#maybe they left it vague on purpose just for me to speculate

[babyjeep]

[pong03]

Kaito character analysis

Let's start light before I get more into the conspiracy theorist ramblings. in nsfw stuff I have read I feel like he is commonly misunderstood. I have read a lot where he is hasty, unemotional and self-serving... although I can see where hasty and lazy may come from but, think about: Kaito towards MC focuses on making her happy and although not always successful it is his main goal, BUT to write him as UNEMOTIONAL.

Y'all he is the most emotional of any man in the whole series. especially, in a first time headcanon post he should not be written as unemotional... we all know he would be crying and being like "MC you're such an angel boo hoo" and "I'm so glad I had my first time with you." he might be quick to finish but I think he would very guilty and put effort towards making it up to MC as soon as he was physically able. ALSO one thing I read he just was written as giving no aftercare,,, sorry am I the crazy one to say Kaito (most of frostheim) would be the most into aftercare?? His grandma always told him blah blah blah.. to him sex wouldn't even parallel to the aftercare experience, and tbh dude would be the one to need it the most. Tell me he wouldn't do everything the MC told him too and if was even slightly degrading to her he would be SOBBING afterwards all like "I'm sorry I said all that mean stuff, I know you asked but I don't believe any of it. You're SOOO NICE." You can't disagree with me yk I'm right. Okay.. I'm like trying to keep this part short but kind of failed. Obviously your head canons are what you're entitled to... just I feel like a lot of people admit to struggling to write him so maybe they'd preesh a post like this. HML if you want Kaito advice ig okay, admittedly this second part is a bit in-depth... like could be a reach but I have A LOT of evidence so hear me out. We all know Kaito hates being a ghoul and is considerably weaker willed than the other ghouls, he is also raised by his grandma. We can assume this because she is the ONLY family member he talks about (on the home screen and in the story) and the process of becoming a ghoul is intense right? Something that would be surprising if he regrets becoming one and is the big ol baby that he is. I think that Kaito's parents are the ones who made the deal, and they didn't survive. He was born to a poor family we know this because he talks about it all the time. SO my personal thought is he was born to a single mother who didn't have any funds to raise him even with the grandmother's help, so she wishes for greatness for her baby, and makes a deal with a devil to protect her child. Because we know he doesn't have the academics to get in Frostheim and he probably was not open about being a ghoul, it's a hoe-scaring quality. So I think he's basically got assigned-plot-armor-at-birth. and basically the demon could be kind of like how luca's monster is possibly his brother, and his mom's soul in entwined with a demon's (like a ghoul's would be) and basically they co-parent him which would explain why his stigma is so weak comparatively to other ghouls. this is more exploratory, but what I truly BELIEVE bare bones is: Kaito's parents are the one's who made the deal. That's it that's all I truly believe in and everything else is speculative. I just think it would be cool especially because I think the process of becoming a ghoul is left especially vague for this purpose. Hehe let me know what you think about this and other things that you personally think about kaito! I'm really curious about other fan's thoughts.

[mishyoona]

Since the devs and creative minds behind the FFX -Will- have claimed they wrote the audio drama ambiguous on purpose in order for us to fill in the gaps using our imagination, I'd like to ask what your desire or vision of FFX-3 is! :D

Whether it be in fanfiction or fan art, speculations or whimsical thoughts, I'd love to hear about it!

Hi, Danko Kaji! Brace yourself lol:

I genuinely believe that the future of Spira, unless it's in a distant one, should be left alone. I think X-2 wrapped up the start of the Eternal Calm nicely, and there is no need to push it further. Continuing from where X-2 left off is an example of beating a dead horse.

Also, from what I've seen, going back to Braska's journey is a popular X-3 concept among fans, but that would be the worst, imo. I don't see how it would introduce fresh elements to the story. Essentially, it would be a rehash of X, but with no surprises. I think we should all appreciate how we learned about that time through Auron's recollections (from his personal stories and the memories we witnessed in the ruins), and I fear that a full game focusing on it would diminish that impact. It's an unpopular opinion, but I truly hope that never comes to fruition.

I have two ideas, and one of them is fairly stupid, but I'm sharing. In fact, let's start with that one:

01. Auron in Dream Zanarkand. Tidus once said that fiends were a rarity in DZ, and that it was a big deal when one showed up. It'd be incredible if we got to discover that Auron was the one responsible for keeping them at bay, and was also the one slaying them once they reached the city (a boss, even, which would indeed be a "big deal"). Not necessarily as a hero either, but specifically driven by his promise to ensure Tidus' safety. It's evident that he kept up with his combat skills during his 10 years there, since he wasn't at all rusty when the time for battle came. In fact, he was prepared. The Japanese dialogue hinted that Auron periodically checked in on Tidus. It's interesting to imagine him being away dealing with fiends during those intervals. Perhaps he even had some form of affiliation with a small group of people who learned to fight and are committed to protecting DZ and uncovering some truths. This group could have uncovered something odd that helped them understand there could be more to DZ than meets the eye. They'd be low profile to avoid being dismissed as wacko. Then comes Auron, a sensible man with a strong head on his shoulders, and his arrival in their lives would provide a sense of companionship. Yet he never says he believes them or knows something. Maybe he sees himself in these people who are driven by what they believe, and he knows their worlds would be shattered by the truth.

Since Sin was known to destroy anything/anyone who got too close to DZ, it's plausible that remnants from another world (Spira) would wash up on its shores. Maybr strange technology and trinkets, or unfamiliar clothing. Ideally something more creative than that, lol. Their group backstory would be that their discoveries presented a pattern that each of then began to notice at some point, thus rendering them "touched" by Spira. It would provide an opportunity to see how someone from a fayth's dream or summoning can transform into something more once they've been touched by Spira or Sin. Remember what Bahamut's fayth said:

"Both you and your father have been touched by Sin. Sin, the one whom all Spira—the spiral—revolves. You two are more than just dreams now. Just a little more."

Vague enough to have fun with, if you ask me. Exploring Auron's time in DZ (especially the period between his shattered beliefs and the end of his mortal life) could be awesome. It would allow for insight as to why he aged. Did he manifest it on his own, and if so, was it gradual or immediate? There's a scene in FFX where Tidus (talking to Yuna) revisits a memory that took place while he was still a kid, shortly before his mother's death. Auron was shown to have already aged by then. So, maybe the stress, heartache, fear, and grief (the immense emotional burden) manifested through his appearance, making him look as old and worn as he felt on the inside.

I can't see any of this being translated into a full-fledged game, though. Maybe a smaller game where the "big bad" is actually Auron's inner turmoil and dealing with his new reality—similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6, lol. But those are my unrefined thoughts on that jumble of dumb.

[lemonhemlock]

could you please explain to me the theory that aegon the conqueror children aren’t his own? where did this theory come from? what r the proofs behind it?

of course, friend! it's mostly speculation based on the little information we have on the OT3

basically, aegon the conqueror had not one, but two wives of child-bearing age with whom he slept on a regular basis (as the histories insist on letting us know). he was also married for quite a long time, so that begs the question: why so few children and why so late? you could make the case that they were preoccupied with the conquest or just did not want to rush having children.

that being said, after the conquest, they couldn't really afford to have a glamorous child-free existence for much longer, since they had to provide their newly-conquered continent with viable heirs and they also seem to be the only targaryens left? (no other cousins mentioned). so, keeping this necessity in mind, aenys is born only around 7 AC. that's quite a lot of time to try to impregnate his TWO wives with only one kid to show for it.

aenys also remains their only child for quite some time. he is quite sickly and people worry he might die. rhaenys does die in 10 AC and it seems like they might have panicked now a little bit. if aegon had such a low rate of success with two wives, how is he going to fare with just the one?

this is why maegor's birth in 12 AC to a 41-year-old visenya comes like a semi-miracle. people are questioning how the hell did she pull that bunny out of her hat. this is where the speculation that she might have performed some blood magic ritual to get pregnant stems from.

now does that mean maegor is just her clone and not really aegon's son at all? did he just claim him because he needed heirs? aenys also grew up to have a lovely singing voice and rhaenys was known to be fond of singers, so there are theories even aenys might not have been aegon's. both aenys and maegor have the classic targaryen features though.

it is also possible that aegon did indeed sire these children, even though he had fertility issues. fertility isn't a black-or-white thing, maybe he just had a low sperm count (lmao). maybe all three of them had fertility problems somehow, not just aegon. or maybe aegon was just absolutely sterile and, after years of trying, his sisters had to get creative in order to have children & aegon claimed them as his own bc he had no other way of acquiring an heir.

that does indeed open so many possible dynamics between the siblings. did aegon know or acknowledge he is the infertile one or did he "blame" his sisters? was he just completely oblivious of the whole issue and hoped an heir would fall out of the sky for him? did he approve of his sisters' alternative methods of conception? or was he forced to accept them as a fait accompli?

the mythos of all the targaryens claiming descent from THE conqueror is definitely a compelling one and has its merits even as traditionalist as it is. but so is the subversion of it being all a lie meant to cover up the OG aegon's failure in one crucial aspect of masculinity, ie potency. i think the text is intentionally vague for this very purpose.

[will80sbyers]

Hi Dani. Can I ask you if you still believe in byler endgame after Noah words and what do you really think Mileven and Byler storyline will be in s5?

Hi! Yeah, of course I believe in byler, remember that Noah can't spoil anything so he has to stay vague or if he knows something he will lie for sure but we also know that they haven't even finished all the scripts... so I don't think he even got them all and if I was the writers I would not give the spoilers to Noah on purpose because he's not to be trusted 🧐

Now for the next question, I think it could happen in so many different ways honestly... I think I made a post with all the different scenarios I've imagined because it depends a lot on what the general storyline is about... like it depends on what works best with that, if time travel is involved, if birthdaygate is real or not, if they have a time jump of two years or if they don't.. if Mike finds out about the painting on his own or through El or if Will tells him during his own love confession... If Max wakes up before the time jump or after... it's really all depending on other things because it all influenced the plot so I can only speculate but I don't know how it will happen!

A scenario I am imagining now is for Mike and El to break up at the beginning of the season, then El lies to Mike when he talks about the painting to her and tells him she did tell Will to do it because she understands Will is in love with Mike and doesn't want to out him to Mike herself

I think it would be sweet if she and Will talked about it and had a bonding moment like that... then Mike is left confused because El broke up with him anyway even after he was vulnerable with her and maybe he gets a little bit depressed because of that but he still has to accept it...

then things happen in the supernatural department, El in some way closes the gates again and Max comes back from her coma maybe but someone else dies or end up in a coma in Max's place - I vote Jonathan!

then we have the time jump and after two years of normal life where some things changed in the group, something happens and Will feels that Vecna is still alive so this time they decide to go to the Upside Down together to find him to kill him and have revenge because of Jonathan being in the coma or maybe because he dies being killed by Vecna before the time jump

before they go to the UD the painting gets brought back in the story because maybe Nancy sees it and says that's what Vecna showed me or something like that and they talk about it and El forgets about keeping the lie going somehow and Mike understands that the painting was only from Will but Will doesn't want to confess his feelings and they fight badly and Mike is left confused because he now knows he loves Will too but doesn't know what to do and he doesn't understand why Will lied to him so he tries to ask but Will refuses to tell him and gets angry at him back and leaves.

things are unresolved between them but they go to the upside down all of them to kill Vecna once and for all and that's when Vecna attacks them, first he separates all of them from El and we think El maybe died for one episode, but she didn't and she will come back...

then they keep going hoping to find El again and that maybe she's with Vecna and they can save her... but Vecna attacks again and they all split in smaller groups!

