#like seriously I have come up with so many stories

[kalinara]

So, I'm openly a Cyclops-apologist, so you can take this with a grain of salt.

But I don't have the same read on what was going on with Scott, in the therapy, that you do. I think that Morrison was trying to do something a lot more complicated than that. YMMV as to whether they succeeded, of course.

This also is NOT an excuse for Emma. I like Emma as a character, but unlike some of prior posts here, I WILL outright call Emma a rapist for her actions in this arc. She was a therapist (valid or not) who took advantage of her patient during the course of what was explicitly presented as therapy. Under New York law (which was in place during the time that this story came out), that's prosecutable statutory rape. A patient in that context is not considered able to consent.

Did Morrison INTEND that? I'm not sure. I think that it's fair to say that Emma does have a history of sexual abuse both as implied victim and perpetrator. She even acts out within Morrison's run earlier, when forcing the protestors to orgasm. And well, there's word for forcing someone to orgasm against their will...

In terms of Scott though, I don't think the intention was ever to fetishize Jean's own abuse. Instead, they're wrapped up in his own experiences as a host of Apocalypse.

The funny thing about Scott's time as Apocalypse is that there are very few acts that he outwardly commits, evil or not. Most of that period of time that we know about, he's amnesiac and Apocalypse is actually, apparently kind of stuck in there. To the point where his own underlings are trying to get Scott to let him out.

But what we do know was going on is that there were dreams, and in those dreams, Scott was experiencing a huge amount of Apocalypse's many deeds as though he were the one committing them.

I think from the perspective of Jean, at the time, whose experiences with the Phoenix are very different, it's hard to see exactly where the trauma comes from. But for Scott, the issue isn't what he's done, the issue is that the experience has changed how he sees himself.

Right or wrong, he sees himself as someone who did or could have done what Apocalypse actually did, and it fucked him up royally. And in the meantime, you have Jean's own plot, dealing with her relationship with the Phoenix.

It gets complicated of course because, until recently, Marvel was very inconsistent about how much of the Phoenix is Jean and how much it isn't. But I think Morrison is the one who really laid the groundwork for going back to Claremont's original take of them as the same being.

And Jean is processing this by keeping everything about her experiences under very tight control. She's very buttoned up during this time period, and it's completely understandable and not remotely her fault. But Scott, who feels like he's become something else entirely is interpreting her rejection of the Phoenix as a reflection of their own relationship.

Because that's the thing about the Phoenix, dark and light, and Scott Summers. Despite the comment about the corset, which I took to be more about sexuality than abuse. (It's not overt, but I've always interpreted a sexual component to Scott's trauma - I think sometimes Apocalypse took the rape and pillage part of conquest a bit too seriously. So that tends to muddy the waters.)

The thing is though, when we see Scott and Emma actually taking part in the roleplay sessions before and during the "affair", Emma's not in the Black Queen corset, or her own outfit, she's in the Dark Phoenix costume.

And I mean, yeah, she was definitely genocidal and crazy at the time, but it's also worth remembering that when she comes back from destroying that poor planet, attacks the team outright, fights Xavier telepathically, and so on. Scott's response is...well...

He pretty much explicitly says that if she's still the Dark Phoenix, he's still on board. He's pretty much the definition of ride or die.

Even before that, when Jean, as the Black Queen, is looking down on the captive X-Men, Scott, in his glorified BDSM mask, immediately flashes to their recent encounter on the plateau when she forms the psychic bond with him. And it's right after that, that she lets him go, allowing the X-Men to win over the Hellfire Club.

So when Scott is talking about corsets and Emma is wearing the Dark Phoenix costume, I don't think we're meant to see it as about Jean's ABUSE. (I'm actually not sure how much Scott actually knows about what Wyngarde was actually doing and for how long. Obviously, there was the point where Jean was outright acting as the Black Queen, but Wyngarde was very subtle before that, and I'm not sure Jean ever had the opportunity to tell him - before she and the Phoenix ended up being two separate people anyway.)

It's THIS that he's thinking about. The time when she was confident, gently aggressive, and basically a goddess, and they were so tightly meshed together.

Understandably, Jean doesn't think of that time the same way Scott does. Either it was a time when she lost control entirely and hurt a hell of a lot of people. OR it was a time when a cosmic entity was pretending to be her outright. (It's funny but think Scott may be the one character that has always, implicitly, rejected the retcon. No wonder he seems so thrilled in the Phoenix issues recently.)

