#anyway. theyre parallel lines to ME.

[bericas]

GIVE IN.

[faaun]

oh my god u rly are everyone you've ever loved !! for better or worse !! a part of you becomes them!

[oogaboogaghosttt]

ok wrestling is dirt pits by ethel cain is sooooo raph and leo coded. to me.

[mainfaggot]

just watched challengers at the cinema w my little sister. it was so intense wtf

[waywardsalt]

Have you ever thought about how Linebeck describes Jolene as "crazier than a rabid squid"- only to then be possessed by a literal rabid squid later in the game?

Cause I sure have- especially after seeing a lot of your BellumxLinebeck stuff

mmmmghmm im gonna be honest i haven't thought about it much at all

linking it to my bellum x linebeck thoughts, im not too sure what to make of it in context with my other linebeck notes and w/e

there's also my idea that linebeck has a special interested in shellfish and by extension squids, and the idea of him having a weird thing for bellum, and just... enjoying sealife, and it's kinda of...

he compares her to a rabid squid to link in order to i think... offer a shorthand explanation of what she's like, and i think it (with some other stuff) is kinda just another little peek into how he might feel abt her?

i mean he also compares link to a dog in that one letter? i'm not sure where im going with that one. i dont think linebeck particularly likes dogs

i'm not sure abt the link between that and him getting possessed, jolene is kind of just... there a lot of the time and doesn't really do anything except 1) show that linebeck has enemies and 2) show that people know about link's quest by the end, linebeck generally references sea creatures a few times in ph

relating to bellum x linebeck, i dont see him comparing jolene to a squid an indicator of anything in relation to that, with linebeck having a thing for bellum its more of like. there's a lot of complicated ideas i have with what goes on between them during bellumbeck and bellum being a squid thing is more linebeck having a bit of a monsterfucker streak and having a bit of a thing for like. being tied up. as for literal squids he kinda just likes them as food and to dissect and learn about

like i think 'rabid squid' is more like linebeck just tossing out some derogatory shorthand to explain how he thinks of jolene as some fucking. violent annoyance he has to deal with that he doesn't fully understand

tbh i see the comparison but imo it comes down to a difference in characters and interactions and histories, there is the rabid squid thing (and i think in the manga too theres a vague parallel drawn ig) but im not. sure. what there is there just beyond. linebeck talks about sea creatures and wants to get the fuck away from jolene

i'm not entirely certain what you've been thinking about with that comparison, but i haven't been thinking much about it and it's kinda. eh ig???? its something

[vaugarde]

been talking w lex and man ngl ive been ragging on lionblaze but i dont really like jayfeather either. hes not worse than lion but hes also just so shitty to dove and ivy and also gets abusive to a literal orphan child and is shitty to the other disabled characters. and i hate how he gets a pass on all that bc “oh he breaks the mould and is funny and its internalized ableism”

[du-hjarta-skulblaka]

S1G are playing 100xResist and I am SO into it I have. Absolutly no idea where its going they're on what I assume is the second or third act? (Post the events in the prologue) and. Genuinely no theories in loving it

[4b9]

shinkiro is a skatebeetle song does anyone hear me

[chainreh]

they halfbaked every single infinite wealth villain so they could put all their energy into cooking with the gaiden villains‼️

[kichona-s]

Hereby requesting facial structure rant

ok for those who dont know this is reference to my post where i cry about george's beautiful fucking face at 2am

this is pretty fucking specific and also pretty long so i wont clog your tl with it so its under the cut

OK FOR GEORGE. Personality and everything else aside he has my most favourite face out of the entire grid (sorry guanyu) BECAUSE. LOOK AT HIM. THERE SO MANY NICE ANGLES AND ITS SO NICE AN LONG AND HIS CHEEKBONES??? THE JAW??? his nose also fits his face really nicely ok but the key is to not look at him head-on you need to get the side profiles and the 3/4 views because FUCK. i love so much theres so many points of interest for his face also his chin juts out really strong which looks lowkey kinda funny in some pictures but it really adds to the whole angleley bony face structure he has going on anyway. george my number 1 fav face the only thing im not a big fan of are his ears rip theyre too round for the whole angular coherency BUT THATS FINE IDC

