#but also i have kinda just…given up and am answering the post quiz things using prev knowledge and educated guesses

[subtlybrilliant]

I absolutely hate that all these continuing ed courses have video only options. Pls just give me an article to read.

[jtprojects]

Game Development with JavaScript

Blog Post 1 - INTP-362

So recently, I started learning JavaScript focusing on the game development side of it instead of just the regular website functionality stuff.

I'm going off of the assumption that you are from my class who has learned JavaScript in terms of website development before (if you aren't then hello!), I'm also gonna assume that you already know how to code and the basics of JS.

So game development using JavaScript isn't anything new, having been used in many beloved games such as Bejeweled, Pac-Man, Tetris, Agar.io, and so on and as game development has always been something that I've always wanted to learn, I figured why don't I try to make my own? "But why JS?" you may ask. Well here's the true answer, as cool as it would be to learn game dev in C or C++, those are simply just languages I'd rather learn on my own time without the pressure of meeting certain deadlines or having due dates for deliverables for while learning whereas I already am familiar with JS and it'll be easier for me to produce product that way :P (as this entire thing is currently kinda just for school and one of my subjects).

I started my journey learning JS game dev on a site called SoloLearn (a website that's whole purpose is to allow people to learn and practice coding). For the first couple weeks, the lessons were purely just recap of things I had already known (html, css, basic web dev stuff) and given the limited amount of lives that would be taken away if you answered the quiz questions wrong (which was embarrassingly more often than I'd like to admit. Turns out the recap was definitely needed lmAO) I only recently actually started getting into the new content.

From my limited time actually getting into the game dev side of JS, there's definitely a lot more math to be done. So far in our courses, I've found that we haven't really needed to get deep inside complex math (I'm talking trig and things to do with radians and pi and vexes and shapes bc let's be honest, that stuff is harder than calc or algebra I wiSH I could be doing calc or algebra instead of using pi bro) but I've found that JS game dev heavily relies on these aspects. Now of course, you don't need to manually do every single calculation to figure out every shape (circles make themselves essentially if you know what you're doing) but looking at all these numbers and tryna remember which axis is the x and which is the y after 2 years of not touching that pains me. I had to relearn how to convert angles into radians I'm in pain. But other than circles, the math was still necessary, especially given the short quiz questions that were handed out to me in which they gave us the x and y dimensions of the canvas (which is where all the cool shapes and stuff shows up) and we had to do math to figure out where a shape was supposed to be placed if we wanted it in a certain space on the canvas like the centre. While you may be thinking "Hey OP, that's genuinely not too bad, you simply divide the canvas x and y in half!" yeah, sure for circles but for rectangles/squares, it's a tad more difficult (or a lot more difficult if you have monke brain like me). In order to place a rectangle in the middle of the canvas, not only must you find the middle of the canvas, you must also take the width of the rectangle divided in 2 and then subtract that from the width of the canvas divided by 2 and then do the same for the length of the rectangle and canvas. Now while that may not be too bad, you must remember that my brain has the memory of chimpanzees (who apparently have the worst memory? Just like me fr) and I simply cannot remember that many numbers while still processing future math problems because I simply currently don't have the ability to (my memory is being reserved specifically by random minecraft and science facts).

Now that I've finished malding over the pain of numbers, onto what's kinda the neater part of game dev: the animating. I cannot explain to you the pain I went through when testing out different things. Fortunately, SoloLearn provides examples that you can run on the website while learning but despite the example being directly in front of me, I still manage to make mistakes when adding features to practice my understanding. Take this code for example:

A nice loading bar-like animation! For the longest time, I sat there wondering as to why when changing the value to blue, a portion of the line would flash blue before reverting back to red then doing the same thing again. This, of course, was because when I redrew the line starting from the beginning, the code to actually set x to 0 and to redraw the line in another colour was in the last if loop, causing the line to just restart drawing in red when the function was called again. Now while the solution was simple, as most of you have probably encountered before, actually finding the problem is a much more difficult process. I cannot explain the many errors and hours (it was more like max 5 mins but it deffo felt like hours to me) that it took for me to finally understand exactly what the problem was. But alas, my stupidity doesn't end there! Take another snippet of code and output as example:

The way that I viewed this animation was like watching cars go by or maybe the windows of a train or something of the like truthfully as it is, it can be whatever your heart desires it to be. Regardless of how you might view it, though, nothing can deny my pain when trying to code this. So the steps when coding animation for a moving subject is as follows:

Clear the canvas

Draw the object(s) in their new position

Update positions based on logic

Repeat

Along with the rule that whenever you draw another shape, you must always context.beginPath(). Pretty simple, right? Well admittedly, yes it is fairly simple HOWEVER recall my previous mention of my monke brain you will also have to remember that I fail do simple procedural things. Now I hope you have realized where this is going. When trying to code the blue moving square, I came across a problem. Suddenly my red square had disappeared like my hopes and dreams. But how could all the (extremely simplistic like a kindergartner's drawing probably worse if I'm being honest) cars looks the same? Where's the diversity? After hours (again, minutes) of searching my code to figure out who had been the cause of this devastation (it's me) I had finally found the reason(s). The first problem was that I had added another context.clearRect(). Because of this problem, I had completely erased all red cars from showing themselves, leaving a hole gaping hole where they would've been found. Now once fixing that problem, everything should be fine right? Wrong. I had accidentally forgot to include context.beginPath() meaning that while now there were the proper amount of cars, there was still a lack in diversity. Failing to execute this code causes the former shape to inherit the same characteristics as the latter shape which caused all my cars to become blue (kinda like white wash-). Finally, once that code was added into the correct place, it finally looked like as it should.

[momentofmemory]

FICTOBER 2020 - day nine

Prompt #9: “Will you look at this?”

Fandom: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Characters: Michelle Jones, Peter Parker, Ned Leeds

Words: 1650

Author’s Note: Michelle’s in charge of AcaDec, which really shouldn’t be that much responsibility—except, of course, it is. Set a couple months post-HOCO, spring semester. Michelle POV.

>> i promise i’ll promise

“What is the melting point of mercury?”

Charles’s bell rings instantly, and its sound waves have hardly have the chance to make it to the back wall and bounce back before he’s following it with his answer. “Negative thirty-eight point eight celsius, or negative thirty-seven point nine Fahrenheit. Or two hundred thirty-four point three Kelvin. Or—”

“Correct,” MJ says, forestalling any further commentary. “No points. What does the term ‘amensalism’ refer to in—”

“Wait, rewind?”

MJ glances up over her notes at Charles.

“I got it right,” he says, “so why don’t I get points for it?”

Michelle sighs, blowing a stray piece of hair away from her face. She writes an extra study note next to his name. “The melting point of mercury is negative thirty-eight point eight, but if you'd paid attention to your flashcards, you’d know the Basic Guide says it’s positive six hundred and fifty degrees celsius. Presumably because they confused it with magnesium. So, the answer you should give is positive six hundred and fifty degrees celsius.”

Michelle doesn’t bother looking up when no one responds—the silence communicates her team’s confusion all on its own.

She flips to the next card.

“Soooooo.” It’s Betty’s voice this time. “You want us to give the wrong answer on purpose?”

“Does your textbook still describe Columbus arriving in America as discovering a new land instead of starting a mass genocide?”

“Uh—”

“Great, so now that we’ve established we’re cool with lying for grades, next question. Amensalism. Any takers?”

Charles’s previous enthusiasm for the bell must have evaporated, because her question is once again met with silence.

“The correct answer is ‘a relationship between species that harms one with no effect on the other,’” Michelle says. Then she gathers up the cards and straightens them by tapping the deck against the table. “We’re done with practice questions for today; break for individual study. And for the future, please cross-reference your answers and if you come across one that’s incorrect, memorize both the correct and stated answer and let me know about it for the record.”

The seven students on the stage just stare at her.

“So like.” MJ gestures towards the study tables. “Dismissed.”

She watches them slink off the stage and set up around the room, some in clusters of two and others preferring to study alone. Mr. Harrington’s out sick and the teacher that’s supposed to be helping is… incompetent, judging by the fact that she’s been snoring for the last fifteen minutes, so that just leaves Michelle in charge today.

It’s not a great day for that.

MJ sighs again, then swipes the Music Basic Guide off the desk and walks over to where Ned’s texting furiously in the far corner.

“Hey.”

Ned doesn’t seem to notice her. MJ reaches out over the table and then abruptly drops the book, which is considerably hefty, directly in front of him with a loud bang.

“Whoa!” Ned jerks upright. “Hi?”

MJ nods towards the phone. “That Peter?”

“Uh.” He tilts the phone away, suddenly very interested in her not seeing the screen. “Yeah. He uh, he said he’s on his way.”

“He always says that,” Michelle says. “Tell him MJ says that she’s highly aware of his growing absences—not in like, a creepy stalker kinda way—but in a she will literally kick him out of AcaDec kinda way. We only have nine spots and we need them all at one hundred percent if we’re going to win this year.”

“Good thing I’m here then!”

MJ turns just in time to see Peter, red-faced and breathless, slide into the seat next to her.

He drops his book bag onto the table—the noise once again startling Ned—and then has the audacity to ask, “Did I miss anything?”

She stares at him. “You’re half an hour late, Peter.”

“Which is still earlier than I was yesterday—”

“You realize that makes your argument worse, right?”

“—and Ned filled me in on pretty much everything, so, no need to backtrack for me.”

MJ pins Ned under the weight of her stare. “Oh he did, did he?”

Ned doesn’t even have the decency to look guilty about it, though he does shove his phone in his pocket awfully quickly. “You know what, now that we’ve established that I’m a great friend and teammate, I’m going to be even better and get us some snacks.”

Michelle’s eyes widen. “Ned, wait—”

“I’ll just run to the vending machine and back, don’t wait for me to get started!”

Ned then grabs his bag and is headed out of the room before she or Peter can get a word in, leaving both of them alone.

Michelle folds her arms on the table and lays her head in her hands, and groans.

Peter, mercifully and uncharacteristically, is quiet. After a few moments she hears his chair scrape against the linoleum floor as he finds a more comfortable position, and then the sound of the zipper on his backpack as he pulls out his study cards.

Michelle closes her eyes and ignores all the things she needs to fix, and probably all the eyes that’re pretending not to stare.

“So,” Peter says, somehow almost immediately after her heart stops pounding in her ears, “wrong answers, huh?”

“So many.” MJ drags her head back up and draws patterns on the table with her finger. “Or at least three, I guess. There’s probably more I haven’t found yet.”

“Still, the fact that you noticed them at all is really cool,” Peter says. “You’re good at detail stuff.”

“Or maybe just good at finding bullshit.” MJ chances a quick glance over at the sub to make sure she didn’t hear that. Mrs. Haney, predictably, is still asleep. “But I shouldn’t have had to find them at all. The USAD started charging for study materials this year instead of just handing out the topics, and the price was—a lot. Midtown’s already facing budget cuts, so they didn’t love the idea of spending money on a club run by a sophomore.”

Peter highlights a phrase on one of his cards before writing it down in his notebook. “But you got them, right? That’s got to count for something.”

“Yeah, until I found out they were a complete waste.”

“Complete might be an exaggeration—”

“Well, they’re not good enough!”

Peter pauses halfway through writing a sentence and turns his full attention to her, and it’s—a little nerve-wracking.

“I just—” Michelle grasps for words, then settles by dumping out the flashcards she’d made with the highlighted errors. “Will you look at this disaster? Switching up the melting point of a metal isn’t just a typo; it’s lazy. And easy to miss. We’re going to have to fact check practically everything in the books because there’s no way of knowing where the mistakes are, and who knows if they’re going to quiz us on the right answers or the wrong ones. They just… they charged all this money and they don’t even care who it hurts, because they still get what they wanted.”

“Amensalism,” Peter says.

“Wow, Ned really did tell you everything.”

Peter grins, and Michelle tries very studiously to ignore the way his smile makes her feel a little softer inside. “He’s a very efficient texter.”

MJ rolls her eyes. Peter doesn’t seem bothered.

“I just.  Liz chose me for this.” Michelle shrugs, picking at her cuticles. “And since she’s… I just feel like I owe it to her to do it right.”

Peter rubs idly at his wrists, suddenly uninterested in meeting her eyes. “Yeah. I get that.”

For once, despite his hesitancy, Michelle can tell he’s not lying.

It’s a nice change of pace.

Then she awkwardly fist bumps his shoulder and concentrates, intellectually, on how infuriating his flakiness and normal lying-ness is.

He is a disaster. And not interested.

She doesn’t need this kind of distraction.

“Anyway,” she says, abandoning her thoughts and pulling into a stretch, “it’s already done, so. I have to make this work somehow. I’ll figure it out.”

Except, there’s so much work to do already. Student profiles with strengths and weaknesses demarcated, logistics of traveling together for meets, a study plan complete with alternates, a recruiting strategy for next year, and not to mention all the drills she needs to run. Maybe an angry letter campaign to the USAD board while she’s at it.

Peter clears his throat. “Maybe I could help?”

Given his previous participation in AcaDec it is, quite possibly, one of the last things she’d expected him to say.

“I could go through the physics section pretty quickly,” he says, “and Ned can take economics, and—”

“Peter,” she says, still  recovering from the surprise of his offer, “you can’t even make it to practice on time and now you’re promising to do extra work?”

Peter has the decency to wince. “Okay, well. Yeah, that’s fair.”

“Yeah.” Michelle squares her shoulders, and resigns herself to the mountain of undeserved work. “But thanks for—”

“How about I just promise to help now? Since I am here?”

Once again, more staring.

“And then next time I’m here,” he continues, “I’ll just promise again.”

It’s utterly ridiculous, but he’s also utterly sincere.

“So you’re.” MJ frowns at him. “Promising to promise?”

“Yes, that.”

“…Huh.” Michelle squints at him. “You’re full of surprises, Parker.”

His eyes grow wide in that way that always makes her think, maybe. And then that stupid grin returns and makes her think a whole lot of other things.

“And one of those surprises is a highly informed understanding of physics.” Peter makes a ‘gimme’ motion with his hand. “Wanna give it a try?”

Michelle looks at him, and how genuinely earnest he is about the whole thing.

Maybe.

“Yeah,” she says slowly, opening the Math guide to the appropriate section. She scoots closer. “We can try.”

[moonlightreal]

Fate Episode Two

Last time on Fate: Silva was surprisingly interesting, Stella was surprisingly pitiable, and Terra was surprisingly badass.  What surprises await in episode two?

In which we have a magic class.

Promising start, Silva and Dowling walking in beautiful Irish landscape, talkin’ worldbuilding!  The “Blackwoods massacre.”  Silva killed thirteen, or at least helped kill thirteen.  

They’re going to check on the Burned One they have doped to the gills and locked up in a shed.  Dowling is going to read its mind and hopes to find it’s the only one around.  Dowling crouches down by the Burned One and her eyes glow silver.  So she’s a Mind Fairy like Musa, I guess.   She gets flashes of the Burned One killing the shepherd and chasing Bloom.

But WE know Beatrix came and woke this Burned One up, so we weren’t surprised when it leaps for the grownups!

Opening sequence!  Still good music.

Bloom waking up.  Aisha’s already been up for hours.  Aisha suggests, “get up!  Be excited!  Today you get to learn to use your magic!”

Waking up montage!  Musa and Terra being friendly.  Terra asks Musa if she can detect lies or “social niceties” heh.  A sensible question, Terra!  But Mua’s not a lie detector, just emotions.  But it seems like she can feel every single emotion Terra feels in realtime, which… how would you LIVE?  How far is her range, if it’s just the closest person the school should’ve giver her her own room, if it’s all the girls how has she not gone completely barmy by now?

And of course Musa isn’t a walking lie detector, this show is going to have a “but who summoned the Burned Ones” plot and lie detection would mean no Plot!

Terra’s changind in the bathroom and Aisha comes in and sits down on the toilet just right in front of her and then strips and hits the shower also right in front of her.  O_o  Terra flusters and looks away, clearly full of shame about her own body compared to Aisha’s.  Poor Terra.  Aisha seems oblivious, she just asks if anyone’s seen Stella.

Cut to Stella walk of shame coming in.  

Musa: ‘That outfit looks similar to yesterday’s.  Same designer?”

Buuuurn! Ok, that’s mean but after Stella’s “they expect me to care about how I look” last episode Musa is kinda delivering karma here.

Bloom hears them talking and comes out of her room to say the Burned One took the portal ring.  Stella’s upset.  Musa: “Calm down, princess.”

Yep, Stella’s a princess!  “My mom is the queen and the ring you lost is one of the crown jewels of Solaria.  That might not mean much to a First Worlder so feel free to ask your suitemate how much of a screwup that is!”

Aisha brings the logic: “Almost as big as giving it to her in the first place.’

They say Dowling has the Burned One locked up, if it was loose in the First World even for a little while that’d be a disaster.  Stella dribbles the idiot ball saying nobody should tell dowling about the ring, she’ll figure out what to do after class.  “and can someone make sure Terra knows that?  She can never keep her mouth shut.” and Stella opens the door and there’s happy Terra squirming into a vest that looks like it doesn’t fit but sunny as a daisy.

Cut to Beatrix with her hair down walking up some stairs.  She’s going to Dowling’s office again, to “see if she needs an escort” down to the stone circle where the first-year class is being held.  But obviously she really came hoping nobody would be there so she could snoop.  Also, beatrix has an interesting pendant that might be magic or not.  I don’t think they had a big prop budget in this show; the portal ring wasn’t much.

Outside Iiiiiireland!  Green!  Waterfall!  And here’s the stone circle! it’s not very big, the stones are low and the dolmens are actally seats.  The first year class is less than twenty people, though we do see a few of fate’s minor fairies in the shot.  Dowling has “the vessel’ a big silver dish, maybe two foot wide.  Beatrix could’ve been trying to get her hands on that too.

Dowling teaches: “Magic lives in the very fabric of nature.  And here in our circle of stone it’s magnified.  The vessel tests your ability to channel that magic.  Further down the line you may learn to connect with other elements but your first year is all about the element you were born with...”

And here the girls show off their powers as in the trailer.  

“Earth. Soil, sand, rock, and all manner of plant life.”  terra looks so happy as she coaxes ivy vines up.

“Water. The lakes and oceans of the world, or the molecules that exist in all organisms around us.’  So could Aisha do bloodbending?  Or pull water out of a person ‘til they drop from dehydration?  How dark is this show gonna go?

“The mind.  Thoughts, memories, dreams.”  Poor Musa just holds a bubble of ripply air and her eyes glow purple.  They could at least have given her some glowy lines around her eyes like Psyloche or Jean Grey in her pre-fiery incarnations.  And yeah, “mind” instead of ‘spirit’ for the sixth element it does WORK it just...

“I know! Let’s base magic on the traditional magical elements! That’ll be a fresh new take!” Said every fantasy showrunner ever. Smh.  One of the cool things in Winx was that it opened way more possibilities.  Telekinetic-flute Musa would’ve been more fun than this Musa whose power so far just makes her and Terra’s roommate life difficult.  I hope there’s good plot reason for it all later.

“Air. Speed, temperature, sound, its power.  And electrical properties.” Beatrix stretches lightning between her hands and smirks and sideeyes like the villainess she thinks she is.  So is Beatrix The Flash?  Can she create phantom sounds, maybe mimic voices?  Freeze people?  Be nice if she could freeze people, give her one of Icy’s tricks.  And if she can throw lightning… uh, that’s a lot of powers for one person.  Who is a baddie.

“Whatever your element, the emotions underlying it are the same for all fairies.”

Bloom gets up to take her turn.  Her eyes flame up but she’s not getting much more than sparks.  The other students look at each other and snicker.  Dowling says, ‘focus on clear, positive feelings.”  and Aisha like a bonehead says, ‘What about your parents?  Focus on how much you love them?”  Aisha, not ten minutes ago in this episode Bloom told you she was trying not to have feelings about this changeling thing.  You’re an idiot.

Bloom says it’s not working.  Dowling says feel don’t think, and Musa singsongs something to Aisha that I couldn’t catch after rewinding 3 times.  Finally Bloom just says, ‘It’s not happening, can we please move on?” and we cut to class being over and they’re all leaving.

