#meanwhile all the interesting stuff gets the axe

[dani-luminae]

Something something "if I had a nickel for every time... wouldn't be a lot but it's weird annoying that it happened twice three times!"

Anyways. What does Netflix have against this one specific category lmao

[grifff17]

Audiodrama Sunday 04/28/24

So much stuff this week! I think this is going to be my longest writeup yet!

@camlannpod what the fuck? Trying to avoid spoilers, but the ending of that episode was wild. The sound design for the last scene was so good. Also “You're good with an axe, right?” was brutal, I audibly said "oof". Only 1 more episode in the season, hopefully they get funding for a second one.

The first episode of @wanderersjournalpod came out this week. This was a promising start to a new show, I'm excited to see where it goes from here. The setting feels very mystical, I can't wait to learn more about the world.

@worldsbeyondpod was so tense. Suvi and Ame had the most awkward conversation in existence. This story has so much nuance, neither of them are clearly in the right, though I feel inclined to take Ame's side due to the "Geas + Alter Memory" double espionage scheme. Meanwhile Ursulon discovers that Orima of the Reaching Green is a short queen and gets a cool horse.

I'm now up to date with @lostterminal. Season 15 was great. I love Nia, and Daphne and Raffi were really interesting new characters. Also, the dragon was terrifying. This show doesn't usually have very much action, so the confrontation with it really stood out. The description of the automatic turret going "click, click" as it locked on to Maddie was so intimidating.

@worldgonewrongpod I loved this episode. The storytelling felt so natural and real, like someone telling me a story about a weird road trip they went on. I think I said this about the last episode too, but this was my favorite episode yet. It also sets up the backstory which was never really explained as to why Jamie and Malik are separated at all.

In @midstpodcast we finally had a nicer episode. No horrible fucked up Weep/Trust stuff happening, just Lark reunited with Zeila and Sherman. However, there's so much tension between these characters. I was surprised that Lark forgave Sherman for selling her out. Something to remember is that Lark and Sherman had been hooking up before everything went to shit, which was mentioned once and I think really changes their relationship.

New @keepitsteadypod! This is the first new episode of this show since I started doing these. This was a really cute episode. For how popular fake dating is as a trope in fandom spaces, you don't see a lot of it in audiodramas.

Fun episode of Mission Rejected this week. It was cool to see Bowden go from "vain actor" to "badass spy" when the stakes ramped up. We don't get to see him take charge very often, it was neat for him to be a competent leader. I wonder if the gang lying to Zelda(who definitely saw through it) and Chet(who probably didn't) is foreshadowing for more of a conflict with the new Secretary of Defense later in the season. Also I loved the squabbling gay couple running an illegal mining operation as the villains of the week.

@breakerwhiskey episode 200 wow. A letter from Harry! We learned that Harry has been listening to most of Whiskey's broadcasts, which recontextualizes a lot of the previous episodes. Also, the end was heartbreaking.

I started season 2 of @longcatmedia's Mockery Manor! I'm 2 episodes in and really like it so far. JJ and Bettie are employed in different parks, JJ is on the run from an organized crime ring, and Bettie became a monk? Also, it's clear that neither Hilda nor Jenkins stole the shipment, neither of them have motive. But I don't know who else would have motive either. Lots of mysteries this season.

Spout Lore had a great planning episode. I'm excited for the "saving Highspear" arc, the Highspear is so cool as a concept. A reverse Tower of Babel, that lets the whole world talk with each other. A literal monument to wizard hubris, which feels destined to fall. However I doubt it will, because, as the players mentioned, it would be really annoying from a storytelling perspective if everyone suddenly spoke different languages. This has actually made me realize I really want a story set shortly after some sort of "fall of the Tower of Babel", where communication is a struggle, but that's just because I think linguistics is cool. Anyways, the buffet talk had me rolling.

What a great week! However, it did not help my queue, which continues to grow instead of get smaller. I'll reach the end of it one day.

[atsadi-shenanigans]

Feeding Alligators 40 - Mirror, Mirror

Astarion goes fishing (and not for fish).

On AO3.

Y’all coulda made it back by nightfall, now that y’all know where you’re going. But both Wyll and Gale agree that arriving after a whole day of hiking is a bad strategy (to the disappointment of Karlach and the disgust of Lae’zel). So y’all stop about an hour away—close enough y’all can be rested when you get there, but not so close a patrol might trip over somebody’s tent.

Gale has a spare canvas, nobody has spare poles or stakes; Karlach solves that problem by sauntering to the edge of the trees and ripping three saplings out of the ground to whittle into poles with that bigass ax.

She drives them into the ground and does not use a hammer.

You ain’t the only one watching this with a little too much interest.

big lady your brain chants.

She carries a regular pack, from which she pulls out a blanket that smells vaguely like vasoline, and a raggedy teddy bear she introduces as Clive. The bear is singed around the edges, and seems nearly shellacked in the not-vasoline stuff on the blanket. Some kinda fire-resistant salve she says.

She’s careful not to touch nobody, or even get too close. You watch this, lips pressed tight, chest hurting for her.

Dinner is, once again, bread and cheese and wine. No fire so close to the tollhouse. Karlach strikes up a conversation with Lae’zel about the best way to twist somebody’s head off, while Shadowheart watches over the rim of her goblet.

Gale, without much to do in the way of a cook fire, plops down outside his tent with a book, several scrolls, and an ink pot to start scratching away. Meanwhile, Wyll volunteers to go on patrol—make sure y’all really are out of fake paladin range—and set up some snares. You can’t tell if he’s upset with y’all’s decision to let Karlach join, or if he don’t like her around, or if it’s some secret third thing that’s got him so tense. He’s seemed like a real good dude—though everybody has shit takes on something.

The sun sinks low and the light goes gray as evening deepens. Lae’zel actually takes a night off from breaking your ass (either distracted by Karlach, or deciding that leaving you like, rested, increases your chances of not fucking anything up tomorrow).

Which leaves you just…hanging out. For the first time, you have the mental and physical energy to stay awake, but you have no phone, no internet, no books or movies or anything to fiddle with. Maybe you could work on that strip of linen Astarion “gifted” you. But then he’d see you doing it and start shit and besides, you got no clue how to sew.

You’re so busy trying to think up a way to be busy, that you notice the man skulk out of his tent. He’s got something shiny in his hand. He’s positioned his tent slightly facing away from the fire, tonight, which leaves it facing your tent more than usual. He’s not, like, hiding, but he’s not out in the open as he holds up what you realize is a mirror.

Huh. Lots of different cultures have vampire lore; you wonder if the mirror thing is accurate. You got nothing better to do, so you find yourself trailing over, coming up behind him.

“Looking at something?” he says. It’s addressed to you, even though he hasn’t glanced over.

“Saw me coming?” you say.

He stares a moment longer, before turning. There’s no sparkle to his eyes, tonight. His lips are a straight line. “The only benefit to a mirror when you have my condition. It doesn’t make up for a lack of reflection, mind you.”

Ah. That part of the lore is true, then. Ouch.

“Sorry to hear that,” you say. “You must miss it.”

And then you want to kick yourself over how stupid that sounds.

“Preening into the looking glass? Petty vanity?” he says all flamboyant. Until he deflates. Until you see what might be a flash of sadness in him. “Of course I miss it. I’ve never even seen this face. Not since it grew fangs and my eyes turned red.”

You didn’t know about the eye color thing. None of the others are anywhere nearby; you wonder if that’s why he’s letting this show. He’s never made so much as a peep that wasn’t joke-flirting, complaining, stabby, or bored.

“What color were they before?” you say. “If you don’t mind my asking.”

“I—” he starts. Blinks a few times and there’s the barest shiver of, dare you call it, vulnerability in his face. “I don’t know. I can’t…remember.”

He stares out at nothing for a pause. Don’t got the presence of mind to slip the smarmy mask back on. It’s like he…like he just realized that. Doesn’t remember his own eyes.

Then his face shutters. Tight-lipped anger slips down and buries all traces of confused horror. He chucks the mirror to smash on the ground.

You try not to wince even as you take a step back.

“My face is just another dark shape in my past,” he says. Looks away. “Another thing I’ve lost.”

You can forget some details about your own face, sometimes. You don’t generally wear makeup (never learned, and then when you could, that shit is expensive), and your hair mostly sorts itself out when you comb conditioner through it in the shower. So you don’t see your reflection every day (the ladies room at the office don’t have a mirror—used to be a closet until the seventies or eighties when they converted it).

But you know your eyes are dark brown the way you know your own name. It’s just a fact about you. You can’t imagine what it would take to just…lose that.

“How long you been a vampire?” you say.

His gaze flits around a second. “About two hundred years, give or take. Things start to run together a little.”

Two…two hundred years? Under that fuckface? Without ever being able to see himself?

Holy fucking shit.

Holy fucking shit.

And yet, he’s standing here, traveling with all y’all, acting…well, not normal. But he ain’t catatonic. He’s only killed people when y’all were fighting already, and he only tried to bite you the once (without asking). He’s talking to you, and he makes jokes and…

And he said you were his first “thinking creature” blood.

In two hundred fucking years.

The kind of strength it would take to scrape himself together and hold in there…even if it was barely. Even if he wasn’t all there. You’d known that shit for over a decade. But two hundred motherfucking years.

You been staring. He notices, and turns to you. “What?”

The man teases you. Steals from goddamn refugees (he has got to stop that). And he hasn’t seen his face in two centuries. You can maybe afford to make a fool of yourself if the idea blooming in your brain makes a fool outta yourself.

“I can be your mirror,” you say, your neck heating up, trying not to squirm. “You don’t have to. Or I don’t have to. If I made this weird, that is. I can, uh, leave.”

His eyebrows twitch down into a micro frown. He stands there a hot second, sucks in a breath through his nose. His mask is slipping again, and the man underneath…

“I want to know what the world sees when it looks at me,” he says. “What, well, what you see.”

Slight emphasis on the “you” that you ain’t gonna read too much into.

A long face. Thick brows. A strong, straight nose. Thick lips, pointy chin, and floofy, white hair.

You ain’t never really described somebody in detail. Not like this, and not to their face directly. You ain’t a poet or an artist. This was probably a really bad idea.

“Your face is very, uh, symmetrical,” you say.

He pauses a moment, before drawing back. “Oh darling, you’re terrible at this.”

Fuck you, too!

“Well, I mean, it’s the most noticeable thing aside from the granny hair.”

And now he fucking recoils.

“What? I have the best hair in camp. If this is your idea of a joke—”

“Sorry, I’m sorry, I’m kidding,” you say. It’s only kinda a lie. It’s granny hair, no two ways about it. “Your hair is very shiny and it looks real soft. The rest of you” —you wave your hand vaguely around— “looks good.”

“Really?” His usual smirk slips back on and he damn near purrs. Then he lifts his hands and gives a slow, little runway spin. “Anything in particular?”

Jesus lord. Man’s moods turn on a fucking dime and he cannot stop being a prima diva.

You think. What would you want to know about your own face? You got no idea how elves age or how old he was when he got bit. He looks young, in the dim light, but there’s an age to him, a smattering of fine lines at the corners of his eyes that you started noticing on yourself recently. You ain’t gonna mention how gaunt his cheeks are, even if they do make the bones stand out all high fashion or whatever. It ain’t a healthy look (any time anybody mentions native cheekbones, you have to bite back the little historical fact that a lot of those photos was of starving natives, of course their cheekbones stood out like that, their food sources were butchered, burned, or a thousand miles away after a forced march).

You’re gonna ask in the morning if Wyll can bring back what his snares catch before he field-dresses them, and ask Astarion if he wants the blood. Man needs to eat more often. Put some goddamn flesh on them bones (oh god, you sound like your aunties).

“You got these eye creases when you smile,” you say.

But he does not take that as the compliment you mean.

“Excuse me?” he says like you just called his mama ugly. “I’m an eternally young vampire, forever beautiful.”

Forever corpse-y.

“It’s a good thing.”

“It sounds an awful lot, my dear, like you just called me old.”

“You just said you was at least two hundred.”

He gestures down to himself. “Vampire. Come on, darling, you can do better than this sorry excuse.”

And then the man has the audacity to fucking pose. Hand on his hip. Shoulders swaying like some old-timey, rich debutante.

“This whole thing is just you fishing for compliments, huh?” you say.

He looks at you like you’re the weird one. “Well of course it is. Now don’t leave me waiting.”

You ain’t sure if this entire cluster started as a sham, or if it just naturally devolved into one (he’s very good at the latter). His frustration had seemed genuine, though. He wouldn’t meet your gaze for a time. And you’re picking up on a pattern: obfuscation. He gets all fussy and theatric right around the time you notice (or he notices, maybe) he’s expressing something that ain’t flirt or murder.

You…kinda want to see what he’s trying to hide. What’s actually under that mask you caught a glimpse of.

In any case, it’s funner to play along right now, so you don’t got to think about the bullshit waiting tomorrow.

What would a vain peacock like him want to hear?

“Your eyes,” you say. “They’re real sharp, especially when you’re focused on something. I think people call that ‘piercing.’”

He rolls said eyes. “Acceptable. Finally. Now just tell me I’m beautiful and we can end this travesty.”

And you can’t help yourself. “Well, Karlach is beautiful. You’re fine, though.”

