#i have a master post with all my theories on it somewhere

[sweetmodel]

How I became a master shifter (+ why methods aren't working for you)

Hello! I’ve been seeing a lot of disinformation lately, and I’ve noticed that some people might need help, so I wanted to chime in. I can shift whenever I want, and I see a LOT of limiting beliefs—but I understand because I was once on the other side.

Disclaimer: This is all based on my personal experience with how I became a master shifter. You’ll want to read everything—it’s important.

I first shifted around March 2022. I would always use methods. I would affirm, tell myself I was detached from this reality, and so on. During my very first shift, I literally affirmed all night long (if this sounds familiar, it’s because I used to have another blog here, lol). You know, really complicated stuff. Then... things changed. I couldn’t shift anymore. I kept using the same methods, but they didn’t work!

That’s when I started questioning everything about shifting and consciousness. Why was it that I could be in another reality where things like magic exist, but then suddenly I couldn’t shift anymore? Why were the methods, like lucid dreaming or the void, seemingly more powerful than the act of switching realities itself? Why, when I shifted from my Desired Reality to my Current Reality, all I needed to do think of my CR to shift back—but it didn’t work the other way around?

None of it made sense! And I’m sure many others have asked themselves these same questions.

I came up with two theories:

This reality has something unique compared to the infinite other realities. To shift from here, you need something extra, like a method.

There’s something else at play, something unrelated to the realities themselves.

I dismissed the first option. There’s nothing inherently special about this reality. So why do we use methods here but not in our DRs?

Then, I thought back to how I used to shift... detaching from my body, affirming until I shifted. It all aligned with my subconscious beliefs. The method didn’t work because that’s how shifting works, but because it made sense to my subconscious. Of course I would shift if I did these things—because that’s what I believed shifting required.

Well... kind of. As I said, it made sense because it aligned with my beliefs. So when the method failed, I wasn’t letting myself shift.

Did you catch that? I didn’t let myself shift. Of course, it wasn’t the method. At what point do you actually shift? Is it when you affirm? Do you really think the universe is just waiting for you to say the right thing enough times before it switches you to your DR?

No. It’s you.

So, you have two choices:

Find a method that truly aligns with your beliefs, or

Change your subconscious beliefs.

Changing your beliefs might seem hard, but I’m going to explain why it’s not as difficult as it feels.

All your life, you’ve had certain beliefs, but those beliefs came from somewhere. You weren’t born thinking you need methods to shift—it’s something that developed over time. Which means it’s not set in stone. It can be changed.

I realized that every reality holds the same weight. There’s NOTHING you can do in this one—no intrusive thoughts or negative emotions—that can stop you. Why? Because those thoughts and emotions are products of this reality. Shifting is simply changing what you’re aware of. That’s literally it. Anything outside of that can’t stop you.

Yes, we’ve all seen those posts saying things like, "Oh, you’re not focused enough" or "You spend too much time on X, Y, Z" or even "You don’t go outside enough" (I legit read this on here—y'all are wildin’). Are you in your DR thinking "Oh, I thought about failing to shift, it means I won't :("? Of course you aren't! But nothing can stop you from shifting. Nothing can stop you from being aware that you are a master shifter.

So, how do you become aware of that?

I started affirming throughout the day. I would tell myself these things:

I’m pure consciousness. I create my reality, and everything around me is just what I choose to perceive.

I’m a master shifter. I don’t need methods. All I need to do is choose to shift, think of my DR, and it happens.

Nothing in the 3D can stop me from shifting, because I’m in the 4D and pure consciousness.

I told myself these things constantly, and I truly understood what I was affirming. What being pure consciousness and being a master shifter actually meant. I stopped using methods. I stopped acting like this reality was special compared to the ones I wanted to be in. And then... it happened.

I shifted. During the day. I simply thought of my DR, told myself, I want to shift, and there I was—in my DR. It happened because, as I said, my subconscious beliefs changed and then manifested in my reality. The same way they did when I believed I needed methods.

Naturally, I stopped using methods. I stopped trying to shift. I no longer thought, Okay, tonight I’m going to shift, and I'm going to use X method. Because that’s not how you think or act when you’re a master shifter. I let go—why would I bother using a method before sleeping when I could just stand up, think about my DR, and be there? Why would I bother doing a method before falling asleep when I knew I'm a master shifter?

I allowed myself to shift. It was me! When people ask, What method did you use? What did you do to shift?—do you really, truly believe it’s the method that makes you shift? Of course you do, because you live in a reality that seems logical, and you apply that logic to shifting. But shifting isn’t logical! It just happens! I have no idea why—it’s literally just magic to me—but that’s how it works.

So, you need to understand: You make it happen. That’s a good thing, right? It means you don’t need methods, and you don’t need to keep searching for “the key.”

Anyway, I hope this helps someone. (Also yes, before you tell me, I know this is basically Law Of Assumption. But I wanted to explain it in more of shifting terms)

(Also if someone wants to post this to another social you have my permission- especially reddit since I was active in that community but I deleted my acc lol)

Edit: Hey guys there are some additional notes in the comments that might be useful!

[sagesolsticewrites]

No ones written for Curtis yet !! (Masters of the air) if you wanted and didn’t have any ideas, what about they meet at a pub - he’s loud she’s quiet but he charms his way in ? Something sweet to take away episode threes pain

Thank you so much for requesting, I’ve been having so much fun with these Masters of the Air requests! Our boy Curt deserves some love, too! 🥺 And… what Episode Three? I have no memory of Episode Three, all that happened in Ep 3 was our boys had a big mission and then they all 👀👀👀 made it home safe 😇

(Reminder that requests are open! Feel free to check out some of my favorite prompt lists in my pinned post 😊)

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction based off the portrayal by the actors in the Apple TV+ series. I hold nothing but respect for the real life individuals referenced within.

To the Rescue

You thank the bartender with a smile before turning towards your usual spot along the wall, martini safely clutched in your hands. The pub was positively crawling with soldiers— which was exactly the reason your friends had dragged you out of the apartment tonight.

“You need to get out more!” They insisted as they wrestled your hair into something slightly more stylish, Dot digging through her wardrobe for something suitable for you to wear.

“There’ll be plenty of very handsome soldiers there,” she had said, producing the soft blue dress you had subsequently been forced into, “It’ll be good for you to meet someone!”

You settle against the wall, resisting the urge to yank out the pins digging into your scalp, instead taking a sip of your martini as you scan the crowd.

Your friends had seemingly already chosen their targets for tonight— you spot Ruthie chatting to a blonde Brit over by the bar, and Dot had already managed to drag some poor soldier onto the dance floor with her and her two left feet.

Despite what your friends thought, you were perfectly happy being a wallflower. You enjoyed people watching— just as entertaining as normal conversation without the stress of having to contribute, you had once joked.

The theory was proven as you scanned over the crowd, picking up snippets of conversation, stories, jokes… usually coming from a particularly boisterous soldier speaking loud enough to be heard throughout the whole bar with a distinctive accent— New York or somewhere thereabouts, you guessed.

“Hey there, honey.”

Every part of you cringes inwardly at the voice interrupting your thoughts. British, you note immediately, with that hint of bravado that signaled he didn’t much care for your parts of the conversation— he was just looking to show off for his friends.

You couldn’t very well ignore him, though, and you try to hide your exasperation as best you can.

“Can I help you?”

“Well, I couldn’t help but notice that you seemed a bit lonely over here, figured you could use some company. Maybe a drink, maybe a dance…” the Brit grins, and you take notice of the pins decorating both his and his friends’ jackets— RAF boys. Ugh.

“I’m perfectly fine, thank you,” you assure them with the politest smile you can muster.

“Aw, come on,” one of his buddies speaks up, “Just one dance?”

At the clear refusal of that request, the other man that was with them chimes in.

“Or how about I buy you a drink? Seems like you could use a fresh one,” he says, nodding towards the martini glass in your hand— the one that was still nearly full.

“Thank you, but I’m alright, really…”

You attempt to edge away from them, mind racing for a way to politely let them down so they’d leave you alone.

Just then, a thick New York drawl breaks through the unsuccessful attempts at flirting, a welcome relief from the unfamiliar English accents.

“There you are, sweetheart,” the soldier says loudly, leading you away from the RAF boys, “Been lookin’ for you everywhere!”

One arm slung over your shoulder, he leans down to whisper in your ear “Trust me, okay?”

Speaking loudly enough to be heard by the other soldiers, he began leading you to a secluded booth in the corner, “I got us a table over here…”

As you slide into the booth, he turns to the RAF boys with a fierce warning glare and a subtle cracking of his knuckles, unseen by you.

The Brits scramble to find other targets, and the soldier — you still haven’t gotten his name — returns his attention to you.

“I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t overstep,” he says, “You just, uh… seemed like you weren’t havin’ too good of a time over there.”

“No, it’s fine,” you assure him softly, shaking your head, “Thank you, um…”

He seems to realize what you’re waiting for, and sweeps into a bow as he introduces himself.

“Lieutenant Curtis Biddick, at your service,” he says, a cheeky grin lighting up his face. “But everyone calls me Curt,” he adds, straightening up.

There’s a moment of awkward silence as you smile and nod in acknowledgement, and then realize that you have absolutely no idea what to say now.

“…Well,” the soldier— Curt— says, once it becomes clear you’re not going to say anything, “I’ll leave you be, but if those guys bother you again just gimme a holler, yeah? I’ll sort ‘em out.”

“Wait!” You say as he turns to go, the loudest you’ve spoken all evening.

You pray the flush in your cheeks isn’t too visible in the dim light of the pub as he turns back and you say hesitantly, “You can… stay, if you like.”

You gesture to the empty space of the booth, but add hurriedly, “Or if you don’t want to— I’m sure you’d rather—”

“I’d like that very much,” he says with a smile, cutting off your nervous rambling.

He slides into the booth across from you rather than next to you, to your surprise, giving you enough space to feel comfortable.

“So, are you ever gonna tell me your name, or am I just gonna keep calling you sweetheart all night?” He asks, adding a wink to make sure you know he’s teasing.

You tell him, just barely loud enough to be heard over the band, and he grins, testing out the pronunciation. “Pretty name for a pretty girl.”

Like with most compliments, you’re not sure how to respond until—

“I don’t normally look like this,” you find yourself saying and oh of all the times you had to actually start talking, why did it have to be now? “I mean— my friends decided to doll me up for tonight, but I’m not normally—” You trail off as your mouth finally takes the hint to stop talking now and silently pray for the ground to swallow you.

