#the former is all well and good but the latter is what really matters 2 me for him

[beatcroc]

i was thinking about this again and actually what it is is he just needs to be a freak. i dont care about his temperament or intelligence or intentions or anything he just has to be a weird little beast, both by nature and on purpose

i realize most takes on fakie are some combo of the above in varying ratios but i'd like to see what aspects folks most enjoy

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Neil talking about the responses to Good Omens Season 2 - from the Neil Gaiman interview with Brian Levine for The Gould Standard (x,x)

BL: The audience that you have built is a very passionately engaged audience. They, frankly, they love you. And one of the reasons they love you is that you fit into what I think of as one of two great divisions in art. There's, or in writing, um, there is: I'm entertained, I'm amused. I may be even enchanted; and then there's this hits me at a visceral level. You understand me as no one else does. You have touched something very central to my experience. And it seems to me that Much of your writing, maybe all of your writing, actually reaches your audience at that latter level. You know. I would say in the former category, sort of my quintessential and beloved example would be P. G. Woodhouse. He amuses me, but I don't feel like he's revealed my inner self at a very deep level. Um, were you aware that you were going to be able to achieve that? Um, that this is something... was it a startling thing when people began coming up to you, who'd read your work and said, this means so much to me?

Neil: Yeah. It was huge. And it wasn't expected. I... if I had a mountaintop I was heading towards, it was gonna be P. G. Woodhouse. Um, I wanted to be a proficient entertainer with a clear prose style who could tell stories. Um, it probably wasn't until Sandman that I found... I started to realize that in order for a story to work, I had to show too much. In order for a story to resonate, in order for a story to matter, I had to let it matter too much. And, and I remember the first people who would start coming up to me and saying, um, you, you know, your, your Sandman comics got me through the death of a loved one. Your death character got me through my child's death, through my parent's death, through my partner's death, through my friend's death. Um, and that left me kind of amazed. I'm like, well, I didn't write it to do that. I wrote it to feed my children. I wrote it to satisfy myself. I wrote it because nobody else had ever written it. And if I didn't write it, it wouldn't be written, but I don't think I wrote it to give you what you've taken from it. And I spent really about 20, 25 years feeling awkward about that. And then my father died, in March 2009, and never got to cry about it. Never... I, you know, I've, I've got on a plane and I went to the UK and dealt with the funeral stuff and organized all of that stuff and came back and go toff the plane and went and did Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report and wearing the funeral suit because and that was all I had with me and carried on. And then, somewhere in the middle of summer, I was reading a friend's script. They'd sent me a script and said, can you look this over? And I'm reading it, and on page 20, the lead character meets somebody, and on page 26 maybe, she's dead, and I burst into tears. And I'm bawling. I am sobbing. It is coming out of me in giant racking waves. And I realized that it's everything that I'd been, hadn't let myself feel, or hadn't been able, hadn't stopped enough to let myself feel, was suddenly being given permission to feel by the death of a fictional person who I'd met six pages earlier, ia script. And I thought that... and it was huge for me, and I thought, okay, that's that thing that people are talking about sometimes, when they come tome and they say, you, you did this. So right now, I'm in this weird, wonderful place where I think a lot of people in Good Omens Season 2 thought they were signing up for the P.G. Woodhouse, and didn't know that, no, no, no, you've, you've signed up for the whole thing. You've signed up for the feelings. You've signed up for the emotions. I... it is my job to make you care and to make you feel and to feel things you haven't felt before. And which meant that the first week or so after Good Omens came out, I was getting angry, furious, deeply upset messages on every possible social medium telling me that I had betrayed people, and it was awful, and they couldn't stop crying, and why would I do that to them, and did I hate them? And they hated me. And then a weird sort of phenomenon happened as people would watch the show again. And again. And now they started to know, okay, this is where it's gonna go, this is what's gonna happen, this is how it works. And they started realizing that they were actually feeling things, and that was good. And that they were caring about two people who don't exist. You know, I made them up, and then and Terry Pratchett made them up, and then, um, David Tennant and Michael Sheen gave them life, and then they get to walk around on a screen and you know they don't exist, but you can cry for them, you can love them, they can make you laugh, they can make you exult, and most important of all, they can make you care. And the number of people who are now writing to me, saying, 'This was so important to me. This has changed my life. This makes me feel like I belong. This makes me feel like I can cope. And it's let me sort of find myself. P. S. I hope you get to do Season Three.' is, is huge.

[antiphilosophia]

Crowley's pre-fall name is BARAQIEL (THEORY)

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS OR RATHER CLUES FOR GOOD OMENS SEASON 2 CONTENTS, PROCEED WITH CAUTION 🤍

Very well. Who doesn't love the Crowley is the Archangel Raphael theory (I am certainly of those people who do). During my first watch of Good Omens S2 I was even somehow almost confident that that was the case.

However, my second, more careful, viewing of this lovely (but equally heartbreaking) season made me change my mind, likely for good. In episode 4, Furfur's book "Demon's Guide To Angelic Beings Who Walk The Earth" shows us a name of a certain angel Baraqiel. (see photo below) Knowing Good Omens that can hardly be a coincidence.

Unfortunately, the very text is quite unreadable. One thing, other than the name, which is pretty clear is the subheading "Angel of the Sky" and since the episode 1 lets us take a look at how Crowley did indeed take part in creation of what is to be seen in the night sky, one can hardly find that entirely non-fitting. One other sentence I was (at least I think) able to read is "Often draped in red."

(On a different note but certainly worth noticing are scribbles that generally just roast Crowley – his suspiciousness, hair and name (though I am not absolutely sure of the latter) "His hair is bad!" Wow, Furfur really does hate Crowley.)

Then there is something written above the name of Baraqiel, unfortunately in none of the picture frames does it get a bit readable. I wonder though, couldn't it be "former"? Since it comes precisely after mention of Crowley to whom should one report on Aziraphale.

Crowley is very powerful. Dominion

A word that is not exactly readable but can be deduced from its placement (it is situated just as Aziraphale's "Principality") is Baraqiel's rank – Dominion Angel. It should be noted here that I very much lack proper knowledge of either Jewish or Christian mythology and I would hate to provide any incorrect claims. I therefore think it is better for me not to overly state things, even more so since everyone can look into it on their own and figure out what that might mean for our beloved demon. What I will say, however, is that they are (as I understand it) very powerful and, placed within the 2nd triad in the angel hierarchy, ranked higher than the Archangels. This would go well along with the emphasis that was in my opinion laid on Crowley's powers quite a lot this season.

For example: "A miracle of enormous power happened last night. The kind of miracle only the mightiest of archangels could've performed," said Shax to Crowley, to which he replied: "How'd you know I didn't do it?" He didn't get an answer.

What I think (and I may be very wrong, obviously) is that a miracle of this vastness wouldn't have happened simply because of a regular angel and a regular demon did together half a miracle each. What is also worth noticing is that the tool with which Crowley created the Nebula is the same as the one he used to temporarily stop time at the end of season 1 right before Satan's arrival. So much to the size of his powers.

