#dirge of the desert

[aha-chuu]

Kaveh's Odd Desert Connections

Kaveh... Is weird. I hadn't thought that much about it until I very recently caught up with the Dirge of Bilqis quest (the new desert one with Jeht) and watched Ashikai's latest theory video. This post is just meant to gather my thoughts and share what I've learned.

So first what sent me down this rabbit hole was finding this during the desert quest:

In case you missed it in that wall of text, this record is addressed to "Mehrak". We know due to leaks that Kaveh's very cute briefcase is called Mehrak also.

Unfortunately,,, desert lore is like that and is pretty hard to untangle. These records recount the fall of Gurabad and the story of Liloupar - basically, they tell a story of a ruined civilisation from thousands of years in the past. Knowing the actual contents of them isn't really necessary to follow this post, because Mehrak (and by extension Kaveh) is only namedropped this one time out of all the records.

But we can theorise a lot just from this single mention. To me, there are two possible explanations for why "Mehrak" comes up in these records whilst also being Kaveh's present day briefcase. The first is mildly boring but kind of funny: there is no true connection between Kaveh's Mehrak and the Mehrak mentioned, Kaveh simply named his cute techno briefcase after a historical figure because he thought it would be cool. Kaveh is smart and does work on projects in the desert, so it is not outside the realm of possibility that he might learn of Mehrak and use the name. It makes him look a whole lot more nerdy, which I find amusing.

The second possible explanation (and pls do provide your thoughts if you have any other ideas) was provided to me by a redditer (PinkPrimrose05). Their theory is that Mehrak is in a similar situation to Ferigees, who I will remind you is the Jinni near the end of the Dirge of Bilqis questline. They were a person at a certain point in history, but has since been trapped in a mechanical construct. They cannot die until we release them.

(I apologise for the poor quality, Ferigees is inside that yellow mechanism.)

This has many more implications, since (if this is the case) Mehrak's current form does not really match the other ancient desert technology. Well, perhaps it has some similar patterning, but it definitely looks significantly more modern than other technology from that time -

(I could not for the life of me find a good model image for this, so sorry Kaveh's arm is in the way.)

Perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier - we know from leaks that Mehrak has some level of sentience, in that it has expressions (little pixelated anime eye reactions) and responds to Kaveh's instructions without necessitating verbal or physical inputs. This makes the Jinni idea seem more likely, since they also have sentience.

Okay, so maybe the briefcase has a rich history from the time of King Deshret. So what? Kaveh probably found it in the desert and repurposed it for his own needs - perhaps due to errosion Mehrak has no memory of its past life. Since the technology does not quite match, or at least not totally, perhaps Kaveh created the briefcase around Mehrak (as well as an architect he is also a student from the technology darshan, after all). Or maybe he just made additions. What does it even matter aside from being an interesting tidbit?

Well, then I watched Ashikai's latest video: https://youtu.be/h5rNMYwWjfA. It's not necessary watching to understand what I'm about to say, so I'll summarise some of her thoughts very broadly: she brings up the idea that rather than Alhaitham being the Deshret parallel as we all thought, it's instead Kaveh. If you would like to hear all her thoughts as to why that could be, I recommend watching the video.

This does not mean that Kaveh IS Deshret, or even that it's a reincarnation situation. Just that he could be a parallel, or have more connections/knowledge than we might realise. Kaveh is an interesting case from a meta perspective also, since he has had a strange amount of unnecessary story presence for an unreleased four star. He is in the archon quest and Alhaitham's story quest and in neither is his presence at all justified by narrative - Alhaitham's quest could easily end fifteen minutes earlier, and Kaveh adds literally nothing to the archon quest aside from some nice levity. Some lore relevant significance might explain this presence past just "oh, well Hoyo wanted fanservice".

Through the lens that their is some sort of Deshret -> Kaveh connection happening (and I say this so so loosely), his connection with Mehrak might have a more sinister implication. Deshret allowed, through his own ignorance, the Jinni he intended to protect on behalf of the Goddess of Flowers to be enslaved. He also lied about the Goddess' death to the Jinni, and it is largely due to their contract with him that their entire civilisation fell apart. An important note about Ferigees and Liloupar is that both crave an existence outside of their prisons - Ferigees purposefully trapped themself inside the mechanism but found the experience torturous, and Liloupar returns to Gurabad. If Mehrak is another trapped Jinni, Kaveh might be accidentally mistreating it.

