#except i'm prophetic and I'M the one who doesn't believe me

[gayofthefae]

Saw somebody say that they weren’t getting their hopes up for much Buddie next ep because Buck would probably depend on Bobby with his trauma stuff (at least until they address the Buddie thing together later)...

but guys...

Bobby is gonna be preoccupied with the whole rehab center plotline

~ oh no! Who could Buck possibly go too?! ~ ;)

Not getting my hopes up too much...but a little. I mean, maybe we’ve gotten too used to waiting and now are glossing over the idea that they could talk immediately after because despite the parallels this isn’t just like last time because it’s the second time/role reversal. Just sayin...maybee...

[inkdemonapologist]

[BatIM Cthulhu AU] A couple of doodles from session two, which UNSETTLED SAMMY A LOT ACTUALLY...

There have been small changes, throughout New York -- doors opening on the wrong side of the street, houses ending up just a block away from where you remembered them -- but the only people who can even tell seem to be those who remember Carcosa. Joey, Sammy, Henry, Jack, Peter, and Norman all experienced the strange shifting realm when a Mardi Gras party attempted to bring dread Carcosa to New Orleans, but Susie wasn't there. She can't see the changes we see, and the entire rest of the city agrees with her. That door was always there? The car was always that colour. That's where I remember the address being before, and there's no record it was ever different.

She trusts what the boys are reporting must be true, that maybe there are changes she can't see or remember, and both she and Sammy are terrified. These are only little things, but as more and more of the city slips into the world of the King in Yellow, what else might be rewritten...?

Anyway EVERYONE'S HAVING A GREAT TIME. If you're here for Out Of Context Quotes from our session, I have some of those too, here, under the cut!!

[Sammy is played by me, Joey is played by Boo (inkyvendingmachine), Henry is played by Maf (inkcryptid), Jack is played by Mochi (whatyouwantedmetosee) and Thren (haunted-hijinxer) is our GM!]

[Jack] I love how detective Pete is for a guy who is NOT a detective. [Sammy] He just got assigned that by Joey Drew and now it's true. [Joey] Exactly! That's how it works.

[Sammy] The idea of JDS having its own employed detective is really funny to me. "Why do you need that? You're an animation studio." "Well, you know, things come up,"

[GM] Everybody went home I believe, except Joey went to the Studio, which is like home,

[Sammy] Do we have any plan, other than just go in to work, [Jack] I though you were gonna say "other than go insane"...

[Joey] If Prophet's not the one going for the ink, then why is Sammy going for it?! Do they have a SECOND prophet situation??? [Jack] PROPHET...... TWO!!! [Henry] Prophet 2: Electric Boogaloo [Sammy] *tiredly* We don't need any more Prophets..... We don't need any more Sammys..... we have enough.....

[Jack] You just need to sip some ink and tell them it's the wrong number. Like, you've got the wrong guy. [Henry] New stone, who dis?

[Sammy] It was the false king who called through the ink, not our Lord! [Joey] Interesting... [Joey] Joey's going to ask Bendy if he can... feel this? Is he getting calls? *dad voice* Is someone calling you? Don't put your number on the internet!

[GM] Bendy says he wasn't made to be a receiver the same way Sammy was. [Jack] So technically, it's "New Sam, who dis"!

[Joey] Okay, Joey's going to note this all down in his... Notebook Of Nonsense That Plagues Them,

[GM] I'm choosing to believe that whenever Norman called in, he gave some sort of outlandish excuse, and whoever answered the phone didn't... write it down... [Sammy] Like the heckin', grian excuses-- [Joey] "I'm cutting my grass, with scissors" [Jack] Yeah!! He's cutting his grass! With scissors! In winter!!! [Sammy] And then Sammy's like "Do we know why he called out?" and the receptionist is just like "No We Have NO Idea" [Jack] With the most tired sigh. Second only to Grant.

[GM] Fun fact, Norman would answer the phone. [Sammy] Norman actually was just like, "ohhhhhhh i know THIS is some supernatural bullshit happening, I'm gonna stay home"

[Joey] Joey's going to ask Estelle if he looked like-- and give a vague description of Avedon. [GM] .............................. [GM] She is SO impressed that you knew this. [Joey] *delighted cackling*

[Jack] I love how cute Joey is about this kid. Just like... the cool Bendy Uncle! He's not related at all, but, [Joey] I feel like this is kind of how Joey just gets around kids? Maybe Joey does really want kids, just, y'know, doesn't know how to do it when gay? [Sammy] Obviously that won't happen, so-- [Joey] Yeah, [Sammy] --so then you START AN ANIMATION STUDIO, that's the only other option! [GM] Yeah, then all kids are your kids!

[GM] Alright, you've made many phone calls. [Joey] Yeah, [GM] And you only rudely hung up on one of them!

[Sammy] Sammy can surely track that down; he's used to digging up musicians. [Jack] Jack's there to assist with the Talking to People in a way that makes them want to cooperate with you, and not run in fear!

[GM, speaking for Peter] *lists all of the information Peter's dug up* And that's about what he managed to get, today! [Joey] And nothing weird has been happening... to him? [GM] WELL, OKAY. ABOUT THAT,

[Peter] Could you describe again, the strange person who was at the party? What was that guy like? [Joey] *thinking very hard* Which... strange person...? I mean... Denis was there?

[Norman] Try not to fall in a swamp this time. [Joey] I'll let you know if I find one! [Sammy] There's fewer of those in New York, so, I think we're good. [Jack] I mean, you never know,, [Sammy] ...yeah, that's true..... [Joey] HEY, Joey will let him know if he finds one!!! [Sammy] If LAKE PONCHARTRAIN opens up in the MIDDLE OF NEW YORK CITY, that will certainly be something to let all of our friends know!

[GM] Make a social-type checks to have a word with them beforehand! [Sammy] I don't know, if I should do that,,, [GM] SAMMY can make an Appearance check! [Sammy] *laughing* LETS SEE IF IM HANDSOME ENOUGH to get let in!

[GM] Everybody's like "You guys!" You're greeted with nostalgia, and eagerness! and people are trying to small talk you, I'm guessing Sammy's not going for that. [Sammy] I mean, you can try to small talk.... AT him... [Sammy] He doesn't... y'know... it's like playing a game of catch where you throw the ball to somebody, and they just hold the ball. [Sammy] Like.... okay! [GM] I did the thing! [Sammy] Cool, catch successful. [Jack] No give, only throw!

[Sammy] Look, I was trying to drink ink this morning, so I feel like this is a step up.

[Sammy] Sammy will enjoy it! We should do this more often! [Sammy] "We should do this more often" says man who will always be too busy to do this more often,

[GM] They're impressed that, at a job where there was a gunshot right in front of the stage, the thing you want to ask about is where they sourced their music. [Sammy] I LOVE that Sammy's reputation is such that this makes perfect sense to them.

[GM] His name is Alan Leroy. [Sammy] Okay, Leroy works, because then I'll remember it, because of Leroy Jenkins. [GM] This is what's been going through my head the entire time, too...

[GM] They say he's a crazy-talented musician who blew into town a year or two ago? He's really nice and easy to get along with, and when he really gets going he can make sounds come out of his instrument like you've never heard! [Sammy] These... are all.. compliments that would be really impressive except that they can all be interpreted in really concerning ways.......

[GM] If Jack wants to look harder, he can.......... [Jack] I'm doing it, Jack can make little a bad decision! He hasn't made any yet this season!! [Jack] *rolls* That's an extreme success. How much sanity do I lose!!

[Henry] We're ghost hunters. The, the pale guy is a ghost, we're goin' after him. Ghost hunters. [Henry] ...This is why you don't let Henry lead the conversation!!

[Jack] It's occurring to me that we don't know if this guy is alive??? [Joey] YUP! This is a good time to find out! [Henry] Fun! [GM] When have you EVER gone up to somebody's house and found them dead inside? [Jack] Jack hasn't yet... [Henry] The very first scenario! [Sammy] Yeah it was a pretty bad situation as I recall, we were briefly accused of being involved! [Jack] Maybe you guys. Jack's different, though.

[Joey] We wanted to make sure he was doing alright. .....does that need a Fast Talk roll? [GM] Yeah, I was about to say-- [Joey] *rolls* *STARTS CACKLING* [GM] What did you do, do you roll a three again? [Joey] I DID ROLL A THREE! :D THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I ROLLED! [GM] I thought it was the Three Laugh!

[Henry] Henry is tired. Henry rolled a 93. [GM] Well he's out late, you know, he's a family man! He has normal hours, he hasn't been staying up late, living at the studio for the last few years! [Henry] He's regretting not accepting Joey's offer to just go home. [Joey] *muttering* See, Joey knows best!

[GM] Okay, so you guys notice, right off, that the car isn't there. [Sammy] UM. HM. [Jack] Which car did we take again? [Joey] The Mercedes... [Jack] *relieved* Okay good. [Jack] .... I MEAN, NOT GOOD, BUT...

[Joey] No, no I think it's OUR car... it's just... more yellow now... [Jack] I don't like that that means it's getting yellower... [Joey] ...........................So when do we take the sanity hit? [GM] Yeah, that would be now!

[GM] The woman says she's looking forward to when he has his own ship, and they can sail away together! [Henry] [Henry] ...I'm married,...

[Joey] Joey has his face pressed to the window-- no, he probably has the window down, it doesn't matter how cold it is -- and... CAN the window go down? Hold on. [Joey] *sounds of typing* "Car... door... window... down... history... when."

[Henry] Okay, these dice are BANNED. I rolled a 90! [Jack] What if you subtly replace the dice...? [Sammy] With slighty yellower dice!

[Joey] OKAY! There ARE rolling windows, so Joey does have the window rolled down, and he's intensely watching the colour of the car. [Joey] AND ALSO, he's STILL sitting in the middle seat, he's just going to lean over someone to do this. [Sammy] Ah. It's probably me.

[Jack] No, no, Pete and Jack can get kidnapped later and take some massive sanity damage together. ✨Cute date ideas!✨

[Joey] Joey's going to inform Norman that they're going to come over, they need additional eyes on something, [GM] Well, he's good at keeping eyes on things! [Joey] So they'll be over soon. [Sammy] I like how Norman gets a heads up, but with Peter we just show up at his apartment. [Joey] Exactly! [Jack] That's because Joey's kissed Pete. When Joey and Norman kiss then that's -- not good for Sammy, probably. [GM] At least Pete and Sammy are neutral. Non-reactive. [Sammy] Norman and Sammy are "it's complicated" on Facebook.

[Sammy] Okay, we gotta go get Linda, so Susie's not alone, [Jack] We're just playing "how many NPCs can we force Thren to play at once!" How many can we shove in the back of this car.

[Jack] Jack's gonna get home and find out his cats are different colours, [Sammy] Oh NO, [Jack] Comes back and Beans is a tortie now. [Sammy] Or Beans is just an orange cat, [Jack] Oh no! Her braincells! [GM] She needs those! She has all of them!!

[Joey] Depending on who's the affected party, Susie or them, it is actually useful to have a second, like, [Sammy] Someone to compare with? Yeah. [Henry] We don't know WHO the control group is, but ONE of us is the control group!

[Joey] As trusted as Norman is, he isn't one of Joey's... white-knuckle-clutched-keepsakes of a person,

[Sammy] *sarcastic* Okay, everyone ready to go to sleep? That's not a scary prospect right now, right? That's something that we're all really confident about doing? Cool, that's great. [Henry] Yeah, yeah, that's definitely not gonna, it's gonna go great...! [GM] Nobody's even cut their hand on a slick stone! It's fine! [Henry] NO ONE BETTER CUT THEIR HAND ON A SLICK STONE! We got enough problems!! [Joey] (Looking at you, Prophet!)

