#the emotional connections they couldve made there

[deathbirby]

Wonder how Byleth's life would be if Rhea told Jeralt the truth regarding Sitri and Byleth so that Jeralt doesn't jump the gun and leave with Byleth. A Byleth raised at Garreg Mach....

Rhea and Jeralt's relationship is also pretty interesting and a bit tragic, I think

I feel like Jeralt would be still be very put off by it all. Like what do you MEAN my wife was a homunculus made by using the heart of your dead mother?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN RHEA???

[shittywriterbrain]

no. polyamory would've solved a subplot of s3 and the entire main crime plot of s4. this is the truth

[abimee]

quite literally there is too much to say and pick apart about Tock in endwalker and the fact that her bullshit lore i just made up for the sillies wounded up aligning with canon concepts and therefore what went from ''silly child with accordion hears the songs in others heart'' became ''entelechy child singer of hope meets with the singer of despair at the end of the universe and gets through to her in a way that nobody else ever could"

[thecloudsaremyhome]

Red hood headcanons

Tw: mentions of self harm, heavy infantilization, heavy yandere behavior, death

・Jason never really knew the real you. The one who would have the biggest smile plastered on their face full of pure innocene. No he never got to see that. Maybe he would've if he actually made time for you if he actually priortized you. Maybe.

・but it's to late now for him he had. Chance but he never took it an he regrets that, he regrets a lot of things in all honestly. But he was supposed to be your brother, he was supposed to be the one their for you. But he wasn't and that the saddest part of it.

・he was never once their....

・it was not like he had. Connection with you in the first place you came before he was ressurected you came during his death. And he feels some sort of sympathy because well maybe he was involuntarily caused th emotional neglect you receive from bruce. But he couldve done better couldve been better.

・he couldve stopped you from intentionally hurting yourself he. Couldve at least given you some form of comfort but no at th time he wa filled with pure hater for your pur existence. And you didn't even know about it. You didn't fucking know. And that truly the real sad part.

・but the reality of the situation is that you can never turn back time. And he so badly wish he couldve. He wishes he couldve went back in time to when he first got resurrected and go towards the manor to comfort you, to give you the love you deserve.

・because in his eyes your nothing but a purpose innocent baby. So when he finally come to light about you leaving. Well to say he's worried is an understatement he's petrified. Because your to young to be living out on your own! Especially with how fragile you are!

・oh this won't do! He can't let you be walking the streets of Gotham alone an unsupervised! Well hell just have to go find you then

・so don't be terrified when he causually breaks into you apartment building, or when you back away in fear an anxiety and raise a knife to him. Oh don't do that sweetheart you'll hur yourself that's not for baby's! So he does what any brother would do an pins you down effortlessly.

・he then takes th knifenout of your hold an throw it onto the floor outnof your reach so you won't try and hur yourself. Oh baby! Don't start crying! It okay big brothers here to make it all better don't worry!

・so to successfully calm you down he grabs a syringe from his pockets and carefully plunge it into your neck which. Of course causes you to squirm in fear. But it doesn't last for long before you finally pass out from the sedative.

・he Coos at your adorable sleeping fac and pick you up, and starts to carry you out th window toward his motorcycle all th while quietly humming a soft lullaby.

Don't worry baby he will take care of you you'll be safe

Authors note: totally did not binge watch some Jason lore lol but I hoped you enjoyed! This is just a scenario a well it not formally canon to the series this is just how I perceive Jason! I want you guy to know how I will write his character in general!

[tinrange]

Mirroring Chian and Baabin since the beginning of the story is such a smart storytelling move, and i think its a shame so much of it has been lost to the red flag/green flag discourse.

They remind me a lot of Junghwan from Reply 1988, another character who things couldve worked out for and who might've had a chance had he just stopped being afraid and actually done something about his feelings.

I often think of his line "In the end fate and timing do not happen out of coincidence. They are products of earnest, simple choices... I should have been more courageous. It was not the traffic light’s fault. It was not timing. It was my hesitations."

This, to me at least, is one of the central contradictions of being young. Everyone tells you youth are fearless, that recklessness is the one constant among all teens, and in a way thats true. Its true for Baabin when he runs out of his concert. But because these kids are so insecure, terrified of being hated, they really cant be honest.

Baabin had every opportunity to tell Fou4mod his feelings. But he's insecure. Its very easy to assign insecurity as a character trait to teens, in fact its almost a cliche. Yet its seldom done well because the insecurity ends up being portrayed as a general fear of everything around them. Baabin is very specifically insecure, he's courageous about these feelings in every other instance. He can confess to Chian, he can confess to Chian For Fou4mod to keep.it hidden, he can chase Bua down a busy street screaming his feelings, but he cant help himself from deleting those voice messages. He cant tell Fou4mod who he really is, he cant have Fou4mod see him vulnerable and it becomes increasingly difficult for him to keep up that front. So he just cuts off that point of connection. He'd rather be hurt in every other way over and over than put his feelings out there. He wants reassurance that he's important, but he does it in a way that allows him the upper hand and isn't ever about him or the relationship he treasures.

And thats real! But the thing is he still doesnt have what he wants. He's even more on the outskirts now.

Chian is very similar, his fear of being sincere has kept him stifling every emotion for fear of feeling it since episode 1. He cries in his bed, he stares into nothing, he keeps everyone at a distance. His outburst in episode 5 is anger, but its also frustration at himself. He's circled back into the same situation and hasn't made a real decision.

He tells himself he has, and that he's going to put Fou4mod first this time. But its still more of the same from both him and Baabin. When Fou4mod tells him he's dating now and its over he never even fights for it. I think its especially sad because through the episode you can see Chian pulling apart all the emotional ugliness complicating his relationship with Fou4mod, and so when he's left alone by the end he looks as if he expected it at some point.

