#materializes on ur timelines

[lilyshear]

weird guy vibes only

[starlooove]

“There is no fanfic on Stephs treatment I have checked” that’s like the whole point.

[lunarscaled]

Kisses them kisses them kisses them kiSSES THEM

-> They had only just set their bags down in the hall leading towards the mirror room for dorm travel when they see Charles already rushing full speed ahead towards them from the opposite end, nearly drifting around the corner he seemed to be in such a rush to greet them before they made it back to Diasomnia. Without other students in the way to impede his progress, Lyric has to prepare themselves to simply not be bowled over by his enthusiasm when he nearly leaps to hug them, caught by Lyric's one free arm as their other grasps the rough concrete surface of a pillar to keep the momentum from pulling them all over sideways. When they said they would be returning a day early from spring break with permission from the Headmage, they had prepared for some level of enthusiasm on Charles' part ( mostly in the form of an anticipated long phonecall which he seemed keen on doing with friends he was far apart from ) but nothing at quite this level. As they understood it---as the technology of it was quite new to them---their home island lacked "cellphone service", a pivotal component for phonecalls. It may have had it at once point, but any infrastructure which allowed such has long since decayed and rusted over after many years of harsh weather without repairs. So, though long stretches of isolation were normal for Lyric, this was likely the first time Charles had been completely unable to contact them for an extended period. Not even a carrier pigeon would have lasted in the frosty, ravenous wastes of The Cold North long enough to deliver and return with a letter.

"H Hello, Charles...!"

-> Meek response as it was they are simply overshadowed by his bright, enthusiastic greeting, a bit anxious and seemingly uncertain by contrast. But their shallow attempts at a calmly pleasant greeting don't last; Charles holds their face in both of his warm palms and lays a fleeting peck of a kiss to their cheek ( which was not uncommon. he was openly affectionate with many people. ) But he bestows on them another, and another, and another; the other cheek, the corner of their temple, the skin just under their eye, their cheek again. Like he thought they'd died and come back or something equally as absurd. And each kiss gets a little closer to where his thumbs rest just outside the corners of their mouth as they try to interject his name to gain his attention between his fawning until he presses a chaste kiss to the corner of their lips just against their cheek, and then finally gives only a brief moment of pause to listen to the silent hallway, and take in Lyric's red muddled face. They stutter out his name again, barely above the sound of their own breathing as the pads of his fingers skirt along their jaw and he leans in again to meet the slight tilt of their head and kiss them, painfully chaste and soft in a way that makes their chest feel like it's going to pop like a balloon. Some anxiety they can't explain gnaws at them.

"I was only gone a few weeks...!"

[i-cant-sing]

im scared to ask how was y/n taking care of teeth throughout all of the timelines bc ik oral hygiene was wayyy different than it is today

Look, I've seen people at the clinic come in and say that they brush 4 times a day but their teeth tell me they have never seen a toothbrush in their entire life, so by the time I remove all of their calculus and clean their teeth, I'm still surprised to see their teeth are still intact and don't even have any cavities.

BUT that's not to say that yall shouldn't brush ur teeth. Please do.

As for Y/n, we'll she's a smart cookie. She's manages to keep a healthy oral and personal hygiene. Probably avoid toothpaste and most meds in victorian era as they did contain opioids, lithium, radioactive materials, etc.

[bowieandqueen11]

Not Just A Trinket / Izzy Hands Imagine

Request: hi! ur writing is EVERYTHING btw. ur an amazing writer. you mentioned you wanted to write for izzy hands again and i have a request– feel free to ignore if it's not what ur looking for :) maybe izzy hands x reader where the reader has a small gift for him (a little trinket, a beaded crystal bracelet– something they made for him) but they're WAY too anxious to give it to him because they're scared he won't like it so they end up just carrying it around, trying to build up the courage to give it to him pfft

AHHH thank you so much my lovely, that's so sweet of you, and so is this idea!!! :3 Also I know I'm a little early in the timeline mentioning Davy Jones but I like to think of Izzy as a trendsetter ;)

Warning: mentions of fighting/ injury and strong language, some sexual innuendo!

(I do not own OFMD or its characters, all rights go to creators. Gif credit goes to @nadsdraws.)

☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°

Izzy Hands was beginning to detest feeling like this.

He would rather charge sword first at a horde of raging Englishmen: would prefer to scrabble and scrape and scratch through the eye sockets of thousands of the Spanish with naught but his bloodied fingernails. Hell, even grovelling under the sole of the snivelling wreck that now possessed his former boss like a twisted nightmare, a horrid regret, would be preferable. If his hand wasn't too firmly attached to tangled rope of one of the shrouds in a death grip, if his glove wasn't close to bursting at the seams with how tightly he was gripping, he had half a mind to draw his dagger out of its scabbard and gouge his heart out right there and then.

He looked furious. So much so, that Roach was quick to side step him as he hopped down the steps with fresh sewing materials in his hand, giving a final look back at the intent man who only bared his teeth at the cook in response. Valuing his life, or at least the ability to keep all his fingers, if the sight of the keen blade being twisted between Izzy's free fingers told him anything, Roach is quick to recoil back and raise a concerned eyebrow in Wee John's direction. He in turn just rolls his eyes and lowers his head back to his sewing, but the rest of Stede's crew are astute enough, from where they're lingering around the deck, to notice the thick tension brewing like cold shivers of electricity in the air. Even Jim and Oluwande were giving each other side eyes, pausing their hammering at the helm to dart their eyes to their side and trace the path of Izzy's line of sight.

It never wavered. Every time they looked, it never changed. He had spent the last two hours gaping sourly towards the edge of the quarter deck. Gawking solely at you, without a single movement, without a single flicker outside the bubble where you hunched.

You thought he was angry at you for arranging a special outing for Ed and Stede at Datura Grotto, finally indulging in finding a way for them to spend some time alone after your Captain had begged and hounded you for days; he had become so accustomed to bursting through doors trying to find you and ask for your help, that the poor daunted man nearly burst into tears when he smashed your bedroom door into your nose and nearly broke it. The rest of the crew believed he was plotting something: trying to pick out the quieter members of their friends first, as payback for being stuck on this so called 'straight out of Davy Jones' arsehole' of a ship for so long.

Izzy, though. Izzy knew he was smitten. And he fucking hated it. He hated feeling so vulnerable.

Out of all the crew members still pretending to mill about, only Lucius was daring enough to purse his lips and look brazenly back at Blackbeard's first mate. Only Lucius, in fact, was feeling equally brave, and equally vexatious that fine afternoon to muster up the courage to slide up beside him. 'Someone in a bad mood today, are we?'. He taps the ships railing with the point of his nail, the broom he had been pretending to sweep splintered pieces off the floor a moment ago soon forgotten about as he leans it against the side of the ship. He replaces the loss by dropping his hand to his hip, cocking his head and smiling at an increasingly agitated looking Izzy. 'Would it have anything to do with that fine young sea farer over there by any chance? How romantic, Dizzy Izzy. Oh, I do love a good fix-me-up-'

Oh, he was enjoying this.

