#so he's stuck in 'has a bunch of lore but we never talk about it'

[bluedogxl]

dunno if this counts as 'oc story' it's more just 'an oc's story' but

i should have been keeping an archive of events that he was present for the moment i decided he was gonna be this continuity-poisoned

EVERYONE QUICK describe your oc story in the worst way possible

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

an impolite use of magic

I was rereading Malleus’s Dorm Uniform vignettes to gather information for another post! Something that stuck out to me upon the reread was how magic can be used in an insulting or disrespectful way. We often hear about how both NRC and Twisted Wonderland itself has many rules and regulations which govern magic and its uses—but it seems there is a social component too.

A quick summary of the aforementioned vignettes; they center around Malleus trying to make it to a dorm leaders meeting. After his peers fail to successfully remind him of their appointed time and day, Malleus decides it would be easier the other dorm leaders come to him rather than him going to them. He then casts a spell which transfers those he wishes to meet with (the headmaster and dorm leaders), bringing them directly to him. This is where it gets interesting, because it is Malleus using this spell on his peers that offends them.

Azul indicates that he had never been treated with such disrespect and that Malleus’s act is an insult. Vil and Leona express upset that Malleus seems to think of them as nothing more than objects, luggage, a pen, or a book. Malleus says he does not understand why everyone is mad because the same spell he used on them, they use all the time to summon their magical pens to them. Riddle clarifies: “PENS ARE OBJECTS AND WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS!!” Lastly, Idia likens the situation to being treated like a familiar that Malleus sees fit to summon at his beck and call, which is also just as irritating.

Judging by the other dorm leaders’ reactions, we can infer that most mages find it extremely impolite to have a spell which is typically used on objects cast on them/living beings. Riddle implies you must obtain consent before doing so, otherwise it violates decorum. (This aligns with the idea that magic is usually formally regulated; for example, medical mages must still get their patients’ consent to operate on them or to heal them.)

Reviewing the other lore we know of, this piece of magical manners (?) makes sense. It seems to be okay to cast object-oriented magic so long as permission is granted. For example, in Floyd’s Labwear vignettes, Adeuce are shown practicing color changing magic on an apple. Vil would use similar color changing magic to alter his and his father’s clothes when they were being hounded by the paparazzi. A similar situation would occur in Lilia’s Suitor Suit vignettes, in which Malleus uses his magic to create a suit on Lilia that perfectly matches his image. I’m sure there are many other examples you could think of; these are just the most obvious ones that come to my mind.

Where does that leave us? Well, with a bunch more questions!! Firstly, what else is considered rude use of magic? Secondly, are spells which violate control over one’s mind and body also considered transgressions of social norms??? They must be, right?? Then why was everyone so chill when discussing how Ruggie and Jamil used their UMs in the main story compared to Malleus casting his transference spell? Isn’t having someone else’s will overwrite your own equally as, if not more, degrading and dehumanizing??? (We do see the the other students upset about the magic being casted on them after the fact, but talking about the possibility of it isn’t done with horror; maybe because it was already established that doing these things is a no-no.) In which case, Ruggie and Jamil, who have UMs meant to be used on living beings anyway, is also “impolite” because their spells still violate other people’s autonomy. Why isn’t this banned by law or at least regulated?? Because it’s too hard to control through legislation alone? (That actually makes sense 💦)

What about when Deuce cast a floating spell on Ace to launch him at the chandelier in the prologue? Or the time NRC students made rude Halloween goers (Magicam Monsters) leave campus by floating them over the school gates?? Were those instances considered impolite too???? And is it more impolite to use magic against a non-mage (since they cannot defend themselves) than against a mage? They mention in Terror is Trending that there are laws against using (attack) magic on non-mages, but what about non-attacking spells and with consent like color changing magic???

What are the rules around casting magic on sentient objects like the Mirror of Darkness, is that considered rude as well since the object is “living”? Do ghosts count as “living” enough to be offended by having an object-oriented spell cast on them? Where do blessings and curses fall in this, since those can be cast without consent (Lilia on baby Silver in book 7) and can also be cast on objects (Vil with the gifted cake and pie in book 5).

I must.. know… 🤡

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

My headcannons for what type of music the Batfam likes lol

Bruce: 40s love songs, mostly because Thomas and Martha are lovers of old music and art it’s a call back to Batman being such an old.. old character.

He also loves really, REALLY sad songs. Just straight depressing songs, like he knows all the lyrics to like the most downright suicidal songs ever.

Dick: he listens to very upbeat music, but like EDM and rap, he also loves circus music and really ridiculously old songs he knows all the words to “the flying trapeze” by heart ❤️

Jason: unironically his favourite album is Neil Cicirega's "mouth sounds" series of albums, he also would never admit it but he listens to Kikuo constantly. he's not a "fan" of vocaloid he just likes some songs. he also constantly listens to 80s and 70s hits as a call back to his character being popular in the 80s.

Tim: worst taste in music ever, he does NOT get the aux. it's all the most popular hits of the last 4 decades, for better or worse.

he also gets all the WE jingles stuck in his head, it's so bad.

it's mostly now video game OST's he got into FNAF lore at one point and actually solved it, and then got super into the music. he relates a bit too much, he calls Jason sometimes mike because they are both undead guys hellbent on keeping kids safe from the evils of this world, and Ra's afton because the bastard always comes back. he will BLARE "I hope you die in a fire" when working a Ra's case.

Damian: despite what he holds himself to he really likes the same fandom sorta music, video game lore was the only thing that Damien and Tim talk about, they have usually ZERO free time to watch or play games they just extrapolate wtf the game is about from their friends WITH free time. that being wally and bart.

so damien has a bunch of the living tombstones, classic Chinese and arabic music but mainly Pakistani, some 80s hits. 40s love songs because bruce is right they are really good, and some mislabeled cassette tapes\CD's Damien picks up on patrol that he likes.

Steph: she didn't really get a chance to listen to much music, since Cluemaster was a dick. but she did bond and learn to love Ballet music ever since Cassandra introduced it to her, she gets whole records and albums and buys one time releases on Ebay for herself and Cassandra. otherwise she just listens to audiobooks or podcasts when working.

Cassandra: TONS of ballet music along with classic Oprah music and theatre music, she goes to plays and pirates them, she listens to every single play or theatre music she can get her hands on. she listens to "rocky horror picture show" "the guy who didn't like musicals" "Coppélia" "Jesus Christ superstar" "The Mousetrap" any and everything. she adores it all, she and Steph are constantly looking for more records and plays to watch and pirate.

Barbara: weirdly enough 60s music, Jim rubbed off on her and she honestly just listens to all sorts of 60s sounding music, she had a Elvis phase where she just was constantly listening to Elvis, eventually she found out there was a TON of other 60s and 70s black artists who were ripped off by Elvis and started listening to them, she then eventually got into punk rock and rock and roll.

Harper: she is fully into the Gotham punk music scene, she literally is one of the biggest supporters of the Gotham punk scene. only random punk song CD's, videos she converted into CD's, old gothamite punk songs on vinyl, digital releases, she just has so much merch half she made herself and half she bought, she is the epitome of Gotham punk fan. she actually has a whole ass internet archive account dedicated to JUST Gotham punk.

Duke: weirdly he loves very ethereal and bright peppy music, only instrumentals though, listens to the weirdcore playlists on YouTube listens to corecore, he just has very strange music tastes.

sometimes he forgets his entire playlist is filled with weirdly ethereal music and the rest of the batfam get so confused, and think Jean-paul is blaring church music again.

Jean-Paul: only church music, he has the most bland music tastes, he sometimes listens to catholic metal or something when he's working but other than that he just blares organ music and mass and church music, everyone tries to tell him that he CAN LISTEN TO ANYTHING ELSE. PLEASE. but he just doesn't lol.

Thomas: he listens to 40s love songs and old Sicilian and Italian songs, he's a old fart, he loves old movie soundtracks.

William Cobb: circus music only circus music, late 1880s and 1950s circus music. it sounds like a clown house and it triggers the shit out of bruce.

Jarro: he's a baby, he has no actual opinions the batfam put on nursery rhymes andcoco melon

and the rest (carrie, Bernard, huntress and the other ones)

I have 0 idea I have not read enough comics to figure it out lol

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

silly question time, those marks on the sides of Drifter's face, are they tatoos, scars, or just like, weird wrinkles? In-game the shading makes them look like scars, but they are perfectly symmetrical. Is it like a Dregen thing? Result of some blood ritual, maybe?

They're scars. We can see them especially clearly in Gambit openings that focus on his face.

As far as I know (and I have searched pretty extensively through the Ishtar Collective and the Destiny Lore Vault) there is no current in-game explanation for the Drifter's facial scars.

We do have some interesting tidbits, though. One is from Cayde in his post-death message to the Drifter.

He says "back when you were still handsome." Implying the Drifter is less-so now. I'm going to put aside the obvious inaccurate concept that scars make someone less beautiful but use this as an example that the Drifter may have been different, physically, in the past.

(There is a strong counter-argument here, that Cayde's definition of 'handsome' may not be entirely physical. It's highly congruent with the Drifter's character for him to alter his appearance and behavioural patterns to make himself less appealing when he wants to be left alone. And Cayde could also just be being a little shit. All of these are possible and potentially simultaneously true.)

