#i assume not but in case its relevent xD

[katyspersonal]

What are your expectations/theories for Messmer?

I have a few! I even considered making a predictions bingo on him specifically to check when DLC comes out! XD But overall the predictions resulted from me and @val-of-the-north bouncing the ideas around 🤔 I'll need to link a few of other posts here too to help clarifying some relevant topics!

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1) I think he is one of the children between Marika and Godfrey, or maybe even her first-born!

At first I was also thinking that him having red hair was a damning evidence that he had to be born from selfcest, like Malenia and Miquella! But Val brought this to my attention that in ER manga, which is apparently on a stronger level of directing than BB comics from my knowledge, Rykard is a blond!

So Val suggested that genes can work a funny way since Marika and Radagon are still the same person, and if Rykard got Marika's golden hair gene even from Radagon's body, the reverse is possible and someone in Golden Lineage could have red hair even from Marika! I also agree because Miquella is venturing into the Shadows Land presumably to discover Marika's secrets:

(Famitsu interview with Miyazaki, taken from this ( x ) post) But Messmer to me feels like he would be fully aware of every Marika's dark secret there is! I joke that he is very Lucifer-coded, but actually Satan-coded is a better comparison. He is the holder of "Hell", where the 'graceless' beings and those rejected by Golden Order reside, like that ancient Misbegotten(ish) creature! If he was the third sibling of this kind, why would he know more than Malenia and Miquella? (I mean, surprise me!) But if he had been there from the very start, carrying her (God's) punishment, then sure!

My other clue towards that is that he shares the "spartan" aesthetic in his clothes with Godfrey and his Duelists ( x ) (and actually Goldmask too)! This whole thing with leg wraps and waistwrap!

2) He is the first to historically partake in Dragon Communion, and the inspiration of Drake Knights

There are dragonic features about himself, the design of his armour and his snakes! Initially I thought of Dragonic Sentinels too, but their whole deal is to combat Granssax, who I concluded attacked after Farum Azula war and Placidusax' lord was fled. More than that, their deal is 'electric' line of dragons specifically, whereas Drake Knights and others who that partake in Dragon Communion are not picky! They eat dragon hearts to take their power, and that includes 'fire' line of dragons, like Greyoll and her spawn!

I speculate that he was the first person historically, with the bright idea of eating dragon heart to take its power, and this is where his fire powers came from. Fire is associated with heresy, but in his case it was both: assuming powers of dragons was heresy itself (so, before Godwyn made dragons 'friends'), but fire powers came from it! As a Demigod, he also did not meet the same miserable fate as Magma Wyrms! He had the privilege to really take something useful by being not mere mortal.

3) The snakes, therefore, are part of his body!

There are two of them, and I assume they're growing from the base of his spine and function like his tails! If Placidusax is anything to go by, this is part of him developing multiple heads but in the way that would not mess with his body too much. Funny enough, I had two dreams of Gwyndolin as a baby, and in both Gwyndolin as a child only had two snakes that did work as tails, so maybe I am biased!

4) Rotten Duelists also take inspiration from him

I am resharing the image by Val from a post I've already linked, but whereas they elaborate sign of Godfrey and hatred for the Giants in their design, the snakes around their arms and on their helmets are supposed to refer to Messmer!

I imagine Godfrey and Messmer being that super cool OG battle duo. Duelists feature two kinds of 'heresy' in their design - the snakes and the symbols of the Giants, and I assume they were proudly wearing these before being driven from the Coliseum! Back then symbolism of "taking power from the enemy" was something honourable, and so was what Messmer did - becoming 'sinful' to be the more powerful weapon of Marika was courageous and virtuous of him. So, snakes were also fine to proudly depict in the clothes! Until it was not:

5) He is banished for (attempted) burning of the Erdtree

This theory is coined in by @val-of-the-north! In this ( x ) post it is explained better, but in short, there are evidences that the big golden Erdtree we see is an illusion, most interesting one is ashes being all over Leyendell even before defeating Maliketh. So that's why it no longer is giving its blessed sap and is "only an object of faith" now, though its lower part is still physical of course. I agree with this idea!

I think he had to do something bad because of the huge sealed eye possibility! Ranni and Melina also have an eye sealed, and both are Demigods that had their 'privilege' within the Golden Order removed in one way or another. Messmer, on the other way, wows to burn whoever is devoid of grace, so I doubt that he would willingly divest himself of it! Whereas he's been heretical for dragonic powers and the 'Satan' to her system to take care of the 'sinners' from the beginning, but he got excommunicated from the family and likely erased from its records! Bonus points if Godwyn being the first in the Golden Lineage is just what they tell people now!

6) GEOOOOOORGGGEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

I've always had a feeling that whereas everyone is anticipating him to become the first true Soulsborne sexyman, something just has to put a dent in it. Just something to sour the character. I can't explain it, it is like sixth sense...? But I think I finally know what it is. During answering this ask, I payed attention how even with other things put in consideration, he still appears to be loyal to his mother and the purpose she intended to him. He speaks defensive against her letting the "unworthy" to become a Lord. Like... this is not necessarily something weird, it could just be strong loyalty even against his self-interest like what we see in Maliketh or Morgott, but there is just strange sixth sense about perhaps some Freudian shit going on in his head that I can't shake, and not anti-climatic one after what they did with Mohg.

7) Motivation for attempted burning of the Erdtree were themes of ambition and perfection

I will link a couple of posts (with pictures) in which I explained how Erdtree is itself a Crucible and how I theorise existence of Omens resulted in denying and loathing the thing ( x ) ( x ). They're not too long tbh, and in both I forgot to bring up the fact that Ancestral Followers worship Minor Erdtrees :') But the main point is, everything sacred will eventually rot and die, however, giving the way to a new thing to sprout from it, and that was something Marika was unwilling to accept. Erdtree and Golden Order, were supposed to be Eternal, like herself.

Marika made everything that reminded of the other side of life, like Misbegotten and Omens, illegal, and ensured immortality in the best way she could, but Messmer took it even further. He attempted to remove the 'life' aspect of the Elden Ring, to separate the sacred power granted to his mother and relatives from the earth. So, from from inevitable death, from ever rotting, from 'cycle'... from everything "imperfect", so it could be just the one perfect, pure, 100% spiritual thing in their hands. + I think what he did happened after Gloam-Eyed Queen fiasco, so that was another point in realising the instability and imperfection. + to draw from the previous point, he might have been really pissed at Greater Will itself on behalf of his mother.

Except, what he did was not something even Marika would agree to. Greater Will specifically sought this "imperfect" world FOR its "imperfections", to gain form and purpose through births and deaths and feelings and struggles from the amorphous empty cosmic state. It was suffering from its superiority, there was nothing to love or hate or want. It gives me the same vibe as how in BB, the Great Ones are willing to trade their perfection for simple joy of loving a child; they don't need to give birth since they're immortal and their genes are not in need of surviving, but there is just... nothing in this immortality. This is something Messmer would not understand. Sellen is another example of this mindset, aspiring for the things the "perfect" beings were willing to escape. It is always the case of 'greener grass' lol

But yes, absolutely no one appreciated the attempt to separate the Elden Ring from being rooted into mortal "flawed" things. I think he still thinks he is right, and that whatever little dialogue he will have should contain quite the vitriol.

8) In the second stage of his battle, he will become far more dragonic.

I expect at least something happening with the snakes akin to becoming his wings. Maybe he will even turn into a dragon, a two-headed one! + also if there is no particularly gruesome (lethal) visceral attack by his snakes I will rebel lol

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Soooo yeah... This isn't much, but my imagination is weak when I have limited information x) I have also seen an idea that the thing that pierces Marika's body might be his doing since he is titled the Impaler, but for now I think this is not the case! Her hammer is full of similar sharp shards of Elden Ring, so I think this is just another shard, or, perhaps, something Elden Beast threw at her. Red coloration comes from being bloodied! Marika was a mortal once, after all!

[darkwing-ramblings]

Please, don't be worried. (This is Tumblr so I assume people can get worried easily, sorry if I am talking too much here)

Ooh I've figured out indenting! That makes sense, intentions are often notably harder to parse online after all and direct and explicit communication is the most effective method to ensure everyone is on the same page. I understand and read you silent and clear 👍. I also believe my previous check up was openly described as motivated by worry in any case making it relevant to address.

Also, I like to "credit where due" to characters too.

It's the only way to drag and/or celebrate them later after all if that's what the heart desires! Feats diminished in veritable satisfaction if you can't laud or criticise them with, goodness gracious, sufficient accuracy! Why, the shame! (I jest here, but also heartily concur that accuracy where possible is important just like seeing merit where present in characters no matter what else is going on with them, it's a nice exercise in recognising one's one biases and practising that personally disliking something does not fundamentally change its essence)

XD I love this! Also, true. (And disliking M&Ms because they killed Elves.)

I'm flattered! Yes, the silmarils have such non-controversial moral standards it's great as well as personal sensibilities going by all of the examples above! Hence murder=bad, torture=bad, eating me=bad. They may wear out mortals but that's not deliberate, all of their deliberate decisions they do something about (burn it, burn it with treelight-essence-fire!) are very simply motivated!

First, to repeat from another post (I don't expect you to read all my posts, but also, do nor expect me to paraphrase things I can copy):

These are reasonable expectations if I may say so myself!

I don't feel like going into an "omniscience, Providence, free will" debate

I understand as wholly as I find myself intrigued by that summary of the essence of the debate. But never mind that! I have seen the opportunity for a somewhat relevant favoured tangent of mine!

I leap for joy at the opportunity to supply my understanding of how writing a character works! That being if you've set up consistency of history, personality, values, opinions and relationships in a character by placing them in a context the equivalent of multiple choice options that they could take should present yourself to you and it's up to you to pick which one works best for your aims and run with it. So the character need not fundamentally change to react to something one of a few ways but once you're chronologically past that if it properly shapes their development their pattern of choices developing gives you insight into them and creates more streamlined understanding of why exactly that is.

It's a fun part of writing, as sometimes a character will therefore fundamentally stop being the "themself" model your parameters guide you to write if you force an ill-fitting choice onto them for narrative smoothness; therefore, it takes clever manoeuvring of your options originating from them and/or adapting the external factors as required to go the direction of you want that functions as a puzzle built on an in-joke known only to you! Hence outlines are fluid guides that are not hard and fast rules and writing is interactive and interesting and enjoyable and never entirely predictable despite it originating from your own mind! It is understandable that it is as a result not always helpful as a minor point in larger discussions if that's not the point of figuring out an alternate timeline/universe because the detail is a little excessive for wider considerations!

with some characters having foresight (and Providence being a canon-established thing), we cannot do linear (in time) reasoning

It makes for fun considerations that are very text-specific, yes.

Finwë would be grieving for Feanor, but also he was more level headed. So… worst-case scenario you can probably imagine (no Flight, Morgoth Melkor roams free and still has a cool name).

Melkor not be renamed, for shame! Shame on all of the elves who couldn't come up with a suitable name-insult upon such similar circumstances! Feanor's greatest impact on the world made clear: having the audacity to wittingly rename an ainur as an insult that stuck for all of forever. Does Mairon similarly remain Mairon the Not-Sauron/Thauron because of this then? I actually don't know who granted him his clearly more accurate name, but without precedent/Feanor dead it could theoretically also not occur, hmm.

(Joking aside I can indeed imagine this, yes, I am with you)

Finwë promises the Silmarils to the Valar (because Trees), swears a better Oath (we will reclaim the gems and defeat Morgoth to avange my poor son + no blasphemy + no revenge on people who are not Morgoth). Many Noldor follow him, not as many as followed Feanor, but they probably get some Maiar as support.

Ooh that's interesting. Nolofinwe likely accompanies him but probably due to the noldor not having to repick a favourite/most-legitimate royal with the same haste as post Finwe's death has a smaller host too. Arafinwe keeps his remaining status to look after things at home easily enough I imagine here, because someone ought to.

I see we must replace the oath with another oath for without it the story would differ, fair enough, better is still improvement.

The war still isn't as quick as Finwë hoped. Sun and Moon are still made, Men are awaken, but Morgoth is defeated sooner thank in the canon timeline and with less losses. Also, Finwë hangs out with his friend Elwë and convinces him to let his daughter marry a Man with no stupid conditions. ;)

Oh of course there still needs to be plenty of ill-fate going around. I would not blame Elwe for being sceptical of Finwe's family related advice. But I'm sure Melian would keep her stance of that's a bad idea husband whatever he might suggest (possibly pointing out the hypocrisy of banning a never before seen marriage between kindreds, exactly like their own was unprecedented) and perhaps with Finwe and Melian tag-teaming it Elwe would concede?

Regardless, there are plenty of tasks to set Beren if Elwe still insists of him proving his worth/hopefully failing to ever force Elwe to follow through with the "win" condition that need not end up inciting kinslayings in this hypothetical au.

Morgoth (courtesy of whoever stepped up to grant the name in Feanor's place) being defeated earlier is our first tangible improvement that affects the simarils- rescue from the horrible, evil Morgoth and horrible, evil Angband!

Morgoth defeates, Trees maybe restored, maybe not. I can see some people (Maeglin, for example) stealing a Silmaril for weird reasons (to impress Idril), so we can still have the two Silmarils gone if we need it.

Aha, we return to the heart of the matter! For we must forget about everyone else and ask how this changed things for the poor silmarils! Hmm, I don't think the trees being restored is necessarily better for the silmarils in question for they have life as they are and are already perfect. For the elves quite possibly? But, for the silmarils I don't know that gem-plant-light-hybrids being forced into the shape of the original trees to forever be compared to the glow of their forebears is a happy ending? I think they would need to be somewhat more differentiated to have their distinct lives recognised as their own and not imitations of the "better" long-mourned similar but fundamentally different from them trees. If we're leaning into free-range silmarils they also are now even more immobile and not even moved around to see different things by other beings.

But you hit the mark that one silmaril must be retrieved/taken from Morgoth earlier than the other two to not decrease possible silmaril-happiness from the canon timeline and end up somewhere or equivalent or better note condition wise.

Second, I really don't think Thingol had the Feanorians in mind when sending Beren on his quest. It is possible that he didn't know about the Oath at all! Just that the Noldor (in general) want to reclaim the Silmarils (but not that it's such a high priority).

Hmm see this has merit and notably dampens the bettering of a Finwe lives au, for it means that if the oath's absence affects them not at all a kinslaying/violent conflict that accidentally ends in grievous harm is not out of the question yet and the silmarils may meet someone they accordingly do not like! Finwe is Elwe's friend yes but also a leader of a foreign people it's not unthinkable that Elwe feels some need to save face in front of/prove he is still separate and not beholden to.

(Plus there is the languishing in Thingol's vault, not optimal for silmaril happiness, slowly killing Luthien may also make them sad the same way if she ends up with it too but we really don't know about that).

If there was was no Oath of Feanor, there would probably be no mass murder at Alqualonde. And then there would be no closing of Valinor and Earendil wouldn't be necessary.

Well that sorts itself out neatly. There's certainly a pretty equivalent scenario to canon where the first kinslaying happens irregardless of Finwe's best efforts if the offer of the silmarils to the valar isn't enough to convince them endorsing leaving this early is a good idea yet. Given Olwe is not Finwe's best friend and his reasons for denying the ships weren't that related to Feanor as an individual- more the principle of taking them at all/valar disapproval. But it's easily enough handwaved away as it'll work itself out from creasing the song of arda whatever way it needs to probably.

As I said, much of the reason why "Silmarils in a vault" give me a red flag, is metatextual. In the Bible there are some verses about putting a lamp/light under a (bucket? not exactly but I don't know the English word) and that you need to put it up somewhere high instead so it can shine. And I am sure Tolkien knew those lines, because they are some of the more well-known.

It's got a higher possible relevance than where my mind went of the debates surrounding which pets can be kept inside if the conditions are favourably sympathetic to them at least? I also thought of houseplants and standards of care for them. That's a cool titbit to bring in at least that's new to me as a concept put quite that way anywhere. I was more thinking UV light and plants... wait! Wait were the poor trees also deprived as nearly the only light sources with no sun powering them!?! Stars are something maybe... plus they have wider foliage etc giving surface area to get things through than the silmarils have.

I wouldn't be complaining so much about the poor gemsies if not for that. However "poor gemsies" seems to be a reading supported by the book. ;) (But yes, Elves and Men are more important than gemsies)

Gasp! Shock horror! But the poor gemsies!?! How can lives be so easily compared when each is immeasurably of value? The poor gemsies have rights, rights I say! Just because they do not have legs and arms. What is this outrageous mobile-children-of-Eru based discrimination! The poor, poor beleaguered gemsies!

What makes a happy silmaril?

For context we must consider that the silmarils are written as living is not intelligent beings in a way and that they were derived of trees and so are a probable never-before-seen-gem-plant-hybrid-creature-with-opinions-just-no-mobility. Also I am @darkwinganimus by another name, to be clear, and this moves a previous discussion @eri-pl and I were having in the replies of one of their posts over to a format with no restrictively frustrating word limitation.

As @eri-pl puts in their Silmarillion reread part 6: "They loked like diamonds, so canonically white-ish. their fire is made of mixed Treelight, so I would assume warm white is canon.

They shone like stars of Varda but had real life inside — I really need this in English! OK, I googled it.

OH. Something else but: "he pondered how the light of the Trees, the glory of the Blessed Realm, might be preserved imperishable" — It may be me jumping on things + Tolkien's poetical wording, but this seems like a strong suggestion of "Fefe wanted to jump higher than his head" (he was not the first one) and sheds a light (pun intended) on his sttitude towards the Silmarils later.

Anyway back to that part about life: "and yet, as were they indeed living things, they rejoiced in light" So they are living things, not just "like" living things. Silmarills = baby Trees is canon! (OK, somewhat canon? but they *are* alive, and by logic they must be bred not made-in-the-strict-sense by Feanor)

So they glow by themselves with warm white, but also they are iridescent like diamonds. Beautiful indeed."

(Opinions such as disliking Morgoth then Carcaroth enough to burn him when the former wore them in his underground torture fortress Angband and the latter rudely ate them).

Anyway, the discussion points I actually want to raise are below, now that the nature of the silmarils are established as probably-living- beyond the possibility of poetic and figurative language along those veins merely sounding cool- is explained:

@eri-pl Hmm, okay, so per your reply attached to this post "Melkor (to be precise this was his name at that point :D ) wanted to kill Feanor anyway. He thought Feanor would be home too, iirc from the book. And still, Fefe could have worn them to a well-guarded situations, at least. But he was too paranoid." let's imagine Feanor takes the measure of no vault and just wears the silmarils everywhere, because he's pretty sure no one else distrusts Melkor enough to be sufficiently on guard. Melkor now has no reason to attack Formenos during the party so I don't know waits to ambush Feanor travelling on the road back from it, directing Ungoliant at the trees for a distraction etc and stealing the silmarils+killing Feanor as planned. Good for Melkor he achieves all his goals.

I humbly ask how this then might end up in your opinion better for the silmarils in question, aside from more time outside out and about Aman in sun years per your "Feanor wearing them might have ended up better for them anyway. At least he could have worn them to well-defended occasions (like That One Party), but he didn't because he was paranoid about the normal Valar too.". Because without Feanor and with Finwe alive there a question of if the flight of the noldor even happens afterwards- which they were agitating let's assume so and skip the how-that-happens/goes for now- and about the oath.

Now the oath is terrible for most beings involved, yes, but is it terrible for the silmarils themselves? It's a force of dedicated warriors specifically trying to retrieve them from Melkor their evil abductor- a force of dedicated warriors who make their retrieval from Morgoth so fraught a topic Thingol invokes it in an arguably rash and spur of the moment to Beren arguably meaning "I-would-see-you-dead-before-I-give-permission-for-you-to-marry-my-beloved-daughter-go-die-to-Morgoth-and/or-the-feanorians-over-a-silmaril".

