#road to palisade spoilers

[humanmorph]

"[high pitched and tinny] Let’s dive in. Let’s dive in. It’s time to dive in. Get ready to [audio distorts and slows] dive. Diiive. Diiiiie…" (The Road to PALISADE 20: City Planning Department)

so that's what i've been working on for the past 2 weeks! i wanted to draw something for this intro ever since i first listened to it (as a companion piece to my other gur drawing, though it of course ended up being way bigger in scale), but it only really gripped me about halfway through PALISADE ep 18. the next morning after that i listened to this narration on repeat for about 45 minutes and then made a big sketch on 4 sheets of paper at my desk at work.

anyways, i haven't listened to the new episode yet but i think i'm probably ready for whatever they're gonna throw at us with the next sortie. i'm gonna believe, against it all, in millennium break. for gur

(i recommend listening along while scrolling! + transcript btw. if anything is hard to read)

[archipithecus]

Bonus Episode: Marielda NNAF Fundraiser Livestream (+Realis teaser)

Jack: (…) Janine, I think it is exceptionally powerful to say that this story contains two elephants that are offscreen.

(…)

Jack: You know, any story, that doesn't visibly feature elephants, could realistically [f]eature any number of elephants offscreen.

(…)

Sylvia: Feel free to reimagine past seasons of Friends at the Table with two elephants, just offscreen.

The Road to PALISADE 05: Wagon Wheel Pt. 1

Art: Uh, I'm going to be playing Broadleaf.

Art: Uh, Broadleaf's pronouns are he/him. Elephant person.

(…)

Austin: (…) Art, real quick, what was Broadleaf's relation to, how did you get involved with Millennium Break?

Art: I think, I think he was on Icebreaker. I think he came in at that time and left probably in the middle.

[lizzybeanbutt]

some fatt related post that I'm clearing from my drafts

[podcastingpineapple]

Something something we are the divine fealty.

Something something guardian of the mirage.

[swallowtailed]

palisade 56 / finalisade interlude

i love when fatt does episodes like this. feels like a rare treat. the ceremony of structure is so delightful to me

very tidy chapter titles also

levi taking the lead in these scenes was a great dynamic. have been thinking lately about how fully dre inhabits characters. all those conversations were so fun because of that

perennial not having told cori the future she sees because she's afraid of making cori hopeless: the classic mistake!!!! what a fallible, mortal, caring error

i adored reflective welkin and xylem's story. really, really good. will be posting more about xylem in a second but like... the other-than-human romance of it all... weeping wailing

related: i very much appreciated janine's goopy moon plant! that's some speculative ecology right there! (it's probably not a plant, it's probably some archaea business, but that's okay.) and thisbe giving brnine a moon goop closed terrarium was really sweet

so curious what thisbe's project is. mysterious grafted shrub???

very insidious for arbitrage to be working on systems of connection and community. seeing it prey on, like, mutual aid (" ") is fun. unfortunately i was never a fan of black mirror

i enjoyed the rube goldberg machine of contracts because it calls very nicely back to the adagio in g. connadine's still trying to set the world on rails by predicting/precipitating individual actions

really beautiful music throughout. that sound in the song over cas's scene was... reminiscent of motion but distinctly not?

not feeling convinced by cas's plotline, though. they're just giving up, then? declaring the millennium over and hoping mbreak fixes everything? really curious what perennial's response will be

i am so excited that the nobel are (maybe? slowly?) coming onscreen

brnine scene: showstopping. fascinated by their aura of simultaneous silliness and heartbreak. saying to levi's face "that would be so fucking funny" if they just left?? lmfao

but young idealist and cynical mentor is a classic for a reason. levi going on faith that brnine's not gonna bolt...

god, it's so good. i'm so excited. gonna be an all timer sortie

palisade theme is back!!!! my friend the palisade theme is back!!!!!

[fanyeline]

Bound by russian sage.

[vforvalensa]

My friends at the table relisten continues to reveal fascinating valences (lol) with the contemporary material. It's really funny to listen to the road to partizan, where they're working out the apokine princept stuff given recent events.

[dawnwalker]

gur savraq, the friend.

gur savraq, the figure.

gur savraq, the figment.

