#on her own and for herself in order to finally get closure

[cloysterbell]

Pete, I need you to stay here.

[2xchomp]

Not art (once again ;-;), but it think you’ll like this

But I had a dream…a vision perchance that has to do with 5am Pearl and Misadventures!Pearl.

Basically, somehow in someway, DL!Pearl’s tower end up in the world of Misadventures due to…something (idk it’s just a concept and not hashed out) and Misadventures!Pearl happens across it while exploring! (Maybe with others maybe by herself)

And is confused as to why there’s another part of the map that’s labeled “The Scarlet Witch’s Moon’s Tower” and decided to call Lizzie about it, since it doesn’t seem like it should be there.

Now, maybe it’s there on its own, or maybe it’s there in a zone that has the other winner’s bases from their games ( “The Watcher’s Sun’s Desert,”

“The Sacrifice’s Stars’ Cottage,”

“The Listener’s Mars’ Isle,”

“The Villain’s Trading Shack,”

“The Wildcard’s Comet’s Car,”

And I don’t know if the AF’s “bases” also show up since technically they didn’t have a bases, but they’re definitely there in someway! Maybe Cleo’s just rooming with Scott)

BUT! Either way, Lizzie comes on over in admin mode, and maybe it’s because she wasn’t there in DL or maybe it’s something else, but since they only stayed in the outskirts of the land, she doesn’t notice its connections to the life series and says: “Well that’s just weird, it registers as a dungeon, but it’s not a dungeon we made…”

and decides to hold a meeting to tell everyone else about it and tell them to not go near it until the admin team fix it up or find out how it there or something.

Pearl though? Pearl knows what’s there, she knows the name, she knows the cold that instantly hit her body when crossing the threshold, she knows the silhouette of the tower in the distance and she definitely knows the howls that ring through the forest.

So, against what Lizzie said, she heads out to it again, cause she thinks she knows how to at least try to get rid of it. So maybe a little talk is in order.

And of course it’s a dungeon, but the thing is, the monsters she’s supposed to fight? The wolves? They don’t seem to want to fight her, they’re all just looking at her cautiously and curiously, like they know her. Well guess her hypothesis on who this is, is right. Now she’ll just have to talk to her(herself?).

They finally meet, and instead of trying to fight her, the Scarlet Witch just asks a question:

“Do you think this is going to last? The friendliness? The calm? Wouldn’t it be better to be prepared just in case they leave again?” It isn’t asked in malice, just curious, worried that it’ll happen again.

“It won’t, I promise that. For as much as there are grudges held in the games, they aren’t forever. The people in there are more forgiving than that, I’m more forgiving than that, and Scott is too. The reconciliation in Wild Life may not have been the best, but we’re working on it outside of that as well. You don’t have to worry,

I - we, won’t be left alone anymore.”

Maybe it’s the conviction in her voice, or the fondness, but The Scarlet Witch smiled softly as she started to turn to particles. Like how monsters normally do when dying.

“Maybe we won’t be alone anymore, but it’s always nice to have a companion to always be by your side.”

Then Tilly comes into view, and walks over, now as a companion (maybe mount?) that Pearl can take home.

(And maybe some other canine companions are there to be picked up by others as well, Shelby’s Dire Wolf, Sausage’s Bubbles. Maybe even Matchbox, Mailbox, Millie and Billie will find their way home as well, but only if a route not violent is taken)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But yeah :D Maybe this’ll get others to make art or stories cause while I’d love to make art, it would come out so much later than I would like, and this idea might slip from my mind by then.

Idk, I just really wanted a 5am Pearl to get some closure knowing she won’t be treated like the way she was in DL again. It’ll help soothe my soul.

Once again, I’m sorry about the art drought but I’m working on smaller things that are all interconnected which I hope people will like. It may take a while but it’ll come out…eventually

[cerastes]

I’m thinking of how, in OpRec 2, Laurentina knows she has very limited time as herself before her brain deteriorates and she loses her reason again and becomes the “Specter” again. She has few precious hours as herself after years of being trapped in her own mind due to the experiments and the insane amount of pure liquid Originium Amaia and Quintus injected directly into her spinal cord.

She uses a bit of this time to spend it fighting a battle alongside Misery (who insisted she doesn’t need to help him but definitely welcomed the aid since apparently the situation was pretty bad), because in fighting, she can remain useful, in her own words. Skadi insists she hurry back to Rhodes Island, to which Specter says it’s pointless, because equipment on the surface simply cannot help her, only keep her alive, so she takes her sweet time fighting alongside Misery, and Skadi and Gladiia (the latter reluctantly) join.

She allots some more of her time to having a proper talk with Closure, answering as many questions as she can, both about herself and about Closure, but mainly, what she wanted to say was “do not change the way I’m treated. You know me as Specter, you have protocols around the Operator Specter. Retain them. I have to go.”

She talks with a very concerned Skadi and an unflinching but still upset Gladiia, but she already had time with them on the way back. The final person she wanted to talk to before her brain gave out again? Doctor. Explicitly because she predicted Closure and Doctor may take more care on her handling, maybe remove her from combat operations in order to more closely monitor her condition. This is exactly what she didn’t want.

Because end of the day, Laurentina is a Hunter. She finds it difficult to speak as surface dwellers do, she finds it almost nonsensical, and so, she demands, “Keep me in the fight, Doctor. We do not need words, we need only you having a clear objective and me, my orders. If you put me in a bed and out of the battlefield, you are denying me the last shred of identity I can cling on”.

Because she couldn’t sculpt, she couldn’t sing, she couldn’t even control her own body, if she was even conscious. The only thing that she could do to cling to being who she was...

...Is to at the very least be pointed towards an enemy to fight them, and pointed towards an ally to protect them.

Skadi believed Laurentina had died prior to the events of the game because this isn’t the first time she had done this: In order for the 3rd Squadron to advance towards Ishar’mla, the 2nd Squadron, Gladiia and Laurentina’s, practically sacrificed themselves covering for the 3rd. 

She never blamed Skadi, and makes sure she knows it. She didn’t mind doing it again now, either. “Point me at the one I have to cut, put the ones I need to keep safe behind me, and give the order. Even if am completely lost in the darkness of my mind and madness of my heart, that, that will never leave me. That’s proof that I am Specter, that I am Shark, and that I am Laurentina. I, namely, I.”

As far as she knew, these were the last words she’d ever get out as herself. She used to make it very clear: “Do not deny me the only bit of purpose and identity I have left, because even if I am but a shell of myself, I’m still me.”

Of course, we now know that this was not to be her final fate, and she did manage to regain control, decisively, eventually, but... As far as she and Skadi and Doctor knew, at this point, this was really, really it. The briefest of encounters with the real Specter, on borrowed time. And her intent? To make sure she’s not left to rot in a medical room where she’s useless, gathering dust: “Put even more danger upon my share”. You know you are dealing with a seriously terrifying and strong person when they can confidently tell you (and have verifiably, so far, done as much) that even if it’s just a shell of her former self out there, she can and will never stop doing exactly what she’s good at, because otherwise, at that point, she truly has left the world.

[microknifeyuri]

okay actual last post about act 2 and yeah it is going to be about mic. i don't care if you disagree or not, this is purely a personal post, and also me grieving over how her character got completely assasinated. keep in mind that i've been constantly making content of her for almost 3 years so this is just me having feelings and being disappointed with how she was handled. you can have her opinions of her or anything it doesn't really matter to the point of this post. i'm putting my thoughts in place.

mic forgiving taco doesn't make sense. it still won't make sense ever, no matter how much you actually try to look at it. mic is a forgiving person, yes, but only when people try to genuinely change and when they give an actual apology to her, showing that they're sorry. taco hasn't even tried to change as she was only planning to apologize to pickle, not mic, to begin with. the sorry also just felt hollow regarding that. mic would not act like that ever. like i'm sorry but. before s2 came back, her last appearance was her quite literally leaving the game because she couldn't even bring herself to look or be around at taco anymore, because taco hurted her a lot. a by a lot i mean to the point where mic didn't even know who she was anymore once she eliminated herself.

mic's whole... arc was thrown away. her whole story about growing and changing, and leaving behind an abusive/toxic friendship to then find people who actually love you did not matter. act 2 did a complete disservice to her relationships with knife and pickle, too. are you really telling me that knife protecting mic from taco was for nothing? that mic would've just forgiven taco either way? what about pickle? are you GENUINELY telling me that mic would forgive someone who didn't only hurt her, but also her friends? are you genuinely telling me that it didn't matter if she went away and gained actual healthy relationships, she would've still forgiven taco? that doesn't make ANY sense.

because everything they did before just. said otherwise. why even bother to show the fact that mic and taco were never close to then say that "they were closer than anyone else". no that messes up with both of their arcs completely. taco never let mic get close to her and they never had an actual genuine connection. taco apologizing on ep 13 was even forced, and wasn't sincere. she only did it because knife called her out and mic going "aw taco" is just. her showing that her standars are SO SO LOW thanks to taco that she considers a terrible apology a good thing.

