#i guess one specific hope would be i hope the plot is more a la CV/DB/LS

[citruscore]

Big W for the Layton community today! Can’t wait to see any fan art you make in the future for the new game! Is there anything that you personally want to see in the new game? I’d like to see Flora return (I miss my girl so much)!

Well, my initial worry was that this would take place post lmj which i think a lot of agree was uh. not very great to put it nicely. but now that we know that's not the case...

All i want to see some good interactions between my boys!!

(and lots of thoughts in the tags)

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here bestie and its Friday, I may or may not have had a few after work drinks, we got approximately 2 million stills today and a beenado is happening so its time for Unhinged Season Opener Theory Based on a Micron of Evidence. The best part?? I can do it for the most part without turning the opening disaster into Copaganda 2.0. So buckle up for some absolute nonsense my friend, I've got this opening disaster all figured out 😉.

So we know/expect that beenado is eventually going to become a problem for flights inbound to LA, which includes the one Athena is transporting a prisoner on. I'm guessing that's what the hanger of what looks like every LAFD station is about, all hands on deck to deal with whatever fate befalls the many incoming planes, including the 118's hands. But what if Athena's plane isn't among them?? What if in subduing her prisoner from whatever nonsense (obligatory 10 minutes of copaganda), he takes out the controls and the pilot and they're off course and nowhere near where the LAFD is expecting the majority of the planes to land?? Well there's one person not yet accounted for in this and that is Captain Bobby Nash.

So we know Bobby is trying his best to keep a fake firefighter show grounded, but how would that translate to an plane emergency?? So, hear me out on 3 points: 1) Tim has referenced paying tribute to another 70's disaster film and the film Airport 1975 involves landing a plane with no pilot. 2) Modern planes barely need a pilot, most of them fly on autopilot these days so if you can get that working in theory, and as far as the GA knows, life is good and landing will be safe more or less. 3) Tim may be referencing the 70's, but Hotshots is coincidentally also the name of a 90's movie that was also a spoof, specifically of Top Gun, so *mumble mumble* planes!! So while the LAFD is too busy to rescue Athena, Bobby has access to a fake firefighter show with budget enough to afford their own "rescue" plane (so meta indeed!!) and willing to indulge Bobby if they get both the credit and a few choice shots. All they have to do is get close enough to give some critical god-knows-what to Athena (maybe they use a drone, no idea) and have Bobby give the actors a few inspirational speeches to get through some minor rough patch or another and all ends well with the heads of the LAFD so impressed by Bobby's resourcefulness the beg him to come back (I mean, he looks like he's back in the captain's seat pretty early on).

Is any of this going to happen?? Highly unlikely. But if Tim's gonna resurrect every pre 80's movie out there to come up with his plots he can't expect me to take any of this seriously. So instead I'm gonna have some fun and come up with plots I truly hope aren't more sensible than what we actually get (but not holding my breath on this). Cheers friend, Happy Friday 🍸!!

Hello my friend! I'm a day late since we (for once) had people over for game night list night, but this was such fun speculation! I'm loving the other movie references, and all of that is better than the (unfortunately far more likely) scenario I envision playing out. Mostly I'm just bummed that the show hasn't learned it's lesson about opening disasters and gone back to what works, but who knows! Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

I DO want to see Bobby, after being an absolute nightmare of technicalities on set, take over when an actual emergency happens and maybe commandeer some equipment. Bonus points if the actors he's been harping on actually work together with what he taught them to pull of a rescue.

NGL, I think Bobby's stuff is the only thing that's been mentioned so far that I'm actually excited to see. I think then Madney/Henren stuff is going to be good but painful, as is the Eddie stuff, and I'm still feeling very 🙄 about them promoting Buck being the center of the Gerrard shit. Which could play out well, but I'm WELL past giving this show the benefit of the doubt. They lost that privilege several seasons ago. So with all the angst, I'm legitimately excited about the Bobby stuff as it looks like it might actually be some fun.

Cheers, friend! We're almost there!

[leliwardens]

Hi hello

For the ask, Let's go with

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

omg hiiii friend <3

🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

I feel like this is the easiest answer atp but S*las. I'm under no illusion that S*las was ever not going to be important, and his romance would be tied to that, that's fine, but I've said it before in a critical post it has been pretty miserable that the fanbase at large, the marketing, and even the devs have used not only S*las but his romance as a critically important aspect of your enjoyment of Veilguard, that if you didn't do this very specific route in a worldstate you have effectively played the game wrong. Prior games have always attempted to keep choices and romances balanced, that even with the plot importance of Morrigan or Leliana, they weren't treated as the "correct" choice because of that plot importance. Same goes for non-romances like siding with the Templars as Hawke, there was something there to effectively say you played like you wanted and that's fine. This also hasn't been helped with the limited choices with two out of three being centered on S*las and the strong implication no other romance will show up due to them being quantum. The fanbase at large treating this as the default or the "better" one because it's more fulfilling as a plot/character arc to be tied to the romance? That's just fucked man, and to reiterate my earlier bit how no romance was treated as the default before. It does remain to be seen what three choices will be the "default" in Veilguard out of the box, at least. And well, no romance has also never been something so important to a character they're "better" for it too... It's really lead to me not...really hating S*las that's too strong a word, but being so deeply frustrated about the whole thing for a guy I'm pretty neutral about and only interest in him is for my fanon + original investment in the elven uprising plot.

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

This on is kind of hard for me because I wouldn't describe my feelings about anything mad/ashamed/horrified other than playfully, at least off the top of my head, but the rivalry routes, and especially the rivalmances, I guess? I do think they, as a concept, need some tweaking, but the idea you could have a far more antagonist not as """healthy""" relationship with your partner? Delicious, compelling, I hope Veilguard has something similar.

[bromcommie]

For the ask game ;)

🏜️,❄️,🥐,🌻 aaand 🥤

Hope you are having a good day!

Hiya, thanks for the retaliatory hit! (affectionate) hope you're having a lovely day too :) 🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work? Ooh, can I just say any? Kidding, albeit I am very grateful for everyone who takes the time out to comment, even if it's just a string of emojis or something! But I am eternally grateful for long, detailed comments and especially love when people point the things that they related to in my work or things that clicked for them (particularly the ones I thought might be overlooked or alternatively, too heavy-handed to land) or even line up certain things or parallels that didn't fully register to me while I was writing except as a vague ~vibe~. I just appreciate it a whole lot, and it makes the whole exchange feel like a conversation. ❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

Hm, I don't know - I don't think I have one specific dream theme/plot. That said I have been thinking a lot about Red Room/Department X plotlines recently. I really love the throughline of the struggle for identity + shifting ideologies/definitions of what it means to be a good person + autonomy & free will vs. wanting to belong dichotomy in those stories. Especially when it's grounded in interesting dynamics that aren't very black and white (i.e. Nat and the other widows, the handlers, the WS.) That era is also just very interesting to me in terms of real world circumstances and events, and the scifi potential to explore trauma and psychological fuckery in general is endless. So I guess I'd really love something that deals with Natasha's memories as a child + teen in the war and how that shaped her both before the Red Room even got their hands on her, as well as during and after; how she became this kind of mercurial person who is still (maybe surprisingly so) solid at her core. Something a la Name of the Rose, if you've read that run.

As for who I'd like to write it, I am in fact attempting to write something to that effect into my current post-CATWS wip, so I guess me? Not to say I wouldn't love to read something similar by someone else - there have been several fics out there that dealt with Natasha in a way that had me staring into empty space for an hour (in a good way) - just that I enjoy the process of developing ideas like that in my head differently than I do reading about them from another angle, if that makes sense!

🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh 

that vine with the two guys with heavy NY/NJ area accents screaming at a duck. wait no - any patrick william charlton vine where he suddenly acquires a german accent. wait no - the can I PLEASE get a waffle one.

oh man. any one vine really. I'm very nostalgic about vine. 🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis

I feel like if I started doing that I'd end up spamming way too many people haha. I do wanna say I very much appreciate everyone I've gotten to interact with and follow during this CATWS10 event and over the past two months I’ve been on here more!

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love Oh, god. GOD. This is so tough, I'm really blanking right now. I've been around for a loong while lol and there are so, so many insane, brilliant ones. It doesn't help that I really haven't read that many in the last few years as much as I've been writing them.

Off the top of my head though, I recently went back to Speranza's All the Angels and the Saints. One of the all-time old school Cap greats. All of their stuff is just wonderful, foundational Steve, Bucky & SteveAndBucky content. Also everything by magdaliny. I don't even know what to say there, except maybe goddamn.

I’ve also been reading a couple Red Room fics that I can’t find right now but that were great, so I’ll have to dig through my old laptop bookmarks and get back to you with a personalized list, hehe 🫡

[annunakitty]

Warframe predictions for upcoming content in 2023 and possibly 2024 (bonus points if they talk about any of these during the next Tennocon):

Orokin Tower Rework - didn't make sense before they established Eternalism, now anything goes and the Orokin tileset is one of the oldest, most relatively unaltered tilesets at this point. (A long while back Steve mentioned adding new enemies to the Orokin faction, specifically mentioning a Corrupted Nox; Tower rework will include these)

Ice Planet Outpost Rework - The wrecked outpost tileset will probably stay the same, but the regular outposts will probably be updated to look more like the structures found throughout the Orb Vallis

Tau System will have its own starmap with its own mission nodes - mix of Orokin style and Sentient style map nodes, possibly rotating Grineer/Corpus occupied zones like the Zariman, and also:

Whoops We Accidentally Unleashed the Infestation On The Tau System - Humans are real good at tracking invasive species around with them, this is just on-brand for us, and we haven't had new Infested lore in a while anyway.

