#guess who read quest for lost powers and died

[waterghostype]

masters of earth

[erinwantstowrite]

i feel like if you released a 24 hour + video of you talking about your plans for your original book i would sit and watch all of that with no breaks. so: would you be willing to share at least the bare bones of the plot you have now? or even some tropes that would be in it? or maybe random questions like how many main characters? how many povs? if it's sci-fi or fantasy? just stuff like that!

ahhhh!! i'd love to talk about them because they're constantly rotating in my brain!! i hope this doesn't get too long but we all know me, i can never stop yapping 😭

(okay this is present erin editing before posting and yeah this got long guess who called it. anyways there's art and stuff under the cut as well)

(Marked this as mature with violence only because there is an image below where I drew injuries/cuts on a character)

This book has been a thousand different books in all kinds of settings, plots, lessons, etc, and that's because I've had these characters since I was in middle school. At first I was so obsessed with them that I'd write and draw them all the time, to the point that my teachers were concerned I wasn't paying attention. I was seriously into magic and fantasy at the time because Harry Potter books were still the epitome of writing to my middle school brain. Ruby was a wizard with a bird theme that lived in the countryside and one day found out that her town was "alive" in a sense... But after I lost that sketchbook with all of the details (devastated to this day), and started venturing into other books series and shows, etc, I sort of forgot about the og story or what it was like. What remained was a love for the characters I had made over anything else about them, so I'd end up writing stories with a different theme each time, but the ocs being the same, just with their backgrounds shifted. (Around the time I was obsessed with VLD, Ruby was in a sci-fi plot set on a planet in another solar system.)

One of the most recent iterations was Ruby and the other characters essentially struggling to understand death, life, and everything in between. The story is called "Behind the Blue Glass" and I still really like that title lol. All of them had died on the same day, at the same time, just in various different ways, and then all of them came back to life in the same manner. They all developed different powers from the experience: Liam could float/manipulate gravity), August's body was essentially a phantom that could go through objects and disappear, Vin could possess people, Jean had an empathy link with the dead and could talk to and see them clearly, and Maya could figure out someone's cause of death/also tell when people were about to die. As for Ruby, she's the only one who can move freely between the land of the living and the land of the dead. It's different from Jean seeing the dead, as she's still in the land of the living.

The plot of that story was Ruby having dreams/visions of these other people she had never met before and knowing she needed to find them and set "something" right, but she didn't know what. She sets out to find them anyways, and they each join her on her quest to find everyone simply because they never got an answer to how they came back from the dead and find it weird that they all died on the same day and time. They solve deaths of ghosts they come across, meet people who are still grieving lost ones, have to lay some of the ghosts down to rest- all while figuring out why these shady people have started following them and trying to stop them from figuring out what happened to them. I even made some first draft titles (definitely, 10000% inspired by PJO because I was reading it at the time):

to top it all off, it's set in the 2010's I believe? Around that time. Just because I think more books should write about the time era

I have some (recentish) art of the characters:

first image: (Liam on the right, August on the left)

this is what Ruby looked like when I was first designing them for the story:

They're meant to look dead-ish but this art was SO long ago when I wasn't confident in my art so Ruby just looks like a wet rat or smth idk what is going on here

And here's Vin!! I don't hate this drawing of him that much, surprisingly, but this was also drawn a while ago

and this was some art i was planning at the time:

i think that's all of the art that i have for this story (at least on this computer. My old laptop might have more but it's been laid to rest)

to be honest, i'm still thinking about writing this story, but Ruby's name would be changed because at this point, this iteration of her character is VERY different from present day. She's two different characters at this point 💀 that's how you know I've had her for SO long because she looks so different from her original drawings.

The latest version of Ruby ended up in a story with completely different characters in the cast and a completely different setting (even if some of the characters were inspired by their og versions). It's called "The Clocktower's Chime"

It's very much inspired by those reincarnation manhwas. I like those stories but they all have the same plot over and over, and while I was more interested in the versions where the character is sent back in time to live their life again but with all the knowledge they had in the future, I always struggled with the aspect that the characters' mental age is far older than they are. It makes the dynamics a little weird, but they can be excused unless it's a romantic dynamic, I would think? I dunno, it was hard to get into the plots mostly because of that.

So I used Ruby as a placeholder OC and came up with a story where upon their death in the future, someone casts a spell or a god sends them back, and instead of having a mental older age, they get a journal with all of the details of their future. Ruby woke up one day and found a journal written by herself that detailed everything about her future up to the point of her death. It was more like a book, however, rather than a journal. It just looked like a journal because it was in her handwriting.

So Ruby gets this book, doesn't believe it at all, until she notices that there are way too many "coincidences" lining up with the events of the book. She starts believing it could be true, and then decides it must be when she finds out that a prominent family in the country she lives in is going to visit her hometown. In the book, they were there because they learned that Ruby was their daughter that had been kidnapped as a baby and believed dead. However, in the book, Ruby had spent her entire life living as a weapon instead of a daughter, and she died by their hands when she refused to kill a woman that is prophesized to end a war that would devastate both countries.

Ruby is, like, 12 at that point. So her kid brain is like "obviously I run away and go to school in a different country and tell everyone I have a different name and there's no way this could go wrong." Except before she can even do that, she runs into Julias Parlia, a Duke's son from the country that is supposed to be her enemy in the future. Ruby is like "shit this is THE worst adult to run into and I haven't even gotten to the running away part of my plan" and Julias ends up being the reason she doesn't even get to the train station. He's fucking hilarious by the way. He's got a well adjusted family with two loving parents and a bunch of little siblings and he basically picks Ruby up by the scruff of her neck and is like "I want this one she's insane."

This is Julias (kneeling on the ground to talk to Ruby) and Emelie (Julias' knight and childhood friend, she's so silly)

and this is the part where I share art from many months ago... when I posted my most recent art and said Ruby keeps getting buffer every time I draw her, I meant it 💀

Ruby and her love interest, Cecelia

This is Vekenti, a character that was also supposed to be a "villain" in the original timeline. Ruby goes looking for him to prevent his death as well, and Julias obviously is like "Omg another weird kid, how delightful!" Everyone thinks Vikenti and Ruby are related, but they are not. They're just raised as siblings in both timelines and have a lot of the same mannerisms

Julias' love interest (unnamed? I can't find her name anywhere) and him

REALLLY old drawings of what they looked like in the OG timeline (I desperately need to redesign these because I could do better now)

Julias and Ruby again

and that's all the art I have for this one (besides the other post of Ruby I posted today, this is the story that that version of Ruby belongs in. She's looks very different now!).

All of this has been in the back of my mind for a while, and I've been trying to figure out which story I would want to write first. Middle school Erin would love for me to finally write Behind the Blue Glass, but sometimes I find myself wanting to write a fantasy story like Clocktower's Chime a lot more

[kiwinatorwaffles]

I found This is About a Stuffed Bird bc of you and its one of my favorite fics ever. Do you by chance have more suggestions?

hermitcraft/mcyt fic recs? :0 let's go!!

i get a lot of my fic recs from other friends since i don't really go out and search on my own all too much for this fandom. but there are lots of great works out here! i will be listing out some of my favorites :3 mostly hc but a couple general mcyt ones that i think are an excellent read no matter what. all of the fics i'm listing will be genfic without ships!

also i just realized a lot of my bookmarks are grian-centric which is funny i guess because i am admittedly quite picky about content of my other favorites and grian just tends to have the most content in the fanbase. hope that'll be alright

(i hope some of my friends and mutuals don't mind me tagging them for their works)

hermitcraft longfics:

the last days of the free angel of carrows by @theminecraftbee - loved stuffed bird? here's another great longfic by second! this one is about joe and cleo in an urban fantasy mystery setting. again, second writes our beloved hermits into an captivating au!

leaping and hopping on a moonshadow by @lunarblazes - a fantasy au by luna my beloved! pearl suddenly gains magical powers and goes on a quest to find her long-lost friend grian who might know what's happening to her. she meets a lot of familiar faces along the way!

Recall by @redwinterroses - hey, i was the artist for this one! :D mumbo goes missing, so grian and scar search for him. they find that grumbot has been up to some... things along the way. the fic isn't finished but i think the chapters red put out is worth a read if you don't mind leaving off on a cliffhanger because it really is super interesting

dramaturgy by wormcity - a universe where gem and pearl join in a season 7 that was never finished. mumbo became the mayor, but the turf war went so very wrong afterwards. admittedly i have not finished reading this yet because ummm short on time xD but it's super interesting with a lot of layers of drama(turgy hahaha)!

hermitcraft short fics/oneshots:

for trying. by @autistic-evil-xisuma - a stuffed bird universe oneshot of x and xisuma during their lab days. great if you want to be sad over the doomed brothers again :D

the wheels on the bus by sparxwrites - a hilarious post-s8 oneshot about grian being a little shit towards the watchers. one of the first fics i've read from this fandom and i still love it

a body is an object by ruffboi - grian is a mimic, and pearl's arrival in s8 shakes him up. she hasn't seen him in a while and is quite upset to learn that the grian she knew died a long time ago. a great read for familial connections and conflict of friendships!

Goatman and the Rift by TheDepressedCanary - doc's eldritch powers start acting up when the rift appears. what shenanigans will ensue?

other mcyt fics/crossovers:

late at night, when the stars don't look quite right by @lunarblazes - an excellent empires s1 and hermitcraft crossover longfic, where grian lands into the server and is discovered by pearl! very great worldbuilding and relationships, i especially love the dynamic between gri and pearl and pearl and gem :D

every new discovery is just a reminder by amaranthinecanicular - grian begins pulling alternate versions of the hermits from the life series into the server. he does save a lot of them, but at what cost? it does end on a cliffhanger but this is genuinely one of the most captivating oneshots i've ever read... argghhh

The Fair and the Brave and the Good by @slashmagpie - an afterlife smp longfic centered around the shelby, scott, and sausage. i have never watched afterlife smp before in my LIFE and this is still one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. the characters and worldbuilding is impeccable and perfect if you like something dark with themes of hope and renewal.

Two Can Keep a Secret (If One of Them is Red) by anonymous secretmcblog - a 3L oneshot! ren suspects grian has stockholm syndrome with his pact to stay with scar, but his expectations are wrong. a truly excellent read and one of them first fics i've read! i still go back to reread it from time to time

dog at the door by fluffy_papaya & iamsolarflare - a longfic where doc and ren take a trip on a van on their way to s8. ren, however, is not quite himself, and doc has to learn to befriend the red king.

devil town is colder in the summertime by @bananasofthorns - a oneshot from a 100hsmp/life series d&d au! team BEST ventures into a cursed evil fucked up forest. uh oh.

Interview with the Aftermath by @ranchersrevenge (wanderlasts) - the last life contestants are invited for an interview. the responses vary greatly.

stars, smoke, and stolen car keys by wormcity - a 100hsmp modern au oneshot where grian, scar, and joel go on a hike. it doesn't go quite as they expected.

the beehive state by amaranthinecanicular - a dsmp oneshot after wilbur moves to utah. tommy visits him, and the two reconnect. i have to say i stopped following dsmp a long time ago but this fic made me BAWL. i don't even think you need to know any of the characters that well to really enjoy just how amazing the writing itself is

Can't Go Back (This Time) by @duckmumbo (musicaltvbooks) - soup group goes end raiding and accientally finds themselves in afterlife smp. nothing goes wrong, surely! also admittedly i havent finished reading this either but roy i swear i will. this is a great read nevertheless and the soup group dynamic is impeccable!

