#instead i got catastrophic world ending event

[ruairy]

.

[viktorthemachineherald]

What actually happened to Jayce and Viktor in the end? And why didn’t Ekko’s Z-drive destroy everything within its blast radius?

TL;DR: the only timeline that could have worked was the one where Viktor gives Jayce the Acceleration rune, where Ekko invents the Z-drive, and where Jayce saves Viktor and gets his partner back.

Something we’ve seen pointed out is that the world rune that worked in this timeline was the Acceleration rune, which has the function of transportation through time and space. 

Ekko’s Z-drive was built by inverting Jayce’s Acceleration rune (this is important later).

We know from his experiments that the limit for reversing time is only 4 seconds. Any further back and it causes catastrophic harm to his surroundings. It’s implied that the further he overextends his Z-drive, the more disastrous the damage and radius of effect.

In the final battle against Viktor, we see Ekko overextend his Z-drive far beyond 4 seconds. Then, he yeets it at Viktor, whose mask is shattered from the impact.

We know that turning back time beyond 4 seconds causes catastrophic destruction of the surrounding areas: Jayce and Viktor, and perhaps countless others should have been caught up in the blast. But instead, we see something different:

Time stands still for a moment, courtesy of the boy who shattered time. 

Now things happen all in a manner of seconds: In the astral plane, we see Viktor comment on the anomaly that Ekko has created.

It’s something that Viktor as smart as he is, couldn’t have conceived— leave it to Ekko (and lest I forget, Heimerdinger and alt-Jinx) to show them all up.

This is debatable, but I firmly believe that Viktor with his awareness of all time and space, could have escaped or even survived the explosion.

It’s only Jayce, the only person who could show him what he showed him, that gets through to him in the end and convinces him to give up his Glorious Evolution.

"In all timelines, only you can show me this". Ekko is the catalyst but Jayce was the key.

Jayce returns the Acceleration rune to Viktor which kicks off a chain of events. The souls under Viktor’s control are freed from his grasp. Back in the real world, and back to the explosion, we see the following happening almost simultaneously: 

The blast from the Z-drive extends from Viktor’s reach to Jayce’s

The Acceleration rune embedded in Jayce’s wrist starts to glow from being activated by Jayce and Viktor in the astral plane

Jayce and Viktor are absorbed into the gem and the gemstone blips out of existence 

Recall that the Z-drive was created through an inversion of the Acceleration rune. To multiply something by its inverse, is to divide it by itself. The Acceleration rune multiplied by the Inversed Acceleration rune, cancels out the effect of the other: nullifying both the anomaly from the Z-drive but also the rune.

This explains why there was no larger explosion. Viktor and Jayce (who chose to stay) sacrificed themselves and took themselves out of the equation. Jayce and Viktor were the anomalies— just like the Z-drive should not have existed, neither should have Hextech.

Through all the timelines and permutations of runes that Viktor tried, the only combination that could have worked was in the timeline with the Acceleration rune. It couldn’t have worked if it was any other rune, if Ekko had never invented the Z-drive, or if Jayce had never convinced Viktor to give up his path of destruction, and got his partner back.

In short: Boy Savior saves the day; Love Wins

[hexefreya]

I don't think that we appreciate Viktor's plan enough. It is my firm belief that not only did he want to erase Hexcore and himself from existence, but also do some good in the process.

It was established that Hexcore found a way to corrupt the very water, spreading like a disease and infecting the environment. What this means is that by simply killing Viktor Hexcore problem wouldn't be resolved as wild rune remains and will lead to catastrophic consequences in the long run. Only Viktor himself could defeat Hexcore by consciously making the choice to destroy it. And Jayce was the only one who could make this outcome happen - he very well knew about it and the power he had, armed with Viktor's own feelings.

So the question remains: why did Jayce wait till the very last possible moment to show Viktor the power of love? He didn't try to earnestly talk to him even once, and always looked like a person set on a mission throughout. He also seemed to know the outcome of some encounters beforehand.

For instance, when Viktor is entering Hex vault? Jayce isn't even trying to attack Viktor here or be on a defensive, as if confident Viktor would do nothing and just walk by.

And of course this scene, where Jayce kneels by his weapon and closes his eyes, resigned for what is about to happen.

It is my opinion that Jayce had a pretty good understanding of the future events and his role in it, which leads me to believe that the severe escalation of Viktor's evolution, leading to the final fight, was necessary.

I honestly feel like animators did an amazing job showing how incredibly hard it was for Jayce to straight up crush Viktor time and time again, especially when knew about Viktor's feelings and realised himself that those were reciprocated. Can you imagine the pain Jayce must have felt? Killing the person he loved, warping them into something monstrous and even then, at his worst, Viktor was anything but indifferent to Jayce, and him alone.

But if it weren't for Jayce shooting Viktor the first time, literally breaking his heart, Viktor wouldn't lose his faith in humanity (Jayce) and agree to move on with Singed's procedure. It was stated that his power was finite, so I would speculate that Jayce didn't even try to persuade Viktor because he knew that even if he succeeded either Savior Viktor didn't possess enough power to stop Hexcore, or it was straight impossible without Ekko's anomaly. Hexcore would remain in the world any other way, therefore it was necessary to trigger Viktor's evolution to the Machine Herald form.

It also explains why Jace yet again isn't trying to convince Viktor in the Council room encounter afterwards, despite having Viktor coming forward, wanting to talk and bearing news of the hostile intentions of the Noxian. This is interesting, because in my opinion the most significant detail here is Viktor's reluctance to "evolve" Jayce to the point he'd rather kill him. And we know that for the Mage Viktor's plan to work Jayce has to be connected to Hexcore. That's why there is no attempt at talking at this point. Even if Viktor were to concede this very second and destroy Hexcore, it would still leave completely disorganized Piltover and Zaun facing oppressing Noxian forces. It is only after Jayce rejects and "kills" him once again that Viktor lashes out and completes his evolution. And as a result, it gives a perfect common enemy to unite forces against, which finally brings Piltover and Zaun together.

We shouldn't forget how everything started, how Viktor shared Jayce's idealistic dream and passion to bring magic to people and improve lives. Sure, ironically they got caught in a paradoxical anomaly that was dooming the world instead.

"In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good".

Viktor had achieved the end of pursuit and regretted it. Eventually he came to terms with the fact he's the only one who can effectively destroy hexcore, consciously chosing to erase it and himself from existence. And I refuse to think he is anything but pedantic about it, the scientists that he is. He knows what exactly must transpire, and he has the hindsight of different timelines and possibilities to organize the best of possible outcomes, the one that maximizes good this time.

[nowimjustastranger]

Somebody to Call My Own Lore | Part 2

This was too big to fit in one post so I had to split it into two parts, you can find part 1 by clicking on the AU tag! Please feel free to pop into my askbox if you have any questions about any of my AU's, I'm itching to ramble about them.

Trigger warning for suicide. Also, 77/H Ford's relationship with his brother is mentally & emotionally abusive.

Ford has far more advanced technology than what earth is capable of, taking inspiration from the dimensions he's visited to design a tattoo made of nanobots that allow him to teleport short distances, he still has to use the gun for long distances. But if he can see his destination, he can teleport there using the tattoo. The ink is red and the tattoo is the outline of the Stan o' War.

When Ford comes across dimension 77/H, he is pushed to the breaking point. Stan’s fate is to eventually take his own life after his brother guilt trips/emotionally manipulates him into staying by his side while Weirdmageddon swallows the world. Stan wouldn’t even be an official part of Bill's freaks, seen as akin to Ford’s pet by the group (Bill included).

Stan would end up suffocated with survivor's guilt and the worst self-esteem ever seen in a Stan, regarding himself as Ford’s loyal dog instead of a person. His hopelessness and despair wear him down until he is driven to take his own life, Ford wiping their dimension out entirely in his grief. The kicker is that Bill could’ve stopped it but didn’t because he wanted Ford all to himself, jealous that Stan got the majority of Ford’s attention and affection while Ford was reserved and cold with Bill. So Bill simply let Stan die, and that was ultimately his downfall.

419”3 Ford stays up for days in order to scour the timeline for a series of events that doesn't end with Stan killing himself, but most paths lead to the same destination while several others are decidedly worse and are immediately discarded. Ford gets more manic as his window to step in without catastrophic consequences to the timeline rapidly closes, his self-inflicted sleep deprivation and desperation pushing him to act rashly.

Stan had received the postcard like in canon, but the difference is that Ford had teamed up with Bill and opened the portal to bring Weirdmageddon onto earth. Ford had planned to have one of the freaks fetch his brother for him once they came through the portal, but the anti-weird barrier surrounding Gravity falls was an unexpected setback. So Ford opts to send his brother a postcard and work on finding a way to break the barrier while waiting for Stan to arrive, Bill doing his best to convince Ford that his brother would only be a distraction.

Ford didn't take kindly to Bill’s poor opinion of Stan, proving a point by ignoring his work for several days until Bill reluctantly apologized and agreed to spare Stan from the apocalypse by letting him live in luxury in Gravity Falls with Ford.

419”3 Ford steps in quite literally at the last minute, Stan’s car unknowingly approaching the barrier that separates the rest of the world from Weirdmageddon. Stan, of course, panics and yanks the wheel when a man dressed in all black and wearing a biker helmet darts into the road in order to avoid hitting the stranger. Stan’s car swerves into the ditch, slamming his forehead against the steering wheel when he hits a tree.

