#i'm not immune to seeing a game and going OOH PRETTY

[emmaswanned]

i'm watching the ps5 pro announcement presentation and they're like "developers want better graphical performance" how can it POSSIBLY GET BETTER

[accirax]

initial thoughts on DCAS episode 11

oh my god

i had already guessed that Alec was lying (much like Jake did), but this was a really nice explanatory touch! Alec and Riya's friendship is, as usual, one of the season highlights for me.

would've been a lot more interesting if the campers could have chosen their own partners in one way or another, imo, but that would definitely eat up a lot of time in an already packed episode. plus, some pairings (like Connor and Riya) probably couldn't have happened this way, given how Riya wound up reacting to Connor.

"alright Fiore, here's how we prevent you from going home this week," one could say.

i was SO worried that Alec was going to have another confessional at some point being like "lol i was testing my acting skills on Fiore too" but he DIDN'T. which means this is CANON. THE ADOPTION IS BACK ON!!!!!!!!

okay, i actually love the decision to pair Hunter and Grett together here. both of them are the "very flawed but kinda mistreated partner of their appearances-obsessed date," so it makes sense that Hunter could give Grett a good perspective on this. also, is it just me, or did they rework Hunter's personality in this episode to be more like S2? i liked it.

i'm going to put every Fiore and Alec moment in this post and you can't stop me. i am initially thinking about them.

"joke's on you fucker i didn't teach her literally any of this. she's just built different."

as much as i enjoy Alec appreciating his daughter's sass, this does seem like a pretty radical heel turn from "i only voted Connor out of this game because it was what was best for him." i guess maybe spending time with Riya and the other villains has caused Alec to fall further off the deep end/forget about Connor's genuinely nice qualities...? or it's inconsistency between different writers, who knows.

i am 0% a jul(?) shipper, but, damn, the jul shippers were eating well this episode.

Yul is such an interesting little guy.

James flexing his character arc, we love to see it.

WHAT IS IT WITH THE CYAN WOMEN AND SECRETLY BEING JACKED????

society..... it's becoming more utopian........

see, this is why i didn't think Tess would be the one to return to the game.

Aiden is such a hater, i love him. but, overall, i agree with Lake. we're definitely sowing the seeds for a Jake redemption(/winner?) arc and a heroes' reunion.

Riya, finally finishing what she started in S2 of making the gays fall off cliffs.

villains are so fun. i love villains.

THE SOFT DAD SMILE IS BACK :D

ooh, nice callback.

this is an objectively funny screenshot. why does Alec yell like that

what a surprising outcome! (/s /lh)

:,) <3

i wish Aiden and James had more of an opportunity to talk during this episode :/ it's fine, though-- i think that James and Lake's characters were used more effectively this way.

they're getting back together after this trust me guys i'm disventure camp

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY

they truly are family now. i love it.

"not that bad" is a weird way to describe your would-be crush.

this will be a fun scene! idk which episode "Saturday" will be, though. both because idk how many days will pass in any given episode and also bc i don't recall which day today is in canon.

i do wonder what evil Gabby is doing here. i guess maybe it'll just be the side of Gabby that wants to run with the villains alliance for power vs the side that wants to follow Ellie's advice? that seems kind of weird. maybe it'll be more like the side that wants to go mad with power on the revenge quest vs Gabby's more rational and strategic side? either way, strange cliffhanger.

can't we just have everyone here... always... all the time...? no? okay :( well, it was still really nice to get the whole gang back together for this episode. i'll look forward to seeing them again in the finale.

and, hey, Connor's back in the game now! and he can't be eliminated next episode, at least. are there going to be three players with immunity...? that could get spicy. we'll see how the heroes and villains smack down when the next real elimination rolls around. back up to ten to nine again... see you next time!

[zarvasace]

as the local vampire expert (at least in terms of ppl i am following) i would like to know your opinions on sickness & vampires, just in general any universe. as some people consider vampires “technically dead,” do you think they can get sick at all? or can they get any normal sickness, or sicknesses that only vampires are affected by?

(ooh I'll claim the vampire expert title, even if I don't particularly think I am that expert-y!)

As most things, this really depends on what lore you're using! Most vampire lore I've come across, whether the vampires are undead or not, mark them as being immune to a lot of mortal diseases and illnesses, or it just never comes up. It's just one more way they're superior to humans, in a lot of cases.

I did read a book, though, where vampirism was sort of considered an illness all on its own—that's The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks. I enjoyed the way this book played with some typical tropes but don't necessarily recommend it, I found it kind of boring tbh. The vampires in this world, iirc (it's been a few years) aren't stronger or faster, but they are restricted to nighttime and dependent upon blood, animal blood in this case. Not only are these vampires not stronger, they're actually weaker in a lot of ways, which is extra-interesting if you take it as both a vampire parody and a analogy for chronic illness. I think this kind of vampire poses a few fun questions about what vampirism could be and what we can do with it.

