#i might just have original characters for that....i honestly have no clue what to do

[coern]

I FIGURED OUT HOW TO FIX THE PROBLEM OF NOT KILLING OFF SAKI IN THE BOTW AU. GIRLS WIN 👍

[conflictofthemind]

Take Me To Church-Gate

A few weeks back, I received a tip that Noah and Finn came into Atlanta for a couple of days to rehearse a scene alone together that never ended up being filmed. This was around the time of the convention that Finn ended up missing in early June (and we initially theorized was for the playground scenes).

I since received confirmation of not only this, but that the rehearsal in question was for a scene at the UD church set. The filming never went through because Noah got an eye infection / sty, so the shoot was rescheduled for early August. If you've seen me mentioning looking forward to August, this is what that was about.

The Eye Infection:

Let me link this post to begin with, barring the 'James' stuff who has proven to be false. I heard about the eye infection and my alarm bells rang immediately - I have a friend myself who wears contacts occasionally and whenever they get sties, they're always caused by the contacts. When has Noah worn contacts before in the show? When Will is being possessed by the mindflayer in Season 2.

The church is an interesting location, because it most definitely has to do with Henry as well. When the original countdown for TFS was being posted, there were images of a church - a location that may have been changed during development. The characters most likely go there as part of the continuing Henry investigation.

And we know Henry was exorcised at some point, but it failed. The sign going into the church is also a likely clue to this, referencing Mark 9:29 - a verse about a failed exorcism.

Conclusion for this part: Will very likely becomes possessed again while in this church. My source tells me they usually only do big rehearsals like this for scenes involving action, too.

My opinion is that Will was never fully exorcised either. I mean, he still has a clear connection to the mindflayer with all the tingles on his neck and the possible literal psychic connection he has to Vecna as well.

It's Byler, Too:

I suspect that Jamie has some part in the scene as well (given they scheduled it during his latest block on set), but the focus is on Will and Mike - being the only two other main characters on set at the time, and the only two rehearsing.

But going back to the church thing.... I wonder what kind of symbolism is created by bringing two gay characters who both have a lot of internalized shame into a location that is honestly the source of said shame? It's honestly not even symbolism. It might just be referenced in plain text. Looking back at that church sign:

"This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer"

"This kind" really evokes the dehumanising language used by homophobes to refer to gay people. And the driven out by prayer part, well that really evokes conversion 'therapy' practices of praying the gay away. So what if this is where Will and Mike finally admit their love for each other, and kiss. And what if that is actually what's able to drive the 'demon' away - gay love.

Especially during the Satanic Panic arc we are sure to see come full circle with the reckoning of the Hellfire Club in Season 5.

An arc which Mike is surely at the centre of as well, being not only a Hellfire Member in the past, but being family to the new disappeared child in town.

And it's not like Mike's love is what's been shown to us time and time again as the way to break Will out of his mindflayer trance. Oh, wait.

Consider it incredibly fanfic-y, but it's on the table now. An action scene at the church involving Byler where Noah is wearing contacts - Will becoming possessed just like Henry again and being made to fight Mike as not only part of the plan to get all of the Wheelers, but also as something that would break Will's spirit permanently. They're all alone with nobody to help save Mike. But the plan is thwarted through the power of love, and in a place that represents a lot of shame for gay men (especially in the 80s) - they finally come together. And it is love that frees Will from his trance. Whether through a confession or true love's kiss. It would be so dramatic and atmospheric.

Additional evidence:

Jopper's Season 4 reunion and kiss inside the Russian church, of which this would be a parallel.

The whole idea of "we kissed, as though nothing could fall. And the shame was on the other side" from David Bowie's Heroes - the shame being in the actual church from the rightside up, but they're alone together on the other side / in the Upside Down.

It is also very likely that this scene is from Episode 5 or 6. I've asked and nobody seems to know which episode it is from, but following the logic of Episode 4 being when the characters enter in groups into the Upside Down, and here Byler are all alone, it is definitely after some time has passed and groups have split further. They're definitely not having any kind of confession in the first half of the season, so this timing sounds positive.

Multiple rehearsals. Noah contacting his acting coach recently for advice. Them even having to cancel an entire shoot because of a sty indicates close-up shots for sure.

Anyway. I'd really love to see people's thoughts on this. I feel like there's even more I could get into in follow-up posts, especially if other people chime in with their thoughts. I have been buzzing about this scene for weeks now. I want to start another gate for old time's sake, so please use #churchgate if you want to make your own posts about this!

[cartoon-cass]

Comprehensive breakdown of MURDER DRONES - Episode 7: Mass Destruction

I saw a breakdown of this episode on youtube and it was just clearly rushed so I want to do this episode justice so here's my comprehensive breakdown.

New intro, look at them! They look so happy, that is not the case in the episode, to say the least. With how much rubber hosing this animation has I would not be surprised if this was done by Kevin Temmer Tunes with what he learned from amazing digital circus Edit: N was animated by Micah Preciado and Uzi by Zachary Preciado

Bad day to accidentally grab the wrong uniform, I do wonder where the actual Dr.Chambers was in all this. Wonder if it would have made a difference... probably not.

Not actually important but having the shadows of the claws that aren't actually there be the thing to interact with the world is fucking cool as hell. This whole scene is a cool twist on an exorcism with robots and science.

Like look at this, it's a pentagram magnet, a normal pentagram from my basic pop culture understanding it's meant to not only summon a demon but also keep them from leaving the circle. A strong magnet is so smart for this case as it's used to keep Nori in place, I mean it doesn't end up working in the end but it's the thought that counts.

It took my second watch of this episode to realize why the lights got turned on, it revealed the tentacles and claws but it's sun light, the same stuff that burns the Disassembly Drones and Uzi. It even has the same effect as in the end of Episode 4

Can I just say how extra it is making the USB a crucifix, I love it. Also I just notice that on the end of the crucifix the detailing is actually in the shape of a USB symbol, the details in this show is amazing, you can see all the love that went in to it.

This is probably the most terrifying way to hold these robots. I couldn't blame any of the robots for wanting to kill the human good god. Also Yeva playing Tetris, the game has a lot of ties to Russia so wonder if she spoke Russian too, she doesn't speak in this episode and not sure if we'll get more flashback with her so not sure if we will ever find out.

Not sure why Mitchell stop Yeva from entering the church but I like to think he thought Yeva was like a kid, look at him holding her hand in the scene before, and was trying to keep her save and knew something was off. That being said I'd love to hear what you think is his reasoning, sound off in the comments/reblogs.

Pulling back we can see Nori, specifically her core, looking at a crucifix comparing it to the USB crucifix in the video to see if it's the one with the patch, it's not, so she goes out for the hunt to see if she can find it.

Like daughter, like mother, honestly cool little details that lets us know what kind of character Nori is with the very little time we have with her. Drawing made presumably by her of herself as a human cat girl, twice, motor oil cans everywhere, a fricking ninja star, nightcore music, a anime statue that might be a reference to something but I have no clue, also magnets which have been used in the passed like drugs so that's um... something.

was originally just going to point out the funny little animation errors in this scene, as the paper goes through the Ipod and the crinkled paper is mirrored but then I wanted to check what was on the paper and...

It's a missing poster of all things? it uses the exact posters used in episode 3 it's probably just reusing assets but I thought it was a cool thing to point out.

Uzi bleeds blood in these scenes and it's not necessarily mentioned out loud, clearly something AS related, but there might be more to it, or it just looks cool.

This man is in some serious denial, but credit where credit is due, when "Tessa" tells N to stop he turns around, and when Uzi apologized for not being able to help he immediately apologized for Snapping at her. Also look at Tessa's little pointing, thought it was funny.

N: "We're not going to hurt you."

I can't blame Uzi for taking this the wrong way, he's clearly telling Tessa off but all Uzi hears is "hurt you", hence why she only parrots that part.

Thad: "Aaand you won't tell me why we're wandering around 'cause...?" Lizzy: "I'm a good friend, and secrets are blackmail. And it's not about football." Thad: "Okay. Does your secret friend want to know about football, or...?"

Anyone else wondering who Lizzy's good friend is? The only 2 characters we know are good friends with Lizzy are Doll and V. It's possible that through everything Doll sent a text to Lizzy asking her to do something but I feel like V just makes more sense. This does assume V made her way away from the sentinels, if I had to guess she's just a core at the moment which might be why she couldn't do it herself, no wings nor weapons as a core, also makes the blackmail line make more sense.

N: "I deserve this. I deserve this. I deserve this."

Baby girl NO! no you don't, your too hard on your self

That scream. That cut. *chef's kiss* perfect.

This scene just shows us why Uzi went towards the church. Also note when she's the most stressed her eye turns yellow so it does seem stress is the deciding factor whether she can be possessed.

V/AS: You know, you're one of the main reasons... [voice glitching] ...I wanted your team to retain your personalities.

This quote I think has some interesting implications, I mean it obviously confirms that the DD squad was influence by AS but it might also be why it keeps a bit of the personality of which ever host it's using.

This scene holy shit, the music, the lighting, the sound design and animation, that's how you do horror! You don't even need detailed gore, in fact most of it is just off screen. like look at the DD's off in the distance one catches the pilot of the helicopter mid air then they fight over it like hungry animals.

