#not what they present to the world but how they really lived

[sunny-knight]

Dear My Dear -

an @forgettable-au fan-slideshow

At the end of their journey, Sans has remembered everything. And theres only one question on his mind now…

*now what?

Its lore time. omg theres so much-

The way ill organize this…lIll start with the GENERAL thing, before getting more spesific, and explain each slide in way too much detail.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

This is the hypothetical end to their journey. Sans and Papyrus remember what happened, and this is how Sans is handling it. A letter to Wingdings.

I was hesitant to make this at first for obvious reasons- we dont know how its gonna end!!! But I took this more as a “what if ?” scenario. IF they ever remember anything, how would Sans specifically, react? I mean thats gotta be tough.

Because of that though, lot of what happened to lead up to this is kept vague.

ill explain in way more detail how Sans got to the point of writing this letter, and how he feels in the end when I explain each slide individually. But the reason why, the MAIN ISSUE is…

Over the years, hes put so much effort into enjoying what he has. And- nothings even changed!!! So why does he feel so much has? Now that he remembers what he lost…WHO he lost. He cant help but have this voice in the back of his head that says “would it have been better if that never happened? if Papyrus never existed?” and of course he absolutely hates to think that! but the voice gets louder. Writing this letter, is an act of closure. Of laying to rest someone he never got to. Someone he never even really got to do much with.

(Excuse the shitty quality of the images- I promise they’re better. WATCH THE VIDEO)

my dear wingdings,)

Sans says “wingdings” here instead of “brother”. that’s important. Also its on a white void, showing a sorta “heavenly imagery” with the mention of Wingdings. Also Gaster is in a BLACK void, but hes talking about WD here, so, contradictions.

you never came back, and now…after remembering everything everything clearly i understand why.)

Sans and Papyrus are sitting by a fire at night. They are both sorta lost in their own worlds at the moment, but are more or less leaning on one another for comfort and support. They both need each other right now despite each other being the whole reason why they feel the way they do right now-

Papyrus is notably no longer wearing the white coat that somewhat resembles a lab coat. Symbolism! Growth!

(art note: I drew Sans as a lefty in this- cherish it. It was so hard to draw these hands at these angles- CHERISH IT.)

i don’t imagine you’ll receive this letter, but i, nonetheless, must send it. wingdings….oh ‘dings…)

the first part is somewhat of a self aware/sarcastic joke. Sans is writing this letter for himself- he doesn’t imagine Wingdings, the dead man, will ever see it. Nor would Gaster care to read it. Thats another important thing, this is NOT a letter for Gaster. This is a letter for Wingdings. which is for Sans

The star in the sky symbolizes a few different things- the main one being Wingdings ofc. But also Papyrus’ expectations of himself- which mainly come from who he was. He’s looking at it, reflecting, thinking of what Wingdings did, and what Papyrus has done. Who he is NOW, and if he ever was Wingdings.

Or if Wingdings just became him.

A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn’t a square type thing.

i was just starting to dream the silliest- the softest of dreams. i miss you. and i will always miss you.)

2 contradictions, what Sans used to think, vs what he knows now. The memories were fuzzy- he couldn’t remember The Royal Scientist, he just feels like he remembers some nice times. Before now knowing everything clearly. And he still misses it- slightly.

The reflections are blacked out at first, before showing their future selves. Before, there was no connection to the present because it wasnt true. It felt like/was 2 completely different things

but i cannot live like that.)

Sans can still tell, even without the rose tinted glasses view he used to have, he cant live missing the past and not living in the present. He always knew that, but repeating it here makes him feel better.

Pictured is Sans and Papyrus hiking up the mountain next to the city as the sun sets. Papyrus is in full view of the light, but is facing away in order to help Sans see it too. Symbolism!

and it seems you cannot live any other way.)

another reference to the fact that Wingdings cant live… at all now. But also an awareness that part of him lives on in Gaster. The thing that killed him.

I doubt hes going to change in any way by the end of the comics, he’s far to obsessive about angels and the player for childish stuff like “growth” and “changing for the better as a human being”

when i was with you, the world made sense. but now that we are apart, i see clearly that your world is not a world from which one can escape.)

When they were together, they knew what they wanted to be. They wanted to be scientists. But after being apart so long and experiencing so much uncertainty, Sans finds that mindset is unhealthy. Again, a lot of this is stuff he already knew, but is repeating to himself because after remembering everything, he feels as if hes back at square one.

As kids they would test echo flowers, for science purposes! We don’t know yet if WDs voice comes through on them, but I imagine not… maybe. But for this we’re gonna say no. Their speech bubbles are trying so hard to be circles- the scribbles also somewhat resemble stars because I thought that’d be fun.

But the last slide has it shown that he dug them out, also for science purposes!

He took the echo flowers from their roots, much later on in his lab career. That in itself isnt that bad, but it symbolizes that he doesn’t care much for taking things slow. He wants to test with echo flowers? **TAKES EVERY SINGLE ONE WITHIN A 100 MILE RADIUS**

Also the empty holes reflects sort of what happened after he died. All of the underground was left with holes to fill. Sans, a childhood/brother. Alphys, the royal scientist. Those are the main ones but he was THE ROYAL SCIENTIST im sure there were more (smaller) holes that may or may not have been filled.

Ok and the last thing the flowers being taken out represent- he took the ones specifically from when they were kids, and abandoned what was left for the grass to grow tall and the entire area to be, in general, a lot flatter. In his quest to basically never grow up and continue being the thing he KNEW he wanted to be since kindergarten- he’s taken everything and left the rest in the dust. He’s The Royal Scientist now, he “doesn’t need anything else.”

i’m so sorry. for everything. for everything long ago, and for starting up that machine again.

Sans knows he could have been better. He could have done things differently, and that thought messes with him, even before he remembered.

The 2nd image is Sans at Grillbys after another failed attempt to get Wingdings outside. Despite the fact that he could have done things differently, theres no real reason to be “sorry” But still, he cant help but feel like he should be. He could have done things differently- could have tried harder, and gotten Wingdings out more often- or at all.

Im not sure where the machine in Sans’ lab comes into play in this AU, but it worked for the purposes of this audio.

theres a good man within you, wingdings. but he is wrestling with a giant. and the giant WINS time and again.)

Before everything, there was still a good man inside Wingdings that Sans saw. But now that he’s Gaster he just cant see him ever changing... and yknow what hes probably right. Like Papyrus says! Anyone can be a good person if they just try!…Gaster just isnt trying

“Wins” being emphasized here, I enjoy, since its sorta a video gamey term. The giant hes wrestling is that/the player, after all. Also probably his ego

I also had fun with kid Wingdings and what he’s drawing. Ofc its all him and Sans plus silly little stars, but him being finished drawing Sans, but not yet finished drawing himself, symbolizes the fact that at that age he still didn’t really know what he wanted to be, I feel like Wingdings kinda remembers the past wrong. Sure he definitely had science on the mind, but younger kids are often filled with questions, he questions if thats truly where he’d be the happiest.

Thats the good man within him

you’ve broken my soul again, and i fear i have broken yours. and for that i will never forgive myself, but i need to let you go now.)

the star represents, again, Wingdings. And the moon represents Sans, which shines only under the Suns (Papyrus’) light.

The sun is beginning to rise, and Sans and Papyrus are beginning to leave. Sans puts out the fire, closing this chapter of his life.

Because of every reason he needed to relearn/re-reflect on listed here, hes ready to let Wingdings go now. Sans is the one to put out the fire here, and not Papyrus, cause this is from the perspective of how SANS handles putting this issue to rest. Papyrus can have his own fire to put out later

Another thing about putting out the fire, thats just kinda common knowledge to do especially at a public camping spot. Yknow what else is common knowledge to do so you dont disrupt the community?? NOT REPLANTING FLOWERS-

Its not that deep…but still-

i send you the radio you made many years ago when we were kids. not because i dont want it, but… because i care for it far too much and it reminds me too much of you.)

CALL BACK!!!!!!

Sans leaves this last memento to Wingdings, the last thing they have that has nothing to do with Papyrus. Because at this point theres no reason to keep it, in Sans’ mind at least. There’s also no reason to destroy it- Like he says, hes not leaving it out of malice, theres just no good that will come from keeping it and holding onto the past.

As the sun rises, here we see the brothers leaving. in contrast to before, Sans is helping Papyrus down. Helping him down from the spotlight, the expectations he’s set upon himself. Another kick that Papyrus still has much more to reflect on and think about, he’s still looking back at that light, at a shooting star, at everything he thought he wanted to be.

i hope one day you will find some kind people who with appreciate you. for it kept me thinking of you all these years.)

GASTER FOLLOWERS!!!