why even bother writing about mic calling out taco and how she treated her the same way she treated pickle? why even bother making mic say that she gained nothing out of taco? why even bother making knife and her friends? no, genuinely, do you have any idea of how much that ruins their friendship? knife literally broke all of his own rules in order to make sure mic was okay. and mic just. does that. and it's not even played with respect or seriousness.

it was for laughs. for laughs. what's funny out of that. how her character got completely ruined. how everything about her closure was genuinely unsatisfying and frustrating. how this is very clearly not what ae had in mind for her, but ae listening to the fans only on what they want, and how that completely just managed to ruin the BEST character written in ii.

and this hurts me a lot genuinely. mic was a character that i've felt connected to the most when i fully got what was her deal. i felt connected and seen in the way she acted, in the way she healed, everything. essentially she helped me to finally recognize that i was worthy of love, and that i shouldn't be ashamed to speak up against my abusers. that i shouldn't be ashamed for being myself. that i found people who actually loved me and motivatedme to let go of toxic relationships that didn't do anything but hurt me. she did genuinely so much for me on a personal level and i'll always adore her for that.

i'm. especially heartbroken at how her character was treated on ACT 2. especially the way on how brian just completely ruined the character arc he worked on the most. it felt bad, unnatural and just like a very poor attempt at a closure. they didn't even NEED a closure to begin with. for a guy that said "i don't think everyone needs closure", you sure did ruin a character with it. this genuinely feels like fanservice because that's what most fans wanted but well. her character is now ruined. i lost everything yesterday. i lost her and. i still don't know how to feel about it.

It's funny, really. You get invested in a show because it was about love, finding yourself, change and growth. And the character that matters the most to you has all of those four traits in their story. You look deeply into the backstory, their behaviour and relationships and you think that hey. It wouldn't make sense if the writers decided to throw all of that away, especially since. She's the best character written in all of the show. There's not a singular flaw on her story, nothing, she's the most humane character in a sense. She means the world to you and all you wish for her is to have a good closure. And it is hinted that she will.

But. She didn't.

And now. You don't know what to do. Everything I did, I did it for her. She helped me improve in many aspects of my life. And I'm still grieving. I just got her back and then I lost her in a terrible way.

so much for being invested in a show for almost 3 years

[aliceoverzero]

Classpecting the Nine Sols cast (Full spoilers, of course)

While I generally find this to be a cumbersome exercise, sometimes it just clicks. Thinking about Nine Sols is one of those cases, I left this simmering for a while to see if I could pin down more of the cast but I don't have anything hard to put down beyond the few that I've already set and I'm happy to leave it here and see if anyone has their own expansions to the list or contradicting reads on the characters I've covered.

Yi, Muse of Doom: It is funny how the game lines up so that the main protagonist and antagonist fit into a clean opposed superclass pairing. Muses passively wield their aspect in a vast and self-sacrificial manner, in some ways an intended counter to a Lord wielding the opposite aspect. Doom has followed Yi throughout his life ever since the primordial roots denied him his own death after his Mystic Nymph prototype malfunctioned. His connection to the roots was how Eigong fumbles into Doom for the Solarians as she accidentally creates the Tianhuo virus, and his subsequent actions are all in some way in response to this event. The Eternal Cauldron Project is his means of delaying the Solarian's doom (through cryostasis), displacing that doom onto the apemen by harvesting their brains and blocking out the sunlight on their homeworld in order to provide the computational capacity and energy requirements for the project. But once he confronts Eigong initially and is slain around the time of the project's beginning, his actions begin to shift toward embracing doom. The events experienced in the course of the actual gameplay are an exploration and embrace of entropy, Yi navigating the decay of New Kunlun as he in many ways accelerates it by overthrowing the remaining leadership. But what earns him the Muse class is his actions in the True Ending, where he wields the Rhizomatic Arrow to finally bring a sudden closure to the slow an inevitable end that the Solarians have struggled against. It's an acknowledgement that Life for his people has been corrupted beyond recovery by Eigong, and that the only right way forward is to let go on behalf of all of them. In that final moment he completes the Doom of the Solarians, while at the same time withdrawing the Doom he callously imposed on the apemen so long ago.

Eigong, Lord of Life: The Lord superclass is about altering reality through their aspect on a grand scale, in a way ultimately self-serving. It fits the tale of Eigong's list of tragedies. Her work to improve Solarians at a biological level ultimately corrupts the Life within them, whether it be the Tianhuo virus when she uses the Primordial Root or the mutant serum when she tries to disseminate Ji's immortality as a cure for that virus. Every step of research drenched in the sacrifice of others, taking and infecting their Life in pursuit of her imagined ideal for it. It reaches a climax with the True Ending, where she demonstrates the willpower to control the mutation of the Ji-derived serum within herself, then spills her own flesh upon the Fusang to infect it with herself. The transformation solidifies her class as a Lord, as she becomes the epicenter of the change to Life she enacts. No longer alive as a Solarian, but as a virus within the very source of Solarian life itself. It's an interesting contrast with Yi's aspect of Doom. Eigong wishes to find immortality, to put an end to endings by persisting Life in whatever means necessary, only to be opposed by Yi who has embraced Doom in the form of accepting finality and enacting it upon the twisted remains of Solarian civilization.

Shuanshuan, Page of Mind: Pages are potential that goes largely untapped for an initial period of their lives, deprived of their aspect. But once they get the chance to embrace their potential, they take to it with a prodigious aptitude. Much of Shuanshuan's character arc is focused on his shift from primitive understanding of the world that his village held and embracing each glimpse into Solarian technology and culture. He has a foundation for straightforward thinking, often confounding Yi with his acceptance of things outside of his control as he's had to live with imposed ignorance for so long. Yi's reddit atheist routine fumbles in the face of someone too busy embracing the joys of life to be caught up in the "souls aren't real and emotions are chemical reactions" stuff. And Shuanshuan takes to each new learning opportunity with enthusiasm and curiosity as he makes a rapid leaps and bounds in his skills. He masters Yi's board game, learns to use Solarian programming languages and even picks up engineering knowledge from Kuafu. In the normal ending's epilogue he is clearly acting as Yi's close scientific partner in pursuit of finding a way to salvage Solarian civilization.

Ji, Seer of Void: Seer is an easy fit for Ji, but I think the Void aspect is something earned not by wielding it passively but in how passive he is in his actions in general. Despite the opportunities provided by the combination of divination and immortality, Ji exerts little agency and thus embraces Void in the form of obscurity/irrelevance. While he fraternizes with groups that make history, he's doing it less to make history himself than to hold the best seat in the house for watching those histories unfold. I want to draw parallels with other characters in fiction that have strong divination but struggle with agency, but the ones I can think of (Rose Lalonde and Mitsuru Kamekura as strong examples) do at least work to steer the futures they're seeing, and struggle against it when they see it as a chain. It's unclear if Ji has ever tried to actively exert more agency than the moment where he lies to Yi to try to make their final confrontation more enjoyable to himself. Absolutely inscrutable little scrunkly guy.

Yanlao, Prince of Time: I feel this one is pretty straightforward. Princes are actively destructive towards their aspect and holy shit Yanlao has a bad relationship with every temporal concept in his life. His obsession with the heirlooms of history leads him to devalue and dismiss the people who lived their lives to make those histories, with this obsession persisting into the way that he prioritizes trying to preserve the belongings of past Solarians instead of making notable contributions to the future the other Sols are working to find. He spends unnecessary time outside of stasis (eating away at the time he has left resisting the disease) to bicker with Yi and cheapens any impression of wisdom his age might impart as he tries to rely on it for authority. He desperately clings to Time both externally and internally, but only accelerates its corrosion.

Lady Ethereal, Bard of Blood: Blood is the aspect of bonds and connections with others, and Bards are a volatile class that have a passively destructive relationship with their aspect. While there are external manifestations of this read in the way that unintended side effects of the Soulscape system took her lover and her friends working on the same project, the more interesting details are on how the Blood aspect was destructive towards her directly. Yi finds her as a haunted brain-in-a-jar, desperately trying to paint over her guilt and anguish with a paradise filled with hollow versions of her dead friends. Her only real connections are with the memories of her colleagues, which serve as vectors for her suppressed pain to feedback into attacking her denial. The flaw of the Soulscape is that it is a reality better than the real, yet for her it becomes a hell drenched in the Blood of others.

[yall-hate-kids-tourney]

Athena Cykes (Ace Attorney) vs. Jane Crocker (Homestuck)

Y'all Hate Kids: Screwed By The Writers

Propaganda below the cut

-

Athena Cykes (Ace Attorney)

In what should be her own game she only gets two cases, and then is only one of three player characters in the next game. But I feel like the worst part is that she never gets put in any of the promotional art. The fandom also kind of forgets about her and generally writes off Dual Destinies, even when her story is really good.