Baabin isolates himself when he lies about where he lives and when he lies about his feelings, Chian is actually just alone all of the time. Chian puts himself in emotional harms way but plays the #nevercared act as a method of self defence, Baabin can't even put himself out there and still presents nonchalance to the point he won't even let Fou4mod entertain the possibility he misses their friendship.

Theyre both an interesting take on a common coming of age cautionary tale, that you shouldnt let passivity borne of fear dictate your actions. Illustrating that through the way they both end up accidentally conspiring to make Fou4mod feel as alone as they have is such a heartbreaking touch and resolution. They both kept getting stuck at traffic lights and blaming fate instead of their hesitations.

[teecupangel]

Good day, this is a bit long so I apologize. I have been thinking about Desmond as a POE and that has made me wondering about Desmond as a sword (I am unsure if you have done this already) ((inspired by "Reincarnated as a Sword". ))

Like what if when Desmond died and suddenly woke up stuck in a sword and ancestor finding him and trying to get him out, or perhaps they go through their journeys as sword and master. Desmond can telepathically talk to the user.

It'd be very unpleasant to be stuck as a sword for so long, so I'd like to see Desmond stuck as one for like 500 years or something.

I was also thinking of Xin Mo from SVSSS who's pretty violent and requires the user to kill alot of people to satisfy its bloodlust. If you are weak mentally, you go insane by the sword's hallucinations. Desmond wouldn't want to give his ancestors visions and go insane so I think to be angsty you'd have to force the killing requirement. I believe Altair would be the most successful if so.

Xin Mo was unlocked because the ML's blood was basically super strong, so in AC it could be desmond sword can only talk with ancestors.

If not Xin Mo, perhaps he is another famous sword or wakes up as Altair's sword. When Altair dies, sword Desmond is put with his armor and eventually reaches Ezio. Desmond would probably be sick of being in a sword.

As the prophet, Ezio would connect Desmond to sword desmond and he'd try his best to get him out.

In Wuxia terms, perhaps he cultivated enough energy to ascend to a human form. Or his user couldve killed enough people to grow into a human. He could be meaty human or like metal human soo.... up to you.

If this becomes romantic due to the emotional bond between master and sword I think theyd eventually fuck the sword tbh.

I also think itd be funny if Altair shows up in Malik's bureau like "this is my love and we are getting married" and shows his sword.

Malik or another assassin could see Altair talking to his sword in secret and think he's insane.

So there’s a Transistor AltDes idea somewhere in this blog but I cannot, for the life of me, find it. XD

Anyway, for this one, we’ll… change the timeline a bit.

Desmond actually time traveled to the time of the Isus and he gets captured by an Isu scientist.

This Isu scientist found Desmond fascinating and experimented on him, making him a vital part of the next iteration of the Sword of Eden.

Fortunately, Desmond is only encased in one sword because the war between the humans and Isus started and the scientist’s research lab was hit.

Desmond, as a sword, was taken by the humans and that’s when he started to ‘influence’ his user.

We’ll take inspiration from JJBA’s Anubis and make Desmond a learning sword. The more he fights the same enemy, the more he understands how his enemy fights. This, in turn, makes him able to calculate the probablities of his enemies’ attacks and predict their next move using those probabilities.

He also, not because he wants to, curses his user to desire carnage and death.

To be more exact, Desmond’s fervent wish to become human again becomes what is akin to an automatic order that Desmond sends out to all his users.

Because Desmond is a sword that’s main goal is to completely take over the wielder’s mind and control it like his own body but that function is limited at the moment due to the scientist knowing Desmond hasn’t been broken enough to become loyal to the Isus.

And that wish to become ‘human’ turns into something corrupted like “cover me in blood and viscera” in a twisted way of being as close to human as a sword could be.

This persisted throughout the entire time he was used as a weapon against the Isus.

This way, we will have Desmond be broken by centuries of being used over and over again, unable to stop his wielders from succumbing to the rage.

One of his wielders was Charlemagne and he became known as Durandal, the legendary sword said to be able to cut through anything.

Charlemagne only managed to escape the bloodlust by hiding the sword away and using Joyeuse instead.

But, because Charlemagne is a member of the Order of the Ancients, there were records of him that the Templar Order could use to pinpoint the sword’s resting place.

And nothing was more shameful than being used by Templars.

Until Altaïr assassinated the latest Templar to wield him and took the sword because it ‘called out’ to him.

That’s when Desmond learned of a loophole.

Because of their genetic connection, Altaïr was immune to the bloodlust.

And he could hear Desmond.

They get to know one another while Altaïr traveled back to Masyaf and he kept Desmond a secret. Sure, he was quite… ornate but all Altaïr had to do was wrap his hilt and crossguard in leather and that would hide most of his ‘decoration’.

Altaïr also learned that a lot of the gems Desmond had were put by the Templar Order so he could just remove those without harming Desmond.

By the time Malik learned of Desmond’s existence, Altaïr and Desmond were too far deep into one another that Altaïr had no problem admitting that he was in love with his sword (and implied that, yes, he is fucking his sword… Malik does not want any details)

Then Kadar nods at him and tells him that he knows Altaïr loves Desmond. They’re more or less married already.

And now Malik was left wondering if his younger brother has been inflicted with the same ‘sickness’ as Altaïr has.

Was this contagious?

Will he start believing that it was normal for a man to love his sword to that degree???

.