MOVING ON TO MAX VERSTAPPEN (this is not done in a ranking order btw i havent drawn the whole grid so i cant properly rank everyone) ok like im gonna be real with yall. i thought he was fucking ugly as shit when i first got into f1. like i looked at his photo and was like ??? ig he wins a lot lmao OK BUT THEN LIKE A FEW MONTHS AGO I KEPT GETTING MAX STUFF ON MY TIKTOK FYP AND I WAS LIKE. HOLD ON. HIS PERSONALITY KINDA CUTE ASF. ok yea basically i gaslit myself into loving his face (either that or charles possessed me). for max im way too drawn to his lips (@loquarocoeur bro u know this lmfao) and ngl anyone who read the notes in my face breakdown u could probably tell but i love his lips??? so much??? gonna keep it pg here but he should suck on more things other than the twisty redbull can straw things

still on max but i really like how fucking square his face is. its so refreshing to draw. also did you notice that he has a small ass forehead?? bc he does. he looks wrong when i draw his forehead too big its kinda funny (looking at YOU oscar). i also really like his ear shape? it bends pretty low so it looks kinda cute and i try to make sure i draw it properly lmfao. special note to when hes looking down but then his eyes look up and holy smokes it brings out his nose bridge and the eyebrow bone thing SO WELL???!! anyway i want to eat him

for oscar uh. his face is oval? i guess?? after all the oscars ive drawn youd think i have more to say but i dont :( his face is pretty and also sometimes a pain to get right but other than that nothing too much for me to rant about. OK BUT HIS HAIR??? LOVE HIS HAIR I LOVE THE FUCKING SWOOPY THING IT DOES (it also makes my life WAYYY easier bc i can just draw the swoop and most people know its oscar yay for good character design). also everyone is right he does look like a cat. a cat with a massive fucking forehead. also whenever i draw him i remember that hes only three years older than me and its pretty scary ngl! thats hitting a bit too close to home for my taste! hes cute though and ive definitely drawn some banger oscars so one love

NOW FOR LANDO WHOOOOIMABOUTAMAKEANAMEFORMYSELFHERE! ok firstly his face is like a V so i always need to remind myself to bring the sides of his face in more compared to oscar. also did you know his eyes are a bit lopsided? theyre on different parallel lines im telling you go look at the 2023 official driver photos its So Bad i want to cry (that was also my first introduction to him so. i thought he was fucking ugly too). his face is really interesting to draw especially with his eyebrows that fade in and out and are really fucking bushy in the middle LMAO. do i love his face? nah. is it fun to draw? yea pretty fucking fun ESPECIALLY because he somehow suits all the funny shit i wanna put him in like dresses and skirts and bikinis (and also @cx-boxbox is an enabler istg half of the landos ive drawn probably wouldnt exist without her) also his ears look pointy from certain angles and i think thats really cute so i always draw them pointy :))

for charles uh i dont like drawing his hair its a pain. nice face i guess

LASTLY MY ONE AND ONLY!! THE MAN WHO BREAKS ME OUT OF ARTBLOCK REPEATEDLY!!!! ZHOU GUANYU!!!!!!! he's just very cute to me i love his stupid fucking eyebags AND ALSO THE WAY HE SMILES IS ADORABLE I WANNA PASS OUT :(((((( i dont draw his non-chibi version as much bc whenever i do i feel the need to make him Perfect (because hes my fav yknow) so i tend to just. not do it. unless i need to cure my artblock then i draw him so idk hes like my pc reset button. anyway i love zhou and i love looking at pictures of zhou and if he doesnt get a seat next year i will probably cry. also shoutout to sweetcorn the bestest most adorablest cat (wins out jimmy and sassy btw i dont care sweetcorn is the best fight me)

comments questions and arguments are all encouraged i stand firm in my stances (for now at least we'll see again 6 months later)

