#its also not a legacy its just like weird family secret

[inkcovens]

did anyone ever figure out what the vacker legacy was lmao

[superbat-lmao]

Give me a fic where all of the batsiblings are thrown back in time but think they’ve been sent to an alternate universe because everyone is acting differently except Bruce, who really is the original version of Bruce.

It’s just before Ethiopia, Jason is holding a phone that’s already making a call. This time, Dick picks up and Jason spends all his time in this universe (timeline) wondering if Dick had just picked up if his own time would have gone differently.

Dick picks up and realizes his brother doesn’t have to die, that he wouldn’t have to become the Red Hood.

Both of their interactions with each other and Bruce and Alfred throw each other off because they’re trying to act like they don’t have future knowledge while being wildly weirded out by this alternate universe’s version of their sibling.

Cut to, Tim orchestrating how to meet Steph, Dick figuring out how to get Damian, Jason figuring out how to get Tim, Duke and Steph teaming up and Damian and Cass tracking each other down before being ultimately tracked down by Babs and Dick.

It’s a slow roll of chaos that steadily confuses Bruce and Alfred as more and more children come into the fold and they try and accumulate each other without giving away the fact that they’re “from a different universe” or letting any of the siblings realize that they have knowledge of each other from that other timeline.

Everyone but Dick and Babs is still a child and have varying degrees of training which makes most of them groan at having to relearn/regain their skill and muscle. But they’re all still letting themselves be the ages they are because none of them know the others would realize they’re actually adults/older and judge them for reliving their childhoods.

Jason has to pick a new hero name and reassess his fighting style and whether he wants to keep using guns. He doesn’t have the pit influence, this Bruce hasn’t made the mistakes his version did, and he doesn’t have to let history repeat itself. He also doesn’t get the same build he used to have and the childhood malnutrition really does keep its effects.

Tim and Damian get their own shock of being given the Robin mantle willingly. It’s easier the second time and Steph and Cass both get to think through the legacy of Batgirl and their own hero personas. Duke still has his parents, and eventually, his day job that comes without some of the prerequisite grief of joining the bat family.

But each time something occurs where the siblings get suspicious, they write it off as being a weird alt-universe.

I want to see Bruce and Dick patch up their relationship, for Bruce and Jason to actually talk about their emotions without being clouded by anger, for Bruce to accept Tim and Steph and Damian and Babs and Cass and Duke, to build several bridges without the loss of a child clouding his judgement. For Dick and Jason to finally have a shot at being brothers without resentment, for Jason and Tim to be brothers without jealousy, for Tim and Damian to be brothers without resentment/jealousy. For Steph and Babs to not doubt their places and for Cass to be the only one that suspects since she can read them all trying to hide something but also knowing that if none of them realize they all already know each other they will have room to grow in ways they hadn’t. For Duke to be able to be a part of something incredibly special while still getting to keep his family like Steph does.

I want Bruce and Alfred to just kinda, learn to accept the chaos. To write it off as their special brand of chaotic family and not some sort of secret being hid from them.

[cranetreegang]

Hi, I have a couple thoughts about your heir of slytherin request. I'm sending through here as I wasn't sure if you wanted it kept quiet.

I would think that specifically for the heir, the basilisk would 'know' they were at school, and would regularly call out to him. You know, 'free me, come find me,' that sort of thing. So Ominis is sorta tortured by fairly constant pleas.

The basilisk is not blind at this point, so some ideas about how it was destiny that Ominis was born blind because the basilisk would be his literal eyes. Maybe as magic grows stronger, or he becomes friends with the basilisk, he finds that the connection will allow him to sometimes see through basilisks eyes - similar to how Harry could see through Voldemort, or more interesting, that the connection works the other way, and Ominis finds he can kill someone if they look into his eyes.

just some thoughts :)

First of all, so sorry this took me so long to reply!!! Also I love your thoughts about this cause YES!!! I LOVE IT!!!

I've been busy, but I have been contemplating about Ominis and the True Heir/Serpent Bearer idea in the meantime. I had written down my initial thoughts and some research I've been looking through below:

"I would think that specifically for the heir, the basilisk would 'know' they were at school, and would regularly call out to him. You know, 'free me, come find me,' that sort of thing. So Ominis is sorta tortured by fairly constant pleas."

It seems we are on the same wavelength cause I was thinking the same thing!! I love the idea of Ominis hearing the Basilisk and it only ramps up more and more as he matures. I also really like the idea of him having dreams about the Basilisk (let me have my weird dream vision quests).

I have read that the Basilisk is in a magic sleep, so I was wondering if the Basilisk would still be able to communicate?? Anyways, lets get into the Chamber of Secrets itself.

"There was clear evidence that the Chamber had been opened more than once between its creation and the twentieth century."

"...the Gaunt family could not resist boasting of their knowledge. It can be presumed that they opened the Chamber and awakened the creature in different occasions, yet none of them dared unleash the monster, until Riddle."

It's also interesting that the Chamber of Secrets (at least according to this sources linked above) has been opened several times -> most likely by the Gaunts. And Corvinus Gaunt was instrumental in ensuring the Chamber of Secrets remained... ya know secret; by concealing the entrance to the CoS behind plumbing fixtures.

It seems the Gaunts have had several opportunities to open the CoS, unleash the Serpent of Slytherin aka the Basilisk, and wipe out the Muggleborns, yet they never did.

Which begs the question.... WHY??

And now this is where the theories shall take off!

What is a 'True Heir'? What does that mean?

Well it could mean several things:

The "true heir" could be someone with an extraordinary connection to Salazar Slytherin's magical bloodline, possessing unique powers and abilities inherited directly from him. This connection might manifest as an innate understanding of Parseltongue, the ability to communicate with serpents, and an affinity for powerful serpentine magic.

Could mean that a True Heir is destined to help Preserve Bloodlines/Legacies - or even unite Bloodlines - as well as being the official 'face' of the Gaunts and navigating the Political World of Wizards.

Now, what does it mean to be the Serpent Bearer?

I saw an interesting theory about the moles on Ominis' face creating the constellation "serpens caput". Thank you @rypnami for posting this!! It's been so interesting to deep dive into this idea!

The different meanings behind the "Serpent Head" is quite interesting:

Literary: The serpent is often associated with various symbolic meanings in different cultures, such as wisdom, transformation, danger, or deceit. The head of a serpent can represent leadership, control, or the beginning of a certain phenomenon.

Mythology and Religion: In many mythologies and religions, the head of a serpent might have a specific significance within those stories, representing power, knowledge, or temptation.

Astrology: In Western astrology, the "serpent's head" or "North Node" is associated with a point in a birth chart that represents one's karmic purpose, future direction, and personal growth.

Alchemic: In alchemy, the serpent is a common symbol associated with transformation, and its head could be seen as a representation of the initial stages of a transformative process.

This is to assume that Ominis is indeed a Serpent Bearer. To add on to this Ominis will more than likely be a Guardian of Secrets. All of the Gaunt's family secrets being passed down to Ominis (as shown with the Undercroft). But the most important thing Ominis is able to do is having a deeper or magical connection to serpents. Specifically, the Serpent of Slytherin.

Now, why would this be important?

As shown in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the Serpent of Slytherin doesn't respond to just ANYONE speaking Parseltongue; as Harry tried to speak to the Basilisk, but she wouldn't listen to Harry's commands.

"She was blindly and unshakably devoted to the Heir of Slytherin...,"

"Though capable of independent thought, the Basilisk followed every command the Heir gave her. In fact, she only listened to the Heir of Slytherin, Tom Riddle (Voldemort) regardless of Harry being able to understand and speak Parseltongue to her in the Chamber of Secrets."

That's because the Basilisk will only respond and obey the words of a True Heir.

And this is why Ominis is so important to the Gaunts.

Why else would the Gaunts bother with Ominis?

Ominis doesn't follow their ideals, rebels against 'family tradition', and is inherently not a standard of 'Pure Blood Supremacy' (sorry but disabilities during those times were not exactly smiled upon. Most people with disabilities were seen as burdens to families and lots of other negative stigma associated around them).

You could make the argument that Ominis being a Gaunt would be enough for his family to keep him around -> the importance of his name outweighing everything else.

I'm more inclined to believe the argument that the Gaunts NEED Ominis. Ominis is important to them - NECESSARY to them - because Ominis is the True Heir of Slytherin and is the ONLY ONE able to control the Basilisk. They have a use/need for Ominis.

This must mean that 'True Heirs' don't come around very often (and how they come to be could be any number of reasons but let's just assume MaGiC). It would explain why the Basilisk was never unleashed all the other times the CoS was opened -> as they had no way to command the Serpent.

So why would anyone wanna unleash a deadly Basilisk that only one person could control onto a school of children besides being mustache twirling bad guys?

Lets picture this:

You are the Gaunts. You are on the cusp of running out of money, therefore about to run out of power. This has never happened before. You have ALWAYS been on top. ALWAYS been in power. Your name carries weight.

What would be a way to regain this loss of power and control? How could you convince the other Pureblood Families that you are still #1?

You demonstrate the power of a True Heir, and unleash the Basilisk onto Hogwarts (killing a whole generation of Muggleborns) and essentially controlling the school.

I'd say that's a pretty good way to gain control once again and more importantly power and respect. Not only would the Basilisk become like an attack dog for the Gaunts, but the Gaunts have shown they are willing to do ANYTHING to maintain their power. Because after all,

Power is Power

So, wrapping up, what might be some challenges Ominis may face?

Well, Ominis may be more inclined to use the Dark Arts/Dark Magic. He probably has to resist the temptation harder than most. It's in his blood, and I dare say his nature, to use Dark Magic.

Ominis also has the weight of 'living up to the family name'. He has the responsibility to either become just like a 'Gaunt'. Or, to show that even though he comes from a long history of Dark Magic, he is his own person -> capable of good.

Ominis more than likely does not like that he is a True Heir and he probably prays he isn't actually one (until he starts hearing the Basilisk's call for him). Now he's torn between who wants to be and what destiny is telling him to be. He has to deal with internal conflict of him feeling like no matter what he does, he will always be like his family - he will always use dark magic. In the end, he'll have to decide who he wants to be. A True Heir, or Ominis.

ALRIGHT to summarize this long post in a single sentence:

Ominis is more than likely the True Heir, and is the only one able to control the Serpent of Slytherin.

I would love to hear y'all's thoughts on this! The more I think about it, the more it makes sense (or I'm delusional and I'm connecting random dots that aren't there).

I've been writing an initial outline of how Ominis might come to terms with him being the True Heir and how he deals with it. Hopefully, I can post something about that soon!

I love discussions and no thought is a wrong thought!

Thanks for reading!! <3

[shynmighty]

For the swtor ask thingy, 10, 23, 25 26, & 27 for Aeseca?

I am VIBRATING with excitement, I LOVE infodumping for Aeseca!!!

(From these asks!)

My darling!!! 🥰

Okay...infodump under the cut!

10. What is their specialization class? Was there a reason they picked that discipline?

Aeseca is a Shadow, and stealthing herself with the Force is an ability she shares with her sister, Falx (although neither can agree who is better at it). She discovered this ability early in her training, and the Jedi nurtured it. She only stealths in combat situations on principle, however (unlike Falx) and prefers honorable combat when she can.

On the high level, I just like being able to sneak! 😂

23. Do they like their role in their current situation? ie: If they are a Sith, do they like being in the Sith Order?

Right now in my headcanon for the Silverblade legacy, Aeseca is not the commander of the Alliance, that responsibility falls to her other sister, Aeony. Aeseca is one of her top lieutenants and advisors, and often Aeony will delegate missions to her, like the Spirit of Vengeance mission (where she met a certain sassy Mandalorian!) and Ruhnuk (where she proceeded to flirt with said sassy Mandalorian!)

