#that dream probably got some crazy plot and lore in it

[sunlit-snowfall]

Had a weird dream where i had black claws growing on my fingers

I'm not talking about me turning into some kind of animal here, my body was still 100% human but there were claws growing from beneath my nails (yes, the nails were still there)

It was painful and I actually went to a doctor to get it removed, but when they cut them, the claws grew back within a few seconds

[n0vazsq]

Maneater | Pablo Gavi x Reader

pairing . . . gavi x secret!love!child!hamilton!reader

summary . . . When your biggest secret is exposed; being the secret love child of the one and only Lewis Hamilton, it seems like your life is over. But then when a boy by the name of Pablo Gavi starts liking your posts, it feels like life isn't so bad anymore

request . . . no!!

word count . . . N/A

warnings . . . none! reader is around 19-20! !! the way gavi speaks is probably not accurate but i'm too sick to fix it so !!

faceclaim . . . maria isabel!

alexavia yaps . . . whether reader is from a one night stand or from a established relationship isnt mentioned so its up to you!! DO WE WANT A PART TWO BTW?? i tried to include the lewis child lore as much as i could but like idk its more of a side plot! the last post it shitty asl but im too sick to fix it my pills are doing shit to me

f1gossip

liked by user872, user1711, user28 and 2.7M others

f1gossip 7 TIME WORLD CHAMPION LEWIS HAMILTON RUMORED TO HAVE A SECRET LOVE CHILD?! last weekend an anonymous source revealed to a popular british magazine that LEWIS HAMILTON had a 18-20 year old (age unknown) daughter! mother is still yet unknown but daughter is called y/n hamilton and has a private instagram Tagged: yourusername, lewishamilton

click to view all comments

username1 WHAT.

username2 excuse me???

username3 when i opened insta this was the LAST thing i expected

username4 oh jesus at first i thought she was his baby mama i got scared

username5 shes so gorgeous tho

username6 IUEYGTHSJIUHS??????

username7 WHT THE FUCKL

username8 LEWIS WHAT????? IM SO sHCOKED????

username9 MY SHAYLAAAAAAAA

username10 y/n is such a pretty name wtf? shes also so pretty sigh

username11 i mean with f1 this was bound to happen some time

username12 yeah but not NOW

username13 dawg lewis has had enough of this media shit first with the ferrari signing and now with this

username14 im giggling at the comments theyre so funny

username15 SHE USED TO GO TO MY SCHOLL??????????

username16 can lewis fight

username17 i'd think so yes

username18 TAGGING THEM IS DIABOLICAL

username19 MAMMA MIA??? MADRE MIA???

username20 i will NOT shut up about this until like 2498

username21 stop why is she so pretty

username22 THE lewis hamilton is her dad

username23 i-

username24 COME AGAIN?? WHAR???

username25 who is lewis hamilton? i got this on my feed i dont know who he is

username26 some random racer idk

username27 the comments being a mix of people freaking out and simping is so funny to me

username28 oh to have lewis hamilton's child

username29 WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF HES SO BEAUTIFUL

username30 Y/N?? YOU MEAN Y/N HAMILTON IS ACTUALLY RELATED TO LEWIS???

username31 I FOLLOW HER AND ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS LIKE A SIMILARITY OR SUM

username32 SHE LOOKS LIKE HIM TOO

username33 CRYING HOW HAVE I NEVER NOTICED THIS BEFORE

username34 shes living the dream

username35 i feel so bad for the girl and her mom theyre gonna get so much hate just for existing

username36 sigh i wish i was her

username37 uh whos that? IM lewis' wife

username38 babe.....

username39 this made me laugh ngl

username40 oh god i've met someone more delusional than me that's crazy

username41 FATHERRRRR (literally)

username42 IM SREAMING????

username43 I ALWAYS KNEW LEWIS WAS A DILF

username44 i'm so glad her account is private so yall creeps dont attack her

username45 someone people here are outright DISGUSTING

username46 FR like have some DECENCY this man has a family

username47 sigh i want to be as pretty as her

username48 STUNNING.

username49 can he be my step dad

username50 THE GOAT

username51 ONGGGG

username52 FRRR

username53 the next it girl i can feel it

username54 OMG what if she gets with a driver and we get y/n paddock appearances NOT ONLY as lewis' daughter but also as a wag!!!!

username55 oh!

username56 guys dont forget that they are also human beings!!!!!

username57 THE SECOND PIC IM SOBBING THATS SO CUTEEEE THOO LIKE HER MOM PROTECTING LITTLE Y/N FROM THE PAPARAZZI???

username58 id let him hit me with his car

username59 uh

username60 parents (literally)

NEW NOTIFICATION: pablogavi has started following you !

yourusername

liked by yourbsf, pablogavi, yourmother and 1.1K others

yourusername life updates since my secret got out: 1. i've blocked over 2000 gossip sites and removed over 10k people from my followers, 2. i get 50 death threats every minute, 3. my face is in the front of every magazine (in a bad way)

click to view all comments

username61 oh girl i feel so bad for you

username62 gavi in the likes????

username63 only y/n knows how to make a life crisis aesthetic

username64 and to look so pretty while doing so??

username65 queen behaviour

username66 the outfit is not a want its a NEED

username67 50 death threats every MINUTE is crazy

username68 2000??? girl i know your hands were aching

username69 did lewis say anything about this?

username70 hes gone MIA and hasnt said anything

yourbsf don't listen to them pooks, okay? theyre just jealous because youre so pretty and because your dad is THE lewis hamilton

yourusername this made me smile so wide

yourusername i love you so much its unbelievable 😔

yourbsf me too 😔

yourusername lets get married and run away forever

yourbsf yes we should

yourusername ill buy the rings

username72 im still confused on why PABLO GAVIRA is in the likes like sir this is a bad time to shoot your shot

username73 y/n x bsf/name

username74 the otp fr

username75 the lack of lewis is concerning me

username76 fr like WHERE IS HEEEEEE

yourmother you look stunning my love 🤍

yourusername thank you mama 🫶 all your genes

yourmother you flatter me so much

username77 im not crying you are

yourbsf also check my dms i sent you a little message on SOMEONE peeking in your likes

yourusername ill check out right now.....

username78 im like 109% sure its abt gavi

username79 bro who the fuck is gavi and why is he so important

username80 aww y/n looks so cute

yourfriend1 glowing 🤍

yourbsf damn right she is

yourusername oh...😊 you make me blush

yourbsf well its the truth

yourfriend1 sigh what have i done

yourbsf oi shut up let me admire my beautful girl

yourusername i love you your/bsf/name

yourbsf love you too y/n

yourfriend1 i love you so much friend/name of course we'll never leave you out you're such an amazing friend we can't appreicate it you enough 🤍

yourusername are you okay??

yourbsf girl why are you complimenting yourself

yourfriend1 wow yourfriend1 you're so loved around here <33 i'm jealous

username81 HELP IM SOBBING THEIR CONVOS ARE SO FUNNY

username82 how is she so calm wtf

username83 if she ever gets famous NEVER pr train yourbsf

username84 Y/N DONT LET THE HATE GET TO YOU WE ALL LOVE YOU!!!!!!

username85 legit royalty vibes

username86 imagine being this beautiful sigh

pablogavi ❤ Liked by creator

username87 EH???????

username88 i am JEALOUS, ENVIOUS, GREEN.

username89 GAVI????

username90 i cannot tell if they are together or if hes flirting

username91 MY man

username92 gorgeous gorgeous girl

username93 stop i feel so bad for her

username94 the hate is deserved Comment has been deleted by creator

username95 sooooo is everyone js gonna move on from gavi's comment or...?

username96 holy fuck imagine waking up one day and your biggest secret is out to the world

username97 where to buy that hair asking for a friend

username98 if i could just maul every journalist and reporter that bothers her

username99 im waiting for the fics on her nd gavi

username100 y/n how are you doing so far

yourusername could be better, feel like crying everytime i look out my window

username100 you doesnt deserve the hate babe, we all love you so much

yourusername STOP IM GOING TO CRY 🫶🥹 THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH

yourmother you really don't, gorgeous. we're all here for you

username101 every being so supportive is so sweet like yes y/n fans are the best

username102 100% agreed

username101 like we ARE the best fandom

username102 EXACTLY stan y/n fans for life

username103 dont know if i should be shocked or unsurpirsed

username104 both

username105 HER BESTFRIEND BEING THE SUPPORTIVE OLDER SISTER FIGURE MY HEARTTTTT

username106 i just know damn well lewis is on the verge of tears

username107 SHES SO GORGEOUS I CANT

username108 if lewis doesnt comment on this i will personally go over to him and force him to

username109 me and y/n are in a parasocial relationship btw

username110 y/n and gavi are my dream couple frrrr

NEW NOTIFICATION: pablogavi has liked 8 of your posts !

INSTAGRAM TEXTS BETWEEN YOU AND @yourbsf

yourusername: sooo???

yourbsf: so this footballer

yourbsf: his name is gavi

yourbsf: and he has liked 20 of your posts

yourusername: whats the problem with that tho i randomly see ppl doing that

yourbsf: he followed you after the article gossip page thing idk got out

yourbsf: THEN he commented a heart emoji which YOU liked

yourusername: what if hes an undercover journalist you never know

yourusername: besides

yourusername: i do NOT remember liking his comment 😭

yourbsf: girl what

yourbsf: he is a world wide known footballer who plays for one of the biggest clubs in the world and has more than 17 million followers

yourbsf: i dont think he'd be an undercover journalist

yourbsf: and you didn't exclude him from the 10k followers you removed after you made your acc private...

yourusername: he could still be a journalist in his secret time you never know

yourusername: running a blog then writing "xoxo gossip girl" at the end of it 😭😭😭😭

yourusername: but like in my defense

yourusername: maybe he followed while i was removing the followers and i didnt see him

yourbsf: your defense is shittier than my shit

yourbsf: y/n don't play games with me you know how i am

yourbsf: besides you have to admit you looked through his acc

yourusername: FINE ILL ADMIT IT

yourusername: hes kinda cute.....

yourusername: KINDA

yourusername: happy now??

yourbsf: yes i am happy now

yourbsf: also kinda my ass your in love with him

yourbsf: i can see your heart eyes through the screen

yourusername: yeah yeah

yourusername: if i post another post and he comments something like a heart or idk ill dm him

yourbsf: bet

yourbsf: send me screenshots

yourusername: i wont bc him commenting in one post is just a COINCEDENCE

yourbsf: say whatever you want y/n

yourbsf: we both know the truth

yourbsf: make sure to capture the whole convo

yourusername: fuck off ❤

yourbsf: see thats the same heart he commented

yourusername: throw yourself into incoming traffic i hate you

yourbsf: you dont <33

NEW NOTIFICATION: pablogavi has liked 29 of your posts !

yourusername has posted two new stories !

caption 1: 💙 // caption 2: in barca 🇪🇸

story liked by pablogavi, yourbsf, lewishamilton and 1K others

view all story replies

yourbsf so youre in barca now? do i need to remind you who lives in barca too?

yourusername hush

yourbsf did he like it yet?

yourusername before you even

yourbsf and you say he doesnt like you

yourusername ITS JUST A COINCEDENCE

yourbsf keep repeating that to yourself until you believe it

yourusername die

username111 PRETYYYY

username112 in barcelona for someone specific? 👀

username113 barca boy and barca girl, couldnt have been better

username114 please be there for gavi

yourmother stunning 🫶 take care and be safe!

yourusername will do! i've given my location to bsf/name and i'll share it with you now

yourmother your father will met you there, yes?

yourusername yes! we've arranged a meeting in this fancy restaurant

yourmother don't forget to send me pictures

yourusername i won't

lewishamilton ❤ Message liked by creator

pablogavi hermosa 💙 ❤

yourusername muchas gracias 🫶

pablogavi you know spanish?

yourusername just a tiny bit

pablogavi we can meet up sometime then so i can teach you

pablogavi how long will you be here for?

yourusername around two weeks!

pablogavi better come to a match then and i'll teach you if we win

yourusername and if you lose?

pablogavi you teach me english

yourusername yours is already good though

pablogavi i could use some pratice

yourusername deal

pablogavi ill need to contact you so i can send the details

yourusername is this your way of asking for my number?

pablogavi maybe

yourusername smooth

yourusername my number is XXXXXXXX

pablogavi sent a message

yourusername "hola linda"? really?

pablogavi im just saying the truth

yourusername you amaze me

pablogavi i'm glad

username115 love is in the air eh?

username116 that fit is so adorable omgg

username117 gavi gavi gavi gavi gavi gavi

NEW NOTIFICATION: pablogavi has liked 11 of your posts and 39 highlights !

