#previous post was probably hard to read on mobile

[kiwizoom]

[volucerrubidus]

Updated my Rules recently; there are a few new additions, so I'm going to copy/paste them here for ease of reading! If you don't feel like going through every single line to see what's new, the main section that's new is the "Disclaimers" section at the bottom. Otherwise, I've just altered wording, sorted things into categories, and tried to make everything clearer and easier to understand. Thanks everybody!

--

I am not harsh about enforcing these rules, but I will ask politely that you abide by them! They are in place to ensure that we have a good time together!

I usually hate DNIs, but I do want to make it clear: if I find out you are not pro-Palestine, I will hardblock you and move on. End of story. 

Basics:

Mun is 24. This is an 18+ blog.

Please note that if I can’t see what age bracket you’re in anywhere on your page, then I’m not taking a chance. You don’t have to disclose your age to me, but if I don’t see at least something that says you’re an adult, or over the age of 18 in some way, then I’m not going to follow back, and will softblock you. If you follow again, I will hard block you.  

RP etiquette applies. No godmodding, no metagaming, etc. Mun is not muse. Don’t assume your muse can automatically beat Tim in a fight. There’s more on combat below, but just be fair, and plot it with me beforehand.

Activity:

This blog is selective and mutuals-only. That said, I’m very likely to follow back/follow first. If you don’t follow me back in a week or two, I’ll unfollow again.

If I ever follow you a second time (or more times after that because I have memory issues and I’m not here often enough to remember urls well [I am so sorry]), I promise that I’m not trying to make you follow; it’s likely because I forgot about the first/previous time. Feel free to soft/hardblock me for your own comfort if it happens! I’ll do my best to avoid doing this. 

I am a low-activity blog; I work a full-time job, and struggle with energy and brain fog. Tim is also a finnicky muse.

Please do not pester me for replies. I will respond when I can.

Interactions:

Personals are free to follow, look, and like, but please do not reblog any of my posts.

Asks are a fantastic way to interact with me, and perhaps the best way. Often, I cannot access tumblr on the browser due to my work, so asks are something I can do on mobile at a higher frequency than threads.

If you want to continue from an ask answer, please make a separate post. If you don’t, then I will transfer to a new post on my turn.

I do not do M!A’s (magic!anons) unless I specifically reblog an M!A post– otherwise, I will not respond if you send one in.

Don’t forceship with me. Ships come from chemistry. That said, you are welcomed with open arms to tell me if you want to ship with Tim, and we can go from there! I do reserve the right to deny a ship, but if that’s the case, then I’ll work with you to plot a fun and interesting dynamic that makes us both happy!

I don’t do exclusives or mains; please don’t ask me to make you one or the other. If you do have exclusives or mains, then that’s awesome! No judgement either way; I just personally won’t have them on my blog.

Please reblog memes from the source. This is to keep my activity page easier for me to keep up with. 

Content:

I don’t rp smut.

I don’t use fancy text formatting for the sake of my own ability to proofread my writing. You are welcome to continue to use whatever text formatting you’d like, though!

I will make sure to tag any warnings that I find necessary (and upon request if I miss something!), and in turn, I ask that you please tag topics involving non-con situations. Thank you!

Communication:

If I do something you don’t like, PLEASE tell me! I want this to be fun for everyone involved, but if I don’t know that I did something you were uncomfortable with, then I can’t fix it, and thus, we are no longer mutually having fun. I know confrontation is daunting, and people have probably treated you very poorly when you tried to communicate a grievance in the past; it’s happened to me, and it’s happened to so many people I know. I will do my best to be kind, fair, open, and apologetic, and I will do what I can to help rectify the situation, no matter how big or small. Come open a dialogue; I’ll be happy to have one with you. 

I chat in the tags often.

If there’s something in a thread that you want to discuss, please come chat with me about it!

Please tell me if you want to ship! I want to know!

If you have a plot request, send it my way!

Combat between muses is going to come up often on this blog given the muse and source material. If a thread starts to go in that direction, I require that we plot out the fight before proceeding, so that we can work together to write a scene that both goes the way we need it to for plot reasons, AND goes the way we want it to for fun reasons. The only exception to this is people I’ve written with for long enough that I feel we will not accidentally step on each other’s toes during a fight.

Disclaimers:

I do not and will never ship Tim with Bruce, Dick, Jason, Cass, Duke, or Damian. If you write batcest, I don’t care, but I will not follow you. If you follow me, I’m likely to soft or hard block. The only exception to this is multimuse blogs who have muses I want Tim to interact with, or blogs that have a clear line of separation between batcest and batfamily interactions. I will be HIGHLY selective about this, though.

If you do not make it clear on your blog that you ship batcest, and then we become mutuals, and I see you suddenly start writing batcest, I will softblock you. It is not personal; I just don’t want to read that stuff on my own personal dash. I just ask for honesty. Please don’t trick me into following you; tumblr rp follower counts are not that important.

For full transparency: I do think the pro/anti debate is stupid. Those words are thrown around willy-nilly to vilify people or virtue signal, and I will not entertain that discourse on this blog. In my humble opinion, anyone can write whatever they want in fandom spaces, and I just would hope that tags are used appropriately, so that people can curate what they read or view. I personally could not care less what another writer ships; if there’s stuff I don’t wanna see, I’ll just not look for it, and I won’t follow people who write it. Simple as that.

You’ll see it in my bio too, but I want to address it here as well: I actively dislike fanon, and it will have no place in my writing of Tim. I don’t care if your muse draws from fanon—you do you—but don’t be shocked if my Tim acts surprised or confused by fanon assumptions of him (ex: if your muse brings Tim coffee to drink, he will be very confused as to why that was the choice. Tim Drake is not a coffee drinker). I am not going to gatekeep your experience with comics, and I am never going to send you anything that might make you feel bad for how you write your character. I love everyone’s interpretations, and I like seeing different takes on them! I just think it’s courteous to put this note here to be fully open and honest.

Thank you for taking the time to read through all of this; I know it’s long! I hope you have a fantastic day, and I look forward to writing with you! :D

[deducter]

Deducing a random messy desk image from Google

Deducing random images from Google, pt.1:

For the previous post, I found this random messy desk on Google (source:https://www.ispaceoffice.com/how-does-a-messy-desk-affect-productivity/) just to put it as a simple practice for figuring out this person’s dominant hand.

But now, I’m going to deduce this photo as much as possible. And yes,

I’m bored.

Let’s start by deducing this person’s dominant hand:

Dominant hand:

 Firstly: This person is right-handed. Judging by where the mouse, the black pen and the plastic jar that is filled with personal things such as a ring, a key and a nail file are placed.

Student:

  This person is a student, judging by the bankmobile(a digital-only current account for students) paper on the left side of the desk. 

Deducing The watch:

Judging by the form of the wristwatch, it looks like it belongs to a man. Also, there’s a chance that it’s a unisex watch. It’s quite hard to figure out the model of this watch due to the quality of the image.

Note: Men’s watches usually have a watch strap to face width ratio that is closer to 1,(the strap is often the same width as the watch face).

Artistic:

He/she is also artistic. Notes scattered all over the desk, plays solo classical guitar, is passionate about it, probably intermediate level(I’m positive he’s/she’s not a beginner) judging by the “solo guitar playing 1” book that is located on the right side of the table and what I consider to be “Étude No. 9 Opus 35 by Fernando Sor “.

 Also in the full picture there is a canon camera lens cap, so he/she also takes pictures

The Beatles book:

He either likes The Beatles or, the book (The Beatles Complete score) that’s under the computer (it’s upside down) is a gift from someone. Also, based on how the book the placed under the mac, there are two possibilities: either he/she cares about his/her neck and back health (By adjusting the height of your laptop for better viewing angles, your body can relax properly by sitting in a more comfortable position. Without a laptop stand, you might find yourself hunching while reading text or typing on the keyboard.) Or he/she doesn’t care about the book at all.

U.S.:

 He/she lives in the U.S. based off the Allegiance mobile health mouse pad he/she uses. Chances are high that he/she works for them (there’s also a chance that one of his/her family members work for them). Their stations are located in over 25 locations across the U.S., and he/she lives in one of them.

The lamp:

The lamp on his/her desk is vintage styled and not modern. Quite old, judging by how the texture looks.

The desk:

 The desk itself is also not quite modern and new.

The label:

He/she also has an upside down communities matter label on his computer, which is somehow blocking the camera. 

Appearance:

And about his/her appearance; he/she has short to medium length hair, judging by the comb that is on his/her desk.

Finally, judging by how messy the desk is, there are some possibilities: 

1. He/she does a lot of work on this desk. (I’m quite sure about this one)

Or

2. there’s a possibility that He/she has a small room/place to live and put different things in it.

...........................................................................................................................

Summarised version of my deductions:

Student, lives in the U.S., artistic, right-handed, messy, intermediate classical guitar player, short to medium length hair, normal financial position, does a lot of work on this desk

-ND

[crancisfrozier]

Re: your previous post, I just have to ask what your FF album rankings are thus far! Also I’m loving that someone else is talking about the band at length, it’s been too quiet in the fandom on here haha

Okay this is such a big question I actually switched from mobile to desktop to answer this so be prepared for a novel here lol. But first of all yea I am so surprised the fandom is so quiet on here? I can almost always depend on Tumblr to have a little group of weirdos blogging about a vague special interest I develop so this is a little jarring! Especially considering I can see the fandom was once big enough that there was fanfiction written for it! Makes me a little sad that I seem to have missed it's heyday, but I'm glad there's still a few people kicking around haha.

(putting this under a read more because it got long wow wtf)

ANYWAY though onto the ranking! Now this list changes rapidly from week to week and sometimes day to day, but here is my current list descending (no pun intended):

Always Ascending

Franz Ferdinand

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions

Tonight

You Could Have It So Much Better

*I adore Sparks and FFS, but since it's a dual release I'm excluding it from the list. However, if I included it I would probably put it between Right Thoughts and Tonight*

I feel like it's controversial to put Always Ascending above, well literally everything, and it's also funny because I use to consider this to be their WORST album, but it has grown on me so so much. I really appreciate that they were trying to do something new and experimental with their music and also I presume make an ode to one of their huge influences (Talking Heads). And throughout it all they continue to stick to (and in this case exceed imo) their thesis of "make girls dance". It's just so fun, y'know? So dance-able! The instrumentation is also EXCEPTIONAL on this album. The guitar licks in "Lazy Boy" are some of my favorite of any recent songs and the sparkly synth beats in Lois Lane are GORGEOUS. It honestly reminds me a lot of what they were trying to do on Tonight, where they stripped back their sound a bit. The focus is more on the drums, the beat, and the bass than the kind of punchy guitar attitude we heard on Franz Ferdinand and YCHISMB, but Ascending just takes it one (or two) steps further.

Now, the above is my list of favorites which is different from what I would consider to be objectively better music. If I was ranking this critically/professionally it would probably be this:

Tonight

Franz Ferdinand

You Could Have It So Much Better

Always Ascending

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action

The thing about both of these lists though is that, for me, there is no bad album on this list. They are literally all cover to cover listens with iconic bangers on every. single. one. What is considered my favorite could change with my mood or how nostalgic I'm feeling that day. My personal theory on these albums though is that people's preferences are going to sway with what they like FF for. If you like them for the punchiness of their first two albums (that was such a hallmark of the post-punk revival) you probably won't like Right Thoughts and you'll probably actively dislike Always Ascending. If you like them when they're doing weird stuff you'll probably like Right Thoughts and Always Ascending much more. Tonight I think is a really good mix of both which is why it's a lot of people's favorites and a good starting point for any new fan if they only know Take Me Out and or/stuff from their debut album.

Btw it's really funny that as I saw this ask and was thinking about it, The Hard Times came out with an article of "All Franz Ferdinand Albums Ranked Worst to Best" that is almost identical to my second ranking but also pretty cruel to AA and RTRWRA :(. They also gave an honorable mention to FFS but said Call Girl was a skippable track (blasphemy). But yea, I just thought that was pretty amusing timing lol.

I really cannot wait until they release a new album because Curious and Billy Goodbye are such absolute bangers (catch me dancing in my kitchen to Curious at least once a week) and if those singles are anything to go on, the next album is going to be AMAZING.

I would also like to give a shoutout to Alex's collab he did with Pip Blom called "Is This Love?" because it's quickly working it's way up my spotify rankings of top tracks since I cannot stop listening to it on repeat, it's just SO GOOD.

