#speculation started

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

🍖 How to Build a Culture Without Just Inventing Spices and Necklaces

(a worldbuilding roast. with love.)

So. You’re building a fantasy world, and you’ve just invented: → Three types of ceremonial jewelry → A spice that tastes like cinnamon if it were bitter and cursed → A holiday where everyone wears gold and screams at dawn

Cute. But that’s not culture. That’s aesthetics.

And if your worldbuilding is all outfits, dances, and spice blends with vaguely mystical names, your story’s probably going to feel like a cosplay convention held inside a Pinterest board.

Here’s how to fix that—aka: how to build a real, functioning culture that shapes your story, not just its vibes.

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🔗 Culture Is Built on Power, Not Just Style

Ask yourself: → Who’s in charge, and why? → Who has land? Who doesn’t? → What’s considered taboo, sacred, or punishable by death?

Culture is shaped by who gets to make the rules and who gets crushed by them. That’s where things like religion, family structure, class divisions, gender roles, and social expectations actually come from.

Start there. Not at the embroidery.

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2.🪓 Culture Comes From Conflict

Did this society evolve peacefully? Was it colonized? Did it colonize? Was it rebuilt after a war? Is it still in one?

→ What was destroyed and mythologized? → What do the survivors still whisper about? → What do children get taught in school that’s… suspiciously sanitized?

No culture is neutral. Every tradition has a history, and that history should taste like blood, loss, or propaganda.

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3.🧠 Belief Systems > Customs Lists

Sure, rituals and holidays are cool. But what do people believe about: → Death? → Love? → Time? → The natural world? → Justice?

Example: A society that believes time is cyclical vs. one that sees time as linear will approach everything—from prison sentences to grief—completely differently.

You don’t need to invent 80 gods. You need to know what those gods mean to the people who pray to them.

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4.🫀 Culture Controls Behavior (Quietly)

Culture shows up in: → What people apologize for → What insults cut deepest → What people are embarrassed about → What’s praised publicly vs. what’s hidden privately

For instance: → A culture obsessed with stoicism won’t say “I love you.” They’ll say “Have you eaten?” → A culture built on legacy might prioritize ancestor veneration, archival writing, name inheritance.

This stuff? Way more immersive than giving everyone matching earrings.

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5. 🏠 Culture = Daily Life, Not Just Festivals

Sure, your MC might attend a funeral where people paint their faces blue. But what about: → Breakfast routines? → How people greet each other on the street? → Who cooks, and who eats first? → What’s considered “clean” or “proper”? → How is parenting handled? Divorce?

Culture is what happens between plot points. It should shape your character’s assumptions, language, fears, and habits—whether or not a festival is going on.

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6. 💬 Let Your Characters Disagree With Their Own Culture

A culture isn’t a monolith.

Even in deeply traditional societies, people: → Rebel → Question → Break rules → Misinterpret laws → Mock sacred things → Act hypocritically → Weaponize or resist what’s expected

Let your characters wrestle with the culture around them. That’s where realism (and tension) lives.

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7.🧼 Beware the “Pretty = Good” Trap

Worldbuilding gets boring fast when: → The protagonist’s homeland is beautiful and pure → The enemy’s culture is dark and “barbaric” → Every detail just reinforces who the reader should like

You can—and should—challenge the aesthetic hierarchy. → Let ugly things be beloved. → Let beautiful things be corrupt. → Let your MC romanticize their culture and then get disillusioned by it later.

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📍 TL;DR (but like, spicy): → Culture is not food and jewelry. → Culture is power, fear, memory, contradiction. → Stop inventing spices until you know who starved last winter. → Let your world feel lived in, not curated.

The best cultural worldbuilding doesn’t look like a list. It feels like a system. A pressure. A presence your characters can’t escape—even if they try.

Now go. Build something real. (You can add spices later.)

