocker have a nephew if he has no siblings? (*current thoughts: i’ve since this review come up with a plausible scenario*) What would this child be like? How could I use him for Superverse conveniently?? And then I saw screencaps and saw that he was a mini Crocker and got disappointed…

 But now we are to watch so let us see how that unfolds…

 What’s with that redheaded backgrounder?? He looks like a Lebowitz!! *files that away for layer usage*

 Still laughing that he’s named Kevin since that is a “name of evil” in our games and what not ever since my brother used it as a placeholder name for a badguy in a storyline; ever since then “Kevin” had been the badguys who are sorta pointless lol

 But still…”study abroad” um…you still could’ve used that since Crocker obviously has family in Canada; studying in California would then be considered “abroad” if he was Canadian. And that way, he wouldn’t have to be his literal nephew, but his 2nd cousin, but they just call each other uncle/nephew because it’s easier. That might sound confusing, but at least it makes more sense then just randomly implying he has siblings when he never has. I’m gonna headcanon this from now on, and no one can convince me otherwise. (*current thoughts: again, i’ve figured it out since writing this; i’ve left the original thoughts though to prove my though process from point A to point B*) Plus you miss out on Canada jokes this way…

 Awww Kevin, I’m starting to love you…that’s weird…

 Everyone pick a partner-no one pick Kevin, classic. However…redhead boy had 2 partners, why didn’t Crocker notice and stop that? There’s no reason why Chloe and Tim needed to pair up with him aside from plot relevance…

 Ah sweet Chloe, standing up for the misunderstood and outcast, trying to find the good in them and make others see it too. I love you sweetheart ^^ go make friends with Francis now please

 Why isn’t Dolores fawning over Kevin? You’d think she wouldn’t let her *grandson* out of her sight, considering the coddling we’ve seen her give Denzel at times. Unless she’s busy with her *other child* I guess…but in that case why isn’t she belittling Denzel for not being like *his sibling* and having kids and not living in her basement? I’d love to see Denzel look like a looser compared to this *sibling* he suddenly has, and it suits the family dynamic as we know it. Or perhaps the *sibling* is more of a looser, but Dolores still sings their praises because they did move out and have a kid, unlike Denzel who has a steady job and whatnot because *sibling* is a total bum. I mean, I get that it would only slow down the storyline, but it just feels out of character, plus the sudden introduction of a *sibling* just is wrong too…I should stop analyzing the Crocker family and just go back to the actual plot

 Kevin wants to be a dentist??? O.o are you related to Dr Bender??? That…would explain nothing honestly, idk why I went there

 “Sorry I’m too busy being a loner” haha that’s a good one

 Hey callback to Crocker wearing ladies clothes. Nice.

 “It’s a blueprint so shouldn’t it be blue?” hahaha that was funny

 Chloe how did you get to the top of the rock wall without a rope?? Did you boulder your way yup there?? And Tim! You should never rock climb without a belier(sp?) geeze, rock climbing 101 there dude

 And toilet joke…but I will let it slide because I am actually enjoying Kevin

 “Unleash your inner looser” omr yes best line

 Ah the build up to the betrayal “aw you guys actually like me” “well yeah you’re not evil” *does the evil thing* “we hate you now because you are evil after all”

 Unsuspecting Van is back whoot!

 Ninja!Chloe and Tim with a light saber; nice, but what a missed opportunity…also Chloe has a ninja suit…she really is replacing Tootie isn’t she…

 And Kevin saves the day by wishing none of this ever happened…just like Chester did in Fairy Idol hm…

 But at the end of it, I’m actually very surprised how much I liked this despite all its flaws. It’s riddled with clichés and huge plot holes/continuity errors, but I genuinely liked Kevin (and whole heartedly look forward to writing him into Superverse…also would it be too weird if he was Kyler’s father? I think it’d be weird…). I think it’s a nice B-story to Cat and Mouse and together they make a pretty good episode.

Space Ca-Dad:

 Off topic a moment here; rewatching the theme and it just dawned on me…maybe there’s a “fairy shortage” because no one’s enforcing the rules over fairies being revealed/discovered. I mean, if everyone Timmy knows knows about his fairies and yet he keeps them, then other kids must be doing that too you know. Just saying Jorgen, you caused this problem yourself man…and honestly, why not outsource the fairy jobs then to other magical creatures, since Fairy Idol proved any magical creature can be converted to a fairy godparent. It’d be a great way to bring Norm back if you stop and think about it, or a way to get the Pixies back in there too. I’m just saying, the “fairy shortage” story is pretty weak…still think Jorgen just did this to them because they’re good for each other…

 Ok back to the episode itself

 Yay Chloe is still a Squirrely Scout, good for continuity! And you love food puns? i love you more Chloe, you so are a Catman related heroine aren’t you ^^;

 Did he say “Mrs Lipshitz” or “Mrs Libwitz”? it was really hard to tell, so idk if that’s a Rugrats shout out or someone I have to add to my  Lebowitz family tree (cause slurred sound…and the witch/mental thing does suit the family…)

 Dad you had the rank of “flying squirrel” why is this confusing??

 Ok there are “Pickles” living on the street, I’m going with Lipshitz. So many Rurgrats shout outs.

 Whinny kid, Kid with issues (aren’t you Kevin?), and Stuart…so we are going with the latest (and suckier) Squirrel Scout troop line up. Kay.