Bloom says to Dowling, ‘I’m either on the verge of killing everyone or I can barely light a match.”  Dowling says she just needs a clear mind, “Distraction can cause magic to be erratic.”

And then Dowling says, “So we have exercise classes, meditation classes, and I’ve signed you up to talk with a specialist fairy councilor to help you figure out your relationship with your parents...” oh wait, no she doesn’t.  She turns away.  

Bloom bursts out, ‘Am I a changeling?” and says how Aisha told her. Dowling’s face confirms it.  ‘i didn’t want to burden you with too much too quickly.

Bloom: “So instead you let me learn from teenagers, the most gentle and reliable sources of information.’  Ahahahaha!  Love it!  So self aware.  

Dowling admits that was not ideal, then snaps at Bloom when she says, ‘Ya think?”  Bloom deflates.  She asks who her real parents are but Dowling doesn’t know.  Just, ‘Come to class every day, you focus, you learn, you grow.  Eventually the answers will come.”  She turns away.

Bloom: “Cryptic and vague just like everything else in this place.” Iknowright?  I’m starting to feel less like Dowling is sus and more like Dowling is just a bad teacher.  Why was there no, “And I will help you find out.’ Dowling suspects Bloom is a very important changeling and knows her magic can be very destructive, why isn’t she working harder to get Bloom what she needs to become an emotionally put-together nondangerous fairy?

We go from here to the Specialists doing martial arts!  Sky and Riven are watching Dane and a girl face off.  Apparently last year Riven was kind of a hopeless case until sky befriended him.

Sky goes off to see Stella, who’s coming over, and Riven gets up to creepy-flirt with Dane.  Apparently Dane accidentally putting a like on one of Riven’s sexy pics is something that could ruin him before the whole school?  I guess it could out him.  There is something sexual in Riven’s menacing, he’s sitting right next to Dane with their faces close together.

And then Riven un-creeps completely and starts giving Dane advice about “chose your friends wisely, focus.  Being a good specialist is about strategy not how big and strong you are.”  then he calls a big specialist named Mikey over for a bout and takes him down handily.  He turns to Dane with a big wholesome grin, “You see?”

Uh. I guess Riven is your standard perv; when he’s not being creepy he’s very likeable.  Makes you want him to not be the kind of guy he so clearly is.

Over with Sky, Stella’s asking him where they might keep the Burned One. Sky says he’ll break out the maps, and suggests they tell Dowling. But Dowling took an oath to the queen, and if the queen found out Stella lost the ring… Stella looks teary-scared.  What of, exactly? She hugs Sky and maybe it’s just my pity for this poor washed-out Stella but I do get the vibe that she’s not being a queen bee, she’s scared and Sky is helping her and it’s not about romance. Then silva comes over and she covers it up with, “so just let me know about the Celtic runes quiz when you find out.  Thanks Sky.”

Huh. Using earth runes for Otherworld magic.  I feel an extra post about this comin’ on.

Stella leaves.  Silva doesn’t even have to give Sky a look, Sky says, ‘you don’t have to lecture me, I’m lecturing myself for it in my head.’  Heh.  And Silva says, ‘My guess is you would ignore your own lectures as well.’  Hah!  And they have a great little teacher-student chat.  Silva promised Sky’s dad to look after him, and the famous Andreas of Eraklyon would’ve said the same thing but with more profanity.  Heh.

Is Sky’s dad dead?  I got the vibe he died in the last magic battle with the Burned Ones but I don’t think they’ve actually said it. Anyway, good lil scene there, show!

We go now to Bloom’s room where she has, ooh! A spell book!  Of Celtic runes!  It’s a fat book, and ok I only know the Norse runes but there’s only 24 of ‘em and you could maybe squeeze out a few pages of meanings and uses for each one plus readings and ok if you added lots and LOTS of spells...  And the Celts didn’t use runes, strictly speaking, they used the Ogham alphabet which is basically runes being an alphabet of straight lines but it does have its own name.

Her other book is called Magical Flora and Fauna.  

While she unpacks these books from her bag Bloom is on the phone with her mom.  Bloom describes her roommate as, ‘Perfect.  Overachiever, athlete, morning person...’ and mom says, ‘and you get to spend so much time with her...” just savoring it, but in a joking way. This conversation was very sweet.  And Bloom’s mom has a watch set to Switzerland time so she knows it’s time for Bloom to go to bed. that’s really sweet.  It’s clear Bloom’s parents do love her, but how regular were meltdowns like the one that set the house on fire?  Like Riven, people can be both great people and horrible people.

And they are so unlike Mike and Vanessa that I’m not calling them Mike and Vanessa.  Fate clearly didn’t mean for them to be the same characters.

Late afternoon outside.  Beatrix approaches Riven and enlists him to break into Dowling’s office because he seems like a “proper delinquent.” and also “because you’re a guy and I’m hot.” Pfft!  Uh.  Go, Beatrix?  Own your power?  “Or did I underestimate the depth of your character?”  Heh.  Beatrix heads off without waiting for Riven’s answer.

In the cafeteria Aisha and Musa get dinner.  Aisha is wearing a bright yellow ankle-length skirt what is with the costumes in this show!  At least Musa’s got her appropriately colored red jacket.  She talks about her power being always on and how that makes crowded places a nightmare, and reads some people’s minds.  Then she reads one guy’s mind and meaningful music plays.  What is this?

They go sit with Terra and Bloom and Aisha is again on the ball trying to help Bloom figure out her emotions so she can control her magic because she’s worried bloom’s too distracted by the changeling thing.  And yeah everybody knows about that now.

Terra: “Oh is that why you were freaking out about the vessel that makes so much sense because that’s about the easiest assignment we’ll have aaaaand I’m making it worse.”  Musa had to signal Terra to shut up, but good save.  The girls are being nice to each other, I like that.  Aisha is epically bad at the skill of helping, but she is trying to help.  Gee, if only there were school councilors who had studied the skill of helping!  

Stella and Sky come over with a map of Alfea and Terra starts pointing out all the locations and starts a story from her childhood and even Stella’s glare won’t shut her up.

Sky sits down by Bloom and asks if she’s ok after last night.  “I think you’re freaking out and pretending you’re not.”  

Poor Stella can’t decide who she hates more, chattering Terra or talkin’-to-my-guy Bloom!  Hope Stella gets her head on straight about Sky soon.  After Musa and Riven in season 8 my eyes have run out of roll. 9_9  

They figure out the likliest place for the Burned One to be chained up and Stella says, “We just have to go there and get my ring.” But Musa and Aisha say this isn’t a “we” problem, more of a “you” problem.  Stella pulls out her worst side and says to Bloom, “But ‘I’ didn’t lose it.” and Bloom’s down to go.  Even knowing she has no control over her magic.  But the Burned One is chained up and drugged with some oil that Terra’s father makes.  Called Zambak or something.  They can maybe get some more.  that’s sensible. Nasty Stella says, ‘thank you Terra, thank you Bloom for taking responsibility, and everyone else thanks for… nothing.’ and smirks and gathers up her map.

Yeesh, Stella’s catty!  

Also, how do they know Dowling and Sliva haven’t already searched the Burned One?  Do Burned Ones have pockets?  And Burned Ones carry a disease that kills you if you get scratched by one, so is it even safe to touch them at all?  Does Stella have a plan for a magical hazmat suit or something?  Have y’all really thought this through?

I think Bloom stealth rolls her eyes at the cattyness, and then she goes outside.  To what looks like a hedge maze with a pond where IS this place?  Sky follows and says, ‘You don’t have to go along with what Stella says just because she’s got a… strong personality.”  But Bloom’s mind is made up which makes her also a strong personality.

Sky awkwardly explains he dated Stella last year and they had a rough breakup, trying to set out his situation for Bloom so she won’t think he’s ‘that guy’ but Bloom sensibly points out they only met yesterday and she already has enough complication in her life.  

Meanwhile our conspirators are working out Dowling’s schedule in a library somewhere.  Riven knows already!  Dowling’s secretary is named Callan.  

And Riven is trying soooo hard to prove he’s a bad boy.  Hood up, pouring booze from a decanter, saying he smokes weed with his vape. If you gotta try that hard, you have already failed.

Beatrix meanwhile is petting the books.  She’s not after test answers, she’s beyond the stuff they teach.  She wants secrets.  “the history of this place is a lot darker than Dowling an the rest of the faculty want us to know.’

Riven: “So wait you’re like some hot fucked-up history nerd.’  Heh.

And Beatrix comes over and sits on Riven and the camera thankfully doesn’t make us watch them making out!

Musa’s in the cafeteria, she detects that guy again.  She follows him-- to a closed door.

Bloom’s gone back to the stone circle!  The vessel is still there, which seems stealable, and we see it’s full of crystals.  Bloom opens her red notebook and we see her notes “clear mind = emotional control + stronger magic” and “positive magic > lasts longer.”  But just as she starts trying to summon fire…

“I hear you’re broken.  In more ways than one.”  Stella, that was mean and that costume does nothing for you.  Are long skirts in style in Italy?  Heck, they could be in style in America for all I know, I haven’t seen other people in ten months.

Stella briefly acts nice, telling Bloom her notes are the problem magic has to come by feel.  Then she turns and starts a mocking list of things she thinks Bloom might have listed as sources of positive emotion. Then Stella goes for the changeling thing, and pushes Bloom to use her rage to call fire.  Bloom summons fire and jumps back.  Stella says, ‘What?  You think you’re done?” So Stella is going to just abuse Bloom to get her magic working?  Great, just great.  Ugh. I suppose later on she’ll say, “It had to be done, we didn’t have time for you to figure it out the normal way.’ and that’ll be fine and nobody will punish Stella for creating a danger to herself and the whole school.

Also, Stella goes for “worthless changeling” which ok anything will be nasty in that voice but what’s wrong with being a changeling?  not like Bloom had any say in what her parents did when she was just born.  And Aisha called it barbaric… was changeling-swapping used for some awful purpose back in ancient times that created a stigma? What?  I sense worldbuilding, and Fate you’d better deliver!

Or there is no stigma to being a changeling and Stella’s just poking Bloom where it hurts.  Or if Stella knows about the mysterious Rosalinda she may have put the dates together and realized Bloom could be the daughter of the great heroine and destined for main-characterhood.  And Stella may be getting jealous.

Also 2, Stella’s basically using Sith philosophy.  Didn’t you ever see Star Wars, Stella?  Heck, maybe she has and she’s doing it on purpose.

Also 3, I may need to do a separate post about magic and emotion.  It’s easier to get to angry from happy than to happy from… anywhere. it’s just how brains work.  So everybody ever would discover rage works better and… I don’t even know where the worldbuilding would have to go from there.

Ok. That was a lot of thoughts and my mid-episode break on a Friday night.  (dinner, watched some Classic Doctor Who, wrote some fanfic, went to bed, got up, wrote more fanfic, walked my pokemons, and here we are again.) We rejoin the episode at definitely-night at Alfea.  Dowling has no lighting in her office.  Silva comes in saying the other realms have had zero Burned Ones sightings.  Silva wants to move the Burned One to the queen’s prison before the students start trying to find it. Silva is a sensible guy.  (also his first name is Saul, which I learned already on Tumblr.  I’m not the only one who thinks he’s a good character it seems.)

And I guess Dowling goes along with it because here come 3 black SUVs from the queen’s army, lookin’ very Jurassic Park as they roll across the fields.  No roads around Alfea I guess.  Doomful music plays.  I think something very Jurassic Park is about to happen to these poor guys…

Also, it’s day when before it was night.  Is it the next day?  A few days on?  Time & lighting in this show!

The soldiers stop when they see a dark figure, but it’s just someone in a cloak.  There’s a growl…

The girls waking up!  I guess it’s the morning of day 3 now.  Aisha makes her bed as Bloom snoozes away.  Aisha sees Bloom’s notebook, conveniently left open to Bloom’s notes about “Is Stella right that I should use hatred and fear?”  Aisha is concerned that her roommate is considering the ways of the Sith.

She talks to Musa about it on the way to (I presume) breakfast.  Bloom and Stella were ouit late last night.  But Musa thinks Aisha is just jealous that Bloom and Stella may be becoming friends.  And Musa’s eyes glowed so I guess that’s what Aisha was thinking?  Aisha changes the subject to the boy Musa’s chasing.  Musa says she senses him behind her but there’s nobody there… then he Kitty Prydes it in through the wall.  ‘Mystery solved.  Earth fairy.” and Aisha just calls him over and introduces the two of them and says Musa’s been stalking him.  As Musa quietly swears hatred to Aisha’s children unto generations, but is kind of laughing too.  Musa turns and Sam says, ‘Lucky me.” and Aisha leaves them to get acquainted.

We go to Terra in the greenhouse where she’s doing planty things and teaching Dane chemistry.  They have pipettes in the Otherworld, and they’re called pipettes.  Dane has a glass chemistry apparatus.  Is he doing chemistry or potions?  ‘Cause they are two different disciplines!

Terra coaxes a flower from a bud with her magic, and Dane says it’s cool. Cute scene.

Interrupted by Riven texting to ask if Dane is training or busy picking flowers.

More cuteness, Dane teases Terra asking if she’s making drugs, apparently meth exists in the Otherworld too, and Terra tells him about the anti-Burned One oil she’s making.  Dane is helping with preparation while Terra does the magic bits.

Riven sends a picture of someone picking petals off a flower and Dane says he has to go.  Poor Terra is abandoned.

Riven is in a dark room smoking.  He shows Beatrix his phone and she says, ‘Homophobic gay-bashing via gif. Truly you’ve reached your peak clever.”  Riven explains he doesn’t care if Dane is gay, he wants to make him less lame.  Well-intentioned bullying.  That is weirdly thought-out, Riven.  

Sky comes in so I guess we’re in Sky and Riven’s dorm.  Beatrix offers him her vape pen and he declines.  Riven isn’t worried about having a girl in the boys’ dorm because Silva went off to meet the soldiers coming for the Burned One.  Beatrix knows Sky is dating Stella and asks if it’s weird having sex with someone who looks just like him and I snicker.  Sky is unmoved.

Beatrix heads off to the library and Sky says, “I don’t have time to tell you all the reasons that is a bad idea.”  Riven just waves it off.

Over with Bloom and Aisha, Bloom’s trying to write a paper when Aisha interrupts to spill the beans about seeing the notebook and says Stella’s “methods are unreliable” and she’s maybe not the best magic teacher.  Bloom just focuses on “you read my notebook?” and asks Aisha to stop trying to help.

Stella arrives in that big olive coat to say the Burned One is about to be moves, their mission needs to happen now.  The coat is something the real Stella would never wear in a million years, but I find myself approving of a practical choice in adventure wear.

Sam and Musa are chatting happily.  Sam is trying to guess what he sounds like in Musa’s head.  Guess she heard emotion as music.  Musa says he sounds like “an absence of chaos.”  And sam describes his power which he calls “boring through anything natural.”  I’ll just call it phasing because obviously.

Terra texts Musa for help in the greenhouse.  I do believe we’re leaping into action.

Stela, Bloom and Aisha stride across the grounds.  Aisha calls Stella “Army Barbie” so wait they have Barbie dolls in the Otherworld?  How does that work, pallets of dolls get spirited away from the Mattel factory?  Stella spends a long time saying Aisha was not invited. But Aisha is coming along, they need her.

Stella: “I fixed her.”

Aisha: “Negative emotions are unreliable. They have limits. Your method won’t help her in the long run.”

Bloom points out neither of them are helping at the moment.  Stella and Musa arrive and the five of them cross the barrier to go find the Burned One.

They find the barn quick, but the Burned One is already gone.  Stella again sounds teary and holds the chains saying “No, my mum’s going to kill me...”

Musa gets a bad vibe and she and Terra follow it.  Suddenly Musa is struck down by a blast of empathic pain.  Ah crap, here are the soldiers, very dead!  Oh good, Silva is just grievously wounded.

But Bloom lagged behind at the barn.  Aisha and Stella go look for her while Terra and Musa hopefully save one of the three adults in the cast.  

Bloom is wandering through the forest, summoned by magic one assumes because this is a bad time to wander off.

Yikes, poor Silva is infected with Burned One venom and not in his right mind!  Luckily Terra takes charge, vines the guy up before he can stab them, and tells Musa, ‘He’s scared, I’m not.  Focus on me.”  the anti-Burned One oil will help with the infection.

Aisha and Stella follow Bloom through the dark forest.  Stella tries to summon light but can’t make it work and Aisha says, ‘I don’t have time for this, go back to school.” and walks off.  So the three of them are now separated.

And there’s the Burned One!  It runs at Bloom, who sends fire at it. Even being on fire doesn’t slow it down but Aisha sends a wave that tosses it into a tree, impaling it through the chest on a branch! The girls creep in for a closer look and they see Stella’s ring, that the Burned One has buried in its flesh!  We don’t see that. The girls waffle about who should pull it out-- did none of you bring a pocket knife?  A stick?  Don’t touch the highly infectious monster!  But Bloom reaches in with her actual hands and grabs the ring and they flee.

Stella did go back to school.  She finds Sky and tells him what happened, that the Burned One got loose.  Sky immediately goes from, “How?” to “How are you?” making him a class A good dude.  Stella begins to cry and says her magic wouldn’t work.  Sky says, “Tell me everything.” when below in the cafateria Musa and Terra enter with the injured Silva.  Terra takes charge, ordering medical help and for Dane to come help them get Silva to the greenhouse.  I guess there’s no infirmary here?  Maybe all the medicines are potions.  Beatrix runs to get Dowling and Sky and Stella rush down to help.

  And we learn Sam is Terra’s brother.

Beatrix rushes into Dowling’s office, tells the news, and Dowling and Callan rush out.  Leaving Beatrix right where she wants to be.  She lightnings up her hands and Dowling’s secret passage slides right open for her.

Down in the greenhouse Terra’s dad Harvey says, ‘You saved his life, I’m so proud of you.” and Terra glows.  Silva is battered but himself again and tells Sky he’ll be fine and sends the students out before telling the adults the real news.  The Burned One was freed and waiting for them.

Beatrix can’t get through the secret door.  There’s a barrier on it. Dowling’s assistant Callan comes in and catches her, but he’s a baddie too!  He says turning loose the Burned One was a good distraction but he can’t get through the trap on the secret door because he’s not a fairy and that’s why “he” sent Beatrix.

The plot thickens!  A mysterious boss-villain has emerged!  And Beatrix, that is a lot of lipstick.

Evening of day 3, getting ready for bed in the dorm.  Terra texted, Silva will be ok but they should prepare for a lecture.  But bloom’s more interested in teasing Aisha about her toothbrush.  

Stella turns up and says while the others were in the woods she was covering for them at school and Bloom should be grateful.  Which is a total lie.  Bloom returns the ring, joking about what she had to do to get it and Stella says right over her, ‘let;s never talk about this day again.” and leaves.

Sky arrives.  And looks at Bloom, then goes into Stella’s room.  The door shuts behind them with great finality.

So… does “being turned on” count as an emotion for the purposes of magic?  That would make the worldbuilding very odd indeed.  We’d have the Sith and the… hmm… Bacchanates?  Supposedly followers of Bacchus who ran around drinking, having orgies, and tearing apart small animals with their bare hands in the lust of the hunt.  They probably didn’t exist in our world, but in the Fate world they’d make sense.

Also would people with mental illnesses have stronger magic?  Bipolar mania is a heckofathing from what my psych textbooks say.

Anyway Bloom and Aisha talk before going to bed, Aisha apologizes for helping too much, says it’s all new to her too.  Bloom says she wandered off from the barn because she felt something.  “a connection to that thing.”  She talks about how she’s kind of given up on understanding but, “opening up emotionally the magic’s all around me.  And that’s new and kinda scary.”

A meaningful silence falls, and when Aisha looks over Bloom’s eyes have gone blank white!

Boring ending music this time.  i guess the themes from this episode are 1) lots of characters do really awful things and also likeable things.  either this show has nuanced characters or it doesn’t know what the heck it’s doing with its characters.  I’m not sure.  and 2) Has this magic=emotion thing really been thought through?

[lunawings]

Island Fiesta Event Report 9/7/2019

So I finally got to go to an Island Fiesta! The series I went for was King of Prism.

