#seriously I can't remember how the whole thing happened I just remember the concept

[beastsovrevelation]

I had a dream that Apollo was training Briseis to become a warrior with divine strength. I don't remember the why, or how he got access to her, though.

Sounds like one Helll of an AU, no? She might not be able to save Troy (because fate), but she could avenge it by killing Greeks. She could even be the one to kill Achilles (she deserves her revenge, for being made a sex slave). Or, like Aeneas, she could later travel further into Europe, and be the ancestor to some great tribe, maybe even an empire.

I think, I'll put this idea on my notes (or dream journal, at least). What's with me recieving story concepts in dreams, when I already have an ungodly amount of wips.

I suppose, Apollo decided "I know what Troy lacks! A warrior prodigy teenage girl chosen one with trauma!"

[redgoldblue]

so assuming Avery is actually pregnant / doesn't early-trimester miscarry (which is not a given), there's two reasonable ways this can go, right. number one is she gets an abortion, the plotline is used to pull them all back together again, and they all have some collective hurt/comfort about it. number two, the one i would write - don't get me wrong, i'm all for women getting career-driven abortions, but hear me out - is the one where she does have the baby. under the cut bc it got long.

she goes to med school at first while pregnant - Max is right, it can be done, people in my cohort did it - and either gets lucky with the timing of the actual birth being during holidays, or just works her way to getting time off for a few weeks around it. And then... there's a baby. And you know what else there is? There's two dads (because we're 100% Mamma Mia-ing this bitch. they never find out who the bio dad is and they never seriously try. Baby comes out with Avery's exact skin tone so that's no clue.), and an entire cruise ship worth of backup babysitters. So Avery goes back to med school, and leaves the baby with Tristan and Max.

And, yes, raising a baby while also running an infirmary with a rotating cast of temporary substitute nurses filling Avery's role isn't the easiest thing they've ever done, but Robert loves fulfilling grandparent duties any time he's not on duty; Rosie gets one of those strap-on baby carriers and walks her (i don't know why i've decided the baby is a her but i have now) around the engine room pointing out parts and explaining concepts and hey, the baby never complains about her Michigan stories; Corey gets a cart and a bundle of clean sheets and pushes her down the corridors until the smell of laundry powder automatically makes her start laughing.

Max and Tristan make a pact to send Avery at least two photos a day - which ends up getting supplemented by everyone else who's with Baby - and FaceTime her most days, and whenever she gets a few days off she meets them in port. (The most expensive part of baby-raising ends up being her flights to wherever the Odyssey happens to be at the time, at least until Robert finds out and figures out a way to start paying her 'maternity leave', despite her insistence that the whole point of this is that she isn't maternity-leaving and he should probably be paying himself that and anyway, isn't she technically not an employee right now?)

And the thing is, during this time, Max and Tristan start... realising some things. Like how neither of them feel like they've lost their only partner, because they.. haven't. Like how the co-parenting's been working out better than either of them expected, because they fell instantly (minus a few minor bumps) into a shared rhythm. Like how sometimes they look at the other one holding Baby and feel like their heart's about to explode.

Also, they've both started sleeping in Max's bed. Because Baby's spent so much time sleeping in the corner of the infirmary that now if she wakes up at night and can't see both of them, she starts crying inconsolably. And obviously Max's suite is more suited to multiple inhabitants, and they're usually too damn exhausted to even remember the first time they were in this bed together.

(usually. most of the time. and when they're not, they don't make it the other's problem)

So at the end of the first year of this, the last two days of the year's last cruise have been packed with crisis after crisis after demanding patient after crisis, and as soon as they finally wave the last passenger off they hand Baby gratefully over to Robert and go crash out in Max's bed.

Avery was supposed to be meeting them on board tomorrow, but her last exam gets unexpectedly moved up by a day (believe me, med school loves to pull that kind of shit on you), so a couple hours after the passengers have gone, she shows up to surprise them. And finds Robert (a known ody3 shipper) first, who lets her take Baby with minimal captainly sulking about it, and while she rocks and kisses Baby, tells her (as a known ody3 shipper) that the two dads will be on the Pelican deck, but they're probably asleep.

Avery kinda frowns at him, but doesn't question it, and takes Baby up with her to Max's suite to find them. And they are both fast asleep, on either side of Max's bed with a space carefully preserved between them (because it's usually where Baby would be and they're both terrified of accidentally rolling onto her in the middle of the night). She's also exhausted after exams, so she crawls into it, lies on her back with Baby on top of her chest, and goes straight to sleep.

Tristan and Max wake up before her, and when they look across at each other, at Avery and Baby between them, they both simultaneously realise, oh. oh. oh, this - this three, two-and-half, four people, all together - this is it. this is the love, this is the children, this might even be the home - the second, third, fourth bucket list items to happen in this bed.

[in-a-bucket]

Project Eden's Garden CH 1 thoughts

hey so this probably isn't gonna be coherent at all cause i just finished the chapter and it took my like 12 hours to finish it so i have not slept but i just need to get my thoughts out lol

uh anyway major spoilers for the whole chapter you have been warned

so for the chapter as a whole i had a great time playing it! you can really see all the love and care put into this project. that being said, this chapter was CARRIED by it's deadly life/trial section, at least in my opinion. the daily life wasn't like terrible by any means it just didn't feel like a whole lot happened? the days felt really short, like the day you explore the new area is literally, wake up, meet in the dining hall briefly, explore the new area, and then go to bed. i was like ????? how is the day already done what. and then when the motive was introduced it was a bit lackluster, the concept was really cool with the pictures and the vague messages for the blackmail, but then we barely find out what anyone's information and the few people we do find out isn't super bad (expect for wolfgang kind of, maybe?), hell damon is not once concerned about the motive and none of the other characters seem all that concerned about it either which i think kinda brings the tension and stakes down. it's pretty evident when you find out the killer's motive as nothing to do with the blackmail and they weren't even concerned over their own blackmail so they have to create an entirely separate motive with the whole traitor perk thing, and it's not like that came out of thin air cause you're told about the secret prize from the get go i just don't get why they didn't use the motive they already made instead of revealing it all at the end of the trial from tozu.

ok whoops getting kind of off topic there but yeah daily life, it just felt like there could have been more, maybe it just has to do with the kind of guy damon is, but it kind of felt like we were dragging our feet from time to time idk maybe im just insane.

as for deadly life, holy shit they made some ballsy decisions here. can't really say whether they were good ones yet or not since we still have 5(?) more chapters but i have to respect the devs for who the first victim and killer ended up being (i'll get to them later). i remember thinking (man this is a pretty long investigation lol), although it probably didn't help that it took me forever to find the blood in the hallway i was genuinely so confused as to what i was missing I went back into all of the storage closets and like triple checked i had exgauhsted all dialogue, and then i was trying the move my mouse all over the place to see if there was anything else to search and then i finally found it.

the trial was so fucking fun, as devastated as i was due to who the victim was it was a ton of fun figuring out the crime and i genuinelly thought it was gonna be diana and i was gonna be done with the trial in about 2 hours and only to hit and intermission and realize i hadn't used like half my evidence yet. the mechanism of the crime was really cool too and i had a lot of fun solving it, even if i did start to lose the plot when it came to the stuff of the cord and the vent but that might've just been me being tired. I will say i did not enjoy the bullet hell argument whatever it's called at the very end, the artwork was really cool but it took me FOREVER to beat it, and myabe that's just cause i'm bad at video games but ti was so frustrating getting to stage 3 multiple times then loosing all of my health and having the start all over again. i think it would have been better if you run of of health you have to start from the beginning of whatever stage you died on but hey maybe i just suck at the game idk.

okay now on to some more character specific stuff, first of all WOLFGANG AKIRE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU GAHHHH

ugh i'll admit it, i'm actually devastated he died first like seriously thank god the trial was as good as it was cause i might have stopped playing if it wasn't lol. in all seriousness though i was so excited for how he'd handle someone killing and all of the reprecussions with that only for him to die first lol. i really hope that this isn't the last we get to hear about him though, like i hope he's not just like a passing thought in ch 2 and then never mentioned again kind of a thing like hopefully he'll be plot relevant in the future or something idk i just want more wolfgang he's my fav BRING HIM BACKKKK. maybe we'll get to learn more about him through grace cause i'm now like 99% sure they knew each other before this whole mess lmao i mean come on grace wanted to be roomies with him and she was so fucking devastated by him dying and didn't want people poking around his room like come on.

