#not like whole cloth inventing scenes that didn't even happen!

[monstersinthecosmos]

gotta stop checking tumblr before I have caffeine because all my principles fly out the window and i feel like i'm gonna start being an obnoxious asshole when i see people citing events in their book posts that literally did not happen :SOB:

[tiffany-loves-broadway]

Miscellaneous Infinity Train Fan Cars

@lakesbian You said you were interested in these, so here goes - the full set of Infinity Train fan cars I made. I made these nineteen cars for five different passengers in all, mixed in with canon cars and a fan car a friend made.

The Alphabetized Car is a car with a wide assortment of miscellaneous items that are all tagged and neatly sorted in alphabetical order. Featureless denizens occasionally manifest to maintain the car's organizational system, and to tag and add inexplicable new shipments of junk. If you come across them, you can help them with their work, but there is a continuous hazard of being identified as an item that belongs in the car and tagged. If this happens to you, you can wait for them to leave and then escape, but the tag does not come off.

The Murder Mystery Dinner Car is exactly what it says it is; it's a fancy dining room where a fair play whodunnit murder mystery plays out and you need to solve it to leave. The murders aren't 100% real; everything has a very staged feel to it, like it's self-consciously a show being put on for the benefit of the passengers. A relatively common source of companion denizens.

The Back On Earth Car briefly makes it seem like you have escaped from the train and are, in fact, back on Earth. You quickly realize that you're like a ghost and can't be perceived or interact with anything, though. The visions this car gives you of Earth aren't perfectly reliable, although it isn't just making them up out of whole cloth, so it can be kind of hard to disentangle. The car generally directs you towards scenes of people worrying about you, missing you, and assuming you're probably dead.

The Conspiracy Car is a windy void that manifests your thoughts in real time as scraps of paper with images and text, hanging and connected by red strings; more relevant thoughts manifest come closer to you and less relevant thoughts pull away. As you play around with it, it begins to subtly insinuate itself into this process to alter your thinking, first by improving it and generating useful insights that you wouldn't have thought of yourself, and then by making you paranoid and despondent. If you get caught up in this and stay put for too long, the car will ensnare you in this web and consume you.

The Maid's Car is a room featuring a two-foot-tall denizen with a jellybean for a head, wearing a maid outfit; when met, she is usually cleaning up a pile of spilled jellybeans from some unspecified incident. She is a very frequent companion denizen, and is extremely experienced as such; she's something of a foil to Lake, being very comfortable in her assigned role. Even as it's grown routine over the years, even with its ups and downs, she thinks of acting as a companion for passengers as her purpose, and the idea of casting off the denizen role and leaving the train is unthinkable.

The Biplane Car requires you to fly a biplane from the entrance to the exit. It's set up so that you'll have an argument with your companion that will distract you from flying the plane.

The Henry Car introduces you to Henry, a psychic, shapeshifting denizen who appears human, and will try to follow you on your journey, much like Perry. You will remember that Henry has been accompanying you throughout much of the train, but this will be false. You will remember knowing and liking Henry on Earth, but this will be false. Henry is basically malevolent in nature, and will be a burden on you at best; the sooner you realize something's up and dispel him, the better. (Worth The Candle didn't invent this general concept, but the name Henry is a reference to its use of it.)

The Apocalypse Car is kind of a counterpart to the Back On Earth Car. It takes you through a distorted, fake version of Earth where something is horribly wrong, and all the people are missing or dead. It's unclear exactly what happened, but you get the sickening feeling that it's a plausible future somehow.

The D&D Car is just a fun cute little car with a group of denizens who want you to join their TTRPG campaign, which the car helps produce dramatic visual aids for. It's very easy to spend too long there, if you're the type to go for that and you aren't too concerned with making forward progress through the train.

The Airport Car is arguably a utility car, which denizens can use to return to their home car. (Passengers can technically also use it in the same way, but you can't control where it sends you and it only sends you elsewhere on the train, so it'll actually just send you to a random car.) Its real purpose is to divest you of a companion - it shows up when your companion is getting tired of being your companion and you need a teary-eyed airport goodbye where you try to convince them to stay.

The Motel Car is a seedy motel where you need to do a chain of fetch quests for assorted primate denizens to get the key for the exit. A very tedious car even if done exactly correctly.

The Marathon Car is a car designed to exhaust you. The path through it is very clearly marked; it's simply a very long way from the entrance to the exit. It has a racing theme to it, but thankfully no actual time limit; you'll definitely need to pace yourself. Expect to spend at least a day here.

The Vivisection Car is a hospital ward with a large and horrifying betentacled denizen who, driven by curiosity, will attempt to surgically take apart any living thing it encounters.

The City Of Cards Car is a city made of cards, inhabited by little card people. The whole city is extremely delicate and will collapse if not treated with great care, at which point you have pissed off all the local denizens, who will need to rebuild it.

The Nuclear Test Site Car is a little '50s Americana town, eerily devoid of life. There is a heavily-armored observational building near the exit, where a passenger poking around is likely to set off a nuclear bomb that destroys the town.

The Folsom Prison Blues Car is a car that is a prison, inhabited by both guard denizens and prisoner denizens. Passengers will generally be identified as a prisoner, and the guards will refuse to allow them to leave the car - even treating a passenger's number falling as an escape attempt to be punished.

The Survivor Car features a mid-sized group of denizens (one or two dozen) who are collectively quite unpleasant. When a passenger arrives, the group will begin voting at regular intervals as to who should be kicked out. The Survivor Car's denizens treat this fate as especially unpleasant, like they're being sent to their deaths; however, they're just playing it up as part of the game, and getting voted out is in fact the only way for a passenger to leave the Survivor Car. The longer you manage to politically maneuver yourself into staying on the Survivor Car, the likelier you are to wind up stuck on it as its newest permanent denizen.

The Elephant Car has a society of mouse-like denizens milling about chatting with one another, totally ignoring a large elephant standing in the middle of the car. It's a bit of a Rorschach test, and if the passenger acknowledges the elephant, the results are a coinflip - sometimes the elephant is a grave taboo that the passenger will be chased out of the car for violating, and sometimes the passenger will be lauded for bravely speaking up where no one else would, making the elephant feel welcome, etc.

The Grand Theft Auto Car is set in a stereotypically/unrealistically crime-ridden modern city; passengers must navigate, Scylla-and-Charybdis-style, a complex gang war between several factions to get through.

[autumnmobile12]

Was Once A Princess

My concept art of Zamfir before Dracula’s attack on Târgoviște. (A little bit more Germanic clothing than it should be and it's the wrong time period...) I used Anne of Cleves as inspiration for the top left one.

Awhile back, I made a post about Zamfir, specifically speculating on Sypha’s line of asking if she was the ‘last person of noble birth left alive’ when everything went to hell. Due to her...devotion, I guess, to the royals, I like to play with the idea she was the daughter of the dead Prince. This would explain how she found herself at the head of the capital's guerilla resistance force.

What I imagine happened was after Dracula's castle landed in the heart of the city and the place became overrun with demons, the court fractured into at least two groups: Zamfir's underground faction and a faction that gave up Târgoviște as lost, fled south, and established a new court in Bucharest. (Historically, Wallachia's capital did move from Târgoviște to Bucharest around this time.) For a little bit of context, the Wallachian throne had been contested by the Dănești and Drăculești branches of the ruling family since 1420, some 56 years before Castlevania takes place. So if the reigning monarch were to die, the boyar lords would not have hesitated to flock to the next viable option. Zamfir, on the other hand, seemed to have the people of the Underground Court pretty convinced the royals were alive and well, so they may have been doggedly believing her promises and clinging to the old regime.

Due to the hostile environment of the court, Zamfir was probably already deeply disturbed before Dracula's attack. If she was the Prince's daughter, she's living a world where her father could be at any time deposed, either by his own people or by an outside force, or even betrayed and murdered by his own family members. As a woman, she wouldn't be able to present herself as a claimant to the throne and so would not be in danger of being murdered as a political rival, but the sudden loss of her father would still threaten her already tenuous place of safety. Her madness didn't start with Dracula; he probably just finished what the Wallachian political scene started.

...

As to the identity of dead prince himself, he can only be Vlad III Dracula or Basarab Laiotă and at the same time, it's impossible for him to be either. It's unlikely the prince has the same name as the vampire and Basarab Laiotă doesn't die until 1480.

To reconcile this, I'm calling the reigning prince Dan III because Dan III did not exist and is often confused by historians with Vladislav II, who may have simply used the name as an alias. (Ever misunderstand something so bad that you accidentally invent a whole-ass dude?)

...

Another thing of note is Zamfir is a Romanian surname that denotes a jeweler, not a given name. With this information, she's neither a Dănești or a Drăculești, but she could be an illegitimate child of the prince. Illegitimate children in Wallachia didn’t have the same status as they did in the west.  Any one of a man’s sons had the opportunity to inherit. The daughters were another story, but the Prince still could technically acknowledge her as his if he chose.