TommyInnit's unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death by eneliii - on the train of dsmp fics, this is the superhero au longfic that inspired my own hc superhero au, vdhau. it's a lot of funny shenanigans with tommy and his friends. the fic does take a dark turn at the end, but that can be skipped entirely (as said by eneli herself) if you just want the wholesome aspects.

if you don't mind a little self promo, here are some of my fics!

it takes two to play (the game of mutual secrecy) - the aforementioned hermitcraft hero au. this installment is centered around xisuma and evil x as brothers resolving their issues through hero work and solving the mystery of welsknight's disappearance :D there are other works that are set in the same universe if you're interested for more!

how to form the ultimate besties dynamic: an unreliable tutorial by hypnotizd - a oneshot! hypno is a warlock who goes treasure hunting under the sea. he meets a guardian who later becomes his unlikely friend.

smoke and mirrors, the hunt perseveres - grian's arrival in empires s2 unwittingly brings the watchers' suspicions with him. cue jimmy freaking out and a lot of shenanigans.

ballad of etho’s lab - my newest installment! a oneshot about etho's storied life as the redstone god.

i'm also currently working on the sequel to the game of mutual secrecy and a new (well not exactly new since i made concept art for it) au called private detective gem tasey! these will likely be released sometime late january or february. have fun with these fic recs! i haven't been reading as much lately but i hope ill be able to find more if anyone else asks in the future. cheers!

edit: the fics are out! here they are!

hiding in plain sight (the meaning of trust) - sequel to the hermitcraft hero au! it follows an escaped lab rat trying to acquaint themselves with human society while avoiding suspicion and making friends with familiar faces from tgms ;D

private detective gem tasey: a rotten mystery in london - a hermitcraft detective au where gem gets hired for a case that spirals completely into drama and politics!

[saiintofawe]

after reading the sun and the star my semi-dormant pjo obsession has risen and is infesting my brain side by side with bsd. so.

bsd percy jackson au: a series of self indulgent hcs

skk is the percabeth of the situation. iconic duo. unstoppable. EVERYBODY has heard about them. literal legends among the demigods baby

dazai is a child of athena, chuuya a child of ares

dazai's team beat chuuya's during capture the flag once and chuuya went aight bet. and kicked dazai's ass during the next capture the flag. his team still lost but at least he got an excuse to fight that annoying know-it-all bandaged and beautiful son of athena

the rest is history

the akutagawa sibilings are children of hades. goth mfs

now imagine them having the same storyline as the di angelo sibilings... now in this au you can see why akutagawa talks like he belongs to another age

gin would consider joining the hunters of artemis, but in the end they end up refusing to not leave their brother alone. plus, being immortal would mean seeing him and all of their loved ones die, and gin has had enough of her loved ones dying

if skk is percabeth, shinskk is solangelo

does atsushi fit the standards for a child of apollo? idk but i can't think of another godly parent for him so be it!

unlike will solace, healing is not atsushi's strongest task but he still spends a lot of time helping in the infirmary

and that's where he meets ryūnosuke

unlike solangelo the initial hostility is NOT one sided. ryū behaves like a bitch? atsushi gets bitchy right back.

cue to atsushi looking extremely pissed while bandaging ryū's arm and them muttering insults at each other

ryūnosuke swears he hates that fucking failed doctor and atsushi would almost believe him if it wasn't for the amount of times ryūnosuke has tried sacrificing himself to save him during their quests

also in this au rashomon is a hellhound like mrs. o'learly. she's a sweet doggo that devours space and souls

or she's one of ryū's cocoa puffs? (does this count as a tsats spoiler taken out of context?)

you know that one scene in tsats where nico kisses the back of will's neck and says "i'm proud of you"? now picture that as atsushi to ryūnosuke. yeah.

also atsushi has plague powers bc i say so

yosano is the real will here: overworked healers who feel extremely guilty for every patient that died under their watch to the point of considering themselves murderers

she runs that infirmary like it's the navy

she's also a hell of a fighter, both with bows and arrows and with her own fists

bff with ranpo, who's the oracle!

they gossip abt apollo (boyfail) and complain abt their respective fundamental but hella hard roles at chb

also besties w/ chuuya

also hear me out on kousano in this au... yosano falls helplessly in love with hunter of artemis!kouyou. kouyou tries to convince herself that she's not falling for that bossy and selfless and brave doctor because she has an oath to keep and she couldn't let love knock at her door again. so everytime the hunters come to chb kouyou keeps yosano company and it's all longing looks and painful yearning. yosano wishes she could convince the redhead to break the oath and stay.

but she won't. i <3 kousano angst

moving onto happier lesbians. gin loves wandering by themselves in the forest or by the lake. people know them as the demigod who just fucks off to take a stroll in the woods and disappear there for an indefinite amount of time

and that's how she meets an awkward, stubborn but lovely dryad: you guessed it, it's higuchi!

gin was having a bad day and kicked a tree because they were just so angry— anger turned to guilt when the tree fucking yelped

gin immediately apologized and higuchi asked them what was bothering them. gin never loved to talk, so they were very surprised by themselves when they started rambling about their problems to a dryad they just accidentally hurt

from that day gin began spending even more time in the forest

sometimes they bring higuchi to camp

it isn't unusual for dryads to wander around camp, but higuchi usually kept on her own before meeting gin

higuchi helps gin to open up about their emotions and lower their walls, gin helps higuchi to make friends and to value and love herself

chuuya's fatal flaw is loyalty, dazai's is pride, ryūnosuke's is holding grudges, atushi's is holding too tight onto the past, gin's is also loyalty, yosano's is guilt

tachihara is a child of hermes. parallels between two regretful traitors el oh el

except that luke fucking sucks while tachihara has my heart

OKAY NOW OPEN YOUR EARS. STORMBRINGER ENJOYERS RISE. RIMLAINE AS SILENA AND CLARISSE..... CAN YOU SEE WHAT IS SEE........

lucy is deffff a child of aphrodite but she's so lovely she doesn't even need to use charmspeak to get what she wants. whatever you say beloved princess

idk why but i can picture her throwing an hairbrush at an ancient titant like rachel... her and rachel are acc pretty similiar imo but i will not elaborate

poe is an athena kid! the biggest loser in cabin 6!

lucy and yosano tease him on his crush on ranpo

ranpo is there like damn. is this guy gonna confess or do i have to tell him we are going to date via prophecy

poe is a surprisingly good archer, the apollo kids are almost jealous

nikolai is an hecate kid. a little trickster. a silly magician. he will steal your nose but like in the literal sense and he might not give it back

his best friend is sigma from the aphrodite cabin. sigma cannot fucking stand him

nikolai is actually the reason why sigma has split colored hair. it used to be fully white but one day nikolai went heyyy girlie look at this new hair trick my sibiling taught me :] and sigma ended up actually loving the look? so they kept it

the dryads love sigma and he spends a lot of time with them. they braid flowers in each other's hair and chill

nikolai on the other hand somehow befriended the arpies

fyodor is a child of nemesis. edgelord

jouno is a child of hermes, the eldest in the cabin

half of the camp wants him, the other half wants him gone

teruko is a child of hebe, the goddess of youth!!!!

she's ones of the oldest campers along with jouno, but she prefers to keep her child form for unknown reasons

also i can see her joining the hunters tbh

that's it for now folks i hope someone appreciates my brainrot xoxo

[boyrobott]

i fully get it bc i know what u mean about original astro boy manga being silly with it vs pluto being relentlessly sad. but i do think it's really important to say that pluto's themes draw on a LOT LOT LOT of stuff present in the original manga! like, the stuff about hate making a robot closer to a human/allowing them to kill a human despite most robots being physically unable to is pulled directly from the blue knight story. the original greatest robot on earth story that pluto is based off is about pluto struggling with not wanting to be a robot made only for killing bc he had a nice time hanging out with uran and doesn't wanna make her sad. epsilon still dies saving his adopted human son, and atom ends the story mourning for all the robots who got killed for goji to prove a point. the moral (which multiple characters say) is that what makes a robot OR a person strong is their love and humanity not their killing power, and it is both stupid and perpetuating the cycle of violence to force robots to hurt each other. the robot hate group man in pluto is inspired by the villain of a segment in astro boy tales part 2&3 where he literally is in a group wearing kkk hoods and does a whole pr attack about robots killing his son because he is campaigning to remove their rights.

and it's not just the stories pluto references! hell, in basically half the stories at minimum a robot is forced by a human to do a crime, the police go 'dang i guess we gotta take the rights of all robots away and destroy them for scrap :(' and atom has to find the human responsible so that doesn't happen (the third magician, electro, and his highness deadcross are some good examples). the plot of the story robot land is atom struggling with wanting to save a bunch of robots being beaten up and worked to the bone by their creator, but he can't because robots are still technically property and helping them escape would be stealing and therefore illegal. in the little intro comics tezuka drew in the collection, he literally says 'yeah this is about the vietnam war being awful' about like fully three different stories. and that's just off the top of my head!!

'what makes a person, where is our empathy, why do we quest for vengeance when it only sucks us into a cycle, have we lost our humanity' are literally the most important core themes of astro boy, which is why it's so so impressive for kids comics that are still broadly super super cute and funny!

legitimately sorry for putting a huge wall of text in ur inbox because i know it's unsolicited and probably uncool. but astro boy is super important to me and so is the idea that a story can be goofy silly child adventures and also explore dark and serious themes? so i had like. a moment when i saw ur post lol. i get it if u dont wanna read all this etc but i wanted to i guess encourage u to give the manga a second pass even if u aren't into pluto at all. there's an insane amount of stuff there that really really legitimately is that deep

Okay, may I just say, I'm absolutely loving your impassioned defense of the manga here. You're bringing so much ride-or-die energy to the table right now, and I'm loving it. But I've been slowly reading through the manga over the past few years, so I... kind of already know all this??? That's pretty much the whole reason I made the joke in the first place -- because there are so many similar storylines and themes between the original manga and the Pluto series, but the individual tones literally could not be more different. The fact that a grim dystopian anime about the horrors of war and the true meaning of humanity is saying the same exact things as a fun, lighthearted, campy manga series?? Sorry, but that's just hilarious to me.

I can definitely see where the misunderstanding came from, but I promise, you do not need to defend the manga to me, LMAO.

[happymeishappylife]

Books I Read in 2024 Part 1

1. Ringer by Lauren Oliver (Sequel to Replica)

After the events of the last book, I was surprised that we jumped back in Gemma and Lyra’s worlds because I wasn’t sure where you could go. But again, I loved the duality of reading both girls stories and getting two different adventures that intertwined together. This time I started with Lyra’s story because I found her story in the last book so enjoyable and this time was just as fascinating. I liked how she has grown and explored the world, but still feels alienated by it and how that causes friction among the people she knows. The sad part though was her finding Dr. O’Donnell and learning she didn’t care as deeply for Lyra as she thought, but I loved Lyra and Calleum’s courage to escape and move on. Gemma’s story was heartbreaking and terrifying, mainly because she literally had to face her clone life by accidentally being mistaken for one. I can’t even imagine what that must feel like, but based on everything that happened in this novel she should dump Pete. I don’t care what trauma he went through, he kind of showed how misogynistic he is and how he didn’t entirely care for Gemma so she deserved better.

2. Downpour by Kat Richardson (Book #6 of the Greywalker Series)

We finally figure out what happened to Harper after being shot by the Pharoahn. Turns out she died again just like he wanted but because of her meddling in the web, she lost some of her powers instead of gaining any. So she sets off on a quest to interview a potential witness in her client’s case, only to discover a hidden murder and a series of magic way beyond the depths of Seattle. It was cool to explore the place where a mixture of mages using Chinese, Hoodoo, and whatever Beauty is type magic to make grabs of power. It kept the book interesting and moving as I tried to pinpoint who did it. Plus I really enjoyed that there was more of Chaos in this novel. For a ferret, I know she can be a handful but it was cute to see Harper return to taking care of her through the beginning half. And I also liked her and Quentin’s team up, though it will be interesting to see what happens to the two now that they are magically bonded.

3. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgommery

I fell in love with this book and wish I had read it so much earlier in life. It’s charming, lovely, and made me connect to a character so much that I haven’t felt in years. Anne’s belief in beautiful things, a powerful imagination, and not letting anything hold her back is a spirit that I share. I also love that Anne both simultaneously wanted to fit in with the people in Avonlea and also be her person is also something that I felt. And I loved that people loved her for her unique character because of how spirited and smart she is. Including Gilbert who she has been imagining a rivalry for years. I also like that at the end of the novel, which was heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time, Gilbert not only helps her, but quickly becomes her friend like he assumed they always would .be and that’s a really great feeling to end it all on.