Jane Crocker (Homestuck)

Cw: assault

The fandom blames her for the melodrama and problems in Act 6 and shit even though it was ALL the alpha kids who were terrible communicators and having relationship drama. She encouraged Jake to try having a relationship with Dirk even though she liked him too, she wants her friends to be happy even if she isn't. The fandom basically makes her the Stupid Bitch Who Gets In The Way Of Yaoi even though she quite literally made the yaoi happen. She's a victim of Act 6 being messy and written badly. Then we get to the epilogues/sequel. While she's an adult there, it's clear the writers just kinda hate her. She could definitely be a villain but they completely misunderstand her character in order to make her flat and completely in the wrong- even though some of the things she's saying in regards to Troll and Human society intertwining. It isn't looked at with nuance, Jane is just wrong and everyone else has to kill her. Like... hello??? If you're going to make her a villain do it right. Misogyny my nemesis. 

-

"Jane Crocker is initially introduced when, in order to win the game they have been sucked into, the original four kids travel to a universe where their grand/parents have been swapped with them and selected to play it instead.  She is the grandmother, now granddaughter of John Egbert, the first introduced character, and her hobbies include detective fiction, baking, wondering how to tell one of her best friends that she's in love with him, and avoiding frequent attempts on her life.

To explain that last one, she is the heiress to the Betty Crocker company and national monopoly, aka. Crockercorp, and has big plans about the good she can do when she finally takes power.  As she finds out in the game, the company is a front ruled by the Condesce, an alien queen from another universe who was gathering power on Earth so that she could leap into the game and thus take over the world it would create.  And she's happy to let Jane rule with her, so long as she puts on this computer and OBEYs.

After she is mind-controlled by the Condesce, Jane has little role in the rest of the story -- she is put to sleep and cured offscreen, and only shows up as a bit player in the final fight with no dialogue whatsoever to resolve her arc.  However, she does have one scene with her crush, Jake, while she is not herself that colours a lot of the audience reaction to her.  

Some context: During the game, she had chickened out during her confession to Jake, and he then proceeded to use her for relationship advice when their other friend, Dirk, succeeded in becoming his boyfriend.  After one of these chats where Jake reveals he forgot her birthday, she blows up at him for using her, which is the last normal conversation they have in the comic.

By the time she is being controlled, Jake is being held prisoner, and so with her inhibitions removed and priorities redirected towards Crockercorp, she tells him all about the future he'll have as her consort and repeatedly harasses and threatens him.  Because there is never any closure for this moment as both characters are shoved to the background, this is the fandom's last impression of Jane, which is used as evidence of her true nature whenever anyone needs to justify their hate for or demonization of her.

Although Jane has plenty of casual conversations with her friends early on that demonstrate her true character -- she is supportive of her friends to a fault, and is initially given the role of team leader but ultimately is too passive to fill it, one of the many reasons for her friends' frayed unity.  However, absolutely none of her traits and decisions are important to the plot, and her arc is dropped with her potential left unfulfilled, leaving it easy for her to be overshadowed by a single dramatic moment she had while explicitly out of character.

And that should be the end of the story, but it gets worse.  In 2019, Hussie released the Homestuck Epilogues, an explicitly ""dubiously canonical"" prose novel with two routes that many fans found so damaging and distasteful that they left the fandom entirely.  Between the book itself and the ensuing flame wars, the fandom was reduced to merely a fraction of its size, and most of the people now remaining belong to the camp that liked the Epilogues, or at least saw it as part of canon.

In both routes of the Epilogue, Jane, now an adult, becomes the authoritarian president of Earth C and coerces Jake into an abusive relationship.  This is worse in the Candy Route, where she is described as a fascist, declares a policy of genocide against trolls, regularly drugs Jake to have sex with him, and uses their kid to blackmail him into staying with her.  All of this ultimately causes her to be cast as a central antagonist in the HS team's ongoing comic ""Homestuck^2"" that continues off of the Epilogues.

All of this follows from an extrapolation of her behaviour while mind-controlled, which is somehow still applicable to her character once she is back to normal.   Now, the popular excuse for her mischaracterization is the backbone of current official Homestuck content.  And because her being an antagonist is key to the story, most fans of the sequel (which is now the majority of online Homestuck fans) have to buy into the justification for her actions in order to properly suspend disbelief and keep reading.  Thus, it is nigh impossible to find anyone who will engage with the canon -- and I mean /actually/ canon, not postcanon -- version of Jane.

Addendum: Although canon Jane is a teenager, I have to discuss how her adult postcanon self affects her perception and basically erases the original character.  Nonetheless, since postcanon Jane can hardly be called the same character, I don't think this affects Jane's eligibility."

[blues-valentine]

HSMTMTS Final Season Spoilers:

Ricky and Gina’s first relationships (Nini/EJ) prepared them for their own trials this season.

The thing about Ricky and Gina going thought similar situations as PW and Rini is to showcase not just why they’re different but that they’ve learned from their previous relationships too.

Because that’s the whole point.

Ricky’s relationship with Nini failed not just because they outgrew each other but because Nini wanted bigger things for herself and didn’t feel like she needed Ricky to get that anymore. She herself said on the pilot that being away from Ricky actually made her come out of her shell and pursue leading roles. And Ricky wasn’t ready to accept that change so in order to protect that relationship he started to become too attached and making Nini feel pressured about balancing YAC and Ricky. He thought he had to put Nini’s dream on hold only to realize not only did it made him selfish but not a version of himself he wanted to be. This is why he corrected all of those mistakes with Gina when presented with the same issues. Not just this final season but last season as well. (X)

It was stablished last season, Ricky’s love for Gina changed what he thought he knew about love. Gina is the representation of change.

For Ricky, the idea of Gina and him growing apart and walking different directions terrified him — he has seen this before and it didn’t end with people choosing him. But he wasn’t going to be the old Ricky that would delete Instagram posts and be like “I want you to leave the movie and stay here with me” and that’s because he now knows that’s not how you love. And he isn’t going to make Gina feel guilty about living her dreams. And that’s why he was the most supportive and attentive boyfriend she could’ve asked for. And Ricky knows it could cost him losing Gina but he is ready to deal with that as long as Gina is doing what she’s meant to do.

For Gina, she was living her dreams but Ricky is also part of her dreams. Gina’s arc has never been just about finding success but finding a place to belong and she found that (with Ricky, with East High). By holding the whole movie offer from Ricky, she understood why EJ did what he did last season and I think it was a very good learning experience for her and closure for the two of them. Gina was very naive and new in her relationship with EJ and going thought that allowed her to understand other points. I feel like if she hadn’t been in a relationship with EJ first she wouldn’t have known how to handle this issue with Ricky. But as opposed to Nini, who basically told Ricky she didn’t come back for him. Gina would fight for Ricky. Because she wants both the fame and him and I’m glad they didn’t have her compromise on either of those.

The contrasts and differences in all of those relationships needed to happen. It would’ve been too easy if Ricky and Gina were just in a perfectly honey moon stage even with all of those circumstances. And I would say they handled it gracefully and better than others would have (including PW and Nini). The thing about Ricky and Gina is not just that they both give the other something they need (stability, propose, ambition, understanding) is that PW and Rini gave up on each other too easy. Maybe because they just weren’t the right person. And if anything the season shows is that whatever happens next Ricky and Gina will find a way to make it work together and unlike Troyella (“who are not a real couple”) Ricky and Gina are.

[thetypedwriter]

Children of Anguish and Anarchy Book Review

Children of Anguish and Anarchy Book Review by Tomi Adeyemi

This book was so horrible. 

No one is more disappointed than me to say that. 

I’ve gone to two of Tomi Adeyemi’s book signings, including a recent one for Children of Anguish and Anarchy.

Tomi Adeyemi herself is absolutely wonderful. She’s so intelligent, hilarious, addictively charming, and can work a room like no other. The book signing was fantastic. Too bad the book couldn’t hold up to the event itself. 

Children of Anguish and Anarchy follows as the third and last installment of the Legacy of Orisha trilogy, but doesn’t read like that at all.

Other than having the same four main characters of Tzain, Zelie, Amari, and Inan, nothing about the book concludes any issue, plot story, or character development from the previous two novels. 

A completely new villain is introduced, someone we haven't heard about as a reader in the last two books whatsoever, and obliterates any of the conflict and tension that Adeyemi worked so hard to build in her previous stories. 

Gone is the tension and literally hundreds of years of in-fighting between the Maji and the monarchy, gone is the civil war and its repercussions on Orisha, gone is even one of the main characters from the last novel, Roen, who was a significant love interest for Zelie and who has been completely disappeared in this new book all together (like, what???). 

It was incredibly lazy writing to wipe away everything the first two books created in order to “unite” against this new enemy. The sentiment is nice, but it’s not the finale we wanted or needed. 

I desired answers to Amari and Zelie’s broken friendship, closure to the Inan and Roen love triangle, a verdict on how Orisha would rebuild and who would rule. 

We get none of that. 

Instead Zelie and the others spend half their time in the book on a ship with very strong slavery parallels, and the other half in the introduced land of New Gaia.

While I thought the descriptions of New Gaia were beautiful (albeit very similar to Avatar), I was dissatisfied because the whole series at this point has been focused on Orisha and Orisha’s problems, not New Gaia and not the Skulls. 

While the plot was bad and aggrieving, the characters were even worse. 

None of the characters were interesting. They were carbon copies of each other in which all they talked about was avenging their fallen Orishan people, killing the Skulls, and protecting loved ones.