A part of Aeseca yearns for a simpler time, when it was just her and her little found family roaming the galaxy. But another part of her enjoys the excitement that comes from being part of the Alliance. Aeseca's natural curiosity sometimes gets her in more trouble than she bargained for.

25. Do they have any deep dark secrets?

Aeseca is not really the deep dark secrets type...she has never done anything wrong in her life, ever, and that is the hill I am prepared to die on!! However...

She does feel a pang of guilt that she developed a crush on Rass. She probably considers it more of a deep dark secret than it really is, but she still feels (as a Jedi) somewhat hypocritical, especially after she chewed Aeony out for getting involved with Arcann. At any rate, her little crush has got to have an outcome at some point! Aeseca just hopes its much, much later than it probably will be!

26. Do they have any vices?

Nothing super damning, but Aeseca is prone to a bit of jealousy, which she tries very hard to keep in check. Nevertheless, a small voice in her head constantly reminds her that she will never be as accomplished or adored as her sisters. This also leads to Aeseca having a bit of Imposter Syndrome, and an inferiority complex. She relies on her Jedi training to keep these feelings in check, and is mostly successful...so far.

27. Do they have any regrets?

Aeseca probably has the fewest regrets out of her big, weird family. Her regrets tend to be pretty insignificant, and she is able to ignore them and focus on the task at hand. Her biggest regret is probably that she didn't try and connect with her family sooner, but she's glad they managed to find their way together anyway.

[ntls-24722]

hello lgbtq community its ur (almost) daily music man content

Scopophobia and general body horror beware!

WD Gaster DJMM!

Honestly, this was literally just based off the fact I saw WD gaster artwork. For a guy with multiple hands Gaster just makes sense to be my latest victim of Music Man'ification. He was going to be a centipede because centipedes are terrifying but I opted for a snake because i was too lazy to draw a kajillion little hands (even though i've made millipede music men... two)

Buuuut the snake aspect also helps with another little detail - as a focus on Gaster's experience on being yote across time and space, his body extends infinitely, across the cosmos, different realities, different timelines. His body is likely to be found as a black line across space but as he gets more lost his face remains almost never seen.

Long.

@linxprime's Space Guard DJMM!

I notice more details that I missed the more i look at this. I missed two whole arms! and i wish i could've shown his freaky two-thumbed hands, but these were all done in school and i had limited references. I'm probably redrawing your guy tomorrow because there's just simply TOO MANY mistakes.

Though I seriously have to ask you how you came up with the pant contraption. I feel like spiders are one of the the most ridiculous creatures on Earth you could attempt putting pants on and somehow you figured it out.

Pink Legacy! One of the few music men in my roster whose story i can actually explain in a single post.

They're not Music Man - They don't take the role or name of him. But they did take his head and are now wearing it like a trophy!

Way back before Pizzeria Simulator, before Music Man was even auctioned, someone noticed his suspicious demeanor and began to work at the company that created him to be able to secretly inspect him. They cracked him open one night and realized in classic FNAF fashion, "oh shit, there's bodies in this robot" and said robot proceeded to smash their skull between his cymbals before they could squeal about it to anyone, leaving their body to rot in secret.

The insects that aided in their decomposition, for some weird reason, ate them and received their memories. Memories of how to move, how to think like a person, and the very last thing they remember - getting totally murdered. Taking over the rest of their corpse they became this horrific bug colony and turned Music Man into scrap metal and wore his head as a trophy like the freak bug colony they are.

However, while they had their revenge, now as this new being they were haunted by the memories of not what was within him but the person they used to be, with attempts to come back to the friends and family ending in said friends and family being horrified of what just arrived at their doorstep. Eventually they had to flee to the wilderness and leave their humanity behind, though this bug colony began to embrace their new existence (Despite their appearance, Pink Legacy is just a creepy ass hippie).

But eventually humanity finds them again with a high schooler named Tillie finding Pink Legacy in the wilderness, and, despite the creepy haunted atmosphere constantly oozing out of PL, Tillie is admittedly too fascinated by them to not try and fuck around a little.

Despite PL's creepy vocabulary and... everything about them, somehow Tillie is able to discover that PL is harmless and the worst they will do is accidentally cause an ant infestation in your home.

[19thperson]

19th's June 2024 Steam Next Fest Impressions - Day 4

Day 0/Day 1/Day 2/Day 3

Leximan

You are a wizard with word magic in a shitty wizard school.

In the overworld, that translates to typing out random words to get various effects. In battle, word fragments bounce around the screen, and you have to form a word with whatever you get to handle the situation.

As per it being a comedy game, my experience was making the wrong choices on purpose to see what happens. There doesn't seem to be any actual damage system, so it's just do whatever until you progress.

At it's height it is the best of early homestuck or problem slueth, laughing at the absurd consequences of an obtuse system. At its worst, the jokes feel incredibly forced. It's a land of contrast.

Biggest complaint is that I wish you could redo fights. I often found myself ending one early and wanting to see the other outcomes.

Mind Over Magnet

After years of telling people how making videos game works, youtubesman Game Makers Toolkit made a video game. A puzzle platformer about being a robbit and throwing your magnet friend around.

From the demo alone, it is... entirely cromulent.

It has puzzles that are puzzles. It's movement is smoothment. Nothing surprising, nothing disappointing.

It is a video game equivalent of a bowl of really good cereal or oatmeal with some effort put into it, with fruit chunks and everything. It's perfectly filling and enjoyable, and then you go about the rest of your day.

49 Keys

Apparently, this is an adaptation of a well received italian puzzle book.

It plays like an attempt to mix the classic text adventure style and the modern adventure game style. Most everything is text description with sparse illustrations, but interaction is done by dragging inventory items onto relevant paragraphs.

The plot is that you are a dominican priest or some other church official. Your teacher had not only been into church stuff but also astrology and occult stuff and would teach whoever had an ear. Church didn't like that, but he came from a wealthy family, so the best they could do is exile him to an island to continue his studies in peace and not corrupt the other clergymen.

On his deathbed, he sends the player a letter saying "hey I'm about to kick the bucket, I got a project I need finished, and I only trust you to do that." Which judging from the art and descriptions is some Lovecraft shit.

Unfortunately, the demo never gets to the lovecraft shit, ending right when you find a way to enter his house. While it didn't clock as "Scary" yet, they've got the historical fiction voice down, nailing the balance of antiquated sounding speech while still being easily legible. And they've got a good UI to add to that atmosphere.

Of course, the hot demon lady color spreads on the steam page kinda clash with that.

Curiosity piqued but expectations reserved.

Raining City: Millions Recollection

Gotta admit, I recognize it's sort of an unfair expectation, but after being burned by multiple chinese VN demos in previous next fests, it's nice to see one that's been translated to competent english. Not perfect, still has some pronoun switching, name inconsistencies, and some weird phrasing sprinkled throughout, but it was a naturalistic reading experience. I could consistently follow what was meant without much effort.

This is a supernatural mystery thriller. Lu Xuan is a member of a secretive group called "The Agency." She returns from a mission, expecting to relax, only for a mysterious lapse in memory to occur. When she wakes up, she's covered in blood, and there's a pure black hole in her hand. thin black lines wriggle out, spelling "100,000,000."

Before she can figure out what's going on, she's attacked by a creature that seems half dessicated corpse and half withering tree. After it rips off her arm, it regrows, with a few million dropping from her hand number. Thus starts her descent into the supernatural, as the new supposed "wealthiest woman in the world."

From the first two chapters the game has given, it's set up a lot of threads at once. The hand hole, the agency, a mysterious pawn shop, an unusual beached whale incident, the implication of a cult/religious group, multiple characters having simultaneous gaps in memory.

The cast feels well varied in both design and character voice, and I really like what the character designer is doing. I am guessing the backgrounds are based on photos because there's a nice sense of lived-in detail for a lot of them.

Definitely going on my wishlist.

[evilelitest2]

YOur just a Russophobe

I"m gonna let you in on a little secret...I'm a massive Russophile. I love Russian literature, I love Russian film, I love Russian theater, I love Russian Architecture I love Russian History, I love Russian Music. Culturally speaking I am a sucker for all things Russian.

I have Russian family (through marriage not blood), I've been to Russia multiple times, I even have a weird relative who is a Russian Orthodox priest (in no way related to the Russian part of my family it is very bizzare) who thinks Putin is god's gift to Russia.

At the risk of alienating all my Ukrainian friends, I actually think Kiev sounds nicer than Kyiv and I think Russian is a prettier language (Yeah this is gonna get me cancelled)

I just...Know what Imperialism is. I know how Putin's regime functions, I know how the Russian empire was made, I know the history of the region, and I know how Right wing disinformation campaigns work. me liking a culture doesn't mean that I am like "oh well its ok for them to do war crimes". I'm a huge fan of Japanese cinema, I don't deny the Rape of Nanking. Conversely, me not liking actions taken by a goverment doesn't mean I hate its people. Russia has a 140 million people (well less now), its a hugely diverse nation, it also has (had) a very large and very strong anti war movement). The actions of the goverment doesn't entirely reflect upon the people, especially since Russia isn't a democracy. Its a stupid nationalist view to conflate opposition to the actions of the Russian goverment with hatred of the Russian people (and for the record, I think what Latvia is considering with its Russian minority is racist and wrong).

Now there are parts of Russian culture I'm very critical of, specifically the same things I don't like about Americans. Like the US, Russia as a state is founded upon a legacy of colonization, racism, slavery, religious fanaticism and authoritarianism, and like the US you have this fucked up Manifest Destiny attitude where a segment of the population feel entitled to have a superpower status, its fucked up. But that isn't a wide spread condemnation of Russian as an entity, I can talk shit about any country that I am knowledgeable about.

[magicallymeta]

Wednesday episode 2 thoughts:

1) Enid. All Enid, All of the Time. Reasons include: awkward wink, immediately being like "I've decided I like having a roommate" GIRL, having her own private relationship with Thing and then using that to make Wednesday BE BETTER INTERSOCIALLY AND EMOTIONALLY?!, "you're doing this for me?!", the costumes GOODNESS GRACIOUS, her colorful clicky claws are so fucking amazing, SKIPPING QUEEN 🥰👏

2) glad I called that white boys would start being nixed by the narrative. It's 2022, can't have that many well-meaning white boys in the first episode and not garner my suspicions. I'm also glad to see that even with newer scenes the chemistry difference that Wednesday has with Enid in comparison to literally anyone else is astounding. Smash Patriarichal Bugs, ladies!!

3) the principal is the babe from things I either don't watch or she's covered up when I'm watching, and I hope she and Christina Ricci are lovers who are purposefully trying to destroy The Addams Family for some reason. That'd be dope, I'd be down for that. And don't "ahhh! Of course the villains would be lesbian, ahhhh!" Fuck off with that. They will be Giants.

4) Christina Ricci's everything in this is just, MWAH!

5) I love a good theme and the Burton legacy is a theme all its own at this point, but like, Nightshade Society, Nevermore Academy, etc. The sirens singing their "scales" like??? This is that weird in-between line of camp versus trying too hard to be camp? Is that a e s t h e t i c ??

6) ANCESTOR GHOST MIRAGE YES

7) when Thing jumped into the water, I gasped, but he was GREAT 👏👏👏

Excited for episode 3 and the secret society nonsense 💖💖

[saltnpepperprentiss]

Payback is a b*itch

Hope x fem reader

*not my gif*

Sunmary: You're Hope's best friend and she's finally got her humanity back. Which is great except the tribrid has been ignoring you and you don't know why.

A/N: so I wrote this before the episode where Hope actually turned her humanity back on and also naturally I assumed Landon would come back to life so he is in here too, briefly... And then forgot about it😬 anyway I hope you like it. Thought I'd post something since legacies has been canceled. Also I've never posted a fic on Tumblr so if this isn't right, I'm so sorry.