(If Desmond gets a human body, I kinda want it to be both flesh and metal, with Isus lines all over)

[wgat-fr]

i may be insane (ignore me if i am) but its so poetic to me or maybe ironic that the vulcans, the TOUCH TELEPATH RACE who can SHARE MEMORIES, THOUGHTS, AND EMOTIONS through touch (...and potentially outside of that range, up for debate) and even SENSE certain emotions in a radius SUPPRESS them. like they are among The Ultimate Empaths, able to see and live through others' experiences to truly UNDERSTAND that individual, and be understood, understand WHY they think, feel, do as they do, and yet even with that, there was STILL violence and conflict (selfishness/individuality trumps all?). so, they turn to LOGIC, despite their EMPATHETIC NATURE (which is a whole other can of worms bc logic is also not the best to prevail/propagate and it also depends what logic u r using, which could lead to the same violent situation that Surak was trying to divert from. and, it IS logical to take into account emotions in certain contexts if you want to do the most Good which gets into philosophy what is Good, blah blah blah ANYWAYS) and yet when using their gift of telepathy, cannot help but FEEL through whoever they r melding to. its like forbidden fruit in the sense that if they let themselves feel at all or as openly as other species do (i.e. humans) it opens a pandora's box of possibilities of hurt and strife, to oneself and others, but it also allows connection and knowing and understanding, which, combined with logic, couldve made vulcans The Diplomats Ever, and peaceful asf. like i get that a utopia could never exist bc of differing opinions and theres ALWAYS bad apples but like. idk man. understanding. also "we vulcans do not feel emotions nyenyenye" is such an excuse and a false sense of security cuz like for one thing, spock is literally like... sorta discriminated against (but ig its "logical" bc vulcans have superior intellect/emotional regulation or wtvr and therefore spock is inferior but STILL, different faucets of skills and knowledge/usefulness) which is why he joins the 'fleet in the first place and not VSA. SECONDLY, they r also xenophobic which takes emotion, and in some fan (or other) interpretations, have corruption/nepotism n shit in governmental/VSA offices. thank u for listening to my mindless ramblings ☺️☺️

[lorillee]

im always thinking about kakashi flashback:2 if im honest. its like seriously sickening to me makes me crazy insane two big things 1) how seriously miserable he is throughout the entire flashback and 2) how guy was the one who dragged him out of that hell and kakashi doesnt even know it. like it makes me so crazy insane. like guy was the only one to keep reaching out to him and he never like pushed it he never made kakashi do anything he didnt want to do but he always extended his hand whenever the opportunity arose. and like its pretty obvious to me that by the end of it asuma and kurenai have would have entirely given up on him if not for guy, and its clearly guy's initiative that gets them to go with him to entreat hiruzen to make kakashi a jonin leader instead of continuing his anbu career. like it makes me crazy insane .

because like i said earlier kakashi is just so potently miserable throughout that entire whole like 12 episode long arc i dont think he smiles like once before passing team 7 like they seriously did save him in such a profound and visible way and it was guy's unconditional love of kakashi no matter how much he was pushed away that allowed any of this to happen. like it makes me sick and ill and twisted because literally almost everybody who kakashi forms some sort of emotional attachment to dies (sakumo, obito, rin, minato, kushina) and he blames himself at least in part for the majority of those. like you can tell hes opening back up a little bit when hes hanging out with guy on the night of kuramas attack but then immediately after minato and kushina die, which theoretically couldve been prevented if he had been able to control kurama with the sharigan instead of being pushed to the sidelines, and he immediately shuts guy out again because if another person he cares about dies if another person he cares about gets killed by him either directly or indirectly he literally wont be able to take it.

he shuts guy out in a desperate attempt to not get attached to get him to stay away from kakashi who gets everyone he touches killed. but guy refuses to abandon him no matter what and you can only imagine how much this terrifies kakashi on such a fundamental level and it makes me sick in the head because after forming team 7 kakashi starts opening up his heart again and forming genuine connections willingly for the first time in so so long and it almost seems like everything will work out and then guy willingly attempts to kill himself in one last attempt to stop madara in front of kakashi who is powerless to stop it to do anything and worse yet through his own logic caused it by killing rin and he just has to sit there as a bystander once again while yet another person he loves dies as a direct result of something he blames himself for and it like . Well can we walk off a cliff? Together?

[cloudmancy]

sorry i know you probably get a lot of asks but I've been reading all your replies and they've made me think a lot about how the show could've gone <3. I've still really enjoyed it but I do agree that some plot beats were kinda skipped/overlooked. I think what they really needed was a couple extra episodes after the last stand exam to get more downtime investigation/relationship rolls going. Like, imagine how much more they couldve found out when they all had the opportunity to do mystery rolls rather than just 1 person at a time. (Tho I think brennan shot himself in the foot a little bit when he said the ratgrinders went completely off the grid after that 😭😭😭😭Like duuude that was the perfect opportunity for them to interact moreee...) Also one last little thing... I think part of the reason why they've pointed out that Jace had been coerced and not the rgs could be cause of that initial reveal that the ratgrinders have hated them since day one. I think none of them ever got over that and have been looking at all the new information through those lenses. Anyway I really love your art <3 this d20 discourse getting crazy

I feel like this was the issue with porter and jace as twist villains... we spend the whole season hating kipperlilly & co, of course even though we know porter is the big bad behind all of it we don't have the emotional connection to him so we go after the rat grinders in the battle instead! I also wonder what would've happened if any of the bad kids actually had to take a rage token during downtime this semester. I feel like having your character go through that would've done a good amount for empathizing with the npcs under perma rage...

[okkos-ferrum]

Unorganized helluva boss apology tour rant cuz I think I'm going crazy

Disclaimer, cuz I know helluva fans can get defensive: A lot of this is probably my subjective opinion. I'll state my tldr as my actual objective piece of criticism, but otherwise my gripes throughout this could be based on my tastes and expectations. I genuinely don't want to take away anyone's enjoyment of this show nor hate on anyone involved, so if u just want to enjoy helluva, totally skip this :]

I think I'll actually have to give my hot take here and criticize this episode, because everyone has given way too much praise for an episode I think - in the long run - hurts the show

Im not gonna even bother organizing my thoughts I'm just gonna rant, but to start, i think the decision to start the ep right after full moon chronologically wasn't the best move. The full moon episode cliffhanger was an impactful scene and a dramatic way to start the rift between stolas and blitzo. It's where the dam of two-ish seasons finally breaks, where to me, stolas and blitzo have already said everything needed to be said, at least at the emotional maturity they currently are at. Any changes in said conversation about their relationship would require growth from both separately in order to foster a healthy discussion.