[lotus-mirage]

Trigun Stampede Episode 12 Liveblog!

I think the best way to express what I'm feeling going into this is just like *shaky thumbs up*

Oh that's funny they have Western style music in the background as they discuss the genre. Also what one of the genres of the show may or may not be. Speaking of characters applying themes to themselves lol.

Also wow! We get to look at the spaceships. I'm pretty sure that's more ships than crashed onto the planet?

"Maybe you two are gifts sent by God to act as a bridge between humans and plants." I honestly don't know how to feel about this? I think this is the first time we've seen a religious character that has practiced something presumably similar to something current rather than a space sci-fi offshoot.

...does the growing humanoid form of roots and flowers resemble Rem??

oh and there's Wolfwood. Hi, Wolfwood. What do you think is happening right now.

"It's the end of the world." Okay, question answered. I guess that's what Wolfwood thinks is happening right now.

"...he will connect directly with the plant core" okay so it is singular? And specific to Plants? Or are there multiple for different beings?

That's.... okay he's not actually giving souls to the pre-existing plants, he's using them to create new, separate Independents. That's worse?? Not only is he not doing anything for his existing "brethren" but instead forcing them to... give birth or the equivalent.

"Then he will wipe out humanity and create a new world." I thought your whole thing was preserving humanity?? Unless you think the human/plant hybrids accomplish that.

Sorry do we have to keep zooming in on the very pregnant looking plants? Incredibly uncomfortable rn

The effect on Vash's clothes and glasses is also a little uncomfortable tbf, but less viscerally so

Oh neat the score is echoing the singing!! That's cool.

Knives' vocals overlapping and being so dissonant emotionally is also really cool

very engrossed in the fight scene, but jotting down: he hesitated in reloading the gun. oof.

yeah actually I have no complaints about Meryl not being involved in action scenes the last few episodes. She is very outclassed in these fights. :0

Lmao Wolfwood shows up and immediately starts lugging her around. I love the constant physical comedy with these guys.

"You can bet they'll hunt us down in a frenzy!" meanwhile Wolfwood and Meryl are frantically scrambling away

also I didn't comment on it earlier but lmao Knives' single wing (wait. wait does that have actual biblical connections or is that just a ff7 invention. I'm realizing I have no idea. Oops.)

oh lol now Vash has one. Although it looks a little less traditional. I vote it still counts?

Oooh, they're blaming him. Understandable, but I bet that's gonna be a source of trauma in the future.

Oh wait note they're doing a white/black color scheme. Neat.

Nice and now their wings are framing their positions.

Oh and now they're falling angels. Okay I know these are very surface level observations but I'm having fun and don't have much to say about the fight otherwise haha

Oh nvm, "Nai is dead. You killed him." also gonna be very traumatizing for Vash sometime in the near future! Wonderful. Why are you traumatizing your twin further while actively being incinerated??

wgghhhhh I didn't expect to see the flesh like. melting. yikes.

(Knives' hair is incredibly resilient lol)

...okay I don't actually trust that he's not dead yet tbh.

Yup and there's the explosion.

Oh. Oh that's more of a 'and everybody got vaporized,' huh.

!! The top of the tower actually flew off! I kinda forgot about it in the fight. Huh!!

TWO YEARS!?

(also: titlecard! not as late as say last episodes, but still markedly later than standard)

"third city of JuLai" wait there's multiple?

huh. They changed Vash's arrest conditions. I'm honestly surprised that 'alive' is even still an option. also surprised that they know he was involved at all.

also yay echoing the first episode a little, nice.

:O "gaping crater" indeed

ah yet another cross huh. I guess this makes more sense as a gravestone for Roberto, though.

!! Zazie!?

"Very soon, they'll arrive, crossing over the wall of light." Okay!! Ominous! Both in subject matter and who the warning is coming from.

From EARTH??

eyyyy Milly (Millie?) finally getting namedropped

huh. That's a lot of blood. This isn't the same place as the first episodes, right?

Eriks, huh? <- suspicious and mostly sure of my assumption

Moon? Moon?????

Oh it's the credits backdrop, okay.

...end credits!

"Project Pieces of Earth now entering phase two." ...implying that this was a) according to plan and b) being monitored????

"drain gate" doesn't seem to fit with Vash's deal. interesting. draining from the gate, or something else?

Oh. Okay so they weren't monitoring the planet and the situation there, they were monitoring something else?? Okay that's more interesting actually.

End notes:

Okay well that was a ride! I'm having trouble trying to round this off so I guess I'll just categorize as usual.

The animation/visuals really impressed me for the most part! And to be fair, the times where it didn't could be chalked up to intentional choices, rather than lack of skill or technology. Background was also really cool! Stuck out a few times, but usually in a fun way.

I can't really think of anything to say about the characters or plot tbh, I think I kinda got everything in the liveblog section itself. Eager to see where both go, and thus kind of unsure whether or not I should unfilter the trigun tag yet lol.

Other than that, hmm. Don't really have a favorite among the characters, but I really enjoy Wolfwood's interactions with both Vash and Meryl. Moreso in the fun-to-pick-at dialogue for the former and the kind of goofy back and forth for the latter.

For other semi-core characters, I guess the only one I'm not really interested in is the doctor/priest guy. I think every episode we see him in I get more confused by him. Like. What is he doing? Why is he allowed to do that? How can he do it? Why does he think that's a good idea? It feels like the answer to those were in a state of constant flux near the end there.

On an overall/series level: had a lot of fun with this! Might try out the '98 series, but I don't know if I'll liveblog it (or at least the same way) given that I've seen a bunch of the plot already. Although I've heard it is rather different, so I guess that's subject to change.

[daffenger]

iwtv chapter 5 thoughts like WAH !!!

Louis' nursing on Rashid at the beginning of the episode, Rashid talking for Louis, Rashid & Daniel's weird blood taste stand-off ! WAH !

Daniel basically being here to chronicle Louis' last words (acc. to Rashid) ! WAH !!!

Claudia, wahhh :,0 she's just so so so good. i was pleasantly surprised that they didn't have her just go the mad vampire route. she was for a bit (& i supported her!), & then getting out of the stifling hotbed of resentment of rue royale & exploring the world allowed her to grow up & clear her mind (not talking about *that* bruce/killer scene to be clear).

i think one of the reasons people do the iwtv/hannibal comparison is that they have the same kind of absolutely grim, hilarious humour at times. like drunk claudia having to get rid of the evidence even as the police is going through the house, and her little no no noes as she picks up the thumb in her jewellery box, the toe on her bedside table, suddenly remembers the *peeled off breast* in her drawer? and then the entire, still-breathing man in her closet !!!!?

though i had spoilers blacklisted a few text posts got through, mostly critic about critic of the episode so i had a general idea of the quote unquote unsavoury stuff, and my own grain of salt is that the fact lestat's actions don't seem un-lestaty to me (i'm leery of referring to canon-compliance as the benchmark of quality in an adaptation but book lestat does go into a dissociative state get up himself & commit atrocities, that is a thing he does). It did hurt very much to see the state of Louis. it's also interesting that daniel has been calling out the relationship as unbalanced and toxic in a way that seemed confrontational/didn't fit with louis' vision of it, and then we get to this part and like. it seems like louis wanted to tell the story as he saw it, not as informed by what happened later, and daniel could see the seeds already. which makes it look in turn as if it as louis blinding himself vs the relationship taking a sudden sour turn.

the part where louis called to claudia, telling her everything was alright and to stay where she was -- i imagine he was talking to her in her mind, trying to keep her away from danger...? the louis & claudia relation breaks my whole heart every time :,o him calling to her so loud & for so long that he draws other vampires to their territory...!

ALSO one thing i really love in the 1994 movie is when it shifts into the horror genre--when lestat comes back after they buried him in the bayou, with jumpscares & all. & in the show when he floats back down slowly in the background as claudia is crying over louis. when he stands like a gargoyle with his black black eyes. same vibes. shifting narration, shifting genres...

I've been thinking that it's a bit difficult to know what exactly Louis said in the first interview, bc the basic blocks of this version have changed so much. I don't think we're supposed to believe Louis passed himself as an 18th century plantation/slave owner, invented the character of Lestat's old father whole-cloth, or made Claudia out to be younger than she was, etc. but we must understand that he did lie about Claudia's psychology, & her leaving the house for years ? or did he talk about it without going into the details or why or how long, etc.

[sassanoe]

Love at first fright - Thomas Sharpe

Masterlist

-Is a slight Marvel crossover. The main character is the younger sister of Tony Stark, the only real crossover with this.-

Thomas and Lucille Sharpe have been dead for over 100 years. Allerdale Hall had been untouched all this time. Though now there is a young woman who bought the house, unknowing of the ghost that will come with it. She is a smart, independent woman who just wanted a side project and a break from her busy life. Well, she will be getting a break, just not the kind she hoped.