New Cephalon Simaris scan targets - This is more a hope than a prediction, he hasn't been updated basically ever despite the introduction of a LOT of new enemy types over the years. Naturally this would correspond to a Sanctuary update as well

New faction-based social areas other than relays, a la Iron Wake - also more a hope than a prediction, another hope is making Iron Wake more plot relevant. As it stands it's just kinda... there. You can get rivens there I guess.

[alectology-archive]

"some day” I said, but I had a burst of inspiration so I typed it up - I’m posting plotlines that I thought were foreshadowed or how I personally imagined them playing out in my mind while I was reading the series. I’m putting them under the cut because it got long-ish:

- Egwene playing a bigger role in the black ajah hunt around the TDR era - she only got a single book of hunting black ajah and she was still a baby channeler then.

- I personally thought Elaida could have been better-written - it would have been fun to lean more into the tragedy aspect of her character. I think I thought she would vehemently oppose the idea of Rand being the true Dragon Reborn until it was too late (which would discredit her greatly with the aes sedai who’d allied with her) which would lead Rand to ally with the rebels.

- honestly I did expect a small-ish group of Aes Sedai to be more opposed to the need for them to follow the Dragon Reborn.

- Nynaeve and Elayne going to Amadicia/Amador proper in book 5 to really hook into and dig up the whitecloak plotline, where they meet Galad. Possible additional black ajah shenanigans. 

- More science from Lanfear! More horrifying acts committed by Lanfear! I can’t say I was completely betrayed because nothing in the books was as satisfying as the scene where she skinned Kadere.

- Asmodean staying as Rand’s toxic best friend who makes him worse quite a way into the series (potentially late book 7/early book 8) but I suppose he had to be killed off because of the establishment of the black tower.

- I thought Asmodean and Rand would join Valan Luca's circus for some reason at one point tho.

- Rand’s book 6 plotline being tackling Sammael in Illian. I thought Dumai's Wells took place during this war and a forsaken would capture him in the middle of it (hence the Box), setting off a rescue sequence.

(I briefly thought Rand would be stuffed in a stasis box) 

- Scenes set in Seandar where we actively get to see how the Shadow/Forsaken manipulate the High Blood with the possible reveal that the Shadow has been responsible for making the Seanchan worser than they already were to start with (a la how they are responsible for the all of the worst institutional rules that are in place in the White Tower). We do technically get a peak of this when we see Semirhage’s undercover scenes with Tuon.

- Mat returning to Caemlyn with Elayne & co and offering the Band to help her with the Succession

- pre-WH I thought Mat and Tuon would end up being either a political marriage or an enemies to lovers kind of relationship minus the circus arc (I think I imagined Tuon arriving at Caemlyn or Carihien, maybe, with an embassy to discuss the war with the Shadow) where they would eventually bond over managing to defeat an army with their combined forces, I guess?? 

- Myth told me about Tuon while I was still reading book 2/3, I think, lol, and I wasn’t really familiar with the Seanchan then and didn’t expect her to be Seanchan either, so I thought she’d probably be a highborn lady from the borderlands who was a skilled military leader.

- Rand confronting Taim/Demandred/Taimandred in the latter half of the series, and I’ll be forever upset about it not happening.

- Nynaeve and Moghedien having more homoerotic scenes + Nynaeve’s books 10-13-ish era plot being all about dealing with her and potentially Semirhage too, instead of being Rand’s accessory.

- The 13 black ajah sisters from TGH being properly confronted and defeated in the books 9-11 era but including Liandrin specifically

- Tuon actually confronting the side of her that could channel, and later being released by Mat when she starts to decide that the empire, as it is, should be destroyed and replaced by another governing body. The books made a point to say that she treated her slaves kindly so I was hoping she was a victim of the empire’s cruelty and conditioning and played along to its rules to protect herself, so I guess it wasn’t very fun to leave KoD knowing that she’d accomplished none of those potential character arcs before returning to her power base. 

I did remember making a couple of posts about how I enjoyed how antagonistic her relationship with Mat was - it just Feels Right that Mat would marry somebody who annoyed him in return which is why I’m a Mat x Elayne enthusiast - so my issue wasn’t really the romance, but her lack of a character arc.

Also I just feel Mat is tragedy’s (unwilling) best friend, so I kinda vibe with the idea that he never gets to be happy happy until later in life - so I don’t really mind the Seanchan plotline RJ had probably planned for him in the outriggers. I just lost my taste for it after Tuon renamed him in AMoL.

- Some sort of council meeting in the borderlands which Rand attends to persuade those nations to ally with him? 

- Rand being actually kidnapped by Semirhage and being taken to the borderlands (I don't know why, don't ask, I assumed RJ would want to worldbuild more and would take advantage of the opportunity by giving her a convenient reason to be there) just before the armies need to start marching to shayol ghul

- Moiraine and Siuan being reunited in the book 12 era and Moiraine being a source of consultation for Rand. I did NOT see the weird Gareth/Siuan romance coming - I always thought she’d stay single permanently.

- I did kind of think Siuan would be re-installed as Amyrlin, honestly. Or that she would play a greater role in advising Egwene.

- The Black Tower potentially being taken over by darkfriends and traitors completely to the point where it became a Forsaken stronghold, maybe.

- me legitimately thinking Mat and Rand would like. Kiss in book 5 or 12, lol. I think this thought occurred to me after the Rhuidean sequence.

- I thought Mat and Talmanes would probably sleep together, honestly.

- I was actually surprised by how homoerotic avilayne was so... no criticisms there, I suppose, but I kind of really did expect Elayne and Min to kiss after their lord of chaos scenes.

- Mat joining up with Rand after book 11 and using his skills to thwart the seanchan forces in almoth plain after promising Tuon that he would meet her on the battlefield next.

- Egwene and Egeanin actually communicating a bunch and Egeanin playing the part of Egwene’s knight, in a way. I learned Egwene would bond her as a Warder in AMoL all the way back when I was reading TSR and was falling in love with Egeanin + Egwene had such a homoerotic relationship with Avi + Egwene’s trauma after she was made a damane set up a great potential for a nuanced relationship.

- Egeanin playing proper traitor to the seanchan and giving up important secrets

[maddiesbookshelves]

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh (April 2022)

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village — and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon — may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin — as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits — Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: a human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…

Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes, it's a good book with a little romance and a nice plot.

Level of (dis)satisfaction based on the summary and my expectations? It was actually a nice surprise because I was expecting a basic plot with a basic romance but it ended up being better than I thought.

My thoughts on it? I really liked Mina's character, she's brave and her storyteller side was super cool. The secondary characters were very interesting, I'd love to know more about them, especially since the author confirmed on instagram that they were queer (which was kind of implied in the book), same with the Spirit World. I know that Axie Oh is Korean-American so I'm guessing a lot of elements were inspired by Korean mythology, but since I unfortunately know nothing about it, I couldn't tell for sure.

Some elements of the plot were a bit confused, especially the explanation of the Sea God's curse, but I'm willing to let it slide because the "how" wasn't really the most important.

I was a bit scared because the soul mates trope isn't necessarily something I'm going to like, it has to be done a specific way for me to get invested, but this case was slightly different so it was fine.

The book as a whole gave off Spirited Away vibes, especially the beginning when Mina gets to the Spirit World, it was amazing.

Also, I don't know what's going on with the editors but they should keep it up because their covers for Asian books are beautiful, DAMN. Iron Widow? A Magic Steeped in Poison? June Hur's books? This one? Seriously.

French version under the cut

Depuis des générations, des tempêtes destructrices ravagent le pays de Mina. Les inondations emportent des villages entiers tandis que des guerres sanglantes sont menée pour les quelques ressources restantes. Son peuple croit que leur protecteur, le Dieu de la Mer (Sea God), les a désormais maudits, condamnés au désespoir et à la mort. Chaque année pour l'apaiser, une belle jeune fille est jetée à la mer en tant que promise du Dieu de la Mer, dans l'espoir qu'un jour sa "véritable promise" sera choisie et mettra un terme à leurs souffrances.

Nombreux sont ceux à croire que Shim Cheong, la plus belle fille du village — et la bien-aimée de Joon, le frère ainé de Mina — pourrait bien être la véritable promise des légendes. Cependant, la nuit où Shim Cheong doit être sacrifiée, Joon la suit en mer, conscient que toute intervention entraînerait sa mort. Pour sauver son frère, Mina se jette à l'eau à la place de Cheong. Emportée dans le Monde des Esprits (Spirit World), une citée magique remplie de dieux mineurs et de créatures mythiques, Mina se met à la recherche du Dieu de la Mer et le retrouve plongé dans un sommeil enchanté. Avec l'aide d'un mystérieux jeune homme nommé Shin, ainsi qu'une équipe hétéroclite composée de démons, de dieux et d'esprits, Mina décide de trouver un moyen de réveiller le Dieu de la Mer, mettant enfin un terme aux tempêtes meurtrières. Seulement, elle n'a pas beaucoup de temps : une humaine ne peut pas survivre longtemps dans le monde des esprits. Et il y a ceux qui feraient tout pour empêcher le Dieu de la Mer de se réveiller...

Est-ce que tu le conseillerais à quelqu’un ? Oui, c’est un bon bouquin avec une petite romance et une intrigue sympa.

