#did we really need it? did we really need more crazed theorizing?

[inky-quilled-dragon]

They brought the bloody fucking COUCH BACK INTO THIS.

[slasherbvnnie]

Until We Found You

Hello! This is my first time ever posting onto here, so please excuse any mistakes or any tags that may be missing. I wanted to write about a poly!ghostface au and age up all the characters and place them into college. I hope this gets at least a few reads!

Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI Part VII Part VIII Part IX

Context: Modern Day College Scream AU, Obsessed AFAB!Reader, Eventual Poly!Ghostface x reader, Eventual NSFW, All characters 18+

You bit down on the tip of your pencil, chewing the metal part of it as you spaced out for the hundredth time today. A few days ago news broke of one of your best friends being killed, Casey Becker, and like every day since that fateful night, news reporters were swarming the campus. Woodsboro University was famous overnight for it, a crazed killer on the loose in the town and no one knew why Casey and her boyfriend Steve were the victims. What made it truly unnerving was that no one knew if they were going to be the only ones.

It didn’t make you scared, not really at least, you were more intrigued than worried if you were going to be the next person to get a mysterious phone call. No, you spent the next morning with Randy and learned all about what happened. How Steve was found bound to the chair, duct tape and blood practically branded onto him, and how the Beckers found Casey. She was one of your best friends, you couldn’t deny you felt like you needed some therapy for not crying for more than maybe an hour over her, but something in you was more interested in who did it.

That was what was on your mind for the hundredth time today, any of Casey’s boyfriends all the way to fucking pre-k could be a suspect, maybe her family, or maybe it was some random stranger who decided to take their anger out on an unsuspecting teenage girl. Randy and you talked all first period about your suspicions on who it could be, even accusing each other of being the killer, it did fit after all, the two horror buffs who knew every goddamn easter egg in every horror movie there was, it seemed perfect.

“Sidney, can you please tell your friend the answer to at least make it seem like she was listening?” Ms. Crane asked, Sidney nudging you and whispering the answer as the class laughed. “ah, um, phosphorus gas.” You answered, looking at Sidney with wide eyes after you answered. “Phosphine, but I will take that. You guys can pack up, let me take role before you all leave.” Ms. Crane said with a sigh.

“What’s up with you? Are you totally sure you don’t want to go to the grief counselor after school? I mean even Tate went-“ “Sid, I’m fine, seriously. I just, it’s freaky is all. I mean not knowing who did it? What if they have a thing for college chicks, I think we fit into that category very well and-“ “And we will be fine, it was probably just a one-time thing…I mean it's more likely that it is, right?” Sidney asked as she packed her bag, putting a comforting hand on your shoulder. “Don’t sweat it, if you want you can stay at my place for the week, my dad’s on a trip and I would kinda enjoy the company,” she offered, smiling at you reassuringly. You gave a nod, “yeah, let me just at least spend tonight at my place, my mom will kill me if I miss dinner tonight and take off for a week out of the blue.” “Are you sure you’re really 19 and not 9?” Sidney asked jokingly, earning a laugh from you.

After dinner you had taken a shower, your parents had gone out for the night to take a late-night date- which you theorized was them renting a motel to not risk traumatizing you. You brushed out your hair as you sat down on your vanity chair, putting it into a braid before you went to bed. Your cat was sitting peacefully on your bed, moving every now and then to change her position before darting out of your room. “Irena!” You called after her, scoffing when she didn’t come back to the room. You put your hairbrush down onto your vanity, taking a look in the mirror before getting up from your seat. “I hope you don’t think you are eating even more food, missy, you got fed so much while I was at class today,” you said, acting as if Irena could really understand you. You made your way to your door, nearly walking out before noticing a paper had fallen onto the ground near your desk. You picked it up, reading the headline, Casey Becker and Steve Orth- funerals to be held on Friday the 27th at 9-11 AM. You sighed and set it down on the other papers stacked on your desk.

You walked out of your room, heading downstairs “Irena! Come on, I wanna go to bed,” you whined out, calling the cat to your room. You found her in the living room, hiding under the couch and refusing to come to you. “Fine, I’ll leave you a blanket out and don’t you dare come scratching at my door at 3 AM,” you told her, going to the hallway closet to get a blanket out for her. Once you had gotten one, you spread it out across the couch for her and said goodnight.

You were about halfway to your room when your phone began to buzz, digging it out of your pocket and seeing your mom's number you quickly answered. “Hey, what's up? You guys heading back already,” You asked, continuing up to your room.

“Heading back? Who said I ever left?” A strange voice asked on the other line, making you pause for a moment as you moved to make sure it was your mom. “Listen asshole, I don’t have more than 15 dollars in my bank account so have fun with whatever hot cheetos and mountain dew you can get with that,” you said before hanging up on them, putting your phone back into your pocket. You were up the stairs now, deciding to use the bathroom before you went to bed for the night but before you could open the door your phone rang again. “Didn’t I already say I don’t have money? What the fuck do you want?” You asked angrily, “Irena, right? Like Irena Dubrovna? Who did you prefer, Simone or Natassja?” The same voice asked you, making you look down the stairs. Irena hadn’t moved yet and no one was around her, or at least from what you could see. “If you hurt my fucking cat I will personally cut off your balls and feed them to he-“ A laugh from the caller cut you off, “I don’t have fun with animals. I’m not Bundy or Dahmer, I like to see my victims, human victims…struggle.” You heard your parent's bedroom door open, letting out a scream before running into your room and slamming the door shut, locking it quickly before the person began to bang on it. You looked around, going to your window and trying to lift it open.

The door cracked, it was like the scene from the shining, except this killer bore a white mask, you recognized it from the Halloween store- father death. You struggled with the window again, before giving up and grabbing the lamp from your bedside table and throwing it at them. The killer moved out of the way before they were hit, pushing their body against the door once more and climbing in through the opening. You could see them fiddle with their knife as if they had held it in their hands a hundred times already and were skilled at fidgeting with it.

You grabbed a glass organizer from your desk, taking the scissors from it before chucking the holder at them. The papers you had stacked before scattered from the throw as they fell down. You rushed to the window as they struggled to get up but never heard them stand. When your head whipped around to check if they were behind you, you instead saw them looking at the papers around them.

Masked killer, Casey and Steve headlines, Maureen Prescott, Cotton Weary trials, even the cutouts you had of Sidney from court. You were obsessed. There were drawings, suspects lists, hell all these needed were red kiss marks and ‘please fuck me mr ghostface!’ written in pink glitter pen ink.

You stared wide-eyed at them when you saw their gaze now on you, their head cocked to the side as a laugh sounded from behind the mask. Just then you heard the sound of gravel being crushed around from the driveway, your parent's car was pulling in, you saw them getting out from your window. When you turned back you noticed the person was gone, you ran downstairs and met your parents at the door, crying and beginning to blubber on about what nearly happened. 

[uwukillmenowowo]

To Wash the Inky Stains of Hate

[Cover by: me/Kumon]

[Dabi X Ink Demon! Reader]

Requested by:

mayaimishigo

[This lovely person right here~!]

Fandoms:

Boku No Hero Academia & Bendy and the Ink Machine

Trigger warnings:

- Blood/Death/Gore/Murder/etc

- Swearing/Foul Language

- Stop, don't touch me there, this is my no no square! [In future chapters]

[Main Characters:]

- Twice and Mange are deceased.

- Dabi - 24

- Reader - 23

- Shigaraki - 21

- Toga - 17

- Kurogiri - Died 17 - Technically 18 [Got off Google Idk I didn't watch/read that far :( ]

- Alice - XXXX

- Boris/Buddy - XXXX

- Alice/Allison - XXXX

Quirk: Ink Demon

This quirk allows its user to manifest a demonic creature made entirely out of ink, this demonic creature is extremely powerful and can cause great amounts of destruction to whoever and whatever it comes into contact with. This creature has great speed, strength and durability. It also has a very high intelligence, capable of devising complex plans and strategies to use against its opponents. The user of this quirk must be very careful in using it and have a great understanding of how to control it. the user also has the ability to produce and control ink, it can make structures, entities, objects and so much more.

[Notes:]

- This is... like season 6 [Of BNHA] but it isn't

- Dabi's hair will still be black because it's easier for me.

- There will be others if I remember them...

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Chaos

1396000 people

2792000 people

5584000 people

The massacre never ends, does it?

{Third POV}

~~~~~

"Whaaa~! She's really on a massive genocide, isn't she? Look at all the blood and corpses~!" A female with ash-blonde hair fangirled with her hands on her cheeks and a blush on her face. "She does have quite the body count..." "And what's with all that black liquid..?" The trio continued to observe, as well as theorize about the so-called "Black liquid" that she was producing.

"It also looks like she's controlling all of that black stuff." The white-haired male nodded, continuing to watch the chaos unfold. 'How many heroes and civilians has she killed already?' He thought as he continued to stare at the ruined city that was once protected. But did he care? Absolutely not, in fact, he actually thinks that all those people deserved it. He's been through all of it before.

"It... kinda looks like ink." The ash-blonde female said as she used her hand to cover her eyes from the afternoon sun. She found the other girls' brutal techniques rather interesting. I mean, the girl has killed millions of people in the span of a few hours. She kind of wanted to learn from the girl. She could get so much more blood that way!

"Using ink to control, create, and destroy? Kinda cringe and cliche..." The black-haired male sighed as he turned his gaze away. Obviously annoyed and seemingly not impressed. In all honesty, he just wanted to join in the carnage to let out some of his frustrations.

"Shut it Dabi. That quirk of hers actually looks kind of useful. Unlike that masked bird bitch." The white-haired male stated, not turning his gaze away from the scene. "If what the wacko said is correct and that's ink then I don't find it all that impressive." "Hey! You burnt chicken nugget! Yours also isn't impressive! I mean- it's just fire but blue!" "What did you call me nutjob?" "*Hmph* You heard me!" "SHUT IT! BOTH OF YOU! I'm already having a fucking headache and the both of you are making it worse!"

The "Nutjob" huffed and crossed her arms while Dabi placed his hands on his hips, both watching as the white-haired male started to leave. "Kurogiri, teleport us back. We need to inform him of our findings. If he deems that maniacal girl worthy then we should try to recruit her. Find out her quirk, wants and dream and then he'll decide what we do with her after."

A purple swirl of clouds appeared and the three started to leave. Leaving leftover heroes to deal with the crazed genocider.

{XXXX POV}

~~~~~

"8375990 out of 8376000 people... Heh- *Smirk* Almost around 60%..." I muttered to myself as I ordered another squad of searchers to destroy another group of tanks that the military tried to send while I dodged more chains from the warden hero: Crushlock. A hero that helps the cops in the crime department in restraining "berserk villains." Did I care that I was killing a lot of people? No. Did I care that the government wanted my head? Pffttt-! Of course not! I needed to make HIM pay for everything he's done to me and all the others and there's no way in hell I'm stopping until I archived that goal.

"HALT VILLIAN!"

I sighed, glaring at the heroes that kept coming. They're not that much fun to fight. Not even good enough to pass the time. Just bugs that hover around a meal that was left unattended. I held my hand out, creating ink in my hands and pointed my palm to the floor, raising an inky barrier as another hero tried to attack me.  "Annoying..." I said to myself and then raised both my hands, creating a tsunami of ink.

There were screams, lots of them. Then when the ink faded there were just the corpses of everyone who tried to stop me. Now, I would've used this attack from the beginning but i was hungry and haven't eaten in a few weeks. But now that i've used it I'm hungry again... "Does anywhere have bacon soup?" I questioned myself, looking around the ruined area.

"Hmmm..." I groaned and snapped my fingers, the searchers came back to me and I commanded them to find some food. While I waited I sat down and started to stretch.

It's been almost an hour... I crossed my legs and crossed my arms. "Where are my searchers..?" I know that they're still alive since I could still sense them. They are my creation after all. They haven't run into any heroes either. So what's with the—

!

One was destroyed?

Two...

Three...

Four...

I glanced around me, expecting another hero. Four searchers died. Burned, disintegrated, slashed, and drowned. I stood up wearily but then I saw some sort of portal appear in front of me. 'It's like my ink domain.' I thought as I raised my hand, ready to attack.