and just everything you find out about his situation in the trial is just devastating oh my godddd. i was really worried they were gonna pull the whole "omg guys wolfgang was killed in self-defense and he was actually terrible this whole time and you all should have believed me(damon) cause i was right all along memememememe" and they didn't thank god. just that whole scene where diana reveals their confrontation was just so good like that is one of my top fangan scenes of all time now. just all the stuff he was saying revealing stuff about his character that might NEVER BE ELABORATED ON CAUSE HES FUCKING DEAD NOW WTFFFF WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS. and the voice acting was fucking incredible holy shit NAD THE FUCKING SPRITE WORK OH MY GOD THAT SHIT WAS AMAZING. the sprites for wolfgang and eva (i'll get to her later) were so fucking good i mean just look at this shit

LIKE THIS IS DEVESTATING TO ME LIKE HOLY FUCK BRO I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON IN UR HEAD AND NOW I NEVER WILL CAUSE UR DEAD UGHHHHHH

it's really funny cause i actually ended up doing all of his FTEs not knowing he was gonna die

now let's talk about eva cause holy fuck girl. i remember after the prologue she was one of my least favorite characters, cause it felt like her whole personality was "ooooo look at how mysterious and cool I am ooooooooo", but then you get the reveal that she lied about being the ultimate liar and you get her normal talent and she actually shows an actual personality and is a video game nerd i was like "omg yes i'm loving the p:eg team's take on this!" and she was moving up my character tier list ranking very quickly, and then she was revealed as the killer and she tried to pin everything on damon and then her reasons for killing wolfgang in the first place and she went right back down to the bottom LMAO. not because i thought she had bad writing or something but at the end of the day her motivations for taking the perk were pretty selfish and while i agree that wolfgang shouldn't have been trying to isolate her like that she kind of put a target on herself for no reason by lying about her talent like girl what did you think was going to happen lol. also her execution was fucking brutal, it looked incredible but damn was it brutal, she didn't need to go out like that omg.

as for some other characters, always gonna love my girls grace and cassidy they were a delight as always and i look forward to seeing more of them, diana went up on my tier list and i'm looking forward to seeing where her character goes from here, i'm also really loving jean a lot but he feels a little too helpful so i fear he might die next chapter lol.

i feel like there's more i have to say but im so tried lol so yeah have whatever this is lol. overall i had a great time playing and everyone did an amazing job working on it (even if i am really upset you killed my fav), i look forward to whatever the next chapter brings!

[aszles]

since my first pinned post had a tierlist of csm characters, i decided to redo it as a tierlist of Fujimoto works instead! (i had only read csm when i made this sideblog) it's a lot less ever-changing so i feel a bit safer keeping something like this at the top of my blog lol...

within the tiers there is no specific order, they're just the things i happened to put in first. if you wanna make one here's the template! (made by yours truly)

because i'm a nerd you can read my opinions about each work below the cut~

S TIER

Chainsaw Man - i mean, csm is just awesome. in all honesty, this manga has changed my life. i KNOW that sounds silly and corny but it's genuinely true. i have been able to get past a lot of my struggles and develop so much as a person since starting this manga. as a fun bonus i feel like i've finally started improving my art again (or at least changing it enough to feel fresh) after like 3 years. i can't really describe how much csm has done for me, but if i had told myself from 2021 that this would happen i would never believe it (especially because i had written off this series for some personal reasons...lol) but yeah. i think i'll forever be grateful for what Chainsaw Man has done for me.

Look Back - i think Look Back is seriously the best piece of media i have ever experienced. i don't think i have ever seen a story so beautifully crafted as this manga, it made me sob when i read it. i remember having to move the manga away from myself so i wouldn't get tears on it. at the time of writing this i am SO SO excited to watch the movie, whenever that will be. i will cry and throw up watching that thing LOL.

Nayuta of the Prophecy - ok maybe i don't TECHNICALLY believe this is an S tier work, but Nayuta is just such a lovable character that i can't possibly rank her any lower. Fujimoto was right to adapt her into csm because she deserves it!! however despite that, this oneshot is the only one that i genuinely wish he would make a sequel to. i think oneshot Nayuta and csm Nayuta are pretty different, so they still don't feel like the same character - i would love to see oneshot Nayuta's personality and relationship with her brother continue to develop!

A TIER

Sisters - one of the few other works i had heard anything about before i started exploring Fujimoto's other stuff, and i definitely felt apprehensive about it. but wow, the fact that Fujimoto is able to take the concept of "girl non-consensually paints her sister naked and it gets displayed on the school wall for everyone to see" and NOT make it weird is crazy! a sweet oneshot that i enjoyed, and love the nuance that was able to be created in such a short amount of time.

Woke-Up-as-a-Girl Syndrome - a really cute take on a silly trope that can often be handled... oddly. i love how much the characters in this really feel like teenagers, doing stupid things but being completely earnest all the while. (Spoilers) i really like how it ends with Toshihide being adamant that he is still male, and also Rie still loving him as he is. very sweet!

Love is Blind - it's no wonder Fujimoto won an honourable mention for this, it's such an adorable and funny oneshot. i was giggling the whole time reading it! i don't really have much to say about it, but i definitely enjoyed it.

Fire Punch - i don't really know where to start with Fire Punch, but wow. it is seriously so impressive to me how good Fujimoto is at tackling such sensitive topics, not shying away from them while also clearly not glorifying them. i also think a big place where Fire Punch shines is character relationships, especially Agni and Togata. they fucked me UPPPPP. it goes off the rails a bit near the end, but i also never got the feeling that it WASN'T what Fujimoto intended with this series. i may not quite get the ending, but it didn't ruin anything for me and i think the rest of Fire Punch is really good at what it does. plus the art is AWESOME ?????

B TIER

Goodbye, Eri - ohhh people might not like me for this one... i'm sorry guys, i just honestly didn't get this manga. i'll definitely reread in the future (me and my sister still haven't finished our sticky notes to read it blurry/clear) but for now i can't rank it any higher. i didn't feel much reading it, and the ending definitely confused me a lot lol. love the art though!

Shikaku - this one's interesting! i thought the story was quite cute, and Shikaku herself is completely adorable. though Yugeru is ummm... not my type let's say. i also do wonder if Makima took any inspiration from Shikaku - she looks similar to her, which to be fair for Fujimoto works probably doesn't mean much (as a lot of his character's look similar to each other /pos), but a clearer comparison is both characters presenting eyeballs they stole from people. (also... if Makima is inspired by Shikaku, is Barem then inspired by Yugeru? yuck) anyways just my speculation, back to the point. the reason this doesn't make its way into A tier is because to me it doesn't really feel like a Fujimoto work? i'm not sure why, but yeah.

C TIER

Mermaid Rhapsody - this one's definitely cute, but as a result of Fujimoto trying to create a "normal story" it unfortunately loses all of the charm of Fujimoto works!! i want it to be weird and fucked up damnit!!!!! though he did succeed in his goal of creating a normal story, so i can't complain too much lol.

Sasaki Stopped a Bullet - i don't have anything against this oneshot, but i think it just doesn't particularly appeal to me. unfortunately nothing in this story grabbed me

D TIER

A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard - it's no real surprise this is here, considering it's Fujimoto's first work. overall it was pretty cute, but i'm not all that into aliens..? not much to say lol

if you read all this then thank you >_o

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

I was so impressed with your toe-to-toe comment on the French philosophy anon. So happy to have found you, omg! I heard Taylor called her ttpd set as the "female rage musical." I take it she knows the impact of the song Labour by Paris Paloma which has been dubbed as the female rage anthem. So naturally, here is the 34 year old culture vulture, can't-have-any-ideas-of-her-own that is Taylor Swift hopping there wanting to get the attention away from it when that song is quite phenomenal. One song compared to her 31 diss tracks that's nothing to me, at least, but the excessive sentimentality of an infantile woman in her 30s. It's gross the confessions she's put on that album. And even her own fans are comparing her to Olivia Rodrigo. That's she's copying everything about her - song, outfits, the "female rage" theme just to mock her. Somehow, Swift thinks it would do her a world of good. People are catching on to her antics which are absolutely disgusting, btw. I'm hoping one day you write about all these completely ridiculous gross things she's done using her own lyrics. You know what I mean? I hope someone write about her nasty lyrics and that it completely destroys her.