Niveau de déception/satisfaction par rapport au résumé et tes attentes ? J’ai été assez agréablement surprise parce que je m’attendais à avoir une intrigue un peu bateau avec une romance bateau mais au final c’était mieux que ce que je pensais.

Avis sans spoiler ? J’ai beaucoup aimé Mina, elle est courageuse et son côté conteuse était super cool. Les personnages secondaires étaient vraiment intéressants, j’aimerais bien en savoir plus sur eux, surtout que l’autrice a confirmé sur insta que deux d’entre eux était queer (ce qui était légèrement sous-etendu dans le livre), pareil pour le Spirit World. Je sais que Axie Oh est américano-coréenne donc j’imagine que beaucoup de choses étaient tirées de la mythologie coréenne mais malheureusement comme je n’y connais rien je saurais pas dire.

Certains éléments de l’intrigue étaient un peu flous, notamment l’explication de la malédiction du Sea God, mais je suis prête à passer outre parce que le “comment” n'était pas forcément le plus important.

J’avais un peu peur parce que les âmes sœurs c’est pas forcément quelque chose que je vais apprécier, il faut que ça soit fait d’une certaine façon pour que je sois vraiment investie, mais là c’était légèrement différent donc ça allait.

Pendant tout le bouquin j’avais des vibes du Voyage de Chihiro, c’était trop bien, surtout au début quand elle arrive dans le Spirit World.

Aussi, je sais pas ce que les éditeurs prennent mais qu’ils continuent avec les couvertures des livres asiatiques parce que DAMN elles sont magnifiques. Iron Widow ? A Magic Steeped in Poison ? les 3 June Hur ? Celui-là ? Sérieux.

[matchstickdolly]

Lucifer 5B: Cutting off Touch to Spite Your Fans

Spoiler warning: This post assumes you've watched all of Lucifer, season 5, part B.

CW: There's plenty I like about season 5, but this is a negative post. I know not everyone is up for negativity about the things they love. I also generally avoid it and (try to) keep my mouth shut about things I don’t like in most spaces. It’s good etiquette. But this is my space, and I have thoughts specifically about purity culture and the treatment of sexuality and trauma in fiction. You’ve been warned!

---

I'm a professional writer (not in TV). I've worked with enough bad clients, editors, and other writers to recognize some hallmark behaviors in how both Fox and Netflix gave Lucifer's writers incredibly difficult, unfair, and frankly weird situations to create through.

Fox did them dirty, interfering and ordering too many eps in S3. Netflix did them dirty, ordering 10 eps for S4 when it clearly needed ~13. Then Netflix ordered 10 "final" eps for S5—then, just kidding(!), 6 more after they'd done their writing for the 10. (What the fuck?) And then Netflix ordered 10 more for a "final-final" S6 after the writers had done their best to tell their whole story in S5. (MORE what the fuck.)

Talk about whiplash for creators, and half of those who consume content don't even care to understand such creative pain.

So, there are problems on multiple fronts. There's much I'll forgive writers, accordingly. I go into most shows expecting plotting/pacing issues. I look, instead, for characters and relationships that will triumph over those issues.

Heart is what the show Lucifer has always had in spades, both in its characters and in the immensely committed, wonderful ways the actors have tried to realize the characters' humor, love, trauma, and—most importantly—struggle to find healing. Yet, when given the opportunity to show health alongside another in a relationship, the writers/directors of 5B chose to remove most sexual humor and physical intimacy from their female lead and bi/pan characters to, I feel, sanitize them and troll fans. What happened?

Well, for one, say hi to showrunner Joe Henderson bragging about how the writers decided to be colossal dicks to the fans who helped secure their jobs:

From CBR's 'Lucifer Showrunner Joe Henderson Dissects Season 5B's Chaos'

Have we not suffered sidelined/repressed female characters, "bury your gays," and, oh, Chloe fucking a serial killer enough? Must we also say hello to neutered relationships once characters find stable love (whether same or opposite sex)? The result of withdrawing more sexual humor and physical intimacy from paired characters is an uncomfortable suggestion that they're reformed by "pure" love—more chaste and aloof, more acceptable in polite society. This is only done to end-game committed relationships.*

The writers seem to think they're edging the viewers, but the reality is they're taking traumatized minority characters who rejoiced in sexual freedom, but lacked and craved an emotional connection, and showing they can't have both, or, if they find both, it will never last. They've taken hypersexual characters and said, here, even they can have the love and commitment they desire, but some physical intimacy, especially sexual intimacy, is what they must trade for it.

There's always one more case, phone call, or coincidence interrupting intimacy. Traumas or deaths deserving emotional and physical comfort go on to receive none or only one aspect. Done sometimes, it's fine. Done always, it's sick. Dan dies, and there's no hugging? Really?†

Don't craft characters who crave a full range of emotional and physical intimacy, only to rob them of related scenes every chance you get. That's not complexity. That's bad writing. To even achieve this in 5B, they must squash banter and sideline their female lead yet again.

What a gift to purity culture, which tells us to be more palatable by bottling and buttoning up. That sex should be taboo, but violence glorified. That there is no heated desire among "Good Women," that sexual minorities of all genders shouldn't experience it much at all.

5A is so good. At the very least, it's on the right path (clearly, since the plot payoff from 5x01 to 5x16 is great). It shows a couple working through difficulties and trauma, toward each other emotionally and physically. It even pokes fun at people who think an established relationship means the death of romantic and sexual appeal (a tired and hugely sexist trope). And then... And then 5B reverses that, pretending established relationships are barely physical during emotional struggle and that the honeymoon phase doesn't exist. It robs characters of joy and comfort through physical intimacy when they need it to move through or push beyond trauma.

It's telling that so many fan wishes for Deckerstar are about healing touch and existing in each other's spaces: amending Chloe's spicy PDA history with Cain, Chloe caring for Lucifer's wings, soft family scenes a la Monopoly night and shared meals, morning-afters, etc. Reasonable fans aren't asking for porn; they're asking for connection and humanity. They're asking for writers not to forget characters (and, yes, including hypersexual characters) on their way from Point A to Point B.

That 5B lacks these things isn't a "tee-hee frustrating" slow burn or a cockblock. It is, in so many scenes, excising from characters a core part of what nearly every human and fictional monster craves. And it's a slap in the face to the "found family" trope. When you remove or tamp down a casual physical intimacy that was previously there, characters and their relationships fall flat, even if only partially. They become blunt weapons creators wield against watchers or readers begging for scraps of warmth.

Minorities shouldn't be killed off with ease, and they shouldn't be stifled with ease, either.‡ And maybe there shouldn't be deep trauma driving a wedge in a romantic relationship if you're not going to explore it through that relationship, too—physical intimacy included.

I'm still reserving some judgment. I loved the family drama and the end. (Although, again, where was the physical intimacy? No intimacy when Chloe or Lucifer return from the dead? Really?) I see where they could do awesome things, and could have done more if not for network BS.

But I no longer trust Lucifer's writers and directors. They thought S5 was the end. And what they gave us of Deckerstar, of the relationship that symbolizes health and healing in their fictional world, is this: cold distance. And they got a kick out of doing it, apparently.

If this is a "love letter" to me as a fan, I'm burning it. I can only hope S6 course corrects. If not, the writers who made these choices shouldn't write sexual minority and/or traumatized characters again. If you don't understand most of us, you should stop fucking using us.

---

* If you don't believe me about the differences between casual/short-term relationships and end-game relationships in Lucifer, go back and look at how Lucifer and Maze are with strangers in all the other seasons. Look at Chloe's sex dream, her propositioning of Lucifer in a library, her sex with Pierce in the evidence closet. Look at how much physical intimacy there is between Lucifer and Eve, and then between Eve and Maze (if only as a ploy). Across seasons, there are sex/kink jokes and scenes galore.

Compare this to how these same characters are portrayed when with their end-game loves. Notice the gentle pecks on the lips and the huge general drop in sexual humor between 5A and 5B. How boring. Where's the spice these characters had? Also, give me a damn break. Buttoning up in a relationship is contrary to four and a half seasons of emotional character work that's been communicating security in our relationships is personally freeing.

† I'm not just talking about sexual intimacy in this post, though that is a big part of it because of the characters. 5B lacked crucial found family scenes, too.

Chloe should have been at God's family dinner, but being so would have prevented more ham-fisted angst. Chloe never even has a one-on-one with God, probably because that would demand a straight answer about her miracle status, which I would guess will be used to drive yet another wedge between her and Lucifer next season, but we'll see.

In multiple before- and after-work scenes, there was no reason for Lucifer and Chloe to be apart more, even, than they were in S1 and S2. Monopoly night was in S3, for crying out loud. Most horrifying of all? No one touches Chloe after Dan's death, but Trixie. Meanwhile, Linda, Amenadiel, Ella, Maze, and Lucifer all receive physical comfort. No wonder Chloe's tired of being strong.

‡ If you don't think it's offensive that they stuffed all their wlw content for two hypersexual characters into a few clunky, irrational, and chaste scenes that rushed I love yous, a marriage-like proposal, and the mention of soulmates, I don't know what to tell you other than get off my lawn.

[liesoverthec]

May I ask you a details question from the show canon, as you are the most Details Person out here? What do we know about Chris’s school? Like any and all details on it? Age range, name, is it just for students who need some kind of extra accommodation, is it a private school or a hybrid state subsidised whatever, sorry this is all a lot of random details I’m sure they haven’t given us, I’m just curious if you’ve noted any of them?