The flight to Allerdale Hall took forever.“Tony, did you have to come with me?” She said, “Well, your suit I mean.” She huffed not liking that her brother sent his suit with her. “I am not a child anymore, it's an old house. What, do you think a ghost will bully me?” She sassed the suit. “No, this just helps me to feel better, should something happen you will be safe.” He responded with just as much an attitude as his sister. “I am also sending the suit so that no men bother you. You are twenty-two, a Stark, and a billionaire, little sister. I don’t exactly want anything to happen to you. Who else will yell at me?” She giggled “Literally everyone, Tony.” “It’s not the same little sister.” He chuckled. “I’ll call you later, I’m pulling into the drive now. Looks like a crime scene, here.” “Well stay safe, I love you.” “I love you too, Tony.” She smiled and hung up.

Thomas stood looking out the window at the path leading to the house. A strange contraption coming up with a woman with strange clothing getting out of the said contraption. He hoped she wasn’t coming in here, but he knew she was. Lucille will not be happy with a woman in the house. He watched as she pulled out a key then the main doors opened. He floated down to watch quietly as the young woman walked in “F.R.I.D.A.Y. Do a scan of the house and area, please. I would like to have a blueprint of the house.” A metal man came flying in going through the whole house scanning everything. Before it came back and landed next to the mystery woman again. “Miss Stark, everything has been scanned as well I sent the information to your brother.” “Thank you, F.R.I.D.A.Y.”  Thomas stayed in the shadows watching quietly.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., how long will it take to restore the home with some tech improvement?" She asked, "Should take but a month using the equipment we came with." The metal thing responded. "Perfect." Taking off her jacket, she set it on the arm of the suit. She looked around them and smiled "A perfect project. My bags, please."  Thomas smiled slightly, she was very pretty though her clothes were strange. The suit went out to retrieve her things, then followed her up the stairs. He followed behind quietly as she kept walking until she selected a room. He watched as she started to clean it with the help of the A.I. She smiled and started pulling open drawers.

 "Thomas Sharpe." He froze. Did she know he was there, waiting for anything else he went closer to see she found his diary. "Must be the former owner of the house. F.R.I.D.A.Y. search Thomas Sharpe. I wish to know as much about the owner. It will possibly help in restoring the home to its former glory." She handed his diary to the metal man. It scanned through everything in the diary, as she went about her business. 

"Thomas Sharpe, 34 years of age, engineer, industrialist, the previous owner of Allerdale Hall. His diary reads that he was sexually involved with his sister, who killed their mother, along with killing his previous wives. They would steal his wife's money then move to the next one. His sister and he had a child that was born wrong, resulting in its death. He fell in love with a woman named Edith Cushing. He is also the creator of the machine outside. Do you wish to fix that as well?" Thomas was shocked, how had the metal thing known all of these things and read his diary. "Poor man," She sighed "Yes, I wish to fix the machine, maybe get it running better. As well, would you start repairing the home's pipes and such, along with adding better electricity, so that I will be able to charge you?" "Yes, Miss Stark." The metal man left. Thomas was shocked as all the young woman had to say was, poor man. 

“This was Thomas’s room then. I'll need to get F.R.I.D.A.Y. to order me a new mattress, bedding, and the bathroom also needs to be fixed. I didn't know the house would need this much love and care, but it will be worth it." She turned and put one of the boxes on the bed and started going through it before she started to pull off her top. Thomas looked away quickly, positive if he was still alive he would be red in the face. She walked through him to the dresser and he was even more shocked. She had on the smallest of shorts and a top that left barely anything to the imagination. Surely that was her undergarments. The metal thing came back into the room. "Y/N Y/M/N Stark!"

She groaned "Yes?" "What the hell do you think you're doing? Why didn't you make sure there was running water and such already there?" Thomas looked at the metal man confused, it sounded different now. "Because I am hard-headed much like my older brother." The metal man was her brother? There was a huff, "I'm sending my other suits to fix the house in a week you will leave then come back." "Dammit, Tony!" Thomas smiled slightly, such vulgar language for a woman. "As your older brother, I would feel better about it." She huffed "Fine, but I want to stay." "Deal." 

The metal man then left the room again. The woman he now knew as Y/N walked back down to the library. He watched as Lucille came from the darkness in the corner, as Y/N took a seat at the piano. "Leave her alone," Thomas growled to his sister. "What do you love her?" Lucille glared at him as Y/N started playing the piano. "She will not have what is mine!" Lucille yelled. Thomas broke a vase to try and make Y/N leave, but she just glanced then went back to playing. Lucille started to make the chandelier shake and fall. Thomas quickly tackled Y/N to the ground out of the way protecting her. Y/N screamed and then everything was quiet. He glared at Lucille before looking to Y/N. She was looking at him in shock. "W-Who are you?" She asked softly, scanning her eyes over his face. Lucille started to make her way towards them, Thomas quickly helped her up and brought her to her room before disappearing again. Y/N stood there shocked. "There is a ghost." She said quietly.

A week had passed, the house was in perfect condition thanks to her brother, and no ghost was to be seen. Walking back to her room she huffed she had been looking for him all day. "I can only assume you are watching me. I'm not scared. Honestly, I just wish to talk. Please?" She huffed and threw herself onto the bed. "I wonder, are you Sir Thomas Sharpe?" No response, she huffed and got up.

Unbeknownst to her, Thomas was in the room sitting on the end of the bed next to her. Over the week, he had learned many things about her and found himself falling in love. She was intelligent, and held her ground against her brother. She would tinker with all of his inventions, making them better. The thing he had come to love most was that she spoke to him even when she questioned if he was listening. She would read aloud, ask his opinion only to receive no answer. He thought it cute when she would call out that she was going to bathe or change and tell him he better not look.

He followed as she went to the attic. He never understood why she didn't have it fixed. She sat on the chair up there. Lucille hated it every time he came up here with her. "What is she doing in our room." Lucille snapped to Thomas, "Lucille, leave-" "Thomas?" The voice was soft, making him look to the woman in the chair. "You keep defending and protecting her! It can't simply be because she is alive. You love her, but you should only love me, Thomas!" Lucille growled at him. "What? Do you wish to fuck her too!" Thomas continued to ignore his sister.

"Would it be so hard for me to see you? Just once more, please?" Y/N said softly, "I truly wish to thank you for saving me. You didn't have to, but you did." Once again, she got no response. Walking over to the things on the table she gently ran her fingers across the top of the bed. "I am going to assume something major happened here."

Lucille looked to Thomas "Make her leave, or I will. I am sick of her calling your name. Speaking to you as if she loves you. She will never love you, because you are dead. I love you Thomas and that is enough." 

Y/N looked around and thought of everything F.R.I.D.A.Y. told her. She sighed something about the attic just gave her a weird feeling that was why she left it but she sighed. "This will be the next to go then." She walked through Thomas and Lucille going back down to her room. Everything in the home had been updated now having a slightly modern feel to it, because of this she was able to see what he looked like. Having read his diary and his journals for his machines she found she was intrigued by this man. She laid in the bed with a frown. "Your sister murdered you."

"She did." Y/N jumped out of her spot staring at him. "Thomas?" He nodded, and she smiled brightly. "Have you been watching over me?" He nodded again. "Oh please speak again. I would love to hear your voice." He smiled at that, "What is it you wish to hear?" She sat back on the bed with the brightest of smiles, asking him all her questions. He stayed answering every single one. Laying with her when it started to get late. She spoke to him of her brother and how she was sure the two would get along.

Months had passed, and the two had only grown closer. With their growing close, Thomas started to look like his human self. Though he was still very much a ghost. They would read together, cook, bake, and Y/N would show him how modern technology works. He learned she was a businesswoman and she learned he was not the murderer he seemed to think himself as. But, as their friendship and love grew, so did Lucille's jealousy. Many times Y/N was saved by Thomas from his sister. When they shared their first kiss Lucille ruined it.

Thomas and Y/N had been in the kitchen. She was dancing around the kitchen with him as they waited for her cookies to bake. Both seemed utterly happy. Her timer went off and Thomas was just not letting her go. She smiled and laughed struggling. "Thomas stop." She giggled breaking away. "Never." He smiled, grabbing her around the waist pulling her close. She looked up at him smiling before throwing flour in his face making her laugh hard. "Now you look as I had first seen you." He returned the favor, throwing some at her. She took the cookies out quickly before the two had continued to play around. Running around the island, he disappeared making her look around frantically.

 "Thomas?" She questioned quietly before she had flour dumped all over her. "Thomas! How could you!" She gasped before smirking and hugging him rubbing up on him returning the favor making him covered in flour. He hugged her tight so she couldn't move, making her smile. They both stared into each other's eyes leaning forward sharing a soft kiss. The room started to get colder and Thomas pulled away quickly looking to find Lucille. Right before she threw the knife Thomas pushed Y/N out of the way.