4. To Hell With Love by Simon R. Green (Book #4 of the Secret Histories novels)

Catching up with Eddie Drood is always a fast page adventure. And it started with some heavy twists, but never let up. First the Matriarch is murdered and then it looks like Molly is murdered, sending the family into chaos and Eddie into turmoil. But he holds it together as he investigates Doctor Delirium, Tiger Tim, the Immortals, and the Apocalypse Door. And not unlike the first and second story, there is a whole lot of death and world ending situations back at it. I was thinking we might get more independent Eddie after the last one, but not the case. Still I liked that he got to play with his gadgets, supposedly solve the last family mystery, and thankfully still have Molly by his side. But the way it ended? I’m sure we can’t be done with Eddie that easily, but I guess we’ll see.

5. Doctor Who: Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris

Don’t Blink! Even though it features the weeping angels, I legitimately loved this story. As Jonathan explains in his introduction, he chose to write with the original episode in mind where the angels are seen from time to time and become menacing by their very appearance because that means there are paradoxes. And I think its perfect irony that their plan to get a human to trap in his own timeline forces them on an endless timeline of trapping him and having their plan fail. Plus the story of Mark travelling back in time and being the force to bring him and his wife together but having to forfeit the ability to save her in the end, is somewhat a tragedy and yet beautiful metaphor for how to heal because he technically did get more time with her than what he expected. But, what a cruel twist of fate to have Rory get zapped by an angel before it happens for real. Thankfully this wasn’t so bad, but still, lol.

6. The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota

A brutally honest and heartbreaking novel that gives you the background to the lives of four individuals who become connected in the most dire of circumstances where they have risked everything to either make a better life for themselves or in Narinder’s case, to try to help someone in the eyes of her God. I found her story especially heartbreaking because this is a young woman whose expected to believe in her religion, but hasn’t been fully educated, and so when she is challenged by the hardships of others, she tries to help as her religion has taught her to do, but that isn’t such a black and white thing. And she’s either confronted by it like she should know better from her family or challenged by her faith which is why she ultimately lets it go. Tochi’s history is heartbreaking but he seems the most stable and ultimately ended up where he wanted to be. Avdar seems like the one who has the most going for him, but ultimately his selfish intentions get the better of him and ends up hurting him in the long run. And Rahdeep has some issues which is why he was kicked out of school, but to see his transformation throughout the novel as the prodigal son to the homeless migrant worker where he loses a lot of himself, makes it really hard to be so angry with him. The whole narrative also puts into perspective what millions of people are facing in this world and the prejudices they are facing and how many are just suffering.

7. Lost Souls by Dean Koontz (Book #4 of the Frankenstein Series)

I was curious where the series was going to go after the last novel. Honestly, I think this could have been left a trilogy and called it good, because while its great to see familiar characters take on another challenge to defeat a clone Victor, you can tell that this whole book is just a set up for the final and it felt a literal rushed. Though the way that Victor Immaculate’s creatures are taking over the small town of Rainbow Falls Montana is very reminiscent of Koontz supernatural horror which makes it more intriguing. But seeing these poor innocent people get taken in by the Builders is so sad. And even though it’s a support of people owning guns, it was funny to me that Victor’s plans in the roadhouse to take so many people ends badly because they all pull out their guns and shoot the creatures. Like really, you didn’t do your research? Still now that there’s one more novel it will be interesting to find out if our heroes prevail once again, but it would be kind of interesting if this Victor won to be honest.

8. The Zodiac Legacy: Convergence by Stan Lee, Stuart Moore, and Andie Tong

Overall I like this book, but there were some things that also didn’t make me enjoy it as much as I could have. This mostly had to do with the fact that it really read as a comic book to me in the way that we’re jumping very quickly between scenes and characters, which as a book made it hard to tell truly how much time had passed. Like to me this maybe felt like a week’s worth of adventures, but obviously they flew to multiple countries and by the end somehow became a fighting team with no view for the reader to discover this so obviously more time passed. And that’s just it. I think this book could have stayed a little longer in the way it developed, maybe ending right as the new zodiac kids meet up in Greenland and have a showdown with the villains. That would have given more time to explore all of their backstories more fully and let characters develop more. For instance, I get that Steven as the Dragon is important, but how he went from a kid wandering off on a school trip to a fighter and leader in such short time is a mystery, especially being so young. Still the concept was fun, the powers are cool, and because we somewhat neutralized the villain, it will be interesting where the story goes from here.

9. The Book of Beasts by Carole E Barrowman and John Barrowman (Book #3 of the Hollow Earth Series)

This book picked up right where the last one ended and was a fast paced race to the end. On the one hand, with Matt’s perspective, I liked this from Matt’s perspective because he was in constant danger from his Dad’s plan to unleash Hollow Earth, but there was so much packed into Em’s side of things that I wish it had been a longer book to give that more breathing room. After all we didn’t meet her grandmother until this book and she got introduced as a super bad villain only to be easily overpowered by Em and then taken captive by Simon. Plus I get that Em wanted to save her brother, but it felt like she hadn’t learned anything in three books by hiding her secret with her family and Zach. Matt on the other hand I think went through significant growth because he had to not only overcome his dad, protect Jeannie and his friends, but also find a way to use his Animare powers in the harshest of conditions. But I was disappointed by the way he reconnected with his sister because it was meant to be funny when after all he went through I think it would have read better had it been a bit more emotional. Still it was an interesting story and it was nice to wrap up this short series.

10. The War of the Worlds & The War in the Air by H.G. Wells

It was interesting to read these two stories back to back because obviously the War of the Worlds is the most famous, though thanks to Orson Wells and the radio drama mostly. But the story as is it is, wasn’t really scary to me because the main character’s perspective that we were following was a bit of idiot. Like he heard about all these dangerous events and was like “I must get closer” and threw away all of his caution to go chasing after the Martians. At least his brother had better sense and I assumed survived which is how we got to learn about his story. Plus we all know that tentacled Martians aren’t real, they are Ice Warriors. Now following Bert Smallways was a bit more interesting because at least the frustrations with his character were because he was doing his best in a terrible situation he found himself in to survive. But the story shifted so much from an actual story to an info dump that it was hard to stay engaged with at times. That and the ending was bad because while yes, the aerial warfare changed the world like Wells predicted, it didn’t send us backwards in terms of society and technology. Plus lots of racist language at the end when describing the Asian forces. But still it was impressive that Wells could predict up to a point the way that the world would get involved in each other’s affairs and start fighting and how that would change society before planes were even invented. Because he’s right, when aerial warfare became a thing then the whole world became a dangerous place to be in because you couldn’t necessarily see the battle coming and it could come out of nowhere. And nowadays its even more threatening with stealth and drone technology plus the threat of potential space made weapons on top of the age old nuclear threats really does make one think about the luckiness to be alive. Especially when lots of people in the world are not so lucky right now.

[justarandomnobody]

NPC randomness in Curse of the Crimson Throne

[Some spoilers about the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path ahead]

The barbarian NPC that we befriended on a tavern when the goblin won a drinking contest against him at the start of the adventure and was our companion from time to time (read, when the quests were too hard for a party of three), Krauss, met Cinnabar, a Red Mantis assassin that was tasked with killing us, who we forgave (mainly because of my character's influence, who tried to make her stand for her own and claim her life as her own, instead of expecting her boss to come and kill her for failing to kill us).

After a drinking night, apparently they started dating (a weird flex on the argument, but since she thought her life was going to end and Krauss was still trying to adjust to his new body, because he died and we could only get somebody to cast reincarnate on him and was reborn as a half-elf, it was nice for them to have something in common and a renewed will to live ---for Cinnabar).

However, one of the things we found out was that her boss was in town and was going to try to kill her, so one of the goals we had when attacking the castle, besides bringing the queen to justice, was to stop the Red Mantis and free Cinnabar from them. But the Red Mantis, their boss Kayltanya among them, skipped town between our assaults (there were several, since we couldn't clear the castle in just one trip, which was to be expected). We thought that was enough. since it seemed they would leave Cinnabar alone for the time being.

The issue at hand was that we got access to a harrow deck which had some powerful effects on either us or some of our allies (it destroyed the marriage of the warrior, and killed me, for instance, but I was brought back thanks to the goblin attachment issues). And one of the effects was that a former enemy would came to me as an ally (to me, since I picked the card).

And this enemy was Kayltanya.

She had a change of heart, a complete change of heart, and wanted to help us defeat the queen, after she was contracted by her as her assassin. But since this change was genuine (magically produced, but genuine nevertheless), we accepted her and brought her to our lair, where she could explain herself to Cinnabar and assure her that she won't be in any danger from her again. And then, she met Krauss. And she liked the strong and well-built barbarian. And decided that she wanted a part in their relationship.

And they agreed.

So the barbarian is in a polycule with two former enemies of us... and they... seem to be happy about it right now, so they have that going for them, which is nice, I guess.

The point is, in a conversation that involved this meme:

(Krauss, will you teach us to make love?, we're Spanish speakers playing in Spanish)

I said to the group, "I don't know how we got to this :'v", and the rest went something like this: the GM, my wife: "me neither". The goblin: "That's my little Krauss, I raised him well". Me, to the GM: "how can you not know, if the whole thing was your idea?" GM: "Well, I rolled some dice", said picking a die and showing it to me, "and said, 'if it rolls under 30, they'll be in a polycule', and I rolled a 16". Me, thinking: "That makes sense, I guess". Me, realizing she picked the d20: "Wait a minute >:v"

And that's how the NPC got two evil girls as his girlfriends, while the goblin is in love with Vencarlo Orsini (who probably won't ever love her back :'v), the fighter lost his wife and child, because an Ifrit came to ask him to marry her and he said yes (it was that or to offend a court in the Fire Elemental Plane, and the Ifrit seemed to really want to marry him), and the (aroace) swashbuckler (me) has been parrying every pretender, while trying to remain sane.

[waddlebouncefloof]

Leviathantale Mermay 2022 Day 18 & 19: Pearl, Trident

Summary: Blank’s proposal to Percy gets interrupted by a surprise adventure that reveals that there is a prophecy connected to the selkie mage.

Everything that could have possibly gone wrong in this trip has gone wrong.

Blank had no plans for their vacation with Percy to turn into an adventure. Now, Blank usually is down for an adventure that led to lost vessels, forgotten lore, and beautiful artifacts, but this year is different.

This year, Blank plans to propose to their datemate.

Blank always knew that Percy is the one for them. While they know that their overprotective Papa would’ve wanted them to wait until they turned fifty to officially tie the knot, they aren’t as patient. They wanted to reserve this year’s travels to focus solely on showering their perfect datemate with the most romantic gestures before popping the question. The location they’ve chosen for this venture is Greece.

It was supposed to be peaceful. They were supposed to swim with the dolphins and eat delicious food and take romantic walks down the beach as the sun set.

So why is Blank tangled in another adventure that involves long-dead Mages?!

Somehow, while they were out scuba-diving with Percy - which was hilarious because neither needed the equipment but wore them anyways for the experience - they came upon an underwater structure that immediately sucked them inside and separated them from their beloved, spitting them out into a labyrinth. Later, Blank finds out that the ancient structure was a trap intended to catch and keep Mages until they died a natural death.

Three other mer were sucked in with them during the chaos. Why? Blank guesses that they’re just collateral because there is no way that they are secret Mages.

Outer, Color, and Epic end up being cooperative and friendly despite their distressing circumstances. Blank is grateful for their help as they all traversed the seemingly magical traps and puzzles as they try to find a way out.

“Why would a Mage create something intended to hurt their own?!” Blank screams in frustration as they manage to translate the writing on the walls. “Core never mentioned anything about this!”

“Maybe your friend didn’t know?” Outer suggests. While gigantic in size, the Whale Shark mer is the gentlest of them all. His tail is a gorgeous collection of constellations amongst shades of blues and purples. “Not everyone knows everything, after all.”

“But Core is literally scattered across time and space!” Blank insists. “They’re the one who keeps sending me on quests that end up being connected to Ancient Mages!”