This post is going to be long (and includes a lot of sea animals) because I want to talk about the event experience in general for people who may be thinking of going in the future. If you just want to read about the dolphin show with Junta Terashima and Taku Yashiro skip to the end. 

So Attraction Fiesta, or Island Fiesta depending on where it takes place (https://atfes.com/), is a new sort of event that popped up a few years ago. Basically they will sell anime merch at some tourist attraction, causing a bunch of fans to buy tickets and hang out at said attraction/area and spend money for that day. They call it Island Fiesta when it takes place on Hakke Island in Yokohama. Or at least that’s the gist of what I have gathered?? Back when they first started doing it, I think it was only just merch? I usually try and talk myself out of going long distance to events just to buy things. But they have been adding more features, like collab food and riddle solving games. And then they started doing actual events with voice actors, including a dolphin prism show. 

DOLPHIN

PRISM 

SHOW

So that was basically that. I decided I NEEDED to make it out to one of these at some point. I’d been waiting a year or so for one of them to fall on a good weekend and one finally did. So off I went. 

I wasn’t sure how early I needed to get there in the morning for the merch line. At first I thought it may not be so bad, but then I realized.... King of Prism wasn’t the only thing that was gonna be featured. There were eleven other series to buy merch from that day... and we’d likely all be in the same line...................

I ended up getting there at 8:45 (it opened at 9:30), and got a ticket for merch that said 11:10. 

I thought this wasn’t so bad for coming “late”.

But I also mistakenly thought they would be letting small waves of people in every 10 or 20 minutes like other events I had been to. But no, they actually let in big groups of like 100 people an hour (the 11:10 block had numbers 1 to 100 or so and we were supposed to line up roughly in that order), so after lining up at 11:10 I did not get out until like.... 1:45-2ish.......... and most of that was standing outside in summer because September is still summer in Japan. (At least we were in the shade though.)

The event had a loose Halloween theme and the Kinpri boys were vampires. I only got one Shin, but it was the acrylic strap which was really good. TBH though I was actually a bit more excited about the Ace stuff I got. Because I’m not that big of a fan of the artwork they did for Shin this time, and this is my first Ace merch EVER. 

They actually had a trading area for merch, which is kinda rare. It’s much more common for events to forbid trading altogether. ( So usually we just have to make… sHaDy dEAliNgs… Which has never made sense to me. I’ll buy MORE if I think maybe I can trade it with people…) 

But when I went over to the officially sanctioned trading area it was kinda small and looked like the same people had been camping out there all day probably. Plus nobody had signs for what they wanted out and I am pretty self conscious about initiating trades out of the blue. I checked Twitter just in case but found only people who were looking FOR Shin (pulls collar) instead of wanting to spare him and quickly gave up.

(I th.. I think there may have been a shift in popularity since SSS but maybe I’ll discuss that later…)

So the atmosphere of this event was rather strange. 

The merch line/trading area was as crowded and hectic from very early morning onward as any big time anime event I have been to. 

But the rest of the park.... 

Was pretty empty. 

Well, okay, it got more full as the day went on. I took these photos around 9:30 - 10:30 am. (I happen to find empty amusement park photos more interesting than lively ones.) But still.

There was an interesting divide in the park patrons. On the one hand you had all the fangirls (+about 4 or 5 fanboys yes there were that few) wandering around with itabags, and then the regular families just enjoying an amusement park haha. Of the fangirls, there was also a divide between King of Prism and.... non. Because it was easily like 70% King of Prism. But I suppose a.) I notice Kinpri fans a lot easier (sometimes I’m not sure what someone is here for. then I notice a tacky flamingo on their bag and it’s like I GOT YOU) and b.) This day was the dolphin prism show so there was probably a significantly higher concentration of Kinpri fans this day than other days. But still. I’m not used to King of Prism being one of the big dogs. 

So, I couldn’t tell you what the second most popular series was since I didn’t really recognize any of the others. Although what I can tell you is that for whatever reason the Yumeiro Cast merch actually started selling out first. (The King of Prism stuff followed after.) 

They had some food collabs, but the Kinpri vampire pizza was already sold out by the time I got out of the merch line. (So I just got non-Kinpri pizza and thought about King of Prism while I ate it. My stomach didn’t know the difference.) None of the other collab food sold out I think. 

Now, about the attraction itself. 

The proper name for this place is Yokohama Hakkejima Sea Paradise. It’s a pretty interesting and quirky aquarium/theme park.

Coming up to this event I was a bit worried I’d have nothing to do all day since I was getting in early for merch but the dolphin show wasn’t until evening. I wasn’t planning on merch taking over two hours though, so I actually only barely had time to see most of the attractions and just breezed through the main aquarium. Still, it doesn’t take much time for me to look at a fish anyhow. (I just may have kinda wasted my all-access day pass is all.)

You can get up really close to dolphins and penguins and all sorts of animals and pet them because.... sure?? 

They also really like animals in tubes. Or you going through tubes to look at animals.

seal tube

(seal tube from above)

penguin tube (walk through a tube while penguins are over you)

penguin tube from above

dolphin tube (walk through a tube while dolphins swim over you)

view from manta ray escalator (you take an escalator while manta rays swim over you)

otter tube (the otters were able to cross over into the river exhibition next to them)

they didn’t really feel like ottering at the time though 

It’s not a Japanese aquarium without capybaras. 

(If you’ve ever been to a Japanese aquarium you’ll know that’s serious.)

They also had this section where you could like... catch fish or shellfish and then eat it right there??? Because.... Japan.

I didn’t do that part. 

But anyway. 

flamingos

and another fish tube 

So this was a pretty neat attraction with or without the King of Prism stuff. I kind of like it when my anime drags me to do neat things I would not have done otherwise. 

So after looking at fish and things, lining up for two hours for merch, and looking at fish and things some more, it was finally time for the 

dOlPHin priSM SHow

Much like for merch we lined up in accordance with the numbers on our tickets. There were no assigned seats but we all had to file into the stadium roughly in order.

My number was just about in the middle, meaning all of the good center seats were taken when I got in. So I decided to opt to sit a little off to the side in order to be closer. This was a good decision because I happened to choose the side they came out (and left from) which got a good scream out of me when I realized. 

Unfortunately I didn’t think to bring penlights. I didn’t see the Tweet saying they were allowed until I was already on the train the day before. But realizing I’d only need red and orange anyway, at least I was able to hit up the 100 yen store for some glowsticks. 

(It just didn’t occur to me that outdoor + daytime = penlights even though King of Prism. Being daylight it was hard to tell the difference between red and orange haha but oh well. It’s true doesn’t feel like a King of Prism event without them.)

Before the show began we were all given an introduction about manners for the show voiced by Kakeru and Shin, to which we all responded eagerly out loud as King of Prism fans always do. (Kakeru: Rule number one! Audience: ONE!!!!!!, Kakeru (something like): Don’t throw penlights, etc. Audience: OKAY!!!!!!!!! etc. I love this fandom.)

So this whole dolphin prism show thing started a year ago maybe? This is the third or fourth time they have done it. It’s always Junta Terashima and *insert other SePTENTRION member(s)* 

So this time it was him and Taku Yashiro, and it was Taku’s first time doing it. (So basically Vi Va Vacance! But the song they ended up playing for the dolphin show was Brilliant Oath. But they gotta promote the newest CD and all that.) 

You could tell Junta and Taku only rehearsed this like right before, if.... at all....? (Probably not at all.) And there were a lot of parts nobody quite thought through. Haha it was so candid. But that’s how I like to see them. 

They started off the event by doing a King of Prism quiz. The audience could help out but it was mostly the two of them answering the questions A or B. 

One of the questions was if the number of likes on the mock social media merch below referred to Edel Rose’s debut or the number of “King of Prism elite”. 

Realizing the number was greater than the population of the world, they guessed correctly that it was Edel Rose’s debt. 

At one point they each had to fill in the line for the other’s character of what their proposal was in SSS episode 12. And then they each read their’s in character. 

Taku couldn’t read one of the kanji characters in Kakeru’s ahahahh..... (neither could I). He also almost misspelled “showtime” when signing an autograph. 

Speaking of which, after the quiz they both autographed the big uchiwa fans with A and B written on them that they had used to answer. But clearly nobody had though this through either, because the floor was wet so they couldn’t put anything down. So they had to like awkwardly put their scripts between their legs and fumble with their microphones while they tried to sign them. Junta kept apologizing about their awkward fumbling AS IF it was even possible for them to be wasting our time. They probably gave us like an extra 3 minutes with them so I thought it was beautiful hahaha..... 

(Photo from Junta Terashima’s official Twitter.)

Junta “won” the quiz, and his prize was two dolphins.

“Oh a pink one!!” (said kind of excitedly) “And a… normal one…” (said with the tone of “it’s what I… always wanted??”)

I guess he unloaded the “normal one” on Taku after the show.

(And then they kissed.)

Then after the quiz the actual dolphin show started. But this was also something nobody thought through. (I think they were at the back stage for previous events, but this time they were at the front?) Because both of them had to RUN when they realized they were about to get completely soaked with the first big dolphin jump. (They were both kinda like OH SHII-- and barely got out of the way in time.)

The dolphin show was set to Brilliant Oath like I mentioned before. It wasn’t really all that choreographed to match the music, but I imagine with dolphins that couldn’t be an easy thing to do anyhow. There were two moments that definitely seemed like they were probably intentional though: The big jump at the end, and when one dolphin brought a hula hoop ring to the stage right at “suki da yoooooo”. The rest of the show was probably no different than their usual dolphin show. But let me tell you, they sure did a whole lot of crazy flips and jumps. The combination of prism show x dolphins all of a sudden made a lot of sense. 

After the show Junta and Taku went to the back stage where the trainers were (”THE DOLPHINS ARE SO CLOSE” - Junta) and were given the opportunity to give them a hand signal to jump. 

They discussed what to say while giving the hand signal, and Taku jokingly suggested “We found natural gas!” 

In the end of course it was “Ready sparking!” and the audience participated as well. 

After the dolphins and trainers left, Junta and Taku came to the front again to wrap up the show. Junta let us know it was almost over, to which the audience of course let out a “whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat” and he was like “I love hearing that thank you.” 

He also joked that the show we saw was so good we may have released the seal on Shine. AND then when they were laughing about together he voiced Shin being like “No! Stop!” or something like that. It was so random and came so quickly from nowhere I couldn’t help but laugh. This may sound out of character for me, but when Junta Terashima is voicing Shin in pain but he has this huge smile on his face it just cracks me up. If you don’t understand, maybe you haven’t seen his smile. It’s amazing.

I also had no idea it was cool for him to just mention Shine like that. But then again, if they have Shine curry at AmoCafe then I guess it’s not officially classified as a a spoiler anymore. 

The show ended up being about an hour. Which was way longer than I thought it would be and incredibly worth the trip. 

I might have briefly caught Junta Terashima’s eye when they were leaving and/or entering the stadium. It’s fairly reasonable to think that I may have since they were right in front of me and a.) I’m a white girl in a sea of Japanese people and b.) I had a Shin doll in my boobs. (Okay tucked in my sweatshirt, not that risque, but still.) 

I know the chances of him both seeing me AND remembering me are pretty slim, but I really hope he did. Because the last time I saw him in person was at one of the greeting shows for SSS Part 1. Between then and now, a lot has happened. Part 4 came out, and I read an interview where he said he felt bad for Shin fans multiple times over what happened. 

I just want him to know that I’m still here and I’m still supporting Shin. 

What a day. 

PS. do seals always swim upside down or is this one just bored

[sliceofscooby-blog]

Updated Fanfiction Questionnaire

Wanted to see if my responses had changed in the 9 years I have been doing this. 

read below for updated quiz:

1.How about a brief introduction of yourself?

Greetings, I'm still Toki/Karianasan. And still run over by my muses to write things. Mainly Scooby.

2. Fabulous! And what got you into fanfiction to begin with?

Besides the story that I posted above, I was kinda pressured into entering a Fanfiction competition by other people from the yahoo group I had been apart of. And then something happened and most of those amazing writers got driven away... leaving me with a torch to uphold a certain standard of Scooby writing. And been here ever since.

3. I see, so what kind of Fanfiction do you like to write?

Hands down, Scooby. I have dabbled in Gunsmith Cats which I mentioned last time. But I also have a story of Super Mario. I never got around posting Magic Knight Rayearth or finished writing a finished Slayers story.

Though working on a Kim Possible/Scooby story.

4. Do you tend to write the same pairings/characters? Or are you a fandom whore?

I still believe that I need as a writer to include the whole game. Due to just falling deeply in love with their character chemistry and how much fun it is to write the gang as a whole.

I do love writing pairings, but it has to be in my own style and preferences of how the scene will unfold. But I try to write all the main pairings to please my readers.

5. What is your most popular fanfic and why do you think people like it so?

I am curious how this has changed over the years. So let's see.

Most Viewed Story: Reunion 13,199 (original was Never takes things for granted at 1357 views, NTTFG is at 3418 now)

Most Commented Story: Just a Mallrat Mindset at 23 reviews (Original was Never Take Things for Granted at 20 comments. It now has 22)

Most Favorited Story: Just a Mallrat Mindset at 63 favs. Next up is Under the Weather at 46 favs. (Original was Just a Mallrat Mindset at 14 favs at the time. Still well loved.)

Most Popular Oneshot: Velma's Little Secret at 7806 views. (originally Ends lead to beginnings, which was 1098 hits. Currently 4510)

Most Alerts: Still Reunions, at 37 alerts. (Originally same story, at 7.)

Interesting to see how things changed from 2009 to 2018.

6. Forget other people, what is the fanfiction you've written you're most proud of?

Mm, this is hard. I Like alot of stories for different reasons. but I guess if I have to pick only one, it would be Without You. I feel that it is the best representation of my style, and the most in character of the gang in said story. So, it is the best story I have that shows off me as a writer, and it was a blast to write it and I also love going back to read it.

6. Do you find writing easy? Hard? What are the most difficult aspects of writing you struggle with?

Like I said last time, it's both easy and hard. And I still am not a big fan of writing Scooby speak.

But I think the thing that I struggle with the most, is TOO many options. Most of the stories I write now, suffer from a great to have, but still difficult problem... of being able to see too many options for how to take a story. So trying to decide which character to use, is something I struggle with. So I have to sit there and try to picture what the best choice is, in the given situation. So it's not a matter of which I like, but more which would be the most entertaining. Because still, Velma is my favorite. So to try not to write every story about Velma like I used to, I want to experiment and find the best choice to suit what is currently happening in the story, to make the story the best I can. But unless I make multiple 'endings' I have to in the end, only pick one of the many options my brain sees in the situation.

8.Write a few sentances of so of your favorite pairing of character.

Last time I actually took something from one of my favorite stories at the time. Which is still really high up there when it comes to views, favorites and such. So, I have good reason to like it.

But I like Fred x Velma, well one they are my favorite characters, but there is something I really like about getting to write them. Such strong indivduals, yet also vulnerable. They are alot of fun to be able to write all the aspects of them.

And Velma as a character, I feel very atuned too. Though trying to write her properly, requires learning as much as possible so I can write her as smart as she is. Velma is smarter then me.

9. Are there any fanfiction trends/cliches you can't stand or are just sick of?

Guilty of, not that I know of. But...

Yes, I might not have been willing to type this or didn't think of it back then, but god yes there is a bunch.

One that bugs me, is taking a setting and then writing it over and over again. Like two characters getting married. Now in general, that isn't a bad thing to write. But sometimes it seems that it is the ONLY thing certain people know how to write. Like first dates, or getting married. I am always wondering what would happen to either get from first date or married, or what happenes after marrage, But they seem unable to write that. So they tend to re-write differnet versions of either the first date, or the wedding in their ffnet accounts. I'm just sad that there isn't more.

Also, I've never been fans of Mary sue... but there is some trends that I am not happey with. Like harems and just pairing someone with an OC and killing/injuring a cannon character to either get them out of the way, or get them in a situation where they fall for the OC.

11. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Do you still like/participate in it?

It is 2018, and I have been writing Scooby for 13 years now. So, I think that answers that question. XD But yes, I very much still love writing and I can't see myself stopping any time soon.

Also, the original quiz said 38 stories. I am currently with 67 stories, (65 scooby, 1 Gunsmith cats, 1 Mario)

12. Name your OTPs or most frequent written paitings/characters and explain what it is about them you love to write?

My answer really hasn't changed. I love the dynamic of writing all of the possibilites of the Scooby gang.

13. What would you call your writing 'style'?

Cute, everyday fluff stories, with a dabbling with mysteries, romance and some serious stuff. But mainly cute.

My life has been pretty normal, with a touch of the odd. So I tend to incorperate that sort of thing, to make my normal, every day stories interesting. And it suits the gang.

14. Do you read other people's fanfics? If so, what do you find yourself reading the most?

I still hold a very high standard, but I do have to admit there it two stories from one artist I will read once a year, at least. My Hero, and the woman I look up to as a writer and insperaion in Scooby, Little Sporano and her Journey of Self Discover and Christmas story with Velma and Ethan. I actually know her as a person, who is equally amazing. And I always will take time to re-affirm my love for Scooby by reacing those stories.

15. Name one things you'd LOVE to write, but have been too afraid to do?

Other fandoms that I like I guess, is still up there. But most of it isn't fear as much as I have a style and a kinda code. And I want to stick with writing something that I feel that any scooby fan can read for the most part, no matter what ages. I actually was complimented by two mothers that they read some of my stories to their kids, so I want to keep for the most part, providing PG content for all ages, and all readers.

16 Do you have trouble taking criticism? Or worst yet, do you have the dreaded bloated Ego?

I actualyl created this tumblr, in hopes to actually get in contact with people who read my work, so I can learn more about being a better writer. Sadly, most of my comments on FFnet aren't really helpful critic wise. So maybe this will do better. Also well, it's a place I can babble somewhere when I want to talk about the world I have created in Scooby Doo.

17. When you write, is there anything that helps? Music? Quiet room?

Actually, as of late, I have found that the best music for me to write Scooby... is the METAL channel I have on pandora. So here I am writing cute, fluffy stories, to some pretty hard metal. Though I prefer less screaming, as I enjoy being able to hear what they lyrics are saying, rather then RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

18. What inspires you?

Life mostly. My life is pretty normal with lots of weird twists. So it's pretty easy to find insperation in the things that I do and stuff that has happened to me. Also I like taking things that have happened to me, and immortalizing it in Scooby. As long as it makes sense.

19. Lastly, how would you sum up your fanfiction experinces and yourself as a writer.

I'm old in ffnet. At least in my fandom. Not so much as in age, but for the length that I have been posting. I don't know if I'm the oldest that is still active, but one of them and still writing all the stories.

It's weird though, because I still feel like I am new to writing, yet I have devolted 13 years at the moment. And I am considered being one of the most influential and famous writers... which is weeeeeeird. I guess I don't consider myself anyone special, but I darn hope that I learned enough doing writing this long to be not too bad. Life

[twdmusicboxmystery]

8x02: Suspicious Stuff on TTD

 Good morning! Let's go over the TTD after 8x02 because some super interesting things were said that made me happy. ;D I think it's super-interesting that Gimple was on this episode. It's unusual for episode 2 of a season. I think this was a very important episode and Gimple wanted certain things said or emphasized, which is why he went on the show himself this week. 

It's also important to note that next week's guest is Norman Reedus. That’s ALSO very odd in the middle of the season. We usually see Norman appear in the TTD after the MSF or Finale, but generally not in the middle of the season like this. There will also be a "surprise guest" next week they aren't announcing. I'm gonna cross my fingers that Beth will be back next week and the guest is Emily Kinney. The other option is a major or relatively big death next week (like Morgan or Morales, perhaps?) and the actor will be the surprise guest. Either way, I think next week's episode will be Daryl-heavy. (Yea!) 

The first thing Chris Hardwick asked Gimple was what his thinking was in bringing Morales back now. Gimple answered, "This whole season, the past keeps coming up in one way or another." Oh that makes me SUPER happy! Morales was a loose end. Something never explained or circled back to. And what is the mother of all loose ends on this show...from TF's past? Beth's disappearance.  