{Third Person POV}

~~~~~

The four beings entered the portal, not surprised when they saw a female in a fighting stance. The foggy-headed male raised both his... hands and walked slowly toward the female. "Miss [Y/n]," He stared, startling the female since she did not expect them to know her name. "We mean you no harm. We are the League of Villains and we've come to make a request." The female furrowed her brows, not trusting them. "What..." was all she asked, still in a fighting position.

"We simply want to examine your quirk. Want to know how it works." The female faltered and sweatdropped. "That's it..?" The foggy boi nodded and the female looked behind him, seeing a white-haired male with hella chapped lips, an ash-blonde girl who looks like she was about to climax, and a black-haired male who looks like the only sane person here. "Hmm? Oh, these three behind me ate my comrades. Shigaraki Tomura, Toga Himiko, and Dabi. As for me, you can refer to me as Kurogiri,"

"So chapped lips is Shiggy, Horny-looking ass is Toga, Burnt nugget is Dabi, and you're Kurogiri." As the female said that they all had mixed reactions, Shigaraki and Dabi looked pissed and annoyed. Toga looked... like herself but was laughing, and Kurogiri appeared shocked. "I... suppose so." Kurogiri said as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Will you help us with your quirk?"

"Hold up— What am I getting out of this?"

The four froze. They did their research but most of that research was just her birth certificate. And her parents' names were scratched out, they knew nothing of her past or her desires. "Thought so... Fine. I'll help y'all out, but do you know of someone called Joey Drew and Henry Stein." The villains looked at each other before shaking their heads. Who were they? People you cared for or people you wanted to kill?

[Y/n] scowled. "However..." She then perked up to what Shigaraki had to say. "We could help you try to find whoever they are." [Y/n] then pondered on. It would certainly take less time than killing everyone to draw them out... 

She sighed and crossed her arms, using her quirk to create an ink hand so that she doesn't have to touch them. She doesn't know what their quirks do after all.

"Fine. I'll let you examine my quirk. In exchange, you gotta help me find who I'm lookin' for... Deal?"

Kurogiri looked at Shigaraki, who in turn walked forward and shook the inky hand. 

"Sure... Deal or whatever.

Wooooo! Actual post pooogg!

I am well aware that they are kind out of character

This is actually my first request so eeeehhhhh-

bare with me plz

[kanayaks]

Giving the World Away - Part 1

A serialized, in-progess follow-up to Mirror Image.

Part 2 | Part 3

[alright, I'm still not admitting to this being a real fic, but I'm going to start posting it in a much less annoying way. here's everything that's been posted so far, collected in one place]

Morel's in the garden one day. She goes to do some druidcraft and she Disintegrates the entire azalea patch.

Her super powerful druid parents can't explain it. They've never seen this kind of magic before.

She writes to Shadowheart. Would you travel with me to Baldur's Gate? Something's happening and I need answers. It...Well, it scares me.

I know we haven't spoken, and I know it's my fault. But please. I need a friend, and you were my first in a decade.

When they get to Razamith Tower, she storms into Rolan's office and throws out a teleport that his automatic counterspell measures fail to override.

"Did you just - oh. That was Galerian Weave, wasn't it?" The ruffled feathers are quickly displaced by excitement.

"What?"

"Of course, you're his Chosen, obviously. My apologies, friend, I-"

"I am no one's fucking Chosen."

He looks between them uncertainly. "...I think I'm missing some context here, why don't we return to the tower to sort it out?"

"It's just the riverbank, Rolan. You're not in danger."

"Shadowheart, wasn't it?"

"Look, it's not complicated. She woke up a month ago and destroyed half her parent's garden, and we want an explanation. Right?"

Morel nods, stunned fury clamped around her throat.

"You manifested these abilities spontaneously?"

"Yes."

"But you're not..."

She refuses to answer. He tries again.

"You're certain you're not his-"

"If you say it again, I'll-" she breaks off, shaking her head, and starts to giggle, sounding more than a little crazed. "I'll fucking kill you? I think?" She shrugs and laughs.

"Morel." Shadowheart's admonishment sounds far too amused.

"She won't kill you. You can take us back to the tower, if that's what you want."

They teleport back and get some tea. He refrains from making any more assessments, sticking to straightforward questions about her recent magical experiences.

"So?"

He's clearly reluctant.

Morel sighs. "I'm sorry about earlier. I am. I appreciate the help. Genuinely."

"I still wouldn't say that word if I were you, though." Shadowheart sips her tea calmly.

"I appreciate what you've done for this city, and for me specifically. But the only thing I can tell you is that there is no such thing as a Galerian sorcerer. They don't exist."

"Clearly they do."

His eyebrows twitch skeptically, but he says nothing.

She takes in a deep breath. "Where do they all hole up?"

"The Galerian sect?"

"Yes." Her voice is acidic. "Them."

-------------------------------------------------------

"You really had no idea?"

Morel doesn't take her eyes off the fire.

"You were always...Theorizing. Discussing, conspiring to figure out what it could all mean."

Conspiring. With him, she means.

"And?"

"I'm just surprised, Morel."

"You're surprised?" She whips her head around in disbelief.

Shadowheart raises her hands, signaling her rhetorical retreat.

Morel draws up her knees and tucks her chin over them. "It sounds so fucking stupid."

"What does?"

"Galerian. It's not even the same vowel sound."

Shadowheart huffs uncertainly, like she's not sure if she's allowed to find it funny.

"Doesn't it, though?"

"Well, you know wizards, they're always-"

"'All they care about is power'."

Shadowheart looks at her warily. "You remember that."

"You remember it."

Shadowheart smirks. "Plenty of real estate."

"Fair. Sorry."

Morel looks at the ground. "Maybe...Maybe that was why."

"What?"

"Your letters. All I could ever think to say in return was 'you were right'."

-------------------------------------------------------

"So if you can teleport, why aren't we doing that? Haven't you been there before? That is how it works, isn't it?"

"Of course I've been there. I've been everywhere."

Shadowheart rolls her eyes.

"We..." Morel bites her lip. She's gotten a bit out of the habit of honesty, it makes her palms sweat to practice it once more. "We're not teleporting because I didn't even know I could do that."

"Hells, Morel." Shadowheart stops her horse with a sudden yank on the reins and looks over at her ferociously.

"I'm sorry, alright? I don't know why it brought you along, the only thing I was thinking was just, show him. Make him understand."

They start off again, at a slow walk.

"Well maybe you could think just a bit more next time, for everyone else's sake?"

"I'm sorry. I really - I'm not trying to be careless." Gods, it's all so fucking frustrating.

They fall silent for a minute.

"Why did I talk to the Stablemaster?"

"Hm?"

"You never used to let the rest of us do the talking. Wyll excluded, I know."

"The rest of you were either off-putting, or completely transparent." Morel waves a blithe hand.

"Oh, unlike you?"

She exhales a sharp breath. "If you want me to handle things from now on, fine. I'll fucking do it."

Shadowheart sighs.

She softens her tone. "I'm just saying. I've never seen you like this."

"You haven't seen me for a while."

"You didn't want me to."

There's nothing Morel could say in response to that.

"Well," she shakes it off, changing the subject. "You're right about teleportation. The better you know the place, the better it goes."

"Oh, wonderful. So where were we supposed to end up, then?"

"...I think I hit the mark exactly, actually."

"That muddy piece of riverbank?"

"Mhm."

"You're intimately familiar with a patch of dirt."

Morel shrugs.

"What, did it used to be a boat house?"

"No." She swallows, and her throat sticks. "It was, uh. It was the closest piece of shoreline to where we found the Crown."

"Where he left you." Shadowheart realizes quietly.

"No. I left him. He just wasn't there when I came back." She cracks a sarcastic smile.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Shadowheart asks slowly.

"No." She quickly wipes away the tear at the corner of her eye. "No, Shadowheart, I...I don't know how."

"That's fine. You don't have to."

"Thank you."

"Of course, Morel."

"I don't just mean...Thank you. For everything."

"Hey," Shadowheart stretches out a hand.

Morel takes it, more timidly than she'd like to admit.

"You've got me. Always." She squeezes Morel's hand once, then lets go.

-------------------------------------------------------

"What's the plan?"

Morel watches the laborers go about their business with distaste. For such a construction to be near complete in this short a time...

"Don't have one."

An immense amount of magic might have gone into it, that's very possible. But even so. She can't imagine working for people who have dedicated themselves to the ideal of accomplishment at any cost to be anything but deeply unpleasant, at best.

"You really don't want to corner someone to get some kind of lay of the land?"

"I don't have my old tricks anymore, Shadowheart."

"Well...We do have mine."

"Selûne shine on you for that, does she?"

Shadowheart scowls. "I'm not worshipping Selûne."

"Still using her power, though."

"I really don't think you want to have that fight, Morel." She looks at the temple meaningfully. "Not here."

Morel clenches and unclenches her fist, the churn of emotions too confused and awful to process. She forces herself to breathe, and merely weather them.

"Fine. Should we go have one in there, then?"

------------------------------------------------------------

There's a quiet hubbub in the interior. Craftsmen of multiple schools diligently ply their trade, carrying out their finishing touches. An obscene amount of money has clearly gone into the place.

"How does it even work? How do a bunch of men who all want to be the strongest, the richest, the most powerful and influential - form any kind of collective?"

"Faith, I suppose."

"Ugh." Morel stops and looks around disdainfully. "In wh-"

Her eye catches on the proud centerpiece finally. She whirls around so quickly it almost makes her dizzy.

"I-I'm going to throw up." She doubles over.

"No, you won't."

"No, really-"

"Excuse me."

She snaps up, holding a hand to her rushing forehead.

A wealthy looking man is making his way towards them, squinting disapprovingly as he looks over their road-clothes.

Like he's anything impressive. From his dress, he's clearly just some merchant, not even a wizard.

"Welcome to the First Port of Ambition. Can I help y-"

He stops suddenly and starts to choke.

"Oh gods," Shadowheart reacts, sounding more curious than alarmed.

The man falls to his knees and starts to vomit lightning. Shadowheart immediately begins casting, and the man flings out an arm, unleashing a torrent of wind.

"Shadowheart!"

Morel watches her get thrown back, and sees every person and object in the room pinned against the walls.

All except her.

She is drawn to the merchant at her feet, where two eyes glowing a hair-raisingly familiar indigo stare back at her. The veins in his face are dark with pollution, the symbol of the orb carved into his irises. Her mind divests itself from her body in shock.

And her hand reaches out.

Next

[reidsmemory]

Echo

Spencer Reid

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Summary: Y/N is abducted while working a case and the team has to find her before it’s too late.

Genre: Fluff with a touch of angst

Warnings: Mention of death of minor character, torture

not my gif!

The team had been looking into case that had targeted girls with Y/H/C hair and Y/E/C eyes. All had looks strikingly similar to you and if anyone were to see either one of the victims in a room with you, they would say you were related. You all had been on the case for about a week now and you were still no where close to catching this guy. 

     “Agent Y/L/N,” a voice called as you whipped your head to face them, “these came in for you,” the officer was holding a bouquet of red roses with a small white card on the top of it. 

      “Do you know who these are from?” you asked as he shook his head and walked away. 

      “What does the note say?” Emily asked as the whole team had watched the interaction. 

     You opened the envelope and read the note as you furrowed your brows, “echo.” The team looked at each other with puzzled faces, “what the hell is that suppose to mean? Have we already dealt with this unsub?” The rest of team began theorizing as the same officer walked up to you again.

     “Agent, we’ve got someone that say he needs to speak to you.”

      “Can’t they come here?” Hotch asked, getting defensive.

      “He says that he won’t go into a place of justice, whatever that means,” the officer began to lead you as the rest of the team followed. You began walking towards the entrance of the station as the officer looked around for the mystery man. “He was just here,” the man spoke. 

      “Spence,” you spoke out as your boyfriend looked to you before you collapsed on the ground. You head hit the flooring as a ringing sounded in your ears as well as their being two of everything. Two Spencer’s holding your head, two Hotch’s yelling and pointing fingers, two lights blinding you from seeing anything. 

     What felt like hours later you were being lifted onto a bed. Two men had arrived with an ambulance as shouting and yelling was all that was heard. “Are you family, sir?” the first responder asked as Spencer opened him mouth and closed it again, “I didn’t think so, you all can follow in cars.” The man said as his colleague gave him as weird look as the both of them lifted you into the ambulance as the rest of the team rushed to get their keys and get into the SUVs.

     The ambulance sped off as the sirens wailed and your team rushed to the cars. “What in the fresh hell?” Derek said as he looked at the tires on one of the SUVs. “My tires are popped, what about you, Hotch?” 

     “Same here,” the raven haired man said. 

     “It’s a set up,” Reid spoke as fear flooded his face. 

***

     You awoke in a cabin where you had been tired to a chair and had a gag on your mouth. Your vision still hazy and your thoughts even hazier. 

     “Oh good, you’re up,” a male voice said from the corner of the room. You tried to get a good look at him, but he stayed in the shadows. “Ben Cyrus,” he said as you furrowed your eyebrows. The name sounded so familiar, but you couldn’t quite remember where you had heard it before. 

      “Who are you?” you asked as the man chuckled. “Let me go, I’ll talk to my team and we can work this out.” He scoffed at your words and began to walk towards you. 

     “Ben Cyrus. He ran the greatest church known to man and you,” his face was hardened and his eyes had a crazed look in them, “took away our faith!” He struck his hand across your face as a burning sensation filled your cheek. 

     It all rushed back to you. A few year back you, Prentiss, and Reid had all gone undercover in a cult-like church. The leader, Benjamin Cyrus, had been suspected of child abuse and sexual harassment and the government had wanted the BAU to get involved. 

     “I remember,” you said as the man smiled. 

     “Good, Agent,” he grabbed a chair from the side of the room and brought it over to sit across from you. “Now,” he started again, “you might not know me. My name is Joey Cyrus and I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but I’d be lyin’,” he studied you as you did the same.

     “What do you want, Joey?” 

     “Well my daddy would be nice for one, but I don’t believe you have the power to do that. So you’ll do just fine,” he got up from his chair and walked over to the bag that you had seen from the corner of your eye. He dumped the contents on the ground in front of you and a spill of tools came out. A hammer, pliers, a baseball bat, a few knives, and other things that could do damage. “Let’s get to know each other.”

***

     Back at the station, Spencer was frantically trying to figure out who had taken you and why. The note on the roses had been laced with a medicinal herb that had knocked you out and the ambulance had been found in a ditch on the highway with all but one of the first responders on it. The medics had been killed in a brutal way that even made Spencer sick to his stomach as he thought about what this guy was doing to you.

     “Reid,” Hotch’s voice broke his train of thought as he met eyes with the older man. “Go ahead, Garcia.”

     “Alright. Our mystery medic is Joseph Mulgrew , he moved to Utah just a few years ago and before that he has been off the map,” Garcia told the team. “This guy, he’s like a ghost. No records of his name anywhere else and no former address of any kind.”

     “Did you say Mulgrew?” Spencer said as the team looked at him.

     “Yes I did Doctor, what about it?”

     “Look up Joseph Cyrus,” Spencer told her as they heard the taps of Garcia’s keyboard. The team looked at him for an explanation, “Benjamin Cyrus, he was an unsub we had.”

     “Yeah,” Emily started, “he was that guy that ran that church and...” she trailed off as the team got the gist of what she was saying. 

     “He was Charles Mulgrew before he made a come back at the church. It could be possible that he has unknown family, considering what he was really doing all those years,” Spencer explained, “Garcia, how old is Joseph?” 

     “He is 27 years of age and the good doctor is right. Joey here changed his name like dear old dad and oh...” Penny trailed off.

     “Penny?” JJ asked.

     “Joseph has been in and out of jail and juvie for as long as I can see. Charged with assault, petty theft, and oh my. Domestic abuse filed by his ex-wife who looks a lot like our Y/N,” a sounding on their tablets was heard as they opened it and saw a woman very similar to you.

     “But Spencer and I went undercover too, why would he pick Y/N?” Emily said as she immediately started to solve the puzzle, “you think it’s because of the looks of the ex-wife?”

     “I think so,” Rossi mumbled, “Penelope pull up the most current address to Joe and anything that could be used to store Y/N.”

     “I’ve got a home address and a storage unit and they have all been sent to your phones! Go crime fighters and get our princess back!” Penelope told them.

     “Thanks, Baby Girl,” Morgan hung up the phone.

     “Reid with me and JJ. Rossi, Morgan, and Prentiss take the storage. We’ll have to use squad cars until the SUVs are fixed so lets go get Y/L/N,” Hotch ordered as they all nodded ad went to the parking lot. 

***

     You muffled your screams and grunts as Joey had began to carve into your stomach. He laughed as you clenched your teeth and held your hands in fists, surely four crescent shaped cuts were to be found on the inside of your palms if you opened them. “You son of a bitch,” you struggled to get out as Joey wiped the knife off on your pants. 

     “Don’t you talk about my mama that way, girl. I’ll make sure you regret it.” You received at blow to the side of your face. You spit out the blood that formed in your mouth as Joey began to take the other tools out from his collection. “These look nice, don’t they, girl?” He held up a pack of cigarettes and a lighter as he popped one in his mouth.

     “Those things kill,” you said remembering Spencer tell you countless facts about the ‘cancer sticks’ as both of you had nicknamed them. “On second thought, why don’t you just keep smoking them.”

     He laughed, “you are a firecracker. My daddy always said the young ones are.” He stroked your hair as you tried to move back.

     “Your dad was sick in the head and you are too,” you spoke with such tenacity. 

     He looked at you blankly, “I thought I said you don’t speak of my family like that,” he took the cigarette from his mouth and stuck it on your exposed collar bone. 

     You grunted as he held your face in free hand. He leaned into your ear and whispered, “I want to hear those screams, girl.” He press the cigarette into your skin further, finally inciting a small scream to slip past your lips. “Good.”

***

     The team had arrived at both locations and there was no sign that you were there. Spencer paced around with his hands in is hair as the rest of the team was now even more worried than before, if that was possible. The team had no idea where you could be and if you were even alive. It had been at least 13 hours since you had dropped in the lobby and it was eating Spencer and the team alive.

     “You have nothing?” JJ asked Garcia over the phone,.

     “No, i’m sorry. I’ll keep looking and-” she was cut off by Spencer who had just had a revelation. 

     “Garcia, make sure the jet is ready. I think I know where Y/N is.”

***

     On the jet Spencer had explained the note and how it read ‘echo’ as saying that Joey might want to recreate the explosion at the church and now the team had touched down in Colorado where they got in SUVs to go to the church’s location. 

     A swat team followed them along the dirt roads that were bumpy and the night sky that was dark. The sun was starting to rise in the distance. Spencer remembered you always saying, ��the same beams but a new day,’ and that made him the tiniest bit hopeful that they would find you in this new day. 

     The church came into view as they could see it was now a smaller wooden building. “What the hell,” Morgan said from the drivers seat as he say the building, “this guy built up a whole new structure to what? Avenge his father’s death?” The car came to a stop as the team hopped out of the car and Hotch began to go over the plan with the others.