 Chloe as a jr. astronaut though and knowing how to fly space ships ^^

 Heehee “Space Jam” how many more thinly veiled references can we have XD;;

 (maybe Squirrely Kevin is Kyler’s father…that’s doable…)

 Ah yes, Dad throwing the fairies out just when the kid/s need them. Yup, never seen that plot device used before nope. And how can rocket fuel destroy magical wands? They’re fairy magic, why are they so easy to ruin??

 How did you find a planetoid when you were heading towards the sun??? I don’t…right, why put logic into things, my bad

 The Glorg. Florgatron-5. Hm…*files that way for layer usage* Bakersfield???

 I loved all the aliens at the restaurant though.

 Over all, this episode was…meh. I didn’t dislike it, but it was a very pointless Dad episode. Seriously, you could’ve had them go to the Planet of the Dads and do pretty much the same thing, but at least keep that storyline going (since I think it’s the longest running one now). I’m unimpressed, but I’m not disappointed. So lets see if the B-story can save the episode as a whole.

Summer Bummer:

 “The looks of psychotic anticipation” lol, well we’re starting off with some good

 Also it’s summer vacation yet again. Mk…this makes it at least the 4th summer vacation Tim’s had, what with School’s Out, Shelf Life, and Microphony being the others I can easily site off the top of my head. So again, these children should be like 14-16 now

 It’s the return of Dad in short-shorts. Oh man, run and hide now.

 Chloe getting a summer internship/scientific program is very her. Must always be learn…wait did she say the corner of a basement?? O.o that’s concerning child…

 Oh hey that pink clad teacher is from s1 I think. Wasn’t she in Timvisible at the water cooler?? That is a very nice and wow throwback guys. Major points to you.

 Chloe is 10 and a half???? So she actually IS a year younger than Timmy, since he was already 10 when he had his birthday (and we ignore the previous like 5 birthdays he’s had >>) and they share a birthday…but wait, your birthday is in March…summer vacation starts in June/July, that isn’t 6 months later…ok so on the one hand, your math is all wrong, but on the other my headcanon that Chloe is a year younger seems to be proven fact. I don’t know what to do with this information!!

 Oh this is the sleep wishing episode I heard about! Wow took a while for the plot to show up…but you know, even though this has been used before, I feel like this is being used in a different context and for a different character, so I’m allowing the reuse of the plot idea. Let’s see how twisted up Chloe’s subconscious is…

 “Gender neutral Jesse” is sorta weird…I like the fact that Chloe did play with baby dolls though…

 Timmy you can’t unwish Chloe’s wish! We’ve been over this-we had a whole episode dedicated to it!! URG!! Did they just throw that out because it’s easier for them to just fix each other’s mistakes that way? I mean, if this was the only time, I could buy that since she didn’t *consciously* make this wish, it could be undone by Tim, but the other times they’ve pulled this she’s been in her full faculties. So uhg! You can’t even keep your own continuity you establish in the same season >> (but…you guys have been doing better than expected, so…it’s not *as* negative points as I’d usually give…or maybe it is but you’ve just racked up enough positive ones to be at the standard by now I guess)

 Hey Dr Rip Studwell, long time no see XD and…you made a manscaping joke…wow, I…wow

 And a poop joke…but you have a pirate ship…but still…

 “Took one to the crow’s nest” is that a crotch shot joke? Wow this episode is just…wow

 Omr the mini shoulder Chloes are adorable! I love valley girl!Chloe and german science!Chloe. Didn’t like the second poop joke in a minute, especially since Dad really *shouldn’t* have heard science!Chloe say that…

 She wished the doll big again…I think Chloe’s repressed feelings are about not wanting to grow up

 And look Da Rules FINALLY decide to kick…oh no, Chloe wished it to be unwishable...yeah, because that’s the only way to stop Tim from fixing it >> and yet at the same time, he did wish the monster to stay until he stopped lying about who set Chompy free, so…formula…

 “There’s free ice cream all over the street! It’s like delicious roadkill!” ok that is the best line ever

 Wait, you’re wishing yourself into Chloe’s mind?? Because that worked so well when you went into your own…and why does it remind me of Mabel’s dreamworld/mind? I expected less pink, more purple honestly. Preschool!Chloe is so adorable!! Totally called the plot though, not that it’s hard.

 Cosmo confirmed as queer, because even when he thought Wanda was “Weird Dude” he still had a crush on him. Wow, I am floored they did that, good for you

 And we end it by promoting cannibalism? Oh wait no; we scratch the 4th wall instead. Ahha. Yeah. You totally missed the opportunity to have “Kids just being Kids” playing somewhere-possibly remixed-because I feel the message suited Chloe’s mentality too right now.

 Over all, I’m glad it was Chloe centric but…I feel like this could’be been done in half the time maybe? They ignore their own continuity, but they do tackle real stuff in a minimal magical way. I guess like the A-story, I’m unimpressed but not disappointed. I feel like both of these should not have been paired together because as a whole the entire episode is lacking; they both needed a stronger story to counter balance them. It’s a good watch once through, but I doubt it’s an episode you’ll want to rewatch.

