#he does present an interesting challenge because he's based on a dream I had

[fog-rapidly-lifting]

Been trying to develop how this dude looks. Have some poorly done scribble concepts getting closer to being an okay design.

[the-owl-tree]

Any other thoughts for the dotc au?

i have some big ones that i'll be keeping my pocket for now buuuut have a very mixed bag of things i've thought of:

Jay was one of Midnight's attempts at a protege to succeed her in being a keeper of knowledge. However, their relationship became like that of parent and child and she was devastated when he eventually went to live with other cats. It would be years before she'd take on another protege and the next one, Sol, would be just as unsuccessful (and 10x as antagonistic).

Her apprentices vary in animals but none have yet to succeed her.

The "-paw" suffix comes from a shortening of "under cat's paws" which as often how apprentice-aged cats would be described.

I think it would be interesting if the two part names came from the park cats who had divided the park into different turfs and had surnames at the reflected that.

...Of course, the park cats aren't remembered that well as many of the Clans often lead patrols there to try and convince them to join their respective Clans, resulting in the community being fractured.

Dove and Lion remained fiercely loyal to Thunder and while they regretted having to take the measures they did against Gray and his group, they, like many, believed it was for the greater good.

Jay didn't and fell into a deep depression, reliving the battle over and over in his dreams. He went to Midnight for council and, at her advice, ended up going elsewhere to seek refuge from the nightmares...and eventually ended up abandoning the Clans altogether.

he ended up near a lake all by himself...and eventually discovered some tunnels....how interesting.....

starclan's relationship with the present three reflect the past one: jay's is tumultuous and hostile; dove's is all-knowing but vague; and lion's alliance with one-eye is what allowed the df to creep into lionpaw's mind.

the part i've been sort of gnawing away at is what happens after the big battle: the clans are now separated and now must begin to divide themselves completely. It feels kind of cheap to have Skystar be the one to pitch this but him being the one to insist that "they look out for their own" is too good of irony for the future of his little kitty group. So some general notes:

the code does not exist and will not exist for a while. it is a frightening and bloody era

for all the posturing the clans have of being better than others, they are the ones to almost destroy each other.

buuuutt this is also where cultures begin to form:

ThunderClan's noble battle culture comes from their leader Thunderstar being a stellar fighter! Thunderstar also cements kin-based leadership because he keeps choosing his kin for important roles. Cats challenged him over it and failed, meaning the tradition continued on. I imagine it mellowed out over the years, especially with the advent of the deputy needing an apprentice part + to make sure i can keep juicy drama like thistleclaw and bluefur vying for the position.

RiverClan being cut off from the others more because of the rivers and water that surround their territory makes them less engaged in the rising jingoistic culture surrounding the other Clans. Riverstar's more hands off approach to leadership is also what makes their "casting stones" tradition solidified for years to come.

ShadowClan, being neighbor's to the bulky fight-loving ThunderClanners adopted a new strategy: stealth. They are the pioneers of kitty assassination techniques, the masters of taking someone down before their victim can even realize they're being followed. You never pick a fight in ShadowClan territory, Thunderstar lost a life to Shadowstar learning that lesson.

WindClan, having been the closest to a certain cat who is now forbidden to name, spent a long time throwing themselves into trying to please their ancestors. This sort of self-flagellation turned into a sense of superiority when they were the first Clan to have not only a Medic but said Medic taught them where to get their nine lives. I plan on redoing a ton of Moth Flight's story but she and Wind Runner have a very different relationship once she's named and even makes some leadership calls herself.

SkyClan is jingoistic, brutal, and is insistent on their bloodline leadership system. Skystar is the creator of the Clan ideology: borders run thicker than blood, each Clan to their own, and the warrior is always superior to the outsider. This ideology sank into the other Clans but SkyClan would always be the loudest supporter of it and eventually, it was what would cost them too many allies in their greatest time of need. I like modern SkyClan being what the Clans should be and also a great transformation of what was once the most warrior clan to ever did clan: modern SkyClan is a community first and foremost, outsiders are not enemies, and borders should never mean senseless violence. im so sad at what modern skyclan has become, bring back the cool version of it.

aaaahhh ty for the ask! i have been thinking about my dotc au especially since i keep it in mind when brainstorming any sort of rewrite/au >:3c

[stainedglassthreads]

Incoherent musings on Jevil, Spamton, and their themes. 

I do not have enough music knowledge to talk about this in detail, but I really really love how well THE WORLD REVOLVING and BIG SHOT deliver the emotions and personalities of their respective characters, as well as their contrasting views on freedom. 

Jevil believes that he IS free, and it’s a recurring theme in his backstory. After the theme of ‘your choices have consequences’ in Undertale, and ‘your choices don’t matter’ in Deltarune, Jevil’s philosophy of ‘my actions have no consequences, so I can do anything’ feels like a direct response to both. Likewise, his absolute joy in freedom from consequence also feels like an answer to Flowey’s boredom, Sans’ apathy, and Chara’s judgement. 

Jevil’s battle feels distinctly different from Asriel’s, Photoshop Flowey’s, and Sans’ boss fights. Photoshop Flowey wants to gain godlike power. Asriel has achieved godlike power, and now desperately fears the game ending and Chara saying goodbye. Sans fights to make the player ragequit, distinctly not seeing the world as a ‘game’. But why does Jevil fight? 

Because he wants to. He was lonely and wanted someone to play with. 

Jevil doesn’t really get anything from beating you, and he doesn’t really offer you any prize for beating him. Sure, he says unlocking him will help ‘free’ the party, but he presents the fight itself as a simple game, and seems to be enjoying himself immensely. Even when he loses, he’s not that upset, just remarking that the party has tired him out, musing on the challenges ahead, and daring them to do their best with Jevilsknife or Jevilstail. He doesn’t really seem to be rooting for or against the party, at least how I read the lines-- just curious. 

If there are truly no consequences, then there’s no reason to be sad about losing, and so he can truly just have fun with this fight. And his theme reflects that. It’s fast-paced and manic, but also jubilant and bombastic, with lots of horns and pipes. 

Spamton on the other hand... Spamton started from a very low place, with big dreams. With that ‘mysterious person’s help, he achieved everything he desired, but then lost it and fell fast, and hard. Spamton is also obsessed with freedom-- not because he has it and loves it, but because he wants it. And he seems to believe being big, being the one in control, is the only way he can attain that freedom. 

Jevil’s ‘freedom’ is connected to prisons, both literal and metaphorical. Often a prison implies a jailor and one to enforce consequences, but if someone can escape or avoid the law, then there’s very little way to threaten them and enforce said consequences. Spamton’s ‘freedom’ is connected to puppet strings, which implies both a puppeteer and a puppet-- where the puppet is afforded no freedom and no consequences, but the puppeteer’s actions have consequences for the puppet. 

In another parallel, Jevil lost everything by being locked up by the Kings, but only seems to regret being a bit lonely now. The benefits of his ‘freedom’ are very mindset-based. Spamton’s ‘benefits’ seem extremely material-- big cars, big room in the Queen’s mansion, big deals big gigs. He was the puppeteer calling the shots, then he loses everything when his benefactor stops helping him. 

Spamton’s theme is much less like normal music. It’s frenetic, desperate, glitchy, all over the place, like he was borrowing and grabbing at anything he could. While The World Revolving only uses leitmotifs from Don’t Forget, Big Shot uses leitmotifs from Now’s Your Chance To Be A, Power of NEO, Dummy!, and some of Napstablook’s themes. It starts out big and cinematic and scary, and immediately goes strange, switching between something grand it wants to be, and something... stitched-together. Like he’s trying to imitate a ‘big shot’ but just can’t get it all to be coherent. It also repeats the spoken phrases ‘now’s your chance to be a big shot’, it’s obsessive, like how Spamton utterly fixates on becoming so big and escaping the loneliness and darkness. 

Speaking of the loneliness and darkness... did you know ‘now’s your chance to be a big shot’ aren’t the only lyrics in the song? According to a comment on a youtube video I found, from one minute five seconds in, you can hear: 

Answer me please, answer the phone.  Can't spend another minute all alone.  Pull the strings and make it ring. Don't you wanna be free? Answer me please, answer the phone. Can't spend another minute all alone. Pull the strings and- Pull the strings and- Don't you wanna be a [[BIG SHOT!]]

It’s also interesting that while beating Jevil leaves him satisfied but tired... beating Spamton is heartbreaking, quite literally shooting him down when he seems capable of achieving that so-hoped-for freedom, with the help of Kris, his fellow puppet who he’s been projecting onto. While Jevil had nothing to lose and gave away Jevilsknife/Jevilstail out of curiosity, Spamton lost whatever hope he had, all over again. And so it feels... more meaningful that he gave Kris the Dealmaker/FibreScarf. He was projecting onto Kris, and it was definitely a lot of his own issues, yes. But he still wasn’t wrong there were parallels between them-- and I believe his desire for Kris to cut their own strings was a genuine attempt at helping them. 

Because there are no consequences for Jevil, he doesn’t care if we win or lose, there is no investment in Kris’ story for him, just entertainment. He is closer to us, the Player. Because Spamton is very materialistic and knows what it’s like to lose everything and be abandoned, he is neither apathetic nor uninvested, and I think is actually very invested in Kris’ story, not just curious about how it’ll go. But all he can do to help them now is give them new armor, well-wishes, and cryptic hints about things to come. 

From prisons to puppets, I’m very excited to see the other secret boss’ takes on freedon. 

[deniigi]

Lando The Nosy Neighbor AU

Title: good fences make good neighbors

Summary: Modern AU based off the premise presented to me as ‘Han and Leia move into the same neighborhood and start a feud, only to eventually overthrow the local Homeowner’s Association.’

Relationships: Pot-farmer!Han/Lawyer!Leia; Farmboy!Luke/Survivalist!Din; Lando & Breha Organa & Chewbacca

This is based off a rural community in Washington which has local cults.

Lando POV

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

A hippy has moved in next to the Organas.

It’s a good one, too. This one hasn’t even rented a moving truck, they’ve just come on over with all their furniture tetris-ed in on top of itself and wrapped tight with rope, blankets, and prayer.

Lando’s petunias screech for watering as the hippy throws open the truck’s door and comes staggering out, cracking his lanky back. Out of the other side comes an even hairier, even lankier person. He closes the truck door and looks right at Lando.

He stares.

It is a challenge. But of course, not one that Lando is not prepared to handle.

He points at his watering can.

Hippy Two seems to scoff.

Lando waits until he’s distracted by the first hippie struggling with the blue house’s doorknob to dump the remaining water into the pebbles under his ornamental bridge.

He returns inside and goes about his busy business, tying back the curtains.

It is always good to have someone new in the neighborhood.

--

 It takes the hippy couple a few weeks to get settled into their new home, and in that time neither has ingratiated themselves to Lando.

The stupid one with the floppy hair caught onto Lando’s tricks at the weekly poker match held in the local bar. Lando may have lost his irrigation system, but he has not lost his dignity. It was old anyways. He’s been planning to replace it for nearly a year now. There is never a better time than the present to start making your dreams into reality.

And anyways, the floppy haired out-of-towner will get what is coming to him. Lando has already sown the seed of his demise.

Leia Organa returned home to look after her poor, sick, stubborn mother just two months ago. Breha is fine, of course, not even cancer could snuff out her fires, although she is bored of her husband and daughter trying to trap her indoors. Her immunocompromised escapades have been delightful to watch.

The Organas are always a lively group. There is never a dull moment or lack of machinations among them—especially the lady of the household. She, like Lando, appreciates a good tussle. Which is why he has pointed out to Leia that her new neighbors’ greenhouse is mighty interesting, is it not?

Lawyer Leia’s ears pricked up like a horse’s, and Breha’s sharp eyes took on new sheen.  

Lando watches Leia in the mornings now, struggling to find upper-body strength and purchase on the wood of her backyard fence, among the roses and bougainvillea. She’s so tiny, Leia. Breha is not an overly large person either, and thus is no help in this endeavor to collect data on the greenhouse of questionable origins and purposes on the other side of the fence. Leia doesn’t need her, though. She needs no one. She’s seen what she needs to.

Lando pours tea from a glass pot given to him by someone in his company who wishes for their secrets to remain so and beautiful, clear amber liquid fills his cup.

He looks up to see Leia holding her phone out as far as she can without relinquishing her grip on the fence. She fumbles, trying one-handedly to document the crime before her, but alas. Even the mighty sometimes trip on the red carpet.

The phone slips. She grabs after it in slow-motion, horror filling every pore of her face.

It is gone now, that phone.

The Public Nuisances will know what she has been up to.

Lando sighs and leans back in his seat.

--

 It is no time at all before the dropped phone is returned graciously over the white, waist-height fence that separates the Public Nuisance’s yard from the Organas’. Leia snatches her phone back and wipes it off with her hand and sleeve. The shorter public enemy, Han, he calls himself, smiles at her cheekily. He retracts his hand and gestures to the taller fence, barely visible for the fruit trees and vines, between their backyards and says something that makes Leia go very, very still.

It is, undoubtedly, a challenge. Not unlike the one that that the more polite public nuisance, Chewie, opened his and Lando’s relationship with.

Chewie has explained without mincing his words, that he and Han have come here because their last venture was lost in a snowstorm. Chewie will be damned if his precious seedlings are so callously frosted over again. The Pacific Northwest has no chance of freezing over, he says. It provides a better setting to grow stock.

Weed, he means. Marijuana. Chewie is again, not shy. He and Han make good money supplying dispensaries with their organic, hand dried leaves. It is apparently ‘artisan’ like in quality.

Lando isn’t sure he’d go that far, but yes, it is nice stuff. And yes, Leia, bastion of justice, does need to see the men’s permits.

Lando opens the window for a breeze and catches Han telling Leia that he’ll produce them if she arm wrestles him for the right to witness their authenticity. Leia agrees. Han fetches a small worktable from the house’s garage and sets it between them.

The match is over within seconds. Leia has never been so insulted in her life. She demands a rematch and, out of sheer indulgence, Han gives it to her.

He is nearly a foot taller than her. He could lift her up and over her own fence with ease if he so desired. He wins the next round. And the next one. He loses the last one by reason of having his leg deadened under the table but stands abruptly to renegade on his earlier promise.

“You watch yourself, princess,” he calls over his shoulder with his hand on his front door’s knob.

“Oh, I’ll be watching,” Leia snarls back.

Han slams the door. Chewie looks from him to Leia standing fuming in the shade of her family’s pine trees.

“Unbelievable,” she snaps at him before stomping off herself. “UNBELIEVABLE.”

Lando flicks his eyes up to see Breha’s dining room window wide open. She too, has a cup of tea. She lifts it his way and he lifts his back.

Finally, some quality entertainment once more.

--

 Han and Leia’s hatred has become neighborhood gossip. They have begun going to extraordinary lengths to gain the others’ attention. For example, Han, in weeding his sparce flowerbeds, was careful to shove the fruits of his labor between the fence slats into Bail’s well-tended herb garden. Bail, ever the gentleman, does not mind, but of course Leia feels that her family honor has been spat upon. She collects the weeds and returns them to her owner, via mailbox. It is kind of her to put the flag down, so Han knows that he’s received a message.

The retaliation is a mural in rainbow colors commissioned by Han and painted by one of the budding young teenagers from a school about a thirty minute drive downtown. It is...psychedelic. And facing Leia’s bedroom window.

Han asked the youth who painted it to add in a figure in the center of the composition; it is a brown-haired woman dressed all in white, surrounded by thorny vines, and attempting to climb a fence. The young artist must have felt like Michelangelo in the application of those delicate strokes of artistry. They knew they were creating something holy.

Han helps that along by bracketing the figure with solar lanterns that light up at night and keep the image fully illuminated.

When Lando arrives to Breha’s side to go on a walk, arm in arm, with her and her beast of a terrier, she giggles like a schoolgirl behind her hand.

“Han is very handsome,” she tells Lando.

“He’s alright,” Lando says.

“I think he and Leia are a perfect match. Will for will. No one’s ever dared to cross her like this.”

Now that is a fact.

“I wonder if this is the start of something more,” Breha says.

“What does your husband think?” Lando asks.

Breha waves him off dismissively.

“Oh, you know. He’s convinced that Leia will kill Han in his sleep, and we will be forced to post bail, but I told him—as I’ve told you, Lando—Leia’s too smart to get caught committing axe murder. Now poisoning, that’s a different story.”

--

 Lando wakes up and makes coffee. He turns on his computer and opens his curtains to let the light pour in and warm his hardwood floors. He stands at the window, hiding a smirk behind his mug.

Leia has had enough. She has called the Home Owner’s Association and they are standing at Han’s front doorstep.