Stan is –understandably– disoriented as the figure pulls him out of the totaled car, Stan's awareness coming in waves. Stan thinks he sees a giant pink woman on fire watching them from the other side of the “Welcome to Gravity Falls” sign before the stranger adjusts his grip on Stan and his vision is overtaken by blue as he’s effortlessly hauled into a wormhole that deposits them in 419”3 Ford’s current headquarters in a different dimension.

[stringsbasement]

Thoughts on Irep?

i find him to be pretty cool!! i actually wrote up a response for this question before i was even aware he made an appearance in the latest episode, and surprisingly got a few things right. so i'll paraphrase some of that original text:

"a new wish has been consistently bringing back older characters and concepts to re-introducing them in a way that expands and strengthens the existing lore. it isn't a question of whether irep would appear, but in what manner. because of how peri is, unless they make an insane twist that would negate all the fluff the cosma-fairywinkle family has had up until this point, (which i doubt,) irep would still be an antagonist. so they'd have to introduce him as a real threat, along with a new rule"

and they did

my first thought was that irep is hideous and i LOVE him for that. i truly do. i couldn't stop laughing. 10/10. what even is that haircut. someone get him a barber from fairy world

my second thought was that having him be an anti-fairy godparent to dev is fantastic. i already enjoy dev's character and his constant conflicts with everyone around him, because i believe it's only accurate, you know? for someone who has been neglected and led on for so long, the only thing he wants is for someone to consistently be there for him, and yet, there's always something that gets in the way. there's always a but when it comes to loving him

so he fills the void with material possessions and glory that he knows deep down he doesn't need or want

this show is threatening to break the characters' core beliefs than actual, physical dangers. in the original show, the threats have mainly been death, physical injury, or otherwise world-ending catastrophes. most of hazel and dev's problems are "small-scale" compared to those. the plot instead hinges on their relationship and internal character conflicts. a new wish is about family relations and trust. dev's lack of it is glaringly obvious, and it shows in his erratic behavior

i think the reason why dev hates peri is actually because he's his fairy godparent. there's a very clear-cut sense of obligation to grant his wishes. to him, peri is just another helper robot. another person to lie to his face and give him conditional love. another source of money. he already has an abundance of that, and now he has an abundance of magic too! and then dev finds out that some wishes can't be granted at all. it's like the universe is against him. i really can't blame the kid for wanting another "solution"

so we have this fundamentally good but misguided character who is offered that solution in the form of a demon. if that's what gets him his happiness, he'll do whatever it takes, since taking is all he's ever known

what i particularly enjoy is dev's willingness to do these bad deeds. because the thing is, dev's first wish was something he thought up himself. and irep never gave suggestions. it's not so much that irep has a magical influence over him that makes him do bad things, but that dev is naturally making bad decisions because he thinks it's what'll fix all his problems. that means it'll also be up to him to realize the weight of his actions and the awfulness of his father. then again, he didn't blame his father for his actions in the ep "operation: birthday takeback,' but hazel. he also doesn't think to hold himself accountable for any of the events that occurred in "lost in fairy world," even though it was his fault too. so i don't expect him to realize it right away, or in a sensible manner. it would be funny if dev tries to summon irep through ritual, or barges into anti-fairyworld demanding him. i'm thinking that we'll get a friday the 13th episode, but we can only speculate so much with what we have

the episode does bring up some other cool things to think about:

"it's irep now thanks to your irritating son's name change!" now this line really caught my eye, because it puts into question the free will of anti fairies. in irep's first appearance as foop, he already found his name "unfortunate," merely accepting it instead of, you know, changing his name to something that separates him from poof. they're trapped in their realm and they have to abide by the rules set in place by the fairies, unable to so much as fight back without using legal technicalities because their jorgen is too weak to help. this is already an unbalanced dynamic. and then in the episode "terrors twosome," it's shown that anti-fairies are quite literally tied to their counterparts, and not just branching off of each other in a "what if" scenario. they're a separate kind of entity meant to compliment fairies, but not so much the other way around

i say this because the second fairies stopped having babies, anti-fairies did too. i don't think we get to see or have anyone comment about how it went down, so anti-cosmo might've been as much of a handful as cosmo was, but if they're meant to be opposites, wouldn't anti-cosmo be an easy baby? independent from the get-go like irep was? then it wouldn't be that they chose to stop having babies, but that they couldn't. not without their counterpart having them first

but even if this was all true, they genuinely seem to enjoy creating the chaos that they do. their intentions are always just as cartoonishly bad as we think it is

if irep wanted chaos, he could just try causing it on his own, but then jorgen would be involved if ever the wishes get too big and out of hand. could having a godchild be another loophole? "a child must always get what they want" is a legitimate rule that was able to override the other rules set, and allowed hazel to have cosmo and wanda as her godparents even if they failed the trials

if an anti-fairy had a godchild, they'll be free to cause a moderate amount of chaos whenever they want as long as it was to the whims of the child. also, it's clear irep still has issues with validation and being compared to peri, since he tears up and goes "that's all i ever wanted to hear," when dev calls him better than peri. it's funny to see irep still clings on to their rivalry when it looks like peri could care less about it anymore

buuutttt i like to think that irep genuinely wants a godchild. there's a deleted scene from the episode "oddlympics" (found it on page 5 of this script) where anti-cosmo cries over not having a godchild, which we know that fairies use to fill the "void" of not being able to have children. irep mostly takes after his father, and even from the little time we've seen with him on the same screen as his parents, it's clear that anti-wanda loves him as well. and, for all his attempts to make himself look evil and irredeemable, he was jealous of peri, who was famous and had the love and adoration of the masses for existing. he wants that for himself, too. it's why he wanted peri gone in the first place

(that info combined with peri and irep's mutual hate for theatre means that fairies and anti-fairies may still share some similarities not reliant on their innate link to each other)

so, imo, it's not a stretch to think that irep wants a kid to love and who will love him in turn, albeit in a sorta corrupt way. it would be an interesting twist too!!

all-in-all, i'm excited for what the show will have in store for peri, irep, and dev. i expect a silly episode where peri and irep go head-to-head with granting dev's wishes, and i'm hoping for an ep that shows irep and his anti-parents

that's all,

:)

[silent-sanctum]

I hope you're doing fine mijin🤩💗....

Can I request a fic where the stone ocean group survives and jotaro meets his wife(the reader) or ex wife that's upto you

Aha! A 2-for-1 special! Also, hiya @jotarosimpforever and to you too anon 👋 I'm doing fine thank you! Sorry it took this long to answer your requests, I'm currently on vacation so I was busy doing stuff 🫡 But here it is! A post-Stone Ocean fic featuring domestic times with our favorite DILF 6taro 😘 Hope you enjoy ♡

Way Home - Part 6! Jotaro x Reader

word count: 3.3k

“Breaking news: The recent events people termed as the “Shifting Skies Phenomenon” comes to an abrupt halt, resulting in mass casualty midst the confusion of countless civilians worldwide”

The scene was in complete chaos just the way it was for the past few hours. Where it was due to destruction as the heavens changed hues, from burning autumn to midnight void and back in a blink of the eye, now everything and everyone were in complete loss of control, emergency respondents dispatched to numerous vehicular accidents and spontaneous locations with crowds sporting spontaneous injuries.

Where others wouldn’t know what else to brand this phenomenon but “otherworldly”, you knew it as a catastrophic Stand attack.

And you’d come to know these information because of none other than your own husband- A solitary individual who opted to keep his responsibilities a secret from the people he loved, to sacrifice his happiness and suffer a life of “kill-or-be-killed” if it meant giving his family the normal life he could never have.

If it weren’t for circumstances that got yourself involved in one of these Stand encounters, you wouldn’t find yourself falling into the rabbit hole that was learning the nature of Stands, and eventually taking up a managerial role in an exclusive private organization as one of their agents. If it weren’t for that eventful day, you wouldn’t be able to meet Jotaro.

That stoic, abrasive, yet loving man…

Images of him smiling at you with fondness glazing his sharp blue eyes flashed in your mind as you imagined the same man charging head first into the battlefield to save and protect his and your only daughter from this grand scale threat.

And with the sky and the Earth’s gravity returning back to its usual state, you should be relieved knowing the enemy was defeated.

But without being there to witness how it ended, you gave into overthinking, imagining the repercussions that were dealt to achieve the cost of such victory.

As if snapping back to reality, you found yourself running through a plethora of bustling Speedwagon Foundation employees, almost crazed and frantic. The organization was just as rushed and busy as the rest of the world was with one half of the Foundation attempting to get shit under control by getting in-contact with non-government networks for aid and support, and the other half accommodating injured civilians to help reduce the local hospitals from overcrowding.

And just as what’s written in paper, you’ve received information that a chopper had just arrived with 2 members of the Joestar family onboard, injured from a fatal fight. You wasted not even a split second to bolt from the safety of your room and here in the private foundation’s building.

You rounded a corner, pushing past a couple more of people until you were met with a signage that read “Medical Wing”. You’ve studied the place’s layout enough times since Jotaro first brought you here during your orientation. While the place crowded with panicked and wounded civilians, you knew that the Foundation had exclusive areas and services reserved for the convenience of the Joestar bloodline.

Frustrated, you were desperate enough to seek the first nurse you could see and ask where her family was, but you’d find out that wouldn’t happen. Your hurried steps led you to the emergency room and instead of a random nurse, your attention landed on a teenage girl with messy space buns and torn clothing sitting on one of the benches lining the hallway leading to the operating room.

With one arm in a cast and her waist bandaged, the young girl had her free hand curled into a fist, head bowed as she struggled to hold back her sobs.