Dimmsdale’s Got Tallent:

 Ok…I feel like this plot has been used before…and not necessarily thinking Fairy Idol either, but I just can’t place which episode I’m thin king of…

 TOOTIE!!!! THEY DIDN’T SHIP YOU OFF TO BOARDING SCHOOL OR WHATEVER!! OMR!!! Sadly you were just a backgrounder cameo, but still…now I just need to find Francis then my main favs will have all appeared to be not dead (*spoiler: Francis does not appear anywhere*)

 More Bickles…huh…

 Mom’s stage name is “Madame Sasha”…is that a hint that her first name is Sasha?? Most times when you make up “magic names” they’re either your real name in between “the” and “magnificent” or they’re some super exotic/fake/fantastical sounding thing like how Dad was “Dadracadabra”

 And more about Chloe’s one-woman show. That’s so neat that this is something that they’re developing for her, instead of using as a toss away one shot gag.

 Kevin!! Dressed as a dummy for a comedy act lol. It’s an old and over used plot idea, but I’ll run with it. I like it. Cause Crocker now has 24 hour access to a child, he of course has to think of other ways to use it. “I’m telling my mom you made me do this” because that is Denzel’s sister so it is a legitimate threat…though you’d think Dolores would object to this too…why have we not had any interaction of Kevin with his grandmother yet??? I’d love to see Denzel get jealous over the attention his mother is giving Kevin that he never received

 Haha Dad stealing Chloe’s idea, and still breaking the gender norms, nice. Where did Bickles get the coconut bikini top and grass skirt though?

 Oh baaaaaad lesson to be teaching kids there guys. If the authority figure won’t give you want you want, you shouldn’t do them favors to try to bribe them into giving it to. Especially in the entertainment industry. That’s how bad situations happen….

 Um those remote control tap shoes shouldn’t work because they would be helping Tim to win a competition, which is against Da Rules…not that Da Rules seem to matter anymore…

 Ok Mom, you claimed to be a “Pet Psycho” yet you’re using only wild/non-pet animals. I think that’s probably the easiest way to point out that you’re doing this wrong

 “I love me some snake and mongoose” ok…lets go see if that’s a euphemism on google…hm, nope, just a drag racing movie. That’s nice…wasn’t Bickles a race car driver at some point??

 Doug Dimmadome returns! And “curious life partner”??? the Mayor and Chompy are a thing??? O.o???

 Good boy Kevin, stand up to Crocker ^^

 “That was a Dimma-dud” so simple and stupid, but probably the most fulfilling line thus far ^^;

 love Chloe’s gold gown

 ok I lied, “Dimma-dope” is now the most fulfilling line in this

 heehee Dudley Puppy and Crimson Chin balloons in the parade. So headcanoning that TUFF Puppy was a show on tv in FOPverse

 so this episode was….well just really pointless filler too. We got like minimal focus on any of our main characters. Have they forgotten how to write Timmy and Chloe?

 Together these two (this was paired with Knitt-witts)  were not a good match. Both were pointless filler with not a strong plot in either of them. Too many guest cameos, no character development. It was just barely enjoyable enough to not hate it, but just barely honestly. Weak episode all around.

Goldie Crocks and the three Fair Bears:

 Ok I’ve been looking forward to the return of the Fair Bears since the episode titles were released.

 Interesting to see the Squirrely Scout troop back again, still the same B-team line up including Chloe. Thought you already had that patch…but then again that could’ve been with the A-team troop lineup, so…the records were all destroyed when it was disbanded maybe?

 Thanks Tim, we all were asking that. But how does using Mom’s shampoo make your hair blonde? Luscious and even longer I could buy without complaint, but blonde??

 More over achieving Chloe lol (poor girl is gonna crash when she burns out). But wow, she fought King Neptuna…so why didn’t he remember her? Is Supergal now enemy to the merfolk??? Though that plays into the Merfolk vs Glamazons wouldn’t it…

 And now we turn into the clichéd camping storyline where Character A decides to go use non-wilderness to camp in luxury. But Tim, you used to like camping??? Also, still not seeing how the episode title plays into this plot yet…

 Cosmo has been right/made sense on more than one occasion though, why is it that surprising?

 Ok now we get the title…Crocker’s mother has a cabin in the woods? Buyable, sure. Crocker somehow brought the Fair Bears back into reality??? Uh…what now? Wait, they weren’t sent back to TVLand?? And Crocker knows all about their origin?? HOW does that not break Da Rules huh? Is it because he doesn’t know who wished them up, so it’s not against Da Rules?? Why wouldn’t they tell him that; wouldn’t that be a fair thing to do?? He’s in a blonde wig because they’re going to be Goldielocks at a theme park, yeah sure, ok I can buy that. But HOW did he get the bears in the first place???

 And Dad is blonde to be Goldielocks…wow…

 Chloe breaking the 4th wall a little there

 Gah even more middle names! Chloe how many do you even have????

 NO! YOU CAN’T UNDO THE OTHER’S WISHES! URGH!!! You established this rule right off the bat, yet you keep breaking it and they let you keep breaking it. Timmy wished for the camping stuff-Chloe should not be able to wish it away. Yes the plot is stalled, but really, what is the plot at this point??? If you’re only going to enforce the rules when it suits you, well, anarchy for all then please

 And you wished away the magic…yeah, that’s going to go super well

 “Mr Crocker’s unsightly twin sister” ok on the one hand, that works because of Kevin granted (even though she’s not a twin persay, but he has suddenly got a sister), but on the other…this is all saying that guys can’t have long hair and I don’t like that. I love guys with long hair. Between that comment on Crocker, and the comments earlier about Dad, why is long hair automatically girl now?