Okay I'm so sorry this turned into a thesis about Franz Ferdinand, but I have had a lot of pent up obsession about this and you just gave me a world class excuse to info dump lol. I would be really interested to see your ranking as well and see how we compare! Thank you so much for the ask btw it means a lot! :)

[unnecessary-feelings]

Tell me abt the oc u lovingly refer to as "weird arson motherfucker" pls

HI sorry i forgot to answer this, thank you for asking abt her!!! i’m still in the process of fleshing everything out so things might change but she’s my ace attorney OC! i’m putting everything under a read more because this post ended up being longer than i meant it to be and i don’t want this to be a pain to scroll through for anyone on mobile who doesn’t wanna read me rambling about blorbo from my brain, i’m sorry if this is hard to read i have trouble putting my thoughts into words for other people to read hdjdbfbdn, also spoilers for cases 4-1, 6-1, 6-3, and 6-5

i made her because i started wondering what would happen if dhurke and amara had a daughter older than rayfa that was in line to become queen before the khura’in royal residence fire and then i accidentally got carried away with her story lmao

her name is kaba’anyi padma khura’in (i was thankfully able to figure out a name for her after i created her tag, it means something along the lines of “daughter of the sun” because sun motif go brrr. ALSO i got to that name because nyi means sun in tibetan and khura’in is in the himalayas so i figured that link made sense. i’m very proud of her name because i struggle with naming characters so being able to make up a name for a character from a country that doesn’t exist is very big for me), or anyi for short, and she uses she/her pronouns. she was born in 1998 (for the sake of timeline consistency in this version of AA dhurke and amara are around 5 years older than they are in canon because after i had already chosen a birth year for her i realized that dhurke and amara would have been too young at that point in time shdnrhdh) and i played around with the idea of her committing a couple of crimes as a member of the defiant dragons, set a couple of government buildings on fire to get back at whoever tried to kill her and amara (she didn’t know it was ga’ran at the time but since they would have had to have access to the royal palace she knew they would have to have been high ranking and probably still were in that position) which is how i got her tag name but now i’m not sure if i wanna keep that part in or not lmao, now that i have a probably-concrete name for her i might move everything in her tag over to a new one, probably should do that sooner rather than later before the tag has too many posts

anyways, no matter if it was arson-related or simply because y’know, she was the daughter of the man who the country believed had murdered the previous queen, she was arrested, but she broke out and managed to fake her death to avoid being looked for (that part may be subject to change if i can’t figure out how exactly that happened, while i have a good grasp on the rest of her story there’s a gap between the royal palace fire and her moving to the US that is just kind of a loose collection of things i thought would be interesting for now hjsjdjsjfh)

so after that, she moved to the US when she was probably around 21 (still working on a concrete timeline but that’s somewhere around the right age) because of the rebellion. she changed her name to guinevere amos (i chose guinevere because the rest of the WAA except for trucy has mythology themed names so i figured arthurian legend would fit into that even though i’ve gotten all of my knowledge of arthurian legend from the mechanisms lmao, and i just chose amos because it was the first name of the main character of the book i was reading at the time and i’m pretty sure amos is also a last name so i went with it) and ended up joining gavin & co law offices which turned into a very awkward sibling reunion with apollo, i think she would have acted as a second co counsel alongside gavin (pretty sure that happened once in dd so i’m choosing to believe that double co counsels are a normal thing in the aa legal system) during 4-1 and helped apollo and phoenix get kristoph arrested, then she joins the WAA alongside apollo (although i think she would have joined a little bit earlier than apollo as she was quicker to accept phoenix’s invite at the end of 4-1) and then she helps the WAA with the rest of AA4 as well as AA5

as for AA6, anyi decides to go with phoenix to khura’in because it’s been nearly a decade since she was last in contact with her family and the rest of the rebels and she felt it was time to go back even if only for a couple of weeks, since she was now going under a different name she decided that it was safe to go back if she could keep her head low and avoid getting into trouble, obviously that didn’t happen, which marked the beginning of Guinevere Amos AKA Kaba’anyi Padma Khura’in’s No Good Very Bad Vacation, canon shenanigans ensue, you get the idea, when i get around to replaying the AJ trilogy (i’m intending on replaying it when it comes out on the switch but i might end up doing it before then as well) i’m thinking abt doing a liveblog thing (is it still liveblogging if you’ve already played the game in question?) where i also explain how anyi would interact with the events of the games if that makes any sense

after the events of 6-5. she stays behind in khura’in with apollo, and works with him at justice & co law offices, my original thoughts were that she takes back the role of royal priestess alongside being a lawyer and then quits when she becomes queen instead of rayfa but it could also be that she stays a lawyer and rayfa becomes queen like in canon, either way i’d imagine it could be a source of conflict between the two, although i think they would be able to work it out, unlike amara and ga’ran

one last thing, i’m currently working on some art for her and i am so excited to post it here because she is literally GORGEOUS i’m so proud of her design <33

i think that’s everything! i hope this made sense lmao

also is it normal to be nervous talking about your ocs to other people? it feels so weird trying to explain the things that come out of my brain like this

[hummingbird-games]

A Postmortem 

Some thoughts below the cut! Or, all the things I’ve been holding in that can now be out in the open, a memoir by...oh. Right. As I was saying!

There’s an upbeat version of this posted to itch.io, but I figure we can be a slight bit more honest over here. 

It’s hard to be creative when you’re so sad.

There’s a quote from one of my favorite rom-coms that I’ve read maybe a million times but resonated with me this year. 

It’s such a nasty slap in the face to work on something that brings you joy and that you hope will bring joy to others and feel your brain actively work to take that away from you. And then all your leftover energy is sucked away by outside circumstances. The whole year was a struggle, and I think I cried so much that I contributed to my perpetual hydration lol.

It’s a blessing that the script for HSD:JY was complete and the game deep into production early this year because either there would have been no game OR the tone would have been so outside of my original goal. 2020, the year of conception, I remember being hopeful. And spiteful. And DAMN did I ever have a leading healthy emotion during the creation of this game??? 

I’d had my last rant session with friends and family about one of my previous obsessions, the mobile app Choices, which taught me love, patience, and pain. All in that order. The BLM protests were reaching a fever pitch, and the app had put out a statement that made me see red. My Black body, and my sister’s Black and queer body weren’t being seen, not being represented in the gaming space like I’d always believed they could, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. So I said fuck it, I’ll make the game I want to play. I’ll color it with my experiences, and I’ll focus on the demographic that is either degraded or infantilized. 

2021 was colored by fear and spite, and then eventually I was excited again. My audience had started finding me and I realized I had eyes on me. But I was afraid that I was in over my head, afraid of asking for help and reaching out to people (I seem to have more bad luck than good when it comes to asking for help and it makes me second guess myself.) I had a loose timeline of what I wanted to accomplish, all while lurking on various discords, reading the ren’py documentation, and hopping on YouTube to teach me the things I needed to know. 

Thinking back, there’s really nothing I would make myself do differently. I did the best I could with what I had. And there’s no way I could have predicted how 2022 would affect me or what would happen this year. So. Hence me always signing off my devlogs with “be kind/gentle with yourself” because I know what happens when you’re not. 

Marketing is a bitch. But so am I. When I want to be. 

I think I actively promoted my game like five times. I wasn’t looking to make a huge ground-breaking experience. I just wanted people who liked cute teen games with romance to find my game. But guess what??? That still requires marketing. 🤮

I’m so, so, so thankful to the other developers I met and the early supporters who spread my game when I either wouldn’t (stubborn) or couldn’t (brain go burrr) but it does not make up for actively promoting my game on a consistent basis. I get it. So. I need to either suck it up or like hire an honest to goodness marketing director or social media person or something. I will probably do neither of these things. 💩

That 2-star review will not kill you. Pinky promise. 

Oooof, I see why authors don’t look at their reviews. But I need to know how to better myself!!! I do like seeing high ratings, but what makes my day is when people take the time to write out why they did or didn’t like something I created. To the person who wasn’t too happy that HSD:JY is told from a female perspective with she/her pronouns, I understand your frustration and I’m sorry my game wasn’t for you.

...for the fool who gave my game 2 stars but didn’t bother to explain their rating?? I’m taking it personal. So personal. I’ll hold my grudge forever 😂😂😂

 Go where you want, not where you think you should be. 

I think that just because a creative community gathers mostly in one place, doesn’t mean you should force yourself to spend time there. Yes, this is directed towards Twitter, but I also say this for Reddit and Discord, two other communities that I tried to find a rhythm with and ended up exhausting myself trying to participate in. 

Hummingbird Games has a Twitter presence (barely) because I thought I had to be like the other indie game devs and make a home there. Instead, it’s become another place I talk about every other game except my own 😂 but with less characters! It feels a lot like I got a seat at the adult table, but I abandoned it to go draw with crayons on the back porch until it’s dinner time.

You’ve learned so much. Now learn some more. 

I made music tracks that are in my game! I reached out to artists, a GUI and a character one and was anxious as hell but I did it. I went through three different text editors against my will and my hatred for sudden change, but I survived. Mostly. Canva and Photopea were my best friends! And they shall continue to be the tools I use until I die!

I would like to eventually code in accessibility options into HSD, both the full game and the bonus game, and of course have them moving forward. Also, while I never got around to doing it for this project, I’d like to incorporate character customization. It was a planned option (along with CGs, SOB!) that got cut due to lack of funds. 

I also will make sure that I have some kind of beta testing moving forward. Yes, I did it for this project but looking back on it, with a few awesome people who gave me useable feedback, the overall process was such a trainwreck! I didn’t know what I was doing, and it bled into my confidence. I will do better next round.

You should stick with writing (affectionate) 

I can’t draw. I cussed and cried every time programming was involved. Music was okay but I had more fun searching for tracks I liked and could use over creating my own stuff (which I did only because at the time nothing I came across fit my audio needs.) 

But the drafting stage? And the writing and rewriting and the revelations I had? Super fun. 10/10, would recommend. If I can move into a direction where I can continue to delegate tasks to others and leave myself to focus on the writing and storytelling aspect, that would be the dream.

But. I am a solo dev. I still gotta put in the work 😭 So continue to look forward to posts of me crying and complaining about how much I suck and it sucks. I will sugar coat nothing.

If money doesn’t buy happiness, why does it make life so much easier????

There’s really nothing to elaborate on. Making a game is so expensive, oh my God, and while I hated the call center job I had, it helped fund 80% of this game, and that was more helpful that I realized. 

But moving forward, I will seriously consider looking into grants. I’m not sold on crowd funding, and I’d rather not have to dip into my job paycheck so much to cover gaming expenses. I know other developers do this, and I did it too, but I don’t know how sustainable this would be for me. Plus there’s other things I wanna buy and it’s super unfair (to me) to have to choose between affording a programmer’s rates or additional poses for character sprites 🥺 

You’ll need to recover

I know everyone is different and therefore it’s the only reason that explains why I made a game and I feel like death, and others have made a game or games and have already jumped into production for their next project.

...how does it feel to have endless energy? I wish I was like some of y’all but I really just want to sleep. Knowing this about myself now, I’ll need to factor in a ‘recovery period’ after each completed production cycle. I know a bunch of factors are involved in my slow down period, but whether it’s two months, or two years, I guess my body will let me know 😭

[recipro-turbo]

brother mine - year ten

Chapter Rating: T Chapter Word Count: 910 Chapter Notes: originally posted to twitter here. tensei is 25 in this chapter.

Chapter-specific content warnings: minor child injury

Read on AO3 | Previous Chapter

Engine has been the dominant Quirk in the Iida Family for generations. Mutant-type Quirks were often dominant genes, but Engine had something that a decent chunk of Quirks in this class lacked: the next generation was always superior to that of their predecessors.

Tensei had explained it to Tenya in terms of technology―newer models often improved on the older ones, fixing what was wrong with the previous generation for a faster, more reliable processor. In their case, each subsequent generation of Engine was faster than the last, and depending on where in the body the engine systems manifested, the power could vary between siblings.

There are things Tensei can do that Tenya likely would never be able to on his own. He can hover about a foot off the ground, he can propel himself straight up like a rocket, he can technically fly short distances (though his comms team and his technicians and his medics really hate it when he does that). Having his Engines in his arms meant that he could be much more mobile than his father or his grandfather had been. He was also capable of reaching top speed instantly, whereas Tenya had gears he needed to go through one at a time.

But Tenya’s Engine placement is logical for someone with a speed-based Quirk. Even now, at ten years old, the kid is tall for his age. His speed without using his Quirk is astonishing. His strides are big enough to accommodate moving at speeds fast enough to break the sound barrier.

Tenya’s that step between generations, where a company makes key improvements to an existing model without overhauling the entire design. He’s superior without making Tensei obsolete, a preview of what’s to come if either of them have children. He’s the fastest Iida, and he’s still in primary school.

Being fast had one very brutal drawback, though―Tenya was not good at stopping, and he was even worse with corners. Which is why Tensei is currently kneeling in front of his little brother, who is very clearly trying not to cry while he checks to see if Tenya broke his nose from running straight into the massive tree back behind the Iida family estate.

“Sorry, Otouto,” Tensei says, as he gently prods the bridge of Tenya’s nose. He frowns sympathetically when Tenya inhales sharply at the contact, but nothing feels wrong. “Good news, it doesn’t seem to be broken! Bad news, you’re probably going to have some nasty bruising.

Tenya lets out a quiet, frustrated sound, wiping up blood and snot with the handkerchief Tensei keeps tucked in his pocket. “Again?”

“Stopping is hard. Corners are harder.” Tensei brings a hand up to Tenya’s shoulder. “Believe me, kiddo, I went through the same thing. You’ll get it eventually.”

Tenya doesn’t say anything as Tensei guides him over to one of the garden benches, where they have a first aid kit on standby. He radiates frustration the entire time Tensei tends to his bloody nose. He’s glaring at nothing in particular, eyes still brimming with tears even after his face has been cleaned up and little rolls of gauze have been pushed into his nostrils to staunch the bleeding.

“Tenya,” Tensei says gently. “I mean it―I didn’t get the hang of corners until I was in middle school. I have airbags installed in my suit because I still sometimes have trouble stopping reliably. I mean, just last week, I crashed trying to pursue that Bat Villain, remember?”

