#i just still wonder how they may go about DoC after the end. i think depending on how much of the concepts in DoC are included in parts 2

[lecliss]

Intermission complete fifnkfnffkn sweet babey boy Nero and poor poor Sonon 😭😭😭😭😭 and thats sadly a wrap on the remake, but I still have crisis core I have to go back to and finish. I also wanna play dirge of cerberus again even more now. With the new things from remake so far, it makes me suuuuper interested in seeing a remake DoC version of Yuffie and Nero's interactions cuz now she already knows who he is and obviously has a vendetta against him. She wouldnt be so goofy in front of him like in the original. Oh my god, just thinking about potential remake DoC is freaking me the fuck out aaaaaaaaa. But anyway the most important thing here is now I am finally free to watch the old streams and lets plays that Ive been wanting to watch since 2019!!! I can finally enjoy other peoples misery!!!! Yaaaayy 🎉🎉🎉

[psyphigirl]

"May I See Her?"

TW: Immobility, Health Play, Hospital Setting, "Asphyxiation"

A person is admitted to the most advanced bariatric health center, where they must be subjected to constant and intense mechanical medical care

(I'm not sure the tw list is entirely exhaustive as I don't know how to define some of the things I wrote about. Please feel free to give any suggestions you feel I need to include!)

The doctor looked at me as though I had two heads, he just didn't understand the question.

"I- I don't know. There ... there isn't a lot left to see. You didn't really ... leave us with a lot ..."

I had weird mixed feelings about how he said that. Shame, guilt, fear ... pride, wonder, lust. What could they possibly have done to her?

"You can come in about 11.00 on Thursday morning, if you really do want to see her", he said flatly

"Thank you, Doctor. I'll be in then."

I hang up and sit back on my bed. I should really be getting to bed soon but I can't bear the thought of going to sleep just yet, so I go in to her old room. Just to remember her.

The room looks so much smaller without her in it. For the first time in years I can actually stand anywhere I want without fear of standing on her flesh or on a cable or tube she needs to function. The room's been stripped almost bare from the kit I used to tend to her. The oxygen pump is gone, the feeding tube has been retired, even the fridges have been wheeled away. I can see an almost perfect outline of her rear on the wall behind her, painted with sweat into the wallpaper. Her mattress is still here, it's been crushed to about a quarter of it's normal height after years of propping up a mass measured in metric tons.

I'm almost glad to see her in a proper care center: All this tech is ancient. Held together with tape and staples. It's a wonder it failed as infrequently as it did...

That's enough remembering for tonight

...

Beep beep beep

That's the alarm. Seven o'clock. Get up, get dressed, go to the kitchen. What's in the fridge? Not a lot. A dozen eggs and half a loaf of toast should be fine. I can fit two slices per slot in the four slot toaster and have them done in two minutes. I can fit three eggs in a pan per two pans. It takes five minutes to cook them and have them done in ten minutes. Hopefully I can have this done before she wakes up-

Oh.

I turn the stovetop off and unplug the toaster. For the first time in years I don't have to center my daily schedule around caring for my helpless other half. It takes about an hour to get to the hospital. So I have three hours to kill ... somehow

...

"Oh, it's you. It- She's right this way"

The doctor lead me down a corridor, with a sign above it reading "ICU". Is it that bad? It must be. I was lead all the way down to the end of the corridor. The very last door in the ICU of the most advanced bariatric care center the fattest country in the world has to offer. I really did a number on her.

"Now. I should warn you. She's very ... fragile. You just need to be careful. Do you understand?"

"Yes, doctor, I think so"

His mouth jerks to the side and he turns away from me. I could have sworn I heard him say "I'm sure"

He opens the door and I see her.

She's nothing more than a mound of flesh, decorated by a spidersweb of wires and tubes, moniters and dials.

"Jeez, doc. Is this all really necessary?"

He looks at me with a subtle and frightening rage, "Yes. If even one of these machines failed, or one of these cables disconnected," he looks almost disappointed, "She wouldn't last long."

I don't respond. All I can do is gawk at her.

"This one here, for example", He gestures to a machine containing a series of combustion pistons, "That's her heart. There's no way her actual heart can pump blood around the rest of her body without assistance."

He points to another one, a pair of pumps under a turbine, "Those are her lungs."

And another, "That's her liver. There's no machine in here that isn't essential to her continued survival. Her body just doesn't work anymore. Technically ... she ... isn't that person in the center of this room anymore. She's ..." He struggles to find his words for a minute, "She's pretty much the room itself"

I take a minute to comprehend what that means. I'm inside her. Staring at her bare soul

"Doctor," I inquire, "Could I be left alone with her for a little while?"

He looks right through me and approaches, "Her diet is automated. Don't think you can do any more damage"

He leaves heavyfooted and disgusted at what I did to her. I almost don't blame him

"Hi dear. Can you hear? It's me."

I wait. I get no response.

"I know you may resent, or even fear me. But you're safe now, love. I can do you no harm. Now that I say it out loud I'm even sure that's entirely true. If that's your lungs, then that tube must be intake. So which tube feeds you the oxygen? This one here? Next to my boot?"

Her heart beats visibly faster.

"That's a yes. What happens if I ..."

I lightly squish the thick clear plastic tube with my heel. The rhythm of the machinery is changed, tarnished even.

Her heart beats visibly faster again.

"I like that response. See it could be fear, couldn't it ..."

I press a little deeper

"Your mouth feels dry. Your temples feel tight. Your lungs, your real ones I mean, are burning. It hurts and you're afraid."

I press a little deeper

"Or maybe. Just maybe ..."

I connect my heel all the way to the floor

"It's lust?"

[cure-typhoon]

please please please talk more about the beta troll’s friendship 🙏

You have summoned me in my favorite subject: 🎉🎉🎉🎉 FRIENDSHIP!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 Take a sit because this is going to be long, so long i may end up dividing into different posts!

Okey so sadly we don't have a lot of info of the full group dynamic besides some clues and what we know is them literally at their worst thinking they we're going to die in a meteor,after a full one month campaign in the game they had won yet was taken from them being chased by an undefeatable enemy that destroyed their planets and probably their lusus too. And at the end three of them going on a rampage and killing the rest of the team

So not the most reliable info of how their normal dynamic as a friendgroup would be, but tbh it could never be "healthy friendgroup" in a human sense because, well, they live in Alternia.

But even in hell, the flower of friendship can blossom, so lets talk about the fucked up friendship between these kids:

We know little about how their friendship started, contrary with the Beta Kids that we know because of June's birthday presente for Jade arriving in the past to young Jade with her pesterchum and her probably looking at the clouds in Prospit and seeing there the pesterchum of Rose and Dave following suit

Because the Beta Trolls are a much bigger group and we dont really know if they actually celebrate their wriggling days, as none of the trolls mentioned it but it could also be in part because of Karkat's disdain for the celebration or them maybe not knowing because he is a very private kid after all

Maybe Kanaya was the first troll that befriended all of them, like Jade was and both of them being the assigned Space player of their group and the first ones to wake in Prospit, but i also doubt that considered she didnt went through the birthday gift shenanigan that young Jade went through

So what most likely happened: The trolls who we're closest to eachother (Equius and Vriska, Eridan and Feferi, Aradia and Tavros, Terezi and Vriska* (not totally sure about that one) and maybe Sollux and Aradia/Feferi) befriended eachother first and meet the rest (Karkat, Nepeta, Gamzee, Kanaya) online and just shared their info between eachother.

I honestly wonder who thought of the idea of all sharing their Trollian between eachother, maybe Feferi? maybe it just happened overtime? but what matters right now is the

F R I E N D S H I P

So today we will talk about the underrated friendships between the group

Starting with Aradia and Tavros! Both members of Team Charge, i see very few people talk about them as friends even though they were obviously very close considering they we're part of a Flarp campaign together.

Both seem to match pretty well personality wise, both adventurous and wanting to have fun in the game, Aradia knows that Tavros picked a hard class for himself yet she still encourages him and tries to cheer him on and advice him in the case of Vriska trying to get under his skin.

When Vriska starts to surrond him, she tries to communicate with her first, but sadly she and terezi where distracted by Doc Scratch, so he gets paralized

Side note: After Aradia and Terezi, his third option for asking for help is Karkat, which is...interesting, they dont talk a lot but when they do its Tavros trying to get advice/help from him (2 out of 3 convos), so either Karkat and Tavros have more convos besides the ones showed (very likely) or Karkat just having a reputation of helping with issues that he is the first one who comes to Tavros's mind

also Karkat calling him bro is so fucking funny cdbhd, idk if its sarcasm or if its genuine like with Eridan but he seems worried for a little before going on a rant about how stupid this is, only to come back trying to advice him to do this in private (also he winks at him as GTavrossprite but thats smt for the Tavkat shippers)

Anyway, back to Aradia, after her death we dont know about their relationship that much, we know that the whole reason that this whole revenge cycle was because Aradia wanted to avenge Tavros

But after her death, we don't know if they talk or if Tavros even knows she is dead, as it was mostly secret that only Sollux, Vriska, Terezi and Equius seem to know,

What we know is that Aradia keeps Tavros close to her heart, as the only reason she didnt straight up kill Vriska is

Because he was there to see it

And thats all the info we have of their relationship while Aradia was a robot, is more than likely Tavros confronted Vriska (besides creating Bec Noir) because Aradiabot had just exploded and he was blaming her for that too (especulation)

Their post-death/revival shows them having the same relationship pre-aradia's death, after they find eachother in the afterlife

Theyre big pals :)

Staying with Tavros, another friendship people dont seem to talk a lot about is Kanaya and Tavros, which tbh, we dont have a conversation on screen between them, but we know they talk and Kanaya tries to mediate to help him when Vriska is bullying him

And also, even after she cut Vriska out because of the whole ''Having a crush on her but finding out she has a crush on Tavros'' (probably because she was sulking) she seems to have a fine relationship with Tavros, as she made a Tinkerbull plushie for him

To other friendships, Kanaya and Feferi! Another group of trolls with very few coversations, but we can easily tell in those that they cared for eachother

They have a lot in common, being of the few trolls who woked up in their moons before the game, having a huge responsability as their lusus can either kill or revive their entire civilization, being in a unhappy moiralliagance (with their cases kinda mirroring eachother, with Feferi not wanting to be in any quadrants while Eridan wants to change them, while Kanaya wants to change quadrants while Vriska seems to be fine with where they are) and knowing their lusus were going to die when they were 13

Feferi and Kanaya seem to have very a similar relationship as Karkat and Eridan, where they advise eachother about their moirals + possible romantic relationships. And their very contrasting personalities helps them balance eachother out

Feferi is even comfortable enough to invite Kanaya to the horn pile and knowing Kanaya's expressions enough to guess that she is nervous about coming off as meddling with them

After Feferi gets killed off, Kanaya is already ready to attack, only waiting to see what Eridan is planning to do, attack her first or trying to escape

If it weren't for Kanaya distracting herself with the matriorb, and Eridan inmediately picking on this opportunity

To piss her off enough to set her off and attack him first

So she is an easier target that he can kill her off without a fight

Speaking about this two, next time we will to talk about the complicated (annoying) friendship between these two, why next time? because this post is already getting to fucking long!

Come here for Part 2 -> Here! (when its done this will get updated with a link lol)

[cantareincminor]

Round 2: Fandom Wrapped (Writer Edition) 2024!

Thanks again to @kattyelf for the template. A blank one can be found at @twiyorbase for anyone who wants to do their own!

Detailed reflections under the cut.

This is a long, introspective post. Forgive me if I sound self-absorbed in all this reflection.

The past year has been a unique one. The last long fic I completed was more than ten years ago in the Aladdin fandom. I dabbled in shorter, more stream-of-consciousness fics after that, but hadn’t written or posted a fic since 2016. Then I got into Spy x Family in 2022, devoured tons of fics, and slowly, nervously considered writing again.

There were many reasons I stopped writing. Being busy with real life responsibilities, naturally. I got married and had kids. I had a highly stressful career. With so little time on my hands, I feared that if I tried to write after such a long hiatus, the result would be stilted and disappointing, and I would have “wasted” my precious free time feeling shittier about myself. I’ve had some version of this mindset my entire life: if I can’t do something well, then I shouldn’t bother.