Ever since that day anything Y/N and Thomas started whether it is kissing or touching of any form something happened. "Thomas, darling. I am sick and tired of your sister. I can't even kiss you. This has been going on for months." Y/N sighed, taking a seat on the bed. Thomas frowned, "I know, and I'm sorry." She went to say something more before the A.I. went off speakers having been made into every room. "Miss Stark, your brother had received a book from Wanda for you regarding your situation, and it has arrived." She perked up "Lovely." "Darling what did you need a book for?" She looked to Thomas, "One to make you a physical and living man for but a few hours a day, along with a protection spell."

Later the same night had the two done the two spells granting Thomas life from dawn till dusk. The other spell simply being a protection spell in their room. No other worldly beings or ghosts will be able to bother them whilst the spell was in effect. "Are we sure this worked?" Thomas asked as she got up. "We are about to find out." He watched her confused as she opened the bedroom door before coming back over and pushing him onto the bed and kissing him.

He pulled away slightly, "Darling, why did you open the door?" She grinned, "I'm laying my claim." He still looked slightly confused and she continued. "If the protection spell worked your sister can't enter the bedroom. So I want to make love to you." His eyes widened, "You want her to see?" He asked, shocked "What if she hurts you once you leave the room?" Y/N smiled softly "Then we just won't be leaving the room." She smiled, making him smile in turn and kiss her.

[morimakesfanart]

Sindria's Prophet #13

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

[AO3]

((edited because I figured out to add some more history facts that I think are important))

~POV Sinbad~

"The Kou Empire, huh?"

"That is going to make things risky."

With all of the Generals caught up with what happened in Balbadd, they needed to start planning for King Sinbad's trip to the Kou Empire, as well as catching him up with everything that had happened in Sindria while he was gone.

"LadY YamuRAI H AA AA A" A yell came from the hallway accompanied by the sounds of running.

((Sinbad is hidden on the left. There's a hint of him poking out.))

A panting magician gave apologies for disturbing their meeting and ran to the head of Sindria's magicians. "I wish I knew you were here so I didn't search the tower first~" Then he started explaining about some magical proof. Most of his words sounded like gibberish to the rest, but it was clear that he had made some kind of break though.

Yam jumped out of her seat. "How did you finally figure it out?! Who figured it out?!" She whipped her head to her King, "Sorry your majesty," and then looked back to the other magician.

"It was the work of the Prophet!” the magician answered. "We were talking about her illness and she pulled out scrolls that- you just have to read them for yourself!”

Mori had said that she had written other scrolls before she started coping down Fate. This must have been what she was working on.

Both magicians bowed out to go test out this new information. Before they could leave, Sinbad ended the meeting; there was no way he was going to wait to learn what other information Mori had blessed them with. Ja'far followed as did a few of the other Generals.

When they got into the court yard, the doctors that had been sent to take care of Mori were already pushing their supply cart back to their main building. The magician that had stayed behind spotted them and raised two scrolls up triumphantly. "She let me take the scrolls!"

---

News of the scrolls written by a Prophet spread throughout the Black Libra Tower within an hour. Yamuraiha and the doctors explained their significance to King Sinbad.

If even a fraction of the theories in the scrolls proved true it would completely changed their understanding of how illnesses work. If Mori wasn't sick she would undoubtedly be swarmed with questions and demands for proof. According to the magicians, nothing in the scrolls went against any known information. Instead, they gave explanations to why certain things that had been attempted in the past had failed. What she wrote about 'cells' was what really caught the eyes of the white magicians and doctors. As an example, according to Mori's writing there were blood types and most couldn't mix; that would explain why most past attempts at blood transfusions had failed.

The 2nd scroll showed a break down of even smaller particles, and how the structures of different particles made up everything. This was going to bring alchemic magic to a whole new era. Sure, such things would most likely be limited to high magicians, group efforts, and the Magi, but it looked possible now. A lot of common magic of the current day took extreme amounts of magoi in the past because they hadn't found the right formula yet. Mori's writing -if true- could easily be used as a guide to finding the right order of commands for many spells.

And even more than that, Mori had said that she had even more information to share; she had just ran out of scrolls and ink.

Mori's presence in Sindria, and everything that went with it were Fate and the Rukh's guidance. King Sinbad could see it -the future he wanted.

---

~POV Mori~

In Sindria's Palace there is a Great Bell. It is rung during celebrations, and to signify the King returning home like it did earlier that day, but it's main use was to ring every 2 hours to tell everyone the time since clocks weren't invented yet. So even though I was a sick person trying to rest during the day, I was woken up by the Great Bell every 2 hours... which of course is also situated right on top of the guest tower.

For obvious reasons, I was awake again.

I wish I knew how the others responded to the scrolls. I really wanted to know Yam's opinion most. Those scrolls basically gave away the secret to Yunan's signature alchemy magic.

I still had the first scroll I had worked on -the one on the science behind blimps-, and the last science scroll I had started. That one was on DNA, and reproductive systems. It was the last one I started in Balbadd. I hadn't started working on it until sunrise on my 2nd sleepless night and it showed; there were missing words everywhere, many incomplete sentences, and I couldn't stay in topic.

These mistakes were too great to fix with an ink knife. Editing was going be super annoying and time consuming since I couldn't work digitally. I'd have to physically cut up the first draft to put everything in the right order before making the next one.

Wait- Did this world have scissors???

Back home the first evolution of shears that could be labeled as scissors was in Roman barber shops in the last hundred years or so before Rome fell. China would spontaneous also create something akin to scissors not long after. Reim and the Kou Empire seemed to line up with Rome and ancient China for the most part, so I tend to use them to place the time period, but the dress Princess Dunya wears is centuries off and throws all historical accuracy questions out the window. Rome was long gone by the time boning was added to women's undergarments, and that dress had all the signs of boned corsetry.

Fuck it. I'll ask for scissors and if they don't have them I'll just invent them myself. I had been drafting professionally for the past 4 years. That may have been for microelectronics, but it uses all the same skills; I could do this. I needed to get a ruler -or at least a straight edge- and a drafting compass which they probably have based on the look of maps in the series, and pencils, or at least colored inks if they had them. I probably needed to reinvent the French curve(stencil tool used in art & drafting)...

Since I was struggling to fall back asleep I moved to the table and pulled out my test scroll. It was full of random marks and some of my early drawing attempts that I used to practice with the dip pen -it's also where I wrote down the dreams from the Rukh. I'd write the list of things I needed, rip the section out of the scroll, and pass the list to someone who could get me what I was asking for. I added some living necessities too like sleep wear and a comb.

The maids that came to give me dinner, and next dose of medicine were not pleased that I wasn't in bed -I was an important guest who was sick after all. And I wasn't pleased to have to drink more of that bitter medicine, but we can't have nice things all the time, now can we?

My voices was strained but I managed to communicate enough. I gave them my list, and laundry (the clothes I wore on the boat) before they left. They'd get me the things the next day. I was instructed to sleep until someone brings me breakfast the next day... which is what I was going to do anyway since the sun was practically gone. I might be a bit of a workaholic but I'm not going to let myself pull an accidental all-nighter when I know I'm still sick. I'm far more self aware than that.

And besides, the Great Bell didn't ring at night.

---

Maids brought my breakfast (& meds) the next morning and let me know that my clothes would be cleaned and dry by the end of the day. I guess they didn't use magic for everything.

They also gave me all of the drafting and inking supplies I asked for except for scissors. In one of the omakes Sinbad was shown cutting his hair with a knife as a part of his normal grooming. I had hoped he was just old fashioned.

For the greater good and the future of my own hair care, I drafted up detailed designs for a few different types of basic scissors. They wouldn't look fancy, but hopefully I had put enough of a detailed explanation on everything for the smith to figure out what I was asking. Steel wasn't developed until the middle ages and some of the counties of this world matched that so I hoped

that God and anime were on my side. I really wanted scissors that would be a good quality.

And if that didn't work I'd just have to get used to using knives and bladed rollers like a regular person.

The Great Bell rung for 10 am. There were at least another 2 hours before someone would show up, to give lunch, that I could ask to take my draft for the scissors to a black Smith.

I should be resting as a sick person. I should be more exhausted and in pain as a sick person. What was making me recover this quickly?

I still didn't feel like laying back down, so I decided to start drafting up the materials and equipment for proving everything I had written in the scrolls I gave the previous day.

Globally, micro-organisms, viruses, and bacteria were not really accept or proved until the late 1800's. Since Magi seems to take place some time around our 100AD-1300, and Yunan hinting at chemical compounds was seen as shocking by Yam, I knew that my bio scrolls were probably causing an uproar in the Black Libra Tower. I refused to use actual people or wait for an outbreak to prove it like how it happened in history -like how John Snow proved it when finding the cause of cholera outbreaks in 1848 and 1854 England. No, I needed to show how to prove these things in a lab, and to do that I was going to need to explain how to keep samples and invent a way to see microorganisms.

First was for a glass petri dish and other containers for samples. I'd need at least 3 -preferably more. I know glass works have been around since BC, and that this world had glass windows in some scenes, but I worried about the quality of the glass contaminating the experiments. I was going to have to boil them beforehand to sterilize them anyway.

