#just saw my first one in the wild and i can confirm it's the saddest ugliest dumpster in existence

[clichesadmusic]

Ranboo Lore Recap (April 29)

so today....happened (I AM SCREAMING INTERNALLY MY TWO FAV CHARACTERS TECHNICALLY INTERACTED I AM SO HAPPY AHH)

The villain returned:

Intro piano music with black screen instead of his normal blue one.

Screen goes to complete black, is totally silent (no music) as he opens the game and goes onto the server, first words being “Oh, shoot.”

When he logs on he is still on top of L’manhole

“I’m seeing dead people again.”- Ranboo

(note: none of his usual stuff is on screen, he already stated that donos would be off but the subgoal, follower goal and even his watermark are gone which usually remain when he is doing lore)

Ranboo talks about how hard it is to deal with knowing that someone that made his friends' lives so terrible is back.

“Obviously I don’t like the guy.”- Ranboo

Ranboo tabs so he can see who is on and notices that Phil is there. Ranboo realises that he has to tell Phil, as he farms wheat by the community house he practices what he’s going to say to him….it doesn’t go great but there’s not really a good way to say it.

Ranboo makes his way towards their home and goes over what happened so that he can tell Phil.

“I shouldn't rehearse, I should say it naturally.”- Ranboo

Ranboo hypes himself up as he makes his way to Phil’s door.

He greets Phil and makes him a “chair” to sit down.

Ranboo tells Phil….everything. The plan for the prison, Ghostbur going in as cover with Tommy following, how Tommy came out with Friend and without Ghostbur.

Phil doesn’t put together that Ghostbur is “dead” until Ranboo says it, even then he doesn’t believe him because “Ghostbur is a ghost.”- Phil

“Ghostbur being gone is the good news….”- Ranboo

“....Wilbur’s back….he’s alive”- Ranboo

Phil seems very happy saying that it “changes everything.”

“I wonder if he’s any different.”- Phil

“He said that he was in a train station or something for like 13 years.”- Ranboo

Phil keeps looking up at his picture of Wil. “13 years is a very long time to be away, he might not be the same person. He certainly isn’t the same person actually. This changes a lot.”- Phil

Phil tries to get Ranboo to explain what Wilbur ways saying and how he was acting but this was Ranboo’s first time meeting Wil so he doesn’t really know.

Ranboo tells Phil that Wil thinks that the current state of L’manberg is his fault. Ranboo also tells Phil that Wil originally didn’t know him but then said he knew a lot about him.

“What I’m scared of now Ranboo is what has he been thinking about this whole time.”- Phil

Phil says that he needs to prepare for when Wilbur comes to see him, saying that they have a lot to talk about.

Phil says that he’ll talk to Ranboo later and leaves.

Throughout Ranboo keeps saying that Wilbur seemed happy and that “he didn’t seem that bad”. (Ranboo is def an optimist about how much people can change).

Ranboo looks at the blue in his inventory, goes silent for a moment before saying in the saddest voice “Ghostburs gone….I just realised that. I’m gonna miss Ghostbur.”

“I think that Wilbur has probably turned over a new leaf.”- Ranboo

Ranboo talks about how Wilbur seemed to be really fond of Tubbo. But he also knows how Wilburs actions have affected Tubbo. (He is very concerned about Tubbo, for obvious reasons)

Ranboo flips through his memory book to the last page where enderwalkboo responded to him saying “this is what I have to do” (aka stop conflict).

Ranboo says that he needs to keep a close eye on Wilbur and that there are only a few people who can help him with that.

“I know exactly who I need to go see”- Ranboo

“I just have to make sure...that he doesn’t do anything too bad.”- Ranboo

Ranboo runs through the nether, back through the main portal.

I think that Wilbur has probably turned over a new leaf cause if he hasn’t *pulls out axe*, then we are in for a wild ride.”- Ranboo

“Cause then Tubbo. Michael and Tommy will be safe.”- Ranboo

Ranboo jumps down to the hole where The Council has most recently reconvened (originally it was a joke about the 6 endermen holding grass block that had all gotten stuck in the staircase down to Ranboo’s strip mine, they were accidently let out because of a creeper explosion but Ranboo found another group of endermen in a different hole that he has redubbed The Council).

He asks The Council to keep an eye on Wilbur for him. “Let me know what he does. Make sure that if anything happens tell me. Just...let me know, okay?”

He leaves the hole. “The Council usually helps me out with that stuff. Especially since I re-learned how to talk to them” (confirmation that non-enderwalk boo can talk ender).

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Just wait for the letters. Oh! That means I have to make the mailbox for them.”- Ranboo (I love this, I love this so much).

“Is it my duty to tell people? What do you think particles?”- Ranboo (I love when he refers to us as particles, I don’t know why, it’s just so great)

“*reads chat giving him totally conflicting answers because it’s chat* *laughs* you guys are useless. ”- Ranboo “A lot of you guys are saying no…”

He goes looking for crying obsidian for the mailbox, going back to his place.

“Something tells me that I’m not gonna have to tell people honestly.”- Ranboo

Ranboo decides that he should put the mail box in the original meeting area (the entrance to his mine). He talks himself through building it as if there is a specific format it must be in (like a nether portal for example) in order for it to work, implying that this is something that he has either done before or has seen be done.

“Hopefully by the time I get back I will have news about what happened.”- Ranboo

He blocks off the mailbox room with dirt.

“Re-learning how to speak enderman was a fantastic idea. See that's a good thing about the experiments at least! Before I could kind of say hello sometimes...”- Ranboo

Chat/Particle: Explain the experiments?

Ranboo: No, I don’t think I will.

