#anyways I need to write a prequel to the game because they do

[monabee-draws]

Thinking about my Crow Rook Emmaline and how her and Lucanis' best and worst parts of their lives lined up so opposite to one another.

Rook is a happy, healthy and beloved Circle apprentice around the same time Lucanis becomes a Crow fledgeling. While he's thrown into the deep end and beaten under guise of training, Rook is desperately happy to be out of the alienage, well fed and finally learning to be literate.

Then, during the early years after Rook is made Tranquil and serves in the Circle, Lucanis grows into being a Crow. He's on good terms with his close soon-to-be Talons Teia and Viago, and he and Illario aren't thinking too hard about Caterina's eventual choice of First Talon. It's probably the happiest part of Lucanis' youth, and the unhappiest part of Rook's (if she had the capacity for anything but endless neutral indifference.)

Then when Rook joins the Crows, Lucanis is reaching the height of his fame as the Demon of Vyrantium. Everyone knows his name, Illario is off with him somehow, Caterina is ever more demanding. But he's doing good, he's completing his contracts, he's protecting his family. Rook is busy being perfectly thorough, efficient, and scaring the shit out of Viago who - despite his wariness at hiring a tranquil to his house, feels some degree of sympathetic responsibility for Rook. Maybe he sees the inevitable endpoint of their profession in Rook's blank compliance. Maybe that makes him hold Teia a little tighter in the morning light. Either way, both of them are teetering somewhere between downfall and joyful belonging, but remain passing ships in the night.

And then, air. Rook is no longer Tranquil. She is free and brazen and drunk on life. She is learning to wield magic in service of her work. All the rage and the screaming on the inside bursts out and makes her sloppy, but she keeps being given passes for it so long as things get done. All the while, Lucanis is being mourned. Missing, suffering, trapped physically the same way Rook was trapped mentally.

Two more years pass like this. In her freedom, Rook goes too far, messes up the Antaam job, and doesn't regret a moment of it. Viago sends her away, care even in that. In the end she brings back the brother they thought they'd never see. For the first time in their lives - world-ending events notwithstanding - both Rook and Lucanis are unbound, supported and safe. And they get to be that way together.

[districtunrest]

ONGOMGOMGOMG. (share thoughts. any n all. you know i need to know. PLEASE!)

HAHA sorry. anyway:

I didn’t really like it and I’m sad about it. ☹️ even though there were some interesting ideas and cool new characters, I was taken out of the story too much to fully enjoy them. it read to me like the laziest (most rushed? least edited?) yet most forced storytelling of the series, which sucks bc it’s supposedly the REAL backstory of my favorite character. but I just couldn’t shake my doubt while reading that this was what we and Katniss were missing all along. too many details (that I memorized by heart as a tween and have made everyone’s problem since) didn't match up, even with the card-stacking*. so I just don't believe this was always the intended ‘real’ story when it’s so hidden from the trilogy... imo, SC went back to it with a mission statement in mind after recent current events (and, more tellingly, after Ballad) and did her thing. which is fine, that's her right - it's just, when this whole book seems more like a writing workshop thought experiment than the intended backstory, I will treat it as such. bc as it stands, all the callbacks & connections & Everlark parallels in the world cannot replace Katniss & Peeta watching the highlight tape of his Games, Haymitch telling them what he did was “almost but not quite” as bad as them with the berries, Katniss finally understanding who he is in that moment, and Haymitch later admitting the loss of his loved ones were because of "that stunt [he] pulled with the forcefield" (which is. simply not true anymore with all of his stunts in and out of the arena). like say no more, that’s good enough for me! it’s what I prefer and what I find more compelling than what’s revealed/subverted in Sunrise. and tbh that discrepancy makes Sunrise unfaithful, at least in my eyes, for all it relies on references to the rest of the series. 

now, obviously I had mixed feelings about this prequel in the first place, and my concerns/reservations mounted with each excerpt, only to be confirmed now... but I did try, okay!?? haha I’d told you and several others privately that I really wanted to like this book and I was willing to set aside my gripes if it was good - but it had to actually be good! instead, the book was exactly what I was afraid it was going to be *and* suffered a drop in quality. I found the narration underwhelming, dumbed down and repetitive, and not evocative of Haymitch's voice. even things I thought there was NO WAY would actually happen and I was just being paranoid - but then they did, lmao. like, it was a letdown for me personally *and* it didn’t even do it well enough where I could at least respect it and oblige, lol

overall, it was just too off for me. by answering and explaining so much, it ended up taking away a lot of the trilogy's charm and intrigue - and did so in a way that left a bad taste in my mouth. it made me view Ballad in a more negative light, too, tbh. so I think going forward I’ll just consider it a weird spinoff that is secondary to the main/trilogy canon. 🤷🏻‍♀️

(some more Haybitching under the cut)

tbh, what guts me the most is what SC chose to do with Haymitch’s voice & character, where she watered him down to what he needed to be for this lesson & this plot. it’s frustrating that the dangerous, cunning, arrogant boy that Katniss sees in the highlight reel and can easily recognize in adult Haymitch is all an act. the character we thought we knew is not present here, sacrificed to make yet another point about propaganda, and that’s a crying shame. and his deterioration in the final chapters is so underwhelming (as are the death scenes 🫣) - I've read that same story countless times but told better by people who love the character as is and weren't on a time crunch for a movie deal, I guess.

Sunrise!Haymitch skews shockingly immature and moralistic and hates the idea of being a sarcastic, selfish “rascal." but since when are we calling surviving and fighting to get home in an unthinkable situation selfish? that’s now assumed in Sunrise’s logic, where instead having a ginormous alliance against the Careers with no exit plan (big ‘WHAT IF ALL THE TRIBUTES BANDED TOGETHER AND DIDN’T FIGHT?’ energy) is much smarter and nobler than going it alone and heading in one direction to get to the edge for no reason other than bc nobody had tried it before and trilogy!Haymitch, we know, is an out-of-box thinker & strategist. I know he & Ambert were operating under the notion that they were going to lose no matter what and had their own plans (which. hmm) but it was just so oddly accepted by the Newcomers, too, who had no such threat from Snow. they were so willing to be selfless martyrs and band together when they all know at the end of the day there can only be one survivor - which was heartening in a way, sure, but it almost seemed trite? and again, needlessly moralistic in an established world like Panem, where these things happen every year...? not even self-righteous (Katniss' words but with Haymitch's backing!) Peeta 'not a piece in their games' Mellark thought so narrowly. Idk. I might have to mull that one over more. but anyway, then Haymitch trying to rescue Maysilee is turned into a mini redemption arc in post, when all it was in the first place was a glimpse into his protective & caring nature underneath all the bravado, which was surely part of Katniss’ deepening understanding of him. but Sunrise wasn’t interested in exploring that, either, or even honoring it. okay

and I can’t get over how SC had to kind of retcon the final pages of Mockingjay to fit Haymitch’s epilogue into it, which didn’t help how it already rang so hollow for me, I hate to say. it’s not even done well, containing the most rushed, wrap-up-everything-before-the-deadline writing I’ve ever seen from SC (and it STILL doesn’t read like Haymitch’s voice to me :/). some things can just be; they don’t need some big, loaded, tragic explanation. Haymitch can glibly call Katniss ‘sweetheart’ once, bc she’s been sullen & hostile to him and he is in fact sarcastic (the horror!), only for it to go on to become an actual term of endearment by the end - like, that’s lovely in and of itself. why weigh it down further? who asked for that? I know I didn’t. 