--

 It is about three weeks before Han and Leia have overthrown the Home Owner’s Association for interfering in their escalating romance—ahem—bloodfeud. By then, Lando’s work-from-home situation is suffering. It is impossible to focus with those two cluttering up his view with distractions left and right. He determines that, for the sake of his finances, he must direct his attention to something a little further afield.

The Lars’s vegetable stand is becoming something of an institution.

It’s about a mile or so out of Lando’s way, tucked smack in the middle of the battlefield that is the stretch of land between the survivalist cult that lives in the forest and the pseudo-Buddhists that live in their compound. The farm itself is a few acres and the Lars’s son can be seen walking around, herding livestock out of the road and into pastures.

Lando has heard whispers that this son is none other than Leia’s twin brother, but no one has the nerve to directly ask the Organas about the truth of such a scandalous idea. The most that can be said about Luke Lars-Skywalker is that he is a master of social media.

He has created a Youtube channel and an Instagram to document the practices of his family’s farm and the products they produce. He is in a twitter-war with many communities online for his videos on small-scale bee-keeping, and his family’s stand is proudly boycotted by the vegan association in the city on farmer’s market days.

It has become well-known among the farm-to-table restaurants in the city, though, and that is why Luke keeps on keeping on with his cows and his fowls and his silly camera holder.

But all that means little because Luke Lars-Skywalker is in love.

Anyone with eyes can see it.

He is in love with an ancestral enemy.

See, in this area there are not one, but two cults and naturally, they abhor and reject the others’ teachings. To the south are the pseudo-buddhist, clairvoyants who have fashioned themselves more or less as monks preoccupied with meditation, self-development, and a few fairly mystical beliefs among the rather terrifying devotion to martial arts. To the north are the survivalist whack-jobs who don’t believe in electricity or running water, but who are also, somehow, preoccupied with self development and a terrifying devotion to martial arts.

Both groups have publicly denounced the other as misguided extremists.

The rumors say that Luke and Leia’s biological father is one of the clairvoyants, and this is where the heart of the current delightful irony lays.

Luke Lars-Skywalker is in love with one of those survivalists.

Lando knows this because he has seen it with his very own eyes.

He took a trip a while back to purchase some greens from the vegetable stand and he was there for a little while, picking through the selection, when he looked up and saw Luke’s posture explode out of its lax boredom. Lando looked over his shoulder to see what Luke’s tan, freckled attention had latched onto and lo and behold.

It was a man. And not only a man, a man with a baby.

Luke stuffed knuckles into his mouth to keep from cooing as the father of the child nodded at him and meandered over to have a poke through the produce piled up on the stand. The baby, dressed carefully in layers of warm, water-resistant clothing, watched Luke right back. He smiled and grunted, waving his dark, stubby arms and Luke melted—literally collapsed into a fraction of his size behind the paystation.

The father, a white rugged guy with dark curly hair and a great deal of stubble, shifted the baby to his other arm. His worn, heavy clothing and the military-style canvas sack on his back marked him as one of the Cabin-In-the-Woods people.

Lando felt like he was watching a country romance flick in real life.

Luke gathered his courage and approached the dad and baby to ask if they were looking for anything in particular. The baby immediately held hands out to him. Luke asked the father if he could hold the little one. The father said ‘no.’

Lando nearly choked on his own spit.

“Oh, sorry buddy,” Luke said to the baby. “Daddy thinks I’m gonna eat you up.”

“He just got a bath.”

Luke gooey expression hardened in an instant.

“Excuse you. You sayin’ I’m dirty?” he asked. “You sayin’ I smell like horseshit?”

The father stared at Luke wordlessly.

“Pigshit,” he corrected.

“WHAT.”

Lando no longer needed only greens. He had to pick a cheese from this bountiful pile. Oh dear, so many to choose from.

“I said, you smell like pigshit. And he just got a bath,” the survivalist father said. “How much for the tomatoes?”

“Twenty a pound,” Luke said viciously.

“That’s steep.”

“There’s a discount for people who smell like pigshit.”

“You get a lot of those?”

“No, but I know how to wallow in the time between buyers.”

“Are you angry or something?”

“Take your damn tomatoes.”

“I didn’t pay yet—”

“Just take ‘em. Go. Go.”

“Twenty—?”

“Hey, Mr. Calrissian, that’ll be ten-fifty,” Luke said over the protests.

That was then. This is now. And Luke Lars-Skywalker has not let up on his tirade against this survivalist. Nor, it is important to note however, has the survivalist stopped coming to the vegetable stand when Luke is working it.

What is even more is that Lando can see with his own two eyes that the survivalist is not holding his baby at the vegetable stand now, as Lando closes his car door a little ways from the stand. Luke smiles at Lando as he draws near; he is bouncing at the knees. He waves the baby’s hand in greeting and the child gurgles and twists back to grab at his face.

Lando smiles and does not say anything.

He finds Chewie inspecting a sprinkler at the edge of his and Han’s yard on the way back and crosses the street to inspect it with him. It sputters. Chewie suspects outloud that their squirrels are getting stronger and more destructive by the day.

Lando asks him if he’s been the Lars’s vegetable stand since moving into town.

He has.

Lando asks if he’s ever seen Luke there, holding a baby.

He has.

Lando is smug.

“Mr. Rugged Mountain Man is falling for the farm boy,” he tells Chewie.

Chewie lifts a thick eyebrow.

“One day soon, that baby is going to go from living off the grid to living in a barn,” Lando tells him. “Mark my words.”

Chewie tells him that that is impossible without a kidnapping charge because the Rugged Mountain Man is the straightest man that he’s ever seen. Lando tells him not to judge a book by its cover.

Weirder things have happened. Han and Leia, for example.

Chewie tells him that he knows that Lando is somehow responsible for those two’s newly inescapable sexual tension and he will never forgive him for it.

Lando cannot believe his ears. Him? An instigator? Of course not, Chewie. He is but a humble spider, waiting around in his house for a fly to shake things up. He is an observer, nothing more, nothing less.

Chewie just points a finger at him.

Lando points a finger-gun back. He fires it with a click of his tongue.

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (December 5/2020)

It’s the aftermath of yesterday’s exile, and everyone is still reeling. Though a calmer day, it’s going to take some time to get used to the new status quo.

(Disclaimer: As always, I may be missing or messing up information)

---

- Ranboo grinds for resources

- (Youtube Stream) Badboyhalo finds Logsted during his stream to prank the SMP. He leaves them a present.

- Tommy logs on and sees Bad. Also, Logsted has gained a lovely campsite cabin built by Ghostbur off-stream.

- Sam has been paid 64 diamond blocks by Dream to build a maximum-security prison that no one would be able to escape from...it’s unknown who Dream is planning on imprisoning.

- Bad and Tommy listen to the music disc Bad gave him - Chirp. Tommy says it reminds him of death. They spark a new friendship. Could this be a continuation of Bad’s potential alliance with Mexican L’manburg against Dream? As Sam is working for Dream on the prison, and the Badlands still have plans to get the contract signed with Eret, it seems the Badlands are still having conflicts of interest.

- Dream shows up, explodes the present. Tommy tosses Bad the Chirp disc back and tells him to take it and run. Dream threatens Tommy again and robs him. Sapnap joins the call as well. Tommy asks Dream why he’s being tortured. Dream says that Tommy is the only person who refuses to listen to him, a little bug that he has to get rid of, but also says that just because he exiled Tommy doesn’t mean that they aren’t friends.

- Sapnap comes over and Dream and Sapnap bully Tommy together. Meanwhile, Wilbur logs on. Dream gives him a book as a gift, and Wilbur gives it to Tommy (who immediately starts writing How to Sex 3)

- Tommy builds a tent outside the campsite so that he can look over the sunset.

- Ghostbur, who isn’t fully banished, goes back to L’manburg to take some pictures of the city to show Tommy

- Tommy goes to the ruined portal and asks Dream if he’s allowed in the Nether. Dream says yes, but he can’t go through the portal back home or else Dream will have to kill him. Tommy gets some diamonds, mines obsidian, repairs the portal and steps inside.

- Since he’s only a couple thousand blocks away, the Nether Hub is very close by. Tommy builds a bridge and pathway to it as he’s followed by Dream and Sapnap. He makes it to the Nether Hub as they tell him about Puffy’s Christmas decorations. Ghostbur takes a picture of the tree with Sapnap. Tommy can hear them laughing joyfully and having fun, but he can’t join them. Tommy stares longingly at the portal but doesn’t go in.

- Dream enters the portal to join Ghostbur and Sap. While they laugh, Tommy steps just out of the hub onto the bridge and stares down at the lava, silent.

- Dream comes back through and pushes Tommy back, building a dirt platform at the edge. He tells Tommy it’s not his time to die yet.

- Tommy returns back to Logsted, asking the others, ���Guys, how do you know when it’s too much?”

- Everyone almost forgets, but they have to leave to attend Fundy’s wedding, which Wilbur is officiating --

-- I’ve seen some people confused about this but the wedding isn’t in the Dream SMP which is why Tommy is there. Dream and Fundy have made the wedding canon within the SMP but it isn’t an SMP-specific event.

- A Mooshroom named “Mushroom Henry” is dropped off by Ant at Logsted

- Technoblade streams!! He meets with Vikk and Lazar to tell them his side of the story, as they are building their retirement home as well. Technoblade shows them his house in the Arctic. 

- Technoblade and the Boomervillians then head to Logstedshire.

- So it turns out Technoblade sometimes dies...of fall damage...

- Vikk and Lazar talk about the retirement home with Hbomb94 and offer him a property in Boomerville.

- Sam shows the Boomervillians his base and Ponk’s Thiccatron. 

- Punz, Eret and Ponk all work on their various building projects.

- Karl’s brother logs into the server on Karl’s account and messes around Sapnap, Quackity, George and Dream. They build a monstrosity of a house above George’s house.

- Dream spawn kills Sapnap a crap ton of times, George’s house gets griefed again

- They check their death counts. Dream has 118 deaths, Karl has 353 deaths, Quackity has 592 (at the middle of the stream at least) Poor Quackity

- He repeatedly asks George if George truly cared about being king. George is hesitant to answer and mostly just says “king is pretty cool” and that’s it.

- 593

- George makes Sapnap apologize. He does so, emphasizing the fact that George is an “ex-king” and claims he only did it because he had some “Dreamon blood” in him and was possessed (this was a joke lmao don’t worry) and says that they should put their differences aside for the good of M.L.

- Karl fishes for people and catches a Sapnap. 594. Quackity sacrifices his life for George via fishing pole execution. 595.

- They all argue over George having to die in return for Sapnap dying as well. George says he doesn’t want to die but Dream says he’ll die either way, now or later.

- George misses the countdown. Dream says he made up his mind. George will die later and Sapnap will get all his things. He says he’ll tell Punz and Awesamdude to hunt for George whenever he logs back in as well and they’ll be coming for George too.

- George finally gives in. He logs in while The Last Post plays in the background and is slaughtered by Dream as o7′s spam the chat. (o7)

- Dream says he wants to kill whoever destroyed George’s house and take all their loot.

- The George dethronement wasn’t part of the script, George just didn’t want to be involved in the lore so Dream was confused at why George was pretending to be sad. 

- Sapnap: “Friends don’t lie.” (still too soon...)

- Karl’s brother gets officially exiled from the SMP

---

---

Upcoming Events:

- HBomb will be hosting Niki and Wilbur’s L’Cast tomorrow at 4pm EST

- Karl will be touring around Pokimane next week

- The results of Fundy and Dream’s marriage (monkaS)

Potentially Scrapped:

- Elytra Challenge

- Badboyhalo and Skeppy’s plan to burn Tommy’s disc

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

Construction of the tower was going smoothly. Neither King Dedede, nor the Waddle Dees tried to return to the castle. Instead, they set up tents around the base of the structure so they could stay through the nights. The tower rose in the sun, and rumors quickly spread all throughout Dream Land.

"It seems that King Dedede has started something strange again."

"He said he was building a tower. It's a tower for battle."

"It's so ugly. Let's stay away." 

The people didn't approach out of fear of getting involved, but one day, an unexpected guest passed through. Meta Knight. He came alone without his subordinates.

"Mmm? Isn't that Meta Knight?" King Dedede, who was supervising the construction site, looked back and raised his voice. Meta Knight looked up at the tower, only just completed up to the fifth floor.

"Are you alone? What did you come to do?" When King Dedede asked, Meta Knight replied with his eyes still locked onto the tower’s summit.

"I heard a rumor that you were building a tower for battle. I came to see what it looked like."

"Hmph, is that so? Then, take a closer look!" King Dedede proudly turned and gestured. "It's not just a tower. It's a decisive battle tower that decides the strongest warrior!"

" …………… " Meta Knight was silent, however, the sharp eyes behind his mask gradually began to shine. King Dedede continued to talk comfortably. 

"One night, a shooting star fell on this land." 

"A shooting star?" 

"Oh, a mysterious shooting star with incredible power. Thanks to that, huge peaches began to grow in the surrounding area, and the masks that were buried here ... " The King swallowed his words and cleared his throat. "Erk, ahem! Anyway, there was a special power in this place, so I decided to build a battle tower here. There will be lots of tough traps littered throughout that will plague the challengers! Only those who overcome the numerous trials can reach the top floor! What’s at the top? I am, of course! There will be a ferocious battle at the summit!"

"—I have a suggestion," Meta Knight said quietly while looking at King Dedede.

"What is it?"

"Can I also be added to the battle at the summit?"

"Eh?" King Dedede was surprised to hear that from him. "Well ... if you want to fight, don't worry. As a challenger, you'll start from the first floor, then, you'll challenge me on the top floor ... "

"I refuse." Meta Knight quickly swished his cape. "I also want to meet the challenger who makes it to the top."

"What ...? "

"I want to fight the strongest warrior," Meta Knight said flatly. King Dedede replied, dissatisfied.

"This is my tower. The final boss on the top floor will be decided by me!"

"I understood, I want to fight the challenger together—you and I, as two."

"Two people?"

"You must have expected—who will be the strongest challenger arriving at the tower’s summit?"

"Hmm ... " King Dedede frowned. "Kirby."

"Exactly," Meta Knight nodded, "Kirby will absolutely be the one to make it to the top. I want to be the one to fight him seriously."

"I'll be the one!" King Dedede raised his voice. "I want to be the one to fight Kirby! I need to win spectacularly and get even with the lil’ runt!"

"Neither you, nor I, have the intention of giving up the right to fight Kirby. The only solution is to fight him together."

"With two people?" The King shook his head indignantly. "Fighting two-on-one is what a coward does, I don't like it!"

"Who said it was two-on-one? I don't want such a fight."

"Huh ...? " 

"The game will be two-on-two. Let Kirby choose a partner."

"Choose a partner ...? " 

"Whether it’s Burning Leo or Knuckle Joe, he’ll head to the top with a strong partner."

" ... A serious match between two pairs ... I see, interesting." King Dedede nodded and grinned. "It's a good idea, Meta Knight! Then, it’s a challenge. I'll hit Kirby with a challenge letter. Waddle Dee, bring some paper and a pen!" Hearing King Dedede’s voice, Bandana Waddle Dee rushed in, also carrying bricks. With paper and pen in hand, King Dedede wrote the challenge letter at once.

"Kirby! I Invite you to ‘King Dedede's Strongest, Most Dangerous Tower!’ King Dedede and Meta Knight are waiting for you at the summit! Choose the strongest companion and come at once!" 

"No good," Meta Knight said quietly. King Dedede, who was attempting to put the challenge letter into an envelope, quickly froze. 

"What's wrong? It's the perfect challenge."

"The name of the tower is the problem. I think it'd be better to have a simpler name that describes the characteristics of the tower."

"Characteristics of the tower ...? What kind of name would be good?"

"That's right, because it's a tower that one fights with a partner ... How about the ‘Buddy Fighters Tower?’"

"Hmm." King Dedede folded his arms. He was a bit annoyed his name wasn't included, but the name Meta Knight suggested was unexpectedly cool. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was much better than "King Dedede's Strongest, Most Dangerous Tower." Therefore, King Dedede said, looking reluctant on purpose, "Well, it's not bad. I’m the owner of the tower, but I'll hear out your suggestion because I’ve got an open mind."

"Much obliged."

"Then ... " The King rewrote the challenge letter and handed it to Bandana Waddle Dee. "Deliver this to Kirby, be sure to get a reply."

"Yes, understood!" Waddle Dee securely re-tightened his bandana and began running, full speed.

Bandana Waddle Dee gradually began to grow tired as he ran through the woods. He never grew tired when he was working on building the tower, even without break.