It sees one of them get out of Angband in the hands of Beren and Luthien and enjoy free-range-ish years in the open then ultimately make it to Earendil upon Vingilot's prow. Earendil and Elwing's arrival with said stolen silmaril also helps petition aid from the valar in the war of wrath successfully leading to one ending up in the ocean (not terrible for pseudo-plant-gem-creatures as an environment) and a random volcano that maybe also got swallowed by the sea (at least there's no Melkor and it has possible gem-friends in its volcano). If there is no oath all of the latter is in question and whilst things could end better for the silmarils probably (and definitely those who died because of the oath on both sides, but that's not the focus here) they could also end up worse.

Now, Feanor's son's swear the oath of their own initiative when he begins to but on their own with him dead it's not exactly assured say Kanafinwe is going to see to it a very similar one is made.

I understand entirely that it is a lot of words however so won't be offended if you'd rather call it a day/don't actually read this all. Either way putting it together in one place has pleased me greatly whether any response, staggered yay or nay, results.

[sigurdjarlson]

@riddleredcoats nice! Thank you for the help! :)

[an-army-of-nightmares]

Porcelain Jekyll au

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This is gonna be long so heres a tldr

TLDR: Jekyll gets taken to a sort of real nightmare party full of dolls, if he misbehaves they'll kill him and if he's a perfect gentleman he'll turn into a doll. There's a branch where he's rescued and two where he turns into a doll

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•The au starts with Jekyll going to sleep, timeline honestly doesn't matter as long as Frankenstein, Jasper, and Jekyll are all around. Could start where tgs currently is? But Jasper doesn't accidentally wake Jekyll up in his panic

•"The Party of Dolls" is basically a supernatural nightmare? I haven't found a better explanation but basically it's a nightmare that's real and happening, while still "just" being a nightmare. It takes you to like a different dimension while you sleep basically? (The party of dolls isn't the only one but that's not relevant)

•The dolls invite specific people, they invite people who want to be perfect. People who dont want anyone to hate them or find a flaw. Jekyll fits this perfectly

•Jekyll is taken to the party. He tries to be polite despite being unnerved. There's another human at the party, he doesn't learn the man's name before the man gets ripped apart by the dolls for shouting

The dolls target specific people, but they can still take "fodder", people they know will immediately break the rules. So that their actual guests can learn what happens if they are impolite. The dolls also surround guest on all sides, and have them in the exact middle, so that the guest cannot just run out

•Jekyll is terrified, now knowing he'll die if he does something wrong, he tries his best to be perfect

•Unknown to Jekyll, if he's "perfect" he'll start turning into a doll. Ultimately it's a die or die situation

•Jekyll does start to notice the porcelain creeping up him, its be hard not to. He is very much (silently) panicking. But,, the more porcelain on him the more calm he becomes, the more he acts as if this is a simple party and nothing is wrong

•Eventually he reaches a point where he'd actively resist being taken away from the party, but still not fully covered by porcelain

A quick note, Hyde can't do anything about the situation. He wasn't invited and the dolls are suppressing him so much he can hardly even tell what's happening, or leave the mindscape. He's absolutely terrified about this because he can Feel something is wrong and everything is just becoming more and more suffocating

Now onto the branches! There are 2 and a half branches for this au!

Branch 1: Jekyll gets rescued

(Assuming this takes place at Chapter 11 Page 8)

•Jekyll is asleep on the couch, Jasper rushes in the room like his panic on the page except this time Jekyll does not wake up at Jasper's sudden entry. Jasper, noticing Jekyll is asleep, silently contemplates on if this problem is really worth waking Jekyll. Because on the one hand he's probably overreacting in his mind, but on the other Jekyll is really the only person he can panic to?

•He decides not to wake Jekyll, and wait until it's properly morning or noon?, now that the panic is a bit subdued he probably still has stuff to ask Jekyll

•He goes up to find Jekyll is still asleep, and Zosi frantically pawing at Jekyll's chest, occasionally nibbling him, and seemingly really wants to wake Jekyll up. Jasper tries to wake him up but it seems no matter how hard he tries Jekyll stays asleep

•Seeing how Lanyon probably isn't in the Society at the moment (and besides Jasper is pretty sure Robert dislikes him) and he's currently avoiding Rachel. Jasper cant ask Jekyll's friends if this is normal behavior. Why doesn't he ask the lodgers? Maybe a combination of they all seem busy and still being a bit intimidated by them? So he goes to his last best bet, Frankenstein. She's, kinda a doctor and has traveled quite a bit, so she may know whats up with Jekyll and why Zosi is panicking

Note: This whole decision happens in like a few seconds while Jasper is panicking

•Frankenstein does not ease Jasper's worries

•Ah, I guess there has to be some sort of tell, something that makes it clear someone is in one of these "supernatural nightmares" and that Jekyll is specifically in the party of dolls. Idk yet what that tell would be. But Frankenstein knows and thats all that matters

•They take Jekyll back to the attic, lock the entry, and make preparations for a rescue mission

•Frankenstein will be going in to try and distract the dolls while Jasper will be looking for Jekyll. Creature is there as plan B in case the dolls get hostile towards them (as Creature is fully capable of lifting them all up and running out of there. And the dolls are very likely to get hostile towards them)

•They get in, how? I have no clue. But they do. Probably a potion?

•Jasper quickly finds Jekyll and tries to convince him to leave. Much to Jasper's concern, Jekyll doesn't want to leave, and keeps brushing the danger off

Frankenstein and Jasper dont know much about the nightmare. Its likely all they know is that its filled with dolls and people who are "invited" are never seen again/found dead

•Frankenstein's distraction consists of pointing out flaws in how the dolls act. The dolls keep finding excuses, but eventually become agitated with her

•Japser notices the porcelain on Jekyll and loudly panics, attracting the already agitated dolls attention

•Creature picks them all up and runs towards the doors. Jekyll is greatly struggling against this rescue attempt, but once they get out of the building and onto the stretch of yard before the exit Jekyll calms down significantly

Jekyll did not actually calm down, but rather Hyde managed to weasel control after they left the building. Hyde absolutely does not want to be at this party, and Jekyll's struggling could've jeopardized the rescue

•They get back! Whatever porcelain was on Jekyll falls off him with ease. He's angry for maybe half a day or more. But when the doll's control completely leaves him, he's nothing but relieved

Sidenote: It seems reasonable that this whole experience would leave Jekyll with a fear of going to sleep. Perhaps give him something that can deter these types of nightmares? A desire for the comfort of another person, at least in the room, while he's asleep?

Branch 2: Jekyll fully turns into a doll

•Well either Jekyll went to sleep at his own home or some place where no one would think to look for him, as if he was right in the society they'd certainly take notice that something is wrong

•Jekyll fully turns to porcelain. Once he's a full doll they give him new clothes (the sand/beige colored suit I tend to draw porcelain Jekyll in)

Previously, Jekyll had been wearing the suit he wears at any formal party, like the ball in An Army Of Nightmares

•Porcelain Jekyll gets back to the real world. This is not entirely out of the ordinary for the dolls to do. If a guest was reasonably young or famous they'll be returned once a doll, to make themselves more known or respectable before they "die" and go back to the party full time

•Zosi notices something is Wrong while Jekyll is asleep and tries to wake him up to no avail, Zosi can't bark for attention and he's scared of leaving Jekyll alone, the few times he does go out to find someone he's largely ignored or avoided, or they misinterpret what the zombie pup wants. When Jekyll does wake up, Zosi immediately notices that it's not Jekyll, at least not anymore. Zosi knows he's supposed to get rid of any evil creatures, but this was once Jekyll. So the pup runs away and avoids him instead

•ooo I dont want to describe this whole branch? This has already taken way longer for me to write then I want XD, just check out this reblog chain about it bsksndks

•

Branch 2 ½: Jekyll dies

•Jekyll fully turns into a doll, however instead of entering the real world his real body simply dies. He's found rotting in bed. "Jekyll" however, is still in the party. (Fun fact, this was the original plan for the au)

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Extra notes:

▪All the dolls in the party were once people, except for maybe one or two? A handful? But it has long since been lost who's who. And it never mattered

▪Lanyon would not have ever been invited to the party. He doesn't seem to want to be a gentleman, and he knows too much about etiquette to be fodder either

▪Jasper is a proper candidate to be invited, and in branch 2 "Jekyll" is giving him alot more lessons on how to be a proper gentleman, planning to invite Jasper to the party at some point

▪The party always has a host that they cycle though, the host talks to guests a bit more than everyone else

▪Porcelain Jekyll gets to keep his new clothes when returning to the real world

[kuekyuuq]

Gloria, Jet-lags and Imps [6x11]

Let’s jump right in:

Kinda love how Kara lamp-shaded addressed the fact she didn't tell the gang about her adventures in the PZ. She’s not wrong, tho.

...what do I want to say about Mxy using what's basically a well-known gay-anthem to tell his tale? I mean, it didn’t lead anywhere. The original song is about freeing oneself, liberation, stepping out of a (gone bad) relationship and moving on, stronger for it - empowerment. The only connection I could make, is that originally it was Nyxly’s aim to just do that (freeing herself and her kind from an oppressor), but in the way Mxy performed it, that part of the parallel was long over before he even reached the chorus. It’s also a popular Karaoke song, tho, so... he chose it because it’s catchy? I’ll try not to overthink it for now. At least, the Superfriend’s reactions were fun.

Nia exiting the elevator, "And what's this Old Stone?" I love it when ppl enter a room / situation and pick up on words that they couldn't have possibly heard. I think cinema sins ding such... Are we to assume, she dreamed Mxy's rendition of ‘I will survive’? Or is the elevator not sound-proof at all? (If it’s the latter, Nia later apparently telling Brainy “in private” between scenes / during the elevator ride about her Nyxly adventures, was a silly thing to do.)

So, "Jared" created the ring Old Stone to rule them all, it got shattered into the Paragons totems? Nyxly needs the totems and to get them she needs a crystal which also belonged to "Jared" - who happens to be Mxy's ancestor, which is why she needs Mxy / his blood, too.

I have one important and incredibly relevant question here, tho... 

With the introduced imps and their names... Why’s dude named Jared of all things?!

Really, did I mishear that? If so, I’ll leave it as is and never edit, bc that would be hilarious in its own right 😋

...

Not sure what to make about Supergirl paraphrasing a Dirty Dancing quote.  "Nobody puts Mxy into a power crystal on my watch."  ...is he Baby now? (Seriously, though: Which of the writers thought that was a fitting quote to use in that particular context?)

...now, is the exposition section of the episode over yet?

Sensitive Brainy sensed something was up with Nia. He can relate... Nia doubting Kara would understand, too, is ridiculous. But I get it... insecurities and all. But, I mean, just 5 minutes later Kara announces she wants to save Nyxly despite her wrongdoings. And yet Nia still remains convinced, Kara wouldn’t forgive her own personal mini-me... After having witnessed Kara forgiving Lena for a whole season of the writers being stupid messing up to the nth degree. But I digress, Lena’s Lena.

...how old is Nia meant to be again? Just asking out of completely unrelated curiosity.

F*ck. They really went with NewFoundland...

Imma assume it was an executive choice after realizing they couldn’t find enough actors and actresses with a convincing Irish accent... maybe. Again, no offense to Newfoundland! Just... we got the insinuations of Ireland, not Newfoundland... And truthfully, when I think of magic, Ireland is an easy association. Whereas I only due to this whole debacle learned Newfoundland has Irish ancestry. So, okay, the show forced me to learn something new... I give ‘em that.

An easy journey, she said.

Lena's been off-screen for two whole episodes, Kara announcing at the beginning of ‘Dreamweaver’ [6x09] Lena being “back east” (at least insinuating Lena’s left the west-coast already), which span over at least one full day (feat. a scene at night), and ‘I still rise’ [6x10] at least another a whole day (the whole Nia’s mom back for a day deal). And, now, after at least 48 hours she barely just arrived.

Lemme check how long a regular plane would need to fly from California to NFL......... ... .. .. So... approx. 10 hours with at least one layover. 

Yeah, using a private jet made it easier, but apparently also much, much slower...

Or, Lena randomly went some other places / did some sight-seeing in NFL before she decided to finally visit her mother’s hometown...  [Either that or the timelines don’t match up and Lena’s scenes are flashbacks of sorts.]

Optimistic and relaxed Lena is a sight to behold. I rewound 3 times, just to enjoy it for as long as possible. We all knew it was going to be short-lived... 

Let’s check off a few more items...

OMG, Kara hiding behind Alex at the mere sight of the PZ-projector broke my heart!  😢

"Elisabeth Walsh" is the new 'the one you shall not name'. ...poor Lena. 😭

Oh, so Mxy wants to be Patrick Swayze instead of Baby... gotcha.

...is this going anywhere?

KITTY!!! Okay, this must be the best opponent in the history of CWSG. 

Despite the horrible CGI, SG using her heat-vision to project a laser-beam to distract the cat had me in (happy-) tears! 🤣

Gotta love the civilians of National City quickly returning to business as usual once the giant cat is gone. Even the police officers looked rather chill...

Nyxly did look fabulous this episode ^^ 

Andrea being Lena's rock is both great and annoying. I can't fault Andrea. It's just, that we still have to see an on-screen interaction between Lena and Kara and that bugs the heck out of me. I can’t help it. I’m sorry, Andrea.

Nia: "...is my fault." Kara: "Nu, is MY fault!" J'onn: "Stop fighting, kids!" Space-dad has spoken.

Mxy used an LuthorCorp copy machine... and of cos it's faulty. It's not an L-Corp product.

Kara forgiving Nia came as a surprise to her... Oooookay. I mean, the show has been writing Kara a bit inconsistently the past two seasons... so, yeah, maybe being unsure which of her traits apply this week was not such a far stretch...

Maybe it's the hair, but I wished, Florence was played by Alex Kingston.

So, not-Alex-Kingston shows Lena herself with a funny wig and tells her how her mother was still watching her...

If it wasn't for Katie's acting skills (I love her.) I would have already hit my head against the wall repeatedly. Something about these scenes had me constantly cringe and I made it through 5.5 seasons of this show already... Can’t quite put my finger on it, but it was highly distracting from the story that explained Lena’s mom was special even to another witch, where there was domestic abuse, and an accidental murder. Y’know, important stuff, deep-cutting stuff! 

At least, poor widddle Lena got some closure there. Elisabeth was a good cookie. And filled with magic. And Lena’s gotta have that ‘spark’, too... 

....so... Lena’s gonna stay in NFL for how much longer, to train becoming a witch?  Please, just hand her a how-to manual and send her back home, to figure it out on her own, please... (Yes, that would be horrible decision-making, but I need her back with the team!)

On to the finish line: 

So... Mxy IS Nyxly's brother? Wait, that doesn’t sound right... then Nyxly would have the same blood... Did I miss something? Can someone explain, please? Or is he her ex, and that’s where his rendition of “I will survive” makes sense?

Hnn... I can't help, but think Kara's speech for Nyxly was 85% based on her experiences with Lena in s05.

Awww... he said "stronger together"... Mxy... I hope, you'll be okay!

Lena believes in magic now. And I absolutely love how Lena wants to science magic XD

...but apparently magic isn’t science that hasn’t been explained yet, but parallel... powers? concepts? ether strings?

Nyxly has a loyal henchman now. Which was a bit heavy-handed. Took way too much of screen-time, so it better leads to something interesting.

And Kara is on a warpath now. Wooooot! Girl’s got enough.

...what else? 

Did I miss a third Patrick Swayze hint / quote / mention?  I learned, these things come in threes... Y’know, basic writing rules... 

I guess, for once the episode title was meant to be taken literally, Mxy popping up between characters, to try and help. (I need in-show footage, of Mxy sneaking up on ppl, without his powers, on all fours / crouched, just to get the desired effect.) I mean, I’ve never really watched Malcom, but wasn’t he like what Mxy usually is? A bit of a trouble-maker, prankster, chaos-ensuing wherever he goes? ...well, in that case, the episode title didn’t hold up, as Mxy’s scenes were not fun or really goofy. Yes, there was some superficial humor, but just to serve Mxy dealing with not being able to use his powers, which in turn was only barely scratched at (although it turned out to be his final character development crisis, appreciating not having powers and - in turn - facing consequences for once). Again, a whole lot going on in the episode, so a lot of that may have ended up on the cutting-room floor.

...where’s Kelly? Secretly adopting a kid, maybe?

...Kara’s still a reporter, right? I mean, whenever it serves the immediate plot, yes? ...Not even a throw-away line, that she has to pop up at CatCo for appearances sake? Since Andrea is already upset with her AND looking into her friends’ identities? At least, Kara should take a peek to make sure Andrea hasn’t uncovered anything yet... No?

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Kue out.

[ralfstrashcan]

Fire Messages

A (long long long, let's not talk about it) while ago the dear @toughpaperround​ asked me about my thoughts on fire messages... and here they finally are.

Like most things in Shadowhunters fire messages come in two styles (other examples are portals, swords and runes) because at some point they experienced a random visual makeover. Both designs raise different questions and I'll get to those in a moment. First though it's interesting to note that the appearance of a fire message doesn't seem to depend on whether it's created by a shadowhunter or a warlock. On that note, are other downworlders able to create fire messages as well? Since shadowhunters operate them with their steles and warlocks with magic? I guess seelies should be able to as well since they also have magic (though they seem to prefere their nature-birds-leaves-whispering-on-the-wind way of communication). But what about vampires and werewolves? I don't recall either of thoses species ever sending a fire message on-screen, though it might have been mentioned at some point that one of them did, and I forgot. In any case I find it intriguing/ridiculous that fire messages look the same regardless of who creates them. Angelic energy and demonic magic don't really operate in similar ways so why would their fire messages look alike? Distinctive appearances like with the portals would make more sense.

Moving on to the first style! As far as I remember this style can only be spied once in the series, namely at the end of 1x06 when Izzy breaks things off with Meliorn

Which, now that I'm thinking about it, isn't that the shadow world equivalent of breaking up via text? Rude, Izzy. Anyway! The rune she draws at the bottom of the paper

is, as the trained eye immediately sees

Next, the paper goes up in flames

and Izzy lets go of it so she doesn't burn her fingers. Not a trace of the paper is left afterwards.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that the fire message burns into existence in midair wherever Meliorn is at this moment in time. Which... is probably the seelie realm? So can fire messages just travel between realms no big deal? Imagine the possibilities! Asmodeus could be bothering Magnus all day! Lilith could be terrorizing all Clave members via fire message harassment! This is hilarious XD

I have questions though! 1) How does the fire message know a) who the recipient is and b) where the recipient is? Canon never addresses or indicates either of those things so there's literally nothing to go off of. Re a): To me it seems most reasonable that the sender focuses on the person they want the message to receive while sending the message off via rune or magic. It's unlikely that writing the name on the paper alone determines the recipient because i) there exist people who share names and ii) you couldn't mention anyone in your fire message without accidentally cc-ing them, which, impractical and awkward. So intent seems the most plausible thing. Which in turn begs the question if you can mass-message people if you think of more than one person while sending? Probably not. In canon Magnus messages each warlock individually about that ritual he wants to try in 3x09. Might have been for courtesy's sake, so he can address every warlock individually with name but seems unlikely since he was under time pressure. Aside from that this would imply miraculous paper replication and physics says no. Re b): No way. This makes no sense whatsoever except when fire message magic is the ultimate omniscient might that can track anyone anytime anywhere. And if that power really existed in the world then how come no one has used it to currupt everything? Surely if you can access this pool of knowledge to send innocent little breakup messages you could find a way to use it for grand evil as well? I find it hard to believe that no one's tried and succeeded so far. Just look at how much effort shadowhunters put into tracking people all the time! They'd be stupid to waste their resources like that if there was a way to instantly-know the whereabouts of someone. Anyway, this is utter bs and just like the hp owls all over again and I simply refuse.

