#it didn't necessarily go anywhere lol

[invinciblerodent]

This is going to be very ranty and disjointed, probably borderline incomprehensible post, but with the "return" of Dragon Age Discourse (and really, did it ever go anywhere?) and me repeatedly seeing the complaints and dismissals of DA:I as a "chosen one"-type of a narrative, I just.... I keep finding myself thinking about the relationship of truth and lies within the game.

Throughout the course of DA:I, the idea of a malleable, flexible personal identity, and a painful confrontation with an uncomfortable truth replacing a soothing falsehood, follows pretty much every character throughout their respective arcs.

There are some more obvious ones, Solas, Blackwall, The Iron Bull, their identities and deceptions (of both those around them and themselves) are clearly front and center in the stories told about them, but this theme of deception (both of the self- and the outside world) is clearly present in the stories of the others as well.

Like, for example, ones that come immediately to mind are stories like that of Cullen, who presents an image of a composed and disciplined military man, a commander- all to hide the desperate and traumatized addict that he sees himself as.

Dorian grappled with the expectations of presenting the image of the perfect heir to his father's legacy, the prideful scion of his house, his entire life (he even introduces himself as the result of "careful breeding", like one might speak about a prized horse)- all while knowing that his family would rather see him lobotomized and obedient, than anything even just resembling his vibrant and passionate self.

Cassandra calls herself a Seeker of Truth, and takes pride in that identity- only to learn that in reality, she has been made a liar, a keeper of secrets, without her knowledge or consent, and it is up to her to either uproot the entire organization and painfully cut out the abscess it is to build it back from the ground up into something respectable, or let the information she had revealed sit, and continue to fester.

And this theme continues and reframes itself in, among others, things like Sera's own inner conflict between her elven heritage and her human upbringing, or in Cole being caught in this unconscionable space in-between human and spirit, between person and concept, etc.

The Inquisitor isn't exempt from this either.

I feel like this is where the core of the many misunderstandings of this plot come from, why so many people continue to believe that Inquisition is a "chosen one" or "divinely appointed" type of story, because I think many might just... not realize, that the protagonist's identity is also malleable, and what they are told in the setup/first act of the game is not necessarily the truth.

The tale of the Inquisitor is the exact opposite of that of a "chosen one" story: it's an examination and reflection of the trope, in that it is the story of an assumption that all wrongly believe to be the truth, and thrust upon you, even if you protest. The very point is that no matter who you choose to say that you are, you will be known as the Herald of a prophet you don't even necessarily believe in, and then that belief will be proven wrong, leaving you to cope with either a devastating disappointment if you believed it, or a bitter kind of vindication if you didn't.

There's a moment just after Here Lies the Abyss (when you learn of the lie you've been fed your entire journey in the game) that I don't often see mentioned, but I think it's one of the most emotionally impactful character moments, if you are playing an Andrastian Inquisitor who had actually believed themselves chosen (which I realize is a rather unpopular pick, lol): it's when Ser Ruth, a Grey Warden, realizes what she had done and is horrified by her own deeds, and turns herself in asking to be tried for the murder of another of her order. As far as she is concerned, she had spilled blood for power, and regardless of whether she was acting of her own volition at the time, whether she had agency in the moment, is irrelevant to her: she seeks no absolution, but willingly submits to any punishment you see fit.

And only if you play as an Inquisitor who, through prior dialogue choices, had established themselves as a devout Andrastian, can you offer her forgiveness, for a deed that was objectively not her fault- not really.

You can, in Andraste's name, forgive her- even though you, at that point, know that you have no real right to do so. That you're not Andraste's Herald, that Andraste may or may not even exist, and that you can't grant anyone "divine forgiveness", because you, yourself, don't have a drop of divinity within you. You know that you were no more than an unlucky idiot who stumbled their way into meddling with forces beyond their ken.

You know you're a fraud. You know. The game forces you to realize, as it slowly drip-drip-drips the memories knocked loose by the blast back into your head, that what all have been telling you that you are up to this point, is false. And yet, you can still choose to keep up the lie, and tell this woman who stands in front of you with blood on her hands and tears in her eyes, that you, with authority you don't have, grant her forgiveness for a crime that wasn't hers to commit.

Because it's the right thing to do. Because to lie to Ser Ruth is far kinder than anything else you could possibly do to her, short of refusing to make a decision altogether.

There are any number of criticisms of this game that I can accept (I may or may not agree depending on what it is, but I'm from the school of thought that any interpretation can be equally valid as long as there's text that supports it, and no text that contradicts it), but I will always continue to uphold that the Inquisitor is absolutely not- and never was a "chosen one".

They're just as small, and sad, and lost, as all the other protagonists- the only difference is that they didn't need to fight for their mantle, because instead of a symbol of honor, it acted as a straitjacket.

[marleyybluu]

So Fine

Rio Martinez x black!fem!reader

Word count: 1.5k

Content warning: 18+, little bit of porn, little bit of plot, quickies in the bathroom, oral (m receiving), hitting it from the back, reader is described as curvaceous (but like once), no use of y/n, someone's not wearing panties, use of the word cock oops again, established relationship, sort of a shit ending cus I'm fried, creampies (obviously)

A/N: not necessarily inspired by the song I guess, I was listening to it when i wrote it so. and again no deep descriptions but reader has braids so shes a black woman in mind

(Sorry if the gif quality is shit lol)

His eyes were on her all night and he knew the minute this engagement party was over he'd be able to have his way with her. They didn't really want to make a big deal about their engagement but both their moms insisted they have a little party, and collect some gifts, they bared through it for the love of their sweet mothers. She wore an olive green dress that seemed to be glued to her, the outline of her curvaceous shape had him drooling, with a bit of champagne in his system he was ready to go home. But you can't leave your own party early, can you? 

He had gotten caught in a conversation with her father and as much as he loved the man he told some long ass stories, always deriving to a different one and explaining how it's connected to the current one. All he could do was hum and nod and throw in an occasional word or two, but his eyes seemed to never leave her as she participated in her own conversation with her cousins. Her laughter tickled his ears and he was surprised he could hear it over the music and talking. One of them nudges her and tries their best to point him out discreetly but he catches it, she turns her head and smiles at him and he smiles back. She excuses herself from the girls and makes her way over to them, she places a hand on her dad's shoulder and his attention is now on his little girl. 

"Are you talking his ear off again?" She asks kissing his cheek. Her dad shakes his head. "No, just... tellin' him some stories." 

She sighs and tilts her head. "I'm supposed to marry this man, do not tell him anything else embarrassing please." 

Her dad laughs and shrugs. "I mean you already got him, he's not going anywhere." 

"He's right, I'm not." Rio finally chimes in, she leaves her dad's side and slips her fingers in with Rio's. "Can we put a pause on the story? I just need his help for a second." She lies and he relaxes with relief that she'd come to save the day, happy to finally get a moment with her too. "Of course, take him." 

They say goodbye and she tugs him inside and towards a hallway where there are fewer people. "Thank you, I love your dad but-"

"I know, trust me," She giggles. He squeezes her hand affectionately and lifts their arms up, she doesn't hesitate to give him a twirl and he groans. "You're so fucking fine. I love this dress." 

"Thank you." She says looking down at her own body, she did look good tonight. She takes a last sip from her own glass of champagne and holds the now empty glass at her side, she eyes him up and down before boldly stating, "I have no panties on." 

His eyes widened a bit, she got him. She looks around to make sure no one notices that both of them vanish into the guest bathroom nearby. She pulls him inside and locks the door, she puts her empty glass on top of the counter and turns to face him with her palms pressed against the cold countertop as she leans back. Her tongue swipes across her bottom lip and her eyes shift down to the tent forming in his pants, she smiles and looks back up at his dilated eyes. She slides down into a squatting position, her high heels helping her put less pressure on her knees, her hands run over his brown belt and she eagerly undoes the buckle.

She pulls them down along with his boxers and his half-hard cock heavily pops out, she smiles gently taking him in her soft grip, her tongue slides from the base to the tip, she takes him in her mouth and his hands immediately fall on top of her head. She moans feeling him grow inside her mouth with every suck and lick. His rosy pink lips part and small huffs of breath escape, his eyes close for a moment, enjoying the feeling of her wet and warm mouth around him. His hips buck forward, his tip hitting the back of her throat, she pulls her head back-- a trail of drool connecting from his tip to her chin. 

She was such a pretty sight to see. She looks up at him holding eye contact while taking his dick in her mouth once again. Rio whines throwing his head back. She bobs her head at a slow pace, her hand comes up to cup his balls and he nearly loses his fucking mind, she carefully squeezes them, and fondles them to add to his pleasure. 

"Fuck, you're gonna kill me, baby." He moans. A familiar feeling washes over him, his eyes blink open, his hands grip her hair and he pulls her off of him. "I don't want to come in your mouth." He says between pants. "Why not?" She pouts. He wraps his hand around her arm pulling her up on her feet, he turns her around and she bends over for him. His hands greedily lift up her dress so that it now hangs around her hips. His eyes flash with desire when he realizes she really went commando. "You think you can tell me you're not wearing panties and expect me to not want to come inside you." 

She moans at his remark. His hands roved her body, squeezing her fleshy thighs, the feeling of her soft skin making him harder to the point where it was almost painful. He runs his fingers over her swollen pussy, her arousal dripping out of her, he licks his finger and practically melts at her taste. "Baby..." She whines pushing back on him, he smiles at the fact that she was just as needy and horny as him. His hands land on her hips, his foot nudging her legs further apart. He drives his hips forward, slowly pushing himself inside. Her eyes roll in pleasure. A throaty "Shit!" from him as he buried himself inside her. She was so fucking warm and her walls were plush and welcoming. She grips the counter as he bottoms out, neither of them was going to last long and they both knew it. 

Rio pulls out and pushes back in. "Oh!" She squeals as he fills her. He thrusts slowly at first, he liked to tease her, to see how long it'd take for her to crack and beg him to go faster. Her eyes roll and her lips part making the perfect 'O'. 