While the frustration in Tenya’s eyes doesn’t disappear entirely, his expression does become more thoughtful. “Can I try one more time?”

Tensei hesitates. He admires Tenya’s determination, but one more high-speed collision might actually break his nose. “You sure? There’s no shame in taking a breather and coming back to corners another day.”

“One more try,” Tenya says. “Please, Oniisan?”

Tensei lets out a soft huff of laughter, mussing up Tenya’s hair. “Alright, one more try.”

Tenya hops off the bench, expression fiercely determined as he walks back over to the starting line Tensei marked into the dirt with a stick. Tensei takes his spot near the tree, Mother’s contact info pulled up just in case―if Tenya did end up breaking his nose, he wanted to make sure to keep her in the loop.

“Ready?” Tensei calls over.

Tenya gets into position, staring straight at the tree.

“Go!”

Tenya’s engines roar to life as he sprints towards the tree at first gear, feet furiously hitting the dirt path that has been worn into the ground through generations of Quirk training. Tensei feels his heart beating hard in his chest as Tenya comes closer and closer to the tree, bracing for impact.

It does not come.

Tenya, about a meter or so away from the tree, turns to his right. He runs another few meters before skidding to a halt, eyes wide and chest heaving. After a moment, a wide grin breaks out across his face.

“I did it!” Tenya screams.

Tensei laughs, jogging over to his little brother. He hoists him up into his arms, pulling him into a tight hug. “You did it!”

Whatever frustration remains is dispelled and replaced by excited, enthusiastic energy. Tensei barely manages to get Tenya back on the ground before he runs towards the house to share his latest accomplishment with Father. With a laugh, Tensei texts Mother the good news, then goes back to the bench to pack up the first aid kit.

[cenviswasteland]

Who are Freyvay? You've tagged them in a bunch of your posts and from what I've seen I love their dynamic lol

jesus okay. alright. howdy. hi. my name is juno orion and im a writer. there's like a 90% chance that you, anon, are not real (as in youre one of my friends masquerading as an anon) or you have forgotten that you asked this entirely. i do not care. i am answering this now because im feeling insane.

in the interest of mobile users, im gonna cut this post here. under the cut you will find the ramblings of a fucking madman. cowabunga.

--the cut is here--

howdy again. thanks for clicking a button, let's get into it.

So there's two people involved in FreyVay, as any good ship should be. I'll just yap about them as individuals in name order.

Frey Lovelace

(yes this is my art. no i am not a good artist.)

male, 6'1

black hair blue eyes tanned skin etc

age range: 19 to 27-ish (im not good at math) (also it really depends on the story dont question it too hard)

current job: defense attorney

previous job: college student (this is how he met vay)

going to college for: polisci / history / law (this will make sense in a minute)

fun facts: smokes weed, easy going, has massive bazongas

main color: blue

his dad (alexander lovelace) is a lawyer, frey is basically a born ace attorney [in one universe, he cupped the balls of a statue of the god of law and said god of law was like "hell yeah brother" and blessed him with super-law powers], and also he is the womanizer ever. note the hickeys and bitemarks.

Valence Haiz

(please ignore the part that says "turnabout lawyer". i will explain later)

male, 5'11

blonde hair, gray eyes, pale skin, etc

age range: 18 to 26-ish (again i am not a math guy)

current job: CEO of a medical research monopoly, also politician

previous jobs: prosecutor, and before that, college student

going to college for: polisci / psychology / business / law

fun facts: very academic, stick up his ass, a special flavor of emotionally constipated (grew up rich and pressured)

main color: red

valence was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he was expected [read: pressured] to do "great things" by his father (David Haiz), make his family proud, etc etc. he was interested in law, decided to go to school for it, all that. he would later inherit his grandfather's (Aldier Kamp) medical research company and pursue a career in politics to be like his father.

--this line is intentionally left blank--

okay, we're gonna do the rest of this like im doing an interview because it's the only way i know how to structure things. let's go!

So, how do these bozos meet?

easy: college. they both attend (fictional) school Pennick University, which offers an accelerated course of study that can make a person a lawyer with just a bachelor's degree.

[note: in case you can't tell, your author is a complete and total Ace Attorney nerd. this is AA logic. just go with it.]

frey and valence end up being random roommates in their first year. by some miracle, they actually go from just "roommates" to "person i tolerate and talk to outside sometimes".

Why ship them?

my sibling in starclan they ship themselves.

after the two of them become friends, talk regularly, etc etc, frey finds himself falling hard. like, head-over-heels ass-over-teakettle hard. while registering for spring classes in his second year, frey quite literally changes his major because valence has helped him realize this talent he has for law and polisci.

i think if anything, this excerpt from my aSiP series bible says it best, at least from frey's POV:

It’s not theory or subtext or conjecture anymore. Frey Lovelace is just… in love with Valence Haiz. Hopelessly. Helplessly. He probably didn't realize it until he was switching his major, too.

He’s in love with Valence. The real Valence.

The Valence that turns his head away when Frey cracks a bad joke. The Valence that stays up late to get work done, only to end up watching reruns of House and Criminal Minds with Frey. The Valence that lets his eyes sparkle when Frey asks about how his psychology research is going.  The Valence that’s a natural at public speaking. The Valence that could pull speeches out of thin air. The Valence that makes elaborate PowerPoints before every presentation.

The Valence that will entertain Frey’s contrarian need to be the opposing side in every debate. The Valence that lights up when he gets Frey backed into a metaphorical corner. The Valence that makes sassy and snarky comments between pages of a novel. The Valence that complains in the margins of his textbooks. The Valence that sends Frey letters over break. The Valence that encloses pictures of the places he visits or the art he’s seen in museums.

The Valence that went to Waffle House at 11 PM with Frey after their last final of the semester. The Valence that takes his coffee with a mountain of creamer and his waffles with chocolate chips and strawberries. The Valence that threw an orange in Frey’s face after Frey came home soaked from the rain. The Valence that made him stand in the hallway until he ate the orange. The Valence that said “I don’t want you getting me sick.” The Valence that cares. The Valence that allows himself to be vulnerable. The Valence that isn’t trying to put up a front.

The Valence that’s real.

-- just... just let that soak in for a sec. i don't have anything to add, just let it marinate. --

God, that's sickeningly sweet, but I'm not into all that sappy stuff.

don't worry, it's not all sunshine and rainbows! in fact, it's a special kind of hell from valence's POV.

because to him, frey is infuriating. while valence had to claw a path to any kind of respect, dignity, or even to have anyone look his way, frey just gets it naturally. from an outsider's perspective, he's damn near perfect at the law practice, he never studies anything, he can go and screw around (literally and figuratively) all day and come back with perfect marks on tests and quizzes, and he's having the time of his life in college.

meanwhile, valence is struggling with multiple flavors of his own sexuality, insane mental health problems, self-image / worth issues, and, again, the strange pressure of having everything at your fingertips but never feeling like you've done enough to deserve it.

please accept another excerpt, this time from my aSiP draft:

[note: contains references to sexual content, alcohol and weed. skip to next bracket to avoid.]

April 10th – 1:43 A.M.

Lovelace operates like an animal. It wouldn’t be an issue if it were simply in his habits, but habits will force themselves into the way one conducts himself in conversation. Lovelace has no manners, poise, or elegance. He says every thought that forms in his brain without pausing to think about the implications or the consequences. I make a point to avoid empty, dull-witted debates, and yet he just keeps pulling me in over and over again. He makes a fine acquaintance, but I would never consider taking it further. He takes far too many partners as it is.

Even so, last night I found myself in a wine-drunk stupor, kissing him like I needed his air more than my own. Lovelace kisses with tongue and teeth, in the same blunt fashion with which he does everything. He tasted like burnt herbs. Neither of us seemed to have the good sense to stop, and so we kept pushing the boundaries. He seemed so intent to stake his claim, to force me into the mattress, to take what he believed was his.

I felt as though I couldn’t take in my own air. There was something horrible in the way his weight felt on top of me. I distinctly remember enjoying myself. I can’t imagine how. I have no interest in being his. I have no interest in his lips. I never did, even when they were against my skin. I know I was drunk. He was drunk, too. He was drunk and high. He was worse than I was. He still had the common sense to ask me if I wanted it. We could have stopped. Even impaired, he would have stopped. We hadn’t lost all our wits.

He asked me if I wanted it. I told him yes. Was I lying? I can’t remember my own tone. Should I be angry? Did he lie to me? There’s no point in anger, is there? I feel ill. Am I fooling myself? Should we have stopped? I didn’t stop him. He didn’t stop me.

I don’t even know if I wanted to stop.

[end warning section. welcome back.]

again, i'm not gonna say anything here. just sit and process.

Okay, so what's aSiP? And Turnabout Lawyer?

they're two sides of the same coin! both are longform FreyVay-centric projects that i'm actively writing.

a study in purple (or aSiP) is a valence POV work that goes through his side of the Pennick University experience. it was originally a piece i wrote for my creative writing class last semester (spring 2024).

Turnabout Lawyer (or TL, or Burden of Proof) is a frey POV work that goes through his side of the PennU experience. it was originally an idea for a visual novel, which i then converted to a screenplay pilot episode for my screenwriting class last semester (spring 2024).

yes, there's intense and serious cognitive dissonance between their experiences. that is on purpose. i will absolutely be providing project updates if this post even gets one (1) note.

Surely it doesn't end after they graduate...?

you bet your shiny boots it doesn't! but i'll be damned if i keep this post going for longer, so for everyone's sanity i have to call it here. i'll make a follow-up post about freyvay after graduation. they go through a lot of changes... but that will have to be for another day.

Wait! I want FreyVay content and I want it now!!

Well, lucky for you, I am the soul owner and participator in FreyVay week, which is happening right the fuck now! No one knew about it other than my bestie westie pesties, and that's perfectly fine to me! I will be posting my silly little FreyVay fics here anyway!!! In fact, I'll be posting the Day One fic immediately after this post, so read away to your heart's content!

The full schedule is here for your perusing pleasure:

---

thank you ever so much for reading all this yappery! i love blah blah blahing about my goofy little guys. please stand by for more freyvay content directly on your timeline as if you are a baby bird.

peace, love, little donuts, etc etc.

[snootchie-bootchie-nootchies]

I'm seventeen, not twenty-four. Let's get that out of the way.

I came to look at your account for new content, and I was blocked. No reporting, no asking if I was okay, just blocked. So after going to my burner account and seeing the post you made of course I was pissed.

Apparently you said I'm "crying in your dm's about you blocking my ED account"

If you read the FIRST message I sent you on my SECOND account (after you blocked me- and which I'm pretty sure you ignored) it said "This is an old account that I haven't used in years. If knew how to delete the posts I would."

You didn't send me a link on how to delete all the triggering posts. You know what you did? You blocked me. Again.

Once I figured out how to delete all the posts (which I took an hour doing) and I told you I cleaned my account out, and refreshed it, you blocked me again!

To move onto other topics of your fuck ass response, "I love Randal Graves, why would I want to act like him"

Honey, you like him. Need I say more? "Porch monkey, Helen Keller/Anne Franke debacle, Beastiality, Homophobia, a 30 year old who fucks 17 year olds"

You obviously like him for a reason.

But last but not least you told me "I hope you can get out of that nasty community"

IVE BEEN OUT OF IT FOR THE LAST 2 YEARS YOU DUMBASS BITCH I SAID THAT IN MULTIPLE ASKS

ONCE AGAIN ILL SAY AS JAY ONCE SAID BEFORE, 'man- you're a lost fucking cause'

You must've not passed second grade if you've missed out on THIS many context clues.

(Also post this on your account!!! out me all you want honey <3)

If I get blocked again it'll just prove I'm right.

Christ almighty

I told you those two asks were the only asks I got in my inbox. I did not get any prior asks. I apologize for that, but like I said, it's not my fault, it's tumblr's. I only blocked the original account, and then your previous burner after I posted those asks. Which, was pretty petty of me, I will admit. They just really took me by surprise, because to me, they were incredibly hostile and coming out of seemingly nowhere. So I responded in kind. It was shitty.

With added context that I HAD NOT PREVIOUSLY HAD, let me reiterate- I DID NOT GET THOSE ASKS. If I had, I definitely wouldn't have been such a massive dickhead. Anyways with this context, I will apologize. If I had that I probably would have unblocked you and like, chatted with you or some shit. But you truly cannot blame me for something that was not my fault whatsoever. I'm not gonna lie to you about this shit I fucking hate liars, i didn't get those asks.

In regards to you just "being blocked" - I have no obligation to ask if you're okay. You're a stranger clearly going through your own shit, I'd rather not try to like... 'help' and probably make it worse or have you get angry or something. And reporting accounts on Tumblr is annoying as balls I've tried before and it almost always amounts to nothing. Ultimately I have the right to monitor who is following me.

I'm glad you're out of there. That's great. I'm happy for you. I didn't know this! Because I didn't get those asks!

About the context clues, there were none for me to read. Also I'm autistic, not to blame it on that necessarily, but I do have a hard time reading that shit genuinely.

I don't know why you're lingering on this Randal shit. I can be a good person and like shitry characters and villains. He's fucked up and funny 🤷‍♂️ also you're mentioning everything from clerks 2 and I don't really like him in that movie, he feels like a caricature, I'm kore of a clerks 1 kind of guy tbh

Sorry this is getting really long, I'm trying to address as much as possible. Idk.