The whole point of therapy though is to be able to articulate what you're going through and your feelings even if they're not pretty. And a competent therapist, one who wasn't trying to fuck him, would perhaps have helped Scott realize that Jean is going through her own shit, that her rejection of the Phoenix, and general buttoned-down approach to life at the moment, is not meant to be a rejection of either what they shared in the past or the darker person that he thinks he's become.

But well, he got Emma instead. And there we go.

Everyone jokes about Scott summers being a cheater but like (and I swear I’m not defending cheating) he was at the lowest point of his life both physically and mentally. He went through severe psychological trauma that messed up his powers and his relationship. He went to a licensed therapist and friend, one who had helped his friend (Bobby Drake) in the past.

They didn’t even have physical sex. It was all telepathic and pushed by his therapist as “sex therapy” to fix his relationship. (and it wasnt even Emma to Scott it was a mental hallucination of Jean by Emma)

He said several times that he didn’t want it, even saying and I fucking quote “I don’t feel safe here”. And even after he was pushed into the “therapy” later on when given to chance to get hanky panky with Emma physically he declined.

I’m not saying Emma was a rapist or Jean was in the wrong for initially being piseed the fuck off but I am saying Scott was a victim and to consider his therapist making advances on him and pushing him into telepathic sex therapy to make him a serial cheater…. Yeah no

And I don’t wanna hear any shit about Jean kissing wolverine.

The x-men are all a bunch of fucked up traumatized 20 something’s with undeveloped brains and concussions living in a soap opera where giant robots and the government try to genocide them every week all while balancing powers they never asked for that usually threaten themselves or those around them and being hated for it. None of them should be expected to act like normal sane people, it was fucked up therapy and a little smooch, they’re fine.

[pigswithwings]

what do you think the significance of mirage looking like v1 is

in function, i think that it's originally supposed to be comedic. mirage's appearance is, after all, a big old joke in the beginning. if i can remember correctly, the developer(s) said that 2-S was intended to be a spoof on romance visual novels. there's also a lot of buildup to her reveal to emphasize the humor - you know, the whole text passage about being late for school being written like a haunted diary entry, followed by the sudden reveal of mirage for greater effect. so in that moment, you understand that her design is for the laughs, the comedy coming from the subverted expectation of "woah, i thought this was going to be a dark and haunted level and it's actually a visual novel!" as well as "haha the murder robot is a schoolgirl now!". that's the intial impression of mirage, at least. (this is perhaps why her character isn't taken as seriously by many. the cruelty of the world...).

this interpretation of mirage, however, doesn't take into consideration mirage's story, or how her story intersects with v1's story. an obvious conclusion we can draw from mirage's strong resemblance to v1 is that mirage IS v1, that v1 has transitioned to become a regular schoolgirl or that this is an alternate universe of the gore-infused ULTRAKILL you usually experience.

i don't really think that's it, though. i think that - especially with what little I've seen of the recent ultrakill updates - mirage and v1 are so visually similar because they parallel each other and demonstrate very different, very human methods of dealing with death/violence.

but let's just talk about it first. if you've been on my blog anytime over the past few months, you probably know that i posit that mirage has depression, operates from a nihilistic viewpoint, and ultimately desires something/someone to help her out of the cycle of self-devaluation. that's why she takes a chance on you (player character) and why she actually gives you her thoughts and pessimism towards life - mirage needs someone to understand her pain. she needs someone to just get her, someone to share the burden.

perhaps the most interesting and meaningful point in her dialogue is the point at which mirages delivers a long speech about the utter worthlessness of her (and your) life, how human intelligence only leads to fear, how animals (irish elk, if i remember correctly) go extinct as a natural and inevitable process, and how running from death is pointless. it's a big hint giving up on life, but specifically mirage is talking about suicide. death is a constant idea in mirage's speech because she fears it. mirage won't act on her fear/fascination with death, but she keeps thinking about it and the fear keeps preventing her from doing anything to fix it. and all of this has caused her to center her life around this fear of death.

in contrast - what the hell is v1 doing out there killing demons and bathing in blood? i am sure as hell not the first person to analyse v1's characterization, but i can tell you that it has character (i will be referring to v1 with it/its pronouns because that's swag and i like it that way). v1 is all about death - specifically causing death so that it can - ironically - continue living. it could be argued that v1 enjoys killing or perhaps holds grudges deep enough to kill (as seen in its interactions with v2 and gabriel), but what i want to focus on is v1 and mirage's shared fear of death. i think that v1 and mirage both have complex and interesting relationships with death, and their physical similarity is meant to tie them together as examples of reactions to violence/death.