🦇🐺🧙🏻🦇🐺🧙🏻🦇🐺🧙🏻🦇🐺🧙🏻🦇🐺🧙🏻

The music is blasting so loud you feel the ringing echo in your ears. The party Lizzie Saltzman had planned as a welcome back for Hope and herself got more rowdy as the hours ticked closer to midnight. Yet you hadnt seen the tribrid anywhere all night. Ever since her humanity came back and she finally returned to the school (after taking a break to physically be with her family) you hadn’t really had the chance to speak to her , let alone see her.

It's as if she had busied herself with enough tasks to help around the school to make up for what her no humanity self had put them through. Not that she had to , everyone had forgiven her and found ways to move on yet it had never been easy for Hope to do the same.

You knew she’d been on a mission today with Alaric and Landon in recruiting some potential new students. Though you’re pretty sure they’d been back for a while and yet no sign of the auburn haired girl had been in sight.

Until of course you catch the tail end of a conversation between her and Landon,  not so far off from the party.

“I know I said I’d give us another shot but I don’t think it’s a good idea” you heard Landon say.

“What? Just because we got into an argument during the mission? You’re giving up that easily?” Hope answers and you can hear the hurt in her voice. You don’t mean to be listening in on what seems to be a very private conversation , but you also cant stop yourself. Neither can you stop yourself from slowly moving towards their direction.

“of course not! But between you throwing yourself into hero mode and your weird obsession with y/n lately I think you're just using us as a distraction for what you really want”

What?- was that your name? Did you really hear that or was your brain messing with you. Your cheeks felt warm , your heart racing at the idea that maybe , just maybe your secret crush you’ve had on Hope Mikaelson all this time could lead to something more.

By the time you try to refocus on the conversation its over. Landon's gone and Hope is left staring into the dimly lit  part of the woods leading back to the school. It’s then that you realize you’ve stalked your way towards the tribrid and that she probably knows you’re behind her so it’s not like you could just turn around and pretend you know nothing.

“How much did you hear” Hope asks , her back still to you , no way to tell if she’s mad or not.

“Not much” you start, “actually enough, is this why you’ve been ignoring me?” you decide you might as well be honest.

“I haven’t been ignoring you!” Hope exclaims.

Your brows furrow , her back was still towards you and you could tell her shoulders were tense. What was wrong with liking you? You move closer towards the tribrid with determination. Suddenly the frustration of her ignoring you all this time comes bubbling to the surface. So what if she doesn’t like you , you were friends first, best friends even. You don’t just ignore friends.

“Then why won’t you even look at me Hope?” you ask , your voice rising slightly when  the tribrid still wouldn’t turn around.

“I’m scared of what I’ll do to you”

What does that even mean? Her humanity was back on , why would she hurt you? Even when her humanity was off she barely touched you instead making you unconscious when you tried to stop her from leaving. So why would that warrant such a reaction from her?

You’re standing close enough now that you can see the way the shorter girls chest is rising and falling faster with every breath. Was she upset? If only she’d turn around and actually speak to you.

“I’m more scared of what you won’t do” you finally answer. Maybe Hope realized that your friendship just wasn’t enough for her or that she didn’t need you. But why would Landon mention her having an obsession with you if that were true? What did he know that you didn’t.

You’ve had enough of this , you grab a hold of Hopes wrist but before you know it she’s spinning around , eyes flashing golden before you feel it. The softness of her lips pressed harshly against your own. You barely have a chance to reciprocate before she pulls away , her eyes now back to blue searching yours for any sort of sign.

“I- Hope” you try to speak but you can’t find the words. What could you possibly say when your long time crush who you thought had no interest in you that way just kisses you?

“I’m sorry I should’ve asked first but ever since my emotions came back these feelings for you just wouldn’t go away— I didn’t even know I had them until a few weeks ago when I saw you at football practice and realized I really , really wanted to kiss you  after you winked at me- winked! You just winked , you’ve done it before and I never felt that way but then it happens now and all I could think about was kissing you!”

You’re still staring at Hope , eyes wide. First the kiss and then a rambling confession , your brain was still processing realizing Hope liked you.

You’re still holding onto her wrist,  your grip tight but not enough to hurt her. Well you don’t think you could even if you tried. Her gaze lowers to where you’re holding onto her then back to your lips , they linger there for another second before she is looking back at you waiting almost pleading for you to say something, anything. Her cheeks are practically red after that ramble and all you could do was stare gobsmacked.

But you still have no words. So you do the only thing that comes to mind and tug her into your chest. The shock is evident on her face not expecting you tugging her closer but then your free hand caresses her cheek and you feel her eyes on your lips once more once it settles that this is happening. You are going to kiss her. Hope leans in even more , a chill running through her as your hand trails towards her neck and then rests at the nape before pulling her in and just before your lips touch you ask “is this okay?”

The way her breath fans your face as she let’s out a breathy chuckle makes your stomach do somersaults. This was really happening. You were really here in the woods , inches away from Hope Mikaelson's face ready to kiss her. And have her kiss you , AGAIN.

“More than” She whispers out before connecting your lips once more. This time it’s softer , this time you kiss back with no fervor like you can feel Hope is trying to induce. Instead your kisses are languid , you savor each touch ,every taste you get from her lip balm. Bubblegum , not what you expected but not like you’re complaining.

You break a part minutes later , the fire in the tribrids eyes tell you she wants more. Craves it. And sure you want it to but not tonight. Tonight all you want is her and you spending the night catching up on lost time. And if you maybe decide to tease her with lingering touches or skillfully placed kisses through the night or even cutting off the makeout sessions when you feel it starting to heat up and it makes her blue eyes shine golden  in frustration. Well let’s just say she deserves it for ignoring you all this time.

Payback is a bitch.

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Richard (III) Character Analysis;

Richard (III) is the main character of Baraou No Souretsu (Requiem of the Rose King) and its really well written manga and has deep characters. I started this manga cause of main character’s similarity with Sohma Akito from Fruits Basket. Lonely character who wants to be loved, hatred of their mother, unhealthy admiration and legacy of father, gender issues and unhealthy relationships, basically a tragedy. Manga has its own plot and some strategy for the sake of throne fights but story also focus on relationship between characters. Now, i wanna talk about Richard and everythings/somethings i wanna say about him.

Family;

The most tragic and ironic thing about Richard is that all he wants is just to be loved but at the same time, he keeps pushing people who loved him.

Which actually accurate reaction cause of his trauma. Since the day he was born, his mother hated him cause he is intersex. That mother's hatred, the fact that he has to live his life while hiding something about his identify lead him to be cold and closed towards other people. This is why even though he had people who treat nice towards him or even his brothers, he is still cold. Cause they DONT know ALL of him, that there is still a side he has to hide from them.

This is why only person who accepts him (except their servant Catesby), despite knowing his "secret" is his father. Which is why his father become light for Richard, that he is equal to god for him. Because to Richard, he is "demon" and "Real god" is no exist for him. Except his father. This is why his life purpose become his father. That his father, his light deserves the best. Even becoming a king. After all, his father said  "there is heaven in that crown", didnt he?

That fairy tale type of logic, something his father told to Richard, he still believes in him. Thats why he wanted his father to become king. And later he killed an innocent man to reach out to him. Thats why again later he was so obsessed with killing the King Henry for the sake of revenge of his father's death.

There is also a scene that we saw Richard kissing his father's death body. Well, for every child, their parents are their first love in a way. Richard's messed up admiration of his father, cause he is everything to him, including his complicated "sexual identify" issues, they all combined in here.

Richard also probably felt envy towards his brothers cause they are ‘normal’ and he is ‘not’ and probably cause of loyal family thing, there was probably a distance between siblings.

Its also weird that Richard betrayed his second old brother and let him die but he tried to protect his oldest big brother. The reason might be because his oldest one looked similar to his father.

The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect,  is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area. (Source).

And we also see how much his mother's words affected him during the story. That he is demon, he doesnt deserves and cant be loved. Because of some foolish witch curse, his mother basically ruins Richard’s life. If you constantly say a thing, then you eventually turn it into a reality. Self-fulfilling prophecy. Which is what his mother did with Richard. Turning hım to "demon" in a way. Its no concidence Richard later betrayed his brothers, just like his mother said he will. Richard just became what other people expected from him.

Though, Richard is actually just really kind, pure, innocent kid in deep, thats who he really is.

Henry;

Henry who has very weak mentality and is a lot older than Richard, they meet and having a "romeo-Julliet" type of relationship. Someone just naturally treats kind towards Richard and of course, Richard run away. He doesnt let his guard easiely. He does his best to stay away from him. Even though, he was affected by Henry's kindness. He craves for that affection. Its similar to crush and father figure. But Richard doesnt öpen himself and his priority is of course his father. They met more than once and Richard ran away from Henry over and over. After all, he never imagined normal life, he is convinced the fact that he cant be loved with his "true identify".

Though, eventually his cold hearth melts and he slowly opens up to him. He promises to meet him again. Even after he learnt that Henry is the enemy. He still come to him and show his "true identify". He was ready to let go of all revenge, pain, everything but Henry wasnt, i guess. He even says the thing he desired the most. "Love me, please". Showing his weakest side at first time. But it doesnt end well. It ends with the worst way as possible. Because of his mother's manipulations. And that moment, Richard "dies" and "kills" Henry.

Its ironic that they both die in a way and they reborn with New personalities. Henry lost his memory and become assasin. Richard become "demon", everything that his mother told. He actually being destruction, even betraying his brothers.

He wants to become king. As much as the reason seems like his brothers arent fit that role, he fits, thats not the Real reason. There is nothing left for Richard in this world except the fairy tale story his father told, that there is heaven in that crown. Also, as person who carries the name of the king Richard, his father's legacy, Richard goes after the crown and does anything to reach out to that, hoping to find happiness but he doesnt.

(Ironic part of Henry is that maybe things wouldnt happenned, if he didnt ignore the pain of people around him which is related to tragedy between him and Richard. One try to run away from legacy, pain and other try to run away from love, happiness.)

And later after meeting with Henry, Richard never opens up to him and ignore him during the story. Though, we cant blame him since Henry lost his memories was his way of escaping from reality. And at the end of the story, Henry sacrifices himself to help/save Richard. He makes enemy thinks he is Richard by wearing his ring and clothes or something and well, Henry dies.

Anne;

Next, Anne. Only female character Richard had some romantic feelings at some point. He even called her as his first love which also imply that he saw Henry more as father figure rather than as lover.

Actually those two could really work well cause of how stable and healthy their relationship is. That they could be really good partners in any way.

Anne also loved him too but they both separated cause of annoying misunderstandings. They both thought other one used them. Richard who was already closed and scared of that Anne wont accept his "true identify", he leaves. Lack of communication is the main issue between Richard and Anne, that they never opened each others. This is why Richard leaves and Anne agrees with marriage with Edward and later sleping with him cause she thinks Richard will never love him anyway.

Even after later, after Anne married with Edward and Richard killed Edward with "mercy killing", even though he didnt kill her father (it was Buckingham who killed her father), he never try to fix the misunderstandings and lead her to not see his feelings, pain. (Note;Anne and Edward also never tried to fix misunderstandings eithr and let Richard to think that they betrayed him so.)

 This is why their marriage becomes the cold one, they still have respects but lack the emotional connection. Because Richard closed his hearth again after his trauma with Henry's rejection.

If only he talks and open himself, they could be amazing couple. Yes, Anne had feelings for Edward at some point but still, she was still have feelings for Richard and that feelings could easiely turn into love again. Anne could eventually accept his "true identify" too. Cause later in story, she learns, yes her first reaction is running away but eventually she accepts him.