—rin t. // writing advice for worldbuilders with rage and range // thewriteadviceforwriters

Sometimes the problem isn’t your plot. It’s your first 5 pages. Fix it here → 🖤 Free eBook: 5 Opening Pages Mistakes to Stop Making:

🕯️ download the pack & write something cursed:

[friedricebunny]

i'm really so curious how deeply tbhx is gonna go with its whole premise of "heroes are made and gain powers based on trust" because i really wasn't anticipating that

1) moon/xiao yueqing has teleportation-based powers but because everyone wants her and nice to stick together, her teleportation leads back to nice which was INSANE to me

and

2) lin ling is becoming increasingly more worried about being clean and perfect which is a side effect of nice's image of perfection which is indicating that this whole trust system can have mental effects??? and that's horrifying to me???

we are 2 episodes in, how deep is this gonna go

[youryurigoddess]

Hungry for Good Omens 3 crumbs of information? Let’s see what I’ve found and speculate a bit about cast members, filming locations, and… trees! As always, please tag accordingly, share only with the fans consenting to know potential spoilers, and get yourself something to drink since it’s going to be a longer read.

News flash: both Ned Dennehy (well-known to Good Omens fans as Hastur) and Sean Pertwee (recently revealed to star in the Finale as Brian Cameron) admitted to have been working on location in Tenerife during the film’s production time slot (January and early February, respectively). In Dennehy’s case, even providing a rather intimately close look at his character.

The location alone isn’t particularly surprising, as the Canary Islands and Tenerife in particular are currently experiencing an influx of international productions, including several TV shows by global streamers, making use of the favourable weather and prices. But Dennehy’s post, additionally liked by a Good Omens crew member, seems somewhat suggestive.

In the Instagram story above, Sean Pertwee called 14 January 2025 his last day on the shoot in Tenerife and subsequently traveled to London and Edinburgh, from where he shared another video three weeks later.

Now, technically the Tenerife film set could be a part of Pertwee’s NCIS: Tony & Ziva job he started last autumn. However, that would imply that he plays a greater role in the upcoming production than the currently available promotional materials imply, and the location stamp in the bottom right corner, Drago Milenario, is too deliciously Good Omens coded to overlook it.

It isn’t even a place, really, but a living organism. A plant. A tree.

Meet Drago Milenario, also know as El Drago, a natural monument and symbol of Tenerife. The oldest and largest living specimen of the endemic Dracaena draco (dragon tree), it is said to be a thousand years old and stand at 18 metres high with a 20-metre perimeter. “Great big bugger,” as Aziraphale would say.

There has been much debate over the age of the tree, and some even say that it may be over 5000 years old; more recent estimates seem more conservative and suggest that El Drago is no more than 800 to 1000 years old. It is difficult to say unambiguously, because the traditional method of counting rings is not applicable in this case — dracaena has no rings.

Its home, the Millennial Dragon Tree Park, or Parque del Drago, in Icod de los Vinos, is a sacred place and a burial zone of Tenerife’s original inhabitants, the Guanches. Members of the Guanche people venerated El Drago as a divine tree; a symbol of wisdom and fertility, believed to have magical powers, granting longevity and warding off evil spirits. Its blood-red oil or sap is called dragon's blood and historically used to treat wounds and embalm corpses. According to local legends, that’s because slain dragons don’t actually die, but rather turn into dragon trees like this one.

The dragon part of the story sounds objectively cool, but if we overlook it for a second, we might notice why the connection to Good Omens is so strong here. When asked about trees in the show’s context, one’s first point of reference is quite naturally the Garden of Eden scene and the shot above featuring the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The thing is, it wasn’t the only one.

According to the Bible, the very reason why Aziraphale was even stationed in Eden (possibly with a few other armed angels) was to protect the Garden from the newly exiled humans. More specifically, his “apple duty” meant that he was supposed to guard a very particular and yet unseen tree:

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of lifeand eat, and live forever.’ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the Tree of Life.” (Genesis 3:21-24)

In the apocryphal Apocalypse of Moses, the tree of life is also called the Tree of Mercy. Adam, the first human, famously sent his son Seth and wife Eve back to the gates of the Garden to beg God and His angels for some oil of the Tree of Life to save him from his deathbed by granting either full immortality or longer lifespan. They were obviously denied, but in another part of the Bible — the Book of Revelation, on which most of the official Good Omens plot is based, Jesus announces the details of His Second Coming, including who and when will get the right to enjoy this forbidden fruit:

“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life, and may enter the city by the gates. (Revelation 22:12-14)

The Catholic Church in particular believes that the Tree of Life mentioned above is the Eucharist and often combines the image of the Tree with the Cross of Christ, both literally and figuratively (see above: The Tree of Life printed by John Hagerty, 1791) granting the immortal life to His Chosen Ones:

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 1-5)

In his Roll Play BAFTA interview published on 10 February 2025, while talking about his work for the Good Omens Finale, David Tennant himself has specifically referred to the possibility of Aziraphale and Crowley spending eternity together. But where? Well.