     “From the front-” he was cut off by a ear piercing scream that came from no one other than you. Spencer looked at his boss in worry as Hotch returned the look and started again, “let’s go.”

     Joey drove a knife into your stomach as you screamed loudly. He left it in your body and quickly grabbed another knife from the ground. “You have got to work out your daddy issues another way,” you told him as he dragged the new knife down the side of your face as it cut into your skin. 

     “You wanna try something different, girl?” You immediately regretted your words and recalled Spence always telling you that your smart mouth was going to get you in trouble some day. He began to unbutton the top of his flannel, but quickly stopped as he heard footsteps in the distance. You heard them too. 

      “Spencer!” you yelled as loud as you could as Joey came over to you and cut the ropes on your ankles and arms as he quickly grabbed you and put a knife to your neck. 

      From the front of the house Spencer could hear your cries as his ears perked up as his heart rate grew faster and Hotch nodded as Morgan kicked the door down. The team moved through the structure and finally Spencer came face to face with you, “Y/N,” he said as you locked eyes with your boyfriend and smiled lightly, despite the situation at hand. 

     “Joseph, put the knife down,” Hotch told the man as the knife just dug deeper into your skin. 

     “I don’t think so,” he took grip on you and made it tighter. “You killed my family. He never did anything but help people in need of his guidance.”

     “Your father ruined the lives of young girls,” Spencer said matter-o-factly. 

     “No! He did them a favor, he gave them the greatest gift he could,” Joey said as he began to move his hand without the knife a bit more. You furrowed your eyebrows as you tried see what he was hold and finally saw a small remote concealed in his hand. 

     You moved your eyes to Hotch’s and blinked rapidly. You just hoped he would pick up on the Morse Code and get everyone out of the building. 

     “Let’s just talk this out, Joey,” Hotch started, “JJ get everyone out, I want to talk to Joey alone.” JJ furrowed her eyebrows at the man but he gave he a stern look as she understood and began to move the team out. 

     “No! Bring them back!” Joey yelled, “or she dies.” Spencer looked at JJ as she tried to get him to leave the building, but he refused to move so she quickly called Morgan who grabbed Reid as he struggled against him.

     “I can’t leave her!” he told them and Morgan ignored his pleas and called a couple SWAT members to help him with the genius. 

     “As much as I like her, I’ll do it,” Joey said as he continued to watch the men and women exist the building. “Bring them back!” Joey yelled as his grip on you faltered for a second which you took advantage of as you got out from his grasp and struggled to take the device from his hand. 

     “Go!” you yelled at Hotch but he jumped in and started to help you as the three of you wrestled and quickly the device was flung across the doorway to another room. You all freezed before you grabbed Hotch’s hand and dragged him towards the back of the building. 

     The team waited outside for Hotch and you as Reid screamed at Morgan, “you have to let me go back in there!”

     “You can’t Kid, you heard Hotch!” Morgan yelled back as the rest of the team cringed at the fight. “I know all of us want to go back in there, but we can’t! You gotta understand that, Kid!”

     “No! You don’t understand!” Spencer screamed, “she’s all I have! I didn’t even get to tell her that I love her! That I have been in love with her since that stupid dinner at that Thai restaurant in California!” 

     “That was two years ago...” JJ mumbled.

     “Yeah! Two years! I’ve only been with with her for a couple months now and I haven’t even told her!” Everyone’s hearts pained as they heard Spencer’s cries and saw the liquid that dripped down his cheeks. “I can’t-”

     All head turned as the house exploded a safe distance away from them. The orange flames roared as the team had their mouths’ open in shock.

     “No,” Rossi and JJ whispered at the same time. 

     Morgan’s grip on Reid was gone as he watched the flames and turned to Emily who had had disbelief and horror over her face. 

     Spencer’s mind raced a mile every second and now his mind was completely blank of everything but you. Your face, your smile, your eyes, your lips, your laugh, your touch, your everything. Spencer ran towards the flames as the team yelled after him. 

     “Spencer,” JJ’s voice breaking as she leaned into Rossi’s embrace. 

     “Kid. Come on, don’t do this,” Morgan called as Emily just watched in disbelief with a gaping mouth and teary eyes.

     Spencer didn’t care about their calls, he needed to find you. He scanned the firery rubble for any sign of you or Hotch, but there wasn’t any. Just ash and fallen wood covered in sweltering heat. “Y/N!” he yelled out, “Y/N! Hotch!” Spence continued to look through the wall of intense heat and for a second he saw a delicate hand reach up through the burning wood. “Y/N,” he whispered to himself as he began to walk through the blazing fire that threatened to burn his body and ruin his lungs. 

     He moved a piece of wood off of where he saw your hand and saw you and Hotch laying side by side. “Guys!” he screamed at his friends, “help!” The team gave each other confused faces before coming over to Spencer. JJ gasped as she saw your form next to Hotch’s as tears of joy spilled from her faces. Her and Emily joined hands as they worked to get the wood off of you. 

     “Medic!” Rossi yelled as people began to rush over to help. 

     Morgan and Reid worked to get a big piece of debris off of the two of you. Hotch’s eyes opened and he immediately looked to his side where you had been, holding his hand tightly. He coughed violently as the medics lifted him up and brought him to the ambulance. You blinked a few times and saw Spencer standing over you. 

     “Hey, can you hear me?” he asked as you gave him a thumbs up and he laughed at the simple gesture. He brought you up for and embrace as you struggled to keep your eyes open. The medic came over to you and began to carry you away as Spencer and the team followed you and Hotch to the ambulance. 

      “Can I?” he asked one of the nurses as she nodded and he climbed into the ambulance and held your hand as you drifted off to sleep.

***

     When you woke up, blinding lights had been the first thing you saw. The second was Spencer who was asleep in a chair next to your bed, his head resting on the bed and his fingers interlaced with your own. You blinked a few times and saw the rest of the team in the room with you. Hotch was in bed identical to yours, but he was up and had his eye focused on the TV in front of him. By his side was JJ and Morgan as the conversed with each other in hushed voices. Penny was writing in a card with a sparkling pink pen as she handed it off to Rossi who smiled lightly at her. Emily was just outside your room as you saw her talking with a nurse or doctor; rather it looked more like arguing.

     Derek glanced over to you briefly as he then turned back to JJ and then back to you. “You’re up,” he said quietly, a contrast to his usual booming voice. Everyone looked to you as you smiled.

     “You gave us quite a scare, Y/L/N,” Hotch said as you laughed quietly which then turned into a cough. 

     “Em! Get a nurse or doctor!” Penny exclaimed as Emily rushed and called a nurse in the hallway. JJ got up from her seat and made her way over to your bed.

     She examined your face before hugging you tightly. “God, you can never do that to us again,” she chuckled as you rubbed her back. You felt a few tears fall on your shoulders as JJ pulled away and wiped her cheeks. “He’ll be happy to see you,” she gestured to Spencer.

     “Glad to have you back, kiddo,” Rossi told you with a smile, “you need anything?” As soon as he said that a doctor walked into your room and started to go over your condition.

     “You are very lucky, Agent Y/L/N” she started, “you have a mild concussion and that wound on your abdomen will take some time to heal over. You received first and second degree burns all over your legs, arms, and torso, just like Agent Hotchner. Your eardrums are very fragile and I recommend no flying for at least 3 weeks. Your face has some minor bruising and cuts that should heal over time.” She set her chart down. “The both of you should be able to leave in a few days time, but for now just relax.”

     “Thank you,” you said as she smiled.

     “Dinner will be up in a few minutes,” with that she left and Morgan was seen grinning widely. 

     “What?” you said.

     “She didn’t mention one thing.” You furrowed your brows at his words and he started to rub his head which just made you more confused.

     “I have a concussion, you’re going to have to actually say it.” He laughed at your words.

     “Do you think pretty boy will like the new haircut?” he asked as it finally clicked and you ran your fingers through your hair. 

     “Oh my, God,” you said as everyone laughed. “Oh my, God!” you repeated as Emily handed you a mirror and as you brought it up to your face your jaw dropped. Your hair was cut in jagged parts, but none shorter than your chin. The team laughed as you continued to gape at your reflection.

     “Some of your hair ended up burning off, just a bit,” Emily said as you looked at her with wide eyes. She laughed as you began to laugh too and soon everyone joined in as you all smiled at your stupidly, funny haircut.

     Spencer rubbed his eyes as he saw your smiling face and immediately hugged you tightly. “Thank Goodness,” he whispered as he pulled back from the embrace. “Why are we laughing?” he asked as you gestured towards your hair and smiled widely at the tall man.

     “Is this gonna be a deal breaker, babe?” his cheeks flushed at the nickname.

     He laughed a bit, “no, I still love you,” he said as the team froze at what he said as did he.

     “Awh, I love you more, Spence,” you told him without skipping a beat as he pressed a kiss to your forehead. 

     “Even if you do kinda look like David Bowie,” he said as you opened your mouth and smacked his arm playfully.

     “Spencer Reid!”

[itsclydebitches]

I’ve been seeing an uptick in “anti-RWDE” posts lately  — which is a phenomenon I’d like to comment on at a later date  — but for now one of them (quite unintentionally) made me realize something about the finale that I haven’t seen others discuss yet. 

So RWBYJNOR saves everyone, right? Let’s just put aside the animation for a moment  — which didn’t show any army members making it out  — as well as the forgotten side characters  — Maria, Pietro, Qrow’s group isn’t forgotten, but still left behind  — and take things on good faith here. We’ll read the finale through the thematic intention: RWBYJNOR saved “everyone” in the Kingdom of Atlas in Volume 8, deliberately contrasting them with Ironwood who was willing to sacrifice a chunk of the Kingdom in Volume 7. Forget all the messiness and just accept that regardless of the consequences  — like a destroyed Kingdom and a “dead” team  — the heroes are heroic because they didn’t give into a “lesser evil” thinking and managed to save everyone. 

Now, how was that possible? 

Let’s go back to the beginning of the seventh episode of Volume 8, “War.” Salem’s grimm have just burrowed through Atlas’ defenses and taken them out. The shields are gone. She flies Monstra into the fields and releases an army of darkness that immediately heads for the city. What’s the very first thing Ironwood does? 

Soldier: Yes, sir?

Ironwood: I am evacuating all citizens to the subway. Prepare Manta Squad Omega, and dispatch to every part of Atlas.

Soldier: But sir-

Ironwood: Now!

He evacuates the people, with “the people” meaning all the Atlesians and however many Mantle folk got to the city prior to Salem’s arrival. When this episode aired I mentioned being confused as to why the soldier was so hesitant. Why wouldn’t you want the people to get to safety when a grimm army is heading their way? Fans against Ironwood took the soldier’s side, claiming that Mountain Glenn proved that any underground evacuation is a death sentence and thus he obviously doesn’t really care about the peoples’ safety. Fans in support of/neutral towards Ironwood pointed out that this is a pretty big leap, no one is coming up with a better idea for what he should do instead, and that within these circumstances it reads like the soldiers is illogically against this idea simply because everyone is against Ironwood now. The show wants characters criticizing his decisions and making him out to look like a crazed dictator... even during moments when it doesn’t make any sense to be upset with him. Shooting the councilman yes, trying to keep the people safe no. Basically, this small exchange was a mess, but the rest of the volume proved that this was a sound call. The subway never collapsed and no grimm ever made it to that enclosed space to pick the civilians off like fish in an underground barrel. 

So, why didn’t that happen? Well, one answer is because Oscar and Ozpin destroyed the whale. But how did they have time to do that? Without the people dying while they were being tortured, talking to Hazel, escaping with Emerald, fighting Salem, etc.? A lot happened between Salem starting her attack and Oscar ending it, so why wasn’t 2/3rds of the Kingdom’s population decimated during that time? 

Because Ironwood sent his army out to keep the grimm occupied. 

Outside of Ironwood’s cartoon villain actions  — random murders and bomb threats  — which get the most attention due to how deliberately, over-the-top horrific they are, these are the two actions that get the most negative attention from both the story and the fanbase. The soldier seems horrified by the order to evacuate. Marrow is devastated that young adults are fighting in this battle. The fandom is disgusted by both aspects of Ironwood’s character: giving orders that, as general, he expects to be obeyed and having an army that follows those orders. Putting side that cartoon villainy, this is what supposedly makes Ironwood the antagonist here. These are the qualities that have existed since Volume 2, resulting in a “he was always a bad guy” interpretation. These are the qualities that have resulted in anyone who likes his character being labeled as a “bootlicker.” We know these qualities make the fandom hate him because otherwise, more people would be confused as to why a presumably heroic character randomly shot Oscar. Orders, armies, and general military associations are at the heart of Ironwood’s presumed villainy. 

So let’s remove them. 

Ironwood has no evil army. Ironwood gives no evil orders. Power and control lies solely in the hands of our non-military heroes. Everything is better! 

...well, no. Because we saw in Volume 8 precisely the choices our heroes made when the attack started: half of them focused on saving a single individual (Oscar) and the other half kept to the sidelines. At no point did our RWB group act after sending the message and prior to securing the Staff. AKA, during the attack of Salem’s army. We got a very explicit moment in which Ruby looked out the window at the battle going on and turned away from it, continuing to discuss ethics instead of joining the fight. The people of Atlas (which, again, includes many Mantle citizens) had no one but Ironwood and his army because a third of the group was trying to rescue Oscar (they never even had a plan to blow up Monstra — that was also Ironwood), a third of the group was up in Amity, and a third was sitting in the mansion. They did nothing to help the people of Atlas being attacked by grimm. 

Thus, if you remove Ironwood’s actions, everything goes to hell. There is no longer an order to evacuate to the subway. Maybe some people go there anyway. Most probably don’t. They run in a panic wherever they can. Hide wherever they can. Go back home for some semblance of safety. 

There’s no longer an army. Either it doesn’t exist because we’ve determined it’s simplistically bad despite RWBY’s grimm-specific context, or Ironwood likewise never gives the order to protect Atlas’ border. Salem’s army moves unimpeded through the city, killing countless people as it goes. How do we know? Because they’re civilians who can’t defend themselves and there’s literally no one else to help. Remember: Ironwood is not giving orders, there is no army, RWB is in the mansion, YJOR is in the whale, Penny is out of commission, the Happy Huntresses are in Mantle. Those in Atlas are entirely alone. In time, Oscar destroys the whale, but by then it’s too late. There’s no concrete way to theorize how many have died, but it’s inevitably a lot. Everyone else is scatted across the city, trying to survive. 

So this scene 

no longer exists. 

When the group gets the Staff and creates portals for “everyone” to escape through, Mantle is ready to go. They’ve gotten everyone into the crater and can funnel them straight to Vacuo. Atlas, however, is in chaos. When Jaune enters the subway there’s only a few people there, many of which may be wounded or dying. He’s right back where he started, in Mantle at the beginning of Volume 8: needing to go door-to-door to find where people have hidden themselves, trying to convince them all to follow him (remember Oscar commenting to Ozpin about how difficult that was?). Except now, he and Nora are the only ones trying to get people to safey, the city is filled with far more grimm, a significant amount of time has passed for people to be killed or injured (making evacuating them even harder, both due to injuries and an unwillingness to leave hurt/dead/missing loved ones behind), he’s trying to convince these panicking people to go through magic portals, not just walk to a crater, and he’s aware that there’s a very short time limit for this task. 

Jaune returns in a panic of his own, explaining how difficult it will be to get that 2/3rds of the Kingdom to Vacuo. How many are already dead. Barricaded. Missing. Closeup on Ruby looking horrified, but then she rallies. They can do it. Atlas is falling, but residual dust gives them just enough time to find, calm, and evacuate those people. They’re heroes after all. Beating the odds is what they do. 

Then Cinder attacks. 

Suddenly, the group can’t evacuate people because they’re trying to keep themselves safe from her. Maybe Cinder gets the powers because Jaune was off looking for civilians, leaving Penny without a mercy kill. Maybe Nora dies because she’s still trying to help people on the city that plows into the one below. Regardless of how details might change, they’re not getting a spread out, decimated population through those portals before Cinder changes the wish and makes them disappear.  

In this version, the story starts with Ironwood wanting to sacrifice 1/3rd of the population to save 2/3rds and the future of the war. It ends with 2/3rds of the population dying instead. 

This is what I mean when I say the majority of the fandom wants to view a very complex situation through a ridiculously simple lens. The fandom wants to denounce every bit of RWBY’s fictionalized military, the context issues of that aside. The story wants to paint RWBYJNOR as the only heroes, in part because they succeeded in saving everyone (“everyone”) in the Kingdom when Ironwood gave up. 

But they only managed to save everyone because of Ironwood. Because he kept fighting for his people to the bitter end. This is why, though his horrific actions obviously exist in the story, they make no sense (he’ll threaten to kill his people so he can... save his people?) and mess up what little is working in the finale. The story wants us to celebrate the group for evacuating Mantle and Atlas, but the Atlas evacuation would not have happened if not for Ironwood’s actions  — the actions that are ignored in favor of having Winter blame him for everything and then killing him off. The rescue of “everyone” was very much a joint effort. RWBYJNOR’s win is not actually a contrast to Ironwood’s intended sacrifice, for the simple reason that their win depended entirely on Ironwood’s actions. 

If we’re going to celebrate the group getting everyone to safety, we should probably also celebrate the guy who got them all to an easy evacuation point and ensured they weren’t eaten before then. Does that mean Ironwood never did anything wrong? Of course not. As established, the story went out of its way to make him into a villain. Rather, it means that other parts of the story failed to maintain that black and white view, complicating the heroism of RWBYJNOR in the process. If we want Ironwood to be incapable of heroic action, always the bad guy, nothing good to say about him whatsoever... then we likewise need to accept that the group is rather unheroic in many regards too. That, on their own, they would have failed to save everyone, just as Ironwood’s plan failed to save everyone at the end of Volume 7. Because they chose their friend over a kingdom. Because they sat around in a mansion. Because by the time they took action again and tried to escape, without Ironwood’s help they would have lost a larger majority than they originally insisted be saved. 

[illusory-torrent]

Why I prefer the Genshin Impact fandom to the RWBY fandom.

I'll start off by saying what many of us are thinking. It's sad that the ships are nearly the only thing the RWBY fandom talks about because the plot leaves so many in a state of dissatisfaction. I've seen so many RWBY fans and non-fans alike say, "Oh, I don't care about the plot, I'm only watching for [insert ship here]" or "I'm going to drop the show if [insert ship here] doesn't happen". For those who doubt me, please believe me, it's a thing. 

Now, when I say that the RWBY fandom only really cares for shipping, you might ask, "Is that not what every fandom does though?"

Well... yes! You're right. However, I think the RWBY fandom takes it to the next level. 