Ok so I hit the image limit and it's almost 1 in the morning so I'm gonna go to bed and continue this tomorrow

~to be continued~

[storm-and-starlight]

revisiting my opinions on which doctors could pull off Heaven Sent

could do it with minimal alterations to the original episode's plot and dialogue

Twelve - obviously

Eight - could 100% pull off the speeches and the angst and, of course, the memory loss. The episode would definitely be focused a little more on the great tragedy of dying over and over and over again just in the hopes of making it through enough loops to break out, and Eight would be much much more of a sad wet cat about it all, but he could totally pull it off.

Seven - would take a bit more tweaking than Eight (specifically to change the focus of the episode to the puzzle of it all, finding the right room and figuring out the secret of the Veil), but would 100% punch his way through the wall and be able to pull off the speeches.

could maybe do it? but with pretty major edits

Four - definitely has the charisma and the ability to give the speeches, but I don't know if the speeches as written would fit well into how Four talks, and he'd also need the same tweaking at Seven to make it more about solving the mystery, rather than the very atmospheric style of the original. The wall scene would also probably have to be reworked, since Four doesn't really seem like the type to punch through it in the exact same way as Twelve.

Three - could and would punch through the wall and would do it in half the time of Twelve but couldn't carry off the angst or the atmosphere, so you'd need some pretty dramatic rejiggering of the major stylistic choices in order to make it work. Honestly, you might have to really lean into a, like, horror/thriller kinda thing, with the pursuit of the Veil?

could pull off a focus episode but would need a fundamentally different style

Ten/Fourteen - absolutely has the screen presence but they need someone to talk to in order to get it, and the same is true of their problem-solving style. They need someone to bounce off of as an antagonist and as a companion -- basically, they need the same setup as Wild Blue Yonder, which is basically exactly what Fourteen's version of Heaven Sent would be anyways. (Also Ten doesn't do speeches like Twelve does, and definitely wouldn't punch through the wall -- his problem-solving style leans more towards the whole "push a single button that sets off a chain reaction that solves everything" rather than sheer stubborness. He doesn't have the attention span for the wall.)

Nine - Nine also has the screen presence but his comes when he's angry at something, which means that he needs something to yell at, so he would also need another speaking being present in the episode for him to get really really mad at. Think Dalek but without the Rose subplots?

probably not (note: the major reason why none of these work for Heaven Sent is because they're all Doctors that work best with an ensemble cast around them -- they sacrifice intensity and screen-presence for the sake of letting other characters shine)

Eleven - doesn't have the screen presence for that kind of intensity, alas. He could pull off the speeches in his own style, but he's not hypnotic while doing them the same way Twelve is, and he definitely doesn't have the type of personality to pull off the wall. His best emotional episodes are smaller and closer to the heart, and Heaven Sent is anything but small.

Five - could not pull off the speeches or the wall or the puzzle. He's a sweetheart and a golden retriever but he's not nearly dramatic enough to carry a solo episode like that.

Two - same as Five, really

One - just... no. I can't pull out any reasons (it might just be that he's from an era of television that was so very different in how it constructed stories), but no

no clue

Fifteen - hasn't been around long enough for me to get a sense of his personality

Thirteen - never really had a consistent personality in the first place. or any good emotional episodes so I don't feel like I know her well enough to make a judgement call

Six - just straight-up haven't seen very much of his run so I couldn't say how he'd fit in Heaven Sent.

[thetriboulet]

Woooo so the Magnus Protocol premiered and I have things to say and things to overanalyse!

As we know, 'Chester', 'Neil' and 'Augustus' are, maybe?, Jon, Martin, and Jonah, respectively. Hence this:

And, of course, there's 'J1', 'M1' and 'J2' in the trailer.

However, I've seen confusion over the fact that the third 'Error' is voiced by Tim Fearon, who as far as I'm aware has not previously voiced any characters in the Magnus universe. Even though the name is distorted, I can make out what looks to be an H at the end of the name, so this very well may be Jonah.

My theory is this: 'Augustus' is Jonah (or just his voice). However, since the body of Elias was killed in the Panopticon, Jonah does not use Elias' voice anymore. Jon, Martin, and Jonah are all disembodied, if we are to believe they are somehow inside the computer/other technology (ie Alice/Sam's phone in the pub scene) or in some way somewhere adjacent to the world of Protocol. So it could, in a dream-logicy eldritch sense, follow that Jonah is able to survive in his own creepy old ass man way, and use his original voice. Obviously, I cannot corroborate this claim in any meaningful way. We have not heard Augustus speak yet, but I think it is a possibility nonetheless.

The fact that Augustus supposedly shows up to read cases aloud significantly less than Chester and Neil could also be a clue. Maybe Jonah is weaker than Jon and Martin due to his injuries, and is therefore unable to materialise as often as Jon and Martin. Maybe the voice that speaks the true cases (because, similarly to how true statements were identified using the tape recorder in TMA, I imagine true cases will be singled out using the text to speech system) is relevant to the case itself - ie, Jonah only speaks when a case is heavily linked to the Eye, etc.

Furthermore, there's the question of who is spying on who and when/why. By this I mean that we hear our perspective switch between devices (the phone, the computer, the security camera during Colin and Sam's interaction, etc), and I believe that this happens because one or more of the 'Errors' (as I am going to refer to them henceforth) is travelling between devices to spy on the characters' conversations. What we hear is dictated by what the Errors, characters who have prior knowledge of the Fears, deem important. This is backed up by the episode's closing scene: Colin's paranoid closing lines. It is clear that Colin believes someone is listening to them, and it is implied that he has made a connection between this and the Errors. What intrigues me is the Errors' motivation for doing this at all. If what they deem important is what we hear, and this is the first that we are hearing, then it seems to me that it is Sam's arrival that has given them cause for concern, or (in Jonah's case) hope (if he is plotting to return, or something, I don't put it past the scheming weasel). So, why are they listening? And how can we really tell if what we are hearing is the spying of Jonah, or of Jon and Martin?

Another thing. Jonny makes a point of letting us know that Alice does not think the work they do is of any significance, or is checked by anyone. She constantly mentions it in passing and is very casual in her attitude towards work. We obviously have the foresight to know this isn't true. The reason I point this out is because of what Sam does when filling out his paperwork: he ticks the 'Response' box, to which Alice responds that it doesn't matter. This could be nothing, it probably is nothing, but I feel like the fact that Sam has ticked the onboarding box of a mysterious department of an already mysertious organisation might come up later...

Yes I know I am jumping to a lot of conclusions, especially where the Errors are concerned. Please take every theory you hear, from me or anyone else, with a grain of salt, this is all speculative. From a writer's perspective, I honestly think it's pretty likely that Chester and Neil aren't actually Jon and Martin, and just their voices taken by the Web or something, but shh I can dream.

Edit: oh my god they changed his name to Norris that is even worse. Jonny and Alex were fr like 'neil is too kind, we need the name to be Chester levels of horrific'

[ryin-silverfish]

LMK S5 Fix-it: the Four Divine Beasts

My feeling on LMK S5 has stayed pretty consistent after first watching the Chinese dub: "nice character moments, but what even is this worldbuilding?"

And personally, the Four Divine Beasts/Guardians/Symbols are the biggest symptom of S5's worldbuilding problem.

Namely, they feel more like plot devices that are just there to die and cough up the Color Stones, and as a result, 4/5 of the "Find the Color Stone" plotline felt like a worse version of S3 and the Samadhi Rings, but with even less flavor.

Now, I'm aware of the 11-minute episode constraint, as well as the pressure the studio change might have created that contributed to the overall feeling of rushed-ness.

However, my criticism here is about the writing and worldbuilding, not the animation quality——things that, in my humble and uneducated opinion, could have been done a lot better even if we were sticking to the "Find the McGuffins" plotline.

Thus, this post. As always: very lengthy, very Chinese-mythos inspired.

Four Guardians & Five Phases

A brief Google Search on the Four Symbols, aka Sixiang, will tell you this: the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird and Black Tortoise are divine beasts in Chinese mythology that watch over the four directions, each associated with a color and one of the Five Phases.

(An old post of mine briefly talked about their origins as personifications of four big constellations that occupy a quadrant of the sky each, and their relations to the 28 Lunar Mansions)

And S5 certainly paid homage to their elemental associations, however brief and surface-level it is.

The Vermillion Bird's ability to use fire and its flaming temple is the most notable example, but this screenshot of the seal that appeared at the temple entrances also shows five symbols:

From middle left, going in the clockwise direction, these appear to be the characters for Wood, Water, Fire, Earth and Metal in Oracle Bone/Bronze Script.

Which begs the question...why would you spend so much effort on the tiny visual details, yet not show most of their elemental association through the narrative itself?

Like, suppose you are a foreign audience that knows nothing about Chinese culture and legends, who have just finished watching S5, and I ask you "What elemental powers do each of the Four Symbols have?"

Apart from Vermillion Bird = Fire (the obvious one) and the Black Tortoise = maybe Earth (which is not mythos-accurate, btw), can you honestly answer it, based only on what the show has given you?

Which leads me to my biggest gripe: their random-as-hell placement.

Even the Samadhi Rings have a map, however vague it is, but with the Color Stones, the gang basically just wandered all over the place in the hope of eventually running into one of the divine beasts——and they did, somehow!

Like, I'm not asking the writers for an entire mini-arc that's just them piecing the clues together. But will it be too much to let SWK or Tang make an off-hand comment like this?

"Well, legends said that the Four Symbols watch over the four directions and their respective elements. So if we wanna find them, we just gotta go real far in these directions, toward places with the most of that... elemental stuff! Right?"