So to undercut that tension by IMMIEDTLY having blitzo somehow wiggle his way back into stolas's private property to have both double down on their stance diminishes the weight new moon's finale had. The conversation, while it does add further clarity, feels repetitive and emotionally taxing to watch, because the show has literally zero scenes of either of them reflecting on the previous night. So it's just them starting up the same fight with the same talking points we already know.

Yeah, maybe it is in character for blitzo to demand a conversation after new moon, but it shouldn't have been the path the show took. It should've allowed the story to stew in the feelings brought out in new moon, both in a narrative and meta sense by taking a break from stolatiz.

Cuz honestly I'm a bit drained of it atm. The show sells itself on the premise of blitzo being a "boss" (a hell of a bos-) and him working with imp. But all of s2 has had this obsession with stolatiz ever since the popularity of ozzie's (for good reason that episode was amazing and one of my personal favs still).

Just abt half the eps in s2 carry an emotional weight around the stolitz relationship. (where s1 has stolitz is make out sessions and the occasional threat to their life, s2 takes it up to actual life or death situations and full backstories) . This increased tension and focus draws away from the intial episodic format to become a more serialized (and imo) melodrama abt the status of the stolitz relationship. Rather than concern itself over any of the imp characters and their emotions, helluva has made all of its emotional beats and stakes throughtout the whole season relate to stoltiz in some way (or it's parallel with fizz and Ozzie in ep 7).

To return back to the ep, I also take issue with its writing of verosika. I will admit that this could be subjective, as my partner, who loves verosika and was worried abt her writing going into the ep, enjoyed how the ep integrated her. But idk, I think it is so lame that an ep like full moon, which is marketed to be abt stolitz, is fine wasting its time writing the cherubs for 90% of the episode, while can't bother making verosika a larger character in her own ep.

Like she's a SINGER, but no she's back up for STOLAS'S SONG this ep. And it's not stolas's hasn't had the chance to sing love ballads before, he's got plenty. But no, the host of the party can't even be a duet to stolas, she's gotta be back up. Like it couldve been a way stronger connection between these two if they sang a duet, rather than the show AGAIN prioritizing verbalizing stolas's emotions again.

We get a full flashback to blitzo's relationship with both fizz and stolas, but nothing on his other significant relationship??? Just a line or two of how it went down and that's it??

Side tangent: It gets on my nerves how so many people are realizing now that verosika is not a bad person. Like it's clear from even in her intro ep in s1 ep 3 she's angry rightfully for how blitzo screwed her over. But now that she actually is being nice and forgiving to stolas and blitzo respectively, now she has earned the fandom's respect??? Like the amt of comments of "Oh wow, verosika isn't a villain, she's an anatognist" drives me insane

Like to me, this ep should've stepped away from stolas directly, and focus on blitzo and verosika. Have blitzo go back to ignoring his feelings by jumping back head first into business, now with the asmodeous crystal. Then bump into verosika somehow. However it may happen, verosika and blitzo, either angrily or calmly, reflect on their own past relationship at the end, which might have blitzo making a realization of how he is repeating his past mistakes. Use the episodic format to slowly allow blitzo to mature so the next time he meets stolas, he won't just double down like he did in the beginning of the ep.

I think, personally, the decision to have verosika host the anti blitzo party diminishes her as a character. It chooses to again define her by how blitzo hurt her, rather than touching on the other underdeveloped parts of her character. She has shown to be very petty yes, but to go through all this effort seems too much, since she is a pop star and should have better things to do.

Maybe explore how she, a succubus, who is meant to have primarily sexual relationships, goes abt on her day to day as a celebrity who went to rehab. Or her relationship with maybe knowing barbie. Or the other ways to explore the set ups for her in ep 3. But no, she plays second fiddle to her second focus ep for the stoltiz drama. But yeah sure, let's have full moon be abt the cherubs.

On a final and likely my most pettiest point, this ep made me cringe a lot. I'm sorry, this is very subjective of me, but I need to say it. So much of this ep felt like fanfic. Always hammering in how "he's a prince and you're an imp" kind of deal. Stolas getting overly drunk after taking a swig of one drink to have blitzo handle him being drunk. The million puppy dog eyes by blitzo, like it felt too pitying. The rushed pacing felt like a result of this indulgent kind of writing, where it priotizes creating the cute shipping scenes before thinking about the actual plot and its effect later on. Again, just my taste tho

Alright I think I ranted enough but ...

Tl;dr: Apology tour messes up the pacing and focus of the show by continously centering itself around the stolitz drama rather than allowing time to reflect by themselves

[gizkasparadise]

final leg of a journey to love thoughts!! (eps 35-40). this got so gd long so under a cut it goes. spoilers, of course:

PLOT STUFF/PACING

pacing for the plot definitely got shredded in the last chunk, which is a damn shame because otherwise i've been finding the pacing pretty much perfect. eps 35-37 in particular felt like they could have been like a 10 episode arc. ep 38, which mostly dealt with wu palace politics, should have been cut or streamlined imo and more time given to the characters we've actually been riding along with the whole story. by the time we get back to the pregnant empress, prince danyang, the first prince whose name i dont even remember, and the prime minister, i do not care about any of them and i think this subplot was simply just trying to fit too much shit into one bag

that said, this show still let the emotional moments hit and breathe and linger. i love the grief for the fallen liudao comrades as we go, as well as the less heavy but still emotionally important moments like yang ying and tongguan bonding over their upbringing. and we got a wedding /;3;/!!! for this show, the relationships and characters matter more than the storyline so im not mad about anything at all

side note: it's so gd millennial to have a story about a bunch of 30 something year olds who want to fake their deaths and retire into obscurity but instead they go and die for a boss they hate

CHARACTER STUFF

this show consistently brought a lot of depth to its side characters (and side side characters!!). i said it in an earlier post, but it bears repeating that even someone like deng hui i didnt expect anything from, but he got such good development and writing that he became a stealth fave. his dying words essentially being "dude, quit fucking around" ? iconic.