most insignificantly & pettily of all: geese do mate for life - as in monogamously, meaning they stay together until one of them dies. then, they mourn and find another mate. just putting that out there, lmao

*how tf was Haymitch able to kiss his token and set up a bomb and throw it over the edge and put his token back when we know he was convulsing from shock by the end? to where Silka was able to start staunching her wound as she waited for him to die? if him going into shock was taken from footage anytime after, the arena would've been quaking/on fire around him?? Idk fam. it just feels off.

[sirsealery]

finished sotr a couple hours ago .. lots of things to say but unfortunately unable to articulate. am digesting everything i essentially just speedread (i started like .. what was it it was saturday night LMAO im gonna have to reread it before actually saying anything) umm im so grateful that pdf is a thing otherwise i wouldve been waiting till literally like .... april ...... goodness gracious

anyways i just wanna yap a bit abt the bingo card i made (it sucks but idc its silly i had fun) SOTR SPOILERS !!!!!!!

pleaseee tell me if i missed anything

okay so to yap a bit. i fr thought we were gonna get a glimpse of maude ivory but finding out she died makes a lot of sense?? somehow?? feels kinda like the singer girls of the covey are truly gone until katniss comes around. and i cant stop thinking about how lucy gray, maude ivory and lenore dove all have gray colors ?? smth to think about considering the covey love color sm. there has to be smth more to it but im so fried

idk why i even put "capitol propaganda against haymitch" considering its legitimately the most redundant shit ever ... suzanne literally said the book was abt propaganda 😭😭 ignore my dumbass pls

was super surprised to see effie even though i was hoping for it? i love effie but her in this book had me kind of like "hm." like i liked it?? i LOVED her coming in to cover for proserpina but she seems so different in this book you know ?? and i really thought she was same age/younger than haymitch kinda funny to see her as older

wanna talk about the d4 kid called fucking URCHIN suzanne i love you but WHY .... isnt it suffering enough to be in the games why would you do this to him. and SPEAKING of stupid ass names .. merrilee. merrilee??? absolutely jawdropping how ironic and funny as fuck that name is every time i think of that poor girl i cant help but laugh

on the topic of, im very upset that i never got to know whether sid was short for smth ... haymitch and sid. SID.

i was jumpscared by the ai reference i thought that was a nice little bit .. a bit disappointed i didnt see anything that stood out to me as specifically talking about palestine though? maybe im stupid and missed it or the book was already essentially done by the time the conflict started but ... yeah. was a bit surprised by that because i really thought that suzanne's "i will only write when i have something to say" would be about palestine .. im not the smartest sue me

lovedddd all of the music in this book. i feel like the prequel books have really laid it on thick how important music is to .. everything and i love that so much as an (amateur) (yes ive been doing it my whole life yes i suck ass) musician and longtime sound enjoyer .. i love "the old therebefore" so so much its prolly one of my favorite hunger games songs and im super happy we got it here even if it was a sad scene

need someone smarter than me to think about the scene where haymitch and maysilee are sitting in the katniss plant and saying smth like "one of us has to win" or smth along those lines idk because the presence of katniss there CANNOT be random or for no reason ... it cant just be a mention for the sake of mentioning it it HAS to be important ...........

very sad we didnt get lesbian/sapphic maysilee. very sad day for us all. rest in peace maysilee donner you wouldve loved chappell roan and regina george. very happy we got a confirmed queer character in this series though (shoutout clerk carmine)

it has to be some kind of vile little thing that lenore dove died to a donner candy .... someone please it HAS TO BE

ok bye

[carlyraejepsans]

Hey, if you don’t mind the question. What’s your opinion on Undertale Yellow?

8/10 game. pretty good at being a game, not so much at being an undertale story. the gameplay itself was fun, the area/puzzle designs too, the soundtrack was untouchable it literally gave me the same rush i felt hearing sburb initiation for the first time. minor NPCs designs were fun but the primary cast was too monotonous, tbh. (all the main characters have tall gangly very detailed designs save for like, axis). its attempts at landing Undertale's humor were quite often successful, but it held back on exaggeration and caricaturing its original characters which took away that oomph from the canon game. the character writing was... lacking. which is a pity.

i love fucked up women so i was really disappointed that every single one of ceroba's actions/ideas/influences on the story were nothing but an extension of her dead husband. when you take chujin away she's just... A Good Wife and Mother. or starlo's past love interest ig. i mean both dalv and martlet's backstory were tied to her family and we never see them interact at all. but they do have an established dynamic.... with the dead husband. again. UGH. she's just really wasted as a character (she and chujin should've BOTH been scientists and she should've continued the project AGAINST his wishes after he died. she's the main cast character, she should be the driving force in the narrative, not him—even if chujin sets the plot in montion by inventing the serum first).

I'm not a huge asgore fan—not that i dislike him, he's just not a character i care about all that much—so congrats to this game for making me say "he would NOT fucking say that". the "fuck the royals" subplot thing was really unnecessary. actually, that was a bit of a recurring thing in the game. suddenly introducing these Huge Social Dilemmas like labor exploitation, anti-monarchic sentiments, misogyny (bro who on earth "needs to take a wife" this is Undertale) everyone realizing that clover is a child, over exaggerating the violence at stake... while also attempting to maintain Undertale's careless, bouncy treatment of the situation. that's... not how things work. undertale is able to maintain its light tone BECAUSE it doesn't let you take those topics seriously, they're not meant to be. the fairytale-like king, the battles, the child protagonist, they're all set dressings for the REAL story and REAL power imbalance it wants to highlight: that between player and game characters. everything is in function of that. you take that layer of separation and make everyone aware that theyre violently attacking and killing a literal child... that's not. a good thing dude. if it's not gonna impact the tone of the story, why acknowledge it in the first place? it's just unnecessary

anyway flowey neutral run was really, really fun. his dialogue writing all throughout the game was very solid and i had a blast having him around. however, they shouldn't have tried to anticipate his character development. this game is a prequel, you can't do that without undermining his arc in the canon events. pacifist should've had him doubling down on his frustration from the neutral ending. i do all this work for you keeping you alive and you make the same mistake i did sacrifice yourself for them??? are you BRAINDEAD???? what I'm saying is he basically should've thrown the biggest tantrum of his LIFE. oh and in the NM run he should've been terrified when he lost control of the SAVE file. this is the first time it's ever happened to him and now he's gonna die for good. he wouldn't have gloated like he did.

if you want to hear more criticism along the lines of what i said then this post by the fantastic @andreabandrea covers a lot of what i also felt during the game. i know this might sound like a lot of negativity, but the fact remains that UTY was an absolutely phenomenal work of fan creativity the likes of which we have never seen before in the fandom. considering the quality and polish, i thought it only fair to approach it as the piece of art it is and give it my genuine thoughts on the matter.

overall, still a really fun way to spend the afternoon with a pal. so. thumbs up

[madame-mortician]

Phone Guy is the one saying “It’s Me.”