Hayley OF COURSE you can ask me a details question!

So here’s what I got for you - Christopher goes to Durand School. And it’s definitely a private school, given that Shannon has to interview to get Christopher in, and well, she actually calls it a private school on screen in 2x15. 😂 Which means also that Eddie is paying for the schooling, if you ever want a plot point about money.

It’s never stated, but my guess would be it’s either a private elementary school, or elementary+middle, since on camera we never see any teenagers on school grounds. Given that Christopher should be turning 11 next year, if it is only an elementary school I’m hoping him moving schools will be a plot point in a near future season which will confirm it for us, but at the moment I don’t have enough information to confirm it either way. :/

They have a uniform/dress code, which we’ve actually seen Chris in! It’s a light blue button up or polo, (long sleeve or short, I’ve seen students in all combos), with khaki pants, and the girls can wear a black skirt or put a black dress over the blue shirt. Students seem to have the option of adding in a dark blazer or cardigan. And it seems like they have more freedom in shoe choice - they have to be black or white, but the type doesn’t matter (sneakers, dress shoes, etc). There is a school crest, but it’s not embroidered on any of the clothes.

Also not actually confirmed, but based on context, it seems to be a private school for anyone, but with a really good accommodations program - Eddie makes a big deal out of asking the tour guide at the school if Christopher will be treated “like he’s normal. Not some special needs charity case.” And then in turn the lady from the school tells him about their small classes and how they “learn from each other as much as they do from [the teachers].” So definitely not just for students who need accommodations. They do have behavioral and cognitive programs though, whatever that means!

They also have 2 playgrounds, a fancy gym, music programs, an art studio and a theater.

Christopher’s school is set up more like a high school than my elementary school was - rather than sticking to one main teacher all the time, he has different teachers for different subjects. And we know he is at least taking English, math, science, and some form of music (possibly specifically band, although for me at that age it was just one music class with anything my teacher wanted to go over, so go with whatever you want there!).

It’s not a real school, so placement wise within LA it could potentially go wherever you want with what we know in canon right now. I’d guess though that it was within a ~20 minute radius of Eddie’s house, given how many schools there are in Los Angeles - it wouldn’t make a ton of sense to me for Eddie to look beyond what he felt he could reasonably drive to unless the school was specifically tailored to kids w CP, which this isn’t. But like I said you can put it where you wish!

And here’s a picture of the crest!

I believe the writing on the crest is “MCMLVII”, which is 1957 in Roman Numerals. Which I’d personally guess is the school’s founding year!

I hope all of that is helpful and let me know if there’s anything else you want to know! I put everything I could think of based off the clips from Christopher at school I rewatched but I’m happy to at least give opinions based on canon for other things, if it’s something you want to know that I don’t specifically have an answer to!

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

[pocketramblr]

other main character meta- Ochako, pt 1

<part 2>

“Could you send me there?” you ask, while i blink, confused. “The world where someone else is the main character? not because i have any hypocritical biases against the one i got, just curious how the fandom meta changes.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” I nod, thinking, before tapping my wand against your forehead. “Let’s start with Ochako.”

"I'm going to warn you now- I will have to slightly adjust the plot like I did with Mirio, just to actually let her be the main character."

"Yeah, that checks out." You nod, thinking about certain arcs where the female fighting teams get no coverage while the dudes get four different backstory reveals and full fight focus.

"Very well."

The show begins with a brief narration by the girl of quirks and super hero fights- all flashy. Then it zooms out to show the destruction, and a small construction team moving in as Ochako explains that just as there are new careers in society for heroes, there's also a bigger market for construction companies, one of which her own family runs.

"I've always wanted to help them with it, and my quirk would be useful"- a tiny, adorable Ochako finally appears, making rocks in a park float- "but to get a work license like that is expensive and selective- you've got to make a lot of court appearances and convince them why is a good idea and won't destroy the economy. It's much easier to get a hero license."

Then she explains: "Of course, once you have a hero license, you can make a lot more money than just by helping the company. Especially if... Your family company isn't doing very well." A series of tired but loving parents are shown working all hours to make ends meet.

"I want to help them- my parents. They've done everything for me, and they deserve a break. So that's why I'm going to be a hero- their hero."

The training montage is quick, using her quirk during school in training, after school in secret, around the house. She saves up money too, and studies, aiming for a scholarship.

She applies and tests for many hero schools, and the exams all vary widely.

The first episode ends with her looking up at UA, her final one, the one she really hopes to get into.

"Oh, that's nice." You nod. "And we even get to know her parents' quirks here."

"Yep." I agree. "In general, there's a lot more of a look at the financial side. It's pretty interesting."

"And the fandom?"

"Well, certain people get praised for the bare minimum, but I'll admit having a female lead is super uncommon for shonen jump." It's an improvement, though it's up in the air how much of one it will be. "There's also, because we saw a lot more hero schools, a ton of "students at different school" fics, either because they were expelled or because of the danger UA gets into."

"I do kinda feel like this universe is lucky for that sort of world building." You nod.

"It's very cool to see the takes on the aus. But, I will say there's a cost for this world building- the AfO stuff reeeeally comes out of nowhere and tends to not be popular with fans."

The next episode starts, and Ochako helps a boy from falling. "Love interest alert!" The fans notice quickly when the cute boy blushes and doesn't manage to say much before she walks away.

"They caught on quick." You note.

"And they aren't wrong." Not that it's any real feat to be right.

The exam starts, and Ochako is off in a flash. You see a few glimpses of future classmates- Iida, Aoyama, Kirishima.

She does well, racking up villain points and rescue points, until she's a little too ambitious and falls into the rubble. Her nausea is well established by now, everyone knows she's at her limit.

She can't get up.

The green haired boy comes back and stops the zero pointer.

And breaks every bone in the process.

Ochako saves him in return, lifting up the rubble and stopping his fall.

And then vomits violently afterwards.

"You know, I think quirks suck, actually." The fandom tends to agree on this after that episode/chapter. "But it is interesting that there's such a price for the powers, balances it really well."

"Ha." You shake your head. "They caught onto that, quicker."

"Yep." I can't even say it's more highlighted here, it's the exact same way it was shown in our universe- down to the sparkling rainbow puke.

"Though..." You can't quite imagine that's the only thing the fandom is saying isn't actually that great.

"Ding ding ding." I nod. "Did our own main character get treated just like a damsel in distress? Sure, she saved him back, but that just meant she could have floated away on her own in that time, even if it made her sick. Better that than dead. Is it the sexism?" I shrug. "Most decide to wait and see a bit, and by the time they work together in the first battle exercise figure it's a pretty even split between them saving each other."

"So no sexism?" You get happy at that thought.

I cough. "Ah, no. Both in the show and the fandom. You wouldn't believe how many grown men complain about the lady mc, even as they keep watching."

"And have her body pillow."

"Please don't make me think about that." I cover my eyes, but don't deny that it's true. "Anyway, yeah. Get ready for a lot of people to point out that even though the main character is a girl, every single other girl is flat as cardboard so far and that she only has developed friends that are guys."

"Hey, they aren't flat-"

"In the first season? Yeah they are. Unless you meant, physically, in which case..."

"I didn't." You protest. "But I guess I can see your point, at the start."

"Right. Let's continue on."

Uraraka goes to Present Mic to offer her points. The man pats her on the head, and skyrockets to the position of fandom dad.

"It's all about Dadmic and then Dadzawa here," I explain. "The fans were very disappointed to learn Mic wasn't her homeroom teacher, but yeah... He got a huge head start before Dadzawa fics got going."

"Nice. And it's all fanon?"

"Yeah, it may be a good thing he's not actually in it much, or they might realize how much they just made up on their own."

Then she gets accepted in, on hero and rescue points- she's third place overall, and she gets the scholarship.

On the first day of school, she actually gets to know her love interest's name- Midoriya!

There's also the quirk assessment, which really leads to the "expelled to another school" au and the "fire Aizawa and replace him with better Mic" aus, the first of which lasts much longer in the fandom use, but the second one was just as passionate for a while.

Iida becomes the second friend, and gives her the "Infinity Girl" nickname- which actually is the fandom assumption of what her hero name will be for quite a while, a la 'ground zero'.

Then it's time for All Might's first appearance on screen, to much applause of the students, and the announcement that they get their costumes.

During the first battle exercise, there's a lot more lingering camera work in the changing rooms. Ochako gets to expand a lot more on how she didn't want her costume to be that tight. It's uncomfortable, especially when she thinks about wearing it in front of everyone.

"Oh, I forgot she didn't like it at first... Does she just, get used to it here?" It sounds horrible for the plot to just say 'get used to it' to the main character being sexualized by costume makers outside of her control, especially as a child.

"Not on my watch." I mumble, waving the wand. "Don't worry, she'll actually get more costume changes each time, like some other characters."

"Oh good."

Mineta, regrettably, still exists. You find the fandom manages to be even more violent in his removal.

The battle does even out the opinions on Midoriya, as well as lead to a boost in Iida's with his charming little attempt at thinking villainously.

And cements Bakugo as rather hated. No one has really liked him, when the first thing he did was blow up at Midoriya, then get revealed to have called him a cruel nickname all this time. And then specifically hunt him down because all he cares about it beating him up.

"Yeah he's not gonna get a lot of fans here huh."

"He sure never gets first place in the popularity poll." I agree. "Most consider him the subversion of the rival trope to show is just stupid and violent and in real life, people like that don't go anywhere."

"Most?"

I look away. "How dumb of a discourse do you think you could see today?"