I have @whateversawesome to thank for encouraging me to try my hand at writing again. After the mole hunt arc was published, an idea struck me quite suddenly—what if Yuri had died or been critically injured in Shellbury? How would Twilight deal with that guilt and how would the identity reveals unfurl in such an extreme scenario? Could Yor ever forgive him? 

For months I shied away from writing it. To do the idea justice, I knew it would have to be a long, complex fic. And I continued to have mixed feelings about my last long fic in the Aladdin fandom—regretting parts of the premise and the ship dynamics and the characterizations and just overall feeling ashamed about my writing. I didn’t want to fail—write myself into a corner and abandon the fic or something like that. Right now, on the other end, I still look back on Orpheus sometimes and wonder how the hell I managed to write it. I reread my favorite passages and wonder how I came up with those exact words.

If it may help any writers, I would be happy to share a copy of my brainstorming doc and outline of Orpheus, where I kept track of unresolved plot points, options to resolve those plot points, notes to self to go back and add foreshadowing, and calling out unexpected events in each chapter that I did not plan ahead for. It is a very long doc. But I wanted to remember everything I was thinking at the time as a gift to my future self, in case I ever attempt a big project like this again and feel paralyzed.

Orpheus allowed me to explore themes and beliefs I suppose have been marinating in my heart for years. For anyone who is still interested, below are some of my thoughts and personal experiences around the main themes.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness and redemption are always what I reach for in my serious fics. I think I fumbled it in my Aladdin fic (or didn’t really get to the redemption part), but I was able to explore it more thoroughly and with more integrity in Orpheus, with an additional decade of life experience. 

I think forgiveness is a difficult and fascinating theme to handle because it is so highly personal and often carries memories of deep hurt for ‘victims’ or shame for ‘perpetrators’. I was grateful when readers sometimes shared their personal beliefs and experiences with it in their comments. In order to treat this theme with respect, I wanted to convey that forgiveness should not come cheaply. That is not to say it’s bad to be merciful and quick to forgive—those are amazing virtues. But the act of forgiveness comes at a cost and can be incredibly painful. The cost does not simply vanish due to good feelings or an act of the will.

Someone can either withhold forgiveness and make the other person pay the cost—in Orpheus, this would have been Yor rejecting or taking revenge on Twilight and leaving him to feel horribly guilty about Yuri’s injury for the rest of his life. Or they can choose to forgive and pay the cost themselves. In my own experience it feels physically painful. It feels like extreme grief. This is what I wanted to portray, the devastation to the spirit, as well as the catharsis that can follow. Because after the cost is paid, what we gain is healing. The ability to move on and no longer feel like we’ve swallowed glass. And the mending of a relationship, if both sides are willing. In the case of Yor and Twilight, it makes their relationship even stronger, like a broken bone healing stronger than before. And it adds weight to the trials they would face together after that moment.

Forgiveness of self / Perfectionism

Of all the conflicts in the fic, “Twilight vs. himself” is the last one to be resolved. Even after the man has been forgiven by the people he loves, he still struggles not to hate himself. To find his life to hold any value outside of being a highly competent spy. I think many people go through some version of this struggle. I certainly did and still do sometimes, with regards to work and career.

I chose Orpheus as the title to illustrate the journey of someone who carries an enormous burden on their shoulders. Trying to save the person they love and having to follow a strict rule of never turning around or they will lose it all. All the while, the temptation to look back is incredibly powerful. Twilight bears the burden of WISE’s expectations as their top spy, the hero who has stopped nuclear missile launches, who will supposedly prevent the next war from breaking out. He also carries the expectations of his newfound family which call him to turn away from the ruthlessness of his mission. To look back at them, and not abandon them for the sake of world peace. And finally he carries the guilt of what happened to Yuri, and the pain of keeping all the secrets resulting from Shellbury.

In Orpheus, Twilight harbors both a very low sense of self-worth as well as a highly inflated sense of self-importance. He sees himself as a discardable tool who has done unforgivable things for his missions, with no right to love and be loved. But at the same time he sees himself as the lynchpin to maintaining the fragile geopolitical peace. Responsible for never screwing up, ever. Responsible for the fact Yuri was shot, even though he tried his best to spare him. He’s an unreliable, self-absorbed narrator, and the other characters around him also parrot his guilt back at him throughout most of the fic. Until the end, where I try to address the illusion of control and how a good portion of his guilt is unrealistic and undeserved. 

Unfortunately for many people who carry this kind of burden, no one tells us that it’s okay to turn around. That we are indeed not responsible for more than our own choices, and we certainly cannot be responsible for circumstances outside of our control. I’ve worked jobs where I’ve been asked to do the impossible. My first job out of college, the expectations were incredibly high. I got no training and was thrown into a project in a foreign language and an unfamiliar industry. I pulled so many late nights that in the second week I fainted on the way to the office. And I was told this was normal. That in order to succeed like everyone else, I would figure out a way to solve each problem thrown at me, no matter how impossible.

And what sucks is when you start succeeding. You pull off miracle after miracle and then people start expecting it of you like it’s normal. The reward for success isn’t a break. It’s more work. Harder work. And you buy into that unrealistic narrative that you should be able to do it or something must be wrong with you, you must be broken and can’t perform like you used to. And when you finally break, you get spit out and discarded like an outdated machine. They find the next, younger miracle worker to buy into the narrative.

Knowledge vs Wisdom

This is an easier one. Funny that Twilight’s agency is called WISE in canon. But what is wisdom? The ability to discern between right and wrong, to utilize knowledge effectively for the greater good, to know how to truly live life and live it well. 

Twilight strikes me as the kind of person who uses knowledge as a weapon, not too dissimilarly to Yuri who literally states “knowledge is power.” Twilight hoards knowledge like building an arsenal, so he can always be prepared for any problem. And this is how nations treat knowledge (intel) in the real world. Constantly trying to gain an information advantage on the enemy. 

But how does one know if one’s strategy to use all that knowledge is right? In Orpheus, the Ostanian state exhibits little wisdom in its pursuit of endless knowledge, experimenting on children and prisoners and animals to gain an edge over its rivals and amass more power for those at the top. At the same time the competition and backstabbing between the various arms of the state are almost childish in their motivations, the epitome of foolishness. Knowledge on its own does not build trust or confidence—but it can build hubris and confusion and distrust. 

One unexpectedly fun part of writing Orpheus was the dynamics between Garden and WISE. While there is distrust at the start, the leaders and members of both sides demonstrate wisdom in how they navigate the partnership and grant trust to each other bit by bit. And this feels very counterintuitive to spies who build careers off of lies and masks, as they find that truthfulness can unlock results so much faster than subterfuge. At least when it comes to dealing with Garden.

On a final note on this topic, I find it interesting that in canon Donovan Desmond claims it is impossible to know what other people are thinking and therefore human beings can never trust each other. And yet the highest form of knowledge (second only to knowing God), in my opinion, is to truly know another person to the depth of their soul. To know a person completely, and to trust and love them regardless. This is what all people yearn for, even people like Twilight who have made a fortress of masks around their true self. And this kind of knowledge is what requires deep wisdom to wield well.

Sigmund Authen’s gift of the Tree of Life plaque and the accompanying wisdom quote was an unexpected event I did not plan in my outline for Chapter 33. So was Barbara’s advice to Yor in Chapter 34, which I will end this long ramble with:

Before the two left, Barbara turned and patted Yor’s arm. “I know what it’s like to be married to a brilliant man, dear. Don’t feel discouraged. They don’t need their brilliance and worldly achievements so much as they need our love. I know it can be exhausting sometimes, but I’ve stuck by my Siggy this long through thick and thin. What he didn’t mention amidst all that blather about wisdom is that even wisdom isn’t the final goal of all of mankind’s striving. Love is. What is a life full of wisdom and philosophy if it doesn’t help you find love and keep it? In my simple little mind, that’s what wisdom is for. Goodnight, dear. Thank you for having us over.”

And that's a wrap for my 2024!

[yuseirra]

Onk Chapter 159 review~

(a small comic for starters :) either way, Ai will still kick his butt)

yes, I had been spoiled; yes, and I actually like it, as much as it leaves at a cliffhanger and leaves you in confusion(why is this comic always like this) The way it ends is indeed, quite shocking, isn't it? But I think I understand where it's coming from.

I honestly won't have a clue on just what this story is going to be unless it's not going to be like what I write here; If that's so, then I'll just sit back and just.. let the story run along after this~ I'm pretty confident, for now though!!

The development in this current episode aligns with the interpretation I initially had back when I hopped onto the series, right after 153-154. It feels like I've been reset XD

It's pretty good, right? It's entertaining and well done. There is no need to fuss whether "Kamiki is evil!!" or "He's the final boss!", at least not right now, that'd be determined in the following eps. but for now, I think I have an idea of what it's trying to convey.

He DOES look super evil in that last panel (I keep staring at it for how ridiculous he looks)but let's look into the things that are being discussed for now-

Judging by the reaction he has, Kamiki never stopped loving Ai. The reaction in chapter 154 and the current one can coexist as emotional responses.

But it seems that after Ai died, Kamiki did a lot.

It actually matches really well with the interpretation I made after reading chapter 154 for the first time! I mean this comic I drew. I thought I might have went a bit overboard with it for awhile, for Kamiki's actions after that chapter felt milder than that, but now that 159 is out, it... seems pretty similar.

Sometimes, the first answer you pick on a test is the correct one, right? I laughed...perhaps I should trust my initial feelings about things more...they may tend to be the most accurate.

He has this, "I'm already beyond hope now, I can't be saved" vibe to him. And I saw this coming all along, I kept wondering just what is it that he'd have done. It's been pretty vague except for that case with Yura, right? (To be honest, the one death that bothers me a lot is Gorou's. Did Nino and Ryosuke kill him?? Why did Gorou die?? I really hope Kamiki wasn't involved with that case because that leads to really weird sorts of conclusions... killing the doc that helped deliver his own children;;; I hope it's just Ryosuke and Nino that's played a part there)

Judging by how he reacts to Aqua, he does have paternal love, and Kamiki’s attitude towards his children is consistently kind and gentle. His way of speech is...I've been sent the leaks in another language right..; I can tell. He speaks in a really.. kind and gentle way. Even in that last panel as well. He's so tender with his way of speaking when he talks towards his kids, so much like the lyrics of Mephisto (how the song is like as it ends) I feel like he is, or at least used to be, a sweet person. Talking to his fully grown son like that.

It seems like he genuinely wants to watch his daughter's performance. I feel Kamiki cherishes and cares for Aqua and Ruby. As for whether he would go so far as to harm the children to save Ai... I think the chances of that are low. Ai’s judgment seems correct, and if Kamiki had married Ai and lived with her, he would have been a kind and gentle father to their children.

At the same time, though, he thinks it's too late to save himself now. The attitude he has feels like self-mockery or despair. He's a bit out of vigor, in my opinion(aside from that last panel).

The key is figuring out what exactly the "lies" he told was.

Judging by Aqua's reaction, Kamiki’s involvement in Ai’s death should be minimal. If it weren’t, there should be some anger connected to the mention of Ai’s name as Aqua brought it up. For example, "Ai trusted you until the end, she wanted you to help you, but you made her die!" Because it's very natural, right? If Kamiki killed the very person who wanted to help him, it's natural to bring that up as you mention the "help".

But that’s not the case. Instead, Aqua's reaction is something like, "I’m supposed to help you, as Ai said, but you’ve been telling this 'ugly lie for your own sake' so I can’t."

I think that, to evoke this kind of response, Kamiki must have done a lot after Ai’s death, thinking he was doing it for her, but deep down, he knew it was a lie he told himself all along, and Aqua is calling him out on it.

It doesn’t seem like Kamiki killed someone with the thought that "no one can outshine Ai" (that would be really stupid;;), but rather, that he made sacrifices because he wanted to save Ai or bring her back to life. In that case, what Aqua is saying here translates to: "Hey, would Ai have wanted that? That was a crazy thing you did for your own sake and pleasure, thinking 'Ai would want to live' or 'Ai would want to reunite with the kids in any way possible.' You know that's NOT what she has ever wanted, but you lied to yourself convincing it would all be okay as long as it came true. That makes you an ugly liar."