Despite everything, Sans still wants whats left of Wingdings, Gaster, to be happy and find something, anyone, that will give him true happiness. It’s left ambiguous however if they truly do, do that for him. If it’s at all healthy.

cause frankly i have no idea how theyll be included. but just like everything- i cant wait to find out

and i hope by returning it to you, i can finally be free. goodbye.

- your brother

As the sun rises, the star gets smaller and smaller and eventually the sun replaces it. Remember when I said Papyrus represents the sun? SYMBOLISM!!!

Also about that, the star shines brighter than anything, but the Sun is among a lot of clouds, depicting how isolated Wingdings is/was despite shining the brightest, vs Papyrus who also does indeed shine! but isn’t isolated whatsoever.

Now, remember when I said Sans saying “my dear wingdings” instead of “my dear brother” was important? well, he acknowledges that he is still Wingdings’ brother, despite everything. So he signs off as “your brother” but… He’ll always try to remember Wingdings fondly…but…he’s unsure if he considers Wingdings his brother anymore- just because of how much they’ve changed. Thats why the whole thing is called Dear My Dear.

the radio + letter remains there in the end. I briefly played with the idea of having them disappear as the sun came out, implying that Gaster took the radio and reas the letter, but that was before I realized it was much better for this to be for Wingdings specifically, not Gaster/Wingdings/whatever.

FINALE!!! PLUS SOME BEHIND THE SCENES INFO!!!

weeps pitifully this was probably the most fun i’ve had with a project/the most happy i’ve come out of one. Learned lots about my process’ and what works! so thats awesome It took a while to make, so theres a lot of stuff I changed or ideas I scrapped that I find interesting, so im gonna show some of that on my side/shitpost account, @o-sunny-day

also isnt this so awesome???? I got a computer so I got to post more images than just 10, THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!

Have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! Heres to being a bigger, better, and different person this year! except not really because despite everything its still you.

un-unless you…got shattered across time and space…. then you’re-

well I mean that-….. hm…

does that…? hmm, well….

[buskingalbatross]

AmazingPhil channel marathon musings

during a pre-show q&a back in november, in response to a question about what show someone should binge next, dan said they should watch all of the AmazingPhil channel from the start. I was not the person who asked this (nor was I at this show), but regardless I did decide I wanted to take dan’s suggestion seriously. just a few days ago, I finished watching all of AmazingPhil in chronological order. and now i really want to talk about what it was like and why I would recommend marathoning his channel to pretty much anyone—because it was a blast.

I watched all of the 369 currently public AmazingPhil videos over the course of 35 days, which is from my perspective a pretty casual marathon. 369/35 = roughly 11 videos a day, though due to algorithm and monetization policy stuff, phil’s videos became longer in duration around 2015-2016; for many years, most of his videos were around 4 minutes long or less, which for me meant that early on in this marathon I was watching more videos per day, and then later on my pace slowed. phil’s videos with dan are usually pretty long as well, so if I had something like a baking video or wdapteo up next to watch, I might have only watched one or two videos that day. 

unsurprisingly, watching all of phil’s videos in order in a relatively short span of time gave me a really cool perspective on how phil has grown as a person and as a YouTuber over the past eighteen years. surprising to me, though, was how I felt like watching his channel in such a linear way felt a bit like coming to know who phil is for the very first time, again. despite having watched his videos for over a decade, i feel like i understand his style and creativity and personality more fully, and in general better, than I did before. watching 2007 phil become 2009 phil become 2011 phil and so on in the span of a few days or a week meant seeing clearly how his sense of humor evolved, how his editing and creativity developed, how his perspectives on life and relationship with his audience shifted. much as when you binge an entire tv or book series and immediately afterwards feel like you’re brimming with information, and have all the context, that’s sort of how I felt. and it was new for me because I’d never done that with phil’s content before—I’d never followed the course of his life the way you might a fictional character’s. 

AmazingPhil is also an incredible capsule of 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s Western internet culture, obviously. it’s like an anthropologist from the future with a very hyperspecific thesis topic’s dream treasure horde. what a person can learn about one corner of the world, and one corner of society, from AmazingPhil’s videos is, well, a lot. I see so much cultural value in AmazingPhil, it’s insane. his videos are not sketches, essays, and commentaries on society and life like Dan’s, but I’d make the argument (as I’m sure most of you would) that they’re just as important and critical to helping people understand themselves and the world they live in. and the kind of people they want to be, too, perhaps.

there were also certain videos that stuck with me more than they had in the past. I discovered new favorite videos and videos that I considered more interesting than I previously had. (I tried just now to make a list of some of these but it rapidly got too long, so instead I’ll restrict myself to mentioning only one, a new favorite, from 2021: “I Got Catfished.” - which i think is a fantastic example of phil’s storytelling style). dnp have both said before that they view life as a performance – and phil is without a sliver of doubt a magical and incredible performer. he knows so well how to tell stories with words, pacing, structures, and effects that are hilarious and entertaining; he turns anecdotes from his life into these amazing whimsical pieces of art made in a way no other person has ever made things. YouTube has from the beginning presented him with the perfect way to be creative in a way that suits him. and more than that, i found that it was never even remotely unpleasant to watch his videos every day for over a month. there is simply not an AmazingPhil video that doesn’t bring me joy and make me sit there smiling like a fool. my cheek muscles are probably stronger than they were 35 days ago. 

so, to you I say, go: watch all of AmazingPhil, draw your own conclusions from his current oeuvre and deepen your parasocial relationship with Phil Lester in ways you cannot yet comprehend. I really recommend. 

(final notes: one side effect of watching all of phil’s videos was being unexpectedly yet thoroughly convinced he does indeed possess psychic talents. even though i don’t believe in magical anything, i do now believe phil lester inherited prescience from his grandmother.) 

(also dan is completely right that every time phil changes his hair, he regenerates into an entirely new man.)

(also also I made an AmazingPhil spotify playlist that is highly specific to my music tastes but that anyone is welcome to listen to all the same) ✨🐗💙🥱

[thedissonantverses]

Spamming Davrin’s tag today cause I’m deep in my feels but well I saw a post about how much a person hated the companion quests. My particular gripe with it was saying the griffons and Davrin’s whole quest is superfluous in Veilguard…because nothing about any of the companion quests are superfluous but especially the Grey Warden companion rescuing the last griffons in the world and giving them a new future. It’s where the Grey Wardens have been heading for centuries. It’s integral to the story. It’s vital to understand because it’ll help you understand the rest of what Veilguard has to say. It’s also one of my favorite parts of the lore for a reason and has been since Dragon Age:Last Flight.

The griffons are a symbol in this game of Thedas’ past, present, and future. It’s the culmination of years of lore. It shows you exactly who the Grey Wardens are. Corrupted caretakers, stewards of a world constantly on the brink. The people that will blight the creatures they care for the most if it means saving the world. The griffons coming back to Thedas represents healing in a world that desperately needs to lay down its past and focus on its future. It’s a beautiful message of conservation at a time where we really need more stories about what environmental restoration can look like. The Grey Wardens can finally look forward instead of being chained to the blight alone and what they did to the world and what the world did to them. (This is the whole point of the questline in Hossberg as well.)

It also just dismisses Davrin! Davrin, who is so, so much more than Assan and Iyessa and the griffons and I can’t expound on this enough either. Davrin can just as easily give into regret after Weisshaupt the way Isseya did. But instead he learns to live when he was never supposed to. Davrin, a man far too intelligent to be merely a weapon. Davrin, a man who sings to the halla. Davrin, a man writing a monster manual because he doesn’t want other people to get hurt or learn the hard way like he did. Davrin who carries the weight of his Dalish heritage no matter how far from home he roams. I relate to this on a very personal level haha. Davrin’s journey is this journey of setting down your sword and carving out a new life for yourself despite the horrors you’ve come to know intimately. You are more than just your scars.

Veilguard as a whole is a strong narrative and one that resonates with me because of its message of healing from trauma. Davrin’s quest is representative of the Grey Wardens and the Elves as a whole. It is incredibly intentional with its messaging. I’m just sad so many people will dismiss one of my favorite bits of lore and one of my favorite companions we’ve ever gotten when it’s so well-done.

