#it just wasnt relevant until now

[lunatic-fandom-space]

I just remembered, about a year ago immediately after reading interview with the vampire for the first time I stumbled upon this youtube comment under a video that was about progressive modern reboots and why so many of them suck, i think? that was basically like "the new iwtv show is a good example of a progressive reboot thats actually good, in large part because it focuses on the queer relationships that could only be hinted at in the original book bc it was published in the 70s" which absolutely flabberghasted me. like, im not gonna deny that homophobia was A Thing in the 70s but I never got the impression that iwtv was the way it was because of that. like Ive started rereading it and thirty pages in I feel like Louis just keeps saying shit to the effect of "what lestat and i did together was very much not unlike gay sex", so he is kinda vague about it but the homoeroticism is blatant enough that I dont think it was selfcensoring yknow. also, after reading the vampire lestat I feel like you can chalk that vagueness up to just louis' personality because in his own book (which came out in the 80s) he basically straightup says "i love louis the way i love my mother. romantically" which is wild of course but well. he said it not me.

[dollar-store-sparklez]

i miss dominion smp :(

[inmirova]

In an ideal world, it would be a program for Deaf teachers, the government could even put it under vocational rehab if they wanted to! Unfortunately, even some Deaf schools don't employ many Deaf teachers and a lot of teaching jobs end up going to interpreters or just hearing & non-signing people instead. But you're right and I love what you said, we can hope 🩷

idk man. i just think itd be really cool if sign language classes were mandatory throughout primary school. yeah because it would make communication with deaf kids and autistic/nonverbal kids much easier. and those kids would be accessible to the others so they cold make friends and have healthy relationships. yeah. and kids would eat that shit up man. like their own little secret language? they love that.

[autumndragons]

>make a new tag for something off the cuff >check blog to see if youd already used that tag just in case even though it doesnt seem likely >there is one other post in that tag >its from 2017 >its exactly the kind of thing you would put in this tag

huh.

[doctorhomo]

OKAY OKAY. OKAY.

OKAY.

IM GONNA LIST THEORIES/THINGS I THINK

the constant mentions of susan returning and the red herring of susan triad is not just a red herring. it would be weird to have her brought up that much and not actually do anything. sutekh was luring the doctor in - why? and what’s his leverage? why lure him in with promises of his granddaughter unless he actually has susan? what if susan is his leverage over the doctor? sutekh gains control of the universe or susan dies

the toymaker, maestro, the mara and the trickster were all mentioned - but only the trickster hasnt showed up recently, in the main show or in extras. toymaker in the giggle, maestro in TDC, the mara in the S20 minisode - why mention the trickster at all if he’s not relevant? ruby’s “mother” is the trickster. it wasnt pointing at the doctor, but rather at the tardis - or sutekh. the trickster is bending reality by sutekh’s side, bc i dont remember sutekh being too fussed about bending reality, whereas it was the tricksters whole thing in sja

whenever the trickster pulls someone from reality in sja, they were in an entirely white void. whenever something significant/emotional happens to ruby, it snows.

sutekh’s last minions were just robots dressed as mummies - not humans slotting themselves into peoples lives, and certainly not children (henry arbinger). but the trickster did use a child to his advantage in TToSJS

susan triad said she gets her ideas from her dreams - what should we expect to see from her? self driving ambulances? bubbles? space stations?

we saw both susan and harriet turn into the creepy skeleton minions after sutekh revealed himself, but not mrs flood, who clearly also works for sutekh. is she the trickster? is she ruby’s “mum’”? she’s been planted there for sutekh’s plan, but she’s clearly more important than h arbinger and s triad

i feel like it was glossed over far too quickly that carla was like “that’s the beast!” ?????? excuse me ma’am??????? not one single person acknowledged that and i feel INSANE

why was susan triad appearing in all those episodes?? was it just sutekh trying to taunt the doctor?? i think she was under something like a chameleon arch, and she’d have sworn she was human until her dying breath. she feels more like a sleeper agent than an undercover one

in conclusion (for now) i feel absolutely insane. i have been vibrating all day and i dont think i breathed during that episode. im going to sleep for 46 hours and hopefully ill wake up normal

[bunniocs]

yeaaa sasha and levi have a complicated relationship ⚰️ novel incoming so im sorry lmao

so when they were in middle school sasha (and teddy) figuratively saved levis life. yeah he physically fought the bullies to the point of getting into trouble himself but he also became something for levi who was new in town and extremely sensitive and felt all his emotions at 150% to lean on (and for a long time hide behind), and sasha who had lived his whole life just letting everything happen to him would have an active role in someones life.

levis situation made it so they spent a lot of time together and they actually got on well, esp because they all did (at this point different) sports. and from day 1 levi thought sasha was so. cool. (and at this point sasha was taller too). hed follow him anywhere. listen to the same music. wear the same clothes etc. and it was so good for sasha to make a friend other than his sister and teddy. and soon levi was able to express his loud personality (hyper competitive, confident, overly sensitive, no filter, you know right) and the three became inseparable

in time their dynamic as this "savior" and the "saved" gave them a lot of codependency, but they didnt see it like that. it was natural and they loved each other. they started dating in like the transition from middle school to high school and it was Serious like when uni started theyd been dating for over 4 years and they were like this is who im spending my life with/if it ever becomes legal then this IS the guy im going to marry

so bc levi was so happy during those years he was able to thrive when it came to his ambitions like he was working hard with volleyball and getting 10s after 10s in his studies and prep for med school and he does get accepted. so then uni starts and whoa? levi has to leave bc the only med school in the country is on the other side of it. uh oh....

they both dont know how to function without the other at this point but sasha doesnt voice any of his feelings (bc hes developing intensifying insecurities abt how he feels hes failing at... well, life, bc of the developments of both of their lives) and they say good bye with a promise that theyll call and visit as much as possible.