However, I like the idea that Mehrak and Kaveh are friends much better. Its expressions are often positive ones, so even if it's forced to listen to Kaveh because he has its name, it doesn't seem too upset about it. Also, another part of Ashikai's video posits that Liloupar so quickly accepts the traveller because they have resemblance to Deshret (a whole other rabbit hole, watch the video if you want to know). In this same thread, Ashikai brings up that Kaveh looks very similar to the traveller, so I think that perhaps Mehrak (either knowingly or not) connects Kaveh to its previous master, which could explain why it listens to him so well.

Overall, I find this connection very intriguing and I'm excited to learn more. There is definitely something there, but whether or not it will be imprtant I do not know.

[coneheadseekers]

omg a conehead-focused account, am I dreaming??

I was STARVING through Tumblr searching for content of my fav little conical blue guy who can't catch a break and then, out of nowhere, I see this account, and I'm dazzled- Are you even real? Please tell me you are and confirm the existence of conehead enjoyers.

Believe it or not, fellow conefan, you're not dreaming. You've simply left behind the unconely transformer rabble and entered into...

✈🍧The Cone Zone 🍧✈

Please enjoy your stay.

[sparknightdaily]

[bogleech]

bog please help me which specific book is this i'm interested

It's Dirge, the second book in a trilogy about how humans and thranx came to form a single integrated civilization, though technically there are four books about this history; one standalone novel about first contact, and the trilogy that begins 20 years later. I'm gonna quote their wikipedia synopses:

Nor Crystal Tears: "The story follows a Thranx, Ryozenzuzex (i.e. Ryo, of Family Zen, clan Zu, Hive Zex) who came from an odd-numbered hatching (thranx offspring almost always come in multiples of two) immediately making him somewhat different from his brethren. Setting himself aside as different Ryo decides that he has to know what is the secret of the new space-faring race that supposedly wear "their skeletons inside".

Phylogenesis: "Desvendapur is an anti-social Thranx poet native to the colony on Willow-Wane who believes he can find new inspiration for his poetry by coming in contact with the physically repulsive humans, an intelligent mammal race that is unlike the insectoid thranx."

Dirge: "The Pitar are a close human analog to humans, appearing to be perfectly human except for a wider variety of hair and eye colors (including blue and violet among them) along with nearly god-like physiques. Most humans almost immediately view the Pitar as perfect. This complicated matters for the insectoid Thranx who wish to form a closer alliance with the humans. Some xenophobic humans go so far as to invade the small Thranx colony in the Amazon, killing many of the insect colonists. While this causes a political nightmare for both humans and Thranx, it also brings together the human chaplain and Thranx spiritual advisor who form the United Church."

Diuturnity's Dawn: "In the third and concluding novel of this trilogy, an uncomfortable archaeological alliance of Thranx, humans, and AAnn, explores the well-kept secrets of the lost civilization of the Sauun on the frontier world Comagrave. After a series of accidents that occur where the AAnn are convenient for helping an injured or stranded human, the chief Thranx scientist starts suspecting an anti-Thranx conspiracy." The AAnn are major antagonists throughout this continuity; they're its "war-loving" race ala the Klingons but they're desert dwelling flesh eating "reptiles" (it IS acknowledged that things like mammal, insect, bird etc. are just human colloquialisms for convergently evolved aliens, though) who look down humans and thranx in part because we both look like and taste like their favorite staple prey. For some reason however an AAnn has never been officially illustrated outside an RPG module:

In case you want to know going in what the lovable bastard asshole dinosaur people look like.

[applepixls]

hey guys. have you heard of hadestown.

(its a musical that meshes the myths of orpheus & eurydice and hades & persephone)

orpheus is a naive (sorta sheltered?) bard who acts on his whims while eurydice is a realistic and tough girl who's doing all she can to survive

hades is king of the underworld and keeps persephone there a lot of the year meaning there's a lot of winter up above

now hear me out.