v1 indulges in death - but, hey, have you seen that interesting new death screen? v1 fears death - innately, deeply, as mirage does. mirage, of course, has absolutely no relation to the type of violence v1 partakes in, but both her and v1 have centered their lives (is a robot alive?) around avoiding death. mirage resembles a human in her school uniform and her mostly mental struggles with accepting death, and v1 demonstrates the physical side of struggling with death by constantly breaking bones and ending lives (is a demon alive lmao?) in order to continue existing. i don't have a super developed point here, but i do think that v1 and mirage's shared physicality speaks to how they both suffer from the same conditions - that is, being able to die and being able to REALIZE they're going to die.

i haven't even MENTIONED the violence layer and i WON'T because i am not as well versed in the more recent stuff. 7-3 is, of course, about suicide, and the connections with mirage are there. but i can't tell you much about the symbolism or the themes as i don't know enough ultrakill lore, nor have i read Dante's Inferno.

but what i DO know is that my interpretation of mirage - particularly her loneliness combined with paradoxically pushing people away - is FASCINATING in contrast to v1's isolation. i'm not going to say that v1 is necessarily experiencing human feelings of loneliness, or that v1 is as similar to a human as mirage is. but i Will say that the constant emphasis on v1 being just One, being the last one alive in every fight, being the best, being the last inhabitant of Hell - that feels very connected to mirage being alone. v1 embraces death to survive - eventually, in its quest to live infinitely with finite resoures, it will be all alone. mirage is already alone and suffering the consequences of feeling like the only person in the world (and, might i add, she IS the only person in the context of 2-S). they could probably understand each other.

to me, v1 and mirage aren't the same person (robot? machine? character?), but they Are supposed to represent the same thing, and that thing is humanity. i didn't make the game, so i obviously can't speak with certainty about the developers' intent. but i will say that v1 and mirage looking like each other is most likely intentional no matter what purpose. and i think it's because these two characters are ultimately trying to convey the same thing, that you need to give up your (self) destructive ways and move on before it all consumes you. thats just me though

[galaxymagitech]

Just read Robin and Batman. It…uh. Am I going crazy, or does it have All Star: Batman & Robin vibes? It even hits some of the same emotional beats. Actually, hits a lot of the same emotional beats…and language…and even scenes.

So, Batman is. Not a very good parent in this. In fact, I'm pretty sure Alfred is doing all the parenting here. He's much better than ASBaR, although that is...a low bar to clear. But he treats Dick as a soldier in a way I have seen no other version of Bruce but Crazy Steve do, and this is the comic I was searching for a while ago about Bruce reading Dick's diary.

Unlike the flaming dumpster fire of ASBaR, the storyline of R&B does make sense, and in many ways, it's a good comic (if you’re fine with Batman being a pretty bad parent/mentor). It had very tight themes and storyline, the art fit the story, etc. It's interesting and has a good story! Yeah, I don't love how they portrayed the Dynamic Duo, but I liked Alfred and Dick, and it certainly has plenty of fanfic fodder.

But why does it so closely mirror the most laughably horrible comic miniseries I have ever had the displeasure of reading?

"What are you even talking about?" Well, I present my evidence:

“Yes, sir.” This isn’t even a one-time thing. Dick consistently calls Bruce “sir” throughout R&B. Like a soldier. Which Bruce thinks he needs to be, by the way.

Yeah. Alfred tries to intervene and is moderately successful in both cases. In addition to making Robin a soldier—whether willing (B&R) or “drafted” (ASBaR), Bruce uses Robin against the Justice League, having him fight Green Lantern in ASBaR and spy on the sidekicks in B&R. So there’s also Robin as a proxy in Batman vs. the Justice League between the two.

Moving on, Dick, with his 11-12-year-old emotional regulation, can’t cope with being a soldier. Shocking, I know. So he beats up an enemy so badly that Batman has to intervene. Which comic am I talking about? Why, both, of course!

Near the end of the arc, Dick goes to a location associated with his parents (the derelict circus in B&R vs. their grave in ASBaR) and Batman hugs them there, which somehow resolves all their issues and the blatant child abuse.

“Corporate needs you to find the difference between these two pictures.”

“They’re the same picture.”

Down to the positioning of the two. They’re a little bit closer on the left, but like. Come on. Seriously?

Also, both comics have Batman consistently calling Robin “boy,” which is such a strange alignment of what I think is an uncommon turn of speech that it feels like there has got to be some sort of crossreferencing or sharing of creators or something. And then there’s the fact that Bruce is constantly using the word “damn,” especially when yelling at Dick. Robin & Batman’s Bruce talks like the Goddamn Batman.