“Well, if they knew of this place, they would’ve been trapped here too,” Color points out logically. And….Blank has no argument to counter that. “Hey, I get that you’re stressed and having not-so-nice revelations about your predecessors, but I think it’ll do all of us some good if we just focused on finding a way to get out.”

When Blank looks at the colorful seafoam leaking from the Leopard Shark mer’s skull, their soul aches, reminded of Geno. The last time they saw him, he had been blissfully tending to Blank’s younger siblings. Blank wonders if they will never see him again.

Their mood only dips lower and lower when they swim deeper into the maze and learn more about Mages.

“A prophecy,” they translate, causing Color to scoff.

“Prophecies,” he repeats with some ruefulness. “They’re always so vague and self-fulfilling. Why go through all this work for something that might be misunderstood or would never come?”

Blank isn’t as doubtful. With a frown they continue to read aloud what their predecessor had feared. The Mage, a prophet with a Perseverance soul, wrote the reason why the structure was created and apologized to any future Mages who followed them for what they had to do.

“Including me, there will be seven of us,” the prophet wrote, “and the final one will have a power that could flood the entire world. They will be able to command all natural calamities and topple kingdoms. I shudder to even write any of this. It is safer, and even kinder, to make sure such a being is trapped and unable to do harm to the world.”

Blank knows how to count. They’ve seen mentions of other Mages. All of them plus Core and Blank makes seven, which makes Blank the youngest and the latest. The prophet makes them out to be some powerful being. Blank doesn’t feel powerful enough to bring storms or topple kingdoms. They can barely manage to wrangle their rowdy cousins on a good day.

“Oh hey brah, you dropped your weird oyster,” Epic suddenly speaks up, interrupting their musing. Blank freezes when they see a box in the goofy, Tiger Shark mer’s hands. It’s open, revealing a pearl ring nestled inside. Blank takes it back.

“Thank you,” they say gratefully, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost my courting gift to my datemate along with everything else that’s happening right now.”

“Oh.” Understanding fills everyone’s faces before it settles on sympathy. “A courting gift, huh? Gotta get back to ‘em then.”

Eventually, they do escape and Blank does propose to a crying Percy right when they’re reunited. Outer, Color, and Epic follow Blank and Percy home where they meet Blank’s family and are quickly snapped up to join Nightmare and Dream’s shiver…but that’s another story.

The most important part is what happened before all of that. After reading the prophecy, Blank and their companions came across a mural left behind by the prophet. The long-dead mage claimed that it was the vision that struck them and filled them with fear.

Upon seeing it, Blank laughed.

For in the mural were all of the Leviathans in their frightening, gigantic forms. There is Reaper, hooded and deadly. Ink and Error flank his sides, all ink and glitches and teeth. Dream shines brilliantly and curls around his twin, who wields his trident menacingly despite being the smallest of all of them. The rest of the mural was broken, but Blank could see edges of Blue and Golden from beings bigger than all of them.

They’re all reaching for something and only Nightmare manages to cradle whatever it was with the hand that was free of his weapon. It was a small, white seal.

“Command all natural calamities and topple kingdoms” indeed. Blank thinks that the younger them on the mural had higher priorities than making that come true. Like collecting shiny things and stealing chocolates for their beloved older brother.

——————————————————-

Prophet Mage: Oh my god a single being commanding the Leviathans. What power. What would they demand? What would they desire from these great beings?

Blank: Nyoomies! :D

[malarki]

Harry Potter FanFiction I greatly enjoy (it’s just tomarry and sevitus)

Fair warning, I’m not good at describing stuff, and most of these are not complete (yet) but if you have similar tastes as I do then you’ll definitely like these stories.

Meddling of a Mischief Maker - by Athy

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5380535/chapters/12427268

I enjoy this fic because it shows a more human Voldemort with him still being an asshole as per usual. They do a good job of having Voldemort believably change into a not crazy murderous bastard haha. It also has Sirius interacting with Voldemort and for some reason I find those scenes hilarious in any fic I read.

“Harry's being a horcrux is a bit reworked here in this AU Story set during the summer after 5th year. A Mischief Maker intervenes in the Ministry during Voldemort and Dumbledore's duel, changing the course history. MorallyGrey!Dumbledore, Sirius, Restored Souls, HP/TR”

Draw Me After You (Let Us Run) - by ToAStranger @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22327684/chapters/53334382

This story is a delight, it’s tone is very good and they do a great job of writing in the characters ‘voices’ for their pov’s. I especially like the posh way Voldemort talks and acts. This story is also hilarious on top of just being a very good slowburn, AND it has Sirius, which as you might have guessed, I love dearly. They also don’t bash any of the characters, and instead make them well rounded but flawed individuals, which I really appreciate.

“Harry Potter,” comes the soft, sibilant hiss of a voice he has heard in his dreams, in his nightmares, in his waking hours for years.

Slowly, carefully, Harry twists over and pushes up onto his hands and knees. He stays there, short breath fogging in front of his face, and his pursuer lets him. Harry has no doubt of that; he’s being allowed this respite. This small moment to catch his bearings, heart pounding in his ears, blood singing.

“It seems I have finally caught you.”

Consuming Shadows - by Child_OTKW @childotkw

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7040089/chapters/16011331

I’ve read two of childOTKW’s fics and both of them are fantastically written and attention grabbing stories. This one was the first one I read, and it has a very interesting take on lily Potter (one which I really enjoy) and the plot can leave you on the edge of your seat at times. The characterization is great, and the process of Harry and Tom getting to know each other is done very well.

“His attention skipped passed the students and moved to the politicians’ pavilion. His gaze locked with crimson, and he nearly faltered under the sheer hunger in those eyes.

It unnerved him how fixated the man was on his dirtied, exhausted figure.

But what troubled him more was the slight smirk he could make out on the man’s lips. It was almost pleased.

On the night of the attack, Lily managed to escape with her infant son, but at the cost of her husband’s life. Distraught and distrusting of her friends, she fled to France with Harry, to raise him away from the corruption in Britain and the rising influence of the Dark Lord. She trains him to the best of her abilities, shaping him into a dangerous, intelligent and powerful wizard.

But when Britain re-establishes the Triwizard Tournament, and Harry is forced to return to his once-home, he finds himself questioning whether he really wants to kill the Dark Lord. Voldemort finds an unexpected challenge in the child, and as his intrigue and amusement grows, so too does the desire to possess the spark in those defiant green eyes.”

A story that is kind of similar but not really: The Train to Nowhere

You Belong To Me (I Belong To You) - by child_OTKW

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11270490/chapters/25203408

This is a story inspired by the manwha ‘At The End Of The Road’ by Haribo. A comic I read before reading this, which is very good I recommend it. They do not take the exact plot from the comic though, obviously changing significant details for it to work properly as a Tomarry Fic, but one main thing stays the same, which is that this is a body swap. Honestly I really enjoy childOTKW’s works, and this is no exception. The characterization is wonderful as always, and Harry is Fantastic. Plus I’ve always been a fan of time travel fics. (Fair warning this is another slow burn and Harry centric)

“What I find absolutely fascinating,” Riddle said, stalking closer, “is you.” He marched forward, backing Harry up until he was pinned to the cool wall of the common room. “Do you know why?”

“No. And I’ll be honest here, Riddle, I don’t particularly care.”

The taller boy grinned at him, small yet infinitely pleased. “That. Right there.” One hand rose and brushed some of Harry’s fringe from his face. “Nathan Ciro was a spineless little boy too afraid of his own shadow to dare even glance in my direction. But you…”

He leaned closer, “You look at me like you want to stab me.”

“After an accident, Auror Harry Potter wakes up in the body of fourteen year old Nathan Ciro, a tormented Slytherin who recently tried to end his own life. Seeking answers to his strange predicament, Harry returns to Hogwarts, and causes quite the stir through staff and students - especially when they come to realise he is not the same boy as before.

He tries to avoid suspicion, but as his quest for the truth draws more and more attention to him, Harry begins to think that he might not like what he will discover.”

Some Bonus AU tomarry

A Thousand Paths Among The Stars - by Haplessshippo @haplesshippo

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12015060/chapters/27191238

This is a star trek au and it’s honestly my favorite tomarry au fic. Granted, I am a huge sci-fi fan. There’s also a bit of a twist at the end, or at least it surprised me, due to the way we usually expect tomarry plots to go.

“Harry Potter, newly appointed Captain of the Marauder and son of the famous Captain James Potter, was falling apart at the seams. His crew didn’t respect him, he was lost in the empty expanse of space, nightmares plagued his sleep, and his Commander deserved the Captain position more than he did. Good thing multiple attempts on his life and a vicious warlord after his head was all it took to turn it all around.

Alternatively, that space fic in which Harry Potter almost dies too many times, Tom Riddle slowly becomes the most smitten fool on the ship, and the rest of the crew are all just a bunch of assholes with popcorn watching the show. And exploding ships, don't forget the exploding ships.”

The Matchmaker - by TanninTele

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16507676/chapters/38664089

I am ALSO a huge true crime fan, and this story has a criminal that kinda reminds me of one that might appear in Hannibal (but with less murder). I enjoy the characterization, though tom is pretty tame in this compared to more cannon fics, considering he’s not the criminal and instead an investigator. Harry is also different from how people usually portray him, but I still like it.

“'The Matchmaker' is a serial abductor whose modus operandi consists of pairing two same-sex individuals together in a coffin, six feet underground - buried alive. He isn't a killer. He's a kidnapper with morals, and Detective Chief Inspector Tom Riddle finds himself obsessed with solving the case.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Matchmaker is just as intent on knowing him.”

And on to the Sevitus Stories

Far Beyond A Promise Kept - by oliversnape

https://archiveofourown.org/works/547431/chapters/974693

A classic, Harry stays with snape and unintentionally proves all his assumptions wrong and makes snape care about him. Both the stories have this aspect, but this one has snape a bit nicer from the get go. Probably because it takes place during the third book, so they’ve only known each other two years. It’s quite wholesome though, and I rather enjoy the progression of their relationship.

“Snape never wanted anyone to know of his promise to Dumbledore, but has realised that he can protect Potter much better by taking a less passive role in the boy's training. Actually liking Harry Potter has never been part of his plan. mentor/guardian.”

Crime And Punishment - by melolcatsi

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24102232/chapters/58018174

Snape and Harry have way more of a rocky start in this one, and Snape having to pick Harry up from the police station Really Doesn’t Help Snape’s opinion of him. This story very realistically shows the progression of their relationship, going from enemies to family, and near the ‘end’ (it’s not finished) it becomes very wholesome with Snape trying to help Harry with his mental and physical health after years of abuse/ neglect.

“Harry is accused of burglary. The Dursleys leave him to rot. Dumbledore sends Snape to remedy the situation. Harry finds himself in the care of an irate Snape. Not slash, gen-fic w/ focus on Sevitus relationship. Angst galore. Warnings: coarse and suggestive language, mentions of abuse/neglect. Un-betaed and un-Britpicked.”

[labarch]

Attempt at a Witch Hat Atelier timeline

We are still missing a lot of backstory for our main cast, but I thought I’d try and write a timeline based on what we know so far, and explore where their storylines might intersect.

I am pulling these numbers out of my hat for convenience sake, but here are some approximate ages for the characters: at the start of the manga, let’s say Coco, Tetia and Agott are all 12, Riche is 11, and Qifrey and Olruggio are 28.

20-23 years ago: Olruggio leaves his birth town Godley and moves to the Great Hall, maybe as young as 5 years old.

While many witches are born in the Great Hall, Olruggio comes from a town called Godley in the North. Yet he doesn’t remember Utowin, who came from the same place. We know that young witches usually start their training between the age of 7 and 10, but since witch society is awfully elitist, Olruggio would have been sent there as soon as his talent for magic became apparent.

Being ripped from his home at an extremely young age could explain his fear of being unwanted and left behind: he overworks himself as a way to feel useful and validated, is defensive about his own feelings, and he gets agitated and sometimes aggressive whenever Qifrey hides things from him.

20 years ago: arrival of Qifrey at the Great Hall at age 8. Olruggio befriends him soon afterwards. The both of them start sneaking out at night to chase Brimhats.