3rd life.

scar as orpheus, grian as eurydice.

wedding song as scar proposing they take over the desert, the second verse being grian suggesting they take the dark oak. now, imagine all I've ever known as a dark night dancing in the desert not to mention, "its a sad tale, its a tragedy" (bonus: in a gathering storm eurydice calls for orpheus and he isn't there because he's off writing his song, narratively similar to grian calling for scar in double life when everyone was digging around for their sugar cane while scar was off accidentally lighting the place on fire and petting the jellie pandas)

extra bonus ideas:

persephone sounds like bdubs? like, listen to livin' it up on top. the gritty voice/singing and all her attitude (/pos) and some of the lyrics "who makes the summer sun shine bright?/thats right! persephone!" (he was the esmp2 sun god!) she sort of reminds me of the vibe bdubs gave off when he was ren the king's guy in s9 (my impression was he was kinda frantically running around at ren's whim, its not at all the same with hades and persephone but there's the sort of obeying a king thing)

leading me to my next thought of ren as hades. someone i was listening with said "winter has come" which made me think of "red winter is coming" dfhj

but another thought is just the last life ethubs divorce? seems very relevant with bdubs persephone parallels

also in hey little song bird hades refers to eurydice as a canary and we all know whos a canary

hermes (conductor of the train on the road to hell) and the fates play a narrator type role except hermes is more explicit while the fates are the humming in the back of your head they weave the path of how everything goes and you cant defy them

martyn throughout all the series is a sort of nomadic no solid home kinda guy and always self aware (he makes the lore-) which connects him to hermes for me but at the same time the fates are very much watcher/listener things so like bigb and martyn? (i don't know the lore sorry lol) i'd also say that somehow impulse's littlefinger flip floppy triple double agent character in third life gives a vibe like he knows whats going on in all the groups also connecting him to them for me

(i will say scar could fit hermes as well in being a sort of travelling sales person in last life and a bit in double life? also I've read dirges in the dark which means i see him and the devil and making deals with complicated clauses as very interconnected)

my final note (and being a devils advocate)

scar could also parallel hades.

if you watch his perspective he's very happygolucky and doesn't seem to get the real weight of the situation and such but from other perspectives his and grians deal seems kinda like he's had grian sign away his soul or he's kidnapped grian and there's some stockholm syndrome happening (its actually grians guilt but i digress)

hades convinces eurydice (scar is a silver tongued man) to sign away her soul to him and also the story of hades and persephone is that he kidnaps her and she eats some pomegranite and has to stay in the underworld for part of the year

sooo yeah. paralells between hadestown and 3rd life/life series. enjoy.

[witchofthesouls]

I've been twisting this idea in my head for a while.

So assuming that Cyberton had Yore/Fae/Magic at some point but don't in modern day, what do you think wiped them out? Was it just a natural consequence of the loss of wild spaces- the seas drying, the forests and plains and marshes being dessicated by natural disasters? Intentionally by way of Prima's Forceful Guiding Hand? Quintassons desires for a world to more readily be defined and controlled?

In my mind, it was a bit of all of the above. One dominoing into the other until it became too much and the Cybertonian version of Elsewhere collapsed on itself. But that would pose a potential for them to still exist on the Colonies, no matter how reduced.

I kinda talked about it already.

Personal take, especially since TFP did had line about magic and science from Solus' Forge, it's a combination of all that, plus more.

Prima established the city-states as the beacon of civilization and progress as it's by 'birthright' as the first to be and 'rule of strength/might.' He is the Eldest Sun, formed by Primus' own Light. The absolute God-king.

Of course, Primus still had Unicron to provide a check, so Megatronus rose immediately to life from Prima's very own shadow. Primes aren't meant to stand alone, and Prima needed someone who was capable of stopping him, no matter the cost.

Despite the personal writings by the Prime of Light, Prima and Megatronus operated as joint rulers as no one else was able to withstand their combined strength. When they stood together, nothing could budge them.

Basically, a lot of things went down to sow distrust, a tragic dirge of miscommunication, and connecting the wrong dots that led to the Prinal Wars. After it decimated the Primes to the remaining Prima, Alpha Trion, and Alchemist, Prima went far more extreme, even ignoring any and all advice by Alchemist who had to take on a more moderate capacity as he singlehandedly assumed the role of the bridge between the Primes and their mortal kin. Alchemist, unfortunately, didn't have the strength to challenge Prima directly. Not on his own, especially since Alpha Trion is one of the more passive siblings and won't stand against the Eldest's new goals as Alpha is deeply tied to the Quill and saw no point in recorrecting things if the far future painted a better prospect after all the misfortunes that would come.