So I’m gonna preface this by saying, this is just a theory/headcanon, so if you disagree with me that’s fine. Nothing in FNAF is 100% canon anyways so it’s okay to have your own personal interpretations, this is just mine.

Also spoilers for FNAF: The Week Before.

In FNAF 1, there’s a well-known Easter Egg of random instances of “It’s Me” being seen across the game.

It’s still, to this day, unknown what this means with there being many theories to discuss it. The most popular I’ve seen is the one where it’s the Crying Child trying to communicate to Michael (the night guard) that it’s him, but since he’s possessing Golden Freddy he can only communicate in this way. This theory is fine, I don’t dislike it or anything, and it does make sense considering that sometimes “IT’S ME” will appear alongside the Golden Freddy Easter Egg, so there is some evidence to support this theory, I just want to discuss my personal theory.

So first up, the entire reason I got this theory was because of the new FNAF book, which if you didn’t know, it’s a prequel that takes place the week before FNAF 1, where you play as Ralph, a.k.a Phone Guy. Now the book isn’t officially out yet, but it did get leaked, and one of the leaked pages is the official canon ending. In this ending, he records his final phone call for Mike before dying and being stuffed into one of the empty suits. He “wakes up” but realises he cannot move or do anything, and that he is dead, and he thinks to himself “It’s me” when realising what that corpse-like smell is.

From this we can tell a few things. First up, it is canon that Phone Guy was stuffed into one of the suits, which we figured but now we have confirmation. Secondly, he isn’t just dead, he’s actually still conscious and haunting the area, he just cannot move and can only wait. He can still sense things since he can smell his own corpse, and he can see the backstage area, so he is fully conscious.

Now the “It’s Me” thing here isn’t entirely the same, as here it’s him realising what that foul odour is, instead of, y’know, trying to communicate with the night guard, but it is still notable since this is FNAF after all.

Anyways here’s the main part of my theory, since we know Phone Guy is definitely still back there and unable to move at all, there’s no way he can try and get help, so he’s just sitting back there, waiting. We get to the next week and Mike starts the night shift, hearing none other than the phone calls Phone Guy had left behind for him. Whether he hears these calls or just knows that his shift has started, he’d realise this is his only way of getting help. Sure he left a message asking Mike to check backstage, but whether or not he’ll actually do that isn’t clear. He can’t get up and physically go up to Mike, so what can he do?

In FNAF, it’s clearly canon that ghosts can change what people see, albeit in small doses. The posters can change to newspapers about the missing children, the paper pals disappear and seem to teleport, Golden Freddy and an oddly positioned Freddy can appear on posters, these are all clearly things that they’re doing with “ghost powers” or whatever, since there’s no way Chica is getting up and sticking newspapers to walls. Now although Phone Guy isn’t technically possessing anything, he’s still a ghost, so he too would have these ghost abilities, and would be able to do small changes in the scenery. What can he do though? Write out a whole message saying he’s stuck in the backstage and needs help? He’s probably not super powerful as a ghost, he can’t even move, so he needs something short and sweet to get the guards attention. So what does he say?

Now you might be wondering why he would say this, but I think not only is it short and easy to spot on those shitty cameras, but it would actual relate to the left behind phone calls. Think of it this way, we don’t get an actual canon time where the “It’s Me” stuff happens, obviously it must happen in canon we just don’t know when since it’s random in each playthrough. Now for most of the nights, what’s going on, ignoring the robot murder stuff? The phone calls.

His only way of alerting Mike and getting any help would be to use his ghost powers to send a short message, either on the cameras or on his face (?) and I believe it’s him trying to say “It’s me, I’m the guy on the phone talking to you.” How successful this ends up being is unknown, but it’s very likely Mike had no fucking clue what “It’s Me” meant and mainly ignored it until Night 4 where he literally hears Phone Guy’s death. Perhaps then the “It’s Me” stuff would make sense.

Another thing is what you see when you get the in your face “It’s Me” stuff.

We see an up close shot of Bonnie and Freddy, Freddy noticeably has bloodshot human eyes. Now we know it’s canon that if you die in FNAF, your corpse is stuffed into the spare Freddy suit backstage, and it’s likely Phone Guy was also stuffed into a Freddy suit. So here’s the thing, I believe this would’ve been his last moments, kinda flashing in our face. An animatronic all up in his face (jumpscare) and then the Freddy suit he was stuffed in, with this human eyes. He’s trying desperately to show Mike what happened to him, but it’s hard and obviously doesn’t explain much.

Whether or not Mike actually searched the backroom and found his corpse, it’s unknown but I feel like he wouldn’t just leave him there.

Of course there is one major thing that doesn’t make much sense in this theory… If the “It’s Me” message is Phone Guy, why does it sometimes play before Golden Freddy appears? The only thing I can think of is it just being a coincidence but that’s lame so I’m gonna admit defeat with this one part unless you guys have any theories.

TL;DR: Phone Guy is the one saying “It’s Me” throughout FNAF 1, because he is trying to tell the player that it’s him on the phone, and that he needs help, he just doesn’t couldn’t make it more specific due to his situation.

[vigilskeep]

do you ever get the impression that cassandra had a bigger role in the game(s) but due to retcons and a cut dlc she was reduced to a seeker who likes romance novels? she showed up in kirkwall with a number of subordinates, clearly had authority and was someone important, but in inquisition she is just a companion who is also "right hand of the divine," whatever that means. i really feel like she was intended to be a more major character, probably an antagonist, but isn't.