Rinse and repeat. It was boring as hell to delve into four different characters’ minds only to find that they all sounded exactly the same. 

I often had to go back to the start of the chapter to tell whose internal thoughts I was reading because they were so interchangeable and self-righteous and dull.  It is never a good sign when you can’t automatically tell who’s POV you’re reading based on their internal dialogue and tone. 

Lastly, the pacing of the book was atrocious. Everything happened so goddamn fast that I felt like I never had the chance to properly digest or internalize anything.

Oh they’re on a ship? Moving on from that. Zelie got some sort of medallion shoved into her chest?? Moving on. Wait, Maji and Titans and the monarchy are all working together after two full books of them killing each other??? Five pages and it’s done with. 

It was outrageous and insulting. 

The pacing made everything feel shallow, unimportant, and unnecessary. More than most of the plot were action scenes, while difficult to write and interesting in their own right, in this book it was so repetitive that characters killing other characters 90% of the time became egregiously tedious. 

And speaking of the action, I also found it incredibly violent and graphic for a YA book. As someone who is not a fan of gore and blood, this book had so many explicit details for no reason other than being gratuitous.

For example, at one point Zelie shoves a chicken bone through someone’s cheek. I found it repulsive and it was also incessant. 

I know some people can handle brutality, but I can’t, and found it a huge turn off and made me dislike the book so much more, especially as this was a majority of the book to boot. 

Disappointment can’t even contain my full feelings for this story. For such a wonderful trilogy to succumb to such a terrible end is a tragedy. I wish the best for Tomi Adeyemi and success for her future, but I will not read another book by her again. 

Score: 2/10

Recommendation: Read Children of Blood and Bone, a magical story that will inspire and entertain you. Read Children of Virtue and Vengeance if you really need something else, but even this book I wouldn’t recommend picking up.

Do not, I repeat, do not read Children of Anguish and Anarchy. It will leave you feeling dismayed and disheartened beyond redemption.

Bonus: Here's me, my fiance, and Tomi Adeyemi at her book signing!

[kerryweaverlesbian]

[imagine there have been a series of vignettes where Ruby died pre-Apocalypse, and Hell and Heaven have conspired to get her back on Earth in order to start the Apocalypse, so while all that paperwork goes through she and Billie who was assigned as her reaper have been hanging out and getting closer, despite them both knowing exactly when Ruby is going to die for real. Billie made them wait for confirmation every time, because she's a stickler for the rules, and neither of them said it but they were both glad for a little time where nobody expected anything of them. Finally it happened - the church, the betrayal, the start of the Apocalypse, the end of Ruby's life:]

One more miracle, Ruby asked for, when she lead her to the edge of darkness, one more miracle so I can meet my father. So I can know it was all worth it. Please, Billie.

It was never a miracle, Billie had to reply, it was never a gift. It was a sentence, and now you have come to the end of it. The Book Of Ruby: The End. You knew that.

I thought it would be more satisfying.

Everybody does.

So, what, I'm just part of everybody now? Not so special?

You are part of everybody. You are special. This had always felt true, but there it felt less true, more like a platitude, like Billie was afraid of the depth of her own emotion, and Billie would not allow herself to lie like that, so she added: And you are a part of me.

Yeah? It had Ruby smiling, however bittersweet it was. The annoying part?

Yes. The annoying part that wants to ask for a miracle.

But you won't.

But I won't. It wouldn't be given. And if you got it, it wouldn't be what you asked for. It never is.

It is for some people.

But not for us.

Ruby looked away. She didn't like it, Billie knew, but she knew she understood. They both did. Billie was always honest, with herself and with others, even when that truth hurt. She wished, for the first time, that she didn't know so quite much of what is true.

Can I ask for something that isn't a miracle? Ruby asked, and Billie gestured for her to go on. Ruby's essence had started to pull into the Empty, dethreading from the ether like cotton being tugged apart. Will you let me be selfish one last time?

You've never asked for permission before.

Yeah, well. Maybe I wanted to surprise you.

Ruby put her fading fingers to her own fading lips, then placed them on Billie's, a phantom kiss. Billie touched the place where Ruby's fingers had landed, delicate with herself. None of the times she and Ruby had touched had ever been physical, but all of them had been real. All of them had made Billie part of the present, part of the feeling, part of life. None of them were important and all of them mattered.

Look at that. I made you smile.

That wasn't selfish, Billie said, but too late. She had missed the final moment, for once. Ruby took that from her. Ruby gave that to her.

She stood by the Empty for a long time, rather than fading back into the timeless space reapers inhabit together between calls. She knew what she was hoping for: another miracle, given and not asked for. Some reward for the loyalty and dedication she and Ruby had put into the universe. Some consolation prize for being written off at the climax. Some happy ending to their part of the story. But it didn't happen. And she knew it wouldn't. The Book Of Ruby: The End. The Book Of Billie: To Be Continued. No ending, no completion, no closure; happy or otherwise.

[helgafolk618]

Hilda and Jo: Together Again

(aka another fanfic idea i had even though i should be working on erikafolk)

"Everything's changed, hasn't it?"

"Yes. But it's the way of the world for things to change. It wasn't for nothing. We'll always have our memories of this place."

"But that's all it is! Memories. Our house is gone. The mountain's gone. Our life here's gone. And now... Now you're gone too."

...

Rewatching the episode "Together Again" in Adventure Time: Distant Lands and finding out about the scrapped storyline for Hilda E2E8 "The Fifty-Year Night," I had a tearjerking idea for a Hilda fanfic.

Johanna dies during Hilda's late teens. What caused her death? Who knows! One thing is certain though: Hilda will never see life the same way again.

Sure, she still was the same fearless, adventure-loving girl; but her motivations for her love for adventures changed. She kept adventuring more than ever in order to distract herself from having the time to even think about Johanna. She still had David, Frida, Alfur, Twig, and all of her wonderful friends, but often she wonders how long will she live for until she dies and gets to join her mother.

It didn't help that Johanna's body disappeared. Her own daughter couldn't even meet her as a ghost.

More information:

In her adult life, Hilda became a naturalist and explorer, authoring several books about her exploits around the world. She's becoming to come to terms with her mother's death. She thought, this is what Johanna would want her to do.

Until one day, she discovered strange, magical creatures, "Skuggers" she called them. Bearing a striking resemblance to a certain fae entity, these creatures have immensely powerful illusion magic. Also a very peculiar oddity with them: they're always sighted with seemingly random individuals who just died. Hilda found out the pattern: Skuggers always look for the remains of fairy-human hybrids. Just when Hilda was getting over Johanna, she saw this as an opportunity to finally get closure about her mother's whereabouts.

She said goodbye to her friends and acquiantances back in Trolberg, only bringing Twig along for her quest to find out more about Skuggers. Although, all her attempts failed because, well, hard to fool a being capable of supernaturally fooling your very senses. After weeks of failure, she was gonna head back to Trolberg when she finally spotted a Skugger, not too far from the wall, bringing a bag of bones; it seemed like it was going somewhere. Hilda and Twig followed it discreetly and discovered a fairy circle in the mountains that was hidden by the Skuggers' magic. Unfortunately, at this point, they were found out and the Skugger sprinted along the mountainside, with Hilda and Twig chasing it. Who did those bones belong to? It seemed like she was finally gonna figure out where they stash all those fairy-hybrid remains. She's gonna see her mother again.

And then she fell.

Very high.

She landed with a thud.

And then she died.

In her final moments, she saw shadowy silhouttes, and then a very strange, colorful, yet familiar environment, before blacking out.

.

.

.

Years has passed. Hilda rose up from the ground and saw that she was transparent and skeletal. She was a ghost! Her tombstone was even there! She thought she was buried at St. Guglows, but a quick turnaround revealed gigantic mushrooms, jade-colored rocks, and a flock of white woffs in the air. She was in Fairy Country!

Turns out, Phinium and Lydia saw Hilda dying and "abducted" her with the watchtower, but it was too late to save her. They hid her body in a very remote place in the isle, where no one but them could find it.

Hilda saw that the entire island is in darkness. Shouldn't the sun never set in Fairy Country? To be honest, she also didn't expect a lot of jury-rigged radiotowers, skyscrapers, and roads. What happened to the fairies?

Yeah, Fairy Country as we know it has been transformed by years of mad science and old magic, thanks to Victoria Van Gale. She assumes de facto control over all of Fairy Country and dubbed them the territory of the "Republic of Van Galea". The Skuggers were her personal inventions, meant to exploit the island's properties where what you see is what people want to believe they are.

Those remains? Skuggers use the ghostly forms of fairy-human hybrids in order to power their illusion magic. They're locked up somewhere in the watchtowers.

Try guessing who else is a certain half-fairy ghost there... ;)

And you know how Hilda reacted to all of this? The fact she died prematurely, the fact that her friends thought of her as missing for years, the fact that Victoria Van Gale has messed up the Fairy Isles beyond belief?

She simply lit up with joy and thought, "I get to see Mum again!"

:D

(The burden of those questions will come to her later).