8 year old Qifrey was one fierce little thing, you have to give him that. His abuse at the hands of the Brimhats was brutal enough to break a grown man, but he picks himself up and goes right after them like “Alright jerks, you’ve got some explaining to do and I want my eyeball back!”.

Also it cracks me up that Olruggio was carrying this massive book in their flashback. Gotta love that his reaction to Qifrey’s “Let’s go chase some terrorists!” was “Sure, let me just pack my homework =>”.

Finally, there might be a slightly more selfish motivation for Olruggio’s fast friendship and devotion to Qifrey. Olruggio’s self-esteem lies in his ability to help people, so he would naturally be drawn to someone helpless. It’s unclear how much of Qifrey’s memory was missing: apparently he didn’t know about birthdays. How many other basic concepts was he missing? Did he know how to read? Between that, his lack of knowledge about magic and his injury, he was probably completely dependent on Olruggio at the beginning. Given Olruggio’s wish that they go back to “the good old times” when they were always together, I am wondering whether some hidden part of him misses being essential to someone. It’s well-intentioned, but not entirely healthy, especially if he is using Qifrey as a coping mechanism for his own insecurities.

14 years ago: Olruggio and Qifrey make a pledge of (betrothal) friendship, exchange tassels and attempt the Librarian test at age 14. It is their last adventure together, but Qifrey will continue his investigations on his own, to Olruggio’s disappointment and betrayal. Qifrey starts wearing his half-tinted glasses.

In the pledge flashback, they are wearing their old tassels, but they have swapped them by the time they undertake the third test. Also, when he remembers that pledge, Olruggio says that Qifrey’s investigation “should have ended at the Tower of Books”. The tower is the last likely place where Qifrey could have found answers about his past and a non-forbidden way of getting his eye back. Olruggio probably made him promise that he would stop his search afterwards.

Beldaruit says that he thought Qifrey had given up on his search after the third test, but Olruggio tells a slightly different story. Apparently he thought Qifrey “finally stopped causing trouble” after taking in apprentices, which means he was still behaving suspiciously right up until he became a teacher. Alaira also comments on Qifrey’s interest in the Brimhats in the first volume, so clearly his investigations were common knowledge among his friends, even as an adult.

Olruggio’s anger whenever the Brimhats are mentioned would then be caused not just by his own fear of forbidden magic, but by the reminder that Qifrey broke his promise to him, and refused to leave his past behind. Naturally, Olruggio doesn’t know about Qifrey’s change in circumstances: he is no longer looking to retrieve what he lost, but trying to stop an impending threat.

Qifrey’s discoveries in the Tower of Books also seem to have renewed his disgust towards his own scar: he starts wearing glasses shortly afterwards, even though his eyesight hasn’t yet started deteriorating.

14-5 years ago: in that interval, Coco’s father dies of illness. Olruggio becomes more and more famous for his magical items, and is given the title “Shining Torch” / “Master of Lights”. His glowstone paths become widely popular, and are installed around the castle near Coco’s mom. Both Qifrey and Olruggio pass the fourth test and complete their training.

At this stage, I really doubt that Qifrey intended to become a teacher. Whatever information he found at the Tower of Books convinced him he had to stop the Brimhats’ plan. He was probably planning to complete his training and then go straight on to his quest, not really expecting to return alive.

There are also hints that this was a strained period for Qifrey and Olruggio: Olruggio mentions that he would like them to confide in each other “just like old times”, which implies that they grew more distant after the Librarian test. I’m suspecting that Qifrey was trying to slowly remove himself from Olruggio’s life, hoping Olruggio would be so famous and beloved by the time they graduated that he would forget about Qifrey and barely notice his disappearance. Qifrey’s self-esteem isn’t the best y’all.

5 years ago: Coco receives the magic picture book from Iguin at age 7 at the Silver Night Festival. The Brimhats stop showing signs of activity. Qifrey takes on his first apprentice (probably Tetia, age 7). He interrupts his investigation of the Brimhats and creates the atelier. Olruggio becomes his Watchful Eye.

We don’t know exactly how old Coco was when she got her book, but her tiny chubby face makes me think she was 6-7. Alaira also tells us in the first volume that the incident with Coco’s mother is the first sign of Brimhat activity in five years. I am thinking that after Iguin gave away the book, he instructed the other Brimhats to keep a low profile until his scheme could hatch.

I also wonder whether Coco getting her book might coincide with Qifrey becoming a teacher and creating his atelier. Given that Qifrey is probably tied to Iguin’s schemes, how coincidental is it that Qifrey wandered into Coco’s village and set her fate in motion? Perhaps Iguin contrived for them to live in the same area so that they would meet eventually. Either he somehow influenced Qifrey’s choice of location for his atelier, or he selected Coco as his “child of hope” because of her relative proximity as well as her love for magic.    

7 years old is when we could expect Tetia to have passed the first test. For now we know little about her backstory, but we can guess a few things: she is enthusiastic and ambitious, but gets easily side-tracked by pet projects and struggles to stick to the curriculum. She craves positive feedback and is worried her spells and interests will be condemned as frivolous. It makes me think that she passed her first test early, but was then mistreated by her first teachers for being too childish.

We’ve seen that Qifrey has a compulsive tendency to adopt children in distress. It would fit his character if he became a teacher on impulse. Maybe he had to pass the fifth test in a rush to be allowed to keep Tetia by his side. This also brought Olruggio back into his life, as he was the only one willing to follow him away from the atelier as Watchful Eye.

The complicity between Tetia and Qifrey, and Tetia taking on the role of a big sister for both Riche and Coco, also make me think she was Qifrey’s first apprentice. Tetia is often shown teasing Qifrey, quoting both Qifrey and Olruggio, and imitating Qifrey’s teaching style: I can totally see them as a little family of three at some point in the past.  

4 years ago: Riche starts training under her brother’s master, a creepy asshole, at age 7.

We actually have a clear timestamp for that one in chapter 25, woohoo! Riche’s old teacher can eat a brick.

3-2 years ago: Qifrey and Olruggio learn about Riche’s mistreatment in her old atelier and promptly adopt her. Beldaruit takes on Ririfin as an apprentice. Qifrey’s eyesight starts deteriorating. He adds the light protection glyph to his glasses.

Before that time, Qifrey might have intended to put his quest on hold until after Tetia’s graduation, but now his impending blindness puts him on a time limit. He can’t do a lot about it however, since the Brimhats have been keeping a low profile for years and are not leaving him any clue.

It’s unclear how long Riche stayed at her old atelier, and whether she joined Qifrey before or after Agott. I’m hoping she made it out as soon as possible.

2 years ago: Agott passes the first test at age 10. She gets accused of stealing someone else’s spell, is rejected from her prestigious family’s apprenticeship, and joins Qifrey’s atelier.

Agott has been treated harshly by her family for not being enough of a genius. She mentions passing the first test at 10, the upper end of the normal age range. She was probably given a hard time for starting her apprenticeship so “late”, which explains why she is now adamant about passing the other tests as quickly as possible.

I wonder whether she felt ambivalent about joining Qifrey’s atelier at first. On the one hand, Qifrey was taught by the Sage of Education himself and is clearly very powerful. On the other hand, he has only a couple students and lives in a weird little school in the middle of nowhere, a big fall from grace compared to her prestigious upbringing. I wonder whether Qifrey went to find her after he heard she was the object of nasty rumours (he knows a thing or two about those), and Agott didn’t feel like she had other options.

0 year ago: Coco and Qifrey meet. Iguin goes “F***ing finally, I thought I’d have to watch that humdrum one-eyed twink bake potatoes for another five years. It’s dragon-slaying time now baby!!!”  

[attllhak]

Flora’s Musings

So, here’s the WingAU fic I mentioned. It’s the first one I wrote and features the fun trope of “The Unreliable Narrator That Is History”, which I had a lot of fun with.

I, don’t have a tag list for this AU at this point. So, this part is just my preamble I guess. So, preamble over, here’s the fic.

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Zelda ran her fingertips between her shoulder blades. She tried not to think about what wasn’t there.

Her wings would come in, she hoped, no she knew they would. They had to. As the princess fated to stop Calamity Ganon it was her duty to unlock her sealing powers, face him, and earn her wings.

It was why she was down here now, in the hidden and secret library they’d excavated. No one cared about this area of the castle, but Zelda loved it there. It was so full of knowledge, and there were records about the Queens and Princesses of the past, ones who had wings themselves.

It was certainly a good excuse to hide down there and do research.

There weren’t many documents on the founders of Hyrule, but she’d translated a few of the ancient texts and had learned much. Apparently her powers came from the fact she was descended from Hylia herself! There were exactly three paintings of her down there, and all of them were old and weathered. Two, one of her alone and one next to her husband, the first King of Hyrule, who was holding the Master Sword, his own wings giving him away as the first of Link’s incarnations, were so old almost all of the colour was gone. The last one, however, had been tucked into a book and, protected from the elements, retained some of its colour.

The goddess reborn had gold wings, bright and shining and as beautiful as everyone expected them to be. Her Hero, however, had red wings, a bright crimson with soft gold flight feathers. What was more, this painting seemed to depict them in their downtime, the goddess still dressed up and all, but leaning over the edge of her throne. Her Hero sat on the dias and leaned against the throne, and was messing with something in his hands that the goddess seemed to be watching, though age obscured what it was. It was entirely unprofessional and sweet, and it made Zelda happy. It made them seem less like untouchable figures of pure good and more like real people. She liked that they were people too.

There was only one picture of the next Queen, and it was so old and weathered that Zelda was scared to touch it lest it crumble into dust. This queen had smaller wings, though Zelda couldn’t tell what colour they were supposed to be. Her Hero was there too, and he had four wings, and Zelda couldn’t be sure but it almost seemed like each wing was a different colour. She couldn’t find any other record of these two, and so she’d taken a picture of the image on the Sheikah Slate to preserve it. This painting was important.

One of the Queens came from the point in history called the Split, a strange period of several thousand years where very different events happened at the same time. They had, through the records in the castle libraries and the temples across Hyrule, figured out this Queen had lived three different recorded lives. Regardless, she always looked the same, or similar at least, in all of her lives. She was a warrior, and her wings, indigo and white and flecked with gold, were always held in a way that showed pride.

Her Hero wasn’t always with her, in two of her lifetimes she ruled alone. In one of them, her Hero had died trying to fight Ganon, and was buried with wings wrapped about him, as was traditional for Heroes and their Queens. The Queen had been Princess then, the books say, and was only 17. I made Zelda uneasy, Link had turned 17 just a few months ago, and her 17th birthday was fast approaching. To think the Hero of Time could die at 17 made her worried for her own Hero. The next of the two he just, wasn’t there. There was no record of the Hero after he defeated Ganon, he just vanished without a trace. Zelda still wanted to know why. The last life gave the most information on the Hero, but he wasn’t listed as a Hero at all. There was no fight in this life, just peace and a failed arrest. As far as historians could tell, this was the most accurate life of hers, but Zelda wasn’t so sure. After all, she and the head of her Royal Guard both had wings. Something had to have happened. These were the only records of the Hero of Time where his wings were visible. A beautiful metallic copper, with darker bronze flight feathers. He seemed to keep them close to his body, like he didn’t want anyone to pay attention to him or them. He apparently married a farm girl in this life.

There were different heirs in each of these lives. For the first life the Queen was a fighter, one with all kinds of magic at her fingertips. Her wings were pink and red, and when she spread them a little bit of gold could be seen at the base of them. This was a Queen who never shied away from the many, many issues her people faced. And many issues there were, records argued whether the number of quests her Hero went on was five or six or twelve. He seemed grumpy in every painting, but after seven-ish quests Zelda would be too. His wings were pink, a million different shades at once. He also seemed to prefer long tunics or dresses to pants. Apparently he didn’t like pants.

After them came a pair of Queens. Zelda initially thought they were cousins, but apparently one was the other’s ancestor, as bizarre as that was. Only one of the two had wings, a soft amber or honey colour, a safe, warm brown. The Princess didn’t have wings, but was no less important if the records and paintings were to be believed. Their Hero didn’t look like much, but his wings, a deep, dark green with earthy brown flight feathers, told of his heroics enough that his looks didn’t have to. Records said he married the Princess, but they never had children, instead helping the Queen raise her bastard twins as a group. Zelda wondered if perhaps the three had all been together, so to speak, and the twins were actually his.

