#but it'd be way too spoilery!!

[valkblue]

😤 ^.^

Hello!! Thank you for asking, and thank you for creating this game too!!! 🥰 It's a really fun one.

Send me a 😤 for a random angsty scene from one of my works.

Seeing that your like SWTOR, I think you might enjoy more something from the Star Wars universe so, I'll pick this one from my Mandalorian series "Lost and Found". It's more of a funny story overall but there are quite a few angsty bits as well 😱

"I said," he went on, his mouth full. "You know your main port got a bent beam and strut, right?"

As Din didn’t answer, he turned back to his rummaging in the crates.

"And, eerr, may I advise you to get your dampers replaced? I can do it, for a little more creds…"

To that, Din didn’t answer either. And suddenly, the mechanic let out a triumphant ah. He spun around, making a blinking item jump in the palm of his hand.

"So, I was checking your main gear and I found something, eeerr, interesting?"

He threw him the thing that Din caught with one hand — a thing that kinda looked like a tracking fob.

"T'was sticked into the coat of your door…"

Saying this, he slapped the open door of the port landing gear.

"It was shiny and glowy, it caught my eye while I was checking her foot," he explained, recovering his sandwich from his niece’s hands. "But it had no business doin' no shining or glowing there…"

Ashen, Din couldn’t have said it better himself, indeed. In the palm of his hand, the thing was blinking with a slow, orange round light. It was a long-range tracker, the military type. And according to him, this was here because of Gideon’s remnant’s spies… Din had a now better understanding of how those TIE fighters had managed to figure out which of the ships to follow out of their formation over Nevarro. He clenched his fist on it, as if to muffle its signal, and the reddish glow kept shining defiantly between his fingers.

"Methinks one of your bounty hunter friends ain't playing fair, and wants to best you on some prize, yeah?"

Din looked up to him and the proud smile of the mechanic quivered faced with his visor. He cleared his throat. But Din’s thought were way beyond the idea of making him feel uneasy; he had to leave now, he couldn’t even go back to say goodbye to Elara like he had promised, and this realization made him feel heavy where he stood, his breath short.

[infamous-if]

Does that mean Seven doesn't take MC back home after the tour (if you're romancing them)?

well no you shouldnt take these specials as an indication of what the end of the story is going to look like haha i just wrote it after the tour because botb is a summer show so by the time december rolls around it'd have been over and i wanted to remain consistent with that !

i just want to be vague for spoiler reasons (hence why NO ONE talks about who won the show or lost because it'd be way too spoilery lol) (theyre in a weird limbo where they havent won or lost but the show is over lolol)

things that aren't fleshed out or cleared up in the specials will be cleared up and established by the time the show ends in the demo

[bugsbenefit]

who's getting books and who isn't?

tells you a lot actually

in lieu of us getting a Dustin companion book soon i'm doubling down on my point about how insanely telling these books are about where the story is going. especially if you look as who is getting books. and i'm saying this both about El and Will (where it's already kind of obvious why s5 is important for them) as well as Mike (where it's also kind of obvious why s5 is important for his character but it hasn't reached mainstream awareness yet apparently lmao)

as of now Lucas, Max, and Dustin (about to come out), as well as Robin and Eddie, and even Hopper and Terry have one. and they all explore things outside of the main canon by doubling down on what filmed canon already established and adding a bit more layers since they have the time to focus on a single character (like exploring racism and how Lucas deals with it in his book, something the show doesn't dwell on, or exploring Robin's queerness, taking place before the events of s3)

and the focus these books have makes sense since they're mostly written by commissioned writers. so obviously they want to skirt any topics that delve too much into plot heavy areas where the writers a) wouldn't know where the story is going or b) even if they got notes, you don't want important lore drops that impact the later story dropped in companion books

in short we're getting extra story's about no spoilery topics the main story doesn't have time to/want to explore

which makes it all the more interesting we're already getting books about someone like Robin when you know if you asked fans what povs they'd like to see someone like El would rank significantly higher if you trust favourite character rankings. but for some reason El, Mike, and Will have never gotten one

and some of these reasons are just really obvious, especially when it comes to El and Will

1) they obviously can't just drop a book on El yet. on one hand, because her backstory with the lab is a major plot point of the show and they can't spoil it in a book (even if they tried excluding it, writing 200ish pages for a character who can't remember what happened before they turned like 8 is one of those things that would be kind of hard to avoid coming up). even post s4 there's still so many questions about her past and time at the lab, they just shouldn't give unlimited access to her inner monologue about it yet. and on the other hand, El finding her place in the world is quite literally one of her characters main recurring motives, even a companion book as innocuous as "El tries out hobbies" would be exploring something we'd kind of want to see on screen since it'd be a resolution to her character growth and not a fun side quest

2) they also just can't drop a book on Will. the fact that we never found out what actually happened to Will in the UD is already reason enough, the show clearly wants to explore it on screen later on. (now even more obvious since there's already confirmed s1 UD Will in the s5 official teasers). you really can't write a book from someone's pov who's main trauma and life changing moment is something you don't want to get into yet. just doesn't work

there's plot points the show obviously saved for later so both Will and El are pretty unfit as book topics

but with Mike that doesn't actually apply in the same obvious way. Mike not getting a book despite being the leader of the party, having the most on screen defined dynamics with the other kids, and being part of the shows "main" ship would be really odd. like. Really odd. on paper he'd probably be one of the first choices for an easy book protagonist for a fun party side quest. of course unless one of the two book deal breaker reasons applies also:

they can't give his pov because giving his unfiltered inner monologue would spoil s5

they want to explore something relevant to his character themselves on screen and it's not fit for a companion book

but again, in comparison to Will and El where the why is really obvious Mike sticks out because we don't officially know what he's got going on yet. he has no mysterious absence where we don't know what happened to him like with Will and no open ended origin story like with El

it just makes it a bit funnier to me how many people are still fundamentally unconvinced Mike has something going on that's important for the outcome of s5. post s2 the show tries to get some distance from Mike's head and he's joined the club of main characters who don't get books alongside major canon event magnets El and Will. and yeah, obviously you wouldn't want a book from the characters pov who's feelings and sexuality you're actively hiding. it's also a bit of a no brainer you don't want a companion work going into how he's not been doing so great over the past few years because the reasons for that are kind of relevant to the main story. Mike feeling guilty for El dying all the way in s1 is something that might be more fit to bring up in show when their relationship is being addressed instead of in side material

but all in all? the fact that out of all the kids El, Mike, and Will are the only ones who don't get secondary material yet is probably the biggest give away that the three of them are who s5 is planning to give the most insight on even all the in show build up aside. they're being skipped as book povs despite existing public interest and seeming like conventionally easy picks for book side stories

in the current economy around shows franchises, going against what'd be a good marketing decision is always a dead giveaway something is going on

[cadaveerie]

Why Lucanis is (probably) an abomination

DATV and general DA spoilers ahead!