[Henry] Is Joey,,, sharing this plan with anyone? [Joey] ouo Has anyone asked him?

[Joey] Let's send Henry then! [Henry] Alright. Send Henry to Carcosa! [Sammy] *exasperated* yeah that's fine.... [Joey] It's not FULLY sending him there! It's just making a connection. [Joey] A little bridge! [Sammy] Uggghhhh... Sammy doesn't think we need any bridges to Carcosa. [Sammy] We've got enough Carcosa. [Sammy] Put some back.

[Sammy] This is what happens When You Give a Joey a Dream Spell.

[Sammy] We can't actually guarantee that New York isn't going to sink. That's not out of the question. [Jack] Is the Joey Drew specialty NOT "promising things that aren't necessarily things you can promise??"

[Henry] Actually, before Henry leaves he's going to give Joey a hug. [Joey] He doesn't get to leave. [Henry] Oh. [Joey] But Joey will take the hug!

[Henry] You know this man gives good hugs. You're getting a good Henry hug. [Jack] Gonna crunch all of Joey's terrible, very bad bones. [Henry] He's gonnna try not to crunch all of Joey's terrible bones! [Henry] But, I dunno. [Henry] Roll for damage.

[GM] The lurker knows this is serious, but he's also excited, because he has heard what a slumber party is from Henry's kids.

[GM] Now it is Friday, the 28th of December. [Sammy] Okay. Cool. Let's all make an effort to not ring in the New Year in Carcosa. That's MY New Year's Resolution: Don't Be In Carcosa.

[yuseirra]

Ch 160 ..let me jot down my stream of consciousness about what I feel, my reading comprehension skills can't be that bad, it'd help if I can sit down and think through a little more.

+ Okay, I'm complete! I understand things much better now!! Upon close examination, This chapter doesn't change anything so dramatically.

IT STILL DOES NOT ANSWER JUST WHAT THE DAD'S MOTIVES ARE, but... the conclusion I have after having reread it thoroughly??

It's that my interpretation of him as a mild guy still stands—it enhances it, even. He's still really kind, which is a pretty surprising conclusion compared to what I felt about it at first glance.

He's.. really kind and considerate. I'm serious. wow.

well, analysis/interpretation below!

I was spoiled about chapter way back sometime last Friday, right? and it was pretty accurate in sense, with it being just some bunch of sentences and that one really creepy panel.. it does help to see the actual art and the expressions that are associated with the dialogues.

Now that I sit down a bit, there are two different interpretations of the same story: Kamiki's testimonies on what's happened (I believe these are all truths. They perfectly match up with how I've interpreted his character all along.) and Aqua's takes on them.

I'm not reading things off the english version btw, so the dialogues may differ.

According to what Kamiki says,

-he considered Ryosuke and Nino as good people and as friends. But they approached him because they were obsessed with Ai, so he didn't know about their true colors.

-so he was able to talk about his breakup with her and talked about whether if he should visit her having children at the hospital where Gorou was. They went and killed Gorou, but Kamiki had no idea about that.

-on the day Ai died, he was still unsure about meeting her because he lacked the courage to see her face (god he's timid) so he asked Ryosuke to give her his bouquet on his behalf

I KEPT SAYING THIS GUY NEVER HAS IT IN HIM TO "SCARE AI!!!!!!!!!" HE LIED IN 154 OUT OF GUILT BECAUSE HE THOUGHT AI AND AQUA WANTED REVENGE ON HIM!!! SEE!!! I'VE BEEN!!! RIGHT!!!! I'VE BEEN!!!!!!!!!!

This was already in the leaks last Fri, I basically felt the same way about these back then

and I got every part of these right except for the part that Kamiki befriended them. I just couldn't picture the people who killed Ai or would actively go hunt their daughter down being his friend..

but seeing how.. much he seems to trust people, he used to be that way as a child, it actually all ties so nicely together.

I predicted that it was Nino and Ryosuke who went to the hospital and killed Gorou.

I predicted that Kamiki just wanted to send the bouquet to congratulate Ai but he couldn't go because he was nervous/sad from the phone call. I said that ever since I started drawing hikaai fanarts, you would have seen me going on and on about that, I drew them with this as the base!!!! The guy Ai chose wouldn't do such a thing as trying to get back at her!!! See??

I couldn't be more right!!! I am a prophet!! I should trust myself!!!! why am I so unsure of myself, really. I really, really did get everything right.

These must be all true. He's not lying about any of this. I've been analyzing this guy very very thoroughly so I know what I'm talking about.

I guess what's confused me was the latter bits, since Fri and even after I see the full images.

Kamiki smiles and says he never wanted to hurt anyone<this is really how I view him as well, this guy can't hurt people out of his own will...

However, Aqua dismisses Kamiki's statements as lies on the spot, and accuses him of having been unable to protect his own daughter. That he's been intentionally manipulated people to get what he wants. That would involve him causing people to kill each other without dirtying his hands.

Upon hearing Aqua stating "You wanted to kill your own daughter", Kamiki makes this really eerie smile (I kind of wish this is redrawn hshsh.. it looks like he's a demon spawn from hell, but this could REALLY be him being distressed yet AGAIN. this guy SMILES when he's that way. That's his coping mechanism. It's kind of hard to stare at that expression but that smile certainly ISN'T a happy one like the one we saw in 159. This is a really confusing habit he has. People are going to take him the wrong way but; sadly, it's become a habit of his...)

The scenes then shifts to visions of him manipulating nino and Ryosuke into doing what they've done with a smile. If this is really what's happened, then he IS someone pretty evil-

but now that I read it over I think that's just based on Aqua's interpretations about the guy.

Is what's being portrayed in those pages ACTUALLY how he is? Just yesterday, I theorized that Kamiki loves his children and has been doing whatever he's been doing for his children. I did have my reasons for making that claim.

We still don't know what his motives are!! Aqua doesn't state anything about why Kamiki would do such a thing if he's done so. Does he know anything about this??? Just what reason would make it.. enough to have someone kill the love of their life and their very daughter? What good would it do for Kamiki? For one thing, does he have ANY good reason to kill Ai at all? For having felt betrayed?? Then why wait out that long????? Killing their daughter? After having her live for, how long now? how old are they now? 15?? 16? Why now? Why would he??

The important thing would be just WHY he'd be doing all those things if he's really been so, so WHAT IS IT AQUA?? WHAT??

Forgot to mention this but in the beginning of the chapter, we have kamiki saying, Hm, but what did I do? Did I "stab someone?" did I "push someone off a cliff?" I never "did" "anything".

Then we have Nino going "Kamiki-san didn't do anything. He just talked about Ai. He talked about her so we(her and Ryosuke) wouldn't forget about her. That was enough to make us break."

OH come on. COME ON. HUH. I feel like he's never told them anything bad about Ai, he probably let out how much he loved and misses her, because he thought they were her fan and coworkers as a fellow member, I bet he was happy to befriend people who knew about Ai because they share a common interest together. With it being his favorite person in the world even while he was dumped.

What a stupid reason, Nino. You brought everything upon yourself. I can see that now.

I do think.. kamiki has some sort of power that causes people to grow insane or act out, that could have had some influence on ryosuke and nino in a way...

but again, why would he try to kill his lover and his daughter even if he can use it with his own accord??? Even if he's using those powers now?? Would he use it to do those respective things?

Even if he has those, that shouldn't be all there is to it. According to Kamiki, they were already obsessed with Ai when they approached him and YEAH! Makes sense?? They came to him first, probably already aware that he was Ai's lover?? He isn't responsible for them hoarding those kinds of feelings!!

Coming to think of it, I find it really strange that he still hung with nino being the complete wreck she is. Oh wait, I guess he still could. Ryosuke killed Ai and Nino doesn't seem to have played a part with that. Nino was there with Ryosuke when Gorou died but she's not the one who's pushed him off a cliff. Ryosuke's the really...horrible one. He had a pretty gf like nino JUST WHY. Then again, nino was obsessed w Ai too so they were a match. I guess Kamiki hanged with Nino thinking she's just another victim who wants Ai back or whatever. He still hangs with her when she says that are super creepy like she can't forgive Ruby if she surpasses Ai though.. Perhaps he's really bad at letting people go.. OH, YEAH. He was always pretty attached to people as a child. Okay, I got that part cleared up on my own. Stream of consciousness is like this. It can happen.

Continuing on!! Aqua says Kamiki is a "despicable, selfish liar, worse than a murderer". Even Kamiki can't smile hearing that. If he ISN'T one, then that'd hurt.

Well, he responds again, saying:

"Ah, yes. You're the same way as I am. You share those same eyes I have. The type of eyes that grant the power to persuade others into believing you. The eyes that grant you charisma, befitting that of a star." Then we see a panel with Ai, "The eyes of liars, that fool, and make others submit to you"

he must be thinking of what Ai's told him when she talked to him about having the same eyes. (CH 140)

"You've been inciting people just like I have, right? Just how many people did you fool to fulfill your goal?"

"It must have felt good to use your talents to impact the lives of others, right?"

I'm not sure if this is a taunt/mockery or just him stating the facts as a liar/a black star user himself.

If he's thinking about Ai... then it can be the latter. She approached him saying "they are the same". He could be thinking about that.

Actually, he's strangely calm. His emotions are a bit hard to read on this one, I'd say it actually feels collected compared to what he's heard.

This could actually be sympathy or empathy...

I didn't take it that way when I first encountered it, so I felt.. Kamiki could be lashing out a bit but no. That doesn't seem to be it.

Hey, he really never gets angry. He actually looks a bit sad depending on how you look at it, I think he may be feeling a sense of guilt in that particular panel where he says "Just how many people did you fool to fulfill your goal?", the one where he glances down,

just like how he talked to Aqua in 152, "It's a lie, isn't it? it's because they're important that you keep your distance from them. why would you go that far to bottle yourself up?"

This guy understands his son really well. In fact, I think he may be trying to say, "we're the same=I understand the way you are, we're on the same track" the way Ai's done for him. That's what was his salvation.

Aqua does not take this well.

He says yeah, we're both terrible beings, but Ruby is "different".

Oh, and the rest.. what's stood out to me is the panel where Aqua goes,

"sending love to the one who desires for love" as he describes what Ruby is doing. Kamiki shows up in that panel.. This is what Ai wanted to do for him.

and there's a panel that comes up that shows Ai with the twins that follows right after saying:

"it's the eyes of the one who desires to love someone"

This is really sad. I think that page actually indicates Ai desired to love him while he desired to be loved from Ai. That happened both ways. It was a nice page.

Yeah, and Aqua points his knife to his dad like a toy gun saying

"You must disappear right here and now, for Ruby's sake."

I don't think Aqua's actually up to stabbing him, actually? If he's pointing the knife at him like that, I think it's more like he's warning him to stay out of their way forever, scram, or just go die off on his own.

Both of his eyes are white, he's not going to kill him with his own hands, rather, he's going to make him go away.

So I don't think next chapter would start on a fierce note? Kamiki does not seem like a guy that gets agitated so easily. He STILL never once got angry in this chapter as well. He's still pretty sweet to his son. I'm not being biased on this, the way he talks has always been really soft. If this were to be an anime, you'd hear how he'd talk and see whether if he has thorns in them but I don't think it's that way at least, I think he's trying to be understanding??

This guy is soft. He will not put up a fight. I don't know, he may jump off that bridge and try to die maybe. If that's what his son wants? Move out of the way? He doesn't seem.. angry about it all. He's not even protesting.

In the end, the only thing that got proven in this chapter was that Kamiki DID NOT DO ANYTHING IN A PHYSICAL SENSE, AND HE DIDN'T TRY TO SCARE AI.

the fact about him manipulating people and lying to get his way, I think there's low chance of it being applied for Ruby and Ai's case.