"Oh, shit." He moans lightly tugging her braids and forces her to hold her head up instead of resting on the counter. 

She cries out as he repeatedly hits her sweet spot, she reaches back and holds onto his forearm, her nails digging into the material of his clothes. "Fuck me, please, harder." She whines, he yanks her towards him, her back pressed against his chest, her head falling back on his shoulder her arm hooking around his neck, his nose nudged in the crook of her neck, her precious perfume tickling his senses. "Always smell so fucking good, you feel so fucking good." He says hotly in her ear. He feels her clench around his shaft. "You're squeezing me, baby." He moans the two of them go at it without a care in the world of anyone potentially hearing them, the sound of skin slapping probably seeping through the crack of the door while he pounds into her. The squelching sound of her wetness being penetrated by his dick, her arousal dripping onto him. 

He kisses the back of her neck. "Don't stop, Im gonna cum." She cries and her pussy weeps as she coats him her slick, her body stills and pleasure takes over her entire being just for a moment. He gives her a few more thrusts dragging out her orgasm as his approaches, he lets out a choked-out moan as he empties himself inside of her, and she hums at the feeling as it turns her on all over again. "Mmm, I'm ready to just go home and fuck you on the couch." He flirts leaving a trail of kisses over her shoulder. She sighs contently and smiles. "We can't." 

"I know, I know." 

She feels his length soften inside her and almost whimpers when he pulls back leaving her empty. He stuffs his dick back into his boxers while she tugs her dress down to cover herself up. As she cleaned herself up and fixed her appearance as best as she could he stood behind her admiring her through the reflection of the mirror. "What?" She asks. "I love you. I'm glad you said yes." 

She smiles warmly and looks down at her ring. "Me too, I can't wait to run you dry." She jokes and then looks him up and down. "In more ways than one." 

If you liked this fic free to like this fic, likes, reblogs and comments are appreciated. peace and love, see you in the next one 🤙🏾 If you're interested in reading other fics based on songs just like this one you can find them here in 'The Mixtapes.' playlist.

tags: @darqchilddaydreamz @rio-reid-whoreee @skyesthebomb

that might be interested: @realhotgurlshit @lovedlover @librarian1002

[die-die-mydarling-xx]

Hi! I would like to see the slashers as parents. especially Vincent^^

Slashers as Parents

SFW, GN! Reader

In this post: Vincent Sinclair, Bo Sinclair, Lester Sinclair, Thomas Hewitt, Bubba Sawyer

Vincent Sinclair

I don't think he necessarily thought that much about him having kids

It probably was your idea to bring up the possibility of the two of you having kids, but he finds he really enjoys being a father in ways he didn't expect

Loves having your kid(s) sit on his lap or nearby as he works on his sculptures

But he would of course be very careful not to let them around hazardous areas of his workshop

He would be so proud if they pursued any artistic hobbies, but he'd be especially excited if they followed in his own footsteps and did any wax sculpting

Bo Sinclair

Definitely something he's thought about before, but with the way his life went, he didn't expect it to be a reality for him

So he's immediately in when you bring up having kids

He'd be really active with them, playing catch or hide and seek or whatever they wanted

Once they're old enough he'd definitely start teaching them how to fix up cars!

Will read them bedtime stories but hates anyone else seeing him do it lol

Lester Sinclair

Secretly he's always dreamed about leaving Ambrose behind and having a normal family of his own

He won't, of course, he's too loyal to his brothers. He's just the least involved in all the murder and he often worries what would happen if they were caught

Regardless he'd be so excited if you brought up the idea of starting a family!

He's definitely a very hands-on parent, like Bo he's going to be playing catch or any other games the kid(s) want to play

Loves going on walks through the forest with you, Jonesy, and your kid(s)

100% reads them bedtime stories and does voices while reading

Thomas Hewitt

Definitely has wanted to start a family of his own for awhile!

And probably would love multiple kids as well

Would be so sweet and gentle with them, he wouldn't want them anywhere near his workshop where they could potentially get hurt

At the same time, he's going on a rampage if anyone ever makes fun of them . . . he knows exactly what that's like and would hate for his kids to experience that

Would love laying with you and listening to your voice if you read to them!

Bubba Sawyer

Also has definitely thought about it before and would be ecstatic when you bring up having kids

I think he'd be a bit of an anxious parent, always following the kid(s) around and making sure they're okay

He'd also be super indulgent, he'd let them walk all over him if you're not careful!

So you'll probably have to be the voice of reason lol

Like Thomas he loves listening to you if you read to your kid(s)

Hope you like it!! I wanted to add Brahms as well but I can't really picture him as a parent tbh 😶

If you're not able to have kids yourself we can say they're adopted from a victim or something lol

[legoiscrying]

Since you guys liked my first k2 analysis so much, I've decided to make a second one and mainly focus on things that I mentioned in the last paragraph there: how I see their romantic relationship. This is probably going to be more headcanons than analysis but we'll see lol (it ended up not)

As I mentioned before, I don't really see k2 having some sort of special feelings for each other when they're young. Meanwhile it can kinda work with Kenny, it's probably won't work with Kyle: Kyle already has two strong sources of emotions. His bond with Stan and his sort of rivalry with Cartman clearly means more to him. And to get myself more clear: No, I do not erase everything I said in the previous post about their interactions, they're still very sweet and in my personal opinion important. But if we analyse Kyle's relationships with others and give everyone some sort of a status, Stan would be "best friend", Cartman would be "frienemy" (it's not so obvious when I say it like this but we all should agree that Kyle cares a lot about the shit Cartman says, not necessarily in a good way but it's still a huge source of emotions for him). And Kenny, as I believe, would be just "friend". Not much to add.

But if we're looking a little bit further...Time skip for a few years. Or not a few. High-school maybe?? Or adults?? Whatever you prefer more

From this part it'll be mostly headcanons because different people can see the future relationship of the main four differently. I'll talk about my personal point of view here (I think it's the most popular one in the fandom anyways)

So this is where Kyle's previous sources of strong emotions are kind of fading away. With Stan...I'm almost sure that no one is going to argue with me for this. Stan, as a depressed individual, would probably at some point of his adulthood change his relationships with people. He'd cut contact with some and just sort of change his attitude to other. And although I believe Stan and Kyle would still be friends (close friends??) when they grow up...There's not going to be the "bond" as strong as it was before. This is debatable, but even if you don't agree with my statement: One source of strong emotions is definitely not enough.

With Cartman my point of view is much easier to explain: they're not kids anymore. I believe their rivalry won't dissappear, but. They're not kids and not gonna fight 24/7. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this properly, but I think it's just not gonna take all their time. So yeah. It's not enough

AND THAT'S WHERE WE FINALLY GO BACK TO K2. THANK GOD.

Kyle feels a bit more lonely. So he hangs out with Kenny, who pretty much feels the same. They spend time together, talk a lot, remember some things...And realize how similar they are to each other (this part is also analysis btw, I didn't come up with it from nothing). They realize that back then they both were trying to act kind to people around them, but no one seemed to appreciate it as much as they wanted. They were doing it differently and was getting treated differently, but in the end both ended up being lonely without much people around. You. You can feel my thought here. right

They realize how similar they feel, so they decide to try to help each other. Just make some company. It won't hurt, right?

It didn't. I see them a bit fast burn... They start to appreciate each other's company more. And more. They hang out in a lot of different places. Anywhere you can get your old buddy: like seeing some cool movies with him, taking him to restaurants so you can make sure he eats well, sometimes going to his ol' house with him to help his sister...At some point Kenny starts calling it "dates", and Kyle is extremely flustered about this.

Kyle falls first, but Kenny confesses first: so their relationship-thing happens not so long after that.

And yep. This is what I wanted to share from now. I really hope someone reads all that xD

Love k2, appreciate k2, enjoy k2, share k2. They're very lovable little guys!

(If this gets 100 likes AGAIN I will write k2 headcanons. Go)

[nkjemisin]

Things in my ask box

Hi folks. Every so often I get questions from folks that are good, but which I worry might catch them some flak from my other readers or whoever. Sometimes I answer those people privately, but in general I prefer not to do private replies to asks; for one thing, other people might want to know the answer, and for another, I've had a few awkward situations result from doing so (basically just people going parasocial on me), and I think that sort of thing is less likely when it's clear I'm talking to everyone. So, I'm going to handle these awkward asks by just treating them as Q&A questions -- without showing that person's username and where necessary, altering the question in order to protect their identity. I've got a few of these stored up, but just gonna do two this time for length and time reasons. I'll get to the rest later.

Are you a proshipper?

Yep. Feel free to alter your decision re following me on social media now that you've read that answer. But I believe in "don't like, don't read," and that fiction doesn't indicate what an author really believes (because it's fiction), and that there's no subject matter too immoral to explore on its face (everything depends on the execution), so... yep.

2. I love the Broken Earth trilogy, but I have to say, the middle book really didn't go anywhere, literally. Essun stayed in Castrima and Nassun moved around a little more but mostly stayed in the same place too. It killed a lot of the story momentum for me. Why did you decide to do this?

[spoilers for Broken Earth books, though I'll try to minimize them and will put a "read more" before I get there]

Because I felt like it. I'm not saying that defensively, I'm just noting that the answer to pretty much any question you might ask a writer about why they do a particular thing is... because they felt like it. Period full stop. Sorry that wasn't what you wanted to read! It was, however, the story I wanted to tell.

To elaborate... different people have different expectations of trilogies. That's because there are a lot of different ways to handle them, narratively speaking. Sometimes a trilogy is really a group of shared-universe stories taking place in the same world but not necessarily featuring the same characters, and with unrelated plots. Some are telling a single story, but through different POVs and smaller plot arcs that each have their own terminuses; that's what I did with the Inheritance Trilogy, for example. And sometimes, as I did with the Broken Earth books, the author is just telling one big story broken up into three parts. (There are more ways to do a trilogy than this, but let's keep this brief, lol.)

