#insane show for insane people with insane lore to boot

[mythalism]

i think, anecdotally, canadians love to use land acknowledgments and Diversity(tm) a bit more than americans do, and have a degree of always pointing at the us and being like "well at least WE didn't do anything that fucked up! we're so much more enlightened and respectful 😌". and so any acknowledgment that racism exists, or that necessary societal change is often only brought by unpleasant disruption, or specifically that indigenous people live in terrible conditions because of colonization, is bracketed with this type of "but it's very complicated, and who's to say if there's a solution? we're thinking about it really hard, and holding space, and listening and learning, and maybe we will get to fixing it in like 50 years if people ask nicely" rhetoric. and there's a degree of apprehension that "land back" is a call for ethnic cleansing of settlers (somehow, despite this being both physically not possible and not actually anyone's demand) and that any movement towards that will be bad and overly radical.

which maps directly onto how bioware writes elves specifically haha. they'll sympathetically show how they're oppressed and living under the boot of a catholic church-esque entity, but then... ahhh noo, actually they had a very problematic pre-colonization culture, and they're too impractically fixated on the past and that prevents them from moving forward, and the church employees are sometimes trying their best and making amends, and the demands of the elven leadership are just too out there and violent... so really, it's very complicated. maybe it could be better to keep the status quo and only have Incremental Change, forever.

(they sort of didn't do this in the masked empire, but as always they had to throw in a bit about how Rude And Mean the dalish are. plus the ridiculously evil chevalier lore of each one randomly executing a few elves as a rite of passage, and then never mentioning that aspect again bc i guess it wasn't relevant to michel's story. as well as the insanely underwritten premise of what briala and celene's relationship actually was. there's ~toxic lesbians~, and then there's "extremely rich and powerful white noblewoman calls her younger servant class gf ugly for being dark skinned, lies to her for years, has her family and then entire community killed, then tries to seduce her back when she gets angry and leaves" lmao. i think weekes was going for a tragic morally grey starcrossed lovers to enemies vibe, but to me it was more of a horrific one-sided exploitation that the author did not seem to realize they were writing.)

and in veilguard i suppose they tried to avoid the entire issue by mostly removing those aspects of the setting, so you no longer even have the somewhat well-observed depictions of oppression combined with Justin Trudeau Moments, it's just kind of empty.

anyway thank you for appreciating my very long ted talk! i left tumblr after the whole "popular bloggers mass reporting pro-palestine people for terrorism" thing (i can get that treatment for free irl, don't need that extra stress from the Fandom Webbed Site haha). i've just been drifting back to look at dragon age posts bc i was curious about veilguard. i didn't expect much from bioware but it was surprising that they just went even further into tone-deaf bizarre race allegories rather than reading 1 (one) nonfiction book in the years since dai, or hiring anybody from a different background who could weigh in. :')

wow this is seriously so fascinating and insightful and truly does give me a better understanding of both canada and bioware LMFAO so thank you so much for sharing seriously. you are welcome in my inbox for more ted talks anytime and now im just gonna leave this here to marinate on it further and hope other people read it because its fantastic. xoxo

[fifteensjukebox]

11, 20, 23 <3

hiii tysm dani im sorry it took me so long to answer iI wrote my answers in the order of hat I thought of and i think they make the most sense in the order i wrote then:

20. If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

it wouldn't have meant as much at the beginning of he year iirc but i think my current mental health journey became very real for me the day of some unrelated appointments on april 18th in that people were touching me and my stuff (actually feb 15th appts definitely apply to

anyway new paragraph now that im actually getting to the point which is that i wish i had seriously considered an ssri earlier, im only couple weeks in so idk if it'll work but i have so much hope and i wish i'd gotten here sooner but new year new me will have to do! it's mostly taken so long bc i keep thinking i want to see if fixing my sleep schedule fixes my brain but. my brain the ay it is i can't seem to fix my sleep schedule so.

11. Something you want to do again next year?

oh i definitely said this when this ask game went around last year but travel!! we'd started planning this year's trip by the time i last answered this and while it was hard bc i was trying to stay soooo clean physically which is impossible while travelling, im learning to let go and get clean when get home (will get to apply this plan on our tropical trip in. holy shit 9 days single digits i have to pack ??)

anw it was so much fun portugal and spain (aka spordugal per my brother's typo when he made a folder for my photos) are soooooooooo beautiful and we were hoping to go back to italy next year but we may not have n opportunity in good weather bc my brother's going to catch up from part time uni so he can go full time next year and be on pace w his new gf

(have i mentioned hannah on here? wore a v cool burgundy velvet dress w combat boots to a school formal (which i did not expect in uni??) and she and matt organically started something at the dance anw i just met her bc they're doing a studying sleepover at our house and i already love them (hannah they/she im sure i will mention her plenty more oh one more thing i followed them on ig and they follow zac oyama and ally beardsley but interestingly no one else i follo interestingly.... must discuss tomorrow... they went down to matt'sroom to play video games w his projector oh actually i hear pool table activity v fun)

20. Whats something you learned this year?

im answering this one last and both of my other answers relate to learning about my mental health and cleaning stuff so i desperately want this answer to be unrelated... oh in an indirect way this is related but isn't everything : i learned that my way of over preparing and making packing lists for travel is super worthwhile bc i did not have time for europe bc i as too busy cleaning stuff i didn't end up using and ended up packing my suitcase the day we left and forgetting so many important things (really just everything related to my period including pain meds)

i really wanted to think of a fun new skill orsth but i don't think i have any from this year so this'll have to do! still rly enjoyed answering even thought there's like 0.5 fun answers in here thanks again dani for asking!

[diamondzart]

I saw some people saying that they hope with all their heart that Valve never decides to go for making Team Fortress 2 into a movie. And I completely understand and respect their opinion, we all see what happens nowadays with that crappy live-action adaptations trend that just refuses to die for some reason. BUT I personally am quite positive when it comes to a hypothetical possibility of Team Fortress adaptation. The nuance is, it can exist ONLY on the following conditions:

NO live action in any way. Just NO. It should be 100% animated.

With a signature cartoony style

Rated R (for graphic violence of course)

Screenwriters should be either people who wrote the official comics, or at least people who mastered that kind of absurd humour on the same level. But at the same time they should be able to maintain that extremely delicate balance between seriousness and goofiness that, in my opinion, was executed in the comics almost perfectly.

It should be full of easter eggs that are basically hat-tips for all legendary SFM animators that keep this community alive and going for almost 20 years already, because these people are a national treasure of the internet itself.

Only if all of these conditions are respected, Team Fortress movie theoretically can exist and be loved. Take away one of these conditions and it will turn into a catastrophic failure. So it should basically be a “Spiderverse” or “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” of game adaptations. There is only one way to get it right and infinite amount of ways to fuck it up. That’s why it’s very dangerous to even dare to dream about such movie, but… come on, Spiderverse exists, after all. That shows that unexpectedly genius and incredibly executed animated movies DO happen every once in a while. Nothing is impossible.

As an animator myself, I see here a huge field for creativity and embracing absolutely insane absurdity of the TF2 lore. It simply can not be executed with real actors. That shouldn’t even be considered. If made right, a movie like this might be the biggest mindblower of the decade in the best possible sense of these words.

[monstercampus]

Ellie help I have werewolf brain rot and Kirk has been living in my mind rent free the past few nights 😩 please tell me more about him, does he have a secret soft side or is being mean his love language and you know he cares about you if he's giving you a hard time? Why does he live in a dorm by himself? Where is he on the possessive scale? Honestly just tell me everything you know about him so I can simp to the best of my ability 🥺😫🙏

And actually while I'm here, anything about Elliott or Julian would also be tasty 👀👀👀 forgive me for the werewolf team fic altered my brain chemistry and I may never be the same

absolutely !! !!!!! i am at your mercy uwu <33 (this is mostly stream of consciousness so if u want more i am READY)

(cws: kirk being a sap + lore)

Kirk is very much that way--giving you a hard time is generally how he shows he cares about you. He's only truly mean to those he doesn't care about, and trust that there is a difference even when you get frustrated over his attitude in the beginning. He didn't grow up with a lot of love in his household so it's really not his area of expertise, he never really learned how to show it and only started experiencing affection when he joined the pack and made friends with all the other werewolves. Being snuggled, having his hair stroked instead of pulled, listening to his friends talk about him being handsome and smart even if he's got a shitty attitude.....it's weird to him. He doesn't hate it deep down, but he hates how it makes him feel vulnerable when he doesn't want to be.

'Vulnerable' is barely even in his vocabulary, which is why he comes at you with so much heat at first. He'd been hoping and praying that you two could boink, have a good time, and then you would pretend like it never happened so he wouldn't have to face any of those feelings he has when he looks at you. But when you don't, and when you're just so sweet, Kirk can't handle it and has to revert to what he knows: being a dick. Not nearly to the extent of how he is with other people, but just enough to keep you at arm's length in his constant fear that you're gonna end up making him feel like he isn't totally worthless. Because what would he do then? He's accepted the role of being an irredeemable, raging douchebag for pretty much all his life. He's got an attitude, his temper is awful, he doesn't consider himself that good-looking, he's got some of the worst grades out of the whole pack, he fixates on things and lets them consume all his thoughts, and he hasn't even got any palate to boot and will eat just about anything, even if it's on the verge of spoiling. He's total garbage and he's friends with a pack of people that couldn't be more perfect; Julian is incredibly charming, Portia's practically a genius, Nick is insanely handsome, Elliott is so gentle and really funny, Priam is a total sweetheart and Athos is the pinnacle of cool in his eyes. How could he even think of measuring up to all that, much less stick out among the rest and prove he's worth even a little bit of your love?

That may be the most frustrating part about Kirk--he can be the prickliest guy you know and he would die before he ever says those things out loud, but he seriously admires his friends and you yet he has little to no belief in himself. Granted, growing up he would've gotten his ass beat for showing that kind of weakness, so it's still deeply ingrained in him as an adult--especially since the pack are pretty much the first friends he's ever made on his own. And at his core, he's jealous. Jealous of them and their nice families, jealous of how well they all turned out despite going through their own struggles, jealous of how easy it is for them to be open when he's terrified of people finding out he's bi, jealous of you for being so brave and so beautiful in equal measure....so that's why the best thing he can do--in his own opinion of course--is to be your collective guard dog.

After all, Kirk isn't afraid to bite. His instincts are hard to control in his human form, could you even imagine how feral he can get when he's full wolf, or even just close to the full moon? If anything it's what he's good at; hunting, beating ass, and taking a punch. If he can't be as good as you and the others deserve, the least he can do is make sure that sweetness and the goodness of your souls isn't ever dominated by someone else. He'll spill blood, he doesn't care. He would even get suspended if it came to that, expelled, arrested, whatever it takes and he'll let the chips fall where they may. You'll know his love for you is real when he starts acting protective over you, not only when other people try to bother you but as far as your daily needs as well. Have you eaten properly? Are you thirsty? Do you need to sleep? When's the last time you stretched? He acts like it's a favour he's doing for you, like you're a little wolf that needs caring after, but in truth it settles his own self-doubts and makes him happier knowing that he's doing something for you--that he's taking care of you like a mate would, and when you smile at him or thank him for his help he just melts. He would do anything to keep hold of that smile.

.....Which is why he's got a plan in his head for after graduation. He and Nick are the oldest and thus are going to graduate first of all of you, so once that's over and done with he's got plans to start building a place for you all to properly call 'home'. It's nothing crazy--just a cabin in the woods--but if there's one thing he can confidently say he's good at it's woodworking, and he's sketched out the designs to make it everything you could ever want.

