#since her existence is technically an old spoiler

[lilyisatiger]

Mademoiselle Frenchie Moreau!? Is that you?

[billyshakesp]

One for his Lyctors

Something that will never cease to amaze me is how well TazMuir writes the Lyctors. So I'm making it your problem ;). CW: Spoilers for Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth.

Let's start off by stating the obvious: the Lyctors are old. Whenever I mention "the Lyctors" in this post, I'm referring to Jod's original crew of eight Lyctors, and, more specifically, Augustine the First, Mercymorn the First, Gideon the First, and Cytherea the First. Those four are the ones we have met at the time of writing this. And they are old. They are each ten thousand years old. However, ten thousand is a number which may not mean much to you since you (presumably) have not even reached the age of two hundred. To quickly contextualise how colossal a number ten thousand years is, just remember that written history only extends as far back as five thousand years. In not so many words, my bbygirls are not actually very baby, and are, in fact, fucking ancient.

We, as humans, do not have any living reference for a ten-thousand-year-old being, aside from an occasional tree or a sponge, or perhaps a condiment bottle so deep in the back of your fridge that it would warrant a paleontological dig, but I digress. So how does Muir write her Lyctors so effectively?

Vicious dehumanisation

One of the most striking things about the Lyctors is the dehumanisation they have suffered over the past myriad. The first thing I noticed while diving into this subject (and by diving into, I mean I took a long shower one day and pissed off my family) is that the Lyctors do not have last names, and their first names function more as titles. Furthermore, the Lyctors are referred to as the hands, fingers, and gestures of the Emperor. In short, the readers and the characters of the Locked Tomb, including the Lyctors themselves, don't see the Lyctors as individuals anymore. Rather, their sole purpose in life has been reduced to just a soldier of the Emperor. Muir really shows the effects of the Lyctors' age; they are ancient, to the point where they have lost their own humanity and the only reason for their existence that they still hold onto is to serve the Emperor.

2. Their morals

Are extremely fucked up. Like, I cannot emphasise enough how fucked up the Lyctors are as people. Their morals are twisted in a way which can only come about from ten thousand years, rotting in deep space. For example, G1deon probably makes like 56 attempts on Harrow's life, and he doesn't give a second thought about it. When the other Lyctors find him, they don't really condemn his actions the way a human would expect another human to condemn attempted murder. To the Lyctors, life and death are both abstract concepts: life has lost all its meaning to the Lyctors, and thus, they do not see value in others' lives, especially the life of another Lyctor. Especially the life of a "Half-Lyctor." Additionally, Cytherea's plot to destroy the Nine Houses, while technically noble in its intent, is just insanely messed up. Yet, it makes sense in the context of her being a Lyctor, and, furthermore, someone who has suffered abuse for the last ten thousand years. She wants to bring justice to Jod, and for her, a small genocide is completely insubstantial. These people do not value nor understand life the way a human would, because they are unbelievably old.

3. The ways they break

Every one of the original Lyctors we see has a point in which they break, and when they break, we see a glimpse of the humanity peeking through. I could do character analysis on all of the Lyctors, but that would take a really long time. In short, we, the reader, get to see shreds of the people the Lyctors once were, and yet this only demonstrates just how shattered they are under the inexorable weight of time (yes, I use inexorable excessively now that I've read these books). Muir feeds us these pieces of the Lyctors' former selves to show just how buried that former self is.

In short, Muir does such a good job writing her Lyctors. They really are some of the most beautifully tragic characters I've ever read. I'm really just compiling some of the elements which I think Muir used to achieve the effect of "this character is bloody ancient." Feel free to add anything you feel that I missed (and I'm sure I missed a lot of stuff), and thanks for reading!

[mikimakiboo]

I was wondering if you were doing anything for/with the apple incident. Since it would be like, a clarifying moment for the guys in the tt gang. Like that’s why he’s jumpy and scared all the time. That’s why he was so rude and scared. That’s why he stopped talking to them, he thought they would be aggressive and violent. The servants could think he was cursed by the devil, or a witch or smth. Till it reached a high note, then him and Dream slowly reconciled and reconnect. Then night just starts pouring his soul out with him bc he’s so lonely and scared.

My time to shine and ramblllleeeeeee

Btw since you asked something about my AU just assume I'm in love with you, okay ? I'm your wife now /jk

As you can imagine the answer will contain spoilers regarding Nightmare's backstory SO I'm putting it under the cut :D

So regarding the apple incident, whenever I make AUs including Nightmare he is always corrupted, however the tree of feelings doesn't always fit the narrative, like in Time Travelers AU where Nightmare was born and lives as a noble in the 17th century and not 500 years ago as a guardian

So since there isn't any tree of feelings there isn't any apples either so there technically can't be an apple incident

So that's when the second scenario comes in handy: magic overdose :D

Basically at the age of six Nightmare's magic starts to grow a little too much, he would often choke on a black goop that would form in his soul and go in his throat for him to throw up, and it's a long and painful transformation, I'm talking about years here, from his six years old to his ten years old his magic would slowly overwhelm his soul more and more, come out of the joints, mouth, nose, eyesockets, he would choke and develop quite severe chronic pains until he's eventually covered in goop just like his original corrupted self

One good thing with that scenario is that it allows me to give him a softer personality as he wasn't exactly corrupted, his magic just got messed up, but he's still the same person as his passive self

Now, as Nightmare is living in a very religious time, everyone thought that his messed up magic and black goop was due to some demon possession or that he was cursed by either God, Satan, or any other divine force, and so Nightmare had to go through a lot of exorcisms, lots of different covens but of course none of it worked

He was always insulted and looked down upon as he was seen like a curse by himself: his father died young (when Dream and him were babies), his mother died young too (when they were young adult) and everyone blamed him and his mere existence for it and every other bad thing that happened to other people he ever talked to or looked their way

His own mother, Nim, was part of the people insulting him, by telling him that he was her biggest failure and she should have left him in a coven if only Dream didn't insist so much to keep him

So yeah Nightmare doesn't really think very high of himself and is fully focused on being as good as he can so hopefully people won't see him as a curse anymore

Dream was actually the only one to never turn his back on him, even when they were in different covens/schools (nobles were placed in special schools from 10yo to 18yo, very strict, they had to speak Latin too so that's why Nightmare is fluent) he would always send him letters, so their relationship never got too bad, Nightmare did have a period when he didn't respond to the letters but he never felt resentment or anything toward his twin because he was actually his only friend, so when they were back home together when they got out at 18 they actually became even closer because Dream was really the only one who would listen to him and genuinely love him

So yeah the two brothers are inseparable and rely very much on each other, Nightmare tells everything to Dream and Dream also talks about anything and everything with Nightmare

Now regarding the tt gang, when they learnt about the backstory they did assemble some pieces regarding Nightmare's behavior

Because his obsession with being perfect and not mixing with them, hardly talking to them and keeping his perfect noble image is actually trauma response after years of being talked down and seen as God's mistake, so now he has to appear perfect at all time so he won't have troubles anymore without realizing that this image hurts him too as he bottles up everything he feels and do not act like himself AT ALL

So yeah the backtory do make them understand his behavior better and they do feel very bad for him because obviously it wasn't his fault, he was only a child who should have gone to the doctor to have some magic drained out instead of being exorcized every two days and treated like shit

They'll eventually work through the trauma together

Hope that answers your question :D

[parasolladyansy]

DxP Ask - Mizumi & Time Travel

NOTE: this has minor spoilers about one of the main characters of DxP REWRITE if you haven’t read up to the most recent comic - if you’re caught up (or don’t care lol), go on ahead!

bca_private from Instagram asked:

Something I’ve been wondering about Mizumi: I understand that she’s Ansy’s ancestor, but she was also from the future and brought to Hisui by Arceus, right? From when is she? Was she born in the same era as Ansy (making it a paradox), or was she from an earlier time regardless?

Mizumi was a modern girl from Sinnoh - just a normal 15-year-old girl who went to a certain school in Jubilife City until a fateful trip up Mt. Coronet, where she got isekai’ed to Hisui about 150 years in the past. Legends Arceus happens, & eventually she restarts her family line to become Ansy’s great-great-grandmother.

She was born when Ansy was about 19 & living in Unova (while the rest of her family lived either in Kanto, Unova, & Alola). Meanwhile, Ansy’s paternal side of the family is living in Kalos around the time of Legends Arceus (already planning for Legends ZA lol) before they immigrated to Unova. All to say that no one in Ansy’s family apart from Mizumi & her family live/lived in Sinnoh.

So yeah - not a grandfather paradox (none of that), but still paradoxical as Ansy was technically born before her ancestor was.

However, two rules of time travel that exist in at least Ansy’s tiny corner of the Pokéverse are this: self-repairing timeline & multiverse theory. I imagine one of Dialga’s roles as the deity of time is sorting through time paradoxes: seeing which ones are “canon” with Arceus, correcting the flow of time to accommodate it, & for the ones that aren’t, create another spacetime together with Palkia for it (like we saw in Scarlet x Violet, & a few of the games themselves)

As I’d recently added to Ansy’s profile page, apart from me just wanting to play as Ansy’s maternal ancestor, it actually does seem to be the canon that isekai’ed Rei / Akari IS Lucas / Dawn’s ancestor. My biggest evidence for this is if you have a completed save in Legends Arceus (aka you befriended Arceus), & then start a save in BDSP, you’ll find the Azure Flute in your room at the very beginning of the game, like it’s a family heirloom that’s made it’s way down to you.

In the SxV Epilogue leading into DxP REWRITE, Mizumi passed the Azure Flute down to Ansy in a slightly different way lol, but same principle.

