#so clearly theyve been crashing

[thecherrygod]

i have a weird relationship with my grandma. i think we both try but we both tend to hit our limits. at least on my part im trying to not let it happen too often tho bc it does feel mean and unnecesary, and she is almost 90

now that one of my brothers is living with us again for a bit, even tho she loves him and he clearly is the favorite grandson, they are currently in a rough spot relationship wise, so im trying to be even kinder to her to try and not get her too down

......

and its a bit funny that every time i am a bit more patient she does the equivalent of giving me lunch money

[tu-es-gegg]

im so confluicted tdaoy;;;;

codeflippa seems to enjoy herself, she seems to genuinely have a connection with slime, giving him a hug at juana's grave, she likes to hanging out with everyone, she's jumping around and looking happy, she's open to everyone now and not afraid to spend time with them, she clearly doesnt want to hide from anyone anymore, jumping around the adults like a kid, a real kid

with everyone playing along with her antics and her chaotic nature, she doesnt want to harm anyone seemingly, she's just a little bti of a rascal.

but i look at slime's infected shoulder, his glitchy coughs, hes infected and hes not going to do anythign about it because he never takes care of himself, hsi entire self worth i prided on him as a father to flippa

she doesnt know the real flippa and her memories, she doesnt have any feeelings towards mariana, HER MUM, who spent so much time with her and celebrated her birthday on easter, the home they built together, but she had no hesitation to blow it up, she speaks weird and she doesnt respond to anything code related, im unsure if she has an agenda or not. she's avoiding questions, she says she didnt lead bad and others down the maze, somethign is clearly wrong.

and ofc shes a code, thats not teh real juanaflippa, it couldnt be. from everyone else's perspective, they are mortified and scared for charlie, looking on into the situation with true horror that their friend is being duped by this imposter but not willing to break the illusion, theyve seen this thing before so they have to ease him out slowly, not to disturb the precious protective bubble of the deceit but opening a helping hand out to slime in case it gets worse for him, saying that he shoudl trust them to help him out

but he's not going ot notice anything's wrong easily because combined with that denial of grief and the desperation to never lose this important thing ever, he's going to either take forever to figure it out or itll all come crashing on him and he's going to be broken

but codeflippa looks so happy, slime looks happy (he's the happieset he's ever been), but codeflippa is only happy because she's lying to everyone, slime is only happy because he's deep in the lie, they both are only happy because of this ruse that the code is juanaflippa, the promise that not all is lost, that teh family is still altogether........

its all red flags and rose tinted glasses with charlie and codeflippa and im stuck wondering if/when the act is dropped, will they still be happy as a family, that all the happy times with tasks are still real to both of them or that it was the last straw

[branmuffins22]

of all the things to just not bring up again about the events of kings tide, im surprised to see that luz being very nearly petrified didnt make that cut. like, she was seconds or less from being irreversibly turned into a statue, while nobody was around to help, completely at the mercy of belos.

sure, we saw this once before with eda, at the end of season 1, but shes a full grown adult, with a lot more experience being transformed against her will (what with the curse and all), and she had at least a whole day to come to terms with her impending demise, not to mention the years shes known she had it coming.

not luz. shes a child, the closest experience she had to this body horror was when she bodyswapped with eda for an afternoon, and she had maybe a minute, tops, between when her petrification was started on a whim and when it wouldve been complete. she was just a kid trying to convince an old bastard to stop his religiously-motivated genocide.

and somehow, she kept a cool head, cool enough to find a way out, cool enough to talk her executioner into stopping, and cool enough to turn the situation around on him right afterwards, flawed though that plan ended up being.

luz seems to have become the kind of person to be remarkably calm and competent under life-threatening pressure, only to pass that dread into the future. we saw this near the end of season 1 when she managed to walk all the way from the emperors castle to the owl house before finally breaking down, again when she was run ragged at the blight expo before coming home and crashing, and another time when she broke down as soon as the action stopped after the trip into the emperors mind.

ever since the end of season 1, she hasnt done a lot of panicking under duress like she used to do (like running away during the duel at the covention, and running from grom, to name a few), but she almost always brings it up again eventually, from her pride over the piece of the emperors mask she chipped off in their first fight, to the constant angst about the revelations in hollow mind, she clearly processes the emotions from those scenarios eventually.

not so with her petrification.

i suppose i can chalk it up to another casualty of the cut, but its really a huge shame that all we get to worry about from the events of kings tide is "the child god is running loose on the boiling isles while were stuck on earth, unable to ensure the safety of our loved ones", and then theres the whole new/old thing of belos somehow still being around, and it just feels so disconnected from that plot.

their time on earth couldve been a deeply emotional unpacking of all the stuff theyve been going through while they try to make it back, mixed with whatever adventures can be had, repeated failures and lingering repression leading up to luz's attempted narrative suicide, but instead we got "look how sad this all is, but look at all the fun times weve had, but now look how much sadder luz still is than everyone else, despite all those fun times we just showed you, and wOAH WATCH OUT! BELOS!"

idunno, one of the biggest reasons ive gotten into fanfic in the last month has been to explore the emotional consequences of all that stuff. one of my favorite oft-overlooked traumas is that luz had to endure the encroaching effects of a rather horrific death while simultaneously lying her way out of it, succeeding by such a small margin that it may as well have been a fluke that she survived at all. lots of potential for angsty nightmares and such, but none of it explored.

[kvothbloodless]

I sadly have neither the free time nor the mental energy to commit to learning how to/playing in a Pathfinder campaign, but if you wanna talk about it, I would absolutely love to know more about what sort of story it is and how your players are ruining Calernia

Shockingly, they havent done Much ruining yet, though theyre about to fight a (significantly weakened) Demon, so who can say. I cant reveal Too much of the plot, because despite the fact that were like a dozen+ sessions in, theyre only Just about to learn what the fuck is actually going on.

But the basics is that the campaign is set a little under a year after the Conquest, with a major timeline divergance that like, Wouldnt have actually happened, is a totally plausible thing that could have happened if various small things had lined up correctly.

Currently, the party (only 4 so far) consists of 3 transitional Names and one Potentially transitional Name. Theyve been dealing with a Named (claiment) thats part of a lesser branch of the Sahelians, whos causing trouble in South Eastern Procer (around Temerife) with a flying castle (and clearly involved with a larger group of villains, but party doesnt know what thats about yet).

Anyways, an older hero (the Careful Swordsmaster) led them against Folami Sahlian. They crashed her castle into the ground while keeping all of the various bound monsters (most of which were pathfinder beasties like undead that infect those they kill or shit like Gloomwings which lay rapidly growing eggs in corpses to make more Gloomwings) in their bindings, so that most died when the castle crashed. This was at the cost of letting Folami get away, and setting them up for a losing pattern of three by doing so.

But, they did stop the castle from dropping on a small town or any of the class-S threats escape. So now they get to fight the Demon Folami had bound in the rubble! Im sure this will go great for them! And especially for the older, grizzled hero whos taken on a mentorship role to them!

[stellawolfearts]

So for pittedpeaches three stories what would you say is your favorite scene from each of the three stories (and also would you be willing to draw them as a request or com? *Insert the "take my money" meme here*)

(ppssstt honey, if you'd like a comm their not technically 'officially' open but if u want one dm me on my main and we can talk ;) . ofc if its a request just Kofi's fine but yesyes i would be willing to draw a scene from one of those fics)

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

SPOILERS FOR THESE FICS UNDER THE CUT PLEAS EPLEASE LISTN TO ME WHEN I SAY IF YOU LIKE SPICYNOODLES YOU NEED TO READ THESE FICS AND EXPERIENCE THEM WITHOUT PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OHMYGOD

god pittecpeaches has such good fics i cant-AAAA I CANT CHOOSE ONE.

so i just checked thier profile and i havent read a garden across our collarbone yet-

but out of the two i have read (genus daturam and from three thirty to four) i'd say....

Every part of Red Son which MK touched seemed to burn. The conversations they had that evening played over and over in his head. Red Son wished he could have stayed there forever, eating meals, washing dishes, kissing between intimate talks about parents and inside jokes about metal peaches–

Wait a minute. 

Wait a fucking minute- 

MK had nearly closed the window shut when Red Son ripped it open. “I didn’t know about the peaches.” 

MK stumbled back from the window, clearly not expecting Red Son to come back and say that of all things. “Uhh, what-”

THIS WHOLE SCENE HERE ITS BOTH HILAROUS AND SUCH AN AMAZING CLIMAX TO EVERYTHING THATS HAPPENED IN THE FIC LISTEN-LISTEN- NO GET UR ASS OVER HERE UR GNNA LISTEN TO ME AND LISTEN GOOD OKAY OKAY I NEED TO RANT-YOUVE GOT ME RANTING NOW MOTHERFUCKER/POS

theyve been secretly pining over each other for ages and then redson finnaly realises he's in love with mk and he knows mk doesnt know hes redson (WHICH IS HILAROUS OHMYGOD) and and and he LEAVES

FUCKER TRIES TO LEAVE BC "he loves red, not redson" BOOOIIIIIII

B O I

AND HE GOES OVER EVERYTHING THEY DID TOGETHOR AND ITS ALL BUILDING UP THE EMOPTIONS ARE ALREADY HIGHTEEND IN THE CHARACTERS AND READERS BECAUSE ALL THIS LOVEY DOVETY EXITEMNTY WEVE BEEN WAITING FOR IS FINNALLY HAPPENING ONLY FOR RED TO CUT IT OFF AND NOW HE'S GOING THROUGH EVERY THING IN THE DAY EBECAUSE HE WANTS TO TREASURE THE MEMORY EVERYONE CHATRACTERS AN DREADERS ARE FEELING THINGS AND THEN

O

OH

OH SHIT

THE METAL MOTHERFUCKING PEACHES

THE INSIDE JOKE THAT ONLY MK COULD MOTHERFUCKIN KNOW

i am so normal about this fic * froths at the mouth *

“When I asked you to cut the peaches, you made a joke asking whether they were real or metal.” Red Son climbed back into the house. “But I wouldn’t know about that, would I? So why did you make the joke?” 

MK’s eyes were wide and for a moment, Red Son saw it–the glimmer of realization. As quickly as it came it left, hidden by MK squeezing his eyes shut and laughing. “OH! Well, a long while back there was this race around the city, and the winner got what I thought were the real Peaches of Immortality but was actually–”

“But you didn’t say you made that mistake.” Red Son jabbed a finger into MK’s chest. “You said we did. The only people in that race were you, the Dragon Horse girl, and the Demon Bull Family. So how did we make that mistake?!” 