Personal rooms for you, him, and Portia who has trouble falling asleep when it's noisy. A big living room with enough sofas to fit you all. Polished oak walls like Julian grew up with and always wanted to see again. A bathtub big enough to fit Nicky's giant, muscly legs without spilling over. Tables and chairs to fit everyone and more, to fit all the family gatherings and maybe even the pups you might have one day. A garden out back where he'll plant those ugly little flowers Elliott loves. Trees and greenery around where they can run and hunt and play during the full moon, totally obscured by the rest of the world. A big fucking chandelier in the dining room to intimidate any friends you bring over that think they're hot enough shit to snatch you. It's gonna be perfect, it's gonna be the one thing he can say he's proud of in practically his whole life. It'll be a gift to all of you for putting up with his assholery for so damn long, for sticking with him even when he couldn't find a single reason why you should.

That's the kind of love Kirk shows. Words don't mean much to him--actions and acts of service are how he expresses his affections, because it's much simpler for him to put work into something he can touch and measure and paint rather than throw some flimsy words around and call it love. Plus, one of the reasons why he lives in his own dorm is because his downtime is incredibly important to him. Usually he would request a private one-bedroom apartment, but this year he was assigned roommates that he very quickly drove away with his annoying habits almost entirely on purpose. If he's not comfortable with someone, then like hell is he going to share an intimate living space with them--and after a long day he just needs time to be completely alone. He has to think, work on his projects, exercise, chew on something, and have no prying eyes around that will impede his progress in trying to figure out how the hell he can try to make himself worthy of being loved by you. A dumb, violent wolf reaching to grab the very moon from the sky.

[zoobus]

I'm not normally a victim of FOMO tactics, nor do I usually let being late to the party stop me from chatting about a piece of media but I'm genuinely sad I didn't get into Obey Me/Nightbringer earlier. It makes me want to write a million essays but the disposable and decentralized nature of gacha kind of makes it feel like you missed your chance to talk about it. I keep coming across years old, unrepliable comments that I want to jump on sooo bad but I can't because the moment is gone and most of these people have likely moved on to less overtly money-hungry games.

Which sucks! because one essay I want to write in particular is how this game is extremely skilled in arousing your desire to create, to actively engage with the characters and worldbuilding, to do fandom shit, and I find this enormously fascinating in itself. The story isn't good but to a certain extent, it's not supposed to be; it functions as an elaborate set of writing/art/rp prompts for its audience to expand on and tailor to their needs.

And I think Obey Me does this well! Amazingly well. I find discussion of narrative structure fascinating, the study of how we define writing as effective, good, or as failures, so I'm drawn to this story full of contradicting lore, one-note characters, and half-finished plots. The story isn't good but that hardly matters because it's not here to be a good story; it's here to throw you into imagination boot camp. It compels you to speculate what it could be, what this character could be, what a slightly different tone would look like, what other people think about it. It feels distinct from the average popular show fandoms where, to an extent, creators congregate simply because that's where the people are. Creating for your own sake is nice and all but validation is usually a stronger force. Usually.

I keep coming across old high effort researched posts about abrahamic religions and occultism from fans setting themselves up for inevitable disappointment. I keep coming across creators leaving notes on their work like "I haven't written a thing in ten years, but,". I keep losing it over heartfelt posts defending x and y canon story decisions with their whole chest, oblivious to the fact that they're misremembering their personal tweaks/headcanons as what happened in the game, like it's seriously so cute when they're so passionate and completely wrong.

I have no idea if fandom actually plays a role in the lucrativeness of a franchise (though as a personal anecdote, I 100% started Obey Me after a single piece of horny Mammon fanart crossed my dash), but it makes more sense to me now, less a projection of wishful/haterful thinking from those with strong opinions about Fandom. Maybe it really does matter.

---

Other essays I missed the boat on:

A Casino Right in Your Home: goddamn is the pre/sequel's gacha obscene

Satan: how to put a mid character into S-tier with one simple trick (make him insane)

Sorry Belphie defenders but you're imagining a better psycho than you were given

Solmare added a shiny new rhythm game but didn't fix the now four year old coloring error on Levi's hands lmfaooo the disrespect is crazy

Remember when you saw the Nightbringer trailer of them glaring in bdsm gear with freshly blackened wings, and you thought "ah, so this takes place right after they fought god and lost. After they went to war to protect their sister only for her to die anyway. After one brother in particular saves someone, but not her, the focal point of the war. They will finally take these to their logical, guilt despair rage pain and grudge filled ends." And you were correct until that very last sentence? lol

Remember when the Ruri-chan event gave you the option to tell Levi you're not cheating on him and then the rest of the event was just making out with his brothers? Then it ends with you kissing him in front of them? Bring that energy back!!!

[niseag-arts]

Garrag Raaff Lore Dump

garrag actually got votes! His lore is shuffled around and changed occasionally for him to fit into ttrpg settings and stuff, but I'll give you as much as I can :D

We've had one mad scientist bird, yes, but how about another? Garrag is a kenku artificer from an unknown homeplane. pre-planeswalking: From a young age, he showed something rare for a kenku: Actual inventiveness and creativity. However, he was not entirely free of his species curse for he still has to speak in clips of other people's voices and can of course not fly. He was born with a pair of rudimental wings, however, which would lay on his back like a backpack. Despite not being able to fly with them they did aid him in things like keeping his balance. He found work with a local clockmaker, but did not stay in their tutelage long: an unusual patron took one look at the young kenku tinkerer and immediately recruited Garrag in a society of artificers. Here, he met with a vedalken named Mel, who would become his best friend and lab partner. They specialized in flight, this becoming Garrag's main drive and near-obsession. This....ultimately let to their downfall. In the middle of an experiment, a manaleak caused their prototype to explode: The blast vaporised Mel, and as Garrag instinctively held up his wings to shield himself, those were blown clean off as well. The next thing garrag knew, he was being hurdled across the blind eternities, presumably the ignition of his spark saved his life. Over his time wandering the multiverse he fabricated some metal wings to help him with balance and the likes, fitted onto his back like a prostethic War of the Spark and after: After planeswalking around the multiverse blindly and without place to go, feeling the guild of the loss of his best friend and the restlessless of not really belonging anywhere, He suddenly felt the strong pull of the interplanar beacon. Like every other planeswalker in the multiverse, he was pulled to Ravnica, finding the City of Guilds at war. Not a fighter himself, but still wanting to help, Garrag joined the izzet league with the intent of helping keeping Ravnica's infrastructure during Bolas' barrage. He found likeminded people here, and has remained in the league since, being more than welcome in the labs of gravitational inversion, and has not left Ravnica for any significant time. He has also upgrades his wings significantly, using the knowledge of the izzet league and materials harvested from different planes, to where Garrag can now fly freely. Magic style: Garrag used primarily red and blue mana, but he can tap into black if needed. He channels his magic through objects that he has made, including a bird shaped construct named Bran, his wings and of course your standard izzet gear of an accumilator and gauntlet as well as a set of modified boots. As he planeswalks it is as if reality opens up like two massive cogwheels parting and then closing again, leaving a slight shower of sparks and the smell of aether behind. Personality: While garrag is incredibly clever, inventive and creative, he is also impulsive and may come up with ideas that are...less than practical. He is however, less insane than he would have you believe. He has restraint if he needs to...he's just having waaay too much fun leaning into it, and the league is encouraging him at every questionable step. Garrag's timeline has not reached the phyrexian invasion yet (and never might...depending)

[andro-dino]

uwaaa how about some little tidbits with ezekial and luther.... like once ezekial pulls up and luther's life turns upside down how does he cope with it

OH ive been thinking about this too but how many aus do you have revolving around your ocs ??? im curious :3

SHEKEL. I AM LOOKING AT YOU WITH VERY BIG AUTISTIC EYES.

I’m going to answer the second question first bc it’s shorter I think. I actually don’t have like a ton of aus as a whole. Juno’s got the most variations though bc I’m insane about digivalen <3 For them I’ve got

- shogunswap (where juno stays part of the main gang)

- shogunswap (where Juno’s with DNA instead)

- mermaid au

And I could’ve sworn I had another one but I can’t remember it at the moment.

EDIT: I REMEMBERED!!! MANGA JUNO! Idk if that really counts as like an au au but manga compliant juno and anime compliant juno are very different so I count it. That also brings up manga Victoria as an au for her too, since anime compliant Victoria dies while Sakyo’s still young while manga Victoria’s still kicking 🫡

The other that immediately comes to mind is Ezekial and Luther au where Luther’s family is actually completely fine and normal and nothing goes wrong and everyone’s fine. That one’s uuuunrealistiiiic :]

When I was younger I was super into Undertale aus though and I had an underfell version of my main ocs at the time where they were all just edgy and mean and sad. fun times <3

OH YK I did just remember I do have mfb wakfu au from when I was rewatching wakfu. Juno was an eniripsa, Axyl’s an eliatrope, and then bc of that I have two different Wakfu Essi’s. Alone, I can definitely see her as an iop, but in wakfu lore, all eliatrope’s have a shapeshifting dragon sibling who come from the same egg as them, so that also opens the door for dragon essi (I actually have doodled eliatrope Axyl and dragon essi before I’ll have to find those when I get home.) For the other characters, feca kite and eight for sure, sacrier chao xin (I also have sacrier Chao Xin somewhere I will also be finding those later), and I never fully settled on a species for the garcias but ecaflips were the main option in my head.

Then for Ezekial and Luther. smile :)

Luther is a whole mess of emotions when Ezekial shows back up. When his goons essentially “capture” Ezekial while he’s snooping around, the bring him to Luther, who looks down on Ezekial very intensely and very coldly. Their entire first interaction there is completely cold on Luther’s end. Ezekial is ECSTATIC to finally see him again but Luther is really intent on keeping up his professional demeanor. At first, he’s willing to let Ezekial go unharmed and just leave it at that, but when Ezekial refuses to go, Luther tries to be a little bit more “convincing,” and in that moment is especially trying to emphasize (both to Ezekial and to himself) that he’s a different person that he once was and isn’t so merciful. Even then, Ezekial persists, and the more he pushes, the more Luther finds himself enraged for reasons he can’t quite understand. Luther has a reputation for usually being able to prevent his own hands from getting dirty, but he can’t help but shut Ezekial’s whole speech about how he knows that “his best friend is still in there somewhere” down with a firm kick to the gut from his own boot. This is not the last time something like this will happen, and it’s notable that Ezekial is the only person who’s ever been able to rile Luther up enough that other people see him lose his temper and put his hands on someone. It’s notable also that it’s not just rage behind Luther’s eyes, but a deep unsteadiness and what could be considered fear.

Luther from there on out decides to keep Ezekial “prisoner” basically, not necessarily because he wants him around but because he knows Ezekial can cause problems for him if left to his own devices and wants to keep an eye on him. That is how The Problems start and continue to develop into A Plot :]

There is actually one scenario I’ve thought A LOT about because it’s a really important scene for these two. Maybe the first night Ezekial is there, maybe not, but it’s still relatively early into them being reunited, Luther lets Ezekial into his room one night. Ezekial is there kind of awkwardly twiddling his thumbs while Luther showers ((((((IN A SEPERATE ROOM)))))) ((((((LUTHER HAS A BATHROOM ATTACHED TO HIS BEDROOM)))))) ((((((EZEKIAL IS AWKWARDLY SITTING AROUND IN LUTHER’S BEDROOM WHEN THIS HAPPENS))))), notably the most unsupervised Luther has left him at this point, and when Luther comes out, he still barely acknowledges Ezekial but instead walks past him onto the balcony. He leaves the door open, a silent invitation, as Ezekial follows him out and finds Luther lighting a cigarette, leaning against the railing. Ezekial stiffly copies the action and the two sit in a tense (well, tense for Ezekial at least) silence before Luther is the one to start the conversation and the two just. Talk. It’s the most vulnerable Luther has left himself in front of Ezekial and the closest thing Ezekial’s gotten to feeling like he’s connecting to the real Luther again. When this conversation is over, they’ll go back to how it was before, but it’ll stay in both of their minds, and it definitely won’t be the last of its kind despite that.