Thank you ha, I'm glad you found something meaningful in that post. I will not lie, that Anon actually hurt my feelings for a second (I got over it by writing my response), but I was upset at being so misunderstood. I'm not out here levying unreasonable criticism at Taylor Swift. All will be based on reality, or interpretation of her own lyrics.  I’m defs out to get her though- in the most legitimate way possible- and maybe someday I will publish for real on her. I have a couple of criticisms that I will not be putting on my blog- because I want to say it on a bigger platform. : )  

I do see a lot of harmful things in her music that I have been resisting the urge to write about for YEARS! Even back in 2009, listening to "Love Story" I remember thinking to myself, oh this is nothing like what Shakespeare meant and it's also a weird appeal to the patriarchy through the "I talked to your Dad/ Go Pick out a white dress." It's so clear that she's just reduplicating mainstream attitudes on romantic relationships by using Christian Conservative social standards of needing the father's permission to ask the girl's hand in marriage. She obviously wanted to attract the Christian- Conservative fan- base with that song, and that's exactly what happened. Her marketing is tied to the phrases she places inside her songs in a way that is extremely calculating. She, Afterall, learned from the best at attracting mainstream, Christian, conservative fans, Toby Keith (hate that fascist, white nationalist freak). (WHoops, that was mean- oh well, he’s dead anyway). (and if he wanted me to be nice- he shouldn't have been a fascist).  

It's so obvious, and I really figured everyone else was also aware of the ways in which Swift interpolates patriarchal standards in her music. I have many more examples- I could write a whole essay on it.  

Apparently, everyone thought she was a feminist? Bro, she became a "feminist" if only to evade criticism and capitalize on mainstream pop-feminist trends. She's not a real feminist. Her use of “feminism” to evade critique ties directly into her other marketing strategy of telling the world “I’m so innocent and young” all the time. 

Also, her co-opting of the phrase Female Rage has made me angry, exceptionally angry. I saw that she's trying to trademark the phrase. I am incensed. I will post about it soon. 

I wish Swift would stop co-opting legitimate terms and pulling only the most shallow- self-centered conception of the term out to use in her mediocre music. She’s like if Pinterest was a person- and I’m tired of it.  

Paris Paloma’s “Labour” is amazing, because guess what- it actually speaks about the experience of women under patriarchal standards in a way that respects the seriousness of the topic. I absolutely believe that Swift saw how viral that song went and decided she needed to cash in on that too.  

And she is totally copying Olivia Rodrigo. Can you imagine being 34 and trying to act 20? I would die of embarrassment. But it's so obvious that it's getting weird.

I have much more to say on this topic- sincerely I could write a book on the conceptual point of “Female Rage” in media. I have thousands of examples, and I’ve been studying this stuff for years. I will, however, ramble on no longer. Thank you for your kind words- and I hope you enjoy my upcoming writings.

[meimi-haneoka]

Shocking: English edition of Clear Card volume 15

I'm very pleased to inform you guys that a friend showed me some pages from the English edition of volume 15 of Clear Card (which has just been released) and they fixed a whole lot of translation mistakes I had pointed out when the relative chapters came out in simulpub!!

(all images courtesy of Sarah/Rainbowbee - reposted with permission)

I saw around 20 pages and I was so happy to see not only the fixed translations, but also some lines rephrased in a better way to explain things more properly.

The one above made me emotional because in that correctly translated "that makes me so happy to hear!" there's the emotional load of an underlying "I have no idea how my daughter will look like once grown up and I'll never live enough to find out, so at least learning that from you makes me happy" that a "thank you!" just didn't convey (and then again, it was just incorrect).

Like, seriously, they even rephrased what Lilie said as to make more clear what Kaito's goal has been the whole time, and it conveys better that the lie he told Momo was for a good cause (because he knew she was a kind creature, he didn't want her to grow worried and try to stop him).

Finally they have mentioned Lilie's ring was a price she paid to save everyone's derriere!!!

Akiho was not supposed to remember about Momo, and that's been correctly restored here.

This is the volume where Lilie and Momo explained to Sakura part of what was happening to her, included some concepts difficult to understand, and it was pivotal they nailed it right.

This hasn't been the case with the past releases (the mistakes of the simulpub stayed most of the time, and some lines that were changed only ended up being more wrong), so I wasn't really hopeful or anything, but today they shocked me in a positive way.

I remind you that in this volume there are 2/3 pages that have been partially redrawn by CLAMP (with changed dialogues) in the part where Lilie talks, so I warmly suggest you to get it and check them out when you have the opportunity.

Now, I can't help but wonder if the japanese side got any hand in this sudden care for the translation. If the long months between releases (english volume 16 will only come in March 2025 despite the japanese one has been out since April of this year) is because Japan wants to supervise the translation. After all, Ohkawa did say in that famous Space (where they mentioned being aware of the translation mistakes) that she would've liked to try talking about this issue with the translation team.

And I can't help but also think about what we could've had if they had just put this amount of care from the beginning.

If they had proofread from the start. If they had translated all the words in a sentence and not lost some along the way.

If they hadn't stubbornly chosen to phrase everything regarding a certain character in a malicious way.

I'm crossing my fingers that Volume 16 will get the same amount of care, if not more. 🤞

[mantequillamcwhoremick]

Hi! I ended up reading through Choas Plan in pretty much two days (your writing is actually phenomenal) but I was actually curious on your inspirations to write it? Did it come from any other particular works or maybe episodes from sp?

WHAT NO WAY😭😭😭😭😭😭WHAT THE HELL THAT'S SO NICE HOLY SHIT THANK YOU SO MUCH <33333

You can't just ask me shit like that dude I will respond with a huge fucking essay I LOVE questions like that!!!!

I honestly have several inspirations, many come from the show itself and some I've drawn from cyber crime documentaries and books I like (namely the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo, you might recognize the scene with Mysterion and Harris in chapter 3 is very VERY similar to the one between Kaz and Jan Van Eck at the beginning of the book), but if you've read the notes in the fic you might have seen that the story idea was initially born when I was playing TFBW.

The Idea

The U-Stor-It scene where Butters/Chaos locks the C**n and Friends in the facility and talks to them through a screen was just so fascinating to me, it reminded me a lot of Jinx from Arcane and the Joker in The Dark Knight (especially because of the flashy decorations and graffiti). Mainly the story evolved from the question I posed to myself in that moment, which was: "What needs to happen for Butters to become someone like Jinx?" and that's how I started brainstorming the backstory.

The Backstory

Obviously that was inspired mainly by Linda's behavior in Butters' Very Own Episode, but it features elements from stuff all over the series and the games that prove just how fucked up Butters' parents are and treat him.

(Remember when in TFBW he mentioned that they bought an electronic lock system to keep him in his room because he left the bathroom once while grounded? yeah, that convinced me Butters' home life probably would only get worse with the years, especially with him entering his teens & puberty, and Post Covid honestly just confirmed that.)

The Villain/Hero Concept

I hadn't yet watched much more of South Park than up until seasons 15/16 so I didn't know about Post Covid's Vic Chaos yet, I mostly just wanted to do something with Mysterion and Chaos that had a darker and serious tone without either of them having any Marvel-esque powers or tech-organizations aiding them, something closer to the South Park lore at hand and realistic enough to feel like it could happen in our world.

Chaos' Methods

With Butters having a knack for Internet-related shit and him being able to hack into a baseball stadium screen to broadcast his evil plans in the Professor Chaos episode, and ofc his whole thing in TFBW and the episode of him becoming a pimp, I figured he has the stuff to be a hacker and entrepreneur.

I started getting spoilered a lot on the whole Vic Chaos and NFT scammer thing so even though I hadn't watched Post Covid I drew a lot of inspiration from that as well. I've been watching a lot of documentaries on Cryptocurrency scams and other cyber crime related stuff, so yeah all that shit also gets my brain generating a bunch of ideas as well.

Mysterion

As for Kenny/Mysterion's side of the story- I'm a huge fan of the "criminal who gets paid by a shitty pig/capitalist who would normally never hire them to take on a job" concept in Six of Crows, so that's how I got Harris involved, later further fueled by his Thin White Line arc in TFBW.

The way Kenny used his death powers in the C**n & Friends episodes I found very intriguing, and I absolutely LOVE playing around with them, so I included my own interpretation & spin of it as an active "superpower" he uses in order to be successful enough as a vigilante to be taken seriously. His canon powers separate him from your average humanbeing. It's a way to show the audience "hey look, Kenny really is just some guy, but also no one else could take on this role, ever. He may not have super strength or speed or money for equipment backing him, but he can get into places and out like no other person ever."