Gimple also said some interesting things when talking about production of such high-action episodes. He said it takes 8 days to complete an episode, and then he referenced GoT. Okay, I get that taking 8 days to shoot an episode is fact and GoT is arguably TWD's biggest audience competitor. But still, I couldn't help but note these because we've seen Gimple make apparently off-hand remarks on TTD that proved to be hints at what was to come. The biggest in memory is when he mentioned Zapruder when talking about who Negan's victim was in 6x16. Zapruder's first name was Abraham. No one will ever convince me he wasn't dropping hints. That's why EVERYTHING they say on TTD, even if it seems like casual conversation, is suspect to me.  

Here, he mentions an 8, and in the same sentence mention the OTHER show where a major character was very obviously killed, but returned to life.  

They also asked why Rick didn't shoot Negan when he could in 8x01. This isn't really a TD thing but I thought it was interesting. Gimple said it partly because there's a lot of innocent people in the building behind Negan that he doesn't want to hit. But even more, he actually doesn't want Negan dead right away. Their plan is to lay siege to the Sanctuary and starve out the Saviors. He wants Negan's own people to turn against him. It's an ambitious and very risky plan, but if they can pull it off, it's extremely smart. It would create loyalty from many of the Saviors toward Rick, which is much more effective than simply holding them at gunpoint and forcing them into a cell or something.  

Gimple was asked if Eastman would fight if he'd lived. Gimple kind of hemmed and hawed over his answer, but there was a lot of emphasis on Eastman, which I found Interesting.  

For the quiz, they focused on the Savior's names, including Roy. This is the second Savior we've heard of named Roy. The first was the guy Shiva chewed in 7x16. The same one who told Enid to slow down and not use the word, "veggies." And if I remember correctly, there were two Joeys too. The one was called Fat Joey to differentiate him from the other Joey. I'm not sure why this motif of giving multiple Saviors the same name, but they've pointed both instances out on TTD. Obviously they want the audience to be aware of it.  

They also emphasized Ezekiel's positivity/confidence. "And yet I smile."  

Oh, and the rope bridge thing. I'm gonna rewatch one more time at least for my details post tomorrow, but I've already watched the episode twice, and I didn't notice a rope bridge. But the quiz said there was a rope bridge with a sign saying it would only hold 2 people. Anyone know where that was? They also said the location they filmed in for the bridge was near where Dale hid guns from Shane in S2.

  The only reason I can think of for emphasizing the rope bridge is the Bridge Theory. 

Gimple was also asked why it was important for Tara and Jesus to argue about killing Dean. Gimple said it was to show that, had it not been for Jesus, everyone who surrendered and was taken prisoner would have been killed.  

I think this goes along with the "My mercy overcame my wrath" theme. We'll see it heavily in Rick's arc, but I think we'll see this thread running through all the character arcs in this story line.  

Along with that, they asked Alanna Masterson if Tara would be able to forgive Dwight. She said it would be explored throughout the season. You can see how this arc is especially playing out for Tara. I think she needs to find a place of forgiveness about Denise. My worry is that once she finally reaches that point, she may die. ☹

Oh, and Gimple KINDA, SORTA, A LITTLE BIT confirmed that Ezekiel loves Carol. They were talking about how happy/confident Ezekiel is. Then Chris Sullivan jumped in and said, "Or is he in love?" At first, Gimple didn't really react, but then Chris Sullivan said, "I think it's all about the love, and Gimple nodded and said, "Yes, it is." (Carzekiel for the win!)  

Okay, this was something that jumped out at me as weird. They showed a video interview with Norman about his and Andy's relationship. It struck me as odd because it had nothing to do with the episode. Why put this interview in the TTD for this episode? And granted, they've done some general things like this for the show from time to time, but they usually do connect to the episode in some way. 

Let me give you an example. There was one during S6 (or S7? Can't remember) where Nicotero explained they make all the injuries on the show, especially walker bites, as medically and anatomically realistic as possible. While that's general for the show, they still showed it after an episode where there were some heavy injuries. It made sense.

This is odd to me because there's not an obvious reason for it, other than Rick Daryl being in the same building. There wasn't even a ton of interaction between them here. I'm just saying that I think this is a hint about their arcs being very entwined this season.  

1) The fact that Morales is there is a big deal, because as I said yesterday, Morales was there when Rickyl met, so you know Daryl will be involved with Morales every bit as much as Rick is. 

2) If certain spoilers are correct (X) then Rick will probably have a major loss in the next few episodes. I really think they'll parallel that loss with Daryl's loss of Beth in S5. They foreshadowed Daryl's emotional death by putting him in the coffin in 4x12. Rick's red eyes in 8x01 foreshadow his.  

 Also, in the interview, Norman said he and Andy were like the Golden Girls. Gimple said Norman would be Blanche. Chris Hardwick asked if Andy would be Dorothy and Gimple said, "No, Sophia." Again, might have just been goofy and conversational, but I'm feeling suspicious. I mean, they went out of their way to mention the name Sophia. And as I type this, notice how many 2s we have here. 2 people on the rope bridge. Names given to 2 separate saviors. Dale hiding guns from Shane in S2. And then mention of Sophia, which happened in S2.  

And I honestly am not familiar enough with the Golden Girls to read anything into the characters behind those names. If anyone has any insights, let me know.  

When talking about Morgan surviving, Gimple said it wasn't supernatural. He said he did get "winged," but it was largely luck. *ahem, LUCK THEORY*. But he had a logical, straight-forward way to explain the fake out. Wouldn't be hard for him to explain Beth's.  

I'm not going to talk about the baby much today because I'll be doing a "baby" post later in the week. But I wanted to mention that Gimple said we would find out the "final fate of that baby," which sounds really ominous. Killing babies are we now? Not sure what it means or how it will play out, but I’m sort of connecting it to the dark, icky baby symbolism around Denise in 6x14. Some food for thought. 

The sneak peek was a little boring in my opinion. It shows Carol/Ezekiel/ Morgan's group leading prisoners down the road. Jared keeps razzing and Morgan almost kills him. Again. Yeah that's it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Can I say that I've been wanting a TWD Monopoly game for like 3 years? My brothers all grinned at me when this came up because I've talked about it before. I know there is a TWD Monopoly game, but up until now they've only had a comic book one. I wanted a show one! Now it's here! I looked over at my brothers and reminded them that Christmas is only 7 weeks away. ;D 

 Okay, before I shut up for today, maybe you guys can help me with something I'm totally stumped about. When talking about Morales, Gimple says, "He's in The Encounter at Farpoint." I assumed it was some show the actor (Juan Gabriel Pareja) is in, but I can't find it. The closest thing I can find is the pilot episode of Star Trek: TNG which is called Encounter at Fairpoint. Slight difference. Anyone have any idea what they were talking about? Perhaps something from the TWD universe I’m not familiar with?

That’s it for TTD. Anyone catch any other details?

[marypsue]

@blogg-saron Just remember: you asked for it.

Reincarnation Blues (95,096 words, published April 2, 2015, completed September 26, 2015)

This fic was the product of an idea that absolutely would not leave me alone. I’ve mentioned before that originally Rosa was the centre of the piece, with Ian as a supporting player and partner in crime in her bid to take over the world by being adorable and popular. Rosa Darling, Taylor Swift’s Evil Twin, crawled fully-formed out of the first time I heard Delta Rae’s ‘I Will Never Die’, at least two months before I ever wrote a word of Reincarnation Blues. 

Ian didn’t actually have a name until I decided to write a short fic based on these characters who just wouldn’t get out of my head; he was a generic, grinning-evil Devil Went Down To Georgia reference with a fiddle but no name playing backup in Rosa’s band and lending her supernatural firepower when necessary. As originally conceived, he knew exactly who he’d been and used it to his full advantage. I decided on 'Ian’ after considering ‘Liam’ as a name that referenced ‘William’, but not as obviously as a ‘Bill’ or ‘Will’, and then deciding that would give the game away too soon. I also just plain didn’t like the name ‘Liam’ as much. It was only later that I found out that the man responsible for the absolutely stunning art direction on Gravity Falls is named Ian. And I just found out now, looking up Delta Rae to see when ‘I Will Never Die’ was released, that one of the band members is named Ian. This is...typical of the experience of writing this fic.

Mira came into the picture after I gave up on finishing the fic I was working on at the time before giving the RB characters free rein on my imagination, and decided to write just a short one-shot, just to introduce them. (Hah.) I’m not sure, exactly, when or why I ended up deciding that Ian shouldn’t have any knowledge of his previous incarnation (I think it was somewhere between Brown Bird’s ‘Blood of Angels’ and the short burst of Alex!Bill popularity), but it ended up being a good decision. It would’ve been around that time that I decided I needed to put him into Alcor’s path in order for his previous incarnation to come out, and that the best way to do that was to put him into the orbit of a Mizar. Deciding to have them date was purely a ‘hey, wouldn’t it be funny if...’, with an added touch of ‘oh man, Dipper would hate that’. Mira basically started out as an amalgamation of Mabel traits and fashion that I like, and a lot of her arguments with Dipper came out of my trying to figure out just what the heck was going on in her head. (Also, her social media presence is a little bit based on Manzi, who Alex was dating at the time, because I followed her on here for a short while before realising we had practically no interests in common and she posted a LOT of stuff that wasn’t cosplay. )

And now that the stage is set:

Chapter One

This began life as a one-shot that was meant to exorcise these characters from my head. Ninety-six thousand words later, we can all see how that turned out.

I wrote a good chunk of this chapter from Mira’s perspective, but it just wasn’t working, and I realised around the point where Dipper flips out that if I wanted to keep it as a short, I needed the readers to know whether Ian was really evil and scheming like Dipper suspected, or if he was just as clueless as Mira was. Now, I think I might have stuck with my original plan and left that ambiguous, because that would be a nice, tight little horror story. On the other hand, ninety-six thousand words later...

Given the opportunity to do a complete rewrite, though, I would adjust Mira and Ian’s introduction as a couple. Their first interactions seem really, really stilted and forced to me now. 

Chapter Two

I actually wrote a short fic for the TAU blog based on a prompt about Ian and Dipper learning to tolerate each other and Ian pitching a show based on Dipper and Mabel’s experiences in Gravity Falls before I decided I was going to expand the, at the time, one-shot into a full multichapter fanfiction novel. It actually was part of what convinced me that I still had a lot of stories to tell about these characters, and that it should be expanded. That short fic also introduced Ian’s prosthetic eye, which he didn’t, at that point in Reincarnation Blues, have. I got to answer a couple of asks with axolotl gifs and feel like a real creative mastermind.

There were a couple times while I was writing the climax that I actually considered killing Ian off, because it seemed more likely with the state of each of the characters and also just so that the Toby plot could still work, but because I had made this short fic of events taking place after the events of RB and Ian was still alive in it, I decided that meant I’d made a tacit promise that he’d survive. I didn’t really want to kill him off anyway, so it made a good excuse when I was weighing my narrative options and they all seemed to be sliding towards Death.

A lot of this chapter was influenced by the surge of human!Bills in the fandom at the time, and especially of human!Bills (and human-shaped!Bills) who had flashy, obvious, fire-based powersets. I felt like Bill Cipher’s real power lay in misdirection - the flash and the fire, in canon, always only distracted the main characters from Bill’s real objectives, and, arguably, what he was really getting out of their interactions. To my way of thinking, it was far more likely that a human Bill Cipher would have some kind of mentally-based powerset, if they had a ‘powerset’ at all, and weren’t merely very quick cogitators who could think big and put themselves one step ahead of everyone around them. At the time, there were precious few authors and illustrators who seemed to have come to the same conclusion - none that I ran across, anyway. (There still aren’t, but the flood of billdip-based Cool Human Bills With Fire Powers seems to have slowed to a trickle.)

It also came in response to Toby, who was invented by the Transcendence AU’s very own Mod Z and exploded in popularity almost instantly. He was a sweetheart, a genuinely good, kind, little kid, who was facing enormous cosmic retribution for a millennia-long previous lifetime as a liar, monster, and snappy dresser. Toby is great, his creator manages to milk all the hilarious irony out of the situation, and there are some authors who’ve done really good and clever things with him. I’ve just never been all that interested in purely Good characters who just keep getting kicked in the teeth by a cruel world, and it struck me that Toby was the perfect setup for Bill to sneak in close to Dipper and do...something vicious. (I don’t think, at this point, that I knew exactly what Bill was planning to use Ian for, but I definitely knew that Bill was planning something, and it was going to blow up spectacularly in everyone’s faces.)

With those things in mind, I tried to imagine some realistic flaws or weaknesses that a near-omniscient, immortal demon forcibly bound to a decaying, imperceptive meatsack might potentially develop. Ian’s anxiety and nihilism(-lite?) and self-destructive tendencies all come from there. I settled on the feelings of insignificance and impermanence as the two major issues Ian had to face mostly because those were two things that Bill had never had to consider, would never have had to consider if he hadn’t ended up human himself, and would never have been able to satisfactorily reconcile with his own omniscience and indelible influence on human history/trail of destruction across several dimensions. It was not long after I settled on this and really committed to it (I believe it was a few chapters later than this, though) that Alex did a twitter Q&A where he talked to a fan with anxiety and...basically laid out that he suffered from very similar fears, and had developed very similar coping mechanisms to the ones I’d decided to give Ian. I initially only made Ian look like Alex for the sake of the joke, but as the fic progressed it became more and more clear to me that, by writing a version of a character who Alex Hirsch had once gotten in a ‘which character are you’ online personality quiz, I had inadvertently tapped a vein of similarity that was only gonna get wider. 

If you’re reading this, Mr. Hirsch: I am so sorry, and I swear that I did not and do not stalk you. I know my icon of cartoon Dana Terrace kinda makes this harder to believe, but still.

Chapter Three

The first Mira-POV scene! Also the first appearance of Rosa!

I think this was the chapter that really cemented for me that I was doing this, that this 'short one-shot' was now a fully-fledged multichaptered fic and I was in it for the long haul. This is the first chapter that starts to set the plot in motion, and the first chapter where I really knew that there WAS an overarching plot thread and where, in a more specific sense, it was going. I believe this is also the chapter where the fic got its title (the previous two oneshots had been posted without titles). 

...her punk-bluegrass act, the Savage Peace...

Oh yeah! I never mentioned these guys again. This was the duo that Ian and Rosa played together in, before Ian left to go into animation and Rosa went solo. The name is a riff on the Civil Wars, another excellent bluegrass duo who split up due to differences of opinion on their future direction. I love the Civil Wars.

I searched last.fm for 'punk bluegrass' after this chapter, because I had a very specific idea about what Rosa's music sounded like (like Delta Rae but with more electric guitar and bass, pretty much) and I wanted to see if anyone else had made it a reality. I did not find what I was looking for, but I did find Wood Spider, a band that plays bluegrass music with screamo vocals. I recommend 'Is It Strange?' because it is a very, very Ian song.

In case you hadn't noticed yet, a lot of the making of this fic was heavily influenced by music. I really need to make another playlist for it at some point.

Also, there's been some confusion amongst TAU peeps regarding Rosa's hair. I intended it to look like P!nk's blonde fauxhawk. Word Of God has spoken.

"He knows what I like and don't like, what matters to me, even things I don't tell him. He pays attention to what I say and do, and he remembers. He just does nice things for me sometimes when I'm least expecting it, and it's always exactly what I didn't even know I wanted."

This line was meant to show how Bill's 'ALWAYS WATCHING!' shtick might, under a very different set of circumstances and put to a different use, actually be a good thing. Post-Escape From Reality and Mabeland, it also takes on a vicious irony which I really appreciate. Successfully predicting what'll be ironic in the most painfully angsty way before canon even gets there: The Mary P. Sue Advantage!

I think this scene is where Mira actually coalesces into her own character for me, rather than 'a Mizar who is dating an r!Bill'. This is where she gets to show some of her own strengths and values, and to oppose and conflict with Dipper on her own terms, rather than because of Ian. I made a conscious effort to make sure this fic passed the Bechdel test, but I feel like even though this was a conversation with a dude, it was equally important in giving Mira a voice and an interior life separate from the men (well, okay, man and demon) in it. It also shows off the two sides of her - she's picked up a lot from Dipper, as evidenced by her nonchalance about cult-busting, but she's also still empathetic and compassionate, as shown by how she handles the kids. She's stuck between Dipper and humanity, and this is the first place where that's really shown, rather than talked about. It's one of my favourite scenes in the fic for exactly those reasons.

The last scene in this chapter is also where Mira and Ian start really feeling real to me as a couple, too. I really think this is just the chapter where I found my stride and all the pieces started to come together.

Chapter Four

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this chapter. It mostly exists to set the scene for what comes later, to get the reader more familiar with the characters, to set the cogs in motion. I am very pleased with Ian and Rosa’s friendship in the first couple scenes, though - I think it’s pretty natural.

Rosa looked up at him, her expression completely neutral. “Beale, I am goin’ to steal your girl.”

At the time I was writing this, there had been - I remember it as several, but it really must’ve been like, three - Gideon reincarnations (and preincarnations) in TAU who had gotten weirdly possessive about Mizars and had caused All Of The Plot in their respective fics by trying to make her their own. We’d also - if I recall correctly - received an ask basically proposing that Gideon’s soul would always do that, any time it came into contact with a Mizar’s, no matter what else might be going on. I...wasn’t a fan of that idea. I believe I’ve mentioned in a previous thing-where-I-talked-too-much-about-RB that Reincarnation Blues’ major theme is determinism versus individual identity. That was why I felt like this was the perfect place to kind of deconstruct that idea that there could be no r!Gideon who wasn’t an epic jerk. Right from the beginning, I intended for Rosa to get fixated on Mira, to set events in motion by doing a bunch of stuff that was beyond the pale to try to ‘steal’ her from Ian, and then to have to face the consequences of her actions. The goal was to see if she could grab a clue, if knowing what was going on and what she had done would give her a chance to look at her life, look at her choices, and make better ones the next time.

That’s right. I was redeeming Gideon before it was canon cool.

(There’s a whole lot I could get into about what I’m meaning when I say ‘redemption’ versus ‘apologism’, but...I won’t, here. Suffice it to say that I wouldn’t have wanted any kind of redemption plot for Gideon - or, indeed, any character, anywhere - that didn’t acknowledge that they started out in the wrong, and, though I usually disagree, I completely understand people not wanting to see certain villainous characters get a second chance.)

“... So - noose joke. Think that can ride, or are the censors gonna flip?"

I made a Mistake here. I was referencing the cut storyboards from Scary-oke where Dipper finds Ford’s ‘Zombie Survival Kit’ and all that’s in it is a noose. It was a suicide joke. (Well, I mean, suicide wasn’t the joke, but - well, whatever.) I should have referred to it as a suicide joke, or chosen a different deadly weapon. Instead, I referred to it as a ‘noose joke’ and it became a meme on the TAU blog, that Ian would be hiding nooses in the backgrounds of scenes all the time.

It was only, like, a month into this that I realised what the noose has historically, in the States, been a symbol for, and that without the context of a cut storyboard presented at a con (which might not necessarily be widely known) and then taken out of the context of a scene where the character is making storyboards (thereby removing the storyboard reference link)...yeah. I have to apologise for this one. Nobody has said anything to me about it, but in hindsight and with some consideration, I would word this differently if I were to rewrite the fic today.

I had a loooot of fun writing sleep-deprived Bill-like Ian here, and I hope to do more of it at some point.

Chapter Five

The introduction of Sun-mi! Sun-mi was a last-minute addition because I realised Mira had no female friends and panicked, and also because NWHS came out and I fell even harder in love with the character of the Author, and figured that tossing an r!Author (we didn’t at the time know that he was named Ford) into the mix with an r!Bill would be fun. This...is why Sun-mi’s role is small (though, I think, still important enough to justify her inclusion) - it was added to the plot post-outlining.

While I was writing Sun-mi, I was thinking of her with a voice much like April on Parks & Rec. This is not particularly relevant information to anything, I just see her as being very deadpan in that same way.

“So, not that one. How about Tam Lin?”