[accio-victuuri]

「 I AM NOT HERE 」 clowning post part iv. aka the main candy compilation now that we have the whole song. here’s part one & two & three for reference which are very short ones.

before we dive into the cpns, i wanna congratulate yibo for another exceptional song! the lyrics are so good and his voice??? his voice??? you all know the part i’m talking about— it’s singer yibo!

let’s start with this ⬆️⬆️⬆️ i think the side by side photo is self explanatory. you have xz drawing the mountains and yibo integrating himself into it and became the mountain himself. i like this whole concept of him being in nature, being all around this person even if he is not there physically as himself. this is so special too considering we always clown about them loving camping & hiking — and other outdoorsy stuff. it may be that nature reminds yibo of those happy times they spend together exploring that environment.

now let’s move on to a very yizhan-y interpretation of the song…

1. some fans have pointed out that it’s 2000 days since the 12.28 tencent starlight awards where they were together. it was post-cql and them going into new roles — a start of well, more complicated times, but they had each other. i don’t really believe too much in these anniversary cpns but i will just leave this here.

2. comparing the water theme & mountains from xz’s photoshoot before that had us all going 🥵🥵🥵, it matches the imagery from yibo’s song.

3. the official description of the song provided by music platforms gave a solid perspective of what it is all about & it’s not far off what we think it is when the teaser/s came out.

“I" is rooted in this land, connected by veins, and time and space are close to each other. "I" live in symbiosis with the mountain, breathe with you, and experience the ups and downs of life. We go through the ups and downs with all things, so the green mountains are flat, and "I" is always present.

I am here, a dialogue with the world. I AM NOT HERE, but I will always be there. This is what "I’m here" is all about. So darling, DON'T BE CRYING, Because this song is a symphony between you and me.

Let me just sit and think about this. It’s such a beautiful meaning. Their love goes beyond the romantic and it’s real. You can see it all around you.

4. Time to dissect the first half of the lyrics 🎶

Many years later // Where will I turn back and look? // Holding flowers I've never seen before // Facing toward you

this reminds us of their first meeting in the field of flowers. out of all the things he can start with, why this? also the graphics for xz’s album is an eternal flower. if we look at it further, it’s more than the literal sense too. the flower he hasn’t seen is this new feeling and having this one person that is became so important to him. the first line is also telling, cause it’s like he is looking back at that moment, many years later, out of all his time, that time is what he wants to recall.

Waving my hand // Don't stay on the lonely island // I'll become a small boat to take you to find the oasis

we knew of this line already and it’s still so romantic. it’s this person who is alone but wyb wants to take him away and help him find that oasis. oftentimes, people tend to have that selfish type of love where they want the other to be isolated. but yibo is not like that. he wants to take the person outside, see the world and fins that happiness together. and him being a small boat is too cute! like he knows he is not that strong but he will do his best to make a difference in his (xz) life and give him freedom & happiness.

My heart enters the mountains / My body sinks into the sea / All to reunite with you and return

the integration of himself with nature. how he has to sink into the sea so he can reunite with that person.

5. second part of the lyrics 🙌🏼. just a disclaimer that he had someone working with him to create this song and the lyrics, but that doesn’t mean he had 0 input. we all know how yibo is at this point and something as personal as his year-end song definitely had his approval with every line.

Falling, scattering into dust

And then being reborn

Pointing at the fireworks

in the sky, never fading

Are you there?

You just need not cry

You just need to bloom

And I will never leave

Don't be crying x 3

You don't need to wait

I'm here

I'm here

Don't be crying

i am weak for that first line, the thought of scattering into dust and being reborn. that’s some eternal love right there! we have reincarnation cpn at some point in the fandom so that feeds into that. the idea of yibo believing in that kind of love, never ending, not even in death makes me feel some type of way 🥹🥹🥹

next up is the imagery of fireworks. something he seems to be fond off per that video ybo shared before. also connect that to when xz was watching the fireworks during shooting wrap.

then it moves into him telling the person to not cry, you just need to bloom and he will never leave. I have explained the very real cpn about this whole crying thing before and it’s such a sweet sentiment! it’s a simple and honest promise, i will not make you cry. you just have to do what you want. yibo is there and will support xz as he succeeds (blooms).

and the last part is the nail in the coffin. you don’t need to wait, i’m here.

well who do we know at some point said that waiting is romantic?

hmmmmm. xiao zhan 🥰🥰🥰🥰

waiting. this word is very charming, it encourages people to expect. if you told me, someone is waiting for me, i would feel very moved. whether it’s my parents, or my lover, i feel that “waiting” is a very romantic word; to have something beautiful in the future waiting.

so this is yibo’s answer. you don’t have to. I’m here.

I hope everyone is having a fun weekend right now! listening to this new song, watching ETU and later follow yibo along at an event 🥂

-END

[lairofsentinel]

But the beauty of the series’ portrayal is that it speaks to faith in the more general sense as well. Faith in a cause, faith in oneself, reaching into the darkness of the future and praying that history doesn’t bite your arm off. You must have faith to believe in any cause, and you must struggle with it, knowing you will never receive a final answer. Dragon Age is a highly theological series that nevertheless understands faith as a pillar of even the most thoroughgoing secularism. [...] Whom or what do you believe? And how do you wrestle with the doubts and contradictions thrown your way?[...] Dragon Age never made fools of the faithful. There was always somewhere for faith to live, and it was revealed to be the fountainhead of virtue as well as evil. For every zealous, abusive Templar, there was a true Champion of the Just; for every conniving sister, there was someone like Leliana or Seeker Cassandra, for whom faith was an inspiration to do good in the world. And there was something quite beautiful about the fact that your Warden, your Hawke from Dragon Age 2, your Inquisitor, could explore ancient secrets few were privy to, yet only find more mysteries than answers. This is a realistic and respectful reflection of faith—it’s a beautiful, lifelong struggle.[...] Veilguard, by contrast, is a parade of Final Answers that the game has little interest in exploring.[...] This is in stark contrast to something Solas himself said in Inquisition about the Fade—the realm of dreams and spirits where these memories play out in Veilguard. Your Inquisitor can ask him what he’s seen in the Fade, and he gives an example drawn from the series’ own history, such as the Battle of Ostagar, which opened Dragon Age: Origins. Teryn Loghain MacTir left King Maric (and your Warden) to die to a horde of darkspawn by calling an early retreat. You can excitedly ask Solas what ‘really’ happened. But, he says, there is no Truth to be found. Only the reflection of peoples’ experiences and memories. Thus, some view Loghain as a hero who saved the army from a vainglorious suicide march by a naïve king, and others view him as the traitor who condemned the king and the Grey Wardens to death. There is no truth, only perspective. The elemental stuff of history.[...] Dragon Age’s earlier games thematise silence beautifully. When the series presented you with mystery, it enjoined you to embrace the silence and think with it, to embrace the beauty of all you didn’t know and might never know. Veilguard is quite noisy, however.

katherine cross's writing on dragon age is always beautiful and insightful and this article on aftermath in particular gets at the ways that i felt let down by veilguard's many many many cosmic answers

[mymoshangthoughts]

oki my guys can we plz talk about gold digger airplane?

like look, i know it's nice to write him with the moral fortitude to not want to take advantage of his partner financially and ngl, some of my favorite fics have portrayed him as being uncomfortable with people buying him shit

but dearest to my heart, this man will hug any thigh in the name of gold-digging his way to comfort

pride? what pride? who has time for pride when you've written a million words describing papapa for the explicit purpose of paying your bills. you look down on those who have the pride to be uncomfortable with expensive gifts

you have one of several reactions when you are presented with an expensive gift

score! i love this, i wanted this, it's mine. if they try to take it back i will weep and beg and bite

score! i hate this, its totally gross looking, imma sell it off at a marked up price and get a profit out of this worthless fucking gift

score! this means that i have this level of monetary value to the person gifting me, which means i can ask for more shit, better shit, give me an inch and i will take a mile

score! this person is clearly dumb with their money and will therefore be easily persuaded into spoiling me fucking rotten. this is it, boys. we made it

or really any variation of this

look, he might totally love the person gifting him the items. assume its his one true love, the icy king mobei jun himself and he is looking at this glamorous diamond gift going "o...m...g... he's dumb with money. this is the jackpot. sexy, cool, AND easily exploited for cash?! I WILL MARRY THIS MAN"

look

i just want shameless gold digger shang qinghua so fucking bad

also literally mobei jun realizing that shang qinghua is weak to wealth and just being like "oki so imma just literally bury him in diamonds so he'll never even think to leave me" bc mobei jun Does Not Care

whether shang qinghua is staying for his massive tits or his expansive treasury, so long as shang qinghua stays, he is a happy dude

but also yes i want him to be mean about it LOL please make shang qinghua cry by confiscating his diamond collection. do it.

shang qinghua cackling as he counts his money and being on top of the world and calculating how much he'd get in a potential divorce (because he's cynical as fuck and he WILL win the divorce, fuck you. even tho he has no intention of divorcing this man. that would be like killing the golden goose or whatever)

and sure, shang qinghua does 100% absolutely love his husband. if his husband was poor as dirt, shang qinghua would still be there at his side through thick and thin. his feelings go beyond money and he would pinch every penny for the rest of his life to be with his beloved. this is all true about him and his feelings of love and loyalty are sincere as fuck

but does that mean he isnt OVER THE FUCKING MOON TO MARRY RICH? dude, he is living his fucking dream and he is going to take FULL advantage of this gloriously bountiful life. it's like finding out your boyfriend is well-endowed. like sure, you'd still love him if he had a small dick, BUT YOU ARE NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT THAT BIG DICK, NOT AT ALL, YOU INTEND TO ENJOY THAT BIG DICK TO THE FULLEST EXTENT

thank you for attending my insane rant, long life gold-digger airplane. may he thrive!

shen yuan: *scrunches up his face* how can you deal with that? he treats you like a wallet

mobei jun: eh, he has yet to figure out that ive basically used that wallet to trap him in this relationship

shen yuan: that sounds like financial abus--

airplane: HUBBY! I WANT A NEW PAIR OF SHOES! THE ONES THAT COST AS MUCH AS CAR!

shen yuan: ...ya know what, match made in heaven. im going home.