Baraqiel, lightning of God. Fallen angel

Finally, to Baraqiel himself. My lack of knowledge concerning this matter still stands and frankly I don't even know where to find valid information about angels and such on the internet. Baraqiel should, however, stand for "lightning of God" and is also regarded as the angel of lightning. In season 2 there are (as far as I remember) two occasions where Crowley is put in correlation with lightning. (1) His poor anger management issues in episode 1 and (2) his not at all better matchmaking in episode 3 ("I haven't done weather in ages"). Furthermore, Baraqiel is considered to be the one who taught astrology to people. Nevertheless, what points to Crowley and Baraqiel being one even more is that Baraqiel is indeed a fallen angel.

•

So... That is probably it. I usually tent to theorize about stuff in quiet, in fact, this is the first time I've used Tumblr for anything other than reading Neil Gaiman's posts. I didn't even think that I would actually post it but then I've searched on Twitter, TikTok and here on Tumblr if anyone else has already come up with this theory. The only post I could find (hopefully I haven't missed anything) was by @valaza_04 on Twitter (click here) where they refer to the same frame shot as I do here.

Now I know, we are still recovering from heartbreaking (but if you ask me, absolutely amazing) finale and the main thing currently on our minds is figuring out why would Aziraphale choose as he did and the many wonderful theories that come with it. However, considering the utterly virulent look that Metatron shot at Crowley before walking out of the bookshop with Aziraphale and also his "Well, [Crowley] always did want to go his own way. Always asking damn fool questions, too." makes me think that he absolutely does not care for Crowley and whichever angel he was before the Fall. And I reckon it won't remain unnoticed in season 3 and might even be really important (or that is just me wishing for more pre-fall Crowley scenes). Hence I decided that I will post this. And it doesn't matter if no one will see this in the end, it was quite fun to write. However, if there is someone who will read this all the way through, I hope they will accept my apology for the mistakes I have most possibly made (English is not my first language) and also for the ridiculous length this post has come to gather. It turns out, I am just as chatty of a writer as I am speaker.

Well maybe I will come around to write one more post about this theory, only with a proper research this time. Till then thank you and, please, support this season by streaming as much as you can so we can have season 3 of this masterpiece of a show. And be kind to those bringing it to us in your comments regarding the ending, even though it is very frustrating and heart-shattering, it is also maybe the best ending we could have hoped for with the prospects of season 3.

Thank you for letting me talk my heart out, Tumblr.

[frankenjoly]

Meeting the family

for stormbringer week 24’s day 2 | what could’ve been: kunichuuzai ft the flags

“By the way, Kunikida-kun!” Dazai then said, latching onto his arm tighter. “Don’t be scared if they don’t like you right away, ‘kay? I mean, look at me. I’ve known them for years and haven’t gotten their seal of approval either.”

Since Kunikida only knew the Flags through what mainly Chûya (for obvious reasons) and to a lesser extent Dazai told him about them, there was no way to fully discern if the group’s dislike towards Dazai was an accurate testament about how stern their judgment of Chûya’s partners may be or if they just didn’t like Dazai specifically. But knowing Dazai, discarding the latter proved to be very much impossible; loving him didn’t change his opinion in the slightest.

There was no point in dwelling, though, since the answer would come to him eventually. After all, the Flags themselves had insisted on meeting him.

“Thanks, Dazai.” Kunikida said anyway, because damn if he didn’t need that comfort no matter what. And, after leaning in to press a brief kiss over Dazai’s cheek, he knocked on the door using the pre-established signal.

What received them when said door opened was nothing other than a ruckus.

“FINALLY.” A voice he couldn’t quite place but was definitely one of the small bunch that always ended up sneaking into the background of Chûya’s voice message shouted, and Kunikida only had a split second to find Chûya in the flesh, who mouthed a clear ‘good luck’ before hell broke loose.

“Welcome!” Before he had time to react, he had already been dragged and sat on one of the room’s couches, as he got surrounded by the whole group in various levels of physical closeness. “Chûya has told us lots ‘bout you, y’know?” The first speaker, as well as the responsible for him having ended up there could be no one other than Albatross. Who also had an arm wrapped around Kunikida’s own shoulders.

“That’s an understatement.” Iceman, if his memory didn’t fail him (and it couldn’t because Kunikida had gone through a few pics of the Flags prior to that meeting in order not to embarrass himself), chimed in.

“Oh, yeah.” Both Lippmann and Piano Man agreed in almost perfect unison, then the former continued. “It’s like we know you already.”

“Totally.” Doc added, grinning as Chûya huffed, clearly trying to sound more upset than he really was.

“Can you, dunno… one, give him a lil’ space? And two, not embarrass me?”

“No.” A choir of voices with a fake innocent tone swiftly replied. Dazai, meanwhile, had managed to sneak towards the still empty seat beside Kunikida. Chûya, apparently deeming any further attempt at protesting as a lost battle already, ended up shrugging and moved to lay down over both of them and Albatross’ lap.

“It’s not fair…” Dazai then said, pouting and resting his head on Kunikida’s shoulder in an overly dramatic demeanor. “Like, ‘course they love you at first meeting, you’re great. But what about me?”

“You want the list alphabetical or chronological?” Chûya deadpanned, snorting. And Kunikida? He couldn’t help but laugh.

(Also on ao3.)

[rainbogen]

So. This guy. The purple guy on the right. I have many thoughts about him.

First off, let's do a quick recap: Luigi opened a portal to the dream world by accident (as you do). Antasma, who had been imprisoned there, used Peach standing too close to the portal to kidnap her. Mario went into the dream to save her and met Dreamy Luigi along the way, who has been a big help to him so far. They caught up to Antasma, who summoned an evil copy of Mario to fight the bros.

But this whole ordeal is strange.

Antasma hasn't interacted with Mario before this point. All he knows about Mario is he's a guy chasing after him while he keeps dragging Peach deeper and deeper into the dream world.

Why would Antasma make Dreamy Mario in the first place? And how could he make such a life-like copy of a guy he knows nothing about? One who runs, jumps, and turns invincible just like the real deal?

Remember, Antasma was sealed away in the dream world for centuries. There was no way he could have learned about Mario.

Or is there?

Think back to the beginning of the game.

Antasma attacked the group as they were taking the blimp to the island. Mario was the brave hero and fended him off, doing his signature jumping and dodging.

But take a look both of them.

Look at Antasma. This isn't the weak cloud form the bros met him as. This is Antasma in his final form at full power. Doing the same attacks as in his boss fight, playing the same music as in his boss fight.

Look at Mario. He only needs 2 Excellent jumps to defeat this powerful foe. The nightmare king was just a warm up to him. And he did it all by himself. No bros attacks, no power-ups, just his basic jumps.