"Oh please, show me." You lean in. "It's nice to not have to deal with it in my universe, so I don't care."

The discourse is such.

Bakugo is gay-coded for Midoriya, the violence is a result of him being shoved off for a girl's love interest when she should be single and independent, and the homophobic creator is vilifying all gay people by saying they are predatory to poor straight boys with refused.

"They............... What."

"If it makes you feel better, that's a very brief minority of the fandom. My favorite response to it was "he's not gay-coded, he's bully coded you sanctimonious sumph of a shmuck.""

"Oh good," you sigh. "I'm glad we don't have to deal with actual queerphobic tropes like that."

I stare at you.

"What?"

I sigh. "Nothing, put a pin in that until I bring up the predatory bi thing with Toga."

Your eyes widen, and you start to have some regrets.

"Anyway, we can talk shipping later. Time for more."

The 'exit sign Iida' gives him a boost in being shipped with Ochako, (as well as Yaoyorozu) and also the general idea that "Ochako has two hands."

That one hand can have a boyfriend with a lot of cash to spare for her and the other is also played with.

"I missed the main trio, like this." You smile as they walk off into the sunset after school.

"Yeah." I agree. "Anyway, time for some near death experiences."

The USJ marks the start of the gradual, gradual growth of Dadzawa fics. It also focuses far more on Ochako, Mina, Sero, and Iida having to think strategically to get around Kurogiri. It's only after Iida escapes that we cut back to a slightly abridged version of how Midoriya was doing, then the other kids, before help arrives.

He does still through his first non bone breaking punch though, which makes the audience happy.

All Might saves the day. Aizawa is battered afterwards. Many fans start out by saying they were disappointed, since this was supposed to be the first big fight, and the kids didn't do much. Many others say in response that's the point- we're looking at first years, they had to think and help each other, but in the end they had to rely on adults.

And then the sports festival is announced. They want to do well, because this is how they get work-week placements, which could become internship offers.

Ochako thinks about Hado Nejire, the only intern of a top ten hero, and senior at UA, along with a few others who are on the up and up. She's determined.

"Really? You're bringing in the big three early?" You ask, glancing at my wand.

It's not sparkling.

I cross my arms with a huff. "Look. Nejire is at this point the only intern in the top ten, she would have been recognizable to the students for that, even if they didn't recognize the big three (which really means that they aren't actually called the Big Three by everyone, or at least not a wide enough group for it to be as big a deal as it's treated. Anyway.) But she wasn't, even if she should have been the most famous of the bunch, considering the coverage the first years got in just their first night. That's because a certain someone doesn't actually think of his female characters much, but he has to in this universe, so."

"Ok, yeah, that's fair. So does that change the sports festival?"

"Not... Much." I admit.

“What?”

“Well, keep in mind in the first universe, our main character didn’t make it past the second round in the one-on-one’s. So she’s not exactly guaranteed a win here either.”

You have to nod, admitting that is true.

“And the conflict isn’t so much about having to live up to any predecessor or breaking down some people’s walls via breaking bones.” I tap my wand against my chin, thinking. “There really is two- one about Midoriya, and one about Ochako’s parents.”

“Oh?”

“One, there’s been the Uraraka’s not happy about how much danger Ochako’s been in. Its been hinted at in the phone calls, but really shows up when we get to see them at home before the SF for the first time since she moved for school. They aren’t sure if she can stay there herself, or if the right thing to do would be to pull her out and maybe try a smaller school.”

“I suppose that's fair, if they haven't been able to actually see her or her progress.”

“Right. The second one is- well. in this, Izuku’s win of the first round, and then breaking out of brainwashing, is more about really piling on how good his mind is- all that brain power. This adds more pressure when we see Ochako being offered a plan from him to beat Bakugo.”

“Oh that does sound neat.”

“Yep- but of course, she still refuses. It’s held up as a worse thing, strategically, initially- but then she comes up with a plan that Midoriya confirms in the stands is better than his, and proves to her parents that she’s smart and skilled enough to handle continuing at the school.”

You smile. “That is a cool arc to do, i guess, if very not traditional. But what about all the character setup and growth with Shinsou and Todoroki?”

“Oh, Shinsou’s largely gets delegated all the way later for the joint training arc, where Ochako’s team is directly against him. Todoroki...” I begin to giggle.

You wait for me to answer, getting more concerned the longer i laugh.

“Pocket?”

“Sorry, sorry, yeah. He actually tells her himself in this canon, a bit after stain. Oh! right, i forgot- the cheerleader incident.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. of course they need this merch opportunity! But yes, it happens. The... shall we say, non-body-pillow portion of the fandom, generally saw it as the end of any goodwill to Kaminari, who had previously been seen as a tertiary possible love interest, since he’d flirted with her on the first day. Flirt, but harmless, and unlikely to be important. Then there was that breach of trust and international embarrassment, and anyway he’s basically the second least likely in 1a to be shipped with her now.”

“Wow. So none of that changed?”

“Well, the setup wasn’t under narration from Todoroki about how his mother was bought for her body and how much that sucked and impacted her and the family while on screen we see multiple girls tricked into barring their bodies and its treated as a laugh instead?”

You stare at me. “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.”

“Neither am I.”

“So, the Todoroki reveal?”

“Right. So, first you need to know the Stain thing- the claims he has against ‘false’ heroes focusing on money is better spotlighted. After Stain’s arrest, Ochako hears a couple of sidekicks at Gunhead’s agency-”

“Wait!” you interrupt. “She still interned with Gunhead? Then what was the point of showing Nejire and Ryukyuu earlier?”

I try not to massage my forehead. “To build up to it. She only made it to the first of the final round, she couldn’t get an internship with a top tenner yet. She’s also got to learn how to disarm someone who fights with a knife. These things build up over more time, small steps.”

“Ah.” You’re satisfied, and let me continue.

“Right, so, Overhears a couple of them talking about Stain’s philosophy and ends up just feeling really bad about it for a bit, trying to figure out if she’s actually being selfish or a bad hero for, you know, wanting her family to not be crushed due to capitalism.”

“Poor girl.” You shake your head in sympathy, the freeze. “Oh. did not intend that pun.”

“It’s alright, i know what you mean. And yeah, she bottles it up for a bit, until the second day back at school. Then Iida reminds her that him bottling things up last week got several kids in mortal danger, and she begrudgingly admits that he has a point and tells them about what has been bugging her.”

“And they comfort her?”

“Well, Todoroki also offers to tell off Kaminari because at this point his mention of stain upset both her and iida, but yes, A lot of reassurances.”

You squint. “I feel like shippers.”

“You’re learning! Yes, Todoroki is just a bit behind Iida in terms of popularity shipping with her. and she does basically get shipped A Lot with each girl in her class too, like imagine double to triple the amount with each girl now, and for the minor guys- but yeah. There’s a lottttt of ships. This was basically called ‘todoroki’s introduction into ochako’s harem’ in the fandom.”

Shipping. fandom just can’t escape it.

“So, then she learns about Todoroki’s past? oh, and what about Hosu? Does she- and everyone else- actually think Endeavor saved the three??”

I snort. “Oh, no. Todoroki’s flat ‘yeah my father totally helped us, as you read on the official report’ basically tipped the fandom off that something else had. But nothing confirmed either, you know? Filling in the hosu gap is another trope in fics that is pretty common.”

“Neat.”

“Yep. But yeah Todoroki tells her his backstory a bit after his introduction into her ‘harem’ of friends. It’s really played up more to caution Ochako- its alright for her to want to help her family, and to work for money to do that. But Rei accepted the marriage offer for money for her family too, and it ended up breaking her. Ochako has to accept a balance- she can work to help her family, and its good, but there are some things she cannot morally do to help them, and other things that she shouldn’t do because she has to take care of her own health first.”

“Ohhhh.” You hadn’t quite expected that, but you sorta liked it, now that you thought about it.

I smile. “It is pretty neat, yeah.” I glance at my watch. “Look, i hate to cut you off, but this post is gonna end up thrice the length of Mirio’s and i think tumblr might stop me, so we’re gonna have to do a two-parter.”

“That’s fine.” You are gracious for what you’ve gotten so far, and do have questions that you’re excited to see answered for the rest of the series. “It’s been fun.”

“It has been.” I agree. “Lets take a break, but you can ask me any questions too, before I return for part two.”

<part 2>

[jaekaicx]

so ive had this idea for an amphibia fangame for a lil while now-

(LONG post)

its based around the idea that sometime after anne got sent back to earth, she decides to sneak out one night to visit sasha and marcys bedrooms and poke through their stuff. this causes a bunch of memories to come back to anne through flashbacks while she tries to process everything thats happened and her feelings abt their friendship.

i was thinking itd be mostly a visual novel type thing. maybe with a few small choices, but the story would be mostly linear. thered be around 3 main story beats: a prologue bit w/ anne sneaking out of her house, marcys bedroom, and sashas bedroom. also one of the main mechanics would be looking at one of their bedrooms and clicking on random objects of importance and triggering a flashback sequence.

it came from the idea that anne will probably try to just shove all her emotions down and try to ignore her feelings abt true colors and everything that went down then. especially with what we saw in the sneak peek, anne will probably try to hide her emotions and bottle them up, which is obviously not healthy. so eventually shes gonna have to work through her emptional baggage and try to process everything.

i havent thought through EVERYTHING just yet, just some more major plot points and maybe one or two ideas for flashbacks. nothing too solid yet. but heres a bit more detailed runthrough of the plot

summary - prologue

so it would start off with anne at home. she and her mom are talking outside annes room. her moms concerned abt how annes been handling everything that happened in amphibia but anne keeps brushing everything off. her mom tries to get her to open up, but she keeps dismissing her and eventually shuts herself in her room. after taking a bit to cool off and think anne decides that shes gonna take the night to just ride off her emotions and stop repressing them for once. she also makes an impulsive decision to sneak out and check out marcy and sashas rooms.

anne goes to gather her stuff in her room, and just as shes about to climb out the window, sprig walks in to check on her. hes still rly concerned abt his big sis but he knows he cant stop her. he tries to go with anne, but she tells him she needs to do this on her own. so, sprig lets her go and tries to cover for her while shes gone.

so at this point i’ll probably give the player the choice of whose house to visit first. it doesnt rly impact the story or whatever, but i guess it might have a small emotional impact depending on whose house u choose to go to first??