And that brings me to the actual fix-it part. The Vermillion Bird can stay where she is, but the placement of the other three should also logically follow their elemental associations.

Oh, and though there's limited space for their characterization, they should at least get some individual characterization apart from "wise ancient guardians".

Xuanwu, Black Tortoise of the North

The fact that Xuanwu, or rather, it's snake half, can transform into stone at will might lead you to believe that its element is Earth.

Well...no, not traditionally; the Black Tortoise and the North correspond to Water in the Five Phases system, and I'm gonna both stick to that and build my fix-it off this foundation.

Instead of cosplaying a stone statue in the middle of nowhere, Xuanwu is gonna be residing on one of the islands in the North Sea, where dark tides and huge snow storms rage endlessly under the sunless sky.

So Sandy, being the water travel specialist, is gonna head out there on his boat. Mei would go to her great x N granduncle, Ao Guang's place, to see if he has any clues on, well, this big blue dragon that's also of the East.

Pigsy and Tang would head west, classic JTTW style, towards the mythical Mt. Kunlun where Queen Mother of the West resides (based on one of Tang's books that said the White Tiger was her emissary), while SWK performs an all-round search everywhere on his somersault cloud.

Which leaves MK: his dilemma is not about some random divergence in the road, but which of his friends to follow. Like, what if he goes with one person, and something bad happen to the others in the meantime?

In the end, even though he reluctantly goes with Sandy, he is still constantly distracted by his worries about everyone else, which segments nicely into the meditation training of S5E3.

But since they are doing it on a boat, there can be an external storm to go with the internal storm, causing further distractions for MK and also forcing them to seek shelter on the nearest island.

An island that, strangely, seems to be coated in a thin layer of ice. It isn't just the earth that's frosted over: all the plants, a few unfortunate multi-headed (???) seabirds, and a snake have also turned into ice statues...

Wait, snake? How does a reptile survive this far out in the north?

They have a bigger concern, however. The ice is slowly but steadily spreading, over the beaches and the surrounding seawater, and if they don't finish the search soon, the ice might get too thick for the boat to break.

So MK dashed off to do a grid-by grid search, then circled back to the place with all the frozen statues...and found the snake missing.

Cue, peak paranoia moment, and going on a wild-goose chase for the missing snake that might or might not be an ice-wielding demon waiting to ambush them.

In fact, the snake almost seems to be taunting them, seeing how they run into several "frozen snake statues" that turned out to be made of actual, solid ice. Sandy keeps reminding him to stop and think, while MK finds it harder and harder to put the lessons to practice.

By following the trail of ice statues, however, they eventually arrived on a little island in the middle of a frozen lake, where the real snake——the one half of Xuanwu lay coiling around the Blue Color Stone.

Just when MK is about to dash out and grab it, the snake comes to life with a hiss, and they barely dodged the ice spikes rising up from underneath their feet.

"Begone, foul spawn of Hundun! Return to thy conniving master, ilk of the Floodbringer, before I freeze every single drop of thy tainted blood!" "Um, I-I think you've mistaken me for someone else? I'm the Monkie Kid, and I'm here to collect your Color Stone so I can save the world——" "Doth thee mistake me for a fool, too?" The snake bore its fangs, rising its head high up into the air. "I can feel the flames of dear Lingguang on you, murderer, ripped straight out of its rightful owner's chest! She would not have perished without a fight, nor shalt I!" "Enough, Zhiming."

The tiny island itself begins to shake, revealing the other half of Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise itself. The snake still manages to half-encast Sandy in ice, before the Black Tortoise traps it inside a ball of flowing water.

She briefly apologized for her twin's hostility——whereas the strain of keeping the world together affects her body in the form of visible cracks, her other half has not been in his right mind ever since the Vermillion Bird's fall, living in the distant past and rarely able to perceive the present.

(The whole conversation is punctuated by the snake's psychic screeches in the background, which alternates between accusing her of betrayal and stating she must have fallen victim to the "poisonous blood of the enemy".)

Which makes the upcoming trial even more necessary. No, it's not "mercy-kill her twin". Yet. MK needs to prove his ability to control his body and mind, that his psyche will not break like her other half here under the tremendous pressure.

Thus, the trial of meditation. And he needs to act fast, for she cannot hold the snake back for long, as made evident by the slowly creeping ice inside and outside his watery prison.

"If you are truly worthy, then vanquish your fears, and stand before us in your true form. Brandish Lingguang's stone, so that we may be released from our watch in the long night."

MK succeeded, like he did in canon, with a small difference: his mastery of the monkey form is required for, and enables the limited usage of the stone's power.

So, holding the Red Color Stone, he unleashes a wave of fiery light that melts away the ice on Sandy and finally brings the snake back to his senses...somewhat.

He only managed to say the Vermillion Bird's name in a wistful voice, exclaiming "How I missed thy warm flames!" before melting into a puddle of water.

The other half of Xuanwu soon followed after giving him the stone, disintegrating into a mass of snowflakes that is swept away by the wind, but not before dropping one last bit of foreshadowing:

"Trust not the Floodbringer's Emissary."

(Sidenote: I think it'll be neat if the Four Symbols refer to each other using their IRL Daoist titles. Vermillion Bird - Lingguang, Black Tortoise & Snake - Zhiming, Azure Dragon - Mengzhang, White Tiger - Jianbing)

Azure Dragon & White Tiger

...And I thought Xuanwu's placement was random.

No, seriously, why is there a random music festival that just happens to be Azure Dragon and White Tiger themed that just happens to be near the actual place the two divine beasts are at?

To stay within the show's time constraint, I will not be giving White Tiger his individually themed placement, and instead try to come up with something that is appropriate for the pair as a whole.

Since Azure Dragon's associated element is Wood, it makes sense for him to have plant powers. Namely, whereever the divine beast resides, floras and faunas will flourish, no matter how out of place with the local geography and climate.

Once Mei learned that from Ao Guang, theoretically, it becomes quite the easy find: the mythical oasis city in western China, one that shows up multiple times in historical travel records yet has never been found by archeologists.

And the reason will soon become clear, as Tang and Pigsy make the drive from one desert city to another on their way to Mt. Kunlun (joined by Mei after she returned from the Samadhi Fire side-arc).

Namely, it's like a magical version of the famous Peach Blossom Spring of Chinese literature: an entire city that has been glamored over by the power of the divine beasts, occupied by people whose way of life hasn't changed since the Tang dynasty.

But as the guardians' powers fade, so does the illusion that veils it from the outside world, and the elemental magic that sustains this paradise.

Instead of a music festival, the gang finally discover the city that, according to the locals, has appeared out of thin air a few days ago, while it is in the middle of an archaic ritual procession.

The atmosphere is a lot more solemn, and it isn't hard to see why. Not only has the illusion vanished, exposing them to a profoundly alien world, the foliage of the oasis are growing and dying in rapid succession, clogging the streets with fallen leaves and yellowed petals.

An opera play is going on atop a nearby stage. It sings of a teal-robed immortal who rescued the refugees of a long-forgotten war, who turned desert into fertile soil with the help of a mighty divine general, concealing their existence from the greed and malice of the outside world.

The people in the procession knelt down and pleaded to the immortal for aid, to not abandon them in their hour of need. And their prayers are, indeed, answered, just not by the divine beasts in person.

The 14 Lunar Mansions that belong to the Azure Dragon and White Tiger descended from the sky, summoned by their masters, though they seemed to have been given different orders.

Namely, the Azure Dragon 7 spread out to guard all the major city gates, letting no one enter or leave, while the White Tiger 7 are ordered to round up all the residents and start setting up a teleportation formation.

Soon afterwards, Nezha arrived in the midst of the chaos. He is just as clueless as to what was going on as the Monkie Kid gang, but the moment he caught sight of SWK and friends, he's after them in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, Li Jing is not happy about the Lunar Mansions suddenly acting without his orders, and commanded them to stand down or be arrested for insubordination.

"With all due respect, Devaraja Li——" Before the Moon Fox Star could finish her sentence, another stellar beast stepped forth, his tiger tail swishing behind him. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Results: most of the Azure Dragon 7 get sucked into his pagoda, but while they were fighting, the White Tiger 7's formation activated, teleporting the majority of the city residents to god knows where.

While shit was hitting the fan, Tang hurriedly teleported the gang away, right into the sanctuary of the divine beasts——an underground temple.

"It's over, Mengzhang. Now that the Harbinger is on our doorsteps, and your pet mortals are safe at the cost of our loyal warriors, will you finally rest easy?" "Not...yet. There are still...stragglers, left behind." "Stragglers you have doomed yourself! Their fate is sealed the moment you cast your mirage over their ancestors and create this little utopia, frozen in time." The cracks on the tiger's body widened. A thick layer of condensation began forming on the metal reliefs, as if the very walls of the temple were weeping. "I should have never agreed to stay and help." "Yet you...still did. And I'm so glad you are here."

Yep, in this fix-it, I decide to use the Azure Dragon & White Tiger for some thematic parallels, with them basically repeating Nvwa and the Pillar of Heaven on a smaller scale.

The former created a garden city in the middle of the desert, while the latter uses his power to provide the water source that sustains the city (because Metal births Water).

As the end approaches, however, they are faced with the problem of ensuring the city residents' safety, since, upon their death, the entire oasis will revert to a desert overnight.

The White Tiger feels like there's no point in trying anything, since their death means the Harbinger will fulfill his destiny soon and give the world a reboot.