NEW NOTIFICATION: lewishamlton has started following you !

yourusername

liked by pablogavi, yourbsf, lewishamilton and 1.2K others

yourusername when in barcelona 💙 ❤ VISCA EL BARCA Tagged: fcbarcelona, lewishamilton

click to view all comments

username118 y/n tell us everything that happened please

yourusername this is gonna be a long one

yourusername so i went to barca to discuss some legal and press stuff with my father then i got invited to attend a barcelona match in a deal to exchange language knowledge and they won so now i am receiving help in learning spanish

username118 thats a lot to take in....? anyway what happened with lewis??

yourusername he and my mother will try to get back together but until then they both own custody over me and now i am officialy lewis hamilton's daughter for real and you might see me in the paddock

username119 Y/N PADDOCK APPEARANCES LETS FUCKING GOOOO

username120 YES YES YES YES i dont understand why in barcelona but yeah IM SO HAPPY

yourbsf i love you so much gorgeous i hope you had funn

yourusername i love you more my beloved princess 🫶 i had so much fun but it'd be so much better with you

yourbsf i'll be hopping on a plane soon trust me

yourusername until then someone else will keep me company

yourbsf oh?

yourmother i'm glad you had fun in barcelona darling! i love you so much and tell your father that i said hi!

lewishamilton ❤❤

yourusername 🫶

username121 STOPP MY HEART CANT TAKE THIS LIKE ANOTHER BOMB DROPPING ON US FROM Y/N??? STOP

username122 girl is not even tryna hide it

username123 bro is NOT slick

username124 IKR???

username125 atp i think she WANTS us to know

username126 omg i died watching the match bc VISCA BARCA RAHHH

barcapix she's a maneater make you buy cars make you cut cards make you fall real hard in love

username127 SHES A CULER?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

username128 DID ANYONE SEE GAVI POINTING AT THE STANDS??

username129 YESSS OMG I LEGIT PASSED OUT

username130 THEYRE SUCH CUTIESSS AHHH

nicorosberg welcome to the family y/n, expect christmas gifts from me

yourusername thank you nico! will do!

username131 FUCK OFF

username132 NICO MOTHERFUCKING ROSBERG SAYING WELCOME TO THE FAMILY?????

username133 BROCEDES IS REAL HERES THE CONFORMATION

username134 this post might be the biggest headline of the 21st century

username135 ISYG BAJJHSSYHSUJKKIUHBHNJWMK

username136 I JUST CAME BACK FROM SUMMER CAMP WTF??? IS THIS HOW I FIND OUT LEWIS HAS A DAUGHTER AND SHE MIGHT BE DATIGNG GAVI???

username137 screaming crying throwing up

username138 killing myself because of this

username139 wait for me

username140 they should get a reality show

yourbsf take care of my baby sister, sir lewis hamilton. i trust you with her, dont disappoint me

lewishamilton dont worry, i wont. i love her more than anything

yourbsf good

username141 are we going to ignore this or what

username142 we have more important things to worry about (aka gavi)

username143 girl at least be subtle

username144 i wish i was rich

username145 HALA MADRID

username146 lets make this an actual book bc wtf

username147 so like when will it be my turn

username148 weirdest story of this centruy

username149 no lies said

username150 gavi liked and he didnt comment hmmmm

username151 oh jolly this is so beautiful

username152 THE AESTHETIC ATE UPPPPPP

username153 gavi on holiday with the hamilton family????

username154 who knows maybe we'll never know

username155 the whole family is so gorgeous wtff

username156 your honour i love them

pablogavi did you enjoy the match?

yourusername yes a lot! thanks for inviting me!!

pablogavi i'm glad you enjoyed it, see you next time maybe?

yourusername we'll see if my schedule is clear

pablogavi let me know then

username157 EXCUSE ME??????

username158 so he invited her so he can teach her spanish but then is asking her out again?????

username159 oh to be rich

username160 living vicarously through her wtf

username161 sigh i wish i was y/n or even just like a part of the hamilton family a servant even

username162 id LOVE to be her maid or sum

username163 Y/N GIVE US GAVI CONTENT !!!!!!!!!

username164 REAL

username165 im STARVING for lewis pics

username166 to be hot and have a hot boyfriend is the LIFE (idc that it isnt confirmed she basically hard launched with that pic)

yourbsf i guess those pictures you nearly killed yourself to take of the stadium were worth it after all

yourusername they always are and besides i just tripped over a loose concrete slab

yourbsf they dont leave them lying around like that stop lying

yourusername how about no ❤

yourbsf ill leak our dms

yourusername the dms in which you blackmailed and gaslighted me

yourmother what blackmail??

yourusername YOU DONT NEED TO KNOW

yourbsf it was basically when y/n was

yourusername STOPPPP youve had enough already

yourbsf ive gotten ZERO updates on the situation this entire trip y/n

yourusername BECAUSE THERE WERENT ANY

yourusername there were but i wont tell you until i come back because its vocal updates not text-ual updates

yourbsf i see i see

yourbsf WELL HURRY THE FUCK UP AND COME BACK

username167 this is the meaning of chaos

username168 PURE HAVOC

username169 now i understand why y/n's mother never lets them be together OR apart for more than 48 hours

username170 we NEED to know about the updates wtf

username171 gavi and y/n sitting in a tree

username172 id sell my left kidney to get them together

username173 THE AESHETIC. MOTHER Y/N ATEEE

username174 on my fucking knees for her

username176 id die and come back just to experience these photos

username177 our queen is gaining fame dni

username178 is it bad that im making heart eyes at her

username179 totally not, i too am making heart eyes at y/n hamilton

username180 my beloved girl and her barcelona boy sigh

lewishamilton

liked by yourusername, yourbsf, yourmother and 28.7M others

lewishamilton reunited 🤍 i would rather her boyfriend didn't come but anything for my princess Tagged: yourusername

comments on this post have been limited

yourusername aww thank you 🤍

lewishamilton anything for you

yourmother i'm glad you're enjoying the trip! send me lots of pics of y/n and her boyfriend for my photo album

lewishamilton will do! when you finish it send me a copy!

yourmother of course ❤

pablogavi congrats! Liked by creator

yourbsf sooo uncle sir lewis hamilton will you be able to take me to the paddock?

lewishamilton sure?

yourbsf great time to convince some drivers to marry me

yourusername youre literally 20

yourbsf and? i don't mind an age difference

yourusername try f2

yourbsf good idea but only the ones that are 20 or above i don't want to be a predator

yourusername or maybe become a wag of a diff sport like football

yourbsf so i can take the same path as you? This reply has been deleted

yourbsf i'll see

yourusername great!

lewishamilton should i be concerned?

yourusername no!!

lewishamilton alright....

nicorosberg congratulations

yourusername soooo will he able to come to family gatherings one day??

yourmother sure!

lewishamilton no

lewishamilton i mean sure whatever your mother says is best

yourbsf should i say it

yourusername DONT you dare

yourbsf fine

yourmother but won't your boyfriend be long distance? since... well you know

yourusername i didn't think of that

lewishamilton i did

yourusername YOULL FLY HIM OUT>??

lewishamilton no

yourusername brb going to sob my ass off

yourbsf great tactic uncle sir lewis hamilton now she'll tell me everything about them

lewishamilton thank you?

yourbsf you're welcome!!

INSTAGRAM TEXTS BETWEEN YOU AND @pablogavi

pablogavi: i'll miss seeing you in the stands

yourusername: i'll miss being in them

pablogavi: i think you're my good luck charm

pablogavi: make sure to watch our matches

yourusername: who knew the pablo gavira could be so cheesy??

yourusername: but i will

yourusername: i think i'm starting to like football now

pablogavi: you should

pablogavi: since you'll be coming to more matches now

yourusername: oh?

yourusername: well i'll be waiting for my tickets

yourusername: and make sure they don't overlap with the f1 races

pablogavi: don't worry about that

pablogavi: i'll have everything sorted out for you

yourusername: such a gentleman

pablogavi: only for the best

yourusername: you flatter me

pablogavi: they say its not flattery if its true

yourusername: what did i get myself into

yourusername: you're so sappy it's cute atp

yourusername: but anyway

yourusername: my flight leaves in 30 minutes so i have to go now

pablogavi: cute? i'll take it

pablogavi: text me when you land

yourusername: i will !!

pablogavi: have a safe flight carino

pablogavi: i'll call you asap

yourusername: gracias hermoso

yourusername: can't wait for it

yourusername has posted two new stories !

caption 1: i think i love him 🤍// caption 2: goodbye barca, i'll miss you 🇪🇸

story liked by pablogavi, yourbsf, yourmother and 1.1K others

to be continued....?

taglist . . . @barcapix ,, @f1lover55 ,, @ilovebarcaaaa ,, @notm4d1 ,, @httpsdana ,, @paucubarsisimp ,, @bernalswifeyy ,, @nngkay ,, @justaf1girl ,, @iamred-iamyellow (lmk if you want to join the taglist!)

[chickenkurage]

"The Author" (Reality Warped AU)

This is the villain.... "Alan"

He's not that scary yet XP...... Anyways, lore!

· • —– ٠ 📜 ٠ —– • ·

Summary/Synopsis:

Imagine sitting at your desk, writing the ending of your own book. When all of the sudden you wake up in a world that you literally made! Goodness this is an author’s wet dream! At least that’s what Alan is supposed to feel, until he remembers what kind of person “Alan” is in his story….

Where Alan Becker, the author of Animation vs Animator and his standalone Animation vs Minecraft (kudos to Mojang) was suddenly sucked in his own book, now he finds himself in place of his self insert character named “Alan”.... He’s supposed to be glad because he’s meeting his own creations (his own characters! Can you believe that?!), until he remembered he’s the “supposed” villain of the story.

Oh well, he can change things up right?

Ugh, right…. He is the villain, and being a villain means it’s hard to gain your character's trust (why did he even write his character as a villain?......a right because he couldn't think of any other villain, so naturally he wrote himself as one.... ugh).

· • —– ٠ 📜 ٠ —– • ·

LORE:

“Alan” in this AU is the villain, the creator of victim, The Chosen One, The Dark Lord and The Second Coming: The Chosen One’s Return. He was the worst out of the worst, he only thought of them as some play toy. Telling them what to do, and such. He was the fucking worst, at least to their point of view…. Actually, scratch that, he was the worst to everyone’s eyes. Even the Color Gang hates Alan (and somehow, they were the “chillest” out of them all). They were so used to Alan treating them like dirt at this point. Then all of the sudden he’s all kind now? What games is he playing?

Alan Becker is just an author, a really well-known author that created Animator vs Animation, originally a story he created as a teen then he tweaked it a little bit when he got older (his writing was atrocious, it clearly needed some work). But nevertheless, he was proud of his work, he even gained a fandom because of it. Met a lot of people too, and friends too! As a child, he always wanted friends on his own computer, always fantasizing how he would be with them and how fun it would be. So naturally he made a story, and that story became a sensation years later. He really should be thankful for his family and friends for giving him a push to actually publish it. After losing his interest in drawing (he clearly was not improving) he decided to just hone his writing skills better, after all a lot had said he was better at writing than drawing. And somehow, he’s glad he actually continued it. So, tell him, why the fuck did he suddenly wake up in his own story?!?! Not only that, but he also has no face?! Oh god he has no face (actually it was his fault for not really going in depth on how “Alan” looks like, now he suffered the consequence of losing his own face).

Now he's stuck as his own self insert character, forced to play a villain role, before deciding, fuck it and fed his characters kindness and love, because for the life of him he cannot act like an asshole; he feels too bad............ Naturally, he also knew how the story would end, and it won't end on a good note. So thankfully, acting kind will MOST PROBABLY change their ending... Hopefully, oh god out of all books he gets sucked into, it's his own book which probably has so many plot holes?! Someone please save him now!!!