(shen yuan who would absolutely hate if binghe treated him like a wallet but also spoils his binghe rotten without being asked and would 100% be uncomfortable receiving expensive gifts from binghe lolol)

[savi-our]

Mistletoe with the UT Skelebros (x Reader)

(Heya! I sorta missed all the X-mas hype by a few days but I wanted to post some fluff whilst we're still in that sweet sweet holiday limbo. Hope you guys enjoy! I might do the other skeletons too if requested :)

Sans

It had all been going smoothly up till now. I mean, as smoothly as having a bunch of alternate skeletons under a single roof on Gyftmas eve could go he supposed. 

Nothing set on fire - yet, nothing broken beyond repair - yet, no physical fights…. yet. Albeit he could see some of the more rowdier skeletons already losing their filter due to the excessive amounts of alcohol present, he knew would have to step in sooner or later to break up any potential arguments soon…

Man he was tired, hosting an event this big by request of his brother was taking a toll on his already exhausted state of mind. His one and only conciliation? You.

You had been flitting about the party, mingling and exchanging gifts as you went, trying to keep everyone safe and happy and Sans couldn't help but grin at the sight of you. It reminded him of why he had fallen so quickly and so hard in the first place.

You were a breath of fresh air, a peaceful moment in the ever present chaos of his life, could you really blame him for wanting more? More of you, more of those shared moments he had been lucky enough to steal with you?

He was getting ahead of himself, maybe it was the drinks talking. He should check the dining room again and see whether or not everyone was still playing nice there.

Just as he was about to do just that, the call of your voice stopped him in his tracks, he turned, noticing the small box in your hands and the slight flush of your cheeks.

“heh, what's up kid?”

Just as you were about to respond, your gaze had caught something, you had frozen in place, eyes widening at something… above him?

Mistletoe.

Oh man

He froze as well, already making up several reasons in his head why he should just play it off and go on his merry way before he did something to ruin his friendship with you before actually looking back down at you.

Man you were a sight for sore eyes.

…Could he maybe indulge? Just this once? Just this once he could forget about everything and just… enjoy the moment.

The abashed smile on your face told him you probably wouldn't mind and he wondered if he was really that lucky?

He leaned in, inexplicably drawn towards your warmth, and you did the same. He hesitated one last moment, but then he realized he probably wouldn't be able to live with himself if he chickened out now, and that had sealed the deal.

It was a small but soft peck on your lips, his eyes lidded as he watched your reaction, the blush on your face making his soul thrum. The loud cheers around the room seemed to have snapped you out of the moment and you flustered at being seen by so many, but he didn't, he couldn't, how in the world could he when all he could see was you?

Before you could run away in your embarrassment he leaned in again, almost too quick to catch, and he stole another kiss from your lips,- the feeling of the soft gasp of surprise coming from you and fanning over his teeth making his head spin and making him quickly take his leave. He hoped you would forgive him, he couldn't help himself, not with how brightly you looked at him with the holiday lights all around you.

Papyrus

Papyrus hummed in contentment, his bright eyes flying over the brightly decorated room in satisfaction as he placed an empty box down on the floor. His hands rested on his hips as he looked over his work.

It was perfect, he'd make sure to triple and quadruple check. A vision of Gyftmas cheer, holiday lights, candy canes, stockings and thistles neatly organized and placed around the room.

He wanted it to be perfect, no, it had to be! You were joining them this year after all, and Papyrus couldn't bear the thought of everything being less than superb.

He wondered if your expression would light up just like the gyftmas lights, if you would turn to him with that perfect smile on your lips and compliment him with that stunning look in your eye. The thought made his cheeks warm.

He was excited, so excited to spend the evening with you, he had big plans after all. 

His eyes turned suspicious, glancing this way and that for any sign of the others before quickly making his way through a practiced and mentally rehearsed route through the house.

Living room entryway? Check, Kitchen door? Check, Hallway exit? Check, Back door? Check.

…Hmm, maybe he should add some more, just to be safe.

He returned to the inconspicuous box laid neatly out of sight in the corner of the hallway and opened it, grabbing a few branches of the spindly green plant that he had taken the time to wrap in neat little red bows.

He had found the tradition a bit odd at first he admitted, but then he saw how delightfully charming it was in one of Mettaton's FULL VOLUME GYFTMAS SPECIALS, and he thought it had been a perfect chance to finally confess his feelings to you. It's been rather recent that his feelings of best friendship had morphed into something… more, something soft and exciting, something that made his soul thrum vividly every time he laid his eyes on you.

He had wondered if he was sick at first, it wouldn't be surprising considering the weather they'd been having, but after several hours of arduous researching online for the supposed cause he had come to a realization. He had looked through his bookshelf then, dusting off his older volume DATING MANUAL with a warbly grin.

He wanted to confess, wanted to see the look in your eyes when he did, he wondered how you'd respond, the thought made him a bit nervous. It had to be perfect.

As he placed the mistletoe branch on one of the other entryways in the house- deftly balancing on the small stepladder he had kept for purely such an occasion, he hadn't noticed the padded footsteps behind him.

It was all so sudden, a quick and cheery greeting, a startled yelp, a clattering thump, a rushed reflex to grab you and break your fall.

Papyrus stared down at you, his hands protective around you as both of you stared at each other in a moment of stupefied silence.

He snapped himself out of it, already rushing to apologize, to check you for injuries, to make sure you were safe, oh stars, he hadn't hurt you in the fall did he?

You started laughing and the sound knocked him out of his anxiety, it was such a pretty sound, he almost lost his train of thought. He stared at you once again, still leaning over you on the floor as you fell into a fit of giggles and he couldn't help but sigh dreamily. You were perfect.

It was then your eyes had turned to something over his shoulder, briefly widening and then turning towards him, a soft flush in your cheeks. He wondered what you were looking at, and just as he was about to turn, the warm touch of your hands on the sides of his skull made him freeze in place.

He couldn't resist it, the pull of your arms softly bringing your lips to his teeth, gaze soft and warm, the feeling made his spine prickle.

He had leaned in, enchanted by the feeling, enchanted by the sight of your warm affection, the feeling of your lips, the warmth of your slightly shaky breath.

It was perfect, even if his plan had failed even before it could begin,- but then how could it not be, when you were the one he had fallen for. Quite literally in fact.

[plounce]

my awesome heavensward rewrite thoughts

how loyal aymeric is to the church could be in more doubt (although he's always Handsome And Nice) until we bring him evidence of the history rewrite and he reveals himself as a good guy through and through. we hear rumors of him being the pope's bastard, and that playing into the uncertainty how deep in the church's pocket he is?

there should be very little time between haurchefant's death and confronting the pope - or at least the heavens' ward. if we got a dungeon or a trial where we fight our way through the pope's boys all powered up, and then either 1. we go into primaled-up pope as a trial right after 2. he flees to elsewhere and we pursue - that's where we meet tiamat, maybe?

there is very little reason for haurchefant to be stuck at camp dragonhead for most of hvw. no job/class quests there involve him as a speaking role (or really mention him at all). he should be way more present in ishgard and as a member of your "party."

i feel that stronger connections could be drawn between the gnath/vath and ishgard/heretics (indoctrinated believers of the state religion vs free-thinkers ekeing out an existence on the fringes)

more development of "heretical" beliefs and practices. i feel like we couldve used a cutscene of like... a guy giving a monologue, drinking dragon blood, and then transforming

tbh i don't know what purpose dusk vigil serves for the plot. i think it might be a 1.0 reference, definitely in its story - maybe the location too?? i need to find out more about coerthas in 1.0. i think that dusk vigil could instead be replaced with a dungeon that expands upon "heresy" more - either in what heretics believe/do, or the ways ishgard creates heretics. freeing "falsely accused" people from an ishgardian black site? the ishgardian military being of two arms: the church police being in charge of rooting out heresy while aymeric's temple knights focus on the dragons. inside vs outside.