First off, the theory-making side of the RWBY fandom has completely died. I remember there being videos theorizing if Yang was part-dragon Faunus or Ruby being a fox Faunus. These days, the fandom's theories boil down to, "What's up with the void that Team RWBY fell into?" due to V8's ending, but back during V5-V7, there were hardly any theories being posted. Most people just don't care anymore. 

Second off, Miles and Kerry struggle with writing characters outside of pairs. Not just romantic pairs, but pairs in general. Most characters only have interacts with their team partners, their love interests, their familial relationships, and... that's it. Blake is a prime example of this. Her best interactions are with Yang (her team partner), Sun (her former love interest), Ilia (another former love interest), and Adam (her ex-boyfriend). Her worst interactions are with Ruby (her team's leader, whom she hardly interacts with) and pretty much everyone else. Even her interactions with Weiss are few and far between. Another example would be Penny. Prior to Volume 3, Penny's best interactions were with Ruby. Penny hardly interacted with anyone else in a meaningful way. She dies and Ruby's tearful reaction is focused on. Why? Because she's one of the few characters Penny actually had a relationship with! Penny comes back in Volume 7, and she still only really interacts with Ruby. Her only new relationship that's developed is with Winter... and we find out why. It's because when Penny is killed by Jaune, her maiden powers are transferred to Winter, the rightful owner.

Miles and Kerry being unable to write outside of pairs is why we only have each of our characters only interact with certain other characters. Before Jaune helped kill Penny, did he ever even have a real conversation with her? We'll never know! Has Blake even talked to Jaune before? No idea! Did Yang even care that Pyrrha died? Probably, but we viewers literally never see the two interact prior to Pyrrha's untimely demise.

This type of writing (whether intentionally or unintentionally done) promotes shipping culture. Characters interact primarily with their love interests (who may or may not also be their team partners). This is why RWBY's fandom is so focused on shipping. Hell, even Blake's VA tweeted at Clover's VA with a joke regarding this.

Clover's VA: Has anybody heard of this thing, “shipping?”

Blake's VA: Welcome to RWBY.

[Photo for anyone who needs proof, in case these Tweets are deleted in the future.]

Blake's VA even once had to make a post saying, "Y’all, you know I love my Bees, but not everything is Bee related. Some is just RWBY hype in general. Calm yo’self.". The fact she even had to clarify that not everything she posts about RWBY is related to a ship is astounding. Imagine having to tell your audience that not everything you post is related to a fictional pairing. 

The RWBY cast even had an segment on The Ship-It Show where, you guessed it, they talked about their favorite and least favorite ships. Their tagline even was that "Shipping is a creative expression, so don't limit your creativity!", which went over with the fandom about as well as one would expect. 

Finally, Miles Luna recently posted a Cameo video where he stated, "Just remember: shipping is fun and pretend, and it’s just supposed to be a good time. Don’t be one of those people that attack other shippers and get real mean and toxic. We’re all just here having fun with wonderful make believe characters and make believe worlds, and I think that is a beautiful activity, as long as you’re doing it responsibly and kindly." 

So as you can see, shipping is a big part of the RWBY community. I'd venture to say that shipping is the most important part of the RWBY community. And that's fine! Shipping in itself isn't a bad thing. It's only when it gets completely out of hand where it becomes a problem. And I feel it is becoming a problem in the RWBY community. Rooster Teeth, if you need your show-writers to remind the fandom that shipping is supposed to be fun, you have a problem. 

Well, how does Genshin Impact avoid that problem? The fandom itself is large and the game is quite popular, so how does it handle not becoming a complete shitfest shipfest? 

For starters, Mihoyo doesn't confirm any ships at all. This is for profit reasons, the game is a gacha game designed for players to spend money on their "waifus" and "husbandos". Characters have outfit customization for this exact purpose. Mihoyo benefits from keeping characters canonically single. This is why, while people think soon-to-be-released characters like Ayaka and Tohma are dating, many people also believe these same characters to be single. 

Second off, VAs are unable to give their opinions on certain ships and on lore. For example, the VA for Lumine, the main female protagonist, confirmed that Lumine was 15, before apologizing and deleting her comments. The VA for Childe signed some Childe x Lumine artwork to sell, but blatantly stated that he only really shipped Childe with Childe. The VAs avoid discussing unconfirmed ships/lore and, in this way, Mihoyo avoids controversy. 

Finally, Genshin Impact only recently came out. This means that the theorizing part of the fandom is still alive and well. There's plenty to theorize about since there's so much us players don't know about the story. Lore tidbits are celebrated by lore junkies, folks who want to theorize on the characters' backstories or on the protagonist's journey to find their twin sibling are more than welcome to do so. 

So while the Genshin Impact community engages in tons of shipping, none of the ships are more canon than any other. A Zhongli x Childe shipper might argue that their ship is canon because Zhongli gifted Childe some chopsticks, but a Zhongli x Ningguang shipper could easily argue back that Ninguang is a reincarnation of Zhongli's former friend/partner Guizhong. And of course, a non-shipper could look at both of these arguments and believe them both to be false.

I think this allows shipping to remain a fun and lighthearted activity in the Genshin Impact fandom. You can ship what you'd like, or you can just enjoy the plot and lore like a normal gamer. 

So where am I going with this? Well, my thoughts are that no matter what the fandom, there will always be shipping. There's always gonna be some degenerates (like myself) who see two cute characters and want them to get together. However, it's up to the creators themselves to decide where to go with ships or to even entertain them at all. Mihoyo, in my opinion, handles the Genshin Impact fandom's shipping craze much more successfully than Rooster Teeth handles the RWBY fandom. 

So what are your thoughts? If you're in both fandoms, which fandom do you prefer and why? Let me know!

[persephone-plasmids]

Nuka-World

A Deacon X Sole Fanfic

[AO3]

[Part 1] [Part 2]

Nuka-World

“I guess I’m just confused about why they dedicated an entire section of the park to their space theme. Why not just a ride?” MacCready asked, eyeing the Star Port tower in the Galactic Zone at Nuka-World.

“To get the youth excited about space exploration,” Danse answered in his usual serious tone. “They wanted to recruit potential cadets young.”

MacCready pulled a face at this explanation. “Do kids really like space, though?”

“Seriously, MacCready?” Sole asked. “You have a kid. You should know this.”

Deacon listened to the group theorizing over the chosen aesthetic of Nuka-World while he slid a Cappy shirt over his head with a grin.

“I know Dez sent us here to recover the kidnapped synth, but all this free merch is going to be incredibly distracting,” Deacon said.

At his words, Sole’s eyes grew large. “Where did you get that? I want one!”

Deacon nodded to the merchandise rack behind him and smiled as Sole scampered over with pure joy in her eyes. Danse watched with slight disapproval while MacCready continued examining the Star Port in confusion.

Bringing the tin can and the grumpy sniper along hadn’t been Deacon’s idea. Dez had said they’d need more than just Deacon and Sole on this mission since they had so much ground to cover. When Deacon had suggested Tinker Tom, Dez had just laughed and told Sole to ask some of “her people”. Whatever that meant.

Apparently, Sole’s “people” were a self-hating synth boy scout and MacCready, whose skill Deacon respected, but he still didn’t like the idea of someone honing in on his mission.

“This entire park seems wildly unsafe for children,” Danse said, his thick brows knitted together in a line.

“Nuka Cola has always been a bit shady,” MacCready agreed. “Makes sense that their park wouldn’t be quite as kid-friendly as it should be.”

“All right, I’m ready to get this show on the road,” Sole said, walking out from the back room of the merchandise area with a Cappy shirt and cowboy hat.

“No fair! I didn’t see the hat!” Deacon whined. “I would have taken it for myself.”

“We can share custody,” Sole promised with a grin in Deacon’s direction.

Deacon screwed up his face as he thought this over. “Fine, but I get weekends and holidays.”

“Deal.” Sole gave him one of her smiles that reminded him why he needed to keep his distance from her emotionally. One of the smiles that made him want all the things he couldn’t have.

He ignored it.

“You’re both wrong,” MacCready said, snatching the hat quickly from Sole’s head and placing it on his own. “This baby’s coming with me.”

Sole laughed at this, making Deacon feel that familiar pang of jealousy again. He prided himself on making Sole laugh. He didn’t love that someone else was currently taking over his favorite job.

“You two are going to Dry Rock Gulch, I guess it’s only fair that you get the cowboy hat, RJ,” Sole said, straightening the hat on MacCready’s head with a familiarity that made Deacon feel much less in control of himself than he normally was.

“We should get going before it gets too dark,” Deacon said with a forced smile. “We don’t want Danse rusting from the evening dew.”

“Negative, soldier, “ Danse said. “My power armour doesn’t rust.”

“At ease,” Deacon responded with a little salute at the former Brotherhood of Steel Paladin. “Try to enjoy yourself a little Danse. Despite what they told you in the Brotherhood, it won’t actually kill you.”

Danse gave him a look like he wasn’t amused by his joke before turning away and heading towards Dry Rock Gulch with MacCready.

“Geez,” Deacon said. “Never send that guy on a stealth mission. I swear we’ll be able to hear his power armor clomping around through the whole park.”

“Well then I guess it’s a good thing we already cleared out those raiders, huh?”

“No thanks to the tin can and grumpy pants over there,” Deacon said, now smiling at Sole.

“That one was a Deacon and Sole special,” Sole answered. “We didn’t need any outside assistance.”

Deacon nodded at this, watching Sole for a moment too long before realizing he was being weird. He realized that a lot around Sole. He had to constantly remind himself how he acted around people who didn’t make him feel the way Sole did. It was exhausting.

“I say we head over to that old junkyard. If I was a Synth in hiding, that’s where I’d go,” Sole said.

“You got it, boss,” Deacon answered, following her as she began walking.

The two walked in silence for a long time. Deacon guessed that Sole was thinking about the mission. Deacon, of course, was having another mini existential crisis regarding Sole. But he was also attempting to lie to himself about his feelings, which turned it into a whole thing. He could be a very convincing liar.

When the two rounded an old abandoned building, Deacon was shocked to see a crowd right in front of them.

“Whoa, hold up,” Deacon said, placing his arm straight out to stop Sole from walking.

It was too little too late though. The group of people in space suits standing had clearly seen them. How had Deacon missed them? They were literally a handful of weirdos in space suits.

Sole had distracted him with her very existence again. This was why he had to stop letting himself explore any potential feelings for her. They just got in the way of their missions. They made him sloppy. And sloppy could very well mean “dead” in this situation.

“Greetings,” one of the space-suit-clad people said, taking a step forward.

Deacon placed one hand behind his back where he kept a gun tucked in the waistband of his jeans. The other hand was wrapped tightly around Sole’s arm, keeping her in a safe position slightly behind him.

“Listen, we’re looking for information on--” Sole began, but the woman who appeared to be the leader of the odd group before them interrupted her.

“Are you here to help us get the spaceship up and running?” the woman asked. Her slightly crazed eyes were wide and bloodshot.

Sole furrowed her brow and looked at Deacon who was still trying to understand what he’d just heard.

“The great power above told us they would send someone soon. You, my weary traveler, must be the one to help us rebuild our spacecraft.”

“No,” Sole said slowly. “We’re just here too--” but again she was interrupted, this time by Deacon’s hand placed clumsily over her lips.

“Wait just… shush for a second,” he whispered with the widest grin she’d ever seen. “This is amazing.” He looked like a kid on Christmas. “Yes, my fair… uh… lady. We were sent from the head honcho in the stars to come offer our support for your interstellar travels.”

Deacon’s voice had adopted a grand tone and he released his concealed gun to instead gesture widely at the group in front of him.

“Excellent news, kind sir,” the woman said. “I am Dara. Come. We don’t have much time. Follow us.”

“Lead the way my most excellent and esteemed priestess,” Deacon said.

Sole looked over at the spy incredulously, mouthing a quick, “What are you doing?” to him.

She wasn’t sure if Deacon hadn’t understood her question or if he was just willfully ignoring her, because he simply clapped his hands together and mouthed back, “I know, right?”

The space-suit-clad group led them through the old junkyard to a red metal object that looked an awful lot like an old carnival ride. It was supposed to look like a UFO, but anyone could see it wasn’t any kind of actual aircraft.

“Ah yes, a fine specimen indeed,” Deacon said when they approached the ride. His voice was still serious as he spoke, though Sole knew him well enough to hear the pure glee behind it. “And what, pray tell, can we do to get this up and running for you again?”

“We have the fusion cells we need right here,” Dara said. “But we don’t know how to install them. If you can get our craft up and running, I know we’ll be on our way to our higher forms soon enough.”

“You’ll be on your way somewhere,” Sole scoffed under her breath, obviously not enjoying this nearly as much as Deacon.

“Well then step inside and get comfortable,” Deacon said with a grin. “I’ll get these fusion cores installed… uh… posthaste.”

Sole snorted at this, to which Deacon elbowed her. He didn’t want her giving him away just because she found him amusing.

Dara led the group of space cadets into the UFO ride and shut the door behind her, leaving Sole and Deacon alone.

“Okay, what in the actual world is going on?” Sole asked incredulously.

“I know! This is seriously amazing,” Deacon said, barely able to contain his joy. “These people actually think this is a spaceship!”

“I’m pretty sure this is a Gravitron,” Sole said. “They had them at the local carnival every year before the war. I used to love this ride.”

Sole’s eyes adopted that distant look they got whenever she talked about her time before the Vault-Tec incident. It made him feel sad for her, before he selfishly realized that if Vault-Tec hadn’t frozen her, he never would have met her.

“Will it be safe for me to fix it for them?” Deacon asked, Sole. He wanted to mess with the space cult, not kill them.

“They might get a bit motion sick,” Sole began. “But they should be fine.”

At her words, Deacon’s face adopted a mischievous grin that made Sole’s cheeks flush. “Excellent.”

Deacon installed the fusion cores Dara had given him without much effort before holding his hand out to Sole.

“Shall we?”

Sole let a grin spread across her full lips, taking Deacon’s hand in her own. “I can handle this ride, but I’m not sure you really understand what you’re in for.”

“You don’t think I could handle your ride?” Deacon asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively at her.

Sole took a step closer to Deacon, leaning close to him so that her lips were against his ear. “I know you couldn’t handle my ride, stealth boy.”

Deacon shivered involuntarily at her words and the feeling of her breath against his ear, but as quickly as the moment had happened, it passed. Sole pulled Deacon into the UFO ride with her, leaving him with a lingering mental image that he’d have to examine more thoroughly when he was alone later.

“This impeccably dressed harbinger of your more superior forms has successfully repaired your vessel,” Sole announced loudly, holding up Deacon’s hand. She looked over at him with a grin that set his heart on overdrive. “Not only was he able to repair your vessel, but he’s also promised to personally make sure his work is beyond reproach by coming along with you.”

“The star angel speaks the truth,” Deacon said, making Sole snort laugh again, though she was a bit better about covering this one up. “Sole, if you’ll do the honors.”

“Everybody up against the wall,” Sole said, watching as the space cult obeyed. “Deacon? Up against the wall?”

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted you to say that to me,” He said with a grin.

Sole just rolled her eyes and pointed at the wall, waiting for him to oblige. When everyone was in position, she took her place in the middle of the metal room and flipped the switch.

In an instant, the ride began to hum as the floor started to vibrate. At first, nothing moved and Deacon worried he hadn’t actually managed to fix the ride. But as the humming grew louder, the room began to spin.

Sole stayed in place in the center of the room and Deacon tried to keep his eyes on her, but as the rotations became quicker and quicker, he had to close his eyes. The force of the rotating ride crushed him against the padded wall of the room and he had to press his lips together to keep from getting sick. Just when he thought he couldn’t take it anymore, the ride began to slow down until it eventually stopped.

When Deacon opened his eyes, the world was still spinning. Sole was watching him as if waiting for him to speak to the cult, but he couldn’t form a single thought.

“The mission has been a success,” Sole finally said, seeing that Deacon was completely useless at the moment. “Your craft has been repaired and will be ready for your final voyage once your preparations are complete.”

“Bless you,” Dara said, looking at Sole. “Bless both of you.”

Without another word, Dara and the other cultists left the UFO, leaving Deacon clutching the wall and breathing heavily. In an instant, Sole was beside him. She supported him as Deacon tilted his head down.

“Told you you couldn’t handle this ride,” Sole said, her voice lined with amusement.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Deacon said. “I feel fantastic. Think I might go run a marathon with Hancock later.”

Sole placed her hand on Deacon’s cheek gently, lifting his eyes to hers. He still felt sick, but the more she touched him, the less he seemed to notice the motion sickness.

“Hey lightweight, what do you think Danse and MacCready will say when they find out an old carnival ride floored you?”

“That question is irrelevant because if you tell them I’ll just deny everything,” he responded. “And of the two of us, who’s the better liar?”

Deacon was grinning at Sole again, but she didn’t smile back. Instead she was watching him curiously, her eyes roaming his face. He was confused by her expression before he realized just how clear she looked to him. Clearer than normal.

Panicked, Deacon brought his hand up to his face to find his sunglasses missing. He’d always been good at putting up walls between himself and everyone else, but he had a hard time doing that with Sole. The sunglasses were the only way he could keep some semblance of distance from her. Without them, he worried she’d see right through him. See who he really was. See how he really felt about her.

Deacon looked around himself for the sunglasses before Sole held them up wordlessly.

“You win, Charmer,” Deacon said with a nervous laugh. “Time to give them back now.”

Deacon reached out for the glasses but Sole held them behind her back with a wicked grin.

“I don’t know that I want you to put them back on. I’m enjoying finally seeing you,” she said, her eyes seeming to bore into his soul.

“No one wants to see this hot mess, trust me,” Deacon said, reaching for the sunglasses but failing to get them. All he managed to do was somehow get even closer to Sole.

“How did I not realize your eyes are blue?” Sole asked, her voice soft. “They’re… stunning.” She instantly blushed at her own words but didn’t back down. And she still didn’t give Deacon his sunglasses back. “They’re not just blue… they’re like… ice blue.”

“Must be all the surgery,” Deacon joked, even though his voice sounded flat.

The truth was, Deacon changed his appearance all the time. But his eyes? His eyes were his own. Always had been. They were the one thing he didn’t change about himself. So to have Sole admiring them in such a personal way felt… amazing.

And dangerous.

Sole bit her lip as she watched him and Deacon swallowed hard. “Why don’t you want anyone to see you?” she asked.

He wanted to tell her that he was scared they wouldn't like what was left after all the lies were stripped away. But he didn’t say that. Instead he said, “Because I don’t want them to fall in love with my beautiful face. It just wouldn’t be fair to destroy some unsuspecting wastelander like that.”

At his words, Sole laughed softly, just like he hoped she would. If she was laughing then she wasn’t asking him questions that hit too close to home for him.

“I mean, now that you’ve seen the full effect of my icy blue gaze, you surely must understand that I wield an ungodly amount of power.”