Now, there are a lot of ways to handle this kind of story, but a pattern that most of us are used to is:

Book One: Introduction to the world and important characters and the apparent stakes;

Book Two: Deep dive into the important characters and world, thus giving the audience a reason to care more; and

Book Three: Now we really know the stakes and shit just got real! Now we care what happens to the characters when EVERYTHING! BLOWS!! UP!!!

(I am feeling very silly today, sorry.)

We're familiar with this pattern because we see it all the time, especially in American media. It's a variation on the three-act structure seen in plays and other narratives. It's the basis of our most popular longform stories! The original Star Wars trilogy did it. The Mass Effect trilogy did it. (Andromeda was a separate story, probably meant to be the start of a new trilogy.) The Lord of the Rings did it, prequeled by the Hobbit and mirrored by the Silmarillion. I mentioned those examples because the middle stories of each all exhibit the same traits: a drastic change of pace or location for the protagonists, putting the protagonists through personal character growth arcs, and poking at minutia or seemingly unimportant aspects of the world (which usually end up pretty important before all is said and done).

Now let's answer your question. Spoiler warning again:

In the Broken Earth, we got introduced to the Stillness and Essun in Book One. There was a lot of physical movement in that book as Essun was on the road for most of it (as were other characters), but the plot itself was relatively simple: A bad thing happened to this person and she needs to go somewhere and find someone, to fix it! And then pretty much the entirety of that book's narrative was "Who is this person, why does the bad thing matter, and how close does she get to finding her missing person?" Then in Book Two, we learned a little more about this person, a lot more about her impact on other characters including the one she's been trying to find, and we spent a while learning about orogeny, the Obelisk Gate, and what the stone eaters have been up to. I cheated a little on this; there wasn't room to do a deep dive into the backstory of one pivotal character, but I did finally reveal that this character is the "secret" narrator of the whole trilogy, and made his agenda clearer. I ended up putting his "deep dive" into Book Three instead, where it was particularly relevant to the STUFF! BLOWING!! UP!!!

The reason a lot of readers complain about "Middle Book Syndrome," I suspect, is because of this pattern -- and because of their expectations. A lot of people come at a middle book expecting Book One Redux. That's what you often get in shared-universe trilogies -- Book One over and over again, roughly the same balance of characters vs events each time, in a familiar setting. We're conditioned to want that, I think, from other episodic works. Comic books, for example: When I was working on FAR SECTOR, my editor at the time explained that I needed to try and have a fight or action scene in most of the issues. I hate fight scenes -- sorry! -- so that was hard for me. TV shows -- the ones that aren't themselves telling a single big story over time -- do this, too. I think of it as the "If You Liked X, Then Try... X!" structure. Absolutely nothing wrong with this structure, by the way. I'm just describing it, not throwing shade. I'm a big fan of stories like this myself.

But even for audience members who were expecting the Three-Act Trilogy structure instead, that middle book is going to be jarring. It's supposed to be jarring. The refugees have survived the first book but stopped to dress their wounds and regroup; the adventurers on a quest have reached an impasse and need to find allies and grind to build up their strength; the stalwart hero has just suffered a massive setback and needs to overcome their own doubt or character flaws. A good way to handle this is to take the characters out of their familiar space, and put them somewhere new, or give them a very different kind of challenge. [Mass Effect and LOTR spoilers] Oh, no, Shepard died and their team broke up! What now? Oh, no, Frodo and Sam are on their own trying to get to Mordor! They're just these little guys! How are they gonna make it? If you got overly attached to Shepard team from ME1, or the Fellowship, you're in for a rough ride in these followups. But the jarring nature of this kind of followup is absolutely necessary. An author who does this knows they're going to lose some readers, when they do it. Clearly I almost lost you! But I stand by that choice, because I think it made the whole trilogy better.

Sidebar: I'm old enough to remember the controversy back when "The Empire Strikes Back" came out. Critics haaaaaated that movie! It was too dark, they said; wasted too much time on unimportant stuff. Too much character work, not enough space battles. Then it became clear that audiences loved the second movie even more than the first, precisely because it was darker and because Luke spent so much time futzing around with Yoda and because there were all these girl cooties romantic moments between Leia and Han. A lot of the critics backpedaled at that point, with some of them even acknowledged that they'd been hoping for Star Wars All Over Again and not What Happens Next That Is Not Star Wars. They'd simply brought the wrong expectations to the story.

This is not to say that you have the wrong expectations, Ask-er. Maybe you were expecting exactly that structure, and you just don't like the way I handled it, or you think I did a poor job. Every reader's experience of a story is different, and not everybody's gonna want to pick up everything I throw down. But you asked why did everyone stay in one place, and this is why: to do a deep dive into the character of the Stillness itself. In a story where the setting was as much a "character" as the people in it, I felt it necessary to show enough of that setting for readers to care about it. Would you care, for example, if the town of Brevard (Damaya and Schaffa spend one night there in Book One) got blown off the map in Book Three? Probably not, because I spent no time on any of its citizens or issues. A lot of people cared about Castrima, though, by the end of Book Two.

Whoo, this got long! Hope it answers your question, Ask-er.

[crmsndragonwngss]

Do you have any tips or guides on how to make gifs?

I do! Firstly, this guide here is probably the best guide I've seen for gif making. It's concise and easy to follow, and it's what I used to learn myself. They have a lot of resources as far as programs go, but I'll list what I use below. As always, never download and install anything from unknown sources without doing your own due diligence. Run everything through your antivirus and/or virustotal before installing always always always!

This is kinda long, so imma put it under the cut lol. Also note that I use windows (Win10), so things may not work the same way for mac or linux

Before you can actually make the gifs, you need a way to download high quality videos! I like jdownloader 2 because I find the interface to be user friendly, it gives you the option to download multiple elements (like srt files), and it works with more websites than lots of other video downloaders (and their user support is leagues better as well). My second choice is yt-dlp, which isn't necessarily more complex but might look a little more intimidating. Both are great programs, but a quick note about jd2: DO NOT download it from anywhere else but the link above. The developers package adware in all their installers EXCEPT for that one (I hate it too, and I think it's fundamentally unethical, but at least they're up front about it and they have an adware free version). Both methods automatically download the highest quality video available in your source link, so you don't have to worry about fiddling with that.

Now on to extracting frames! My method of choice is ffmpeg. It looks more intimidating than it is, and it's honestly the best way to extract frames imo. Like yt-dlp, it uses your computer's command console, which means you'll need the relevant command lines to run it. This tutorial is great to get you started, and it includes a command line for if you only want to extract frames from a specific part of your video. If you want to extract every frame from the entire video, you can either input the start and end times of the video into that command line, or you can use this version (I use both depending on what I'm doing):

ffmpeg -i "file path" "out-%05d.png"

Always make sure you're working with png files. To make quality gifs you have to start with quality images, and png files, unlike jpg, are lightweight and lossless, meaning you won't end up with compression artifacts and fuzziness

To get the file path for your video, select the file, then in the upper left hand corner of your window select home > copy path. It will copy the path in quotes, so replace the entire section "file path" with the path you just copied. Then copy and paste the entire line into your command console. The tutorial above says this as well, but be sure to create a folder for your frames, go into that folder and click the file path bar at the top of the window, then type "cmd" to open the console. This will ensure your files are dumped in that folder

So now you need a way to actually MAKE the gif. This is... a little more tricky. You can use gimp, I think, though it's certainly not my program of choice. You could buy PS but like... ew. OR you could do what I did and arr it. I use a portable version of CS6 that I downloaded literally a decade ago, and unfortunately the website I got it from isn't up anymore. I did a quick search and found this on reddit, but again, do your due diligence before downloading and installing anything!

Now I'll talk a little bit about my actual process. The actual process of making frames into layers into a gif I got from that first tutorial I linked. I took that process and made an action on PS so that I never have to do it manually again because I'm lazy and my memory is dogshit and I didn't want to have to consult a guide every time I wanted to do something lol. Everything else I learned through experimenting and my own experience as a photographer, so I encourage you to play around with everything to see what you like and what works for you

For coloring, I fiddle with levels, brightness/contrast, and color balance adjustment layers until I'm happy with how it looks. You can use curves instead of levels if you want finer control (or if you want to produce effects like matte), but levels works just as well and has a histogram right there in the panel, which makes it easier to adjust the exposure based on the image's actual data

For sharpening, I have a couple of custom actions I use. Here's what they look like:

The first one (bound to the F2 key) gives a smoother appearance, and I like to use it for kpop gifs where the subjects are already airbrushed and smooth without much texture, or wide shots where detail isn't super important

The second one (bound to the F3 key) is the one I use when I want to preserve texture in the image. Closeups of people where you can see their skin texture, or busy images with lots of detail benefit most from this one

The basic gist of it is, the "sharpen" filter does exactly what it says on the tin and it's usually all the sharpening an image needs, and the "surface blur" filter erases or dampens artifacting created by the sharpening filter. Sometimes I'll run the action twice, or use them both in combination to get the effect I want. Here's what the difference looks like in practice, featuring two very cute dudes:

F2 sharpening action

F3 sharpening action

You'll notice in the first two gifs, there's not much in the way of texture to preserve. Yoongi's skin is smooth and airbrushed, and the scenery is all metal and concrete shot with a wide aperture, which makes the background nice and blurry and smooth. In the second set, Jesse has facial hair and stubbly texture on his throat that I wanted to preserve, so I used the action with the lighter surface blur

My advice on all of this though, again, is to play around with it and see what you like! And if you have any more questions, feel free to ask! I'm by no means an expert, but I'll do what I can to help!

edit: oh, a quick note about speed! The tutorial I linked above mentions changing the delay to 0.05, and that's great for full speed gifs! But if you want them slow like my gifs above, I set the delay to 0.08. Sometimes I'll slow them down even more by setting the delay to 0.09 or 0.1, but any higher and you start to lose some of that smoothness

[shinxeysartgallery]

How we feeling now that murder drones is ending?