"Hah ... hah ... I'm sweating ..... my legs ... it hurts ... " Finally, he couldn't run any longer. The leaves rustled as he sat down, and he could hear the peaceful sound of birdsong. After a long time, Bandana Waddle Dee felt calm. "Ahh ... Somehow, I feel sleepy ... " 

He thought as he closed his eyes. "How mysterious ... I wasn't tired at all when I was building the tower. Actually, I couldn't stay still because my body was coursing with so much energy ... " 

"Ora ora!" and "Get to it!" he had said. He turned red, remembering yelling those words he didn’t usually use.

"I was speaking so aggressively, even though I was in front of King Dedede ... ‘Move, I got it!’ What ... " Bandana Waddle Dee was speechless. "It's strange, somehow. Not only me, but everyone, even King Dedede, was acting more aggressive than usual. Why ...? " 

The thing that came to mind was the shooting star—the power of the shooting star that produced an abundance of large peaches on the trees in the forest.

"Was it the influence of the shooting star that made me feel so aggressive? Maybe that shooting star poured too much energy into the surroundings ... "

That may have been the reason King Dedede and Waddle Dee had become unprecedentedly violent and combative. And, the masks excavated from the place where the shooting star fell were worrying. Those masks were strangely eerie, in a way ... 

"The shooting star ... those masks ... Somehow, I have a bad feeling ...! " Bandana Waddle Dee stood up. He was tired, but couldn't rest. "I have to call Kirby. Kirby will surely do something about this!" He started running again, breathlessly. 

Even though King Dedede built the battle tower, even though rumors had spread throughout Dream Land, Kirby probably still hadn’t heard of it.

Kirby today, like always, had lunch at Chef Kawasaki’s restaurant and was now taking a nap in the shade, in good spirits. Bandana Waddle Dee rushed over to him, happily sleeping and drooling.

"Kirby! Wake up, Kirby!" Kirby cracked open his eyes when Bandana Waddle Dee shook him. 

"Ah ... Waddle Dee ... Fried rice seconds ... and after, hamburger and donuts ... " 

"If you wake up!"

Kirby rubbed his eyes, yawned wide, and finally looked up at him.

"Hmm? Waddle Dee? Where? My fried rice ...? " 

"I’ll make you fried rice another time. Instead, listen to this story!" Bandana Waddle Dee presented the challenge letter from King Dedede.

"A letter? From King Dedede?" 

"It's a challenge, look here ... " He told Kirby about the shooting star falling in the forest, the parts scattering when King Dedede touched it. "Mysteriously, lots of huge, sweet peaches began to grow in the area. I'm sure the power of a shooting star ... " 

"Ehh!? Peaches!?" Kirby had been listening uninterestedly, but suddenly, his eyes began to shine. "Lots of huge, sweet peaches!? Really!? Really, Waddle Dee!?" 

"Uh, yeah. That’s why the Great King put the tower there ... " 

"Hooray! So he sent me an invitation! How kind of him!" Kirby jumped at Bandana Waddle Dee. 

"I-it’s not like that, Kirby. This isn’t an invitation, it's a challenge ... "

"You're going to have an all-you-can-eat peach party? Let's go fast, fast, Waddle Dee!" Kirby started running, pulling Waddle Dee along with him.

"It’s not like that!" Even when Bandana Waddle Dee screamed, Kirby didn’t hear at all.

"Well, okay ... Kirby is wrong, but he’ll know it’s not a party when he heads to the tower," Bandana Waddle Dee thought as he ran, being dragged along. "I'm sure he will return the Great King back to himself!"

The pair dashed and bounded through the forest at incredible speeds.

< Previous | Table of Contents | Next >

[caffernnn]

Haru’s hopelessness - an extensive rambling.

Watchers of Free! Eternal Summer - y’all remember this moment, right? 

Throughout S2, as some of the boys now have to seriously think about their lives and paths after high school, Haru struggles to think past what he’s always known: swimming for his friends/himself, eating mackerel, and being free. Things arguably take a darker turn once Haru cannot run from the question anymore and breaks, lashing out at Rin and saying he doesn’t have a dream or a future. 

There are so many things that can be unpacked from this quote alone, and my thoughts on the matter will probably be sporadic, but here are a few key things I’d like to try diving into in this post:

My interpretation of Haru’s, Makoto’s, and Rin’s characters’ mindsets

What Haru is likely trying to say

How Makoto and Rin interpret his words (based on their mindsets and experiences)

I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on it all as well, so please feel free to add on :)

DISCLAIMER: This post will reference material outside of S2 itself to explain my insight/interpretation of the characters (S1 episodes, High Speed novel), but I won’t be putting full links to all of those materials in this post. If you’d like a specific link to anything I’m referencing, let me know and I can try to dig one up.

When first hearing Haru say that he doesn’t have a dream or a future, it is shocking and concerning, especially to his friends. However, as broken as lost as Haru is in this moment, the weight of his words and what he’s verbally trying to convey is most likely different than what his friends hear. I feel as if a big reason for this comes down to the different ways the characters perceive time and approach general goal-setting. 

Here is a video that can give a frame of reference for what I mean by “time perception,” but I’ll still try to explain my thinking ---> https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJsdVUhu/

Rin and Haru butt heads on many occasions throughout the series due to having opposing characteristics and approaches to life. The big difference that comes into play during S2 is how they both approach goal-setting and time. As soon as we’re introduced to Rin, it becomes apparent that he is someone who is a visionary that has always set his sights on the future. From boldly proclaiming his Olympic goals in elementary school to encouraging their team to put their relay trophy into a time capsule, Rin establishes himself early on as a dreamer that puts his all into his long-term goals. Being someone who thinks about things in this manner isn’t inherently good or bad, but it does lend a hand to many of the issues we see Rin go through in S1 (having tunnel vision on his goal that isolates him from his friends, being prone to catastrophize when confronted with road blocks along the way [like when he breaks down after losing to Haru in middle school], etc.). However, all of that dreaming puts him at an advantage now when preparing to move forward into post-high-school life. He has a frame of reference for most of his next steps (winning races, talking to scouts), and now he just has to make it a reality.

Haru, in essence, lives his life in the moment. If he wants to swim, he’ll try to swim; if he wants mackerel, he’ll try to make mackerel. He lets the people around him (usually Makoto) worry about the possible consequences for his actions (swimming too early in spring might get him sick, swimming in a fish tank might get him kicked out of XYZ place, cooking mackerel after a long bath might make him late for school, etc.). The way he thinks about all of his “tomorrows” beyond acting freely on impulse is through having a consistent routine or norm to cling onto. When swimming, he’ll swim freestyle. When given a choice, he’ll default to eating mackerel. He’ll find a way to get in a swim or a bath most days because water is safe. He’ll walk with Makoto to and from school, sticking to the side of the path closest to the ocean and anticipating sharing the same split popsicle. This is about as much thought as he lends to the future, usually: he’ll keep doing the things that make him happy and comfortable, whatever that’ll mean to him in the moment. In opposition of Rin, this frame of mind based in immediacy and short-term goals helps him in S1 (teaching Rin to appreciate the moment, connecting with his friends, not getting lost in the overly analytical or competitive side of swimming), but it makes the challenges that come with his looming graduation in S2 much harder to cope with. 

The reason that it’s important to understand how both Haru and Rin frame their perceptions of time is because it plays right into what Haru is saying during their argument. He is frustrated with Rin because Rin doesn’t understand the way Haru thinks/lives moment-to-moment (he yells as much in this fight) and he is tired of hearing people for years try and push him into long-term thinking about his future when he doesn’t naturally approach life that way. Think back to one of the first things Haru said in S1: 

“When you're ten, they call you a prodigy. When you're fifteen, they call you a genius. Once you hit twenty, you're just an ordinary person. About three years until I'm ordinary. Man... I can't wait to be ordinary.”

Because of Haru’s swimming abilities, people have looked at him as a prodigy and have had their own visions about his potential or his future ever since he was young. Even if it seems like flattery, Haru feels boxed in by all of this. Being considered a prodigy comes with expectations that put him on a pedestal he never asked to be placed on -- if he’s going to swim, he’s expected to swim well; if he swims well, he’s expected to capitalize on his abilities in a competitive manner or expand his horizons to other forms of swimming; if he’s going to live his life tied to the water, people view him as a swimmer before they view him as anything/anyone else. Haru has been frustrated with all of this since he was younger (as expressed in S1), but it gets even worse as people close in on Haru from all sides with advice and sentiments that compound in Haru’s head as belonging to the echo chamber he hates so much. 

So... what does this all mean in relevance to Haru saying he doesn’t have a dream or a future? Here’s my line of thinking: all of the internalized frustration Haru has with long-term thinkers (from his perspective) speaking over him and not taking time to understand his in-the-moment intuition-led mindset comes out in this line. What Haru is trying to say is that he doesn’t have a detailed long-term plan because he isn’t a romantic visionary like Rin. He wants to stick with his relatively free lifestyle (y’know, the one where he can do what he wants, but still ultimately sticks to a routine) because he sees no point in forcing himself to put effort into big changes if 1) he’s satisfied and 2) the system isn’t broken.*

*we learn later, especially through Haru and Makoto’s later fight, that these two points are up for debate, but this is what Haru has convinced himself to believe at the time of this specific confrontation.

However, with the way Haru vocalizes this frustration, it is vague enough that Rin and the others hear something much different. It’s written right on their faces. Like I mentioned earlier, being a long-term thinker prone to catastrophizing, Rin interprets (and possibly misconstrues) Haru’s words to mean that he doesn’t think he has the potential or abilities to strive for something. Rin feels Haru’s words like a punch to the gut because he relates Haru’s hopelessness to the times he has felt lost and hopeless, like when defeat after defeat led to him breaking down after his middle school race with Haru. It’s shocking and it stings for Rin to hear, because as much as he’s learned to believe in himself and his own future, he’s also held onto those dreams and hope for his friends. I’ll admit, his dedication and borderline obsession with swimming lends to him mostly vocalizing the dreams he has for his friends that are related to swimming (Makoto and Haru getting scouted, Sousuke returning to swimming), but the love is still there. 

The idea of long-term vs short-term thinkers I’ve presented isn’t completely dichotomous or black-and-white, even though Haru and Rin tend to fall on the far opposite sides of the proposed spectrum. So, where does someone like Makoto fall? 

Makoto is an interesting case. From how I’ve come to understand his character, I would say he also looks to the future, albeit in less idealistic or extreme ways than Rin. Makoto’s forward line of thinking presents itself through both his people-pleasing tendencies and his caring disposition. When Makoto interacts with people, he is often observant and calculating, trying to figure out how he can navigate a conversation in the most complimentary or polite manner. This ability and tendency to understand/empathize with others ties into a lot of the roles he takes on: team captain, big brother, part-time position as a swim coach, full-time position as Haru’s impulse control... he is inclined to think about the future and all of the possible consequences for his actions. This also ties into some of the other things we know Makoto’s character for, such as being a scaredy-cat (aka, someone who overthinks consequences in fear of the unknown) and a ray of sunshine (aka, someone who wants to see the best in people and holds onto optimism/hope for the people he loves, even if it sometimes means not saving enough for himself and his own abilities). 

Despite being more of a forward-thinker, Makoto has definitely been influenced by his close relationship with Haru. Makoto has spent most of his life observing and learning how to read Haru, and it has been shown time and time again that Makoto is one of the people (if not, the person) that understands Haru best. He understands that Haru values the freedom of choice and harbors a desire for unconditional appreciation. He understands that Haru puts stock in consistency/reliability and needs time and space to process or reflect when life deviates from that carefully-crafted norm. Makoto’s actions towards Haru over the years all reflect him trying to be respectful of these observations. Even when he can tell something is bothering Haru, Makoto tries to let Haru work it out on his own first, not prodding him for information but letting his presence/support be known all the same. I digress, being best friends, their lives and routines are tightly woven together. Because of this, Makoto spends a lot of time also living in-the-moment with Haru -- he is a large proponent in Haru’s “free” lifestyle. 

Since Makoto has a foot in both Haru and Rin’s respective worlds, how does he interpret Haru’s declaration that he doesn’t have a dream or a future? Surely, since he understands Haru and his position so well and has always been respectful of his mindset/wishes, he gets what Haru is trying to say... right? 

Unfortunately for Haru (or fortunately, depending on who you ask), Makoto is immediately concerned by those words in a way similar to Rin. Like I mentioned earlier, Makoto holds deep optimism and hope in his chest for all of the people he cares about. Even though he never forced lofty expectations onto Haru to swim or be anything other than himself, he still holds so much care and hope for his best friend. For Makoto to hear that Haru might not have that faith in himself or the belief that he is worth a bright future, it breaks his heart. Similar to Rin, he is probably thinking back to his own moments of hopelessness, and I can’t help but think back to the lost and scared Makoto fighting with himself during the middle school days. When entering middle school, Makoto struggles with his identity, trying to figure out just how dependent he is on Haru’s friendship. One of his darkest moments in my mind comes from Chapter 8 of the High Speed! 2 novel, when Makoto is beating himself up especially hard after being frozen by his fear of the ocean yet again. Haru finds Makoto alone on a secluded part of the shore, where he says this:

“Will I be alright even if Haru isn’t here? …..I wanted to make sure of that.”

Raising his eyebrows, he shows a lonely smile. Makoto was fighting all along. He was suffering, all along. In a place where Haruka’s thoughts couldn’t possibly reach... 

“Would Haru be alright even if I weren’t here?”

If Makoto’s internal struggles throughout their middle school days reveal anything, it is that Makoto has experienced a hopelessness that he wouldn’t ever wish on his friends. To think that Haru might now be at war with himself in a way that makes him question his own place in the world, his future... it is the ultimate catalyst for Makoto to step in and try to talk to Haru. Sadly, we all remember how that confrontation went...

ENTER: THE FIREWORKS FIGHT (S2E11)

(Since this post is already super long, I might go more into my thoughts on how this all plays into the misunderstandings about the fireworks fight in a separate post. We’ve talked about the fight at length on multiple occasions and you can definitely find my thoughts on the matter if you look under the “#fireworks angst night” or “#meta” tags on my profile.)

If you’ve made it this far into the post, thanks for sticking with me. I’d love to hear about how you interpreted Haru’s words or how you think the others took in his breakdown. 

[felassan]

Highlights and insights from the MELE launch cast & crew reunion panel

[rewatch link] [highlights & insights from the N7 Day 2020 reunion]

In case a text format is better for anyone (in terms of accessibility for example). Cut for length.

Some paraphrasing.

If anyone’s interested in just the line-reading session, it starts at timestamp ~1:04:45.

In addition to the cast and crew from the N7 Day reunion, at this reunion also in attendance were: 

Mac Walters (Project Director for MELE, Lead Writer of the og MET)

Melanie Faulknor (Lead Producer for MELE)

Crystal McCord (Producer for MELE)

Fred Tatasciore (Saren)

Seth Green (Joker)

Kimberly Brooks (Ash)

Ash Sroka (Tali)

This was the biggest reunion / meetup of the cast so far, and some of the cast and crew were meeting for the first time here.

It’s been so long since the og MET that PW & KW are getting to watch their kids experience playing it for the first time

JHale doesn’t play but since MELE she’s been sneaking around Twitch jumping into peoples’ MELE livestreams to lurk, watch and comment a bit

What drew Seth to the character of Joker? The whole concept of the game. He likes games and MET’s mechanics (different trees of adventure, stacking reputation, choices carrying between games) at the time were the most sophisticated that he’d ever heard pitched. He thought this was new and exciting and wanted to be a part of it. For the character they cast him based on his personality traits (i.e. he sounds quite similar to Joker personality-wise)

Would Seth ever want to play Joker again if the opportunity presented itself? Sure, he loves the character, and if the writers ever had more things to explore/expand with Joker he’d be down for it. 