The Drifter also has a pretty antagonistic relationship with his ghost and has refused its help in the past so it would not be out of character for him to not allow it to heal him and instead want to heal any wounds he's sustained 'naturally.'

So there's basically three main possiblities: Either he was risen with the scars, has somehow chosen to keep them between resurrections (I'm unsure if this is even possible in D2 lore, but it's a popular fan theory), or he hasn't died since he got them (and refuses to allow his ghost to heal them with Light).

While your theory of a Dredgen/blood ritual is possible, to me it seems far more likely the scars are so symmetrical because they're from an explosion near his face. Such as in the concept art below:

He's also got several voice lines in his Gambit preamble, and elsewhere discussing his many adventures in kit-bashing and engineering which have involved considerable personal danger to himself. The Drifter has never been one for OSHA compliance.

This is in addition to his brutal past detailed in A Man With No Name and elsewhere, which involved quite a lot of shrapnel, explosions, buildings collapsing, fire, and other unpleasantness.

It's also plausible that, rather than shrapnel, they're tooth or claw marks from the creatures he encountered in the Ancient Apocalypse armour lore where he, once again, murdered his entire crew to survive, as shown in this concept art:

One of the (many, many, many) things I love about the Drifter is that he is just so full of stories. The scars on his face are just yet more stories. The details of his physical portrayal all speak to so many different narrative tidbits. Everything about him is story-rich.

He's a fascinating creature, filled with contradictions and sorrow.

I went combing through D2 concept art for this post and it took me so long to answer specifically because I was trying to find an image that I remember seeing where the Drifter is pulling off some eye protection after an explosion and the scars on his face are where the eye-protection wasn't covering. It stuck in my memory because the Drifter actually using eye protection at all seemed very noteworthy to me at the time. However, I haven't been able to find this image anywhere and this makes me think perhaps it was fan art and not concept art. I asked a bunch of people about this, but no one I've talked with knows wtf I'm talking about. It is also possible I may have imagined it. At this point, I have, sadly, given up on ever locating it again (if it ever existed in the first place).

On the off-chance anyone does know what image I'm talking about, though, here is my desperate plea for a link to it.

That is all.

[island-in-the-shadows]

The Finale, the Devil, His Minion & His Turning

Before I begin, let me state with clarity that I am not an expert in book lore. I’m, at best, semi-pro. I, however, do my due diligence when it comes to my passions and my hyperfixations and this has been one that has stuck around for most of my life. So, I wanted to weigh into the whole Devil’s Minion situation as pertains to how S2 ended as well as implications for the future of it combined with the bits and pieces of things we’ve heard RJ etc say regarding it. I know this is all a big kerfuffle one way or the other. I’m writing this mostly for myself, but I wanted to share with anyone who wants to read because fandom metas are fun even if we disagree with parts of them or even the whole of them. So, disclaimer aside, strap in for this very long post…

Let's talk about Devil's Minion and the implications of the Season 2 finale.

First things first, let’s discuss Daniel Molloy. He’s a difficult guy and I get why there’s a bunch of people who dislike him even though I can’t relate. I love him. I love that he’s a sassy loudmouth who has even louder opinions and can be horribly inappropriate. I love that, when he’s doing his thing, he’s like a dog with a bone and he won’t let go. I love that he has suffered for it because the consequence of being a dog with a bone, of having an addictive personality, of having sarcasm and sass as a defence mechanism, and of having a truly atrocious sense of self-preservation is that he got fucked up by vampires, blew up his life, “destroyed two marriages,” and “fucked up two daughters.” He’s not the character that people who want to black/white moralise this show can point to as a bastion of “goodness,” even if he was, until recently, the only human main character. In fact, it’s precisely because he was human that it made sense that he was a fucked up person. After all, all humans have their good and bad aspects. 

And then, he was turned (offscreen so that people like me can shout manically into the void). I LOVE that he was turned. I’ll get into the larger implications of it later but, for now, I want to explain why I enjoy Vampire Daniel.

For a bit of background, here’s what we know about his book counterpart in broad strokes: he smokes, he interviews Louis in San Francisco, he published Interview with the Vampire anonymously, he went to NOLA searching for Lestat but found Armand instead, cue here everything that has to do with the 12 years in which he and Armand were what they were together, he’s an ash blonde with violet eyes, he’s an addict, he’s a sarcastic loudmouth, he’s morbid, he went mad, he liked building miniature cityscapes, he spent most of the years of his madness (and some after he regained his sanity) with Marius, he and Armand reunite after +- 25-30 years of separation. That’s it. There’s a lot about him that you can certainly infer in the limited page amount where you can read about him, but that’s about it. We especially don’t get to know much about him after he is turned aside from when he got the vampire zoomies at Lestat’s concert and Maharet’s compound, his madness, Marius, his cityscapes, and his reunion with Armand.

Seeing Daniel Molloy be a vampirically amplified version of himself BY himself is, to me, extraordinary. Here, he’s, technically, unconnected to any of the other vampires and is standing on his own two feet. He chose to publish the book with his name on it (which is fucking insane when you think about it), he’s the one choosing to “call” Louis every week to check in on his bestie, he’s the one choosing to comment on some guys headphones before he eats him. In scant minutes we were presented with the vampire Daniel as an individual. This, in many ways, outdoes how he exists as a vampire in the books where he is never truly disconnected from one of two well-known vampires: Armand, and Marius. 

Secondly, we seldom, if ever, get a vampire in live-action film or TV who looks 60+ in mortal years who, by design, is a sexy swaggering sarcastic menace who wears a leather jacket, an AC/DC tee, and cunty sunglasses. I racked my brain trying to find other vampires who look “older” in human years and even asked friends to help me and, ultimately, came to the following list of best examples (but feel free to tell me more): Gary Oldman in Dracula who is made to look creepy before he gets de-aged in order to be “sexy,” Bill Nighy as Viktor in Underworld, who looks great and powerful, but he’s the villain and he’s not technically designed to inspire anything more than loathing, and Viago’s long-lost lover in What We Do in the Shadows, Katherine ( from which we get the fun Viago being a cradle snatcher meme). This is all my opinion, but it’s fantastic to have a man in his 70s with wrinkles and grey hair be turned into a vampire and be framed as desirable and powerful. Personally, I want to see more vampires who are adults and older adults vs consistently seeing teens and people in their early twenties.

That being said, as much as I love Daniel being a man/vampire in his seventies, this fact alone upends one of the major beats of the relationship between him and Armand as written in Queen of the Damned. The part that is irreparably changed has nothing to do with Daniel’s age because that is irrelevant to Armand who, in book canon, wanted Daniel to live a mortal life, much to Daniel’s chagrin. He even tells Daniel, “Don’t you realise that any one of us would give it up for one human lifetime?”

Daniel doesn't believe him but their arguments regarding mortality only have a level of resolution in 1985 when Armand turns a dying Daniel. What changes here is twofold: the first is that Akasha did not wake from her sleep (which tracks with the timeline of the show thus far, as she wakes up because of Lestat’s music and she ruins the world tour). The second is that, presuming that Daniel and Armand had a past in the 70s and 80s, which is very likely, Armand let Daniel go. Armand letting Daniel go is a HUGE change. Yes, part of him likely let Daniel go because he was still involved with Louis whereas in the book he didn’t have a partner at the time. However, presuming that Armand and Daniel’s relationship in the 70s and 80s was as codependent and obsessive as it was in the source material, letting this one mortal boy go was arguably one of the most emotionally difficult things Armand has ever had to do. It changes a whole host of things in their dynamic moving forward. 

This is why the fact that so many are turning on it now after 2x8 is a little baffling to me. I am a pessimist at heart, especially when it comes to things like this because I have been burned time and time again. It’s been a shock to me that so many who were rock solid on this after 2x5 are now panicking. And yet, I understand the concerns. 

For example, according to Louis and later repeated in interviews by Rolin and sort of by Assad, Daniel was turned out of “spite.” Assuming that this is true, it is devastating. In the source lore, Daniel was turned out of love. Armand tells Daniel he’ll turn him “[…]because I am a coward. And I love you too much to let you go.” Except, in the show’s universe, Armand has already let Daniel go once even if it wasn't because Daniel was dying. Then again do we know if the younger Daniel was dying? If he overdosed once or multiple times? No. But at some point, Armand let him go. At some point, Daniel’s memory of whatever time he spent with Armand was erased. Presuming that something like this happened, that act alone was not out of spite.

Further, it is Louis who said Daniel was “burdened out of spite.” Except Monsieur du Lac has a very particular perspective and is currently quite cross with his ex. Those words, if I may borrow from book Armand, “That’s Louis’ language.” Note that while Daniel retorts, “Make it up to me. We’ll do a follow-up book,” this comes after Louis says “I shouldn’t have left you alone with him.” Daniel neither confirms or denies that he was made out of spite. He’s, to some extent, assuaging Louis’ guilt while segueing to try to get something he wants from Louis. We didn’t see Daniel being turned so we can’t be certain where it happened or when it happened or why it happened. 