But the Azure Dragon insists on channeling his power into the land until the very last possible moment, so that the people's last memories will be a mundane, peaceful one.

Besides, they know very well that Fate and Destiny are no longer ironclad, when the very laws of reality are breaking down. How, then, can he be sure that the cycle will end and the world will be reforged as Nvwa intended, seeing that its premature beginning is already an outlier?

After a long argument, they had reached an uneasy compromise. Thus, the chaotic arrival of the Lunar Mansions and the hurried evacuation of the residents.

"You will understand, won't you, Harbinger?" The dragon looked into his eyes. "Even if you know it's selfish and futile, that you can't keep them safe forever, you are still going to give your all, just so their happy days will last a little longer..." "It is easy for Brother Jianbing to say, let go, face your end with honor. For Metal is the clashes of blades, the unforgiving axe of executioners." "I? This old fool just saw lives. Of men and women, children and elderly folks. And I cannot stand by and watch them wither."

MK nodded quietly, feeling Mei's worried, "are you not telling me something" glance on the back of his head. He reached out a hand, and the two divine beasts press their foreheads together.

The dragon faded away in a rain of falling leaves and petals, and when the Purple Color Stone hit the ground, nothing remains of the tiger but a thin layer of silvery, metallic sand on the floor.

Appendix: Inside the Pagoda

The fix-it is mostly over at this point, so the following is just me adding some additional worldbuilding and foreshadowing to MK's solution in E10, to make the whole "giving powers to everyone" thing a little less out of left field.

In the previous section, it was mentioned that a bunch of Lunar Mansions end up inside Li Jing's pagoda too. And when MK and friends run across them, they are in a pretty bad state.

Namely, the same cracks they see on the divine beasts are now appearing on the Lunar Mansions' bodies too.

"Isn't it obvious? Our masters are no more, so we now bear the brunt of the weight that was once on their shoulders..." "And are on our way of being crushed to a pancake." "Very tactful, aren't you?" The one-horned man sighed. "But yes. Lord Mengzhang is a stellar beast too——the greatest of all. He is a constellation, while we are merely the stars that make up the dragon's body, embued with a tiny fraction of his power." "And when the very sky of the East has fallen..." "How can the stars remain unscathed?"

After that, they basically exit the scene to fade away offscreen. But the information they revealed plants the seed of an idea in MK: specifically, that the Color Stones' power (and burden) can be shared between multiple individuals, like what happened at the end of E10.

Also, tiny fix: instead of MK learning the circlet spell outta nowhere, he's gonna tap into the power of the Color Stones during his fight with SWK, just like he did during Xuanwu's trial, to buy enough time to make his sacrifice.

[actiniumwrites]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐄𝐅 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐓

synopsis: in which you play the bandit in zosimos’ play, aka kaeya’s counterpart. when an unscripted moment occurs between the two of you on stage, you can’t help but realize your feelings for him are all but lost

characters: kaeya x gn!reader

wc: 1.1k

warnings: fluff, friends to lovers, like one cuss word, takes place in the 3.8 summer event, this was entirely written at midnight last night in one setting (so it might be ass)

notes: i absolutely loved this event and had to write something for kaeya! this definitely could have been a small scene in a bigger fic, but i feel like it worked as a drabble. also, i may or may not have a really long fic being written for him 👀 apologies if you’re reading this in the future and didn’t get to play the event and have zero clue what’s going on 😭

Damn these lights!

A subtle burning on both corners of either of your eyes was all you could focus on. The orange was coming from the left, while the blue was coming from the right. The intensity of each of them guaranteed you a painful headache later — a thought you had to send away before you groaned, an action that was certainly not within the script.

The sides of your lips were pulling downward against your will and your foot was starting to slip just a tad bit to the side. Any longer and you felt like you were going to collapse. Kaeya was taking too long to recite his lines, going all in with the theatrics and intense emotions. His hands waved dramatically in the air and his voice was booming, even though the crowd consisted entirely of your friends. If he could just hurry up and walk over to where you were stuck posing upright, then you could finally act out the final scene of Zosimos’ play and finish fixing the domain like you were supposed to be doing.

Admittedly, you had no intention of joining the play when Zosimos first announced he needed help with it. In fact, the script originally didn’t even include your character, The Bandit. It wasn’t until Zosimos came rushing out of his writing room complaining something was wrong with the script that he had somehow found a way to force you into the whole ordeal.

“Me?!” Your eyes widened when he pointed in your general direction. Honestly, you were barely even paying attention to the guy. So when he suddenly started pointing fingers and incoherently mumbling ideas about a new character, you were certainly startled.

“Yes! You!” he beamed with excitement and started shuffling around for a paper and pen, “I was just observing you and your boyfriend here, and suddenly I got the idea! You’ll be the thief’s sidekick: the bandit who he saved from a life of crime. Your real life dynamic is nothing but perfect for the role!”

Your eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when you realized what he said, “Huh? Hey, wait! Kaeya isn’t my—!”

He rushed off before you could correct him, laughing to himself and eagerly looking for some ink to adjust his script. Whether he heard you or not, it was obvious the playwright didn’t care. His mind was made up on the idea and you knew that there was no changing a mind like his.

Now you were stuck in this predicament. Eyes burning, leg cramping, and desperately wanting to go home to save yourself from the embarrassment of having zero acting skills. That and the fact that Kaeya and the others couldn’t help but tease you to no end after Zosimos’ assumption.

“I’m back!” Kaeya said as he walked over to you, snapping you out of your thoughts. Quickly, you returned to acting like your character. A bright smile pulled at the sides of your lips when you saw the prop in his hands. You had to stop yourself from squinting at it and ruining the scene. While your character was supposed to be happy, you were certainly not.

Kaeya moved slightly in front of you, shielding you from some of the harsh lights. The orange one still caught your side, lighting you as if you were standing amidst a beautiful sunset. And star props hanging above the stage gently reflected across your irises, almost like you had stars in your eyes. You looked up at your counterpart and breathed out as a your character slowly realized what was going on, “You…you got it? The darkness is finally over?”

Kaeya held his breath as he looked at you, stunned at the way you looked in all the stage lights and the beautifully sewn costume Idyia had tailored to you. His hands cupped themselves around yours and he pulled you in closer, “That’s right…we can finally live together in peace.”

His blue eyes were a much gentler sight to look at, contrasting the intense lights all around you. Kaeya leaned in gently, ready to pose for the final scene as Zosimos prepared to give his final narration and end the play.

When a few seconds passed and nothing was being said, your head tilted slightly past his shoulder so you could peer into the tiny crowd and figure out what was going on. All of them were sitting on the edge of their seats, enthralled by the sight in front of them, eagerly anticipating what was coming next — even the ever so apathetic Eula seemed to be waiting carefully. You quietly clear your throat, hoping the playwright would hear, but it seemed he too couldn’t tear his eyes away. Kaeya’s hand gently left one of your hands and reached up to meet your cheek, cupping it slightly and pulling you in.

“Wait, this wasn’t part of the script—” you hurriedly whisper and quickly glance between him and the crowd, but Kaeya cuts you off when his lips meet yours. He leans you back slightly, but pulls you in with the hand on the lower part of your back. It’s desperate, messy, but over far too quickly for your liking. He’s smiling into the kiss and it doesn’t leave his face when he pulls away and glances into your eyes for a split second before turning to the crowd. Before you know it, he’s grabbing onto your hand and the two of you are bowing together. With wide eyes and a flushed face, you turn to look at the crowd as well.

Collei is smiling brightly next to Eula who smiled a bit herself, but not before turning away so no one could see. Paimon is cheering loudly, but it’s not enough to drown out Zosimos who’s clapping profusely. You swear you see some tears fall out of his eyes as well. And soon enough, Kokomi, Aether, and Klee are next to you, bowing alongside the two of you.

You turn to Kaeya in the midst of it all, only to find him already looking at you with the biggest smile you think you’ve ever seen on his face. The lights are shining just as brightly as they were in your eyes, although you’re sure he looks a thousand times better than you do. His hand squeezes yours and he winks before turning back to the audience.

Suddenly the years you spent pining after your best friend come to a close as you finally realize: Kaeya had liked you all along and this was his grand way of finally showing it to you.

[simonnebethel]

Writeblr Introduction

Just learned what a writeblr intro is so I'm gonna make one before I go to bed lol

I've already done something like this a few days ago but that was when I had no clue what I was doing lmao, so might as well make a more in depth one

About me:

20, she/her, bi

American

I write mostly fantasy and urban fantasy, and honestly i dont think i've ever written a story that was non-fantasy lol

Started writing when I was 10, but it was mostly Warrior Cats fanfiction on Wattpad lol. I went through a writing slump for most of highschool but last year I decided to get back into it since I'm not doing anything else lol

I like to read fantasy and classic lit, also anything with vampires. I also have a soft spot for slowburn romances where the main characters dont kiss until, like, the 4th book heehee

In love with anything gothic, vampire, and wlw 👩‍❤‍💋‍👩

I think one of my more niche interests is any early 2000s fantasy/sci-fi movie with a nu-metal/rock/alternative soundtrack like Queen of the Damned and The Crow. They are just...*chefs kiss*

My current stories:

A Chant for Blood (Formerly known as Account of Calamity)

Account of Calamity is a gothic victorian fantasy about a Grand Marshal, Karliah Helisende, and a blood-drinking fiend, Yorick Gwynplaine, who work together to investigate the mysterious portals that spawn dangerous creatures into the city of Isarnan, all the while Karliah is being haunted by the mysterious ancient temple that watches over her every move.