 Dolores dated Shaggy??? O.o i…I am very unnerved by that…wasn’t she already a full blown adult with a 10 year old child when Shaggy was a teenager roaming in the van with the Mystery Inc crew?? O.o

 Omr yes. Referencing the “original German version” as a darker one. Talking about basting and eating people. This turned dark super fast and I love that. why TrollLOL’s face is on the oven idk, but I’m rolling with it because I love this part.

 “I’ve already got 2 strikes from the school board” uh…yeah that’s the wrong side of dark I think…but it’s Crocker, it was probably the fork in Waxelplax’s fanny, and the flour incident or something fairly similar.

 Yes Tim, yell at Chloe that this is all her fault. We know it is, but pointing it out won’t help. But it totally is; you wished for no magic and you got into trouble-not surprising.

 HOW is it nearly midnight??? It was like, what, noon at the latest when this started?? You have not been out in the woods-in the daylight-for 12 hours-of daylight. Chloe hunny, you’re the smart one, why are you failing telling time??? I know its dark outside the house now, but it wasn’t in the scene before. Cosmo I think your clock is right. And how is “poof us out of here” bring you to a spot where it is, once again daylight; that seemed to suggest instant teleporting so you’re at the same time. Unless this next scene is a cut away to hours later BUT STILL! It should not be midnight.

 Oh Dad, yes, I’m sure no one cares about your troop anymore.

 “let’s send the Fair Bears back” uh you should have done that the first time and this whole mess would have been avoided. It’s like leaving the door to the comic book world open all over again.

 And yes, cause unnecessary harm to Crocker, why not. Not to mention all the innocent patrons at the theme park…

 Also why has no one mentioned Dimmsdale had a theme park before now?

 All in all, not a good episode. I was looking forward to the return of the Fair Bears, and it felt like they weren’t even in half of the episode. The rest was another boring camping storyline, which these two seem to do a lot of huh?

 Paired with Fancy Schmancy, as the production order says, I think the whole 30 min episode is completely weak and not great. This one was bad, the other was filler, so together they are just not meshing well at all.

[ask-me-about-datlof]

Werewolves of Datlof

I’m going to talk about some of my favourite non-Yogs characters in this post and the lore behind the werewolves of the world!

So keep reading if you like werewolves and spoilers! :D

Spoilers are for the AO3 story.

Werewolves make up about 0.5% of the population of Datlof (I wasn’t lying when I said we worked out demographics for the city!) and as such, they face large amounts of racism throughout the city of Datlof. Despite being ‘human’ in appearance, werewolves can usually be very easily identified by their moon charms which most werewolves wear as earrings. Some werewolves choose to keep their moon charms more hidden, either by wearing them under their clothes or wearing them as some other form of jewellery that’s less obvious to the casual observer, if only to stop the racist comments that frequently come their way.

Werewolves are often treated like second class citizens in Datlof, struggling to find jobs, help and medical aid. Most of the werewolf packs in Datlof are very close knit and many werewolves have basic knowledge and skill in first aid, due to having to tend to their own injuries most times. 

A pack of werewolves in Datlof typically has about 9 members and the pack that Lewis is saved by is the largest in Datlof with roughly 30 werewolves in its ranks. Werewolf packs are like very close knit families and they will stick up for one another, even to death. A werewolf that doesn’t have a family or pack will usually go slightly insane from the loneliness; they are highly social creatures although there are some exceptions where a few werewolves don’t need as much social contact as other werewolves do. 

Werewolves only turn into wolves on the full moon if they don’t have a moon charm. Having a moon charm allows werewolves to gain control of their wolf form and they are able to change at will. If a werewolf doesn’t have a moon charm, when the full moon appears, they transform unwillingly into a wolf and they are no longer themselves, and in the morning they will wake up not knowing what happened. A human can become a werewolf through one of two ways. The first way to become a werewolf is if they have been cursed with lycanthropy. The second way to become a werewolf is if they are bitten by a tier 10 werewolf.

We based werewolves of the werewolf system in the Minecraft mod, Witchery, so a lot of the things that can happen to werewolves come from Witchery, including the tier system (which goes up to the highest tier of 10), moon charms, wolf man forms and a resistance to magic. Very few werewolves reach tier 10 because becoming tier 10 requires the werewolf in question to kill another; either human or werewolf, but most werewolves refuse to kill just to become tier 10. We also kept the traditional myth that werewolves’ weakness is silver - is a werewolf touches silver it burns them and causes unimaginable pain and in extreme cases can cause death. All silver burns leave scars and silver scars are different from normal scars as they tend to be quite silvery in appearance and the skin often flakes a bit and they can be highly painful. We also added onto the lore of the werewolves that they originally came from the realm of the Twilight Forest (based on another Minecraft mod) and this is the reason behind their resistance to magical spells and effects. Werewolves also need to have meat in their diet; they are essentially part wolf and the wolf part of them needs to be fed meat. If they don’t eat meat they can quickly get very sick and ill.

Now that I’ve talked a little about werewolves as a whole, I’m going to briefly talk about two of my favourite werewolf characters that we’ve created for the world of Datlof; Wren and Alph. Alph is (for most of the story) the alpha of the largest pack, the one that Lewis hired as security for Yoglabs and Wren is his closest friend and second in command.