MK stumbled on the floor, falling flat onto his ass. He stared up at Red Son, chuckling awkwardly. “Uh, well, I just-I guess I just-uhh-I don’t know, I’m tired, and it probably slipped out, there’s nothing to it, you don’t have to worry about it Red S-RED! Red, Red, it’s no big deal–” 

MK was panicking, stumbling on his words, unable to look Red Son in the eye. It only confirmed what Red Son had begun to realize. 

“You know who I am, don’t you?” He looked down at MK.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHEN I SAY I FREAKED OUT DURING THIS SCENE I WAS FUCKING SCREAMING

I WAS CHEERING I WAS CRYING ALL THE FUCKING EMOTIONS CRASHING INTO ME AT O N C E

(rereads ur ask....oh you said pick a scene from each of them mkay mkay-

THE HAIR-WASHING SCENE IN GENUS DATURA

First off this is funny af definitly the kinda shit i would write

“Alright. I know you just told me you hate water,” MK turned Red Son, clasping his hands together with a strained smile. “But, I’m going to need you to get into the tub.” 

Red Son’s eyes went wider than noodle bowls. He turned his head to look at the tub, now nearly filled with water. MK could see Red Son’s mouth hang ajar as he turned back to face him. 

No, not face him. Red Son was looking behind MK, but why would he do that? All that was behind MK was the door-

Red Son scrambled for the exit on all fours. 

It took several minutes of shouting and chasing the surprisingly slippery Red Son around the bathroom before MK finally grabbed him. MK latched his arms around Red Son’s waist and pulled him from the ground. Red Son screeched, trying to pry MK’s arms off him. His skin was so hot it hurt to hold him, but at this point MK didn’t care. With a mighty heave, MK tossed Red Son into the bath.

The water splashed out the tub, covering the tiles in a thin sheen. Red Son floundered for a bit, thrashing his arms and legs beneath the water’s surface before emerging with a loud gasp. His ponytail had lost all its gravity-defying heat, now clinging to the back of Red Son’s neck. Red Son shuddered, aggressively trying to wipe the water off his steaming arms. 

HE SCRAMBLED ON ALL FOURS LMAO I CANT I COULDNT BREATHE WHEN I FIRST READ IT

The moment MK’s fingers touched his scalp, Red Son flinched. MK moved his hands away, worried that he hurt Red Son, only for him to let out a whine. “Why’d you stop?!”

“Sorry, sorry, I’m not stopping!” MK laughed. “But, really, you gotta let me know if this is too much for you.” He ran his hands through Red Son’s roots. He could see Red Son’s face scrunch up in surprise, but he didn’t seem uncomfortable. In fact, as MK continued to work the shampoo into Red Son’s hair, he seemed to lean into the touch, his breaths becoming slow, heavy, and relaxed. 

As MK leaned Red Son’s head back to get a better angle, Red Son stared up at him with sleepy eyes, blinking slowly. There was a small, content smile on his face. MK didn’t think he’d ever seen that expression on Red Son’s face before. Red Son’s smiles usually ranged from a maniacal grin to a hidden curl of his lip, but this felt softer, like Red Son’s inhibitions were being uncoiled with each knot MK untangled from his hair. 

It occurred to MK, suddenly, how intimate this moment was. A blush ran up his cheeks at the realization, but Red Son didn't seem to care. He just grinned, dreamily at MK as he washed Red Son's hair. 

This…was nice. 

It was a bit overwhelming, sure. Red Son couldn’t remember the last time another person’s hands were running through his hair like this. Maybe when he was a toddler? Before he learned to wash himself? 

But, it was nice. 

MK’s fingers worked themselves into Red Son’s roots. Every now and then, his nails would scratch at his scalp and it’d send a shock down his nervous system. Red Son didn’t mind it though. He leaned into the touch, a lazy smile stretched on his face. 

Red Son looked up at MK as he worked. His vision had blurred considerably from the crimson jimsonweed smoke, but he could recognize the Noodle Boy anywhere. He still had that ridiculous hair style, and that traffic-cone colored coat, and a grin that haunted Red Son’s lonely evenings. He was unmistakable. 

What was MK doing here? He shouldn’t be here. He was supposed to be kart-racing with Mei right now. If MK was actually here, his parents would probably have found out by now, wouldn’t they? Or at the very least, one of the bull clones would have alerted the other staff. Not to mention, MK was supposed to our kart racing with Mei right now. There was no way he could possible be here.

But Red Son could feel MK’s hands working into his hair, couldn’t he? And MK had carried him up here, had cleaned his face, had thrown him into this atrocious tub full of water. MK was taking care of Red Son. When was the last time someone had taken care of Red Son? Since he was a child? Before he had to learn to care for himself? 

It was so nice. Red Son could live in the feeling of MK’s care forever. It was certainly a good distraction from his burning skin, his foggy brain, the doom which whispered to him in stanzas of half-remembered puffy poetry about death from the crimson jimsonweed, about the images which haunted you into Diyu. 

MK began to wash the shampoo out of Red Son’s hair, using one hand to pour water out of the basin and the other to block the soap from slipping down into his eyes. It was a small act, but one that showed a careful attention to detail that MK rarely showed to anything at all. It was the sort of sweet gesture that told Red Son he was cared for by MK, that he was loved. 

And wasn’t that what had been haunting him for weeks now? Love? 

Images that haunt you/Will carry your soul down/And pass you to ten kings

“Oh.” He whispered. “I see.” 

MK smiled down at him. “What’s up?” 

The candles that hung on the bathroom wall seem to fan MK's face with warmth and light. It almost looked like the light was bursting out from him, like MK's body could only barely contain all the lights in the heavens. But, maybe that was just Red Son's delirious, slowly-dying brain seeing what he always thought of MK. 

“I’m hallucinating.” Red Son murmured. 

all of this man

all of this

for one, i love intimate moments like this in fics. and the way this author writes this its just OHMYHEART-

and something about hands running through hair man *CLUTCHES HEART*

AND THEN

AND THEN THE

"im hallucinating"

*flatlines*

GOD ITS SO GOOD I LOVE IT SO MUCH

anways yeah ill get to reading the third on soon but these are my fave scenes :DDD

[inquisitoradaar]

feel like i need to elaborate on musics love shape. long post ahead bc god there is so much explaining that needs to be done here. the situation is Intricate and Dire. also spoilers for balding gate or whatever

i went in without any idea who i was gonna romance but then i met gale and was like ok. i think this is the guy. and had made up my mind on it until wylls introduction where i was like oh fuck hes so hot but i couldnt change my mind id already promised myself id romance gale.

anyways. the party ends up being music + shadowheart + gale + wyll for a while. this is not because of preference but bc i literally managed to miss astarion (i went to the bottom of the hill hes on and then said out loud to myself 'nothing else here' and went back in the nautiloid.) and lae'zel (saw the two tieflings that caught her but didnt see the cage and decided to avoid conflict). i eventually swap out shadowheart for karlach when i meet her (it was besties at first sight for me) and then get told by some friends who r also playing that im a fucking dumbass and completely missed astarion and lae'zel (id already saved the grove by this point so LMAO)

i go back to the crash site, grab astarion, then use a scroll of revivify on lae'zel bc shes dead in the mountain pass (whoops). theyve both missed literally everything. i go to camp and astarion immediately reveals to music that he is a vampire. awesome. theyre also both charlatans which is a lil funny to me. i add neither of them to my party bc by this point im extremely attached to gale wyll and karlach and music has rlly high approval w all three of them.

now in truth the love shape was already in the equation bc gale is still not over mystra. music is unclear as to whether or not this affection is still reciprocated on mystras part (and tbh so am i . i havent finished act 2 yet ok) but when they shared a Moment in the weave gale enjoyed it so clearly thats also happening. so we have a love triangle going on. this is fine and manageable even if music is not a big fan of the whole the-guy-im-into-has-a-bomb-in-his-chest-bc-of-his-ex-who-he-still-loves thing.

we get to the underdark. i have a long rest. astarion has smth to say. in-game it has been two days since i finally grabbed him from the crash site (has he just been waiting that entire time for someone to walk down that path so he could stab them?). cutscene plays out, he wants music to tell him hes pretty, music responds w 'gales more my type', and astarion makes a comment abt how hell have to work on himself if hes to 'catch up w the competition' um?

so the love triangle is now a sort-of love square. could be just a lil silly fun joke and i think of it as such (at least when ignoring the meta (thats another story)) until i get to act 2 and have a long rest in the shadow-cursed lands. and astarion says to music smth like 'were kindred souls, were walking down the same path, we should take over the absolutist cult and rule the world together' WHAT IS HAPPENING. what coded declaration of love bullshit is this. music and astarion barely even know each other.

so, great, love triangle is now officially a partially unreciprocated love square. but then. but THEN. to make matters WORSE for ME PERSONALLY. having another long rest in the shadow-cursed lands and a cutscene starts to play. wyll is dancing and so music joins in (naturally, theyre best friends w wyll (literally, they have maximum approval from him) and a BARD) and then things start getting. quote. "intimate" and i go oh no i have to put a stop to this bc things have started getting more serious w gale. and when i tell wyll that they should both step away from this he looked so genuinely heartbroken it made me feel so horrifically sad.

so the partially unreciprocated love square is now. even worse. a love shape of no real design. with music, some random loser tiefling bard charlatan in the middle of it all. gods help them

[milf-harrington]

ok gimme a rundown of the warrior cats society and how an atla au would work

this took me a really long time to answer bc tumblr kept crashing ://

anyway, so... basics.

within the warriors universe theres different groups: clans, rogues, loners + kittypets (theres more but that goes beyond basics)

there are 5 main clans (technically 6 (technically 7))

Thunderclan: live in densley wooded areas, prefer woodland creatures as prey (squirrels, mice etc), tend to rely on their strength.

Riverclan: live along waterways where they can hunt fish and river birds, they enjoy swimming and are very slippery fighters

Windclan: live in open spaces like moors or grassy fields where they can run and hunt rabbits, they're swift on their feet and agile.

Shadowclan: live in darker, colder places like marshes or pine forests with a diet of "grosser" prey like frogs and rats, they're cunning and stealthy and have a bad reputation (that started off really cool actually but this isnt the post for my pro!shadowclan agenda)

Starclan: the afterlife! when clan cats die, this is where they go. Starclan are in charge of giving leaders their nine lives, offering guidance (usually to medicine cats or leaders), and delivering prophecies.

Rouges: non-clan affiliated (derogatory). clan cats do not like them, their interactions are often unpleasant and can quickly turn violent.