[taeiris]

okay guys here’s my crazy unsupported st5 theory that is mostly just me projecting my need for madwheeler bonding and drama and angst also byler duh

disclaimers: i never make theories so this is extremely messy probably, i know jack dookie abt writing shows i think of this as my own little version of what i would think would be very cool to happen, if this has loop holes dont ask me anything bc idk either

OKAY LETS GET ON IT

so first things first here is what i am taking into consideration for the theory to happen:

• mike pov, self reflection and introspection (he is gay and in love with will byers okay)

• madwheeler bonding, theyre both complex n misunderstood

• the upside down isnt just one dimension, i came up with this bc of how different the ud looks now

compared to when henry arrived.

to me theres like an umbrella dimension (yellow one) and others under it (blue one/hawkins ud, the void, etc)

this is also lowkey supported by the silly boobie diagram the writers posted abt

OKAY PREPARE FOR THE WORD VOMIT

in this silly theory of mine, a new dimension variant of the ud will be revealed in season 5, serving as a parallel to the void. this is where max is

OKAY another thing is this is also heavily based on those “leaks” that were going around twitter (for me at least) earlier when the strike first started. i remember a few of them claiming that we would get a deeper insight into mike and his own things, so this is my interpretation

this would serve as another vanishing, not really bc its shorter, but this time mike will be getting stuck in this other dimension, eventually finding max BOOM madwheeler serve

i mean look at them. the potential is insane

ANYWAYS

this dimension is like a combo of all the other ones, picture it like the hawkins ud, with the void’s wet floor maybe

lets go back to the fact max is here, this is her coma nightmare, its like this purgatory dimension vecna put her soul in

in this dimension inhabit your ghosts

this overwhelming, haunting, tormenting realm in your mind where you are constantly confronting all your bad memories, maybe this is kind of how vecna keeps max under his grasp, no happy memories allowed

okay so, mike gets there. how? when? i dont fucking know this is honestly just word vomit fanfiction to me

at first hes confused, scared but mostly confused, picture him screaming for wills name (the parallels) at first it’s empty and eerily quiet, but as he accepts it, the ghosts start coming in.

he gets BOMBARDED with these bad memories, some of them he cant even remember because come on, bro is always neglecting his internalized feelings/monologue in fear of what they say about him

this is where we get his pov on the whole will and eleven situation, amongst other things (like the way he’s constantly stressed thinking about the safety of the people he loves)

for a moment we see him break, bc these ghosts are LOUD and MANY

but it stops

max is here, she’s like “MIKE?”

“MAX?”

shes been here for a fat minute, she knows how to handle these ghosts in fact shes been going thru them one by one ever since, because shes done hiding. and she suspects that the only way to get out is by confronting them.

max saves mike from his ghosts, explains that this place is seemingly a purgatory with levels of memories and ghosts to overcome

this is how we get our madwheeler bonding we so graciously need, as they are part of eachother ghosts since theyre so similar it makes the other mad

this is how our complex misunderstood characters are broken down, explained to the audience, while also discovering the mystery that is this new dimension where at the finish line they might just figure out how to defeat vecna.

because they will

after overcoming the ghosts they find the place that vecna didnt think they would reach as he was so sure they would break and collapse on their own madness

think of it as how el found the source in season 3

or how max found vecnas lair after running away in dear billy

except this place is vecnas actual mind, they can see hear and feel what vecna is thinking, his plans and everything

mike wonders how will feels being able to feel this all the time

will feels this all the time

will is always connected to this piece of vecnas mind, to this source

he can always hear vecna

until he suddenly hears max… and mike and theyre calling for help

theyve figured out key clues on how to defeat vecna, and they have an idea on how to get out. this is how will’s connection comes in handy

mind walkie-talkie

maybe thats what this theory should be called, idk

-

so thats how we get our byler confirmation, madwheeler bonding like never before, mike focus, and the key to defeat vecna

at least in my head

i know this was messy and all over the place but it was very fun to explain and drop all my thoughts ive been vomiting on the gc for months now

let me know what you think, what you would add, if theres anything you think will support this theory?