Gosh I wish I had access to nonporous, air tight containers, and a temperature controlled environment. The heat and humidity of Sindria could easily mess everything up.

Wait... I suddenly remembered a scene from the Magnostadt arc when they showed how a sample was being stored. They already had good enough glass. I knew there were magic bio experiments but I had no idea how they worked.

With the realization that I was getting ahead myself, I switched to writing about how to use the scientific method to test for germs. It was basically the bread in a bag test to teach young children about germs but with petri dishes. I also wrote about how to analyze samples with a microscope to see micro organisms so I was going to have to figure that out next.

Lunch came as the perfect break.

Just thinking about reinventing this thing made me nervous. I knew magnifying glasses existed in ancient Rome, but they would be nothing like what I was used to. I had to explain how light moves and made multiple diagrams showing how concave and convex lenses affect light as well as the material of the lens. I ended up also showing how to make a telescope even though I knew Yam already had one.

Magicians were the only ones shown with glasses. Maybe now the rest of the world could have them too.

4 o'clock came and so did 3 doctors and a magician. It was less than yesterday, but still more than necessary to treat or analyze one person. I only recognized one of the doctors from the previous day. All of the new faces looked nervous. None of them looked young by any measure, so I really doubted this was their first time treating someone.

They weren't happy to see me at the table and made me return to my bed -their loss.

The doctor from the previous day was the one doing most of the talking. "Your recovery is amazing. You will most likely be better in another 3 days at this rate if not sooner. It's practically a miracle."

I smiled. "It's pretty shocking for me too." As long as I spoke quietly and kept my comments short, I found I could talk again for a bit.

The doctor was silent for a moment before changing the subject. "I know you need rest, but would you be willing to answer a few questions about those scrolls from yesterday?

The 3 other men looked expectant. This was why they were here.

"I don't mind as long as you don't make me talk too much."

Then came the question I was expecting since I had first made the scrolls. "I know you are a Prophet and the information came from your visions but is there any way you can prove what you wrote?"

I pointed to the table with the scroll I had started earlier. "I can't prove it with the current equipment I have, so I've been drafting up the needed equipment and processes for proving it."

They all turned to look at where I was pointing.

I added, "It's not done, but you're welcome to read what I have so far."

I was thanked as they went to the table they had called me away from when they entered.

'He called it 'visions?' Really?' I had to ask Sinbad later what he was telling his people about me so I could keep the story straight.

The magician confirmed for the others what I wrote about light bending. There was magic to do that, but not everyone is a magician. I had just invented a way for non-magicians to bend light.

Just wait until I show them a prism that can split light into colors. Or teach them how light is perceived in the eye. Or even better, show them the double slit experiment that proves that light is a particle not just a wave... Did they know light was a wave yet?

"Lady Prophet."

I was pulled out of my thoughts.

"You said this isn't finished and there is plenty of space in this scroll for more, but would you let us take this back to the tower so we can get started?"

I wanted to say 'no.' I was still coming up with things to add to it, but I also knew that holding things back because I wanted to save paper was a fool's game. Besides, I could always add more to it later.

I nodded and they thanked me before making me promise not to leave my bed. They were grateful for this new scroll but not at the expense of my health -they were doctors after all.

And then they left.

It was probably about 5pm if my internal clock was on schedule, so I had about an hour before the next ring of the Bell.

Even if I wasn't a man of my word, I would have lost the motivation to work with my current project taken from me while I was still in the middle of making it.

So, I did the thing I grew up doing when I was bedridden from illness: I looked out the window. From the bed I could only see the tops of the buildings on the other side of the courtyard. The Tower that was just poking in from the left had to be the Black Libra Tower.

The waves in Sindria were calmer yet stronger than those in Balbadd. It was probably due to Sinbad's influence. He brought stability and security to his people. I could understand why so many chose to follow him or ally with him. But I knew where all this would lead. As he obtains more power and influence he will stop being able to see himself from the pedestal that he and everyone else put him on; his greed will make him blind to the wants and needs of others, and like a middle aged parent that isn't ready for their child to leave the nest he will take out his frustration on the world that was moving on without him. When Sinbad dies at the end of the manga, Drakon realizes that they all put too much on Sinbad's shoulders.

To change Fate, I was going to have to make sure I never put him on that pedestal nor rely on him for much. And I was going to have to convince the 8 Generals to do the same -or at least to start pulling more of the weight.

The 6 o'clock Bell came faster than I expected, as well as my dinner not long after. They brought my clean laundry, a sleeping gown, and some other common clothes and things for my convenience.

I would have preferred something much shorter for the night gown since I hate having a lot of extra fabric around my legs when I already have blankets. I was not going to risk being walked in on by doctors or whoever when sleeping naked, so I would make do for now.

There was no way King Sinbad wasn't going to reward me for those scrolls. If it was some kind of treasure I'd sell it and buy a new wardrobe for myself that actually suited me, and if the reward was a request then I would ask that he pay for everything directly.

The light coming in my windows changed, and I watched my 2nd sunset in Sindria.

When Sinbad found this island 10 years ago, he completely terraformed it. He didn't get rid of all of the vegetation that was here, but he did break down one of the sides to allow for easier access by boat. The side he carved out faced northish towards all of the other known countries, so no boat would have a reason to circle the island. It was a decision that would benefit the merchants and make it easier to defend.

It also meant that my windows faced west, so I could watch the Sun set every day. I couldn't help but see that as a blessing and a curse. Sure not getting the sunrise meant I'd need to put more effort into

waking up in the morning but that wasn't the part I was worried about.

See- The thing is... I have synesthesia (having 2 or more senses overlapping). I see sounds, letters, and numbers as colors and textures. I have it mild enough that I can normally block it out so it's not too distracting (thank God because music is a main stim), but sometimes I'll hear something and get overwhelmed by how it looks.

Each letter and number is a color. So every voice can make every color, but language, pitch, tone, and accent all affect the colors and textures I see from a person's voice like a filter. There have definitely been some people that I struggled to give my full attention to when I first met them because I was entranced by how their voice looked. The more I hear a person's voice the more I'm able to move its visuals to the background so I can focus -desensitizing myself to it.

Luckily, Sinbad's voice is normally not so distracting that I stop paying attention. Since it's like a merger of every voice actor I've heard play him (All the characters I had met so far were like this.) I'm already desensitized. The similarities across all of the VAs meant that his voice looked like a sunset -full of deep purples and magentas, and bright reds, peach, and gold, and with a smooth and flowing texture like painting in acrylic with a wet brush -like a painting of the last moments of a sunset.

His voice was as pretty as he was.

I hadn't actually gotten to see or hear him for a whole day. But I'd get to look at his voice's equivalent every day while living under his protection.

It was frustrating to admit -I barely knew him as a real person- yet I couldn't deny that I missed him. I feel asleep watching the sun set.

((I wasn't going to write about my synesthesia, but this is my fanfic and I thought it might be fun to reference the colors peoples voices make when the characters talk. I'm not going to paint every VA and head cannon, but I will describe them as I go. Ja'far's Japanese and English VAs have voices that look very different so finding the middle ground is proving tricky.

Also, anyone who noticed that the purple I see in Sinbad's voice is the same as the purple I've been using for the illustrations and comics is super smart and cool.))

[justxaxstrayxkid]

Ranking every outfit Nora has worn

I've rated her human names and I've ranked her vessel names. Now it is time to rank all of her outfits 10 to 1. Why am I doing this? Because I'm a sucker for pretty clothes and babygirl is a fashion icon. These are just my opinions obviously so don't take them seriously. Though I am being dead serious when I say Mizuchi invented the fashion industry. What I want people to take away from this post is that we, as a society, need to respect Mizuchi's drip. No pun intended hehe

10. Childhood Kimono

No sense calling it the childhood kimono when she's always gonna be a child but idk what else to call this. I put this fit last because it's quite basic. There's not much to talk about here. I don't have any particular feelings towards it either. I do think the pink obi is cute. Mainly cuz pink is my favorite color. Also is it just me or does the kimono look way too big on her?

9. Childhood Kimono Enhanced ver.

This is the same exact fit as the last one and it only appeared in the one-shot manga bout Rabo and Yato but I want to rank it separately because of her accessory. She's just too cute with that little bow in her hair! Don't mind me fangirling over that bow like it's a national treasure. The sandals are nice new touch too.

8. Pink Kimono

This one is only shown in anime during the flashback scene where Yato massacred the ma clan. I love this kimono because it's in my favorite shade of pink. There isn't much to say about it though. It's pretty basic so I put in this spot

7. Volume 8 Kimono

This fit appeared on the cover of volume 8 of the manga. I have to admit, this fit is kinda crazy. Like the grape (??) socks, the random checkerboard pattern, the green hiyoku, the flower pattern, the flower in her hair. It all seems very random. But I actually think it goes together well! A hot mess can sometimes turn out beautiful. I like the way she looks with a flower in her hair. Mizuchi with hair accessories equals world domination. And why tf does that ayakashi doggie have a paper crane in its mouth? That's more random than the outfit lmao.