“I really don’t know how you manage to fit yourself and your ego into your tiny sleeping quarters in the Railroad,” Sole said with a roll of her eyes.

“There’s enough room,” Deacon said, his voice now teasing. “More than enough room if you ever want to join the two of us.”

And that was it. The truth of the matter. Deacon could flirt with Sole all day long if it was all a big joke. But if he ever told her that he’d dreamed about what it would be like to wake up next to her, he’d lose the small amount of control he still pretended to have in this partnership. He couldn’t tell her that he longed for the casual and familiar touches of two people who trusted each other so completely that their physical contact was expected and normal.

“Do you really want me to take you up on that offer?” Sole asked, a challenge in her eyes.

Deacon still hadn’t learned that he couldn’t tease her about their flirtation for too long. She’d always make it real. And as Deacon knew, real was dangerous.

“Or should I just hold onto these sunglasses for you?”

Deacon leaned forward, sliding his arms around Sole’s waist. He hated himself for the fact that she actually closed her eyes as he got closer to her, obviously expecting him to make a move. But instead, he grabbed the sunglasses that she hid behind her back before pulling away from her with a forced grin.

“Got em,” he said.

Sole opened her eyes, and when Deacon saw just how much disappointment they held, his heart broke. When he heard Sole try to cover up her disappointment with a joke the way he always did, his heart broke even more.

“Well then I guess it’s just you and your ego in your bed tonight,” she said. “Let’s go find Danse and MacCready to see if they’ve had any luck locating the Synth.”

“Oh right, we’ve got an actual reason to be here,” Deacon said, quickly putting his sunglasses back on and feeling immensely more comfortable behind his wall of protection.

“We actually have two reasons to be here,” Sole said as she walked towards the door of the UFO ride. “We need to find the Synth, but we also need to go to the fun house in Kiddie Kingdom.”

“Did I miss that part of the briefing, Charmer?” Deacon asked, following Sole to the bright junkyard outside.

“Dez probably just forgot to tell us how important it is that we go to the funhouse,” Sole said “But you and I are professionals. We have to check everything thoroughly.”

Sole raised her eyebrows at Deacon as she walked away and Deacon was left wondering how Dez ever could have thought it was a good idea to send Sole and himself to an amusement park together.

They’d never get anything done.

[Part 4]

Based on the time my OC and Deacon ran into that crazy cult in Nuka-World :P

[realbigpodcastslut]

Should You Listen to King Falls AM?

(Update at the bottom) 

Lately, I’ve seen a lot people looking to start KFAM and conflicting views on if you should listen. Being a fan for a long time, I’d like to put in my two-cents. I’m not going to tell you if you should listen or not, but I’ll present the facts so you can make your own choice.

Overall:

King Falls AM is a podcast, and out of the hundred+ I’ve listened to, it is definitely my favorite one and I always seem to be relistening to it. Taking place in the small town of King Falls, late-night radio hosts Sammy and Ben have to tackle the weird and whacky. It’s funny, the characters are amazing, and I just love the overall idea of love (platonic and romantic) conquering all. The music is also amazing. While the background music is to die for, this is really shown in their musical episode (which is done right).

Now, while it is my favorite podcast, there are a lot of faults. Representation is mishandled, there are problematic parts, and the creators and actors have had some not-so-great reactions to valid criticism. Also, the story is unfinished and there is no word if they’re coming back after COVID-19.

Characters:

I can’t deny, I love the characters (especially Lily Wright). The characters will worm their way into your heart until you fall in-love. Whether it’s the main characters of Sammy, Ben, (Emily, Troy, and Lily), or the townspeople, you’ll most likely end up loving them. And if you don’t love them, then you will hate them so much you love hating them. I’m going to avoid spoilers, but you will love these characters and feel for them. Even I, the stone-cold bitch that brags about not crying that much over media, ended up crying over them. 

On the other hand, the characters are not the stellar representation that a lot of podcasts have. There are plenty of LGBT characters later on, but a lot of them are stereotypes. Archie, a gay man, is overly camp, and Jacob, a bisexual man, is sex-crazed. Though, I should point out that almost every non-main character is a stereotype, but this can be off-putting to a lot of people. Women are also not represented great. They’re pretty one-dimensional and while they grow, they’re sort of looked-down upon and hated. This changes around episode 90 where it is specifically called out on and episodes 75+ start to change this poor representation somewhat. Though the representation of POC is just bad, with Walt being a stereotypical Native American man and Storm Sanders an alcoholic. There is also a racist witch, while hated by everyone, is still suspicious. 

Comedy:

King Falls AM is also extremely funny. There are several jokes they actually made me laugh out loud (hard to do) and in my relistens I still laugh. The character’s banter is hilarious and I just can’t state how funny some of the stuff is. While some stuff aren’t direct jokes, the absurdity of events are funny. For example, there is a vigilante named the Dirt who is basically a dimestore Batman in BDSM gear. Another thing is that there is a murderous Elf of the Shelf that says some things that are comedy gold. Even later on, they don’t sacrifice much of the comedy for arcs that will tear your heart out.

While the jokes are funny, there are many jokes that miss the mark and are not politically correct. One that sticks out is “Don’t assume my gender.” There are a lot of race jokes (ew) and quite a few on the holocaust. There are also a lot of gay jokes, which while sometimes done right, can make LGBT people uncomfortable. Especially when two characters (Archie and Lily) are made out to be too gay to function and make a lot of sexual jokes. This missing-the-mark is made clear as it is written by straight white men, which really can’t joke about stuff they don’t experience.

Themes:

The themes of KFAM are also good and you can’t ever go wrong with found-family. Love is the main aspect surrounding the show and whether platonic or romantic love, it’s embraced. I really enjoy how Sammy and Ben are able to say “I love you” to each other without it being seen as creepy or “gay.” Characters also grow for the better and are always pushing to be better. They even talk about mental health struggles and pushing each other up to be the best they can be. Lastly, the main storyline is compelling and it opens up for a lot of theorizing and trying to figure out what is going to happen (or what happened).

The themes of found family can be criticized over the fact that several characters already experienced found family due to being gay and already being a family, though I think this one is a little weak (but I included it). Some of the storylines may get boring and it can be a sort of slow-burn as things come to fruition. There are also plot holes (but not that noticeable).

Creators, Actors and Community:

This is the final point and the thing that has made many die-hard fans dislike KFAM and be ashamed for listening to it. Starting at episode 34, there was an episode on Helen Keller and it was essentially making fun of her. Obviously, fans did not like this episode and told the creators so. They did not apologize and basically said, “Sorry you didn’t like it.” Around April or March of 2020, one of the creators retweeted NSFW fan works and people told them how they needed to tag it, etc. They reacted poorly, only for a person to say “Death of the Author” (a literary idea where you ignore the author’s influence on a work), and then the creator freaked out, thinking this was a death threat. These were not the only events, so if you’d like to find out more, I have archived (with my friend) a decent amount on the blog @kfam-tea.

The community is also toxic. There have been a lot of times where die-hard fans will delete any criticism from the subreddit (though this has seemed to stop). These fans also started “attacking” WTNV after Cecil Baldwin (voice of Cecil) made a jab at other radio podcasts. The discord server is also closed off from everyone except those already on it, and they’ve deleted a lot of channels and such. Overall, the community is not the best and it’s quite divided.

Lastly, we don’t know if KFAM is coming back. While they said it was going to start after COVID-19, there’s reason to believe that isn’t the case. The creators unfollowed each other on Instagram and Twitter. There was a Reddit threat where people asked if it was coming back only for Kyle (co-creator) to call them entitled (yikes, I know). So far, there is another podcast made by everyone but Kyle and Trent (the actor for about half of the town).

Conclusion:

The choice to listen is up to you. You may or may not like it, but I’m not going to say this is strictly a terrible or amazing podcast. I think it is both. I fell in love with the story and while it has many, many, terrible warts, I think people should know what they are heading into. I see too many people either praising or hating KFAM completely, and it’s not fair. This story isn’t for everyone and has it’s bad moments, but it also has it’s wonderful moments. To listen, that is a personal decision for you to make.

UPDATE:

KFAM isn’t coming back and it left on a big cliffhanger so maybe don’t listen.

[ficsinhistory]

BH6 Season 3 predictions  #1

(this is gona be lowkey long post!) All right, here we go. I'll basically start my predictions here, with a base on the title of each episode and when we have synopsis, I will see what is right and create new theories.

First off, I think the two  episodes will work together. That is, the stories can kind of complement each other, some points of one being used in others. Second, we still have the points of the second season like: Sirque and the portal, Hardlight, Di and Chris than will be used later in this season.

The Hyper-Potamus Pizza-Party-Torium

This is the first episode of the third season, and apparently the only one with 22 minutes and I have very interesting ideas for this one. That will be our introductory chapter of the season that I think will be over the summer. I also think it will be the place where the Noodle Burger Boy will get the new family since he is a place, this one:

And before you ask, no. I don't think it's just him being the villain. We will have several others and I think that the arc is much larger having the noodle Burger Boy as a starting point-aka- Disney is fool us and this is the synopsis only of the many sides of the season.

Anyway ... what I can theorize about the main plot of the episode is that it shows how the gang is after graduation, Hiro adapting to everything and NBB, what he intends and the chaos that ensues; plus mentions of Trina, Obake, Megan and Cheif Cruz. Besides Tadashi, of course.

We also have a screenshot that I think comes from here:

Honey Lemon is afraid of hippos and this may be a subplot in the episode. We also can have a mention of Hardlight by video games in place, which can be used later, and even a reference to Fnaf! You know, animatronic in a pizzeria, Honey may have gotten a job there for some reason, after all she graduated, job is difficult and she may be in need of money and voila! A reference and subplot! And  a hippo animatronic!

I also theorize that the place was built by Krei to profit from college students and students in the summer. After all, a pizzeria is the ideal place for such a plan. We have everything, the palm trees that symbolize summer, the place being pretty fun and what it seems to be on the beach (please be it, I've always wanted to see the beach of San Fransokyo), outside the scientific theme that would easily attract science nerds. Being one, I would. Maybe Granville shows up here for both that and another reason.

The other reason in question is a theory, which I very much wanted to be true: Karmi will appear in this episode working on Pizza-Party-Torium.

Legacies gave a lead and Haley Tju, The voiceactor of Karmi, was confirmed for the third season. I think even if she doesn't have big roles during this part of the season, she will become a much more recurring and present character. Legacies shows it in the room full of SFIT posters, which leads me to believe that Karmi has already returned to the city in that ep.

Now why she's working there is the most fun to theorize. Karmi did not live in the city before coming, perhaps to return after all what happend, she agreed with her parents to work to support herself . Or maybe, it's a way for her to get distracted and spend the summer until the semester comes back, and even prove to her parents that maybe she managed to leave the past and can take care of herself. Anyway I think, even not the main point of the episode, I have a feeling. After all, we already know that she likes children and being a prodigy of science, she would have a profile of an employee in a place like that.

Either way, this episode will be full of hugs and I'm crazy about it.

Mayor for a day / The Dog Craze of Summer

And here we have the first double episode and if my theory that the episodes are going to have a lead wire that is going to connect both, this is going to be fun.

For Mayor for a Day, I think we have a screenshot that in that case would be this

And if it really is, it will be a Fred-centric episode. Another one, again. However, we can take out fun situations and I wonder what could happen with Fred being mayor for a day. Maybe he won some contest or something. I hope Mole get ready.

Already The dog Craze of Summer will almost certainly be the episode in which Gogo and Honey Lemon adopt a dog, as was shown in a trailer. Then it will be a Gogo and Honey-centric episode. And without a doubt, fun. And his name will be Pablo!

Trading Chips / Mini Noodle Burger Max

Here is one of the examples I wanted to bring about the complementary episodes. Trading Chips maybe bring Hardlight since this sounds a lot like a video game term. And whatever happens in this episode will be the catalyst for Mini Noodle Burger Max. We have a sample here

that sure and NBB, Mini Max and Baymax changing body. If you pass the cafe, we'll have a strong presence of Aunt Cass. And this will be fun XD

A Friendly Face / Big Chibi 6

Contrary to popular belief, as I said before, I think in a Friendly Face, Karmi will have already been introduced to the series. And the episode will be nothing more, nothing less about: OLIVIA! And, if I'm right, then we'll probably have, Fred, Mole, plus, more personally, Honey Lemon and Karmi as well. It should spin on comic lathes and fandons, probably. If I'm wrong, it must be Karmi's turn.

And we have, Of course, Big Chibi 6! Which should surely follow Karmi and her fanfics. However, I get the impression that instead of being more about Karmi following on from her passion for Captain Cute and her obsession in general. That would be a big step of maturing her and it will be really cool to see.

Cobra and Mongoose / Better Off Fred

Ah, the last two known episodes!

In Cobra and Mongoose, we'll probably meet the first of the new villains: Cobra. They have been described as "a charming and crafty villain", which can yield very intense and interesting scenes.

Better Off Fred. We'll probably see someone richer than Fred and maybe even giving up being super hero.

All right, those were my predictions! If you have ideas, please share and see you next time.

[chelsfic]

Chapter 9 - Inherited - Dracula/OFC - Dracula 2020 fanfic

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight 

Summary: Dracula has emotions and ruins everything.

A/N: Listennnn, it’s actually @dracula-s-bride​‘s fault for giving me the idea to ramp up the ANGST! Also, in case you’re interested (??!): I actually took the detail about Emilie being able to smell the time of day from science. Alexandra Horowitz, of the Barnard College Dog Cognition Lab, has conducted studies on canine olfaction and she theorizes that they can smell the passage of time (i.e. tell time by their snoots). She’s brilliant and fascinating and if you’re at all interested in dogs I highly recommend her books.

Dracula slept. His body lay on the ground, perfectly motionless and half-buried in the cold, sheltering dirt beneath the ruins of the Abbey’s old chapel. His pale face appeared carved from marble; his lips were stained a shocking red from the blood he’d gorged upon before going to his rest.

The butcher’s boy… the butcher... and a tinker he’d come upon on the road out of town. He’d been senseless and crazed in his need for blood. In his entire long life, Dracula had never felt Death’s pursuit so close at his heels as he had after offering himself to Emilie. He was afraid...and furious. 

The blood revived him but at the creeping sensation of dawn’s approach he grew weary again. He knew the thin layer of soil beneath his feather mattress would not do enough to restore him. And so he’d sought out the cold embrace of the earth beneath the abandoned chapel. In only a matter of hours he would be made well again. Then he would see Emilie… see her healthy and vibrant, her skin flushed and warm with the life he’d given...or had she taken it? Stolen it from him? Stolen...offered… His thoughts and emotions were tangled in confusion in the aftermath of the blood frenzy. His lips slowly curled back in an angry snarl. Emilie…

***

Emilie woke to a new world. She felt the brush of each individual thread in the sheets that covered her, her nostrils flared as she took in a banquet of scents: fresh coffee from the kitchen, grass, flowers, mold from the garden outside her window, the sweet, homely perfume of her mother’s personal scent. Somehow she could smell the time of day: the dry, still warmth of midday. 

When she opened her eyes she found her mother slumped over asleep in a rocking chair beside her bed. Emilie smiled faintly and reached out to take her hand. Mrs. Andrews came awake abruptly, looking about her in confusion for a moment before she recalled where she was.

She smiled down at her daughter and moved over to sit on the edge of the bed, “How are you this morning, better?”

Emilie frowned trying to remember the details of everything that happened yesterday. She remembered feeling unwell...going to the Count’s bedroom...feeling desperately that she needed him but also fearing to wake his monstrous side. But she felt perfectly fine...better than fine now. 

“I’m...wonderful, Mama,” Emilie replied, sitting up against the pillows. “I feel wonderful. How do you come to be here? Did the Count send for you when I was ill?”

Emilie’s tone was doubtful. She’d never known Dracula to correspond with her family other than forwarding payments to them through his solicitor. Mrs. Andrews shook her head.

“I came up with the doctor. You don’t remember? You were quite unwell, we really feared the worst…” she trailed off and her eyes looked troubled. She squared her shoulders and resolved to prod for the truth, “Count Dracula was concerned. Very concerned for your health. I’ve never known him to be so solicitous towards his servants before, Emilie.”

Emilie’s cheeks blushed a deep shade of pink and she directed her gaze down at her hands clasped together in her lap, “He has been very kind, mama….Can I have some water, please?”

Mrs. Andrews got slowly to her feet and Emilie felt a flash of guilt. She shouldn’t have avoided her mother’s obvious curiosity, and she shouldn’t let her wait on her like this. Her mother had a weak disposition and staying up with her all night must have exhausted her. 

“No, mama, I’m sorry! Sit back down and I’ll get the water. I really do feel amazingly better.”

Mrs. Andrews sent her a grateful look as she took her seat again in the rocking chair. She watched Emilie spring from bed and pour two glasses of water from the pitcher on the nightstand. 

“You look amazingly well, child,” Mrs. Andrews remarked. “Do you remember what it was the Count did to cure you? When he asked me to leave the room you were still looking frightful but only moments later he stormed out and your fever had broken…”

Emilie froze for just a second as she handed a water glass to her mother and moved to sit back in bed.

“Why...I’m sorry, mama. My memories are all hazy. I was very feverish…”

Mrs. Andrews narrowed her eyes but let the subject drop. She nodded toward the small wardrobe in the corner and quirked her head inquisitively, “Where are all of your clothes, darling? Your wardrobe is nearly empty. Have you left them in the laundry room?”

Emilie choked on a swallow of water and spent a moment clearing her throat and vying for time to think. She knew her mother would always be able to read a lie on her face as soon as it was uttered. She supposed they were past the point of concealment.

“My clothes are in Count Dracula’s bedroom, mama,” she said with only the slightest tremor of nerves. To admit to sharing a bed with a man out of wedlock was bad enough. For that man to be her employer...and the dark creature who had held her family’s indenture for a century….Well, Emilie was worried about her mother’s response.

“Oh, Emilie...you...he...oh, dear,” Mrs. Andrews drew in a long breath and took a moment to compose her thoughts. “I cannot reprimand you, dear daughter. Not after asking you to set aside your fear and morality in order to carry on your family’s duty as you have done...But I must caution you, Emilie. Count Dracula is many things but when it comes down to it he is a man. A powerful man. Men of power may play with our lives, our affections as they wish. Please, be careful…”

Emilie reached over and placed her hand over her mother’s, “Mama, you don’t need to worry. Vlad--Count Dracula cares for me. I know he does.”