· • —– ٠ 📜 ٠ —– • ·

Here is your well-deserved lore everyone! We finally got another Alan who isn't crazy, turned crazy, evil, a terrorist need I say more? - S

[cptn-m]

One Piece chapter 1138 review and mural analysis

I'm going to put it out there. This is the best One Piece chapter since the Reverie kicked off in mid-2018. The Emperors' bounties and Roger laughing in Wano came close, but this is the first thing to truly make me feel like I did back at that last big reveal. While I don't think that the post-arc lore dump of Wano and Vegapunk's broadcast are quite the failures some sections of the fanbase make them out to be, this is definitely puts in perspective the kind of blow-it-wide-open reveal the naysayers wanted them to be. But would this reveal really have been as big as it is without the little push of extra anticipation and context we got from waiting another couple of arcs?

We open by tying up some lingering questions about last week's big finale. Twins, not clones or anything crazy like that, and Shamrock is the elder. I'm curious about Shanks's return to Marie Geoise - would bet anything it happened right after the Roger Pirates disbanded, after learning about the One Piece. Seems a safe guess the scene where he asks a bunch of questions of Roger and cries about the answers was a precursor.

It's also really, really apparent now that Loki can see despite the blindfold. Sensing attacks coming is one thing, but picking out facial features is another entirely. A big point was made in Dressrosa of Issho not being able to know what Luffy's face looked like, and him being a literally blind admiral would probably be top of the list for Observation Haki, so there may be some kind of special trick to Loki's ability to see. And on the topic of Observation, Shamrock tells Gunko to extinguish her presence. We've long suspected there was a way to hide from powers of Observation, but I think is the first time anyone's actually talked about using it.

Happy to see another Devil Fruit-fused weapon show up as well. I was starting to think Oda had forgotten his SBS promise to get Vegapunk to explain that, but this makes it feel like it's still on the cards. Shamrock's Cerberus behaves a little differently from ones we've seen previously though: it's able to manifest the animal fully separate from the sword. Could this have to do with the wreath of black smoke that suggests an Awakening for the power? There's a lot about Zoan Awakenings that are still mysterious, given that Luffy's still acts more like a Paramecia. Still, I really enjoy the three heads flying around on spiked collar propellers; it's a very creative visual. Alongside Gunko's arrows, I'm feeling pretty good about this arc's fights.

Shamrock plans to take Elbaph's children hostage as he departs, and I think that's where we're getting our main plot for the arc. There's a random three panel scene of the Walrus School used as a scene transition later in the chapter, seemingly just to show the kids are apart from the adults and vulnerable. This would give Oda the chance to elaborate on the ideas of the new generation being "soft" that he's been building up, and to give Collun his hero moment. And on the topic of kids, I think we get a little more on the reason the next generation is being raised peaceful and where Oda wants to take that toward the end of the chapter. Ripley says the image of racial cooperation in the mural seems like a "child's dream." Kids may be chaotic and raise hell at the best of times, but there is an optimism in them, and an ability to dream of the impossible in a way adults can't. Elbaph is nurturing their kids' ability to hope and giving them the tools to make social ties with outsiders so that the plainly childlike dream of a world that works together can be realised. And there's no way that's going to end up being a bad thing.

It's nice that Luffy kinda knows who Belle-mere is now, similar to his deference to Saul. He's not the type to ask about tragic backstories, and we know he struggles to listen to a long-winded tale, but once he's heard about someone important to someone important to him, he's not going to forget it.

And man, the mysterious hat guy is on his way up too so we can have another bombshell reveal next week. I've been waiting for this guy since the cover story. It's nice attention to detail that he talks up the slope beside the main path - of course the giants' stairs wouldn't really work for anyone human-sized.

The rest of the chapter builds into the text of the Harley and the reveal of the Harley and its accompanying mural. And man, this is huge. It looks like everything we've been waiting to find out put on display at once, but in a vague enough form that we can't be totally sure of what part of it is which big, exciting thing. I can't wait to spend years looking back at these last two pages as the details finally unravel. it's crazy. And it gives me arcs I want to reread over the coming weeks to look for clues in the details. Anything with giants - Little Garden and Ennies Lobby, maybe Thriller Bark for Oars - and all the ancient mythology of Skypiea seem like good starting points.

The Harley text presents three worlds separated by apocalyptic events, none of which truly end the world, but instead reorder and remake it, much like the Norse Ragnarok. It provides a prophecy - the end of the Third World in which the characters now live - as well as two pasts. A version of the Void Century was always a given, but another set of mythologies for a world before the Void Century. I really didn't think we'd get much of that in the story - vague hints of how utopian things were before the World Government overthrew the Ancient Kingdom, sure, but not a whole detailed end of the world story for them. It's not clear either how long before the events we know of this is all meant to have taken place as well. The Second World could just be the Void Century, with the First covering everything before it. Or it could be further and further into the past.

I'm taking the mural to depict just the first and second worlds. Some will say the right side is the future final battle of the series - and while I think there will be some parallels to it, we won't see it fully recreated. It's primarily an image of the past.

The First World, represented by the right side of the mural, seems to have been some kind of dystopia. There are slaves praying for salvation, forbidden from reaching for the sun (sound familiar?), but enslaved by who? The Earth God and the Hellfire Serpent? Other humans, such as the king figure in the mural? The images seem to depict the people of this era descending into the earth via an enormous elevator and returning with a glowing energy source. There are complicated mechanisms underground and very modern cities above. My read would that be people were enslaved to mine a power source compared to the sun from the core of the earth - and led by the arisen (or created) god Nika, they took control of this power source for themselves in a massive uprising. While the Earth God and the Serpent are said to wreak destruction across the world, I think the former slaves ultimately won this conflict, even if it was a pyrrhic victory. The serpent, whether literal or metaphorical, lies dead as the Red Line (possibly called the Red Wall at the time) dividing the world so they "will never meet."

The use of the Forbidden Sun is curious too. We see a chain of slaves lugging pieces of it from the lift over to a boat going into the city, but the dark section that the ark rides on seems to be spreading outward from a piece of it that's been let go by its slave. Is the sun making the ocean down there, as well as powering the city? A couple more sit below, with the people lining up to descend into the earth, possibly to power the lift and provide light. Maybe there were multiple uses, or multiple parties exploiting humans to mine the Sun before the uprising.

The big unknowns to me in the First World are mostly on its rightmost side. We have the ark Noah, seemingly being used for the same biblical purpose as its namesake, even guided by an angelic (Lunarian?) figure. Perhaps even in the First World, there was knowledge of the rising sea levels that are spelling doom in the Second and Third Worlds, or at least knowledge of the means to do so. I wonder if part of the motive for raising the seas was to fill in the mines of the Forbidden Sun so no more of it could be acquired by anyone. There's a king with two oars. And there's a craft not unlike Enel's Maxim, but also not unlike the impression we have so far of Uranus, throwing down a bolt of lightning. The dragonlike creature breathing fire at the Serpent also doesn't seem to be represented by the text. Did the humans offer the Sun to a literal Celestial Dragon in exchange for its power to face the Serpent? And what's with the other celestial bodies behind the moon, mostly obscured by the text boxes? Could my old pet theory that the world of One Piece used to have multiple moons finally be paying off?

The right hand side of the mural then depicts the climactic battle of the Void Century, in which an alliance of twenty kingdoms claimed victory and rearranged the world with themselves on top. The text talks about "breath in the void," which makes me think the Second World was a very empty place at its start. The Celestial Dragon that fought the Serpent departed, but left a powerful impression. And to fit with what we already know of this era, the humans remaining used the Forbidden Sun they now have control over to build the futuristic society Vegapunk researched. But for whatever reason, be it envy of the Ancient Kingdom doing this, or power lust, or a hope to recall the original Celestial Dragon by worshiping its image, or being a slaveowner from the First World who wanted to turn things back to how they were, Imu rallied twenty kingdoms to oppose the Ancient Kingdom and killed that First World Forbidden Sun they were still using, rendering all the technology it powered inert.

A Forest God taming demons might speak to the advent of Devil Fruits in this era. The talk of the Sea God's storms gives us an interesting point to compare with the other gods though. Consider: we know the Second World drowned in a massive sea level rise, leaving only mountains uncovered. That sounds pretty good for the wrath of a Sea God. But we also already know what caused the sea levels to rise, and it's technology from the Ancient Kingdom. A machine only named for a god. Do we then take the First World's Earth God as a terraforming machine rather than a literal entity that summoned a big, living snake? The Forest God may be simply an attempt to explain Devil Fruits, just as many real world ancient gods were made to put a face to natural phenomena.

Most of this image is a battle. A multinational group tries to stop a figure who brings to mind Imu's monster silhouette in the throne room and a group of guys in spacesuits. Joyboy leads, and his alliance includes giants, minks, fishmen, sea kings, ancient giants, tontatta and Lunarians. There's a second minklike figure in white, which has me thinking Sulongs may once have been a separate species who've passed all their traits to regular minks via interbreeding. The whale is a real mystery, but recalls Laboon, the culturally significant Whale Tree on Zou and the scarred up gam of whales the crew saw on the way to Punk Hazard. Whales that were oddly receptive to Brook's song. Hmmmm. There are also two identifiable nations in Joyboy's group - Alabasta and Wano. Alabasta is a strange one, given that it will end up a World Government nation. Maybe Lily was caught between two worlds, extorted in some way by Imu. If she was forced to betray Joyboy, it may have been the reason his alliance failed; but even so she ensures a way for his will to be inherited making her "great mistake" and scattering the Poneglyphs and preventing Imu from claiming a total victory.

Once again, we have the line that they will never meet. The first thought for this one is the Grand Line, building on the Red Line of the previous era. But it's worth considering what Vegapunk pointed out in his speech - the ocean alone serves this purpose. Most people never meet cultures outside their own because travel is so difficult and dangerous.

And the Third World passage is honestly pretty straightforward. The new era has made an empty space in the chaos of history. People of the D - increasingly likely to be an image of a half moon - lurk in wait and the remnants of the people who fought with Joyboy anticipate the dawn. This ultimate Forbidden Sun power that was valuable enough to enslave people to mine it in the First World and powerful enough to create futuristic tech in the Second World will be rediscovered. The restrictions of the Red Line and the Grand Line over the world will be ended, and people will meet and mix cultures and assimilate again.

One of the cool things across the whole text is that is answers the question from a couple of chapters ago about the three versions of Nika. We actually have a liberator, a warfighter and a dancing, laughing man across the eras. All are true!

That's about as far as I can go in interpreting and analysis this behemoth of a reveal without going some rereads. It's so dense with info and we clearly don't have the full story yet. There's so much that has to tie in - the city Enel found on the moon, the reason the Celestial Dragons are so obsessed with genetically engineering giants (we can make so safe guesses about why they love dragons so much now), sky islander peoples, the longarm/longleg/snakeneck/three-eye tribes, whatever the heck Blackbeard has going on and so much more. We're gonna be going back to this for years, and in the spirit of its in-universe presentation, I doubt we'll be able to agree on the best possible translation for the Harley text until the end of the series, where the things it references are all revealed.

Elbaph has been on a crazy run of hits so far: Robin and Saul's reunion, the Shamrock reveal, and now this. Emotional payoffs, confirmed theories and building the bigger mysteries. We know this is an arc Oda's been waiting to do for a looooooong time and it feels like he's going all out to make it worthwhile. Can't wait to see what's in store for next week.

[dyrewrites]

Happy STS! What piece(s) of media inspired your WIP the most? Your world? Your characters? Your narrative style? If there isn't any particular inspo, what media are you into rn in general?

Oh my, thank you!

Weald and Wen takes inspiration from my own dreams, mostly, but I cannot deny the influence 80s and 90s dark fantasy films had on it.

Labyrinth, Legend and The Dark Crystal particularly.

For all of it, in fact. I love the darker tones that can still be playful, and worlds that feel so rich and alive even if they're not fully explored.

It's all a delightful fit for the whole world of Mar I have smacking around in my skull.

And here is where I yammer...

Labyrinth has Mister manic fae King giggling while setting traps for the teenager he charmed into his ridiculously convoluted maze. Hoggle's here playing the role of 'friendly stranger' while lamenting his true role as pawn of the King. There's crazy dancing puppets taking off body parts. Suggestions of torture, of death, or worse for those who don't make it out. Friendly monsters! It's got it all and I love it.

Legend has some fascinating hints of lore never explained that titillate despite the plot being...thin. It's thin, and confusing if you've only seen the theatrical release. But it's charmingly depraved in parts and I love it for that. Never mind the aesthetic. You have a world of literal glitter (I'm sure they're still finding it places) paired with the deliciously gothic lair of the Lord of Darkness. Also there is Oona. Everyone love her. She is precious.