In the second life, there was only one heir, a woman who was named ‘Tetra’ and not Zelda. Her wings were blue, with red separating the blue from gold flight feathers. It was a beautiful colour. Her Hero was usually pictured at her side, his silver tipped sea foam green feathers shining next to her. Those two were always painted outside, and usually on a boat of some kind.

Following the timeline that was decided to be ‘true’, the Queen following the Queen of Three Lives was her great-granddaughter. Her wings, sleek and graceful, were solid black save for the lowest layer of feathers, which was a soft golden-orange colour. Her Hero was hardly ever at her side, history said he spent most of his time in his home village or on assignments for the Queen. Zelda didn’t know if they didn’t get along, or if he hated the city and castle, or why it was that he was never around his Queen, but there was only one painting of him next to her. His wings were big, wide and strong, a range of soft oranges with a rare black feather scattered across them. He also wore a strange charm on a rope around his neck, but no one seemed to know what it was.

The only other Queen, save for the one from 10 000 years ago, was one with a story so outlandish that historians debated on whether or not she was real. She always held a sword or bow in hand, and her wings were either spread for flight or held in close for combat. They were gold, with white flight feathers that seemed to go indigo at the base of each feather. Black flecked the gold, making it obvious she was a fighter. Her Hero was always with her, his wings out behind him, flared up in a show of pride or confidence, a rallying cry for his troops. They fought in a war, so the records claimed. His wings were gold, shiny silver spots scattered over his wings, not dissimilar to the stars in the sky, that made his wings look like they glittered. He was beautiful, as was his Queen, and it was clear that the two were very close.

There weren’t any records on the wings of the Queen 10 000 years ago, nor her Hero, and Zelda didn’t know why that was. Perhaps those records were lost when the Sheikah split. It was unlikely she would ever know.

Zelda didn’t know when her wings would come in, and some days she feared they never would. It was a comfort at least that Link’s wings hadn’t come in yet either.

He found her a few hours later, bringing her a blanket and some food. He sat with her and politely signed a request for her to read to him. They read all through the night, and Impa found them the next morning, Zelda leaned over the desk with her head on her arms and Link leaning on the side of her desk, head tilted back and drooling. She left them there.

When the Calamity hit and she didn’t get her wings she felt like such a failure, especially since Link’s wings had just broken skin a few moments ago, greyish brown wings that were still all fluff coming through the slits in his tunic designed to accommodate them.

She sat next to him in the Shrine of Resurrection, just before they sealed it. His wings were still small, they had never had the chance to come in fully before he fell. She reached over and brushed hair from his face, watching his relaxed features and ignoring the burns on the rest of his body.

“Don’t worry, Link,” she whispered. “I’ll make sure they’re all safe until you wake up,”

She marched on the castle then, staring down the Calamity and ready to give everything she had to keep him at bay.

She reached forward, holding her hand out to the monster and ready to fight. She could feel the triforce on her hand burn in response, her body spilling a radiant golden light. The monster dove for her, and she held her ground, eyes open and ready to stand and fight.

A push on her shoulders, then the pressure bursting and wings spread out behind her.

Blue and white feathers sat on the ground where she was moments before.

(---)

Link stepped into the castle, tiny wings fluffed up in anxiety and nerves making them quiver. He paused as he moved towards the heart, lifting one foot.

Under his boot, was a pair of blue and white feathers, perfectly preserved from when they fell there 100 years before.

[rikalovesrice]

My Thoughts on Trollhunters : Rise of the Titans

WARNING : ALL THE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW

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Mmmmm. Okay. So I just finished the movie. I’m fatigued as always so this’ll be a bit of a mess lol. Gotta spew the thoughts while they’re still fresh, y’all know how it is.

Right out the gate, I definitely want to talk about the things I loved.

The animation was, of course, phenomenal and gorgeous!

Voice acting was incredible as always

MUSIC SLAPPED

Douxie. I just loved seeing Douxie again and honestly kept my eyes trained on him for most the of movie lol

OK DOUXIE AND NARI SWITCHING?? BODIES??? Definitely didn’t see that coming and I legit started screaming lol

Nari in Douxie’s body is the most precious, chaotic, and wholesome thing like holy cow that was so adorable LOOKIT DOUXIE CROUCHING AND CRAWLING AROUND ON ALL FOURS WITH THOSE NOODLE LIMBS OF HIS I CAN’T --

We called Nari’s mind control and Douxie trying to reason with her!

In the very few scenes they were together, Douxie’s love and affection for Nari really came through. You could really feel how much he cared about her. ALSO THAT TENDER HUG AND NARI’S LITTLE HAPPY SQUEAK MY HEART NO--

Loved Barbara. Always love Barbara.

Walter and Barbara getting engaged

Nomura back in action

Claire being the powerful sorceress she’s become

Loved seeing Aja, Krel, and Varvatos all together again.

NARI VS SKRAEL WAS ALL SORTS OF EPIC AND CRUSHING EMOTIONS.

The way Douxie yelled Nari’s name and ran to her after she died and the remnants of her magic falling all around him, like she was saying goodbye, just *UGLY CRYING*

It was so cool to see Charlie out of his den and flying about like the mighty dragon he is

Loved the Guardians of Arcadia pulling Excaliber out together.

All the gang all going after Bellroc together

YES JIM MY BOOOOOOY

BLINKY DIDN’T DIE

Aarrgh I love you so much

Stuart, what a bro!

We saw a hint of mercy in Bellroc towards the end.

Toby’s death... That was a huge curveball. Jim might as well have cut my heart out with Excaliber as he sobbed over his best friend.

Uh.....um....and.....Er...what else........ .___.

..........Alright so.......It’s about to get a bit brutal from here on out as I talk about the things I didn’t like at all. And the really sad thing is, at least to me, the cons far outweigh the pros in this movie. Because I’m actually having difficulty picking out things I enjoyed, they were so few and far between...which really sucks.

So here we go.

Gosh, where to begin... I guess I’ll go ahead and say this : I’m really disappointed. 

Like as I’m here typing this, I’m just thinking, “...That was it? That was the movie?? The big finale???”

So much of this movie just felt....unnecessary. I hate to say almost like filler. The entire intro re-caping the series really wasn’t needed. And then Toby went and restated it all again when he was being interrogated. The pacing, oh my gosh...Guys, the pacing in this movie was not good. The action started and it never seemed to stop. There wasn’t a single moment of rest, of levity, of our characters just being themselves, getting to know each other, being friends outside of the battle. No Reckless Club Segment. No fun, just... I mean Claire and Aja didn’t speak to each other at all. Douxie and Toby hardly interacted. Steve was turned into a gross male pregnancy joke. Jim and Krel barely spoke. Douxie and Aja had nothing to say to each other. Even Aja and Krel didn’t have any moments together. The list goes on. The whole movie was just go, go, go. And it’s so frustrating because there was time for it but it was poorly executed.

Like was the whole break-in to the Chinese Trollmarket really necessary?? Guys, I really found myself not caring. I didn’t care to see this random side quest involving an insignificant new troll character and a Trollmarket that had little to no bearing on the plot. Did I love seeing Charlie, Archie, Blinky, and Claire? Of course! But these scenes were so pointless. So needless. They could’ve written other ways for all our heroes to go after the chronosphere (Maybe we could’ve had Zoe for crying out loud). But instead this vital artifact was the hands of a character we don’t know and don’t care about in a place that turned out to have basically nothing to do with anything.

Deaths. The deaths in this movie. Because of the pacing in this movie, there wasn’t nearly enough time for the emotional impacts to sink in. Nomura? Gone and the only ones mourning her are Aaarrgh and Douxie, who barely knew her. Walter’s death was handled better since we got to see Jim and Barbara actually having a moment to mourn him. The weight of Nari’s death was singlehandedly carried by Douxie, but even that was over before it started. The immense gravity of Toby’s death, which really got to me, was also short-lived to make way for an ending that...I don’t know. 

ALSO DOUXIE JUST??? BEING OKAY WITH HIS FAMILIAR, THE ONE WHO RAISED HIM AND WENT THROUGH SO MUCH WITH HIM FOR CENTURIES, LEAVING HIM FOREVER TO BE TRAPPED IN THAT DUMB TROLLMARKET WITH CHARLIE LIKE???

“I hope he’s happy.”

WHAT. THE. EVERLASTING. FRICK. 

Douxie’s reaction objectively doesn’t make a shred of sense. Geez, it’s almost like Douxie was expecting Archie to up and leave him someday to be with Charlegmane. Just...what???

What also frustrates me so much is how this movie undid so much characterization and development that happened in Wizards. Or more like all that development didn’t even matter.

What was the point of Steve’s arc in Wizards if he was just going to be reduced to...this?

I was so excited to see Douxie really being a Master Wizard. To see him lead the Guardians of Arcadia alongside Jim. To see him in action as Successor to Merlin and Protector of this Realm.

But no.

Douxie, who had such an incredible arc in Wizards and a character who’s come to mean so much to me in my life, was nerfed and sidelined.

And then time restarts and I can’t help but wonder why any of this mattered at all. What the heck was the freaking point of the suffering, the loss, the pain, the growth, enduring and overcoming so much, the friendships and family spanning across three shows... All gone. Starting all over. Undoing everything, except what Jim went through. As much as I love Jim, I didn’t think he’d be the only character I’d be getting closure for at the grand finale of this entire franchise. But that’s what happened and I really hate it.

Just...all in all, this movie wasn’t satisfying. Not to me. It had its good moments. But not nearly enough. The comedy was misplaced and fell flat. The climax was sorely anticlimactic and didn’t hold a candle to Eternal Knight. The writing, the direction, characterization...For some reason it was all lost and confused and none of it felt right and so much didn’t make sense.

I’m not at all upset with the writers, though, because they still pulled through and did what they could. When the movie did something right, it was beautiful. The things I loved about it I truly adored. No, I’m not upset in the least bit with any of the creative team.

I’m upset with Netflix. I’m upset that Wizards was robbed of the seasons it should’ve had. I’m upset with big cooperations stifling creators. I’m upset that this’ll be it. This is the ending we got and nothing can be done about it.

Aaron did say there’s every possibility for the franchise to continue in some capacity, and I’m hoping for that someday. Because so much, too much, has been left unanswered. So much left to be explored that couldn’t. But until then....I guess this is it. This is what we get.

Now, I want to remind everyone that this is my own personal experience with the movie. These are all my opinions. If you enjoyed every second the movie, that’s wonderful! And who knows how my thoughts will change upon another viewing. But in the meantime, Rise of the Titans really missed the mark for me. I wanted found family badassery and fluff. But nope. Just fighting and heaviness and no payoff. It’s such a letdown...a real shame. 

But yeah...Thanks to any and everyone who read to the end of this haha

I still love Tales of Arcadia. It’s a series that has blessed and inspired me so much as an artist, writer, and as a person in general. I do want to keep making ToA content for a while. Cause this movie isn’t the end. Not my ending, at least.

I’ll continue to hope for more Tales of Arcadia in the future (a Douxie spin-off series please Lord pleaaase). We shall see. Until then, fics and fanart fixing this mess galore haha

Until next time everyone! God bless!

[lesbiansforboromir]

(I didn’t finish my sentence lmfaoo. I meant I don’t hate the movies portrayal of D B and F’s relationship but I might’ve preferred it in the books ahaha sry my bad lol) yeah that’s kind of an issue with create movies of book, ppl just assume it’s the same cause it’s an adaptation. The books are a Lot too, so ppl might not even wanna bother cause they’re not easy to read vs watching an Adaption of them, so they’ll never know the og characters.

I only rewatch lotr recently after years of growing up with it and tbh I completely forgot that Gondor was a Thing, it rly is just kinda forgettable in the movies.

This is rly making me want to tackle the books lol. The differences are gonna be something to adjust to.