2) Who can you send fire messages to? My knee-jerk answer would be to anyone you know, both personally and more generally in the sense that you are aware of their existence. You focus on them while sending the message, bam, they get it. But. Spam. Spam is a thing. Do you have any idea how much hate mail and general pranks higher-ups would get if they could be (anonymously!) addressed by anyone? Magnus probably had a whole phase where he did nothing but trashtalk shadowhunters who pissed him off XD I read in this post (which is the one toughpaperround sent my way and which I'm kinda answering with this) the possibility that you can only fire message people you've either met in real life before or who you've established some kind of fire-messaging-you-is-okay-connection – kinda like exchanging phone numbers. Everyone has a phone but you can only call someone whose number you have. You can even hand-wave your way through issue b) and claim that the fire message tracks the recipient through that connection and that's how it can find them no matter where they are. I've thought about it for a while and while I think this is the most logical explanation I don't think it makes sense in-universe for how fire messages are used, or for what the purpose of a fire messages really is. Phones are inarguably more practical because you don't need an extra pen and paper to send off a message. So, why would someone use a fire message instead of a phone? Well, either the person you want to reach doesn't have a phone (*cough* Meliorn *cough*) or the message is so important and time-sensitive that you need the other person to know right now and while you can ignore a text or a call, you can lose your phone or it can die, it's kinda difficult to miss a burning piece of paper flying in your face. Fire messages are like extreme emergency phone calls. And for those it would be high-key impractical if you could only send them to someone you have already met previously. (Of course this is just speculation and doesn't even make sense historically since fire messages were around long before phones and likely were the only means of communication then and not just reserved for emergencies (or maybe they were since paper and ink was precious back then?!). And of course determining the nature of a thing by going 'It would be most practical if it was like this' is highly unscientific. Anyway.) Honestly, my personal take on this is still that you can send a fire message to anyone and the show simply ignoring everything that this implies (aka Alec getting at least 10 lewd fire messages per day from secret admirers) because it wasn't relevant to the plot.

Leaving behind questions that apply to fire messages generally this last one is design-specific. 3) To what exactly is the teleportation, that clearly happens here, limited? The paper, the ink. Uh-huh. What if you glue something to the paper? For example, idk, a GPS tracker? Would that allow you to learn the location of the person you messaged? Probably not, or they would have been very stupid not to do that with Valentine. Even if you could only message someone you have met in person and/or established a special fire message connection with there are still enough Circle members around in S1 who surely had his fire message phone number. (Or did he destroy the connection? Can you fire-message-block someone you no longer want any attachments to?) What happens if you fire message someone who's dead? Does the fire message hover over their grave for the rest of eternity? We'll never know. I'll allow that there is special fire message paper and special fire message ink that can teleport. Anything else tacked on would be left behind. Paper and ink could even be extra-charmed so they can pass through dimensions or whatever. Still sounds fake – because i) how would you spell paper so it can pass any ward (Magnus at some point messages Jem who's probably chilling in the Silent City or something) and ii) if there's a way to charm paper and ink so it can be teleported, why limit yourself to those? Why not put that same magic on your GPS tracker and you're ready to go? – but I tried okay. Whatever, special fire message paper and ink grow on special trees in Idris and their special teleportation magic can't be replicated. There, mystery solved.

The second style fire messages acquire is both more and less logically pleasing. It's more logically pleasing because it eliminates the whole teleportation issue since apparently the fire message just flies from sender to recipient but sadly this creates its own set of issues, first of all how tf does the fire message fly from sender to recipient? Does it have eyes? How does it navigate the streets by itself? What about the secrecy the shadow world allegedly tries to uphold? It also doesn't solve the GPS tracker problem (if anything it makes it worse) because who's stopping you from sending a nice little message to Valentine and then just, following the flying message to his secret hideout?

The journey itself isn't unproblematic either. How quick are those things flying? In 3x06 exactly 54 seconds pass between Magnus sending off his message to Jem and receiving an answer. So in less than a minute the message flew to Jem, he read it, he composed an answer, and it made the way back. No wonder these messages are burning at the edges if they're so quick. (Yes, that was sarcastic.) They also don't seem to slow down when approaching their intended target. Magnus even pushes Clary out of the way because of it.

This is so confusing. So the fire message can navigate through Magnus's apartment no problem but it would have chopped Clary's head off because she was in the way? Was Magnus just being dramatic? I mean I'd totally buy that on any given day, but the situation was a bit too serious for that especially because it isn't treated as a joke to lighten the mood but just like Magnus casually pulling Clary out of danger because that's what he always does. It makes no sense whatsoever. This also begs another question, since fire messages seem to seek out their target quite vehemently. If you're locked in an air-tight room, could you send a fire message to someone, and the fire message on its pursuit to fulfill its duty could help you create a crack in the walls? Could you actually break out via fire message? What if you grab the paper real tight? Could you fly out of a canyon on a fire message? Now, on to the last part of the fire message's journey: the landing. How. How do you catch something that moves so quickly instead of just swatting it away? In the post I mentioned before someone wrote that catching stuff like that works on auto pilot if you have the practice and I'll just take your word for it... but what if you don't have the practice? Personally I'm shit at catching shit. I'd get smacked in the face by 95% of the fire messages sent my way. And considering the speed and the sharp edges of the fire messages that can't be healthy. My poor face. Why do I say the fire message would slap my face and not docilely settle into my palm? Because that's what I honestly believe. I think if you fail to catch a fire message it just flops in your face and sticks there (that should also wake you up if you're asleep, lol) because I mean, look at those trajectories.

Mind that the fire message stays on its initial course even after Magnus / Alec / Izzy moves their hand to a position to catch it. That’s because it wasn't aiming for the hand. It was aiming for the face.

It only gets weirder from here on out.

Remember 3x07? Imogen gets stabbed by Possessed!Jace and uses her last moments to notify Alec of Jace's whereabouts (instead of, y'know, activating her healing rune which takes two seconds, sending the message after and keep on living. SIGH). Fair enough, but the thing is this

Where's the paper? Where's the ink?

What is happening? What is she doing there?!

And then-- and then--

Yeah Alec, I'm as shocked as you are. Where tf did that paper (and presumably ink for writing) come from?! Can shadowhunters suddenly create matter from nothing?? Physics is crying in the corner!! I have so many questions!!

[6ix-dragons]

Edens Zero: The Chapter 83 Uproar (and What’s Next)

(Please be advised: important spoilers for the latest chapters of Edens Zero will be found below!)

When I mentioned in one of my previous posts, the other day, about having to take a break from this series...I was actually half-joking about it. More on that, at the end of this post.

But, ladies and gentlemen...even ‘though it has been probably mentioned multiple times, by now—can we still talk about how incredibly dark the latest chapters have gotten, for this series...so far? I mean...pump the brakes there, Mashima! We can’t handle all this angst, and feels, that quickly!

As long-time followers of Hiro Mashima’s works would know, these dark themes and situations are really nothing new. We’ve seen them before, in Rave Master. We’ve seen it also happen in Fairy Tail—despite it being considerably lighter in nature, compared to Rave. However, all of those darker moments in both series don’t come even close to what had just happened with the latest chapter of Hiro’s newest series!

Now, for those who have actually yet to be caught up with the story, I’ll just cut straight to the chase: Shiki and a few of his prominent allies of the Edens Zero have taken on the next biggest villain (and, arguably, who might yet be the most infamous amongst those who the EZ crew faced, when this is all said and done), in Drakken Joe, and his equally-challenging cronies that are the Elemental Four. 

Long story short—all of the more prominent members of the Edens Zero crew end up losing their fights to them, and are promptly captured by Drakken Joe, and his group. What then happens next will may as well have sent most of the fandom into quite the shock they’re having right now.

Not long after Weisz ends up losing his arm, as punishment following their defeat, Drakken Joe—who claims he doesn’t kill people (yeeeaah...keep saying that, why don’t you? /s), makes the serious decision to execute Shiki, by putting a friggin’ bullet right through his head!!

I haven’t seen an execution this brutal being carried out by a villain, ever since Arlong did it to Bellemere, from who knows when!

Okay, now, not long after this chapter was released, I made the social media rounds to see how readers of this series really felt about what had happened in that chapter. There were some who actually praised Mashima for taking a more realistic, grounded approach, as well as for bringing the tone and themes more in line with Rave. Personally, I don’t see much of a problem with these opinions. I also did think that Edens Zero should stand out more than Fairy Tail did, in terms of both. However, as I will mention this later on, I was also concerned at the same time, as having something like this happen much earlier in the story, does bring major implications to the entire story itself, including its direction. 

Aaand, then, there are the opposite reactions from the other portion of the fanbase. I’ve heard rumblings of a lot of readers who were upset (rightfully so, but greatly) by this latest development. In fact, they were so upset about it, they actually sent hate messages—and, probably death threats, too, while we’re at it—to Hiro’s social media accounts! At least, that’s what I’ve come across from others in the fandom, who were warning those not to do these kinds of things.

So, what are my actual thoughts, and opinions, about what had just transpired from all this? Having read the latest chapter myself, I had the same reaction just like most of the fanbase did. I was shocked, and upset, at what was being done to, who is (apparently), one of the major, prominent leads of this series. And, just like certain portions of the fanbase, I had previously expected a different outcome for the main characters involved. Just an outcome that would not  potentially divide the fanbase in half, much like now. That wasn’t quite the case, unfortunately, as I have mentioned everything above.

As it stands right now (as of the time, and date of this post), it seems that Shiki has been ‘killed-off’...maybe for real, but, maybe not. It’s hard to mention, for sure, if he really is—unless there’s solid confirmation from Mashima, himself. All I can say is, ‘though, Shiki’s ‘death’ does open up more new questions, than it does answer the ones that have already been established before. 

Questions, like, how does this really address the nightmare that Rebecca had, from a few chapters earlier? In that sequence alone, we do get to see Shiki in it, as he tries to lead her out of an intense battle happening somewhere, at some point in time. How do the events of this newest chapter factor into what was already happening before? 

Another question, I think, would be even bigger than that. We’ve seen, from the beginning of the series, and onward, about what each character’s motives are, and their goals. Shiki’s ultimate goal was to find the mystical space entity, “Mother”. With the events of chapter 83 seemingly putting that into major doubt, however...that just makes me wonder what Mashima’s true intentions are, for this series. Were we really to believe that this would just be about the protagonist going on a journey to search for this entity of sorts—only for Mashima to mislead us into thinking that, and what really ended up happening, was definitely all for naught? Because, I certainly want to know what Hiro was truly thinking, when he planned out this arc of the story. 

Then, there are the significant implications to the future direction of the story that I previously mentioned above.

So, it’s obvious enough that Shiki is, at the moment, ‘killed-off’ quite early in this series. Where does it all go from here? As I previously mentioned above, Shiki’s goal was, ultimately, to find Mother. Without him at the helm of the Edens Zero, however, it won’t be possible anymore. Maybe the rest of the crew there can take the mantle from him, but I have a hard time imagining that would be the case. After all, he is the one guiding them, in the first place.

With all that being mentioned, I’ve been hearing from some who have mentioned that Shiki should make a return into the story, at some point. I also think that he should come back into the fold, too. The only questions for that, is: how—and, how soon?

Let’s start, by answering the first one. Assuming, again, that Shiki isn’t 100% confirmed to be killed off, for sure (which, also again, is pending on what Mashima says, himself), there are already a few possibilities on how he can make a return to the story in some form, or capacity. 

One of the most common theories I’ve come across from readers, is this whole C.A.T. idea. It’s been mentioned more than once in the story, including one from Master Noah, of all people. The thing is, ‘though, we still don’t know anything of what C.A.T. really is about. That’s where the whole aforementioned...mention from Master Noah comes in, however. He claims that Shiki is the key to unlocking C.A.T.—as he is talking about Rebecca, in the same breath. What does this all mean? Not much, but I believe Mashima should address that question, in a later chapter at some point. 

Speaking of Rebecca...another theory some fans have, has something to do with her recently-discovered Leaper ether-gear ability. They theorize that Rebecca would use that ability to somehow reverse these particular events from happening in the first place. Some of them have also included the above-mentioned C.A.T. idea, and combined the two together. I would seem to think there is some plausibility to this notion—it all comes down to how well Rebecca can develop her ether-gear to that point, however.

The third-most plausible theory would have something to do with Shiki himself. I believe it was either Drakken Joe, or Master Noah (correct me if I’m wrong; I’m trying to remember what happened in that chapter, as I’m typing out this part xD), who mentioned that Shiki ‘wasn’t human’. However, let’s go way back to the beginning of the story, when Shiki and Rebecca visited her guild, for the first time. Shiki claimed that ‘he saw Mother before’, after when said entity was mentioned by someone else. Maybe there is something more to how Shiki and Mother are greatly linked to each other, than we already know, in the grand scheme of things.

And, then, there’s this theory thrown out there that might be one of the least-plausible. A certain section of fans claim that Shiki could possibly make a return to the story...not as a human, ‘though—but, as a robot/cyborg of some sort. Yeah. No. Seriously. While it does lend credence to an older, but still-relevant idea that the Demon King Ziggy could actually be Shiki himself, I also have a hard time believing it would happen so soon. I mean, it’s still a possibility, of course...but, given the timing of it all, I reserve a healthy amount of doubt about this one. 

So, the other question to answer about Shiki’s (assumed) potential return in the story, is, how soon?

From how the story is paced yet, so far, I have my doubts that he will make a return that quickly. There is a source I’ve come across on Twitter, recently, who regularly posts spoilers for upcoming chapters of this series (I won’t name the source here, ‘though; you’ll just have to look it up, yourself). Based on the purported synopsis and spoilers straight from this source, for the next chapter—chapter 84, it appears that the focus is on what happened after the previous chapter, roughly a week later...mainly on Rebecca, herself, as she tries to make her escape. 

Of course, there are also other questions to answer that remain from the last chapter, such as the whereabouts of Weisz, Homura, Happy, and Pino. But, regardless, I digress. The point I’m trying to make here, is that, assuming Shiki does come back into the story...it probably won’t happen, until at some point later on. How late, we don’t really know. It all depends on what Mashima does next, for the upcoming chapters, soon. But, we can only hold onto the hope that he does write Shiki back into it all. Otherwise, I...well, I don’t know what to think of, anymore, then.

This has been a long post, so far. I only typed this out to let it all out from my mind, because of how chapter 83 had actually bothered me. I’ve been into Edens Zero a little bit more, now that the story has gotten somewhere—and that Shiki happens to be one of my favourite characters from that series, just like Natsu, from Fairy Tail. These latest revelations from the last few chapters, so far, have put a damper on what I expected out of this cast of characters, going forward. I know that there are some who wanted this series to stand out from Hiro’s previous works, through the inclusion of darker themes, and moments. But, this is something I think was a bit too extreme, in my honest, personal opinion. It also lead me to think more about how this series is going to progress, as well...which is why I made this post, and posts like this one, prior. 

Anyway, I had already stated that I would be taking a break from Edens Zero, for now—half-jokingly, that is. I will still try to keep a close tab on what will happen, every now, and then. But, you can let me know when Shiki does make a return (or, not) in the story, by leaving a reply on this post, or you can DM me. Either way, thanks for reading this entire post. Click on the heart if you like this; reblog this to all your friends...and, I will now focus on the Fairy Tail side of things. At least that can’t be any more messed up than EZ is, right now...

...right??

[venus-says]

Futari wa Precure Episodes 01-26

Am I rewatching precure? I can't believe this!

Yes, this is not a fever dream, I'm really rewatching precure, and not just Futari wa but THE WHOLE FRANCHISE. Am I crazy? Yes, because I'm already watching too much stuff at the same time and I barely have time for that as of right now, but I love screwing myself over so here we are!

I can't really remember the exact thing that sprung this desire of rewatching precure on me, but I've been thinking about it for quite some time now, at least since I wrapped up on the Aikatsu marathon before On Parade started, in fact, one of the reasons I started doing the old Kamen Rider reviews was because of this. I just didn't start it earlier because I'm the kind of crazy that picked a calendar, looked at the dates, and made the calcs, and realized I could watch pretty much everything in one year so I decided to keep this "project" for 2020 and start the new decade with a bang.

So this is how it'll go: I'll be dividing each season into quarters and pretty much covering one season per month with posts coming out weekly every Wednesday, the only exceptions for this rule are Futari wa and Yes! since these are the only seasons with sequels so instead of dividing into quarters I'll divide them in half and watch two seasons in a month rather than just one. Also, different from Kamen Rider's case, since I'm more familiar with the franchise and I know how the movies go I'll also be watching the movies and posting about them as I go along (All stars movies will come out usually in between the first and the second week, while solo movies will be in between the third and the forth). I really hope I don't go nuts and that this can go as smoothly as possible. XD In any case, it's precure time!

I promised myself I'd keep nostalgia out of these rewatches and do them like if it was my first time watching the series so that I can be less biased on certain aspects, but when it comes to the OGs is really difficult to not have my thoughts clouded by it. I may not have been around since Precure first aired, but Futari wa was effectively my first precure season too, I joined this bandwagon when Heartcatch was airing and I was so in love that I wanted to watch the past seasons and Futari was was my first choice and it holds a very special place in my heart because of that. I tried my best to keep those feelings out of this review and in some cases I was able to it effectively while on others not so much so, I apologize for that. XD

I usually try to separate these reviews on blocks of Plot, Characters, Designs, and commentary on specific episodes and I'm gonna try to apply this structure here more or less.

Talking about the plot... there's not a lot of it. XD

Like yeah, there's the whole Dark Kingdom attacking the Garden of Light thing, and the sort of scavenger hunt for the Prism Stones (not the Pretty Rhythm ones, just to be clear) and all of that, but there's not a whole lot going on beside it, is just Nagisa and Honoka goofing around while their friendship solidifies, they sometimes bump heads but that's pretty much it. And honestly, that's not bad, as while isn't a story about Nagisa and Fujipi the more slice-of-life portions are amazing.

The cure portion that is the problem, to start the action in these 26 episodes isn't the greatest, most of the time is just the cures being thrown away until they get fed up, say "I'll never forgive you!", hold hands, and they throw either a Marble Screw or, in rare occasions, a Rainbow Therapy. Of course, special fights with generals sometimes get a little more flare, but in general, they're pretty lackluster. Also, it feels like things weren't paced properly with the beginning and the end happening very fast and the middle being overly long in comparison. And of course, there's the element of defeating a villain or a set villains while there's still half a season ahead which means change of villains for people who we never knew existed before and apparently were a big deal, and if you read my Kamen Rider review you know how I feel about huge changes affecting the antagonists...

But oh well, I have lots of things to get through so I won't hammer on this for too long. MOVING ON.

Futari wa's biggest strength, at least for this first half, is CHARACTERS. The side cast has many hits or misses, but the protagonists Nagisa and Honoka more than compensate for it. One fun thing of this whole experience was kinda re-discovering them? Because I never watched the OG precure and Max Heart again after my first time watching like 10 years ago and I also don't have the best memory so I forgot a lot of minor things, like how Nagisa is such a downer in regards to their mission, and how positive and bright Honoka is and these are traits that are kinda opposites to their personalities with Nagisa being more outgoing and energetic and Honoka being more calm and polite, and this is so perfect and so much fun, I love it to that. Speaking of surprises I forgot how much of a savage Honoka was, like, the girl put a group of thieves on the line by just yelling at them. THAT'S THE DEFINITION OF POWER.

Unfortunately, they don't come alone. Their fairy partners, Mepple and Mipple, are... annoying. Mipple not so much, she has moments where I go "Really queen?" but for the most part she doesn't bother me, in fact, I'm sympathetic towards her who has to be partnered romantically with such a piece of crap of a male that Mepple is. I don't know why but I completely forgot the jerk that Mepple actually is and let me tell you, it wasn't fun seeing him being misogynist, selfish, and just plain rude, not just to Nagisa regularly but also with Mepple, it's actually very sad. I don't remember if he gets any better in the future, but for now, I'm hating him.