Seth said that it’s a different kind of fan that approach him about this project. The fans have spent many many hours in an intimate exchange with “him” that he hasn’t been a part of, but they experienced it nonetheless. “I’ve hugged a lot of strangers, you know what I’m saying? It’s great, you get an interaction with fans that you never get as a performer in any other experience”

Seth has been a space guy since he was little, it inspires him

With the state of the world the way it is now [covid, masks etc], does Ash think Tali’s story will be more impactful now than it was before? Ash hopes so, and that anything they do here will have a positive impact on a bigger level. Ultimately that’s why most of them do what they do, they want to reach people in deep ways. She hopes Tali is an inspiration in courage, bravery, standing up for what’s right and thinking about the greater good

The [MELE I think] dev team had a last team meeting with Greg Zeschuk, one of the founders of BioWare, who they had invited to it. He was regaling them with stories of the inception of Mass Effect. “You would imagine this sort of well-laid out, drawing boards everywhere... [but] it was basically just a napkin sketch in a Greek taverna with him and Casey going ‘We wanna do a space opera’, and then it took off”

The process of creating lore through development is very organic. A lot of it comes from character and story development. It builds up over the course of the game’s development. They did the codex entries at the end, the idea being that if they saved them for as late as they could, then they could pull from the story, characters and meaningful moments, and build them from there

PW wrote a bunch of the codex entries, elevator banter & lots of little bits of lore. They describe their time on the og MET as being a “baby writer”. They originally came in after Mac had back surgery and a junior writer was needed to fill in. “It was really fun, it was us sitting in a room together going ‘What do you think a hanar or a krogan thinks about this or that’?” For a first project for them this was an amazing experience - the world building itself creatively with all these awesome people

They tried to add multiplayer in every game but only got it to work in ME3

They had a lot of plots laid out in ME1 that they called “global plots”. These were outside the core critical path and would take players from planet to planet, and were sprawling stories. They pulled out a lot of really interesting concepts and ideas from these that did make it into the game, but all of the global plots ended up getting cut due to time. Mac still has old diagrams and spreadsheets which detailed how all of these would have come together

Q. If you all had to take a long-distance road-trip with two squadmates, who would you take and why? PW: “Jack and Mordin. Mordin because the drive would never lack for things to talk about at length quickly, Jack because you know you wouldn’t pay for the room. You wouldn’t know how you’d get the room, but you wouldn’t be paying for it.” Courtenay: “I’d take Mordin because there’d be singing, and FemShep just to have this thing - happen. In the room that I get for free.” JHale at this point fistpumped while saying “Yeess” [then I think what she said was “steaming hot”]

Seeing as asari are long-lived, how open is Ali to one day reprising her role as Liara? “She’s a character very close to my heart, it was such a great opportunity. In some games that we work on the character has already been created or voiced by someone else, but this was really a group effort. When I first went into the booth, the only thing I’d seen of her was a sort of like, rendering, and we slowly kind of came to her voice and presence. I would love to bring Liara back any time... hey, she can live a really long time guys. :D”

Caroline and people who do what she does (Creative Performance Director) are so critical to the quality of games. Caroline: “This group of people are extraordinary. We were lucky to have such an extraordinary cast. Every [recording] session was new and challenging. It was a labor of love. I’m tearing up right now thinking about it. I’m remembering my last session with Jen, she was the last session, just sobbing and sobbing”. When JHale was trying to say the lines of Shepard’s goodbye with Garrus, a line hit her like a tonne of bricks and she was in tears and was like “Shepard does not cry”. “It took me a second, I got it out and took another run at it, it was in there but stuffed down as it should have been, and I finished the line [and there was silence in the booth when usually Caroline would have been talking to give direction or instruction] Did we lose her? Did Skype crash?” and it transpired that what had happened was that Caroline was in floods of tears

ME was the first time Keythe had ever come across branching dialogue. “Normally when we work on a script and it’s from page 1 to 100. In this it was get to page 5, then go back to page 2 and play it a little differently. The skill and the fun and joy of it was to be able to go back and play a scene in a different way, with different writing, with different outcomes. This was not only a challenge but a real treat. So to all the writers who dreamed up how this build-your-own-adventure plays out, you have my undying respect. It was a real pleasure”

VEDA is a proprietary system that BW use to record the dialogue, which is the closest way of having it feel like having people in the booth together (it’s all digital and VAs get to hear the line someone else has done in that scene). Caroline really pushed for this because of the amount of time etc that was wasted due to lack of this sort of thing on ME1. William: “It was a god send for me, thank you, getting to hear a cue from Jen or Mark.” Ali: “Us being able to bounce off each other helps make it more real. This for me was the most real acting experience on a game I had ever had - the writing being so good, Caroline helping us through, being able to hear each other.” JHale was always early coming in to record relative to the others so only got to use VEDA a few times - a bit of Liara content and the scene with Anderson towards the end. “Those two times, oh my god it was amazing”. VEDA being a thing also helps from a scheduling standpoint

Seth and Tricia Helfer (EDI) only got to be in the booth actually together 1 time, to record/shoot a piece of promotional video. “We actually got to record a scene together and we were like ‘oh my god this is the best thing ever’. It was great, even though I had to stand on a stool. She’s the best”

Seth: “As an actor, the kind of opportunity to do this kind of material in games just didn’t exist.” Fred: “Oh, never! I had never had a villain part that was complicated like that. In a game? Never before, it was really interesting”

Raphael always goes back to the fact that ME brought more women into gaming than any other game before it. “The writing and the complexity of the relationships gave us so much ballast”. “This set this apart from running, shooting, gunning, looting”

JHale: “What I noticed in the times before when I got to be around fans, there was a huge hunger among women in the gaming world for something they could really jump into. They were starving for something which fed them what they deserved and needed”

Mac: “[praising Caroline] Caroline would often come to us as writers and challenge us and say, as an example, ‘Do we really need another male character to do this? Why are we writing another male character for this?’ She pushed that very early and to the betterment of everything we created”

PW: “Karin and Cookie and all of the editors across the trilogy, [were critical in] making sure that Shepard sounded consistent - [especially since] we had a large writing team, writers came and went, Mac is the only one with a significant writing contribution on each of the games”

PW: “[on game dev] It’s a process of getting hundreds of people pointed in the same direction, all believing that this is something worth doing”

Ash: “Having all the different possibilities and avenues, going back to play them all out in the different ways [really helped to round the character of Tali out and make her feel like a natural person]”.

VAs only get paid for the original recording sessions, not again (as in they don’t any royalties or anything from something like the remaster)

In MELE, they left all the original credits at the end of each game in

Fred: “It’s creating in five dimensions [because of all the outcomes and relationships etc]”. Seth: “The cool thing is that the audience feels that. They’re immediately struck by how dense, thought-out, prepared and planned the entire universe is”

How was it for the new MELE devs coming onto this? Crystal: “I knew it [the series and fans’ love for it] was big, but I didn’t know it was BIG! Working on MELE there was this infectious excitement. Being part of it was so exciting.” Melanie: “I came on at ME3, I had a 3 or 4 year honeymoon period with BioWare. Coming onto MELE, I’m getting really emotional. One of my first meetings originally was going into a cinematic review for an epic Tali scene in ME3”. Crystal: “On MELE, we had an hour or 2 every day where the team came together to play the game. In those reviews, a lot of the devs who worked on the original would tell all these stories. It was really fun to hear all the inside stories on ME’s creation and be a part of that”

DC: “Should this unit get vaccinated?” Ash: “Of course”

How do they think ME will be viewed in the next 10-20 years, what do they think its legacy will be? A piece of history, ground-breaking. It broke down some barriers and opened doors for people. It’s a powerful, powerful community. It’ll continue to age quite well and be enjoyed by a new generation, it’s original and evergreen and there’s a lot in it that people go back to. There’s a lot of universal things in it (personal experiences, like there will always be love, people fighting to belong, trying to make sense of their pasts etc)

JHale and Alix did the “I love you Shepard, now go save the world again” Shep-Sam exchange and both got teary. It was then Seth’s turn to line-read: “Jesus Christ, now that I’m good and choked up, fucking mess”. Ali was also actually crying from it

Seth: “It can’t be overstated, this community is so large and global, it is one of the most powerful fandoms that I’ve ever been greeted with. Thank you”. Ash: “It’s the most amazing group of fans ever. We’re all so grateful”

Some funny anecdotes/stories:

PW didn’t realize that Alix could do different accents. They remember a time when they were listening in the booth and an Alliance soldier was complaining about the gear had been given. They said “Wow that’s really good, who is that?” and the VO producer said “That’s Alix, Patrick”, “because she wasn’t doing her [normal British accent but was doing a Californian accent instead]. Alix roasted me later for not recognizing her voice and never let me heard the end of it”

Alix: “[on Sam’s toothbrush] Caroline’s like, ‘So then she pulls her toothbrush’ and I’m like ‘What? Sorry? A toothbrush?’ and obviously it’s funny now as everyone knows that Sam’s thing is her toothbrush. Caroline’s like ‘Yeah, you’ve gotta like, flirt, over the toothbrush’ and I’m like ‘Who wrote this - a frickin toothbrush, are you kidding me? Really guys?’ ANYWAY. I was wrong and it worked. :D”

Fred: “I remember a 12 year old kid coming up to me and being like [flat tone] ‘Oh yeah. I killed you’.”

Keythe: “The other assasin I play is Kellogg in Fallout 4. People come up to me like ‘Omg. I love you so much. And then I fucking KILLED you!’”

Courtenay once went out to dinner in NZ with a few prominent people from the Game of Thrones cast. “Everyone around was making a big deal out of it like ‘Omg, it’s so-and-so from GoT’. I was feeling a bit like ‘Hi, I’m here, just nobody’. And I looked around in the restaurant and there's one guy in the corner and he’s got an N7 shirt on and he’s just looking at me like [knowing look, does a peace sign]. And I’m like ‘I got one! I love you guys!’”

PW: “I have a question for the cast members, because I don’t know if JHale has done this to all of you or if she just does it to the devs. Show of hands if Jen has ever made you do push-ups.” JHale: “It’s just you guys”

Karin: “One of my favorite editing files that I ever had was a ME file. It was before Seth was coming in for a session. I opened it up and it was just 20, 25 lines with the word ‘Shit’, over and over again, and I was like, ‘This file is perfect, I don’t need to do anything to it, have fun!’”

Seth: “Didn’t we do a track that’s like 60 seconds of laughing? Escalating laughing? I don’t know about other actors but for me getting into a laughing fit is kind of like trying to get into a crying fit, it takes the same level of commitment, you start to follow a path until like you’re hysterically uncontrollably laughing. I remember looking through the glass, and I’m deep in it at this point, and I make eye contact, and I can see from the other side of the booth and they’re like [making ‘okay you can stop’ now gestures] - ‘Like that’s plenty, we got it’ and I was like ‘okay, okay [dying]’”

JHale: “The craziest thing Mark and I had to deal with was how many times we had to say ‘I should go’”. Mark: “We also, Caroline and I tended to use that as short hand when I needed to go to the bathroom”

The panel host: “The first time I interviewed Ali was a decade ago. She did the ‘I’ll flay you alive with my mind’ line halfway through, it was my first interview and I literally fell out of my seat [from being star-struck]”

Ash line-read Tali’s drunk omni-tattoo scene and in response DC said “I totally get why people wanna romanticize all these characters :D”. Karin: “We’ve had more than one person come up to us and show us actual tattoos that looked like that”

[source]

[thexfridax]

Translated interview

Adèle Haenel: 'Sex in cinema is usually quite pathetic’

Wenke Husmann, in: Die Zeit, 31st of October 2019

Additions or clarifications for translating purposes are denoted as [T: …]

Our understanding of art? Patriarchal! Eroticism in cinema? Stunted! The actress Adèle Haenel about her new film ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’.

In the film ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, the young aristocrat Héloïse literally catches fire. Around 1770 she falls in love with a young painter, who is supposed to portray her. The role of the shy former convent student seems unusual for Haenel at first glance, who otherwise plays very assertive female characters: an AIDS activist in ‘120 BPM’, a martial artist in ‘Love at First Fight’, a doctor who solves a murder in ‘The Unknown Girl’. But Haenel also interprets the role of the muse as a very active one. The actress had her breakthrough in 2007 at the age of 18 with ‘Water Lilies’, the debut film by film-maker Céline Sciamma. The two were a couple for years. ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ is their second collaboration, which was awarded the Best Screenplay (for Sciamma) at the Cannes Film Festival.

Haenel speaks German very well. She learned the language almost perfectly for Chris Kraus' feature film ‘The Bloom of Yesterday’. However, whenever she speaks German, she will always be so categorical, Haenel warns, and after a very German expletive slips into the conversation, she switches to French.

ZEIT ONLINE: In ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ you play a restrained woman at first. Your Héloïse is supposed to be portrayed by a painter. She is the more experienced, a self-assured artist you fall in love with. But then you reinterpret the role of the muse.

[T: Short bio of Adèle and description of the film is inserted here, but I didn’t translate these, as y’all know everything already 😏]

Adèle Haenel: It's about equality. I believe that the role of the muse is in fact active - and as important as the official role of the artist.

ZE: What is the active part or equality in the relationship between you being the portrayed and the painter? And what's new about it?

AH: I think in art history, being a muse was the role that women were allowed to play. That's why men said, ‘Oh, it's a passive role, the muses are just in the room, and we're dreaming and fabricating great ideas in our heads.’ It was their way of saying that as men, they are the only ones who create art. That's Scheiße [T: 💩 💩 💩] in my opinion. I’m sorry. Whenever I speak German, I am always a bit more categorical. But that’s the way it is.

(Continues the conversation in French)

I believe, however, that muses have always been active. They were just not presented like that. This also has a lot to do with a certain notion of art. Art is not just an ideal sphere that comes down to earth through an artist who is both absolute and ingenious. Art is created by questioning your own choices over and over again, as well as the reasons that led to them. Thus, there is something sacred and something entirely unholy in art. Questioning postulates, constantly questioning your own work, makes art powerful. And that is much more the result of collaboration than of anything else.

ZE: In this case, collaboration is based on love. Muse and artist are on equal terms. Your connection acts like an engine and unleashes the creativity of the artist. Is that the reason why the first portrait that the painter Marianne made of you as Héloïse is technically good but rather conventional? [T: the interviewer uses ‘not befitting’ here]

AH: It's not even about the progression, where only love makes art better, but it’s actually about the process. That's why you constantly ask yourself questions. Of course, at some point a portrait will come out, but in the film it’s not about whether that’s a good thing or not in the end. The problem of the first ‘failed’ portrait is that it avoids any questions. It does not ask exactly: Who is this person? What attitude did the painter take towards her? Does the model have an essence that we try to capture and bring to the canvas? Or is it just about capturing a specific moment? At this point, the collaboration begins. My character Héloïse begins to question Marianne, the artist, ‘What's that supposed to be?’ And when Marianne answers, ‘That's the way to do it,’ Héloïse retorts, ‘What do you mean, that's the way it is done, how do you find yourself in it, what's your attitude towards it?’ And you cannot just take that stance, you have to feel it.

ZE: Is this relationship comparable to what you have as an actress with the director Céline Sciamma?

[T: The above was taken from a translation on the Teller Report website and revised where necessary, my own translation continues below.]

AH: Yes, absolutely. Our collaboration is based on that idea. There are also parallels in terms of content, because painting in this film also has a lot to do with cinema. As it’s also about sequence, scene and so on. The screenplay was very detailed. Improvisation as a method wasn’t intended. But I had a certain amount of freedom to shape my character. The point wasn’t to do this behind closed doors, but the idea was developed in exchange to centre my character around the gaze and into three phases: At the beginning of my journey, I saw myself more as an object, then there was the phase of questioning, and at the end I’m more of a subject. This means that I used my face like a mask at the beginning of the film, very solemn, almost sacral, with little emotion, reserved. The warmer Marianne’s gaze becomes at Héloïse, the more I change the way I’m acting. I become more active and animated. I gave myself a very clear structure. Céline went with this kind of idea. And then we start to discuss about specific and precise things.

ZE: That seems quite practical and unpretentious.

AH: Oh, I’m a very impatient person and get annoyed very quickly. That’s why I can’t stand some of the questions that I get (mimics a stupid tone): ‘How do you endure just being looked at the whole time?’ I do retort then: ‘Have you even seen the film? It’s about the exchange of gazes!’

ZE: There is a narrative framework in the film, where Marianne remembers this love several years later. It’s about the impact of that encounter. How important is such an echo for the arts?

AH: You could say that every human being contains something like an eternal truth inside of them, but that this cannot manifest in a person in its pure form. The potential is there. So, you can develop, change, grow. It’s almost our responsibility to become a better [T: bigger is stated here] person, who exhausts all possibilities to become what makes us human. A romantic relationship [T: love affair…] also makes us feel the possibility to become someone else, more than what we were before. I’m thinking in particular of Spinoza in this context.

ZE: In short, he talks about the necessity of individuals to evolve so that they become more perfect. [T: ‘Vollkommenheit’ is difficult to translate, but I understand that Spinoza meant that this is the ideal state of being, see: The Ethics, Part 4. Of Human Bondage, Or The Strength Of The Emotions, Preface]. Looking at your career, it seems that you and film-maker Céline Sciamma, who was your partner for a long time, also helped each other very much in that sense to evolve.

AH: Céline and I have an extremely close connection and always had an intense intellectual exchange with each other. And an intense emotional exchange, but of course that changes over time. When it comes to what I said before about the search for and questioning of what’s underneath, and how we make choices in terms of our work, then Céline and I understand each other well. We agree about the questions and how we can communicate about them.

ZE: The film takes place around 1770. Back then, the first female artists’ associations were found such as the school of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. Marianne also worked in such an art school. It was only a few years that women could work as painters. Before and after, female artists could only do that in a limited capacity. Why was that?

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Autoportrait avec deux élèves (1785) © Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

AH: You get the impression that the female gaze is somehow threatening for male colleagues, that’s why they always tried to ban it. And besides, that is still the case.