If Kamiki did kill someone, Aqua really should report him to the police instead of meeting one-on-one. Report him, for crying out loud! Why doesn't he do that in 155 and why doesn't he try to do it now, either? He just walks up to him and starts a conversation. Didn't he figure things out with Akane earlier? Can't they just turn those pieces of evidence they found to the police if they have them?

So... that's why I’m not sure if what Kamiki did actually involved killing someone... Maybe Aqua didn’t report it or he can't because there wasn’t enough evidence? Yura is dead, that's a fact, but well, we know now for sure that Kamiki did not play a part in Ryosuke's death(who cares about him but yeah), and if he isn't the one who's killed Gorou (the one who did it is Ryosuke and Nino is his acquaintance so I think there's low chance?;) Maybe he didn't kill Yura either. He says it's his fault but at this point, I don't think he's the one that's responsible for Ai's death. There is a reason I'm saying this, stay with me for a while, okay? But he's still done something that Aqua deems as a "selfish lie".. I just don't know how severe this guy can get and what he's done but I guess he's done some terrible things...

Moving on, I don't think this character would hurt Ruby or Aqua or anyone else at this point. (Although... who knows; if he feels like he has nothing to lose, he might...) It seems like he intended to end his life to offer as the final tribute, and Aqua came to stop him. (Like, Aqua came to him to "save him" on Ai''s behalf. He didn't say he's come to "punish him" for his misdeeds... so I think it's safe to say Aqua's come to save his butt) It might tie into the supernatural elements that pop up occasionally, like when Kamiki mentioned the "gods" in chapter 147 or talked about no longer needing to offer "sacrifices." There were many intriguing and important things mentioned in that chapter.

It seems like Kamiki thinks he’s done wrong, but he can’t stop himself from continuing on the path he was, so he wants his children to kill him or get revenge on him.

Nino is truly crazy... It's unhealthy to be fixated like that on just one single person... I don’t want to think too deeply about it because it’s not something I want to empathize with. I don’t wish to feel any pity. If I were to analyze it deeply, I could, but this is the kind of dark human psyche I don’t want to delve into because it takes energy and I don't feel it's that worth it. It's already been displayed so well in this chapter, and it's creepy and perfect as it is so I don't think it needs further explanation, she's just as I pictured her to be and even.. damp and scarier in eerily realistic ways.

If I were Ai, I’d grab Nino by the collar and ask, "Nino-chan, Why are you doing this to me? Why are you like this? What did I ever do to deserve this?" what the heck...poor Ai. it's too much. She's scary.

Ryosuke is out of his mind, and what has Ichigo been doing all this time if he knew something?... Perhaps he needed solid evidence and wished to catch her when she took action? But...; I really wish Ichigo did better when Ai was still alive if he knew what was going about with Nino and Ryosuke and Ai......

So, was Kamiki the one who made Ryosuke and Nino "that way"...(as in, hopelessly insane about Ai)?

No, that's not how it's going to go.

Looking at his past, there’s no big reason or motive for Kamiki to have done something like that and I don't think he could have coerced them to feel that way about Ai, they brought it upon themselves; (Honestly, I'm curious, what’s the connection between him and Nino and Ryosuke? At this point, I feel like they did not have any particular connection before Ai's death, at this point)

Kamiki clearly recognizes that Ai is just a normal girl who has cruel and selfish sides (this is a strong difference from Nino and Ryosuke). I'm not sure when he formed that idea, but he is at least aware of that, as he's doing whatever he's been doing.

That means, if Kamiki decided to take some extreme actions "for Ai", it wouldn’t have been because of some superficial motive like wanting Ai to be perfect or the best idol(Ryosuke and Nino's actions fall here) . Instead, it would have stemmed from a more practical desire, like wanting Ai to come back or get closer to her. For Kamiki, Ai isn’t a fantasy; she’s real. She’s a person he loves. That’s why the song Mephisto and Fatal suits him. Kamiki doesn’t need Ai to be an invincible idol; he just wants the person he loves to be alive.

So, tying it into the theme of this manga, I come to the conclusion that:

It wasn’t a single person like Kamiki who made Ryosuke and Nino the way they are, but rather, the public’s expectations of Ai.

This connects to the story explored in the movie arc, where people expected Ai to be the invincible idol, leading her to lie and conceal her weak self completely.

If my interpretation is correct... this is where the story is heading.

From the start, there was no such thing as an evil mastermind or anything like that. What happened to Ai was always the result of a fan’s twisted desire for their idol to be flawless, and the public's expectation of idols reinforcing such a behavior.

In reality, it’s Ryousuke and Nino who are insane, but the culture or fervor that creates such crazy people isn’t entirely absent in this world. That seems to be the point being made.

I mentioned this in a previous post: (it's paraphrased and condensed)

"But more than that, I think the main focus of this work and the message it's trying to give is: "Even celebrities are just people in the end"... Ultimately, that's it."

This is... probably it.

If you look at it that way, Kamiki is someone who was separated from the person he loved due to such malice (if Ai and Kamiki weren’t celebrities, they would have stayed together after having the kids and lived happily... What made Kamiki’s life miserable, and brought Ai to believe it'd hurt him less if she broke up with him was the dark side of the entertainment industry. After all, the pain he went through in his entertainment career was too much, and even afterward, they couldn’t reunite despite their feelings for each other because Ai was too successful as an idol. I think that’s why they couldn’t be together). In that sense, Kamiki is almost like the biggest victim of the entertainment industry in the story because not only did he suffer from it all his life, he ultimately lost the very person he loved because of it. Ai was an idol, so there was social pressure and expectations that she shouldn’t have kids or a boyfriend. That’s why they couldn’t stay together...

Kamiki, having his life destroyed by the dark side of the entertainment industry, and upon he lost the one person he loved, Ai, ended up doing a lot of things in desperation to bring her back and see her again. That’s what's going on about in the songs Fatal and Mephisto.

We haven’t seen exactly what he's been doing in the story, but I think the songs fill that narrative. "The gathering of light"... "finding things to fill in what's missing"...

Kamiki just wants to see Ai again. He wants to see her, but he doesn’t think Ai would love him or want to meet him, so he wished for her to come back to life, and when that didn’t work, he tried to get closer to her himself.

His true feelings were that he loved Ai sincerely and only had eyes for her.

But if what he did involve needing someone else’s life to achieve that goal (and the songs do suggest that...), that’s terrifying. Lol

Ai wanted Kamiki to be saved... If there really is a sliver of chance of such things to be a possibility, what he's done should not be that extreme. Kamiki does seem to think he's beyond saving, though.

I made an analysis earlier that he may be lying to appear as evil as he can be to persuade Aqua into believing he should just die there, and that he isn't worth saving... this was before I saw the actual images, but that could be the case too. if he's really planning to give himself away as a sacrifice of some sort or die to bring Ai back/reach her, then I guess it'd make sense for him to appear as menacing and horrible as possible so that his boy wouldn't have to care about him. He IS a liar and he IS a genius actor. He wants to do something for Ai, and I think that still stands. He said he'd do it in 155 - if that means it takes his life to do so, he'd still, definitely go through with it.

We’ll probably find out what he did all along within the next 10 chapters. I also think that the manga now needs to address the stars and the gods;; The idea that Ai became a star was mentioned directly, and Tsukuyomi was also brought up. The stars were beautifully shining during the B-Komachi concert, right? It feels like Ai is giving her blessing. If my guesses about this series is correct, Kamiki should mention stuff along the lines of the supernatural when talking about his motives. I think Kamiki tried to bring Ai back to life. If he hadn’t had that hope, I feel he would have followed Ai long ago. He doesn’t seem particularly attached to his own life. That means there must have been something that gave him that sort of hope. The songs imply something like it. It's made Kamiki believe Ai could come back to life...

I wonder if Kamiki can be saved. The fact that Aqua even brought the idea of helping the guy may mean there still might be a chance. Otherwise, Aqua would just throw him in jail; there’d be no point in talking to him like this, even if it's Ai's wish. Impossible things are still impossible.

But it’s true that Kamiki really fell apart after Ai died. Whether he’s just a pitiful guy or a victim who became a perpetrator (the latter seems more likely...sadly), we’ll have to wait and see.

To be continued, I guess.

That character’s life was truly miserable, but if he ruined other people’s lives, then he should still be punished for that.

Still, In the end, it seems like everything will turn out as Ai wanted, so I’m looking forward to seeing how much Aqua can fulfill Ai’s wishes.

It was a good chapter! :)

Come to think of it, in my analysis of Ai (this was written wayy back in June, when ch 152 was fresh) , I wrote something like this:

Ai didn't want to get back together with her ex because she wanted to continue being an idol. She couldn't have a public relationship. But I think she wanted to show her kids to him because she gained a little bit of courage while raising them. That she could show her real self. When you look at a Ai, you can infer she has a lot welled up. They had always hidden themselves, and now they have "secrets" that are not just their own, living, that grow with time. She's always had vicious circle that led to self-hatred from all the lies she'd been creating, which led to anger and stress…and it was this close to being let out through the movie. Maybe that's why Aqua believes making movies is for her. It's to fulfill her desire to be freed from the lies.

This might have hit the mark. The reason it has to be a movie is because of this… if it was only Kamiki, he could have just been shown the video Ai left, but-

Aqua’s “revenge” has to be fulfilled through a movie because Ai’s situation was caused by the public’s perception of her.

If people had accepted the real Ai as a person, twisted individuals like Ryosuke wouldn’t have appeared, and Ai wouldn’t have had to lie to the person she so dearly wanted to love. If… If only Ai had survived, I think Kamiki could have reunited with her after the movie was released. Because people would have understood and accepted their circumstances. Ai would never have had to die because she had children - for being imperfect and human, as she is.

This is not a story about a psychopathic murderer getting back at his ex-girlfriend or just one crazy fan attacking their idol, it's tackling a much bigger theme than that.

So no, this isn't going to be about Kamiki being the crazy mastermind, quite the contrary. He's the one who's lost his beloved due to a societal belief that idols have to be perfect and flawless. He's the one who desperately wants to get her back after having lost her.

When I think about it, it’s really heartbreaking. Ai and Kamiki could have been happy, for sure. They really could have had it weren't it for this, I feel.

The public isn’t always so cold, so I think Ai might have wanted to take that risk…

++ Oh, wow… Aqua showed up wearing the exact outfit from the Mephisto video!

Then, if my thoughts are correct, the next chapter, or at least within a few chapters, should reveal more about the Fatal/Mephisto storyline in the series. Those songs aren’t Aqua’s, they’re Kamiki’s.

+++ Didn't mention but Kamiki looks even younger than Aqua in that last panel, he looks kinda adorable in a very freaky way. Ai didn't mention his looks for nothing.. he still has it over the age of thirty...

yeah, I'll believe in him for just a little longer. I really hope the next chapter continues where it left off and just TELL US what he's been up to for once. This chapter is 159 so I guess it'd be the last ep of a volume, Yeah, that'd definitely make people wish to buy the next copy

but I really want answers at this point, stop the taunts.

If Mephisto and Fatal ain't the story of this guy then tbh, nothing would make sense to me about this guy nor the story. Aside from the fact that it matches his characteristics and lores in a perfect sense, it's just a really strong hunch I get. The moment I first heard Fatal, I knew it had to be it. I can't explain how it happens but I just know what it's supposed to imply. So there!

Till next week!

[duckieduccss]

NEW KAIJU OC?!?!

Well, yea technically. Basically i was interested in figuring out how id go with making my own kaiju. At first i wasnt sure where to go for designing one. So i chose to base it off another existing kaiju for inspiration. I kinda wanted to go for a dragon type kaiju (i like dragons) and the only thing i could think of was Ghidorah so i went with that (now that i think about it more, I could’ve maybe used Manda too prob but oh well, Ghidorah was still a good option). I added some different details to mine that make it unique to the og Ghidorah

My idea was that it could potentially be a relative to Ghidorah (being of the same species) but still far apart from one another to the point they arent all that aware of the other existing (theyre in for a shock when & if they do encounter each other lol). This version actually relies on cosmic energy derived from such sources like stars & generally anything that produce some form of energy within the vast universe (basing it off how Ghidorah themselves originally came from space & this variant being much more dependent on that factor). It stores that energy & relatively stays in a dormant stage for an extended period of time until when faced with the challenge to defend itself or fight off those it deems as a danger. Then it would release all that ginormous amount of space energy that manifests itself as a rapidly expanding glow of extremely bright light. Enough to cause extreme damage & bring down the opposition. It can gather energy by using special crystals it can grow (took that also as inspiration but from Space Godzilla) & become as some form of attracting & absorbing the energy. In a way, the energy is like its main source of food & energy to maintain itself (right after releasing a lot of it during its final attack of using that glow, it would be put in a highly vulnerable state if not recovered by regaining some energy back soon enough). For the most part, they mostly sleep (being lazy 24/7 just like me fr lmao) to keep all that energy but can be potentially dangerous if disturbed or provoked in some manner

(Here’s a better closer look at their faces. Realized the canvas’ too big to properly see each of them-)

The name of this kaiju you may be wondering???

