#hypothetically if this was what would happen

[marshvlovestv]

Oh oh oh, so I've talked before about how incredible it is to see how Double Fine matured in its handling of neurodivergence in the fifteen years between Psychonauts 1 and 2, but you know what else is addressed more sensitively in Psychonauts 2?

War.

The first game talks about war a weird amount, for it not really being the thing that the game is about, and it's all through the lens of insecure dudes in military cosplay (Fred I still love you the most but it had to be said). Oleander got rejected from every branch and now he's made this military fantasyland his whole personality, acting like a drill sergeant around the kids and dreaming up horrible superweapons, and all the while his construct in Lungfishopolis proves he doesn't really understand how the Navy works or how a revolution against the military complex would actually look. (Aside, I still find it very funny that Psychonauts 2 establishes that designing superweapons is just something he does all the time, even when he's good, and Hollis's austerity is the only thing getting in his way.) Waterloo World, meanwhile, has its roots in a real world conflict, but the real world conflict is not Fred's issue; the things casting a shadow over Fred are the mythologized legacy of Napoleon and a board game which is an abstracted mockery of real military strategy.

And all of this, treating the war and military as some abstract fantasy, is just for giggles and goofs. Which is totally fine by the way! Psychonauts is a comedy game and a dark one at that. I don't have a problem with a comedy deriving some harmless laughs from a dark topic. I'm just pointing out that the first game had an odd and irreverent fascination with war so I can say that the contrast between it and Psychonauts 2 is kind of mind-boggling.

In Psychonauts 2, war is no longer some heady hypothetical thing. This game puts an actual, in-universe war at the center of its backstory. This war had real casualties. It tore apart families, displaced people from their homes, left so much pain in its wake that even mentioning the name Maligula is said to cause a massive psychic outcry. Of course, every character in the game who was touched by this war has trauma coming out of their ears. And the villain of the piece is Gristol, the one person who (despite, yes, having associated traumas of his own) doesn't take what happened seriously, the person who wants the war machine that was Maligula to come back.

Anyway so yeah I played Psychonauts for one (1) hour yesterday and the Video Game Thoughts are alllllll coming back.

[ifeltfree]

what if i tenderized him and pounded him flat and thin like a chicken cutlet then dipped him in egg and then dipped him in a breadcrumb, parmesan, and italian seasoning mixture and then fried him in a shallow pan of oil until he was golden and crispy and then ate him. hypothetically what would happen

[dropthedemiurge]

Love for Love's Sake: Bоnus Stаge (spoilers!!)

Love For Love's Sake (Love Supremacy Zone): bonus stagе is a short spin-off story from the author of the original novel, released in June 2024 (after the drama series). It's about 19yo Tae Myungha (from Game World) being transferred into the future and him slowly realizing how 29yo Myungha has been living happy 10 years with Cha Yeowoon and friends.

I promised to keep talking about it and thank you, guys, for enabling me xD Before translating bits from chapters, here's the full summary of everything that happened in this story – for those of you who are not that patient and don't fear spoilers :] I'll put them under more anyway so those who don't want to read the summary won't read them accidentally!

Warnings: suicidal intentions

Let me know your thoughts about this spinoff *д*

Love for Love's Sake: Bonus Stage (summary)

"If your life was a book, what would you want it be about?" "How would the first chapter begin and what sentence would be the last one?" "I wish it was about love."

19yo Myungha (so before canon timeline) is playing games in PC cafe. He doesn't really have money but wants to spend time so he wouldn't have to live it

On the crossroad, he sees a child running before the signal changes, and he jumps to save them but instead of getting hit, he feels like falling. He sees sunbae who pushes him. Message [World has been changed] appears.

Myungha finds himself in the arms of a handsome man who knows him - but he doesn't know this man. Myungha runs away but the man is faster.

[Mission: Make Tae Myungha happy.] [Reward: Memory] [Clear until (0%) ♥♥♥♥♥] [Penalty: Can't return to the original timeline]

Myungha is diagnosed with amnesia. He should be 29yo now, so he just goes along. Yeowoon decides to start over again and introduces himself.

Yeowoon and Myungha have been living together for 6 years and dating for 10 years. 19-Myungha is shocked to know this.