At the sight of her, your eyes welled up with tears. “Jolyne…”

In an instant, she jerked her head upright at the sound of her name. It took her a couple of seconds before she saw you standing a few feet away from her. Like mother and daughter, Jolyne’s face crumpled into one of sadness, the tears that she held back now rolling down her cheeks. “Eomma-”

You crossed whatever distance was between you and your child and brought her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry,” she started. “I’m really sorry mom.”

With ease, you withdrew enough for you to do another quick scan over her body. “Are you hurt bad?” You grasped her shoulders with a hand, the other reaching up to cup her wet cheeks. “Does it hurt anywhere?”

Your questions only sent Jolyne into another sob, breaking into tears the second you showed your extreme concerns. “I-I’m fine, but appa-”

You paused. “What… What happened to him?”

“He protected me, my friends, b-but…” She furiously swiped at her eyes despite her sobs. “He’s injured the most. He was bleeding everywhere and now-”

You kept yourself as calm as possible, even if you were on the brink of collapsing yourself. “Where is he?” Jolyne pointed to the double doors leading to the operating room.

Your heart caved in at the thought of your husband laying unconscious being worked on by surgeons and nurses to preserve his life. With a heavy and shaky sigh, you nodded as you willed yourself to not cry in front of your daughter.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do better,” Jolyne cried. “I’m sorry for letting that stupid accident with that asshole happen that led to dad going through all this bullshit for me-”

You quieted her as you pulled her into another hug, softly caressing her head. “It’s not your fault, pearl,” you said with a whisper. She continued to sob as she buried her face on your shoulder. “Your father knows that too.”

Gently, you led your daughter to one of the benches and sat her down with you beside her. Considering you’d thought the worst before arriving at the Foundation, you looked at the closed double doors with a newfound sense of reassurance. Another sigh.

“Let’s just wait and hope for the best.”

---

The consistent beeping of his vitals echoed throughout the dimmed room and you were left alone with Jotaro, still unconscious with half of his face heavily bandaged together with his throat, an oxygen mask fit on his nose and mouth.

Jolyne visited minutes earlier and told you that she’d be checking with how her other friends were doing.

An hour ago, you and Jolyne stood up immediately as soon as the surgeon stepped through the swinging doors. To everyone’s relief, they managed to stabilize him from his critical state.

According to him, your husband had a pre-existing heart condition that caused his pulse rate to beat at irregular, rapid intervals. Combined with the knowledge of him having to exert excessive strength despite waking up from a comatose state and the heavy amount of stress piling up the past few months, his body had chosen to shut down the second his adrenaline depleted.

Thinking about that again made you scoff through your tears. “You were always an impulsive idiot…” Saying those words caused your eyes to swell again and sniffle.

But what’s done was done. The doctors did what they could and all you can do was to sit beside him, holding his hand with both of yours, praying that he’d recover faster, enough for him to wake up and calm your worrying heart.

Without realizing, you ended up falling asleep still sat on your chair by his bed. You didn’t know how long time has passed in your slumber and you couldn’t be bothered to find out. All that mattered right now was staying by your husband’s side, letting him know, in spirit perhaps, that he wasn’t alone and that you were with him now.

In a way you couldn’t perceive, you somehow felt like he was comforting you as well. A comforting chill would brush against your cheeks, hair, shoulders, or hands and you welcomed the sensation like an old friend.

Eventually, time would pass from mere hours to days and throughout it all, you continued to stay where you were- always making sure to watch over him with persisting hope.

Today marked the 15th day since his admission in the Foundation’s infirmary ward. His fresh bandages still wrapped around the half of his face and throat. His assistive oxygenation was removed the week prior once his vitals stabilized within normal range.

By now, you stayed so much in the medical room that your responsibilities started to catch up as evident with the numerous phone calls and text messages alerting you from your pocket. You figured you’d answer a few and explain the circumstances surrounding you and your family.

That time, you stood by the window hoping to receive better signal. You were in the middle of arguing with a non-compliant employee that worked under your supervision, and through their whining in the speaker, you picked up the sheets shifting behind you.

On that cue, you turned around with supposed foolish hope but in clear daylight, there he was- stirring into consciousness, brows furrowing and scrunching as his eye slowly opened.

You never hung up on someone this fast before but you dropped whatever conversation you had and rushed over to Jotaro’s side, immediately reaching to grasp his hand. It took him a bit to adjust to the natural light, but he lolled his head to you and locked eye contact with you.

You exhaled a shaky breath. “Jotaro-ssi?” With a weak baritone voice, he croaked back your name with instant familiarity. Your eyes welled with new tears. Right then and there, he grunted as he struggled to prop himself upright. “W-What are you doing? You just woke up. You’re supposed to rest!”

At this point, you didn’t realize you started crying when you light-heartedly scolded him. You gripped his hand tight with frustration and relief, teardrops spilling onto your skin. He’s awake. Thank god he’s awake. “Do you know how much of an idiot you are?! I told you you shouldn’t jump into dangerous situations so recklessly! And now look at you! You should be taking your time and recover lying down and here you are forcing yourself to sit! You really are an idiot-”

“I missed you.”

Your heart skipped a beat and whatever ramble you had left trailed off into the thin air. Jotaro sat there patiently, watching you wistfully with hooded eyes. In your hand, he turned his palm upwards and interlocked his fingers with yours. He had that usual air of stoicism in his expression, but there was no mistaking the wet sheen glossing over his aquamarine eyes.

That was all it took for you to break into a sob as you gently wrapped your arms around him in a soft embrace. You felt him tuck his face against the crook of your neck, his tears pooling on your skin in silence. “Next time, tell me at least. Alright?”

“Mm…”

“Don’t scare me like that again, you hear?”

“I’m sorry…”

“You ass.”

---

It’s been 6 months since then and after the chaos had settled across the nation, the Kujos returned to their seaside villa, settling in for the time being to adjust to the new life after the time phenomenon.

Slowly but surely, every member of the family began to live their lives the way they wanted to- Jolyne would often leave the house to hang out with her best friend Ermes and potential boyfriend Anasui, one day bringing home a kid in baseball uniform named Emporio waiting to be adopted into the family, you returned to work to help the other agents in the Foundation, and Jotaro begun to resume teaching in university, choosing to take a break from field research to give him time to rest.

And considering the stress of the whole Stand ordeal they had dealt with since they were 17, you could get used to a mundane life like this.

The early morning sun beamed a warm orange, filtered through the curtains before it could touch both you and your husband. You opened your eyes to find yourself side-lying on his arm to face a still-sleeping Jotaro, tucked bare-chested underneath the sheets with his face mushed against the pillows

You huffed and snuggled closer, nuzzling to bury your nose on the crook of his neck. With a feather-light touch, you raised an index finger to gingerly trace the faded scar across his throat, the shallow dents across his collarbone, the scar on his left shoulder, and the one on his abdomen. One-by-one, you took the time to feel the skin of each in contrast to the rest. “You’ve been through so much…”

He stirred possibly from your tiny motions and soon enough, the arm you lied on curled in to pull you into his hold.

You couldn’t help but giggle as you looked up to see your husband glance at you with sleep-ridden eyes. You propped yourself on his chest and with your chin planted on your overlapped hands flat on his pecs, you whispered out a simple, intentionally-cute “Good morning~”

Jotaro smiled back. “Morning.”

“Break day?”

He nodded.

Life never felt so ordinary after what had happened but you could get used to this. Where every moment in this new era, they could live out the rest of their lives as a normal couple with a normal family.

And what’s a better way to start their new lives but with the domesticity of a newlywed pair.

Both you and Jotaro started the day accomplishing your morning routines- you in the bathroom washing up, he on the balcony to simply soak in the early morning sun. You made your way to the dining area where he stood by waiting for you with two steaming mugs of coffee in his hands. You took one, returned the favor with a chaste peck on his cheek, and went over to cook breakfast for the family.

On cue with the smell of bacon and eggs permeating throughout the house, two pairs of footsteps bounded down the stairs and barged into the area.

“Well good morning to you too Jolyne,” you glanced at her companion with a smile. “Emporio.”

“Going out again?” Jotaro said, glancing at the duo. “This early?”

“Ermes is gonna go shopping for the new line of clothes that got released yesterday. She invited me and Emporio over saying it’s going to be ‘her treat’, but I know she’s lying,” Jolyne said, picking up a toast from her plate and another to offer her adopted brother.

“Is that pink-haired guy going?”

“His name’s Anasui dad and no, he’s not going,” she puffed her chest. “It’s girl’s day out today.” You and Jotaro looked at the blond boy beside her. “He’s not tagging along. I’m just dropping off Emporio at the nearby bookstore on the way out.”

“And I can find my way back no problem,” Emporio said as the teenager slowly pulled him with her to the door. “I won’t take too long.”

Jotaro still had his doubts from where he was on his seat, but knowing your little girl was able to survive a life of imprisonment and was able to get around the harsh facility, you smiled at her. “Alright. Be back by 9!”

“I will!”

Once the duo were out of sight, you and Jotaro were left alone to themselves. “Nothing like seeing your kids all grown up, huh?” You said as you took a bite of your eggs. He hummed a sound of acknowledgment. “But that just means we have the day to ourselves.”

At that, your husband couldn’t help but smile.

And just as you said, the rest of today consisted of simply staying indoors and “hanging-out” with each other in a life of old-couple domesticity. You cooked the meals and he washed the dishes. You did the laundry and he helped in folding them. You dusted the shelves and he vacuumed the floors. You picked today’s playlist to listen while doing chores and he chose what movie to watch.