Loners: non-clan affiliated (neutral). these guys are just lone cats that are pretty happy living their own life doing their own thing, clan cats dont usually have any issue with them, its more of a "hey, private property <3" deal

Kittypets: housecats, clan cats have no respect for kittypets, they see them as pampered and weak. this is a prejudice that follows even the greatest of warriors right to his deathbed. (Rip Firestar you were my hero </3)

now, within clans there are ranks

Leader: clearly, the leader of the clan. In charge of clan-wide decisions, assigning mentors, and gets final say in battle plans and shit. They are gifted their 9 lives by Starclan, as mentioned and this is where they earn their 'star' suffix (eg. Fireheart -> Firestar). Leaders are also in charge of giving apprentices their warrior names.

Deputy: second in command and next in line to become leader.

Medicine cat: clan doctor and spiritual adviser. Its their job to heal and also to interpret and pass on messages from Starclan like prophecies or omens. Medicine cats are entirely responsible for their own apprentice- they choose their own, decide on their own terms when their apprentice is ready to finish training, and gives them their full name.

Queens: mama cats.

Elders: experienced cats who have retired due to age or disability, well respected.

Warriors: adult cats that hunt, fight, patrol and train apprentices.

Apprentices: young cats of 6 months or older who are being trained to become either a warrior or a medicine cat. At this age their name ends in 'paw as they've not yet earned their full warrior/medicine cat name, they need to pass a final assessment of their skills first.

Kits: kittens younger than 6 months. they still live in the nursery with the queens and arent allowed to venture outside of their camp.

notes: there's an code that all clan cats follow that has been added to over time, its known as the warrior code. while medicine cats do honour the warrior code, theyve also got their own that they follow.

Theres a gathering on every full moon, where the four leaders bring their clans together on neutral ground to discuss any disturbances or offer news (apprentices that graduated to warrior, a newborn litter, any deaths - even updates on illnesses or warnings about something that might affect the others) its also a chance for inter-clan mingling, which isnt really frowned upon so long as everyone remembers to be loyal to their clan first in times of trouble.

Medicine cats meet together on every half moon, where they travel to a sacred place to commune with starclan. Medicine cats dont really follow the same social rules as warriors, as they see it more as their duty to heal and offer guidance than to defend. Medicine cats are basically neutral.

-

Im going to have to think more on how an atla au would work, although a surface level au would probably be something like:

thunderclan - earth kingdom

riverclan - watertribes

windclan - air nomads

shadowclan - fire nation

talking more specifically about characters tho

Katara: riverclan apprentice, probably a yellowfang situation (trained as a warrior, becomes a medicine cat later down the line; which lead to one badass healer)

Sokka: riverclan apprentice on his way to warrior

Hakoda: riverclan deputy

Arnook: riverclan leader

Yue: riverclan warrior, probably freshly graduated

Toph: thunderclan medicine apprentice, against her will. shed rather train as a warrior but her parents were against it due to her blindness; but she trains by herself anyway. (similar to jayfeather but without the dreamwalking)

Suki: thunderclan warrior, a good mentor, on the path to deputy

Aang: windclan medicine apprentice

Gyatso: windclan medicine cat, aangs mentor

Ty Lee: either a windclan apprentice or a shadowclan medicine apprentice

Zuko: shadowclan apprentice on his way to warrior

Jee: shadowclan warrior, Zuko's mentor

Iroh: shadowclan elder

Azula: shadowclan apprentice

Mai: shadowclan apprentice

June: shadowclan warrior, mais mentor

Ozai: shadowclan leader, azula's mentor

[druidposting]

The more i think about it, the more baffled i become at the people saying this campaign feels significantly more railroaded than the others.

I mean, i can see why people might think that. At a glance, its like, “wow, Matt’s really pushing hard for this moon plot, like everything’s connected to it and they have this date to meet and they cant get anyone else’s story in!” But i feel like thats such a surface level analysis, and is likely born from people who have never dmed before. As an avid dungeon master myself, the Ruidis plot reads quite clearly to me as a set piece - This is an event fixed in time, fixed in the world, and the villains orchestrating it will do what theyre gonna do no matter what. Its actually quite similar to the chroma conclave arc in C1, or even more poignantly, the whitestone arc with Percy as the “main character” focus for an extended period of time, an arc that was anchored to a set place and a set time because thats what the villains were doing.

When you DM, one of the key things you learn is that when the players arent engaging with a plot thread, that thread continues to run its course in the background. Its what breaths life into the world, its what makes it feel real. Its also what nudges your players to engage with the world. When you telegraph this to them, they pretty quickly learn that if they hear of something bad thats gonna happen, and they choose not to engage for whatever reason, then that bad thing is Going To happen, and they will then be playing in the consequences.

The other part of this misperception of c3 being railroaded i think comes from the players having a much stronger and more cohesive sense of morals. The c2 gang was characterized by a rag-tag group of miss-fits with nebulous morals and motivations and histories, and who were much more self serving in their group goals. None of this is bad!! It made for a very interesting game to watch, and even more interesting characters. But this is very different from the way ive seen Bells Hells act as a team. BH has been seen to be at least somewhat altruistic in their motives - maybe individually theyre more self-serving - but as a team, theyve consistently made decisions that benefit “the greater good” without much question of whats in it for them (giving up Treshi to the government and helping the Greenseekers in the mines come to mind). So of course theyre going to chase the Big Bads when they hear about a world ending plot!! And this doesnt even factor in that like, as players, why the fuck wouldnt you want to chase the evil moon plot? The campaign i run is explicitly a sandbox, and yet my players have latched on to the main intrigue and have been following it as if “on a railroad”. When your main intrigue is constructed well, the players will want to follow it, because this is a game to be played for fun, afterall.

With these two facts in mind, this isnt Matt forcing them down a particular path, nor have the Bells Hells been bound to it by him at any point in the campaign. At any moment they could jump off this thread and go do something else. And maybe you’d say “but if they dont stop Ludinus, then the world will go to catastrophe!!!” Yeah. It would. Thats dnd, baby. That outcome would be just as beautiful as the Bells Hells success.

As an aside, i could see several paths this Apogee Solstice day could go. Everything could go off without a hitch, BH destroys the key, crashes the missile ship, and gets out unscathed. Or they could completely fail, Ryn destroyed, Predathos released, TPK. Or they fail in stopping Ludinus but manage to get out alive and have to deal with the consequences. Or they succeed but Ludinus and his lackies live and chase the Hells through to the end of campaign with an eternal burning hatred. There are endless possibilities here because Matt is a good DM who clearly values player agency and choice.

[swimfuel]

okay humanstuck thoughts under the cut

i owe a lot of this to @/rhythmic-idealist's kankri/vantasposting bc holy shit theyve got such a big brain (ill link to their individual posts when im on desktop since im using this to keep all my thoughts straight and i agree with most of what they say wholeheartedly)

general status quo stuff:

signless works in an extremely demanding career involving helping others (i'm leaning towards an attorney who works with organizations and does pro bono work), and is also extensively involved in social justice work outside of his job... he is very rarely home

he loves and cares for his children deeply and tries to express it whenever they're face to face, but the couch in his cramped and messy office has seen far too much use over the years for him to have been able to say it enough

his habits of working himself to the point of exhaustion are handily passed down to his kids btw

the kids had to grow up quickly because signless was out of the house so often and so consistently—kankri, who was already pretty high-strung, has to learn to take care of himself and karkat

they grow up near ms firuzeh maryam, who's their pseudoaunt/grandma (she took in a nine year old kavana vantas when she was about twenty), but they just call her ms rosa

they spent a lot of time in the maryam house growing up, with miss rosa's two nieces. porrim is a year older than kankri, while kanaya and karkat are the same age

kankri grows kinda sensitive to people trying to mother him since it rubs against the notion that he's the "adult of the house" and that he can take care of himself and karkat just fine

(and it also kinda underlines the fact that kankri has no idea what he's doing at the best of times)

and ironically enough, kankri becomes overbearing and naggy towards karkat in his own right, which forestalls them becoming close in any brotherly sort of way

they grow up really just... unable to communicate with one another clearly

karkat develops his ornery exterior in response to kankri's constant stream of opinions and frantic attempts at making up for the presence of a guardian in the house

i think there would actually be some really interesting parallels with rose in this au.. maybe i'm drawing from my own experiences as well but i think he'd begin to assume that every time his brother opens his mouth, he's going to criticize karkat

but instead of reacting like rose with the "making yourself more of a puzzle"/passive aggressive stuff, he gets a more defensive/hackles raised/"argue with you before you can argue with me" approach

and the thing is that they do love each other and would take a bullet for the other etc etc etc.. but they don't know how to express it because they've fallen into these shitty patterns

and it really doesn't help that kankri has grown somewhat resentful of signless over the years... that mix of resentment and fear and love gets more extreme and more polar every time signless gets injured during a political demonstration

i think kankri and signless would also be slightly closer than karkat and signless, as signless' job really only started to ramp up when karkat was less than years old and kankri was in his early double digits

kankri autistic btw its word of god (i am god)

karkat has a pet crab. its name is also karkat. he vents his frustrations to it.

i feel like the vantases exemplify both the best and worst parts of their aspects with one another as well... the strength of their bonds keeps them together and grounded, but TOO grounded. [insert Blood rant here]

the Blood rant:

i define Blood as bonds, responsibility, and the "core". if Life is the fertile soil and everything living on a planet's surface, then Blood is the gravitational core of the planet keeping everything together

i also think Blood, Heart, & Mind work in tandem to define a person just as blood serves to connect the pieces of the human body... Heart is the soul and the self, Mind is the application of one's self through active choices (agency), while Blood defines both the self and the choices one makes in greater detail [and, as an aside, Life provides the physical spark of life needed to keep the heart pumping blood]