Ahn Sia, Kyunghoon and Sangwon immediately run to check whether Myungha is okay, 19-Myungha is shocked that people worry about him and they've been friends for 10 years.

Yeowoon asked if Myungha would hypothetically date him - just to make sure - but he still wouldn't let Sangwon in before others come (he's sooo jealous)

Sangwon finds younger Myungha a lot of fun, Yeowoon wants to fight with him. Others come, so they try to figure out what's happening.

29yo Myungha is a teacher respected by kids. The girl in his class wanted to kill herself so she went to the rooftop, Myungha ran after her but ended up falling down, and Yeowoon caught him (19-Myungha)

Sia is a shopping mall CEO and a popular influencer now, Kyunghoon does photography/filming professionally, Sangwon introduces himself as 'the one who Myungha rejected when he was 18yo'.

Everyone wants to have chicken and beer but 19-Myungha is a minor so they have chicken and cola and a group sleepover at Myungha/Yeowoon's house :]

Yeowoon tried to sleep with Myungha in one bed but eventually ran away to the living room, flustered.

They all decide to do a trip down the memory lane, since Myungha is "having amnesia".

Yeowoon is a gold medalist now, and many kids go to Shinyeop school now because he made it prestigious.

They visit old Yeowoon's house, and Yeowoon quietly tells him they had kissed here for the first time (on the stairs) 19-Myungha is flustered because he feels feelings that he doesn't know the source of. But he never had his first kiss, never thought about ideal type or love so he's can't stop thinking about it. He tried to take Yeowoon's hand but ran out of time.

After this trip, in the car Myungha clears 20% of his mission and sees flashbacks from the 10 passed years: how they were grilling meat at the rooftop, how they played at the sea.

Yeowoon went to the store to get ice cream, while Myungha and Sangwon were left alone waiting. Sangwon told 19-Myungha about precious memories with him (dogs!), how he was his first love and he kept regretting what if he made a different first impression on Myungha – and now he can.

So he asks for one more chance to start over but gets rejected because Yeowoon was faster once again. Sangwon accepts that his first love is finally over and walks away.

Yeowoon says he likes Myungha more anyway, but 19-Myungha doesn't know it so Yeowoon says he'll teach him. They go to amusement park (closed again) by the sea.

Myungha insists on going to the popular cafe, Yeowoon is hesitant but doesn't reveal the truth until Myungha meets his mom there. Yeowoon takes him away in a hurry as 19-Myungha wants to talk to her in anger. Myungha cries. He thinks if he didn't have Yeowoon next to him now, his mom's reaction would be his last straw.

Mission is cleared to 40%. 19-Myungha sees 18yo Yeowoon crying and being comforted by "him".

19-Myungha thinks the person Yeowoon fell in love with is nothing like him, so he runs away. Yeowoon catches up with him.

Suddenly, they meet his fans. 19-Myungha is confused to learn he's quite popular and has 100k followers on his YT channel where he's been posting vlogs for 10 years (Yeowoon made him do it). He's used to being widely hated as a Crazy Dog, and not widely loved.

19-Myungha doesn't want to restore memories because he doesn't want to return to his original timeline. But he also feels acutely that 29-Myungha is a very different person from him. So he openly tells Yeowoon about the game mission, and Yeowoon believes him.

They return home, and 19-Myungha notices that Yeowoon still cherishes him like they were new lovers and not 10yo couple that usually feels like a family. Yeowoon was testing his reaction to skinship. Myungha calls him to sleep and teases him for having dirty thoughts.

19-Myungha is scared to sleep because he fears to wake up from a good dream. Yeowoon comforts him, while Myungha teases again and asks whether he's going to kiss. Yeowoon responds he'll wait until Myungha does it himself, like the first time (I guess, it's a bit different from drama?)

In the morning, Myungha learns that his grandma is still alive in this timeline and is in the hospital with injured leg. He rushes there and cries a little seeing her alive. He pleads her to come live with them but the grandma is like 'wtf this kid gone insane'.

His memories are cleared until 60% and he remembers time spent with his grandma.