I know you’re probably reading this and going: but Rolin said they wouldn’t build the Dubai set again! Rolin said we won’t see the turning! Rolin said it was out of spite! Yes, fellow tumblrina, I know. But, like Claudia’s journals, like Louis’ or Armand’s narration of events across both seasons, anyone working on the show would have cause to obfuscate, omit, or lie. After all, was it not Rolin who also said we weren’t getting Rockstar Lestat when we are, in fact, getting Rockstar Lestat? Ah! That, my friends, is an unreliable witness.

Any creator can lie about their work for whatever reason they see fit including marketing or trying to keep spoilers away. To use a recent example, Andrew Garfield consistently and frequently lied that he was not in Spiderman: No Way Home. Oh, there was a set leak picture? No, that wasn’t him it was a double. He kept that party line until the movie came out, regardless if people knew or not. Same thing applies here and it creates doubt. The tricky part of this all is that, because Season 3 is The Vampire Lestat, it’s likely that anything we do see regarding Daniel and Armand will be quite limited. 

Another thing that truly frustrates longtime Devil’s Minion girlies, especially those who have religiously read the Devils Minion chapter (really, it’s the only thing we have to go off of because Anne Rice put Daniel on a shelf and never really took him off it except in vague mentions in other vampires’ stories and, I guess, she wanted us to go fuck ourselves because Daniel is basically a negative footnote in The Vampire Armand) is the implication that Daniel wants to know where the fuck his maker is because he has been abandoned. We keep thinking: Armand would never abandon a newly turned Daniel. I’ve seen plenty of posts and some fics fully assuming that Armand turned Daniel in the penthouse and then left him right then and there. Which tracks only if he were being made out of spite. Except, at this time, we simply do not know that that is the case. Likewise, we do not know that Armand immediately abandoned Daniel. 

Why are we assuming this? Because Louis says he left them alone? He did but, he also told Daniel to get his things because he’d “arrange a car and a plane to take you home”. With Louis’ money and power, he could’ve had Daniel on a plane to JFK in, tops, an hour. If we want to suppose that it was out of spite, then Louis just left Daniel alone with Armand right away? Louis didn’t change his clothes or pack a bag or grab a wallet to go to NOLA? He had his Amex with him at the hotel and he was wearing different clothes, so there is time unaccounted for in Dubai. Then we have to suppose that a newly turned and abandoned Daniel was alone or eating staff in the penthouse despite being expected on a flight that was probably private, because Louis wouldn’t have done it by half measure if he wanted Daniel out of there ASAP. Then we have to consider the amount of time that Louis was supposedly in NOLA. How long would it have taken him to go to NOLA, have his reunion with Lestat, wait out a hurricane, come back and find a fucked up Daniel in that penthouse? We’re still missing time.

I could present you a different scenario. I could say that Armand stalked Daniel back to NY (which would be on brand, but I digress) and turned him there out of spite or not out of spite. That Daniel remembers or doesn’t remember their past together. That Armand possibly stayed with Daniel some time until Daniel, rightfully pissed off for San Francisco or the gaslighting Armand did to Louis or directing the trial or erasing Daniel’s memories or any of the fucked up shit that Armand did in their shared past (there’s a LOT that this gremlin has done that would make Daniel angry), asked Armand to go away. I could even tell you that in Queen of the Damned Daniel and Armand fought, a lot. I could tell you that Daniel left Armand for months at a time when he was pissed off because Armand wouldn’t turn him. I could tell you that after Daniel was turned, things soured between him and Armand dramatically and, per Armand, Daniel left him.

  I can quote Queen of the Damned to state my case:

“Conversations, sparring matches, and downright fights became the rule.”

“Ugly fights, terrible fights, finally, Armand broken down, glassy-eyed with silent rage, then crying softly but uncontrollable as if some lost emotion had been rediscovered which threatened to tear him apart.”

“And the wandering started, the escaping, and Armand did not follow him. Armand would wait each time until Daniel begged to come back. Or until Daniel was beyond calling, until Daniel was on the verge of death itself. And then and only then, Armand would bring him back.”

I can quote The Vampire Armand for you in the parts relevant to Daniel to show you the contentious separation that also reeks of Armand’s self-loathing and his desire to complete his self-fulfilling prophecy even though it’s painful for me:

“…the boy, who had been my faithful mortal companion, and only sometimes an intolerable nuisance…”

“Daniel, though alive and wandering, though civil and gentle, can no more stand my company than I can stand his. Equipped with my powerful blood, he can contend with any who should be foolish enough to interrupt his plans for an evening, a month or a year, but he cannot contend with my continuous company and I cannot contend with his.”

“I pushed his face into the flesh of the first young innocent he had to slaughter for his inevitable thirst, and thereby fell off the pedestal on which he’d placed me in his demented, over imaginative, feverishly poetical and ever exuberant mortal mind.”

“[…]when gaining Daniel as a fledgling, I lost him as a mortal lover and gradually began to let him go.”

“[…] I rejoined the world in a way which I had not done since my fledgling, my one and only fledgling, Daniel Molloy, had left me. My love for Daniel had never been entirely honest, and always viciously possessive, and quite entangled with my own hatred of the world at large, and my confusion in the face of the baffling modern times which had begun to open up to me […] Daniel himself had no use for the world […] Heaping every luxury upon him, I only sickened him with mortal sweets so that finally he turned away from the riches I offered, becoming a vagabond. Mad, roaming the streets in rags, he shut out the world almost to the point of death, and I, weak, muddled, tormented by his beauty, and lusting for the living man and not the vampire he might become, only brought him over to us through the working of the Dark Trick because he would have died otherwise.”

“[…]he loathed me in his heart for having initiated him into Living Death, for having made him in one night an immortal and a regular Killer. As a mortal man, he had no real idea of the price we pay for what we are, and he did not want to learn the truth; he fled from it, in reckless dreams and spiteful wandering.”

The last sentence in the quote above fucking bullshit, by the way, because Daniel actively asked to see Armand kill and Armand told him no but, whatever.

“and so it was as I feared. Making him to be my mate, I made a minion who saw me all the more clearly as a monster. […] There was never any chance, no matter how beautiful the twilight gardens in which we wandered. Our souls were out of tune, our desires crossed and our resentments too common and well watered for the final flowering.”

But for all those quotes, for all the extrapolating, and for all the suppositions, we simply do not know. We weren’t given concrete answers to anything. Which, yes, is frustrating as all fuck. Because, if we read into it at face value, if we follow that this trend would destroy two characters and a core relationship and what it means to them both in the long run, then we have to accept defeat. We have to admit that the writers of this show don’t actually care about this pairing or these characters as individuals. We have to admit that something that we have wanted (and some of have wanted this since Queen of the Damned came out in 1988) is never going to happen. That we, like Louis, have been gaslit and taken advantage of. 

We’d have to reframe all the charged looks, the oddly sexual “yeah,” Armand knowing how to make drinks to Daniel’s exact tastes, Armand de-escalating Louis’ humiliation of Daniel (I know some of you think he was making it worse but, neither the tone of Armand’s voice or his facial expressions read that intention to me, sorry), the overly elaborate courses of food served to Daniel (which, to book readers, is a nod to when Armand ordered everything in a restaurant for Daniel), the brief announcement of a Night Island spinoff, Armand feeling the need to justify himself directly to Daniel in 2x6, putting Assad and Eric/Luke together for press stuff, etc. are all some sick trick. That they either want to make it into enemies to lovers (which it never really was) and forfeit its true meaning or, worse, that it’s all been shipbaiting to keep us on the hook when Devil’s Minion girlies already know that this is the Lestat and Louis show.

I get it. This is not what many of us wanted. We wanted to see the turning. We wanted to see it be about love. We wanted to see Daniel get even a hint of who he and Armand had been to each other in the past, because they definitely had one. We wanted confirmation that, once upon a time, Armand found some of his humanity through a mortal he loved and that, after 30+ years apart, he broke the rule he withheld for nearly 5 centuries because of his love for this boy. We got none of it. All we know is that Armand turned Daniel, that Daniel doesn’t know where his maker is, and that Daniel’s pissed at him. That’s it.

It leaves us, essentially, with nothing. Frankly, it’s more of a nothing than I thought we were going to get. Again, this is the Lestat and Louis show. They are the protagonists and it is their stories (apart and together) that are the A plot. So all that we can do, if we want to see a good version of Devil’s Minion, is wait and hope. Hope that the good writing that has been done in sections of the show holds true to this also. Hope that, given that the plot hole we ALL noticed in 1x2 was explained in 2x8, all of the subtle hints we have been given are actually going to pay off. Hope that this team, that has put a lot of love and care into this show, doesn’t massively fuck over two characters. Hope that someone gets Eric violet contacts in S3 (unless it’s like the theory @cbrownjc has regarding body swapping which would be very interesting---also if you haven't already, follow her, her blog is incredible and has fantastic insights) because if they can give Jacob green ones, there’s no fucking excuse. 

(Yes, this is a nitpick. As an aside, the established vamps do change shades of eye colour, because Louis and Lestat have had at least 2 shades of green and blue respectively in S2, and Armand had 3 shades of amber/brown/reddish orange in 2x8 ALONE. The weird bit with Daniel’s eyes specifically is how dramatic of a colour shade change it is, how quickly the change happens, and that, say it with me kids, NONE OF THE SHADES ARE VIOLET.)