i don’t think cassandra was ever intended to be an antagonist, except in the way she performs that role at the start of the framing device in da2. we’re supposed to identify with cassandra in da2 as she is slowly won over by the romance of hawke’s story. that’s not a character we’re intended to fear later. she also shows up at the end with beloved good-aligned companion leliana, which despite leliana’s behaviour during seb’s personal quest, would still feel like a baffling choice for an antagonist setup. the interrogation ends with both varric and cassandra wishing each other the maker’s protection during these grim times. we’re meant to feel like there’s a real problem cass is trying to deal with and needs help for

you’re right that the cut exalted march dlc is worth mentioning. it’s hard to say how which way that would have turned the narrative, but it seems hard to believe we’d end up with the divine’s death and the ensuing inquisition portrayed as they are now. cass wasn’t already canonised as a hand of the divine back then, was she? i don’t know if she would have been involved, especially as da2 specifically sets her up for the inquisition

but i think there’s a much simpler way to explain cassandra’s diminished character in dai: she suffers under the curse of the Gaider Woman

david gaider’s dao prequel novel, the stolen throne, introduces us to the textbook Gaider Woman. this is rowan guerrin, maric’s warrior fiancée, who you won’t remember from dao because after having cailan, she died of Dead Mother Disease. it’s a tough life out there in fiction. anyway, rowan is a warrior fighting for her country’s freedom, who immediately gets pulled into an absurd love square, struggles with her feminine side including putting on a dress to try to win her man over, and at the end of the novel, coming to the conclusion that her purpose is to provide a soft comfort to her king when the world becomes too much: “perhaps this was what queens did. perhaps they held their kings in the darkness, deep within their castles and allowed them that moment of weakness they could never show to anyone else. perhaps they gave strength to their kings, because everyone else only took it from them.” (she arrives at this directly after he murders his other girlfriend and she has to comfort him about it. yes, that’s as insane as it sounds. don’t read the stolen throne.)

anyway, the author of this book is the man who wrote cassandra, a fact which i guessed before i even looked it up. why is her violence never taken seriously as a threat or problem? why must she have a softer, more feminine side? why must the narrative constantly congratulate itself for giving you a Strong Woman? because the way cassandra is written is simply how david gaider feels about women. she’s a cookie cutter example of how he writes them, rowan’s far from the only other one

i think plain old misogyny is far closer at hand than retcons in creating the cassandra we ended up with. and also the changes in how dragon age wants to deal with the chantry, which is separated from the templars and not a credible threat in itself but a handful of bickering old women who cannot do anything effectively (You’ll Never Guess What Gender It’s Run By And What Gender The Templars Are)

[jinglyjangly]

Major spoilers

So shady sands got nuked by a random vault dweller because his wife took their kids, and he wanted his kids, and he was mad his wife found a settlement when vault tec was supposed to be the ones settling the surface…he was mad the ncr “did vault Tec’s job before they could” so he blew…the fucking ncr’s main settlement up

I wonder if it’s like “oh yeah he was a protag of his own mind pretty much” kind of jab but even then it leaves a bad taste in my mouth? Because it is insane video game writing and it’s definitely insane bethesda video game writing, but it fucks up a very integral part of two major games

And I hate how much like…yeah the BoS is back to being technocratic and more cult like in the show but it’s also still praised kind of? And the random, and I mean RANDOM, nonbinary BoS member that’s there for like, 20 minutes was just…a waste. A nonbinary person that really does nothing but just be there and hurt themselves to forward the narrative of the cis het protag. Honestly they’re there to piss of the conservative gamers but I’m not conservative and I’m pissed shady sands and the ncr got did dirty like that so in the end every fallout fan is mad

Like…the ncr went from a huge mega power that is basically a country, to being blown up by a dude? And they don’t mention the hoover dam and how maybe they were weakened from the legion/ncr conflict…which would’ve made it believable. Nada. They just say it this guy blew up shady sands so I guess it happened. It’s canon.

They just made the ncr seem so small after fnv made it feel so big and menacing in its own way with hundreds of named npcs with stories and it was so gooooood and they made it feel like a shitty dinky settlement comparable to fucking…like…diamond city

Idk it’s like 5am and the final episode just pissed me off. They should’ve just set it in New York or Florida and made up new factions instead of establishing canon endings to the most favored game in the series. Or they could’ve done a prequel to fo4 if they wanted it to tie in the games so bad.

The ghoul also has the best scenes and story but I’m…idk the drugs suppressing the “feral” disease is also a weird thing. It’s new to the tv series and what only in la? What’s it made of that no one else makes? And why the fuck did he have to eat someone. I liked the scene because it was kinda just neat to watch in a way… but it’s like “oh he’s a ghoul so he eats people whoOoOo” They never really…explain…if he like…needs meat or something and idk. I dunno. And cold fusion? Like what. Wha…uh. I fucking hate the idea of power being harnessed from tiny object. It’s just a lame McGuffin they can pass around. I would rather it be like…they’re fighting over a wind farm to harness power and they need like a scientist/engineer to fix it. Something that feels big and really.

Anyway, I’m fine with watching it until I think about it, and then I don’t like the plot. So it feels like fo4 all over again but I’m more mad because I feel like it ruined fnv’s ending. Which sucks. So personally I do not see the show as canon but as like, fan fiction to like…maybe a independent/house/legion ending for fnv when the ncr is super week and some guy just bombs it…because he’s mad at his wife.

Big ooof, a 8/10 until episode 8 and then it’s a fat 2/10…one star for goggins making another badass ghoul in the series and one for the dog

[lissomelace]

Would love to hear about “Learn Me Right” and “A Wilder, Wider World” if no one has asked about them already?

(Also thank you for tagging me in the ask game but unfortunately I’m sick as a dog rn and absolutely do not have the energy to think about my own WIPs 😭 I appreciate it though!)

Thanks for the ask! I'm so sorry you're sick, I hope you feel better soon.

Both of these are in the Point of Pride universe, currently tangentially in the works. Learn Me Right is the Russingon prequel/sequel to Gilded Silks and Linens. It's considerably more adversarial to start with, which is sort of why it's coming second--I didn't really feel my skills were up to that level of almost enemies to lovers, starting out, and with the groundwork and aftermath currently laid I think it's going to be a little easier for me. Most of the draft is scattered scenes and outlines at this point, but here's a little excerpt from what might be the middle:

“Thanks,” Findekano muttered. He couldn’t manage to find his enthusiasm, even now. He poked at the dish with the offered fork. Russandol sat down next to him. Findekano could feel eyes on him as he tried to convince himself to eat. His stomach turned. “So,” Russandol said after a long pause. “What is it?” “What is what?” Findekano asked, glad for the opportunity to stall for time but worried about the question. His fears were confirmed when Russandol nodded at the plate. “What’s wrong with my cooking.” “Nothing’s wrong,” Findekano said halfheartedly. “It’s great.”

It's going to be angsty in different ways from Gilded Silks and Linens, and I'm hoping the wildly different reactions involved won't make it retread too much of the same ground.