(quick note: after this bit, there arent too many specific details for the plot and stuff like that. its largely just an overall idea of how the plot is gonna go. and even then, there isnt much to it. i didnt think that far ahead yet, which is why there isnt as much refinement yet. so far i just have general ideas for how annes gonna get to the bedrooms, with a couple of vague flashback ideas. just keep that in mind; this whole thing is still being thought over and planned as im typing this out)

summary - sasha

with sasha, annes still rly conflicted abt how she feels abt her. of course shes still rly hurt by being backstabbed by her twice and swordfighting her as many times. but as much as she hates sasha she cant bring herself to fully give up on sash. she hates her guts but deep down shes still willing to give sash another chance.

there may or may not be a small sequence where anne has to sneak into sashas house, but eventually she works her way into sashas room. im not entirely sure abt the details of sashas house n her family yet. im probably gonna wait for info from s3 until i solidify anything, but for now i do know that sashas family has a big house n theyre probably rich.

so anne goes into sashas room and its been left pretty much untouched ever since annes birthday, save for the few times someone came in to dust things off. again, dont rly have all the details for sashas room, but it kind of has a vibe of controlled chaos, with organized clutter and a bit of a touch of a rebellious teen girl. one detail i do want to have is a calendar opened up to the month the trio disappeared, with annes birthday circled and highlighted so much that its impossible to miss.

the calendar itself might include a flashback. im thinking of also having a varsity jacket and some old stuffed animal be different “artifacts” that trigger their own memories. there’ll be a bunch more, but those are the only ideas i have so far fjsbndnd

summary - marcy

ok so i want to be rly mean about marcys segment: this is going off the theory that marcys parents moved away while the trio was in amphibia.

anne doesnt know this yet tho, so shes in for quite a surprise when she turns onto marcys street to find a realtor sign on the front lawn. the clues are all there: an empty driveway, sign on the lawn, an overall empty vibe coming from the house. but it doesnt completely register at first. its not til anne actually comes up close does she notice the sign.

anne tries to deny it, and decides to prove to herself that “no marcys parents wouldnt do this. theyre not that cruel. im just gonna check marcys room myself.” the front doors locked, so she just goes over to marcys window and climbs in.

but its completely empty.

ok not totally empty, but a lot of marcys furniture and stuff is gone, except for a few stray toys and other “junk.” the home guys (idk what theyre called????) are still kind of in the process of cleaning everything out, so theres still some stuff left here and there around the house. but its still way too empty. and its yet another gut punch for anne.

anne searches the rest of the house a bit more, hoping that shes just hallucinating. but no, marcys parents are really gone. she tried to deny it before, but now she has more of an idea of how shitty the wu parents are. so anne decides to just mope around in marcys old room, checking out the stuff their parents left behind.

maybe she finds an old blanket marcy liked when he was rly young. or an old rubiks cube from marcys vast collection. a cnc figurine, some cards, a pride flag, and old diary? a couple of other old toys, an old report card or two, or maybe even some stray clothes. whatever anne finds, its all thats left of marcy, at least in LA.

it really doesnt leave anne in that much of a better emotional position. she already felt conflicted enough about what happened in true colors and what she found out abt marcy. but seeing even a small glimpse of what marcy was dealing with, it just makes her more confused. marcy was such a sweet kid! theres no way they couldve done anything wrong. yet here anne was, betrayed by both of her childhood friends.

only now is anne really taking the time to process the fact that marcy essentially kidnapped her and sasha with the calamity box. he didnt mean to do it, and theres no way they couldve known the box would actually work, but it doesnt completely excuse marcy. his actions still hurt anne and sash, and while they meant the best of intentions, it didnt rly come through that way.

and now marcy was dead. stabbed in the back by the newt king.

and now annes curled up in an empty bedroom, wrapped up in one of marcys old blankets, trying to wrap her head around her feelings about marcy while reminiscing in the past.

summary - extras/epilogue??

i kind of like the idea that anne ends up drifting off in which ever bedroom ended up being the second one she visited. she slowly comes back to consciousness, with her surroundings feeling somewhat familiar, only to wake up in horror bc “OH SHIT I FORGOT TO GO BACK HOME” im not completely sold on the idea tho bc it feels a bit abrupt and like too much of a tone shift?? idk it doesnt feel exactly right

but anyways, im also playing around with the idea of a small epilogue scene with the calamity trio hanging out in annes room, a good amount of time after amphibia ended. dont know what theyre doing in there, but theyre just chilling and feeling a bit nostalgic i guess.

but uh yeah thats pretty much what ive got for the overall idea. it doesnt feel too out of reach, but somethjng like this would definitely be ambitious. i could mayyyybe handle writing out the vn and drawing the character sprites, but i have no idea how to code a vn or draw detailed backgrounds, both of which would be pretty important to this fangame fjsndj. so i might consider having help with this.

THIS ISNT ANY SORT OF PROMISE OR WHATEVER. id rly love to follow through and make this fangame a thing, but im not making any guarantees. i have no idea if i’ll actually follow through, but i would definitely love to.

who knows. maybe in like a couple years this might actually become a thing. but for now i have no idea

[nossbean]

hello hope youre well! do you think that for the politics au, you would prefer to have written everything out and then release them installments or just release as you go?

​Oh boy, anon, this is a deeply legit question to which I will give a rambling reply if you’ll permit me because it's actually something I've thought about a lot!

​The politics AU is definitely the last fic I’ll post before having a complete fic. At the moment I’ve only got one other multi-chapter fic in the wings anyway, but besides sharing snippets on Tumblr, nothing will hit AO3 until the full thing’s written and at least partially beta’d. (Ideally fully beta'd but I am eager at heart so I'm trying to be realistic XD) That being said… in a weird way I don’t know that any of the politics AU would have seen the light of day if I hadn’t started posting it when I did?

I’ll explain, in two parts! First taking the character/emotional arcs as distinct from the political arc, insofar as those two parts are extricable from one another. When I started posting, it was a 9 chapter fic, Brienne-only pov, and I had drafted 5 chapters including the final one (which now no longer applies DDD; c'est la vie.) so I felt like I was actually in a pretty good position, by way of how much was written. Only then a few things happened. Firstly, Jaime suddenly wanted pov chapters. That was not in the plan! I'd had three chapters beta'd at that point but it wasn't until I started posting that Jaime having pov chapters became A Thing. Once he did, it shouldn’t have surprised me to find he started to re-shape the story. I always knew his backstory with Rhaella, to take one example, but having him actually interacting with her in the text opened the story in ways I didn’t expect — and also actually changed the way I understood and wrote this Jaime. One of the key changes: Jaime in the earlier chapters is pretty sharp and he remains sharp, but there is a hell of a lot of soft in the mix. Like, I think I’m constitutionally incapable of *not* writing Jaime soft to some degree, but his relationships with Rhaella and Elia, even his throw-away reflection about Joy and Genna in his first pov chapter, deepened the degree substantially: including how he was already thinking/feeling about Brienne. That then had a knock-on throughout the story and particularly how the relationship between Brienne and Jaime was shaped. Look I’m not gunna lie: their relationship was meant to look Quite Different to how it is now in the fic (and, in fairness, we're on chapter 11 and as noted, the fic was originally meant to end two chapters ago 🥴) Nine chapters versus twenty-five!! It’s a huge difference to how much I can explore by way of their arcs, emotionality, relationships outside of one another... in my original plan, Brienne's family was mentioned in passing but now they're much more present and that has had and will have impact on how the story shakes out. Could that have happened with a complete draft? Maybe? Equally likely I'd have felt something was missing and couldn't sort it out and so become demoralised and stop. I guess what I'm saying is that I think there's something in the act of sharing-as-still-writing in this case which greatly contributed. There is a specific sort of dynamism to that act which others have spoken to more eloquently than I, which I think I'd seek out more if I had more consistent internal energy for writing. So there's all that happening, and then there's also how it interplays with the politics plot.