[blackholefriends]

WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK. WE NEVER LEFT!!!

[iridewiththisbe]

Broadleaf................

[humanmorph]

i keep forgetting that veronique and fealty kidnapped gucci that one time. i wonder if that got brought up and when and who said something first

[harumasa-wifey]

➹Happy New Year»———>

✖Asaba Harumasa x Fem!Reader

Warnings: slight spoilers of chap 5(nothing major) Not proofread

Category: fluff

Note:i was inspired by the new official art and wrote this I was supposed to post it last night but I fell asleep while writing,Sorry for the wait.i cannot picture the accurate spot of this pic but I saw one in game I'll post a pic of it later for reference!

“Meet me behind the cafe in lumina square”

This was the last text you had received from him as you left Random play after meeting with the siblings to return the movie you had rented and wishing them a happy New year in advance.

It was New year's eve and thankfully to the deputy chief you all were out and about today. No fighting hollows , No overload paperwork and some extra which asaba adds to you sneakily because he is too lazy to do them.You love him a lot but you wish sometimes he would Stop adding his paperwork on your desk. It can be a great hassle to finish them in time.

Lumina square always makes every New Year a grand one and a beautiful one to look forward to. You made your way to the metro station hurriedly taking the last train of the hour to the lumina square after talking with Nicole and the others in the cunning hares. The metro was full of people like the elderly, the people with their family, the young highschool students and the couples.

The thought of how this year went passes through your mind. The whole incident with the vision cooperation and the chase in the hollow was stressful. Although it hasn't been completely disposed of, you all can rest easy for the holidays. It was thanks to all of the background support everyone made it safely in the end.

Your thoughts came to an end as the mic on the train announced its stop , you got off the train heading out the metro station into the bustling city of New Eridu. There were lights everywhere and it was more crowded than usual, but there was still one place left to visit before you went to meet him.

Meeting the person you love on new year's eve without a gift doesn't sound right to you so here you are.Standing outside the shop while having second thoughts on what to get him. You had made up your mind to feed him some delicious sweets that are being sold around this time of year even though he likes the bitterness now and is not bothered by it.Having something sweet every once a while would definitely not harm him.

As you look around and yellowish star keychain catches your eye with a little Clover inside. There was something that attracted you to it, so without thinking further you had made the purchase and had it warped in a box.

And your next stop was The cafe.

You had made your way over to the cafe with a little pubsec bangboo to help you cross the road. You re-read his message and made your way to the back of the cafe.

There he was standing while leaning against the palisade while holding a small wrapped box in his hand, his attention over to you as he heard your footsteps coming closer.

“Well look who finally decided to grace me with their presence.Took you long enough”

He spoke with a gentle smile on his face as you rushed over to him.

“I am sorry! I was at the Sixth street when I got your message”

He chuckled at her worries about being late.

“Calm down baby, I was just teasing. No need to rush i just got in myself”

You could hear the crowd hushed as the first firework arched into the velvety night sky as he extended his hand holding the gift box his yellow eyes shining in the lights whispering in a soft tone.

“Happy new year”

Your instinct told you to go and hug him so that's what you did, wrapping your arms around his neck particularly throwing yourself over him not to worry he will always there to catch you.

“Happy new year asaba,may we be together in the next one too”

“Don't worry I'll live long” He said locking his lips with yours into a kiss.

[ahcoffeebeans2]

Here are some fun numbers for the show!

PALISADE is currently 67 hours, 27 minutes, and fifty seconds - or 2 days, 19 hours, 27 minutes, and 50 seconds

The Road to Palisade was 65 hours, 17 minutes, and twelve seconds - or 2 days, 17 hours, and twelve seconds

That means PALISADE overtook The Road to Palisade 1 hour, 7 minutes, and 18 seconds into "PALISADE 29: Honesty and Integrity, Pt. 2." If you wanna listen back, something very funny happened at that exact moment!

Currently, the precise "middle" of PALISADE was 1 hour, 17 minutes, and 2 seconds into "PALISADE 15: Upon Our Grace pt. 2" - another fun moment in PALISADE!