Alph goes by the name Alph because he hates his given name: Gabriel Jacob Bishop. He is a tier 10 werewolf who likes to make poor life choices and smokes weed. At most times he seems highly immature and the wrong choice to be leader of the largest pack in datlof, but when the situation calls for it he is very level headed and responds well under pressure. He makes an excellent alpha. Alph has black fur and blue eyes as a wolf/wolf man and being a their 10 werewolf means he is the most powerful tier of werewolf and can turn humans into werewolves. Being tier 10 means that he can also use his blood to heal other werewolves in life threatening situations. When we first created Alph, we designed him as a dark, edgy and mysterious werewolf and as we developed his character more and more he became more of a goofball and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Wren is probably our favourite character we’ve ever created. She is the strongest werewolf in the pack (even stronger than Alph) despite only being a tier 9 werewolf. This is partially due to the amazing control she has over her werewolf form even when she doesn’t have a moon charm, due to the circumstances of how she was turned into a werewolf. But she has no intentions to be the alpha of the pack and it took a lot of persuading from Alph for her to even agree to be his second in command. Wren takes no shit from anyone, including a demigod at one point (who she tore the heart out of 3 times in a moment of badassery) We like to joke that if Wren ever became a tier 10 werewolf she would become a god and the world would end. As a wolf/wolf-man she has grey/white fur and yellow eyes. Wren will never become a tier 10 werewolf because she adamantly refuses to kill anyone ever - unless of course the person in question is a demigod and can’t technically be killed by her. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this highly condensed explanation of werewolves and two of the werewolf characters we’ve created; both Wren and Alph will be appearing in the story (strictly speaking Alph has already appeared - he was the one who saw Lewis being kidnapped by Hat Films) and when they appear properly I will be doing more in depth explanations of them and their backstories because these two characters are some of the first characters we created for the Datlof world and we both love them to bits!

If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to ask me anything! And that includes questions about any of the other characters/Yogs in this world!

And to finish things off, I’m going to add this picture of Wren and Alph that my good egg friend drew (DameEgg) because I love it so much!

[bellringermal]

>Gerhman is Yharnam’s best house-waifu. Lol, why? Could you tell us about Gehrman's character trait in your headcanon, please?~ Describe the ways in which you find him attractive. I have many mistakes in english, forgive me, my mother language is not English Т_Т

I got this ask sooo long ago and always prioritize other replies not because I didn’t want to answer this, au contraire, because I wanted this little post to be one of those walls of text I can be proud of. Where to even start?  Buckle up!

There are tons of reasons why I like Gehrman as much as I do and the more I play the game, the more I discuss the character both with fans and detractors the more I fell in love with this awful, awful man. First of all, let’s analyse what the game tells us about him through item descriptions and dialogue and let’s leave all the ‘fanficcy’ stuff for later:

Hunter attire of Gehrman, the first hunter. Created before the workshop existed by making adjustments to everyday clothing, and later became the basis for all hunter’s garb. The hunter’s emphasis on engaging beasts with speed, and therefore of selecting lightweight attire, no doubt traces back to Gehrman’s own combat style. [Gehrman’s hunter set]

This description single-handedly sells Gehrman as the main responsible for the greatness of the combat system. He is the ‘lore reason’ why Bloodborne’s gameplay is so different from the previous Souls games. Dark Souls was already very popular before Bloodborne came out but my interest in the series was extremely limited. The lore wasn’t intriguing enough to persuade me to ‘suffer’ through the clunky combat of DS to get to it.  Bloodborne on the other hand, came with the kind of visuals and lore that, as a huge H.P Lovecraft fan, I was dying to see properly represented in a videogame or a movie. Bloodborne is what we Lovecraft fans were waiting for. And it’s not just beautiful to look at and interesting to analyse, is also hella fun to play. The first time I saw some combat gameplay for it, I thought it looked a lot like the Devil May Cry games of the PS2 era which were pretty great games.  When Hidetaka Miyazaki stood up during a brainstorming session with his colleagues and said “What if we give the player two weapons from the start? No no, I’m not talking about a broken sword and a small shield to hide behind. I’m talking about a badass transformable blade and a gun. Defence is not an option. Learn to dodge, or you’ll die.” that’s when the First Hunter was born, so to speak. Lore-wise, you have to thank Gehrman for the sleek combat and the stylish clothing.

The times of the Old Hunters were brutal times. We know this from the description of some of their weapons like the Beast Cutter:

This crude weapon relies on brute force and is regrettably inelegant, suggesting that the hunts of the earliest hunters made for horrific affairs, painted in sanguine black and reds.

or the Boom Hammer:

Crush the beasts, then burn them - the brute simplicity of the Boom Hammer was favored by hunters with an acute distaste for beasts.

and yet there is an element of nostalgia and sentimentalism in the description of the Old Hunter Badge:

This hunter’s badge, crafted in Gehrman’s time, has no practical purpose, except perhaps to assist in romanticizing the past.The badge was a special privilege for the hunters of the past, and should not be dishonored.It should be left in peace, unless one is truly prepared to assume the will of those gone before.

Elements that if you ask me, perfectly fits what we know of Gehrman’s personality. He is someone who clings to the memory of his glory days and the things he loved. The item descriptions put great emphasis on how carefully he kept said things.