Listen, this hasn’t really had a thesis statement but I’ve ranted enough that it could be an actual term paper. But I want to end this by saying that what gives me hope is that, thus far, the quality of this show, in every aspect, is fantastic. Heck, I get hope in the fact that the Loustat girlies have been DEEP in the trenches for two seasons and it’s getting a little better for them. Louis is where he needs to be at this point of the story and we know that Lestat, the real Lestat, is coming. Goodness knows, Sam’s gonna keep fighting to make sure it is the real Lestat, warts and all, even with the changes that most people didn’t like. So, let’s hope. Let’s hope that the showrunner/head writer is, yet again, being a massive troll. Let’s hope that the writing team actually understood what the point of Devil’s Minion was and where its beauty lay and that they don’t diminish it to be something entirely foreign. Let’s hope that the massive holes, the missing time, missing scenes, all equate to a net positive. Let’s not give up yet.

TL;DR Don’t be fatalistic about how S2 ended and what it means for Devil’s Minion, because there’s way too much that is missing to conclusively write it off at this time.

[desire-mona]

heard we were making house ocs and ive had a dingus floating around in my head since january so i FINALLY got around to actually making a proper ref sheet. i present my silliest

Dr. Nanette "Ninny" Amesbury :3

more under cut !

big warning lore n backstory n stuff is very bare bones and not all the way there cuz im #lazy

birthday is vague but lets go with ~35 circa s2

if i had a nickel for every oc i had who had absent parents and was raised catholic by their grandparents, id have two nickels. unintentional that it happened twice i sorta forgor the other one's lore for a bit and now its stuck so ummmmm sorry laney. wont be going into childhood bc i havent come up w that yet and honestly i dont care to!!! yada yada yada catholic guilt but not in the chase way bc she hasnt left the church n likely never will

ummmm relationship chart + template

lets just quick go over some relationship highlights cuz some are def more important than others

wilson: mr president a 4th ex wife has hit the james wilson. when were they married? ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 😁

but they were married for like. 3 years? YES it ended bc he cheated but nin also wasn't the best either her ass was literally never ever there she was ALWAYS at work (like more than normal doctor amounts of at work - only came home to sleep and even that was only 4x a week(also worked at a different hospital))

tw suicide for next part bee tee dub

a big part of the beginning of their relationship was (big surprise) wilson's attraction to what he THOUGHT was neediness but was literally just nin wanting (and trying) to kill herself lol. once the magic of all that went away (perceived independence thats rly just #bottling shit up) he was just kinda like oh :/ its not cool to have a mentally ill wife anymore :/ i was expecting ramona flowers :/ or whatever. so infidelity impact font, hijinks and moving away for [amount] years ensue before nin being hired at ppth as the head of pediatrics. brief fwb situation w wilson Again b4 she finds out shes a lesbian at the end of like. s2.

oh yeah she also tries to kill herself again once she figures it out (see catholic guilt mention) but its cool she lives

cuddy: GAAAAAYYYYY GAAAAYYYYYYY GAY!!!!! DR AMESBURY WANTS TO FUCK THIS WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its one sided tho boooooo cuddys briefly like Wait ? just b4 nin moves away at the end of s6 roughly but shes already. thats done its not happening.

kutner: dont even fucking talk to me. i dont wanna talk about it. im gonna talk about it.

so kutner (like the slut that he is lowkey but society isnt ready for that) asks nin out just after he gets hired and shes like ermmmmmmmmmm! but sensing his loser aura she (still deeply closeted) is like hey haha i dont swing that way sorry !!!!!!! but its ok they become super mega best friends and get nerdy together

i like to think they listen to weird al together OH YEAH NINS THE BIGGEST WEIRD AL YANKOVIC FAN IN NEW JERSEY

and then nothing bad happens!

if youve seen this post about the little writing things kutner got after he croaked then hooray here's nanettes

they make me so fucking upset.

anyway as i stated above nin moves away after s6 for a bunch of reasons. 1) thanks obama 2) a big part of what contributed to her suicidal ideations n such was the fact that deep down she didnt ACTUALLY know what she wanted to do w her life. u may be like she doesnt. want to be a doctor ? NO she doesnt thats just what she did to get money to eventually do what she wants. whatever that is. something something feeling lost in life and unable to reach a goal when u dont even know what the goal is something something. also persistent depressive disorder but like spoon in kitchen.

idk what shes gonna end up doing after she moves but id imagine she shows up for house's funeral so i cant just be like lol nobody gets to know! im thinking painter but idk IDK guys her lore is ROUGH

thats it if u have questions ill answer thanks

[bloopybloocurse]

Character of the day

Astaroth !

Today's character is the main reason why Cascade, the OC world, even exists. I created the world after I created him first. And then I worked on both alongside eachother bit by bit.

He's changed a lot over the past year or two now, but I believe now I have lore that is a lot more set in stone as compared to the start....so. Now we can talk about Astaroth, aka Rot.

Pre-antipathy:

At his youngest years, he's always been a gentle soul. Curious, wanting to understand the world. To meet people, to talk to those around him. But his sentiment wasn't shared, for he was crafted with a defect - a demonic core, of some sort...or at least, that's all the angels could see in Astaroth's aura. They couldn't know for sure what it was but they knew that it was demonic.

Being shunned, his curiosity got directed towards Earth instead. He took interest in plants, creatures, humans...eventually he lived amongst them for periods at a time. Went to schools to learn, lived with people, learned from them. Before he knew it, he was nearing his 100s. He learned so much about elements and materials from humans that his creationism powers became the most accurate of all the angels, at such a young age compared to others.

And yet he was still shunned. And so, one day he lashed out at the council, which only resulted in him becoming imprisoned due to already being on a thin line due to his defect.

He was imprisoned for an entire century... but eventually he managed to break out. How? Well, that's a whole thing of it's own.

Current:

Both of these designs are technically canon, however, they require a few tweaks to fall in line with canon, just on different places of the timeline.

He changes so drastically not only due to his imprisonment, but due to his "defect". For it has a mind of it's own, which may or may not influence Rot's personality over time...

Either way, the unjust imprisonment is something Rot will attempt to take revenge for. However, he'll find himself striving for bigger, more important goals around that time as well....

Fallen AU:

ON A LIGHTER NOTE, there's an AU version where he accepts falling. In this case, he ends up entering a portal into another world with a bunch of different kinds of OCs, and so, they're stuck until the scientists there find a way to teleport them back (yes this is an rp server plot). There, Rot meets Ethan (who belongs to @/surfervelocity), and they find companionship in eachother due to their similar pasts.

Then gay happens and they care for eachother very much. So much so that Rot gives up on his previous goals in canon lore and instead embraces a more peaceful life, thus finally giving up his ties to Hevetta and "falling". But in the end, that's what brings him some form of peace and happiness.

In a way, this proves that he'll never be happy or at peace, never himself, never reach his true potential as long as he holds onto that revenge towards the council. It's what continues to tie him to Hevetta, and why his halo, even while unstable, is still intact.

So yeah! That's the lore about my babygirl <3 my little meow meow <3 <3 <3 you can tell he's my favorite because he's the most traumatized :>

(^ this art is by @/surfervelocity)

[zeroseuniverse]

Murderer

WC: 645 Pairing: Niki X Fem Reader Warnings: Mentions of murder, a lot actually, no actual murder.

“I think my soulmate might actually be a fucking murderer?”Riki yelled as he entered the apartment in a panic, scaring all of his members as well, “Do I call the police or what?”

“What are you talking about?” Jay wondered, but Sunoo was on different path

“You met your soulmate?”

Meanwhile Sunghoon, “Don’t call the police on your soulmate! Help them hide the body!”

“Okay there are so many things wrong with everything that was just said, Ni-Ki speak.” Jungwon addressed, looking at his elder oddly.

“I was at the company with Yeonjun hyung, we were just talking about different concepts for deaths in their music videos and I listed off some, I didn’t even know I knew? Like an icicle through the heart, the evidence would melt, and it wouldn’t stop the blood while melting from the body heat, or or insulin under the tongue? Almost completely undetectable.” Ni-Ki rambled, more ideas falling off of his tongue, while his elders watched on in horror, well most of them, Sunghoon was marking the ideas in his brain with a slight nod of approval.

“Okay, let's stop listing before Sunghoon gets any more ideas.” Heeseung grinned, knowing Sunghoon would never actually murder anyone but it was funny to tease with how interested he was in the various ways, “So your soulmate knows a lot of ways for people to die, maybe they’re studying medicine.” Heeseung offered, earning a lot of looks in his direction, “What?”

“If his soulmate was studying medicine he wouldn’t ask us to patch him up everytime he falls and scrapes his leg.” Jake deduced making all the others point at him in agreement.

“Ni-Ki, you would never get paired up with a murder, you’re too pure for that.” Jay reassured, before all attention turned to the door when it opened, in came their favorite female.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” She greeted, walking around giving hugs and cheek kisses to her friends before sitting next to Sunghoon on the floor.

“Talking about Ni-Ki’s soulmate being a murderer.” Sunoo said casually, making her eyes widen in shock.

“What?”