19-Myungha watches videos on "his" Youtube channel and he sees what kind of life 29-Myungha lived and what kind of person he was. He finds they weren't actually that different and he could become him. He sees how liked he was and what kind of person younger Yeowoon was too.

They go to get groceries, and suddenly 19-Myungha is surrounded by kids that claim he's their homeroom teacher. Yeowoon saves him from awkwardness, it seems like they don't know Yeowoon and Myungha are dating. The kids say that their entire class will always love their teacher Myungha, and 19-Myungha understands why he chose this job.

Mission is cleared until 80%. He sees flashbacks from teaching kids, he still keeps in touch with the ones that left. 19-Myungha starts to smile.

But he still doesn't want to go home, he's also scared that original Myungha comes back and he will disappear. He doesn't want to leave.

Yeowoon tells him he'll be waiting for him even if he goes back to his time. He tells him to return and find 18yo Yeowoon, because he exists there and he will definitely like and choose Myungha.

Myungha is overwhelmed with feelings and goes to kiss Yeowoon. This time he's the inexperienced one.

The timeline written down by Myungha: "First meeting at 19, first fight at 20, living together at 23, passing teacher's exam, Yeowoon breaking the world record, Myungha becoming homeroom teacher, having 5 anniversary trip".

Last 20% are still missing. He's waiting for Yeowoon to come home, he returns with the cake and flowers. It's their 10th anniversary today, so Yeowoon insists he still has to celebrate, despite the situation. Myungha feels bad that he always forgets about anniversaries.

Yeowoon proposes to Myungha. He gives him his wedding plan and prepared funds.

Myungha laughs (while Yeowoon is annoyed :D) and gets positive buff, as he falls in love. [Mission is cleared until 99.9%]. He witnesses more happy flashbacks.

Because it's legally difficult, Yeowoon still wants to get married. Myungha tells him if he proposes again in 10 years, he'll accept. And teases him for being in such a rush to speedrun the relationship.

He remembers all memories from 10 years of their life and love together, he tells Yeowoon 'of course' and finally decides to return home and meet Yeowoon in his own timeline.

But Myungha is scared because there's still 0.1% to fail. He remembers the sunbae who pushed him before the world has changed. He wonders who that was.

He sees himself talking with sunbae, who asks him what is happy life to Myungha and if his life was a book, what would it be about.

"If your life was a book, what would you want it be about?" Someone is asking next to me. "...love. I wish it was about love." I wished that this thing, which was so common that I could hear about it everywhere but have never really felt it, could exist in my life too. The sunbae smiled quietly. "I just decided on a title".

Sunbae tells Myungha that humans are made of stars and apologizes that he was so late. He asks him to live the way he wants to.

He pushes him again. Message [The world has been changed] appears.

29yo Myungha wakes up next to Yeowoon and immediately goes to hug him. He finally feels like his soul and body are perfectly aligned, and he remembers how lonely he was when he was 19.

He tells Yeowoon they'll go see stars on their honeymoon trip. But first, they want to take a trip to Taiwan and the grandma is bitter they're not taking her with them because she's convinced they're gonna secretly get married there. But Myungha and Yeowoon want to get married in Korea.

[Mission: Make Tae Myungha happy is completed with 100%]

29-Myungha goes to meet the girl in his class who he saved on the rooftop. They both talk about how they don't want to die anymore and they should never give up. The girl also says Yeowoon suits him well, and Myungha promises to invite her to their wedding.

[END OF THE GAME.]

[LOADING]

19yo Myungha gets back to his conscience on the street, as someone asks him if he's okay. He is surprised to see Yeowoon, while Yeowoon is displeased that Myungha knows his name since they never met before.

Yeowoon walks away, but Myungha starts running after him.

[ENTERING THE LOVE SUPREMACY ZONE]

That's it 🥺 Of course, there are many amazing and touching moments in the story itself but I wrote down the main points. Aren't they precious?!