“Hey, I should ask them for some tips,” is all Curt says, though, and you find yourself fighting off a smile as he rambles on about “wanting to find something for myself, it feels like everyone’s doin’ the same thing these days…”

The way he sighs forlornly, staring out at the sea of uniforms identical to his, is what breaks you, and the two of you collapse into peals of laughter.

You hear your name being called, and turn to see Ruthie — apparently having abandoned the blonde Brit— flagging you down, until she realizes you have company.

“Oh— sorry!” She says, before gesturing to where your other friend seems to have gotten a bit too deep in her cups, “I’m gonna take Dot home. You take your time, though!” She adds, nodding towards Curt encouragingly in her usual unsubtle manner.

You wave her off and tell her to be safe, blushing furiously at the expression on Curt’s face— he looks entirely too amused by Ruthie’s reaction.

“She gonna be okay?” He asks first, though, nodding towards where Ruthie’s leading Dot out the door.

As you assure him your friends will be perfectly fine, he nods, seeming to consider you for a moment.

“You don’t get out much, do you?”

You nearly choke mid-sip of your martini, surprised at his bluntness.

“What gave it away?” You manage to quip once you’ve recovered, waving off his concern.

“Your friend there,” he nods to the door, “I’ve seen my fair share of girls excited that their friend snagged a soldier, but… never that excited.” He concludes with a laugh.

“I guess I’ve always found all this,” you gesture to the room around you: the dancing, the laughter and occasional shouts from the soldiers, the music, “a bit much? I’ve never really been one for parties or bars or… any kind of socializing, really. Ruthie and Dot were plenty eager to get me out of the apartment for once, though.”

“Well I, for one,” Curt says with a crooked grin, “am very glad they did.”

You meet his gaze for a moment before smiling down at your lap, “So am I.”

The two of you continue talking through the night— Curt dominates the conversation, but in a way that you don’t mind; he fills what would normally be an awkward silence for you with jokes and stories, all the while leaving enough space for you to chime in when you feel like it.

The pub empties as the night goes on, and before too long it’s only the two of you and a handful of other people remaining.

You glance at your watch, wincing as you realize how late it’s gotten.

Curt takes note, already moving to stand as if he had meant to be heading back at this hour and asking with a smile:

“Can I walk you home?”

The easy conversation continues on the short walk to your building, and you find yourself on the front walk with Curt, dreading the moment he walks away.

“Wait— I—” you interrupt as he opens his mouth to bid you goodnight, digging in your small clutch for any scrap of paper you can find.

Producing a torn piece of what apparently used to be a grocery list and a small pen, you scribble down your address, holding it out to him.

“Write to me?”

A bright grin transforms his face as he tucks it away in his breast pocket, next to his heart, “I’d love to.”

The two of you simply… stand there in the moonlight, grinning at each other.

Your gaze scans over him, taking in the hat sitting at a jaunty angle on his head, his slightly crooked tie, the equally crooked grin of this boy who took you under his wing for the night.

Summoning all your courage, you rock up onto your toes to press a quick kiss on his cheek.

As your turn to sprint into your building, though, something stops you.

Or more specifically, someone.

Curt reaches out and grabs your hand, pulling you back towards him. You’re the closest you’ve been to him all night, barely a breath in between the two of you.

He scans your face, gaze dipping down to your lips then back up, searching for permission.

At your almost imperceptible nod, he dips down and captures your lips in a surprisingly gentle kiss.

Warmth blooms in your chest, spreading through you down to your toes in the brief eternity his lips are on yours.

He pulls away, remaining close enough that your noses brush as his thumb caresses your cheek.

“Sweetheart, when I get back to base,” he begins softly, “I am writing you the cheesiest, corniest love letter you’ve ever seen.”

His laughter is infectious, and you hope your giggles hide the flush on your face at the mention of love.

“I look forward to it,” you simply say, barely able to speak around the grin on your face.

With one last gentle kiss planted on your cheek, he bids you goodnight, and you float into your apartment, waiting impatiently for a love letter from Curtis Biddick.

[fan-goddess]

MY ANALYSIS OF THE SCENE BELOW

Gif and photo credit goes to @barbieaemond

A/N: First of all! I want to say these are personal opinions and ideas I have come up with and discussed further on! None of the things I will say are confirmed! I am merely speculating and debating theories! The start is less on topic but it gets more focused the more I talk.

I didn’t want to bother users by directly tagging but there users are there and in some cases links to their posts are added in bold. I also bolded certain quotes.

Okay, first of all I want to discuss the words they had playing when they showed this scene before we look into the scene itself. When listening to the voiceover I couldn't tell who it was who was saying the quote, but after putting on the captions I found its Larys Strong which is interesting given his character is pretty much the master of whispers. He's the man who knows everything on everyone the man behind the curtains as shown in season 1 when he manipulated Alicent to make her believe she was responsible for Harrenhals fire and therefore make her guilty enough for her to feel the need to keep Larys in kingslanding where hes at his most powerful. Why go back to Harrenhal and trust his birdies to bring him the information while he sits back when he can do the dirty work himself? That is a key aspect of his character which is why it makes the quote so noteworthy.

The quote itself though is this: The enemy without may be fought with swords. The enemy within is more insidious. Even the use of camera shots which are placed while he's saying that have meaning, as when he says the enemy without its showing Rhaenyra who has lost her daughter, her son, her crown and her throne. And when he says may be fought with swords Aegon shows to be possibly mourning the loss of Jaehaerys, and it's known that after finding out about blood and cheese Aegon went on a rampage killing all ratcatchers in the city. This is showing the shots they’re showing in this line have meaning, meaning we need to take into consideration the scenes/words they show next.

The shot saying The enemy within shows Daemon walking down in a dimly torch lit tunnel somewhere underground with no real indication of where he is. Perhaps they'll play around with blood and cheese by having Daemon come with them to show them the tunnels needed to get to Helaenas chambers, but that would not make sense as it's been highly discussed how Dyana (A maid shown in season 1 who had been a victim of Aegon) would be a part of season 2 for a few episodes, so its much more likely she'll be the one guiding blood and cheese to Helaenas chambers. Though I must say I feel Dyana will most likely be punished and killed for this as she has affectively been part of a plot to kill the innocent son of Helaena. I suspect her guilt will show, and maybe Alicent or maybe even Aegon himself can see that she knows something and questions her, leading to Dyanas confession and death.

Though the scene with Aemond as Larys says is more insidious, that is what caught my eye and no doubt brought you here. We can still that the whole line as part of the reasoning for the use of that scene, as I have discussed with @/anjelicawrites and we have thought of the possibility on this being Aemond crumbling down from his usual, "Tis I the younger brother who studies history and philosophy, it is I who trains with the sword, who rides the largest dragon in the world. It is I who should be-" This is a new side of Aemond. A version of him which we beleive is him finally directly suffering for his actions in the war, AKA killing Luke and indirectly causing the death of Jaehaerys. He looks as though he is becoming something that even he said he would never become as he even says to Criston, as Anjelica mentioned to me, that the two of them were people with morals. It's honestly quite an interesting take as by having the usually stoic Aemond break down in front of this woman, the identity of whom I will talk further on later, shows even he is not safe and that no one is truly immune to the grief of war and that sacrifices must be made by all.

Now we do not know the setting in where the photo takes place but if this truly is a brothel then maybe Aemond went back to the place which truly psychologically hurt him in order to enact punishment on himself, as what punishment can really be done after what Aemond has had to go through. Torture is not an option especially since he's already had to suffer through the major damages of loosing an eye which has already permanently damaged not only Aemonds vision but his whole nervous system. There is a post where a lovely individual goes through the medical side of Aemonds injury which I shall link here for those who would like to take a further look. Going to the brothels as well could be a sign of him becoming what he hates most of all. Aegon. Aegon has always been Aemonds biggest jealousy as he has everything Aemond wants. Aegon has the title of first born son, two eyes, a valyrian wife, heirs, even an actual inheritance and yet he throws it all alway and very easily wanted to when Aegon tried to convince Aemond to allow him to board that boat to wherever he was planning to run off too (Probably Lys when you think about all the people there who have silver hair and the violet eyes.) To see Aemond slowly develop into Aegon would be almost strangely poetic to see as he becomes the epitome of what he hates and wanted most, especially when its just the worst side of Aegon he becomes and not the good parts.

Now onto the context of the scene! The way Aemond is laid on the women suggests intimacy, as he has his hair put down naturally, has his sapphire eye on pure display, and most noticeably of all is naked as the day he was born. He also has his back to the person, which to him especially given his lack of vision on his left side, means he trusts them enough to be vulnerable. People are heavily implying that Aemond is in a brothel, but when you think about how Aemond reacted to the brothel owner in the first season, who it turned out to be the woman who SA'd 10 year old him, I do not believe he would go back there willingly with that much sense of vulnerability around those sort of people. But when you think about the idea of him going back there to punish himself for his misdeeds then it cannot be ruled out as a possibility. Though someone mentioned it didn't seem right how Aemond was the one in the nude while the woman he is laying his head on is still fully dressed, which is certainly odd especially when you remember that when we got a first glimpse of the whores they pretty much walked around the room stark naked with very little clothing. Perhaps Aemond walked in with her naked and demanded she dress in clothing that was either laying about or even brought her clothes for her to wear (possibly Helaenas or even his mothers) we will not know until we watch the scene on screen.

When discussing the position Aemond is in with the woman too like I said earlier defenitely gives an idea on intimacy, possibly bordering on motherly. We know that when Aemond returns from storms end and tells his family of what he had done, 'Queen alicent went pale when she heard what he had done, crying "mother have mercy on us all." nor was ser otto pleased. "you only lost one eye" he is reported to have said. "how could you be so blind?" In the books it is said that since Aemond did kill Luke with intention to kill, he was expecting to revieve pretty much a heroes welcome. But since they changed that and make Lukes death accidently Aemond will no doubt go back to kingslanding feeling grief and regret, with maybe some happiness that he finally in his own way got revenge back for Luke taking his eye. Going back to the almost motherly seeming position he is in, I suggested that perhaps Aemond went to the brothel for a sort of motherly comfort for what he has done as Alicent almost certainly will not be giving it to him for what he has done. Perhaps he went there to get comfort from women but not in a sexual way but in an emotional way so he can feel less at fault for what he has done, even when the physical reminder haunts him daily.