The side characters aren't very special, the girls in the Lacrosse Team and the Science Club are more or less just extensions and supporters or Nagisa and Honoka but I overall like them. The major highlights in terms of side characters are Akane and Fujipi. Akane is a huge positive because she has great energy, she's very fun, and he not only provides a meeting point for the girls but also has a mentor role, though its a very little one, that is great to see. Fujimura on the other hand... I admit, the dude is okay, he never really did anything relevant so there's nothing to hate on him per se, but he's a love interest and his situation with Nagisa never develops on any sort of way is just a very flat experience which makes his relevance even smaller so I can't help but think "what is he still doing here, just disappear with him already" every time he's up on the screen.

There's no other way to put this, the villains are plane as hell. Some of them have good designs but overall, they're very band. Pissard seems like it could've been a cool dude but we spent only 5 episodes with him, that's not enough time with him to make him interesting. Gekidrago is the boring and stereotypical "dumb villain", I think I don't need to write anything else after that. Irukubo is the stoic powerful villain, but much like in Pissard's case, we barely see him in action so it's not enough to make me care for him, and the Dark King is just a horrible CGI blob of darkness. The best villains of this first half are the siblings Poisony and Kiriya, Poisony is actually the best one of the generals seeing that she's a strategist and most of her plans were all pretty good so she was always able to get the cures corned in some way, she may have flunked her cover in that episode where she disguises as Honoka for not doing her research well before assuming the role, but overall she's amazing. Kiriya is the villain that never attacked the cures directly, as far as I remember he never summoned a Zakkenna, and putting it like this may sound like a bad thing, but trust me, it's not. He's the first precure villain to get a "redemption" and as rushed as it was his presence in the story and his arc as a character was also pretty well done so he deserves to share the podium with his sister as best villains.

Since we're talking about villains let's talk about the cures now. Black and White have a very simple design and that's not a bad thing, they're simple but they're still pretty different from each other and it's not a difference that screams to the eyes like id there was something wrong, they complement each other perfectly which only helps in making them this iconic duo that they are. The transformation items, as well as the Prism Hopeish and that notepad thingy, are very 2000's but they have their charm. I think the thing that didn't age very well were the effects for the transformations and the attacks, don't get me wrong I love their original transformation, there's a frame on it that is just marvelous, but watching with 2020's eyes there are parts that feel very wonky. Following the theme, the attacks have a very simple animation but in this case, it works because they can make some very interesting stuff with it, like launching a Marble Screw through Poisony's Umbra Witch hair.

Going into more detail on the episodes, these 26 ones feel like a normal seasonal anime, despite the pacing problems if these 26 episodes were a single season it would've worked well because there was no loose end lost in the mix, maybe the Fujipi stuff would be the only thing that would end with no proper closure, but then again that's not important so it would be a satisfying end. There were four major arcs inside this mini-season so I'll comment on them separately.

The first and shortest arc is the introductory arc that goes from Episodes 1 to 5. And there's not a lot to say here, they introduce the characters, the mission, and the character relations on a good way, there was nothing stellar but it's a good introduction to the series, the only let down is the fighting portion that is very lackluster, in special the final fight against Pissard that was supposed to be a big important moment but that in the end was just very not impressive at all.

The second arc goes from Episode 6 to 11. This is probably the most boring arc of all despite some interesting happening here, we have the introduction to the Prism Stones and the Prism Hopeish, they first use the Rainbow Therapy here, and we also have the famous arc where Nagisa and Honoka fight for the first time and tighten their bonds. These are all interesting points but the set-up for these things to happen weren't the best, like for example Nagisa and Honoka's fight, I always remembered this as a very important moment, AND IT IS, the lesson learned at the end is pretty good and it results on them calling each other for their first name which is a key moment, but all of that happened because of Nagisa's feelings for Fujipi and all that misunderstanding and ughhh that's such a boring reason to make them fight, it was really a letdown. I think after everything the thing that stroke me the most was Honoka's birthday episode and how badass she was for putting some sense into the head of three adult men, which was really magnificent. Also, the first proper fight happened in this arc in the final battle against Gekidrago, it was short but it was good nonetheless.

The biggest arc is the third one that goes from Episodes 12 to 21. This is my favorite arc and a big part of it is because Poisony and Kiriya start to get active here. I don't know how to explain but their addition to the cast made things more dynamic and interesting to watch. Poisony's plans always led to interesting situations like when she hypnotized their classmates that were playing dress-up as the cures, or when she trapped them inside that mirror dimension, or even her last moments in the show where she used that old trick of impersonating someone and making the protagonist having to choose who's the real and who's the fake one, you know even if the precure portions weren't the best, they were put in the most interesting situations in this arc. Together with that, we have Kiriya that goes through a very interesting arc, until now I don't really know why he infiltrated in the school since, as I mentioned, he never acted directly as a villain against the precure (not as far as I can remember) but his interactions with the crew and especially his relationship with Honoka was quite interesting to see it develop. My high points from this arc were episode 18, the one where a girl confesses her feelings for Kiriya - there's a lot of interesting stuff happening here, and episode 20, Poisony's defeat and one of the best fights of this portion of the season. My low point would be episode 19 more because Mepple is being a jerk here than anything else, but I didn't enjoy this episode as much as I did to the other in this arc.

The final arc of this portion is another small one, it covers episodes 22 to 26, and this one is very odd. We start with a filler centered around Honoka's dog of all things that are followed by two two-parters that wrap-up this first half. I'm gonna be honest I don't like this arc, one because it introduces Pollun and two because the "final" fight is very unimpressive, yeah Shining Star debuts here and is a big moment but overall isn't the best, which is understandable after all are two girls launching a beam at a giant dark blob of CGI and there's not a whole lot there, but its fun to see a preview of what will become the Extreme Luminario in the next season. I also don't like how they didn't let the episode finish on a downer note with both of the girls missing their partners and such. But oh well, at least we had Episodes 23 and 24 here there were very interesting, they had this mystery/horror film vibe to it and I loved it.

And that's pretty much all I had to say! Thank you for reading all of this mess, I really appreciate it, I'm very excited to be doing this and I hope I can count with your support through this year. What are your thoughts on Futari wa? Let me know in the comments. I'll see you, folks, on a next time, and don't forget, if you ever see a shooting star be careful with what you wish for, a cellphone thing may fall from the sky right on your head and unless if you're an anime girl you will be in risk of having a concussion. XD In any case, see you around. o/

[bluekayanite]

(SU/SU:F Observations/Theory) More on the SU Moon

So I've been convinced for awhile that the moon appearing in Steven Universe eps (and at least one of the books) is NOT RANDOM.  The first four eps of Steven Universe: Future helped solidify this for me even further.

So here's what I think the appearance of the moon means, as well as a number of my moon-related observations from the original SU.

EDIT (Dec 16, 2019): Corrected a detail that I missed/got wrong. =3 EDIT2 (Dec 17, 2019): Added another detail. ^w^

So, I believe that an important person from the Gem War has been imprisoned in the observation orb in the Diamond base.

(The force field is for extra insurance, filtering out anyone who might intend to do a rescue.)

Like the mirror that Lapis was trapped in, I believe that this prisoner can see what's going on through the orb's observation functions.  When this person is watching, the moon will appear.

When this person is paying closer attention than usual, the moon will often be bright and/or full... it may even be pink.

Sometimes, when this person is watching hard, even the sunset (or sunrise) will be pink.

I believe that - like with the search robonoids in Off-Colors - Rose's sheild wasn't enough to black out White Diamond's mind control powers.

I believe that the prisoner on the moon is the real Pink Diamond.

The Prisoner is Certainly Interested in Pink's Stuff

The reason I decided to write this is because of the moon's presence in the third and fourth eps of SU:F, Rose Buds and Volleyball - eps that would certainly be relevant to Pink Diamond's interests, because they're about Gems that would more-than-likely be important to her.  The moon shows up a LOT in Rose Buds, and is often on the bright side.

Granted, most of the appearances are in the same background of Steven's Room, during the slumber party - I omitted about half the shots because they'd be redundant. XD;  Still, it's quite a bit for the amount of show it's in.

That said, it doesn't start showing up until after the Rose Quartzes came to Steven's house.  And Crewniverse definitely took some creative liberties for *where* it appears.  For example, it's seen in *almost* the same place in the sky for both night and day shots of the house.

The moon doesn't work that way. XD  It's going to appear to go across the sky, just like the sun does, and at about the same rate.  The amount of shift that it does have would only suggest a change of... maybe a half-hour, if that.  Certainly not enough time to go from broad daylight to a dark, starry sky.  Another thing is that, even though the moon is shown on the opposite side of the house from Steven's new sliding-doors, you can see it through the sliding doors. XD

Also: even though you normally see it through the left side of the doors, it switches to the right side, just for this one shot.

So it really seems to me like they're trying to emphasize "the moon is there!"  I can't think of a reason why they would do that, unless it were important to the story... in this case, a story about a few Rose Quartzes, who Pink made.  (I like to imagine that it's like she's trying to press her nose to the door. XD)

Now in Volleyball, while most of the shots are indoors, the shots of the house include the moon... again, in both day (right at the beginning of the ep) and night (right at the end of the ep), and again, in about the same position in the sky for both day and night.

Though this time the moon even changes phases, going from quarter-moon to a full one.  Again, the moon doesn't work that way!  It takes a week to go between a quarter-moon and a full moon.  (It's also one of the times when its on the brighter side.)

So again, I don't think this'd be done unless it were important to the story.  Again, the story is about a Gem that Pink (probably) made, and who is probably important to her.  I've already mentioned that I suspect that a full moon means that Pink is paying extra-close attention - this suggests to me that Pink Pearl really was that important to Pink.

...I could only imagine what Pink would be feeling.  She might be a that the Pearl (esp. the pink one) seem to be doing okay, but what they think about her would probably be awkward at best.  ...more likely it would be painful though IMO - one of the Gems who she was really closest to has forgotten who she really is.

The Moon-Prisoner Seems Interested in Steven and the Crystal Gems

Okay... so I haven't actually scanned through all the SU eps to see where the moon shows up, but here are the things I have noticed:

The moon shows up a lot when Steven and Connie are together - as does the pink-sky thing.

In Sworn to the Sword, the moon is actually full briefly during the Jam Buds song... and then instantly changes to a quarter-moon.  This is extra weird moon-behavior, since it's actually impossible for the moon to be full during the day, since it has to be on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun to be full. XD  She's gotta be paying really close attention - not to mention be very POWERFUL - if she managed that. X3

(And yes, I'm sure it's not the sun.  The sun isn't made of two shades of blue.)

Anyway, the moon is there for two of Greg's stories.

It's also there for Garnet's wedding. ;3

(Looks to me like Pink's a 'shipper. =3 X3  It even shows up during Gemcation, when Connie and Steven aren't talking.)

It's there, full, and bright, for ALL of the wrestling matches.  (Seriously, ALL of them.)

It's hard to see after Tiger and Puma get beaten, but it's there.

It's bright and pink when Steven is having trouble with his cat fingers - possibly suggesting freak-out.

Speaking of freak-out, the moon shows quite a bit during the Heart of the Crystal Gems arc, after "the Reveal" - as do pink sunsets.

In The Question, there's also a higher rate of pink-colored, diamond-shaped stars with a halo around them - something else that I think could be a clue that the prisoner's watching... maybe even trying to communicate.

She also seemed to be watching during the fiasco with the communications tower (where the moon is explicitly used to show the passing of time).

...and may have checked in out of worry, after.  Specifically, on Amethyst.

And seemed to have watched for the resolution. =‘3

It's hard to miss the moon at the end of Rose's Scabbard.

She also apparently watches Beach-A-Palooza - the moon is even noticeably pink during Sadie's Song!

(...though admittedly, the pink may be harder to notice against my marks. XD; )

There's some INTENSE pink-sunset going on in Raising the Barn, when a fellow prisoner is thinking about running away.  (Plus a half-moon, after it's too late to stop her.)

She may have noticed when Lars - a friend of Steven's - went missing.

She may have even followed Buddy’s adventures.

I even wonder if she somehow got Lion to go get Steven out from the ocean in Escapism.

Overall, the impression that I get from when and how the moon appears is sort of a curious, excitable, and supportive (and/or worrying) feeling.  And it would seem to me like the prisoner enjoys entertainment, much like Pink is established to. ;3

The Moon is Conveniently Absent for Certain Plot Points

Like I hinted at, there don't appear to be any signs of the moon in either Little Homeschool or Guidance.  In fact, other than when Jasper first arrives, the moon hasn't shown AT ALL when either Jasper or Smokey have been involved - and even when Jasper first arrives, it's a stretch, because you have to count seeing the moon from the hand-ship, where I'm not sure the orb could look into.

Though I guess the sky could be considered pink after the crash... (I'd say it's more of a light/pale red, though - not quite "pink" range.)

And the sky is definitely pink at the end of Back to the Kindergarten - an ep that Smokey appeared in.

Still, it seems plausible that the prisoner doesn't know much about what's happened with Jasper, and she might not know about Smokey (or the other with-Gem Steven-Fusions) at all.  I'm thinking there's a pretty good chance that there's going to be an ep where Pink meets Jasper, and there's some shock involved (on both sides).

Similarly... one of my theories is that Smokey's freckles are a recessive trait indirectly inherited from Pink, who had to hide her own freckles.  (They're the only truly new trait gained when Steven fuses with one of the CGs.)

I think this might be setting up for a pleasant surprise on a first-meeting with Smokey. =3

There are other points where it seems like she missed something important - for example, there's no sign of the moon during Pearl's most famous song... or anywhere else in Mr. Greg.

I've also yet to see the moon any time when the other Diamonds were on Earth.  (Though it does show up after they've already left...)

And... well, while the sky is pink through much of the movie, I think that's caused by the injector, not the moon-prisoner.  The only time you see the moon during the *actual story* is during Independent Together.  (Plus one of halo'd stars that I think could also be important.)

So... depending on where her focus was, the prisoner may, or may not, have noticed Spinel.

...And even if she did, she probably hasn't seen Spinel's newer form.

(It also shows during Steven's recap - one place where it seems like she might be watching proudly. =3)

(...Come to look, it really looks like the rings of light coming off the moon are focused toward Steven, too. 83)

I think it's also possible that the moon disappearing could mean that the prisoner's stopped watching.  For example, while the moon was clearly above the communications hub near the end of Cry For Help, it disappears when Sugilite knocks it down.

I also realized while gathering screenies that the moon isn't found in Sadie's Song after Barb goes to get more glitter.  (I'd previously assumed that Pink was watching all the way through, but now I'm not so certain.)

Granted, it's possible that both these cases were meant to declutter...  I certainly don’t think that just because the moon is missing in a specific shot means that the prisoner isn’t watching at that very second.  For example, there are a number of moonless shots in The Question that come in-between shots with the moon.

(In general, I believe that if the moon shows up outside, before an important scene inside, then it means that she’s watching throughout the indoor scene - possibly throughout the whole ep, even.)

It's also possible that, since they actually were keeping track of the moon's position in Sadie's song, it just didn't show after the glitter-run because the camera never faces toward it.  Still, it did seem like they fudged its location when they showed the empty stage, so that seems like a stretch.

Though now, I'm thinking there's a really good possibility that, since they both looked like they were leading toward trainwrecks (even if it was only the case one of those times), she couldn't bring herself to watch. =D;

Maybe she has even more trouble with anxiety than I realized...

The Moon is in the Openings

So I couldn't find any sign of the moon in the first two eps of SU:F, but you can see it in the opening.

((SIde note: I really love when Peridot is doing cute stuff. =3))

The moon has always been in the SU openings - you can find pink sunsets in them, too (though not the one for SU:F) - it's one reason why the moon and the sky seem so important to the story, to me. =3

EDIT: It took me awhile to notice, but you can also find some pink sky in the SU:F opening! =D

It’s just mixed in with a blue sky, during the day, instead of a sunset, which usually has orange.

(The way I read it, I guess you could say that Pink was part of the group shot, too. =3  Anyway...)

I find it kind of odd that the moon only shows up for Amethyst in the first intro... though I guess it makes sense that it'd at least show for one of Pink's Gems. XD;

EDIT2: Oh!  And not only is there pink sky during the songs, but you can sometimes find it during the ep title. =3

But yeah, this is another one of those places where it seems to me like Pink's offering support, following Steven's adventures.  In a way, it kind of feels to me like she's always been a part of those adventures - or at least, like she wanted to be. 3′=

[shadowsong26fic]

yo tell me about Shamie, any universe

So, the difficulty here was in coming up with ten facts you don’t already know…XD

Anyway!

Ten Things About Shamie, applicable primarily to their usual canon-aligned timeline (as opposed to Valdemar AU or one of the ones where Mirah acquires them as an adult), though some of these apply to any and all versions.

For those of you who don’t know, Shamie is one of Zeb and Kallus’s four kids. They’re a former pickpocket/street urchin, the third by adoption order, probably the second-oldest, and Human. In modern-day Earth terms, they're agender. They grow up to be a priest in a faith devoted to a sun/fire deity that I still need to name.

Putting the actual list behind a cut because. Uh. I got wordy?

Ask me about my characters!

They’re not technically a feral child, in that they weren’t, like, Raised By Wolves or anything. But both of their birth parents were out of the picture by the time they were two (I think their biological father was possibly gone before they were born, but not 100% sure on that), and then they were on their own for about six months when they were around five or six, and then for about a year until Zeb found them when they were around nine.

I’m not 100% sure who looked after them between two and five, but it’s probably a similar sort of situation to the old woman who looked after Stef before that one Bard found him? I.e., looked after their physical needs/wasn’t especially cruel or kind, but mostly used them as a prop for begging, etc. Anyway, whoever this person was, Shamie’s memories of them are pretty vague and sort of neutral

So, basically, while their social skills are wildly inconsistent, their basic physical milestones were more or less met/language and communication development is more or less on track, and they have enough of a foundation to catch up where they’re lacking.

(Yes, yes, I know this is a thing that tends to get handwaved for the sake of Story all the time, and I’m still doing a certain amount of that, but there’s a limit, at least for me.)

Their original home planet was pretty far away from its star, and therefore lighting tends to be pretty dim or super artificial or both (though there was geothermal heating that gave it a naturally fairly moderate temperature range). Which is probably another reason they gravitated towards a sun/fire deity.

They’re pretty good at reading people/intent; so when they spot Zeb trying to figure out a way to break into whatever he needs to break into, they immediately peg him as Dangerous But Not An Active Threat/Not Scary and keep an eye on him from a distance.

…which probably means they figured out what he was up to and offered to help, rather than him spotting them picking someone else’s pocket and approaching them.

The fact that they then attempted to negotiate price (not…very well, they don’t really have much concept of long-range planning or how to save up or whatever at this point, so fifty credits seems like A Lot to them and that’s where they start, but they made a Spirited Attempt) is probably about 30% of why Zeb decided to keep them.

(Though, initially, Zeb actually kind of encouraged them to disappear/run off after they handed over the passkey he needed, because Let’s Not Get A Small Civilian Child Shot Today Okay That’s Bad.)

(Shamie considered doing that for a minute, but stuck around for reasons that are still fuzzy in my brain, and that just kind of cemented things.)

(Still the best text message conversation when he gets in touch with Alex about maybe bringing home Kid #3

(Also his mission report on the subject: “Did not in fact get the Small Child shot. Go me.”)

So, the way training for priests work in their faith, is that they go to seminary for about three years, and then are sent out as a junior priest for a sort of apprenticeship/internship, which usually lasts anywhere from one to five years. Pretty much every priest takes on a junior at least once over the course of their career. Depending on the kind of career track the junior priest is set upon, their mentor could be in a variety of positions/career stages, though usually the super high-ranked priests don’t take on juniors anymore, and the full priest is generally at least ten years past their own internship. Anyway, all this background to say that Shamie ends up mentoring probably at least three or four junior priests over the course of their career, including one of their ex’s kids.