I think he really didn't have a clue Nino would attack Ruby? If he's considered her as a friend?

what are the basis of Aqua picturing him that way? He must really hate his dad. There is no way he could have seen such things happen. Unless Tsukuyomi told him about it?? there is no proof that it's what's actually been taken place. Kamiki could have incited people, or influenced others, yeah, but I don't think he did anything to Ai or his daughter. Again, I think he loves his family. Why wouldn't he??

Until things get cleared up more, I???? I ACTUALLY?? think Kamiki's taking it in a really calm manner despite all the things he's being accused of??

This is very long, but that is all for now!!

Oh, this was worth revisiting and analyzing. There's a lot more I see when I scrutinize it like this!!

[navree]

I saw your post from a while ago were you rewrote hotd using the vague outline of the show can i ask what your ideal hotd season 1 would be like keeping the same episode count but ignoring everything else???

So, I'm gonna assume that by HOTD you do still mean the vaguest "it's about the Dance of Dragons" plot because honestly my ideal HOTD show would have been a Conquest show because those are my babies and I have a LOT of thoughts and it's a crying shame that HBO did not hire me for it (which I can get into in how I'd make that show if you want, lol). But, assuming we're doing the Dance, then I'll explain how season 1 would go from my perspective.

(also apologies, I just got back from a sushi restaurant with my mother and I'm two cocktails deep so there may be some grammatical errors)

Episode One - I'll just link back to what I wrote in this response, because that's still the same. I actually really like the bones of the show, especially changing the Rhaenicent relationship to make it what it is, I think that is more interesting for a longform narrative like a TV show. But basically, the pilot is entirely the same except for the fact that 1) Daemon and Mysaria get an introduction that's just them observing one of Mysaria's customers behind a curtain, being voyeuristic and conniving but not engaging themselves and 2) there is no prophecy. Verbatim from my first response: "I'm not against the idea that Aegon might have had ulterior motives beyond simple Conquest, and we know that Targaryens are capable of having prophetic abilities, but no this should not have been a secret passed down through generations for some fucking reason because that's stupid. And most importantly, considering that HOTD needed to succeed in spite of Game of Thrones, not because of it, because of how awful the last season was and how immediately it faded from the public consciousness and stopped being relevant as a result, the show should honestly not be so frequently be calling back to a disappointing aspect of the show. "A Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne" ok but she wasn't and the Long Night ended because some rando had a good ten yard jump according to D&D cuz they wanted to "subvert expectations" stop reminding me of that if I want to be enjoying this new show." Not to mention that it doesn't make sense because the succession was shot to Hell almost immediately for the Targaryens, Aenys likely would have passed that secret down to Aegon the Uncrowned, who died before he could tell anyone anything, Jaehaerys was an unlikely heir, he didn't know about any prophecy, God this was dumb. Also, again, Rhaenys would get her own introduction, I imagine maybe visiting her cousin Aemma as she nears labor when Viserys comes in, ranting about something that happened at the Small Council, where Rhaenys gets an opportunity to show better political acumen and make it clear that Viserys was the wrong choice for the crown.

Episode Two - This is the first episode where we hear Otto talk to Alicent about going to the king for comfort, that would be nixed from the first episode. As with the show, we see that Alicent is deeply uncomfortable with this, and there's gonna be a lot more emphasis on Viserys's own manipulation and how it parallels modern ways men groom young girls, talking about not telling anyone cuz they wouldn't understand, pointing out Alicent's maturity especially when compared to Rhaenyra (who is her age), etc. Meanwhile, the plot on Dragonstone is one that Daemon and Mysaria hatch together, albeit for different reasons (Daemon to get Viserys's attention, Mysaria because she can see that tensions might be starting to boil over and wants to protect herself as best she can). The pregnancy is a fake, but the only one who really starts to think that is the Velaryons, particularly Rhaenys. She would get a scene at Driftmark with Corlys, to showcase again that she's really in touch with politics, where she believes that this is both a ploy to shore up power and get Viserys's attention, while both Corlys and her children listen in (this will be important later). Rhaenyra, meanwhile, is clearly struggling with her role as heir, and we'd get scenes showcasing that no one really takes her seriously and even Viserys still just sees her as a cupbearer rather than an heir. The only person, ironically, who really seems to want to help her and who she leans on for support in learning how to do things, like appointing Kingsguard knights (which happens same as the show), is Otto. She really leans on Otto, as not just the Hand of the King but her friend's father, who she believes has her best interests at heart. The episode still ends the same though, with Viserys announcing in Council, in front of Rhaenyra (though he's never consulted her this time) that he will marry Alicent, to her shock and horror.

Episode Three - Not to be self-indulgent, but the bulk of this episode is going to be like my fic Spring's End, because I was correct in everything I wrote here so go read that also because I wrote it in like two days and it somehow turned out semi-coherent. That's the main crux of the episode, focusing on Alicent's reaction and really hammering home things like Viserys's inappropriate behavior, Otto's love in conflict with his ambition, and the tension between her increasingly important but isolated status at court, as well as starting the sort of Lancelot and Guinevere relationship she will have with Criston. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra is spiraling, hard, about the fact that her father is marrying her friend and still not taking her seriously, along with feeling like she was duped by Otto in that he allowed her to depend on him while seemingly scheming to get someone else on the throne in her place. And it's in this mindset that Rhaenyra decides to go to Dragonstone to confront Daemon herself, without any backup. The two have a heated verbal confrontation about Daemon's antics, and Viserys naming Rhaenyra heir, and even the fact that it doesn't matter, because he's marrying Alicent Hightower, and Rhaenyra has a moment where she tells him that Alicent will likely have sons, and Daemon will never be heir. This clearly cuts to Daemon, and he just decides to give up the dragon eggs and turns away. Rhaenyra has scored a victory, and she feels triumphant, but also hollow (foreshadowing). Daemon meanwhile decides to send Mysaria away, and it's left debatable how much is just because his plan failed and also because he does feel he's put her in danger for nothing, and decides to go to Driftmark. Back at King's Landing, Viserys learns of what Rhaenyra has done during dinner, and summons her to lambast her about it, before Alicent cuts in and points out that Rhaenyra diffusing the situation, while careless, did avoid a conflict that could hurt innocent civilians (this would precipitate the semi-reconciliation that shows up later). Viserys here is clearly torn between a sort of pride in his daughter, but also feeling that she behaved badly, and Rhaenyra is still angry at him but wants his approval. On Driftmark, Daemon and Corlys disparage Viserys and make plans to at least go deal with the Triarchy, which, while not hyped up nearly as much in the show, has at least been mentioned. Daemon also has a moment with Laena Velaryon, who here is the same age as Alicent and Rhaenyra. They notice Vhagar in the distance, talk about dragons and freedom, and Laena makes plain that she intends to claim a dragon for herself, as her mother's daughter, even dropping names like the Cannibal, which certainly piques Daemon's interest. The wedding between Viserys and Alicent goes off, though we are getting that deleted scene where Rhaenyra helps Alicent get ready, because I really wish we could have seen that or at least been told it happened before I wrote Spring's End.

Episode Four - Queen Alicent is pregnant, near term, and the court is alight with speculation as to whether it will be a princess or a prince. Rhaenyra is unsure of how to feel about it, and is trying to navigate the friendship, uncertain though it is, with the fact that Alicent is now the queen. She's gotten closer to Criston Cole, who seems to be primarily on bodyguard duty for the queen or the princess depending on the day, as well as Laena Velaryon, who is at court with her mother, who has informally taken Corlys's place on the Small Council now that he's in the Stepstones with Daemon; this is another way to show that Rhaenys is better at this than Viserys, and there are even moments where the Council is more in agreement with her than him. Meanwhile, the Stepstones aren't gonna be touched on much beyond maybe the final battle and some occasional references, except to show Daemon's military prowess and also Corlys's brilliance in strategy, as well as Corlys's frequent correspondences with Rhaenys, to highlight their cohesion. Meanwhile, in King's Landing, the Strongs have also arrived at the capital. Rhaenyra sees Harwin doing, idk, horse stuff or something medieval and masculine, and is quite taken with him, and they strike up some conversations. Larys, with his disability, finds himself interacting with the ladies of court most, especially Alicent, and the two form a sort of friendship surrounding engaging each other's minds, and they both enjoy that they're the only ones who seem to treat the other as an actual person, rather than the pregnant wife or the disabled second son. Rhaenyra's frank and open conversations with Harwin, on the other hand, embolden her, and we get that scene where she seduces Criston, and there's a lot more play with the fact that Criston is interested and does want it, but is held back by vows before giving in to desire (also, we're just going to put a lot more emphasis on Criston's religious convictions in this version of the show, especially during his convocation in episode two when he joins the Kingsguard). Towards the end of the episode, Alicent goes into labor. Viserys and Rhaenyra share a bonding moment about their worries for Alicent's safety and the reminders of Aemma and what happened to her, and for a moment it looks as though Viserys is goign to tell Rhaenyra what he did to her mother. Rhaenyra also gets a moment where she holds Alicent's hand during labor, and we see her simultaneous love for Alicent in that as well as her clear discomfort with the concept of this being her own fate. And then Alicent delivers a son, a direct challenge to Rhaenyra's claim.

Episode Five - A big thing that's going to happen in this episode is that this is where Laena claims Vhagar. She's at Driftmark for it (foreshadowing) and, given that we've seen her in episodes three and four, it becomes clear that Vhagar is following Laena specifically. So we get to see the claiming, and Laena's own power in that. That's something that, as Daemon returns to Driftmark with Corlys, he's going to learn about, and he's going to be very intrigued by that, and taken with Laena. Another thing we're going to see is Corlys's negotiations with allies he made in Essos during his time away, arranging a betrothal between Laena and the son of the Sealord of Braavos. Rhaenyra's plotline, on the other hand, is going to be about her asserting her own power, especially now that her father has a trueborn son named Aegon Targaryen, which is a direct threat. She has a moment with her father where she directly tells him that, as his heir, she's not just going to be his cupbearer, but deserves a seat at his Small Council. He acquiesces, and Rhaenyra butts heads with Otto a lot, and pushes hard for Harwin Strong to be made captain of the Gold Cloaks, and succeeds. This is coincides with Otto hearing rumors that Rhaenyra has been behaving inappropriately with men, especially Harwin and Criston Cole. He discusses these with Alicent, who refuses to believe that of both Criston and Rhaenyra, given that Criston is spending more time with her as her bodyguard as he struggles with his "sin". She does have that scene in the godswood with Rhaenyra, but instead of issues with Daemon, it's just saying that there are rumors spreading about her behavior and that Rhaenyra must have care with her reputation. Rhaenyra figures out it's Otto who's informing Alicent, and the mood here is complex; Alicent does want to look out for Rhaenyra but also wants to ascertain the truth, and Rhaenyra both sees and feels emotional about Alicent's care but also isn't sure if she can trust Alicent. Rhaenyra keeps that moment where she swears on the memory of her mother that nothing untoward happened, but this time it's an out and out lie, to showcase the way she handles issues that might harm her and her position, lie and deny (foreshadowing). There's also gonna be a scene, before the godswood, where Rhaenyra and Alicent talk about motherhood, and we see more of Rhaenyra's complex feelings on the topic, and she does admit she was worried Alicent would die in childbirth like Aemma.