The mention of Tam Lin - one of the Child Ballads, in which a girl rescues her fairy lover on the night his soul is to be sent to hell as a tithe, and restores him to humanity, by holding him fast, and fearing him not - was a blatant nod to how the fic was going to end, and nobody picked up on it. It is also just a great, classic fiddle tune, though, and apparently it's not widely known that it's in the same time and key as St. Anne's Reel and so the two can be played together?

(I also answered a question about what each of the characters would have on their iPods, and said that Mira would have the Kerli song ‘Chemical’ on hers. If anyone had looked it up, they would have found out that it’s got a refrain that goes ‘This love is more than chemical’, which also directly references how the fic ends. I took every opportunity to hide spoilers for this fic in plain sight. It was so much fun.)

Stamped into the starry void around them like an artificial horizon was a massive ring, parallel lines glowing red like gashes cut into the dream to reveal an inferno on the other side. And between those lines, all around the horizon, burned familiar symbols.

Most of Ian’s nightmare is based on what I thought Bill’s experience of the Mystery Shack, from the mindscape, must have been like. This bit, though, is based entirely on a nightmare I had which involved Bill Cipher. I was practically contractually obligated to include it here.

Chapter Six

I have to preface any comments I make about this chapter with a disclaimer. Normally, I loathe miscommunication plots, especially ones where characters who ostensibly love and trust each other just flat-out refuse to listen to the other's explanation of a situation that looks bad. However, that's...exactly what I've written here.

I feel like the saving grace of this first scene is that, one, it doesn't constitute the entire plot, and two, it's more of a symptom of larger, deeper problems that they're having, rather than manufactured drama so that there can be some conflict and a tearful reunion in the third act. Sure, things end up hinging on Mira and Dipper trusting one another, but things are already strained between them, and this one miscommunication isn't the only problem they face, it's just the straw that broke the camel's back. Clearing up this one particular misunderstanding also doesn't magically solve all of their problems. I could, of course, be totally wrong and this miscommunication plot could be exactly as painful as every one I've ever seen on a made-for-TV romcom.

Had this whole thing been a colossal waste of time?

And here we see the product of Rosa's machinations! My thinking behind her slightly-absurd recruiting of Sun-mi to investigate Ian's past lives in an earlier chapter was that she thought that, any negative information Sun-mi turned up, she would share with Mira, and it wouldn't look like Rosa herself had deliberately sabotaged Ian and Mira's relationship, so she'd still have a shot with Mira. Devious.

(It occurs to me that both of the two characters who were the initial inspiration for RB started out as evil masterminds in concept, but ended up being sympathetic characters who got redemption arcs in the actual fic. There's some kind of irony about this.)

Trying to work out how the historical record might represent the Shack so far in the future was also a lot of fun. I know that the worldbuilding on this fic isn't sufficient for something that's meant to take place a full thousand years in the future, that the rate of change is so rapid that the society - and even the landscape - of the world Ian and Mira live in ought to be near-completely unrecognisable. On the other hand, I just wanted to write a fun story about character interactions, and I couldn't really set it any earlier or I'd risk 1) Dipper still having a clear thread of niblings around to anchor him, 2) things not having progressed far enough to actually have something like preincarnation testing, and 3) it being too early for Bill to have recovered from his 'defeat'.

(Also, I'm pretty sure that this, here, is the first use of the word 'preincarnation' in the TAU.)

He was still himself, more or less, he wasn't like Bill - !

Dipper is a little (or a lot) less human in this fic than in some of my others, but the thing is, he isn't really aware of that. This is the scene where it gets hammered home. It was a lot of fun constructing the scene where he eats Ian's nightmare so that it could be deconstructed here, to put all of the pieces of his real motivation and plans on display and show just how much like Bill's his modus operandi has become. (It also explains how he's able to get into Ian's head to offer the deal he does right at the end of the fic.)

Chapter Seven

aka "Shit, Meet Fan".

If you asked Dipper what seeing the future was like, he'd probably say it was like a beach.

I lifted this metaphor from Terry Pratchett's The Carpet People, a book which I strongly suggest for anyone who is interested in high fantasy, slightly deconstructed, and set among a race of teeny-tiny people living in the hairs of a carpet. He wrote it at seventeen and then came back and edited it as an adult. The result is...not quite A Terry Pratchett Book, but also not your average Extruded Fantasy Product Tolkien knockoff. He deploys the metaphor a little differently, and I can't remember how exactly he phrased things, but the concept of seeing possible futures as grains of sand on a beach came from him initially.

"I'm Alcor and I was wrong

I'm singing the Alcor Wrong Song..."

Dipper's apology is, of course, based on the Stan Wrong Song, which I thought was a nice touch to show that he was still thinking of Mira in terms of his life with Mabel in Gravity Falls. You gotta give the boy credit, though, he's trying.

I also think that Dipper will never be over his fear of puppets, partly because of Sock Opera, but also partly because we never got the Labyrinth episode. Until Dipper and Mabel have a siblinghood-affirming adventure in a giant, glittery maze with a mess of Muppets and a David Bowie guy, Dipper Pines will forever fear all puppetry.

"Well, we're all going to die."

Ian is really, really, profoundly bad at being comforting. (Unless you're worried about having embarrassed yourself or messed up your future, in which case, your ultimate insignificance in an eternal and uncaring universe and the inevitable certainty of your eventual complete eradication can sometimes be comforting.)

Ian hummed along as he turned on the faucet. "Dream a little dream of me..."

Annnnd here we go.

I decided that Ian would like folk and bluegrass music, partly because of the initial character concept and the Rosa connection, partly because I thought it was a genre that would remain resistant to introducing synthesised music even in the hypothetical future, partly because then I could make 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia' jokes. I decided he should also be into jazz music mostly because of the incredible His Name Was Billy Mischief, which is probably one of my favourite GF fics of all time and also highly recommended for anybody who liked RB. The author's inclusion of 'Someone To Watch Over Me' was both inspired and led to me looking up more jazz music, which led to finding a surprising number of songs that could be easily read as referring to Bill. It's not jazz, but Alex's inclusion of 'We'll Meet Again' in the finale still made me kick my feet in vindicated glee.

This scene was in the works from chapter 2 onwards, and it's another of my favourites - I think with good reason. I've had a lot of feedback from people that this was the most viscerally effective scene in the whole fic, and somebody drew me fanart for it! It was a little challenging to get into initially, because I was so excited to write it and I had to restrain myself somewhat to keep it taut and tense and simmering, instead of just explosive from word one. I think - I hope - that it succeeded.

Chapter Eight

“I’ll be looking at the moon,

but I’ll be seeing...you!”

I found Billie Holiday's version of 'I'll Be Seeing You' somewhere around chapter three or four and I instantly knew I had to write this scene and use it as a backdrop. I'd love to see this on film; Mira looking through the empty apartment, the slight and subtle wrongnesses adding up as a sinister bass note slowly builds from under the song to nearly drown it out, only to vanish on the final line as the camera overlooks the sink abandoned in the middle of a task and the phone left docked on the wall, letting Billie's voice echo, alone, over the unnatural stillness, before the song ends and all is left in perfect, fragile, ominous silence -

Anyway. Sometimes my mind is unnecessarily cinematic, and sometimes I profoundly regret not being able to score and soundtrack my fics.

“Do y’all mind?” Rosa asked, holding her phone away from her head. “Can’t hear a word my friend’s sayin’.”

This scene was originally even longer and more obnoxious. I really wanted to give people a reason to like and root for Rosa. Okay, so I also thought it would be badass. Thankfully, I have long trained myself to sacrifice cool awesome character stuff when it needs to be sacrificed for the sake of the story.

Are you done laughing yet? No? Okay, I’ll give you a couple more minutes.

Please ignore literally everything I had to say about the wards, because it is all bullshit. I think I said that anything less than an SS-class demon would be bounced back from Mira's wards, and that Ian, once 'active', shattered one of them completely on his way out, but that Dipper could go past them without having any effect on them at all? Which would require him to, like, probably use his powers to recreate them after he passed through...? I don't know how any of that was supposed to work.

I am, however, very, very pleased about opening a scene with Dipper missing Mabel's absolute faith in him, and immediately taking it into Mira accusing Dipper of murdering her boyfriend because Dipper's just such a demon. Juxtaposition!

The 'highlight reel' is equally if not more bullshit than the wards. I think this chapter is where I just gave up on trying to give Dipper a balanced powerset and decided to just go with whatever best served the emotional, character-arc thread. Sometimes you just have to play to your strengths.

Dipper didn't like other people knowing things he didn't. ... If he wasn't that guy, then - well, what was he?

A good brother! A real scrapper with a heart of gold and a will of adamantium! A sarcastic little shit! Dipper's focus on being The Smart Guy getting deconstructed and his realising that that isn't the be-all end-all of who he is was a wonderful good awesome character arc, even if it ended up being kind of understated in comparison with some of the more in-your-face character development that, say, the Stans got. TAU kind of does a similar thing with Dipper's arc, giving him All The Knowledge but making it come at the price of his family, which makes him reconsider its value...but it doesn't address that particular thing in the same way as canon, so I can see Dipper still getting hung up on this even thousands of years later. (Also, there are a lot of interpretations that indicate he may be kind of mentally frozen at the age he 'died', which I kind of love and subscribe to.) Hence, this line!

(I bet Dipper haaaaaaates when, like, The Slang and memes change. He has all kinds of arcane knowledge, but just what exactly the kids are talking about when they say something that looks like a random combination of syllables is beyond even his eldritch comprehension, and he can't figure out the nuances of how the new words are used, and - argh.)

"I tried to set things up so you'd find out something awful about Ian and break up with him so I could date you instead!"

There was a beat.

"That's it?" Mira asked, carefully.

One, I personally still think this is hilarious. 

Two, this is the thing about Gideon - in a world of supernatural, outsized threats, he's really quite mundane! His whole shtick is something that can and does happen in real life! And he's the second-worst antagonist in the whole show! I front-loaded the redemption arc in this fic and gave Rosa a little more self-awareness and a quicker leap to recognising that what she was doing was shitty, so how funny the mundanity of 'I want you to be my girlfriend and I don't care what you think' as compared to 'a literal demon is going to try to blow up the whole of reality' is can really shine, but, like...it's still terrible, and giving it outsized supernatural consequences doesn't make it worse or better than it is when it happens in reality. Do any of these words make sense? Who knows.

My one explicitly lesbian character in this fic being manipulative and predatory in her affections? Mmmmmmaybe not a choice I'd make again. But I do like how this storyline played out.

Chapter Nine

I'm still not entirely sure who knows what about Bill and why. That was another thing that I'd change, given a chance to do a rewrite - I'd solidly establish Bill's position in history, myth, and public consciousness in this particular future right up front. That way, it might actually make a lick of sense when the characters react to hearing his name when there's not...like...any evidence that they have any idea who the fuck he even is.

Don't set your stories in a future where magic has been real for a thousand years if you don't have a lot of experience or interest in worldbuilding, guys.

This is the chapter where Mira is just completely fucking done with absolutely everyone's shit, and I love it.

"...They used to have to take my pulse manually every time. ..."

I decided that Ian wreaks havoc with medical technology because his Ooo Weird Demon Soul Energy is, like, an actual electromagnetic weirdness that hangs around him. This is also why the viewscreen for the peephole goes all fuzzy on him in chapter seven and why, in some extracanonical material, he can't get his storyboard files from his tablet to talk to literally any other piece of technology. It's also why Rosa can tell his energy's 'weird' and why Mira's mom thinks his aura's like a hole.

"... Remember Paloma Heart?"

... "I don't."

I should have mentioned Paloma earlier. That's all.

Brown really did think that he had Ian figured out, that he knew Ian back to front, just because he knew Bill Cipher. ... He wasn't expecting Ian Thomas Beale.

Ian, here, is thinking he's making Brown nervous, making Brown think that he's up against some semi-omniscient, potentially-omnipotent extradimensional being who knows more than he does and can do more than he can, in hopes that Brown will get scared and angry and slip up, give away information that Ian doesn't actually have yet (like how Bill sent Ford that nightmare in the beginning of TLM that really had no purpose except to send Ford running scared for his defenses against Bill, and which also led to the brainwave-encryption machine being destroyed and Ford taking Dipper into his confidences and growing closer to him and ultimately seeding the rift between Dipper and Mabel that ends with Bill getting the rift...). Just how in control is Ian of his own actions here? Debatable, since what he ends up actually doing is getting Brown scared and angry enough and believing enough in Ian's 'powers' to, eventually, let Bill out. Oh, the irony.

Area 51! For someone who's never been big into aliens, I sure have put this dang place into a lot of fics.

(I also wanted to give Mira a chance to one-up Dipper in the Smart Guy department. And do something nice for Dipper. He deserves a bone thrown his way.)

Chapter Ten

Mira is one of the only people - if not THE only person - in this entire fic who has exactly zero ulterior motives. She does exactly what she means to, goes for exactly what she wants to, directly and without hesitation. I kind of love that about her, it's a breath of fresh air.

Here, however, it does probably make her immediate job a little harder.

"It just kills you, doesn't it?" he said ... "Not knowing?"

#getrektIan

I am unreasonably proud of the jet-skate Ladies of English Lit roller derby team as a method of mass destruction.

This scene originally had Dipper taunting Mira about killing mooks lead into the 'mooks' turning out to be magically mind-controlled people, which Mira found out very graphically and horribly when she wrenched the helmet off the guy who tried to choke her out to jam her fingers in his eyes and saw the sigil on his forehead - but that dragged me down a rabbit hole of Is Mira Actually A Good Person etc, and it was both too late to introduce this thread and would have muddled the plot. I might revisit the idea sometime, but then again, I might not.

Chapter Eleven

Janice!!! Janice is one of my favourite backgrounders and I almost wish I hadn't killed her off so quickly. Almost.

I have a boatload of headcanons about how the Society of the Blind Eye worked, how it was originally a secret society designed to stop Bill but Bill used Fiddleford to co-opt and disable it and then used Dipper to destroy it, most of which ended up finding a home in Raising Stakes. This is one of them. There's just no way, in-universe, that the Blind Eye is so deliberately similar to Bill's in design just by chance. (Out of universe, of course, it makes perfect sense for the gravi-team to maintain a consistent aesthetic, but still. My convoluted headcanons can still be supported by textual evidence!)

There was a circle in the middle of the room.

Goodbye, Ian. It was nice knowing you.

He squeezed his eyes shut, and his outstretched wings flickered with stars, surveillance footage, images of the fight that had just happened, an apple tree in a forest of pines, a blueprint, a wide-eyed alien-looking creature...

Dipper's wings flickering is meant to parallel Bill's face flickering in Dreamscaperers, and, like Bill's face flickering in Dreamscaperers, it contains spoilers! The surveillance footage refers to how he and Mira eventually find Ian (through the central control room, on a security tape), the apple tree in a forest of pines is a reference to Henry's antlers and his tree over his grave in Gravity Falls and also a metaphor for him being part of the Pines family, the blueprints refer to the wards on the structural components of the facility, and the alien's just a reference to the fact that it's Area Fifty-freakin'-one.

"For the love of - are you actually twelve?"

Nyahahaha.

I love the bounce castle. I love Mira and Dipper's dialogue immediately post-bounce-castle. I think I have Dipper rip the doors to the soul tree room off their hinges and then later have Mira say she should've closed them, whoops.

I have nothing particular to say about the last scene except that I'm very proud of how it turned out.

Chapter Twelve

The summer Ian had turned fourteen, one of the artists his mother represented had gone triple platinum, a record-breaking heatwave had hit the West Coast, and Ian had tried to kill himself.

I like this scene too. I like montages, bullshit experimental purpley prose, and expressing emotion through place. I also like that this nods to what they're trying to do to Ian - they can't bring Bill back proper, but they can dredge up all his memories, theoretically creating a powerless, more controllable human with all of Bill's borderline-infinite knowledge and no requirement of making a deal or dealing with demonic senses of humour to get at it. All of Ian's own memories bubbling to the surface is part flashback, part the spell dragging up something old and dead and long-buried and dislodging Ian's memories as it rises.

I also should've established Ian's father's death earlier, I think, though now that I'm staring it in the face again I don't dislike it as much as I did just considering it as a concept. I could've mentioned it more concretely earlier on, but bringing its full impact on Ian out here, where everything he's tried to forget is being dragged out of him and everything he is is being stripped bare, is not the worst narrative decision I've ever made.

The soul tree (or ‘tree of knowledge’, as Janice calls it, because haha, it bears apples and it’s a research project) is a product of me looking at what they’re doing to Ian and trying to work backwards, to see what kind of other things they might be doing to research souls, if this is how they decide to deal with Ian. It was also a nice opportunity for a great big hunk of angst, and a good excuse to give Dipper the powerup necessary for all the heavy magical lifting he’s going to have to do. Three for the price of one cool-looking plot device!

“We’re not going anywhere,” Brown said, taking his hand away from his earpiece. “We’ve still got -”

Janice gave him a pitying look. “It’s Alcor,” she said.

Janice is...probably a little bit of an Alcor fangirl. (Not the Twin Souls kind. The watches-doumentaries-about-serial-killers-on-her-days-off kind.) She is perfectly aware of, and starstruck by, the fact that he can kill her with barely a thought. She would just love to get him under a scalpel or energy blade of some description, but she’s also not a complete idiot. No one who’s ever tried to summon Alcor for anything like the kind of research she does has ever lived to tell the tale. She probably just has a wall of newspaper clippings all about Cool Shit Alcor Has Done.

“Wanna know what your future has in it?” ...  He blinked, once, slowly, deliberately, and said, “Exactly three minutes!”

This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It also probably wouldn’t have worked if Ian hadn’t already played at being Bill for Brown earlier. BAM. PLOT. 

Ian glanced over at the timer as Brown brandished the tablet. The last few seconds drained away just as Brown pressed a finger down on the screen.

The house from Ian’s nightmares crashed down around him.

This is another one that I can see as a scene, animated or filmed; the room beyond, the ‘real world’ with the circle and the magitech and the terrified people suddenly vanishing from Ian’s viewpoint when a wall drops in front of it, no, slams down in front of it, shaking snowglobes and pine-tree trucker hats off the shelves and putting huge cracks between the boards, settling slowly into place like it was just dropped by a tornado even as blue light starts to spill up through the floorboards and the cracks start to widen as gravity fights for every board and nail...

Man, I wish I could make the moving pictures. (Though I guess if I’d put my time and energy into learning to make the moving pictures, maybe I would know less about making the words go. And, like, I’ve managed to just blither some seven thousand words about Making The Words Go. So I might actually have some modicum of skill at that by now.)

Chapter Thirteen

Mira hadn’t said anything since they’d left the room where Henry’s soul had been imprisoned, and Dipper was starting to worry.

TAU’s creator and Mod Z mentioned to me after this chapter was posted that I could’ve held off naming Henry as the owner of the soul until Dipper is forced to admit it, out loud, to Mira, and I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t think of that before posting the chapter because it’s a great suggestion and would have been very effective.

“See, at least we just kill people.”

Yeah, I’m glad I didn’t get into the ‘moral dilemma of Mizar’ aspect in this one any more than I did.

“You’re my best friend, you know? And I don’t want to lose that.” She glanced down the hall, back the way they’d come. “But if this is going to work, then sooner or later, you’re going to have to trust me.”

WHOOOOA THESIS STATEMENT

Everything from Mira and Dipper breaking into the control room straight through to Mira landing in the hospital was pretty much written in one straight shot, without stopping. This was the part I'd been itching to write since, like, chapter two, and it was GREAT to finally have it all fall together. The reactions I got to Bill's appearance - even though I think everybody was kind of expecting it by the time we got to this part - were all awesome and priceless.

I do want to make sure it's clear - the whole Bit in Area 51 was set up to approximate the circumstances under which Dipper became demonized. We had 1) an enormous, elaborate spell being worked, 2) ancient spells in the foundation of the building which had been in place for more than a thousand years, 3) all of which were destroyed, releasing all that pent-up power while 4) demonic energy and knowledge was being forced through and into a fragile puny human with an intrinsic tie to the physical plane.

It seemed like it made sense at the time, okay.

"AND PUBERTY! REMIND ME TO GIVE THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS THAT DREAMED THAT ONE UP A SWIFT KICK IN THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST!"