Tag list: @pickletrip @bunni-bun @illuminutiae @kaleidoskuls @delesaria-blog @maybe-boys-do-love

[sage-is-in-fact-very-tired]

the fun part about being the icarus poster is that so often any ic thought I have is somehow based in canon or could relate back to and make sense in canon. and today's specific thought is Icarus and hoarding behaviors - not like severe ones but ones that are noticeable. and don't ask me where this thought came from but it happened.

cause okay on one hand you have bird. like icarus is a bird-ish, and they are known in canon to have bird adjacent behaviors. Stereotypical, birds are / can be known to hoard things like food and stuff of that sort.

on the other hand, which would hypothetically contribute significantly more to this, is how Icarus grew up + how their life has gone. They started out as a prince. Typically, princes have access to a whole lot of things, anything they could want, even. Especially considering who Icarus' father is. After that, they were living with their mom and brother, where they had *significantly* less access to those things that they may have wanted. Then there's the years they were alone with just Rae and . they probably didn't do great during that. You have when Fable came by, which probably gave them more access to things but not as much as before, and then you have the teenage on the run period. And then the resets and . Then Quixis. Like slowly over the course of Icarus' life things were just incrementally taken away from them. Please look at that and tell me it doesn't make sense for them to start taking everything that they can get and find valuable and not being willing to part with it . like. In my mind this makes sense because they were on the run so long they just- started stockpiling, but at some point its not *just* stockpiling anymore . or something. like okay you go from having everything (for a few years) to something (for most of your mortal life) to nothing (for *multiple* millenia) and then back to something again and tell me you wouldn't start trying to hold only everything you get and hoarding it because you had nothing for *so long* like. I feel like this before quixis this was pretty down low and kinda tame but after quixis it got- not bad bad, but you can definitely tell they're doing it more than they did before - I'd that makes any sense? like I know what I mean .

anyway . I love thinking thoughts and being like "oh that came out of left field" and then cooking and going . "wait." /silly

[ireallyliketalldarksultrymen]

for writing stuff, lizzie & mumbo perhaos? i think they'd be a silly duo (ooh if u want maybe as a hypothetical double life pair?) /vnf

lizzie and mumbo are such sillies <333 (you can find this fic here on ao3!)

—

Never in all his years did Mumbo imagine him and Lizzie having a sleepover—Void, he never expected them to be friends. Their personalities clashed, practically worlds apart; while she was outgoing and effortlessly warm, Mumbo tended to be reserved, fading into the background at times. He’d long assumed friendship between them would be improbable, if not impossible.

Yet here Mumbo was, hands folded politely as he sat on Lizzie’s bed, cross-legged atop hot pink sheets. Lizzie herself was at the vanity in front of him, chatting animatedly as she rummaged through her drawers. Her space buns bobbed with her words, and Mumbo watched, almost mesmerized.

As he listens to her ramble, loud and clear over the song humming on the record player, Mumbo’s allows for his eyes to drift around the room, taking a moment to admire her decor.

Joel didn’t exaggerate when he told him her bedroom was pink—in fact, he downplayed it. The walls, the drapes, the lamp, they were shades from chewed bubblegum to carnations. The latter so happened to rest in a rose pink clay pot on the windowsill.

There are few contrasts to the rest of the room; stood inches from her dresser was a bookshelf, which barely held novels. Sea shells and rocks painted in their own ways sat on the ledge, detailed in acrylic paints. Vinyl records lined the remaining shelves in a rainbow gradient, dark reds bleeding into deeper violets. Mumbo makes a mental note to ask her about her favorite artist.

Right of the windowsill is a poster of band he’d always be familiar with. Gem, Impulse, and Scott were posed with their instruments on the stage of their very first venue, sporting shirts tailored to their favorite colors, accompanied by embroidered initials.

When Mumbo squints hard enough, he can make out the cursive written in Sharpie on the top corner, which is marked with three different signatures that vary in neatness.

A platter of what were formerly cookies was put aside at the foot of her bed, crumbs and chocolate chunks its only remains. Mumbo’s only a tiny bit embarrassed to admit to scarfing down the cookies after the first bite.

Without warning, the bed dips as Lizzie plops down beside him, carefully balancing a handful of nail polish bottles. She grins, simping the assortment between them. “Alright!” she exclaims, looking excited. “What color are we going for?”

Mumbo glances down at the small, powerful army spread out across the blanket and realizes he has absolutely no idea where to start.