As I pointed out earlier today, Lucanis has an ability called "Abominate", which I suggest could be a not very subtle indication that he is an abomination. This has been a theory for some time and I know people have pointed this out before, but I wanted to put together everything I can think of in relation to this and to give my own take as to why I believe that Lucanis is an abomination. Here are some of the indications that this could be the case:

1. He has "uncanny abilities" (and how he might have gotten them)

The fact that he both has spectral wings and that he can feel when someone does magic near him already sound very suspicious... but it becomes even more interesting when you look at this comment about the crows that Zevran does in DAO:

"I wonder... the Crows often made sacrifices of blood, and it game them uncanny abilities".

(thank you irabelas for this post! this is how i found out about this and it's a very good connection)

So one of the theories is that he could have gotten his "uncanny abilities" in that way. We know he was abused by his grandmother, like most crows get abused since they're children, and there's a chance that in order to become a better assassin he was forced to go through one of these rituals, that I suppose involve blood magic, as Zevran calls them "sacrifices of blood".

Another of the theories is that since he "died" in The Wake, he could have been in a situation like Wynne... but against that some people say that he probably just pretended he died, as in The Wigmaker Job he mentions that he'll grow a beard to hide from the people who want to kill him, so some people (and me too) think that perhaps he pretended to die to escape them.

And lastly, another somewhat common theory is that he got these powers at some point after The Wigmaker Job and the beginning of DATV, and that perhaps Zara Renata was the person who somehow made blood magic on him, as a form of revenge. It'd make sense since she's presented as a villain in The Wigmaker Job, and the chapter suggests that she'll go after him. One issue that I have with this, and that admittedly might not be super justified is that I think he could have had the wings before The Wigmaker Job started, as he had that weird itch behind his eyes at that point, and that's basically the reason why he is "the mage killer" in the first place. Basically, I associate the origin of his uncanny abilities, both the "itch" and the wings to the same event... But I'm not super confident about this, because he could have just developed the wings later. I suppose this remains to be seen.

2. He has pride-demon themed clothing and colors.

Lucanis seems to have eye patterns that resemble pride demon's eyes all over his clothing. And both pride demon's eyes and their nervous system-looking thing are purple, like his clothing and his wings.

Also, the fact that his writer, Mary Kirby, replied a black heart emoji to a post that pointed this out (and the original post also included an screenshot that mentions that Magisters refer to him as "the demon").

Which... Yeah, I think it's a weird choice to answer to something like this if it's not true? Either way I suppose it's a bit spoilery if this is the case but... I'm more inclined to believe she's teasing rather than that she would answer to something random if it were not the case.

Aside from this, people also point out the design of his tarot card.

The purple eye motif continues: in his own eyes (which could represent the fact that he gets that "itch" behind his eyes), the inside of his cape, the background (both in the bottom and behind him in those strange orbs), the little vials he has on his belt/harness, and the gems all over his outfit as well. Even some of the little pins in his belt kind of resemble purple eyes. Black is his main color, while purple is his accent color, not only in this art but it's consistent in everything we've seen of him.

His hood kind of looks like he has yet another Pride Demon-looking eye, and what I think could also be interpreted as little eyes to the sides.

The purple orbs around him could also be interpreted as eyes. Or as felassan pointed out on this post, the way they're drawn kind of make the background look like peacock's feathers. felassan also compares that part to Solas' eyes in the Dreadwolf form, which makes a lot of sense.

(first picture is from felassan's post, featuring the peacock feathers. I'm not sure where it's from, though)

I never thought of the peacock thing before, but I think most of us associate peacocks to pride, so it'd make a lot of sense. And the multiple eyes thing as well, it's something that's not only seen in Pride demons but in the Dreadwolf himself... and Solas is closely related to Wisdom spirits and Pride demons (which as he reveals in DAI, are two sides of the same coin: demons are "corrupted" spirits. And to be specific, wisdom spirits become pride demons when corrupted). This connection he has to these beings, aside from the fact that you can observe it in his writing, gets referenced by Cole directly. He calls Solas as both in multiple occasions (not "spirit" or "demon", but by the names Wisdom and Pride) in his vague monologues. And on top of that, at the beginning of DATV it seems like Solas has accidentally summoned a Pride demon, as Varric literally says:

"It is a pride demon! Damn thing probably sensed Solas' ego!"

And perhaps it's reaching, but this whole thing would make even more sense if the theory that elves were originally spirits is true... or at least if they had very strong connections to them, and that much seems to be real. Either way, I suppose that just because he's a mage he could still be close to both spirits and demons, as he talks about often, and at the same time he'd be vulnerable to being possessed by them. Also, even if it's not super notable in DAI, he has purple eyes in DATV, which could also be a connection to Pride. I think Trick implied that they were purple in DAI as well? But it's not as notable... I just wonder if this change only happened for artistic reasons, or if this change will be acknowledge in-game, because it happened in-universe as well. His eye color could be a coincidence I suppose... but it's interesting.

But anyway, this post is not about Solas! It was just a way to point out that Solas is very likely connected to Pride demons and Wisdom spirits, and perhaps Lucanis is as well, since the motifs seem to be so related.

3. He has a "demonic aura"

He is described in the character selector screen as a "Swift and precise assassin with a demonic aura". The demonic aura, paired up with everything else... adds to the suspicion, to say the least, lol. It's a very strange thing to say otherwise? It's one thing to call him a demon as a nickname, which could potentially be a way of insulting him, or reflecting how ruthless he is... But to say he has a "demonic aura" sounds oddly specific if he's not... literally possessed by a demon.

And finally, what made me be like "oh god this is so real", and made me decide to write this:

4. He has an ability called "Abominate"

"I saw my comrades fall, burned by the flaming sky or crushed by debris. The monstrous creature, looking as if a demon were wearing a man like a twisted suit of skin, spotted me and grinned. We had forced it to this, I realized; the mage had made this pact, given himself over to the demon to survive our assault."

- from Codex entry: Abomination.

"Rook is getting attacked on all sides, so you command Lucanis to use Abominate to knock enemies down".

And idk how to explain it, because there isn't a lot to talk about. The explanation is that "Abominate" sounds like it could come from "Abomination", and at the same time that could come from the fact that he is one.

Wynne and Anders were abominations, so it wouldn't be a new concept at all for a companion to be one. So if this is the case... this could just be so sad and tragic.

---

And as a bonus, maybe I'm looking too much into it, but this person played some of the game (since they were part of the Community Council), and they said this:

"would it be in bad taste to drop a Lucanis x Rook fic the day Veilguard releases" "There’s another angst pairing that’s fair game, too. Hmm"

And I think it implies that Rookaris will be an angst pairing, by talking about "another angst pairing". Obviously, this could have nothing to do with the Abomination / weird powers thing, I'm not trying to put words on their mouth. There could be many other aspects that make the ship angsty, or perhaps I'm interpreting this wrong and the ship is not angsty at all... So I'm not taking this seriously, I'm just reaching with this. BUT... imagine. The angst potential... I choose to believe lol.