And she did know. For as she’d sat there listening to her mother’s worries she’d searched her mind trying to call up memories of last night. Suddenly her mouth flooded with the phantom taste, the rich pooling of his blood on her tongue and she remembered. She’d drunk from him again. This time he’d given her much, much more than usual. The taste was overwhelming. It was all cold, eastern skies, mournful wolf cries in the night and the cut of winter air on bare skin. But there was more: there was the reflection of warm candlelight glowing on her skin, her cheek dimpled in a smile and the soft, vulnerable feel of her body under his. He loved her. It was a fact that she knew in her bones just as she knew that the sun would rise and set each day. Count Dracula loved her. 

***

Dracula rose as the sun’s light extinguished below the horizon. He climbed out from the hastily dug grave and brushed the soil from his clothes. Sleeping in the earth had fully restored him after the near fatal drink last night. He crept out onto the lawn and made his way toward the house. 

When he entered he found Emilie and her mother in the dining room eating supper. He still smelled of rot and mold and his white shirt was stained and unkempt. He stepped forward, his every move radiating danger and took a seat beside Emilie and across from her mother.

“I’m glad to see you looking so...lively, Miss Emilie,” Dracula drawled, drumming his fingers on the table and eyeing his lover with a sharp gaze.

Emilie was caught off guard and unsure how to respond, “Count, thank you for taking care of me yesterday. I’m feeling much better today.”

She was wearing one of the gowns he’d purchased for her. Emerald green silk that clung to her curves without being overly revealing. His Emilie was adorably modest even after he’d so thoroughly debauched her.

“Taking care of you...certainly. Although it seems you were the one taking, darling. Don’t you think?”

She furrowed her brows at him and shook her head quizzically, “Are you well, Vl...Count?”

Dracula’s eyes swung from daughter to mother knowingly. Mrs. Andrews didn’t seem surprised to see her daughter supping at her master’s table rather than attending it. He realized Emilie must have taken her into her confidence. He felt...he did not know how to quantify the emotions swirling within him. He felt soaring joy to see her well and eating. It gave him satisfaction that he had been the means of her salvation. He should be her salvation, her master, her everything. But he was also unavoidably disturbed that he had allowed himself to become so weakened for her...by her. He had wanted a bride, a deathly wife, to serve him and belong to him forever. He had not intended for the bond between them to take this form. She possessed him now as much as he possessed her. Count Dracula was unaccustomed to being in anyone else’s power and he lashed out against the very thought. It sparked anger, fear and hostility in his blood. He felt the edges of his self flare over into monstrous intent.

“I am well, Emilie. I have recovered my strength as you see,” he turned to Mrs. Andrews. “Mrs. Andrews, I must ask you to leave now. It’s really not appropriate for my housekeeper to invite her family to sup at my table. I’m surprised at you, Emilie.”

Emilie flinched away from him as if his cruel behavior had landed a physical blow. Mrs. Andrews narrowed her eyes and replied coldly, “I believe there is some new arrangement being worked out here, Count Dracula. My daughter is your housekeeper no longer.”

Dracula’s lips widened into a leering smile as he asked in a tone of false confusion, “Well, then, if she is no longer my housekeeper whatever can I be paying her for? Emilie...what services have you been rendering me of late to earn your salary?”

Mrs. Andrews gasped furiously but before she could respond Emilie sprang from her seat and struck Count Dracula in the face. Her strength could never match his but the infusion of his blood had improved it and his head snapped to the side as her palm made contact with his cheek. Emilie stood over him, fists clenched in anger and breathing rapidly. It was done in the matter of a second and she stood there feeling fury and fear warring within her. She knew that Count Dracula was powerful and dangerous. She could admit to herself that she was drawn to that part of him. And her demeanor was so naturally sweet and obedient that to defy him sent a wave of panic through her. But in that moment she reacted as she thought she must. She might be submissive and adoring, but she was also her mother’s daughter and her grandmother’s granddaughter...and she was brave.

“How...dare you?” she demanded. “I have been nothing but pure kindness and devotion and you would insult me this way in front of my mother?”

Dracula sat motionless, his head tilted to the side from her slap. He locked eyes with Mrs. Andrews and growled, “Leave now, Mrs. Andrews.”

The woman balked, “Now, I don’t think--”

“Now!” he roared, leaping across the table and grabbing the woman by the collar, dragging her out of the room. Emilie ran after him uselessly, unable to keep up with his preternatural speed. He reached the front door and tossed the woman out onto the gravel drive, slamming the door shut and rounding on Emilie. 

“It’s my fault, really,” he mused, stalking toward her and shepherding her back into the dining room. “I see I’ve given you too much. Too much leniency, too much freedom, too much...blood.”

Emilie’s back came up against the wall and she watched him approach with eyes wide in fear. She held her hands, palms out as if to ward him away, “Vlad, you’re not well. You need to...to eat and then I think--”

“Are you offering?” he taunted, finally reaching her and caging her in his arms. His fangs elongated and his eyes began clouding over scarlet. 

Emilie’s eyes filled with tears and she cringed away from him as if hoping the wall would simply swallow her up, “No...Vlad.”

Her scent spiked with fear, souring the air between them. Dracula grimaced in distaste, the surprise brought him slightly out of his frenzy. Emilie was flinching away from him, her eyes scrunched shut and her mouth open in a sob of horror. And suddenly he was flashing back to the last time they’d been in bed together. The soft touch of her skin, the beauty of her surrender, her trust in him. The contrast with the current moment made him want to gag. He turned away from her, pacing to the other side of the dining table, putting distance between them. He stood there, holding his head in his hands, grasping for control. 

He could hear her crying behind him. And then her footsteps, hesitant at first and then more confident as she walked toward the front hallway. The door hardly made a sound as she closed it behind her.

Tags:

@charlesdances​ @mr-kisskiss-bangbang​ @dracula-s-bride​ @haleyea​ @irrelevantwriter​ @felicityofbakerstreet​ @festering-queen​ @kaddis-world​ @leah-halliwell92​

[sparda3g]

Attack on Titan Chapter 119 Review

The craze fest of the anime is over for now, but the manga keeps on going. If the last season garnered new manga readers and caught up to this recent chapter, then what a hell of a time to witness the extravaganza. Isayama has said that this chapter was a rushed work due to his busy schedule. I believe 21 pages were needed to be done under a short period of time; needless to say, that’s pretty tough. Despite that one notable inconsistency and not the cleanest, this chapter was everything that the series is well known for in its highest degree. It was thrilling, shocking, suspenseful, and mind-blowing.

Right from the very start, the tension is incredibly high. Every possible setup is planted. Zeke is down, Eren must be stopped, Survey Corps veterans are on their way, and Falco’s life depends on Zeke’s feelings. The fate of the war relies on the brothers. One contact and it’s all over. It’s mind-numbing to even consider how a simple touch of the two is all it takes; like reaching for a touchdown. The last chapter was nothing but chaos, but this one lead everyone to throw everything they got. Whatever it takes. It’s downright enticing to the very end.

After a reminder on what I just explained, the action resume with the thrills and chills of Eren reaching for Zeke. Never thought a simple contact can be this exciting. They might as well pull an E.T. finger touch for the hell of it. Porco tries to slow Eren down, but good God, he gets pummeled really badly. It’s the worst beating I have seen in a while, and it only took two hits. Thankfully for Pieck, she’s back as Cart Titan and Magath takes a clean shot to Eren’s head. This is what, third head shot? The man is a true marksman.

I was hoping for Armin and Mikasa to reach for Eren, but unfortunately, Marley soliders are everywhere, including inside the buildings. This forced them to change the direction and take on Marley Army first before going to Eren. Judging by the end, that could be a fatal mistake, but we’ll get to that later. Basically, Isayama is preventing them to have a true (and hopefully) fateful reunion. Everyone else like Pixis and Nile is doing their part, so their plan is in process. It was going well, until Zeke finally wakes up.

Immediately, I begin to shake nervously for a possible end. The anime did announce the final season begins next year Fall. If you do the math, theoretically, the manga could end in next year Summer. Granted, there have been series that has ended in the middle of the final season, so it’s possible for this one to be the case. After all, Isayama is in behind the scene, but time will tell. With all that said, I don’t know where the story is heading, so Zeke and Eren making a contact has a good chance of happening. In short, I buy into anything what this story can dish out.

Although Porco got the beating of a lifetime, which says something since he has been pummeled a lot, he does receive a warranted truth of his brother’s last night. It’s worth mentioning that the reason why Porco was able to see it was due to Reiner’s hand causing a glitch of Paths. This was exclusive to anime with the recent change to have Historia explore Ymir’s life and near death in under 10 seconds. Isayama does work with the anime behind the scene. This is all nice because Porco can finally understand his brother’s love; letting out his burden in tears. As a little brother, this speaks to me.

Aside from world changing, the next worst case scenario is here: the call for the titans. Part of me want to believe Eren didn’t want this to happen, based on his expression. Actually, he looks like he was reaching his hand to tell him don’t. It’s likely he tried to keep the damage incredibly minimum, but everything as of late has come crashing down. Now that Zeke wakes up and about to call the titans, more people will die and suffer. If true, then I really pity him. No matter how well he planned out, the cost will always vary.

The scene with the huge gamble pleading from Colt is bone-chilling and quite saddening. This is all or nothing for Falco and Colt let Zeke know about everything, including his demand. All he wants is to save his little brother from becoming a titan. He only wish for Zeke to put it on hold and wait until Falco is far away. This is convincing. As selfish it is in a sense, it would have been a decent way to not kill off Falco and still roar to kill off others. Granted, it will still suck big time for Nile and Pixis, but Falco doesn’t deserve any of it. It’s damn suspenseful, and watching Colt’s expression was beginning to hurt me. The result: no good.

I should mention that this chapter is very worthy for live reaction. I couldn’t tell you how much I was furious when Zeke calls for titans. I only remember shouting, “**** you! What the ****!!” After cooling down, it is true that Zeke does feel the pain for doing so, but he’s a man on a mission. He will do whatever it takes to fulfill his destiny. It still pisses me off, but karma sure makes up for it down the line.

Clearly, Isayama has some hate on brotherhood. I guess Full Metal Alchemist is his most hated series. Joking aside, it pains the hell out of me when Colt refuses to leave, stand by to Falco’s side to the very end. Dammit to hell, this was gut-wrenching. Gabi, after growing up, now have to lose another friend or even a potential lover. Falco, Nile, Pixis, and the rest all transform to titans. This was a low blow. Those three didn’t deserve this. Granted, Pixis was seen controversial, but he wasn’t much of a bad figure by this point. At least he got to drink one last time.

I’m not sure if Zeke is aware of how much Reiner cherished these kids, but it’s messed up for him to send Falco to attack. Living as Reiner is pure hell. He stops Eren from escaping, but Falco aims for his nape. You could tell Reiner doesn’t want to kill Falco at all. If anything, the situation gives him an opportunity; more on it later. I was cheery when Magath takes a shot at Zeke; yeah, I was still mad at this point. Sadly, Pieck has to go against Armin and Mikasa. Guys, I like you two and all, but don’t make me hate you if you kill her. Just saying. Unbelievable that Floch is once again the sole survivor. Isayama, you better give him a satisfying death for all of us.

Reiner’s scene almost had me convinced me that this is the end for him. He wasn’t as suicidal as before, but the floor map made it possible for him to sacrifice his life for the one he cared the most. Case in point, Falco is close to devouring the Armored Titan, but that’s fine for Reiner. It’s his chance to make it right. It lined-up perfectly with his old intention to pass it to him anyway, so the setup was perfect. But of course, not everything goes accordingly.

I don’t have much opinion on Porco as a character, but his last action is pretty enlightening; a proper sendoff when all things considered. It is him that’ll take the fall. He could have simply just die, but instead, he prefers to pass the Jaw Titan to Falco in order to save him. That’s a nice twist; didn’t think of that somehow. I like his last standing moment; reflecting that he has no more regrets. He felt the brotherly love, and know that he’ll always be better than Reiner. Falco devours, but we don’t see him change back to human. The point is, he’s now the Jaw Titan. This was a really nice moment all in all. You did fine, Porco. You did fine.

The whole make or break scene is amazingly breathtaking.

The tension was already high; now, it surpasses the heaven’s sky. Eren hardening the titan to trap Reiner, so he can break off and run in person to Zeke, who is now in person but can’t walk. It doesn’t matter; all they need to do is make contact and it is game over. The suspense level is running wild. Reiner is a man on a mission; a mission that he will complete at all cost. Gone with Reiner the sad man; here comes the beast! The intensity is just crazy; I forgot what page I was on.

I was actually pretty upset when Jean and Connie interfere and shoots down Reiner. He’s stopped. Pieck is stopped. Falco is stopped. Everyone that is a threat is stopped. Yelena, Floch, and everyone in the Yeagerists’ dream will come true. Then, there’s the one with a rifle. The one that is called Gabi. I lost track in time, I don’t know who’s available to stop her. The answer: no one. The build-up to the suspense felt like time has stopped; it’s unnerving as hell. Then, the ending happens and as God as my witness, the final two double-page spread shook the shit out of me. Eren’s head flies off and Zeke’s dream dies right before his eyes.

Oh, how I wished I recorded my reactions.

Before I theorize, I want to express my thoughts on Zeke, starting with the bad me. This is what he deserved for calling out the titans. Falco was pure, and although he will return as Jaw Titan, the thought on his action was unacceptable. If this isn’t the perfect example of “Karma is a bitch,” I don’t know what is. Now the good me. It’s pretty sad that his dream has died, right when he was so close to make it happen. It is bad enough to see it die, it is worse that his little brother is the one to go out. Let’s not forget the amount of sacrifices and sufferings he has gone through. All of his hard work died in vain in a matter of second. Also, his time as Beast Titan is almost up. His chance to make his dream come true is gone.

The big question is, is Eren dead?

I do believe he’s not dead, but it is tough to figure out what he will do to escape death in that situation. I have heard the theory on manipulating the memories or creating an illusion based on Eren’s clothes. Recently, Isayama noted that he had to rush to reach deadline, so it’s likely the pants sleeve that was supposed to be ripped off was a mistake. I know some would argue that’s not possible, but I recalled other series having a similar mistake. In Naruto, a past character reflects his wish to be Hokage, only in the background, the timeline don’t add up. It was corrected in the volume release. Plus, it’s been a while since we’ve last seen Eren in person, so a mistake is likely.

I would guess that maybe Eren is pulling the same trick as Reiner back in the last arc with transferring the consciousness to the titan. The only part that confuses me is the fact Eren’s neck is wiped out. It was a clean cut; almost like the artist simply use an eraser to erase the neck region. Maybe the Warhammer Titan has a trick that he learned to do but kept it quiet in front of everyone. I honestly don’t know. For all I know, the pants could be a huge clue. If, and it’s a huge if, he dies, well, let the meltdown begin.

Whether he is dead or not, I do think it’s best to end it like this and call it a day. The plan is meant to be the end all be all, so it might as well call this day a great fail. We are due for intermission. It would be a good time to change the scenery, especially since Levi’s life is still in pending. I’m not saying it should change immediately; it should show us the conclusion first. That said, I would expect plenty of reactions. Yelena will most likely lose her mind. Floch will probably follow as well. I’m curious on Armin and Mikasa. For Armin’s sake, run away from Yelena. Gabi, start running.

This chapter was jaw-dropping. Despite not at its best quality, the sequences, the atmosphere, and the adrenaline rush were all top notch. The chapter’s title truly focus on the very concept. It’s disheartening on how it was addressed however, but it was felt, well-executed, and captured the spirit of brotherhood in its saddest time. This was an emotional roller coaster. The cliffhanger threw me off big time. I joked about Season 3 Part 2 as the true Game of Thrones Season 8; you didn’t need to kill the main character like one. In all seriousness, I don’t believe he’s dead, but the answer will have to wait and that itself is unbearable. Undoubtedly, the worst cliffhanger in the series. The wait is the true killer of them all.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Interview Analysis

alright i’ve been sitting on this for FAR too long. let’s get s t a r t e d

Danny Homan: Yeah, so uh. The Calypso Twins have managed to create a cult called the Children of the Vault and in doing so they’ve kind of done something that people thought was impossible on Pandora. They unified the Bandit clans, y’know, You saw in Borderlands 2 the bandit clans were just a disparate group of maniacs who were mostly just killing each other if they weren’t being killed by you or by Hyperion. But the Calypso Twins have done the impossible and they’ve unified the bandits in pursuit of the Vault and they’ve kind of organized them and made them kind of like follow their every beck and call. It’s kind of a strange phenomenon that we’ve never really seen in the Borderlands universe and, uh, as you maybe saw with the video there’s a lot of new fun to be had with a cult of bandits. They don’t always kind of obey, right?

Tell us something we don’t know, right? Mostly just wanna talk about “they’ve unified the bandits in pursuit of the Vault”. Despite the fact we know there’s more than 1 Vault in bl3, he says ‘The’ Vault. I have talked about this before, but I’ll go over it quickly here. I think the Twins have knowledge about a Vault they really want- something called the “Great Vault”. I think it’s the red Vault we see in their stained glass portraits, the Vault we see on their black and white mural. I think they’ve basically formed a religion, not just around themselves, but this Vault as well. Probably by promising these bandits that the Vault will bring them back towards a more stable existence with a supply of food/money/guns. I imagine Tyreen has some bullshit excuse for not bringing them directly to the big boy, probably like ‘we need to harness the power of the other Vaults first before we can face that one’.

I personally thought that maybe the cult was formed after the twins had already opened the red Vault, but that wouldn’t make sense of them leading the cultists to it. Unless the Great Vault is not the red Vault we see in their art. Also possible... 

Moving on

Danny Homan: I mean, Handsome Jack is amazing, y’know, what can you say? And I think the answer is that you don’t try to mimic something that got past success, you try to create something different and new and just as a writer, the Calypso Twins are a hell of a lot of fun. I mean, you have this sibling dynamic, which I don’t know if you have any brothers or sisters but like for those of us that do, you understand that kind of crazy close relationship that’s like, quasi-competitive, quasi-cooperative and, throughout the course of the game they just, their relationship and how it kind of changes and warps is I think just really exciting and really entertaining.

So, one of the main reasons I think Ty and Troy are gonna end up trying to kill each other. Besides the fact they’re also villains. 