ysayle... more ysayle backstory... it wouldve been cool if we met someone who knew her before she got brain-blasted with shiva's memories (in tailfeather? giving that town more of a story purpose?).

iirc ysayle's crisis of identity just sort of happened, she left the party in the churning mists to freak out, popped up in ishgard to stop a heretic/underclass uprising (let them revolt!!), and then she kills herself without like speaking to you again. you don't really get to meaningfully say goodbye. i feel that her and haurchefant's deaths could been more of a one-two punch (if she Has to die).

i think ysayle could have not died. i think she could have just run away to try to become Nobody. and then she could return later. i think her deathierves a "well... guess she must redeem herself through death...." which: boooooo. boringggg.

to be frank i don't think the sea of clouds as a location is essential to or really serves heavensward's story. i feel that somewhere else would have been more beneficial. perhaps a map that includes the ruins of ferndale (estinien's hometown)? maybe that's been taken and re-settled by "heretics"?

i think that haurchefant should have been a more consistent party member. he could be used to provide two different perspectives: 1. someone who has lived within and understands ishgardian nobility 2. an ishgardian who is open to the outside world and has had regular contact with outsiders. i feel that we don't really get a sense of his own personal beliefs outside of "i'm in ishgard's military" and "im on your side my angel!!". it would be nice if we got more reactions to msq events from him - like alphinaud (our buddy) but with the ishgard perspective

if the uprising in the brume was actually allowed to happen... ok earlier in the expansion we meet hilda and she's like hiiii. buzz off ♥ [more children throwing snowballs at us] and then later on we return to ishgard from the churning mists, new lore in our minds, to a city in chaos (ysayle has faked her death & her followers think she's been assassinated, they launch an uprising? there's been an order for mass conscription, the poor have had it and don't want to die en masse?), and we actually have to INTERACT with a class uprising with hilda as a leader of the poor. and then negotiations are being made, haurchefant and alphinaud are trying to handle it - aymeric is like hey. you guys seem really strange. what's going on. and we tell him ishgard's true history, and then.... whew! he's like Oh Fuck. i need to go confront the pope (my dad). don't let talks disintegrate, i'll brb. and then in the middle of things, one of hilda's agents and lucia break down the door - LORD AYMERIC IS BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY THE POPE, DEMANDING THE HOUNDS STAND DOWN! maybe hilda gets kidnapped too...? idk theres a lot of ways you could order these things bc ishgard could be suuuuuch a powder keg.

haurchefant should have been killed in full view of the ishgardian population so that he's the people's martyr as well + more reason for ishgard to turn on the old ways

alphinaud should have had equally strong relationships with estinien and with ysayle. for a game with a blank-slate protag you can't count on every player thinking about their character forming those connections with either/both characters, so alphinaud works well as an audience substitute. and seeing this littleboy care about them may also bolster the audience's feelings toward them - i only cared about estinien for most of the game because alphinaud cared about him.

so in that way i do think it's good for him to go on the camping trip. plus it's good for his character arc to have to learn camping. gather sticks, boy. also, hvw is the alphinaud expac where stb is the alisaie expac - if we keep one, we keep the other. i like the balance of that.

alphinaud also keeps us tied into our character's history in ARR - it would be kinda weird if we got an entirely new cast of core characters, and it helps us remember the scions and kind of worry about them in the back of our minds. plus we instinctively want to protect him.

the dravanian hinterlands only play into msq in that "we have to go get the doodad from matoya to break into azys lla!" which is stupid. it's VERY important in the patches though so we gotta keep it. i would add an aetheryte though. stares.

i also think idyllshire serves a good purpose of showing "here's a different way of living - here we are, living with people who are different from us, and getting along." compare to the various ways in which ishgard, the heretic settlement in ferndale, and tailfeather live. it's a nice spot of hope.

my restructuring thought is that we get into the hinterlands via a secret route that heretic rebels reveal to us because we're following thordan's aether trail or whatever. azys lla is hidden directly above new sharlayan/idyllshire - that's one of the reasons why the forum decided to settle there, matoya reveals to us.

we hear from our contacts in idyllshire (who we know from our friends among heretics and outcasts) (also, idyllshire as an outpost for people escaping from the war?) that there's an old witch guarding the entrance to the tower that can help us breach azys lla. it's matoya!

y'shtola's body recently appeared in matoya's cave. she won't wake up. matoya's been taking care of her. we learn about their relationship. matoya being sad about yshtola's current state mirrors our grief over haurchefant. matoya agrees to help us and let us through the first of the barriers to azys lla because we're shtola's little friends.

sharlayans keeping secrets, reaching high into the sky (HEAVENSWARD, EVEN - it would be cool if almost every dungeon had you going up in some way) (and then low into the ground, in the patches). a tower that is the way to azys lla, but many barriers exist to keep intruders out.

great gubal library is such a weird fuckin second-to-last dungeon - it takes place in between the vault and ARF!! what? huh? we're breaking up that high?

the first part of the dungeon is just the sharlayan defenses, but... something's kind of weird. and then you're fighting the first boss, a mammet, and halfway through it gets killed by a member of the heavens' ward! who took over the tower, and heard you when you came in! and then rest of the dungeon is fighting through them in the ruins theyve made of sharlayan stuff - something something 'the church destroying history and knowledge to retain its power'.

finally we reach azys lla. tbf i don't think the empire needs to be there. cut the garleans. some leavings of sharlayan are around, though.

thordan has activated some allagan defenses, we deal with those as we navigate through the zone. shouldn't take that much time. the important thing is that we talk to tiamat, who is also grieving and hates what that grief drove her to do. that's such an important conversation. also leaves a bit of potential character stuff for the player's brain, if you choose to draw the connection between your wol and tiamat - is this how your wol will process grief? are they grieving?

we confront thordan - estinien is so fucking mad that the cause he's been fighting for, the war that ruined his life, has all been a lie meant to prop up this man. the anger overtakes him, he transforms, he flies off.

we left alphinaud back at the sharlayan tower - he's been trying to fix the controls so we can get back down (and, if you were defeated, to call for help) btw. estinien does fly by him and he's like NOOOOO ESTINIENNNNNNN and estinien SLICES HIM WITH HIS SPEAR and alphinaud FALLS DOWN AND IS BLEEDING!! this is a cutscene, the wol isn't there, but YOU see it and it adds to your stress. :D

thordan's like "oh so sad... you don't have any friends... WELL I DO HA HA HA" and then he brings out the ascians he's been conspiring with!! the first half of the fight are lahabrea/igeyorhm combined into ascian prime (you defeated me as one... but can you defeat TWO ascians??), and then when you finish them - cutscene. thordan eats them for power. mwa ha ha ha!! PHASE TWO. we fight him, we kill him. he doesn't bring his boys out but does some crazy dragon-blood shit - kinda like golbez - and maybe some ascian stuff.

alphinaud's okay - he patched himself up. he should probably see a doctor though. you limp away, having won and survived, but with lots of rebuilding and healing to do...

the post-credits cutscene montage, in no particular order: y'shtola's eyes opening. thancred appearing in the dravanian forelands - we don't know it's him by sight. we don't see his face or identifying markings. niddstinien Lurking Around. people leavings flowers and votives at The Grave Of Lady Shiva - ysayle is assumed dead by her followers. (she is not. she is comatose in a small isolated village in dravania where non-ishgardian elezen have been carrying on pre-dragonsong war beliefs and practices.)

[saintsandsorcery]

“We’re a long way from Waterdeep”

About Gale and Tavs relationship and how quickly it progressed…

He wonders whether Tav is as anxious as he is. Do they lie awake at night and ask themselves if he really wants to be right there, beside them, or if it’s just a habit? A habit established from fear and uncertainty and instability. The one thing each of them knew back then was that the other was waiting at the end of the day, would cast aside their weapons, their amour, find the familiar body beneath - what else were they supposed to do? They were in this together.

And the role they had been forced into, the immense weight of the world on their shoulders – he would have done anything to ease their burden.

He glances at them, their calm, serene features, and asks himself if they wanted this the way he did. Do they ever fear that he will have left in the morning, never to return? Do they ever hold their dirtied, bloodied travelling clothes and whish to be dresses in them instead of the clean, soft silk they tended to choose now? Tav was a wild and lovely thing, untameable, loud. His own life up until meeting them – well, until Mystra – was one he simply couldn’t imagine Tav enjoying.