Some people have suggested this to be Alicent who he is with, and whilst that makes sense given the intimacy of the position he's in it does not make much sense to me as why would he be naked with his mother. That to me is more of an Aegon move than an Aemond move. Though it was also brought up how she possibly came into his chambers at night whilst he sleeps nudes which very well could be a possibility so I've decided not to rule out that idea.

Another possible idea on who the woman is is the brothel lady from season 1 who I talked about earlier as being the one who SA’d Aemond when he was 10 years old. When looking at how other people have viewed the picture and came across a user named @/scaly-freaks who gave great insight on this topic which I shall leave a link for here. Firstly they mention how of course CSA is a sensitive topic, I want to mention that first. Though what they further talked about what how in some cases a victim can subconsciously find traits of their abusers in romantic partners (which thinking about it may be why he went for Alys given that she was a much older woman similarly to the brothel worker) or they can return to their abuser even at an older age. I won’t discuss these two points further as consideration for those who may feel triggered with this topic and so I will just say to click on the link for the post and read the rest there. Like I said about Alicent, I will not rule out this brothel woman as a possibility especially as it’s supposedly been confirm that she has filmed some nude scenes for season two. We do not know if she will be the woman in the scene, especially since in the picture the woman is seen wearing clothing, she may have filmed some general brothel scenes involving Aegon. I read another user @/lovelykhaleesiii theory about who the woman was and she said it was the brothel women and that it was her, as possibly Aegon may have taken him to the brothel to celebrate Luke’s death as we’re apparently getting scenes of Aegon at the whore house. This would make a lot of sense given the evidence shown and makes it a lot more believable as to why Aemond is in a brothel in the first place as like I had mentioned earlier it’s a more Aegon thing to do not really an Aemond act. Also a user named @/magnificentdelusionr has spoken out about how apparently the woman Aemond is with and the brothel lady share the same scar, so my belief in this being the woman has increased I’ll tell you that now. Though like I said, I will not rule her out as a possibility. The evidence for the brothel is bellow. I think this may be the most likely theory honestly given all the evidence that has been shown for her to be the one Aemond is with.

Now, this third possibility for who the woman is technically unknown as we do not know who she is. The actress from the scenes shown appears to be a dancer and the theory as it shows in the photo shown bellow is that she may have been sent by Mysaria as a distraction for Aemond. But looking at the scenes (pictures of which are shown in the twitter post down bellow) I don’t believe the scene in the top right is of Aemond and her, purely from the fact Aemond does not wear rings and the fact it looks very similar to Daemons ring. Furthermore the woman looks as though to be a younger Aemma purely from her face shape so that is why I’ve decided to rule out this theory. I will admit that it’s a high possibility that Aemond would be seduced by a dragonseed, as in my mind Aemond wants tradition of his culture. If he could’ve he would’ve married Helaena, as those are the ways of his people and the culture he cares for. He also, as was shown in the scene where Driftmarks inheritance was called into question, is seen to have a great admiration for Daemon who has married two women of Valyrian blood and has fathered technically 6 children (two of which did not survive past the womb). Aemond in my mind if the war never happened would’ve 100% been a sort of student under Daemons wing so in my mind it is not hard to imagine Aemond as wanting to mimic Daemon in his own way, that way being bedding a Valyrian woman. Yet even so when looking at the dragonseed people believe to be the woman Aemond was with I believe she plays a different part of season 2, my belief is that her role of season 2 is to be one of the dragonseeds team black or team green hunt down to try and recruit, as it was said team black went around Westeros finding anyone of dragon blood and offering them a chance of a dragon. So I do not think she is who Aemond is with.

Now the final idea on who the woman is is Alys Rivers. I have seen people freaking out over the idea of Alys changing her looks to seduce Daemon, and that is who we see in the scene shown at the top left of the twitter post screenshotted above. But that is not Alys style as there is honestly less of a chance she could get shit done with Daemon. What there is though is a chance she could use Aemond given he was younger, more naive and ultimately more emotional and needing an outlet she is happy to become to ensure her freedom. Though in context with the scene, when discussing the idea about Alys with @/anjelicawrites, she brought up the idea about Alys possibly visiting Aemond in a dream. This lead me to think about her doing this which would ultimately force Aemond to come to Harrenhal and fulfil his ‘duty’ of coming to Alys and giving her a son of pale hair. I spoke to her saying how I like the idea of Alys visiting Aemond in his dreams, as this would further the witch allegations. With the context of the scene though I believe she could put this image of a finally calm Aemond who is finally at peace with himself in his mind and make him crave that part of himself. This would ultimately force him to come to Harrenhal in the future. One thing I do want to bring up is this connection that was brought to my attention by user @/boundlessfantasy. They made the connection about Alys possibility being the woman holding Aemond in a dream since Ewan said in the interview with TGC where they discussed three scenes from season 1, that the process of killing Luke haunts his dreams possibly hinting at a dream aspect of the season. This may end up being just a sarcastic comment, but if this actually a hidden Easter egg then I must applaud Ewan for being so sneaky. There is a screenshot of the interview down bellow with the line also a link to the interview here.

We cannot see the woman’s face therefore we cannot be sure on this woman’s identity, but out of these four main theories on the woman’s identity I think this is most strongest in my opinion. Though us could very well be some random women we’ve never seen in the series before so I very much am not exoecting my theories or anyone else’s to be particularly right. I accept them all (pretty much) but am expecting pretty much for the unexpected.

Some other theories though I would like to take into consideration is the idea it’s Helaena in the picture. I do like that idea as it brings further this idea of Helaemond, a ship I do enjoy personally, especially as they hinted at the idea that Aemond was the father of Helaenas children. The clothing the woman is wearing by the looks of it does seem to be a similar shade of blue that Helaena is usually seen wearing, and there are seem similarities in the hands (this idea was brought to my attention by @/lady-phasma who has talked on this idea on their account) Though I do suggest you click on the photos bellow to see them much more up close as then it’ll be a clearer image. Helaena and Aemond have been shown to be close together so it’s no surprise if he’d want to break down and show weakness with her. It’s a very intimate position as his back is to her showing he in his own way trusts the woman, making it believable this woman could be Helaena. I haven’t made this a main theory as there are some more compelling evidence for the other cases but still I will say this theory is quite strong especially when looking at other theories like the idea the woman is Alicent.

And the final theory on who the person is which I would like to take into consideration is that the person Aemond is with is Aegon. Now I’m sorry to have to break it to the Aegmond shippers but I do believe out of all these 6 theories I’ve talked about this one is least likely. For one it’s clearly a woman who Aemond is with, given the way the body is shaped, even when we cannot see her breasts. I will admit I have seen people though speculating it’s Aegon which is why I’ve decided to mention it and discuss it. One user named @/cyeco13 has done some incredible art of what it would look like if Aegon was the person Aemond was with and I shall link it here for those who wish to go see it (I do recommend it!)

Okay, out of the six Ive decided to rank those that I believe are most believable to be the woman!

1) The brothel madam

2) Helaena + Alys (as I’m tied with these theories not gonna lie)

3) Alicent

4) The unnamed dancing dragonseed woman in the trailer

5) Aegon

This is all I really can say on the matter as there are constant new theories daily and sad to say I cannot directly talk about them all. Still send me your favourite theories I am interested in hearing and if people would like debating them with me.

[unapprovedtrash]

Wild Tears of The Kingdom theory but it’s been floating around in my head all day.

This is long and probably all over the place but please bare with me.

So I’m sure by now most of you have already seen the official artwork for Ganondorf and noticed that he had one of the tear shaped Gems on his forehead.

Except this one is red, you might even say it looks corrupted.

But we’ll get back to that, because I wanna talk about the hero on the tapestry in botw for a hot second.

So I know we’ve all already talked about how the hero in the tapestry isn’t Link, doesn’t even look remotely like Link, with the red hair and beard, but you know who does have red hair and a beard, oh yeah, Ganondorf.

Also, in the opening of the tapestry he isn’t called “The Hero” which is what we always call Link, he’s called “a warrior wielding the soul of a hero”

So here’s where it gets crazy, well, crazier. What if for some reason Link wasn’t around for Calamity Ganon 10,000 years ago and Hylia, (or I guess it would technically be Fi?) was forced to chose someone else to battle The Calamity. A strong warrior, like someone from the Gerudo, like maybe….Ganondorf? And perhaps the “soul of a hero” refers to the master sword.

So let’s say I’m right and Ganondorf somehow ended up being the hero from 10,000 years ago, then what happened, why does he want to destroy us now?

Well, here’s where we pick up where I left off on the tear gem because I have a second theory inside of this one. Maybe, because he wasn’t the true hero, because he wasn’t LINK, he somehow got corrupted by malace during the battle, and they ended up having to seal him away somewhere deep underground. And the reason he’s so angry now isn’t just because of his malace corrupted soul, but because they betrayed him, they forced this role upon him, this destiny he never asked for and then when he needed help instead of trying to save him they locked him away, abandoned him after everything he had sacrificed for them.

I saw a post on tumble where someone mentioned they wanted to be able to save Ganondorf, which got me wondering if we can purify his little gem thing, but yeah that’s pretty much it.

Also, in not related to this theory, but I noticed the Zelda on the tapestry seems to have a dark skin tone, which makes me wonder if this is the Zelda from 10,000 years ago.

[liketwoswansinbalance]

Childhood Headcanons

These particular, sort of apocryphal headcanons (depends on who believes what after all) provide further context for the brothers' childhood under the constraints of my canon-divergent fic, "When Lightning Falls," that was proved wrong by canon after the release of Fall.

There's also an accompanying Creation Theory I made up, to provide context for the fic, which becomes especially relevant here.

And, if anyone's wondering, this post has been around for far too long—I just never posted it some while after the fic itself was done. I have a lot of stuff on backlog anyway, and figured I may as well edit and post this.

⸻

Note:

Most of these thoughts focus on Rafal, and there is a slightly dark undercurrent that runs throughout this post.

⸻

First, the brothers were originally foundlings, like in the fairy tales of yore.

Fittingly, they have been the youngest and the oldest beings ever to live at the School, at different points in time.

At first, they led a deathly existence, an insecure, unstable one, with potential death at every turn.

Rafal became used to death threats, and being called "demon spawn." He hardened in response. Ever townspeople tried to ward him off, but their feeble sigils did no good, did no true harm against him and his latent sorcery, even whilst he was still learning magic.