Before ending this I want to give my take as to why a Pride demon, out of every other kind. I talked slightly about this before, but my preferred theory for how he acquired his powers is that his family made him get them forcefully, which I know doesn't make that much sense, given the fact that there's no mention of wings in the The Wigmaker Job. Perhaps he just didn't show them, perhaps he got them after The Wigmaker Job... but then where did he get his ability to sense magic like that? Could it be that he was born with it? I can't think of any case like this for other characters... it's almost as if he was a mage? But he doesn't seem to have other magic abilities besides that one... (I thought that perhaps all non-mage companions would get some form of magical abilities because everything got fucked up... But I haven't thought about it much so I won't write it here. And I suppose it wouldn't make a lot of sense since that seems like a Harding thing). Perhaps he had this natural sensitivities to the Veil and magic before, and so when everything went down that's when he became extra magical. Perhaps the gods escaping--and whatever happens afterwards--fucked everything up, and he got the wings at that moment, like Harding? Hers is probably Titan magic, but both could be as a result of the gods escaping and/or the Veil getting fucked up. Or something else we don't know yet.

Those are all possibilities, but coming back to my personal preferred theory: perhaps he got his powers through a blood-magic ritual performed by the Crows (whether only the magic-sensing ones or the wings too, I don't know). And to my main point: if that were the case, perhaps the pride is not exactly his, but from his grandmother, Caterina Dellamorte. It seems like his story will revolve around expectations from family vs. one's own desires and individuality, so my theory is that perhaps that's the origin of this "Pride". Lucanis is the heir to the Antivan Crows, so could it be the Pride that Caterina has for her preferred grandson and heir? The Pride of the Dellamortes? The Pride of Antiva? A lot of pressure, a lot of people to disappoint, and someone very important in his life to disappoint (and well, we should probably add Illario to the equation... But for an hypothetic Pride demon, I think Caterina is probably the proudest of all the Crows).

And if not that, even if this ritual didn't happen at all and the demon just happened to find him for some reason, perhaps the anxieties he feels about his family and making them proud was what attracted that spirit to him. Perhaps a demon managed to trick him, and the being possessed him. All options could be interesting, in my opinion.

But who knows. Perhaps it's nothing like this, perhaps he's not even an abomination at all! I just think there are a lot of indications of it, and it'd make a lot of sense. And I think my theories make some sense at least! :]

And that's all! Long-ass post. I don't know if I missed anything else, but this is why I believe that he is an abomination, and in particular he was possessed by a Pride demon. To be honest I wouldn't mind being wrong because... this would be so, so sad, and I don't know if I'm ready lol. But I'm excited at the possibility! No matter what I can't wait to meet and romance the hell out of him.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your opinions :D

Edit 1, Edit 2 (SPOILERS)

[canadianno-gravityfalls]

hey mootie! i bring questions about the weight of the world au!!

i don’t know if you’re planning on making a long fic at some point, so feel free to cherry pick which questions you want to answer if some are spoilery or if you just don’t know yet! i honestly just love the idea so much and wanna hear more!!!

- how does dipper cope after the incident? does that happen toward the beginning of weirdmageddon or toward the end?

- tell me more about stan 🙏😭 anything. how does he react to literally losing every member of his family. what does his relationships with wendy and soos look like?

- how long would weirdmageddon be in this au? years? months??

- what does the pines family reunion look like? IS there a reunion?!!

Dude I wish you could have heard the way I shrieked when I saw this in my inbox. Back at it again with scaring my poor cat. He's so tired of me <3

I am planning on making some sort of fic for it at some point!!! I've got most of the story down, and I've figured out how I want Weirdmageddon to end (previous very large roadblock), and now my only challenge is how I want to format the story. There's so many ways I could go about it- I only really have experience with just. Y'know, writing it like a book, but there's so much I COULD do!! I'm very torn.

QUESTIONS!!!! QUESTIONS MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEE God I'm scaring my cat again hol d. Okay. Okay. I made doodles to go with most of these too because! Um! I do whatever I want!

How does Dipper cope with The Incident? Does it happen towards the beginning or the end?

He copes. Really badly! The Incident acts as a sort of turning point in the middle of the story really, a turning point of what exactly it's hard to articulate? Beforehand Dipper is really.. idk how to explain it, he's scatterbrained and he's doing his best and he still pokes fun at his peers and he still talks himself to sleep about how much he can't wait to hug Mabel again, and that he thinks he could probably beat Stan in an arm wrestle now, and how proud Ford will be of all he's managed on his own. Afterwards though... He stops believing that there'll be an end, kind of? It's weird- it's not like he hasn't seen death before. Hell, he's probably had people die directly next to him by this point. Maybe it was the fact that it would've been him. Maybe it's the fact that the monsters didn't kill her. Who knows!

How does Stan react to losing every member of his family, what is his relationship with Soos and Wendy like?

I think I've mentioned it somewhere before, but at the beginning, when he's at the shack on his own, he tries to hold on to the hope that Dipper and Mabel are with Ford, and if anybody knows how to survive all of this it'd be Ford. When he finds out that's not the case he takes it. Really hard. He tries not to show it- Wendy is hurt, Soos is terrified, they both need him, he can't give up now. He doesn't let the two of them ever stray too far away. What if it's them next, who vanishes into the woods? I imagine he kind of relatively holds himself together until after their first search expedition, when he sees what's really out there in those woods. When they get back to the shack, it's the first time Wendy and Soos see him truly cry.

How long does Weirdmageddon last? Years? Months?

At least a month minimum! I haven't fully worked it out, but it's definitely less than a year. My main challenges with timeline is that Dipper and Mabel have parents expecting them to return by a certain time, and when they don't, people start searching. I've got to try and find some sort of balance in time where after Weirdmageddon is over, whatever excuse the town manages to come up with is plausible. This is something I really haven't managed to work out yet. I do know that Mabel and Dipper spend their birthday apart. Because . Angst :]

What does the Pines family reunion look like? Is there a reunion at all?

Yes there's a reunion I promise!! All of the Pines family members survive Weirdmageddon. Infact, all of the big main characters survive (minus Bill obv,) because I just. I like them all too much. They're my sillies.

But! What does the reunion look like? Well.... The apocalypse might be over, but the work isn't done yet. Unfortunately, someone's so used to being the one people are relying on, and everybody is so used to relying on him, that he doesn't exactly get to be a part of the whole teary-eyed reunion thing. Infact, I don't think he's even registered that Ford and Mabel are even there- they're simply two more numbers on the headcount.

(Don't worry, he gets his reunion at some point! It's kind of like trying to stop a spinning tire with your bare hands, though. You'll scrape the skin off your palms if you reach out to early, you have to wait for the momentum to slow on its own.)