Mike and Will end up alone, during the season they had all types of little romantic moments but no one confessed or did anything... Mike is openly pining for him but the directors made it look like it's not clear and maybe he was pining for El? unclear... now they are alone, just Mike and Will, and Mike is trying to talk to him about personal stuff and resolve their fight... Will after what happened to Jon has become a little colder and honestly is not thinking about trying anything with Mike again, they still have romantic moments and an almost kiss and at one point Mike almost dies

they reach Vecna and he attacks them again and makes them see visions, he torments Will because of his sexuality and Mike because of both his sexuality but mainly his belief that no one wants him and needs him... Will wins against his visions of his father, Jonathan and the bullies and everything and tells Vecna basically to go fuck himself and that he has accepted being gay and Jonathan would be proud of him and not hate on him and then Will gets inside Mike's visions somehow, and it's a mix of moments when Mike felt abandoned and Mike is crying desperate and is almost gone when Will starts talking to him and confessing all of it, the painting, his love for him and how he didn't want him to know because he's too important for him to lose etc etc and we are shown the first time they meet on the swings, Will uses the same memory Mike used in his s2 speech and Mike gets back to reality with him and they embrace crying (and maybe kiss? or maybe that happens later in a calm moment Idk)

anyway after that... supernatural shit happens, El comes back saving the others from their own visions, and then they all go to the library and Vecna tries again maybe attacking El with a vision but then Will joins this vision and then we get Willel fighting together in Vecna's mind and Will creates a dragon and this dragon kills Vecna in his mind - at the same time Mike and the others have made a plan to kill Vecna in the real world and in the end Lucas chops his head off at the same time when he dies in Will's vision!

a lot of other things happen but Idk the details... but anyway this is all just my own imagination and I think it needs a lot of adjusting because you have to find a way to make all the characters do something and continue their own storylines so don't take this as a prediction because I honestly don't know if we can predict much at this point in time... maybe with the trailers or the behind the scenes pictures we can predict more!

[deltaruminations]

geez louise ok i just need to get these thoughts out of my head lol. stream-of-consciousness rambling about Secret Boss "Someone" to follow

gaster or not, i think the idea of Someone being an "insider" to the dark worlds makes a little more intuitive sense than them being a Lightner (or shapeless fourth-dimensional entity, i guess). the simplest answer to "how were they contacting Darkners before the Fountains were open?" is, well, Someone themself was a Darkner. they already lived on that layer of reality.

beyond that, i think there's a certain clarity of motivation to be found if we take the stance that they're a Darkner rather than something else. consider the Someone’s M.O. — give these underdogs knowledge of what lies beyond, help them transcend their limitations, then leave them to take fate for themselves; this reads to me like an effort (however misguided) of liberation. why would Someone want to do this? maybe because they empathize with them -- and/or, maybe, they stumbled into some kind of eldritch knowledge themself, and were desperate to share it, to have someone else understand what they did.

if we do want to bring in gaster as a possibility for Someone… fuck it. let's say his "object" really is the font Wingdings. why, from a watsonian perspective, Font Darkners would manifest as skeletons is… unclear… but let's go with it for now. Wingdings is a digital dingbats font that sparked confusion, misunderstanding, and even conspiracy theories among users. It's always been a misfit among common typefaces, and over time its usefulness as an ideographic system has been challenged by easier and more available alternatives, including, of course, the implementation of Unicode emoji. contrast this with comic sans and papyrus, which, despite the chagrin of design literati, have historically been widely-used and beloved due to their availability, versatility, and ease of use. by this logic, wingdings fits the profile of a secret boss, designed for a purpose that left him underutilized and discarded.

no real ideas as to how he would have acquired The Knowledge or whatever, aside from ENTRY NUMBER 17 seeming to allude vaguely to opening a Neo Dark Fountain, a process that i guess could expose the planar nature of reality, like he figured if he can go down then maybe he can go up too, or something. listen i have no fucking clue ok. in any case he certainly seems like the type to go digging for it in the first place, Mad Scientist, etc., and maybe it's in his nature as a Darkner designed for communication to feel a need to share it. an obtuse, near-unintelligible font struggling to be understood. or something. lol

as to how gaster (and the brothers) would have "ascended" to the Light World… who knows lol. Magic Science Doors? there are still a ton of issues with this line of speculation and i'm not sure how much it really holds water beyond Being Interesting and proposing a couple of answers to things. but. still. it needles me

....................though. i mean. at the time we meet him, gasty guy does seem to be in possession of a human SOUL, and kris doesn't seem to have one otherwise….................................... nah jk that's silly LOL. unless...... 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 no for real i'm kidding

[funnycreatortimetravel]

Waaaa! If a theory is what you want, I'm here to help!

So in the trailer, we see Homura making a phone call. Now it's not confirmed, but it's heavily implied that she's the one now making contracts with girls and then giving them their powers, asking them if they accept the responsibility (of what, we have no idea, but I'm assuming that she's going to be using the magical girls as a way to contain and control Madoka's power or maybe her power, similar as the Kyubey used the magical girls to control entropy.) I'm not sure if this is true yet, but that's what it seems like.

We then get a bunch of shots of the OG timeline, the Wraith Timeline, and then Rebellion where several voices are pretty much making fun of Homura and calling her a devil. When Homura says "Can you fight against the curse of this world?" I'm curious if she means HER curse specifically, considering that's what the entire labyrinth is. "Just bring hope," again, Madoka becomes the embodiment of hope when she makes her wish to destroy witches, the bringers of curses, but now she's gone due to Homura separating her from the entity known as Madokami, or Ultimate Madoka, I'm curious if Homura is now using other magical girls as bringers of hope so that Madoka won't have to become Madokami again, kind of like a substitute for the Law of Cycles somehow, and given the voices are saying, "Release that girl," it could be either Homura's subconscious or Madokami or some weird other omnipotent entity connected to the other magical girls. Again, all speculation.

A "new magical girl we've never seen before," I'm gonna be real, I have no idea what part they could play, but the girl we see looks like a combination of Homura and Madoka. Now this is a VERY big stretch, but I'm leaning toward the idea that this new magical girl is somehow the embodiment of both Homura and Madoka's power, like, they became a separate physical entity. I'm not sure how this would've occurred, but given that Madoka and Madokami are now separate entities, it wouldn't surprise me if Madokami somehow became a different magical girl, influenced by the labyrinth of Homura. If you remember in Rebellion, Madoka was stripped of her Godhood and turned back into a normal person because she needed to get into the barrier without Kyubey detecting her. I'm wondering if this is the same deal, only because Madokami was effectively stripped of Madoka, we get this other form instead that looks VAGUELY like Madoka but otherwise has a lot of Homura's influence in her design.

We then get a shot of Madoka(?) flying toward a witch-looking thing, or at least what appears to be, but there are flickers of rainbow. Now if you remember in Rebellion, when Madoka was transforming, there were flickers of rainbow meant to symbolize Madokami's influence.

I'm almost certain that Madoka is being engulfed by the OG power of Madokami, curses and all. The fact that her shoes are left behind on the building could either have one or two meanings, both equally important (keep in mind I'm using a TV Trope screenshot, so take it with a grain of salt, lol.)

In this case, Madoka (if it really is Madoka) is committing metaphorical suicide (again, lol, because that's literally what her wish was supposed to be about given that she become a concept) and also transitioning into an ethereal state of being as she's merging with Madokami. I'm sure this is fairly obvious, however, but eh, still fun to talk about. And a lot of people have speculated that that might not even be Madoka, so I have no idea.

It's pretty much confirmed that all the Homuras we see are different entities, similar to Kyubey, but each Homura has a different purpose and meaning. We of course have the Homura who makes contracts, the one we see at the end of the trailer who looks stressed out, and then this other Homura we see meeting Madoka who is surrounded by asphodels. A commentator on the Madoka Movie Trailer cleverly connected the meaning of asphodels to the meaning of underworld, death, and mourning, more specifically the phrase "remembered beyond the tomb' or 'my regrets follow you to the grave." It's known as the immortal flower in Greek Mythology as it grew in the underworld, specially in Purgatory, a place where spirits neither good or evil lived.

Also, the flowers surrounding Madoka are roses, which have many ties to Christianity and the blood of Christ, and the branching them reminds me of the rainbow arc she had at the end of her transformation in Rebellion when she posed, more references to her godly nature.

And then we have the OG girls. As everyone has been quick to point out, their magical girl outfits have changed, which I'm sure, again, is because of the influence of Homura. What I want to talk about specifically is Sayaka and her bandages. If you look closely at the GIF I inserted earlier, you can see that Sayaka has bandages around her neck as well. Now they could mean one of three things; either Homura is directly targeting her so that she won't talk to Madoka and the other girls, or she can no longer heal effectively due to Homura since that was the gist of her power, meaning she has to resort to bandages, or it's just a design change (which I heavily doubt.)

I'm leaning toward it being something about Homura needing her to essentially shut up because if you look at the concept movie trailer that came out a few years ago, Sayaka's mouth was fully covered (which is why I included it in the GIF). It's essentially a "speak no evil," type of deal is what I'm thinking.

And...

Like I said earlier, it's confirmed that there are multiple Homuras (think of Homura's familars) and that the Homura we see at the end is the ACTUAL Homura. Again, she needs to maintain control of the labyrinth, so it makes sense why there has to be more than one of her.

Finally, we have a full shot of Madoka in her new design, which has a gigantic lock on it. In Rebellion, there was a spool of pink thread that was descending into darkness, and here Madoka is doing the same thing. This makes sense, as she's essentially "locked" in the labyrinth and also locked into her fate of being a magical girl (not if Homura can help it.) The threads of fate have been referenced repeatedly in the series (remember in the OG timeline, where Homura and Madoka had images of them being tied up against a clock with string, in Magia Record, when Madoka was transforming, she had pink ribbons tied around her and finally, the ribbons in general, where Madoka give Homura her ribbons and then Homura gave them back at the end of Rebellion.) Threads, ribbons, and string, always are tied down by something essentially.

In terms of Walpurgis, I think that the series is leaning toward everything being how it was during the OG timeline, only this time, Homura is Kyubey (only in terms of position, Kyubey can go rot in hell and Homura cares what happens to the other magical girls, I hope at least.) If Walpurgis is rising again, it may be because the circumstances in which she was first born are happening again, or her death wasn't prevented because, in this world, Madoka wasn't there to make her wish. Walpurgis may be a culmination of all of Homura's power (though I don't think that it is Homura herself, maybe it's just a culmination of all the magical girls' despair or curses in combination with Homura's.) If Homura doesn't have a way to purify it all because, regardless of her familiars, she's still only one person, it makes sense why it would possibly bring forth Walpurgis once again.