Richard spends most of his times with being king issues instead of connecting with Anne and her son. Anne becomes lonely and really exhausted cause of loneliness. They only opened each others after it becomes too late. Anne dies cause of some illness.

Edward;

Unexpectedly, he acts really brave for his love, especially compared to other characters. Yeah, he does love Richard cause he think Richard is woman (not knowing that he is intersex) but still, high possibility, Edward still would accept Richard and love him with his all or at least would stay as friends with him.

Their moments are entertaining and funny. He constantly flirts with hRichard but of course, Richard ignores it. 1- Edward is enemy 2- He thinks Edward wont accept his intersex body. Again, Richard ignores all of it, pushing people/Edward away and focusing his father’s legacy.

After learning that Edward is enemy, he also assumes that his enemies (Henry, Anne, Edward) are constantly playing with his hearth. That they are using him. Hurting him. He doesnt even think the possibility of being loved by them.

And later, Edwards gets killed by second brother of Richard. He never have a chance to tell his true feelings towards Richard, sadly. And Richard gives him a mercy killing in the end.

Another case of Richard misunderstanding (Its not Richard’s fault though) and pushing people who loves him. He learns Edward’s love until its too late. Its really a tragedy.

Buckingham;

Unlike others, the things Richard and Buckingham come together is for the sake of crown. As much as Buckingham has taken interest in him since the start, Richard accepts him when he lost his ‘soul’ and accepts to becoming a demon. They work together for crown. Buckingham becomes his kingmaker. Its parallel to king Richard’s relationship with Warwick/king’s kingmaker who is also killed by Buckingham.

Though, later Buckingham finds Richard’s secret and they start a sexual relationship. (He is also cheating his wife in a way). For Richard, first person who accepts this body. He view it as sin but still eventually accept it.

Richard has no self worth after all, this is why he dehumanize himself constantly in the story, using himself as weapon/tool to live in this world, otherwise it would be too painfull for hım. After this, we see Richard’s being more peacefull with his ‘woman identify’ too.

Richard also start developing feelings towards him and even comparing him with Henry. Confusing two Henry’s with each others. (After all, they have same names). They both opened up to each others, Richard even gets pregnant from Buckingham but later apperantly, king issues becomes more important than it.

Buckingham betrays and he sentences to death. Richard becomes the one who kill him, its also a present and goodbye in a way, i guess.

After becoming king and especially after the death of Buckingham, Richard starts to questioning his desire to become a king.

Realising that there is not a heaven in this crown. He is missing his wife Anne, his son Edward, Buckingham’s hugging him. He misses the affection he felt by people who loved him. He realised that he lost them. And its killing him inside.

Catesby;

Last one and also the most loyal person in Richard’s life. He knows Richard’s secret and accepts him since the beginning but he never opens his true feelings towards him until its too late, he just silently stays by his side because he thinks he can never be his light even though he could be, if he just opened himself to Richard. And Richard also never think the possibility of Catesby could accept him that way, even though Catesby proved his royalty towards him many times. In the end, Catesby always stays by Richard’s side, even in the end of story. (Personally, i wish those two to become together despite age difference since he was loyal to the most and yknow, boy needs happiness and love but well, this is all we got.)

Edward and Beth;

Not just those people but also Richard connected with some other characters. His non-biological son Edward and his oldest brother’s daugher Beth. They clearly fond of Richard very much.

Edward even say that Richard is his light, its a parallel scene to Richard’s relationship with father.

Beth also chose her uncle Richard over even her own mother.

But during the story, Richard hardly ever interacts and spend times with them.  And even at the end of story, Richard is not together with them.

And;

Another interesting and tragic fact is little thing Richard did in story has high effect on plot. He simply motivates his father to becoming a king but his father dies. He kills innocent man while rushing to save his father and the wife of that man he killed came back for revenge and cause trouble for kingdom. Etc etc. Richard is also parallel with witches in story in a way cause they are not accepted by this world. (I loved the scene where Witch Joan hugged Richard.)

Richard also most likely dies at the end but i would like to think that thats not what happen. Its really a tragedy. Richard and those people deserves better.

There might be things that i forgot to say but for now thats it. I also might edit things later. Its painfull cause Richard and all those characters desevred better. Ending raws arent translated yet but this is what happens anyway. I just wanted to share and unfortunately it was really hard to finding pictures i mentioned/i wanted to show so this is all we have. Well, for now thats it. This is really painfull and tragic. I usually hate shoujo but i really enjoyed the kind of harem part of story, lol, tragedy part was really painfull though.

Richard and all those character deserves better. And i will imagine an ending where they find happiness together.

[bethanygabrielleart]

hey howdy ive been away for a while but im healing from surgery and rebuilding drawing stamina. so here's a redesign of beth as a child but for the purpose of me joining @campweehawken this year heehaha

below cut is story info for me to participate but if u just wanna enjoy the drawing go ahead

ok! so. tldr version: this is an iteration of my oc beth where she's a child (didnt settle on an exact age; her range is 7-10), she's being dumped here by her parents neva and orlando collins while they're busy with business and dont have time this year to "indulge" their kid in attention. she's a bit quiet at first cuz she doesn't get out much but once she Starts talking, its a bit hard to quiet her down. she loves disney and especially princesses, and constantly describes very weird dreams she has where she seems to see people she knows, but isnt quite sure how she does, knows various info on them that she wouldnt know, and can sometimes talk about "different worlds". but it's all made up from an overactive imagination. thats what her dad says anyway

the full context version: if you knew beth before, you might know her in her mainverse (Riverview), as a powerful teen ghost demon princess. this is Not her. you might know her from a very short time in trufflu. also not her. if you know the discord-only (sometimes shared in google docs and illustrations) beach au, this is her. kind of. it's based off that version. for a refresher, in that au, beth is the rich and spoiled but very kind, generous, and loving (think like charlotte in princess and the frog) daughter of paradise pier resort's owner, orlando collins and famous musician neva collins. every summer, she would live at the resort in her family's special penthouse. ever since her dad had the place built and opened, they would go, and there was a very mysterious energy around the place. in this universe, beth had very strange psychic powers that was a secret between her and her parents, and claims she could connect with different timelines/realities. orlando collins, her father, is actually a once-ler trying to hide it in order to escape the "downfall" legacy and pass it on to his daughter instead. he's jokingly called disney-ler by my friends lol. collins is 100% aware of the very weird things happening with his daughter and the resort and tries to use it to his advantage along with audio hypnosis technology he developed.

why does all this info matter? this is the basic background to get the context on this weehawken version. this is a VARIATION of it (its not exactly that beach au universe, since theres extremely minor canon differences, but based on it). for the actual camp context, this version of beth is visiting the camp because, as i said, her parents are busy. her mom is starting to rise in her music career, her dad has Just purchased the area to build paradise pier resort after the success of other resorts and tourist locations, so neither really have time for her. i say this isn't Exactly the same beach canon because i wanted beth to have grown up at the resort, but for the sake of having her Not be a baby at camp, i changed this lore a little. lol. so this version of beth is Semi aware she might have powers, but doesn't really think they're "powers" and more "doesn't everybody do this? oops". ok, i think thats all the important context?? bonus fact, her shoes are those light-up sneakers that blink when she walks

[sillydreamer]

Meet my OC (Heather)

Okay guys this isn’t a request or headcanons but I wanted to share something with you ;)

As you can see with the title i’mm going to show you an Elarya OC so here’s Heather (be nice to her ;D)

She’s from the obsidian guard and in a random story that I’m making she’s Valkyon’s girlfriend. Heather doesn’t replace Erika-Gardienne in the plot and her story is quite long so I’m going to divide it in parts, the first one being a small context of these story, the second part being her backstory before she ended up in the guard, a little explanation of her personality and then a behind the scenes (you will know what I mean when you reach that part). 

Name: Heather

Gender: She/her

Birth day: 28 of June (Cancer ♋️)

Age: 24 in the origins, 32-33 in a new era.

Species: Werewolf (Hyrbid of dragon)

Height: 1.82 cm

Guard: Obsidian guard

MBTI: ESTP-ESTJ

Familiar: Natch (Male molecat)

Li: Valkyon

Primal role: Since she belongs to obsidian guard Heather knows how to fight and uses this to protect others, also makes good plans and sometimes helps Valkyon when he needs it. She’s good with children and loves to show them anything that can be useful; form fighting skills to show them legends of Eldarya.

Secondary role: Heather worked in the library and as a teacher, the first job is to know more information about the dragons and their return while the second job was more “oficial”. Since they needed teachers Heather decided to sign in for that.

Weapon: She learned how to use an axe as a primal weapon and a sword as her second option (but I didn’t find an axe so she appears with the second one)

Abilities:

Strength

Quick learner

Social

Knowledge of mysterious things

Good listener

Disadvantages:

Sometimes selfish

Kind of naive

Ignores things 

Context:

You can see that she has some weird marks on her neck and face right? Well, they are a characteristic for her clan.

She lived in Sheni, a lost village that was far away from the lands of el, it was a close village that didn’t accept strangers very well, the villagers being mostly werewolves or night creatures. A quick note is that there were vampires in there, but they weren’t pure blood, this is going to be important later.

This village had a closed mind and follow a single philosphy; they believed that the dragons were coming back and this will mean the reborn of Eldarya, a new era that will change everything.

Her clan followed this with hearth but decided to give a little push to this “prophecy” and they ended up learning dark magic  this situation got a little bit out of hand for them. The thing here is that this dark magic can be passed through bloodline and one of Heather’s ancestors was a great dark-magic user and this make that its descendants inherit that ability.

But why did they believe this? Apparently she had a dragon ancestor that told them to wait for their return, this happened because, when the dragons saw that their whole specie will disappear some of them reproduced with normal faeries, hoping that they offspring could protect Eldarya from future danger. And this didn’t end up well because we know that the guard of el and other faeries hunted these descendants trying to save the crystal but this was unknown for them.

Heather has a few of these dragon powers but since they got extinct a long time ago and they weren’t any pure dragon to teach her how to use these powers they are kind of useless, that and the fact that a lot of generations had been passing and the dragon-blood is less and less each time.

Still she can transform into a dragon but then Heather needs to rest for a long time (one time she slept for a week or so) and she can use blue fire that can be a characteristic of fox people but in this case is because of dark magic.

Speaking again about dark creepy stuff, the marks on her body are prove of this, since her family has been using this for a long time it became part of them. They can hide it if they want but Heather is used to have them visible. 

Inside of the clan they have a “chosen one” or a “selected by the spirits” which is a member of her family that is born with more of this dark magic and it’s function is to keep their communication with the deceased, sometimes speaking with the daemons. Heather isn’t the selected but her younger sister is. There have been a lot of “chosen ones” through her family, almost like a legacy.

Do you remember what I said about vampires? Well, it’s not that they hate them, is just that they have very different points of view and they crash a lot. An example is with the vampires of Yaqut (yes, Karenn and Nevra’s clan). These two villages are a few days of distance (maybe some weeks) but decided to ignore each other to the point that they aren’t sure if the other village is alive or not, Yaqut hates halfbloods and the few ones that managed to escape moved to Sheni, giving them knowledge about other dark things.

Despite her being an hybrid of dragon-werewolf and perhaps vampire (I mean, it’s possible and these people are weird) her predominant specie is werewolf, which means that Heather has the habilitiess that a normal werewolf has. As example; shapeshfting into wolves, super strength, a great stamina, almost night vision, great smelling, others. 

Small detail; she has fangs because some werewolves develop them.