And porphyria is real, a disease where a person might get blisters under sunlight, along with a few other symptoms regarding skin conditions and general pain. People call it the vampire disease because of that symptom, though I think it's a stretch to say that porphyria "inspired" the vampire mythos.

It's actually been posited that vampire mythology originally rose from misunderstandings of more common diseases, often specifically rabies. Stoker might have written Dracula as a sort of analogy for the cholera pandemic. (If you're interested in that I found an article which kind of summarizes that.)

We just don't see vampires getting sick that often, though I do think that there's some potential there if that's the direction you'd want to take your story! I read a trilogy about immortals once (Seers by Heather Frost) in which it's explicitly stated that they heal from any wound and just don't get sick. That is challenged in the second book when the main love interest gets flu-like symptoms because he regrets his choice to be immortal. It's a whole thing. That series is pretty fun, but not about vampires.

What I'm saying is that I think it could be really interesting to play with the idea of illnesses in a vampire story, whether it's as an analogy or a threat of some kind or just something they deal with. Humans get colds, vampires get sunlonging or... Whatever. If you're looking to set up some vampire lore, it could also be interesting to specifically allow vampires to get some or all human illnesses because they still have human immune systems or whatever explanation you want to use.

I think having some vampire-specific diseases would be very fun though! Here are some ideas:

The afflicted vampire finds that they cannot sleep, due to inflamed photosensitivity. Unless they completely shut themself off from light, they're gonna be one tired, grouchy lil bat. It just gets worse when firelight and electric light starts to set off their reactions, too.

A vampire drinks from someone with the flu and gets the flu. :'( But this is now a mutated strain that other vampires can catch!

A vampire's chronic illness did not go away when they were turned. Maybe it stayed the same, or maybe it changed slightly.

A unique vampire-only strain of a vicious disease is rampaging through the underworld! Maybe they can't die again, but catching it still means being out of the game for however many weeks, which could mean loss of territory or feeding grounds.

The afflicted vampire only shows one symptom, perhaps a muddled mind, so they don't think much of it, until it gets bad enough that they revert to a zombie-like state.

Addiction isn't exactly a disease, but this vampire is certainly suffering some sort of withdrawal from not having access to blood with [insert drug of choice] in it.

Speaking of drugs, how strong would one need to be to incapacitate a vampire? How much needs to be in their system, and how does their system flush it out?

The afflicted vampire finds themself repelled from certain things when normally they wouldn't be: holy symbols, garlic, running water, silver, darkwood. It's not just an aversion, either, it's full-on running away to be sick.

[msmargaretmurry]

ooh becky msmargaretmurry i have to ask about your rnh thoughts here because while i have never been in the oiler trenches and do not (Do Not!!!) intend to start now, i have been watching on the sidelines since the hall and eberle days and i LOVE to hear your opinions

oh thank you for asking anon!! for context i started watching the oilers on purpose in like 2010ish (i had a friend who was super into hall/eberle and i was NOT immune to that) — i do not claim to be an expert on any of this at all, this is just based on my own experiences and thoughts and ponderings. also for the record i think rnh is great. he is an oiler i am extremely fond of, and i'm glad he seems to have found a solid role there that he's content with and has found success in.

so to me the ryan nugent-hopkins of it all goes something like this:

when the oilers drafted taylor hall first overall in 2010, HE was supposed to be the savior of the franchise. the oilers had lost in the scf in 2006 and then immediately not made the playoffs for four straight years and no one was happy. they drafted taylor, hyped him up SO hard — this era was kind of the the advent of current Online Content era and they were making little videos of him arriving in edmonton, showing him around, fans recognizing him on the street. i feel like nowadays thall's stock as a player is like "good but not GREAT" but you must understand that when he was drafted first overall they were expecting him to be GREAT. him, plus hot young swedes linus omark and magnus pääjärvi, plus canadian world juniors hero jordan eberle had the oilers faithful (and the oilers front office) CONVINCED they were going to be turning things around. people were making t-shirts that said

HALL Omark Paajarvi Eberle

— HOPE, you see???

anyway obviously that season did not actually go that great. they finished last in the league. i think they won something like 25 games all season. and they wound up with another first overall pick, which was our boy, the nuge.

and the thing is, ryan was expected to be very good, but he was NOT expected to be the savior of the franchise. that was already taylor hall's job. there was a lot of concern his rookie season about him being too skinny and not strong enough to really make an impact at the nhl level yet (and to be fair, he DID look like a baby deer out there). the people and the powers that be were very much like, we're glad to have him, we think he'll be a great piece of this rebuild, but there was much more willingness to be like, okay well he might need a few years to finish baking.

rnh's rookie season was better than the season before, but it was still not good. they did not come close to making the playoffs. they were still very bad. the blue jackets were also very bad, and a friend and i drove to columbus and got seats on the glass for oilers/jackets for like $50. extremely funny experience, 10/10, do recommend.