its all just a theory, for fun! pls keep that in mind

thank you if you’ve read this far🫶

[emotsper]

SO after my szai explanation ask went absolutely insane and two people added their own stuff to it, I am not obsessed with szai thank you very much

anyways, point is that i watch a lot of music videos in my freetime, and while watching watashi wa, watashhitachi wa here are some szai moments that may be overinterpreted but!!!! who cares we're all insane anyways

so first of all the fact that airi got this line.......

second, these two lines

AND LAST THE FACT THAT AIRI WAS THE FIRST ONE TO LIGHT UP IN "there are many things I want to protect"

stupid fruits i love them

oh god dont make me started on song lyrics bc they absolutely devastate me ok . this time thankfully i remember to put the read more but anyways. click only if u gaf enough ab szai bc i do. (also i am not converting u its ok im just crazy enough to remember specific parts of the covers bc they make me insane)

ik the "covers aren't exactly canon" is pretty much accepted on a good chunk by the franchise but it doesn't mean it cant make u crazy.... here are a few cases of crazy ass lines i can think of with a more recent one. starting off with haruai's superhero.

1. HRAI SUPERHERO

this one makes me go insane bc as pris pointed out in the server we're in before, airi sometimes in a sense compare shizuku to a goddess with how pretty and gracious she is and while it can be seen as exaggerated, we can kind of see that she also meant it even in a way that shes not aware of. and shizuku is there to remind her that she's not a god and neither is airi, the one she wants to love 🥲

2. MMJ DEEPSEA GIRL

this one is a bit more straightforward, except now the szai and mnhr parallel(?) is also included. but we'll talk ab szais part only ofc.

(first chorus) airi shutting herself in the shadowy beyond just like her act of moving away from the idol stuff due to her being marketed less of an idol and she disliked it despite her fame rising up, and shizuku who. do i even have to say it. fell in love first.

(second chorus) shizuku had a line before this that reads as "deep sea girl, purposefully falling down" where she starts to doubt herself as an idol when airi lashed out on her back in mainstory, and airi who still haven't moved on her hope of her being a real idol ever since she left her old group up to the point of the confrontation with shizuku 🥲

3. Flos

GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL theyre both clearly feeling guilty over dropping off their past idol work especially after airis proclamation of them being rivals when they debuted 😭 im so.

4. I'm a loser!

🥲🥲🥲🥲 airi being the first one who acknowledged shizuku as a real idol, and so is shizuku who acknowledged airi as a real idol, and it got better with them acknowledging each other as their ideal idol.... coughs coughs coughs co

5. Ice drop

🥲 again i dont have to explain this one. the . ough

okay im not gonna do every single comms im just doing the ones i remember from the top of my head 😭 but theres definitely way more crazy ass lines from their songs and yeah. that i am we are line points back to the event where shizuku was worried with her self image after airi lashed out on her and it lasted long enough until the color of myself event where she starts to show more of her true self, not the perfect elegant idol shizuku but the more clumsy and imperfect shizuku :") i love them your honor

[verdantlights]

Playlist Tiiiime

Toki

Clove

Seraph

Horizon

Ichor

THEYRE FINALLY HERE!!! ive posted tokis playlsit before, but hes the only one. not to mention ive updated it since then :3

ALSO!! pay attention to seraphs and horizons playlists, each song has a parallel on the other playlist and they should all line up!! there are quite a few crossover songs for them too!!!

anyway tags, no pressure to respond or listen!! @aakaneeee @rockwgooglyeyes @bluemoonscape @junebluues @alien-til-i-stage @sotogalmo @tsukacchako @pwippy @waterydream @nottoonedin @apriciticreveries @starry-skiez