Izzy's quick to snap, not even bothering to look in Lucius' direction. 'Fuck off, before I do you a favour and cut that little seducing tongue out of your mouth for you.' Lucius watches Izzy's fingers tighten into leather clad black balls on the rope ladder, and doesn't need a second warning to trot off back towards his friends again. With a final wide eyed look of shock, he turns back to Black Pete and shrugs, holding his hands up as if to say that he tried his best.

All the while, you just keep your gaze steady out and onto the brewing horizon of the sea, watching as foam shook out like reaching hands around your ankles as they across cut through the wave crests, only the salty sting of thrumming silence keeping you company underneath his watchful gaze. The beaded necklace you had spent the last week or so threading together, carefully crafted by trembling fingers and a bit tongue during long evenings spent in your hammock, was beginning to feel like an anchor weight in your pocket. You tried to distract yourself with mundane, idle chit chat with a very thankful Lucius, who had swung over to your side after Pete convinced him to go scouting out for some more gossip. Swinging his legs between the latches of the port quarter, he merrily took the hammer you were idly holding from your hand and began to 'fix up the ship', his wrist barely moving as he turned to you with a scheming smile.

'So, do you know what's going on then? Why Izzy's acting like this? I swear, that man. If he doesn't bend over right now and try to get that stick out of his arse, he's going to be a miserable sad sack of repressed irritation forever. He's like a jack in the box. I swear to god, I'm just waiting for him to burst.' The tone of his voice sounds almost worried, but Lucius is smiling and waggling his eyebrows the whole while. 'That would be kind of funny, actually. I've always imagined him as a stamper. Or maybe a screamer-'

You have no idea what to say, not understanding Lucius' oh so unsubtle hints, so you just run your fingers over the bulge in your pocket once more and chime in to his rant from time to time with a disinterested 'hmm' or distracted 'oh, yeah. Definitely.' It really didn't help that you were beginning to blush the same champagne hue as the bubbles between your toes with how gravely Izzy was staring at the side of your face. It was growing increasingly harder not to give into the temptation: to not just swing your head around and meet his hard-set eyes head on.

Once he realises you're dead set on staying right there, away from him, hiding in the corner all day, he sighs and let's go of the sails, marching off to do another impromptu inspection of the boarded vessel. It's an easy distraction: yelling orders at Wee John, spitting insults at Roach as he scurries out of Izzy's way, stealing the Swede's cup out of his hand and spraying beads of coffee around Buttons' feet. All of it was a Grade A fantastic distraction, and Izzy was hell bent on forgetting just how quickly time had gone by that day: Ed and the moronic, sappy, massive twat of an arse Stede would be back from their foliage constitutional any minute now, and Izzy was acutely aware that he was running out of both minutes, and chances to ask you to take a walk with him on the island himself. He had spent far too much of the morning wasting away, leaning his back on Stede's antique armoire and watching you with crossed arms: like a weathered statue, the growing umbra he cast somehow seeming to reach its tendrils out and blanch the fringes of the doorway. Even Fang and Ivan had been too terrified to come near him, and so he had been left alone. A silent sentinel, trying to figure out why the fuck his heart was cracking against the cage of his ribs and tearing their ligaments to shreds.

You hadn't exactly made things any easier for the man: feeling so intimated, you had spent the whole morning begging your friends to whisk you away from him at the first sign of danger. Whether that meant ducking behind Frenchie's lute like a crab, or hiding like a bulky turtle under the large bit of crimson cloth Oluwande was fiddling with the tassels of, you had used any form of escape to save you from the embarrassment of having to be near him. To let him see how flustered you became just at the overwhelmingly intense pressure you felt in the air any time he swaggered over to your side: to hide the fact that your eyes would widen in abject horror, your breath hitching any time the back of his gloved hand would 'accidentally' brush against your wrist as he went on his merry way, pretending it was all by accident. That it was all just a little game to him.

Little did you know, that he was feeling exactly the same way. The one time he had dared to come over to you that day had been an unmitigated disaster. He thought he was being... well, as kind as he possibly could be by slapping you on the shoulder and saying 'how good of a job you're doing.' He was nodding his head between every word, that jilted, simpering smile on his face as he supplemented his sentiment with an incredibly heartfelt 'at least Y/n knows how to do a fucking thing on this ship, not like you lot of useless fucking fuckers they have to work with. The rest of you are embarrassing, really.' He went to walk away, the side of his wrist glancing against the back of your hand as he finished with a breathless 'you lot could learn a thing or two from Y/n.'

He had staggered away from you as if mortally wounded, tongue bitten between his teeth as he tried as nonchalantly as possible to make his way back to the stern of the ship. While you were busy trying to bury your head down into your chest and avoid the smirking faces of Lucius and Pete, you happened to notice from the side of your eye that with each step Izzy was ringing out his hand. To your surprise, he used his teeth to rip his glove off, tucking it under his armpit as he wrangled with his fingers; he couldn't stop every cell burning as if it had just been reeled under the bottom of the ship. Couldn't understand why his fingertips wouldn't stop shaking as he flexed them.

Lucius was right. He was about to erupt, and he wondered if he'd ever be alright again.

It took until the sun nearly bowing over the jaded unicorn surmounting the anterior of the Revenge for you to find the courage to finally slink away from your convenient hiding spot to go over to Izzy. Well, that and the feel of Lucius literally dragging you up by the wrist and giving you a well meaning shove in the back towards the helm.

'Oh, fuck me', Izzy hisses as he watches you approach, turning his back to you to hide how flustered he was becoming with each tugging step at his heart you take towards him. He nearly jumps high enough to fall face first off the side of the boat when he feels your hand tentatively tap his shoulder, but he manages to inhale sharply and compose himself as best as he can before he flicks his eyes to look at you.

'I-uh-', you swallow thickly, shakily drawing your hand away from him and tucking it behind your back. 'I-, uh. I, I mean, I-'. The two of you, a far change of pace from usual, can barely keep your eyes on each other.

You feel like throwing your shoe at Lucius when you register the all too familiar sing song-y chime of his voice murmuring 'say something!' from behind your back. 'Or I swear to god, I'll kiss the man for you!'

'Well, I-', you start again, shooting the most vicious glare you could strangle out of you back at your friend. With a final sigh, you continue: 'I saw your necklace, and I don't mean to pry- but since you're always wearing black, which of course is incredibly cool, I just- well, I thought it needed a burst of colour.' Without a second thought, you scramble to pull your makeshift necklace out of your trousers, and shove the glistening glass emeralds and burnished pearls into his fist.

'It's just a silly thing, really. I saw Stede fixing Ed's red fabric and I just thought... well, you don't have to wear it. It's just a trinket, it's stupid. Really, you don't have to wear it. I'm sorry-'. After a pause, the burning sensation is enough to make you turn on your heel and bashfully start to make a break for the Rec Centre, just to get as far away from him as possible.