(not relevant to this narrative but a very fun fact imo is that despite the oilers but godawful that season, 2011–12 had two of my favorite oilers games i ever watched: sam gagner's 8-point night against chicago, and a 9-2 win ALSO against chicago, who was one of the best teams in the league at the time. as a bl*ckhawks hater then and now, watching this clown car oilers team run roughshod over chicago brought me immeasurable joy.)

however, the only one of the young stars who was REALLY living up to expectations at this point was jordan eberle? iirc he lead the team in goals AND assists that year. the masses were starting to get impatient with the performances of the other young stars, especially first overall franchise savior taylor hall.

and the oilers won another draft lottery. (you can imagine at this point the rest of the league was already pretty sick of the oilers winning draft lotteries.) they drafted nail yakupov first overall. i am not going to dive deeply into the yakupov saga, because we would be here all night, but suffice to say that, no, he did not live up to first overall expectations, but also, yes, he was very much punished for Being Russian In Edmonton, and those two things cannot be untangled from each other. however, in the context of the nuge of it all, this leaves rnh in an interesting and particular spot: he is still not expected to be taylor hall, and wow he looks like such a nice pick compared to yakupov. rnh is playing pretty well! not all-star numbers or anything, but again, he's not the cornerstone of the franchise rebuild. he is an important brick, but not the foundation.

not like the rebuild is working anyway. with their arsenal of three straight first overall draft picks (and canadian world juniors hero jordan eberle), edmonton misses the playoffs for the seventh straight season. and then they miss them again. and then they miss them again. and it's not even like assigned franchise savior taylor hall is playing poorly — other than one slump of a season he is consistently putting up 50+ point seasons, including one 80 point season! but the oilers as a team are still a laughingstock in the league. it's not just that they're missing the playoffs. they are consistently near the bottom of the league.

to be clear, i don't think this was the fault of the players. i think the oilers were (are) pretty shit at management and were (are) pretty shit at prospect development. i think that when you have a team with that many decent-to-good players and you can't get out of the basement that the problem is systemic. but god forbid the front office take a good long look inward to diagnose the problem within themselves. no, the problem was that assigned franchise savior taylor hall was not doing his job (saving the franchise).

not that there wasn't any frustration toward other players, including rnh. there was frustration toward the team as a whole, but hall often bore the brunt of it. omark and pääjärvi were gone by around 2014. eberle was still well-liked but it was kind of accepted that he wasn't going to change the fate of the organization. the idea that the oilers needed to ship hall out becaue HE was the problem was in the air before the 2015 draft lottery.

and then the oilers won the 2015 draft lottery, and with it, connor mcdavid. people were not happy. (please click on this link it's so funny.) the oilers were so bad at this point that it was just generally accepted that connor going to the oilers meant the prime of his generational-talent career would be wasted by an incompetent team. honestly not really feeling like we've been proven wrong at this exact point in time!

however: connor mcdavid? brand new savior! way better savior than taylor hall ever would have been! the last five years of rebuild weren't REALLY a rebuild, the real rebuild was going to start with mcdavid!

and where is the nuge in all this? he has been pretty quietly plugging away, turning into a very good and reliable nhl player. a consistent 40–50 ish point player, not bad! fast forward a few seasons into the mcdavid era and he's putting up 80 points, 100 points! he's the longest-tenured oiler. the edmonton people and powers that be seem to really value him! which is really awesome.

this is not to say that there was never any "nuge should be better" discourse or any frustration with him when the team was doing so badly, because there was absolutely frustration with the whole team, including him. i do distinctly remember hearing the phrase "the oilers need more from ryan nugent-hopkins" more than once on the broadcasts. nuge finding his role on the team and the notable success he's had in more recent seasons has been a process, even though he hasn't ever been ~bad at the nhl level. however, imo, his positioning between noted disappointments hall and yakupov and also assigned saviors hall and mcdavid did put him in a unique position where people had a little more patience with him and blamed him less for the team's struggles than his fellow first overalls.

i do still miss the kid line sometimes though.

[musicals-n-cartoons]

Watching and Dreaming Reaction

Almost a week late, but here is my eleven (and final) Owl House reaction!