Then there were instances in-between chores where either of you can’t help but hover close to one another, seeking each other’s touch and affections. May it be when you’re cooking and Jotaro passes by stealing a piece of sliced vegetable, you sneaking behind to pat his ass when he’s drying the plates, him momentarily resting his chin on your head as you wait for the washing machine to finish, him offering you a glass of water in the middle of dusting, or ending up in a never-ending banter over genres of media.

By the time they finished everything, including the short time freshening up, the afternoon began its transition to night as the skies changed its hue from blue to orange.

You shared one look with your husband and with one wistful stare, he rose a hand to you and you held it. With no worries plaguing your mind, you and Jotaro slowly walked down the stairs to the coast, hand-in-hand. A gentle breeze blew a strand of hair across your face and before you could, he tucked it behind your ear.

Both of you walked across the sand until you stopped a few meters away from the gentle waves.

Jotaro took the initiative to break apart from you, only to step behind and engulf your body with his long coat with his hands still in its pockets. You smiled and leaned back against his chest, closing your eyes as you do so.

For a few minutes, the couple simply stood by, basking in the ambiance- the refreshing sea breeze against your skin, the soothing crash of waves, the birds chirping above. The sea was your comfort place after all, and it was his too. Despite it being months later, you cherished every calm walk such as this as if it was the last.

You’ve never felt at peace this much. It was so nice.

“23 years…” You glanced up at Jotaro when he spoke. “For 23 years of us knowing each other, finally… Finally we can just live like this.”

You chuckled. “Makes it seem like we’ve just been married and this is our honeymoon even though it’s been years.”

“We’ve been fighting the world for most of our lives. Is it strange that until now, I’m still not used to this kind of ‘quiet’? As if I’m cautious that someone could appear at any moment?”

You shook your head, your gaze drifting to the horizon as you thought of your next words. “It’s not. It’ll take some time for us to adjust to this new normal. For all our habitual anxiety to disappear. Hell, it might not go away entirely.”

“But I can assure you this-”

You stepped out of his coat and turned to face him. From this angle, you looked at Jotaro with a smile bearing all the gooey fondness you had in your heart. Gingerly, you rose a hand to his face and with tender care, traced the vertical scar lining the right side of his face. From the top of his brow, down to his blind eye, until your fingers stopped at the bold line of his jaw.

Only then, your hand returned to cup his cheek with your thumb stroking the smooth line of his scar. “Whatever may happens next, I’ll be there with you. Work, people, lingering Stand users… I’ll stay by your side, hm?”

With hooded eyes, Jotaro leaned against your palm and laid his hand over yours. “I can’t say much to change your mind anyways.” He huffed. “You were always so stubborn.”

You chuckled. “You’re not wrong.”

Getting on to your tiptoes, you planted a soft kiss over his cheek, nose, and his lips last, to which you lingered on for a second longer. Pulling away, you wrapped your arms around him and buried your face on his chest.

“Our lives are finally ours, starlight.”

You closed your eyes as you felt him tuck his chin on top of you, an arm wrapping around your waist, and a hand caressing the back of your head.

“Then let’s live them together, sunshine.”

[homestuckreplay]

chumhandle etymology pt.3

Today on Rose and Dave's computer we saw the presumably final seven of the twelve trolls - Jade has counted twelve (p.1000), and between the twelve trolls and four kids all two-letter combinations of A, T, C and G are represented. These are the letters representing DNA bases in both real-world DNA sequencing and in ectobiology, as practiced imperfectly by Rose and her mom (p.934)

I wrote about the beta kids' chumhandles here, and the first five trolls (CG, AG, TA, TC, CA) here - now here's a quick overview of the rest of the set.

gallowsCalibrator [GC] – execution by hanging, or the structure made for it, and an instrument used as a reference to check that similar instruments perform accurately, or the person operating that instrument. So this is the person who ensures the gallows are used correctly, a real middle manager who doesn’t order or carry out executions themself, but enables them still. Possibly like a Jack Noir or a level below him.

arsenicCatnip [AC] – a toxic heavy metal used in car batteries, bullets, semiconductors and pesticides/herbicides, and a plant related to mint that is loved by many cats, or colloquially anything that is irresistible to someone. This evokes environmental destruction, Famine in the horsemen of the apocalypse, or more generally someone who is trying to kill or make toxic things that are enjoyed.

cuttlefishCuller [CC] – a shallow water squidlike mollusc among the most intelligent invertebrates that was once valued for its brown pigment, and a person who kills animals for population control or to eliminate rejects. This is a ruthless person who believes in survival of the fittest and their own intellectual superiority, and only cares about other creatures in terms of what they can personally gain.

centaursTesticle [CT] – a mythical creature with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a horse, also a small solar system body between Jupiter and Neptune, and a reproductive organ in male mammals. Someone who is obsessed with physical strength and prowess, has likely internalized toxic masculinity, perhaps the sort of gym bro who takes questionable supplements to increase muscle mass. Does not seem like a super online person, so this one is surprising. Also my initials are CT and I can’t believe this is the character I got.

grimAuxiliatrix [GA] – serious, foreboding or gloomy, and Latin for a female assistant or helper. This is someone in a service role who either takes their job very seriously, or their job itself involves working with dark and forbidding forces, like the person who translates the melodious chirps and tongue-clicks of NRUB'YIGLITH, SHAMEBEAST KING OF GROTESQUERY, WRITHE-LORD OF THE MOIST BEYONDHOOD (p.303) to the general public.

apocalypseArisen [AA] – the final destruction of the world or a world-altering event capable of causing this, and something that has begun to occur, become apparent, or gotten out of bed. This one is the most passive of all the handles (alongside twinArmageddons) and basically says ‘the end of the world is about to happen, or is happening now’ which it’s hard to argue with based on the story so far. Could be a highly religious person who sees themself as an agent, prophet or herald of a higher power.

adiosToreador [AT] – Spanish for goodbye, and a participant or performer in a bullfight. This person knows five words of Spanish and thinks they’re really cool because of it. They also see themselves as the bull in the bullfight, a more raw and animal strength instead of the fighter’s honed technique, and are probably a counterpart or rival to centaursTesticle.

Much like the first five, all of these names have negative connotations, although these vary between physical pain, disease and toxicity, dark bureaucracy, and cosmic-scale catastrophe. These are definitely names chosen to be hostile or intimidating, it just doesn’t work well on Rose and Dave who are plenty capable of appearing hostile and intimidating by themselves. But for people more susceptible to being trolled, these chumhandles definitely feed into the abrasive personas these kids(?) are crafting.

[shinyprobablynonedible]

Timmy's Secret Wish alternate plot/ending

Warning: kinda long

Everything goes the same until time is forwarded 50 years and all of Timmy's wishes are reverted. Then reality or the magic or both start to destabilize in some way and no one at fairy world can relate it to Timmy because everyone perceives that to have happened decades ago.

On earth Timmy notices something wrong but doesn't understand why he feels it has to do with magic. Maybe Crocker makes him remember, maybe something else, but he remembers and tries to get to fairy world to ask what's happening.

Instead of a convenient out of nowhere portal, Timmy uses the destabilization going on and his memories of magic shenanigans to get to fairy world and find Cosmo, Wanda and Poof, who recognize him and together they figure that something went wrong while undoing his wishes as Jorgen catches up to them.

They go to that undone wish place to search for answers and the persecution goes similarly. Jorgen concludes that undoing the secret wish specifically is what messed up reality/magic which doesn't make sense, and only then Timmy realizes what's happening, but before he can explain he does that sacrifice part from the special and is poofed to the magic court.

There he explains that the destabilization happened because the magic got all glitched from trying to undo a wish that actually never happened. They ask what is that supposed to mean and he reluctantly confesses: he lied about his secret wish, hoping his true wish could go under the radar.

He didn't wish for everyone to stop aging. He wished for everyone to forget that Poof is a wish of Timmy's. He wished to Cosmo for everyone to forget the events of fairly odd baby so Poof wouldn't fade from existence once Timmy lost his faries and then wished for Cosmo to forget. And then at court he panicked and came up on the spot with something so messed up to wish that no one would suspect he was lying, which involed time and space and brought this whole ordeal.

Everyone finally questions how Poof (and Foop but I couldn't fit him in this new plot) is around despite the no-babies rule and are shocked

But if that was the real wish, shouldn't Cosmo have remembered it after the undoing if Timmy didn't lie about whishing he forgot? Everyone looks at Cosmo who's sweating buckets and breaks in tears in a second at Wanda questioning him in dismay.

It turns out to be one of those rare moments where Cosmo manages to think fast enough to protect his family, like in school's out or abra catastrophe, so after remembering the real secret wish, he still chose to stay quiet and file Timmy's made up wish instead of the real one to protect his son from disappearing (maybe show a flashback of Cosmo remembering as the wishes are being undone and Cosmo and Timmy sharing a pained knowing look before Timmy's taken back to earth).

Cosmo and Wanda have a tender moment that they haven't had in a while in the show from what i remember, with Poof and Timmy joining. Everyone's moved to tears from Timmy giving up his faries and even his youth for his fairy godbrother, emotional speech about family, yadda yadda yadda, time is restored, Timmy has his fairies back and Poof's existence becomes an exception to Da Rules.

Maybe this version is too convoluted but I think it at least doesn't make Timmy ignore the growing up lesson from channel chasers and the plot twist has a more selfless intent, as it's meant to keep his fairy family together even if he's separated from them one day instead of keeping his fairy family at the expense of trapping everyone in a time bubble of sorts, it also makes Poof more relevant by making him a secret catalyst of the plot of the secret wish instead of a victim of the consecuences of it and also gives him the safety of no longer being subjected to Da Rules in order to exist, though I don't know if that last part was already solved later in the show or just ignored.