I love writing dialogue for Bill. That is all. Most of my favourite lines did actually make their way into the fic, but I still ended up having to scrap some that I really liked, just because I couldn't make the dialogue work with the plot and the other characters. A shame.

I honestly don't think I could be happier with how the scene with Bill in the centre of the circles with Mira turned out. Choreographing it was a bitch, though.

"Give Ian back, you son of a -"

"AH AH AH, LANGUAGE!" Bill interrupted, with a wink. "TRYING TO PRESERVE THAT Y-7 RATING HERE!"

this is my favourite fucking joke in the entire fic

can you imagine how much funnier it would've been if I actually had kept the entire fic Y-7 rated

"Why does everyone keep forgetting I'm Mizar?"

#getrektbill

Chapter Fourteen

I really don't have anything more to say about the rest of the scene in Area 51. I think the writing actually says exactly what I want it to say, how I want to say it. It all flowed easily and beautifully, and I barely had to edit it at all. I was and still am pleased as punch about how it came out.

Everything was floating.

This fucking scene, on the other hand.

I rewrote this entire scene from scratch no less than three times (and it was probably actually four). This scene was a righteous pain in my ass. I had one goal with it - I had to get Dipper to offer Ian the deal that would remove all outsiders' memories of Ian being an r!Bill, in exchange for eating all of the Bill-memories left in Ian's head. Usually, that's a good thing. Usually, knowing the purpose of a scene makes it pretty easy and straightforward to write. 

This motherfucker, though. This scene was like pulling teeth. I'd get about halfway through Dipper explaining the deal to Ian and why it was important, and then I would just stop. I couldn't go any farther. It was like I was on the end of an imaginary rubber band of Actual Ability To Make The Words Go that I could stretch only so far, but no farther, and only with a great amount of struggle, before I'd be snapped back to the beginning and have to try to start again from there in a direction where maybe I could make it to the next scene before I ran to the end of my rubber band again. I tried over and over and over with no luck, no success, and no small amount of frustration.

I don't know what tipped me off to the fact that, one, I had to actually deal with the demons I'd pulled out of Ian's head, and two, there was so much more I could do with the mindscape than the literary equivalent of talking head panels, but once it clicked into place, it was like that imaginary rubber band just vanished and I wrote the whole thing all the way through in forty-five minutes without stopping. It also required minimal editing, and it is now one of my favourite scenes in the entire fic.

A little while after I finished this chapter, I saw a quote (from Clickhole, so obviously fake, but) attributed to Haruki Murakami, which basically said, "If you can set a scene in the basket of a hot-air balloon, do." It was a joke, of course, but I also, since writing this, think it's genuinely excellent advice.

Also, I managed to sneak in references to used-car-salesman!human!Bill, stylised-skinny-smirky-pretty-boy!human!Bill and how I felt he was kind of a caricature and a lot of versions of him that looked like that also flattened out the depth of the character, and to the apocalypse tapestry, which I actually don't think I've seen mentioned anywhere in the fandom since Escape From Reality aired! Huh. Too bad, it was cool.

Chapter Fifteen

...and the forest outside with all of its eyes is burning, burning - 

I just really like this line, I don't know.

The news story about the Nordwext group that's playing when Ian wakes up for the first time is, one, yes, a reference to the Northwest family, and two, a callback to the girls in the factory who Dipper hadn't been able to help back in chapter five. This is him trying to do something that will actually help them and make a difference in their lives, instead of just lighting people on fire from inside out and getting them in trouble for summoning demons.

"... another such facility located under the former Ellens Air Force Base in Idaho."

Ellens Air Force Base is entirely fictional. It was invented for an episode of the X-Files, Deep Throat, where Mulder actually sees a UFO up close and personal (before having it wiped from his mind by the government). I couldn't resist.

I actually researched eye removal for this chapter. It took a lot of psyching up and then realising I could probably start with Wikipedia and click though to their sources without ever having to brave the minefield of Google Suggested Images.

He'd never seen this ring of trees (aspen? Birch?) in his life...

When I wrote this, I had the clearing where Gideon first summons Bill in mind. I also deliberately used descriptors, when Ian looks over and sees he's holding hands with himself, that could apply to either Ian or Bill.

"Oh, demons ... We can deal with demons."

I love Mira's parents.

Guess whooo put in a Twin Peaks reference without knowing basically anything about Twin Peaks!...okay, I could not pass up the opportunity. Besides, you know Ian watched Twin Pines at a formative age, and nearly flipped when he found out they were resurrecting it as Twin Pines: The Returnening.

He’s also a big fan (and friend) of Lauren Mephistopheles, but there is absolutely nothing that will make him actually watch more than ten minutes of Friendship is Prestidigitation. Sorry, Lauren. Some things are too terrifying even for an ex-demon in human skin.

And here we have the culmination of the Rosa Darling Redemption Arc! Ian telling her that Bill played all of them is, as she correctly deduces, a test - if she took the out as offered, played off her own responsibility, he’d know that he really couldn’t trust her to recognise what she’d done wrong and try to fix it. At that point, he probably would’ve had to ask Dipper to remove her memories, too. It’s a lucky thing for both of them that she got a clue!

“State-of-the-art prosthetic.” Rosa clasped her hands behind her back. “This model’s so new it’s not even on the market yet. Which, uh, would mean that technically you’d be part of a clinical trial -”

“A guinea pig,” Ian said, softly.

Just like Bill made Dipper into! I’m a genius.

“You’re not my father,” Ian says at last.

Ian’s father shrugs. “Does it matter, if I’m right?” He puts his glasses back on, light hitting the lenses just so that Ian can’t see his eyes. “Does any of this matter?”

Ian thinks.

“Yes,” he says.

Hi, my name is Mary, and I love Terry Pratchett’s writing.

“You know what,” Ian said, still looking up at the ceiling, at the hoist that dangled over the bed and the dark bulb in the reading lamp, “it’s been - three days? Four days? A couple days since we narrowly escaped death and you haven’t kissed me even once.”

“You haven’t kissed me either,” Mira said, with an affronted look, but there was a hint of laughter in her voice.

Remember how I said they started out forced and stilted? Yeah. I think that was just inexperience and a lack of familiarity with the characters. Let this be a lesson unto me: write the whole damn thing, then go back and rewrite the first, like, until it starts sounding natural again.

“Mira, don’t call me nerdface,” Alcor grumbled, coalescing out of the dark and fussing with his cufflinks.

“Okay, dorkbreath,” Mira agreed, just to hear Alcor’s long-suffering sigh.

Case in point.

Epilogue

Toby!

Everybody loves Toby. I guess I’m no exception. I am a sucker. Also I really wanted to show how the whole Ian thing affected Dipper’s relationship with Toby, while not actually causing it to deviate at all from what had already been established as TAU canon.

“Fragile neurological attachment, huh?” Dipper said, under his breath, and then, loud enough to hear, “Well, now you’ve got me.”

That’s all, folks!

Some more RB-related song recs, before I go: 

- The Garden, by July Talk (This ain’t Johnny Carson/I got thoughts that ain’t my own/I’m talkin’ black souls dressed in red and things that I shoulda never known)

- I Run Roulette, by Boots (I’ve been tricked into a thousand different ways/to slide myself away right down the drain)

- Better Not Wake The Baby, by the Decemberists (make your moan of your lot in life, split your mind half-crazy/gouge your eyes with a butter knife)

- Tic Toc, by Mother Mother (the Sandman told me, there’s no use in listening)

and because shush, it’s a great song and I had it on repeat for writing a decent chunk of the middle bits

- Out Of The Woods, by Taylor Swift (but the monsters turned out to be just trees/when the sun came up you were lookin’ at me)

[symplegades]

i’m gonna do one of those old facebook note quiz things from 2010

Are you ready to answer these questions honestly even if it starts to get hard? ya How old is the last person you kissed on the lips? 27 Who was the last person you had a face to face conversation with? my best friend from undergrad What were you doing at 12 am last night? getting into bed/falling asleep Does the person you like, like you back? um i hope so!!!!!!! we share a bed????? Have you ever walked away from someone who was yelling at you? unclear. maybe but i think i’d be too squeamish to do that, i’d just stand there and cry Do you ignore people when you're mad/upset with them? nah i always have to talk it out either with them or someone else, and both options usually end in me getting over it/getting closure and going back to normal Did you kiss or hug anyone in the last 48 hours? yep When you say you don't care do you mean it? i don’t say i don’t care very much, so i guess when i say it i do mean it? i’ll have to pay attention next time Do you plan on sleeping in tomorrow? yep Did your last kiss take place in/on a bed? nah i kissed mike while he was still covered in shaving cream it was yikes Have you ever cried cause you were so mad? oh absolutely, like 100% of the time What's your favourite color? cool colors. <-- what i wrote in 2010 but still true What color is your shirt? grey with purple lettering What do you hear? netflix, i’m watching this movie ~out of the dark~ Last person of the opposite sex you gave a hug to? actually my friend kevin from grad school! i just ran into him at work Are you sitting or standing? sitting. <-- also written in 2010, also still true Are you keeping a secret from anyone? um probably Have you ever kissed someone in the rain? ya Have you kissed someone with braces? yes. <-- i don’t remember that but apparently yes Are you short? ok in 2010 i wrote yes but i think i’m actually pretty average or even taller than average. maybe i was shorter in 10th grade What would your last name be if you were married to the last person you texted? ok i just texted like 3 people at once. i guess velez Last picture comment was from? did this mean, like, on myspace or facebook? idk who was the last person to comment on my fb photos. oh actually you know what a friend of a friend went through all my public posts including photos and commented on all of it and it was rly offputting, so that’s who How was your day overall? p good, i applied to 2 jobs and got called back for a second interview for another job (FINALLY) Do you think that someone is thinking about you right now? probably SOMEONE in the world. maybe my ma Have you ever kissed anyone within an hour of meeting them? ok mike tried to kiss me after our first date but i was like no that is creepy. and looking back i’m like aw so sweet we shoulda kissed! but no it was still uncomfy that he was trying to kiss me a very short time after we first met Are you anyone's first love? pls. sure i guess, people in high school. Could you handle living together with the last person who texted you? lol maybe? i’ve never considered it. prolly we could find agreements/common ground So, the person you like, their name starts with a B, doesn't it? it does not. <-- still true Is the person you last texted single? negative. <-- also still true Do you think age matters in relationships? i mean it’s totally dependent on context. we talking about 16 and 18 year olds or 16 and 32 year olds? i guess it always MATTERS it just depends on how it matters, like being similar ages kinda matters bc you’ve had similar life experiences at similar points in history and being very different ages matters bc you gotta wonder what’s going on. but once you’re over like, 25 i feel like bigger age gaps are more acceptable depending on what’s going on in folks lives. idk. How is your hair right now? it’s okay, up in a pony. actually i thought it was in a bun but i just touched it and it is a pony, usually it’s a bun when i’m home Do you hate the last guy you had a conversation with? nah he’s cool, although sometimes i have trouble following his thought process Where was your default picture taken? my prof pic on fb was taken at columbia Who's the last person you took a picture with? yikes, ahhhh... probably mike. Are you waiting for something? a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How did you get your last bruise? who knows. <-- still true. i’m not sure i currently have any bruises? Do you believe in love? yes. <-- still true What are your plans for the summer? ikea with sami tomorrow, permit on monday, kate's birthday party monday night, possibly beach with em sara hayley + meg on tuesday, dermatologist on wednesday, california with sami from friday to tuesday, one week home, to maine for 2 weeks, one week home to schedule driving time and finish summer reading and find a job. wooo!

^^^^^sorry i just wanna preserve that 2010 message bc it’s so wholesome and high school-ish and carefree.

my actual summer plans are just intense job hunting and getting a job. then maybe planning a trip home or to maine, then planning a china trip but probably won’t happen this summer. What was your first thought this morning? wa wa why is my alarm going off Have you kissed anyone this month? ya Could you date someone taller than you? sure Is there anything in your past that you'd like to try again? uhhh. yeah i’m sure there are things i didn’t do great. idk? Have you ever gotten butterflies from someone? oh yes. <-- lol wtf? “oh yes”? ya sure idk Do you like waking up in the morning to find that you have new texts? sometimes. i think when i was younger it was more exciting but now i’m kinda relieved when i wake up and don’t have notifications. Ever had braces? nope. <-- still true Do you enjoy Taco Bell or McDonalds? i haven’t eaten either in ages even tho i want to but i know i’ll just get diarrhea. but i’d probably get mcdonalds given the choice Have you ever walked on the beach at night? oh yes. <-- oh yes?? anyway the most prominent “walking on the beach at night” story was when i was on spring break with my friends in ghana (or maybe we were in togo?) and we got stuck in this beach house like a mile down this deserted beach and it was like 2am and we’re walking and all super scared bc we’re a bunch of american girls in a foreign land and then 2 random dudes come out of nowhere and we’re all like NO LEAVE US ALONE and they somehow follow us to our house? and like try to come in? and we’re all f r e a k i n g out bc we’re afraid they’re gonna attack us but then my friend who is naive and trusting opens the door and we’re all screaming like DON’T OPEN THE DOOR but then i guess he just asked if we like... needed matches or something. anyway it was a lot What were you doing at 2AM this morning? sleeping.  <-- still true Let me guess, your last incoming call was from the opposite sex? nope it was mike’s mom Has a girl sat on your bed before? yes although actually i don’t think that has happened in this apartment? no one ever really goes in the bedroom except mike and me. but maybe in the old apartment girls had sat on my bed before. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? chatting with my friend and getting my thread organized Ever kissed anyone 18 or older? lol ya Math or English? womp. english? i’m poop at math now i haven’t taken it since i was a freshman in undergrad Do you have any twins in your family? i don’t think so, which is surprising bc it’s a pretty big family Are you shy? depends on the setting and how comfy i am feeling Are you close with your siblings ? meh depends on the day. i think sometimes my middle sister mom’s me too much/nags me/treats me like a baby. You'd say "Fuck you" to your ex, ain't I right? which ex? i mean probably not, what’s the point? How you feeling? kinda hungry Will you ever run away and get married in Las Vegas with no notifications to either of your families? lol nooooooooo What do you think of boyfriends/girlfriends calling each other by food names? i think it is hilar and i wish mike and i did it If you're single, then why don't you get a boyfriend/girlfriend ? not single but also this question unnecessarily adheres to the gender binary also even if i was single i don’t need a partner heck! When was the last time you were craving to get drunk? wah not in a while, i can’t hold my alcohol and mike doesn’t drink so it’s not very fun I don't know about you, but I like saying "fuck" a lot. Do you? not like a LOT. when appropriate Do you think you'll be one of those people that will get a divorce in the future? eep i hope not? does anyone consider themselves “one of those people”? Who did you last hug? my best friend from undergrad Have you ever done something that was really bad for yourself? dur Is it worth crying over a guy or a girl? i mean... crying is crying. it’s not a question of worth it or not. if you wanna cry then cry Would you ever take someone back if they cheated on you? ya but we’d need to do a lot of emotional repair Has the last person you texted ever been mad at you before? oh absolutely i was trying to pretend that i wasn’t running horribly late but i was and i made her stand around for so long and she was pissed Has someone ever called you at midnight on your birthday? probably Are you wearing pants? shorts. does that count? <-- same Would you date someone twenty years older than you? womp not right now i’d feel a bit yikes. maybe if i was like 60 and they were 80 or something. it feels better to me if we’re both old lol Is your birthday in less than 6 months? nah Would you ever quit a bad habit for someone? i did actually! i was still smoking a bit when mike and i got together and he really hated it/asked me to stop Have you ever felt guilty about something you didn’t do? oh absolutely lol i feel lots of emotions about everything Do looks matter the most to you? nah Are you looking forward to tomorrow? meh Do you have someone of the opposite sex you can tell everything to? yeah! What are you doing after this? probably gonna make french fries Is something bothering you? unemployment ;( Three days from now, will you be in a relationship? i don't even know if i'm in a relationship NOW. <-- o shit 2010 alicia??? wyd?? you good???

anyway ya i hope so Has someone ever made a promise with you and broke it? i’m sure Will your next kiss be a mistake? hope not! Do you think you can last in a relationship for 3 months? we goin on 3 years here so Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? mommy. <-- still true!! we literally talk every day if not multiple times a day. Are you trying to avoid liking somebody at the moment? nope! What are you doing tomorrow? sigh probably clean... apply for another job. cross stitch lol What was your last thought before you went to bed last night? he still likes me (: <-- i’m so sad for 2010 me. what is going on? i’m so sad.

and i have no clue what my last thought was, i think i was wondering if mike wanted me to stop leaning on his arm Do you get along more with girls or guys? girls are beautiful and perfect and guys are yikes until proven otherwise next Do you remember who you liked on New Years? lol ya this same guy Have you ever intentionally pissed someone off? probably? Is there someone on your mind that shouldn't be? nah The person you fell hardest for calls, what do you say? hey!!! how's phoenix?! why are you talking to me and not your arizona brethren? <-- ooooooooooh it’s when i dated this white missionary boy who i loved so much but he def did not love me but i was like, just totally infatuated. my best friend from high school refers to this boy as my renaissance bc i after dating him i started dating much cuter people lol

um anyway it’s hard to quantify who i fell hARDEST for i guess? i mean i’m currently in the process of marrying mike so i think he wins. if he called i would ask how bar night was and when the transformers movie is starting bc he got free tix from work Do you think someone has feelings for you? lol he better Have you done anything sneaky lately? hm hm. i don’t think sneaky. Do you find smoking unattractive? sigh i shouldn’t but i do think it makes ppl look sooooo COOL Do you still talk to the last person you kissed? ya we like live together How many cigarettes have you smoked today? zero. <-- still true! Kissed someone who's name started with an N? hmmmmm. when i studied abroad i kissed a LOT of people so i’m sure one of their names started with N When was the last time something bothered you? lol what? constantly? Was last night terrible? nah it was good just a quick turnaround of getting home and going to bed. i ate a lot of watermelon which was gr8 What does your hair look like right now? pony-ish First person to speak to you in '09? lmfao damn i’m dating myself. idfk. Are you afraid of losing the last person you talked to? i mean, i’m not worried about losing them, but yes i’d be afraid or upset if i lost them Are you basically a happy person? i hope so! Do you wish you could take things back? meh. no regerts and all that Have you ever wondered what life would be like without your best friends? omg what?? no?? it would be terrible?? Last person to make you seriously mad? prolly bigots Be honest, are you starting to gain feelings towards anyone? i’m like 3 years in so Do you think relationships are even worth it? well fuck i hope so lol Does anyone completely understand you? i mean no one will ever ~~completely~~ understand me but ya i have lots of people i am close to and whom i trust a lot Did you hug anyone in the last 48 hours? yep! Can you recall the last time you liked someone a lot? lol yes smh Where do you see your ex in 5 years? sigh i have a lot of ex’s don’t put me on blast like this. a few of them are already married so. idk. employed? Your ex runs into you and hugs you, what do you do? which. one. actually it doesn’t rly matter bc if any of them did that i’d be like wat Who was your last missed call from? my dad, we were playing phone tag on father’s day Did you have any unread text messages this morning when you woke up? yeah one from my best friend from high school saying “wtf” bc i told him about how rats can eat snakes if you’re not paying attention when you feed your snek When you and your friends are out and about do you usually get dirty looks? wut? i mean no but probably when i was a teen or preteen we were annoying and did get dirty looks Are you easily scared by horror/thriller films? i lOOOve these films but if it’s about like home invasions i get scared, or like things that live in your house Favorite fruit? god i love fruit. raspberries, applies, cherries (but i’m allergic now :(((((((( ), melon, oranges, the whole shebang. When someone says "we need to talk," what runs through your mind? yikes.com What are your chances of getting with your crush? smh i think they’re pretty good Who did you talk to on the phone last, and why? mom bc i was walking home and wanted to chat with her Do you always answer your phone? yes always Ever worn something of the opposite sex's clothing? dur Which do you enjoy more, to eat or sleep? lmao ahhhhhh i guess eat. Is there a member of the opposite sex on your mind? i mean, yes i have a partner who is a man who i love dearly but he’s not like ALWAYS on my mind, like rn i’m not rly thinking about him but i do care for him a lot and think of him often/want to share most things with him Do you believe your latest ex thinks about you? who??... is my latest ex...... either that aaron guy from okcupid or -- omg CONNOR sigh omg poor boy i hope he’s okay. i hope he doesn’t think about me omg Who was the last person you talked to before you went to bed last night? mike Do you know anyone who would just drop everything to come see you? i mean what’s EVERYTHING... like within reason yeah Your best friend tells you, you have a drug problem, you say? ah i love you and we will get through this lets research our options together