Waterdeep, the city he had lived in all his life seemed almost bland compared to his beloved. He could have spent hours listening to Tav haggle with the merchants at the market down by the docks, could easily pinpoint ever little thing he loved about them in every interaction, every movement. He adored how straightforward they could be, he learned to love the way they left little notes and comments in his books – every trace of them being there in the first place brought him joy.

Tav hums to themselves as they check over the leafs of one of their plants. They keep them on the windowsill in the library, Gale gifts them a new one every now and then. It became another little habit – he used to being them bouquets but after watching the sad look in Tavs eyes as the flowers wilted, he chose potted plants instead. Since they settled in the tower together it has almost become an indoor garden. Tav adores caring for the flowers, watching them bloom. The one they turn their attention to has deep red petals. “Gale? What do you think?” they ask, lifting the flowerpot and presenting it to their husband. “Should we place in in the bedroom or in the kitchen?”

All perfectly normal. As if they had never saved the world, as if it wasn’t common knowledge what Gale and Tav were capable of. What they could do if they whished to.

It doesn’t take long for Tav to notice, of course - that grey cloud hanging over his head, the eye contact that doesn’t last, the uncharacteristic silence. When they ask him what’s wrong he almost expects it. Almost. Despite all the preparation he stumbles over his own words, every worry that had gnawed at him the past months surfacing and Tav sitting across from him, listening patiently. “I love you,” he whispers as they hold him close. “Did I ever tell you?”

“A few times, maybe.” They smile at him, brushing their lips against his. “But I’ll never get tired of hearing you say it.”

[local-lamppost]

Sonic 3 Initial Thoughts

So I saw Sonic 3 and I really liked it. Adventure 2 has my favorite story of the franchise so even a loose adaptation was great to see (they even referenced Shadow the Hedgehog by having Shadow's origins be a black comet).

The only part I had a problem with was how they shied away from everything being GUN's fault. Gerald was hired to create the a weapon, a life form that could also cure his granddaughter's illness. Then the project gets out of hand and GUN wants to cover it up, so they kill everyone and imprison Gerald to keep him working for them (and they later kill him anyway in an amazing cutscene). GUN spends the whole game doing their best to keep the cover up going and doubling down. They are the real bad guys. This is still in the movie but it feels glossed over.

I loved Maria and Shadow's dynamic. We didn't get too much time with them, but the way it was shown-that Maria was the only one in the facility that didn't see Shadow as a monster/alien/things to be studied and Shadow being someone Maria could play with. I wish they had included a line about Maria wanting to experience the world beyond where her grandfather went for research, that she and Shadow planned to explore the world first hand when it was finished, and Maria's last words of protecting the world. Being the world's protector despite everything the world has done to him is Shadow's most important trait and I feel like it could've been touched on more.

The fight between Shadow and Sonic was amazing. Shadow goading Sonic into killing him, pointing at his heart the same way Maria and Tom have done to each one, and that connection being what snaps Sonic out of his anger was perfect. Then going on to watch the sun (a still living star) rise over the earth while they talk. Gorgeous.

Knuckles and Tails were relevant! This is always something I worry about in sequels that add to the cast, but they were handled perfectly. Knuckles being the guardians and having the final say of giving Sonic the power. Tails being the brains and moral support, as well as peacemaker between Sonic and Knuckles. It all evened out very well.

Lastly, Stone and the Robotniks. While I have mixed feelings of him being alive in the movie's present, Gerald is a fantastic villain. His line of "You're not Maria, Ivo" was brutal. I was wondering how they would work out a living Gerald with access to a living grandchild still wanting to destroy everything, but having him purely treat Ivo as a shell throughout was perfect. Ivo himself just wants to be cared for, something he thinks only family can provide for him despite Stone being right there. It's this familial requirement for affection that allows Gerald to use him and for Stone to be forced out, and if they do bring him back (which I really hope they don't) what his new dynamic with Stone would be now that he knows Stone really does love him.

All and all, a great film and I'm excited for the fourth. I'm really excited to see how Amy and Metal Sonic are handled, especially now that SEGA is writing her as an actual character lately.

[operation-out]

Analyzing Once Upon a Time

This can't be how the story ends

Since this blog is now as old as Henry in the Pilot, we thought this would be a good time to re-introduce this Once Upon a Time theory to the new kids on the block - and to the old kids on the block, because we have learned a thing or two during the decade we've been researching this concept.

The heart of the theory can really be summed up in one sentence:

"Everything that happened on Once Upon a Time also really happened in our world, and it is all a metaphorical retelling of Emma's life experiences in the past and in the present."

That's the part of the theory that we are certain about. Every episode has a deeper meaning, there is no fluff and together they all form one big story.

Does that mean that the story that we watched, didn't really happen? No, it's more like getting two stories for the price of one. The best metaphor we can come up with is that of lenticular cards.

Remember those little cards that you would twist and then the image would change? It doesn't really matter which one of those two images is real, because they both are. Someone had to draw and print both of them and use the right technique so we could see them both. Usually the images tell a bit of a story when you combine them, but they work perfectly fine as two standalone images.

So what we are doing is simply twisting the card, we're revealing our second story. We've really emotionally invested in these characters and now we're entering an Alternate Universe that was written by the same writers. And that's the real appeal of this theory, to get another story after the show's been off the air for so long, with the characters we know and love, because they are both.

Let's say the genre of the story we watched on television for 7 years is fantasy and the genre of our new AU is magical realism. So take a seat, suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride, because we're about to watch the official trailer of this new ABC show called Once Upon a Time.

If you watch the trailer, you see the idea of the two sides of the story being reinforced. You also hear the voice-over tell us that "someone from our world" needs to save the fairy tale characters while showing an unconscious Emma. This is the moment when the story splits in two.

Once Upon a Time takes place in what Jung called "The Collective Unconscious", or in this case The Enchanted Forest - a place where humankind's stories are real, where the fairy tale characters we know and love live - the world of archetypes.

A metaphorical curse is cast when Emma crashes her car. She loses consciousness and travels to her own subconscious mind. The fairy tale world and Emma's personal world collide and she gradually steals the fairy tale characters to work through her own issues and traumas. This is how the fairy tale characters actually get trapped in our world.

This is why this version of the story is "Magical Realism" - In magical realism, the underlying idea is that the world we currently live in actually has an undercurrent of magic, of intelligence, a magic that expresses itself through uncanny coincidences. We see this in the Pilot. Emma makes a heartfelt wish, and a second later, her long lost son rings the door bell. Unlikely, but possible in our world. When she slams her car door in anger, electric sparks fly and when she looks up at the clock, it's stuck on 8:15. August 15th. The date her long lost son was born. Odd coincidences, but entirely possible.

This magical world, however, is also a world of karma, because she violently knocks a man against his steering wheel earlier in the episode. Later that night, she hits her own head. This was the only way for the hidden magic of our world to grant Emma's wish and to restore her karma. The intelligent universe forced her to confront her demons with the help of age-old archetypes, so she could heal from her traumas, learn the life lessons she needs to allow people like Henry and Regina into her life.

Everything we saw on this show was Emma's real experience during the show's timeline, but the undercurrent of the world she experienced was created by her memories and by everything what's going on in the world around her while she is in different states of consciousness. Like Jefferson points out during "Hat Trick", even fictional stories come from a real place. They come from the writer's emotions and experiences, codified into story.

What we didn't know when we first started writing this theory, was how weird our consciousness really is. Real comas are nothing like movie comas where people just sit up one day. Maybe they need a little bit of physical rehab and then off they go. No, in the real world, people spend days, weeks, months or even years living in between their dream world and reality, trying to make sense of it all. Some people report having no memory of the months after they woke up and after they were up and somewhat functional. Many report strange dreams and remembering conversations that happened around them - except they thought they were participating.

Based on this newfound knowledge, we concluded that Emma was only in a deep coma for parts of the show's timeline. We think Emma's state in this theory closely aligns with what medical professionals call a minimally conscious state (MCS). Sleeping curse victims in an MCS are awake but show limited awareness of their surroundings. They may respond to stimuli, have brief moments of purposeful behavior, or even show emotional reactions to familiar voices or events. While their consciousness seems fragmented, they can form connections between external events and their inner experiences. The show uses David's coma story to tell us what's happening with Emma. He is able to grab Mary Margaret's hand, which he couldn't do if he was in a full coma. That means Emma is sometimes saying words and interacting with the people around her. They can connect with her in meaningful ways. And they do.

The show is peppered with hints that point to Emma's state in the land without magic. Jefferson is one of the characters who is used as a part of her subconscious that is trying to make Emma aware of her situation in the reality realm, but during the second episode, Emma herself gives us a description of the curse that she is now trapped in.