Before the Special

I am so nervexcited about hitting play. This is it after all. Endings are very important; many pieces of media were ruined by a bad ending. I don't think they will drop the ball, but still.

Anywhere, predictions! Man, that was a great trailer, wasn't it? Luz is dressed as Belos? That giant heart is making a surprise comeback? Lyrics!? My guess, the Collector sent them all to different games (like the pacman thing), and then Luz is put into a Belos roleplaying thing. Did Belos convince the Collector to do this as a sort of forced empathy thing? Is this a manifestation of Luz's guilt? Luz trying to find out more about the Emperor's relationship with the Collector? The Collector makes Luz into the bad guy out of jealousy? Actually, that last one might be it. Whatever the case, it looks like Luz is forced to fight all her friends, but they will manage to snap out of it long enough to do the whole "you got to wake up" "how?" "you turn on the lights" thing. I just know that's going to be a good moment, I can't wait.

It looks there is going to be a sad Collector scene. Is he by himself, or is he talking to Belos/"Raine"? I'm still thinking that Luz is going to do one last "empathized with sad kid" routine to convince the Collector to start caring about others. And then they save Raine and kill Belos! Now that I think about it, Luz and co needs a plan to drive the plot until the Collector talk. She must be sneaking around as Belos for reason after all.

Wait duh, they will be trying to beat the Collector at his own game! And then Luz will try to change it to her own game.

Ok, enough speculation, on with the show!

Side note: I caught that unauthorized thumbnail of Willow. Some people are saying that it's likely from a post-victory montage. Does that mean that Willow will become a professional Flyer derby player? Good for her.

The Special

oh, we are picking up immediately after the end of For the Future

Luz is losing consciousness and blinking while everyone was taken

back here! wait, the subtitles are saying "Papa Titan", that's a spoiler

oh, we are meeting Belos!Luz sooner than I expected

"power noodle" never change Luz

ooh, Amity is mad. Luz needs to trust her friends more

Eda!

ah, these are like nightmare dreams for the main trio

Eda fears being treated as a monster by her family, eh?

now it's King's turn. he gets to hang out with Bill!

siblings...

back to Luz... in Willow's mind? oh, she is meeting all her friends individually

here's Hunter being jealous of Luz. does this mean that Luz is feeling guilty about her life being better than him?

here's Gus putting on a show

alright! time for a witch's... battle?

wait, they're fake puppet people!

no wait, they're real, just controlled

ah, the "wake up" scene. ngl, it's not as climatic as I expected

aww, we're done with that already?

Luz wakes up on a chessboard

time to wake everyone up

ray-ray? the Collector is too cute

this was an attempt to make the trio repent? Belos going back to the old playbook I see

oh no, Belos knows about titans being immune to Collector magic!

so powerful the heart still beats

"just fix them" huh, the Collector doesn't know what death is

Raine's fighting back! you go bard!

here lies the puppet squad. but what's this? puppet Amity is making a move? I've seen the fan theories, I think I know where this is going

oh, I got the order all wrong. in retrospect, I guess it made sense that the trailer only included scenes from the very beginning

games montage: Pacman, marbles, blocks

embarrassed Collector

ah! King is using "them" to refer to the Collector!

"can't last forever" yeah, but Collector boy here can outlive you I'm pretty sure

cool, some Collector lore. so their siblings are known as the Archivists?

play a game with the titans? ooooh.... the archivists used him as a distraction to trap the baby titans. or even killed them, considering that Collector is ignorant of death

Collector is willing to settle for a pretend friend, how tragic

ah, they are going to do an owl house livewatch, I see

come on Raine, stop him!

ha! take that Be- wait, no!

it's like a cancer spreading around the iles

puppet Amity managed to scratch out a light glyph, waking them all up

ah, Luz is showing them all the places in her memories

ha, grugby is nonsense

Collector is looking left out from the trio's banter

Collector calls it titan magic, but again with the "titan's favor" thing! I don't like this idea that Luz was "given", dare I saw "chosen", her glyphs

but bonding time is over now, Belos is making his move

ha, call back to when Tinella Nosa stole that rat's home

wow, a dragon transformation, real original Belos

kindness and forgiveness, not like that Collector

oh no, Luz did a heroic sacrifice

damn, do all protagonists need to die nowadays

this is a very unfortunate way for Collector to learn about death, considering Luz is almost definitely going to come back

King and Eda's going beast mode

Luz reformed in the in-between, time for a meeting for Papa Titan?

"I should have thanked them" oh Luz. a people pleaser to the end

! is that confirmation that Hooty is tied to the titan!