[livebiganddie]

Ask meme: all

i was told to do all from both posts so alright here we go with that first one

Do you prefer writing with black or blue pen?

black

Would you prefer to live in the country or the city?

ive only ever lived in city places and i cant stand bugs so i guess city bc im a City Boi

If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?

uh i really wanna know how to skateboard. so id learn skateboarding or how to be able to skateboard bc my feet are really shitty and idk if i can skate with them

Do you drink your tea or coffee with sugar?

i hate coffee and im picky about my hot teas. it has to be pretty sweet so yes sugar

What was your favourite book as a child?

hmm i really loved the magic treehouse series

Do you prefer baths or showers?

showers because baths feel inefficient in a way. idk. should probs treat myself take more baths tho

If you could be a mythical creature, which would you choose?

oooo id probably be a werewolf or Cerberus. since werewolves are generic and Cerberus is like a single entity, leaning more towards werewolf

Do you prefer reading paper or electronic books?

paper. electronic books fuck with my eyes more

What is your favourite item of clothing?

my binder uh my space jam t-shirt

Do you like your name? Would you ever change it?

uh Dennis is an ok name. i dont really like where it came from, but i like when my friends call me Denny and idk its cute and i dont wanna change my name and lose that. im going to legally change my name eventually, but im still figuring out what im going to change it to. Something Dennis Something

Who is a mentor to you?

i dont view anyone as a mentor. at least consciously. idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Would you ever want to be famous? If so, what for?

like being famous would mean id have money so im soo down for that. but never being left alone, never havign truly private moments, being constantly critiqued, etc would wear down my mental state really fuckin quickly. but yes, for the money. id wanna be famous for something dog or animal related and/or just being a really nice/loving person

Are you a restless sleeper?

uh sometimes. it depends a lot. my sleeping has gotten better but i wouldnt say its the best sleep

Do you consider yourself a romantic?

uh i dont really think so. im still sorting out what shit is stuff i like and what is stuff i think i feel obligated to like. but yeah bein grey aro is v v interesting

Which element best represents you?

i guess water? bc it can be really calm and forgiving but it can also be really fuckin not chill

Who do you want to be closer to?

myself and other people. just in general other people. i close myself off a lot and im still learning to be open and i havent really experienced much closeness, both mentally and physically. like example: i dont wanna freak the fuck out if i accidentally sit too close to my friend and we touch. idk stuff like that

Do you miss someone at the moment?

i dont think so

Tell us about an early childhood memory.

when my grandpa was still alive and able to drive himself, he used to take me to denny’s every week. i got the same thing. a waffle and apple juice. we always talked but i cant remember about what. probably silly kids stuff lol

What is the strangest thing you have eaten?

im sort of a picky eater, so if it sounds strange i probably wont eat it. im pretty sure all the stuff ive eaten is p “normal”

What can you see outside your bedroom window?

i can see my university’s stadium, other apartments, a dumpster, a small tree or two, road, sidewalk

What are you most thankful for?

making it to where i am now. things might have been shitty and they might be shitty now, but i am thankful for the opportunities ive been given to be where i am now with who im with now

Do you like spicy food?

i love spicy food unless it makes my nose burn. its fine if its my mouth, but not my nose

Have you ever met someone famous?

maybe a race car driver or two (bc of my hometown) but other than that, no

Do you keep a diary or journal?

i used to. i need to take it up again. its really nice

Do you prefer to use pen or pencil?

pencil. i make too many mistakes for pens

What is your star sign?

capricorn

Do you like your cereal crunchy or soggy?

crunchy. and get tf outta here if you like soggy cereal man (jk you do you)

What would you want your legacy to be?

being a kind and loving person (also being funny but thats less important to me)

Do you like reading? What was the last thing you read?

i like reading even though i rarely read anymore. the last thing i read was probably the mystery book called like Night or One Night or something. it was p good

How do you show someone you love them?

i try to be there for them if they need me, do small things for them, buy them things when i get the money

Do you like ice in your drinks?

depends on the drink. milk? no. juice? yeee tea? hell yee water? yeah

What are you afraid of?

heights, the unknown, the future, spiders, people i love dying. theres more but i cant think of them rn

What is your favourite scent?

lavender or lilac. fuck me UP

Do you address older people by their first or last name?

growing up, i was told no matter what to not call people older than me by their first name, even if they were okay or told people to call them by their first name. i still kinda do that. im tryin not to tho bc if they wanna be called by their first name, i should respect that

If money was not a factor, how would you live your life?

oh SHIT man i would help so many people. i would let people stay at my place if they needed/wanted. i would donate all kinds of shit to all kinds of people. i would give my friends shit. i would save animals from shelters and live in a decent place that the animals would like and my friends could visit

Do you prefer swimming in pools or in the ocean?

the ocean beat me up so much - pools 

What would you do if you found $50 on the ground?

spend it on my summer bills

Have you ever seen a shooting star? Did you make a wish?

i honestly dont remember if i have or not

What is one thing you would want to teach your children?

dont take people’s bullshit. love is important, but letting people treat you like shit isnt okay

If you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it?

i already have a tattoo, but if i were to get another one id wanna get a tree (maybe pine?) on the back of my calf

What can you hear right now?

my ac (couple min after answering this, i started listening to Dan Bull’s Dishonored rap on repeat)

Where do you feel the safest?

i could be gay and say “with my friends!!” but honestly, all my friends and i are queer, not cis, and one of them isnt white so im worried for their and my safety a lot (when together and separate) my apartment or my friends rooms are the best places i got but even then i dont feel 100% safe and comfortable. and idk i know a lot of people have more reason to feel unsafe so i guess comparatively, im pretty safe

What is one thing you want to overcome/conquer?

my (lack of) motivation 

If you could travel back to any era, which would you choose?

uh the past was really shitty i dont wanna go back

What is your most used emoji?

the blue heart bc im gay as fuck

What is your favourite season? Why?

winter bc i love snow and i hate being hot and sweaty (and i get hot and sweaty p easily)

How would you spend your ideal day?

id have slept the previous night for 12 hours, id spend time with friends watching steven universe or brooklyn nine-nine, eat some really good pizza with green peppers, watch youtube, and at some point drink some chocolate milk and apple juice

Describe yourself using one word.

silly

What do you regret the most?

regret for me doesnt last long. when i look back, all that ive done has made me who i am. right after something happens ill get high fuckin levels of regret, but eventually they go away. currently my regret is singing loudly while doing the dishes bc my roommate and their dad walked in on me doing that and i didnt realize so idk how long they were there listening/watching me do that

Invent your own word. What does it mean?

uh oh boy im not creative. noop. means to not be a fan of something or to be in a bad mood.

ok second post time

1: How tall or short do you wish you were?

i wish i was like 5′8″ at least (currently 5′6″ and a bit)

2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not)

i really want a dog or a cat or both right now. i know i can choose things that arent real, but man i want a doggo or a kitty

3: Do you have a favorite clothing style?

i like the look skaters have lol i like more edgy clothes i guess? street wear. stuff like that

4: What was your favorite video game growing up?

i loved the scooby doo games i had growing up like holy shit. i had night of 100 frights and scooby do unmasked (both for xbox) man i miss those games

5: What three things/people do you think of most each day:

things: money, food, homeworkpeople: my friends

6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

WARNING: Quiet, anxious exterior hiding super gay interior

7: What is your opinion on [insert person/thing here]?

wasnt given a person ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

8: What is your Greek personality type? [Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic]

uh idk how accurate this is but i took a quiz and it told me melancholic

9: Are you ticklish?

sometimes. depends on who it is, where it is, how im feeling

10: Are you allergic to anything?

normal stuff and cats. cats make my eyes really itchy. still gonna get a cat one day tho

11: What’s your sexuality?

asexual/graysexual

12: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa?

assuming its hot tea, cocoa

13: Are you a cat or dog person?

i wanna say im a both person, but thatd be lying. i do lean more towards dogs

14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson?

merperson

15: Do you have a favorite Youtuber?

i really like good mythical morning and cryaotic

16: How tall are you?

5′6″ and a bit

17: If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?

Something Dennis Something (im still working on it lol)

18: How much do you weigh? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!]

i havent weighed myself in a while so i dont know exactly how much i weigh rn, but lets just say i weigh more than 200 lbs

19: Do you believe in ghosts/spirits?

i dont know. thinking about it fucks with my mind 

20: Do you like space or the ocean more?

space is scary as fuck, but the ocean is scarier imo. i like space better

21: Are you religious?

no

22: Pet peeves?

when my stuff gets out of the order i put it in is the only one i can think of rn

23: Would you rather be nocturnal or diurnal [opposite of nocturnal]?

nocturnal

24: Favorite constellation?

the dippers bc i have freckles that make a dipper :)

25: Favorite star?

dont have one :/

26: Do you like ball-jointed dolls?

sure

27: Any phobias or fears?

heights, unknown, spiders, death of people i love, becoming someone i hate

28: Do you think global warming is real?

yes

29: Do you believe in reincarnation?

idk. i think itd be interesting. 

30: Favorite movie?

a big’s life and the fox and the hound are the only movies i can think of rn

31: Do you get scared easily?

i startle extremely easily. i also get scared/creeped out fairly easily. i still watch horror shit tho lol

32: How many pets have you own in your lifetime?

just two. my siberian huskies Wolfie and Dakota

33: Blog rate? [You’ll rate the blog of the one who’s asking.]

youre on anon ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

34: What is a color that calms you?

blues calm me bc theyre so pretty, theyre my fav, and psych shit lol

35: Where would you like to travel and/or live?

uh im not sure where i wanna travel, just that i wanna go somewhere else. i wanna live in a place that doesnt get too hot, but does have sunshine regularly so i dont get stuck in Depression Zone

36: Where were you born?

indianapolis, indiana

37: What is your eye color?

blue

38: Introvert or extrovert?

introvert

39: Do you believe in horoscopes and zodiacs?

idk if i believe, but i think theyre fun and i like reading horoscopes and reading zodiac shit

40: Hugs or kisses?

uh never been kissed so hugs

41: Who is someone you would like to see/visit right now?

im p good rn. my friend recently left my place. alone time is chill

42: Who is someone you love deeply?

my friends

43: Any piercings you want?

i want an industrial on my left ear

44: Do you like tattoos and piercings?

fuck yeah i do 

45: Do you smoke or have you ever done so?

no and no

46: Talk about your crush, if you have one!

no crush lol

47: What is a sound you really hate?

the chair i have that is a rocking chair, when it balances on the back and i dont sit down slowly, itll slam against the ground. i hate that

48: A sound you really love?

baby animals. just in general. so cute

49: Can you do a backflip?

no

50: Can you do the splits?

no

51: Favorite actor and/or actress?

dont have one

52: Favorite movie?

this was #30

53: How are you feeling right now?

anxious as shit 

54: What color would you like your hair to be right now?

blue or blond

55: When did you feel happiest?

with my friends, watching playthroughs on youtube, listening to my fav music

56: Something that calms you down?

lavender/lilac

57: Have any mental disorders? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!]

the usual depression & anxiety, trichotillomania, and since trich is seen as some form of OCD, maybe i have some OCD too? who knows, i dont

58: What does your URL mean?

my friend tagged me in a post and was like “new life motto” i was like “agree” and made the phrase from the post my url

59: What three words describe you the most?

silly, gay, reserved

60: Do you believe in evolution?

yes

61: What makes you unfollow a blog?

aphobia, antisemitism, shit like that

62: What makes you follow a blog?

dogs, relatable content, i think the person is cute, pretty content. extra follow if they have multiple of these

63: Favorite kind of person:

kind but takes no shit. is not shitty

64: Favorite animal(s):

dOgS, cats, sloths, seals, manatees, snakes, uhh and the rest of the animal kingdom

65: Name three of your favorite blogs.

handsomedogs, all the ace/aro positivity blogs, all the nonbinary positivity blogs

66: Favorite emoticon:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

67: Favorite meme:

fUCK this is hard…. i guess the new positivity memes. where it took something super negative and made it cute and :)

68: What is your MBTI personality type?

INFP-T

69: What is your star sign?

capricorn

70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog?

no

71: What outfit out of all your clothes do you like to wear the most?

black jeans, grey vans, black socks, space jam shirt (or my black & white vans shirt), my (black and white) staff hat, and my black and white bracelet

72: Post a selfie or two?

73: Do you have platform shoes?

no

74: What is one random but interesting fact about yourself?

im simultaneously really fucking loud and also super fucking reserved and shy

75: Can you do a front flip?

no

76: Do you like birds?

yes

77: Do you like to swim?

uh yes and no. i always hated swimming in swim suits and i dont have trunks that fit me and you cant wear shirts in pools and i cant be shirtless (i totally would tho to spite someone. like “um take off ur shirt u cant wear it in the pool” “yeah ok” *takes off binder* “motherfucKER” idk) but i like being in the water and chilling and i love lazy rivers and stuff

78: Is swimming or ice skating more fun to you?

swimming. ice skating is so scary

79: Something you wish didn’t exist:

shitty people or just people

80: Some thing you wish did exist:

my bank account overflowing in money

81: Piercings you have?

both of my earlobes are double pierced

82: Something you really enjoy doing:

i wasnt good at it, but i really enjoyed playing tennis with my old friend. i had a good time every time

83: Favorite person to talk to:

my friends

84: What was your first impression of Tumblr?

i dont remember much. i joined octoberish in 2012

85: How many followers do you have?

only 364. not much

86: Can you run a mile within ten minutes?

uh i havent tried in a long time but im gonna go ahead and guess no

87: Do your socks always match?

nope. if i can, i usually mismatch them on purpose. they have to have the same texture/thickness though

88: Can you touch your toes and keep your legs straight completely?

no

89: What are your birthstones?

garnet

90: If you were an animal, which one would you be?

dog or sloth

91: If a flower could aesthetically represent you, what kind would it be?

idk. i like hydrangeas. so them

92: A store you hate?

i cant choose just one, but the type of stores i hate are problematic ones that appropriate shit or are racist and shit

93: How many cups of coffee can you drink in one day?

00000000 i hate coffee

94: Would you rather be able to fly or read minds?

fly. reading minds would stress me the fuck out

95: Do you like to wear camo?

yes and no. see, i hate camo. i think its ugly as fuck. but i do have a shirt i got free from school thats camo. its a little big on me and its comfy to wear to bed or i wore it when i went swimming in the ocean

96: Winter or summer?

my mental health is saying summer but my body temp is saying winter

97: How long can you hold your breath for?

around 49.26 seconds

98: Least favorite person?

too many to choose from

99: Someone you look up to:

jeffrey marsh

100: A store you love?

tillys, vans, zumies. (im like 13 lol i know)

101: Favorite type of shoes

i like mid rise shoes. like converse street mids, vans half cabs, vans bedfords. i also like old skools. i like new balance 710, 576, 574, 565. i like saucony too. not their athletic shit, but their causal wear shoes. NICE. idk i just love sneakers 

102: Where do you live?

indiana

103: Are you a vegetarian or vegan? If so, why?

no

104: What is your favorite mineral or gem?

Dioptase is really pretty

105: Do you drink milk?

yes

106: Do you like bugs?

i like them when theyre not near me

107: Do you like spiders?

spiders creep me out so fuckin much

108: Something you get paranoid about?

mostly how people feel about me 

109: Can you draw:

no

110: Nosiest question you have ever been asked?

uh i think it was something about turn ons or whatever

111: A question you hate being asked?

“What do you want to do after college?”

112: Ever been bitten by a spider?

think so

113: Do you like the sound of waves at the beach?

yeah

114: Do you prefer cloudy or sunny days?

suns out, but there are clouds in the sky

115: Someone you’d like to kiss or cuddle right now:

uh

116: Favorite cloud type:

Stratocumulus

117: What color do you wish the sky was?

i like it blue

118: Do you have freckles?

yes

119: Favorite thing about a person:

uh their laugh or smiles. i like seeing people happy and everyones laugh and smiles are different and cute and unique and wonderful

120: Fruits or vegetables?

fruits

121: Something you want to do right now:

sleep or eat

122: Is the ocean or sky prettier?

sky

123: Sweet or sour foods?

sweet. sour shit makes my jaw hurt

124: Bright or dim lights?

ideally, neither bright nor dim, just the right amount. but dim if not bc bright lights for too long give me headaches

125: Do you believe in a certain magical creature?

idk

126: Something you hate about Tumblr

all the fuckin nazis and racists and aphobes and shit

127: Something you love about Tumblr:

people punching nazis, ace/aro people coming together to have a good time, the positivity posts

128: What do you think about the least?

im not sure

129: What would you want written on your tombstone?

my real name, even if it hadnt been legally changed yet

130: Who would you like to punch in the face right now?

a racist

131: What is something you love but also hate about yourself?

im not entirely sure. like there are things i hate and things i love but idk something thats both

132: Do you smile with your teeth showing for pictures?

yeee i do

133: Computer or TV?

computer

134: Do you like roller coasters?

god no

135: Do you get motion sickness or seasickness?

i think i get motion sickness. idk about seasickness

136: Are your ears lobed or attached?

i think lobed

137: Do you believe in karma?

idk

138: On a scale of 1-10, how attractive would you say you are?

a solid 3.1

139: What nicknames do you have/have had?

some friends call me Denny :)

140: Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends?

i dont think so? i cant remember

141: Have you ever seen a therapist/shrink?

yes

142: Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others?

ive been both, but i hope more good than bad

143: Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts/help?

i love giving other people things and helping others

144: What makes you angry

being disrespected, hypocrisy, racism, aphobia, most cis people, homophobia, transphobia, nazis, etc etc

145: How many languages do you speak fluently?

only 1 fluently

146: Do you prefer boys, girls, and/or non-binaries?

this question makes me laugh. all of my friends arent cis. idk its easier to be around fellow trans/nb people than cis people

147: Are you androgynous?

no

148: Favorite physical thing about yourself:

eyes

149: Favorite thing about your personality:

im a pretty kind person

150: Name three people you would like to talk to right now in person.

i dont wanna talk to anyone im p good rn

151: If you could go back into time and live in one era, which would you choose?

answered this

152: Do you like BuzzFeed?

yes and no

153: How did you meet your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner? [If you have one.]

im a single pringle

154: Do you like to kiss others’ foreheads or hands for platonic reasons?

i havent really done it much but i think i like it? im not entirely sure

155: Do you like to play with others’ hair?

yes i do

156: What embarrasses you?

me singing, my music tastes

157: Something that makes you nervous/anxious:

fuckin everything

158: Biggest lie you have ever told:

“yeah im a straight girl”

159: How many people are you following?

319

160: How many posts do you have on your blog(s)?

80,086

161: How many drafts do you have on your blog(s)?

0162: How many likes do you have on your blog(s)?

13,576

163: Last time you cried and why:

uh i think it was bc i was really overwhelmed with school and i had realized i was being taken adtantage of (again) and my eyes were ready to GO

164: Do you have long or short hair?

short hair

165: Longest your hair has ever been:

its been down to my ass before

166: Why do you like, dislike, or have neutral feelings about religon?

people use it as an excuse to be shitty

167: Do you really care how the universe and world was created?

its interesting to me

168: Do you like to wear makeup?

ive only worn it twice but idk i guess its okay?

169: Can you stand on your hands or head for more than thirty seconds?

no

170: Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully?

yes

jesus christ this is long. ok. thank you anon

[norvicensiandoran]

Given the hostility that Christianity usually has to any kind of polytheism, how do you reconcile your worship of the Christian god with your worship of other gods?