(Generally, there’s a transition period when an older priest is retiring, especially for priests on the community rather than administrative/political track. This is sometimes, but not always done with an internship, which is how things worked out for Shamie. Their mentor, I think I’ve possibly mentioned, is a Togruta who in my head is played by Maggie Smith.)

They never quite grow to like the heavy snows/storms/how Cold things get in certain seasons (ask them about that time their generator shorted out during a storm and they had to go out and reboot it), but a) it’s still not as bad as Hoth, and b) the view–both of the higher peaks and of the valley below–and the sense of open space/freedom/nature/what have you make the weather patterns absolutely worth putting up with.

Once they got used to the altitude, they made a habit of trying to take one day a week to go hiking. Not so much for the scenery, but because there’s a particular contemplative state they get to when it’s just them and the mountain and the flora and fauna, etc.

(They technically serve a group of about four or five mountain towns, along with the surrounding rural area; their base town/where they actually live is roughly central, altitude-wise, and about as high as Machu Picchu.)

They tend to wear their hair in pretty feminine-coded styles, because they like them better. Probably part of why they let Orryn braid their hair so often. Most of the rest of their presentation is pretty mixed, at least until they’re ordained–their faith doesn’t really have gender differences in standard clerical wear.

While there’s pretty much nothing that they flat-out won’t eat (except that one thing they’re allergic to, or otherwise known to be toxic for humans/obviously spoiled/etc.), they don’t really like sweets/overly sweet things, as a rule.

While they’re pretty phlegmatic/chill about most things, there are a Few Things that genuinely get to them:

They have a Thing about arson.

And a related Thing about not being able to find/get to an exit.

Slugs or anything else that leaves a wet/sticky trail.

Or, like, sticky things in general tend to squick them out a bit. They don’t mind most other types of mess but if it’s sticky it’s Gross.

They really, really don’t like anything that obstructs their hands/fingers–took them a while to even get used to wearing gloves, and that’s mostly because the choice between Gloves and Frostbite.

(They tend to type one-handed, too; pretty much any task that can be done one-handed, they prefer to keep their other hand free Just In Case.)

Apparently, their biological father may have been a clone???

This will probably not be at all relevant since their birth parents aren’t super relevant in general but yeah it’s a Thing.

(…I mean. Assuming the clones weren’t engineered to be sterile, which is possible but I don’t think ever explicitly stated and also this is interesting.)

Also, I’m not sure anyone actually figures it out, unless Shamie has genetic testing done to check for potential issues moving forward–they possibly take more after their mother, appearance-wise (and they’re definitely Taller and Ganglier than any of the clones as an adult), plus there were a lot of weird environmental factors in their early childhood so ::shrug emoji::.

[scarlettlawyer]

Part five of my Phantoms & Mirages commentary, @renegadewangs‘ fic series.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Haunted Specters, Chapter 7

Despite the earlier warning not to touch anything, his attention was drawn to a nearby little statue built out of gears and bolts. It was shaped like a man with a top hat. He prodded it and its arm fell off. That effectively got him to stop touching things.

LOOOL

A few of the guards by the exit had smiled at her- one of them had winked at her.

I WAS LOWKEY DISAPPOINTED WHEN THE INITIAL BREAKOUT SCENE ENDED and there was nothing like this. At the time I was honestly like ��Stuff it! I’m just gonna pretend people noticed how cute that nurse was!” But THEN, you actually went back to it (when I assumed the scene wouldn’t be returned to) and made it so that I didn’t even have to headcanon anything. Past me needed just a little patience ;D What else is new?

After all that time she- he- they had spent lying in bed, the exercise was unwanted.

Ohooh! I’d forgotten all about the uses of “they” here. I’m pretty sure I felt kind of annoyed on the first readthrough, like “WAIT SO YOU’RE DEMONSTRATING AWARENESS AND USE OF SINGULAR THEY, AND YET…”

But nah, nah, it’s actually pretty cool what’s going on with the pronouns in this segment and the switching going on. “He” is applied to statements that only apply to the phantom and not the makeshift nurse persona. “She” is employed for the makeshift nurse persona because the phantom is leaning on, relying on that persona, as they reject their sense of self and always feel the need to be someone else. As the nurse, the phantom thinks about “the phantom” in the third person, to help further keep that comfortable distance, I suppose. And “they” is used for statements that are true of both the nurse persona AND the phantom. Therefore, interestingly enough, the “they” is technically being applied in both a singular and plural manner - simultaneously.

And also, this pronoun-switching fun and the distinctions that are subsequently made would simply not exist if a consistent singular they was used instead. The he/she/they all serve an important and relevant purpose. On the first readthrough, at least during the first phantom POV breakout scene, I was irritated by the switch to she/her and the references between he & she. I found it unnecessary and tedious when “they” would make everything go so much more smoothly. But I fully realise now that it would have been a lost opportunity of sorts for the reasons mentioned above (and willingly embrace it for other reasons too). I had also very much underestimated the level of the phantom’s investment in roles and how much he was “getting into” the role too, I suppose.

After all, at the end of this chapter, the phantom has absolutely no one to perform for or put on an act for, and yet it specifically says they will very much remain as the nurse until a different disguise/persona can be donned (although I guess it’s also a case of “remain in character so you’re already in character when you encounter anyone”). But it’s also the case of, just like when they were disguised as Bobby, they were compelled to act as Bobby. They’re remaining in-character as the nurse so that they don’t have to be themself. And so that extends to pronouns too, to fully complete it.

Haunted Specters, Chapter 8

The situation felt surreal. As if Simon were caught in some sort of lucid dream. To be sitting around a table with Fulbright and the Phantom, plotting out what could technically be considered a crime… 

I keep trying to put into words just how WILD the situation our three main characters are in is, but Simon keeps beating me to it.

If someone had told him of this situation earlier on in the year, he would’ve laughed and called them stark raving mad.

ME BUT IF SOMEONE TOLD ME THIS IS WHAT FIC 2 WAS GONNA BE LIKE

Bobby Fulbright, Simon Blackquill and the phantom sharing an apartment together? Having a meal together?

What do you mean this isn’t a Roommates Domestic AU? What do you MEAN this is “canon compliant”?! You try explaining this to someone who’s played Dual Destinies and Bobby Fulbright’s presence – his being alive – would be confusing enough and require so much explaining. Let alone EVERYTHING ELSE. And yet.

It wasn’t like Dissociative Identity Disorder, because no matter how invested he became in his role, he still retained a sense of self that could be brought back at will. He adopted roles willingly and studied his subject beforehand- perhaps neurotically so.

Yeah, I was glad for this being brought up but I was focused mainly on the level of control that was had – of course, one of the major defining differences is that the phantom can actively choose to adopt and shed a persona, as opposed to having less control over it or slipping more inadvertently into a different identity like someone with DID. But I was still wondering about the level of self-deception that it involved on the phantom’s part at the time (post-fall), as discussed in my previous post. So I knew it was not DID and it was very, very different from DID, but I was still inclined towards treating Sam like another personality at the time sort of in the same sense you might treat different identities that can front in someone with DID… The key difference being that the phantom has full control over when Sam is present and still knows everything that’s going on even when Sam is in place. It gets kinda confusing to think about XD. You and your ridiculously good acting skills, phantom!! I also knew of course that Sam was more “fake” than the different identities of someone with DID. But it seems that I really didn’t treat him as fake enough. But just like it is for Bobby and Simon, treating Sam as distinct in that manner just made things easier to understand, easier to process.

The characters have been thrust into an odd sort of temporary mundanity in a domestic sense. It is that very mundanity which makes the situation so fascinating. The three characters are sectioned off from direct contact with the rest of the Ace Attorney universe, from other Ace Attorney characters, in their own special kind of liminal space. “Sam” is the only buffer in place separating Bobby and Simon from the phantom. It’s in their best interest to make Sam seem more real… I think… To an extent they have their own limited amounts of self-deception going on there in that regard. Without Sam, things would all fall apart way too easily, it would be all too easy for all hell to break loose, when it’s a struggle to keep the peace as it is. A kind of welcome reprieve. So all THREE characters, the phantom included, hold up and treat Sam as a separate individual. It’s beneficial to all of them, really. But, it kinda also helps the reader out too as they’re sitting there struggling to process this amazing turn of events. Helps the reader make some sense of Bobby’s, and then Simon’s cooperation.

Also sometimes it just felt “too good to be true” for me as well so it was like… ah, Sam. The author must want us to be focusing on him, and not our darling phantom, right? :P

The Phantom was truly devoted to being anyone who wasn’t his ‘true self’, which he claimed he didn’t have. However, Simon had learned that such claims were unsubstantial.

And this is just the beginning… I didn’t know it was coming, I didn’t expect it was coming. But it’s coming. I failed to notice just what this tiny thread was – things were going to get unravelled all the way, following this thread from beginning to end, fully revealing the phantom. Hm! This undercurrent was already firing up but I’d failed to take notice.

The scene with phantom tossing the gun over to Bobby is just, whoa. The whole dynamic of “character A tosses character B a gun and begs character B to shoot them” is really something in and of itself. But “character B is committed to justice and couldn’t do that” meanwhile character A is the phantom, a supposed enemy who is super hard to capture + kill…! Damn. It’s a gripping dynamic. It’s powerful. So many different forces at play, going up against each other.

Haunted Specters, Chapter 9

“Sam Specter does not need to prepare for burglary. The Phantom does.”

“And here I’d assumed you loathed being the person known as the Phantom.”

YEAH this kinda made me a lil “?” on a first readthrough. Simon’s reply most likely means “I’d assumed you loathed [not being in character as someone else and being forced to be “yourself”]” as opposed to “I’d assumed you loathed [being referred to as “the phantom”]”. (Or maybe it’s both?). It surprised me that the phantom would openly refer to “himself” as the phantom when not in-character…! This moniker, after all, was not chosen by him. It was a label slapped on him by other people, and he had absolutely no say in the matter. Well, I was so entrenched in a common characterisation of the phantom basically rejecting this label, or at the very least not being a fan, as it puts a label on him. The he that he claims does not exist. He’s most likely just humouring Simon here using the label that Simon uses and is familiar with, however, as opposed to having internalised it. But I was still surprised because the characterisations of the phantom that I’m accustomed to usually have them explicitly rejecting this label, to the extent that they would not even use it in this sort of context. But then I came to realise – that characterisation is not necessarily the “canon” one. The phantom is lacking emotions, so they would not necessarily have strong feelings like this, about something as simple as a moniker. Just as they do here, they can easily dodge the label and pretend it in fact applies to no one. A non-person. A non-person that they don’t care about. I realise that this interpretation is also valid.

He remembered Fulbright saying that the man had been in pain for eight months already and wondered just how fierce it was. Wondered whether this was karma’s way of repaying the Phantom for all his crimes. He could run from his past life, his emotions and the consequences of his actions, but not physical pain.

This is kind of, well, delicious, really. Karma actually managing to find a way, for a man so indifferent to everything… :P In the only real way the message can be communicated across. I approve.

Simon punched him again. And again. Desperate for something more than blank stares- anything that was genuine sorrow. Genuine regret for all the Phantom’s wrongdoings. Even genuine anger would do. Anything real and substantial. 

Well damn. Doesn’t this just have another layer to it on a second readthrough?!

He initiates violence out of anger. But then. But then, the key motivator is prompting a reaction. The… The same base motivation of the other instance once you strip everything else away, yet under such VASTLY different circumstances. I’d also misremembered this as Simon only punching him once. But no. No. The text initiates the parallel ever more closely with multiple blows. GOSH.

Haunted Specters, Chapter 10

“What did he say?” Simon tried again, more forceful this time. “… He said the walls in this apartment aren’t as well insulated as we’d like.”

AMAZING.

Oh goodness…

THEY’RE IN. THE PHANTOM’S APARTMENT I am yelling. THE PHANTOM feels the need to intervene.

AND HE DOES SO AS SAM.

PERHAPS because he does not wish to do so as himself.

I DON’T THINK HE WAS ALREADY SAM PRIOR TO THIS POINT??? It’s implied that when locked in the room = the phantom, ventures outside of the room = oftentimes Sam. SO LIKE??? HE CHOSE TO BE SAM TO- that is the story I’m sticking with rn because that is so funny to me. And he does come out and be Sam after that cause I guess it’s “well I already switched to Sam so I Might As Well come out and be Sam for a while.”

It was the Phantom hidden behind that harmless façade- he knew it was the Phantom- but even so, he felt as if he were looking at a completely different person. Perhaps, in a way, it was a completely different person.

THIS IS WHAT I MEAN… The narrative putting forth the proposition that perhaps “Sam Specter” does have some sort of claim to personhood.

And then Simon apologises to Sam. And it just, feels like such an important turning point. Sam is a slippery slope. FOR ALL OF US.

It’s also kinda like, Simon knowingly playing along. For the sake of keeping up appearances. Keeping the peace. For the greater good. But does it run any deeper than that? Even the thought of apologising to a mere façade that the phantom is clearly behind is… hmm! It’s a very elaborate act for everyone, kind of.

Either way, Sam seemed content with whatever words Bobby had uttered. He smiled and hung his head for a moment, then nodded at Simon. Apology accepted.

:D

IT’S FAKE REACTION BUT LIKE… THE NARRATIVE POSITIONING… hm!

Sam would join them for dinner and clean up after them, only to disappear into the bedroom once more. 

EVEN THOUGH SIMON HAD KINDA SETTLED DOWN AT THIS POINT I WAS STILL BUSY REELING AT THIS ENTIRE SITUATION/DYNAMIC CHANGE THOUGH.

The. The PHANTOM (in a persona) would join them for dinner and clean up after them. (THIS SENTENCE IS JUST SO CASUAL!!! AND I’M LIKE! NO HOLD UP I’M STILL REELING LOL).

“Right!” There was a moment of silence, then the Phantom turned his head to face Bobby, shooting him a blank stare. A few seconds passed before the man seemed to be hit by a sudden realization. “O-oh! Right! The security systems! I’m on it!”

LOL this is just… so great. Well-timed comedic moments. GOD. When these three characters get together you expect someone to die. And yet we get to reap some comedy from this. I LOVE it.

Haunted Specters, Chapter 11

Every so often, Bobby would start tinkering with the watch again, his eyebrows contracting and the corners of his mouth twitching as information flashed along the display of the sunglasses.

CAN I JUST SAY, that it’s kind of amazing how you like… take imagery explicitly associated with the phantom and ONLY the phantom, and casually apply it to Bobby, cheerfully mixing up the symbolism? Obviously, to those who have played Dual Destinies, the image of “Bobby” having data rapidly scroll past glasses that he is wearing is an association ONLY attached to the phantom. If included in fanart, people will immediately know that this is supposed to depict the phantom in disguise, and not the real Bobby Fulbright. And YET, in your fic, here is the real Bobby Fulbright doing that EXACT same thing! Likewise, thanks to Simon splitting the phantom’s glasses apart during the Turnabout for Tomorrow trial when causing the gash in the phantom’s mask, “Bobby” without glasses is also very phantom-symbolism. Of course, not AS associated with the phantom as the gash in the mask, but the gash+lack of glasses is often used to tip people off. However! Right at the very start of this series it’s implied that the glasses are the phantom’s and the phantom’s alone, and that Bobby was not actually in the habit of wearing sunglasses at all! You go “wait a minute. It’s the other way around. If he’s got glasses, it’s the phantom! The real Bobby Fulbright didn’t even wear those!” That’s pretty damn cool! You also have the amusing reversal during Chasing Phantoms when Bobby impersonates the phantom. Even if it wasn’t the phantom he was specifically impersonating, it goes without saying that impersonation is something attached to the phantom’s character, not Bobby’s, yet it is something Bobby does at that point in the fic. And then, you know, there’s that scene much later on in the next fic where Bobby uses the Jolt of Justice on the phantom. I think I’m comfortable in saying that most of the fandom agrees that the real Bobby Fulbright would not have electrocuted Simon in court like the phantom did and that this was a specifically phantom act. But your fic has the REAL Bobby Fulbright use it, and the narrative even comments on the shocking (pun not intended) nature of it, where Simon muses that he “never thought he’d see the day” when the real Bobby used it. It’s just, so cool, and it’s also a really interesting and meta way of “striking back”, so to speak. After all, we NEVER met the real Bobby in canon. Since we ONLY ever get to meet the phantom, on a meta level, the phantom has truly stolen so much from him. His appearance, for most fanart. I’ve seen many people incorrectly use the name “Bobby Fulbright” as shorthand for “phantom”. The two characters get ridiculously blurred together since the phantom does not have enough to distinguish themself and was Bobby for the entire game. The phantom does not have their own tumblr tag, because “the phantom” is way too vague and applies to too many fandoms, so people throw it into “#Bobby Fulbright” and usually call it a day. What else can they do, really? I’ve been guilty of that myself I’m sure. Some fanart is quite ambiguous whether it depicts Bobby or the phantom. In much of fandom and in the eyes of players, the phantom has stolen much of explicitly Bobby symbolism for themself. But in your series, Bobby Fulbright gets to strike back! He gets to steal the phantom’s symbolism! He takes phantom imagery and claims it as his own, at least temporarily! It’s one of those things that gives him “agency” at least on a meta level that I’m impressed with. It’s also a great way of striking back at people like me, specifically, who tended to ignore Bobby in favour of the phantom. But I am not “forced” to acknowledge Bobby, because in this series it is not a zero-sum game. Rather, I am more than happy to do so. He’s a great character!

The conversation turned more heated. The Phantom- or was it the guard after all?- was shouting. The other voice seemed more calm. Collected. It held a forceful tone. There was a loud slamming sound, followed by more yelling.

Oh my god.. This is. So much on second readthrough. This is the child losing their temper and arguing back against their father. And Lex Sr knows. He knows that is his son. “more calm. Collected. It held a forceful tone.” Oh my GOOOSH this description… Like a SCOLDING. “I am the parent. YOU are the child! Do NOT argue back against me!” THAT’S WHAT THIS BRINGS TO MIND… AND THAT’S???  Probably how Lex Sr may treat it in his mind to an extent

AND I ALSO LOVE THE AMBIGUITY WHERE SIMON CAN’T EVEN KNOW IF THAT’S THE PHANTOM OR NOT, gosh.

“You had no right to take it! You had no right!”

I could not… BELIEVE this. At this point it’s implied, and later on we do know that this statement is absolutely right. And I think my main disbelief over this line stemmed from later if the scene is revisited(?), but I’m just gonna comment on it here.

Even if the phantom is right to say this, is right to be angry (!!!), the fact that it’s the phantom saying it absolutely floors me. It’s shocking and SURPRISING that the phantom could even UNDERSTAND, internally, a concept such as “rights”. And the thing is, he probably DIDN’T prior to this. It’s only when something happens to him, personally, when he is wronged, personally, that he understands.

It is the absolute HEIGHT of hypocrisy, to an incredible extent. The phantom had no right to kill all the people he has killed. He had no right to steal their identities. But he DID. And now, now, he claims “you had no right”?! I have no words. The phantom gets to just go around and wrong as many people as he wants, but the moment someone wrongs him he’s suddenly all, “wait, you can’t do that! That’s wrong!”

LOVE how rich that is coming from him.

“Shut up! Just shut up!”

A N G E R

Honestly luv seeing him just lose it.

“No! I… I’m not upset! I…”

You know what’s even better than seeing the phantom get legit angry for a moment? Seeing the phantom immediately denying it/in denial & confusion over that very anger and falling over himself internally all like “wait was I just angry??? CAN’T be. I am the Logic Man”. This absolute MESS of a man, I tell you, defying his own logic and being DEEPLY confused about himself whenever that happens.

“You’re going back to your cell until your memories return.” “No, I won’t! I won’t go back there!”

“Go to your room until you calm down and learn to treat your own father with some RESPECT.”