"both king and queen", ah, so like snails then? or do titans reproduce asexually?

he was watching over King from beyond the grave, oh no, I'm feeling things

Luz is talking about her guilt with the titan, finally, some therapy

Luz is getting her own power up, cool

first Amity now Collector, it seems all magic is failing

oh god, Luz is literally a light glyph

omg, furry Luz! The prophecy is fulfilled!

I'm disappointed in you Luz, you didn't prepare any lines?

aww, Eda finally gets to teach Luz some traditional witch magic

and King helps with the titan wahs!

what's with the grass

ah, Camila remembers her glyph lessons

wait, is that actual land off in the distance?

hooray, Raine is saved!

the inevitable Good Witch Luz speech, yes!

Wait, wasn't Bonesborough on the left arm? or, was it the right arm?

ha, typical, Belos is trying one last trick

haha, he's dead now

"I loaf you" sobbing, it's perfect

And that's the end of the episode! now's for the epilogue

Luz's friends reunited with their parents. oh, and Odalia was there also

Darius is there to be Hunter's guardian. but Camila is still his human guardian, right?

Lumity kiss!

Amity is still not used to Hooty, huh. something to bond with Camila over

Collector is going back to the stars

Titan magic is dead

Long live palismen magic!

time skip... to leaving for university

Vee with a nose ring!

god, they did a "goodbye to the magic" fake out - trice!

Hunter is now a full-blown palismen carver

Boscha sells sports equipment. ok

Matty has a real mustache now

magic sigal removal

aww, a baby slitherbeast. and a baby selkidomus! nature is healing

Gus got a human exchange program. does this mean that the Human Realm is aware of the Demon Realm?

Eda is the headmaster of a university now

King's looking a little older

King-ceanera! what a cute way to show a quinceanera while still having a multiyear time skip. I do gotta ask, however, is this culturally sensitive?

aww, it's cute how big King's glyphs need to be to make that small light.

that was delightfully meta, what with the saying goodbye to the camera and the fakeouts from earlier.

Reactions to Other Reactions

Dana signed Luz's scholarship lol

It was neat how the titan was kinda a father figure to Luz

someone called Future Amity a lesbian sky pirate. I can see it. but wait, now that I look closer, I see that I missed that Amity is a book-hunting adventurer now

Amity's undercut reminds me of the way a fanartist who I quite like draws her

Dana confirms that Hunter's new palismen's name is Waffles

8k notes on Tumblr baby! the Owl House's number one for almost a week!

Luz died and was reborn, it's an Easter miracle! this can't be a coincidence, Disney's schedulers must know what they're doing

yeah, it's both funny and sad that Luz can believe that Amity wouldn't misquote a book but not that her friends won't hate her. the biggest flaw imo of this season is that they never dedicated enough time to resolving Luz's guilt in a satisfying way

some people think that Belo's death scene was bad and anticlimactic? not every death needs to happen during the climax, god. he was defeated already, ok? him trying to hoodwink Luz one last time and failing is just a funny way to get rid of him afterward.

and why are Philip fans so disappointed in him being called ungenuine? the man literally tried to commit genocide. no one can believe that he was genuinely trying to save anyone, and the Titan was right to tell Luz that she is nothing like him. god, you have an unhappy childhood and suddenly people start believing that murdering the Other is a logical response...

yeah, the Collector leaving everyone to go to his family just doesn't seem right. let's pretend that he visits often

oh, the Disney channel broadcast put Weirdmageddon right after this one? that's very funny

Luz is wearing Amity's necklace omg

oh, I missed the other basilisks at the university! I'm so happy for them! this means that Vee can be reunited with them

yeah, I love how Titan Luz looks so evil. she continues to look dark and edgy while actually being sweet and nice. It reminds me of how Disney villains used to be queer-coded. now the bisexual is villain-coded! it's also why I find the fan-made personality of beta Luz to be very funny. I'm pretty sure most people are misunderstanding "Lucia's" character...

wait, Titan Luz had no fluffy tail, weak

Amity didn't get to see Titan Luz! biggest casualty of the need to focus on the main trio tbh

Luz really is the Titan's blorbo

apparently, the show notes call Titan Luz "Luzan"? and somebody on Reddit suggests calling her "Luzifer". both are fun suggestions, but I think I prefer Titan Luz just a little bit better.

What's Next?

I know a lot of people are sad that The Owl House is over, but I like to be optimistic. This is not an ending, but a completion! After 4 years of hard work, the animators have finally finished, they're free from their labor! We should all celebrate!

Myself, I plan to rewatch The Owl House yet again, so that's most of the year taken care of. And putting college!Luz into the Sims is definitely on the agenda.

Of course, Disney is still making other shows. I liked The Ghost & Molly Mcgee, and Moon Girl seems cool to me. Sure, they're both less serialized than Owl House, but tbh I think serialization is less important than people make it out to be.