(at this point he turns the subgoal and dono alerts back on)

“When Tubbo described Wilbur to me he said that he really liked debates.”- Ranboo

(music comes back on)

Ranboo decides to fix up the courthouse a bit.

“We’re gonna fix Wilburs courthouse. Maybe he can warm up to me. Cause I hope he likes me. First impressions are everything. I just wanna get on Wilburs good side y’know.”- Ranboo (Ranboo’s need to be liked by new people is just a little too relatable man).

Ranboo says a couple of times that he is aware that Tommy didn’t seem to like Wilbur when he saw him but that Wilbur has been gone for a long time and has hopefully turned over a new leaf.

“I like to remain neutral in most things. But if the council comes back with bad news then obviously I’m going to protect Tuboo by any means and make sure Tommy is also good.”

“When push comes to shove I’m probably gonna be on Tommy and Tubbo’s side” *eyes emoji*

Dono: He did say that Dream was his hero

Ranboo: Yeah, he did say that Dream was his hero. Ohhhh….I forgot to mention that to Phil. Whoops….probably should have to Phil that he sees Dream as his hero…..probably a bad guy…

Ranboo says that him and Tubbo were playing chess while they waited for Tommy to kill Dream.

Ranboo realises that he needs to keep the knowledge of the nukes away from Wilbur.

He writes a note to Phil telling him about how Wilbur said that Dream was his hero. “Heya phil! Quick thing that i forgot to mention...Your newly revived son considers Dream his hero! So read into that what you want! Just thought you should know haha- Ranboo the Beloved”

He put the book and quill (not a signed book) into a chest he leaves in Phil’s house that he labels “Mail for phil”

Ranboo realizes that Wilbur doesn’t know about him and Tubbo being married or about Michael but decides that this is fine.

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 4

Skipper Thistlespring and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

We pick back up at The Swan’s Little Parade where rich people shenanigans are taking place. Gorgug breaks from the group to try and call Zelda. When she doesn’t answer, he leaves the saddest, sweetest apology voicemail ever. Lou breaks. Siobhan breaks. I break. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the group gameplans. Adaine pushes back against the idea that they have to talk to Aelwyn. Her parents are also an option and Aelwyn is not a good person, no matter how hot Fabian is for her. They also check out the guest book from the hotel and see that Bill Seacaster has stayed there several times, always right after a Garthy O’Brien (they see that it happened a bunch while they were in jail and it was probably in conjunction with when Bill was supplying palimpsests). Fabian recognizes the name as a pirate and Cathilda knows they run the Gold Gardens which is a floating pirate casino/brothel.

Kristen tries to release Gorthalax but just confirms that, because of the curse, doing it without messing up Gorthalax is gonna be tough. 

Sandra-Lynn goes to get Gorgug while Fig decides to careen the campaign into Crazytown and make herself Empress for Life of the same. She disguises herself as an old lady and tries to drop off a note giving her phone number as the new number of the cop she impersonated last episode (Detective Decker) so she can send a fully grown cop texts that would def get him Chris Hansen’d irl. Brennan decides that if she’s gonna keep making beds, she should probably lie in one of them for once and comes for her entire life in the funniest scene of the episode. No recap I could give can do it justice(links to clips here: x, x). Just know it ends with Fig running away and ditching her phone in a lake, which could very possibly have plot consequences if she forgets to replace her phone before she’s in a tight spot where it would be helpful and the absolute dumbest/funniest reason for a character death (I want to note that she did replace her phone technically, but with a huge, old, brick phone from Adaine’s jacket that can’t be as useful as an actual cell). 

ANYWAY

Tracker creates a Moon Haven in the van which is basically like a dope pillow fort with the Sanctuary spell cast on it and TARDIS bigger-on-the-inside spatial mechanics. Once they’re inside the Moon Haven, Ragh finally feels safe to tell them what he knows--which he does telepathically via Adaine and the message spell to make everything extra safe. Here’s a rundown of what he tells them:

He saw Kalina on the night of prom after the big fight. She was talking to Jace (the sorcery “teacher”) and an elven woman who looked like Adaine in black robes--Adaine confirmed with a picture that it was her mother. 

After being healed by Porter, Ragh started walking home and was stopped by Kalina who said she would kill his mom if he told anyone what he saw. 

Ragh’s mom Lydia is also a half-orc barbarian. She was on a mission in the Red Waste (where the 7 Maidens have their Sophomore Year quest) and they found a soul gem that was leaking something bad. She put it in her chest to contain the evil but at the cost of her health. She’s now extremely sick and in a permanent, medically-induced rage to keep her alive. She refuses medical treatment because no one can ensure the evil won’t be released if they remove the gem. 

His mom fucking slaps.

So that’s all deeply worrying. Adaine invites Ragh and his mom to live with them in the Haunted House and Fig offers to give them Dr. Asha’s number. Gorgug discovers the Van can become a boat which is convenient for the pirate-y things they have to do (the Golden Gardens is on the way to Falinel so they decide to stop there first). Fig has a heart to heart with Gilear while Adaine and Sandra-Lynn take first watch outside since the Moon Haven can only hold nine people. Adaine has to roll a wisdom save because she’s outside of the Haven’s protection and, even on a 16, the music goes all scary and she feels that something is in the tent with her outside. Something humanoid and her size with its knees to its chest. She senses that if she sees its face, something will happen to her and, instead of looking at it, she calls for Sandra-Lynn. By the time she shows up, the thing is gone. Fig assures Adaine that she’s not crazy or seeing things and, based on Adaine’s description, they’re able to deduce that it wasn’t Baron or Kalina. 