Emma: "So, for decades, people have been walking around in a haze, not aging, with screwed up memories, stuck in a cursed town that kept them oblivious."

What's very important about this description, is the "screwed up memories". The flashbacks about Emma's life that we have seen, are just as metaphorical of the other parts. They did happen, but they didn't happen in the way we saw them happen. The best explanation for how these 'new memories' are created is by looking at one clear example.

The "memory" of Emma giving birth to Henry is actually a metaphorical memory of Henry coming back into Emma's life, through parallels and visual clues. In this new memory, she expresses how she really felt in that moment, in so much emotional pain she could scream, and terrified to be asked to be a mother. This is how all the stories are created.

Much of the show works this way, except unlike during this scene, we haven't seen the original experience that the metaphor is based upon. So to decipher the rest of Emma's memories, all we can do is look at the recurring themes and storylines, as they show what Emma is wrestling with. Season 1 is full of car crashes, because crashing her car in the Pilot is a very recent trauma. Parents giving up children is a recurring trauma, because it matches both her story and Henry's story. This is the translation key to figure out Emma's story. Look at the patterns.

If we listen back to the show's trailer one more time, the theme song that was chosen to represent the show couldn't be more of an invitation to see the reality layer of the story.

Rescue me

Show me who I am

'Cause I can't believe

This is how the story ends

Fight for me

If it's not too late

Help me breathe again

No, this can't be how the story ends

This is Emma fighting for her life in reality. Asking Regina and Henry and the people around her to help her come back to life, because this can't be how the story ends. This can't be how she dies.

Ooookay... so where's the fun exactly?

You may be wondering, what is the appeal? Admittedly, this story is somewhat sad and dark at first glance, but remember when you watched the first season and you were trying to guess the characters' fairy tale identities? You get to do that again, except this time you are trying to guess the real world identities. You get to experience the curse from the inside and it really does feel like you can recapture some of the fun from the first time around.

Once you realize that the memories we saw were warped, many questions bubble up to the surface. How did Henry really find Emma? Who gave him the story book and why? How did he come to his conclusions? Is he the author because he is creating the fairy tales he is reading to Emma? Who are Emma's real parents? Why was she given up for adoption? What really happened to her in foster care? Is Neal really Henry's father or is there more to the story? What is wrong with Emma? Was there something fishy about the adoption? Why is she in and out of consciousness? How do Henry and Regina react? Did Regina really try to kill her? If Regina wasn't actually the evil queen, why did Henry think she didn't love him? Why is everyone suddenly related? Who is Emma Swan? Who is Regina Mills? Who is Henry? And Gold? And Hook?

It becomes a gigantic mystery, a fantastical true crime show. And the more people lend their ears and their eyes to it, the better our chances are to actually solve this very, very weird puzzle. Because as we said, the only part of this theory that we are sure of, is that everything we saw, is all a metaphorical retelling of Emma's life in the past and in the present. We report on the connections we find, the possible interpretations. The recurring themes. The meaningful parallels. We don't claim those are the correct interpretations, because they change as we dig deeper.

So consider this an invitation to take a bite out of the forbidden fruit of knowledge, join in and share your observations, because we would like to see the full picture once we tilt our little card to take another look.

[high-voltage-rat]

I think the problem with Veilguard is mostly just that they were so focused on giving a culmination of the Deep Lore that they forgot about the shallow lore we've had for the last 3 games. Anything about the chantry systems, the dalish as we know them, the political situation as it currently stands in general- it's fallen by the wayside pretty much completely. But deep lore theories about the blight, lyrium, old gods, spirits, the origin of elves and qunari, titans and the dwarves, etc. have all been addressed. However, in the process, these big reveals end up feeling pretty par for the course, rather than a groundbreaking revelation to the characters uncovering it OR to us, the players.

I get the sense that this game was built on the core goal of trying to give closure to all the little lore threads they'd planted in the last 3 games. It wasn't to explore the current state of thedas, or the effects of the events that we dealt with in each game- just the metaphysical state of the setting and how it came to be. In a weird way, it seems to be built to appeal to new players and deep lore buffs, but not to the people who just, like, played all three games and are invested in the present-day storyline. But honestly I think the shine for lore buffs is even limited, because so many of the great mysteries of the setting have been explained that there's nothing left to really theorycraft about. Our own world has so many mysteries, so much unknown- it's what gives life wonder. Even in a fictional world, taking that away makes things feel flatter. If everything is known, why explore?

Don't get me wrong, I still love it. I'm having a lot of fun and I really love the lore reveals we've been given. I'm a deep lore guy. I had already put together that Ghilin'ain was blighted, that original elves were spirits in lyrium bodies, that old gods corresponded to evanuris and were probably their dragon servants, and I've been excited to see my theories come true. But as someone who also has a great love for the dragon age setting in its present day, I am also pretty disappointed that you can play the game without any real knowledge of what the circles in the south are like, why the mages rebelled, what happened with the antaam in Kirkwall, what the current living conditions of elves are, the relations between the Grey Wardens and Ferelden, the colonial history of Orlais and its chantry... and lacking any of that knowledge will make no difference to your understanding of the game. It will never even tell you that info, aside from some short and oversimplified codex entries, because you don't need to know. If dragon age historically operated on this kind of simplified, "only what you need to know" style, we would never have the lore threads this game is based on to begin with.

[yunamedkostobot]

Jedi stans do not know Tolkien lore

It's so funny, cause... it's literally what Tolkien actually wrote in his opus magnum Silmarillion! It happened when Valar, despite having almost angelic powers, practically abandoned Middlearth and Beleriand and allowed Morgoth and his cronies to kill and enslave Elves and Dwarves and lead part of Humans away from them(enslaving others too). They allowed everything built and created by Elves to be destroyed, for a huge part of Noldor elves to die in horrible ways, for Eru's children to suffer. No matter how narrative attempts to frame this, Valar are accompliced by their inaction. Even befor the First Kinslaying, they had practically forgotten about Sindar and Nandor Elves living under Morgoth's feet, about Dwarves and yet-to-be-awakened-Humans.

Their inaction was not deemed as something inherently good in any piece of Tolkien's works except the Myths Transformed. In The Book of Lost Tales(which i consider really good for analysis and explaining some plotholes of published Silmarillion and presenting Valar in more or less sympathetic light) the majority of both Maiar and Ainur are so afraid of Morgoth that they practically force Manwe(who is their king) to hide Valinor from the world! It happens despite both Manwe and Ulmo pleas for Noldor's sake and Manwe telling all secrets about Elves and Humans Eru entrusted him! Myths Transformed, on the contrary, present Valar as ultimately morally right no matter what happened - and it is the reason why they seem so unlikable and problematic for many(and may be the reason Cristopher never used this concept). Even in the published Silmarillion Valar are presented as misguided and not totally right in the end.

Also, let's adress Tolkien himself. He never considred Lord of the Rings the major book he had written in his life and the book what tells about his views most is actually Silmarillion! And this book actually has more complex take on "good and evil", explaining, why Tolkien viewed his charactres as they are.

What in Tolkien's mind separates morally grey character(like Feanor, his sons, Turin) from the villain(like Morgoth, Sauron, Eol, Saruman)? As it can be seen through the text, it is an ability to love and care about someone while seeing them as persons and loyalty to another person or their people or devotion to a large-scale goal character has. The reasons that his characters are "good" are not because of their service to some institutions or fighting evil, but because they are productive, creative and their major goal is making the world a better place. They are something except the fighters and destroyers and it what made them good. It's evil who reacts on "good characters" doing something, like it was with Sauron's deeds during the Second Age(founding Mordor in response to Numenor's victorious wars against him, falsely giving up to Ar-Pharazon in response to latter nearly destroying his kingdom, attacking Gondor and causing War of the Last Alliance of fear it will take root) and Morgoth's before the First Age(creating Dissonance in responce to the Eru calling him out, manipulating Noldor princes out of envy for their artificial gems, especially the Simarils).

Meanwhile, Jedi are purely the reactive force at the time of Prequels. They do nothing, they create nothing, they only serve a corrupt goverment doing whatever it asks and ignoring it sliding more and more into the autoritarism. They ignore literal and corporal slavery in Canon, and crime syndicats(like Findian syndicat), long-time civil wars, dark cults(like Bando Gora), planets getting attacked and suffering from epidemics and starvation in Legends. They do even less than IRL Templars and Hospitallers did(guarding the piligrims and giving them shelter, which was the primary goal of such institutions except fighting Muslims). We have never seen the Jedi travelling from one planet to another to build or create something(or heal somebody), they does not harbor any global project involving something potentially useful for all of Republic citizens.