6. Fruit bowl Kimono

This one only appeared in a colored page of the manga. Can't remember what chapter or volume it was in exactly but I think it was in beginning. This kimono is very beautiful. The pattern on it reminds me of fruit bowls lol. Babygirl rlly has the best fashion sense ever. You can't change my mind on that. And she's wearing a hair accessory here! Rejoice!

5. Boysenberry Kimono

I think the color is boysenberry but I’m not sure. My eyesight isn’t that good. So this fit is from a Kami To Enishi card. The game is discontinued but I just couldn’t not add this fit in. It’s so pretty! The color of the kimono matches her eyes which is my favorite aspect of the outfit. I think the pattern on it is supposed to be temari balls. Or maybe it's supposed to be beach balls. Of course we can’t forget to mention the bow! Tbh I don’t think it matches with the rest of the fit. But hey, it matches better than the whole volume 8 ensemble. I still like the bow and I’m glad she’s wearing it!

4. Capybara Fit

First of all, how the heck do you spell capybara? I’ve seen it spelled in 5 different ways. Second of all, I LOVE THIS FIT MORE THAN MY FUTURE CHILDREN! Seriously it’s so cute! She rocked the whole world when she put this on. I screeched when I first read the chapter this was in. That's the sheer power of this outfit.

3. Yurei Fit

Next is babygirl's classic outfit, the yurei outfit! This fit is so iconic I had to put it in the top three. I have a lot to say about it. In a way, this fit is part of the reason why I got into Noragami. Like I'm an avid horror fan and I especially love any media that has to do with yurei. Yurei are Japanese ghosts for those of you who don't know. I saw a gif of Mizuchi here on tumblr and her character design caught my eye. I thought Noragami was going to be in the horror genre because of this fit. If she wasn't wearing this fit, I probably wouldn't have become interested in Noragami at all. Thank you to the yurei fit for getting me into this amazing series. I love her personal touches to it. Like the way she wears her hitaikakushi slanted, her big obi, her gauntlets, and her hiyoku. Her hiyoku had this lil flower pattern on it in the first few chapters. That was super adorable. It's a shame she never wears it again. Yurei are usually depicted just wearing a simple white kimono and with long hair. But babygirl has her own personal touches and she has a bob cut. She is rlly out here being a trendsetter for dead people in Japan. A round of applause for this fit.

2. Flower print Kimono

Excuse the poor quality pic. You've probably figured out by now that I have a thing for flower patterns lol. That's exactly the reason why this is my second favorite outfit of hers. It's one of her more simple fits. But I think it's to die for! Pun fully intended ;) If I remember correctly, in the past, she and baby Yato stole this from someone they killed. Sorry but I find that hilarious. R.i.p to whoever this kimono belonged to. You may have been killed but you didn't die in vain because a rlly cute girl has your kimono now. I wonder if babygirl would ever pull this out of her closet and wear it again. She may not even have it anymore since the flashbacks where she wore this were like centuries before Noragami takes place. This kimono might've already become tasty grub for moths :(

1. School uniform Fit

Of course, the school uniform is first. This fit literally invented the fashion industry! No one can tell me otherwise. Words can't fathom how cute babygirl looks in this. As a school girl who's been to multiple schools with uniforms, I think I'm qualified to say that Mizuchi looks better than anyone else in a school uniform. It's not just how she looks either but also the fact that Hiyori gave it to her. That really warms my heart. This fit did so much for the world. Like I've said before, it will go down in history as one of the best things to happen in fiction.

[hms-no-fun]

what exactly do you mean when you say "june took over the direction of the story" and things like that?

oh! ok, i get what you were asking. the answer here might be kinda complicated.

the way i tend to think about writing dialog is that i'm taking pieces of myself, dressing them up in the clothes of a character, and dropping them into a scene to see how they react to one another. this isn't something i do consciously, writing is just sorta automatic for me? but this is basically how it works. anyway, sometimes it's stiff and awkward, which is how i know that my understanding of these characters isn't quite right. but other times, they practically wrest the keyboard straight out of my hands! vriska did this in gf2.1, as i didn't originally intend for that to literally be vriska in the void and for june to be a sort of cognitive fusion of two people's lives and memories, but when it happened i thought it was too interesting and had too many weird potential implications to not go with it. same with june taking jade to the battlefield and inadvertently creating harbinger silverbark.

but really, those are superlative examples of how my writing process manifests. it's the same phenomenon as when my version of dave makes a dumb joke that i decide to run with, or when karkat invents impenetrably innovative slurs. it's not that "i" as the author have given up control of the ship, or that somehow the characters in the story are literally writing themselves (though i do often describe that state as being like they're writing themselves). in the sense that all of this is happening inside my head, "i" am still totally in control of the act of writing. i just follow where the energy is and go with what feels right!

i used to really strictly outline my stories. there was a 12 book werewolf mythology cycle that i planned back in high school, i would spend hours taking notes and planning things out so that i knew the shape of the story i wanted to tell... and, invariably, all those projects stalled out. because when it came to writing the thing, i already knew what was gonna happen. there were no surprises left anymore, and i thrive on spontaneity. my favorite moments as a writer are when my characters surprise me. writing in general is just a really impulsive act, it's like a magic trick that falls apart if you think about it too much.

so, with godfeels, i have been extremely careful to outline the story only in very broad terms, and to make sure that even the spine of the thing is at least a little bit flexible. in gf3.2 for instance, i know where june will be at the start, i know where she'll be at the end, and i know pretty much all the major beats she will need to hit to get from A to B. but there are a lot of things i deliberately don't want to know until i write them, because i want to FEEL as surprised as june IS when something shocking happens.

this facet of my process is partly why gf3 has taken so long to continue, because the transition from slice-of-life to epic space opera requires that i be way more aware of the... let's call it lore of this universe. there are a lot of balls in the air all at once and it's not easy for one person to keep track of them all! which is partially why going forward i'm bringing other people on to help me finish this thing.

this is why it's important to develop an editor's instinct (or to just have an editor). homestuck fic is obviously very indulgent by nature, but i still try to polish each chapter up to 3rd or 4th draft. you want your first draft to be flexible and impulsive, and then work overtime to fix it into something that feels like it fits into a logical whole afterwards!

so no, the characters are not co-authors.

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Rebel Rebel”

Written by: Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: John Martinez, Andy Cung

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

With a rebel yell, I cried "no, no, no"!

Right from the beginning of this episode, I can tell that it was probably not a good idea to air this episode after Hustlecup. For one, it's another episode featuring the Professor in a not-so-great role. For two, while it starts in a science convention, this episode doesn’t start in the previous episode's Science-Palooza. Instead, it's just "Science Con", a name that will sadly hint at the amount of creativity this episode will have. I know that there's no continuity, but I would rather not be reminded of that.

The Professor, who can make anti-aging potions, growth rays, time-stopping hats, and time machines that only seem to affect people's clothing and personality, is about to show something amazing! He plays it up, with triumphant music playing in the background, which can only mean that it is not that impressive.

It turns out to be a data processing machine from his home lab, meant to record data from the Professor's many experiments in his home lab. The redundancy isn't entirely mine, he really emphasizes that he has a home lab. Home lab!

Nobody is impressed, not even Dr. Wendy Q. Dallen from Home, Sweet Homesick. Maybe they're just reusing the same character design since they don't clarify if it's her or not, but I'd like to think this was their attempt to make her episode's quality rub off on this one. Needless to say, it did not work.

Professor Utonium: What good is being a scientist if you can't talk science with other scientists?

Well, that's one reason to give up science and become a bumbling Sitcom Dad instead. However, it turns out a few scientists did happen to take interest in the Professor's amazing new invention, though they weren't nearly as interested in the data processing part.

Right from the bass-heavy music, one can guess that these guys are part of the Wrong Crowd(TM). That wing-haired guy even says that they're the "bad boys of science". They may as well be wearing big T-shirts saying "Hey Everyone, I'm The Bad Guy!". Knowing the Professor's Sitcom Dad-level obliviousness, I probably could suspend my disbelief for that.

Professor Utonium introduces himself to these fine upstanding young gentlemen, and these guys introduce themselves by singing their name in the style of a barbershop quartet. Sure, why not? It's funny because there's four of them. Who cares if it really doesn't fit their character and it's just completely random?

At least this fake TV show intro seems more fitting for them. They're Joe, Moe, Elbow, and Hieronymus Bass, known collectively as the Beaker Boys. The most interesting thing about this is that this scene has a narrator saying their names...and it happens to be Tom Kenny doing a slightly deeper version of his Narrator voice. Maybe this is his new job. Sadly, he does not get to stay, but he does clarify the Beaker Boys' motto:

Narrator: Real science ends in explosions!

This is emphasized by each Beaker Boy causing an explosion, whether it be via bombs, explosive chemicals, or throwing clipboards into metal vats. This is a huge contrast to the Professor, who just wanted to do actual science rather than just cause explosions all the time, but that doesn't stop him from wowing at all of this.