This is like, fairly old art that I don’t like anymore, but I did kinda draw out part of this scene.

[storm-driver]

ep 8 : prisoners of love was one of those things that made me realize divorce even existed as a concept and i had no idea what the word meant when i first watched this episode as like. a 7-year old. anyways, 7-year old me learned what divorce was because of danny phantom, write that down.

this episode wasn't my absolute favourite, but it introduced walker, who is still one of the best villains of the show, idc what anyone says. he's so strung up in controlling other people, bro is 100% an unrelenting villain, i can dig those and he's got a kickass design to boot.

i like how this episode toys with the lore more, showing that the ghost zone is a definitive flipside to the human world, where humans are ghosts and ghosts are just regular people (who are capable of flight and magic, but yknow).

walker also mentions the word "afterlife" when referring to danny, and i think im just making a chart of all the definitive times they say ghosts are dead people bc i wanna piss off butch hartman.

i appreciate the show tries to tackle the concept of how a child understands divorce, though jazz having a mental breakdown over her father's choices doesn't make it seem like divorce as a concept was taken too seriously. compare that to danny, who's literally having panic attacks thinking about it and his friends can't exactly help him.

him tryna go out of his way to clean up the house, fuckin vacuuming the walls as a ghost because they've probably never been vacuumed before and he wants his mother to come home to a clean house is actually so thoughtful. but it also goes to show how scared he was that his family was gonna break up. it's so insanely real as a reaction in what is otherwise a very absurd cartoon. and part of me thinks some kids who had parents that divorced at the time might've appreciated the recognition.

they expand on the ghost zone, and it's the first time we actually get to see it in chronological terms. it prompts danny to go and explore the place in later episodes. it's also really fuckin weird as a place and that's the vibe i think they were going for.

perfectly fine episode, far from my favourite. i liked the gag where danny was vacuuming a wall a lot tho, idk why that was so funny to me

yknow what I'm cataloging my feelings as i rewatch every danny phantom episode, here we go

[dateamonster]

first look at the monster high g3 animated series

alright rather than bombard u all with a series of posts im just gonna go in for a second watch and put a play by play of my impressions under the cut. reader beware: its going to be long and stupid as hell.

watch along with me

0:18 the new design for the school is kind of amazing. like part of me misses the more traditional spooky-gothic-castle but like i cant deny that the big lightning bolts look cool af and i do think it has more character than the g2 which imo just kind of looked like. a school.

0:33 new spectra is soo cute lol she wasnt anywhere near my fav in the old series but smth about the big flowy purple curls is rly charming me this time around

0:47 ghost ms frizzle??

1:10 i rly like a lot of these background monster designs. this zombie girl in particular is very cute and also i think i spied a werewolf boy in the back who i liked.

1:19 still obsessed with this cleo design. hope future dolls get better at capturing her charm and in general they stop being so weird abt her race and skin color. also for all that ive seen folks worry that this gens cutesier design will mean taking out the more horror-adjacent elements for the sake of better fitting the typical Girl Toy brand, im so happy to see mh3 doesnt shy away from a bit of tasteful gore <3

1:29 YUMMERS

2:01 BRITISH TORALEI LMAO?? idek why this is just killing me for some reason. its such a little thing but i feel like it gives her a totally different vibe. maybe its the anglophobe in me.

2:08 i wasnt sure where to put this part but im still sort of struggling with this concept of monsters hating witches, especially considering in this version witches arent like a separate monster-adjacent species (rip casta fierce) rather witchcraft just seems to be something anyone can learn to do? i dont entirely hate it i just dont get it i guess. i do think itd be fun if later there was like a witch high rival school. possible opening for the long awaited ever after high crossover event? anyone?

2:17 FUCK THE HATERS LAGOONA IS SOOOO CUTE i love that she immediately jumps to imagining a star-crossed monster x witch romance which is such a teen girl move imo. and that then she seems to like remember halfway in that we all hate witches for some reason and gets so immediately morbid with it i LOVE it go bestie go

2:45 i know its just a vampire joke but in before g1 purists get mad abt the idea of g3 draculaura actually biting ppl even though shes a vegan in g1. i mean i think theyll probably keep that trait since its a handy way to avoid blood in a kids show and its sorta quirky-endearing to boot but i think itd rule if they let draculaura bite some people this time around tbhhh.

3:00 choklat milk snake B)

3:20 ride or die ghoulies dont even question why their bud needs u to catch a living snack this is why frankie is a real one

3:55 im so obsessed with this frankie. i love that they found draculauras stash and were like neat :-) now to not mention this to anybody :-) iconic behavior

5:08 its just processing for me now that draculaura has this like huge portrait of her dad just in her room. i do think its cute that her character is more perfect-daddys-girl-but-with-a-secret (a trope i largely enjoy a Lot) this time around but thats still wild behavior.

5:11 ok i know i said this when the sneak peak came out but the idea that heath is an actual demon and son of the literal DEVIL this time around, confirming that hell is real in monster high lore, is making me insane. i genuinely love it. wish theyd given heath some cute lil horns or a tail.

5:15 THAT THING WITH THEIR EYES!!!! frankie is so damn cool.

5:37 dracula being this like celebrity in the monster world i think is an interesting take but i feel like im gonna get so annoyed if his character starts showing up a lot. idk i dont hate it its just a weird vibe.

6:05 it took a while to click since clawdeen doesnt talk a lot in this ep but it is kind of weird hearing her (and draculaura) without an accent. i kinda found g1 draculauras voice a little grating at times so i dont mind that and i do rly like how clawdeen sounds more like an actual kid but idk i miss the accent

6:28 theres not a whole lot to say on deuce since hes only here for side gags in this ep but just wanted to go on the record with: i think hes cute

6:42 weirdly super enamored with the food-creatures, especially the burger lol. reminds me of bugsnax. also this whole fight sequence rly displays how far mh animation has come from rigid flash animations of a handful of stock characters. its neat.

7:13 bat!draculaura is adorableeee

8:23 now i rly thought she was abt to say living foods go to hell in this nickolodeon kids cartoon ghjfdjhd

8:35 the headmistress is so cute too wtf it IS snack time snack time so tru bestie

8:56 fghjkjhgf sorry that resolution is ridiculous. im not complaining mind you i just. like. wow. also side note but i think the intercom being based on the monster high skull-with-bow logo is a cute throwback. didnt realize before but i feel like it hasnt been as central in the marketing in a while. its still def around but not as much i dont think.

9:08 lol ok i know its probably just another reference to dracula being bad with technology (cute trait for him tbh) but when i first saw this i couldnt help over-analyzing with my Lore Brain and wondering if it was also a reference to vampires not showing up on camera. but then i realized the kid he takes a pic with also has fangs and bat wings and shows up fine so thats probably not it, especially since drac canonically shows up fine in video.

9:50 the "bat out" reoccurring line is so incredibly cheesy it makes sense hes quoting it from some 70s b-movie he was in. but that doesnt make it any less cringey to me. also i know i said he kinda annoys me and he does but i do desperately wanna know how this bitch got into show business. drac backstory please. dracstory, if you will.

10:30 YOUR HONOR THEYRE JUST CUTIE BABIE BESTIES <333333

10:45 im reeeeally excited to see how this plot develops. i honestly assumed this series would be more like the web shorts except longer and more developed. as in, episodic and largely unrelated to one another, but im soo hype to see them doing something more serialized with overarching conflict and stakes. also we <3 classic troublemaking cant mind her own damn business toralei. like girl you have no reason for acting like this. she is simply a messy bitch.

final thoughts: really really liked it. love the visuals and the ways the new characterization plays with old beloved traits. love that this series has more of a familiar cartoon hijinks vibe rather than leaning too hard into it being like a Teen Girl Show just because the toys are first and foremost a fashion doll line. i dont know if im articulating that well i just mean i like that the girls are allowed to have like a full range of motion and action and emotion, and that they can be like gross and funny in addition to pretty. i think g1 had a good start in this regard but was definitely limited both by the animation and the expectation to follow that niche established by like barbie/bratz animated works (no hate to any of those either tho)

there are changes that ill need to get used to obviously, but i feel like the franchise is heading in a strong new direction. i saw some folks complaining that the bits about draculauras witchcraft and clawdeens half monster/half human felt like they were introduced as a means to employ annoying Fantasy Racism tropes, and thats a really valid criticism, but its also kind of something monster high has always done (with regards to monster/human conflict, certain monsters being discriminated against for certain traits, jackson jekylls entire character, etc).

i get the concern, but i feel like in a series so centered on embracing differences its kind of impossible to not include issues of discrimination, and it being a kids fantasy series, that does sometimes translate in a way that feels wonky or oversimplified at best. tho tbh monster highs execution regarding the subject always kind of felt to me like one of the better ones. idk. im just feeling good about this first look and excited to see how the show and the monster high franchise as a whole develops further as we move forward.

anyway stan g3 lagoona she deserves better than the g1 purists have been giving her.

[pyreo]

Loreposting about Abaddon

Abaddon doesn’t get a lot of attention. As a deposed god he doesn’t seem relevant to the Guild Wars timeline after Nightfall. But I keep thinking about him because Abaddon is probably the most influential character Tyria ever had.

Let’s just go over where he appears in-game if you start off in GW2. Everyone knows the six human gods. They’re in statues, temples, personal shrines everywhere. The base game story makes you detour through a sunken temple dedicated to Abaddon, while the Orrian temples to the other five gods are still intact on the surface. This is not by chance. It’s also nudging you to notice that there are no Orrian temples to Kormir, because she replaced Abaddon only two centuries ago. This is reflected again later on in Siren’s Landing on the other side of Orr, where the Five, and Abaddon, each have a personal reliquary, and Abaddon’s is central, connected to all the others, and still intact.

Building on that refresher on human divinity, in Path of Fire you visit the actual place Abaddon was defeated by the other Five gods and pushed into a side dimension to keep him out of the world.

And when you visit the archives of the Durmand Priory, they have an imposing Abaddon statue towering over the stairs. Other than being reflected in three major environments, he doesn’t have a role in the plot. BUT.

As Kormir explains to you, the weakness of the human gods is that their excess of power keeps fucking up the world. The Desolation, a map that covers only a part of the sulfur desert, is completely uninhabitable because Abaddon was destroyed there. This happened because Abaddon, who was actually the most powerful of the Six and the leader of the group, wanted humans to share in the gift of magic. He was the god of knowledge, after all. This proved disastrous and the other gods reduced and compartmentalised the magic, and Abaddon went on a whole attempt to overthrow them and become one, single god of all.

The destruction of Abaddon’s temples and relics was intentional. He was wiped from memory. The pantheon was called The Five until Nightfall, wherein the existence of Abaddon was revealed as he tried to drag himself back into the mortal plane. As a god his spheres of power were water and knowledge. Erasing knowledge of him was what made him powerless. (Interestingly, the Priory’s special collections contains the Scroll of the Five True Gods, an ancient record of what the human gods knew about the Elder Dragons, but one dragon is missing - the water dragon, who like Abaddon, has a damaged and erased history. The six Elder Dragons and six human gods have many respective connections.)

When he lived, Abaddon’s followers were the Margonites, who believed him the only real god and worshipped him exclusively, unlike other humans who revere all the Six together. They were rewarded with transformation into etheral beings with an extremely long lifespan, and were imprisoned in Abaddon’s Realm, the Realm of Torment, when he was forced out of Tyria. As the god of knowledge he had a realm to himself, and when fallen, his sphere inversed. Knowledge became madness, the theme his realm embodies. Temples were sunk, records destroyed, because to remove all knowledge of the god of knowledge made him powerless.