and levi struggles HARD in the beginning. the studies are hard, balancing volleyball with them is hard, and hes new in town again and his security is gone. but, he IS a different person from 7 years ago. he started gaining his independence quickly and adjusting to life in the capital and when he visited on christmas everything was already clear. sasha felt like he was slipping away from him bc he himself had no other things and no other futures he was working towards other than this relationship. levi didnt need him anymore and in fact he was becoming a doctor and hed be the one having to take care of sasha. even though they were finally together again sasha felt like they were worlds apart. even the way levi spoke was changing and becoming literally hard to understand.

so when levi returned to school it all started Actually going bad. bc sasha had let passivity poison his entire being instead of confronting his issues he started to withdraw and levi alone couldnt keep them going. eventually theyd only ever fight and levi for the first time let his meaner qualities target sasha. and it hurt him even more that no matter how awful he was sasha rlly didnt care enough abt him anymore to get angry back?

it WAS gradual though and this went on for SO. LONG. bc neither knew how to let go until finally at the end of their second year levi said enough to the limbo and once and for all ended their relationship. time passed and now levi after fighting so hard made team captain. and he hears sasha is also his teams captain and levi feels even more resentment bc he has had to crawl through blood and tears since middle school but sasha whos never aspired to anything can just become captain bc ????? (he has no idea). also sasha feels some type of way abt levi getting into a new relationship so "fast" and with the guy he knows became his roommate in their 2nd year... even tho he rlly has no business to lmaooo

so to finally answer the question in the post: levi feels so bitter and resentful and sasha is just swallowed up in his self loathing and rlly just doesnt want to see him again

which oc currently has a complicated relationship with an ex?

[conceptofjoy]

have you considered 300mg caffeine just in case

once in high school my italian teacher gave everyone a shot of espresso because it was like an absurdly small class and you know its like culturally relevant to the class. so i was sitting there and sipping it all dignified and then in the next instant i became aware of every texture on my body, the exact temperature of the room, the wrinkles and acne of everyone around me, and i was like ‘wuh oh’. of course i found this funny as fuck which then added to my predicament because now i was smiling like the fucking joker, boutta ask the class why so serious and toss my desk through the window but at least i had a mask on? still wasnt great bc i know i had my eyes wide open and shit. maybe jeff the killer would be more apt, i dunno. i was counting milli-seconds until the hour and a half class was over while trying not to fidget in the slightest, i dont think i ever felt more neurodivergent than in that moment.

[greatgoddyke]

gggfied some old ocs (ramblings about thought process + (hand gestures) about the story under cut)

started with the idea of turning reverie into a ggg oc n worked from there to make a fake level

reverie being the god of safety came immediately initially i had trouble figuring out how to go about with them bc my og idea felt too similar to what we're told is going down in buzzhuzz but focusing back on three specific elements of og reverie helped a LOT n gave a lot of direction those elements being escapism dissociation and fire

the level takes place in the wunderholz hotel which is currently in disrepair and only being operated by one person ie the receptionist cupid d. andrews as the rest of the staff are doing literally anything else as the request of reverie before their domain became basically inaccessible

location was vague originally all i had in mind was wanting there to be physical danger throughout the level similar to the finale of milldread so originally it was gonna take place in a forest (hence the hotel being named wunderholz. literally just wonderwood in german) n the danger element was just gonna be that the forest was on fire but that doesnt really work bc like. fire department?? + extremely visible + would easily spread to the other areas so it needed to be something less obvious n not as clear of a fix-it bc its supposed to be tied to reverie (like miss mitternacht's flood n cobigail's vines) THEN remembered the shining (book not movie) which snapped into place the danger being an overheating boiler n the level taking place in a hotel

other stuff reverie was chief of safety when the hotel was being built (which they got elected for) their domain is in the basement right next to the boiler (formerly n still kind of employee breakroom) n in universe it wasnt originally supposed to be a hotel but construction got switched to one after reverie ascended (pretty cool to have a god in ur basement tbh) also hobbyhoo implies that the letter shenanigans have been going on for at least a few days bc of the last few episodes sucking n im running with that for this with it being like two weeks or so

marcelee d'vonair used to be a sfm oc whos design i never nailed down her thing back then was just she was an uninspired fashion designer n u gave her some photos of fashionable habitants to cheer her up marcelee now is the chief of safety at the hotel n the one in charge of the boiler but is instead outside chatting about fashion with vib during the level and you have to get vib away from her for the end sequence (crucial thing vib is actually working on stuff while marcelee is all talk n dodging questions)

she n cupid are (currently until i play with things further) the only reverie followers in the level (bc other followers typically go into fields more immediately relevant to maintaining safety (osha god) like repairmen or health inspectors) n were the two that were (attempting) to keep the hotel in shape during reverie's absence until a few days ago where the stress of not being able to fix the boiler (+ inability to get help from specifically reverie) got to marcelee n she stopped trying n avoided the issues by dreaming up fashion ideas (n not doing anything bc its safer not trying than it is to fail)

cupid's changed the least of the three hes just been redrawn in the style n had his story adjusted accordingly (rip stupid paper bag he used to have 😔✌️) hes the character godpoke would be interacting the most with n provides the hints for progressing (for reasons that will become clear when we get to reverie) n he also provides the obligatory flirt line with his greeting ("hey sweetheart!")