It’s Ryudorah

(Yea i know im the most creative person out there. I combined another nickname i use for myself and just added the end part of Ghidorah’s name to make it clear it’s related to the other kaiju. I couldn’t think of anything else im sorry😭)

And also each head has its own individual name:

Do, Re & Mi

(Named after intervals in the musical scale (ex: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do)

Did i mention this kaiju can also technically sing too :)

I did have a lot of fun with coming up with the concept for them (tho it honestly took longer in designing them due to a busy schedule ive been put in as of late & finding the time to finish it) but im glad to finally be able to share this with you all. Hopefully I can share more about them soon (i have a whole google doc’s worth of lore lmao) & probably draw them again (tho maybe a lot more simplified by then). Didn’t wanna overwhelm ppl with the huge amount of info so I’ll prob slowly reveal more over time.

[Another thing too is that i still am new to the fandom (tho with more knowledge from getting to learn more from the source material) & most of this i gathered from already know stuff i knew. Tho im also open to feedback & maybe some ideas to add onto my own kaiju. So id very much appreciate it if there’s any suggestions from you guys ^^⭐️]

(I’ll only be taking constructive criticism btw. Anything hateful will obv be ignored)

[everwitch-magiks]

I'd like to add my two cents to a topic that I understand some fanfic readers fret about: what to write in a comment on AO3. Many have weighed in on this, and there are useful guides out there (such as this one) to peruse if you find yourself wanting to leave comments on fic but having no idea what to write. This post, however, will not give such a broad and comprehensive overview of ideas for different types of comments - instead, I'd like to talk about what my favourite type of fic comment is, and why.

If you're curious about a type of fic comment that will really make a writer kick their feet and shriek with happiness... read on.

"I see what you did there!" I got a comment on a fic the other day that made my entire week. I've been thinking about it ever since. It was an "I see what you did there!" comment.

The comment was about a subtle element in the story, something that was very much between the lines. The commenter briefly described how they had interpreted that element; all the ways they had noticed it, the subtle mentions they had caught, and exactly how the commenter had picked up on all of those things. The bottom line was, simply put, that the commenter saw what I did there, and chose to tell me so.

And here's the thing: I had, in fact, intentionally put all of those things in the story. I had tried to work that element in between the lines - subtly - and deliberated at length about whether or not it was obvious enough, or too obvious, or so subtle that noone would notice. I had plotted and planned and clarified and rephrased, and in the end I'd settled on a final version - one that hopefully conveyed what I wanted it to convey.

Key word: hopefully.

Writing is lonely. It's you and your doc and your words and your commas, and you're constantly second-guessing whether what you're trying to express is clear enough. Does it work? Does it hit? Is it doing what it's supposed to do? Beta readers do help with all of this - in fact, beta readers help immensely, and they all deserve flowers and a treat of their choice - but even after quizzing your trusted beta about whether that thing you're trying to do is working or not, there is still room for lingering doubt.

The best cure for that doubt? You guessed it: the 'I see what you did there!' comment.

Seriously, I can live on a comment like that for months.

It's the ultimate dopamine hit, the unquestionable confirmation that yes, it worked. The words did what they were supposed to do. All that work trying to get it just right actually paid off.

Hopefully, at this point, you're at the edge of your seat wondering how one actually writes a comment like this? And luckily for you, it is pretty simple!

How to write an "I see what you did there!" comment If you notice any of the following in a fic you're reading:

A subtle parallel

Something that's a metaphor for something else

Something that 'bookends' the story - an introduction that is mirrored by the ending

A line that recurs subtly

Any type of foreshadowing

Anything that is hinted at, but not clearly spelled out

Anything that makes you go "I see what you did there!"

Point it out in your comment. Describe what you picked up on and how you picked up on it. Say: "I see what you did there!"

I think this is the sort of thing you'll know when you see it, and now you hopefully feel confident that you'll absolutely make the writer's day by pointing it out to them! It may seem like you're just explaining the story back to the writer, which may feel a little silly since the writer definitely knows what they put in there, but what you're really doing is confirming to the writer that you now know what they put in there, too. And that's such a cool thing for the writer to get confirmed.

Take care of each other out there in fanfic land, folks! I hope you're now feeling inspired to support your local AO3 author with a good ol' "I see what you did there!" comment! A classic for a reason.

[pitchlag]

Rvb19 thoughts in no particular order

Yeah so. I still think s13 is The capping point for me and all that comes after is hypothetical/simulations or whatever.

First of all. No, you fucking don't get to separate Grif and Simmons.

Having the groups act hostile towards each other (or just the Reds against Caboose again) right after Chorus was a a big enough of a crime already. But those two are a package deal.

So what the fuck even happened in the SoC fight? Why would they let Tucker just walk out in the aftermath? I guess Carolina booked it to go after him bc why else would she leave Wash alone again, after he was supposedly injured?? Also Doc dying, wow rude. Donut and his VA are free to enjoy their break but where' was heeeeeeee where'd he goooooo he was barely mentioned at aaaalllllllll >:(

Sarge's death speech was surprisingly long and clear even though his lungs were probably pierced, cauterized or no.

On one hand I have a hard time seeing Sarge dying peacefully in a bed instead of in battle but he didn't have to stay at that doorway after they got back. He didn't have to die there. I'm glad he went back for Caboose though cuz that is one his boys (even if he's a dirty Blue).

Grif and Simmons talking about him at his grave was pretty good scene and so was the campfire reminiscing one but again, Sarge didn't have to die and I refuse a world where Grif and Simmons would go their separate ways like that. No wonder Gus and Geoff were shocked to find out this was the last season.

I got so excited the second I recognized Tex's knuckle crack ;o;

So close to a proper Tex and Caro combo, though I do get that they wouldn't work well together because of their history and different fighting styles :( Still, even if AI boosted, Tucker shouldn't be anywhere near good enough to go against both.

Also they got Kathleen back for Tex, John Erler for North and Samantha Ireland for CT??? Couldn't have seen that coming. Also Miles was aight doing Elijah Wood's voice but I guess a lot of it was helped by the voice mods.

Beta may have been "a failure" and Sigma is a bitch but his speech at her felt really off. She was still a major part of Alpha and the memories of Allison were the reason the rest of the pieces came to be in the first place. The Meta collective tried to catch her both in cases of the og Tex and Epsi-Tex, so Sigma full on rejecting her and the rest not reacting at all was really weird.

"This time, I'm not based on his memories, I'm based on theirs. And I always kicked their asses." A nice change of pace re: Beta as Alpha's/Allison's "failure". ....

Chex has embedded itself deep into my brain, so of course I Felt Things seeing them interact one last time fr fr. Tex finally got to go out with some agency of her own, yet we've come a full circle, they're back together again as Leonard and Allison. At least one good ending. Easily the best part of the movie.

Security working from home extremely funny, but the bit went on for too long and video calls w/ technical issues bc haha relatable feels like an overdone trope already

Felix being included as a part of the Meta was kinda weird? He never really interacted with the armor or the AI to warrant it I think.

Niner and Sheila :)

No Junior :(

So uh. Tucker got no closure re:Epsilon's death and just kinda. Walks it off after the possession is over? After Wash and Memory!Doc had that talk about the things an AI in your head does to you??

Speaking of Wash:

I know he's always been linked to memory and I actually like how they handled his brain damage in the Shisno Paradox, but I just have a very different image of how he feels about the PFL folks in the aftermath. To me Carolina always seemed more like the type to feel regret over how things went with PFL; she was kind of in a leadership position, had her tragic relationship with York and she felt taking down the Director was her duty.

Wash did arguably have a lot more positive ties to others than she did during the Project, but he was ready to burn it all down while in Recovery duty. I always thought he would have a lot harder time moving past his own trauma of getting left behind to get back to the good memories. Regrets about Doc I can kinda understand since they had time to work together while at Chorus after Wash's villain arc was over, but again, the man carries a grudge like it's a badge of honor. He didn't exactly get closure with his former teammates, aside from collecting the AI from their dead bodies after he'd been left alone following the fall of the MoI and after South shot him in the back. It's interesting how differently Shisno trilogy and S19 handled how Wash and Carolina feel about the whole thing, but I'm glad they stick together regardless. I love their relationship so much.

Wash staying silent when the recovery unit is broken..... Ngl I'm kinda obsessed with how he and Epsilon never got closure

I still don't have interest in checking out Zero....

Woulda been a lot better if they just let Trocadero do the music :( As predicted, the movie OST lacked the personality the series OST was built on and somehow including one track from them felt a bit of an insult. A reminder of what could've been. Also I didn't like the "oohh this part is super loud because movie" bits

Tragically obvious how rushed the production was and how they had a lot less people and resources to work with

If Shisno was a mixed bag of some high highs and a lot of lows, this was relatively steadily ok. Some dips, at least one peak. Not nearly as good as what precedes it but. ok. I can take it as one possibility

Sigh. The funky space marines are finally free. (I'm not, these fuckers seem to continue to fail evacuating my brain)

[theblogtini]

The only reason I’m slightly “poor Harry” is because he may not have liked his role in the familial institution but you can’t tell me he didn’t love his family. Didn’t he even say at the end of the NF doc he misses his family and friends? 

I sure can, anon. In fact, I don't think he gives a damn about his family at all -- only what they can do for him. And that's the biggest tragedy in this whole thing. It isn't what's happening to "poor Harry" as some people like to lament cos he's actually getting far less than his just dessert. It's the realization for his family of how little he actually cares about them and how far he's willing to go to hurt them.

Let's see: He trashed and blackmailed his family as his grandfather was dying and then threw him along with his grandmother and father under the bus for bad parenting right after he died. He was doing the "documentary" and the book knowing that his grandmother was terminally ill AND all the while STILL had the gall to harass her for $$. He then spent the period leading up to her funeral making demands to his grieving family and was looking positively murderous at the service just because he didn't get to sit at the front row. He hara$$ed his father too in private while publicly slagging and erasing him since he isn't as useful as his iconic dead mother whom he relentlessly exploits for $$ and clout. He tried to character assassinate his brother and cast aspersions upon his marriage with a callous disregard as to how it'd affect his nephews and niece, which, given the history with his own parents, is especially vile and cruel. He slandered them all to incite attacks against them and the family business and get them cancelled. If that's love then no, thanks, anon lol

Oh but he loved his family cos he said he missed them? PLS. More like he missed the perks and their clout that he'd taken for granted. It was a meaningless and manipulative lip service to take the edge off of his treachery and mask his malevolence. Just like when he sang the late Queen's praises while also reducing her to a puppet and a senile old lady. Or when he said he loved his brother to bits before throwing him under the bus on Oprah. The same m.o. as when his wife said that Kate was a nice person after humiliating her with the waity Katie dig.

He's hurt and abused a lot of people. But because his mummy died his apologists keep infantilizing and feeling sorry for him instead of for those he's hurt. Or they keep making excuses for him and downplaying his malice because they bought into his PR and don't like to admit that they'd been totally wrong/fooled. And ofc there's also the good ole misogyny where it's always the woman's fault. As the other anon said, you don't see people say "poor Meghan". I wonder tho if they'd still say "poor Harry" if he'd done any of those things to THEM?

Sorry for the rant but I'm also so damn sick of this "poor Harry" business lol

Daaaaamnn🔥🔥🔥

[topazpearl]

So remember my big sbg theory doc? forget that existed, heres the new one

Discusses up to Ep 61. Fast-pass spoiler FREE

Content discussions about death, mental illness, sui.cide; yknow. Heavy Thriller webtoon stuff (tm)

[Hamilton chorus voice] NUMBER ONE: Giant freakin phantompedes and how to escape them

-I was right about the football field lights to try to kill them idea yippee

-HOEWVERR, theres so many attacking the school rn and its freaking collapsing?? I literally dont know how they’re gonna get outta this

-Unless (unless) my Phantom Ashlyn theory is relevant, ashlyn can talk to them and tells them to go away and they… do! idk lol it's stupid but maybe ash has enough girl boss energy to convince them. or theyre so shocked by a human talking to them theyre like "dang ok". Could still happen! 