i didnt like tongguan as much as everyone else, so im pretty meh about everything regarding him. the attempt to force-wed ruyi was tonally really weird and didnt make sense (i assume there was some cuts made surrounding it). but LOL at him reusing all the outfits and decor immediately for his wedding to yang ying. baby duke, you tacky motherfucker. i ultimately think yang ying deserves better than him, but the good thing is that she knows this, so she'll be able to hold her own and then some entering into this partnership

shisan really was the heart in a lot of ways--the mom to yuanzhou's dad for the liudao. i was not expecting him to break my heart the way he did, but the fact that he held both qian zhao and sun lang as they died and then tried his best to remove yuan lu from harm and saved chu yue and was just very much a nurturer all the way through got me. his character couldve been cheap comic relief but the writing + performance really elevated him into one of the (imo) most memorable wuxia characters. his line wondering who would get to behead his beautiful skull!!! and how his mantra was always that he was going to drink the best wine, see the most beautiful women, and make the best of friends and he dies having lost the ability to see and having just had wine in memory of qian zhao, yuan lu, and sun lang. like. shut up!!

ruyi and yuanzhou were both so great and they're gonna be the drama OTP to beat forever. i loved the gender reversals, that they both were so respectful of each other, and that they also felt very mature in how they handled things and communicated. they were really interesting characters both together and apart and that's always a win-win. they had a schroedinger's ending where it's not super clear if they're alive or dead (i interpreted it as the latter), but what's kind of beautiful is that either option is satisfying to me. if they both died, they're reunited and with their comrades and the story is truly about the journey and the meaningful short connections we have. if they both survived, it's a bookend with the beginning where they each faked their deaths to escape. A+

COSTUMING

i gotta just separately mention the costuming for this show because it was 15/10. the textures, shisan's accessories, the way red became integrated with yuanzhou's wardrobe and blue with ruyi's. the details on the liudao name amulets!! SO GOOD. i love when characters' clothes tell a story on their own

overall i just really loved this drama it is probably my favorite wuxia ive seen so far! it's gonna be in my brain for awhile lol feel free to send fic prompts if you've made it this far :'D

[autisticlalna]

How many duplicates do you think Olm goes after? Like, he’s got a monopoly on Avids sure but, this is the second Viking we’ve seen him messing with (maybe first from a chronological point) and with how he’s hanging around as Volm that also means interacting with Marm and Leon again (as they’re the same as the ones that show up in AA) and Fool (I’m not up on Fool Lore, I don’t know if this is the same or a different on than was in AA). Is he going after versions of Avid’s friends specifically? Why is he interacting with multiple versions at all? There’s too many questions augh!

this is a different Fool, although the line dividing them seems to be pretty vague-- Gold Fool isnt Purple Fool, but the Fools have some awareness of what happens to their alternates so there seems to be lingering resentment. hard to say for sure.

AS FOR EVERYTHING ELSE, THOUGH......

Marm showing up in AA appears to be under her own power (or, at least, the Void's), so i doubt Olm wants her there but shes manage to slide under the radar. iirc the only quest she's done was 100 Traps, which is self-contained and Olm has no known ties to.

Leon did help build the Haunted Castle at the End of Time, and lives near the Frozen Keep. like Marm, though, he hasnt had any (known) contact with Olm on AA yet. him and Marm discussed having an Avid Watch Duty, so Leon is probably also there On Purpose on his end, rather than Olm's. (if anything i doubt olm wants anything to do with him lmao)

Viking is the weird part here. Olm and his influence was completely absent from Gilded, but depending on where in the timeline Gilded falls that couldve been Avid's first contact with a Viking. then we have Skyblock Kingdoms, where Summertime sidestepped the OSSHA arc but has ended up in Volm's sights due to Yellow being Yellow. (and, while most of it is off-video, we do have that bit in ep13 where Yellow and Avid talk about him and Summertime being besties at minimum.)

actually no hold on i need to loop back to Fool for a sec. we have Gold Fool as one of the new heads of OSSHA, but if im gonna bring up Gilded as a potential link then i need to bring up the Fool in Gilded. the original Fool. the one that made the god / that is the god that caused Olm to turn on Purple Fool and try to wipe him out of existence out of jealousy.

that connection could be part of why Olm specifically singled them out in Avid Adventures. Wanderer and Purple Fool are both variants of people with previous ties to Avid that could be manipulated-- each Fool is a blank slate that adapts to the world he ends up in (hence the different colors - theyre based off the primary emotion that version of Fool feels), and Wanderer is isolated and was left unattended long enough for Olm to grab him. Avid was apologetic towards Wanderer about it, so "these are Avid's friends and Avid is being pressured into putting them through the horrors" is definitely notable.

i dont know if this makes sense lmao. there is no thesis here this is just words

[aemiron-main]

A Black-Blooded Brenner??

So, I was going through some of the 8flix stuff i’d rb’d during scriptgate.

And as im sure most of you know, I’m a scriptgate truthers. Those scripts were real, theyre wayyy too identical to confirmed scripts & also have WAYYY to many niche details that connect to stuff like edward & TFS that isn’t stuff that Nick couldve pulled out of his ass/made up.

And so, I stopped in my tracks when I came across this 8flix post:

I’d totally forgotten Nick mentioning a “black-blooded Brenner”- and now, I’m staring at TFS and Brenner Sr’s weird blood/changed blood as a result of his time in Dimension X, and I’m also staring at all of TFS Brenner’s weird connections to the shadow & things like patty holding the drawing of the MF directly in front of his face, TFS Henry’s “shadow voice” sounding a lot like TFS Brenner’s angry voice, TFS Brenner being positioned right under the MF visuals all the time, TFS Brenner’s constant fixation on getting Henry to connect with the MF rather than fight it, etc.