Another detail; by some reason her village has a nocturnal life and sleep during the day to work at night. This is because they use the moon cycle and the starts to guide themselves and is the reason why Heather’s skin is pale; she hadn’t been that exposed to the sun. (My baby needs sunbaths please)

Backstory:

Heather’s father is the leader of the clan which allowed her to have almost what she wanted. She wasn’t the heir of the clan, that was her older brother, Duncan. By the other side her younger sister Moon (I know that I don’t have creativity putting names but what can I do?) was the “chosen one” of the clan which means that she had other responsibilities such as developing her magic to her limit.

Even if she didn’t have a mission like her siblings she had enough determination to be useful and decided to be her brother’s right hand when he became the leader of the clan, that’s why se started worrying about others and their needs.

Heather’s mother was gone, she doesn’t remember her well and her father used to say that she died when Moon was born and burried in the forest.

Heather was a happy girl and loved to explore the forest with her siblings, they were warned about other creatures outside of their small village and told them to hide whenever something weird happened, always telling them to be disguised and don’t let anybody see them.

One day Moon walked away and was lost in the forest, Heather and Duncan panicked and returned to the village to ask for help. When the adults finally found Moon she was missing her left eye, but Moon didn’t say what happened and she only had a deep blue eye and the other one being white with a scar.

When they started growing up the relationship between Heather and Moon started changing. Moon was quiet and spent a lot of time in the forest, exploring and developing her magic in secret, meanwhile their grandmother was trying to train her.

While Moon was being a rebel gal Heather and his brother Duncan continued with their training to become leader and right hand. He was compromised with a girl of their age to ensure the bloodline even if they were just 14. Heather had a talent manipulating the fire that the dark magic provided her and learned how to use an axe and a sword as weapons.

Duncan an her grew very closely while the relationship with Moon was more distant with time. One day Moon went to the forest alone as usual but this time she never came back.

At first her family wasn’t worried, she used to leave and return a lot of times but the time passed by and the people of the clan got nervous. The werewolves searched through all of the territory but when they found out that Moon’s track continued deep to the forest and beyond the limits that the clan had the panic started.

The winter was coming and this forced the villagers to stop with the search. They needed Moon because she was an important piece for the dragon’s prophecy, they needed her because she would tell them what to do and this caused more frustration in the people.

Heather was devoted to her family and decided to search for her sister by her own, she understood the importance of Moon and wanted to bring her back. Her father allowed her to go when the winter ended but it lasted a few months more.

Once it was over Heather packed up and began to search, finding information about a werewolf with a missing eye and a deep-blue look in the other.

As she was told Heather kept the secret of her clan, only saying that her sister ran away from home and she was searching for her. 

After months of looking and searching Heather was in a bar and heard rumors of a mysterious werewolf that helped a guy for being crushed by some rocks. The man telling the story was the father of that child and he said to his friends that he would be eternally grateful with the guard of el.

Following that hint Heather was able to find the location of it. It had been two years since Moon left home and Heather really missed her, decided to try her luck she entered in the shelter under the identity of a lost villager.

Heather ended up finding Moon and her sister was surprised that someone was able to find her. The older one tried to convince Moon to return back home but her sister didn’t listen. 

At the end Heather joined the guard to spend more time with her and at the end, make whatever she needs to do to convince Moon to return back home.

Personality:

She’s kind, yeah she is.

I know that she grew up in a group that told her that she was important because of the dragon-blood but that group also showed her that being that mythical creature meant that she was there to help others, but the world wasn’t prepared for this.

She doesn’t talk about her home though, she tries to keep it as a secret because that’s what they had taught her. But living outside showed her that the world wasn’t that cruel and she ended up enjoying the experience of meeting new people and chatting with them.

It’s a social butterfly and responsable girl, the friend that can go out to party but return home to finish homework on time.

Daddy’s girl, of course she is.

Behind the scenes:

Heather is based in another OC from an original story that I’m planning to write (but I’m dumb and procrastinate 99.99%of the time)

Her appearance doesn’t change much between these two versions, she has small purple tips in the hair in the original version.

In the original story she has another sister but in this universe Heather only has two siblings.

This idea started as a joke like “Okay what would happen if I mix up her with Valkyon” (because they looked cute) and here we are, me creating a whole story with her.

In the original story she used to have a boyfriend with tanned skin and white hair mostly because I have a thing for them, let me be please.

I simp for her, expect to see more of Heather over here.

[interact-if]

Day 10, 2/2 of the A/PI Heritage Month featured authors interview! For our final entry, we have the amazing Shai!

Shai, author of Hollowed Minds 

A/PI Heritage Month Feature Author

“You will play as a disgraced detective, entangled in webs of conspiracies and betrayal as your character engages in a suspicious probation - with a whole lot of enigmatic hallucinations and explosions to deal with. It will be up to you to shape your detective’s (or Ripper’s, if you prefer to call them that) perception and motivations. After all, Gaile City is a place full of secrets - some of them belonging to your own character’s family - and you’ll have the freedom how to act accordingly.”

Author's Kofi

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

To put it simply, Hollowed Minds is a long quest on morality and relationships. You'll start as a disgraced detective, once a favored hero of the city until this one unfortunate mistake, and now you're forced into a suspicious probation that you shouldn't even be in. There would be a lot of challenges and suffering along the way, and you can either help your character maintain their heroic ideals or succumb to the darkness that the future brings.

Q1: First of all, introduce us to your project! What is it about?

There are a lot of things to uncover in the story, but the main issues in the first book would be the mysterious hallucinations that people are suffering from and the explosions that would shake the fundamentals of the society. There would be several approaches to choose from as you go forward, some of which may be quite outside the law, and you could opt to use a certain ‘talent’—one with accompanying repercussions—to learn more secrets. You would also have the choice to cultivate your relationships with the people you trust the most and have your interactions with them matter in the long run.

As it is, you'd have a large target on your back, owing to a sinister group with a very sinister plan—something that might be worse than death.

Q2: If it’s not too spoilery, what are you most excited about your project?

First of all, the reputation system. You can manipulate how the general public would see you, either as the hero they once saw you as, or a corrupted personality that everyone would loathe. Best thing about it? You can hide your real intentions. This would have a lot of interesting consequences, especially if your character's actions tend to be the opposite of what they're perceived as.

Second, the most awaited reunion. People who have read the available demo would know what this refers to, and well, it's about to happen soon, so I'm very excited about the idea of writing the whole scene!

Then there's this one big chapter that I know would be torturous to write and code. Basically, you'll be choosing how to 'infiltrate' this certain location, the person whom you'd be with most of the time, a decision between accomplishing what you came there for or sacrificing it for something else, how you'd get out, and where you'd go to after the whole thing. It will be a wild ride of twists and emotions, and it's not even the endgame. A lot may change with this chapter alone, and it's one of those things I think about a lot before going to sleep.

Lastly, the customization of the main character. The motivations, blame mechanic, alcoholic/non-alcoholic option, and relationships (romantic or not). Those little details would change a lot of content in the narrative and maybe in the plot itself. Whether you want to build a character who's kind to a fault or an anti-hero who wouldn't hesitate to make questionable decisions, the journey would be entirely yours.

Q3: What inspired the current project you’re working on?

It was based from a short story of mine that won a small competition back in 2018. They share similar themes, but the short story was a lot darker than I could ever put in a game that I plan to get published.

I initially thought of starting my IF writing attempts with the supernatural genre—it does seem to be a successful area—but that short story was probably the first piece of mine that I've come to appreciate, and I wanted to at least honor that. The writing style that I adopted, the evocative tone I learned to use, and the plot pieces that I've managed to be good at crafting—they all started with that story.

Looking back, there aren't much similarities anymore between the two, maybe aside from the appearance of certain characters, but the themes are still the same.

It will definitely be a huge challenge to implement what I have on mind, but I do hope people would love what's to come.

Q4: Do you pull from your own identity for inspiration? How has that been reflected in your work?

I grew up in a troublesome neighborhood, along with people who continue to fight against the struggles. That's both good and bad, I suppose. Philippines has a lot of corruption deep in its roots, I won't deny that, but there are also people working hard for the changes they want. That's one of the biggest influences I've got in this story.

As we delve into the plot, the readers would discover more questionable decisions that some characters may have made or would make. It's parallel to how I witnessed people having differing reactions to injustice and the way they make changes in their lives as a response. Adding to that, I personally know the feeling of grief, and I’ve seen how the people around me deal with it themselves.

There are also moral choices to be had in the game, and when I speak of that, it's not going to be just around choosing between saving/killing people. It's about the main character's intentions and emotions, and how the revelations might slowly change their views. It would be a story that will steadily define your character’s perceptions amid the threats.

Q5: What’s been your experience so far? With writing, with the if community...

It's been great. I appreciate the people who have reached out in various ways to share their love for my work and to give meaningful feedback that are continuously helping me shape the story in a better way. And honestly, I'm so overwhelmed with excitement for all the support I'm getting. I didn't even expect a lot of people to like the story this early. That's why I'm so thankful!

There's also a great IF author whom I've been occasionally getting advice from, and they've been a huge reason as to why I even managed to make the first steps. Interacting with other writers is something that I never really expected myself to do, but I’m quite glad I did it.

Q6: Do you have any future projects in the works?

There are three more interactive fiction stories I've already thought of, though I won't be actively working on them until I finish the Hollowed Minds series, which would take a long while. Their temporary titles are respectively "Corrupted Legacies" (fantasy), "The Remnant's Keeper" (supernatural horror), and "A Hero's Touch" (superhero story with a twist).

Aside from that, I'm also looking forward to finishing my fantasy novel, one that I've been delaying for years, literally, as soon as I finish the first book of Hollowed Minds.

Q7: Finally, what piece of advice would you give to fellow authors?

Write what you want to write. I know that you're all probably tired of hearing this, but it is still very important. During the planning stages, you'd most likely be excited to show the readers what you've got in store. You'd be proud of it, and you'd believe that it's one of the most brilliant ideas out there. Then a few days after you finish planning, you'll realize it may not attract as much readers as you may have expected initially. Then you'll get tempted to change your visions for the story and adopt the plot lines that the famous works have.

Do not abandon your own vision.

It's your work. It's your masterpiece. Listen to feedback, sure, and let them guide you into becoming a better writer, but do not let go of the things that made your work your own. Some way or another, there will be people who would love your story, and they'd deeply appreciate that you made it the way it is.

So don't hesitate. Is it weird? Is it unconventional? Does it belong to a genre that's not as popular as the others? It doesn't matter. Write it, polish it, and show it to the world.

People will love it as long as you do.

[taylorswifthongkong]

Taylor Swift broke all her rules with Folklore — and gave herself a much-needed escape The pop star, one of EW's 2020 Entertainers of the Year, delves deep into her surprise eighth album, Rebekah Harkness, and a Joe Biden presidency. By Alex Suskind

“He is my co-writer on ‛Betty’ and ‛Exile,’” replies Taylor Swift with deadpan precision. The question Who is William Bowery? was, at the time we spoke, one of 2020’s great mysteries, right up there with the existence of Joe Exotic and the sudden arrival of murder hornets. An unknown writer credited on the year’s biggest album? It must be an alias.

Is he your brother?

“He’s William Bowery,” says Swift with a smile.

It's early November, after Election Day but before Swift eventually revealed Bowery's true identity to the world (the leading theory, that he was boyfriend Joe Alwyn, proved prescient). But, like all Swiftian riddles, it was fun to puzzle over for months, particularly in this hot mess of a year, when brief distractions are as comforting as a well-worn cardigan. Thankfully, the Bowery... erhm, Alwyn-assisted Folklore — a Swift project filled with muted pianos and whisper-quiet snares, recorded in secret with Jack Antonoff and the National’s Aaron Dessner — delivered.

“The only people who knew were the people I was making it with, my boyfriend, my family, and a small management team,” Swift, 30, tells EW of the album's hush-hush recording sessions. That gave the intimate Folklore a mystique all its own: the first surprise Taylor Swift album, one that prioritized fantastical tales over personal confessions.