In the morning, Gorgug is pretty bummed and asks everyone to call him Skipper. Kristen is very down and Fabian is very not. They discuss whether they should tell all of the information from Ragh to the 7 Maidens (no) and whether Gorgug should call Zelda (yes). They drive into the sea. Gorgug finally talks to Zelda who is not happy with him for the ghosting and unintentional thoughtlessness. She’s even less happy with him when she realizes he forgot to get the generator they needed to stay in touch long distance. They’re breaking up. Do I mean relationship-wise or phone-wise? You don’t know? Well that makes two of us (Thanks, I Hate It).

They’re at sea for two days and then make it to the floating pirate shipwreck city of Leviathan. Pirate adventures next week, y’all! 

Detention

Fig for Trying to Seduce ANOTHER Middle-Aged Man

Listen, I’ll stop putting her here for this when she stops doing this. Not to mention, she invented a whole ass person (HILDA HILDA?????) when she’s just been told that nightmare monsters are being generated from lies. Fig, my girl. Ms. Faeth. Please. I’m begging you. Please. 

Honor Roll

All of the Adults for Stepping Up

Every single adult in this episode was on fire. Fig confided in Gilear and he stepped up to the plate with a This-Is-So-Serious-I’m-Going-To-Use-Your-Actual-Full-Name, speech. Sandra-Lynn showed Adaine how to do some ranger stuff and jumped in to save her when she cried out. Cathilda was ready with warm milk and cookies she somehow was able to make in the van as soon as Adaine needed them. Sandra-Lynn also had a heart to heart with Fig and even Gorthalax, who’s still trapped in the ruby, gave Fig a spell slot back. And, of course, Ragh’s mom slaps. 

Random Thoughts

Adaine and Fabian both being uber rich but being on the opposite ends of the rich people spectrum is hilarious. Adaine is a “Sleeping in a van? I’ve heard of that but I’ve never gotten to do it. This will be fun!” Rich Kid  and Fabian is a “No turn down service? Hard pass,” Rich Kid. 

I was happy that they brought Ragh along for comedy reasons but who knew he was gonna be so chock full of backstory and important story beats? Like, every good GM has a way of making whatever story path that was chosen seem like the only way the story could have gone and I’m sure that whoever was picked, Brennan would have made that seem like the obvious and essential choices but I’m very happy they picked Ragh. Him talking about how much he loves his mom was so adorable! I love that he’s a big, good, dumb boy now and I’m happy they invited him to live at the Haunted House. That’s def gonna be good for some shenanigans (also love that Adaine’s only stipulation was that he had to be nice to Zayn and he was so eager to agree).  

Insane Ally Move of the Game: Deciding that Kristen genuinely doesn’t know Gilear used to be lunch lad at their school. Is Kristen even on the same plane of existence as everyone else. And then, later, “I worry about Gilear.” Do you really???

I totally forgot that Gilear was not only an elven diplomat but also a full on actual counselor. Makes it even wilder that he lost the job to Jawbone. Also, while we’re talking about him, I said we were gonna inevitably gonna get some more color on Gilear this season and we saw some of that in this ep when Adaine uses detect thoughts on him (which, btw, seems like a horribly invasive thing that people do very casually in this world) and we see that he gave up his career for Sandra-Lynn and then was wrecked when she cheated on him. Really puts a melancholy shade over his hilarious ineptness. 

Another thing I figured we’d see soon and that we’re starting to see is Adaine speaking up on Aelwyn. Two times this ep she tried to steer the group away from Aelwyn and seemed more serious than her usual trash talk. As excited as I am for pirate adventures, I want to get to Falinel ASAP to see how this shakes out. 

Also, on the mom front, wild that we found out that Ragh has a super dope mom in the same scene Adaine took another L and found out that her mom is also involved in this shadiness. Black robes are never a good sign. But I will say, just based on the story beats we’ve gotten, I’m not totally sold on the idea that she’s 100% bad--or at least that she doesn’t care for Adaine at all. I’m wondering if she wasn’t at school trying to find Adaine (possibly among other things). 

“Every time you have sex it’s a gamble. You could lose your heart.”/”What happened to you on tour?”

Gorgug trying to let a full sized griffon land on his arm is hilarious. I love that. He’s so wholesome and dumb.

I love that when Emily was doing her Hilda-Hilda nonsense , turned into Detective Decker, and ran past the police house precinct, Lou was the only person who was on her wavelength and understood what she was trying to do while everyone else was like????

We find out in this ep that Van can control all the auxiliary functions of the van but not the actual driving, which is important to know before a sticky situation. On a more personal note, we find out that he was originally a planetar (second most powerful D&D angel) of Elysium, specializing in harmony, relaxation, and chill vibes and he got dumped and kicked out of heaven for sleeping through a call to battle.

We also get the cursed image of a van with hands which I knew was gonna be the shirt and lo and behold. 

“Fuck Me.”/”When.” Y’all are the worst. 

I love that Brennan mentioned Porter in Ragh’s flashback, fully knowing it was gonna trigger Emily. 

Fig’s new plan is to get all of her parents in a throuple and I don’t even know where to begin with that tbh so I won’t.

@voxfantasma made a comment last week that Sandra-Lynn very well could have seen Kalina which is why she can she her in the photo--which is an offhand comment I made when I was talking about the rules of the photo last week--and Ragh’s reaction to the photo is making me move this theory back up to the top spot. I still wish they would show the photo to more people so we’d have more data for this. 

I loved Fig tossing Fabian a bardic inspiration for a compliment even though he didn’t really need it. I also love that she has a rider in her rockstar contract necessitating gogurt be at all her shows for Gilear. 

Adaine paranoidly casting water breathing on everyone at the slightest hint that they may have to go near water. Our girl is learning from the mistakes of the last oracle. 