And so, this black blood thing brings up three key points:

A.) The Brenner that we see in-show/that Nick was referring to might be Brenner Sr rather than Brenner Jr, (especially with all of the weird “Brenner not aging in TFS” stuff & so Brenner Sr being “too old” to be the Brenner we see in-show doesn’t apply), because Brenner Sr has the weird changed Dimension X blood- which might be black as a result of shadow particles or something.

Which makes me also wonder about what I’ve talked about re: the idea that Brenner Sr never actually came back at all, and instead, a “””Demogorgon”””/Doppelganger shapeshifted to look like Brenner Sr took his place- and on that note, I would love to know what colour the upright S1 “””Demogorgon’s””�� blood is considering what I’ve talked about re: that Demogorgon vs DND Doppelganger stuff & the idea of the “Demogorgon” being a shapeshifter, necause I wonder if it has black blood. Just like 8flix Nick believed Brenner did.

B.) The idea of shadow particles in the blood, and the idea that Brenner (some version of him at least) is flayed/connected to the shadow, especially considering a draft I’m working on re: the Flayed being inspired by Invasion of the Body Snatchers vs in-show Brenner’s calmness/relative lack of emotion compared to TFS Brenner, the same way that people who’ve been body snatched also become less emotional.

Also, as a fun little sidenote, orcs in LOTR etc also have black blood- which has me staring at all of Brenner’s Demogorgo/creature references.

[darcyolsson]

What's the ultimate ranking of all parabatai pairs in your intellectual tmi-spiral opinion

thanks for acknowledging the fact that tmi is making me a bit crazy 💛 without further ado, parabatai pairs from worst to best at being parabatai:

luke & valentine - they get some points for participating in a Parabatai Love Triangle (tm) which we all know by now is an essential part of all parabatai pairs but i think it's literally mentioned once that they were parabatai and then it's never brought up again. clearly this was the parabatai equivalent of an embarassing teenage relationship. 1.5/10

lucie & cordelia - they at least take the whole parabatai connected-souls things quite seriously but they forgot the most important part and thats that you need to actually be friends. 3/10

jace & alec - these two however absolutely did not take it seriously enough lmfaoooooo there's real love between them but they hate communicating, talking and speaking to each other SOOOO MUCH. however i kind of have to respect it? sometimes a joint parabatai slay is that they both dont actually give a fuck ab being parabatai. they were kind of real for that. 5/10

james & matthew - i acknowledge that they tried but they werent very good at it were they. i think they kind of suffer from the same thing as lucie & cordelia in the sense that they interact too little to come off as besties even though they both want to be besties. however they did have quite a few moments of unwavering homoerotic loyalty and i do love that. didnt live up to their potential though. 5.5/10

robert & michael - yeah they ended on bad terms but at least they gave us the drama and the completely insane intensity i'm LOOKING for!!!! like i said earlier, almost 20 years after his death michael was still the person robert loved the most in the entire world and michael literally came back from the dead to attend roberts funeral. perhaps robert failed to notice michael dying but thats iconic in and of itself imo do you know how deep you have to bury your emotions to not notice your parabatai's death?????? complete emotional rollercoaster i love it. 7/10 no wonder jace & alec are Like That

simon & clary - they rlly just became parabatai because they could. overhated and underrated parabatai duo i think they lack a certain je ne sais quoi that other pairs do have but i'm obsessed w their friendship so i love them anyway<3 have we considered that more ppl should just become parabatai with their besties simply because they can? besides at this rate simon will be a werewolf or something in 3 months' time anyway so we can't ever blame them for jumping on the opportunity! 7.5/10

jonathan shadowhunter & david the silent - literally invented the parabatai bond. bestie goals. couldve made it more feminist and included a woman though 🙄 8/10

emma & julian - do i even need to explain. they burned down a church. objectively awful at the whole parabatai deal though but in such an iconic life-changing culturally historically and aesthetically significant way that i dont even care. 9/10

will & jem - our souls are knit. we are one person, james. 10000000000000/10

[basofy]

Can you further explain the idea of garth being an emotions guy? I find all the different ways you look at him to be very interesting and would love to hear that interpretation of his character!

ill try to somehow organize my thoughts rn because im not entirely conscious rn but i think i got it first and foremost from the fact that most of his moveset is about causing reactions on other people, most notably negative emotions which get worse the more he levels up. it's also interesting to me that his agreeable drawing can cure such harsh status effects as scared or depressed i used to envision him as someon who was empathetic but not kind (since those ar different) i think uhhh i think it might be important to him as an artist to get appreciation but also for his art to mean something, ive been wondering for years what the actual quality of garths art might be and a thought that occured to me was that he basically weaponizes how disliked he Is lol . whwther his art is Shit or if the stuff hes into is just not everybodys thing i think he couldve grabbed this and used it agaisnt other people. it could also have to do with whatever controlling thing he has going on, being fascinated by human beings' emotions and wanting to get a hold on them? Strange artist anctics? hoewever that's spelled. art and the need for connection etc etc. a moot said something days ago about how he couldve be compensating Sort of for relapsing; i tend to think he is actually not as in control of himself as he could be and this shows to me at the end of the game where his actions in battle contradict his dialogue like seconds ago a little which shows that he's literally just some guy whos horrible not a god like entity of sorts for having a hold on what people feel. i wonder if his joy addiction could play a part on this too? since i believe joy maximizes feelings a person already has and garth as this guy trying to gain benefit from his art during the current events somehow decides the whole situation is made for him to do as he will but he just falls on the same traps he sets for other people. i see him as a guy that's very desensitized to the problems around him basically focusing too much on shit that does not even matter. hes very interesting to me!!!!! he's an asshole!!!!!!!

on the topic of garth being controlling i wonder if it's like the result of just being inconsiderate/ creepy to others or if viceversa it's a side effect of his artistic vision being too importabt to him and him prioritizing it over everything it could be either! it could be the result of him being a weird pervert but ive also seen people say he might not even be a pervert and he likes to fuck with people! idk! (Disclaimer: intention does not erase the harm caused!)

