#stag-in-stasis

[ladytsunadehime]

You said some blog/roleplayers made you join the roleplay community because you wanted to interact with them. Can you pretty please put these urls down (with or without @ mention) for a hall of fame? Everyone likes a compliment! UwU.

Ask the Mun Anything! || Accepting! || Anonymous

A part 2 to this in a way-

Oh god it’s been so long haha. I know I can name three off of the top of my head. I’m sure if I look through my Archived blog rn there is even more names listed… and I know two of them aren’t active anymore but-

@stag-in-stasis

@spikyhairedsilhouette

@historias-multorum

And I think it was mostly crack(?) that was happening at the time and it made me laugh. I thought it would be fun to join in. But yeah I know I’m missing a few others who made me want to join in on the fun and I’ve been lucky enough to interact at some point/still interact with them! Those three just come to mind pretty easily haha. I do know, for a fact though, I got to interact with everyone who made me want to RP in the beginning. ❤️

[worhmngd]

Cultist Simulator aspects for QSMP members in order of the wiki:

BBH: Winter, Knock, and maybe a bit of Edge, in that order. Maybe switch Knock and Winter?

FitMC: mainly Edge, like 6 edge and 2 Grail, or Moth. I think more in the Grail side tho.

Foolish: Moth and Grail, need I say more?

Jaiden: Heart with a tiny bit of Moth. She’s not chaotic for the sake of chaos or yearning to experience things, she just wants to preserve her family.

Philza: Heart and Winter in equal measures. He wants to preserve and stays out of conflict (stasis and silence). If needed, he gives an ending. (Also a touch of Secret Histories for the 4th wall breaks lol)

Quackity: Forge. He doesn’t build machines, but he builds schemes and relationships. I’d even call him a Power Know. Not a Long, he’s such a failure at it he barely made it past the Stag Door lol

Slimecicle: Moth, but like 2 points. Also Gegg is a summonable entity that has 4 points of Secret Histories and can teach you about anarchy and how to speak the Gegg language.

Wilbur Soot: Basically the Vagabond, lol. heart, Moth, and Secret Histories.

ElQuackity: Winter and Edge, basically a Hunter who used to be a Know.

Luzu: Ascended Lantern Long?

Maximus: Forge and Lantern, in that order. Maybe a bit of Grail cause he’s apparently Aypierre’s sugar baby now, lol.

Roier: pure Heart :)

Vegetta: Moth, just skips out on Forge cause he bombs people for fun instead of any real reason

Cellbit: Lantern, HIGH lantern, like 10, Knock, and 5 Grail for cannibal serial killing. Only Grail person on this list that doesn’t have a sexual component to it, but eating people for pleasure is a Grail thing, not a Winter or Edge thing.

Forever: Forge and Heart in that order

Felpa: I honestly don’t know, he’s just kinda…there? I guess like 2 Moth for his weird chaotic tendencies lol

Pac and Mike: They’re like the Witch-and-Sister. PAC’s order is Heart, Forge, and Knock, and Mikes is the inverse.

Aypierre: Grail, duh. Dude is collecting the briefs of all the men on the server. He made a vineyard and a winery.

Baghera: Like a tiny bit of Moth? She strikes me as a Regular Person in the cultist simulator world.

Etoiles: Dude is a Lionsmith kinnie, he’s definitely an Edge Know.

Anyone I skipped I don’t know enough about or they’re definitely a Regular Person in the cultist simulator world.

[rhulksplaything]

Guys guys guys I'm having an oc idea™

So basically, a warlock wielding darkness powers (stasis or strand, haven't decided which one yet) goes and dabbles in hive magic (just to try something new, y'know, cute girl stuff) while wearing the stag.

Something goes wrong with the ritual (nonono, she wasn't trying to make contact with Oryx to gain knowledge of the darkness and of the hive gods, pfffft what makes you think that?) and now OOPSIES, the stag is now permanently attached to her, she is the Stag and the Stag is her, their memories are intertwined, their motives are aligned.

Oopsies, that was a big burst of energy, now the Witness is intrigued and the hive want her dead, oh no she fled to the Disciples Pyramid and accidentally revived Rhulk how unfortunate that she's imprisoned here with him and now they have to work together to try to escape and after every raid she brings him back (plot twist, she's the reason why we can redo raids cuz the Witness is abusing her powers to bring back it's followers mwuhahahah) but each time she changes and becomes more entangled with the darkness...