Teenage rebel son: “NO, I WON’T! SCREW YOU, DAD!”

The relationship between Luster and the Phantom was much more convoluted than Simon had anticipated. Far more intricate.

Yeah Simon, could you hold onto that thought? It’s uh. It’s just a little bit more convoluted than you think, even. :D

Man, things sure do… progress, huh, as all this is going on. You have Simon going in to search for the phantom, then Bobby… and when Bobby goes, Simon ultimately doesn’t stop him. It’s, aaaah.

Okay, what’s ALSO really great is that, with the Sequel Hook that Chasing Phantoms throws us, and then the timeskip that Haunted Specters begins with, one of the pressing questions on my mind is like “whoaaaa! Wonder what the phantom’s been up to all this time! The possibilities are practically endless! He must have been up to so much behind the scenes!” and then we get the answer to that question and it’s basically like… Nothing. He did basically nothing in all that time. Dumb loser got himself caught in a cell for several months. And that’s basically it. GOOD WORK PHANTOM, A+ ELITE SPY RIGHT THERE.

So, towards the end of the chapter when the phantom rushes back inside and there’s blood, that it was the phantom’s blood was my first assumption. But, of course, it’s the last thing on Simon’s mind. Because Simon still has him so pinned as a treacherous murderer. Having him be confronted with the fact that it’s actually the phantom who is injured, when he was so forceful and convinced otherwise (and the fact of it being the phantom’s blood didn’t even cross his mind!) is a nice touch. It’s a moment that sort of… further renders the perception of the phantom as vulnerable as opposed to emotionless killer. This vulnerability is something that Simon is forced to see and accept, even when he wants to believe and continue to think otherwise.

Haunted Specters, Chapter 12

What was worse- so much worse than the fact that the Phantom had gotten himself injured- was that Simon caught himself worrying. Only for a few split seconds, only in the spur of the moment. He was actually worried about that crazy bastard and the realization was enough to force him right back into a state of anger.

Oh heckin’ YES. The seed’s planted. There’s no going back now, Simon. Muahahaha!

The Phantom, who seemed to be growing tired of the one-handed fiddling, ripped all the buttons clean off his shirt with one quick vertical swiping motion. They scattered along the tiled floor and disappeared into various nooks and crannies. Simon could do nothing but watch with raised eyebrows.

TH SDKJNSDKLNSD VISUALISING THIS IS SO FUNNY

“… Should you not save that for a more practical use?” Simon questioned. “I assure you, this is quite practical.”

I AM DYING WHAT. SO IS HE LIKE… TRYING TO BLUNT PAIN/”RELAX” HIMSELF TO REMOVE A GODDAMN BULLET??? BUT UHHH. WHAt

Well, all those scars are a great reminder that the phantom has led one hell of a crazy life!

Oh. Oh my goodness. And now… Now we have the flashback. To the phantom’s earliest memory.

^Me right after the earliest-memory flashback, with really no idea just what was in store.

Okay. This flashback.

It’s raw. It’s brutal. It’s child abuse, right there on the screen. You really don’t hold back.

And what struck me was… If the phantom was born with their little-to-no-emotions psychological makeup, this really is pretty much how I’d imagine things to have been when they were small. …Ableist parents. If they’d had a “normal” home life and/or supportive parents/family, it’s highly unlikely they would have grown up to become the phantom in the first place, after all.

“It’s okay to cry in front of mommy. Go on, just… Just cry. Just once. Please. For mommy.”

This line is very interesting, and adds further nuance. It shows things aren’t clear cut, that in spite of how much the mother clearly cares, how much she wants to protect her son, and how much she cannot abide by the abuse, as understanding as she tries to be… And as opposite her treatment of her son is compared to the father’s treatment of his son… It is a clear hint that she still sees her son as abnormal, that there’s something fundamentally wrong with him that she wants to stop. She desperately wants her son to be healthy and “normal”. This attitude is clearly motivated by concern… She wants her son to be okay. She still loves her son very much. But her attitude belies a possible fear that maybe there is a little bit more truth in her partner’s words than she wants to acknowledge. It’s why she’s desperate to get him to cry. She wants him to change. She wants him to be different than he is. She’s worried. She’s clearly not happy with the way her son is. She wants her son to show distress. She wants her son to be distressed. For HER sake. Her prompts here… are still somewhat selfishly motivated, however driven by concern that they MIGHT be. That is what this particular phrasing very much implies.

Fundamentally, she does not wholly accept her son for who he is.

Throughout the whole flashback she is defending him, she is trying to protect him, only for us to see, at the very end of the flashback, that even she, deep down, is not fully accepting. I love the nuance.

Obviously, the flashback is only a tiny window, and there’s only so much it can tell us. And it presents the reader only with an extreme, specific circumstance to extrapolate from, but if we are going off of this and this alone to base things on… That was my extrapolation. Based on the limited information we are provided with here.

Because of course… There are many different conditions that children are born with in real life. Some of them are blessed with loving, understanding parents. Others aren’t. There are plenty of conditions that make children appear to be “abnormal” INCLUDING conditions which may not make them seem very expressive or expressive in different ways that are not considered normal. And this situation… is like that, really.

The phantom has suffered plenty in this series prior to this point. You might feel kinda bad for him at times, maybe! But it’s always been with a grain of salt, hasn’t it? “HE is the villain, HE is awful, HE brought this on himself, HE has ruined lives and therefore I don’t have to feel TOO bad!”

For the first time in the entire series, we are presented with a version of the phantom that has genuinely done nothing wrong. The narrative DEMANDS us to feel bad for him in this instance. We, at the very least, feel unambiguously bad for this child getting abused. The extent to which we choose to extend this “feeling bad” to the current version of the phantom is up for some debate.

It’s kinda like. You do feel bad for the current version of the phantom – it really sucks that this happened to him. It’s also something that happened prior to everything the phantom has done - the lives he has taken and ruined. So there’s obviously still that sense of “that really sucks, but you still suck, too.” And of course, it’s abundantly clear that this instance of childhood abuse in no way lessens the phantom’s crimes or how much he happens to suck right now. That doesn’t mean we can’t feel bad for him that this happened to him in his youth. And we absolutely feel bad for that child, who did nothing wrong, yet suffered a beating.

In this fic, prior to this point… From the start we are consistently shown imagery that largely contradicts our conception of the phantom’s character and place in the narrative. The phantom gets shown working together with Bobby for the two to escape. Suddenly, he is living with and working together with both Bobby AND Simon. The narrative invites him to come in and join them to become part of the central “trio”. The phantom is shown to be suffering, in pain, weak. It is such a far cry from the phantom from before, who was positioned as a powerful terrifying figure, the inflicter of suffering. The phantom did not get any POV segments until the very, very end of Chasing Phantoms. Here, in this fic, those POV segments are abundant. He has well and truly changed over from being an antagonist to protagonist.

And now, after all of these steps taken towards this point, the narrative takes it even further. Now the text is repositioning the phantom as – implanting that image in our minds – of the small, innocent child with a mental condition. The image of the phantom from the prior fic has already been largely torn down, but now it gets overturned even more as we are confronted with such opposing imagery.

But wait, there’s MORE. The narrative isn’t even done yet. It’s not even finished. Not quite yet.

Haunted Specters, Chapter 13.

“Fulbright. It may be that my ears are playing tricks on me, yet for a moment there, it sounded as if you hold genuine worry for that man.” Bobby didn’t deny the accusation. He didn’t even attempt to deny it. He only lowered his forehead to rest it against his knees, the corners of his lips twitching into some sort of wry grin. “… Don’t you?”

HE’S OWNING IT. And additionally he’s just like. Come on Simon. Don’t you? And this feels earned, given everything that’s happened. GOSH, IT FEELS SO EARNED. Because the readers aren’t the only ones who have been constantly confronted with a very different perspective/imagery of the phantom. These two protagonists have too!!! They are succumbing to the same fate as the reader – a turnabout of perspectives!

AND THEN. AND THEN. HERE IT IS EVERYONE.

One person supporting him. One person doubting him. It was familiar.

When I read this, I just… It was like my jaw just dropped. As it all… fell into place. As the realisation just HIT me. As I read on, and the narrative, in a rather justified self-satisfied manner, casually pointed out the parallels, built up over so many chapters… All of the little things. There were so many tiny things, choices that just didn’t seem to make sense at the time, didn’t seem to add up, and now… All I could do was sit there, stunned, as direct attention was drawn to this. The long-term game that the narrative had been playing.

In awe, I scrambled back to re-read over bits of past chapters at the time only to find that YES, the narrative, from Simon’s POV, had even actually referred to Bobby’s behaviour towards the phantom as “mothering over him”…

All I could do was shake my head ruefully and go “…okay, you win.”

As I’ve implied/stated throughout these commentaries, I went into this series weirdly harsh and reserved towards it for various reasons. And continued to be for the most part even WITHOUT any real justifiable reason for it. Even when my scepticism was being constantly broken down and shown to be misplaced. But the thing is, I’m never usually so harsh on other fics?

If you imagine it as a play showing in a theatre, I usually just go in and sit down and watch it like a normal damn person. Why on earth was I so… sceptical of this series??? It’s like the equivalent of me strolling in, standing at the back of the theatre with my arms crossed and internally going, “Well, I’ll give this a chance, I GUESS. Show me what you’ve got. But be mindful that I’ve seen VERY good performances in my time, however.” (And then, you know, you confidently went right on ahead and practically put on what is among the very best performances I’ve ever seen.)

But the simple fact of the matter was… Like, I’ve already gone over my reasons for feeling a phantom “disconnect” during the first fic. Reasons that all turned out in retrospect to be entirely unfounded. With this in mind, there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with Chasing Phantoms. The phantom it gives us, the phantom content it gives us, is all superb and on-par with the consistently good characterisation provided by the rest of the series. I just had the misfortune of letting my own misconceptions get the better of me at the time. Were it not for that, I would have been able to enjoy the phantom aspects of the 1st fic thoroughly on the first readthrough. Only got myself to blame!

But this fic? As you know, going into it I was already invested – it already held my full attention. And yet I’d still held on to some amount of completely unfair reservation that I do not, and have not subjected other fics to. It was wild, as if I was setting this absurdly high bar when it came to expectations that no other fic had been subjected to by me. But you were still more than ready to rise to that challenge. You took my already high expectations and rose above them, constantly outdoing yourself as the series continued to progress after this point.

Perhaps because I was already standing at the back of the theatre, I had remained there out of habit even as all my doubts were waved off. This meant that even when the fic clearly established it was very much on-par with others I had thoroughly enjoyed with no issues, WAY prior to this chapter, to this point of the story, I was still acting more reserved towards your fic (like a total SNOB) compared to others even when the quality/enjoyment was equal! I was blinded at the time from recognising just how on-par it was. I really don’t think I’m usually like that. It’s like I just happened to pick your series to “discriminate” against, one that could thoroughly show me just how wrong I was. It’s an important lesson I need to keep in mind, because taking this approach to things runs the risk of being unable to actually enjoy them, when if I’d just relaxed, I would have enjoyed it just fine. This risk did not come to fruition, because it got shut down.

All I could do was marvel at the brilliance of the writing, the set-up leading to this… It was the kick I needed to fully relax & sit the hell down to enjoy the show to its fullest potential. That I’d done nothing but stand around like a fool and underestimate, so it was time for me to see just what this series was gonna do. It had my full support. It was the point I truly realised, whoa, this is superb, and all other pretences fell away.

And that’s why all I could do was say to myself, you win, Author. You win. Well-played. I will do my best not to ever doubt you again. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.

All I can say is, the fact that I DID have so much reservation and doubt is what made the reading journey all the more wild and fun for me. I expected so little, and received so much… And that’s why I’ve been so open & honest about how unfairly I treated this series going into it. So that I can show just how much it contrasted with the reality of how great it actually is, how much it contrasted with my feelings later on.

...Aaand I’m cutting this post off here ‘cause of how long it is. Anything else I’ve to say connected to this chapter and beyond will be for the next post!

[team--mike]

Analysis/Prediction for Danganronpa: Deadication

Hey guys! I know I barely post on tumblr at all but I just thought... I have something to talk about... That's incredibly long... And about Danganronpa...

So where else to go than tumblr?

I recently started following a fangan ( @dangandeadication​ ) called Danganronpa: Deadication. If I had to pick a reason why I liked it so much, it would have to be the character design and art. Their Discord community is pretty great and involved as well. I'm a busy boy so I can't be as active there as I'd like...

You can check out part one of the prologue here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5krOHv_ls4

Anyways - what is this post about?

It's about my predictions for this Killing Game. I'm not one to simply pick randomly who lives and who dies, there's a method to my madness. I have this fancy shmancy way of making predictions for Danganronpa, and it's called the Elevator Prediction! We simply take a look at the picture of the students in the elevator before the first trial, and we cross off people based on their position. Any sane artist wouldn't group all the survivors next to each other, now... Would they?...

Wait... Deadication doesn't have one of these yet...

Oh, well. I'll just use my detective instincts to place these characters based on their talent, personality, and official Danganronpa games.

A few disclaimers before we begin:

There will be spoilers for DR1, SDR2, and DRV3

I'm explaining my thought pattern here along with each character and why I predicted what I did. I apologize if I sound overly critical - that's not my intention. I had fun thinking of these predictions and I'm looking forward to seeing how they pan out!

There's one more thing that I'd like to explain as well, and it will help contextualize some of my choices.

One of my favorite writers, Brandon Sanderson, writes some great books involving magic. I bring this up because a few ultimates here (Lucky Student, Psychic, Illusionist, Alchemist) are explicitly "magical". The extent of their abilities is unknown for the most part. Being a writer, Brandon Sanderson created rules about writing magic stories, and being a writer myself, I really took this one to heart. (reference: https://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/)

"An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic."

What does this mean? Basically - if the magic isn't explained - it feels like magic can solve any problem at any point without warning. There's no mystery to it at all - it just happens. Explaining magic systems is a really great way to actually add to a mystery - it gives the reader rules to follow when the theories start forming in their head. Now go replace the word MAGIC with ULTIMATE... And this creates a framework for working with ultimates in mysteries. It’s so much harder for readers to solve mysteries if it isn’t what can and cannot be done in the universe.

An example of this is Tsumugi's Cospox in DRV3. Her ability was cosplay, and with it, she could basically disguise herself as any character. It was inevitable that a murder would happen with her disguised as someone else, and there was no telling when, or how... Except that they immediately explained the extent of her powers in Chapter 1 after the first killing. This took that possibility off the table - and made all the future cases that much easier by focusing our minds on what was actually relevant instead of some gotcha that wasn't explained.

Again - this is only a guideline - it's not a hard-and-fast rule that everyone has to follow - so my predictions could be off because of this. It's all guesswork anyways, and I'm sure at least half my predictions, if not all of them, will be wrong. But that's the point, isn't it? XD

Without further ado, let's get started!

Yuuma - lucky student  Ok... He's lucky so he can't die right? We don't know how lucky he is, but if we base it off the first two games, then yes, he'd basically be unkillable. There are a couple ultimates here that could get around that... But that would be weird because those ultimates are magical and it seems that Danganronpa Luck is too big a barrier... Keep in mind we've had a survivor Lucky Student and a victim Lucky Student, so what's left? Verdict - CH1 blackened

Shu - bounty hunter Here's another babyface that basically screams "Don't fuck with me!". Considering the case of Fuyuhiko I'm not pinning him as someone who has a change of heart, and considering his profession I think he's not going to be a blackened. I think that would be too obvious. So what does that leave us with? A victim. Also I'm offing him in chapter 1 because if he's not killed early then he will be a suspect in every subsequent case. Which might be a good thing, but I wouldn't want to deal with that :P  But who could possibly kill someone trained to kill... Hmmm... Verdict - CH1 victim, failed attempt to kill Yuuma

Toru - filmmaker Everyone's always comparing him to the Actor and saying that there's some important story element here since their ultimates are so similar. I can't help but think the same. I don't think this dude is the Mastermind, since that would be too obvious in my eyes, however I feel he's involved in some way. If Deadication pulls the same thing that DRV3 did with Rantaro, then they can have some backstory for this guy while also having him dead, all while throwing the suspicion off him as being involved in this game due to him dying early. Verdict - CH2 Victim

Otoha - basketball Literally Akane and Tenko. One of them died and the other survived. Maybe she's a blackened? I don't have much else to say here honestly. I guess she's cute. Verdict - CH2 blackened

Kyusho - detective Alright this is such a clear reference to Kyoko that there might be something actually relevant here - maybe this is an AU where Aoi and Kyoko mashed their names together and adopted him? Maybe the real Danganronpa is going to be mentioned in this game? I doubt both these points but they're good to bring up. So we haven't seen an evil detective yet from the other games so I'm getting that vibe from him. Especially one that doesn't explicitly commit murder... Verdict - CH2 accomplice, CH3 victim

Ayuna - psychic Ok so Psychic means either two things (1) she's a complete airhead OR (2) she's a complete airhead but also Hagakure. Considering my stance on magic powers as explained earlier, I think her powers are going to be meaningless. Maybe she sees a vision that ends up getting her killed? Verdict - CH3 Victim

Sakumi - alchemist Alchemy means either two things (1) she's another complete airhead OR (2) there will be some poison case in this game. I'm honestly feeling the latter. Alchemy is another vague ultimate that has to be explained - and I can only see this being relevant to poisoning. There hasn't been a poison double murder yet and I'm assuming that Deadication will be keeping the same format of double murder since it's classic. But I could be 100% wrong since I'm a sucker for strict guidelines. PS: She's also cute. Verdict - CH3 blackened

Reika - ??? Hmmm I wonder what it could beeee... With this illusionist/alchemist/psychic/occultist quadrafecta I'm thinking she's along a similar vibe, maybe witch or something. We haven't had a ??? blackened yet... thinking-face-intensifies... I'm thinking their ability will be revealed as the cornerstone to this case. Verdict - CH4 blackened

Minoru - barista  Ace Attorney - Godot's theme plays in the background Wait what slot didn't I assign... Oh yeah that's right Verdict - CH4 victim

Iori - gardener I have no idea. He has a Kokichi Ouma face sprite but he's also very knowledgeable about plants. He's probably gonna be a Gonta type - a Hope Boy. Verdict - Survivor

Megumi - attorney Franziska Von Karma was best girl in Ace Attorney, and now Megumi is giving me that same vibe. Now here's someone who can talk her way in a trial... As I'm pinning Kyusho as chaotic, maybe Megumi will be the voice of reason throughout the game... Although I really am suspicious of everyone. There's always a survivor with a head on their shoulders (Kirigiri, Shuichi, Hajime) Verdict - Survivor

Haru - occultist I totally feel that Haru is going to play a big part in this, and have some sort of change-of-heart that makes them a better overall person. They're also cute as well so I can't just kill them off. If at any point in the story Naohiko dies, I fully expect Haru to take his place. They're the most main-character-like out of everyone else. They'd probably take the Byakuya or Fuyuhiko slot in the survivor list. Verdict - Survivor

Keiji - surgeon Come on now you wouldn't make such a large meme NOT a survivor... I feel he's going to be very much like the survivors Kazuichi or Hagakure or Himiko - thinks he's tough shit but he really can't do a darn thing. Verdict - Survivor

Luna - arctic explorer Um I don't have much to say about her except I like her and she's super cute and I want her to survive. She's the waifu survivor like Aoi and Sonia and Maki. She's also smart as well so her surviving would actually make sense. Verdict - Survivor

Ok guys! That's it! We're done with all the predictions for Dead-

WAIT! WHAT IS IT? I'M FORGETTING ABOUT TWO CHARACTERS?

Oh yeah you're right. Whoops.