I'm currently working on the second draft, and I may start looking for beta readers once I'm finished, although I know I'm not far from finished with this novel. I also plan to make it a 4 or 5 book series, and slowly add a slowburn romance.

12/30/24 - Second draft has been finished!!

Looking for beta readers! Look here!

Our Demonic Hearts - The Craven Pact Series #1

Our Demonic Hearts is a urban fantasy about a cambion woman, Ana Kravens, haunted by her past. Taking place in a small Mississippi town, a man she went through a traumatic incident with, Beau Motloe, shows up on her doorstep one day with a deal; help him find his missing mother, and he'll give back the memories she lost during the traumatic incident. Her father, a demonic creature of unknown origin, wants nothing more than the Motloes dead, claiming that they were the very reason his daughter was almost killed 6 years ago. Ana goes against her father's wishes and accepts Beau's deal, suspecting that her father isn't telling the whole truth about that fatal night.

It is completed and available on Wattpad and Royal Road!! It was just a small project I had done for Nanowrimo, and has been edited at least once before being published. However, I plan to make it a trilogy and maybe have some spin-offs. This story is fairly new, but most of the characters are at least 5 years old and I love them very much <3

What I plan for 2024:

Finish the second draft of A Chant for Blood and look for beta readers(In the beta reader phase!) ✅

Start the second novel of The Craven Pact Series(Outline complete)

Write a short story/novella or two taking place within the A Chant for Blood universe. My brain is currently exploding with ideas rn ✅

Write a short story about Ana Kraven's mom and how she met Marchosias, Ana's father.

Plan something for Nano?? Idk where I'll be in November lol (Finish a project I started in february, which is To Hear a Lovebird!)

I'm interested in following other writers and reading everybody's stories! I would also be interested in a beta read/beta swap ^^

Other sites I'm on:

Wattpad: LillithOfBees

Royal Road: SimonneBethel

18+ Writing discord!!!

[dreamingroleplayer]

🌹💐🌺 🌹💐🌺🌹

SNEEZE ROLEPLAY AHEAD [M4F]

🌺💐🌹🌺💐🌹🌺

Do you like intriguing character dynamics?

Do you like sneezing?

Even better, do you like sneezy men with sensitive noses who progressively end up losing more and more of their composure with each hitched breath and sniffle?

Do you like being the reason (voluntarily or not) of such allergic fits?

If so, you're in luck!

I'm once again in search for a partner with which to play a snz roleplay with, and this time with a little more experience up my sleeve~!

It could either be based on a fandom or with original characters, though I personally have a reference for the latter, but be it what it is, I ADORE detail and thought put behind the story, so if you too are a nerd for storytelling and chemistry between the characters, I'm sure we'll get along just fine ^^

Now onto the snz stuff... Honestly, there are so many options I have the embarrassment of choice, but I think that starting with the general themes could be a good idea.

What I'm absolutely sure is that I enjoy being the person that gets induced to sneeze. Wether that has to do with the fact I also normally play sub roles might be related... So, if you're looking for someone to ruin his sinuses as well as his dignity, look no further~

And as for the methods of sneezing, a quick essential list could look something like this, you could call them my kinks:

- Perfumes

- Hair

- Flowers

- Smoke

- Feathers/fur

- Sneezing dusts

Of course, every (and I mean EVERY) combination of those is very well accepted, but of the dynamic is just as important! For me, the only important thing is having the other character directly being the source of my character's sneezes, and from there it can be either done subtly but with a teasing fake innocence, genuinely without a clue that her actions cause him to sneeze, or even openly torturing him with sneezy inductions and challenging him to resist! Your imagination is the only limit~

As a last thing, here are a couple of wonderful scenarios I found for some inspiration ;)

- "Don’t worry, I’m just getting started,” Character A (yours) said with a grin as she revealed the feather. B (my character) shivered with anticipation. A laughed. “I think we should give it a bit more of a test before going all out. We have plenty of time for that, don’t worry.” Twirling the feather in front of his nose teasingly, she inched it closer at a torturously slow pace. “Oh come on, you know I don’t have that much patience, ple-ih,” he hitched suddenly as A finally let the feather lightly graze the tip of his nose. “Patience or not, we both know the build up is the best part,” She teased, twirling the feather unexpectedly against his nostrils. "Heh eh hiiiiiih , Oh that tickles so muh-much,” He sniffed, pulling some of the small feather fibers a tiny bit inside his nostrils and dramatically increasing the itch.  "Heh eh ehhhh..." He groaned, the tickle backing off just enough that she couldn’t sneeze as She pulled the feather back. “Aw, that means it’s doing its job. It’s making your nose extra sensitive~" She murmured teasingly. “Here, I have another idea.” She pulled B’s head toward her, guiding him to nuzzle into her neck. “Mmmh... that’s n-nice...” He said dazed as he snuggled closer, closing his eyes just like A was hoping he would. Suddenly, he felt the ends of A’s hair starting to trace teasingly around his nostrils just like the feather had. Caught by surprise and still tickly from before, B couldn’t hold back. "Hitchiew! Hetchiew! Heh eh eh hetchiew! Hitchiew! Hitchiew! O-oh God, that was so much stronger than... Be-before... Wha- hah hatchiew!”

- Character A has long, silky hair woven with fragrant (and pollen-loaded) flowers, and is sat right besides character B . Every toss of her locks would make them inevitably fall over B's face and nose, tickling him mercilessly with the strands and dousing his senses with the heady, irritating aroma, his nose and sinuses burning, eyes teary. She could be either genuinely or fakely surprised by B's allergy, gasping and saying out loud "Doesn't anyone have a handkerchief? Look at my poor sneezy colleague" here she begins to look around, and every sharp movement of her head fills the air with pollen from the flower in her hair and only amping up B's torment ^^

- A and B are running late for an important formal event, both rushing getting ready. Suddenly, A quickly spray herself with some perfume while the poor A passes right besides her, getting caught in the crossfire and accidently breathing all that flowery aroma. Quiet hitches began to be hear, he knows he cant afford sneezing right know after getting all ready however his nose thinks otherwise. Twitching and quivering, he ends up sneezing repeatedly ruining his outfit completely

- B's steps echoed through the forest, each one causing the veil of dried twigs and leaves to crackle under his feet. It were hours, or maybe even days that he was wandering aimlessly in those woods in search for the ancient artifact, but until then it seemed like all he did was walking in circles. The tediousness of his task was almost driving him crazy, and he was constantly on the verge of giving up for good, but for better or for worse his determination dictated him to continue. And then it happened. At first, it seemed almost like a mirage, likely given how thoroughly exhausted he was, but upon closer inspection the figure (A) he saw moving amidst the foliage became more and more definite. From occasional glimpses of white and purple, he could then make out the outline of a body, a feminine one, and its erratic movements less and less dictated by chaos... It was a dance, performed by what would have been a normal woman hadn't it been for a pair of pointy ears and a long, luxurious white tail that flowed behind her and bounded with every step she took. Awestruck, he walked closer without even considering what to say, such was his curiosity, but be it for distraction or a deliberate choice, once he was just a couple of feet from her, she suddenly twirled, making her fluffy tail swipe right across his face like a gentle caress. Upon impact, a cloud of shimmering specks of some kind of dust wafted from it, and the combined effects of its tickly fur and flower-like fragrance made his eyes flutter, and his nose start to twitch. From there, a tingling sensation spread across his body

⚠️ Last thing to add is that I don't paritucularly enjoy the mess aspect of it (mucus, saliva, bodily fluids), but apart from that, I'm eager to hear you people's wonderful ideas!

What else to say? If this sounds like what you're looking for, and you're eager to irritate those red nostrils, don't hesitate to hit me up~✨

[darlingwriter]

hi! i made this new sideblog because i want to branch out and try writing fic on tumblr (as opposed to ao3), seperate from my normal stuff. anywayyy, hey, hi, hello. you can call me vi. i have no clue what i'm doing.

some faq/get to know me nonsense under the cut:

what kind of fic do you write? i mean, honestly, i write all sorts of things; original work, poetry, tragic longfics, passionate essays about gender equality, extensive lists, notes app ramblings, etc etc. but specifically i want to try out writing reader insert fic stuff on this blog, because it's a style that just really intrigues me for some reason, especially as it's not very prevalent in the general literary world.

what sort of reader insert fic? literally most kinds hahaa. fluffy romantic cutesy shit, platonic goofing around, hurt/comfort, angst, the list goes on and on.

do/will you write smut? yeah, sure. i'm not interested in writing super hardcore kink stuff or anything, because 1) i just don't wanna and 2) i'm really not super educated in that area, but generally, yeah, i'll write smut.

will you take requests/asks/prompts? omg omg yes please i'd be so honoured. obviously i can't promise to write something for every ask i get, but please please please feel free to reach out!

what fandom/characters do you write for? currently experiencing a call of duty hyperfixation at the moment for reasons incomprehensible even to myself, so, right now, probably just going to be sticking to that. i have so so many fandoms, but i don't want to stretch myself (or this blogs target audience) too thin. but i might branch out later, who knows?

you fool! you absolute jester! you've forgotten to include a vital piece of information on this list!!! aaa, my bad, please reach out to me via ask or dm, and let me know! i'm like, perpetually sleepy and forgetful at the moment so it's more than likely i forgot to add something important to this. i am sorry in advance, it's my fault for quitting caffeine.

what anon signatures have already been claimed? 🧃 / 🐧

[ivyblossom]

Still going with this is outrageous and inappropriate love letter to Edmund Pevensie/Narnia fan novel that has already overtaken the word count of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and is rapidly heading towards lapping it.