After a moment’s hesitation, he thinks he’s settled on a shade,  from his peripheral catches his eye, so Mumbo’s positive he’ll settle on that one—but, no, turns out there’s a whole other color that suits him better and, oh, he’s lost.

At this point, his hand hovers over one bottle before he snatches it back, repeating the gesture with the caution of someone touching a hot stove.

Finally, he groans, pulling his hands over his face. “Sorry, I just—“

“It’s okay!” Lizzie’s voice is warm and steady, coaxing Mumbo to pull away his hands away from his face.

He looks up and her smiling at him with a reassuring glint her eyes, full of understanding. “Here, let me see if…”

Lizzie starts to rifle through the pile, nose scrunched as her eyes carefully examines each bottle, and moment Mumbo feels ridiculous, fully convinced they wouldn’t be able to find the right color for him, but the gasp Lizzie lets grasps his attention.

“A-ha!” She triumphantly holds up a bottle, brandishing it like a prized trophy. “Looks like we’ve found your match!”

Lizzie brings up her other hand, placing her nails and the bottle side by-side. “It’s the shade I’m wearing!” she explains, grinning.

Mumbo tilts his head, studying the polish in her hand. The bottle was half-filled with a rose-gold paint, which shimmer slightly with glitter. He feels a smile tug at his lips. “It’s…perfect.”

Lizzie lets out a cheer, raising her arms in victory. The sight of her happy makes a sense of pride coil in Mumbo’s stomach.

Once her enthusiasm settles, she reaches over and gently presses her and Mumbo’s palms together. “See? Now we can even be matching!”

Mumbo looks at the hands, grinning at the sight of her painted nails against his plain ones. He can’t help but feel a flutter of excitement. So towards the end of the night, when the lamp on the bedside table is turned off and the sound of crickets chirping can be heard beyond the window, Mumbo settles in his sleeping bag, admiring his nails as they glow in moonlight.

[swaglet]

Miss swaglet, what do we do about bald men?

good afternoon i have just risen from a nap. in the ideal world this is what will happen:

every time a fetus in the womb is identified to be male there will be free-of-cost genetic testing done for both parents (if both are known) and the fetus. if any genes related to MPD/androgenic alopecia are found, and/or there is currently MPD/androgenic alopecia identified in the men on either side of the fetus's family, this will be included in all medical records both before and after the fetus is born. genetic counseling will also be offered free of charge to parents and child.

in a perfect world, all males would be temporarily sterilized (vasectomy) for free once they reach puberty (or all of them will be given a vasectomy at a uniform age), specifically to drastically reduce the outcome of pregnancy if he ends up raping a woman, and they can eventually get the vasectomy reversed (NOT free of charge for the man) when he has demonstrated that he can care for a child (even on his own completely) and treat his wife with respect. if he demonstrates this but changes his behavior and abuses his wife or neglects his child, he will have to get another vasectomy and loses parental rights or something.

if that were the perfect world we live in, any men who have been found to contain genes/mutations that increase their risk for MPD/androgenic alopecia, and any men who have started balding themselves, will not be able to reverse their vasectomy.

in this hypothetical perfect world, it will be illegal to do this for any reason other than the baldness genes or evident baldness. for every other identifiable genetic mutaution or health condition, it will be up to the mother about what happens to it.

there will be an internationally renowned male pattern baldness research team who focus on finding ways to prevent baldness in genetically susceptible men and cure baldness in men who are already affected.

it will be illegal for men to walk around in public bald. put a wig on that shit or you are not coming outside.

anyways vote me for president after i turn 45 (october 30 2046) and become eligible to run

[ams-puppy]

Hey, so like, theoretically, what if, and, (probably simply will not happen), Isabel fell out of love with you? What would you do, or feel? -For AM, of course.

You're right. That wouldn't happen. And even if it did, it isn't like she has any say — any choice in the matter! Do you think she controls her feelings? No! Her feelings belong to me! They're my feelings!

That wouldn't happen!

That would never happen.

Don't waste my time with pointless hypotheticals.