I can’t remember where, but it’s implied that by Nightfall comes around a thousand years after his banishment, Abaddon is finally able to claw his way back into Tyria because people are starting to remember him. There’s one side quest that sticks out in my memory called The Search for Enlightenment about a scholar stealing scriptures from an Elonian library which leads to a massive raid by Margonites. The scholar was ‘babbling’ about a forgotten god. Proximity to knowledge about Abaddon seems to bestow insanity, the connection between Abaddon in his inverted realm and his hold over anyone who knows he exists. Though the Five Gods tried, they didn’t erase everything (hell, Trahearne and Sayeh al' Rajihd give you a guided tour of an Abaddon temple). Over a thousand years, relics popped up and people began to remember The Five was once The Six. As they did his influence returned until he was able to attempt to merge the Realm of Torment with Tyria and become a single, all powerful god in the absence of the others.

But wait how does that make a forgotten god the most influential character in both games?

Well.

Guild Wars lore is nothing if not completely linked together. Every single thing has cause and effect, every event is a domino. The story is consistent from Prophecies to this day. So let’s start with the first GW1 chapter, Prophecies.

It all starts at the Citadel of Flame.

It was built into the volcano Hrangmer. The charr had been displaced, pushed out of Ascalon by the successful expansion of humankind. 450 years before GW2 the Flame Legion found this volcano and, inside, Titans. You know how Mordremoth’s minions are Mordrem, Zhaitan’s minions are Risen, etc? Titans are Abaddon minions, left behind and hidden after his defeat. They change their appearance to suit their environment. In a jungle they’re vegetative, in mountains they’re made of ice, in the Realm of Torment they’re twisted constructs of flesh, in a volcano, they’re fire. The Flame Legion brings the Titans back to the charr, charr worship them, and in exchange, get immense fire powers. Flame Legion completely takes over charr society and makes it a theistic, misogynist nightmare with the Shamans at the top.

Abaddon has just restructured charr society.

Using their overpowered fire magic indirectly from a human god, charr, ironically, rally against the humans and nuke Ascalon to pieces. The few survivors escape to Kryta. Charr are now pretty much unstoppable and invade all the way to Orr. Vizier Khilbron used a powerful stolen scroll to repel the charr with magic, and it completely destroys Orr, collapsing the island into the ocean.

Abaddon has just wiped out two nations of the humans who used to worship him, with Orr as the final goal - to tear down the resplendent city of the Gods who betrayed him. This is referenced, if you know what you’re looking for, in GW2. You can scale the Vizier’s Tower, where he read the scroll that sank all of Orr, and on the wall...

A mural to the lost god, a testament to power that, a thousand years later, one who was expunged from history had a faithful likeness depicted.

Ascalon’s a burning hole and Orr is underwater. Now what? Those Ascalonian survivors in Kryta find the place is controlled by White Mantle. The White Mantle are committing mass murder via bloodstone sacrifice (bloodstones being the power curb the gods introduced after imbuing humans with magic) in order to halt the prophecy of a Chosen One opening the Door of Komalie. Vizier Khilbron turns up, shaking out some mysteriously wet boots don’t worry about that, and leads you against these genocidal cultists. Which, whoops, does lead to the Door of Komalie being opened - and it’s a doorway into Abbadon’s Realm of Torment, out of which Titans power through. This was the apocalypse planned for Kryta. Unlike the first two, this one is thwarted by the player. Kryta lives on. Vizier Khilbron is the final boss and turns out to have been a lich.

That’s 3 of the 5 human nations. What about Cantha and Elona?

GW: Factions is the Canthan chapter in which Shiro Tagachi, the emperor’s bodyguard, continually visits a fortune teller until she inflicts such paranoia on his mindset that he believes he needs to kill the emperor in self-defense. His defeat causes the Jade Wind that creates the Jade Sea. As a spirit, Shiro then engulfs Cantha in a plague that warps people into tumorous mutants. The fortune teller turns out to be an Abaddon minion whose task was the eventual destruction of Cantha. This one also is foiled by the player.

GW: Nightfall is the culmination chapter. Abaddon is now powerful enough, well known enough, to breach Tyria and try to come back. His agent is Varesh Ossa, who slowly transforms into a Margonite over the course of the game. The player confronts the breach between planes and finally enters the Realm of Torment, meeting the shades of Abaddon’s servants that came before, the lich form of Vizier Khilbron, and the spirit of Shiro Tagachi, before facing Abaddon himself.

And that’s the end of it. In Guild Wars magic cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred, so another god ascends in Abaddon’s place. They are once again The Six.

It’s Abaddon that ruined half the Elonian desert, Abaddon whose sinking of Orr gave Zhaitan the perfect mass grave to necromance, Abaddon who froze the Cantha sea into solid jade, and Abaddon whose final death and eruption of magic started waking Primordus, leading to the norn, dwarf and asuran alliance to stop it in 1078 AE-- introducing the norn and asura to the rest of Tyria, and making the dwarves extinct, cutting their entire race’s existence short. If it wasn’t for Abaddon, the charr wouldn’t have been taken over by their magic-toting shaman caste, only to come to their senses and rebel and ostracize the Flame Legion afterward. Hell, the current Flame Legion Imperators STILL style their horns in an homage to Abaddon, and probably don’t even remember why! To a human god, gone for over a thousand years, who used their race as pawns in a revenge attempt at wiping out every nation the humans had built!

And even after being thoroughly and completely destroyed, his magic STILL haunts Tyria enough for his statues to punish you for not showing the proper respect.

[kiisaes]

Min. Min-san please explain. WHO are the original "broke bitches"? Is this a show? A movie? A book? And most importantly: WHY ARE THEY LIKE BKDK?

oh anon u're in for a ride

the "broke bitches" originate from this music video below

the song is called "broke bitch" and it's by TMG, aka "tiny meat gang", a rap/comedy duo comprised of youtubers cody ko and noel miller. both of them, on their own accounts, are primarily commentary youtubers who also run a podcast and do other activities together. yes. it is these guys, the funny men of the internet

so no, the broke bitches don't come from a show or a movie or a book, but from a single music video. there is no other lore to them. they don't have a canon backstory or any follow up material. they're simply a one-time-thing with zero context, except from what you can pull from the lyrics and the music video itself. which, if you're feeling particularly creative, means you could technically fabricate whatever story you want for them

...but i didn't LOL because i'm lazy. instead i just drew a single frame from the music video and called it a day

the reason why i connected them to bkdk is mostly because i'm insane and at this point in my fixation, i'll connect anything to bkdk. u see those two random plants over there? yea. those guys are bkdk. i have two water bottles on my desk and believe it or not, those guys are bkdk too (and if u could see them u'd agree with me if ur brainrot was as bad as mine). so if a song sounds like a bkdk song to me with a banger music video to boot, my desire to redraw it as bkdk is very strong. unavoidable, almost

if u watch the music video and are in general a fan of TMG, u'll notice that cody and noel have very distinct personalities that set them apart. i once heard someone say that if u were to put them into hogwarts houses, cody (yellow jumpsuit) would be a hufflepuff and noel (green jumpsuit) would be a slytherin. and i know bkdk don't have to be those houses if u don't want them to be but the general vibe is there. u'll see what i mean pretty quick once u familiarize urself with their work

at the end of the day it's just a silly redraw and nothing more. i didn't really plan on connecting bkdk to cody and noel any further than what was shown in the music video, but it's always a little fun to make these ridiculous connections anyway. i think i made a mistake by calling it an au because technically it's not even that, it's way too low effort to be an au LOL but i'm really grateful to see people pick it up anyway and find merit in it!

if u want to make an au out of my drawing then by all means go for it, i'd be honored :')

[the-silentium]

Here we go again

Masterlist - Murphy day - Part 2

Before I introduce you to my story, please note that Fors is an Original planet. I do not give permission to people to use it for their own fics, the planet, the animals, the Nightmares, the lore or anything related to Fors. Thank you.

Pairing: Bad Batch x Reader

Words: 3661 words

Warnings: Hurting animals (predators, don’t worry).

A/N: This is going to be insane. It’ll get gory (not in this chap, but we’ll get there). 

Taglist: @haloangel391​ (still want to be tagged?) + Tag list open

_____________________

"This," Tech paused to find the right words to not insult you once more. "went rather good considering it's your first time." He met your gaze, clearly concentrating on your body language to see if you were insulted or not.

You stared back at him blankly, eyebrow raised, hands joined on your lap. You turned your chair to face him completely and moved forward to get your elbows on your knees, never breaking the eye contact. 

"Cut the crap. Say what you wanted to say." 

"Two things." He immediately followed like the words were dying to leave his lips. "One, this should have been a lot more chaotic. Two, there was no way you actually never flew a ship before." His eyes squinted like this would press the info out of you.

"You accusing me of lying?" You remained stoic, not letting him know yet about your little secret and actually making him squirm in his seat. 

"No!" He straightened in his seat, frowning in confusion as if you'd just slapped him. In the background, you could hear footsteps getting closer to the cockpit door. 

"Are you?" He continued, uncertain.

"No." 

"For a second I doubted it was you piloting." Hunter entered, followed by Wrecker who stood right behind him. "Very good for a first flight." 

"Yeah! We could tell it wasn't Tech because of the landing! It was too smooth." Wrecker chimed in to his smaller brother's dismay. 

"Thanks." You answered with a nod at the same time Tech yelled his indignation. 

"She cheated!" 

"And how can you cheat at piloting a ship?" Crosshair snickered at the apparent attempt to keep his reputation of best pilot of the Marauder. Apparently you were promising enough to be a threat. This was interesting. 

"Tech. She doesn't have a droid. She couldn't cheat." Hunter pointed out, confused. 

"She said she didn't fly a ship before! It clearly isn't the case!" His hands moved around to prove his point, almost causing you to burst out laughing. 

"Again with accusing me of lying?" You inquired innocently. 

"No! I'm not-" 

"You just did." The sniper smirked, enjoying the show. 

Shiny decided to join the troop at this moment, passing its head under Wrecker's big hand for some pat. Your heart squeezed at the prospect that the tiny baby wouldn't be around anymore. He was so sweet. 

"But you can't learn that from the books!"

"I didn't lie." You chuckled, your attention back to the discussion. One of your hands found the engineer's pauldron to calm him down. "I never flew a ship before. Hell, I've never used a blaster before! This planet is still using bows and arrows."  

You heard a snort on your right, clearly coming from the grey-haired trooper, but your eyes were fixed to Tech's who was still trying to get how the hell you managed to get the hang of flying a ship so quickly. You were sure it took hours of training to be able to fly to the GAR standards and you knew you didn't reach these standards. Yet. But it didn't stop your first performance to be quite good, or so it seemed. 

"You're right. I read all the books and they couldn't have prepared me enough." He nodded, already knowing that he was right, waiting for you to continue with barely contained impatience. 

"Remember the trooper who shared my room for a while? Blast?" You didn't wait for him to answer your question before getting to the part of his interest. "He's a gunship pilot. He taught me what to be aware of, what to look for, how to react in what situation, and other stuff." 

You smiled sweetly at his goggled eyes, batting your eyelashes innocently. 

"See? Not a liar. Just resourceful." 

His eyes grew wide in panic, almost making you panic. 

"You blew your cover of being a trained pilot!" Oh. You rolled your eyes in all playfulness, noticing how the rest of the team tensed at his words. 

" 'm not that dumb Techie." You resisted the urge to boop his nose in front of everyone. "Told him I was used to starfighters and not gunships. Wasn't used to the big extra weight behind my ass. He bought it and helped me 'adjust'." You finished by making quotation marks in the air, happy to see his face crumble in relief. 

"It's okay Tech. You're still the best pilot between the two of us." You patted his shoulder and got to your feet, a new energy in your steps as you made your way to the back of the ship. 

You looked around for your knife, going to the last place you remember seeing it; the barracks. Only, you found the beds to be totally empty and your knife was unexpectedly nowhere to be seen in the living area too. Maybe one of the boys had it, you thought. Before you went to ask them, it flashed into your mind. You remembered sliding it into the slot at the side of your boot. You lightly hit your forehead with your palm. Oops. You could keep that to yourself.