As strong as Mario is, this one-sided of a victory is unreal. And for good reason. The Mario here isn't real either. This is all Luigi's dream.

Dreambert explains that all the people in the dream world are created by the person who is having the dream. Dreamy Luigi is described as being Luigi as he sees himself.

With this everthing makes sense. The Mario Antasma met wasn't Mario, but Mario as how Luigi saw him: the perfect hero who always comes out on top no matter what threat he faces.

He was formed by Luigi's many, many memories of Mario, so of course his movement and mannerisms would be the same as the real deal.

The Mario on the dream blimp defeated Antasma so soundly, he was reduced to a mere cloud. So did Antasma, when the real Mario caught up to him, create an evil Mario clone based on the dream Mario from the blimp?

Well, there's a few holes in that theory:

Specifically, these two abilities Dreamy Mario has: Making clones of himself and using Super Stars to turn himself and the clones invincible.

For the latter: Antasma had never seen Mario use Super Stars in any capacity, so how would he even have gotten the idea to have Dreamy Mario do the same? And Antasma was heavily weakened; how could he make a creature that was not just really strong, but flat out invincible?

For the former: Even though Antasma has the ability to duplicate himself, those duplicates were always in his own image. Never in the image of others.

So how does Dreamy Mario have those ablities?

Simple, Antasma didn't create him. Luigi's subconscious did.

Luigi has seen Mario use Super Stars to save the day who knows how many times. Dreamy Luigi has the ability to duplicate himself and use those duplicates in combat. Obviously in Luigi's mind, anything he can do Mario can do to (aside from ghostbusting).

But Luigi would never picture his big bro helping a villain. So why is Dreamy Mario helping Antasma? Well, let's go ahead a bit to his boss fight.

One of Antasma's abilities is to rip out Dreamy Luigi and stick him into an Antasmunchie. If Antasma eats said Antasmunchie, he gains all of Dreamy Luigi's stat boosts until he gets spat back out.

My theory is:

After the incident on the blimp, Antasma did something similar to Dreamy Mario, using his nightmare powers to convert the dream of a hero into a mindless servant of evil.

A powerful figment of a dream is still a mere figment of a dream. And this one didn't even have the benefit of having a real person's consciousness directly linked to it.

Even if Dreamy Mario couldn't enter the real world, having such a strong fighter within the dream world would still be a huge boon.

With all this in mind, there's still one more thing I want to talk about: His defeat.

Something that with Dreamy Mario's theoretical power level shouldn't even be possible. Luigi greatly admires his big bro. He believes Mario can win any battle. And Dreamy Mario was demonstrably born brom this belief.

So how did Dreamy Mario lose?

Well, if there is one thing stronger than Mario, it's Mario and Luigi. That's just basic logic.

Dreamy Luigi knew the person he was with was the real Mario and he knew this was the person he wanted to help. So he was giving his power to Mario, not Dreamy Mario.

Plus, fighting alongside the real Mario again must have altered Luigi's perception of him a bit. He remembered that Mario is not so unbelievably strong, that he can get hurt and if he gets hurt enough he can lose.

Luigi's love for his bro hasn't diminished, but his view of Mario must have subconsciously been altered to a more grounded and realistic level.

So that's why Dreamy Mario was just a beginner fight. His power had been cut off at the source before the bros even got to him.

As for why we never see Dreamy Mario again after his defeat...

Seeing someone you know die in a dream doesn't change your view of them. Especially if you know they're still alive and well. So that can't be the reason.

We've only seen Dreamy Mario in two dreams, the one before Luigi got to the island and the one where Luigi first opened up a dream portal.

In both of those instances, Luigi didn't know Mario would be entering his dreams, or that he has the ability to open up dream portals at all. After that point, Luigi always knew the real Mario would be present.

His subconscious mind must have taken this into account and not spawned another Dreamy Mario.

[broomsick]

Opening oneself to Freyja in three easy steps

Or: three personal tips to help further one’s bond with Freyja!

1. Look inwards

Freyja’s main “domain” is very abstract: she generally (but not always!) manifests herself in powerful human feelings. She isn’t only the “Goddess of love”. She’s a master of the passage from life to death, just like Óðinn, and as such, can be linked to feelings of mourning and loss which she can soothe. She’s also skilled at the art of seiðr, meaning she’s also a symbol of embodying and mastering one’s power, not only through magic but also through many other means— any that work, really. After making this tight association between Freyja and human feeling, one’s natural reflex is to turn inward and meditate on one’s own feelings. What am I feeling right now? Why do I feel that way? Introspection is important when working with/worshipping any deity, but this is all the more true when it comes to Freyja. Ask yourself these questions: Can I say that I am grateful to Freyja in this or that situation? Could I call upon her for help, assistance or support? What can she help me with? You might say that the process of constantly trying to understand one’s feelings— analyzing them, is a way to establish a connection with Freyja. It is by understanding yourself that you can better grasp the workings of Freyja in your life. You may even start to notice that she’s intervened once or twice in your life before, without your noticing! Plus, you will start to see the areas where she could provide the most help. After all, as mentioned earlier, she doesn’t just help with matters of romance. Her domain stretches from self-love to love of family, friends, and even strangers! She can help you take ahold of your personal traits, the better and the worse, and accept them as yours, as part of a beautifully crafted whole. She can help you to both receive and give love. In my experience at least, opening up to Freyja means opening up to others. Not because the former requires the latter, but because Freyja can help you, little by little, to perceive and comprehend human feeling, which is an immense help when it comes to relationships with others.

2. Find enjoyment

Allow yourself to explore the intricacies of the human experience! Freyja’s followers will tell you that she’s very keen on providing them with joyous moments. She’s benevolent and wants nothing more than their happiness. Allow yourself to try new things, stuff you’ve always wanted to do! Notice what works out and what doesn’t, and don’t expect new activities to go right or wrong. Simply let yourself be surprised from time to time. This is another way of being in touch with your inner sentiments. It can be hard, of course, to motivate oneself to do crazy stuff like bungee jumping or traveling. That’s why I feel the need to specify: “finding enjoyment” doesn’t need to be that complex, and intense. It can be as simple as trying to cook something, picking up an old hobby, like drawing or painting or singing! Please yourself with something you’re curious, or nostalgic about! Moreover, you can even choose to simply rediscover certain habits, as simple as that may seem. Why not take another road than your usual walk home from work? Changing up one’s routine from time does wonders for the mood! Why not treat yourself to a little something, such as a book, a candle, etc… Anything that stirs up your emotion, even in the slightest, can help maintain a connection with Freyja on a tight schedule. Especially if you choose to devote this activity to her.