And these are all of my thoughts and theories! They're a bit basic, but I'm always in support of simple theories. If I'm missing anything or messed up anything, let me know so I can either fix it or explain my reasoning.

I was so out of the loop in last quarter of 2023 (family emergency) so i only just found out there was a way longer translated Walpurgisnacht Rising trailer rn !!!!!!

If anyone knows any good trailer analysis or theories or whatnot pls send my way

I avoid the "haha suffering" shitposts cause thats not how i see the show. I dont have enough pmmm friends to chat with about this stuff orz

[boundinparchment]

Dream a Little Dream of Me - V

Celestia has a cruel sense of humor. He’s always known this, ever since his days as a student. But a soulmate? Really? Dottore/Female Reader Soulmate AU. Expect lore speculation, interpretations, etc. Available on AO3 as well.

You played until your fingers ached, and then continued on.  Nothing you weren’t used to.  Of course, you would undoubtedly pay the price for the intense session tomorrow after hours of pressing strings to the fretless fingerboard and repositioning for new chord progressions. You were swept away by each note, no longer considering the papers in front of you but instead relying on theory and instinct.  Memories of dreamscapes, of hesitant curiosity, and hours elongated into days.  Discussions of ancient mechanical lifeforms and the divine filled your mind, not unlike the sensation of knowing the deepest waters without ever having swam in them.

The swell of the music echoed as you pulled out the final note with a flourish.  It resonated throughout the theater and hung in the air, like a gull on a warm summer breeze, before fading back into relative silence.  

You jumped at the sound of singular applause and your grip on the cello’s neck tightened, tendons protesting.  

You were alone.  Or were supposed to be, at least.  

Others would have been flattered to have been overheard.  

But this piece of music…it was private, intended to be driven into your memory until you could play it in your sleep.

Literally.

Your weapon was back in your room among your belongings.  It was not needed within the city limits.  A foolish choice, you realized, when you had a hidden compartment in your instrument’s case.

“The full orchestra is far more impressive,” you said, voice bouncing off the acoustic paneling.  

You scanned the seats before you, the floor and the balcony seemingly empty.  The rest of the theater was shrouded in darkness, the edges of it just reaching the first row of seats, just defining the center aisle.

“I beg to differ,” the lone attendant replied, words laced with haughty arrogance.  “Judging from the way you seemed so caught up, you held back during the main performance.”

The timber of the voice was familiar, frustratingly so.  Why couldn’t you place it?

“I have to.  I’m only a single part of a larger whole.”

A laugh erupted from above, off to the side, the source far more evident now.  You turned to look over your shoulder and still found nothing… wait…

You caught sight of a series of blue lights and the vague outline of a figure took shape.  The tint made it impossible to properly discern clothing color (white, perhaps?) but you could just make out the mimicry of a bird.  Its metal beak reflected the faint light coming from a glowing eye so bright that it rivaled a similar device further down, darker in tone.  Both as bright, if not brighter, than the Vision tucked away in your performance finery.  The figure’s mouth and jaw were visible but not well-defined.

Was your mind playing tricks on you?  Were you so tired that you were hallucinating?

Surely not.

“A waste of time and talent for one so dedicated, so ambitious.  What’s the point of all that hard work if you’re only going to subject yourself to mediocrity?”

You grimaced as your left hand tightened on the neck of the cello again, your grip weak and painful, running up your arm.  Hardly anyone understood that the dedication you put in came from a need to do it, that there didn’t have to be a greater purpose or salary.  Your work and its results were reward enough.  Sure, the small accomplishments helped your income, and having your compositions played meant you at least had a tenuous foothold outside of performing, but it…was never rooted in such arrogance …

“Maybe I’m not looking for recognition.  I don’t need to explain myself to a stranger who won’t show me their face.”

You rose from your seat and placed the cello in its nearby stand, along with the others in the row, too fatigued to bother packing it up.  Against your better judgment, or perhaps giving in to the swimming sensation in your gut, you turned back and cast your eyes on the balcony.

Darkened.  Empty.  Silent.

When you returned to your room, you immediately collapsed onto the bed, not bothering to crawl under the covers.  Your Vision dug into your hip and you unclasped it, slapping it down onto the bedside table with a clatter.  Little use it was when the only way you could channel your element was with the weapon that lay propped up against the wall.  The Akasha device given to you upon arrival rested next to the golden orb, still turned off and unused.  Fontaine was rife with fancy technology and it wasn’t as though you were staying here all that long to take advantage of the rich, informative system.

Dreams eluded you, dancing just out of reach.

You woke feeling somewhat rested, stiff and aching hands aside.

Instead of relief, however, all you felt was disappointment.

[thevivification]

@self-scammer-inc idk if you're awake as I post this (and idk if you’ve done sumeru yet) BUT I've been doing a lot of sumeru exploration and I kept thinking about him when I got near the desert so I filled almost an entire page of my sketchbook with doodles cause. yeah

Notes and note transcript under the cut

I wanted to add onto his design a bit more and I believe we talked about him having quite the amount of jewelry so I tried adding onto that. The hat was mainly cause I think he’d do good with a hat (shields eyes from sun + if you add something like a veil it works as a shield for the eyes) but the hat is definitely more of an optional thing

Upgraded the poncho to look more like something akin to Collei’s scarf but that design idea is still a “hmm” for me (hence why the actual scarf bits are not that visible)

You mentioned something about him being a physical DPS/burst support combo (well the burst support is a me idea, gives him more versatility) and while I’m not exactly sure what element he would have (Vex magic and Abyss magic are definitely more like plot devices for now) so I made The Vial more ambiguously elemental

While I’m not sure about the weapon ability and design I think I like the general concept of what I have here. Also I went with polearm design cause I felt like drawing them so maybe sooner or later I’ll draw a sword for him

OH ALSO I forgot to add that Concocted Infuser can be stacked up to 4 times max. I’m thinking a lot about game design as of recent idk why

note transcript (+ more additional notes cause yay):

I have severely misjudged the variety of sumeru lotus flowers.

Generic pink lotus/water lily = wears most often Nilotpala Lotus = alternate1 Kalpata Lotus = alt2 Padisarah = something special (I forgot about Viboyas aha I’ll explain sometime in future. also yes I know lotus and water lilies are different things and that Cub probably had a water lily and not a lotus in the initial design but shhh)

*a sketch of the start of an attack pattern*

kind of throw upwards? beginning of atk pattern idea?

*a picture of a vial of something*

The Vial Made from various chemicals/elements Plays part to his atk patterns (I believe I was referring to skill and burst)

*sketch of gi!Cub’s right hand*

right hand as ref rings usually wears rings w/o gloves lol bracelets (I added a 4-pointed star/primogem symbol to the glove to mess with identity speculations. in-universe I think he adds primo symbols for that exact reason, to mess with people)

*sketch of an updated gi!Cub design. I’ve given him a hat*

hat still has flower on ear specially-made material *pointing to shirt*

*sketch of a polearm called “✦ The Oasis ✦” (love it when Cub adds the little symbols to his tools and stuff). It’s design is similar to that of the dragonspine spear except the spearhead is more traditional and instead of calcium-like wrapping it is wrapped in the vines of a kalpata lotus. a single kalpata lotus blooms near the head*

Kalpata lotus Kalpata vines might modify design a bit. It’s kinda generic but I have no ideas atm so it’ll just stay like this *pointing to weapon ability* what I have as an idea for a minute (might add EM buff??)

atk % or physical DMG bonus Abyssal Merger (name in progress) Every time the active character activates a skill or a burst, all party members will gain the “Concocted Infuser” effect. This effect increases movement speed by 10%, reduces stamina cost of charged attacks by 20% and increases atk by 20-45% for 10 seconds. (Might reduce the effect duration and might remove the movement speed buff. Also I forgot to add that the ability can be stacked to 4 at maximum and there’s a 3-5 second cooldown for after the effect’s duration. The things in bold are stats that can be affected by refinement)

*A sketch of a possible elemental burst frame. He’s holding the vial while side-eyeing or looking at the camera. I left it vague on purpose*

Possible burst? (I think him throwing the potion to the ground and the affected area looks like light blue glazed terracotta (aka Vex Magic) would be cool. idk what it does but it would look cool)

[animal-moon-harvest-crossing]

new sos marriage candidates

I know, I know, the trailer and the website has only been live for a couple of hours, I KNOW. But I was already looking, and did some rough translations of the new candidate’s names and what kind of personalties they will have. This also will come from chrome’s very basic translator, and this could all change relatively soon! So with that in mind, let’s get started!

We’ll start on the left side with the girls!

On top, we first have Bridget. She works at the animal shop, and of course, loooves being around animals! Her brother is Damon (the young man to the right of her). Her whole design reminds me A LOT of Ellen from both her SNES and Magical Melody incarnations:

(Ellen included for reference). I think it’s also interesting that Damon is her brother, who kinda also resembles Blue from Magical Melody. Blue was a Grey expy that also worked on the animal ranch and was Ellen’s brother. Very curious indeed!

Next we’ll move on to the center left, Reina. She works at the local museum, and has a vast wealth of knowledge of all the exhibits and artifacts there. She may seem carefree and easy going, but she’s really a hard worker! Can’t wait to learn more about her!

Finally for the girls, we have Rin. She’s a shy, quiet young lady who works at the flower shop with her grandfather. Despite her shyness, once you get to know her better, she becomes a loving and cherished friend. I’m eager to see her blossom into a loving friend this coming March! 

Now moving on to the lads on the right. As mentioned before, we have Damon, Bridget’s brother. He’s essentially the bad boy of the group. He rides around on a motorcycle, and likes his coffee black (according to the translation on the bokumono website). He “behaves bluntly”, but has a romantic side that involves stargazing. Personally, he’s my favorite kind of character, so I’m pretty excited to get to know him. Have I already picked out my husband? M-Maybe I dunno...

Next we have Emirio! Emiro? I’m not totally sure what his name is supposed to be. The bokumono site describes him as the easy going, big brother type, who loves the sea, and likes to fish. We’ve seen plenty of characters similar to him in past bokumono games. Honestly I can’t wait to learn what his name actually is more than anything LOL. Priorities, yes, i have them.

EDIT:: I just saw a fan translation on twitter that is guessing his name is actually “Emilio” which makes like, WAY MORE SENSE!! I forget a lot of the time that in katakana, Rs stand in for Ls. So twitter user @wy_horizons is probably correct on that!

Finally, rounding us off, is Iori. The katakana says “Iroiri”, but if you pay attention to the English trailer, you see a man calling him “young master Iori”. Anyway, this clues me in that Iori is another Amir type character. A young man from a wealthy family that is traveling the world. The bokumono site describes him as “reliable and gentle”, and loves the nature surrounding Olive Town. I feel like we’re being given vague details about him on purpose, to keep up that mysterious, princely air to him. That’s all the candidates for now! These are the only character profiles available right now (or that I could find) on the bokumono website. Will we see more marriage candidates before the game’s release? What do you think of them so far? Is there something that I missed from the current information (which is more than likely)? It’s so exciting to have a new game for all of us to speculate on, I can’t wait to learn more!!