I am not opposed to unblocking you if your account is clean and shit, man. (EDIT: sorry i just realized your previous ask did say that lol. my bad, my memory is shitty as hell. i couldn't even look at the time bc i was on mobile and idfk how to use that shit, and i was busy spending time with my family because i have a pretty damn busy life outside tumblr)

I have college shit to do right now but I will look into it soon. I know this post is still kind of pissy but I am not going to block you again if you can find it in yourself to be a 🤏 teesny bit more respectful (not even nice, just respectful) when sending me asks, cause I'm totally willing to talk this out with you.

Also sorry for implying you were 14 or 24. I never know with people on here. Anyways!

Yeah. Uhhh if you want to messafw me instead of airing this stuff out publicly feel free. I think I allowed that on this account? Lmk if I didn't. Thanks in advance, I have to do stupid academic shit now

[jm-chrome]

Okay so I just watched Hollow Mind and I. Need. To. Vent. So here’s a post to dump all my feelings about that soul-crushing episode :”))

⚠️Spoilers Ahead⚠️

The Rebels

In the previous episode, we saw Darius actually helping Raine with their rebellious pursuit against Belos and now we see that Eberwolf is also a part of this. I’m intrigued to know when and how exactly did Darius and Eberwolf became part of the rebellion. Perhaps Raine was able to persuade them while being “tormented” in Eda’s Requiem

Also, despite all the heartbreaking revelations about Hunter, I’m glad we had this scene of Darius caring for him. Darius went from stopping Raine from trying to help Eda in saving Luz to immediately wanting to help after finding out that Hunter was stuck with her too. :”))

The Brothers

So it seems like Belos is the little brother and it’s interesting how kid Belos was always happily looking up to his brother in the few memories of them we got to see (He was even shown to be carving Belos’ old mask as a kid 😢). He admired him and undoubtedly loved him at some point. 

What could have happened for that bond to completely change into a corrupted cycle of Belos repeatedly cloning and killing his beloved older brother and feeling no hint of remorse when talking about it?

This jerk was literally SMIRKING while being accused of enjoying reincarnating and killing his brother over and over agian... and Hunter was there to witness it.  *screams internally*

The Previous Golden Guard

First off, let me just cry about how Darius looked sad in Hunter’s ceremony of becoming the new Golden Guard. We know that the old one was his mentor which he respected and looked up to, so I could just imagine Darius’ grief when Hunter Version 6 Plus or something was killed disappeared. Also, the previous Hunters must not have looked that much different from each other, right? Do you guys think Darius has some suspicions about Hunter’s true identity with how similar he might have looked like (and probably acted like too) with the previous Golden Guard?

The Palisman Souls

In Hunting Palisman, we see Belos feel sick and overwhelmed with this goopy-monster-form (yes I shall call it that from now on) which kinda looks like the embodiment of the palisman souls we saw in his mindscape. Since he was able to capture and disintegrate it, I feel like he just now gained full control of his goopy-monster-form. Gosh I hope not...

Bananas

And let’s not forget the biggest revelation of them all... Bananas don’t exist in The Demon Realm?!!????!?! Yeah sorry I just wanted to end this post in a lighter note ;-; I have more stuff that I wanna rant about but I don’t want to make this post too long since it’s so hard to write in the mobile Tumblr app. If you made it this far- thanks for reading my rambles and best of luck on trying to recover from this episode :”))

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 37

Shout out to @asongeverlasting for beta reading for me and making sure I actually got this out.

Check her writing out on AO3 as Ramblingwren

(Master post)

(Read the fic in a more condensed on Ao3)

(The latest chapter will be up on there once this reaches over 300 notes on tumblr)

_____________________________________________________________

Simularé looked out over the city from the top of the school.  Using her replicated powers, she took the form of Volpina so they'd be able to alter the illusion quickly should something pop out and accidentally reveal the true form of the school. Thankfully the sentimonster didn’t need to do much in order to maintain the illusion; Paris was a surprisingly quiet city.

As far as they could tell, no one in the city outside of the school had any idea what was going on. And that worked out perfectly for them.

“So, this is where Lila has you stationed,” a voice called out, resulting in the faux fox turning around. The figure behind them was a woman clad in dark blue, with blue skin and a feathery fan. She looked confident and the sentimonster instinctively felt that this individual was very much aware of what it was.

Mayura had quickly deduced it was the sentimonster as it was in Lila’s previous akuma form, Volpina. With Lila now Masquerade, it was unlikely she would choose to take such a form. She would likely want to stay in her new form to show it off.

“Do not be alarmed, Simularé, it is your creator. Mayura,” Mayura spoke again.

The shapeshifter leveled a sharp glare at the woman. What made her so certain of that?

“How do I know that is true?” Simularé questioned.

The villainess took a moment to examine the sentimonster. Mayura had to admit that this sentimonster was her finest work to date. The amount of emotion harnessed from Lila to create it made it far more unique, much less of a mindless creature than her previous creations. Amoks were created much like akuma were, locking on to intense emotions before sending off. But unlike akuma, amok can be shaped and tailored with enough focus. Simularé was a special case, as it was made from the conclave of emotions that Lila was experiencing during her breakdown. It had been quite difficult to focus on one specific feeling but Mayura had pushed through. Simularé was sculpted to be Lila’s ideal ally, but it was also so much more than a simple asset. This Amok embodied Lila’s core personality. Her cleverness, her cunning, her mistrust of others, her playfulness, her pride and so much more. To put it simply, this Sentimonster was Lila’s spirit given a new form.

“Trust me Simularé, you would be best not to ask that,” Mayura warned.

The sentimonster felt as if it was being talked down to and clearly did not approve of anyone talking to them in such a tone, save for its master. It charged at the peacock villainess, ready to make contact, But, before it could get close, Mayura stuck out her hand and pinched her fingers together, causing the sentimonster to feel as if some force was pulling its essence out. The pain it felt was indescribable! It felt as if its very being was being ripped out. Mayura was in range to sense the Amok and could easily remove it without difficulty, much like Hawkmoth could with an akuma. Though Mayura had a feeling that letting the Sentimonster know that keeping her out of range of the item was the key to its survival would not be wise. It was best in this moment to display power.

“Stop! Please!” Simularé begged. “I … I believe you! I will do whatever you ask, just please stop the pain!”

The villainess smiled, it seemed there was even more to this Sentimonster than Mayura had anticipated. It had a powerful sense of self preservation, something controlled sentimonsters didn’t seem to have. She took note of that.

“Good. Now, you are going to explain to me your master’s end goal and where Ladybug and Chat Noir are in the building.”

Simularé felt the grip that Mayura had on its essence and held back its burning resentment towards the blue bird villainess. She would behave. For now.

“Okay… I will tell you everything.”

_____________________________________________________________

“Duck!” Ladyice called out as she had Ice Noir lower their bodies to avoid oncoming ice projectiles.

“Surprising that she's only attacking us with ice. She's Stormy weather. You'd think she would be attacking with more, maybe some rain or like a vol....” Ice Noir commented.

“Don't talk about that! Do not give her any ideas!”

The two had skated out of the room and made their way through the now icy hallway while Stormy Weather gave chase.

“I was just saying it seems weird how...mediocre her attacks are.

“It’s like we saw before, the akuma servants are like robots, they can’t react quickly so changing up her powers is likely just as much of a problem. She's probably not as dangerous as we initially thought.”

“So maybe we should face this problem head on now that we aren’t cornered?”

Ice Noir changed direction and began skating towards the umbrella-wielding akuma.

Stormy Weather noticed the approaching cat and raised her umbrella, creating a mighty gale to blow him back and ending him flying past Ladyice to the end of the hallway.

“She can use her other powers… can confirm,” Ice noir commented as he got off the wall, still dazed.

Ladyice skated up to the dazed cat and helped stabilize him. Despite seeming like a wasted effort, the cat’s brash antics actually inspired Ladyice with a way to take her out.

“I just figured out how we can stop her, think you can give her one last charge for me?”

“Why Bugaboo, asking me to rush headfirst into danger? How heartless.” He feigned hurt.

Ladybug rolled her eyes.

“Silly Kitty. Just be ready to hang in there when she blasts you with wind. Don’t get blown back this time.”

“Got it.”

Ice Noir quickly skated across the ice as he drew his weapon. He was ready for her this time.

“Hey breezy weezy! The weather today was supposed to be sunny with a 20% chance of raining Cats and Dogs!” Ice Noir called out, clearly happy with his lame joke.

Stormy Weather saw the cat approaching once again and prepared to send another wind blast at him.

But the cat was prepared this time around and extended his staff to anchor himself to the walls on either side.

“Nice try!” Ice Noir snarked. “But a small little puff of wind won't blow me back again.”

The storm akuma decided instead of creating just another wind blast, she was going to step it up with a cyclone attack! A powerful tornado tunnel would surely blast the cat down for good.

“We were wrong! She can amp up the power too!” Ice Noir exclaimed as he held onto his staff with all his might while his body was being blown back by the massive winds. “This was not well thought out!”

He focused on digging his claws into his staff and doing his best to remain in the wind tunnel. The powerful winds blew into his face and he could see Stormy Weather slowly approaching.

“I don’t think I can hold on much longer, Ladyice!”

He felt his grip slipping. Any second now, he was going to get blown back.

“Don’t worry, Kitty. I got this.”

Stormy Weather didn’t get a chance to react when she felt something tackle her full force and rush her into the wall on the opposite end of the hallway.

The wind died down and Ice Noir was able to land on his skates. He released his grip on his staff and fixed his windblown hair to resemble its original state before quickly skating down the hall to help his partner.

“Nice job, Ladyice.”

The red-clad heroine stood up from her grapple with the storm akuma.

“Actually…”

Ice Noir looked up to see that his partner had shifted power ups. Her skates and ice skater aesthetic were replaced with a suit that had red spacesuit-like plating, a jetpack with retractable wings with red and light blue colors that matches her helmet.

She had changed into her space form, Cosmobug.

“Space power up! Because you can fly through the wind! Genius!”

Cosmobug smiled.

“Well, Stormy Weather is dazed but probably not for long.”

The two heroes noticed her about to grab her umbrella, but Chat Noir’s cat-like reflexes helped him snatch it first.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Ice Noir broke the umbrella over his knee.

“I don’t think she will be as mobile without her powers.”

Stormy Weather tried to stand but slipped on the icy floor she had created.

“Let’s just make our way to the boss,” Cosmobug said. She used the jet on her back to swoop up Ice Noir and fly slowly down the icy hall.

“Just like you to sweep me off my feet. But don’t think I will be a smitten kitten like usual.”

“Oh? Is that so?” The bug heroine raised an eyebrow. “It’s hard to imagine that you haven’t been dreaming about this scenario.”

“It helps that you aren’t riding a horse with the wind blowing in your hair,” Chat Noir joked back, catching Ladybug’s teasing.

Cosmobug quickly moved them to a part of the hall where there was no ice. Both undid their potion transformations, reverting back to their usual hero forms.

“Not keeping the jetpack?” Chat Noir asked. “It is really cool.”

“The room halls are pretty limited, and there's not much mobility, otherwise I might have,” Ladybug confessed.

The two heroes took a moment to catch their breaths and figure out their surroundings.

“We should thank Stormy Weather.”

The cat looked at his partner skeptically, remembering how a few minutes ago, the wind had nearly sent him flying through a brick wall.

“What makes you say that?”

“Lila probably had Stormy Weather out and about to flush out other people in the school and make sure the area was difficult to traverse. She likely sent out a bunch of other akuma to do the same, which means her forces are scattered and we have a better shot of dealing with her with fewer obstacles.”

Chat Noir nodded. He would not have deduced such a thing from one encounter with a weather akuma.

“Good to know, so the plan is to locate her and save the day.”

“No need to figure out where she is, I already have a good idea where she should be.”

Chat Noir noticed Ladybug had already started moving. He quickly followed behind, though he didn’t need an explanation this time. He already knew where Ladybug was heading — to his homeroom class, but he couldn’t say that without revealing what he knew.

_____________________________________________________________

‘This was a ridiculous decision.’

That was the thought running through Chloé’s mind as she ran for her life from a large group of Reflekta clones.

The two or three she had run into early were easy to avoid, but now it seemed like a horde of those tacky clones. And all of the ice that surrounded certain hallways made it impossible to traverse. She was limited in her running space and she was running out. But what made it all worse was that now those Reflekta copies had adjusted to running.

“HOW CAN YOU RUN IN THOSE HEELS!?” Chloé screamed as she ran down the hall.

She just had to try and be a hero. Why was she even doing this? The assistant probably got turned into one of those gross clones or got masked like those other students. She could have just sat back and just waited for Ladybug and Chat noir to find her or let them handle it.

“You can’t run forever” The crowd of clones sang in Rather impressive and creepy harmony.

Chloé took a turn down the hall and went into the door of the nearest room.

She closed the door and locked it before smelling the musty wet air.

“What the… EWW!” She spat in disgust as she realized she had locked herself in a janitor’s closet.

“Why did it have to be in such a gross smelly room?” she moaned.

Unfortunately, her comments caught the attention of the crowd chasing her.

She heard banging on the door.

“You can’t hide, we will find.”

Chloe put her back to the door to keep them out and felt herself slide down it in despair.