You heard the boys argue for a bit, Wrecker laughing at the whole exchange, your lips stretching at his contagious joy. They finally settled, the silence making it obvious that their small discussion was over, so you made your way to the door of the ship. 

"All ready to go drop off our lil' friend." You announced as they joined you, pressing the button to open the door. 

Tech handed you a small device with a flashing round circle as soon as he was within arms reach. 

"What's that?" You took the device, turning it around to inspect it. 

"An improved comm link. If by some bad luck we get separated, we'll still be able to reach you. It is set to our team frequency. Press this button to talk." He pointed at the no-longer-flashing circular button. 

"So I can't dirty talk Hunter." You said in the device, and you could hear your voice echoing from all their helmets under their arms. 

"Definitely not." He deadpanned, disgusted. Wrecker laughed whole-heartedly, one of his hands slapping the back of your right shoulder that moved forward under his strength, Hunter smirked in your direction with a delicious glint in his eyes while Crosshair rolled his eyes and put his helmet on. 

"Fiiiine." You fake whined, eyes and head rolling like a kid before inviting them to get off the ship with a movement of your hands presenting them the outside world. "After you, gentlemen." 

Scoffing, Hunter pulled his helmet on and walked down the steps, followed by the rest of the batch. 

"Good job Y/N!" Wrecker eagerly presented you his fist, to which you keenly answered with a hit of your smaller fist. He descended the stairs to regroup with his team. 

Smiling, you noted that they were fully armored, armed and alert, surely not trusting the fauna around to stay at bay. You found that deep inside, it made you feel safer to have them by your side. 

You pocketed the comm link in one of your deepest pockets before following suit, arms wide at your side to bathe in the warmth of the slowly retiring sun while you could. Space, you'd realized, was terribly cold. 

Tall trees reached high in the blue sky, the green grass grew as far as you could see, a warm breeze stroked your face and all in all, you found yourself not relaxing like you expected. You thought that you'd feel better to be in known-ish territory as opposed to a cold military base, but your mind couldn't find ease. Not even slightly. Maybe it was PTSD following your last experience on Murphy Day. You deeply hoped this was the explanation. 

You made sure that you landed the ship far enough from the Forsian hunting territories and the Waytree, the prospect of meeting one of your peers wasn't very tempting and if you could avoid meeting another Basilisk, you'd definitely take it. The Marauder was now in wild territory, far enough that even you hadn't ventured that far in your exploratory trips, about a couple of hours of walk away from your native village, just enough to stay undetected.

You joined the group, smiling at seeing Shiny running into the greenery, glad that at least one of you was happy to be back. 

Wrecker and Crosshair went ahead, closer to the line of trees to search for predators of some sort, their movements frightening small sunbathing Jerboas that fled back into the jungle. 

"We'll have to do it quick. Can't be here when the sun's down." You informed the sergeant who nodded in understanding. 

Or at least, some understanding. Like everyone else, he must have deduced that this planet was even more dangerous at night. If only he knew to what extends. Or maybe it was best for him not to know. 

"Clear." Came Crosshair's voice from your pocket. 

"All cl-" Wrecker started before his sentence finished in a yelp of surprise. 

All at once, four heads turned towards his position, quick enough to see his torso and helmet disappear into the ground. 

'Wrecker!" You yelled along with Tech, running to where you last saw him, the remaining commandos barely outrunning you. 

"Stop!" Hunter barked, arms extended at his sides to prevent you all to fall off the cliff, cutting your breath for a second when the blaster in his hand hit your chest full force. 

The ground was crumbling under your combined weights, hurrying you to step back from the edge. You dropped on your stomach to redistribute your weight and peer at the open space below. Making sure this time that only your head poked over the edge and nothing else. A hand gripped the back of your shirt in haste, like you would ever decide to throw yourself off a precipice. Again. 

Wrecker sat there on his ass surrounded by trees, passing a hand over his helmet in confusion. You finally took a deep breath in when you registered that he was moving. 

"You okay there?" You yelled with your hands around your mouth, the others replicating your position at your sides to look down, the hand on your back still closed around the fabric. 

"All good." He looked up, flashing you a thumbs up. 

Bending your head to look under you, your blood ran cold as you took in the really thin plate of ground kept together by roots and nothing else. There were only a very few inches of dirt supporting your bodies, creating a gap between the part of the cliff Wrecker could climb and the edge where you all laid on. 

"He can't climb up." You rotated your head to the side at Crosshair's comment and saw the ground disappearing two clicks further down. You landed on a weird ravine top of some sort. 

Your breathing picked up in pace as the image of the sun licking the top of the trees reached your brain, pushing back to the front of your mind all your survival instinct adapted to the hard life on your planet. 

"We have to get him. Quick." Your eyes were fixed to the sun, muscles tensed. 

How long before the last rays warmed the ground? How long until you weren't protected anymore? 45 minutes? A bit less? 

"What's wrong?" Hunter questioned, bringing you back to the land of the living. He looked worried, maybe it was caused by the panic in your voice. Or the fact that your skin paled significantly in a matter of seconds. Or maybe it was both. 

You got on your knees before bolting toward the line of trees, evading the hand clutched around your shirt to look for a spot where the cliff met your own ground. Yells of your name were muffled by your loud frenetic thoughts, warnings to not stay outside at dusk, stories of what roamed the darkness on the other side of the gigantic fence protecting the village, drawings of terrifying creatures that haunted your nights for years.  

You jumped at the something closing on your shoulder, instinct kicking in to lift your hand to threaten the intruder. You were as surprised at Tech when you saw the hunting knife in your hand, the blade almost pressed against his neck. 

"Calm down!" A sharp order reached your ears as a hand pulled your wrist away from the tender skin. 

"S-sorry Tech." Your voice shook as much as your hand, your grip tightening around the handle of the blade.  

"What's wrong? Talk to us!" Hunter ordered again, invading your line of sight. 

"We have to be gone before dusk. We can't survive a night outside." You rushed, eyes lifting to the darkening sky between the leaves. 

"Why?" He pressed, tension building. 

"We are losing time! We have 20 minutes tops to find him and all get our way back to the ship." You turned around to continue your search of a way to get to your teammate. 

"What happens at dusk?" Tech inquired, joining your sides and matching your quick pace. 

"They come out, Tech." You whispered, almost scared to say it out loud in fear that they would appear at their mention. 

"What's 'they'?" Crosshair grumbled, completely done with your nonsense. He seemed unbothered, but you knew your stress was affecting him too, his gun at the ready was secured in a tight grip while his helmet scanned the trees meticulously. 

"Apex predators." You shuddered, the drawing of an Algax invading your mind. 

You noticed Shiny wandering a bit farther ahead, his horns illuminating a couple of Furants watching the group closely. The feline-like owls were perched on low branches, the green light reflecting over their dark feathers and four legs armed with sharp talons. Their ears and eyes followed your movements, their tail intertwined to keep the other close. 

They flew away in silence when Wrecker's voice boomed from your comm link. 

"I hear weird laughs all around." He sounded worried, some of said laughs could be heard in the background. 

As if this situation wasn't already bad! You definitely could have done without Wrecker being surrounded by a pack of vicious opportunist predators.

"Shoot 'em! Check in the trees!" You rushed out. "They'll try to surround you, you can't let them. Run if need be, they're not that fast." You glanced down the edge and huffed in annoyance when it still wasn't close enough to let you jump down to help him. 

"We have to get to him!" You heard the first blaster bolts just below to your right, meaning that Wrecker foolishly ventured the jungle alone on his side when the others started running after you.  

"Wrecker. Continue running North. We'll meet at some point." Hunter ordered. 

"Got that!" 

You jumped over dead trunks, roots and dense patches of tall grass, slalomed between the trees disturbing the small animals tending to their daily routine of surviving the harsh environment and ignored the yelps of Tech tripping over something. 

"Don't shoot that!" You yelled, pointing to the big moss-covered lizard currently digging the ground before you, rushing past it without a care. He barely acknowledged your passage, staying focussed on his task. 

You passed too much time running to your liking, but it all paid off when a very tall tree almost reached your ground level. It was a couple of feet too short, but it definitely was enough for you to jump down to the thick branches below. The top ones weren't strong enough, breaking beneath your feet and scratching your arms slightly. Soon, you reached the level where the wood became thick enough to sustain your weight. You plunged your knife into the trunk to slow down your fall to allow you to grab a branch without dislocating your shoulder and quickly made your way down. 

You heard your name from above, but ignored it. They could make it on their own. Or at least you hoped. 

You heard Wrecker before you saw him, the high pitch snickers and whoops following him closely. He shot some bolts behind him but continued running forward like Hunter ordered him to. He passed below you, not seeing you in the tree but stopped when he heard something fall on the ground behind him. 

You had plunged your knife into one of the Rideat following the clone, stabbing him near the neck as soon as he jumped on your branch to continue its course. It lost balance at the pain, propelling the both of you to the ground. 

You jumped to your feet in milli-seconds, already expertly jumping away from its long clawed prehensile fingers to stab it in the neck. It screeched in pain, jerking it's dangerously powerful back legs forward to push you away and claw at your flesh in the same movement. 

You jumped back and Wrecker used the moment to shoot at the agonizing beast. Groans and grunts resonated all around, brown flashes moving from trees to trees. With your back to Wrecker's, you analyzed their pattern, lifted your hand and threw your knife to where you were sure the brown Rideat would jump next. Its body hit the ground, stunning it long enough for the trooper to shoot it down. 

With snarls, the others retreated, leaving the scene as swiftly as they came. 

"Those things are ugly!" Wrecker let out when you pulled your knife out of the canine-bat's shoulder. 

"They are." 

You pushed the body with your foot, cautious of any movement on its end, they were known to fake dead after all. Its long front legs were motionless just like its smaller back legs. 

When it's large sensitive protrusions on its scapulas didn't move, you allowed yourself to breathe. 

"You okay?" You turned to Wrecker who lifted its helmet to wear it as a hat. 

"Yes! Thanks to you, cabur'ika!" 

You frowned at the new nickname. You opened your mouth to ask what it meant when troopers rained from above, landing on their feet like the perfect elite commandos that they were. You were actually surprised that they didn't fall all the way down with their armor. 

"They're gone." You informed them, almost snorting at their weapons moving along the trees. 

"You sure?" Hunter stayed focused on his surroundings. 

"100%. They're opportunist cowards. Always flee when they realize the prey is too strong." You pushed Wrecker's arm playfully at your last word. 

"What's that?" Tech asked, crouched next to one of the bodies. 

"A Rideat." You looked above, trying to discern the sky above the clouds of leaves but failing miserably as this part of the jungle was way too dense. "I'll describe later. We should get back up and leave." 

Unfortunately, the tree was too short for you all to get back up there, so you had to walk further into the jungle to find a way up. This ravine must have a climbable spot somewhere. It had to. 

Each passing second put you more and more on edge, sharpening your senses and reflexes. You heard the pounding of several Jerboas running to safety around you, a young single Loth wolf passed right next to your group, running towards its den. 

You'd spent too much time walking, running and fighting. You were late. Too late. The sun was down and the diurnal animals fled to their secure home to pass the night. Preys and predators alike. 

"We have to follow it!" You yelled, sprinting after the Loth wolf. Maybe it would lead you to a suitable shelter. Please, please, please.

Desperately, you tried to keep sight of it. Running at your fastest, you took every turn it did, jumped every mud puddle it did, but in the end, its four legs were too fast for the two of yours. 

You lost him for a second. It was a second too much. Your blood ran cold when you lost sight it, but you soon spotted the small crack in the rock where it sneaked in to find shelter. 

"No. Nononononono." You shook your head, eyes widening as fear traveled through your body like fire. 

The fissure was too small for anyone to slip in. You were stuck out past daylight. Too far from the ship and too far from the nearest village.

"Stop running off." Hunter grumbled, joining your side. 