Oh, and they have really similar stubble for some reason? I noticed the mini beard hairs immediately and somehow knew the comic was going to be disturbingly similar to ASBaR.

I need to know how this happened.

(For those wondering if you should read Robin & Batman, I still say go ahead. It’s only 3 comics, and at the very least, it's good for research purposes/seeing where ideas have come from.)

[lizbetlovesbyler]

I left this comment on that Lawyers evidence for Byler video, I feel the need to leave it here, too:

I'm a lesbian, and that's something I've struggled a lot for years with trying to accept, I'll admit that I'm still not quite there. I recently went so far as to date a boy to try and prove to myself and the people around me that I was at least bisexual. I broke up with him once I realised I was falling in love with a close friend of mine who I've known since I was a little girl. Part of the reason I was able to begin the journey of accepting myself was because I realised my reluctance to accept I wasn't into men was directly causing harm to the boyfriend I did have (much like Mike to El in the series) and because my sexuality meant I could see the sun, moon and stars in this friend of mine. She makes me feel powerful, confident and "better" for being different. For the first time in my life I found beauty in the love I could have for others. I found comfort where I had originally found fear, pride where I had always found shame. She sits across from me as I type this. Maybe this is my version of Wills monologue, a veiled confession for the things I'm so hesitant to say to her face. My point is:

These kinds of stories are very real.

It is not delusional to anticipate a Mike/Will romance. Nor is it evil to desire a Mike/Will romance. Many people, myself included, have found the deepest parts of themselves in this story. Seeing yourself on screen and realising that you are not alone. Going online to see that there are so many people who see you, that they have names and explanations for everything that seems to be vexing you. You're taught about internalised homophobia and compulsive heteronormativity. Everything you've never been able to understand starts to fit together to show you who you are.

But there is a common view that that is enough, that we dont need or deserve more. That once season five comes out, if a Mike/Will romance is not implemented into the story, we will be humiliated for thinking, even for a moment, that we could have the happy ending. 'Stranger Things' is in every living room. The message carried by a Byler endgame would reach every corner of the globe. The positive impact it would have is immeasurable. If the Duffer Brothers were smart, and they are, they'd go through with it.

I want to live in a world where I'm not scared to tell the girl I love how much she means to me. A world where I'm not forced to bury who I am throughout my childhood and adolescent years, turning 18 not knowing quite where I fit. A world were myself and those alike dont suffer for the comfort of the heterosexual majority, to whom our stories are so easy to ignore.

Neglecting to take the possibility of a Mike/Will romance seriously is a reflection of the reason why a Mike/Will romance is necessary in the first place. If you dont like it, you can turn off your screen. We cannot turn it off or make it stop. Believe me, we've all tried.

[foryoupeko]

big fan of fankids who don't come from the "final" relationship that works out between characters. ibuki/twogami's kid. Miu & Gonta's kid. etc.

Thank you! I also read a lot of shoujo growing up so I like relating as many characters as possible though messy drama.

I also wanted to let characters adopt kids but I don't like making characters out of thin air, so they tend to have some kind of connection with canon characters even if it's not prevalent to their story. That's why I originally thought of Ibuki and Twogami's kid.

Fun fact: Mahiru actually adopts a relative of Chisa. IDK if Mahiru finds this out later.

BTW Miu and Gonta doesn't have a kid. Gonta adopts a wolf and he goes by the title of SHSL Werewolf. It's just a normal wolf with a higher than average intelligence. This is in nondespair AU so he does go to HPA with everyone else. I don't take nondespair AU too seriously so I get to be silly.

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Valicer In The Dark -- More Score & Story Ideas!

Because, uh, I have a lot of ideas for stuff I want to do in this verse, and the original list from a year ago has expanded quite a fair bit:

-->While I haven't gotten all of my stories into a proper timeline yet, I do have the first five sorted:

A) "Start At The Beginning...Sort Of" -- the story currently in progress, where the trio all meet, solve Victor's ghost problem and Ghost!Emily's Barkis problem, get wrongly accused of murder, run from the police (showing off their special starting scoundrel abilities along the way), and eventually end up in Elder Gutknecht's old place in Six Towers. This is sort of the "prologue" to the whole mess, putting all of them in the right position to start on a life of crime. XD

B) "A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded" -- yes, I did have Gale of Baldur's Gate III's line about how "a parasite shared is a parasite halved" when I came up with that title. XD As you might imagine, this is the trio first "unofficial" score, with them going to murder Bumby, because the fucker needs murdering. Of course, it's only after they kill him that they meet up with Smiler's parents and learn they were exonerated of the original "murder" by the Spirit Wardens. XD Still no regrets, though.