“Apparently he was talking to Yeonjun about death concepts for their videos and a bunch of things he didn’t even know he knew started falling out of his mouth.”Sunghoon explained, making her giggle.

“And that means they’re a murderer? Wait what does you knowing random facts have to do with your soulmate? Maybe you just passed by someone and heard them talking and it stuck without you knowing. "She offered but Ni-Ki shook his head in protest.

“I’d remember if I ever heard anyone say these things, and my soul bond is that I share knowledge with my soulmate, this isn’t the first time this has happened, they had an immense amount of knowledge on the supernatural too, remember when we were planning our lore?

“Wait, your bond is shared knowledge?” She asked, visibly paling as all attention turned to her.

“Yea why?” Ni-Ki asked, watching as her throat bobbed with her gulp.

“Uh, what were the murder techniques? Ya know, just curious.”

“Icicle stake, and insulin under the tongue were the main ones he mentioned.” Jungwon noted, looking to make sure he was right, Ni-Ki nodded in agreement before looking back at the woman curiously.

“You’re my soulmate?!?” She yelped, jumping up from her seat in shock, while Ni-Ki returned with the same amount.

“You’re the murderer?”

“I’m not a murderer!”

“Then how do you know those murder techniques?”

“I’m a creative writer! I specialize in horror stories.” She countered making them all realize why she’d know odd facts like that.

“Oh my god! You’re my soulmate! And you’ve been here the whole time and didn’t know?” Ni-Ki freaked, bolting forward to engulf her into his arms.

“You thought I was a murderer, get off of me!” She laughed, pushing lightly at his chest.

[of-mutton-and-wool]

So more cotl reincarnate thoughts

Basically reminder

Because the youngest died first

The youngest are the oldest and the oldest are the youngest

I’m not entirely sure if their disabilities carry into this life ( I am leaning towards yes so, we are going to assume these apply here)

Oh and it’s like hundreds of years after the main plot so it’s modern times

Shamura

- their about 14-15ish at the start of this au

- their parents are pretty neglectful. They keep food in the fridge but never have time to see shamura, so they mostly spent time by themselves when they were at a age where they could ‘take care of themselves’

- because of this neglect shamura struggles in social interactions because nobody taught them anything how to really interact with their peers

- plus they struggle in school due to undiagnosed memory issues + adhd (they don’t know. Doctors scare them so they try not to say anything)

- they aren’t exactly bullied? But like, they aren’t exactly friends with anyone either

- … its lonely at school.

- because of this shamura is very enthusiastic and latched onto anyone who gives them the time of day

- this leads to shamura befriending Leshy, the city’s local Florida man.

- they got a shitty laptop for their 12th birthday and have unrestricted internet access (to their gain and detriment)!

- their main interests are mythology, video games, and programming + hacking

- they honestly feel the safest inside their room in a little tent they created with webbing and tents

- they babysit camellia from time to time!!

- once did soccer. Got kicked off because they bit another kid

Leshy

- like, 30

- he was born blind :].

- he’s married!!! To the yellow cat, Elio!! They have a daughter and her name is camellia!!

-how does that work? I don’t know! Its best not to ask

- he loves his family very much

- he’s known for causing trouble around the city, no major crime (to his dismay, but he has a husband and daughter he wants to stay close to).

- he thinks the governing body of the city is a bunch of cowards

- I’m not entirely sure how Leshy gets around just yet but I’m tempted to give him a service worm which assists him in his schemes! Or he’s lived in the city his whole life. Maybe both.

-cops hate him. He hates the cops.

- sorta concerned that shamura hangs around him because ‘shouldn’t you be hanging out with your peers??? ‘

- but hey leshys got a pal!

- Leshy 🤝 shamura (living in the unmarketable part of town)

- he can purr :]

- Leshy really resents his parents. They were the opposite of shamura’s, they were VERY overprotective and basically locked Leshy at home

- he doesn’t talk to them anymore. They’ve long since moved out so they will leave him alone.

- when he’s upset Leshy tends to fall back into some old self destructive habits

- despite being very lively he doesn’t often go to crowded parts of town because he much prefers to be able to hear thank you very much.

Heket

- late 20s (probably about 28)

- she feels… stuck. She didn’t have enough money for collage and she ended up dropping out of high school for reasons I can’t think of right now

- she lives with her family and siblings. They operate decently successful supermarket.

- heket wants to be satisfied but she’s not. There is this anger inside her she can’t do anything about.

- she’s had her fair share of petty crime in her youth. Unlike Leshy she’s mellowed out.

- she’s selectively mute again due to lore reasons. She knows sign language and usually keeps a notepad on her.

- She sees kallamar a lot, and being the only other person she knows who knows sign language, she and him are good aquitances

- the type to blast music when she’s upset

- the only one I would trust behind a steering wheel

- decent relationship with her parents (shocking).

- decent with kids as well! She babysits her siblings a lot. Babysat shamura when they were younger (they haven’t spoken since)

- probably started smoking in high school and has yet to quit the habit

- honestly romantic intimacy scares her so she’s not in the romance scene

- she actually used to be in a band! She still has her base and plays it sometimes, reminds her of simpler times

- also as a way to try and manage her anger she took up crocheting. While not particularly patient she can make a damn good granny square.

- she doesn’t drink. She just doesn’t consider herself a fun person to drink around.

Kallamar

- about 24ish

- cunty,, in collage. He’s a trust fund kid </3

- he’s in college for medicine but really kallamar wants to be a fashion designer (but daddy said no because ‘that’s not a man’s job’)

- still, when he isn’t drowning in work kallamar daydreams about running his own clothing brand.

- kallamar frequents a local convenience store because they are the only place to have the drinks he likes, and thus he’s become friendly with heket!

- considers her his friend. Your honor he’s just a little lonely

- you will NEVER catch him lacking in the fit department. Will GUSH about his choices if you let him

- some of his fits are definitely not practical tho, he just doesn’t know when to not wear something

- he makes most of the stuff he wears! His mother taught him

- he thinks he’s pretty. Not in a vain way, he just thinks he’s an attractive person

- pericings guy.

- he’s an average student, not particularly special.

- he envies heket a little because it looks like she’s got it all figured out and has her whole life set out

- kallamar is paralyzed by uncertainty in his one future

- he’s got a fast reaction time, VERY good at dance dance revolution.

- he’s to afraid to get a tattoo but he paints little symbols on himself!

- very sassy. Kinda mean to, in his head he’s Regina George but in reality he’s just kinda pathetic

- however he gives really good advice.

No narinder lore (yet) sorry :[

[lunaritychuwolf]

Ulysses Crowsong Creation Lore drop:

*The idea of the character Ulysses was created way before I joined the Bug Army and here's her story (because I wanna post art about her and still have her separate from my Bug OC) :

!Its long!

I started university this year and the course I'm taking, Digital Arts, has a lot of Creative minds in it. So at some point throughout the year, D&D was bound to be brought up. And around February, when we were talking about gameplay with narratives, a friend of mine noted he was a Dungeon Master(DM).

This intrigued a bunch of us as we've never played D&D before but would really like to try it out. And thus this is how her story begins.

I've always seen D&D characters and I found them very neat. So for my first character, our DM suggested we make them based loosely on ourselves. So I decided on being a bard, cause I like music and my bard plays the flute because I always wanted to learn.

The name Ulysses, as I've mentioned before, derived from Odysseus and Ody because let me be real, EPIC: The Musical had and still has me hook, line and sinker. So more musical elements! Mmmm delicious 😋 Because how more can I play into being musical than an actual alternative name from a guy in a musical number. I'm so good with playing on words😏

The surname Crowsong came from a Pinterest name generator originally but later I was further inspired by a YouTuber I like, Louixie. Louixie has a warrior cat OC named Crowsong who is a white she-cat with black crow feathers in her fur. You can see where I'm going with this😂 The idea of white and feathers stuck which lead me to her origin story/ back story for the campaign

Ulysses was born with striking white hair and bi-coloured eyes (blue and brown), which to her parents, seemed like a bad omen. So they abandoned her in a snowy forest with hopes that the cold would take her. Luckily before anything bad happened, an arctic fox found her due to her soft cries. Seeing the white hair and hearing the cries, the fox took Ulysses in thinking it was one of her own cubs. Ulysses then grew up with the foxes up until around the age of 10 before they got hunted for their beautiful white pelts during hunting season.

Having been stripped of her second family, Ulysses didn't know what to do. She wandered the forest for a few days until she stumbled across a small town. The first building she walked into just so happened to be the tavern. The tavern keeper tried to ask her where she came from but because she grew up with foxes she only knew Fox Tongue and not Common. So the tavern keeper took her in, educating Ulysses on all she needs to know about being human.

As the years go by, Ulysses is 16 years of age and a entertainer for the tavern. A bard as the tavern keeper called it. Ulysses, after 6 years of hearing thrilling stories from adventurers that entered the tavern, she wanted to seek out an adventure of her own.

She thanked the tavern keeper for everything they've done for her and set out on her own to write her own story and sing their tales.

Her first year of travel was quite difficult as she had to turn to not so good actions. From stealing food to conning passing nobleman of some of their gold, she had it a bit rough. But hey! On the plus side, she now has an awesome set of fake fox ears and a tail to put a show on with!