Coming up with a kryptonite-type weakness was also super fun, because I didn't want things to just be too easy. Mainly it's his need to remain anonymous, but the biggest reason for that need is because he needs to keep up his ability to financially support Karen. That, I obviously got from the show-, namely episodes like Mysterion Rises, The Poor Kid and City Part of Town, but his dynamic with Karen got increasingly more interesting and influenced in the fic after I played the TFBW DLC From Dusk Til Casa Bonita. The fact that he's so obsessed with keeping her safe the best way he knows how but completely overlooks to consider letting her have a say in it, is absolutely delicious. Like fuck yes, let's go complicate these character relationships (rubs hands evilly)

TL;DR

Inspirations come from all over, but of course the main ones do come from the show and games. Kenny and Butters have always been increasingly fascinating characters to me the more I watched the show, so the fact that Kenny canonically is the only kid Butters respects (source: s16, Ep "Going Native"), to an extent that in the future Butters funded his entire career, I thought had a shit ton of potential. Hence their friendship in the fic before "the incident", and the way Butters goes about Kenny now that he's taking over the town >:)))

Thank you SO SO MUCH for the ask!!!! I hope I didn't ramble too much for what you actually wanted to know, but I just absolutely love sharing my inspirations for this fic. Really gets my brain go brrrrr heheheh I'm so so grateful that this interests you <33333

[oneatlatime]

Return to Omashu

Fire nation priorities. Yes, there's a war to win, but first! We must make our colonies aesthetically consistent. Couple of gates, some gold trim, and some spiky bits! Can't forget the gold spiky bits!

Fulfilling the beat up Sokka quota this episode is raw sewage.

That sewer trek must have been long. They went in during the day and it's night now.

I spoke too soon! The quota is in fact filled by tribbles.

"it's so awful I'm dying." I get the feeling that Sokka has been waiting years to use that line. I love how quickly everyone in the Gaang supports each others' spontaneous plans. It's a sign of a good team if you can ream off fake names without blinking and fake the plague without being asked. They all work so well together. Zuko could take some lessons from these guys on lying.

Well this episode's going to land differently post-Covid.

Looks like Zuko Jr.'s going to be in this episode. Bummer. Although tweedledee and tweedledum are intriguing. Who'd ever think to give a teenage girl villain a pair of eighty year old poetry twins? One of the great things so far about this show is how they consistently choose to go with the most out-there option and always make it work. In a show about defeating the firelord, they chose to kill the moon for the finale. And it worked. The plot point, not the killing.

So I'm thinking that orange and yellow must be an acknowledged fashion choice among the four nations outside of an airbending context, because of the number of times fire nation guards have looked right at Aang and not seen him. Also I think his tattoos must have selective invisibility.

It's a crying shame that Hot Topic doesn't exist in the Avatar universe, because this May girl just passed their employment interview with flying colours. I'm siding with what I'm guessing is her mom on this one. Just chill for a bit.

Ok maybe don't chill for a bit. Yeah my bad. This is not a good time to chill.

Reusing the same Naruto run shot literally two seconds later.

How many projectiles can you fit in one pair of sleeves? She's got a whole armoury up there.

Seriously I know she's bored and all but no teenage girl should have access to that many weapons. If I'd had access to an armoury when I was a teenager, people absolutely would have died.

So cute. I'll take 12 please.

Every sentence that Zuko Jr. is saying to this pink girl is some kind of veiled insult or threat. I'd adopt Pink Girl's wilful obliviousness too if I had to deal with that.

Smart Bumi. He knows his people and his element. We've seen more than enough times already that something about being an earthbender makes you too stubborn to quit and unable to change plans even when your original plan is obviously not working (looking at you, Fong). So, knowing that his people are unable to change course, he prevents them from entering on to that course in the first place.

And Aang picks up on this too! Actually, since Bumi knew Aang growing up, do you think he picked up the concept of strategic retreat from airbending?

Tribbles to the rescue! Given that these are sewer dwelling creatures, this fake plague might turn real.

I love how casual Sokka is about touching other people.

Every street in Omashu seems to have a couple of bundles of twigs propped up against a wall somewhere. It's probably an animation trick to fill up the background.

Love the one guy really committing to the bit who just flops on the ground.

"Pentapox! I'm pretty sure I've heard of that." Humans are so suggestible.

I love that Flopsy remembers him. Aang's propensity to make friends wherever he goes paying off again. Also, exactly how much metal to the fire nation have access to? They're doing the floor, walls, ceilings, of the whole city. There must be some crazy budget surpluses that need using up.

This baby has an absurd throwing arm.

Machine gun Momo!

This is what happens when you don't feed your lemur AANG.

I know cartoon physics is a thing, but can this baby secretly fly or something?

Poor Momo didn't ask for any of this. Guy just wanted some berries. Now he's getting his tail pulled and bitten (hopefully no teeth yet).

Add absurd grip strength to this baby's list of other superhuman characteristics.

Baby apparently weighs quite a bit too.

Flying lemur unintentionally kidnaps baby. Did not see that coming.

Tiny nitpick: the circus master introduces Zuko jr. as "the firelord's daughter" rather than as Princess Zuko jr. Does she not have a title?

Nope. He's calling her princess now. Maybe there are a bunch of princesses in the fire nation and he was just being specific?

Thus begins the bullying of pink girl. Imagine going to school with a bunch of fire nation noble girls? There must have been casualties.

I love Sokka so much. Expert hug administrator.

"everything so clever. So tricky." Actually the avatar forgot to feed his lemur and it kind of snowballed from there. Hands down one of my favourite tropes is when one side in a conflict assumes their enemies are master manipulators, then we learn that actually they're just failing upwards through shenanigans. Love that.

Poor pink girl. The only viable strategy, both for her own safety and the safety of the whole circus, is appeasement.

"The universe is giving me strong hints that it's time for a career change." No blame cast, no fingers pointed, but also not giving Zuko jr. credit for influencing her. That's some fancy talking.

And now they're reusing the campsite shot too?

Poor Momo. That's about the face I make around babies.

I spoke too soon again. This episode's beat up Sokka quota is actually fulfilled by Katara's backhand. Because apparently it's a cardinal sin to prevent a baby from chewing on a potentially bladed weapon? Priorities girl.

Well that accidental kidnapping had some unintended positive consequences. Don't you love it when problems fix themselves?

She even paints her nails black and wears fingerless gloves. Seriously. Hot Topic. STAT.

"Well, Asula called a little louder." Hell of a lot of information in that sentence.

How long is her neck?

Ego much?

Zhao was an asshole and unpleasant, but at least he had some good banter. Zuko jr. is just mean. I hope I see less of her going forward.

Bumi! Hi Bumi! I love Bumi.

Pink girl's loyalty was tested with burning nets and released beasts. Now May's loyalty is tested with her brother's life. Zuko jr. is so good to her friends.

Why is no one able to recognise Aang? He's dressed like an airbender. The only one of those left is the avatar. It's not that hard.

Pink girl is lucky that Sokka is quite prone to friction.

More wood bundles. I guess it's for scaffolding?

Gotta give it to Zuko jr., she has excellent balance.

May has leg knives as well as arm knives?

And shirt knives. How does she not stab herself every time she sits down? And if this place is so boring, why does she feel the need to carry 8 billion knives?

Love the Appa tail slap. Underrated and underused move.

So Bumi has no spine left.

Facebending. Neat.

Neutral Jing is a neat concept, but I'll be damned if any earthbender we've seen apart from Bumi ever bothers with it.

Suddenly the 100 year gap between Aang and Bumi can no longer be ignored. Bumi is still Aang's friend, but he's got a century of learning and a city to protect. This is kind of a sad moment.

Do May and Zuko have some history? Is that's what's being implied here?

Wouldn't expect any less. I wonder how these two are going to explain the return of their son without painting the resistance in a really good light.

Zuko jr. is spelled with a Z.

Final Thoughts

Zuko Jr. gets a girl squad, the Gaang gets a reason to spend a season gallivanting all over the Earth Kingdom, and the audience gets to see Superslide part 2. A weird mix of establishing groundwork and having fun this episode.

I totally buy that the fire nation guards and governor fell for the plague thing. Anyone remember "that lemur! He's earthbending!" These guys are not smart.

The plague thing did not bother me at all. I thought it would, since the anti-science idiots in the Fortuneteller really annoyed me. I think since the fake plague was treated as a joke the whole way through, and never actually endangered anyone, it didn't bring up Covid memories.

I think Flopsy's pupils are sideways hourglasses, which contributes nicely to his uncanniness.

I think the stuffy that the baby was throwing is the same animal as the beaver bear thing at the circus.

I love Momo the machine gun. I think those are the same berries as the ones Iroh was going to double poison himself with.

Sokka getting to plan the plague and getting to save the day with boomerang was fun. That's two episodes in a row where he's been the plan guy. Katara got to use some of her new and improved waterbending as well, but she was really pushed to the background otherwise.

I think pink Girl, whose name I still haven't caught, is quite good at reading people. I caught more than one 'shallow-on-the-surface-but-actually-way-deep' statement from her. Also she can Vulcan pinch people's bending? I'm guessing it's temporary or else Katara would be really freaking out.