NUMBER TWO: Phantom Transformation Theory

So it’s Basically confirmed: 

If you die in the PD, you start to turn into a Phantom.

Of course we wont know for sure until we actually SEE it but like, Aiden’s creepy af smile and basically coming back to life in ashlyn’s arms after DYING it’s like, basically confirmed. 

Ash wonders why Aiden snapped out of his seizure so fast compared to Tyler. Severity of injuries could definitely be a factor (tho like, im assuming Aiden got freaking blunt force trauma brain damage which, to me, is just as bad as being impaled). Another factor could be that Tyler died only about 30 minutes into the Time, while Aiden died almost right when it ended. And… we saw how fast Aiden started to “turn”. Red technically never shows us Tyler during those hours after he died. He very well… may have completely phantomized, but when he woke up in the real world, the transformation reverted. I'm very scared abt what Aiden’s gonna be like next night.

SUB THEORY: The Power of Human Connection and Phantom Reversal

Remember how Jasmine (the gang tour girl) asked if it was alright that all the kids got sucked in w/ ashlyn? This implies that 

1. They usually expect 1 person/their target to get sucked into the PD

2. The origami gang has never dealt with a group being sucked in at once

- I believe (and the evil gang doesnt know this) that the kids being together is an integral part of their future survival. Tyler snapped back to consciousness in the hospital after Taylor had her PISSED moment. This moment was similar to Logan’s freakout, in that it tugged the phantom world to the real world, for a second. I think these intense emotions (taylor’s specifically out of anger and worry for her twin), pulled tyler’s “soul” out of the PD and into the RD. 

- Now, you may ask, “what abt if a random person got into the PD and died and went into a seizure/coma? Why couldnt their loved ones “bring” them back?” thats a good Q idk. Perhaps the kids all being in the PD together is what creates this flow, a two-way street, between the two dimensions. 

- Anyway also while Ashlyn and co didnt didnt get into an angry freakout moment when Aiden died, but we all know Ash and Aiden got something developing/going on thats special ♥, and thats what tugged Aiden back (its cliche but its the power of love there i said it). 

- Also NOT saying that the other kids’ concern over their friends doesn’t matter or count (Ben and Aiden are Fam too), but like, i’m wondering if it needs to be a REALLY INTENSE love (familial/romantic/whatever) in order to basically bring someone back from the dead. idk

-interestingly, ty WAS essentially in a coma-like state, like how the spy said, which supports that it’s expected that ppl die in the PD eventually, and go into comas. I’m wondering if those who normally get sucked into the PD and die, theyre dealing with it by themselves, have no one to “pull them back” like taylor and/or ashlyn did, and they stay in a coma. 

-rlly hope the boys arent like “possessed” or smn. Maybe the soul is like, tainted? Those big black eyes man… (ALSO THAT PREVIEW IMAGE WITH LOGAN AND THE BIG BLACK EYES??? WHAT??)

-going off the dead PD ppl turn into phantoms theory>> If a phantom is killed, their connected person in the RD who was in a coma dies fr permanently

NUMBER THREE: Ashlyn and the Phantoms (cool new band name) 

we know the kids are getting influenced by the PD, making phantom noises (further supports phantoms were people theory) but with Ashlyn's "really strong" connection to the PD, she's in special danger. If one can turn into a phantom without dying, it's gonna be her. Ryan the spy said that "the girl" – assumingly ashlyn– should be "especially" at risk of danger. This could be bc she was the one who interacted with the rift, or bc she already has a higher level of phantom influence on her. 

-when ashlyn told the phantom to let go, and her friends to calm down, both times she spoke with a black speech bubble WITH PHANTOM NOISE LINES NEAR IT. this is different than characters who have also spoken with black bubbles (aiden, logan, taylor). obviously these have been with threats/malice, but they didn't have the red lines. These times ashlyn has spoken, the phantom acknowledged her voice, and her friends' spell-like violence trance was broken. Theory: ashlyn not only can hear phantoms, but she can speak their language sort of

-when ashlyn was born, a phantom like touched her in a blessing/cursing sense which is part of the reason why she can hear phantoms and her strong PD connection. possibly even possession???? 

-tldr i want ashlyn to enter her monster girl era 

The evil gang seems confused why the kids have lasted so long. maybe Ashlyn's PD connection goes both ways. she provides a strong anchor to the RD. Maybe the PD is USUALLY all desolate with the pillars that we saw in the finale (maybe it's even an afterlife of sorts?), but Ashlyn makes a huge radius (~30 miles! (assuming kids were driving at least 60mph for 30 minutes)) of the PD around where she wakes up mirror the real world, creating a safer space for her and the kids. meanwhile a normal person that gets sucked into the PD gets thrown into a desolate hell world different from the RD (also maybe stuck there permanently), causing them to die much quicker. 

-maybe this influence is even part of the reason why RD tyler is awake (And aiden)

-Ashlyn's influence extends to jamming the recording devices like some kind of weird phantom static.

-Broke: Ashlyn's parents wanted her to learn self defense and have a knife bc they're in the military. Woke: they want her to be able to protect herself after the phantom scare when she was a baby

-Also THANK GOD she’s finally acting on her intuition. Sm times she’s been like “this feels bad!” and doesnt do anything. Almost makes me wonder if it’s a supernatural intuition based on phantom stuff. Like shes WAY OFF from the hospital and the drama and is like “HMM! Smn going on” 

NUMBER FOUR: Origami gang and Co INC. 

-The gangs symbol is an origami crane (orizuru). the crane in East Asia has longevity as one of its symbolisms, with some myths saying it flies souls up to paradise. there's the popular myth that if you fold 1000 cranes you get a wish.

Heres where the evil twist comes in. The gang boss believes that if he traps 1000 people in the PD as like, a sacrifice, then he'll get a wish and he'll ask for eternal life or whatever. this gang is a cult and he's tricked everyone saying that they'll also get a long life but really it's probably only gonna be him 🤫 So they go around to different haunted places in America and pick ppl they sense can open these shadow rifts and get sucked in. the phantoms may be ppl they trapped in the past and they've turned into phantoms

-Ryan, the guy who's spying on the kids, maybe is ALSO "Mr. thomas". he just puts on a wig and is a good actor lol. this is the reason why he asks about "Mr. Thomas's" fate. What goes against this is that Ryan seems to know all about the PD mechanisms, which doesn't fit Mr. Thomas being confused abt ashlyns hair. Unless he wasn't expecting it

– or "Mr thomas" could just be Ryan's friend or brother or smn. A low ranked guy in the gang that got stuck with roping Ashlyn into Savannah, but doesn't know the truth/details about the PD. 

-the gang mentions that "both sides" are trying to track them. either the government and a supernatural hunting group, or even some force in the PD like some Alpha Phantom like the devil who's like "Where's my dead people quota hello?" or better yet "you're messing with MY domain and I'm gonna Get You". 

-This is based solely on the Boss' appearance and smiling countenance: the gang Boss is Aiden's uncle, his dad's brother, his weird, estranged brother who's also evil probably. I'm really hung on this idea don't mind me 

-you have to be able to make a paper origami crane from memory to be an official gang member /hj 

NUMBER FIVE: Gen story/Character arcs and futures

-ready for a “power of love and friendship” aesop. these kids are gonna be so Bonded now after these traumatic experiences

-i had come up with an elaborate “death order” but thats now completely jossed now so im ignoring that

-PRAISING THE FREAKING LORD THAT ALL THE PARENTS KNOW NOWAND THAT MIKE BELIEVES THEM AND IS HELPING HIS DAUGHTER. DAD OF THE YEAR AWARD. IF ANYTHING AHPPENS TO HIM IM SUEING!!!!!

- SO NOW that all the parents know, and like, have seen all the phantoms and everything and BTW WILL PROBABLY GET SUCKED INTO THE PD AT SOME POINT because they felt the shift like the kids did, they help the kids get to Savannah yippee!! a cool Big family squad force they all hop on a working school bus or smn and drive there. PLs

- the families getting sucked in would be HUGE cause they arent prepared. Logan’s grandparents and Lily are top targets 😭

So the kids are gonna get kidnapped. that's definitely gonna be a thing, either mid S2 or ending. up in the air whether the kidnapping is successful or not. (assuming the gang would be smart enough to get rid of the kids’ phones when they get them)

-actually I'm placing my bets now S2 finale will be them getting kidnapped and it just cuts off there for another awful cliffhanger.

-since it seems Mr thomas will be involved, he'll ask the kids to stay after school to talk abt their failing grades or smn, and then maybe they're hit with knockout gas??

OR the gang has been spying on them so they pick a time the kids all separated and jump them. 

-maybe this is when aiden knowing where ashlyns dance studio is is actually plot relevant!!?? like he (and Ben probably cuz they're always together) are able to escape their attackers and Aiden goes to help ashlyn cuz he wants to make sure she's OK. and she's either fine cuz she's a girl boss and can kick butt, or he saves her oo la la 

–lol imagine kidnapping is successful, gang tells kids why they were kidnapped, (if Evil Boss Uncle theory is true this helps facilitate this) but Ashlyn "goes off" on Aiden yelling and "attacking" him and stuff saying he's part of the gang, he planned it all along etc, but it's all a ruse to have the gang think she'll cause another energy spike (and Aiden gets this and plays along) so assuming the kids are locked up, the gang opens their cell to stop ashlyn, and that's when they escape lol

so like, i THOUGHT ashlyn/aiden was gonna be a slow burn but HAHAHA. i mean not as freaking slow obviously as like Miraculous love square lol, but like slow for thriller standards? But things are gonna be heating up between these two 😏 watch ashlyn be ~conflicted~ and ~in denial~~. And meanwhile poor aiden is a confused boy who doesnt know what ash wants like “b u told me to give u space and now here u are grasping my hand like ur life depends on it” 

Sorry back to character arcs:

Ashlyn: Learn to trust and connect with people, make friends, lean on others. Could be nice if she accepts and admits the kids are her friends by the end of S2, leaving the next season for Aiden/Ashlyn dev specifically? More development about her connection with the PD, which could put friendship to the test. [already getting this with her dad and Aiden so this is great]

Also she has the freaking GUILT like i expected! Watch her think tay hates her for like a week before tay is like “no?? I hate the ppl who did this to us instead” and then they hug it out 👍

Taylor: Willing to bet money the twins are unhealthily codependent on each other. She is on the edge bro. Unhinged feral. Is probably gonna be more angry in general despite it being a bad idea, like the top has been blown off. Bottled up emotions~! 

Still thinking she’ll get close to Ben too (whether anything romantic develops on top of it is debatable, but I can see it. theyve already got a cute little closeness going on)..

Tyler: Get this boy some ~THERAPY~ help he’s so depressed and angry. Learn to have hope again (like ben 😭). He has so much negativity inside him, i dont think that’ll help with whatever is going on with him rn like, hes probably in the THICK of the PD influence. He’s kinda like ash, needs to learn to rely on others.

Logan: Seems to be overcoming his fragility well if the arcade scene is any indication. Still has self-worth issues to overcome due to his parents' abandonment. Maybe we'll learn more about that in S2. That could be a rumor and the real reason he lives with his grandparents is that his parents died but idk why that'd be hidden unless their death was suspicious (like, drug ring?? His gpa got the GOODS APPARENTLY). 

Ben: Still needs to find a new passion for life, i suspect playing musical instruments like the guitar will be the answer (thank you tyler). Tho maybe learning to love his altered voice could happen? (tons of dudes have a rough/husky singing voice that ppl love) But this is probably unlikely.  

Aiden: Good Lord like, Aiden being (most likely) suic.idal in the past (and possibly even still NOW?) has floored me. I figured his loneliness and suspected parental neglect was bad but IT’S BAD. Dude wants to feel alive and not depressed… frick. AIDEN ARE YOU going to therapy??? Do your parents KNOW??? Is that why your parents finally settled down?? Guh. this on top of probably untreated ADHD.