[sharpedgedfool]

Hey there! Hope you don’t mind me popping into your inbox more often lately, but I’ve just been pondering Sonic and Shadow in your AUs a lot and had some questions about them—can’t imagine why (glances over at your AO3 account) /j

1- how does Oliver eventually come to trust (or at least not hate) Sonic in the museum au? I assume it takes a while and involves the two of them spending a lot of time together on their archeological investigation?

2- in the fae au, is it unhealthy for Sonic/Wild Cherry to be pushing himself to wake up in the wintertime? And how does it feel for him the first time he wakes up so early in the cold? (I’d also love to know how he first meets Shadow/Black Ice but I don’t want to ask too much at once…)

3- I know you said you have some ideas for a sequel to your fleetadow fic, would you by any chance be interested in sharing anything about that?

(And of course, feel free to say “you’ll see” in response to any of these if you don’t feel like answering or if they’re too spoilery! I’m just very interested in all of your story ideas /gen /pos)

Hii, I don’t mind questions at all!! Any excuse to ramble about my silly ideas, I’ll just rapid fire answer below (I'll hide it under a cut cause it got a bit long lmao)

1. That’s part of the story yeah! It’ll take a while, but they’re gonna get to know each other over the course of the investigation, the ruins go deep. I can’t say much cause I’m still trying to write it, but I’m excited to see what people make of what I’ve got planned so far! Sonic’s gonna prove his hero shtick isn’t all bells and whistles, and Shadow’s secrets quickly become unavoidable despite his efforts, it's sort of him they're investigating after all, and by the time he realises it's way too late to turn back.

2. It's not really a severe risk to their health, it’s more so just hard for Fae to control their nature; in this case the whole dying/regeneration process usually isn’t something they have any power over, and it usually relies on the cold to naturally let them know when to wake up, kinda like a hibernation type thing. Sonic’s been trying to wake up a smidge earlier for decades now, but its just sheer determination and a bit of luck on his part. If he woke up mid-winter it'd be a bit of a problem, but he just wakes up a few days shy of spring. I have their first meeting scripted out, I was hoping to turn it into a full comic but I’ve not had the time yet so we’ll see. I’ll maybe just write it out instead at some point haha.

3. I’ve been scheming away at that too, the sequels gonna have a bit more focus on Fleetway and Sonic and how they manage to handle their coexistence now they’ve found some common ground, Shadow’s the catalyst for them to get along but he’s not around to play referee all the time. Amy’s gonna get some time to shine too in this one, but its mainly focused on Sonic, Shadow and Fleetway again. I have another fun twist in mind but I’m still working on the outline so I don’t wanna say anything for certain in case I change my mind mid-way through - the endgame is something cheery tho I promise, I like a happy ending!

Thanks for the questions!! Bother me about my aus anytime haha :)

[rhapsoddity]

I’d you don’t mind more questions? :3

How exactly does the Sculk work? Does it possess a person? Change who they are? Is it different for everyone? Like we see Styx and Cub as almost two souls in one body situation. But is it like that for others? (If not spoilery, are their other scull hybrids?)

And this one is about the Watchers? They like just passive observers? So far they don’t seem evil or malicious, if a bit into Order and Control. But do they feed on emotions like in this (semi?) canon?

If these dip into spoiler territory just let me know.

Okokok so

Skulk:

Skulk is a sort of plant that feeds on souls to grow, reactive to sound ,blah blah y'all know how skulk works in game. The way it can control you is once it has access to your brain, usually through getting in through the bloodstream, or through an orifice or smth, Cub got latched onto by some skulk getting into a v small cut he had.

Cub is still conscious and fighting in his situation due to his high mental constitution from being a vex hybrid. Most people if puppeted the way he is, would have been surpressed into the deepest part of their mind, it'd be more like a dream/nightmare they can't control. Skulk doesn't change a person's personality, the skulk just expresses it's personality! Although a sort of plant, it's become a hivemind of souls it's consumed over millennia, so anyone being puppeted by the skulk will behave somewhat similarly

Skulk hybrids don't exist! Skulk isn't a mob so there's no hybrids. Warden hybrids are considered a myth, but that's mainly BC there hasn't been one for like thousands of years. Tango's warden tattoo is like if someone got a tattoo of mothman or smth idk

The Watchers:

So in VSAU Watchers are just normal heroes. Some towers they're specifically retired heroes, like in Empires city (Hermitcraft has active heroes as Watchers)

They're there to oversee and enforce the rules so the other heroes don't fuck up too badly, and have the right support when they do, PR and all that shit. They don't have any additional powers, just their base ones!

And dw :) tbh most of the empires watchers are just dicks. Most of them... Tee hee

[ckret2]

Your goldilocks cipher stuff gives me an unreal amount of dopamine (maybe i just like bill a lot idk) do you have any fun tidbits and details about the au that wouldn’t be too spoilery?

Thank you!! Here's a bunch of random trivia:

The (English) name of Bill's language's written script is Plaintext. Like, y'know, plaintext:

In cryptography, plaintext usually means unencrypted information pending input into cryptographic algorithms, usually encryption algorithms. This usually refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted.

Which is ironic, since Bill's the ONLY person to whom the text is unencrypted. But then, from his perspective, it's the only "unencrypted" text he ever actually sees—all the languages he uses in day-to-day life are foreign languages to him.

In the Bill Cipher AMA, somebody asks Bill what he thinks about all the fangirls he has, and Bill says they should all go to the Nevada desert and assemble a throne to wait for him. In fic, I've decided it'd be funny to give him a women-only cult in Nevada. The leader of the cult is named Mary and the underling most often referenced is Sue, because—and I say this with love and affection—if "fangirl who's put in a fic so she can meet her favorite tumblr sexyman" ISN'T a textbook Mary Sue, I don't know what is.

Bill really likes monster trucks. He's convinced himself that he'd be a TERRIFIC monster truck driver, because he can see the future, so obviously he'd know how to avoid any car crashes. He's probably wrong about this. It's a more physically taxing job than you'd think, and a human body is more easily taxed than he's used to.

Current favorite human food is nachos with sprinkles on top. Gotta be triangular nachos. If the chips are circular or rectangular it will legit depress him. Also plain old cheese is boring, give it some texture, it's gotta have peppers hot enough to kill a toddler.

Sometimes Bill talks to Waddles as if he's speaking to the Temporarily Genius Waddles and expects him to understand what Bill's saying.

If Bill's watching a show/movie and doesn't want to spoil the ending for himself he has to fight NOT to glance into the future to see what happens. Imagine if every time you read a comic book, all of the pages automatically separated and spread out across the table so you could see every page at once, and you had to keep resisting the urge to glance at the last page to see what happens. That's what trying not to glance forward is like for Bill.

Nobody's commented on this yet, so idk if anyone's caught it, but in chapter 2:

He carefully positioned himself directly in front of the trio, glancing down at the floor as if looking for the right mark to step on,

and in chapter 3:

Mabel considered his feet thoughtfully before spray painting an X where she estimated he’d been standing before.