'It's not just a trinket.' The softness of his tone, despite how harshly he sounds out the letters makes you swivel back in surprise. He takes the opportunity to take a step forward and grab onto your wrist. He tugs you closer, until you're standing dangerously close to him: if he were to inhale deeply now, to puff his chest out just a tenth of an inch, your belly buttons would be tightly pressed upon each other. You can already feel his buttons strain against your shirt as he whistles out through bunched teeth, the breath sharp and warm against the side of your jaw. 'Don't say that. Never say that. It came from you, so it's not-... just, don't say that.'

He blinks, slowly releasing his viper grip.

'I like it. I really do. Thank you.' He motions awkwardly with a flick of his fingers to the side of his neck. 'Would you mind? With the gloves, I'm... not very good with clasps. Haven't, haven't used one in a long time.'

You can't stop your head from nodding, feeling like a wound up spring toy as you unfurled his fingers again and took the gift back. With a final swallow, you try not to turn cerise as you gently roll down the collar of his shirt. It folds easily down over his vest, until your bare fingers are dragging over the naked line of skin on his neck, just teasingly hiding the tense muscles of his upper back.

'You really didn't have to do this for me, you know.'

'Yeah... but I wanted to. You're not as much of an arsehole as Stede tries to make out.' You manage out a giggle, before you're back to biting your bottom lip in concentration, brushing a few strands away from the back of his head.

He wants to say more, but his voice chokes in the back of his throat like rifting water, his mouth trembling as your fingers brush over the coiled grey hairs bristling at the nape of his neck. It feels like a red hot poker is being dragged across his skin; he shivers at the feeling, a tight coil rolling across his limbs before settling uncomfortably heavy in the pit of his stomach.

He looks like he's about to weep when you take a step back, reaching up with a final pat to make sure the little metal swallow that adorns the centre of your necklace is lying perfectly against his breast. You may have lingered there a little longer than necessary... long enough for your palm to begin burning against the firm muscle of his pec, and for Lucius to draw out an enunciated wolf whistle, but it was definitely worth it. Even the sound of Frenchie snickering from the barrel he was perched on down on the deck was drowned out by the thrumming toll in your ears: by the sound of Izzy's sharp breath piercing your ear as he wavered uneasily on the spot. He didn't want to move away from you, not yet. He could barely even hear them. For the first time in his life, he didn't even fucking care. All he could focus on, over the bridge of his nose - through the gentle curls of his tired eyelashes, was you.

He was intoxicated - but even worse, he was finally beginning to understand. By god, he wondered. What the fuck had you done to him? Could this really be what Edward feels? Could anyone, really, feel this much?

'I hear swallows are meant to bring good luck', you state with bated breath, fingering the charm you had picked up from a market stall at the Republic of Pirates for a final time. It had reminded you almost immediately of Izzy: a hidden treasure, glistening white-gold, like fresh sunlight flitting across the glitter combs littered across the sea beds. It had been well buried within piles of muck: old straw, rotten bits of moulding fruit, bloodied bones twisted into odd shapes that you could barely recognise, but it had been lying there. Waiting just for you. A needle in the haystack. The final piece of the puzzle.

Izzy's breath draws in sharply as you absentmindedly begin to brush your pointer finger up and up: tracing the edge of his jaw line before rolling over the same bird tattoo lacing his neck, your eyes still drawn to the gap between his shirt where his Adam's apple lay tautly.

'Yes. Very good luck', he states, amazed he even found his voice. Surprisingly, he doesn't even try to pull away. He lets you trace your finger over the beak, gliding across the round belly until they're dancing teasingly over its tail. In fact, without his wonderous, dipped eyes looking away from you, he seems to be tilting his head in time, allowing you easier access to brush against his skin and steal his soul with every movement.

Before he has time to think of the repercussions of what he was about to do, the leather of his gloves flex around your cheeks and Izzy Hands has bowed his back down over you, lips knocking against yours. It's terse, and rather urgent in its forcefulness; it was both a slip of outrageous passion, and a terse reminder of his years out of practice feeling any sort of physical affection, and yet you couldn't help but brush up even closer to the man. He welcomes you eagerly, even though this eternity lasted only a moment: with his thumb, he tilts the jut of your chin up so he can lick his tongue against your bottom lip all the more easily. His knee slides forward until it knocks against your own, lurching you forward and saving him the embarrassment of having to voluntarily admit to his weakness and slide his other hand around the pulse point of your neck, until he was cradling the bone of your shoulder.

He finally draws back, his tongue darting out to lick along the edge of his top lip. 'Yeah, very lucky indeed.' He seems sorrowful to be letting go of you, but the loud whistling and snorting that begins to bounce back and forth between Stede's crew snaps Izzy back to himself. With a final glance back down to your lips, he struts off to pick up Lucius' long abandoned broom and starts chasing him across the ship with it.

[kriskukko]

Hi! *waves*

You have a lot of artwork set during the 1800s; I was wondering if you could recommend any "bibles" of the 1800s or the Georgian era, please? I have a project that I'm thinking of setting during the period but I'm not sure how to begin my research.

My story will be set in England initially, then go onto India and all over the world

Alright, so— Right off the bat I will admit my research has mainly focused on Finland in any given era, so I haven't read extensively or bookmarked resources as for England (let alone the rest of the world). BUT, I do have some for the purpose of filling in the blanks in the settings, since my country is small and material isn’t in abundance (not like when it comes to the big empires, anyway) sadly this list will be very brief, as I generally deal with my lack of knowledge on any given issue by browsing the web/library and piecing together stuff from multiple sources some of which are very granular (or worse, in FINNISH). I also deal in pictures and dialogue for the most part, which is why majority of this is imagebased.

A BOOK:

The Time Traveller’s Guide to Regency Britain by Ian Mortimer

probably goes into category of a ‘bible’ u mentioned, covers multiple bases as far as setting goes in an easily digestible manner (that list of contents looking pretty good yeah?). Ive the audiobook version and it was a pleasant listen too.

I also appear to have a book by the name The Regency Years by Robert Morrison in my audiobook library, but I have no recollection of actually listening to it. The reviews were good tho.