Idk, even in some of the trailer shots Troy doesn’t seem happy around Tyreen. (He might just have resting bitch anxiety face tho lmao.) Despite that, you can see that when they shake forearms when Lily lost her powers, Troy pulls away from her grip pretty roughly. And I know we all want them to have a strong sibling dynamic, especially with how the Hammerlock sibs are, but bottom line is that these guys are the villains. They’re competing against Handsome Jack in the eyes of the players- the guy who killed Bloodwing and Roland and made Tiny Tina cry. They’re gonna have to do some pretty despicable things, and betraying someone who trusted you like a sibling does would definitely do it for me. No forgiveness there.

I do think it’s interesting that he mentions competitiveness and being cooperative. From what we know rn I can see the whole cooperative thing being that Troy is the brains behind the whole operation while Tyreen is the muscle. Tyreen keeps Troy alive and Troy helps her run the cult. I have no idea what the competitiveness is but I’m really hoping it’s going to relate to being streamers with views and shit. “Hey, Ty, 13 bandits sacrificed themselves for me in the past hour alone.” [Ty looks up, covered in blood] “Oh, that’s cute. I’m at 48, nerd, get on my level.” “You killing them doesn’t count.” “... Nobody will know the difference, shut up.”

Danny Homan: Yeah, I mean. Again, you know it kind of all goes back to the fact that they don’t quite look like bandits, there’s something kind of strange going on there. I don’t want to spoil too much of it but no, when you head to Pandora there’s...the greatest underused resources are the bandits themselves, right? They’re an army that were prisoners that were left by the corporations, they’ve kind of become the worst versions of themselves, and the Calypso Twins are smart, they’re savvy, right? They saw this opportunity to maybe galvanize the bandits into a cult and create an army of their own, and the Livescreams, and Let’s Flays, and these kinds of things; they’re a way of amping up their followers and kind of creating this cult machine that kind of attracts more and more followers. It increases their strength.

holy shit okay there’s a lot here and y’all know what I’m about to say: “Holy fuck I hope this is hinting they’re related to Atlas somehow”

okay now that we’ve gotten that out of the way:

“They don’t quite look like bandits” With their coats and Troy’s super high-tech implants, yeah, they certainly look like corporate assholes sent to ‘masquerade’ as bandit leaders. I could see them ending up being Maliwan and/or getting ganked by Maliwan halfway through then Katagawa ends up being the big ol baddie, especially with his VA’s tweet. (But I’m still not letting the Atlas thing die. Not yet :3c)

They could also simply be from a richer family name, I guess? We know Typhon got a shitload of money from Atlas to give them the Vault key/Vault location, so it's possible they’re doing all this to continue/rekindle the family tradition of Vault hunting and then decided to be super efficient about it.

Related to that is the line “When you head to Pandora” which makes me think the Calypsos are off-worlders who came to Pandora specifically because they knew they’d be able to start their cult there. A planet where there have been 2 Vaults already opened? You’re saying there’s a Vault Key already on world? All the people there are crazed after their corporations left them to die? AND they were worshipping the Firehawk/Sirens for a while? This sounds like the perfect place!

Danny Homan: Sure. I mean, part of it is in the name, the Children of the Vault right? There’s this belief that the Vaults are inherently theirs. They own the Vaults, maybe that it’s their birthright for example. A lot of it really goes back to the fact that the bandits were mistreated, they were left by Dahl Corporation, and they’ve kind of been left ot their own devices on Pandora just to survive the best they can and so the Calypso Twins come along and they recognize that thing: people need a purpose, even if it’s a terrible, maniacal, murder-soaked purpose, people need something to believe in and they need people to believe in them and that’s kind of what the Calypsos have provided. They’ve kind of gone “oh bandits, everyone calls you animals, everyone calls you trash... but we see there’s something, there’s something in you, there’s something we can elevate your murder to. Murder in our name.”

hoooo this is a doozy

So the idea that the cultists are the true owners of the Vaults. I mean, it makes sense. The owner of Dahl didn’t come down and excavate and find all this shit by himself, the workers did. They’re the real owners of these Vaults. They were the ones who put in the work, not whatever big man stepped over them and took the rewards. 

What I don’t understand is ‘it’s their birthright’ in reference to the bandits. I guess we could go metaphorical and say ‘birthright’ as in their new life as a bandit, but... that feels weird. I think this stuff is actually a reference to the twins just as much as its a reference to the Pandoran bandits. (coughAtlascough) I mean, if the twins have some sort of connections to the Vaults like everyone and their mother is theorizing (be it corporation, their ancestor being Typhon, them being Vault monsters/aliens/demons/whatever), then it makes sense that Vaults would be their ‘birthright’. Like, logically. “My dad/grandfather/whatever found the first Vault ever so, technically, they’re mine by blood!” “I’ve been looking for these Vaults for longer than you’ve been alive, human, they’re mine!” “I was created to find/open/help fight the monster inside these Vaults, so they’re mine!” etc etc. 

The whole “people need a purpose, people need something to believe in, they need people to believe in them” uh, yeah, I think that’s about the twins just as much as it is about the bandits. I’m wondering if they’re telling the bandits they’re going to help save the universe by following the cult. By telling them, yeah, murder in our name, we’re gods, this is what the universe needs. This is going to bring justice to you for what the corporations did. etc

Danny Homan: Pandora is one of a kind. It’s this place where insanity seems to be kind of the de facto personality trait that someone needs to survive. Whether you’re a hero or a villain. When you take that aspect of Pandora, how do you bring it to the other planets in the borderlands, right? I think for me that comes down to the fact that the borderlands have kind of been this staging ground for different corporations, it’s like the wild west. It’s a gold rush kind of area. Every place you go has its kind of own different brand of insanity. Madness and insanity and this fact that this is kind of a dark galaxy, right? It’s a place where the governments have fallen, and corporations have kind of taken their place. They’re basically arms dealers with some new-yous and some other technology kind of thrown in so wherever you go in the Borderlands universe there’s that kind of unifying factor of: humanity hasn’t done so great, and there’s only a few people that are what you would call [decent].

Not really much I have to say here, although I do think it’s interesting he mentions New-Us considering they’re not canon and it’s been stated several times that they aren’t by both word of god and by some 'non-canon' posters in TPS. I wonder what that’s supposed to mean. God, I hope they don’t decide to make them canon this game. That would destroy literally all tension story-wise.

Danny Homan: Promethea is rad. It’s the home of Atlas Corporation, it was the site of some of the first Eridian discoveries, so Atlas Corporation discovered Eridian ruins and that was kind of what sparked the borderlands kind of wild west trip to Pandora. There’s just some fun stuff, we’ve never experienced this kind of city in the Borderlands franchise, we had an opportunity in Borderlands 2 but the city is rad, there’s so much fun humour with service bots that you might have seen from the videos. Playing in the city gives you that other side: you have Pandora, you have the wild west, and then you have “what’s insane about a city?” Pretty much everything.

Ah Promethea. Mostly stuff here we already know, tho I have a few questions. 

First, lemme copy and paste something I posted in the dev questions and answers for the bl discord server: is that Eridium growing out of the ground on Promethea and if so does that confirm the Vault there was already opened? And if that is true then does that mean that Gortys was wrong when she said she was created as Atlas's last ditch attempt to open a Vault, or was the Vault on Promethea not opened by Atlas (she references Hyperion opening the 1st Pandoran Vault so we know she was in production still after "those Hyperion guys" open a Vault so it's not like her info is out of date regarding Promethea)? If that's so, did Typhon open it even though he said he sold the key/location to Atlas? Also why is nobody mining Promethea's purple rocks when Pandora was clearly very lucrative for Hyperion? Was Atlas keeping the Eridium secret on Promethea so they could do tests and shit like Hyperion did on Pandora a few years later? Tell me your secrets!!! And if the Vault did open on Promethea, why is there no Eridium scar??)

yeah, lots of questions for Promethea. And one more: are the swamp lands we see in the trailers apart of that planet? I was under the assumption they are because of the way Promethea is described in BL1, plus the outskirts of the city definitely have that swampy feel, but we don’t actually see any of that. Tho Typhon does say: “... Quazmarian Quarry and I fell through some brittle rock” so maybe the other bits of Promethea are more rocky than I originally believed. I do think we’re going to visit that area. I mean, that’s where the Vault supposedly is, according to ya boy Typhon, so...

u can see from orbit a significant portion of it definitely does have city lights around. though we can’t actually see which parts are land and which are water, so who’s to say for sure. And, to be fair, the lights seem to be changing/wavering so I would even so far to say that it’s some sort of shield (to keep the rocks in orbit from smashing into cities constantly and/or prevent Maliwan attacks)... but that’s just a guess.

Danny Homan: The siege moustache, yeah. Funny side story: part of the reason he has a moustache is because of me. I was going through a very strange social experiment and I was just curious how my co-workers would react if I grew a moustache, and it was a very fascinating week of people - when you grow a moustache people just come up to you and insult you, which is kind of a fascinating thing. When we were thinking about Promethea and Rhys, he’s besieged by Maliwan Corporation and he’s kind of been pushed back into one little area. We thought: “okay, well what is he gonna do to kind of rally his troops and make them believe him?” And it’s a siege moustache.

well at least he’s not the Calypso twins, rallying people and making them believe in their leader because of murder so he’s got that going for him. Excited to see just how many more people insult Rhys over the course of the game. I am fucking ecstatic to see what Fiona is going to say.

Danny Homan: Yeah, Handsome Jack is dead.

god bless Danny Homan

seriously, I hope they don’t bring back AI Jack as a way to subvert this. I really really hope they don’t. Let the character RIP. Bringing him back is only going to beat a dead gift horse in the mouth. or whatever

Danny Homan: I don’t want to spoil anything at this moment, you might learn a little more at E3. Man, Tales is such an amazing game, I don’t know, I just love it. Telltale did such an incredible job and all of those characters are just fascinating. Whether its Rhys or Vaughan or Fiona, and yeah, who knows.

I’m hoping it’s Vaughn. I love Vaughn. But confirmation that Fiona is okay and alive and everything would be great, too. Only a few more days, y’all. We can do it

Danny Homan: You know, you’ve gotta write for the person who’s never played the game before and doesn’t know what Pandora is, doesn’t know what a Claptrap is, right? We write for - we had to kind of straddle that line between people who have played every game in the franchise and people who are just experiencing it for the first time. What you quickly learn is that insanity is kind of the rule of law. Claptrap at the beginning of the first missions says, you blow something up and he goes, “Relax, on Pandora it’s really super weird if something's not exploding!” And that’s how we onboard players. Because when you hear that line and you go “okay, that’s a weird thing. Explosions are just par for the course on Pandora.”

this does make me a little worried that the storyline won’t be as in-depth as we’re all hoping it is. I mean i know I get a little crazy with the theories bc i live my life in the wiki, but people new to the series would be like “whu?? huh????”

and i mean, not that i’m saying you shouldn’t play the game if you don’t have at least a little bit of lore knowledge, but I’m really hoping BL3 will fill in the huge gaps we need and if they have to cut things because they won’t make sense to newcomers of the series, that’ll make me sad. i’m talking stuff like revisiting things from TPS, the Destroyer from BL1, etc, etc. I hope they at least have some cutscenes explaining previous events like the beginning of bl2. Although it’d be a lot more difficult cuz the story in bl1 is pretty fuckin simple lol and now they have to summarize 4 games for someone who’s never played them before. ouch.

Danny Homan: You work on - we have quite a few writers and we kind of work on all of the missions together. We kind of have missions that we start with, and characters that we shepherd, but it’s a pretty highly collaborative environment. We have a writers room, we punch up stuff, we play our missions. I’ve always loved Ellie, I just think Ellie is one of the most amazing characters and it’s been such a pleasure to be able to write for her. I’m a southerner at heart, so I’ve been able to sneak in a few: “squish squish Jellyfish” and “in a while crocodile” kind of stuff...

I’m happy Ellie is apparently having a bigger impact in this game than the previous one. Most of her side quests are great and tbh unlike most npcs I don’t get quite as annoyed when I’m going my 50th playthrough and have to do the Ellie stuff. I’m glad she was the one to inherit the Catch-A-Ride stations and not Janey. It seems right

>Would you say that there’s a favourite character [of yours] of the new ones that you have? Danny Homan: Well, we haven’t met all of them yet so it’s kind of hard to weigh in on that. >That’s fair. Danny Homan: I’m excited about the new characters. Borderlands is awesome because there’s so many characters from this franchise and they’re all really rad and fun to work with. As a writer, being able to create new characters is good.

Confirmed we’re going to be seeing more characters than the twins, Lorelei, and Nope girl. And you can bet your ass I’m trusting NONE of them until the game is over lmao

>Are we going to see the final unknown Siren in this story? Danny Homan: *sighs* You’re gonna have to wait and find out, man. >Are new Sirens created when old ones die? Danny Homan: These are all great questions. You might find out some of that in this game. Who knows? >Can existing people become Sirens? Danny Homan: Um, that’s an interesting question. I mean, there’s a lot of ways that someone can become a Siren. It’s not a de facto X-Men kind of thing. There’s some different conditions that kind of arise. Yeah, Sirens are unique and I feel like we like to keep it a little amorphous. What we like the most is when fans kind of create their own myths and stories about how this kind of stuff happens. As a writer we try not to definitively say one thing because there’s a lot possible.

Okaaay so there’s a lot here.

To start, when Danny is like “iunno man, wait and see” I wanna say that’s almost a guaranteed ‘yes’. I mean, like, if it were the case that it wasn’t going to happen, he could’ve just been like “no, sorry, that doesn’t happen”.

(proof, the next interaction is: >Are we going to see Scooper in this story? Danny Homan: I don’t think so.

Additionally:

>How many tea parties with Tina do we get in Borderlands 3? Danny Homan: *laughs* You’re going to have to wait and see. >There’s a lot of wait and sees going on. Danny Homan: We don’t want to spoil anything!)

So theorizing for the 1st 2 questions?

Final Unknown Siren: we know Steele, Amara, Tyreen, Lilith, Maya, and Angel. Steele died 12 years ago, meaning the ‘final unknown siren’ has to be at most 12. Angel’s dead, too, but the other Siren would be 7, so I don’t think we’ll be meeting her. She’s most likely the mystery mask girl we see in the MoM, and we all have our theories regarding her.

are New Sirens created when Old Sirens die? Well... we kinda already knew that in general, but I get what the interviewer is actually trying to ask. Are Sirens we know going to die in this game? I’m gonna say yeah. I think either Lorelei or Nope girl (Little Blue) are going to get Siren powers one way or another. I wouldn’t be surprised if Maya/Lilith don’t make it through this one. I want to say Lilith will die, since she’s been in almost all the games, but Maya is apparently training some little girl, so she is in the path of d a n g e r. Maybe they’ll both die. Who knows!

As for the “can existing people become Sirens”. I’m gonna say yeah. I think Danny leaves his answer supre vague for a reason. We know Tyreen has the ability to steal Siren powers, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she (or Troy) has the power to gift stolen powers. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the red Vault we see the twins at in their art gave them their ‘Siren’ powers. Maybe a corporation finally found a way to create artificial Sirens (Atlas, I wouldn’t be surprised w/ Troy’s red tattoos and Maliwan has an entire area called ‘Archives’ with a Vault symbol on the door and what look like Siren tattoos sprawled across a building. We also gotta consider Hyperion’s eridium testing... not that they could ever do it, but maybe another corporation could have built off that?) 

In the comics it's shown Lilith gets her tattoos after an older Siren dies in front of her, but maybe Sirens are chosen when they are born and they get their tattoos later in life when their powers are unlocked (by another Siren dying/losing their powers/whatever). We do see a pic of Angel on Jack’s desk without tattoos, so that is plausible, tho people have also mentioned he could’ve photoshopped her tattoos out so nobody would question him.

Anyway. Yeah, there’s probably a lot of ways a person can become a Siren. 

>How much time has passed between BL2 and BL3 narratively? Danny Homan: Roughly the time since BL2 launched, so it’s been about seven years. >So just chronologically accurate to the development time. Danny Homan: Yeah, absolutely.

Shoutout to that one person with the Odyssey theory about how the time between bl2 and bl3 would be 7 years to match development time. right on the mark, my man. People who quote Randy saying it’s about 5 years: claptrap confirms it’s 7 years during his Clapslist board quest activation.

>Is there one Vault Hunter in particular that’s returning that you’re excited for people to see - now that we’re kind of talking about how we can’t talk about a lot of the new ones, is there a returning one you’re particularly excited about? Danny Homan: For Borderlands 2 I played as Maya and we saw her on the ship. She was always my favorite, I love Sirens in general. She’s a great character.

Not much to say here, Maya looks fantastic in bl3 tho. God she looks badass as fuck. Hope she takes over if/when Lilith dies lmao

>Speaking of the ship, it’s interesting that we’re getting this homebase dynamic that’s a spaceship. Are there any pop culture properties that you kind of borrowed from when designing that? I got Firefly-esque vibes when I was watching the presentation. Danny Homan: Yeah, there’s similar kinds of franchises that kind of quasi-sci-fi-west. What I love about Sanctuary [3] is that it is a spaceship but it’s got band-aids on it, you know? It’s a Borderlands spaceship so it’s got broken parts of the ship and it’s kind of got its own charm. It feels very lived-in. So as you walk around you see stairs that have been broken, you see an exhaust pipe that someone has put tin foil over, right? It’s very kitbash put together.

More reasons I’m of the theory that Sanctuary-III has been in operation for longer than BL3. Unfortunately, probably not the case, but I want to believe! We do see those screenshots in the trailer of the ship being infested by rat-like aliens, so I’m sure there will be a quest or two to clean those out. My question is if that happens before we get the ship (we must clean out the ship in order for Ellie to work it and get it in orbit) or it happens while we’re already in-flight and the rats got in through a shuttle ship/fast travel/whatever. Or, alternatively, the infested one we see is a totally different ship and we’re going in for parts/some reason. Like a ship AI or something. that’d be cool. I wonder if Sanc-III has a ship AI... I miss Felicity...

>How much work went into designing the ship’s atmosphere? It feels like a lot of the NPCs had things to say. Is there a lot of writing that goes into that as well? Danny Homan: Yeah, we’ve got a lot of NPCs on board. Our goal as writers is to make it feel like a living breathing place, right? So we spend so much time traveling around the ship being like “what would I want to comment on? That exhaust pipe is leading to nowhere. Let’s comment on that.”

I would not be surprised if we end up collecting NPCs from every planet we visit. We already see Promethea Citizens on board during the Sanc-III demo (which let to me questioning the timeline of that demo, I stand by my theory that it happens after we go to Promethea and after we visit the Monastery planet- that’s why Tannis has the dino corpse (Promethea) and Maya is on-board (Monastery). But, then again, maybe the swamp planet isn’t Promethea. Kinda think it is though. We’ll find out and I’ll update things accordingly.)