A Wider, Wilder World is further along in the series--the fourth installment, probably--and it's the Flight of the Noldor AU. I'm not going to get into too many specifics, because this is sort of spoiler territory for some of Gilded Silks and Linens, but I will stick a pretty benign excerpt beneath the cut if you like (mild spoilers sort of for how Findarato ends up after Gilded Silks and Linens, but I've been pretty clear he gets a happy ending anyway, so...):

“It isn’t good,” Findarato said, taking off his cloak to hang up by the door. He was out of breath, Russandol noticed. He must’ve run hard all through Laurelin’s bloom to get back to Curulonde. Findekano pushed off the couch. “Let me get you something to eat.” “I’m fine,” Findarato insisted. “Later.” He gripped the back of the couch. “Things are bad in Tirion.” “Yeah, that’s new,” Tyelkormo said from where he was grinding out notches in his arrowheads from his morning practice. Normally Russandol would have told him to do it outside, but… Well. Nothing was normal these days. Findekano disappeared into the kitchen, bringing Findarato out a glass of water, at least. Findarato took it with murmured thanks. Once he had drunk deeply, he set the glass aside. “Is Feanaro still gone?” “Yes,” Russandol confirmed. “He’s with Amme and Curvo, at Mahtan’s home.” He frowned. “Do you need to speak to him?”

I'm very excited to get into writing this more eventually, but there's a lot that has to come first!

[bonesandthebees]

Two more things before I start chipping away at my long analysis because they’ve been rotating in my head.

1. I am not getting over the implication (well it’s rather explicit) that Phil and Techno have killed multiple people (and taken turns doing it). Combined with Phil being familiar with being threatened… I kinda want a prequel of these two murder plotting their way to the top. I’m so glad we get a Phil pov. I love the besties. No hesitation, yeah you can murder that man I’ll be on lookout. You go get revenge.

And Wilbur killing is necessary because it’s the best excuse to break his moral ‘code’. He wants revenge, he feels threatened and wants to protect Tommy (and Niki and Quackity too in a way). His has a noble reason + his personal anger. This is the easiest it’s ever going to get to convince him to murder someone. And Phil has experience with this so he knows it’s something Wilbur will have to do if he wants to maintain his power. From a game standpoint it’s a good choice. From a father standpoint it’s an understandable choice but girl it’s not healthy.

2. From the moment Wilbur was in that ballroom with Niki on 1 side and Tommy on the other I knew what was going to happen AND I HATE IT /aff. If I wasn’t home alone I would have been screaming at him to choose Niki! He literally provides himself with every argument (including reasons why not picking Niki is dangerous when thinking about Tommy aka you cannot be sold out if the only people who know are also guilty, in which case he would be safe should Niki find out and should they drift apart (which he has no vision of the future, so he’s not worried about that, BUT I AM))

it’s so beautiful and good and frustrating and tragic at the same time. This is the point where he chooses Tommy over Niki. His alliance is made even if it isn’t really. His mental alliance has been made. And his chance to keep Niki is slipping. And yes I am actually upset about him going to Tommy and forcing him into this. That poor kid has enough trauma. He’s 13 and he helped murder someone (for his own safety) when he did not need to be (much like Wilbur actually). (Also he’s loyal like a dog geeez).

Anyway, I will repeat all of this in my big batches. But who knows when I get around to writing those with all the work stuff. So enjoy my brain worms. (I am Looking 👀 at the answer to my last ask).

-🌲

phil and techno certainly pulled a lot of... things off while they were both climbing their way up the ranks. I just love the absolute trust and understanding those two have with each other. one goes and murders a man while the other stands lookout, no questions asked. they've done this before and it's like a well-oiled machine at this point. murder besties <3

exactly, this is going to be the best introduction wilbur could ever get to pulling off something like this. he has a very strong reason for wanting schlatt dead, both with his own need for revenge and the future threat schlatt poses if he sticks around. phil can see this as the opportunity it is and knows that wilbur is going to have to pull something like this eventually, so he's doing the helpful parental guidance thing. with political murder. totally normal and healthy bonding activities with your 19 year old son.

once again, I'm thinking about the tragedy of rose!wilbur and rose!niki. there was no reason for wilbur not to go to niki. he had every reason not to go to tommy. but he was never going to choose niki. not after l'mannes. not after what he and tommy went through.

also just want to point out that there's actually zero evidence that wilbur had anything to do with schlatt's death. even an eyewitness account claiming that they say him putting something in schlatt's drink would have to be backed up by someone finding the vial in his cloak, but he smashed it to pieces the moment he got back to his room like phil told him to. there's no written correspondence about the plan because wilbur, phil, and techno only ever discussed it in person. and while an eyewitness accusation might be enough to get some people convicted, when you're accusing the son of the consil himself it's not. so unless some other evidence magically appears he'll get away with it scot free

yes you understand exactly what the point of that scene was. the entire scene was designed to show wilbur finally being forced to choose between tommy and niki. even if he hasn't admitted it to himself yet, he's now tied himself to tommy. and of course it wasn't fair to tommy whatsoever. wilbur had the option to go to someone else, wilbur had the option to not do anything at all and let phil handle it because phil told him he had alternative plans, but wilbur didn't want to do that. so he dragged the 13 year old into his murder plot and now tommy will have that on his conscience for the rest of his life. it's not fair to him whatsoever.

[eebeewrites]

Hi, i screamed when I saw you posted thinking it would be Alex and callons next angst chapter and sighed in relief when it was tali.

I then got to your hint about tali’s dad and screamed again because i immediately knew, thank you for instilling fear and sadness in my soul I love it. An emotional roller coaster, what a way to start the day.

~⭐️ anon

HEHEHEHEEHE that is coming but i may slow down when the angst happens because i want them to be happy and i have a really cute idea before everything goes to shit. i think they're gonna find a way to make it through their first year, then everything goes to shit, then we get angst (that poor tali walks RIGHT into. oh boy. im so excited to write that you have no idea.) Their new chapter is done, I just gotta edit it. We get some really cool mafia stuff but then we also get depression.

I also REALLY need to get back to Ronan's story, but I'm having more fun writing him as a side character right now/building out their entire family's lore. In Callon/Alex's next chapter we get more lore on him, his ex-wife, and we get littol babey adriel. so thats fun.

Anyway, back to Tali's dad. Tali's story does kinda give spoilers for that story, but that story is also like...450 years before this one? so...you know D:

However, it's...it's real sad. Like part of the reason I only posted two parts was cause I was like. I don't know if I wanna inflict this on people JKF;LDSAJKFA

If you've also seen some of the snippets I post from my book, you might know he was certified NOT having a good time before Tali came around. But he's like, mostly good now, so it's cool.

if I was atlus games Velathil Nerixi would be my Joker.

I am putting that man to WORK I have a prequel planned centering him, he's a major character in my main book, and he shows up in the second series (which is gonna be Alex/Tali/Callon/Ezra. we'll learn more about Ezra later he's got. his own deal going on.) Ronan's family is also connected to a lot of people in Era 1, but TLDR their family was one of four big noble families that got overthrown by the government French revolution style, went into hiding, rebranded, and now sell drugs and other illegal shit (which they were doing before as nobles. they just weren't as open about it)

i did my best to make sure I didn't accidentally retcon too much stuff because tying stuff together is SO fun for me. It's helping me with my outline for finishing the first series tbh, bc I have an idea on how I want the world to be for the second series.

