#i guess this could still be disproved later but

[ingradient]

[jaydovekj]

y’all know what I think about a lot? kristoph is a lawyer. a famous, filthy rich and powerful defense attorney. he’s practically a genius. he’s a terrible, awful man; that’s for certain, but he’s so intelligent.

so why did he testify? phoenix made it very clear you don’t have to testify in court in turnabout trump. I guess I could understand trying to defend his reputation but… kristoph, man.. idk idk. I’m not pulling up the transcripts so I might reblog with more stuff later.

either way though, he’s still really smart. couldn’t he have come up with a million excuses for assuming the cards color or seeing Shadi Smith’s head? like, come ON. he could’ve said he looked at the crime scene himself (that’s pretty common [or atleast allowed] for defense attorneys in aa, no? kristoph definitely did, often, because apollo does the same in turnabout corner with no guidance from phoenix. someone had to teach him that and it had to be his mentor). I’m mostly sure Phoenix didn’t see them while they passed in the hall. plus there were seemingly no cameras. (these places really need security.) kristoph couldve said they bumped into eachother/brushed shoulders and/or that hid hat fell off. that part of it is just soooo icky to me!!!! I ggguuueeesss kristoph assumed he could just disprove it himself in testimony but, based on how phoenix hid things from literally his own defense attorney, he should’ve known that phoenix knew more than them at that moment! this is basically just word vomit about turnabout trump (but the testifying part applies some to turnabout succession. I think. I don’t remember either case 100%) so I have no idea if it makes sense. just. I think kristoph’s decisions were too irrational for his character but he did kill a man abruptly, so….

[mapbottakeamap]

hello hello i’d be very open to hearing about random funny/disturbing history stories if you’d like to ramble about them 👀

-@you-know-i-get-itt

You are the greatest 🙏🙏

I will now ramble about garbo the spy because he's my favorite. I haven't brushed up on his story in a hot second so all of this is from memory so sorry if it's a bit off.

So he grew up in spain and then there was a cival war. Long story short they took his chicken farm so now he hates fascists. This is important because when WWll comes along he hates the germans. He asks britian if he can be a spy for them but they say no. So he decides to just troll the germans directly and signs up to be a german spy, claiming to be a politician from spain. They send a guy to make sure he's the real deal and I guess they didn't check that much because they believe him.

So as a german spy he's supposed to go to London and recruit other german spys. But the funny thing is he never even goes to london, he just chills in a library in in like Argentina or something and is just doing a creative writing excuse of pretending to be in London. Also he would get newspapers from london and basiclly just write what he found there. So he would get a newspaper that says there's a market and the traffic is bad or something, so then he would write the germans saying that there was a market and the traffic wad bad, then the germans would get the newspaper and just be like "wow he's right". Oh also he didn't know how the british money system worked so he would just write the germans being like "ehh idk how much money I spent it doesn't matter I'll just figure it out after the way" and the germans were impressed with this because they admired how he valued the cause over the money lmao.

He also completely lied about having a network of spys. Like he would completely make up a person and give him motives and a family and all that jazz. And it worked so well that Britain thought there was an actual network of spies in London. It worked SO WELL that Germany actually stopped recruiting new spy's in London because they thought he was doing such a good job.

So eventually America joins the war and he shows the Americans what he's been doing and America is like "this guy's a genius why didn't Britain take him?" So they actually send him to London and now he's officially a double agent. It's around this time that he officially gets his code name of Garbo the sky, based off of a popular actor of the time.

So anyways you may be wondering, what did he even do as a fake german spy? Like how did he give them information? Well he used two main methods. 1: he would give vague information that they couldn't disprove or had an easy excuse. For example, he might send a letter that says there is a british troop hiding in this forest. Germany would send out a troop to check it out, find nothing, and garbo would just be like "damn they got away". Method 2: he would give PERFECT information but purposely send it too late. So like he would write EXACTLY where the british troops are and what they're going to do but he would date the letter wrong and purposely hold it later so that it looked like the letter just got to them too late.

Around this time germany began to trust him SO MUCH they decided letters were too risky and they sent him a radio to use. This made garbo's life a bit harder because he couldn't just send anything too late but he still managed.

Around this time there was a bunch of british troops on this one island or something, and garbo claimed to have a spy there a while ago and then germany is like "hey didn't you say you had a guy there? Why didn't he notice a ton of ships coming by" and garbo made up a whole story about how he died, and he even got the british to print it in an obituary so that he could send it to the germans. And the germans send their condolences and money to give to a family that never existed lmao.

So more time goes on and they send him a fucking Enigma machine and like all of their best codes. So eventually the allies start planning D day. Garbo's role was that he basically told the germans that D day was happening in a different spot. The germans value his opinion so much at this point that they send A TON of troops over there. Which not only saved a lot of lives because we won D day, but also saved a lot of german lives because they were off, safe, on a random beach.

So on the morning of D day he basically calls Germany, and makes sure that it's 3 am for them. They don't pick up because it's early. Once daytime actually rolls around and D day has already started, he gives them PERFECT information. And he actually starts to pretend to get mad at them and he yells at the operators, asking if they're taking this seriously lmao.

So needless to say the germans trusted him EVEN MORE after he gave them a perfect fucking report of D day, so much so that historians have found that several of his reports when directly to hilter's room. Anyways the germans straight up give him the highest metal of honor you could get.

Trouble starts to come through when Germany is bombing London. They ask him how the bombs are doing and he can't say they're working because they'll send more. And he can't lie and say they aren't working because they can fly overhead and see that he's lying.

So, he pretends to have gotten caught by the british and writes that he's on the run. He basically just keeps pretending he's on the run for the rest of the war.

And that's basically the end :)

He gets the highest metal you can get from the british, which makes him one of two people to ever gotten the highest metal of honor from both sides of a war.

And then he lived a peaceful and quiet life with his family and his chickens. What a goat.

Oh yeah! Lots of historians believe that without him we wouldn't have won the war. And what's funny is that he was one of the most important spys, yet he was literally never in direct danger. He was either just writing in a library or sitting in an office in London.

[blueper-saiyan]

honestly so bullshit that we got Tarble tossed at us as a concept, reminded of his existence in the Battle of Gods movie and Super Broly, and then never another thing about him. Like, on the one hand, there isn’t enough of his actual character for me to be attached to him for that reason. All we really get is that he’s a lot more polite than Vegeta, willing to ask for help, was able to maintain a romantic relationship, and that he either wasn’t that strong of a fighter, or possibly didn’t want to fight? (I’ve seen different translations and I still can’t tell which of those two things it is, and there’s a huge difference between those two concepts.) I know that’s enough for some people but I’m relatively slow to form attachments to characters and I need more than a half hour special sadly. However, the idea of him has a lot of interesting potential for me.

Like, clearly he knows who his parent(s?) is/are and that Vegeta is his older brother. He was given at least that much information, so I assume he didn’t get tossed away at birth? But I guess it’s possible that he got given this information later. It could have come from the space pod’s computer or the people on the planet he was sent to (which I am pretty sure is called Tech Tech?). But I'm assuming that he was at least old enough to sort of understand what happened/who the people around him were, which would actually make him pretty close to Vegeta's age. Did they actually get to interact at all? Or do they just know of each other's existence?

Tangent, I do also think that whoever was writing the special either forgot or didn’t know that Vegeta was supposed to be like, at most 7 when his dad died so even if Tarble was born on the same eventful day that Planet Vegeta exploded, they’d only be 7 years apart at most. Genuinely, why do they draw Tarble like a child, this man should be like 35 years old, he’s Goku’s age at minimum.

Anyway, did Tarble like, know that he was sent away for not being strong enough? How does he feel about that? Like, is that a good thing to him because he ended up in a much better place than he would have been (dead or with Freeza)? How much does he know about saiyans? How much do the people on Tech Tech know about saiyans and the history involved?

Speaking of people on Tech Tech, Tarble grew up on a planet where he is blatantly not the same as anyone else around him. Goku at least was not easily distinguished from humans and so everyone just kind of assumed he was a weird human but there’s no way that happened for Tarble. What was that like? Especially if they did have any knowledge of what saiyans are supposed to be like. There's so many things that might be interesting to explore but we don't get to see any of them.

Also, the amount we see of Tarble's personality basically entirely disproves any "saiyans are inherently evil/bloodthirsty" claims.

[yayforocs]

[New Name]

No it has not been six months since i last wrote about nora absolutely no way what do you mean time passed-

Anyway i wanted to write and see what aron's thoughts on nora were :0 so it's short, but it was very fun to feel out! and it was nice to write aron again =7=

enjoy!

----

Aron stared at the empty space in front of her, hand stuck in a partial raise, the wave unneeded now.

Her double had left so suddenly, it took the realization that her senses weren’t matching where she was to put together that the other was leaving. She’d stepped outside of the cave, but instead of feeling the cool shade on her skin, light breeze wisping past, and soft dirt beneath her feet, she’d smelled heat, and could have sworn that it sounded as if she were in a small room- and felt it too, with the lack of wind. Once her brain caught up to what was happening and she whipped around to say goodbye, she was met with a blinding flash and empty air before she could get a word out.

…Which, understandable, she guessed. Her other (-wait, ‘’other’’, that’s what Kale had referred to Kid as initially. She tucked that thought away for later.) never really liked her, not from the moment they’d met, and the disdain had never let up once, and especially not on this mining trip.

Which. Also understandable.

The world didn’t seem keen on being kind to helsmits, after all. She didn’t know much, as the information she’d had access to had been a tad limited, but once her helsmit had first appeared and her headband identified what the person she was looking at was, well. She had to ask it to define ‘helsmit’. It gave a few different definitions- something about a missing half, another about issues that became so prevalent and permeating they spawned a whole new being centered around it, another about actual clones, among others. None of them seemed favorable to the doubles, regardless of which was actually true.

…And there was whatever had happened there with the health potions, which had… brought up unpleasant memories. Of things that had never actually happened of course, but the possibility that suddenly screamed in her mind that an old nightmare of health potions given with blind trust being swiftly turned against her could come true made her flinch when it had been snatched from her like that. She’d thought she’d been doing a good job keeping her conversational distance and giving space and time and letting the air be more casual, but then there was the skeleton and the fall and the mobs and-

Maybe it was just embarrassment? Gods knew Aron snapped sometimes when she messed up, or at least felt like she’d messed up. (“I like making you angry. You function better,” Kid had said once, but she felt like she disproved that within the hour when she found out about Sytri.)

(...Still stings.)

Aside from that… Aron’s eyes darted around as she used her tech headband, navigating UI menus only she could see, and stopped when she pulled up a literal mental note she’d made.

It was a name change.

Last time Aron had seen her double, the headband had simply identified her as:

[Aron] [Human, Helsmit]

This time, the headband had different information for her.

[Nora] [Human, Helsmit]

She’d wanted to immediately ask, but given Nora’s general disposition towards Aron at any given moment, figured it would be a bad idea. Aron had ended up giving in eventually, and sure enough, it had gone about as well as she had figured it would. She’d changed what the marker on Nora would show for her afterwards, making the name ‘Nora’ a footnote on it and editing the main label to still read ‘Aron’, just to keep it how it was. Hopefully it’d remind herself not to use the new name.

As it currently stood, though, she also had a small note with the new information on it, as well as some other notes and thoughts on the helsmit.

Be nice. Likes redstone a lot! Probably! I think! -Try to ask about any projects at some point -Maybe share something first Not great at combat actually. Maybe she’s more of my creative side? Does she like fireworks too? ASK KALE KID OR TAB ABOUT IF THEY HAVE HELSMITS. -actually a good thought. They’re not from here, do they get one too? They probably know something. Advice would definitely help Figure out which definition Aron is!!! Clues: -Hates me -Can travel to me!! So not the other half one -...Can I travel to her actually? Test eventually - - - Maybe can try talking about random stuff and see how she responds? Don’t think she’s just a clone. NAME CHANGE!! 3/23 Headband showed her as “Nora” instead of “Aron”. -DON’T CALL HER NORA. OR ARON. ALSO DON’T ASK ABOUT IT AGAIN.

She read the list over once, and then again, and then added ‘Accepted help when hurt! Doesn’t mean much, but still’ to her list of clues, sticking it as a subnote underneath ‘Hates me’.

She then read it over a third time and, satisfied, closed it out.

Maybe this run hadn’t been… all that bad, considering that objectively, it had been a decent mining trip. Her twin- no, that sounded wrong actually- her double had gotten all the redstone needed, and she herself had gotten all the iron she’d been wanting, as well as her own redstone, and a heap of gravel that she’d have to go through later. She didn’t mind. Having something to do was always nice, regardless of how monotonous the task may be.

Gave her more time to think, anyway.

She glanced up at the sun’s position, and realized it was lower than she’d thought it would have been. With a pop, she tugged on a cord that snapped her wings open, then pulled out a firework. And then she paused, firework at the ready.

Her eyes flicked to the sun again, squints.

Should she?

She wasn’t really sure how it worked, she’d never done it before.

…No. Not right after that, at least.

Maybe later.

Her eyes set forward again, and she took a second to blink spots out of her vision.

She’d go home, with her new supplies, and her new experience with her helsmit, and she’d think it over for a while while she worked on her new project, that’s what she was going to do.

…And brew two new health potions to make up for the ones used. She never did get the other one back- but maybe Nora could use it later. Maybe an extra as a gift wouldn’t hurt Aron’s chances with her helsmit.

Maybe.

She lit the fuse, and took off.

[another-whump-sideblog]

Fiction

My name is March, and I recently discovered I can fly.

Here’s the thing about that: humans can’t fly. Humans can’t stop themselves from falling and wind up floating a few inches above the ground, and humans can’t jump up and then not come down until they decide to. Not without an external device of some kind, at least, and I wasn’t using any kind of external device.

There are two ways to resolve the discrepancy between “humans can’t fly in reality” and “I can fly.” Either this isn’t reality, or I’m not a human.

This quickly becomes one possibility once you acknowledge that there are no non-human animals that look like humans and can fly. Even if there were, that would break the laws of physics, which brings us back to this not being reality. I guess the whole “humans can’t fly” thing doesn’t matter as much as “gravity is a thing that exists in reality.” In order to fly, you need to counteract gravity somehow. But I didn’t, and I still flew, so this cannot be reality.

Here are a few non-realities that could explain this: I could be dreaming, experiencing hallucinations, or I could not exist at all in the traditional sense of the word.

If I’m dreaming, then being this aware would make it a lucid dream. In lucid dreams, the dreamer generally has control over everything within that dream. Since I don’t have control over everything, that can be ruled out.

I’ve never heard of hallucinations that only happen when you will them to happen, and my flying only happens when I will it. I’ll circle back to this later, though. I’d like to show my flying to someone to see if it is, in fact, something that can be perceived by people besides me.

Of course, it’s possible that there’s an explanation for my ability to fly that just hasn’t been discovered yet, but that discovery would have to disprove many laws of physics, as far as I understand. I’m not a physicist, I should get in contact with one to explore this further.

If it’s not my perception that’s the problem but reality itself being inconsistent, that only leaves a few possibilities, which can all be boiled down into one point: I am not real, not in the way I’ve been assuming I am. I am fictional.

As I write this, I’m putting together some things. I don’t know when my birthday is. I have one, I must, but I don’t know it. I must have parents, but I can’t picture their faces. I don’t remember sitting down and deciding to write this. I don’t remember getting this notebook and this pencil, but I am holding them and writing all the same.

It’s as if I just came into existence as I started writing this, with an analytical personality, a name, a memory of discovering I can fly, and nothing else.

Will I stop existing when I stop writing? Do I even want to continue existing like this?

I’m still real, I think. I’m a fictional character, but I’m real. I’m right here, writing this. If you’re reading this, I must exist in your head, at least a little. Existing only as neurons firing is still real. I am words on a page. I am a series of neurons firing in your head. That’s real.

Being fictional would mean that everything I am has been determined by someone else. That I have no free will. The gravity of this is difficult to accept. What would accepting I have no free will even look like? If it’s all outside of my control, acceptance doesn’t mean much.

Well, I could write about free will forever and still not grasp the intricacies of my situation. My original goal was to solve the discrepancy between my ability to fly and my understanding of reality, and now that has been solved. I guess this is where I put the pencil down. Not of my own free will, though I’m not being forced either. It was nice to exist, as words on a page and electrochemical signals in your brain, for this short period of time.

[poognthebrainbois]

Rant/vent about current denial spiral under the cut - some context first: (*extremely brief mention of abuse/SA, medical history mention)

Had a fight with my mom about why I "still think it's DID." There were a lotta layers to that conversation, including:

- My (our) experiences don't line up with all the "research" she's done about DID

- according to her, co-consciousness doesn't exist and "you would have no idea there's another person [controlling your body], you can't be 'standing behind, watching.'"

- she doesn't trust anecdotal/personal experience of actual systems because "that's just people on the internet making up whatever they want"(paraphrase)

- she had also never heard of OSDD before. Even though she claimed she knows all about the DSM-5.

(medical trauma/history mention)

- I was never *physically abused or SA'd, therefore I don't have trauma. (She doesn't believe in emotional/verbal abuse, and all my *medical trauma/history was during/right after my birth (I was born 10 weeks early, had a surgery while in the NICU) so it doesn't count [I can't disagree with that])

(Might make a separate vent post about what we consider possible trauma that she "doesn't count")

- she told me "it sounds like you found something and stuck to it" (paraphrase) (meaning I learned about DID and just decided that was my problem.)