If the next episode is longer than 1.5 hours, then the total length of PALISADE will reach 69 hours so far - nice!

I calculated all of this using the in-built audio length counter in Strawberry - an open-source music organization program. the math was all me, so there might be some mistakes here and there.

spoilers below...

we passed the road at the exact moment when the table decided to teleport Brnine away from the scene of the crime after assassinating the Princept... AND the exact half of Palisade was Sylvi's "Kingdom Hearts" joke before meeting Grand Mag.

fucking wild

[eclecticopposition]

what do you think about thalia (from upstairs, downstairs)?

hello!! thank you for the ask :}

short answer: we love them and we want to see more of them. has anyone done art or writing about thalia? we'd love to see.

(2983 words and counting answer: we're writing a fic about them. it's slow but lovely.)

but let's get to the long answer. (and it is a long answer.) road to palisade spoilers below!

there's a lot to unpack with thalia. let's start with who they are.

based on the discussion, at least to our memory, this is a person who predates the war and might have even been a factor in how it started. which raises two really interesting and sad points.

one, for however long the war has been happening, thalia has existed outside of it. they're a branched who isn't shaped by a war of extermination and what that means. or they might be. did the war actually start after or because of their capture? how much do they know about it? were they a witness to important discussions in the manor, military matters? were they cognizant enough of this to hear things going downhill?

which means, for example, thalia might not have a war form. an envoy form, yes – we saw them in it – but that makes sense, given the need for diplomacy with other cultures. they might just not have a war form. they were definitely from a world where needing to have one was not normal. what does that mean, for relating to their own people? they are a prisoner who is also effectively a time capsule from a world that just doesn't exist anymore.

two, how long have they been a house? god, how long have they been a house? this character might have been a house for longer than every other branched we've met has been alive. centuries? a thousand years? how do you stand being made to hold a shape for that long? how do you grapple with the isolation, the humiliation? we're told that branched can be coaxed into changing, if they're convinced that they want to be something else. what did that machine kesh put them in do?

so, a branched who is removed from the war, probably kept in a state that is pleasantly dissociative and inactive. completely without agency and still horrific whenever they process it, but more effective than just torturing them until they stay still. (which we can't rule out.) a branched who is deeply traumatized, and who will return to a home that will love them fiercely even as it can no longer understand them. that's what we think, at least.

or, put a different way...

(we sometimes read "all force and fuss and brummagem kitsch" to the tune of Bubblegum Bitch. just a fun little tidbit.)

anyways. let's talk about their rescue.

what are the odds that phrygian was involved in getting them out? because we could go either way. they absolutely were involved indirectly. millennium break does not launch a mission to free a branched without phrygian's continuous efforts to improve their reputations, and people seeing them as more than just a horrible monster without a respectably human-shaped face. we actually think there's something lovely about millennium break deciding to free thalia without prompting. it speaks to the realness of their commitment, to the fact that this is a person and they are trapped, and we are going to get them out. the branched are people we look after as much as anyone. this is what we do.

but also, we love the idea that when this was brought to phrygian's attention, it suddenly became their project. they were running this shit behind the scenes. phrygian is almost never in a position of leadership in canon, preferring to follow someone else's lead, but we would love this to be one big exception – maybe even the thing they were doing right before they go to palisade with brnine. people report to them on this. they have subordinates, and isn't that weird. literally a thing we have been dreaming of is a visual novel from guliford gain's perspective, getting ready for the mission, including a scene of her talking with phrygian in front of a huge starry window, alone in the middle of the night.

because this is a big deal, right? phrygian would have heard of thalia. they'd have heard of a person who was stolen from them that eventually led to outright war. saving thalia means something. phrygian was captured and imprisoned themself for an indeterminate amount of time, but certainly nowhere near that long. this is huge for the branched, if they pull it off. it's definitely huge for diplomatic relations. and it's the sort of thing you can do that's just good.

maybe the reality is somewhere in between the two. we think that an essential part of compassionate care for freeing any branched is ensuring that another branched is there when they get out. maybe phrygian was involved. we hope they were at least consulted. it sure would help in convincing thalia to go with them if all of the soldiers had, say, a handwritten note in their own language from a fellow branched. we think that phrygian not being on the mission proper was a given because they are keith's character (from a watsonian perspective it was probably a matter of it being covert, and not the place for a branched) but we do like to think that wherever thalia ends up, phrygian, or another branched we don't know, was waiting for them with open arms.