Episode Six - It's Aegon's name day, and we can clearly see that Alicent is pregnant again, not as far along as she is in the show during episode three but at least starting to have a bump. And it's here that Daemon decides to make his return to court, and dramatically offer Viserys his crown and say that any title about the Narrow Sea means nothing to him, because Viserys is his true king. I'd add a lot more scenes of Viserys and Daemon in this episode, because remember, we haven't seen them interact since the first episode, and also to really highlight how there is a genuine affection here, especially on Daemon's part. Daemon and Rhaenyra also reconnect, and have a lot of conversations in the vein we see in the original episode 4, talking about how they can do whatever they want because they're Targaryens. It's heavily flirtatious, and we do get that scene of Daemon taking Rhaenyra into the city. Here, there is more an emphasis on Daemon really just wanting Rhaenyra to enjoy herself, since we'd have another scene between him and Laena at court, though more stilted because her intended, the son of the Sealord, is here too. But after that scene where the commons show more enthusiasm for baby Aegon than her, Rhaenyra and Daemon return, and Rhaenyra has a blunt moment about her struggles to be taken seriously. It gets pretty hot and heavy, and it's not in a private room, but one of the corridors. And lo and behold, who hears about it, but Otto. And this time, he takes his issues to the king, who does summon Rhaenyra to discuss it. Rhaenyra turns it around on Viserys, accusing him of abandoning her now that he has a son, and mentions that Otto has been spreading rumors not just about her and Daemon, but her and Harwin and her and Criston, and that she feels that Otto is no friend to the crown if he's going to impugn her own honor this way. Viserys discusses these allegations with Alicent as she's taking care of him, in earshot of Criston, who is horrified about being found out. But we get that moment from the show, where Alicent goes to bat for Rhaenyra, and points out that maybe Daemon was spreading some rumors himself. An emotionally exhausted Rhaenyra also gets a scene with Rhaenys, and they discuss the concept of being allowed to inherit, of inhabiting a man's position even though they are not men and cannot act like it, and the nature of Targaryens vs other Westerosi. Also there's a scene this ep in reference to a deleted scene from the original show where Rhaenyra is playing with toddler Aegon and getting him to say her name, a sweet moment between a brother and sister.

Episode Seven - Helaena has been born and is a few months old, and Rhaenyra and Otto are butting heads on the Small Council more and more, and as Daemon and Rhaenyra continue to spend time together, Otto continues to bring his concerns to the king. Eventually, Viserys fires Otto as the Hand, at Rhaenyra's insistence, and we do get that scene from the show between Otto and Alicent where he stresses that he doesn't think Rhaenyra could ever ascend, and that whole bit Rhys Ifans was talking about with how Otto wants to say "I love you and I'm scared for you" but doesn't know how. Alicent, feeling vexed that there are rumors about Daemon's behavior but nothing is happening, strongly urges Viserys to also send Daemon back to the Vale with Rhea Royce, saying that his habits endanger the Targaryens by engendering enmity in the smallfolk who feel that he's just allowed to act with impunity. Viserys also agrees to this, which Rhaenyra is not happy about, since it feels like Alicent removed an ally to her for no reason. Criston, meanwhile, we see continue to spiral about his tryst to Rhaenyra and the fallout of the lies involved, and goes to Alicent to ask if he can be in her service, and not have to spend time with Rhaenyra anymore. Alicent, who can see that he's upset about something, readily agrees, which drives a further wedge between her and Alicent. Rhaenyra turns to Laena Velaryon, who isn't particularly enthused about her betrothal to the son of the Sealord, and also to Harwin Strong just as a companion. After dinner with Laena and Rhaenys, Rhaenyra decides that she needs to take a husband to solidify her claim, especially with gossip at court that the king still summons the queen to his bedchamber in spite of having two children, which Rhaenyra does remain disgusted by. She goes to Viserys with the proposal that she tour the realm to find a suitable husband for the heir to the Iron Throne, and Viserys says nothing about her using that title, but agrees.

Episode Eight - Rhaenyra has been touring the Kingdoms, trying to find a husband, and it's not going well. She does go to the Vale, under the auspices of looking for a husband from that area, but mostly still to talk with Daemon. Laena also frequents the Vale, and the three of them tend to race their dragons, and Rhaenyra does notice that there's a simmering attraction between Laena and Daemon, which she calls Daemon out on, saying that, as Princess, she has no interest in playing second fiddle before she eventually departs the Vale. This leaves Daemon to confront what he does actually want out of a potential alliance with the Velaryons and the longstanding attraction with Laena (and maybe this leads him to killing Rhea? i'm conflicted on that one honestly but she does die in this episode, either accidentally like in the book or in a murkier version of what Daemon did in the show, maybe him just spooking her horse without bashing her head in with a rock). In King's Landing, Viserys grows increasingly infirm due to his various Iron Throne issues (yes I'm keeping that), and as such, Alicent has started accompanying him to Small Council meetings, which a lot of people are conflicted about. At first, we see her not doing much, but she eventually starts speaking out more and more. And at one point in the episode, Viserys is going to have an amputation, one that lays him up in bed for a bit, and Alicent still attends the Small Council in his place to speak for him. When someone points out that it is the Hand who speaks for the king, Alicent retorts that who knows the king better, and can thus speak for him best, than his own wife and, crucially (and the first time she ever flexes like this) the mother of his only son. At Driftmark, Rhaenys is back to ruling there, given that Corlys is back on the Small Council, and is definitely bitter about it. That's when Rhaenyra arrives, and offers a proposal: that she marry Laenor, and their first son be a Targaryen heir, while the others would stand to inherit Driftmark and other Velaryon properties as Velaryons. Rhaenys agrees to this, only writing a letter of the proposal to Corlys after she's done so to inform him that it's happening. Rhaenyra also gets more moments with Harwin in this episode, to build up to their relationship, and an important moment comes when she confides her issues with childbirth and childrearing after watching what it did to her mother.

Episode Nine - Rhaenyra arrives and is a bit weirded out to learn that Alicent is now on the Small Council too. The first meeting they have, where Rhaenyra discusses her marriage to Laenor, is a bit tense between them, and definitely awkward, but there's still an attempt at politeness. Rhaenyra has her talk with Laenor about different tastes, but she does also stress the importance that she does need an heir, so there will need to be duties performed on occasion to create one. Laena, meanwhile, is very not happy about Laenor's marriage and the bargain it includes, talking to her mother about how, if Rhaenyra can be the heir to the Iron Throne regardless of gender, then she, as Laenor's older sister, should be the one to inherit Driftmark and be the Lady of the Tides, and so should her own children. Rhaenys says that it's not going to happen, that Rhaenyra is only a solitary exception due to Targaryen nature, and Laena bluntly puts that it's a ridiculous thing to have it only be Rhaenyra, and that what would be the point of it at all if it didn't lead to larger change, otherwise the entire enterprise is doomed to failure (foreshadowing). Back in King's Landing, Criston Cole, whose arc this season has been about his religious convictions and how it feels to have betrayed those and seen the fallout, eventually cracks and confesses to Alicent, doing that whole "it's my sin but as a clement queen give me a quick death" moment. And Alicent is again betrayed at the fact that Rhaenyra lied, and the fallout from that lie for her and what that means about Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra, meanwhile, has a late night talk with Harwin about having to choose a husband when there wouldn't be an expectation of her to choose a wife if she were a man, and Harwin is genuinely sympathetic, leading to a spontaneous kiss. When the rehearsal dinner happens later, Rhaenyra is dressed in her house colors, dramatic Targaryen red and black, but Alicent arrives in a dazzling green dress, the colors of Oldtown at war. She gives a smile to Hightower relatives, yes, but the conversation about how she's grown into queenship is actually had with Tyland Lannister, who we'd have seen her interact with on occasion at the Small Council. Rhaenyra clocks Alicent's coolness towards her, and the two have a private moment when left alone on the dais while Viserys does, idk, something, and Alicent makes a cold callback to Rhaenyra swearing on Aemma's memory, letting her know that she knows of the lies and she's angry.

Episode Ten - It is the wedding day of Rhaenyra and Laenor, and everyone is here, the Velaryons and the son of the Sealord and all the Strongs and all the retinues of the Houses and even Otto is here as a guest, given that he is the father of the queen. Before a tourney to celebrate the impending nuptials, Rhaenyra and Harwin have a talk about their feelings, and Rhaenyra does stress that she wants him but it has to be discreet because of her position, but she does have an understanding with Laenor, and the two share another kiss. Meanwhile, Alicent, just to be petty, tells Viserys she feels that she's pregnant again, and that it's another boy, and Viserys, because he's a moron, actually announces this before the tourney. This is the tourney where, in the mélee, Criston Cole kills Laenor's lover Joffrey, to Laenor's shock and horror. Laenor and Rhaenyra are both immediately calling for consequences, but Alicent comes in for Criston, saying that it's an armed mélee and thus there's a natural acceptance of risk, which Joffrey knew, and Viserys lets the whole thing slide. This casts a pall over the wedding ceremony, and during the feast that night, Laenor is still dejected, which is why Rhaenyra goes to dance with others, like Harwin, and Daemon, who has been invited, and the two have another sexually charged moment. Daemon also dances with Laena, and bluntly asks her whether she wants to be married to the son of the Sealord, and she says no, and makes a comment about wanting Vhagar to eat him. The Sealord gets a bit uppity about someone else dancing with his bride to be, words are exchanged between him and Daemon, and it eventually breaks out into an actual fight. Alicent impulsively calls out for Rhaenyra, and Harwin does go to remove her, and Rhaenyra does have a moment where the first thing she does is check if Alicent herself is unharmed, showing that even with the worsening relationship that we've seen crack apart, there's still love there. Daemon eventually kills the son of the Sealord as Viserys, who again has been having those health problems all season like in the original show, passes out. This allows both Daemon and Criston Cole to sneak out unnoticed, and Criston, like in the show, is going to kill himself. Again, we've seen him kinda spiral all season, and after now killing someone too, not in combat but in a game, he feels at his lowest. And like in the show, Alicent stops him, though we do seem her kneel in the grass and take the knife from his hands. Alicent and Rhaenyra both then go to stay by Viserys, and we see them arrive at the same time before they sit on opposite sides of his bed. And here I will ape myself and my original answer again: "Episode ends with Daemon saddling Caraxes, ready to ride away before someone thinks "hey maybe we should imprison the guy who killed a foreign ally's leader", and then suddenly a great shadow blocks out the sun. Suddenly Vhagar lands in front of him, Laena atop her, and Daemon thinks, oh shit is she gonna try and fight me for killing her betrothed? He's still on the ground, and suddenly Laena climbs down from Vhagar to join him there. She doesn't say anything, but she smiles at him, and Daemon bends to kiss her hand." Meanwhile, at Viserys's sickbed, you have Rhaenyra, the Velaryons (minus Laena), and Harwin on one side, and Alicent, Larys, Otto, the Lannisters, Criston, and two attendants holding Aegon and Helaena on another. It's interspersed with a shot of Caraxes and Vhagar taking flight, almost dancing in the air, and their calls intermingle with baby Aegon beginning to cry. The dragons are dancing, the Targaryens are choosing side, and children are already weeping; th war may not have started yet, but it is already here. As Vhagar's wing eclipses the camera as she flies away, episode ends.

So this is uhhhhh not my best work as I'm making it up on the fly as I write this, but here ya go, HOTD season 1 if I were allowed to be showrunner. I'm not sure how coherent this all is, or if I got across all I wanted to. TL;DR here is that I would put a lot more focus on Alicent and Rhaenyra's relationship and its slow, gradual disintegration, as well as establishing the burgeoning sides that are going to be taken, along with adding more complexity to characters that were left by the wayside in the original show. But hope you liked it!

[pigeonleap]

YOUR FANCLANS ARE SO COOL!!!! i cant wait to see more of them omg! could you share some more on the clairvoyants/prophets and their pilgrimages up the mountain? :o also, did you have anywhere specific in colorado in mind when mapping? it looks gorgeous! and i love the landmark names omg, how'd you come up with those? sorry for all the questions im just very excited about these guys!

YAY thank you so much that means a ton! you're enabling my infodumping I'm about to write 1500 words (serious). Don't ever worry about asking too many ST questions it's all i think about.

Here's a MSPAINT doodle of the girls. hope nothing bad ever happens to them

easy questions first!