Apart from the Gondor dudes who would you say gets the biggest change? Or worse in your opinion

Oh no I do hate the dynamic of the steward family in the films jdahkjasd Honestly I think this portrayal of abusive parents being just ugly and easily identifiable as villains is somewhat regressive but No worries no worries.

ANd yeah... Gondor really is so forgettable in the films I-

BUT YEAH UM... I guess I can’t say everyone can I um, lets start talking and see how many we get through.

Merry and Pippin got an absolutely tragic reduction in the films. In the books they’re frodo’s friends long before the film, Merry is Frodo’s best friend, he loves Frodo so much he helps him move house and deals with his obnoxious family. Merry actually organises the whole trip, he figures out Frodo intends to leave on his own and secretly organises to go with him JUST because he’s his best friend. He’s like yo, you’ve got something scary you’ve got to do Frodo? Don’t know why you thought we’d let you do it on your own. Merry saves the whole quest by doing this! Frodo would have died before he even got out of the Shire if not for Merry. 

Gimli’s portrayal, also a tragedy. Peter Jackson saw dwarf and immediately decided ‘comic relief’, despite the fact that Gimli is more polite than Aragorn or Legolas, is a poet and has one of the longest monologues about art and culture in the whole book. It guts me thinking about it. 

Eowyn has a severe reduction in her feelings and character, her monologue is sanitised away from a much more bitter and angry condemnation of her people’s culture around women. We got a more patronising image of her relationship with Merry too. 

FRODO, oh god Frodo I’m so sorry, Frodo was clever and masterful and adult and!! He was funny! And sarcastic, he was philosophical and cunning. Films tell you that Merry and Pippin were like thieves, NO Merry and Pippin were very upstanding young gentlemen and Farmer Maggot thought very highly of them both. FRODO is the criminal in this group who stole his mushrooms! Frodo asked questions and made plans and tried to figure things out by himself, he wasn’t this strange melancholic ring box to be ushered places. Frodo saved the world by TAKING the ring’s power on mount doom after planning how to do that and cursing gollum to essentially drop the ring into the mountain of fire LIKE. Frodo had agency! SAM TOO fsfdgsdfgs I skip frodo and sam’s scenes in the films but i love them in the books. 

Aragorn and Gandalf are vastly different characters in the films in that they’re likable. And this is... better for Aragorn I think. Although I miss him being a little more snarky and self important and sharp, but it’s better than Aragorn’s likable which he thoroughly isn’t in the books in my opinion. I MEAN... he’s- he’s very complex in the books and there are likable moments amongst him snapping at people and talking about himself. But for Gandalf I think it was a thorough detriment. Which hurts, love Ian Mckellen, that’s my grandad, but Gandalf was like genuinely manipulative in the books and literally could not stand being wrong despite being wrong quite a lot. Constantly Gandalf will angrily and rudely snap at people who rightly critisise his choices (Boromir for one) and this is good because you don’t want an infallible morally irreproachable dad for this whole adventure. It’s much more interesting this way. 

Eomer, miss him being a little more young and fiery and a little out of his depth but proud and confident even so. Like I know Karl Urban was exactly 27 in the films but he felt very world weary and kind of ‘I’ve had it’ when he’d only just become Third Marshall like barely a year ago. AND OF COURSE, this is compounded by the way Theodred’s death is portrayed like... askjdas like oops! Our 18 year old prince just died in this lil stream in this small lil battle huh weird- NO!! Theodred was 41!! And had died in a MASSIVE battle against Isengard! He was assassinated in fact, the whole point of the battle was to assassinate Theodred because he’d been so influential to maintaining Rohan’s stability despite all Grima and Saruman’s efforts. Eomer was a man who’d just lost a mentor, an adopted elder brother! Anyway...

Um... honourable mention for Hama... our dear doorward... miss you being relevant and telling Aragorn to fuck off babe. Farmer Maggot, miss you being relevant and like the literal best. Haldir, miss you NOT being relevant dwarfist bastard but I love to watch you die. Galadriel and Celeborn, not enough she pegs him energy, not enough of her being scary and unknowable, not enough of her laughing. Bilbo! I’m sorry they didn’t let you go back to the Lonely Mountain that’s miserable my guy.... Gollum’s alright... I think that’s everyone who exists in the films and books both. 

So this still ended up as everyone :)

[starbornsoulrider]

OH GOD OK OK OK I HAD A SAD IDEA FOR THE FINAL BATTLE W/ GARNOK LISTEN HEAR ME OUT

So. There’s a theory that our starter is going to die at some point right? Bc our starter has files called “horsedeath” or something. I think about this theory a LOT bc it haunts me so here’s my idea for how this could possibly play out

After Garnok is finally defeated, MC and their starter horse get transported to this weird empty void space (think like the place in Latios’s death scene from Pokémon Heroes). MC asks where the Soul Riders are and what happened after they landed the finishing blow on Garnok, and starter horse reassures them that the Soul Riders are fine and Garnok is gone, then proceeds explain what’s going on.

Basically, starter says that the essence that flows throughout the island left behind by Aideen was completely snuffed out during the final battle. The magic that brought Jorvik to life and connects riders and their horses is gone, and soon everything will die out with it. The magic, the special bond jorveigans share with their horses, even the island itself until it returns to the dead rock it Aideen found it as.

MC panics over this for a second, until starter tells them that there is a way to save it. MC has Aideen’s light within them, and the only way to revive Jorvik’s magic is if MC sacrifices themself just like Aideen did eons ago. That’s what Aideen had planned, like idk maybe she knew that Garnok would succeed in destroying Jorvik’s magic so planned to come back in a new body and sacrifice herself again to bring it back after Garnok was gone. (Or I guess just send a rider with her powers if Catherine is right and we aren’t actually Aideen herself.)

Before MC can completely process this and accept their fate, starter continues. He explains that he is Nimbus (supposedly our starter’s true name), the horse that Aideen once rode to Jorvik on. After Aideen died, she left Nimbus behind and tasked him and the other guardians with the responsibility of protecting and assisting the next generations of Soul Riders. (I guess Nimbus isn’t reborn as many times as the other guardians bc supposedly there isn’t always a fifth soul rider, maybe a fifth rider only appears when a chance to get rid of Garnok arrises and that’s when Nimbus is reborn.)

Every time there has been a fifth soul rider though, they ended up failing and dying in some way. Nimbus has lost his rider countless times, Aideen, Catherine (idk if starter is actually Nemo or not but he must have formed a bond w/ her at some point in her life), and every other fifth Soul Rider before MC. No matter how hard he tried, even if he learned from the mistakes in his previous lives, he could never save them. Then, right before being reborn into this life where he met MC, he realized something. He knew that if this rider managed to survive all the way to the end, they would have to sacrifice themself to keep Jorvik’s magic alive. Whether or not he managed to get his rider to the end, he’d lose them anyway. However, he realized being Aideen’s soul steed, her light is just as strong in him as it is in MC. Maybe, just maybe, he could sacrifice himself in MC’s place. It should work, he carries Aideen’s power as well, right? If it means finally keeping his rider alive, he’ll do it.

So, he made a plan. Before being reborn into the life where he meets MC, he decides that if they really can stop Garnok this time, he would sacrifice his soul instead of his rider’s. Of course, he doesn’t remember this plan until later, either some point after meeting the druids and learning of MC’s destiny or he just remembers after defeating Garnok.

His plan ends up working. The island accepts his soul instead of MC’s. He starts to fade away, and he says goodbye to MC, saying this was the best life he’s lived so far and that even though he didn’t want to leave he’s happy MC will get to live instead. MC returns without their soul horse, devastated and explains everything to the Soul Riders once they find them.

Of course, starter does end up coming back at some point. Maybe MC and starter’s longing to see each other again is powerful enough to bring the starter back, maybe MC and the soul riders find a way to bring him back and cue a quest line leading up to his return, etc. ANYWAYS I’m crying also I hoped ya’ll liked reading this theory/idea/whatever bc it physically hurt to write this

(might turn this idea into a fic... who knows...)

[blueoctobass]

Cirrus and Nim are terrible rulers

Cirrus and Nim became prince and princess because they won the magic lottery and beat up people to climb the ranks. As far as we know, that’s the only thing that’s needed to become royalty in stratoverse. Leadership qualities ? Neither have them.

Nim is just doing her own thing and seemingly doesn’t have any interest in taking the throne. She may be a nice person but she’s not a good politician. She just wanna be an archeologist, and becoming princess was the only way to do that, or at least to leave the country while remaining a citizen. As a princess, she should have the power and ability to change that for others like her, no ? Yet the only thing she did, as far as we know, is get her title and Run Away. If she had done any changes, she could have just stepped down and let someone more interested take over. There’s always the risk that the new princess would undo what she did, but Nim is powerful, perhaps as powerful as Virga if not more. She could take the title again in that case.

Meanwhile, Cirrus lacks A LOT of diplomacy for punching the president of one country and insulting the shaman of another.  I love that boy but he's a loner dumbass and probably not a great leader. He supposedly became the prince because he was raised by a magicless family. Yet, he’s become part of the problem and hasn’t made any changes. He just feels bad about what’s happening and complain about shoes.

(more under the cut)

Maybe he just doesn’t have enough power as a prince and needs to be the king to bring such a significant change to society. but.... The king is a nice grandpa, he could probably talk to the grandpa and make change as a prince with the help of the king but noooooo he's punching the president instead. Why did he became Prince if hes just going to wait and do nothing ? Virga said he didn’t want to kill the King, which is nice, but you know what she also said? That he was going to live another 80 years. If he doesn’t do anything now as a Prince, why did he become one ? Did he want to be king and then noped out because he can’t bring himself to potentially hurt or kill a nice old man while magicless teens are dying in the background ? He want change ? That’s good ! But he’s not doing anything to get change. Sure mentality doesn’t change overnight, and there’s probably going to be pushback against such a big change, but doing nothing will get you nothing.

It's true that they do have some good qualities and skills (well mostly Nim actually ? Cirrus is... a wildcard tbh), but leading a country is going to take a lot more than just that ! They need some (a lot) character development before we can say they would be good leaders (and again, Nim isn't really interested). It also seems that being the Prince and Princess doesn't come with a lot of responsabilities ? Nim went away, became an archeologist and probably doesn't come back very often, and Cirrus has the time to travel between Stratoverse and Gloomverse to come see her. Queen Virga is the only one who is seen having some sort of diplomatic role. If they want change, they probably need the Queen and King, or maybe Yellow, to do that. Which is why Cirrus needs to talk to the goddamn King or take the throne or nothing is going to change. He's not doing anything ! I think that Yellow has some role to play in the royalty, at the very least as an adviser, and if someone is too.... incompetent, she can do something about it (either by councelling them or.... getting rid of them. She's regarded as a goddess and ordered a murder. She could do that.) It is possible she’s the one preventing Cirrus from making such changes, after all she’s probably behind the current system.

After giving it thought, Cirrus' behaviour is very.... self centred. He cares about magicless people because his family is magicless, and presumably became Prince to change their living conditions for the better. That was his motivation, that was his goal. But it seems (to me at least) that he lost touch with that ? He cares, but only react to attacks, he's not proactive, he's not in Stratoverse trying to change mentalities, or on the mainland helping and protecting magicless people. He's in Steamverse, having a good time with his friend. Good for him, but what about his original goal ? He lost sight of it, and instead got shaped by the system into an ignorant nationalist dumbass. Maybe it's just a facade to fit in, but he never dropped it, not even in gloomverse or in the middle of the ocean. He says he's proud of his country, but he didn't even know about the shoes being imported ? He doesn't know how Stratoverse work. Which is concerning. Since the King has more powers than the Prince, he should try and become King to change things. But he also doesn't want to kill the current King because he's a sweet old man. His magicless family can wait 80 years for the current king to die of old age? Right? (no) He didn't try to negotiate a peaceful passover or a staged fight, or just talking to the guy and asking for help either. He's just... enjoying his freedom as Prince of Stratoverse I guess? His supposed motivation of helping magicless people has been lost.... My point is, Cirrus needs help. Let's be real, he's kind of a dumbass. He doesn't know how Stratoverse work, he lacks diplomacy and tact, he's not the most friendly type and Nim seems to be.... his only friend? And even she barely tolerate him. If he want to change anything and be a good leader, he has to make more effort? He's trying his best, I get that, but he's on his own. Change can't come from just one person. He needs to surround himself with competent people that he can trust, starting with Nim and Alto, and also reconnect with his family and other magicless people to actually help them. He’s so averse to shoes, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t come back to see his family since he went to live in the clouds. Maybe they died and he lost motivation ! But he’s talking about them in the present tense, not past, implying they’re still alive (unless he forgot to check on them for too long).