C) "The Van Dort Vacancy" -- came up with that title while looking at old Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark episode titles and being inspired by "The Cab-Con Caper's" alliteration. This story focuses on Alice and Smiler returning Victor to the Van Dort mansion...only to discover the Van Dorts hosting a party. Victor quickly learns that his parents never even considered the idea that he might be in danger when he vanished, only caring about the fact that Victoria Everglot married someone else (and is now due to wed Imperial Guardsman Christopher White after her first husband's death and disgrace) -- and after overhearing his mother declare "what ghost would marry our Victor?" decides fuck them, he's taking his stuff, stealing what money he can, and going to live with Alice and Smiler in Six Towers. Features special guests Barnaby "The Butcher" Fortescue III and Kasimir Jones from Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark, because it tickled me to imagine them doing a score to steal some of the Van Dorts' money at the same time -- only for Victor to catch on to what they're doing when he meets Barnaby at the party and go "if you wait five minutes for me to get my things, I will open the safe for you and give you a good chunk of the money inside." XD

D) The currently-untitled story detailing the gang's first "official" job as a crew, picked up when they go to dinner at the Ball & Socket Pub and Smiler overhears two workers from Coalridge discussing needing to get something back from their boss -- the "something" is a list of potential union representatives that the boss stole in order to call assassins on the people listed. The workers need it back to keep their nascent union safe. Notably, the score involves the workers saying they can't give the trio much in Coin, but they'll do what they can -- and then one of them jokingly saying, "Unless you want to be paid in furniture."

Cue Victor, Alice, and Smiler, who currently live in Elder Gutknecht's-not-exactly-comfortable house, going "what kind of furniture?" XD (A couch and a proper dining table, specifically -- old furniture one of the workers was trying to shift after inheriting some stuff from a late relative.)

E) "Who You Gonna Call?" -- As you might guess from the Ghostbusters quote for a title, this story involves the gang busting some ghosts. XD Specifically, it involves Bonejangles -- here a Whisper who does entertainment work for the Ball & Socket on the side -- deciding to school Victor in the art of ghost-catching by taking him on a job to catch a few Echoes (non-sapient ghosts who continually do the same thing over and over again in a loop), with Alice and Smiler tagging along for moral support. However, as it turns out, one of those "Echoes" is actually a Specter (a sapient, feral ghost who attacks people and possesses them to feed on their life force) who was biding its time... I felt a little bad that none of the previous stories really had any Whisper-y stuff for Victor to do, and decided he needed a "day in the limelight" score -- as a bonus, this score is how he gets his ghost-hunting equipment for later!

-->I also have plans for two possible prequel stories -- one showcasing the three times Alice and Smiler talked before the events of "Start At The Beginning...Sort Of" (I have the first bit, Smiler giving Alice the money for lunch, actually written already), and one showcasing some of Smiler's life even before that (I have a rough draft of the scene where they wake up the "morning" after inventing Joy Serum and go "bwuh?" over their newly-glowing yellow eyes). Good for filling in gaps and writing more stuff from Smiler's POV!

-->I mentioned Victor wanting to make a community greenhouse very briefly in the very first post I made about the AU -- this has expanded into a whole little arc about him finding an abandoned conservatory while wandering Six Towers and the gang fixing it up into a place where they and the other residents can grow food. In order, the stories would cover:

1) Getting enough money to pay a glazier to fix all the broken window panes (or doing something for the glazier in trade)

2) Acquiring the initial plants (which involves a trip to Barrowcleft and probably doing a job for someone there in trade)

3) Victor researching ways to infuse butterflies and moths with electroplasm to create radiant energy insects to help the plants grow; my idea is that he eventually tries mixing it with some of Smiler's Joy Serum -- and gets REALLY BIG bright yellow glowing moths, to his and Smiler's delight and Alice's concern

4) And then, once the place is just about ready to "open to the public," Lord Rowan, the only lord who maintains a permanent residence in Six Towers, rocks up, claims the greenhouse is his, and demands an absolutely ASTRONOMICAL rent from the trio to use it. Fortunately he proves to be a man who likes games when Smiler asks to negotiate, and tells them if they can break into his house and get the deed to the land from the safe in his bedroom, it's theirs (the trio smartly get this written down and notarized by someone in Charterhall first; Rowan is PIIIIISSED when he realizes he'll have to honor the deal)

-->A related idea would be for the gang to encounter some of the people in Charterhall (the neighborhood mostly made up of one big university) who are working on an alternative power source to help replace leviathan blood (which is refined into the electroplasm that powers everything electric in the setting) and need a place to test it. The trio decides that the alternative energy group can try to get the streetlights back on in Six Towers, and there's a score all around helping them get there safely, and keeping Lord Rowan's nose out of it until they're done. Not sure what exactly it will entail yet, but I'm eager to find out!