3. Spread and receive love

“Easier said than done!” Don’t worry, I hear you, and I know. Freyja knows as well. What’s most important for this step is to stand ready to receive affection, but also to take opportunities to spread a little love! You don’t need to be constantly in good spirits and doing everything you can to make others feel loved. On the contrary, adopting such a mindset can become a strain on one’s personal health. It is better to take opportunities as they come! So much is enough to Freyja. I don’t think she expects her followers to be models of absolute, constant, unconditional care! “Spreading love” can be as simple as holding the door for someone who’s walking with crutches, smiling at a stranger, messaging a friend or family member who you haven’t talked to in a while and asking about them. Such seemingly small gestures can have a considerable effect on someone’s mood. You never know if they’ve been having a bad day! Another important part of working with/worshipping Freyja is self-love, though you might have heard about this before. Why not learn to accept love, both from yourself and others, as a way to honor her? It can be difficult, and it’s an effort that can even be considered devotional. Many activities of self-care are considered devotional gestures!

[kedreeva]

Honestly, I don't think Steve even noticed what he did or didn't feel or what he was or was not actually lacking in his parents until post-Nancy. He's exactly the sort of person who doesn't think about something unless he has to. I'm NOT saying he's stupid, just that literally he does not think about things he thinks aren't worth thinking about, and I genuinely do not think he thinks his parents are worth thinking about unless it's to plan around them.

"My dad's a grade-A asshole" and Steve worrying about getting in trouble if his dad finds out what he's done is in direct opposition to his willingness to do the thing in the first place, if he thinks about his father beforehand. "My parents are not home" and "my parents are somewhere else" are separate thoughts, and what matters to the plans Steve wants to make is the latter, and I'm not entirely sure he recognizes the former as a problem. His parents not being home is the solution to 'my dad's an asshole.' His parents not being home is a point in his favor, not a problem

And honestly, why would it be a problem then? Season 1 Steve has parents he prefers to be absent, and friends that are quicker to sneer and bite than they are to smile. Season 1 Steve, prior to getting sense literally knocked into him, is concerned about getting in trouble rather than worrying about his gf having just lost her best friend. Season 1 Steve takes one look at Jonathan in Nancy's room and his first reaction isn't to worry about Nancy's well-being, not yet. His first reaction is to rile up his sharp-teethed friends and go be destructive. Before Nancy scolds him and Jonathan hits him and an entire fucking monster drops through the ceiling and tears his paradigm of the world apart, I don't think it really occurred to Steve that things should (or even could) be different. Parents are just like that, right? Everyone's parents and family and friends are just like that. Right?

Except, then he's seeing what Jonathan and Nancy will do for Jonathan's little brother, how all the kids stick together and fight for each other. What Joyce will do for her son, what Hopper will do for her kids, for the small, strange girl they're saying has superpowers. The way Dustin's mom loves him, even if she's a little oblivious. How even the parents who know nothing, like the Sinclairs and the Wheelers, actually do love their kids; it's not a show. They're not in the news, they have no reputation to keep up, there's no one to impress. They just genuinely love their children. This friend group genuinely cares about each other. even when they are at odds with each other, they care. Absolutely mindblowing to the kid who couldn't get his family or friends to give a shit about anything, including him.

And I think he gets a bigger inkling about it all at the start of season 2, when he gets more involved in the whole group, but I think the moment he realizes he's got to protect Max from her family that it really clicks about his own family. She's scared about what her brother will do, and Steve remembers being scared about what his father would do. And it's one thing to kind of Know that your parents are not good, and be in the middle of coping with it, but it's another to see that reflected in someone else and realize oh.

And I think that's.... I think that directly leads to what's going on with Steve in season 3. He mentions his dad wanting to teach him a lesson and we can assume it's about Having A Job and Work Ethic etc, and maybe it is, but I think no small part of it is also that Steve got more defensive toward his parents about them being bad parents. I think instead of just being mad that he wasn't gonna get his way with them like in S1, or cranky they were gonna punish him for doing Teenage Stuff he thinks he should get away with, that he was actually a little hurt that his parents were more like Max's family than like Dustin's or Will's or even Lucas or Mike's. And I can imagine his dad reacting the way Entitled Parents act when their kid figures them out, and saying well if we're so terrible how about you experience what it is like without us, so you can see how much you owe us for everything we do for you.

and he ends up at Scoops Ahoy, because his dad is trying to teach him a lesson, but it's NOT a lesson about work ethic, it's a lesson about how to be grateful for the things his parents give him, as if taking care of their child was a favor that Steve now needs to pay back.

Except the lesson he learns is that he can pick his family. The lesson he learns is that his family sucks. And yeah, the lesson he learns is that he hates the way things have gone, he hates the big empty house, he hates the distance his parents put between them (while simultaneously being grateful for it because he doesn't want to be close to THEM, he wants to be close to better parents). And his reaction to that isn't to want better things with his family. Maybe if he was someone else, but this is the boy who doesn't think about things that aren't worth thinking about, and it's not worth thinking about something that will never happen. His parents will never be those people and, frankly, he doesn't want them to be. It's too late. Cut that loss.

His reaction, rather, is to imagine having a new family, one where no kids are going to be alone because there will be more than one of them, a family where no kids are treated like Max was, or untreated at all like he was, because he'll be there for them. That's something he can think about as long as he likes.

[wonhuihonwuiii]

joshua + jun pairing (junshua)

As mentioned in my previous analyses, I have STILL been seeing people criticize Jun's relationship with the members. I cannot stress enough how adorable and unique each ship is so I have decided to do an analysis.

Here is JunShua!

UNDERRATED PAIR!

I swear Joshua is Jun’s comfort hyung, you can't convince me otherwise!

Even though they’re only a few months apart, you can tell that Shua cares for/treats Jun like a younger brother but as a friend at the same time. There are times when we would catch Shua paying close attention to Jun (which reminds me of an older brother who adores his younger sibling) but we would also see him initiating cute little banter and teasing with Jun (reference to the entire Huya live). This shows how casually they act around one another, which I think mostly stems from the fact that both of them don’t really seem to care much about age gaps and they’re both foreigners so formality doesn’t really matter as much to them (I know that this is basically the dynamic of everyone from svt but these 2 specifically stand out to me).

In particular, I noticed how Jun becomes EXTRA playful when Joshua is around.  Don’t get me wrong, Jun is NATURALLY playful but he has this energy that becomes amplified only with specific members and Shua happens to be one of them. Even in their selcas together (which btw there's A BUNCH), the playful air that surrounds them is so apparent because of the silly faces they make.

It might be because Joshua’s tolerance of playful Jun is super high so he does such a good job at responding to the little pranks specifically by playing along. A specific example of playful Junshua would again, be the entire huya game live! Another would be a clip during left and right promotions where Jun was jokingly telling Shua something but instead of listening, the latter turned his back away playfully, pretending to be disinterested. So Jun with ZERO hesitation dramatically grabbed Shua. I honestly think this fits Jun’s type of humor really well since he can get all rowdy without offending Shua. 

Honestly, this is what I love most about Joshua — he knows how to attend to all members and he does so with different approaches depending on the personality of the person. For example, with quieter members such as Jun and Minghao, he would often direct his attention back to them when their voices are lost in the crowd or if they’re unintentionally unattended to, he would make sure to let them know that he was listening by responding to them even in the sidelines. This shows how observant and attentive Joshua is! 