ZE: How?

AH: Because some kind of natural order is being postulated. We have very much internalised this patriarchal order, in our intimacy, our desires, in everything. Indeed, challenging this perceived natural order is dangerous, because the entire patriarchy virtually depends on this everywhere. The trick to avoid answering questions that women are asking is in pretending that women really don’t have any reason to ask these kind of questions: They are doing well after all. If it wasn’t that pathetic, it would be really funny.

[T: Two of the below bits were extracted (for ease of reading) from @hedawolf​​‘s fantastic gifset on Adèle smashing the patriarchy, please head over and show some love.]

ZE: It seems that many big film festivals are now more open to show films that are about interesting and diverse female characters. Aren’t there more of these stories these days?

AH: Indeed, the problem has now come to the surface of society – two years after the Weinstein affair and #MeToo. You can see the facts. These are hilariously pathetic: 100 per cent of women, who use public transport in Paris, have experienced violence or abuse. 100 per cent! You always hear: ‘No, not all men are like that.’ Yes, of course. But all women have experienced this. And men also feel it. They’ve started to question the structures, in which this was possible, and in which they also lived for a long time. They also question their own behaviour. It’s not about locking up all men in a cage, but that we all evolve. It will make us all freer. But you have to let go of your little privilege of always being in charge. I understand that this is tough. [T: 😏]

ZE: You’ve really shown us one of the most wonderful scenes on this topic in your film, without men.

AH: This scene is sexy, inventive, created in collaboration – we were also quite satisfied with it. That’s why I was so happy at the premiere in Cannes: There are 2,000 people in the audience, who will see something completely different.

[jazy3]

Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 17X4

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

This week we finally got the answer to the question that was on everyone’s minds: Who’s on the beach?!?!? And the answer was none other than George O’Malley! I was right! Ha! I love it when that happens. Yes George was on the beach and we got to see him have a lovely heart to heart with Meredith about life and death, how things were for her and the others after he died, and what life is like for her now.

I was surprised that the heart to heart meaningful conversation turned out to be between Meredith and George and not Meredith and Derek, but I feel like that is coming later. I think the meaningful conversation with Derek will happen right at the end of Meredith’s beach adventure just before she recovers and comes back to the land of the living.

I like that they addressed why Derek and George look older than they did the last time we saw them by having George say that maybe they look older to Meredith and by virtue the audience because that’s how she likes to think of and picture them. The sand isn’t real, the water isn’t real, and Meredith’s perceptions of them and their physical appearances aren’t real either.

We see Richard and Bailey join Meredith and George on the beach at the end sequence when the real life Richard and Bailey move closer to Meredith’s bedside and talk to her which establishes that the beach is neither here nor there. It’s not the afterlife, but it is. It’s not heaven or hell, but it can be. It’s all happening in Meredith’s head, but it’s not. It’s a dream, but it’s also reality.

I liked the call backs to how Meredith, Alex, Cristina, and Izzie laughed a George’s funeral at the ridiculousness of it all. We also got some introspection from Meredith when George asks if she still dances it out like she used to and she says no and that she hasn’t really since she lost Cristina. George gently reminds her that Cristina isn’t dead like him. 

She’s still very much alive she just lives someplace else and that she shouldn’t give up on something she loves that makes her happy because Cristina lives in Zurich, Switzerland instead of Seattle, U.S.A. But we also get some insight here that to Meredith, Cristina moving an ocean away felt like a death and still does. She hasn’t danced it out like that since she left because she’s mourning that loss and to her not being able to see Cristina whenever she wants to is akin to not being able to see people like Derek, George, and Lexie like she used to because they’re gone.

Alex’s departure is different in that way in that once the pandemic is over and travel has opened back up and she’s done being mad at him she can go see Alex and Izzie and the kids whenever she wants. She doesn’t even have to get on a plane if she doesn’t want to. She can drive or take the train. The same holds true for Callie and Arizona. But the loss of people like Cristina, Derek, George, Mark, and Lexie is different because she can’t. Getting to Cristina means enduring at least two separate several hour flights across an ocean and she hates flying. 

Seeing all of those other people is impossible because they’re not alive anymore. And she feels that loss everyday whether she’s able to verbalize it or not. I loved Meredith’s ending line about finding your people and holding them close because those are the ones that get you through the tough times. The fact that she made Richard her POA comes full circle in this episode when we see him trying to comfort her and make a decision at her bedside. 

Richard is struggling about whether to enroll Meredith in the trial when he realizes she’s trying to say something. He gets closer and tells her he’s here for her only to realize she’s mumbling in her sleep and talking to George. Because Richard has seen Meredith and the others through it all he knows exactly who George is. He knows what the significance of that is and he realizes that she’s not trying to speak to him or get better. She’s talking to her friend George on the other side. She’s dying and if he doesn't do something soon she’ll join him. This realization causes him to decide to enroll Meredith in the trial.

I like that we also got an update on George’s Mom who we last saw in Season 8 talking to Callie about her marriage to Arizona and the birth of her daughter Sofia. George tells Meredith that grief is different for everyone and that his mother carries hers and that makes him sad and that sometimes he tries to shake it out of her and try to let her know that he’s still there and he’s still him even though she can’t see him anymore.

I loved how Meredith commented that he’s basically haunting her and George replied, “Well sure if you want to call it that.” The gentle teasing nature they had between them as friends was one of the things I loved most about their relationship and it was nice to see that here. I also liked their conversation about choices. Meredith asks if it’s her choice whether she stays or goes, and George says that it depends. Some people get to choose, and some don’t. He would have stayed if he could, but she appears to have a choice. On the one hand she’s worried about the kids and how losing her and becoming orphans will affect them.

On the other hand, she’s tired and has been through a lot and all the people she loves are on that beach. So, it’s a tough call for her to make. When they were sitting there on that beach and George turned to Meredith and said, “If you stay here you might break him,” and they turned to reveal Richard sitting next to her? Ugh that got me! Also watching Meredith shake convulsively from COVID while unconscious and talking to her dead friend was unnerving and a little scary especially since this is a real disease that is hurting real people. My heart breaks for anyone going through this in real life.

I also loved their exchange about the kids. Where he tells them how great they are and she says he never got to meet them and he tells her that he checks in on her and them from time to time. I also love that his comment establishes that all of the other people Meredith has lost are able to check in on her and the kids and that the other people that other characters have lost can do the same. It’s a nice image and something I think all of us in the real world like to imagine and believe when we lose a loved one. That they’re watching over us.

I loved how in Meredith’s Voice Over this episode she says that Medical schools often ask applicants for an essay describing a time they faced adversity and how they overcame it because they want to know how people will cope with the challenges they'll face as a doctor. And that some students worry they have nothing to write about because they haven't faced difficulty. She didn't have that problem. LOL!

Meredith is the main character, the lead star, and the anchor of the series and they introduced this plot in the premiere this season which mostly likely means that she won’t die or be sidelined by this permanently. And since the show is reflecting a real world disease and pandemic that means that if Meredith lives one of the other characters or someone else close to them will be dying from it most likely. Sadly, it looks like that might be Tom after this episode.

Tom’s got some funny dialogue when he tries to interrupt the staff meeting Richard is holding about COVID by tablet and with Helm when she comes by to drop off his COVID test. I liked how Jackson just walked over and knocked over the tablet to shut him up and everyone just laughed and carried on. His scenes with Helm were pretty funny too. The Zombie appearing on screen scared me though!

In the end we see that Teddy finally comes to talk to him and bring him soup after Helm tells her how bad he’s doing and how much he needs a friend as she desperately tries to save Meredith. When Tom didn’t answer the door or make a sound my first thought was that he had collapsed, but no it’s worse than that because as Teddy turns to leave the camera pans over and we see Tom cold and shaking in a blanket on the other side of the door unable to respond.

Which means his condition has worsened and he’s in pain, but he can’t communicate that to Teddy because he’s too weak to speak or he can’t make his voice loud enough to be heard over the pouring rain. Man that was some downpour! I wonder if it was fake rain that they created or if it rained that heavily the day they filmed that scene. Good to see Tom finally bought a house though! Seeing as last we saw he was living out of a hotel and then got Teddy a beautiful apartment only to find out at the last minute that she had gotten back together with Owen so he went back to living in a hotel again. Glad to see he got some digs.

I’ll be sad if they write Tom off as a character as I’ve really come to like him and he’s interesting and complex. Plus, I love seeing someone call Owen on his crap with such humour! We also got some good social commentary on how health practitioners often base treatment protocols and assessments on the standards of care and presentation developed for white patients, but that because diseases present differently in people of different races and genders that needs to be accounted for.

Especially because your race, gender, and where you grew up affects your predisposition for certain illnesses and can affect the presentation. Owen failed to catch something serious with his patient when they were initially brought in because he was using the standard developed for white patients which is different from the standard for Asian patients. 

One of the new interns who is Asian brings this up to Nico who eventually says something to Owen who brings it up to Bailey who calls him on his privilege and reminds him that he needs to not only check himself, but because he is white and is the head of Trauma for the hospital it is his responsibility to update and improve protocols to make sure that every patient is getting the best care possible.

As Bailey says true equality means taking into account that we are all different. And when it comes to medicine conditions present themselves in different ways based on race and other factors. Giving everyone the exact same care based on a standard of care developed by and for white people is not equality because it means that people of colour like his patient receive a lower standard of care which can lead to unnecessary suffering and death.

True equality means providing equitable care that takes into account who a patient is physically when treating them. As Bailey says equitable care is not the same as equal care. One takes into account the reality and ensures true equal treatment while the other gives the appearance of equality while disadvantaging anyone who’s not a white straight cisgender man. While I like that they addressed that Nico was a complete jerk to everyone this episode.

He acted like the whole thing was no big deal when the intern brought it up and brushed off her comments about Anti-Asian racism from earlier in the episode that we’re totally valid. The intern was looking for some solidarity and for someone above her to back her up on some real issues. Instead Nico blew her off and talked down to her only to bring the issue up himself to Owen in the exact way he told her not to. Nico’s a good surgeon and he was right to say something, but he is a horrible human being, teacher, and boyfriend.

He continues to treat Levi horribly for no reason and as Jo says Levi deserves better. I liked Jo and Levi’s interactions this episode. They were funny and I love them! Also did anyone else think it was weird that Jo and Levi were having a conversation about how horrible Nico is as a person and how horribly he treats Levi when Nico was literally a metre or two in front of them and could hear everything they were saying? Nico’s an ass and apparently, he doesn't care that he’s an ass and that everyone thinks that of him.

I’m actually liking the whole Jo and Jackson friends with benefits situation. So far, its made for some good comic relief! I like too that we finally saw Jackson admit that he’s jumped from one relationship to another way too fast for his whole run on the show and that he needs to take some time and get some therapy and figure out what he wants. I love that Jo was immediately on the same page and laughed at the idea of them having a relationship right now. She needs a sex buddy, not a partner. He’s got work to do on himself and as she says she feels broken and is still trying to heal from the trauma she has experienced.

I also liked the scenes with Amelia and Link. I like that Amelia was able to express herself and her frustrations and that Link made the decision to support her. My best friend that I watch with made comment that she felt like under the same circumstances Owen would have just stormed back into the house whereas Link angrily moved some toys aside so that he could sit next to Amelia while she felt all her feelings and talked about them because that’s what she needed to do. 

I also liked that when Amelia tried to push Link to talk later on he opened up about his process and was straight with her. Talking about all of her feelings out loud and in the open because if she bottles them up, she’ll wind up relapsing is her thing. Link’s thing is to focus on the positive and play his guitar. As Link says he’s happy to support her on her thing, but if she wants their relationship to work she has to support him on his thing. And she does. 

My favourite line this episode? “What are you playing?” “It’s a song called ‘If The Virus Doesn’t End Us, Then Climate Change Probably Will.’” Too funny! And accurate! We also learn that Amelia loves to garden and is apparently quite good at it and they appear to have a herb and vegetable garden at Meredith’s house. We get some awkward dinner interaction courtesy of Maggie and Winston’s relationship this episode when he invites her to a virtual Birthday dinner for his beloved Grandmother which is then crashed by his estranged father. 

His Grandmother invited him and within five seconds of being on the call he insults Winston and says that the idea that his son who is a Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Tufts is a genius is laughable because apparently he failed sixth grade. This man is an asshole and I can see why Winston hates him. That being said Winston exiting the call and leaving Maggie hanging there with his Grandmother, father, and some other relatives that she’s never met was not okay.

It was extremely rude. He should have told Maggie he had to go before signing off or said that they should both leave the call. Maggie is a class act for staying on that call and asking his upset Grandmother if there was cake. Side note: I did love Maggie and Winston’s conversation about what pencil nerds they both are! This is a match made in heaven so whatever issues they do have they’ll work through them because this is clearly meant to be.

My only real complaint about this episode was the absence of one Cormac Hayes. As my best friend said after we finished watching, “Did you notice who wasn’t in this episode? McWidow. Where the hell was McWidow?” I concur with this sentiment 100%. Hayes makes everything better and I’m sad when he’s not there. I get that Meredith was on the beach with George this episode and that was the focus on her storyline, but it would have been nice to see Hayes stand outside her window or sit next to her or talk to Jo about her condition.

That’s the other thing. Season 16 established that Jo and Hayes are friends and that she’s rooting for him and Meredith to be together and live happily ever after. So I’m surprised that they haven’t had a scene yet this season. We’ve seen Jo interact with Link who she’s close friends with and Levi who’s her roommate, but not Hayes. I’m hoping we’ll get that next episode. So far the majority of Hayes’ scenes have been with Meredith, followed by Jo, followed by Bailey. 

If Hayes can’t interact with Meredith like he normally would because she’s unconscious I want to see him interact with Jo, Bailey, Maggie, and Richard more. The fact that we’re seeing intimate scenes with Jo and Jackson gives me hope that we’ll get to see those kinds of scenes for Meredith and Hayes. Although it’s entirely possible that those scenes were filmed last season before the pandemic hit so maybe not. 

I also like that we got some important timeline information this episode. Jo mentions murder hornets (remember those?) which puts this episode at the beginning of May. She also says that her and Alex divorced the same year they got married which means that Seasons 14 and 15 span the same year. Which makes sense given the other information that we have and means that the relationship we saw in Season 15 only lasted a matter of months. 

Which is good news in the sense that nobody really liked any of the ships from that season apart from Tom and Teddy and Amelia and Link and this establishes that all of those relationships were short lived and occurred over a matter of months, not a full year or more. Based on what I caught of next week’s promo it looks like Meredith’s condition is improving (!) while Tom’s condition is deteriorating, and Bailey’s Mom is in bad shape and is being admitted! COVID is no joke! Buckle up everyone!

Until next time!

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 16 of 26

Title: Tales From Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle #5) (2001)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Short Story Collection, Novella, Third-Person, Female Protagonist 

Rating: 8/10 (note: this is an average)

Date Began: 7/2/2021

Date Finished: 7/6/2021

Tales From Earthsea is a collection of five short stories and novellas which take place in the Earthsea universe. In addition, there’s a supplementary timeline of Earthsea’s history, tradition, and cultural details of note. The last story in the collection, Dragonfly, serves as a bridge between Tehanu (#4) and The Other Wind (#6), the final book in the series. 

Of the five stories, my favorites (both 10/10s) were The Finder and On The High Marsh.

The way one does research into nonexistent history is to tell the story and find out what happened. I believe this isn’t very different from what historians of the so-called real world do. Even if we are present at some historic event, do we comprehend it— can we even remember it— until we can tell it in a story? 

Content warnings, individual ratings/commentary, and spoilers below the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Death and violence, child abuse (including implied sexual abuse), police brutality, slavery, reference to torture and execution, brief reference to inc*st, misogyny, animal cruelty, mild body horror, very brief implied mind control via a "love charm" (it doesn't work).

#1 - The Finder (10/10)

In The Dark Time, magic is widely mistrusted. Petty tyrants use the once noble art in pursuit of power and glory. Medra, the son of a shipwright in Havnor, has magical talents honed in secret. One day, he curses a ship built for a warlord’s fleet. Unfortunately, he gets caught and sent to a prison camp. There he is forced to use finding magic to locate veins of cinnabar.

The prison exists to refine quicksilver, a substance the most powerful mage on the island believes will turn him into a god. While in the refinery, Medra feels a spiritual connection to a dying slave, a young woman named Anieb. The two of them devise a plan to kill the mage and escape. Medra’s journey eventually takes him to the island of Roke and the founding of its prestigious wizard school. 

‘The dead are dead. The great and mighty go their way unchecked. All the hope left in the world is in the people of no account.’ 