[mazzystar24]

hi its birthmark anon! weird lore from me i guess i dont mean to trauma dump because my dad is fine lmfao but i HATED that scene because of the “your dad is still alive” line. my dad had heart issues when i was a kid to the point he needed open heart surgery and i remember so clearly my aunt saying something similar to my mom in front of us when he was hospitalized. my mom said she couldnt make thanksgiving dinner because my dad was in the hospital and she had to take care of me and my 3 siblings who were all pretty young kids (i was 11 i think and my younger brother was 9. i remember thinking my dad was gonna die) and my aunt was like “at least you have a family”. we didnt see her for like 5 years after that lmfao

also the “you guys need your own hospital wing” line also frustrated me because i had my own health problems as a kid (im alright now) and people ALWAYS made those sorts of comments to me. i didnt even register the daddy shit until later and that only made the scene worse because while it felt like buck was trying to lighten the mood and make it something they have in common but tommy dismissed it AGAIN. like its not even about sexual jokes to me its about him being an asshole in every scene he’s in 😭

anyway thanks for the birthmark clownery i doubt kim will return but we had fun 🫶 this whole discourse is dumb because the scene just sucked. if they wanted me to believe tommy gave a single fuck they shouldve had him come to the hospital abd they should also address the role he played in the gerrard shit for hen and chimney because they HAVENT and it drives me NUTS

anyway love you bye

Hi birthmark anon!!

Dw Im always down for a good trauma dump like one of my friends and I legit never spoke to eachother before despite being in the same class for a year but only became friends because a cancelled class led to us trauma dumping to eachother for our first proper conversation for like 2 hrs

Omg can’t believe your aunt said that that’s actually so iffy, but yess exactly the “your dad is still alive” line was just so so bad and I hated it sm like idk if you saw my replies on my other post or not cos I put it in much more in depth way there but like I too am a traumatised girlie and if someone said that shit about my bio dad I would literally lose it cos it’s one of those things that get said so much to traumatised people and it’s honestly a big no from me

Like sure SOME traumatised people MAY regret not fixing it but also it might not be fixable and you don’t know the situation and also maybe they won’t either way that’s their prerogative

and sometimes what’s right for them at the time isn’t what’s right for them long term and all these things are fine

Like me personally if my dad dropped dead right now I would genuinely celebrate and feel not a single ounce of regret and that’s fine and id deck anyone who said it’s not

Like if Tommy has his own trauma and feelings about his dad and their relationship then that’s fine but this sort of imposed rhetoric on another traumatised person is just a no from me

The hospital wing line is another thing that I didn’t see mentioned but bucks face DID flip but that’s a whole other debate yeah

See that’s the thing like I know I have Tommy loving followers but I personally dislike him cos they haven’t gave him (imo) substance or like enough other than sardonic comments and shit

Rip our fun with the Kim and buck parallels you’ll always be famous🫡

But yeah like even if people liked Tommy and bucktommy I feel like they can blame the writing or execution or context but like overall not liking that scene it’s not just about hating Tommy or bucktommy imo

YES THEY COULDVE PLAYED IT SO DIFFERENTLY IF THEY WANTED TO DEVELOP TOMMY AND BUCKTOMMY AND IT DEEPLY CONFUSES ME WHY THEY HAVENT IF THEYRE CARRYING IT INTO S8

Anyways also love ya byee🫶🫶🫶🫶

[palmviolet]