Another thing I noticed is how they bicker A LOT!

An example would be the intro of the rice planting video with just the two of them and the time they had to babysit kids, which all happened during Super promotions. These two videos give us an idea on how close and playful they actually are around each other!

I also enjoy the fact that Jun OFTEN INITIATES PHYSICAL CONTACT! It reminds me of that Rock with you behind video of Jun lifting Shua up, as he and Minghao were about to leave for China. You’d also often catch him randomly hugging or poking Shua on the face or Jun would play with Shua’s hair. In short, Jun can be quite clingy around Joshua.

Jun also becomes very talkative with Shua! It might be because the former is aware of how much of a good listener the latter is.This reminds me of that one Junshua weverse live where Jun was passionately sharing a story while Shua sat there, with his full attention on the former. 

I also saw a clip of SULKY Shua (rare sight ik) with Jun and it was the cutest thing ever huhu (see this is what I meant when I said they treat each other like same-age friends because Shua is comfortable enough to act all baby like in front of Jun lmao)

i think it’s also nice to know that they hang out / have hung out beyond work hours especially because Jun is known for being quite shy to reach out to other members for a drink so the fact that we’ve heard stories from Shua’s perspective is so precious to me. In one of their lives together, I remember him mentioning how Jun expresses his love for Seventeen when he’s had a few drinks.

Overall there's something about Shua’s personality that allows him to click well with the craziest AND quietest members! He somehow unleashes their inner crackhead energy (like with Jun) AND I’M HERE FOR IT! I absolutely love Junshua’s sibling-like relationship with one another!

[steddieasitgoes]

@steddiemas Day 9 Prompt: Hanukkah Sentence Starters

2. How can you hate Dreidel?  

Tags: Established Relationship, Jewish Eddie Munson, Playing Dreidel, Hanukkah Fluff, Eddie Munson Is A Sore Loser

wc: 765 | Rating: G

Read on ao3 | ao3 collection

It’s rare for so many people to be gathered at the Munson house for something fun rather than the end of the world, but here they are. Steve, Robin, Dustin, even Wayne and Mr. Clarke. Tucked into the small living room and sprawled out on the floor. Limbs over limbs as they gather around the coffee table — well the former, the latter are curled up on the couch, observing.. A beautiful, hand-crafted wooden dreidel sits in the center surrounded by at least a pound and a half of gelt (another pound of gelt wrappers littering the floor). 

“Shouldn’t you be really good at this game?” Robin teases, watching the dreidel spin out of Eddie’s hands and off the table for the fourth time of the night. 

“You are the only one who's played it before,” Dustin adds, never one to turn down teasing Eddie. 

Eddie shoots them a glare that would rival Medusa if he were lucky enough to have her powers. Unfortunately, the only superpowers he has is his taste in music and his ability to land Steve as his boyfriend. 

“I fucking hate this game,” he groans. 

After scooping up the dreidel from where it landed with a soft thud on the carpet, he hands it to Steve. Despite never playing Dreidel a day in life, let alone any game for that matter (“I don’t know what to tell you, Eds. The Harrington’s were not family board game type of people,” Steve had told him one night which promptly broke Eddie’s heart and led to a marathon two-person game of Monopoly of all things), Steve is weirdly good at this. So good, he currently has a ridiculous mountain of gelt stacked in front of him like damn poker chips. 

“How can you hate dreidel?” Steve asks, tongue pocking out from his lips as he gets ready to spin. “It's so much fun!” 

“Oh yeah, it’s so fun.” Eddie rolls his eyes before watching as the dreidel carefully spins on the table, landing on the Gimel. Again. 

“It is!” Steve smiles, gathering the remaining gelt from the collective pot in the middle of the table. 

“Are you hustling us?” Dustin asks, arms crossed as Steve stacks his latest gelt pieces. He turns to Eddie, “He’s hustling us, right?” 

“Oh, now you want me on your side?” Eddie scoffs, shooing Dustin away. The kid has a point though. There’s no way this is just beginner’s luck. “Are you hustling us?” 

“Don’t be a sore loser,” Steve scoffs, rolling his eyes. “I’m winning fair and square.” 

“I think the dreidel is rigged.” 

“We’re all using the same one! If that were true, we’d all be winning,” Robin chimes in. 

“I don’t know, maybe Steve has like a magnet or something,”

“It’s a wooden dreidel!”

“See, this is why I hate this game,” Eddie huffs, throwing his hands in the air. 

“Don’t remember you sayin’ that last night when you kicked my ass,” Wayne chimes in, voice gruff but eyes full of mirth. “Listen to your boy and stop being a sore loser.” 

“Whose side are you on?” Eddie scoffs. If he didn’t know better, he’d be willing to bet his measly gelt winnings that Uncle Wayne liked Steve more than him. He knows the truth though, Wayne just loves giving him a hard time. He can’t say he blames him. 

“The only sides I do are mashed potatoes, you know that.” 

A collective groan rips through the room. Eddie the loudest as always, even when he nuzzles his face into the crook of Steve’s neck. “Scott is rubbing off on you in all the wrong ways.” 

“Hey,” Dustin shouts. “Don’t talk about my Lord like that.” 

“You people are all weird,” Robin laughs, reaching for the dreidel to resume playing. With a swift flick of her wrist, the dreidel spins and spins and spins before landing on 

Hey. “See, I told you it wasn’t rigged.” 

“Yeah, well, we’ll see when he goes again.” 

“Keep talking to me like that and he’s not going to kiss you for a week.” 

Eddie balks, immediately groveling for Steve’s forgiveness while Dustin and Robin look on with utter disgust. Wayne and Scott look on with all the fondness of an older couple who never got moments like this. 

“Alright, enough,” Dustin huffs, a minute later. “Are we going to keep playing or are you two going to make out now?”

“Well, now that you mention it…” Eddie trails off, looking at Steve with playful hunger. 

“Sorry, baby,” Steve says, pushing Eddie off his lap. “I have a game to win.” 

[bermuda-n-drangle]

Wilds of Eldraine Is More Arthurian Than Throne of Eldraine Was

Wizards of the Coast personnel, most prominently Mark Rosewater, have been transparent that Eldraine began its creative life as an Arthurian/Camelot inspired plane. Which it still is, but it was originally just that. However, they'd run some polls, and general public's recognition of things from Arthurian legend was limited in scope compared to the actual breadth of source material. So, to avoid a second Kamigawa, they supplemented it with the "fairy tale plane" premise, which has also been on the short list for years but didn't have enough thematic legs to stand on its own. They would play off each other: fairy tales needed a kingdom of humans, and Camelot legends needed a magical element outside the kingdom.