The moment of truth. See if he’ll engage…

He gasps, but through a grin. Literally splays his fingers over his chest. “How dare you. I thought we had something special.”

Warmth flutters through you. You set the game down and he picked it up. He’s returning it. Holy shit, you went and established banter with a maybe-friend. It’s a damn good thing you got so much practice keeping your face blank.

He clucks his tongue. Nudges at you with his hip. “Still. You’re nice, too.”

Well that’s an overstatement. You are plain and plus sized, and it ain’t some false-modesty thing. If you ain’t in some colorful or flowery blouse, you can feel kids staring at the store. More than once you caught a, “Is that a boy or a girl” and a parent frantically shushing.

You’d always thought the boobs would be a giveaway (they ain’t subtle), but hey, baggy clothes.

Sailing too close to the rocky Shore of Truth. Time to veer back into the humor pool. You deadpan. “Oh good. The pretty boy thinks I’m acceptable. Now I won’t have to cry myself to sleep in shame.”

The smallest snort tears out of him. Seems to catch him off guard. But he quickly folds it under his mask and sighs. “I’d better go get some beauty sleep, darling. Seems like I need it if I’m to catch up with the competition.”

“You do that,” you say, letting a tiny grin crack your own stoic mask.

Which he returns.

Which is right when the ground in the middle of camp cracks open and some kinda hell goo burbles up, spinning in a vortex, before it bursts into flame. Out pops a winged demon lady with her tits half out.

Previous - Index - Next Chapter

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

random notes on naddpod c1 ep 46-69

another confused jumble of personal highlighs, shared here in lieu of chewing my very indifferent friends’ ears off irl. For whom it may concern.

spoiler warning! you will get no context but still

Okay they’re in the feywild and somehow the players manage to get even hornier. I guess I’m impressed?

That libertarian fairy tho. Why are little pixie jerks with trash politics always so funny

(Emily catches on to their opponent being a woman because Murph made a point of referring to the knight with they/them pronouns) “Interesting. My subtle sexism gave me away. I’m a bad guy.”

This lady spent a year with her frozen children in a chest in her living room?! Okay. Sure. Uh huh. Cool story bro 😬

Five Guys Burgers and... Flies

Ngl a little shocked at how decent Murph’s elf voice is

“I know a game! It’s called ‘don’t stab me!’ I give the gnome a knife.” “He magically produces some bread, spreads some butter on it, and casts produce flame. Look! Magical toast!” “NOBODY EAT THAT!!”

“You two haven’t seen each other in a while, and the kids are indisposed, so -“ “Okay. Jesus Christ. I was down for kind of a spicy joke there, but let’s not… the kids aren’t indisposed because they went bowling with their aunt, the kids are frozen with a curse.”

Murph, as a gnome, but barely keeping it together: “In actual recorded episodes, have you guys met any gnomes that are murderers? Really, did they murder someone? Like… what did they do and then what did you do to them…?”

"There's a war coming, and everyone needs to fight. Even old men who don't know how." First of all, this is a banger of a line

but also my degree has officially ruined me for stories because I was immediately and ominously reminded of the last months of WWII on the Axis side what with all the apocalypse rhetoric and poorly armed children and old men sent out to probably die in war. like this is 100 percent unintentional and I realise that but my reaction to this line was "holy shit" and then immediately "... has Alanis also gone fascist"

Murph usually: Oh you want something? You want something to help you out here? Okay how are you gonna pay for that? What are you gonna give up to get that? Murph with Emily: Oh you got attached to your purely decorative fictional earrings? … I would never take those away from you keep them :) have a magical gun on the house :)

“Cool it with the fucking drugs!” “Hardwon, you’re one to talk!!”

Love it when Murph sets up a high DC on something and they get it and all immediately vigorously come for his ass, there is truly nothing funnier than people pretending to take something so personally

Murph keeps saying “she shakes her head yes” which is either an established bit of world building or an odd Murphism they’ve all collectively decided to accept? Both are very endearing but also I was so confused the first five times he did it

Local catholic desperately trying to get his friends to have the biblically correct response to angels (fear)

“Twenty-three damage with an axe???!” in the squeakiest voice possible, and then in the same voice: “What lands first, his body or his head?” “His head!!!!”

Finally someone makes the “Janie’s got a gun” joke, I have no idea why but I’ve waited this entire fight for someone to do that! Thank you Caldwell!

“Can I do a dog whistle?” “You’re gonna say something racist and see if they follow it?”

“Brothers! The Goddess has blessed us! There is milk in this casket!”

Also somehow every joke gets 100 percent funnier once it has managed to break the DM

“I summon Pellor’s four Lieutenants, the Beach Boys.”

Pawpaw as the BOB's legal council is the gift that keeps on giving. I don't even remember how it started but every time Jake goes "a brilliant legal mind" in that reverent voice I lose my shit. Also I adore how at the beginning it was all 'oh it's funny because Hardwon thinks this possum is actually good at law stuff and meanwhile Pawpaw can't fucking read' and now Pawpaw is just. legitimately functioning as their lawyer.

“Balnor, what’s your favourite food?” *audible fuckfuckfuckfuck silence from Murph* “…Chicken.”

So anticlimactic. Holy shit. Murph literally rigging the game so none of the others would give it away only to have that immediately blow up in his face

“Oh, the Goblinity!”

Hardwon getting really into "Chasing Cars"

Murph's cultural knowledge is such a fucking enigma to me every time I'm like "oh that guy wouldn't know anything ab-" and then he just. knows the first song on Snow Patrol's "Eyes Open" off the top of his head. I spent a whole vacation listening exclusively to that CD as a teen and I had to look it up. He was right. He wasn’t even the one who started the Snow Patrol bit.

Anyway thank you everyone that song will be permanently stuck in my head for the next five to eight business days

“You deserve a little emo phase”

“Pawpaw is giving you a pedicure. Meanwhile the king is suffocating in the bag.” “Oh shit!”

“So one thing you know about me is that everything I love dies so, stay away, haha!”

“I have enough queens.”

There have been a bunch of uncomfortable descriptors in this campaign but “like an exotic sunkissed lover” is definitely the worst one so far. Murph. Sir. No.

-

Just Murph's weak "okay..." as Emily decides to sniff the two Hardwons' necks to suss out the doppelganger

The verve of Murph’s Moonshine impression compared to his barely-there attempt to do a Jake voice for Hardwon

That one incredibly dumb dude in Shadowfell. Oh my GOD. Like in so many stories there is a “dumb” character, you know, one who will be described with the one brain cell meme but this dude. This dude literally only has the one brain cell. Just enough to be standing, breathing and talking at the same time. Fucking incredible. Murph continues to be way too good at making characters so deeply pathetic

“Go drink too much cough syrup!” “I can’t!” “Why?” “‘cause it tastes bad, man!”

Brennan’s and Murph’s genuine excitement to reverse their usual dynamic veering off into “we’re 69-ing now but he’s been going at me for a long time and I haven’t given him anything.” in less than thirty seconds

Seriously tho you can hear both Brennan and Murph buzzing with delight at a frequency that could shatter glass

“Brennan, you can say ‘my’. You’re playing, dude, you can say ‘my’.” “My hand, me, I’m playing, I’m a person! I’m only one person!” “You’re playing!” “You’re doing it!”

“What about Melv? Remember Melv? He’s dead.”

Brennan has so much knowledge of like historical customs and everyday items and their names and uses but rarely uses it, and meanwhile Murph is trying his damndest to sprinkle stuff in for medieval flavour but has a shaky grasp on what these things actually ARE. Case in point, Brennan immediately knowing how to explain a wimple vs. Murph claiming the peasant was wearing “suspenders over a dirty tunic”. Suspenders?? My guy. What are they holding up? The hem of the tunic? Tunics go OVER the leg garment how would this work. Are you using this as a fancy word for shirt. Also suspenders weren’t a thing until the 19th century. Not saying you can’t mix and match cowboy and medieval peasant aesthetic but it’s gotta logistically work, Murph! It's gotta make sense!

“You hear a woman screaming-“ “No, Murph, we were going shopping 😩” “You never let us do anything fun!”

Brennan’s little love language of absorbing every last bit of his friends’ worlds’ lore like a sponge so he can weave his narrative and/or character into the world like a perfect medieval tapestry!!!!

Every time Emily goes out of her way to back up her every move with rules as written not for the DM but for some idiot in the audience, my heart breaks a bit. Back the fuck off indeed.

That said, Brennan being extra meticulous about HIS finite resources is hilarious and good

“I would say he didn’t have to worry about it but then he was doing sixty points of damage per attack so he does have to worry about it I decided”

#wherewasbalnor

"It's a... I don't want to use the word 'wimple' again"

"Deadeye and Hardwon, you guys just hear this cacophony of idiocy..."

"So my little sister in there and slim with the gift of Pellor, they good at staying on task?" "Um...."

A Kiwi dwarf, fantastic choice. No notes.

“We can crawl through the small false wall?” English is so broken

Pawpaw as Deadeye’s literal right hand! Delightful. Murph’s D20 TA energy come to life in the coolest way

“You bloodsucking bourgeoise pig, you keep your dirty fangs off my sister!”

“You’re the best part of me” Brennan 😭 Emily 😭 brb dissolving into a puddle on the floor for a second

He’s back in the Crick UGH 💔 ah fuck Brennan and Murph tag-teaming on the heartbreak never fails to get me

It's so fascinating how much they play to each other's strengths whenever they're really going for the jugular: on D20, Brennan will hit Murph with just the most quietly awful version of "here's your character's worst (perceived) failure you can never fully make right, and you're faced with an opportunity to try but we both know you won't take it" (cf. Kug's interactions with David or "you can go to the castle where the dogs are or you can go back to your frog pond"), and in return Murph took Deadeye back to the home that was forever lost to him and that he'd missed so much and let him become everything he ever wanted to be. Forgiven despite his shortcomings. They're beating each other at their own game, Murph's stories are so much about consequences and guilt and responsibility and Brennan's are so much about hope and grace and second chances, and that is so present in the stories they tell for each other?? I am upset this is beautiful

The Wimple Warriors

So Murph knew enough about Snow Patrol to not only sing the refrain of You’re All I Have but to know where it was on the album… but not enough to remember the title of Chasing Cars?? How are you the way that you are

JV!! God that *was* a beautiful scene though, such immediate quiet kindness, what a way to go <3

“I went to the Red Fenn and all I got was unceremoniously murdered.”

“He’s saying yes too much, we’re making some kind of mistake…”

Moonshine: "The rapport spores got hacked, everyone! Don't say anything you wouldn't tell the world right now!" Emily, not five minutes before this, on a very popular podcast: "Out of character, [unlike Moonshine] I got some very recently, but..."

The fact that this moment got no audible reaction and is as easily removable as an audio clip can get (no crosstalk, a brief pause before and after it, no impact on what was said afterwards) but it's still left in is so funny knowing who does the editing

Murph introducing a skeletal kitty for thinly veiled emotional manipulation purposes

*delivers upsetting news to Moonshine* "Would it make you feel better if you borrowed my cat?" "...Moonshine bursts into tears."

"Pawpaw looks hurt and betrayed for a second, like he's gonna turn away, but then he can't help it." "Should we go, too, or do you think she needs a familiar touch tonight? Something only Pawpaw can give..." I reiterate, funniest. self-insert. character. ever. Also as ever excellent punnage from Caldwell.

“You are a freak but you’re pretending not to be, which makes you the most boring kind of person.”

“Pawpaw is the only one who has complete plot armour. I will kick him from time to time, but I won’t kill him.” It's so unlike Murph to declare plot armour on anyone, and also so like him to have it be Pawpaw.

Hardwon and Moonshine's relationship, regardless of where it's going, is just lovely. Zero judgement, no expectations, just so much affection and support. They're so corny (affectionate)

[worddevourer]

Currently on the Rumblecusp part of S2 Critical role, and my thoughts are as follows:

Vilya uses Gust much like her daughter does, and I think that's very cute. That said, it also irks me a little bit how Matt will just go 'yeah, she uses Gust to boost herself getting up to a higher ledge,' and, similarly, the fact that she can make a thundercloud out of soot while underwater. Not because I don't think it's cool, but because I'm pretty sure if Keyleth had wanted to do that sort of thing, it would have been 2-3 minutes of 'well, I don't know, it's not really what it's intended to do' before he either said 'I'll allow it' or decided that was out of the purview of the spell.

From a Watsonian perspective, I really like the idea that Keyleth, as a kid, saw her mother doing really cool stuff with air cantrips and has spent her life trying (with limited success) to mimic those kinds of effects. From a Doylian perspective, I've heard enough to understand that apparently people had an axe to grind with Marisha, and that colored the extent to which she was allowed to bend the rules. Meanwhile, NPCs are allowed to operate on different rules from PCs, if for no other reason than to avoid the players having to sit through tedious rolls when things go wrong for them.

All that said, I appreciate the flip where in campaign 2, it went from 'I'm sorry, that's simply not what that spell is intended to do, and I don't want to bend the rules on it,' to 'monks have a range of skills that explicitly and textually bypass many of the common challenges I throw at my party, and- goddamn it my boss physically can't run away from her, and is also stunned again.'