for the last few days cupid has been solely responsible for keeping the wunderholz together which hasnt been going very well bc hes just one person n while he has the knowledge of all the stuff thats done to keep things running he doesnt have the practical skills or experience to fix things like leaks (which the hotel needs regularly bc its oldddddddddddd) or The Boiler so hes stressed n no one's listening to him bc hes just the receptionist what does he know n he can't leave to get help bc everything Will fully fall apart if he goes (believe it or not this is actually much better than his situation in his og story. mostly due to it being significantly shorter but still) and is deeply grateful for godpoke's help although was startled by them initially bc their room is... "unavailable due to damages"

the entrance to the basement is superficially blocked off with a paper danger sign (similarly to the woodboards in front of mitternacht's entrance) n u just get rid of it with megapon after cupid gives the ok for godpoke bc well they have a mask so they should be fine

hearthy haunt is a lush green forest with a fireplace (? is it still called that if its outside) thats perfect for cozying up n unwinding however that is not the hearthy haunt you get to experience during the level as the place is filled with smoke obscuring everything from sight and rendering the area near uninhabitable

reverie themself is completely out of it not even aware that someone else is in their domain (or whats happening around them) n unfortunately this means that reverie isnt too much of a character for the level (marcelee n cupid are more prominent to fill the story gap) but is used as a puzzle solving mechanic by throwing stuff at them to steer their daydreams to get specific lines to twist n stretch (was also thinking maybe that u have to suck up some smoke with megapon to be able to hear their responses similar to drying sirena off but that sounds Really Annoying mechanically so probably not)

dont really have specifics in mind for whats said in the letter reverie received just like what its about n what its angling for the angle is to get reverie out of the picture obviously so the rift can continue to open but the means is emphasizing the disharmony between gods (that are literally a result of the letters) n doing so heavily on the disconnect between thespius-click clack n bauhauzzo-huzzle mug bc those are the dynamic duos!! we're really screwed if even they arent getting along!! n the letter being more.. sympathetic ig by being about letting people live in blissful ignorance that end times are near cause theres no way we- i mean you would be able to close it without the other gods help it's best to just give up n try to have fun with the time you have which results in reverie trying to see the logistics of only 3-4 gods closing the rift by themselves coming to the conclusion it wouldnt work (didnt talk to the other gods bc well the god of innovation is in a quarrel n as the next best thing they dont think they stand a chance) n asked the staff to do as they please before lying down n giving up bc its safer to leave them now than to watch everything end

end of level stuff end sequence (ie getting the milldread berry or romantic bulb) is triggered by getting a whistle from the boiler (it gets louder n more shakey as the level progresses. also can be used as a flirt line on other characters bc i think that's kinda fucked up) n throwing it at cupid netting the line "THE BOILER'S BEGGING TO BURST!" to then throw at marcelee who cracks admits to avoiding her responsibilities (n cupid) forms an evacuation plan n gives the two final lines to throw (in the order marcelee says them "oh reverie... looks what's been done." (shes not addressing reverie here its more like shes saying oh dear) n "i'll get everyone outta here lickety-split!") which are thrown reverse order at reverie to shock them out of their episode and reveals what remains of hearthy haunt

reverie's domain is desolate the once tranquil woods is now charred logs and ashes with only the hearth and reverie themself being left standing

surprised by godpoke being there reverie reflexively puts on their psa bravado but still somewhat dazed n the destruction clear around the two its dropped quickly while reverie puts the pieces together of what's happened n bides godpoke farewell while drawing together some cleanup plans

leaving their domain has a quick cutscene of the boiler stabilizer now no longer being superheated by the fire n you go back upstairs n outside for the final cutscene of the area where everyone rejoices upon realizing the boiler's not gonna blow

goodbye dialogue stuff reverie's is about prioritizing getting some stuff that needs to be fixed done before they leave for the rift how they shouldnt have given up without a fight n a joke about how reverie has literally no idea who godpoke is (as in joke to us reverie isnt making a joke. they refer to godpoke as puppydog tho bc they dont know their name) marcelee laments leaving cupid to deal with things by himself n being too ashamed to get help from another town but remarks they did at least help vib brainstorm some outfits cupid is SO relieved that everything worked out n the line about godpoke's room comes back with cupid revealing that its unavailable bc its where cupid was staying as he wasnt able to go home during the whole ordeal jokes about giving godpoke a share of their next paycheck bc they never clocked out n have been working overtime "but seriously sweetheart at least let me comp your room... whenever i get it fixed up that is." (if the sweetheart line was used on cupid the paycheck joke is replaced with him offering a pity date)

n thats all for the story other misc stuff both cupid n marcelee capitalize They/Them when referring to reverie n while theyre both followers of reverie marcelee leans more towards it being bc she's a fan of reverie as a person while cupid is more about what reverie represents vague idea for bizzyboy video for the area is about deferring to authorities n professionals ie what they position themselves as (styled like schools psas about calling 911 in emergencies. bizzyboy home invasion skit) idk how much more i'll do with this outside of doodles but if this was an actual legel there'd probably not like a lot of interactable npcs in the area with some being bizzyboy van driver adjacent as in theyre in the environment to show theres people n in my mind theres one interactable npc thats a family on vacation (even got a specific set of old ocs in mind for them) but functions like a normal npc outside of their dialogue (as in u throw something at the family n they all react to it rather than each character being a separate npc) cupid is nonbinary n gendered language is a mix of neutral n feminine (he/him only for pronouns tho) n capochin is the only character who the sweetheart line doesnt work on as a flirt line bc he recognizes it as cupid's voice n immediately (and vaguely) complains about something that happened before godpoke arrived (i have something specific in mind but its funnier to leave it vague. capochin is the only bizzyboy in the level that doesnt appear inside the hotel for related reasons)

reverie's relationships n views of the other gods was decided entirely based on reverie being the god of safety so theyre extremely fond of bauhauzzo huzzle mug inspekta (ruh roh) n king bc theyre all gods of things important for safety (+ bonus industrial revolution for buzzhuzz duo) n then for the rest reverie doesnt like cobigail bc she likes scary type pranks n reverie doesnt (wimp 😔✌️) neutral towards thespius n click clack n neutral leaning positive towards miss mitternacht bc of her being the oldest god so they should show her some respect

[hms-no-fun]

so, (SPOILERS FOR FIONNA AND CAKE but its relevant to the question but im gonna put a bunch of line breaks just in case lol)