Prima essentially laid waste to very cycles of renewal that was supposed to revitalize Cybertron in an attempt to call back Megatronus, and the Quintessons took advantage of that to completely break the more fantastical power elements via 'standardization' as they messed with the Well of Allsparks and strip the planet into the what modern Cybertronians know as the Wastelands.

Prima was the one that started the processes to drain the oceans, harvest the volcanoes, excavate the mountains, wetlands dried by reroute, forests cut, desert mined, and grasslands turned to ash as Prima tamed nature to search for his twin. After Prima's disappearance, Alpha Trion gave up as well after the Quintessons messed the Well and Megatronus never returned.

Before Cybertron functioned as a gateway to Elsewhere due to the connection between Primus, Unicron, and Gaea. So the Wilders did have tales of strange beings and stranger places... but after the combined feats between Prima, the Quintessons, and early Golden Age had long stripped the planet's capability to sustain those gateways. (It's also why the connection to reestablish space bridges to the Colonies failed.)

The Colonies would have began to flee from the Guiding/Forceful Hand under Prima, so the potential gateways still exist with them (attested by how some of their people would disappear if they wander too far) but the means to truly navigate them, much like communicating with Titans, space-bridge repair, and the rearing of magic talent, had been lost to time as each world deals with their own crises.

[arisewanekosuki]

Traveler's little helper -Extra-: Aether x Fem!Reader

[Small spoiler from World Quest Series The Dirge of Bilqis.]

… - “Mmm... The scent of unknown spices from afar... A servant girl of the desert-kin, and a flying pet... You must be a Prince in exile, are you not?” the Jinn said, ‘looking’ at Aether, then she turned to you. You were ready to be called a servant too by her. -“And you must be then the Prince’s lover!” you didn’t respond from the shock,  Aether was the one to reply with a smile on his face. -“You’re right with that.” After that you come back to your senses and lightly slapped his arm. -“It’s not time to joke like that! And no, I’m not his lover! We all friends with each other!” you said to Jinn, not noticing the pout on Aether's face. Jeht and Paimon were standing there wondering, why you were called something better than servant and pet… and how you still didn’t notice Aether's feelings towards you.

[joffyworld]

JOFFYYYY ur shamura lore is so interesting 👀 so theyre like descended from some sort of sun deity? ALSO what does "Šamaš" mean? thank u for always sending my wig into orbit 🌌

DIRGE HIIIII

Okay so,

Šamaš is the name of an ancient Akkadian God and that's where the name "Shamura" actually comes from. I did a slight etymological dive into it before but Šamaš was then the root for words like "Shams" (Arabic for Sun). Interestingly, Šamaš was both the God of Sun, but also the God of Justice, and was known to have many siblings (sound familiar)

So, as the lore kind of implies, Shamura and Šamaš here are the same person! Šamaš mentions in their reflections that "nobody remembers One (Shamura)" because they were the oldest. They were left to die in the desert by whatever family they had and left to die under the sun that "seeps into their skin"

Šamaš is Shamura, one is pre-deal with whatever figure extended their hand at the end of that stanza, and Shamura is who they become. They go from the Shunned Son of the Sun (Šamaš) to being They of War and Knowledge (Shamura).

I wanted to tie in some irl references to how the Devs came up with the names, hence why the poems are all in the native languages those names derive from (Heket's Egyptian, Leshy is Russian, Kallamar was Greek and Narinder was Indian but he's an exception as per usual).

Thanks for the ask Dirge, hope you like whatever comes next when it's all ready. Time for me to start actually writing all the lore in my brainhole so it makes sense because from here is the tough bit <3

[sillyguysss]

thinking about post dirge of Cerberus Genesis again and ughhhhghh. By the time this man wakes up the entire world has changed, most of everyone he was close with is dead and Shinra isn't even really anymore. How do you even start to connect back to society? Because I can't imagine Genesis would be okay with just existing at the edge of society, he isn't like Vincent or even maybe Sephiroth in that way. In my mind Genesis needs people, sure his time in his cave™ gave him time to think and reflect and maybe learn his hunger for fame isn't healthy, but he still would need people. And there's also the guilt! This man has probably marinated in his guilt for years and now needs to live with the fact he's the only one who survived, despite being the one who, arguably, started to whole mess with his desertion.