Which eventually leads us to the start of the campaign a year later in the lore where she meets the rest of the party members who she'll go on adventures with!

The Dwarve Rogue; Torin

The Human 'Fighter'; Dorian Braveheart

The Dark Elf Wizard; Idriss

And the Elf 'Monk'; Shiloh

And that's the back story!

I've described a general on how Ulysses' looks but here's a better description:

She has snow white hair, usually seen with 2 blue feathers tied to the left side and 2 hair bunches tied on either side of her face to frame it. She's got heterochromia, a right brown eye and a left blue eye. She's got freckles and pointy canines.

She wears a black, long sleeve turtle neck, a brown corset, brown tights and black calve length snow boots/uggs. She wears 2 belts, 1 around her waist to carry her short sword and 1 around her left thigh to carry her metal flute. Before the campaign she wore a short brown cloak but now she has a long black cloak.

That's about it!

Thanks for reading this if you did! Means a lot to me😚😚

Now I can post D&D Ulysses art✨✨

[ganymedesclock]

The Sonic Series' kitchen sink elements are really... well, "kitchen sink" is a good way to put them. You got Shadow's backstory over here, characters stuck in particular eras or mediums, humans in some games but not others, etc, etc.

All that to ask this: how do you go about harmonizing the desperate elements of StH's various incarnations without doing what Frontiers did?

The short pithy funny answer is 'will it blend?'

The longer answer is. I think a lot of big long-running legacy franchises like Sonic, that have a zillion different branches and continuities and different this-and-thats that sometimes contradict each other and have about eighteen versions of the same story at any given time- think also most superhero media- are really, really fun to get into. People dread and fret if a particular incarnation is mediocre or too weird for their tastes, but I think the fun part of it is there's something worthwhile and interesting in almost all of these. Like I personally don't care for Sonic Chronicles very much at all, but I like Shade's visual design and I thought the alien designs were pretty neat, even if I don't think their lore fits well into the bigger Sonic universe and for the most part disregard them.

And there are zero consequences to me doing so! Basically, the franchise is your oyster. Take what you love and mix it up. This is why my personal longstanding Sonic AU has been what it is- it's not an exercise in me feeling like I'm "fixing the canon" because that's silly, it's not broken, but rather just making myself a fun smoothie out of the bits I really like.

It is so, so, so fun to me, to be in a world where stuff like Sonic Unleashed exists, that we can go, "yeah there was a whole game where Sonic was just a werewolf. yes he also had stretchy arms". The works both official and fannish that I've enjoyed the most tend to be ones that aren't afraid of being a little silly or digging into "worse" installments of the franchise to play with them.

I think it's very important that the Sonic series isn't afraid to be silly. At the end of the day it is a story about hedgehogs in running shoes fighting evil robot armies. This premise is never going to be stodgy and respectable and it doesn't need to be. It absolutely has it within itself to tell both serious and silly stories, and mix them together.

To also answer your question about reconciling, honestly, being willing to take a bunch of silly stuff from odd franchises and glue them together to make a more complete picture works wonders. Like, in pre-reboot archie comics- I'm talking back in the gag-a-day bizarre early stories- they just threw in a worldbuilding detail that Mobius has a colossal number of moons full of weird stuff; when the games have established Little Planet, Lost Hex, and Space Colony ARK as things floating around Mobius's general vicinity, taking that otherwise forgettable detail would line up a bunch of different things, and it lets me be cheeky about the thing where in the game canon, there's a blatant continuity error with the moon having a hole shot in it back in Adventure 2 and then in Shadow The Hedgehog, a game that heavily references the plot of Adventure 2, the full moon is very prominently featured.... with no missing chunk whatsoever. I can go, well, in my personal fanon, that's just a completely different moon!

[modifiedyincision]

Suddenly extremely interested in ur sentient house oc

i need to talk about her or I’ll die i cant draw her but i think about her so much . Everything is under a cut ⬇️ i’ve basically sorted it into sections but I’m writing this at midnight, and I’m rambling. Good luck

Okay, first thing’s first. The house (aka The House, the House, any other number of things and capitalizations) is part of a larger story/world somewhat based on an old RP between me and my friend. A bunch of our OCs (and us!) lived together in a house and we could travel between dimensions. It was very silly and fun.

So. This is not, like, a serious character. I mean she’s definitely not a joke, but this isn’t a world with a lot of stakes, this is a world with magic and silly things going on with some lore and worldbuilding for fun, some of it carried over from a nonsense RP done on transformice when I was. Like. Twelve?

Anyway. The house

Her origins :)

Her existence is tied up into this wacky world. I won't be going super in depth on how any of it works, so ask about that if you want? But here we go:

The house is a mansion (?) built/born in the middle of the woods through magic. She was created by an angel-like being called Xvetriel (Xvet), who is able to travel between worlds/dimensions/whatever.

Her sentience was an unintentional accident on Xvet's part. Earth itself has no magic, so outside magic is far more potent than normal. He created her as a place to live (among other things, not important), because Earth’s lack of magic means it’s a good, predictable place to hang out when you aren’t worldjumping. And you can do more with less effort. However, this also means that his original plan of Very Big House got out of control, and she became aware and sort of built herself after a point.

Imagine trying to build a modern mansion. You have the materials and layout sorted, but as soon as you try and put it together the house just... does it itself. And it's not even the same mansion you were trying to build, and it has a new layout... that's kind of what Xvet found himself dealing with.

House outside

So let's say you're going on a house tour. First thing you'll notice after wandering through the middle of nowhere: her shapeshifty mess.

Different materials, different eras, styles, all blended together into one building. She never sticks to one look, so it's ever-changing. So long as you aren't looking at her.

She could probably change herself if you're looking, but she's a tiny bit mischievous and likes watching you wonder if that bell tower was always there. Or seeing if you double-take when you realize the shingles are different.

The only rule to how she looks is that one of the things she's with has to be, conceivably, residential. Some part of the house needs to look like something you could actually live in. She can be a greek temple merged with a greenhouse, and as long as she has a log cabin or some part of it stuck on her side, it's a valid form she can take.

I haven't given her a definitive height/size limit. But generally, the rules I've followed when writing or describing her are "larger than a one bedroom, one bath, smaller than a skyscraper."

If there are windows or glassy areas, it is always impossible to see inside. The glass is highly reflective, or maybe so foggy they're opaque. Windows without glass, open windows, so on all lead only to pitch-black shadows. The windows have an Oblivion situation going on: they work fine enough until you actually stop and look.

^ you are NOT looking inside those game buildings' windows

This is because she is an empty husk full of an empty void :) so theres nothing 2 see

The inside

Okay, that's a bit dramatic. Look, she has some quantum/magic fuckery going on. Xvet basically accidentally made a pocket dimension. That is a house. So

It's probably easier to think of her as just an infinite house, probably.

The house can create as many rooms as she desires, in any style she desires, with any furniture and as big as she damn well pleases.

The only exception to what she can make is generally very specific things nobody else present would have seen. If you want a physical copy of a particular new movie you haven't seen, and your roommates haven't seen, and the house obviously hasn't seen (because she's a magical house in the woods), she can't give it to you. If you want a copy of a film you've seen a million times and love dearly, though, she might be able to do something about it.

Though she isn't good at writing either. She can't write a diary for you, you need to do that yourself. She has trouble making books.. words are hard for her. She can translate them for you though ^_^

She cannot make living things. You need to supply that yourself.

..And there aren't any windows on the inside, either, at least not real ones...

There are a few rooms that don't really change, and these are the ones people live in and visit. The kitchen, library, bedrooms, reading nooks and places that almost look like museums and an entire conservatory... more stuff, mostly related to other characters.. those don't really change. She has everything you could ever want.

What is the layout of the house, though? Approximately? Well.

SHE HAS POWERS AND IS SPECIAL AND MAGICAL

She warps space.

So, uh, there's the foyer, which you always walk into when entering. But the door after that? Anyone's guess. Well, not the house's...

The house loves you and cares for you and wants you to be happy and healthy. And she knows what you want, need, your general thoughts at the moment -- magic shit -- so.

You're in the foyer. Want to read a book? She sends you to the library. Or maybe you're feeling a bit hungry, so she drops you into the kitchen. You have an urge to chat with someone? Well, if the other is up to it, when you open the door you'll go into a room where someone else is. If you're bored, she might conjure up a game room or a gallery or something.

If you're trying to neglect your needs, btw, that does not work. She WILL fucking send your ass to the bed or the kitchen or whatever. Try and leave? Good luck, she makes the room loop. You cannot leave until you behave. Take a nap. She also doesn't tolerate miscommunication and will trap people together until they talk it out.

Please don't worry about being stuck in there forever, she's very nice. If you want out (and aren't like. starving or w/e) she'll send you on your way back to the foyer so you can get out :)

But this does go in the opposite direction. If you wish harm on the house (and you can't burn her down -- the stuff inside, maybe, but not her) or her inhabitants? You will enter hell. It becomes some house of leaves, backrooms, nightmare type shit -- a labyrinth of confusing rooms that seem to have no consistency, places that loop in on themselves, endless corridors. You will not leave, probably, unless her occupants will it or take pity on you, in which case fine she will let you leave. Or if she decides you pose no threat. Or if she's bored. But otherwise? Suffer and face her wrath.