ST's set in the northern Colorado Rockies where they border the Great Plains. Somewhere unpopulated in the northern Front Range!

Landmark names are usually named after past leaders/healers/deputies of the Clans, who I just made up on the spot (except I have a Blizzard playthrough on Clangen so I used some of those leaders and important cats.) To come up with a lot of the names I researched local fauna. Colorado has a LOT of elk and a lot of large carnivores! Summer Thunder has a storm motif (did you know) so a lot of the place names have to do with that

I'm going to go ahead and put the Clairvoyant/Prophet stuff under a cut because I write headcanons as I go and it gets so lengthy lol.

SORRY IN ADVANCE. this is like 3/4 just for me so i can put it in my document

Clairvoyants are the cats who would have "a strong connection to StarClan" in canon text. StarClan (usually called the Stars in-universe) are not an explicit thing or confirmed. There is something spiritual going on, but it's a lot more like a Primal Force than it is "My Dead Aunt Says Hello To Me In My Dreams." The technical name for cats who are tuned in to this spirituality is "Clairvoyants", though it's an ambiguous label and not something that ever puts cats into a group. Most cats aren't clairvoyant or are to a very low degree (this works since level of clairvoyance in any universe doesn't affect how much you believe in a higher power).

Prophets, a role found only in StormClan, are kind of like canon Medicine Cats except I separated the role into its composite Prophet and Healer. Some cats are both, in which case they'll call themselves whichever one makes more sense - usually Prophet because it's rarer and so it can feel closer to your identity. A Prophet is sort of like how Ancient Greek Oracles were. They are rare and usually have a medium to extremely high level of Clairvoyance. (ex. Leafpool, Goosefeather.) Their role, like medcats, is to speak as the Stars' voice and share wisdom with the Clan. The Stars do not "give prophecies" in the literal sense that they do in canon - cats interpret things how they will, like we would in real life. It's easy to think of an omen or prophecy if you want to hear one.

Storm cats just take it really seriously because they REALLY love the Stars. They have a higher genetic predisposition of Clairvoyants, so they have become really connected to spirituality and piety. They believe in fate and destiny and will use the Stars to justify any achievement. Naming ceremonies often go like "You are so lucky to be blessed by the Stars with such amazing jumping skills - your new name will be Pigeonleap." (Maybe Pigeonleap just got really good at jumping because he trained for his entire apprenticeship. It doesn't matter. It's the Stars.)

Pilgrimages, which I may start calling something cool (like the Prophet's Ascent maybe?) are taken by aspiring Prophets when they want to prove their connection to the Stars. Prophets are usually apprenticed to someone who is also Clairvoyant/a Prophet or a Healer if there isn't one. When they reach the end of their apprenticeship they are sent to hike Cloud's Tooth via Thunder Ridge/Lightning Point. Usually their mentor will follow them as far as the path from the Ridge up to Lightning Point (I'm thinking this is like a day's hike), but the mentor in most cases has already done the hike and is not interested in doing it again.

Cloud's Tooth is tall (probably around 9-11,000ft???) and not too forgiving. Cats are sent when the weather is predicted to be good, but anyone who's been to the Rockies knows that can change in about five minutes. The Clans are crepuscular in my universe like regular cats, so, in the interest of safety, cats usually just try to hike the mountain during the day. It can be 7-9 hours to the summit. They spend the night at the top and the Stars speak to them (whatever that means for the particular cat.) No one else except Prophets hikes this mountain, not even people - it's rocky, without water in most places, and very windy. And slick when wet. And worse when snowy. And you'll notice all the surrounding landmarks have something to do with storms.

That being said - a cat who makes it up and down again is pretty much guaranteed the Prophet role. Otherwise, they probably just fell to Stardom down a scree slope.

[voxofthevoid]

I would love to get a closer look at your thoughts about choso's characterization with #09. (That is the correct title, right?) The pieces you've given us of your viewpoint of him are very chewy.

It is! I'm delighted you remembered the name 💜 And it's great to know you find those bits chewy.

The thing with characterization is that I tend to figure it out via writing. My first JJK fic helped me nail Gojou, the second Yuuji, and prophetic self-destruction is how I dug into Chōsō. IIRC, I started writing this shortly after everyone regrouped after the Megumikuna incident to unseal Gojou. In addition to Chōsō's...everything regarding Yuuji, something that really caught my eye was the implication that Yuuji ate (or will eat) the remaining Death Paintings and that Chōsō was alright, even glad in a roundabout way, with it:

(Side note: That last panel, sweet jesus. Gege can't draw Chōsō looking at Yuuji with that expression and not expect me to go feral about it.)

Between these scenes and the ones at Shibuya, there's a lot to bite into. Chōsō exhibits an immense degree of devotion toward Yuuji, and brocon jokes aside, it isn't a healthy attitude. This isn't a complaint; no one in JJK is sane, and the ones who are don't seem very interesting. Chōsō seems to have made his brothers his raison d'etre; it's there from the first scenes with Esō and Kechizu, and it only becomes more obvious when you see how quickly and intensely he latches onto Yuuji. And fair enough! The guy spent 150 years as a sentient shrunken fetus. There are worse coping mechanisms. I also like that his attachment and adoration toward Yuuji don't manifest as over-protectiveness or possessiveness. Like I said above, it's devotion that characterizes Chōsō—but it's also somewhat one-sided.

Yuuji seems fond of Chōsō at the current point in canon, but there's still a clear imbalance there. Despite telling the others to think of Chōsō as his big brother, I don't think Yuuji has quite processed that himself. That also makes sense because he went from having no living family to a villainous mother and some very strange brothers, two of whom he killed, in the span of six fucking months (I'm assuming here that the near-death memory he has of Jin and Kaori is something he does remember now, as that scene and its aftermath heavily imply). Frankly, I don't think Yuuji's had time to sit down and think about half the shit that's happened to him during and after Shibuya. It might even be best for his sanity that he doesn't bother just yet. Point is, you get the sense that Yuuji values Chōsō as an ally and genuinely likes him as a person, but those feelings are nowhere near as intense as Chōsō's utter devotion. To quote myself from another ask I answered about chosoita, "that contrast of complete, immediate devotion and cautious, burgeoning affection makes me want to do unholy things to them both."

To situate all this in the context of prophetic self-destruction via some examples—

The narrative starts when Yuuji doesn't think Chōsō is his brother but knows that Chōsō believes it. When he initiates sex (as a sort of reciprocation for Chōsō letting Yuuji eat him), incest isn't even on his mind except as a "this might be weird to this guy" way. And when he later realizes they are blood relations, one of the first things he asks Chōsō is why he let Yuuji fuck him. This is the response:

“You…” Chōsō shrugs. “You asked.”

Later, once Gojou enters the picture, you have this exchange:

“Is that all it takes to get in your good books? Someone...caring about me?” “Gojou Satoru will never be in my good books,” Chōsō says, staring off into space with a dead-eyed expression that softens the next second as he refocuses on Yuuji.  “But I’m not a complicated person at all. I want my brothers happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. I don’t know or trust that man, but I do trust you. And if he makes you happy, I want that for you.”

(Don't worry, this fic still has chosoita and goyuu both as the endgame; the relationships just have different developments and dynamics.)

...I might have gotten a little carried away, but it comes down to the appeal of Chōsō's and Yuuji's starkly different feelings for each other and the differing degrees of their respective attachment.

[matriarchsdevotee-archive]

Twinrova theory:

Okay so the promised twinrova conspiracy theory. This comes with the standard caveat of I don't expect this to be played out on here and it seldom comes up anyway, but the jist of it is that, when I was beginning the Gerudo historia project, I made peace with the fact that Ganondorf probably wasn't going to be consistent with tribal trends and it was in my better interest to push it away and leave it to the gan stans to worry about. The Gerudo are one of the very few self-consistent tribes in Zelda, it's part of what attracts me to them as a writer, so I was decidedly unbothered if I found discrepancy with Gan's philosophy/customs/religious foundations, and so on.

The thing is, though... He's really not terribly inconsistent with them. Physically, he is of course very different than his sisters, but he does functionally look like what a male Gerudo would be expected to look like - extremely well--muscled, broad shouldered, red hair and yellow eyes (which, while uncommon, are seen among other Gerudo across games - it's essentially the human equivalent of Blue or green eyes). If Nintendo canon heights are to be believed, he's shorter than his countrywomen, but given that there's in-game flavor text that suggests Gerudo men tend to be sickly or weaker than their counterparts, that also tracks. He wears the same makeup that a Gerudo chieftain does across all his appearances as a man and even some of his later appearances as his monstrous form, Ganon (Red eyeshadow, black garb, and golden lipstick, gold being the color of religious figures amongst the Gerudo (see also Maike in botw and Nabooru)). He's certainly an extremist amongst his people, but it's not like the Gerudo are pro-Hyrule. Even Nabooru seems to be in the camp of "get Ganondorf out but so help me god if Hyrule tries to colonize us." Realistically, the most out of character trait that Ganondorf has as a Gerudo is his massive magical capabilities. Some Gerudo are minor prophets and they're often seen with magical weapons, but trust me when I say I have scoured the source material and Ganondorf is the only one who can wield traditional magic...

Except for his mothers. His white-haired, magical, extremely long-lived, surrogate mothers who have names that are intensely un-Gerudo, both at the time (Koume and Kotake don't share any phonetic similarities with Nabooru, Ganondorf or Aveil, and are blatantly just. Japanese names) and with the help of the Gerudo phonetics in Four Swords Adventures and Breath of the Wild (And acompannying breath of the wild companion games). His mothers, who have an even greater animosity for Hyrule than the rest of the Gerudo put together. Who have a distinct hatred for the royal family.

Anyway, what I'm alluding to is that the Twinrova are Sheikah.

I say this because, as consistent as Ganondorf is with his people, Koume and Kotake simply aren't. As we discussed, magical ability is very uncommon amongst the Gerudo, and their names share much more in common with Sheikah phonetics than they do (as the Sheikah names in botw often borrow Japanese phonetics) than they do Gerudo or even Hylian names. There are no other Gerudos with white hair. Very old Gerudo in Botw go pink and Ashai, who we can reasonably assume has a melanin issue of some kind due to her very light eyes and skin, has pink hair instead of red or white. In Four Swords Adventures, the Gerudo chief is pictured in her character art with red hair, though she's clearly aged elsewhere.  Even when they transform during their bossfight, they don't have red hair, as their youthful form would suggest. (This is weaker evidence, as it's pretty clear their design was more meant to mirror the fire/ice archetype, but the fact that the only Gerudo trait their son retains consistently when he transforms is his red hair leads me to believe this isn't entirely invalid).

Speaking of the transformation, that's something of an odd power, isn't it? Ganon doesn't transform as a disguise, but you know who does? Explicitly into a Gerudo?

This motherfucker.

During the Age of Calamity mission in which you recruit Urbosa, Kogha distracts the chieftain and is able to slip into Gerudo town in magical disguise in order to try to kill Zelda (Frankly, even if Urbosa hadn't arrived when she did, this wasn't going to end well as the Gerudo were already becoming suspicious, but I digress).

In conclusion, we have a pair of sisters with little relation to the tribe they allegedly belong to who raised a child specifically to violently despise Hyrule's royal family and train his power so he can destroy them, who phonetically, canonically, and in terms of design share much more in common with the Sheikah tribe than they do the Gerudo. Was this the intent? I'm willing to bet money that it absolutely was not, but you can pry it from my cold dead hands.

[funkymbtifiction]

What are your thoughts on Big James's typing? Despite being one of the headstrong "Sons of Thunder" (he and John remind me of Merry and Pippin from "The Lord of the Rings" in their strong brotherly bond) he seems less emotionally reactive than his impulsive and quick to jump into new ideas like his brother John is. While John gets excited by working for Jesus's ministry and working with the more cautious, Thomas as a pairing, his older brother gets more excited by the thought of tasting his mother's famous cinnamon cakes again and gets very jealous of John being excited to work with someone else except him, which causes a temporary strain on the brothers relationship.