They were found, possibly, doddering around in the Woods, on the outskirts of the School, at somewhere from three to five years old? So, they conveniently have little to no memory of their existence beforehand, as vagrants, outcasts, rejects, waifs, who knows—they were alone in the world.

The twins crashed through the brambles, clothes torn, faces scratched, scrapes on their limbs, drenched by the rain, just... waiting to be taken in like strays, as if they simply... appeared.

Rhian trailed after Rafal who forged a path ahead, until they emerged in the light of a clearing, as if guided by the hand of fate, to the School for Good and Evil.

Shortly after their discovery, they became the youngest students to ever attend the school.

Of course, taking them in was the Good thing to do, but perhaps, if we let conspiracy run rampant, the Storian had a hand in the proceedings.

Oddly enough, the Pen just might have brainwashed all the faculty to come to the unanimous agreement of raising the brothers as their own, among the lot of them. How odd that they agreed for once, the one time in decades that Good and Evil have agreed on any matter.

It was probably done for the greater fate of the Woods, the way they were all swayed by the Storian, nearly unconsciously.

And so, they came to terms with the new status quo because there seemed to be something behind this decision of the Pen's, that was greater than they could ever know, or so they believed.

They accepted it. They didn't question it because it was so obviously the Storian's doing. Controlling their minds that had already been made for them. No chance to decide for themselves.

But, they let the Storian handle it, handed over all control to the Storian. Because, no one, not even the highest ranking sorcerer or fairy godmother of either School, or lord or lady could have taken issue with what the Storian did. No one went against it. No one could. Contradicting it would have been a death wish just waiting to happen.

And they all knew that. They knew that very well, considering the nature of the tales they taught.

Eventually, they came to the common conclusion that these children must have been their future School Masters.

Thus, they took the Storian's apparent decision to heart because it wasn't their place to step in.

No one could overrule the Pen, so they lived with it, and continued to train the mysterious, foundling brothers—while they worried for their lives and all that was to come.

That particular set of faculty became a little like the brothers' parents, until they died off, one by one, each from old age or the occupational hazards of working at such a School.

Their professional lives were demanding and they didn't pay as much attention to the brothers as they should have.

All they could do was follow through and hope the Pen had charted the right course, that it chose well in the end.

Even if they would never live to see the future, they were aware they had played a monumental role in securing safety and balance for the Woods, by acting as these children's first, human influences.

⸻

"When Lightning Falls" takes place around three years after the brothers' arrival, when they're about seven, so they've had time to have grown used to the schools.

Everything has become a bit mundane to them. There's nothing new because it's all they've ever known and grown up with, unlike the incoming students' experience of the manor every four years.

So, they've never been around peers their own age, which led to Rhian feeling special and becoming fragile with no challengers and to Rafal gaining a massive superiority complex.

During those years is when Rafal starts on his skepticism, early in life.

Rafal starts to question the Pen, and ask why of everything and everyone that can possibly answer him, or that would answer him if he persisted and probed enough, and didn't relent. And he threatens his way to the answers, to get his way, to figure out what makes everything in this world of theirs tick.

It's the only way he knows, to bribe or exchange, even unethically, or to beat and to hassle information out of others, to trap them in their own bedchambers or offices and not release them until they answered him or fulfilled his demands.

He learned the word "leverage" early on, and the Evil faculty thought he was a prodigy.

He doesn't know any other way because the Never faculty took him in first, claimed him as one of their own. They took a liking to him and his silence, over his crybaby brother.

Predictably, the Never faculty were rough around the edges and they never showed displays of pleading and begging, so Rafal never did that, even as a child.

He never learned the art of apologizing either. Everyone was remiss to let that pass by... but it was too late.

He refused to resort to such means as begging, to lower himself in that way, like Rhian would, even at such a young age, because he wasn't taught mercy. He was told kindness was a weakness and that justice was right. And so, even as a young child, he maintained an adult-like level of dignity in how he conducted himself, always.

Meanwhile, he'd look on at his brother, and wonder: why is he acting so childishly? Having Evil imposed on him forced Rafal to grow up sooner, before his time.

Evil taught him never to whine and whinge, to never cry to get his way. He could already get his way, by other, more sinister means. Cleverer, more artful, more guileful means besides, and in doing so, he could still feel superior, boosting his ego, inflating it and inflating it as a result.

So, that was what he'd grown up around. It was the natural way of things, to him.

At least, this is how children ought to be treated in his eyes, simple as that. And he turned out fine, didn't he? Of course he did. No question about it. He's him, and he's great. The best. Superior to all others, everyone else in his school.

He probably considered himself the smartest little boy alive, not necessarily the most knowledgeable, but the most clever or capable of outwitting others, of negotiating deals, and plotting schemes and doing other, crooked deeds. He thought himself smart in that artful sense, skilled to the point that he could outfox adults over twice his age, outdoing the teenage students in everything he did.

Oh, and if certain knowledge were established as forbidden? Rafal would still try all the more diligently to go after it. That's how he contended with all things.

And what of Rhian? To Rafal, Rhian was naive. Secretly, Rafal never considered Rhian his match. No way, no how. That brother of his couldn't tell Good from Evil in the simplest of challenges.

The Evil faculty were decently well-meaning, thinking Rafal would be good villain material, but again, they weren't exactly attentive or warm or caring like Good's faculty was in "parenting" Rhian.

They weren't neglectful either, but still, Rafal was left to his own devices outside of lessons, and he grew accustomed to being alone when Rhian wasn't around to play with him. Not that he really played that frequently.

Thus, time passed, and the staff believed the twins to be foundlings. That they were adopted, taken in under their wings. Children of the School.

In reality, the twins were children of the Storian.

Everyone knowingly buys into the lie because they didn't want to think beyond the present. They wanted to believe the brothers were of woman-born, abandoned, and insignificant. But, the truth could only be delayed, not buried.

The brothers are foundlings, they all said, persistently. That's what most of the faculty believed, and that's what the brothers were led to think.

Yet, a select few knew their actual purpose of existence: the brothers were not being trained up to follow the Rules of fairy tales themselves—they were being trained up to rule. (Or rather, "rule" as figureheads for the greater Pen.)

They were bound to the School grounds, and only a few people, none in living memory, knew they belonged to the Storian...

⸻

Any thoughts anyone?

[skyward-floored]

I know I've asked about First before, but how does he relate to Sky, exactly?

Well, in lu we don’t totally know yet, though I do have some guesses. More on that in a minute though.

First is Sky’s predecessor, according to the manga (which is questionably canon, but isn’t everything in zelda?) at the back of the Hyrule Historia. He’s a good man, but is wrongfully imprisoned for several years before being freed, and is then chosen by Hylia to use the Master Sword to help defeat the demon armies currently trying to take over the land. Hylia rides a crimson loftwing, and it ends up choosing Link as it’s rider as well later on.

Link fights the demons, and ends up in a battle with a leader (its probably Demise, but it’s a bit unclear), and First is grievously injured. First ends up using the Master Sword to send his people up into the sky (this eventually becomes Skyloft) but is unable to join them because of how badly he’s injured, and finally succumbs to his wounds.

I’m mostly cutting out the bits with Hylia, but she does come here and says her whole plan of being a mortal so they can meet again in another life... which I have some lore issues with but you know. Questionably-canon manga. The story then goes to many years later with little sksw Link, who meets the same crimson loftwing First once rode, evident by the marks on its beak, and becomes its new rider.

...

So. The biggest connection between them, aside from the reincarnation thing (which I’m ignoring because Jojo said for lu, it’s not exactly reincarnation between the Links), seems to be the crimson loftwing. Who, in the manga anyways, is the exact same bird, ridden by both First and Sky.

Lu doesn’t seem to be going that exact direction though. Here’s my thoughts.

Remember the crimson loftwing? In the manga, it’s the same one between First and Sky, but in lu that isn’t the case. We see Sky cuddling with a baby Crimson in these doodles, so my guess is that the Crimson Sky has is actually a descendant of First’s.

My biggest proof for this? Well look at them next to each other.

Notice something similar between them? Aside from the color and all that?

CHECK IT OUT. MARKINGS.

The same beak markings, only fainter on Sky’s bird (which adds again to my theory of the birds being descended from each other theory).

It might just be a neat reference, but we all know how much thought Jojo puts into everything in this comic. And First, though he hasn’t been entirely confirmed to be in lu, has been hinted at more then once. (I actually have a post around somewhere that points out all the hints to him and how it’s likely he will be in lu).

But yeah, I think I got a little off track from your original question, sorry XD Hopefully this explained things!

[nothoughts-onlywomen]

Camazotz

I grew up reading a Wrinkle in Time, and remembering the storyline for that has sparked some season 5 theories in my mind…

Camazotz is a planet that succumbed to the Black Thing, which is considered to be pure darkness and evil. We know of another place that’s very similar…

The Upside Down is generally assumed to be evil, or at least contain evil things. But the other thing I’m noting here is the “hive mind.”

Camazotz and the Upside Down both operate under a hive mind. Meg’s dad Alex was imprisoned in Camazotz because he refused to conform. And, as we know, Max is trapped in the Upside Down somewhere.

Vecna’s connection to Master of Puppets makes me think that he’ll either have control of others or be under control by the Mind Flayer. Either that, or Max is actively fighting being under Vecna’s mind control, which is why she’s stuck there.

Yes, Camazotz could be a reference to the death bat, but I refuse to believe that the Duffers would post this carelessly:

Which leads me to my point. Why do I find this so important?

Upon their initial trip to Camazotz, Charles Wallace allows himself to be hypnotized by IT so he could find their dad. Calvin and Meg go back to Camazotz to find and free Charles Wallace. And when Meg finally faces IT, Charles Wallace is still under IT’s control. She has to tell him she loves him, and remind him how much she cares about him in order for him to be broken out of IT’s trance.

Picture this. Max may not have intentionally allowed herself to get trapped in the Upside Down. But there’s no doubt in my mind that she’s using whatever energy she has left to see if she can figure out any weaknesses of Vecna’s. In some way, Vecna will be trying to control her mind, and she’ll be actively resisting him, but running out of stamina and time. So now El and Lucas have to go in to save her.