-->As stated in previous posts, the gang eventually has to go after Dr. Kelman when he puts out a notice saying he wants the three captured so he can submit them to his special "social compliance therapy" (aka do horrific brain surgeries on them and/or Hollow them by ripping out their souls). This is how Victor and Alice learn Smiler's birth name, and the whole trip proves to be a rather dark look at Smiler's childhood pre-running away and joining the Advocates. In fact, I already have one specific scene in mind of Victor finding a photograph of a young Smiler and noting that their smile in the picture looks incredibly strained, as if they're desperately trying to see the bright side. Also, Miles Cedars is definitely going to show up, and possibly get to murder Kelman. Because I like giving him the chance to murder Kelman. :)

-->Speaking of Smiler angst, I also have in mind a story where, on a particularly chilly night in winter, Smiler, Victor, and Alice are wandering the streets together when Smiler somehow falls into one of the local canals. Victor and Alice fish them out as fast as possible, fortunately, but the rest of the story proves a race against time to get Smiler home and warmed before they succumb to hypothermia. Featuring half-naked cuddling when they learn that skin-to-skin contact can be an excellent way to warm a chilled person (fortunately this is after they get together as a polycule, so the partial nudity isn't as awkward as it could be)...and Smiler crying in front of Victor and Alice for the first time when they can't stop thinking about the fact that, if they'd been walking with their fellow Advocates, said Advocates would have believed them when they said they felt okay...and they probably would have died. :( It is a story of many feels, is what I am saying.

-->So, when does my OT3 actually become an OT3 in the actual stories? Shortly after the Kelman score, in a story entitled "And There Was Only One Bed" (a play on the fic trope, and the fact that the house only has one good bed -- at the time the story starts, the three are taking turns using it, with the other two sleeping on cots borrowed from The Advocates). The story involves Smiler (who has been trying to subtly push Victor and Alice together, having noticed they seem to like each other) finally revealing to Victor and Alice that they're a pretty accomplished hypnotist, and offering to use their skills to help Victor with a nasty bout of insomnia. Victor agrees, with Alice wanting to watch for her own peace of mind -- cue Smiler hypnotizing Victor the next time the three of them are going to bed...

And a deep-in-trance Victor asking to be held as he falls asleep. Prompting both Smiler and Alice to cuddle him...and fall asleep against him because neither wants to get up and possibly disturb him after he does drift off. Meaning when everyone wakes up the "morning" afterward, they're all really awkward -- Alice because she's like "wtf why did I find that hot;" Victor because he's like "oh no I liked that too much and I have to process the fact that I'm in love with both of them now;" Smiler because "damn it I think I just decreased total happiness in this household should have kept my stupid mouth shut." They do their best to push through and complete the latest job they have though (a random "steal something from this rich fucker's house" deal, it's not actually important), which ends up with them having to clamber up onto the roof at some point --

And then Victor nearly falls off said roof. Prompting both Alice and Smiler to nearly have a heart attack and have their feelings toward him thrown into STARK RELIEF. Meaning they all finally have a chat once they complete the job and get back home, which allows them to finally discover that a) they're all willing to get into a polycule and b) that they actually have quite compatible kinks. Story ends with Smiler delightedly returning one of the cots to their parents (Alice insisted on keeping one in case one of them does want or need to sleep alone) and the three of them regularly sharing the bed. :)

-->I also want to do at least one follow-up concerning them starting to play around with hypnosis, and Alice insisting she wants to do something that will help keep Victor Victor no matter what they do to his head -- cue her and Smiler coming up with a safety suggestion that involves Victor picturing the core of his personality as a glowing tree, and then having him encase it in unbreakable glass so his personality can shine out, but nothing can get in. :) It's just a sweet scene that's been rattling around in my head for a while, and I'd like to put it to virtual paper.