While this may seem silly since Big James is considered one of the "Sons of Thunder", I wonder if maybe he may be a ESXJ, unlike his ENFP brother. He's more sheltered of the two headstrong brothers and gets very uncomfortable when too manybig changes happen in his life, unlike John who gets very excited by new ideas and trying new things.

The only thing against the SJ claim is that his father Zebadee complains that his sons aren't usually that quiet during the synagogue reading and senses something is wrong as a result. This suggests perhaps some SP on Big James as I believe a SJ would find it more respectful to be quiet during church, unless they are interacting with the church speaker or other members of their congregation in the moment.

I think he's an ISTJ 9w8 sp/so. He's extremely literal and sensible and gets confused or impatient and annoyed when Jesus is unclear or doesn't explain his meaning; he loves being at home and comforts, and his thoughts are centered around sensory activities -- home and his parents and cinnamon cakes. He's well-versed in Torah and knows many of its verses, better than his brother most of the time. I don't think fidgeting and "being bored" in the synagogue rules out SJ. :)

Mostly what stood out to me this season is his sp9-ness -- he just wants to go home and eat the cakes he enjoys and not have other people around taking up his parents' time and attention, which is self-soothing and peace and quiet and no disruptions. I'm on the fence about John, but his arrogance leans me more toward 3 over 2 as well -- I think he's caught up in the pride of how Important they are and how they are in the middle of new and exciting things!

Their dad is so incredibly chill, him being a 9w8 ESTP would not shock me. "Sure, go do stuff with a prophet! I'm gonna sell my fishing boat business and buy an olive grove now! But I'm not gonna worry too much about the lives not being up to snuff. It'll all work out..."

[sodiumlamp]

Picard

I just did the math, and Star Trek: Picard is approximately 22.5 fucking grueling hours, so that made me kind of sad.

This episode tries. It doesn't quite succeed, but I see the effort and I appreciate it. I'd like to believe that this marks a turning of the corner, and the rest of this season will get better, but it's too late to redeem this series, which currently stands as one of the all-time worst shows I've ever seen.

With a lot of bad media, I will often see apologists offering up defenses like "It had some good ideas, but they were poorly executed." And I have watched TV shows where that simply isn't true. The ideas were bad and the execution was bad, so it was bad all around. Picard, on the other hand, actually does have some pretty great ideas. There's a lot of stuff that would totally work if only it were being done anywhere else but here. And that's actually more tragic, because Star Trek Picard is like this graveyard where good ideas go to die. And of course, they're buried alongside a ton of bad ideas, which the show also has.

All right, so in this episode, they're stuck in the gravity well of a nebula that isn't actually a nebula, and they've only got four hours left to live. The gang have hit rock bottom, but they slowly start to dig their way out, which is kind of uplifting to see. Riker admits to Picard that he was right about not wanting to fight the Shrike. Picard spends some QT with his new son Jack Crusher. Seven and Captain Shaw have to work together to flush out the Changeling saboteur. Beverly figures out that the nebula is actually some sort of alien womb, because it's sending out energy pulses at regular intervals, comparable to a human experiencing contractions during childbirth.

I mean, that last part is pretty ridiculous, but I'll allow it, because it's on-brand for Star Trek. Still... I'm beginning to wonder if anyone in Starfleet has ever seen an actual nebula before. It just seems like this thing turned out to be very different from a nebula, which makes me wonder why anyone thought it was a nebula in the first place.

Anyway, they finally come up with a plan to use the energy pulses from the space-womb to carry the ship back out before they all die. It mostly relies on this weird premise that's also on-brand for Star Trek: that all starships can magically be drained of their power, or absorb power like a sponge. In this case, Bev can predict the next wave, so once they're prepared they can just time it right and use the power of the wave to re-energize the ship. When they escape, they're treated to a swarm of alien squid creatures born from the "nebula".

So what's the problem? Well, two main issues here. First, even though there's a happy ending to this crisis, this episode gets really fucking dark. The crew morale is in the toilet. Riker confesses that he's in a profound depression from the death of his son, so he left his family to get back into space just to try and feel something. He tries recording a message for his family when he thinks they're all going to die, and when the others come to him with their escape plan, he's so despondent that he thinks it would be better to wait for a rescue, because at least that way the ship might still be intact and they could leave something behind. I don't know what the hell happened between Season 1 and this, but that's a pretty dark mindset he's in.

We also learn that Jack approached Picard years ago, without telling him who he was, and asked Picard if he ever considered having a family, and Picard replies that Starfleet was the only family he ever needed, which would have been an innocuous comment except he was saying it to his son without even realizing it, so that's really grim. Also, Jack has some spooky hallucinations near the end of the episode. I guess he really is his father's son, since Picard had the prophetic dreams in Season 1 and the Silent Hill jumpscare flashbacks in Season 2.

Oh, and there's a lot of body bags in this thing. It's kind of tough to appreciate the Titan surviving this mess when you see so many crewmen who definitely did not survive it.

Oh, and Captain Shaw is high on painkillers and he finally opens up about why he's such a giant douche: Turns out he was at Wolf 359, and he and 50 of his closest friends had to figure out which ten of them got to use the only functioning escape pod. Did anyone actually die at Wolf 359? The way I remember it, there were a lot of broken hulls and the Enterprise scanned for life signs and found none. But Sikso got out and Shaw got out. Shaw describes himself as a "dipshit from Chicago," and I gotta admit, ripping off Ben Sisko's origin story is a pretty dipshit move. I'm voluntarily subjecting myself to Star Trek: Picard, so I can't judge.

Oh, right, there were two issues with this episode, but there was so much dark stuff in this one that I got sidetracked.

The other issue is that they just sort of blew off the original problem that got them in trouble in the first place: The Shrike. On their way out of the "nebula" they almost run right into it, but Riker uses the tractor beam to snag an asteroid and fling it into the Shrike before it can attack. It's kind of cool that he got his groove back and managed to one-shot this enemy that had seemed unstoppable a few hours earlier, but it also undermines all the buildup we had with the Shrike in the previous two episodes.

The Shrike's captain looks like she's auditioning for the role of Oswald Cobblepot. She acts like a maniac, and her ship is supposed to be loaded with incredibly powerful weapons. When Titan falls into the gravity well of the "nebula" she cuts off her own hand, which then turns into a floating head and it orders her to pursue the Titan and recover Jack Crusher at all costs, and she reluctantly obeys. The Shrike sucks and she sucks as a villain, and Episodes 2 and 3 sucked, but I assumed they were going somewhere with all of this. Instead, Riker throws a rock at them and that seems to solve everything.

I mean, they didn't destroy the Shrike, so maybe it comes back to menace Picard later, but we spent three episodes on it and I'm not impressed at all. I'm certainly not looking forward to a rematch.

Worf isn't in this one, which is pretty disappointing, but it allowed the episode to focus on the A-plot, which was a good thing. Also we get a day off from Raffi's nonsense. Wait, that means we'll probably have to get double the Raffi in the next episode. Where the fuck is Geordi, anyway? They promised us the whole TNG crew would reunite for Season 3, and we can barely get more than three of them in a single place. At least Worf and Troi are in the show, though. Data's not around, but he's dead, so what's Geordi's excuse?

[msanonymous]

Day 23: Are you making dua for anything specific? (Any dua you want us to make for you?)

Well, one duā that is always constant in my duā lists is may Allāh let us all the Muslim ummah reach Ramadan next year too. And may Allāh make us among the forgiven ones. But this year I have a really important (& tough I might add) exam right after Ramadan, which I think I'm gonna fail because I'm not prepared really well, so I'm making lots of duā for that too. If you guys would be kind enough to make it for me it'd be really really really helpful 🥹❤️‍🩹

May Allāh make it easy for all of the students who are appearing for exams in and/or after Ramadan.

Day 24: Share an Eid memory that sticks out to you! What kind of Eid traditions do you have?

Definitely the night before Eid. It feels so magical. Staying up all night, going to the rooftop, searching for the moon, help the ladies clean the whole house, helping with the Eid desserts, that one cousin who knows henna almost breaking her back 😭

Chand raat tradition is really the best!

Day 25: Who is a sahaba (companion of the prophet) that you feel inspired by? Can you share the story that inspires you?

Each and every one of them were inspiring in their own way. The way they held onto their faith despite being tortured, called out, harrassed. The way they were patient while going through tough trials and hardships. Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه spending his wealth on freeing the slaves that were tortured just for accepting Islam, going to that blind women's house doing all her house work, preparing food for all her children all that in secrecy. Khadija رضي الله عنها leaving all her comfort and luxuries, being the first to believe him (ﷺ). Fatima رضي الله عنها never getting to witness the peaceful days before Prophethood like her other siblings, being a 10 year old and treating her father's wounds. Bilal رضي الله عنه not stepping away from his beliefs despite being brutally tortured. I don't think I can pick a single one. All of them were inspiring in their own way. May Allāh be pleased with them all and gather us all with them in Jannatul Firdous.

Day 26: Mention your favorite story about the Prophet Muhammad, or which of his qualities you look up to the most.

His kindness, the way he went out of his way and treated people with kindness, even those who wronged him. I mean who among could face the person with a smile who is the reason your uncle isn't in this world anymore? Also the story of prophet's (ﷺ) son passing away: Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه reported: We entered the house of Abu Sayf along with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who was the husband of Ibrahim’s wet-nurse, upon him be peace. The Prophet (ﷺ) took hold of Ibrahim, kissed him, and smelled him. Then, we entered after that as Ibrahim was breathing his last breaths. It made the eyes of the Prophet (ﷺ) shed tears. Abdur Rahman ibn Awf رضي الله عنه said, “Even you, O Messenger of Allah?” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “O Ibn Awf, this is mercy.” Then, the Prophet (ﷺ) wept some more and he said, “Verily, the eyes shed tears and the heart is grieved, but we will not say anything except what is pleasing to our Lord. We are saddened by your departure, O Ibrahim.” the way it shows that we're allowed to grieve and shed tears that our prophet (ﷺ) did too. A lot of people think you're not allowed to do it, you should have sabr, sabr doesn't just mean being patient, you're allowed to feel things, you're allowed to cry, it's the mercy that our hearts are not hardened.

[hannahssimblr]

I keep seeing anons mention Doors and your screenshots from a Sims 3 story. What was it about?

omg! Doors was my second 'big' story written using sims, the first that I took to its own blog because I kept getting banned from the exchange. It was a wild ride. I wrote it when I was maybe seventeen and it's VERY silly and disjointed, I was not a girl with a plan, I just went with the flow of it and you could tell, but anyway, the synopsis is under the cut.

it's about a 17 year old girl called Kady Lawson whose parents recently got divorced. She and her mother move to the top floor an old Brownstone building in Bridgeport.

Kady immediately starts to experience strange happenings in the house, and wonders whether she and her mother are really alone... It begins with strange knocking on the wall of her bedroom that only gets worse and worse as time goes on. Then things start falling off the shelves in her bedroom and she becomes convinced that there's a poltergeist in her house.

She tries to explain this to her mother (an airhead) who obviously doesn't believe her.

Anyway, obviously things get way worse and the poltergeist kicks into high gear and starts throwing things at Kady and physically injuring her. She also notices a figure of a strange woman in the background of a family photo that definitely wasn't there before. Creep city, if you ask me.

Anyway, then one night Kady is trying to sleep when the lights of the city outside strangely dim and it goes deathly silent. The figure of a woman materialises in the corner of her bedroom and stares her. Kady is too afraid to move so she just stares back and prays that she will leave her alone. After several terrifying moments the woman floats towards the bookshelves in Kady's room, through them, and disappears into the wall. Kady, super smart gorl, pulls back the bookcases to revel *gasp!* a hidden door.