Just imagine him travelling to the place where Banora was and Nibelheim, thinking about the people he lost and mistakes he made. Think about him looking at the ruins of Midgar and playing a thousand what if's in his head where they could've been happy.

[focsle]

Re-recording! Tho...idk how I feel about this mic. Whatever.

Poem written by Henry Glover, a former schoolmate of Samuel Comstock who orchestrated the mutiny on the whaleship Globe in 1824. And I put it TO MUSIC because I’m partial to bloody boat songs.

Stanzas under readmore.

His sun rose unclouded and brightly it shone In the pride of the morning and promised a noon Of glory and gladness; it sank to the flood In blackness and blindness, and tarnished by blood. Disowned and dishonored its last gloomy glare Was shed on the grave of young mutineer

Tho’ beardless his cheek, yet his was a soul That knew not a master, that brooked no control; Tho’ beardless his cheeks, yet his was a hand Acquainted with daggers; a voice to command, An eye that wept, a heart without fear, Were the pride and the boast of the young mutineer.

He lies on the beach of a lone desert isle, His dirge the green billows are chanting the while, As they in wild tumult, roll over his head, And wash the high rock, that marks out his wet bed; There lies with a heart that ne’er knew a fear, The mangled remains of the young mutineer.

He lies on the beach, the cold waters beside, And dreadful and dark was the death that he died No mother mourns o’er him, no fond fair one weeps Where far from the land of his father he sleeps. But the rude swelling waves, and the sea birds career On the wet sandy grave of the young mutineer.

He lies on the beach by a comrade in guilt, His forehead was cloven, his best blood spilt. The cries of his victims have risen to God, And their wailings were quenched in the murderer’s blood. He fell without mourners, for none dropped a tear O’er the mangled remains of the young mutineer.

He lies on the beach, where the weeds and the shells, Mark the bounds of the sea, where in tumult it swells They scooped him a grave, and there laid him at rest And heaped the wet sand on his bare, bloody breast. And they rolled a huge rock and planted it there To mark the lone grave of the young mutineer.

In the years that are coming the seamen will tell Of murders and murdered, and murderer’s yells. The tale, the lone watch of night will beguile When they sail by the shores of that desolate isle. And their beacon shall be, as they thitherward steer, The black rock on the grave of the young mutineer.

[sparknightdaily]

[randomwriteronline]

One night, when all is over, when all can rest; when Kiina sleeps listening to the waves, Berix nursing the newest still unfinished project, Gresh not having any new scars to count, Click barely batting a wing; Ackar hears the voice of Mata Nui smile with such infinite love, and wakes up.

He sits up and listens again: if he strains his ears, if he forces himself to shut down the frantic beating of his heart, he thinks he can hear that voice again. He could swear he is talking, maybe humming, so close and yet so impossibly far away, even further than the resting place of the Ignika but somehow right next to him, tone filled with mournful joy, with an affection that brings one to tears.

Someone is out there, outside.

Someone is singing, outside.

He leaves.

One night, when all is over, Ackar forces himself to stumble out of town and into the cold, into the slowly receding desert which is giving way to life once more; he follows beneath the starlit sky barren of blue or green moons the sound, the song, the voice, an enthralled sleepwalker chasing desperately after a lucid dream he knows cannot be and yet so desperately wants to find, a spellbound seaman bewitched by a cannibal siren's serenade dragging his ship against the jagged cliffs upon which the object of his desire perches with monstrous arms outstretched so lovingly towards him.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: he could swear it's the same, the same deep and comforting sound upon whom he once laid his hand on to call 'friend'; he could swear it's the same, so sweet and so heartbroken, and his throat twists tight into a knot as he knows he will not see what he wants, yet he wants so badly.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: it splits but does not shatter. Like the hairs of a braid its pieces join together, tangle gently, form a harmony that no mouth can replicate.

He stops.

He looks.

One night, when all is over, Ackar watches and listens.

He knows them, he recognizes them: the twelve of them arranged in two concentric circles, only six of them singing, only six of them silent, their language so far beyond what his anatomy could comprehend or hope to produce, and yet he understands.

He understands from the inner circle's tight fists, their shaking shoulders, their shuddering chests as they struggle to breathe. He understands from the outer circle's solemn pronounciation, the anguish in their shining eyes, their longing and trembling voices.

He understands and hushes, and listens to their mourning song.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mata mourn who they were fated to protect and instead failed.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mahri mourn who they could not hold back from the choice of fate.