-->I mentioned a "Lord E.A. Bethesda" in my Duskwall Slang post a while back, as a guy who gets labeled with the very-dangerous-in-Duskwall title "Welcher" (someone who hires someone for a job, but then decides to try and kill them instead of pay them; people who do this generally end up dead themselves). How does he get saddled with this label? By hiring the Three Pillars to steal a golden beetle statue from a rival (Lord Bethesda is a bug collector, you see), plying them with a hefty reward if they pull it off (which he can afford as the "Gambling King" of Duskwall -- his fortune was built off of getting lots of people to pay him small amounts of money in hopes of great reward). They do indeed pull it off --

And Lord Bethesda happily orders them killed by his guards, forcing them to escape his house in Brightstone. However, Bethesda (who has done this before) employs Plan B and has his guards herd them toward his garden and through a gap in the lightning barrier around his home --

Before turning said barrier back ON and stranding them in the HEAVILY ghost-and-horror-riddled Deathlands just beyond (specifically, they're in the Lost District, a formerly rich neighborhood that was abandoned once the lightning barriers went up). This leads into the sequel story, where the trio have to find a way back into the city while navigating the horrors of the Deathlands...which results in them discovering that Alice's Wonderland Jabberwock, inspired by an illustrated poem she read as a child, is actually based on a REAL CREATURE. Which has the horrible eye beam and wants very much to kill them. (And which may have the voice of Christopher Lee because I might as well throw in the nod to Tim Burton's Wonderland -- Victor is VERY CONFUSED as to why it sounds like Pastor Galswells.) They manage to kill IT instead by strapping Alice's Vorpal Blade (now a real thing, Victor bought it for her as a present) to Victor's ghost-catching kit while Smiler whacks together a sort of motorized skateboard thing for them to ride on and then using the electroplasmically-charged Blade to slice the damn thing's unprotected belly open. Alice claims one of the eyes as a trophy, and shortly thereafter they're found by the Spirit Wardens, who look at the corpse and go "let's just get you back inside the barriers, shall we?" Cue the the trio tromping back to the Ball & Socket and telling the clientele about their experience...leading to Lampblack gang leader Bazso Baz declaring Bethesda a Welcher, and the guy soon afterward getting killed.

-->Not that Baz is actually a friend to the trio -- for another future story has the trio invited to one of his fancy parties, supposedly to recognize how rapidly they've made a name for themselves in the Duskwall underworld. The three go, figuring it's a good way to keep relations good with their fellow criminals -- but are quickly rather disgusted by the party itself, as it feels pretty much like any party Nell Van Dort would throw (overly ostentatious and making it clear he's only in it for the power). They resolve to get through the shindig and head home...

And then Baz reveals that the actual reason they were invited was because they've collected a variety of bounties on their heads (including a big one from the Van Dorts, specifying Alice and Smiler have to die but Victor be brought home alive, and a huge one from Lord Rowan, wanting them ALL dead) and the other criminals want to claim them. Cue the Three Pillars having to try and find a way to escape from the house as the other criminals hunt them. Fortunately for them, they have unexpected allies in Baz's staff, with one guy in particular having a sister and nephew in Six Towers whom they've helped a lot (probably both in general with the greenhouse, and specifically by helping the kid when he got sick once). They eventually manage to get out with the staff's help, and limp their way back to Six Towers...

Just in time to see Lord Rowan trying to make a big speech to the citizens about "how your heroes are dead" and blah blah blah. He is gobsmacked to see the trio still alive, leading to, of all people, Smiler strolling up to him and clocking him in the face. XD Gaining the Three Pillars a reputation as, frankly, unkillable...

Aaaand I should probably cut it there because this post is getting long enough. XD And I haven't even touched upon all the stories I have in mind that are based off of other properties I like! Guess that would be a good follow-up post to this one, huh? :p

[honig-dachs]

there it is

[puppppppppy]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[greyedian]

MAN I'm seriously so sad about season 2. Bc I wish act 2 had the same emotional impact on me as it appears to have on so many others. But rn I'm just somewhere between unable to care and actively annoyed by some of those writing decisions. Seriously the more I think about it the less I like it.

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

I'm starting Mission to Zyxx Season 5 now, and I have feelings about that.

First, it generally scares me when people hype anything up at all because there is no guarantee that anyone values the exact same thing I do to the same degree. Even if I trust the creators of a thing to value something and try to do right by it, that doesn't always necessarily mean it will be successful, especially if that involves doing something wildly different than what made it good in the first place (I have been burned this way before). I guess I'm just hoping they continue the format of goofy improv shenanigans for the majority of it with something more planned and emotional in the finale if they want, like they've been doing all along. I'd think they would, and I've heard nothing bad about the ending, but I guess it still makes me nervous because I'm so close to the end and I want it so badly to stick the landing. I'm setting my expectations on the floor so I can be surprised instead of disappointed, but honestly, I don't need it to be better, I just need it to be on par with the rest.