With the gang facing off against the Nightmare King and Brennan’s description of the thing in Adaine’s tent as being humanoid, about her side, and sitting in a sort of defensive way, I’m wondering it what it was was a manifestation of her own anxiety or something along those lines. Of course, it could just be a normal ass monster. Sometimes the scariest thing is your inner turmoil and sometimes it’s just a monster trying to bite your head off. 

We also learn that Cathilda has a super wild adventurer’s life before she settled down to be a maid--so she knows what she’s missing and she’s fine with it--and also that she is paid ridiculously well, which makes me feel better about what’s going on with her. Also, her moment with Adaine and the cookies was so sweet. My notes for that scene say, “Adaine loves Cathilda and so do I.”

I loved Murph and Riz going equally Pepe Silvia trying to anagram out Garthy O’Brien (which is also what I was doing, especially since Brennan specifically spelled out the name). Cheers to Murph/Riz and Siobhan/Adaine trying to single handedly keep the story on track--both in and out of character.

There’s a part in this ep where Adaine Ray of Frosts Fig who immediately Hellish Rebukes her and that’s truly the kind of step-sister shenanigans I want to see from them as much as possible please and thank you. Also, like I said before, it was very sweet of Fig to reassure Adaine that she wasn’t just seeing things in the tent. Her catfishing middle aged men aside, she can be very empathetic when she wants to be.  

Adaine cast (or tried to cast Friends) on the thing in her tent. And I think it’s very telling about her character that that’s the spell she would cast and not an offensive one. Not that messing w/ someone’s brain is a super chill thing to do or anything, but I think, “Maybe I can calm whoever this is and talk to them and we can get some information,” is a much more measured reaction than maybe, “Let’s blast this thing to kingdom come and ask questions later.”

“Man van is a boat, my boat is a van.”

Brennan lets Adaine roll w/ advantage to convince the Hangman to come with them on the Van (which he still hates) because she said, “Please” really cute which is the kind of arbitrary DM fiat that I love. 

Adaine: We should tell them unless we’re being graded on a curve. (Savage.)

“Fig, she’s a maid. She’s not allowed to lie.”

All the skipper talk this ep got the Gilligan’s Island theme stuck in my head (never seen an ep but my mom watches it sometimes) so the next day I was getting dressed going “With Fabian, and the skipper too, the oracle, the PI,” to the GI theme song. Also, did not know skipper and captain were the same title until Fabian got all upset and I looked it up. Yet another piece of information I know because of some game (along with what a panacea is (Dragon Quest 9) and where the CDC is (Pandemic)).

Gorgug, being offered a virgin daiquiri: No thanks, I’m driving. (I’ve said this before: Zac low key has the best comic timing of anyone.)

When Riz is angraming, one of the things he ends up with is something about a “night yorb” which Brennan decided is a real thing that both the Hangman and the Van are very wary about. Having the Hangman constantly being like, “SPEAK NOT OF THE NIGHT YORB!” and the Van being like, “Seriously, don’t fuck with the night york,” was so funny and such nonsense. I can’t wait for the night yorb mini boss fight that has to happen now because of the rule of funny.

Gorgug comes down from his call with Zelda and everyone except for Fabian (and probably Ragh who cannon-balls off the boat w/ Fabian and they both have to be rescued by Sandra-Lynn) knows exactly what happened immediately. Aw, buddy. One of my favorite things about media where you have kids saving the world is you have relationship drama and also the world is ending and it all feels equally high stakes. I find that so funny but also it feels very representative of what high school was like, or at least what it felt like (minus the literal apocalypse, obv. Or maybe not. Idk what was going on at your high school). 

Adaine continues lending out Boggy to anyone who needs him.

Also, Gorgug tries to build a cell tower with driftwood and parts from Adaine’s jacket. It’s not going super hot. 

Both Adaine and Riz are podcast nerds and listen to This Solesian Life. All checks out. Their friendship is underrated.  

“I’m feeling really bad and my van is a boat.”

“I was gonna be straight edge except for drugs,” gives me “Sober salad” energy. 

The whole discussion about Kristen getting tracker silly putty for her birthday. 

The Van was serving some serious Ned Flanders energy along with the Owen Wilson energy this episode. 

Brennan does pretty good whale noises. 

Only crit this episode is Fig with a nat 20 insight to know Gorgug’s conversation with Zelda did not go well. Which is something she’d crit on.

[m1nkyun]

‘we must love’ mv theory

hi welcome to my wild theory :^) i never really wrote anything like this down before BUT this storyline was too good to not attempt to figure out and ive been thinking about this since the mv teaser dropped. so here’s what i think what’s going on in the mv. just a lil disclaimer ig,  that all of this is just what im picking up from the music videos, so just take this theory into consideration not as fact lol. plz humor me bc i’ve been writing this for almost 5 hours and im gonna lose it. so plz join me in this wild adventure thru different timelines and universes that also tie into ‘on/off’ and ‘complete’ bc onf’s concept is wild :^)

to connect everything with ‘we must love’ we gotta recap on the first two music videos real quick. so buckle up kids lets GO. im basing this off my vague remembering off of the explanation for the ‘on/off’ mv, i can’t remember where exactly they explained it but if i’m remembering right. they’re all androids and laun is their energy provider. i think the android part may have been apart of my own theory when on/off first came out (reason being is their barcodes) but laun is 100% the one who provides the energy or something like that. lol. something to note here is hyojin, e-tion, and j-us are mostly a trio together and really the only ones you get to see in uniforms together in the mv. (other than the scene where laun passes out and everyone’s like o dam. ) they are the three to look into laun’s room. and there’s the fact that they were just chilling in his room learning about the globe and stuff. notable since they’re the most prominent ones in the great search for laun 2k19. just food for thought 🤔

here’s showing when laun put in too much energy in this machine and ended up passing out.

putting “my name is” and a picture of himself, this may be because he had some sort of memory loss as a result from the pass out. he has this as a reminder for himself.

and this very interesting cinema board may be something to look at here, maybe predicting the future to come in this universe lmao.