One night, when all is over, Toa Takanuva mourns all who he will never accept he could not die in the stead of.

Six voices raise, six lights like an aurora across the sky - two figures, mighty and wise and yet so powerless, dancing in their dirge with bodies composed of mourning songs harmonizing together - warriors burying a king, a peer, a friend, a stranger. Six more join, louder to the point of wailing, no composure, burning stars bursting as violently as their destructive end allows, children crying inconsolable the death of a hero, a peer, a friend, a sibling.

The Toa howl like wild hounds into the empty desert night in which no bloody star shines, in the heartbroken artificial language of their manufactured living people.

One night, when all is over, Ackar looks and listens.

In their twelve voices he hears yet another, at once earth and sky, enormously strong yet as light as the birdsong.

In their thirteen voices he hears Mata Nui.

In their thirteen voices Mata Nui smiles.

He smiles with such infinite love.

One night, when all is over, Ackar whispers: I love you.

One night, when all is over, the Toa scream: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Matoro booms: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Mata Nui smiles: I love you.

Ackar cries.

[scolopendramorsitans]

a blog just for my inverts and snakes (disclaimer 4 any handling pics/videos: handle at your own risk, don't emulate without experience.)

main @cyanocoraxx

🕷 🦂 🩸

click read more for my list of inverts (19/09/24)

⭐ - medically significant venom

⭐? - possibly significant, not enough research

acanthoscurria geniculata - unnamed

aphonopelma sp. jalisco - unnamed

brachypelma hamorii - pleck

ceratogyrus marshalli - kantus ⭐

chilobrachys fimbriatus - hersey ⭐

chilobrachys huahini - unnamed ⭐

cyriopagopoeus lividus - dirge ⭐

haploclastus devamatha - bridgeburner

homeoemma chilensis - iblis ♀

lampropelma n. arboricola - tarn

lasiodora parahybana - laios

phormictopus auratus - furnace ♀

poecilotheria subfusca - pepper ⭐

poecilotheria metallica- nacelle ⭐

pterinochilus murinus - reaver ⭐

selenocosmia crassipes - bard

linothele sericata - cupcake

dolomedes spp. -  ferryman

macroctenus kingsleyi - sisyphus ♀ ⭐ ?

piloctenus hematostoma - vulcan ⭐ ?

atypus karschi - hamster

calommata signata - unnamed

eresus walckenaeri - unnamed

tailless whip scorpion (damon medius) - mizaru ♂

tailless whip scorpion (damon medius) - kikazaru ♂

tailless whip scorpion (damon medius) - iwazaru ♀

thai red vinegaroon (thelyphonus sp. red) - unnamed

scolopendra morsitans (blood red) - sukuna ♂

scolopendra morsitans (blood red) - shrine ♀

scolopendra morsitans (dragon head) - major ♂

scolopendra dehaani (sumatra pink) - eos ⭐

scolopendra subspinipes (java red) - choso ⭐

scolopendra dehaani (orange legs) - astraeus ⭐

scolopendra hainanum pling - tengen ⭐

scolopendra mutilans (green form) - gyomei ⭐

scolopendra polymorpha - sunstorm

ethmostigmus trigonopodus (yellow) - akaza

ethmostigmus austroyunnanensis - kokushibo ♀

ethmostigmus austroyunnanensis - doma ♂

chinese mantis (t. sinensis) - seven

joker mantis (p. picta) - punchline

dorcus titanus - sharpshooter ♀

dwarf wood (l. australasiae) - bargarean jade ♀

vietnam forest (h. loaticus) - hideous mass

golden desert (s. palmatus) - unnamed

brazilian rainbow boa - inti ♂ (5-6ft)

royal python - latte ♂ (4ft)

rosy boa - carmine ♂ (2ft)

"aren't you scared it will bite you" hello job. no i can't come in today. i'm being bitten by my poecilotheria metallica. yeah i'll be off work for 3 weeks. yay

"does it still have its venom" yes. who am i to deny a girl's fun? if she wants to envenomate me one day that's ok with me

"it can't love you" neither could my dad but we move

"why keep centipedes eughghgh gross" i don't have room in my house for an actual dragon so the smaller land ones will do instead

"what do you feed them" small children

"what do you do with them" we vibe. my spiders know my deepest darkest secrets and they will never tell you. on account of being incapable of human speech.