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so fionna and cake ended with fionna basically being like, you know, youre RIGHT god, if magic came back my wish would simply be twisted and it would suck, there will be no rule breaking miracles! I will now work as a struggling minimum wage employee in seattle and Be Happy about it. i sure am glad the threat of losing everyone i know and love set me straight!! sorry to send u this really random thing the ending just felt like such a slap in the face and i wanted to ask someone who knows that exact Seattle Struggle. this is absolutely me appealing to the Writing Gods to back me up that the ending wasnt very good lmao but if i have a direct line to the craftsgoat i simply must use it for something stupid at least once

FULL SERIES SPOILERS FOR FIONNA & CAKE AFTER THE BREAK!!!

i really disagree with your read on the ending. it didn't feel like "just struggle with seattle minimum wage forever and be happy about it" at all to me! the whole instigating incident was that fionna wanted to transform reality into something that she personally thought would be better, without taking into account the fact that other people exist and have internal lives just as complex as hers. she comes back to her original world to find marshall and gary holding hands, explains to them the magical adventure she's been on and the fact that their world is about to transform into something unrecognizably magical, and they receive this with abject horror! fionna doesn't know whether simon becoming ice king again will erase marhsall & gary's burgeoning relationship, which makes her realize that in her quest to escape the boring, oppressive reality of working odd jobs to make ends meet, she's only ever focused that energy on how to make things better for her.

i really want to dig into this because it's a key theme of the show. there is a destructive selfishness innate to the "heroes" of this universe, who feel entitled to the joyous empowerment of being able to defeat anyone and everyone they see in open combat. cake has a whole musical number about this! simon's arc in the last two episodes was betty grabbing him and shaking him until he finally asked himself, how would my life have been different if i'd just once let the woman i loved steer the ship for a while? and then of course we see the lich in a reality where he succeeded in eradicating all life, only to find himself desiccated and without purpose, begging the god of chaos for an answer it cannot give. brian david gilbert's ice prince seems perfectly put together and successful, until the reveal that he's outsourced his madness to someone who didn't accept the terms of the crown's curse. this didn't solve the fundamental problem, it just inverted the roles of its expression by making princess bubblegum into the mad candy queen. nothing about the status quo has changed, simon has simply given himself a more dignified role in it.

this is a story about what happens when people in struggle behave as though they are the protagonist of reality. when fionna says "this is the world i want to fight for" she's not fighting for the right to get another shitty minimum wage job. i think you've really missed something by accepting that conclusion when cake the cat is right there saying that her magical self IS the version of herself she wants to live as. being a normal house cat for her was, arguably, a form of body dysmorphia, and the show lets her keep that magic at the end! the thing is, their world IS changed by the events of the show! the status quo is altered!

like, what do we actually see everyone DOING when the credits approach? we see this entire disconnected community banding together to rebuild the city together, and we see a huge crowd of protesters outside marshall's mom's place demanding that she lower rents. we see people connecting with other people, including three outcasts from other universes escaping to this more boring one for their own safety. i loved this ending honestly, because it felt to me like an attempted refutation of the very idea that you can magically transform reality into something better overnight. if fionna'd gotten her original wish and made her world into, like, candy world, then... what? let's say they play it as like, at last people are freed from the shackles of capitalism and everyone just gets to be weird funky critters going on adventures or whatever. what would that, as art, actually say? what would that mean to us in the real world? if we're going into this cartoon looking for some kind of revolutionary energy (which IS present in the text, much to its credit), what actionable or symbolically resonant message are we supposed to take from a story that resolves its problems with magic? at that point, it ceases to be relevant as anything more than pure fantasy, because it has abandoned any connection to the material reality WE are trapped in.

i don't want to magically transform the world overnight. this whole show goes out of its way to explore how trying to transform the world overnight, in a world where such a thing is possible, is a really fucking bad idea for a whole host of reasons. regardless, such things aren't possible in our world. so going into the finale, my worry was that they WOULD turn fionna's world into another candy world and just say, ah, the revolution is when you think the right things so hard that the material plane bends to your will.

that's neoliberal thinking. that's like the essence of the failed leftist project of the "end of history" era from the 90s onwards, when marxism was systematically rooted out of academic cultural analysis and replaced with the delusion that if you can just get people thinking the right things, you can affect change in the world. well here we are, it's 2023 and all that magical thinking has got us is a world on fire and a civilization of human beings so thoroughly disempowered that they would literally rather pretend to be a tortured anime protagonist than exist in this boring, shitty, violent reality. you can't think your way out of oppression. raising labor consciousness is, at best, step one. you want to know why unions are winning big right now when they've been completely useless in this country for decades? it's because they've stopped giving a shit about optics they can't control and remembered that the boss's value does not exist without labor. you do not necessarily need marxism for this, marxism is simply the most accurate articulation of the fact that workers who make the things a capitalist sells can kneecap the capitalist by refusing to make the things they want to sell. change doesn't happen with the publishing of a book or whatever, it happens when enough people in real life press their material demands hard enough that someone in charge is left no choice but to listen.

so for me, fionna & cake ending the way it did was a huge relief, because it wasn't espousing magical thinking. the solution to fionna's ennui and economic anxiety was not to just get another job and be happy to live in the world as it was-- it was to create a sense of shared community and struggle, uniting the not-seattleites in their survival of a near-apocalypse and using it as a jumping off point for fundamentally transforming the state of that world as it exists. fionna had to realize that her problems are everyone's problems, and that making her life personally better at the expense of everyone else's agency is just an act of kicking the can of responsibility down the road indefinitely. no one who gets their wish in this show is happy to have gotten it, or avoids punishing others who didn't ask to be involved.

the "canonization" of fionna & cake felt like a reaction to the idea that we in our world are permanently isolated from the fictional realities we create where change seems to come so easy, and the powerlessness that can engender. instead this show is saying, okay, let's say we are in continuity with these fantastical realities. what do we actually DO with that? how do we make this world more fun, more interesting, more fulfilling for everyone to live in? the answer is the same as it's always been, and no other answer would ever feel satisfying: you do it by organizing the workers against the current arrangement of the state with the explicit goal of transforming it for the better.