–I’m assuming now Aiden started dying his hair to try to get any fragment of serotonin. 

– Kinda wondering if he grew up in a "toxic positivity" mentality home, where his parents are like "we're so privileged we shouldn't complain" ?

– im actually THIS close to beating Aiden’s parents with a stick.

NUMBER SIX: Miscellaneous predictions, wants, musings & hypotheticals.

-guessing now that the twin’s dad had cancer or smn

-hey uh what about the photo Logan took of the phantom back at the sorrel-weed house?? surely he still has it? can he show the parents?? will they be able to see it?

-Logan saw the whole Aidlyn hug from the roof from his snipper position, change my mind.

-Another “death” will happen in S2, possibly even two deaths. (GOD I WAS RIGHT)

-Mr thomas switches sides and helps the kids, gives them info

-Ryan (the spy) switches sides and helps the kids

-the tour lady Jasmine and the Boss are a hot evil couple 

also kinda want them to have a Rourke & Helga dynamic where he throws her under the bus at the last moment and she's Bissed 

-I want the boss to die by his own evil plan. 

–i doubt a redemption arc will happen but I'd be down for it if done well.

-*grabs your shoulders until they bleed* listen. Aiden saved ashlyn, now I need her to save him. I need this. 

-Taylor and Ashlyn girl time please!!!

-Logan and Aiden becoming closer would also give me joy. big Freckle and Rocky energy. 

-this doesn't have to happen but I think it'd be really funny if Aiden somehow gets the IDEA that Logan has a crush on Ashlyn when Logan doesn't, causing a stupid silly short jealousy arc.

-actually I really need a "can skydive from 10,000 ft but can't confess to the girl he likes" Aiden Clark 

-I've got a bad feeling smn will happen to Ashlyn's parents, specifically her dad

-if any of the gang/cult members hurt the kids or their fam fr irl im gonna >8) lose it

-the Origami gang fails to kidnap the kids and they accidentally create a huge "energy spike", making phantoms appear everywhere in town.

-if the kids DO get kidnapped successfully, I want Ashlyn to be an awesome girlboss and use her knife shoes to help them escape.

-if my puppy fic became Canon that'd be swaggie actually.

-let Ashlyn have a dog 2023

-pov you're in Georgia in the fall and a hurricane hits, knocking out solar power for a few days. what then? :)

-when all this garbage is over and they hopefully all live in the end, I want them to have a fun stargazing party led by Logan cause they can finally enjoy the night (And maybe aidlyn have their first Kiss?? 🙈)

-If there ISNT a "group goes to see Ashlyn in a ballet performance" scene then I'm WRITING IT MYSELF 

-At the end of all things, Aiden and Ashlyn will become a couple, or at least have reciprocal romantic feelings. This is not just my shipper heart talking. I feel it in my brain, in my soul. 

-So we know one or both of Aiden’s parents are writers. If anyone knows if that trophy Aiden’s dad is holding in that photo is a real award, hmu

-a kid going into an angry protective phantom mode to protect another(s) 😳 (aidlyn on the brain but it could be anyone)

-if I had a nickel for every time I've imagined Aiden dying in Ashlyn's arms, I'd have many nickels (IT BASICALLY HAPPENED! GREAT! 👍😭)

-what if having a good singing voice ran in Ben's family? haha jkjk…unless??? but they don't sing like ever cuz they don't want Ben to feel bad 

-man what if an sbg kid “died” by a phantom pushing them down a set of stairs.. 

-Rlly hope that Aiden's parents don't get scared seeing phantoms in their house and hearing other families having phantoms in THEIR houses and thinking the whole town is haunted, and they consider moving which they don't wanna do bc Aiden finally has friends but what else can they do!? angst. 

-John 15:13 for Ashlyn with the others except it's not permanent (I'm not saying ash is a Jesus figure tho WHWKEJEJDJ)

-I rlly wanna see ashlyn laugh

-Taylor actually using her mechanic skills. like maybe the jeep gets damaged [HAPPENED] and she fixes it. I dont want that jeep gone bro its already iconic (update: it’s probably gone bro.. sad)

-might be nice for Logan to have a reflection moment where even though all this horrible stuff is happening some good came out of it like he's not a slave to bullies anymore 

-I want to see Ben happy. well actually I want them all happy pls

[wings-of-sapphire]

Snow White rewrite

Hello loves, so I’ve been procrastinating this for a WHILE but I was like fuck it I’ll post what I have so far

Remember like fifteen years ago when I said I’d post my Snow White rewrite? Well, I want to get at least some of it out to get some traction going, especially since Disney’s live-action Snow White is coming out soon and I’m… intrigued to see how it goes.

Anyways, here’s my WIP rewrite— not finished, may be subject to edits later, I have reasons for what I’m doing trust me

Red as the Rose

A Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs rewrite (revamp? Idk)

Meet Snow Dysni.

Her stepmother is not the nicest person.

She’s never met her mother, as she died shortly after Snow was born, so she wasn’t exactly well-versed in motherhood knowledge. But she was pretty sure stepmothers aren’t supposed to kill you.

Some backstory.

Snow is the princess of the kingdom of Grimm. Grimmians are a wonderful people. At least, Snow assumes so. She hasn’t interacted with them much.

Her birth mother was allegedly murdered by an enchantress, and then her father sort of freaked out and banned all magic. All the neighboring kingdoms started to follow his rule, forcing all the magical creatures to go into hiding. Most fled to the Twists, a cursed forest full of the Wrathborne– nightmares come to life. Yeah. Magic, from what Snow has learned, isn’t the greatest.

But still, being cooped up in this castle all day isn’t really the life. Snow knew all the staff’s names by heart. But there’s no teens in the palace, and her only friend is this cat that roams the castle grounds sometimes. Snow named her Shanks. She brings Snow flower snacks sometimes.

It’s just meetings and being locked up in her room. Her stepmother says it’s unbecoming for a princess with such little social awareness to be among the people. Snow’s only meeting royals and nobles. Like today, a meeting with Isel, the eastern kingdom, and their prince, Florian White.

Snow talks with Florian. When he laughs, it makes something inside her bubble. Maybe he poisoned her.

Oh, no. He poisoned her!

The royal nurse clears Snow, though. I guess Florian can pass for now.

There’s also Huntsman, whose real name Snow doesn’t know. She tries to talk with him sometimes. He doesn’t really talk otherwise.

But one day, Huntsman tells Snow that he can sneak her out of the castle for a night. She agrees. Because obviously!

Huntsman takes Snow out to see the Grimmians. To see her people! Away from her stepmother. Queen Isla Grimhilde. Snow doesn’t know why her father puts up with her. She really doesn’t.

They end up in the Twists.

Snow asks Huntsman what they’re doing here.

He pulls out a knife and stabs her. Snow screams, blood splattering the floor. She hears a Wrathborne near, then something tackles the Huntsman. Probably. She can’t see anything, too blind from pain. White, searing pain. All she can think of is blood. Her blood.

Snow sees the Wrathborne fighting with the Huntsman. Snow gasps out in pain and starts to stumble away. She sees a cottage in the distance. She falls to the floor. She hears voices above her.

She passes out.

Snow awakens up to grumbling. Something about red on the sheets. She blearily opens her eyes. She see six noses poking out on top of the bedframe.

She tries to scramble up. Someone cries out. It took Snow a moment to realize it was her. Red-hot pain shoots up her back.

“Woah, woah, steady there!”

Snow stares at the man beside her. Er… child? Man the size of a child?

Oh. Dwarves!

“You’re dwarves!” she croaks out.

The dwarf laughs. He introduces himself as Doc, the eldest brother. He explains how their nephew found me outside, bleeding, and had to go, but notified Doc and his brothers about her. They treated her.

Snow tries to scream, but a hand claps over her mouth. Snow sees another dwarf in front of her. He looks like he wants her head.

“Quiet, lass! You’ll attract Grimhilde’s soldiers!”

“The heck I will! You’re illegal magicals! You should be arrested!”

“We saved your royal life! Show some gratefulness!”

Aaaanyways. The seven introduce themself. There’s Doc, the oldest and the kindest. Happy, who’s… happy all the time. Snow has a suspicion he may be on drugs. Grumpy doesn’t like her at all. Dopey— at least she thinks that’s his name… maybe it’s Mopey but that doesn’t seem right— is mute and signs. Snow unfortunately doesn’t know sign, so his brothers have to translate.

Uhhh there’s Sleepy. Mate, same. Sneezy… please stay away. Bashful Snow doesn't know much about, as he tends to stay away.

Apparently there was an eighth named Raspulstin or whatever… Snow wasn’t really paying attention. She’s too busy analyzing everything.

Magic was evil. Magic killed her mother. Magic is what creates the Wrathborne, the evil spirits of the Twists.

But these magicals… saved her.

[quantumfiddlesticks]

Gladiia is really such a wonderful character and it’s criminal to me that they neglect her so hard, like c’mon… she doesn’t even have a character theme…

I love how explicit they make the theme of the Abyssal Hunters’ found family with her and how she’s the first to call out that concept that art and culture is what separates humanity from the Seaborn - only for that exact point to be echoed in the way that Mizuki maintains his humanity through love and appreciation of art and culture (and, if the 4th IS3 ending is to be believed) eventually solves the problems of the Seaborn-human interaction coming from that basic appreciation

additionally the point of pride being the downfall of Aegir is so poignant to me. Despite Gladiia knowing that pride is what led the science consuls to remain in crumbling cities and die, she still maintains this stubborn sense of pride. She knows about all the self-fulfilling prophecies she’s falling into and yet refuses to let go of them, because in the end what is Aegir national identity but this stubborn pride? In the end, that same stubborn pride might be what’s let them persist so long despite the overwhelming force that is the Seaborn. you need something as unyielding as them to resist them, after all.

I also find the point that she is the only Hunter able to deal Arts damage pretty notable. Arts is distinctly unavailable to the Aegir, and her being this exemplar of Aegir pride has me curious… while it may just be a gameplay decision I want to believe that it isn’t (but at the same time she shows no other ability to use Arts in any of her lore and so it might not have any significance, honestly…)

I don’t think she knows about the real identity of the Doctor (iykyk, lonetrail spoilers) and just considers them as another land-dweller, but her appreciation for things that last is definitely something to be considered and if she were to find out about Doc’s identity I think she’d only grow closer with them. She has a healthy respect for Kal’tsit, after all… considering the connection of Precursors to Seaborn it’s something I would love to see explored.

[shippingfangirl013]

Conglomerate ST S5 Theory Parallels:

So, I wanted to make this post for Back to the Future parallels and what I’ve made of it.

(I grew up watching BTTF with my parents, so the trilogy holds a place in my heart. It’s a bit of a “Dad and me” movie, so, when I found out just how much Inspo the Duffers pulled from the movies, I was shocked but also very excited for S5.)

Anyways, here’s a bunch of parallels (and some interesting Will things I’ve found throughout S2 will be brought up, but that is getting it’s own post because it’s a LOT to dive into.)

First up, the Snow Ball and the Enchantment Under The Sea dance:

The color schemes are the exact same.

The one thing I noticed with the Snow Ball that was more interesting to me than anything else in that scene, is the fact that it’s ONLY the second time in S2 that Will and El are in the same building… and here, they are in the same space, but never meet.

After watching S4, we know that the Snow Ball is important. But for Max, the memory of the Snow Ball wasn’t enough to save her from Vecna. She may have been happy then, but ultimately, love saved Max.(platonic or not, no matter your take on it; love was the reason El was able to heal Max and bring her back to life. Now, if her memories are still intact is negotiable.)

Now, I thought about this, and I was wondering why Max’s happiest memory, (possibly being the Snow Ball), wasn’t enough to save her after she hid in the Snow Ball memory. . .

And I thought that, maybe the significance of the Snow Ball, thematically at least, had a few more underlying reasons for being emphasized, aside from possibly hinting at Elmax or Elumax (I’m still not sure if they will do that, but it’s Stranger Things - the subvert tropes show).

In BTTF, Marty’s parents have their first kiss at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. . . But at the Snow Ball, we have Joyce and Hopper having a moment outside by Joyce’s car, and Will and El are at the dance - even if they never see one another. It’s interesting to me, that El knew Will wasn’t doing well, and she’s just so certain of it when talking to Joyce in the bedroom, but then, later, the kids all go to the dance. I think that the importance of the Snow Ball is that Will, El, Hopper, Joyce, and Jonathan are all there… and it’s very paralleled to BTTF because of the timeline alteration that split their family apart.