[lizbot]

Regarding seeing Hornet as a 'teen' I see the term as 'age between child and adult' rather than a literal teen number of years, so in that way, I'd view her as a 'teen' for her species (note that I also draw 'teen' PK with the intention of him being centuries old as a 'teenager'). I also personally like the idea of time shenanigans at play too that may have halted her physical growth, even if it did not slow her mental growth. There's a line on a lore tablet in the white palace about using Void to deny Time (with a capital T, so potential to over analyze that lol), and I kinda ran with that idea of void being able to cause a stasis in my headcanons. It can be used to explain why the hatchlings that survived the abyss never grew, especially if the king's light is what specifically allowed Hollow to mature by counteracting the void (this is assuming 'the power opposed' on the lore tablet is void opposing light and vice versa - if the king's light causes growth and the void causes stagnation). Myla also mentions she never has to sleep when she mines in Hallownest, like her needs are just on pause. Then Eternal Emilitia, who must be extremely old too despite being a normal bug since she talks about her role before everyone died, and I guess she doesn't need to eat anymore if she never leaves the house? The stag also must be ancient as he too remembers life before the fall. If PK really did make some kind of void powered stasis field, that could explain all that too. Even Quirrel, he 'begins to feel his age' once he loses Monomon's mask. Maybe the mask was pausing his time out in the wastes, as a piece of Hallownest, and once he lost it all the time he spent outside of the city caught up to him. Anyway, sorry for the rambling headcanon dumping XD I did not intend to write this much.

Ahhh, don't worry about rambling about whatever, haha it's alright. It's really cool to hear other people's opinions and ideas.

Hmm, when I started getting into the lore of the game, I kinda assumed that a lot of time had passed since the fall of hallownest but right now I don't think so. Maybe a couple of decades I suppose?

I do have a headcanon about how Hollow and the rest of the vessels are supposed to grow. Gonna try to do a post about that later I hope.

I think Myla says that the sleeping thing as an early clue of her eventually getting infected, and I totally can see Emilitia as a cranky old bug similar to Lucille Bluth from arrested development lol.

It always bugged me why Quirrel apparently got old quickly after losing Monomon's mask. If the theory is correct, Hallownest should have protected him from ageing while inside the kingdom, and he was being protected on the outside thanks to his mask.

I dunno, not even I am completely sure of my own theories, because almost any theory needs to get a healthy dose of speculation due to how ambiguous some parts of the lore are. Makes the whole thing more interesting, and probably a bit more frustrating too lol.

[fave-fight]

okay an excellent point was made and i feel the need to clarify something—

in propogandizing for the knight, i mentioned their ability in combat magic. given the nature of the tournament i shouldn't have done that, but i was so caught up in the euphoria of extolling the virtues of my favorite little guy that i only remembered the "no weapons" rule. this was careless of me, and i apologize.

that said, i still FIRMLY believe the knight could win without magic on their side, and here's why—

while it's true they have access to several powerful magic attacks, within the timescale of the game, these are all recent acquisitions on their part. the knight learns how to perform each of them while on their journey through hallownest, but before this they were wandering (and surviving!) the wastes beyond for years. how long exactly is hard to pinpoint, since hallownest, our main point of reference, is under some form of stasis, but given just how much its many environments show signs of long-term abandonment, it's safe to say it's been a WHILE (how long for a crossroads to be forgotten? how long for plant life to spring up along heavily-trodden paths? how long for crystal to encase a shaman, for a stag to forget his way home, for a lady of root to become irreparably immobilized by her own limbs and the world's most determined designer baby to fail in the very task they were created for?)

furthermore, the knight's use of magic, while a valuable part of their moveset, is almost entirely optional. apart from a scarce handful of enemies and obstacles that can only be overcome with magic, you can complete the rest of the game with physical combat alone, if that's what you so wish. restriction on magic use is one of the optional rules for the game's boss rush mode, as is the power of their weapon, and there are folks who speedrun that shit.

the knight is used to disadvantage. the knight is used to being the underdog. the knight without magic and nail is not a threat rendered helpless. they have fists, and they have horns, and failing either of those two options, i have full faith that they could simply employ their tireless agility to dodge until their opponent fell to exhaustion.

the knight: no magic necessary.