I don't know how the conversation would have gone, but I... genuinely don't get why Matt made them roll initiative with the ghosts in the ruins. I listen back to it, and... Jester greets them, and suddenly they're in initiative order? I don't know what he was going for, but he's as good as saying 'this is a combat encounter now' and then after the fight, has an NPC go 'damn, I was hoping to maybe recruit them.' Baffles me a bit.

I really like the ambience of Rumblecusp. The persistent 'yeah, you feel like you're being watched?' The risk of memory loss? A genuinely unlikable villain? A village that raises some interesting questions about the rights of sentient beings and the nature of existence? It's a very creepy vibe, and I'm finding it very compelling thus far.

[scarleteevee1]

Okay Here's some stuff about my Earthspark Ocs that no one asked for!

Let's start with Clementine! The Human of the Group!

Before Clementine meet her Terran Siblings she was alone, and kinda a shut in and doing her online schooling, and Late Night drives and or Street Racing, while her Mom and Dad are constantly working.

Her home is on a Country road and is in-between Witwicky and another small town.

Clementine hasn't meet any Autobot before but always wanted too, meanwhile she had a Bad experience with a Deception (oc) years ago more info on that later in the future

Clementine is a Huge Bumblebee to the point her Bedroom is filled with a lot of merch, Though she would admit this to anyone except for Bumblebee himself lol.

Clementine has a 1966 Ford Mustang that, She worked on. And always makes sure it's nice and Shiny she can't stand any dirt being left on it. And No one can eat in her car ......except for her when she gets the late Night munchies for fast-food.

And I'll think I'll stop for Clementine as if I don't this post will be only about her lol

Next is Honeylemon!

Honeylemon! Technically the oldest of Terran Siblings, Her Ault form is a Sur Ron Storm Bee Dirt Bike. She picked this form when Clementine was showing her new siblings a place that was used for Dirt bike riding while hiding from the other humans. Honeylemon thought it looked really Fun so she asked Clementine if they could join in the fun which Clementine didn't mind at all and So Honeylemon Alt form was picked.

Honeylemon really loves racing and friendly competition with anyone, which seems to come from Clementine as She's the same.

Honeylemon takes interest in exploring the woods and traveling on trails that are usually hard to travel.

Honeylemon is Friendly but also kinda reserved, Happy to mostly hang out with her family and to any of them when they are in need.

Next is Honeydew!

Honeydew is basically the nerd if the group, He likes to learn about anything he can and to study Nature.

He's been studying about the Autobots and Deceptions history on plant earth and also of Human History

Clementine have provided Him with any book she has, that could help him out with his Studies

Honeydew took his time before choosing a Alt form, he didn't really know what he wanted to be until one day They all went into town sneakily into town to watch a parade which had Planes included and one particular stood out to him. Which Honeydew had picked his Ault form to be a Fleet Flinch Biplane

After this Honeydew likes to go on flights usually around evenings, to look at the view of the forest and of Witwicky though it's a risk of him being noticed..

And Last but not Lest! Swiftback!

He's the youngest of the group and is considered the little kid

He's rambunctious and is always finding himself in trouble which keeps His siblings on his Toes and constantly keeping track on him and one of them always got to keep watch of him.

His alt is a Sliver Fox, the other 3 are unaware on when this happened, But one day he came running back happily in this form.

On top of this His weapon is a Axe, and His always running with it when he Shouldn't

Out of Him and The other two He would probably be the one to vet them Expose to the Autobots, as He wants to meet others badly

Swiftback is also the type if he sees quick movement he will chase it.

He has Sliver/White with Red Eyes

Even though He gets himself in trouble he will always be there to help his siblings, and help them get out of trouble that he accidentally caused.

And I think that's a good bit of Info on them! Leave any questions you have in the comments, and who do you think they all would get along with individually?

[brainyxbat]

Chapter 4: Luffy Gets Angry! A Dirty Trick Violates the Sacred Duel!

(episode 72)

As Broggy and Dorry began their fight, Luffy watched in awe from the ground, with Vivi and Karoo bearing the sonicwave.

"H-he blocked the blow with his helmet!" Usopp exclaimed from his, Venus, and Nami's place by Broggy's home. "If he was off by even an inch, he would've died instantly!" Dorry escaped a slash, which only cut some strands from his long beard, and shoved his weapon into Broggy's. "What a fight; each of their attacks is a mortal blow aimed at the opponent's vital point!"

"Wow," Venus watched with him.

"Those two have continued this duel to the death for 100 years?" Nami remarked, then smiled with relief. "But this is good; we can use this opportunity to get out of here." She began to walk away, dragging Venus with her, but stopped upon noticing that he wasn't moving an inch. "Usopp?"

"Incredible..." '"Reason? I don't remember."' He recalled Broggy's words. "Even without a reason, they're fighting so seriously."

"This fight sure is a bother," Nami frowned, before getting startled by Venus yanking her arm out of her grip.

"You idiot!" Usopp protested, still not moving away, as Venus sat on the log to watch. "This is what people mean by a real battle between men!"

Nami stared in surprise. "What's that about?"

"To use an analogy, those two fly a warrior's flag in their heart. This flag is even more important their life. In no way do they want it to be destroyed by others. That's why they've continued to take on each other for 100 long years!" The weapons clashed. "Do you get it? This is unmistakably a proud duel between warriors!"

"Wow," Venus breathed in awe.

Nami watched on for a few seconds, before losing interest, and walking away. "Whatever. Stuff like that doesn't interest me. Now, hurry up!"

"I'm gonna watch this a little longer."

"Me too."

"Venus!"

"This is exactly what my goal is. To be a brave warrior of the sea! I wanna be a proud man like them!"

Venus smiled at him from the log. "That's a great dream, Usopp."

Nami frowned in distaste, before sitting next to her. "I see... so you wanna be a giant."

Usopp flinched, and ran over to her angrily. "No!! Were you even listening to me?!"

"Moron," Venus glared at her, but went unnoticed.

"There!" She pointed behind his back. "Don't you have to watch them over there?"

Usopp turned around to start watching again. "If there's a village with warriors like them in it, I wanna go there someday."

-

Elsewhere in the jungle, Ms. Valentine was hovering above the trees. "I've got a good view from here."

"They'll find you, Ms. Valentine," Mr. 5 scolded, "Come down already!"

"Don't worry, Mr. 5; after all, they're absorbed in the fight. They won't notice."

"Just come down!" He commanded.

"Okay, okay." She reluctantly obliged, and dropped down to the ground gracefully.

"Hey, do you really get it? This is a big job for 200 million berries."

"Of course. Although I feel reluctant to do as Mr. 3 tells us."

"I know," Mr. 5 passed her by, "Let's go."

"Okay," She followed.

-

Meanwhile, Broggy sat on the ground to catch his breath. "We're both homesick, aren't we, Dorry?"

"That's why I'll beat you, and go back to Elbaf, Broggy."

After the axe and sword stuck in the ground, they started up again, this time shoving their shields in each other's faces. "73,466 duels..."

"73,466 draws..."

Usopp, Venus, and Nami witnessed their crashing back down, as did Luffy, Vivi, and Karoo. After a few seconds of silence, they both started laughing jovially. "Dorry! Actually, I got alcohol from my guests."

"Great! It's been a while since I had a drink. Give me some."

-

Elsewhere, Zoro heard the commotion during his hunt. "What was that? First a long, strange earthquake, and now this? What is it this time? Are there weird creatures other than dinosaurs in this jungle?" He then smirked. "Well, that damn cook is probably the only one who'd be happy to capture things like that."

"Were those bird cries?" Sanji wondered aloud from where he was looking around for catches. "Even so, those were vulgar, unappetizing cries. Although we're competing to capture a big prey, we're still looking for food." He smirked to himself. "That guy doesn't get it at all."

-

At the houses, a laughing Dorry was downing drinks while with Luffy, Vivi, and Karoo. "I see. His guests are your friends, huh? I saw a man with a long nose, and two women."

"That's Usopp, Nami, and Venus!" Luffy beamed to the princess. "Hah! They said they wouldn't get off the ship, but they really do like adventures after all!"

"Then you could also say that I got this alcohol from you."

They all glanced up at a screeching pterodactyl flying by. "By the way, Dorry-san, does it really take a year for the Log to be stored?" Vivi asked worriedly.

"Didn't you notice the human skulls lying around?" Dorry responded with another question. "Those who come to this island die before the Log is stored in most cases. Some become dinosaurs' food. Some suffer from heat and starvation. Some others are killed because they attack us. They all die... it seems that one year on this island is too long for humans."

Vivi's hands balled into fists in her lap. "What're we gonna do? Even if we could survive for a year, if that much time passes, I don't know what will happen to my country by then."

"Yeah," Luffy agreed, "I'd get bored too, if we stay here for a year. Isn't there a good way, old guy?"

"Hmm... we do have an Eternal Pose, but it's to our hometown, Elbaf. In other words, we're fighting for this Eternal Pose. Do you wanna try taking it by force?"

"That's no good," Luffy frowned in disappointment, "That's not where we wanna go. We just wanna go to the island after this one." He turned to Vivi. "Right?"

"Yes," She nodded, "If we lose the route to Alabasta, there's no point in moving forward."

"See?" Luffy turned back to Dorry.

"Then why don't you move forward randomly?" He suggested. "If you're lucky, you'll get there."

Luffy stared blankly for several seconds, before bursting into hearty laughter. "Maybe we'll do that! We may actually get there, huh?" Vivi stayed silent through the exchange.

"Come to think of it, there was someone who left before the Log was stored," Dorry recalled.

"What happened to him?" Luffy asked, as Vivi tensed up.

"How should I know?"

"He must've gotten to the next island."

"That must be it!"

Karoo was stifling laughter, before he flinched fearfully; Vivi was getting angrier by the second. 'What's so funny?' She glared, as they laughed together. 'I can't understand what they're thinking!'

-

"A brave warrior of the sea? What's that?" Broggy asked through repairing the handle of his axe.

"I'm talking about you guys," Usopp replied, "I wanna be like you guys someday!"

"Hm?" Broggy frowned in confusion. "You mean a giant?"

"See?" Nami grinned pridefully, as Venus facepalmed.

"That's not it!" Usopp exclaimed, then regained his composure. "I hope to live proudly just like the warriors of Elbaf!"

Broggy smiled, and laughed happily. "I see! Especially since our life span is longer than you humans', we think about how we die. Your assets, life... everything will eventually cease to exist. But if we die as a warrior of Elbaf without destroying our pride, that would be dying with honor. That pride is an everlasting treasure that is passed on in the land of Elbaf."

Usopp listened intently with deep admiration. "So pride is your treasure... that's so cool. I've decided... that I'll call you Master from now on!"

"Huh?"

Out of nowhere, an explosion boomed from inside Dorry's gut; Luffy, Vivi, and Karoo gaped in horror, as it sent him falling face-up, eyes rolling back, with smoke billowing from his throat. "Giant old guy!" Luffy cried. "What's going on?! Why did the alcohol explode?! That was our alcohol we had on our ship, right?!"

"It exploded in his stomach! His opponent must've laid the explosive!" Vivi guessed, as Luffy turned angry.

He jumped down from Dorry's chest, and leaned into her face. "What the hell were you watching?! They've been fighting for 100 years! No way they'd do something like this!"

"Then who on Earth..."

Behind them, a furious Dorry came to, weapon ready. "You bastards did..." He thrust his sword into the ground. "It wasn't Broggy," He panted, "We're proud warriors of Elbaf. Who else besides you should I be suspicious of?"

Karoo was already running away. "Let's get out of here now!" Vivi urged. "It's probably no use saying anything to him!"

"It's probably no use, even if we run." Luffy took off his treasured straw hat, and held it out to her. "Hold this, and stay back."

"Don't tell me! Are you going to fight?"

Luffy cracked his fingers. "I feel bad to do this to the old guy, but I'll quiet him down."

"Both of you, stop! Please!" Vivi pleaded. "Dorry-san, please listen! We really don't know anything about it! Anything about the alcohol that exploded! So please don't fight!" They continued staring daggers at one another. "You have to stay calm! Your insides are in bad shape right now!"

Dorry lifted his sword. "How dare you... do something so insolent!"

Luffy jumped away to avoid being crushed, before running up with the sword as leverage, and leaped in the air. "Gum-Gum...!" He prepared an attack, but was sent crashing back to the ground from Dorry's shield. He reached deep into the jungle, grabbed one of the trees, and launched himself away before he could get hit. Dorry coughed up blood, as Luffy flew off. "Gum-Gum...!" He prepared to go back in. 'I'm sorry.' "Rocket!!" He headbutted Dorry's stomach; but just as he seemed out of commission, his eyes reopened, and to Vivi and Karoo's horror, he stomped on him like a bug, as he recovered.

"Luffy-san!!" Vivi screamed.

Dorry panted through the pain. "So he has... the powers of a Devil Fruit." He fell to his knees. "I underestimated... him." After coughing up more blood, he collapsed face-down on the ground, sending shockwaves quaking throughout. A panting Luffy sat up, and turned to the giant. He wasn't moving.

"Luffy-san!" Vivi ran to him in concern, hat in hand. "Are you all right?"

He turned to her. "How's the old guy?"

"He's probably okay," She replied, "This is actually good. Otherwise, he wouldn't have calmed down."

He put his hat back on. "I'm angry!"

"What?"