OKAY wow that got tangential anyways

SO BASICALLY! too much Blood makes you stagnate, so for example:

kankri is split between staying home with karkat or going to college across the country and being truly unbound for the first time in years

another crisis of Blood: signless is caught between his empathy and responsibility to the whole world and his responsibility to his own children

okay so here's more status quo stuff:

the maryam and vantas kids grow up together and its hilarious because you'll see them all together and its just like (girlboss) (girlboss) (physical manlet) (emotional manlet)

the maryam girls are actually miss rosa's nieces but she took them in when they were both pretty young

the pyropes know the vantases well enough considering pyrope senior and sign have known one another from their respective legal practices for years, but they live on the other side of town

the leijons lived in town when kankri and meulin were very young, but they moved and travelled for a long time before coming back and reestablishing their roots

the captors (psii being one of sign's oldest and closest friends) move into town with the peixes family pretty early on though

the condesce is.. a horrible spouse and guardian, to put it plainly. she's very emotionally manipulative and isn't averse to smacking people around, including her own family. she moves herself and her perfect little family into town so she can properly oversee a new business venture close by

feferi is one of the best young swimmers in the country and has a pretty good shot of getting onto the olympic team.. a lot of this drive to be perfect and to be better results from the condesce's unrelenting pressure and thinly veiled resentment throughout her whole life

so yeah psii, )(ic, feferi, and sollux all live together and it's really not great for anyone involved. (meenah ran away years ago, and crashed on aranea's couch for a pretty long while—mituna moved out with latula for college before psii and the condesce got married)

it gets bad to the point of sollux staying with the maryams for two months while the adults try to sort out that absolute clusterfuck and get the divorce proceedings going (meenah finally convinces feferi to get out and come stay with her and aranea for the duration as well)

in terms of relationships i think latula and porrim were really really close in high school, and probably had some kind of unacknowledged thing going on for a while that never actually turned into anything because latula and mituna were going steady

kankri has had a crush on latula for years but never acted on it for similar reasons

meenah still carries a lot of that give no fucks attitude (it's developed moreso as a defense mechanism here) and can't understand why feferi refuses to leave the condesce with her

okay back to VANTAS MANPAIN i also think that karkat feels the weight of a lot of expectations on his shoulders as well

he feels responsible to live up to the example his dad and his brother set, even if it's to his own detriment—and kankri's oblivious rambling about his grades and his teachers and all his clubs certainly aren't helping the matter

kankri is one of those overinvolved kids taking a million AP's while simultaneously shitting on the collegeboard at every single step

hes this super overachiever anal retentive perfectionist type dude and (just as karkat preemptively criticizes others to forestall their criticisms of him only to harshly criticize himself) kankri subconsciously holds the people around him to the same expectations he holds for himself

so karkat also develops this sense of lacking which, in combination with everything else, culminates in self loathing and thinking he has to solve everyone else's problems and getting horribly mad at himself for every little mistake

GOD i have a lot more but lemme post this before i accidentally close out of the app and lose it all

more little details:

vriska's mom and terezi's mom HATE each other like HATE HATE HATE one another it's so bad

karkat wrote a ten page review of my immortal in middle school

jade is one of nepeta's best online friends

sollux can't raise one eyebrow at a time.. karkat gives him so much grief about it

the vantases eat a lot of shitty renditions of persian dishes until karkat learns to cook because literally the only person in the world with a CHANCE of getting KANKRI VANTAS to make an EDIBLE DISH is miss rosa

kanaya is really good at persian dance too but is VERY VERY embarassed to perform in front of people.. however porrim definitely is not

karkat has insomnia while kankri just stays up stupidly late for assignments that really shouldnt be taken that seriously.. but they both have the same rumination/sleep anxiety thing where your brain goes insane with horrible and depressing scenarios as you try to sleep

and more ideas that i thought were interesting but idk how to fit in the context of this au:

signless and disciple getting married pretty late in life after having been in love for years, the vantases move in with the leijons and karkat suddenly has two sisters

nepeta and karkat are both juniors at this point, meulin is probably in her third year at a local college nearby while kankri is about to start his second year at a university pretty far away

the kids in general honestly but ill figure it out

more random hcs this time with kids:

kanaya and rose get into a flame war online that gradually settles into elaborate courtship rituals

also nepeta + jade online besties

also bec can inexplicably still teleport

the first sbahj movie comes out and the next six months of dave strider junior's high school career are absolute hell

actually hc that dave senior goes by d strider professionally. the d stands for a lot of things

aradia and dave frequent a lot of the same forums but never end up really interacting

meanwhile karkat and john frequent a lot of the same forums and DEFINITELY end up interacting. this turns into grudging (at least on karkat's part) friendship after they find themselves fighting for their lives defending an objectively shitty movie together on the same thread

[philomenafm]

(NATALIA DYER, DEMI GIRL) - Have you seen PHILOMENA CARMICHAEL? PHILLY is in HER/THEIR SOPHOMORE year. The WILDLIFE SCIENCE MAJOR is 20 years old & is a TAURUS. People say SHE/THEY are WHIMSICAL, PATIENT, APATHETIC and UNPREDICTABLE. Rumors say they’re a member of CALLOWAY. I heard from the gossip blog that SHE CONCEALED MURDEROUS EVIDENCE  (JAMES. 21. EST. THEY/THEM.)

ive done sm switches bt. she is the one. she is the one i love. trust me. ples. this is an old intro n im frankly. too lazy 2 read it bt. i love her a lot shes very good please like her

TW CANCER, TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION DISORDER ( ALT. DISSOCIATION ), DEATH, DECAY, MAGGOTS.

aesthetic.

wildflowers in your hair and bare feet against moss, binoculars and maps, madonna beating out of half-dead speakers in a half-dead van, whipping wind, jumping off cliffs and rolling down hills, a bandaid wrapped around each finger, cryptic bumper stickers and cryptids in the woods, facing the sun and letting the rays hit you, counting stars late into the night, dancing naked in the woods with nothing but fire to light your way, mismatched socks and lucky ribbons, hoarding a box of special treasures, shoplifting and diner-dashing, bleach against roots, pink sweaters paired with ripped fishnets and slip dresses with knock off uggs, willingly wearing crocs, glitter stickers, fungi and feeling one with them, lying down and decomposing, they’ll find us in a week. they’ll find us in a week.

basics.

full name: philomena brontë carmichael

nickname(s): philly, phil, etc.

b.o.d. - april 20th, 2000

label(s): the amaranth, the halycon, the neophyte, the wanderer, etc. etc.

height: 5′4″

hometown: woodside, ca

sexuality: demisexual

pinterest ( & her family pinterest b/c they’re my most developed family uwu)

stats

favorite song: wonderfully bizarre, bendigo fletcher / we can be defined by the things we want / i’ll be a life full of free haircuts from the one that i love / we’ll collect fallen out teeth in a candy jar / mice for the backyard peregrine falcon reservation.

background.

a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.

the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in juno’s case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.

so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are … eccentric. they’re both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.

they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though philly’s always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, she’d spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasn’t a shy kid - she just had her own interests.

hardship doesn’t hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. they’re slow at first - but as soon as she’s seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.

it doesn’t take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.

it’s grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, philly’s at radiotherapy monday through friday.

they’re lucky - philomena’s considered cancer-free by the next year. she’s babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children … it doesn’t last for too long.

and life continues as normal.

her personality doesn’t shift much over the next few years - she’s awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks it’s about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.

she’s close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektra’s six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but it’s not heavy - it’s florence and the machine.

they’re opposites - elektra’s boisterous and feels loudly, philomena’s softer and feels…less. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.

philomena is smart - but she’s fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - it’s all the same. her parents’ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.

elektra’s twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen … van - using her entire savings account. she says she’s tired of routine, she’s leaving the next day.

naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isn’t discovered until they’re two states away and she’s got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.

it’s an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - it’s an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.

it hurts christopher and imogen - lysander’s not having any of their nonsense, juno’s betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, it’s alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.

philomena and elektra take their time - it’s not a road trip, it’s their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.

during particularly desperate times, they two resorted to identity theft & credit fraud - getting away with it only by ditching the cards once they’ve made it out of state.

she drops out of high school officially when she’s seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but it’s done. philomena doesn’t know what path she wants in life - but it’s not that.

it’s during this time that the episodes occur - philomena’s outside her body, philomena’s wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. she’s looking in the mirror and she doesn’t recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankin’ new therapist to figure out what’s wrong with her. she’s diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think it’s stress. philomena doesn’t get stressed. they think it’s trauma. she laughs - she never laughs.

there is trauma though, deep-rooted but somewhere inside - you just have to look for it.

you. just. have. to. look. for. it. look for it. look for it. look for it look for it look -

you were ten and she was thirteen, an off-trail hike in familiar woods in a familiar town, safe and familiar. it was your idea, to stray from the carved out paths, down creeks and up hills and round, and round again. you’re the one who spotted the scarf first, sticking up from the dirt and dancing in the wind like the beginning of reincarnation. it was not reincarnation, it was discovery. it was ruin. with curiosity drawn, you skidded down - with compliance, followed juno, followed your sister - clumsy in her steps and tumbling down quicker than you. you saw the corpse, but juno felt it. decaying flesh and maggot.

and she left juno, just like that - just five years later, when juno had finally gone to the end of her wits. philly up and left. abandoned her.

philomena and elektra leave the city after that therapy session. they do not return. she’s always been good at hiding her secrets.

three years later and her parents want philly to have a higher education - desperate for it, really - worried for her future. it’s a battle that she loses, getting her ged and applying to a local college in florida in shameful compliance.

they’re there for a year until philly gets (expectantly) expelled from the community college & the two of them are banned from the town they’d residing in up until that point. they don’t talk about it - but boy, was it one hell of a time.

they found refuge in preaker, a town that seemed to suit them well - it suited elektra’s desire to travel up and down the east coast, and it intrigued philomena enough to the point of her being content with staying. soon after, philly officially transferred to yates for her freshmen spring term & theyve been here since.

(whenever anna brings cillian uh. he’s in here too he’s been traveling w them fr like 3ish years. i just cannot rewrite atm KDSGLSDKLGKFGHLKSL bt hes here. n hes sexy. n we love him. bro3tp)

OH. hey yeah the secret. errmm. tht’s on cillian. philly just hid the evidence. no they didnt kill someone yes they did no they did not <3 yes

personality & facts.

she’s quiet but she’s confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.

often underestimated - philly’s petite and looks like she’d fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. she’s independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.

has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if they’re listening, as if they’re old friends. she’s vague and doesn’t elaborate on the things she says.

believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, she’ll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.

she can be amusing - whether you ‘get’ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but she’s plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.

philly doesn’t laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.

her voice is often monotonous - she doesn’t sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.

is apathetic in most situations. she’s hard to bother - she’s incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. it’s hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that it’s very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - it’s small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.

is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she won’t crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.

she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasn’t ever had a smartphone. she’s a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)

has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - she’s often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.

she has insomnia, so she’s awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldn’t be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.

keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces she’s picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.

her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week she’s baby spice and the next she’s lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.

will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isn’t minimalistic, but she’s learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.

the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - it’s pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, she’s lost. elektra has a matching ribbon (& so does leo fowler eyes emoji)

has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and that’s how it’s always been. she tries to be good while in preaker / yates - would hate to be forced out by mobs with torches and pitchforks

currently living in calloway while elektra stays in their van, florence - sometimes philly stays there during the weekends.

they used to live in motels on the occasion, the cheapest room, and more often than not they’d both go home with strangers for a comfier bed and a hotter shower.

it was a common occurrence - she didn’t sleep with them - but somehow, she weaseled her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since they’ve been on the road.

really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first and only kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesn’t bother her. edit: her first & only kisses hv been w leo fowler. this is important

will consume anything you put in front of her - isn’t picky.

listens to whatever they’ve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990′s and 2000′s top hits. they’re nostalgic for her. third favorites? florence, of course. fleetwood mac. the bird and the bee.

loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.

owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless she’s on grass - then she’s walking barefoot.

has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. she’s not certified.

also, juggling.

also, accordion.

the kind of girl who’ll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.

dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.

everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.