Kady goes through the door to find an array of desperately boring things, paintings, boxes, an easel, nothing of remote interest except for another door on the other side of this little crawl space. Brave girl, she steps through it to find...

The neighbour's apartment. It's a trendy loft that belongs to a guy called Tristan, who becomes Kady's sidekick in this mystery. This is pretty much when I decided to give up on the ghost thing and make it a love story instead, but I tried my best to keep the mystery going even though i no longer cared about it. Tristan is a former child actor who has escaped Lucky Palms for a secluded life in Bridgeport, away from his insane parents, his grief over his dead sister and his (obvious, but never explicitly stated) drug additions. "It's hell, like siberia except it's warmer" - he explained to her. He's way too old for her, but I guess when I was 17 I thought age gaps were hot and relationships between 17/18 year olds and 23 year olds were A-OK lmao.

Tristan is somehow okay with Kady busting into his private space, listens to her problems and quickly agrees to help her to solve the mystery, 'cause he's a kooky guy, he's seen crazier things, and he could use the entertainment. I was obsessed with him. He was the weirdest character I ever wrote, and I eventually got bullied by adult women on some writers forum because I made him too gross and weird and they didn't like it hahaha.

Kady and Tristan try to solve the mystery of the haunted house and come up against dead end after dead end. They find relatives of the former owners of the house, look through old photographs, do a ouija board and Kady has a series of prophetic dreams. Meanwhile she's like "This guy is the worst and also gross!! But he's kinda....??" and he's like "I'm disloyal and selfish and I don't believe in love so don't bother" They have a small falling out over things that go wrong on her 18th birthday and stop speaking.

Anyway then fucked up stuff starts happening in Tristan's apartment and he comes back to Kady to ask her for help. There are things moving around inside his mattress and writing appearing on his walls, including a message that seems to implicate a former owner of the brownstone for murder.

They eventually locate a musty old diary belonging to the woman of the house from the 1920s. She talks about how her husband has been eyeing up the hussy next door, and she is NOT happy about it. It details her discovery that her husband has built a passageway between their homes so he can sneak over in the night and cheat on her. (don't ask me how she never noticed him building the doors or not being in bed with her at night, I didn't think about these kinds of things. It was just the vibe.)

Tristan and Kady do more research (lots of research in this story, they're also aided by Kady being suddenly psychic for no reason) and uncover a death certificate for the hussy next door (Esther). Cause of death - blunt force trauma to the skull lmao.

Kady invites Tristan over for awkward coffee, and he comes in and steps on a creaky floorboard (the same floorboard that creaks in chapter one!! I was planning ahead a bit i guess) she has an idea. She grabs a hammer and yanks up the boards to uncover a mound of old dusty books. Boring! Except one of them *gasp* was in one of Kady's prophetic dreams!!

It is a journal belonging to the murdered woman (who is the ghost, btw) where she is documenting her pregnancy. As an aside, I'm cackling at this line from Tristan when he puts two and two together. “Didn’t Vera say something in her journal about Esther looking kinda fat?”

Thanks for that, insightful king .

They go back to the crawl space that divides their apartments and discover a box of baby things. Then they hear an unholy crash coming from Tristans room. They rush out to discover his things thrown about the place, wardrobe hanging open, clothes everywhere. The ghosts are at it again, boys. But Kady discovers a box at the bottom of his wardrobe. Because she's nosy and has to respect for privacy she opens it and discovers photos of his dead sister. Sad!

Kady and Tristan get another lead that the evil killer woman had ties to Appaloosa Plains. They take a fun road trip, get a motel, and obviously I decided to pull a 'there was only one bed' move because it was the style at the time.

Adorable, inappropriate age gap, power imbalance love <3

(actually there were two beds, but they end up using one to have a deep conversation and almost kiss!)

They talk about their lives but Tristan freezes up because he's deep and he's got wounds! He shuts her out and refuses to talk anymore.

They venture into the country bumpkin capital of the sims world and trace the murder's family home to a building in town that is now a saloon. They ask the owner for information about her, and he has none. Kady admits to Tristan that she was kinda hoping to find a confession to the murder (why would she leave that lying around though? Anyway...) They discover that the murderer (Vera) changed her name, married a wealthy man and scorned her working class country roots.

They go poking around in the backrooms of the saloon and discover stacks and stacks of old newspapers in a cellar, which they write off as useless trash until they discover that they're all the same copy of the same paper from the same day. Somebody bought up every copy in town and hid them away. The search through the papers to discover a report of a missing person in Bridgeport - not Esther, but Vera's husband Henry! Gasp! did she kill him too?

As soon as they mention the word murder Kady spirals into an intense psychic vision and see's a half decomposed, skeletal body emerge from the darkness. Freezing cold suddenly and unable to move or scream, she collapses to the floor in terror.

Anyway, Tristan takes the opportunity to almost kiss her but doesn't because I was building suspense.

Then they randomly find a hole in the floor lol!

Tell me how nobody has seen this in like 80 years!! nobody like, swept the floor? Anyway. Roll with it.

There's a human skeleton hanging out down there and Kady vomits on Tristan's designer sneakers.

Weeks later, long after returning from Appaloosa Plains, Kady sulks in her window and wonders what the fuck she's meant to do about a crusty old murder that happened in like, the 20s. Who is she to solve it? Even Vera is dead so like, what's the point (I'm also wondering this Kady, so hopefully one of us can figure it out) I think she's also not talking to Tristan although this is not clear. She sees him walking across the street and gets sad because he's so sexy and yet so unavailable to her. *sigh*

All of a sudden Kady has ANOTHER psychic vision omg. She sees a little girl ghost appear in her room, a girl who introduces herself as the Esther's daughter! She says she died of the flu or some shit when she was ten and she holds all the answers. "Take my hand' she tells Kady. "I'll show you." Kady does, and they embark...

The ghost girl - Rebecca brings Kady down a mysterious corridor lined with doors, each one of which holds a piece of the puzzle.

Behind one door is Esther's murdered body, and the murder weapon, a humble hammer, lies on the floor next to her feet (look at my editing skills! amaze) she then witnesses Vera coming into the room and cleaning up the crime scene, removing evidence that she did it, hiding the hammer.

Then Kady goes into another room and sees Vera poisoning poor sickly Rebecca's soup for no reason other than she is evil. Kady blacks out AGAIN because apparently she literally cannot stop doing this and I didn't know how else to transition to another scene.

Kady comes to in time to see Tristan coming home from wherever he was (likely spreading STDs around the place tbh) she tries to tell him what she's seen but he doesn't care, he's too busy being damaged and interesting. Oh, he's also drunk. Okay.

He actually does tell her that he's a drug addict here. Okay. He got hooked on cocaine when he was an actor and now he's clean. Not relevant at all to the story I think I'd just found out about cocaine at this point in my life and i wanted to include it.

Kady visits Esther's and Rebecca's graves. She awkwardly speaks to Rebecca and says that she's sorry for what happened to her, but she's figured it all out now. She says that she hopes she can rest in peace now (even though you did nothing, babe, honestly.) She explains that Rebecca's father was murdered in Appaloosa Plains and left to rot in a cellar. She also DIDN'T CALL THE POLICE? Like she found a body and did nothing about it and now the mystery is over. Okay whatever.

Anyway, Tristan is moving back to Lucky Palms to be with his family because he has realised that he mustn't run away from his problems. He waits for Kady in her room (breaking and entering) and she comes home from the graveyard to find him there.

they finally have a big dirty smooch but don't do anything else I swear!!!!

I actually remember readers being annoyed that they didn't fuck, but like, I was a teenage girl who hadn't done anything but kiss yet! There was no way I was going to write about something like that, and I felt guilty for not trying to because so many readers were like "aw! what?? after all that and they're not going to bang??" Like sorry, no. I'm 17 and a virgin you're going to have to go somewhere else, queens xx

Kady and Tristan say goodbye in an airport and he says "I've fallen in love with you, I guess." Nice!

Then she has to leave, but he loudly sings love songs to her until he gets tackled to the floor by security (and possibly arrested? It's not clear)

Kady looks at him and laughs cos he's so wild and crazy. Whadda guy, am I right?

That's it lol. It was actually really really fun to read this story again and relay it, because I don't remember any of it. It was like reading it for the first time with totally fresh eyes. I had so many readers on this thing, like at least 500 which is INSANE to me now. The community was much more alive back then and more people were writing and reading, and like in a way I'm proud of it for what it is. It was a valiant attempt at a novella, and people really did connect with it, so as much as I'm kind of sneering at it (kindly - because it's myself) I have to stand behind it and say yeah! I finished it! And people showed up week after week and read it so that's really cool!

Thanks for sending this question - I don't know if an entire synopsis is what you were asking for, but there it is!

[alexstorm]

I honestly been devoted to this band for years, and now I'm just so confused because honestly, besides their music, they just seem like a waste of time to me. I think I'm done with AM. So immature, so blind, and I just can't respect Alex..... // this just seems like another example of time and time again why fans should stop building up an ideal image of a fantasy Alex that doesn’t actually exist. It’s the same for any celebrity, I wish people would stop building such a strong, unmalleable characterisation of what they think they’re actually like because it only sets you up for disappointment when they’re definitely not the perfect fan fiction ideal. This is why I just enjoy the music of most artists and ignore their personal lives (obviously not applicable for super extreme cases such as a hand like the lost prophets), just because a singer isn’t who the fans believed him to be it doesn’t mean you should stop listening to the music and if that’s the case then were you really into the music in the first place if you can be ‘done’ with them just like that?

Generally agree with this take except maybe for one thing. If a celebrity's behaviour or personality goes completely against your core values and principles and you wouldn't let that slide with anyone else I can understand if someone drops them from their rotation. I would never support someone financially or otherwise who doesn't align with that.

[halfelven]

All I know about Swedenborgianism is that it was Helen Keller’s religion… what IS it exactly

it's like there was this guy who was like ohhhhhhh i have ~visions~ from God and i Know things that you do Not @ the established church and he was kinda considered heretical but didn't really get punished too much for it and then he went on to inspire a lot of really influential people and i think i've read his entire works bc my f*ther was obsessed with him bc he thought he himself was a prophet of god like swedenborg had been and had all these visions and talked to angels and stuff

i guess where he differs from mainstream christianity is in certain beliefs such as: god is love and never angry so he doesn't send anyone to hell and people of other religions who did their best in life and then die will meet and accept the christian god after death (???)

the trinity is not three persons/beings. but one god only. (??? i personally don't know nor care what the importance of the trinity being one person or three persons is)

idk i'm not an expert. he just has a lot of really weird stuff in his books and i had to listen to it + the bible for 2 - 3 (or 4!) hours every morning before i had eaten and how they were tied to the end of the world that was coming before i was grown up (ha) and so i fuckign hate him but i wasn't really entirely swedenborgian bc my f*ther thought he was a more Important Prophet of God and was more focused on how much god fucking hated everyone (especially people like me) and wanted people to Suffer and be tortured forever in hell (don't get me started on how hell wouldn't work) also he was obsessed with predicting the end of the world based on which pope was going to be the anti-christ

oh and swedenborg thought aliens lived on all the planets in the solar system and had different traits and i refused to believe that

(also my f*ther was weirdly obsessed with fucking balzac's Séraphîta except that Séraphîta is supposed to be "perfect androgyne" and my f*ther was sooooooo insistent that Séraphîta was a woman. which was fun to fight about when i was 9

he was actually just Obsessed with weird european philosophers/theologians/philosophers/freaks from the 1700s and 1800s. and had all these old books from the 1800s that he got when a library in new hampshire was going to toss them. there were so many insane things in them.)

wikipedia quotes under cut:

"In 1745, aged 57, Swedenborg was dining in a private room at a tavern in London. By the end of the meal, a darkness fell upon his eyes, and the room shifted character. Suddenly, he saw a person sitting at a corner of the room, telling him: "Do not eat too much!". Swedenborg, scared, hurried home. Later that night, the same man appeared in his dreams. The man told Swedenborg that he was the Lord, that he had appointed Swedenborg to reveal the spiritual meaning of the Bible and that he would guide Swedenborg in what to write. The same night, the spiritual world was opened to Swedenborg." "According to The Heavenly Doctrine, the Lord had opened Swedenborg's spiritual eyes so that from then on, he could freely visit heaven and hell to converse with angels, demons and other spirits" "Swedenborg wrote about Heaven and Hell based on what he said was revelation from God. According to Swedenborg, God is love itself and intends everyone to go to heaven. That was His purpose for creation. Thus, God is never angry, Swedenborg says, and does not cast anyone into Hell. The appearance of Him being angry at evil-doers was permitted due to the primitive level of understanding of people in Biblical times. Specifically, holy fear was needed to keep the people of those times from sinking irretrievably into the consequences of their evils. The holy fear idea was in keeping with the fundamental truth that even they could understand, that everything comes from Jehovah. In the internal, spiritual sense of the Word, however, revealed in Swedenborg’s works, God can be clearly seen for the loving Person He actually is."

