#god. it’s been a bit of a few days

[songofwizardry]

today I am really fucking feeling the truth of two things at the same time: I can love and identify with my faith strongly, and have it form an essential part of both my history and the current way I move through the world and the communities I form; and I will still often be eternally on the outside of a lot of my religious community (whether it’s because I’ve been forced out or because I’ve chosen-but-it-wasn’t-really-a-choice to leave) and just have. really fundamental differences of opinion with most of the people there. and I’ve known this for most of my life, but the ‘fundamental’ bit is really hitting today.

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

I'm slowly making my way through a new project- editing the entirety of the album PUNCH by Autoheart to the Life Series.

I was originally planning to post all of the edits in order of the songs on the album, but I instead made the Lent one first and am too excited to keep it in my drafts any longer while I work on the first four songs of the album (especially since we're coming up on finals seasons and the amount of time I'll have to work on these is gonna plummet so fast). So instead, I'll be posting them as I make them and make a masterpost of them all in order at the end.

That being said, I hope you enjoy this! I'm really proud of it and a lot of work went into it.

[warmfuzzyanimal]

hi i'm alive i'm just struggling my way to happiness & productivity

[egophiliac]

We ARE going to bring up Captain Amelia. You have good taste! GOOD TASTE I SAY! *aka I just rewatched Treasure Planet and got hit with, "Oh yeahhhhh... that explains a lot!"*

honestly, the Meg/Jasmine/Amelia trifecta tells you 90% about me as a person. (the rest is covered by Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Uranus and, uhhh, I'll stop baring my soul to the world now)

and speaking of Amelia, this is tangential, but like -- there's one Twst comic I have been kicking at for a while where I needed an RSA sports/flight teacher and, uh, well

someday I will wrangle this stupid comic into coherency and she'll get to make an appearance (in the background of a single panel, half-obscured by a tall hat) (but I will know she's there and that's the important thing)

[returntosunder]

This is an Underverse screenshot redraw

Ima be honest… I’ve never drawn Alphys until this drawing :/

The screenshot up close

[ganondoodle]

(Original art) Xaror, any pronouns, species (?), age (?)

short summary about them; they act as both an antagonist and an ally since they are only really interested in what they want or whats fun to them, they are immortal and call themselves 'death itself' since they have a special connection to souls (being the only one able to communicate with them) and the ability to seperate souls from their bodies in such a way that nothing can harm the soul afterwards their main goal is to .. bother and disturb the 'celestials'*, which they hate, as much as they can, breaking into their palace, freeing prisoners, destroying research, destroying the place, and most importantly, making as many souls unusable to them as possible-

they dont want to destroy the celestials though, they cant fight them anyway and this game of doing 'good' only with the goal of annoying them is their most treasured activity, so Xaror doesnt intend to stop them from killing or hurting anyone, only from harvesting what they are actually after (though Xaror doesnt actually care as little as they think they do about people, and has a soft spot for demons)

most of their appearance is later into the story; Zaphira (the empress) had been in coma and the medical facility she was treated in was destroyed by Shargon (orange eyed demon who acts as her bodyguard for the first part) in an attempt to save her from her estranged relatives taking over her country after they heard of her decline in health, she is believed dead but washes up on the shore of the mountain Xaror resides at years later (it has a reason, too much to write here) and they slowly nurse her back to health, the reason they give for it is that they found their first encounter very fun, thats all (is it?)

(more lore under the cut bc this is already so long .. im trying to keep it short q-q ......... this is stuff i have been working on since i was a kid so uh, some things might be cheesy but i cant change them anymore ..)

just to get some basics out of the way; theres three worlds, the celestials palace, human world and demon world, each are their own planet connected via different gateways

*celestials (possibly not final name, loosely based on angels) are the last remaining "survivors" of their planets demise, when their world died the most powerful among them cannibalized the weaker to sustain themselves until there were only less than 10 left, who each turned into different beings from it and dont resemble their own people much anymore, they built a palace from what was left on their world that protects them from space as its atmosphere collapsed shortly after- however they still needed something to live off; they discover the human world and are delighted to find rather short lived people with powerful souls, the best kind of sustenance for them (now), they aim to herd them like cattle, but a problem arose when it turned out another world has long been in contact with the human world; demons

demons are semi immortal creatures that act as protectors for their world, protection they extended, more or less secretely, to the human world ensuring them a long and secure life- the celestials need them to die at their whim though (demons are few in numbers, hard to kill and rarely have offspring, not an ideal target); as they worked out a plan on how to get rid of demons one of the celestials, Xanthriel (time) grew somewhat fond of people as they spent alot of time in the human world to observe and research them; in the end turning on their own completely, but losing the fight against Uriel (knowledge)