Yet at the same time, he disregards the Doll. Why is that? Well, if you ask me, it’s because he spent ETERNITY trapped in the dream with her. But before Moon Presence snatched him from the real Workshop to trap him in the dream replica of it, he cared.

Although it has been lost for quite some time, one can still see signs of the care with which this tasteful ornament was once kept. [Small Hair Ornament]

He wasn’t that tired, that bitter, not ‘too old for this’ when Laurence beckoned Moon Presence. Perhaps he even volunteered to become the host of the Dream (not in my headcanon, but it’s a possibility) out of responsibility and the desire to redeem himself. He was the First Hunter after all, the one who started it all and who led so many people to their deaths. Including the woman he loved. And even if the Gehrman we met in the game is now a grumpy and creepy old dude who doesn’t give a damn about anything and whose only wish is to be freed from the dream, he does not falter. His sense of duty and his guilt are stronger than the bitterness in his heart. He will suffer the ‘terrible dream’ until the end of time if that means he can spare you the same fate.

Gehrman surely saw the hunt as a dirge of farewell, wishing only that his prey might rest in peace, never again to awaken to another harrowing nightmare. [Burial Blade]

Is he the perfect human being? Fuck no. But humans ARE flawed, and Gehrman’s dedication to his task is admirable, especially after such a long time. And that’s precisely why I portray him the way I do in my fanfiction.

He fits into the stereotype of the eccentric inventor with lacking social skills but he’s also the Old Hunters’ leader and founder. The lives of his students and of the scholars depend on him and with such a responsibility placed on his shoulders he HAD to grow some spine. Gehrman did not become the Hunter we know overnight: years and years of training and experience in the Chalices made him the formidable warrior to whom all Hunters must tip their hats.

Now, moving onto sillier and absolutely non-canonical reasons why I love this dude so much, here’s why Gehrman is the best Soulsborne house-waifu: [with pictures!]

He wields a scythe. And as we all know, only true waifus use scythes.

He REALLY loves dapper clothing. And has a weird fixation (among the others :P) for red lined capes/coats.

He makes the best meat stew ever. Maria really missed it when she went back to Cainhurst because not even fancy banquets are a match for Gehrman’s cooking skills.

Best teacher EVER:

He loves to read cheap romance novels. Especially the smutty ones hehehe.

He is not good with animals. Not even domesticated ones (he and Maria’s fluffy white cat, Ferdinand, openly hate each other)

He is the Mother Hen/Papa duck of the group for real. If an argument starts, he sedates it, he cares for the well-being of each member and wants them all to be in their best shape before entering the Old Labyrinth.

He actually listens to what his students have to say. His pride prevails at times, but if the mistake was his, he admits it.

“How to Pick Up Fair Maidens” was a present from Laurence to him. Of course, the student’s intention was for it to be a joke but Gehrman actually read it. Many, many times.

He looks gorgeous in a dress. (Don’t ask me. Ask Maria.)

Laughs at his own jokes while being aware of how bad they are.

He is very fond of his Burial Blade. He made replicas for his students but the one he wields is very special and went through so many modifications as time went by. He proudly considers it his masterpiece.

He had an existential crisis after realising that Queen Annalise, who looks only a few years older than Maria, is actually his age.

One day, a meteor crashed next to Byrgenwerth and his first thought was to forge blades from it. Because why the fuck no.

He has a thing for melodrama. As if the huge ass scythe wasn’t a clear sign of that.

He was raised by Dores and Edmund who are the best dads in Yharnam and that’s a fact.

Micolash and Rom got together after 3 weeks. It took Gehrman almost 2 YEARS to find the courage to say  s o m e t h i n g to Maria.

He punctually forgets about his birthday and his students joke about the fact that he does it on purpose to avoid getting old(er).

The Small Hair Ornament was his mother’s and is very dear to him. Giving it to Maria was of great significance and she understood that, reason why she left it in the Workshop as her farewell gift to him.

Among the hunters, Gratia is the one who makes the best impression of Gehrman. And is pretty hilarious to watch.

He is, let’s face it, pretty hot. Even in his late years, he kept that handsome face of his, a face that rivals that of Prince Freakin Lorian… aka the hottest dude in DS. (I’m not insinuating that they totally reused Gehrman’s model, nono)

..aaaand I’m pretty sure he’s shredded and covered in sexy scars. Oh and he’s tall. Very tall. Dayum.

I mean, in a fandom that has affectionately nicknamed Bloodborne ‘Old Men Thirst: the game’,  it’s a CRIME that Gehrman doesn’t get the attention he deserves. (At least when it comes to ‘fangirlism’. Lore-wise and from a pure gameplay standpoint I’d say he’s one of the most beloved bosses in the franchise.)

His boss theme is honestly one of the best pieces of game music I’ve heard since the glory days of PS2.  It’s so different from all other tracks in the OST, so minimalistic and yet so powerful…! Reminds me of Kingdom Hearts and old FF’s music. Bloody hell, who’s cutting onions? I want it to be played ad my wedding, funeral and resurrection ceremony.

[ciathyzareposts]

The Black Gate Bonus: The Books of Britannia

One of many in-game books that make in-jokes and build lore.

         I’d have to look through my notes to see what game first offered full-text books–not as plot devices but just as random background flavor and world-building. It might have been Ultima VI. But even if they appeared in earlier games, Ultima VII is the first game to treat them this extensively, with at least a couple of dozen different titles found on desks, nightstands, and bookcases throughout the homes and workplaces of the Britannian people. The castle alone had more than 15 different books.