The visual symbolism of an apple tree seems so important for the Good Omens 3 plot that it’s even represented on the exclusive mug design shared on 30 April by one of everyone’s favourite production crew spouses, Carla Scott Fullerton (fullercoaching on Instagram):

For those who missed the original discussion, the reverse side of the complimentary mug gifted to Good Omens 3 crew members and depicted above contains a photo of slate number 100, scene 59 of the production with a quote “We’ve come to a decision…”. A typical feature film of this length consists of around 60 scenes, so it’s definitely the ending or one of the scenes directly preceding it.

Which means that the story ends, as it began, in a garden. And with a very specific apple tree, adorned with initials AZ and CR in two little hearts as hinted by the drawing in the background.

There’s a specific crew member though — one of the firsts to be confirmed for the upcoming production, actually — that has shared a Good Omens themed work with an apple tree a whole year earlier.

Here you can see Michael Ralph’s (i.e., Good Omens production designer’s) concept art depicting Neil Gaiman’s version of heaven on earth – “Heaven is a Library” – at LA music venue, The Wiltern, for The Art of Elysium’s Heaven 2024 charity gala. It’s got Va Va Voom yellow walls, red carpet, spiral stairs, a centrally located oculus, and lots of plants with an apple tree with a swing in the middle. In case this image wasn’t suggestive enough, it’s worth to focus on the twin display tables with Cupid statues on top, direct copies of the one from A. Z. Fell and Co. bookshop in Soho.

It’s not even subtle — and wasn’t meant to be, considering how Event Eleven, the creative agency behind the gala, typically organises high budget premiere events and promotional campaigns for Amazon Prime TV shows, and to this day it’s the closest we’ve got to a Good Omens 3 public celebration.

While this one was for charity and officially not affiliated with the studio, it took place only three weeks after the official announcement of Good Omens 3 and involved not only this curious simulacrum of Aziraphale’s bookshop as a setting, but also Jon Hamm on stage as the guest of honour, referencing the co-leads of the TV series and reciting an excerpt from the 1990 novel in an approximation of their characters’ voices, and the Ukrainian artist Katya Zvereva was commissioned to make an installation for the gala called literally “Tree of Life” (above).

If you remember my bookshop meta, you will probably find the official explanation of the event’s theme particularly interesting:

“Heaven is two things that are, perhaps, the same thing. Heaven is both a library, the place where we go for knowledge, wisdom, advice and for stories, and heaven is also a refuge, somewhere that we can go, whoever we are, for safety and protection. Heaven contains librarians and refugees, shelters the helpless, and gives them — us — somewhere quiet to sit and read or listen.”

Not incidentally, the only iteration of the Tree of Life in the actual show so far has been built into the layout of Aziraphale’s bookshop (left). Its Kabbalah depiction (right) is a representation of the entirety of creation, composed of ten spheres — referred to as the Sephiroth/Sefirot as a whole — each denoting a universal quality, such as wisdom or beauty. To quote The Golden Dawn: The Original Account of the Teachings, Rites, and Ceremonies of the Hermetic Order by Israel Regardie:

This altar diagram shows the Ten Sephiroth with all the connecting Paths numbered and lettered, and the Serpent winding over each Path. Around each Sephirah are written the Names of the Deity, Archangel and Angelic Host attributed to it. The Twenty Two Paths are bound together by the Serpent of Wisdom. It unites the Paths but does not touch any of the Sephiroth, which are linked by the Flaming Sword. The Flaming Sword is formed by the natural order of the Tree of Life. It resembles a flash of Lightning. Together the Sephiroth and the Twenty Two Paths form the 32 Paths of the Sepher Yetzirah or Book of Formation. The Two pillars on either side of the Altar represent:

1. Active: The White Pillar on the South Side. Male. Adam. Pillar of Light and Fire. Right Kerub. Metatron.

2. Passive: The Black Pillar on the North Side. Female. Eve. Pillar of Cloud. Left Kerub. Sandalphon.

[dumbass-hyperfixations]

okay but, now that we canonically have buck moving into eddie’s house while he’s away, i can indulge in my own delusions a little bit. particularly, i really want there to be a parallel to that ana “i think we need to clean that kitchen first” “maybe you should go home first first” breakup scene when eddie and chris come back.

i’m thinking, buck welcomes eddie and chris with a big elaborate lunch/dinner when they return, at the end of which he’s like “so, I’ve already packed most of my bags and i’m all set to spend some time at bobby’s until i find a new place to leave, so i’m just gonna clean the kitchen and then i’m gonna leave and let you guys settle back in”

to which eddie (who has freshly realized he’s gay and in love with buck back in el paso) responds with “or you could stay here”

[filurig]

goat costume for one of the haeggir holidays which occurs during winter solstice - "farallvir", which ends up being adopted by humans into their own christmas tradition!

[goatdon]

in the least “I want to argue” way I find it realllyyy funny how people refuse to acknowledge that langdon was definitely santos on his first day of work.

there is no way you can tell me frank langdon, the guy who calls garcia edwina scissorhands, the guy who cherry picks his cases, the guy who said “dana can come back though can’t she?” after hearing she got punched in the face, the guy who guy who couldn’t sit still for a moment of silence despite probably having to do it on a regular basis, who isn’t that Great on his bedside manners, the guy who is extremely confident and maybe even cocky in his abilities…THAT guy wasn’t absolutely hated on his first day as an intern.

like let’s be honest. One of the main differences between santos and langdon is that langdon has seniority. he’s been there for like what 4 years? he knows the ed staff. they’ve accepted his assholery as apart of him and know when to humble/shame him. they’ve stopped gaf abt his sarcasm like ages ago because it’s just turned into banter now. they definitely do side eye him (especially for that Dana comment) and he is still regarded as somewhat of a jerk. but dude is great at what he does and has been there so long that it’s almost like it’s just a side effect of who he is lol.

they’re used to him now but trust on that first day? I just know they were annoyed asfk

he’s also extremely confident and does risky shit if it means he can save a patient. if you told me he did some risky procedure he had no business doing as an intern I would believe you.

But I guarantee you, give santos those 4 years and everyone would most likely regard her the same. a lot of people fail to understand that this is One day. Literally one day. She doesn’t know these people nor do they know her. She’s made a bad impression but I believe by the end of the rotations or something long the lines of that she’ll have made friends with Javadi, Whittaker and Mel. Or at least one of them lol. Under all the meanness and ambition santos is really empathetic and trying. they all just have to get to know each other and apologies should be in place but it’s not like any one of them hate each other. They’ll side eye her and call her a douche when she acts like one but that’s called friendship baby! oh and mark my words those nicknames will eventually turn from derogatory to affectionate trust (plz pitt writers)

[funkbun]

when the boys are bizzy

individuals under cut

i thought about including inspekta as well but i only had the patience for One tall ass around here

[taeiris]

in honor of our first byler set leaks and pride month

i present to you: the romantic goth byler i was yapping abt

[azzayofchaos]

As an exercise in creature design and in the interest on developing my dreaming-verse/general world building lore, i thought these guys would be fun to do!

More lore / transcript:

THE STRIDER:

Peaceful lava walkers and grazers, they’re often breed and domesticated for both their use as transportation across the lava lakes and for various materials.

While not certainly an acquired taste to an overworlder, strider meat is not an uncommon food source. String and membranes from their opalescent sensory organs and hide are also valuable resources.

The membranes are heat management, courting displays, and gathering sensory input as they are near-blind.

Strider's eyes are largely vestigial, the sensory organs picking up on heat signatures exclusively.

They have spiracles for breathing along their sides and tails.

When wading through lava, their limbs are able to stretch out, this process requires the high temperature and results in the brighter, redder coloration of their skin as the heated fluids move under it. When not on lava, this fluid cools resulting in a duller coloration.

A subspecies of strider can be found in regions of the deep Neth that are blue in color.

They are long lived and migratory creatures, lichens and fungi often growing on their harder outer plates to spread across lava lakes. These are not an incident the striders, though magma barnacles, the stationary stage of a Nether-local insectoid species are considered pests.

Adolescent striders are a few meters tall, though they can grow considerably larger.