[wyomingescalators]

Gatsby - chapter three rewrite

[Author’s note: I was procrastinating doing uni work and decided to rewrite chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby. It’s fairly similar to the original, but there are some differences]. Word count: 4920.

There was music from my neighbor’s house throughout the warm summer nights. By seven the orchestra arrives, the swimmers are upstairs getting changed, and the cars are already parked five deep in the drive and nearly hitting party-goers as they dash across the drive towards the entrance. Hallways, gardens and rooms are already filled with groups of people, all of whom are dressed brightly and with the intention of being seen. As each minute passes, the attendees grow looser, more relaxed, more cheerful. Alcohol continued to flow from the bars like waterfalls, with cocktail glasses never leaving people’s hands. The air became more and more alive with conversations, laughter, music and promptly forgotten introductions. As the night progressed, the lights would grow brighter, the music would grow louder and the voices would grow in volume and confidence. Laughter became easier and would echo and spill into the night, groups would melt and shift, and those dancing began to move with more conviction.

Normally at around this hour I would be stood in my kitchen, preparing dinner, trying to avoid looking out of the window at another one of Gatsby’s parties so I don’t cause another wave of loneliness to erupt within me. Yet inevitably my eyes would be drawn to the glowing crowds filling Gatsby’s estate. Their voices and laughter would reach me from within my house, practically taunting me with how lonely I am - a bachelor of almost thirty with a calendar so empty that you could have swapped it with a blank page and I wouldn’t notice the difference for a good few days.

Fortunately for me, I did not have to spend my summer alone, reminiscing over previous summers where I was more than just some nobody that occasionally made an appearance at the Buchanan’s dinner table. Early one Saturday morning, I opened my front door to find a chauffeur in blue uniform with an invitation in hand. I felt somewhat embarrassed, considering I had answered the door a matter of minutes after I woke up, meaning I was still in my dressing gown and with my hair not combed. But the chauffeur left quickly and without a word uttered to me. I looked over the very formal note as I drank my morning coffee. In the note, Gatsby informed me that he would be honoured if I attended his “little party” that night.

Shortly after arriving - dressed in a simple black suit - I discovered that I was the only one who had actually been invited. At no point did anyone request to see my invitation, nor did I see anyone else wielding one. In fact, I suspected that hardly anyone there had even met Gatsby, they simply showed up because a friend of a friend knows Gatsby’s cousin (or some other wild and dubious connection), and that vague connection gave them permission to act how they pleased once they arrived at Gatsby’s.

I attempted to find my host once I arrived, but after a few awkward interactions with party-goers who didn’t even know what the man looked like, let alone where he was, I slipped away to the nearest cocktail table. At least there I could like I had some purpose without drawing attention to the fact I had been living in this area for so little time that I could count my acquaintances on one hand.

Within my first hour being there I’d had enough drinks that the dance floor was starting to look appealing, but I wasn’t drunk enough to venture there alone. I would require a partner, someone else to dance alongside me in order to conceal my poor and drunken coordination. To my relief, as I finished yet another drip with a sharp gulp and ordered another, I finally spotted a familiar face within the crowd. Jordan Baker stood, drink elegantly in hand, looking through the sea of people with a look of almost boredom.

Fresh drink in hand, I quickly walked to her. It was probably for the best that I attached myself to someone before I made a fool out of myself by trying to make new connections with passers-by.

“Care for a dance?” I asked as I reached her.

Jordan raised her eyebrows. “Someone’s made use of Gatsby’s hospitality.”

“Pardon?” I felt my cheeks turn hot.

She laughed briefly. “No need to get embarrassed. I was just remarking that you seem like you’re having fun.”

“Oh!” I decided to take a few hearty sips of my drink rather than say anything else.

“I thought you might be here. I remember that you live next door,” Jordan continued, looking around.

“Yes. Well, this is my first time here, actually.” Each word that came out of my mouth seemed to stumble out and awkwardly fall. How much had I had to drink?

“How about we go outside?” Jordan suggested. A slight hint at how she had registered that I was not sober.

With her slender arm linked with mine, we weaved through the crowds and slipped outside. The cool, night air was welcome against my warm skin. We descended the steps and reached the warmly lit garden. The voices and music were less harsh on my ears here than they were inside. We sat ourselves down at one of the tables. Two girls and three men sat at the same table as us, absorbed in their own conversations. The general hum of chatter and music was soothing to me.

“Do you go to parties much, Nick?” Jordan asked me.

“This is the second one I have been to this summer, if you don’t include the dinner parties,” I answered.

“What was the first party?”

“Oh, just some party with Tom Buchanan,” I replied vaguely, taking another sip of my drink.

Jordan took a sip of hers, not inquiring further. She probably assumed my vagueness was because of the attendees, and while she was somewhat correct to assume that - after all, Daisy hadn’t been invited to that particular gathering - I was actually being vague because of another attendee, and more specifically what we did after the party. I don’t think Myrtle, Tom or Catherine know what happened, or even suspected. They were too focused on Myrtle’s broken nose. They didn’t notice Mr McKee and I slip away for a few hours. Though the elevator boy certainly noticed.

Consumed in thought about what had happened the other week, I had lost track of the conversations going on around me. Jordan had begun a conversation with the two girls next to me. The girls - Lucille and Essie - were discussing their experience the last time they went to one of Gatsby’s parties. Lucille had torn her dress and Gatsby had sent her an expensive replacement, which she would have worn if it didn’t require adjustments.

I tuned in as the topic of their conversation changed from torn dresses to who Gatsby was. Jordan and the two girls were leaning close together, as were the three men. I leaned in also.

“Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once,” Essie told us in a hushed voice.

This mysterious man was coming into focus. One tiny piece of the story told us that he was dangerous and rich, maybe even powerful. A thrill passed over us at the thought of such a man.

“I don’t think that’s what happened exactly.” Lucille was sceptical. “It’s more that he was a German spy during the war.”

One of the men nodded in agreement.

Essie rolled her eyes. “He couldn’t have been a German spy. He was in the American army during the war. Look at him when he thinks nobody’s looking at him. I bet he killed a man.”

We all looked around, a shiver passing over us. Perhaps it was a testimony to romantic speculation that we almost expected to find this man in our midst, with crimson stained hands and wild eyes. After all, don’t most powerful and dangerous men have blood on their hands? While Tom wasn’t as remarkable or influential as he used to be, I remembered him during his prime days in college. His hands are certainly stained red.

“Let’s get out,” whispered Jordan.

“Why?” I whispered back.

Lucille and Essie returned to their own conversation.

“This conversation is too polite for my tastes,” Jordan replied, standing up.

I stood also. “Too polite? How?”

She didn’t answer, instead walking away. I followed. Jordan then explained that we were going to find the host. She felt uneasy at how she hadn’t met him, and Lucille and Essie hadn’t helped her unease.

We went to the bar first. Gatsby was nowhere to be seen, but we finished and replaced our drinks while we were there. We could not find him outside, within the conversations at the candlelit tables. We could not find him on the steps or veranda. Nor on the dance floor, or at the cocktail tables, or by the piano that a blond, drunk man was playing.

Jordan and I stumbled upon a large, Gothic library within Gatsby’s mansion. I suspected the library had been imported from another mansion somewhere. A short, middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed spectacles, was halfway up a ladder against one of the towering bookshelves. He was grabbing books at random, flicking through them and then tossing them to the floor with a bang. I was concerned he would fall.

He turned to us with excitement as we entered.

“What do you think?” He tossed another book to the ground.

“About what?” Jordan asked.

I finished my drink and placed it on a large table, covered in empty glasses and discarded books.

He gestured to the bookshelves. “About all of this. They’re real!”

“The books?”

He nodded. “Absolutely real. I thought they were cardboard at first.”

“I didn’t realise whether or not the contents of Gatsby’s library are real was a matter of concern,” Jordan remarked.

He carried on, not reacting to anything Jordan was saying, a book in hand. “See! It’s real. A piece of printed material. All of these books are. What realism! He even knew when to stop, he didn’t even cut the pages. But what do you expect, really?”

Jordan and I exchanged glances as he tossed the book onto the ground among all the other books he’d thrown.

He didn’t stop talking. “Who brought you? Or did you just come? I was brought. Most people were brought.”

“I’ll have whatever he’s drank,” Jordan whispered to me.

Out of politeness, I tried not to laugh in front of the man.

“I was brought by a woman named Roosevelt,” he continued. “Mrs Claud Roosevelt. Do you know her? I met her somewhere last night. I’ve been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in the library.”

“Has it?” Jordan asked.

“I think so? I can’t tell. I’ve only been in here an hour. Did I tell you about the books-”

“Yes.”

We politely excused ourselves and left him to it. As I closed the library door behind us, I wondered who would clean the books up from the floor tomorrow.

The party-goers were only getting drunker. Their dancing was growing more fluid and free, each song injecting everyone with more energy and life. Laughter, cheers and singing grew louder as the hours slid by. By midnight the hilarity had increased, alcohol poured down our throats easier, our limbs moved with more ease. The world felt warmer, livelier, more at ease. The moon rose higher along with the music and our moods.

Despite the cosy, lively atmosphere around us, Jordan and I hadn’t ventured into the dance floor yet. Instead we remained by the edge, half empty drinks in hand, moving ever so slightly to the music. Then Jordan was pulled into the fray of the dance floor by some girl, and she joined a group of girls, dancing together in a group. Separating me from the group were couples who were dancing together in pairs and keeping to the more civilized edge of the dance floor.

A man I was stood next to gave me a smile. “Your face is familiar. Weren’t you in the First Division during the war?”

“Yes. I was in the Twenty-eighth Infantry,” I replied, glad I could be making conversation with someone new.

We talked briefly about some gray, little villages in France. He revealed that he lived nearby, as he told me he had bought a hydroplane and was going to try it out in the morning. So, he was rich. But I was only half paying attention to the words coming out of his mouth. I was more paying attention to his appearance. He was undeniably handsome. His eyes were intoxicating to me, and I couldn’t help but be drawn into them.

“Want to go with me, old sport? Just near the shore along the sound.”

“What time?”

He smiled. I was already growing fond of that smile. “Any time that suits you best.”

I found myself smiling. I then took a sip of my drink, worried I was smiling too much. I had grown slightly nervous around him, despite the soothing alcohol flowing through me. I only sipped my drink because I needed something to do during this lull in the conversation.

“Are you having a good time?” he asked.

“I am,” I said. “This is a strange party for me. I haven’t even seen the host. I live just next door. This man, Gatsby, sent over a chauffeur with an invitation. I thought everyone got invited, but I seem to be the only one.”

The man looked at me with confusion, as if I was missing an obvious clue. “I’m Gatsby.”

“Oh! I beg your pardon.” I felt my cheeks turn hot in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry.”

“No need to apologize. I thought you knew, old sport. I’m afraid I haven’t been a very good host.”