[princess-pathetic-112898]

Major Spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Just got out of GotG3 and I’m really happy there didn’t end up being any major character deaths. The Guardians trilogy is about trauma; Childhood trauma, parental trauma, trauma from loss, trauma from abuse, building walls in response to trauma, and learning to slowly tear down those walls. In order for those themes to stick the landing, it’s crucial that life goes on. Each of the guardians got a satisfying conclusion to their arcs. Peter is finally emotionally mature enough to actively seek closure for his mother’s death and is ready to reconnect with his family on Earth. Gamora may not be the same person they once knew, but she can acknowledge that the others knew and loved a version of her, while they can acknowledge that this Gamora can’t be someone else for them, and she’s thriving in a new life she made for herself. Drax gets to be a father again. Mantis is learning to value herself and be her own person. Kraglin finally sees in himself what Yondu saw in him, and is able to keep a part of Yondu with him. Nebula has found a place where she is valued and loved unconditionally, and can be a force for good. Rocket has confronted his abusers, overcome them, and learned to let himself love and be loved by friends again. Groot’s vocabulary is expanding. Cosmo is a good dog. An incredibly emotional and satisfying ending can also be a happy ending.

[simazinblr]

Spring Break - Meeting “Eric” (Part 8)

Plumbite Inn

Kodi gave Malaysia all the details about her conversation on the pier with Eric. She told her everything, including how Eric felt, his lies, his past, his fears, and his secrets. How he apologized and asked for another chance to be together.

Malaysia: Wait, so he lied about his looks, age, job, and was actually at the restaurant and coffee shop while you were waiting for him? Kodi: (nodding) Yep, that last part, I had no words. There I was, freaking out, sending him texts and calls, and dude was just there, watching me stress the whole fckn time. Malaysia: Unbelievable. So, now what? Kodi: (looking at the floor) I forgave him, but I can't be with him. I can’t trust him. The only reason I forgave him is because he’s been through some shit. He needs to work on himself, therapy. I did tell him that I'd check on him from time to time. Malaysia: You're too nice but did you get the closure you wanted? Kodi: Not sure it’s closure, but I’m glad I know the truth now. I can move on with Jamar. He’s ready for more, and I was stuck on this. Malaysia: Off topic but, was it weird seeing Erin? Kodi: OMG YES! I was so uncomfortable. Hearing a different voice come from that face was weird.

Malaysia and Kodi spent the rest of the night ordering room service and watching reality tv shows. She was happy Kodi finally stood up for herself and thought about her own feelings this time.

[nightwonder7]

the thought of a Ghost AU hug pile after Alice finally opens up to them and starts coming to with her own hard past with their help has me in shambles ;u;

another note though...how would the double identities work? would it be kind of like the ghosts can change forms or one personality takes over the other? Two separate ghosts who need to do different things before being put to rest?

and another question(s) that popped into my mind while writing this was: What is the requirement for releasing a ghost? What if said thing is really hard to do, like burning something precious? Or what if the first time it happens by accident and Alice & ghost Co don't even get to really say goodbye? 😭

HHHHHHHhhhHHHhhhh that is so wholesome! ;O; I can see the ghosts starting to notice that she becomes overly diligent in her work. To the point it is concerning, for she is staying up late for many nights studying the files and becomes too upset at every set-back. It's no longer about emptying the manor of ghosts so she can have her peaceful home back.

The ghosts doing some sort of intervention and want to know why she is wearing herself down like that (over the time they had known each other, they have started to care more for each other). Alice then tells them that she feels that it is her responsibility to help them and shares some of her past. For if she fails to help them, then she breaks the promise she made to herself that she would help others no matter what. All stemming from the emotional baggage of her parents' demise. The ghosts are the first ones she openly talks about her troubled past with. Que the group hug and words of reassurance ;u; Even though they can't really touch her fdghsjfks it'll be like an air hug XD A cold one...

----

I'm glad you asked! So the hunter form of those with double identities is actually a sort of corrupted form of their spirit, facilitated by the curse. Some are more susceptible than others to the mysterious power that veils the manor, and thus their unresolved trauma manifest in peculiar ways. This comes to play especially during events of strong emotions, such as when they start remembering their trauma. In these forms the ghosts are dangerously strong and can cause actual physical harm and destruction; much more so than the ghosts who don't possess this form.

In order to quell a ghost that has been corrupted, one must try and anchor them back down to earth. They are in a state of chaos and pain, and the only way to anchor them down is to first get their attention and make them listen. Then have them focus on something and slowly pull them out of chaos little by little with words. One thing that can help here is to use an item that holds significance to the ghost; something that is associated to a good or peaceful memory. Or something sentimental. For Joker; perhaps Margaretha's music box or a daisy? For Luchino; something related to his research like his papers or specimens? For Orpheus; something related to his childhood such as the stories he used to write and the doll. For Norton; the coin he carries around. For Mike; a piece of the circus.

It is a dangerous task, but once they calm down, they are able to get out of their corrupted form. This ghosts are still able to slip back into these forms again if they don't resolve their unfinished business.

----

So the curse is multilayered, protected by each of the ghosts' personal bindings. All of them need to be broken individually before the curse can be lifted. Once that is done, all the ghosts will be released simultaneously. So fortunately, none of them will slip away spontaneously ;u; Aaaahhhh but the thought though! 😭

The key to each binding is a little different from one another. All of them need to remember how they died and the trauma that first brought them to the manor and come to terms with it. Some of them also require tending to unfinished businesses in order to get closure. It can be to find out what happened to a loved one, finishing a piece of work, or, as you said, destroy something. It is for Alice and the ghosts to figure out what needs to be done. Pff imagine in order to break Matthias' binding, Alice needs to destroy Louis, but no matter what she does to that puppet, it just comes back again in mint condition XD

[paigelts05]

Vanessa Sylvia Blake [FNAF, Renegade AU]

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/1098936262

Published: Sep 15, 2024

Her sister being freed from William's control and the closure of the megaplex should have signalled a calm in Sylvia's life, but chaos loves company.

Daughter of Joy Diego and Bill Blake, she was born in 1993, and always preferred to be called Sylvia, as that was the name her mom chose for her.

Joy wanted to call her 'Sylvia [middle name of husband's choice] Blake'. Bill, however, messed with the paperwork and had her named Vanessa Sylvia Blake. Joy was not made aware, and due to being blind, had no way of finding this out for herself.

At four years old, her mom and father went through a messy divorce, with her father, Bill Blake, threatening Sylvia, the judge, and his own attorney in order to get his way in the custody hearing. Just before the judgements was passed, Sylvia broke her silence and revealed that she was threatened into lying about her mom, and cried that everyone else was more of a coward for not calling out the obvious contradictions in her statements. This caused the attorney to break down and reveal that he had also been threatened with murder if he didn't get Bill full custody. The judge, whilst having also been threatened, gave custody to Bill anyway even with everything stacked against him.

A few days later, the balcony of Joy Diego's apartment broke whilst she was standing on it, and in true Joy Diego fashion, she's perfectly OK aside from a sprained ankle, but the mainstream papers reported her as dead. Bill used this mainstream report to make Sylvia believe that her mom had died, and that it hadn't been an accident, and by the next day when a fairly well known paranormal investigative journalist released an article correcting the mistakes of the mainstream papers, showing that Joy was alive, Bill had already isolated Sylvia from being able to find any contradictory information, so the article never reached her.

Throughout her childhood, Bill had Sylvia subjected to electroshock 'therapy' due to her 'rebellious' behaviour. Due to this, she was in and out of various hospitals and mental hospitals for a long time, as once the doctors realised that Sylvia didn't have anything wrong with her, making the treatment unnecessary, Bill would take Sylvia and skip town.

She begun to plan her escape after meeting a woman who shared a part of her name, a lady called Vanessa Shelly who was currently recovering from a stab wound in the hospital. After sharing stories about shit fathers, Sylvia felt inspired to escape.

She made a handful of attempts, but she managed to finally run away from home for good at 16 (year 2009) and joined the CPD Paranormal Department as a paranormal responder so she could make rent whilst taking coding classes. Even though Mike tried to deter her, she insisted on joining, so in order to keep her from doing anything remotely more dangerous whilst she was still a kid, he did let her join as a junior paranormal responder, where she'd just be helping keep any kids involved with the cases entertained and happy, so she could play like a kid with other kids whilst feeling useful. Her choice to join the paranormal department was in part due to Joy having put Location C's Mike Schmidt down as Sylvia's legal guardian and Mike running that department, and in part due to the paranormal department effectively being social workers who use the fact that they are technically a police department in order to be the first at a scene and to keep the rest of the police force out of any of their cases.

Whilst she did see her mom quite frequently now as Joy was a good friend of Mike's, it took a while for Sylvia to realise that the blind woman she saw so often was actually her mom because Sylvia couldn't remember her face, in part due to the electroshock 'therapy' that Bill had subjected her to. Sylvia also realised that she had a little sister now.

After getting promoted to a full-time member of the paranormal department, Sylvia realised that Mike had essentially tricked her into being able to get paid for being a kid playing with other kids back in her junior role, and honestly, she was glad for it. Especially after hearing the stories of what Mike had done when he was her age (and his aversion to anything remotely tight around his neck now made sense to her. Sylvia was honestly surprised he could still wear shirts that had collars after all that he had gone through).