I think it also just gives me comfort that he gets a good ending. It'll be spoken about more in Tali's story coming up, but...again, there's a really good reason he's hesitant about Tali marrying a human woman; he doesn't want him to experience what he went through.

but yes. my lore GROWS and i hope you enjoy it. I was really worried about things on here being too self-indulgent tbh, but the I remember that's why i made this blog in the first place. I hope you guys like d a l o r e

[azure-firecracker]

for the 40 questions: 29!!

From this game again!

29) If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

There’s honestly so many because so many writers have fantastic stories I’d love to build on, but @california-112 and I were actually just talking about this! I could honestly build on anything they wrote because all of their work is fantastic, but I’d love to write a prequel to Jet because I NEED TO KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING TO MULDER or a sequel to Lark because I CAN’T LEAVE MULDER LIKE THAT OKAY?!

Anyway read all of their stuff it BEGS for additions in the best way.

[charmwasjess]

🍬

for the ask game :3

THANK YOU! 🫡 for doing your part to facilitate my January procrastination!

🍬: post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Qui-Gon was an incredibly annoying person to be close to as an adult, and some of it because of exactly how Dooku raised him and the qualities he actively encouraged in him.

Disclaimer: I love Qui-Gon. He was my first favorite character and remains close to this day. And I realize the absurdity that I'm blaming the origin of this quality on the exact dynamic that I've written an absolute love letter to in my Burning Stars (Sitting, Milk Run+) series. A dynamic I cherish.

But: Dooku encourages Qui-Gon to trust his interpretation of the Force's will over everything - over the Council, over collaborating with the opinions of other Jedi, even Dooku's own opinion. (far from being strict Master, Dooku REPEATEDLY lets Qui-Gon steamroll him in both M&A and DJL, even on issues that he has understandable personal reasons to feel very strongly about) He praises and encourages his unconventionality, tells him his questioning the rules and the Council make him wise, and fosters a lineage sense of underdog troublemaker "us against them" energy, which doesn't hold up to even the gentlest scrutiny. (Yoda IS the Council, Dooku and Sifo are both on the Council, and Qui-Gon is asked to join the Council and declines, so who exactly is this big bad Council that their lineage is getting ganged up on by??)

Anyway, all of these things combine in a way that are fun to write about when he's a spunky teen going on adventures with Dooku, but turn out a very complicated adult in terms of interpersonal life. Have you ever met a person who truly prioritizes their moral and spiritual needs over even the smallest daily issue or communication? Admirable, but OFTEN ANNOYING. Independence and conviction as a Jedi are important qualities, but they tend to play out badly in Qui-Gon's personal life and his relationships. I think the very qualities that make him such an important Jedi and why some people think he could have been the savoir of the prequels also make him a HARD person to hang out.

We see this most often from Obi-Wan's perspective who feels deprioritized by Qui-Gon's focus on his convictions, everything from "sold my best robe for the good of the mission" to the painful moment with Anakin and the Council in TPM. But it seems to be the whole family. Qui-Gon has an apparently decade-long falling out with Rael because he makes a different call than he would have in a terrible situation, and Qui-Gon faults him for that. And as much as I believe there is fervent love there, his adult relationship with Dooku is not super smooth. He himself admits to putting off reaching out to Dooku after he leaves the Order even though he wants/needs to on an emotional level (Yoda just ASKED him to reach out because he's worried) because he knows he'll just get into a fight with him about their different opinions on the Jedi.

And again, I don't think ANY of this is lack of care or compassion on Qui-Gon's part - Qui-Gon obviously cares about all these people very deeply and repeatedly says so and proves it with his actions. He seems as frustrated by the failure of these interactions as anyone. And maybe the blame here rests on Qui-Gon's own personal difficulties in relationships and not problem with the strength of his convictions, but those two things sure tend to combine unpleasantly for his Jedi family.

[princessofxianle]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

well THANK YOU for asking, you are the first to!

tbh ive been meaning to do this on my main blog bc I take these wayyy too seriously lol but ANYWAY heres my top 10 faves (in no particular order) that I can think of (tbh theres prob more i forgot about, or i wanted to keep only 1 per fandom... except tgcf)

Huge Spoiler Warning: for ALL of tgcf, 2ha, aot, AND JJK MANGA!!!

1. Feng Xin (tgcf)

do i even need to explain this one? loyal to a fault, just a cute lil puppy, one hell of a sculpted archers back, and he's head over heels in love with Xie Lian (but tbh same) i have a lot of thoughts about him on a daily basis on this blog (and also theres the #fx backstory au tag)

2. Noé Archiviste (the Case Study of Vanitas)

MY BABY

the absolute bestest boy of EVER... with a LOAD of unprocessed trauma (yknow the typical stuff like seeing your childhood bff get decapitated in front of you) and a lot more to come once we find out how he kills his boyfriend best friend, Vanitas...

i ALSO think about him a lot but over on @noes-pillow

3. Sejanus Plinth (The Hunger Games: tbosas)

hated reading as a child... HATED it... picked up the og trilogy when i was 12 and i was a goner. The funny thing is i still hated reading for YEARS up until i picked up the prequel novel then in 2020, and now ive read all of tgcf, 2ha, and more fanfic than i could ever imagine... all because this stupid boy (i love him) chose to trust the WORST person as his friend, rip sejanus my baby

the movie is v good btw, if you havent seen it you should

4. Xie Lian (tgcf)

*Taizi Dianxia Fang Xin Guoshi General Hua Xie Lian*

how this man survived 800 years of being physically unable to die and never went insane is a mystery i will never be able to fully comprehend (aaand im in love with him... hmm i wonder why...)

5. Mihael "Mello" Keehl (Death Note)

the chocolate-addicted blonde boi that was my first anime crush... by proxy I must also add Mail "Matt" Jeevas because they are a package deal

these two are also the reason i started writing fanfic so they will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart

6. Xue Meng - (2ha)

*sigh* he's just everyone's fav peacock (yes technically the image is XM 0.5 but he had a cool ass bird so im using this photo bc its COOL anyway...) mengmeng is another one of my trauma bois who has lost next to everything and yet is STILL kicking ass and taking names #thatsmyfuckingsectleader so proud of you my son

also this might get me into hot water here but imma go ahead and say it...

this is what i wanted Jiang Cheng to be... (i LOVE my angy grape but...) through thick and thin, despite EVERYTHING, and even mo ran fucking abandoning him he will still call mo ran his "ge"...

fgjhdfhfdg THEYRE BROTHERS, OKAY???

7. Howl Pendragon (Howl's Moving Castle)

ok this one i just simply do not need to explain... if you think i do, go watch this whole movie and then there ya go thats your answer...

GENDER

8. River Song (Doctor Who)

aside from being the character that unlocked my unhealthy obsession with :) Main Character Death :) at the ripe ol' age of 8 YEARS (although Will Turner from POTC also helped on that front... Orlando Bloom my beloved) River's story was a stroke of absolute GENIUS from start to finish and i simply love how Alex Kingston played her...