Part two: speaking of politics………. LET ME TELL YOU. Even moderately-cynical 2018 nossbean could never have predicted how things in the UK shook out????? WHAT. IS. HAPPENING. I mean I have acute memories of sitting in the production office, watching in tense silence with teams from different shows as the Brexit vote was finalised, as Cameron stepped down (remember him? back when parliamentary norms, for whatever they're worth, were followed promptly and with some level of dignity?? I’d thought "resigning when you fuck over the country" was a low bar but good goddamn.) and BoJo was shaken enough that he looked like a vampire had taken a sip before he walked to the podium and also stated he wouldn't be running for leadership (I mean, that was politics too but still. Also Michael Gove was there but he is, to his deserved chagrin, barely worthy of a footnote so let’s give him merely a bracket’s mention). And have generally a great many feelings about everything pertaining to Brexit, particularly by way of media coverage, and yet! Even that could not have prepped me! Canada federally has largely remained the same (barring assholes in trucks get tae fuck """""freedom""""" convoy); I'm not touching provincial politics with this fic coz that would complicate things and give me a headache even if Westeros would be easy to split into provinces... all this is without even discussing how covid has affected politics (never mind everything else). Essentially, if I hadn’t started posting when I did, I’d definitely have felt bound to keep up with changing political landscapes in my draft and that would have been impossible so it just never would have happened. Heck, I sometimes fret now about how much the fic setting has become a relic already, even when some sort of accurate portrait had never been my goal in writing it.

All of that said, the thing I lament most is that I haven't written it more quickly. I do wish I was in a frame of mind for getting through it faster. I want to read the completed thing! I want people who are interested and invested in the story to read the completed thing! I'm excited for the completed thing! But alas, my brain is a snail and has been for several months now, and so writing has been a slog. I love the fic though, and I'm touched people are interested in it at all.

tl;dr: given my druthers *now* I wouldn't post something that wasn't complete, bar final edits. But as specifically pertaining to the politics au, it wouldn't be happening otherwise.

Thanks for the ask! idk if this is the sort of answer you were looking for but hopefully it's at least somewhat on the right track!

[glassprism]

Hi GP! Sorry if you answered this question before, but when I saw your post about Phantoms who definitely die at the end of POTO or definitely did, that made wonder... which Christines could you buy going back to the Phantom for one night à la LND (or on the other hand, those who definitely won't 😅)? I was thinking of maybe Gina Beck's Christine, or maybe Sierra's if it's Ramin's Phantom. I could see Christine coming back for Earl Carpenter's Phantom, for instance, but not really Rachel Barrell's Christine (not to mention I don't really see Earl's Phantom becoming Mr. Y either). Anyway, I hope you are well! ❤

Got a similar second ask:

Follow up on the saucy Music of the Night post: which Christines, in your opinion, acted like they wanted to stay at the end of the show? Just rewrite the script and stay? Might even be some of the ones who really got into it on MOTN. Sierra, for example, definitely looked like she was ready to full on stay. Of course this is also how the actress themselves feels about the Phantom character.

I think what's interesting is that sometimes the Christine actresses who seem to want to stay aren't actually going for that in their interpretation. We also have the opposite: Christines who say they would return to the Phantom but who don't seem like it in the show.

Like, to take the former example, I can think of Celia Graham and Trista Moldovan. Celia Graham is an interesting case in that this is partially based off her run in Love Never Dies and in interviews she had while in that show, where she expressed that Christine and the Phantom were soulmates and that she herself would pick the Phantom, yet in Phantom itself she came off weary and exhausted by the Phantom and pretty willing to leave him. However, given the number of years that have passed between her run in Phantom and then in LND, it could be that she changed her mind over time or after doing the sequel.

Similarly, Trista Moldovan when talking to a fan said that she too thought that the Phantom and Christine should get together, despite the fan (and me) thinking that her Christine just acted terrified of the Phantom the entire time and was completely willing to flee the lair with Raoul. Then again, this was before she was with Hugh Panaro's Phantom, where Moldovan was possibly the horniest Christine to ever horny, so maybe she was still figuring things out.

And then (I'm on a roll), you have the opposite case, such as Anna O'Byrne who was in Love Never Dies and you'd expect her to pick the Phantom given what goes down in the sequel, but in this interview, she says that in Christine's position she would pick Raoul, that she felt Raoul and Christine were still in love throughout LND, and generally going on way more about how Raoul and Christine have an enduring and wonderful love and spending rather less time talking about the Phantom and Christine's relationship. Arguably this comes across in O'Byrne's performance in Phantom and LND, where I had the feeling that her Christine would not have stayed with the Phantom and only did because... plot, I guess.

And meanwhile, Gina Beck is at the top of the list of Christines who'd return to the Phantom, but in this interview she specifically says that at the end, Christine knows her place is not with the Phantom, and in this one she feels that at the end, Christine only has pity for him. And then you've got the case of Katie Knight Adams, who was supposedly very cold towards the Phantom in her first run, but in the second was over-the-top enthralled with him. So you get some interesting, dissonant cases!

Anyway, rambling aside... I suppose if we just disregard interviews, then yes, Sierra Boggess would be one (definitely if it were Ramin Karimloo's Phantom, definitely not if it were Brent Barrett or Hugh Panaro's Phantom, and Norm Lewis is up in the air), Gina Beck is another, and also probably Dale Kristien (probably one of the earliest Christines to express sympathy for the Phantom), Elizabeth Southard (good chemistry with Raoul aside, it's clear her deepest feelings lie with the Phantom), Maike Switzer (she gave him a third kiss! She's totally coming back), and Elena Bahtiyarova (because she's a Sierra Boggess clone).

[tenthgrove]

💎 + 💢 ?

For JJBA

💎: I’ll give two facts, one for the wider series and another for the specific microcosm of la squadra I’m fixated on. Araki’s designs (particularly from part 4 onwards) are often very closely lifted from modelling pictures. As a writer myself it’s quite reassuring that you don’t have to completely pull your characters from thin air. As for a la squadra specific fact, there’s an interesting bit of irl history that a major crackdown on the Italian mafia (resulting from a high profile assassination) very closely coincided with the likely founding of La Squadra in the early 90s. I like to think that in the world of jjba, these things were linked. It would be logical for Passione to consolidate their most valuable assassins in light of the new threat.

💢 Am I allowed to say I wish La Squadra lived longer? Like I fully respect they aren’t that important to the plot but I love my boys. I also wish that the female characters of the show didn’t get shafted so often, what with Trish’s potential never being fully explored, Lisa Lisa cheated out of her only major fight, and Holly’s position in the Joestar lineage being frequently overlooked. I guess that’s par for the course for Shounen though.

For TMA

💎 Can’t say I know that much meta trivia for this podcast and getting into the story itself without spoilers (given that TMA is a universe where so much of the central workings are deliberately concealed for a good portion of the show). All I will say is that anyone done with the series should definitely watch the videos of the cast just messing around; that time they played among us in character, or that time they had Elias read out anything the fans wanted.

💢 This is very much a personal thing but there were some episodes where the fear just got so real I couldn’t listen. The way each of the fears is matched to a more realistic, worldly fear together with their more physical attributes (which most people can hope to avoid) was a stroke of genius, so really I count this as a plus. Another issue I had was that I feel some of the minor characters could have been explored more. I would have loved to know more about the workings of the Circus of the Other, the Cult of the Lightless Flame, and the unnamed spiral avatars that never made it out of the “places that were not.” I also am salty about what they did with Gerard Keay and Michael but that’s just the simp in me speaking.

[popblank]

Saw Head Over Heels at the Pasadena  Playhouse today. Some notes:

The show has been staged as taking place in a dance club type venue with a central platform and catwalks all around.  Part of the audience was standing/dancing on the floor and occasionally an audience member was pulled in for brief participation in the show.  Since the last thing I want is to be part of the performance, I bought one of the viewing-only seats. I think the area where I was sitting (listed as Lower Gallery) is actually behind where the normal proscenium would be.

It was a smaller cast than the original Broadway production, with no ensemble.  The character of Dametas has been replaced by “The Player,” whose exact relationship to all of the other characters and the audience is largely unclear.  The performance (by Yurel Echezarrata) was quite good but I was a bit confused.

I enjoyed it a lot but I do think this would have worked better with a somewhat younger, less stereotypically “theater” audience.  One minor thing: at the beginning, George Salazar came out to introduce the show and tell people to silence (but not turn off) their phones.  By then I had long since turned off my phone which is my habit in a theater; as it turned out, it would have been fine to do exactly as noted for specific performance reasons. I understand what they were going for, but I guess what do you expect at a weekend matinee.

Overall the show retained the joyful and inclusive spirit of the original but was a bit less silly and the plot was less clear.  In some cases I may have been distracted by the staging (not bad, just new).  Can’t remember if they excised the concept of “The Beat” but they did cut the “Skidmarks on My Heart” interludes.  As far as I could tell, “How Much More” is presented with almost no context which is unfortunate because while the performance was enjoyable, the emotional resonance was lacking and not because of the actor.   

The standout performance to me was Shanice Williams as Philoclea, who has quite the ingenue voice and a strong presence. Between Philoclea and George Salazar as Musidorus, this couple stood out among the main pairings.  He made for a solid Amazon warrior.  It was difficult to get a sense of the relationship between Pamela and Mopsa until they sang “Automatic Rainy Day.” Was not really into Lea DeLaria’s performance as Basilius; it seemed like she was doing a bit rather than playing a character. Alaska 5000 was reliably regal as Gynecia.  I had no idea Emily Skeggs had relocated to LA but now is running “a small urban food farm.” Hope to see them in more local productions.  Freddie as the Oracle sounded great, but this was another role which was less clear in this production.

In conclusion: it was fun, colorful, didn’t always make sense, and I might try to go see it again if I have time.

[lo-55]

Playing With Fire

While playing a perfectly innocent video game you get thrown into a dangerous world on the brink of incineration! At least you’re surrounded by a bunch of hot people. If nothing else you can shower them with copious, well earned affection. 

You come awake with a start. 

Everything is just a little off kilter. Like your eyes aren’t focused or you're wearing someone else's glasses. It takes you a few long minutes to realize that you’re staring down at a piece of paper. 