I really enjoyed this novella. The Dark Time is largely unexplored in the stories of Earthsea, so it was interesting to read about it here. I get the feeling that we’re approaching or in the middle of one such time in the real world, so seeing a version of it on the page is depressing yet hopeful. The story is dark; mass feudal warfare, a literal concentration camp in the opening half, widespread enslavement, and abuse of power. But it also offers hope and the promise of change. The story also explores the integral role of women in not only the preservation of magic in a bleak age of humanity, but the very foundation of Roke. 

Medra’s story spoke to me; how he resists the despotic powers-that-be, his connection with Anieb even after her tragic death, and how despite his disillusionment with humanity, he ultimately fights to create a better world. I also thought Gelluk was a horrifying villain. He’s characterized as a soft-spoken, almost kindly man who loves children and animals— yet his narrative thoughts involve burning hundreds of slaves alive in order to better fuel the quicksilver refinery. “Nice doesn’t mean good” taken to an extreme, and a mirror of many villains in the real world. 

Le Guin was anti-capitalist, but that way of thinking seems peripheral in the Earthsea series. The Finder, however, definitely has a Marxist reading in it. A recurring theme is the disenfranchised rising up against the powerful. Indeed both antagonists, who are despotic wizards of great power, are soundly defeated by groups of people they consider powerless. Magic is only considered relevant for the value and power it produces, an idea antithetical to the rest of the series. The quicksilver refinery also embraces anti-capitalist rhetoric; this section focuses on how mass enslavement and death is used to manufacture a meaningless commodity only one person “benefits” from. That’s not even getting into the prison-industrial complex. 

I dunno. This story slaps. It’s not at all what I expected from a Roke origin story.

#2 - Diamond and Darkrose (5/10)

Diamond, the son of a prosperous lumber merchant, struggles to find his true calling in life. His father disapproves of almost everything he does, including his close friendship with the local witch’s daughter Rose. While he loves music, his father derides his talents and forces him to abandon the pursuit. When Diamond shows some  promise in magic, he travels to a neighboring town to serve as the local wizard’s apprentice. But when this path estranges him from Rose, he grows disillusioned.

Rose had looked after herself from an early age; and this was one of the reasons Diamond loved her. With her, he knew what freedom was. Without her, he could attain it only when he was hearing and singing and playing music.

I did not like this story very much. I gave Diamond and Darkrose a 5/10 because it’s competently written (duh), and the protagonist has a character arc not entirely dependent on the central romance. But that’s about all I can say for it.

None of the characters are especially appealing. Diamond’s mentor figures are all extremely narrow-minded. Rose, supposedly his true love since childhood, drops him the moment things become difficult. And Diamond himself is a pushover who only grows a spine and pursues his dreams at the end of the story. I understand that’s his character flaw and his arc is about overcoming that. But due to all these factors, I was annoyed by every major character. The only person I didn’t dislike was Diamond’s mother, who only shows up for a couple of scenes.

Someone please tell me there are love stories out there where the romantic tension is NOT based on a fucking MISUNDERSTANDING. That shit drives me up a wall! It’s so overdone and painful to read.

#3 - The Bones of the Earth (8/10)

Dulse is an aging wizard on the island of Gont, reflecting on his life and relationship with his former apprentice, a young man he calls Silence. But he senses something amiss on the island; a massive earthquake poised to destroy a nearby port town and its inhabitants. To avert disaster, Dulse realizes he must turn to an ancient form of magic taught to him long ago— and he needs Silence’s help to save the town.

In there he knew he should hurry, that the bones of the earth ached to move, and that he must become them to guide them, but he could not hurry. There was on him the bewilderment of any transformation. He had in his day been fox, and bull, and dragonfly, and knew what it was to change being. But this was different, this slow enlargement. I am vastening, he thought.

So I’ve always liked Ogion in the main series; I love the idea of an immensely powerful wizard who lives an unassuming life of silence, contemplation, and appreciation of the natural world. In The Bones of the Earth, we get a glimpse of Ogion through his mentor’s eyes. Ogion’s heroism and how he stopped the earthquake is mentioned several times in the main series, but this is our first look at what actually happened.

Dulse is an unexpected and fascinating perspective character. It would be so easy to tell this story wholly from Ogion’s perspective, but I think making Dulse the protagonist was the right call. In particular, Dulse’s mind is starting to go. Le Guin presents this by utilizing flashbacks and connecting them to the present. This technique conveys Dulse’s disorientation and confusion so the reader experiences it alongside him... it’s hard to describe without actually reading the story. I also loved the little twist at the end regarding where Dulse learned the ancient magic that saves the island. There’s also a strong thematic connection to The Farthest Shore; death and becoming one with the rest of the world.

#4 - On The High Marsh (10/10)

A half-mad wanderer named Irioth comes upon a small settlement on the volcanic, marshy island of Semel. A murrain has been devastating the local cattle population, and Irioth offers his powers as a curer to heal the animals. He settles into a calm rural life with Gift, a widow working a small dairy. Though Gift likes Irioth, and the animals instinctively trust him, she senses something amiss with the man. Soon, Irioth’s dark past threatens to return and disturb the peace.

“Oh, yes,” Irioth said. “It was my fault.” But she forgave, and the grey cat was pressed up against his thigh, dreaming. The cat’s dreams came into his mind, in the low fields where he spoke with the animals, the dusky places. The cat leapt there, and then there was milk, and the deep soft thrilling. There was no fault, only the great innocence. No need for words. They would not find him here. He was not here to find. There was no need to speak any name. There was nobody but her, and the cat dreaming, and the fire flickering. He had come over the dead mountain on black roads, but here the streams ran slow among the pastures.

This story is a banger. It has a Western vibe— a stranger coming into a cattle town haunted by a mysterious past. Also cowboys. It’s an atmospheric story, and I think hits on the “small rural town” vibe better than Tehanu did. But there were several writing choices I especially liked.

We don’t learn Irioth’s name until a little while into the story; his physical description, temperament, and ability to immediately identify Gift’s true name just by looking at her makes one assume he’s Ged. He’s also got an interesting redemption arc, because it’s presented in a reverse order. We see Irioth’s genuine desire to do good, and his gentle and patient manner with animals and other people. He doesn’t even consider asking for payment for curing the murrain until Gift tells him he should. But there’s a sense that something is off; he’s paranoid, clearly running from something. The use-name he picks is Otak, a fictional ferret-like creature— which Gift asserts looks nice, but has sharp teeth.

Near the end, Ged actually does show up and explain what happened to Irioth. They have pretty similar backstories; both were powerful, arrogant young mages who messed with forces  they shouldn’t have, then went through great personal sacrifice to right the wrong (oh god the initial deception was intentional they’re narrative foils oh god). Ged embraced the darkest aspects of himself to avert calamity. Irioth came to Semel to escape Roke and atone by helping others. One detail I especially liked was that Irioth once considered healing beneath him, but now he takes a deep joy in using it to help. 

#5 - Dragonfly (8/10)

Irian lives a solitary life-- her father is a drunkard living in the ruins of their family’s once prosperous estate. Her closest relationship is with the local village witch, who named her in secret in the dead of night.  When a disgraced young wizard named Ivory comes to town, he sees Irian as a potential conquest. To gain power over her, he hatches a scheme; disguise Irian as a man, travel to Roke, and sneak her into the male-only wizard school— humiliating the great Masters.

But Irian is restless. She knows she has power, but her true nature is a mystery even to her. Irian sees Ivory’s plan as an opportunity to find answers from the most powerful wizards in the world. When the Doorkeeper actually lets her into the school, she finds herself in a magical and political conflict over the future of Roke— and discovers what exactly she is.

“Dark is bad,” said the Patterner. “Eh?”

Irian drew a deep breath and looked at him eye to eye as they sat there. “Only in dark the light,” she said.

This is one of those stories that has a rocky start, but a great second half. The first part of the novella felt dry to me; I’ve read plenty of tales about social outcasts with weird, unexplainable powers. On top of this, a chunk of the early narration is from Ivory’s POV, and he’s a complete tool. That can be a fun perspective to take, and I like the fact that he thinks he’s manipulating Irian when she’s the one pulling the strings. But since he’s an irrelevant character who disappears from the story halfway through, it feels like a waste to devote a huge chunk of the story to him.

However, once Irian arrives at Roke, the story gets much more interesting. Her presence at Roke causes a huge scandal that divides the Masters. Women being forbidden from Roke is a Series Thing at this point, but Earthsea is in an era of change (although I DO question that she’s the first woman to try it). The Finder demonstrated that women were pivotal in the foundation of Roke, something largely erased from history. Barring women stems from a power hungry bigot codifying it into tradition.

Irian finds some unexpected allies--minor characters in the previous books. The Doorkeeper continues to be the coolest motherfucker there. The Patterner is a major character in this story; he was in just one scene in The Farthest Shore, so I liked learning more about him. The Namer is the kind of guy you’d expect to be a stodgy traditionalist, so him siding with Irian is surprising. The Summoner, a heroic figure in previous books and stories, is a sinister villain here. As for the ending, well… if you didn’t see it coming, I’d wonder if you even read Tehanu. The same hints are there.

There were little particulars I liked, such as Irian moving into a decrepit hut that’s definitely Medra’s old home. My favorite detail is that this story has a parallel scene with The Finder. In The Finder, there’s a scene where an antagonist, Early, invades Roke in the form of a dragon. He lands on Roke Knoll, a site of power that reveals one’s true form. It turns him back into a human, leaving him defenseless when the residents of Roke attack him and repel his invasion. The reversal happens in Dragonfly. Irian gets attacked by one of the Masters while at Roke Knoll — and its magic turns her into her true form, a dragon. Props to whoever picked the cover design, since it references both scenes.

#6 - A Description of Earthsea

I’m not rating this since it’s basically a lore dump. It’s a deep dive into Earthsea’s history, languages, cultures, and other relevant world details. It’s the kind of bonus info a lot of fantasy series tack on as reference material.  According to Le Guin, she wrote this to get some idea of the timeline on each of these stories.

As a series, Earthsea has relatively little worldbuilding exposition. Sometimes characters reference legends or historical events, but usually the reader lacks the context to fully understand them. The focus is more on the lives of the characters and their personal experience of the world. I think something like A Description of Earthsea has benefits and drawbacks for the reader. On one hand it's nice to have some definitive information to tie things together. On the other, this does represent a loss of some of the mystery in the story.

I think this is the first thing in the series that even mentions homosexuality, so props for that I guess?

Closing Thoughts

A short story collection is always going to have high and low points. I tend to look at each story individually and score that way, but an average is always misleading. Diamond and Darkrose dragged the score down since there were only five stories total. But I enjoyed the majority of them. I am interested to see where the human/dragon subplot goes in the final installment; I assume Irian will show up at some point? We’ll see.

[nightswithkookmin]

JIKOOK: DEAR ARMY WE ARE IN LOVE

DISCLAIMER: I wouldn't take this particular post seriously. I mean it's something, but nothing at the same time. I just do these kinds of 'analysis' for fun and for my own personal amusement.

Do you see it? Or do you need me to connect the dots for you? Thought you'd never ask! Lol

I have always been fascinated by BTS's incorporation of fine art, poetry, metaphors, imageries, philosophical and psychological theories etc into their craft.

They are brilliant at expressing themselves and conveying their emotions through art and music. I have always found that challenging and mentally stimulating.

Take for example this whole Dear Army moments they shared with us on Weverse this week. Yes, it's a marketing strategy, the objective of which is to build an intimate connection with Army but most importantly hear feedback from Army on the struggles we are each facing in light of Covid 19 and also to provide feedback on why we love and stan BTS through their recommended hashtags.

Suga had already explained they were going to do this in that March YouTube live and so it's no brainer. The fun part for me, which of course is subjective, is the embedded meaning behind this whole Dear Army concept.

The progression from day to night, the use of contrast etc is all very reminiscent of the message of Bulletproof eternal- we are not seven with you. Especially with Suga and Hobi's postcard being taken directly from the BTS bonfire moment in Bonvoyage which made a cameo in Bulletproof eternal and the allusion to winter in both artworks.

The overall message of Dear Army is very simple: we had nothing but dreams, open our eyes to a foggy morning, so much pain too much crying; after seven winters and spring- we are all in this together, BTS and Army forever.

I also found the exploration of the cycle of life, the ambiguity of morning and night that blurs the line between evening and daybreak quite interesting. Its always been a recurring theme in their songs and arts. It's just them reassuring and connecting with us through their ingenuity as usual.

But of course this is just my opinion and my interpretation of their use of symbolism and allusions. And as much as I enjoy deconstructing BTS's musical genius, I'm just going to focus on Jikook's message- well not message, message but their artistic expressions in Dear Army.

JIKOOK'S MESSAGE

Now I already talked about the body text of Jimin's post and so I'm not going over that again. Jk's text is equally very much straightforward and is just a restatement of the message he shared in his recent YouTube live about rediscovering his purpose in life. So I won't focus on that either.

It's the artwork they chose that I am interested in and fascinated by. I was trying to ascertain whether the art work for the postcards where chosen randomly by staff or whether it was something the members themselves chose as at first glance it looked pretty generic- I wasn't able to confirm so...

Now from what Suga said about incorporating letters into their upcoming album, I'm just going to assume BTS themselves chose these images and the creative directors added their finishing touches to it- based on the tone and mood BTS had described.

Let's start with Jimin's. I clocked immediately I saw his postcard where the concept of that artwork or background image was from. I'll circle back to this hold on.

I value and pay alot of attention to the unique ways that each member of BTS expresses themselves. Those unadulterated, authentic expressions of self provides a better sense of who they are as Individuals rather than the perfectly curated, highly edited and performative versions of themselves we see screens. In my opinion.

Take Tae and JK for example. These two men are the kinds who'd write a song about their feelings and emotions when they are hurt. Lol. They deep for no reason. Bless them.

Jimin talks a lot. He is a verbal communicator. But hardly does he reveal any relevant details about himself that gives insight into his psyche and persona through his words. Again, in my opinion.

I keep saying his persona is very elusive to me. He tends to give us so much he ends up not giving us anything at all. Unlike Tae or even JK who write songs, recommend songs, or even GCF(JK) that gives us insight into their personal feelings, Jimin doesn't do covers as much and the songs he recommendes aren't as insightful into his deepest thoughts and feelings. He is very elusive that way.

That doesn't mean he doesn't express himself. He does, just not through his music like the others. In my opinion. Mostly he expresses his wants, his desires through his music but his sensuality through his dance.

It seems also that he explores his identity and expresses the exploration of that identity through the body arts he inks himself with temporarily or permanently.

Jk I find is the opposite. He doesn't explore his identity through his body art. Nor his sensuality through dance. Rather he expresses his values and the things he cherishes through his body art; his thoughts and feelings through his music and art.

And so while Jimin would be inking temptress, seductress, bigender on his body, JK would be inking- rather cool than dead and other symbols that represents his beliefs and values on his body.

I'm going off on a tangent, am I not? Sigh

Back to the post card. When I saw JM's postcard, it immediately reminded me of JK's GCF in Helsinki. [Couldn't attach image due to Tumblr but check it yourself]

It reminded me of JK's Frozen sunset theme, his use of warm and cold contrasting colors throughout that GCF and also the ending parts of GCF Helsinki where the sun is setting over the clouds just as in this post card- Frozen Sunset.

Jk also made an allusion to that frozen sunset in his song Still with you. I am particular about his use of the words Sky, clouds, sunset etc when they appear in his music, paintings or tattoos because he once said it's something he loves taking pictures of- that and of course Jimin.

I pay much attention to the things he says he loves and so I look for them in his self expressions to try and understand why he loves it and what it means to him.

Honestly, I didn't think much of JM's postcard art when I saw that use of the frozen sunset for his postcard. I thought, well staff could have picked it out randomly so I was waiting to see JK's postcard and the overall concept for Dear Army to see if this was something JM had done intentionally.

Part of me also felt those themes they presented in the post card art work were metaphors for the kind of songs they would be creating in the new Album just as Suga had said.

But JK's postcard art made me suspicious of JM's post card. JK's postcard art is the odd one out of all the artworks for the postcards. Sope had a similar complimentary art taken from the bonfire moment of Bulletproof Eternal as I mentioned earlier. The rest all had elements pertaining to nature- sky, parks etc except JK's.

Also the theme and symbolism of Jk's art convinces me he chose his artwork himself for that post- I mean I could be wrong but...

Remember when I talked about GCF Helsinki, Still with you and Never Not etc and I said they all had a similar theme- something about roads and paths, being mismatched, not being on the same page, not having the same goals etc?

GCF Helsinki- I'll take the desert, you take the coast to each his own.( moving in different paths)

Still with you: Though our steps may not go along together, I still want to walk this path with you.(again, mismatched paths repeated)

I was intrigued by that recurring theme of roads and paths leading in different directions in JK's music and art in this timeline especially as it contrasts heavily with the themes of his past timelines.