     Ultima VII admittedly doesn’t do as well with its books as many later titles. Many of them are goofy, or simply analogues of real-world titles, and not the world-building tomes that we find in, say, The Elder Scrolls series, the Infinity Engine games, or The Witcher series. Still, they’re fun and deserve some additional attention and analysis.

I thought I’d use this entry to organize that analysis, adding new books as I find them. I’m excluding some “plot” books that don’t have much text (like Morfin’s register of venom sales). I’ll add notes to future entries when this one has been updated. The books I’ve found so far are:   The Apothecary’s Desk Reference by Fetoau. A book that accurately describes which potions have which effects. Very useful.

The Art of the Field Dressing by Creston, with a forward by Lady Leigh. It has some advice about cutting cloth into strips to bandage wounds, something that actually works in the game. While Lady Leigh is later found in the game, I don’t believe Creston is.

The Bioparaphysics of the Healing Arts by Lady Leigh. The bible for in-game healers. I believe Lady Leigh will be found later in Serpent’s Hold.

The Book of the Fellowship by Batlin of Britain. The first page of the game manual–the one time it makes sense for a real-life book to appear in the game.

Chicken Raising by Daheness Gon. A relatively useless instruction manual for raising chickens and producing eggs. The anatomical advice seems accurate, but I’m not sure how it helps in-game. Found on the shelf of a farmhouse, which makes sense.

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang by Ian Fleming. The real-life 1964 book by the author better known for creating James Bond. Lead Ultima VII writer Raymond Benson later went on to become the official James Bond writer from 1997-2002.            

With a couple of syllabic substitutions, this could easily have been a James Bond title.

          Collected Plays by Raymundo. An anthology of plays by the guy who runs the theater in Britain. Play titles include Three on a Codpiece, The Trials of the Avatar, The Plagiarist, Clue, and Thumbs Down. “Raymundo” is the in-game avatar of lead writer Raymond Benson, and at least three of these plays are real plays written by Benson. Clue is a 1977 musical based on the board game–a full 8 years before the Tim Curry film. The Plagiarist and Thumbs Down are more obscure; I’m not sure when or if they were ever staged, but they were published as short stories by Amazon Shorts in 2006. Three on a Codpiece is described in-game as a performance art piece in which audience members “tear an undergarment into tiny pieces, after which they are placed in funeral urns and mixed with wheat paste . . . then the audience may glue the pieces anywhere on [the actor’s] body that they wish.” One Ultima site suggests this might be a reference to Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece (1965).

A Complete Guide to Britannian Minerals, Precious, and Semi-Precious Stones by B. Ledbetter. The book discusses some of Britannia’s natural resources, including veins of gold and lead. It is notable for a paragraph on blackrock, a “recently discovered” substance with little practical use, rumored to have a “profound effect” on magic. This will of course become a major part of the game’s plot. I don’t believe Ledbetter appears in-game. I thought it would be funny if it was the guy who runs the jewelry shop in Britain, but his name is Sean.

The Day It Didn’t Work by R. Allen G. A collection of essays about “overseeing a group of well-meaning misfits in a mechanical environment.” An obvious joke about Richard Allen Garriott and the staff at ORIGIN.                Everything an Avatar Should Know about Sex. This book is blank after the title page. Ho-ho-ho. Or maybe it’s not a joke and it’s foreshadowing the upcoming unicorn encounter.

            The Honorable Hound inn register. The guest list for this Trinsic inn has four recent names: Walter of Britain, Jaffe of Yew, Jaana, and Atans of Serpent’s Hold. Jaana is of course the Avatar’s companion going back to Ultima IV. I don’t believe the others are ever seen or heard from in the series.

How to Conquer the World in Three Easy Steps by Maximillian the Amazingly Mean. The ravings of a “megalomaniac cleric.” He plans to acquire VAS CORP (“Mass Kill”), which he thinks will make everyone fear him, and that not even Lord British himself is immune. I’m pretty sure that Lord British survives a VAS CORP (which is a real spell). Lord British doesn’t even die from VAS CORP IN BET MANI (“Armageddon”). Also, there are no “clerics” in this setting. As an aside, I wonder if employees of Vascorp Network Solutions know that to a portion of the public, their name means “Mass Death.”

Hubert’s Hair-Raising Adventure by Bill Peet. A real 1969 children’s book by a real author. It tells in rhyme how the proud lion Hubert had his mane scorched in a series of escalating misadventures. We learned about its presence in Britannia in Ultima VI, where Lord British spent every night reading it to Sherry the Mouse. I don’t know which idea is worse: that the adolescent Lord British was carrying the book while hiking through the English countryside, or that he later went back for it.              

It’s good that Lord British has priorities.

            Jesse’s Book of Performance Art by Jesse. A “controversial and eccentric Britannian actor” who has published a book of “scripts” for performance artists and argues that performance art is basically the same thing as acting. Jesse is an NPC in Britain who jokes about playing the Avatar and having only three lines: NAME, JOB, and BYE.

Key to the Black Gate. A cluebook to the game, found within the game (but without any of the actual text). Probably meant as a subtle in-game advertisement. Can you imagine needing a cluebook to solve this game?             

A crummy commercial?!