I had originally hoped this might be a novella rather than a full on novel, but clearly I hadn't met myself back then. Sweet summer child of one month ago. Self-awareness is a valuable tool.

This is a smutty chapter, which I feel an urge to apologize for, because apparently I have some kind of guilt about that sort of thing. I don't know what that's about, what do I think we're doing here, gardening? I rated it explicit from the start, what do you want, right?

I'm not really a smut writer by nature, that's why everything I write is a slow burn, it takes me that long to work up to that stuff, which I fully acknowledge is valid anyway and doesn't have to have narrative significance, but I can't manage the write it unless I believe in my heart that it is narratively necessary, (see note about guilt above), and then I apologize about it for no reason anyway. But honestly, who cares? Right? I dunno, it's weird that I do this, but here I am. I put myself in this boat, I can't be allowed to feel sorry for myself.

But to be clear, I didn't just show up trying to find a way to make Narnia sluttier, a perfectly reasonable goal but genuinely not mine! I'm not the one who put the god of wine, ecstasy, and orgies in Narnia in the first place, that was C.S. Lewis, I'm just a fanfiction writer standing in front of AO3 asking it to accept her bizarre, canon-respectful Narnia smut that just got so much smuttier. Sorry everyone!

And of course AO3 says, "why are you asking me, just hit post, what is it you think we do here?"

This chapter was also the moment I've personally been waiting for, when one character finally recognizes what I've done to him and what's happening in this story and says, with great gravitas and insight: "—wait, what?" I've been looking forward to that.

Big props to Lucy in this chapter for being the only Pevensie who has a clue, as usual.

Also, I have given Peter Pevensie 90% of all the 1940s slang in this story for some reason, but I stand by that decision, it feels right. Peter is hip to the slang. Pip pip!

[unionizedwizard]

(hercule poirot voice) ze psychology! monsieur! this is the point! you must understand the psychology!

so. about the psychology:

1) why in hell would my mother attempt to poison me via a book? like what was the POINT?

- i highly doubt this was meant to kill me. first of all because there would have been easier and safer methods to do so, as my friend pointed out; secondly because this is a pattern (the infamous case of the "infant abandoned on the sidewalk for an entire day before being returned by the neighbors at nightfall" comes to mind, among others.....), she loved neglecting me and endangering/ignoring my safety; thirdly because i guess my unnatural and inexplicable survival skills must come from somewhere...

- but mostly because i think i was more use to her alive than dead. firstly because me dying would have put her in danger of being suspected by the authorities (possibly. honestly i'm not too confident the cops would have investigated in the first place but you never know), and her chief concern was always social respectability and her reputation. and secondly because she needed to have someone to exert her power upon. i was challenging her authority, unlike her husband, and she did enjoy breaking me. it was something she said & made obvious very often btw, not me having heard too many fictional villain monologues. (maybe i like unhinged villain monologues because they remind me of home, tho........)

- so why the poison? why this?? i think it was some sort of enrichment for her. she always found it hilarious to see people suffer (she always talked gleefully about the awful things she put her students through, like humiliating them, making them cry and panic, banning them from slouching or using the bathroom or drinking water in class....), whether it was strangers or people she knew personally. she found it genuinely entertaining and openly despised people who did not ("stupid and sanctimonious people" she called them)

- she didn't consider me as my own person, she openly and constantly reminded me i was her creation and therefore her possession, and a disappointing, useless failure of a creation at that. she would have considered it normal to use me as an experiment subject. it was well within her rights according to her. (she was especially fond of telling people (while i was sitting right there) that when i was born and the nurse put me in her arms, she took one look at me and said "oh well, this one's a failure. better luck next time"). like i know how this sounds but it was just. normal at the time. just a fun anecdote to tell (in her defense i was a weird and disappointing baby) (but anyway this is neither here nor there)

- i will read queen margot to learn more about the poisoned book that's part of the plot, apparently, but as i said in my original post about this whole thing, she LOVED recreating random book events or dialogue in real life, and subtly. the metanarrative dramatic flair...... i think she would definitely get a kick out of seeing me suddenly get sick without knowing why, while holding the very clue that could lead me to the answer of the mystery. that is 100000% something she would do.

- she hated the fact i was really into literature because it was *her thing*, and kept sabotaging my efforts by convincing me i actually didn't know how to "truly read, not just consume and destroy books". (i will stop there but there's a lot of things to be said on the topic). she gave me very few books, growing up, so this gift and especially her forcing me to finish reading the novel were highly out of character for her

- i'm hazarding a guess which might be a bit over-the-top here but: it might also have been meant as a deterrent. conditioning me to have an averse reaction to reading or something (she *was* very fond of dumas)

- finally, why the three musketeers? i can think of three points that would make this novel the perfect candidate for such a project: 1) it is a typical, inconspicuous gift for an 11 years old (even though it didnt fit my own tastes); 2) it is an uncommonly long novel, meaning exposure to any potential poison would be particularly high; 3) as mentioned before, it would have been thematically perfect: a clue, that only she would have known about (she does like her tragic irony and double énonciation and mindgames in general)

genuinely, it does fit with her personality. i think she would have found it a way to have a bit of fun and conduct a nice little experiment + power trip combo.

[goldensunset]

What's your opinion on Nomura saying he wants KH4 to be kind of like a reboot of the series? I'm personally a bit worried about what that means for the graphics and gameplay, but like, I'm probably always going to be mourning the loss of the old modeling style so I don't think I should be taken seriously on that front. Graphics change aside, it seems like most of the information we've gotten on KH4 boils down to "Yes it's in Tokyo" and "Guys it's not gonna be a crossover with TWEWY, Please Stop Asking". Really not sure what to make of it so far.

i really have no clue what he means by that... honestly i'm fine with the new style although i do see the concerns with kinda making it seem more generically anime prettyboy final fantasy-esque but like. we've only seen two characters so far and that was two and a half years ago and we already know they're planning on changing some things so who knows what the final product will look like. idk.

my one concern- and i say this as someone who personally likes simpler and more realistic designs, as well as like serious hardcore worldbuilding and dark stuff- is that kh will lose its weird, goofy, disney positivity charm. sora's design just needs slightly more color to it, nothing too drastic. the city of quadratum being hyperrealistic in a direct jarring contrast to everything else we've ever seen in the series is SO cool i just hope the final version has some unique charm to it. obviously i hope it's still kinda bleak bc i think that's the point of the story here but y'know? i hope they tell the story they're trying to tell while also making it feel magical in some way

see while i can't say i personally have any interest in the disney aspect of things (i understand that's what the series was supposed to be all along but me personally i'm in it for the original story side of things) i also never want kh to totally leave that dimension. i think they need to get better at implementing it into the story- akin to how it originally was in the first game, or in khdr, bc both of those were amazing. like prove to me that this disney crossover is the best way to tell your story bc i know you can do it. it shouldn't feel like two separate games, one of which can be entirely filtered out with almost no bearing on the plot

the other thing is like the collaboration with disney is a limitation- but it's a limitation that breeds creativity. if we let nomura do whatever he wanted he might run off the rails and make it too gritty. but having to keep the family-friendly positivity at the core honestly makes it way more interesting imo. and i think he knows that- i think he has a heartfelt story about connection and humanity and love and memories etc to tell and he's gonna tell it. i have faith in him (maybe not faith to write every single game's dialogue and scenario lol but like. in terms of general plot direction he knows what he's doing)

truthfully, as long as the series never stops being ultimately an uplifting tale of hope? i don't care what they do with it. i hope they keep adding dark and serious and weird stuff to it and i hope they keep coming back to the joyful refrain over and over again. that's the ideal story to me- one that takes you so, so low, but brings you back up at the end. that's what kh has been like all along and that's like the main draw imo

they've been leaning more into the possibility of sad endings without perfect resolutions lately (i mean i truthfully don't see how the khux crew is gonna reunite on this mortal plane without more ghost shenanigans.) but like. a bittersweet ending of fondly remembering someone lost to you is incredibly heartfelt and you can make peace with that. i like that more than the idea that you'll always get everything you want and things can always go back to how they were. i think that's what nomura was getting at with kh3, how the destiny trio can't get their innocent childhood back but that doesn't mean their bond is gone. it doesn't have to be a classic disney fairytale ending to be an uplifting one and honestly it hits my HEART. bittersweet ending supremacy. kh is about losing things and finding new things and being connected etc etc i'm repeating myself but i'm insane about this series and long story short as long as the love is there i'm not going to complain

if we're talking about kh4 specifically? really no idea what to make of it... the big question is as follows- is sora's predicament going to be resolved in this game or is that for another game. if it's for another game it's going to have to be a numerical kh5 and i kind of don't have confidence in the team to uh. um. finish more than one new numerical game at this point lol. plus just assuming there would be a gap period with other games in the middle there then sora would be away from home for a lonnnnng time. it could happen but it would require his best friends to reach him there too and get stuck and like oh man how is anyone getting home now. is the series ever gonna end

like maybe kh4 being a reboot would quite genuinely mean shifting the entire overall setting of the series to unreality for the time being. we've discussed the nature of the heart and human connection in this whimsical childhood fairytale world, now let's put these philosophical debates in the real adult world now! who knows. it honestly all depends on how much nomura thinks he has left in him. or if he does plan to retire whether he's gonna pass it off to someone else or just end it somewhere randomly. like truly we're getting kinda mixed messages here like simultaneously he's talking about retiring someday while also saying he's introducing a new phase to the series. ok but how long will that phase be bestie

[performativezippers]

I've been writing fic for a bit more than ten years now; most of which (eight? nine?) as a pantser. At most I'd make a timeline, for a complicated timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly fic, but other than that, I just daydreamed the story and then wrote it down 😅

Then in the last couple of years, I tried to learn more about the craft of writing. I never had any training in school or uni, never any class or anything; I did work with a writing coach for a while two years back, and read a lot of advice. I've started to plan stories out more, to be more intentional about what I write -

But I have now run into a problem that I heard pantsers describe, which is that when they plan out the story till the end, they feel like it's done, and the impetus to write it just drops away.