May was just too much. Too overdone. Yes, there are teenage girls like that, but it felt a bit on the nose. Actually, way too much on the nose. I get that she can't show any emotion in front of Zuko jr. for her own safety, but "can I offer you an egg fireflakes in this trying time?" is not exactly an appropriate response to your little brother's disappearance.

I'm still not liking Zuko jr. But I'm someone who never likes the villain anyway, at least not when our heroes are this likeable.

This episode was not easy on Aang. It was an interesting mix of bringing home the reality of the war and the reality of the time passed. Even when he seemingly got to save his friend in the end, he actually didn't because things are more complicated now. He untied the damsel from the railroad track and she tied herself right back on.

Further evidence for my 'entire fire nation is colourblind' theory this episode. Aang was not disguised apart from a hat made from a very incriminating colour. He had a giant blue stripe down the back of his head! Come on!

No Zuko this episode. He was last seen stealing a perfectly nice lady's bird horse, and it'll be a while before I forgive him for that, so good call by the writers to not have him around.

Now that I think about it, there was a lot going on this episode. Sewer break & enter, assassination attempt, fake plague, hostage exchange, water v. knife fight, fire v. air fight, vulcan pinch v. bending fight, Boomerang & bison v. knife fight, earthbending philosophy, girl squad assembly, lemur harassment, and baby restoration. This episode felt long in a good way.

How about, instead of learning the elements, Aang learns pink girl's vulcan pinch and just does that to the fire lord?

[geddy-leesbian]

Fic trick or treat! 🎃

okay so the original concept for the hotel Luis gets Leon pregnant in books for him and Leon for their last night before his tour in the second fic in the (main) rockstar AU was going to be in a stupid ass champagne towers room I stumbled upon pics of

I ended up shelfing that part of the concept and they instead smoked weed in a fancy but otherwise normal hotel bathtub

but it's fine, Luis does take Leon there for one of their anniversaries

“Pennsylvania. It's our anniversary, I've had two of your kids, you're a millionaire rockstar, and you're taking me to Pennsylvania? Seriously?”

“... Is there somewhere you want to go?” Luis asks, clearly ready to drop everything to do whatever Leon wants. “I can change the plans.”

“No. I'm just surprised. When you told me to pack a suitcase, I figured it was going to be some over the top romantic, expensive shit. Like somewhere in Europe, Paris? I don't know, you're the one that knows that kind of stuff. This is out of character for your dramatic ass.”

“We can do Paris next year. Or later this year,” Luis says, like a trip to Paris is nothing. “But for now, Pennsylvania!”

-

Leon remains mildly concerned that the destination is a sign of a head injury until they enter their hotel room and the first thing he sees is a gigantic champagne glass. The rest of the room is just as tacky, with another tub that's heart-shaped, and of course the bed is also heart-shaped and there's rose petals scattered everywhere. “This is why you picked Pennsylvania?” “Exactly! It's romantic, and you like your big bathtubs, there's two in here, I figured you'd like it.” “This is so fucking tacky. I can't believe I fake married you,” Leon says, dropping his suitcase to head up the stairs to the champagne glass because he is curious about this abomination. He sees Luis picking up his suitcase below while he turns the water on and calls out. “Don't unpack any of my shit! You don't get to see what lingerie I packed until it's on me, that's your anniversary present.” “You remember what happened the last time we got high in a bathtub together?” “I got pregnant?” “I'm afraid your memory betrays you. I got you pregnant the night before that. What happened when we got high was that you kept telling me how pretty I was, and how pretty the scar on my cheek is, and how hot it was that I could beat people up. Are you…” Leon completely zones out while Luis talks, staring down. “Oh my god. Why are we getting high up here, we're gonna have to go down stairs to get to bed, we're gonna die.” “We are not going to die,” Luis scoots over to the other side of the glass so he's next to Leon, and uses his hand to tilt Leon's face so he's looking at Luis's face, not the room below them. “Maybe you would if you were alone because you're a lightweight, but I'm here, this is nothing. I was actually drunk as fuck the night I beat that guy up. Possibly stoned too, don't remember. That was before I realized I didn't like playing music while under the influence, so I was usually on something those days. I can get down stairs high no problem, and I'll help you down. I'll even carry you if I have to. That's the whole reason I started working out, I just wanted to get strong enough to pick you up.” “Feels like you're just fishing to get me to say something about how it's hot that you're strong,” Leon slurs. “It is. Yeah. You're still not strong as my ex, but you're hotter, cuz you're safe too. When he picked me up, I'd be a mix of excited and worried about what new injury I'd have to hide. With you all I ever worry about is what piece of furniture you're going to set me down on and ruin. You're so much hotter too. Maybe I said that already. You're pretty. I want another baby.”

[mejcinta]

I said thought the same thing regarding the Ser Harold scene. I totally understand why it was cut because Harold tell Harwin the same thing when he dishonored the Princess the 3 obvious times we know about?

This scene would’ve hit viewers over the head with a mallet showing the level of privilege and protection Rhaenyra has compared Alicent, which is not exactly Rhaenyra’s fault but should be recognized nonetheless. At this point Rhaenyra has had 3 of Harwin Strong’s bastards and everyone knows this. Has seen this man coming and going from the Princess’s private living quarters- he’s Captain of the city guard and not Rhaenyra’s sworn sword or member of the household guard, why is he there? There’s no reason for it, so their affair is this open secret yet no one (except Alicent in privacy) says a thing out of fear of repercussions

Yet Alicole share glances and inside jokes and Harold is there warning Criston with cautionary tales of gelding. Alicent can’t even have this friend and friendship with the person who guards her and her family every day. (While Westerling himself seems to have a close relationship with Viserys and Rhaenyra. He definitely has a bias that he shouldn’t have if he’s admonishing Criston, so much hypocrisy)

I’ve seen so many people say that Alicent should have had an affair of her own and that she’s just mad at Rhaenyra because she was bold enough to do it but 2 different sets of rules exist for Rhaenyra and Alicent. Imagine a scenario if Daeron had been born with olive skin and brown/black hair, shit would have hit the fan. “Viserys the Peaceful” would’ve sent Alicent to the same place Saera was or WORSE (remember how thirsty Viserys seemed at Driftmark or Aemond and Aegon to tell on their mother), Criston would’ve been gelded and sent to the wall or worse and little Daeron Flowers/Storm/Sands- an innocent in this whole thing would definitely not have enjoyed the privilege of a royal upbringing and protection from whispers. He would have been tossed out of the castle before he even turned a Moon old. Alicent would’ve been called every “whore” and “cunt” by Rhaenyra and Daemon because she dared cheat on their crusty butt Valyrian blooded Father/Brother.

Well said, anon. All this!

There's no point having morality or honour arguments because most of the hotd characters are entwined in scandal or know of them and are powerless against it.

For me, that is why Erryk looked stupid in ep 9. He walked out on Arryk and Aegon because Rhaenyra is a better person????

Seriously, the writers are so silly acting like there are nice guys and bad guys in this Game of Thrones.

Juvenile! Cartoon minded.

When Blood and Cheese happens will Erryk wear a Pikachu face and be like, "I thought you guys were the nice ones?" 🤡

They should've just left things as they were in the book! Arryk and Erryk were posted to the different monarchs from the beginning. And were forced to be on opposing sides despite of loving each other as brothers.

Not this nonsense of My Guy is More Principled than Your Guy.

Sorry for going off topic but point still stands that the concept of morality in hotd and GoT is so silly. These characters are knee deep in shady deals and activities. That shit can't be washed away.

[sexydreamgirl]

i know u received a lot of asks like this before but i seriously i don't know what to do anymore. this whole affirm and persist thing really drained me so i wanted to learn more about states and read neville, but i just don't understand anything. i can't grasp the concept about imagination being the only reality and the fact that we shouldn't care at all if our desire will appear in the 3d. it's been so long since i discovered the law and i wasted so much time that i'm starting to think that maybe it's not for me and i should just give up. i want to manifest my dream life so bad and runaway from my circumstances, but i don't know how. i would be grateful for any advice you can give me.

"i can't grasp the concept about imagination being the only reality..."

Imagination: the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.

This simply means imagination is what matters most because imagination creates. Before it became reality, everything around you was once merely an idea: the internet, social media apps, technology, electronics, the model of your home, cars, freeways, haircut trends, the design of the clothes you are currently wearing, the very idea of even wearing clothes, art as a whole, it doesn't matter what you point at; EVERYTHING was born from imagination. What does that tell us? Imagination is the starting point of everything all around you.

"I and my father are one, but my father is greater than I" = Imagination and reality are one, but imagination is greater than reality.