In comparison, many Tolkien's favourite characters and nations are something except the warriors and fighters. If we will take hobbits, they are wonderful farmers. Teleri Elves are the shipbuilders and saliors. Noldor Elves and Dwarves are blacksmiths, inventors, artificial gem and jewelry makers. Sindar Elves are singers. Numenorians and Gondor people are scholars, explorers of the world, alchemics and inventors too. Even Rohan people are not only the fighters, they are wonderful horse breeders. I won't even start with master inventor Feanor with his belief that Eru's children's mind can overcome Ainur and Celebrimbor with desire to heal Middlearth from wasting away. Do Jedi present something of themselves except the enforcing and partly dimplomatic organisation?

None. And there is the reason Jedi could not and should not be compared to Tolkien characters. They grew complacent and distant from the people. They only react - while Tolkien heroes act. We never see Jedi "bravely going where no people had gone before" or moving to some planet in order to create a medicine for some illiness, even if they are stated have their own special Service Corps divisions for this. Ironically, that is actually makes them having a lot in commin with Ainur, whom Jedi Stans tend to compare their faves with. Complacency, which in the end lead to the tragedy.

They compare Ainur to the angels, ignoring the textual evidence that their complacency lead to the practical genocide of Elves. And ironically, an actual Tolkien fandom - and the Professor by himself - tends to see these "Angels" in more or less critical light.

[rainroses45]

Doctor, Doctor, Please Listen

⚠︎description: Sam stumbles upon what looked like an abandoned clinic except it wasn’t abandoned… (Sam Winchester x Zombie Doc! Reader) ⚠︎a/n: Guys i have 21 different drafts in my box and i got to keep pooping these babies out before i start second semester NOT EDITED ⚠︎song inspo: People are strange - The Doors ⚠︎warnings: umm mentions of twisting body parts and stabbing

Sam Winchester had been in some weird situations—hell, weird was practically his job description. But this? Staring across the dimly lit clinic at you, your skin pale as moonlight- almost slimy green if he really looked close, your movements unnervingly deliberate, this was a new one for him.

“You’re not human,” he said, his voice calm but cold, his hand drifting toward the knife at his side.

You didn’t flinch, didn’t even blink at his direction, as you finished stitching up the gash on your own arm. “That’s the world’s greatest understatement.”

Sam’s jaw clenched, his mind racing. He’d come to this backwater clinic following the trail of a supposed ‘miracle doctor’ who’d saved dozens of lives in the past month. What he hadn’t expected was to find some sort of a dead looking monster.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” he said, his voice low and accusing.

You finally looked up, your sharp eyes meeting his. “And yet here I am. Fixing people your kind probably left for dead.”

“My kind?” Sam repeated, his brows furrowing.

“You’re a hunter, aren’t you?” you said, standing and wiping the blood off your hands with a rag. “You think I didn’t notice the salt in your pockets? The iron blade on your hip? The holy water in your back pocket?”

Sam stiffened, his grip tightening on his knife. “If you know what I am, you know how this ends.”

You smirked, leaning against the exam table. “Do you really think you can take me out, Winchester? You’re fast, but I’m faster. And I’ve got a hell of a lot more practice stitching myself back together.”

He hesitated, his instincts warring with the logic you presented. You didn’t seem hostile—at least not yet. And the clinic was filled with signs of the lives you’d saved: photos pinned to the walls, thank-you notes scribbled on scraps of paper, and stacks of medical supplies more organized than most hospitals.

“If you’re some kind of zombie,” he said slowly, “how are you…?”

“Not tearing people apart and feasting on their brains?” you finished for him, rolling your eyes. “You really believe all those Hollywood clichés?”

“Don’t they apply? At least from my experience with your kind.”

You shrugged, pulling a vial of dark liquid from your pocket. “Not to me. I found a way to… suppress the hunger. Let’s just say I’m not a fan of the traditional zombie lifestyle.”

Sam’s brow furrowed, his curiosity piqued despite himself. “Suppress it how?”

“Science,” you said simply, holding up the vial. “I was a doctor before I died, and I didn’t let a little thing like being dead stop me. This serum keeps the worst of it at bay…mostly.”

“Mostly?” he asked, his voice sharp.

You stepped closer, your expression turning serious. “I don’t hurt people, Winchester. Not anymore. That’s why I stay here, in this town. Helping people keeps the hunger in check.”

Sam studied you, his hunter’s instincts screaming at him to finish this before it got out of hand. But there was something in your eyes—a determination that mirrored his own. It reminded him of childhood almost like rebelling against the great ideal of father dearest.

“So, what’s your plan?” you asked, breaking the silence. “Are you going to kill me, or are you going to let me keep saving lives?”

Sam didn’t answer immediately. His grip on the knife loosened slightly, he didn’t know what to do. His heart says to let you be but he knew- he knew the serum could only do so much.

The tension in the room grew thicker as you took a step toward Sam. The fluorescent light overhead buzzed, casting sharp shadows across your face. The stitching of your jaw and your nose darkened under the lighting. Your movements weren’t smooth or human-like anymore. Instead, your body twisted unnaturally, your joints bending wrong—your head tilting to the side at an impossible angle as if you were a marionette dangling from invisible strings.

Sam froze, his knife halfway out of its sheath. His pulse pounded in his ears as you took another deliberate, jerking step toward him.

“Something wrong, Winchester?” you asked, your voice teasing but layered with something darker.

“Stop,” he said sharply, his voice steady but his eyes wide.

You ignored him, taking another step, your foot dragging slightly as though it didn’t quite belong to you. “What’s the matter?” you asked, your voice soft and mocking. “Aren’t hunters supposed to be fearless? Aren’t I supposed to walk with a limp and a eyeball bouncing out of my socket?”

“Stop moving!” he barked, his hand darting to the blade on his hip.

But you didn’t. You tilted your head further, almost upside-down now, and twisted your shoulders unnaturally. The sound of cracking joints filled the air as your body contorted, moving closer to him like something out of a nightmare.

That’s when Sam’s instincts took over. With a flick of his wrist, the knife left his hand, hurtling straight at your chest.

It mark being your beating heart or well what was left of it, the blade sinking deep into your shoulder with a sickening squelch.

For a moment, the room went silent.

Then you laughed.

Low at first, but it quickly built into something loud and unhinged, echoing off the clinic walls. Your head straightened with an audible pop, and you looked down at the knife penetrated in your flesh. “Well, that’s one way to break the ice,” you said, slowly wrapping your fingers around the handle.

Sam watched in a mix of horror as you yanked the blade out, blackened blood dripping from the wound. It didn’t seem to bother you in the slightest.

“Nice throw,” you said, examining the knife before tossing it onto the exam table like it was nothing. “You ever think about joining the Olympics? I hear they need a good American boy to bring home the gold.”

Sam’s jaw tightened, his breathing heavy as he took a step back. “What the hell are you?”

You tilted your head again, though not as dramatically this time, and smiled. “I told you. I’m a doctor. A dead one, but a doctor nonetheless.”

“That’s not normal,” he snapped, gesturing at your shoulder, which had already stopped bleeding. “None of this is normal!”

“And yet, here you are, having a conversation with me instead of trying to finish me off,” you replied, your grin widening. “What does that say about you, Winchester?”

“It says I’m still figuring out what the hell I’m dealing with,” he shot back, his hand twitching near his second knife.

You stepped closer again, this time moving more naturally, though the sharpness in your gaze remained. “You’re dealing with someone who’s not your enemy. I’ve saved more lives in the last month than most hunters do in a year. But if you’re still scared of little ol’ me…”

“I’m not scared,” Sam snapped, though his voice wavered slightly.

You smirked, clearly unconvinced. “Sure you aren’t.”

Sam ran a hand through his hair, his frustration evident. “This… whatever this is, it’s not forever. You can’t keep playing doctor. Sooner or later, the hunger’s going to win.”

“Maybe,” you admitted, your tone losing some of its playfulness. “But until that day comes, I’m going to keep doing what I do best. Helping people. You can either get on board or get out of my way.”

He stared at you, his expression torn between mistrust and something else he couldn’t quite place. After a long pause, he shook his head. “You’re one hell of a risk, you know that?”

“And yet you haven’t left,” you said, leaning closer with a sly grin. “What does that say about you, Winchester?”

Sam’s lips pressed into a thin line, but he didn’t move.

The dance between you had only just begun.

[gideonisms]

I love arranging it's like YES YES THE OBJECTS ARE IN LOCATIONS

[cybertron-after-dark]

Being constantly surrounded by the presence of a loving God sounds great until you realize you never know when his freaky fuckin eyes are gonna show up to check on you.

And man. They do it a LOT.