The Dark Crystal is this beautifully tragic world of things no one's ever seen before, entirely original creatures. There's not a human in sight. The world is agony, there's a rich background of history there but you're not getting all of it. No, you get these two idiots who are the last of their kind and you're going to watch them fail a lot on their way to save a world that doesn't seem to care about existing anymore. While a bunch of big dumb lizard things cackle at all the horrible things they've done and revel in their greed and gluttony. (Chamberlain I love you, never change)

They're dark, they're messed up, but they're also hopeful and funny and I think that's just my thing. I love it.

Also, puppets. All of these films have puppets and heavy use of creative practical effects.

It is why I'll tell people that Weald and Wen, or any of the series to come, could not be adapted to film unless you got Brian Froud involved. It needs creatures and practical effects and his particular style lives in my noggin. I think he could do it, probably better than me.

[12th-shavie]

AI : The Somnium Files playthrough restrospective

I recently played the game to completion (barring a couple entries in the album but I'll probably do that at some point to see that sweet sweet concept art) and it's been an amazing experience ! I'd recommend it to any mystery visual novel enjoyer, especially those familiar with zero escape (there's even a small nod to it). Without further ado I'll go through my experience playing the game, the theorizing along the way and my thoughts and feelings on its story, characters, gameplay and all that jazz !

Spoilers and thoughts on the entire game below the cut (do yourself a favor and play it first if you like solving mysteries), written with the assumption that there is no need to introduce characters or plot elements.

Part I : Flowchart exploration and theorizing

I went into the game knowing barely anything about it or the plot, besides the fact it was mystery and written by the guy behind zero escape.

I followed my instinct on what was a more compelling choice most of the time, and only revisited the branching somniums later to try the other choice aside from one instance : in the first psync with Mizuki, I immediately used a retry the moment Date associated the balloons with a painful memory for Mizuki (I was already feeling bad for her, and was already determined to try to do the best I could for her).

That first route turned out to immediately be very brutal to Mizuki, with her father's corpse being found next. Unfortunate. The next psync with "Iris" was really puzzling, especially with how I ended up on the Annihilation route with all the murder scenes from the Cyclops Serial Killings in "her" somnium. I suspected her of being a witness to the murders and somehow having repressed the memories but really didn't know what my stance was on Date's face being shown as the murderer's. The most logical theory was that Date was the killer and Boss was doing all the hiding to make sure he wouldn't remember that and go crazy again, but that felt too easy of a conclusion to be true.

Things kept taking a turn for the worse with Date getting tricked and the murder of "Iris" and Ota in the warehouse, more investigation, lore dropped by Pewter about the original Cyclops killers and everyone being depressed until #89 shows up and hands out "his" full backstory and a cool somnium that's (interestingly) the same as Date's dream. Not to mention that #89 looks almost identical to the guy at the end of that dream and it's all very mysterious, until the climax where "Rohan" shows up and shoots, revealing the circumstances of Hitomi's arm wound.

And then "Boss" murders "So Sejima" on camera and the story route is locked. That was pretty shocking to say the least, but it only fueled my theories even more ! I started to suspect Boss of hiding something along the lines being in cahoots with the Cyclops killer and being willing to get her hands dirty to keep it hidden from the public (and Date to an extent).

And back to the "Iris" somnium I went, only to discover that it was a lot more chill in the other route, even if the child's drawings felt a little creepy and allegorical of the murders (I was still on the Iris witness theory) and then what was previously the blue silhouette of a murderer became someone who kissed So Sejima. That guy again, huh (although he was still alive in this timeline).

Unsurprisingly, Date got tricked again, but without the taser so it was nice to have a better view of the events this time around. And with a better timing, neither "Iris" nor Ota died and I got to learn about Mayumi's dementia, some Hitomi lore, and just how truly powerful Mizuki is (she's just built different I love her). Ota's somnium was pretty funky with the comic book aesthetic, and my pick of the green shelf over the red one came down to the flow of things and the camera angle.

Date gets a little greedy with the 6-minute limit in this one, but the reason for the limit itself still isn't explained, and Date promptly passes out. Then I got some quality time investigating with Mizuki ! That was pretty enlightening, with a lot of background to her situation with Date as her guardian, how terrible parents Renju and especially Shoko are, a cute moment at the shrine (which even is relevant later !), a funny optional ending, but most importantly the final key on the investigation to pinpoint "So Sejima" as the polar bear. Turns out HQ and Boss have ties to the congressman (all the more interesting considering "her" actions in the previous timeline) and Date makes the wise choice not to leave Mizuki behind after she's held hostage once already. Very Dadte of him (plus, she deserves to kick some butt, as a treat).

They even get a cool fight scene against a bunch of bodyguards in which Aiba yet again exploits Date's enhanced reflexes (at this point this characteristic was becoming a little suspicious but I didn't focus on it) until Mizuki is in trouble. Again (but it's alright she can be a little reckless, she does have a lot of avenging to do for a 12 year-old). Date is shot in the AI-ball, Sejima says that Date was killed by his own father (which had me in shambles because what do you mean these two are related ? Huh, Sejima ?). Thankfully Date manges to shoot him and that's curtain for Sejima. But also for Date as he passes out, fairly understandably exhausted by that point. In the hospital, there are even more touching moments with Mizuki opening up to comatose Date before psyncing with him to wake him up. Boss' true name is a nice addition (although I was still suspicious of her true intentions, but with So dead she wasn't constrained by those ties anymore).

The psync that follows, within Date's somnium, is far too cute and touching for me to do it justice. It's a glimpse at the familial bond that has grown between Mizuki and Date over the last 4 years, and some of the story events in this branch, like the wish Date made at the shrine for Mizuki to grow up healthy and happy (my eyes were not dry) and ultimately Mizuki's realization that she and Date are family now as she gets him to finally wake up. The short epilogue at the shrine also tugged at my heartstrings a bit. Overall a very poignant ending and I was very satisfied with this one as my first real ending after the previous' locked cliffhanger. At that point, my main theory on Date was that his medication was used to influence or even manipulate his behaviour and that he either was or was closely linked to So Sejima's son, who I assumed to likely be the (past?) Date from the "Iris" murder somnium.

So I went back to Ota's somnium to see how differently things would go on that timeline after going for the red shelf and it wasn't too different at that point, aside of the emphasis on the floral knife and the chocolate in the warehouse making its debut, as well as Mayumi's confession, which opened the door to the "Mayumi wanted to kill the witch" theory, but I didn't even consider it, Mayumi wouldn't ever stab Ota, even under those circumstances. And those who willingly confess are rarely truthful in their guilt. With So Sejima being found dead again, there was still too much information missing on that front.

Mayumi's somnium was (ironically) memorable, with its unique warmth, floating flower, and tragic tone. It made me really appreciate Mayumi's character and Ota's growth in this route, although the lack of many actual clues beyond the series of event preceding the warehouse murder (which was mostly for the locked timeline where it came true), Iris being very suspicious with the floral knife, and I guess Shoko's missing eyeball in Renju's stomach. It was an ending that left me with a warm heart and determination to solve the events of the warehouse (and find out what the hell was going on with eyeballs).

In order to do that, I went back to Mizuki's somnium and went through the painful memory of her mom's abuse and the frozen corpse of "Iris" being there for some reason. I had my suspicions on Iris for a while and was content to see that she was getting some focus (and thus more information to solve the mysteries about her and "her" really creepy somnium from the other timeline. After a nice section with Mizuki and Hitomi helping her, the investigation goes into Renju's disappearance as well, whom I was fully expecting to show up as a corpse at that point, given his quick demise in the other timeline. Aiba and Date setting a password for her self-destruct command felt very ominous and I couldn't help but wonder what kind of lie would eventually trigger it (because I'd be surprised if it didn't end up happening). The inclusion of So Sejima's part in the first murder and the frozen "Iris" at the warehouse were interesting segments, considering how much of the mystery kept turning around Sejima somehow.

Finally getting to see what So had in mind was interesting to say the least (and good misdirection, looking back on it), and even more so when it becomes clear that Iris is in fact very much alive. After that there is a good amount of investigation on #89, Renju, and even some more Hitomi lore, until #89 is interrogated and escapes with Renju somehow. Then it's the Iris show and she goes a little nuts with conspiracies.

But after a ShovelForge somnium that made me feel like Date was also going bonkers, he decided to believe her delusions (I was not buying one bit). Then came round 2 of the Iris show until the revelation that Pewter of all people has betrayed Date for Renju and is the lover mentioned with the watch story (very nicely foreshadowed in the early game with some BL in the shelves). He kidnaps Iris, the funny squad is assembled in order to rescue her and after that is done, more Iris lore on her Uncle (identified at Falco and #89 at this point), and a bit of flashback that isn't new (it was shown briefly when Iris revealed her name to Date) but shows that Date shares some of the Uncle's memories somehow. And then they go to the abandoned chemical plant and the prototype psync machine is there ! How convenient that this obviously very important machine was in reach of the characters at any point in time, provided they know about it, surely that won't open up the door to way too many theories later (this is foreshadowing). And also Iris' brain fails her. Welp.

More ShovelForge somnium it is, at least for a bit. Aiba's blocky look was as cute as ever but Iris didn't make it (bummer). The amount of focus on the manual to the psync machine and Iris' bleeding left eye as she passed away were very important clues that I regrettably did not give too much thought to. Date being so very affected by her death also felt very important and I did pick up on it.

Time go back to ShovelForge Somnium the First™ and after a little struggle on how to change the course of that particular psync (I ended up glancing at a guide for a lead), Date is finally reasonable about Iris' delusions. Turns out she had a malignant brain tumor all along (that explains a lot) and also she just ran away with someone she trusts (with all these context clues, the most likely candidate to me is the conveniently escaped #89 who's the spitting image of her Uncle, but Renju makes more sense in this context I suppose), only for "her" frozen corpse to show up again in the warehouse's forklift. And with Aiba around, it confirms that this corpse is very real and Date going nuts. After realizing that the body couldn't, in fact, be Iris', and a very nice zero escape reference, Mizuki is the one to reveal the truth about the body being Manaka Iwai's and Renju's heavy involvement with the warehouse and its management (Mizuki I am so sorry that you keep seeing dead bodies I want you to be happy). Up next is interrogating Hitomi, and boy was I glad that I'd finally get some answers from her, she was clearly hiding something huge in my opinion. But she refused to speak so psync time- wait no time for the single most crucial piece of information in this ENTIRE mystery. So the psync time limit, which has been repeated time and time again is not simply a precaution to maintain the psyncer's consciousness, it's the time limit before the minds swap, effectively switching bodies. I immediately applied that knowledge to a new theory : the Date/#89 switcheroo theory, which explained Date's strange dream in Hitomi's apartment, and I started considering the possibility of more switcheroos.

Hitomi's dark forest somnium is a welcome change of atmosphere after the ShovelForge Somnium experience™. After dealing with it, Hitomi revealed the truth behind Manaka's disappearance and Iris' parentage, making her Saito Sejima's half-sibling (Date's body's owner 6 years ago, according to my theory !), Rohan Kumakura's involvement in the disposal of the body (explaining the missing right eye), and how the body found its way to the frozen forklift, but also Hitomi's desire for revenge, it fading away in favor of Iris until the brain tumor was found, the blackmailing involving Manaka's body in the warehouse ! It all made so much more sense now ! I could see it clear as day, Saito Sejima was 12 18 years ago and Date('s body) was stated to be precisely 30 ! It was a perfect match to my theory ! One Pewter betrayal and Aiba intervention later, it was time to confront what awaited at the chemical plant : the prototype psync machine, Renju's remains, and #89 with a taser he immediately puts to good use, locking this portion of the story.

Time to finally see the first locked route through, and this nothing would prevent me from uncovering whatever "Boss" was hiding ! I suspected it to be a particular mind switcheroo or something along those lines. After exploding a bag of flour at Sagan residence, Date finally got a hold of "Boss" and enlisted Pewter's help to psync with "her".