I reckon what make have sparked confusion in you is the implied dichotomy of the 3D and the 4D in that statement (imagination is the "only" reality) when that isn't the case. The 3D and 4D are symbiotic, the only thing that "separates" the two is man's capacity to perceive it through the senses. Imagination comes first because it's where ideas originate from, the 3D is simply a mirror that reflects what you are conscious of (accept to be true [assumptions persisted in]).

The beauty of imagination is the fact that you can very much bear witness to whatever it is you would like to at any point because imagination is devoid of logical limitations. You can always turn to imagination to identify with something because you can feel something in the present moment without any tangible factors you would've otherwise depended on to spark an idea or a feeling. If I asked you to simply recall what it feels like to drink ice cold water after chewing minty gum, you would immediately start to remember and feel your mouth growing cold. Or if I asked you to think about your favorite song you'd be able to listen to it in your head without it even playing. Neither of these recollections were limited by the fact that you weren't chewing gum or listening to that song at that very second. You were capable of imagining on the spot through your senses and feel their reality.

Let's recall the basic tenet of the law: an assumption, though false, if persisted in until it has the feeling of reality, will harden into fact.

The barrier that confines an idea to stay an idea is the absence or presence of belief. Limitations can never be placed upon imagination or god, except for belief. Ideas you conceive through imagination with the use of the senses will help you bring forward the reality of whatever it is you desire to be, but these ideas mean nothing if you do not feel their reality and identify yourself with them until you become conscious of them. (This also goes back with what is said about you not caring whether or not it'll happen the moment you become conscious of them, more on that right after this.) If you dare to believe in its reality, no power on earth can stop it from coming to pass.

"...and the fact that we shouldn't care at all if our desire will appear in the 3d."

Now, I understand why this is said but I don't like speaking about this angle solely because I understand that a lot of us were drawn to manifesting due to the fact that it could give us something we wanted, so hearing something like this may not make much sense. This is an unpopular opinion (understandably so) but I don't think having this approach towards manifesting is particularly wrong. I felt compelled to include this to let you know it's okay if it doesn't resonate nor make sense to you, it can be quite annoying and maybe even upsetting if you're in difficult circumstances and someone is telling you that you shouldn't dwell on whether or not it happens. We are here to experience the 3D after all, so of course it makes sense that you care about it happening.

Nevertheless, that sentiment in itself is 100% sensical and valid for the following two reasons:

1. The goal is always to free ourselves from the feeling of desire. You appease hunger (desire) by experiencing that idea with the use of your imagination and consequently, you will feel fulfilled. It's like when you're starving but once you enjoy a wonderful meal, you're no longer hungry. When you feel fulfilled, you are free from desire. In this case, that would look like no longer craving food since you've already satisfied your hunger. 2. Imagination creates reality. Anything that you imagine impressed with belief/acceptance of it will give it cubic reality. That's law.

Back to my unpopular opinion, although I do turn to imagination for enjoyment, I also turn to it with the intention of causing something to happen in the 3D, it's fine to see it as such. However, I do think that the idea of not being concerned with whether or not it happens may be much better in approach so you're not overwhelmed by the compulsion of doing in order to receive or even be haunted by whether or not you did it correctly. I highly suggest you read everything I wrote in the post I linked above as well as my guide if you haven't already.

I don't want to get too off topic from trying to clarify your confusion so I'll stop explaining here, but I hope I was able to bring some clarity to the concerns you brought to my attention. Lastly, there really is no "advice" I can give you aside from stick to a single source, apply the information you've learned and persist. Above all, have faith.

[thelioncourts]

would love to hear your thoughts on the trailer :) I don't know what thoughts I'm looking for, I guess just general ones, but also the thigns you're excited for and all that

I have to admit, I've only actually watched through the trailer about three times, it makes me feel genuinely insane. we're getting this piece of art this year !!!!

In all seriousness, my thoughts are all over the place (in an overall good way). I'm curious and excited and terrified and crying at all the Louis and Armand things. The part at the beginning where Daniel asks if they're going to finish each other's sentences the whole time, how they've been sitting on the couch in all the clips we've gotten so far, the 'We've been together for 77 years,' the kiss (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), the cheek kiss (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), the strange scene we've seen once or twice where it looks like a kiss might have happened but Louis seems to faint afterward, etc. etc. It's all so much and I have known since s1 ended that Louis and Armand's love story was going to leave me fulfilled and devastated all at once and it feels utterly confirmed in this trailer. I think they're still so in love, in so many ways, and I think it can't, won't, shouldn't work out and it makes me so sad, I can't wait to be heartbroken and destroyed watching it. I will say, though, seeing all the clips of them does make me curious about the future of Loumand. Louis leaves Lestat for Armand again at one point and I have thoughts and ideas on potentiality for that in the future of the show, depending on how long it goes on. Regarding Louis himself, I'm just -- so in awe of Jacob Anderson, as per usual. Louis is the most interesting, beautiful, enrapturing thing on the screen and everything is better when it comes back to him, always. The 'It's you and me' clip, with all the flashes of Louis and other people, all returning to Louis, just !!! it's him. He's everything. It's all so much better when it comes back to him, we're so lucky. In terms of Claudia, Delainey seems to have this grasp/concept of Claudia that has me shaking. Her Claudia is everything to me already. I know lots of people have talked about it, but Claudia's ghost being a part of some later stories feels so much more doable with Delainey and I hope, in some capacity, that comes true. The 1700s stuff scares me a little, but only because it appears we're getting a lot more of it than I was anticipating this season. I expected some, absolutely, and when we got Nicki casting confirmation I was like, "Oh, we're getting the 1700s for real," but the trailer is a lot of 1700s and it scares me for a couple of reasons, namely that -- once again -- we're not getting Lestat's POV of it so there is the toss-up of 'how did he see this play out though' that will somehow have to be addressed in later seasons. It also scares me a little because Gabrielle has to be there, right??? Did they cast Gabrielle and manage to keep it a secret???????????? That's wild. But in reality, it scares me too because I hope we're not living too far in the 1700s this season. I know it's important and I know Armand was there so it makes total sense, but I feel like we're already treading a lot of waters with 1) The life in New Orleans that can only be told by Louis 2) the life in New Orleans after the arrival of Lestat 3) the life in New Orleans once Claudia was brought into the family 4) all the time spent getting to Europe/exploring Eastern Europe (basically, anything pre-Paris) 5) early Paris 6) Paris once Louis and Claudia and the future of their being together starts to play out 7) the trial 6) San Fransisco from what Daniel will inevitably start to remember 7) San Fran from what Louis remembers 8) San Fran from Armand, who might be our most aware of that entire time 9) Dubai pre-Armand knowledge 10) Dubai now. Like, I know a lot of those are paired up (You could categorize it simply as 1) New Orleans 2) Pre-Paris 3) Paris 4) San Fran 5) Dubai) and that cuts it in half, but given all the POV bits we get, that's just not the case. Adding yet another time period in here is just. So much. (It also scares me because I think some fans have expectations of several different things in 1700s that I don't think will happen/can happen/at least definitely not this season happen and I'm readying for the 'WAIT BUT' and the bitching etc.)

The Loustat stuff will utterly ruin me this season. It's going to be gut-wrenching. The hallucinations, the possible reunion that it appears we see, the modern New Orleans skyline, the way that Louis seemingly will talk about Lestat in a way that makes Armand seem to feel not as loved (this is a speculation based solely on the "Lestat, Lestat, Lestat, Lestat, Lestat" scene, I have SO many thoughts on that and of Armand there, god, I'm nauseous with it). I need to find my post about it, but I made a post either during s1 airing or immediately after (definitely by Nov. 2022) about how I think we'll get some kind of complete Loustat confirmation of sorts this season and by s3, they will be back together and will stay together. I have lots of reasons and thoughts on that as well. Anyway, I will cry endlessly about them this season, I know it.

I LOVE the hallucinations. I mean, when we knew that was definitely happening while s2 filming was going on, I was already excited, but seeing it just !!!!!!!!!!! it's so good. I can't even put into words how excited I am about the hallucinations of Lestat. Oh my god. Louis. The theatre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Santiago looks fucking insane, god bless Ben Daniels, and I'm excited to get to actually know some characters from the theatre. It's something that doesn't really happen at all in the movie, and it's definitely not a focus or anything in the IwtV book. But I love side characters, I think they'll fill in some space that the Azalea had in s1 and I love that.