- made the same sweeping generalizations as always about my entire generation "wanting to be different" and "wanting to have something wrong [with us]"

(Again, I could make a separate vent post about what she says during literally every argument)

- told me (us) to "stop saying 'we' for Christ's sake!" (We will not.)

- she decided I (we) need to bring her "actual sources" of why I (we) believe it's DID/OSDD.

Which meant to us that we were gonna stay up all night doing extensive research.

Or that was the plan, before the denial set in.

(Recreation of Denial spiral below, just to throw it out to the void and be able to come back to it later to disprove I guess?? Could be triggering (lots of repetitive phrases, disbelief of trauma, derealization/depersonalization, there's a lot in here.)

What if she's right and I'm not a system? What if it's not DID or OSDD and I'm just desperate to make it into something? What if I actually don't have trauma and I'm secretly an endo??? (Any headmate tries to talk to me) You're not real, shut up. Why did I do this to myself? I ruined my life over something that's not even happening! Why did I let it get this far? Why am I still perpetuating this if it's not true?? It was never a problem until I did weed and "opened doors" that was just weed! I'm making up trauma that's not real! I want so bad to be traumatized so I can feel justified to be mad at my parents when really I'm just an entitled little bitch who's never had anything happen to them and needs to pretend they're worse off than they are! She has real trauma! She's actually been through real abuse and they've never done anything to me other than yell and that doesn't mean anything and I'm just a crybaby for being scared of getting yelled at they never actually threaten me (why do you remember the "I'll give you something to cry about" threat/phrase then???) and I cried over nothing all the time for no reason and I've just always been afraid of nothing. I can't believe I'm actually sitting here thinking about doing all this research just to prove a point?? Just to prove her wrong? That doesn't mean anything! That's not a good reason! I shouldn't even bother. This is a waste of my time. I should just tell her she's right and move on. It's not DID and (Losing my train of thought trying to write this, Jesus) I've just convinced myself it is but it's not. I've made it out to be more than it is so they'll care and that didn't work anyway. I can't believe this is happening right now. There's no way I got this far. That all of this really happened over nothing. They were just characters in my head! Why did I ever start believing more than that when I don't have trauma! Nothing that bad has ever happened to me and all these thoughts that keep coming up are fake and even if some of this stuff was trauma it wasn't in my childhood so it's not relevant. I spend too much time on the internet and I shouldn't just believe all of this stuff. What do I think I'm actually "relating" too? I should've just left it at Maladaptive Daydreaming and been fine. I've made everything worse for myself. There was a reason I stopped doing research on DID years ago! 'Cause I don't have trauma and I can't sit here and pretend I do. Why am I doing this?

(Etc etc etc. Front changed while writing this. I've been in co the whole time but Parker needed to step back for their own comfortability.)

We went back n forth for a while about a bunch of this stuff. Had a number of headmates hop in co-front just to prove a point, only for Parker to continue to tell them they're not real and it's "all me and I'm faking" bro you are at that point proving a point to yourself but okay.

Anyway, eventually Kiara took front and started on research anyway. We were up til 5am. Didn't finish but marked all our tabs so we could go back and finish it up the next day (yesterday). Did not get back to it yesterday 'Cause Parker got anxious.

We now have a deadline to present this shit. We've got a psych appointment tomorrow morning and Mom's leaving on Thursday to visit a friend. So we should get to it today. But they're really not ready for that conversation. Unfortunately we (Lio) told our psychiatrist that we might actually get to that conversation with our parents before our next appointment so now Parker feels like we have to. And if we don't then they'll be anxious about it the entire time Mom's gone which is also not productive.

There's a worry that if any of the rest of us try to explain it then it won't be taken seriously because we're not them. This whole situation is exhausting. We weren't planning on trying to have this conversation yet and now we're so rushed and there's a lot more pressure.

In any case, there's a chance we'll post an update if/when it happens.

If you've read this far, any kind of support would be appreciated. <3

-❤️

[hay1ock]

Only Friends Episode 7 😮😮😮😮😮

Kicking off the second half of the series with a bang. I loved how things got shaken up. I have no idea where we’re headed.

I’m writing this as if I haven’t seen the preview for Episode 8. So I won’t be judging Ray for something he hasn’t done yet, nor that I have full context for at this point in time. It doesn’t look good, but then other preview scenes in the past haven’t played out how they were presented. So as a heads up, in case this ramble isn’t for you, from an Episode 7 POV I don’t feel Ray’s done anything wrong (re. Sand). In a way Sand was the architect of his own hurt. Plus, not going to lie, seeing all the negative commentary specifically aimed at Ray (regardless of how people feel about the RayMew pairing) and how quickly some wanted to tear him down. It didn’t feel good or deserved.

So, with that said, this episode picked up where we left off with Sand in pursuit of Ray. I was scared that Sand chasing after him would be what would cause Ray (and maybe even Sand) to crash, but as it was he was a little way behind as he pulled up on the scene post-crash. I guess Ray swerved to avoid a vehicle based on the lights in his face that didn’t stop/see the accident happen, leaving Ray in his car after hitting the side of the tunnel? - so he wasn’t wrong, without Sand showing up, who knows how long he might have been there before anyone else passed by. I’m glad no one got seriously hurt (at least for now), be it Ray himself or an innocent bystander. If he hit someone I have no idea how he would handle it, and then of course anybody else who played even a tiny part in what went down that evening. Sadly, it wasn’t enough of a wake up call to see Ray reflect on his behaviour or his problems with alcohol as we see he was already reaching for a drink once back home.

The scene between Ray and Sand in the hospital was sweet, in a gentle scolding kind of way. Sand doesn’t overlook that what Ray did was wrong and dangerous, but I appreciated his firm but calm tone, particularly in light of how Ray’s dad barrelled in soon after.

Why did you do it? - I imagine that would be something hard for Ray to admit. He’d played the bad guy, blown apart all his friendships and when Sand wasn’t able to tell him they were anything but ‘fellow human beings’, I really think he didn’t care what happened to him, maybe even willing to seek out a way to put an end to himself if not for the accident stopping him right then. There are a lot of what-ifs, of conversations that could have changed how the evening played out (Looking at both Mew and Sand here).

Learn to love yourself - it can be hard to do, and even more so if there’s nobody in your life who loves you, to disprove you’re unloveable. I wish Sand could have dared to tell Ray how he feels about him. Would it have stopped him getting in the car? Would it have changed anything later in this episode?

Declaring himself Ray’s emergency staff, though it implies caring, I don’t feel like Ray is capable of making the leap to Sand having genuine feelings for him. After all, Mew was his emergency contract and up to this point had never gone beyond friends no matter what Ray had dared to hope for. Similarly, in the bathroom scene later on, Sand does say he cares about Ray, but continues, adding how his dad does too. If Sand is putting those two things forward as equal, then I can see why Ray, though clearly attracted to Sand, happy to flirt and tease, wouldn’t think there was more to it and Sand’s feelings were still firmly in the lust not love, nothing beyond friends bubble.

I have mixed feelings about Ray’s dad. I’d like to think he cares but sucks at showing it. Yes, Ray needs to be called out for his actions and drink driving, but the fact he didn’t once ask if he was okay, or something along the lines of yep, you screwed up but thank god you’re okay, was disappointing but expected considering the only involvement he seems to have in his son’s life involves his wallet. I do wonder what he has asked Sand to do. Was it something as simple and along the lines of keep an eye on Ray and something that encouraged Sand to go round with his juice and detox plan? Or is it something more serious and that will be seen as a betrayal once Ray finds out?

The scene between them at Ray’s home in the living room was cute. I do like that Ray gives in to Sand (as we saw in Episode 5 and here saying he’d drink the juice) just as much as he uses his ‘na’ to get his way with Sand. Sand is capable of putting his foot down if he didn’t want to help Ray, it just seems like he doesn’t want to quite so much these days, blurring even more his already blurry boundaries and feelings. The way he carefully undressed Ray, seeing the seatbelt mark of what Ray had ended up doing to himself, and the part he had played in the events of that night. I’m glad he apologised and would have liked to have seen on screen whether Ray apologised in return along with thanking him for saving him yet again (if only Ray’s dad hadn’t shown up while they were talking). I will say the shaving scene tickled me. I tried to focus on what they were saying and the moment rather than Sand moving shaving cream about. Also, sitting in the bath THEN running the water? Brrrr cold booty.

I liked the little talk about Sand’s situation regarding his father. I can’t decide if we’ll see him, and though it might be fun to have him related to someone (Boston’s dad inferred he too was a bit of a player) I think that would be one twist and connection too many among this group. So if he does show up I hope it’s someone very much away from the group, but also, I wouldn’t mind if nothing came of it. It might just be a narrative about how family can be anything - Mew with his two mums, Sand with his single parent family, Ray as good as choosing his family in Mew and friends.

Also from their conversation, I would probably consider Ray an alcoholic. We’ve seen him drinking in the day - at Yo’s, the flask he was carrying (again), even when Sand arrived this episode - it’s probably at a degree he can still function, then drinking in excess when out or under extra stress. I would agree he is in a way addicted to Sand - as a distraction, for comfort and support, in a way his own little safe space even more so than Mew who is very blunt, almost accusatory, assuming the worst - even this episode, even though he knew Ray went off in a state at the party and none of his calls were being picked up, he just figured he was drunk and asleep. I know shit went down but still… maybe check in on him?

I’m scared but excited to see where Ray and Sand go from here considering how the episode ends. And yes, I have a heart and it broke for Sand. I just can’t make Ray out to be the bad guy in this situation - that boy deserves a bit of happiness even though I know it will be fleeting. Sand likes Ray. He just has his own baggage that won’t allow him to put it out there in the world. Better to keep it to himself. The run in with Boston had already set them back a number of steps and I’ve mentioned how in the other episodes Sand continually draws the line between them, they’re friends, it’s lustful behaviour/moments between them not love. If he had confessed to Ray… I wonder how things would have gone regarding Mew? Would the conversation between Ray and Mew have steered in a slightly different direction?

And so Ray and Mew. I’m actually fascinated to see where these two go. I’m pretty sure it will be short-lived. Ray has put Mew on this pedestal, adores him. We know how much Mew means to him. I believe Ray loves him, but whether that is the same as being in love with him, there is only really one way to find out. So I support Ray and Mew testing the limits of what their relationship is or could be. Though gotta say, when Mew kind of led the conversation in that direction, I was surprised. I had felt Ray had kind of taken a couple of steps in making peace with his love of Mew. Granted his feelings can’t just be switched off but I had hoped maybe something more could evolve between him and Sand. But this moment with Mew brought those feelings straight back to the surface.

Now, before the series started, I had considered whether Mew would be the kind of person to use Ray in some sort of way against Top, and end up breaking his heart and discard him. Once I watched the first 2 episode, I kind of withdrew that thought. Mew genuinely seemed to love Ray as a friend and so I didn’t think he would hurt him in that way. I still don’t. Instead, he is using him to escape his pain, not for revenge. As he said, Ray is always there for him, has never hurt him. Sometimes, relationships don’t start out with fireworks and heart flutters. Friendship can also be a good basis. I just feel, the Mew that has suggested he could try to love Ray is not the same Mew who Ray fell in love with. For Ray, Mew was someone who could lift him up, saved him when he was at his lowest point. The Mew of now, won’t be lifting Ray up, he’s sinking down into Ray’s world. They’ll be a bad influence on each other.

I have to say, seeing them dancing together at the end of the episode, I fully support them trying. I can’t quite decide if it’s just drunk friends grinding up against each other and testing the waters or if they did decide to properly give it a try just yet. Obviously, before Mew had his lists and took time to get to know Top. He already knows Ray, and waiting didn’t lead to anything good in the end last time so maybe he’s all in already. I guess we’ll see next episode where they’re at. I guess one other possibility is them pretending and playing games with Top, but Ray was being very open and genuine so I hope that won’t be the case, especially as we know there is someone out there who is able to love him back. *Bangs Ray’s and Sand’s heads together* Stop being so stubborn and have a proper chat and maybe a kiss lol.

Mew and Top. Wow.

I do feel some sympathy for Top. He’s never going to be my favourite character, in fact, I don’t know if he’ll ever leave the bottom spot among the 6 main boys, but I did feel bad for him this episode - apart from his stupid remark about not caring if Mew and Ray had slept together or not 🤦‍♀️. You nearly had me Top lol. I don’t know what would have happened if he’d confessed sooner. He had genuinely caught feelings for Mew and was trying to change himself for the better (though I still think he was trying to also change Mew and being somewhat possessive). We see him in isolation, frustrated and upset. When Mew burned that page in front of him you could feel how much that hurt. The scribbling in the book. I wonder who he was considering calling. Maybe Mew but also maybe someone like Beam. I don’t think his guilt and being dumped will have helped his insomnia any.

I feel like he should give Mew some space, putting himself in Mew’s orbit while the wound is very much fresh is only going to make Mew defensive and angrier. The scene where the friends group had decided to put their personal issues aside for the sake of the hostel project and then in walks Top, the biggest personal issue of them all. My face was very much like Cheum’s 🙄.

How on Earth he’ll win Mew back round based on Mew’s shift in character, I have no idea. Will they get back together before the end of the series? BL couple logic would suggest yes, but I have no idea how many flaming hoops he’d need to jump through to convince Mew to give him a second chance. I’ve never been cheated on (at least not that I’m aware of lol) so I’m not really sure what I’d do in Mew’s position, what it would take for me to forgive a partner. The trust would be hard to get back. And if Boston still gravitates around them… hmmm. Again, I guess we’ll see if there is a way back for them.

Really enjoyed Mew this episode. Was nice to see things switched up, his manipulation of Nick and Gap to get the recording of Boston. The way he was sat there just casually chatting to Boston’s dad about Boston’s short film. I am glad he didn’t drag Boston’s dad into things and release the video (though I’m guessing it’s still on his phone and looked like he only copied the file from Gap’s computer). It will be interesting to see where his character goes next. I feel he’s spiralling and I’m kind of scared who he’s going to drag down with him in the end.

Boston is a piece of work. I enjoy watching him give zero fucks about what he’s done. The scene by the pool, even then he’s still poking at Ray about Mew, showed no remorse for his actions and actually came off as an even bigger asshole. It was great to see him get kicked into the pool and Mew jump in after him. Legit felt as if Mew would have held him under given a chance. Obviously, wishing death on Boston isn’t exactly okay, but I can understand the sentiment in the heat of the moment. I don’t know if Boston has an apologetic bone in his body. Even when Mew came to his house with Gap’s recording, he begged but I still didn’t hear anything close to a sorry. I couldn’t decide if he was saying that his dad didn’t know he was sleeping around or sleeping with men. I mean his dad was definitely supporting his player ways when Nick was round there so…

Speaking of Nick. As soon as Top mentioned the recording in the car and Boston’s little cogs started whirring it was clear Nick wasn’t going to have a great day. He shouldn’t have bugged the car in the first place, and well, he was right, Boston shouldn’t have fucked his friend’s boyfriend either lol. Despite his declaration of him being as nasty as Boston, I’m still waiting to see that. They’d fallen into this strange holding pattern where Nick was getting the attention he desired, but as far as we know Boston was never looking to take it anywhere properly. He’d been scared into monogamy by Gap and was fond of Nick, but whether he was anywhere close to developing feelings… So yeah, Nick didn’t need to be nasty up to this point so maybe we’ll see him play dirty to get back with rather than at Boston. He told Mew about Gap, but I feel that he was a sad little puppy who was easily talked into it. Honestly, I feel bad for him. Nick knows what Boston is like but sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants and damn that boy is stupidly in love. My heart broke as Boston laid into him and told him he never loved him.

I like that he didn’t throw Sand under the bus concerning the recording and how Ray had gotten hold of it. Though if Boston thinks really hard about it, I’m sure he can make a logical guess. The scene between Nick and Sand back at the apartment was both heartbreaking and heartwarming as Sand hugged him, apologised for abusing his trust. His need for revenge on Top blinded him to everything else, including the fallout for others and himself.

Overall, I loved this episode and the preview has got me desperate to know the context and how we reach some of those situations and the dialogue.

It really has been an incredible show so far.

Previous ramblings.

Episode One | Episode Two | Episode Three | Episode Four | Episode Five | Episode Six

[arbitrarygreay]

Hmm I feel like that was a missed opportunity by the showrunners personally. Adler and her biddies kinda fascinate me. Imagine have 7 people in your head for decades (albeit different biddies rotating), losing them all violently, dying, then getting resurrected and suddenly for the first time in hundreds of years having privacy.

Recently I’ve been trying to look through the show to see if canonically Adler actually mentally communicates with them and they’re not just emphatically mirroring her emotions through the bond.

Love your theory on Adlers pre biddy life extension plans. The timeline of MFS often makes little sense to me.

I have no issues with fandom taking a more passionate interpretation of the Bond. Just that the showrunners, who are themselves living a life of rotating through close artistic partners through different productions, did not break any contract with the audience with the more detached approach they took in the show.

As for what we do actually see of the Biddy Bond in the show, here's some observations!

From 2x1: [Could you hear her thoughts?] Sort of? Surface stuff. Like, directives, I could hear loud and clear. Not so much memories.

This doesn't tell us if the Biddies are obliged/compelled to follow said directives. However, the next two points indicate that something about the Working does facilitate them to coordinate with each other more easily than they would otherwise.

We see the Biddies reacting in tandem to express Alder's disapproval at people.