"Like the old guy said, this alcohol explosion isn't the act of the other giant, and my friends would never do a stupid thing like this!"

"Then who on Earth..."

"There's someone else, on this island."

-

"Games are heavily influenced by people's state of mind," Mr. 3 said through pouring tea, "They are confused right now, by the cryptic bomb from an invisible enemy." He gave the teacups to Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine. "First, about our first target, Dorry the Blue Ogre; I knew it was impossible to finish him, but the damage he received to his stomach still must've been quite large. Now, we can drink some tea, and wait for the next duel to start."

"So we'll let the other giant take care of the injured giant, huh?" Mr. 5 guessed.

"That's right."

"That's quite a roundabout way of doing things," He remarked after a sip.

"The Warrior species are the same as wild boars, after all. We don't have to fight seriously, when they're only good at going head-on, since even if we can't win power-wise, we have brains to make up for it." Mr. 3 chuckled evilly, before sensing he was being stared at. It was Ms. Golden Week, who sat at the window without making a sound. He tried to ignore her, but her eyes bore into him. "Geez, get it yourself, Ms. Golden Week," He griped, handing the teacup over.

"By the way, what're we going to do with the Straw Hat gang?"

Mr. 3 turned to Mr. 5. "Straw Hat?" In realization, his top knot straightened up like an exclamation point. "Oh yeah, the small fries that found out the boss' secrets. Well, we can just lure them out one by one, starting with whoever's convenient to my "secret set." My motto is "big crimes via cheap tricks." There're many ways to defeat enemies without actually fighting."

Ms. Golden Week held out her empty teacup. "Mr. 3, refill please."

"Hey, me too," Mr. 5 requested.

"You guys!" Mr. 3 raged. "Take time to savor it!"

-

"Ah!" Luffy, Vivi, and Karoo turned to the volcano when it suddenly erupted, several times.

"That mountain is, if I'm not mistaken..."

-

"This isn't good," Zoro remarked, "I'm running out of time." When he stepped on something hard, he stopped and looked down; it was a baby triceratops. "Ah, sorry." He drew his foot away, only for it to bite his shoe. "Ahh! Let it go!" He tried to wave it off. "I said I'm sorry! Hey!" He didn't realize he was being watched through the struggle. "I don't have time to mess around! Let it go!"

"The time out signal has rung," Sanji observed disappointedly, "Having no prey isn't even funny. Damn." In a tree behind him, a saber-toothed tiger was watching ominously.

-

"There's the signal," Broggy pointed out to Usopp and the girls, "It's quite active today."

"You're going?!" Usopp asked in surprise. "Your wounds from that last battle still haven't-"

Broggy held out his axe in determination. "It's nothing! We're both in the same condition!" He had no idea how wrong he was. He laughed, as Usopp gulped. "Making excuses during a merciless fight to the death would spoil my name!"

-

Elsewhere, a pained Dorry pushed himself on his knees, not giving up. "Hey! Wait, old guy!" Luffy called. "Don't go!"

"You can't go, Dorry-san!" Vivi urged. "You need to keep still! You'll die if you push yourself too hard!"

"I, Warrior Dorry, am here... at the very least," He coughed up more blood, "I will fight to uphold the name of Elbaf!" He regained his footing, as the three could only watch.

[gailynovelry]

5 and 9 for Crislie? :D

5. How did you figure out your oc's identity?

In stages, slowly, over time!

I started writing Heralds of Rhimn when I was about fourteen-fifteenish, and the thing about a story you start at fifteen is that it's probably going to change a lot as you change. It's pretty wild to remember this now, but originally;

There were five main characters, all the same age.

No gods, oddly enough.

Crislie's weapon was a sword, not an ax, because she was The Mainest Character and everybody knows that's who you give the sword to in tropey YA stories.

Navaeli was a boy. (And half-dragon!)

Meparik was Crislie's love interest, not Navaeli! That's probably the weirdest thing that was going on with these early drafts.

So, Crislie started off with two base identity traits; girl (pugnacious) and boyliker (romantic).

Over time, I adapted the story and shifted things around. The extra main characters got ported over to Toybox (Saph & Vio!), Meparik aged down, Crislie & Vae aged up and subsequently paired up.

By that point, I'd wised up to the fact that i was a girlliker and that girlliking was Fine Actually. So I began to think to myself . . . was if . . . Navaeli was girl . . . and what if . . . girl kissed other girl still? And that's how Navaeli became metatextually (and textually, but that doesn't get talked about until later in the series) trans! And also how Crislie became bi.

As I started to write their relationship, I realized that they were both approaching their attraction differently. Navaeli was quietly thirsty under the surface. Meanwhile, Crislie . . . didn't have that? At first I thought I was writing the chemistry wrong.

Then it kind of hit me like a brick; Crislie does like Navaeli, she's just not thinking that much about it in a "becky lemme smash" way. So I plonked "ace" down at the end of her label, and bam. Bi ace.

And also poly now that Gildhe has entered the picture.

And also maybe not just girl now that I'm exploring the wyfwolf thing?

Gender on Rhimn is it's own neon-labeled can of trolli gummy worms, so I think I'll touch on it in the next question!

9. Are there cultural or lore specific aspects to their identity? If applicable, does their species affect it?

At the beginning, there wasn't, but now there is.

Okay, so! There are a few important things to know about how Rhimn does gender;

Rhimn is matriarchal. This was true before the Reckoning, and is still true afterward.

For "Alluari had a bad time after the Reckoning and took it out on a whole gender" reasons, conservative parts of Ullua are very strict about gender roles.

For "technically the god ruling us is a Guy, therefore let's pretend that Sexism is Solved" reasons, Gadhi generally doesn't think too hard about its gender norms, even when it should.

(TBH I think Gardhe has the same sense of gender as Nathaniel Finch, ie "it is irrelevant to me but you can call me he, sure." Diversity win, the main antagonist is agender!)

For a variety of reasons (lots of intersex fey, culture of picking their own names & genders, being seen as being below/above human social norms, etc), gender nonconformity is more accepted in feyries than humans.

Due to the influence of feyrie culture, Rhimn has four separate gender categories; male, female, ungendered, and bestial.

The categories are generally associated with he/him, she/her, they/them, and it/its pronouns respectively, but that's not universal. Most wyfwolves consider themselves bestial but use she/her, and Tincre identifies as ungendered while using it/its.

I am probably going to write some in-universe sociology papers about the gender stuff, but bestial in particular is an interesting gender!

It would probably be considered nonbinary/xenogender on Earth, along with the ungendered category, but it's actually grouped more closely with female on Rhimn. Both femininity and feral gender norms lean on aggression. Also, Lykari, the divine being most associated with this gender, is still verifiably a goddess, though not a lady about it.

(Also connects to why Meparik gets "he acts femininely how cute" comments in Ullua; Meparik doesn't necessarily identify as the bestial gender, but he doesn't identify as a human, certainly, and his pent-up aggression gets interpreted in some different ways.)

I think at some point in Book Four, Crislie's going to end up in a conversation with Tincre & some of its students about Actually We Have Four Gender and go "Huh. Kinda into this new gender, actually."

So! Bestial gender Crislie! Yeah!

[icharchivist]

so icha. how are we feeling about lodi?

oh dear, that's the question huh.

mhmmm i'd say we don't have enough for me to care strongly into either direction i'd say, but there is a possibility for him to be an interesting character in further event, especially if Kolulu was a real influence on him.

Overall his set up is pretty interesting in itself. The contrast between the outgoing, loving and giving idol persona, and the empty, starving actual persona is really interesting as it is.

I do think the little commentary on how he is an idol because thanks to his emptiness he can afford to give away and give away without ever feeling like he's actually sacrificing a part of himself, is, kinda grim but an interesting take on what an idol character can bring.

His powers... i'm actually not a big big fan of the axe being turned into a mic and him having a music related power on principle, but it's utilized relatively well in the story especially when it combines with Felix's ability, so i don't have any real complain about it.

My only problem is him stealing Kimi to Boku No Mirai >:( that's MC's song!!!!! at least make your own song instead of constantly taking ours and not having ANYONE comment on it!!!

anyway like i said i do really like the contrast on outgoing idol VS actual empty shell, it's just that so far as it was just set up, i don't think we explored in depth what could be interesting about this concept.

I'm REALLY curious about why he feels this undeserving of feeling anything. Is it just something natural for him, is he naturally apathic, or was it another result of the Child Abuse Event that he probably had to deny himself so much that now it's as natural as breathing?

i think it's possible it's the later because of how he actually reacts to Kolulu insisting on showing him kindness and feeding him. You see too many times that he's genuinely puzzled by the fact she insists, and when he flashbacked to it he especially remembered Kolulu speaking about how, despite growing into poverty, her parents loved her so much they made sure she was well fed, so it's important. I feel like there would be a set up on how to make him realize that perhaps this emptiness isn't so normal.

Especially with implications that he was present during the cult Manamel's sister was a part of in the past. Considering how Manamel's parents, who were part of this cult, killed themselves once the cult dismantled, and that Manamel points out that Lodi's empty stare reminds her of the look her parents had when they killed themselves in front of her.... there's some loaded stuff going on here.

In his profile it's said he doesn't like to eat at all, period, and it's reinforced by his scene with Morilynn, and yet he still forces himself to eat the bread Kolulu gave him, *after* they fought, despite finding it disgusting.

So i think there's a set up perhaps out of him wondering if being this empty is right for him? And it could make for a great character growth.

as of now though, the problem with characters who are defined by their emptiness is that. well. they're empty. There's not a lot to discuss.

However i did think the scene at the end with Morilynn was interesting. On one hand we had Morilynn, non-human, trying to eat human food and doing it wrong, and trying harder in harder to connect to humanity despite being totally disconnected from it. Meanwhile, next to them, Lodi was unable to eat and was grossed out by Morilynn's attempt at humanity on what he is trying to get rid of.

there's a sort of dynamic at play here on the non-human wanting to be human VS the human who wants to be non-human, the empty shell VS the unconstrained being, that could make for a really good future dynamic as it goes. especially considering who their respective chairmen are. Judah who takes care of Morilynn is human who does all sort of experiments, leading to Morilynn experiencing more on their body as well, while Nereus has been stripping herself more and more of her humanity to mock God, and we have her taking care of Lodi as a "producer" or sort. idk it's an interesting choice.

All in all, i think my take in the end is..... There's a good set up for a character, but the event didn't give him much to munch on to explore it, so by the end, i don't feel super strongly about him, but i definitely see potential on how to flesh him out going from here.

I personally really hope Kolulu is instigating a change in him.

It kinda sums it up i'd say?

[mar64ds]

Why don't you tell us some general facts about your puppet protagonists? It doesn't have to be related to the story, stuff like their personalities, interests, hobbies, etc will do just fine!

Ooh I’d love to!

So Aries is this very awkward girl in her 20s, she’s very introverted and gets nervous easily but she’s also very energetic and passionate, she just really likes creating strange art and expressing herself and all of her thoughts and ideas. She tends to see things through a creative perspective, like narrating her thoughts or illuminating the room a certain way so that it matches the tone of the ‘scene’. Her ‘art’ can either consist of a 3 hour long film she wrote herself or a youtube video of her using dynamite and blowing herself up on accident, it’s all art to her. She really likes doing dangerous stunts or just dangerous things in general, she’s a sock puppet so she doesn’t get hurt, but in general she doesn’t really do her day to day life in a regular way, she always comes up with new ways to do her daily routine, like one day she goes down the stairs walking backwards so another day she goes downstairs while holding two knives or something. I just find the concept of an extremely socially awkward character also being the energetic strange character really funny, she has such a hard time holding a conversation but she has no problem being launched out of a cannon

Axe is a bit of the opposite, they are a very average person to the point where it reaches absurdity. They really like the most normal activities ever, they find monotony thrilling, they just really like being ‘boring’. But aside from that they have their occasional strange stuff they like to do, it’s always very out of nowhere, like they can talk about a very normal morning routine and then say something you really don’t expect like ‘I really like waking up and eating my breakfast, then brushing my teeth, then read my neighbors’s mail and make sure they don’t see me this time, then watch TV-‘

They are twins! Axe is older by a couple of seconds

Aries likes writing and acting, Axe prefers recording and editing but sometimes they have a couple of roles in Aries’s films and videos. Art is Aries’s passion, it’s not really Axe’s, they just like being around their sister, Axe doesn’t really have any big thing they are super passionate about, they just enjoy the little things in life, and the very strange ones.

Since they were little Aries and Axe liked collecting clovers, Aries collected the special four leaves ones and Axe collected the normal three leaves ones, so the collection has a bigger amount of Axe’s collection. Axe has a separate collection where they collect used cigarettes they find around, nobody really knows why they collect this but no one can really get Axe at all in general

Aries is loveless and Axe is aroace, Axe is nonbinary too. Aries has a derealization disorder and ADHD, Axe has OCD, both of them are autistic. Of course they also have a lot of trauma. Axe keeps a lot to themself, they have a hard time expressing themself, they can be incredibly upset and not talk about it or show it on the outside at all. Meanwhile Aries can get really easily overwhelmed and not be able to control her very strong emotions

They need each other very much but somehow both of them think they might not be the best sibling ever, which isn’t true and they need to realize that at some point

[poedameronwifey]

A true home(The hobbit Fanfic)

Chapter 12

Kate's Pov

We helped the dwarves down from the spit and out of the sacks. They got their stuff and weapons. I walked over to them.