THAT ONE RANDOM LINK IN MY BOOKMARKS:

Prices and Wages by Decade (University of Missouri Libraries) what it says on the tin, spanning from 1700s-2000s, while us-centric, it does have subsections for different countries with dedicated resources to varying degrees

ART & FASHION:

Fashion History Timeline

goes over western fashion history from ancient to now, pleasantly detailed and starting from 15th century it goes decade by decade

The Met Collection

as the landing page says. I have looked in the costume institute section a bunch to understand garments or fill in what I cant find in fashion plates, like underwear

The Met Museum Costume Institute Fashion Plates

a digital collection of fashion plate illustrations that has pretty well spanned the 1800s and early 1900s wherein I mingle. Requires a bit of browsing, as the subcollection list is long and sometimes they span a bunch of decades at once, but at least the pictures are big and often have dates imposed in the corners of the illustrations

AND HEY, IF ANYONE READS IN FINNISH, ABOUT FINLAND:

Kristiina Kalleinen Valtioaamun aika : Suomen Suuriruhtinaskunta 1809-1863

Topi Artukka: Tanssiva Kaupunki : Turun seurapiiri sosiaalisena näyttämönä 1810-luvulla

Piia Einonen & Miikka Voutilainen (toim.): Suomen sodan jälkeen : 1800-luvun alun yhteiskuntahistoria

Hannu Rinne: Perinnemestarin tyylikirja : Talon osat aikakausittain 1700-1970

and whew HERE WE ARE AT THE END. i hope u will find at least some of this helpful and best of luck with ur project! <3 (and if anyone knows of more resources, drop em in responses or reblogs i would personally love to reference/bookmark more stuff in the future)

[chrliekclly]

if you ever want to talk about your thoughts on joyce .. Peeks over the corner of your blog. i love talking and hearing ppls thoughts on joyce sooo much even if they're different from my own!! and your analysis and stuff is always so well thought out

i hope u dont mind if i answer this publicly to take advantage of th request nd get my ideas out ther (also tyvm im happy u like my insane takes on these idiots, iv ben thinking abt them for almost 10 years)

i said a lot here so gnna 'read more' it

iv ben building trans charlie n my head fr, like i said, nearly 10 years. i used to view him as cis bcuz i always try to take as much frm th source material as i can wen i craft my HCs nd i had v personal (stupid) hangups insofar as him explicitly referring to his junk multiple times nd bottom surgery simply not being on my radar as a naive littl trans idiot deep in th sauce tht transmen oftn fall into w phallo being viewed so so poorly

evn still i leaned towards transmasc charlie nd always lovd moments tht let me imagine, for a moment, it being true, like his discomfort w taking off his shirt [hundred dollar baby, charlie kelly: king of the rats, the gang exploits the mortgage crisis, young charlie and mac deleted scenes, etc etc etc], or bonnie yelling abt ppl stealing her "charlie-girl" [the waitress is getting married] which i lovd to see as her accidentally misgendering him while drunk off her ass.

having grown out of my phallo issues (nd if ur reading this and u still view phallo super poorly, please do some research and grow too), ive in recent years fully subscribed to transmasc/nb charlie, and view his timeline something like this:

baby -> elementary: charlie refers to himself as a boy, doesnt "come out," simply has no idea he's afab. bonnie lets him dress however he wants and refers to him as asked. when charlie gets confused about his genitals, bonnie says his dick will grow in later lol, makes charlie wear a dress in public restrooms and tells him its just a game

middle: puberty hits and charlie gets confused and scared. bonnie puts him on blockers w.o explaining them ("my mom used to vaccinate me like every month" [the gang gets quarantined]) charlie goes on content and oblivious. STP acquired because hes "a late bloomer" and his dicks still not growing in?? weird. confides this in mac once, but he doesn't understand.

high: charlie finally registers that he's trans after forgetting theres a health class 1 day and not being able to skip it. throws him for a loop a bit but he becomes actively invested in his goals. he gets to start T and wants to have surgeries. "what guy hasnt done some extensive research on his own genitalia?" [mac is a serial killer]

college (aged): able to surgically transition (ty medicare) and continues on with life as we kno him now

joyce, imo, fits neatly into these views.

as a transmasc nb who came out young nd prefers to be seen as just A Guy by strangers, i grew up v vehemently against anything girly that might get me misgendered, but th more i began to 'pass,' th more @ home n my body i felt, th more and more comfortable i am w femininity, th more i wdnt mind putting on a dress, as long as th general public wd see me as "a man in women's clothes." n my mind, i prescribe something not exactly th same but v similar to charlie.

i see charlie "i dont really identify" kelly as afab and nb. i see joyce as a "character" he originally created to distance himself from the dysphoria of putting on a dress as a young trans boy, but that became part of him as the hard lines he drew in the sand as a child became blurry with age and self acceptance. charlie's comfort with himself allows joyce to evolve into a more solid persona, one he enjoys embodying and allowing to become a permanent facet of who he is. he's ok with being referred to as either. they're both him.

so maybe joyce comes out a bit more outside of the bathroom now.

[adrian-sheppy]

ur timeline post is insane and fantastic do the others have a grasp on or figure out, or even believe, that the prime timeline is just that—the original? or is that just the naming system? how would they react to that sort of explanation? who wants to return to their timeline first/is that the goal overall for any of them? :’0

to preface, i tend to use timeline/universe interchangeably.. ok . long post time. be warned.

1. do the others understand they're in the prime timeline?

as of right now, this system uses "interuniversal" passports planted on everybody by gee-man as they enter the prime timeline. this was to get around the problem of people having the same name. I love freemanverse but i could not understand how they came to the conclusions of accepting our third-party naming conventions. why would freemind call himself freemind when his name is gordon freeman? martini (who can go by his middle name) doesn't get the "feetman" name joke until way later, so calling him that off the bat would be weird (his passport changes  from gordon "martini" freeman to gordon "martini" feetman when the feet pic bit occurs). No one's name is ACTUALLY barmey, mindrian, freerun, freemercy, etc... but it is on the passport! and they use these names when referring to each other.

okay, so. the naming thing was the main function of the passport, but it has other standard information on it

Dates of birth - explanatory

date issued - release date of their IN REAL LIFE series (I.e Gordon is Nov 19 1998)

date expired - res cas day according to the prime timeline

(These three dates are often conflicting and confusing, which is as intended. They all exist in different years BUT the events of their universes are taking place at the same time. Timelines are synced up.)

AND THEN! place of origin. Every timeline gets assigned a number based on when they were chronologically conceived (for the most part. it's not a strict rule. it can be bent for convenience or funny/cool purposes).

ips: 000

og gordon: 001

freemind: 002

gorgeous: 003

so on and so forth. i like to pair these letters with numbers (HL-001, M-002 (M, not FM, because it's "Mindverse."*) G-003, etc)  seeing as HL-001 is One, they can come to the conclusion themselves that it's the "prime" timeline. whether they ACTUALLY call it that is debatable. i just do it because star trek does, but this requires a more "robust" naming system since it's more than just "prime," "alternative," and "mirror."