Was this how it was going to end? Getting turned into one of those fashion nightmares after hiding out in such a rank smelling closet? She didn’t even save… wait. She did save someone. She saved that old man. It hadn't been glamorous, but she did manage to save at least one person.

“I guess I did do something good after all. May not have been exceptional… but it was something.” Chloé smiled for a brief moment.

She took a moment to look at the positives, Ladybug and Chat Noir would likely come in and save the day, plus there were those other two heroes. Perhaps that would be enough. But she had to admit, finding solace in that was getting harder to do when the smell of the closet was destroying her nostrils. Just then, she remembered she had some nice perfume in her bag that she could spray to alleviate the smell.

“Well, at least I won’t smell awful when they capture me.”

She put her hand in her bag and felt around for her perfume. As she searched, she felt an unfamiliar object in her designer handbag. She pulled it out.

“What is this?”

She noticed a note on top of it. It was a bit dark to read so she pulled out her phone and turned on her flashlight.

“Return to Ladybug after mission?”

Chloé’s eyes went wide. Could this be what she thought it was? How was it possible? She didn’t have time to question it.

She opened the box and out came a floating bee creature, who Chloé recognized right away. It was real.

“Pollen!” Chloé exclaimed with cheer.

“It has been a while, my queen.” the bee kwami said.

Chloé would have loved to revel in this moment more but she knew that door was going to burst open any minute. She needed to be the bee heroine.

“As much as I would love to talk more, we need to hurry. We have some akuma clones that need bashing.”

“Right away, my queen!”

Chloe put the bee miraculous in her hair.

“Pollen, Buzz on!”

_____________________________________________________________

“It is a good thing there are so many copies,” Ryuuko stated as she leaped over a few Reflekta copies.

Viperion swerved and dodged the replicas of his sister’s akumatized form while avoiding getting caught in the bubbles that froze them and floated them up in the air.

Deadzone had been doing a lot of friendly fire thanks to its single minded obsession.

“After this, I really hope I never have to see my sister take this form again,” Viperion commented.

“Right, Adrien mentioned that you were Juleka’s brother. Older brother, right?”

“Older twin brother. But yes.”

“Really? You seem older.”

“I am a grade ahead of her, but we are the same age,” he explained.

“Could have sworn you were at least a year or two older.”

“A lot of people think the same thing. Even my mom forgets, sometimes. Rose, my sister’s girlfriend, says I radiate ‘big brother energy’ or something.”

“You learn something new.”

“What about you? Any siblings?”

“Sadly no. I was an only child.”

“Too bad, I think you would have made a great older sister,” Viperion encouraged

“A snake charmer, are we?”

“Well I am the snake, and I am not charming myself, so I think the more correct term would be dragon charmer.”

“Change that to fun killer because you killed my fun right there.”

Before Viperion could retort, they had made their way down to the end of the hall and noticed that it was frozen off.

“Dead end,” they say at the same time.

“No, Deadzone.”

The two turn to see the deadly akuma amalgamation pointing its blaster at them.

The two heroes looked at the deadly akuma.

“Any ideas?” Ryuuko questioned.

“Just one.”

Viperion moved his hand to his bracelet.

“Second chance!” Viperion activated his power.

“Now we have some options.” Viperion explained.

The akuma fired a bubble blast at Ryuuko, and she was frozen.

“Second chance!”

Things reset to how they were a few seconds before. Viperion grabbed Ryuuko and pulled her out of the way of the oncoming bubble blast.

“Thanks. For a minute there, I thought that thing had me.”

“It did, but I used my power to stop that. we still have to get out of here.”

“Look out!”

Ryuuko got hit with another bubble as they got up, protecting him from an attack.

“This might take a few attempts…”

_____________________________________________________________

Hawkmoth paced inside his lair.

Mayura was out there, his son was out there… and things were not going the way he planned. Masquerade seems to be building a base for herself and was more concerned with that than getting the miraculous. Adrien is MIA, and Mayura isn’t responding.

“I might need to step in. But there is a lot of risk in this. Far too many variables that I can't account for”

Hawkmoth never liked leaving his lair. It had too many risks to it. After Heroes' Day, he had nearly been exposed. And after that fiasco in Shanghai he didn’t want to risk getting taken out by his own akuma. He had already taken plenty of risks that had blown up in his face. Would this be another one of those times he would need to risk his miraculous?

“But it could also be just what is needed to beat Ladybug and Chat Noir once and for all.”

With an akuma this powerful, the two would likely have to use their special powers multiple times. If he can just locate them and wait for them to do so, he could potentially gain the advantage. Maybe Mayura was on to something with her actions.

Hawkmoth walked to the window.

“There will be a right time. I just need to wait for it.”

He felt an itch in the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure what it was but he could tell one thing, something big was going to go down, and he needed to figure out the right call soon or it could cost him dearly.

_____________________________________________________________

“…And that’s her plan.” Simularé finished. “As for Ladybug and Chat Noir… I am unsure. I lost track of them before I was given a new assignment. But they are in the building and they have not tried to leave.”

Mayura smiled at the information. While it was quite unfortunate that she didn’t have the exact location of the two heroes, it was good to know that they were still in the building, and Lila’s plan was certainly something interesting.

“Indeed, that is quite a clever plan. Ensuring everyone in the school couldn’t escape was pretty smart. You likely had a few escapes anyway, with how clumsy some of the akuma were. You are fortunate that neither one was Ladybug or Chat Noir. Still, though, it isn’t your master’s fault for that. They are basically mindless puppets. But then again, it seems that there might be zero escapes since there seems to be no new reports on the subject of a school takeover.”

Simularé let the peacock villainess muse, analyzing her movements as if trying to figure out any advantage it could handle.

“So, the next step now that all communications are cut is to send out a message that Ladybug and Chat Noir have already been defeated, so as to cause massive despair in order to create even more minions. Sounds a bit derivative, don’t you think?” Mayura mused.

Simularé said nothing. It held its tongue. Deep down, it knew that starting any dispute with this peacock was not wise. Especially given that crazy power she had over their being.

“Still, it is quite a plan. And with all those extra akuma recruited and Ladybug and Chat noir cut off from their guardian, they wouldn’t be able to get any sort of back up. They wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight before all of Paris is under Masquerade’s thumb. I approve of the plan.”

“I am glad you do,” Simularé stated with a forced smile.

Their conversation was cut short when an akuma appeared. Seeing one it did not recognize, the artist akuma prepared to fight. But thankfully the shapeshifting sentimonster stepped in.

“Stand down Evillustrator, this one is not our enemy,” Simularé ordered.

Evillustrator eased and walked over.

“Masquerade has ordered that we start reinforcing the building. She wants this place to be like a fortress,” he parroted.

Mayura looked at the artist.

A fortress? Yes, Simularé mentioned that Masquerade wanted to reinforce the school so that she could ensure Ladybug and ChatNoir would have less chance of escape.

Simularé nodded at the akuma servant.

“Alright, so she wants us to drop the illusion, then?”

“She wants the place to be like a fortress.”

“Go ahead and start,” Simularé motioned. She figured that her master likely didn’t care about the illusion much as she was prepared for stage two. But she would maintain it for a bit.

The akuma moved to the end of the roof and begins working to reinforce the walls

Mayura began moving to the door of the roof to get back down into the school.

“Tell your boss I will be heading to her, and she best be welcoming,” Mayura ordered.

“As you command,” Simularé replied, hiding a large amount of anger and resentment towards the blue bird.

As soon as the blue peacock is out of sight.

Simularé contacts its master.

“Simularé, what is going on? Did Evilustrator reach you?”

“Yes. He is working to make this place a fortress. You want me to maintain the illusion, right?”

“I am about to go public shortly. After I make the announcement. Drop the illusion and make sure this place is a full-on fortress. After that is done, report back to me.

“Yes master. By the way, I had an idea.”

“Oh?”

Simularé smiled sinisterly. She was going to show Peacock why she was sorely mistaken.

“I will report the details to you shortly.”

_____________________________________________________________

“Everything is set up,” Robostus noted.

“Excellent. Let’s do it now.”

The Reflekta camera crew was all set, and Gamer had set it up so the moment they went live, every screen in Paris would show Masquerade.

Masquerade got off her call with Simularé. Something seemed a bit off with her sentimonster but she was intrigued that she had a plan.

“We are live in 5….4…3….2…” the gamer stated before pressing the go live button.

Masquerade smiled.

“Good afternoon, citizens of Paris. You may not know who I am, but don’t worry! You will be very familiar with me very soon. I am Masquerade, and I have decided to make Paris my personal kingdom.”

She paused to let that sink in.

“Now you are likely very alarmed by this declaration and that is normal. It will only be a matter of time before I spread my influence to everyone in Paris.”

She paused to let her words hang in the air before continuing.

“Do not be afraid, I am no monster. I plan on being a fair leader. All I ask is for your undying admiration and absolute loyalty. After that, you are free to live your lives as you normally would. Do not resist and you will have no problems. However, if you do… well, I can’t guarantee your safety.”

Masquerade took a calm breath before finishing.

“This last message goes out to the heroes of Paris, Ladybug and Chat Noir. I know you are here, I know you believe you will stop me, and I know you have allies here. But you will fall to me. Your days of superheroing have come to an end, your miraculous will be taken from you, and I will expose you as the failures you are,” Masquerade finished with venom.

She ended the transmission.

“Now make sure that it is being looped,” she ordered.

“Already is,” Gamer confirmed. “And panic is starting to rise.”

Masquerade smiled. Her plan was already working.

It may have seemed like a simple ego boost, but that speech of hers was a crucial part of her plan. Her charm bracelet could hyper focus on anyone that was akumatized in the past and have their biggest insecurities exposed. But that one by one process took far too long, if the hope of the entire populace of Paris was already demoralized. Then all she needed to do was send out her masks and let them take hold. And all she needed to do was go out there and send the masks.

She could already feel massive amounts of negative emotion from outside of the school. As soon as she headed out of the school, she could easily go and get more akuma soldiers. She could feel her bracelet trembling with all the potential additions.

She was prepared to leave, activating one of the charms to give her black angel wings, but something she remembered caused her to stop.

“Simularé I am moving to phase two of my plan. Get down here.”

It only took a few seconds for the sentimonster to jump from the roof and knock on the window.

One for the Reflekta copies opened the large window to let in what appeared to be Dark Cupid, before it shifted into the phantasm form that was its base.

“Right on cue. So, what is this plan you wanted to suggest?” Masquerade inquired. “And be sure it is not a waste of my time.”

“What if I told you I could get you a Miraculous?”

The sentimonster could feel that Masquerade was very pleased with that idea.

_____________________________________________________________

37 attempts.

It took thirty-seven resets before Viperion figured out what they needed to do.

“Ryuuko, follow my directions exactly,” Viperion instructed. “I know how to win.”

He quickly pulled her towards him to make sure she dodged the first bubble.

The akuma was surprised by the avoidance.

Viperion smiled.

“Your next line is, ‘How did you know I was going to blast at her?'” Viperion stated confidently.

“How did you know I was going to blast at her?” Deadzone parroted in shock before realizing they had said exactly what Viperion had said they would say.

The dragon heroine looked at the determined expression of the snake. She could see experience and certainty in his posture. All her years of fencing taught Kagami the art of reading body language, and the hero in front of her was someone that exuded an aura of confidence. She knew she could trust him.

“Alright, Sassy Snake, I will let you take the reins.” Ryuuko responded.

“Jump to the left in 2 seconds and start running.”

Ryuuko followed the instructions and sure enough avoided yet another bubble attack from Deadzone.

“Head to their left and bounce off the locker at the end.”

Ryuuko dashed past the akuma and jumped as Viperion instructed, perfectly avoiding the barrage of blasts sent her way. Viperion had perfectly mirrored her motion as he explained the next steps.

“Now somersault twice and draw your sword.”

Ryuuko somersaulted as Viperion leaped over her and the dragon turned to draw her sword, now on the other side of the hall.

“Now as soon as it fires a bubble at you, activate your wind! No matter what! I believe in you Ryuuko.”

The last words seemed a bit strange to the fencer. What did he mean by that?

“Will you shut up!?” Deadzone shouted before sending a bubble at Viperion.

“For my final glimpse into the future, you will say, ‘Not so tough now are ya?'”

The bubble contacted Viperion.

“Viperion!” Ryuuko cried out.

The bubble enveloped the snake and floated to the ceiling, taking his frozen form along with it.

“No…” Ryuuko muttered. She looked down in sorrow.

I failed to protect him. He ended up protecting me. He had been backing me up to make sure I wouldn’t do anything reckless.

Ryuuko felt her mind flashback to a few days ago which now seemed almost like it happened a year ago. They had made such a good team back then and now… they get a chance to be heroes again and she couldn’t cover him like he did her.

“Ha, not so tough now are ya?” Deadzone stated with confidence.

Ryuuko’s ears perked up at the statement. That was the line Viperion predicted they would say. That means… Viperion knew this would happen! Which meant his previous statement was to show he planned this. She knew what to do.

Deadzone turned its attention to Ryuuko.

“Don’t worry, you will join him shortly.”

Deadzone fired another bubble right at her, but this time Ryuuko wasn’t moving. She was at the perfect distance to do what she needed to do.

Ryuuko smiled.

“Wind dragon!”

The dragon-themed heroine turned into a cloud and blew the bubble right back at the akuma.

“What!”

The bubble encapsulated the akuma, causing it to freeze in place and then float to the ceiling.