I think it's so unfair that glitch is cancelling murder drones cause tadc is much more profitable like damn I thought they were better than this

To be fair, we never explicitly had a Season 2 confirmed and I don't think it's fair to blame TADC over it getting cancelled. From what I can tell, it seems like GLITCH and Liam both planned on there being a Season 2 at some point, but we also don't know what's happened behind the scenes. ANYTHING could've happened.

Maybe they didn't get greenlit for a Season 2? Even if they have enough funding and support from the fans for it, they can't move forward without that green light.

There's not enough funding or other resources for them to realistically work on a Season 2 right now. They're also working on TADC and the new Gaslight District and have also just now picked up helping Lackadaisy with funding. Pretty sure at least some of the GLITCH crew works on the main SMG4 channel's stuff as well. That's a LOT to work with from such a small company! It might be a case of they bit off more than they could chew. This could also indicate that it's a temporary thing, but they don't want to get peoples' hopes up in case they can't give us the coveted Season 2.

Liam could be feeling burnout and wants to work on something else. I believe Murder Drones is his longest running series, and it's been in production for at least 4-ish years, counting the Pilot episode. He could've very well lost motivation or be suffering from burnout in that amount of time!

The main series is ending, but it's because they're planning on doing something else with Murder Drones (such as a sequel or spinoff) instead of a Season 2. Up until about when Episode 7 dropped, the Murder Drones playlist was labeled "Season 1" and Liam has said in a past AMA that he planned on there being a Season 2 at some point. He could've discussed his plans for Season 2 with GLITCH and they collectively decided that a spinoff/sequel/etc. would be a better fit for Liam's ideas!

Those are just a few scenarios that could have caused its ending; it's not necessarily a "hurr durr we wanna ditch literally everything else we're working on because TADC gives the monies" situation. Obviously, unless Liam himself or someone actually from GLITCH comes out and makes a statement about it, we don't know for sure why or what caused it. But again, I think it's incredibly unfair to blame TADC over it.

As for my feelings on its conclusion though? Bittersweet. I'm so excited to see what Liam's got planned for the finale and I know it's going to be epic; it'll be so cool getting to see everything come to an end! But at the same time, I'll be sad 'cause it's over. No more excitedly waiting and wondering what's going to happen in the next episode or wondering how the current one's cliffhanger is going to resolve. Buuuut that doesn't mean it's the end! There's still a chance we could get more official Murder Drones content, but even if we don't we've got fanworks! This fandom is one of the most passionate ones I've been in and I don't think it's going anywhere any time soon, even if we never get another official piece of content.

Personally, I'm going to keep working on my AU and keep drawing my drones. The show ending isn't going to stop me! >:D

(Also lowkey is kinda good because after this episode, I don't have to worry about the next episode completely destroying some of my lore again. lol)

[angelsdean]

wanna preface this by saying if my tone comes across as biting, i did not mean that! especially not to you! i feel ok sending this in bc i agree with your takes on s8/9

anyway lol! maybe a spicy take but…

if we’re blaming dean for kevin’s death, then we’ve gotta blame sam for charlie’s and benny’s, cas for mary and jo and ellen and anna and bobby and sam (s5) and honestly i love you cas but i could probably go on :/

but seriously, i don’t actually *blame* them for these deaths bc while dean/sam/cas’s actions helped create the situations that got each character dead, their actual deaths were on other characters’ choices or even their own (sam, benny). the blame game is just too simple for how complicated spn is. like if you blamed them for every death that occurred after a sequence of events that included their actions, for every death that they were indirectly involved with, it’d just be impossible to count. and that’s just not productive or fair imo yk 🤷‍♀️

yea i definitely get what you're saying. there are a lot of factors playing into things, and chain reaction domino effects that lead from one character making a decision to another character way down the line killing someone. that doesn't necessarily mean the first character is responsible for the death or should be the one that is blamed for it. they couldn't have foreseen how events would transpire. however, i do think, like you said, these situations are more complicated and nuanced. and in some scenarios the "blamed" character did play more of a part in the death of another character. but i don't think in the case of kevin's death dean should be shouldering the blame or responsibility here at all.

like, the stuff with blaming dean for kevin's death feels unfair imo because well, when dean made the choice to let gadreel try to save sam (and sam still !! had to say yes himself!) dean didn't have all the facts. he thought gadreel was ezekiel. he thought this was a friend of cas's that he could trust. he didn't know he was opening the door to someone with ulterior motives, who might try to hurt people he cared about. and secondly, kevin's death was coming, one way or another, because as @aliveboydean says in this post, metatron wanted him dead and wasn't going to stop until he was. so if gadreel hadn't gotten him, metatron very likely would have killed him.

to address another seemingly similar situation where i come away feeling differently: sam and charlie. i have to say i kinda do "blame" sam for charlie's death, because he roped charlie back in. she really would not have been there or been in that situation or been a target for the Stynes had sam not specifically invited her to come help them. and while it seems like charlie and kevin's deaths are comparable, a key distinguishing factor is that one would have been safe had they not been in that specific situation that another character (sam) put them in, while the other always was in danger simply for being who they were. charlie's death is different from kevin's because kevin was always in the line of fire, always had a target on his back by simply being a prophet. so many people wanted to kill him, he wasn't uniquely in danger being around the winchesters. and he wasn't put IN danger solely because of dean's actions. he was always in danger, the whole time. no matter where in the world kevin was, people were going to be out to get him. and i'd argue he was safer in the bunker (and therefore around sam and dean) than anywhere else in the world. dean had no way of knowing gadreel would kill kevin! but charlie was just a regular person who no one cared about killing. if she hadn't been brought in at that time and made a target for the stynes she...most definitely would still be alive.

SO, i think at the very least dean is definitely allowed to blame sam in-world and be pissed at him. (tho sam is obvs still not the one that killed her. but i can understand if dean felt resentment toward him for her death). but. yea i kinda do see sam as more responsible for charlie's death in this case than dean with kevin's because the scenarios and key factors are different. that's what i feel a lot of people don't get when they want to issue blanket statements of who to blame for what and who did worse. there's nuance! and two seemingly similar situations are not always a 1:1 comparison. (this isn't directed at you, just a general sentiment abt fandom)

(and i think a similar situation for cas is mary's death. and i fall somewhere in the middle for him. he knew jack was dangerous at the time. he should've said something. he's still not the one who killed mary though and he couldn't have predicted that outcome)

[thedailydescent]

Hey! I meant to send you an ask for the ask meme way earlier but the trailer dropped and i got completely derailed..

But here it is!

What is your favourite book genre and is there anything you would recommend? What is your favourite movie from your childhood? Do you have any unpopular IWTV opinions? Do you have any Season 2 theories you haven't seen anyone talk about? Do you have any Claudia headcanons specific to Paris? Do you think Claudia might be haunting Dubai? Are there any songs you think are very Claudia coded?

Here I am answering this ask 4-5 days later!

-What is your favourite book genre and is there anything you would recommend?

I tend to gravitate towards gothic horror and absurdist comedy (the two can often intertwine) For what I would recommend, it would depend on the person! Like, do you like something that involves romance? History? Leans more into the comedy aspect? Leans more into the horror aspect?

-What is your favourite movie from your childhood?

At 11 I got addicted to Titanic and became a huge Titanic nerd lol. It's funny because I actually thought it was a horror movie initially because I watched the second half first with a friend who just wanted to skip to the boat sinking (I had never watched a horror movie prior to this so watching the claustrophobic sinking room scenes and the multiple people dying in front of me traumatized me okay!!). I guess I'll go with Titanic since that's the one movie I still love today I'm not ashamed to admit :)

-Do you have any unpopular IWTV opinions?

Oh plenty. I've spoken about a lot of them but I guess I'll mention that the writers including what happened to Claudia in Episode 5 was not bad writing, but more just poorly set-up imo. I know a lot of people hated it when the episode came out, and threw accusations of exploitation and the writers adding it just for shock value, but I politely disagree with those takes even if I get where they're coming from.

(trigger warning for mentions of SA below)

Claudia in both the books and the show constantly suffers from a lack of autonomy. It is a huge aspect of her character. She is constantly touched and handled too freely, as if she were still a child, without her consent. Louis and Claudia's relationship gets very unhealthy as well, as a result of her creators designing an environment where she literally has no one else. Now that they have aged her up, this aspect is still present, but now the threats are different. Claudia in Season 1 is driven by freedom and romantic love, but has now reached a stage where any human she gets into a romantic relationship would either be a creepy relationship with teenage boys, or a creepy relationship with a pervert. So she then looks to finding love with other vampires. Then she finds out, like in the books, other vampires won't necessarily understand or respect her either. It's a depressing realization that makes her character even more tragic. I know people would have preferred her seeing her struggle on her own to the point of being driven home rather than having the assault take place, but because of Claudia's character development this season, and because the season was so tightly condensed, the plot they went with actually makes sense :( And in fact, Claudia was actually never driven home because of the assault. She was driven home when she realized what her purpose finally was, as she was feeling lost and like she didn't belong anywhere as a black teenage vampire for years ("I realized why they made me- to be Louis's sister). If she couldn't survive on her own, albeit with more struggles than other vampires would, she wouldn't have tried to leave in Episode 6 by herself with Louis's assurance she could get by alright.

The thing that also makes this non-exploitative and randomly placed to me is that they never show it, and explicitly emphasize that they will not be showing or revealing the details despite Daniel's pressing.

The thing I didn't like was how it was set up. Bruce, like Claudia, wants to find other vampires and form a gang, but when he has found Claudia, after a minute, without any warning, just instantly throws an etiquette book at her (?), gets angry, assaults her, then leaves? So was that just his goal his entire time? I get why people think it's a badly written plotline. It would have made much more sense if Bruce had been a creepy "Stanley from Silent Hill 3" type, who through stalking her across universities, leaves letters and weird gifts for her or something. Claudia would be initially intrigued, because, hello, other vampires exist after all! but soon becomes wigged out and starts ignoring his letters/mind messages to her. She would end up escaping him (or killing him), because he wouldn't leave her alone, and that experience might add to her desire to leave the country and face Lestat.