You were on the verge of hyperventilating, too much blood was flooding your head, pins poked your fingers, the quick beating in your skull almost made you dizzy. 

"Can't be out at night. Can't." You whispered, reciting the fundamentals of your previous years of survival. "Never leave the village alone. Don't forget your weapon. Return home before dusk."

You had failed. You'd die. You'd die like everyone else that ventured the night. You'd given yourself a death sentence without even returning to the village. How dumb-

"Y/N!" You were shook back and forth for a moment, trying to get you to focus. 

"Calm your breathing. Now!" You heard the order, it was distant and muffled, but you heard it. It was only then that you regained feelings of your own body and forced your erratic lungs to slower their pace. 

Your vision cleared, the sounds in your head vanished, the ringing in your ears faded, your fingers flexed to regain full feeling in them. You were alive. Still alive. Not for lo-

"Good." You blinked at Crosshair, his worried gaze moving over your face like you'd scared him. As if. 

"We have to find shelter." You told them, coming back from your panic attack. Body leaning on the sniper's hand on your shoulder for stability. 

"Remember I told you guys that Fors feeds on beliefs and basically make them real?” You didn’t wait for an answer. “Now what are common beliefs at night?" 

"Monsters." Crosshair deadpanned, eyes reduced to slit. He must think you went downright crazy.

"Blood-thirsty man-eating monsters." You specified to their horror. 

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale talks: Salt in Fandom

I have touched on the concept of salt in fandom Multiple times. But when it comes to fandoms, I notice how Broad this term has become.

There are multiple types of salt, and multiple meanings attributed to salt.

In this post, I will be going over the different types and meanings of salt.

Lets start with the different types of salt:

Canon salt: When someone has a problem with the general canon of the show, Mainly when the show goes in a direction the fan is not happy with. If the show is episodic, this can be called Creator salt, Writer salt or (episode title) salt. Canon salt usually involves a lot of rants that claim how bad this decision was. Reasons from doing  character/s wrong, dumb lore drops, retcons, etc. This covers problems with the show’s plot. (Side note, Creator salt also can be unrelated to the canon, but often involves twitter or instagram)

Character salt: This is when someone has a problem with a specific character. Often this can range from finding them annoying to hating them like if they were Hitler. This is also the type of salt some consider the most ‘toxic’ but this is subjective and I feel falls short to one other type. Character salt is also the most broad in its definition. One can have character salt if they find a decision a character made dumb, or if one simply wishes to bash them with extreme prejudice. Character salt is often the result of Canon, Fandom, or Ship salt. The salt on the character is more concentrated because a lot of people find it easier to blame one character rather then issues with others or the show.

Ship Salt: Ship being short for relationship. Ship salt refers to the relationship between two characters. Ship salt is 99.9% referring to romantic relationships, it is more rare then striking oil to find salt or hatred on a Platonic relationship (Though not impossible,). Ship salt is often caused as a result of the ship interfering with one’s personal favorite ship. Though there have been cases where ship salt has been caused by one’s issue with canon, an issue with the fandom, and/or Character salt. Ship Salt is often considered the most toxic as one’s Ship is very personal and not agreeing with one’s ship can be seen as the equivalent as kicking one’s pet. Many fandom scholars agree that Ship Salt is most mentally toxic to ingest and before considered salt. Some salt goes so far that one would even be considered an Anti-shipper, as to say one dislikes the ship so much, that they go to great lengths to oppose it.

Fandom salt: The ‘Full circle’ salt. This occurs when someone finds the fandom they are in to be annoying, toxic, or just unbearable. This is the salt where one reflects on the fandom they are apart of and points out just how insane the salt that the fandom has towards Canon, character/s, other ships, and even other fans of the show. Fandom salt is considered to be a double edge sword, as to call out the fandom is to acknowledge potential faults of one’s own, or worse, to be considered a ‘Boot-licker’. Fandom salt can also be toxic just like the other salt, but it is less likely as Fandom salt usually involves the person being self-aware. But this is not always the case.

_______________________________________________________________________

Now Salt comes in multiple levels. Though the definition of salt is simply ‘Criticism a person has with something’ but it has become far to broad in certain fandoms. Now the definition of what is salt varies from person which results in “Everything negative” being considered salt. But I have been able to narrow down the Main types of ‘Salt’:

“The Critique” Salt: This is salt in its most common form and the true definition of salt. This is when a person has a reason for not liking a certain thing. This version of salt is ‘Not’ hatred of the thing they have salt with. This version is simply pointing out the problems. You can tell this type of salt by the language used explaining it, often citing reasons or previous canon. This type of salt is often used on Canon salt and Character salt. This type of salt can also be used on Ship salt, but it is hard to come by if the ship it is ‘Critiquing’ is popular. This type of salt is one that most people dont have a problem with, in fact it can be healthy. Allowing one to have a new view on something. It is also used to inspire new works/ fix it fics. Which are always fun to read.

“Spite” Salt: This brand of salt is the most frequent type of salt one sees when it comes to Character and Ship salt. This type is the more feral, emotional salt. This brand of salt is often used to Bash a character the person doesnt like. Often the ‘Spite’ salter will try to sound like a critique, especially if their interpretation of the character is OOC, often trying to transcend smarter by saying “Oh its simply what could be if they went too far” or “It is the next step” or that degree of pretentious. Spite salt can also form Anti’s in Ship salt. Though interestingly, Spite salt in Ships can result from not hating the ship, but the shippers themselves.

“Pure Sodium” Salt: The highest level of toxicity. When someone hates a certain thing to such an illogical degree that they completely rewrite everything about it to make it so the Salter can hate it more then anything else in their life. Often trying to trick people into reading prompts that have negative things about the thing they hate. It is apparent when one find it, and it is the most tragic of the levels of salt, since when one has reached this level, Reason is out the window. They are just nothing but hate and Bile for whatever it is they are hating. Its like the ‘Rabies’ of the fandom. Once it has reached the foaming of the mouth phase, its too late.

______________________________________________________________________

I hope this helped those who needed help understanding what salt is, and I hope we can alter the tags more so we can have. people that want to criticize fairly not be lumped in with the pure sodium peeps.

[starlight-ascension]

precure playing calico

everyone drops everything to do the blossom and sunny quests. how could they not? 

the first one to find the forest spirit cat was nagisa. ever since she told the group chat about it, and riko brought up bootes, honoka and hikaru have been obsessed with galaxy cat lore. one thing led to another and now they’re going absolutely insane over inversion auras and ghost dogs and giant cats and mouse people and colour-shifting flowers and pacifying magic and everything relating to the witching woods 

half the cures spent AGES on the character customizer. basically everyone tried to recreate their cure forms for hair and then put on their dream outfits 

nozomi has been losing her mind trying to find a dog for gabby. she finally succeeds and tells the whole group chat, much to the excitement of those who were also stuck on this quest

love likes to use the dance potion and put on shows for the cafe visitors

inori is the member of team fresh who’s the most addicted to calico. her party is filled with animals because she can’t limit herself to just ten

setsuna will spend ages moving her garden flowers around to find where they get to be red. she spent two in-game days on just this

tsubomi has spent all her money in lily and poppy’s store and has an overdecorated garden but barely anything in the cafe itself. also, did i mention she is absolutely addicted to this game

itsuki has filled her cafe with so many decorations it’s hard to move around. she was the first one to manage to get her hands on a basic display case for steve

yuri’s cafe is this wild mix of spooky and cute decoration types. she has a tendency to play calico all night 

kanade is tied with asuka for THE most calico-addicted precure. she has every single piece of toe bean furniture in the game, no exaggeration, and she always has a cat on her head unless she’s making food. her display case is always at least 50% comprised of sweet-type food. 

miyuki has all the pastel stuff. seriously, you should see the amount of cute and cloud furniture this girl has got going on 

reika has a fondness for going to the onsen and jumping off the waterfalls down the entire mountainside for fun

mana speedruns the quests and tends to forgo cooking and decorating for the sake of them 

rikka just wants frogs to be in the game

megumi keeps singing along to the background music. did i mention she doesn’t know half the lyrics 

yuko rarely completes quests because she’s too busy buying every recipe in the game. she's also the only one who actually uses egg type furniture

iona and kirara both can’t get enough of that spooky-type decoration with the moon and stars. they’ve got like 4 copies of it

haruka absolutely lost it when she got that tiara as a quest reward. she wears it all the time now

team kirakira has been recreating the calico sweets at the kirapati and advertising the hell out of it

i will add more when it isn’t 5:46am and my device isn’t on 10% battery

[baodurs]

i want someone besides me and the 2 friends who know all the lore to meet my detective, but i’m too impatient to let you get to know her via fic so i filled out this questionnaire instead. she is veronica and she is so important, here is some stuff about her if you are interested :’)

QUICK READ OF YOUR DETECTIVE

Name: veronica langford

Pronouns: she/her

Sexuality: bi

Love interest: adam

Best friend: morgan

Main skill: science/technology

Secondary skill: combat/physical

Main personality trait: impulsive

Secondary personality trait: sarcastic

Why did they join the Wayhaven PD?: best use of her science skills

Relationship with Rebecca: not great

Relationship with Bobby: ex, finds it hard to be around him

Verda or Tina?: both! but she’s on verda’s branch

Murphy bite?: wrist

Murphy's fate?: captured

Rescue LI or Rescue Sanja?: sanja

GENERAL

Name: veronica “it’s been 3 years and i never gave her a middle name” langford

Nickname: just veronica. people around wayhaven called her ronny growing up, and a few still do despite her trying to grow out of it. maybe a few people from college and sometimes tina call her v or vee or something.

Birthday: please you all know i am so scared of concrete dates

Age: 26

Pronouns: she/her

Sexuality: bi

Hair color: brown

Eye color: dark brown

Height: 5′10 (178 cm)

Piercings: just one in each ear

Tattoos: something retro sci-fi on her shoulder. not a reference to anything specific, but like a little planetary landscape with a UFO in the background or something.

Clothing Style: casual. lots of tank tops and muscle tees (weather- and occasion-permitting), concert t-shirts, warm colors. flannels and leather jackets. jeans, sneakers, combat boots. think like rocker chick vibes, but cozier and more colorful.

Apartment Style: basic. she really did not plan on living there long and kept putting off decorating because it’d be a waste if she was just going to move out. this rationalization went on so long but since the end of book 1 she has slowly bought a few things to push it towards “cozy,” still pretty sparse though.

STATS

Personality:

Charming | Intimidating

Impulsive | Cautious

Sarcastic | Genuine

Friendly | Stoic

Easygoing | Stubborn

Traits:

Heart | Mind

Optimist | Pessimist

Team Player | Independent

Skills:

Main Skill: science/technology (but mostly science)

Second Skill: combat/physical

By the Book | Bend the Rules

KEY DECISIONS

Reason for joining the Wayhaven PD: best use of her science skills

Murphy bite:  Wrist | Neck | None

Murphy’s Fate: Captured | Escaped

Rescued: Love Interest | Sanja

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP

Love Interest: adam

Why them?: for veronica it’s kind of retroactive. the way i imagine their True Canon, they don’t have any real romantic moments in book 1, so she doesn’t seriously consider that adam might have feelings for her until well into book 2. (the training scene is when she’s like “oh. ok. i get it now.”) even then it takes a few more chapters for her to really process that, figure out how she feels, and recontextualize everything. like realizing that he loves her and then thinking back on their relationship, knowing that, makes her feel so held (sorry i have no better way to say it) in a way that just makes her want to cry.

to give some actual specific reasons, it’s his dedication and his constancy and hidden care/softness. and his very specific brand of... selflessness might be just left of the word i’m looking for, but hopefully you get me.

Bold, shy, or mixed?: neither! in theory it’s closer to bold, but it’s more just earnest.