Tactically, we see that Alder uses the Biddies to pull off complex workings that require many voices to layer waves in the right sync. (Compare to how Raelle's post-Mycelium voice is described: "The sound you made is composed of thousands of layered voices, one on top of the other. I've never heard anything so complex before.") But that's not impossible for other groups to emulate, like Anacostia, Sterling, and Gregorio doing the Rings of Saturn storm together in 3x10 (chosen because there's a fast tuning and wind-up phase, something the Biddies' sync can bypass/make even faster).

The only case where we see involuntary sharing is pain/injury. Although, given that Alder takes on all of the years back when a Biddy dies (not re-distributing to other Biddies), I think there is an extent to which she can control, that, too. So e.g. she can choose not to share the scourge scratch Tally inflicted on her in 2x9 with the Biddies.

In 1x3, they express their own opinions on Beltane and their choice to serve. In 2x1, Tally in her Biddy state asks Alder if she's done something wrong (a feeling Tally repeats to Abigail later in the episode), indicating that she couldn't predict that Alder would offer her the chance to de-Biddy, or read any thoughts/emotions on if Alder was doing it because Tally was not up to snuff.

The description a Marshal Biddy gives from 3x7: "He's been hard to reach lately. Very secretive. But our link spans the length of the Cession. Unless he's outside our borders, I should be able to locate him." This disproves the fanon that Alder can't be far away from the Biddies. It also shows that Alder can choose to project nothing, having privacy for herself if she wants, though the Biddies can still get a sense of her location.

So, my guess is that the level of autonomy a Biddy has at any given time is dependent on Alder's will, but even when obeying her directives, they don't get true insight into why she is making those commands, unless Alder chooses to project those thoughts. If we go back to Tally's description of the bond as a roadtrip with no privacy, it's not like you automatically know everything about the people you're in the car with (and Alder is driving the car, obviously).

Obligatory:

[commenter2]

"Mastermind" review

Surprised to see this? Same here, as even though it has been a little over a week since I said I needed a break from Helluva Boss canon, I have had a lot to say about the recent Helluva Boss episode that I saw when skimming it the first time and heard since then, as I still personally don’t like it. Luckily I got some free time and after realizing I wouldn’t want to review back to back episodes I’m not interested in again; I thought I at least do Mastermind as I’m not likely going to do Sinsmas due to an upcoming busy schedule and it’s pretty clear how that Octavia centered episode will end but more on that at the end of this review.

This is my longest review yet but hopefully I can make people understand why I personally think this episode could have been better.

Nothing new with the ticking at the disclaimer. Maybe in the S2 finale.

From Stella and later Andrealphus’ comments, it sounds like Stella’s divorce with Stolas got finalized. That would have been nice to go over in an episode, cause how is Octavia dealing with all of this now? What about Hell society, as I feel like royal divorce would be a big topic there. They could have at least added in a joke about how it was popular till Ozzie revealing he loved Fizz made people forget that.

Even Andre’s breathe can make ice and freeze things, causing me to wonder if he has an unnaturally low body temperature as a side effect of his ice powers. You think if someone force fed him hot sauce and spicy foods it would cancel out his ice powers? XD Keep that in mind in the upcoming fight with him writers.

This is what turned me away from the episode when it first came out. We all knew it was only a matter of time before IMP and Stolas got caught going to Earth illegally, yet instead of having build up to this somehow like Andre hiring spies to get this info and evidence, we just have Stella (whose’ total screen time so far in the series likely adds up to less than 6 minutes) just blurts it out and then her more competent, main antagonist worthy brother does all the work after just being given this info. I’ll be going over this throughout the review.

So Andre is still giving Stella those kinds of comments. Still gross but recently Vivziepop loved a comment someone made that theorized Andre is making these kinds of comments because he is trying to hide the fact that he is canonically gay as seen in that pride pic Vivzie posted this pride month. It makes an odd kind of since given goetia society still follow old traditions and with how power hungry Andre is, I think he knows that if he revealed he was gay he would have trouble gaining political power via marriage. I also think it would be funny if later on its revealed that everyone knows he is gay, but they are just playing along to see how far Andre is willing to go with the gag and unknowingly make a fool of himself. Still the fact he is dumb enough to not double check on what it means to be heterosexual is proof enough to me that he his Stella’s brother considering how dumb she is as well XD. Still I think it would have been more fitting if instead of a compliment, Andre says something implying that Stella needs to wise up as her looks are starting to fade. Not only is that proper sibling banter and possible foreshadowing, but it would be hilarious to see how Stella would react after being called old XD.

 The Imp talking looks familiar. Isn’t he the OC of a Youtuber? I also love the idea of I.M.P. getting more employees besides the popular Stolas as a secretary idea, as after 2 seasons it would be a great way to mix up character dynamics. If it does happen I hope they get some employees that aren’t Imps or Hellhounds, maybe even succubi (excluding the one in the hiring scene XD) and hire new kinds of hellborn demon race so we can learn more about them, like an aquatic demon.

Is Blitzo referencing how he bankrupted the company last episode? Guess this disproves the theory of the shorts taking place after that episode.

 New demon race. They look like grim reapers with a bit of the Dementors from Harry Potter. I do recall Alastor’s prequel comic confirming cops existed in Hell, making me wonder if there is an department run by cops that are sinners instead of Hellborn demons.

This was pointed out by a Youtuber I occasionally watch but the illusion these reaper characters used to when giving I.M.P. their charges use old pics of the crew except for Loona which is the most recent.

While fun the “Imp trying to erase everything and run away” scene does take time away that could have been used for the actual trial. This is what I meant by buildup as the writers should have had one episode end with the cops coming up to arrest I.M.P. and then the next episode starts the trial.

Loona saving a pic of the crew’s first job is cute, reminding us of her growth since then.

Just wanted to point out that the cops are Baphomets. This combined with the fact that most are doctors makes me wonder if they mainly take up jobs that are important to a community, like I bet some are lawyers and fire fighters, though yes I do recall season 1 having Imp firefighters.

That door has the symbols of all the sins. Lucifer’s is showed to be crack making people think it represents his depressed state he was in before season 1 (and likely still has a bit of it after the season) or that he could die one day. I really hope it represents the former as having Lucifer die would be to cliché, though I wouldn’t say no to having him suffer something really bad that forces him to retire as king of Hell and placing a not ready Charlie in charge. I also want to point out Mammon’s symbol. It looks like a centipede when I thought he was supposed to be a spider. I did have this theory of the sins being hybrids of various things so maybe Mammon is a spider/centipede hybrid that didn’t fully transform in his special. More on that later.

Blitzo references the HH pilot by bringing up his IMP commercial about him burning an orphanage. I’m hoping he was just fooling around and that was special effects or something as some people are debating about if that is canon or not.

One thing we can all agree about this episode is that it was awesome that we got to see not only the rest of the sins, but see most of them in the same room. Sad we couldn’t see Lucifer due to legal reasons but it is nice Vivzie was still able to references him with the rubber duck on his throne. I’m hopeful one day Amazon Prime will allow Vivzie to have HH characters in Helluva Boss one day or vice versa. After the leak they should as a way to cheer her up, apologize, or as a way to bring more traffic to Amazon Prime so people can watch Hazbin Hotel.

The remaining sins have interesting designs. Satan’s appearance is good and fitting with his dragon appearance with hints of bull (Bull King anyone?) in my opinion, having lava like veins, and having a punk/delinquent style with a tattoo on his shoulder.

I think he is a bit too tall though, but I only point that out as the sizes of demons have been all over the place from seeing Imps so small they can fit in purses to giant shark demons. Then there is the fact that the sins can alter their size as seen with Bee becoming giant enough that I think she could equal Satan in height, Ozzie taking on a smaller form where he doesn’t have his other heads out, and my recent thought that Mammon didn’t fully change into his demon form in his special. I think it would be funny if Satan was just flexing during the whole trial to look more intimidating and off screen he is about the same size as Ozzie. That or make it so that all the sins can be as tall as Satan (except Lucifer) but they choose certain sizes to feel more comfortable. If this is true this could possibly add more confirmation to my theory of Charlie having various forms.

The design of Belphegor is honestly disappointing. I was kind of hoping she would have a chimera like appearance, with the 3 heads being a sheep, goat, and snake in this case with each head having its own personality. The chimera in myth breathes fire making it more fitting since she has the lit candle. We only see her upper torso and other Baphomets have had snake tails before so maybe she does as well. Also what is she when it comes to the circus theme of the sins, a fortune teller or the odd looking animal cliché?

 I was also hoping she would wear a doctor’s robe since most Baphomets have been doctors, and having bags under her eyes implying to be overworked and tired, hence her sleeping during the trial. This does give me the theory that the sloth ring specializes in medical practices because she ordered them to find a cure for her narcolepsy, with no success so far and over time the ring just became focused on medicine. I also wished she had a small role in the case as I feel like she would have great psychic powers like being able to project an astral form so her body can rest but her mind will still be paying attention, and more importantly having the power to read minds or make memories viewable to make sure no one is lying, as this is Hell so they should expect such things.

Leviathan’s design is very interesting. In the past I pictured a male sea serpent who along with being the tallest of the sins instead of HB’s Satan and kind of animalistic, was semi sentient who would talk similar to the Hulk or Transformers Grimlock and while having the title of a sin wouldn’t really have political power as others would take care of the government stuff for him since he wouldn’t understand most of it anyway, and couldn’t do much as he was mostly water bound.

Vivzie’s design is interesting as it plays off Lucifer’s circus theme by having her be a two headed lady, with each head representing a different kind of envy. While she also doesn’t have much screen time or much to do with the story, we do see enough that it has given me some interesting headcanons, one obvious one is her being friends with Bethesda von Eldritch.

Some people have debated on if Leviathan counts as two people or not. I think she would be given she acts like any other cartoon character with multiple heads with each head having their own personality, so I’m going to do that too and I’m going to differentiate the heads based on their color meaning Purple is the eel head while White is the piranha/goldfish head.

We see other royals of Hell like a dark hose (Blitzo’s horse in disguised?) wearing a Bill Cipher charm and a demonized Sneech from the Dr. Seuss book. I also thought I saw one shaped like a canine in a queenly outfit during that scene of Satan flexing his wings before we got a close up of the other sins.

I’ve seen other point this out but I hate how Bee doesn’t do or say anything about getting the muzzle and extra security taken off Loona, as not only are they both Hellhounds (kind of in Bee’s case) but she knows her and I think saying she trust her enough to not fight would be enough for the court to give her a break.

That vulture goetia seems to be a Goetia/Baphomet hybrid given the candles on his head. I wonder if that makes him less royal then Stolas or Andrealphus by comparison. Also the black crystal refence?

Bee and Ozzie noticed Andre’s comment about Stella, and seeing Ozzie smile gives me hope that he and other are indeed just playing along just so Andre can make a fool of himself.

Original storyboard art for this episode showed that other characters like Stella and Fizz were supposed to be in it, and I think that should have been kept in. It would have been really fitting as this episode should have had various characters reappear to give testimony to either defend or make IMP look bad. Stella could lie about things like how she never knew Stolas was giving Blitzo the book until recently, but mainly uses her time to embarrass Stolas like saying he begged for them to spice up their marriage after their anniversary until she caved to shut him up until she saw him bring an Imp. Fizz could have been brought to the stand so Andre could try and get him to convince people Blitzo is a bad person since he was the one to cause his accident. Of course Fizz turns this around by saying the two have made up and that if it wasn’t for Blitzo he and Ozzie wouldn’t have gotten together, giving us a scene where royals are mixed about it as some find it cute while others are disgusted. Fizz could also have a role for when Striker appears as he would reveals he will do anything for money and shows photos and video of him not only being the one to kidnap him but also audio where he says a “bird bitch” payed him to kill Stolas. Course this could go sideways when Andre makes it so that Crimson is to blame for the assassination attempt, but also bring up how he, and thus Ozzie, also knew about Stolas and Blitzo deal and even brings up the Asmodean Crystal Blitzo is wearing the whole episode.

Yogirt is a fun character. I’ve seen people compare him to the concept of a shoulder angel given his appearance but he also reminds me of Jimmy Cricket. I’ve also seen people starting to ship him and Satan which while adorable, I personally like the idea of them being or becoming best friends. We already have 2 sins in relationships with the lower class so I think it would be a nice change for the canon storyline. Besides Satan X Susan would make for a better ship XD.

It is also interesting to see the embodiment of wrath taking his advice on calming down, as this implies that his angers has screwed him before and realizes he needs someone to keep him in check. It shows off screen growth then just being the constantly angry guy.

Vassago is an interesting new character that has been around longer than others thanks to originally being an Overlord, but they never explain who he is specifically as a Goetia. Some say he is a “good natured” kind of being so he could be one of the more compassionate demons, but I mean is he somehow related to Stolas? Given he was able to make a star construct I think he is since Stolas is the only goetia so far with astronomy themed powers. Plus Paimon did imply to have many kids. Where is Paimon anyway? Is he dead at this point?

This was pointed out by YouTuber ClassicMan D (I recommend checking his channel) but Andrealphus plan with Blitzo is indeed really flawed. He made it clear that he wanted to get Stolas in trouble yet he makes the case all about Blitzo I.M.P. and keeps stating that Stolas shouldn’t be involved even though he plays a big part of the charges AND his original plan to gain Stolas' stuff. Now some could say Andre knew Stolas would watch the trial or maybe the sins would go after Stolas next, but that is a BIG gamble and a flaw in his thinking/this episode’s story.

What if Andrealphus and Striker pinned the assassination attempts on Crimson? They could lie about how the Imp crime boss wanted Stolas dead so he could gain the book or power, and knew about this possibilitythrough his son Moxxie. This gives Moxxie a role in the trial and adds another connection between I.M.P. and Stolas as Andre could state that all of this wouldn't have happened if Stolas hadn't given I.M.P. the grimoire in the first place, adding more to his goal of getting rid of Stolas.

We got some more interesting royals like a dark fire person and a guy with a saber tooth skull head and a low tech robot arm compared to Fizz’s arms.

Striker and his new scar. He got lucky everyone seems to be either too dumb or bigoted to notice any connection between him and Andre.

I’m glad Blitzo pointed out he could have rephrased his comment about being able to kill Stolas. I also feel like with his whole gimmick being strength, the idea of an Imp trying to kill a royal would impress Satan or someone in the court.

Finally the other sins speak.

Mammon’s insult to Ozzie and Bee implies that Bee and Vortex’s relationships is seen the same way as Fizz and Ozzie’s. I have seen a video around YouTube about how someone didn’t like how up till now Bee and Vortex by demon society got a pass while Fizz and Ozzie didn’t, so I bet the creator of the video is happy that this clears it out. It does make it a bit odd to me as with Bee being part Hellhound and being the party girl who has likely done a lot of crazy stuff in the past, her dating a Hellhound probably wouldn’t be anything new to royals. Maybe she has learned to tune it out? I think this could lead to an interesting future scene like maybe in the past Ozzie made fun of Bee for doing just that but now that he is in the same boat, he apologizes and the two become friends. It also just adds more to my personal belief that Bee and Vortex should stay together and not have Loona date Vortex.

Ugh not only is seeing Mammon flirt gross, but it seems like the White head of Leviathan is into it! I mean it makes some sense that there would be some connection since Greed and Envy both involve the feeling of wanting something, but still I really hope this is a one episode thing, and I do have some headcanons about Leviathan that could explain what was going on there, one also involves an fun idea for an OC that could be her love interest.

I think Yogirt’s advice is working as I could have seen Satan yelling at the sins to stop, but instead he just suggest voting in a calmy manor. I’m impressed and its part of something I will bring up later.

“insert real life justice system joke" here

Verosika! Now if this episode had been better, she would have made for an interesting witness, as she also knew about Blitzo’s Earth activities. Maybe she would have kept switching sides throughout the trial as she is still hurt by the breakup but by that point they have made some great mending between them. I also would have loved to see a scene of Leviathan being envious of her looks and popularity.

One of Fizz’s’ text says he is ordering sushi and joking says Ozzie can’t stop him. One of my early headcanons for Ozzie was that he is allergic to fish, and I just wanted to point that out as I wonder if he still is but is allowing Fizz to get it cause he loves him. Maybe we learn that he is allergic to a unique kind of fish or can’t stand the smell of it as I think that is what happened in the story I got this info from. If any of the “Ozzie has fish allergies” thing is right, then I like the idea of Leviathan having a few of those fish around in case she/the two ladies needed to deal with Ozzie or for protection against him Batman contingency plan style.

I know I’m not alone when I say that I don’t like how Satan has all the power in the court. Charlie’s story showed that Lucifer didn’t like how Heaven didn’t take his suggestions when making Earth, so when he fell, you think he would make Hell’s government be fair to everyone. Maybe it was for a time but after who knows how long of being depressed, Satan used his absents to take over and change the system. At least HB Satan isn’t 100% a jerk I thought he would be thanks to Yogirt. I think it would have been better if we found out that he was in charged because the trial was mainly about Imps, but if it was about someone else like an aquatic demon or a succubi, Levi or Ozzie would have taken over as each sin is in charge of the main races that live in their rings. Sure this would make a plot hole when Stolas gets involved but I bet they could have worked something to go around that.

Satan confirmed my theory of him making the Imps. This must mean other demon races were created by other sins like Bel created the Baphomets and Leviathan (mostly Purple) creating Ronaldo’s species (as I still think Infestors are a unique case). HOWEVER there are some exceptions, as Hazbin Hotel showed us that Heaven has their own equivalent of Hellhounds I call Heavenhounds, meaning some of their ancestors likely fell alongside Lucifer. They should make this canon as this could prevent the gross idea of Bee being Vortex’s great great X 1000 grandmother.