Gatsby then gave me another smile, and it conveyed more than just him silently telling me that he understood. It was one of those rare smiles, with a comforting warmth to it. It was more than just the common, loving smiles you would gain from someone you were close to. The smile Gatsby gave me reassured me that he understood me completely, that whatever flaws of mine I revealed to him would never be capable of turning him away from me, and that he believed in me unwaveringly and wholeheartedly. His smile drew me in, and filled my chest with a heated energy I had not felt in a long time, not even during that time with Mr McKee. My heart began to beat faster. What I felt in that moment was more than some simple, primal want. It was a burst of life that erupted in my chest and spread out through my body. It was a feeling that made all the moments before now finally make sense. It was a feeling that gave my life some form of purpose in this strange, growing world.

Objectively speaking, the smile Gatsby gave me was a brief one, lasting maybe a few seconds at most before fading into a smile more small and polite, but during those few seconds I just wanted to lean in towards him and bring him closer to me. Yet I couldn’t. I was left there, less than a metre from him, startled by the wave of emotion that had just swept over me.

As I came down from that intense few seconds, a butler hurried towards Gatsby, informing him that Chicago was calling him on the wire. He then excused himself with a small bow.

“If you want anything just ask for it, old sport,” he urged me. “Excuse me. I’ll rejoin you later.”

Even if I had the nerve to tell him what I truly wanted, I didn’t have the time, as he vanished into the crowd.

I finished my drink, trying to calm myself, and that was when I noticed Jordan had returned to my side.

“What’s going on in that mind of yours, Nick?” Jordan asked.

“Pardon?”

“I saw your reaction when Gatsby smiled at you. You looked completely smitten.”

“I- It wasn’t like that. I just thought he- I was- He was being-” The words were crashing out of my mouth in a jumbled mess as I tried to come up with something to say. In my drunken state I had considered telling Jordan what happened after I went to Tom’s little party the other week, but I decided against it at the last second. While she wasn’t the most moral out of the people around us, how would she react to this?

Jordan laughed. “I don’t judge you for it! I just thought your reaction to him smiling was rather sweet.”

I wished I was capable of going more than five minutes at this party without blushing.

“Anyway, he once told me he was an Oxford man,” Jordan said to me, pushing the conversation away from me and my emotions. “However, I don’t believe it.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t think he went.” Something in her tone reminded me of the conversation we had with Lucille and Essie earlier.

I would have accepted without question that Gatsby arrived from Louisiana, or Pennsylvania, or the lower East Side of New York. That was comprehensible. But young men didn’t - as far as I was aware - drift coolly from nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island.

“Doesn’t matter.” Jordan changed the subject again. “He gives large parties, and I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”

There was the boom of a bass drum, and the voice of the orchestra leader called out above the loud hum of the garden.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he cried. “At the request of Mr Gatsby, we are going to play for you Mr Vladimir Tostoff’s latest work. The piece is known as, ‘Vladimir Tostoff’s Jazz History of the World!’”

Cheers erupted from the garden. But the nature of Mr Tostoff’s composition slipped from my mind and interest as my eyes fell on Gatsby. He stood alone on the marble steps, looking from one group to another with approving eyes. His tanned skin was attractive, and his hair was well kept and tidy. I could see nothing sinister about him, no indication that blood ever dripped from his fingertips. I noticed that he was the only one here not drinking - as the hilarity increased, he grew more correct.

When the ‘Jazz History of the World’ was over, girls were putting their heads on men’s shoulders, or swooning playfully into their arms knowing they would be safely caught. But no one swooned onto Gatsby, or rested their head on his shoulder. Though I wished I could rest my head on his broad shoulder, or swoon backwards playfully, reassured by the knowledge that his strong arms would catch me.

“I beg your pardon.” His butler was suddenly stood beside us. “Miss Baker? I beg your pardon, but Mr Gatsby would like to speak to you alone.”

“Me?” Jordan was surprised.

“Yes, madame.”

She placed her empty glass on a table, raised her eyebrows at me in surprise, and followed the butler towards the house. I watched her walk away, her evening dress catching the light, and I noted that she was attractive too. Maybe each person, regardless of gender, had some attractive quality to them. The contrasting ways men and women carried and presented themselves were exciting to me. Gentle and strong voices, distinct and colourful personalities, skin that could be rough and soft, tall and short people. There was overlap, with men and women being attractive to me for the same reasons, and there were differences. Qualities one gender possesses that the other gender didn’t always bring to the table. All of them appealed to me. But in that moment, my mind was beginning to focus on one man only.

I went inside. I was alone and it was almost two. A girl was now playing the piano, and beside her was another woman, engaged in song. She was drunk - like the majority of us - and she was weeping as she sang. Anytime there was a pause, she would fill it with gasping, broken sobs before continuing to sing again. Someone then made a comment about how she should sing the notes on her face, as her tears had dragged themselves through her makeup and down her face, and as a response she sank into a chair and promptly fell asleep.

“She had a fight with a man who says he’s her husband,” a stranger told me.

I looked around. Most of the remaining guests were in arguments - women fighting their husbands, the people Jordan was with earlier - the alcohol turning their moods from friendly to sour. Then there were people bickering about how they had to go home already, as if two in the morning was far too early to be leaving, even though many respectable people were in their beds by now.

“Whenever he sees I’m having a good time he wants to leave.”

“Never heard anything so selfish in my life.”

“We’re always the first ones to leave.”

“So are we.”

The orchestra had already left by this point, along with many other guests. Some had left earlier, plenty had stumbled away into the night over the past hour, and now some people were being carried away, kicking and drunk.

I was waiting for my hat in the hall when the library door opened and Jordan and Gatsby came out together. He was quickly saying something to her as multiple people approached him to say farewell.

Jordan’s party were calling for her to hurry up, but she hesitated for a moment to say goodbye to me.

“I just heard the most amazing thing,” Jordan told me.

They were in there about an hour. It was safe to assume whatever Gatsby told her was interesting.

“But I swore I wouldn’t tell and here I am, tantalizing you,” she continued. Then she let out a graceful yawn. “Please come and see me. I’m in the phone book, under my aunt’s name. Mrs Sigourney Howard.”

Jordan then hurried off, giving me a wave as she joined her party and promptly left. I watched her go. As I watched, I spotted that some poor fellow had lodged his vehicle into a ditch beside the road within minutes of leaving Gatsby’s drive. I could hear the voices of the driver - who I realised was Owl Eyes - and the crowd surrounding him echoing back to where I stood.

“See! It went in the ditch.”

“How did it happen?”

“I don’t know. I know nothing about mechanics.”

“But how did it happen? Did you run it into the wall?”

“Don’t ask me.”

“Well, if you’re a poor driver you oughtn’t to try driving at night, or in this state.”

“But I wasn’t even trying.”

“Do you want to commit suicide?”

“You’re lucky only the wheel came off!”

While the scene unfolding just beyond Gatsby’s drive was entertaining, I decided to turn my attention away from it. I felt embarrassed and awkward, at how late I’d stayed during my first visit, I decided to have one last word with Gatsby, before I made the brief walk back to my house, in order to explain myself. I wanted to tell him I had looked for him earlier and that I was sorry for not finding him sooner.

Gatsby smiled as soon as he saw me.

“I’m sorry for not finding you sooner. I tried to find you, earlier, in the garden, and also a bit in the house. But don’t worry, I didn’t pry too much.” The words had inevitably began to nervously tumble from my mouth.

“Don’t worry about it, old sport. And don’t forget we’re going up in the hydroplane tomorrow morning, at nine o’clock.”

“Why are you being so kind to me?” I asked him. Part of me almost expected him to reveal he wanted something from me, or perhaps he would reveal an even more sinister motive. Or maybe he was just being polite. Why did I ask?

He put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. I felt a brief spark of electricity shoot through me at the contact.

“I just think you’re wonderful,” Gatsby answered with sincerity.

“Really?”

“Of course, old sport! Why wouldn’t I?”

“I’m not that remarkable,” I admitted.

The butler emerged behind his shoulder, something about Philadelphia wanting him on the phone. Gatsby waved him away with an excuse. He wasn’t interested in whoever was on the phone, he was interested in me.

We began to walk. There was hardly anyone around now except for staff, and the occasional party-goer who struggled to remain vertical.

“Tell me about yourself,” Gatsby requested.

“What would you like to know?” I asked.

“Anything.”

I wasn’t sure where to start. Nothing seemed interesting enough. But I had to start somewhere. After all, Gatsby was interested. Though I knew my life would never be as intriguing as his, even though I knew little of his life in that moment.

“When I was at university, I dreamed of being a writer,” I told him.

“What happened?”

“I gave up,” I admitted.

“Why?” He seemed appalled.

“I suppose I’m not good enough.”

“Nonsense! I’m sure you’re a damn good writer.”

“You haven’t read a word I’ve written.”

“Yet I’m certain of it. Once you’re done writing whatever project you are working on do send it my way, I would be honoured to read it.”

“I’m flattered, thank you.”

Part of me wondered if Gatsby had been watching me with the same gaze I had been watching him with. Had he been looking at me just as fondly as I had been looking at him that night?

We stepped out onto the veranda, went down the steps and walked through the empty and quiet garden together. The silence was peaceful and comfortable as the world around us calmed down and settled after an exciting night, but all I could focus on was the quick thumping of my heart.

Beyond the garden was a dock, and beyond that was dark and calm waters, and further beyond that was a tiny green light at the end of some distant dock. We stood at the end of the garden together, side by side, the light from the mansion and finished party just about reaching us. I suddenly remembered seeing Gatsby alone in the garden weeks ago, presumably lost in thought. I looked out at the green light, and at the other lights from the surrounding houses and the lights of city buildings on the horizon, and for a few moments I was transfixed by these Earth-bound stars.

I began to talk, mostly to myself. “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal values. I’ve always suspected myself of being one of the few honest people I know. But can I call myself an honest man if the only times I’m being honest about myself are when I’m drunk?”

“You’re thinking aloud,” Gatsby said quietly. “Is everything alright?”

My eyes went to the other lights. “I want to be honest, but maybe that is too difficult.”

I could sense a pair of eyes watching me carefully, and I sensed that Gatsby was looking towards something that wasn’t a distant light on a dock.

“Pardon?”

I turned my head away from the lights and found myself looking right at him, and he was looking right back at me. And we silently, truly, saw each other in that moment.

A butler then emerged at Gatsby’s side, pulling his attention away from me. I looked back out at the dark bay and I began to wonder if I was just being foolish. Gatsby had just met me, and he was merely making eye contact with me. How could it be anything more than that?

Gatsby turned to me. “It’s getting late. I ought to… retire for the night.”

The excitement in me was fading as I noticed how sluggish I was starting to feel, and it was certainly getting late. Already I was dreading the state I would be in tomorrow.

“Good night,” I replied.

Gatsby smiled at me. “Good night.”

The butler was impatiently waiting.

I began to walk away, towards my house. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.” He gave me a quick, formal wave before heading back to his house alongside his butler.