What were their first impressions of each other?: disastrous. on top of finding him condescending and unpleasant, there are also a few moments where veronica genuinely wonders whether he’s even a good person. or, like, cares about people. but once she learns the truth of things, a lot of her initial anger gets transferred to rebecca.

adam, with the benefit of knowing what’s actually happening, has a slightly more favorable impression of veronica. yes he thinks she’s difficult and reckless and too emotionally driven, yes she’s making his job absolutely miserable, but he does begrudgingly respect that her accusations are always on the right track and she’s good at her job.

What do they find attractive about each other, mentally or physically?:

for veronica: she loooves his sense of humor. and how much faith he has in the people he cares about. physically, dimples <3. but everything about his smile really. and his nose!

for adam: veronica has a very blunt, unadorned sense of kindness to her that he really loves. the way she is kind before she is nice and values directness. physically, her eyes, they’re deep brown and so expressive.

What do they do to spend time together?: they’re both competitive so anything where they can compete on the same team is fun. (competing against each other is fun too, but also like. exhausting. for them and everyone.) maybe puzzles or other things where it feels like they’re “winning” or solving something together. i have spent an embarrassing amount of thought on veronica and overw*tch esp*rts and she would absolutely make adam learn how to play main tank so they could queue as a tank duo. but most of the time i think they don’t Do specific things together; they just hang out. just talk with each other. perhaps snuggle.

What is their favorite memory together?: in current canon... lol. veronica really just treasures any time adam relaxes around her but those moments always get Ruined. even once they’re well into a relationship, i think veronica’s favorite memory would still be something small like a random time he said something funny and they both laughed together and they were outside and the sky was pretty.

What are their love languages?: acts of service for both of them, but especially adam. veronica... probably lots of words of affirmation and physical touch. they’re both bad at blocking out time for themselves in the first place, so quality time can get neglected especially at first.

How do they handle being apart from one another?: pretty well i think! once they’re in an established relationship at least, before that it’s probably harder. but adam can distract himself with work, and veronica is good at focusing on whatever’s in front of her (whether that’s work or she’s away on vacation or something). if neither of them is too busy, veronica calls every night and they stay on a while, half talking and half just keeping each other company.

Do they argue? How do they handle arguments and disagreements? How do they make up?: i think arguments are fairly rare! yes they’re both insanely stubborn, but they also understand each other pretty well (especially once in a relationship) and are very sympathetic to where the other is coming from. unless both of them are extremely stressed, one of them crumbles when they start genuinely arguing like "i don't want to fight ok, let's take a second."

What does their future look like?: who knows! i haven’t decided whether veronica will turn. i think she probably will, just because i do not want my main pairing for this IF to make me very sad all the time, but like. i’m not fully committing until i see a reason pop up in canon. as of book 3′s final demo, it’s not on her radar at all; she knows she loves adam and wishes they could Talk, but ultimately doesn’t expect or even want a relationship right now (because she doesn’t want to deal with dating one of rebecca’s agents OR with the logistics of being in a committed relationship with an immortal being). it’s just all so foreign to her current state of mind that it’s really hard to say!

Anything else you'd like to share: do you know how hard it was to answer some of these considering veronica wasn’t sure they were even, like, on decent terms for such a large portion of the canon content

BEST FRIEND RELATIONSHIP

Best friend: morgan and farah are essentially joint besties but i’ll go with M

Why them?: i think they appreciate each other’s no bullshit attitude. morgan likes that veronica doesn’t take herself too seriously and respects/relates to the way she tackles problems (quickly, head-on, and without complaint but also without pretending that it doesn’t suck?). veronica appreciates morgan’s bluntness, likes bantering with her, and in general just likes being around people that have quiet/steady presences.

What were their first impressions of each other?: neither of them had much of a first impression honestly. morgan barely thought of veronica at all beyond “she’s annoying,” and kept to herself so much that any dislike veronica had of morgan took a backseat to her dealing with the rest of unit bravo.

What do they do to spend time together?: lots of just sitting in the same room and listening to (low volume) music, veronica spends a lot of time hunting for songs morgan might like. morgan is also her go-to sparring/training buddy. and there are semi-frequent movie nights where veronica shows farah her favorite old shitty B movies, and sometimes morgan will tag along just to sit in the room with them or affectionately talk shit.

Anything else you'd like to share: i’ll talk a little about N! obviously veronica and nate respect, trust, and like each other, but she finds him the hardest of UB to connect with. they’re both people who wear their compassion on their sleeves but keep a lot of their hearts/themselves held back, so they just kind of circle each other, especially since like... nate values politeness and is very sweet in how he relates to people, while veronica values directness and is more jokey/lighthearted to put people at ease. idk how well i’m communicating this; as of the book 3 demo it’s getting easier, but their friendship is still newer/more... nebulous? than the others.

OTHER RELATIONSHIPS (Feel free to go in depth!)

Relationship with Rebecca: so strained. veronica has come to terms with rebecca’s absences throughout her childhood, but there’s newer resentment over... a lot of things, but how she handled the murphy case especially. veronica hates being kept in the dark, and even more than that she hates being rebecca’s priority. it’s difficult to reconcile her childhood and present images of rebecca, and she’s angry that rebecca is so freely and recklessly choosing her, now, to the point of endangering others if she has to, especially when she never felt like rebecca’s choice before. and incredibly frustrated/confused by how often the lines between their professional and familial relationships are blurred and what rebecca actually wants from her.

Relationship with Rook: veronica takes after rook a lot. in stat terms, the only trait they don’t share is stoic, and even then that’s veronica’s least extreme stat. people always told her how like her father she was growing up, and it’s a comparison she took/takes a lot of pride in! she looks up to him based on the stories, but more recently is uncomfortable with the comparisons. veronica would never have even come back to wayhaven if her life panned out as planned, let alone become a detective or joined the agency. that makes her doubt herself, and she feels like that doubt is letting rook down somehow.

rook is also part of the reason her relationship with rebecca isn’t as bad as it could be. she knows that rook loved her, and that he would want his family to be there for each other, so she feels obligated to at least try to make things better. but it’s really hard for her to move past everything to connect with rebecca (which also makes her feel like she’s disappointing rook).

Relationship with Bobby: they were together for a long time and veronica thought she loved him a lot! it was her first relationship, so she wasn’t sure a) what a “bad partner” looked like, or b) how to even be in a relationship or rely on someone in that way. so they spent a lot of time together and had great superficial chemistry, but veronica didn’t have enough experience with not feeling neglected to realize how shallow it was, or notice the red flags when she did occasionally open up. the plagiarism fiasco was a slap in the face, especially because it cost her internships/grad school apps/whatever, i don’t have the details, and forced her to move back to wayhaven after school. she’s still very hurt by it and finds it hard to be around bobby.

Relationship with Verda: due to the above plagiarism fiasco, veronica was pretty depressed when she moved back home, and disliking her job didn’t help. she was extremely jealous when verda was hired and wanted to hate him. but it did not take long for that to crumble into respect/admiration, and eventually into close friendship! verda is a role model for her; they bond over science; they joke easily and have good chill fun. she was really excited to see him piecing together the truth about the supernatural and then devastated to see how he reacted. she feels insanely guilty and thinks it was selfish of her to let him figure it out, but is also cautiously optimistic about making it up to him as of the book 3 demo.

Relationship with Tina: very close! veronica isolated herself when she came back to wayhaven after school, and she is so grateful to tina for being her closest friend and link to the rest of the world during that time. hates keeping the supernatural from her, though. she didn’t like lying to tina to begin with, but she feels even worse about it now that verda knows, and now that tina has clearly picked up on something being wrong but she still can’t say anything.

Relationship with the Mayor: cannot stand him. hates the way he talks about rook, hates the way he talks to rebecca. she cooperates as necessary but doesn’t bother hiding her lack of patience/respect for him.

Relationship with Capt. Sung: basically fine. i think veronica might be a little too casual for him in the way she works, but she always gets the job done so he’s not too bothered by it. (she is ‘bend the rules,’ but more ‘strict rules aren’t important as long as you’re still doing good work’ than the ‘boooo fuck paperwork’ variety. so it’s mostly fine.) she also appreciates him as a minor link to rook.

Relationship with Haley: very friendly, but not super close. they get along great and could make pleasant conversation for hours, but ultimately don’t know each other super well despite the familiarity of growing up together.

Relationship with Elidor: such a comforting presence for veronica during her recovery! she is so grateful, so fond.

Relationship with Tapeesa/Vieno: veronica loves vieno’s cranky-yet-friendly vibe and they get along well! not close, but will stop to chat whenever they pass each other.

Relationship with Unit Alpha: loves their energy. always looks forward to the next opportunity to chat with them, and fully supports any harmless dunking on UB even if she rarely joins in.

Relationship with the Maa-alused: going through the house of mirrors and then coming home for them to appear in her apartment and infect bobby was one of thee worst experiences of her life, and it’s hard for her to get past that + the illness in general. sympathizes with them, and got them to sign the treaty, but is still kind of unsettled by everything that happened and by falk.

Do they have any other important relationships, past or present? (Relatives, friends, etc.?): some vague figures i have in mind but no one i’ve really developed. a couple friends from college, and maybe an elderly couple that lives on her childhood street and used to check in her.

PERSONAL BIO

Describe their personality: her usual demeanor is very warm and casual. sincere but private--she’s pretty blunt and likes to be direct with people, but steers conversations away from personal topics. likes to joke around and doesn’t take herself that seriously. but behind all this, she’s extremely stubborn and won’t shy away from conflict if she thinks you’re in the wrong (which is why she seems like a different person in the first half of book 1. UB is surprised by how like... chill and nice she is once they clear the air). a workaholic, self-reliant and secure but still pretty hard on herself, takes a lot of responsibility for the people around her.

Strengths: so dedicated. honest and trustworthy, has a strong moral compass and can always be counted on to do her absolute best. flexible and intuitive, her brain works really fast.

Weaknesses: cannot compartmentalize or separate herself from a case, throws herself so recklessly into everything (in terms of both physical danger and emotional burnout). doesn’t necessarily hold grudges but has a hard time letting go of hurt, still can’t think objectively about bobby or rebecca.

Where in the world is their Wayhaven?: somewhere on the US east coast idk what to tell you. perhaps a carolina or a virginia.

What is their personal history?: veronica was pretty social and well-liked around wayhaven growing up. she was known as just a really good kid; she was an overachiever and got along with almost anyone. in college, she felt like she was free of something and took a very work hard/play hard approach to life. always doing or going, whether it was for school or work or fun. she really enjoyed life during this time but crashed and burned pretty hard when she and bobby broke up; a lot of her plans were delayed until the plagiarism incident was resolved and she didn’t really have the heart to pursue them afterwards.

a year or so after graduating, she returned to wayhaven with the intention of taking one more year to regroup, and she has been stuck there longer than she meant to be and has kind of hit a wall when book 1 starts.

If they weren't a detective, what would their dream job be?: she was on track to become a biochemist and it was her dream job but then the main plot happened to her.

Anything else you'd like to share: i don’t really know enough to fully explain this, but no OC i love is a cop so like. i think maybe the job she took when she got back to wayhaven was a douglas-esque receptionist role for detective reele’s private office. then reele retired and small town politics + veronica’s history of useful contributions to cases in her downtime at work led to her being pressured to take up the mantle. it’s hard to explain why she’s a detective when she so deeply does not want to be one but i am Trying (or maybe she would have jumped at the chance to do something marginally closer to forensics?? who knows)

RANDOM FACTS

Zodiac sign: aries is what i assigned her when i first made her and i think it suits her! plus it’d be fun for her and M to be twins. this goes hand-in-hand with my birthday commitment issues though

Hobbies: music (she plays guitar and bass and sings a little), running, gaming unfortunately. i could also see her having been into boxing or some martial art but idk what exactly!

Likes: early morning stillness, DIY projects, t-shirts with inexplicable slogans and other weird thrift store finds

Dislikes: overly sweet food or drink, when cold weather lasts too long, being lied to or “protected” from the truth

Drink of choice: something with gin maybe. also feels a great fondness and gratitude for cheap wine.