Sylvia was especially glad seeing as she completely flubbed her first assignment as she got knocked out whilst investigating an old Faz Ent HQ and woke up in a Faz-infirmary with the tell tale wounds of a Faz Ent style bone marrow extraction.

Several years later, whilst her and her sister were in college, they and a few mutual friends formed a small gaming company called Silver Parasol. They made a bunch of high quality mobile games and small PC titles over the course of a good few years, and whilst they were planning thier next mobile RPG, they received a contract from Faz Ent to work on a VR game. The pay seemed good, and the opportunity to snoop in on Faz Ent's plans were even better. Jeremy B and Cass sorted out the paperwork, and things seemed to be going OK until Faz Ent started trying to treat it like a buyout.

Upon reviewing the contract, it was clear that Faz Ent signed Silver Parasol's contract, so everything that Faz Ent was doing, all the way down to assigning Dale as a 'manager' to the troupe, was a breach of contract. After bringing it up to a solicitor, their solicitor told them to keep gathering evidence of breach of contract, then strike as soon as Faz Ent thinks the 'buy out' is done: after all, the troupe still needed to get that month's paycheque to survive.

In the meantime, Jeremy had survived cutting his face off, Sylvia had wound up with something in her head and had been saved by Cass fragmenting it back into the game. The same thing then got Cass, who got a PI that shared Jeremy's forename to help her drive it into the tapes, but Cass still wound up losing an eye to get the last bit of it out of her head, and then when they all thought they'd won and were making sure it was gone, Ness got posessed, and it didn't let her go.

This incident wound up with Silver Parasol temporarily 'disbanding' and becoming a ska band for a while in order to keep their company name and identity, as their case against Faz Ent was in a deadlock due to Faz Ent's nightmare lawyer's going 'well you're still in business'. Becoming a ska band also let them take a break from game Dev as they couldn't even look at a screen without seeing some hallucination of William's new form. Sylvia then managed to get Cass and Jeremy to become paranormal responders in order to better help Ness deal with her new problem and better share the truth of what happened, as whilst Ness was going into a new job to stay away as she felt as if she was a danger to her friends and sister thanks to a case of William Afton living rent free in her brain, Sylvia felt that she could best help by being on standby to be there for her in case something went wrong.

A few years after that, Faz Ent grabbed her whilst she was on an investigation mission; instead of extracting bone marrow like they had done ten years ago, they seemed to have injected something into her arm. Whilst she was officially out of commission on medical leave, she had noticed these past months that William had been getting more desperate to get Nessie somewhere, and Sylvia figured that this 'somewhere' was the megaplex, so she used the dirt she had on Bill to get a letter of recommendation out of him so that she could more easily snag the role of head of security. Shortly after this, William managed to whisk Ness away to the megaplex.

Sylvia met many colourful characters whilst working at the megaplex, some new and some familiar faces. She trained the night guards to handle the animatronics better than ever, and by the time Faz Ent tried to turn a mass layoff into a mass murderer, Sylvia was ready to give her life to protect her cohort of colleagues. She tackled an exec who was holding the head technician at gunpoint to the ground and wound up suffering some moderate injuries whilst protecting some of her colleagues whilst holding the daycare attendant in the daycare, but she survived it all.

About a week later, an incident known as the breach occured, and Sylvia almost died many times whilst balancing trying to save her sister and trying to keep Gregory safe, but it ultimately wound up being some sigils left by Desmond that allowed Sylvia's progress on the secondary arcades to be combined with Gregory's PQ progress that permitted Gregory to play PQ3 and free Ness.

About a week later, Sylvia took part in the Raid on the megaplex, and whilst she wound up in peril many times, she managed to figure out a 'reverse control theory' that wound up being used in order to get William to activate the burners in his rooms himself, as the pipes and cables had been damaged so they couldn't be activated in the way that Gregory had predicted.

At this point, everything should be wrapping up, with the only thing left to do being carrying out the court ordered demolition of the megaplex, but as soon as Sylvia's on the demolition crew, Faz Ent kidnaps her sister, again. So she headed to the megaplex, wound up getting followed in by Gregory and Freddy, and they were all immediately attacked and knocked out by Cheryl with an army of staffbots. They were able to escape and find Ness, whom Freddy's head had been delivered to, before Cheryl came back. When attempting to get out again, Cheryl came back with Todd C and Charles Ramirez and because the execs had guns, they managed to recapture Sylvia and co, but due to Charles R's plan with Syivia being 'attach Adelaide's control device to Sylvia', and said control device not working, Sylvia was able to bust out again, meet up with Ness, and save Gregory. Ness and Gregory left the megaplex, but Sylvia stayed behind to finish demolitions, but also keep an eye out because she had a hunch that Gregory had been initially kept in the sinkhole by Cheryl to lure someone else in.

Sylvia ended up being right and found that Cassie, Desmond's daughter, had been the target after finally finding her in a crashed elevator. Due to a different exec, tech exec Burrows, bringing the scapegoat mimic AI into a physical endo, and with that endo having hijacked Faz Ent's original plans with Cassie, Cassie and Syivia made an unlikely alliance with William, Adelaide, Bill, and Cheryl to destroy the mimic.

After operation kill mimic was a success, William was a man of his word: Adelaide helped Cassie, Roxy, and Syivia out of the sinkhole, and Cheryl and Bill cooperated in getting out of the megaplex.

When trying to find a way to the nearest hospital, the duo collapsed, and Roxy was able to find Cassie's dad, Desmond, who managed to get the now unconscious Cassie and very delirious Syivia to the hospital. There, Sylvia told Desmond that they'd figured out that the mystery stem cell donner that Desmond's sister used to create Cassie was in fact Sylvia: Sylvia was Bill Blake's 'mystery daughter' that Des and Cassie had been trying to find.

After being discharged from the hospital, Sylvia invited Desmond and Cassie to stay with her, and whilst it was a long move, far away from where Cassie and Desmond once called home, Desmond was glad to bid Hurricane good riddance. Cassie was initially reluctant, but became quick to warm up to the idea of moving after being informed that Gregory was moving in with Ness and Luis (who live near Sylvia's real home), and Tory, Elijah, and Rachel were all relocating to a place not far from where she would be moving to due to the remains of Faz Ent and the Megaplex posing a serious threat to theirs and their parents lives if they stuck around.

Shortly after moving in, Sylvia worked with Ness and Cassie to devise a plan to permanently contain William. A plan whose delivery of the console, game, and headset unfortunately have Desmond a panic attack, but that seemed to be his sister Alistair's plan in order to temporarily possess him in order to relay some important information in the most secure way. Once William had been contained, Sylvia would be the bridge connecting Ness and Cassey's efforts to contain William with the new efforts to hunt down and eliminate the mimic. Not to mention the constant efforts from Mike and Carl to keep Faz Ent from expanding.

Just her luck that Cassie and Desmond are being targeted by William and Faz Ent as well as the mimic. So if she wanted to make sure that Desmond and Cassie would remain safe whilst living with her, she'd have to remain vigilant. For their sakes.

[bonni]

Closing thoughts on The Traitor Baru Cormorant

I love when a book is good enough to make me passionate about reading again.

First, the ending. When I was at around chapter 20 I made a post that was like "oh I think Baru will probably betray the rebellion but I'm not sure" but honestly if I was a more careful reader I would have already been sure at that point, and within another 2 or 3 chapters I understood that there was no alternative, nothing else that the narrative could be implying with the constant references to some great guarded secret and Baru's nervous fixation on red hair. The foreshadowing is certainly not subtle, but it doesn’t need to be. I don't think that Seth Dickinson set out with the intention of surprising the reader with Baru's betrayal, instead it's supposed to be something that we're constantly aware of, that we know is coming, but that only becomes obvious in the briefest moments, because the narration reflects Baru's own mental state. It's not that her betrayal is a shock, the signs are everywhere, but she only openly acknowledges them in moments of internal strife, and never states her intentions outright, because in order to deceive others, she must also deceive herself. It's a really clever narrative tactic and it's rewarding to careful readers.

The epilogue, on the other hand, was a bit surprising to me (in a good way). I guess it shouldn't have been, but I kind of figured Tain Hu and Xate Olake would stay missing and come back at a climactic moment in a later book to punish Baru for the mercy she showed them and stir turmoil in her heart. Instead, it seems her turmoil will be entirely self-inflicted. I really like the choice to give Baru hemianopsia, it's a condition that we don't see a lot in fiction and the way it's used to represent the divide in her heart is really interesting.

Onto more general praise, this book is incredibly gripping. Combat scenes in books are often boring, but the imagery in these ones are so rich. Tain Hu's duel against Cattlson, the bombing of the tax ships, the final battle at the Inirein, all fantastic.

Tain Hu's death is cathartic. It works really well. It's devastating, of course, but that's what makes character death meaningful. Muire Lo's death was also necessary for Baru's character, but in a way that made me a lot more depressed. Tain Hu got closure, but Muire Lo didn't, which makes his death infinitely sadder. I'm not criticizing the writing choice, it just kind of bums me out. I liked him a lot as a character.