Hitomi - illusionist Ah yes, the detective's sidekick, just like Kaito and Chiaki and Sayaka. She's overly optimistic, which makes me think she's evil, but there are two reasons why I don't think she is (1) I can't possibly envision any angry or distressed Hitomi sprites AND (2) With an ultimate like Illusionist, it would be too obvious that she's a killer. Based on the principles of magic as I explained earlier, her illusion abilities should come with some set of rules. And these rules weren't explained to us in the prologue - so I'm sort of throwing her ultimate to the curb for now and ignoring its effect on the story. Which is probably wrong, but ah, what the heck. I have a bigger prediction for Hitomi based on her relationship with Naohiko as opposed to her ultimate. Verdict - CH5 victim.

Naohiko - actor The man of the hour himself, the green haired protagonist. Before we begin - let's go over what happens to the protagonists in the first three games: Makoto - survives. Hajime - survives but his past self is the mastermind Kaede - is a blackened and dies in chapter 1 Considering Kaede's case - I'm doubting that there is a protagonist switch at all in this game. I'm pretty sure that they switched during Chapter 1 because of the Hope Fragments and the character development and attachment. As much as I loved Kaede, there wasn't a real reason to have her die in a later chapter. It just wasn't a good game design choice. Now Deadication isn't a game so this might be different but I'm tossing this aside for now. There's also the possibility of Naohiko dying, but I don't think he'd be the one to die in chapter 1. The main character actually has a relevant ultimate this time - actor. One that can be used as a blackened... and a mastermind... dun dun DUN... Technically this is different from SDR2 since Izuru is his own original character and not Hajime Hinata. What I'm going to propose is slightly similar to Hajime's case but it's different in the fact that Izuru had absolutely no effect on the Killing Game other than starting it. One more thing before I explain what I think will happen to Naohiko - let's take a look at the other masterminds' goals: Junko - Inflict Despair on everyone watching Izuru - Preserve Junko and the Remnants of Despair Tsumugi - Entertain everyone watching Now there's one thing that I think is clearly missing here... And that's a personal motive, one that isn't based on world domination or entertainment. Especially because this is a fangan that doesn't explicitly have to be tied to the main series - and it's getting increasingly difficult to do so anyways. So let's recap - A personal motive that isn't based on the Hope-Despair conflict, yet also requires Despair to work properly. This one really wracked my brain but here's my theory:  Naohiko is a schizophrenic just like Toko is. However, he does not know that he has this other, "evil" side to him. There are a few reasons for this: (1) If he noticed it, he would clearly get it treated. Which spelled doom for this evil persona. (2) He's the ultimate actor. Actors retake scenes often enough and they have so many fans that it's typical if he forgets something. This evil side - let's call it Hikonao because I'm boring - has been waiting for its chance to overtake the real Naohiko - and this killing game is just that. Bring Naohiko to Despair, and then his real side and his evil side will be one and the same. So Hikonao sends a letter to Toru stating something about working with Naohiko - only if he brings 14 other ultimates to this secluded area. The letter is signed H - which implicitly brings suspicion on other characters like Haru and Hitomi. Hikonao can be doing things at nighttime or during the day that Naohiko wouldn't remember - and that could clue the reader in to what is happening... (and it also could get us to suspect Hitomi's illusions instead...) Hikonao's plan is to bring the largest possible Despair onto Naohiko - and that would climax in killing his own beloved, Hitomi. In the chapter 5 trial, Naohiko realizes that he is the one that killed Hitomi - and we have to explicitly argue that he didn't kill her, knowing this - something that hasn't been done before in a game, even with Kaede. And then, just like in game 1, Naohiko isn't actually executed due to some ambiguous reason. And then they find the letter from H, find some more stuff, and the mastermind trial. This also brings up an important point - just like the Gonta case in DRV3. If someone else's consciousness kills someone, are you guilty? I have a feeling that Naohiko will end up expelling Hikonao and everything will end happily ever after... Verdict - CH5 blackened and mastermind. Oh and he's also a survivor too

Now I know that you guys think this is a crazy crackpot theory but it's based on writing principles! Even if I'm entirely wrong, I have become a better mystery writer because of it! The more you think about these things, the more you dive deep into how these games are put together and the best way to order and position the story and killings so that things make sense together.

To those of you who have read the entire thing, thank you so so much! I appreciate it, especially since I rambled at times. I'm really looking forward to this project and I know everyone will do a great job with Deadication!

That's it for now. Team Mike, signing off!

[blaperile]

Homestuck Epilogues - Meat - Page 7

[staringatthetwinsuns]

On writing Luke Skywalker as a character with a disability (meta thoughts)

Inspired by this post and the immensely thoughtful reblogs that go with it, I am going to try to consolidate my thoughts, advice, pet peeves, and feels about writing Luke Skywalker as a character with a disability (and perhaps touch a bit on Anakin/Vader). This is something I've actually spent a lot of time thinking about, and I don’t see it talked about very often, but now that I know I’m not the only one who thinks about it, I thought I'd try to share my perspective at least and start a conversation. Please feel free to add to, question, or outright argue with anything here.

First, a disclaimer: I am not an amputee, a doctor, an occupational therapist, or anyone else with relevant personal experience. I have personal reasons for caring deeply about this, but the most important ones are probably just wanting to see my favorite character written well and wanting to see diverse characters represented in fiction in general, so. Take this as you will.

Also, I will say in advance that I mix person-first language ("person with a disability") and identity-first language ("disabled person") here, because I know there are people who prefer both.... apologies/warnings in advance if you strongly dislike or are triggered by either.

So, first things first, and this is really just general writing advice that could apply to any disability or ANY aspect of a character's appearance… to what extent is is even necessary to address Luke's prosthetic hand in fic? The post I linked to above was really talking about art, and in that case, I suppose you do have to make some sort of choice—to draw Luke with a natural-looking hand like he had in ESB, a black glove as in ROTJ, or a metal hand like in the sequel trilogy. In fic, however, it doesn’t always need to really be addressed at all. Again, this goes for ANY aspect of a character’s appearance, and the golden rule is: Would the POV character (the character whose point of view we are in at the moment) notice or care at this particular moment in the story? You know how it feels weird when you read a bad YA fantasy novel and the narrator says something like "I looked at him with my brilliant purple eyes, which perfectly accented my flawless ivory skin"? That’s unnatural because actual people (even teenagers, shock! horror!) don’t really go around thinking about their own eye color or how flawless their skin is (unless they're incredibly unlikable, and then why would we want to read about them?). They’d be slightly more likely to be thinking about it if their skin WASN'T flawless and that zit they found this morning was bothering them, etc. Cardinal rule: don’t mention anything the narrator or POV character wouldn’t logically be thinking about at the time.

So, whether you even need to mention Luke's hand at all probably depends on a number of factors: Whose POV are we in? When does the fic take place? (Luke's going to be more aware of his new hand between ESB and ROTJ, for example, than decades in the future.) Does anything specifically happen that reminds the POV character of the fact that his hand's a prosthetic?

Which brings me, I suppose, to the next thing: Whether it even counts as a disability at all and the fact that, EVEN IF IT DOESN'T, you still can't really ignore it as if his hand just magically regenerated.

So, first. Is having an amazing cybernetic limb in the Star Wars universe a disability? I say a cautious yes… or at the very least, it's a medical condition on the same level with say, wearing glasses or contacts or having a hip replacement or something in the real world?

I do think it depends on a lot of factors though, and movie canon, at least, doesn’t give us a lot of answers. We don’t really know how much feeling Luke has in his hand… pressure/pain is established, but what about heat or cold? Does it hurt at all (aside from pain sensors)? Is it stronger, weaker, less flexible (more flexible? That's a bit hard to imagine?) etc, than his other hand? I think it PROBABLY counts as a disability and at least counts as something that would affect his daily life in AT THE VERY LEAST small ways. More on that later.

I don’t actually remember what Legends had to say about any of this but again, movie canon doesn’t give us a lot. Here are some of the things I appreciate fanfic writers thinking about, though. (For the record, I am GUILTY AS HELL of overlooking some of this stuff myself in certain fics though, so don't feel bad if you have too… just suggestions for things we probably SHOULD be considering!)

1. How different is the sense of touch or the range of movement in Luke's prosthetic right hand, compared to his left hand? Does it affect the way he does things? Does he favor one hand over the other in certain situations because of this? Does this change as time goes by and any differences become his norm? (I'd personally think there'd be some difference… not necessarily better or worse, but different, and that over time it would definitely start to feel normal.)

2. How different does it look or feel to other people? 1980s-era special effects aside, look at the rest of the technology in the universe. Look at your own hand for goodness' sake. I can’t imagine it’s a perfect replica. Like, I can see the bones and veins in my hand. My fingernails get too long and split and have ragged cuticles. There's no WAY that anyone would even WANT a prosthetic hand that realistic, so. There's got to be some difference. Especially in a romantic or sexual situation, especially fairly soon after ESB, it seems weird not to mention this. I HAVE seen fics that addressed the body temperature issue, either by having the other character be surprised that his hand WAS warm or stating that it wasn't? I guess I personally don't think that heating would be a priority and that it might therefore be cooler than his other hand? Again, definitely not always necessary but, in certain scenes might be important and gets sometimes ignored.

3. There is no f-ing way that Luke’s hand actually ages, so… while I agree that the "Oh all the skin just fell off" idea is stupid, what DOES he do as he ages? Go for the metal model because it doesn’t look the same anyway so it doesn't MATTER if he ages? Get the skin updated to look more like whatever age he is now? Just… have a random 22-year-old-looking hand even though the rest of him is 50?

4. Regardless of whatever you go with for #3, either the entire hand or some of its parts must need replacing over time. Anyone who thinks people use the same prostheses for 30 years doesn’t know anyone who actually uses one (or hasn’t known them for very long, anyway), and even if you play the "advanced technology" card.. want to show me a 30-year-old car, airplane, or space shuttle that has NEVER HAD A PART REPLACED EVER? Can he do the maintenance himself (one-handed? Well, at least he has the Force?) or does a medical droid need to do it, etc?

5. What does the REST of the galaxy think about this? The only canon instances of ableism I can think of are Obi-Wan’s "more machine now than man" in ROTJ, and Dooku's not-so-nice thoughts about Anakin's arm in the ROTS novelization (although Palpatine obviously feels differently in the same scene), but… on the whole is there any stigma attached, or not? If so, is Luke more like "screw it," or is he somewhat self-conscious? What do Leia, Han, Chewie, Wedge... whoever else is in the fic, think? I mean, seriously... imagine a loved one losing a limb. You might not CARE (you shouldn't CARE, in the sense of loving them less or differently, and I don't think any of the above characters would either) but it would still be a thing to get used to?

6. Back to technical stuff, just how much of his arm IS mechanical anyway? Definitely seems to be more than he actually lost to Vader. (This Quora post is fascinating.) Again, usually not relevant since Luke never wears anything but long sleeves after ESB (which is a travesty; look at those ARMS on Dagobah), but… might be relevant if he’s naked in your fic? ;)

7. Related to #6, how obvious is the point where the synthskin meets his natural skin? This could probably be barely noticeable (theatrical makeup experience FTW?) but, might not be? Is this the reason he always wears long sleeves? XD I can't imagine synthskin can tan or grow hair or anything, right???

Okay, so assuming you've put the thought into your headcanon for the above (I… really hadn’t either until recently though, and my fics are all inconsistent so… no judgment either way), let me come back to this "minor thing that affects your life in small ways" thing.

I don’t really get the impression that, with Luke anyway, this particular fandom pays TOO MUCH attention to his prosthetic hand to the point where it feels like a fetish. I have read a COUPLE of fics that felt icky that way, but many more involving Anakin/Vader. If anything, it gets kind of over-ignored as a perfect replacement that is exactly like his biological hand in every way.

That's just not possible. It's not. And even if it WERE scientifically possible (in a very cyberpunk-ish world, no less) would anyone BOTHER to make a cybernetic hand with ugly veins, scraggly cuticles, and age spots?

So. Even if you don’t consider it a disability, it’s a THING. I don’t think my wearing contacts is a disability, but I still can't open my eyes underwater, and if I nap in the afternoon my eyes get dry and gunky, and if I drive somewhere and lose a contact I legally and literally CANNOT drive home (never happened but, anxiety FTW?), and don't forget that one time I lived through a major earthquake and all the supermarkets ran out of food because the roads were closed, you better bet I was worried about what would happen if I ran out of One Day Acuvue before the courier services opened back up (actually go to an eye doctor and get that awful glaucoma test? *shudder*). Similarly, someone who can walk normally on an artificial hip or knee isn’t disabled in the same sense that someone who uses a wheelchair is, but they still set off metal detectors and can’t sit comfortably in certain positions. It may or may not be a major thing, but it is a thing… and it does seem weird to me that a lot of writers seem to treat Luke’s hand as a perfect replacement when it CAN'T BE. For example:

1. It's metal in his body. I’ve translated enough medical documents to know that THAT IS A THING. Metal detectors, MRIs, whatever… there are times when metal vs. organic material is a thing.

2. He can't possibly have the same fingerprints, if he has any fingerprints at all. It MIGHT be possible for a planned amputation but… that hand was lost. Any biometric-type military clearance Luke has now has to be reset/redone. Finger vein identification etc. is probably a no-go period. (NEW THOUGHT: Unless the Alliance had his fingerprints on file... doesn't REALLY match up with the rest of the technology of the world, but... cool possibility?)

3. Maintenance. Especially considering if he’s going to live on a water planet with exposed mechanical parts with no one else to help him do maintenance if needed *side-eyes Rian Johnson*

4. Ongoing pain? This is a headcanon of mine anyway. From what I understand, phantom pain comes from the brain sending out signals to a limb that is no longer there, and getting no response. Since Luke’s hand DOES have feeling, I don’t think he’d have that kind of ongoing issue, BUT. I do think there’d be pain right after he got it (again, talk to anyone who’s had a joint replaced?) and I kind of imagine his hand aching whenever he was reminded of Vader or of losing it. Not a necessary thing to work in, I suppose, but that’s a headcanon I use a lot.

5. Identity as a disabled person? I have seen this addressed in some fics, and I agree that it might not have a place one way or the other in a story that has nothing to do with disability, but… I do sort of see Luke being especially compassionate to other veterans or victims of the war, and to people with disabilities in general, maybe especially because he now knows that’s something he shared with his father? I also like it when fics address the fact that not everyone in the galaxy has access to what I assume was the top-of-the-line model for the Alliance’s biggest hero, at that Luke might feel guilt about that, or at least a desire to help others?

6. Vanity/self-esteem? Luke doesn’t seem like a hugely vain person to me but… would he be at all self-conscious about meeting someone new and getting the awkward questions? Does he tell the truth, and if so how much of it? Or does everyone just already know? (That wouldn’t necessarily be LESS awkward though?) Like everything else, this probably depends on when the fic is set.

7. Is there anything he’s not supposed to do, like get wet (especially without the skin, oh dear sequel trilogy)???

I guess on the whole I see Luke as a not-vain person who probably wouldn’t care THAT much about appearances (except everyone does a little, right?), but I do think his hand would be a constant reminder of Vader, for better (after ROTJ) or worse (between ESB and ROTJ). I don’t think it would be as life-changing as losing a limb in the real world today, but I also don’t think he’d go months (or even a day really) without even thinking about it, with zero changes to anything whatsoever.

I think it’s really important that the technology in Star Wars is shown to be helping and healing people, rather than just blowing things up. I LOVE that people have taken that ideal version of a prosthetic limb and made strides toward actually creating it in real life. But I also think that just ignoring the fact that Luke IS a character with a disability (however rendered-minor it is by said technology) does a huge disservice to the character and to diversity in pop culture in general.

So… long story short, I’d love to see more fics that did address this, even if it’s casually and in passing. While there are certainly situations in which the best choice is "it doesn’t matter in this scene," if anything I see Star Wars fics going too far in the other direction… not really considering this as a part of the character and the world?

[lutiaskokopelli]

Admittedly, he could have used a pair of binoculars. Although it still doesn’t explain how he could somehow see the slots from a 90-degree angle and in the shadows, I suppose.

I know I wouldn’t be able to see anything from his spot, telescope or not.

Hi everyone, and welcome to the second part of this playthrough! This one is pretty short since there isn’t that much to see between the two puzzles, but hopefully we could still gather a few little random facts here and there. In any case, enjoy!

[First] - [Previous] - [Next]

So, we left Layton and Luke as they were just arriving. They get out of the car, they examine the surroundings, and quickly notice the GIANT TOWER OF DOOM THAT DEFIES GRAVITY.

-- oh wait, never mind. They don’t.

Layton. - Interesting. It appears that this drawbridge is the entrance to the village. Luke. - Uh-- Professor, okay, but are you saying that you didn't notice this giant strangely-built tower that is incredibly suspicious, if only because the guy who built it obviously didn't care about the laws of physics or security norms? Layton. - This tower is obviously completely irrelevant to our current matter, my boy. Luke. - But professor, it-- Layton. - Shh. Nope. Later.

(How about trying to at least MENTION that huge ominous tower, for starters?)

Yeah, obviously it’s much stranger to notice that the village is entirely surrounded by thick woods (admittedly, here’s another point towards the incredibly secluded way that village seems to be).

First, if you check the journal entry that just appeared in the professor’s trunk, you can notice this sentence in particular: “I've arranged for Luke to accompany me on a visit to St. Mystere, the site of the whole incident.” It’s not much, but it just reminds that at least Layton probably told Clark and Brenda that he’d be taking their son away on a field trip for the week-end or something.

After noticing how the drawbridge appears to be the only way in or out of the village because of the river that seems to entirely surround its boundaries, they also notice Franco, who sticks around the other side of the river. However, if you try some other options, you can still see the duo ponder about a few other options:

“This village has a particular atmosphere/weather.” (Depending on the context, “climat” could have any of these meanings.) “This drawbridge won’t lower by itself...” “We aren’t coming back home already, are we?”

You’re not actually offering to give up now, are you professor? :0

“We could swim our way across, but the water is freezing.”

I haven’t been to the UK a lot, especially not in its countryside, so I couldn’t possibly know whether this could be any sort of indicator of St. Mystere’s rough location in England. However, if anyone here could see this as any sort of relevant hint, I’d be glad to hear more! I mean, as a reminder, it’s supposed to be the beginning of August at this point. If the water is still “freezing”, it might actually mean something regarding its location in the UK.

[EDIT] @floptopus confirmed that all Britain rivers are freezing no matter the time, weather or location. So yeah, actually that little part was irrelevant :’D

Aww Luke... xD

Luke. - It’s too bad we can’t use the Laytonmobile to cross the river, heh? Layton. - Well, I love this vehicle, I admit, but... it’s just a car.

In any case, Layton calls Franco for help, and after the above-mentioned puzzle, Franco knows which slot he needs to put the crank in so he can lower the drawbridge. Apart from the debatable nonsense the whole situation is, there isn’t much to say about it. The puzzle is obviously a real-life situation with a real crank and actual slots, although the fact that Layton can somehow solve this puzzle from his spot, at least 30ish feet away from the slots, which are themselves hidden in the shadows of a wooden shack with no apparent lights inside, is still deeply troubling me. Anyway, let’s just assume that our dear professor just really has good eyes and a trustworthy pair of binoculars that he just randomly brought for no reason. The point that I’d like to emphasize even more is the following:

As if it weren’t clear enough with all the clues mentioned in the previous part, Franco highlights even more that many villagers (we’ll see that with Marco too later on) all feel uneasy when outsiders are on their territory. Whether they know why or not is unknown (at least for now), but they at least have some sort of “unconscious instinct” about it. Which is... interesting, to say the least.

This leads to another question, which is very important, but I think that it might actually be answered by the games at some point: are St. Mystere’s villagers aware that they’re robots? Does Flora know? It appears that the robots know (or act as if they knew) quite a lot of things about the Reinholds and even maybe the Golden Apple chase itself, whether because they already know everything and aren’t surprised by the village’s oddities and just play dumb because it’s the Game and they must test whether Luke and Layton are worth winning, or because they have some sort of default programming that prevents them from noticing these oddities (such as Ramón not remembering being kidnapped and not questioning anything about what happened during that time or how all his injuries got healed just like that, or such as the villagers as a whole simply not panicking nor doing anything against “The Kidnapper”, as Layton will lampshade later). I suppose only time will tell.