Xanthriel was supposed to be executed for their betrayal, but it doesnt work, instead they are splintered into many parts after a lot of struggle, most body, memory and most strength is one part (ending up as motionless forever bleeding corpse kept locked up in the palace), the rest is some time later gathered together and reforms as a seperate, weak mockery of them, they embody Xanthriels emotion- Xaror, without memory, strangely cut to pieces (hence all the missing limbs and broken halo) but driven by an unstoppable desire to disturb the celestials (they live seperate long enough to each become their own person, at some point Xaror discovers Xanthriels body after all and they merge back together, though as they are now two, Xanthriel only takes over once directly after merging, stays silent for a long time and lets Xaror be themselves, only later revealing that they are there at all .. hiding perhaps- i rarely have specific ideas for voices, but Xanthriels is like, like coarse rocks being violently rubbed against each other, less voice more noise)

(also, the celestials use Xanthriels blood from the day of their execution to create a plague that nearly wipes out all demons, only the youngest of them survived, effectively robbing them of everything, culture, history, knowledge etc- as demons rarely have children, like a complete restart of their society, they disappeared from the human world, and over time being largely forgotten as actually existing- the celestials wanted them all gone however, so they kept kidnapping them to try and find somethign that would work similarly against the young ones too (and then in general, bc the only usable blood of Xanthriel was from the day of their fall, and that has long since been used up) one of the young ones was Shargon, he was the only one still alive from his group

(also, the celestials use Xanthriels blood from the day of their execution to create a plague that nearly wipes out all demons, only the youngest of them survived, effectively robbing them of everything, culture, history, knowledge etc- as demons rarely have children, like a complete restart of their society, they disappeared from the human world, and over time being largely forgotten as actually existing- the celestials wanted them all gone however, so they kept kidnapping them to try and find somethign that would work similarly against the young ones too (and then in general, bc the only usable blood of Xanthriel was from the day of their fall, and that has long since been used up) one of the young ones was Shargon, he was the only one still alive from his group (he wasnt the strongest or special, he was jsut the last in the row and always got the lowest dosage) when Xaror found them in yet another break in into the palace and got him back to the demon world .. where he was promptly blamed for the others that were taken and treated like a pretender/fake/spy bc what he got put through changed his eye color (something that demons cannot change in any form) to one that does not exist among 'real' demons (orange ... notice the inner color of Xarors broken halo? :) ), some even suggesting killing him, but none of them were brave enough to do it (they were all kids still) .. except Eadrya (the big blue-ish one, largely regarded as the strongest demon alive) but Shargon managed to escape, and since then lived largely in isolation- this is part of why he is so hated, and why he starts to spend so much time in the human world after rediscovering the pathway there)

[quirkle2]

[zombie au] tome joins the gang. her special ability: AUTISM

[homestuckreplay]

Job Application: Timeline Manager

(page 1269-1283; figuring out the timeline)

OKAY. THIS IS GETTING CONFUSING. There is some figuring out of the timeline to do here before things get even messier, plus some new information on the Felt’s powers and some hints about the far past.

To be honest Slick is really smart with all this timeline stuff. I think he would be great as a Felt member whose ‘power’ is just understanding the interactions and nuances between all the other members’ powers and planning their operations around it. Most of them seem to be acting as rogue agents in individuals or pairs, without great communication, and Slick could whip them into the shape of a functional gang. Honestly not too dissimilar from how Jack Noir ‘oversee[s] various affairs of a DARK KINGDOM’ (p.955). It’s like he has this head for organization and management and SOMETIMES this overpowers his actual goals and morality. In this way I think someone could talk Jack Noir into being the beta kids’ band manager, something they definitely need post-Sburb if they are going to make it big in the post-apocalypse.

Slick’s businessman side is however balanced out by his Love Of Stabbing And Killing, which is often an equally big priority. He does show some uncertainty about timeline rules on page 1278, where he’s ‘not really sure if that's how it works’ but also doesn’t care because he’s about to break out the Big Knives. In this update we hear about Slick’s SABER RATTLE (p.1271), DOUBLE EDGED SWORD (p.1272), BAIT AND SWITCHBLADE (p.1277), and see the recurrence of OCCAM’S RAZOR, previously seen on page 329 when Dave was reading MSPA.