(also, while i'm here; this tournament has been incredibly fun. seeing so many people cheer for their faves and argue passionately over hypotheticals is delightful, and your dedication to chronicling it astounds me. thank you so much for running this, good pollmaker. it can't be easy, and you've been doing excellently!)

(aaaaa thank you for the compliments! I genuinely thought I was doing this extremely messily sknzandjsbejsdh- I’m glad you’re having a good time and thank you for the propaganda!)

[inner-islands]

Willow Skye-Biggs - Dreams In Suspension

"'Dreams In Suspension' was developed slowly over the past 3 or so years. It began as the audio aspect of a video art collaboration that never quite materialized. Like that project I found other aspects of my life struggling to move forward in the ways I had envisioned. I have, since 2020, developed a number of chronic conditions from several Covid infections, causing me to lose my main sources of income and my ability to hyper fixate or exert myself for the extended periods of time my music work has generally required. After years of slow recovery, I am realizing I have no choice but to adapt. I realized one day that these tracks could stand alone without the video components. The title reflects a theme of dreams, ideas, fantasies, goals, and potential paths that exist somewhere but have not, for whatever reasons, materialized into this reality. They instead are contained, swirling and simmering. They must exist, if not tangibly here, then elsewhere. I picture them like glass orbs filled with gaseous starry substances that are sitting high up on some wizard goddess’s shelf in one of the worlds that overlays ours.

My interest, structurally, at the moment is in work that doesn't have a beginning, middle, or ending. I am exhausted and don’t care about a cohesive narrative right now. These pieces, for me, are attempts to freeze time, to hold a specific moment, a feeling, in stasis so it can be explored from various angles, and felt continuously.

These tracks are just small glimpses into something.

I have been primarily focused on developing projects in film over the past 4 years. This work, manifested in 4 short films and a medium length film, has forced me to confront time and structure in a way I hadn't with music in a while. There is something special you can do with music that is difficult to do in other mediums. This study in composition involves attempts at a "non-time", even in-so-much as the work is necessarily time-based. Slowing time, exploring time, feeling time, these are things that I am curious about.

So much of ambient music can be about a passive listening experience, which is intriguing, but I have always been interested in engaging the genre as a very deliberate and active experience. It is, to me, an exercise in focusing on a particular moment and tracing that moment consciously, which creates temporal contrasts, shadows and reflections – in that way seeing the world in a new way, being more aware of the present and more aware of what does and does not exist here. I wonder about emotions, how they intersect our reality and affect the way we experience it. These are things I think about." -WSB

"Dreams In Suspension" is a work of subtle depth and beauty. It can continue to reveal itself over repeat listens, in accordance with the listener's desire to dive deeper. This is Willow's eighth release on Inner Islands and the first physical release under her own name, following releases as Sabriel's Orb and Stag Hare.

[eritvita]

Her fury is beyond him; as her magick laps like the salty torrent of an incalculable Sea, that waves and shakes and singes, and burns the crisp of his braid onto short, black nubs 'twards the loosened bottom.

Roland is inhuman, Not Of This Plane, and naught dost he move whence that swell of cacophonous Energy slings like fire and scents of heartbreak and of feral, desperate Connection for the ethereal Thread what connects all living and stasis Beings upon this sprawling, mixed Continent.

And yet is Roland naught of the Continent: his Form and Fret of this chosen Body reacts to Yennefer's flit of her own Wing, and fur grows behind his ears so similar to that hide of the fleeing Stag, and his nails deepened onto thicken keratin, and a thin slit of a hint of an eyelid begins to form in the middle of Roland's furrowed brow, borne closed, silent.

He blinks his natural eyes as that sudden stink of blood mires him onto black-grounded Reality, upon this Reaction to sight the stone floor and the staves and the shattered bits of exoteric Glass. His face dost borne distraught, but, verily, as like minding the sacred Space of a frightened animal, dost Roland naught remove from his crouch upon the floor.

"I hath not touched thee," says he calmly, and the bulb of his third Eye begins to shift beneath that new, closed lid. He sniffs, flaring his nostrils for Clarity. "Why dost thou feel the Need to prove thyself?" asks he, and minds, now, for his hanging satchel, that trusty bag of olde, sewn leather, and flips he the flap and begins, so, to rummage inside, huddled at the floor.