 Looking over what I have written so far, it seems I have given the impression that the events of three nights over the course of several weeks during the summer were all that absorbed me. While the dinner party at the Buchanan’s, and the party with Tom and his mistress that had quite the ending, were interesting, they were merely casual events in a crowded summer. But the night that I met Gatsby remained firmly in my mind, and absorbed me in the following days. While I kept trying to push away my unrealistic fantasies, telling myself that he was simply being polite to me as he seemed like the kind of fellow who didn’t want trouble with anyone, part of me kept suspecting there was more to it than that.

After all, I was the only one who got properly invited to his parties.

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

open the door and let the flood back in (Loki & Sylvie, 1k words, just a little speculation for the end of episode 4) Rating: General Warnings: no archive warnings apply; references to mind control; very vague reference to torture Summary: Loki's awkwardness would be at least a little endearing under almost any other circumstances, Sylvie thinks, but there’s not much room for anything else alongside the numb hollowness of defeat. (A little speculation, at the last minute when it's no doubt about to be proven wrong, on what Loki might have said at the end of episode 4, other than the obvious, if he hadn't been interrupted. Spoilers through episode 4, obviously. Can be read as shippy or not.)

The nerve endings in my arms are working just fine, yeah, Sylvie almost says, but the snark doesn’t come so easily with the fake Time-Keeper’s head on the floor nearby, and that makes her pause long enough to realize that yes, there’s…something else, something deep inside the core of her magic that she’s never felt before. Something like—the recognition of a touch, or an echo, or both at once even if that really doesn’t make sense. Like she’s reaching out in the dark by instinct, and she knows someone else is reaching back.

She frowns. “Are you doing something?”

“I think we’re doing something,” he says, and now she can feel it, a flicker of suppressed excitement that isn’t just hers.

Sylvie’s eyes widen. “You are not in my head.”

“I’m not,” Loki says. “We’re just—listen, I’ve read about this. It was only ever a theory, nobody’s ever been able to do it properly, but there were scholars who suggested that two people could link their magic together, if—if their souls were similar enough, I think that was how it was discussed at the time, and create something like a feedback loop, continuously amplifying each other’s power. But strangers could never do it because they didn’t know and trust one another, let alone deeply and openly enough to allow that kind of connection, and even for people who did, mages who were lovers or lifelong friends, even if they both genuinely wanted to make the link, their magic wasn’t quite compatible. Not enough for that. A couple pairs of twins came the closest, I think, but all they could really do was boost each other’s power a little, so it was never worth the energy expenditure.”

“Because they weren’t the same,” Sylvie says. She’s pretty sure she can guess where he’s going with this.

“Two variants of the same being—we’re different people, we learned magic differently, we use it in different ways, but it’s still—the root is the same. The energy signature.” He grins. “They did say our temporal aura was the same. They just didn’t realize why it mattered. Or maybe they did, and that’s one reason they made sure only one of us could exist at a time.”

Sylvie is used to drawing power from her core and reaching out with it to take control of other minds. It’s easy enough, most of the time, because she has the process down, but it was exhausting when she was still experimenting—is exhausting, if she spends enough time fighting a strong mind or trying to control too many people at once. She pulls on a tendril of magic and feeds it into the little knot of Loki’s power, and—

It doesn’t disappear. It comes back stronger. In her mind’s eye, their magic glows brighter together, like a fire growing as it finds more to burn. “Okay, yeah, that’s new.”

“The theory was—an exponential increase for both mages. Doubling their power at minimum, like…like two wavelengths amplifying each other, or maybe a lot more than that.” He pushes power into the connection, more than she’d tried, and she can feel it: magnifying her power, which feeds back into his and strengthens it again, which expands hers in return, and they’ve barely even started.

“A lot more,” Sylvie says, staring at him, her mouth suddenly very dry. “Like nuclear fusion levels of a lot.”

His eyes gleam in the dim light. “Exactly. And I think that’s what caused the nexus event. I think our magic would have done it at the last second to save us, and I think we would’ve saved what was left of Lamentis-1 in the process.”

A burst of involuntary magic from both of them at once, at the moment that would otherwise be their deaths, doubling again and again as it passed back and forth between their joined hands—yeah, actually, she can see it. It doesn’t sound so absurd when she can still feel their linked power multiplying right now and they’ve hardly tried. “That’s insane.”

“Goes without saying.”

“We could—” She swallows. “We could do anything.”

“We could do anything,” Loki agrees.

“And do we? Trust each other that much?” she asks, but to be honest she already knows the answer. She reaches back for him, finally, settling her hands on his forearms, and his skin twitches under her fingers—like when she first put her hand on his arm on Lamentis, and he flinched like the last thing he expected was a gentle touch.

Loki’s mouth twists in a faintly sardonic half-smile. “I’m not…good with trust. Gave too much of it for a long time, maybe. And then—” He hesitates. “We might…share some memories, and I haven’t—the TVA knows what happened, I suppose. But there’s a good reason I’ve made sure nobody can get into my head again. You might see why, and it’s…not pretty.”

Okay, yeah, she can imagine a few different reasons for that and none of them are very pleasant. That flinch could hint at an ugly story too. She pulls his hands down, just far enough to interlace her fingers with his, and meets his gaze squarely. “My memories aren’t a laugh riot either. Do you trust me with yours?”

Loki squeezes her hands, just a little. “Yes, actually. You?”

She cocks one eyebrow at him. “Be a little inappropriate to say I’ll show you mine if you show me yours, right?”

He coughs out a laugh. “Maybe a little. So—do you want to try? See what kind of universe-disrupting chaos we can make?”

She tightens her grip. “Yeah. Hell yeah.”

***

[I didn't exactly come up with this idea--I developed more detail about the whole idea of magical amplification, but I know I came across at least one Tumblr post theorizing that Loki and Sylvie were about to do something that would save Lamentis, which was actually caused the nexus event and the TVA's intervention rather than them falling in love or whatever. Unfortunately I'm not actually sure who posted that, and my drafts and likes are already a nightmare, but I will make every effort to find the original post and link to it. I just really wanted to get this posted while, you know, we still can theorize.

Do I think this was actually the intent of the scene? Not really, no, although it sure would've been cool. Is it a little silly to write this when I could potentially find out in just over two hours how wrong I am? Maybe a little bit but on the other hand I finished a short fic and the whole entire point of what I’ve been writing lately is to try to finish some short no-pressure fics without letting them turn into a whole complicated thing in my head, and you know what it fulfills that purpose so I'm cool with it. AO3 link in the notes, just wanted to post it here because it’s short, it’s speculative, and Tumblr hates links.]

[genshinposting]

the free characters’ stories and the plot

first genshin theorypost on this blog yeehaw

anyway. all three of the free characters have some kind of unresolved mystery in their character stories, which leads me to believe that those mysteries will eventually become important. since they were introduced in the prologue, which pointedly isn’t chapter one, and are given directly to us without needing to roll, it wouldn’t be too big of a stretch to have the loose threads in their backgrounds tie into the main story itself, right?

so we have:

amber’s grandpa and his mysterious disappearance

kaeya’s past and the circumstances beyond what we know

what lisa saw to make her so fearful of power

thoughts under the cut

amber’s grandpa: we know only that he left behind his sword and his coat of arms and left one day, but we have no idea what could have happened to make him leave so suddenly, especially considering his love of mondstadt, the outriders, and his granddaughter. there are a few possibilities here, most of which i see as having the fatui involved.

he was brainwashed, manipulated, or controlled somehow: very likely due to how out of character the disappearance was. perhaps seeing his ability, the fatui harbingers wanted him on their side and turned him into a puppet to their will. additionally, in this image of the different harbingers’ symbols, one of the low ranking members

he willingly left to join the fatui: the fatui blatantly have goals beyond just being evil, and in childe’s voicelines, he says that the tsaritsa dreams of peace. amber’s grandpa’s desire to protect people may have led him to leave his past behind and join them if he had learned of what their true goals were.

regardless of which possibility it is, i believe that we will eventually meet amber’s grandpa in the story and we will likely have to fight him as a harbinger.

kaeya’s past: people have spoken on this before, but his homeland being khaenri’ah, the mysterious eighth nation that seems to have been ravaged by a disaster and vanished long before modern day, along with how it’s foreshadowed to be the final land the traveler has to venture to, makes him a prime candidate for plot importance.

kaeya as a spy: this is explicit in his backstory, though it seems he’s turned his back on actively spying. what i want to know, though, is why they thought a fairly young child would make a good spy, especially when the plan seemed not to involve anyone from khaenri’ah ever returning to gather intel from him.

expanding on this, i believe kaeya might actually have dainsleif’s eye. they both cover the same one, and i feel like dainsleif is more than human. perhaps with an eye of his placed in the normal world of teyvat and not the separated world of khaenri’ah, dainsleif gains an omniscience of what is happening there, and that’s why he serves as the narrator and knows a little too much despite seemingly being busy as the bough-keeper within khaenri’ah

kaeya himself probably doesn’t understand it fully, since he was probably too young at the time to be told about it, but it would explain how he’s a spy

kaeya as nobility: some people have speculated that’s he’s of royal or noble blood in khaenri’ah due to the names on his skills. i’m not super sure about that; i think i need a little more support for this before i go all in on it.

what lisa saw: this requires a bit more explaining than the other two. though her stories say explicitly “Having witnessed raving-mad scholars in the forests of Sumeru and powerful sages sitting underutilized advisory councils, Lisa realized what uninhibited erudition can really do to a person. It seemed such a high price to pay... How much did one have to sacrifice to attain the profoundest knowledge at all? Put off by this realization, Lisa decided to leave Sumeru.” this seems a tad vague and general for her deep-seated avoidance of power

she’s actively cultivating laziness and not using her full power out of a reason i believe to be fear. she’s extremely wary of the visions, and she is also explicitly fearful of the truth behind them and the secrets they carry. the “price” one has to pay for a miracle is mentioned multiple times in her stories and voicelines.

plus, she says this: “ A Vision may seem like a great tool, but one day, the power one accumulates always finds a way to turn back on you. Should such a day come for me, so long as you're around... Ah, never mind.”

i do not actually have that many theories for this one. it’s still far too vague, but i cannot shake off the nagging feeling that her stories are purposely leaving something out, especially considering how little she likes to talk about why she left sumeru

no evidence for this, but perhaps the abyss itself is involved? maybe she or someone else delved too deep into its mysteries and was left in some worrying condition

i’ll leave you with mona’s voiceline about her: “A Tempus Fugit... The constellation derives its name from the hourglass, and stands for knowledge and time — or rather, the trade-off between them. As each grain of sand falls down, a moment of time — of life, even, dies for good. To stop the unrelenting flow of sand, one would have to turn the hourglass on its side. But once the sand comes to rest, it remains motionless forever... Hmm, maybe 'becomes lazy' is more accurate than 'comes to rest,' in this case.”

tl;dr rarity break system where we can upgrade to five star amber, kaeya, and lisa at a certain point in the story when

[stray-tori]

Making peace with TPN S02E04 (anime-only)

Post summary: my problems with the episode, possible explanations for why and how to minimize the problems. also some speculation.

The thoughts are mostly based on the anime in a bubble, aside from the segments where I mention otherwise.