When being ridden, a lantern full of the phosphorescent warped mushrooms that Striders prefer. This lantern has the bonus effect of glowing when passing across sections of land. While Striders prefer to graze on fungi, they also spend significant amounts of time filtering minerals from the lava lakes.

Flags are displayed to help make visible where the rider and the strider are coming from and what the point of travel for the rider is.

THE GHAST:

Territorial and aggressive animals that use the updrafts of lava lakes to remain afloat in the the atriums of the Neath.

Ghats contain organs able to solidify and fire out explosive charges, when about to fire, the organ will light up, an illusion of a demonic face appearing through their spiracles and semi-transparent bodies.

They feed on minerals and airborne biological matter that filters out of the biomes in the upper-regions of the Neth with their oral arms.

The ghast tear is an organ in their center arm.

Adult ghasts release their own spores into the air to help with genetic exchange, otherwise growing young ghast on their bodies that eventually split off in a sort of mitosis.

the gelatinous bodies of ghasts are used primarily in construction and fuel, but parts of their innards, explosive organs not included, are commonly eaten.

[loucifersbitch]

they haven't released the post-graveyard truck scene bc it's going to be part of a montage of moments from their relationship that happens right before bucktommy get back together, in this essay i will -

[causalityparadoxes]

Interesting that the Doctor says his adopted family is the reason he uses a title. Except thats not quite true is it?

Sure they are stuffy aristocrats who love ranks and titles but Tecteun, Rassilon, Borusa, Romana, Pandad, Andred, Rodan, Darkel, Flavia, and practically every other non-renegade timelord (and even some renegades like Drax) still use regular (if not human) names.

But you know who does often use titles? THE GODS. Those from before or beyond the universe's constraints. The Toymaker, The Guardians, The Maestro, The Trickster, The The Beast, The One Who Waits, The Gods of Ragnarok, The Entity, etc. Even those with 'names' often have descriptive ones like Time or Swarm.

Is it really the Doctor's adopted family that made them identify with titles? Or is it perhaps traces of their 'birth family' peaking through?

More than anything I just want to know if RTD is going anywhere with this. Did he just need a quick way to get new audiences on board with calling the main character the Doctor? Or does it mean something.

[filurig]

sekuuti and akestur, deities of the rau-kakse and crakam

LONG ASS CREATION/ORIGIN STORY OF THE RAU KAKSE AND CRAKAM HERE

the sun and moon both have important roles in northern basilisk religion, and are interpreted as two deities: sekuuti (sun) and akestur (moon).

both seen as patron deities of their respective people (rau-kakse aka basilisks and crakam aka harpies). their eggs were originally stars in the sky that fell and hatched in the world below.

at first, there was only pure spirit. something known as "tukaarti" (which is an unconscious but all powerful driver of all things) - the "natural force", arose, and began create shapes from this spirit, polarities, warmth, energy eventually the forces shaped this spirit into The World, which was barren at first, amorphous, but this shaped energy began to solidify, first into mountains, then into lakes, rivers, flora etc etc. but the water did not stay liquid long for after the formation of these things, and a brief flourishing period, the World cooled down, and fell under a great winter, as it had no sun. the sky is basically where tukaarti resides in its rawest form still, and stars are "concerntrations" of it, and the only light source. the stars began to fall eventually on occasion into the world, and that would spawn Creatures. early on when the world was still fresh after this was when the eggs of sekuuti and akestur fell, they were among the last creatures to fall onto the world. prior to them similar animals had hatched from other eggs, but they all perished trying to survive on their own.

both sekuuti and akestur were lonely and struggled on their own - persecuted by hostile ancestors of other creatures. not only was it difficult, most of all, it was lonely.

sekuuti was so lonely that she desparately wanted children, but as she was the only one of her kind she prayed to tukaarti for a way to achieve that company she desired. she was heard, and granted the ability to shapeshift to any creature that she found. this also was something tukaarti needed, as it lacked a way for spirit to go from the World back to tukaarti, and by "collecting" bodies to learn as forms, sekuuti would also return their spirit to tukaarti. with this ability, she resorted to courting different birds that she transformed into and bearing their young. and she did successfully hatch them. her children would not only inherit a lot of her features and shapeshifting ability, but they also inherited the plumage and some other traits from their other parents, and she loved them all the same. this also means that according to rauk-kaksian lore sekuuti "has no comparison" and doesnt look like an extant bird in particular, but interpretations vary. these children were the first "rau-kakse". the most important established trait of her depictions though is that it seemed that the glow from her egg ("star") never faded, and her plumage glowed strongly and brilliantly.