“Early in quarantine, I started watching lots of films,” she explains. “Consuming other people’s storytelling opened this portal in my imagination and made me feel like, Why have I never created characters and intersecting storylines?” That’s how she ended up with three songs about an imagined love triangle (“Cardigan,” “Betty,” “August”), one about a clandestine romance (“Illicit Affairs”), and another chronicling a doomed relationship (“Exile”). Others tell of sumptuous real-life figures like Rebekah Harkness, a divorcee who married the heir to Standard Oil — and whose home Swift purchased 31 years after her death. The result, “The Last Great American Dynasty,” hones in on Harkness’ story, until Swift cleverly injects herself.

And yet, it wouldn’t be a Swift album without a few barbed postmortems over her own history. Notably, “My Tears Ricochet” and “Mad Woman," which touch on her former label head Scott Borchetta selling the masters to Swift’s catalog to her known nemesis Scooter Braun. Mere hours after our interview, the lyrics’ real-life origins took a surprising twist, when news broke that Swift’s music had once again been sold, to another private equity firm, for a reported $300 million. Though Swift ignored repeated requests for comment on the transaction, she did tweet a statement, hitting back at Braun while noting that she had begun re-recording her old albums — something she first promised in 2019 as a way of retaining agency over her creative legacy. (Later, she would tease a snippet of that reimagined work, with a new version of her hit 2008 single "Love Story.")

Like surprise-dropping Folklore, like pissing off the president by endorsing his opponents, like shooing away haters, Swift does what suits her. “I don’t think we often hear about women who did whatever the hell they wanted,” she says of Harkness — something Swift is clearly intent on changing. For her, that means basking in the world of, and favorable response to, Folklore. As she says in our interview, “I have this weird thing where, in order to create the next thing, I attack the previous thing. I don’t love that I do that, but it is the thing that has kept me pivoting to another world every time I make an album. But with this one, I still love it.”

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We’ve spent the year quarantined in our houses, trying to stay healthy and avoiding friends and family. Were you surprised by your ability to create and release a full album in the middle of a pandemic?

TAYLOR SWIFT: I was. I wasn't expecting to make an album. Early on in quarantine, I started watching lots of films. We would watch a different movie every night. I'm ashamed to say I hadn't seen Pan's Labyrinth before. One night I'd watch that, then I'd watch L.A. Confidential, then we'd watch Rear Window, then we'd watch Jane Eyre. I feel like consuming other people's art and storytelling sort of opened this portal in my imagination and made me feel like, "Well, why have I never done this before? Why have I never created characters and intersecting storylines? And why haven't I ever sort of freed myself up to do that from a narrative standpoint?" There is something a little heavy about knowing when you put out an album, people are going to take it so literally that everything you say could be clickbait. It was really, really freeing to be able to just be inspired by worlds created by the films you watch or books you've read or places you've dreamed of or people that you've wondered about, not just being inspired by your own experience.

In that vain, what's it like to sit down and write something like “Betty,” which is told from the perspective of a 17-year-old boy?

That was huge for me. And I think it came from the fact that my co-writer, William Bowery [Joe Alwyn], is male — and he was the one who originally thought of the chorus melody. And hearing him sing it, I thought, "That sounds really cool." Obviously, I don't have a male voice, but I thought, "I could have a male perspective." Patty Griffin wrote this song, “Top of the World.” It's one of my favorite songs of all time, and it's from the perspective of this older man who has lived a life full of regret, and he's kind of taking stock of that regret. So, I thought, "This is something that people I am a huge fan of have done. This would be fun to kind of take this for a spin."

What are your favorite William Bowery conspiracies?

I love them all individually and equally. I love all the conspiracy theories around this album. [With] "Betty," Jack Antonoff would text me these articles and think pieces and in-depth Tumblr posts on what this love triangle meant to the person who had listened to it. And that's exactly what I was hoping would happen with this album. I wrote these stories for a specific reason and from a specific place about specific people that I imagined, but I wanted that to all change given who was listening to it. And I wanted it to start out as mine and become other people's. It's been really fun to watch.

One of the other unique things about Folklore — the parameters around it were completely different from anything you'd done. There was no long roll out, no stadium-sized pop anthems, no aiming for the radio-friendly single. How fearful were you in avoiding what had worked in the past?

I didn't think about any of that for the very first time. And a lot of this album was kind of distilled down to the purest version of what the story is. Songwriting on this album is exactly the way that I would write if I considered nothing else other than, "What words do I want to write? What stories do I want to tell? What melodies do I want to sing? What production is essential to tell those stories?" It was a very do-it-yourself experience. My management team, we created absolutely everything in advance — every lyric video, every individual album package. And then we called our label a week in advance and said, "Here's what we have.” The photo shoot was me and the photographer walking out into a field. I'd done my hair and makeup and brought some nightgowns. These experiences I was used to having with 100 people on set, commanding alongside other people in a very committee fashion — all of a sudden it was me and a photographer, or me and my DP. It was a new challenge, because I love collaboration. But there's something really fun about knowing what you can do if it's just you doing it.

Did you find it freeing?

I did. Every project involves different levels of collaboration, because on other albums there are things that my stylist will think of that I never would've thought of. But if I had all those people on the photo shoot, I would've had to have them quarantine away from their families for weeks on end, and I would've had to ask things of them that I didn't think were fair if I could figure out a way to do it [myself]. I had this idea for the [Folklore album cover] that it would be this girl sleepwalking through the forest in a nightgown in 1830 [laughs]. Very specific. A pioneer woman sleepwalking at night. I made a moodboard and sent it to Beth [Garrabrant], who I had never worked with before, who shoots only on film. We were just carrying bags across a field and putting the bags of film down, and then taking pictures. It was a blast.

Folklore includes plenty of intimate acoustic echoes to what you've done in the past. But there are also a lot of new sonics here, too — these quiet, powerful, intricately layered harmonics. What was it like to receive the music from Aaron and try to write lyrics on top of it? 

Well, Aaron is one of the most effortlessly prolific creators I've ever worked with. It's really mind-blowing. And every time I've spoken to an artist since this whole process [began], I said, "You need to work with him. It'll change the way you create." He would send me these — he calls them sketches, but it's basically an instrumental track. the second day — the day after I texted him and said, "Hey, would you ever want to work together?" — he sent me this file of probably 30 of these instrumentals and every single one of them was one of the most interesting, exciting things I had ever heard. Music can be beautiful, but it can be lacking that evocative nature. There was something about everything he created that is an immediate image in my head or melody that I came up with. So much so that I'd start writing as soon as I heard a new one. And oftentimes what I would send back would inspire him to make more instrumentals and then send me that one. And then I wrote the song and it started to shape the project, form-fitted and customized to what we wanted to do.

It was weird because I had never made an album and not played it for my girlfriends or told my friends. The only people who knew were the people that I was making it with, my boyfriend, my family, and then my management team. So that's the smallest number of people I've ever had know about something. I'm usually playing it for everyone that I'm friends with. So I had a lot of friends texting me things like, "Why didn't you say on our everyday FaceTimes you were making a record?"

Was it nice to be able to keep it a secret?

Well, it felt like it was only my thing. It felt like such an inner world I was escaping to every day that it almost didn't feel like an album. Because I wasn't making a song and finishing it and going, "Oh my God, that is catchy.” I wasn't making these things with any purpose in mind. And so it was almost like having it just be mine was this really sweet, nice, pure part of the world as everything else in the world was burning and crashing and feeling this sickness and sadness. I almost didn't process it as an album. This was just my daydream space.

Does it still feel like that?

Yeah, because I love it so much. I have this weird thing that I do when I create something where in order to create the next thing I kind of, in my head, attack the previous thing. I don't love that I do that but it is the thing that has kept me pivoting to another world every time I make an album. But with this one, I just still love it. I'm so proud of it. And so that feels very foreign to me. That doesn't feel like a normal experience that I've had with releasing albums.

When did you first learn about Rebekah Harkness?

Oh, I learned about her as soon as I was being walked through [her former Rhode Island] home. I got the house when I was in my early twenties as a place for my family to congregate and be together. I was told about her, I think, by the real estate agent who was walking us through the property. And as soon as I found out about her, I wanted to know everything I could. So I started reading. I found her so interesting. And then as more parallels began to develop between our two lives — being the lady that lives in that house on the hill that everybody gets to gossip about — I was always looking for an opportunity to write about her. And I finally found it.

I love that you break the fourth wall in the song. Did you go in thinking you’d include yourself in the story?

I think that in my head, I always wanted to do a country music, standard narrative device, which is: the first verse you sing about someone else, the second verse you sing about someone else who's even closer to you, and then in the third verse, you go, "Surprise! It was me.” You bring it personal for the last verse. And I'd always thought that if I were to tell that story, I would want to include the similarities — our lives or our reputations or our scandals.

How often did you regale friends about the history of Rebekah and Holiday House while hanging out at Holiday House? 

Anyone who's been there before knows that I do “The Tour,” in quotes, where I show everyone through the house. And I tell them different anecdotes about each room, because I've done that much research on this house and this woman. So in every single room, there's a different anecdote about Rebekah Harkness. If you have a mixed group of people who've been there before and people who haven't, [the people who’ve been there] are like, "Oh, she's going to do the tour. She's got to tell you the story about how the ballerinas used to practice on the lawn.” And they'll go get a drink and skip it because it's the same every time. But for me, I'm telling the story with the same electric enthusiasm, because it's just endlessly entertaining to me that this fabulous woman lived there. She just did whatever she wanted.

There are a handful of songs on Folklore that feel like pretty clear nods to your personal life over the last year, including your relationships with Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun. How long did it take to crystallize the feelings you had around both of them into “My Tears Ricochet” or “Mad Woman”?

I found myself being very triggered by any stories, movies, or narratives revolving around divorce, which felt weird because I haven't experienced it directly. There’s no reason it should cause me so much pain, but all of a sudden it felt like something I had been through. I think that happens any time you've been in a 15-year relationship and it ends in a messy, upsetting way. So I wrote “My Tears Ricochet” and I was using a lot of imagery that I had conjured up while comparing a relationship ending to when people end an actual marriage. All of a sudden this person that you trusted more than anyone in the world is the person that can hurt you the worst. Then all of a sudden the things that you have been through together, hurt. All of a sudden, the person who was your best friend is now your biggest nemesis, etc. etc. etc. I think I wrote some of the first lyrics to that song after watching Marriage Story and hearing about when marriages go wrong and end in such a catastrophic way. So these songs are in some ways imaginary, in some ways not, and in some ways both.

How did it feel to drop an F-bomb on "Mad Woman"?

F---ing fantastic.

And that’s the first time you ever recorded one on a record, right?

Yeah. Every rule book was thrown out. I always had these rules in my head and one of them was, You haven't done this before, so you can't ever do this. “Well, you've never had an explicit sticker, so you can't ever have an explicit sticker.” But that was one of the times where I felt like you need to follow the language and you need to follow the storyline. And if the storyline and the language match up and you end up saying the F-word, just go for it. I wasn't adhering to any of the guidelines that I had placed on myself. I decided to just make what I wanted to make. And I'm really happy that the fans were stoked about that because I think they could feel that. I'm not blaming anyone else for me restricting myself in the past. That was all, I guess, making what I want to make. I think my fans could feel that I opened the gate and ran out of the pasture for the first time, which I'm glad they picked up on because they're very intuitive.

Let’s talk about “Epiphany.” The first verse is a nod to your grandfather, Dean, who fought in World War II. What does his story mean to you personally? 