(we would also absolutely love vivian exler, gardener and millennium break wannabe, taking their getaway vehicle and being detained, waiting for hours in her cell, and then having a branched show up. and politely interrogate her on why the fuck she has that. and where the people who are supposed to have it are. welcome to the team!)

of course, that raises another question. did thalia go home?

we'd be interested in the world where they stayed, but honestly, we think they must have. they were a house for a thousand years. they don't even have a war form. let them rest.

now, in the world where this happened lightyears away, and phrygian maybe never even heard about it, that's that. millennium break freed the oldest captive branched in the galaxy, almost right next to the front lines, and they sent them home. one of those Ws that are to be treasured. but what about in the world where phrygian was involved in this? what about the world where phrygian came that close to being with the branched again, literally, in physical space?

that means that thalia went home and phrygian didn't. there was an actual opportunity and phrygian didn't take it. they met another branched for the first time in years, spent however long they had together, and then watched them leave. and that just twists the knife.

(this is why we need that visual novel so bad.)

so yeah, we're on the phrygian/thalia train. if you're on the phrygian/thalia train we are sitting across from you looking you directly in the eyes. come be on this train with us. draw us something. talk to us. what are we going to do, not be on board with sad branched hookups? please.

and then there's thalia, back home. welcomed back into a world where, odds are, everyone or almost everyone they'd ever known are dead. trying to find their place in a world that is utterly unrecognizable. trying to find their identity after an act of dehumanization so profound that it turned their own ability to choose their own shape into a convenience for their enemy. coming back to a place where they're a historical figure, to people who never thought they'd ever come home. back into a society that is suffering from the war it has been forced to engage in, but that has learned, one way or another, how to tend to those who come home.

we think there's grieving, and celebration, and there's a long, long period of figuring out what comes next. we think it's quiet. we think it's hard. we think it depends on how rare it is for branched to live a thousand years. alienation on top of trauma is a painful, difficult thing.

we think that when they come home, they sleep for a very long time.

[ninthprime]

palisade 33/34 spoilers

the last two episodes have me thinking about gur sevraq once again as i often do. perennial's ability to see other timelines clarifies something that has always been present about her- she's been seeing everything, so it makes sense that it extends to other futures and pasts- and it also clarifies some things we've heard in road to palisade and this season. i think we've read the beginning of road to palisade 20's intro as gur replaying his death, but looking at it now:

I’m going to die — falling forward — slipping — no — I hate you — it’s fine — afraid you took it — Valence will handle it — motion — time itself — Perennial — her melody — Perennial — you���ve seen all this — her eye — Perennial — I can’t fix — I can’t — don’t show me — there’s too much —

that last part certainly sounds like being shown other timelines like figure is seeing. it also makes it clear that perennial has been communicating with gur again for a while, which he mentioned she wasn't doing back in the witch in glass intros. (i suspect it's also what austin meant in a recent gathering information that there are ways for perfect imperfect to exist even if the stellar combustor went off- perennial has presumably seen all possible endings of the combustor situation)

all of this has got me thinking again about something i've been wondering since the end of partizan, which is...what is the endgame supposed to be for gur here? perennial is notorious for going off on her whims and doing things to keep herself amused, but it's very clear this season she has a goal in mind and it's ending the cycle of history. gur's direct purpose here seems to be that perennial wants him in position to explain her motives to/manipulate people she thinks can be a part of lasting change (clem and now figure). but frankly if she thought clem was a very funny clown in her circus i think she must also think that about gur, and it kind of seems like she spent years turning gur into a person who would completely understand her. if you were a being who could see many possible timelines and wanted a permanent ending, and had limited contact and communication with others from your distant spot at the center of the galaxy, you would perhaps get someone to understand you by sending them to follow a god of finality and liberation, making them steal the divine that shows you many possible futures, and then trapping them with only one person. im not sure if perennial could or would manipulate the current evil gur puppet situation into happening but the parallel there to the principality seeing perennial as satan is also apparent- being turned into a idea that represents something you're not.