The show has utilized this same trope that A Wrinkle in Time did: the power of love against evil. Something we’ve already seen here:

I have a fairly good feeling that Max will be in danger of succumbing to the Upside Down and/or Vecna’s mind control. And Lucas (and/or El) will have to talk to her, plead with her, tell her how much they love and cherish her. Bonus points if they use her letters to do so, offering positive memories that she included. And I think Lucas will do a Mike in this scenario and finally tell Max that he loves her and hasn’t given up on her.

And this, ultimately, will allow Max just enough agency for them to smuggle her out of her cage. Hugs and hopefully a Lumax kiss (several, even. Complete with embraces and tears and face caressing) will ensue.

And we’ll all be crying our eyes out.

[possiblylando]

Some of my HTP theories

(Mostly about future plotpoints) 1. Big D looking so young is a plot point and not just a reference to TTS. You probably get what I'm going to say so let's just do some math. We know Markus is at least 30. We'll lowball and say he's 32 since birthday remarks make it sound like it wasn't recent. We know Door is older than Markus. Boy is 11 (as of current) and if we Lowball door's age again (35, 3 year age gap which I doubt is correct) he could've had boy when he was around 24. Then if we assume D had Door in this early 20s, We'll say 20 exactly as another lowball. That would place D at bare minimum 55 years old. My actual estimate is somewhere between 60-70. Yet he has no notable greying hair (ignoring lighting highlights) and is built like a brick shithouse who's able to manhandle brock of all people. As such it makes logical sense to assume there's some fuckery going on with how D ages (or doesn't). I doubt D is a vampire- or was a vampire I saw that theory awhile ago on reddit. What I think is more likely is that he gained immortality through mage fuckery. There's a character in Dorohedoro who's an old man but he got hit by age reduction magic so he's stuck being physically like 14. I think D has something similar going on. 2. Door is going to leave the family. I was thinking of saying "Door will betray the family" but that doesn't really fit. D's biggest flaw is that he's too secretive. There's currently no evidence that he's even told the rest of the family about Kevin being alive. Markus has some inkling of it because of the cop but I doubt he's put anything together. We all of course know Kevin is genuinely on D's side now, but Kevin can't be kept a secret forever. Eventually his existence is going to come out and when it does, I can not foresee a future where Door is happy about it. Door was willing to forgive D's secrets because they were to protect the family. But if he finds out D has been keeping a vampire alive and as an ALLY no less I can see that trust crumble down. Door has of course made his opinions on vampires VERY clear. As such if he finds out about Kevin not from D but from another incident he's going to have to make a choice. -Either stick to his morals and leave the family to hunt vampires on his own (maybe taking boy with him). -Or accept that his entire worldview on vampires is flawed and some of them can be saved. 3. Grimal is the ghoul, But she won't die. This kind of ties into the previous one as well. I went over a good chunk of the evidence surrounding Grimal being the ghoul in another post. I'll quickly summarize it here; -Grimal is known to crawl through the vents -She was in the security room when Occam was attack and the only way to get into the vault is through the door or air vents. -If she has vampire magic it could explain why brock's knives all broke when he tried to use them. -She has attachments to the people at the arcanum so wouldn't want to kill them. Which is why Occam didn't die. There's of course more evidence but this is all just summary. Now my actual theory is that Grimal is going to be found out and either D, Markus, or Kitten will go up to bat for her and this is when D will reveal he has a way to deal with ghouls. We know from Kevin that being a ghoul is similar to the blood pact where you're basically completely fucked and under control of your superior. Which is why I could see them trying to help her. Now think back to Guy Chapman, he hasn't actually served much purpose in the story being a ghoul. His existence is world building. It shows that ghouls can be anyone and anywhere. He also shows that ghouls can switch masters like he switched to Kevin. The idea is that Guy is set up so that when Grimal eventually undergoes the same thing it won't be an asspull/reveal it'll be an extension of pre-established mechanics. Door will of course NOT be happy about this.

[sanctaignorantia]

Just adding a few things about this post here.

I think about it in two ways now. Because when we first thought of puppets, only the idea of being manipulated came to mind. But what if that's not all?

Higgs touches Fatih Akin's puppet directly and asks what it would be? Another soulless little husk? Another... Higgs has met a lot of them out there, Higgs knows what these things are.

Higgs is perhaps another one of those soulless little husks, in the same way that Lou's pod is a soulless little husk.

And then it makes me think that maybe that's why he knows more about Lou's condition than the rest of us, he knows because maybe they have something in common.

But back to the point about the puppets!

So it wouldn't just be the idea of being manipulated, it would be the idea of being a body, a husk without a soul, without desires, without love or thoughts and which is trapped by these cords that are supposed to signify some kind of connection, but which are actually used to manipulate these little husks like puppets in a theater show, telling or not telling true stories, entertaining or terrifying the audience.

We can research the origin and history of puppets and puppetry throughout history just to be sure (puppet|puppetry).

I could also add dolls, which can basically be what puppets are, but without strings to manipulate them, without anything to give them "life". But just to make it clear how much the idea of puppets can expand to these "little" things that can bring symbolic/metaphorical meanings into the narrative.

And then I'll remind you that there are 3 basic ways of using puppets and manipulating them:

-> with strings:

-> with sticks:

-> with your hands:

x

You can't say that this has nothing to do with Death Stranding. The string, the stick and the hand. Even here I'm thinking "my madness makes sense because it makes sense with the universe, but how far is Kojima going to take this?" - 2025 is a long way off. T_T

I could say that the idea is about manipulation, but it's not just manipulation.

It's about empty husks yearning for something and being manipulated by someone in order to tell a rehearsed lie to fool those watching.

And all because the red lines remind me of theater curtains too. We need to sit down and stop being crazy about this game!!! (self-criticism).

Another thing I noticed. Fatih Akin's character has a stop-motion effect, as Kojima told us, which is basically dolls moved by hand if you look at any creation of this kind, people basically use their hands to position them throughout the process, but it's not just this that I want to point out, it's the effect that these behind-the-camera videos give us: the sensation of time distortion. And with this sensation of distorted time we get the idea that the puppet is moving too slowly while the person manipulating it is moving too quickly, temporal distortion or the feeling that each one belongs to a different space-time.

So I take this and combine it with Death Stranding, where we have the idea of a multiverse and spiritual and carnal dimensions, what I get is the feeling that what controls Fatih Akin's puppet is not only somewhere else, but that this place could be another dimension, and another dimension with different temporal issues from the one the puppet is in. So would that dimension be the Beach? Maybe yes, maybe no. We don't know these soulless husks, we don't know where they came from and what moves them, so we couldn't assume they're BTs controlling receptacles (although I'll stick to that theory to the end).

If the theory is that Higgs is trapped on the Beach and this new body on earth is being controlled by his Beach Self, then wouldn't it make sense to say that the same happens to Fatih Akin's character because only he is moving in a distorted way and Higgs isn't?

And now to finish, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in DS2 our dear Higgs appears singing Master of Puppets.

Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams Blinded by me, you can't see a thing Just call my name 'cause I'll hear you scream

[celestialhouses]

Masterpost of my Locked Tomb Thoughts/Theories

This is mainly for me to keep track of general things I've thought of in one place, but it is also somewhere I'm going to dump a lot of my thoughts inspired by this master doc by @transbutchblues . I highly recommend you go and read it as its simply amazing, and I also don't want to take credit for where my train of thought has come from!

I can be very forgetful so this will be very useful for me to keep track of things. I will be updating this regularly as I have ideas, but in no book-chronological order (I will sort that another time).

Everything will be under the cut, general spoiler warning for across The Locked Tomb series.

•In NtN, "A-" is referred to as a "glycerol-6 genius". I know that glycerol is used as a cryoprotective agent for when red blood cells are frozen - it stops ice crystals from sticking to them. This would have been incredibly useful when John started freezing the bodies back on Earth.

•We know Mercymorn worked with Blood of Eden, with the codename "Source Joyeuse". I googled this and its ties to Charlemagne's sword (credit to the master doc). Apparently within the pommel of this sword is part of the "Holy Lance", the lance that pierced Jesus' side when he was on the cross. This makes me wonder if something like the fence post Gideon died on may be used at some point, or something akin to that? Many artefacts of this Holy Lance exist, and it seems one of these helped in a siege called The Siege of Antioch. Where do we know that name? Antioch is the planet where all of the devils are located, as mentioned in Nona the Ninth. Also, there's a little easter egg later in the article, referencing something called the "Tower of Two Sisters". This doesn't seem to lead anywhere in the article, but it definitely reminded me of our Tower Princes.

[cozy-and-gentle]

A Miguel / Peter B. Parker Sickfic

This is actually a re-upload from my blog that got deleted. Someone prompted me to do it, and I really wish I remember who did so I could tag you again. If you find this post, please let me know. I'd love to reconnect. The fanfic is down below. (I made a longer version. I don't know if I'll ever post it because I'm shy that way.)

A shameless little sickfic between Peter B. Parker and Miguel O'Hara because I'm a sucker for fevers and the sunshine/grumpy trope. And if you're a sucker for these things as well, enjoy!

It started a few days ago. 

Hopping dimensions wasn’t an easy job. But someone had to keep the multiverse as together as it could be. It wasn’t about living the way you wanted. It was about keeping a delicate balance. That’s what Miguel told himself, anyway. And thus far, that theory proved correct. 

Capture the anomalies. Send them wherever they were supposed to be. Correct the flow of canon. Reach stasis. Like clockwork.

For that week, he ended up in Canada for the Spider Woman of that dimension.

He’d faced all kinds of weather wherever he ended up.

But Canada was a new level of cold that he wasn’t used to. 

It was bone-chilling. And this anomaly was a Chameleon variant - a master of disguise no matter which variation.

This meant that Miguel was stuck at Earth-705 for damn near a week trying to hunt him down.

His suit was adaptable to the elements, but at times he had to go incognito to figure out his whereabouts. Meaning he felt every single bit of those negative temperatures. Even in his suit, he could feel the cold air entering his lungs.

Earth-705’s Spider-Woman - aka Spider Canada - was cheerful the entire time. She was one of the sunnier spider people. And in retrospect, he felt a little bad for being grumpier than usual toward her. But he was so damn cold the entire time that all he wanted to do was complete the mission and go back to Spider Society. The faster he did that, the better off they all would be.

All would be safe and he could finally get somewhere warm.

Being in a cold environment like that meant that everything was dry. Miguel noticed it by the second day.

Nueva York got cold, but it had humidity. Or at least enough humidity since the city sat near the ocean.