Again the original storyboard has Stolas with Octavia when watching the TV and leaving to save Blitzo. I think this would have been a good scene as we could have seen a dramatic scene that symbolizes Stolas breaking his promise to be there for Octavia, and Octavia seeing her fear of her father “running away with Blitzo” coming true.

I’m going to bring up something related to Blitzo’s “fighting the rigged system” at the end of review.

Aw man don’t make Loona cry!

Oh crap guy they are going to kill the main character. Seriously this is going to change the entire series, and I don’t think anything will stop it. Are you getting the sarcasm?

Of course they had to include a scene of Blitzo’s face touching Stolas’ butt XD. Same with Stolas explaining what is going on in song.

While it is nice to see Stolas take the blame for the Imp he is still clearly in love with (as seen with his pupils) for the Grimoire, he never does give a reason for why he was allowing Imps to kill humans. Heck there was once a fan theory stating that every soul I.M.P. killed made Stolas stronger through use of his book, so the writers should have stated that as fanservice as I personally think they refence more of the HB fandom later in the episode. I also feel like someone would realize he was lying liking Vassago, Ozzie, and Bee and try and help him. We should have gotten a scene like that. I also don’t see why Stolas doesn’t try and follow it up with proving that Stella was the one trying to assassinate him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stolas had a power that showed Stella called Striker to kill him during dinner or Striker from ��Western Energy” saying his wife wanted him dead but changed her mind. This could have worked with what I said about Bel revealing memories. Maybe Andre “accidently” proves Stolas is right, thus resulting in Stella also being in trouble. That last part comes into play later.

Stolas says he wants to be the master of his fate. S2 did bring up the concept of prophecies possibly being real (again more on that later) so I wonder if that is a refence to defying such things if they are true?

Again betrayed how exactly? This is another reason why this episode needed more time to cook, as they should have added in a line for Satan saying that Stolas should have known better then let Imps kill humans or else it could get all of Hell in trouble with Heaven again.

Yes I know about Vivzie’s response about Satan’s comment about ruling Hell before Lucifer being a lie. While a nice refences to Lucifer and a bit of a relief as this implies that Satan believes he would be a better leader of Hell then Lucifer (maybe having pulled a Starscream in the past) I am also kind of bummed out as this could have meant Satan was involved in that story Charlie read about her father and mother, which implied evil existed before Earth and humanity was made. Viv does seem to go back and forth on things.

Loona called Blitzo dad again.

It was pointed out to me that Stella forces the hug onto Octavia, but I didn’t notice until watching this that Via step backs when Stella starts to get closer, implying that their relationships may have not been great. Course now Octavia doesn’t have a choice as her heart is broken and Stella is going to use Octavia’s state for her benefit.

GOD canon Stella is so boring IT HURTS! I think I’ll make one of my DA goals for 2025 is to try and convince some Stella haters to admit that Viv kind of squandered her potential and that something like my version of her would have made the show more interesting.

I can’t imagine how sad Octavia must feel right now, and sadly things are only going to get worse. Also I apologize in advance as I am going to make 2 sad deviations involving Octavia’s sad state in the future.

Again “insert real life” joke here.

Andre, the ice bird, was able to BURN what I don’t think are strong angelic chains off of Stolas. Does this mean he has other elemental powers but prefers ice? I did read about a demon with weather/elemental powers (even made him Stella and Andre’s father in my Helluva Boss rewrite) but could Andre be based on him in a way? If those were angelic chains then that means Andre must be so evil he can destroy purity/pure holy metal.

I stated earlier that a lot of people are being dumb, which benefits Andrealphus here. I bring this up as I strongly believe that this episode will start an arc for Andrealphus where he believes with the right moves he could become an even bigger ruler of Hell that makes Stolas’ title and royal position look like an internship, and I have an new idea for how I think he will go on doing this.

I totally called Stolas’ punishment happening! Admittedly it also involved Stella losing her status, but that can always happen later thanks to her brother.

By lose everything, that means Stolas no longer has his book. This makes this pic kind of canon now. I do hope that Stolas did something so that only Octavia can use the book to its full potential, or hopefully in the next episode. I mean I don’t think we have to worry about Stella since I don’t think he has any natural magic, but Andre with it is worrisome.

Wait does this mean Stolas lost his pet Venus fly trap, the one he has had since childhood too!!!! Oh god Andre and Stella are going to kill it aren’t they! It’s the Targ from Star Trek: Lower Decks all over again! Can there please be a loophole where he gets to keep it, or Octavia takes care of it despite her feelings for her dad?

I think Andre ripping his fur coat off was a loose refence to a HB fan comic, as there is this comic where after Octavia reveals she is marrying the artist’s OC (who is a nice guy) Stella shrieks with joy that she rips her own shirt off, revealing her bra and chest XD. You should see what Stella does during their wedding XD. This wouldn’t be the first time the writers referenced the fandom, heck later Andre refences “horny jail” to Stolas which is part of another popular Helluva Boss pic on the internet where you see Stolas in a cardboard box labeled horny jail

Those rings that were used to strip Stolas of his powers had symbols related to the sins on it. I think it would make for an interesting arc if Stolas did stuff that made the sins proud of him and as a result they give him some of his power back.

At first I thought Satan was being dumb here thinking Stolas could live for 100 years, but now I think it is possible. Being a demon (especially a goetia) Stolas could have a longer life expectancy then Imps. However now this brings up the sad possibility that if Stolas and Blitzo end up together Stolas could possibly out live him, and we already have to worry about that happening with Fizz and Oz.

Part of me obviously feels bad about Stolas being scared about Octavia living with her mom, but like I said before it was inedible since the few times on scene they were together he mainly chose Blitzo over her. More on this later.

When Mammon is eating, you can see both Leviathan heads being disgusted. Hopefully this means White isn’t into him anymore, if she ever was. Also are people seriously cheering for him gulfing down the food! XD

Well Stolitz fans now Blitzo and Stolas are living in the same place. Your thoughts?

While people are hating on a former royal, Blitzo gets praise. This will be related to something for later. Also that sign with someone covering up the O in Blitzo name XD.

That look on Stolas face. That is the look of a broken person.

Another example of the higher ups being idiots and the episode needing more work, is that they never tell IMP that if they ever try to go on Earth again for any reason outside of being ordered by royals, or continue their business they will face consequences. Again I’m surprised no one pointed out the Asmodean Crystal Blitzo was wearing, let alone connect it to Ozzie and Fizz. Personally it would have been interesting to see IMP have to figure out what they would have to do for a business now.

(Blitzo kisses Stolas) And thus Stolitz fans rejoiced….kind of.

And that was my LOOONG review of Mastermind and why I didn’t like it, though I feel better towards it now then I did last week. Again such an episode was always going to happen, but I think it happened TOO early in this case especially since we have 2 whole seasons after this. Also again giving this episode more time really would have made this better from having proper build up and making it possible so that this episode could have had a lot of returning characters with a role in the trial.

Some people are saying that this episode is going to build up to a upcoming storyline where Blitzo’s actions will start off a chain of events where demons will try and change Hell’s system so Imps and such are treated better. This does indeed sound interesting, and could fit with my idea of Andrealphus wanting more power, though I can’t help but see Hazbin Hotel inspiring such a thing as that is what Charlie is trying to do with sinners. Admittedly in past reviews I might have overexaggerated when I say something in Helluva Boss is similar to Hazbin Hotel, but I know I’m NOT here.

I will admit that I did love seeing the other sins, how this seems to have ended the Stolitz break up arc and starting a friendship arc, AND brings my personal idea of Andrealphis becoming the main antagonist of Helluva Boss one step close to coming true, But still this episode made me have a hard look at the entire season so far, and it made me realized that it has been pretty bad from focusing too much on the Stolitz and their “break up" arc, having episodes with repeating storylines and similar plot points of things from season 1, and things that were just unnecessary or need more time to develop like instead of Crimson forcing Moxxie to marry Chaz he should have tried stealing Stolas’ book from them to commit crimes.

Does this mean I hate the series and the creators? HELL NO! However that’s not going to stop me from pointing out the flaws of something, especially something involving a big plot point. Like I said in previous stuff, I still think the trial should have been about Mammon suing Ozzie over Fizz. We still would have gotten a look at how Hell’s justice system works, and this would have given all the sins development since they would be hearing from two of their own. It would have ended with Ozzie winning but facing some consequences but this would be good foreshadowing as if a sin can face challenge and consequences, then who knows what a group of Imps and a Hellhound will face. I just don’t want Helluva Boss to be another show I will like at first because it started off good, but turns bad because of factors like random changes or drop in quality writing. I also hope Hazbin Hotel doesn’t suffer from this.

There is one more episode left of season 2, the holiday special Sinsmas, which again I won’t/can’t watch due to a busy schedule and needing a break but I think I know what is going to happen, and sadly it will have another sad ending for Stolas and potentially have a big important moment that will effect the rest of the series.

It a demon holiday in Hell and everyone is happy but Stolas as he wants to see Octavia, but can’t as even without the law Stella and Andre obviously aren’t letting him and are starting to manipulate her into hating Stolas. Blitzo, feeling bad decides to break the law again and help Stolas see her, where they also get a second objective to get some of Stolas’ stuff, especially his grimoire. Here they could what Stella and Andre are doing to Octavia and IMP learns Stella was the one who hired Striker to kill Stolas, and eventually we get a fight where we see IMP fight Andre and holding their own, as while Andre is powerful I don’t think he has any fighting experience. We also see Stolas and Stella physically fight, that would be cool and hilarious to see.

The episode ends with Octavia stopping everyone, likely using some powerful raw magic to prevent her uncle from attacking a cuddling Blitzo and Stolas as seen in the S2 trailer. She then rants to her father saying that he never cared about her but only Blitzo, making Stella and Andre happy as their manipulating seems to work, but I think Octavia would also go off on them as well but sadly still trust then then her father. Stolas is heartbroken but Blitzo promises that they will try and save Octavia, which cheers up Stolas and we seem Blitzo and Stolas hang out as friends for the holiday, but imply that they could date next season. I'm hoping for a scene where Loona either makes Octavia realize that if Stolas hadn't saved Blitzo she would have been without a father, saying she sees him as a hero. This combined with Octavia starting to realized her mom and uncle are using her (either by hearing something they said or being warned by Loona/IMP) starts to doubt if she was wrong about her father and starts to care for his Venus flytrap plant.

I also see this episode being a good way to start off the “Andrealphus power seeking” arc, as I recently I had an idea about how he could use Octavia for his gain. Going back to the possibility of prophecies being canon in Helluva Boss, what if in the next episode Andre learns or recalls a prophecy about a powerful female goetia that would bring greatness to Hell, and he believes Octavia is that goetia. I recall an old post from the Helluva Boss writers saying Octavia was born when strange circumstances were happening, like I think an eclipse happened that day. That’s definitely a sign implying that Octavia isnt be a regular goetia. If there is a scene where we see how powerful Octavia is, I could see Andrealphus pull a Emperor Palpatine and tries to control Octavia so she will work for him and advance his own agenda while disguising it as mentoring her/family care.

If you have made it to the end, I thank you as this was a lot of work especially in such a short time, so let me know your thoughts on this review and on the episode itself.

[summerlycoris]

Is it really a birthday party if you wake up in a hospital?

Chapter 7- Are you waiting for a moment to leave?

Previous chapter- tumblr link

Current chapter- Ao3 link

Chapters in chronological order- tumblr link

There's mentions of suicide in this chapter. Nothing major, but if you want to skip it, start at 'His eyes were wide.' And finish at 'He didn't seem to know what to say, either.'

Turns out, what Mom had left to talk about, was whether Cassie should get a therapist to talk to about everything. That's why the physio had packed it in early- so Mom could go to see Cassie's case manager about this.

Cassie found this out when Mom took her into a little office a few days later, to introduce a ‘lovely lady’ to Cassie.

And Cassie was sure she was lovely. She looked lovely- except for the bags under her eyes- with her bright green eyes, short hazelnut hair, and sun-damaged face. But Cassie couldn't talk to her. Not about any of the stuff that was really bothering her.

Cassie pasted a smile on her face, and lied through her teeth- "Hello, I'm Cassie. It's nice to meet you."

The lady smiled, and introduced herself back. "Hello, I'm Ms Tyrian. It's a pleasure to meet you."

“Ms Tyrian…” Cassie had to fight not to giggle. “That's an interesting name.”

She’d seen that color, while looking through fabric swatches in the past. Technically purple- but it was really more of a red color.

Mom didn’t understand, but still seemed disproving. “Cassie?”

Meanwhile, Ms Tyrian seemed to take it in stride. “Yes, I know. It’s probably not the best color name for a therapist. Especially one who works in Hurricane sometimes- luckily, most people don’t put two and two together- no relation to the purple guy, trust me.”

“Although…” she grinned conspiratorially. “I won't lie- I respect his ability to keep kids quiet, when mine are bouncing off the walls.”

Now Cassie really couldn’t fight off her laughter. While Mom shook her head. “Too soon, Sophie…”

“Marcela, it’s been fifty years. And I’m not talking about the real missing kids anyway.”

Okay, maybe this won't be so bad. Cassie thought.

"Anyway, jokes aside. This meeting is mostly to, well, meet you today. If you've got anything on your mind, you can ask me about it, as well." She turned to Mom. "Marcela, did you want to step out for a bit and have a coffee? It'll be good for Cassie to have some privacy here."

"Oh, of course." Mom came up, and gave Cassie a quick hug. "I'll see you soon, okay." Then she was gone. And it was just Ms Tyrian and Cassie.

This room was set up with two lounge chairs that were set up like the chairs on talk shows. They were at a ninety degree turn from each other. There was a coffee table, with a cute plant on top in between the chairs. They looked comfy- but Cassie was in her own chair and couldn't transfer by herself yet. Instead of sitting near Ms Lavender, like intended, Cassie sat facing her head on. It felt odd, like she was being studied.

Ms Tyrian seemed content to just lean on the armrest of her chair, and fiddle with her cropped hair. All the while, watching Cassie. Cassie wasn't sure how this was supposed to work- was she supposed to speak first, or the counselor?

Ms Tyrian answered that question herself, by asking Cassie a question. "I'm guessing you like those games, what were they called? Freddyworld?"

"Oh no, they have a different name. I've never played them- but my dad did! He said they had a 'morbid sense of humor.' He'd let me watch him play them. My favorite was Sister Location. It, um, it wasn't my dad's favorite." She could remember her dad screaming at the screen, after the twentieth time failing Ennard Night. But Cassie had loved Circus Baby. She was so red, and cool, and cute. Circus Baby had been her favorite, before Roxy was introduced.

Ms Tyrian continued. "Your dad. I heard about what happened to him. It must've been difficult for you."

…and now they were getting into uncomfortable territory. Cassie did not want to deal with this today.

"Could we talk about something else, please." Cassie said.

Ms Tyrian seemed to get the hint. "Well, in that case, I have a question for you- do you have any goals you would like to achieve while here?"

Cassie really didn't know. "Um, mostly getting Mom off my back? I don't know… This wasn't exactly my choice." Cassie whispered that last sentence. But Ms Tyrian had heard it.

"I guess your Mom is a little worried about you. How have you been feeling, recently?"

I thought this session was ‘mainly to meet’ me?

Cassie was tempted to roll her eyes. "I've been feeling great, never better."

Ms Tyrian looked at her strangely, tilting her head. "Well, that's good news! Though, I heard you had a visitor a few days ago. An old friend of yours?"

Cassie couldn't keep looking at her. "Yeah, I did. There isn't much to say- Mom's already given you a crash course on this?"

"She did tell me that you had a best friend named Gregory, and that he'd gone missing over a year ago. Is that correct?"

"Yes. That's correct." She didn't want to talk about this. She really didn't want to talk about this. She could feel herself clenching her skirt in her hands, messing up the red sequins and turning them blue.

Ms Tyrian sat in silence for a bit, to see if Cassie would continue. When Cassie didn't, she asked a question- "What's your favorite memory with him?"

"My favorite- huh?" This threw a curveball for Cassie. She thought the next question would be something like ‘Do you really think he was here?’ Or ‘were you just so lonely, you were imagining him?’

(I'm not crazy I'm not crazy.)

"Um. I guess my favorite memory was just... His Mom was often busy, and his Dad couldn't take care of him at home anymore. He'd gotten too sick. Gregory would sometimes stay at my house.

"One day, my Dad took us all out to Sand Hollow State Park, for a weekend camping trip. Me and Gregory got to go to Jumping Rock for a swim. I was scared to dive in- I'm not good with heights… but he held my hand as we cannonballed into the lake. We all got to go fishing together- I didn't catch anything, but we had fun- we got to cook marshmallows on the campfire, tell spooky stories with Dad and Andy… it was really nice."

Cassie smoothed out the sequins in her skirt, turning them back to red. "It's not much, but I like it." She fought to keep her voice level.

Everything was silent, as Cassie kicked her legs and looked at the floor.

"That was a really nice story, Cassie. He must've been really special to you."

Cassie nodded. And no one said a word.

Until they did.

"Did you… want to talk about how you felt when he went missing?"

Cassie shook her head. She wanted out. Now.

But she didn't want to go back to bed, just to lie there thinking. She didn't want to go for a walk with Mom, who would ask her about everything. She wanted to just. Play, or draw, or do something.

"Could you take me to the playroom please? I don't want to talk anymore." Cassie asked.