If Justin Kirk is David, that's the one thing that is going to piss me off this season. I honestly, truly 100%, thought we might not get David and I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo more than okay with that. I hate David so much and don't think he serves any kind of plot purpose and he remains to be a shitty replacement for Louis that never worked out and was completely insignificant by the end of the series. Now, if they don't do some of the wild shit with him and make him solely some kind of tie-in/draw to the new Talamasca show they're doing, then fine. But if they start attempting to make him a love interest, I might legit tap out, I can't stand that man. At least Marius is vital to the stories, we truly can't get Akasha or Lestat or Armand without Marius. David................oh my god, die already. San Fran SCARES ME. It's one of those things that, sure, obviously we know how it goes in the book, but they have flipped it so heavily on its head, I can't predict anything and it's exciting and horrifying. Armand being there, the seemingly-more-than-one-night interview, the interview ending by the time Louis was only halfway done with the story, the brief scene that appears to be Armand looking worried at something (maybe Daniel) while Louis is floating/levitating (!!!!!!!!?) in the back, etc. Oh my god. I think we're in the wildest ride there. Um. Louis and Claudia turning Madeline together........

Louis' men not being shitttttttttttttttttttt. Every time I do see gifs or see clips or something, and I see that quick scene of Lestat walking through the audience (Sam Reid's silhouette is insane, those broad shoulders, that profile????????????? He's so hot I'm feral about him) and Louis is on the stage, next to Claudia and Madeline, and you can see where Lestat's chair is next to Louis, but further away, on the stage.......................bitch, you're really letting them do that to Louis and walking through the crowd, telling your story??? And Armand, bitch?????? You're really letting them do that to Louis, just sitting there watching it play out, having taken Louis and Claudia and Madeline out just before???????????????? They're not SHIT, Louis deserves better, always has. I need to stop rambling, but lastly, the thing I already made a quick post about, but the fact that I do obviously recognize things from the book but none of it is quite how it seems..........I'm obsessed. This show is literally like....okay, like asking someone to summarize the book for you and they say, "The book is about a vampire named Louis de Pointe du Lac who tells his life story to a young reporter in 1970s San Fran. His story details how he became a vampire, how he fell in love with his maker, the Vampire Lestat, how they created and took in the child vampire Claudia, how Louis and Claudia killed Lestat, how they went to Paris and met a theatre group of vampires, and Louis fell in love with the leader Armand. It also details the inevitable and tragic death of Claudia at the hands of this theatre, and how that death left Louis utterly changed." And you're like "Oh okay" but the details aren't all there so they just...............filled in their own, and we get this masterpiece of a story that is the bones of the book, and made what it is by time and care. Idk. I love that we're all on an equilibrium.

OH. I'm also holding out, but not anticipating sadly, some Loustat flashbacks. I need them. I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo in need of it, you have no idea.

[masschase]

Losing my mind over my SR3.5 concept again. Like it was a lighthearted thing I was thinking out in the summer but now it's spring and I am thinking about it like... seriously.

I think I need to make the areas smaller but I like the idea of a city heavily based on DC and the surrounding areas, rather than just using DC itself. Partly because I want to use that Y-shape of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers to split the city up. For a name I'm thinking maybe Samdon.

The grey areas are a mix of press-dominant, Saints-controlled and completely locked out depending where you are in the game. The other colours are controlled by each gang until the Saints take them.

Yellow is looking to be called The Marquis. No-one's quite sure if that's the plural or singular to get a few "The Los Carnales" esque jokes in. The name comes from the fact a Marquis test is a drug test, and the Marquis(es?) are in a very long feud with the Reagents. Also "marquis" as in noble because the Marquis control a lot of the covert crime going on in Samdon. They keep control with excessive wealth, mostly.

The Reagents are the cyan gang, and as mentioned, and probably obvious by the name, are the least subtly named. Their focus is drugs, poisons, chemical weapons, and they mostly operate from meth labs. There is a slight stealth pun- cyanide! But there's also an implication of a similarity to regents, as in second in line AND regent as in governing bodies because there's very much a sense that if the Marquis are the monarchs, the Reagents are more of a symbol of democracy. They're the largest gang and the poorest, they act as the proletariat to the Marquis as bourgeoisie. They're probably the most sympathetic gang and they mostly originate from the equivalent of DC's Ward 8. Like the MCR Killjoys they are encouraged to "die with their masks on".

Torque and Anteros's cowboy/biker gang (original concept credit to @whoredmode) have a name! And it's not the Barebacks after all(but I still think that's hilarious and Casey will spend the whole game calling them the Barebacks, the Brokebacks, etc)! Their name is The Vicinals! Given the whole "The Cooler" thing and the chemical theme for the other two gangs, as well as the gang riding motorbikes, I looked into motorcycle coolants. No straightforward "OK that could be a gang" names there, but ethylene glycol/antifreeze is a common component, and that is a vicinal diol. Vicinal in its straightforward translation meaning neighbouring or adjacent, and the gang are from Stilwater! Literally the Saints neighbours that have just travelled different routes! They've not been in Samdon that long and this is part of why they occupy the area based more on Arlington than Washington. They're also already disrupting the order of things before The Saints get there, whereas the Saints... almost need to take things down in a less disruptive way? I think Casey has a fair degree of jealousy towards Torque in that regard. They're really interesting foils to the Saints.

The Press are still the Saints biggest adversary of course. I can't remember how much I got into this last night but they're represented by monochrome, or perhaps more accurately, the black/grey against the Saints goal of The White House. This reflects their physical appearance; paparazzi in suits with black cameras flashing white, newspapers etc. but also the way they're judging the Saints as black, white or grey.

Obviously I have... more, so much more but I think that summarises my thoughts for now except that IF they were going to use the President plot point in SRIV? It should have been this. This is kind of like my rewrite, I just happen to have managed to slot it into existing canon since we have that little gap between disabling the nuke and official election.

So with that in mind, IF this was to close the series out... well it's super cheesy, but at least it's cheesy in a way that rounds everything out...

Whichever ending you get, the Boss will end up back in Stilwater at the end; on a visit or disgraced back home. Some kid asks them how they made it all the way from Stilwater to be President OR how they managed to fall so far. Whatever happened, their answer is always "Wrong place, wrong time.".

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 31: The Woman of Tanchico

Well I guess my laptop was only pretending to be dead or something who knows why it's stupid, let's read! Beware of spoilers for the whole series!

This chapter has the harp icon because Thom's back, y'all!

Mat knew him. He had saved Mat’s life, once.

Sure is lucky Mat hasn't forgotten a single thing that actually matters!

The old gleeman had nearly stopped the story dead when Mat came in. That was new, too. Few things startled Thom enough for him to let it show, and nothing short of Trollocs had ever made him stop a story in the middle that Mat knew.

Really at this point it's got to be ta'veren that doesn't have Thom up and running whenever he sees these lads. He does not want to be involved and yet every time they show up everything turns into an epic saga.

‘I’ve given them all the chances they deserve and more,’ she murmured to herself. Slipping Kadar’s crown into her bag with the first two, she climbed back onto her cart, clucked to her mare, and drove straight back to her village. And when Mara had told them all that happened, the people of Heape would have no king at all.”

Mara and the Three Foolish Kings is one of those background details that sadly fades out entirely before too much longer. Thom will definitely perform it again, but I think this is all the story we get of it. If Mara's a real person, she's definitely got Nynaeve vibes but who knows?

“Common,” he muttered. His voice was still deep, but it no longer seemed to reverberate. “The tale is a hundred times better in Plain Chant, and a thousand in High, but they want Common.” Without another word, he buried his face in his wine.

Another little way that culture is always moving on. It probably won't be that long into the Fourth Age when almost no one can perform High or Plain anymore, not even to kings and queens.

“Two,” Thom murmured. “Morgase had a temper, but I thought I could ignore that, so it ended with her wanting to kill me. Dena, I killed. As good as. Not much difference. Two chances I’ve had, more than most, and I threw them both away.”

Poor Dena, a great character concept thrown away so that a man could be sad about it.

“Rand is still well, then?” Thom’s eyes sharpened to almost the keenness Mat remembered. “I am not sure I expected that. Moiraine is still with him, is she? A fine-looking woman. A fine woman, if she were not Aes Sedai. Meddle with that sort, and you get more than your fingers burned.”

1. Thom can't even help but be dragged back in the game for the sake of these boys.

2. Half a chapter in and we're already adding more foreshadowing for the Thom/Moiraine outcome. Seriously folks, I could see this as a 13 year old boy who at the time assumed Harry Potter was going to end up with Hermione, how was I outsmarting so many adults?

“Cairhien,” the old gleeman muttered, the sharpness fading from his eyes again. “Such trouble it causes killing a man, even when he deserves killing.”

Oh good, at least part of Thom's breakdown is because of the guilt of having caused a civil war in a fit of rage, that's something. Sort of. And just remember folks, Thom's one of Rand's GOOD advisors.