Miguel felt the absence of humidity in his throat. It was a persistent dryness that water temporarily helped. 

But he didn’t truly get used to it. He wondered how anyone could live there.

When he came back to HQ, the dryness persisted. 

It took a couple of days for his throat to dry out. Maybe it would take a couple of days to adjust. 

That’s what he told himself anyway. It’s not like he was traveling much in his dimension to test that theory. But it was the best he had.

The dry feeling in his throat was annoying. The cough that followed was just as annoying. Short, little coughs in an attempt to clear something that wasn’t there.

All things considered, a little cough was the best thing he could have walked away with considering he’d walked away with far worse in other situations.

Pavitir noticed after working alongside him one day, “You’re not smoking are you?” He teased in good humor.

Miguel scoffed, “No. It’s bad for you.”

The Spider-Man of Mumbattan nodded, and left, but soon came back with a cup, “Here. Good chai can help with anything.”

He wasn’t typically a tea person, but it smelled good. Spiced and warm. The kid meant well, and he thanked him as he took a sip.

It was delicious.

The day after, his cough turned into a productive one. Maybe there was something in his throat that he needed to clear. But hell if that wasn’t annoying.

“You smoking, Miguel?” Jess ribbed him.

“You’re the second person to ask, and no.”

“Second? Maybe you should take a break.”

“I’m fine. Throat’s just irritated.”

“Did you try a cup of tea?” 

Miguel sighed.

The cough stayed and he muffled it into the crook of his elbow. Annoying. Especially since it impacted his sleep. He tossed and turned the night before, unable to get comfortable. By the next day, he was tired. And stiff. 

He hated it. But all he had was surveillance. All things considered, it was quiet again which let Miguel breathe a temporary sigh of relief. Still, he was vigilant. Someone had to be.

And maybe it was the exhaustion but the screens seemed to blur ever so slightly. Like there was a soft haze around them.

Miguel closed his eyes tight, pressing his hand over his eyes in an attempt to get them to focus.

Get it together, O’Hara. 

His eyes would focus on the orange glow before they blurred again. He couldn’t remember the last time when he was this tired. Maybe grad school?

He stared at the different sectors of Spider Society. Spider People coming and going. Laughing. Talking. There was nothing so damning that pulled his attention.

So he closed his eyes with a heavy sigh to rest them.

Peter B. Parker had a ritual going on with Miguel O’Hara. He was one of the few that was able to besides Jess. He’d come in to check on him with breakfast in hand. Today was a couple of egg sandwiches on a croissant and two cups of tea. Jess mentioned he seemed to have an irritated throat, so he switched it up.

Peter pushed his office door open with his hip to find Miguel sitting in front of the screens. He usually would in the early hours. Not all the time. But sometimes.

“Hey Miguel,” he said cheerfully.

The other man didn’t move and this made Peter stop. Miguel didn’t respond for two reasons. Either he was engulfed in something, or angry. So he decided for a lighter approach as he walked up, “Hope you like egg sandwiches. Wasn’t sure if you’d like bacon or sausage so whichever one you want, I’ll take the other.”

He slowly put the bag beside him along with the cup, only to find that Miguel had his eyes closed.

His brow slowly raised and a small smile came to his face. Miguel was sleeping. This was rare. 

Peter put a hand on his shoulder, “Miguel, hey. Buddy, I brought breakfast.”

Miguel opened his eyes with a sharp intake of air which made him start coughing. He quickly covered it with his elbow.

“Ah, that’s what the tea’s for,” Peter mused as he slid it over in his direction, “Here. It has honey already. This should help.”

Miguel stared at the cup, then Peter with… it wasn’t quite a glare. It was somewhere between annoyance and a pout as he wrapped his hands around the cup with a sigh that sounded pleased.

Peter raised a brow, “How was Earth-705?”

Miguel took a sip of tea, then squinted his eyes as a sneer curled on his lips, “Freezing.”

His voice sounded like it was struggling to claw its way out of his throat.

Peter winced at the sound of it, “That’s rough,” he said as he sat beside the other man, pulling out the sandwiches, “This one’s bacon, this one’s sausage,” he slid them over, “You didn’t get sick, did you?”

Miguel shook his head quickly, “Spider Man doesn’t get sick.”

Peter let out a short, sardonic laugh, “Spider Man doesn’t get sick often,” he corrected, “I got sick way more before I got my powers. It doesn’t happen a lot anymore but when it does, strap in.”

Miguel took the bacon sandwich and unwrapped it, staring at it before taking a bite.

“Trust me,” Peter said, “I got the flu about 5 years ago, I think?” He unwrapped the sausage sandwich and took a bite, talking around it, “Glad it was me and not MJ. People were out of commission for a couple of months sometimes,” he swallowed it and took a sip of his tea, “Thanks to the healing factor, I was out for two weeks. Still a while, but not months. Everyone seems to forget that the flu can kill people, you know?”

Miguel nodded as he chewed slowly, “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but if you need some time off you know one of us will fill in.”

Miguel grumbled and dismissively waved his hand. 

There was a moment of silence before he murmured, “Thanks for breakfast.”

“Always, Miggy,” Peter said as he gave his shoulder a friendly pat.

It was a tame day, but by the end of it, he felt like he was struggling. He was so tired. His head was starting to throb, and he was cold. It was a small chill at first. He had Lyla turn up the temperature a degree. It helped for an hour until it didn’t. And he knew it wasn’t freezing in the room. It just felt that way.

He tightened his muscles to hold those shivers at bay if anyone entered. But by the end of the day, he was too exhausted to do even that.

But no one dared enter his office.

The only person was Peter, who peeked his head in the door, “Hey, just wanted to see if you wanted to grab dinner.” 

“I’m not hungry.”

Peter slowly made his way in, “Not hungry? C’mon, it’s been hours since lunch. Something’s gotta sound good.”

Miguel shook his head, “I’ll get something later.” He really wished Peter would leave. But he was insistent as he closed the gap between them. He leaned on his desk as he began listing off, “Ah, c’mon. At least take something with you. You don’t want anything? Mexican? Japanese? Indian? Chinese?” He glanced over at Miguel then looked surprised, “Are you shivering?”

“I’m cold,” he grumbled.

“It’s not cold in here. Kinda warmer than usual, actually.”

Miguel was ready to shoo him away when an anomaly alert lit up his screens.

Both men looked over when Lyla popped up and said, “Crossover anomaly on Earth 2851. Shocker from Earth 926.”

Normally, Miguel was a workaholic, but he was hoping that it was the end of the day. He pushed himself up, rubbing at his sore neck muscles, “Alright,” his voice crackled, as his mask appeared on his face.

Peter quickly began to shrug off his robe and sweatpants, “Are you sure you’re up for this, Miguel? I can grab someone else–”

“I’ll be fine,” He said quickly as he typed in his destination on his watch. A portal soon opened in front of them.

“Okay…” Peter hesitated as he pulled on his mask, “Lead the way, boss.”

Out of all the villains and anomalies he faced with Miguel, this one wasn’t the most difficult. But it was a trying mission all the same. They may have been able to apprehend the Shocker anomaly sooner if it wasn’t for the rain. 

Not only did it mess with their visibility, but it amplified the Shocker’s abilities. What could have taken them fifteen minutes tops stretched into an hour and a half. 

The Spider Woman of that dimension helped immensely and they were able to send the shocker back to his dimension. 

Neither of them had injuries, but Miguel had been shocked a few times which led to his suit glitching. And both men were soaking wet.

As soon as they landed in HQ, Peter pulled off his mask with a gasp, “I swear this thing was about to waterboard me.”

Miguel didn’t say anything as he trudged back toward his office.

Peter was quick to follow him. He needed to get his robe and sweatpants which would come in handy since his suit was soaked. And if Miguel wasn’t hungry before, he had to be hungry now. A perfect time for dinner.

“Good job by the way. I know your suit got jacked up, but you didn’t get hurt, did you?” 

Miguel continued to trudge forward.

“Okay, we’ll give you a once-over behind closed doors. But if you’re still standing, that’s a good sign! Now, what do you want for dinner?” Peter attempted to wring out part of his suit, letting the excess water drip to the ground, “Ugh, I’m kind of cold. What do you think about soup?”

As soon as they crossed the threshold of the office, the doors closed behind them and Miguel made his way toward his computer. 

Peter quickly worked to pull off his suit, grabbing his robe and sweatpants, wrapping himself in them, “Whew, that’s better. You have a change of clothes here, right?”

Miguel didn’t answer as he stared at the screens.

Peter raised a brow as he came to the other man’s side, “Hey… are you okay? You’re starting to worry me.”

Miguel’s mask dissolved and he glanced over, “I’m fine,” in a barely-there voice.

Peter’s eyes widened at his appearance. He looked exhausted and his brown skin had an ashen cast to it. Before Peter could point any of this out, Miguel’s eyes rolled back and his body pitched forward. 

–

Miguel’s eyes slowly fluttered open, Peter’s face coming into focus. The other man was pressing a cool cloth to his cheek. 

Peter let out a huge breath, “There you are…”

Miguel’s brow creased in confusion. The last thing he remembered was going back to his computer after the mission. Then, somehow he ended up in his own bed.

He was dry, tucked in, and warm. 

He was finally warm.

He tried to push himself up, but Peter held a firm hand to his chest, “Easy, Miguel, you need to rest.”

Miguel went to ask what the hell happened, but his throat was so raw that he ended up coughing instead.

Peter sighed as he rubbed at his chest with a soft circular motion until he stopped. Miguel tried to say something again, but could only wince and clear his throat.

Peter pressed the cloth to his other cheek. And as if he could read his mind, he quietly said, “You collapsed, right after our mission, burning with fever. I had to get Spider Doctor and he said you have pneumonia,” He folded the cloth and lay it against his forehead, “You should have sat out! You didn’t have to wait until you got this bad!”

Miguel sighed and glanced aside.

Peter sighed as well, “I know you’re laser-focused on saving everyone, but you can’t help anyone like this,” he pressed his hand to his cheek, “You’re still burning up.”

Miguel turned his eyes towards Peter with narrowed brows.

“Don’t give me that look,” Peter said, “Do you know how scary it was to see you faint like that?! I’m the one who should be glaring at you!”

Miguel stubbornly looked away and Peter crossed his arms. 

They sat in silence for a long time. 

Not that Miguel had much of a choice on that one.