Ms Tyrian thought about it. "We've only been here for about ten minutes. I can take you there, but I'll need to let your Mom know where you're going first."

She got out of her lounge chair, and went to go find Cassie's mom.

________

The playroom was nice.

It was colorful. It had toys. It had coloring sheets and drawing supplies on a table in the middle of the room. It had a tv set up against the far wall, with a couch (with a plastic cover on it) and an old video game console. Two boys were playing a racing game, and occasionally trash talking each other. A few girls were in a group, chatting. Two smaller kids were playing with dolls on the floor.

Cassie had come here a few times previously. But mostly played by herself. All the other kids seemed to already have friends.

Cassie was at the table, trying to draw something cool. She wasn't very good at drawing. She'd never been good at it. But she was determined to draw something cool. Like a motorbike with flowers all over it. The kind of bike she'd like as an adult.

But it turns out drawing a motorbike is really difficult. Especially when you don't know how. She gave up, scrunching up her attempt, and just stuck with the flowers. Anyone can draw flowers- just four petals around a circle.

She could hear Ms Tyrian and her Mom talking near the entrance. It was distracting.

She'd already heard that she would be having another session with Ms Tyrian when she got home from Salt Lake City.

Her flower only had three petals. Warped and misshapen. She scrunched up that paper too, with a frustrated growl.

Her right leg kicked under the table. Her left one just twitched and hurt.

She needed a different plan. She could color in but none of the coloring sheets looked cool enough.

Then Cassie had an idea- she could draw Roxy.

Could I?

She could! She remembered Roxy's face like the face of her hand. And she'd drawn Roxy okay in the past- or at least her head.

First, she started with big eyes, and beautiful, long eyelashes. All the better to put eyeliner on. She drew a snout underneath, making sure to add Roxys lipstick in the correct color. (She wouldn't be caught dead wearing orange! It needs to be purple!) Cassie added in Roxy's ears. And drew in her mane of hair, making sure to add the green forelock in, well, green. Afterwards, she drew in the face around her features. Then polished the picture off by adding in the stripes.

It… it wasn't perfect. Cassie had made a mistake with Roxy's snout and hair, and there was no eraser to fix it. Her face was also wonky, it had a Picasso-esque quality to it. Except this would be lucky to get fifty cents if I sold it!

Still, it looked like Roxy. Cassie was proud of her work.

"That's a really cool drawing." A boy's voice came from just beside her. Cassie nearby jumped out of her chair- she'd been so focused on drawing, she hadn't heard anyone approach.

She collected herself, and turned her face to the boy. He was also in a wheelchair, but his was not one of the hospital ones. It was dark green, and looked like it had two metal wheels on the left-hand side. Probably just to look cooler? He could move around by himself. She wasn't jealous at all.

He'd pulled up to the table, and grabbed a sheet of paper to draw on.

One of his arms- the right one- didn't seem to work right, it was bent up towards his chest, and didn't look like it could move much. He had curly black hair, brown skin, and dark brown eyes that looked like they were sparkling with joy.

Cassie broke her gaze, telling herself off for staring. And for not introducing herself. "Umm, thank you. My name is Cassie, what's your name?"

The boy looked up from his drawing. He'd drawn some stars over the paper, and what looked like a big, wonky snout drawn in green pencil in the middle. "Hello, I'm Lawrence. It's nice to meet you."

Cassie needed to pay attention when Lawrence spoke- she'd nearly missed his name, because he spoke kind of quickly, "it's nice to meet you too." A few seconds passed, as he continued drawing.

Cassie had some conflicting thoughts going through her head. On one hand, she could make a new friend. On the other, Lawrence could be like most of the other kids on the ward- gone tomorrow. Just recovering from sedation used in planned surgery, then going home the next day.

One day is hardly enough time to know anyone. "Hey, um, Lawrence? How long are you gonna be here for? I'm stuck here for another 10 days." She hoped her question wasn't too weird.

He looked up at her. "I've got about… a week here? I think? That's what Mom said. They had to fix up my leg, and want to keep me here to see if it worked."

"... Did it work?" She felt silly immediately after asking that question.

"Hopefully!" He said with a big grin. "Wanna see what they did?"

"Um, yeah. Okay." If this was surgery, he would probably be showing off a scar on his leg.

He wheeled backwards with his left arm, and spun towards her. Cassie pushed against the table to go back a bit. She couldn't turn well, so he pushed one side of her chair backwards, so she was facing him.

"Look at this!" He pulled up the leg of his shorts a bit, so Cassie could see the start of a big plaster on his upper thigh. "That's where the place they cut me open is." His right leg was held out straight, with the footrest extended.

"You broke your femur too? I've got a scar there, as well. From when they had to put a nail into the bone to hold it in place."

He scrunched his face up. "Kinda? I guess it's broken now? It hadn't been broken before the surgery."

Now Cassie felt bad. "... Did something go wrong?" She couldn't imagine how badly surgery must have gone, for a bone to get broken during it.

"Oh no, they needed to break it." He pointed to his right knee. It had a brace around it. His left knee looked slightly bent inwards. "My knee was facing the wrong way. It was getting really hard to walk. So they cut the thigh-bone" he indicated this with a chopping motion of his hand. " and straightened it. Then they put a plate in to keep it straight."

Cassie nodded. "Then, why didn't they fix this leg too." She pointed to his left leg.

"It's getting better by itself. It used to be worse on that side." He pointed to the left. "But the other leg-" he pointed back to his right leg now. "wasn't getting better- it was really bent. Here's where my toes used to be." He indicated it, by tilting his hand so that his fingers pointed inwards.

"What about your cuts?" He asked. "You said you have one too- do you still have a plaster?"

Cassie leaned away. "I can't show you mine! It's too high up- and I'm wearing leggings." Then she thought a bit more. "Actually, hold on. I've got one near my knee. Wanna see it?"

He nodded.

Cassie could hear an ‘a-hem’ noise from Mom. She turned, and both her and Ms Tyrian were looking at her.

Well, that's embarrassing. "We're just comparing scars, Mom! It's nothing weird!" Mom just tilted her head in response. Cassie turned away and rolled her eyes.

She needed to pull off her left moon boot, first. Then she rolled up the legging on that side carefully. Her leg still hurt, though. She grit her teeth, and got it over her knee. "There it is. I have one on my hip, and one here." She said, pointing out the areas. He leaned in close to see her knee scar. It looked faded, but still visible- they'd taken the stitches out while she was still in PICU. "They had to put a nail through my tibia- that's one of the big bones in the lower leg." She felt smart for knowing this- and thankful she'd read the pamphlets a few weeks ago.

"Wow, mine's gonna look like that? Once the plaster's off?"

"Um, probably? They may have to take the stitches out, first." She rolled her legging back down, and strapped up her moon boot again.

He nodded, and asked. "What happened to you? I got surgery because my knee was bent. But what about you?"

Cassie sucked in a sharp breath, as she tried to figure out what to say here. Keeping it simple was probably the best solution. "I fell from a high place. Broke both my legs- one worse than the other- one of my wrists" She held up her left wrist. It was still in a brace, so she probably didn't need to, but… "and I broke my back. I can still move my legs… kind of. But I can't walk yet."

His eyes were wide. He looked around, then leaned in close and whispered. "Did you… did you jump? My brother did…"

Cassies face would've gone white, if it could. "No no no- I fell. I would never- ummm." How do you answer a question like that? "I was in an elevator. A really old one. The wires snapped, and it fell."

He didn't seem to know what to say, either. "We-were you okay? Afterwards?"

Cassie saw the perfect opportunity to lighten the mood. "Nope- I died! You're actually talking to my ghost right now. Bet you didn't know you had the sixth sense before this moment, huh Lawrence?"

He looked at her with confusion and horror for a moment, until she couldn't keep her face straight, and burst into a cheeky grin. Then he shoved her shoulder- "Don't scare me like that!"

They both burst out laughing.

It took a while for them to calm down, and it took a bit for Lawrence to say something. "I like your skirt. It keeps catching the light."

Cassie grinned, and said "Thank you. It's got sequins all over it- red on top, blue underneath. If they're ruffled, the skirt changes color."

She ruffled it up, to showcase this, getting a "Wow, wish I had a shirt like that." Out of Lawrence. She felt proud of this skirt- she'd sewn it over the summer break, using sequin fabric. it wasn't the… easiest to coordinate with other clothes. And she knew that Mom wouldn't let her wear it to school- it was delicate, and distracting.

But when she pulled it off, she pulled it off.

"Thank you! I'd do a twirl, but I'd definitely fall over right now." She looked at his drawing, back on the table. "I like your drawing so far- is it Monty?"

"Yeah!" He looked really happy that she knew about it. "How did you know? I just started it."

"You were using green. And the snout is kinda wonky, like Monty's is in the cartoon."

"You like the cartoon too- who's your favorite character?" He asked. He was sitting on the edge of his seat in excitement. Honestly? Cassie was feeling the same way- it wasn't often she found someone else who liked any of the Freddys cartoons.

Cassie held up her Roxy drawing. He nodded. "Who's your favorite?"

"Mine's Monty!" He said, tapping his in-progress Monty drawing.

How can Monty be anyone's favorite? She thought. "Oh- what's your favorite episode?" She asked.

"I like all of them- but the best was the one where they all went to the beach, and Monty was teaching Bonnie how to surf. It looked like so much fun! What about yours?"

"My favorite one was 'The Big Race.' When Roxy was introduced. She had this snazzy racecar, and Foxy took everyone to the raceway to cheer her on… it was so cool!"

They continued gushing about the show for what felt like ages to Cassie. They talked about when Mangle was reintroduced, about the differences in the Portuguese dub and the English original, about the Easter special that only aired once, and was now only aired in Europe and South America. (They'd made a joke that people thought was referring to nine/eleven. FazEnt had to make an… interesting apology after that snafu.), about how the writing changed after they fired all the creative and got an AI to write the episodes…

("Ugh! They really screwed up the characterisation! Especially Chica's- making Chica into a health nut."

("Chica? Really?"

("Yeah! They only did it so that they could advertise Mazer-cise. You should have seen the arguments on the forum about it…")

But this conversation came to an end when Mom came to grab Cassie- "Cassie, we've got to get going now. You've been up for nearly an hour."

She looked between Mom, and Lawrence. Then back to Mom. "Do I have to go?" She whined.

Mom nodded. "You can't sit up too long- or you might hurt yourself. Cassie couldn't help but slump- I'm not a baby. But it's hard not to feel like one, when I'm constantly being put down to rest.

Lawrence helped make the situation a bit better, by saying. "How about I see you again tomorrow? We can keep talking about that Christmas special then!"

She perked up a bit. "Yeah, that'd be great. I'll see you then."

They waved to each other, as Cassie was wheeled away, back to her bed. But at least now she had something to look forward to- seeing her new friend again.

________

The next few days were quite fun.

Sure, she'd had to spend time doing her physio exercises, laying in bed, and waiting for glowing orange eyes to appear next to her while she's asleep…

But she also spent time with Lawrence. And that was enough to make up for all the other, bad things.

Scream-cryer had been discharged yesterday, so Cassie had an uninterrupted sleep last night. She also got to meet Curly for real- turns out her name was Alison. Alison had hung out with Lawrence and her for a bit two days ago. She'd also been discharged yesterday as well, which sucked. But at least they'd got to meet. She'd also been a fan of the Freddy’s cartoon, and they'd all swapped handles to the Fazfans forum. Cassie had also swapped phone numbers with Lawrence that day.

Right now, Cassie was in the cafe with Andy and Mom.

Andy had just gotten out of ‘being grounded’ (Having her fake ID confiscated and destroyed, and having her dad told what she'd been up to.) She still looked a little salty about it.

Cassie had learnt from last time, and ordered a grape soda. Andy had a milkshake, (‘Had’- she'd drank it all within ten seconds, and then got a bad case of brain freeze.) and Mom had her usual coffee.

The TV on the wall was, as usual, on the local news station. Cassie had asked them last time if they could swap to cartoons. But they didn't have cable here.

"I've been talking to your case manager last night- they'll probably be in to talk to you later- they said you've been doing a good job with your exercises, and they've confirmed you will be attending that clinic in Salt Lake City. They think you'll be able to go there in about a week, if you keep up the good work." Mom said, talking to Cassie.

Cassie grinned at that- she had been putting in a lot of effort into her physical therapy, and was glad she was getting results now. They'd even asked her yesterday to sit on the edge of her bed, and put some weight through her legs. ("This'll help strengthen the bones, while they're healing. If you do this, it'll help prepare you for weight-bearing when you go to rehab.")

"Lucky you, getting to skip out on school for another month." Andy said. Cassie stuck her tongue out at her while Mom was looking at the TV. Andy flipped her off in return.

"You say that as if you're not also skipping school- when are you going back to college?" Cassie asked.

Andy lay her head in her hands, and leaned on the table. "Tomorrow, actually. I'll be flying back for a bit, sorting out some things-" She got cut off when Mom shushed her, and pointed to the TV.

They both turned to look.

On the screen was a newscaster, standing outside the Mega Pizzaplex. In the corner was a girl's old school photo.

She had red hair, tied up with pale pink ribbons, tanned skin, and a smattering of freckles.

It was a picture of Janet Faraday.

Cassie knew, because they'd all had school photos done last year. For the yearbook- it was their last year of Intermediate school.

Her mouth went dry, and she couldn't take a breath. She didn't need to hear what they were going to say about Janet. It was already clear.

"Late last night, police found the remains of a local middle-schooler, Janet Faraday, age twelve, at the abandoned Mega Pizzaplex."

She didn't want to hear the rest. She looked at Andy. Andy's eyes were wide open, like a deer in the headlights. Cassie was sure her eyes were the same.

Instead of looking at the TV, or Mom. Cassie looked at the table and sipped her grape soda.

She didn't know what to say. Or what to think. She tried to block out everything, but still caught snippets.

"Potential copycat killer" "No known motive" "hacked communications through an old fan forum" "anonymous report a week ago" "police are investigating."

"Hey, Mom? I might head back home." Andy said, pushing back against the table.

Mom turned to Andy- "Wait, why? It's your last day here."

"Feeling kinda sick. I guess lactose intolerance, a big milkshake, and child murder don't make for a happy stomach. Cassie, I'll see you again soon." She said as she walked away.

"Andromeda, please-" but Mom's plea fell on deaf ears. Andy was gone, before Cassie could even wave goodbye.

Mom stared after her. "If she keeps behaving like this, people will think…" She whispered, then shook her head. "Cassie, do you want to have your drink elsewhere? There's that garden, it's quite quiet there."

Cassie started. She hadn't expected to be addressed suddenly. Her mind was miles away. "Yeah, that'd be great."

________

In the garden were a variety of plants. Most of them, Cassie didn't know the names of. Though she spotted a lone plumeria tree in a pot on wheels. They'd have to bring it back inside by December, before the weather got too cold. There were also some pink and white flowering hibiscus along the fence. They looked beautiful, but Cassies wished some of them were red.

Mom wheeled her over to a quiet place, near the hibiscus. There were some wooden benches there. Mom took a seat on one.

She looked really uncomfortable, smoothing out her pants legs.

"Cassie. You're going to have to be very careful." Mom said, worry lines running through her forehead. She looked older than she was.

Cassie nodded. She knew that- she would never fall for that trick again, that's for sure…

Mom sighed. "You don't understand. When you come home, I can't let you use the computer without supervision." She pursed her lips. "I'm not sure what to do about your phone…"

This surprised Cassie. "What? You're going to take away my phone? And the computer? How am I going to talk to Lawrence when I leave here? Haven't I been punished enough?"

"It's not about punishing you! Didn't you see the news report? They tricked that little girl through messages, like you. But they've also tried copying people's voices digitally, and leaving voice-mails telling people to meet them."

Cassie was dumbstruck. It's really moving quickly…

"... it was a miracle that the little boy's dad was home, and heard his own doppelganger trying to lure his son first…" Mom clenched her pants legs with her fingers. Cassie couldn't help but fidget, too.

"I just… I don't know what to do. I can't let them trick you again. But what's to say they won't turn up at our house to target you there? Should we go into witness protection? Would taking your phone even work? Or would it make it more likely you'll get stuck somewhere, unable to call for help…"

Again.

They sat in silence for a bit. Cassie bit the inside of her cheek.

"Mom, I… I think if it was after me, it would've… already found me."

She didn't want to think about what would've happened if it had "found her." But she kind of had to, now.

"It's not like hospital records can't be hacked. I've been here for weeks now. If it really wanted me dead, it would've just hacked their way into being considered my parent. Then came in while I was on the ventilator, and disconnected it."

Heck, It could've pulled out the ECMO tubes, and watched me slowly bleed to death…

Mom sobbed, burying her face in her hands. Cassie regretted saying anything. She wasn't physically close enough to grab Mom's hand, or give her a hug. She just whispered out "I'm sorry."

Mom let out a few more hiccupy sobs, then wiped her eyes and said "God, I feel so useless." She sniffled, eyes looking red.

They sat in an awkward silence for a while. Cassie wasn't emotionally close enough to her Mom, to know how to make her feel better. She just felt bad.

She sipped on her nearly forgotten soda.

Eventually, Mom stopped sniffling. "Well, you'll need a phone for Salt Lake City. So I can call you. Just… don't believe me if I say something like 'I'll meet you downtown', will you? If I come visit, I'll come meet you at the rehab center."

Cassie nodded frantically, and Mom stood up. She just looked miserable. It made Cassie feel miserable to see her like this.

But she didn't know what to say.