“You got lucky—” he cast a dirty look at the X spray painted on the ground, “—but luck changes.”

In chapter 2 Bill saw the X on the floor in the future, and assumed he was going to leave it for himself so he'd know where he should stand for his big dramatic moment—which means he deliberately planted himself RIGHT on the mark where the twins were set up to tackle. (Even though he can see into the future, his time vision is pretty near-sighted.)

Bill NEARLY invaded the M Dimension mentioned in Journal 3—he was playing "muse" to a whole bunch of scientists and governmental types who were all collaborating, everybody liked him, nobody suspected anything, they were thrilled by the idea of opening up interdimensional travel to his totally-harmless-and-not-at-all-nightmarish realm so their muse could visit... the only reason he hasn't already conquered the M Dimension is because everything there, even the laws of physics, are based on the letter M, and for the life of him he couldn't find a way to adapt the portal blueprints to work there. The math's impossible.

Bill's the only member of the Henchmaniacs who's unable to leave the Nightmare Realm. (As in, physically can't leave. Legally, most of them are pretty trapped there for lack of another safe place to go; but like they could leave if they chose to.) Sometimes he sends his Henchmaniacs on errands for him to other dimensions; and sometimes they go on day trips outside the Nightmare Realm without him. When they leave he tends to sulk and insist he isn't sulking.

Nobody in the shack knows about Ford's embarrassing neck tattoo. (And it was REALLY hard keeping that secret on a boat.) Nobody, that is, except for Bill, who spent last summer stalking everyone in the shack and who can see through walls, seeing through a turtleneck is nothing. Someday he's gonna start casually humming All Star and strike terror into Ford's heart.

There's a handful of human languages Bill can't speak because the speakers cursed him to be unable to speak them. I don't know which languages yet, I'd probably need to do a lot of digging to find languages about which there's already "demons/monsters/etc can't speak/understand this language" folklore I can slap on him. But it's a joke I'm prepared to use if I find a language that fits.

Bill thinks it's weird that humans want their hands and hair to smell like food, but then don't even want to eat them. What's the point of strawberry-scented shampoo???

[celestialorcas]

Doctor Who S1/14 E3: Boom Spoilers Thoughts:

WOOOOOHOOOO Fuck me that was GOOOOOOOD Loving the anticapitalism stuff as always hell yea doctor you fucking tell them. Caught on with the stuff about the truth of the war around half way through and enjoyed it, Susan Twist was the ambulance! Girl is everywhere fr God they really crafted this episode perfectly so you could feel the stress, i was trying to calm down as the doctor was everytime a free moment was got something else happened- Can see him thinking "REALLY?? JUST LET ME BREATHE AND RELAX" "it is killing you just the right amount to keep you buying more" goes SO HARD Next weeks is looking good fr fr wont say much about it here in case some people dont watch the next time (dont blame you theyve been spoilery in the past but so far they dont show too much i dont think) but yea im real excited for next week Reminded me of oxygen a bit, obv god im a sucker for capitalism, ai and algorithm hate, was such a clever episode though, combat activated the ai, so the ai kept them buying weapons and killing them the right amount to meet its quota, anything for the shareholders am i right Really seeing the range of emotion with the doctor here too which i love, hes crying at companions "dying" and him being in a VERY bad situation Didnt see the dadbot taking over as the ending, what I thought was gonna happen was the doctor would explain to the ai that if he blows up, it'd cost the Villengard (loving the call back btw, RTD and Moffat are good at that) AI and algorithm a lot of money, and itd actually be more cost effective to keep them alive, but to be fair that would have been very derivative of Oxygen so, fair. Overall....wow, think it was better the The Devil's Chord which I wasnt expecting, loved it

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Jojolands 13: Ohana Means I'll Set Your Ass on Fire

Dragona dropping some great truth about the absurd in this bizarre adventure. We finally got a peak behind that mask. I love it and I hate it, if you've read the chapter already you know what I mean. We'll get to that, because this right here isn't spoilery and it was such a cool nugget.

I love the way Dragona talks about the "absurd." Chance moments that alter one's life for better or for worse. The things that just don't make sense. Especially paired with Dragona opining about nearly losing their heart in the same chapter that last part about hearts being destroyed hits hard. I'm definitely sure we're looking at a trans narrative here and one we'll see play out. The chapter does a good job of implying what we need to know. Nudges at an early theory you've been changing your body with Smooth Operator. We ready? What follows is no place for beginners or sensitive hearts:

Oh HELL yes! As if I needed a reason, these two were well on their way to top Jojo status and now the dynamic duo of the Joestar Siblings are definitely there. Mean girl sets her sights on a much more timid Dragona who we now know looked way more masculine at 14 than 18. Talking physical build and not just fashion. You know, I don't expect an 18yo to have all that figured out and with this I do think we'll see her keep coming into her own. But holy shit that was fucked up and I sincerely hope we can get through the rest of this with no more sexual assault on my Jojos blorbo.

If they do...Jodio will fuck you up. Set a whole damn bus on fire! And while I'm not looking forward to having to relive the impetus in the inevitable anime adaptation, since we've already had the cop I kinda like the perpetrator being a girl here. For one because it shows a side of this kind of bigotry that often goes underrepresented. You see a little more space made typically for trans men who had bad experiences with men prior to coming out, largely because it tends to overlap with those who found a comfortable half-step in something like a radical feminist group. But this sets up Dragona pretty well for a realistic other side of the coin to that. Your experiences with bullying might make you a little skittish of girls your age, you keep a foot in this criminal world even if we keep showing you (not unlike Okiku) as someone who doesn't fit super well, all this would certainly explain why you'd gravitate towards a figure like Meryl Mei. Why there's great potential for drama if she shows a nastier side. It's all great for a trans story that justifies still figuring yourself out through it...but sticks to a fairly realistic path for a lot of young women who find themselves running with gangs.

All that said, Jodio you absolute freak. Burning the whole bus is metal, it's scruffy, he's protecting family. Doooooope. These two are fantastic and I can't wait to explore their story, their dynamic more. Jodio & Dragona's sibling bond is the beating heart of this part. As much as I love Kiku/Izo & Killua/Alluka yeah this is gonna be a banger. Speaking of, this chapter was also the second time we nudged at Jodio getting shit for looking fey too. These two are ride or die for each other and their awesome mom Barbara Ann. How this all ties into their family falling apart and their desire to become filthy rich? No need to ask...

In lighter news. They. When Meryl learns of the other lava rock that got smashed. We're all clear on who's the brains and who's the firepower in the dynamic duo right? I trust Meryl as far as I can throw her and she's a big lady. But for now everything seems on the up-and-up. Charmingman seems to have passed the sniff test and yeah it looks like he's just going to hang around. I like this new setup. Scouting a shadowy company to see if we can get more lava rock.