One last little note to wrap this all up: as of the events of Paldea (the first time either of them really encountered space-time travel), Ansy & Ikrit have shared notes about the rules that exist for them. Ikrit, being a student of Professor Cozmo & astrophysics, goes more in depth while Ansy can follow well enough when numbers aren’t involved lol.

So far their notes include: AU’s (multiverse theory), self-repairing timelines, converging timelines (& memory correction), & what I’m just gonna call “uninterrupted time” because I can’t find an official name of this theory / principle anywhere lol (time moves in either points of the timeline at the same pace since the time traveler left the present - Mizumi spent 2 years in Hisui, 2 years have gone by in the present, same for Ingo’s 7 years).

That’s it for me geeking out about time travel for now. Later! 🌧️

[purpleajisai]

Uchiha Observation n°1: Sasuke’s lineage - headcanons, storyline and hints in canon

This post is part of the worldbuilding process for a fanfic idea that I’ve been maturing over the past year, so I will update this if needed. I have wondered about the relationship between Madara and Sasuke for a long while now, and I knew there has to be a deeper connection than just reincarnations of Indra. The moment that piqued my interest was the point that Hashirama made about Sasuke looking like Izuna, implying that if Madara saw someone so similar to his beloved younger brother he could listen to what Sasuke had to say and perhaps change his mindset in regards to the war.

This cannot be a coincidence. Today, I’m going to share my headcanon regarding Madara and Sasuke’s kinship: Sasuke is Madara’s great nephew, connnected through Izuna. Here is the genealogical tree:

First of all, let’s explain Izuna’s generation. Of course, you can see Madara represented there as an older brother as well as the 4 unnamed younger siblings mentioned in the river flashbacks. The language used by Madara suggest that there were 5 other siblings aside from him, not 5 in total and including him. In the case of Izuna, according to the databooks he died at age 24, which is definitely old enough to be married and have a child.

And perhaps the readers are wondering why I’m not considering Madara to be married as well since he’s not only older than Izuna but also the clan leader. The only reason why I’m not giving him a wife and kids at the time of Izuna’s death is because I want to adhere to canon in this regard (no spoilers about the fic’s plot).

In the storyline I’ve planned, Izuna would die and leave behind a little baby or even a pregnant wife. The exact moment is yet undecided. However, it is through this only son of Izuna from which we can connect him to Sasuke. Once Izuna’s son grows up, having the pressure of being the last surviving heir to the clan, it’s not far-fetched for this man to have more than 2 children to ensure his legacy and prevent the clan from descending into anarchy. The reason why his firstborn son, who would be Izuna’s eldest grandson, is marked as “disgraced” in this chart is because the existence of this generation collides with the 2nd Great Ninja War. A possible reason I may consider to add for his fall into disgrace and shunning by the clan is that he would’ve left some Uchiha comrades to die in order to protect important Konoha intel, therefore gaining the reputation of a traitor and not being suitable for inheriting the clan’s leadership.

With the eldest son banned from the position of clan heir, the younger son would immediately take his place. From the disgraced eldest brother, we get Obito’s ancestry, and from the younger brother we get Mikoto’s generation. For Obito’s case, I theorize a normal Uchiha picked at random wouldn’t be able to handle the toll of Madara’s eyes, whether in EMS or Rinnegan form. Technically speaking, these eyeballs are actually Izuna’s, reinforcing his importance for this lineage. Please consider the importance of genetics in handling kekkei genkai in the Naruto universe. For Mikoto’s case, I added an older brother for her. Why? Because it used to be a custom in the Sengoku period and the subsequent Edo period to follow agnatic (male-only) succession for leadership. The death of Mikoto’s brother would put Fugaku as a leader, given that he’s the husband of a bearer of the lineage of clan leaders.

Finally, we get to Itachi and Sasuke. Neither one nor another were “normal” Uchiha: both unlocked the mangekyo sharingan and handled the toll of the Susano’o, among other remarkable feats. If Sasuke is connected to Madara through Izuna’s descendants, it would imply the existence of a direct line of ancestry that starts with Indra himself. The headcanons regarding the internal structure of the Uchiha clan will be discussed in a future post. The direct family line from Izuna to Sasuke can therefore explain why both looked so similar (recessive genetics) and why Madara felt nostalgic or touched at the sight of someone who resembled his beloved little brother so much.

Thanks for reading thus far, and if you have any questions plkease use the blog’s ask box.

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 5 - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

Pope Pinion IV (Cars)

HELLO. IT IS I. THE GREAT AND ALMIGHTY ITALIAN TOURNEY. PLEASEPLEASE PUT HIM IN THERE WAS SO MUCH POPE DISCOURSE ON MY ACC AND HE WAS SOLOED IN THE FIRST ROUND BY LUIGI😭😭😭💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 PLEASE AVENGE HIMMMM

The existence of Catholicism in the Cars universe implies that there was (or at least there was believed to be) a car Jesus who died for the cars’ sins, and I for one would like to see how a car gets crucified or sins. I guess the blood/wine here would be gasoline, but what would the body/bread be? How did they sit at the last supper? What is the layout of car church? How does a car build a church? Do other human religions exist in the cars universe? How does a goddess with the body of a human and the head of a cat translate to a car? Do Buddhist cars rein-car-nate? Do cars have souls?

he lost the italian character tournament, he will win here

Harrowhark

I'm pretty sure you've already got plenty of submissions for her so I'll just say she was raised in what is basically a cult (technically a nunnery but let's be real) dedicated to keeping the body of the thing that will kill God behind the rock. One of their prayers is actually "I pray the rock is never rolled away". Harrow is extremely devout as penance for her earlier heretical actions in the tomb as a child (spoiler!) so the Catholic guilt really comes through

imagine being a catholic nun and you meet god, but it turns out he’s a twitch streamer from new zealand who became god because everything got a little bit out of hand. and just before you met him you gave yourself a diy grief-fuelled lobotomy with the help of your best frenemy. imagine how insane you’d be. now multiply that insanity by nine. that’s the fictional love of my life right there.

she meets god. she’s not inspired

she’s number one practitioner of space Catholicism. The locked tomb is chock full of Christian (catholic) imagery themes metaphors etc. just look at her she’s got a bone rosary

They're Catholicism with extra bones. Everyone is a nun. They have what is basically a rosary made from knuckle bones. They technically worship the same God as everyone else, but they're waaaay more focused on The Body in the Tomb (Mary) and we get a moment where we find out that while everyone else prays the equivilent of The Lords Prayer, they're doing the equivilent of Hail Mary. And they paint their faces with skulls.

She thinks leaving dry bread in a drawer is taking care of someone. She's in love with a 10,000 year old corpse (the same one they worship). She spent ALL NIGHT digging with her bare hands to make sure a field had bones every 5 feet so she could fight her girlfriend - I mean, greatest enemy. Spoiler territory: She's been puppeting her parents corpses since she was 8 years old. Instead of grieving her dead girlfriend, she gives herself a lobotomy. She makes soup with bone in it so she can use the bone IN THEIR STOMACH to try and kill them.

The author is/was Catholic and the entire series had heavy Catholic overtones. https://www.tor.com/2020/08/19/gideon-the-ninth-young-pope-and-the-new-pope-are-building-a-queer-catholic-speculative-fiction-canon/ A good breakdown of how it's Catholic

Anti-propaganda (spoilers)

I love the Locked Tomb series but Harrowhark has daddy issues with God, had a childhood crush on God's cryogenic partner, and is in love with God's daughter, not to mention that she's essentially a bone-bender. The religion on her home planet exists in a way that is technically against the will of the canon in-universe God, even. All of this to say, Harrowhark is heretical at minimum if not an outright witch. Terrible Catholic. Burn her.

[lo-shouldve-been-an-email]

Why hello there.

Listen,I don’t have much to say about the newest LO episode so here’s an ares ranking to go along with the other ones.

Spoilers.

Percy Jackson:

6/10

Look,Ares is a really weird figure when it comes to how the media presents him.

Almost always they present him as this sexist frat boy when in mythology he is:

A reported protector of mistreated woman.

The patron god of the amazons and was worshipped to the point that their leader had 2 babies with him.

Scored the GODDESS PF LOVE AND BEAUTY and there is no way you cannot convince me she doesn’t have some pretty high standards(even though apparently you can convince most of the writers on this list)

And as much as I love Percy Jackson,it is not devoid of crimes.

In the first book,he helps Luke/Kronos steal Zeus’ master bolt and Hades’ helm of invisibility as to start a civil war within the gods.id say this is a pretty good portrayal overall.

…until we get to the second book.

This myth will be very important so long story short:a daughter of ares got r*** by a son of Poseidon so Ares,like any reasonable and bloodthirsty god of war,fucking killed him.

After this,he got put on trial for murder as if he wasn’t the literal god of bloody war,and all the ladies vouched for him so he got set free.

Let’s just say,Rick Riordan didn’t know of this myth.

In the second book,there’s a scene where Clarisse La Rue,a DAUGHTER of ares talks to him through a magic mirror.

There,he threatens her and says he should have sent one of his sons on the quest.and keep in mind she is his FAVORITE DAUGHTER.

So yeah.

I don’t really like this portrayal but he gets points for bringing Clarisse and (technically)Frank into this world since I like them both.also the fact that Percy could tell he had beef with him even without having any other memory.

Lore Olympus:

1/10

FUCK THIS GUY

Remember when I said that modern Ares was more often than not a sexist frat boy?we’ll add “predator” and “Reddit nice guy” to that list because RS can’t write.

If in Percy Jackson Aphrodite had terrible standards here said standards are so much worse.

He spends MONTHS trying to seduce a 19-YEAR-OLD and then tries to marry her without her consent.