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#0 - My mixed feelings about staying anime-only

This is strange, because... I’m not really hype for next week? I want more, but not in the same excited way I did before. Because I simply don’t know what to expect anymore.

I want to stick as an anime-only so I can deliver stand-alone thoughts as this... clunky and stumbling adaptation makes its way towards the finish line (obviously it won’t be done this season but, yeah ---- i mean, hopefully not, who knows what they’ll do at this point).

But another part of me is just... more excited to read the manga to see what it is like and what the differences are, after the anime is done (which was always my plan, but I was never really actively excited about it pff-). And I feel like your anime approach has failed when I’m moreso looking forward to reading the source material eventually. I do hope that with ep5 they’ll get back on track and this feeling will fade. That they have a meaningful plan and reason for why ep4 felt so messy and disjointed - a reason why it had to go this way, because I feel like they just wanted them out of the bunker, but this is not the way imo (more on that in the next segment)

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#1 - Leaving the bunker - mix of feeling “rushed” and “waste of time”

I feel like where the anime is going, they kind of wrote themselves into a corner in Episode 4. The story setup was leading them to this place (i.e. the bunker), but they obviously didn’t want them to stay there long.

What is the problem? / The way it was setup, we got about an episode of them being there (too few to have emotional attachment to the place) and then being chased out when things went well. In a way it is both too soon, but since nothing really worth the ~1 episode “fluff” happened there in the end, it feels pointless or as if we just wasted time, just for them to leave in the end.

Imo, the bunker is needed for two things, 1) being the first goal for them to go to, so the story isn’t aimless right away and 2) info dumps. Most of the children’s content can be repurposed during their forest time or doesn’t seem relevant right now.

For the record, I personally think that they got found out makes sense in-universe,

WM said he was found out, it’s not unlikely the farm knows that bunkers exist and might even have a vague idea of where they are

that there are multiple could be assumed by the army guy saying, “That’s how shelters usually are” -- If the world has been like this for 1000 years, what other purpose than human survival in a demon would could shelter even have? 

I don’t think the pursuers communicated it back (got lucky, Ray) because if they did, they wouldn’t show up a whole month later.

they could have just observed them, they’ve been on the surface quite a bit.

(though I also agree it should be confirmed how the farm found out)

I’m just questioning the impact it had on me as a viewer (which is little) - the world is rigged against them, they can’t catch a break in a system this powerful chasing them and I think part of the confusion and “wait we’re back at square 1??” (literally) is intentional, to evoke the feeling of something being lost. If possible, I would keep the spirit of this idea (see “it’s a trap” in the next segment)

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So what can we do to fix it?

Skipping the bunker / I don’t think we can remove the bunker outright. I suppose they could have had them just go straight for the new location by having the last keyword be another puzzle instead of the phone recording giving it away directly. But that might have too few things happening. That way they also would have gotten more time on their own to be wandering OR Mujika and Sonju might have been with them longer (which would honestly make sense from a meta point, too. I feel like they were a little short-lived.)

Less time in the bunker / if it feels pointless anyway, get it over with quickly

More time in the bunker / stay longer and have them do something else. Maybe they prepped to already go back to GF, time has passed and then they get raided. Problem: why did it take the farm force so long?

To be honest, I’m not sure that would have been much better so I’m personally more inclined to fix it with a very tightly connected problem, which will be the next segment:

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#3 - the HELP wall scare was pointless

What’s the problem? / the scare was used in between two segments of “the happy life in the bunker”(TM). The segments are the exact same feeling to me personally, just fluff. The scare changed NOTHING. Nothing that was revealed justifies it existing.

Pre wall scare: WM is an ally, the bunker is for escapees

Post wall scare: WM is an ally, he got discovered, the bunker is for escapees, there were escapees there before (?)

The wall doesn’t even have anything to do with WM. And we didn’t get enough details on the HELP wall, even on its own. Was the book and the “HELP”s from the same person? Why were they going crazy there? What did their siblings die from? It can’t be food, so it must have happened outside. Where they picked up by the Task Force(TM)?

The “don’t give up” is nice, but our crew didn’t need that pep talk I think - i guess with Minerva gone, they lost a hope for allies, but at the same time he gave them coordinates where to get support. If they didn’t get that and now were on their own, I’d get the whole uplifting book more, personally. I guess the tragedy here is that WM is dead? Maybe I’m not emphasizing with the characters enough on this.

. So what can we do to fix it?

Give more details to the wall / i.e. answering the questions posed above. Maybe show more of the diary. Maybe two were left and one killed themselves (they scribbled HELPs and were crazier) and left the other alone, and they decided they’re leaving for the human world. It doesn’t change that the scare doesn’t mean much, but it would at least be a little more personal.

Change the wall / remove the helps, leave the names and the counting. It would be a tragic reveal (instead of a over-dramatic scare) to see that people had died (around) here, making them scared for their own lives (I guess that’s kind of implied to be happening but since it doesn’t linger, I didn’t really notice.)

It’s a trap/they definitely know of the bunker / it’s not “help” but “run” which was a warning someone put there because they figured out the farms knew of the bunker (or they got attacked and one couldn’t leave). It being a trap would make sense because even as it’s now, I’m just assuming they vaguely know of the bunkers’ existence anyway. Then it wouldn’t be “yay bunker life! - scare - yay bunker life! - BOOM” but instead “yay bunker life! - it’s a trap... what do we do?” - you can still have the info dumps & the phone call and then they either realize it’s a trap and just leave (removing the problem of the....... interesting raid scenes), and BOOM (haha) you’re where the anime is now, since the troup got nom’ed anyway and aren’t a threat anymore. The mission would still fail since they’re gone, so Isabella’s plot is in tact too. I think this would also partly solve the bunker problem, because now something actually changed about the setup we know. It’s NOT the safe bunker anymore. It changes a lot about the world too - the farm knows of them so how much more of the WM support net is affected? It makes you think more about the larger scale implications (and ligns up nicely with the “I was discovered” talk from James, therefore making the wall shown at the same time relevant), + the bunker has another reason to be there, to reveal that. Personally, it would change our perception and understanding of the situation, which imo would make up for the lacking investment in the bunker itself. It would also prompt them to leave faster (likely), thus eliminating the “we spent so much time here for nothing” thing. If you really want to you can even have them stay anyway, since it’s the only thing they have and they opt to just leave on the first sign of someone actually being on their back. This requires a better night watch than Don though :D

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#4 - The little things

Missed drama - the episode was pretty casual about a lot of things; testing potentially dangerous food (fair because it was a nice segment), their new home being gone (fair because no attachment) and them seeing humans being eaten right in front of them (WHY WASN’T THIS MILKED). It makes it all seem like it’s not a big deal - which I guess in a survival story, it kind of isn’t. But I still feel like there wasn’t really any impactful moment this episode it just kinda went “brrr” and now we’re back to episode 1.

for real, please milk the wild demon eating people / he just kinda goes "nom" and the children are there and run. It feels like the anime itself barely takes it seriously - it's the first time (I think), they see a human get eaten by a demon and I feel like that could have used like a close up shot, and some more disgusted reactions by the children. I get that it's a world where that just happens but I feel like the anime just didn't take or see the change to do something more personal with it. I like it as an element at its core because it makes sense; they shot around, attracting the demon and I also like the irony of being saved by a wild creature. Even if that now chases you.

incompetent soldiers - why do they have guns? they can’t HARM / KILL the quality food, so WHY GUNS? -- People with guns are usually incompetent in anything because they just can’t hit anything, but that at least makes sense here. Still, what was the plan? Sheer intimidation? They’re the farms’ force right? Why don’t they know how to deal with wild demons? Possible answer: to prevent humans with guns knowing how to eliminate their higher ups :D doesn’t change that it makes them look stupid. Bro really got defeated by getting a cup thrown in his face. To be fair this specific one didn’t seem to be the brightest bulb, why the “huh?” when he found Don??? Is this relevant I’M SO CONFUSED.

where’s the character moments? - when they got to the bunker, everyone else kind of got the focus, and the main cast just didn't have any of those character moments anymore that made the previous episodes, especially episode 2, so touching and emotional for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the kind of fluff content with the children a lot but I kind of missed some.... it feels like it's more event driven (#BOOM) than character driven now, and idk how to really attach to that? Especially since with ep4 we didn't even really learn anything new (aside from a name and that he was indeed good and is now dead I guess).

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#5 - Why?

Warning: this goes a bit into comparisons (nothing concrete though), and I obviously don’t know more than I picked up from fandom reactions.

My guess is that

“So... I cannot at this point say that we are going to animate the entire story to the very end. We are not at a point where we can say that. Sorry. (Laughs)”

from the MAL interview might be a factor. It seems they wanted to tell their own spin regardless (which I personally respect) but maybe they thought that unless they had a two-cour, it would be hard to keep up the investment the first season set up with what was originally in the manga (I had heard that it would be a weird pacing to do 11 episodes and maybe they wanted to make sure viewer engagement was high).

> “We know that there are viewers who, after they watch the anime, want to continue on and read the manga, and there are viewers who have read the manga first and are now watching the anime.”

(I’m not sure if “after the anime” means after a season or after the the whole adaptation)

Their goal is definitely an “unique” experience. And they seem to at least be aware that some people watch the anime first, so it has to make sense in a bubble.

I can’t say if I would have preferred a slower start into whatever the manga has that caps off at 11 episodes (idk how much rewarding stuff could have fit in there), since they probably fear of not being able to do a complete adaptation too. And I feel like as I’m getting it, they are trying to quickly reintroduce what people cared about in s1 --- in Isabella’s case, maybe a bit too early. there was barely any time to really miss her imo.

But I’m also not sure if whatever they’re aiming for will be rewarding. I hope so, because I don’t want their efforts to go to waste. And I don’t want to come to dislike it.

I can admit faults, ep4 is definitely a lowpoint even without knowing the alternatives. Just that for me, it is annoying little things and not the shocking deviations from the manga.

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#6 - Hope

I have hope though because Isabella’s stuff was good, and now that they’re over the no-return divergence point, they might be able to... (meta spoiler) not repurpose manga scenes without any buildup (is what I’m getting) anymore :”D, because they really only set themselves up for disappointed with that. It might seem like a homage but it’s moreso out of place, the people who read it aren’t happy because you didn’t earn it (and of course they’ll compare) and the anime suffers from it because it can create unnecessary confusion forced in just to make a reference.

Ironically I think they’re too stuck in the manga too and could have benefited from a blind perspective.

I don’t really mind anything overall I think (world is against them, that’s fair, being out on the run again is fine, the demon “rescue” is fine), the execution / some details of episode 4 were just... strange. idk where they are going with it and maybe that really was the best way to transition but until I know where it goes, I can’t really judge that. Highly doubt it though.

I really hope they completely just do their own things now with some base elements from the manga.

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A lot of what I talked about in this post ended up making me appreciate the crumbs of intention. The realization that previous escapees didn’t make it (not all of them, anyway) and WM being dead, and then having that uplifting message. The message of “you don’t get to rest, you’re on your own again”. The irony of the wild demon being their (temporary) rescue. The past escapees.