(a side note, in the ‘on/off’ mv, laun’s barcode is on the back his neck but in ‘we must love’, its on the side of his neck. whether or not this is important or a continuity error idk lol. in general im just gonna ignore the barcode rule bc i didnt see it on anyone else in we must love so IDK. ive actually only remember seeing it on hyojin and laun i think. the barcodes are so confusing idk what to to with them :^( ) before i continue to the next mv, i just want to point out the MAJOR object that truly connects everything together, this funky lil asteroid:

this bad boi is a lil demon in disguise. Complete: the connections to ‘on/off’ are very minimal to a sense of you can just excuse them as “references” rather than any clues as it to being set in another universe. but that’s honestly exactly what it is. it was more than just cute lil callbacks to their first music video. this is legit just same boys, same timeline, different universe. example one:

the bad boi returns. mk looking up at this asteroid is very important. you’ll see later or you already know why probably lmao. two: the machine laun’s messing with may be the energy source machine that’s used in this universe. it does have a little card slot in it.

and then THIS SCENE:

asteroids literally raining down. very similar to the opening scene in ‘we must love’ this may be the start of what’s happening as a result of the ‘on/off’ / ‘we must love’ universe.

AND NOW THE ‘WE MUST LOVE’ once again, starting off the mv is mk looking at the asteroids raining down like, a doomsday type of feel rather than a cute shooting star kinda feel as the previous ones. it’s not even the same as when j-us in ‘complete’ was surrounded by asteroids because this time there’s literally ember falling around the era. it’s definitely more danger feel than in ‘complete’. i think the reason the world is quickly heading to danger is because of laun leaving the facility. he’s not just the energy to them, but to the whole world? and since he’s gone, everything’s s starting to get out of control.

laun wakes up in a forest, looking completely lost unaware where he is.

and then here, he’s having flashbacks to two scenes that happen later in the music video. where they try to stop him from leaving. and when hyojin confronts him. due to the glitchiness of the memories, i’m believing that the memories are leaving him and he’s going through memory loss again like in ‘on/off’.

j-us over here in laun’s room trying to locate his whereabouts. in the address you can see it says “universe 01” at the bottom. basically confirmed that there is multiple universes and they’re at least 99 of them. wow good luck finding him now.

yuto’s clock being 3:14 is the same length as the music video. at first i thought it might have been a timer for how long everyone had in the universes they were sent to to find laun but then i realized they were most likely there for more than that amount of time so idek lol. BUT i thought’d i’d keep this part in here as just something to think about ig.

this is where it gets…. sad. laun’s looking out of the window which we now know can change screens. assuming that it’s actually a window to the other universes, laun looks out admiring the nature and such.

the way he looks out the window is so longing, like he wants to experience it himself. other than when he needs to be out, he’s always trapped in this room. even in “on/off” all of his solo scenes were him cooped up in his room. the only time he was actually out of his room and not in uniform was him sadly holding a balloon. this kid has discovered the beauty of nature and really wants to venture out to see it himself.

im not sure if it’s suppose to be the same room but there are a lot of similarities to the both of them. im thinking maybe due to being on a different set, they did what they could to resemble laun’s original room? because a big thing here is laun’s window, which is basically his freedom. which from the outside it’s just a window looking in, but what if it’s a two way window? on laun side it has the capability to show different universes, other side looking in his room to check on him.

right after j-us finds laun’s location, seemingly figuring out this whole ordeal, since he was also reading some sort of message. he gets caught. with the sign being said “Danger: Time Travel Operate”, it’s possible that time travel is illegal within the facility, probably specifically to the students, because of how dangerous it is.

my idea as to why this scene is happening is because laun’s presence lead hyojin to here. except laun isn’t here exactly. he was there but in another universe. and the fade outs are showing that. they’re always so close, yet so far.

then there’s this flashback to when everyone frantically trying to stop laun from time traveling, they know how dangerous time traveling is and they’re trying to save him

his arm is out as if he’s trying to tell them to stay back (not in a mean way of course, but in a “plz let me do this” way). but in a later scene he looks even more worried, maybe last second regretting this decision. he’s probably aware the dangers of time traveling, he’s ready to risk it all in the name of nature, but i dont think he’s fully aware how vital it is for he himself to stay in that place.

e-tion finally comes across laun, the real laun. but before he can call out to him, e-tion disappears. i have two theories to this. 1. continuing on from like the laun & hyojin scene from before. they’re in the same place, but different universes. but imo that wouldnt really make sense because e-tion clearly sees laun. in hyojin and laun’s scene, i think it’s clear that neither of them saw each other since hyojin just walked off. 2. e-tion’s time travel watch is on a timer. and right before he can catch laun’s attention, the watch sends him back to his own universe. :( which i think is more accurate. which means that the fade outs have multiple purposes.

there he is

and there he go

and here’s to what i dub is the absolute saddest part of this entire music video (other than laun crying )’: ) yuto stayed behind in the facility in their classroom. its showing everyone having fun, wyatt looking up into the sky :^),  probably the daily antics of their classroom breaks. but then its everyone fading out to an empty room. it’s showing what used to be. when they were all together. yuto is reminiscing on the past. he misses his friends and my heart HURTS.

and with the final scene. hyojin finally catching up to laun. this scene is kinda complicated for many reasons. laun looks right at hyojin but turns around and hyojin disappears. 1. the same theory of different universes. laun may have felt hyojin’s presence and turned around to check to see if anyone was behind him, but left after seeing no one was there. which will be wild bc then laun woulda had a stand off - stare off with the air if that was the case.