And I even speculated that I felt it was in reference to him and JM not meeting minds on the direction they wanted to take their relationship.

I have been waiting eagerly for him to release yet another cover or art since still with to see what that whole mismatched, separate roads thingy was all about but he didn't do his birthday cover this year- among other things.

It's thus funny to be that in this post card thingy he chose train tracks- intersecting train tracks to represent his feelings and coupled with the message of him rediscovering his passion- It doesn't feel like a coincidence to me or something staff would chose for him.

It certainly doesn't help my delusional brain cells, that JM flashed that Mickey Mouse during his VLive which again I felt was an allusion to their GCF in Tokyo.

First he is making allusions to GCF Tokyo, now GCF Helsinki, signing his name to JK's posts at Pop-ups...

Remember when I said that if JM was the one who had stopped JK from posting on his birthday, that he would come swinging hard on his Jikook agenda? Remember that?

If JK posting on his birthday was important to JM, chilee nothing would have stopped JM from logging into Twitter, posting and signing JK's damn name to his post- if saving face is what was important to him. It's not like he's not done that before. He could have done that and we wouldn't even know it wasn't from JK. Lol

He really is the one that stopped JK from posting on his birthday for whatever reason- wink. You know. Lol

Park Jimin is not the 'victim' in this birthday drama. He is guilty party your honor. Guilty per the books. Lol

Stay supporting Jikook, your life will be easier that way. Bless you.

Signed,

GOLDY

[cheri-translates]

Interviews with the Chinese VAs

English translations of the interviews from the MLQC Weibo page! Little hints of what we can look forward to in the anime 🥰

1. Wu Lei (voice of Victor / Li Ze Yan)

Q: How did you feel when you found out MLQC was getting an anime adaptation?

A: Pleasantly surprised. After hoping for such a long time, the MLQC game has finally turned into an animation. I’m incredibly happy. A lot of notable scenes will appear in the anime. 

Q: How was your experience voicing the animation? 

A: We know how Victor has the nickname "Normal Citizen Victor”. In the animation, a lot of little moments in his life and his interactions will be fleshed out. Look forward to discovering them. 

As an animation, there will be differences from the game. In the game, the plot reveals itself gradually over several chapters. In the animation, the pace is more close-knit. So it will help you quickly understand what’s happening in MLQC.

Whether you like the anime or the game, you will discover new moments in the animation which will help you enjoy MLQC even more. 

Apart from that, I think Victor has a very amazing power. I’ve mentioned this on various occasions. Time-control. It can be used for saving the world, and also for dating. Such an amazing ability... oh god, can I have it too?

More perspectives can be presented through animation. Whether it’s in the past, present or future, just as Victor says, he is destined to be drawn to you.

Q: Will Victor be as critical in the animation?

A: Don’t you all like being criticised by Victor? Do you like it? Really?

Victor is an extremely sweet person. I did record a lot of “dummy”s for the animation. But we know that every “dummy” from him is not meant to scold you, but... I’ll leave the rest of the sentence for all the Mrs Li’s to leave in the comment section.

Q: Do you have any final words to say to all the producers?

A: I hope all of you can continue walking alongside Victor. No matter what you see Victor doing in the animation, don’t worry too much. Just relax and be his dummy. 

~

2. Xia Lei (voices Lucien / Xu Mo)

Q: How did you feel when you found out MLQC was getting an anime adaptation?

A: Extremely happy. MLQC has had a big influence on my work and life. Being able to let a larger audience know about it makes me happy. With this anime adaptation, the audience will no longer be confined to just players of the game, but also to people who like 2D animation.

It’s almost the fourth year that I’ve been involved in MLQC. This production has had a major influence on my life. I hope, with my hard work, that MLQC will continue to expand in the future, and that I can continue this journey.

Q: How was your experience voicing the animation?

A: There’s quite a big difference between voicing the game and the animation. 

The game tends to present specific words, specific scenes, and specific locations. It can’t present things as meticulously as in animation.

A simple example would be how we know Lucien is an amazing researcher who has profound knowledge. We can show this ability very clearly in the animation when he talks about science. But we can’t put all these words into the game.

There is very large script for the animation, so it’s a little more difficult. There are more words. So you will get to interact with Lucien and know him better. Perhaps you will have a deeper understanding of Lucien too. 

In the game, there are a lot of nice angles and actions. But when it comes to things like his gait, they are more thoroughly presented in the animation. Animation fills in a lot of gaps of how we imagine these actions to look like. How does he walk? How does he take up his cup to drink? How does he prop up his spectacles? You can find the answers in the animation.

There are other differences in terms of artistic presentation. The music in the animation follows the plot closely, and is more meticulous. 

You’ll be able to better experience a living Professor Lucien.

Q: Will we get to see Ares?

A: This... I personally feel that even if you want to be spoiled, you should find the answer in the anime. I believe the anime will present a thorough story to you.

The people closer to Lucien, like his students, will definitely appear.

Being able to see these characters animated is something I’ve always anticipated. When I first started voicing Lucien, I felt the plot was very good, that the characters were done very meticulously, and that it would be nice if they could be presented in another form.

Back then, I didn’t say anything because I knew that animation was expensive [laughs]. So being able to have this dream come true, and see a more complete, more emotional, and more living MLQC makes me happy. 

I hope through everyone’s efforts, we can present a complete and beautiful story to all producers. 

Q: Do you have any final words to say to all the producers?

A: If you don’t want him to always make wrong decisions, watch the animation. Now, it’s too late to escape. 

~

3. Ah Jie (voices Gavin / Bai Qi)

Q: How did you feel when you found out MLQC was getting an anime adaptation?

A: I can finally see a living Officer Bai! Previously, we could only have simple motions in the game. More complicated movements like riding a motorbike or firing a gun have to be described using words. In the animation, we can see these cool images. It feels great!

The animation is really able to bring out the cool and dashing side of Gavin. It looks great, and everyone can look forward to it. 

Q: How was your experience voicing the animation?

A: When doing the voice-over, I realised he has many more expressions than in the game. So when I was recording, I’d try to grasp his emotions and match it with the voice so it fits his expressions. For example, when he feels embarrassed, when he blushes, these things. I find it very interesting. 

A lot of people may be wondering if the plot would be different in the animation. I can reveal a little bit - the changes are very natural. It wouldn’t feel odd. The overall pace is still great. So you can all rest assured.

As for the overall voicing experience, I feel it’s more difficult than voicing the game. In the game, I’m basically given the script and a bit of illustrations of the scene. So we base it off our imagination. 

But in the animation, we see the final product when we voice it, including the movement of the mouth. We have to follow the mouth movements strictly to fit the voice. So this is more difficult. We also have to follow the expressions and movements in the anime. So we’re not given as much freedom as in the game, but it’s a nice challenge. 

In the animation, what is most impactful is that a moving Gavin is very very very cool.

For example, in the 2nd chapter of the game, which is where he first shows his Evol, we can only imagine it through the words. But in the animation, we can actually see him flying. The moment he does it goes beyond my expectations. Everyone can look forward to it. It’s really cool.

Q: Will the animation address things from Gavin’s time in high school?

A: Do you want me to reveal anything? I will definitely not. But I can guarantee that the memories most important to you will not be missing in the anime. 

Q: Do you have any final words to say to all the producers?

A: As long as you watch the MLQC animation, he can sense you in the wind.

~

4. Bian Jiang (voices Kiro / Zhou Qi Luo)

Q: How did you feel when you found out MLQC was getting an anime adaptation?

A: I did think MLQC would eventually be made into an animation, and was anticipating when it would happen. And now it’s about to start. 

In the PV, people commented that they wanted to see Kiro’s superstar side. When voicing the animation, I did see things like him being on stage, dancing, and interesting tidbits from his filming and photoshoots. I think you’ll definitely see a different Kiro, and have even more surprises.

Q: How was your experience voicing the animation?

A: When doing the voice-over, I realised there are a lot of notable scenes in the game that appear in the animation. I find myself thinking back to how I began voicing Kiro, and the tranquility that comes with it. Kiro is always really easy to like. 

Something you might want to know - will we get both Kiro and Helios? Hmm... 

During the voice-over, we saw a lot of NPCs. Savin has many scenes, so I wouldn’t mention more. We will get to see Hollow, who brings us a lot of joy. A lot of NPCs have scenes. It’s worth anticipating.

Q: Will we get to see Kiro singing?

A: I have a big surprise for you - Kiro will be having a new single in the anime. Can I reveal it? I’ll hum it for you. [hums the character song] Does it sound good? 

Q: Do you have any final words to say to all the producers?

A: Miss Chips, Kiro commands you that whether or not he can see you, you have to watch the MLQC anime. Or else, he will feel very disappointed. 

-

Random input: This is the scene I was talking about in the tags-

[lilallama]

(Sorry if I spell something wrongly lol) Idk, This is my opinion? Gryffindor, Jungkook. Hufflepuff, Taehyung & Yoongi. Ravenclaw, Namjoon & Jin. Slytherin, Jimin & Hobi??? I literally just searched the meaning of each house and just picked one based on the personality shown. Also, If you don't think this matches them, Sorry ;-;

[Don't worry, sweetie ^^. You don't have to apologise! 💕🍑]

Hoseok is a lot more two faced than I actually tend to show. The way he presents himself is mostly a mask. While he seems mostly calm on the outside, he's actually quite the opposite on the inside. Out of all the boys it'd be easiest for him to manipulate/influence Y/n (@bangtans-apollo Tae is quacking-) and he's aware of that. That's one of the reasons why they started the club 1. To protect Y/n, 2. The club concept came because it'd be easier to meet up and they would automatically get a clubroom and 3. Hoseok threatened to tell on them if they don't join, he'd make Y/n despise each one of them.

He is a strong leader (one of the Slytherin traits), I try to make him resourceful (but I am not myself so that might not shine through too much), he is definitely cunning. The whole ordeal with wanting to be with Y/n no matter what is pretty ambitious, I'd say. And lastly the traditionalism trait, he is very into tradition and has to keep his domestic fantasies with Y/n a secret. His parents raised him very traditional, he would hate it if (female) Y/n would ask him out first or would propose first and would at first frown upon his attention to (male or non binary) Y/n.

All in all Slytherin seems very accurate.

Now concerning Jimin; similar to Hoseok he too can be a two faced snake. He doesn't hide his true thoughts from Y/n or the boys, if anything he overshares sometimes (one time he started talking to Taehyung about some... rather inappropriate things concerning Y/n. That got his Y/n privilege taken away for a whole month). And despite practically pleading to be the "dumb bimbo" stereotype, he is surprisingly clever and intelligent. Before Highschool, before he made his first experiences with popular boys, he was a straight A's and B's student. Yet once he had his first boyfriend, he discovered that the people surrounding him typically preferred the dumb blondes. (He actually broke up with the captain of the football team for Y/n.)

He also sometimes displays ambitious, just in a whiney sort of way. Self preservation is definitely something. Unlike Taehyung, Yoongi, Namjoon or Jeongguk, he wouldn't let himself be killed for Y/n's sake. If Y/n were to be killed he would end up deluding himself into thinking a person who looks similar to them is them and would force Y/n's personality and style on them. Cunningness is 100% accurate. He's fake. He pretends to be a silly sweetheart who loves everyone but will spread rumours about you, blame things on you etc. and everyone believes him. His cunningness concerning Y/n is more whiney than anything.

So I do think Jimin fits Slytherin.

Namjoon was raised by strict parents who forbade him a tremendous amount of things and painted his world for him. It was engraved in his head, he was going to be the CEO of their company one day. Yet despite everything he still had a head of his own. Maye it was because if his high IQ that he understood that his parents weren't the only opinion in his life. Don't get me wrong, they still left him scarred (sadly literally, as his father once hit him bloody) and traumatised but not without a mind of his own. Ever since he was small creativity and originality was something he admired and loved. It was partly reason of why he fell for Y/n, their individuality, their mind, their heart, their soul.

We will not need to discuss intelligence, it's a trait he undoubtedly has. He is always willing to learn and showed interest in many different things before Y/n captured his focus. He is most likely one of the wisest members as he is aware of how twisted his love for them truly is (once again something I tend to fail at portraying) and tried to stop it when it started. But somehow that only made everything worse and by now he doesn't care anymore at all. When he was a child he used to be more openly curious than nowadays (as it caused him many punishments from his parents).

I feel that Namjoon would fit Ravenclaw.

Seokjin was spoiled all his life. His parents adored him, other kids adored him, everyone adored him. While he might've acted oblivious he knew that it's because of his money. Similar to Jimin, Seokjin changed when he entered high school. While he always was a pretty intelligent and well behaved student (still very arrogant though) he then became less concerned with studies and once made a teacher cry (that was before he met Y/n). He loves standing out as an individual, that includes making anyone change who crosses his path with the same outfit (not in school as they wear a school uniform. But outside, yes, he has that much power. Everyone knows Kim Seokjin).

As said before, Seokjin is far from stupid. He is a very intelligent individual but doesn't show the extent of his nolage. Instead aiming for a cool "Queen B" persona. He is witty with his comebacks (something I cannot write because I do not possess that superpower), he's quick with his words. He holds respect for people who are 60+ years old as he believes they've been through a lot in life already. These people have wisdom he could only gain by experience and that he respects (there is one very sweet lady that lives alone in a very big mansion a few streets away from his penthouse. He always visits her because he loves her genuine kindness. When he met Y/n she recently passed away and he saw a part of her in them).

Seokjin could qualify for a Ravenclaw.

Taehyung was raised by a very Christian family that he still cherishes very much. Because of their intense belief he was raised to worship. He never fell in love, so when Y/n crossed paths with his, he started showing love how he's used to it (Out of all the boys Taehyung is straight up insane. Something in his brain might be wired wrong, there is no explanation on why he likes them, on why he believed that's what love is because his parents treated him with normal, familiar love. So he is simply sick, there is no "saving" him. He's better of in a mental hospital). But he was always a very kind boy. Giving instead of taking, never wanting anything in return. Out of everyone, Taehyung was the one who welcomed new students and made tons of friends. But he grew out of it as his focus turned to art. He aimed to make his parents proud so he didn't have time for friends.

His loyalty is unlike any other. You could torture him half dead and he'd still forgive you, stay loyal to you, serve you. He is Y/n's servant. He works hard on improving his artistic abilities and also to maintain fairly good grades. For Y/n any labour he'd have to be put through would seem like a blessing. Another trait for Hufflepuff would be fairness and he surely is fair. As one of the least jealous members of the club he really only cares if Y/n's okay with what's happening or could get hurt (he always kets the other members have more privileges than he has because he believes it'd be not only greedy but prideful to want Y/n to hinself. He avoids any sin when it comes to Y/n, envy, wrath, pride, sloth, nothing will ever come near his modern day Jesus).

Taehyung definitely is a Hufflepuff.

If the boy who works two parttime jobs, to pay for rent, bills and food, cleans the shabby apartment by himself because his alcoholic mother is busy messing it up again, yet still treats his mother with kindness, only to be treated like trash by seven more powerful and successful guys in his school who all like the same person he does and still manages to maintain the position as intern and honour roll student at a prestigious school for roch people, isn't in Hufflepuff then I don't know what. This poor soul is incredibly sensitive and kind. He isn't judgemental (as he himself is used to people judging him). All round very sweet.

I think it's very clear that he's very diligent and hard working. He holds great passion for music and enjoys writing poetry, a very sensitive soul. Yoongi isn't someone to complain about something being unfair (cough cough Jimin cough cough) or try and steal Y/n away from them. His day dreams consist of imagining Y/n liking him back, but he is certain that would never happen (according to you guys, it seems a lot of you would pick Yoongi if you'd get to decide). Not only is Yoongi kind but loyal as well, he'd never imagine leaving anyone behind even his useless mother.

Yoongi is 1000% a Hufflepuff.

Jeongguk tends to be hot tempered, he goes from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds. Everything in life seems like a challenge to prove he's better than others think (his father was a notorious serial killer who killed twenty one people yet got away with a ten year prison sentence and got released after six, ten months later Jeongguk was born). In truth he did not care for anyone else, only Y/n. So all tge chivalry he could muster was directed at them.

He is one brave guy who doesn't get easily scared (I guess living with as well as being a serial killer at sixteen years old desensitised him). Jeongguk is courageous just not in/for a positive way/purpose. He deluted himself into thinking that Y/n needs protection, HIS protection. He once attacked a teacher because they were helping Y/n with a question, that's very daring (more like stupid) just not in a good way. A (still not) more positive example of his daringness is when he wants to impress Y/n. He hung from a skyscraper for five minutes doing pullups, just to inpress them. One time he also jumped across his luxurious pool at home (and almost slipped, almost bashing his head in) just to prove that he can jump further than someone they talked about.