These are also puns, unsurprisingly for this intermission – sabers, swords, blades and razors are all sharp edged weapons, while ‘saber rattling’ is an overt and exaggerated threat of violence used to intimidate, and a double edged sword is something that has both positive and negative consequences. A bait and switch is where one outcome is set up and then replaced at the last minute, usually with a worse option, and Occam’s Razor is a philosophical rule saying that simpler theories should be privileged over more complex ones. This last one in particular fits well with Slick’s preference for fixing the timeline and getting things back on a more linear schedule – I think he’s in opposition to the author here.

So, as I understand it, this intermission has one main timeline (T1) where the bulk of pages 1154-1264 took place (in a roughly but not entirely linear fashion) right up until Slick pulls Crowbar’s pin from Die’s doll. At this point, Slick jumps to T2.

In T2, Crowbar is alive, and nothing from T1 happened. T2 is defined by a gunfight between the Felt and Midnight Crew, and spans pages 1265-1279, with a LOT of back and forth throughout time due to Sawbuck’s powers. Snowman has only been seen in T2, and Stitch dies only in T2. If we define the gunfight arbitrarily as ‘the present’, we also see the timeline’s recent past (p.1271), far past (p.1273), and near future (p.1277), but sadly never see the far future.

On page 1280, Slick returns to T1, at an uncertain point on the timeline. Sawbuck quickly gets attacked, jumping to a point on the timeline that precedes the whole intermission (but is part of its main continuity). By cycling back to this early point on the timeline, Slick explains how and why a bunch of clocks were already destroyed and covered in blood on page 1175.

We can also define T0 as the timeline featured on pages 1210-1211, from which Die jumps to T1, and T∞ as the timeline where Slick died before he could build this town in the first place (p.1215, 1236). Plus a whole bunch of timelines where various Eggses and Biscuitses come from.

I think that’s it. I think that’s the simplest possible way of understanding all this.

So, in the far past of both T1 and T2 (as well as T∞), we see the same pink and green wasteland, the planet before Slick built the town. I think there’s an interesting Slick-Snowman parallel here – jumping to a timeline where Slick is dead destroys the town (such that it was never built), while killing Snowman destroys the universe. Similar powers but on WILDLY different scales. And Slick is the Midnight Crew member Snowman directly speaks to (and stabs) on page 1267, so, what’s going on with those two? What’s their history from before Snowman went to join the Felt?

But. Maybe my absolute favorite moment in this intermission is the sight of the Straggler in the background on page 1273.

A SCURRILOUS STRAGGLER eyes impromptu desert skirmish. He dismisses them as a bunch of ill-mannered rogues warranting no further investigation. Although he gives a small nod of approval to the plain and serviceable HAT worn by one of the combatants which strikes him as an absolutely smashing display of good fashion sense. (p.1274)

This is the most explicit link yet between this wasteland and the Wayward Vagabond’s (p.248), with the similar wrappings and the ‘Years in the past…’ page title. It is a wilder post-apocalypse due to there being a fight in the desert, and one that sets up a time loop – Slick gets the idea to wear a smart hat from his past self, just like Jade getting into gardening and blue shirts by redirecting John’s package to her own past self (p.1136). Slick does not recognize his future self here, probably because he’s used to interacting with other near-identical chess pieces.

I still have no clue how some chess constructs escape Sburb, and how it’s decided which ones get out, but it’s fascinating to have it confirmed that 1. this phenomenon isn’t exclusive to Earth, and may be built into Sburb, and 2. these constructs go on living and develop personalities and agency that maps onto their initial programming, but also goes beyond it. And this accounts for the differences between Spades Slick (Felt planet) and Jack Noir (Earth), as Slick has had many years to move past that programming, and Jack is earlier in his journey, and has just committed his first act of rebellion. So perhaps it’s this moment of gaining a consciousness that goes beyond the computer programming that causes a NPC to want to leave Sburb, to realize that’s even an option. Which definitely reinforces by theory that Jack Noir will be the fourth character who appears ‘years in the future’ on Earth.

Finally, here’s a recap of the Felt’s powers, which we’ve learned most of since I was guessing them about a hundred pages ago.

Itchy – Can speed up time for himself and go very fast.

Doze – Can slow down time for himself and go very slow.

Trace – Can see people’s recent past via a trail of where they’ve been.

Clover – Uncertain, but he is knowledgeable, cooperative, and asks TIME RIDDLES (p.1252).

Fin – Can see people’s near future via a trail of where they will go.

Die – Has a small effigy with pins for each Felt and Midnight Crew member. Pins inside the effigy are dead in the current timeline.