[lizzienoodles]

What's Gail and Erica's deal?

this is the correct question to ask me!!!!!!!!! 😃😃😃😃

Erica and Gail are twin sisters who share a superpower. When they were young they were part of the Fledge Fighters team (my old webcomic.) Now that they've grown up with me I play around with them in a big Marvel AU sandbox of my own adaption.

the personalities

Erica is bright and energetic and has so much unmedicated ADHD, loves fashion, makes friends wherever she goes, and would go to great lengths to help others, which is what makes her a great superhero but also keeps her overcommitted and overextended.

Gail is the opposite in most ways- subdued, introverted thinker, a bit of a slob, and not blessed with much (if any) natural empathy. But she's brilliant and widely knowledgeable, which you'll find out if you manage to actually get her to talk to you. She's also narcoleptic, so basically sleep deprived all the time no matter how many naps she gets.

Gail basically spent her life up to her mid-twenties doing whatever Erica wanted, and Erica put more work in fostering Gail's non-existent social life than was healthy. The two couldn't think of life without the other, and found it difficult to separate their individual needs.

the big trauma

Then they went through a catastrophic world-ending event where they got portaled through spacetime to another universe and for the first time in their life, were separated (by a few hundred miles and about six months.) Instead of having each other for balance, they both veered harder into their opposite demeanors to the point that when they meet again after spending three years apart, they're unsure if they can ever be as close as they were when they were younger.

Erica had a bit of a crisis when she realized her sister was not anywhere on the new earth, dated Thor briefly, then ran off to join the Guardians of the Galaxy, so she was off-planet by the time Gail showed up.

When Gail found herself alone, she immediately quit the superhero thing, and became a morally-grey (at best) security specialist who works for whoever pays best or provides an interesting challenge, and gets involved with a crime boss named Valentine, who she's working for when she gets mixed up with Loki.

the powers

When they were teen superheroes together, they thought that they just had the same powers with different specialties, but separated they also realized that it was more like they each had half of a power.

Erica can create huge air currents where none exist and control them in broad strokes. Most of the generative power comes from her. She prefers to work big, even getting to the point where she can create hurricanes. She can also fly on her own.

Gail's air manipulation comes down to directing its flow, and it takes a lot for her to actually build up a wind that could rival a large fan. She also lost the ability to fly. However she can precisely tune into the molecules and pressure, so she uses her powers to do quiet, subtle things like building up pressure in a room or redirecting an existing airflow.

It's like you can see Gail's villain arc beginning in this moment.

Together they can create AND precisely control extremely powerful winds, but they've gotten pretty good at their solo acts by now. The whole thing with Gail becoming a villain has put a big damper on their relationship, but in the end, they're still sisters and love each other dearly.

[amphiptere-art]

Know what I'm going to ramble about this. I don't care if I'm not looking at my old comic. I'm just going to ramble.

Chains.

You might have seen this in my bio and then confused about what it was. That is my first willing storyline I ever made other than the locked door. Except that one had a lot more work put into it. A lot more. Chains is about this one protagonist wolf trying to survive, and it had a whole bunch of other chapters that were planned but never made. Technically this entire thing was me wanting to make a legend of Zelda Twilight princess OC but instead it became its own world.

Chains is the main antagonist. Technically the first book I wrote was the Midway story. There was a prologue, and an ending that I created after. I'm going to reoccure the events going from the prologue, Midway, then ending. As it's just going to make more sense. But just know that the prologue was supposed to take place after Midway with ending coming after that.

So the prologue of the story was that there was this big region of wolves. These wolves of course had different territories, but they all believed in some sort of God. This was the god of the moon. And also the birth of many other celestial gods in the locked door. Anyways, There were two packs specifically that were focusing on. There was five total in this area though. I'm going to say the antagonist's name. Because I don't think I ever named the packs. But the antagonist name is kill, krill, ect. I don't think I ever actually settled on which. Anyways his name was basically translate to murder. While chains is the protagonist of course.

Anyways Kills group It was very historical and had a big library / museum that Kill wanted to take over one day. Also in Kills pack was this female wolf named flower. There was of course Chains pack. They were more religious. Both of the two have good relations despite being from different packs. And both of them really wanted flower the female wolf. Who would also hang out with them and play. When they got older chains decided to fully give flower over to kill. They were of the same pack and he felt like he needed her with such a horrible name.

But then there was the big catastrophic event. Basically what happened was that a star fell. In this world stars are rumored to contain souls. The star broke when it landed and chains as the more spiritually religious of them went around and gathered the relics. Hoping to piece them together so that the soul can go back to the stars or afterlife. Unfortunately kill found one of these artifacts. And at this point he had gained control of the museum, and placed the star artifact inside. It was practically a gift to flower. He did not want to give his fragment of the star back. Believing that if he did he would lose the museum and perhaps flowers heart.

So chains believing that without intervention the star would die. Broke into kills packs territory and into the museum. Attempting to steal the star back to return it to the stars. Unfortunately someone caught him in the act. And in a blind young fear killed the one who found him. Unfortunately the one who found him was flower. He had killed his friend, and best friends lover. The star had been reunited and had flown up to the sky, but the cost was great.

It wasn't long after that kill himself learned of the evil deed. Chains tried to beg for his life. He did not mean to kill his friend. But kill in a depressed rage would hear no less. He and the other packs basically banished him to starve in the desert nearby. Chaining him to the ground so he may not leave it. Chains was spent and depressed due to also losing friends. One through death and one through hate. Fortunately his deed with the star got him pity by the god in the moon herself. She allowed him passage and broke the chain. He ran off, And as soon as kill learned that he was not where he should have died. He chased after.

That's the basic prologue. It was just to explain why they had relationships and why chains got magical powers from the moon God. As she did bless him due to the star giving good thanks. But now onto the Midway story. The Midway is what I actually Drew into a comic. Which I'm not looking at, so this is more going off of memory. So a lot of these nitty gritty details in the comic will be non-existent because I'm probably not going to remember it.

The Midway story takes place A little bit after chains fled. Long enough that it's been at least a year. Although it is much longer because these once young adult wolves, are now fully adult and getting old. Kill is still hunting him. Although most of the other patch have returned to their regions of origin. Basically calling kill crazy for even caring anymore. Chains almost feeling safe because he believes the same thing. Starting to do more risky maneuvers to get himself food and stuff.

Which is where ... Oh God I can't remember her name. Oh fuck! How do I not remember her sweet name! Basically there is a herding dog. I'm going to temporarily call her Tear, because that was a major aspect of her patterns. But she does have a name that is much better than that. One of my favorite originals. Anyways.

This is where tear comes in. Basically chains starts to steal her sheep. He comes from a rare race of smart wolves, And just figures why doesn't he tend to livestock. Tear trying to desperately stop him beholds some of his magic. Basically watching him take out an angry ram no problem. So after all her sheep are stolen. She decides to follow him into the woods and get them back. Even if she's a slight bit terrified.

The other lovely character of our cast, Is this world named Gus. And he basically watches this whole scenario and decides he's really interested where this wolf came from. He's basically a cartographer / scholar. Finding chains little home much More quickly than tear and asking him a billion questions. Chains doesn't necessarily like company. Especially since he's hiding. But Gus is a sneaky sly slim squirrel with some bravery on his side. So he's not going away anytime soon.

This is unfortunately where my memory of events gets tasty. There is a lot of time in the forest. Technically there is supposed to be seven characters to this cast. But I only really got around to featuring 4 including the main character. With a 5th one slammed into there last moment. So I will try and string together these events as much as I can. But just know what's going to be a little leapfroggy.

But at some point tear does find them. And oh boy is she irritated that all her work is being put on a wild animal in her opinion. She basically attempts to fight Chains back for her sheep. She fails. But I think Gus either convinced chains to give her back her sheep and heal her up. Although there's some other event missing there. Anyways they walk around the woods making you companions until tear is healed up.

Sometime during their wanderings. They get attacked by a pack of city dogs. I remember one of them was called clown. But they're participation is minor. So if I mention a specific dog I'm just going to use clown's name. Anyways. They basically tell chains that they're going to go tell kill that they found him. Which gets chains terrified because oh dear God he's still hunting me. He wants to leave. But those dogs start making more of a mess in the forest. And basically due to some desperation from animals gus found. (Probably those extra characters) They convince him to go into the city and finally confront his enemy.

And so they go into the city. Using tears Superior smell and tracking to basically try and find clown and his dogs. Unfortunately the city is not used to for any of the characters. So technically a bunch of extra characters again that lived here. I believe there was some twin cats and a horse. To put it shortly, If I'm remembering correctly. The cats basically Make a deal with them to find somebody who knows everything about the city. And I believe that somebody was a horse. Who after getting saved from his carriage horse life. Basically leads him to were clown and his Goonies stay.

This is when a whole bunch of important shit happens. And I really really wish I had the comic book with me in my hands so I could remember it correctly. But instead I am left with fleeting ideas from my 14-year-old self. So this is my best attempt at remaking these events.

As far as I remember. They found kill and clowns Goonies. With the help of all the city animals and probably some forest ones. They start to fight clowns Goonies while chains goes up to kill. Being the one with magic it's assumed he can kill them rather quickly. Unfortunately kill is also strengthened by rage. He is able to throw kill around so hard. That he breaks his chain, and impales him on a rebar. Gus attempts to revenge him. But as a little squirrel he can do nothing. And dies also.