Second, and more briefly, I'm happy it's (hopefully) ending before it has a chance to decline. I am so on board with that philosophy. But on the other hand, finishing a thing that I really, really like and knowing there's not another one out there gives me a special kind of heartache. Like, I know there will be other good media, and stuff that's good and unique in other ways, but I know for a fact that there are no other podcasts out there that have the same mix of a balance of off-the-wall improv and structured narrative, quality comedy, fantastical sci-fi setting and loveable characters, and high quality production. There are other things out there with many of those qualities, but nothing that checks every one of those boxes. It's a lightning-in-a-bottle thing that very much feels like the right people had to be in the right place at the right time to do it. Attempts to do it again would feel hollow because it had to be born out of necessity and passion and the talents of the people involved, so if you switch out the people it loses the reasons it's great, and if the same people tried to do it again it'd feel tired. That makes me so, so grateful it exists, but also so, so sad that it doesn't, and I'm 80% of the way done. When it's over, it's over.

Anyway. Now that that's all out there, I'm just gonna finish listening and have fun. Wish me luck.

[mbat]

stories about redemption and redeeming even the worst characters, they could never make me hate you

[musical-chick-13]

Regarding the previous post, I think the way I approach trying to evaluate a piece of art is asking "Do I think the positive things I get out of it outweigh the parts of it that I don't like?" And when I call something a "guilty pleasure" song/show/book/piece of media/etc. it's really more in the sense of, "Given who I am as a person, the flaws I've found in this should be complete dealbreakers for me, but somehow they aren't, and it makes me feel like I'm having an identity crisis."

[no1ryomafan]

Once again debating about the side mega man blog but regardless if I do make it or not, when I have the time I might make a whole long in depth post talking about the male ZX protags cause man while I have no idea how the tumblr fandom is I’m remembering some dumb takes with them so I think they deserve a proper breakdown to show “no they have character you fucking dumbasses”

[thosetwofirefighters]

find the word challenge

rules: share snippets of your work containing each of the words the previous poster selected for you (optional addition: if you can't find the word in your WIPs, or you simply don't have any WIPs, you can just write a sentence around the word)

thanks @the-likesofus for the tag!! very excited to see how many of these words I've used...

my words are: quiet, hold, cover, first, together, and small. unsurprisingly, my fake dating au (currently sitting at almost 30k words like it has been for the past few months...) has all of these words multiple times lol <3

quiet

Buck’s phone rings, and he pulls it out of his pocket, his hands shaking when he reads Bobby’s contact name. He answers before he can even register it. “Pops?” His voice is quiet and terrified.

hold

Hearing footsteps from his spot on the couch, Buck tenses as Nathan comes up the stairs. It’s been so long, but Buck can still recognize the man’s footfalls. He lets out a breath he’d been subconsciously holding when Nathan finally appears and moves towards one of the armchairs across from him instead of the couch.

cover

“Jurassic Park!” Chris yells, and Buck has to cover his ears against the sound, the kid’s excitement causing him to be louder than usual. “Please, Dad, I know it’s kind of scary, but they just put it back on Netflix, and I’ve seen it before! Plus, I’m ten now, I won’t have nightmares!”

first

“I don’t want you to get hurt again,” Eddie says, meeting Buck’s gaze. His eyes are soft and despite his words, they shine with support, and Buck thinks—not for the first time—how lucky he is to have a best friend like Eddie.

together

Nathan’s study abroad had been nearly over when Buck brought up the idea of him going to Los Angeles to fight fires and help people. Nate had just nodded before taking Buck’s hand and kissing him, saying he’d buy the plane tickets in the morning. Buck had assumed they’d be going back together to be together.

small

Eddie glares at Chim when he insists on playing with the station’s small Hildy gadget that they keep in the kitchen. They mostly use it to play music, but Chimney takes the opportunity to ask her a bunch of questions throughout the day and only stops when Eddie threatens to run her over with a fire truck after Chimney starts asking her questions about the 118 themselves.

words for people I tag: home, care, love, make, and dream

no pressure tagging @mooshkat @jacksadventuresinwriting @ty-in-bedlam @lilbuddie <3

[dirt-str1der]

Do you consider any of the non protagonist yakuza girls well writen?

I think none of them had rights

[vertin-is-the-frog-guys]

i lowkey don't have motivation to talk to people in rl rn grjajkzdkzkz so i might be taking a break this weekend