I think I'm still right in the middle of finding my writing approach, which - on the one hand, exciting! I'm learning more about myself, that's always good! But on the other hand, I'm sad about the projects I was working on that I have somehow run out of steam on. I do have other projects that I still am excited to write, but I'm a bit worried I might lose interest in them too as I try to find the right balance between planning and pantsing.

IIRC you are a pantser, right? Any advice on how to not get ahead of myself when I approach a new story? How to keep pace between the dreaming-up of the story, and the writing-it-down?

OMG this is the question!! I am absolutely a proud member of pantser nation, yes, and I'll tell you what works for me, but I do honestly think this is something that (sadly) each person has to figure out for themselves via trial and error.

Terminology for those who don't know:

Pantser: someone who writes by the "seat of their pants," aka no outline, no real clue what happens next. The joy is in the journey!

Plotter: someone who plots everything out before hand, like by outlining or using scene cards or something. The joy is in knowing the journey before you start!

Most people are somewhere in the middle, or vary project by project. There are lots of names for it, like plantser or "headlight method" or whatever, but basically you can think of it as the Kinsey scale, with 1 being solely pantser, 2 as leaning pantser, 3 as equally both, 4 as leaning plotter, and 5 as solely plotter.

I'm a 1.5 I'd say, the 0.5 being from having to learn story beats in order to sell original fiction to traditional publishers, which means things like "the breakup should happen around 80% of the way through" and "inciting incident at 0 or 10%." If that doesn't make sense to anyone reading, don't worry, it doesn't need to! (But if you have questions about story beats, feel free to ask!)

As a true pantser, I typically know the following things before I start. I'll give an example from a long fic I've written and for a book that none of you have read because it hasn't gotten bought yet (SADFACE).

I know the characters and some basic facts about them and their relationship pre-story:

Back to the basket: Alex is a closeted college basketball coach who washed out of the WNBA (life based on Adia Barnes). Maggie is an assistant coach who used to fuck Alex in secret during college and is hella gay.

Original romcom: Libby is great at making friends. Sasha is a serial monogamist. They are both "straight."

Setting and meeting:

Back to the basket: Maggie joins Alex's coaching staff. The fic will last the entire college season (~6 months)

Original romcom: Libby and Sasha meet on a dating reality show. The book will encompass the first 6 weeks of the show.

Primary conflict:

Back to the basket: Alex wants to focus on work because she's A Big Failure. Maggie wants to date. They have undeniable chemistry and horniness.

Original romcom: Classic "straight" friends to gay lovers problems, made worse by the reality show setting.

Ending:

Back to the basket: We get really far in the tournament and Alex and Maggie get their happily ever after

Original romcom: Libby declares her love at the Ceremony, Sasha declares it back after some mental buffering, and they get their happily ever after.

Once I know those things, I'm pretty much good to go. For some books I know the midpoint (I knew the midpoint of my forthcoming novel before I started writing it) but for most projects, including fics, I don't know it until I've written my way there. In these examples, there was a clear time boundary (6 months, 6 weeks), which I find very helpful. When co-writing with the incredible @roadien60, we've put time boundaries on our fics together to help us keep the story tight, compelling, and contained (I mean LOL, Missives is literally almost 80k, but just imagine how bad it would have been if we hadn't been counting down to the eclipse!)

While pantsing, I really try to let the scenes shape themselves, to let the characters simmer when they need to and move forward when they don't. I don't let the characters do whatever they want, because those wants might not make for a compelling narrative or be what I want to write, but I try to let things flow naturally from one event/emotional beat to the next.

This method requires revision, sure, but revising is easier than forcing yourself to draft something that simply won't come, and that's what matters.

I try to be very very careful about NOT thinking ahead. I don't even let myself daydream the things I'm planning to write. I'll think about the next chapter between writing sessions, but never further than that, because if I've so much as thought about it, some of the joy is spoiled. I'll think of great dialogue in my head, and then forget it, and no matter what I write down on the page later, I'll always think it's worse than the first thing I dreamed up in the shower, and that's a kind of regret I don't have space for in my brain.

And the consequences are real! The only fic I took 5+ years to finish, Splice World, is the only one I plotted out all the way. I had to wait until I had forgotten what I plotted to be able to finish it, and even then it was a bit lackluster.

So I guess after all of this word vomit, my questions back to you are:

What was going wrong when you pantsed? What specific problem are you trying to solve for? Sometimes people try to start plotting because they think being a pantser is less "good" or sophisticated or something, to which I say, fuck them!

When plotting, at what level of advance detail do you get bored? If you know the ending, the next chapter, five chapters in the future, etc? Maybe you can find a happy middle there, where you can think a few chapters ahead but not the whole thingy.

How much do you daydream/think about the story without writing it? If it's a lot, trying doing it very little or none and all, and see if that helps!

LET ME KNOW!!

[bringthekaos]

When Arcane first aired, I remember the whiplash of seeing non-league players interacting with league characters for the first time.... I remember scrolling through twitter and tumblr after the finale, and lots of people theorizing that, *if* Jayce and Viktor survived, their paths probably will diverge in the future and they will end up as enemies and I was like.... huhh yeah? Isn't it obvious? That's mean to happen. But then I thought about it and honestly? If you don't know the characters beforehand... would you really guess how bad things are going to end?

Speaking as someone who knew fuckall about League beforehand, and actively avoided any information on it until after I finished the show to avoid spoilers… I had absolutely no clue. The moment I finally Googled Viktor’s name with League of Legends and saw him and his story…. I was the epitome of this

Obviously there are some ideological differences between him and Jayce, as they argue a few times. And I understood that these narrative seeds they were planting could grow to fester, but like… I didn’t think it would be to mortal fucking enemies. After all, they’re standing together at the end, despite their qualms and differences, and it seemed that Jayce had learned the consequences of his unconscious biases and was actively working with Viktor to finally act in Zaun’s best interest. I thought… oh hey, character growth. They faced a challenge and rose above it, all good now, that’s awesome (even though they might have been blown up in the process 🫣)

And I think the changing of their origin story had a lot to do with that. I think if they’d gone with the original lore (RIP, I’m so sorry to my League friends. I really do wish they’d just left the two separate. There are so many implications on what this means for the characters of both Arcane and League, and honestly it was just stupid. But that’s a rant for another post), then it would have been more obvious. I do like the way they did it though, because it makes Viktor’s LoL bio a much more obvious lie. They were friends. They were close. They were the whole world to each other, whether romantic or platonic, for years. And even though I had no idea a falling out was coming, it makes it that much more heartbreaking when it does happen. It just makes you think… I hope you know we had everything.

[bubblewonderabyss]

Mod talk Category: Quality of life

I know my way around the starbound workshop better than most so I figured I'd share the love and talk about the mods I have installed, the category for this particular post being quality of life, as that's probably the most universally liked one. Quality of life means anything that adds ease of access to certain features, new mechanics, or simply more variety

Are these mod recs? Not necessarily. Read carefully, make an informed decisions, and back up your save file beforehand if you do want to try some of them out. Happy modding!

Disclaimer: The lore compliance subcategory contains only my best guess, there's always a chance I missed something

"Extended block crafting" by HaxoFelyne Summary: Adds crafting recipes for 32 uncraftable blocks because fuck uncraftable blocks Usefulness: 10/10 Cheating?: Brains are the only really broken block in the game and this mod doesn not add them, so balanced Lore compliance: N/A

"Why is this not printable?!" by Cthonyxa Summary: Makes more items printable Usefulness: 8/10 Cheating?: Things like art and major artifact clues remain unprintable which makes sense Lore compliance: yes

"Hop On Shops" by Argle Bargle Summary: Adds platform collision to various outpost objects Usefulness: 2/10, good for immersion Cheating?: No Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla

"More idle poses" by Argle Bargle Summary: Unlocks more combinations of arm, leg, and head positions at the character creation screen. Also applies to npc's. Usefulness: 8/10, starbound HEAVILY relies on its roleplay elements so this is super useful, I honestly have no idea why it's not in the base game Cheating?: No Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla

"Show item names!" by Silver Sokolova Summary: Shows the in-file name in the lower left corner of the description window Usefulness: 4/10, it can sometimes provide insight the game itself does not like the species tag, usually helps you deduce what mod the item is from, and can make building in admin mode easier. I just think it's neat Cheating?: It could be under some circumstances, like if an item is meant to be mysterious and the name gives it away for example. Lore compliance: N/A

"Shadow/Fenerox Crewmember Dialogue" by Achromatic Summary: Replaces the above species default dialogue with something more suited to their vanilla speech patterns Usefulness: 10/10 Cheating?: No Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla

"Learn Blueprints on Scan" by (cat emoji) Summary: The outpost now sells a matter manipulator addon that allows you to learn the recipe of every craftable item you scan Usefulness: 9/10 Cheating?: It absolutely is, but it's arguably justified since blueprints are rare and some can't even be found through legit means like certain items in the lunar set for example Lore compliance: Seems like something S.A.I.L might be able to

"Wooden furniture reskin" by Bubblywandering (me) Summary: Makes the wooden furniture set slightly more visually interesting in my humble opinion. Twas originally made for personal use but some people wanted it for their game so I uploaded it Usefulness: Non-applicable, it's just a matter of taste Lore compliance: No?