( like her frequent visits to the woods, late at night when the moon is high and full. it’s freeing to dance around a fire, stark naked in the cold. builds immunity )

comes and goes wherever she pleases, nothing & nobody can stop her. she knows to respect nature. exudes natural trust energy <3 dont know wht tht means but

the trust expands to animals as well, she has a certain knack for getting them to like her. has too many ‘pet’ rats that reside with her, alongside a baby raccoon & a few crow pals. has a new animal companion everyday, but she doesn’t contain them or force them to stay. edit: she hs a tabby cat named pail, now. named in honor of her mother, bucket.

leaves her window in calloway wide open because of this, because her window is conveniently right besides a tree with sturdy branches. good for animal smuggling, sneaking in and out, hiding, etc. etc. world is her oyster.

though her room in calloway is ??? frankly a mess ??? already ??? usually keeps most of her possessions in her memory box but she’s also turned her room into a mini labyrinth of knick-knacks. very cozy, but very nest-like. think of howl’s room from howl’s moving castle.

wanted connections.

how did you get in here ;; someone whose room she perhaps crashed at late at night, mysteriously. she refuses to explain where she’s come from. she’s gone before you wake. they could literally not know her at all she’s just sleeping halfway under their bed like <3 thank you <3

ma’am this is a wendys ;;  someone who sees her constantly <3 doing outlandish shit <3 bc lets b real. shes weird. shes a weirdo. why do u think she wears the same hat everyday. (she doesnt wear hats often) anyways. they probably dnt even like her? just think shes very strange?

im literally going to dissect you ;;  someone who. wants to figure out philly. pick at her brain. wear her shoes. kind of in the same category of above in this general like. ur fkn weird. bt they wna figure out why <3 they wna play therapist <3 jokes on u she hates therapists

liddle thief in the night ;; someone who has caught her stealing. or dining n dashing. either/or. perhaps both. she steals a lot :/

oh like. friends n stuff ;; of any closeness. ppl she talks 2 conspiracies with, ppl she goes on late night walks with, ppl she explores with, ppl she steals with, ppl she smokes with, etc. etc. ppl who bring her out to parties cos they like her funky little ways when she gets drunk n tries to climb atop everything <3 

thts nice. anyways ;; this is fr like. literally anything unrequited. philly doesnt like <3 a lot of ppl <3 In That Way. so its basically just. ur muse thinks shes very neat n she thinks ur muse is very neat bt platonically. she doesnt do hookups or anything n if she does i tend 2 like. run purely based off of chemistry even with. most of her connections in general.

uuhh. anything ;; HLKDGKSDLKGHLKSFDSHGKFD i nvr rly hv a lot of connections up fr philly bc shes like. a very unpredictable muse n i think its usually better to just. throw her in! n see wht happens! we cn still plot obv n come up w some fun things bt fr the most part shes very organic

[spiritwinding]

for the duration of the classic games, sonic was Incredibly reserved. talked to no one and only used sign language when necessary, had no social life outside of talking to flickies and other woodland creatures, just was Completely isolated from people. he was SUPER close to his parents, and having them die made him essentially swear off of. talking to people. to steal lyrics from wicked: 

too long i've been afraid of losing love, i guess I've lost well if that's love it comes at much too high a cost

meeting tails and his relationship with him is what made him talk and start to accept friendship back into his life, that he Needs companionship and can’t get by on his own and that a life alone is a miserable one, but it was a gradual process that spaned the adventure games and sonic heroes, so here’s a rambly post about some of how sonic went from a hermit to the VERY anime friendship guy he is in sonic forces!

sonic is pretty prickly and easily irritated in adventure 1 and is still stuck in his Cool Lone Wolf kinda ways? avoids amy very obviously, openly says shes weird, frustrated with knuckles, very dismissive of tails etc. at the same time when he gets separated from tails when they crash in sa1 he’s genuinely sad and concerned for him, and prioritiizes how chaos would feel if locked in the master emerald while still rampaging. he very clearly cares about people, he’s just. distant and has kinda bad people skills. during sa1 sonic starts to realize he needs to listen to his friends and be more tolerant with them, though (amy stopping him from destroying gamma, how theyw oulda probably noticed birdie had an emerald if sonic hadn’t blown off amy so quickly, everyone bringing the chaos emeralds at the end), and he starts to? get along better with them? calls knuckles buddy in sa2, definitely gets along better with amy, puts a lot of his faith in tails when he gets shot out of the ark, AND fights with shadow at the end, is much less prickly in sa2 and just in general starts to embrace this group theyve kinda scrapped together

speaking of sa2, though: shadow! sonic has always had a short temper depending on the situation, but particularly in sa2 he didnt take kindly to a) being accussed of shit he didnt do and b) excUUse me how dare you copy me? like me?? still, he was definitely intrigued by shadow, and sonic is Painfully curious by nature, not to mention the whole affinity for chaos energy thing. kinda lilke a pull to the stuff. i also think sonic GETS aloof grumpy characters, because even if he wasnt ever grumpy, just short-tempered and kinda irritable, he was definitely aloof, and gets what it’s like to struggle to connect with others when you’re afraid of losing them. throughout the game they both come to respect eachother, and ultimately the fight they have at the end is. the first team fight sonic has? he has to put his trust in someone in the battlefield, really learn how to keep an eye on himself AND whoever hes fighting with, which is different than not hurting civilians for example. they both constantly ask eachother how theyre doing and sonic suggests to shadow that he needs to rest and that he can tag in. like regardless of everything that happenned during the game sonic cares about shadow, and whether by necessity or otherwise, trusts him to fight alongside

so when shadow, someone sonic probably considers somewhat of a friend, who was fighting with him and who sonic wanted to keep a close eye on, dies when he’s right next to him AND super sonic it doesn’t Feel Great. sonic felt responsible for shadow falling, for one, and for two, that’s someone he cares about dying. again. when thats what he wanted to avoid by essentially dissappearing from society: he didn’t want to lose people. of course losing shadow si very different and less painful than losing his parents, but it’s a reminded of what he’d been running away from all this time, and what he’s potentially going to go through again if tails, knuckles or amy die, too.

so he goes on another ‘vacation’ between sa2 and heroes-- distances himself from everyone else again, both to Repress and also to start to start to go back to the lonely nomadic lifestyle. the thing is, after going through what he did with everyone, tails in particular, he misses them. he misses company, now that he got it again, and realizes he doesn’t want to be alone again. being alone sucks, no matter how much you double down on it.

and tails and knuckles Show Up-- like they find HIM rather than the other way around. they come back, like a boomerang, and all three of them go to defeat eggman again, in an Entirely trio-based game, where sonic learns hwo to be a better teammate, and how to depend on others in a fight again. shadow turns out to be okay*, and at the end everyone refuses to let him fight neo on his own, and he’s? kinda overwhelmed? that he’s gathered people who are willing to support him, and that return like boomerangs, too

he wont be alone, because his friends will always be there to have his back, and he can always count on their help!! superpower of teamwork babyyyy. annd at the end, instead of going off on his own, he TAKES tails and knuckles with him!

sonic at the end of the day needs companionship. he leans towards ambivert and needs a Lot of alone time, and loves his personal space, but he needs to know someone is there to have his back ykno? he loves people, and needs people, and hates being alone like... in life. not like running alone or travelling alone, but just. having no one in his life is almost kinda terrifying. he knows what thats like and is aware he doesnt want to go back to having no one know his name except for the local flickies he saved from eggman.

*note: sonic definitely has unresolved shit from Everything That Has Ever Happened, aside from his parents deaths, because he’s so desensitized to all of it and just.. always Has to function, it isnt a question, and shadow ‘dying’ isnt an  exception. definitely not as bad as other stuff, like the guilt for everyone who DID die, but he never worked through? much of it? because unless it specifically worms its way to the surface, sonic doesn’t know it’s There, and even if he picks up on somethig he won’t adress it unless it’s Baaaaad, and that’s only a recent thing. repress and move on, thaaaaaaat’s life pal. it doesnt help that sonic is honestly seen as Emotionally Invincible by everyone around him, so who would think he has baggage abt somethign that happenned when he was 13? (btw he was 13 in sa2 which is a Yikes!) he feels he failed shadow, particularly because it was. the ‘death’ that happenned right after he also blamed himself when his mom died in his care. he works through the occasisonal thought about it by just! trying his best! not letting it happen again! but again, never worked thru it, never told anyone. someone write this w/ me somehow blease

[sunlightnmoonshine]

One of the greatest moments in arthdal (nunbyeol V daekhan)

I think this fight is worth a specific post. As I rewatched it I realised so many specific details they had dealt with and it was true poetic cinematography. Initially arthdal chronicles had a few Eps that seemed unnecessary but if you've been here from the start you'd know that nothing they've ever done has been pointless. Maybe viewed pointless and irritating (cough eunseom being beaten and captured repeatedly cough) but theyve never actually put in any unnecessary scenes and I think this fight between nunbyeol and the soldiers clearly depicts that.

At first I thought that Harim was merely a character added to compliment Chaeeun and Nunbyeol because we can't really have a story without a family yknow. His presence served so much purpose. From being the one that contributed to Asa hons death to that guilt making him adopt Nunbyeol, to blocking her abilities to teaching her sword fighting, to training Chaeeun to become a doctor, to being a representative figure of the lack of loyalty that surrounds arthdal. Only he was on the victim end concerning the last point.

He's more or less caused the existence of an all powerful neanthal and saving her more or less indicates that the neanthal line might continue for at least a short while.

What's specifically so stunning about this fight is just the filming and the way it's portrayed. The ep was more or less hinting that Mugwangs death was near but they'd actually suggested that it would be Nunbyeols doing many Eps earlier. When tanya initially said he'd die under the crescent moon it was merely a curse a powerful one at that, not a prophecy. The prophecy revealed itself that day when she was trying to escape and with Chaeeun and Nunbyeol and she had the prophecy when Nunbyeol was close (I cant believe it didn't occur to me that nunbyeol might be the one to kill him when it's been staring me in the face the whole time). What adds to this is nunbyeol already fought him once with her sword fighting but her repressed self couldn't handle it. It makes it all the more better when she unlocks her self and really shows them what a neanthal is capable of. The added explanation from that other soldier happening along the way of the ep perfects it because its an inherent forewarning. And bam we've the hiss and the blue eyes and blue veins and absolute perfection that was her fight. It opened with such glory legit cut a body perfectly in half but the pure gold of this moment was the look on the daekhan forces faces.