Also,sir,YOU HAVE THE GODDESS OF LOVE AND BEAUTY FULLY AT YOUR DISPOSAL AND YOURE PICKING A GURL WHO DOESNT EVEN KNOW HIW TO USE A COMPUTER????

Great.this guy is a predator,Reddit nice guy,AND stupid.

I remember saying that the only character who could get a lowers rating than LO Persephone being LO hades and then I remembered this fuck existed.

Fuck him.

Hades:

10/10

Your know when you see something and then immediately want to wash your eyes with soap?this is my soap.

He is my third favorite Olympian in the game,coming third to Hermes and Artemis.

So here’s a few reasons why I like him:

Doom anything with impending doom and the increasing doom damage boon does absurd amounts of damage.

Curse of nausea is one of the best duos in the game.

He respects woman.(oh look they finally Aphrodite standards)

His quest is stupidly easy and he was the first Olympian who’s bond I maxed out.

I know this joke has been made so many times but.he really is a Chthonic simp.

He doesn’t get too pissed if you don’t pick him is trial of gods.hes just here for the bloodshed.

It may be just the fact that almost every other interpretation of ares is bad,but I really like him.

Also Aphrodite wearing his face paint in hades 2-

OSP:

7/10

He’s cool.

I really don’t have much else to add except the helmet stays on during sex.

Gods school:

5/10

Welp Back to the incels-

Him straight up telling Aphrodite that he can do whatever he wants because she won’t leave is just.why.

I don’t get why people go to this myth,turn it around,and act as if they’ve done a service by making Ares miserable when in the myths it was already a good ending.

What is with the obsession with making ares a toxic ex boyfriend when in the myths him and ‘dite were literally love and war.

Another issue I have with gods school is the fact they made Aphrodite a Karen Smith when in the myths shes a Regina George but that’s a problem for the Aphrodite ranking.

Also I just realized the Aphrodite Hephaestus ares myth is the og “I fell in love with a bad boy story”-

Epic:the musical:

8/10

I don’t have a physical picture of him but I already like him.

The only time he he appears is during a bit of an unfinished song but he does bring up some pretty good points,like the Scylla thing.

Also the fact Athena didn’t directly refute any of his points but instead persuaded him with the fact that the moment Ody gets home the suitors are going to be fucked is surprisingly great.

Also can I just say how absolutely hyped I am for god games?Aphrodite’s part fucking rocks and I’m excited for Apollo and Hephaestus.

Also here’s my ranking for epic Hermes since I wasn’t part of the fandom back then:

10/10

*insert dolphin laugh here*

[partywithoutsmiling]

Do you think you can tell us what happens in would tour specifically at the end when the strings are broken? Is branch there? Does the world go gray or does it stay colourful because their technically is more strings? Oooooo how do the leaders react/find out about this random gray troll who sum how has made more strings?!?!

I think Branch would be there for sure

Skipping ahead of the timeline, after the events of the 1st movie- and realizing Poppy did miss him, he would be rather reluctant to leave his Tribe again for a while (his reawakened crush on Poppy certainly not helping matters)

However, he has now been on the move for so long, that staying in one place indefinitelly gives him jitters (and bit of a spoiler, but he did manage to meet at least one of his brothers on his travels, that made him realize that perhaps this Wanderlust is hereditary to an extent)

Also ever since returning to Pop Village, he came to realization that King Peppy seem to know more about the wide world than Branch had suspected; before, he just thought that the Pop Troll's ignorance stemmed from their isolation and decades of selective culling- knowledge and histories are bound to be lost and forgotten in that case, but given the nervous glances Peppy sends his attire and his rock guitar, Branch can put one and one together.

But Peppy doesn't ask and Branch doesn't offer any explanation, and while Poppy is curious enough to ask Branch where he went, she doesn't push when he just says 'away'. She still remembers when Branch just up and disappeared one day and no-one cared to notice that for weeks- to an extent, not even her, even though she is the most aware of his prensence than anyone.

After that fiasco with the funeral, Poppy just figured Branch holed up himself in his bunker to sulk- or so she thought- and will come out when ready. And truthfully, she thought that it was, for once, a good idea- because the mood of the community was not great, when it came to the grey troll, and she herself was at loss what to say or do to make it better. She could hardly defend Branch's actions for all that she understood his freakout (at least a little bit)

It was only when more time than usual passed that she grew concerned- while the other trolls around her didn't.

A little bit of angsty idea was that Branch, in his shame, left behind both Floyd's vest and his old Hideout Plan, as those were two mementos that really tied him to his old life, and Poppy- with bit of brute force- managed to get her way into the bunker and found both.

She was really just a teenager then- and was suddenly forced to come to a reality where a Troll that was supposed to be her responsibility as a future Queen just... left. Left, because he felt so unwelcome in the Village- unwelcome in her presence- that feelings themselves driven him away.

And similar to Branch, Poppy had no idea other trolls existed- there was only the Village and the Bergen Town, and all the dangers that existed between it. It was unspoken rule that to leave the Village meant a certain death- and here she was, holding Branch's iconic vest that he never ever takes off, holding a yellowed scrapbooked plan of childlike wonder, that revealed a familial history of heartbreak and abandonment (after all, she knows these names, she knows Brozone songs and trivia by heart)....

Honestly, She and Branch probably came to be peas in a pod, when it comes to feeling of self-loathing and lack of self-worth.

After all, perfect Queens don't allow their subject to become outcasts

Perfect Queens don't turn blind eye towards unjustified shunning

Perfect Queens don't certainly drive away their friends to perish in the wilderness

And for the next 4 years- especially after the uncomfortable realization that only handful of people even care that Branch was gone- she felt deep guilt and suppresed grief very keenly, plagued by what ifs; what if she went to him the day after the funeral, what if she checked up on him that very night- would he had stayed? What if she never pushed him like she did, secretly delighting in crafting the most annoying glitter-spewing invitations, knowing it irritated him What if she was kinder, respected his refusals better, listened to his warnings

Would he had stayed?

And honestly, up until the point that he returned, she had no answers, and thought she would never got any

So after their reunion, she burns with questions and curiosity- and holds it back, because he already left once, and she is terrified to push him away again, this time for good. Because that's what she focuses on now- he came back.

Of course, that relief changes nothing when mere seventh months after their peace with the Bergens- after they repaired their village, after Poppy got used to having Branch by her side, singing, dancing, playing, harmonizing

She is suddenly feeling like thrown into a cold water when he tells her he wants to go traveling again, and all the fears and past grief comes rushing

I believe they would have quite the row about it- unknowingly reminding Branch of the night his brothers argued and left, which only pushes him to be angrier- while Poppy uses her outburst to hide the irrational terror she feels

So it ends with Branch storming off in a huff and Poppy storming off in a huff- but when her senses catches up to her and she is quite panicked to make ammends and to sooth the argument over, Branch is long gone

Few more months passes, and while not as cheerful, Poppy tries to keep herself upbeat- then the invitation comes, Peppy finally admits to there being more kind of trolls, and to her it is like Oh, of course.

The excitement returning, she now has secondary goal to her 'unite the tribes together' under big party- she just knows Branch is living with one of the tribes now- and she is right, when she encounters him in Lonesome Flats

(Well, after he learnes that she got thrown into jail for her Crimes against Music that is pf)

Branch, naturally, still has no idea about the Strings (as he dipped out before Peppy gave that piece of history away) but learning about them now doesn't give him any more peace of the mind. Contrary to his first mindset in the original plot- where he wanted to avoid the other trolls altogether- he is now stalwart defender of all genres, and hates the idea of any of them disappearing.

(A side note: in his wanderings, I think the only rulers- or would be rulers- that he had met was Delta, Trollex and Barb; Trollex had just been freshly crowned and Barb has not been queen yet) (He and Barb probably struck a very odd friendship- where Branch had no idea he was hanging out with the princess of Rock- namely because Rock Trolls didn't use the term of 'prince' and 'princess' for their heirs- and he probably told her all about his travels) (Hearing that she is behind this mess makes him feel horrified. Did he gave her the idea to try and take over the world?)

Anyway, events happens, the finale comes- the final showdown XD

Only, the fight plays out quite differently

Branch and Barb being friends, he confronts her about what she's doing and quite stubbornly gets into her face about her ideas. Dares her to change him the way she wants to change everyone- dares her to erase him, like she dreams about

It makes her hesitate for sure- she already went so far, and wont be stopped now. Expression hardening, she aims her guitar at Poppy and strikes the chord- not expecting Branch to jump between them.

This event probably doesnt have the desired effect that she imagined. Had Branch had been just a normal Pop Troll- or as close as to one genre as one can get, he would have been Zombified without any issues.

But with the Power Chord, it's Strings against Strings- and the results are probably quite... explosive. Devastatingly so.

Only, Branch has an unknowing advantage- his seventh String, shining so innocently from his hair among the others.

When it comes to matching powers, the Royal Rock Guitar looses, pathetically so- and as the stage around them explodes, so does the guitar, taking the power of music with it, leeching everything of colours and light, untill nothing but darkness and greyscale remains.