akestur, meanwhile, sought company with birds in a different way. he found flocks of corvids, flocks of nightjars, and found certain comfort with them. but he was frustrated with the fact that they could not communicate, he prayed for the ability to "hold a conversation" with his new contemporaries. and the tukaarti granted him his wish - the flocks that he had become familiar with were granted a blessing, but with that blessing, they also changed in morphology - they became harpies (crakam), and gained sapience. he was reminded, however, that he had gotten this wish without cost - and that the forces counted on him to do what they wished in return if they so needed it. they only cryptically let him know to "not keep his eyes off of the flame". akestur is thought to have looked like a harpy slightly, but with a different face, black as night, but with brilliant glowing white eyes.

again, the world during this time was pretty barren and harsh due to an eternal winter, as they had no sun. sekuuti, while having found comfort in her kin now, was unhappy with the state of affairs - especially as many young would die in the harsh conditions. akestur, too, hated seeing his new contemporaries suffer.

the two groups would meet one day, sekuuti and akestur leading them. the two were fascinated by one another - sekuuti brought warmth to akestur and the crakam, while akestur brought a certain darkness, that while somewhat discomforting at first, also shrouded both groups from other hostile creatures, theyd come to find out. there was safety in his darkness. sekuuti and akestur grew very close and became partners (according to most legends).

sekuuti wanted to change the state of the world and set her eyes upon the sky, wanting to become a sun and bring warmth to all and end the eternal winter. akestur was hesitant, for he did not want to lose her, and her children needed her. when seeking the guidance of tukaarti - they discouraged her from it, urged her to stay and perform her duty as a bringer of spirit from corpses of this plane back to tukaarti. but she was insistent, and one day, decided to simply go for it. she flew so fast, with such force, that she caught flame, but her will was so strong that it didnt bother her and she became one with the flames eating her as she flew up to the sky.

akestur was too late, and only realised she was gone once she had lit up the sky. betrayed, upset, but most of all - realising that he had failed tukaarti. he had let his eyes off his flame. as a punishment, tukaarti undid the blessing it had granted his people for half of them, leaving half of them as regular birds again.

sekuuti lighting up the world had done something - it had taken away the eternal winter, but the problem was - sekuuti had nothing to temper her up there. the world was beset by a devastating drought with no end in sight. akestur, trying to lead his people as well as the basilisks, then realised what he had to do.

before leaving his people, he urged them "to not take their eyes off the flames", meaning the basilisks in this case, and then, he also set off for the sky. instead of setting ablaze, his eyes seemed to burst with the pressure of the speed of his flight, engulfing him in a cold, bright light. once he joined sekuuti in the sky - the heat was finally tempered.

however, sekuuti, both overwhelmed with love but also guilt and shame over abandoning akestur, fled him. but he, loyal and also overwhelmed with love, began to follow her. and basically, the day/night cycle is their eternal chase after one another - and on occasion, they meet, during eclipses :,) perhaps they also realised that their chase is what brings the world balance. and perhaps its a bit of a punishment from tuukarti for disobeying it.

[b1asho]

How would it feel to give each of your sophonts a hug? Would they like it? Or find it weird? What's their social equivalent?

The wh huggability scale, where most of the sophonts unfortunately fall on the "????? !!!!!! hey don't do that please" side of things

Written words are (from bottom left to right)

'don't do that again' *immobilized * and 'let's go touch that weird chicken'

The scale drawing goes from 'try it! ' at the top to 'DONT' at the bottom, descending order is kixeli, Prectikar, rossetians and drecu, sundyne

[bluesylveon2]

A theory about Skully J. Graves

Minor spoilers ahead

Okay so we all know that Skully is the new antagonist for the Halloween event. Everyone speculated that he is TWST Jack Skellington or TWST Doctor Finkelstein.

Here's the thing.

JACK IS LITERALLY IN THE TRAILER AND FEATURED IN THE SSR CARDS

This had me thinking. Who is Skully J. Graves the TWST version of?