and i have no idea if perennial has an end goal there beyond "gur gets me and can now help bring this to a close." if i thought divines worked in a way where they need heirs i would say perennial wants gur to be The Next Her, but i don't really think it's like that. and for what it is worth it seems gur has fully embraced this role she has for them, if only because they don't seem to have much choice. the dice have absolutely been working against him (to a comical level) but even during the downtime he was around i was pretty struck by the fact that he didn't ask figure to tell everyone he was present or ask for updates on anyone- he's mostly just been focused on what figure should be doing for millennium break and working against the principality. which is classic gur sevraq, but also seems to say something about where they are at right now.

in conclusion gur is a blorbo to perennial like they are to all of us and she's wacking them against a wall and seeing what happens. uh. okay that's not the full conclusion but you see what i mean here

[swallowtailed]

also, this was my view while listening to this episode, which was a really good environmental experience.

i listened to brnine's scene sitting in a taco bell parking lot as a squall blew through hard enough to rock my car, and cori's scene while driving between curtains of rain toward distant sunlight.

thinking back, i listened to a lot of the first half of palisade in moments of stillness. which was atmospheric in its own way—much of my experience of the stellar combustor arc was dozing off to it in variously uncomfortable hitch locations (waiting for the heat to break, kept awake by a bright light, etc). but since this spring it's worked out that i'm always listening to palisade while in motion, up in the wind on the prairie. which has been a good way to experience it as well.

i think it's interesting to consider the material experience of longform/serialized storytelling. podcasts especially because many (most?) people multitask while listening. there's context.

palisade 54 / finalisade pt. 9

ah, god, palisade. felt very tender about the prospect of this episode. unfortunately the dice went so bad that i'm now like eek. oof. uh oh

ultimately though i don't actually think the balance of fortune and misfortune is going to be especially impactful to the overall thrust of the epilogues? there's a lot of other narrative material coming to bear on characters' endings, and fatt tends toward pyrrhic victorics anyway. also, yknow, preexisting plans for a sequel season.

cori's balance is really pretty bad though lmao

brnine leaving without the blue channel was very surprising to me at first, but i liked where they ended up with their burdens--largely juking them simply by running away, yet still haunted by the knowledge that lattice is aboard the blue channel, and leaving only with the promise of returning. that's all very brnine. it doesn't quite feel like a full ending for them, though.

it was also very sweet that their last conversation involved both being a mentor figure to cori and getting deadpan roasted by thisbe

loved the minnow aquarium portal concept. every school of resonant minnows being quantum entangled is so fascinating to me. it's probably hilarious on a physics level, but i don't know enough quantum physics to tell, so i'm mostly just enjoying imagining that the minnows photosynthesize, haloarchaea style. or i would also accept that they're spacecraft remoras

also--blue channel being the first of a series of waterway names among mbreak, then brnine building an aquarium as mbreak's way out of the mirage--that felt really clean.

really interesting that brnine still feels the "nail in the head" of apostolosian nationalism. never dealing with their past <3

it's true that having the world without end still around is accurate to the overall approach to time in the divine cycle, but that still does not make it realistic in any way lmfao. however i do think jack's wrong that it's a different fisherman. obviously that is the same fisherman.

incidentally jack has been killing it on worldbuilding all finalisade

dre protesting that they should know when their characters are dead was extremely funny

wakeful generation ship has a lot of potential. excited to see where that goes

related: i'm so curious about austin's list of unresolved threads

i really liked the bit of cori and elle's banter we got in cori's scene. they have such a fun relationship. excited to (hopefully) see the two of them in p3--i'd love to see cori to navigate betrayal, conflicting allegiances, etc (per arbitrage contract) in an existing relationship. redefine devotion for herself, maybe. i'm still not compelled by arbitrage as a villain but i'll make an exception for yuri

the shed that transports you somewhere else: sangfielle crossover

also extremely good music holy shit

cori murdering gallica was a wild beat. (elle for elect of present??) and i'm so, so excited to see cori's epilogue with perennial

one more episode left... epilogues... finalisade of finalisade........