❝ spare me the lecture, Roland! It is neither needed nor welcome. ❞ snapped Yennefer sharply, violet eyes wet and bright with barely contained emotions that were threatening to drown her: rage and something very akin to frustrated disappointment that she had failed, again. However could she have let this happen? Too long a time now, days, weeks! she coldly reminded herself as she furiously rearranged the staffs and crystals cast about the room to enhance her Chaos, had she strove and struggled to perform the spells Istredd (and the mightily powerful Roland, too, she surmised with malicious contempt curling in her heart) could already cast with a flick of his wrist. She would not stand here and suffer another minute of his insufferably meaningless lectures; she did not need him; she did not need anyone, less of all, this! She just wanted to be left alone. All that mattered to her was this: Chaos, her magic; this spell. She would not fail again; she couldn't. And although she well knew she was tempting Tissaia and the academy with her antics, for they were not allowed to perform such spells unsupervised, she would not stop until she had done this her way. She knew she could. She must. She could not stand the idea that she couldn't. It made her skin crawl with disgust that she should allow herself this weakness; that Triss, Sabrina... anyone, could ever best her when all she had to prove herself, was this. And although she would never admit it out loud, the thought returned to claw at the depths of her mind over and over again, tearing her apart, filling her with restless, impatient frustration that she could never seem to abate no matter what she did.

Refusing to heed his words, childishly almost, Yennefer summoned forth her magic, hands soon glowing with purple light as cruel, malicious laughter spilled from her twisted lips. ❝ I do not need protection, magician. All I need is this. ❞ she assured him bitterly, beginning to cast her spell again furiously; and yet, something was off. Something was not right; she felt her magic tremble and thrum between her hands, her floods of rage seething and frothing, intermingling with her Chaos, and she gasped, choked and shook as her hands flamed, and her spell exploded right in front of her, shuttering the purple light into shards of ice at her feet. One of them slashed at the soft skin of her cheek, and she screamed in frustration, tossing the staff set near her aside furiously and turning to glare at Roland once more. ❝leave me alone! ❞ and although she held back her tongue from immaturely accusing him for her incompetence, not wanting to sound like naught more than an unlearned yearling, her violet eyes were blazing with anger.

[chidorikiller]

stag-in-stasis replied to your post “Meanwhile… Kakashi hides in a corner, overseeing everything, thinking...”

bud, you read erotica in broad daylight, you need more help than most of us.

“What’s wrong with that? I’m an adult!” 

[dobujutsu-moved]

@stag-in-stasis said: “  i   am   going   to   lay   completely   still   on   the   forest   floor   until   either   things   start   going   my   way   or   i   disintegrate   into   nothing  .   ” (it wss a big Shika mood, how could I not) | ♡  -  @WOLFPUPY   TWEETS   AS   STARTER   PROMPTS  . | Accepting!

A snort was the response to his words, a hand lifting to hide a grin that was threatening to form on her face. She cleared her throat into her fist before chuckling softly and crossing her arms, “As nice as that sounds, I don’t think you’d be able to get away with it. Something or someone will probably come along and interrupt, right?”

She let out a sigh as her shoulders slumped, her arms falling limp to her sides, “Ahh, how I’d love to be able to take some time off..” This was the first true moment of rest for her since she had been sent on mission after mission lately.

[abyssaldespair]

stag-in-stasis replied to your post: thatsneakymedic replied to your post: ...

dude he wants to see ur dick, be careful, he might turn it into a snake

noted. 

[a-hazbin-spider]

As much as Angel never painted himself as a great person, he accidentally found compassion and nurturing to just… keep happening. The tie usually being because he started to do something he was usually stupid for. He started to care. And Alastor here- he was supposed to be a Big Bad Powerful man or whatever, but that didn’t stop Angel from panicking enough when he’d found him. He’d done his best to be a first response. But with as bad as the stag looked? He didn’t want to jeopardize his health- even though his own funds were very much low, if he had to find something out, he would; Alastor needed proper care, proper supplies. Hence: why he was hauled here.

Although he knew the stag often protested on touch, the spider didn’t know what else to do. He’d taken it upon himself to offer any comfort he could give, in this case, he’d carefully taken one hand in his, gently running a thumb over his knuckles. The deed may have been said and done, but he’d want to be here for him, protect from anything else.