Tear who has been gaining a relationship with chains this entire time. Is devastated by this. While kill is stucked into a manic laugh. Realizing he has finally revenge his mate but also lost any siblings of friends or family to go back to. Tear basically calls upon the moon power. She seen chains do it before. So she tries. And luckily she succeeds. The moon God reviving chains and in bolstering tear with power. Tear killing kill with this power. Kill finally being reunited with flower.

The moon God thanks the two of them. Saying that the stars basically didn't really feel nice watching kill go insane. Especially flower. She basically promises chains That one he dies he will become the guardian of the stars. I believe she promised something similar to tear. Unfortunately she cannot resurrect Gus. But basically makes him a constellation as his intelligence is useful.

And that is the end of the Midway story. Basically kill and tear get together and have kids. And that is what the entirety of the prologue is about. Their kids. This is also when the narrative went off the rails. Basically we go from magical wolves set in modern day. To technologically advanced wolves having a war. I do not know where the humans went. So pardon if this feels really really off.

Now how all of chains children ended up where they are. I don't know. This might have been a story that needed a heavy rewrite but I liked the designs and the feeling of the story too much. But somehow. Kill had a child. Or at least one of chains kids look like kill? Anyways. There's basically a group of people that agreed with kill. And when chains was found out to have a family they attacked him. They tried to steal his kids. Only succeeding in stealing a couple of them. And then ran off. That is the prologue you get.

But there are three protagonists. There is chains daughter, chains son, and kills son. Two I will respectively call shackle, rifle, and rocket. As I do not remember their names. Anyways rifle was one of the kids that was stolen. And he's basically in this fighting regiment alongside rocket. Who is his commander. They are in a war against this group of religious cats and wolves? More so cats. And they're basically fighting against the fact that they like religion. I think.

Shackle then breaks into their facility. And basically convinces / steals rifle. Taking him back sort of as a hostage but also as her brother. It's a weird relationship. Shackle also has super super magic. She just has moon magic since he was born and is double powerful. While rocket and rifle use mechanized ammunition and guns and stuff. Anyways. They basically get rifle on their side and he starts fighting the war with them. Especially since he's learned that magic is real and the gods really do exist.

And eventually there is a last-minute fight where while they were losing for the most part. Basically the god say fuck it. And fight alongside the cat wolf alliance. Absolutely destroying rockets army and other stuff. And then at the end of. Apparently Ghost tear or chains comes up to rocket and adopts them? And happy ever after that's the end?

Like I said this is weird and needs a heavy rewrite. While I could blame my memory on it being remembered incorrectly. This entire scenario is very very weird. It was titled God war. And I remember liking the idea of the gods joining with a physical fight. But nowadays it doesn't make sense. Plus the whole technology thing. It doesn't make any sense with the context given. I wanted a story world kill could be basically adopted but through his son. And they wanted some sort of hard sibling ship but it works out in the end. I don't know. This story needs help.

But that is the entirety of chains. Hopefully that explains What is and how important it was to me. It's one of my big stories. Not as big as the Shadow war or the entirety of the locked door mythos. But it's important enough. It was the first time I actually tried writing. And I still like to envision these characters every once in awhile. Most importantly chains, kill, Gus, tier, And surprisingly rocket. One day I do want to bring these guys back. Probably doing a rewrite. But I want them back. I love the story I had with him and I love the characters that I made. Hopefully one day they will be reincarnated from the old Rusty folder that they're still in.

[earlgreytea68]

catastrophic event last night we got no waltz u_u nor outro that could mean one of them forgot. BUT if we go to "they feel less of a need to put on a performance" world it's so- the waltz is the epitome of them doing something out of performance and set choreography. And we're not getting that and instead there's more casual moments of just touching arms as they pass by or get close, or "i will lean my head tonight because i feel like it not every night because it's expected of me" it's just nice to see they feel like they can act more casual like this (I still mourn the waltz, i liked it, it seemed very fun)

They really do feel like they're being much less performative. And I never thought the performative stuff was entirely for our sake, like, I do think they find comfort in those moments where they know they're checking in with each other. To me, there's a reason a lot of their set pieces come from early songs like Saturday and Grand Theft Autumn, because I think it was an earlier time when the band was less sure of itself and Pete and Patrick would just sort of find each other to be reassured. They do it out of habit but I don't think it's a meaningless habit, no more than Saturday to end the show is meaningless to them, although probably also definitely habitual.

But everything happening now feels much more spontaneous and also relaxed, like, not worrying about how it comes across, just focused on each other and having fun and being happy.

I like to take a little bit of credit for that lol. Well, not me. The whole fandom. I do think some of this is because the crowds have been so enthusiastic and welcoming and full of love and joy that they have relaxed into it. If you think about it, this is a band that's spent many years playing in front of mixed crowds, through HMT and festival engagements and random corporate stuff. This cycle at the small shows they were clearly delighted at their reception, and to me it seemed obvious in Chicago that they were struck by how loud and engaged the crowd was, like they had forgotten what a large crowd there to see them was like. I think they worry less about how they're going to be received because they trust us more to be there out of love, and that's so wonderful and I'm glad we're giving that to them. Patrick sat down and played Spotlight, I mean. Patrick agreed to stand up in front and be spontaneous every single night. They're doing trust falls into us every single night, and we keep catching them. Well done, us! Keep it up!

(Also, I feel like they definitely debated whether or not to do the C4C outro and decided against it, just because I feel like that's why Patrick grins over at Pete, like, "Here's the part where we would have been waltzing.")

[rhetoricandlogic]

Dead Country - Max Gladstone

This was a weird one for me! I’m still not sure how I feel about it. What I do know, is Max Gladstone is a wonderful writer. The writing in this is poetry- and if you enjoyed any of his prior work, including the co-authored This is How You Lost the Time War, you’ll fall right into the writing in this one. There is a certain philosophy here, a soft exploration with the hint of nails. And it’s really well done!

That vibe continues with the world itself. It is most definitely soft world building. We hear much more than we see, we get information without context to the point where it nearly negates the information, we are told of monstrous level stakes in a sprawling, living world, and are stuck in the corner of a small town instead. And- it’s lovely. I love the world we’re shown, for the most part, and I love the throw away moments of “wait, what did she just say happened to her” that are pushed under the rug for the strained normalcy of a homegoing.

This is what I like to call a “post” story- a story that begins where many other stories would’ve ended. Stories about heroes past their heroic coming of ages, chosen one’s post-prophecy, victors past victory. And they happen to be one of my all time favorite types of stories. I think Gladstone write these kinds of “post” stories extremely well. This is the second I’ve read from him (the first being Last Exit), and he injects that same level of depth in the characters, a true knowing of them even with the knowledge that you actually just got here. And he does it even more so with this book, because there is a key difference.

He makes it, instead of a end of days epic fantasy, a domestic story. And, for the most part, it works. Tara is a character we have no way of dreaming of relating to, and yet she is relatable. She is someone who has gone through so many impossible events they are throwaway references to her, moments she occasionally uses to remind herself of what she’s gone through in the face of something much more uncomfortable and unknown.

And while I love the idea of it, and it works in many ways, it also didn’t quite land for me. Because the domesticity of the story didn’t come with much plot. We have a base level story, and things do snap into place eventually, but there is just so little actually happening that all the referencing and padding of Tara’s past pushes things off balance and highlights just how little we’re actually reading about. It was a risky move, and it could’ve worked well, but it just didn’t hit where it needed to for me.

Things get thrown off, again, at the end. For a book that spends so long convincing us that the small town lives and homes are equally important- in this moment at least- so the potential ending of the world, and bringing us down to those stake levels, rocketing the stakes back up to catastrophe of the level given really just takes everything out of proportion. It makes the small town feel less connected and harder to care about, and it makes the big danger feel out of place. I especially was disappointed by the complete lack of closure given- I wanted this to feel like an epilogue, not the middle of a series.

There were things I really loved in this book, and it is, undeniably, beautifully written, but I had issues to the point where I’m not quite sure what to do with my feelings here.

[captain-of-silvenar]

Kerasil vs Faith

I asked my guild again for a topic to write, and @yffresbeard​ suggested what my OC’s relationship to their faith was and how their adventures might’ve affected it, if at all.

And it got me thinking, because it is kind of a huge deal to my characters (at least two of them)

I was wondering if I should just write this for one of my characters. But then I realized this is my blog and I’ll just write it for both of my characters that this will relate to.

The first on the chopping block is Kerasil Oakvine, and the simple faith she has that became her cornerstone via a series of events that may or may not have happened?

I do not know if Kerasil is my Vestige, but she certainly is my main character in ESO that I play every quest with. I have a whole story with her that is straight and without the greater plot of ESO. She never gets deeply involved with world ending plots, nor Daedric Princes, or anything more threatening than the Three Banners War.

But also maybe she has.

I haven’t read deeply into Dragon Breaks, but my understanding is that a catastrophic or powerful event has caused time to just break (hence the name) and it is no longer linear. It is fluid, piling all at once, or none at all, in multiple places, in a hideous puddle.

With this in mind, I have imagined that somewhere in this Dragon Break Kerasil is the Vestige. That she has experienced every side of this war, every quest, every event, all at once. Yet that hasn’t really changed the core of her character.

I’ve mentioned in other posts she is a strict Green Pact follower. That follows in every aspect of her life, how she interacts with people and events. It is the literal foundation of her being so she takes her faith very personally.

She understands that not everyone follows it as close as her, that there are some who bend the rules a little bit. And that’s fine, those are other people with their own relationship with it. But Kerasil, especially if she is the Vestige, relies on her faith to guide her in which actions are the most reasonable.

A core tenant of the Green Pact is to not kill wastefully. This extends to both hunting for food, and for warfare. It is difficult for Kerasil to keep to this tenant during the Three Banners War and it is because of this that she chooses death only as a last resort.