I wanted to write about him for awhile. He died when I was very young, but my dad would always tell this story that the only thing that his dad would ever say about the war was when somebody would ask him, "Why do you have such a positive outlook on life?" My grandfather would reply, "Well, I'm not supposed to be here. I shouldn't be here." My dad and his brothers always kind of imagined that what he had experienced was really awful and traumatic and that he'd seen a lot of terrible things. So when they did research, they learned that he had fought at the Battles of Guadalcanal, at Cape Gloucester, at Talasea, at Okinawa. He had seen a lot of heavy fire and casualties — all of the things that nightmares are made of. He was one of the first people to sign up for the war. But you know, these are things that you can only imagine that a lot of people in that generation didn't speak about because, a) they didn't want people that they came home to to worry about them, and b) it just was so bad that it was the actual definition of unspeakable.

That theme continues in the next verse, which is a pretty overt nod to what’s been happening during COVID. As someone who lives in Nashville, how difficult has it been to see folks on Lower Broadway crowding the bars without masks?

I mean, you just immediately think of the health workers who are putting their lives on the line — and oftentimes losing their lives. If they make it out of this, if they see the other side of it, there's going to be a lot of trauma that comes with that; there's going to be things that they witnessed that they will never be able to un-see. And that was the connection that I drew. I did a lot of research on my grandfather in the beginning of quarantine, and it hit me very quickly that we've got a version of that trauma happening right now in our hospitals. God, you hope people would respect it and would understand that going out for a night isn't worth the ripple effect that it causes. But obviously we're seeing that a lot of people don't seem to have their eyes open to that — or if they do, a lot of people don't care, which is upsetting.

You had the Lover Fest East and West scheduled this year. How hard has it been to both not perform for your fans this year, and see the music industry at large go through such a brutal change?

It's confusing. It's hard to watch. I think that maybe me wanting to make as much music as possible during this time was a way for me to feel like I could reach out my hand and touch my fans, even if I couldn't physically reach out or take a picture with them. We've had a lot of different, amazing, fun, sort of underground traditions we've built over the years that involve a lot of human interaction, and so I have no idea what's going to happen with touring; none of us do. And that's a scary thing. You can't look to somebody in the music industry who's been around a long time, or an expert touring manager or promoter and [ask] what's going to happen and have them give you an answer. I think we're all just trying to keep our eyes on the horizon and see what it looks like. So we're just kind of sitting tight and trying to take care of whatever creative spark might exist and trying to figure out how to reach our fans in other ways, because we just can't do that right now.

When you are able to perform again, do you have plans on resurfacing a Lover Fest-type event?

I don't know what incarnation it'll take and I really would need to sit down and think about it for a good solid couple of months before I figured out the answer. Because whatever we do, I want it to be something that is thoughtful and will make the fans happy and I hope I can achieve that. I'm going to try really hard to.

In addition to recording an album, you spent this year supporting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the election. Where were you when it was called in their favor? 

Well, when the results were coming in, I was actually at the property where we shot the Entertainment Weekly cover. I was hanging out with my photographer friend, Beth, and the wonderful couple that owned the farm where we [were]. And we realized really early into the night that we weren't going to get an accurate picture of the results. Then, a couple of days later, I was on a video shoot, but I was directing, and I was standing there with my face shield and mask on next to my director of photography, Rodrigo Prieto. And I just remember a news alert coming up on my phone that said, "Biden is our next president. He's won the election." And I showed it to Rodrigo and he said, "I'm always going to remember the moment that we learned this." And I looked around, and people's face shields were starting to fog up because a lot of people were really misty-eyed and emotional, and it was not loud. It wasn't popping bottles of champagne. It was this moment of quiet, cautious elation and relief.

Do you ever think about what Folklore would have sounded like if you, Aaron, and Jack had been in the same room?

I think about it all the time. I think that a lot of what has happened with the album has to do with us all being in a collective emotional place. Obviously everybody's lives have different complexities and whatnot, but I think most of us were feeling really shaken up and really out of place and confused and in need of something comforting all at the same time. And for me, that thing that was comforting was making music that felt sort of like I was trying to hug my fans through the speakers. That was truly my intent. Just trying to hug them when I can't hug them.

I wanted to talk about some of the lyrics on Folklore. One of my favorite pieces of wordplay is in “August”: that flip of "sipped away like a bottle of wine/slipped away like a moment in time.” Was there an "aha moment" for you while writing that?

I was really excited about "August slipped away into a moment of time/August sipped away like a bottle of wine." That was a song where Jack sent me the instrumental and I wrote the song pretty much on the spot; it just was an intuitive thing. And that was actually the first song that I wrote of the "Betty" triangle. So the Betty songs are "August," "Cardigan," and "Betty." "August" was actually the first one, which is strange because it's the song from the other girl's perspective.

Yeah, I assumed you wrote "Cardigan" first.

It would be safe to assume that "Cardigan" would be first, but it wasn't. It was very strange how it happened, but it kind of pieced together one song at a time, starting with "August," where I kind of wanted to explore the element of This is from the perspective of a girl who was having her first brush with love. And then all of a sudden she's treated like she's the other girl, because there was another situation that had already been in place, but "August" girl thought she was really falling in love. It kind of explores the idea of the undefined relationship. As humans, we're all encouraged to just be cool and just let it happen, and don't ask what the relationship is — Are we exclusive? But if you are chill about it, especially when you're young, you learn the very hard lesson that if you don't define something, oftentimes they can gaslight you into thinking it was nothing at all, and that it never happened. And how do you mourn the loss of something once it ends, if you're being made to believe that it never happened at all?

"I almost didn't process it as an album," says Taylor Swift of making Folklore. "And it's still hard for me to process as an entity or a commodity, because [it] was just my daydream space."

On the flip side, "Peace" is bit more defined in terms of how one approaches a relationship. There's this really striking line, "The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me/Would it be enough if I can never give you peace?" How did that line come to you?

I'm really proud of that one too. I heard the track immediately. Aaron sent it to me, and it had this immediate sense of serenity running through it. The first word that popped into my head was peace, but I thought that it would be too on-the-nose to sing about being calm, or to sing about serenity, or to sing about finding peace with someone. Because you have this very conflicted, very dramatic conflict-written lyric paired with this very, very calming sound of the instrumental. But, "The devil's in the details," is one of those phrases that I've written down over the years. That's a common phrase that is used in the English language every day. And I just thought it sounded really cool because of the D, D sound. And I thought, "I'll hang onto those in a list, and then, I'll finally find the right place for them in a story." I think that's how a lot of people feel where it's like, "Yeah, the devil's in the details. Everybody's complex when you look under the hood of the car." But basically saying, "I'm there for you if you want that, if this complexity is what you want."

There's another clever turn-of-phrase on "This is Me Trying." "I didn't know if you'd care if I came back/I have a lot of regrets about that." That feels like a nod toward your fans, and some of the feelings you had about retreating from the public sphere.

Absolutely. I think I was writing from three different characters' perspectives, one who's going through that; I was channeling the emotions I was feeling in 2016, 2017, where I just felt like I was worth absolutely nothing. And then, the second verse is about dealing with addiction and issues with struggling every day. And every second of the day, you're trying not to fall into old patterns, and nobody around you can see that, and no one gives you credit for it. And then, the third verse, I was thinking, what would the National do? What lyric would Matt Berninger write? What chords would the National play? And it's funny because I've since played this song for Aaron, and he's like, "That's not what we would've done at all." He's like, "I love that song, but that's totally different than what we would've done with it."

When we last spoke, in April 2019, we were talking about albums we were listening to at the time and you professed your love for the National and I Am Easy to Find. Two months later, you met up with Aaron at their concert, and now, we're here talking about the National again.

Yeah, I was at the show where they were playing through I Am Easy to Find. What I loved about [that album] was they had female vocalists singing from female perspectives, and that triggered and fired something in me where I thought, "I've got to play with different perspectives because that is so intriguing when you hear a female perspective come in from a band where you're used to only hearing a male perspective." It just sparked something in me. And obviously, you mentioning the National is the reason why Folklore came to be. So, thank you for that, Alex.

I'm here for all of your songwriting muse needs in the future.

I can't wait to see what comes out of this interview.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

For more on our Entertainers of the Year and Best & Worst of 2020, order the January issue of Entertainment Weekly or find it on newsstands beginning Dec. 18. (You can also pick up the full set of six covers here.) Don’t forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

[tiecladartist]

Okay, spoilers beneath the cut because I have some issues with Rise of the Titans.

Tales of Arcadia is one of my favorite series ever. It handled the "Kid is the chosen one" situation brilliantly, every character had depth (even characters like Steve, Eli, the teachers, etc). Theme was expertly handled with each part of the series. Destiny, heroism and sacrifice for Trollhunters; Family, duty and home for 3-Below; Legacy, prejudice and family (again) for Wizards. Every season brought me to tears, made me laugh, made me fear for the safety of the characters and want good things for them after watching them sacrifice over and over again. It is a comfort show for me and always will be.

Now, the movie...

So, I don't think it was bad. I also don't think it was good, unfortunately. The animation took a bit of getting used to after bingeing everything else leading up to this, but I can't deny it was incredibly beautiful. It was especially nice to see places other than Arcadia and Akiridion-5. It started off strong with the train fight, and admittedly there were a lot of scenes I quite liked during the movie. But, just the scenes. I liked moments, but overall it didn't come together quite as well as the shows did.

The biggest factor is likely time. I doubt making this a movie was the initial plan since I know production companies enjoy snubbing out strong series for various reasons. Honestly, I was surprised we got an "ending" at all based on the trends of recent shows being forced to wrap things up prematurely. Even Wizards felt rushed compared to the others and as a result a lot of interesting concepts were brushed over quickly. I mean, I for one would've loved to see more Camelot "filler" shenanigans since those less plot-heavy episodes that we had throughout Trollhunters and 3-Below helped us explore the characters and grow to love them, and we didn't get quite as much of that with Douxie, Archie, Lancelot, Charlemagne, etc. But I digress, this post is supposed to be about the movie, not Wizards.

So yeah, I think Rise of the Titans should've been a show rather than a movie. We could have more time before Nari is captured, focusing on the "where are they now" of all the characters after the year we skipped. Jim gets to cook and eat human food after losing that passion when becoming a troll, adjusting to being human again! Maybe him and Toby talk about Barbara and Stickler being together and how it's kinda weird (Toby could compare it to having conflicting feelings over his Nana dating an alien). Krel and Aja have a call about how it is being the Queen and Steve interrupts because he misses Aja. Perhaps we hear Eli in the background doing something related to the "Secret weapon" and the call gets cut off quickly because this leads to a small disaster on Aja's end that she needs to go fix. Claire is practicing her magic with the help of Zoe while Douxie is off with Nari. NARI AND DOUXIE INTERACT WITH EACHOTHER AND WE ACTUALLY GET TO SEE IT! (Like, I know that they were travelling together for a year and that that is why Douxie is sad when Nari dies, but it didn't impact at all outside of empathy because there was no emotional investment on my end towards their friendship). But yeah, we get to see what's going on with everyone, and then perhaps this first episode ends with the reveal of them being ready for a plan of sorts (luring the arcane order and cutting off their magic. That wouldn't be revealed though). Cut to the Arcane Order in their super secret clubhouse saying they're close to finding Nari and you get a decent cliffhanger.

Episode 2 would start with the train fight and go fairly the same way. We see Jim struggling with fighting with no armor. Or perhaps he has akiridion armor, but it's too rigid or keeps malfunctioning (doesn't fit, so to speak). Only difference is that Jim's arc wouldn't be about whether or not he's still the trollhunter, because we've been through that already and he knows. I could get having moments of doubt, but his full on denial was kinda out of place after everything he went through. Instead, it could be that he feels useless due to now being a burden in a fight. Or perhaps instead he's wrestling with guilt. He's blaming himself since the arcane order got the seals due to them trying to rescue him. Maybe both? Maybe he even misses his troll body and feels that he's too weak now. Yes, he's still the trollhunter, amulet or not, but he's feeling less and less capable of answering this particular call, and that bothers him. He doesn't want to be a burden after all. Fight ends with the train crash, arrest, Douxie swapping with Nari, all the same.