For the longest time they've viewed themselves as the strongest. They've been under the impression that Neanthals are long gone and they've been proud of it solely because they think they had a role to play in it. The fear that suddenly overtakes them in those few minutes was displayed so magnificently and it depicts just how weak the daekhan forces are. They've used brute strength and useless reason to take lives over and over again and they've been proud of it. One might view this as because they are part of "tagons" army and this delusional ideology they've got going that by following him they are somehow stronger and powerful and worthy of their actions. Regardless the way that all comes crashing down in a matter of minutes.

The choreography of her fight was astounding, you could see the rush of strength like a moment of ecstacy. Perfect swordsmanship, perfect expression. Prior to her unleashing it all the helplesness that echoed though. You could see and feel the pain, their screams, their cries and Nunbyeol in particular being dragged like a rag doll because she's relatively weaker only makes her rise so much more stunning.

I'll remember Mugwangs eyes of fear for a long time to come. I've been waiting for it no doubt but the way they handled it was so astounding, the poetic cinematography. He was an unapologetic piece of shit until the end although he had countless moments to make amends and thats what this show is about. It gives people the chance to make the right choices, gives them the chance to be good just like life does but then depicts just how arrogance and selfishness and all negative emotions get in the way of it. Mugwang has been a villain from inception, whatever conscience he had is long gone so it makes sense that he didn't beg for forgiveness only that every mistake he made was reflected in his eyes and that he was completely helpless about it. It still amazes me how he simply followed orders because he revers tagon and knows taealha is his trusted comrade. His reaction however would have been completely different had he known Tagon was an igutu and that's what's so perfect he dies just like that serving a master he actually knew almost nothing about. Makes his life seem even more worthless really.

Arthdal chronicles has been cruel from the start. The merciless killing of innocent Neanthal, the burning of children of Wahan the endless pain caused specifically by the the Daekhan forces all reflected back on its perpetrators in a matter of minutes. I don't know the name of the other soldier who survived that fight but he more or less is a representation of what the entire force is about to feel. That fear, all of it coming back to them. It was so gratifying watching them have a taste of their own medicine. Him fainting by the end of it adds to what the daekhan forces really are. They are wimps disguised in brute force and strength.

I'm curious to see what will set aside Mubaek and Yangcha. They've so much potential to do more with their lives, Mubaek in particular. If he'd just opt to be more of an action taker than a watcher. He's hesitating too much but that's perfectly fine given his character. He's stood by and watched as the neanthals were killed, while the wahan were killed and now I wonder what else he'll stand by and watch. Had he been more forward with his actions he might have been able to save two dear people to him. Asa hon and Mugwang. It's too late now and his characters potential is going to be tested.

Praise to Arthdal Chronicles for delivering such fine characters. There's so many memorable ones that each own their moments regardless of whether you root for them or not regardless of whether they are in the light or the dark or even the grey area - arthdal chronicles gives you a fine set of people that represent what our world is like to this day

[thinkaboutdobrik]

ok so hear me out here: being friends w/ the roommates and like being super close with all of them and going to their parties n all but like you're kinda more chill than like kian for example (love him but boy he's loud) and like meeting crawf at a party and being all heart eyes for each other and the boys like teasing him and making him talk to you and bby boy being all stuttery and nervous and like neither of u know it but everyones watching u two cos its the cutest pairing ever aGh

aAH the boys would have so much fun with it, too. they'd talk about you to crawford when you're not around, things like "wow, y/n looks hot today. don't you agree, crawf?", "you should go ask her out, she's clearly into you" and "here comes your crush, crawf"

and when youre nearby, the guys would purposely push crawford and make him bump into you, so you turn around and look at him. "hey," you smile and look at crawford. crawford turns around to look at his friends and they all give him a "go for it" look, so he smiles and looks at you "h-hey," he stutters and his eyes nervously dart from you to his friends.

after a little while you head over to the guys to hang with them and they start asking you all sorts of questions about crawford. "sooo, do you like him?", "do you think he's hot?", "do you wanna date him?" and many more questions are coming your way from all the guys, really cheering you on because theyve seen the way y'all always look at eachother.

corey pulls you to the side to whisper something to you and he tells you all about how crawford has the biggest crush on you. crawford sits outside on the porch outside of bobbys bedroom, and you grab your drink and head over to him, confident bc of everything corey told you (and because of the alcohol)

"hey, crawf, why are you alone?" you ask as you crash down next to him.

crawford shrugs and smiles. "just.. nothing, just needed some air."

you sit with crawford for a little while, laughing and cracking jokes as you enjoy eachothers company. propping yourself up on your elbow you look at him and smile, "you know you're a great guy, right?"

crawford looks at you in confusion. "what makes you say that? i've just been sitting here-" he chuckles.

"i don't know... you're just so cute and i wanted to tell you that i like you." you smile as you flutter your eyelashes at him.

a big smile forms on crawf's lips and he leans back in his seat. "i- thanks. i like you too." he thanks you and looks at you lovingly, and then y'all sit there for the majority of the night, not bothered to spend time with your friends anymore.

after a while your friends start looking for the two of you as you have been missing for the past hour, and once they round the corner and see you and crawf sitting together, everyone starts obnoxiously cheering and clapping, whistling and jumping up and down bc theyre so happy for you🥺🥺

[loststormtrooper]

Ive been slowly reading the Splinter Cell books and im almost finished the third one and I have complaints

Spoiler warning I guess for books that are over 10 years old if anyone cares about them.

So the first book was great. They got one of the bond writers to do it and it was so good. Splinter Cells identities have been leaked and Sam Fishers life is at stake throughout the whole thing because for the first time ever, the enemy know who he is. His chapters are in first person which makes everything feel so much more personal. All the other chapters following other characters are in third which gives this nice cutscene kind of feeling that games have when they show something your character wouldnt know. Its a book series based on a game, it just felt right. Sam's daughter gets kidnapped because The Shop (big bad weappns company) wants to stop Third Echelon from getting in the way of their sales and Sam is the one who is trying to stop them and stop them from doing deals with The Shadows which are trying to get the US out of the middle east so their country can take over another. Fisher ends up disrupting these deals and saves his daughter. But like, how it goes is so well. Sams daughter gets invited overseas with her friend and they both ger drugged and kidnapped by someone they thought was their friend! The stakes are high af because they killed off the friend and are going to kill Sams daughter and him if he cant stop all this stuff from happening. And theres the whole war nuclear weapon deals going on that he also has to stop. So good.

Anna Grimsdotir isnt present in this book because they need wiggle room for the next book and shes replaced with Carly who is also an analyst. Theres this nice tight nit friendship between Sams team at Third Echelon with Lambert, Carly, Sam, and and Mike that sets things up for the next book. Also Sams Grav Maga teacher, they flirt a bit, nice side story which leads into the next book. Pretty much everything leads into the next book because even though Sam defeated The Shadows, The Shop is still a major weapons dealer and have the identities of other Splinter Cells and needs to be stopped.

So next book, Operation Barracuda. Sam and his team need to find out who leaked the Splinter Cells information and stop The Shop. Uh oh! It was Mike and he had to kill Carly IN THE THIRD ECHELON OFFICE because she was about to figure out it was him and he escapes and the Triad offer to get him out of the country, he just has to get to the right place and theyll fly him out. Good setup for these cat and mouse chapters where and FBI agent is trying to keep up with Mike. Also Mike was actually planted in Third Echelon years ago and he and his brother have deals with the Triad to sell stuff which The Shop does t like because theure supposed to sell things to them and then they sell to the Triad.

All of these bad guys have one goal though. Theyre dealing with a rogue chinese general that wants to invade Hong Kong. So theres all this infighting and build up to when people, even the bad guys, start to figure more stuff about the other groups. The Triad, being in Hong Kong, dont want to be invaded, but the deals theyve done with bad guy general have provided him with a nuckear submarine that he threatens to detonate on the US coast unless they withdraw from Taiwan.

During all of this that krav maga teacher and Sam have had a few dates and are at Sams place. But when they are walking down the street she is gunned down and Sam is forced to leave her dead body on the street with people around because he cant risk being having anyone looking into who he is, even local police and government because he is in a secret agency. Amazing side story. It's a lot like the side stuff with his daughter in the first book, it gives him more motive outside of it just being a job, these people have killed 2 of his friends, one of which he was really into.

Back to bad guy stuff. FBI guy gets killed by Mikes brother after he goes into a shady place to arrest him. The triad are already there and hes just dead now. But he did arrest Mike so they got info from him which leads same to the Triad. In a pretty cool turn of events the general invades but theres no one to stop him! Oh wait! The Triad takes arms and fights off his army and its rad. Sam had gone into that shady building (just remembered its a night club) and gave them information about the generals attack and then left. It was a different chapter because he wasnt being stealthy, he just walked in and demanded to speak to people and it worked. When all this general vs Triad stuff is happening, Sam is dealing with The Shop. The general is defeated, the leak for the Splinter Cell information is in custody, and The Shop is finally shut down!

Next book... set before the first and has a new writer. All of it is in third person and it doesnt feel like the first for obvious reasons. Theres a handful of spelling errors spread throughout which really take you out of it because now youre thinking about this spelling error.

Starts with Sam having to sneak onto a ship thats going to crash onto the US coast and its packed with radioactive material or bombs? It wasnt clear to me. But he stops it and gets out. Its a pretty one track story whereas the other two books had a handful of stuff going on and it all worked neatly. Third Echelon need to know where the nuclear stuff came from to know who did it. He sneaks back on the ship which is under quarantine and takes a sample or something? There was something about having to get engine manufactuing codes to find out where the ship had done repairs and see where it came from but that branching plot just ends later in the book when Lambert says that his analysts found out where it was from. Sam need to find out where nuclear stuff came from. For reasons i cant remember because nothing in this book is worth remembering half the time, Sam has to go to Chernobyl to collect radiated material to see if they match. Thats not the unmemorable part, how they decided to go there to find it specifically is. Anyway, its a match and they figure out who did it and why by knowing who made the ship and how they got the nuclear material. The whole Chernobyl bit could have been better. It didnt feel like anything was at stake. And there was this awkward side story with a woman who helped him get into the dangerous areas unnoticed where theyd flirt and nothing would come of it and then theres nothing else about her ever again.