Ryuuko returned to her original form and smiled, seeing how they had finally incapacitated the akuma.

“We did it, Viperion. We took them down. I'm sorry it cost you so much… I won't let you down!”

She raised her blade, upon realizing that her partner was indeed trapped in a bubble.

“Wait a minute…”

Ryuuko walked underneath Viperion’s bubble. She wasn’t entirely sure if this would work, since akuma magic was weird and often unpredictable, but it would make a lot of sense if it did.

“It is a bubble, so this should work right?” Ryuuko questioned as she used the tip of her sword to touch the bubble. She pushed it forward a bit causing the bubble to pop.

Her partner dropped to the floor.

“Ugh… my head.”

“You’re okay!”

Ryuuko hugged her friend, but then realized her sudden action and quickly jumped back up. A bit flustered, she could swear Marinette was rubbing off on her.

“I am glad you are alright, friend. You had me concerned — slightly,” Ryuuko corrected herself.

Viperion was surprised by the quick motions but managed to steady himself.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course. But make it quick, we will need to get a move on.”

“Okay… Who am I?”

Ryuuko froze at the question. She could see the confusion on his face. He was completely serious.

“Oh… that is not good at all.”

_____________________________________________________________

Masquerade is on phase two of her plan and Simularé is starting to make waves.

Who will get to the akuma first, Mayura or our heroes.

What will happen to Viperion now that his memory is gone?

Will Queen bee be the right choice?

Reblog and Comment . Your support is invaluable in keeping this fic alive. And I love hearing your thoughts on it

[ghcstfced]

ind. ghostface from dead by daylight. by maric. rated r. must be eighteen or older to view.

mobile rules and about below the cut

CONTENT

this blog is nsfw, mostly because most of the media i draw from is for mature audiences. please no under 18s.

danny is a murderer; i am not. i don’t condone his actions nor do i think they’re cute. i just thought he would be an interesting character study. if you don’t like this, please block me. i want you comfortable, and i want to be comfortable. simple.

triggers will be tagged as such: ‘trigger tw’. i have no triggers.

there will be ooc posts on this blog. ooc will be tagged with ‘🔪 — ooc.’

please tag your callouts. i will not reblog callouts. that being said, if you have a callout written about you, you probably shouldn’t follow me. thank you.

i do not follow genderbends. i do not roleplay rape, pedophilia, or incest. if you do, i’ll block. tagged or not.

psd is by libraesthetique. theme is by cxlypsos. icon border is by me. pinned graphic is by jessource. thank you to all!

ETIQUETTE

personals will be blocked. please don’t follow. if you have a roleplay sideblog, please let me know before following me.

don’t reblog threads you’re not involved in.

i practice reblog karma. if you do not, please reblog from the source.

if i follow you, i have read your rules. i do not send in passwords for that reason. 

if it’s been a week, remind me on a thread. i forget. it’s not intentional. if i do drop a thread, i will let you know.

if i block you, please do not try to get around that block. my reasoning is usually not personal. it’s rare that i block.

if you unfollow, please hard block me. i have severe memory issues and will follow you back on accident.

INTERACTIONS 

i will interact with multimuses.

i will rp and interact with duplicates. i have 0 duplicate anxiety. there are so many ghostfaces already. don’t care.

open to writing in other verses. up to you. just ask.

replies will be at my own pace. as stated earlier, poke me for replies if need be. you can match my length. give me enough to work with. i know the words don’t come easy sometimes.

formatting doesn’t matter. i use small text and icons. just don’t use random gifs or gif keyboard stuff.

i will write with ocs. just have info on them. i love ocs.

no force ships, but i am open to talking about ships at any point in the friendship. platonic, romantic, antagonistic. go with it.

i will no longer do mains and exclusives. it makes me anxious.

OOC

my name is maric. i’m 27, and i live in the central time zone. my pronouns are he/him.

again, no password, but if you’ve read this far into my rules, thank you!

ABOUT

BASICS

FULL NAME: danny johnson

ALIAS: jed olsen, the ghostface

AGE: 26

FACECLAIM: hayden christensen

GENDER: cis man

PRONOUNS: he/him

ORIENTATION: bisexual

OCCUPATION: journalist, serial killer, servant of the entity

RELATIONSHIPS

PARENTS: judd johnson ( father , deceased ) , shelly johnson ( mother , deceased )

SIBLINGS: n/a

PHYSICAL

EYE COLOUR: blue

HAIR COLOUR: light brown

HEIGHT: 6'0

BIOGRAPHY

at first glance, jed olsen was a modest and enthusiastic freelancer with experience in a variety of small newspapers. the staff at the roseville gazette appreciated how easy-going and honest he seemed, and so he was treated as a stranger for no more than five minutes into his interview:

“jed quickly spotted the editor-in-chief in the room, gave him a wide smile and a firm handshake, and talked about good old american values. and that was it, he was in.” — ex-contributor at the roseville gazette

olsen never justified his erratic career path, which zigzagged between several small towns from utah to pennsylvania. there was no verification of his previous jobs. he had a decent portfolio plus a good attitude, and they needed a contributor right away.

olsen had been working at the newspaper for five months when the roseville murders began: victims from young to old, stabbed to death in their homes. from the reports, the victims seemed chosen at random, yet the killer knew his way around in the houses. the multiple stab wounds indicated a personal motive. no traces of dna were found. the local police were confounded: the murders were carried with fury akin to a crime of passion yet coldly premeditated.

the murderer also liked to stalk his targets. two victims had reported being followed on their way home by a dark figure, a few days prior their death. the killer would follow them from walleyes, a small bar in northern roseville, and snap pictures of them at home, while looking for a way in. he could watch the same victim for weeks, meticulously registering their habits and routines. when he felt the urge to kill, he’d visit the most vulnerable victim on his list, and break inside the house quietly.

the whole staff worked on the roseville murders story. olsen was often sent to interview the family of victims and relay official statements from the police. unknown to everyone at the time, his involvement added to the final body count.

panic swelled in roseville when olsen produced footage of a hooded figure breaking into a house at night. the masked face, a white blur in the dark, stared at the camera for a second, before disappearing inside. “the ghost face caught on tape” was the resulting article, written by olsen. he seemed proud of his work at the time, enjoying how the whole town feared his ghost stories.

weeks later, olsen left a note on his work desk and disappeared:

“i hope you liked my stories — i enjoyed bringing them to life. don’t worry, i’m not done.” — jed olsen

the roseville law enforcement still refuses to comment as jed olsen remains at large.

VERSES

JOURNALIST

takes place when danny is a journalist; goes by jed. stalks at night. can fit most modern verses.

THE GHOSTFACE

takes place in the entity’s pocket universes. the ghostface is allowed to run free and kill, maim, and torment whomever he pleases. also just whenever he’s in full ghostie regalia.

THE GHOST OF BALTIMORE

danny johnson lives in a tiny flat in baltimore, maryland. he seems like a normal blogger for some unknown site, but by night, he stalks and kills his victims. set in nbc’s hannibal

SERIAL COUNSELOR

danny is a counselor at hackett’s quarry. when the van doesn’t start on the final day of summer camp, he decides to have himself a night of carnage. but it doesn’t quite go the way he plans… danny gets infected by caleb but never turns, as he staves the infection off by putting a tourniquet on to slow the blood flow. it fucks with his hand in the end, but he can survive alongside emma and abi. set in supermassive’s the quarry

JUST A PRANK

danny is a part of the original until dawn gang, best friends with mike. he initially encourages mike’s cruel prank on hannah, but when he sees how upset sam is, he starts to feel bad, as he has a crush on her. the next year, he’s unsure on if he wants to go back to the lodge. still, he does, intending to kill them...for fun. josh and the skinwalkers beat him to it. :/ set in supermassive's until dawn

more tba!

[lgbtsheep]

hey all!! for those not in the jamblr discord server, im sending in a petition of sorts concerning issues and possible improvements we’ve all been talking about for forever and a half. i wanted to post it here so people would see it and know its a thing that’s happening! i’ll put it under a read more because it’s, uh... long. ^^;

Hello! My name is Kaiden. I'm 18 years old and a long-time player of AJ (I've been playing for 9+ years: more than half of my life now). I've watched Animal Jam grow and develop, and all of the changes that have come with. I've loved Animal Jam since I was a kid, and still love it today, which is why I'm coming to you guys with a bit of feedback and a few ideas for AJ Classic. I apologize for contacting through the help desk and not through the purple feedback bubbles, but my message is far too long for the limited text box, and this was the only other way I could find to contact directly. It's clear that the focus has shifted towards Play Wild (sorry, but AJ Classic will always be Animal Jam to me!), and that's completely fine! No hard feelings. I understand that the target demographic is shifting towards mobile games and platforms, and that's something that Play Wild sought to meet. I haven't really played it much at all, but there do seem to be a lot of really cool new features. However, ever since that shift in focus, AJ Classic has become... a little stale. Nobody goes anywhere except for Jamaa Township, because there's nothing really new to do. I understand, some of this is just natural! Things are a lot different. The new generation of players probably isn't going to be roleplaying in Sarepia Forest like we did when we were young. Interests have changed. However, I do have a few ideas that I think would be really great, both to give back to veteran players and to refresh some interest for newer players. I'll be dividing these ideas into two categories: things that require completely new content to be made, and things that don't, or only require small changes. Again, I understand more time and effort is going to be invested into the new game, so maybe super big changes won't be possible. But hey, a Jammer can dream! Doesn't require new content -I'm going to be honest, a lot of this is going to be nonmember stuff. However, I promise this shouldn't take away from the experience of being a member; rather, it should make the experience of being a nonmember more enjoyable. -First, allow nonmembers to buy member items. This doesn't mean they should be able to use them, just simply have them in their inventory. This is advantageous mostly for RIMs that are member locked: nonmembers won't miss out on them, and it doesn't create an unfair rarity advantage for members. Additionally, a player may want to buy a limited item for when they have a membership later. It only makes sense, considering nonmembers can receive member items in trades. It's a small change, but a huge game changer. -In the same vein, allow nonmembers to buy from other player's shops. The shop feature was a fantastic idea! It's become a super quick and easy way to get rare fast. Except... nonmembers don't have access to that, and once again, it creates kind of an unfair advantage for members. This in combination with the previous idea would also allow for nonmembers to purchase rare member items that are used as trading currency, such as collars, wrists, and certain den betas! -Double nonmember animal slots. Maybe that seems like a lot, but members get *a thousand* slots. That's a huge difference! It's so frustrating having to choose between having another land animal I think is cute and access to the underwater biomes. This would be absolutely huge, and once again, not take away from the essentially unlimited slots that members have. -And... The Forgotten Desert. It was another great win when all the adventures became accessible to all Jammers! Except, TFD is still unofficially member locked, because only members can buy the flying animals required to access it. One solution I have for this is to make at least one flying animal nonmember. It can be the least popular one! I'm not judging! TFD is another huge rare item mine that's so, so valuable. I remember getting a black long collar from it when I had a membership. That was my first rare collar ever! Rarity in the game is supposed to be something accessible to all Jammers. It's through measures like these we can prevent an environment in which it feels like you have to pay to be rare. -Also, once more in the same vein, make some underwater animals nonmember! I know it can be done: I recall when some of the less popular member animals were made accessible to nonmembers. Making more underwater animals more accessible will spur players towards the underwater biomes again. -And finally... It's time to talk about the chat filter. C'mon... you guys already know where I'm going with this. Safety is important, especially in a game targeted towards children! However, the chat filter... doesn't really achieve that so much as it just makes life difficult. I'm not saying to get rid of it! But it does need some real fixing. It censors harmless words yet allows some actual heinous stuff to get through. Just the other day, my message got blocked for... what I can only assume is spam? I was advertising trading in Jamaa Township, and I guess I just repeated myself too many times, because the filter blocked the exact same thing that was fine before. In the end, I just had to give up and log off. This type of thing is discouraging and frustrating sometimes, and can make communication with other Jammers difficult. -This is more of a quality of life type thing, but it would be fantastic if member items didn't clear off of member animals once someone's membership expired. One of the joys of Animal Jam is making a bunch of fun looks on your animal avatar! These labors of love can also take some time to craft, and be difficult to remember when you have so many animals. But once the membership expires, they disappear, and it can be very discouraging to those who want to renew their membership or who simply forgot to. It was fantastic when this issue was fixed with membership dens, so let's extend it to membership animals as well! It's so much easier when things remain exactly as they were, just inaccessible, when a membership expires (except, of course, for the nonmember animals you choose to keep). Requires new content -PLEASE, more underwater items. It's so sad to see how the underwater biomes have become obsolete, because they're beautiful environments! There are just so little underwater clothing and den items, and even less nonmember options. New underwater content, even just clothing items, will encourage players to pay more attention to these areas again. -Another solution for the The Forgotten Desert situation is to make a new nonmember flying animal entirely! I've seen ideas such as a chickadee, or a very small flying animal about the size of the bunnies in-game. Personally, I vote for a bat animal! I adore bats and would probably cry actual tears of joy if I could play as one. -Oh my goodness, new adventures! We want to know more about Balloosh and what happened to it! We want to know more about Juno! Balloosh is such a gorgeous biome with incredible music and I hate to see nobody going there anymore after all the hype died down. An adventure focused on uncovering the whole mystery of Balloosh, and not just the vague story we have now, would be absolutely monumental. -Some more JAG dialogue options for nonmembers would be nice. If you don't want to allow nonmembers to have complete freedom in typing JAGs as a member benefit, that's fine, but communicating through JAGs with the limited options is very difficult! If someone says, "JAG me if you have this item for trade," and I do, I have no way of really telling them that. -Another thing that could draw more attention to the underwater features is underwater parties! Perhaps even a play-as-your-pet underwater party! That about sums it up. I know a lot of these are nonmember focused, but after having played as both a member and a nonmember, I really feel that they won't take away from the appeal of being a member (seriously, being a member is like a whole other world!), but instead relieve some of the frustration of nonmembers face for people who don't have access to that kind of money, renew interest in the game for a lot of players, and give back to players (like me!) who have been here since the beginning. I truly hope this feedback is helpful, since I know a lot of Jammers like myself feel the exact same way: in fact, some of these ideas are directly from other Jammers! Thank you so very much for your time and consideration. Jam on!