"do they sleep in your bed" yes and they size me up every night. one day they will eat me. please send help!

"how can you sleep at night with those in your house" see above. i'm never alone :)

[asthmaticbee]

WIP Title Game

Rules: In a new post, post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it!

Tagged by @theliteraryluggage!

Published WIPs

and i come full circle; a leviathan reborn; palingenesis made flesh

when all my debts are paid and the score's been all tallied up

aria of pride and deceit

where daylight shatters and worthy perish (you alone endure the night)

The Truth Will Out (and you will pay your dues)

Death Eater Edward Elric, Spy Extraordinare, at your service

gloria of rubies and gold

vermillion dawns the day (of remembrance bittersweet)

and you crashed into my life (please won't you stay by my side)

dirge for the innocence lost

A Flame in the Flood

Published but on Hiatus/Discontinued

You wanted a nail? You get a whole fucking hardware store!

Dark Nebula

the blood of the covenant

Unpublished WIPs and Ideas

moving on from this liminal world

The Butterflywasp Effect

Pyrpolanthropy

and i will sail the savage seas to find you

moonlight pale; a speckle of sunlight

Ed and Sirius Azkaban Prison Break

spider lillies' serenade

oh death, dearest mine, will ye spare me yet again?

EdWin kids are classmates with the Golden Trio

Men in Black AU

Ed is Zuko's impulse control

For the Dancing and the Dreaming (and all life's sorrows and delights

so we step into war with blood on our hands

How Todoroki Became a Quirkless Rights Activist

follow me into the dark (to stand before the gates of hell)

of rivers and crossroads

threnody of a lost wanderer

hymn to alkahestry

ode to the desert sands

Pride takes over Ed the day before the finale

The Once and Future Morgen

TodoDeku childhood friends

Shouto's Diaries

A Day Early and Two Kids Short

Ageswap AU

you've seen the worst of me (and yet none of it matters to you)

Atlantis AU

Vampire RomCom

Soulmates AU

The other soulmates AU

a dead man's war report

golden lights and wild hunts

[sdmsims]

so here’s hoping i can get the alpha for testing out tomorrow, but im the meantime…

been watching a bunch of CAW tutorials and am feeling a lil zesty. obviously making my whole entire headworld into one world wouldn’t be a good idea (unless i wanted my game to explode), but thankfully areas are pretty cleanly seperated into biomes

infodumping ahead! at the end of it, there’s a poll for yall to sway me. i think it’d be fun to make the empty worlds public anyways (though releasing them WITH my ocs in them is just outside of my comfort zone)

ultra (space) station — a space station city that floats high above the ruins of its past incarnation. magenta and black cyberpunk-y color scheme, divided into the surface (which is relatively normal and presentable) and the underdeck, a winding maze and a den of crime, hedonism, and general debauchery

definitely one of the less practical options, but it’s one of my fave locations and think it may be a fun challenge

ultra dirge — a prairie that’s sparsely populated and tinged a purple hue after fallout from the apocalypse that happened 3000 years ago. dated vibes, long roadways, and population clusters are bundled together.

ultra crater — a dusty outback, with a robust agricultural industry as well as a space program thanks to the celestial soup in the large craters there. sort of vaguely space race / 60s inspired?

borderbeach + ultra forest + ultra jungle — could likely be bundled together. ultra jungle is a society built on the canopies, ultra forest is a cozy, heavily wooded area, and border beach is on the border between them.

i feel like this one could have the most ‘bang for my buck’ potential, but could also inevitably end up very large/bloated. but jungle encompasses nature, forest has that mysterious supernaturalish vibe, and borderbeach could be for IP stuff?

waterfall — it’s literally just waterfall from undertale. a sleepy area known to be a place where criminals go to lay low, due to being dark and marshy. dated buildings covered in moss, and a rather tight knit community despite everything

megalopolis/highlands — so like. we know ultra megalopolis right. major huge city, surrounded by highlands and a power plant in those highlands. the highlands are built extremely dense, and are a hotspot for street racing

no ultra desert bc i’m actively overhauling it a bit oops

[wishing-stones]

WOULD THE BOYS™️ PLAY FFVII? WHO WOULD BE THEIR FAVORITE CHARACTER? (this is coming from a place of adoration- i’ve found another creator i like who also likes ffvii this means everything to me)