Except for a singular troll that stands tall and proud in the middle of it all, injured, sure, but colourful, rainbow heart shining through the fuzz on his chest, the strings in his hair glowing brighter than ever XD

[cocomintcat]

Hazbin Hotel x Seraph! Reader (platonic)

Info and get to know her

My first small oc idea that I'm making an x reader type deal! Info:

Reader: angel name Eliora, fallen name (y/n) || 150 years old? (aka 15 in human years ?? I'm guessing cuz Charlie presents like a 20 year old while being 200+ ) aka child seraph that is smaller than emily and around a few inches shorter than lucifer || blended Blush on the cheeks and nose, little heart nose

Angel form looks: gold halos around her neck, wrists and ankles along with above her head, eye on her collarbone area and one on the back of her hands, pastel/soft colors for this form, dress is a flowy yet comfortable gown with ballet flats || 6 wings from her head, can transfer them to be bigger wings on her back

Fallen: horns sprout from her forhead like Charlie and lucifer (because she's not acclimated properly to hell she can't hide them) || her gold halos are now black and slightly broken/bent) || she now has a heart tipped demon tail || more red colors but still light, colors darken with anger/negative emotions || main outfit is an sweetheart topped a-line dress with a black headpiece with an attached veil (your imagination to what you want the headpiece to be), for shoes she has simple black heels over some black tights || has both set of her wings (head and back) showing most of the time, her head wings act like ears now moving to her emotions

More notes: sweet, innocent but not necessarily naive (she knows things but is more innocent as inexperienced), shy, kind, sometimes there's not a thought behind those eyes (innocent puppy look), affectionate, can fight only to protect others, She is aroace (because I am and I said so)

Likes: chocolate, Saf, animals, Lucifer and Charlie, red and purple, lemon rasberry soda, hugs, seeing those she cares for happy

Dislikes: cruelty, unfair punishment, pure evil, the dark, being alone, the cold, others crying, herself crying in front of others, burdening others

Readers angel pet: a small seraph (just an eye with wings, basically acts like a bird + a puppy) named Saf (short name for a small seraph, get it, I'm not sorry)

Eliora is known as God's little princess, she's favored among the elders as she is very innocent, Adam likes her too (takes on older brother role). Though everyone thinks she's too sympathetic towards sinners and hellborns (alongside lucifer).

The fall, it wasn't really a fall as much as it was banishment. She got wrongly accused by a jealous winner who wanted to rise in ranks, she befriended Eliora only to betray her and frame her. Unfortunately no one believed Eliora's innocence even with proof that she was (fearing she had become too much like lucifer). She was banished to hell, she can't become too demonic since her sin wasn't true nor actually done that's why it lightly affects her appearance but the longer in hell she is her body will change to adjust.

When she was sent, Lucifer witnessed it, immediately taking her under his wing. He gave her the name (y/n) to help her try to move on. After a while of taking care of her he let's Charlie know of her existence. Of course this becomes found family and well you get it... It's a new adventure of reader joining the Magnes family to bring sinners to redemption!!

I'll do a more indepth Prologue but for know this is your summary and info to know!!

Spoiler-ish but the dynamics I plan:

Heaven

Adam- older brother

God- "bio" dad type feel (daddy issues anyone)

Lute- kinda mean cousin but cares deeply about you

Sarah- motherly friend

Emily- 100% big sister vibes

Bia (bee-uh) treh (tre-ey)- BFF (not for long)

Hell

Lucifer- adoptive dad that made everything better (actually her brother but acts more like a dad to her)

Charlie- she adopted (y/n) no choices allowed you are her sister now anyone who hurts you gets a first or second death (she's also technically ur niece but is that really a big deal?)

Vaggie- sister in law to the rescue (she knew you in heaven and is pissed for you)

Angel dust- big brother (he treats you like Molly ain't gonna let anyone forcefully take your innocents)

Husker- same as angel but more of a 2nd father figure (he got claws that he will use)

Alastor- weird uncle that becomes like a distant father figure (he trying to avoid soft spots but it seem you happen to remind him a bit of his mother [in the loving kindness sense])

Sir pentious- Weird cousin that is also weirdly a younger siblings that's actually older than you (immature older person with mature and caring younger)

Nifty- she is like a young aunt that acts like your older sister in a weird way and we love it

Rosie- Mom (need I say more lol)

Cherrybomb- your her Lil sister and she is going to bring you into all the chaos

(That's all I can remember atm I'll add more later)

Hopefully I feel motivated to do the prologue and parts soon (struggling rn)

[ad-al-ai]

1-What is the plot of Substance?

2-When was it released?

3-How is Substance a modern retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

I’m about to spoil this whole movie, but it’s a really good and has some great practical effects and costuming. So if you can handle some seriously intense body horror, I really recommend! Also I haven’t read any outside articles about the production of the film, and these are all my opinions based on one viewing. And I’m apologizing in advance because you gave me an inch and I yapped for a mile, but thanks for the questions!! :)

Released September 2024, The Substance follows famous woman, Elizabeth Sparkle, who is fired from her show because she’s “too old” (50). She discovered a new drug/injection that creates duplicates your cells and makes a younger clone. The rules are that you must swap between the old and new version every week to replenish the spinal fluid that maintains the clone. Elizabeth, as her new identity of Sue, auditions for the show and becomes mega famous. Sue, as her young self, enjoys the thrill of youth and fame, but at the price of Elizabeth’s OG body. It then becomes an ‘internal’ struggle between who gets to be in control and explores themes of female beauty standards in Hollywood.

The obvious parallels to Jekyll and Hyde is the magic potion that creates a younger, more chaotic, body/alter ego that is directly tied to the older, host body. Where in J&H, Hyde’s action negatively affects Jekyll status as a pillar of the community, Sue’s actions negatively affects Elizabeth’s body directly (since her career/status is already non existence and Sue needs her spinal fluid to live since she’s the clone.). The comparison could also work in reverse. Sue could been seen as the Jekyll counterpart by doing the more socially acceptable/expected activities, like working on her show/career and partying with friends. While Elizabeth would be Hyde, acting on grosser, “base urge’ activities, like spending her week doing nothing but watching TV and cooking/eating- activities she was likely never able to do during the height of her own fame.

Now here’s the big spoiler part. In the first 2 acts it really isn’t clear how consciousness works with the clone. The phrase “You. Are. One. You can’t escape from yourself” is used by the company that supplies the substance and is a main theme throughout the movie. In the first 2 acts, we’re lead to believe that Elizabeth is switching consciousness/control between her og body and Sue; just like how Jekyll is fully in control of Hyde.

However, there are several time Elizabeth complains to the company about how Sue isn’t respecting the balance, and vise versa. Whenever one refers to the other they use “she,” or “her,” showing that there is a discrepancy between identity. At first this can be interpreted as a mental separation; that Sue doesn’t want to associate with her past life as Elizabeth, but at her core they are the same person. This divide becomes more and more clear; as they continue to complain about the other, we realize they aren’t aware of anything the other does during the week they aren’t in control.

This comes to a crescendo during the end of act 2. Elizabeth decided to stop using The Substance, which means she must kill Sue/the clone body. However she doesn’t go through with it all the way and tries to switch back. In the process, Sue becomes conscious while Elizabeth is also conscious. This completely changes our understanding of how consciousness works regarding the clone. Since both host and clone are awake at the same time, it kind of breaks the idea that they are “one,” because they are clearly acting independently of the other. Here is where the comparison falls apart, because Jekyll and Hyde, even towards the end, can never directly harm/fight the other since they are technically 1 guy with 2 bodies. Even towards the end of the book, when Jekyll and Hyde are acting more independently, it more-so shows the different perspectives on their situation. Sue and Elizabeth start physically fighting each other in a ‘there can only be one,’ fashion.

By the end of act 2 Elizabeth is dead. Sue, who can’t sustain herself without Elizabeth, takes The Substance. Since she’s a clone, this doesn’t create a younger clone, instead makes a Blob like monster combining her and Elizabeth (Called Monstro Elizasue).

Here’s where the movie looses me a bit. Act 3 plays into classic monster movies tropes, with people calling Elizasue a monster and a freak while she, in her monster form, tries to quell the panic. Sue was set to host the New Years show (so The Substance is technically a holiday movie, A La Die Hard). Elizasue only knows that she must perform, that she must play the part, regardless of her grotesque appearance. While on stage and live on air, in the midst of all the chaos, Elizasue gets cut (or shot, I cannot remember) and starts spraying blood on the audience.

Now there were alot of scenes that were very long, but I thought it added to the horror. The blood scene went on a bit too long for my own taste. I think it’s because most of the other long scenes were so intensely focused on Elizabeth/Sue and their body horror. This scene had the entire audience of the New Years show acting chaotically. To me it felt too different in the broader context of the movie. It fits with the classical monster movie vibe the final act is going for. I think the blood connects back to the overarching theme of womanhood— either how blood is connected to several aspect of the traditional female experience (menstruation and pregnancy/birth) or how women in Hollywood give so much blood, sweat and tears to fight to stay in the industry.

All that being said, I don’t think it was a bad ending by any means. It’s just that the first 2 acts were so strong that it didn’t hit as hard. I did think the final scene/shot was really good, and the makeup/effects used to make the Elizasue costume were crazy in the best way possible. So if you sat through all of this and my crappy summary didn’t put you off, I really recommend this movie if you can stomach it!!

[fountainpenguin]

Do you have any Hazel fics in the works?

I do, but none I expect to post for a quite a while.

I'm doing the Dimmadome story set-up first since Dale is the main bridge between Cloudlands and City Lights AUs (He and Hadley are the only characters who are the same in both AUs; everyone else, including Cosmo and Wanda, have completely different story directions - Poof and Peri are especially different due to aging differently - so Dale is really the only canon character who makes that easy bridge leap for me).

I guess Doug technically does too, but he's such a minor character that he hardly counts

I talked more about this in the City Lights AU Guide, but I'm doing the Dimmadome arc in the "50 Words" style all the way from Dale's childhood to Dev's young adult years. This builds the skeleton of the AU so we know where we came from and where we're going... very useful for my character profiles that would otherwise have spoilers; Dev's for example won't be posted until the end of this.

Then we'll circle back to fluffier things, including a multichapter called An Old Wish (Dev and Peri and their attempts to win Dale's love with magic), plus separate stories for the Wells family, Hazel, and her friends.