"You don't expect a sunset to admire you back."

I just love the doomed ones, okay...

9. Satoru Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen)

look... theres *gojo girlies* uwu and then theres GOJO GIRLIES... i couldn't give 2 shits about how he's fan-serviced (tho im not complaining) but have you SEEN the amount of grief pumped into that man? he could explode in a fit of fucking insanity at literally any moment and take the whole goddamn world down with him bc what happened with suguru WASNT FAIR to him and satoru has more than enough power to go apeshit... but he DOESN'T... even after losing so many of his co-sorcerers... he still puts on a brave face to the end in order to protect the childhood of his students even tho his own youth was stolen from him during hidden inventory...

SEE? The DOOMED ones!

10. Levi Ackerman (Attack on Titan)

i read the manga during my last year of uni and when i tell you i SOBBED at the end... yes ofc for obvious reasons, but mostly bc my little Levi loses EVERYTHING. He is the SOLE survivor of the veteran scouts. He's missing multiple fingers, an eye, and the ability to walk. He was the strongest (yowaimo) but wasn't even granted the mercy to die at the end of his narrative! Broke my fucking heart.

BONUS: Morph (Treasure Planet)

he's a morph!!! nuff said <3

fin

[thenugking]

💧☄️

💧Is there a ship you wouldn’t write yourself, but love reading?

I’m really enjoying thesemortalsbe’s Tavtash fic A Little Wicked at the moment, despite having very little interest in writing Gortash romance myself (unless you count his thing with Lee as a romance. But even then it’s mostly just there to hold up Orin’s plot). Great fic, great characterisation all round, keeps Gortash appropriately Awful while exploring how a romance between him and an actually decent person would work.

I’m currently opposed to writing Tav/Astarion despite enjoying it because there’s already so fucking much of it and no one needs any more. But don’t be shocked if I eventually crack and write something for him and my first Tav, Val.

☄️Which Act of the game do you most like writing for? Why?

My only fics actually set during the game have been Act 1, the rest is prequel fic, and the post-canon Lae’zel/Vlaakith. That’s mostly just because I haven’t got round to later Act stuff though. I have a bunch of ideas for Act 2 and 3 Lee/Wyll stuff I want to write, for instance, but I wanted to establish their initial dynamic with First Rest before getting into the two of them Going Through It.

Anyway, apologies to The Acts but I think I like writing prequel fic best. Pretty much everyone was going through The Horrors before the game started, there’s so much fun to explore there.

[happymetalgirl]

Ghost - Impera

I should have done this months ago. I mean this album is over a year old now, but better late than never. I don't really feel a need to get too deep into the details on this album; it's been out for 15 months and has been discussed extensively. It feels weird to be writing about an album this late in the game. This isn't meant to relitigate old discourse about it that's basically finished at this point, I basically just want to add my two cents about why I feel the way I do about it and why I still want to talk about it. But anyway...

It was no accident that Impera, came at the end of the longest gap between full-length releases for the Ghost, specifically well after the COVID-19 pandemic took its stranglehold off live music. The band was on a holistically upward trajectory for the past decade, bigger sales, bigger sound, and, critically, bigger crowds. 2015's grand Meliora was already such a practically unrecognizable size-up from the spooky retro rock of their debut just 5 years earlier, and the band made their aspirations clear with each release LP and EP afterwards. Popestar introduced for the first time in the band's self-aware campy lore a new frontman not tethered to the mic stand by the excessive garments of the satanic pope, but rather youthful, limber, and lively, more mobile and able to herd and rally the band's increasingly larger crowds. And the subsequent full-length, Prequelle, committed to this new turn fully. If you thought Opus Eponymous was too silly and over-the-top, then you weren't prepared for the full-on arena rock parade that was Prequelle. Prequelle was and still is the campiest album Ghost has ever released. The band was fully aware, and it was on purpose. Soaring group choruses, lighter-waving power ballads, swinging dance numbers, sax solos. Ghost were making a B-line for the arenas, with the big songs to handle the crowds of those magnitudes. And it worked; it worked because Ghost's songwriting masterminds put in the work.

Pop songwriting is both easy and hard. The tried and true format is and simpler is usually better. It's not rocket science. The challenge, however, is not just writing a pop song, it's writing a great pop song. And Ghost applied a perfectionist approach to chiseling out killer hooks and sing-along melodies from the brilliantly simple fun arena rock anthems of Prequelle, and the results spoke for themselves. And then 2 years later it all stopped.

It stopped for everyone. And going off their consistent release schedule up to that point, Ghost probably would have had the follow-up to Prequelle out a year earlier, but there was no way they were going to put out an album in the height of the pandemic because Impera was absolutely made for the stadiums. When the touring industry rebooted and Impera dropped a year later though, it was clear that Ghost had made the most of their indoor time.

A natural continuation from and combination of the previous two albums, Impera harnessed the grandeur and bombast of Meliora and the infectious campy fun of Prequelle into the most arena-ready batch of songs the band has ever put forward. I got the sense that this album completely achieved Ghost's artistic goal that they've been building toward for the past 10+ years, and by the end of the year, with my numerous replays of it, I couldn't help but concede that Ghost had outdone themselves. Impera is their best work. Ironic that the band reaching a new summit would be with an album about the precarious rise and fall of empires.

Hard to say now if that theme foreshadows a fall from grace for Ghost, obviously I hope not. For as much as they play into their gimmicky image, Ghost are not in danger of losing their throne due to fans tiring of their goofy novelty. No, the image is the icing on top of the solid compositional foundation and not the other way around. It will take actual creative fatigue, a major misstep, or series of missteps to derail the Ghost train. Not to say a band nosediving from their peak isn't a tale at least as old as Metallica, but maybe that's why Ghost picked the theme for their magnum opus, to remind themselves to not go the way of the Roman empire, or Coldplay. And hey, it's not like anyone would say no to the job security of a career like Metallica's or Coldplay's either, however undeserved it may be. But more likely is that the lyrical content was inspired by the present moment. I don't think anyone would argue against the current times being historic to say the least.

I won't get into it too deeply because it's really not that complicated, but also I could spend a gratuitous amount of time going into every detail of why each song is so great. Impera really is the sum of a great many little details that show how much time and care was put into making every song complete on its own and within the context of the rest of the album. The whole album is a cohesive, fun, glorious exhibition of everything Ghost, and they made that clear from the soaring high note that Tobias Forge opens "Kaisarion" with. And like Prequelle, Impera runs the gamut of chugging metallic heaviness like on "Watcher in the Sky" to the soulful ballads and power ballads of "Darkness at the Heart of My Love" and "Respite on the Spitalfields", following a similar flow to the previous album that works as well here. Also, Prequelle may be the campiest album Ghost has ever released, but "Twenties" is definitely the most over-the-top cheesiest campiest theatrical-ist song the band has ever made, too cheesy for some fans even. Personally, I'm here for it, and I can't imagine being surprised by it either; I mean it's Ghost, a cartoonish horn section over chugging heavy metal grooves and comic book villain vocals isn't that giant of a step up from the corniness of "Kiss the Go-Goat", "Ghuleh / Zombie Queen", "Rats", or "Dance Macabre". The other singles, the marching "Hunter's Moon" and the snare-driven rhythmic "Call Me Little Sunshine", are also textbook arena rockers, and I personally love the throwback to the more retro staccato keyboard motifs of Opus Eponymous on "Griftwood".