I've read a few posts were Yana specifically designed Skully's hair to look like a skull (insert drum thing here) and his costume screams he is TWST Jack.

But how does he and Jack exist in the same space? We don't see that with any character and their Disney equivalent.

Here's the theory (a TWST theory!):

Skully J. Graves is from the Twisted Wonderland world.

The new event takes place in a book like the Stitch one, but the Stitch event never introduced personified characters. They only had people the audience is familiar with. Yet, Jack and Zero (maybe Sally too idk) will appear in the event.

My guess is that Skully somehow got trapped in the book and is gonna use the TWST boys to get out. He tries to earn their trust by spreading "Christmas" (or Halloween or who knows?) to the TWST world, which then ends in chaos.

My other guess is that he got amnesia or was originally from the book, but wants to get out after seeing the TWST boys and learning that there's a world outside of it (similar to how Jack was interested in Christmas after entering the door).

In the end, he gets stopped by Leona, Jamil, and Sebek.

Either way, he gets out somehow because his card will come in 2025. How he gets out is a good question. It's not as simple as visiting (like Rollo) or sneaking in (like Ernesto (still laughing at this)/Fellow and Gino/Gidel). I feel like his lines are gonna be funny tho for when he explains how he showed up to NRC. Let him join the Ramshackle group!

But that's just a theory. A TWST theory! :)

[ironworked]

Bucktommy in 8.11 and what's next

If the writers believed they'd closed the door with the 8.06 breakup, they wouldn't have brought Tommy back.

They did bring him back, though (and secretively!), but instead of any of the paths to create closure, like showing Tommy had moved on, or having them both realize their feelings had changed, or have Tommy state that that night changed nothing... what they did was 8.06 Breakup Redux 'The Soft Version':

I can't move in with you -> I'm not ready to move in

This is new to you, I'm not your last -> 'what about Eddie?' 'I'm not in love with Eddie'.

Buck -> Evan

You'd end up breaking my heart -> 'You're not afraid now?' 'not so much'

Impractical loft -> Family house

Wanting to call Tommy + Baking [downward spiral of abandonment issues] -> Wanting to call Tommy + Baking [learning to be okay alone]

Buck making an impulsive decision asking Tommy to move in -> Buck wondering if his loneliness was a factor.

We know the callbacks are intentional because they've happened before, and they had them dressed in basically the same outfits as in their 8.06 breakup.

Buck is in a better headspace now after 8.11, and I think 8.12/13 will show that (and probably rest on the Tommy mentions/baking, though if they don't they might as well start playing the wedding march) and that the point is to have Buck be OK so that when he meets Tommy again there's no doubts about where his feelings come from.

They clearly didn't use 8.11 for closure, but they made sure the audience knew it was needed by having Buck repeat he should call Tommy and by his baking.

And we know they'll meet again, and it'll be in a Big Emergency. So in my opinion the options are, from least to most likely:

Killing Tommy: killing characters is showrunner catnip, but not something 911 does. It's also weird to do it when Buck is on the up and only 3 eps from the end of the season (episodes that have more focus on Bathena and tying up loose ends).

Bad Timing Couple: another rom(com) classic, the couple that wants to be together but it's never the right time! Maybe Buck says he needs time alone; maybe Tommy says he's in therapy, or he accepted a job in Alaska. It's possible, but I'd think it'd be a letdown of a resolution for Buck's arc this season (and pretty much sets Tommy as The Endgame for Series Finale so if they try another LI they're going to be dead on arrival). Also... why not do this directly in 8.11?

Romantic Reunion: maybe Tommy is in danger, or saves Buck, or they kinda recreate the night they met as they work together to save the 118... they talk and/or make declarations and get back together. This would give Buck a deserved and climactic win, but they'd lose one of their bachelors (maybe if Eddie does leave and they incorporate Ravi, this is less of an issue).

I think it's also important to note that (afaik) 8.14/15 isn't the same filming block as 8.11, so it's not like they already had LFJ on set and went 'hey since you're here, mind hoping into that helo so we can do some action scenes?'. And they're not going to spring more money on an actor if their role could've been played by anyone (or even not have been a role to be filled at all).

[zuzu-draws]

[The Cursed, Unwanted Child: Ostracised by the Village]