another fun thought ive had of this is how well this works on behalf of how his character works in regards to the players because whether someone feels positively or negatively towards him it tends to be expressed really loudly and it's like LOL because i think that's precisely what he wants he just wants to make u feel something anything the only way to beat him is to not gaf i guess….

another side thought i had which is literally just me Making shit up and that some friends agreed with me in is that garth severely lacked attention in his infant years LOL and you know how that goes

i really really like the choice to add that "Garth doesn't want to do this…" text at the end bc it really does not solve anything and such a sudden change of heart does not really matter to anyone other than himself and Maybe the player it's just there to show u this guy is just another human being who thought too high of himself it's cool i love when the horrible companions start tweaking at the end it's tragically funny.

so the whole emotions thing could be him being a snobby artist who wants to leave a mark of sorts or he could be being weird about it or he could be trying to evade how vulnerable he actually is as much as everybody else or all of these alltogether i dont know. sorry im typi g while drunk i i hope this makes sense

[henrysglock]

Ohhh my god so re: what i remember you for as a writer theres SOSOSO much to choose from, but I have to go with Ptolemaea!!!!!

And even though there’s SO many iconic scenes/lines in Ptolemaea that stuck wirh me/that I remember you by, the shower scene from Ptolemaea is the one I’m going to talk about right now because it stuck with me and i was flashbanged by it again last night when rereading it HWBDBFN

Like, this part specifically:

“That didn’t mean it was any less appreciated, though, even as the blisters on his ankles burned with it. Hot water meant that the dirt, grime, and blood melted off him with minimal effort. Even so, he took a certain amount of comfort in scrubbing himself pink and toweling off roughly, as though he could peel the past three years off his body the way a spider might shed its carapace. To grow.”

First of all, the line about how the water is making the blisters on his ankles burn is so strong/physical/it’s like I can feel it.

And it’s also such a fantastic line/fantastic use of word choice when it comes to the fact that Ptolemaea being a “Henry got out of the lab early” AU and therefore also a “Henry didnt get sent to Dimension x” AU versus the use of the word “burned” here, especially in the context of Henry trying to scrub off the lab/leave the lab behind versus the way that Henry physically leaves the lab behind in canon being getting sent to Dimension X & getting burned there.

It just works so well to give this subtle vibe/subtle reminded of “what couldve been” and how even though what Henry’s going through right now sucks (ie all of the Ptolemaea horrors, and even just the water from a nice shower hurts his blisters), it could’ve been so much worse/it really nails that “full of horrors but also full of Hope” vibe that Ptolemaea has.

And second of all, specifically looking at this part:

“Even so, he took a certain amount of comfort in scrubbing himself pink and toweling off roughly, as though he could peel the past three years off his body the way a spider might shed its carapace. To grow.”

I cant even describe how much I love this part. There’s so many little layers to the comparison between Henry in the shower vs a spider shedding its carapace, snd how its not just “oh yeah yk hes got the same vibes as a spider shedding its carapace because hes trying to start anew” but instead the comparison *also* so Physical and the mental/emotional change/struggle is convey so Physically and how it’s specifically connected to the way that Henry scrubs himself pink, and the way that this line about how Henry scrubs himself pink evokes the visual of new skin being pink and “sore”/sensitive because it’s new, much like the new flesh under an old carapace.

And then how Henry towels himself off roughly vs that also working so perfectly to really convey that feeling of shedding a carapace in a very very physical way and the Movements of it and im just!!! The WORD CHOICES here are so perfect to convey a really visceral/physical feeling, like with the use of the word “peeling” and with how that use of the word” peeling” is where it all then connects to the mental aspect of it/the bridge between physical vs mental re: henry trying to peel the last three years off of his body (especially with the imagery re: peeling skin off/peeling years off vs all of the mental/supernatural “flaying” in ST vs the peeling skin imagery tying to the idea of literal flaying in the sense of flaying skin off).

And the “last three years” thing always gets me, it’s not only such a good reminder of how long he spent in the lab/how many years he’s lost, But then also, specifically in the context of shedding a carapace/molting, the implication that Henry hasn’t “molted” in three years/that this carapace that’s stuck to him is three years old/literally made up of the past three years really hits me every time re: the fact that spiders shed their carapaces/molt wayy more often than that so he hasnt been Allowed to molt & also the fact that some types of spiders stop molting entirety once they reach maturity (this is the case for black widows)/other types just molt less frequently (once a year) when they reach maturity vs the last three years in the lab being what makes up Henry’s “carapace” & Henry not having “molted” at all in the lab/at all in the last 3 years vs the way that Henry was forced to grow up quickly in the lab but how it Also stunted him & how not molting anymore is a sign of “maturity” /adulthood in spiders.

And especially with all of that/the idea of being forced to grow up quickly but also having your growth stunted as a result vs using the imagery of shedding a three year old carapace to convey that & the way that having a built-up old caparace/unshedded layers would make him seem “bigger”/more grown” when in reality, it’s a sign of *not* having grown/not being allowed to shed it is *stunting* his ability to grow/it’s like he was being forced to “grow” by not shedding (which then also ties SO PERFECTLY into Henry’s canon regen healing & the way that there’s all of this tumor imagery associated with it/unwanted growths) and that weighing up down/the extra “weight”/“size”/“growth” on him re: not “shedding his skin” & how his/a spider’s limbs aren’t going to grow properly unless they shed their skin so then there’s the whole visual of him not growing in a typical Growth way/his metaphorical limbs not getting longer but instead just “growing” by having all of these extra layers/“skin” that hes now trapped in/cant shed to properly grow vs the idea of Brenner wanting him to be like a child and like an adult simultaneously (ie being a Freak & Liking the fact that Henry’s a child vs also stealing his childhood/putting him in a lab/making him behave Like An Adult/making him grow up quickly).

Especially with black widows no longer molting once they reach sexual maturity vs the idea of Henry not being *allowed* to molt/stopped early from molting/being forced to reach that maturity early (smash cut to the SA imagery in the lab) when he hasnt Actually reached it physically.