All in all one of the best chapters of Jojolands so far. I'm loving it, this is the exact direction I hoped it'd go. The backstory made this pretty heavy and I hope we can have more fun with this gang on the new excursion.

[spaceorphan18]

Umbrella Academy Thoughts

So. I did end up finishing Season 4 last night.

I need to preface this with -- I actually really do love this show. The first season of it is still one of my favorite TV stories. I love the characters. I love the sibling dynamics. I love superhero element - where the powers feel fresh or interesting spins on old things. Five and Klaus are just everything.

I didn't love love Seasons 2 or 3, but they were solidly good.

But they could have left things be after Season 3. They could have left well enough alone. Because Season 4, man. What???

Okay, onto spoilery things.

I will say, I really love the concepts and ideas the season had. The strange alien goo stuff wiping everything out while enhancing powers? Sure, fine. The train station that went to different time lines -- inspired, loved that. Even the idea behind the ending -- I could get behind if done correctly.

They had six episodes to tell a really compelling story and just... didn't. Most of it was a waste of time, a bunch of it didn't make sense, and some of it was just plain stupid, and it really breaks my heart that a show that was so, so, so brilliant when it started descended into this mess.

One thing I did like was Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally as the two cult leaders. They were fantastically cast, and did a great job even when the scripts descended into nonsense. I wish they had a stronger ending, but great choice in the casting department.

I have to wonder - the first episode is pretty solid, and I actually like the idea of their lives kind of sucking in their happily ever after era, which thematically makes sense when they wrap around to being erased. Another great idea. But I wonder -- did they get the note that it'd be six episodes after they started writing? But there's a definite shift after the first couple episodes that started to feel like both they were trying to cram in too much to the episodes and that there wasn't enough plot to really make an interesting story. The pacing was incredibly weird.

So... let's talk about the rest of the characters, shall we?

Luther -- I honestly loved his characterization in this season. He was great! He also had really nothing to do, and the whole thing at the CIA's office was a waste of time. Why did we need that sequence, especially when it took up an entire episode?

Diego -- I feel like they made him a little too much of a loser? I also kind of missed his banter with the other siblings. He just felt like a shell, which was intentional, but never got any redemption? Which -- like, if you're going to erase the characters, and this goes for everyone, give them some kind of satisfying growth or ending before they're gone.

Allison -- I'm amused that everyone just kinda let it go (honestly, I don't even remember what she did do, I only watched Season 3 once, but I remember it was bad) but I am glad she got to not be the bad guy this season. Finally. She had some nice moments. Again, didn't really do much ultimately.

Klaus -- my god, the biggest waste of time during the whole season. I love where they started him. But why did he get the stupid subplot of him being a medium? Why did we go there? It's like they needed him out of the way, and buried in a box. You can see the -- how do we get there of it all. But none of it was needed. And it's clear they had no actual idea of how to get him into the main plot. Because he does nothing. And it just... breaks my heart because I love his character so much.

Five -- *sigh* Five is my /favorite/ character, and just... what?? The biggest BIGGEST wasted opportunity was not having more shenanigans related to the train station. Could you imagine if he brought everyone and they all had to timeline jump? It would have been so cool! The concept was brilliant and amazing and just... what?? I did love the diner of Fives. That was inspired and a taste of what i really wanted. But instead they waste all that opportunity on a love triangle. And I get that maybe they were going for Five having character growth of thinking about more than himself? Kind of? But then they missed idea of their whole character who spent three seasons trying to save EVERYONE and not himself, I just... I can't with it. I can't.

Ben -- I'm fine with the Ben stuff, mostly. He was the main plot, it worked until the end when it dissolved into stupidity and shit monsters.

Victor -- At least he got to be part of the main plot in a meaningful way. I did like he and Hargreeves teaming up. It was one aspect that did work for me. I've always felt they never gave Elliot Page enough to do, when he's one of the stronger actors, but at least he didn't get the worst things to do.

Lila -- Oh my god. back to the love triangle stuff. I don't mind her, or the fact that she and Diego had a shitty life. It's fine. But the love triangle was so uninspired. So felt like I've seen this kind of thing a hundred times before. It was so terrible that they needed to waste their time on it. Why? What did any of these characters do to deserve it? It's like, the show, every time it diverged from interesting sci-fi concepts and attempted human drama just kind of failed. And it's sad.

Jennifer -- I... still have so many questions. How did the anti-marigold stuff get into her in the first place? Why was she in a squid? Just... what??

Regi and his Wife -- They've always been so vague about them. I wish they had explained just a little bit more. Just have a little more context and I think it would have gone a long way. The characters just didn't ask enough questions of them, and the story felt thin and unrealized as a result.

Okay... The ending...

When you get to the point in your story where you're CGI'ing a giant shit monster, don't you think it's time you're probably done, done? Like if you are doing this creatively? You've run out of ideas and you're just scrapping the bottom of the barrel. It's just... kind of sad. Everything about it is sad.

As for being erased, I don't actually hate the concept, but man do I hate the execution.

There was a way that could have been incredibly narratively satisfying. You erase them, and then go back to the beginning, and the kids get to live and grow up on their own. Then for the last sequence (loved that they brought I think I'm alone now) you have seven strangers pass each other in the park not knowing each other. And that would have been fantastic, you know? A way for the characters to live on and still uphold the ending.

But what we got? It just felt... so muddled? Like -- how is Claire's kid alive when she never existed? Same with Diego and Lila's kids? I don't understand it!! And the cameos were cute -- but why not bring back everyone? I just don't think it makes a whole lot of sense the way it plays out.

The entire season needed a rewrite, better editing, stronger character focus, and it would have been brilliant. Because the ideas are there. The concepts of this season are great. But maybe they ran out of time? Maybe Netflix switched things on them last second? Or maybe the powers that be aren't that great at their jobs?

Idk, idk. I don't blame the actors (or the crew) they did what they could to salvage the messy, messy script choices.

But I think what makes me the saddest is that it's such a botched ending, this show, that really was so good in the beginning, will end up being forgotten by time because of its ending. In ten years, people will probably forget this show ever existed because we've all moved on not wanting to go back to it.

What a disappointment.

[midnightsun-if]

Hiiii!!! :D 👋

Hope that you're having a great week!! ^^ So I just discovered Midnight Sun and played the demo, and I'm absolutely already totally invested haha. Your writing is excellent, I love fantasy/Supernatural academia and the Vibes™️ are everything I'm always looking for!

I'm totally weak for Friends-to-lovers, so Blake already has my whole heart 🥺 But for alt playthroughs there's so many other good ROs that I know it's gonna be fun to be totally different each time! (Looking respectfully at Caedan and Cyra haha)

But looking through the blog I saw the Christian response to ROs ask and it got me wondering (if it's not too spoilery) - What would Cienna's response to the ROs be?? She seems like she'd defo have some...pretty interesting (*cough* strong *cough*) thoughts 🤣

Thanks so much for all you do!! 🤗 Can't wait to see where this goes :D (But please don't feel rushed or anything take all the time you need!!!)