Do you have any Season 2 theories you haven't seen anyone talk about?

I actually don't see many people talking about Madeleine. I do have a theory that Madeleine parallels Claudia's human mother in a couple of ways. I have this headcanon that Claudia had a black father and a white mother (just going off on the fact that Bailey Bass is biracial, but you don't have to agree), and they were teenagers when they had her, so that's why her dad gave her to his family to take care of (I'm assuming Claudia's mother might have been disowned or ran off, or her family refused to raise her themselves). So Madeleine represents to Claudia her mother if she had lived, just like Madeleine sees Claudia as a daughter if she had lived. And because this is supposed to be a complicated relationship, as Claudia is the actual older one, probably still longing for romantic connection, and doesn't want to get stuck in another daughter role, the show might venture further than mother/daughter/friendship territory, because this is the AR universe so things will naturally get complicated. I totally get if others don't want them to go into that area though.

Do you have any Claudia headcanons specific to Paris?

I do feel like Paris is where Claudia has her own awakening, same as Louis. It's where she realizes she likes girls, as we see her in a vampire orgy scene with another woman. I also think Claudia is a bit of a stalker. She likes trailing Madeleine or other women, seeing the life she could have had if she had stayed human. She actually ironically shares that in common with Armand. I feel like Armand and Claudia will actually like each other at first, and see a lot of themselves in each other. But because Claudia can see trouble coming a million miles away, his act doesn't fool her for long like it does with Louis, so gradually tension starts to build. I feel like Armand in the show, unlike in the book, actually harbors some regret when it comes to killing Claudia.

Also Claudia sketching Madeleine when?

Another headcanon I have is that Claudia has to fight for scenes where she plays someone who isn't a child/doll (hence the red dress in that promotional poster/painting). She also wants to get involved in some of the playwrighting, which she does with Armand. She does this until she starts getting suspicious about him, and after she quits writing, she not coincidentally at all starts getting cast in babydoll roles again. Armand sucks!

Do you think Claudia might be haunting Dubai?

God I hope so I want her to be haunting Louis but especially Armand's ass. The reason Armand supposedly can be awake at any time is because he just can't sleep, what with Claudia constantly taunting and tormenting him!

Are there any songs you think are very Claudia coded?

-"Can't Catch Me Now" by Olivia Rodrigo- perfect for Claudia haunting Louis and Armand!

-"Daughter" by Beyonce

-"Brutal" by Olivia Rodrigo

-"Girls Just Want To Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper

-"I've Got To Be Me" by Sammy Davis Jr.

-"Teen Idle" by Marina

-"Antagonist" by Nova Twins

-"Beating Like A Hammer" by Metric

-"Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now" (Hairspray)

-"Eat Your Young" by Hozier- I hesitate to add this one because the song is supposedly based around the Irish "A Modest Proposal", now a similar concept taking place in modern times, but the music video just strikes me as very Claudia coded. In it, the child in the nuclear family is created to fulfill the parent's needs, and is subsequently put into a box and told to be a certain way. The parents are hungry in a demanding society that metaphorically starves them to the point that they'll take drastic measures to fulfill that hunger, even if it means exploiting and metaphorically consuming their own children. And who is that if not Claudia with regards to Louis and Lestat?

Thanks for the ask friend! And sorry it took so long to answer <3

[thesoftboiledegg]

Overall, Full Meta Jackrick was decent. I liked it. It's not a personal favorite, but I won't mind it when I eventually rewatch the series. I just had the same problem with this episode that I did with the previous installment, Never Ricking Morty: it's not bad, but it's just...there? Meta episodes don't go anywhere because they CAN'T go anywhere. They're just twenty minutes of "Check it out, we're characters in a TV show!"

Still, I think this episode did a decent job of leaning into the meta without ruining the show. I was a little worried that Morty would realize that he's in a TV show and the entire universe would fall apart as he and Rick deconstruct everything, and then we'd have to act like nothing happened in the next episode. Luckily, Full Meta Jackrick didn't push the show's boundaries too far.

But yeah, I thought this episode was a little...pointless? It avoided cliches for the most part, but it also didn't say anything new. It wasn't a groundbreaking deconstruction of Rick and Morty or TV shows as a whole. It was just another take on the "Rick knows that he's in a TV show" concept, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it left me going "What was the point of that?"

The episode looked like it might have an anti-capitalist message with the Rick plushies, but that didn't really go anywhere, either. However, that might be a good thing--a preachy statement would've weighed down the episode even if I agree with it.

Full Meta Jackrick had a little more substance than Never Ricking Morty because at least we watched "our" Rick and Morty go on an adventure. I enjoyed watching an episode with just the two of them again. Their dynamic is brilliant--EVERYTHING that Rick and Morty do together is entertaining.

The first half of season six was great, but the episodes felt a little "off" because Morty didn't have much to do in most of them. Now, he's finally stepping back into the protagonist role.

Bringing back Story Lord (and Jesus) and writing a follow-up to Never Ricking Morty in general is a little gutsy and unexpected, which I can respect. Did anyone think that we'd ever hear anything about that train again? Never Ricking Morty isn't particularly loved or reviled--it's just an experimental episode that we probably would've forgotten about if it didn't foreshadow the season five Birdrick reveal.

For me, Full Meta Jackrick is a slightly better version of Never Ricking Morty because it's canon and has a more cohesive storyline. Full Meta Jackrick, like all of season six, also has great callbacks to the first couple of seasons. They never feel pandering or like they're trying to trigger your nostalgia--instead, they poke fun at the series itself and show you that the writers really care about this universe.

I also thought that this might've been the funniest episode of the season. Gotta be honest, guys--I normally roll my eyes when people say "Rick and Morty isn't funny anymore blah blah," but season six is the first season where I'm like "Yeah, the jokes haven't been great." But this episode had a lot of funny lines.

We did get some great character moments with Rick and Morty. Rick's still Rick: he's lazy, crabby, selfish and rude. But he's gentler with Morty, too. He treats him like a person and partner (in crime) instead of hoarsely shouting at him. He looks out for him and gives him his lab coat when they're freezing--boy, THAT'S been a fandom staple for nearly a decade.

This might be a stretch, but the scene in the garage caught my attention, too. Rick gently turns on Morty's goggles for him--you know, like an actual grandfather--instead of telling him to do it and then yelling that he's too slow or whatever.

This is seriously the fanservice season. Rick in a suit and tie yet again, Rick draping his lab coat over a shivering Morty, Rick tearing off his clothes to reveal that he's jacked underneath (I guess he's still working on those abs? lol.) The new writers' influence is so blatant, and I don't think most of us are complaining.

And we saw Rick's favorite thing yet again: crystals. 💎✨ (Well, ore.) Someone needs to give him $100 and cut him loose in a New Age store for a couple of hours.

I also want to note how much I love Justin Roiland's voice acting. Rick's voice is so complex and reflects his character development brilliantly. I hate how people dismiss Justin Roiland as a shouty guy who burps and yells into the microphone. Honestly, I don't hear Justin Roiland at all when Rick speaks--I just hear Rick.

Overall, Full Meta Jackrick was a decent return to the show after the six-week break. Those "Rick is a nihilist" YouTube videos need to go away forever because this episode's theme could have been "Nothing matters, we're just cartoon characters, blah blah," but it wasn't. Instead, Rick tells Morty that his life matters, and he looks at the audience as he says it.

[thorfemmes]

Hi hun I hope you’re doing well! So I daydream a lot at work and it’s a problem but that’s how I got this idea lol. I was wondering if you could write an Eddie Munson x fem plussize reader where they maybe both work at the mall (anywhere except Scoops Ahoy just because that one’s kinda all I kind find lol) and the stores they work at are across from eachother and so they see eachother almost constantly but from further away so he’s just always admiring from afar until he finally works up the courage one day to talk to her? You can decide how it ends!💜

Hi friend! I'm so sorry this took so long, writer's block is a bitch. I changed it a tiny bit, but I hope you still enjoy, and as always feedback, likes, and reblogs are always welcome and appreciated!<333

It was all very stereotypical. Boy meets girl, instantaneous attraction, loads of pining. Or at least Eddie thought so.

When Eddie first started working at Waldenbooks, he hadn't expected much. It was an easy gig; organizing and stocking shelves, helping women find the latest Nora Roberts book, pushing Lord of the Rings onto anyone who showed even the slightest interest in fantasy books. It may not have been his dream job, but it paid well, and he could work full time during the day and still have room for band rehearsal in the evening.

It wasn't until he decided to wander around after a shift that she caught his attention. On a normal day he would've gotten the hell out of dodge after a shift. Especially after shifts that were as long and exhausting as today's. Christmas was next week and with it came lines and lines of people doing last minute shopping. They had pulled him to work the register, something Eddie dreaded doing. It was all very mundane. Did you find everything okay? Do you need a receipt? Oh I'm sorry, but your card declined. That last one was usually met with offense from whoever the cardholder was.

So after this long ass shift, Eddie needed to clear his mind. He stopped by the food court to grab a lemonade from the hot dog place and proceeded to window shop. Not necessarily looking to buy anything, just something to distract him. He didn't actually walk into any stores until he came across the brick framed entrance to Spencer's.

Secretly one of his favorite stores in the mall, the colorful LED lights floating around the otherwise dark and dingy room felt oddly comforting to him. Perhaps it was the lighting, or maybe the fact that they often had Metallica and Ozzy songs on rotation in their store setlist. Either way, the atmosphere of the store was nice. And it definitely didn't hurt that he could buy pipes and bongs without anyone batting an eyelash.