Something is whispered to him, and it immediately perks him up. Alastor was awake much to his relief. It was unsure how long he’d be in stasis given how poor his condition was. And that probably shows on the starlet’s face just how worried he was. “I ain’t knew what to do..! You- I ain’t never seen you like that before. I brought ya here, my first aid kit didn’t have everything you needed.” There’s a pause, Angel tried to calm himself with a deep breath. Bedside manner 101, cmon. “I know you probably feel like shit, but, can you… tell me what happened?”

@cervidae-demon

“ i’m here.”

@a-hazbin-spider (i sent either of them! Thought it’d be a good excuse to interact (: )

send me   “ you’re here…?”   for your muse to wake up in a hospital bed and find my muse holding their hand.      send    “ i’m here. “    for my muse to wake up and find yours. 

The last thing Alastor could remember was being into Lilith's hold. She had found out about his relation with Lucifer and oh boy she didn't like it. She actually had 'punished' him until he fell unconscious, and it took a LOT for him to have lost consciousness. Waking up in a hospital seemed like an overkill though in his opinion, even more so having someone hold his hand while he was recovering.... And the fact this wasn't Lucifer was actually a bit hurtful, but maybe the man didn't know yet.

"Angel Dust?" He whispered, his grin coming back slowly as he sat up with a groan of pain. "What am I doing here?" he asked, holding onto his head. He knew Lilith and him were alone when this happened, Angel couldn't know about his deal with the queen of Hell or about the way he was mistreated, though he probably found him once she left back to heaven.

Ugh, everything hurt.

@a-hazbin-spider

[asagao-onna]

"Get off my grill you discount tuna."

“I’m not on your grill, anyway! I’m five star sashimi and I’m out of your price range!!“

[proudxkunoichi]

@stag-in-stasis

The months that followed the Fourth Shinobi World War had been challenging, to say the least. The series of events which had unfolded left their mark on her psyche. A permanent one. How could it not? Ino had lost her father, the biggest supporter and dearest person she had. There was constant pressure on her shoulders and the shoes she needed to fill were a few sizes too big, the responsability and legacy she had been entrusted with was huge and some days she doubted herself.

The blonde never let it show, of course. She had perfected a mask for the sake of appearances, of survival. Her pride and stubborness would never let her crumble in public, never allow her insecurities and struggles to show. Ino was the Yamanaka clanhead and the current Head of the Intel Unit. She had to act accordingly.

Seeking out Shikamaru's company was something she had been doing on a subconscious level. He was the only one who understood her pain and she was the only one who understood his. They had lost their parents at the exact same time. The Allied Shinobi Forces had relied upon his genius to plan after Shikaku no longer could and they had relied on her mind jutsu to link everyone on the battlefield.

Ino reached the hill her teammate usually used for cloud-gazing. Blue eyes shined brightly upon spotting the familiar pineapple shape of a head. True to her assumptions, he was resting just a few meters ahead. "Shikamaruuu." she made her presence known with a cheerful greeting, voice loud enough so he'd hear her. She approached him with even steps before stopping and placing her hands on her hips. "I see you are being a lazy bum again." Blocking the sun, the kunoichi dipped her head, staring down at the Nara. "Don't you have anything better to do with your time?" she arched an elegant brow. "Something productive, for example." Ino stressed out the last part, the habit of nagging at him about this and that had stayed with her over the years. Some things just never change and if she were to be honest with herself, it was good, that they didn't. She needed some sort of anchor in this ever changing world. Shikamaru and Chouji were constant and their presence helped ground her in a way nothing else ever would.

She was secretly glad that he had no duty to tend to this afternoon, however. Their respective occupations saw that they got to spend little time with one another and Chouji or anyone from the Konoha Twelve, really. Team Asuma and Sakura were always going to be her number one priority, however.

Ino rose her head to look up at the clouds. She wondered what Shikamaru saw whenever he glanced at them. Whether he actually saw something or he simply used the time to reflect on things. "Why do you like cloud-gazing so much?" She gave voice to her thoughts, curious and interested to hear what he had to say. Her gaze drifted back towards his person, waiting for a response.

[medicalwarrior]

@stag-in-stasis​ replied to your post: Hnng I want pregnant mama!Saku stuff

if you want my muse can be terrified of her

wait you mean he isn’t already terrified of her??

[chubbs-the-fish]

Hold up a second.

You've stated that beings in Hallownest have been aging weirdly due to the statis over the kingdom, right?