*Mindverse technically has alternative timelines too, but we're going with the one where gordon enters the test chamber (not stark) and gordon would've been taken by g-man (not felix)

2. How would they react to that sort of explanation?

Everything is very overwhelming and nonsensical. Since the collisions take place (for the most part) over the course of the rescas, most of them are too stressed to try to fully grasp the situation. They have their interuniversal passports, which just materialized on their person/with their belongings when they get sucked into the prime timeline, so they know SOMETHING IS UP. Some care more than others, like Freemind and Martini (not a game au) both freak out. Freemind probably thinks he's high for a bit even though he doesn't FEEL high. Martini thinks he's going crazy or hit his head, which doesn't help when the science team acts like this is a perfectly normal thing (while it's not a game, they all have their "npc" quirks). The science team is also the narrative vessel which can help explain the phenomenon. emphasis on can. Coomer understands the framework, while Tommy has a more intimate knowledge. But neither explain anything too quickly. Coomer wants playcoins and Tommy would acknowledge the "glitching" and correctly identify it as dangerous and warn the others about it.

The timeline information is accepted. There's not much they can do. They're in an alternate universe? Ok. Well, first things first, don't die from rescas. It's not until later that the information is DIGESTED. This would be during any downtime they have while going through Black Mesa (think how the HLVRAI crew took the occasional nap) and then when they enter the domestic arc. For the most part, everyone thinks that they've somehow JUMPED universes, not that their universe and another have collided together. I guess this could be considered a "plot twist" and if I was writing a comic (comic ver 2.5!) there would be a somber moment where everyone who cares realizes that THIS is there home now. it's familiar and unfamiliar. they know it but they don't. No one is devastated, but it's a very aimless feeling. Characters like Freerun, Gorgeous, Freecat, and Freemercy are "emotionally detached"   from their timelines, so their reactions range from not caring to easily adjusting.

3. who wants to go home and is that an overall goal?

I think Martini, Freemind, and Cicero would all want to go home, Martini more urgently since he has Joshie. No one really understands the depth that Cicero wants to go home due to language barrier, but it is assumed. Freemind wants to go home moreso out of paranoia that being in a different universe was harmful to him on a molecular/quantum level (it's not) and that having multiple of him around is WEIRD and he wanted to go back to being the one-and-only while reveling in the fact he was cosmically significant enough to have parallel universes based on him.

Everyone makes the assumption that there is a home to return to. Their first goal is to survive the rescas. Once they get through that, they awkwardly all move in together (where else are they supposed to go?). This living situation is considered temporary... but.. it's not.

(malmo by mook is one of THE freemanverse songs no i do not take criticism)

Their expectations are curbed quickly. At this point one of the gmen (likely mr.coolatta or gee-man) or tommy would just come out and say yeah there is no other (relevant) universe. it's just this one now. (the merging process is... difficult to explain so I'm not going  to try right now. maybe later..). Cicero wanted to go home because people understood them there and thats where all his friends were. but Molly and others (sugar man , corp) are here now, and his new friends are making the effort to break the language gap. Martini wanted his son and he got his son. Freemind has an actual group of people who care about and support him, something he's not used to having (and barmey is there too. giggles. grins.). No one is particularly upset at learning the prime timeline was now also THEIR timeline since their . liek. hierarchy of needs gets filled. it's like if your house burned down but it didnt ACTUALLY burn down, it just FEELS like it did, and then there was an exact copy in its place with miniscule (but noticeable) differences. like something changed and there's a feeling of loss but you actually haven't lost anything. it's sobering and might be upsetting for a little bit, but it's also familiar and comforting. its ok. they all have gained something now. f... family. found family . grins. smiles even.

[1ore]

Scuttling into ur askbox like a little beetle

i think i recall you reblogging/posting things about geography and culture + human effect on it - I vaguely recall a piece of art where it showed a blurred out, cropped piece of people fighting, and focused instead on the flora in the scene.

ANYWAY! getting back on track. seeing that piece inspired me to take a course this semester called "people and the land: cultural geography". and the whole reason I came to your askbox was to ask if you had any suggested reading materials? We'll get stuff in class ofc, but I am curious to see if there's any bias of materials on the prof's side vs someone else.

Phew that was a long ask. thank you o/!

That sounds like Liz Anna Kozik’s piece : D So happy it stuck with you! I love her work!!

As for your ask, what an awesome class! Land-human relationships are my bullshit, and I really enjoyed my own cultural geography class.

Thinking back on my schooling, I would say about 70% of my classes fell in with the “everything is awful and humans are the worst” narrative, and the other 30% made time for land-human relationships other than the extractive hellscape that most people currently live under. So, full disclosure, when I think of “bias,” that’s what I think of. You grow up in the miasma, it’s hard to imagine that there’s any other way of living. It’s also hard to say without knowing the professor, but I think, in general, it’s good to be mindful of who is or isn’t telling the story.

ANYWAY. All that in mind, here’s some articles about people-land relations that I think are neat:

The Environment and Society portal - I like their digital exhibits especially. I remember enjoying Oceans in Three Paradoxes and The Northwest Passage. Great place to wander around and pick a random article that catches your eye.

Of Deserts and Decolonization: Dispelling Myths About Drylands – obligatory desert propaganda. An article looking at how colonial mindsets about deserts disrupt existing relationships and hurt both people and land, and also how those attitudes shape environmentalism/conservation/etc. still today.

The Miracle of the Commons – lovingly challenging the Tragedy of the Commons with a creative solution to poaching and human-animal conflict in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Great article to sit in discomfort about (productively!)

Biodiversity: The Variety of Life that Sustains Our Own – Contains one of my go-to examples when explaining how humans can be good for land and biodiversity, the story of Quitobaquito Springs (and its sister spring Ki:towak, though the author doesn’t mention it here.)

The Environmental History Timeline - just fun to look at, especially the further you go back. It’s funny to spot where a young branch of history is trying *really hard* to reframe how academia thinks about the past, by bringing the invisible landscape forward:

2700 BCE —  Epic of Gilgamesh describes vast tracts of cedar forests in what is now southern Iraq. Gilgamesh defies the gods and cuts down the forest, and in return the gods say they will curse Sumeria with fire (or possibly drought). By 2100 BCE, soil erosion and salt buildup have devastated agriculture. One Sumerian wrote that the “earth turned white.” Civilization moved north to Babylonia and Assyria. Again, deforestation becomes a factor in the rise and subsequent fall of these civilizations. (Perlin, 1991). 2700 BC — Some of the first laws protecting the remaining forests are decreed in Ur, Messopotamia. (Grove, 1995).

^^^ fucking around and finding out forever and ever and ever.