Xate Yawa was evidently too interesting as a foil to Baru to get rid of. I'm excited to see more of her, she's such an interesting character in that she's utterly despicable which says a lot about our protagonist considering how blatantly similar they are.

Baru's closing letter emphasizes Xate Olake's death, but... this guy has faked his death what, 3 times now? It would be cool to see him return at some point, but perhaps that's just wishful thinking. He had become one of my favorite characters by the end of the book.

[crystalelemental]

FEH Books Redux

Unfortunately, I have re-downloaded FEH. A large portion of this was a friend telling me that they also re-downloaded the game, and were reading through the stories, and felt like there was more there than previously given credit. And we know how I am. I like to talk. So I'm going to talk about each of the books and what I thought of their story! This will also include character work, because for me, a lot of the impact of a story is character work. Especially here. We'll get to that.

Book One Book 1 is a pretty basic story, with exceptionally little going on. It's setup. All we really get out of it is a bunch of quick little short stories about each of the worlds, set against a backdrop of "Where's Zacharias?" and "Embla's royal family is cursed by their dragon god's blood to want to destroy Askr." There's a bit of establishment for Veronica's hostility, and that Bruno is Zacharias and searching for a cure. But fascinatingly, my own memory of the game's story had failed me. I thought this book established all the clear loneliness of Veronica and connections between her and Bruno, and...that didn't happen. Sharena notes that Veronica seems lonely, but a lot of those tidbits I remembered? Paralogues.

As a result, I have effectively nothing to say about the book. It's astoundingly boring. I actually wound up forgetting I was trying to re-read at one point, and skipped dialogue against Roy, because I had picked up the pattern and went "there is nothing of value being said before this fight." I was correct, of course. It's the worst book by virtue of what it is.

Book Two Book 2 is an odd one. It's more fleshed out as a story than Book 1 by a pretty large margin, but it's not good. The story is structurally sound, and events unfold in a logical order. But it lacks depth.

Surtr is just an incredibly bland antagonist, conquest for its own sake because royalty does whatever it wants, etc etc. Fjorm is fairly interesting given her drive for revenge, and Laegjarn is memorable because of her constant read on the Askr trio's strategies and staying one step ahead. But Hrid and Ylgr offer nothing, Gunnthra's neat to me but does nothing, Laevatein is bland as hell, and Helbindi does little for me. By character, there's little weight. Even Veronica gets set on a shelf. The most we get out of her is that Xander is super protective and willing to die for her, which is better for him than for her, and he's got his own game to establish he'd do that.

More than that, I think it just lacks for clear ideas. It doesn't really play with any concepts. It's a very bland sort of "Evil King, Good Princess" dichotomy, backed by "evil king's daughters aren't bad people but are trapped by his evil" for drama. Because FEH cannot help its origins: bad parents and familial tragedy is all it knows. I can't say there's much to examine that isn't present in virtually every Fire Emblem ever. I have little to say. Bottom tier.

Book Three Book 3 finally starts to pick up the pace. It is legitimately trying to be an interesting story. Unfortunately, its problem is that, despite having interesting concepts, it fails to see them through.

The intro presents a few really tantalizing pieces. Eir is the concept of a Merciful Death; an end that brings peace and closure in contrast to the horror of death as it naturally stands. Lif and Thrasir, the original sovereigns that founded Askr and Embla, return from Hel and seek to lay waste to their kingdoms. Hel herself is demanding and controlling of Eir, while Alfonse's father is immediately characterized as a bastard who cut off his son and who is feared by his children, creating an interesting comparison. With Lif and Thrasir, you can get a sense of the command of genealogy; the idea of a sort of cycle of violence and fear from parent to child extending back to the kingdom's founding, and challenged by those seeking to be a monarch for the people, and allying with one whose approach to death is that it should be merciful.

And then it proceeds to undo literally all of that. Lif and Thrasir are actually Alfonse and Veronica from another universe. Gustav actually super loved his children, even if he's a rat bastard. Eir isn't even from Hel, she's a good person from the life kingdom that Hel kidnapped, making her entire story just Nino again. All of that interesting setup is completely subverted in a way that makes it worse. The only interesting concept we retain is that Lif, having lost his kingdom, made a pact with Hel to revive his kingdom is he destroys another; trade a life for a life. It examines that idea of what the duty of a monarch is, and presents a once-good king who, having lost everything, chooses to protect his people by devastating another country. There's some interest in that! Shame Thrasir is completely wasted. And I think the conclusion of the book, Eir still weeping for Hel because that was her mother in her mind, has some power to it. That no matter how terrible your parent, they're still in some ways your parent, and it's okay to grieve them.

Book 3 feels like a book of exclusively missed potential. It's an interesting idea on the whole, but everything, down to the drama of individual events, kinda falters. Gustav's too much of a prick to feel anything about what they present. Eir's torture at the hands of Hel is sad, but in a fairly ridiculous way that doesn't make it as impactful given we never see a positive interaction between Eir and Hel. The defeat of Hel is also annoying. Good thing the rite that would completely destroy our kingdom was done by Lif and Thrasir, so we can just steal their completely ritual item and kill Hel with that! Problem solved! It's clownshoes. I don't really respect it.

Book Four Book 4 is a fairly rough intro. Peony does nothing for me, and the constant commentary in the early chapters about "It's a dream so anything is possible/everything makes sense" is annoying. I'm also just not a big fan of the costuming this book on the whole.

However. This might be my favorite book.

Once you get past the goofy intro, this book gets serious in a way that rules. The Dream World was literally falling apart for vague and uncertain reasons, and so the rulers of dream decided to steal children who are abused and abandoned, who would never miss their homes, and turn them into dream fairies to stabilize the realm. Freyr, who presides over good dreams, feels some guilt about this. Freyja, who commands nightmare fairies, considers it necessary. Their underlings remember none of this, but through the story, awaken those memories and are forced to confront their past. There's a great use of dream as escaping reality, using layers of dream to maintain dramatic weight in trying to escape Freyja's nightmare, and some fairly impactful twists and turns for the first time in the game.

In particular, I adore the antagonist trio. Freyja, being bullied and ostracized as a child, is intensely bitter and seeks to keep the attention of her brother, the only person who was ever kind to her, exclusively on her, growing hateful of mortals who he tries to attend to. She thinks of others, even her subordinates, as people to use, and doesn't recognize how much they matter until they're gone. Triandra and Plumeria themselves know this, but don't mind. Even after regaining their memories, they recognize they had nothing to return to, and their lives are better here. They're completely devoted to the one adult that ever really did anything for them. For Triandra, her parents were abusive, and she wound up killing her father to protect her sister. When they became fairies, Triandra, as the one facing that trauma, governed nightmare, while her sister Peony, who was shielded from the worst of it, retains hope and governs good dreams. For Plumeria, she was neglected and ultimately abandoned to die. She is deeply distrustful of others, and immediately assumes the worst intentions of everyone she meets, and treats all forms of attention as leering. Her role governing lewd dreams is due to a desire for attention and affection above all else, but a deep distrust of actual connection; she holds a safe distance in this role and hates everything about the people who arrive to her dream realm.

I do think Peony and Mirabilis are pretty bland. They're fairly one note and uninteresting. Peony and Sharena swapping roles and the whole changling situation is a pretty extraneous mystery, but I do think it thematically ties in well. The answer of "It doesn't matter who's the real Sharena, we shared so much that we're both a huge part of each other, and we're happy with our lives as they are" is kind of the whole focus of the dream. You dream to find the life you want, and map that to reality when you wake. Never waking is a problem, and is presented as maladaptive given it's the goal of the antagonists to prevent awakening. They're stewing in their misery. But facing what's real, accepting that maybe something is sad but finding happiness in your life, is the point. I do think it understands that circumstances drive which category you fall into. What Triandra and Plumeria suffer dictated a lot of what happens in the dream. It all works out pretty well, and is one of my favorite books.

Book Five Book 5, more than any other book, suffers from being stuck in a gacha game.

The main story involves Fafnir, king of Nidavellir, going on conquest after conquest against other nations, in an endless militaristic gambit. His brother Otr is all for it, his sister Reginn defects to your side, explaining that Fafnir was once very kind, but turned to war almost immediately upon taking the throne. The sage Eitri, who creates most of the mechanical weaponry used by the kingdom, has her own designs on capturing the summoner to replicate their power.

Turns out, Reginn is the princess of the kingdom, who was lost during the chaos of a coup years back. Eitri, a deeply devoted nationalist, feels like the country has gone to shit over this and seeks to put the true successor on the throne. The crown that Fafnir wears was Eitri's design, and drives anyone not of royal blood mad, ultimately corrupting them into a beast that will tear apart their own kingdom. Fafnir is just some guy she summoned from a different world, and has been searching for a way back, though he can't remember why, Nergal-style. Otr found this out, and has been working with Eitri to destroy Fafnir's home world gate to prevent him leaving, because he is so deeply attached and can't stand the thought of losing the only person he has left.