"Swedenborg argued that the Trinity was not three persons—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—but one, "the Father being the originating divine being itself, the Son the human embodiment of that divine soul, and the Holy Spirit the outflowing activity of Jesus, or the 'Divine Human'"

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC Review: Love of My Lives by Yamile Saied Mendez

2/5. Releases 9/26/2023.

Vibes: vacation romance, magical realism, a very loving portrayal of Puerto Rico, and a chasteness but... not?

In a dream, Madi's abuela predicts that her one true love will be a man with the initials "JR'. Years later, Madi is engaged to a man with those initials, but doesn't feel right. Grabbing a business trip to Puerto Rico as an opportunity to scatter her abuela's ashes, Madi makes an instant connection that feels Fated... except for his initials.

Look, I know this premise is a stretch, but I love magical realism and I like it. Unfortunately, while I think Mendez can write a very good sentence, I did not connect with this book. It didn't really hit me as a romance, and it didn't hit me as an emotional "woman finding herself" book. I feel like a friend of mine would like this book--but I couldn't latch on.

Quick Takes:

--So here's my thing. I think that with the right spin, I could've bought that Madi believed in this prophetic dream well into adulthood--it would've been something I bought. But in a way, I didn't feel like Madi was a messy enough adult for me to buy that she'd put this much stock in the dream. This isn't a mildly important issue, this is her future partner. There are definitely women who would rely on that dream, but I don't know. I felt like Madi's personality just didn't gel with that level of spiritualism.

In the same sense, I can buy instalove, I'm not inherently against it. However, it's a hard sell. I don't feel like enough power was put into the connection between Madi and her love (holding back on who he is because like--spoilers). I just didn't believe this was anything other than good chemistry. Not even "bone me in a parked car half an hour after meeting me" chemistry. Just fine.

--That said, there is a lot of love put into Puerto Rico. You can feel the setting, you can sense the love Madi has for her experiences there (and her abuela). Not to be cliche, but it's arguable that the "love" of the book is Puerto Rico. And that's not a bad thing--but in order for this book to really embrace that, I think the plot would have to be re-tooled a bit.

Also, I have to say that the release date for this book... confuses me? It seems likes such a prime beach read; it's got a total summer vacation sensibility.

--I do think, as I said above, that Mendez has a lovely writing style. It's not flowery, but it's soothing and has a natural appeal. My issues are really with some choices made regarding story and character.

The Sex Stuff:

This book is closed door... but they do have sex. And a vibrator is mentioned, among other things. I was a little weirded out by that choice, to be honest. I get romances that are chaste. But when you make it clear that two people have sex and just don't show it... I don't understand. Not every sex scene needs to be super long (though I.... usually prefer those that are) but this felt like a bit of a bait and switch.

This wasn't a fit for me, but I did enjoy the descriptions of Puerto Rico.

Thanks to Kensington and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[bleedingmusk]

People may tell you that your belief is weak if you keep crying. Your parents might tell you if you prayed more you wouldn't be going through depression. The advice you hear from people if you read Quran more,if you were a better believer you wouldn't be sad and wouldn't have these problems. People tell you that you should *get over it*.

But then you do pray, and you're unable to stop crying. And then you do read Quran and your depression is crippling. And you do make Dua sincere, overwhelmingly emotional, present Dua and yet you don't feel better and you feel like nothing has changed.

And so yourself wonder : is Allaah angry with me? Allaah is not answering my Dua because I'm not good enough? Am i going through all of this because Allaah is punishing me? I can't get over it because my faith is not strong?

When you have these thoughts, remember :

Yaqub عليه سلام cried so much at the loss of his son Yusuf عليه سلام. He wasn't sad for days and month or a year. He was distraught for decades. His tears flowed so intensely that his eyesight was depleted.

Yaqub عليه سلام said

وَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنۡهُمۡ وَقَالَ يَٰٓأَسَفَىٰ عَلَىٰ يُوسُفَ وَٱبۡيَضَّتۡ عَيۡنَاهُ مِنَ ٱلۡحُزۡنِ فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ.

And he turned away from them and said, "Oh, my sorrow over Joseph," and his eyes became white from grief, for he was [of that] a suppressor.

And despite his tears, despite his very human sadness, he was amongst the best of believers Allaah placed on the earth. His sorrow and tears did not mean his belief (faith/Iman) in Allaah was weak or his trust in Allaah wavered or he ever became hopeless in Allaah infact he said;

قَالَ إِنَّمَا أَشْكُو بَثِّي وَحُزْنِي إِلَى اللّهِ

He said: "I only complain of my grief and sorrow to Allah."

Despite this he said :

وَلَا تَيْأَسُواْ مِن رَّوْحِ اللّهِ إنَّهُ لَا يَيْأَسُ مِن رَّوْحِ اللّهِ إِلاَّ الْقَوْمُ الْكَافِرُونَ

..and despair not of relief from Allah . Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people."

And the prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم had the Quran revealed directly to him. He prayed the longest, with the most intense concentration and with the strongest relationship with Allaah ever possible and yet he still missed Khadijah (رضي الله عنه).

10 years after her death missing her longing for her, having 9 other wives yet no one fulfilled her absence.

He did not *get over her*. He moved forward with his life, but he missed her intensely to the point he would get excited over hearing the voice of Khadijah رضي الله عنه niece thinking it would be the voice of Khadijah and then he would weep profoundly. And it's okay that it hurts.

He صلى الله عليه وسلم cried at his mother's grave decades after her passing. It didn't diminish the strength of his faith. He wept as he held his dying son and it didn't decrease his trust in Allaah's wisdom.

His having a strong relationship with Allaah didn't mean his life didn't had issues and heartaches. If the most spiritually connected person who knew the most Quran and did the most worship could suffer from such intense emotional loss and pain then what about us?

Salah, Dua and the Quran are the life vests to keep us afloat when we're drowning. It doesn't mean we won't be thrust in an ocean. It doesn't mean we won't sometimes feel like we can't breathe and like we're being dragged under. But even when facing the highest wave, even if at times we're swallowing water and gasping for air, it's knowing Someone Who will bring us back and keep us afloat and help us get back to the safety of land again.

[muslim-radfems]

Thanks for the question anon, and sorry for the extremely late reply😬

To answer your question, I'll be splitting it up into 2 points: what modesty means to me in an Islamic context, and then how that applies in a radical feminist context.

1. So, traditionally, scholars have treated modesty as a more material concept, making it to mean that the more covered up your body is, the more "modest" and "pure" you are. Of course, there are scholars who have said that modesty lies in both actions and our attire, but the focus has almost always been on the latter.

Recently, the emergence of Salafism and Wahabbism in mainstream Islam (think of Islamic posts on social media and the likes of sheikh assim al Hakeem/mufti menk/nouman Ali khan on youtube) means that a lot more people have been concentrating on hijab and jilbab and what you must wear to be a proper Muslim™. Some scholars say you can't wear bright coloured clothes. Some say you can't wear jeans or heels. Some say the face of a woman can't be seen in public. Some even say men can't wear gold, or red. So many arbitrary rules that these scholars extrapolate from hadith and apply mental gymnastics to make every thing haram, that make it seem like if you wear a perfectly normal t-shirt, you're going to hell.

In my opinion, the hyper focus on these material rules and the stringent following of every last order these scholars make, makes us lose the true spirit of Islam. Which I believe is to find peace through spiritual enlightenment. Do we really think God, who created such a vast universe, and is the source of all humanity, cares if you tweeze your eyebrows or show your hair? The only people who care about that are Muslims obsessed with finding the one true uniform we must all wear apparently. I think it's reducing God to human to impose all these rules with no real meaning or logic behind them except women=to be hidden. We are creations of God too, fellow to men, and equal to men in the eyes of God. Why should we stay in the shadows and be so afraid of garnering attention that we can barely even show our own eyes? I call it a bunch of patriarchal bullshit hiding behind the guise of Islam so that we can't challenge or question their ridiculous "rules", or else they make it seem like we're offending God, ignoring the fact that the Quran encourages questioning and using our logic and intellect.

Now, I'm a Quran centric Muslim, so I disregard the Hadith as divine. As in hadith is a collection of things that the Prophet pbuh supposedly has said, but we have no proof of how much of it is true or even assurance in the Quran that hadith will be preserved over the years. I consider hadith as historical context, and it may help us understand the situations that caused the revelation of some verses, but it is by no means, an absolute truth or meant to be followed like the Quran. It also has several contradictions, so we don't know how much has been falsified.

That being said, I examine modesty only in the Quran. There are basically only 2 verses that talk about the dress code for women in the entire Quran. After examining these verses, I believe the headcover, or hijab is not mandatory in Islam.  Here's some sources that explain why. Here, here and here.

Modesty to me means not flaunting wealth and being generally humble. The excessive show of wealth is a manifestation of power, social inequality, and waste...so to me, the Quran doesn't control what women (and men too, because even though scholars tend to forget those verses, modesty for men is mentioned in the Quran too) wear, but rather a statement that has anticapitalist tones, and promotes equality. Modesty in attire to me means wearing comfortable, presentable, not overtly revealing, practical clothes.

2. From a radical feminist perspective,

I see the niqab, abaya etc as one end of a spectrum...hyper modesty to the point of hampering movement and communication, that is rooted in sexism, and the overly sexualized and revealing outfits available to women as the other end of it.

Neither of those two are inherently empowering. And women should have the choice to wear whatever they want, but to claim that the niqab is empowering simply isn't true, when so many women are forced to wear it around the world. Same goes for revealing clothes, they perform for the male gaze. Sure, the hijab can be PERSONALLY empowering to a lot of people, as can a skimpy outfit, they do nothing to liberate women as a class, and hence can't be termed as empowering.

Personally I see "empowering" attire as practical clothes that let women express their style and personality along with helping them participate in a variety of different activities without hampering movement or communication or speed. For example, under that definition high heels wouldn't be such an empowering girlboss item anymore, because you can't really run in them and they cause health problems. This is not to say women cant wear heels or makeup, but that wearing those things isn't empowering or "owning the men" like liberal feminism and the beauty industry wants us to think.

And radical feminism is a movement for all women, not an identity, so not fitting into these boxes doesnt invalidate you being a radical feminist in your actions if you wear a niqab or a miniskirt, athough it might be helpful to examine why we choose to wear the things we do.

I hope that was helpful, feel free to ask if you have any more doubts! ♥️