what does simon do at the end when he gives fionna her world to her? he says that no one person should have that responsibility, that it's been in one person's hands for too long. so he gives it to her in the form of a dandelion, whose blown seeds merge with and become part of everyone trying to survive the scarab's attack. the idea here is that while no single person ever possesses the power to transform the world on their own, the world itself belongs to all of us, and it is within our power to transform it together. those who hoard power want us to believe that this is not the case precisely because the basis of their power is fraudulent and maintained through the violence of the state.

as someone who does live in seattle for better and worse, as much as i do wish i could make literally anything better right the fuck now by whatever means necessary... the fact is i can't. and it does no one any good to labor under the assumption that i or any other individual has that kind of absolute transformative power. the solutions are all right there, and they are simple, materialist propositions whose only difficulty lies in how successfully we've been propagandized to think that the individual is God, or at least speaks on His behalf. there's no thinking our way out of this pickle, and no one's gonna do the hard work for us.

as to the question of how you actually get people in real life to get together and do all that hard work... well, personally i think it's unfair to ask a 10 episode cartoon show to give you any kind of actionable advice on that front. i might even go so far as to say that such an expectation is an expression of the very same magical thinking which the show tries to push back against! in any case i liked it quite a lot and i hope this rambling answer encourages you to revisit the show and reconsider some of your takeaways

[darkdemeter]

Dem Hi! I'm back with a bit of an unhinged ask here:

Im sure this doodle gives you an idea where this is going. I was just making myself some tea, and I was thinking about Lovers In Eden (i was going to listen to a song called Eastward of Eden by Amelia Day,hence the association). And Since I am a film student, a writer and i took script classes as my subject las trimester, i offer you this unhinged recap of my conspiracy theory. So LIE (Lover in Eden) introduces us to the idea that Strife killed Y/N after a bloodlust outburst,right? Well, at first i didnt think too much of it, but then the chapter ends with the four on earth, which felt a little disembodied from the prologue. Which brings me to the hipothesis which is: Strife's lover is on earth,reborn without their memories. My proof for this theory is this: 1) We know that in the darksiders universe there is such thing as a well of souls, we know they go through the kingdom of the dead to repent and then be reborn through the well. 2) you wouldntve put the line "Love slayer" if it wasnt relevant to the plot. (Writing often times includes phrasing things a certain way to hint at other things). 3) Why would you close the chapter where you did? What relevance does the fact that the four are now on earth have? Simple, Strife will find a reborn,survivor Y/N and will fall in love with them (and have a crisis once he realizes its a whole like soulmates finding eachother again situation) 4) and last (which came to me as i wrote this) if you were to center the story only on Strife and the reader without the reader being reborn, you wouldve just started it from the medieval age/wherever strife met the reader and not end with the four on earth. Of course dont gotta tell me if im right,dont want to spoil the whole fic anyways. But I felt the need to share this with you. (I genuienly felt like the pepe silvia meme). And yeah, one offshoot of all this is that maybe the reader isnt a reborn soulmate, and that the prologue could just set up this inherit guilt and fear towards love that Strife has. Until we get the next chapter, i lay in wait...scheming/lhj/hj Have a nice rest of your day and i hope you've enjoyed my unhinged ramble. -Jer. PD: i feel so silly for sending this whole thing but as a fellow writer i know theres nothing we love more than ppl theorizing about our stuff. So here you go. I hope it doest read as overbearing,i just genuienly love your stuff.

First off, I love your pepe doodle! It’s so perfect. In fact I find it so funny that I made this a little bit ago myself... (As much as I'd love to rant and such about my AUs' lore and headcanons, I made this for shits and gigs)

I absolutely adore hearing theories readers have about my fics. (Sorry this has taken FOR-EV-ER to respond to, I'm terrible with replying at times)

I also fucking LOVE that you're a film student, I think that makes this whole theory situation even better because I do tend to have a very movie-esque thought process when writing. (Blooper reel and BTS footage rent free in my head)

And I think I've got the mind stewing a bit with that recent post, Flowers From My Lover. Without hopefully giving away anything, you do have some valid and interesting points in your theories and has me going, "Oh Jer is good little detective." You get a cookie for your theory skills!

There are indeed certain key details and clues I put in on purpose and it's so interesting to see what readers pick up on. And yes, the well of souls is involved to some extent in this plotline, but not in the way you might think...

I also find your choice of the word "reborn" interesting. Very obviously and right out the gates, I will say that yes, reader is alive in this story. But it's the manner in which reader's alive and again, the reborn theory is interesting and again, possibly not in a way you're expecting. Though it seems rather simple, I will tease that there is... quite a bit more to it than what's at face value.

And I wanna tease this little clue too because it is one of my favourites: It's interesting how the fic's title has a double meaning in plain sight...

[mistlestripe]

ASC STAR BIG spoilers

(my opinion on the book:) first half is lame as hell, splashtail and berryheart both end up dying in "spontaneous chaos" moments and their deaths feel weightless bec they were both painfully incompetent so it just felt like they fucked around until they found out. I like WHO kills splashtail but like even that wasnt done very well and has very little weight on the characters involved with him and its not contemplated very much. I also fucking hate what they did with fognose IM KILLING YOU i swear that they just changed their mind on what they were going to do with her midway she was literally 100% gang until they decided to make her podlight 2 and exile her (AND PODLIGHT JUST GOT AWAY WITH IT WHY THE WOMAN WHY ALWAYS THE WOMANN) second half was pretty okay its nothing like the first half of the book, i definitely like the time they give the characters to recollect everything that happened and etc and i like the time they gave the cahracters to express their emotions, but nothing really happens lmao and the characters end up isolated because the plot was the only reason the background characters were being utilized so theyre just not important now lol. Curlfeather was the highlight of the book for me (even if i dont like that it suggests her love was conditional when like i wouldnt say that even tho i get the point lmao...) Jayclaw was there tho and he was lame but like i would have found it just Amusing if he wasnt given an unfittingly important use I hated the leadership ceremony at the end and was so bad to the point im actually glad they never showed squirrelstar's leadership ceremony because fucking moth flight probably would have been in it. shes not in this one but all of the options are horrendous and have nothing to do with the leader in question and all the choices are just "relevant to this arc VERY SPECIFICALLY, or 'was important to riverclan at some entirely irrelavent point'. (OR IS A USELESS FIRST ARC INSERT THAT MAKES NO SENSE IN BEING THERE OTHER THAN BEING **A** RIVERCLAN CAT WHEN THE LEADER IN QUESTION DIDNT EVEN EXIST UNTIL ARC 3. MUDFUR AND CROOKEDSTAR GTFO RIGHT NOW!!!!!!)

