#or Dakkar if you're into that sort of thing

[haminamibami]

To me, Kal is the Ted Spankoffski of Pulp Musicals

[its-short-for-jackalope]

TRANSMISSION 14!!!!!!!!

ohhhhhhh my god.

AHLAAM, SIA, AND DAKKAR FORM A DYNAMIC TRIO???? ONE THAT WE WILL LEAN ON HEAVILY FOR EPISODE 4???? I AM SO EXCITED????

hi I already adore all these characters and I can't wait to get to know them better in just three days (holy shit)

Ahlaam —

Traveler proficient in several magical disciplines

okay so we know there's different kinds of magic, even more than just the Radiance and Ahlaam's sick waterbending. I'm guessing that the Radiance could be the primary magic and the other disciplines are more secondary, maybe?

valuable leader, has more fun than all the other islanders combined, quick to help people smile

I am so glad that Ahlaam is the fun Traveler just like I'd been hoping. It also speaks to Matt's character writing skills because we get like 2 minutes with her in TGOA and that was enough to be like "oh she's a silly one" lol <3

also ayyyyyy confirmation that there are more people on Lincoln Island than just these named characters!

guiding hand, glue that holds Lincoln Island together

....I am suddenly afraid that something could happen to Ahlaam. If she's that important to the island and the Bad Guys know it, then she could be a target to try and make everyone vulnerable and weak.

Dakkar —

serious and intense, unmatched fighting spirit

oh my god I hope he's broody. if he's the opposite to Ahlaam then he's gotta be a tortured, brooding guy, right? please? he can fill the Haunted Soldier Man void AJ left behind!

chiseled by his past & anchored by time, always right here while being somewhere else

hi! 😀 what the fuck does this mean? ❤

fr tho are we going to get more time weirdness beyond just traveling through it??? is Dakkar split between time and/or space?? is that an intentional magic thing, or an invention thing, or a curse of some kind? lab accident? is he conscious of different times/places at the same time? when he's with Rose two weeks in the past, is he ALSO with the others in the present, like some sort of Traveler bridge??? is he even a traveler??? it didn't explicitly say he's a traveler???

his magic is critical to the operation & safety of the island

oh okay, so he could also be in serious danger from the Bads. gotcha. goooootcha. welp, I'm fucked, I'm already attached. Matt Dahan has so many ways to hurt me in three days, lmao. I'm lowkey scared. (Bring it on Mr. Dahan, I will make art as revenge for any and all future heartbreak. 🥰)

fiercely protective of those close to him

...Dakkar, buddy, you're not beating the AJ similarities allegations.

oh god if I wasn't already 99% certain that Morgan won't be in this episode then I would be going crazy over thinking about these two interacting. ...might go crazy over it later, just for fun.

has a knack for science and technology

and if I said Anna is hanging out in his cool traveler lab and that's where she and John reunite— /hj

if Dakkar does technology stuff, could he have created the orreries? I've had a theory that Margaret could have made them (my only evidence is the orrery in her apartment and Kal saying it's fitting that he found her while looking for an orrery) so maybe they had developed them together? idk, just a thought

also, if Ahlaam is the Fun One and Dakkar is the Serious One then I can totally see Sia as the common ground between them—more serious than Ahlaam but more lighthearted than Dakkar. and was Margaret once a part of this group? where does she fit in? OH MY GOD WHAT IF SIA TEAMED UP WITH AHLAAM AND DAKKAR AFTER SHE LOST KAL AND MARGARET???? if Kal was the fun one and Margaret was the serious one....... aough please excuse me while I scream internally for a while.

Captain Addison Arvad —

is on Lincoln Island

how????? Sia didn't know what happened to her, how long has she been here????

enthusiastic, knowledgeable, the kind of person that's used to doing ten things at once

adhd multitasking queen captain, I love her

important part of the story that unfolds for our heroes

ahem....

AS THE #1 ADDISON FAN AND THE FIRST PERSON TO MAKE A POST IN HER TAG,

I, PERSONALLY, WIN.

she has a dog, Top, who works just as hard as anyone else on the island

🥺🥺🥺

okay, maybe Addison didn't see her captain's journal as a Wreck This Journal. maybe Top saw it as a chew toy. maybe her dog tried to eat her captain work.

if anything happens to this dog I swear to god... 😭

Searcher is a type of person with their own set of guidelines and rules

fascinated by this bit. what guidelines and rules are these? are they about morals? about how to use their magic, if they have magic at all? is it about how they engage with the world(s) and the people in it? what are the rules and guidelines for Travelers?

feeling very John Herschel in my living room right now (I have so many questions) and have I mentioned I already adore these characters???

anyway, to conclude this ramble:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!