And there are other shows out there. I have been meaning to finish Kipo & the Wonderbeast, Dead End: Paranormal Park, and SpyxFamily. And I never started Craig of the Creek, Big City Green, etc. Contrary to what some people say, animation ain't dead yet.

[performativezippers]

Ooh, an ask game! How about 3, 4, 11, 12 for (not) a laughing matter (which, even after all the canon we've had since, remains one of my absolute favorite fics for these two--it's hilarious, but still feels true to these two)?

3: What’s your favorite line of narration? It's been a long time since I reread this! This was my first ever Kacy fic, and I was most interested in the two versions of Whistler and how those would look to Tennant, so these three lines popped for me:

"Good to know not even DIA Officer Kate Whistler, with her rigid ponytail and pressed skirt and that enormous stick up her ass, is immune to how fucking cute Lucy is right now." I like this one cause y'all know I love the comedic rule of three's.

"This person, the one bending over Lucy, wearing Whistler’s clothes and Whistler’s face, is certainly not DIA Officer Whistler, resident mean girl with a rampant ambitious streak who probably jacks off to the idea of red tape. No, this is someone else entirely. And Jane has a sneaking suspicion Lucy has met her before." I like the juxtaposition here of the hard thoughts Tennant usually has about Whistler (mean girl, ambitious, red tape) with the softness Tennant's being confronted with--the way we can see her very thoughts changing as the evidence in front of her changes. Also "jacks off to the idea of red tape" just makes me laugh.

"Kate dons Whistler in the few steps across the room to the door. She turns back, almost chagrined, her Whistler mask still askew." I dunno I just think this one is neat.

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue? Here's two: "Jane expects that to be that, but Lucy rolls her eyes. 'Special Agent Tara,' she scoffs, like her name is a hilarious joke. 'Well I hope YOU have a quick recovery, Special Agent Whistler.'" I can HEAR high Lucy saying this, I can picture it perfectly, and that's what I always go for. Especially because this was my first time writing her, I think this line is super successful.

“'And she thought I was very small and cute and I thought she was so tall and beautiful that I attacked her face!' she beams at all of them. 'With my face!'” This one makes me laugh, and that was the whole point. Also, I stand by the fact that this is in character.

11: What do you like best about this fic? Honestly, it was my first Kacy fic and I like that it helped me get into the characters, to start to get a sense of their voices and the ways they move through space together. I'm happy with my decision to write it from someone else's POV so I could ease into Kacy's dynamic without having to be in one of their heads. I also think it's pretty funny.

12: What do you like least about this fic? I wish Ernie were there! It was too many characters to manage for my first. Also there's one sentence I'd rearrange.

[asks]

[floralbfs]

WIP Ask Game!

thank u anon!!!!

1: Summarize your WIP in 10 words or less.

orphan gains powers, gets adopted by alien, saves the world.

2: Post a line from your WIP with no context.

'There's a whoosh of air, and Leo suddenly hears a voice he never thought he'd ever be able to hear again.'

3: Does your WIP have a title? If so, explain its significance. If not, what are you calling it for now?

Okay so I have been calling it the Youtuber Superhero AU (because it started as a fandom au but then i made it an original!!) but I thought maybe it could be "Thicker than Water", since my MC, Leo, is an orphan and he lives alone for most of his life (most of his life lmao at least until canon point? read also: around 9-11 years when in canon he's like 19?) in a remote, lowkey magical place/dimension?, but ultimately he comes back to his hometown and creates a family for himself!!!! i won't give spoilers but, since i already said this, part of his found family is his adoptive dad, an alien who is also a superhero!! If not TtW, I would call it maybe,,,,, Moonstone???? at least the first book!!! (ooh, maybe TtW can be the series name and Moonstone the first book's name?) because Leo kind of gets his powers through a moon stone????? it's not actually moon stone; it was a strange rock he found in the magical dimension that seeked out a champion for the god Huitzilopochtli??? and the closest word Leo could get for it was Moonstone, because of its uhhhhh singular qualities!

4: Describe the setting of your WIP.