Now, this is where things would go very very differently. Have more time before Douxie and Nari switch back. Let the Arcane order monologue a little more. They want to reset the world because the balance has been shifted? Cool! Tell me more! Did they used to try to get along with the humans? Did they try diplomacy in the past only to fail due to the stubborn humans, and that's why they've decided to take drastic measures? Or if not, explore why they believe they're the ones allowed to decide the balance is off. Is it because they're powerful? Or how long they've been on Earth? Did they reset it in the past and thus know through experience? I don't mind not knowing, since not everything needs to be spelled out for the audience, but there was potential to make them characters rather than obstacles, and it wasn't really utilized to its full potential. Allow Douxie to pick their brains a little instead of immediately swapping him and Nari back and only succeeding in delaying things a few more hours. Hell, if it was a TV show I honestly would've had one or two episodes before doing that while we address how that initial failure (and the fact that magical creatures/aliens were revealed to the world) affected everyone.

Maybe I'll go through and like, actually plot out episodes and stuff, but since I only just finished watching, here's just some various things I'd change:

-Get rid of that whole Steve pregnancy. That was just out of place and rather than the "comedy" breaking the tension, it shattered it completely and distracted from everything. If you wanna explore his father-based character arc, maybe have him and Aja discussing the fact that now that she's queen, she'll need heirs. And maybe Steve isn't sure he could be a good dad due to his history with paternal figures. You could even have it that he's taking care of Nari while her and Douxie are switched, and that leads to a situation where he helps her out and realizes he may be a better dad than expected. Or perhaps Blinky gives him paternal advice. Or Strickler. Or even BARBARA AND JIM like, Steve couldn't be worse than Jim's dad, and letting Steve and Jim bond over that would be nice. There was so much potential, but instead, Steve was reduced to an out of place running gag instead of getting a resolution to his character arc. And hey, if you wanna keep the whole male akiridions give birth thing that's cool, but it's gotta be done in moments where it won't distract. Or, you could even have it be that it means Aja and Steve need to adopt because uh... she's inorganic and he's organic? His body likely isn't actually built for akiridion childbirth despite the movie glossing over this fact? And maybe Steve has mixed feelings about someone else being the dad of his kids, but Coach and him talk about how Coach isn't his biological dad, but that doesn't mean he loves Steve any less.

-GIVE DOUXIE MORE SCREEN TIME! Seriously, had this been a show he would have the most potential for character growth out of everyone. His series was the shortest, so really all he got was a confidence boost and moving past needing Merlin's approval. But there was so much to explore with him still. What was up with that extreme burst of magic after Merlin's death that was never brought up again? How has he been mentally handling singlehandedly guarding Nari against the Arcane order for a year? Once he and Nari switch back, does he feel guilt over not being able to protect her? "Merlin wouldn't have failed like that. He kept her safe for thousands of years, I lasted a little over one". Perhaps, in his constant desire to prove himself to the people he cares about, he takes risky moves to try and save Nari again and make up for his mistakes, similar to how Jim was acting in the movie. Eventually, when he and Nari meet up again when trying to break her controlled state, Douxie is apologizing and talking about how he wants to make things right. He sees Nari as a friend; as family, just as much as Archie, and he doesn't want to lose her like he lost Merlin. He doesn't want to lose anyone else (which would make Archie getting stuck in the other Trollmarket, and Nari's sacrifice even more painful later on if that still happened).

-Krel, Eli and Stewart also needed more time. I get it was a movie, so time was short, but still. Krel's entire thing is that he grew to see Earth as his true home, and we didn't get to address the fact that he was immediately at risk of losing it at all. Not to mention the sheer amount of stuff he'd built for everyone. Like, could you imagine an episode where, to break up the tension (in a proper way, not a weird pregnancy way), in the midst of everyone trying to figure out how to stop the titans, Krel has overworked himself fixing and managing everyone's tech. He has to spend a day resting and disasters ensue as no one knows how to fix any of the stuff he usually manages. Like the tech keeping Camelot afloat, for example. Stewart and Eli could be the ones that end up stepping up to fill the Krel sized gap for the day.

-And I know that these fillers would lower the tension a bit, but like, having the titans need to charge up after awakening (like, absorbing elemental energy or something), or perhaps making the Arcane Order have to collect certain things to break the seals in the first place that they had on their fortress but lost when that was destroyed , or any other kinda obstacle to give time between the train fight and the Titans waking up would give time for less plot-heavy, more character focused episodes. And even after the titans wake up, they were moving super slowly and walking across the planet. It's not like they'd be short on time despite the movie making it seem like walking from china to america was a short jog at most.

-Don't give Toby the amulet. Don't get me wrong, I love Toby very much and literally bawled out loud at his sacrifice scene. But like, it made no sense to give him the amulet? Jim doing everything again with years of Trollhunter experience would help solve a lot of problems from his first go around (and I'm not fully on board with the whole time reset in the first place. Resetting to the start of the movie, or even just the fight with Bellroc would be better). Jim knows the burdens of being a trollhunter first hand, and you really think he'd be okay dumping all that on Tobes? Toby, the guy completely content with being the wingman and helping the people he cares about. Toby, the guy who never worried about not having a grand destiny up until the movie. The guy who in his biggest dreams was a Duke, not a king. I think Toby was well aware of how important moral support is and wouldn't see it as a lame superpower. But even if he did, in a tv show they could explore that in a way where he comes to learn just how much that moral support does for his friends. And if you still want his moment of glorious sacrifice (because I count that as one of the well done moments), then do that! But rather than going back in time to save everyone, make it so they sacrifice the stone to turn back time a bit. Risk their victory to try saving Toby. Have them fight Bellroc together instead of it being just Jim, because it's trollhunters, not trollhunter. It always has been, always will.

-And if you're like "But if they don't go back then Strickler and Nomura stay dead!" Then how about they don't kill them for shock factor in the first place? Have Strickler badly injured instead, because by god Barbara deserves some happiness. And think of the potential scene of her treating his wounds, and the two of them think about how things have changed since that visit to trollmarket when they were both hurt. About how Strickler stuck around, and when Barbara thought she'd lost him it scared her. How she's sick of almost losing everyone she cares about. She could talk a bit about Jim's dad then too, and it could be revealed that Jim was outside because he was going to check on them, but stopped when he realized they were talking. And then later on, he asks about his dad, admitting he overheard, and we get that conversation they had in the movie. And if you keep the Nomura sacrifice, give her more of a moment ffs. Like, she deserved better! Have the death be a sacrifice to save someone else instead of just "oops I got caught and I'm in the sun now". Make it deliberate. Make it her decision after a life of serving others. Finally, she got to be the one in control of her fate, and she chose to protect the people she cared about.

There's so much more I could say about this and the potential that was killed by the lack of time, but this is getting long and I should probably try actually doing the work I need to do today.

Edit (Because this just popped in my head and I need to add it).

THEY WERE LITERALLY AROUND THE ROUND TABLE! THE NINTH CONFIGURATION (which like, screw that there are more than 9 heroes here to save the day) WERE THE NEW KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. They were there to protect the world, and like... did the bond between Lancelot and Steve just not exist anymore? Did that get timeline erased too? Could you imagine Steve fighting to protect the world, doing his best to protect the people he cared about so that he never loses someone like he lost Lance again? He gets to keep his promise to carry on the legacy of the Knights even after they died. THE POTENTIAL WAS THERE!!! THE SET UP WAS THERE!!! BUT NO! WE GET MPREG STEVE INSTEAD!!

[incomingalbatross]

For your WIPs, things Soos probably knows about Stan? And/or post canon summers?

Thank you, and sorry I didn't answer this sooner!

"Things Soos knows" was me brainstorming which parts of Stan's Mysterious Past Soos has already figured out.

I think (as I said somewhere else) that Soos must have guessed that Stan has a long-lost twin, from the indications Stan's dropped over the years, and I think he also knows that one of them was Stanley and one was Stanford, even if (like the fans pre-NWHS) he doesn't know which was which. He also knows that Stan had a bad dad (I'm SURE Filbrick has come up obliquely enough times for him to get that) and that Stan is up to SOMETHING because sometimes you come to the Shack and he's not there but then he IS there and acts like he was all along. Can he teleport? Is there a secret room in the Shack? Does Mr. Pines have a secret superhero identity he's hiding?? It's definitely one of those!

Oh, and Soos is also aware of all the Gravity Falls weirdness and knows that Stan always tells him not to talk about weird stuff or people will think he's crazy. (This is the actual advice Soos gave Dipper in "Tourist Trapped," so...) I imagine that Soos doesn't see the weirdness as a secret so much as "something you don't talk about," and also he's not great at distinguishing genuine weirdness from other stuff, but he does assume Stan is...not unaware of the weirdness, I guess. Which he's right about, but from a funny angle.

(In reality, of course, Stan probably told him not to talk about it as a way of shielding him from the SotBE's attention. But Soos doesn't know about them--and Stan may only have a vague idea of who/what they really are, tbf--so he accepted Stan's advice at face value.)

---

My post-canon summers doc is just notes on things I like to imagine about how Gravity Falls looks, 5-10 years post-canon. It never completely gelled, but some ideas (my own thoughts and things I picked up from fandom):

Gideon and Pacifica maybe forming some sort of formerly-terrible-kids support group

Wendy becomes a big-sister figure to Candy and Grenda and maybe Pacifica as well

Fiddleford fills his new mansion with robots but also all the kids in town like to go there to explore--it's open to everyone 24/7, basically, and you're welcome to camp out in one of the 175 spare bedrooms if you want (I like the idea of him reversing the Northwests' closed-off legacy)

Melody becomes a big-sister figure to Wendy (I still think this is a very important friendship, because they're both Shack crew now but also because Wendy has no women in her life! Melody's friendship would be so good!)

Stan gets renamed "Grandpa Mystery" at some point, once Soos has had his first kid. Ford is maybe Doctor Mystery?

And also the town adds like half-a-dozen new holidays to its regular summer calendar:

The day all the Pines Twins come back every year, there's always a party at the Shack, and it's unofficially the beginning of summer

(Stan and Ford's birthday is smaller--they don't like a big public party, I think. Townspeople still wish them happy birthday and get them presents, and there's always talk of making it a public holiday because of Town Hero Stanley Pines, but it's less of an event.)

Soos's birthday is the happiest party of the summer! Everyone loves Mr. Mystery, so the Mystery Twins and the rest of his family organize a big celebration at the Shack every year and the whole town makes sure to show up. Soos cries every year, too, but they're happy tears.

The craziest party of the summer is the one held at NW Mansion every year, though--funded by Fiddleford's money and organized/hosted by Pacifica. It's full of stuff you'd normally need to pay exorbitantly for at an amusement park or something--lots of unhealthy food, unsafe-yet-thrilling rides built by McGucket from scratch, incredible fireworks, all the rich-people stuff you can think of--and it's all 100% free. It's way over the top.

And then there's August 24th. It doesn't have a name, and people don't talk about it much, but on that day every summer, people get potluck dishes prepared and just get together in the town square with food and bonfires and togetherness. The friendlier anomalies are welcome too, and everyone tells stories that don't get told any other day of the year--stories about a red sky, and fighting for your lives, and monsters and madness and miracles. There are folk songs, and triangles are burned in effigy. The Pines Family are always warmly welcomed there.

The last party of the year is the Mystery Twins' birthday, which is another big day at the Shack. It's always a little sad, because it means the end of summer and the imminent departures of most of the Pineses, but it's also a happy celebration.

...Turns out my headcanons are mostly about parties.

I'm good with that.