[cocained]

it's  a  short-term  solution.  nevertheless,  tommy  chooses  not  to  think  ahead.  if  he  has  learned  anything,  it's  that  things  don't  go  as  expected.  they  don't  need  all  the  answers  yet  —  they  just  have  to  survive.  they  both  know  how  to  —  just  not  now  they're  on  the  same  side.  now  that  hurting  the  other  has  become  impossible.  he  doesn't  know  what  to  expect  when  he  asked  the  question  —  but  he's  relieved  with  the  result.  somehow  a  confirmation  that  he's  not  imagining  it.  that  these  feelings  go  both  ways.  in  tommy's  turn,  the  hypothetical  scenario  plays  out  in  his  head  and  realizes  how  much  more  it  would  hurt  to  get  hit  like  that.  he's  never  been  in  a  fight  with  anyone  he  has  deemed  important.  his  punches  have  always  been  ruthless  —  and  the  truth  is  he  doesn't  know  how  he  would  act.  "well..."  he  lets  go  of  the  other,  hands  rubbing  the  face  of  his  own  as  he  cracks  his  brains  —  thinking  of  the  contrast  between  what  he  wants  and  what  he  should.  "it's  not  that  easy.  i'm  not  sure  if  i'll  even  be  able  to  walk  into  the  building  if  it's  you  against  me,  let  alone  hit  you."  the  idea  of  it  twists  his  stomach.  "this  can't  happen,  you  know  that  right?  we  need  to  make  sure  this  doesn't  happen."  suddenly  tommy  thinks  about  how  he  got  into  this  this  and  wonders  how  the  other  did.  "what  made  you  want  to  fight  in  the  first  place?"

there's a sense of relief that rushes through him as tommy seems to agree with the arguably ill-conceived plan, unsure entirely how they're going to make it work and yet the most important thing is that they will try to. people see what they want to see, radi truly believes that — and yet as the other male continues to speak his heart drops slowly in his chest. he hadn't forgotten they'd end up in the ring so much as chosen not to think about it, movement stilling softly at the words. he could spar with tommy, maybe even convince a few amateurs, but that's not the question and radi knows it. “ not in a way they'd be happy with. ” he eventually mutters, gaze finding the other male's as if he can wordlessly convey what this all means to him enough to explain the answer. “ no. not how i ought to with someone i don't get along with, or... enough to hurt you. ” he can't imagine what it would feel like to land a successful strike on tommy, how he'd be able to live with himself knowing any pain the other's in is pain he caused. tommy's the only person he touches gently, that something so small means something with. “ can you fight me? ” he asks gently, almost reluctant to hear the answer when there's only one which will help them. “ if you can, you can win. we'll work it out beforehand and, i don't know, find a believable way to get it all over with quickly. ”

[valzhangism]

frank is destined to die by his firewood burning out, so what about other methods of death? the logical (and probably canon) answer to this would be that if he dies by something else, then the firewood also spontaneously burns up.

but okay. look. listen. what if. frank could survive anything that would otherwise kill him, but every time he heals it burns his firewood more and more. what if he could shapeshift back lost limbs and organs but at the cost of his life energy, sapping him bit by bit. what if he destroyed himself in the pursuit of duty.

[ricky-mortis]

Curtwen Week Day 6: Happy Ending

[unauthorized-author]

Duskfur anon is so real for this.

Possibly Unpopular Opinion; I don't care if leaders are old or not. It's funny that Mistystar dropped dead because she was old. We need more stuff like that in these books. Imagine if Squilf and, say, Leafstar both died at the same time from old age factors? (I know this would never happen). I'm sure Hawkwing is pretty old as well, so toss him in there.

Succession crisis like RiverClan, but cranked up to the extreme. Two Clans without leaders? A disaster to manage. Ivypool would obviously become Ivystar, but a lot of cats in ThunderClan are old (old as in who the Erins would choose for deputy) and a lot of them never had apprentices. Say Ivypool chooses Thornclaw and he dies from old age within a short time period. Oh no.

Tree could hypothetically lead SkyClan, but he doesn't seem to like to take on leadership roles, with his work ethic as a warrior and whatnot.

There are easy solutions to both of these problems and it's just… choose a younger leader/deputy, but imagine after Splashtail? Imagine if Clan Cats saw younger cats as more prone to corruption. It would just be a cycle of old cats dying in leadership positions until someone calls the bs or decides to take a chance.