"Is everyone okay? Sorry, we took forever."

Everyone nodded and I sighed with relief. We went back to the campsite and got our bags. I can't believe that happened. I knew it was going to, but it was still more scary than in the movies or books. At least everyone's okay. Once we had everything we went back to the troll statues. I noticed Thorin and Gandalf talking so I walked over to the girls, who were sitting near Fili and Kili. They noticed me and smiled.

"Well, that was an interesting night, right girls. Haven't had an all-nighter in a while." Lilith and I snickered at Renee's comment. I sat next to Lilith and leaned my head on her shoulder. I was so tired. Dealing with three trolls with the brain size of a nut is very exhausting. I'm beat. I looked over at the boys, specifically Fili.

I don't know why but I feel so drawn to him. I can't help but want to be near him all the time. He gets my heart racing and I just want him to hold me. To feel close to him. I know I can't allow myself to fall for him. He's a dwarf prince. I'm just me, a hobbit. What could I offer him? I sighed and looked away, hiding the tear that rolled down my face. Maybe this feeling will go away on its own. I could keep telling myself that but I know that it never will. Damn my heart for betraying me.

Third Pov

Gandalf explained that there should be a cave nearby that the trolls used during the day. They walked until they smelt something. It was so disgusting and inhumane. The girls were surprised they hadn't passed out from the smell. They walked until they stopped in front of the cave. The smell was so bad that they were tearing up. A few decided to stay out and keep watch while Thorin, Gandalf, Dwalin, Bofur, Nori, Gloin and the girls went inside. The girls walked around looking for something that might interest them.

Renee went looking around for new weapons because she left hers back home on Earth. She walked to a wall that had bows but one caught her attention. She picked it up and examined it. The bow was decorated with golden designs, making it seem enchanted in a way. The quiver was made of leather with the same designs. It looked strong and the arrows were unlike anything she had ever seen. They had beautiful red feathers, soft to the touch and the ends were golden. She knew that this was her new weapon. She strapped it to her back and continued looking around. She looked at the swords and picked one. She unsheathed it and fell utterly in love. It was just her length with a beautiful black handle. She sheathed it and put it on her belt.

Meanwhile, Lilith found something. She picked up the axe she found and examined it. The design was extraordinary, it was double sided. It was a bit heavy at first but eventually, she was able to hold it without any problems. It was also the perfect length for her so she didn't need to worry about accidentally hurting herself. She found a holder near it and it fit perfectly. She strapped to her back and continued looking around. She found a set of throwing axes even though she already had one. She took them anyway. Can never be too careful.

Katherine had found some daggers, a lot actually. She found a few long blades and strapped them to her belt. She also found some green blades that she knew Lilith would like as well as a few pairs for Renee. She walked around and stopped when she saw something near the back of the cave. She walked towards it and realised it was a sword and picked it up. She unsheathed it. The handle was black with a wolf head at the bottom. The blade itself was solver but became black near the tip. She smiled as she looked it over once more. This was her sword now. She sheathed it and strapped it to her belt.

She walked back to the girls and they heard Thorin and Gandalf talking as they were looking at some swords while Nori, Gloin and Bofur were burying a chest of gold or as they liked to call it 'A long-term deposit'.

They saw something glittered near them and walked towards it. There laid three beautiful necklaces. A red heart, a blue butterfly and a green flower. Renee took the red red, Kate took the blue butterfly and Lilith took the green flower. They were absolutely beautiful. They put it on but as soon as they did, their eyes went white and they almost looked possessed.

They floated off the ground for a bit. The others were about to walk over to them but Gandalf stopped them. He felt so much power from them, especially from Renee. Finally, they fell on the ground. Bofur, Dwalin and Nori went to help them stand up. They looked at the girls with concern. Never had they seen something like that. The girls reassured them they were fine and walked to the entrance of the cave.

They sighed happily, taking in the fresh air and warm sun. They went to their packs and sat their weapons next to them. They then went over to Bilbo who was sitting on a huge rock. He smiled as he looked at them and made space for them on the rock where he was sitting.

"Hello, girls. Did you find anything interesting in the cave?"

They nodded and told him about what they found. Kate showed the daggers and long blades she had on her, Lilith showed him the throwing axes she found and Renee showed him her bow and arrows. Bilbo looked at them with such fascination. He was about to say something when he noticed the necklaces around their necks.

"Did you also find those in the cave?"

Kate nodded. "Yeah and the strangest thing happened. We were floating off the ground, we almost looked possessed. Or maybe we were. Anyway, we're fine. It was nothing serious, we promise Papa." The girls smiled at him, knowing that he was going to worry. He hugged his daughters before standing up and walking around. The girls went back to their bags and sat next to them. As they did, Fili and Kili came over to them, grinning like absolute idiots. Oh wait they are but so are we. The girls however are the top idiots of the group. Kili sat near Renee and Fili next to Kate. Both girls were trying not to die at that moment. Kate leaned her head on Fili's shoulder, making him wrap an arm around her. Renee and Lilith looked at each other, smirking at how obvious Kate was.

"I see you guys found some new weapons." Kili grinned at them. The girls showed them their new weapons. Fili, Kate and Lilith were walking about the weapons. Renee showed Kili her new bow and arrows. He examined them. He looked so focused. Renee could feel her heart beating out of her chest and turned away so that he wouldn't see her now red face. He gave it back to her with a smile.

"These should be perfect for you to use. Wanna practise?" Kili stood up and offered his hand. Renee took it and picked up her bow and arrows. They went a bit further into the forest. They found the perfect spot and Kili drew a target on one of the trees.

Renee got into position and was about to get one of her arrows when she felt hands on her hips, she turned and looked at Kili. He helped fix her position while Renee was trying not to blush. She notched an arrow and concentrated. She could feel Kili's breath on her neck and his hands on her hips. She was trying to keep it together but she was having a very hard time. Kili could see and smirked, feeling proud that he could make her feel this way. He leaned closer and whispered in her ear.

"Relax, It's just me. You're doing great. Now release."

She released and the arrow went in the centre of the target. She smiled and turned to her left, breath hitched when she realised how close Kili was. She had never been this close to a guy before. They continued to look into each other's eyes. It was as if they were the only two and everything just seemed to slow down. Kilis hands were on her hips, his breath on her neck as he looked into her eyes. Her knees almost gave out, but Kili just pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her waist to secure her. Her bow fell on the floor as she moved her hands to his chest. She knew what she felt for Kili but she was scared of the repercussions. He looked at her lips and leaned forward. It felt like something was pulling them together. They heard rustling in the trees and moved away from each other. Renee looked and saw Lilith looking at them with a smirk. She cleared her throat and Renee mumbled an apology before grabbing her bow and arrows. She glared at Lilith before walking to the others.

Kili was still trying to process what just happened. He almost kissed her. He knew he felt drawn to her but he didn't know why. He realised that he liked her. He turned towards the direction she walked off. Lilith came up to him, causing him to look at her.

"So did I interrupt your little moment? Don't worry Kili, she likes you. I know my sister like the back of my hand. She's just scared. Trust me, she will admit it to herself. Just give her some time. But do know that if you hurt her, I will ensure that you die a slow, painful death. She's been through a lot. Just be gentle with her please." She patted his shoulder before walking to join the others, him following behind her.

He thought about Lilith's words. He wanted to know what she meant. He knew that Renee wasn't going to tell him just yet. Or ever. He knew he had to be patient but that's not exactly his strong suit. He walked over to where Fili was standing. Everyone was talking amongst themselves but his gaze gravitated towards Renee. She was laughing at something Kate said. Her laugh was beautiful and her smile was absolutely breath taking. He couldn't help but smile at her.

Suddenly there was a sound, alerting everyone that something was coming their way. Everyone got out their weapons in case of an attack. Riding at full speed through the trees, Radagast the Brown is led by a rabbit-drawn sledge. He bursts through the woods, startling the Company.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!"

Radagast had abruptly stopped, to a halt. The dwarves all had their weapons withdrawn. They looked to Gandalf for an explanation of this odd sight. The girls just watched on in amusement.

"Radagast! It's Radagast the Brown." Gandalf walked towards his fellow wizard.

"What on earth are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong, something's terribly wrong."

"Yes?"

Radagast opened his mouth ready to speak, but then completely forgot what he had to say. He kept trying but no luck. The girls shook their heads while the dwarves just looked completely uncomfortable and confused.

"Just give me a minute. Oh, I've had a thought and now I've lost it. It was right there, on the tip of my tongue. Oh, it's not a thought at all. It's just a little" He opened his mouth and Gandalf pulled out a little insect," stick insect." Gandalf handed Radagast the insect. The dwarves looked completely disgusted, as did Bilbo. The girls were trying not to laugh.

Gandalf smoked on his pipe with a grave expression. He and Radagast had gone off several paces from the dwarves.

"The Greenwood is sick, Gandalf. A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows anymore, at least nothing good. The air is foul with decay. But worse are the webs."

"Webs? What do you mean?"

"Spiders, Gandalf. Giant ones. Some kind of spawn of Ungoliant, or I am not a wizard. I followed their trail. They came from Dol Guldur."

"Dol Guldur? But the old fortress is abandoned."

"No, Gandalf, Tis not."

"A dark power dwells in there, such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits of the dead. I saw him, Gandalf, from out of the dark. A Necromancer has come." Radagast jumped up in fright of the awful memory.

"Sorry."

"Try a little old Toby. It will help settle your nerves." Gandalf cleaned off his pipe before giving it to Radagast who inhaled, becoming crossed eyes as he did. Gandalf looked at him, taking away the pipe.

"And out." Smoke came out of Radagast' s nose and ears. He looked a lot calmer now.

"Now, a Necromancer? Are you sure?"

Radagast pulled out a narrow cloth-wrapped package from his robes. Gandalf unties it and looks inside. Inside was a black dagger. He looked up, concerned. The girls could feel just how powerful and dark it was. They put their hands on their heads as they moaned in pain.

"That is not from the world of the living."

From the distance, wargs howled causing the dwarves to perk up in alarm. The girls looked at each other. They knew what was going to happen. They already had their bags and weapons. They just weren't too excited about running for their lives. They hate running but Karma's a bitch.

"Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?"

"Wolf? No, that is not a wolf."

From behind a nearby crag, a warg appeared. It leapt into the midst of the Company, savage and ferocious. Thorin buried his sword into its neck, killing it.

Another charged from behind. Kili and Renee drew an arrow, shooting down the beast. It attempted to pick itself back up, but Dwalin brought his hammer down upon it. The warg died with a whimper.

"Warg scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind."

"Orc pack?"

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?"

"No one."

"Who did you tell?"

"No one, I swear. What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted!"

"We have to get out of here."

"We can't! We have no ponies, they've bolted! I'll draw them off."

"These are Gundabad Wargs, they will outrun you!"

The girls smirked, knowing what Radagast' s response would be.

"These are Rhosgobel rabbits! I'd like to see them try."

The girls were not ready but they had no choice. It was either run or stay and be killed, maybe even eaten. They made sure their laces were tied nice and tight and looked at each other. This was about to be the craziest thing they have done in a long time but what's life without a little risk? Lord please keep us in your prayers as we literally run for our lives. 

[fictionalpeter]

I feels weird having two superhero movies in theatres that I haven't seen, and have no intention of doing so.

I mean, I skipped on Ant-Man too, but that was due to anger at the treatment of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne by the MCU.

This is more indifference. I've never liked the idea of movies about villains, especially ones that have no connection to their hero(Venom, Morbius, Joker, etc...). The fact that Dwayne Johnson is overhyping the interoduction so much, yet seems to have absolutely no interest in having his character face Captain Marvel--yeah, no interest. The fact that they wasted major DC characters like Fate and Hawkman in this, rather than giving them their own solo movies, is just making me feel worse about it. Because I would definitely see either of those films, rather than seeing them job to a character who isn't even their arch-enemy.

Then we've got the Black Panther sequel without the main character in it, and--once again--the MCU decides to hype it up by using another of the Fantastic Four's character library. This is something that irks me even more, because I was a huge fan of the first Black Panther film, which I felt gave the Marvel films some of their depth back after GotG and the Thor sequels made them parodies. If they really felt it was too soon to recast the role of T'Challa, they they should have waited a little before making the film until they felt enough time had past. And, of course, since the idea of having a movie just about a supporting cast isn't enough of a draw, they essentially make it a Sub-Mariner movie in all but name instead. While I understand Namor has been a villain as often as a hero(big FF fan here, remember), this is yet another character who could have carried his own solo film that is instead used to prop up one who's lost its lead.

Meanwhile you have stuff like Batgirl that's inexplicably cancelled. Not to mention the New Gods film that was axed before it even went into production. Or, on the Marvel side, Moon Knight and Werewolf by Night, who both have movie-quality stories but are stuck on streaming for some reason. Those were films I would have been excited to see, but then we get stuff like this instead, and I start to think some people are right about them needing to dial back the superhero genre a bit.

[mayihavethisdanse]

“What is this, the Dark Ages?”

Or, Arthurian themes and allusions in the Brotherhood of Steel mythos as seen in Fallout 4. (But that’s a lot of words.)

Yep. We're doing this. 