I do also have space in the 130 Prompts for her (specifically, after the next two prompts on our list), and I've loosely planned to include her there, but no promises. [Non-Cloudlands AU, obviously]

I'm doing it this way so I can outline Dimmadelphia founder history (via Dimmadome family) so I know my setting well, and I'd like to know if we're getting a Season 2 before I do much with Hazel. Due to the existence of my OC Hadley and my pre-established plan to have her marry Dale, the Dimmadome content was going to be AU from A New Wish no matter what.

With the Wells family, I might hold out until we know more about Hazel's extended family (Ex: cousins and grandparents) before I do things like make the Wells family tree. If we don't get a Season 2, I have free reign with those things, and if we do get a Season 2, then I can consider what pace I want to go.

- I don't mind populating her family with my own OCs, but I don't write many standalone one-offs; I prefer multiple works that build on each other in a single consistent canon. I want to be thoughtful about what I "lock myself into" writing for the next however many years of my life.

So, that's where I'm at. I'd like to do a pre-Dimmadelphia story for Hazel about her life before she moved... which is a topic I think Season 2 might explore.

We know she came from "the suburbs," but if they reveal she had a best friend she left behind, I'd rather write the canon character than make up one. Canon character tags will help more people find the story, and I might genuinely like the characters from her past (if any), so I don't want to spend my time and energy there while canon's ongoing.

I do have a Wells family draft I worked on during October. It's Angela-centric, focusing on her and Marcus during Hazel's early years. That said, it's a little too personal to me and I don't feel comfortable posting it to the public. Honestly, I may not ever share this one, and that's fine- I write for me.

I have several Hazel AU thoughts that I don't want to share yet because the outlines are rough (and might be scrapped), and I don't want to build false hype. I'm more likely to post these Hazel AU ideas - i.e. things that go in the Off the Rails series (for misc. AUs) - than I am to post Hazel-centric works in City Lights AU right now.

On the topic of Hazel, I did have someone ask a while ago why I used Dev and his parents as the cover image for City Lights AU and not Hazel. I did that because:

- I'd already drawn Hazel as the cover image character for the Off the Rails series, so I wanted to draw someone different (Same reason I used Cavatina and Anti-Wanda in the 130 Prompts cover instead of H.P. and Anti-Cosmo to represent Pixie and Anti-Fairy stories, because H.P. and A.C. are the cover characters for Origin and Knots). - I wanted three character pictures for the image so I could use red, yellow, and green blob backgrounds to mimic traffic lights (to fit the city theme). - There will be many Dimmadome works early, with Hazel works posted later. Dev and his parents felt more applicable than Hazel on that particular image. - My OC Hadley marries Dale, and this is something unique to my AU. City Lights doesn't have a special world-bending characteristic, so having an OC on the image may help people identify this AU better than Hazel alone.

I've not been asked this, but it's something I want to clarify in case anyone's been thinking it: the reason why Hazel isn't on Cosmo and Wanda's relationship chart on their sideblog profiles.

- The sideblog is for Cloudlands AU content, although a profile may mention how a character changes in a certain AU. A New Wish is a spin-off show, so it's not part of Cloudlands canon. - Hazel is a City Lights AU character. Cloud!Cosmo and Cloud!Wanda don't have a relationship with her. They're godparents to Tommy and Tammy during that time (in line with the "Channel Chasers" ending). -> I drew an image of my AUs HERE to give a visual for how City Lights branches off from Cloudlands (and where other AUs exist in relation to it). - I imagine Hazel does exist in Cloudlands AU, but she'll never be mentioned because she's a spin-off character. A New Wish is not canon with Cloudlands AU. -> She's there in the same way Viv and Roy are there: Technically they exist because I included them on the Turner family tree, and they might appear in a family reunion story, but "Fairly Odder" isn't canon in Cloudlands AU. -> In my timeline, Antony is born shortly after time is unfrozen. I opted for Angela and Marcus to be in a long-term honeymoon phase with no non-aging babies to care for. -> Hazel is born around the time Tammy and Tommy are, but I don't plan to include her because we don't know where she was born. If we find out she was born in Dimmsdale, then she'll possibly appear in Cloudlands AU, but only in her early years. Cloud!Cosmo and Wanda don't move to Dimmadelphia.

tl;dr - I do have Hazel thoughts in my head, but I don't expect to post them soon.

Thus far, she's appeared in my posted work "50 Words of Dev and Hazel." I'd like to do more relationship studies (Namely "50 Words of Hazel and Antony" & "50 Words of Wells" for their family, plus "50 Words of Hazel, Jasmine, and Winn" or individual stories for their duos), but I'm waiting for Season 2 news so I can decide if I want to use its canon.

-> Season 2 might also bring us more info on Wells and Jasmine's families, so I can write sleepover stories and house visits using canon family members instead of creating OCs. I don't mind creating OCs, but I'd be sad if I loved the canon characters and had already written Tran & Harper family stories that exclude them (or if they have single parent, stepfamilies, or adoption plotlines I want to explore).

-> It was an easy decision not to keep the Dimmadomes close to canon because I had a pre-existing OC married to Dale, and the OC is obviously not going to appear in canon. Thus, I didn't mind not waiting for Season 2 news to plan their family relationships. My Dimmadome works are helping me shape Dimmadelphia and its history before I add Hazel and her friends' families, but I do plan circle back to Hazel and the Wells family when I'm ready.

- Obligatory reminder that Cloudlands AU is my primary AU and is much higher priority than my City Lights works.

I do have some Hazel ideas that excite me, but I can only write so many things at once, so we'll get there when we get there. Some Hazel things might be posted in Off the Rails before I do stuff with her in City Lights.

[withered--s0uls]

Taking the Nuzi Kids Hungergames as my sign to post these all together

Intertwining/Intertwined Codes Timeline Kids - this may contain spoilers for the kids if I ever get motivation to revamp the joke fic

Feel free to ask me stuff about them, I'm too lazy to actually type out all info about them in this >.>

Rexim & Orita (twins)

You can find info on the twins in this post

I don't want to retype or copy paste all that lol.

Their Teen Designs are like 16ish! Their Child Designs like 4-6!

Zagi & Raven

They are like a day apart in age. They didn't know about Ravens existence until the day their programming finished developing, meanwhile Zagi was built and programmed using the regular canonverse USB method.

They're both about 5 years old :3

Annika

They technically knew her since she was a young kid but didn't adopt her until her pre teens. I haven't really made a younger design for her bc it wouldn't be much different aside from her joint count lol.

She's like 16-17 here (yes she's older than the twins!)

I might redesign her bc I feel her fit is too basic and doesn't reflect her age properly :" but I absolutely HATE my current attempt at it so we sticking with it

Olivia & Ray

And last but not least, the newest family addition (despite coming up with Raven after them, these two were adopted after Raven and Zagi booted up!)

Olivia is a similar age to Raven & Zagi, maybe a few months younger. But she tries to act more mature than them most of the time (trauma response).

Not much to say about Ray. That's a baby. Idk if I'll ever give him a body design. If I do then probably alongside doing a redesign for Annika!

Timeline of Events

Between Ep 4 & 5; The twins programs develop and are put into their pill baby bodies

Ep 5; Technically when the incident that causes Ravens program to develop happens, but Ravens program does NOT develop yet

Post-Canon;

The twins get their first bodies, after a good while Nuzi discuss adoption & start bonding with a still young child Annika to build trust.

Rexim is established to be unable to balance on worker legs so Uzi builds him legs based on Ns to give him more surface to balance on

Annika is adopted around the same time Zagi is being built (making Ann like 11-13 then). The twins get their teen bodies. Ravens program starts developing

Orita builds herself DD arms, Rexims main camera breaks

Zagi is finished, they find out about Ravens System. They still kept both twins pill shells so they upload Raven to the second one.

Zagi & Raven get their bodies.

Nuzi are on a mission to do some stuff with Outpost 06, only to run into Olivia and Ray who are being attacked by a different DD team. They intervene and whilst the other DDs give N an ear full for "crossing territory" Uzi gets the kids away and to safety. Later N reunites with them and they find out what happened to the kids parents and to outpost 06.

They take them back to outpost 03 to keep them safe, the orphanage wing is basically too full so the siblings kinda get shuffled around between Nuzi, Khan & Thad (Olivia is terrified of N and some of the other Nuzi kids so it's a mess)

Ray gets attached to Nuzi, its unhealthy for a baby to be separated from attached adults & he already lost his code parents. So now the siblings kinda just have to stick with Nuzi. (Accidental adoption lol)

[krystaldeath]

Cotl Auuuuu

It’s modern time babeyyyy

* This au does take place in modern day but it technically “starts” in the late 90s bc it’s a Narinder and Lamb were childhood best friends au :))

* I honestly have the most ideas for when they’re in high school but I’ll get to that in a bit (also should say this was inspired by that one prom post from redcrowncafe where Lamb talks about their prom date who was an asshole and wishes they knew Narinder then so they could’ve gone with each other. Saw that and thought “okay but what if they did” and that spiraled out of control)

* I’ve yet to say that my personal headcanon for Lamb’s family is that they had two moms, and three younger siblings (a sister about 12 years younger, and 18 years younger twins; one male one amab gender-fluid). The twins don’t show up till Lamb is, well, 18 tho so they won’t come up much yet

* The Bishops (Bishop is just their last name here) are all foster siblings who have shitty foster parents. Shamura stays even a bit into their early 20s because of this since they don’t want to leave their younger siblings alone with those two. The foster parents’ were abusive in multiple ways, and they also kept any money the Bishop’s respective parents might’ve left for their offspring to themselves (spoiler: Shamura’s in particular were LOADED and so when the Bishops are finally away from these two they’re pretty much set for life). It’s after a particularly scary night where a two year old Leshy and a six year old Heket are threatened while Shamura and the parents are arguing that something in Shamura snaps and they begin to plan to murder their foster parents. Yay!