Hii, not wanting to seem weird or bother u, but what happened to Parallel Lines? It was a work in progress of yours and It was steddie so maybe thats why u never finished It, but did It have anything cool in It, i love music aus even more If theyre in the 70 with lots of acurate facts 😭😭😭😭

omg... parallel lines... i'm so pleased you remember that lmao this made me go reread the 5k or so words i had written for it. i'm afraid to say i'm not all that pleased with them (given my style has changed a huge amount since 2022) but the base ideas are so much fun — steve as an ordinary guy who put his passion for music behind him at his dad's behest, dating nancy the rolling stone reporter who interviews eddie munson, top of the world as the guitarist/frontman for marchwarden, a huge hard rock band with a three-day residency at the roxy to kick off their third us tour. nancy brings steve along backstage; steve and eddie hit it off. they spend the whole tour talking over the phone; when eddie gets back to la, things evolve.

the idea was that the fic would span three volumes and several years. this all begins in 1976; by 1978, they're broken up and eddie is living in london having written a breakup album, including the song 'parallel lines.' this of course is not the end of the story: steve and eddie get roped back together by robin, who's an up and coming artist under the same label as eddie, management attempting to make them each other's beards, trying to convince steve to join her band. they meet again at the marquee club in london when eddie gets her a supporting gig there.

steve eventually gets into music himself, at the perfect time for the ascendancy of synth in the late 70s/early 80s and the decline of the golden age of rock — steve on the way up and eddie (relatively) on the way down. add to this queer culture, love songs with the pronouns changed (or not), and david bowie. steve as a solo artist names himself vanity; robin's band (which includes max) is called giraffe; eddie's is marchwarden (as i was going for a more 70s vibe, led zep style, vs. corroded coffin as a very 80s metal name). at some point nancy starts dating photographer jonathan, probably breaks that off and winds up with robin instead. eddie's manager is lonnie until lonnie turns out to be a piece of shit. everybody's lives are tangled up together and it would have taken me years to write lmao

so yeah. i will not be writing this, probably, given the steddie interest is lingering only long enough for me to finish better by you and no longer. which is a shame, but c'est la vie.

thank you for reminding me of this! it's fun to talk about.

have the interview that would have opened the fic beneath the cut, anyway:

MW. So, let’s talk Parallel Lines. It’s quite different from the other songs on the album, isn’t it? Almost a surf-rock feel to some of the chords.

EM. Well, let’s not go quite that far… [laughing] But yeah, I guess it is pretty different. That’s not by design, necessarily, it just kinda turned out that way as a result of the lyrics and my idea behind the song.

MW. Which is…? I mean, it sounds to me like a breakup song, but that seems a rather simplistic explanation for a songwriter whose catalogue includes — expanding for the readers, here — an entire concept album about an evil wizard.

EM. [laughing again] Shit, well, thanks, Mick, I’m honestly very flattered by that. I mean, like, sixteen-year-old me, all teenage angst and growing my hair out of a really bad haircut, he would have died if he’d known I was writing a song about a breakup. Like, he’d totally have killed me! And maybe I’d deserve it! But, yeah, you got me, I wrote a song about a breakup.

MW. The lyrics aren’t simplistic at all, though, I mean, the mathematical concepts, the metaphors… I think it’s safe to say no one’s going to mistake this for your typical breakup song. There’s something almost hauntingly analytical about it. 

EM. Hauntingly analytical… yeah, I like that. It’s sort of an attempt to process something that happened in a way that doesn’t come all that naturally to me — or, I guess, to anyone. Who relates to a breakup through math, right? But if something totally alters the way you see the world, it’s like… a total paradigm shift. Sorry, more math speak. You wanna know the ironic thing, Mick? The person this song is written about hates math. Like, loathes it. Even more ironic, I absolutely hate it too. I had to call my friend at Caltech, he’s majoring in Physics, I had to ask him to check my math…

MW. [laughing] I’m impressed at your dedication to accuracy. So is that the point, then, trying to connect with someone in a language that neither of you understand or enjoy?

EM. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, that’s the thing with parallel lines, right? Never the twain shall meet. Always separate, doomed by fate, if I can put a horrible little cliché in there for you. Magazines love that shit.

MW. But they run side by side still, don’t they? Going in the same direction?

EM. There is that. 