I could very much picture him as a Griffendor.

If you enjoyed reading my work, please consider reblogging it. Thank you for reading

[camillemontespan]

writing camille montespan and the problem with the TRR MC

Basically, an opinion piece about the TRR MC and a short essay on Camille Montespan. Feel free to add your own opinions and maybe write your own about your MC/OC!

@moonlightgem7 @jovialyouthmusic @ibldw-main @katedrakeohd @pug-bitch @saivilo @argylemnwrites @rainbowsinthestorm @marshmallowsandfire @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @gardeningourmet @princessleac1  @axwalker​  @mskaneko​  @emichelle​   ***************

Can we all agree that the TRR MC is slightly flawed? And perhaps a little annoying? And a hot mess with no idea of how to fit into the nobility?  Who basically improvises everything she does while stringing the King of Cordonia along (if he isn’t your LI) and solves every problem with a trip to the boutique or attending a ball?

TRR MC is not the best MC in the Choices universe and that is a hill I am willing to die on.

That’s where fanfic comes in. During my year and a half in this fandom, I’ve discovered mutuals who write stories about the TRR MC that puts the actual Choices writers to shame. MCs are fleshed out with proper back stories. The ridiculous canon story that a waitress from New York finds herself in a suitor competition in a European country - a country she’s never heard of because clearly she’s not informed on geography- is still incorporated into fics but it’s given more of a realistic twist. We are aware of how stupid the actual storyline is and so we try our best to make the best of it. Sometimes, we write AUs to fix the shit that the TRR writers have made a reality. AUs are the best.

As my writing has developed, I’ve found that I’ve created my own universe for Camille, my TRR MC. In my very first fic, This Heavy Crown, I focused more on the suitor competition and stuck to canon moments because I didn’t know you could write AUs. It was very angsty. But I found it so fun to write Camille and the fanfic writing obsession began.

Fun fact about Camille: she is actually descended from nobility. Madame de Montespan was a real life noble of Louis XIV’s court - she was his mistress. I thought it would  be fun to name Camille after Madame de Montespan because how ironic would it be to have the American commoner turn out to be more regal than fucking Madeline?!

Anyway back to my writing.

Now, I tend to write AUs that have more realistic plots. My favourite series that I’ve written has been The History of Us and I will tell you why.

MY FAVOURITE CAMILLE SERIES

The History of Us (the first chapter is missing, sadly) is where Camille becomes more than just the Duchess of Valtoria. As I wrote her, she became more of a person - which sounds ridiculous but I think my fellow writers will understand due to their own writing of their MCs! 

The History of Us is still set in Cordonia and Camille and Drake are Duchess and Duke. But that is where canon stops. My own head canons grew and became, to me, actual canon for Camille and Drake. 

In the fic, Camille takes their daughter, Lily, and leaves the family home, clearly upset with Drake. Before she goes, she gives Drake a box and tells him to go through its contents before making any contact with her. The mystery in the opening chapter is WHY is Camille leaving? All of my readers were asking ‘what did Drake do?!’ and you eventually find out as the series develops.

In a nutshell, Drake struggles to adapt to his new role as Duke (something I found the Choices writers never attempted aside from his awkward ‘things are great!’ joke). He is a fish out of water and longs for life to be normal. While Camille has flourished in her role, Drake hasn’t and the pressure gets to him. With constant media attention, Drake feels claustrophobic and so turns to alcohol to numb himself. As a result, he isolates himself from his family and Camille is left trying to hold the ship together. 

It was a challenging fic to write but I had so much fun writing more of Camille. She isn’t perfect and that is what I wanted to show. She fucks up. For the first chapters, she is very much of the idea that they present their best faces to the world and keep up their duty to Valtoria. Her Duchess hat is firmly on her head. A few of my readers were screaming in the comments that she needed to get her family out of Cordonia. I agreed with them but I knew that to make Camille realise her mistakes, she had to be stubborn and actually.. Wrong. But, as things with Drake get worse, Camille forces herself to confront what is truly important and she starts to fight for her marriage and her husband’s health.

CAMILLE IN A NUTSHELL

‘Wife and mother first, Duchess second.’ That is Camille’s motto and is something that is echoed in all of my fics. She is a fierce woman who fights Drake’s corner and the loves of her life are her family. The more confident she becomes as Duchess, the more willing she is to stick up for herself and her family. When they make decisions based on their children -eg. Sending them to a ‘normal’ school so they can mix with commoners - the nobility are outraged. But does Camille care? No. She is a lion mama who wants the best for her kids. She doesn’t want Lily and Luna to turn into stuck up rich girls. She wants them to stay grounded. 

Unlike in canon when Drake and MC go to Texas and are stuck there against their will (or was it us, the players, who were stuck there against our will?), I write that Drake and Camille visit Texas every summer. It’s a slice of normality for them and they love it there. It’s where Camille can just be Camille. When Camille isn’t a Duchess, she can be more relaxed. She goofs around and plays with her daughters. She wears more casual clothes and drinks whiskey. She is the Camille that Drake fell in love with, not that he doesn’t love her when she’s a Duchess! It’s just that the Duchess Camille is a more refined version and how polished and elegant she can be scares him sometimes, while also making him feel in awe of her. This is a woman who entered Cordonian nobility without any experience and actually listened to advice and worked hard to adapt (something TRR MC does not). Basically, Camille has two sides to her, the Duchess and the commoner, and she strikes a neat balance between the two.

I base the foundation of her character on her face claim, Meghan Markle. I find it funny when mutuals have told me in the past that when they see Meghan on TV or in magazines, they’re like ‘oh it’s Camille!’ 

Why have Meghan as an FC? Well, I feel she resembles my TRR MC closely, plus Meghan was literally an American commoner who found herself marrying into royalty. 

What I love about Meghan is how keen she is to make a difference. She threw herself into royal duties when she married Prince Harry and, like Diana before her, she made a huge impression on the people she met. I’m sad that she and Harry left their roles as Meghan had so much potential. 

So, Camille basically does the stuff that I think Meghan would do if she was still a working royal. 

Camille is a feminist who works to promote women’s equality in the workplace. She wants Cordonia to modernise (something lacking under Constantine’s rule) and now that Liam is King, that dream will become a reality. She imagines a future for her daughters where they can have any job they want and be whoever they want to be; the sky is the limit. Everything she does is for her daughters.

Despite wanting Cordonia to modernise, Camille is also respectful of their history. In my head canon, Drake and Camille discover that Valtoria used to hold Open Houses. An open house is when the people of Valtoria can visit the Duke and Duchess and talk to them about issues within the duchy. Open houses hadn’t been a thing for 200 years but when Camille and Drake discovered this old piece of history, they reintroduced the concept. Basically, Camille wants to use her platform for good - something which the TRR MC is lacking. All TRR MC does is go to balls and act like an idiot! Where is the responsibility? Where is the interest in learning more about the duchy? Why is she never at her duchy?! 

If you want to read more of Camille, I point you to the interview I wrote of her. I love writing interviews as they are like a character study and it’s so fun to delve into the personality. Writing this interview was a joy. The words flowed and I was so pleased with how it turned out. It’s the definitive piece about Camille and who she is.

[dsmplorehistory]

(I sectioned all event into 3 'Seasons', so it wasn'tas much cramped together. This is part one to be clear.)

When Tommy joins the Smp, it is a very small server. Members are Dream, George, Sapnap, Alyssa and Ponk. Callahan and BadBoyHalo are also whitelisted, but don’t really play. That said, they’ve built the Community house, the nether area and a few other buildings and things and have had some scuffles with each other, such as burning down Ponk’s lemon tree.

Anyway, Tommy makes his humble home in the side of a hill as Tubbo, Fundy and Punz also join the server. Purpled joins too a couple days later. There’s some conflicts and things and Tommy finds two music discs, Mellohi and Cat.

=> So, you got the disc war, where Tommy (and Sapnap) was picking a fight with Dream, causing him to take the music discs from him as a punishment. Tommy was therefore trying to reacquire his music discs, Cat and Mellohi, back from Dream. This ended with them both safely inside his ender chest. During this little saga was also where Wilbur invited Dream to meet him in Brighton. Wilbur supposedly met up with both George and Dream though the promised Vlog never came out (and its since been revealed that he only met up with George).

=> Over the next little while, things were normal. Many towers and structures were built on the server. There were a few smaller conflicts, like Tommy accidentally killing Tubbo’s bee. I believe Eret joined the server over this time period. Jschlatt also got whitelisted onto the server, played for a few hours before being banned, likely due to the outcry on twitter (Dream claims it was unrelated but let’s not pretend that wasn’t a factor), Tommy loved the experience of playing with Jschlatt because he’s like his hero and highly values both the Cuck shed, which he built, and Blocks, the music disc he listened to with him.

=> Then Wilbur logged on again to play with Tommy. This time he wanted to do a Breaking Bad style drugs plot, building a caravan full of brewing stands. They then tried to acquire all the blaze rods from the other players. It ended up with them in Jail/on the run. Purpled, Punz and especially Sapnap were the ones who really interfered with them. Notably they all had Netherite armour while Wilbur and Tommy had much more basic gear.

=> This led to Wilbur’s greatest plan - to secede from the Dream SMP by creating a new server for all the European people. They soon came up with the name L’Manberg and began building the walls. Wilbur declared it a safe place with special server rules: no weapons or armour to be worn in L’Manberg. Tommy was keen to be his right-hand man (and he goes through a little arc during the L’Manberg war saga). They also all get new skins with revolutionary outfits and make a lot of Hamilton references. Tubbo and Eret both join the new nation. Dream declares war on them.

=> Fundy logs in inside the newly built walls of L’Manberg, beginning the story that he’s Wilbur’s son, the first citizen born in L’Manberg. There weren’t presently any women in their nation, so his mother is a Salmon from the river. It makes as much sense in context! Anyway, they build up the walls and late that night, Dream attacks, burning down trees, firing TNT cannons, creating an ugly cobblestone wall and burning down Tubbo’s old house. On Tommy’s next stream, Dream’s kind of busy with a serious stream at the same time but comes on to demand their surrender once more before blowing up Tommy’s base. No Mercy! War day comes, and it ends in defeat when Eret bought them to The Final Control room and betrays them. Tommy then demands a bow duel from Dream, betting a music disc for their independence. Tommy loses but offers both Cat and Mellohi in exchange for independence, which Dream accepts. Thus, despite their losses, they had a sort of victory as L’Manberg has been recognised as its own independent nation and they have peace.

=> In the Aftermath, some rebuilding is done. Niki and Jack Manifold both join the server and join L’Manberg - though Dream tries to tempt Jack away. Things begin to get back to normal though Tommy is still anxious to get his discs back. Quackity and later Karl Jacobs both join the server too. Oh, and Eret and Fundy engage in a bit of a prank war with each other, messing with each other’s builds in creative ways. Eret is now King of the Dream Smp - that was the price of his betrayal.

=> Then we get to a lot of interesting isolated incidents - a theatre where they performed some Hamilton and Macbeth, Dream trading away one of Tommy’s discs (Cat) to Skeppy, the railway war where Dream gets run over by a minecart on Tommy’s newly built railway and he takes Dream’s stuff and try to ransom a music disc back, Big Law (Tubbo) and the King’s court, Church Prime, where they build a holy land to ask for Twitch Primes, a conflict between Fundy and Punz - Fundy kidnapped his favourite bee. And, most critically, the Pet war.

=> The pet war is a bizarre conflict where everyone was rather hungry for another server war and a lot of shots got fired but things never quite escalated. Sapnap kills Nikki’s fox Fungi - (and one of Tommy’s cows) - Niki was furious. In retaliation, Tommy captured Beckerson and Mars from Sapnap’s house - two of the oldest pets in the server. Dream was ready to trade a disc for them back. It kinda ended with them scamming each other but Tommy got Mellohi back (and a fake) while keeping hold of Spirit (the remains of Dream’s old horse) while Dream got back his sword and both fish. Fundy was not done though. He wanted further revenge on Sapnap, so he and Niki killed one of his pets. Then Sapnap killed more animals and destroyed the grave they made for Fungi - it was quite a mess. Tommy was somehow in the position of playing mediator and trying to avert another war. Fundy eventually challenged Sapnap to a duel to settle things - he even builds an arena which referenced the Dream vs Technoblade duel.

=> Wilbur and Tommy come up with a new plan - they’re supposedly in charge of L’Manberg but they don’t have a lot of power as no one’s been listening to them while a Civil war’s been practically breaking out. Wilbur decides the problem is legitimacy and declares an election where he will run to become the elected President of L’Manberg - though he’s already incumbent. Their initial plan is to run as a single party, so victory is assured but Quackity declares this unfair and announces his own candidacy against them - Swag2020. George joins Quackity as his running mate. Wilbur and Tommy brand their campaign Pog2020. Wilbur explains that the viewers will get the chance to vote in this election. Fundy and Niki also decide to run as their own party, Coconut2020 - a twist given how Fundy was Wilbur’s son and yet he’s against them.

=> On the day voting begins, Tommy and Wilbur first get Vikkstar to endorse them and then Schlatt - who they got unbanned for the occasion - but Schlatt refuses to support them, declaring Democracy a fraud. He runs against them too - as Schlatt2020. Quackity and Schlatt also form a coalition, pooling their votes together. (Hbomb also joins the server). In the end, this coalition narrowly wins by 46% to 45% and Schlatt becomes President. His first act is to banish Wilbur and Tommy - and he orders Tubbo to hunt them down.

=> It’s chaos. The walls of L’Manberg get destroyed, as do various other builds. Schlatt speaks of expanding, taking over the entire SMP server and changes the name to Manburg. Out with the old! Niki opposes, Eret is keen to redeem himself and wants to help Wilbur and Tommy while Fundy burns down the L’Manberg flag. Deep in the woods, Wilbur and Tommy hide, having lost everything and not sure who they can trust. They accept help from Technoblade and the three of them form an underground resistance, Pogtopia, to overthrow the new Government, with Tubbo working as a spy for them.

=> The server is divided. Dream decides to support Tommy, at first quietly offering him tons of resources to help. When Sapnap kills yet another animal (how?!) Tommy’s precious cow Henry, Tommy is sad/enraged and does some grieving which leads him into a little war against Sapnap, BadboyHalo, Skeppy and Antfrost (who rather recently joined the server). So, Dream decides to more vocally help Tommy out as an ally of Pogtopia, fighting the others, along with Technoblade (and Punz too). Dream even gives Tommy an important fish - Mars. Tommy’s side wins the battle.

=> Schlatt decides to organise a festival in Manburg. Wilbur questions whether he and Tommy are doing the right thing and decides to embrace being a villain with some destruction. He plans to blow up Manburg, aided by Dream. Tommy intends to stop him.

=> At the festival, Tubbo is outed as a Pogtopia spy and Schlatt orders Technoblade to execute him. He does, albeit reluctantly, and then kills most of the audience too with his firework crossbow. Tommy is enraged, feeling like Techno’s betrayed him. Nikki’s furious with Schlatt’s actions and joins Pogtopia.

=> After the festival, Quackity also leaves Schlatt after an argument where he points out how messed up everything is and how little he’s respected. Tommy finds him and they ally. Wilbur goes to blow up Manburg but Tommy and Quackity come with him and carefully talk him down. Wilbur relents and agrees to follow Tommy as they all plan for a way to defeat Schlatt once and for all.

=> Quackity’s plan to oust Schlatt fails. So, Wilbur tries to blow up Manburg and this too fails as Schlatt has secretly removed the TNT he planted. They retreat to Pogtopia where Fundy reveals he’s secretly been a spy this whole time and has secretly recorded Schlatt’s weaknesses. Wilbur, suddenly realising that the rest of the server is on their side, regains confidence to take down Schlatt the right way.

=>Then Dream appears. He declares his support for Schlatt and reveals that there’s a traitor in Pogtopia’s ranks. The last person they’d expect. Another war is approaching. If things go badly, Wilbur intends to blow it up. Tommy wants to stop Wilbur and win everything back.

=>The war does not go well. Schlatt is cornered - but then he dies of a heart attack while everyone just watches. Wilbur declares it a victory and announces Tommy as President. Tommy refuses the honour. So, Wilbur appoints Tubbo, who accepts.

=>Techno is enraged at their formation of a new Governmentand shoots Tubbo. Wilbur, meanwhile, runs away and denotates the TNT in the presence of Philza - who just joined. Techno then sets off a pair of Withers, aided by Dream. The newly renamed L’Manberg is all blown up.

=>The withers are defeated. Philza kills Wilbur. Tommy affirms that Tubbo is still the president as they go listen to a music disc together, and they plan to rebuild everything despite Techno being out there - now their greatest adversary.

THIS INCLUDES ALL EVENTS UP TO THE 18th OF DECEMBER 2020