It was a pretty great idea. Then, the set came out, and the "Arthurian half" of it was received much more mildly than the fairy tale half. So, in Wilds of Eldraine, the fairy tale half is given much, much more prominence. This is obvious in every aspect of the set, from key art to draft archetypes, to the absence of Knight typal.

So this post's title probably seems like a weird sentiment to have. But I feel like Throne's Arthurian side feel flat because it was barely there to begin with.

Here, walk with me through a creative exercise. Suppose you have been tasked with making a setting inspired by Arthurian legend, the way Theros is inspired by Greek myth. You do not yet know that you will be given a fairy tale parachute later on. What's step one?

You probably said "make an analogue of King Arthur and/or Camelot". Because that's the right answer. And that is, indeed what they did.

Sort of.

Eldraine's Camelot is Ardenvale, and its high king is the Good King Algenus Kenrith. He underwent many trials to claim his crown, and all of the realm looks to him for leadership.

King Kenrith's card is not in booster pack, and his entire role in the story is that he is kidnapped and turned into an ungulate.

That's a pretty odd way to handle the King Arthur of your King Arthur setting, in the set that's introducing the setting. But okay.

You have your Arthur expy, and you have his kingdom. What is Step 2 in making a resonant facsimile of the Matter of Britain?

If you said "make four more Camelots"... Well, I'd say that's an odd pull. Given that there was only one Camelot in the source material. However, I did say that in this scenario you were designing for a Magic set, and if a plane doesn't have five or ten of its main gimmick, Richard Garfield will just die on the spot.

This is how we get the five courts. There is Ardenvale, yes, but that's just the white guys. Each court is a different take on the virtues of knighthood and chivalry. Ardenvale values honor and loyalty, Vantress values wisdom and knowledge, Locthwain values determination and persistence, Embereth values bravery and valor, and Garenbrig values strength and fortitude. Thus, the Knight, which is traditionally very white and sometimes black, can be in any color it wants this set and still make sense.

And that was very cool of them, honestly! However, it doesn't get us any closer to the setting feeling Arthurian. Setting aside that you're making a Magic set, ask: once you have King Arthur himself and Camelot, what do you need next to truly be Arthurian-evocative?

There's a pretty good chance that you said either Merlin or Excalibur. And Eldraine does indeed have those! Sort of.

This is Gadwick the Wizened and Embercleave. The former is from Vantress, and the latter associated with Embereth.

I have just told you all the lore about Gadwick and Embercleave.

They are both part of cycles of cards. Gadwick is the only card in his cycle that has anything to do with King Arthur conceptually, and in-universe he does nothing significant and is unrelated to Kenrith or Ardenvale, so it's really only process of elimination and word of God that places him as this setting's Merlin. Embercleave is part of a cycle of artifacts meant to represent different artifacts from Arthurian legend. Except the blue one, which is another fairy tale thing, and the green one, which is... Stonehenge, for some reason.

In fact, Embercleave almost did not exist. It was originally the Irencrag, this world's Sword in the Stone-- or rather, Stone with the Sword. (Note: Excalibur isn't even the sword in the stone, Excalibur was from the lady of the lady, the stone sword is different, look it up) Knights of Embereth, as a rite of passage, stick their weapon into the rocky edifice, and if they can pull it back out again, they are worthy of knighthood. And that's a very fun, cute way to take a recognizable motif of the source material and expand it into a whole cultural thing, genuinely.

But you're telling me early drafts of your Story of King Arthur Plane didn't have an Excalibur? Like, I'm glad that you caught it before you went to print, but where are your priorities where that almost happened? And it's not like Arthurian myth has some kind of dearth of legendary relics! Rhongomyniad, Failnaught, Carnwennan, the Ring of Dispel, the Green Sash, Prydwen. There, I just made another five color cycle with one to spare, and I wasn't even trying!

But fine, it's fine. You have your King Arthur, your Merlin, and your Excalibur, and even your Holy Grail, even though not a one has anything to do with the other and only one of them will do anything of significance within the story. You also almost had a Morgan le Fay analogue in the form of Sheoldred the Whispering Witch, but you cut her later in design because you wanted Eldraine to be a breather period after WotS and not another immediate ramp-up (good call, btw, but her replacement, Oko, is very much not a Morgan).

Is there... anything else? Something... synonymous with King Arthur, present in virtually every pop culture depiction of the man in some fashion? Something that a layman might naturally finish the sentence "King Arthur and his..." if prompted?

That's right, his Round Table!

King Arthur's iconic Round Table, which he famously sat at all by himself. His Round Table which was definitely intrinsically magical and NOT, by any means, a symbol of a regent placing himself on equal footing with those who swore allegiance to him.

In case my sarcasm is not portraying my frustration adequately: there are no Knights of the Round Table in this set. There plenty of knights, sure. A glut of them. And, as seen above, there is something of a Round Table that some of them are associated with. But there is not elite fellowship of legendary knights with the King counted among their distinguished and exclusive ranks.

The set Throne of Eldraine have five legendary knights at uncommon, plus a sixth if you count the commander precon. None of them have any lore or characterization beyond "hey remember how we said knights of this color are like? this is one of them".

Lancelot, the peerless master of weapons whose base desires doomed the court to infighting. Bedivere, the king's first knight of unfailing loyalty and single arm. Kay, the king's stepbrother turned protector, know for his mix of fire magic and swordplay. Gawain the gentleman, whose arrogance is tempered into humility. Mordred, the child of the king and his worst enemy, traitor to the crown. Tristan of the tragic romance. Galahad, Agravain, Percival.

Not a single one of them has an intentional parallel in Throne. All real estate for legendary knight characters in what is, ostensibly, The Legendary Knight Setting, is dedicated to going "knights are in all five colors in this setting isn't that neat".

And one might think "oh, they were just worried that the average consumer isn't going to have the knowledge of the specific of King Arthur's court". And ordinarily might be inclined to agree with you, but: they printed Questing Beast.

Yes, everybody's favorite 4/4 for four with three keywords and more further upsides than most would care to count. The questing beast is an actual thing from Arthurian lore, and like a surprising number of other mythical creatures, it probably originated from someone poorly describing a giraffe. Still, it's extremely obscure. I count myself the biggest authority in Arthurian stuff in most of my friend circles, and I'd never heard of this thing until its card was spoiled.

So this thing that almost nobody had ever heard of, it gets to be in the set, legendary, at mythic, and strong enough to warp standard, PLUS explicit lore importance. But making room for a single Knight of the Round Table? In the Camelot setting? Couldn't be done.

I'm not asserting this is actually true, but looking at the set, I can't help but feel that whoever pitched "let's do an Arthurian world after War of the Spark" knew nothing about King Arthur stuff besides what cartoons and movies made casual reference to. Like, really. Assume that you aren't allowed to say "there's a king" or "there are knights", because those are both things true of very many planes, and tell me, how would explain what makes Eldraine "Arthurian"?

Oathsword Knight is a Monty Python reference, is that anything?