I played the shit out of Impera all of last summer and I'll probably play it again this summer, it's that fun. Like I said, Ghost have topped themselves, and every band that reaches what feels like their likely peak has that existential crisis of where to go from there if the only way to go is down. A lot of bands, either due to the pressure of future expectations or not knowing what to do next, make a big leap of faith into the unknown. Or they try in vain to replicate the lightning in the bottle that propelled them to the top over the course of the rest of their comparatively stale career. Ghost may not have anywhere higher to climb on the mountain they've chosen to ascend, but I think they can maintain a longevity at this elite level if they maintain the focus on meticulous song-writing while ensuring not to fall into the trap of formulaicness. Like I said, Ghost is not built on the satanic pope outfits or the Papa Emeritus lore or on the anonymity they started with that the lawsuit from former members eliminated. Ghost is built on the song-craft, and that doesn't wear out. The question now is, will Ghost wear out or get lazy, or do they have the stamina to keep up this level of attention-to-detail and dominate another decade? I certainly hope they can muster the latter. Here's to another decade of Ghost, in the twenties!!!

Also yes, this was my favorite album of the year last year.

-

It kind of sucks to say that another band's bad album is partially what lit the fire under my ass to write this because it kind of implicitly takes away from the excellent work Ghost does, but a big part of why I'm writing this now is indeed because of the band that all the big online magazines that shill for major labels are hailing as the next Ghost this year: Sleep Token.

I already made my gripes with that band's latest album known in detail in a previous post about that album, but in short, I really don't like the push I've been seeing from a lot publications for this groveling adoption of the most fleeting of pop trends into metal in what feels like desperation for broader cultural prominence. There's nothing "innovative" or "forward-thinking" or "more mature" about whoring out to the whim of trends calculated to appeal to the lowest common denominator in a bid for a shortcut to relevance. I don't mind when bands incorporate pop elements into their sound to spice it up or even writing a more straight-up pop song; like I said, pop songwriting is a challenging art, and that's part of what Ghost does so well, and what many bands who metalheads probably don't consider "pop" at all also do. What I do mind is when bands like Bad Omens or Bring Me the Horizon or Wage War try their hand at the kind of mind-numbing, middling bullshit that Maroon 5 and Charlie Puth feed to inattentive half-listeners in grocery stores. It's even more offensive when these bands know they can do better, and Sleep Token is the worst offender as of late in this department. Sleep Token is the lazy, unsustainable shortcut via the hollow gimmick of referential pop trend-hopping within metal presented as "genre-bending" to broader relevance that Ghost, by contrast, have earned through tireless improvement of pop songcraft over the past decade.

I speculated at the end of my post that this fawning over Sleep Token might come from an anxiety over metal as a genre not having anything left to offer broader culture. And I think the short-term focus inherent within capitalism that all these publications (which are basically marketing wings of labels) are beholden to is what makes the possibility of a drought so scary for them. The driving forces behind Loudwire and Metal Injection don't exactly permit the patience for what is likely just a natural lull in creativity, because to them that's a loss in productivity, and that's next to sacrilege. I also speculated on my own anxiety about metal as a genre running out of steam, but taking a step back and looking at the broader history of any genre existing longer than 10 years, there are waves, peaks and valleys, times of plenty and times of want, drop-offs and revivals. It's the circle of life, and we've seen it with metal already, and with subgenres within metal. And also, if the time is near for when metal bottoms out in a way it doesn't come back from and effectively "dies" (as much as any genre in the internet age can die), so what? If metal dies, it will not go into the ground with any unused potential, it will be because the very active and passionate community will have completed music, gotten all the achievements, and exhausted everything possible to with the genre except retread old ground. But I know that it won't be brought back or kept from the brink by bands writing songs for car insurance commercials.

This got a little tangential at the end here, but I think it's worth distinguishing (since so many people draw parallels between them lately) the genuine pop appeal of Ghost that Impera embodies so excellently and the cynical pop appeal of Sleep Token. Leaving aside the riveting discourse about whether Ghost qualify as a "metal band" or not, they unquestionably represent the genre to the unfamiliar, and I don't think metal needs the kind of submissive pop crossover appeal of Sleep Token when it has the emphatic pop crossover appeal of Ghost at their creative peak.

Anyway, Impera is a masterpiece, thank you Ghost!

9/10: AOTY 2022

[crystalpallette]

it's late again and I'm being more delusional! some more thoughts about the butterfly's effect au(my au where emmy goes back in time) under the cut, for potential professor layton spoilers

so anyway today at work it was slow so I was able to get fully lost in my thoughts, I've got like a basic plot set out now wooow

(I turned around the idea of making this a comic quite a bit, but then I realized three longterm comics at the same time is a bad idea. I'm confident enough in my writing skills to make this at least a fic though !)

without giving too much away, I've pinpointed some places where emmy will be able to make some small but significant changes to the timeline. these include but are not limited to: misthallery, during the finale; monte d'or, in the reunion inn; and the azran sanctuary, right in front of the proper entrance(where the good ol betrayal happens). I've thought about changing some things in ambrosia too, but I'm not sure what I can without breaking my rules for emmy here ngl, in order for this to be an actual story there have to be rules to keep us going

the butterfly can't be all-powerful, and it's going to have some limits. (eventually it will break and emmy will be stuck in a timeline with no way of going back anymore, but that's ok because by that point she'll have come to terms with most everything she needs to)

I'm still not 100% sure what the hell this butterfly is supposed to be. I know aurora will be able to sense something about it (she's a robot, she can do that probably,,) but it won't be azran, and since that's the canon go-to explanation for a lot of wacky stuff I'm kinda fresh outta luck yeah? but you know, I play fast and loose with canon anyway so it's probably fine.

the ideal goal here is to have a "prologue" fic with the events of the prequel trilogy, then maybe a followup fic following the original trilogy with emmy added to the cast. I'll be happy if I get that first one up and finished in any timely manner, though, and that followup fic would require some more thinking. I joke a lot about emmy cutting down playtime of games by account of being emmy, but that can't be the case for everything or we'd be out of a couple games. so that's all just some speculation for now.

(only time will tell if I ever get this story off the ground! stick along with me if you'd like to LOL it's gonna be a ride for me specifically but there are empty seats right next to me.)