After a banger of a somnium with a very 999 feel to it, the truth about the crazy murders is far beyond my estimations : it wasn't just one or two, but an entire chain of body-swapped murderers all under the plot of a single mind, that of Saito Sejima. As I suspected, Date was indeed in Saito's body at present, and the meds he administrated were to compensate for Saito's oxytocin problem, and this body was the very reason behind Saito's display of his victims, as an attack against Date specifically, the one who was occupying the body Saito craved to go back to to once again enjoy murder to the fullest ! With Hitomi taken hostage, Date complies in switching bodies with Saito in exchange for her location... that doesn't well, with Saito Sejima back as himself, Date in Boss' injured body, and the bomb detonating regardless of the deal. Aiba saves the (admittedly very bleak) day with well-timed shock, and here ends this timeline. So far the most gripping string of reveals, exhilarated by the confirmation of multiple theories I'd been formulating with conviction and making it terribly satisfying for me to know I had a hold of the truth !

But there is still a final conclusion to reach in the timeline I had to leave just before this moment. #89, who is none other than Saito in Falco's body at this point in time, takes all his time explaining his actions throughout this timeline just to make Date mad (and I have to respect his commitment to being a spiteful yet entertaining shitty little man). Another funny part of this is the way Date starts remembering things from the other timelines and questions how and why he knows it, that was just so zero escape of him (I was expecting something like that from the moment the timelines branched). Saito goes on and on about the way he went about his business, using Renju's money and connections until his body was on the brink of death, exploiting Iris' trust in Falco, and even how he killed Manaka 18 years ago to feel the happiness his brain produced as a response to murder. He then goes for the psync, doing his left classic eyeball-ripping without a hint of hesitation, and that just really shows his character.

The final psync being all reversed is very cool, and it shows the events of 6 years ago, first when Falco and Rohan swapped, and then the swap between Falco in Rohan's body and Saito. Most of the psync UI is cryptic and concealed (since Date is the subject and not the psyncer) until the final swap is finally over. After waking up sedated to a taunting Saito who wants to kill Iris and Hitomi in front of him, Date gets the complete flashback of the important moments of Hayato Yagyu aka Falco 6 years ago. Meeting Hitomi, wanting to share their lives, trying to quit his deal wit the Kumakuras, asking Boss for help, swapping with Rohan, chasing him to Hitomi's residence, the shooting, meeting up with Saito, getting dragged to the prototype psync machine, swapping with Saito and losing his memories, running away from the chemical plant, encountering Boss and finally becoming Kaname Date of ABIS, joined by Aiba a year later.

The final stretch against Saito begins with a last bit of exposition on the events of 6 years ago on Saito and Rohan's sides, before Saito pulling out Date's gun and Moma intervening to rescue him, lending him a gun. The fended-off Saito is then found holding Iris at gunpoint and rambling about fireworks and murder, but Mizuki with a pipe comes to the rescue and Date follows up when Mizuki is shot in the leg, knocking Saito away. Ota (who is also here) unties Iris and the youngster trio, up to speed about the body-swapping thanks to Aiba (and Saito in Iris' case), looks for Hitomi with Date. She's found, unfortunately with Saito threatening her life once again this time with a countdown for Date to throw his gun. Ota pulls out his phone with Aiba, who is not only stuck in Saito's eye socket physically but also in data (Pewter's latest betrayal included deleting her data from the cloud) and finally puts her self-destructing function on the table as the last resort. I had been waiting for that moment at increasing levels of worry as the story advanced ever since the password was set, so it didn't catch me off-guard, but it was nonetheless a very emotional scene when the countdown ended, Date threw his gun, and Saito immediately declared that he was a fool for doing that and that he would kill all of them, Date told a heart-wrenching lie to Aiba (I'd be lying if I said my eyes were dry) and she exploded Saito's head entirely, putting an end to his murderous intents once and for all.

And just like that, it's all over. Many lives are saved, but inevitable sacrifices were made to get here, to this best possible ending. The epilogue wraps things up nicely, showcasing everyone by the time Iris was out of the hospital, with Date remembering a couple of things from other timeline splits, Iris hoping for Date and Hitomi to get together, Boss and Pewter (temporarily out of prison) knocking Date out and using the psync machine on him as a treat, Kagami making an appearance (good for him), So Sejima still not being in prison, Iris trying to set up Hitomi and Date, Mizuki (now Mizuki Date, the adoption now being official) being mad at Date over the most trivial things, Ota being a little more responsible, Mayumi doing well, Moma being a foolish A-Set fan, Mama refusing to know too much about the truth (smart and respectable move), and finally Aiba making her grand comeback thanks to the Wadjet system and being reunited with Date before a grand dance number with the entire cast.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the order in which I explored the story ! It had a good balance between nebulous mysteries and clues with which to solve them, the strongest emotional moments to me were spread apart a good amount (enough to hook me in, leave me some time to get attached and only then remind me that I'm not immune to tear-jerking), and I had plenty of opportunities to theorize before new information came to wreck my thoughts !

I guess the most influence different routing could've had would be what characters I trusted more (for example Pewter's actions felt more like a betrayal after a full timeline of nothing suspicious on his part) and how much I valued some information (such as everything surrounding So Sejima being doubly suspicious after the "killed by your own father" moment, or Saito's somnium when disguised as Iris showing "Date" as a killer).

[madscarypod]

Episode 1 Recap: The Color Under the Shadow of Space

Welcome back! It's our first official episode. 

If you listened to our intro episode and/or read the blog you know that we’re officially kicking off our research with AI-generated recommendation Under the Shadow (2016). After we wrapped recording, I decided to throw my pick The Color Out of Space (2020) for a solid - something comes into my house and ruins the vibes - double bill.   Hey look! It's us.

Before we get into that, we start off by chatting about our fancy photo shoot with photographer of Terrifier 2 fame and friend of the pod, Jeff Harris Studios. Thank you, Jeff! Dropped a few favorites below. Spooky stuff. 

We’re super excited to have him on in a few episodes to discuss shooting on horror film sets and some of his favorite scary movie tropes.  Cannibal stuff is mad scary and mad gross, yo. I insist on digging in on Armie Hammer’s disturbing proclivities. After a viewing of House of Hammer, I’m left speechless on what I’ve seen & heard but excited to share my vengeance-filled lucid dreams. Also richies probably eat people all the time, right?

Rina then shares an update on OpenAI’s legal hot water. ChatGPT be hallucinating too much and OpenAI is going to need to evaluate their loosey goosey legal language. Finally, we share shark attack stories since Jaws was back in theaters 4th of July weekend. Also, are there lake sharks? I don’t want to know. 

We then dig into Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow (2016) but Rina is unfortunately reminded of another Babak Anvari movie, Wounds (2019). She did not care for it. Guess who’s in it? Armie Hammer. Womp, womp. He was definitely part of the problem but Rina's not keen on the execution overall.

Anywho, we do a pretty solid recap of the movie - it’s 1988, Tehran and we’re introduced to a family navigating life during a war as well as mysterious and supernatural happenings in their home. Rina does a great job laying out the lore of the Djinn and chat some of the tropes - creepy little kids, Moms being suss, and real-life terror juxtaposed with supernatural terror. We discuss some of the creative choices that really stood out to us; like the fact there was little to no music and the washed out, bright overexposed photograph look of the movie. We talk about our favorite scenes - a solid jump scare, a creepy foot through a ceiling crack, and an open-ended non-ending. All in all a fantastic movie. Mad Scary not Mad Corns. Significantly better than Wounds. This was definitely Babak’s story to tell. 

We keep it going and chat through Richard Stanley’s  The Color Out of Space (2019) based on the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name. Jesus Christ. This movie. We talk high-level about the plot. You have five to ten minutes of exposition and an introduction to the Gardner family - they live in the country, they have llamas which may or may not be a poor investment, the daughter is a Wiccan, her brother is into smoking weed and space stuff, their little brother wears glasses and has a lisp.

Things immediately start going crazy after a meteorite crashes onto the Gardner’s land. The level and pace in which this movie escalates can only be likened to a freight train speeding into a fever dream. It’s also mad gross. This is Richard Stanley’s second mainstream movie. His first was the ill-fated Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). It was so bad they made a documentary about it. Anywho, this man clearly likes gooey gross because he leans in hard. The body horror and gore is off the chain. My man also has an unsavory past with women - can we separate the art from the artist? I'm having a time with it.

Wait!? Did I mention Nick Cage plays Papa Gardner? I didn’t!? My bad. Um, Nicholas Cage plays the dad in this movie and I just love him for it. If I ever get to meet him, I need to ask him about some of his choices -  all inspired but I just want to know why he made them cuz we got theories. Mr. Cage, what's up with that voice? Nick Cage's performance, the saturated colors, and the narrative device make this movie a must watch. Mad Scary approved.  

We’ve collected some tropes from both movies. While Rina felt they weren’t super similar, I think the tropes speak volumes. Horror movies that take place in the home feel the scariest because our homes are where we are meant to feel safe, comfortable, and the most ourselves. The idea of something coming into that safe space and terrorizing you, and you have nowhere to go to escape it, is mad scary. 

Common Horror Movie / Scary Tropes & Devices

Here are the interviews that I promised:   Babak Anvari Interview Richard Stanley Interview

For Episode 2, we decided on Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2015), a movie we were planning to watch together pre-podcast. It’s one of Rina’s favorites and feels very fitting in terms of our AI co-collaborator. Finally, we asked Chat GPT to recommend a good companion film for Ex Machina. Here’s how it went: 

In classic ChatGPT form, it beefed the request and recommended an episode of Black Mirror. No. That’s not a movie. We try again:  

Ok! We’ll be watching Ex Machina & The Machine next episode. We’ll also start to talk about our writing process and make some plans/next steps around writing our script. I’ll also try to limit the amount of times I say the word fascinating. See you in a few weeks!

[bawbio]

My Movie/Show thread

So after a bit of deliberation i've decided that i'll be making a separate thread for movies/shows since my main media thread was for games only. Now i already have my anilist and letterboxd already however i think i'll use tumblr here to talk about some of the stuff that doesn't fit quite in on either platform such as ratboy genius. The rating system will be the same as my media thread so go check my pinned for the rating categories.

Finally i'll be using the tag #beeb's movie/show thread for this thread so use it for your own searching convenience.

Anyways without further ado here's the first entry to this thread:

Oh my god ratboy genius is fucking insane, like i think the best way to describe this is surreal as hell. The whole show does actively reference earlier uploads sometimes which like ratboy fucking genius having continuity between its episodes and series is genuinely flooring and something i literally never could have expected going in. Imo the show is kinda boring early on and mainly hangs on through its shockingly amazing music, the man behind ratboy genius is actually a really skilled musician/composer from what i know cause like a good chunk of ratboy genius is a musical which despite the text to speech voices has shockingly good sounding songs. Once you finally get to ratboy genius dreams minecraft the show really starts picking up and you get introduced to the incredible little king john, the story's antagonist, who's an absolute blast to see on screen. And then after ratboy genius dreams minecraft we enter little king john "the flood" and starship genius where the plot goes from 0 to 11 like i don't have words to describe how much insane lore shit comes from those two intertwined series. So my final thoughts on if you should watch ratboy genius are... Maybe - Ratboy genius probably isn't for everyone but like if you can handle truly bizarre low quality animation and weird text to speech voices then like i'd honestly say give the series a shot i got legitimately invested during the flood and starship genius like it's fucking crazy

[thesechaoticpancakes]

I had a dream that...

Y'all aren't going to believe the dream I had last night. For some context, it was set in the world of Tears of the Kingdom, so it felt like I was living in that world, but also Miles Morales from Into the Spiderverse was there.

It started off pretty tame. I was going about Hyrule killing monsters with my bow just like Link. At one point I had to help a guy (I knew him in the dream, but I couldn't tell you what his name was) who was getting surrounded by chuchus and bokoblins. I stood on a cliff overlooking the area and sniped all the fire chuchus first then anything that got near him. He was very thankful lol.

Then there was another scene where me and this guy were sleeping, my mom was also there for some reason. The issue with sleeping was that there were a bunch of spider-monsters attacking us and there were time bombs everywhere. So I did the logical thing and pulled out a flameblade and slashed and hacked then quickly backed away before the bombs went off. We did this until all the spiders were dead and we could actually sleep.

This next part is wild and I can't for the life of me remember how we got into this situation. But we were in some type of clearing. There were tall trees all around us, kinda boxing us into this clearing. And there was also a dragon. Yes, like the Breath of the Wild dragons. And it was being controlled by a young woman that stood on it's shoulder. And the dragon spun spider webs that trapped anyone that got near. My mother gets trapped in said webs while the young woman soliloquy's about how she's too powerful and we can't even hope to beat her, we're all gonna die, blah blah blah.