As Eddie walked around the store, eyes lazily dragging over the band t-shirts on display, he glanced over to the cashier desk to see who was working that day. He didn't recognize the figure of the person working, granted they were facing away from him.

Eddie continued to walk around, looking at the cheap light displays and cheesy party decor they had. He silently giggled to himself seeing all of the penis-themed bachelorette accessories. Eventually he ventured towards the register to look at the pipes they had hidden behind glass panels. The salesperson had disappeared, probably to go tidy up the front of the store that had been ransacked during their Christmas rush.

Eddie's eyes all but glazed over as he stared at the glass pipes. Exhaustion was threatening to take over. But before he could head out he heard someone clear their throat.

"Is there anything I could help you with?" Her voice rang out like a bell.

Eddie jumped a little, surprised by the sudden intrusion. He looked up at her and instantly froze up. She was gorgeous. Her hair was tied back with loose tendrils framing her face. Her jeans perfectly hugged her waist, the soft red turtleneck she had tucked in only accentuated her curves.

"I, uh," He cleared his throat. "I'm only looking, thanks though".

She smiled softly at his stuttering. "Alright, just let me know if you need anything".

He nodded quickly and went to take a sip of his lemonade, only to choke on a small piece of ice that had snuck up the straw. He gagged as the cube hit the back of his throat and he looked at her in horror.

"Are you okay?" She watched as the young man spluttered over his cup.

"I'm fine," He wheezed. "Thanks for your help, have a good day". He darted out of the store before she could respond.

Eddie was mortified and did his best to avoid Spencer's at all cost in the following weeks. The universe, however, had other plans. Apparently she also liked to wander around after shifts or on her lunch, the bookstore becoming an after-work haven for her. Eddie recognized her almost immediately the first time she came in, almost hitting his head on a shelf after a quick double take.

He watched as she meandered through the aisles, picking up books to skim through before putting them back on the shelf. He must have been staring for a while because when you looked up at him and he quickly glanced away, he had to blink profusely because his eyes had gone dry. Recognition lit up your face, and you made your way toward Eddie's aisle.

He slowly stood up and wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans. Why were his palms sweaty? He had no clue. He didn't even know your name, and yet you made him incredibly nervous.

"Hey, you're Eddie, right?" You asked quietly.

"Yeah!" He said a little too enthusiastically. "Uh, excuse me. Yeah, I'm Eddie. And you are?"

She introduced herself. "I promise I'm not a creep. I was telling my boss that I came here to decompress after a shift and he told me to keep an eye out for you. Marvin says 'hi' by the way".

"Hey Marvin," He replied with a grin. "Is there anything I could help you find?"

"Actually yes! Do you have any recommendations for a historical fiction novel? I'm not too picky about what era of history, just nothing too sappy or romantic".

Eddie racked his brain. Historical fiction was definitely not his forte. The only book he could think of was All Quiet on the Western Front, and literally everyone had read that their junior year of high school.

"I'm going to be completely honest, I have no clue where to start with that genre. I am so sorry," He said dramatically.

She giggled at his theatrics. "Well, what would you recommend?"

"Are you into fantasy novels at all?"

"I've never dabbled in fantasy worlds, no".

Eddie's eyes lit up. He started to ramble on about The Reluctant Swordsman and Lord Foul's Bane and Howl's Moving Castle. Of course The Hobbit came up, more than once, but really Eddie just started to talk about the beauty of escapism, and how fantasy novels were the perfect examples of how a story can be so enthralling that it just sucks you in and allows time to fly by at the speed of light while you're enraptured by the fictional world.

She silently looked at him as Eddie talked, a small smile on her face. She watched his hands fly everywhere as he discussed the plots to one of the novels he'd recommended.

A solid 5 minutes had flown past as she nodded along to what he was saying. He slowed down to take a breath and realized how long he'd been going.

"So yeah, I'd definitely recommend a fantasy novel. If you hate it, you can obviously return it! Or if you're not interested, I can find someone who could help you find a different book?" He offered.

"I think I'll try it. Which do you suggest I start with?"

Eddie smiled and led her to the fantasy section. He scanned the shelves and carefully chose a handful of books to show her.

"Which one is your favorite?"

"I'm partial to The Hobbit. But I grew up reading it so I'm a little bit biased".

"I think I'll start with that one then".

"Really?" He smiled.

"Really," she grinned. "That way when I finish it, I can come back and we can talk about it".

"Or maybe, if you'd like, we could talk about it over coffee? Or lunch if you don't like coffee! It doesn't even have to be that formal, just a nice chat -".

"I'd love that Eddie".

He walked her up to the front desk to ring her up. He didn't realize until she was already gone that she left a little note on the signed receipt.

Call me, I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about as I'm reading :)

[yazzydream]

Chapter 68

無下限呪術を相伝する五条家は、およそ400年ぶりに 「六眼」を携えた、現当主にて現代最強の呪術 - 五条悟を獲得した。 The Gojo family, who passes down the Limitless Cursed Technique, acquired the "Six Eyes" for the first time in approximately 400 years, with the possession of the current head— Gojo Satoru, the strongest sorcerer of the modern era.

Question: So, Satoru is the first in ~400 years to "wield" the Six Eyes. But... not necessarily the first in ~400 years to be born with them?

Chapter 145

After losing to two Six Eyes sorcerers, Kenjaku killed the next newly born Six Eyes. And when another popped up again later, foiling his plans yet again, he realized he needed to seal them instead. Since two Six Eyes can't exist at the same time. And once sealed they can be trapped anywhere from 100-1000 years. (ref:Ch90) Plenty enough time to get on to his plans to merge humanity with Tengen.

But he only just finally acquired the Prison Realm six years ago (~2012).

"After that, Kenjaku switched to sealing instead of eradicating the Six Eyes [...]"

...Makes it sound like Kenjaku might've tried killing them multiple times again before coming up with a Plan B. Lol.

Maybe there's a long bitter history between him and the Gojo clan. (He literally murdered one of their babies in the cradle.) I would be unimpressed if Kenjaku weren't mentioned somewhere in the clan records.

All of this to say, I was wondering if there had been more Six Eyes born more recently but just never grew up to be proper sorcerers. But now I wonder if the Six Eyes power didn't just go dormant for self-preservation reasons.

Kenjaku is like, the literal blood feud enemy of the Gojo clan, huh.

Also, this is another theory, but the fan guide is sort've... non-explicit about the Six Eyes being an exclusive Gojo family trait? It is written about in the Gojo family section... But it just says they were the first to get Six Eyes in ~400 years due to Satoru.

↑ 呪力を見通し、微細な操作を可能とする 「六眼」。 保 持者は、 五条家の歴史においても稀少な存在である。 ↑ The "Six Eyes", allows insight of Cursed Energy, enabling the management of fine control possible. Even in the history of the Gojo family, holders are a rare existence.

Does this mean other Six Eyes could've been born outside the family...? Kenjaku lost track of/wasn't even aware of the fourth Six Eyes that was mentioned after all. Maybe it's because that Six Eyes wasn't a Gojo. 🤔 (This is a kind of unserious. Just another possible idea. Lol.)

[stars-and-darkness]

20 questions for fic writers!

many many thanks to @garglyswoof for tagging m

How many works do you have on ao3? 63. i need to calm down.

What's your total ao3 word count? 747 502. i need to calm down.

What fandoms do you write for? the vampire diaries, shadow & bone, avatar: the last airbender, star wars, marvel. also, that one suez canal x ever given fic, and that one goncharov fic.

Top five fics by kudos: A Queen's Gamble (you know it's an old one if the title is capitalised lmao), make them bow., the fate makes for a lousy poet., where the heart moves the stones, nyctophilia.

Do you respond to comments? i try. i am not very good at it, but every now and then i sit down, crack my knuckles, and go about emptying my poor inbox.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? the end. is like ... the only fic i ever wrote that ended unhappily.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? see above, lol, literally everything else. i'm a wuss.

Do you get hate on fics? i mean ... not really? i would mostly classify the rude things i got as entitlement rather than hate. the impression i usually got was that those people liked my writing style, or the plot, or characterisation, or whatever--there was just one thing or several that they wanted to happen differently, and they felt the need to tell me that.

Do you write smut? looooooo, no, my ace ass would probably spontaneously combust.

Craziest crossover: i don't suppose i've ever written an actual crossover, but today i put dracula-the-historical-figure into the vampire diaries universe, so ....

Have you ever had a fic stolen? ... maybe? okay, strap yourselves: a few years ago someone asked if they could translate a fic of mine into spanish and post it on wattpad, and i said yes. (THIS is one of the reasons why i don't allow translations anywhere but ao3 anymore). they did, and they sent me the link. i linked the translation to my fic, the usual. then, a lot later, i actually went to check their post, and i realised that i wasn't credited though the person said they would. yaaaaay.

Have you ever had a fic translated? well, other than the fiasco up there, the incredible @winterandmistletoe, who made the edit that graces the beginning of make them bow., has two chapters of the russian translation of that fic up on ao3. there's also been an offer to translate The Manifesto of a Last Love into russian, but that one hasn't been posted yet.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? i have not! and honestly, i don't think i'd be very good at it. i'm a bit of a tyrant, so in an effort NOT to be perceived as such i'd probably be super lenient of whatever the other people came up with even if i didn't necessarily like it. i'm pretty particular in my tastes, and one of the things i love about writing fic is that i have nobody but myself to answer to.

All time favorite ship? ehhhhh, nooo, i can't choose between my children!

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? considering that tvd has had me in its claws for two years now, it feels unlikely i'll ever go back to my wips in other fandoms. you never know of course, but it feels that way. i mean. those unfinished wips don't exactly haunt me, but sometimes i remember them and feel awful about it, lmao.

What are your writing strengths? i'm told i do dialogue and humour well!