"Tweaked Asra Nox Vanilla Sprite" by The Blasphemer Summary: Replaces Asra's portrait and character sprite with a slightly altered version Usefulness: I love most of the portraits in the game but Asra's portrait always gave me a weird vibe so this is a welcome alternative. Her character sprite is given visible sclera which is not in line with starbound's art style though so mixed feelings are mixed Lore compliance: Sure why not

"More Metal Wood" by LazerRay Summary: Makes those metal trees in snow biomes drop metal coated wood Usefulness: 7/10 Cheating?: Makes metal coated wood both farmable and available early on, this has no practical application thought, so no Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla

"Extra Zoom Levels" by Patchumz Summary: Allows you to zoom out a couple extra times Usefulness: 10/10 if and only if you regularly screenshot your builds Cheating?: Yes, it allows unnatural levels of insight into what lies ahead of you. If you have self control you'll be fine Lore compliance: No?

"Varied Bounties" by Kais Summary: Allows max level bounties to spawn at stars other than fiery Usefulness: 10/10 Cheating?: Criminal stats scale with bounty level so not really Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla

"Weapon stats" by Tripod Summary: Displays the stats of weapons (vanilla or modded,) including DPS Usefulness: 10/10 Cheating?: Nope Lore compliance: N/A

"Hat Mask Fixes" Summary: Fixes some hats so they don't block facial features such as beaks and beards Usefulness: 10/10 Cheating?: No lol Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla

"Race Traits" by Oмεяυıп Summary: Gives the different species custom stats, for example florans have increased hunger and hylotl take longer to drown, can be turned on or off, most modded species are supported and you can toggle it on and off whenever Usefulness: 6/10, adds variety Cheating?: A few thorns and poison resistances here and there but otherwise pretty balanced Lore compliance: I'd say so

"Non-playable NPC Race Quests and Crew" Summary: Makes the nonplayable races give quests and become crew members naturally, with custom dialogue to match Usefulness: 10/10 why is this not in the base game?? Cheating?: No Lore compliance: Yes

"More Tenant Species" by NimbleJim Summary: Allows additional species options for tenants and corresponding dialogue Usefulness: 8/10, additional customization options are always useful Cheating?: No Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla, species =/= interests lol

"Unisex [Novakid/Human] Hair" by (cat emoji) Summary: Just what it sounds like, all hairstyles are available for either body type. Note: There is an apex version as well but it's broken Usefulness: 10/10, it makes no sense for futuristic humans or living stars to give a shit about gendered hairstyles Cheating?: No Lore compliance: Arguably more-so than vanilla

"Diverse Weather" by gay moth aunt Summary: Adds new weather patterns and allows more types of weather per planet Usefulness: 5/10 adds some nice variety Cheating?: This increases the game's difficulty overall so no Lore compliance: The gravity fluctuation weather is a little out there but other than that, yes

"Novakid Codices" by jss2a98aj Summary: Are you salty that the only codex that references the novakid is just some hylotl missionary being racist (read: a missionary?) Then this is the mod for you! Adds a variety of novakid codices that can be found in novakid villages Usefulness: 10/10 Cheating?: No Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla

"I'd Like To Sit Here" by vampycat237 Summary: Adds an invisible 1x1 chair type object that you can place anywhere with platform collision Usefulness: 4/10, niche immersion usage Cheating?: No Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla, I guess

"Rogues Out Camping (and also the Miniknog)" by Refolde Summary: Adds bandit-style encounters of all vanilla species Usefulness: 2/10, variety Cheating: Makes the game slightly harder so no Lore compliance: Arguably more-so than vanilla

"Crew Size Unbound" by SerpentsBlight Summary: Allows vanilla ships to skirt regulations and have more than 12 crewmembers max Usefulness: 6/10 Cheating?: Absolutely Lore compliance: Yes (you monster)

"Corbent's Interactive Crew" by, you guessed it, Corbent Summary: Allows you to direct your crew (to a degree,) ups a few of their stats, allows them to swim, adds some dialogue, and some npc's will randomly ask to date you rather than you hiring them Usefulness: 10/10 Cheating?: Makes crew members somewhat better, but not too much better imo Lore compliance: Makes crewmembers say random dialogue lines instead of one, making them feel less individual :/

"NPCSpawner+" by Depression Hurts, Eat More KFC Summary: Allows you to create an npc of any species, color scheme, type, personality, and clothing Usefulness: 9/10, good for porting crewmates over to new player characters, skirting gendered hair style restrictions, giving certain npc's impossible color schemes, and putting an oc in the game without having to play as them Cheating?: Let's you get free crew members so yes, something something self control Lore compliance: Definitely not

"Job Offers" by this is a profile name Summary: Adds craftable tools that allow you to recruit any friendly or neutral npc for the indicated job, including merchants and other ordinarily non-recruitable npc's Usefulness: 9/10, we've all had that one merchant we really wanted to recruit but couldn't amirite Cheating?: Totally bypasses the need to do quests to recruit crewmembers for all the benefits thereof. You'll need good self control to avoid abusing this mod's power Lore compliance: Eh

"Ever[Frogg/Lana/Penguin]" by Star-X Summary: Makes the indicated outpost shops sell all their stock at all times no matter what Usefulness: 4/10, you could just be patient/find the relevant blueprints but eh Cheating?: Oh yes Lore compliance: No

"CityScaper - Building Made Easy!" Summary: Let's you build a colony prefab style, for a price Usefulness: Depends on who you are Cheating?: It's expensive as shit to use so I'd say no Lore compliance: N/A

"Item Frame" by Peassly Wellbott Summary: Adds an item frame bench where you can craft two types of item frames, one which shows the icon and one which shows items at full size. Works on both vanilla and modded items. Note: Some items will not display correctly Usefulness: 10/10, WHY is this not in the base game?? Cheating?: No Lore compliance: N/A

"Aging Alien Alcohols" by Lilegite Summary: Allows you to craft a fermentable version of drinks and a few other items which will eventually turn into alcoholic beverages Usefulness: 5/10, some utility but it's mostly just for fun/roleplay purposes Cheating?: Adds some non-perishable hunger-restoring items via set-it-and-forget-it means so it does have an effect on game balance, but only slightly Lore compliance: More-so than vanilla

"Sapling merger!" by Silver Sokolova Summary: Lets you create unnatural trunktype and leaftype combinations, what has science done! Usefulness: 4/10, it's just for aesthetics Cheating?: Barely even counts lol Lore compliance: It's just grafting right?…Right?

"Craftable Seeds NEW" by RevvEmUp Summary: Allows you to craft seeds out of crops, also adds some saplings (including a red apple one) and makes the three dye-making flowers, mushrooms, and thorn bushes farmable Usefulness: 9/10 Cheating?: God yes Lore compliance: It seems reasonable

"The Game Hunter" by Wellbott Summary: Allows you to turn entities into decorative objects, this includes npc's (you monster) Usefulness: 5/10, purely cosmetic but really cool Cheating?: No lol Lore compliance: You can do so many messed up things in starbound, what's one more?

"Weapon assembly" by alberto-rota Summary: Adds the weapon assembly station which lets you break down (most) randomly generated weapons into parts and mix and match them into new ones, also adds the weapon painting station which allows you to dye the parts individually Cheating?: In the sense that it makes your randomly generated weapons less random, but otherwise no Lore compliance: Yeah

"More Planet Info" by Erisss Summary: Shows the dungeons and biomes present on the surface of the planet, the underground remains a mystery Usefulness: 8/10, a time saver Cheating?: In the sense that it somewhat reduces the randomness factor Lore compliance: Seems like something S.A.I.L would be able to do

"Detailed Ship Encounters" Summary: Functions like More Planet Info but for ships Usefulness: 8/10 Cheating?: Reduces randomness Lore compliance: More or less

"Betabound!" by Silver Sokolova Summary: Adds outpost npc quests, re-implements scrapped bosses and their corresponding codices (but no other codices thank god,) adds a new tech slot and many new techs, lets you switch out your matter manipulator for any other digging tool, makes food stack, reskins a couple food items, adds many weapons, adds new tools and makes digging tools repairable, adds furniture crafted from high tier ores, adds new ores, adds more fuel options, adds more cooking recipes and alters the buffs of many food items, adds upgrade kits for weapons, makes it possible to copy books and even write your own, makes some weapons dyeable, lets you copy and craft blueprints, and adds some monsters. Be aware that it does alter random weapon generation and changes a few vanilla sprites though Usefulness: 8/10, makes your character more customizable Cheating?: Drastically alters the balance of the game in the player's favor Lore compliance: The boss codices reference explicitly non-canon characters and events, other than that it's perfectly fine