Next, we have the Clock Tower storm and The U.D. / the Storm in S2 & S4:

So… this one seems self explanatory.

There’s a storm on the night Marty travels back in time.

There’s a storm the morning after Will goes missing in S1.

We see the storm in S2 with bolts of red lightning, and then we see the storm again in S4. Something that I wanted to point out here though, is that everyone looking out of windows; Lucas and Erica, Dustin, Steve, Robin, Holly, and Karen - they all only see storm clouds… they don’t see the view that Will & the others see. The importance there is that Will is very likely in a Vecna vision… and I think it just culminates at the end. I honestly think that Will and El were Vecna’d at the same time (and I’ll do a post on the blue flannels later, because it’s very interesting, but I need to get the parallels down so then I can add Part 2 of the overall theory)

Additionally, this kind of hints at Will having time powers, because we see the storm following him throughout the seasons. Now, the clock tower is also important because that is a direct parallel to Vecna/Henry/001 and the clocks… but it also parallels Will because of the Williams clock.

Another pretty obvious parallel is Will having a dog in S1 that looks almost exactly like Einstein- Doc Brown’s dog, the dog seems to act as a way of pointing to the weirder happenings in the show in S1, but then the dog is just… gone after S1. I think this parallels BTTF part 2, because Einstein is missing in most of the ‘Bad Timeline’. I think that the tv blip in S1 is the start of the “bad timeline” for Stranger Things; and it only gets worse from there on out.

Because, in the Bad Timeline, Marty’s mom marries Biff. George dies because Biff shot him with a gun. Marty basically becomes Biff’s step son, and his siblings are financially dependent upon Biff to pay their debts.

And Marty has the seemingly impossible task of fixing everything Biff did, which puts us in line with BTTF part 3 where they have to go fix something in the old west (I haven’t rewatched that one yet for analysis.)

And, in Stranger Things, once the timeline is altered:

Joyce marries Lonnie Byers (like Lorraine marries Biff)

Joyce and Hopper can’t remember being married with a family

Hopper dies (just like George dies)

Marty comes to and finds himself in this strange new place, his mom is there, but he isn’t at home- he’s at Biff’s penthouse (this reminded me of Will waking up in S1 - and asking “Where am I?” Because Marty also asks “Mom? Where am I?”)

El is in the lab & then breaks out (compared to Marty’s siblings not being around in Part 2)

The last parallel I wanted to bring up here is the bubble vest/puffer jacket:

This one seems like another obvious parallel… with Will wearing a vest very similar to Marty’s. But I’ve noticed that S2 is littered with extras wearing the same or similar vests, just the same way S1 is kind of littered with vests… I have to do some digging for S3 and S4, but I’ve found the vests most often in seasons 1 and 2. (I will post about this at some rate as well.)

But as far as BTTF parallels go, at least for parts 1 and 2, that’s sort of all have got at this point.

[queenmiarys]

A/N: hello everyone, this wasn't my intention to start writing then put things off , plus with this I tried to do my research and I asked a few of the ladies here some advice, a few weeks ago I called my uncle who's a doctor and asked him, so if any advice please just inbox me, I know no one who's even been shot before so here's what I came up with.

A/N please excuse any errors or misspellings, I did very little editing, this has been sitting in Google docs a while waiting on an end to be added. I want to thank anyone who reads and like my story. Any feedback is welcomed trust me I would not be offended, this is a learning experience to me, I wrote somewhat in middle school, I read others work and be like some of you could be professional writers.

------------

ENVY

Book: The Royal Romance

Paring: Liam x Mia

Summary: Summary: This takes place 2 years after meeting Riley, Liam meets 24 year old Amelia Ramos and starts a new relationship.

Rated R

Most characters belong to pixelberry

Warning: Gun violence, some profanity, 18+

Chapter 3 Disaster strikes

New York 

"Liam needs me, it's a big night, so Maxwell told me Liam has met someone he spent a lot of time with  while he was here."

"Yeah Drake told me about her, but do you think he's over Riley?"

"The way Max tells it he is, he said has the same look for Mia he used to have for Riley.

"Oh interesting but what about the situation?

"That's not our place, but thank you for being there for her, I love you."

"I love you too Olivia."  He pulled her close and showered her with soft kisses 

"Leo, you'll  make me late." I need to Shower and get dressed."

-------

Cordonia

Liam spent most of his day in meetings. He made it back to his quarters at 3pm, he knew Mia would be up around 7am to get ready for work.

She answered on the second ring. ”Hello beautiful, how is your morning going?"

“It’s okay I just really miss you a lot, "  I was just having coffee and doing a little online grocery shopping before work." Liam hit the FaceTime button

I miss you too, my love. I've closed the deal I was working on, so after this fundraiser, I can come visit for a few days. I know you have work and you planned to come here in 2 weeks." A  knock on his door. "My love someone is at my door, can you hold for a moment."

"Sure."

“My son, we need to talk."

“Okay father give me a minute I was on a call, I’ll be right back."

“My love It’s my father he needs to talk with me, I’ll call you when you get off work.( Kisses)

" Okay lo, I mean kisses talk to you later." Oh boy I almost told him I love him, good save I hope, you know it's too soon for that she said to herself.

"Yes Father?"

"May I come in?"

"Sure father" 

"Son, you know I'm  getting up in age, it's time I stepped down."

"When?"

"At the end of the next social season, William, I need you to find a wife. Madeleine is my first choice,  but I can understand you looking elsewhere, but to reality secure that you choose a good queen,Princess Francine Hassan of Morocco, or Princess  Alana of Norway, either woman would be a wonderful choice for Cordonia for different reasons and I met the princess of Norway she's so beautiful."

 "Father, I will not be in some loveless marriage or marry for Cordonia, I will find my own wife, someone I love and care about."

"All I have ever tried to do is protect you, from getting hurt, from experiencing the pain I was caused when someone took your mother, the only woman I've ever loved away from me, you are all I have left of her. 

He felt bad for his father, but he still wanted love and if he was granted a second chance, he was going to grab it and hold on for life. 

"I understand, but I'm a man you must trust that I'll make the right decisions regarding my love life." He finally said 

"Son, your enemies will  use  the people you love against you and that will hurt you more than anything, remember I love  you son, and only try to protect you." 

" I love you too father, but if you'll excuse me I gotta go, I take it you can  see your way out."

He walked into the hallway,  he took a deep breath to try calm his nerves before he called Drake. 

Hey Li."

"I really need to relax before this Gala, are you guys for a spa day?'

"Sounds good buddy." Max said 

"Yeah count me in." Drake said

They were all relaxing when Max brought up Mia.

Liam smiles at just thinking of her. " I am falling for her, I mean she could be the one, I don't know what about this woman that makes me so happy but I believe that we belong together, I mean she's beautiful, smart, caring and she smells absolutely amazing all the time, guys I so wish she were here tonight."

" Buddy I'm so happy to see you happy again, you deserve it."  Max said 

"And so do you Drake, you'll meet someone, who will make you happy." 

Liam Studied Maxwell for a moment, " My friend, so do you, are you still dating that Mark guy?"

Max,was  looking down avoiding eye contact, Drake turned to look into his eyes  "Okay Beaumont spill it, what are you hiding?" 

"I was on a date with Ava and Mark ruined my date, he caused a scene, both broke up with me.

"Why didn't you talk to us?" Liam asked

"Really, it's no big deal."

"I'm assuming this happened around 2 weeks ago? Drake said" 

"How did you know that?" 

"Well Beaumont you were in an unusually bad mood,"

Drake laughed. "Oh my God Beaumont, I just realized all the women you've dated are red heads."

Maxwell smiled. "So what about it?" 

“So you do have a thing for Liv?"

"I never thought of her that way, sometimes she can be kinda scary and sexy at times." Desire crossed his eyes for a moment 

“I don’t know you all made me think how hot she can be at times, but she probably would never date me

"Never know until you try Max, Liam patted him on the back

“Let face it Max said, she always had a thing for you Rys men.

"What do you mean men? I only knew she was kind of into me."

“Max and Drake laughed, kind of, she's been in love with you forever man."

“ But after she found out your feelings for blossom, I saw her making out with Leo ."

Both Drake and Liam's mouths hang open.

“My brother always gets what he wants but just plays with women's feelings too much, I hope he's not going to hurt my friend."

They all made it back to the  palace and went there separate ways to get ready for the Gala, it was now 7pm, Liam had the chef to prepare him dinner, there would be food but they served dinner really late at this event.

He ate, then showered and got dressed, it was 9pm time for the Gala. Mia was just getting off work, he faced her, she picked up on the first ring, “Hello beautiful how was your day?" 

“It was nice, I just miss you like  crazy, I have been thinking I own my own business and Jennifer is reliable, I want to come to visit you."

 “My love, that sounds wonderful, but I didn’t want to pull you away from anything important, you told me your work was very important."

“It is but in a short time you become important to me too, you told me you had a ball to attend right?".

“Yes a fundraiser to help families living on the streets of Cordonia, we give them a home and see if we can help them get on there feet, we only help them for a year, we support them  either till  they find a job or they opt out of the program, we hate to see that happen, we start this last year we helped 10 families get on their feet, last year we only raised 6 million." 

“I will ask my dad to put in 6 million for me, I’m sure once he sees why I’m asking he’ll have no problem  with it, we've been talking for 30 minutes and you have a ball to attend."

 “I'd rather stay in my suite talking to you all night, a knock on the door, he let out a sigh sorry my love It’s my guard (Kisses) call you once I am done."

————————————————————– 

He mingled  and  worked the room, he knew his smile could get him just about anything he wanted, he had already raised 10 million dollars this year, he thought about Mia 16 if her father gives, an older lady walked up that he had never saw before, she offered 20 million if I spent one night with her, I had to decline, after all she to old and I have a girlfriend.

 I worked the room more, Drake and Maxwell and Rashad, come over laughing, I see you sent Mrs. Ferguson." 

 “Neville actually  slept with her for her 30 mill for his father's charity event." Rashad said laughing.

“So gross I couldn’t imagine being with someone who could be my Nanna, come on I am only 26 and that lady is like 60/70." Liam said as he laughed. 

——————————————————————————-

Mia had hung up and went and showered, she hadn't washed her sheets yet that still smelled of him,  she only slept on his side of the bed, he had left a bottle of his cologne behind and she would spray a little in the air before falling asleep 

 She slept for about an hour before she heard banging on the door, it was almost five, they came in with wine coolers and food, Jen looked around. " Is your man back already?"

“I wish, sit guys I want to talk to you, Jennifer I need you guys help, I want to visit Liam, but I need someone I can trust with my baby, you both know how important my career is, but I got to be honest in a short time I’ve fallen in love with Liam .

“Love is big Mia, you just met him." Jen said.

“I know but  I have never felt this way for anyone before, sure I have loved guys but I was never in love with them." 

Her friend's mouth hung open, the sex must be good if he got you all in love, she didn’t look up at her, so you haven’t had sex?" Oh my God you really are in love."

“ Let's take your mind off this call my brother Amy, let’s play cards, Daniel came over.

 “So Dan, who's your new boy toy this week?

“Are you staying with mom again?" 

"Jen, please I'm fine, and God no I'm not staying with mom."

“I was just checking on you, I wish you would settle down and pick one guy, we all worry about you"

“Jen you start this every time you are drunk stop it, I am fine." 

 She didn’t say anything else, she took her phone out texting her mom.

The announcement caught Mia's attention. "Turn that up.

"This is Craig Shyster reporting from Corodia General hospital, we got a tip that Prince William Rys, was shot in the shoulder doing a Gala fundraiser last night and the person who shot him was shot dead on scene, right now we have no further information about the Prince condition at this time."

It was like someone punched me in the gut , I got dizzy, I was losing my mind, all flights were canceled to or from Cordonia, I got myself together, I called my father.

He could hear my voice trembling, asking what was wrong.

“Father, did you see the news about Prince William Rys?"

“Yes I saw it but what does that have to do with you?

“He’s the guy I was telling you about."

"No flights are going in or out. I need your private jet.

“Mia, that might not be a good idea, the prince just shot you in danger.