So, yeah. The set comes out, and according to market research, the Arthurian side of the plane "tested poorly", which is to say, most players didn't realize it was there, which is to say, they realized it wasn't. So, in response to this-- I mean, by sheer coincidence, the Phyrexians destroyed all five courts in the invasion. References to them still exist, but Eldraine is focusing much more on the fairy-tale side of things this time, hence the name Wilds of Eldraine. There's knights, but no knight typal. Humans, but no adamant.

And then something funny happened.

I won't go into every last detail of Wilds of Eldraine's story, but: Will and Rowan are in disagreement of how The Realm should be salvaged. Rowan, frustrated with ideas like "social reform" and "negotiation", wants to do so with her magical prowess, and is willing to swear fealty to her evil witch aunt to make it happen. Will, meanwhile, is more level-headed, and wants to untie the realm by simply being a good leader and trusting the people to believe in him. And at first, they don't. But Syr Imodane, knight turned raider turned knight again, sees his earnestness and decides to place her loyalty in Will, and others follow after her.

One day I was thinking about Imodane, who features prominently in the story, and I had a small realization. The prosthetic arm, the mixture of fire magic and melee combat, being first to join. She's sort of like Bedivere and Kay rolled into one character. Except, you know, meaner, and a woman of color.

Then, like a flash, it clicked for me.

Algenus was never the Arthur. He was the Uther, THAT'S why he barely did anything. Will Kenrith is the King Arthur, the boy who became king because somebody had to. Eriette is the Morgan. And Rowan, her pawn and Will's flesh and blood, is the Mordred.

And just like that, they've done it. They have captured, not just the surface-level aesthetics of the Matter of Britain, which are by themselves nothing extraordinary, but the SPIRIT of it.

Many people thought getting rid of the courts would dilute the setting's Arthurian theme to nonexistence, but honestly? The courts never had anything to do with the Arthurian theme, not really. Apparently, they were just getting in the way.

Ultimately, making a setting "Arthurian" is a foolhardy task, because the setting of King Arthur himself isn't interesting, and it's not what makes the tale of Camelot interesting. But making STORY "Arthurian", making its cast and their relationships and their arcs and their virtues line up with what the tale of Camelot explores? That's something. Strange that it took making a limited archetype about evil candy to accomplish this, but we got there.

[jaxlol5]

copy pasting my review of the helluva boss music video here just because

for further context when i wrote the review on discord i had no idea that this was a COVER of an already existing song made by PARANOiD DJ back in 2021. just so i don't look stupid imma be tweaking a bit of my review that's just saying 'why would viv write THIS' because at most she just slightly changed it a bit, or that's what i'm assuming anyway.

i'm also gonna add a bit more to my review here such as the lyric changes and the overall emotional weight of the song. i'm not really gonna review it animation or song-wise, because the animation is fucking specTACULAR, and the song aspect doesn't matter much to me. i think the original 2021 version is pretty good at least.

this song [i'm guessing at least] comes after S2 E6 'OOPS', which was a half-sequel to S2 E1 'The Circus', meaning that Stolas finally has the Asmodean crystal that he plans to give to Blitzo, either to cut ties from him completely or to see if he'll keep talking to Stolas after he has a new way to get to earth that doesn't involve his grimoire.

(side note idk why viv keeps tryna push 'Stolitz' so much when Blitzo has actively said he doesn't like Stolas romantically and only sees him for the book. but she's gone on to change that multiple times so we went from Blitzo being forced to sleep with Stolas and hating it, to him actually having some kind of feelings, back to hating him, and now back to feelings, over and over. i know Blitzos whole character is that he can't accept affection properly but it's different when this 'affection' is just consensual r4pe via power imbalance and then has to be turned around so that neither Stolas or Blitzo are the bad guys when they clearly are.)

because of the song being made in around 2021, before season 2's downfall, the lyrics had to be changed to fit. which is completely fine to do, mind you, but the issue is what what lyrics in specific were changed. in the original 2021 version, Stolas mentions Octavia and how she must feel about everything happening in her life, but in the new version, it's cut out entirely. Why?? i know the main focus is supposed to be his relationship, but this entire situation is affecting his family as well, and especially Octavia. it makes no sense to completely neglect his own DAUGHTER for someone that he repeatedly fetishizes and treats as lower- but also someone that he idolizes and sees as his true love. i could go on and on about how the changes of their dynamic piss me off but that's a bit of a tangent.

speaking of which why is there 2 songs for stolas doing the same fucking thing. in S2E1 he's singing about blitzo while thinking about leaving him. now in THIS video he's.. singing about blitzo while thinking about leaving him, the only difference is that in the former song he didn't have the crystal, and now he does.

the song in general feels so forced especially with how the Stolitz arc has been progressing, which is barely. they last talked in S2E4 'WESTERN ENERGY' and the very little character it added was all shoved into a 3 second scene of Stolas scrolling thru text of them talking about the events after 'OZZIES'. and then we exclusively see Blitzos side of the aftermath, but not Stolas. he seems perfectly fine compared to Blitzo, or maybe he's not; why not fucking show that! and no the video doesn't count because it's talking about the events that take place after 'OOPS' not 'OZZIES'. pretty sure that former episode canonically takes place months before the latter.

i saw an amazing thread that breaks this video down if you compare it to pearl's song 'It's Over, Isn't It'. it just doesn't work the same way because of the insane power dynamic and the fact that Stolas wanted to keep Blitzo for so long, manipulating him for that want as well. at least he's finally going to let go NOW [i assume], but it feels long overdue, especially with how much these 2 have been forced to deal with.

[dat-physics-gal]

A leap of faith and Physics (part 2)

Now that we knew how to find the crystals, the scientific community was tense. Itching to do something with them.

One paper had just unveiled a method of propulsion using the tachyon background and directed linear resonance chirping. The tachyon background, as it turned out, is self organizing. Unlike the tardionic world we were used to, entropy actually decreases over there. There is a natural tachyon base frequency, one so high that they travel really slowly. That's also weird about tachyons, how the more energy they have, the slower they move. But we knew that part beforehand.

Anyway, the paper outlined how to use a subharmonic of that base frequency, that could slowly be chirped in one direction to one harmonic lower, which would generate physical thrust on the tardium crystal used for chirping. Only problem was that once the frequency arrived at the new subharmonic, the tachyons decayed into their base frequency, completely stopping the propulsion. This stopping effect, though detrimental to the experimental setup in terms of having broken it multiple times, begged the question though: Since it stopped, momentum isn't conserved, despite motion happening.

Just half a year later, some madlad had designed an actual engine based on that concept, that should in theory exceed the speed of light. To be fair, the tardium crystals did that, for a couple attoseconds. Unfortunately for the rest of the prototype, normal matter doesn't appreciate being moved at superluminal speeds, and therefore broke apart when the craft approached the light barrier.