[snarky-wallflower]

okay, you know what? there are exactly three people interested in this and that's enough for me to ramble a little bit. fair warning, i never got much into the actual DEH musical, but i know the basic plot and characters. I'm working off of that.

we open on Samullux standing in the dark. he looks around in confusion. Slowly, one by one, the stars appear, and it should warm his heart--but we see unease on his face instead. It quickly shifts to shock, though as we see that through their light, he can see Rose.

She's standing near their old home, the place they once wrote stories about her Visions, stories about the future--but it's empty of the light it once had, dead and cold.

She turns to look at her brother. There's no joy there, no excitement. Just a tired sort of anger, looking at him across of the remains of their home.

And Rose snaps--Is it good?/Are they giving you a world I could never provide?/Well, I hope you're proud of your big decision/Yeah, I hope it's all that you want and more/Now you're free from the agonizing life you were living before!

To me, she fufills a familial role--the desire to protect her brother, and she couldn't stop him from making the wrong choice. Rose has the weight of that responsibility--her visions have only warned of terrible things to come, and Itzal promised Samuel a bright future, instead.

Samuel stumbles forward, trying to reach Rose, to explain--but then we cut to Margaret, illuminated in moonlight. She's to the right of Samuel. In my head, she has the energy she had at the end of Benjamin's Apartment/The Radiance, right now. She cooly says Does it cross your mind to be slightly sorry?/Do you even care that you might be wrong?/Was it fun?/Well, I hope you had a blast while you dragged me along.

I've been seeing Samuel and Margaret as partners in this AU--and given that she was the Great Enchantress, I'm running with the assumption she was once complicit in Itzal's regime. But Margaret left. She got out, and is working to be better. Samuel isn't, and they both know that. She won't allow herself to be dragged along anymore.

We see Samuel mouth, Margaret, please--

But it makes no difference. It just keeps on going.

Fom to the left of Samuel, close to Margaret--we hear Dakkar's voice. It is just as angry as the rest of them. I promise this makes sense with the lore I have in my head--his inventions are a major part of the way Itzal has been able to advance Chazira in this AU. Samuel's pen is no exception--Dakkar created it himself, to expand and strengthen Samuel's own powers. And if somebody's in your way/Crush them and leave them behind/Well I guess if I'm not of use/Go ahead, you can cut me loose! Dakkar has been useful to Samuel, and we see him glaring down as he advances, a cool sort of rage I think that man could excel at. (Plus, I think cut me loose works exceptionally well in other areas, given that Dakkar was the one sent to Earth here!)

Margaret and Dakkar exchange a look, determined and hard, right before they come together to walk towards the man who has caused them so much pain. there's a shot of the tide siblings advancing on Samuel, him backing up--and he bumps into Rose before he can stop himself. He turns to see her looking at him with disappointment and frustration, hands flying up in anger--

I'll shut my mouth and I'll let you go/Is that good for you?

Samuel shakes his head, trying to tell her no. but she keeps on going, joined by Margaret and Dakkar's voices. It's a gorgeous, pained chorus, and it is making Samuel utterly horrified and miserable.

The Piercing Light crackles and burns in Samuel's palms, as he grips tight to his pen--unable to stop them from advancing, horror clearly in his eyes, and he's desperately trying to get them to stop--All I need is some time to think/But the boat is about to sink/Can't erase what I wrote in ink/Tell me, how could you change the story?/ All the words that I can't take back/Like a train coming off the track/Stop it, stop it, just let me out! But no matter what he says, they won't listen, even as his eyes go wider and wider, even as his voice cracks.

Those he has lost because of what he's done are walking across the ruins of a home he helped to destroy, trying to make sure he sees all of what's become of what he once had. And just as they're inches away, tears in their eyes, Radiance burning far-too-close, regret and devastation and anger written all across their faces--

Samuel wakes up.

It's all been a dream--a nightmare, really.

There is no one there beside him that can sympathize with him. Who would help him through it. There hasn't been for a long, long time.

There's a beat, a breath of silence as we see him try to recover. Alone.

The animatic ends with his hands clutching at his sheets, and a shot of a shaky smile in the dark.

(even now, he won't accept just how deeply he's hurt the people he cares for. not only to himself. the love is there, it will always be there--but it will never change anything, so long as he refuses to accept his wrongs. and to me, this version of Samuel is never going to do that.)

anyways.

can you tell i think about this a lot?

Samullux animatic to Good For You, you will never exist outside of my brain but know that I think of you often and love you dearly.