Ironically, I wanted to dunk on the anime but really, all I feel is more content now. Would I have preferred some fixes? Yes, but I see some semblance of meaning in it even with the errors.

Thanks for reading this goddamn essay.

[skellfamily]

this is SUPER rambly and basically just speculating upon wild speculation upon more speculation, but I had to type out my thoughts on this

Sans and Papyrus are implied to be from another universe. Their home is apparently a place they can’t easily return to, with people who arent found in the Underground, and Sans eventually gives up on seeing the people he knew there ever again. It’s probably not just the surface, either, as Sans seems to view going to the surface as a separate thing from “going back” to his home (also Papyrus doesnt recognize the sun, so unless he was a baby when they came or he has serious amnesia, it wouldnt make much sense for them to be from the surface)

Sans and Papyrus are also implied to be connected to Gaster. so if they’re from another world, then the Gaster they knew logically wouldnt be UT Gaster.

But. this bothers me. the game gives us precious little info about Gaster...why would it then turn out there are actually TWO Gasters, one of whom we havent been told anything about?? The stuff we learn about Gaster is about UT Gaster - he lived underground, he built the CORE, he was Asgore’s royal scientist, his experiments went wrong and led to his demise. 

Gaster’s relation to the skelebros is obviously supposed to be important. They’re some of the only characters in the game he’s implied to have a connection to. so where does UT!Gaster fit into things then, if he’s NOT the one who knew them - and yet is the Gaster we have been told all about? what would be the point of having UT!Gaster? what would be the point of having the skelebros be connected to Gaster? it doesn’t make much sense to me.

(i suppose it’s possible they met Gaster after arriving in the Undertale timeline but it seems unlikely to me. The machine in their basement was likely a creation of Gaster’s, given the blueprints. that machine is also implied to be related to how the skelebros ended up in Undertale in the first place, which is why Sans wanted to fix it so badly. I also assume the reason Sans met Alphys is cause he sought out the Royal Scientist’s help in fixing the machine, which if correct would mean Gaster was long gone by the time he came around. on that note, there used to be a tweet from Toby where he says: “Neither of them could fix the machine, no matter how hard they tried”)

There are some things that just make sense when looking at in terms of building a story - why are these things there, what purpose do they serve? how are they supposed to connect together? For example, the biggest reason I think Gaster is closely related to the skelebros isn’t because there’s some smoking gun that proves anything - there isn’t, in fact we only have a few subtle hints showing a connection (like the fact they both can use Gaster Blasters). it’s because: why would Toby make a mysterious skeleton character, and give us hints that he is connected to two other mysterious skeleton characters who have a super vague backstory...and then not have them be related somehow?

So while it would be perfectly sensible for there to simply be an alternate dimension Gaster from whatever universe Sans and Papyrus came from (I’ve made a post wondering about this before actually), I dont feel it makes much sense from a narrative standpoint. what’s the purpose of having multiple Gasters? what’s the purpose of Undertale Gaster, and why do we learn just about him, when the Gaster who is tied to Sans&Papyrus should be more important to the story? 

but maybe i’m looking at it the wrong way. maybe UT!Gaster and the skelebros’ Gaster can be one and the same. what if Gaster left the Undertale universe, and was able to have kids elsewhere? either his ultimate fate - being shattered across time & space - actually happened later, after he arrived in the other dimension

or perhaps that did happen while he was in Undertale, but a piece of him was able to make a life in another world? after all, Gaster doesn’t seem dead-dead despite the incident or the fact that the Gaster Followers talk about him like he perished. he’s alive enough to reach out on Twitter, talk to us during the vessel creator scene, and to make the “SURVEY_PROGRAM” that is Deltarune. 

if I’m right about this, I think Entry Number Seventeen might take place shortly before the event which brought the skelebros into Undertale, and the “YOU TWO” are in fact Sans and Papyrus. Gaster’s text in the entry is shaking heavily, which is indicative of pain or a strong emotional state. considering that and the dangerous sounding nature of the experiment he’s describing, it seems likely that whatever followed probably wasnt good - for him or the ones present.

idk, i definitely could be thinking about this way too hard. alternate universes do complicate matters, and i have a tendency to turn thoughts over in my head a million times. but this has been on my mind for awhile and i just had to talk about it!!

[realm-sweet-realm]

Sammy x Joey for 31

31: “I own you”

This prompt also uses the line, “your heart is racing,” which was requested by @threadedsafetypin for Norman and Sammy. (Sorry, I don’t know how to do the “put image of the ask in another ask” thing.)

---

Norman was a professed lover of drama and mysteries, and Joey Drew Studios was full of them. He’d learned all kinds of things from their loose-lipped janitor, and just by knowing the right places to stand out of sight but within earshot. A few months ago, Norman would have laughed any time he heard his fellow worker speculate as to what all the new machinery was for. Norman knew. He knew and he knew it would never come to fruition, because how could such a thing happen outside a cheesy horror flick?

And then it did. Everyone had heard the ink machine roar to life, but Norman believed he was among the only ones to have seen the beast trapped in the infirmary. The machine worked, it was dangerous, and that worried Norman, because he’d gotten invested in the people he’d watched every day, the same way one might get invested in the characters in a book. He wanted their safety- especially the one he’d found out was meant to be their first target- Susie Campbell.  

Of course, nothing would stop Joey Drew short of murder. But maybe if he could get through to Sammy Lawrence, Sammy could get through to her. In order to do that, though, he’d have to become the biggest devil in Sammy’s life- and lord knew that would be a challenge.

His plan started by pick-pocketing Joey’s keys from him and leaving them on Sammy’s desk.  Not while Sammy was around, of course. Norman had overheard a conversation of theirs in which Sammy had expressed a desire for his own keys to the very basement floor (a place so secret and mysterious that not even Norman could guess at its purpose). Sammy had framed it as being about trust and respect, but with the way Joey always kept the magic stuff vague to Sammy, Norman had the sense that Sammy wanted to make sure he wasn’t being lied to.

Of course, the plan would fall apart if Sammy chose not to take the opportunity Norman provided him. And, hidden in a room near the elevator just a while after everyone else had gone home, it started to feel ridiculous. Sure, he’d feel awful about letting Susie die, but...

Sammy passed by the door, and Norman yanked him in by the arm. The office door slammed shut behind him, and big, brown hands wrapped tight around his arms. Sammy’s heart stopped until he realized that Norman was the one who’d pulled him in and not Joey.

“Okay, what the hell?” Sammy yelled at him.

“Sorry about this. But we need to have a little talk. I’m going to let you go, let you take a seat, alright?”

“Fine,” Sammy grumbled. Norman slowly let go of his wrists. Unfortunately, Norman was blocking the door, so Sammy couldn’t just make a run for it. He sat down on the chair, resigned to whatever Norman had planned for him. And tomorrow, he’d report him to Joey for inappropriate behaviour.

“Alright. Now, I want you to stop doing what you’re doing with Joey Drew. I don’t know all the details of what you’re doing, but I know enough. I know it involves Susie Campbell, and I’m gonna tell you right now that if you hurt her, you’re going to regret it. And then I’ll find out and make you regret it more. You hear? And I’m sorry that I have to do this through threats, but you see, I know that Joey Drew is a devil in your life, and the only way to get you to listen to me instead of him is to be a bigger devil.”

Sammy stayed quiet a moment. “Are you done?”

“Can you tell me that she’ll be safe?”

“No. This might surprise you, but Joey is going to have plans for her regardless of if I participate or not. And while we’re here, I might not be with Susie anymore, but you need to stop watching her. It’s creepy enough when you eavesdrop on men, but when it’s women...” Sammy shuddered. “And aside from that, Joey isn’t a devil in my life! At least, after last night he won’t be.”

“What happened last night?”

“Why would I tell you?”

“Because you desperately want to tell someone.”

Sammy grumbled about Norman using his powers on him, then he told Norman everything.

---

Joey and Sammy were in the basement, learning to preserve and hide corpses from a book on the occult that Joey had bought (from where Sammy had no idea). Sammy wondered idly how what started out as a relatively innocuous hobby had led him to this. And yet, it did still fascinate him, and this was a necessary part of the process.

“It says that the formaldehyde will have to cool for ten minutes before it’s ready,” Joey said. “I guess this is a good time to bring up the other thing I wanted to. Sammy, I’m sorry for being so... uptight lately. I don’t want to be laying down all these rules for you to make sure you don’t stray, and I’m sure you don’t like them, either. So, I came up with a way to put my suspiciousness to rest forever! After this, all the rules will be gone! I’ll let you talk to whoever you want- gay men, single women, whoever! Heck, break up with me and go smooch someone else! And I’ll tell you about anything Satanism-related that you want! You see, I might like your body, but I care infinitely more that you’re loyal to me and what we’re creating together. You just have to accept a little favour from me first.”

"And what would that be?” Sammy asked, heavily suspicious.

“Well, you see- a while ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I used a Satanic ritual to make me healthy again- it worked within a couple days. But it didn’t just make me healthy- it made me glow. Made me look and feel as young and energetic as I’ve ever been. I barely had to sleep. Whenever I tried to come off of them, though, I couldn’t. Even going a week without it made me so weak that I had to buy a cane to get around, and a week after that I was so sick that I could barely complete the ritual again- but I felt great again immediately afterwards and I haven’t tried to quit since. Now, the treatment is expensive, but I’ll pay for it. If you’re truly dedicated to this, I’ve just offered you a guarantee of health and youthfulness for the rest of your days. And it’s painless, I promise- we could do it together in my office every morning. The quitting part shouldn’t matter to you. So just do it, and I’ll never doubt your dedication again for as long we live.”

---

“...And you went through with it.”

“Of course I did! He offered me a blessing! I would have wanted to stay with him anyhow! There was no price for me!”

“Sorry, but no. Sammy, you yell like that when you’re wound up. You are terrified. Your heart is racing. You’re shaking like a leaf, and your eyes are the size of plates. That’s not me using my so-called powers- that’s me using my eyes.”

Sammy looked aside. “Fine. I guess a part of me knew that it was just him saying ‘I own you’ in a different way. But... it’s a better way. More convenient.”

Norman wished he could comfort him. “I’m gonna leave you with one more thing to think on. It sounds like Joey had been taking that spell for weeks when he tried coming off of it. You’ve had it what- once? Maybe if you stop now, there’s still hope.” Norman stepped away from the door. “Go. Sorry I can’t help you.”

Sammy got up and left without a word.

---

It was Thursday night and Norman had come home after work. He was just helping his wife out in the kitchen when he heard a knock at the door. It was Sammy holding a handgun in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.

“HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS!” Norman yelled as he knocked the gun out of Sammy’s hand and then kicked it aside.

“Believe it or not, I’m not here to murder you,” Sammy growled, handing him the piece of paper. It read:

I’ve decided that I don’t want to live under Joey’s control anymore. He’s expecting me to meet up with him tonight to help with Susie’s ritual. Thanks to him, I know how to hide a body, but I could really use your help in making sure she’s not the one who dies tonight.

"I’m proud of you, Sammy. Let me get my coat.”