Some of the Red Ajah still remember me. I saw Elaida in the street the other day. If she knew I was here, she would peel my hide off in strips, and then she would stop being pleasant.

Does Rand have any male role models who aren't masochists? At this point I'm assuming Tam al'Thor only left the Two Rivers because he felt that the women of Emond's Field were not sufficiently skilled at being dominatrixes and he really wanted to suffer.

“Caemlyn, Thom. Elaida will likely be going back there sooner or later, so you’d have her to worry about. And from what I remember, if Morgase puts her hands on you, you will wish Elaida had you.”

See what I mean about lucky memories? This came up like ONCE, back in Master Gill's inn! But Mat remembers because it helps him even though he probably doesn't even remember that Perrin has sisters and he probably saw them loads of times, or will have once they get retconned into existence.

The younger of the two women, Saal, stopped Mat as he reached the door. “Whatever you said to him, I forgive you for the wine, even if it is taking him away. I’ve not seen him this alive in weeks.”

For all of Mat's outrage at how mean the ladies were to him, the random stranger who shows up to get the drunk even drunker, this shows they're not nearly so capricious as he assumes.

His laughter shut off like the last drip from a wine barrel: Thom was there, but not the corpse. The windows of the taverns down the street put enough light across the cobblestones for him to be sure of it. The city guard would not have carried a dead man away without asking questions, at those taverns and at The Woman of Tanchico, too.

One wonders why Mat's enemies only did clean-up and didn't pursue him. Did they think that he must have run even further away, or perhaps back to the Tower? Do they think he's locked in the city so he has no way to run? Was Lanfear about to balefire the whole fucking inn when she suddenly realized Rand had fallen asleep again and had to rush off to visit him?

“The first bloody ship, Thom! If it’s sinking, we’ll be on it!”

That's not a very smart escape plan, Mat...

Next time: They find a ship that's not sinking right this second.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Remember Remember the Fifth of November

Remember, remember the fifth of November. We're soon to cover a lot. I see no reason, why Sorbet's malfeasance should ever be forgot.

Seriously...we get our biggest RA origins chapter on Guy Fawkes Day? Rad even if purely coincidental. We also have this quiet peculiarity. Something that's been brought up here before. The cover page is just part of the main story? Yes, request apparently but it's a natural fit. That's new. Even Pudding was cluing us in on a past happening pertinent to an event. Watch stuff like this, the "rules" of the narrative breaking down. It's also really, really cute. Where are those fish ending up? Okay, let's get to the real meat of this. You can probably guess from the chapter title...

I'm the Mickey to your Minnie, you're the Tigger to my Winnie...Ginny! I'm...dating myself with memes aren't I? Ginny has become a fast, fast favorite. This was already a thing too, but seeing adult Ginny I get what people mean. There's a certain sensibility to being Bonney's mom...but she does look like another skrunkly glutton on Egghead more than anything. York is a clone, this has dark implications. Please don't be too cruel to new blorbo Oda. I'm gonna add her to the figure collection I promise.

Seriously though...how many of y'all get that Ginny is exactly what I've been on about? Forget Kuma's whole taking on burdens thing and being a goddamn blaring echo of the Crane Wife story. I can make this easy now. Ginny is what it would look like if you plugged Nami's character into the "quartermaster" role I've used Kiku as a guidepost for.

We're already past the point of teasing about lack of subtlety so I don't know what to say anymore. This flashback is making a big to-do about someone who fits the bill for the exact archetype straddling the present story around two foils. Doing it in a way that could lead back to a darker scene from Vegapunk's past. If that wasn't apparent enough,

Really driving the point home with Sorbet. Just like Goa & Gray Terminal. Just like Bakura & Okobore. These two were the tentpoles of the lawless waste being kicked around. Marco, Toki, Yasu, Kiku & Tsuru...pay attention when a core theme of the previous arc comes up like that. Especially that beat about marriage and Ginny's suitors. If that wasn't all enough, there's one element here I can't shake:

Look at Kuma's chest, the faint blackening...does it kind of make you think of Luffy's scar? You see it in the eyes too, we're not used to seeing adult Kuma with normal features for him. His expressions...it's a concept we've talked about a lot. This late in the game you notice when a character gets visual traits usually reserved for the protagonist. Kuma does this a fair amount, and the whole story sorta does have the same tone as like...if Luffy & Uta grew up together. Or if he stayed in Okobore with Kiku for a few years even. As much as I love the Revolutionary lore, this has me going absolutely crazy right now.

[abelllia]

3, 10, 12 !!

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

Oh hmmm genuinely hard because I like to mind wipe whenever I see a bad take. The *one* that I remember was from twt too. I'll describe it anyway even if I have talked about it here before. It was something implying that Jon wouldn't take another character's trauma seriously. Since it's the violence ask I'll mention that the other character was Martin. The first time I saw it I genuinely blank-screened in a negative way because it did NOT compute. It was set in S1 but even then I can't imagine Jon not having at *least* an "oh, shit" moment. Especially since Martin's trauma in the thing was childhood trauma. Got me going 😒

10. worst part of fanon

Originally, I had three whole paragraphs about aspects that I dislike but I realized they all just point to one thing— flattening.

Flattening of characters, of morality, of the concept of the entities, yadda yadda. This has happened in every fandom since time immemorial for either comedic purposes or sorting purposes. We love putting things in neat little boxes because it just makes things easier to digest and communicate. Martin is the sunshine one, Jon is the tsundere, Tim is the flirt, Sasha is the Girl™️, Elias is the Ad Campaign Villain with a twirly moustache. It's easy to understand but just less...interesting? I don't want to rag on stuff made for fun/memes, I like funny haha fandom memes. It just feels like a lot of fights about the characters boil down to ignoring the multitudes they contain. The contradictory aspects which make them who they are.

Everyone has probably already said their piece about character flattening so I'll go about the morality thing and how people really like to fight about who's in the right and who's in the wrong. Guys, this is tma, they've all done bullshit. No one is ever going to be completely in the right in this show they've all been shitty people to each other at one point, that's what's *fun* about it. My favourite part is that how, even though I may disagree with a character's actions, I can understand *why* they do it. It makes them feel more like people to me. For an easy example I'll just choose the Gertrude-Michael thing. Yeah, Gertrude sacrificing a human being to an entity who tore his who from his what is pretty shitty. One strike in the wrong. However, from how Gertrude and literally everyone else understood the world at that point, her actions can be considered heroic because in their mind, she just stopped an apocalypse! Saved billions of people from becoming Fear Food. One strike in the right. However, as we soon will know it was basically useless. Gertrude will find out that the Ritual would have never worked anyway so all the sacrifices she did (Michael, Jan, who knows who else) were in vain! Yeowch! Two strikes in the wrong. Ain't it fun? Yet I still see Gertrude interpretations that act like she just did it for fun or something, not that she thought the whole world would end if she didn't sacrifice this one dude to the Distortion.

Honestly I'm not satisfied with this ramble and I think there are plenty of flaws in it but I don't want to write anymore and I don't want to think. Yeah, flattening stuff is fun sometimes but not when it seeps into serious-ish discussions.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Look hear me out– Basira and Peter Lukas.

Basira to me is compelling to me for so many reasons. She's the most mentally....secure? character in the show, like she logic'd her way out of the *Unknowing*, and it's implied that she's had to be like that from a young age. Based on her S3 pre-Unknowing statement about how that's how her father raised her. But, she's also so controlled by her emotions. Most clearly and notoriously with Daisy, but another example is when her fondness for Jon in S2 overrode her goal to catch him for potential murder. Her emotions matter to her but also calm logic. Which can lead to a lot of interesting and *frustrating* contradictory moments. Again, notoriously with Daisy and how she treated her vs Jon in S4. She's so incredibly flawed and I love it. She's so secure in her own mind that she doesn't even challenge her own biases and instead present them as fact. It's *such* an interesting character trait and it would be so fun to dig into. However, I also realize that probably also the exact reason why people dislike talking about her. She's a hypocritical murder cop accomplice and that can give anyone an incredibly sour taste in their tongue thinking about her (it gives me a sour taste rn like, should I really be writing about her?)There's just so much I want to pick her brain about though. Insert thing here about liking her as a character does not mean I like her as a person.

Peter Lukas is a piece of shit, but he's a funny piece of shit and I like that. He's living apathy and he's so useless and skfjejcjsnnd

Yeah I can't even defend him he's just such garbage, but I find him fun to bully. Someone once pointed out that when he lost the bet with Elias he acted like a little kid throwing a tantrum and I found it so funny. This man isn't doing anything, he's not even the captain of his own ship in anything but name, Tadeas does all the navigation shit. He really is just some rich kid. A sad strange little man and he's unwillingly a fave because of it.