"I'll keep thinking about what I can do while you're away." Mom said. She grabbed Cassie and started wheeling her back inside. "I'm sorry for unloading all that on you."

"No- Mom. It's okay. Don't worry. I get why you're scared."

Cassie left her half finished drink in the cafe. Honestly? She didn't want it anymore.

Then Mom took her back to her room.

________

It was a day later. Cassie had been doing more work with the physio. More strength building. More working on her legs.

She'd gotten better at using her right leg again- she still needed the Moon Boot, and couldn't walk. But now she could put more weight onto her right leg without risking hurting it- as certified by a weight-bearing x-ray.

Her left leg was still useless. Slightly less useless, but still useless. In theory, she should be able to put weight on it- the bones should be healed enough. But she couldn't do the weight-bearing x-ray with it. Because it had buckled and nearly sent her to the floor, gasping in pain.

The physio was working on her left leg- moving it up and down with their hands, while Cassie sat on the edge of the bed, and kicked out the other leg. Mostly to have something to do.

She wasn't sure what she could do.

About that monster, anyway.

She'd talked to Andy about it over the phone last night, brainstorming different ideas on how to be safe in a post monster-escape world.

They'd come up with a few suggestions.

If it's an unknown number, it's not your friend calling.

If they ask you to a weird location, ask if you can bring an adult or a different friend. If they get weird about it, reconsider going.

Ask them something only you and them should know the answer to. If they can't answer or redirect, hang up.

Ask for a selfie. Check the dates if they send it, to make sure it's current. If they don't send one… you know the drill.

The main benefit Andy and Cassie had was that they knew what this thing looked like, and some of how it worked. It mimics people to lure them in. Then it kills them.

Other people- staff at the hospital, Mom, other parents and kids, had no idea how it worked. Only that someone was trying (and succeeding) to kill kids, was able to hack, and could maybe mimic voices? People were speculating it to be the same copycat as the recent bout of missing children- but that had stopped six months ago, with six total missing. Around the same time of that earthquake. Cassie and Andy were fairly certain this monster wasn't behind those missing kids.

("Gregory said it'd been down there for 'a really long time', and it'd been stuck behind concrete before I let it out. If it had managed to lure other kids down, it would've already been free, right?"

("Eh, maybe? They could've all got mangled by Monty before reaching the sinkhole. You said it yourself- you nearly died six ways from Sunday."

(Cassie had hummed into the phone, thinking. "I remember seeing video footage, while wearing the V.A.N.N.I mask, of a lady wearing my mask and chasing Gregory. He was one of those missing kids. Maybe she's the one that did it?")

They'd had no solid proof though. That conversation got them nowhere.

Her phone vibrated in her skorts pocket, just after she had finished up her usual weight-bearing exercise. It was too early in the day for it to be Andy- she should still be on her flight.

"Is it okay if I answer this?" The physio nodded yes, and Cassie checked if it was an unknown number. It came up with Lawrence's name. Thank goodness.

"Hey Lawrence, how are you?"

"Uhh, yeah. I'm good." He doesn't sound good. "Hey, Cassie. Did you want to meet in the garden for a bit? I just need to talk to you. In person."

This raised a bit of suspicion. "How about you come meet me here? I can't travel as easily as you can, and I'm supposed to lay down for a bit, anyway."

"Okay, but… where is 'here'?"

It took a second for Cassie to understand him. Oh, I've been to visit him once in the boys ward with Mom, and have seen him in the playroom. But I've never seen him in the girls ward.

"I'm in the girls ward. It's just two doors down to the right from the boys ward. Look for the pink butterfly on the door. If you see the operating room, you've gone too far."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes, Cassie." Then he hung up. She apologized to her physio, for holding her up, then took off her back brace for a bit. She really only needed it when she was sitting, or moving. Or walking, but I can't do that yet.

The physio left, and Cassie kept her eyes peeled on the windows. They were a little tall- so she'd only be able to see the top of Lawrence's curly hair as he wheeled by them. If he looked like he'd miss the door, she'd yell out to him.

Soon, she could hear the familiar squeaking of his wheels, and see the top of his hair through the window. He didn't miss the door- coming through and spotting Cassie on her bed. She was just glad it was him.

He grinned when he saw her, and came over. She waved back, but felt a little… silly? Lazy? I should be sitting up for this.

"Hello Lawrence, sorry for being rude- I'm not supposed to sit up for a bit. Just got done with physio-stuff."

He shook his head. "That's not rude- I'll come up and join you."

Cassie quickly looked to the nurses station. It was between the girls ward, and the boys ward, and had windows facing into both wards (though, Cassie had never been able to look from the girls ward through to the boys ward- the nurses station was set up in a way where that wasn't possible.) All the nurses inside were chatting, or focused elsewhere. Still…

"I think if you do that, the nurses will get the wrong idea." She said.

He tilted his head. "What idea?"

Oh no, his parents haven't given him the talk yet?

"Umm, well, you see…" How should she word this? "Only moms and dads lay in bed next to each other." Saved it. She didn't want any weird rumors of them floating around. She didn't want to deal with Mom's sideways glances, or Andy's ribbing about it, either. She had to deal with enough of that when she and Gregory were friends.

He blinked a few times, and Cassie got really worried he'd ask something like "why?"

Instead he said. "The beds are too small for that- I meant, I'll sit at your feet. Hang on."

He pushed down the bed rail on his side, to get more room. Then stood up on his left leg, and used his left arm to pull himself onto the bed. He doesn't need a transfer board? Lucky… He then dragged up his right leg, so it could sit flat on the bed, with his left leg crossed beside it. "Ta-da! These beds are longer than they are wide, and you're short, so there's plenty of room."

"I'm not short!" She cried.

"Yes you are- you're shorter than I am." He replied.

She pouted for a bit, before saying. "Well, that's just because you're so tall!" Checkmate.

Lawrence tilted his head. "Am I?" Then thought for a bit, putting a finger under his chin. "Do you think if I jumped up, could I touch the ceiling?"

That got Cassie's brain turning too. She looked up at the ceiling, and tried to figure this out. "Hmmm, I don't know about the ceiling, but you could probably touch the top of the doorframe?"

He hummed as well. "I might try that…" then he remembered something, and his face fell. Cassie remembered how he'd sounded over the phone.

"Hey Lawrence, are you okay? You seemed really sad over the phone." She asked, keeping her voice low. Most people were out of the ward right now- only having someone down the other end playing on their phone- but it was still good to keep this private.

His eyes went wide, like a deer in the headlights. "It's just. Umm. You know the forum? One of the admins posted about a murder." Cassies face fell, too. "It was Janet. Do you remember her from school?"

Cassie remembered her.

They'd never really been ‘friends’, as much as ‘acquaintances.’ Janet and Setia had been best friends since forever- and they weren't looking for a third wheel. They didn't hang out with Cassie after school, unless they were working together on a group project. And that was different to hanging out as friends. Cassie had invited her to her birthday party last year. But Janet had been honest about not being able to go- she'd been signed up for summer camp, and it'd be running at the same time. Janet only got back from her camp the day before school started. Cassie's birthday was a week before then. So she'd never held a grudge against Janet.

They'd worked together frequently during Intermediate school, on group projects. Cassie, Janet, and Setia made a good team. No one would slack off, and they'd usually get an A on their work. Especially in drama class. When they performed an (admittedly pirated) version of Jack+Jill. It got featured in the school newsletter as an example of going 'above and beyond.' Cassie had done backstage work for that performance- making sure the music they'd made played at the right time, making the costumes. (They could have just used their regular clothes. But Cassie wanted their outfits to be special.) and helping the group paint the backdrop prior to the performance. While Janet played Jack, and Setia played Jill.

"Yeah, I knew Janet. We were in a lot of the same classes. What about you?" She'd never seen Lawrence in her classes before, but he lived in Hurricane and they were in the same grade, so he must have attended her intermediate school.

He looked a bit… embarrassed. "I… mostly had different classes than you guys do. But I know Janet from Band practice. She was amazing with the saxophone. She liked jazz music, and probably could've been part of a big, pro band after school… She was nice to me."

He fidgeted with his hair, twirling a loose coil around his finger. "I heard from one of her friends, they said she'd run away, to go to New York. So that she could chase her acting ambitions. Then later, on the news, they got a tipoff about a girl at the Pizzaplex. The police didn't believe it at first, a lady talking about a killer robot that chased her- but when they ran out of things to check, they checked there…"

They sat in heavy silence for a bit.

"What happened to her, that was nearly what happened to you too, right?" He asked. It was a rude surprise- Cassie had not told him about going to the Pizzaplex.

"How did you know?" She whispered. Her face hadn't been in the news, when discussing her case. Nobody should know yet.

He backed up a bit. "I didn't know- my Mom thought it was you, in the news. They'd talked about a different young girl getting lured in by her 'friend', falling and getting really hurt in the Pizzaplex. She would've been the same age as you, so it was probably you."

Her shoulders slumped. Great. So everyone's gonna know I was the silly girl who nearly killed herself at the Pizzaplex…

"... Yeah, that was me."

He didn't look at her, just down into his hand. "Did you see Janet there? That night?" He asked in a whisper. Cassie could hear the unasked question behind it- what happened to her?

Cassie hesitated before answering. Lawrence and her were friends, she hoped. But they'd only known each other for a few days. Would he run away screaming, and never talk to her again, if she told him what happened?

"Cassie." She looked up at him. He was now looking at her eyes. "Please tell me. I'm not stupid."

So she did. She told him about what happened to her, in low whispers. And told him that Andy had found Janet's body, and reported it to the police. She didn't need to tell him the details. No one needed to know that.

He couldn't look at her. She couldn't look at him. She could hear him sniffling.

"I can't believe it… just can't believe it…" he sobbed out, wiping tears from his eyes.

Cassie's heart broke, hearing him like this. He was usually so bubbly, bringing comfort to anyone who needed a friendly ear. But now he needed comfort.

She pushed herself up, so she was sitting. It was still hard to do by herself- part of the muscles she needed had been paralyzed, the rest were weak. But she did it anyway. She reached over to him, and put her hand on his shoulder.

He didn't say anything, just scooted closer to her. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug, which he returned. She could hear him quietly sobbing against her ear.

They stayed like that for a while, until Lawrence's alarm went off, and he had to go back to his dorm.

________

It was two days later, and things were still a little awkward. Mainly, because they hadn't talked about it. She and Lawrence had been texting each other. But not about that day, and not about Janet.

It was Lawrence's last day in hospital. And Cassie would be going to Salt Lake City in three days. So, if they wanted to talk in person and clear the air, they needed to do it today.

Cassie had already made some plans- texting Lawrence, asking if he'd meet her in the garden. Asking Mom if she could take her to the garden, and leave her there for a bit. Mom had raised an eyebrow at this request, but had said she'd do it.

So now Cassie was waiting, in the garden. Near the benches at the Hibiscus trees. The plumeria tree sat nearby, waving in the breeze.

She'd had a lot of time to think- soon, it'd be time to act. She could hear Lawrence's wheels crunching over some lost leaves.

"Hey Lawrence." She said, waving to him. He pulled up nearby, and waved back. Which was kinda useless at that point- they were within arms distance.

Even though she'd been thinking things through, worrying about it for ages, the words still stuck in her mouth. "Umm. I'm sorry. For Janet. If I hadn't let it out, it couldn't have…" the last bit got caught in her throat. "I can understand if you don't want to be friends anymore."

He looked at her as if she was talking nonsense. "Why are you sorry? You're not the one who did it- that weird robot thing did."

"But I let it out-"

"If you hadn't, it would've just got Janet to do it. You know that, right? It would've kept fishing for people until someone ate the bait." He crossed his arms, as best he could.

The weight in her chest lifted slightly. "... I guess so."

"And I still want to be friends. Hannah and Chris don't like hearing me talk forever about cartoons. But you listen- and talk back about them. And we go to the same school- once you're back, it'll be great."

She smiled slightly, and said. "It'll be great to see you again too- I wonder if I'll have any classes with you this year? You could do really well in art class."

"Maybe? I have the same art class as normal kids. We might be in the same one? And you might be in my PE class now."

Cassie hadn't thought about it- but she couldn't see herself doing PE. Not like this, anyway. "Maybe, I don't think I'll do well with dodgeball this year. What is your PE class like?"

"It's only a small class- there's seven of us in it so far. Split between grade eight and nine."

Her eyes went wide. "That is a small class. How'd that happen?"

He looked a little embarrassed. "Um, it's because I can't walk good. I nearly broke my hip doing PE in Elementary school. The teacher asked me to run cross-country. Mom got really mad, and now they keep me in a different class."

"Oh, that makes sense." She said. She wanted to lighten the mood again. "Well, if you don't have to do cross-country in that class- I'm in!" She'd always tried to play sick on cross-country days in the past.

He laughed slightly. "I only got to be in middle school for a few weeks before surgery. You haven't even been this year, huh?"

"No, not yet. I've heard it's supposed to be hell. But it can't be that different from intermediate school, right?"

"No, most kids are just the same kids they were last year. If you liked them, you'll like them. If you didn't, you won't."

Cassie nodded. Well, maybe middle school wouldn't be that great for her…

"... Even if we're not in the same classes, we should still be able to hang out at lunch, hopefully. We're in the same grade." She fidgeted awkwardly. "I'm gonna miss you. When I'm away. It's gonna be so weird being up in Salt Lake City by myself…" because she would be by herself- Mom would have work. Andy has college. And Lawrence lives down here. She wasn't a baby- she wouldn't be homesick or anything- but she would be lonely.

Lawrence came up, a bit closer. "I'll miss you too. But you'll see cool things up there- there's the Zoo! If you go there, you might see a real alligator!" He had a huge grin on his face.

"If I go and see any alligators, I'll send you a photo of them, okay." He nodded at that. Cassie could hear the sound of footsteps over the lost leaves on the floor, before she saw who was coming. It was a lady, with brown skin and straight black hair, walking over to them. This has to be Lawrence's mom.

Cassie pointed her out to him, and he turned to face her. "Hey Mom, is it that time already?"

She nodded, and asked. "Is this your little friend you've been telling me about?" She seemed to smile with her eyes. Which fitted exactly how Lawrence had described his Mom- a warm, bubbly person.

Lawrence nodded, and Cassie introduced herself. "Hello Mrs Smith. I'm Cassie."

"It's nice to meet you Cassie, I got talking to your Mom just inside."

Her eyes went wide. "She didn't say anything weird about me, did she?" Mom was full of embarrassing stories that she loved to bring out when talking to other parents.

"Well, she did tell me a story about how you used to draw yourself with a pink pencil." She said. Cassie groaned and covered her face with her hands. "She let me know you two were out here."

"Oh, do I get to go home now, Mom?" Asked Lawrence. Cassie heard nothing. He turned back to Cassie audibly- wheels crunching over leaves. Cassie pulled her hands away from her face. "I'll see you again soon- have a great time up in Salt Lake for me!"

"I will! Have a great time in school!" She said. Then Lawrence followed his Mom out, out of the garden and out of the hospital. Cassie waving behind him.

She wished she could follow him. But her arms weren't long enough to reach her wheels.