What about Elderbug? He's obviously an old man. But he was also born after the fall of Hallownest. As we know thanks to him stating that the stag stations were closed well before he was born. So what's up with him?

This is a plothole in the game Aswell, I'm just curious if your worldbuilding has figured out a spot for him.

I have a theory for this that I am employing!

The stasis over Hallownest didn't always cover the entire map. The Pale King originally set the stasis up after the Vessel plan started to fail. The stasis was set to cover the City, Deepnest, and Fog Canyon to protect the Dreamers, and any survivors locked away in the city. The stasis was set when the Pale King retreated into his dream palace, where he stayed in a state of semi-aliveness with minimal influence on the outside world but Foresight telling him he was on the right track to save his people.

At some point after PK ran away, Elderbug was born. Dirtmouth was technically not part of the stasis and bugs could still age properly there.

As the infection continued to spread the Pale King pushed the stasis boundaries to the edges of his territory, as a last ditch effort to save his remaining people. He uses his remaining power to do one other thing before kicking the bucket. Most of the underground survivors living in places like the little village in the Forgotten Crossroads moved out. It is at this point Sly moves into Dirtmouth and the Nailmasters go their separate ways, Myla and Bretta are born before the stasis hits Dirtmouth and Crystal Peaks.

[peregrineggsandham]

Updates on that blind Hollow Knight playthrough (sorry, my speculations and musings got... wordy and poetic). Friendly reminder I am working off of incomplete info/context so far:

[spoilers]

I would die for Hive Knight

2. I would also die for my growing family of Grimmchild, a bunch of flying grub versions of me, three weaverlings, Hornet (who is apparently my half-sister if I am understanding this correctly, I went and found the Weaver's Den and had a Moment of Comprehension), and my imprisoned twin (?) whom I swear I am going to break out of there if it kills me holy shit this puts that first ending/battle with them into such heartbreaking context. And Mato, who claimed fatherhood rights. And our growing collection of kindly grandparents. Also we're adopting Dung Defender, he's family now, I don't make the rules.

3. I cannot decide/determine if the king and queen made the vessels kingsmould-style and never expected them to be people in the first place, in which case taking the Hollow Knight and leaving the rest to die was a tragic mistake... or if they made them children-style and then tossed them into the abyss in an effort to hollow them out, meaning the tragedy is not only that this failed and they never realized it but also that they fully believed/understood that they'd killed thousands of their children...

(...and still believe it - the White Lady said she thinks I can hold the infection, that the Hollow Knight was "corrupted by an idea instilled", but our siblings' journal entry reads "fragment of a lingering will" and nothing hollow would meditate with Mato or sit with Quirrel or bow back at the start of Grimm's dance - suggesting we all were never hollow and yet still she claims us - needs us - to be empty...)

I think the latter option fits better with "no cost too great" but it also means it was a very explicit sacrifice of children, not of constructs that they just... didn't realize were children. So. That's. Something.

4. Quirrel is fine. I do not care about the obvious implications. I have seen too many friends die now to assume the worst. Cloth said she was leaving Hollownest and Quirrel said there was nothing left here for him, or something to that effect, so I choose to believe he is with her. There is no body. If the Old Stag can hope, so can I.

4a. Corollary: Nailsmith is also fine.

5. I would like to apologize personally to everyone I privately chucked at for finding Grimm vaguely attractive. I. Mm. I, uh, I understand. (It's that dramatic flair combined with polite ass-kicking. Great taste in decor, color, and music, holy heck the music.) His fight was the best thing since Hornet Version 2, or even the Mantis Lords...

6. ....AND WE'RE DOING IT AGAIN TOMORROW. Well. I say "again". Again but more so. (I have been practicing, I see what I need to do, I just need to do it. I can consistently get him to the first round of... can I call it his pufferfish form? That's what I've been calling it. I'm sorry. It's just. It's so silly. I love it.)

6a. Corollary: I thought a lot about what to do with the Troupe. I'm not looking up what happens if you break the lantern or don't - I went there to speak with Brumm (and panicked and left when he started whaling on the lantern) and on the one hand it sounds very much like they are all slaves to an endless cycle of death and rebirth (?). All things need to end. On the other hand... what would ending that cycle do? They don't really seem to be causing any harm - eating nightmares? The people have plenty to spare! Honestly in this world, normal dreams seem to be worse. I'd take the nightmare, thanks. At least the music kicks ass.