So the obvious solution to this problem is to sing. There was a song that my mother thought would tame the beast, but it didn't work. So I took up the song, but changed the tempo and melody a little and it worked. The dragon shrunk and laid down at my feet, tummy up in submission, and the young woman was thwarted and disappeared. (In hindsight she was probably Yiga). The dragon was now bound to me and would do whatever I commanded. So obviously I should use the dragon to defeat any foe in my path. but unfortunately my subconscious doesn't believe in continuity and I never saw that dragon again.

If you know anything about Breath of the Wild lore, you know there are three dragons. It was our mission (apparently) to tame all three somehow. So we went to go tame the second dragon and were woefully unprepared. (If only I had a dragon to fight with.) This dragon was controlled by a small boy who was altogether too crazy. Things got bad. Then I hear "What's up danger?" and look up to see something truly crazy.

Miles Morales with the third dragon (specifically called the Face Dragon for some reason), but Miles was floating in the air and also floating around him in a circle were a bunch of other spiderpeople. I took this all in and heard "What's up danger?" once more before he landed on the ground and was like "Hey mom what's up?" (Idk who his mother was supposed to be since both me and my mother are white irl, but it's whatever). He decimates the little boy and the dragon and the day is saved. Then we tell him we found more pieces of the Face Dragon(????) and he's like Oh sweet hand them over, and he puts them on like jewelry(idk dude they were small pieces I guess).

That was the pretty much the plot (if you could call it a plot) of my dream, but I do remember one other part where I was trying to get to a tower but it was absolutely INFESTED with monsters. I had to climb the outside of it because there were too many surrounding it on the ground. Once I made it to the top and dropped inside There Were More Monsters. I had to kill all of them before I could activate the tower and I was PISSED cause the towers are supposed to be SAFE like What The Fuck.

TL;DR: Miles Morales tamed a Breath of the Wild dragon and wore pieces of it as jewelry and was also related to two white women somehow.

I'm gonna draw some of the scenes and add them later so y'all have a visual.

[meandmyechoes]

since there's no serial star wars until august and it's a series i'm not sure i can sit through i'm gonna turn this into sentai brainrot.

i like kingoh this much i've watched every episode at least three times and trying to piece together all the information. i love rita so much i'm planning kingoh FLT and dissecting their costume and sewn a plush and possibly will buy a toy during its run

now i'm just racing to finish kingoh brainrot before May 4 so I can concentrate on Visions vol 2. After Sixth debut I probably had to put things on hold for real to do school work. I hope.

it's plot-heavy and serial unlike your typical sentai but almost typically anime/shonen with a heavy fantasy setting and character designs. but do you need more reason than 'rita kanisuka' to watch it. and the tokusatsu action/direction is so good.

practically:

i started a toku sideblog @mofffun anyway so i will be free-r over there. kinda wanna post opinions here and gifs over there lol. maybe polished gifsets here and random gifs over there. my queue is low in the tens but i certainly have many SW stock. i won't remove that completely just, not actively going for it? i'd still do regular tag searches on top of what came on my dashboard, but i might not write/talk about SW for a while? i still have a couple books to read

it feels weird because i became an SW centric blog since I came back 3 years ago. Not to say I didn't have other stuff chimed in but it's been 95% SW running non stop for 3 years. It's weird to have a sudden shift that stays. It's even weirder when you think when i first started this blog in 2012, it's as multifandom as you can get with 5 regular ones. so fuck it. i care about followers and feel a duty to provide? like an editor to a magazine? but probably just overthinking it. i won't force anyone to continue following if they are not into what i'm putting out. it feels weird but i'm just gonna talk about kingohger as much as i want to now. maybe change the blog description in a bit so that i don't feel disconnected. it's MY blog.

Talking about fixating on kingoh. I love the thrill of collecting clues and unraveling its plot. I love thinking again. I love that it gave me a reachable goal to work towards. Though half the time i'm just shouting RITA KAWAII/KAKKOUI i don't really pay attention to what's being said. It's been saccahrine the past 48 hours and i'm exhausted and elated. they got me crawling my ass up sunday at 8 to watch nitiasa live again.

compared with star wars it's just, ₻₻₻ (<- scribble). Mando s3 was a letdown and nobody cares about tbb. i can't stand how hype ppl are for the ahserka series and it feels like a minefield getting to know others with that hanging. sometimes i had to listen to ill-informed forum bros dissing, and when i look at official stuff, i begin to question who's actually keeping the lore.

it's not all negative. i still haven't done a totj!togruta analysis (even though i don't really want to think about totj itself because all it is to me is episode 5). i'm still super excited about SWC2025. i still love ahsoka (yes holding that throne against rita). I know I will be blown away by Visions as well. But I've been letting that define and govern me for too long it's time to let somebody else have a chance.

I'm crazy scared i won't be able to finish work this time. i'd hate that. i'm working the courage to tell my fam i need some space but, every time i actually said that, it's no use anyway. because i'm special. i'm responsible. what i do will never be enough.

i also try not to think to much about the society or where i will be in five years. it's like, some of the things i ultimately want can't happen unless you give it a few years of effort but i don't dare to dream that far. eh

well good thing ko let me think all that. i like thinking. i like writing.

[pnf-lover98]

A “The Stanley Parable” (mini) playlist

Whenever I pick up a new fandom and I start making fanarts for it, I always like to build a sort of musical library of songs that I associate with that fandom or that I use as inspo to get the moods for the fanarts/fics I make. (If you follow me, you may have seen I already made some posts of this sort for other fandoms like Miraculous Ladybug and Good Omens).

In TSP’s case it was a bit more complex for me to find songs I could associate with the game’s canon plot because, well... This game’s storyline and plot can be everything and anything, and even nothing at all. Each ending can confirm or contradict the lore of the others. But having written a total of four fanfics so far, I did gather a few songs to put in a mini playlist I could share with you guys.

These are the ones I associate with the game as a whole, and I’m going to quote the parts that better express the vibes:

“Bones” (Imagine Dragons)

“My patience is waning, is this entertaining? My patience is waning, is this entertaining?

I-I-I got this feeling, yeah, you know, where I'm losing all control 'cause there's magic in my bones!”

[A.k.a. ‘don’t we all love to make Narry mad, every now and then?’] 

“This is Gospel” (Panic! At the Disco)

“This is Gospel for the fallen ones locked away in permanent slumber, assembling their philosophies from pieces of broken memories. [...]

 If you love me let me go! (x2) Cause these words are knives that often leave scars. The fear of falling apart. Truth be told, I never was yours. The fear, the fear of falling apart.”

“Mad Hatter” (Melanie Martinez)

“Over the bend, entirely bonkers, you like me best when I'm off my rocker. Tell you a secret: I'm not alarmed. So what if I'm crazy? The best people are.

You think I'm crazy, you think I'm gone. So what if I'm crazy? All the best people are. And I think you're crazy too, I know you're gone. It's probably the reason that we get along.”

Then, there are a couple of the songs I used while I was writing my fics. 

Some of you may remember “The Drought”, the first thing I wrote for this fandom, tied to the Skip Button Ending, in which I quoted a few lines from “Clean” by Taylor Swift:

“The dought was the very worst when the flowers that we’d grown together died of thirst.”

There is another song I’ve used as inspo for my stories, and that I rerlate to the way I envision Stanley and Narry’s relationship - specifically, the way our dear Narry would want to linger forever in the adventures he created in order not to feel lonely (as mentioned in the Figurines Ending)

“See you in my dreams” (We the Kings)

“I wanna close my eyes and sleep, run to the place we used to meet, cause I’d rather have you in my dreams than wake up without you.

I’d sleep forever if you’d leave, give up the world, so you would see that I’d rather have you in my dreams than wake up without you.”

The last lyrics I bring to you today are from a song I really like, and that I used as a general mood for my Zending-related fic. It’s a nostalgic kind of song, with slower rhythms that match the pacing of the fic. And there’s one line, “don’t waste your time/cause you’re not mine”, that inspired me in specific points of the fic.

“Unspoken” (Aaron Smith)

“Don't hold your breath like, I'm not scared. Like, I want you to trust me. Don't waste your time cause you're not mine. I wish that you could touch me”

[subwalls]

Tales from the SMP Presents: The Haunted Mansion

An ongoing exploration of how the Inbetween drives my Kingdom Hearts brain crazy with paranoia! Less of an analysis this time, because we got confirmation (VALIDATION!!), and more of speculation, but yeah!

First of all! I was right not to trust this fucker.

Just kidding, that’s not the first thing we’re gonna talk about here. First of all, a gentle recap!

As I’ve mentioned before, the Inbetween has some uncanny resemblance to the Kingdom Hearts world known as Castle Oblivion. Castle Oblivion is known for being the place where the main series protagonist lost all of his memories, and even had false memories implanted while he was getting deeper and deeper into it. 

You might be curious as to how the Kingdom Hearts protagonist escapes.

He doesn’t.

He needs outside help, and a lot of it, to get him out of that situation. Even then, it takes a whole year. He drove his own heart into the bottom of the abyss in his desperation to save someone he was tricked into thinking he knew, and he didn’t even regret it, because he was saving someone.

... A lot of people on Dream SMP have different ideas on what it means to save people.

Also, the castle also had a very plot-twisty secret where it used to be the lush and wonderful home of these three friends before they fell apart; one was lost to the Evil Dark Side™ (not real name), the other was trapped in the Realm of Darkness (real name), and the last one fell into a coma for TEN (10) YEARS and his body was left to be protected in the heart of the land, which was then locked and turned into Castle Oblivion.

So, pretty fucked up place! Not inherently evil, but the place of great misfortune and just... not very good for everyone there.

Let’s start at the beginning!

Welcome back indeed. Take notice of the wither rose in the pot, by the way, I’ll come back to this in a bit.

The first thing that stands out to me on this page is the smiley face, of course. It’s not the ever-iconic, ever-evil “:)”, but it’s similar enough that I think the callback is intentional. The smiley is c!Dream’s icon, of course, which... honestly makes me think that “:]” might be DreamXD, but that might be because I’m very very biased for the server god who simps for a dangerously apathetic cottagecore once-king.

Of course, it does also look kind of like Quackity’s face, and cc!Quackity has said something about big lore coming for him, but until further evidence is presented I’m disinclined to draw a connection there.

The Inbetween, as we’ve come to know the author of some of these books to be, being happy that Karl is continuing—it reminds me of the KH protagonist being told yes, good job, keep going, as he stumbles deeper and deeper into the castle that strips away memory after memory from his heart. Why does the Inbetween think that Karl’s time travel is important, his careful documentation of every story? Is it because the more he does it, the more he becomes attached? The more he becomes reliant on the Inbetween to feed the missing pieces of his memory?

Is it because the Inbetween, in parallel to c!Dream and c!Wilbur, prioritize the concept of story over the characters?

Things to think about. 🤔

Also kind of interesting that the Inbetween thinks Karl will eventually uncover “all [he] needs to”, which continues to make me think that the more c!Karl comes to the Inbetween the more he becomes... either dependent or over-trusting of it. Not sure. But weird things happen when it’s magic that tampers with memories, rather than trauma.

Basically, I’m getting “there is no war in Ba Sing Se” vibes.

The book continues to say that Karl probably has a lot of questions and that it would love to answer :] but never actually does. It’s trying to come off as helpful without actually being helpful. All it does is tempt him with the prospect of answers, and then draws him in deeper. “Continue onward, Karl.” But why?

Another wither rose pot.

Sidestepping the very innocuous, very surface-level information offered here (because that’s it, it’s nothing about the workings about the Inbetween, it’s just a little sweet carrot to distract with), I cannot even begin to convey the absolute terror that consumed me at the word “sleepy.”

I mentioned earlier that one of the original characters who lived in the land that would become Castle Oblivion went into a coma, right? But it’s more commonly referred to as sleeping. The game is even called “Birth by Sleep”, and there’s a whole thing about trying to get him to “wake up”. So the idea that time travel can take something out of the traveller that makes them tired, the idea that there is one specific room for sleeping quarters within the Inbetween, paired with that not-quite-right smiley face—I am traumatized, I tell you.