Oh my god hahaha, no, I have to do this one

I'm pulling from the expanded FFVII universe for all games up through Rebirth, and assuming everyone has played the various compilations and seen Advent Children (Complete) since they're a bunch of fuckin nerds

Just so everyone's aware, possible spoilers for Rebirth (through chapter 12ish) ahead

Killer is a hopeless Sephiroth stan, don't tell me you didn't see this coming. All that edge and charm, he's a hopeless fanboy. (And as much as he likes Villain Sephiroth, he also vibes hard with Sephiroth Pre-Nibelheim Incident, too. He knows what it's like to snap, even if you have a support system in place, and people who care about you.) He's actually awful about it. The man would be a member of Silver Elite if he could be.

Dust loves Barret, and even more so after Rebirth. He's the one piloting every game while everyone watches, so he's the nerd most invested in the story. Barret's fierce, family-driven nature and unabashed love for those close to him (and willingness to let people see how deeply he feels those emotions, if they're close enough to him,) resonates hard with Dust. After the scene in the desert in Rebirth, he had to set the controller down for a moment (and me too, tbh, his actor killed the emotion in that scene, I was crying hard.)

Axe really likes Tifa. She's a boss bitch who is strong not in spite of her insecurities and weaknesses, but because of them. She's aware of them, but doesn't let them bother her friends if she can help it, and he feels that deeply. She's doing her best, trying her hardest to protect what little she has left, and wow, if he doesn't understand that. She also happens to be pretty passionate about cooking and mixology, and he also greatly enjoys that.

Cross is a huge fan of Zack. He's energetic, he's upbeat and optimistic, and it's infectious. He's a very easy character to like, but what endeared Cross to him is his his drive to do everything in his power to save and protect his friends, and how, when he failed with Angeal, he wasn't afraid to let his grief show, doubly so around the person arguably most important to him. Zack's story is a tragic one, though, so he was a wreck at the end of Crisis Core (and then again at the end of Remake when it doesn't end quite the same way)

Baggs only pays attention to dialogue and cutscenes, but he's managed to follow the story enough to understand what's going on and who's who. He likes Vincent the most. His deep guilt and trauma are an intriguing story to him, although he's not quite sure how to feel about the ending of Dirge of Cerberus. He's enjoying Vincent a lot in Rebirth as well, and is amused at the sort of 'crotchety old fuddy-duddy' vibes he's giving off. Wonder why.

Nightmare, unsurprisingly, likes Rufus. He's also only paid partial attention to the games, mostly tuning in for cutscenes and important dialogue, but Rufus is a very intriguing villain for him, especially in Remake and Rebirth. Nightmare found himself nodding along to what was being said a lot of the time, and what really sold him was Rufus' interaction with Lodbrok in his office, where he proudly took the insult of being a lonely, selfish man who hated his father and wore it like armor. He owned up to his insecurities and weaknesses and defied they be used against him. Nightmare was sold.

And since Blue is a JRPG guy, he's played them with the stars, too;

Dream is naturally drawn to Aerith, and is gutted when she dies. He was inconsolable for the original, and was anxious watching Blue play Rebirth. He adores her, how gentle she remains no matter the adversity, how, in spite of that, she doesn't take anyone's guff, either, and how she's willing to maybe twist her words up a bit to get someone to do what she wants. No one quite expects someone so sweet to be able to manipulate like she can, and it's just a facet of her personality he enjoys.

Ink likes Reeve and Cait Sith, by extension. The one guy in the evil megacorp who wants to do good, who cares about the people, and who, despite having to occasionally follow orders or else, he really wants to help fix things. He just... can't directly intervene sometimes. Hm. That's a familiar story. He also enjoys the dichotomy of proper, upright, sensible man in a suit, and a reliable department head.... to... well, Cait Sith.

Blue, similar to Cross, loves Zack. He doesn't quit, no matter the adversity, and smiles through it all. He's proud, he's honorable, and he's just an upstanding guy all around. blue was devastated at the end of Crisis Core, but every moment that he was in Remake and Rebirth, he was over the moon.

All of them, all of them absolutely detest Hojo. It's actually one of Dust's "Don't Get Me Started" subjects, he will go on at length and in-depth about how everything wrong in the world of FFVII circles back to him (he isn't wrong).