2.he clearly saw hyojin, but he just had no idea who he was due to the memory loss. and being the nice boy laun is, he’d just smiled at him and went on his way. making hyojin miss his last chance of catching laun due to the timer that sent him back to his universe. also remember, this scene was involved in laun’s memory wipe in the beginning of the mv. and this is the only scene that’s in black and white. was it a flash back in this scene, or a flash forward from laun when he was in the woods?

some after thought questions i have:

why did hyojin have to use an emergency button to time travel, but e-tion had a watch similar to laun. and how did mk and wyatt get to where they were as well. i would make the suggestion that mk is actually in the ‘complete’ universe due to the asteroid storm, but then there’s this scene. behind him are screens showing the different universes everyone’s in. (including the one he was in).  maybe he went to the ‘complete’ universe after this scene, but how did he get there. 🤔

that being said i have no idea about wyatt’s part. him with the motorcycle, and then running through the city. yeah he’s probably looking for laun too, but im kinda sad that there wasn’t more to it like everyone else :( i just dont know. and to tie it all together, the lyrics of the song are directly about all of this. “losing memories” “past, future, a different world”. it a song about a familiar feeling with someone as if you knew them in the past, future, a whole different universe, like you were bonded by time. this music video doesnt just tie that in on its own, but also with ‘on/off’ and ‘complete’. i just find it completely genius the way they went about it and im really curious if this concept will continue and i really hope it does because there’s so many unanswered questions. is laun gonna be ok, will they bring him back safely, is the world gonna be ok, most importantly, where’s wyatt. the only thing i haven’t brought up is the astronaut lady in ‘on/off’ because i have no idea where’d she fit into the other mvs. but she is so valid. so basically, tl;dr, laun wanted to universe travel to all the beautiful places he’s seen through his alternate universe looking window to temporally escape from the confines of his room where he always has to stay cooped up in, as seen in the ‘on/off’ mv. he ended up losing his memory from doing so since he’s pretty prone to memory lost, causing mostly everyone to go out looking for him and failing at the last moments. and now the world is in peril because laun’s basically the earth’s control center but he’s lost and not in the facility where he can keep things balanced. tl-tl;dr: laun just wanted to see the real world but then it turned into where’s waldo: laun edition, except if we cant find laun fast the whole universe is going to die.

i hope u enjoyed my lil theory, plz dont be afraid to share your theories with me or let me know if i missed anything important, or messed up anything in this theory. im all open to discuss this amazing cinematic masterpiece that our lord and saviors onf is providing us with!!

[obisgirl]

WHOOK WEEK DAY 5: KNIGHTROOK DAY (fanfic, ‘Story Time’)

Title: story time AUTHOR: obisgirl Rating: pg-13 Characters: Wish Hook, Alice Summary: A young Alice asks her papa about their family, which leads him to explain their complicated family tree and then must explain what happened to her mother? Author’s Note: Alice is 9. As far as the timeline of Killian’s family goes, Wish Hook does not know that his father started this other family with his second wife and that he has another brother. Wish Hook also does not the true circumstances of what made it possible for him and Liam to become free. Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time characters are the property of Disney and Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis. This fanfic is for pure entertainment.

Alice, for the most part, has a normal and happy childhood growing up and Hook does the best he can to keep her entertained and most of all, know every day that she is loved and she is safe.  Early on, he learns very quickly that it isn’t easy being a single parent.  There are some things he is not quite equipped to handle but he looks at every day raising Alice as a challenge and she is quite the challenge.  

She is a spunky, wild, happy and carefree little girl with a spirit all her own. Things start to get easier for Hook as Alice matures and less lonely once she learns how to talk.  Time seems to move faster too once Alice starts talking and able to form sentences.  She is a sponge, wanting to soak up everything that she can.  

Then one day as Hook is almost ready to take an afternoon nap, Alice asks him to tell her about his family, or rather their family.

In all the time Hook has spent raising his daughter, he has never talked about his family.  

That’s not entirely true.

She asked one time why her name is Alice and he explained to her about her grandmother and it felt like the only name appropriate to pass onto his sweet daughter, as well as a little about the woman herself.  Other than that, he hasn’t talked much about the rest of his family. There’s just too much pain there to rehash. Pain over losing his mother, his father leaving him and Liam, losing Liam…

“Who were they, papa?” Alice asks, lying down on the floor and propping her elbows up to support her chin.

He sighs. “Our family is complicated, love,” he says, “And it’s nap time now Alice,”

Alice raises an eyebrow, a signature look she’s inherited from him. “Come on papa, please. I want to know,” she pleads, “I know about grandmum but what about everyone else?”

Hook reluctantly sits up from his makeshift hammock and comes to sit beside her on the floor.  There isn’t a lot he can deny his daughter. “I guess the next person to start with would be your grandfather,” he says, “Brennan Jones,”

“What was he like? Did he look like you?” she queries.

Killian scratches his head.  “From what I can remember of my father, he was no hero and never a real father to me, or your uncle Liam,” he recalls, “You see Alice after my mum died he took Liam and me on a voyage. It was our first trip traveling on the high seas. One night, your papa became afraid because we were in the middle of a terrible storm and then your grandpapa came into the cabin to comfort me. Him being there gave me the courage to be brave…”

Alice smiles at him slightly. “Then what happened?”

“I was able to sleep and eventually, the storm calmed but when I awoke, your grandpapa was gone.  The ship's captain came to tell me he escaped during the storm, bought a rowboat and used your uncle and me as currency. He sold us into slavery. We became bound to that ship and whoever became its captain,”

Alice scowls.  “I’m sorry, papa about grandpapa,” she says.