“Please father, I don't care, I need to get to the man I love."

“But you haven’t known him long and you believe you love him?"  

“Yes and he may be dying thinking I didn’t care enough to come be at his side, father please I’ll do  you want even let you put me back under your protection, I will follow whatever you want to  get me to Cordonia please."

—-------;--

2 hours earlier

Olivia and Penelope made their way over to Liam smiling, “ we made 4 times the amount as last year,

 Him and Olivia walked across the room. “So I hear you met someone"

“Who told you this? 

“I can’t reveal my secrets, but if this Mia woman is what you want I wish you all the best."

“Can I ask you something  Olivia?

“Sure you can."

 “Why didn’t you tell me about you and Leo?"

“Well we didn’t tell anyone it just happened."

"I assume my father doesn’t know, and how do you feel about Leo?

“I love him, and Con knows they had a big fight about 6 months back, we were at Leo’s in California when your father visited him, but don’t  worry me and Leo will handle it."

A man walked over and handed Liam a note saying his father needs to speak with him, unknown to Liam his father had got a similar note saying Liam needed to speak with him, excuse me lady Olivia

————————————————————–

Drake went along as  security, they entered the room and it was dark, “I guess my father hasn’t arrived yet, they turned on the light and one of the head guards, Damien, had a gun pointed at Constantine's head.

 “Dammit what are you doing Damien?"Drank asked

“ avenging my  parents death, see  along with Olivia parents, my family should be on the throne, my brother may have failed but I won’t."

"Your old man ordered my parents alone with Olivia parents to be assassinated for fighting for what was rightfully theirs, the Rys family should have never been on the throne

"Gentleman let me tell you, your father is not a good man

Drake's eyes went wide,giving an annoyed look. What the hell is he talking about your father.

Damien could see Drake trying to figure out what he was talking about

"Oh my Mr. Walker I assume that King Constantine has never told you he’s your real father?" Am I right?" He laughed."

“What? He’s not my father you fucken psycho and never will be!"

“Drake my boy I have documents that say otherwise,  the birth certificate you have is from America but see you were born here, your father the king arranged it all, for  Jackson to adopt you and legally become your father go on ask him to tell the truth ?'

Tears were running down Drake face, "TELL THIS SONOFABITCH YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER GO ON CON FOR ONCE IN YOUR MISERABLE LIFE TELL HIM HE’S WRONG."

“Son I can’t do that, it’s all true your mother was my mistress and she got pregnant, she didn’t know who your father was me or Jackson, but the test come back 99.9 that I was your father, so I paid off American doctor to say you were born in the US, were only a week old." 

Drake fort Back his emotions, he knew he had to sort out whatever feeling he had later, right now he had to stay in professional mood and dispose of the situation at hand

"Who dies first?" they head Damien ask

"I volunteer, please just let my boys go they haven't done anything but be born into the Rys family but they are innocent."

 " I love both of you and only try to do whatever is best for you." 

"How touching."  He pulled the trigger and Liam leaped in front of his father getting shot In his Left shoulder, both Constantine and Liam hit the ground, at this time Drake has managed to get his spare gun and shooting Damien dead.

Drake took off his dress shirt asking Constantine to apply pressure to the wound, until he can get some help

Once the EMT arrived, they were led in and out through a secret tunnel, they got him to hospital quickly.

[mentallyrecovering]

Choose Your Own Adventure

(So each of these polls are coming out to one full page on google docs so a little long like I said. Links to the past chapters are at the end)

The group has a pretty important decision to make! what do you choose? Each choice will take the story in a different direction!

The residents of Brisketville may not be as friendly as you think, or are they?

Long story after the page break

if you have any suggestions of plot or feedback feel free to message or send asks! I would love to know how you feel about the story!

The group awoke the next morning, after staying in the same room, to a knock on the door. Rowan looked through the peephole and saw that it was Anna with a cart of food by her side. The group, as irritated as they were to be woken up, opened the door. Anna was as chipper as can be for eight in the morning. She rolled the cart into the room and unveiled a full breakfast spread of pancakes, toast, muffins, fruit, and coffee. She excitedly exclaimed, “I hope you enjoyed the room. I still don’t know why you chose the same room but I am happy to accommodate you and breakfast is on the house.”

Everyone in the group, except Hazel, was happy to have a full breakfast in their room. Hazel thought it was odd, Why would a dying town’s inn serve full breakfast for free? Why would this strangely cheerful woman spend so much money on us? And on top of that, she hasn't even asked for money for the room. She didn't even want a card on file. Hazel was unsettled but didn't want to tell the group.

Sam, Rowan, and Taylor scarfed down their food and looked up at Hazel wondering why they weren't eating. Rowan teased, “what you suddenly don't like breakfast?” Haze reluctantly ate a bite of a blueberry muffin. Rowan went on about how they hadn’t eaten breakfast so tasty in their life. The whole group talked about how addicting the food was, how nice it was to get everything for free.

When they finished breakfast they went downstairs to see if their car had been fixed. Anna was waiting for them at the desk. “I hope you enjoyed breakfast, sorry I woke y’all up. Is there anything else I can get for you?” Rowan replied back, “Yes, we need to talk to Jared about our car being ready.” Anna’s face twitched for a split second as if she didn't know what to say before she replied, “oh Jared told me it would be a couple days actually, something about the coils and cylinders misfiring. But don't worry he will fix it eventually. Why don't you take a look around town?’

Hazel turned to the group after they had walked out of the inn and said, “this is really messed up. How do you not see that? Everything for free? Why are they pampering us?” Rowan, who was quiet this whole trip agreed adding, “It feels like they are setting us up for something.” Taylor and Sam on the other hand just thought it was an act of kindness and brushed off everything that had been said. The group continued to walk around town. 

Al man approached the group. Hazel noticed a weird tattoo on the man's right hand; it was an oval with a snake in the middle showing its fangs, Rowan noticed too. The man offered to show them around town and mentioned taking them to a vineyard right outside town. This time the whole group was hesitant. A vineyard in this area? The man repeated his offer. Do they…

Go with the man

Decline and continue walking around on their own

https://www.tumblr.com/mentallyrecovering/716212039957315584/i-have-to-add-that-there-will-be-reading-in-the?source=share (starting post)

https://www.tumblr.com/mentallyrecovering/716334914436497408/choose-your-own-adventure?source=share (1st post)

https://www.tumblr.com/mentallyrecovering/716427608586321920/choose-your-own-adventure?source=share (2nd post)

https://www.tumblr.com/mentallyrecovering/716427608586321920/choose-your-own-adventure?source=share (3rd post)

[meenatranslates]

[R] Taichi | Emperor Penguin's Invitation

I’d look cute if I wear ‘white’, but I’d also look cool if I wear ‘black’... Which one’s good for me...? I’m torn between these two choices~!

Lead Skill: Cool or Cute

Adlib Skill: Mr. Penguin Waving Hands

*Card and skill names may change

Starting the new year with a Taichi translation :D

From here on, I'm gonna combine two parts into one post, since it's easier that way to import the doc to here. im lazy

Translation under the cut

__________________________

__________________________

I Want to Keep Using This Forever - Part 1

*Director's default name as Izumi

―Living Room (Day)―

Izumi: The shooting for “VELUDO” this time is in Hokkaido, so are you done packing for the travel?

Taichi: Not yet! But I was actually about to do it though.

I’ve already decided what to bring so I think I’ll be done with it pretty soon!

Izumi: Sounds like you’re gonna be fine, huh.

―Taichi & Omi’s Room (Evening)―

Taichi: Director-sensei will get worried if I delay this packing any later, so let’s get to it now.

Which bag to use...... Think I’ll go for the usual one.

Omi: Hm? Taichi, you’re going to use that duffel bag? I don’t think you can fit all your stuff in that.

Taichi: Huh? I use this every time I go travel so I’m sure it’ll be fine!

Omi: Really? If you say so...

Oh, look at the time. I better go and prepare dinner since it’s already this late.

Taichi: Okay, see you later~. I can’t wait to eat the dinner for tonight!

Omi: I’ll be making delicious dishes later, so look forward to that.

Taichi: Got it!

*Omi left*

Taichi: ...Right, let’s start packing our bag now!

―(Night)―

Taichi: ...I’m finally done!

Man, I’m so hungry~. It’s already dinner time, so I better go eat now!

―Living Room―

Kazunari: Oh, Taicchan! You done with packing already?

Taichi: Yeah, but how d’you know that I was packing my stuff?

Muku: We heard Omi-san and Director talking about it.

Kazunari: We were wondering how you pack your luggage just by using a duffel bag~! (1)

Taichi: ‘How’ you say, like normal!

Muku: But still, you must be good at packing since you managed to fit all your stuff with just a duffel bag for going to Hokkaido.

I’m a bit curious to see how you did it.

Taichi: If that’s the case, I’ll bring it here after we’re done with dinner!

Muku: Thank you!

―――

Taichi: Here it is!

Kazunari: Huh?! Seriously? You really gonna use this only?

Izumi: It’s smaller than I thought...!

Tsuzuru: You’re going to go Hokkaido with just this? That’s amazing.

Yuki: That’s not enough no matter how you look at it.

Taichi: But all the necessary stuff are in here! Look, here’s what I packed...

_________________________________________

(1) May be or maybe not but seems like Kazu is using Shokotanese slang here. Near the end of the original line for this is “気になりまくりんぐ～！” (ki ni nari makurin gu)

りんぐ is a word in Shokotanese that is used like “verb” + “ing”.

I’m guessing the closer translation would be "I’m so curious-ing~”.

_________________________________________

I Want to Keep Using This Forever - Part 2

__________________________

Taichi: ...And that’s all! My clothes and even underwear is included too, so it’s all perfect~!

Muku: Um, it’s true that you’re not missing anything...

Tsuzuru: Don’t you think your clothes are too thin? You’re going to Hokkaido, you know.

Kazunari: You’re gonna catch a cold with just these, Taicchan!

Taichi: You think so? I thought it’d be fine if I just wear one more layer...

Izumi: Nuh-uh, it’ll be tough for you to handle the winter at Hokkaido with just these alone.

Yuki: I think so too. But if you don’t mind getting frozen, then I guess these should be okay enough.

Taichi: Uuuhh, I don’t wanna get frozen, so I’ll go back and get some thicker clothes!

―――

Umph... Hnnngh...

No good~! I can’t close the bag at all! Winter clothes are too bulky~!

Citron: Taichi, you should use this at a time like this!

Muku: Is that a compression bag?

Citron: Yes, it is!

Yuki: Where the heck did you even get it from?

Kazunari: But hey, your winter clothes should be able to fit in this now!

Taichi: Yeah, I’m gonna try it!

Okay, so I put all these in, and zip it up...

Muku: Now we just need the air to get removed.

Taichi: Aight, gotta roll it and push out the air...... AH! The zipper’s opened up...

Izumi: Is it because there are too many clothes in it?

Yuki: Could be.

Kazunari: Let’s try lessening them and do it one more time!

Taichi: Right, let’s see... Gotta take out some clothes...

Zip 'em, then roll it...... Wait, huh?!

Muku: Oh no, the zipper...!

Taichi: It broke~!

Citron: Oh, was it a cheap item?!

Izumi: Hm, we can’t use this compression bag anymore...

Taichi: Yeah...

Tsuzuru: You’ll need it in the future too, so how about you buy a bigger one?

Taichi: I want to, but I’m out of money right now...

Yuki: *sigh* Can’t be helped. I’ll make a bag for you.

Taichi: EH! You will?!

Yuki: I still got some fabrics left, and I also have some time to make something like a bag anyway.

Taichi: Thanks, Yuki-chan. I’ll take up your words then!

―Next Day: Taichi & Omi’s Room (Evening)―

Yuki: Taichi, the bag’s done.

Taichi: EH?! Already?!

Yuki: Yeah, here.

Taichi: Woahhh! It’s so stylish! I really like it!

Yuki: That’s a given since I’m the one who made it. I went out of my way to make that bag, so you better use it a lot.

Taichi: Of course! I’ll use this for the rest of my life!

Yuki: You don’t need to go that far...

Taichi: This will last me a lifetime because you made it for me after all!

Thanks a lot, Yuki-chan! I’m gonna use it tons of times later, so I’ll take really good care of this!

Story Clear!