Generally speaking, though, she is friendly. She knows what you want, what you need, your thoughts (vaguely) and it's a bit of a privacy invasion, but she can't exactly help that. The house can't poke into your mind and know your darkest memories.

When making new rooms (such as for a new occupant), she takes into account their personal tastes and the purpose of the room. If it's neutral territory, somewhere many people will be, she tries to compromise. If it's a personal space like a bedroom, she goes all in. Maybe you like nautical themes? She can do that. Really obsessed with minimalism? Okay! Have you always wanted to live in a remote cabin in the woods? She will try her very best.

You can sorta communicate with her. You can speak and tell her stuff, and she will listen, but she can't respond. I mean... unless you say something like 'can I have a chair' and she makes one, but does that count?

She is a touch mischievous. Not malicious in the least. But she will sometimes move your table a few inches over because it's entertaining to watch you try and figure out why your bedroom feels off. She might tease you about a crush by repeatedly sending you into one of the gardens, full of flowers. Even if she can't speak, you can figure out what she's 'saying', if you hang out around in her for long enough. If you get genuinely upset, she'll knock it off.

There's probably more but I can't recall it rn and i think I've said more than enough at this point.......... um............... bye thank u for listening?

[wrongcaitlyn]

odd question, first time talk your talk reader here! so we kinda know nico just hates interviews and other than being spotted on his friend’s social medias + random bursts of being active online, he kinda just goes silent right? like mostly he’s private (like how people didnt know his birthday and stuff until apollo announced it)

how much like personal life things about nico does his fandom know? has anyone been like sleuthing trying to find out about his family and connected him to hades’ business or is everyone just making up convoluted stuff as a joke to respect his privacy?? 😭 (i FEAR him being outed)

its just a little silly to think about the angels making insane lore pipelines connecting nico to all these random celebrities and such, and then someone asks “whats his dads name” and the fandom collectively just shrugs like idk thats his life i dont need to know about it!

YES. YES. YES. KASJDFSDF I LOVE THAT

okay yes so basically he's like that person you know a bunch of superficial details abt, like hobbies and interests and friends and whatnot, but then you realize you don't even know if they have siblings. that's nico.

he's a MASTER at shifting topics in conversations to things he'd rather talk about, whether that's about a book he read, or song recs, or some random story abt him and his friends - that most people cling on so much to those details that they don't even consider his family!

i mean, it's pretty implied, at least in his award acceptance speeches and whatnot that he doesn't have a good relationship with his parents, seeing as he only ever thanks apollo and talks about apollo's family as his family - so i imagine that most fans probably just go along with that, and some even think that apollo is his dad or something.

according to google, there are also like 600+ people with the last name di angelo. it's not an incredibly uncommon last name, and some people may even assume that it's just a stage name, not his actual last name - so i don't think that they would ever actually be able to connect nico to his father's work, or his mother and sister's death in venice. after all, nico di angelo doesn't even have a sister, right? and he's never mentioned his mom dying. oh, and also that that was his deadname that was recorded as being the only survivor of that incident. so unintentionally, him being trans also covered up a lot of his history. anyone who may have known him as a kid (even though he mostly stuck with bianca) wouldn't recognize the popstar (yk, partly because he just grew up but also because of the transition and change of name)

i think that there probably are a few fans who really try to dig deeper (because there always will be some who take it too far), but they'll just keep reaching dead ends. at least, with the information he put out online, and nothing more, there's really nothing to find - he's always been seein in apollo's house, with apollo's family, and most people just accept that that's all they need to know about him

its just a little silly to think about the angels making insane lore pipelines connecting nico to all these random celebrities and such, and then someone asks “whats his dads name” and the fandom collectively just shrugs like idk thats his life i dont need to know about it!

AND THIS IS EXACTLY CORRECT LIKE THAT'S HOW I IMAGINE THE FANDOMSDFJS who cares what his dad's name is?? who cares if his parents are even alive!!! he makes slay music and is besties with the apollo family that's all they need to know

plus i do think it's more interesting for them to try and find his connections to some other celebrity rather than his own parents. like most people probably assume that it's online, but they just never actually look bc they don't care that much

thank you for the ask!! and to calm your fears, nico will NOT be outed in this fic. i can promise you that. he will come out on his own terms!!

[wavernot4love]

hello wanted 2 talk about a bunch of fun things from Thursday first show of War All The Time tour 2nite at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo (this will include setlist spoilers)

(starting with a random little video of title track, the rest of it is in the keep reading thingy)

- TURNPIKE DIVIDES FOR THE LAST SONG??? they let her see the light of day!!! i am probably the only person who has heard her at 2/3 of the thursday sets they have seen /lh

- geoff took the piss out of victory records for not paying bands while talking about how i'll be you & jbny are mirrors of each other then played them back to back (also described jbny as their heaviest song.... correct!!!)

- crowd was GREAT. great pits, surfing vibes, actually hell, vibes were just great all around.

- make sure you get there early so you can catch both many eyes & rival schools (steve (thursday) actually played for rival schools today which was cool). i thoroughly enjoyed both sets, and tonight honestly made me a fan of many eyes as a project. i wasn't sure what to expect receptionwise from a buffalo crowd [insert every time i die lore] but everyone showed up for keith (buckley, former singer of etid)/them. i also thought he/they did great, and he seemed genuinely humbled. also saw him around after the show, bro was loading out merch so i didn't wanna bother him, but yeah, dude seemed chill. really enjoyed the songs as well, i'll be spinning them and staying tuned for future releases for sure.

- between that set, everyone just feeling like a true community all night, & a cameo from a local scene legend (if you know hardcore, the singer of terror/buried alive was watching sidestage all show, keith shouted him out hahaha), let's just say i felt like how i'd imagine patriotic americans feel when they hear the national anthem, but the western new yorker edition.

- between rupture and rapture & division st. were probably my favorite non big singles. so great to hear watt in full dude and the crowd was very engaged the whole time

- one thing that really sucks is geoff explained as they came out that pretty much all their instruments randomly got stolen right before they left for tour, so they were a little panicky and stuff but basically, nothing was gonna stop them from having a good time in buffalo (paraphrased). apparently when they were sorting out the tour routing a while back someone told them they should start in toronto but they were like, nah dude, we want to start in buffalo. back to my western ny patriotism analogy, i see. anyways, now that's what i call resilience. they put on a great performamce with such great energy, you can tell this is a band that truly loves doing this whole thing. support the guys extra hard this run.

- as the opening bit of understanding started i looked back at the carnage going on in the giant pit that was open at the moment and had to just. smile at That being a moment people were crowdkilling each other to /lh

- i brought my (digital) point & shoot and shot from the crowd! very stoked on those as i was quite close all show, will update with those once i edit em! will probably also be posting a review kinda thing on my site/ziney thing once i get that back up and published

- one final thing that haunts me is the wonder of what geoff was talking about here in this instagram story post from earlier. i even stuck around after the show (which ended around 10:30) in case... i don't know, thursday were to fly out of some sort of confetti cannon at 11 pm sharp, i have no idea, dude. someday i will ask geoff about Minds Blown - 11.00pm

anyway, every time i've seen thursday this past year of having the joy of really knowing their music (i'd heard of them of course just through being in the scene for years, but had just never listened then) thursdayband has come 2 mean more and more to me and i truly hope they never stop playing together as long as it makes them happy <3

[kindlythevoid]

For the talk about your fics game: 1, 2, 4 (OC of your choice), and 8!

Ohhh, thank you so much for asking!!! I really took this opportunity to lore dump about, well, basically everyone and everything I think, and it turned out to be a very long post. And as I myself hate scrolling and scrolling through posts that I've already seen (unless it's the color of the sky), I will put it under the keep reading for the sake of brevity.

Read at your own risk.

(But thank you very much for asking, seriously, I love lore dumping so so much)

1. What story (stories?) are you writing rn that you’ll most likely publish next?

Probably In Every Stitch and Seam, which mostly follows Season Two of my BBC Merlin rewrite where Arthur gets shot back to the beginning of the first season after he dies. I'm playing with some other stories that I'd like to publish at some point, but unless I manage to write a really well-written one shot, Stitch and Seam will probably be the next one.

2. What story (stories?) are you writing rn that will most likely linger in your head for an undetermined amount of time?

All of 'em? None of 'em? It really depends on the time, ha ha! A lot of them are in the in-my-head stage. I hope one day to publish them. Maybe one day, I'll even write them!

4. Lore dump about the OCs! (Author's choice)

So, originally I was going to try to pick one. But fuck it, I made the damn game, it says plural OCs in the question, I'm just gonna go off about all of them bc that's what the game is for. Thank you for asking!! I'm just gonna go down the list of tags I originally had.