To be fair to the Sitcom Dad Professor, while their name is pretty close to those villains from that other show I cover, they do seem to give him more respect than any of the other scientists. They're impressed that the Professor wants to talk about real science, and, most importantly, he has a lab in his house! They want to see that lab, and ask the Professor if they could see it. The Professor has to ponder about it for a little bit.

And by a little bit, I mean not at all, as he immediately joins them on their chrome Segways. Get it, because they're nerds, but they're nerds that are bad to the bone. They even come with a biker-esque theme song.

Road hogs, rubber side down!

Hot chrome shining all over down!

I got the fever!

Eh, it's no "You're Riding That Hog".

The Beaker Boys show up at the Powerpuff home, doing the same barbershop quartet song. Blossom is the first to be skeptical about the Professor's new friends, and Elbow blowing their couch up with a chemical isn't exactly helping that suspicion. The Professor nervously laughs through all of this, mostly because they're probably his only friends that aren't family. The only other one I could think of turns into a giant spider monster.

You probably already guessed this stock plot: someone joins the wrong crowd, the wrong crowd turns on that someone, and that someone has to save himself from all the trouble they caused. The only twist is that it's the adult that has to learn his lesson from his own children. Blossom raises a concern about having these guys crash their house, and she is apparently not alone.

Blossom: All they do is blow stuff up!

Buttercup: Which is good for me as a friend, but I got to agree with Blossom here.

Why? Yes, it's perfectly logical for Buttercup to not trust someone who blows up people's couches for no reason, but logic never stopped Buttercup before. Bubbles doesn't even get a line here. The Professor pays his children's warnings with no mind, because, as their father, he knows how to make responsible decisions. Yeah, you tell yourself that, Sitcom.

Immediately after saying that, he gets peer pressured into blowing up Albert Einstein's mailbox. The Professor is clearly uncomfortable about this, but goes through with it anyway. After a collection of scenes where the Professor explodes various experiments while the Boys cheer him on kegger-party style, the Professor seemingly earns the Beaker Boys' respect.

The Beaker Boys do ask him for one thing: he needs to make a monster. The Professor almost looks like he's going to put his foot down and forget about this whole thing, but they decide to give him an offer he can't refuse...

...an official Beaker Boys jacket, custom made just for him! Despite clearly not agreeing with any of their methods of science, he's absolutely ecstatic for this jacket. It's like that special ribbon from Fashion Forward that the Professor told Blossom not to wear due to this episode's exact lesson, except it's the Professor that has to learn it here. There's one thing when Buttercup suddenly forgets lessons she's learned, but this is a case where the character who taught the moral in a previous episode now has to learn the moral in this much later one!

Anyway, we get a montage of him mixing chemicals together to create this monster. This all ends with him finishing the job "Beaker Boys style", causing a huge explosion. This shows that he is full-on with the Beaker Boys, something he will immediately regret when something bad happens. He seems to learn this lesson like a child.

The explosion destroys his lab, as this unstoppable monster made out of whatever he was concocting is formed, and it immediately starts to attack Townsville. The Professor did not foresee this at all. Sure, he does say "what have I done" after seeing his house get destroyed by the giant-eyed tentacle beast, but what did he think was going to happen? Anything for that jacket, I guess.

The Powerpuff Girls show up, and the father figure has to explain to his children how he and the boys were just messing around. The Powerpuff Girls don’t have time for their bumbling father, though, and instantly leave right before the Beaker Boys show up.

The Professor accuses the Beaker Boys of telling him to make a monster to destroy his girls. Wow, even he kind of knows their track record with giant monsters, regular-sized monsters, or even regular-sized crayons. However, they say their real intention was to distract the girls with a giant monster, and, gasp, steal his home lab! Labs don't come cheap, so when they destroy labs, they just steal someone else's. The lab was destroyed, but that doesn't seem to cross their minds.

This is the straw that breaks the camel's back. It was fine when they forced him to blow up mailboxes and blow up his own house. But how dare they steal his lab! It's implied that he would be okay with this if he was able to keep that jacket, but, of course, they don't let him have it. I wouldn't want a jacket with the name of a group of thieves on it, but that's good ol' Sitcom Dad for you.

Going right with the Beagle Bo, er, Beaker Boys' plan, the Powerpuff Girls show up to fight this giant eye monster. It doesn't work out too well, though I appreciate that they use several ways to fight it other than the usual "fly towards the monster and get punched out" strategy. Buttercup tries to poke the monster in the eye, but it keeps blinking. Bubbles participates in a Dragon Ball Z-style beam tug-of-war, but she loses.

They do add in a minor hope spot, which is more than some episodes: Blossom manages to blind it with a truck full of sand, and the monster forgets to close its eyes this time. As the monster gets knocked down, Blossom begins to make a one-liner. Of course, it wouldn't be too convenient for the Professor learning anything if this was actually successful, as the monster wakes up and covers the entire screen with its giant red eye.

After the Professor sees the big explosion from the resulting huge eye laser, he realizes the girls are not doing very well against the monster. I was worried that this would just remind him that he forgot the lighter fluid, but it's good to know at least he's getting better with that. He knows the only way he could solve this is if he went back to the lab again. Oh no, he can't go back to the lab again. He messed up.

However, he suddenly realized he didn't always have a lab, because he used to learn chemistry just from science kits as a kid! We get a flashback to a time before the home lab guy got his home lab, showing him playing with a Chemistry Chelsea set. Well, thanks for proving it, I guess. At least we know the crew are familiar with his kid design from Get Back Jojo. That episode does give a far different reason for him making the Puffs than the reboot's "I was jealous of this woman scientist who made the perfect little boy" explanation, but I'd rather not think about that.

With the inspiration from his past, he decides to do some...

Professor: ...real science!

It's not an off-model reaction shot, but it still feels out of place. I mean, he's not being evil here.

We get yet another montage of him making a new monster, using that Chemistry Chelsea set he hid under his bed. This time, he's making it in his kitchen. I do like how he uses a "#1 Dad" mug at one point, showing that he's not making this monster because he wants to appeal to the wrong crowd, but because he wants to save his children from far-more-certain-than-what-it-should-be doom.

It still makes an explosion, which the Professor claims is just unavoidable. It's here that I realize that the Powerpuff Girls came out of an explosion caused by mixing a concoction, too. Maybe that eye monster is the fifth Powerpuff Girl! It would explain why it has eye lasers.

If that's the case, meet the sixth Powerpuff Girl: Spongebob NoPants NoEyes NoEars NoNose And It Must Scream, or "Spongey" for short. It does make sense that this monster is a sponge, since this monster was made in the kitchen, though I don't recall if a sponge actually made it into the concoction at any point.

Unlike the last monster, Spongey follows the Professor's orders to save his girls instead of causing even more trouble. Eh, I'll accept it; he was made with the intention of saving his girls, after all.

Well, good news, the Powerpuff Girls did manage to survive the big explosion, but the battle is still just as one-sided as ever. Blossom devises a plan: combine all of their eye lasers into one giant one!

And even that wasn't enough to prevent the inevitable Monster Laser, Girls Down, Womp Womp. Blossom can not help but make this comment.

Blossom: Ugh, I told the Professor this is what happens when you hang out with the wrong crowd!

As subtle as a giant eye about to eye laser three girls into sugar, spice and everything nice. Before that could happen, they hear some yelling from another monster.

It turns out to be Spongey, suddenly appearing in the sky with its mouth wide open. The eye monster just stands here, staring at Spongey's gaping maw. Wow, that eye monster really is the fifth Powerpuff Girl! Another explosion happens for no reason whatsoever, and...

...they combine into one creature that makes him look even more like Spongebob, even giving him buckteeth, a giggle, and the lack of any need to destroy cities. The Powerpuff Girls didn't even have to defeat the monster; in fact, this is another episode where the ultra powerful girls are essentially damsels in distress. This episode hides it better, and it is a little more justified, but it's still the case.

One message that is not at all subtle is that Sitcom Dad learned his sitcom lesson: he doesn't need a gang to make him happy, because his real gang is right here! It sadly makes sense that he doesn't use the word "family" here. The Puffs ask the Professor about what he's going to do now that his lab was stolen by the Beaker Boys.

But he tells them not to worry, because one of his friends is going to take care of that. The Beaker Boys's first recording on their somehow completely reconstructed new set is interrupted by Spongey, in their only real comeuppance. Yeah, forget the Powerpuff Girls, just send that thing to fight battles. Seems to have a better track record, at least.

Does the title fit?

Why is it called Rebel Rebel? Sitcom Dad is definitely rebelling against being the good dorky father figure he was in the original, and he's being a rebel here, but I don't think that's what they were going for.

How does it stack up?

It's a sitcom plot, a generic sitcom plot, and a Sitcom Dad plot all rolled into one. The fight scene is not terrible, it's not a bad lesson, but this reboot has done the "peer pressure" lesson far better than this. Rebel Rebel, Mediocre Mediocre.