* I don’t have the details but they in fact /do/ kill them. Thing is they’re super smart about it and hardly any evidence can be traced back to them. It is a small town though so there aren’t too many suspects and overall the one who would have the motive and probable method would be Shamura (unless they wanna try and pin it of 13 year old Kallamar or 8 year old Narinder). Thing is, their foster parents? No one liked them. So no one’s gonna point fingers. The police try and press people to give a suspect but no one does. So the case goes cold. But, even though no one liked the two, murder is still frowned upon by most so the siblings move away.

* But BEFORE all that let me explain a bit about Nari and Lamb’s friendship: they met in kindergarten (idk why they’re in the same grade when I hc Lamb to be a year older but shhh) and while Narinder tried to act “cool” and “aloof” Lamb was having none of it and dragged him along on little kid adventures like playing in the mud and pretending to be power rangers. Also almost from the get go Nari had a little crush on Lamb lol. Since Nari and his sibs move away when he’s 8, these two knew each other for 3 years. Idk what all happens in that time. Like I said most of what I’ve thought up for this au (mainly about Narilamb) happens in their high school years. It is thanks to their play dates at each others houses that Lamb figures out that being nonbinary is a thing from Shamura and is like “Wait… Me too???”

* After the move, Nari and Lamb stay connected through letters and phone calls. They also send pictures of all kinds of things, mainly of themselves so the other “won’t forget what I look like!” Neither make many lasting friends, at least, not ones around the same age as them (Lamb befriends Ratau and his buddies. Narinder befriends kind library assistant Forneus and her two twin sons).

* Lamb is loud and proud about who they are, which unfortunately makes them targeted for bullying, though it’s not just for their gender, it’s also because of their - Idk a better word than quirky Sorry - personality and the rumors about their long distance best friend; there’s multiple rumors, like that he doesn’t exist (this comes from those who don’t know much about the whole Bishop family scandal) or that he’s a murderer, just like his older sibling (this comes from those that /do/ know, ofc)

* Btw over the course of these years they’ve been apart Nari’s crush has only grown and Lamb has also gained a crush on Nari themself

* OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY TIME FOR THE BIT I HAVE THE MOST OF AN IDEA FOR GET READY (it’s super cheesy and corny and honestly feels like a Disney channel original movie but this fandom could use a little more of that imo so let me live)

* So, I know some schools would let Juniors have their own prom. Let’s say Lamb’s school does that. They had been asked by some guy to be his prom date and figured “why not?” and accepted. Thing is the guy asked if they could buy his ticket, and being the nice person (yet to decide if this is also a human au or if they’re still all animals) they are they do so. The guy then just takes the ticket and tells them to get lost. Lamb didn’t like the guy but it still hurt to have their kindness taken advantage of. They tell Narinder all about it and admit they probably won’t even go to the prom, even though they already bought a ticket and outfit. Nari, who Lamb can’t see bc it’s just a phone call, is absolutely SEETHING.

* Now Narinder has a mission: Get a tux, flowers, and other gifts. Convince Shamura to let him go in his truck (yeah he drives a truck in this au, idk it’s just the car I imagined when I thought it up lol) and be away from home for a few of days (it would take about a day to drive there, then he’d want to stay for at least one or two, then another to drive back). Shamura is reluctant (that town holds a lot of bad memories and him being so far away when he’s only 16 is scary), but seeing the determination in his eyes makes them relent.

* He calls Lamb’s moms and lets them know his plan, but wants it to be a surprise. They both agree to convince them to go to prom even if they will be going alone, without letting it slip that they will have a prom date after all.

* Prom night comes around, and Lamb, who is dressed in a tux-dress combo, is confused as to why their moms, who were so insistent that they go, aren’t ready to take them? (Projecting my reluctance to learn to drive onto them here, so that’s why they can’t drive themself). Then the doorbell rings. They answer and see Narinder (who is now like a foot taller wow couldn’t tell that in the photos he sent) in a tuxedo holding a bouquet and corsage. He’s got a nervous smile on his face as he says “I know it’s a little last minute, but will you allow me to accompany you to prom?”

* Almost a full minute passes in silence, making Nari sweat and begin to regret doing all of this. Then he gets jumped by Lamb into a hug that topples them both to the ground as they scream “YES!!!”. Thankfully they aren’t hurt and their formal wear is alright, though they wouldn’t notice otherwise, their focuses only on each other’s laughter and presence.

* When he opens the passenger door for them there’s a basket of treats, jewelry and a black cat plushie. “Ohh, Narinderrrr! You’re making me feel like I’m royalty!” “You are, to me.” *pause as they look at each other in flustered silence* “A-ANYWAYS WERE SHOULD GET GOING RIGHT?” “OH YEAH YOURE RIGHT. Uh, help me up?” He helps them climb into their seat, close the door, and silently screams about how dumb that was (while Lamb is inside internally screams about how sweet that was and oh no they think they’re falling for him)

* They get there (Yeah I realized Nari doesn’t have a ticket but let’s say somehow there was enough for him to buy one at the entrance) and they’re having a good time (only barely noticing the looks they’re getting and the whispers of “Isn’t that one of the Bishop siblings? Figures Lamb would have to settle for a murderer to be their date.”), dancing, eating and drinking the possibly spiked punch. I’m sorry to say some hurt is about to happen

* They have a run in with the guy who tricked Lamb and Nari almost breaks the guys nose before Lamb pulls him away saying it’s not worth it. He’s about to disagree and say something embarrassing again like “maybe /he’s/ not worth it but /you/ are and he hurt you so he deserves to be punched” when a girl “accidentally” spills her whole cup of punch onto Lamb’s outfit. Everyone around them laughs and Lamb, barely blinking back tears, runs out of the building. Narinder growls at them all and runs after Lamb.

* He finds them curled up by a tree outside, and sits down next to them. He tries to comfort them but they sob out “Just take me back home.” He agrees to do so, but tells them to go wash up a bit in the bathroom while he gets something. As they’re washing up he knocks on the door and asks to come in. They let him and see he’s holding a box. He tells them he planned on giving it to them later after Prom for something else he had planned but figured they’d just go now since Lamb didn’t want to stay anymore. He hands it to them and says he’ll be waiting outside.

* Surprise! It’s another outfit :)) It’s a bit more cozy than what they were wearing before, but still fit for “royalty”. And a black crown with a big red jewel inlaid in the middle-front

* They get dressed and marvel in the mirror before going back out. Narinder’s heart skips a beat when he sees them.

* Idk what to put in between so let’s skip ahead to when they’ve arrived at a spot out in the open wilderness where it’s easier to star gaze. He sets up the trunk bed to be comfy and reveals he had a cooler and basket of food for them to have a night picnic under the stars.

* After they’ve eaten some, one thing leads to another, and then Lamb pulls Narinder into a kiss. They both confess and spend the rest of their time cuddling (until Lamb gets a phone call from their very nervous moms because of how late it’s getting and they’re not home yet lol)

* I have more ideas but to sum them up for now: The rest of this AU is just Narilamb long distance relationship angst & fluff. Eventually the Bishops move back to the small town and then it’s not long distance narilamb (and eventual leshycat and whatever else).

* I will say this: Another murder will happen, this time it’s Lamb who commits it. That’s all I’m giving y’all ;))c

[we-keep-odd-hours]

tagged back by @hex6rcist! Thank you!

under a cut since I also rambled.

1. How are you!? I hope your day is going well.

ehhhh. I'm working not a great job, but its from home and if everyone is going to be insufferable, every single second i get of downtime I'm going to be on tumblr to stay sane.

2. What are you currently working on? Any little projects of any kind you’re excited to share?

I have an original novel in the works, I'm in the brutal final stages of tying off the loose ends of the rough draft (while this advice is some that I struggle to accept, to all writers I'd like to share this: the only thing that a first draft has to be is done.), I have two on-going fics (an Aliens one that's posted anonymously but tbh you could probably find it easily) and one of Diamondback's origin story.

Her origin story is more or less done (posting new chapters as I edit) except for a few plot points I'll make my decision on as I get to them in editing. There's details from my next project, a full follow up to the movie, that I kind of want to include in an epilogue to her story, since they're scenes/plot threads tied on her character arc.

3. What have you been watching lately? I just finished Righteous Gemstones and I need a new show lol.

I'm halfway through my rewatch of Hannibal right now, and I SHOULD rewatch West World next so I can finally watch the last season, but I've been itching to rewatch X-Files for a year now....the only problem being that X-Files is nine seasons, a mini series, two seasons of Millennium (IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND), and one season of Lone Gunmen (ALSO IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND). I never technically finished Millennium either, because they [spoiler] and it made me so angry at Chris Carter that I rage quit.

4. (A Near Dark one because how can I not) what’s your favorite small detail in the movie that other people might overlook?

When they first walk into the bar, Jesse kind of surveys the layout, but Diamondback immediately looks over to her right--at the bartender and the waitress, she then smiles, holds onto Jesse's arm and sets her head on his shoulder--and looks over the waitress again. Between that and her grin when the woman walked over, that whole weird thing seemed like some continuation of whatever game they were playing when she kissed the hitchhiker, which....guys, get a room. Homer and Mae are right there.

There are others, but this is the first one that came to mind.

5. What blog should I follow right now?

I'm bad at this; most people I've followed on here for literal years, or else picked up along the way when we had the same media obsession of the day.

6. Best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

I said it above already, but THE FIRST DRAFT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE GOOD, IT JUST HAS TO BE DONE.