OKAY, this is a fun one!!! Leo's hometown is named Star Nova, idk why it just seemed cool, and it is a futuristic city!!! They don't follow capitalism Because I Said So, and they're really into, like, environmental stuff!!! So you'd see SO much flora all over the city kshdsjfh like those???? idk what they're called but like the towns overridden with plants? but controlled!!! There's a tiny percentage of the population (tho I still haven't decided if this is worldwide?? I have a way to make it worldwide but idk) who have superpowers, either due to "individual" factors (e.g Leo's powers are bc of the moonstone, and Matthew(his dad)'s powers are due to him being an alien!) or were affected by a weird experiment an Evil Corporation™ were doing; ECtm was trying out an illegal experiment that could alter living beings' genetics to their will, but it went wrong and their substance exploded and went airborne. Those who were working on it knew about its risks and toxicity, ergo they were wearing a special suit and weren't affected, but the gas contaminated and ??mixed?? with the air and spread to the nearest city, Star Nova (the unofficial capital of the Joint Pacific Nations) and affected a Whole Lot Of People!!! this all happened a while before canon, and the corporation got away with it bc they were filthy rich basically. Anyway, a lot of the people who were affected to the "virus" reacted negatively and died, some were uhhh """immune"""???, and a few Seemed to be immune but had actually had a successful celular-level bonding with the substance! It didn't do anything to them, but their children/grandchildren were born with physical or mental anomalies, also known as super powers (gasps)!!!! BUT!!! a lot of the story happens in the magical city of Coatl (it means serpent!), located within a pocket dimension somewhere inside the Mexican southern forest, where Leo finds himself when he's four years old, recently orphaned, guided by a magical ....bird....being....? he lives there for around eleven years, and he's granted Huitzilopochtli's Champion's power once he's like. Not A Baby lmao. Coatl is.... kind of like,,,,, an Olympus, I guess? Only those with like the destiny to find it know where it is, and they can lead other people there if it's for good causes! It's almost like a sentient city, and the Aztec gods kinda. chilled there???? my theory is that a lot of religious mythologies exist, at least in this universe, and they all co-exist on earth, or pocket dimensions inside of it!!! anyway, Leo lived there and was basically raised by gods???? and an AI???? bc i love AIs???? and uhhhh i think that got away from me ajdhsjdhsj does all of this even count as setting??? am i missing anything????

5: Search for the word “knife” in your WIP. If you find it, paste the line and explain the context.

no knives sadly :( i guess i haven't reached Those Scenes yet???? tho there should be one in the first chapter….. my wip document is just kind of very messy ajdhsjdjsjdh i might just have to make a new document????

6: Search for the word “dream” in your WIP. If you find it, paste the line and explain the context.

???????????? why am i not using any words?????????? sorry :/

7: What are you most proud of?

probably the worldbuilding and characters (at least those with superpowers? maybe i should say superpowers period)!!!!! they're very complex and thought-out????? and i THINK they're original!!!!! so!!!!! ＼(￣▽￣)／

8: What is your biggest challenge?

oooooof,,,,,,,, probably..... getting an actual plot lmao????? like i have an overall view of my would-be first and second books, but i don't know if they actually have enough to them to be written as they are?????? like… idk if the conflict is really like??? worthy to be a Main Conflict™????

9: How would you describe your writing style?

oooooooh uhhhhh maybe….. flowery prose???? i'm a poet at heart, so if i don't use loads of metaphors and language uhhhh idk their name in english but language variators??? i will literally die. but seriously nsjdhsjdhsjfh nothing too serious!!!! most of my “”””angst”””” scenes are….. not so sad, i think skfjsjfj

10: How would you describe your WIP’s narrative style? (1st person, 3rd person, multiple POVs, single POV, alternating chapters, etc.)

oh!!!! well, i think it'd be multiple povs, alternating chapters, third person???? i'm still not sure whether to use 1st or if i already have??? p sure that's a different wip i'm thinking about tho

11: Which character do you have the most in common with?

uhhhhhhhhhhhh seeing how underdeveloped she is right now??? probably Persephone???? bc she's genderfluid skfjsjfjdjfh or uhhhh Scott??? bc i too love leo with my heart and would die for him and stay with him in the afterlife. (hypothetically, of course….)

12: Which character do you have the least in common with?

Maeve, probably!!!! she's, uh…. Something.

13: Your characters are stranded on a deserted island. What happens?

They Are All A Mess. akfhajfjajfj Matthew would probably become the leader and like. establish order and shit???? but he's also the hugest nerd so he'd just give the leader role to someone else (probably seph staine?) and goes exploring and cataloging shit skfhsjfhdjf Leo is probably the most resourceful one of the bunch, so he would immediately like. start planning for huts and food and stuff???? also idk if they would have their powers in this situation cause it'd be too easy to get them all out of there????? but let's just say they do but the island is inescapable by flight?? he can talk to animals, so he could communicate with the local fauna and like form alliances???? Seph is a good leader, so he'd probably like….. keep everything in check???? and Leo's friends are all good and resourceful, so they'd make a good team!!!! tldr they basically create order immediately and do their best to not struggle??? after a few days/weeks, some of them start to like. break down? but the adults are like. wise and shit??? and i'm pretty sure at least one of them is like a licensed therapist??? so they help each other out uwu

14: Have you chosen birthdays for any of your characters? If so, when are they?

oh!!!! only for a few!!!! Leo and Maeve's birthday is on March 25, Scott's birthday is on August 27, Matthew doesn't really have a birthday??? because time is different in his planet????, Percy and Persephone's birthday is somewhere in November, and uhhhh im p sure that's all i got akfjsjfjsj i suck at birth dates

15: Do you know your characters’ MBTI personalities?