[future-boi]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Even the darkest timeline gets it’s moment of light…🥹

@nopinestimeline sorry 😭 ik all ur advice says that Marty hates his dad but🥺 I can't imagine a timeline where Marty doesn't love his dad.🥺🥺🥺 At least a litttlleee bit??? 🥺🥺🥺 so i changed it. I changed the source material. I'm the problem 😭🙏 u said no redemption arc but I couldn't help it-- #INACCURATE #WORSE-THAN-NETFLIX #THIS-IS-WHY-ADAPTATIONS-ARE-BAD

I mean it could still work since he beats his ass the next day. Marty just never speaks of this again. The only hug he ever gives to his dad 🥺 AND HE WASNT EVEN AWAKE, MF WAS ORDERING FOOD 🥲😂 the real tragedy 😂🤪

Marty being angsty af in the last few panels 😩 I left it up to interpretation, is he like WTF was that (warm fuzzies🥺), or is he like Aw shit I’m a dickhead, or is he like Ugh I just hugged my dad, or some other thoughts? ultimately he shrugs it off

OK BUT IM ALSO PROUD CUZ I HAVE A RECEIPT. It was completely unintentional that the word ‘marshmallow’ started with the same letters as ‘Marty.’ I didn’t realize until I typed it 😅😂😂 but I love how it works out! Anyways, marshmallows were popularized in the 1950’s sooooo it’s pretty plausible that George likes marshmallows… 👀

[anemonet]

Please please pleasp plea s pelas tell me abt ur suns desighm. I'm STARING at them it is so so incredible it's eye candy

Oh!!! Someone asked thank you hello:DD and aw thank you!! oki oki explaining time!!!

So to begin might be good to check out this post i made about pebbles and moon where i babble about older and newer iterator models and their differences. I'm bringing this up because timeline-wise I would stick suns somewhere before the early "mass manifactured" iterators like moon ( their not really mass manifactured but at some point i asume there was an explosion in production amounts) and the first couple iterators ( which i would guess are no longer around to be honest, the dont-murder-yourself protocol must come from somewhere, anyhow!)

Im placing suns here not only because i like visual variety but also because i get some free moving room design wise, because i like to think (and this is only my personal headcanon) that the earliest itertor models were not made for wider production. These lil fellas were made to Solve the Great Problem, and as we know anchients loved their religious stuff so i cant imagine the first couple iterators werent annocunced and made with alot of buzz around them, probably lovingly made and blessed by monks or something. Think like these are the solution and we will show that in their design, they just should look more cermonial and important, which leads into my actaul design choises!!

Suns design pulls on both the anchients religious ideas and ideals like my choise to use the bound feet look some anchients have and to not give suns a real face - I dont know how people have all the lore pearls read and memorized but from what we know from the industrial blue pearl, moon talks about how ancheints wore masks to:

"showing spiritual persuasion - covering the face as a way to symbolically abate the self"

which i took and ran with and therefore gave suns no face at all, they are creating something meant to ascend them, showing them holding up their values (the lack of "ego" the self)? and that also ties into how suns pearls- well actully first lets real quick explain why suns has pearls and jewerly, because it relates tothe second thing suns design pulls from: the ancheints love of just lots of decoration in fashion to absurd points. its brought up in a couple different places how its ironic that the ancheints preached for the barebone religious ideals of the jellyfish while also being lavish and leasure seeking and overall trying alot - "burdened by ambition" as moon says in the drainage green pearl- which i tied into suns design by adding shit tons of pearls and other pazzazz to suns puppet!!! the love of more is more is really what lies under suns design and what i like to think of as part of ancheint sense of how to look at the time, they are created to ascend them and for that they must look religious and hold up the ideals but also we must add so many clothing layers and jewerly becasue we like that, which is info we needed for me to bring back what i was gonna say which was that the pearls and jewels on suns designs (gold as that seems to be the favored jewerly material going by the murals in pebbles) have the scholar and martyr achivement symbols engraved in the pearls like the ammulets anchients wore (outskirts light blue pearl)! I went with those symbols because just karma ten would be boring and i dont actully have all the rainwolrd words and symbols sadly so we make do. and i think its a pretty good showcase how fashion and religion was combined.

I would also like to say that theres two things to bring up if we wanna take later iterator designs into the equaiton, which is one(1), hey wait why does sun look more like pebbles than moon?! which yes thank you for bringing it up i would like to contribute this to two factors, 1, cyclical design, pebbles is a call-back if you will, - suns more intricate look was probably scrapped by moons time, as theres not much point to dressing some machine up (i would speculate there was a shifts in how iterators were viewed in different times, a noteable case being the ashy green exterior pearl where its talked about the controversy of pebbles creation (also mentioned in some of the white pearl fragments), and i would think at some point itertors went from The Solution to machines who handle our production facilites (this is a crude summary but this is not what you asked for and i could talk about it for doube the wordcount as this post so moving on) this is of course not to say moon wasnt respected by her citizens (refer back to the exterior pearl) but she was not always a city lets just stick with that. anyhow what was i saying?pebbles? yes ok but when materials got cheaper it was possible to replicate it (suns more labour heavy design) again ( even if a bit less intricate as its a bit much work) so pebbles and suns share looks because of that, and then you will of course bring up wait hey a minute wasnt moons model clunkier because the science wasnt developed enough yet? how can an older design be more advenaced in looks? and the answer is its not!!! suns puppet is foremost a showpiece and somethign to sell in the iterators with, so actual function for the puppet wasnt to intresting (the real important bits is the actaul machine), i like to think that the early models had much less function in their limbs and was much more simplified (the puppet, im not sure about the mind thing) and because of that while suns design looks more modern it lacks alot of functions later models had, later when itertors self maintence became importnant it was replaced for the more praictical "older model" (moons) again note this is soley my own mad rambeling and connection made from the lore and not canon at all.

my last note would probably be to mention that suns keeps their wires neat and orderly cause they like it! (wire placement depends on the iteators preffernce, you cant tell me these super computers cant move around their wires into personalised looks) also yes they came with the pearl on the wires, probably hand crafted by some monk somewhere.

anyhow so suns mostly like that for show, and is probably a trademark for how those older iterators looked (i would put no significant harrasment in this era too, just cause of vibes^-^) I think their neat! and holy shit how much did i talk im so sorry, ahem uhm hope this was fun to read? thank you for the ask and have the sillies :DD

[peachesofteal]

just want to mention that since the last update of DD ive been reading it in a straight loop. as soon as i finish a reread i start over again, get through 2-3 chapters a day i think. sometimes ill take a little break and go reread all of the AU posts and drabbles again. dead disco has me by the fucking THROAT you have so much power

its fr like the GTA gif "ah shit, here we go again" i swear HAHAHA

also a question! whats your writing process like? there's so many flashbacks and jumping around (which works SO WELL, i havent read an author that does it like you and thats a damn shame bc its just so seamless and gives so much insight to the characters and the dynamics and gives the pacing a lot of interest, like it gives the main storyline time to breathe without forcing it to jump from Big Thing to Big Thing since we get little snippets of past Things UGH so smart)

im so curious how you plan it out and execute it!!! do you come up with the little events you'd like to cover when doing the full outline, write em out and slip em in where they fit best in the 'main' timeline? do you come up with the timeline, then write a note for yourself like "put flashback here about xyz" in where you want to emphasize the background/buildup of whats happening in the main timeline, then write the flashback after the main timeline part of the chapter is done? i cant imagine writing the chapters straight through like they are and keeping it all straight in my head, theres gotta be a method haha

thanks for the endless reading material ur a lifeline fr xoxo

Ahh thank you so much! I'm so flattered. Dead Disco is my ultimate personal comfort fic, so it means a lot that others enjoy it (and the AUs!) 🖤

About my writing process: Dead Disco has two outlines. Current timeline and past timeline. It's outlined by 'events' more than anything else, and I use that to steer me when I'm working on it. I write current timeline first, and then past timeline second, usually because I'm trying to figure out where to put the flashbacks in so they make the most sense. So a chapter will have two major events on the current timeline that are outlined to correspond with something specific in the past timeline, if that makes sense.