Yes it could be a “haha look what I did with the sentence, because day is a form of time and they time travel so long day is a funny term” kind of smiley, but. Kingdom Hearts has trained me to be suspicious of any talk of sleep.

There’s something just mildly unsettling about the way it continues, with the references to the “many Karls” and the “many many great stories” that sounds borderline condescending.

And now we get the, uh, “other” author. Notice how this one actually did not have a corresponding wither rose in a pot. I’m starting to think that the flower might actually be an indicator of the not-this-author-pictured-above, the probably-Inbetween-itself, so the fact that this book was found separately from a wither rose pot and it was tucked away under a tree... A tree, under which c!Karl will later find a bit of a refuge... yeah, different author. Or at least an author from a different time.

I’ll elaborate in a moment, but I do think that there’s three (3) mindsets/authors happening here: the sickly sweet Inbetween pretending to be good, the person trying to get c!Karl to distrust the Inbetween, and... someone who desperately wants c!Karl to stay in line.

This is the third... I don’t want to say author, because it too has the wither rose pot and is trying to keep c!Karl playing along with the Inbetween, but it’s much less coherent and much more desperate.

No “:]”, either.

Some possibilities I’m considering:

the Inbetween, but it’s like, a security subroutine or a glitch in the system,

the Inbetween, but it’s from a future wherein c!Karl has fucked it up to the point of desperation,

Karl / the other author, but it’s from a future, where trying to stray from the Inbetween resulted in something traumatic happening and they don’t want it to happen anymore.

Some fun possibilities to keep in mind. Anyway!

Ooh, the return of the wither rose pot.

For this part, the only thing I really have to say is that the repetition of the Inbetween trying to present itself as “a place to feel at ease” is... Well, as the lovely Fear has said in this post linked here, a place that tries and makes itself seem safe probably isn’t, because a genuinely safe place wouldn’t need to announce it all the time.

Very much sounding like a Ba Sing Se thing.

More importantly, the book actually says that it’s “wild” how the Inbetween is “so beautiful that even time travellers who go anywhere at anytime ever and they still choose here” with a good old “:]” tacked on at the end. That’s... that’s not just me thinking like that sounds kind of threatening, right? Like, time travellers can see anything anywhere, and they keep coming back to the Inbetween. Why?

Is it because they forget the beauty of anything else? Is it because it’s not beauty, but rather attachment and emotion that keeps someone going back to a place? If someone forgets their loved ones and precious things, then why would they go anywhere but the place where they’ve put all their stories?

Why did KH’s protagonist keep going deeper into Castle Oblivion even though he knew that the castle was taking apart his memories? Because he had one thing left: the fake, implanted memory, which told him that in order to save someone, he needed to push on no matter the personal cost.

So the real question is: are the time travellers coming back to the Inbetween because they want to, or because they no longer have a choice?

It regards all the different Karls with such... distant affection, too. “How beautiful,” it calls them, for wandering the blank halls with blank stares and blank hearts, none of which react to each other. It says that they “choose” to walk the halls, uncover mysteries, and tell stories. But what was the other choice? Was it really a choice at all?

Hmm.

Karl goes on to explore, and finds another book that does not have a wither rose pot, which tells him he has to go Under The Tree.mp3 and informs him that he “can’t afford not to”. Cool. Not ominous at all.

He finds another, which says the same thing.

Definitely not ominous. /s

The phrasing here is interesting, because it’s also phrased like a threat. Usually, when someone tells you that you “can’t afford not to”, you’re either looking at a scam or at the business end of a weapon. But the empty pages tell you that the author is trying to keep it down low. That’s one of the ways Minecraft players have found to express tone in the very limited form of Minecraft books, and it works splendidly.

Not to push my DreamXD agenda, but like... the door was iron. Iron doors are a weakness for Dreams and dreamons and, mayhaps, Dream’s dreamon.

I know it’s probably just because the iron door keeps in line with the color palette of the build but let me dream, alright.

Anyway, book content! And an interesting point of order: there is a wither rose pot. I said earlier that it might be an indicator of the Inbetween as an author, but that doesn’t make much sense now, does it? This is meant to be a place hidden from the “it” that I assume to be either the Inbetween itself or the one/s controlling it.

So why the wither rose pot inconsistency?

Unless it doesn’t mean that. Unless it’s just a metaphor for, say, memories withering away or something. Or maybe it’s just a pretty plant, for funsies! Who knows. If I had to guess, I’d say that (after much reflection) it’s likely less a mark of author and more a theme of, mm, memory status. The withering away of memories. It fits in with the Inbetween, because that’s what might be responsible for it, but the author/s of the book aren’t immune, either. They get blinks of clarity, with the hidden, tucked-away tomes, but they might not be completely free.

The next book, however, again lacks the wither rose pot. It might not be a coincidence that the one without the potential mark of a withering memory is the one that actually divulges some more information.

This book goes into slightly more detail about the warning, though not about whatever actual threat it is that the castle (which... Castle Oblivion, you know) presents.

It says that 1) it’s not what it seems, 2) the "truth about the other forms of you”, 3) this place “is not okay”, and 4) get in that portal we saw that was blocked off before.

We know that the Inbetween isn’t what it seems, but the “truth” about the other forms... Hm. This is, in fact, another Kingdom Hearts Thing. There’s a running joke that everyone on the very large cast of characters in KH that in the end, every person is actually either secretly a version of the antagonist (through possession or body splitting or whatever), or a version of the protagonist (through similar concepts). Multiple bodies and other forms is definitely a Thing in KH, though it’s not as oh-god-not-again definitely-bad as the sleeping thing.

I think the other forms have either become reliant on the Inbetween or have forgotten everything but the Inbetween, or both. Maybe more of the prior, since the warning is against trusting the place.

And, uh, this? Fucking terrifying. I love it to pieces.

Every single one of these books has a wither rose pot, and this is kind of why I think that the Inbetween or its master/s is, in some way, possibly functioning via routines and like... an AI. Or a genius loci kind of thing.

But good news, there aren’t 13 books, there are 14! This is important for Kingdom Hearts reasons, because Kingdom Hearts has a big thing about the numbers 13 and 7 (13 is the number of pieces of darkness, and 7 is the number of pieces of light, and this is equal somehow, don’t question it).

Now, 14 is an important meme number in the MCYT fandom, of course, but I don’t think it has terribly too much to do with the lore beyond a fun easter egg.

The books themselves trying to tell c!Karl to, essentially, go with the flow and the path that the Inbetween has set up for him is... something. I like the idea that it’s some future version of something trying to stop something from happening, but we all know it’s probably not going to work. Fun times.

And finally, this.

The Inbetween is a bit of a narcissist, huh? It won’t shut up about how it’s so pretty and irresistible and the whole definition of, like, a honey trap. Oh my god it even describes it as ~mysterious~ as a good trait, that’s hilarious.

More pertinently, it also calls the Inbetween “a time traveller’s dream”.

A time traveller’s. Dream.

Again, not to push my DreamXD agenda, BUT—

But! Getting back on track, the book expresses its eagerness to see Karl again, says their relationship is gonna be great, reminds him that his stories are important, and then tells him that he needs the Inbetween/author just like the SMP needs him.

Uh. He’s going to need the Inbetween?

Hello?

Why? How? So far it’s presented itself as being pretty and perfect but it never said anything about necessity! What’s going on!

Very much reminded of how Castle Oblivion was presented as “you need to keep going in even though it takes your memories away because there’s someone you need to save [fake but you don’t know that because you don’t remember anything]”, and I am afright.

Talk about subtle strings being tugged at here. I’m really seeing the beginning seeds of a dependency thing being sown, and if it weren’t for the side books painting giant neon warning signs everywhere, I don’t know if it would’ve caught on. An artificially cultivated concept of how important and great the Inbetween is, and don’t you just want to take all those stories from that messy world elsewhere but come back here in the end to take a break and exist and explore and oh, isn’t the Inbetween great, isn’t it wonderful?

Man, c!Dream wishes he was this good at subtle manipulation.

tldr; there are multiple authors trying to tug c!Karl in different directions via those books. The Kingdom Hearts parallels predict that his memory will be at stake, and he might not be able to escape without help.

[gheysnakeredacted]

Dadschlatt Tommy AU Thoughts: Nov. 16 War Edition

Lore Context: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

HAHA you thought this AU would die like canon Schlatt?! Nah

Have some of my many thoughts on Dadschlatt Tommy AU with this new context n just general thoughts

So let’s get right into it!

The Deal

So, I think we can all agree that Dream is a chaotic evil bastard n only wants chaos right? At least, I’m making him fully the lil puppet master evil man in his AU

And, after the ban, Dream REALLY hates Schlatt, for he is the cause of all this L’manberg n government type stuff that had happened. Even if he let him back on, it was just suppose to be a short time and honestly he would rather be rid of him than anything else

So what could Schlatt offer to Dream that no one else can?

Perhaps. Schlatt could comply to Dream permakilling him :) (probably by a potion, in which everyone saw him “drinking” you know?

But mostly permadeath only happens when people are ‘too far gone’ or ‘chose not to’ come back (Wilbur) n other means (special potions, etc)

n Schlatt at this point is just so damn tired. He believes that nothing can connect him to his son again, that he knows of Wilbur’s plans to blow up Manberg but he just doesn’t CARE

He put so much pain onto others because of his disconnection to his own emotions, and he can only now see the damage done in the realization that he had found his son

And when he makes the deal, Schlatt feels like he has done too much damage to Tommy. That anything he would be willing to build up could never exist, and he just accepts it

Schlatt makes the deal with Dream to kill him permanently, and in return, to make sure the same fate does not befall onto Tommy 

(OR Dream threatens to permakill Tommy if Schlatt doesn’t take the deal lol)

SO, Schlatt goes into war knowing full well that he will die that day

Tommy’s POV

SO, in this ‘’canon’’ version of Dadschlatt Tommy AU, the meeting between Schlatt n Quackity is “reveal” that Tommy is Schlatt’s son

HOWEVER, it is only revealed to Quackity n Tommy, as Wilbur ran off for the button room and the others are nowhere to be found (but Dream knows ;0)

n Tommy of course is in full denial about it at first, but the way Schlatt is looking at him, with actual raw emotion? He knows it has to be true

n Quackity confirming it, (which results in a lil  argument after the whole ‘traitor meeting’ n how to proceed with all that)

And Tommy just tells him to fuck off, that even if it was true, he had abandoned him and left him with nightmares. n he will never TRULY be his Dad (thus why Schlatt slinks off n makes the deal with Dream, since Dream had been watching)

But after the fact, as Tommy gets betrayed by dream n told there is a traitor among them, he can’t find himself being extremely mad at Schlatt

Schlatt had done terrible, TERRIBLE things, but all of them had been done by others. Even himself. Even the festival, where Tubbo was shot, he would still respawn. To him, it was just a glorified exile (though of course it was still wrong n Schlatt was in the wrong for doing it)

n Tommy can’t miss the fact of how Schlatt’s face faltered when he did such terrible crimes, like he actually felt GUILTY doing them

(Schlatt be doing terrible things because he feels that is what people expect from him. n again, he is slowly diving into ‘i just dont care’ territory)

And Wilbur is losing it more and more everyday, so Tommy is always out of Pogtopia (even building more homes)

n sometimes, he wanders close to Manberg, just to check up on things n how nothing is progressing

Without Quackity n Fundy, its a ghost town, with only Schlatt wandering

n sometimes, Tommy watches him stumble, the way he walks like a dead man singing...something

A familiar Lullaby, that Tommy is becoming more and more aware, of the songs he remembers yet could never place

And one day Schlatt spots Tommy watching him, n just meekly tells him to get out of his country, that Tommy doesn’t listen to

It turns into them just sitting together, in secret, saying nothing

but then it turns into Schlatt actually asking how Tommy has been, small talk n its awkward but comforting at the same time

Then Schlatt going on, slowly, about his childhood, about how he met Wilbur n SMPLive and all the people he has met

and Tommy listens, he slowly gets into the crazy stories he tells n remembers how he had looked up to Schlatt whenever Wilbur brought up his crazy business man friend long lost

Until finally, Tommy asks about his childhood, n Schlatt tells him of what had happened. Of how he found him, how he was raised and...the explosion

It is only a day before the war, after his talk with Sapnap, that Tommy realizes that he DOES want to save his Dad. and of course, Schlatt would never replace Phil, n vise versa, but he does actually want to try.

n Schlatt is just happy he gets to spend these little moments with Tommy, something he never imagined happening, before the war takes his life :)

The Van Scene

Tommy refuses to kill Schlatt in the van, no matter how much everyone is goading him but that’s fine

Schlatt had already drank the potion before everyone got into the hut, n is just laying there, very still

The scene with Fundy/Schlatt doesn’t happen because, Dadschlatt Vibe

n Tommy comes in and he’s screaming, trying to get Schlatt on his feet n refusing to let people closer n try n kill him (even tho Wilbur REALLY wants Schlatt dead)

And in all this, Tommy takes off his helmet n hat to reveal all his features to everyone, everyone on the server gets to see Tommy

Even if respawn is on btw, Tommy knows deep down something is wrong about Schlatt this time

n Schlatt is smiling because there he is! That’s his son! At least, even if he is dying, he could see his son one last time

Of course, then Schlatt starts singing, very quietly so only Tommy could hear over all the chaos, his favorite lullaby

Until the darkness takes over his vision, n the warmth leaves his body.