Hello!! ❤️

I've been having an excellent week, I hope that the same can be said for you! It makes me so happy that you're invested in Midnight Sun, I have so many fun adventures in store.

Blake is one of my favorite characters to write for because what you see on the surface isn't necessarily what's deeper, which is something I love to balance and work around. Caden and Cyra are two that I can't wait to explore more and discover the things that truly make them tick.

You're definitely right about Cienna!

Koda: She thinks he's a nice, sturdy man that'll treat you well. Someone that you can count on when times get rough, which is something she wants for you. She wants you to have a dependable person in your corner, and Koda is just that.

Scarlett: Wouldn't really know what to think of Scarlett, to be honest. She's met her many times in the past and has seen how she has flourished in various ways, and Cienna would be surprised to see how much you have shifted Scarlett's usual countenance. In the end? Cienna would be happy for both you and Scarlett, you both deserve to find your one and only.

Cyrus/Cyra: Has general misgivings when it comes to House Aurelia, but she can see that C means well. That they truly care for you, and that's all that matters in the end. Though, she'd probably be a bit colder to them until she's able to get comfortable around them. Which, knowing Cienna, might take a bit.

Quinn: The two have never meshed well in their past meetings, due to various factors, and Quinn's parents meddling, but Cienna has never thought anything truly horrible about them. She'd honestly find it funny that you were the one who ended up getting together with them.

Caden: I think she'd be pleasantly surprised, to be honest. Caden usually keeps to themself, there but not there at the same time, and it'd be a bit intriguing for her to see how they begin to mesh with the family once more-- especially now that they can't simply fade back into the background.

Sloane: Wouldn't be able to be around them for long periods of time. She knows the grief of loss, the hole that it carves into your heart, and Slaone is a walking entity of grief at times. Seeing it? Being consistently around it? It'd drain Cienna completely. She wouldn't dislike Sloane though.

Blake: Honestly she's surprised it didn't happen sooner. She finds Blake amusing, in small increments, and is happy that they've been able to offer you a sense of companionship. She already considers them family, so it's not that big of a stretch for her.

Reginald/Regina: Is vehemently against it. I can't exactly tell you why, but seeing it? It'll cause various emotions to swarm through Cienna's body-- very few being the ones she wishes to experience.

[vyuntspakhkite-l-darling]

I love seeing people ramble about their stories so, can you ramble about Biting the Bullet?

Totally! I recently decided to pause my first draft because I got stuck and do a dummy draft instead so it'll be nice to just talk about it a little. <3

Originally it was going to be a silly story about a military fireteam during a war in a fantasy universe. It. It was going to be silly. It was going to be an action-comedy. It is.... not that anymore. All the world conflicts started getting into the mainstream media and I began seeing more military recruiters in my school and I kind of began projecting my anxieties and frustrations and stuff onto the story and honestly I think that made it a lot stronger.

I have three options I'm still not sure which to pick for the POV. I'm doing it in 3rd person past tense for sure, but I'm still not sure if I'm going to switch between all four of the main characters' perspectives, just Sibatol and Arsioly, or just Arsioly. For the first draft I'm rotating between all of them and we'll see how I feel after that.

I think my favorite thing about this story is the decisive character moments I have planned. My characters will develop gradually, but their biggest developments come from moments where they have to make big choices, whether to stay in their old ways or grow as people. Visralion, the team's medic who usually puts others before himself, says no when Arsioly first asks to be his boyfriend. Because even though they both like each other, Arsioly is a pretty shitty person to everyone but Visralion at that point, and Visralion recognizes that if they got in a relationship it'd just end up with him trying to fix Ari and that's not his job. This is also a big moment for Arsioly- he can choose to be awful about the rejection or he can choose to look at his own behavior and improve as a person. He chooses to improve himself.

Ari probably had the most of these and I can't say one of them bc spoilers but another one he has which is more subtle but still important is when Estera, the girl his fireteam finds on a mission and basically adopts bc she has nowhere else to go, wakes him up in the middle of the night to cuddle because she had a nightmare. His immediate reaction is to tell her to suck it up and leave him alone so he can sleep. But he chooses to be compassionate to her and it really makes him realize how much better it feels to be nice to people (and helps teach him the value of a life bc he almost shot her and is now seeing that all the people he's carelessly killed could have gone on and had moments like these but shh...).

Most of Virava's are more spoilery but they revolve mostly around her being terrified about her past repeating itself, and she ends up overcorrecting and taking several steps backwards before she finally stops bearing all her feelings by herself and actually talks to people about her fear.

Talking about Sibatol under the cut because his portion of this revolves around be talking about him being promiscuous, if hearing abt that will make you uncomfy don't read further :3

The one I can think of for Sibatol is a bit less straightforward than the previous ones but bear with me. He struggles with hypersexuality for most of the story due to trauma from when he was young. Sleeping around causes a lot of problems for him but he just can't stop and he really struggles in situations where he can't just fuck his way out of it. Most of the moves he makes hurt him or make situations worse or just generally dig him deeper into this hole he's dug for himself. But I'm not the person that's gonna give you a character like this and then tell you that the way they become a better person is by being less of a slut. His turning point (I won't be too specific bc spoilers) is when he learns how to use his sexuality in a more strategic way, a helpful way that makes things easier for people for once, which is a gateway into him changing his mindset abt his sexuality and he's still as promiscuous by the end of the story but he doesn't just use it as a distraction from bad feelings anymore, he approaches it in a healthier way.

[siffrin-gimmick-blog-number-37]

Greetings and Salutations, everyone! Allow me to properly introduce myself.

My name is Zeisty King — aka the random individual behind this silly little blog! I mainly go by just Zeisty, though (seeing as I treat the "King" part as a surname).

My main goal for this blog is to doodle Siffrin from In Stars and Time (as well as other characters sometimes) so I can get used to a new tablet and set up, while also having fun with it!! Hence why I named this blog the way I did and why I don't mind calling the art I post here "messy," especially considering half of them are sketches anyway!

I may make mistakes from time to time and some results may be wonky, but that's okay! It's all a part of the learning process!! And is not limited to forgetting how anatomy works; I put two hands on the wrong way in one post once and I have to accept the fact I did that.

REOCCURRING GIMMICK BLOG TAGS:

#main blog to gimmick blog — anything from my main blog that I've reblogged to this one! I don't think I'll do it a whole lot, but I just wanted to let you know that happens and that they may contain spoilers when it does.

#not quite a daily — on occasion, doodles that don't count as a daily (but are still silly enough to be shown off on this blog) will be posted here! I don't think I'll do it too much, but don't be surprised if you see any doodles that aren't dailies from time to time.