Sometimes it gets a little complicated and/or confusing, but I try to smooth it out for the reader if I feel like I'm not telling a cohesive story. I really enjoy writing this way, with flashbacks, and would love to adapt it to something like a book, but who knows. Basically everything I write looks like this in my head:

[ca-suffit]

Do you have a theory on why/how DM became so popular to the point of sidelining LOuis in his relationship with Armand and LOuis in his relationship with Daniel?

If we look without shipping gogoles there is no or barely any DM moments in s2 the both focus are Loudaniel and Loumand (I don't count Loustat because i'm focusing on the Dubai trio) After watching ep05 it was clearly evident that the fandom choose to focus on Armandaniel because why everyone is talking about DM in a episode Armand tried to kill Daniel,Louis had a suicide attempt (people barely talk about this emotional and important point) I'm really not hating i'm watching the show as neutral as possible and don't understand what DM are people seeing at this point of the story?

I'm not totally buying ''the fandom doesn't like two moc together and want them with a white character'' So I'm curious if you look at any tag DM is flooding when,I repeat, DM did not happen yet on our screens,I know it will,but for now I don't/barely saw it ? So either I missed the moments or either there is something I don't understand?

I can already see people thinking I'm a shipper,but the reality is that I really didn't like any romance on the show,like Loustat they tell me they love each other so much but I don't see it in S1, Loumand was convincing in Paris but not so in Dubai.

Well...the racism is definitely present and prominent at times, but just like disliking the show itself doesn't mean ur necessarily racist by default, there are other reasons for this focus too.

DM is a popular ship from the books. The fandom hasn't ever seen any of it in a visual form until now. They've also kind of given us *two* Daniels too. Ppl are jumping ahead a lot bcuz they're excited to see any of this happening. The series flips between books so much too that it makes the desire to find "reason" behind anything even more. We've never had a IWTV / VC *tv series* before. It's only been 2 movies and a play. Ppl can engage in different ways with a tv series, there's more material to look at, more promotional stuff, more flipping between books and timelines, like I said. The show just gave a big boost to DM too with the close of S2 between the show itself and interviews behind the scenes, so now ppl want every look to have meaning even more.

There is also something to be said about how this does distract from the abusive horrors otherwise tho. Bcuz even with Armand and Daniel in 2x5, ppl aren't focusing on the show's abuse a lot. It's more focused on the romantic angles (and a lot mostly coming from the book version). It's ignoring Louis screaming in the background. It's ignoring the larger plot of the trial and all this other stuff. Fandoms don't like to face abuse directly, I've noticed, so usually the worse a story is, the "lighter" a fandom tends to be in what posts are about. So it's a little of this too.

[anthonycrowley]

maggie i love u and respect ur takes so much. but i think this is the case of the lore being what makes this album good. listening purely to the sounds and words? yeah it's mediocre and like. hwllo is this thing on? echo,,,

but (at least for me) being intimately familiar with these men and every single pap photo and outfit and little thing shes referring to. it's the most exsquitite work of art ive eveeerrr fucking heard.

yeah that’s a bad album lmao. i shouldn’t have to know about a singer’s personal life for their music to connect with me. i think it can help and bring depth to things, but a lot of feelings i get from my favorite music i feel without knowing the context and learning it later, which only serves to deepen the experience, not make it worthwhile in the first place. i would even argue that you needing supplemental material for the album to be good would make it not good - i think lemonade’s music is just as good as lemonade as a visual album, and you certainly don’t need to read the comic books to get a feel for the lore of the danger days universe, those supplementals just add to the overall experience of those musical projects imo. and this isn’t even that, this is tabloid gossip.

also you thinking the reason i don’t like this is because i’m not familiar with tswift’s love life is so fucking funny. do you think i live under a rock. do you think i wasn’t subjected to a timeline of every single man she has ever been romantically involved with against my will. i promise i know everything about the matty healy debacle and about how lover is all about joe alwyn and she thought she was gonna be with him forever. i PROMISE i just think the music’s bad.

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

66.7512 meters episode!!!

i think i broke his heart! oh well!!!! ÑLKÑLK ruby y are u so happy about this all the time skfljdks1 (waiting for the karmic writing where someone breaks *her* heart....). tbh also very doctor-like. they are *so* unhinged

i was looking for some Spin-off foreshadowing in this war between land and sea business but best i've got is that... it will probably be set in wales ksdlfj

nuclear war is hilarious. fiften u are not all right.

That's the most bizarre "circle" ive ever seen. if anything is the orthogonal projection of a geodesic dome.

"A pee around the back"…….. dr pee foreshadowing

AESOP #1: children, when u are doing "off the road tourism", don't disturb sacred sites

susan twist's "thing" is just gonna be: "take revenge from being killed so many times". like she's just red-shirting all over the place (maybe it's gonna be a bit of meta commentary of the high body count of this show? that it's all for our sadistic pleasure but doesn't always have real significance skfldj)

I guess inflation is a recurring theme this season?

liminal spaaaace

"and then there's the blood""w-what blood?" i laughed ngl sksksk

the different color fonts in iplayer are a bit distracting tbh…...

ah yes. welsh racism...

hmmm… runy sitting in the chair... to wait in front of the tardis... "The one who waits?"

Thats' what men do skdksk love me some "Intergalactic fuck boy" subtext being voice and made text

Poor ruby ):

it's about the [metaphor for being stigmatized]!!!

Ohh the doctor was the first to disappear by the curse, maybe?

"even ur real mother didnt want u" Bro this monster is so mean wtf Kate!!!

AGAINST HIM, SOMETIMES!!!!!!!!! Antagonist kate be coming!!!

"well, that's classified"

This timeline might be suspended along ur event???