7. If you could add one fantastical element to the real world and have it be a commonly accepted and known about thing what would it be? (Ie make Santa real)

This is asking for trouble: I believed in fairies at an age that was much, much too old to do so. I think it would be fun, or at least interesting if the fair folk were commonly known to exist. Dangerous, unwise, but fun.

8. What’s the last book you didn’t just read, you DEVOURED?

In the Valley of Sun by Andy Davidson. It was nasty, infuriating, full of characters I didn't like for but occasionally felt bad for, and it's about a wandering killer turned vampire living in an old RV just outside of Waco, TX in the 1980s. Yeah, that's what I thought too.

It was a break-neck paced mystery, not exactly of ''who'' did it, but of what happened, how did they do it, and are they going to get caught?

9. What are you most passionate about?

Art, literature, zoology. The order of those items changes frequently.

10. What do you think is your best quality?

oh I hate this question. Passion, I guess? It's not easy to get interested in something, but when I am, I can learn fast, pick up on details, and make weird connections. I'm literal minded and frequently get over-detailed on things, but I can think on multiple tracks at once and have caught things that even our Risk department at work didn't notice because they disrupted something.

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 4 - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

Harrowhark

I'm pretty sure you've already got plenty of submissions for her so I'll just say she was raised in what is basically a cult (technically a nunnery but let's be real) dedicated to keeping the body of the thing that will kill God behind the rock. One of their prayers is actually "I pray the rock is never rolled away". Harrow is extremely devout as penance for her earlier heretical actions in the tomb as a child (spoiler!) so the Catholic guilt really comes through

imagine being a catholic nun and you meet god, but it turns out he’s a twitch streamer from new zealand who became god because everything got a little bit out of hand. and just before you met him you gave yourself a diy grief-fuelled lobotomy with the help of your best frenemy. imagine how insane you’d be. now multiply that insanity by nine. that’s the fictional love of my life right there.

she meets god. she’s not inspired

she’s number one practitioner of space Catholicism. The locked tomb is chock full of Christian (catholic) imagery themes metaphors etc. just look at her she’s got a bone rosary

They're Catholicism with extra bones. Everyone is a nun. They have what is basically a rosary made from knuckle bones. They technically worship the same God as everyone else, but they're waaaay more focused on The Body in the Tomb (Mary) and we get a moment where we find out that while everyone else prays the equivilent of The Lords Prayer, they're doing the equivilent of Hail Mary. And they paint their faces with skulls.

She thinks leaving dry bread in a drawer is taking care of someone. She's in love with a 10,000 year old corpse (the same one they worship). She spent ALL NIGHT digging with her bare hands to make sure a field had bones every 5 feet so she could fight her girlfriend - I mean, greatest enemy. Spoiler territory: She's been puppeting her parents corpses since she was 8 years old. Instead of grieving her dead girlfriend, she gives herself a lobotomy. She makes soup with bone in it so she can use the bone IN THEIR STOMACH to try and kill them.

The author is/was Catholic and the entire series had heavy Catholic overtones. https://www.tor.com/2020/08/19/gideon-the-ninth-young-pope-and-the-new-pope-are-building-a-queer-catholic-speculative-fiction-canon/ A good breakdown of how it's Catholic

Anti-propaganda (spoilers)

I love the Locked Tomb series but Harrowhark has daddy issues with God, had a childhood crush on God's cryogenic partner, and is in love with God's daughter, not to mention that she's essentially a bone-bender. The religion on her home planet exists in a way that is technically against the will of the canon in-universe God, even. All of this to say, Harrowhark is heretical at minimum if not an outright witch. Terrible Catholic. Burn her.

Ronan Lynch

Uhh fun fact he saw the devil flash his father once, and that's one of the reasons he goes to church on Sundays <3

context for this scene from book 2: ronan is in church with his older brother declan, younger brother matthew, and ghost friend noah "Joseph Kavinsky isn’t someone I want you being around,” Declan added. “Don’t snort. I’m serious.” Ronan merely invested a look with as much contempt as he could muster. A lady reached over the top of Noah to pat Matthew’s head fondly before continuing down the aisle. She didn’t seem to care that he was fifteen, which was all right, because he didn’t, either. Both Ronan and Declan observed this interaction with the pleased expressions of parents watching their prodigy at work. Declan repeated, “Like, actually dangerous.” Sometimes, Declan seemed to think that being a year older gave him special knowledge of the seedier side of Henrietta. What he meant was, did Ronan know that Kavinsky was a cokehead. In his ear, Noah whispered, “Is crack the same thing as speed?” Ronan didn’t answer. He didn’t think it was a very church-appropriate conversation. “I know you think you’re a punk,” Declan said. “But you aren’t nearly as bad ass as you think you are.” “Oh, go to hell,” Ronan snapped, just as the altar boys broached the rear doors. “Guys,” Matthew pleaded. “Be holy.”

Gay Catholic streetracing farmer. Consumed by catholic guilt NOT because of the gay thing but because he can Create things in a way he thinks should be only God's business. Will literally roll up to mass on sunday morning still drunk and bloody.

THIS GOTH KID IS LITERALLY GOD. This is a god trapped in the body of a Catholic teen and if he ever stopped feeling Catholic guilt he’d end the world!!. How is your confession every week that you creating a whole new being? Babygirl the God is coming from inside the house

eldritch entity from beyond the mortal plane wants to be a Real Human Boy, becomes a real (ish!) human (ish!) boy, goes to mass every sunday

Gay boy got his crush an apartment above his church so he could have his two favorite things in one place

gay. I'm not caught up the the series but I went through the tag when the latest book came out and I remember seeing a quote that said he worried if his boyfriend would make it to heaven when he dies because of his agnostic tendencies.

Kid is like a dream warlock who creates psychic horrors and never goes to confession because why would he? and he’s gay

There are no words

basically ronan's powers are inherited from his dead father niall and it means he can bring anything from a dream into real life. so he's got this whole crisis about whether he is a living piece of blasphemy because men are not meant to have the powers of gods or whether he literally is god. which is not acceptable to him for a number of reasons but mostly because he hates himself. his love interest's name is adam and adam lives in a small apartment above a church which the book says focuses the objects of his worship neatly into one building. I love them both dearly. also, this entire page makes me feel like I'm going insane. Ronan Lynch believed in heaven and hell. Once, he’d seen the devil. It had been a low, late morning at the Barns when the sun had burned off the mist and then burned off the chill and then burned the edges off the ground until everything shimmered with heat. It never got hot in those protected fields, but that morning, the air sweated with it. Ronan had never seen cattle pant before. All of the cows heaved and stuck their tongues out as they frothed with the heat. His mother sent Ronan to put them in the shade of the cattle barn. Ronan had gone to the searing metal gate, and as he did, he’d glimpsed his father, already in the barn. Four yards away from him had stood a red man. He was not truly red, but the burned orange of a fire ant. And he was not truly a man, because of the horns and the hooves. Ronan remembered the alienness of the creature, how real it had been. Every costume in the world had gotten it wrong; every drawing in every comic book. They’d all forgotten that the devil was an animal. Looking at the red man, Ronan had been struck by the intricacy of the body, how many miraculous pieces moved smoothly in harmony, no different than his own. Niall Lynch had had a gun in hand — the Lynches had an enormous number of guns of all sizes — and just as Ronan had opened the gate, his father had shot the thing about thirteen times in the head. With a shake of its horns, the unharmed devil had presented its genitalia to Niall Lynch before bounding off. It was an image that had yet to leave Ronan. And so Ronan became a reverse evangelist. The truth burst and grew inside him, and it was laid upon him to share it with no one. No one was meant to see hell before they get there. No one should have to live with the devil. So many homilies on faith were ruined once you no longer required it for belief.

Our boy CHOOSES not to receive the Eucharist because he doesn’t believe he is worthy. The spiritual insight, the devotion, the fact that this teenager is worried he may have a mortal sin weighing on his soul…this boy isn’t just going through the motions, he’s putting work into this.

[bobbile-blog]

Arknights Lore Recap: End of 2023

Here I was, thinking my last post would be sufficient, but they keep on adding more gosh darn lore. Half a year has gone by since my last post, so I thought I'd update things and make another post of "where is everyone at the moment" to help keep all these plotlines straight. So, here's the sequel! More events, more organization since it's no longer a half-assed post I wrote on my phone in an hour, and you'd better believe we've got more lore to get through.

(Of course, spoilers for the current state of basically everything in Global, though they'll be the kind of "current events" spoilers to help you understand where we are at the moment)

Currently Active Plotlines:

Main Story act II: Main story chapters/ What the Firelight Casts, Amiya/ Siege/ Stainless/ Shining/ W/ Kal'tsit/ Doctor/ Closure/ etc.

Act 2 is in full swing, and oh boy do we have some politics to wade through. The general idea, minimizing spoilers, is that the Royal Court of the Sarkaz have taken over Londinum and intend to expand further using the catastrophe-creating superweapon The Shard. They're led by Theresis and the (mostly) united Sarkaz lords, and with a mercenary army they basically rule Victoria as an occupying power. Their power is concentrated in Londinum, the only city they really formally occupy, but as they control the seat of the country's power they effectively have the rest of the country at their mercy.

Opposing them are a number of factions. Firstly, the coalition of Victorian Nobles that have ruled the country (and that technically invited the Sarkaz to Victoria in the first place) want the throne again. There are a few specific nobles we deal with in ch12 but the implication is the politics will be elaborated on in the next chapter so we'll leave it there, the point is that they're the Victorian establishment trying to go back to old Victoria which means they suck. They're also working with Dublinn, who are collaborating with the Duke of Wellington(?) who is sympathetic to their causes. The Nobles have just recently gone to formal war with the Sarkaz, but they also all hate each other and will absolutely stab each other in the back whenever possible.