#personal reblog — anything I've reblogged from myself once, twice or even thrice! I sometimes do it to make sure you haven't missed a post from me, or if I have something else to say about it.

#siffrin gimmick blog asks — as of posting this introduction this week, this is a new one! These are any questions you lovely folks wanna send in through this blog's askbox, and that I've answered.

#siffrin gimmick blog doodles — self explanatory! These are any drawings/doodles I've made for this blog, dailies or otherwise! I aim post here every day, though I sometimes won't on account of my memory or out of respect for certain events. Or if I need a break. I am only one goober, after all.

#siffrin gimmick blog rambles — any thoughts I need to say or anything I need to inform you will be under this tag! They won't contain art, so this one and any others like it are the exceptions.

#siffrin gimmick blog suggestions — got any suggestions for me to draw? Along with the ask tag, this is a new one as of this week! Any ideas you have for me to draw will be slotted under this tag! Be careful not to send in any spoilers, as I refuse to draw them six days of the week.

#siffrin gimmick blogs angsty sundays — this is the only time I'll intentionally post spoilery, angsty and/or serious art! I'll make sure to tag them as such so you can avoid them. I just wanted to give you a little head's up that I'll also reblog spoilers and tag them as well. :3

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

-My main blog is @electrozeistyking! You can find me reblogging my gimmick blog doodles there, along with any other stuff I drew not meant for this one (and stuff other people made)!! It's not exclusively ISAT stuff though, obviously.

-I swear quite a bit and do not tag them when I do. It'd probably be a hassle for me if I did, so if you're not cool with that, feel free to block this blog! You absolutely don't have to interact if you don't want to. I will tag other serious stuff/triggers, though! (Except this post, seeing as it's the introduction and it's important folks don't miss it. Sorry!)

-I'm not guaranteed to accept every suggestion or answer every ask sent my way. In the case of suggestions, there is a chance I won't be inspired enough to draw it for you; in the case of asks, I might not know what to say. And other possible reasons, if they ever happen to come up.

-I see every ask sent my way, so please try not to send the exact same Ask/Suggestion more than once! I promise I'm either formulating a response, figuring out how to draw your suggestion, or I was forced to delete it (in regards to the following note).

-I don't want this blog to overshadow you, so I'll unfortunately have to force myself to delete your ask if it has nothing to do with this blog in particular or ISAT. That's why I recommend you send it into my main blog instead!

That's it for now! Thanks for reading, and for hanging around this blog with me! :D

[cha-melodius]

6, 7, and 18 for the firstprince couples therapy au!

Ohhhh you asked the one that takes the most work (18)! But also a fun one that I'm glad someone asked. First, though:

6. Does this chapter/fic have any twists that you’re proud of?

You know, I don't think there are any real "twists" in this fic! I do love a twist, as you are probably aware, but in this case it's pretty straightforward. We don't get Henry's POV, so his feelings during this are a little obscure... although probably only to Alex. 😅

#7 I answered here.

18. Share the scene you just wrote, written from another character’s POV.

All right, so the obvious play here is a scene from Henry's POV since the fic is all in Alex's. HOWEVER. I can't do that, it'd be just too spoilery, especially since the most recent scenes I've written are very late in the fic. So instead you get a POV from someone who's not even an actual character in the fic. 😂

Kyle sees a lot of couples at the Hot Shots basketball game, mostly because a lot of dudes are sure they can win a stuffed animal for their date. And they're often right; whenever he works this game, he gives out a lot more plush bears and dogs than at nearly any other game at Luna Park. Most of the couples are your standard sporty dude with a plastic-looking girl who's more interested in her phone than his shooting—in other words, pretty boring. Because he has nothing better to do than watch them interact, he's gotten good at telling which ones are early in their relationship, which ones are a good match, and which ones look really in love. At first he assumes the two guys that approach the game are there to compete against each other, because that's the usually case. He realizes pretty quickly, though, that these aren't your typical jocks there to have a dick measuring contest. For one, they're both dressed way nicer than anyone dresses at an amusement park. For two, they don't compete; the tall blond one demurs—maybe because he's British, by the accent—as the shorter brunet steps up to play. That's when Kyle realizes that this is a date. It has to be, by the way the blond watches raptly even though Kyle will eat his hat if he gives shit about basketball. It has to be, by the way the brunet, bouncing with nervous energy, keeps on looking over after every shot as if to check if the blond has just watched him make the basket. It has to be, by the way the blond blushes when the brunet hands over his prize. Couples like these, who are so clearly gone on each other, are his favorites. They're adorable, and though he doesn't say anything because that would be fucking creepy, he thinks it. Good luck, you two, he wants to say, I hope I can find someone who looks at me like that one day.

WHEW, ok! That's a little preview of something that's gonna happen in the fic from the POV from an outside observer. Thanks so much for sending these in!

Ask me about a current WIP!

[staringdownabarrel]

I just saw the new episode of Strange New Worlds. So, like, are we just ignoring how in Arena, the Gorn were meant to be a new species who existed across the very bleeding edge of the frontier from the Federation? (This post is going to be a bit spoilery for the new episode, by the way.)

I was willing to give the first season the benefit of the doubt because maybe the Gorn that were being dealt with were a splinter group that lived somewhere between where the main Gorn Hegemony is and the Federation. This would broadly make sense because this group was a bit more monstery and aggressive than what we'd seen before, so it'd make sense that this is some kind of subspecies or a separate species that also evolved on the Gorn home world.

I'm still hoping this ends up being the angle they go for in season two. It's something that Enterprise touched on in season three, where there were five different Xindi species that had all evolved on the same planet (plus one that had since gone extinct), plus also in season four with the Aenar coexisting on Andoria with the Andorians. One of the Enterprise novels, By the Book, has something similar going on, too. (It's been a long, long time since I read that one, so don't @ me if I'm misremembering.)

I think this is an interesting road to go down. It's just a cool science fiction concept in general. Like, what would it be like if the Neanderthals hadn't gone extinct? What would human social development look like if there was also this subspecies walking around the same streets we were? That's basically the concept, except with aliens in space.

The Strange New Worlds writers are clearly aware of this concept existing in the franchise. Hemmer, the chief engineer in the first season, was an Aenar. Pelia, who's gearing up to be the chief engineer this season, is a Lanthanite, a species which went undetected on Earth until the 22nd century.

So not only are they aware of the concept, it looks like they're even on the same page about it being a cool sci-fi concept to explore. I'm hoping that there's going to be a reveal further along in this season where it turns out that Strange New Worlds' Gorn are a more aggressive subspecies or co-species to the original, who'd migrated from the main Hegemony for whatever reason.

I think that's the only real way they can reconcile the Gorn as they've appeared so far in Strange New Worlds and how they were presented in Arena. Maybe they're not as interested in doing that, though; maybe they'll just say, "Yeah nah, we're retconning that." I'm hoping they won't though, because this kind of reconciliation actually would be way more interesting than a straight retcon.