“That night on the ship was the last time I ever saw him. He mine as well have died in that storm, the karma for leaving his sons’ behind and forcing them into a situation like that,” he muses, “Now, your uncle Liam, he is a totally different story and to this day, I still consider him to be the best man I will ever know,”

“What was Uncle Liam like?”

It had been a long time since Killian reflected on what his brother Liam was like. “He looked out for me. We were stuck with each other after grandpapa left us behind, and Liam, he could have left too but he stayed because he knew it was important that we stay together.  He was my compass. He kept me from destroying myself and giving into my darkest fears,” he recalls, “Your uncle Liam was a good man but he could be stubborn and narrow-minded sometimes,”

“Narrow-minded?”

“Maybe naive is a better word. What does naive mean?”

Alice squints and tries to think. “A person who shows a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment,” she says after a moment.

“Very good,” he applauds her, “After another terrible storm, your uncle and I became the sole survivors of a wrecked ship and Liam also recovered a mythical jewel that ensured us a spot in the royal navy.  We were free men for the first time in our lives, allowed to follow our own destiny and make something good of ourselves.  Your uncle Liam eventually became Captain and I was his first lieutenant, the Jones Brothers, manning the fastest ship in the royal fleet,”

“The Jolly Roger!!”

“That wasn’t her name yet,” he corrects, “Before she was The Jolly Roger, she was The Jewel of the Realm and Liam was her Captain. We sailed to many places, encountered different peoples and helped bring peace and prosperity to the kingdom and we served, we believed that we served, a good and noble king,”

“The king was not good?”

“He sent Liam and me on a top secret mission to retrieve a plant from a faraway land. He claimed that the plant was medicine to help fallen soldiers but the plant was not medicine, it was a poison. Our king lied to us about its purpose and that lie cost Liam his life.  I lost him twice on that voyage, first in Neverland and then a second time once we returned home,”

Alice sits up and puts her hand in Hook’s hand. Hook looks down at his daughter’s hand and he smiles at her. “If you don’t to continue the story, you don’t have too,” she says.

“I appreciate that love but talking about it, is oddly cathartic for me,” he confesses, “What does cathartic mean?”

She looks down at her papa’s hand and then looks at him, “Soothing,” she says.

“Aye,” he confirms, “The day I had to bury my brother at sea was one of the saddest days of my life. As painful as it was to lose Liam, his death also served a purpose. His death showed me our king’s true colors, that he was not a good and righteous man and I could not, in good conscious continue serving a man who was dishonorable and used lies to get people to follow him,”

“So you rebranded The Jewel of the Realm as The Jolly Roger and you became it’s pirate Captain,” she says.

“That I did lass, and I found a new freedom; a freedom to live on my own terms and travel where we please whenever we wanted to,”

Alice glances towards the window briefly. Killian sighs and asks that she look at him. “And one day Alice, you will be able to do the same thing too,” he promises.

“I do already,” she beams, “I travel through the stories you tell me. That’s why I like hearing them so much,”

“Would you like to hear more?”

“Yes,” she cries, her eyes shining with excitement.

“Seeing the world is a big adventure but it can get lonely without someone to share those travels with. Liam had been my constant companion since grandpapa left us and as much as the crew had become family too, I didn’t have close confidants among them...until Milah,”

“Milah was...everything to me. She was beautiful, witty, a curious and adventurous spirit and the love of my life. She was my pirate queen and we loved each other very much. But there was always a bit of sadness because she left her family to be with me. She had a young son that she always regretted leaving but she hated his father and the person that he had become. I ended up hating him too because he took her from me and he left me with this,” he says, holding up his hook, “The Dark One destroyed my life and I became consumed with revenge,”

“Your life became a dark place,” she observes, “What changed that?”

Hook tilts his head and fixes his daughter’s hair.  “You did puppet,” he says, “You changed everything for me, for the better,”

“I made your heart better?”

“You did,” he confirms, “I gave up my ship and my revenge to give you a better life because that’s what you deserved. I still have so many hopes and dreams for you, Alice,”

She smiles at him. “I do too papa,” she cries, “Papa, one more question and if you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to---”

“What is it, love?”

“What happened to mama?” she asks.

Hook sighs. “Your mother is a complicated woman,” he manages.

“Complicated?”

“It’s difficult to explain but she was not the woman I thought she was when I met her,” he continues, “She used magic and lies to deceive me, and I know it might seem impossible but magic was a part of your conception,”

“Magic was a part of my conception? Does that mean I have magic?!” she asks excitedly.

Hook shakes his head, looking at her. “I don't know if you do but you're certainly magic to me Alice,” he says.

Alice sees how he tries to change the subject before she got her excited about the possibility of magic and then she remembers the lies and deceit.

“How did mama lie to you, papa?” she asks.

“The first time I met her..I was quite taken with her beauty. I never saw what was beneath until it was too late,” he recalls, “And when I met the real her and realized why she did what she did, I couldn't go with her in good faith..”

“And leave me?” Alice finishes.

“Mothers are supposed to be there for their children, to love and nurture them but your mother Alice is no mother. I’m sorry to say that she barely gave you a second thought after you were born,” he says.

Alice looks down sadly, glancing again at the window. “I’m stuck here because of her, aren't I?”

“Aye,” he says, “But all curses can be broken love; you need only to believe,”

“Mama is not a good person,”

“She definitely is not, she’s a witch and that is not a metaphor. She is a witch, truly,” he says.

“I know what she did to was awful but do you think there is a part of her that is good? Even a small bit?” she ventures, “Aren’t most people made up of good and bad parts?”

Hook sighs. “Some but not everyone,” he asserts, “Your mother, from what I have seen, does not appear to have any good in her,”

“Do you think bad is in me? Maybe I inherited some of her wickedness?” she wonders.