[sasoxichomoshi]

are the pathless and abzu related? yes, and this connection is way more important than people give credit for (i will be rambling now)

visual cues are everywhere; the beheaded shark statue right at the start of the game, the purification process and the spirit realm architecture all nods to the previous game as the shells and the locked door at cerno's domain are literal imports from abzu, which are all sweet references present in the pathless

everything that concerns the spiritual realm has a touch of abzu (pantone abzu blue when)

i'd also add that i have autistic urges to just write about how the pathless feels like this result from accumulated knowledge/experience from past Nava games - the pathless has both the 'myth of creation' and the journey of the hero combined in order to tell this lil story with these silly characters (i see it all as if giant squid team woke up one day and said "what if we made like a fancy fanfic yknow" really best decision ever), however knowing myself it''d just feel like nonsense rambling (even worse than this) and a bit off topic, but i had to mention or my skin wouldn't stop itching

anyway back to the two games -

i have this recurring impression that abzu allegories and symbolism are woven in the fabric of reality in the pathless - it's not about them directly, but are foundational for whatever is being told here and now

you cannot, in full consciousness, tell me that these are just easter eggs in the pathless that giant squid introduced because it's a past title from the studio; not when there was giant effort in blending the two games sensibly - abzu is brought up in the symbolism, the color palette (red/blue), in the environment, and it's even present in the soundtrack

in short, tying the universe of the two games together was intentional

but despite visually tied, it still made no sense to me; ok we share the color palette, we wander around with the help of a tall one, we defeat the bad one, what else there's to it? is it just the start of the giant squid MCU? giant squid cinematic universe? or gaming universe? (i feel stupid)

regardless, as i answered the question to how, i wanted to understand why - and to make sense out of it all, i resorted to a feature unique to the pathless: written text

what is so important to tell the player that you need written text, something you were avoiding in all your past games but that suddenly you bring back out of nowhere to tell a story in a way you havent done before? i can just assume some topics were too necessary to just left it implied (at best), or never explained (at worst)

one of the reasons i have written this blog post until this point (the main reason, actually) is that i feel there's a bit of an overlook of an essential part in the established the pathless n abzu crossover (can i call it that?), something that permeates everything, but it's not really visible in a literal way

--

as i played the game, godslayer perspective and motives stood out - they are the focus of a good part of all the tablets and dead people's memories - and as i dived deeper into the abzu connections (pun not intended) certain lines got too remarkable:

so,,, godslayer deems this world broken because it's made out of pure chaos, ok i guess it makes sense uhhh wait wait im having flashbacks i have seen this befo-

uhh oooooohhh ok ok get it i can see some parallels ughhh woooow just wow omg

the underlying factor here is that chaos is origin, foundation for both games universes (tho we can all see that at this point it's the same universe)

in abzu, by ordaining chaos the diver brings back life; in the pathless the ordained chaos, the one that constitutes all life, is at risk because someone decided that having everything made out of (essentially) chaos wasnt really suitable for the second industrial revolution i guess

note: if you know nothing about abzu i recommend reading this post cause it explains a bit about what chaos means in abzu, hence it's relevant to the pathless too

and understanding the chaos that impregnates existence as a whole is central in the pathless, which brings us to another focal point the game brings up: religion

you see religion a big deal in the pathless in the sense that it defines factions; you pick a side, and it's what drives the line of action of almost everyone in the island - the pathfinder quest against the tall ones, the godslayer followers vs the tall ones followers, entire communities dedicated to their local gods, and so on

superficially, it's easier to go to the "bad vs good" route where godslayer must be defeated to keep the order and the light and tall ones good guys whatever, the problem of this line of thought is: too much black and white and no gray to be seen

the pathless final message speaks about decision making: you are free to trace your own path (and this message is reinforced through game design and the title and at the final boss fight, you can name it) however, here lies the detail: similar to the chaos surrounding us, it goes unnoticed that the will to take a determined path comes from within

that's why religion is a hot topic in the pathless, it's what allows people to trace a path in a chaotic world, literally

the myth of creation - the eagle mother, the branch, her children - in itself is a form of understanding reality, religion - prayers, sacrifices, lines of conduct, contemplation - is also a form of grasping the real, and from this understanding, this particular view of the world, you are invited to take action; you cultivate the land and you build temples dedicated to your god

you take action based in what you believe, and you can see it better in the dead followers you can commune with through the island, they are fierce in their beliefs, which leads them to make a stand or fight back

it also stands out how the tall ones are imbued with negative traits; nimue shifts moods like summer rain, kumo is terribly jealous and childish, sauro despite everything will resort to violence, cernos is too shy, heck even eagle mother as gentle as she is let atrocities took place before any meaningful action was considered

all the tall ones have their virtues and imperfections because in the end they are also made out of chaos, essentially they are not that different from any tree on the plateaus; but, as the tablets about the masks state, they see things beyond this realm, and with this knowledge they try to guide those that dont see it - it's like this for their followers, and hunter is also guided by them