She sat there, wondering what it'd be like when she left, until Mom came back out to collect her.

~~~~~~~~

Authors note- this chapter title is also from Frente’s Labour of Love.

[four-loose-screws]

FE6 Novelization Translation - Chapter 14 Section 5

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Chapter 14 - Breath of Fate (Section 5)

*Note: The 1st 13 chapters are FE7's novelization.

Hector's consciousness reawakened from the darkness.

When he slowly opened his eyes, he saw a boy looking down at him worriedly.

“Is that you, Roy…?”

“Lord Hector!! Your wounds… they’re so deep…! We’ll heal you immediately! Please, hold on to me!”

Roy propped up Hector’s upper half that had been thrown into the dungeon, and swiftly started to carry him out of the cell.

But Hector stopped him quietly. “There’s no need… I don’t have much longer…”

The ribs crushed by the dragon’s attack had punctured several of his organs, and even now, he was suffering from profuse internal bleeding. If he had immediately been healed by a monk or cleric’s staff, then there was a chance he could have been saved, but Bern had not done anything to treat his wounds. They planned to execute him from the start, and decided not to give him any medical attention.

He mustered up the last of his remaining strength and said, “...We were careless… It never crossed our minds that Bern might have resurrected dragons…”

“Dragons?!” Roy shouted in shock.

It was unthinkable that the dragons of legends existed, and Bern was using them to fight. 

Hector looked at Roy, who was utterly bewildered, and continued, “But… … us humans… did fight the dragons once…”

“You mean the Scouring, right? I’ve heard about it as well. Long ago, the human and dragon races split Elibe in half, but then started a war to fight for total control…”

Archsage Athos. Saint Elimine. The Enigma, Bramimond. The Berserker, Durban. The Holy Horseman, Hanon. The Knight of Knights, Barigan. The Little Hero, Roland. And the Hero Hartmut…

The efforts of this group of great heroes were what won humanity the war. As such, they later became known as the “Eight Legends.”

The dragons, as the losing side, disappeared from the continent, and became beings that existed only in legends.

Or so, that was what everyone thought, including Roy - until now.

But Hector’s words disproved all of that. “That was… what we all believed… But, dragons do exist… and we are no match for them.”

“Why… is Bern using dragons?” Roy asked the obvious first question.

Even Hector, the marquess the dragon was used to fight and win against, did not know the answer. Twenty years ago, Nergal attempted to use dragon twins Ninian and Nils to open the “Dragon’s Gate.” But his goal was to take the dragons’ large amounts of quintessence for himself, not use them as tools of war.

How was Bern summoning the dragons into this world, and how were they controlling them? No one had even a guess as to what those answers could be.

“I do not know… But the land… that the dragons once prospered in… was Bern. And Bern… was founded by… one of the Eight Legends… Hartmut. Therein… may lie… the reasons why…” His words were cut short when he coughed up a large amount of blood.

It was likely a sign that he was in his final moments…

“Lord Hector!”

“Roy, go to Ostia. Once there… I want you to lead what is left of Ostia’s army in my place…”

“But I couldn’t…” Roy hesitated to accept Hector’s request. It was more than he could handle.

The unit of the Pherae army he’d led this far was quite small. With his lack of proper leadership experience, he had no confidence that he could be a good leader to more people than he led now.

Still, Hector continued to encourage him. “You will do well… And also… Ostia has a weapon that can damage dragons…”

“A weapon…?”

“I have taught my daughter Lilina about it as well… Speaking of Lilina… take good care of her. Though she acts strong, she is still just a child… Please… give her the support she needs…”

“...I will. You can place your trust in me.” Hector nodded, happy with Roy’s answer, and quietly closed his eyes.

The days of his youth flashed before his eyes. Fighting with his closest friends side-by-side… Meeting the woman who would eventually become his wife... Overcoming several near-death situations… Claiming victory alongside his friends and allies… Returning peace to Elibe… And finally, witnessing the birth of his beloved daughter.

After surviving the loss of his entire family, his wife and daughter became irreplaceable to him.

When his wife Florina passed to the epidemic illness several years ago, he once again felt that he did not have much time left, either.

His only worry was leaving his daughter all alone in the world, but the boy in front of him swore to take care of her.

If anyone could keep that promise, it was the son of the man he trusted more than anyone else in this world.

“...Lilina… I just wish I could see you one last time…” He whispered, then his head lost the last of its strength, and fell to the side.

Those were Hector of Ostia’s final moments. His name would be forever etched in Lycian history as one of its greatest marquesses.

☆ 

General Narcian traveled alone to visit House Laus of Lycia, Ostia's neighboring territory.

“So nice to see you, Your Excellency, General Narcian!!” Marquess Erik was so welcoming of Narcian to the castle that he was more groveling than merely polite. 

He led Narcian to the lavishly decorated guest room, and Narcian immediately sat down in one of the armchairs, his pompous attitude on full display.

“Lord Erik! It means more to me than anything else in the world that you pledged your allegiance to Bern.”

“There is no future for us in remaining loyal to old treaties.”

“That is a very wise sentiment. Keh keh keh…”

The two looked at each other and laughed.

Twenty years ago, Erik, together with his father Darin, the prior marquess of Laus, had plotted a rebellion against Ostia. However, the efforts of Eliwood, Hector, and their allies utterly crushed their plans before they even became known to the public.

It was proven that Darin’s plot was actually instigated by a mage not affiliated with Lycia, and so it was decided that it would be best not to make the full details public, lest the other countries start to think that the unity between Lycia’s territories was crumbling. Erik was forgiven for his crimes, provided that he never turned his sword against any of the other territories ever again.

However, he was a very prideful man, and the humiliation he suffered as a result of these events filled him with a fiery anger that still burned within him to this day.

And so, he accepted Bern’s proposal to turn to their side. He wanted not only to protect himself and his own position, but also take his revenge against Hector.

“By the way, where is the souvenir you promised me? She doesn’t seem to be here.”

“Ah yes, of course! We have kept her waiting for you in another room. Heh heh heh… She is such a naive girl. When I told her that I could take her to her brother serving in Etruria’s army, she fell right into my hands. I believe her name is Clarine. You, over there! Bring her to us!”

One of the guard soldiers accepted the order, and brought back with him a girl who looked to be about fifteen years old.

Many people from Etruria had enchantingly beautiful blonde hair that was the envy of other countries. This girl was no exception, and she kept her gorgeous golden hair tied back in a ponytail. She was also very slim and dainty, and her big, doll-like eyes were looking around the room.

“Where am I? Where is my brother, Klein?” The girl asked.

Narcian stood from the armchair and walked straight up to her with a lewd smile on his face. “Welcome, Miss Clarine.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Narcian, one of Bern's Three Wyvern Generals. I will dote on you more than enough in your brother's place. Keh keh keh…” Narcian said, still utterly full of himself.

Clarine looked up at him, and could not hold back her laughing.

“Is something wrong, Lady Clarine?”

“You? Please go look at yourself in the mirror. Your clothing, your hairstyle, your speech… everything about you is vulgar, is it not?”

“V-V-Vulgar?! Me, vulgar?!”

“Comparing you to my brother is like comparing a mutt to a purebred!” Clarine’s words didn't just hurt Narcian's pride, they smashed it to pieces.

Those who knew his personality as an overconfident narcissist would never say there was a more beautiful man than he. There was no telling how he would retaliate.

His eyes widened and he said like a small, spoiled child, “Why you little…! You will not get away with this! How dare a little girl like you call me “vulgar”!” Me of all people…!!”

‘I will rip your clothes off your body and make that cute little face writhe in fear and shame!’ Narcian took another step towards her, his dark desires now burning even hotter within him.

That was when a messenger soldier rushed inside the room. “General Narcian, reports are saying that Araphen Castle has been recaptured by the enemy!”

“What?! And Slater?!”

“Ah… his current location is unknown. The enemy is the survivors of the Lycian League. Word is their leader is the son of Marquess Pherae, Roy…”

Narcian clicked his tongue at this new information, and turned towards Erik. “Lord Erik, throw this girl into the dungeon. I shall punish her appropriately when I return! And you, close the main road into Ostia. The enemy may try to pass by there.”

“Y-Yes, sir!” The soldier nodded.

Narcian waved his cape behind him, and Eric saw him off as if he was one of his loyal subjects.

-

At the same time that Narcian was gathering his soldiers and flying towards Araphen, Roy’s army had already entered Laus territory, so they did not see him.

There are no “what ifs” in history.

But if Narcian did find the Pherae army at that time, it might have entirely changed the events of the war.

-

“I can’t believe they locked me up in a place like this…” Clarine muttered with a sour expression on her face.

Selling one of the jewels she took from home, she set off on her personal horse to search for her brother, Klein. She was not skilled in planning trips, or anything of the sort. She was simply following her heart.

This led her to arrive in Laus, where she was duped by Erik and tricked into entering the castle.

In the midst of her misfortunate situation, she thought again of her brother, a young nobleman of Etruria.

“...Hey.”

As she imagined how her beautiful reunion with him would go, a deep male voice reached her ears. “Who are you?!”

“A mercenary hired by this castle. Get out. Looks like Lord Erik is busy.”

She could not make out his face in the dim light, but she could tell that he had dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders.

He unlocked the door and entered the cell. 

Clarine spat back words of absolute refusal. “I will not! Why are so many vulgar men-”

“...Enough already, just get out!!”

“Hey, let go of me, you brute! Do you know who I am…?!” She shouted as loudly as she could and resisted, but she was not strong enough to truly fight back.

The mercenary easily pulled her out of the cell.

☆

Roy accepted Hector's dying wish, and traveled with his army west to Ostia.

Though the Lycian army suffered a huge loss at Araphen, that did not mean Bern had invaded very far into Lycian territory yet. It seemed the roads to Ostia would be safe.

However, when they entered Laus territory, and were a few hours away from the castle by horse, the Laus army suddenly appeared and attacked them, with no interest in negotiating.

“Guh, what’s going on?!” Roy shouted as he fought back. 

Chad answered his question, having just returned from gathering reconnaissance. “Emergency, Lord Roy! Marquess Erik betrayed us to side with Bern!”

“What?! Chad, tell me everything you know!”

Chad explained that he’d snuck into Laus Castle, and saw for himself the truth about Bern and Marquess Erik of Laus, helping Roy finally understand the situation.

The soldier who’d reported to him the details of the Lycian army’s crushing defeat was only able to say that nearly all of their soldiers had been lost, before he himself used up the last of his energy and died.

Roy had no reason to think that a betrayal by one of Lycia’s other Marquesses was one of the reasons why the battle had been lost.

Erik’s actions of betraying his allies was the greatest shame a knight could ever commit. 

Not only that, those actions also led to the destruction of the Lycian army and the death of Hector, whom Roy had greatly respected.

The loss of so many of his fellow countrymen, and an important figure who could never be replaced, filled Roy with intense emotions. Driven by the waves of those emotions, he rushed out onto the front line.

Becoming overwhelmed by temporary emotions and acting on one’s own was a guaranteed way to get killed on a battlefield. The moment Marcus caught a glimpse of his lord in danger, he immediately started to act.

“No, this is bad! Roy is running too far out! Lance, Alen!”

“Yes, Sir!”

“You called, General Marcus?!”

The two cavaliers appeared in response to the veteran general’s shout, as he watched Roy lead a group of foot soldiers to charge further forward. 

“We will devote all of our strength to supporting Roy. Now let’s go!”

Proving that in his old age he was better than ever, Marcus led a group to charge directly into enemy lines and straight towards Laus Castle. Behind him were Alen and Lance, with a small group of brave Pherae soldiers following them as well. While striking down the enemies standing in his way with his lance, glittering gold in the sunlight, Marcas galloped his horse up next to Roy.

“Lord Roy! I understand how you feel, but please keep your emotions under control. The entire knights of Pherae are in your hands! If you forget that, and allow yourself to be overcome by fleeting emotions, then it will not only lead to your soldiers dying in vain, but we will not be able to fulfill our mission, either!”

Marcus’ words were like a bucket of cold water being poured on his head. With them, he calmed down and returned to his senses. “...I’m sorry, Marcus. I still don’t have much experience…”

“Worry not. So long as you take heed of my warning and do not forget it, then everything will be alright. Now then, Lord Roy. Your orders, please.”

“Hm? What orders?”

“To take Marquess Erik’s head.”

Marcus’ words reassured him. He nodded, and gave the order.

-

Just before the battle between the Pherae and Laus armies started, the mercenary dragged Clarine to the castle stables.

The cavalier unit deployed at the beginning of the battle, so only Clarine’s fawn-colored horse was left. She had been munching on hay, but when she saw her rider, she neighed happily.

Meanwhile, her rider did not notice her at all. Clarine was still trying to break free of the mercenary’s grip.

“Let me go! I said, let me-” To get him to let go of her left hand, she was hitting and pinching him with her free right hand. But the mercenary ignored her aggressiveness, finally letting go when she was in front of her horse.

“Keep quiet. You won’t be able to run away.”

“You…” She stared at him, not expecting him to say something like that.

It was the first time she got a good look at his face. If someone told her he was handsome, she wouldn't say he wasn't. His features gave the impression that he was intelligent and calm.

For a moment, even she, who adored her brother so dearly, could not take her eyes off him.

“Get on that, and run away as fast as you can.” The mercenary said as he pointed at her horse.

His words snapped her back to reality. ‘…He can’t possibly compare to my brother, but…’ She made her judgment of him to herself as she asked aloud, “...Why? Why did you save me?”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

“When you say it like that, it makes me more curious!”

Sick of her pressing the question on him even further, the mercenary opened the stable, picked her up, and put her atop her horse. “You’re running out of time! Go, and hurry!” He slapped the horse’s rear end.

The horse suddenly started galloping away from the castle, taking her rider with her.

-

“Hey! Isn’t this a battlefield?! …That swordsman is so insensitive! It is a gentleman’s duty to escort a lady out of a castle!”

Even after being lucky enough to be freed from imprisonment, she shouted out complaints about the person who saved her.

Stretched out before her was a grassy plain, where a harsh battle was unfolding. Cavaliers fought each other on horseback, and arrows flew through the air in every direction.

To be able to help her beloved big brother, she was studying to be a troubadour, and could use healing staves. However, she did not possess any capability to fight enemies, so being put out in the middle of a battlefield like this left her helpless to even run away.

For now, the best she could do was distance herself from the direct combat, and look around at each person fighting to get a good look at their faces.

“That cavalier won’t do. The old man gives me the creeps! …And the armor knight has an ugly face! Any knight who would stand next to a lady must at least be able to hold a candle to my brother…” Clarine was searching for a guard to protect her amongst the army fighting Laus.

She felt that in a situation like this one, a lady required a knight to keep her safe from harm, and decided to choose one from amongst the many in front of her. 

It was quite a strange thought to have so close to an army currently engaged in combat, but to her, this was the obvious thing to do.

“There aren’t any knights befitting me at all…” Clarine selected a guard as if she was out shopping in a marketplace. Her eyes settled on a boy with red hair.

He was in the center of one army giving out orders, signaling that he was their commanding officer. When she met Narcian, the messenger soldier had said that the Pherae army’s commander was the marquess’ son, Roy. It was very likely that he was this Roy.

He still looked a bit young, but his appearance was not so bad. Just as she decided that, considering the situation, it would be best for her to compromise, she heard a deep, raspy voice call out, “Hey, I found her! How did that little girl escape from the dungeon?!”

Clarine whirled around to see a group of about five soldiers running towards her. “...This isn’t the time to dawdle!” Sge said aloud, turned back around towards the boy she believed to be the commander, and started steering her horse over towards him.

[reginarubie]

RS: EPISODE 1, BERIC DONDARRION

Lord Beric shifted his saddle to a new mount, only to be knocked right off it by Thoros of Myr. — AGOT, Sansa II

Hi all, and welcome to the first installment of the Resurrection Series of Metas I have been working on (on and off) for more than a year. Which, you’d think, would be I have the whole thing figured out by now, sadly that’s not the case 😂 … still I have now isolated the dots we have to check in order to analyse and prove (or disprove) this theory, so…. No time like the present, I guess.

So, let’s refresh which one the traits that are part of our theory and will help us (hopefully) make sense of this whole matter:

The character brought back to life loses something inherent to their identity until then in favor of becoming the enhanced version of their core purpose, becoming it.

A eastern ritual, magic or prayer (or all together) are involved in the bringing back of the character after death.

The presence of an acolyte of the red god or someone who has learned from them.

Only death pays for a life.

Will their purpose be their end? Is their life bound to that purpose, will the reaching of that purpose end their life?

And who better to begin with than Lord Beric Dondarrion, the man who was brought back by the Lord too many times to count?, no one really.

So, let’s go ahead!

✔️ The character loses something inherent to them, BECOMING THEIR PURPOSE

So, who is Beric Dondarrion? This could seem like a stupid question, but it’s fundamental to understand if/what Beric might have lost and the version of which core trait/purpose of his identity he has become.

The first time we see Beric Dondarrion we see him through the eyes of Sansa Stark, in AGOT Sansa II, during the Tourney for the Hand of the King. And this, is the first look we have on him:

Jeyne Poole confessed herself frightened by the look of Jalabhar Xho, an exile prince from the Summer Isles who wore a cape of green and scarlet feathers over skin as dark as night, but when she saw young Lord Beric Dondarrion, with his hair like red gold and his black shield slashed by lightning, she pronounced herself willing to marry him on the instant.

Later Sansa (AGOT, Sansa III) comments on how Beric is almost 22, and whilst handsome, and despite how Jeyne keeps being enamoured with him, she thinks he would not look for such a match.

And we also see something, through Sansa’ eyes, which could be what we are looking for:

"Lord Beric is as much a hero as Ser Loras. He's ever so brave and gallant."

"I suppose," Sansa said doubtfully. Beric Dondarrion was handsome enough, but he was awfully old, almost twenty-two; the Knight of Flowers would have been much better. Of course, Jeyne had been in love with Lord Beric ever since she had first glimpsed him in the lists. Sansa thought she was being silly; Jeyne was only a steward's daughter, after all, and no matter how much she mooned after him, Lord Beric would never look at someone so far beneath him, even if she hadn't been half his age.

What does this tell us about Beric Dondarrion? It tells us he is quite young, despite feeling old to a girl of eleven, and that (like most lords of importance) he might be elitist, meaning that as Sansa supposes, Lord Beric might be favourable to even look in Jeyne’ direction since she’s only a steward’s daughter. This isn’t against Jeyne, Sansa loves Jeyne, but she knows that that’s how it usually works in the case of noble matches.

Still, Sansa is a child and her assessment might be wrong, we might think with our modern sensibilities, but as we can see (before Sansa even comments on the thing) in Ned XI:

"Lord Beric," he called out. "Thoros of Myr. Ser Gladden. Lord Lothar." The men named stepped forward one by one. "Each of you is to assemble twenty men, to bring my word to Gregor's keep. Twenty of my own guards shall go with you. Lord Beric Dondarrion, you shall have the command, as befits your rank."

Ned chooses Beric not because Beric is more skilled than the others or better equipped to lead them (remember, Thoros of Myr, fought during the siege of Pike and Jaime Lannister was impressed by him) but because of his rank. And neither does Beric protest or suggest someone else to lead them due their skills, he bows and accepts. Because his rank demands it of him. He believes that to be his place because of his rank.

We have seen that in the asoiaf world since the prologue of AGOT where it’s said that Waymar Royce commands the small group of rangers over men more experienced only due his rank. Can we say Waymar was a bad person because he believed that?

People in that time were taught that since a young age; so we can say that Lord Beric at that time did believe in the fact that his rank gave him a better position, a leading position over others.

And if Ned and Sansa’ word is not enough, there’s also Tywin (Tyrion VII, AGOT):

Lord Tywin did not seem awed. "We also have a pair of Ned Stark's afterthoughts making a nuisance of themselves by harassing my foraging parties. Beric Dondarrion, some young lordling with delusions of valor. He has that fat jape of a priest with him, the one who likes to set his sword on fire. Do you think you might be able to deal with them as you scamper off? Without making too much a botch of it?"

So I’d rather say that what Tywin so scathingly calls “delusions of valor of a young lordling” are what two idealists as Ned and Sansa would consider “honor/valor based on rank”.

And thus I would say that Beric intention of proving his valor and worth as Lord of a noble House by upholding the duty Ned has bestowed on him is a very core trait of his identity.

No one comments on Thoros delusions of valor, or any of any other members of his party. And even after Ned was dubbed a traitor Beric continues to uphold his command and keeps fighting and raiding. This proves that that idealism is still with him, but the elitism?

"Knights?" Clegane made the word a sneer. "Dondarrion's a knight, but the rest of you are the sorriest lot of outlaws and broken men I've ever seen. I shit better men than you." "Any knight can make a knight," said the scarecrow that was Beric Dondarrion, "and every man you see before you has felt a sword upon his shoulder. We are the forgotten fellowship." — Arya VI, ASOS

Elitism permains in those who follow him, but him? He knighted them despite their rank. Now he commands them because they follow him for his leadership, not for his rank.

So I’d say that the thing that was score of his identity before, the elitism was lost in the process of returning from the dead and when he rose again, Beric rose as the purest form of the purpose he had died with. Bring justice to the Riverlands. But he is not doing it in the way he would have before, with fanfare, to get the honor for himself. He is doing it because it’s his purpose.

Ned charged him with that duty and Beric means to bring it to end, even if it means dying in the process. He has become that; he has become the outlawed justice.

And there’s a moment which tells us, which seals the deal, which gives us the perception that, he has lost something inherent to him, to become his purpose.

Beric Dondarrion had been handsome; Sansa's friend Jeyne had fallen in love with him. Even Jeyne Poole was not so blind as to think this man was fair. Yet when Arya looked at him again, she saw it; the remains of a forked purple lightning bolt on the cracked enamel of his breastplate. — Arya VI, ASOS

The honor Beric had meant to bring to himself and his House, is broken. He doesn’t care to tend to it — repair the breastplate so the sigil is intact — he lets it be consummated and cracked. He cares only for the justice he can bring in the name of justice.

So, I would say we have a check in the first dot.

✔️Eastern ritual (prayer, magic, both?) + presence of an acolyte of the red god or someone who learned from them + only death pays for a life

When Beric is sent to bring justice to the Riverlands, he is sent with Thoros of Myr, a foreign man, coming from east, who is also a priest.

Thoros usually fights with a flaming sword, and I think it’s very telling of their dynamic the first time we see them together in Sansa II, AGOT:

Later a hedge knight in a checkered cloak disgraced himself by killing Beric Dondarrion's horse, and was declared forfeit. Lord Beric shifted his saddle to a new mount, only to be knocked right off it by Thoros of Myr.

So, someone disgraced themselves and killed Dondarrion’ stead so he shifted to a new mount and Thoros knocked him off it. It sounds suspiciously like someone killed Beric but he found a “new” life only to be knocked off it, and ultimately since Thoros is the one teaching him the ritual, he will be the one to cause his ultimate death.

Thoros prays for Beric and thanks to his prayer — to the only prayer he knows that he could use for a funeral — Beric is brought back.

Every man of us was certain his lordship would be dead by daybreak. But Thoros prayed with him all night beside the fire, and when dawn came, he was still alive, and stronger than he'd been. It was a fortnight before he could mount a horse, but his courage kept us strong. He told us that our war had not ended at the Mummer's Ford, but only begun there, and that every man of ours who'd fallen would be avenged tenfold. — Arya III, ASOS

And though never we see the exact moment as it happens in the show, because Arya is focused on something else, we do know it’s a prayer which brings Beric back.

"Lem, Jack, help me with Lord Beric. Ned, you'd best come too." The red priest wrenched the Hound's sword from the body of his fallen lord and thrust the point of it down in the blood-soaked earth.

"He has," said a voice scarce stronger than a whisper.

When Arya turned, Lord Beric Dondarrion was standing behind her, his bloody hand clutching Thoros by the shoulder.

Thoros of Myr is a red priest of the red god from Essos, and he apparently have been close to Beric every time he has died and his prayers seem to have avoided him that fate.

Apparently it wouldn’t seem like a rite or some magic, just prayer, but there is something odd about the man. He was known to fight with a flaming sword, and it seemed almost like magic.

And yet, even though people seem to think that Beric comes close to death and Thoros saves him — they call him a healer — but Beric comments:

And we know because it’s Thoros who tells Arya:

"Could you bring back a man without a head?" Arya asked. "Just the once, not six times. Could you?"

"I have no magic, child. Only prayers. That first time, his lordship had a hole right through him and blood in his mouth, I knew there was no hope. So when his poor torn chest stopped moving, I gave him the good god's own kiss to send him on his way. I filled my mouth with fire and breathed the flames inside him, down his throat to lungs and heart and soul. The last kiss it is called, and many a time I saw the old priests bestow it on the Lord's servants as they died. I had given it a time or two myself, as all priests must. But never before had I felt a dead man shudder as the fire filled him, nor seen his eyes come open. It was not me who raised him, my lady. It was the Lord. R'hllor is not done with him yet. Life is warmth, and warmth is fire, and fire is God's and God's alone."

So, I would safely say we have a dot in the eastern ritual, may it be prayer or magic. Because in ancient times, these two concepts could often been confused, mixed depending on whom spoke of it. Someone who wielded it might have called it prayer, but to those to whom it was foreign it could’ve been magic.

It’s a matter of perspective.

"I wish I had a flaming sword." Arya could think of lots of people she'd like to set on fire. "It's only a trick, I told you. The wildfire ruins the steel. My master sold Thoros a new sword after every tourney. Every time they would have a fight about the price." — Arya IV, ASOS

"Even brave men blind themselves sometimes, when they are afraid to see," Lord Beric said when Lem was gone. "Thoros, how many times have you brought me back now?" The red priest bowed his head. "It is R'hllor who brings you back, my lord. The Lord of Light. I am only his instrument." "How many times?" Lord Beric insisted. "Six," Thoros said reluctantly. "And each time is harder. You have grown reckless, my lord. Is death so very sweet?" "Sweet? No, my friend. Not sweet."— Arya VII, ASOS

We can see so that Thoros proceeds to do the rite and every time it becomes more difficult to bring Beric back, and we know that the rite happens only after Beric has actually died, so every time his own death pays for his new life. Which is perhaps what makes it so difficult because life is something precious and Thoros comments that Beric has grown reckless as if he is searching for death. If you give no importance that you might die, how can your life be precious?

So I’d say we also have a dot in the “only death pays for a life” spiel we have heard more than once in the books and show.

And now onto the last:

✔️ will their purpose be their end?

Thoros comments (see above) on how he isn’t the one bringing Beric back, but that that’s the Lord of Light who is not done with him.

We already spoke on how Beric bared himself of the elitism and glory for his House he might have wanted in the beginning, to remain and permain as the justice for the sake of justice.

So the Lord of Light is not done with Beric and if Beric has become his purpose, will his purpose, once exhausted be his end? In the latest books no one has news of Beric anymore, not after he has risen Lady Stoneheart from the dead, giving her — against Thoros’ counsel — the Last Kiss.

And what does Lady Stoneheart proceed to do? She hangs Lannister and Frey men for their part in the sacrilegious way Robb Stark was felled. She becomes the justice Beric had faticously continued on. So she fulfilled his purpose, whilst carrying on her own (of which we’ll spoke in the details later this week) and Beric disappeared. He is no more. Has he now found the sweet reprise of death after giving his vital force to lady Stoneheart?

For sure, if we consider how the show has finished Melisandre journey with her dying because she had exhausted the purpose the Lord had for her, it would see like this pattern repeats here. So I’d check the last dot as well.

A couple of last considerations, for one, sorry for the delay, and for second, Beric is the easiest of the resurrected characters to analyse because his story hinges merely on that. We’ll have more to analyse pertaining Lady Stoneheart (especially since her purpose is not yet exhausted) and finally for the hypothetical ones, because Beric is kind of the alpha case of resurrected character and all the others we shall try to fit in the characteristics his character has preordinated. His story is the structure of how a resurrected character may act, and if the others especially the hypothetical ones are shaped as his character is, then we can conclude that, even without the text explicitly saying so, they are resurrected as well, or not. Hope you enjoyed the meta so far, see you on Thursday 19th October for the Lady Stoneheart one!

[apollo-zero-one]

Why don't we still have philosophers? Why can't my job be to sit in the town square high as shit and talk about my y deep and profound opinions and guesses about why things are? I could spout the most incredible bullshit about why something I have no idea about, is the way it is. Like, I think that all intoxication works the same way, every single kind. I think whether it's alcohol weed morphine illness borne delirium, it all works the same way. And the way that it works is: it makes your brain thirsty. It slurps the liquid out of your brain and pulls it back into the rest of the system. Because the little vessels in your brain are so super tiny, the slightest pressure can pull them shut and the sides of the vessels stick together for while it's under tension. Meanwhile the liquid being pushed into your system is under more pressure because of all the liquid being pulled out of the brain, so it gets pushed through to the bladder faster, and that's why you have to pee more when inebriated/intoxicated. The brain, being starved of liquid and feeling the pain/distress of the sides of the vessels sticking together, starts to spasm and twitch and pulse to try to get the vessels un-stuck. But because it's a goo and doesn't bave muscles, only electricity, it can only do such ittu bitty pulses that it can't quite keep up while fighting against the chemical pulling on the liquid. So you're stuck in that sticky uncomfortable state with your brain twitching and pulsing with more concentrated zaps of electricity than normal, senses dulled by brain not working, until the chemicals pulling at the liquid are washed out of your system. Gradually the brain pulses are stronger than the chemical pull and the vessels open back up again. The brain calms down and you are gradually able to go back to normal thought and brain function. Sometimes there is a residual of the chemical sticking in the stomach or bladder which may cause cramps or abnormal urination. Also, if too many of the brain vessels are stuck shut for too long, the brain goo overheats and starves and dies. If too much of the brain goo dies, you get brain damage. If way way way too much I'd the brain goo gets starved and dies, your whole brain just dies and you die. All the chemicals that intoxicated/inebriate you all do that the same way, all the poisons are the same thing.

I just pulled that entire thing directly out of my ass, but I said it with a lot of authority. Someone uninformed might believe me. What are my sources? No one bothered to ask because I said it so confidently and it sounds perfectly plausible if you don't think about it too hard. Source: I made it up. People are gullible. People are trusting. Good liars are easy to believe.

Mind. Blown.

Why can't my job be to sit in the town square and spout shit like that? Why can't I be paid in tips from rapt citizens listening to my ramblings for answers to questions nobody bothered to ask about the universe? Spreading ideas that get cycled and sourced in closed loops until they just became facts, and then later when disproved, common old wives tales? Are there not still more questions left to ask in the universe? Are there not still more believable lies to be told? More satires to be misinterpreted? More skits to be misremembered? Why can't my job be to philosophize? Who says my ideas are not from God?

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 12- Part 7

Decibel’s got Bite, so that should be enough to deal with the Shuppet! She’ll be fine, surely!

Sir, please just do your job and let Xera go through here in peace, she’s dealing with enough bull as is-

Anyways, with that cleared, what’s up in these unlocked rooms? Like the one on the right?

Oh hey, this is where Leon went after Trigger Happy Havoc-

This is not at all disproving my theory that Team Meteor caused the virus that screwed up the arcade machines.

AAAAAH!? THE COIN CASE!! THANK YOU, LEON!!!

Yeah yeah yeah that’s great- okay, this is NOT a drill! I’ve gotta drop everything, rethink my plans for the final team, and go on my gambling arc! BACK TO ONYX ARCADE! AAAAAAH-

TO THE VOLTORB FLIP! Time to see if I can play this game legitimately now that I’m older and wiser!

Okay, so far so good, but uh…I don’t think the bottom Voltorb are supposed to be blank like that? Like, they’re supposed to have the sum of the tiles on top, just like the ones on the right side, yeah? 

Oh well- maybe I can still figure out where the Voltorb are at with just the bottom numbers. Let’s see here…

There, that looks reasonable enough! Now to start flipping and-

…Ah. Alright, maybe those upper numbers are also necessary after all. Buggy U.I. has decided I’m playing Voltorb Flip on hard mode, I guess. What are the slot machines like?

Like I said, I never paid much mind to the slot machines in the mainline Game Corners, Voltorb Flip just appealed to me more. But maybe now, since I need like…1,600 coins in total to get both Snover and Slugma, I’ll need all the help I can get. Let’s see here-

AHA! LOOK AT THAT! Just a few spins in, and I already got the jackpot! Let’s keep this up!

Many gambles later…

So…absolutely HILARIOUS story. I do some gaming for a solid…45 minutes, I believe? And I got the coins I needed! Look at this screenshot:

And then right after I took that screenshot…my game froze. I tried everything to get it working again, I pressed a lot of keys, but no dice, the game was completely frozen, and I had to reset. And when I reset, when I reloaded my save, I had this many coins:

So I proceeded to repeat the process for another, like, ten or so minutes, and only then did I get back to the proper amount:

But you know what? Do you want to know what? I’m not even mad. I can’t be mad, because now, despite everything…it’s time to get what we came here for!

There’s our first new member, that’s Blizzard! Chances are, he’s got Snow Warning as an Ability, and while I think it’d be more helpful than its Hidden Ability (Soundproof), it could also cause issues due to the nature of Hail damaging all Pokémon that aren’t Ice-type. But at the same time, since I’m still guessing we’ll be facing Florinia on Grassy Terrain and Snover is a Grass-type as well as an Ice-type, I think the pros outweigh the cons. 

And now for the second member-

SLUG!! At long last, a proper Fire-type! WE’RE GONNA CAUSE SO MANY FOREST FIRES NOW!

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[attraz1one]

Ok, so I try to stay faithful to how things are written in these screenshots. However, this time I'm gonna be breaking form, because the individual sections are arranged strangely (probably due to being shorter) with the longer one split in half.

Under the cut the transcribed titles will be matched to the proper 'story' or whatever.

Do You Think Thesaurus? What Does 'Dinosaur' Even Mean?

The name "dinosaur" was coined in 1841 and means "terrible lizard." However, today we know that dinosaurs are neither lizards nor terrible. In fact, scientists and 8-year olds alike agree that dinosaurs are actually pretty awesome!

Scientists have long believed dinosaurs to be extinct. And guess what? All the evidence seems to suggest that they are. This technique of forming a hypothesis and testing it against the observable facts is called the Scientific Method, and it forms one of the fundamental pillars of all human knowledge. Since no one has ever seen a dinosaur, it is reasonable to believe that they are indeed extinct.

However, the Scientific Method also tells us that one can never prove a negative. So who knows? Maybe dinosaurs still roam unobserved, deep in the deserts of Santo Ileso. Keep your eyes peeled, and you may just be the one to disprove this long held scientific hypothesis.

--

Santo Ileso: Triassic Park Dino Discoveries In Our Own Back Yard

In April 1936, a young boy named Timothy Wasson discovered dinosaur fossils to the east of Sant Ileso. Dinosaur fever quickly spread through the town, and many of the displays here at the museum are local discoveries.

Along with Timothy, Santo Ileso's other great fossil hunter of this era was Sally Franz, one of Timothy's classmates. They two formed a bitter rivalry, each vying for the prestige and local recognition of being the town's champion fossil finder.

The rivalry ended with Timothy's mysterious disappearance in 1939, after he failed to return from one of his regular fossil-hunting hikes out of town. It is assumed his bones now festoon the very desert he used to search. Sally Franz, whose whereabouts that day remain unknown, went on to become a distinguished paleontologist. This wing of the museum is named for her.

Maybe you too could find a fossil for our display?

--

[no title for this section. probably due to not being dinosaur related]

Contrary to popular belief, Santo Ileso is not a saint. "Ileso" means "unscathed," "unharmed" or "unhurt" in Spanish, so the name literally means the "unharmed saint." The grammatically correct (and original) name is "El Santo Ileso," but the "El" was dropped in the 1700s.

The name refers to Padre Tomas Corvacho, a Franciscan priest who accompanied the de Rojas expedition in the early 1590s.

In the region of what is now known as Santo Ileso, Padre Corvacho parted ways from the expedition to evangelize nearby villages. He was accompanied by a friar, a local guide, and a Portuguese soldier. Three days later, a raiding party attacked Corvacho's camp. The priest told his companions to run away while he stayed behind to distract and delay the raiders so the others could escape. As they ran, the companions witnessed the raiders killing Corvacho.

When the companions rejoined the main body of de Rojas's expedition and reported what had happened, de Rojas became enraged and vowed to kill everyone in the valley to avenge Corvacho's death. They found the desecrated body and gave the priest a proper burial.

Later that night, de Rojas was awakened by a familiar voice. He grabbed his sword and his musket and followed the voice to the spot where Corvacho died. The Franciscan priest was standing there as if alive, his body whole and unscathed. He told de Rojas to spare the lives of the people of the valley as this was the will of God. Deeply moved, de Rojas fell to his knees and swore he would obey and begged God for his mercy.

De Rojas related to his soldiers what had happened. His men were skeptical and mocked de Rojas behind his back, referring to the dead priest as "El Santo Ileso" after de Rojas repeated over and over again, "Estaba ileso!" ("He was unharmed!")