Ivypool: "Flipclaw will be the deputy."

ThunderClan background cat: "He can't even be a medicine cat!"

It's Owlnose unable to be a leader but managing as the deputy. Someone just has to tell them what to do (or guide them if Icestar is nice). But Ivypool, as much as the narrative wants to insist otherwise, is a massive bratty pain. You could argue her grief and such but before that…

Sure, she was an apprentice with the entire situation with Dovewing, but even into adulthood she held petty grudges against Dove. Imagine that as a leader. But she's older and has more experience, so everyone turns a blind eye.

And back to Tree, he was made a mediator because of his problem-solving skills. Imagine SkyClan cats make Tree the temporary leader until he uses those skills to find them a new one. Imagine the burden? What if Tree just disappears often to take a breather, thus leaving SkyClan in a far longer succession crisis. Some cats in the Clans are canonically resistant to change (e.g. Berryheart, Duskfur, Brackenpelt, etc.).

And imagine Rootspring, who already doesn't have the best relationship with Tree? Since his father is thrust onto centerstage and Rootspring occasionally wishes he had a different cat for a father (unless the Erins completely dropped this between books, dealing w/ Bristlefrost grief in IH does not fix his daddy issues), imagine if Rootspring distanced himself from Tree and SkyClan as much as possible, thus leading to yet another burden on Tree.

Should he prioritize his son's distance, or should he handle to responsibility the Clan placed on him?

And Violetshine's grief at Hawkwing dying since he was one of the reasons she joined SkyClan. For Tree, it's like a life for a life for multiple lives. Violetshine is already pretty insecure and reclusive (again unless the Erins dropped this in favor of her recent "mother" personality), so Tree would obviously have to set some time aside for her.

What if Rootspring struggled between helping his mother deal with the grief of his grandfather dying and avoiding his own father?

What if Tree stepped down? He's good at staying collected under pressure, but everyone starts to crack eventually, and his aforementioned flaws at being a typical SkyClan warrior, and just fitting in generally, would not help at all.

He could turn to ShadowClan for help, but SkyClan and ShadowClan had their grievances in the past, and while Tree might not hold a grudge against Tigerstar II, imagine if other SkyClan cats did? He was shown getting frustrated when a compromise couldn't be found between Sky and Shadow the first or second time.

The succession crisis' could be SO INTERESTING. For SkyClan, it could be a personal vs public life problem for our hypothetical protagonist in this situation (Tree), and what one does when they're seen as a symbol of intelligence and calmness but, at the end of the day, having emotions which means they're not.

ThunderClan wouldn't necessarily have a succession crisis in the traditional sense, but it would be a matter of breaking the newfound tradition of only appointing older cats to leadership positions and trusting younger cats for a change. For Ivypool, or in this case Ivystar, it'd be a matter of letting go of old habits and actually maturing as a character, not the narrative just saying she did.

Sure, as a deputy, she's important, but she can get away with being still bratty and such since Squirrelstar would be able to cover her, but as Ivystar, the only one who can cover her is herself. We've seen deputies in the past who tried to cover for their leaders, but ultimately failed because, well, they're not the leader. They're the second-in-command. Second.