Besides them, there are also a couple of smaller underground resistance factions. The Londinum Self-salvation Corps, or Eartha, is a guarilla resistance movement who is currently getting their asses handed to them by the Sarkaz. They basically existed solely because the Sarkaz hadn't bothered to wipe them out yet, and have currently evacuated all of their surviving personnel out of the city. Additionally, there's a group of Victorian soldiers led by Commander Skamandros who have been sticking their noses into things. If I recall correctly, they're trying to evacuate Londinum as well.

Finally, we have Rhodes Island. We're here because of the classic D&D reason of "well all our plotlines seem to end up in this general area so I guess that's where we're going". Amiya and Kal'tsit feel somewhat responsible for not stopping Theresis and Amiya specifically is probably the only person with the right to challenge Theresis for the throne of the Sarkaz. Bagpipe and Reed (and Ch'en) are dealing with Dublinn things, so they have to be around here. Shining is a Confessarius and her evil wizard family is supporting Theresis so she's got stuff to do there. Siege is the last surviving member of the Victorian Royal family, so she's bound by blood and obligation to reclaim the throne, as well as just generally wanting to help the people of Victoria. Hoderer is currently in the employ of the Sarkaz and Innes is working in Londinum as a spy for Rhodes Island, so W wants to head there too. There's a lot going on, far too much to describe, so I'll leave things at "we have half a dozen personal plotlines to pursue there" so I can move on to the actual side events.

The Devil's Dragonball Fusion Dance: Ancient Forge(?)/ Who is Real/ Invitation to Wine/ Where Vernal Winds will Never Blow, Nian/ Dusk/ Ling/ Chong Yue/ Lava/ Kroos/ Lee/ Waai Fu/ Lin/ Zuo Le/Liang Xun

This one is updated pretty regularly as the CN new year event. The short lore overview is that Yan used to be populated by godlike beings called Feranmuts. Feranmuts fought a war with people, which concluded when a Feranmut named Sui betrayed his people because they wanted to be the only one with their kind of powers. After the war, the emperor of Yan (China analogue) split him into 12 fragments which eventually developed their own identities and personalities - these are the Sui siblings, i.e. Nian, Dusk, Ling, Chong Yue, etc. Once all twelve of these siblings meet again, they will reform back into Sui and they'll probably take over the world or whatever. We don't know exactly but it won't be good.

There are currently three parties interested in gathering the siblings, and one trying to prevent them. Firstly, the Second Brother (who is currently unnamed) is just a little crazy, and is currently working with the Yanese ministry of rites to revive Sui. We don't know a ton about him, but we know he's somehow split himself into fragments and scattered himself across the land. Secondly, Ya is another Feranmut that survived the old war and wants revenge on Yan and Sui. They want Sui revived so they can have a proper form of revenge on Them, and are currently in control of the Shanhaizhong bandits kinda just causing issues wherever They can. Finally, Nian and her siblings at Rhodes Island also want to gather the siblings, but not to re-form Sui. She has some sort of plan to bring the siblings together without losing themselves, and is working with Rhodes Island to accomplish it. Similarly, we don't know a lot about her plan, but they're generally the protagonists of the events. Finally, Zuo Le is an official in a Yanese organization called the Sui Regulator, whose job is to monitor and secure the remaining Feranmuts and the fragments of Sui. Zuo Le is doing his best, but he's a little out of his weight class, so most of what he does is follow the Sui fragments around and try to figure out what the hell is going on.

The Call of We Many: Grani and the Knight’s Treasure/ Under Tides/ Stultifera Navis/ Mizuki and Caerula Arbor (Integrated Strategies 3), Skadi/ Specter/ Gladiia/ Kal’tsit.

Was updated pretty frequently as an anniversary event, but they seem to have thrown us a big lore dump with Caerula Arbor and left it at that for the time being, which is understandable. The lore here is the Seaborn are a race decended from some early Feranmuts who are basically a constantly-evolving devouring swarm. They exist to consume and assimilate all of the life on the planet, and unless we are very very careful and work very very quickly they are going to do just that.

The state of the plot at the moment is a little odd. Because Mizuki and Caerula Arbor isn't canon, the plot is still at the end of Stultifera Navis. Specter has recovered her self, and the team of Abyssal hunters is delving deeper into the current state of the seaborn. Their former leader, Ulpanius, has shown up to warn them not to return to Aegir, and while the Stultifera Navis sank the lighthouse was recovered and some trinkets from the ship made it back. We aren't really sure where we're going from here, but it's not necessarily to Caerula Arbor. Basically, the canon lore of IS3 is that on a mission to the Iberian Coastline, the Doctor and Mizuki found a weird seaborn monument, and Mizuki used their connection to the Seaborn's minds to look into alternate timelines and show them to the Doctor. That means that while the events of the story are not canon, the Doctor may still know and reference the events in the story. I'm not going to go over all of IS3 because there's so much of it but you can find a rough summary here.

Fangs of the Signiori dei Lupi: Hinted earlier in the main story/ Il Siracusano, Texas/ Emperor/ Lapland/ Projekt Red/ Lunacub.

This is the newest of these plots, set up in Il Siracusano and presumably proceeding from there. The Feraerus are supernatural talking animals that we’ve encountered a couple of times throughout the story, like the High Priest or the Emperor. They are connected with the land and are almost akin to guardians of it. They don’t need Originium for their magic, and are tied to the setting in ways we don’t quite understand yet. More importantly to us, though, they’re involved in their own power struggles and contests among each other. This underscored the drama in Il Siracusano - the whole Bellone family was propped up by the wolf Feraerus Zarro as part of an ancient game in which the wolves pick champions, called Fangs, who fight each other in a Battle Royale to decide the pack’s next alpha a la the fake wolf study. We know a couple of the fangs - Lunacub is one and Bernardo was another before his death, but Projekt Red is also a Fang, as well as Crownslayer’s mentor, so we’ll probably be coming back to this conflict in the future. It's unclear how we'll approach it, though, as Bernardo and Lunacub's files seem to imply that the eventual goal will breaking free of this game.

Law and Otherwise: Guide Ahead, Fiametta/ Mostima/ Andoain/ Cecile/ Lemuen/ Pope Yvangelista XI/ Law/ Executor/ Enforcer

This one hasn't been super developed yet, but it's worth including with both Hortus de Escapismo and Zwillingstürme im Herbst coming up. Laterano, the city of the Sankta, is governed by immutable laws that are engraved onto the very bodies of the Sankta. In Guide Ahead, Andoain seeks to ask the Pope the question of why the Sankta do not help the people of the world. He learns that the laws that bind the Sankta are real, physical commandments enforced by Law, a robotic entity similar to the Preserver from Lonetrail, and the consequences and exceptions relating to the law are entirely at its discretion. The law is what it is because Law says so.

The Sami Icefields

This hasn’t technically gotten an event yet, besides that one story in Operational Intelligence, but I’m including it as an honorable mention because we’re going there for IS4. The Icefields are up north of Ursus, and they are terrifying. You remember the Emperor’s Blade, the one that kicks your ass in WD-8? Yeah we only see three of them in the game because the rest are busy fighting against the Eldritch demons constantly invading from the Sami Icefields. Let’s please never go there ever, thanks.

Finished Plotlines:

These two are complete plots, which I'm including for posterity and the worldstate. Spoilers for all of these events, but I'll try to keep things to the present so as to not spoil too much.

The Grand Knight Major: Maria Nearl/ Pinus Sylvestris/ Near Light/ Obscure Wanderer, Blemishine/ Zofia/ Nearl/ The Followers/ Flametail/ Ashlock/ Fartooth/ Wildmane/ Justice Knight my beloved/ Gravel/ Platinum/ Roy/ Monique/ Młynar.

Margaret Nearl won the 24th Major and became the Grand Knight, and has since stayed in Kazimierz to improve living conditions for the infected and push back against the General Chamber of Commerce. The Armorless Union has mostly been decapitated - the Platinum defected, the Lazurites have disappeared and taken on new identities, and the Darksteel has promised to stay away from Margaret and Rhodes Island. Pinus Sylvestris and most of the rest of the Nearls are now on the landship, working for Rhodes Island.

A New Age is Upon Us: Mansfield Break/ Dorothy’s Vision/ Lonetrail/ the second Records of Originium comic (which has an official translation that you should absolutely read it’s really good)/ the Friston-3 event whenever Yostar decides to get around to releasing it, Silence/ Ptilopsis/ Saria/ Ifrit/ Dorothy/ Mulesyse/ Ferdinand/ Rosemontis/ Ho’olheyak/ Kirsten.

After the events of Project Horizon, Terra has forever been changed. For just a fleeting moment, every living being in Terra looked up and saw the stars for the first time. The consequences of this aren't totally clear just yet, but it will almost have rippling effects across the world and marks a shift in the game's story as a whole. We also received confirmation of just who the Doctor truly is, and a look behind the curtain of Terra's history. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that nothing is the same after Lonetrail.

In more specific character terms, though, Saria is the new control of Rhine lab, with Silence as her assistant and ethics advisor. Ifrit is a big girl now, and practically a different character entirely from who she was at the start of the game - seriously, her character arc might be my favorite in the game. Rosemontis has also similarly faced her past and come out stronger, and not only Directors Dorothy and Mulesyse but also Maylander agent Ho'olheyak have come over to Rhodes Island in the chaos after Project Horizon. Finally, Rhodes Island has uncovered the real powers lying behind the scenes of Columbian Politics, but have in turn been noticed themselves. We are no longer in the shadows, and it would be wise to keep that in mind.