MW. You’re famously reluctant to talk about this song, if I may say so, yet you’ve been incredibly generous with me — thank you! Is there a reason for that, or did you just decide that now’s the time?

EM. Now’s the time, I guess. Different country, different magazine. Maybe I’m hoping the person it’s about won’t see it, [laughs dubiously] if you can believe it — who knew I was such a coward? Had to cross the Atlantic before I could talk about a song I play to tens of thousands every night.

MW. Well, I’m honoured, whatever the reason. One last question on it, before we move on to that killer performance on Top of the Pops — I think you changed a great many British women’s lives with that one — any relation to the Blondie album?

EM. Y’know, I get asked this a lot. I mean, I’ll tell you the usual stuff: I have great respect for them as artists, the album’s great, the song’s unrelated, we just happened to release them within a couple months of each other. Debbie’s great, we caught up at the VMAs the other week and we’re totally cool about the title. But what I will add, since apparently I’m in a, um, confessional mood — something else ironic is that the person the song’s about probably prefers the Blondie album.

MW. Well, what can you do? Birds do like Blondie. 

EM. Sure. Sure they do.

— from ‘Eddie Munson: Parallels to the Past’ Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 16th August 1978

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

@intertexts okay before i answer the second trigger question i NEED to talk about the trickster/clarence/mal backstory. fuck . okay. you know the drill. nhw essay under the cut:

ok first off this is the required listening for reading this post bc ive imagined all of this in the form of an animatic (trickster pov). there was like a 4-hour span of time at work one day last week where i just had this song on repeat and zoned out thinking abt this while i did absent cleaning tasks. so thats how u KNOW im insane

ok so i still havent thought of a name for the city. but ive been thinking about this city as a parallel equivalent to the spirit world. ironically, its a city that doesnt have a huge parahuman population, so its relatively quiet. the cape presence is pretty small. the lead hero in the city is Whisperer (aka clarence albert), a striker/mover/stranger. he can fly, turn invisible (NOT intangible!!!!!!!!), and if he can get a hand on someone he can calm their emotions just by touching them. it's effectively like a tranquilizer, except theyre not asleep theyre just not feeling whatever strong emotions led them to causing trouble in the first place. (thinking abt this like a touch-based version of the calm emotions spell in dnd, its concentration so the effect is limited to when hes actually touching someone. when he lets go, theres a small window of time before they reorient themselves and are back to whatever they were feeling before) (this is to parallel the idea that the whisperer can pull chaos spirits out of possessed people like william did to atlas).

anyway. distracted. Whisperer's partner was originally a rogue named Ghoul, a huge hulking Brute cape who didnt really cause many serious problems but was a huge disturbance to the local people just beacuse of his monstrous appearance. Clarence confronted him and Ghoul dropped his changer form to reveal mallard conway, a man who had only recently triggered and was essentially.. lost. directionless. he didnt know what to do with his powers, since they were so... different. hes a master/changer/brute, with the ability to create strong illusions and influence people in his regular form, but can change forms to be a hulking monster with brute strength. essentially both brains and brawn in one guy. clarence asks him something along the lines of "well if you have nowhere else to go, why not come wiht me?" and basically. takes him under his wing? i guess? its not like he trains him, but just by being around clarence, mal learns what its like to be.. good. not selfish and heartless. clarence isnt much involved with capes from other cities since their own is pretty quiet, so his main focus is to just kind of keep the peace. keep the balance.