First, some obligatory caveats: there is no single Arthurian canon, just 1500 years of assorted fanfic based on the whims of whoever was writing at the time. For this extremely highbrow Tumblr meta, I have ignored most of it and drawn on my favorites. Also Wikipedia.

Also, I am not an expert in Arthurian literature (or Fallout lore, come to that), and I preemptively beg the pardon of anyone who is.

Finally, in no way am I claiming that all these parallels and thematic echoes are deliberate or even significant. In fact, I'd break it down into:

Clearly deliberate allusions, whether in or out of universe;

Probably coincidence, but could be someone deliberately capitalizing on a coincidental similarity;

Almost certainly coincidence, but fun to speculate about; annnnd

Blatant Monty Python references. (Because of course there are.)

I'll start with the big one.

Arthur Maxson, boy king and unifier

(source)

So across all the retellings and variations of King Arthur’s life story, there are a few consistent elements, particularly in his early life and rise to power. Some of these threads are echoed in the Fallout universe, specifically (and unsurprisingly) in the person of Arthur Maxson.

Both the legendary King Arthur and Arthur Maxson were born with a claim to power lying in their ancestry, both were fostered away from their families, and both proved themselves in combat at a young age. 

King Arthur united the warring kingdoms of Britain into a single entity, making them stronger against outsiders and receiving general admiration and acclaim. Arthur Maxson united the divided factions of the BoS after the events of Fallout 3 and is held in similarly high regard by his men.

The name Prydwen is a reference to the ship of the original King Arthur. Presumably, Arthur Maxson (or someone in the BoS who anticipated his promotion) christened the airship in a deliberate homage to the Arthurian myth.

King Arthur is associated with his legendary sword. I think it’s notable that Maxson’s legend is associated with a bladed weapon, too. ("He killed a DEATHCLAW with a COMBAT KNIFE!”)

Probably coincidence, but fun: the historical emperor Magnus Maximus, who pops up a lot in early Arthurian legend, was known in Welsh as... Macsen. (⌐■_■)

Round Table, but make it dieselpunk

(Continued under the cut.)

Moving away from obvious allusions and into some looser parallels:

Like the Round Table, the Brotherhood is an exclusive knightly order with its leader being the one able to open it up to his chosen few.

Like the Round Table, the BoS sees itself as defending human civilization against forces of chaos. (I’ll touch on their tech-hoarding tendencies when I get to the Grail stuff.) This idea of civilization in the face of chaos goes back to the BoS’s founding, even though the level of isolationism we see in most of the Fallout franchise is not exactly what founder Roger Maxson had in mind: “Notably, Maxson's ultimate intention was to establish the Brotherhood as an organization that works closely with people outside of the Brotherhood, as guardians of civilizations, not its gatekeepers.” (source) In a lot of ways, Arthur Maxson represents a return to his ancestor’s original ideals.

Renegade knights? Internal politics? Traitors within? We gotchu.

In both the medieval legends and in all chapters of the BoS we’ve seen, there’s a big focus on bloodlines (ew). Ironically, it’s probably Arthur Maxson’s unquestionable ancestry that allows him to be more progressive than either of his East Coast predecessors when it comes to boosting Brotherhood numbers by recruitment (even though you can still see a clear division between “born Brotherhood” and recruited soldiers, but that’s a topic for another day). Maxson sees himself as an Elder who "cares for the people"—however misguided and patronizing that attitude might be—and whatever else you might say about the guy, you can't say he doesn't believe he has a duty. Which brings us to…

Know Your Enemy: Danse as Gawain

Before I start this section, an acknowledgement of authorial bias:

Gawain, as portrayed in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is my very favorite of King Arthur’s knights. (Other stories aren't always as flattering, but like I said at the outset: I'm sticking to the ones I like.)

That poem is my very favorite piece of medieval Arthurian literature. In this section, I'll refer to the modern English translation by Simon Armitage.

...that’s it, I have no other biases to disclose. 

What? 👀

(Art: Clive Hicks-Jenkins)

All right. So in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, you’ve got this himbo loyal knight of Arthur’s who finds himself caught up in... you know what, let me just paste in the Wikipedia summary. (The Toast, RIP, also did a pretty entertaining and more-or-less accurate recap.)

It describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is called into question by a test involving the lord and the lady of the castle where he is a guest.

Don’t worry too much about the plot details, though; for this post, I’m more interested in the thematic parallels. The Green Knight story is full of contrasts: order vs. chaos, civilization vs. wilderness, mortal man vs. Other... but let’s start with Gawain himself. 

Some stuff to know about Gawain:

He was "as good as the purest gold, devoid of vices but virtuous and loyal". Gawain took his principles more seriously even than the rest of Arthur’s knights, not out of pride but out of humility: "I would rather drop dead than default from duty," he says. 

He’s faithful and honorable and never even tempted to betray an oath, even when offered every variety of seduction and riches, except for a single moment of weakness in a desperate desire not to be executed for random shit by powerful forces for reasons he doesn't understand.  

Even though he doesn’t really understand why he needs to die, he sticks to his oath. Gawain's one weakness is a moment of desperate, private, human desire for survival. He'll submit to the headsman’s axe if he has to, but he'd still rather live. 

Above all, Gawain is the ideal of a human man: he might be the bravest and loyal man there is, but he’s still fundamentally human.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

A few more fun facts about Gawain that resonate with Paladin Danse’s story:

He’s got a bunch of really shitty brothers. (No comment.)

Gawain (SPOILERS!) doesn't actually end up beheaded, but he does willingly kneel for his execution and gets a cut on the throat as a reminder of his sin. And, uh, Danse can also get his throat cut! It doesn’t end as nicely but it’s, you know, a thing that can happen.

Gawain might be a really good guy, and he tries really hard to be one, but in the end he’s nothing more than that: there’s nothing supernatural about him, he has no special powers beyond his own principles and devotion. He’s just a dude doing his Best. 

Wait, why not Danselot?

Oh, that guy? Here’s the thing.

Lancelot personifies the continental ideals of courtly love that became popular in the High Middle Ages. Central to his story is the prioritization of personal relationships and romantic feelings in a way that you don’t really see in Gawain's, at least in the Green Knight tale. (Later stories hook Gawain up with an extremely delightful lady, but even that is a different flavor of romance than Lancelot's and has more to do with Gawain honoring his word and his egalitarian treatment of women (hell yeah). In the poem, Gawain is impressed by Bertilak's wife but resists her temptation; in fact, the biggest risk is not that he'll yield to her advances but that he'll be discourteous to her, i.e., violate his principles and cause dishonor to his king and his host.)

Lancelot is driven by passions over principles in a way that Gawain never really is (at least in the stories I’m talking about; later writers have committed character assassination to various degrees). Yes, you could argue that both Gawain and Lancelot betray their oaths, but Lancelot’s betrayal is never, um, blind. He knows what he’s doing and makes a deliberate choice to prioritize his love for the queen over his love for the king. It doesn’t make him a bad guy—he too is an ideal knight with one fatal flaw—but his character isn’t as comparable to Paladin Danse. 

Yeah, Gawain is (in most stories) a prince and a kinsman of Arthur’s, but he’s ultimately a native boy who doesn’t break the mold of a Knight of the Round Table. Likewise, Danse is portrayed as competent and valuable to the BoS, but not exceptional or breaking the mold of what a BoS soldier should be: he simply represents the ideal. Meanwhile, Lancelot is a foreign prince who was marked from childhood as special and fancy, and his storyline goes alllll over the place. (Much like this post.)

For example, Lancelot goes to absolutely absurd extremes to prove his devotion for no other reason than to prove it. (“I’ll do any useless humiliating thing you want. I’ll betray every oath except the one I made to you. That’s what love is!”) Gawain would never. Danse would never.

Ultimately, Gawain's tests are of his character and not of his love. And like Gawain, Danse’s devotion is to service and his principles, not to another person—even Arthur Maxson.

All that said, there are some similarities: both are beloved by Arthur, both are held up as the ideal of what a knight should be. And even if their fatal flaws are different, both make the point that no matter how good and brave and loyal they might be, no human being can be perfect. 

(Except Galahad. Who is, as a result, very boring.) 

I’ll conclude this section with a quote from someone else’s take on the Greek Knight poem:

I like Gawain. He’s not perfect, but he’s trying his best which is all any of us can do. He’s not like the other knights in the Arthurian legends who occasionally ‘accidentally’ kill women on their little adventures and then feel hard done by when they have to deal with the consequences of that. Gawain holds himself to a high standard – higher, it seems, than Arthur and his knights hold him to considering how hard they laugh when Gawain tells them how bad he feels about the whole thing.

I think Gawain is very relatable in this story. We all want to be better than we actually are.

And that, more than anything else, is Danse.

The Grail myth

What’s that? Lost relics of power? Better send some large armed men after ‘em!

The parallels to the BoS’s tech-hoarding ways are obvious enough that the games themselves lampshade them (albeit by way of Monty Python). But it also ties into the larger themes of “purity” versus “corruption” and the BoS’s self-image as a bastion between civilization and chaos. (See Maxson's line in response to the Sole Survivor’s quip about the Dark Ages: “Judging from the state of the world, it wouldn't be a stretch to say we're living in that era again.”)

But the ultimate futility of the Grail mission is also worthy of note. The BoS might want the power of prewar tech on their side, but they’re no more to be trusted with it than any other group of human beings. No matter how they try, the “corruption” of humanity can’t be overcome as long as they’re striving to harness power for their own ends. You can only achieve power by surrendering control of it.

The death of Arthur

The nature of gameplay being what it is, it's not guaranteed that the Arthur figure will be fatally betrayed, bringing Camelot down with him—but it's not unlikely, either.

Awkward.

Some final spitballing:

Outside the Brotherhood, there are some fun parallels of the Arthur myth with the rest of Fallout 4. Betrayal by one’s own son, for example.

The key difference between the BoS and the legendary Round Table: King Arthur’s knights, for all their flaws and human weaknesses, are usually presented as unambiguous Good Guys. The BoS is... a little more ambiguous...

...but damn if they don’t think they're the good guys. 

A-ad victoriam, fellas!

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (January 5/2021) - The Second Festival

Today was the long-awaited, highly-anticipated, tension-filled, extremely melodramatic event full of one-liners, heartbreak, and ever-changing loyalties...

A Geoguessr stream, of course! 

I hope everyone had some fun?

---

DISC UPDATE: Dream now has “Mellohi”

---

- Fundy prepares the Festival games

- Ranboo speaks with Tubbo. Tubbo still feels like this is just history repeating itself, and he has reservations on whether it’s the right thing to do. Ranboo says he thinks it is.

- Fundy and Niki come to speak with Tubbo and Ranboo. The other guests include Puffy, Hbomb, Eret, Punz, Ponk and Jack Manifold.

- Quackity arrives. The cabinet leaves to convene at the Camarvan. They all agree that Tubbo deserves to be the one to get the kill, but...if things go wrong...Quackity takes charge.

- They stand on the podium and greet the guests. Tubbo gives a speech.

Tubbo: “Let the festival begin.”

- Afterwards, Fundy shows the guests his Ring Toss game!

- Meanwhile, Techno is at his house and speaks to Phil about his plans to attend the Festival. Tommy comes along. He wants to get the disc from Dream, and heard that Dream would be there. 

- Tommy brings out the Tubbo compass to help find him. Techno says that Tommy is worthy to wield the Axe and gives it to him. 

- Techno says if they see a chance to kill Tubbo, they should take it. Tommy protests and says they should be going for Dream, not Tubbo. 

- Meanwhile, Fundy and the others gather at the food stand for snacks! Sam has logged in.

- Tommy and Techno make it to land and stumble across the Vault, shocked and puzzled by it.

Techno: “I don’t think we’re in L’manburg anymore, Tommy...”

- Fundy has on the Butcher Army outfit and Niki confronts him about it. Tommy and Techno arrive at New L’manburg, invisible.

- Techno, still invisible, chases after Ranboo to meet with him. They meet in Purpled’s Skull Base. Ranboo tells them about Dream, and how he’d be following the laws...which means no armor.

- Dream joined the game. It’s time.

- The L’manburgians consider giving Dream a codename.

- Dream starts placing obsidian outside L’manburg

- They speak to him. He says Tommy fucked up and starts leading them somewhere...

The Community House is destroyed.

- Tommy says he didn’t do it when Techno asks, but the L’manburgians seem to believe it. Dream says that Tubbo is affiliated with the issue because he has one of the discs. Dream asks for the disc.

- Tommy can’t help it anymore and jumps into the ruins of the Community House to intervene. Techno joins the call as well.

- Tubbo agrees to hand over the disc. Tommy and Tubbo have a confrontation.

They then start to genuinely fight each other.

 Tommy: “THE DISCS WERE WORTH MORE THAN YOU EVER WERE.”

There’s a moment of silence and both of them stop.

Tommy tells Tubbo to give Mellohi to Dream. Tubbo does so.

- Tommy decides he wants to be with Tubbo. Techno is outraged that Tommy would switch sides.

- Dream tells Tubbo that he’s an idiot and reveals Ranboo’s Memory Book to Tubbo.

- Dream asks if Techno has any withers...3pm tomorrow, L’manburg is going to be destroyed. Tommy kills Tubbo’s dog.