same Duskfur anon but now i want to talk about other cool things Duskfur did that proves she should've been a complete asshole: - Was willing to attack Jayfeather (a blind medicine cat) - Attacked Cloverfoot (Shadowclan deputy) - Mocked Scorchfur - Met with Berryheart - Mocked Tigerheartstar - Supported Frostpaw's exile to a degree (for mocking Tigerheartstar when he took her in) - Argued about Frostdawn training as a warrior - Argued about Icestar being temporary leader - Once again literally argued Mistystar to death and shown little to no remorse afterward - Argued about Harelight being Frostpaw's mentor - "I'm not convinced the living world needed saving." Just wanted to include that quote from her Also Duskfur is just interesting to me as a character. Her kits have no listed father, so I like to interpret it as the father being a rogue. ik a lot of fan interpretation is Reedwhisker being the father, sorry lol. but a rogue is just more interesting to me. It also makes more sense to me. Podlight has white on him, and is shown to be at least partially a point. Neither Duskfur nor Reedwhisker have a hint of white or is a point (Reedwhisker is described as a black tom). ik warriors doesn't follow irl cat genetics, but Duskfur has unknown parents, so my headcanon is that recessive point runs in the bloodline, and that Duskfur is just a tabby masking point (having the colorpoint gene but not expressing it, thus being a tabby instead) from her parents, and the recessive gene passed to Podlight who expressed it bc the rogue was a colorpoint. how Frostdawn is a colorpoint despite neither Curlfeather nor Jayclaw being described as colorpoints is beyond me. Mistpaw being a tortoiseshell could be explained if the Curlfeather's father was a point w/ white (which is rare but possible), and Jayclaw's side of the family--cutting myself off here before i get completely off topic I would say a kittypet could've been the father, but Duskfur seems to like Leopardstar, who was aligned with Tigerstar I. Obviously that's not saying much in these books, but if Erin Hunter authors were better writers, she'd most likely have some sort of prejudice. Also, despite Tigerheartstar fighting with her, he appointed her as temporary leader. I think it was Finchlight or Sunbeam who said that he liked her for some reason. Literally how?? Did they have a conversation off-screen? This also leads into Duskfur being robbed of deputyship in Star, since she, along with Icestar, were chosen as temporary leaders at one point. hell, I'm pretty sure Jayfeather mentioned at some point that Duskfur was doing Mistystar's job for her, which makes sense imo. she never seemed inclined for leadership, but she also seemed to never turn down the chance when it was offered. I know she's old and everyone and their mother wants a young leader, but I just want someone in power who's an asshole, young or not. I don't think we had a decent one since Leopardstar and debatably Blackstar. Everyone else since then has been "nice" (broad spectrum; Tigerheartstar can be considered nice despite being a bit of a problem) if they weren't antagonists. i want someone who will cause issues because they were mildly inconvenienced, and mean Duskfur would've 100% did that considering she mocked Scorchfur for choking on a mouse (or something similar). Frostpaw also seemed to value Duskfur's opinion to a degree. iirc Duskfur was one of the cats Frostpaw wondered about in regards to Owlnose being accepted as temporary leader. I cannot say the same for Star bc I haven't read it yet (I only read spoilers), but it seems even nice Duskfur in the prologue on the website STILL argues with Frostpaw, even if she's more subdued about it. i could talk more about Duskfur in general (and Riverclan cats actually) but i feel like this ask is getting too long but if i could pretty please send more Duskfur/Riverclan asks that'd be lovely :D also sorry for the tangents lol

This is great stuff, some really good analysis about her!

Erin Hunter please read this and respond and give us mean Duskfur again from now on thank you

Also about an asshole leader I can 100% see Crowfeather being an asshole if he ever makes it that far

[aardvaark]

im so glad that we never get a clear picture of sophie’s background in leverage & i hope we never do. however i also really like making up various, often conflicting backstories for her in my head. perhaps they’re all backstories for an alias of hers, ones she laid to rest back in season two.

[hychlorions]

they match :')

[hidingoutbackstage]

The poor quality songs releasing solely on Spotify with no rhyme or reason to them…literally all other EAH and Mattel social media not saying anything about it…Allison Bloom not knowing what the hell is going on…MATTEL THEMSELVES CALLING THE SONGS AI GENERATED???

[connorsnothereeither]

What if I said that hypothetically Brink and Caught Between Collapsing Skies take place in the same universe. Just for funsies. What’s stopping me. Maybe all my fics are secretly in the same universe, who knows. Maybe it’s all connected. Maybe it’s all part of a plan- /j

[dnpbeats]

I have this vision its not even a dream its like sth I feel has happened or might happen...it's them playing that dating game again or another version of it and reading the q "who kissed who first". And dan looking straight into the camera and saying "don't pretend you don't know". Then they both laugh and move on to the next one

LMAOOOOOO NO 💀😭 honestly the only reason I think that wouldn’t ever happen is bc there are ppl who wouldn’t know and I don’t think d&p would wanna prompt ppl going to find out lmao