[gffa]

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT THE JEDI ORDER IN STAR WARS CANON [A Meta/Reference Guide on AO3] aka, SO WHAT DO THE JEDI SAY AND DO IN THE ACTUAL CANON? Previously on gffa Is A Nerd:  I’ve done reference posts on the Jedi Temple before, but so much of it was Legends and a bunch more canon has come out since that I wanted to focus on a post about what we’ve been given about the Jedi Order in canon!  While we never actually get that much about them (seriously, it’s a handful of comics, games, and books, even The Clone Wars was really light on actual Jedi worldbuilding) there’s finally enough that I wanted to collate it as much as I could. Another goal is that it’s often hard for me to distill out what is actually true of them in the source material vs my own assumptions or what is said to be canon when Lucasfilm’s story has actually never said any such thing or what I’ve read in so many fics that I forget it’s not actually canon.  This is no judgement on those assumptions or bits of fanon, many of them are ones I whole-heartedly embrace! But this time I wanted to create something of a master post about what the Jedi have said, done, and taught in the canon (though, expect it to always be something of a work in progress, as new content is always being added or I hunt down something I hadn’t yet finished) or what Word of God commentary has said about them, because I find them endlessly fascinating and enjoy seeing what my assumptions about them are versus what actually goes on! This is a master list focused specifically on Canon, so Legends is a separate continuity from this.  Partially this is because I enjoy Canon, partially because this is Lucasfilm’s property and they get to define the rules, partially because George Lucas’ view on the old expanded universe was that it was separate from his Star Wars. “There’s this notion that everything changed when everything became Legends.  And I can see why people think that.  But, you know, having worked with George, I can tell you that it was always very clear–and he made it very clear–that the films and the TV shows were the only things he considered canon.  That was it.” –Dave Filoni, The Star Wars Show, speaking of working with George Lucas ”I don’t read that stuff. I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world.” –George Lucas, on how the old EU was not canon to his Star Wars Which means that many commonly referenced elements that are often assumed to be Canon are not.  For example, the concept of the Jedi being kicked out at the age of 13 was brought up in the Jedi Apprentice books (which started in 1999, before Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith existed) and have not been referenced anywhere in Canon.   They’ve been contradicted by Legends (there was a 17 year old Padawan in The Way of the Jedi who did not appear to fear aging out) and has also been contradicted by Canon (Ahsoka was 14 when we met her, Caleb was 13 when he became a Padawan, but was described as “too young” for it normally, but the war had forced everything to accelerate). Canon vs Legends is relatively simple to tell–most anything that was published before April 25th, 2014 is NOT canon, most anything published after IS canon.  There are some guide books that will have a Legends disclaimer in the back despite being set after the date, the role-playing books appear to not be canon, the mobile games exist in kind of a limbo as I’ve never seen any yea or nay on them, and some require judgement from the audience–ie, LEGO Star Wars is probably not going to be canon, I think it’s safe to say!  But most serious stories released after that date are part of the tapestry, which often does reintroduce elements (like Thrawn being reintroduced in Rebels or Bant Eerin in An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure) but only what appears in those specific stories is canon, not their previous histories in Legends. This master post will be broken down into seven sections, grouped together as best I can! SECTION 1 - HOW THE FORCE WORKS SECTION 2 - JEDI CULTURE & PHILOSOPHY & TEACHINGS SECTION 3 -  JEDI AS A PEOPLE SECTION 4 - PSYCHIC SPACE WIZARDS DOING PSYCHIC SPACE WIZARD THINGS SECTION 5 - JEDI TEMPLES SECTION 6 - JEDI AND THE BIGGER GALAXY SECTION 7 - EVERYTHING ELSE (REAL WORLD ANALYSIS + OTHER NOTES) Hopefully, this will be interesting and fun to look over for anyone who’s into this kind of thing!  This is not a value judgement on the worthiness of Legends elements, as I enjoy many Legends things, too.  This is not an attempt to control what other people enjoy putting into their fic or treating as part of the tapestry of their Star Wars or talking about!  Merely this is “what is part of the canon as we move forward with Star Wars” and a fun exercise in shedding my own assumptions about what the Jedi have actually said and done themselves. I’ve done my best to organize things into groupings that help show consistent themes with the Jedi, as well as sourced things as best I can.  I always encourage people to read the source material for yourself, as any  second-hand telling of things is going to be imperfect, no matter how much I worked to stick largely to just quoting the material!

[straycatstalking]

SOME LINKS/MANUFACTURERS TO IDW/MTMTE FIGURES:

Note: This list is for self reference and I am not endorsed by any of these companies. It’s also for shits and giggles because many of the manufacturers are Third Party (aka not officially licensed) and as I mentioned in my previous post…. I love the terrible names the figures get in a bid to escape trademark infringement. My brief descriptions probably doesn’t do the manufacturers/companies justice, so if you come across this post in search of figures, please check them out!

It’s a very long post, so I’m going to be cutting this post past the first manufacturer.

A small disclaimer that I am also kind of a newbie to Transformers and my research may be limited, so do forgive any factual inaccuracies and such. This is also an IDW/MTMTE specific list and THERE MAY BE SPOILERS. Additionally, I’m exclusively using promotional images from the companies (aside from my own pictures).

FLAME TOYS

http://www.flametoy.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=22

https://www.facebook.com/flametoyshk/

Their products can be viewed on TFSource and BigBadToyStore too among a few other sites! They’re also officially licensed by Hasbro.

They carry a wide range of figures including a few really nice model kits that are based off the IDW designs. From what I understand, they have two (?) prominent types of toys for Transformers, the first being Kuro Kara Kuri (High-end, Preassembled figures, usually on the pricier end) and Furai Model (Model Kits which you have to assemble yourself).

They’ve released IDW figures such as (and not limited to):

Kuro Kara Kuri Tarn (I really love this one, it’s REALLY pretty)

Furai Model Megatrons (Both the Decepticon and Autobot versions)

Here’s my Autobot version Model kit that I lined! It was my first kit so I’m very happy with it :^) Feat. McDonald’s Cyberverse Starscream

Kuro Kara Kuri Megatron

Furai Model Drifts (ClassicTM Drift doesn’t seem to be sold anymore, but they’re recently released a Shattered Glass Drift!)

Furai Model Coptimus

Furai Model Ultra Magnus (I’m very confused about this one, and I’m not even sure if it’s because I haven’t finished the entirety of the IDW comics. Magnus, why do you look like that…? Nonetheless, it specifies that it’s an IDW ver. figure. It’s this guy below. WHO ARE YOU??)

Furai Model Starscream (It’s not explicitly stated to be IDW and I could be wrong, but his proportions suggest IDW rather than G1? Many of his features seems in line with his IDW self compare to his other continuity counterparts, so I’m putting him here just in case. I don’t think he is officially sold anymore as he and Drift are older figures)

They also have some very exciting IDW stuff announced (There’s a Furai Model Rodimus Kit that is supposed to be released in July 2021 and I’m writing this at the end of July haha… so I don’t know when it’ll be out. I’m very hyped for him and he’ll probably be shipped out sometime this year probably-):

Kuro Kara Kuri Cyclonus (The concept art is ✨gorgeous✨, no sculpt released yet though)

Kuro Kara Kuri Rodimus (They are spoiling IDW Rodimus fans, he is also✨ gorgeous✨)

MASTERMIND CREATIONS

https://www.mastermind-creations.com/collection.html

https://www.facebook.com/CreationsMastermind/

Their products can be viewed on TFSource and BigBadToyStore too among a few other sites, and I’d recommend it as it seems hard to see their whole collection on mobile. They’re a third party manufacturer.

✨Here’s where the fun begins!✨

They have a surprisingly huge (and niche..?) range of IDW figures and they all have wAcKy names.

Some of their IDW stuff includes:

THE WHOLE DECEPTION JUSTICE DIVISION?? (Yes, even Nickel and Dominus Freaking Ambus/The Pet. This whole concept is so wild to me and I’m still staring in awe that Kaon (Dubbed Anarchus, by the way) turns into his chair alt-mode. How cool is that?! I’ve mentioned it in my last post, but Tarn is called “Kultur” and I wheeze at his stupid name)

LOOK AT IT!!! Anyway, back to the list (including their knockoff names)

Chromedome and Rewind (Mnemo and Motif)

Three Rodimus Figures, Classic, Lost Light and Shattered Glass with a Moustache (Calidus, Calidus Asterisk Mode and Calidus Shadow Ghost. Amen.)

Wing (Aero Alpha)

Getaway (Exitus. I will never get over his name.)

Megatron (Tyrantron)

Drift (Stray)/Deadlock (Ater Beta)

Thunderclash (Collisus)

Ravage (Jaguar) (Completely unrelated but I should mention that they sell a cage specifically for Ravage)

LET HIM OUT

Impactor (Spartan)

Mentis (Rung)

Rung appears to an upcoming release and I’ve rebooted the promotional pictures from another blog awhile ago (it probably contributed to this downward spiral into looking at third party figures) but here’s one that I found! Everything about it seems wonderful. LOOK AT THE SCOOTER!! HE IS ROLLING

And these are just the people I recognise off the bat! They have many other transformers figures too and it’s a gold mine of pretty figures that are quite accurate to the source material (I really like their face sculpt for Rodimus). The names to make fun of are really just an added plus.

GCREATIONS

https://www.facebook.com/gcreationchina/

I didn’t link their “official” page mentioned on Facebook as it’s a link to Weibo (Chinese social media site) and it leads to a staff members account rather than an official company account cataloging their products. Feel free to take a look at it though! I’m not sure if they’re still active as their last post on Facebook is from years ago. Their products can be viewed on TFSource and BigBadToyStore too among a few other sites, and once again they’re a third party site.

Their range of toys are pretty small for IDW but I thought they were absolutely worth a mention because the figures are great.

The two IDW figures (along with their pseudo names) they have are:

Prowl (Rebel)

I’m inserting a picture of him because man I love this figure. He looks like an asshole. I want it.

Drift (Ronin)

I don’t have much to say other than that their fake names are well done and so are their figures. I mainly know about this company as I was looking for an IDW Prowl figure and they delivered so excellently. Let me simp in peace.

MAKE TOYS

http://www.maketoys.jp

https://www.facebook.com/Maketoys/

The link to their official page seems to be broken for me, but I put it here in case. Their products can be viewed on TFSource, third party site, you know the drill.

They have a small range of IDW/MTMTE Toys but boy are they absolute madlads in naming their figures.

Here’s the line up:

Swerve (TRASH-TALK. HIS NAME IS ACTUALLY TRASH-TALK HAHAHDJWJSHS)

He doesn’t come with it, but they’ve got a My First Blaster TM add-on for him and that’s pretty neat.

Tailgate and Cyclonus (Rear End and Hurricane. How does one top REAR END?)

It comes with a cute panicking expression too úwù I’m actually tempted now. The reviews on TFSource also decided to use their fake names to refer to them and I can’t get through reading them with a straight face.

AND SO WE’VE COME TO THE END OF THE LIST. PHEW. If you made it to the end, thanks for reading!! I had a blast making it despite it taking so long to compile and research and I hope it was enjoyable despite the chaos of it all :^)

ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR READING

TILL ALL ARE ONE!

[fishoutofcamelot]

I saw your r recent contribution to the post about hard vs soft magic systems and I agree wholeheartedly. You also mentioned having a bunch of worldbuilding and stuff about the magic system, and I was wondering if you'd be willing to share some?

(For reference, this is the post in question)

Certainly! While the worldbuilding/magicbuilding hellscape i was describing in the notes is actually in regards to an original-content wip I've been working on, i also have a LOT of headcanons regarding the BBCM magic system too! (Do not ask about my wip's magic system, because i won't be able to shut up about it)

WARNING: long post ahead and mobile won't let me include a cutoff/read-more line. If you're not interested, get ready to scroll down like your life depends on it (and it does).

So! First things first. Here's what we know about the BBCM magic system:

Magic requires spells, most of the time. This seems like a no-brainer, but still an important distinction. There are a lot of magic systems that don't require vocalized spells - Avatar: the Last Airbender, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Ninjago, to name a few. Spells are rather common for wizard/witch/medieval fantasies, and are typically used to control and channel the intent of the magic. This suggests that the magic of BBCM is some kind of force or energy that needs spoken commands to control.

Spells are repurposed words from Old English, aka the language of the Old Religion. (Let's ignore the obvious anachronistic nightmare of the fact that Old English is exactly the same language they would've been speaking in this time period.)