“Why the bloody hell would you think that?”

She shrugs. “Sometimes I do bad things and you scold me for doing them,” she reasons.

“And you immediately realize your mistake and apologize for it because you know it was wrong. That’s not bad Alice. That’s being good,” he says, “You are good, through and through. Your mother is not and trust me, you have inherited nothing from her. You are my sweet Alice, and have nothing to worry about,”

“I must have blond hair like her,”

“Blonde hair, pale skin, and blue eyes but your heart Alice, that beautiful, kind and loving heart, that is all you and part of your papa,” he reminds her, “Remember that love,”

“Aye,” she promises, smiling at him and then yawns.

“Alright, I think story time is over and it’s nap time for both of us,” he says and scoops her up, carrying her over to her bed and tucks her in, “Goodnight Alice,”

“Goodnight,” she yawns, “I’m sorry if I caused you pain papa,”

“What are you talking about now love?”

“Making you remember some bad memories,” she says.

Hook gently touches her head and runs his fingers through her curls. “Some of my memories are painful Alice but there are also happy ones too. My happiest memories are the ones I have raising you here in this tower, our little home. It's like what we were talking about earlier; good and bad. They are extremes but they can also coexist. What does that coexist mean, love?”

“Last word?” she asks.

“Pirate’s promise,”

“Live peacefully at the same time,”

“Aye,” he confirms, “This world has good and bad in it because that's how we all are. Your heart determines the kind of person you want to be. Your mother is a bad person who made bad decisions for her own personal reasons but her actions do not define who you are or who you will become. That is all up to you. Do you understand that, love?”

“Yes, papa,”

“Good lass,” he says and kisses her forehead, “Night my little pirate,”

Alice smiles at him and closes her eyes.

Hook fixes her blanket and then goes over to his hammock, taking one last peek at the tower window before shutting his eyes.

Gothel is never coming back, not for him and certainly not for Alice.  She is long gone and Hook hopes that Alice will never meet her mother; but if she must one day, he will be there to protect her from whatever foul plan she has in mind for her.

The End

[mariacallous]

When I first saw the row of five military pillboxes just outside Rinas Airport near Tirana, my reaction was: this is it, this is Albania as I have read about it and expected it to be, a country turned into a communist prison. Of course I knew this - everyone did. But the surprise lies somewhere else, in the sheer physical presence of the pillboxes. You see the first row and you think, OK, perhaps an airport needs to be protected like this. The second row, only 20 metres away, is perhaps justified. But then you notice the third, fourth, and fifth rows, all of them 20 to 50 metres apart. By now you have stopped counting and started to think that this cannot be real. If there are so many of them in such a small area, the whole country must be literally covered with pillboxes! No one can be that crazy, you think. Your imagination runs wild as you try to envision hundreds of thousands of these concrete monsters protruding from the ground like some strange, poisonous kind of gigantic mushroom, transforming the whole landscape into a badly painted art for a theatre of the absurd. It was bad enough for me that my prejudgment was confirmed, but what really gave me the creeps was that the reality here is even more fantastic than I had imagined. Enver Hoxha built an estimated 600,000 to 1 million military pillboxes in Albania. At that time, for the cost of two of them you could have built a two-bedroom apartment. Communism in Albania was obviously expensive - but the revolution, which began in 1991, was not cheap, either. Once my eyes had got used to these strange objects, these monuments to the past, something else caught my attention: the metal constructions on the roadsides which looked almost as bizarre as the pillboxes. It took me some time to work out what they were: these were the greenhouses where the Albanians used to grow vegetables for export. They were not easily recognizable because they were smashed. What remained were the iron frames, partly torn down and partly bent out of shape, but still standing. As I looked at the sheep eating salad mixed with seeds, I noticed that the ground was covered with what must have been tons of broken glass. It felt like being in some kind of science-fiction movie, like Mad Max II. There was something deeply disturbing, deeply apocalyptic about this waste landscape and the visible destruction. Who had done it and why? I asked my Albanian friends. It happened during the revolution in 1992, a friend explained. People smashed everything they could - they even destroyed factories, for example the big bread factory on the outskirts of Tirana. They wrecked and plundered shops, hospitals, and schools, in towns as well as in remote mountain villages. My friend told me that he had seen a mob demolish a greenhouse in about two hours. Some people took the water pipes or metal frames to make fences or to use for repairs in their homes, but mostly it was pure vandalism. There was no way to stop them, my friend said, and no one dared to try, neither the leaders of the new Democratic Party nor the police. This was one of the saddest things I have ever seen, he concluded. This is where the Albanian revolution diverges from those in the rest of Eastern Europe. Such annihilation did not happen anywhere else. Communist monuments were removed, yes, and here and there a party building was attacked, but not schools, not factories, not greenhouses. Is it possible, I asked myself, that people here were so foolish that they were unable to understand their own interests and needs? Why was there such an amazing level of violence? Or is this how they understood freedom: as freedom to destroy? But I don’t think that the Albanians were foolish when they did this, but they were naïve and full of hatred. To understand what happened in Albania, you must keep in mind the pillboxes. Their only purpose was to create and perpetuate fear. If you live surrounded by them, when freedom finally comes, that fears turns into hatred and aggression. You could even call it ‘the pillbox effect’.

From “The Pillbox Effect” in Slavenka Drakulić’s “Cafe Europa”. It continues:

“People were not smashing up a greenhouse, they were smashing up a greenhouse co-operative, the symbol of collective or state property. Even a school or a kindergarten represented the communist state, whose power to oppress was based on those pillboxes. The violence was an expression of a wish to completely erase the past, even the material aspects of it. It was as if the Albanians could thereby exorcise the evil on a grand scale, as if a better life was waiting for them just around the corner.”