this goes on for... a long time. clarence and mal (whisperer and purgatory << mal's new hero name) are basically inseparable. call it love, call it brotherhood, call it a one-sided hero worship crush on mal's end. who knows. theyre secretive, not in the public eye much unless they need to be. UNTIL. some new villain triggers and is an IMMEDIATE s-class. now i have a couple different ideas for how and why exactly the trickster triggers and where he comes from but honestly im okay with leaving it a mystery for now. one day he shows up like a natural disaster. it becomes a situation VERY similar to nilbog- the prt forces get called in, they try to take him down with non-capes first since hes a high leveled master and they dont want him to immediately gain super powerful puppets to control. this,, does not work and basically just feeds him fodder to make his numbers grow VERY quickly. Whisperer and Purgatory (mostly whisperer) can't sit back and watch this Trickster guy just keep absorbing innocents into his masses and use them to do his dirty work anymore, so Whisperer wants to confront him. I think Purgatory tries to hold him back at first (mainly due to the fear of losing him, but he words it as "we're not supposed to, if either of us get caught it would be so much worse for everyone involved"). Whisperer does not listen to him and goes anyway; hes convinced that with his power, all he needs to do is touch Trickster and everything will be so much easier to handle once hes out of commission. the fight DOES NOT GO THIS WAY. clar and mal actually are able to fight their way up to the trickster, clarence gets a hand on him.. but his power doesnt work. theres this moment where the trickster freezes like maybe something did happen, but then clarence realizes like... he cant feel anything. i think usually he can tell what sort of emotion he's repressing when he uses his power; sort of innately understands what sort of effect hes having on a person, but with the trickster it jsut feels like. nothing. theres nothing there. and then he starts laughing and breaks the silence and turns around to grab clarence and hurt him in some way. mal is preoccupied; hes fighting off puppets as theyre sort of swarming the area, allowing clarence a moment to use his power... and then he sees whats happening.

i dont think trickster is particularly strong on his own. but. i mean. his name is trickster. i think he probably keeps some sort of secret weapon on him. knives in his coat to make the "ive got a trick up my sleeve" joke. he slashes clarences throat, doesnt even bother trying to control him. what would he want with a power like that anyway? clarence is basically his antithesis- calming instead of chaos. that sort of power is almost like an insult to him. so he kills him. clarence is laying there bleeding out, trickster is laughing over him, mal drops everything and runs over to clarences side, trying desperately to talk to him or stop the bleeding or ANYTHING. he dies in mals arms. mal fucking. fully snaps. instant brute form, he wants to tear the trickster limb from limb, kill anything that moves around him etc etc etc. in his rage, hes not really fighting very well, hes leaving himself vulnerable, theres a lot of openings etc etc. trickster fucks up his face pretty bad (this is how he gets those big scars like he has in canon).

however, MALS powers are more fun so he doesnt outright kill him. its harder to take control of him both because of his current rage state and also the fact that hes also a master and part of mals power kind of cancels out some of the tricksters control. so instead of puppeteering him right away, trickster forces him out of the city. he of course tries to keep going back in, but at that point the PRT has made the decision to put the city under quarantine and just let him take it. they keep mal from going back in. (clarence's body is still in there. he doesnt even get a burial.) . you know how mannequins main thing is that he was originally a hero that was driven crazy by the simurgh attack that killed his wife and daughter? yeah thats what happened to mal. he was just totally unreachable after this. clarence basically saved his life, was his best and only friend, was his mentor, was the person who taught him how to be good... and now hes gone. what else does mal have left. he goes back to being called Ghoul. he joins the s9. his rage and grief eventually settle into a manipulative calm, and he starts using his master powers more than his brute powers, to get what he wants from people.

aaaand then . years later. he sees the new wards team on tv, and theres a hero with a cape that looks achingly familiar. surely it cant be him, clarence is dead, has been dead for years... but there he is. theres his costume. this new hero is even ghost-themed. as smart and manipulative and greasy as mal is i think theres a fundamental piece of him thats just. really irreparably unhinged. seeing something that reminds him of clarence again drives all common sense out of his mind and he defaults to "thats him" even though he would logically know that its not. and thats why hes so obsessed with wibby. he knows this new cape calls himself Wraith, but like. capes change their names all the time! mal even did it himself once! maybe if he calls him Whisperer enough times, he'll remember who he is.

theres some more to this plotwise that mostly just deals with. the plot. but i feel like this is a good setup for mals whole thing :]