Dramatically, Reginn and Fafnir's tragedy lands really well. I'm a lot less invested in Otr, I think his stuff is interesting but not particularly compelling. Eitri is a delight, and the book ending video of her ranting about how she won this so hard her death doesn't even matter is the single best bit FEH has ever produced. The events as they unfold carry tremendous weight, presenting that Reginn's ancestors are on Eitri's side, calling for her to "Destroy the heretic" in reference to the man she sees as a brother. Which, thematically, makes this book slap. You are literally haunted by the spirits of those who came before, all the way back to the founders of the country, whose primary goal seems to be endless militarism and perpetuation of royal blood. The original king waged war on the jotun that oppressed them, but in turn created a nation that cannot escape the demands of blood and war. It is so intense that, given reference to a peace offering to Jotunheim that presumably took effect with Fafnir, any outside of the bloodline and their militarism is corrupted until they fit in line by the crown that signifies leadership. It rules.

Unfortunately. This is gacha. And this story is effectively told in about ten chapters. That's all it took to produce one of their best. But we can't have that. There must be 13 to meet the demands of the system they are trapped in. And so, the jotun.

Dagr and Nott are arguably the worst OCs in the game. They add so little that I consider them actively detracting from the story. Their existence adds so little that, when they speak, it feels like their character portraits pop in from literal nowhere. They have no presence or purpose, and Dagr's familial drama with Nott's death is completely without meaning. I assume it's supposed to mirror Reginn, whose family is fighting too, and resolve that oh even with fighting there's a bond of love. But Otr hates her guts, so like. It doesn't even do that.

This book is so close to my favorite, but the constraints of a gacha force them to produce three chapters of completely meaningless garbage to fill a quota. And it is deeply, deeply sad.

Book Six Book 6 is rough. We return to the conflict between Askr and Embla, to finish the conflict between these nations and officially welcome Veronica as an ally of state, rather than the ally of convenience she's been the last three books. To do this, we have to deal with Embla, who can control those who share her blood in the royal family to violent action against Askr's kingdom. We're finally resolving what Book 1 set up.

It sucks. Guys, I'm sorry, it's so bad.

Thematically, the books emphasis is on opening vs closing your heart to others, and the impacts of loneliness. Veronica was already emphasizing these themes, but they're renewed in Embla, whose final sendoff is that she is lonely and isolated, and perpetuates this fate for herself by never fully opening up to and trusting others. There are some solid bits like her conversation with Askr where she expresses fear of betrayal, and how he says he can't live in fear of betrayal and allow himself to abandon mortals over that. This bleeds over into a sort of "appreciate what you have" narrative, echoing back to Letizia, who is only bitter that she feels she has nothing because of what was taken, despite being the head of the Curse Directive and affection from both Bruno and Veronica. There are some decent thematic parts to this story.

But. Critically. It fails dramatically at every turn. Elm, Embla's retainer, is so pointless that he dies and I literally did not realize it. Embla's loneliness is explained two different ways: first by Askr who expresses that people wishing to migrate elsewhere felt like abandonment so she forced her kingdom's people to never leave, and second by saying that actually one of her subjects tried to kill her? For no reason? And that she then feared betrayal and closed herself off from others. These reasons don't really align so well, so her backstory feels conflicting. Letizia's on screen for like two lines of dialogue before going "Surprise! I'm evil!" and the whole first half focusing on how her lies will catch up to her people the masses can tell a good ruler from a bad one feels...just extremely juvenile given current circumstances. They kill Zacharias, too, which I feel is pretty lame. Though at the top of the goofs list is Askr's death, where he has to quickly ask Ash to consider him a father as he's dying to fulfill Fire Emblem obligations to only die for someone else to have family drama over.

I also don't really share the fandom's apparent attachment to rat god Embla. Don't get me wrong, I like her design well enough, but Embla's personality is pretty bland. The loneliness angle is something we've seen done better with Freyja, and more consistently with Veronica. Add in her unclear history and it's very hard to take her all that seriously. Really not a fan of this book on the whole.

Book Seven Book 7 is a time loop story, centered on the Golden Seer, Gullveig, and her predecessors in Kvasir and Seidr. The drama is mostly fixated on finding out who Gullveig is, in order to stop her growing into the universe-ending beast she becomes, but does have a nice conclusion we'll get to.

To cut to the chase: I actually liked this book quite a bit. I generally like time travel stuff, even if it's absolute clownshoes nonsense. There are straight up Yugioh filler arc events in this, countering Gullveig's infinite power with your own infinite power but adding another attack so yours is bigger. It's nonsense.

The good of this book hinges entirely on Gullveig. I love a good sad girl, and Gullveig's whole thing is tragic time loop, so like. I am a sucker. Kvasir is also pretty interesting, though she gets less time. Seidr is...fine. She's your current iteration of the same entity, who is light and hope. In contrast, Kvasir is deeply lonely, having literally no one outside of the summoner ever appearing in her life, while Gullveig is created by the head light god by having her kill her sister to stop a curse that then jumps to her to make Gullveig, who hates what she's become. They're way more interesting iterations. I think the romance is kinda whatever, Kvasir doesn't get enough interesting interaction with the summoner to make her feelings feel all that engaging. But it's fine.

The main problem with the book is mostly that outside of Gullveig, it's...not particularly engaging. Head Light God (Njordr?) is just Lord Gwyn, fearful of the rise of humans and aiming to destroy the entire world because better absolute death than a world without him. He then tries to order Gullveig around after having her kill her own sister and absorbing her curse, and is surprised when she just unmakes him. Nerbuz is really boring. She does basically nothing of interest. Seidr's sister, Heidr, is also just nothing. She exists to have a curse and be a momentary fakeout on the true identity of Gullveig, but the trailers for the book spoil the hell out of who it really is, so it doesn't even work. And of course, "Will you make a baby with me?" Even if they try to downplay it as just a spiritual thing haha, it's a weird thing to throw in, FEH.

I think this is a solid "Decent." Not as strong as book 4 or 5, but perfectly serviceable and engaging enough I can get behind it. I blame this on their refusal to outright gender the summoner, but clear desire for you to interpret them as male, resulting in Gullveig's overt feelings being tragic sapphic time loop material. I'm taking this, knowing that it would bother the devs.

Book Eight Book 8 is an interesting one overall, but I think it's another middle of the road one.

Its positives are largely in how it handles its character drama with the kids. I wound up really liking most of the kids, with Nidhogg in particular just being devastating at the end. They handle what they're doing with their cast a lot better, despite having yet another huge OC cast.

The downside is that, the crux of this drama is...kinda stupid? The setup is also seen in Octopath Traveler 1, where your healer heals an evil man because their healer code says they can't decide who lives and dies, then the evil man does evil to them and they Change. This happens to Yggdrasil Man (Laerdor?), who changes his family from the Healing Hands to the Quieting Hands. But like. This crux also relies on him, a literal god, being kidnapped super easily, and then also all of his kids being killed. It also explains that evil man didn't even hesitate and killed all his kids immediately, even though them being alive for the moment was supposed to be the motivation for Yggdrasil Man to work. It's a little much, is my point. I can't take it fully seriously. The work well with the ground work set, but the ground work is kinda flimsy.

And with that...

Book Nine (So Far) So, without the full book, I can't talk to it too much. But I will say this. I don't hold high hopes.

Alfador is being set up as purely a despot, Baldr as self-righteous, Hodr or whatever her name is being the quieter girl who's more self-depreciating so I like her better, Rune isn't really doing anything, Loki's around but who cares. And you can kinda map a good chunk of tihs, I think. Baldr's going to have a moment of reckoning, likely with Hodr dying because family drama is a must. Alfodor's going to have no appreciation for life because that's damn near every single antagonist in every single book thus far.

There's one (1) point of interest, in Alfador's accusation that Askr is attempting to conquer the nine realms. Which. Isn't too far off. It's not intentional, but how many realms have we killed the king and installed a sympathetic monarch in their place? All of them? Except Embla, who we're friends with anyway. If the realms stand isolated, this does pose a problem. Moreover, there's ongoing lore around your summoner being wildly overpowered, having the ability to constrain anything, even gods, with their power. It's something many characters seek to gain for themselves, but it also...never amounts to anything. Outside of Eitri, no one really does anything about it. So it's just...up to the individual narrative to make reference to your power being scary, or just let it go as not important right now. It makes each book feel highly isolated, despite its intent as a unified story.

Moreover, it does feel incredibly repetitive when you're shotgunning the whole thing. The concept behind the story itself seems to be the bigger draw; there's literally no other explanation for why Book 3 is so popular. Even the ones I like are largely carried for me by "I think dream realm/steampunk/time travel is cool, so these are the ones I liked." It's rare that character work gets really interesting, as pretty much every character that lands on something is some sort of familial drama. Characters they care about die, or they die for someone they care about, maybe parent is garbage and doesn't care at all and the siblings are the ones that die, maybe parent does care but their death is a catalyst. But there's not much wiggle room here. And around all of this, we're dealing with the constraints of telling a story while being a gacha. It's just. Not particularly great for them. There are components I'll carry with me. But by and large, it's nothing too special.