It’s listed one through eight, with a check box next to each number. 

At the top you see ‘Company Preference List’, and beneath that is your name scrawled in your own handwriting. But, when did you write it? And what was the list? You look up to find yourself in a library, surrounded by a bunch of other people all dressed in orange uniforms. You look down and find yourself in the same one. You recognize it as the Fire Force boiler suits. 

You touch your cheek slowly. Then poke the corner of your eyes. You’re not wearing your VR visor. And you’re not holding handles either. Are you hallucinating? You were playing the game, in the middle of some side quest. Did the game reset? This looked like a scene from the start of the game. It followed the beginning of the series, but through the eyes of a random side character researching Haijima on their own. There was some kind of revenge plot and a lot of stuff about their big sister, but you hadn’t gotten to the full reveal of the tragic back story yet. They interacted with the main characters plenty, but mostly they spent their time in their own squad, the fourth. 

You were halfway through the game, and now you were back at the start?

You look around for something to tell you what’s going on. You try to poke the menu button, but you’re not holding controllers. So all you really end up doing is poking the air between your hands with your thumbs. You’re starting to panic, when something shiny catches your attention. 

When did you get that ring? 

Plain silver on your forefinger. You poke it and gasp when the world shifts minutely. 

A flicker of fire, a figure dark against the light. It warps in and out of your vision in a split second. 

Right. Tragic back story. 

The ring was from their (your?) older sister. Now disappeared a-la-infernal fire. You were like the reverse Shinra. 

Wait. 

Shinra. 

Your head snapped around quickly from one person to the other. Most of them were boring background characters. No, no, no. Boring. Lame. Basically grey blobs. 

Were you going crazy and you couldn’t even enjoy it?! 

“Uh, hey? Are you okay?” 

Your head snaps sideways to find bright red eyes peering at you in concern. 

Red eyes. Black hair. 

You stare hard at him until the corners of his mouth start to twitch and curl upwards. 

“H-hey. Why are you staring at me?” 

Abruptly you reach over and cup his cheeks. His face is hot beneath your hands. You can touch him. You can feel the heat of his skin. He’s blushing something fierce. 

“You are… adorable,” you declare. 

He turns bright red and squeaks at you until you finally let him go. 

“What?!” 

“Did I stutter?” you prop your chin in your hand and look him over. Yep. Definitely cute. You just wanna squeeze him. But, you should probably do other things first. Like figure out what exactly is going on. 

Not that you can come outta the gate with ‘hey I was playing a video game and now I’m stuck in it, also I thought you weren’t real? What gives yo?’ 

Even you aren’t that impulsive. 

Actually, in real live you’re not very impulsive at all. That was what made games so fun, especially open world ones where you could do basically whatever you wanted. IRL you were more withdrawn than anything, even when you wanted to be social. 

Now… You could be whoever you wanted, right? 

Did you even have to follow the plot? Could you put a preference for another company and go there? Or would you still end up in the forth? And what about your abilities? In the game you’d had a choice at the beginning between a second gen ability and two third gen powers. You’d ended up picking at random, since they all seemed cool and you hadn’t been very far into the anime yet at the time. 

How would you even use those powers here, assuming that you could? 

“Sorry, I was spacing out,” you finally said, “What were you saying?” 

“Oh uh,” Shinra looked away, his grin still pulling at his face. “I was just asking if you were okay. You were looking at the form for so long, but whenever you talked about joining a company before you always said you would go to the fourth. Not that we talk a lot, so I wouldn’t know if you wanted to go to the fifth or the sixth or the seventh or-” 

“Babe, you’re rambling,” you cut in, starting to smile yourself. Even though you’re beyond confused something about Shinra puts you at ease. Everything about him seems so… warm. And yeah, the smile could be off putting. If it wasn’t so damn adorable. 

“O-oh!” aaaand he was blushing again. 

You look down at the paper, your brows furrowing. What are you even supposed to say to this? 

“I dunno,” you said at last, “I guess I was reconsidering. There’s a lot of companies, and a lot of options out there. I might end up going a totally different path if it’s not too late… What about you?” 

“Me? Well I didn’t really have a particular preference, but I heard that they’re trying to send more people to the eighth this year. Since its such a new company, and so small.” 

“Mmmm. That’s true. Maybe I’ll go there,” you muse. It would put you smack in the middle of all the action, and you could see the sweet Iris, and the too-hot-to-be-fair Maki. You could stay with adorable Shinra and the well meaning dumbass that was Arthur. Not to mention the two guys in charge. If you could get Obi to bench press you- 

Nope! Bad! Focus on the task at hand. No thirsting over captains right now! 

“I was thinking the same thing,” Shinra admitted, looking down at his own paper. 

“Yeah? I guess such a small company would make it easy for you to stand out and come a hero, right?” 

Shinra looked startled. You offered him a sweet smile and turned back to your paper and picked up your pen. 

You marked your preferences. 

Eighth, seventh, fourth, second, fifth, sixth, third, first. 

“The eighth and the seventh?” Shinra asked, peaking over at your sheet. 

You shot him a grin. “They both sound like fun to me. Hey, Shinra?” 

“Yeah?” 

Your grin grows wider. “Let’s both do our best, and save lots of people okay?” 

Shinra’s smile is small, but true. 

“Okay.” 

You bump your fist to his to seal the deal. 

~ 

It had taken you a couple of tries to find your dorm room. 

Your body seemed like it knew what it was doing, even if your mind didn’t. You had to explain away your frazzled state to the woman in charge of your wing, a nun who’s name you couldn’t recall to save your life, as nerves. She had looked dubious, but hadn’t questioned you when she pointed you to your room. 

Probably thinks I’m hung over, you thought as you stepped inside. If I didn’t know better I’d think I was drunk enough to hallucinate. But it’s all way too real. Just what happened? One second I was playing the game, and then my phone went off, and then it was all dark. After that I was in the library. 

 It was making your head hurt thinking about it. 

You poked around the room. If you remembered right you’d had a roommate, but she’d already been assigned her company a week early. Her dad was some top brass in the military, so off to the second company she went, 

You made sure the door was locked before you started riffling through your things. 

Books, papers, clothes. Personal items. 

You had a collection of antique keys for some reason, and a blanket shaped like a tortilla that was warmer than most space heaters. There was an old lighter with a hawk engraved on it in one drawer. When you touched it you got the sudden smell of pipe tobacco and a man laughing far in the back of your mind before it was gone. Just like when you touched the ring earlier. 

Memories that weren’t yours. You had stepped into someone else's life. 

When you looked in the mirror you found the face that your had designed for your character staring back at you. There was a thin ring of white in your eyes, cutting through their color and marking you as a pyrokinetic. 

Shit. Each of those abilities had a different eye. Which one was the circle? There was a circle, a pointy cross, and teardrop because the designer was some edgelord. Which power does this mean I have? Wings? Magnet sand? Or the spear torch thingy? 

You wished this could have been more like Fate/Grand Order. Then you would just have to keep track of your teams abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Not your own. 

Fuck. 

You spend a long time in your room, packing up all of your belongings. None of them really belong to you. They belong to your character, and they’re only familiar in the sense that you’ve thrown them over your shoulder when you were looking for something specific before. Only now if you throw them they won’t puff back to where they were before eventually. You’ll actually have to put this stuff away. 

Damn it, you’ve never liked packing. 

Still, you carefully rolled your new found clothes into baggage burritos. They were pretty plain, all in all. Oh well. You could make adjustments later if you really wanted to. Was it a game mechanic you haven't unlocked? Full customization? You could pick gender and hair, and the eyes depended on your pyrokinesis. Maybe at some point you got to change clothes too. 

You’d figure it out. 

You hoped. 

Your head was still reeling the with the idea of what was going on, but for now, with nothing else you really could do, you decided to go with it. 

Once you had everything all packed up you left your room to do some exploring. You tried to keep track of where you were going in the big fire station/training academy, but before long you were hopelessly lost. 

You stumbled upon a training room, where a familiar boy with a dorky pony tail was slashing a glowing blue sword through a training dummy. The poor dummy fell to the floor in pieces. 

You watched him for a few minutes before he noticed you. 

“Oh,” he said, “It’s you.” 

Which was… pretty lame, if you’re being honest. 

What, did you one pop his delusional bubble? 

“Yep,” you popped your ‘p’, “It’s a-me.” Mario. “What did that guy ever do to you? Try to challenge the great Knight King Arthur on a troll bridge?” you meant it to be a joke, but Arthur actually lit up. 

“Hardly! This was merely training. A Knight King must always be ready to defend his people!” 

“Of course,” you nodded along, playing with him. “And soon you’ll be embarking on a great quest to your new company, right? Do you know which one?” 

“I didn’t bother with those silly preference sheets. Let whichever company requires a knight most vie for my presence.” 

You were honestly impressed Arthur even knew the word ‘vie’. Wasn’t he kind of a loon? 

“Mhmm, mhmm, I see,” you nodded seriously. “Then in case, I might see you in my own company.” 

You wanted to ask him to spar, if only to see Excalibur in action more, but you still weren’t sure what your power was or how to use it. So you ended up bowing out. 

It took you another hour to find your way  back to your room. 

Whoops. 

You don’t really sleep. You lay down and try to wake up, and hope that come morning you’ll be back in your living room with a vr stapped to your head and this whole thing will have been a (not so terrible) dream. 

Keep Dreaming. 

~    ~