Then he could feel the chills creeping up on him again, and he shivered as they sapped away that blessed heat that he didn’t have nearly enough time to enjoy.

Peter looked at him with a worried expression, “You’re cold again?”

Peter was surprised to see a look on Miguel’s face that could only be described as a miserable pout. 

“Here. Scoot over,” he murmured as he shrugged off his robe.

Miguel looked at him suspiciously. Peter moved him over as he scooted into bed behind him, holding him close, and resting his chin on his shoulder, “I can’t give you any more blankets, but I hope this helps. And when you’re ready for it, I got you some soup. And more tea.”

Miguel wanted to point out he had more tea that week than he’d ever had in his life. But it didn’t matter. Not when Peter was so warm against him. He turned and snuggled against the other man’s chest with a soft sigh, marveling at the feeling of his fingers carding through his hair.

Maybe he would have admitted his weakness sooner if he knew this was waiting for him.

Maybe.

But he would never tell Peter that. Instead, Miguel would soak up that moment while he had it, letting Peter’s scent, and warmth, and touch envelope him. 

Before more missions and more chaos. Before Peter had to go back to his own family.

For the moment, the other man was his.

And he swore it was a little less cold with him there.

[kyberrebel]

Things that went through my mind during The Acolyte episode 7

I’m already happy that the final is more than half an hour.

Osha being inside the Darth Teeth helmet is going to give me a panic attack just watching her.

Considering Sol never took Pip away from Mae, he was kind of just asking for her to escape, honestly.

I hope somewhere starts selling plushies of Bazil! I’d pay so much money for one.

There’s been so much foreshadowing to Anakin’s eventual fall to the dark side in this show. This senator’s talk about a Jedi snapping one day is just one of many. I get why they want to foreshadow it, but it being so on the nose is getting old really quickly.

WAIT Who was that in that cave??? There’s no way that’s Darth Plagueis, right? It kind of looks like him.

If Qimir ends up killing Sol I am going to be so mad. 

But also if Sol ends up killing Qimir I am going to be so mad.

I’m honestly surprised more people don’t use lightsabers as boomerangs in Star Wars. 

Man, whoever edited this episode really loved slow-motion shots.

Osha and Mae fighting hand to hand is so cool. Especially with the way they mirror each other’s moves at times.

I feel bad for Qimir while Sol and Mae are talking. This poor dude’s just awkwardly standing there, bummed that Mae isn’t finally Sol.

NO! I I love Sol’s and Osha’s relationship. I’m sad that it’s getting ruined!

Right now I’m guessing that Mae represents the light side and Osha represents the dark, instead of the other way around. That’s why Mae failed at being Qimir’s apprentice, and Osha failed at being a Jedi. It also makes sense because of their current outfit choices, with Mae wearing white and Osha wearing black.

^I wrote that seconds before Osha started Force choking Sol. Damn, I’m good.

SHE’S BLEEDING THE KYBER CRYSTAL!?!? THAT IS SO COOL!

BUT AT THE SAME TIME I REALLY DON’T WANT SOL TO DIE!

NO

NO! 

Sol giving her permission to kill him is literally so sad. All my favorite characters on this show keep dying, though!

Okay, if Qimir or Bazil die, I have no more favorite characters on this show. So they better live.

The lightsaber blade turning red is so perfect. 

Oh yay, more disposable background Jedi to kill.

I guess Vernestra was Qimir’s Jedi master. Interesting.

I like Osha and Mae finally working together!

With Mae’s memory wiped, this show is going to end where they were as kids post-incident, except in reverse. With Mae with the Jedi and Osha with Qimir.

Osha crying has me crying now.

I knew Vernestra was going to be the one who ended up concealing that fact that there are Sith out there!

Does it stink that Osha is now training with a Sith? In theory, yes. But at the same time, I love the dynamic she has with Qimir. So I’m cool with it.

YODA!!!!!!!!!!

I think this was a good ending for season one, AS LONG AS WE GET A SEASON TWO.

I’ll post my final thoughts on the show as a whole soon!

[masquayla-the-splendid]

Here's a fnaf headcanon I've had since forever that I think might actually be canon.

Ennard is his own character, separate from being an amalgam.

This claim brings me back to pre SL, post SL teaser era where people thought Ennard was actually this puppet master character who was only a head that moved like a spider with a few skrangly wires.

I've seen many fan interpretations on what animatronic his mask was supposed to be for, but do you ever wonder why it fits his face perfectly?

Yes, I do believe that the rest of his body was just a big metal knitting session between the Funtimes. There are some parts that are obvious from what came from who.

But his face? They couldn't have put that much detail into making his head look so unique that it doesn't line up with any of theirs.

To compare, I brought up Ballora and Funtime Foxy, as I thought they had the most resemblance.

I used a more polished version of the Help Wanted model in SFM for Ennard.

Not only that, but when making these renders, I just now realized that his right eye is shoved way further back, and has a pretty bad overbite.

(It's also really obvious how Scott models here. His head is completely made of clipping errors.)

Speaking of his eyes, he has 3 eyes of the same color. Usually it's assumed that his left eye is Funtime Freddy's, but the half closed eye, and the eye dangling below that are the same color as the left one. Ennard has one eye of each of the Funtimes, so that means Funtime Freddy's is the one that's off to the side.

Yes, there can be multiple animatronics with the same eye color.

The eye on his torso is commonly mistaken to be Ballora's, but as you can see, her eyes are tiny. Who else has pink eyes? BonBon. Who doesn't have eyes in the scooping room? BonBon.

Then where are Ballora's eyes? Somewhere in the mass of wire that you can't see. He's saving them for when he gets his skin, because they're same size as human eyes.

Okay so if that was his own head, what level of consciousness or awareness does he have?

This is where the headcanons come in.

It's unknown how he "thinks," but one can only assume he works as a hive mind.

My personal headcanon is that he has his own conscious, and was probably just chillin where Funtime Chica would've been if she wasn't rented out. Either that or the Private Room. He'd be the one that controls the body, and the rest of them are just spectating. Maybe having more of a say on what limbs move that belong to them.

The SL robots seem to have their own conscious, since Baby tells her story in her perspective, but at what stage of programming awareness comes in, I have no clue. I'd guess it would have to be at the head?? Depends on where the main computer is?

(On a side note, they must have a lot of know-how on robo physiology, because they were able to wire up their individual abilities, like the voice mimicking, to a separate body without flaw. I mean it ain't like the Funko toys that snap on, they had to like actually tie things together. How did they do that without soldering anything? Were the Funtimes programmed to be able to fix themselves, or did they have the bidybabs/minireenas snoop through all the drawers to find the blueprints for each of them?)

Then what does the "there's a little of me in every body" mean?

Could be teasing the real ending, but "every" implies multiple. Maybe there's was more done to him than just a head, and had to get dismantled for the Funtimes. I've seen that theory tossed around a few times.

HEY HEY THE BOOKS.

I can't remember which book it was, one of the Fazbear Frights I'm sure, but it described a Clown-like animatronic that has a green/yellow color scheme. He wasn't a whole robot though, he was attached to a separate attraction, and had spring for a body from the chest down. I think he had hair. I'm pretty sure it's name was like Coils or something. I thought it was Coily at first, but that's the snake from Qbert.

Edit: In Ultimate Custom Night, Scott only uses "he" when referring to Ennard. There is a completely valid reason for the use of "they" or all pronouns, considering he is literally multiple robots. Now if you're a new age Scott hater, you may chalk it up to generalizing him as whatever phobic, but this is the same guy who uses "he" AND "she" for Mangle. (Not to mention designs "boy" animatronics with blush/lisstick in 2015) Why would "He" be the only pronoun? Because it's his head. Wherever his main computer is, it's somewhere up there. This would mean that all unpossesed animatronics have their "conscious" wired to a motherboard somewhere in they noggin. They're just a piece of plastic with transistors and diodes melted to it at their core.

So you can't just attach Chica's arm to Bonnie, and have Chica control everything he does. You'd have to swap their heads. But when you got remnant infused metal, it's a bit different. Hence, Ballora would have a say in moving the arms, because they're hers.

Anyway that's my rare fnaf rambling.

[9w1ft]

I haven't seen anyone say this and I don't know if I am the first to say this, but I feel like the great war is actually about the heartbreaks and difficulties Tay and KK had to go through within the 4 years presidential term of Trump, and its written in chronological order. Also the most important part of this song is Kaylor survived the great war, they are still together after these 4 years.

First of all, the length of the great war aka ww1 is 4 years, which matched with the length of time when Trump is the president. And also it would not be the first time Tay wrote about 2016 election. In Call it what you want, we got All the jokers dressin' up as kings, which could been seen as a dig towards Trump. InMiss Americana and Heartbreak Prince, we got Running through rose thorns, I saw the scoreboard And ran for my life / My team is losing, battered and bruising I see the high fives between the bad guys. Scoreboard could been seen as the result of election, and bad guys definitely including Trump.

Then there are some lyrics matched perfectly with some events in those 4 years.

My knuckles were bruised like violets

Sucker punching walls, cursed you as I sleep-talked

here is Taylor cursing as Trump won the election

Spineless in my tomb of silence

Tore your banners down, took the battle underground

but she couldn't speak up about politics back then, which according to Miss Americana this totally made her sad. And she had to took the relationship with KK underground(love black out theory), because KK is linked with the Kushner which is linked with Trump. If their relationship got found out by general public, there would be some huge impact on the Kushner and the American politics.

All that bloodshed, crimson clover

Uh-huh, sweet dream was over

the 2014-2016 very high profile and sweet kaylor bff era was over, they had to go through the war

You drew up some good faith treaties

I drew curtains closed, drank my poison all alone

KK made a deal with joshua and had a lavender marriage, while Tay could only use Joe as a beard & disguise and suffered from the pain of watching the one you love married to another person (cue cruel summer)

And maybe it's the past that's talkin'

Screamin' from the crypt

Tellin' me to punish you for things you never did

So I justified it

this is so similar to the situation described in afterglow that they could be talking about the same thing:

i put you in jail for something you didn't do

and I know you have a very interesting theory that afterglow could be about Tay apologize to Karlie for her reaction to the suprise october wedding stunt in new york, which just fit in the timeline here perfectly.