What are your writing weaknesses? ughhhhh probably action? it's so hard. oh! and my tendency to describe how a character's eyes look in every other sentence.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? SO fun fact that dracula fic that i posted today? the one where half the dialogue is in french? i had originally written it all IN FRENCH, and then decided to take mercy on my readers and just put the english translation into italics. yeah. anyway, rule of thumb, ig: if the pov character understands what's being said, then english in italics (or if it's just a sentence or two the spoken language with a footnote). if they can hear individual words, then the language that's being spoken, without translation. if they hear only gibberish--maybe they're super unfamiliar with the language, maybe it's being spoken very fast or with an accent--then just 'character x says something in z'.

First fandom you wrote in? marvel, for my own peace of mind. star wars is the first one i actually posted for.

Favorite fic you've written? again, you can't ask me to pick between my children.

tagging: @morningstargirl666 @kirythestitchwitch @helpless-in-sleep @marxandangels @purplesigebert @darkestgrays @averseunhinged

[misc-obeyme]

"you and mammon are clearly made for each other" 🥹 🥹 excuse me while i go sob, that's so sweet

I really should start writing! I keep daydreaming scenes and the whole thing plays out in my head, but I never put it to paper. It's just rattling around (also I saw a tiktok saying that not everything you draw has to be with the intention of becoming a finished piece, and I've been having SO MUCH FUN sketching today.)

Like today, I got a tiktok about Orpheus and eurydice that really stuck with me. And there's the whole debate of whether or not you'd turn around if you were in their shoes. And I was imagining the brothers reaction to it, and probably some of them saying they could make it with ease if it was for MC (i think Mammon and Lucifer would argue they could, and maybe Satan or Beel would be the one to say they might turn around)

"Do y'all really think you could make it? His love for her was his reason and his undoing."

"C'mon! It can't be that hard, right? Ya just gotta follow the Great Mammon, I'd lead ya outta danger easy peasy! No turning back required."

"But think about it, Mammon. Can you? Could you hear me behind you, and never feel torn by wanting to take a peek? Could you trust that I'd follow you anywhere? You know you can, you know that I would, but you would still want to see for yourself. The anxiety would be eating me away."

"But it means both of us getting out if I don't peek! If it was for you, I'm sure I could do it... I just have to keep going. Ain't it that simple?"

"Honestly, if I was in his shoes, and I heard you speak my name, I'd have to drop to my knees to resist what's now become second nature. And even then, I'm not sure I'd make it. I would turn around, I would need to make sure you're okay...Think about it, Orpheus loved her too much, so he turned. I would turn around if it was you behind me-... *Coughs* Uh, anyway... That's how I see it..."

"...Did you just-" -Satan

"WOW WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE TIME, I THINK I FORGOT SOME HOMEWORK, NIGHT GUYS!"

"it's 5:00 pm??" - Mammon, who is trying to figure out wtf happened and why i ran off

and this is how i would be accidentally confessing i was in love with mammon. because god knows i would deny my feelings to hell and back in the beginning!! (I'm pretty sure I'm ALSO a tsundere unfortunately 😭)

anyway, who do you think would/wouldn't turn around? do you think Barbatos would? Solomon?

- ✨ anon

Yo, I'm just calling it like I see it!

I just find that it helps to get the ideas out somehow! That could be writing or drawing or whatever you like! I think most creating is like that, too - you can do a lot without necessarily having to completely finish it! I'm glad you've been sketching a bunch!

BAH that is the CUTEST confession ever???

Especially if he doesn't get it lolol classic Mammon right there.

Oh NO two tsunderes falling for each other!?! It's okay, slow burns are great lol. Though it'd be one of those situations where everybody else is fully aware that you're both in love with each other and they're just like siiiigh these two. That's so cute, though!

Let's see, who would turn?

I don't think Barbatos would. I think part of what caused Orpheus to turn around was that he didn't believe Eurydice was actually behind him. He didn't trust the gods and like... who can blame him? Greek gods do all kinds of crazy shit all the time.

But Barbatos? He'd know. He'd know somehow if MC was behind him. Not only that, but there's no way anybody would trick him. I think if they did, they'd unlock Murderous Barb in two seconds flat and I'm convinced that guy could kill a god if he wanted to. He's a very patient demon, but he won't stand being tricked over something like that. You do that, you forfeit your life. Possibly being dragged to the infamous dungeon even.

It'd be harder for Solomon. He just doesn't have the same kind of all-knowing master of time nonsense that Barb has. I feel like he'd be more on par with Orpheus, if older and wiser due to the whole immortality thing.

To be honest, I kinda see Solomon being the one to do the tricking. Like I don't think he'd just accept a deal like that. I don't think he'd trust it. So he'd either try to negotiate for something he does feel okay with or he'd use his magic to somehow hold the god accountable. (Not sure if it'd actually be Hades in this scenario since we're talking about the Underworld... wouldn't it be interesting if it was Diavolo????? OMG that would change my Barb answer lol. But let's assume it isn't him, but some other entity of Death or something.) I just think Solomon would be more likely to use his magic to guarantee that things go the way he would want them to.

If for some reason he couldn't do any of that, though, and it just came down to him having to walk out of the Underworld without turning around... I think he could do it. I think it'd be really hard for him. But I think he could do it. Especially if MC was still really young when they died.

MAN. That's tragic. Good thing this isn't something all our fools would have to do can you imagine???

[rayssion]

TSATS, Finally!!

This's a very long post guys...

Idk if I have a natural ability to ignore responsibilities or I'm just genuinely not good at keeping promises. But yes, finally the long awaited review of tsats is here.

So, the general rating for me is 3.5, which is... Really good, considering the book,,

Now you know, points to talk about:

Firstly guys I want to tell you that, unfortunately the sun and the star had me run into a deep reading slumber, which is something I never expected it to happen. Idk if you noticed this but my favourite character in whole Riordanverse is Nico! And Will comes closely after him, so I thought tsats would only be a fast run to me, it's basically a solangelo fanfic just written by the original author. But as I ran the first 100 pages I found myself drained, I was bored, I was tired and we really weren't going anywhere. It was a displayer of Nico and Will's love for each other, and I'm sorry to be that person but!! I dislike it when the ship is just out there living and laughing like I'm sorry but I need them to suffer first then some smiles and laughs at the end would do (insert some offended face).

Yeah, let's talk real. I know we had to go through that introduction to know where exactly the two of them stand in their relationship to be able to observe the change and development later on, but it was very repetitive.

Nico is made from darkness, Nico had so much darkness, Nico lives in the shadows, Nico doesn't think he deserves love, Nico doubts Will's love, Nico feels he's not enough for Will. It all goes in circles and I didn't like it. Nico I know you're emo and such but I just think the narration focused too much in it on expense of getting good Will expressing.

And this coming from a big Nico di Angelo lover, I feel like we don't quite exactly know Will even after this whole book, there's yet so much to unfold about him, his mother, his life at camp, his feelings after all toa happened like his father was a teenager just like him and was the biggest loser ever (lol, I just love Lester), how come we didn't discuss that? Nico is a character we all know, we lived with him, we experienced every feeling he went through, he wasn't new to us which is not the case with Will. What's the difference between us and the troglodytes? All we know that he's a son of Apollo, a healer and Nico's glow-in-the-dark boyfriend.

I just felt the need to summarise because I felt that what I wrote could be compromised in better wording: the narration was too repetitive and too focused on Nico and his dark past™ which is not necessarily a bad thing but I just feel it'd be better if cut it a bit shorter and clear the stage for Will, because -surprise surprise- Will also has some dark parts (although not much like Nico, and yes I know the book touches the topic later on but it'd have been way better if we were introduced to it from the start thus it'd grow on us and would be very convenient later on. Tbh the book just goes "oh, Will also got a dark side, he must share it with Nico..." But what I'm saying is, we never were exposed to it, what's the darkness within Will? Those pigeons? His mother performing and him staying backstage? I feel like we could explore it much better) anyways, it'd also be really great if we got to experience Nico's dark past yet from Will's point of view more often, that way the whole communication arc would be better, because we will know that Will already had a solid image of Nico in his head (yes his lovely little emo boy with miserable history but we'll get to know what he knows about the Nico and also the flaws he had picked up in him) and as the time goes we'll get to experience that image altering.

I know someone will think "but it's a Nico di Angelo adventure!" Yes I know, but don't you think getting to know Nico, our adored character, from his boyfriend perspective would be much interesting? Come on guys, see the potential.

Let's rewind a little bit, so 100 pages, I'm bored I stopped reading for three days then picked the book yet again and..... Stopped after 50 pages ;-;

I'M SORRY BUT I REALLY WASN'T FEELING THE VIBES OKAY I KNOW IT'S TOTALLY MY FAULT AND I'M SORRY GUYS.

And picked the book for the last time today and finished it.

Oh yes, another thing that felt off for me is how Chiron and Dionysus are portrayed here, idk they felt so out of character and the whole "dO wE hUg nOw?" I'm sorry, that was cringe, dw it's on me guys.

And there were points where the writing was so inconsistent, I never read anything of Oshiro's work before, but it's so painfully obvious when his and Rick's writing styles clashes (ugly clashes) that it makes the book really obviously written by more than one author, and other points where idk if Rick is trying water down his style or Oshiro is trying to level the work up to the satire and sarcasm Riordan's books are known for. Anyways, it could use some editing (and it's definitely edited but not enough to mask every hole, because if a dumb person like me speed reading the book was able to pick all that then it's obviously not enough).

Also Nyx was stupid. Yes, that's my statement. Iget it you refuse to change but I hate how dumb her plan was. First of all, why leave Bob without guard? I mean you obviously have better chances in luring Nico and maybe killing Will if they don't have a Titan with them?? But yeah this's not about her.

I also hated we lost originality here, I already told you guys it read like a fanfic, but it really was a fanfic, every fanservice they could include they did include. For example the Hades allowing Bianca and Maria to talk to Nico once again, look I'm not complaining (as you'll read later) but really WHAT THE FUCK??! Weren't they reincarnated or whatever? How the fuck is that possible?