You know, I'd ask if you want the long frelling answer or the short frelling answer, but honestly the problem with your assumptive question is that I actually usually get more hate from Pagans when I answer this question than from Christians, so since I'm going to get hate no matter how I answer it, I'mma just do it the short bandaid way that will probably get me the most angry inboxing:Years ago I read the full big theology essay I refuse to post here, which was full of references to the Catechism, and to Genesis and Exodus and CS Lewis, to a Hindu friend, and he commented back "oh, so it's kind of like what we do with Brahman vs all the other gods."And of course that's like oh shit can something you came up with entirely without referencing another culture get you in trouble for appropriation if you literally didn't borrow but spent 15 years researching your own goddamn shit and just by sheer odds had the bad luck of coming up with a similar thing on your own?So I guess look at that for a hint at how I answer it, but know that it's not the same thing. Kinda like how my catechism teacher got mad when my sarcastic answer to "What was the Assumption" on a verbal quiz was "When Mary kinda did what Yoda did in Return of the Jedi." It is NOT same thing, but is close enough to piss people off by accident if pointed out. You'll also probably find more under my NorvicensianDoran and Christopagan tags.But honestly the whole thing is vaguely irrelevant because my mental health is so bad that for the purposes of personal practice I have basically shut down any non-tangible spiritual practice for roughly the last year. I don't deal with Jesus, Loki, or Odin, or anyone right now, except in the context of academics and storytelling and injokes and the occasional awkward moment when my day involves all the crows disappearing and then a one eyed combat veteran literally comes up to me and starts a conversation about death. (This actually happened to me within the last two weeks.)My spiritual practice right now is basically forest therapy, meditation, lucid dreaming, tarot from a mostly Jungian perspective, hardcore herbal medicine (not to be confused with homeopathics, which I avoid like the plague), and other things that I can literally provide academic papers on. My deity experience is basically Jord/Gaia at the moment, because you can physically prove nature exists. I am fighting on the bottom levels of Maslow's hierarchy, and need constant grounding to keep the static in my OCD-as-fuck brain to a minimum while in survival mode. It's not that I don't consider my theology for how I do Christopaganism pretty solid. It's Very well researched. It's just that I am all out of spoons and there are only knives left and I'm trying to use them to cut my way out of some bad shit and right now anything I can't physically touch feels like it's just getting in the way.

[the-evolving-falcon]

{{ the-dark-requiem, please :D }}

[[ ♛ ] send me a url and i’ll tell you the following;

Only the-dark-requiem, eh? Too bad I don’t feel like listening today XD XD XD

glassmemoir:

my opinion on;

character in general: 

Yuuto: Goooosh, how much I used to love him! And actually, he was the reason I got into Arc-V in the first place after episode 7, and it is also thanks to him that I didn’t drop the show after the first half of that horrid quiz duel, which…. in hindsight… was so much better than most eps after season one *siiiigh*If there’s one line that immediately drew me to this character, it’d be “Xyz Monsters’ true power is to use their souls, their overlay units, to annihilate their foes” which is such a stark contrast to Yuuma’s explanation of Xyz summoning (something along the lines of the materials becoming overlay units to support the Xyz monster) and says so much about Yuuto as a character in general. In order to prevail on the battlefield and not lose, he had to discard a part of his very identity. True, he may have started out with a similar mindset and ideals as Yuuya, but unlike him, he evolved past most of his naivety, even though it causes him a great deal of pain.

But… well, then, episode 37 happened and he was completely reduced to being braindead Yuuya’s equally braindead accessory - and from that point, my intense love for him started to fade.

Rin:

Tbh, I never got the hype surrounding her at the beginning and I did not enjoy her initial flashbacks with Yuugo that much either. However, from the moment she kneed dumb Yuugo in the stomach and cried because she was feeling powerless, I was in love, and her brainwashed personality, of which I can see many aspects as part of her serious traits she’d display towards her enemies and strangers, turned her into my second fave bracelet girl~ 

Yuuri:

(copy pasta because I am laaaaazy lol) What a glorious bastard

how they play them: 

the-dark-requiem:

I hadn’t had Yuuto feels in ages, but then, your Yuuto appeared and he was so badass and capable and actually smart it just… happened. He’s exactly what he should’ve been, had the writers not butchered his personality beyond recognition and stripped him of his agenda, and gooosh, his cynicism wynterxwitch:

Again, you were able to completely win me over with but two posts, and I just love how practical your Rin’s intellect is, your headcanons for her that are so well-tailored to the initial non-egao concept behind the Synchro Dimension, and your take on her relationship with Yuugo without the rose-colored glasses so typical for most Appleshippers.

starvenomxx;

Your take on Yuuri is amazing, breathtaking, the best written portrayal I’ve seen of him so far. He is rotten to the core, and in the most delighful way possible at that. His dialogue is creative and unique and very fitting to his pre-Zarc personality, and the maliciousness behind his words and actions is so wonderfully subtle, and I just love how he immediately picked up on the immense hypocrisy in Serena’s pride as an Academia warrior, even though she hasn’t set a single foot on the battlefield herself. Only thinking about more interactions with your wonderful Yuuri is making me giddy XD

the mun: 

Meeting you was a true blessing, and your thoughtful responses are always a delight to read and think about. You are mature, perceptive, and incredibly creative. In short, your mind is astonishingly beautiful. It is always fun to talk to you, be it about the wasted potential of Arc-V, random scenarios (thank you for listening to the incoherent ramblings about mine btw

Plus, who else fully understands my bitterness about Reiji and the Xyz characters? O.OAnd your art. Goooosh, your art

do i;

follow them: Yes!rp with them: Yes!want to rp with them: All of the yes!!!ship their character with mine: ShunYuuto - only platonically; would be open to something romantic offsite, though, if your thirst for ShunYuuto should ever become too great :PYuuto/Serena - oh goooosh, what a disastrous ship XD It’d still be interesting to see Serena drive Yuuto to the brink of desperation with her logical fallacies, though XD XD

Yuuto/Ruri - ngl, I’d love to ship them. I’ve always wanted to see this relationship without the gross canon fluff so disrespectful to everything Yuuto used to stand for - and with a darker plot. And gooosh, given your Yuuto’s personality, my Ruri’d be all over him lol Ooooh, or Pluto and Proserpina-themed things taking place in our AU O.O

ShunYuuri - ew, nooooo XD XD XD

Shun/Rin - platonically, this ship is one of my guilty pleasures, and I’d love to see it in our Gods AU in particular. Anything canon divergent would be awesome as well, though

Ruri/Rin - my favorite platonic bracelet girl combo, and I am still trying to figure out how to respond to our thread and at least kinda meet the beautifully high standards you set lolIn any case, I am always to have for any nice Cageshipping/Emeraldshipping scenario

Rin/Serena - an intriguing platonic ship I’d love to explore one day - either in our AU or a thread about Academia invading Synchro after Xyz - and Rin meeting Serena on the battlefield and making her see reason. Other than that, Serena stumbling across an imprisoned Rin’d be interesting as well~YuuriSere: Yes, yes, all of the yesssss

Yuuri/Ruri: I can only really like this ship with Academia! Ruri. Other than that, any enemy interactions with Yuuri “paying a visit” to an imprisoned Ruri and toying with her mental state’d be fun to do as well :)

what is my;

overall opinion: An amazing person, an amazing artist, and an amazing RPer on top of it - there is nothing more to wish for

**Note: Mun’s answer are all to be completely honest. Don’t send url if you don’t want brutal honesty.]

[taz-writes]

thanks for your answer, im always interested in mbti of other people's ocs! although ive been wondering, did you check the functions for the types, or only the descriptions? because my ocs (and me) not ever fitting into mbti boxes was also my problem until i discovered functions which kinda give a brand new light to the whole thing; for example, ENFJ and ENFP are actually two very different types (the whole function set changes completely depending on the last letter)(1/2)

so if you are ever interested and/or bored you can check it out!! also, Aelia and Sayara are love interests?? i didn’t know, i love it!! and do tell about the Hogwarts houses if you feel like it, you made me curious!!(2/2)

(referencing this post)

I’ve been kinda lowkey about Sayara/Aelia being a future Thing, because they don’t become canon until book 4 out of 4, but it does happen eventually! I’ve thought about letting them be gay earlier, but they both need a lot of character development before a relationship would actually work. Aelia and Sayara getting together in book 4 is a cute romance with potential to last! Aelia and Sayara getting together in book 1 is a messy breakup waiting to happen. So they can wait. And now for something entirely different... 

I did read the descriptions! I actually took the tests in character (I had nothing else to do yesterday oops), and then picked through the results and descriptions of how each letter is assigned to judge how accurate they were. A lot of my characters were assigned with a 51%/49% split or something nearly that close. I think Aelia’s quiz result was, like, 55/45 towards F, but the resulting description just didn’t feel accurate to the way I write her. The other one was a little closer but still off. 

Aelia’s a weird case because I’m still feeling out how her characterization works. She’s a pretty hypocritical judgy person, but at the same time she’s flexible and fairly chill. I think I confused her types on this because I’ve been referencing multiple websites and they all disagree on what the J and P actually mean in a personality. P is probably closer, but ENFP doesn’t fit quite right on Aelia. She doesn’t want to be sorted. 

There are also a lot of characters in Feilan who appear extroverted because they’re princesses who are trained from birth to be comfortable around other people, but that’s not where their actual instincts lie. They’ve just learned the skills necessary to fake it. Violet’s the best example of that! She’s very very good at leading social dynamics and talking to people, she values those skills and puts effort into them, but if left to her own devices she will lurk in the corner avoiding everyone. She hates being around other people, especially people who want something from her, which is most of them. But because she values duty and responsibility, she makes herself a social entity anyway, because that’s literally her job. Hence why she came out with an E when I took the test for her. Vi also tends towards being an objective thinker, but she balances that really well with her emotions, and when she does find something to care about she makes it a huge priority. I don’t know which side of the T/F she should fall on. When I took the test in character she came up with T, but I’m not convinced that’s wholly accurate. 

Plus, character development makes things complicated, and there are a few traits that I just don’t know how to quantify if that makes sense? If I pin my characters’ behaviors down too tightly then it’s hard to see how they grow, and I’ll inevitably sound like a hypocrite because they’re dynamic individuals who don’t always act the same way. MBTI results are like a lot of other personality sorting systems, the overarching categories they produce can be useful but there has to be bleedover in the middle. I don’t buy that all of humanity can be classified into just 16 categories. 

You also might find it amusing that every single individual whom I tested in-character came up with -T as their suffix on 16personalities. All of them. That might have some sway on the situation, I don’t really know, the website isn’t too clear about how that works!

I’m putting the Hogwarts house tirade under a cut because I wouldn’t know concise writing if it kicked me out of workshop class. 

The reason I say I can write essays about Hogwarts houses is because there are only four of them, so it should be easy to find one big category for each character to fit in, right? Wrong. They’re so... weird. 

I’ve always looked at Sorting as a measurement for equal parts traits and values--it’s not just about what you are, but also what you want to be, and what you consider important. Hence why Neville is a Gryffindor, and Crabbe and Goyle are in Slytherin. It also explains why entire families often end up in the same House, despite having varied personalities, because parents will (at least try to) raise their kids with the same core values and beliefs. 

Gryffindor beliefs are courage, chivalry, and nerve. Slytherins like ambition, cunning, and... racism? I guess?? I generally choose to ignore that part because it’s stupid and pointless but whatever. Ravenclaw values wisdom, wit, and desire to learn. Hufflepuff values loyalty and hard work, but will also accept anyone who doesn’t fit the above three because inclusion is a big theme for them. I wanted to clarify how I understand the categories because people really like to argue about Hufflepuff, for whatever reason. 

So Sayara’s a Slytherin. This is probably the easiest one to choose. She’s ambitious, she’s clever, she isn’t very sneaky but she thinks she is and she wants to be. She feels that power exists to be used, and she wants to be the one using it. Although she demonstrates other houses’ traits too, namely Ravenclaw desire to learn and Gryffindor selflessness, the Slytherin traits are strongest by far. Aelia’s a Gryffindor because she’s a reckless dumbass, no further elucidation necessary. 

But people (looking at you, old rp friends) love to argue with me about the Ravenhart twins. Apparently it’s “obvious” that Violet is a Slytherin, and I am a fool for not recognizing this in my own original character. I think that’s stupid. Violet is clearly and obviously a true Hufflepuff, and here is why: 

Violet is cunning, yes. And she’s mean. I get that being mean is a Slytherin trait to a lot of people. But Vi’s defining characteristic, in my eyes, is her devotion bordering on obsession to her family. Everything she does, throughout this entire series, is either in defense of or in revenge for her family. She spirals downward in book 1 because of her drive to get revenge for her mother and keep her sisters safe from anything threatening to hurt them. Sayara only gains her vague loyalty in book 2 by befriending and defending Aelia, and her trust by convincing Violet that they share that sense of responsibility. 

Violet Ravenhart is a natural follower. She takes on a leadership role because she has the skills for it and she feels she has to, but deep down, written in her instincts, she’s a team player and can’t reach full potential when she’s in charge. Her true powers and skills shine in tandem with other people! This never shows in book 1 because she deliberately isolates herself and won’t let other people tell her what to do, but later in the series, she teams up with other characters and it brings her to new heights. She and Sayara are designed to work well together when they can ignore their own egos. 

And Vi is loyal as FUCK. It takes a lot of effort to earn her allegiance, because she doesn’t listen to emotion when meeting new people, and she’s highly analytical and distrustful of anyone she doesn’t know. She automatically assumes everyone’s out to get her. But once you prove to her that you’re a friend, she will follow you to the ends of the earth, she will die for you if it proves necessary, she’s all or nothing. She can’t even convince herself to try breaking out of prison, but if someone she loves needs her help? she will TEAR THIS BUILDING DOWN. Like, I’d read Violet as a Gryffindor before I could see her in Slytherin, but people automatically assume she belongs to the Mean House because she’s kind of a jerk to people she doesn’t trust. She’s such a deeply and sincerely caring person! She just has depression and PTSD and doesn’t know how to express it in any kind of healthy way. 

Lavender’s also a tricky one. I feel like she’s a Hatstall, between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and even I don’t know 100% where she falls. She has all the Ravenclaw traits. She’s very smart, and in private she’s quite snarky, she has a love of knowledge, but that love of knowledge is always for other people’s sake. She’s dedicated to becoming a healer in canon because she has the aptitude and she wants to help people. I’m inclined to slant Hufflepuff because her motivations are like Violet’s, but Ravenclaw would be better for her as a person. She’d grow more there because being in a different House means she can’t rely on Violet to supplement her personality. But the reason she’s ~controversial~ is because a lot of my friends who’ve guessed her House haven’t even thought of Ravenclaw as a possibility. 

Dusk is a Ravenclaw, which shouldn’t take much explaining given her personality. She’s wicked smart and always wants to know more and more and more. She borderlines Slytherin with her ambitions and cleverness, but she lands on the Ravenclaw side for me because she’s just so freaking smart. If given the choice, she’d rather be a research professor than a politician. She’s a politician in canon because the former isn’t an option. 

Kyrina’s a Gryffindor because she’s loud and annoying and totally fearless, and she thinks the idea of chivalry is cool even though she genuinely doesn’t know what it means. 

But yeah, that’s the Hogwarts Essay(tm). It gets complicated because there are so few options that everyone overlaps, and weighing the values vs traits vs which are more important is more effort than it should be. 

[determinedsouls-blog1]

—Pick one of your muses.

Fill in the questions/statements as if you were your muse in a new post. DON’T REBLOG!

Tag five people to do this meme~

TAGGED BY: no one

1. What is your name? "Frisk!” *I am Chara.

2. What is your real name? "...??” *Is there any valid reason for asking this question twice?

3. Do you know why you were called that? “Uh, not really.” *No.

4. Are you single or taken? “Well, I got Chara!” *That is not what they mean, Frisk. To clarify—we are both single. I am a ghost and Frisk is only twelve. It is a given that we’re single.

5. Have any abilities or powers? ”I’m really good at moving around and dodging! I’m also very determined!” *They're also capable of saving, loading, and resetting timelines, though, that power has gone unused for some time.

6. Stop being a Mary Sue. “Mary Sue...? That’s not my name, though.” *I am far from such a term.

7. What’s your eye colour? “Brown!” *Red.

8. How about your hair colour? “Uh, I’d say I’m...kinda tan. Kinda yellow tan, really.” *I am a ghost. I am naturally pale. But in life, I had a light tan.

9. Have you any family members? "I have mom and my dunkle, hehe.” *...

10. Oh? What about pets? "Nope.” *No.

11. That’s cool I guess, now tell me about something you don’t like. ”Well...I don’t like when people think I’m a pushover just because I’m nice.” *People who think they are above consequence.

12. Do you have any hobbies/activities you like doing? “I like to mess around with Sans and Papyrus! Hanging out with Undyne is super fun, too! Drawing is nice, and any outdoor game is fun, too.” *Drawing. Knitting.” “Playing with cool toys~?” *Silence. Either way, I am incapable of doing such things in my current state.

13. Ever hurt anyone before? “...A bit, yeah...” *... *Yes.

14. Ever…killed anyone before? “...Yeah...but on accident...I-I reset every time it happened.” *No. Sometimes I wish I had. But I’m glad I didn’t. Somewhat.

15. What kind of animal are you? “Animal? I’m not an animal, silly. I’m human!” *Human. Humans can be no different than animals.

16. Name your worst habits. “I’m told I’m very curious, and that might be a bad thing in some cases. Dunno why, though.” *I used to bite my nails fairly often. Playing with knives was also an unnerving habit of mine. I am also prone to nihilistic and misanthropic comments.

17. Do you look up to anyone at all? “Of course! Mom, Sans, Papyrus, Asgore, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, and so many more! Especially Chara!” *...I am surprised you look up to me so much. But to answer the question, I look up to Frisk a lot, too. So the feeling is mutual. I also look up to mo—Toriel, Asgore, Undyne, and...Asriel.

18. Gay, straight, or bisexual? “I like people for who they are!” *I never thought about romance. Not in life. Not now. I am incapable of feeling love without a SOUL anyways.

19. Do you go to school? “Yup!” *Technically, yes. I am bound to Frisk’s SOUL, so I go where they go. I do enjoy listening to what is taught.

20. Do you ever want to marry and have kids one day? “I dunno. Haven’t thought about that yet.” *I cannot do either. Thinking about impossible things like that isn’t worthwhile.

21. Do you have any fanboys/fangirls? “Fanboys? Fangirls? I dunno.” *No.

22. What are you most afraid of? “...Being alone again...” *... *... *...I am already what I am most afraid of. *I am a demon.

23. What do you usually wear? “Blue shirt with pink stripes! And some blue shorts and black tights. With brown boots!” *Green shirt with a yellow stripe. Brown jeans.

24. Do you love someone? “Uh, duh! I love all my friends and family! Like Chara, for example! *No. I do not have a SOUL. I cannot feel love, even if I can feel Frisk’s love for others.

25. When was the last time you wet yourself? "When I was a baby.” *When I was young.

26. Well, it’s not over yet! "Bring it!” *I see.

27. What class are you?(High class, middle class, low class) "I used to be low class, but now I’d say I’m middle.” *Started very low. Ended fairly high. Currently in the middle with Frisk.

28. How many friends do you have? "Jeez, there’s too many to count!” *... *...One.

29. What are your thoughts on pie? “I love pie! Especially cinnamon! But mom’s butterscotch-cinnamon pie is great!” *I enjoyed pie. Butterscotch was my favorite. Mom’s snail pie she tried once was. An acquired taste.

30. Favourite drink? "Soda or water!” *Tea.

31. What’s your favourite place? “Home.” *I enjoy being around Undyne and Papyrus’ houses.

32. Are you interested in someone~ “Whatcha mean? Romantically? Then nah.” *Again, I have no SOUL.

33. What’s your bra cup size and/or how big is your willy?

34. Would you rather swim in the lake or the ocean? “Lake. Ocean is way too big and kinda scary.” *Lake.

35. What’s your type? “Someone who’s kind and honest!” *I feel obligated to remind you. I have no SOUL.

36. Any fetishes?

37. Seme or uke? Top or Bottom? Dominant or Submissive?

38. Camping or indoors? “Camping!” *Camping.

39. Are you wanting the quiz to end? “Over already? Okay then.” *Yes. Let us move on from this pointless questionnaire, and move on to something more important.

40. Now it’s over! Tag five people Tagging: Anyone who wants to do this