- Dream leaves. Techno says that Tommy isn’t worthy anymore and asks for Tommy to give him back the Axe of Peace. Tommy says no...he is worthy.

- Techno leaves. He returns to his base and encounters Phil still working on his farm. Phil is confused at why Tommy hasn’t come back.

- Dream joins Techno’s call and comes over to speak about their plans. Techno leads him to his secret vault and shows him the wither skulls - though he’s hidden many of them away from sight. Dream says the plan for tomorrow is that he’ll do the destroying while it’s Techno’s job to protect him.

---

Dream: “I have one more key aspect to the plan, but I can’t tell you until tomorrow...just in case. It guarantees our victory, though.”

---

- Ghostbur joins the call and starts exposing taxes.

- Tommy rallies all of the people at the Community House into one army. Punz speaks and says that he feels that Dream has gone too far, and that he’s on L’manburg’s side.

- Sapnap speaks up. He isn’t sure if he can join L’manburg for this one, not when Dream is one of his closest friends. Tommy says he’ll speak with Sapnap one on one tomorrow. 

- Niki accuses Tommy of being the one to cause all the problems. Fundy gives a speech about how it’s “us vs. them” now, and they have to set all their personal issues aside. Tommy insists that the Community House wasn’t his fault.

- Sam asks Tommy to swear upon something he loves that the Community House wasn’t his doing. Tommy swears on Church Prime that it wasn’t him.

- Tommy goes to speak with Tubbo, but they just can’t do this right now. They’ll speak tomorrow. 

- Meanwhile, the army gathers at the Fortress. Niki is still angry at Tommy, 

- Quackity and Tubbo speak one on one. Quackity is livid about Ranboo betraying them and says he wants to see Ranboo executed.

Tubbo tells him that doing so would just be history repeating itself. They can’t do that. If he killed Ranboo, that would be treason.

Quackity tells him that he’s stepping away from L’manburg, and that Tubbo needs to put his foot down and establish some order in the country.

- Tommy sits on the bench and watches the sunset alone. There are no discs to listen to, just Minecraft music.

- Tommy speaks with Connor and evicts him from his house. Connor tells him that he doesn’t think Tommy’s a bad person, just conflicted. Connor now lives in Ninja’s old home.

- Ranboo asks why they are putting so much emphasis on sides rather than people? Eret gives a speech about the greater good. 

Ranboo points out that they’re just picking sides again.

Ponk: “It is what it is...”

- Fundy asks about the Memory Book. Ranboo gives his talk about how he picks people, not sides. Home isn’t where a country is! Conflicts should be between people, not countries.

- Tubbo gives a speech to everyone. Everyone is now standing side-by-side, gathered, united, with the common goal to save L’manburg. This is their final stand. 

Operation: Don’t Get Our Home Blown Up (DGOHBU) has begun.

- Sam reminisces about all the old times they’d had in the Community House

- Ranboo wanders off on his own. He thinks that he’s completely alone, and not even Fundy is with him anymore. Dream joins the call.

- Techno tells Phil about Tommy switching sides. He needs to get his dogs from L’manburg before Tommy tells the army about them. He says he can only trust common interest now, and he and Dream share that common interest. Phil agrees that L’manburg has caused only problems since he’s joined.

- They sneak beneath the Community House into the sewers as the army gathers above and find the dogs. They move them to a more hidden chamber.

- Fundy walks down the path on his own with his thoughts. 

- Fundy sees Technoblade running beneath the ground of L’manburg. He sneaks down through the sewers and sees Techno. Techno sees him.

Technoblade: Run.

- Fundy starts running and attempts to use his boat projection to try and keep safe, but Technoblade shoots him down all the same. He goes back to gather his stuff.

“I know he’s there....I know he’s there.”

- Fundy uses a boat to project again and sneaks down again to have another look around, but doesn’t find the hidden chamber.

- Phil and Techno panic now that everyone knows they’re there. They start running.

- Ranboo is in his obsidian shelter speaking with Dream, questioning if he really did the right thing.

- Eret cleans up at the Community House. 

- Dream points out that by not picking a side, Ranboo did pick a side.

Ranboo: “I didn’t betray anyone.” Dream: “...You betrayed everyone.”

- Dream starts telling Ranboo about all the bad things he’s done that Ranboo doesn’t even remember. That Ranboo helped blow up the Community House, didn’t he? 

Dream: “I’m not even real.”

- Ranboo is lost and confused about what to believe. He starts writing in a book again. He plays Mellohi and blacks out his screen.

- Fundy puts together a board of things he needs and monologues a lot about Technoblade while gathering resources.

---

Operation: DGOHBU will be tomorrow at 3pm

[shipcestuous-two]

I'm so glad to see all the love that My Next Life as a Villainess is getting around here! It's a delightful show even aside from the sibling shipping potential (it's the only reverse harem, or harem in general, I've ever been able to stand, partially because the characters are genuinely likable people, and it makes sense why they all like Katarina because she's best girl).

Anyway, I wanted to do a little write-up about Katarina and Keith, because they're my OTP and I figured you'd appreciate more details.  For anyone who's interested in the anime, the best episodes for them are S1E1 and the three-part "Keith Disappeared" arc (S2 eps 8-10) and the following episode (11) from late S2. You can find them on VRV and Crunchyroll, and honestly it shows both characters at their best, IMO.

The premise of the series is that, when duke's daughter Katarina is 8, she hits her head and regains the memories of her past life. In that life, she was an ordinary Japanese girl who loved otome games/dating sims, and the one that she was playing when she died was "Fortune Lover." The world she inhabits in this life has striking similarities to the Fortune Lover world, except... as the show's title suggests... in the game, the character of Katarina Claes was the villainess who only existed to bully the game's heroine, and in every ending she appeared in, she was killed or exiled.

One of the love interests in the game (for the heroine, not Katarina) was Katarina's adoptive brother/distant cousin, Keith. In the Fortune Lover timeline, he was bullied by Katarina and her mother throughout his childhood, because they believed he was his father's child via a mistress. (To be fair, there's just as strong a family resemblance between Keith and his adoptive father as there is with Katarina and her mother... which I really like, because it cements that he belongs in their family.)

In truth, he's the child of the duke's cousin (how distant isn't specified, but again--that family resemblance) and a mistress. Before living with Katarina and her family, he was also mistreated by his parents, stepbrothers, and other relatives they tried to pawn him off on. Once, he accidentally hurt his stepbrothers with his powerful earth magic, leading him to view himself as a monster.

Anyway--in his Fortune Lover "bad end," he kills Katarina to protect his love interest, while in the "good end," she's exiled and Keith leaves the Claes family to elope with the heroine. Sad stuff, but also not relevant outside of what *our* Katarina is afraid of.

Because *our* Katarina regains her memories shortly before Keith is brought into the family, and she makes it her mission to be kind to him--not just because she's afraid of being killed/exiled in the future, but also because she's always wanted a little brother and finds him very endearing. Meanwhile, he's floored by this human sunshine of a girl wanting him to be her family, spend time with him, etc. More than that, she asks him to call her "sister/nee-san," while his previous siblings wanted nothing to do with him--it's her *wanting* to be his sister that seems to make him start to fall for her. Even as kids, he looks at her like she hung the moon and it's adorable. 

Near the end of the first episode, Katarina urges Keith to show off his magic. He's reluctant, but he can't say "no" to her. His magic goes out of control and injures her, and Keith locks himself in his room, having reinforced his idea that he's a monster. Katarina begs him to come out, but he refuses, scared of hurting her again.

So this child takes an axe, and she *chops down the door to her brother's room* so she can reassure him that he's not a monster and he belongs with their family. And you can just see on Keith's face that's the moment he falls head over heels with this stubborn, huge-hearted sister of his. Can't blame him--it's iconic. (Their mom is really mad, though. Also understandable.)

So they grow up together, and after the time skip, they're both around 15. Although Katarina is slightly older, Keith is very much the mature and responsible sibling, often keeping her in line by reminding her not to eat too much or embarrass them in public. Still, it's in an affectionate way, because he's very much in love with her, even if she's oblivious to that (and the feelings of everybody else). Of the harem, he's probably the person who understands her best.

Keith spends a lot of time running interference between Katarina and her fiance Prince Geordo (whose feelings she's also oblivious to), because Geordo is much too forward for Keith's liking. So Keith tends to pop up along with Katarina anytime Geordo invites her on what's supposed to be a date, it's a running gag.

(Actually, both Keith and their mom disapprove of the engagement, their mom because Katarina would make a terrible princess. So it seems like it wouldn't be that difficult to get her on board with Keith/Kata.)

Anyway, onto the "Keith Disappeared" arc because it's great. Keith is kidnapped, but the kidnapper frames it as him running away from home because he can't handle his responsibilities anymore. Katarina assumes it's because of her, and she spends the next few episodes relentlessly searching for him. It's possibly the most serious we've seen her up to this point--because she's a habitual goofball who didn't even take her *own* kidnapping (that's another story) seriously--and it's heartbreaking how she's convinced for most of it that her beloved brother left because she was a burden.

(He was actually kidnapped in part due to one of the aforementioned bully stepbrothers, who wants revenge on him after seeing Keith and Katarina dismounting from the duke's carriage and the stepbrother realizing that Keith is living a happy life. He's a petty prick, but anyway. It's cute that he realizes this because of a scene of Keith helping his sister from the carriage, and them smiling at each other as they continue to hold hands afterward. *chefs kiss*)

She finds out he was kidnapped and, although he's being held in a mansion crawling with dangerous dark magic, she refuses to wait on backup, so she and her friends charge in to rescue him. She finds him covered in dark magic, gets absolutely distraught, and--in an unexpected BAMF moment--*rips the dark magic off him* to free him. (Between that and the axe, I'm starting to think half her best moments are Keith-motivated. Geordo who?)

Keith breaks out of the dark magic's hold with her help, and one of the moments that plays as he comes back was the moment when young Katarina told him that he could call her "nee-san/sister" (because again, her seeing him as true family was what made him love her). He sees Katarina, and--convinced he's still dreaming--he finally kisses her... in front of her fiance, might I add. Naturally, she's taken entirely off guard (because oblivious).

After that, he promptly passes out again. They do have another moment later in the episode, where she rushes to his room upon hearing he woke up and basically lays on top of him in his bed because she's so happy he's okay, until they both freak out and blush upon remembering he kissed her and it wasn't a dream. She rationalizes it by saying he mistook her for someone he loves and she'll forget about it, but he says he doesn't want her to forget because it was his first kiss with the one he loves and he confesses his feelings.

(Then the rest of the harem bursts in before she gets a chance to react. Which sucks, but he *does* kinda deserve it after cockblocking Geordo about 500 times, lol)

The next episode, S2E12, is the penultimate ep of the season, which is the most recent season of the anime as of writing this. (I haven't read the main manga or light novel yet, unfortunately.) The Claes siblings dance together at their graduation party, and Keith worries that Geordo might try to seduce Katarina (more than usual) at the group's sleepover. The idea worries her, so he gives her advice on how to avoid it--like don't let herself be lured places by sweets. Their dynamic is just really cute.

There's a controversial bit later in the episode where Katarina visits Keith in his room on her way to the girl's sleepover, wanting to show off her new pajamas to him, even undoing her robe to do so. (Even after the kiss, she's so comfortable around him. It's cute.) He points out that he already had the maid go back to her room, so they're alone together right now. She doesn't get it, so he ends up half-pinning her to the bed.

He says he's been trying to act normal to keep her from being uncomfortable--and she thanks him--but he says he wants her to be more aware of him, and how if she goes into a man's room in her pajamas at night, "you can't complain no matter what he does to you."

I get why people don't like what he says in this scene, but in the context of the show--where he was just worrying about her naivete about Geordo in the previous scene--I think he is legitimately trying to warn her about people misinterpreting her behavior. After all, after he says this, he just kisses her on the forehead and lets her get back up, saying that Keith can settle for just that, but Geordo wouldn't. Then, he yeets her out of his room, leaving her dazed.

So that's the meat of the anime--and like I said, I haven't read the main manga yet--but there's a spinoff manga called "On the Verge of Doom" which I think puts an interesting spin on their relationship. It's a lot more similar to the original Fortune Lover timeline up until the siblings are about 15: Katarina didn't regain her memories yet, so she and her mother have been cruel to Keith. As a result, he became a playboy in an effort to get affection, while resenting Katarina.

She gets her memories back at 15, which is right before all the bad stuff in the Fortune Lover timeline would've happened, so she basically has to speedrun getting everyone on her side to avoid... well... her doom.

A lot of the characters are won over pretty easily, but Keith is the first to show a lot of resistance to it. Understandable, since from his perspective, Katarina has bullied him for nearly a decade, and suddenly she claims she wants to be his family and is acting kind? He flips out when she calls him her little brother, and remains aloof for a while in the face of her kindness, because he isn't sure yet if it's sincere or just another form of bullying. He hopes she means it but is hesitant to trust her, and instead of the doting little brother of the anime, he's kind of tsundere toward her, which is fun.

When she gets kidnapped in this timeline, he rushes to help her. After, she offers to renounce her place in the nobility to atone for how she's behaved in the past, and he realizes if not for her, he would never have known true family, and he realizes he loves her.

There are also other spinoffs, some of which have more Keith/Katarina content. I haven't played Hamefura Pirates for example, but I've seen some CGs and they're adorable.