             Lord British: The Biography of Britannia’s Longtime Ruler by K. Bannos. The biography frankly acknowledges that Lord British is from another world. I wasn’t sure that was public knowledge until now. He entered Britannia through a moongate and became one of the rulers of the eight kingdoms of Sosaria. The people proclaimed them the king after he successfully dealt with Mondain, Minax, and Exodus. The book recounts his role in Ultima IV and Ultima V but ends just as the gargoyles become a threat in Ultima VI. Unfortunately, the text also re-affirms the idea that the Avatar is the same hero as the one who defeated Mondain, Minax, and Exodus–the dumbest retcon ORIGIN ever introduced.,           

Part of Lord British’s bio. A party of Fuzzies defeated Exodus and nobody can convince me otherwise.

              Mempto Rays: A Qualitative Study in Metaparaphilosophical Radiation by Mempto. Some rantings about Britannia always being bombarded by radiation “lethal to all non-living matter.” Probably meant as a send-up of pseudo-science in the modern world.

No One Leaves by R. Allen G. This sequel to The Day It Didn’t Work is a humorously-phrased paragraph about missed deadlines and forced overtime.

No Way to Jump by Desmonth. A treatise on tropes found in adventure stories. This is probably another in-joke about game development. After all, Ultima VII, for all its realism, does not allow the Avatar to jump. The issue continues into the present day and is found on TV Tropes as “The Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence.” Note that Ultima VIII does feature jumping and jumping puzzles.

On Acting by Laurence Olivier. Philosophical notes on acting “written by a noted thespian of a distant land.” The text notes that it was apparently “one of the many brought to Britannia by Lord British.” Why was the kid hiking with half a library on his back? Anyway, Sir Laurence did in fact publish a book of this title in 1986.

Play Directing: Analysis, Communication, and Style by Francis Hodge. A “respected textbook” written by “an eminent professor emeritus from a university in a distant land.” It is in fact a real-world book, published in 1971 by a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Probably someone that Raymond Benson or someone on the staff at ORIGIN (which was based in Austin) knew. Hodge passed away in 2008.

The Salty Dog inn register. This inn and tavern in Paws lists seven recent visitors: Addom of Yew, The Avatar, Jalal of Britain, Tim of Yew, Blorn of Vesper, Sir Dupre, and Penelope of Cove. Addom is a traveling merchant who later shows up in Moonglow and plays a role in that city’s plot. To my knowledge, Jalal and Penelope never appear in the game, although I think Jalal appears in another register. Tim of Yew is also an unknown (there was a bard named Tim in Ultima V but he’d be long-dead). Blorn is an anti-Gargish racist who we later find in Vesper. The idea that Dupre recently visited a tavern is entirely within his character. The most disturbing entry is that someone is wandering around passing himself off as “The Avatar.”

Thou Art What Thee Eats by Fordras. A nutritional analysis that pre-dates the Atkins crazy by suggesting meats and vegetables ahead of carbohydrates. The author recommends certain foods in order, and I think it roughly corresponds with how filling those foods are in-game. 

The Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon. This is a real book by a real author, originally published in 1984. As best I can tell, it’s a real book about English grammar and syntax, but all the examples are vampire-themed and there are vampire illustrations. If there’s something deeper going on, someone’s going to have to tell me. I suppose if it actually gets people to read a book on grammar, there are no bad ideas.             

Go figure.

           Tren I, II, III, IV . . . XVII. An autobiography by “the obtuse mage” which “reveals Tren’s life in all of his incarnations as he continually strove to possess more powerful beings.” As far as I know, we never meet a mage called Tren, nor do we ever see an application of magic that involves possession of beings. 

Up Is Out by Goodefellow. A treatise on gravity and mass, including “falling apples.” It’s a clear analogue to Isaac Newton, but I otherwise don’t know if the title and author are a reference to anything. If Goodefellow is an actual Britannian trying to research physics, his life is going to be rough.

Vargaz’s Stories of Legend. This anonymous book is subtitled Reasons Why One Should Never Build Doors Facing North or West. The book has two stories, one about a plague of locusts foretold by Father Antos (Ultima II and IV) which destroyed houses with north-facing doors. The other tale suggests that monsters fleeing sunlight are more likely to flee east and thus invade houses with west-facing doors.

The Wayfarer’s Inn register. This tavern in Britain lists five recent guests: John-Paul of Serpent’s Hold, Horffe of Serpent’s Hold, Featherbank of Moonglow, Tarvis of Buccaneer’s Den, and Shamino. I later found Shamino shacking up with an actress, so he probably only had to stay for one night. I don’t believe Tarvis or Featherbank appear in the game, but John-Paul is in fact the ruler of Serpent’s Hold and Horffe is his Gargish captain of the guard.

What a Fool Believes by P. Nolan. The book only has a brief paragraph, describing it as “the story of a bard, a blonde, and a bottle . . . a classic tale of the war between the sexes.” There’s a song of this name, of course, recorded by the Doobie Brothers and Aretha Franklin among others, but it doesn’t mention a blonde or a bottle and has no association with anyone named “Nolan” (although, in a weird twist, the R&B artist Nolan Porter did cover the song, but not until 2011). 

The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. The real book from the real world, except that in the real world, the author is L. Frank Baum. It is given a quick summary in-game. I assume it’s in Lord British’s castle because I stole it for him as part of an Ultima VI side-quest.

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