>Any one specific narrative beat that you can talk about that you’re really excited for fans to experience in Borderlands 3? Danny Homan: I really like the moment where we first meet the Calypso Twins face-to-hologram. Tyreen says “you’re my most loyal follower you just don’t know it yet” and there’s a lot kind of packed into that line. The Calypso Twins have this kind of strange arrogance where they presume you’re just going to be another one of their followers. There’s some interesting ways that kind of plays out.

asefdrtadfs there’s so much here holy shit. Homan confirming “You’re my most loyal follower, Vault thief, you just don’t know it yet” is super important. I 100% believe the twins know exactly what they’re doing and have an inside man and are letting all this play out. I would also not be surprised if they have a way to see the future ala mystery masked girl’s siren power, but I may be reading into things too much there lol

I also think it's interesting he says “we first meet the Calypso Twins face-to-Hologram”. I wonder what that says for my “the room after Shiv is somewhere we’re going to get info on the sun smashers stealing the key from the RC” theory. Might mean the twins are doing a broadcast on TV to all their cultists, or maybe Mouthpiece is broadcasting. Wouldn’t even be surprised if they’re livestreaming their murder of the HBC people (we find all those corpses, after all). Could explain why Ty says “did you come all this way just to see me? didn’t know you were such a super-fan. well, too bad, you missed the show!”

>Is that going to crop up in the narrative - them trying to kind of pull the player over? Danny Homan: That and also just that kind of sense that entertainers always kind of feel like everyone should be watching them. Everyone should be paying attention to them. >That’s an interesting beat. Danny Homan: Part of the fun of the Calypso Twins is that they are entertainers, right? They’re entertaining you and they’re entertaining the bandits. That’s why the cult exists. They’re kind of - they’re doing terrible things in the name of their cult.

I love this so much. It would be super interesting if we end up teaming up with them at some point to beat a badder enemy (Maliwan, Vault Monsters, Seraphs, Eridians) whatever it may be. Would be really cool if the Watcher pushes for us to join up with them (ALL the Vault Hunters we can get). I wonder if they’ll have quests like Jack (when he asks us to kill ourselves) but instead they ask us to do weird shit on camera for their ECHOnet channel. I’m sure Gearbox will find a way to make it all appear morally gray in the end anyway lol

Actually, where IS the Watcher..? I hope she doesn’t die in Commander Lilith... Maybe she went back to the Eridian homeworld. Oh that’d be interesting. she comes back later on in the game to lead us there/deliver news or smth...

[littlemisssquiggles]

Do you think that the grimm in the basement is the same as the intro? I think it is and the parallel is it being a wine cellar and a bar and Qrow in the intro was drinking when the arms grabbed him. Maybe that's how the grimm gets released. Because of Qrow's need for booze.

At this point, I’m actually notsure. Over the course of the last few weeks, I’ve heard two possibilities forthe Grimm on Brunswick Farm. On one side, some fans theorize it could be somekind of HeadlessHorseman type Grimm because that’sthe Grimm associated with the German folklore that the Brunswick farm eludes.

But on another side, some theorists,like myself, speculated that it might be some type of Hecatonchire Grimm because of its multiple arms.

But with the recent reveal in V6 C5 mentioning that the members of the Brunswick familywere all killed in their sleep, it’s making me wonder if the Grimm in thecellar is actually a Baku Grimm.

‘…The Baku, otherwise knownas the ‘dream eater’, is a mythological being or spirit in Chinese and Japanesefolklore which is said to devour nightmares. The Baku cannot be summonedwithout caution, however, as ancient legends say that if the Baku is notsatisfied after consuming the nightmare, he may also devour one’s hopes anddreams…’

How would you explain the Brunswicksgoing to bed and never waking up? @che1sea-xiao-long​ also brought up the coolidea of their being a Boogeyman Grimm forwhatever claimed the Brunswicks in their sleep. All of these are interestingconcepts.

At this point I’m open to any one ofthese being the Grimm lurking on the farm. If this Grimm is the kind of Grimmthat kills its prey in their dreams then our heroes might be in for a real thriller night.

Either that orwhatever Grimm in the cellar will possess Qrow anduse his misfortune semblance to torment and attack the others. Maybe this Grimmis a headless type of Grimm and after it snatches Qrow; his head becomes itshead or something to that liking.

Speaking of Qrow, let’s discuss him some more. I have another possible theory for Qrow’s story for these next few episodes.One thing I noticed in the last episode is Ruby’s wariness over her uncle’s alcoholismespecially after she and Weiss discovered the bar inthe Brunswick house. Remember what Ruby told Weiss when they found it?

Ruby: …On second thought, maybe we shouldkeep this room closed.Weiss: Huh?Ruby: I’m just…not sure how my uncle istake all of this.

So Ruby is concerned about Qrowfinding the bar, huh. Interesting. I think we can all guess that Qrow is definitely going to find the bar and live it up, right?

Here’s what I think: there are two primary kindsof drunks that I know of. Three if you count the types that sexually assaultothers in their stupor. But in the case of Qrow Branwen, let’s focus on the main two. Thereare the funny tee-hee drunks who act all humourously delirious whenthey’re in their alcoholic high and then there are the really aggressive drunkards who are a real hazard to themselves andothers. Ruby being worried about Qrow getting drunk in his depression over Ozpinmakes me wonder if we’ll see Qrow actually get drunk and aggressive.

What if… much to Ruby’sfears, Qrow finds the bar in the Brunswick household and drinks himself into a frenzy.I feel like we’re going to get a parallel to thetime Qrow got drunk at the start of V5 after Oscar found him.

Remember last time, Qrow was so elated that Ozwas back that he became a happy drunk overthe momentous occasion. If Qrow got drunk over being happy atfinding Ozpin, imagine what will happen if he went into another stupor nowthat he’s depressed and angry over Ozpin. This makes me very concerned for whatmight happen next for Oscar.

Whatif…the gang goes to bed and at some point in the night, neither Ruby nor Oscar could o sleep. My hunch is that the QROWBY found anotherempty bedroom that was sleeping dead free to nestle into for the night. WhileTeam RWBY took the vacant bedroom, Qrow strayed elsewhere in the house andMaria and Oscar stayed downstairs in the study. My assumption is that the groupwouldn’t want to put Maria through the pressure ofwalking up a staircase in consideration for her old age so the agreement was that the little old lady takethe study and Oscar offered to keep her company for the night as the precioussweetheart he is.

So while Maria snored comfortably onthe couch in front of the fireplace, Oscar slept on the other one near the deskin the corner---again being the sweetheart that he is to allow the pocket abuelita the warmer spot. However at some point in the night,Oscar realized he can’t sleep and actually gets up. As mentioned, I noticed a little table and chair in the study near one of the bookcases. 

Perhaps Oscarwill take advantage of the desk and use it to unload some of his stuff from hisbackpack. A part of me thinks being around family photos of another farm familywill make Oscar feel nostalgic of hisown and he’ll probably pull out one family photo of his whole family that hecherished before leaving home.

This will then lead into Rubyfinding him awake in the study and joining him. Perhaps she’lleven offer to make them both some hot chocolate since she scored some cocoa andmarshmallows in the pantry in the Brunswick kitchen. From what I observed,Oscar and Ruby seem to have their best talks and heart to heart moments when it’s just them alone. No other characters tointerrupt them.

So it’d be cute if they sharedanother moment while up in the study. Maybe Ruby will notice Oscar looking atphotos of his family prompting him to shed some more info on what his home lifeback on the farm was like. I figured that the whole crisis with Ozpin coupledtogether with being in another farm family house will really start to makeOscar question whether he made the right choice leaving his old life behind topursue Oz’s cause. Especially after the big reveal and witnessing how that hasaffected how everyone treats him.

I have a feeling that Oscar might wishto go back home because of this. Perhaps he even confesses to Ruby that he’s consideringturning back and returning to his aunt’s farm---like maybe he agrees to keeptraveling with them to Argus but the minute they reach the town, he plans on hoppingthe next train back to wherever he lived in Mistral.

An announcement which really sets off Rubyin a rather uncharacteristic way, much to the farm boy’s surprise. Like upuntil this point, Ruby has been doing her best to keep a level head in spite ofeverything. She was already unhinged from the reveal and even Weiss bringing upthe possibility of not going to Atlas any more, so I can imagine Oscarunceremoniously announcing that he’s abandoning the mission to Atlas too wouldbe the straw that finally breaks Ruby.

The two then have a small argument,careful not to wake up the sleeping Maria next to them, with Oscar telling Rubythat him leaving is the best option for the teamsince Ozpin is gone and no one on the team wants him around. But beforeRuby gets a chance to contest Oscar’s choice, their moment is interrupted by the untimely arrival of a very drunk Qrow Branwen.

What if… in his drunk state, Qrow findsOscar and Ruby together in the study and becomes dangerously furious at the sight of his niece socializing with Oscar, demandingthat Oscar get as far away from Ruby as possible. Because as we saw from V6 C4,Qrow doesn’t see Oscar as a person---just another copy of Oz. So this is boundto make a clap back.

What if…Qrow even attacks Oscar and whenRuby intervenes, coming to Oscar’s aid, Qrow accidentally hits Ruby or perhapshis misfortune semblance amplified by his rage and alcoholism goes haywire andRuby ends up pushed into a wall or some other horrible misfortune befalls thelittle rose which results in her getting hurt by Qrow orsomething. Hearing his niece cry out in pain because of him hurting her isenough to snap Qrow out of his craze and he begins to feel really bad aboutwhat he did.

The next time Qrow is seen, he’sisolated himself to the wine cellar where he is then claimed by whatever beastis lurking away in the Brunswick household.

Something I’m curious aboutis---instead of oneGrimm, what if…the QROWMBY are attacked by two typesof Grimm on the Brunswick Farms.

What if…a Headless Horseman Grimm claimsQrow as his victim and then targets Oscar forcing the farm boy to flee as he’sbeing hunted by the possessed Qrow Branwen.

And while this is happening, itspartner---a Boogeymanor Baku type Grimm claims both Weiss and Yang in their sleep.

While watching V6 C5, I noticed thatboth Yang and Weiss made remarks about being tired. @greekgeekgoddess​ pointedout to me that this was a nice nod to both girls’ fairytale counterparts---Goldilocks and Snow White. Goldilocks was found asleep in one ofthe three bears’ beds after eating their porridge whereas Snow White fell intoa deep sleep after eating a poison apple. I thought this was a cool nod to thecharacter’s respective fairytales. 

However my first interpretation was thatthis tidbit from the episode was foreshadowing Weiss and Yang being victims ofwhatever monster claimed the lives of the Brunswicks in their sleep.

I also noticed that Weiss and Yang were the two to firstly discover the sleeping dead bodies of the Brunswick family. Coincidence? I think not.

This could lead to Maria Calavera and Blake Belladonna possiblyteaming up to take down whatever creature took Weiss and Yang in their dreams,leading to Maria revealing whatever power or ability she possesses. And whilethat’s happening, Ruby is out trying to save Oscar who is being pursued by Qrowpossessed by the Headless Horseman Grimm.

I don’t think we’ve ever seen theheroes being divided to tackle two different types of Grimm in one locationbefore. Not to my recollection anyways. Correct me if I’m wrong. So if this is canon, thenthis could actually be cool and set up some real excitement for the next fewepisodes.

But I’m not sure. It’s just anothertheory for now. We’ll have to see going forward.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

[leighlikesthing]

“Being Robin Gives Me Magic!”

If you’re not a comics fan, or someone who maybe has read sporadically, or only certain things, the character of Robin is a divisive subject. 

You see, there is an entire subset of people who think that the character of Robin in any incarnation is lame. A foil for Batman that drags the Dark Knight away from his brooding depths and into something more comical and wholesome.

And sometimes, that’s true. Robin does get used to lighten things up sometimes when things get too gritty; too dark, and there are people who see that as a bad thing; who think that Bruce Wayne should be this crazed loner bent on justice with nothing but his money, his toys, and his weary butler. 

But let’s be honest here. 

There’s only so many stories you can tell in that vein before things start to get really, really boring.

Think about it! Batman has been around for 80 years. That’s a very long time.

Here’s how a classic Batman story goes: 

Bruce Wayne finds out, through being a billionaire playboy and having connections with the Gotham police, that trouble is afoot. He dons the cape and cowl, does the detective work, gets nabbed by the bad guy, figures a way out of it and turns the tables, turns the bad guy in and goes home to his big empty house and his sassy butler. 

That’s gonna get old fast, right? Even with a decent rogues gallery, and Jim Gordon hanging around, and maybe a couple of fair-weather girlfriends, that’s not a lasting premise. If you want 80 years of storytelling, you have to give Bruce Wayne more to fight for. 

Avenge parents: Check

Fight for the soul of the city that he loves: Cheeee-yeck.

But let’s be honest. Despite Batman’s status as a symbol, and a spooky myth of Gotham, at his core, Bruce is still a person. And people need other people, or else they’re just some weird guy sitting in a big drafty cave talking to themselves about JUSTICE while their butler hangs out upstairs and dusts his dead parents’ belongings.

Enter: Robin.

And not just Robin, but the idea that because Bruce Wayne lost his parents at such a young age, he’s spent one half of his life training and studying to be the greatest detective on earth to avenge their deaths and keep a similar fate from befalling other people in his city, and the other half building a new family. Because deep down, he’s still that scared little kid who lost his parents, and needs people.

And that might very well be the most human thing Bruce and Batman have ever done. He didn’t just train partners. He didn’t just take in strays. He built, for better or for worse, an entire family and network of people. 

Don’t get me wrong. Bruce is bad at stuff. He’s emotionally distant, pretty cold, and he can be a pretty terrible father (See: Every time he’s punched one of his children. Included on this list are, at minimum: Dick, Jason and Tim).

However inadvertently though, Bruce did something else as well. Not only did he collect these troubled youths and orphans to be his babies, he gave them each other. These characters now have an entire baseball team of siblings to bicker with, tease, rely on and hug it out with.

They’re family.

The Batfamily, to be precise. And they are broken and weird as all get out, but they, in my opinion, much more than Batman, are endlessly entertaining to read about.

And theorize about. One of the great joys that exists on the internet is the massive pile of head canon, fan art and fan fiction all relating to what it’s like to be part of this huge, dysfunctional family.

Tim Drake snapchatting his and Bruce’s trip to Walmart? Thanks to @unpretty You bet your batt butt. 

Lists of bizarre offenses perpetrated within Wayne Manor’s walls on any given Sunday? Gimme.

Tumblrs that depict fake Instagram feeds for these dummies? Delightful!

And the fan art. 

If you’re not following @doc-squash, whose fan comics are breathtakingly pure and funny, showing the entire family as the passel of weirdos we all know they are, I don’t know what you’re waiting for.

Heartwarming Dick and Babs content with a side of salty Damian? @laquilasse is the human you want to follow.

Goofy love for Jason Todd? Check out @inkydandy. 

Warm, snuggly family time? @kaylabeemarie has everything you need. 

Yes, Bruce Wayne and Batman get the most attention out in the greater world. Yes, everybody knows Robin is a thing, and everybody’s got opinions and feelings on that fact, good and bad.

But those of us who can name all the kids who have come and gone and come back to the cave again, I feel, are the happiest of Batman fans. Because there is a corner of the bat-sandbox that we get to roll around in that the anti-Robin crowd doesn’t.

And we have way more fun than they do.

[clowncroccharms]

Klance in Season 4? Studies Show It’s More Likely Than You Think.

I suck at meta’s, I really do. But, I realized some really important moments that point to Klance in the latest NYCC spoilers that I absoloutly have to share, awful meta skills or not.

Under the cut are spoilers, as well as my theories and thoughts.

First off, lets start with this. 

Keith is training with The Blade now. In the clip we’ve seen of Keith talking to Shiro about his training, Keith is still desperately trying to get Shiro to reclaim the role of the Black Paladin. While this isn’t anything new, we now know that Keith wouldn’t even think about taking Red back from Lance, he was willing to sit out on a fight to make sure of it. Keith’s a smart boy, he knows if Shiro took back his lion, he’s the odd one out. So, this leads me to believe a few things:

Keith counted on Shiro reclaming his lion and planned on joining The Blade, this would be the reason he’s training

The Image from season 4 of The Blade surrounding a single member with their sword is Keith, he joined The Blade

You’re probably trying to figure out what this shit has to do with Klance, right? Well, now we’re jumping onto that rollercoaster. 

When Jeremy did the interview where he talked about Lance falling in love, he talked about the return of Kaltennecker in the same season. He mistakingly referred these scenes to season 3, and they obviously didn't happen. Kaltennecker is back, however, and we’ve got a few interesting clips of Lance to discuss, because as Jeremy said, with the return of Kaltennecker comes the romance we’ve all been waiting for.

Let’s not forget Lauren’s famous drawing either, the one with Lance holding the LGBT+ sign with the support of Shiro. Clearly we’re getting Shiro back this season, and with that, I truly believe, the start of Lances bisexuality arc. 

First of all, I want to start out our Lance scenes with this:

A lot of people took this scene with a grain of salt but I want to point out some key details. Coran and Allura are planning something. Clearly they aren’t just going to go visit their favorite blue/red paladin, they’re walking in with a purpose. I think this purpose becomes infinitely clear when the doors open and low and behold, theres our Lance.

But Lance, happy-go-lucky, always around his friends, Lance is not sitting there. Instead theres a Lance who’s shoulders are hunched, his eyes are crazed and sleep deprived, the lights are off, he’s wearing his pj’s, and he over all just looks awful. Allura and Coran are clearly coming to Lance with the intent of cheering him up, but why is he upset in the first place?

My theory here is quite simple. Keith.

We saw Lance bond so much with Keith in season 3, it was such a a dramatic change in their relationship. If the intent of this wasn’t to at least start showing Lance having feelings for Keith, it certainly set up for that in season 4. I think Lance’s state is either due to his feelings for Keith and Keith’s departure, or Lance dealing with his newly discovered bisexuality with the departure of Keith.

Let’s talk about this. 

Many people theorized that Lance was looking at Keith here, but I was skeptical. Now, I’m counting on it. The team, especially Shiro, look devastated. Shiro’s face, might I add, is identical to his face in the clip where Keith suggested his training in the first place. 

I think this scene is Keith’s departure to The Blade.

“But Kaitlyn,” you may ask, “why would Lance be smiling?”

This part is fun. 

I solidly believe that Lance has admitted something he absolutely wishes he hadn’t, particularly to Keith himself. We’ve all seen the relationship between Keith and Lance evolve, and I believe feelings are surfacing, and Lance, in haste to stop Keith from leaving has most likely admitted something such as “You can’t leave! I need you!” or something similar. And we all know our Lance, the second he said something like that his face would turn as red as his new lion and he’d blabber and stutter and make a mess of himself to cover his tracks.

This, I believe, will tie into Lance’s insecurity over his bisexuality. I think he’s going to be extremely nervous and scared when he realizes his feelings, and so a confession like this is surprising to not only Keith, but to himself.

Keith, most likely, leaves the team to train, if only temporarily, and this, I believe, leads to Lance’s oncoming state of sadness. 

Lance not only would be devastated to lose Keith, but confused and hurt over dealing with the discovery of his sexuality. 

This was so hard to write, I know it probably makes no sense but I wanted to share.

Tell me your thoughts, and please follow! I’m lonely and sad.