It turned into something bigger

Somewhere in the haze, got a sense I'd been betrayed

this part is about master heist and the rumor that KK was feeding Scooter with Tay's secrects

Your finger on my hair pin triggers

Soldier down on that icy ground

Tay almost came out in the Lover era and KK was kinda a part of it, also after master heist KK still fought for Tay

Looked up at me with honor and truth

Broken and blue, so I called off the troops

Tay realized that KK never actually betrayed her and was hurt by her accusation, so she stopped asking her friend to like posts about KK's alleged betrayal

That was the night I nearly lost you

I really thought I lost you

Kaylor probablly broke up because of these things, but NEARLY and THOUGHT indicates that they got back together

And we will never go back

To that bloodshed, crimson clover

Uh-huh, the worst was over

I vowed I would always be yours

'Cause we survived the Great War

As Trump ended his presidency term at 2021.1.20, the Kaylor great war officially ended, and they have passed their worst time, they survived.

Also the other filler lyrics just totally matched with the theme, and now I think it is yet another evidence that Kaylor are still together to this day.

two quick sidenotes to clarify my perspective: i don’t think taylor ever really lost karlie (hence the words “nearly” and “thought” i lost you), and about my old afterglow post, i could have worded it better because often people have read it and don’t understand that i firmly believe that taylor and karlie both agreed to the wedding thing and knew about it in advance. i just saw it as a moment where the haze might have been thicker than usual.

okay so with that, i wanted to say that i very much agree with what you are laying out here! this is close to how i see things. i wanted to add links to some stuff i’ve written that i feel is related… here’s a post where i tried to bring together a bunch of similar lyrics that includes the effects of the 2016 election and here is a more lighthearted post i made in regards to me thinking maroon is about election night with a fun little ylm tie in at the end

i also think it’s worth pointing out that evermore (the song) was described by taylor herself as being written around her feelings regarding the election. i know that many see it as being about the failed lover era coming out and i totally get that and that was my first impression as well, but i do think it’s interesting that in the context of kaylor, the election interpretation as backed by taylor makes a ton of sense. also when you think about when evermore was written and released, right as / right around the time that biden won the 2020 election in november, we can see the “feeling so peculiar that this pain wouldn’t be for evermore” as reflective of them worrying that perhaps they might be in for 4 more years of trump, and the relief that came with the election result. **which is so specifically important to their story** and evermore will never not make me cry. i get so emotional 😭

anyway in conclusion, the great war is definitely, for me and for you, covering the trump administration years. i also think it’s worth pointing out what we have seen since. they may have still kept to themselves since biden took office but, might we all agree there has been a form of happiness, when you think about the ways their relationship has grown since? this is how i see things.

[blobghost]

Blobby's Master List

You can find all my writing under the tag #blobby wrote something or you can look below! Click fic title to take you to its post! (In order of oldest to newest)

Ectober 2021 Masterlist (DP)

ectober ficlets

Exhausted Teen to Eternal King (DP)

Essentially exiled from Amity after a reveal gone wrong, Danny is on his way to becoming High King of the Infinite Realms. With a quick stop by the Core, who tells him about being an Ancient and something concerning about how the portal works, Danny ‘survives’ his final trial and coronation with only like ten different new things to worry about! Now, he just has to face his parents, stop the permanent portal that killed him, and repair a giant hole in reality. So like just another Tuesday for him. Written for Invisobang '23.

Anaktáomai: regain for oneself, recover (DPxDC)

Jason is trying to live his second chance at life to the fullest: protecting Gotham's streets as the Red Hood, going to college to get a degree, participating in Gotham's Renaissance Faire, getting a boyfriend, all of it. Sure, he's been daydreaming a lot more and it might be becoming a major problem and his boyfriend is apparently a meta who saved his kid brother after a mission gone wrong, but as far as he was concerned those were nothing to worry about. What he does need to worry about is homework and rogues attempting to kill him… right?

Take the L (DP)

Dash wants nothing more than to be a hero. When he gets a chance to be Phantom's hero for once, he takes it. Things get complicated when Dash finds out that his dad is Operative L of the GiW and demands that Dash hand over Phantom. Can Dash make things right or is everything doomed to go wrong?

Blobs of Love (DP)

Danny has been protecting Amity Park alone for what feels like years. After a long day of sleep deprivation and various rogues pushing him to his limit, he finally starts breaking down when he can't fully switch from Phantom to Fenton. Unfortunately, certain blobs who love him can't stand to see him break so bring in some help. Written for Ecto-Implosion '23.

Battle for the Ancient Realms (DP)

After having to go to the Far Frozen to check why his ghost sense is acting up, Danny finds himself the primary target during a fight with Dan and Pariah Dark. Things get more complicated when the Ancient Seals of the Barren Realms become involved. Now, Danny has to learn about the Ancients and the new powers these Seals provide the wearer before once again fighting the two hardest foes he's ever faced. Written for Ecto-Implosion '23.

Danny Doesn't Want To Go... (DP)

Five times someone drags Danny somewhere he didn't want to go and one time he drags them somewhere. Written for Phandom Truce '23.

Holding Each Other Back (DPxDC)

When the GIW appear in Gotham, Jason finds himself needing to find out what they are up to. Unfortunately, they find him first and use him as the nice sacrifice for their Ghost King summoning. Will Jason be able to fight his way out of this mess with his secrets (and life) in tact? Written for Ecto-Implosion '23.

I Know What You Are. You're (Not) a Goon. (DPxDC)

Jason can't figure out why his boyfriend keeps missing or being late to dates. He thinks that Danny is a goon, but it's only a theory. He might get his answers from the newest Justice League member Phantom, though. Written for Valentine's Core Exchange '24.

[jynxeddraca]

Thoughts on Where Astarion is From

Going to be a long post. Because there are definitely spoilers for the game in general and probably for Astarion's quest, I'm putting this under a read more.

I've seen in several places now that Astarion is commonly headcanon'd to not be from Baldur's Gate originally. Personally, I really think this makes sense since he's an elf, his parents in theory would still be alive, and - if you stick to the idea he originally was noble/patriar born - he would be recognizable to a lot of people even after being turned. Not only in the city in general but I imagine he helped 'entertain' at Cazador's palace since Cazador did host parties.

An aside, I think this holds true for all of Cazador's 'house' spawn. I know Dalyria formerly was the Physician General to the Parliament of Baldur's Gate but I have a feeling she - like Astarion - probably wasn't in that position terribly long before getting turned so may not have been around long enough for people to really recall her face.

But back to my actual thought: The common thing I see when people headcanon about Astarion's origins before he lived in Baldur's Gate is that he is from Waterdeep, or the surrounding area, because the area used to be home to most of the elves in Faerûn. Just as a note for anyone unfamiliar with where cities are: Waterdeep is 750 miles North of Baldur's Gate, Elturel is officially 200 miles East of Baldur's Gate.

I have an alternate theory: Astarion is from somewhere East of Baldur's Gate. Possibly along the Chionthar.

Why?

Because sometime before the story, at least 100 years ago - and honestly, I think it'd be before he was turned so 200+ years ago - he was in Reithwin Town (the town in Act 2) - and got banned from The Waning Moon.

And this isn't just me making an assumption or coming up with a headcanon. Now, I was too lazy to go find the in-game screenshot that I took and it's on my gaming computer, so this is from the BG3 Wiki - Here's the text when you read the BAN LIST at The Waning Moon:

The text (bold emphasis mine) reads as:

BARRED FROM ENTRY The following EX-customers are UNWELCOME. Do not let them in, even should they beg. ESPECIALLY should they beg. Martin Doughty - human? - chug-and-run Adam Smythe - lascivious behaviour, also known as 'The Pickle Incident' Gerringothe Thorm - SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE DID Kavin Ort - tall dwarf - exceedingly boring Syrah Bee - short half-elf - vomited on the waiter (purposefully) Unknown elf - pale skin, snide mouth - referring to master distiller as 'the porcine publican' Rochelle Kwark - halfling - groin-punching Yon Von Don (suspected alias) - grotesquely tall human - underpants on head

End screenshot text.

And a second screenshot where the wiki states that the pale elf is Astarion with a link to the source of Kevin VanOrd's twitter. Granted, I do not have an account on twitter so I can't see any posts on twitter and can't confirm the tweet, but I'll post the plain text (no hyperlink) links down below because Tumblr is picky about stuff.

Screenshot Text:

The names on BAN LIST are the writers of Baldur's Gate 3 poking fun at themselves, as confirmed by writer Kevin VanOrd[1]:

'Martin Doughty' (Martin Docherty)

'Adam Smythe' (Adam Smith)

'Kavin Ort' (Kevin VanOrd)

'Syrah Bee' (Sarah Baylus)

'Unknown elf' - Astarion[2]

'Rochelle Kwark' (Rachel Quirke)

'Yon Von Don' (Jan Van Dosselaer)

[1] VanOrd, Kevin. 2023. "As the book's writer I can confirm it was a juicy act indeed. All the names (aside from Gerringothe's, of course) are based on Larian writers. I can literally tag myself as Kavin Ort, the boring dwarf!" [@fiddlecub, Twitter]. 14 Oct 2023. Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20240329212133/https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/1713103283026383083

[2] VanOrd, Kevin. 2023. "And yes the unknown elf is who you think it is." [@fiddlecub, Twitter]. 14 Oct 2023. Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20231017062203/https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/1713103448516812817

End of screenshot text.

Supporting screenshots out of the way, here are my assumptions so far:

He probably did not have lots of time to dedicate for traveling pre-vampirism days just because law school then actually being a magistrate (yes, I am assuming that law school is a thing in Faerûn).

If he was a noble pre-magistrate days, Reithwin wouldn't be a normal destination choice since nothing in the game makes me think it really was anything more than a normal town that just happened to have fallen to horrific events.

Related to first two bullets: my personal thought is that he was probably sub-30 when this ban at The Waning Moon happened.

Cazador didn't/doesn't travel much himself (Astarion calls him 'reclusive' at some point).

I really doubt Cazador lets any of his spawn travel on their own.

What makes most sense to me personally is that he was traveling from home - wherever that is - to Baldur's Gate. Unfortunately the 5e map of Faerûn only list 4 cities along the Chionthar: Baldur's Gate, Fort Morninglord, Elturel, and Scornubel. It shows none of the towns/settlements shown in Act 1 or Act 2 in BG3. Just for reference:

Which probably is just so there is some vagueness for D&D players to add in their own towns since D&D is a giant sandbox. So that's kind of what I'm doing here. Somewhere between Reithwin and The Reaching Woods is a town that Astarion once called home.