Both in-character and in-game, Kerasil will always choose the option to spare if she truly believes the person will honor her mercy to change for the better. It is wasteful to take a life just because it might be easier. In all her travels as the Vestige, choosing death did not solve anything. It only caused more grief, more sorrow, more troubles, more pain and suffering, and for what?

And choosing to spare people did not change much either in the course of her adventures, but it was one less dead person. If it came back to bite her in the ass, she took responsibility for it.

Every time she begs for a person to reconsider, to realize the error of their ways, to submit to justice and trial instead of the chopping block is her holding tight to her belief and the idea that people can change.

Change will always happen. It is the driving force of life. A story does not advance or have meaning without conflict or differences. It is what one does with it that matters and Kerasil tries very hard to hold tight to the idea that people can be better. But she is no pacifist, and she understands there are those who desire to do harm, to not change from the path they have set for themselves, and she is not one to back down or cower from it.

No world ending events, no super villain backed by the power of a Daedric Prince, no undercover plots of assassination, or any variety of chaos that Tamriel throws at her will not change her connection to her faith because it is her armor and bones.

She was born and made from the story Y’ffre sang of her. She was placed here and fought for her position as Captain and Protector. If Y’ffre sang her into her destiny to become a Vestige and break all timelines to be everywhere all at once and a Hero to All? Then Kerasil would charge right into the thick of it with that banner held up high.

And if the unique circumstances of losing her soul and regaining it gave her demi-god like power? Then she would call herself a Champion to Y’ffre as that is what she truly desires in life.

And to end it on a semi-comical note:

Very few Princes scare her now. She knows the risks and power they have, but it certainly loses its edge when you’ve personally punched at least 3 of them with your own fist. So now most relationships with them look like this.

(get it? it’s because she’s so short)

[tempest-toss]

The Reunion

[Takes place immediately after this. As such it is an event that happened in the past, and if asked the muses would treat it as such. Think of it as information finally coming to life :) tw: death, decapitation]

The room was silent as Eleven’s head, or at least the top half fell to the ground. An internal threat had been dealt with, the Foundation was safe once more, and Seven was very tired.

“What happened here?” a voice familiar to Seven could be heard. Everyone turned to the doorway.

“Wait, what?” Five spoke out. “It’s you!”

There were two familiar figures in the doorway. One of them was dressed in a nice white suit with bright golden eyes while the other had a more ragged cloak with what looked like a piece of his face missing, except instead of flesh the underside revealed a robotic face. Despite looking odd, the council could recognize them immediately.

"Three, Nine! You're back!" Thirteen exclaimed. Three nodded.

"Yes we are but, uh, why is Eleven dead?" Three asked, pointing at the head of Eleven lying on the floor. The room was silent for a beat before One spoke up.

"How about we talk about it over some coffee?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little bit later the remaining council members were in the Council room, each nursing tea, and coffee, except Five and Ten, who were drinking Caprisuns instead. After One finally finished brewing her fourth cup, she turned towards the prodigal O5s.

"So. You," she pointed at Nine, "Were sent with Two to rescue Three from Dr. Wondertainment. Now you and Three are back, but Two is nowhere in sight. What happened?"

Nine shifted uncomfortably. "We had to navigate through the factory to find Three. Two was, oddly antagonistic going through it, so willing to kill the Little Misters. Eventually, we got separated thanks to Mr. Beast, and I ended up falling into the testing room, with the prototype Little Misters. There they told me that I was actually a synthetic human designed to look like a robot and Two was a traitor. They helped me return to the main room, where Three was and Dr. Wondertainment lay wounded." At this Four seemed to shudder. "Three turned him to quartz and I kicked his head off, and he shattered. I then got another bombshell dropped on me."

"I am a little mister," Three spoke up. "You could probably tell by my eyes, but I am one of Dr. Wondertainments' sons. It's been so long since I stepped foot in the factory, I guess it was gone from my brain." He smiled at his colleagues. "I was offered to stay at the factory, but I chose to be with you guys instead. I want to share the fun ideals of my father, but I must help the Foundation. If there isn't a world to give fun in, then my father's plans are ruined!"

There was a beat of silence where everyone smiled at knowing where Three's allegiance fell. Soon Four spoke up.

"Uh, Three. How's um... How is the Good Doctor?"

"Hm? Oh your husband is fine, father." At this nonchalant answer, One choked on her coffee. All eyes turned to Four, who sighed.

"Yes, I am married to Dr. Wondertainment. He is in fact, one of my partners. I have been married to him back when he was one of the founders here, O5-VII. The “Family-Man”. After the Three Catastrophes I was presumed dead and couldn't find him. If he is okay, then after this meeting I will call him immediately."

"I don't know what's more eyebrow-raising," Seven spoke up. "That you're married to Dr. Wondertainment, Dr. Wondertainment was one of our founders, or you are that old." Four shot Seven a glare, but it wasn't filled with any real anger.

"Greetings O5-3, The Noble, and O5-9, The Alchemist,"

O5-13-ii spoke up.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. However, I want to say something to the rest of the council. In the past 24 hours, we have learned of two of our own who have defected and have made actions that threatened the safety of our lives. This cannot happen again. I propose stricter checks to make sure that the incoming O5s can be trusted. That or perhaps if you can 100% verify them as being trustworthy."

Everyone agreed with what 13-ii said. These were some close calls, and next time they may not be so lucky.

[STATUS QUO CHANGES: O5-2, "The Western" IS DEAD O5-3 "The Noble" AND O5-9 "The Alchemist" ARE BACK AND CAN NOW BE ASKED QUESTIONS! ONE OF FOUR'S PARTNERS HAS BEEN REVEALED: Dr. Wondertainment]

[shutupdont]

beep boop post election thots

Walking to work this morning was fine. Everything felt empty but I wasn't physically upset, just whatever. Get up to work, fine.

Go down to our company's annual benefits fair to set up the table for our LGBTQ+ employee resource group, of which I'm a co-leader. I'm setting up the flags and the stickers and our one-pager describing the group's mission and events.

I'm scheduled to man the table for the first two hours. I make it about twenty minutes before I feel the tears start to come up my throat. A couple people have stopped by but I realize I can't say a single thing that isn't "we're fucked! DEI initiatives, this specific ERG, protections for this specific community, all gone!" so instead I mumbled thru a few "well we just put out our quarterly newsletter and are putting together an event in December featuring a panel of queer people in finance" before they take a sticker and walk along. A couple guys say hi to me but don't stop at the table. I work in finance and realize a lot of the employees that will come through here today likely voted against my rights as a queer woman and were thrilled by last night's results.

I excuse myself and go out to the hall, messaging my co-leader that I need him to come down early or else I'm abandoning the table. I can't do it. I watch over the balcony to the lobby waiting for him to come in and up the escalator. A fellow boston gay, he is very much an enthusiastic people person who loves getting people involved with our group. I grab my stuff, tell him "I just can't, I'm sorry" and rush back upstairs, shut the door to my office and cry.

I live in Massachusetts, I'm safe in most scenarios. But there are people across the country who are not safe. Will immigrants be the first minority group attacked on January 21? How many executive orders will he make before the end of the month? many of his policy plans will require congressional approval (which he has if it's all red) and will be challenged in court (many of which are filled with his appointees).

Today felt different from 2016. Back then, we didn't know exactly what we were getting into. Then, immediately, EOs out the wazoo, most notably that early was the ban on travelers coming from Muslim-majority countries. We all went to the airports. There was a resulting Uber boycott because of it. and then it cascaded like a waterfall of hatred until we got to the pandemic and everything was truly out the window.

Today we have eight years of experience telling us what he is capable of doing. Stephen Miller is gleefully writing up policies as we speak. It's scary. Clarence Thomas will definitely retire on day one and be replaced by a heritage foundation prized pig in his late-forties. Trump is leaving office with a 7-2 conservative court, guaranteed.

Millions of people outside the US will suffer (or continue to suffer) from military and economic policies meant specifically for these people to suffer. Millions of people facing any number of reproductive problems (big ones like laws killing pregnant people for the sake of the fetus, small ones like making birth control inaccessible) are going to have to make plans - travel plans, contraceptive plans (tho many states passed pro-abortion referendums/rejected antis which is excellent news!!). Millions of kids will suffer due to lack of choice when they were just a fetus, due to gutting of the social safety net that the kids and their overwhelmed parents rely on, due to drastic or catastrophic changes to our education system making them less aware of the world and its history, less aware of what those new and awkward feelings they're feeling are and how to address them in a safe space, and most importantly, will not know how to read. Kids will also suffer under the anti-vaccine mandates. Kids will suffer when gender identity and sexual orientation are removed from any space they may be in, so they'll be suffering in silence because of fear and lack of access to necessary healthcare and community.

This isn't even the half of it. Immigrants, regardless of status. Homeless or housing insecure people. Chronically ill people. Black people facing new and old forms of violent discrimination. Trans adults who need ongoing gender affirming care just to live. These people and so many others are going to suffer.

The election is over, I don't care about going over every possible reason why she lost. She lost. She lost the popular vote ffs.

I am heartbroken for my fellow americans and all of the non-americans who will be hit the hardest by trump's revenge tour.

And more personally ,

After election night in 2016, I drank a lot. I didn't do my dishes and eventually just threw them all away. I got in severe credit card debt. I was doing any drug offered by a friend at a party or an employee at a bar who kept a stash behind the cleaning supplies under the bathroom sink. I was also starting to hate my job. All of this compounded by my depression going untreated and growing worse with the seasons changing.