Then theres all this stuff of Sam infiltrating other places which leads him to another place which leads him to another place. Its very linear and theres a few chapters where he sneaks into a private island thats impossible to sneak onto but he does and it doesnt feel like anything is at stake. The whole book is about having to find out who did this one almost bombing and poisoned a whole towns water supply with radiated material, making it a wasteland, before the US declares war on the wrong nation for ot. But every time they get more information, they suddenly have more time and need to hurry, but then they do that and get more time but need to hurry! At one point they mention the president will declare war in 24 hours and im pretty sure its been like 4 days since then and nothing.

Also! Theres this terrible character cliche guy i hate. There's like 5 chapters spread out through the book where its this weird guy who is clearly the villain ( not bad guy or terrorist, hes just a bad villain) that talks all fancy and as if hes got this grand plan happening and keeps talking about chess and imagining chess moves after he gets new information. Its annoying and i hate him. Get a new character. It doesnt even have to be him, use one of the heads of the bad guy groups that are already established, god. I've got 6 chapters to go and Sam doesnt even know about that chess bad guy yet.

Tbh im considering skipping the next book because its the same writer and the Conviction books and Blacklist book are written by other people. It hasnt been release who i dont think though. Its all a pseudonym.

So i just finished Splinter Cell Checkmate. Its 2 days after i wrote that whole thing and it gets way better in the last 5 chapters. It was much more fast paced and actiony. The rest of the book was slow and not that interesting. There was a bit that brought back a character from earlier who was shot in the head but the bullet hit ar a weird angle and he was left to die. Sam found him and theres this nice calm part of the chapter of Sam trying to get him out without making his wound worse but he wasnt fast enough and he dies. Then Sam finally gets the location of the annoying chess bad guy with some information from now dead guy. It literally ended with Sam saying "...checkmate " to him which fealt really forced... they never met until now and Sam onlt mentioned chess once in the whole book besides that. I think he played it with a friend for a paragraph while they chatted. Epilogue was ok too. The woman who helped him into Chernobyl was in a wax museume and Sam rocks up with a passport for her to get out and fly back to the US with him. Was weird. They flirted maybe twice halfway through the book and then he rocks up with that. She didnt even know his name until the epilogue because he used an alias.

Anyway, first two books are great, third was super slow but ended ok.

[ocsideblog]

massive liminal infodump

  november knows basically nothing about her mom's family. she won't talk about it, determined to avoid or change the subect when it's mentioned. all november knows is that her mom left home when she was about 18 and hasn't spoken to her family since. the only information november has to go off is an old polaroid of what she can only assume is her mom's family, and an even older book. she found these items in the attic when she was about six. her mom wouldn't talk about the photo, and had no explanation for the book - probably an old halloween decoration or something, it's not in any real language. november gets the book to play with if she wants it.

  november, now a 20 year old photography student, and her 14 year old brother noel, are on a train to the town of Limbo to finally meet and stay with their mom's family - their aunt, uncle, and cousins. she is determined to know about them and to find out what caused her mother to become estranged.

  upon arriving in the small town, november learns that one of her cousins, julie, had gone missing at the beginning of the year. another girl named cassidy schaerer, daughter of the editor of the town's weekly newspaper, had also gone missing around the same time. the two girls were best friends, and julie's car had gone missing as well, so people just thought they ran away. her father thinks this is most likely, complaining that julie has always been rebellious. her sister, adelaide, doesn't think it's that simple - she keeps these thoughts to herself, however, because she needs to be the 'perfect daughter' and not disappoint her dad. cassidy's father thinks something is up as well, but he isn't so quiet about it.

  over the year november learns from mr. schaerer, who becomes like a father figure, that people have gone missing before. it's simply covered up, he says, because the town does not want to seem unsafe, and they have enough problems as it is. the town is dying out - young people often move away, there aren't that many jobs around, and the future doesn't look promising for small town life here.

  as the year goes on, november's grip on reality is also tested. while on the train, november had a nightmare - driving down some back road, a deer in the middle of the road, swerving to avoid hitting it, crashing - which becomes recurring, getting more frequent and more vivid as the year goes on. along with the nightmares, she begins hallucinating - mildly and rarely at first, but getting worse as time goes on. images of decay haunt her. she also feels a strange connection with her cousin julie, although she doesn't know why - maybe it's because some people said they're alike in some ways.

                                                    - - - - -

  ok so november and noel are siblings, and they arrive in the town of limbo to stay with some family members theyve never met before - their aunt, uncle, and cousins. when they get there, they find out one of their cousins - julie - has gone missing, along with her best friend whos a girl named cassidy. cassidy is the daughter of the man who runs the town's weekly newspaper. people view him as sort of paranoid and determined to think the worst when CLEARLY the girls just ran away. he doesn't get along well with the mayor of the town, john brennan.

  john brennan really wants the town to get big someday, have a mall and eventually expand and put the town on the map. he wants to feel important. he has a wife named mary and a six year old son named charlie.

  november's super curious to a fault, so like. kinda really nosy. she NEEDS to know everything and WILL investigate. and she feels a weird attachment to her missing cousin so she becomes like... determined to figure out what happened. her cousin adelaide - the Perfect Daughter whos secretly gay and dating another girl named jane - confides that she also doesnt think julie ran away, but cant say so to her father who'd get mad at her for being a conspiracy theorist.

  november also becomes close with mr. schaerer, the town's newspaper guy, who becomes like a father figure to november and comments about how shes got some stuff in common with julie, who had also been like a daughter to him because she was best friends with his daughter and because julie's dad is this strict conservative type and thought she was a disappointment so he wasn't all that nice to her.

  the town's in trouble - a lot of older conservative types frightened by progress, a lot of industry and stuff that'd die out with modernization, crops aren't doing as well, young people moving away, etc.

  there's a priest named father alonso brennan - he's the mayor's half brother - who seems kinda guilty, like he's hiding something.

  november gets these recurring nightmares of a car crash, and sometimes hallucinates that things are old and decaying or hallucinates people looking deadish and stuff. when she tries to talk about this to most people, they think shes crazy, and since its 1983 and her aunt and uncle - mostly her uncle - are conservative types, theres a lot of stigma surrounding mental illness.

  mary brennan kinda tries to bond with her, try to get her involved with the town and stuff, at the suggestion of november's aunt, hoping that'll distract her from being like this.

  also november works at an antique and curiosity shop for antioch, whos this sort of eccentric weird guy who supposedly moved to town after retiring early because he had money so now he's chilling. she doesn't get paid because she's working off a debt - noel accidentally broke a skull while goofing around when they were just checking out the different stores, and november offered to work off the debt so noel wouldn't have to, since neither of them had money.

  it turns out father brennan DID know something. he had seen john and mary brennan burying a body out in the woods on january first sometime between midnight and 3am - cassidy's body. they had told him they hit her in a car accident, because they'd been driving drunk, and were trying to cover it up because they were scared and still drunk and afraid it'd hurt their lives and careers and stuff since john brennan's the mayor. alonso kept the secret because he was always close with his brother, and didnt want to ruin his life, but the guilt is eating him alive because he's generally an honest person but his honesty and his loyalty are in conflict. sometime around october he arranges to meet up with mr schaerer and tell him the truth about his daughter.

  the next day, schaerer is found dead in the woods. the local police say it was a suicide. november doesn't believe this. she confronts the priest, knowing he was one of the last people to talk to her, thinking maybe he found something out somehow - priests hear a lot in confession after all. he tells her about knowing cassidy was buried in the woods, and how she was killed in a drunk driving accident, near where schaerer died - he also genuinely thinks it was a suicide, out of grief for his daughter. he won't mention who did it, using the confession thing as an excuse, his values are still in conflict.

  november sneaks out in the middle of the night to go to that place in the woods and search for her body, see how much of this is true. after digging, she finds remains that are decayed WAY past what they should be. there's also nothing to indicate a car accident, the skeleton isn't broken as far as she can see, and there's a weird rusted ritualistic dagger in the grave, and some weird symbols that look kinda familiar but she can't place them at the moment (hint its the book from the attic)

  shes not sure if shes hallucinating or not, and she doesnt know who to trust at this point. she comes back to the grave later that day with someone (i havent 100% decided who yet) but they like. don't find anything, like the grave never existed. this doesn't make november look any more mentally stable.

  as new years eve approaches, the moon family - including november - are invited to the brennans' new years party. mary offers november an old dress to borrow since she doesn't really have any, and her cousins dont have the same size as her, the dress doesn't fit mary brennan anymore anyway, she owned it when she was younger, wore it on her wedding years ago. at some point during the party, after eating or drinking something which was handed to her, november doesn't feel so great. she passes out.

  she wakes up, hands tied behind her back to like. a pillar or tree trunk or something. there are six others also tied up the same way, in a circle. to her horror, she realizes noel is one of them. next to each of them stands someone from town - 7 people in total, including john brennan and her own uncle. mary brennan stands beside her. they're doing some sort of ritual. november thinks this must be another hallucination or nightmare. it has to be, right? there's no way this is happening. she's forced to watch as one by one the other people are sacrificed - including noel. this can't be happening. this can't be real. she can't do anything to save noel.

  november was saved for last as a special offering. mary brennan tells her that she is a Special sacrifice, that she believes Death has grown fond of her, so mary is offering this girl as a special sacrifice in an attempt to earn his favor in apology for having lost the book, which her ancestor stole a long time ago. she's the only one in the cult who has actually seen and been in communication with Death, and is also the only one to know this year has been repeating. she's hoping for the loop to end, and the town and everyone in it to be allowed to exist forever immortally.

  she finishes the ritual, calling forth Death to claim this sacrifice. november can't see properly, between tears and it being dark outside and - this feeling like she's slipping out of reality, dying? falling asleep? about to hallucinate again? or emerge from the hallucination? she isn't sure and it terrifies her. the figure approaching out of the woods looks somewhat familiar,but different. antioch, from the curiosity shop. his hair's down though, and something about him isnt..... right. the vibe in the area has changed dramatically, feelings of dread that are hard to describe. she calls out to him for help anyway, but receives no response. he ignores her, approaching mary brennan. says something to mary brennan about not being forgiven, better luck next year, and mary brennan begins throwing up blood and slumps to the ground.  he - whatever sort of entity he is - moves closer to november. says something to her. she feels a sharp pain in her chest. he's carving something with his nail, which is like a claw. he's also telling her to give in and let go already, that she should have done so long ago, shes far too stubborn and foolish, shes still resisting whatever this weird sensation of slipping away is. she vaguely notices, between the pain and the weird feeling, that her surroundings and the people in the area seem to be decaying. this has to be a hallucination. it has to. she lets go, thinks shes closing her eyes........