(For real, just google image search "keith x katarina" and you'll find lots of cute stuff. I tried to include pics in this submission but it kept denying my request for some reason... T_T)

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to fill you all in with more details about this adorable ship! Hope this inspired more people to ship them <3

//

Thank you so much for writing all of this up. I have wanted to know more about this anime (/manga) and I'm sure others have to and now I feel like I have a really good understanding of what it's about and why Katarina and Keith is such a good ship. I love that there's a sweetness there, complicated by the Fortune Lover "reality", and that the most recent episodes include some of the best content for them.

I'm also very interested in On The Verge Of Doom, which sounds very much up my alley.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 274 “Obsession”

So this chapter is mostly a chapter that works to expose stuff except the most important one.

Come on, Sugimoto, let us know what you know about Yuusaku. We need to know. For science. No, okay, we’re just curious, that’s it.

So anyway, exposition time.

As the guys are at Sapporo station Asirpa tells them a story about an Ainu woman making beautiful red clothes. However, when her husband wore them, wet them under the rain and then rested his iron axe against them, they changed colour and turned brown.

Asirpa interprets this by saying the womans’ ‘obsession' for a perfect red colour made it delicate.

Meanwhile we see Shiraishi walking away from the bottle-mobile carrying Asirpa’s things. Now, okay, Asirpa has just lived a traumatic experience but I’m not really fond of how they turned Shiraishi into the boy that carries the luggage. Whatever, as he walks away he looks back at Boutarou’s corpse still in the bottle-mobile, thanking him, acknowledging him as the king ‘Thank you, king’.

In a way it’s important, as Shiraishi has never taken seriously Boutarou’s dream yet he now validates it, he can recognize its importance and the fact Boutarou lived to fulfil it… and, it’s possible, in a way he inherits it, he inherits the fact he’ll pass Boutarou’s memory on, so as not to let him die out completely.

On another note… I hope he didn’t have to skin him.

I would get the sense of it, how he might want to be the one to take care of it because Boutarou was his friend and saved his life but… I think skinning a person has also a damaging psychological effect so I don’t want this to happen to Shiraishi.

Anyway Asirpa goes on and remembers when Boutarou and Kadokura died the wet skins touched the metal stove, they changed colour.

So although @okapimstari​ was so kind to point out to me how the boiler should have been made in copper… well, evidently Noda took artistic licence and made it in iron. Or did they use iron stoves in the past?

No idea, anyway Asirpa noticed how one of the skins touching it has turned black while another hasn’t, which was what I expected for that scene to meant originally

Anyway Asirpa points out how Sugimoto uses alum to tan the skins and Nagakura confirms they do as well so Asirpa suggests Edogai instead used another method to tan the skin, basically guessing Edogai uses tannins from a spiketail plant, which would match with what Kumagishi suggested, that Edogai wanted to make fake skins that were better than the original.

At this point we see they had placed 6 skins on the rails, under the rain.

And here things can become troublesome.

Likely of whose 6 skins, 5 are the ones Ariko brought back. The last skin should be the one that Hijikata found in Edogai’s house. But Hijikata also had another fake skin, the one he got from the oil seller. When Asirpa figures out that, among those 6 skins, the skins that didn’t follow the rules were fake but that she has 2 who follow the rules...

...she, Nagakura and Co, instead than praising Tsurumi for his guts, should have realized this means there were 2 MORE FAKE SKINS UNACCOUNTED FOR and should have checked the other skins whose provenience they weren’t sure so that they would have figured out the oil seller skin is fake too.

The fact that a fake skin could still follow the rules isn’t so hard to figure out, after all, as Edogai was writing Kanji at random and could pick some which would fit.

But whatever, maybe they’ll realized they’ve to check those skins too and it will be revealed in the volume version… or they just didn’t try this method on the skin which already changed colour (but in this case why they didn’t test Ogata’s skin as well? Asirpa doubted it too)... or they’ll have troubles solving the code until they realize which can make for a more interesting plot. We’ll see.

Anyway Asirpa reveals that the key to solve the code is her father’s Ainu name ‘Horkew Oskoni’.

She gets such a sad look as she say so I feel bad for her.

Sugimoto comments it makes sense as what he realized in Karafuto was that some of the kanji on the skins shared the same sound when one would read them…

...and I facepalm here because this is irrelevant.

I mean, Wilk could very well insert in the skins kanji that read ‘pa’ 14 times and this would mean nothing because ‘pa’ isn’t the right kanji.

Either Wilk had been cautious to repeat only the kanji that could be read as his name… which gave people an additional way to figure out the code should they not know his name, or he mixed them all at random so that who didn’t know the key couldn’t say ‘okay, let’s consider all the kanji that sound the same and assume they’re the one which are relevant and discharge the others’ and then started a game of scrabble to see which word they could form with them so as to backtrack the key. But whatever, let’s let this slide.

Shiraishi, hearing how the name means “to catch up with the wolves” figures Asirpa remembered thanks to Kiro, another of Shiraishi’s friends who died in this gold hunt.

I wonder if Shiraishi is going to have a more relevant role in future developments since all this clearly affected him.

We’re shown a panel in which Sofia, Hijikata and Nagakura talk. I do wonder if Hijikata knows Russia or if Sofia is using her broken Japanese to talk with him but whatever, they’re probably coming to an agreement or some sort of allegiance.

Meanwhile Asirpa answers to Ushiyama’s question confirming she told Tsurumi about the code, the visual giving us an image of Tsurumi rolling above the fake skins under Tsukishima’s eyes. Really, Tsukishima, wake up, this is not a normal man you should follow.

Ushiyama points out they’ve to hurry so Sugimoto says they’ve to bet on the info Boutarou gave them about the place in which the Ainu gathered the gold long ago, so they should solve the code while going there, as the new hideout is likely near it.

To go there they decide to take the train.

There’s a panel showing they’re reached by Kantarou, Toni Anji, Kirawus and Kadokura before getting aboard the train. As Ogata, in the previous chapter, noticed Kirawus and Kadokura, I wonder if he is merely tailing them or he even went so far as talking with them.

We’ll see.

Anyway, once aboard the train, Hijikata points out they need a spot in which they can spread the skins so they can work on solving the code. Shiraishi points out the first class is perfect for that.

A first class passenger though, in a bit of a rude fashion, take in their poor look and warns them they’ve to hurry back to the third class.

Now… Hijikata usually has plenty of money so maybe he bought them tickets for the first class… but since they didn’t march straight to it but considered the third class I’m not so sure.

So, although the guy was rude with them, I don’t find particularly funny how Sugimoto just grabbed him and suck him out of the wagon in order to take possession of the first class wagon, and this stay true even if Hijikata is willing to pay the extra for a first class ticket for all of them.

He doesn’t own the train and that guy, albeit clearly rude, paid for the ticket, So Sugimoto is just being a bully, worse than the over mentioned rude guy.

Anyway, as Asirpa Hijikata and Nagakura start spreading the skins in attempt to work out the solution of the code...

...Sugimoto and Shiraishi just enjoy the softness of the seats in the first class, which are like VIP seats, Sugimoto falling asleep, rocked by the train.

Due to Shiraishi’s comment though, Sugimoto ends up remembering/dreaming Kikuta, telling him he has a VIP seat for hell which makes for one hell of a bad omen for their trip...

(I think you all read in the notes how this was the litteral meaning of the sentence both Sugimoto and Kikuta said back in the past which, back then was translated as ‘rolling a red carpet for them’ because in English it justs works better)...

... anyway Kikuta tells Sugimoto due to this Sugimoto should forget about him… and about Hanazawa Yuusaku too.

‘Wasurete kure. Hanazawa Yūsaku no koto mo zenbu wasurero’

忘れてくれ。花沢勇作のことも全部忘れろ

“Forget about me. Forget everything about Hanazawa Yuusaku also.”

Kikuta is wearing civilian clothes, his hair is cut short and his face is shaven as he smokes, which, in addition to the years who went by, might explain why Sugimoto didn’t immediately recognize him.

Sugimoto also has his hair cut short and no scars.

As Sugi got his scars very early at the start of the war, this is likely PRIOR to the start of the war, maybe when Sugimoto was in Tokyo about to be recruited for it.

It’s hard to tell though, as it can be also during his wandering prior to go back to his village and discover Umeko had married… but since he’s in a city I would say it’s after he made sure he wasn’t contagious any longer.

Kikuta is from the Saitama prefecture, which borders with Tokyo, so, combining it with how Kikuta is a spy for Central, and Sugimoto is from Kanagawa prefecture (which also borders with Tokyo) and got enlisted in the Tokyo Division, it makes sense he might be in the Tokyo area.

Now… the implications of the discussions are that Kikuta did something for Sugimoto that might have put the latter in troubles since the two seem to be in good relations and yet Kikuta urges him to forget about him, as if to say ‘do not care about what could happen to me, I’m a bad guy and I’ll end up in hell’.

Kikuta then suggests to Sugimoto to forget about Hanazawa Yuusaku, which, in case someone has forgotten, is the name of Ogata’s half-brother… which prior to the war should have been in the Imperial Japanese Army Academy which, again, is located in Tokyo so yeah, I’ll say they should be in Tokyo.

So what’s the connection between Yuusaku and Sugimoto?

In all of Ogata’s memories Yuusaku was presented as a model boy, a good boy, DESPITE BEING HANAZAWA’S SON AND HANAZAWA BEING A JERK.

Ogata assumes his nice disposition is due to being raised with love by loving parents.

Now, it can be that Yuusaku did something nice for Sugimoto but still Kikuta is urging him to forget Yuusaku.

It would match with the Yuusaku we knew up till now, who’s a nice boy… but I somehow don’t get this wibe from this conversation.

SO, REALLY CRAZY THEORIZING TIME UP, CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED YOU’RE ABOUT TO ENTER IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE!

Back in the far past, Sugimoto suggested Suzukawa should disguise as a high ranking officer from a division in Tokyo and Ogata shoot down that idea, saying that the higher you to in the army, the better everyone knows each other so they would see right through a fake high-ranking officer. He said so looking down, as if he had experienced something similar and, back then, many had wondered which could be the story behind this.

So what if the story behind this is that the Yuusaku he met actually wasn’t the real Yuusaku?

Please, follow me in this crazy theory.

Let’s assume something happened to Yuusaku, be it that he died or that he decided he’s not up for going to war with all that high mortality rate and escaped.

Depending on what happened to him, it can be that, in order not to lose face, either Hanazawa or Tsurumi covered up his death and replaced him.

It might explain why Yuusaku doesn’t seem to look at all like Hanazawa, down to his nose who looks more like Kikuta’s than Hanazawa.

But the trick would be quickly discovered should Yuusaku interact with higher ups.

So Yuusaku instead tries to spend all his time with the lower ranking soldiers. If the trick is staged by Tsurumi, it might be Tsurumi himself which instructed him to use as excuse to hand with the lower ranks, Ogata. Ogata doesn’t know ‘Yuusaku’ isn’t actually his brother, while the poor ‘Yuusaku’ just obeys to all the instructions given to him by who had placed him there. This might be why his explanation about why he shouldn’t kill people felt disconnected, not like it wouldn’t match what Hanazawa would tell him, and a bit hollow, as if he hadn’t had a lifetime to make it his own.

I mean, Hanazawa would want his son to become a great soldier like him, and kill people. He didn’t act like he cared about his troops (or anyone for the matter) so why should he care about them feeling guilt?

I think the stand in Yuusaku might have been a kind person, he might have been genuine in how he reached for Ogata, telling him it wasn’t possible he weren’t to feel guilt, maybe he even regretted tricking him.

But the stand in is set up to be killed.

He has to.

Partly because he would be eventually recognized as a stand in should he interact with the higher ups, partly because Tsurumi, by manipulating Ogata into killing him, basically breaks whatever kindness remained in Ogata that pushed him to feel sympathy for Koito’s situation in a way similar to how he broke Tsukishima as well as any loyalty he might feel for Hanazawa when the latter won’t care about searching him.

And Ogata might have discovered he killed the ‘wrong’ Yuusaku after he killed Hanazawa. Hanazawa had a Yuusaku portrait. Ogata might have discovered the face on it didn’t match with the one of the Yuusaku he killed.

And if that fake Yuusaku were tied to Kikuta somehow this would make it for an even more interesting situation, because it’s implied that Ogata and Kikuta are supposedly working together, but Ogata was nervous when he met Kikuta and felt the need to pat his head as Kikuta walked past him… and Usami was so kind to tattle out how Ogata was the one behind Yuusaku’s murder.

And Ogata probably now regrets murdering ‘Yuusaku’ also because that Yuusaku wasn’t the real deal and didn’t deserve it at all.

Also if the REAL Yuusaku looked like Hanazawa, he would have looked like Ogata too… and if he did something that upset Sugimoto this might explain Sugimoto’s initial hostility to Ogata as he subconsciously saw REAL Yuusaku in Ogata.

Okay, so this is the end for this really CRAZY THEORY TIME.

I’m probably off track big time and this is just insane theory time but it would explain some things nicely.

Anyway we’ll see if Noda will develop more the initial scene, telling us about Yuusaku from Sugimoto’s point of view, finally showing us his face.

Thank you for staying with me along my insanity and let’s wait for the next chapter!