Also isn't Tartarus like, beyond the powers of the gods?? Then how is Hades going to retrieve whoever-was-his-name-centaure-satyr out of it? And just because Nico asked nicely?

Another thing, I know that you can issue a quest (just like what Percy and Annabeth did to rescue Grover in SOM, and like what Ares did in SON) but how the fuck do you send a prophecy?? Isn't this also too much of a godly power? Like Apollo (the god of prophecy himself) stated that they're way above him then how can Hades send one???

So we mentioned the narration, we've done the character portrial that I didn't like, now we're off to good stuff!

A big point! A huge point! For solangelo's relationship, I loved how they often had fights, disagreed with each other, hid things from one another, had miscommunication yet still managed to figure it out as mature humans whom are much better than half of adults nation. I loved how quickly one apologise once they realise they were wrong, I loved how they stayed by each other's side and how they supported each other, like bro it seems like they can't stay angry at each other more than five seconds and I love for it!

This's actually Rick's trademark (along with having Percy in everything he writes) that he always sets a good example for kids, younger audience who read his books have a good exposure to an excellent functional relationship not like some other booktok authors whom I'm not naming (totally not about you Colleen Hoover, you do you honey🙂).

Hiss-magisty and oh boy how much I love them! They were so cute I really liked how they looked up to Will, especially that the boy needed such encouragement because of the whole child of Apollo, underworld, tartarus things going on. And yet another point to tsats for representation (never forgetting Epiales).

Nico, Hades, Maria, Bianca!! You just have to love them!! They're literally my favourite family in the whole Riordanverse, yes I'm so madly in love with Sally and yes I love Percy but the Hades/di Angelo family?? That's where my discussion ends.

And speaking about family, can we have a moment of appreciation for Persephone like I truly loved her back from mythology (which I know nothing about, like she's Hades wife, that's it, yet I still loved her because she seemed nice, and she's nice!) This whole journey won't be if not for her, girl single handedly opened Will's eyes and her love for Nico??? Told you that's my family right there.

Lol I just remembered when Demeter was lecturing Persephone for not marrying a doctor and now I just know she loves solangelo, so yeah even grandma is an icon, I stan by it, that's my family.

Okay I also wanted to talk about the concept of grief and ptsd and how it was represented. This actually deserves a major applause because that's really how you write a good deep psychological analysis of losing someone and having to cop with it, especially that part when Nico tells how he just shunned all his memories away, how in his mind Jason just went to a quest and someday he'll return to camp half-blood as if nothing happened, because surprisingly it's the same method my brain took when my mother died, it's like all these years had been deleted and I was just brought to world after her passing, a lot of times I try to remember some particular incident from the time but I just can't wrap my mind about it, sometimes I became alert because for a minute there I couldn't recall her name, it was like all the pain associated with her just disappeared, it is locked far away in my brain and I still can't get access to it. So yeah, away from this pity party, I love how it was represented here, with Nico really suffering the trauma and how he eventually learned to let it go. (I cried at that mention and also when he was reunited with his family for that little amount of time).

Can we name the cocoa puffs?? Because I just adore them so much and I feel like Nico and Will will name them such cute adorable names and I can't stop thinking about that. Lol, percabeth are yet to get engaged then married and solangelo already has kids.

Ps actually but the pet names??? OMG NOTHING SWAYS MY HEART LIKE PET NAMES. I was pretty much hooked when I read "Noble McSacrifice" SSKFHIDJ

Another ps. I liked the whole Gorgyra thing as a way to show us their memories like a breeze amidst the flames every couple of chapters. At first I was like "wtf is this, did it happen or is it gonna happen or is this an alternate universe??" Don't blame me I was sleepy.

Yet another ps. I hated the "DREAM SEQUENCE" that just comes in the middle, like bro the boy just went to sleep of course I'd know this's a dream no need to point it out every time it was so annoying.

I think I covered all of the points I wanted to talk about, I was going to say "yay, first review with me having actual time to write it and think it through!" Yet auntie barged in in the middle and everything seems all over the place now.

It's like a characteristic in me now, heh. But yeah, sorry for the long wait, sorry for this shitty review, but bear with me please.

I totally adored this book once I figured out how to keep up with it ").

I'm yet to read a bunch of books all by Rick, hopefully I'll start with the chalice of the gods and come for a quick chat later.

Until then, eat, sleep and take care of yourselves♡!!

[allmyhomieshatelawns]

Alright. ALRIGHT FINE. I’m caving okay. I’m caving to the Trolls brainrot. It’s too good okay. It’s been lifting my depression. Sue me. Please don’t, I don’t own anything and have very little money. So I’ve been devouring all I can on here about the various AU ideas, headcanons, etc. now I’m gonna actually contribute some and break my lurking status in fandoms lol. So here are some scattered thoughts, things I’d change for my AU, working stuff out. Etc. yes, it’s a Feral!Branch AU.

Wanna do me a Feral!Branch AU bc I like feral bitches So Much.

Also like… why did they leave right before the ceremony for Trollstice…? Why didn't they leave the night before, under the cover of darkness? So I'm fixing that. No more Putt-Putt trolls unfortunately, but hey, Viva doesn't get torn from her sister!

Most of the village thinks Poppy has been eaten at the beginning because Chef had wanted to snatch her early to make sure everything was perfect. However, Branch had attacked Chef, sending both he and Poppy to the ground. That's how he has her at the beginning, that's why he's the one keeping her safe as they escape.

Disco merged w Pop trolls decades ago, their ancestors being the glitter trolls.

• Trolls are magical creatures, the guardians of their style of music.

○ Most of the time they use this music to keep the Spirit of Hope flowing throughout the world.

• They have tails and claws and fangs, which varies with what type of troll they are.

• They can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Eggs are sung into existence either way though

○ Asexual reproduction happens on purpose only, there's a magical rite they go through to help themselves conceive with the Spirit of Music (Yep. You heard me. They're fucking a Spirit.)

§ This process is much easier than sexual reproduction, but still takes a lot from the laying parent

○ Sexual reproduction also only happens on purpose. The couple, or thruple in some cases, will combine their hair, locking it together, and consuming each other's DNA, then singing the egg into existence.

§ This process can take a few hours, and takes a Lot out of the parents.

• Eggs can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks to hatch, depending on the strength of the parents, however a long hatch doesn't necessarily mean the trolling within will be weaker, especially if they're able to have that time to develop.

• Trollstice has been going on for 100 years.

○ It started as just the bergens going ham and slaughtering everyone, before both the king of the bergens, and the king of the pop trolls, came together.

○ The king of pop was given two choices:

§ We [the bergens] will eat all of your entire people, wiping every last one out.

§ Don't leave while we build a cage around your tree to keep other bergens out, and you'll only be eaten once a year. Every year. Forever.

○ Immediate annihilation, or generational trauma? Yeah the king chose trauma. He was eaten for his efforts, once the cage was completed. He was the first troll eaten for Trollstice.

• King Peppy is that king's grandson,

○ he watched his father come into power and how horrible it all was, the terror of knowing there was a death day coming around the corner

○ Not to mention the bergens that would try to skirt the cage and reach in for any stragglers.

○ So King Peppy decided that he wouldn't do this, he would save his people.

• The plans for the escape from the Troll Tree started before Peppy was even crowned, the hollowing out of the tree and mourning as it slowly died, despite their magic hiding the worst of the effects.

○ The tunnelling takes more than a decade, but finally they make it out.

○ King Peppy pushes away memories of his first daughter, knowing that she would have to have been captured and likely eaten already.

○ It was too painful to think about those they lost that night.

How being feral works here:

• More in touch with wilder aspects, sharper senses for one, all heightened to be vigilant of danger.

○ This can easily lead to overstimulation, since sharper senses mean more sensitive. A loud bang hurts like being slapped, sudden light is like being stabbed, etc.

• Denser coat of fur

• Longer, sharper claws and fangs no matter what type of troll, this shit will get larger and more dangerous

• These trolls tend to end up on the shorter side, either from malnutrition, the walking on all fours that is common as a feral, or something else like having to hide to start with.

• Become feral by isolation, got nothing to do with colors

• More skittish for sure, more willing to go for violence

○ Will roughhouse for fun

○ Will also take long naps in the sunshine, just like a cat, ears fully alert, but able to relax in the soft warmth.

• Difficult to speak, more accustomed to growling, hissing, purring, silence, etc.

• Ferals can sing however, not with words since they can't really speak

○ It's a haunting sound, usually double-toned with a Deep Bass Rumble

• The magic ferals can do is also more 'primitive' but only in the sense that it's pretty strictly some form of deep nature magic, or some kind of knack that they have.

○ For instance, Branch is stupid good at digging homes and making them safe, why? He's got a sense of it. He's got an extra sense that tells him where to put dirt, how to mix in the water, where to support what, where not to dig, where there would be water underneath, etc. He's just good w the ground in general.

• Nesting is more important to ferals than other trolls. A feral's nest is their sacred Safe Space, if you are in their Sacred Safe Space, then you had better've been fucking invited there because you won't make it out of the nest intact.

• Grooming is more intensive of course, they're out in the wild, and the wrong scent could lead a predator to you.

○ To be groomed by a feral means they care deeply for you, and they're trying to keep you safe and clean

• Once you go feral, like, you can kinda get reintroduced to society and all that, but the physical changes won't ever go away

• Ferals hibernate in the winter, growing an extra dense coat of fur and blubber to last them the long three months of snowfall.

• Usually takes a couple of months of being completely alone to go Full Feral, if with like, one other person, it takes about a year to go Full Feral with them.

○ A community can go feral, depending on circumstances and numbers.

§ More likely that a community goes partially feral, not as wild as fully feral, but much more wild than a non-feral troll community would be, less focused on the party vibes

But yeah that’s what I’ve kinda got knocking around in my noggin, if anyone wants to gush w me, please feel free. I will gush about these stupid fucking trolls for hours without taking a breath. They’ve hooked their damn claws into me.