  but is actually opening them. weak sunlight filters through a smashed window through the trees overhead. a dream. it wasn't real. she looks around. it turns out that what was real was the car crash, and all that had been some sort of coma dream. she begins to get up, to become aware of her surroundings, her injuries,   noel.

  she looks over and he's there, he's worse than her injury wise. he isn't breathing. she tries to wake him. he won't wake up. he's gone. it's too late. she feels horrible. this is her fault. if she hadn't been so curious. she digs through her bag, looking for her phone. her stupid book from the attic is there. she feels stupid. her curiosity about some stupid halloween prop and about her mom's past, which was probably mundane and some sort of argument, got her brother killed. she finds her phone at the bottom of the bag. a little cracked but it turns on. no signal though. she starts walking toward the road and follows it, searching for a signal. she has to call her mom. she has to let her know what happened, to confess that it's her fault.

  as she's walking, she realizes her chest stings worse than her other wounds. she looks under her shirt at it. the sigil thing from her nightmare. it can't be. it has to be some sort of coincidence. it doesn't look like a normal wound, somewhere between a scar and a tattoo, turning black, but also bleeding a bit still, she brushes this off as being not all there and being shaken up. she just found out her brother died, of course she's not going to be all that mentally stable. she keeps walking. she gets a signal, weak. she calls her mom. keeps trying. finally gets an answer.

  she tells her mom everything - they'd set out to go on a road trip and find out about their mom's family. it was her fault noel died, if she refused to take him. she swerved to hit a deer. her fault. her mom blamed herself, for not telling them about her past and for being so dodgy about it. november comes to the outskirts of an overgrown ghost town as she's walking to get a better signal. completely abandoned, decaying, familiar. she fears what her mom's going to tell her. that her sister overheard her father's plans to sacrifice her, as a part of a cult thing, and she promised her sister she'd leave and never look back, so she did, late 1982. something in november's mind clicks. it's 2015. her mother's name is julie.

[airoasis]

This is Why MakerDAO's DAI is the Best Stablecoin in the World

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This is Why MakerDAO's DAI is the Best Stablecoin in the World

With all the warmth that Tether is getting as of late, I suppose its time to take a seem at a a lot advanced stablecoin replacement. Previously, we talked about Stablecoins and that i peculiarly featured MakerDAO. Thats coz I consider it’s the most promising stablecoin platform out there. In actual fact, MakerDAO is the enterprise or the platform, at the same time DAI is the issued stablecoin. Like I mentioned before, there are three types of stablecoins: fiat-collateralized, crypto-collateralized, and algorithmic or non-collateralized. However sincerely, theres a fourth variety. I by no means mentioned it since it is extremely infrequent. In fact, I by no means heard of any stablecoin utilising this mannequin except DAI. DAI is currently as crypto-collateralized stablecoin, however soon, after multi-collateral DAI is released into mainnet, its gonna turn out to be one of the first hybrid stablecoins.It is going to combination all three other items in one. So the MakerDAO process has 2 currencies: DAI, which is the stablecoin that is pegged to the U.S. Buck. Please be aware that it’s only pegged, now not backed, by USD. Which means the method is stabilizing its price to a 1 to 1 ratio with the buck, however presently its backed by way of Ethereum most effective.Quickly, DAI can also be backed through many distinct forms of assets together with fiat currencies, beneficial metals, and other tokens. MKR, however, is the governance token. Its holders have voting rights and it is architected in a decentralized method. Due to the fact of its function in retaining the method together, the rate of MKR is risky, not like DAI. So lets jump into the great part: learn how to create DAI. Being a permission-less system, any one can create DAI. The method is beautiful easy. All you have to do is ship Ether to a MakerDAO clever contract, and then it becomes what we name a CDP. Should you havent heard of CDP, it stands for Collateralized Debt position, just a fancy identify however its only a intelligent contract. So now that youve despatched your Ether as collateral, you at the moment are entitled to receive a proportional quantity of DAI tokens. Observe how I say proportional, now not equal quantity of DAIs. Thats for the reason that you ought to overcollateralize in order to soak up price fluctuations of your asset.We could say you sent 150 bucks worth of Ether to the CDP, youre no longer gonna get one hundred fifty bucks valued at of DAI too. You might be allowed to specify any amount of DAI you want in return, so long as you remain overcollateralized; e.G. Having a hundred dollars worth of DAI backed by way of 200 bucks worth of Ether approach that you’ve got 200 percentage collateralization. You might choose to have one hundred fifty percent collateralization, and get extra DAI for the equal amount, however the hazard of getting liquidated could be better. Option is yours. Im no longer definite if its even allowed at this factor. And liquidation has a penalty you need to pay so.. So as soon as youve created your CDP, you can not retrieve the underlying Ether collateral except you close the mentioned CDP. And that you could simplest do this by means of paying back the issued DAI plus a balance fee. Well get back to the steadiness price later however first lets talk about how one can probably profit from this mechanism. For illustration, we could say you ship some Ether to the Maker platform to create a CDP.Lets say you collateralize by way of 200 percent. Youll obtain 1/2 the amount in DAI. So in this situation, you have already got your Ether locked up as debt collateral, as good as some DAIs. What you are able to do right here is sell that DAI and get extra Ether. Now you’ve gotten plus a hundred percent extra Ether than you firstly had, and you can do anything you need with it. You might both add it to your CDP otherwise you would just hold it to your wallet, or maybe trade it, whatever. Whats left to do then is wait. Look forward to Ethereum to broaden in rate. Once your convinced with the fee expand, you may shut your CDP. For this reason, you pay up your debt after which your Ether may also be reclaimed.Now you possibly questioning, how did I revenue? I paid back the debt that I owed with the intention to get my Ether again. Whats new? Well, thats given that you paid back in DAI, which has a stable fee. Your Ether on the other hand, which used to be locked up, is not steady; and also you waited for it to upward push and reaped the rewards.But what if the opposite happens and Ethers rate falls? Well youre in deep sh#t! Thats why its higher to create CDPs in an uptrend market than in a downtrend market. Final 12 months was once the worst undergo market, so it would had been a quite unhealthy thought to create CDPs. This yr, things are watching up. Weve seen short uptrends these days and the fundamentals are becoming greater with the aid of the day. Now, would be a good time to create CDPs, of path, thats now not fiscal advice. Now back to the stability cost, which I left out previous for simplicitys sake; but clearly, in order to trouble DAI, you have got to pay a balance rate, which was once raised very not too long ago to 19.5 percent per yr.This is payable in MKR, the governance token, which incidentally will get burned afterwards, reducing the circulating deliver. Very well, lets recap the steps in profiting from DAI. Loan your Ether to get some DAI Use the DAI in anyway you need Repay the DAI when you are equipped to get your collateral again Cha-ching! So now we all know how one can convert your Ethereum CDP to DAI; but we have got to marvel, how does DAI remain stable when Ethereum could be very unstable? Not to point out it crashed with the aid of 90 percentage final yr. That is treated by means of the so-known as goal fee suggestions Mechanism. Basically, it permits the process to remain in stable equilibrium, by using automatically adjusting the cost of each DAI, relative to the goal cost. The target cost is quite simply the fee we wish DAI to be.So like I stated prior, DAI is pegged to the united states greenback. Consequently, its target rate is 1 dollar per DAI. Three eventualities can occur. Scenario 1: present DAI rate is the equal as goal price; so no trade required. Scenario 2: current DAI rate is greater than the target price. On this case, the process has to unlock additional DAI, to make cost go down. The mechanism will make it less expensive to create DAI, which incentivizes customers to create more of it, and so demand goes down, bringing the rate with it.Scenario three: current DAI cost is shrink than goal. On this situation, the approach has to withdraw DAI from the market to make its rate bigger. The mechanism will be certain that DAI construction turns into extra high-priced, so much less DAI will be created, and so demand goes up, bringing the price with it. The goal expense feedback Mechanism is first-rate for preserving the DAI steady whilst overcollateralization cushions it from big price swings. However thats not all. MakerDAO has a characteristic referred to as global contract, which is its final line of security. It is a system where the method freezes; meaning no CDPs may also be created nor liquidated and transactions are stopped. Then, the system of returning all collateral back to its homeowners starts. So truly its a worldwide shutdown, which unravels the MakerDAO platform whilst making definite that every one Dai holders and CDP customers acquire the web value of property that they’re entitled to.And it could actually only be brought about through a set of world settlers, that are of course chosen by means of the MKR holders, which makes the whole process reasonably decentralized. A world contract ought to most effective be brought on if 1) there’s a protection breach, comparable to hacks or cyberattacks. 2) if there is a black swan event, which is an occurrence that’s unattainable to predict however has catastrophic ramifications. The DAO hack on Ethereum is an ideal instance for this. And 3) when there are approach improvements. For example, there’s a planned international settlement to occur once the procedure improvements to multi-collateral DAI. As weve mentioned, the MakerDAO platform simplest supports Ethereum as collateral. But accepting only one type of asset with out some other possible choices is bad for the method. Above all if its a very risky asset like Ethereum. Despite the system being admirably resilient, the MKR holders had to vote a few times to develop the steadiness cost, in order to avert the deliver of DAI and pressure up the cost again to 1 dollar.Currently, the soundness rate is nineteen.5%, which is fairly excessive. Im no longer definite how so much it used to but consistent with Coindesk record theyve been incrementally growing it for weeks. My excellent wager is that it was once someplace below 10 percent. However take that part with a grain of salt. But to be reasonable, this isnt the MKR holders fault. They’re without difficulty reacting to the law of deliver and demand. The determination to broaden the soundness cost would incentivize some users to close their CDPs and burn their DAI tokens, thereby stabilizing the fee. On top of that, it might discourage users from growing more DAIs too. Thus far its working. DAI is stable at 0.99 dollars on coinmarketcap at the time of this recording. But the difficulty is if persons speculate that Ethereum is gonna pump rough this 12 months coz crypto iciness is over and Ethereum remains to be number 2 amongst cryptocurrencies. If people believe that Ethereum is gonna lets say, triple in rate every time soon, they wouldnt care too much in regards to the 19 percentage balance rate.Coz what is a 19 percentage price to 300 percent profits, correct? And that can destabilize DAI. This is among the factors why multi-collateral could be very foremost. We cant have the risk concentrated on one unstable currency. If we might spread the risk to comprise beneficial metals, fiat money, properties, and different property. Then Dais price wont be comfortably influenced through the hypothesis of Ethereum holders. Not that I dont like Ethereum. Like it. Anyway guys, thanks for gazing. Seize you on the flipside! .