Crowbar – Can ‘pry anything out of a time loop, stable or otherwise.’ (p.1252)

Snowman – ‘If you kill her you destroy the universe.’ (p.1268)

Stitch – Has large effigies for each Felt member (plus Lord English’s backup coat). Can use them to patch wounds and the fabric of spacetime itself.

Sawbuck – Jumps to a random point within the current timeline whenever his skin is punctured.

Matchsticks – Unknown, dead in T1/unseen in T2.

Eggs – Creates copies of himself whenever his egg timer goes off, destabilizing the timeline.

Biscuits – Hides in the oven until his timer goes off, successfully ‘traveling into the future’.

Quarters – Unknown, dead in T1/unseen in T2.

Cans – Unknown, but he is very large (p.353).

Lord English – Unknown, but he is ‘indestructible… killable only through a number of glitches and exploits in spacetime’ (p.1239)

[hycinthrt]

you walked into the room and they dont like you

[clickety-clacker]

any particular thoughts or head canons on Mitterking?

I don't have as many as I would like to have. I think they're cute and honestly I would love to be more invested in them, but the game really did Mitter and King very little in the way of screentime AND development. Even mitter's whole section was just 'oh i guess im less sad about this breakup than i thought. Thank you. bye' as opposed to, like... the more tangible resolutions of the other chapters, so to speak? She felt very tutorial-esque.

Disclaimer that it was understandably so to further the plot of the game, but it just left them as sort of... there? For me? Like yay <3 I like them <3 but i dont... rotate them around in my head like the other characters. They didn't give me as much to build off of.

That's not to say I don't have any thoughts on them, however.

Because I do. In fact, that's a huge portion of the upcoming MAP I'm helping host, and them together will feature a particularly important role in that.

Of what I can say... I think mitter was really lonely and honestly a bit disconnected from Humanity for a while, and King really helped re-ground her. Even after ascending, i think king works really hard to help keep the gods and the humans communicating and maintaining closeness.

Though she clearly cares for her 'children', It's easy to feel distant, almost above them when you've been around so long you don't even remember your own ascension. I think King really caught her off guard with even... trying, so to speak. Shes one of the first people in a long time who saw her as a person, not The Creator God, and that really pulled her back down to earth. She loves that King makes her feel like a person.

In turn, king really loves how Mitternacht cares. Because she does- she cares deeply and passionately, about the world and the people in it. Something I think they have in common- and one of the main draws that made King fall for Mitter just as hard.

[outlying-hyppocrate]

i have officially returned. ask me anything.

[tls123]

just lost my covid streak (<- first time getting covid)

[b4kuch1n]

langa special

[naomiknight-17]

I think the new antidepressant is starting to do something to my mood. Which is good, it's supposed to! It's just... strange

Like I've gotten so used to feeling depressed that feeling positive more often is foreign.

So it's a good change, but also going to take getting used to

Also I'm more alert/awake and more restless - but my body is still tired so uh. Hurry up and catch up to my brain, please, body. It wants to do stuff

Still struggling with the motivation to start tasks (see my undecorated white tree and the fact that I still owe people art) but maybe that will improve in time

We shall see

[zivaninja]

Blue Bloods finale things/spoilers under the cut that I wanted to yell about:

• Jamko parents!!! Parents!! Oh how far they've come 😭

• I'm going to miss Eddie Janko so damn much, that's my girl.

•Jack and Erin getting married!! They finally got their happy ending. And the looks on their faces at dinner as they decided to keep it to themselves was just so 💜😭

• Danny's face when Henry tells him to find his person to come home to. He already knows.

• Danny Reagan! Asking Maria Baez! On a date! And her saying yes! He doesn't need to go look for his person because she's right there besides him. And the look on her face when she agreed!!

[hybbat]

I do think a good chunk of the 'cringey atheist' stereotype did come from the fact that, especially americans, regardless of their actual religious status are just casually christian and refer to things through a religious filter and that isn't seen for how overwhelming/obnoxious/frustrating it is. Its absense, such as when writing a story and things like "oh god" or other casual references are remove or replaced, is seen as notable the same way people find the cast being all women or queer being 'abnormal'.

And I think more people, especially here on tumblr, should take a moment from ragging on some kid being "cringey" saying god doesn't exist or making atheist jump around like dancing monkeys to establish they're one of the good respectful ones before they ever even begin to talk about their own thoughts, and examine why so much content just inserts god into a conversation that had nothing to do with religion like it's the expected norm, the same way they examine the invasiveness of casual heteronormativity.