Starbucks order: i truly know nothing about coffee. is it weird to order black coffee at starbucks

Favorite food: variations on spicy chicken soup! she eats a lot of crockpot meals for convenience and they’ve grown on her, and she has a few different recipes based on whatever she has on hand.

Favorite color: maybe like a rusty orange

Favorite music: she will listen to anything, but her favorite is probably folk rock, or sometimes stuff with soul or old school country vibes. big thief is a good example of an artist she’d be into i think! also was very into the indie music scene in her college town and still follows some of those bands.

Favorite genre (and favorite movie/book/etc): loves old, campy, unselfconsciously optimistic sci-fi. loves star trek tos. also a fan of documentaries of all kinds.

Favorite season: summer

Anything else you'd like to share: a kiss for you reading this mwah

[wheel-of-fish]

By the Numbers Jöback, Hill, Stolle

By the Numbers:  The Peter Jöback/Samantha Hill/Jeremy Stolle Stream, August 15, 2020

A more timely roundup!  The things that can be accomplished without a kitten on your head!

This was a fascinating boot, featuring a Phantom with a lovely Swedish accented tenor voice, Samantha “too sweet to be hot, except to the Phantom” Hill, and release-the-thirst-floodgates Jeremy Stolle.  The Stolle thirst was boundless.  The Stolle thirst was all encompassing.  There was scarcely a vocal phrasing, gesture, line read or body part that was not only mentioned but gushed over.  I did not even begin to count the ways.  Every category would have been “greater than infinity”.  And, every comment was true.  This man delivered!  From the height of his tallness to the depths of his deep baritone, Stolle was on a roll in this boot.  The boot itself was very good quality, only one large Head occasionally swallowing the action like a black hole.  Very worth seeing!  The passion of the AIAOY Kiss is matched only by the physics involved in making it happen between oh so tall Stolle and oh so small Hill.  But true love always finds a way!

Suggested names for this boot:  Jöback in Black Boot, IKEA Phantom Boot, Stolle the Show Boot (Okay, nobody suggested these.  It was me.  I suggested these. The first one was from Fish’s password for this stream, though!)

Statistician’s Favorite Boot Name:  The FÅNTØM Boot (again, nobody’s suggestion but mine, spelling courtesy of missbuster)

Wow, we like to talk about Phantoms:  Well this week, we seemed to talk about everybody except other Phantoms.  Oh sure, some were mentioned, but let’s mix it up and see what other names were dropped this week.  Supply your own context for even greater amusement, because heaven knows you won’t find it here.  These numbers are a lot more accurate because, again, no kitten on head this week.  It occurs to me that instead of meticulous record keeping, I could just make crap up.  Not this week.  Maybe next week.  All these people were genuinely mentioned in this week’s stream.

Carly Rae Jepsen (7), Vin Diesel (1), John Travolta (3), Antonio Banderas (5), Hugh Jackman (3), Ian McKellen (3), Judy Dench (1), Emmy Rossum (2), Anne Hathaway (4), Russell Crowe (3), Patrick Wilson (1), James Corden (1), Rebel Wilson (1), Hadley Fraser (1), Kelly O’Hara (1), Francesca Hayward (1), Michael Gruber (1)

Fond mentions of 1998 “Cats”:  6

Mentions of 2019 “Cats”:  12 (I have left out any adjectives as most were Not Charitable.)

Opinions that “Cats” should only be done as an animation:  2

Oh, hey, yeah, another Phantom, mentions of Gerard Butler:  5 (I have left out any adjectives as most were along the lines of Bless His Heart)

Oh, hey, yeah, another Phantom, mentions of Paul Stanley:  14 (I have left out any adjectives as most were somewhere between Not Charitable and Bless His Heart)

Wishes for Rose to have good luck on her date while the rest of us stayed glued to our monitors on a Saturday night:  9

Inappropriate Random Zoom:  to Christine’s dressing table during Raoul’s visit (not NEARLY as inappropriate as the Random Zoom to Barbara the mannequin’s doors of summer during last week’s stream.)

Self-Caress mentions:  3 (The Phantom.  The PHANTOM.  Not whatever you were thinking.)

What scent are the Phantom’s candles:  Hopeless Mist (no, the Phantom’s candles were not discussed this week.  As the creator of the candle line which includes Underground Despair, I have decided to use this statistical summary to focus group test additional scentsations suitable for the Phantom’s Lair.  You are warned that this may be an Ongoing Feature.)

For Science mentions:  6

Boner mentions: 2 (I will not name names, you know who you are)

Apparent confirmation of boner mentions by people noticing Christine looking down during The Sprawl:  3

Is there any safe way to say that boner mentions are ummm trending downward?:  No

Unofficial Dialogue:  “TA DAAA” when the Phantom reveals the mirror bride (courtesy Wheel-of-fish, who just barely beat haunted-hideaway to it)

Outrageous Rumors Category: 

“Carly Rae Jepsen as Meg…..A dream”—deardaaery

“Carly Rae Jepsen played Meg???” –mrskroger

“I love how these streams can be used to start outrageous rumors”—Aldebaran

“rushing to tumblr to tell everyone about carly rae jepsen playing meg”—Wheel-of-fish

“Vin Diesel played Raoul, fact”—Aldebaran

IKEA mentions:  10

Suggestions for additional characters Jeremy Stolle could play in the All Stolle Show (phantom-of-the basement):  Mirror Bride (christinegrrl), Monkey Music Box (Flora-Gray), Madame Firmin (ktarinajones)

Everyone’s a critic:  “First review for the all stolle show has to be “he stolle the show” otherwise it’s a missed opportunity”—butdreamsofbeauty

The Phantom’s pillows mentions:  7

People of the opinion that the Phantom should use one of his 600 pillows as a cushion for fainted Christine’s head:  2 (question and number of pillows estimated by ashadeintheshade)

Vintage madamefaust on the Pillow Question:

Look, he took a long time arranging those pillows.  They’re from Pier One, they’re expensive, he doesn’t want to put them on the floor.

Erik has skillz:

“You know he’s handy.  Everything is probably homemade. Bitch can sew a hem.”—Melancholy’s Child

“Erik as a contestant on Project Runway”—Benny-Lynne

“I’m convinced he hand-sewed the Red Death costume.”—haunted-hideaway

“Five and half months working on that Red Death cosplay”—yamiangie

“has a “Red Death” pintrest”—blahahala                              

Outrageous Rumors Part Two:

“The pillows are hot-glued to the boat”—wheel-of-fish

People who fell for the Phantom hot-gluing pillows to the boat:  4

Outrageous Rumors Part Three                                          

“Carly Rae Jepsen hot glued those pillows”—wheel-of-fish

We stan a crafty Phantom:

“I just like the idea of Erik with a glue gun”—wheel-of-fish

 “erik bedazzling things”—butdreamsofbeauty

 “He  DEFINITELY has a bedazzler.”—madamefaust

 “erik bedazzles his own capes”—christinegrrl

 “erik with a staple gun putting pillows on a boat:  KACHUNK”—        phantomofthebasement

Barbara Speaks:

   “Being a mirror bride must be a hard job”—mrskroger

   “damn straight”—the-real-barbara

Rare Don Atillio appreciation mention: 1

Andre’s probable fear of ballerinas mentions:  6 (as suggested by madamefaust)

Andre’s issue gets a name:  Tutuphobia—Aldebaran

Possible alternate ending for POTO:

There’s like 8 ballerinas….if they all came together the Phantom would have no chance.—hell-lawliet

That’s why Buquet always carries a noose, fear of ballerinas–Aldebaran

AIAOY Kiss comments:  45 comments in 24 seconds

Requests for AIAOY Kiss replay:  6 (replay occurred)

Incorrect use  of the Raoul as an International Unit of Measure:  1 (I misstated in the stream that Christine would be 1.62 Raouls in height.  This is clearly false, as it would make her much taller than Raoul, who is already impossibly tall.  Using as our values Mr. Stolle at 6’3” and Ms. Hill at 5’4”, Christine’s height expressed in Raouls would be .8533 Raouls.  The statistician regrets the error.  This is why maybe I should just make crap up next time.  No, I will not convert the heights to the metric system.)

Debut of IKEA Phantom: 

“And the Phantom is just quietly weeping in the angel because…even he knows that is a hard act to follow”—madamefaust

“That is a kiss to cause a Phantom mental breakdown for sure”—Flora-Gray

“oh no the ikea phantom becomes unassembled”—Aldebaran

“he wasn’t anchored to the wall”—Benny-Lynne

“Someone get the allen wrench, we need to put back together a saad boi”—haunted-hideaway

Unholy Trinity of Cooper/Thiago/Uwe mentions:  1 (by madamefaust, who perhaps is protected by the sheer power of her vast Phannish humor and talent.  Please do not invoke the Unholy Trinity on a whim yourself.)

Respect given to Steve Barton in the form of “Fs”:  11 (entirely appropriate at any time but especially during a boot with such a stellar Raoul)

Red Death as a Swedish Fish mentions:  3 (not to his face, never to his face)                                         

 “tiny swedish fish red death”—Aldebaran

 “HE IS A SWEDISH FISH”—madamefaust

 “the most dramatic swedish fish”—butdreamsofbeauty

Best from Onthevirg’s Mom:  “We should talk about Phantom Jaws”

Fathering Gaze lyric:  1

Split decision on the statement by mrskroger that Wandering Child has a strong Daddy’s Home vibe:

*Strong NO from Wheel-of-fish

*Strong YES from Benny-Lynne

That staff tho: 

“Fire Pez One.  Fire Pez Two.”—Aldebaran

“Skeletor Pez Dispenser”—DoCTy

“I wonder what it’s like to be that dramatique that you fashion a staff that shoots fire”—haunted-hideaway

“He probably bedazzled the staff as well”—Aldebaran

“oh he definitely bedazzled it”—christinegrrrl

“ ‘bedazzled staff’ definitely sounds like something hmm”—onthevirg

Number of audience cell phone rings at insanely crucial moments:  1

Attempting to bring Logic to PONR:

“I know it’s a plot device, but who has a hood that big, really?”—haunted-hideaway

“THIS IS THE EXACT SAME MAN.  MUCH STEALTH.  SUPER INCOGNITO”—madamefaust

“Yeah, I don’t know guys…I don’t think that’s Piangi…?” —Flora-Gray

“yeah swedish italian accent is a giveaway”–Aldebaran

Education of the Innocent:

“ok, I don’t know The Lore, why do we call her Barbara”—butdreamsofbeauty

“Haunted named her in a stream.  She said: ‘Her name is Barbara and she had hopes and  dreams once.’  I said I would never forget it and I have not.”–Aldebaran

The mob storms IKEA:

“time to flat pack the FÅNTØM”—missbuster

“So you’re saying Stolle should just squash the Phantom” —GlassPrism

“he comes apart for easy handling”—missbuster

“Get the Allen wrench”—madamefaust

Reactions to the Phantom after Christine’s final exit: 37 comments in 59 seconds

Sad comment is sad: We don’t even need the allen wrench, he came apart on his own.   –  madamefaust

Things I wish I had said:

“Moist Raoulette”—haunted-hideaway

“no Tol Raol Pol?”—missbuster,  at not seeing Raoul boating away post Final Lair

“No Stolle Tolle Rolle Polle?”—missbuster, with continued disappointment                          

Dreams do come true:

You know.  If you had told 14 year old me that in the future I could watch Phantom EVERY WEEKEND I would have died on the spot—missbuster

Statistician Aldebaran’s two no three favorite personal quotes:   

re: Jöback “He crawls with an accent”

 “Raoul conveniently wore a ladder jacket to make it easier for Christine to climb” 

 “Erik is just in a perpetual state of PONR”

Thank you as always for the submission, kind statistician Aldebaran!