And this cycle doesn't seem like the endless stasis imposed by the King on Hallownest. This seems as old as time. So, end the cycle and... what? They are vessels, all of them (lowercase v, vessels, not Vessels) for the Flame - so they say - and they may not always have been. Once, perhaps, they were their own people, now chained to this... giant beating flaming heart. Grimm likely is chained most of all. Burn the father, feed the child, I get it, his will be the last flame the Grimmchild devours. I expect he'll die, and the child will take his place. But dance and die and live forever, the poem says - what is inherited, exactly? Flame, yes. Title? Name? I doubt they'll be the Grimmchild Troupe from this point on. Godhood? Even memory? When Grimm is staggered in his battle, he splits into a number of little things, almost shades, little Grimmchildren. How many have there been?

That's why the White Lady compared us, I assume - we are both the children of kings, set to inherit the title and all the horrors that come with it. What will becoming such a thing do to Grimmchild? All things considered, giant beating heart of patchwork and flame and all, Grimm seems... fine, really. Chipper enough. Certainly no one but Brumm has expressed a desire to leave - but then, if he's right, the child was born into servitude, and a desire to leave is absolutely secondary to having the choice to do so. Maybe ending the cycle would free them all. Maybe the son would not have to eat the father. Or maybe it'd destroy them both.

Would that be preferable?

Another consideration: They are vessels, in their own way. Would we be freeing what they contain?

We took the place of the Hollow Knight, in that first ending. So does the Grimmchild take the place of the father, if I'm right. Everyone is being frustratingly vague about this Ritual business. If we ever find a way to defeat the infection, and not merely recontain it, will the bugs it has taken be left behind, living and whole? I doubt it. They are already dead. (Myla Myla Myla Myla Myla). So, is destroying the lantern akin to destroying the infection, or more to breaking the seals?

Nightmares and dreams aren't all that different, but at least the former seems content to only visit for a while rather than to sit and spread and infect. Though I imagine it helps that they are still storied, still talked about in hushed tones - unlike whatever forgotten Light the Seer spoke of before her... ascension. Not death. I refuse to think we lost another friend. Point is, if the Nightmare King and this dream-making Light are kin, the former seems to treat his... vessels?... much more kindly. Namely, they are still alive. They sing! They dance!

So what would be left of Grimm and his child if you tore the heart out from them both? Maybe the others would survive - Brumm gave us his flame without death, after all - but would they be themselves? Would they be happier? Emptier? It doesn't matter. Forget them.

Ha! Forget them! Now there's a sobering realization! I don't think the troupe's presence is an active harm to Dirtmouth, or to the kingdoms surrounding what is left of Hallownest. But even if it was... I, and our little friend as I play them, would still prioritize Grimmchild's wellbeing over that of the ruins of the kingdom - and its remaining inhabitants. And even the rest of the troupe! Maybe that's cruel! Maybe that's wrong! But it's the exact opposite decision to what the Pale King did, and I think we are too young (we are still a child) and too ancient (the kingdom is long-dead and we were born before its fall) and too unused to thought (after all, we returned from outside the kingdom, where memory and mind are fuzzy if either the plaque or Quirrel are to be believed) to fully comprehend nuance.

After all, I have hardcore leaned into the little friend (been also calling them little ghost since that's what Hornet calls them and I think the fandom as well?) taking one look at Grimmchild and deciding immediately that they could be a better parent than the Pale King.

But... there are still costs too great.

(In fairness we did also yeet our infant into the abyss but we also jumped down and we climbed out again together and also they had wings, so. it's fine.)

They're already touched by Void through our influence - the eyes of their charm leak black, and that has to mean something. Maybe this is a dead kingdom that we can exist in together. Two kings with nothing to rule except our own lives. Maybe we can break the cycle - later, on our own terms, and after hearing every side of the story.

I'd gone to consult with Grimm, after speaking with Brumm - but he was asleep, and his nightmare was a dance. I am so very, very excited to dance with him again.

So we are completing the ritual.

...eventually.

...as soon as this little fucker just. when he just. just stays still for a- just stand still for a moment and let me- alright look-

.....

.............

........................

7. Also I still don't know what I'm supposed to use all of these rancid eggs for, good lord, we must smell like a sulfur pit.

8. Also how many iterations of Zote are there???

8a. Bretta can do better.