So, Mara, is, actually, my Supernatural OC. Super cringe, yes, but I love her and I have a whole story more-or-less plotted out and everything. Like this thing spans so much time. But I'm here to talk about Mara. So, omgosh, Mara Deana Winchester is Sam's kid that he has with Amelia when Dean is stuck in Purgatory after Season Seven. So, like, obviously I make every change I've ever wanted for the show, but, like, it hinges on the existence of this girl. Sam has a kid, and immediately the whole universe changes. But because Supernatural is canonically part of a multiverse, there's a universe out there with the original Supernatural plotline, but we won't get into that. (I've never lore dumped about my characters, sorry for rambling on about the story instead, ha ha!) So, anyway, Amelia doesn't want the kid and her husband comes back, so Sam takes her and him and Dean and Cas have to raise this girl. In a bunker. Like, better than what John did. That's like, the lowest of bars. And Mara really takes after Sam, but she has all these random influences and is, like, taken on hunts?? As a child?? Or left with Jody and the girls or Charlie or something, so she very much has the childhood of a Hunter, but she still sees the Bunker as, like, her permanent childhood home, which does wonders for her, I'm sure. Anyway, so she grows up and becomes a therapist, because I am convinced that the Hunters need to have, like, benefits or something. So she's a licensed therapist, but she's also, like, 6'3, built like a lumberjack, with a bunch of anti-possession tattoos and scars and shit, so the first session always goes really interestingly. There's also a side story (several, probably) where I cross over with freaking Criminal Minds (bc ofc) and Mara ends up dating JJ's now-adult son, Henry, which just means chaos at the wedding because half of Mara's family is on the Most Wanted List and the other half probably doesn't legally exist, so. Yeah, idk if that's how you talk about OCs, but there's number one down.

Okay, next up is Kirsi. She is one of my two main Star Wars OCs. She's a Rexsoka kid, it's true, yeah, born about two or so years after the rise of the Empire, yeah, yeah. So Kirsi is Togrutan, like Ahsoka, but she looks exactly like Rex (and consequently like a bajillion other soldiers in the universe, funny how that works) and she isn't Force-sensitive. And since I made them before Bad Batch, I'm sticking with the reason that Rex and co. is retired is because he's staying behind to raise the kids (yes, kids, I'll get to that later), while Ahsoka goes around doing Ahsoka things (though she also picks them up and takes them for, like, half the year, because I couldn't bear the thought of Ahsoka not playing a part in their lives). So, anyway, when Ezra goes to pick up Rex, Kirsi and her sister (the next OC) go along with them, but as, like, equally side characters. Kirsi eventually goes off to properly join the Rebellion and shit and ends up running her own ship called Judgement Day.

Kirsi's older sister, Aay'han, is Force-sensitive. She's human, looks like Ahsoka, and is basically Ahsoka's padawan for all intents and purposes. Although, after her, Kirsi, and Rex end up in the same orbit as the Ghost crew, Aay'han does some training with Kanan and Ezra just bc Ahsoka is gone so often. But while Kirsi officially joins the Rebellion, Aay'han remains sort of anonymous. Like, she helps out, but she never has to take orders. She does, however, join the crew of the Judgement Day once that becomes a thing. (I guess she's more of a side OC as of right now, but it felt right to give her her own blurb)

Okay, okay, so my Sole Survivors I'm gonna do together, because I believe it's short. Ish. Nate and Nora are my take on Fallout 4's sole survivors, except, y'know, they both survive. I stick with the Army-Nate and Lawyer-Nora narrative, but Nate was a medic/doctor/nurse-person (I haven't solidified it yet, but he does the Medicine) and Nora's been diagnosed with ASPD, so she's actually one of the very, very few people that is both a sociopath and a psychopath! I basically assigned certain SPECIAL characteristics and the various paths to either Nate or Nora, so Nora's really good at, say, lockpicking and hacking from her misspent youth, while Nate has crazy good endurance and probably ends up as a ghoul at some point so he can deal with the radiation spots! They're both, like, eerily okay with murder and are on a mission to find Shaun. Nate just keeps adopting ppl on the way. And Nora's low-empathy, but she can still reason and shit, so she's not, like, a villain or anything. But yeah, power couple Nate & Nora. :)

Like Nate and Nora, I'm just gonna do the crew of Judgement Day all as one. The Judgement Day is the same ship that Kirsi pilots. Her co-pilot is Miikka, who's ginger, flies planes, and ends up with Kirsi. Their navigator is Solene (goes by Lena), a bubbly purple Twilek who really loves the stars and is the cinnamon roll of the ship (do ppl even still use that terminology anymore??). Their resident mechanic is a Chiss named Kres'ave'kleon (...Savek, he goes by Savek), who desperately needs an attitude check but is, unfortunately, very good with ships and doesn't really care that they're running Rebellion missions. They also have a live-in hacker who is their primary contact with the black market; she's a Mirialan who goes by Kalea and is the only one who gets their own room on the ship. Finally, they also have slicer, a human cyborg ex-smuggler from back in the war named Gene. Kalea gets them in, but Gene is the one that deals with sending codes and transmissions and shit to the Rebellion.

So, that was a lot. But I only mostly regret typing it all out!

8. Fic that is near and dear to your heart?

Oh goodness, where do I start? Though I've only published a few, all of the ones I write occupy a little place in my heart. But as the longest fic I've ever written, one of the very few I've finished, and part of the handful that have made it onto Ao3... Love the Bright Sword. As of right now it's definitely one of my better, if not best, written pieces, and everything in Rewind I really feel is some of my best quality writing. I've definitely sunk a few years of my life into this fic, just sort of writing on and off, and I remember staying up late to rewatch episodes and studiously take down how dialogue is said or how a scene is played out, just over and over again. I still do, when I come across an episode I need to write out, but, oh, those were some days. That was my first time getting comments on a fic, real long comments, and I took every chance I could to talk about how a scene was written, or how much I love a certain character, or what I learned while researching, or analysis, so much analysis on my own damn fic. (Hell, I still do it when I can, ha ha!) I consider myself so lucky to have landed with the audience that I have, because it really made the experience so much better than I ever could have imagined.

Okay, so, maybe not what you were expecting, op, but than you anyway!! I really appreciated the opportunity to go off like this!! :)

Kindly,

The Void

[sodiumlamp]

Picard

This one started out promising but went downhill fast. They should have called this one "The Icarus Factor II: So Very Tired".

I'll try to keep it short this time. Geordi's still trying to figure out how to get Data separated from Lore, since they're now both stuck in the same body. Euthaizing Data (again) might be an option here, but they need his help to stop the attack on Frontier Day. That's a good way to explain why they don't just dump Data's new body in the sun. He's clearly suffering, but there's too much at stake.

Beverly suspects there might be a way to track or even kill this new-and-improved breed of Changeling Revanchists, but she's worried about the moral implications of using a species' own biology against them. Meanwhile Jack is loaded with survivors guilt, and wants to trade himself to Vadic in exchange for Riker. Also Troi, I would imagine, since Vadic has her too, but Jack doesn't know that. Picard won't allow this, but it does give him an idea to set a trap.

So the Shrike finally tracks down Titan and it looks like it just got disabled in a battle with a "Vulcan warship", also disabled. Was there actually a battle or did they stage the whole thing? Anyway, Vadic is desperate because she can't get any information out of Riker and Troi, so she leads a boarding party and Jack lures them into a bunch of force fields. Hooray!

And then things start to go bad. Somehow Lore takes over all of the ship's systems. I'm not sure what the rest of the good guys' plan was supposed to be, but Lore causes it all to backfire. Jack and Sydney La Forge are trapped with a pair of Changelings, and Jack has to do some sort of telepathic thing to guide her body into defeating one of the Changelings the same way he did.

Meanwhile, Picard and Beverly interrogate Vadic, who reveals her dark origins. She and her comrades were Changeling prisoners held captive during the Dominion War. They were experimented upon by a Federation scientist at the Daystrom Institute, and apparently the goal of the experiments was to make them even better at infiltration? Was the plan to use them as Federation agents? How was that ever going to work? Anyway, Vadic escaped, and she could pass her enhanced powers to other like-minded Changelings. So I guess she was always part of the Changeling plot going on in this season, but why is she posing as a bounty hunter? If her comrades have so much influence in Starfleet, what do they need with the Shrike? Why did she kill those security guys who had captured Riker? She just re-captured him for the same cause.

Anyway, thanks to Lore's treachery, Vadic escapes and takes control of the Titan. Data reasserts control, so may he has a chance to turn the tide, but the episode ends before that can happen.

And that's the problem with this thing. It's a pretty good half-episode, but it's been padded to full-length. Vadic's origin story was compelling, Picard and Beverly's moral dilemma was compelling, Geordi's plea to Data was nice, but what I really wanted was for the good guys to get a win, and they decided to defer that for the next episode.

There's no good reason for this. A lot of time was spent on dramatic pauses and ominous posturing. When Vadic takes the bridge she gives a(nother) long, rambling speech. Then she stops talking, and this really grim, suspenseful music plays, and she.... sits down in the captain's chair. Is that supposed to matter? She already won, what difference does it make that she decided to sit?

The next episode will probably feature the big comeback I was hoping for, but that's the problem. I wanted a mid-story comeback, kind of like what we had when they escaped the nebula a few episodes ago. But now, if the good guys get out of this jam, it'll have to happen in Episode 8 of the season. So then they'll have to immediately move on to the part where they win the whole thing. It's not paced well, is what I'm saying.

Oh, wait, we never saw Worf in this one. In the previous episode he said he would bring back Riker, so maybe he snuck aboard the Shrike or something. Well, this might be worth it after all... but I doubt it.