The use of a spell causes someone's eyes to flare gold, plus that fancy wooshing sound effect that Arthur miraculously never hears. This suggests that magic somehow changes your physiology, although it could be also just be a side effect of channeling.

However, magic doesn't always require a spell. Though never fully explained, it appears to be something only innate magic users are capable of - Merlin, Morgana, Mordred. It is something less controllable than spellwork, typically governed by moments of strong emotion rather than logical intent.

The show consistently flip-flops between the idea that magic is something you're born with, and that Merlin is rare for being born with magic. It's never clarified just how someone acquires magic. Gaius asks Merlin where he studied, suggesting that it's something you can learn, while Balinor claims that you either have it or you don't. Though not confirmed fact, i suspect it's similar to how it works in the show Supernatural. There, some witches are natural-born, while others are taught (and some get their powers from spooky demon deals).

It has a life-for-a-life policy. Basically like the Law of Equivalent Exchange from Fullmetal Alchemist, a life cannot be created without another one being sacrificed first. This rule only canonically applies to creating life/the Cup of Life, and any other possible applications aren't addressed.

This rule apparently doesn't apply to animals, as Merlin brought a dog statue to life without killing anyone (that we know of), and Valiant's shield had three live snakes in it. However, it's possible that lives were taken as payment in the process of animation without Merlin's knowledge, but it never happens on screen so we don't know. So either a) animals don't have souls to exchange in the life-for-a-life policy, b) they do but it happens off-screen, or c) those animated animals aren't actually alive.

The Cup of Life infuriates me from a magicbuilding perspective. Ignoring the obvious question of how it came into the druids' possession, its existence isn't clearly defined. Does it require the fancy rain ritual that Nimueh gave it, or was she just extra? Why does drinking from it give you life, while bleeding into it makes you undead and also mindlessly obedient to the sorcerer who made you as such? Were there life-for-a-life consequences for creating an immortal army? Wtf happened on the Isle of the Blessed to allow Merlin to "master life and death", and what does that even mean? All valid questions that never get answered.

Spells sometimes need need a 'source'. Think the staff from "The Tears of Uther Pendragon" and Morgana from "The Fires of Idirsholas." It is unclear what makes these spells different/special.

There is a power hierarchy. Some spells are too powerful for some practitioners to cast, although the reason for this is unclear. Does it drain you of energy/life force? Do you exhaust/overwork your magic muscles? Do you get a little pop-up that says 404 Magic Not Found? Unclear.

Magic is something that can be trained and improved. For example, Morgana gradually became more powerful over time. Merlin naturally had a lot of power straight off the jump and just had to discipline it, but he's a ~special~ case so he doesn't count.

There are some subsets of magic that are definitively born traits. Morgana is a Seer, possessing this capability even before her magic manifested. Likewise, Merlin is a dragonlord, which he inherited from Balinor. Although Balinor did mention that it wasn't a sure thing he would have the ability until he faced a dragon, so there may be some variation in whether or not someone lucks out in the Magic Gene Pool. This may suggest that natural-born magic is hereditary, as both Morgana and her sister Morgause had it. Vivienne and Gorlois both probably didn't have it, otherwise you'd hear Uther bellyaching about it, which raises the question of where they got it? A grandparent, perhaps? Maybe they both carried a recessive magic gene or something...

Unless you're Merlin, magic can be taken away by the Gean Canagh. It's not explained how this is possible, though, as it's never explained how you acquire magic in the first place. But Merlin never lost his magic because he's "magic itself" which if you ask me is just a deus ex machina wrapped inside a headache wrapped inside a heaping load of chosen one bullcrap. But it's canonical lore, so we have to consider it.

Despite my previous complaints, i actually find the idea of Merlin being "magic itself" rather intriguing. Is he a creature of magic, like a dragon or a questing beast? Is his body made of magic, like how a statue might be made of clay? Does it run through his veins like blood? If this is the case, then why didn't he suffer more severe ramifications for losing his magic? Why didn't it kill him? How did it restrict his magic in the first place? Placebo effect? The fanon explanation is that he's "the living embodiment of magic" but that makes my bullcrap richter scale shoot off the charts because that makes NO sense whatsoever. "Son of the earth, sea, and sky?" What does that MEAN?

There is a vivid link between magic and the Old Religion, which has its own beliefs and rituals and deities. Primarily, the Triple Goddess. The Triple Goddess is actually an existing deity in Neopaganism and Wicca. This also suggests the existence of the Horned God, another entity from neopagan lore and her masculine consort/counterpart, but that is never confirmed.

WHO. OR. WHAT. IS. THE. FREAKING. DOCHRAID. She's described as a creature of magic, which suggests that humans/humanoids can be creatures of magic, fueling my theory that 'Emrys' isn't human.

Destiny exists. It is unclear who creates/writes destiny, who controls it, who or what is privy to knowing about it, and what that means for the concept of free will.

The crystal cave is a thing, i guess. It's the heart of magic, is haunted by Taliesin, and is filled with prophetic crystals. I actually skipped the episodes that involve this stuff because i disliked them, so i don't know much about the Crystal Cave. Apparently ghosts can manifest there tho???

The veil is a thing too. It is unclear how some spirits can retain their human figure and mentality, like Balinor and Uther, but others become dorocha. I imagine its also like Supernatural - being a ghost for long enough will drive you insane, and though it takes a while all spirits eventually turn into dorocha.

Creatures of magic exist. These are normal creatures who have magic imbued into them somehow.

Okay, i think that's everything we know. It seems like a lot, but keep in mind that all of those rules are VERY nebulous. But that at least gives us a jumping-off point!

So here's my working theory/headcanon.

Magic comes from a connection to the spiritual energies of the Triple Goddess. Kinda like a third eye, and for the sake of simplicity that's what we'll call it. The druids have adapted a way of life that revolves around faith and magic, likely in an attempt to cultivate and one day attain this Third Eye. Like Gaius, who trained with the High Priestesses, you can study and practice and discipline yourself into acquiring it.

Magic is a cosmic force owned by the Triple Goddess, accessible to anyone with the Third Eye link. Imagine the Triple Goddess as a milkshake and the so-called Third Eye as a straw. The studying and training that people dedicate their whole lives to is basically just looking for/building a straw.

However, some people are just naturally born with a straw in hand, but require practice and study to be able to properly use it. Or like Morgana, it takes a few years for them to even find it/activate it.

Spellcasting is essentially just sucking through the straw, and the vocalized spells gives that Magic Milkshake some purpose/intent/shape.

The bigger the spell, the more Magic Milkshake is required. Some people have bigger/wider straws than others, so magic comes easier for them. But with enough training and practice anyone can widen their straw/strengthen their straw-sucking muscles to cast with the big leagues.

The Gean Canagh devours your straw/Third Eye. Perhaps you have to rebuild a new spiritual connection from scratch, or perhaps it permanently severs any and all connection to the Triple Goddess. Like getting excommunicated from the Church, only worse.

The Crystal Cave was/is the Triple Goddess's home, but she's out of town on a business trip atm so she left the spirit of her most loyal follower, Taliesin, to look after the place. It's super powerful and has all those cool crystals because it's hella steeped in her magic juices.

While most magic users get a standard-issue straw, others get Fancy Premium Membership Straws. Normal joe shmoes like Gilli have plastic straws, while a Seer like Morgana has a metal one or something (can you tell this metaphor is starting to get out of hand?). Those Premium Straws are only hereditary in nature. So there's a Seer Straw, or a Dragonlord Straw, or a Disir Straw, but it's also not a sure thing you'll even inherit it at all. It's all luck of the straw draw.

Creatures of magic aren't just animals that possess straws, though. They've been made/produced using magic rituals and processes and spells. Like Nimueh's afanc, nathairs, wraiths, shades, etc. So probably like a thousand years ago, some especially powerful shmuck came by and invented dragons. Which leads me to an important question: WHO THE HELL THOUGHT THE DOCHRAID WAS A GOOD IDEA.

Im reluctant to say these creatures were invented by the Triple Goddess, though, for reasons I'll get to in a moment.

So this still leaves the whole Cup of Life, life-for-a-life policy thing to be explained. I do believe that the policy is universally applicable to the creation of souls, and i do believe that animals have souls too. But individuals get their souls exchanged for those of equal value. So every soul has a certain weight to it, and you need to exchange souls of equal weight to create one. So when Merlin brought the dog to life, some random dog somewhere dropped dead against his knowledge.

Creating undead armies involves killing them and then resurrecting them. That's what 'undead' means. Zombies. So yes, to raise an immortal zombie army, Morgause's spell probably caused a bunch of people around the world to mysteriously drop dead.

Which leaves two last things to explain: destiny and Merlin.

Destiny is, i think, a combined effort between human choice and supernatural predeterminism. That is, for the most part humans make their own choices, but there are occasions where the Triple Goddess has to step in and do some course correction. Uther starting the Purge was free will, but Arthur and Merlin's destiny was an act of divine damage control. The Triple Goddess sets destiny into motion and informs a chosen few about it.

Okay SO. That leaves Merlin. And this is the bit im kinda excited about.

The Triple Goddess is a reservoir of power, a cosmic force of spiritual energy intrinsicallu linked to the fabric of the universe. People can spiritually reach out and tune into/channel her supernatural frequencies. But as a milkshake cannot suck itself through a straw, the Triple Goddess likewise cannot cast a spell. She can influence destiny, but she can't physically cast any magic on her own. That's why she didn't create the creatures of magic.

So a few years ago, Uther hecked up big time. And people of magic, the Triple Goddess's followers and acolytes and straw connections, were dying in droves. I can imagine that all those Third Eye tethers snapping en masse was painful for her to go through. She relies on the tethers to remain connected to the real world, and if all the tethers snap then she will be cut off from Earth altogether. And Earth requires magic to continue existing/thriving, so that's kind of a no-no.

So, the Triple Goddess knew that the only way to save the world was through divine intervention. Thus began the destiny of the Once and Future King and Emrys. She knew humanity is bigoted so there was bound to eventually be a repeat of Uther, so she made OaFK resurrectable, so they could keep him on the bench in case anyone ever needs him again.

Where does Merlin/Emrys fall into things?

Well. The Triple Goddess knew that saving her people and the world would require an immense magical undertaking, something no ordinary magic user would be able to pull off. But she has the power, if only she could use it. But a human can. So the Triple Goddess decided to be reborn into the body of a dragonlord's son. Merlin. Emrys. Magic itself.

Of course, this whole Being Born As A Human Thing is tricky, and as anyone familiar with reincarnation knows, you don't usually recall your past lives. So she became Merlin, unaware that he was ever the Triple Goddess. (Although she did add a clause saying she'd be destined to remember her past life eventually, which got hecked up for reasons ill explain later)

That's why so many creatures of magic/magic users recognize Merlin by his presence, why thr druids carry such reverence for him. Whereas the sidhe and other individuals don't recognize him, because they are blinded by heresy. They may have a spiritual connection to the Triple Goddess, but do not use her magic as she intended, and she's too busy wearing jaunty scarves to excommunicate them herself.

Why get the Once and Future King involved when she could just save everyone herself? Well, the Triple Goddess prefers to let the humans keep their agency and save themselves, and would rather remain in the role of protector/helper. Its just her nature.

But if that's the case, then why did Arthur's destiny fail? It's simple: Kilgharrah.

Remember what i said about the Horned God, counterpart to the Triple Goddess? Yeah, that's Kilgharrah. Like the Triple Goddess, he's another power reservoir, but he's jealous because people worship her and not him. He is against everything she does and actively seeks the destruction of the Triple Goddess's magic/influence for Jealous Evil Reasons. To stop him, the Triple Goddess enlisted some of her followers to bind him into the body of a dragon (perhaps this is how dragons were created) so he would never be able to do that. Years later, the Purge happened and "Kilgharrah" got locked away, further cut off from his power.

When Merlin walked in, unaware that he used to be the Triple Goddess, Kilgharrah seized his chance at revenge and manipulated Merlin into setting him free. Then, once free, he decided to lay claim to the power vacuum left by the Triple Goddess's quasi-absence. He began controlling destiny in whatever limited capacities he could, using magic of his own to permanently bury Merlin's knowledge of his past life. Then he ensured that Arthur would die and the Triple Goddess's magic would never return. But since he doesn't have FULL control over destiny (his powers are still limited by his dragon form, after all), he couldn't rewrite the bit where Arthur gets benched in Avalon. He's probably conspiring with the sidhe to ensure Arthur stays trapped there forever, or else he would've come back a long time ago.

As for how the Gean Canagh took Merlin's magic...well, yes, it devoured his Third Eye straw, but those are created by a strong spiritual connection to the Triple Goddess. And since he's literally the big TG himself, all he had to do was find himself again (by returning to his old home, the Crystal Cave) to recreate a new one.

Over the last 1500 years, Kilgharrah/the Horned God has been steadily accruing followers and worshippers in the hopes that one will become strong enough to release TG's bonds on him. Then he can kill her once and for all and claim full dominion over the universe, with the sidhe to support him.

I imagine that's how Arthur's resurrection would happen - Arthur and the rest of the dead Round Table are in Avalon when they learn about the treachery and plot to kill Merlin/take over the world, and spend the next few hundred years fighting their way out of Avalon.

Okay, I think that just about covers it. God, that was long. Any questions?