Finally, I think it's very likely they won't stay royalty for the whole comic. Why ? Virga is on a quest to kill Rylie, while she, Nim and Cirrus are bonding. I'm waiting for the moment of confrontation where choices will be made and sides will be chosen :) And something tells me that Nim would rather forfeit her Princess title than let Rylie die. ( I wrote a fic about it ) Being Queen never was her goal anyway, she just wanted to be able to leave the country. 

TL;DR : Nim became a princess for selfish reasons before running away from her responsibilities and without addressing the problem that made her do this. Cirrus lost sight of his goal, isolated himself, and became complacent about the one thing he wanted to change. Nim needs to give up her title if she’s not going to use it and Cirrus needs to TALK TO PEOPLE AND ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING

Thanks for reading ! this is an altered version of a comment thread i wrote as a response to a comment saying “Nim and Cirrus seem like they would make perfect rulers” (i’m paraphrasing) and I had Some Objections to that notion. They’re terrible rulers. I dont think they even deserve to be called rulers right now since they’re just fooling around.

Also, feel free to reblog with your own thoughts ! You can defend them, or drag them more if you so wish.

[lozislaw]

Come and take a gander at my f’d brain

I’m bored and also throbbing with ~inspiration~ for projects I really don’t feel like doing right now, so I thought I’d throw out some trashed or halfdone fic ideas that I’ve lost steam on over the years.

If you wanna steal or adapt any of these ideas, be my bloody guest - hopefully you do them better justice than I did.

WARNING. They are mostly south park fics, and therefore should not be read by anyone. I do have some juicy IZ ones - but they’re all still fresh in the oven, still usable, so nobody gets to have an early taste.

Make Love Not Warcraft AU

I was actually pretty hyped for this oneshot. It takes place when they’re in highschool, Stan and Kyle play World of Warcraft just like they did as kids. Basically they find each other anonymously without knowing it, and through teamspeak when they start questing together, Stan thinks Kyle is a girl because of his character (and the fact that Kyle hides his identity with a badly disguised voice). Essentially they have a romp session on the game, and being the weebs that they are, think it’s true love and try to find out who the other is. When they reveal themselves, it’s awkward as fuck - but you know, you can probably guess what happens next. I never had the balls to actually write it, because surprise: I’ve never played World of Warcraft and I was going to make a huge fool of myself pretending to understand a game that makes up a key part of the story.

Stan and Kyle work in a hospital together

This is a continuation of an old oneshot of mine, Contagious Attraction, which was an au Stan and Kyle met working in a hospital. In the part 2, it’s Stan’s pov, where after Kyle’s period of work is over, they struggle to keep in contact now that they no longer work side by side, and the little romance they started dies. Stan misses him, starts to fall for him in the absence, but when they meet up he fails to convey that and makes it out like they should keep contact in a fuck-buddy kind of way. It’s awkward and Kyle isn’t into it, and lots of angst and miscommunication later they finally clear up their feelings and make out or something equally gay. It’s a pretty half-assed storyline, I didn’t ever get around to cleaning it up.

Bunny sugar daddy AU

This one is very simple, and just a half-baked smut idea. They’re adults, Kenny is super poor and needs some goddamn money, and Butters (supervillain style business tycoon based on franchise prequel), offers him to be his sugar baby. Kenny accepts, but is surprised that in fact the super rich important ceo asshole doesn’t wanna fuck him, he wants it the other way around. There’s basically nothing else about this but that concept, I just think there’s nothing purer than evil powerful Butters taking it up the ass.

Style videogame store rivalry 

This idea was based off an artwork I found ages ago that I cannot for the life of me find out who the artist is, but essentially Kyle works at the mall in a Microsoft store selling overpriced Xbox’s to fools, and Stan works at the adjacent Sony store doing the same for ps4′s. They’re meant to have a rivalry like all the other employees - but they’re besties, that’s impossible. I never really extended the plot beyond that lazy introduction, all that matters is that Kenny works for both stores cos he’s a traitorous whore just like Black Friday Trilogy.

Stan mermaid AU

This one was actually in progress and getting gradually updated on AO3 in 2020, but being the self-hating rat that I am, I grew to loathe the story. It’s orphaned now (just you try and find it). The gist is that Stan is an orca looking mermaid dude that Kyle (a marine biologist in LA) discovers and befriends (original right?) and gives heaps of food and teaches him about humans. He studies him, until Stan says he’s gonna have to leave soon, and Kyle panics at the potential lost opportunity and friendship and offers Stan stay in his saltwater pool at his house, which he accepts. Their relationship grows, Stan gets around with a wheelchair and even travels outside of his house with a blanket covering his tail. They do sappy couple shit, it’s just a nice slice of life fic. Things do get physical because of course they do. Queer platonic was always an option, but mermaid poon! I’m always up for exploring weird inhuman sex. Imagine Shape of Water kind of thing, pretty fucked up. Parents get involved and they pretend Stan’s human for them, and goofy stuff like that. There isn’t much tension aside from the fact that Stan has basically gone native and his folks don’t like that, and honestly the story wasn’t really going anywhere special. I had 30 other fics in progress at the time (not an exaggeration), and I’m awful at focusing on one at a time, so it just wasn’t getting done. I cut my losses and moved on, and it’s in the void now.

Hollywood pornstars Style fic

I started this one excited about the plot, but the longer I went the more I grew to hate the entire story. It was another in progress fic posted on AO3 that I deleted in my mass clean up at the start of the year. The idea is that Stan and Kyle are both pornstars (not cliche at alllll), had never met before, but they were asked to do a shoot together. They don’t like each other at first, but they make very good film chemistry. The become friends (still doing shoots together) and after plenty of social events, sex, drugs and rock and roll parties, they decide to go freelance and do their own company together (still in the porn industry). Eventually they date for real, even monogamously. Being crazy unhinged deviants, they break up and fight alot, and then like a routine have crazy sex and the cycle repeats. It’s toxic, they’re completely fucked up, but they love it. Yada yada they marry, Kyle cheats on him, they divorce and hate each other again. In court, they have a rendezvous, then swear to not go back into their old ways. Stan gets heavy into drinking, stops performing, and goes into a stupor and gets taken to hospital. When he wakes up Kyle is there, and he stays and looks after him, and they rekindle things healthily this time, both give up their old lives and calm down after the scare, and yada yada again they’re domestic and happy and fic ends with their estranged parents coming to visit and say their proud and shit. It’s like a high-stakes sad recovery story that turns sappy. I’m too soft for what I’d planned, the writing wasn’t meeting my standards, and it was just getting too unfamiliar yet personal to feel confident about anymore.

Bunny/ Style/ Candy Genderbend College AU 

This one was supposed to be a 3 part story focusing on each relationship in the same universe. I’m a total sucker for genderbend stories and art, but it can be a challenge to get the same feeling to it as normal fics when people can’t resonate like they can the boys. It’s reading a story of original characters. Basically, the first chapter was supposed to be bunny centric, where Kenna (Kenny) meets her new classmate Marjorine (Butters) and start a fun flirty little romance, pretty simple and sweet. Next chapter is style-centric, where Kylie (Kyle) gets dragged to a gay bar by Kenna to stop being so lonely, where she meets Stacey (Stan), who is a total goth and stand-offish. They get to know each other throughout the night, and boom bang in her bedroom afterwards. Next Chapter is Candy-centric, where Wendyll (Wendy) fights with her debate club member Erica (Cartman) very aggressively. That chapter hadn’t earned anymore story lines than that. The concept felt interesting enough at the time, but I got busy with my other projects, and by the time I could work on it - my writing style had completely changed and I had no energy to completely re-write my progress.

Damien comes back to Earth - and Pip is still alive.

The title is exactly what the story is. Damien causes havok up on earth, but the students, now in highschool, still heckle him, so he changes tactics. As though in a groundhog day that he controls, Damien resets time each day so he can repeat and learns from the mistakes he makes - and creates the best and coolest version of himself that his peers will like. He finds Pip and hangs out with him on the days that his tactics fail and the class still hates him, and their relationship develops - as much as it can as Damien keeps repeating time and it’s like meeting Pip all over again. He basically speedruns their relationship each repeat into sexual territory because he’s the son of the devil duh and gets to do that. Pip eventually finds out, along with the other students, and they’re livid. So Damien bounces and Pip is depressed. The ending sucks and is way too over the top and hardcore for the light-hearted tune of the story. Pip ends up killing himself so he can go down to hell to give Damien a piece of his mind - but uh oh now he’s stuck there. Oh well, let’s go get blood married. Pretty lame, so this sucker never made it to the shop floor.

Karen & Tricia punk gf’s

This one is nice and sweet, because I wanted to indulge my beloved little baby karicia and the underfed ship that she is. Karen always goes over the top with fads and trends, whatever Tricia starts doing, Karen follows. Including piercings, DIY tattoos with heated pens, dying hair, all the jazz. Kenny starts to warn her not to fall into fads, like he did when he was young with Chinpokemon, faith-hilling, being metrosexual. I hadn’t developed more storyline than that, it was just the beginnings of a concept. To be honest this more stemmed the idea of drawing them as punk girls, than writing them. In fact - uh, lemme go do that.

The four boys as demons coming to earth AU

It’s sad that I was most proud of this sucker - by far the longest fic I’ve ever planned, but alas I didn’t get far enough to keep my guns, and he got deleted in my AO3 clean up. The plot is very long and convoluted and easily 370,000+ words. I’m not gonna torture you with the whole elaborate plot - which would extend this post about 10 pages trust me, so I’ll give you a brief synopsis (as best I can). 

The four main boys are demons down in hell, Stan and Kyle are murderous overlords who fuck, kill servants and eat grapes all day. Cartman is a complete ruthless madman who enjoys waging war on the dead just ‘cause. Kenny is basically the grim reaper with the shitty job of guiding the dead souls in denial of their descent to hell, but he loves it. Satan asks them all to take up a job for him, which is to go up to the living world and fuck shit up (a simple way to put it XD). When they do - they find out that Satan transformed them into kids like their canon ages, and now they have to live in a world where they’re not respected in any capacity like they once were. Also Stan and Kyle can’t bang anymore. So imagine the exact canon show we all know, except they’re secretly demons and their shenanigans are by their own design. Each chapter is on a certain point in the show, and how they try to adjust. Also a neat thing is that Kenny is convinced Butters is an angel planted by heaven - though in reality he’s just the sweetest motherfucker alive. It’s Pip who’s the undercover angel. In the fic, Satan demands that to keep up appearances Stan must engage in a relationship with Wendy to look as humanly normal as possible - which Kyle absolutely hates. So they grow up like this, then get older, post-canon, and Stan and Kyle continue their relationship on the sly, in baby steps. Stan still keeps his appearances up with Wendy, who is oblivious to his true identity. 

There are many sideplots just as interesting, but I’ll stick to the main one, where basically Kyle slowly goes more insane the longer Stan stays with Wendy, even though now it isn’t necessary. Fast forward and they get married, and at the wedding Kyle finally can’t handle it any longer, and straight up stabs himself in front of everyone, making sure Stan sees it. Kyle wakes up back in hell, after like 20 years of being on earth, gets emotional and thinks his world is just crumbling around him - which basically revolves around Stan because they were literally created together by Satan to be a part of his war against heaven. Then he finds Stan wrapped around him, and reveals that he went and killed himself at that same wedding, that he didn’t wanna be up there anymore without Kyle there. The fic basically ends there, the other guys stay on earth for the rest of their human lives, to be with the people they grew relationships. A long as fuck hurt/comfort story.

I have more but I’ll leave it there. You’re a true mate if you actually read this nonsense.