godslayer is no different, he took a path lead by his beliefs, beliefs those that reject the idea of having life from chaos, which lead to his obsession of fixing what he deemed broken; from his perspective, he suffered in the hands of the tall ones and their followers which made him believe that anything of their nature was treacherous - he failed tho, failed to understand that a single path would lead to perpetual suffering (as some memories states, "i was not meant to bloodshed"), which was a fate his followers had bittersweetly tasted

in this scenario, hunter is special: she's an outsider, she doesn't comprehend her mission just yet neither knows those lands; she's facing chaos in its pure form and in order to make sense of her new reality, she takes the eagle mothers advices; upon taking on the trials of the island she witnessed chaos in its many forms, and she assimilates it, not good nor bad but a 'in between' - that's why (from my understanding), on purifying the godslayer final form, her eyes glow in bright blue not because she's some 'declared since birth' allied of the tall ones, but because it signals purpose, she understands the chaos, the one that causes life and death, and she embraces that view from within and translates it into strength to fight back and endure

there's not a single creature in this world that doesnt feel lost and be it whatever creature - human, tall ones, demons, animals, everyone is trying to make sense of this confusing world we live in, be it through any path at hand - and religion is just one of the possible ways in the sea of infinite available paths

as hunter explores deeper into the island, she bonds with the tall ones but make no mistake, she's not really a faithful follower - and she doesn't need to be - cause she has the understanding that the tall ones represent this organized chaos necessary to the flux of life, she respects them

pathfinder, unfairly treated, will look at the tall ones and see just lies, refusing their guidance, he will strive for a new path not taken before and ignore any previous knowledge about the world, he will build up a single vision for a brand new reality absent of chaos because that's how he was conditioned to see and absorb the world around him

(and that makes godslayer feels even more tragic, having the possibility of seeing the world through new lenses by wearing the mask of the ancients yet he persisted in his views and ignored the reality as it was - chaos neatly woven - perhaps out of hate and sorrow for all past injustices; even in the end he resisted to accept the world that nurtured him, as he too was made out of chaos - and for that he's forgiven)

you and i can both worship sauro, but in the end we will look at the surrounding chaos from different perspectives and i will decide that pottery is the way to go while you see the sword as the suitable option; as the truth stands, this is a pathless land - there's no defined answer

the pathless, beyond the 'pathless land' lesson, has something more to tell - that perhaps the path is already established and to you is given the choice of going forward that path or re-evaluate and change directions;

if i had to define the pathless i'd say it's about what touches the eye and where you rest you hand (which can also explains why the eye is an ever present image throughout the game); through perception you grasp the world around you, you create your views and based on it you take action - will you release the bow string? will you strike with your sword? will you cultivate the land? or will you shed blood? what have you seen that made you act like this?

what a chaotic world

anyway, i have too much to say and no one to listen so my only options are write Big Blog Post or bang my head against the wall if you read until here (complete madness) thanks for enduring until the end

(cant wait to see the pathless references in sword of the sea i have faith)

[raddagher]

harley and lancaster have actually been married for several years it just wasnt relevant to the rest of the plot so it was never mentioned until now

This is almost exactly what happened with Klein and Alves in the actual show lmaaooo

[theygotlost]

ohhhhhh my god guys I gotta give you an update but i need to explain my entire job history for the past year first cause its a little confusing uh.

so feb-may I did this internship at this real estate digital marketing firm and I was just making social media graphics there. just instagram stories and shit. and it was boring as hell but I needed to find a job cause I was graduating, and I was hoping they would hire me but they didnt have the space for a new full time employee at the time so... that was a bust.

in june and july I was applying to jobs foreverrrrr and getting nowhere so I said fuck it i need SOMETHING to hold me over, so I started working in the print department at staples as you are all well aware. at least it would be relevant enough to put on my resume cause I do want to make print graphics right? so its something.

then like 6 weeks ago my manager from the internship reached out to me and said she wanted to take me back part time after all. so for the past month and a half I've been working 2 part time jobs, one at staples and one at this marketing office doing the exact same fuckass ig stories as before. i wont lie its been exhausting and unsustainable so I was still applying for other full time design jobs cause I had no idea how long I could keep this up.

about 3 weeks ago I got an interview for one of those jobs I applied for and they explained that they were actually looking for a senior designer which obviously im not qualified for, but they liked my portfolio enough that they wanted to consider CREATING a junior designer role for me which was CRAZYYY to hear... it's a hawaiian bbq restaurant chain and I'm definitely wayyy more interested in designing for food and beverage stuff than real estate, plus a few other aspects about the job sounded really appealing to me and the interview went great so I was really hoping to get that job. but then I didn't hear back and Im so desensitized to getting ghosted after interviews i stopped getting my hopes up a long time ago.

a week and a half ago management at my real estate job told me that they were finally ready to bring me on full time, and since it didnt seem like I had any other prospects I wasnt really in a position to turn it down, so I immediately accepted and put in my 2 weeks at staples. this saturday will hopefully be the last day i ever have to work retail forever. I didnt make any announcement here when I found out because its honestly been making me depressed thinking about doing nothing but making fuckass instagram stories for ugly real estate companies 40 hours a week and people congratulating me on it would just make me more depressed. I wasn't supposed to start full time there until the monday after thanksgiving so ive still been doing my double part time grind.

but then......

whats that....???

THE HAWAIIAN BBQ RESTAURANT ENTERS WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!!!!

after weeks of no response the hr guy finally gave me a call just now to tell me I GOT THE JOB?!??! i genuinely honestly did not think they were gonna give me an offer and was just gonna move on with my life 😭 so now im gonna have to walk into my office tomorrow morning and say SIKE!!! and theyre all gonna be so mad at meeeee but this is genuinely such a better position for me I didnt think this was gonna happen for another year at least....

tldr I thought i was gonna be stuck with a job i dont like but I ended up getting the job I want!!!!!!!!