:)

(Of course there is also the version Schlatt tricks Dream n drinks the wrong potion that kills him, probably regular harming, n goes off into exile w only Connor knowing where he is, n Tommy but u know, angst time)

Also after all this, the plot continues “””as normal””” but with more patronizing from Dream n everyone still being sus @ him especially with the horns but you know. But now Connor being a very important character of helping Tommy remember his past while Schlatt is dead (or is he? lmao)

[thirstyforred]

i had a boring one at work today and was thinking about this thing i shared earlier on discord

so after a week of playing dress up games as if my life depends on it, i got one of them weird-ass dreams basically, cdpr figured that pre/teen girls are a huge market they never tapped and they made mobile dress up games taking place in the continent it was witcher but like stealthy, no major characters, so characters with slightly changed names like ada instead of adda, or no niflgaard just southern empire and the plot was taking place like years after tw3 and the whole timeline was slightly to the left bc ppl were using xenovoxs as cellphones it was kinda weird but also pretty great, and half of the fandom wondered why the fuck there are so many adult guys into it, like it's new mlp brony shit? but no, it just that THAT was the 4th witcher game everyone was waiting for

and like IMAGINE

3D models of crazy detailed pretty dresses, accessories, and hairstyles, mixing fantasy with some more historically accurate things, but also with modern styles bc for sure you can find a way to bring jeans in, it's the witcher, it has time-travels build in

like male suit looking like stuff Olgierd and Vitold were wearing, Francesca's dress with illusory snakes coiling around, sneak-in super rare Ciri in a cyberpunkish getup

and some sort of relic/designer's reflection mechanic that means players are also collecting illustrations that will boost their stats and are as beautiful as the Gwent art, i mean I'm not saying "let's make Lorenzo Mastroianni do all of them" because it still kinda meant for kids so illus probably should be more anime or cartoonish, somewhat stylized, but also Gwent has so many amazing artists it could be something really awesome

and we could finally get the stories about all other legendary characters we only hear of in the books, like Lara Dorren or Falka, with suits dedicated to them and telling their stories

or Gwent characters like Winter Queen or idk Gudrun Bjornsdottir would be really cool too

and the main plot could be that the MC is transmigrator or something like that, or even that they too somehow have Lara's Gene and that's why they ended up in Witcherlands and are relevant. and then you have that whole mess of politics on the continent, which could be especially fun to explore if we go with nilfgaard taking over the north ending, but emhyr having to soon step down in favor of morvran, so northern realms are kinda stirring up again, elves leaving the continent after that fail of 2nd conjunction

like i feel like there's a lot of free real estate here to make a bonkers crazy awesome dress-up game with overly complicated lore

REDs HIRE ME PLEAS I WILL WRITE IT FOR YOU

[24-guy]

A theory on the reviving c!Wilbur situation.

/rp

/dsmp

Warning, swearing.

So... Let's start from the first important thing.

Wilbur died. We know this.

Then wilbur speaks to tommy after the disc confrontation, we know that Ghostbur and wilbur are different from each other.

Wilbur is told tommy wants to revive him.

Wilbur doesn't want to be alive again.

So now we move onto the main point of this theory.

Tommy dies, and talks to wilbur in the afterlife. Immediately, they're like.. already fighting.

Says there's 8 more eons. Which is 80 billion years.

But then wilbur starts with his competative solitaire. And I'll probably link back to this in a second, I don't know. These theories are just my train of thought as I write things down. I don't have a plan. Just a main thought and I expand on it. So yeah. Wilbur talks about solitaire.

And tommy declines, proceeding to blow raspberries.

Wilbur spends "six hours" setting out the cards.

And tommy despises the fact that wilbur is glad tommy is dead with him.

Wilbur said he knows that if he gets brought back in some way, the server is going to go to shit in some way.

But then wilbur is happy he's death.

And then tommy is brought back.

Now. Dream says he's going to bring wilbur back to break him out of the prison. And in all honesty, I don't think wilbur will be doing that. This wilbur is crazy and bringing him back to life will pull him away from that brink of clarity he had left when he blew up l'manberg. There will be nothing left of the wilbur that dream or anyone else knew.

So why would he help dream? Dream has a point, wilbur would owe him his life. But wilbur isn't Technoblade. Wilbur might not hold up on the promise to pay dream back.

Now onto tommy. Tommy begged dream to not bring wilbur back to life. That wilbur had terrible, terrible plans for when he was brought back.

I've got two to three possibilities of what the meaning behind this begging could mean.

1, tommy is using this to help wilbur stay dead, knowing that his brother-figure wants to stay dead with his solitaire cards and jschlatt and mexican dream. This, however, is clearly failing.

Or 2, tommy knows that if he shows weakness around dream, dream will use it to exploit him. Tommy has had months of time to sit and plan with wilbur what is going to happen. And tommy might still want his brother back. So.

Tommy acts like wilbur terrifies him. Like wilbur isn't playing competitive solitaire somehow and he's got big plans for the server, playing into Dream's want for manipulating tommy and, if I'm honest, I think he also wants to see the world burn.

However. Maybe this is false. We saw tommy and wilbur arguing at each other before, and plus wilbur is sick in the head. There is a possibility that he knows the silly little solitaire is getting at Tommy's nerves because he's annoyed easily.

Or 3. "Come back in any way".

Wilbur has put himself onto tommy again. Maybe it wasn't physical. But due to talking to wilbur again, tommy is influenced by him. Kind of like how ranboo thought he had gotten rid of the dream voice because he hadn't been talking to dream enough to remember what he sounded like.

What if that's what's happening here?

It would play into the "don't become this person" trope that they're playing onto the kids. Tommy shouldn't become wilbur, tubbo shouldn't become jschlatt, ranboo shouldn't become dream. That kind of thing.

Now tommy has listened to and been around wilbur, tommy is being influenced in some way.

Maybe the bit that's influencing tommy is the small bit of wilbur that's left that's terrified about what could happen if wilbur is revived.

But. Now a part of wilbur has been revived within tommy.

And we look around and realised how much lore is going on.

Techno streamed, phil did lore, ranboo took a break from tubbo and michael and did lore and is now panic brewing potions, foolish has done lore for the first time, the egg is having a crimson banquet, puffy has done an origin story where apparently she's lost memories as well, we had another tales from the smp episode set in the near future. And that's only the ones I've been able to find and watch as they're my main streamers I watch. I know niki was involved with the syndicate now, and jack manifold is getting grief. I know something is happening with quackity. I still dread the day sam does lore because that's gonna break me if he still thinks tommy is dead.

The lore seems to be picking up and in a more... Disastrous way.

And it's due to the egg.

And I link back to solitaire. I swear. I will link these two together.

Competative solitaire is weird because solitaire is a single player game. So what if the point of "competitive solitaire" is who can get the most cards in the right order, or something? Or who can clear the board of cards first? Gain every card?

The definition of solitaire is, after all, "any of various card games played by one person, the object of which is to use up all one's cards by forming particular arrangements and sequences." And yes. I looked this up for a minecraft theory. I'm insane. I know.

So. Competative solitaire.

And wilbur knows things will go to shit if he gets brought back in some way.

Competative solitaire between tommy and the egg.

Tommy currently has the upper hand. The egg doesn't know he's back as far as we're aware, I don't think.

The question is, who's going to make the first move? Who's going to move that first card?

But as with solitaire, there's always a possibility that you won't win. Or in this case, nobody wins. There's always a chance.

So what happens if this chess game that dream is playing, turns into one of cards? Where each player has completely different cards to each other? We know wilbur has been playing solitaire in the afterlife, perhaps tommy brought that knowledge with him when he was revived?

Maybe the begging for wilbur was his first card being dealt.

I don't know anymore. Cards? Chess? Eggs? Block men? Who would have thought that our lives during this would bring us here.

But yeah. Just a weird train of thought that I went on. It seemed a little weird that competitive solitaire is a thing that wilbur repeated more than a few times.

We know cc!wilbur is back with writing the plot now. Who knows what that man could bring us all.

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Idk about you all but my question is, how far has Dream and Tommy planned these storylines out? Tommy's arc is setting up to be a long term one, either he goes crazy, joins Dream, joins Techno...? Whatever it is it could last a while. And the blood vines? The prison? ExCuSE mE Dream, but you have started so many sub plots and handed them over to other people that I can't keep up. I assume they're all going to come together, tho...Yikes. Is Dream overseeing a group writing a book here?

Currently I’m operating under the assumption that the Crimson is purely Bad, Ant and Sam’s plot rn, with Puffy and Sapnap joining in, since none of the L’manburg plot people seem super concerned by it and the two groups don’t interact about the Vines much. So I don’t think Dream’s planned that one? I could be wrong, though, and if they do end up joining into the same plot that’d be really really cool. What the Badlands have been doing so far is a really neat side plot! And a nice break from all the angst of Tommy’s exile. I’m really glad they’ve been getting into making their own plots where they have a chance to shine. They deserve it, dammit!

Considering the fact that George told Dream he didn’t want to be king so that he wouldn’t have to be part of the lore, I think (but don’t know for sure) that the Mexican L’manburg Revolution wasn’t part of the original plan, since Dream wasn’t originally planning on dethroning George. I think Sapnap’s just running with it for his character, though, because the dude’s very into the rp and giving himself great character arcs from initially unplanned conflicts (*cough* Pet Wars *cough*)

Dream and Tommy, on the other hand, was set up on the 16th with Tommy rejecting the presidency to continue the Disc War. Everything about this was foreshadowed with Tommy, Tubbo and Dream listening to the disc together on the bench after. Dream hinted at the arc with Puffy (on her first day iirc?), and Tommy has been griefing people’s houses since Season 2 started so this has definitely been in the works for a while. Idk when they started coming up with the plans though. The Disc Saga was kinda put on hold throughout all of the Election-Dictatorship arc. It hasn’t really had a major development since the Pet War, where Tommy got one of the discs back.

The Prison is Dream’s plot without a doubt, but who knows how it’ll link up with what Tommy’s up to.

Whatever Techno’s planning hasn’t happened yet, I don’t think, since on stream yesterday he was talking about how he wasn’t expecting Tommy to find his house yet. So Techno’s plot will probably start soon? Idk, I’m excited though

Ghostbur and Fundy’s arc is probably a lot less planned out (especially since we know Eret’s adoption plan was brought about by chat) but I’m still holding out for another interaction between them sometime. I just wanna see them happy together ;-; Plus I don’t think Wilbur in general is super filled in on what’s happening with Dream and Tommy? But there’s definitely some sort of background character arc going on with Ghostbur about facing his problems and not running away from them, etc. I’d say that’s probably an arc where things are less planned out long-term, and it’s more loose improv. (Again, could be wrong, I have no idea)

All in all, I’m surprised to say that after writing this out, it’s actually not that many disparate plots right now? It’s a lot to keep up with, yeah, but right now there are two main ones with a few character arcs and side-developments going on around those two main plotlines: the Crimson and Dream’s plot, with some side shenanigans with El Rapids to look out for. Whenever Techno’s arc starts it probably will be more of a main plot to keep up with, but yeah! It’s a lot less chaotic when you start looking at the bigger picture.

(And of course, it goes without saying that this is all my personal speculation and I could be completely wrong about all of this, so take this entire thing with a grain of salt! :D)