Today, I am six years sober. I dabble in marijuana edibles to mellow out. The credit card debt situation has..... evolved. I'm in therapy. Im six years into a medication regime that has saved my life. I love my job. I've grown up a lot over the past eight years but my reaction to this much impending doom is still hard to cull together professionally.

jfc I didn't even mention gun control, or fossil fuels, or corporate taxes, or tariffs!!! or the flying cars thing or the elon musk of it all.

I am trying to stay on the wagon by playing disney dreamlight valley on my lil switch, baking treats for my coworkers, redecorating my book shelves for the fall season, and saving up some money to help with gofundmes and mutual aid projects that will become vital soon.

also MA voters rejected the legalization of psychedelics for medical use so that's no longer an option!!!

If u made it this far, you didn't have to, this was more of a diary entry than a thoughtful blog post. If u made it this far, I love you and hope you're getting on okay so far.

[d2kvirus]

28/6/24 Fact or Fiction

Statement #1: You were disappointed that Drew McIntyre lost in the main event of the first ever PLE in his home country of Scotland. FACT – There’s plenty of reason to feel aggrieved about this, which the Glasgow crowd clearly did given they jeered Samantha Irvin after the show when she was giving the safe travels message at the end of the night, not least because he lost in a way that would have had Vince Russo slap his forehead and say “I wish I thought of that!” that just so happens to also have an obvious logic gap in how Punk would rather cost Drew the title instead of, oh I don’t know, let the chips fall where they may and if Drew happened to win the title then Punk could goad him into a title match which makes an awful lot of this thing called “sense”.

But for me the main issues are twofold: first of all, Drew is now 0-2 in title matches at UK PLEs and the best thing you can say about him losing in Scotland is at least he didn’t engage in a mass sing-along afterwards like the loss didn’t even matter unlike the last time he lost a title match at a UK PLE, and secondly it’s hard not to spot that of the three matches on the CitC card featuring Scottish performers they lost in two of them which means that 40% of the results of the entire card had Scottish talent looking at the lights which is the sort of stick/carrot ratio you would have expected from Vince, but for some reason bringing this little detail up is verboten and likely to get a similar response as Jacob Rees-Mogg walking into a Govan pub and mentioning the score of Scotland’s match with Germany last week… which, now that I mention it, I would really like to see that take place.  From a safe distance, obviously…

Statement #2: Will Ospreay is currently the best wrestler in AEW, he should win the AEW World Title and then be in the main event at the All In PPV in London. FICTION – As this is technically two questions, I’ll start with the second one about whether Ospreay should win the AEW title and then headline All In, and to that I can honestly say I don’t think that he should win the title at Forbidden Door, as if he is going to win the AEW title this year then surely it makes far more sense for that to happen at All In and not before – and this leads onto a second point, namely that Swerve absolutely should not be dropping the title to Ospreay at Forbidden Door as Swerve has only held the title a couple of months and certainly deserves a longer reign, so AEW painted themselves into a corner by booking Swerve vs Ospreay at Forbidden Door and they’re going to need a lot of paint thinner to get out of it, especially as a non-finish off an Elite run-in may be the most logical way to dodge a decisive finish but that would likely less deflate the crowd than have them impersonate the R101 disaster.  Zeppelin tragedy jokes: I got ’em!

So with an outright fact off the table, that leads me to the first point, namely about whether Will Ospreay is the best wrestler in AEW.

…aaaaand approximately fifteen minutes later, after a lot of umming and ahhing to try and reach a consensus with myself (no, most people who know me, this isn’t about which t-shirt/shirt combo I’ll be wearing when I leave the house) I’m going to have to say that as incredible a wrestler as Ospreay is, the blackened clump of sarcasm, bitterness, League of Gentlemen quotes and Nine Inch Nails lyrics within my chest is telling me that Bryan Danielson is still the best wrestler that AEW have for least for a little bit longer – but it’s a close-run thing, though as nobody would lend me a Rizla I cannot give an accurate measure as to how close the gap between the two is.

Statement #3: CM Punk will be World Heavyweight Champion in 2024. FICTION – Working on the presumption that Gunther steamrolls Priest for the belt at SummerSlam, that alone discounts Punk from winning the WHC in 2024 because your would have to believe that, barring Gunther picking up some kind of catastrophic injury, Gunther will be holding the belt into 2025 and that will likely set the stage for Gunther and Drew beating the ever-loving piss out of each other in a title match at WM next year.  Although just to be safe, on the off chance that somebody has decided that Punk should win the belt at the first time of asking against somebody who had been built up to win the title for a couple of years up to that point (and who does something like that…?), Gunther should make an unscripted crack about worker’s rights in a promo and wait for nature take its course.

Statement #4: You wouldn’t mind paying hundreds of dollars (or currency equivalent) to see a live WWE PLE that is 3 hours long with only 5 matches. FICTION – Not sure if it got reported on 411, but it does have to be said that the ticket prices for CitC drew such a negative response that it was even reported on the BBC due to the ticket prices costing between £300-2000, which is quite remarkable given the BBC seem to have a blind spot with Scotland’s existence most of the time and especially now with a General Election on the horizon, and when you consider that the average salary in Glasgow is around £31k a year (or, for the non-Brits reading this, $38k in the US, $59k in Australia, $54k in Canada, and for Liz Truss that’s roughly what her Premiership cost the country per minute) it can certainly be suggested that a certain amount of urine extraction is taking place considering WWE were charging London prices for a show in Glasgow, especially considering that for those sort of prices you could get a season ticket at either Rangers or Celtic (though other Scottish teams are available…and much cheaper, for obvious reasons).

But that’s enough from Consumer Advice with D2Kvirus.  Now as for the question itself: given I live in London, what would I be willing to pay for a five-match, three-hour WWE PLE?

Well let’s start with the obvious: I tend to drop in the ballpark of £80 to go to a Tottenham match, which I do a handful of times a season and I continue to marvel at how a pint at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is still cheaper than my local pub, though that number of times I go per season may vary depending on whether or not we’re coached by a past-it dinosaur having a prolonged mental breakdown in public because he can’t admit his tactics are as easy to predict as the dates of his next trip to the hair transplant clinic and that’s why the players obviously downed tools because they got sick of being blamed for him coaching the football out of them.  Good luck with him, Napoli fans…

So given the exclusivity of a WWE PLE in the UK I can certainly see myself dropping £80-120 for a ticket as that seems about right for London prices, maybe £150 tops if it’s a good venue (which rules out Wembley Arena, which is an aircraft hanger with crap acoustics and security who dream of working outside a high street pub on a weekday evening to see if they can go an evening without letting a single person inside) though the matches would have a lot to do with whether I was willing to pay that, though that is helped significantly by the threat of a show being headlined by a HHH vs Kevin Nash street fight being removed entirely, which is why we should always offer an arm around the shoulder and a sympathetic ear for those who shelled out to attend the Insurrextion PPV back in 2003 who had to sit through that (let alone the rest of the dreck on the card, best summed up by the fact Teddy Long wrestled in one of the matches)

Statement #5: Without any AEW/NJPW inter-promotional “dream matches” left, Forbidden Door is still a good idea for an annual PPV. FACT – The addition of CMLL and Stardom to this year’s show does freshen up the Forbidden Door concept enough to give it legs for maybe another couple of years, something which affected ROH’s War of the Worlds shows as they burned through the pick of the matches in first couple of shows, though what stands out to me is that (at the time of typing, anyway) the show has just the seven matches announced, where the previous Forbidden Doors featured thirteen and fourteen matches respectively, which suggests that either there’s a half dozen matches yet to be announced or that AEW blew their proverbial load on the first two shows and are now being more selective to avoid burning out the concept after two or three shows.

Statement #6: Despite all the terrible matches, award-winningly bad feuds, and nonsensical promos in the past, you are still excited for this new Uncle Howdy incarnation of the Wyatt Family. FICTION – The issue with so much of the Wyatt Family’s booking (and indeed Bray’s solo booking) was they always started white hot with a perfectly-executed match or angle and the follow up was…well the opposite of that, going right back to their main roster debut where Wyatt needed Harper & Rowan to interfere to beat Kane in his debut match that did a bang-up job of presenting the Wyatt’s as a threat (note sarcasm…) which unfortunately set the tone for so may occasions where Wyatt and/or the Wyatts sank in as undignified a manner as the Andrea Doria.  Liner tragedy jokes – I got ’em!

But my main issue with the New Wyatts isn’t to do with the booking as it is likely they will get better support than in The Before Times, even if it has to be said Sanity were one of Trips’ biggest fumbles in NXT and they were Wyatts-adjacent in their presentation, but the issue is that the original incarnation had a damn good central core as Bray could deliver the character beats while Luke Harper could hold things down in the ring, but this incarnation does seem to have a few (for lack of a better phrase) lesser talents starting with Bo Dallas as he just doesn’t have Bray’s ability to make a character fully realised and authentic, and while Dexter Lumis (and to a lesser degree Joe Gacy) can deliver the character work if given the opportunity yet the group is missing somebody who can hold down matches and that could become an issue when they progress beyond destroying people in segments which, contrary to the opinions of some utter weirdos on Twitter, did not best the nightclub shot in Goodfellas.

Though I do have one question about whether or not they will wrestle in the masks, which may well be the case with Bo as the Uncle Howdy mask has been significantly streamlined compared to what it was before, because if that will be the case going forward that may unfortunately lead to me getting ‘Nam flashbacks about Retribution that I thought I’d chased away with a few Berlin Mules.

So I hope for the best, but I won’t be shocked if inky tendrils of the not-best slither into view.