GOD, no. maybe i should do their tests???👀

16: What would your characters be for Halloween?

Leo… doesn't believe in/care for Halloween, as he didn't grow up around it, but it's totally Scott's jam!!! they are dirt poor in a good first half of the book, though, so they can't really dress up :( they met in the library, and after (spoiler alert!!!) scotty's death, Leo feels it appropriate to dress up as Scott's fave characters every year. Percy and Persephone are (very weak) shapeshifters, so their costumes ROCK!!!!! they always do matching costumes, so they get cliché pair costumes!! Matthew….. uh. he is… way too old for that. he was literally alive before Halloween was even a thing, so it's not really his thing. Leah just……. does her own thing??? she can see ghosts, so she sometimes does like historical costumes and stuff with their help!!! and Ben…. oof tbh that depends on what his fave song/album/whatev is at the moment??? he kinda creates like a story/aesthetic for them and dresses up that way!!!!

17: Does your WIP have any themes or motifs?

uhhhh found family, definitely!!!! i really can't think of any bc i'm an idiot, but uhhhh intelligence??? if that's a thing??? like,,, they're all powerful and shit but it's also like. brains over brawns????

18: What’s easier, dialogue or description?

i think description!!!! neither of them are… hard??? but!!! description is like…… where i can go hog wild akfjskfjsjfb

19: Post a picture or gif that describes your WIP.

20: Post a brief excerpt.

Leo @Leoberry

You asked, I answered. New Q&A video is now up!

[3k retweets, 10k likes, 9k replies] 20 min. ago

[My First Q&A- video transcription excerpt]

[Leo Berry, a nineteen-year-old brunette guy with green eyes, wearing a red shirt with a lightning symbol on it that's loose on his muscular form, waves at the camera and smiles widely, dimples showing up on his cheeks.]

Leo: Hey, guys. You've been asking me to do a Q&A for a while, and the day has finally arrived! I told you to ask me questions on Twitter with the hashtag #AskBerry, and I've picked a few!

[Leo smiles brightly and lifts up his cellphone.]

Leo: First off, here's one by @razzberry- nice username, by the way-: “what's your cat's name? Do you have more than one?”

[The video shifts, and there's suddenly two cats sitting on Leo's arms: a large, orange cat quickly falling asleep on his shoulder, and a black kitten hugged in his arms.]

Leo: I do! This little fella-

[He gasps as the kitten in his arms struggles to get free and runs off-camera.]

Leo: Don't leave me! Okay, that little fella is Onyx, and, as you can see, he doesn't like me very much. Anyway, this little gal asleep over here…

[He points toward a small orange cat sleeping on his shoulder.]

Leo: ...is Tigress! She's my little baby. You've probably seen her around a lot on my vlogs, since she really likes to hang out on my bed.

Leo: Next! @Honeybats asked: ‘“is it true your dad is Jade?”

[Leo smiles and, after a few seconds of trying to school his features, bursts out laughing.]

Leo: You mean to ask whether my dad is Matlal Jade, the greatest superhero of our era?

Leo: ...Well, yeah! My dad- [more laughs] my dad is totally my Jade. His name is Matthew, and I keep asking him to fly me to school. He says it's not funny!

[He sobers up for a second.]

Leo: Jokes aside, he adopted me a few years ago and he'll always be a superhero in my eyes. I was in a really dark place when he found me, and I can't thank him enough for all that he's done for me.

[Leo looks away for a second and loses his smile. The video cuts and skips again, and Leo appears once again, this time sporting an easy smile and a blue shirt, this one tighter around his shoulders.]

Leo: things got a bit too deep! This one was sent by @shazhangs: “are you dating anyone at the moment?”

[Leo laughs.]

Leo: God, no. I mean, I'm not really a people person, you know? And I’ve been so focused on work, vlogging, and, uh, extracurriculars, that I really haven't had any time to socialise.

[Leo laughs again.]

Leo: This one comes from @perspartone: will you collab with any other youtubers anytime soon?

Leo: Yeah, sure! I don't think I have done any videos with other people in the past, so it'd be a fun thing to do! I just have to find a friend first.

[Leo laughs loudly.]

[End of excerpt. For viewing of the video, refer to Leo Berry on Youtube, and find the full transcription here at DailyBerries in a few hours.]