[rannadylin]

On Yolotli’s self-image

queen-scribbles

replied to your post

“14, 18, 21, and 22 for Lottie”

I now desperately want to give Lottie a couple hours--or maybe days?--with Adi and Kana, who will absolutely NOT shut her down, and these three nerds can talk over and at and with each other til they're blue in the face. :-D

This scenario is now topping the list of Lottie’s answer for that “ideal vacation” question in this meme. :-D Adi and Kana are sooooo much her tribe.

Also I want to submit, for the fun (and very gentle angst) of it, some citations. (Of my own work. Wow so meta.) Because this part of Lottie’s character is...not something I ever planned for, it just sort of developed in bits and pieces as her role in the stories grew. Until I realized, Oh. So, um, buckle in for a bit of a character analysis essay about my own writing. ;-)

From Clan & Court, Ch. 2:

At this moment, Yolotli was tugging at her braids and bubbling over with the firstfruits of her recent research, and Audrisa was the lucky soul into whom she was pouring the excess of her knowledge. Audie, far from being annoyed, grinned and filled Yolotli in with her own first-hand knowledge of poisons suitable for blade’s edge.

Guess who’s one of Lottie’s favorite siblings, because this is how Audie - fierce and demanding and undeniable as she can be - reacts to her little sister’s enthusiasm. She not only listens - she engages with her. 

From Soul & Shield, Ch. 15:

“Violet! Hey, Vi!” The call caught Violet’s attention as she and Edér crossed the temple plaza. They turned to see Yolotli hurrying towards them, face alight with uncontainable excitement. Yaotl ran at her heels, with Xipil following at a more moderate pace. Violet and Edér stopped to wait for the twins to catch up.

Yolotli collided with her sister in an embrace that quickly turned into gripping her arms and dancing around in circles as Violet grinned back, bemused. “Violy!” she said. “You’ll never guess!”

“Slow down, Lottie,” Violet laughed. “I won’t guess  what ? Did you find Grigor?”

And from Soul & Shield, Ch. 23:

Lottie cornered her near the end of lunch, squeezing in between Violet and Edér and arranging two clay tablets on the table with delicate care. “So, big sister,” Lottie began, tugging at her braids, “about that language you know that I don’t. Is this it?”

“Engwithan?” Violet asked, and Lottie nodded. A glance at the first tablet confirmed it: she recognized the runes, the ones she’d first read at Teir Nowneth. “Yes,” Violet said. “That’s Engwithan, indeed. These were in the archives?”

Lottie nodded, bouncing up and down in delight at Violet’s confirmation. “I knew it! Yes, and there’s half a shelf like them to study, if these aren’t relevant to what we need to know. You can read them, right?”

...

“But you could teach me, right?” Lottie asked, eyes wide and hopeful.

“In time, I suppose,” Violet said, ears flattening in hesitation. “For our present need, perhaps I should just translate this bit for you, hm?”

Lottie sighed and nodded in resignation. “For now. But there is still half a shelf of these to translate. Explain things as you go. I’ll pick a bit up and maybe that’ll help me narrow that shelf down to the tablets most likely to address the Haven.”

Violet brightened. “I can show you the word for the Haven, at least,” she proposed. Lottie perked up, clapping her hands before dancing away to grab the scraps of paper on which she’d been taking notes from the city annals while she ate.

Violet’s just marginally less encouraging than Audie, overall. Audie is more outgoing; Violet is more cautious and so when Lottie has a bright idea Vi is more prone to think of the implications before she encourages her too far. But she’s still sweet Violet and will be as supportive as she can be, only with some limitations and adjustments because honestly, Lottie has a way of wearing her out with all that enthusiasm so Violet hesitates to overcommit to it.

Now, as for Anselm... :-D

From Soul & Shield, Ch. 23:

“Citlatl,” Lottie said, pointing out what seemed to be the map’s title, in fading red ink, though the script was illegible to Anselm. “Centuries ago. Well past its founding, of course. But old enough to record structures that have long been lost to us. Maybe Engwithan structures, something the missionaries built here. There could be foundations still there underneath whatever modern buildings have replaced them. It could give us some places to start looking for the source of the Haven.”

“Clever,” Anselm said, and Lottie beamed at the approval and ducked her head as she rolled the scroll up again.

Sponge to water, look at her beaming at his approval. :-) And next, I have to cite one of my favorite scenes between them, which is a bit of a long clip and yet I have more after that, there is so much in their scenes to cite, so I’ll put the rest of this essay behind a cut. (It really did turn into an essay. I majored in English but this is, I think, the first time I’ve written an essay about my own stories. XD It’s exactly what Lottie deserves, though.)

From Soul & Shield, Ch. 25:

Still leaning over the edge, she looked up suddenly from the books, meeting Anselm’s upturned gaze with eyes wide as a thought struck her. “Speaking of generations, I wonder if the missionaries would have passed their language on to their own children too, or would they have raised them as natives, speaking Katl?”

“You think they had children?”

“Well, why wouldn’t they?”

Anselm shrugged. “It’s just that I’ve never heard of anyone in Citlatl claiming a missionary among their ancestors. If this city two thousand years ago was anything like it is now, that would have surely been a thing worth bragging about. Especially since Lenneth’s visions seem to imply that the missionaries literally founded Citlatl. You know the Zanínen clan, with their genealogies linking their line back to one of the city’s first mayors? Or the Huemara, whose great-great-great-whatever-grandmother led the warriors driving off the Quechmatl. Being descended from a missionary and city founder would go over like being the gods’ own chosen ones, in this city. No one would let their children or their neighbors forget a thing like that.”

Lottie scrambled back from the shelf, sitting cross-legged on top of the bookcase and looking at him more directly now as she considered his words. “Hm. For that matter, why don’t we even have legends of the missionaries? You’re right; they should be larger than life in common memory, especially if they had descendants who stayed here. But they’re not even mentioned in most of the city histories. They all speak of the city’s origins as lost to time; as if Citlatl were as old as the Plains themselves. Which, granted, at two thousand years, it’s pretty close! But there’s no mention of where the founders came from, or why they built a city here, or what they worshiped or believed in before adopting the gods the rest of the world knows. The gods the Engwithans introduced…”

“And then erased all record of their doing so,” Anselm guessed. “But why?”

Lottie propped her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands and looked down at him with a bright grin. “Now this is my kind of mystery, Investigator Anselm!”

He chuckled and crossed his arms in mock seriousness. “Do recall that the present-day mystery is somewhat more urgent. We can unravel the city’s secret history later.”

“Can we?” Her ears fluttered as she looked at him, hopeful and wide-eyed. “I mean...I would like that. If I could go through the records here more carefully, and see just how much hasn’t been lost to time, after all...It’s a very promising collection; and I’m good at research, and you’re quite good at putting clues together into a coherent picture, and…” She flushed faintly, not quite looking at him. “And...you probably didn’t mean we can, literally. I know you have other cases to deal with when the Haven’s sorted. You don’t have to indulge me.”

“Oh,” he said, taken aback. His hands dropped to his pockets as he glanced around at this very promising collection. “It’s...intriguing, though, when you put it like that. I’d like to see what you’d make of this place. I’d like to help. But all in good time. When the Haven isn’t literally looming over our heads any more, we can take our time in here. In between the official cases.”

She smiled and nodded. “Then the sooner we deal with the Haven, the better.”

This is what I meant by someone challenging her assertions in a way that allows for a back and forth. She likes a good bit of a fair intellectual debate, where it’s not so much “You’re wrong” as “Have you considered this additional factor,” and dear me Anselm’s good at that.

Our next Detective Duo citation, from chapter 26:

And even when she was intent upon such reading, her silences never lasted long. Periodically she would read aloud some passage of note, some discovery too good not to share -- even though these were seldom anything relevant to the Haven, as far as Anselm could tell, but simply new knowledge which Yolotli was excited to obtain.

“Hm,” she murmured now, muffled slightly by the braid-end she was idly chewing as she concentrated. “Apparently we have catacombs.”

Anselm was only half listening; the last few times she’d spoken while reading, it had been to note random curiosities of the city annals, like the xaurip wars in the 1200s, or the squash famine of 984. Assuming this was no more relevant to their search than previous such announcements, he at first made some slight noise of acknowledgment, continuing to scan a case file regarding a tailor’s shop gutted by a fire that looked to be arson. Then her words caught up with his lagging attention.

“Catacombs,” he echoed, glancing up. “First I’ve heard of them.”

Lottie flashed him a triumphant smile. “See, it’s not all year-by-year trade quotas and genealogical notes of the leading families. There are significant discoveries to be made in these archives.” Her look turned thoughtful. “Not that trade quotas and genealogies couldn’t contribute to significant discoveries, too, of course.”

Only half listening to her? She gets that a lot from most of her relatives, I’m sure. Audie’s the best at paying attention, because, well, Audie’s super perceptive and I think she recognizes, even if only subconsciously/intuitively, Lottie’s vulnerability in this regard and Audie therefore makes sure to give Lottie her full attention when she’s in infodump mode. But Audie’s exceptional. Everyone else, no matter how much they like their scholar sister, fails to keep up sometimes. Anselm’s initial response here is what Lottie’s used to from family and friends; she can live with that, but when he perks up and engages with her attempts at conversation (or to impress him? ;-D) she reacts as if it’s a triumph. And the conversation proceeds in that scene with him asking questions that help her to refine her conclusions about what she’s learned. Untiiiiillll...

Anselm nodded. “All right. So, what happened in the catacombs in 963?”

“It was vithrack that time,” she said. “A colony of them tried to move into the catacombs.”

“Vithrack,” he repeated. “Aren’t those the spider-faced things that used to live below Violet’s keep?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Lottie brightened. “The ones that are like you!”

He arched an eyebrow. “Beg your pardon?”

“I mean, they’re like ciphers,” she clarified as her cheeks colored. “Mind-to-mind communication. At least, that’s a thing you can do, right?”

Slowly, he nodded, noting the twitch of her ears. “It’s possible. Yes.”

She looked back at him in a thinking silence, fiddling with another of her braids. At last she asked, “Can you read my mind?”

“I’m no speed reader,” he protested, grinning at the thought of how quickly any cipher would lose his way in the rapidly branching rabbit trails that he imagined the thoughts of Yolotli to be. “I doubt I could keep up if I tried.”

She glanced to the table. “Oh.”

“Besides,” he added, still amused at the whole notion, “I hardly need trouble myself to read a mind you speak so freely.”

She looked stricken. “Oh. I’m sorry. It’s a bad habit, reading out loud like I do when something interesting turns up. I can stop. I don’t mean to interrupt your concentration or --”

“No, no,” he laughed. “I didn’t mean it like that, Lottie. I don’t mind at all. It’s certainly very random sometimes, but I like hearing what catches your attention.”

“You’re sure it’s not a bother? If I’m distracting you from work you need to do...” She nodded to the case files and shifted her book back slightly toward the edge of the desk as if suddenly too aware of how thoroughly her research had taken over his office.

“Of course not. The paperwork is tedious at the best of times. You are a welcome distraction. And...pleasant company.”

She smiled, looking relieved, and went back to her reading, with the smile intact. Within five minutes, however, she looked up again to ask, “But you could read my mind? Theoretically?”

She brightens when he adds to the development of her thoughts with details about vithrack. She deflates a bit when he suggests he couldn’t keep up with her thoughts, though -- even after several minutes of keeping up with her conversation admirably. ;-) And then he mentions, mainly in amusement, her talkative habits -- and she deflates. That’s nothing to do with Anselm’s treatment of or reactions to her: that’s just something she’s internalized a bit too much criticism about. I love the Itzlis, and overall they’re a pretty stable, nurturing family, but it’s easy to get lost in the middle of so many and Lottie’s definitely had this reading out loud/infodumping pointed out as a bad habit all too often.

Anselm really doesn’t mind, though. That’s putting him up there in Audie territory for Lottie. :-D And thus, as the scene continues:

He paused in the notes he was jotting down on his case file and raised his eyes to her. “Lottie, are you wanting your mind read? It’s not something I go around doing indiscriminately, you know. Not unless there’s a reason. Do you, for some reason, want me to try?”

She looked down again to answer, in a mumble, “Oh. No, I was just curious.”

He studied her for a moment, twisting the pen between his fingers. Finally, with a crooked smile, he suggested, “Perhaps I should, if only to find out what exactly it is you wish to ask me.” She looked up, wide-eyed, and he amended, “But perhaps you’d rather learn techniques to ward your mind against such an intrusion?”

Her eyebrows rose. “That’s a thing?” She started to speak further, then closed her mouth and just looked at him, doubts showing in the crease of her forehead and the twitch of her ears. Then all at once she met his eyes and shook her head slightly, her voice soft as she said, “You don’t have to. I trust you.”

He was stunned, unsure what he could have done to deserve her trust.

Unsure what he did to deserve her trust? He could read this very essay to figure that out. ;-)

Onward to their next scene, in Soul & Shield Ch. 31:

It was a short walk after breakfast to the central districts. Sometimes Lottie passed that time by regaling him with the highlights of her overnight research, the things she would have been sharing moment by moment as she came across them, had she read those parts in his office. On other days she would show off her progress with the wards he had been teaching her, by challenging him to read her mind. This was, in practice, essentially just another way for her to share those research highlights, or whatever other curious facts from her encyclopedic knowledge she felt like displaying at any given moment, since the method he was teaching her of warding one’s mind from a cipher was a matter of planting a red herring in one’s thoughts -- focusing on some image or phrase or memory vivid enough to deflect further probing. Lottie was becoming fairly adept at weaving a fence of her favorite did you knows over the surface of her thoughts. Anselm suspected the surface of her thoughts had been full of such research tidbits all along; it was only a matter of arranging them in a way that would discourage a cipher from looking any further. And being sure to tuck away any of her more significant knowledge beyond this fence.

Hmmmm, days of Lottie’s infodumping and he’s still bearing with her. :-D In fact...

As her pace quickened now from their morning stroll to one of determined pursuit, Anselm found himself turning his mind toward hers, out of habit, as if this detour were but another round of the games they’d made of his skill and her defenses.

He seems to be enjoying it. Also...

“So this is an expedition to find out where your tower’s gone.”

She laughed, her merriment resonant with the thrill of the chase. “As if it just picked itself up and walked away!”

“You know,” he mused, “I wouldn’t put it past the Engwithans to have built a walking tower.”

Lottie hummed, tugging at a braid. “That could be really useful, now that you mention it…”

Anselm chuckled, watching her face light up with ideas. “If we don’t actually find a walking tower,” he said, “you’re going to end up building one, aren’t you?”

She turned wide eyes on him. “I don’t know the first thing about tower construction!”

“No?” He shrugged. “Ten to one, by the end of the day, you will.”

Such faith in her capacities. :-D

But what if she gets something wrong?

“I don’t know exactly where it would have been,” Lottie admitted as the two of them wandered wide boulevards of the temple district looking for the elusive tower. “The thing is, that ancient map isn’t quite up to modern standards of cartography. The proportions are...questionable.” She stopped and turned in a slow circle there in the middle of the street, tugging at her braids in frustration. “It should be -- or have been -- somewhere near here, I’m sure. Between the temples of Eothas and Abydon. I just can’t say how far it was from either of them, or what street it was on, because the streets on the ancient map don’t have names listed and they look completely different from the current layout anyway.”

“We’ve been all over between those temples,” Anselm sighed. “Maybe it really did walk away. Or maybe what you took for a tower on that map was something else?”

She looked prepared to argue, then deflated a bit. “Maybe. I was so sure, but…” She barely glanced at him, then turned toward the route back to the mayor’s hall. “We may as well go. Sorry for wasting your time.”

She really does deflate pretty quickly in the face of criticism. :-( Oh, and it’s not just me that noticed:

Anselm nudged her arm as they walked back. “It seemed a good lead, Lottie. Following a lead is what we do, right? Even if some of them turn out to be dead ends. Can’t know that till we follow them up.” This drew a slight smile from her; encouraged, he added, “Take another look at the map when we get back. Maybe we can figure out some other landmarks to pin down that tower’s location; or maybe we can come up with another interpretation besides a tower, or…”

He wouldn’t want her to take such criticism too harshly, and rushes to encourage her again. And he’s successful in that, at least to draw a slight smile.

Then they’re exploring the tower, in chapter 32, and...

Nothing seemed to connect this tower to the dome of light, as far as Lottie could see. No obvious pillar of arcane energy stretching from here to the sky; no contraption of adra and copper to control the essence in the shield, like the ancient machines in the stories Violet told of the Dyrwood. Just a platform in the sky with an exceptional view of the light above and the life below. Leaning on the rail to gaze out at the skyline, at the outskirts of the city where they’d stood within the Haven’s field, she sighed and glanced to Anselm. “Dead end, I guess.”

Hmmm seems she’s gaining a bit of confidence, this time when she has to admit to him she might have been wrong. Just a sigh. Acceptance that her lead was a dead end. Not a crushing defeat to her ego, not the end of the world. Safe to admit it to him. And he responds in kind, probably not realizing how he’s modeling for her an appropriate reaction to such a setback:

“Lovely view, though,” he said, leaning on the rail beside her. “I wonder what the ancient citizens thought of their magic shield. If it was always on, like this, they must have grown accustomed to it.”

“We’ve had it little more than a week ourselves and people seem to be getting used to it,” she agreed. “It starts to seem harmless after a while. And if the original settlers were told it was a shield -- if they even saw it repelling magic attacks against the city, protecting them long enough for Citlatl to be established -- I suppose they would have greatly appreciated it.”

“The gods’ defense of their chosen people, made visible,” Anselm mused. “Even if it was no miracle, but a defense of the missionaries’ making.”

“It is rather miraculous looking,” Lottie admitted. “And maybe building it was a bit of a miracle, too, if Glynis’ visions were from the gods. If we don’t figure out what’s causing it soon, maybe the city will grow content with it. Lenni says the priests at most of the temples she’s investigated have theories linking it to their gods. It’s the Crown of Eothas, Berath’s Shroud, the Eye of Wael, or an omen of Hylea or whoever people would like to believe is behind it. Some people are still scared of it, but it’s gone days without apparently hurting anything, so...maybe it never will, and it’ll just go on making us the shiniest city in the Plains and Gar will give up on having us fix what doesn’t seem broken.”

“I wonder, though, if it is so harmless. The energy it apparently siphons from the air: is that so inexhaustible a supply?”

“We use it ourselves for magic, and we never deplete it,” she reminded him. And with a quick chant, one of the first she’d learned, she summoned that energy, those spirits, into an ephemeral, prismatic butterfly, hovering at Anselm’s shoulder for just a moment until he smiled and she dismissed them back into the swirl of spirits ever at her disposal -- and at the Haven’s.

“Not yet exhausted, then,” he said. “But how sustainable is this Haven? It negated all magic when it first appeared, as bright as it was then. This milder light that it has now doesn’t seem to interfere, but what if it just takes longer, this way, to burn all the essence available in the city? The energy it absorbs, does it eventually restore those soul fragments to the atmosphere for you to draw on? Or will your butterflies, sooner or later, not come when you call?”

“That would be a shame,” she said. “So we’ll just have to keep keep digging and find out how the Haven works, at least, even if we never manage to turn it off.”

After all, even if it was a dead end, she can still count on him to challenge her assertions in a way that allows for a back and forth in which both their ideas can grow and strive nearer the truth. Which is why...

Anselm nodded. “Let us finish our investigation first, though. If others in the household would be able to enter, they may tamper with things my partner and I need a closer look at.”

While Lottie was distracted a moment with enjoying the title of partner , the guard shrugged.

...which is why that title sounds so good to her. ;-)