And then that all also ties so well into the idea of being a Child Forced To Behave Like An Adult/Forced Into Adult Activities rather than Actually Becoming An Adult.

I just!! The line about a spider shedding its carapace as a way of describing Henry’s attempts to leave the lab behind is literally such a perfect line, like there’s something so physical and visceral about it, not only is it such a perfect description of the situation, but the spider aspect then ties so perfectly into Henry’s character specifically.

Especially with the next context TFS Henry & the visual of those spider legs bursting out of his back during the attic scene with Virginia & how that’s Also very Physical in a similar way to this scene (and yet again, Ptolemaea ages like a fine wine.)

And then also, specifically looking at the “To grow,” line, this line specifically always feels like so perfectly like Henry reassuring himself/tears in my eyes over little 15 year old henry “spider guy” creel reminding himself of how spiders grow and how it’s okay even though it hurts, because it just means he’s in Spider Mode and Spider Coded and Based and Spiderpilled HWHDBDDNHEHD like he’s reminding himself that not only do spiders shed their carapaces, but they do so in order to grow/it’s Necessary in order for them to grow. Like it almost feels like the way a parent would try and get a child to do something (ie if a kid loved superheroes, the whole “superman would clean his room 🤨🤨🤨😌😌😌😌” vibe/“a spider would go and clean himself in the shower because spiders need to shed their skin in order to grow-“) but it’s coming from Henry and directed at Himself, which then emphasizes how lonely he is/the lack of parents/Virginia being dead & Victor being locked up & Henry having to parent himself (but then also the other side of the coin and the lowkey Freedom of Henry getting to parent himself in the context of Brenner/no longer being forcibly “parented” by Brenner).

And it works so perfectly with the “grow together” stuff from the VR (yet AGAIN, Ptolemaea ages like a fine wine) vs what I said earlier re: Brenner “forcing” him to grow by making him keep all those unshed layers/giving the illusion of growth when in reality in order to Actually grow, he’d need to shed those layers vs the way that VR Henry is described as “eager to please” etc vs the idea of him not properly growing/not shedding his carapace in order to please Brenner…

Like I just can’t express enough how much I love that part- it that makes me feel like I’m back to when I was first getting interested in Henry as a character (in a very very good way) and is just this instant, perfectly encapsulated reminder of what I love about his whole story/the vibe of it.

Especially with this being Henry’s POV vs the way that not only is this whole part such a perfectly, artistic, extremely thought-out line on behalf of the writer, but it’s also such a perfect insight into Henry’s character & his spider nerdiness & what I said earlier re: spiders not molting anymore being a sign of them reaching adulthood vs when he does finally “shed his carapace”/scrub himself in the shower, he’s comparing it to a spider molting/his “childish” little spider nerd vibes are coming back, he’s both growing and “regressing” because he’s growing into the Child/15 year old that he Is rather than being a child forced to behave like an adult- especially then with adult teacher Henry’s continued love of spiders/the way that “childish” interest remains even when he Is an actual adult.

Anyway! Ptolemaea my beloved….. <333333

it's why he's so small in canon actually. bro hasn't molted in years we can all give him a break for being the world's Tiniest boy.

anyway alkdjflsd WOW

When I was writing that part the biggest thing in my mind was a combination of not molting/being held back/being trapped under the layers of what he had to do to survive but specifically in the way of protective layers being added with each trauma/him being forced to grow this thick outer shell layer by layer specifically to defend against what was being done to him/retain his sanity and dignity. Which speaks to a degree of removal from what was done to him, in my mind, this kind of

"It happened to me, and I'm self-aware enough to acknowledge that...but it was done to an outer layer that I can shed, so is it really something I have to live with? Or is it something i can just put away somewhere out of sight and never actually deal with in a healthy, meaningful way?"

and so while he's peeling the carapace that's stunting him, it's like...every light has its shadow. He's able to grow into a normal boy, now, and even though it's sore and tender all over at the moment, it's a good thing. But is the way he's doing it healthy? Is he discarding his carapace without addressing and accepting/healing the ways its weight and prolonged presence warped him?

Or is he hobbling around on eight misshapen legs like

"Lalalala...It doesn't exist because I can walk on these legs. They're a little weirdly shaped, but I can hide them well enough if I make a home in the neatly-trimmed Kentucky bluegrass lawns of suburban America. Could a damaged spider walk around as well as I do? I'm so normal and also healthy. Being prevented from molting definitely had no lingering effects on my well-being. Haha, no there's no reason why I refuse to go out on the pavement and show you guys my totally normal legs. I just don't want to. No other reason. There's nothing wrong with me, I'm a normal spider :) Anyway, look at my web. Could a broken spider make a web this nice? Didn't think so. I'm totally normal and there's NOTHING in my past that I need to heal from."

Something something "I'm not a freak. I'm normal. I'm Henry Creel."

There's also the more surface aspect of the Will-Henry Mindflayer-Brenner "I felt it everywhere/I still feel him" and Henry thinking that if he scrubs hard enough, he can rid himself of the lingering memories, the same way Will thought that if he could just keep running, he could escape the Mindflayer/the lingering trauma of what happened to him in the UD/the slug stuff.

They're both running away from looming, lingering CSA trauma, just in different ways. Will can run all he wants, but the Mindflayer is going to catch him anyway. His trauma will always catch up to him. Henry can scrub all he wants, he can peel off that outer shell and pretend like he's getting rid of everything that happened to him, but the damage was mental. It's something that's inevitably going to catch up with him until he can't ignore it anymore.

That's also where the burning came from in my mind: Will being rid of the Mindflayer by burning, but him still being able to feel it/it coming back later vs Henry trying to rid himself of his history with Brenner via scrubbing himself raw with burning water because he's still able to feel that history physically/that history will come back to haunt him later much like the Mindflayer haunts Will.

—————

Tell me what fic or line of writing you remember me by