Next Saturday, I'm not sure if it's an episode title or an admission from the higher-ups. In the meantime...I’m going to catch up on DuckTales.

← Hustlecup ☆ Our Brand Is Chaos →

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Mojo The Great”

Written by: Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: John West, Angela Zhang

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

No, he isn’t!

I was just talking about how I didn't think one character's portrayal in a reboot was as good as the originals, and this one is a far better example of that! I make it no secret that I am not a big fan of the reboot’s interpretation of Mojo Jojo. I mean, I get it; his manner of speaking was probably considered to be too close to broken English, but they could have found something else other than "silly monkey with a silly hat."

Well, aside from him dressing up in women's clothing, of course. Thankfully, this aspect was toned down in Season 2, and doesn't appear to exist in Season 3 outside of one tiny scene in Not So Secret Service. Season 3 is also going to try to improve his character, with a whole episode about him trying to be great.

He gets a good start, as the episode opens with Discount Jojo wrecking a city with his giant robot, calling himself the greatest villain ever. A tour bus drives on by, the tour guide talking about how he's one of the average villains of Townsville.

I can see this episode as a response to people who criticized Jojo's character in the reboot; throughout the entire episode, Discount Jojo is called "not so great", and I do not disagree with that. I mean, he's supposed to be the arch-nemesis.

Angered by this accusation of being average, Discount Jojo grabs the bus and throws it, only for it to be caught by the Powerpuff Girls, with Buttercup even threatening to break two of his legs if he doesn't surrender. Discount Jojo says he doesn't even know the meaning of the word, leading to a running gag about a word-a-day calendar so good, they used it for the title sequence.

After Buttercup crushes him with a torn-off top end of a skyscraper while Bubbles distracts him with cute pictures of hedgehogs, all planned by Blossom, we cut to a Breaking News segment hosted by Bob and Nick, the sportscasters from Derby Dollies who are totally not named after anyone in particular.

This is another episode where each of the Powerpuff Girls' distinct personalities come into play. Blossom’s excellent planning skills, which was mocked in the last episode, Buttercup’s incredible strength, as this show’s "interest" for beefy arms continues, and Bubbles’ undeniable charm, which, okay, I guess. Don't they all have super-strength? Don't tell this episode!

Discount Jojo is completely insecure about being not-so-great, so he decides to enact a plan, using his...

Voice-Change-A-Ma-Jig...♫♬By Mojo♬♫

That's one of the big running gags in this episode: Discount Jojo has his own jingle for his inventions now, which he will only use in this episode. He has three different settings on that thing: Professor, Mayor, and...Mrs. Keane? Okay, I can understand that Discount Jojo probably didn't look up if she's married or not. For the record, this show has her still being single in the episode after the next.

He puts it on Mayor and attempts to call Bubbles. I will be honest: I am surprised they did not just make Discount Jojo use a very unconvincing falsetto that Bubbles believes in to fit in with those "oh, that silly Blonde" jokes they do with her.

Instead, they do something a little bit different: Jojo, in a very unconvincing way of talking that isn't exactly the Mayor, an improvement to Jojo's character, tells Bubbles that his greatest foe is at it again. Bubbles starts naming villains that are not what Discount Jojo is expecting, as apparently there are far worse and/or notable villains than him. Who, exactly?

"Morbucks?" Of course Princess gets the first mention; the crew loves her for some reason! Nonetheless, she doesn't appear in this episode.

"Fuzzy Lumpkins?" Wait, he still exists in this reboot? This episode doesn't prove it.

"The Fashionistas?" Not them, it's not a good episode.

"Pack Rat?" Oh, that one villain that only appeared twice in Season 1 and never again, even though his last appearance has a still unresolved cliffhanger? Not him.

"Manboy?" No, not him. Three appearances is enough, really, and only one of them was anywhere close to good.

"The Gangreen Gang?" No, their leader is too busy with the best thing to happen to the Powerpuff Girls since McCracken left Cartoon Network.

"The Amoeba Boys?" Yes, the Amoeba Boys are considered bigger threats in this reboot than Discount Jojo. Sadly, we will probably never find out who they think is a good replacement for the late Chuck McCann. And if you think that's bad...

"Him?" Yes, it took this long for her to say Him. One would think the series' equivalent to the devil should be #1, but he's put below the Amoeba Boys somehow.

"Silico?" I wish; that cliffhanger with the virus robots really needs an actual conclusion that doesn't make him a complete joke.

"Allegro?" Oh, don't remind me.

Discount Jojo decides not to let this gag continue forever, because it sure feels like it, but Bubbles has only a slightly higher opinion of him than everyone else in this episode: he's good, but not great. Using the Mayor voice, Discount Jojo leads the Powerpuff Girls to a dark alley and zaps them with a ray gun.

Buttercup wakes up in a glass chamber, only to find that her sisters have become grossly out of their character, and far more than usual this time! Blossom is now a stupid girl that only talks about her love for corn dogs. Bubbles introduces herself by burping and talking in a stereotypical Italian mobster accent.

Discount Jojo shows up outside of the glass, and Buttercup can't wait to break through it and give him those two broken legs she's been talking about.

Unfortunately, Buttercup can’t get through the glass; she can't even lift a stool to break it! See, this is to show the one thing that makes Buttercup Buttercup is her super-strength, which nobody else in the show has! If anyone else in that glass had super-strength, this plot would have been over far too soon!

He reveals that he managed to steal all of the things that made the Powerpuff Girls great with his Trait-A-Ma-Jig ♫♬By Mojo♬♫, all one of them each. Discount Jojo can do plans now, even though he was able to do those just fine before. He has Buttercup's incredible strength, which, again, features gratuitous muscles. And, he has Bubbles' cute charm, which he barely uses outside of a montage.

With a montage, of course. He sings a song about how great he is, while using his traits of super-strength to break an armored car, enough charm to steal candy from a baby without anyone hating him for it, and ability to play chess very well. If this was going to lead to a message where the only way for him to be great is to be himself, I would appreciate this a lot more, but they never get there. That might be because there isn't a lot of "himself" in this reboot.

Despite all of this strutting, Buttercup calls him great...in a sarcastic way. He decides the next step is to destroy Townsville, because that would make him a great villain. It's definitely more Mojo than wanting diamond tiaras and stealing lipstick.

Rain-A-Ma-Jig...♫♬By Mojo♬♫

One of three times this jingle joke pops up. I wouldn't say there's any real payoff to this joke, it's just there. This Rain-A-Ma-Jig fires a laser at the clouds, causing it to rain hard enough to cause Townsville to flood. He is so obssessed with wanting to be great, he doesn't even think of a way to save himself, but he never figures that one out even with Blossom's planning.

It even interrupts what looks like the usual newscaster, who was trying to sing "Singin’ In The Rain". He gets interrupted by the flood as soon as the crew realized they would have to pay royalties to MGM if he sang one more syllable.

Buttercup has to find a way out to stop this rain from happening, and she has the bright idea. Oh, so they do know the other girls have super-strength; it's just that being stupid and having no charm makes you forget that! She convinces Bubbles that Blossom said that she couldn't break through the wall, and this leads to a long scene where Blossom repeatedly gets bashed into a glass wall, saying that she's okay. See, it's funny because Blossom is getting hurt.

While that's happening, Discount Jojo’s plot turns into a Noah's Ark plot, where Jojo tries to save two of each animal and puts them on a boat. No, the context doesn't make this any less out of place. There's only one joke here: he cruelly disallows another rabbit from entering his boat because he already has two of them.

The Powerpuff Girls show up and immediately get hit by the anchor. At least here, it's not just stand still for ten seconds, even if that would fit Blossom's character at that point. Buttercup then tells him that he's not great because he can only beat them because of the power-stealing, and Jojo responds by giving back their traits. Even with Blossom's ability to make plans/brains, Jojo was able to make a critical error. At least that's consistent!

To be fair, that's actually a good way to tie into the episode's themes: Buttercup ends up using Jojo's desperate need to be great as a way to get him to give back their traits. I try to find the positive in everything, and this ending kind of counts. It only took them until the end of the episode.

The newscasters give the show a break from actually animating anything by slideshowing everything else that happened. They drained the water with a comically large drain, and destroyed the Rain-A-Ma-Jig.

In the end, Jojo looks at that all-important calendar to see that the word of the day is "doofus". Huh, Doofus Jojo. It has a nice ring to it; it certainly fits someone who doesn't even know how to use a word-a-day calendar. The episode ends with nothing changing, nothing satisfying, and nothing that makes me want to call him Mojo. I am not surprised.

Does the title fit?

He never proves himself to be great, even with the one trait he steals from each Powerpuff Girl.

How does it stack up?

This episode can only work based on a severe misunderstanding of the characters, and while that's normal for the reboot, this episode loves to remind me of that. Mojo the Great, more like Episode the Terrible.

Next, Princess raps, and the Puffs sing. No beatbox solo this time.

← Blossom³ ☆ Trouble Clef →