WE INVENT THE RULES AND MAKE THEM WORK!!! THEMES!! YOU HAVE TO COUNT EVERY GRAIN OF SALT!!! IT'S THE GAME THEME CONNECTING TO THE SUPERSTITION THEME!!!!!!!!

theeeemes

the more unit gets competent the more sinister they become

her going "cheers!" to her personal satan. i love u ruby

FUCK YEAH. ICON. GO KILL THE PRIME.MINISTER

...only guys in ruby's little montage ]: im heartbroken T.T rip the x5 times wlw companions streak dream it seems

"except the bed thing that was u" narrator voice: it wasnt

"Which is what?" KILL THE PM KILL THE PM DO IT ICON

Rtd connected to the universe skskdk oh beautiful synergy

[also literally how Y&Y starts... ]

"No more" feels loaded/intentional here, considering how it's been used before as an Important Phrase is War's arc.

the emo advisor guy intrigues me

Ruby having to solve this whole thing + cold war vibes.... mmm very ace coded

[lol @ soc dem / liberal writers being so scared of "populism" and "the dumbness of crowds". peak soc dem / liberal] [what is a "political allegory story" by a soc dem without the punchline being that "I think The People are really fucking Stupid actually"] [i do enjoy the side point of british politicians being so desperate for relevancy that they fire nuclear missiles for the fun of it. yeah… that tracks]

[lol becoming independent from nato being a bad thing. lol #"fucklybia!!"#signed:thisepisode]

the directing is very fun in this

Ruby get on your feets and make it happen

She's gonna say u forgot to say hi to this lady

ruby's asking to be shot again sksks

Iris u say…........ eyes emoji

[ok but also. lol not to go " ah, peak liberal again!" but lol. this resolution is peak liberal [ie. fundamentally antidemocratic, a few 1% technocrats (obvs, privileged and from the global north) with the answers "know what's best"]. this lad may have been crazy but they voted for him for a reason that "the system" wasnt providing.but in typical soc dem fashion they can't ever fight the fascists on The Real Deal ie. strength of a proposed political project + material gains resulted from those political projects + committing to real system change, so they have to scramble for antidemocratic solutions like [timey wimey prisons] to ""fight facism""" (ie not fighting it at all and by proxy, just making the fucking cockroaches stronger each "election cycle" because they can't fight them in a meaningful, political sense) bc the people are just too stupid!!! and this is why democracy was a mistake!!!!!!! ... sigh rtd. oh well good thing i didn't expect more on this front tbh sdlkjfdsd in that sense the s1-s4 rewatch prepared me well lol]

clara vibes in this ep in a lot of moments (old!ruby, sort of "mausoleum tardis", etc)

"i didnt travel with him long..." "but it felt like a lifetime" became literal…

"Everyone has abandoned me my whole life" T_T

AESOP #2: kids u are never alone <3 u always have ur inner demons :) and the unrelenting spectra of death~

There's always something a bit unsatisfying about self closing paradoxes... kinda like "oh it was all a dream so it didnt matter". but i think in this one it was crunchy enough with other things that i think it was balanced.

Very turn left-y ending! CONCLUSIONS!! people kept saying in the press this episode was gonna be "super scary" tbh i just found it.... profoundly sad sdxkljflkfj ruby's life just *screams* "missing the important bits by focusing on the unimportant" and "obsessing over things that don't matter" and "companion becomes detached from real life to the point they become super unhinged and callous" ("im sorry i couldn't help you marti")

(c+p some stuff i put on a discord): tbh i rolled my eyes at the political stuff but i don't think im even mad about it this time lol (too tired irl to get properly angry at doctor who these days ig)

anyway i dont think the political stuff is what it was really "about". i found this story very moving on what it was (imo) rlly about: ruby's fear and experience of being abandoned and also the general "fear of approaching death"

and obvs a bit of other emotional beats that are more specific to doctor who's long running stories: like the doctor "always does this" ie leaves everyone of his friends behind and there's the lingering tragedy that this will happen, as well, to ruby inevitably, then also both ruby and the doc becoming 'detached' from real life (ruby basically never investing anything in those relationships w/ those guys bc she was 'absorbed' by this mystery /clearly a parallel to her being absorbed by her parental origin) and also how tourists cant watch where they step / the doctor and co arent always respectful to the 'silly traditions' of the places they visit (tbh excellent bc to overcome my "this show has the white man's burden' engraved in its dna" meta... the show is gonna have to keep making story like and like Demons of Punjab for at least 3 more decades lol) (basically tldr i think it fumbled the politics stuff but it was rlly crunchy where it mattered. also, ....... i think this pretty much confirms that ruby isn't her own mother / the person who let herself at the door step in Christmas, right??? like rtd had said was the short story he had concocted years ago, and was the insp for this... but he kinda used up that trick here… so it must be something/someone else, right?) (another thing: ruby going "i used to be able to make it snow" made smth click....... ---> if ruby's whole focus rn seems to be about "the mystery", and this quest seems to be not only something she *needs* but also something that like... means joy and adventure, and traveling with the doctor... when she finds out the Truth,,, that probably means all the whimsy in her life will go away? (so she may come to a point where she Doesn't want to know Actually (which would be very "thirteen regretting throwing away the watch" realness mirror again)

[prettybbychim]

im reading up on some weapon ascension materials as one does

and this one from liyue stood out to me

ya boi goes on another unplanned tangent

sweet we talking about adeptal arts

sweet we going deeper into the adeptal arts. can’t say i ever knew the names of these things. taking notes brb

humans said: gotta go my own way. math checks out

hm okay metaphors for—

wait

“a certain someone”

my immediate assumption is zhongli, right? u know mr rex lapis himself with an infallible memory. the man the myth the legend, mr morax sir

so ur telling me

mr man saw the creation of the world

i know he’s old but like Goddamn putting it into context like that Hell

i’m taking this to mean the creation of teyvat as we know it. the human realm. not the light realm aka the elemental realm aka the vishap realm

there’s a story somewhere in one of the books about the solar chariot that fell from the sky and created the chasm. i saw a theory one time about zhongli being a piece of that chariot. but the story itself phrases it as something like “when rex lapis was still young, the solar chariot fell” so i kinda shrugged that one off But technically he would still be young if he was apart of the chariot lmao

pretty sure the legend goes that the chariot was so saddened by the archon war that it plummeted so zhongli could have already been warring and shit. but we also know that the archon war was not a short period by any means. he happened to be a victor but that does not mean he had to have been there from the start

just dunno how that lines up with the creation of the chasm and the move of its people to chenyu vale and all that jazz

timelines are hard man

there’s also the theory that rex lapis is the sun god, which i personally buy into honestly lol

istg there was some book somewhere that alluded to zhongli having spent time in celestia prior to descending to teyvat. i could totally be making that shit up tho lol

anyway we know that fucker knows some shit. and he’s bound by a contract so he cannot divulge any information. whether it’s the contract w the tsaritsa or celestia itself idk i can’t remember if that was said somewhere

but it just puts things into perspective if he witnessed the creation of the human realm. all that shit about the descenders and the phanes and the shades and the divine nails and the moon sisters

man knows it all. probably. and can recall it like it just happened a minute ago. 6000+ years later

the idea that he’s the second descender is also one that has me intrigued. whether it’s true or not, the possibility is fun to play around with

writing this fic in zhongli’s pov is a challenge for sure lol my brain is wired to latch onto any information regarding him and how it could fit into the narrative. we know so much about him but also so little and the possibilities for him are endless

it’s a challenge but goddamn is it fun