[royalblanket]

oh no its daddy

some au ramblings under the cut ig since this design was the foundation to my entire kingdom story

so sir dadadoo was originally designed by the kindergarten to be a baronet, hence the sir, but while the employees were still brainstorming a design for the king the queen ended up falling for him. less work for them so whatever, they didnt care and went along with dadadoo wanting more heart-themed things in his wardrobe to match his gf. in turn she probably has diamonds on her aswell since i decided to to give them a couple themed things around the kingdom and them, so dadadoo is a deep blue purple while bouncelia is a pink and scarlet purple, shes hearts and hes diamonds, and i might make him lilies while shes roses or something

the underground kingdom really was like a full on kingdom, with plenty of mascots just for that section alone, and since all the mascots ended up being fully sentient, this ended up in them essentially creating an actual government, a small country of clay mutants laying beneath what appeared to be a small one-story kindergarten. and the higher-ups of said kindergarten werent even sure whether or not to keep the damn things, because sure, they spent a lot of money playing god and bringing beings to life with potentially illegal chemicals only they know about, but also, that freaky (but well dressed) leech seems to be planning a rebellion against us for our crimes against humanity and horrific torturous experiments against innocent creatures, brought to life in a painful existence that was never intended to be

but the scientists had already seen bouncelias pouches capabilities to hold measures far larger than it appears, and even the ability to keep in what wanted out. bouncelia was on board with the plan just like dadadoo, but she was easier to threaten. and the moment dadadoo wasnt looking they did so, telling her to either lock up her partner and children or have them and her killed, along with anyone else in the kingdom that was on board with it

she and her subjects just had to be silent about any such rebellion from now on, and to ignore the absence of what was once a prominent figure within their hierarchy. it was unlikely theyd bother with a king after all the uncooperative subjects, and chances were slim the kingdom could be moved upstairs no matter if the remaining mascots played nice or not. but whatever, corporate can just deal with it after bring a friend day and nothing will go wrong between now and then.

when the crash happened, everyone in the kingdom either snapped and attacked everyone around them, or was chased off by the former. the jester had been going downhill for ages now, and had to be sent off by queen herself for thoughts of treason. and then some lady comes in from the surface and is suddenly faced with a bunch of royal drama shes not involved in at all

i kinda want to make the contrast more blatant in the au, like yes deep underneath the kindergarten theres some knockoff shakespeare shit going on that this mom is NOT involved with and she knows shes not involved with it and dadadoo doesnt even care but this is one of the things shes got to go through to get her damn kid. whatever dilf leech its another tuesday ig

bouncelia and dadadoos relationship kinda zigzags, as theyre very close up until she has to lock him away (which is either a stasis or a vague eternity where he has lots of time to simmer and brew in angst, jurys still out on which is cooler/more plot relevant) and then bouncelia spends a lot of time without him, during which she kind of drifts away from the rebellion and realizes how dangerous it is. but once dadadoo is free again she suddenly has to come to terms with a lot of different emotions, and dadadoo is quite the charmer, he'll have no problem getting his heartbroken ex back on his side -- both because he really does love her, and because shes a direct gateway to power. whether or not the rebellion or kingdom even matters anymore now that everyones dead doesnt matter to dadadoo, hes oblivious to it thanks to his time in the pouch. just an egotistical man fighting over old grudges to become the king he was once betrothed to be

[voidzphere]

🧡🧡🧡Hello!!!! i was a big fan of yours for a while now! Over time Ive grown to be concerned by the amount of stories i hear from…No pressure to read or respond, but i did want to open a door to hear from you about this as i’m concerned. I’ve been told i should be careful about interacting with you (i already have been interacting for a while now) but i’m honoring that concern until i (maybe-?) get an answer or just, confirmation that it’s safe

(Again no pressure!!)

A lot of circles talking about how much harassment they’ve (or people they know or witnessed) received from either you or your friends…

Especially in regards to hit lists that floated in the past? Talk of doxxing? Rumors being spread? Gossiping to people? Callouts on people who don’t associate with the things they are being called out on?

I hope it’s not true i would like to think you’re as chill and easygoing as you portray most times. A lot of people including myself look up to you this kind of…sucks to hear /gen/not accusatory /is there a tag for that lol🧡

I’ve interacted with you freely until recently and now i’m hearing stories that are indicative of you being unsafe and i hope that’s untrue

I’m genuinely so appalled by a lot of these stories and it confuses me because these are people i love and trust a lot and several separate people have had the exact same stories to tell

(These are people who are also disgusted by problematic content on a personal level, in case that’s relevant, i am very careful to not interact with dangerous people or toxicity)🧡🧡🧡🧡(ig either way allegations of doxxing and harassment would be bad but it’s especially heartbreaking to hear from people who’ve done nothing wrong)

I haven’t seen those posts myself but have grown to be concerned. The people who have talked to me about these things are really down to earth people kind people and i couldn’t imagine them being accused of things or threatened?

I could understand if they were creeps but…I wouldn’t expect to hear that from them.

Was wondering if you could offer some insight on this. If not that’s alright as it’s your life and this is an anon ask🧡🧡

I’m just growing to be increasingly concerned and kind of appalled by how much stress and upset is surrounding your user name behind the scenes, Id like to think it’s a misunderstanding or something!

Either way, take care of yourself and have a nice day or night voidz!! ^_^🧡 /all love

-greenery anon

first off dont call me "voidz" thatz not my name

second, itz really funny to me how these said people are sayin that im spreadin rumorz n shit when they are also question mark ? if theyre talkin shit abt me that countz as gossipping and spreadin rumorz

the "hit list" thing is ancient as fuck and i havent even thought about it since then. either way, it wasnt even me who did any of that. there are multiple postz explaining that, if you bothered looking ‼️‼️

and like ive said a million timez before, i am strictly anti-harassment and will never tolerate any of that. if anyone doez i suggest they leave my page.

if i see one more person bring up any of this shit on my page im literally blocking you like im not kidding

srry if i sound passive aggressive or upset thatz cuz this was such a long time ago n im so sick of hearin this !!