Despite that setback, people kept on theorizing and engineering. Then, two years later, Star Trek came to the rescue again. A research group posited that they could make a 'structural integrity field' by sprinkling microscopic tardium crystals into the steel and ceramic of the hull, and engineering a tachyon field that would keep them at a constant distance relative to the drive crystals. Ten months later, and a tiny prototype did what we thought to be impossible: For 24 milliseconds, it traveled at about 1.000000001c, and it came out of this experience unharmed. However, the sharp drop from superluminal to low subluminal speeds did de-tune the structural integrity field. Unless we got someone to board the vessel and re-tune it after every drop from superluminal, this wasn't going to work out. Especially because the chirp would not last all that long.

Now that the principle was proven, though, the engineers and mining crews took over. While the former slaved over engine and hull designs, the latter set up multiple extra bases along the asteroid belt, undulation mining all the tardium crystals they could get their metaphorical hands on. They were tiny, but since we needed most of them for the integrity field anyway, that wasn't a problem. What was harder was finding good, sufficiently large drive crystals.

Meanwhile, the engineers had settled on a design that was, for some reason, a flying saucer. They explained that they needed three or more engines to run at the same time all the time, to be able to adjust course. And also have more than that so some could be stopped, reset, and be ready to chirp again before the active ones were done. Therefore, at six points radially along the saucer, there were 2cm sized drive crystals which would propel the craft. They would be working on three cycles, while one pair was resetting, the other two pairs would be actively propelling the vessel. This way, continuous propulsion could be achieved. And the integrity field would not need to be re-tuned every couple milliseconds.

For low subluminal speeds, the engines didn't actually require the integrity field to be active. This had the advantage, that the vessel could be contacted. Because as prototyping quickly revealed, as soon as the integrity field was up, communications were all blocked in their entirety.

But, well, after 5 more years of prototyping and biological compatibility testing, the first starship was deemed spaceworthy and safe for humans to be on the inside of. Turned out that as long as the hull integrity field was up, the inside of the craft needed no further cautions, and you could float around in it like normal. The field itself didn't even extend much further inside beyond the outer hull. Though, when the field was down, you would experience the g-forces of the drive, which sounds bad, but actually made for some handy way to produce artificial gravity during the ascent from the surface. Once the field was up, the magnetic boots of the uniforms anchored you to the floor. Or you could grab onto two handles and anchor yourself that way.

We would love to have made a bigger ship than we did, but unfortunately, the Enterprise (because of course they named it that) was limited by the amount of available large tardium crystals for the drive. So we deemed its first mission to be getting some more. Trade for them, get permission to mine them, whatever, we just needed some larger ones.

As for now, the enterprise had just one deck in the wider saucer, but 3 in the middle, which was bulbed out for no discernible reason i could find, other than to make it look like a proper UFO. And maybe to house the living quarters for the crew of 45 brave explorers. And also to transport back more tardium in the cargo hold, located smack dab in the middle of the ship.

We sent a request for the isocoordinates of the closest civilization to us over vibromessage, and after receiving them, we gave the go ahead.

We however forgot to take into account that due to the message blocking of the structural field, we could no longer send our friends in the Andromeda galaxy any messages. Nor could we check in with the Enterprise, as it would be in the tachyon slipstream continuously, so as not to need to re-tune the integrity field as often. Because that takes a while each time.

So for 30 long years after the sendoff, we didn't know anything. We didn't waste that time, but with so much of our supply of crystals built into that ship, we needed a while to even start on other experiments. And the first thing we did was to upgrade the control network for the dyson collectors. I say first thing, as if we finished that project quickly, when in reality it took us 2 of those 3 decades. The last decade was pretty calm. Humanity had endured so much excitement, that the new generation now pushed to refocus on our culture. So, now that the collectors were precise enough, we finally began to enact our long awaited plan to terraform Mars. But that would take about a century in total, so it wasn't like there was much daily excitement to be had about that.

Then, thirty years and 5 months after launch, at 0:1 PFJ, we received a vibromessage from Andromeda. Enterprise had made it.

Quickly thereafter, the prime administrator called me, demanding to be connected to the tachyon network at once, now that comms were open once more.

I didn't really watch the negotiations that followed, but to make a long story short, our wayward crew was allowed to mine asteroids in the system of the aliens for tardium, so long as the aliens got a 40/60 cut. They themselves admitted to being unable to mine them by themselves, so they gave us the lion's share.

For the domestic scientists, this meant the reserves of tardium were opened more to experiments, as more was on the way soon-ish.

This resulted in the discovery of how the tachyons decayed into their base frequency, or vacuum state, if you will. We knew that in tardium, the tachyons directly couple with the phonons, which are the vibrational excitation modes. However, in vacuum, when coupling with themselves in order to decay into a higher frequency, the excitation was mitigated by an elongation of the surrounding spacetime in turn. We had finally found the explaination for the expansion of the universe: Whenever tardium gets excited and tachyons of non-base frequencies are sent out, their decay mode stretches the universe. Or, well, it stretches spacetime, with isospace being left unaffected. Our drive tech basically anchors the vessel to isospace anyway, so even if the universe keeps expanding, we can still visit everyone we want with the first drive we made. But... negative spacial curvature was something we wanted to achieve for centuries. And now, we were able to!

With this discovery, the engineers went back to work to try to make this into a method of propulsion as well. This necessitated a name for our first, working engine, which we decided to call the slipstream drive. This was fairly intuitive of a name, as the vessel would couple to isospace instead of regular spacetime, where it would be carried by the pressure of the tachyon field on one side, while the chirpers destructively interfered with it on the other side. Thus essentially creating a slipstream pocket in the front, into which the tachyon pressure would continuously push the vessel.

Speaking of names, the newly conceived drive was uncreatively christened the warp drive. To be fair, it was pretty much exactly what a warp drive in pop-culture had been. Except, turns out, it didn't work that easily. The warp prototypes at the moment had small drive crystals. And so, their warp fields collapsed fairly rapidly, due to unwanted resonance we couldn't shunt away. No prototype even managed to break the warp 1 barrier yet, though they did achieve fairly decent sublight speeds. And, interestingly, they could still be communicated with via tachyon message. This was due to the fact that they worked on the opposite principle of comm-arrays. Where communications needed to stay stable over vast distances, the warp drive needed the tachyons to rapidly decay into the ground state in order to achieve propulsion. Anyway, as exciting as the warp drives were, in terms of actual propulsion, they weren't all that revolutionary.

The theoretical development of better, more efficient slipstream drives on the other hand flourished. Once Enterprise got back, the engineers were confident that the next trip to Andromeda could be tackled in about a month or two, with the new engine design. Maybe three, if some unforeseen hazards appeared.

-------------------------------

The high council of Krg didn't really know how to react to the news of the Humans' arrival.

Nobody could wrap their minds around how they got here. Or really why. Well, they stated that they wanted to mine the asteroids in the star system for tardium, but why they came to the surface was beyond the council's understanding.

They had to wear thick, bulky suits, with gas containers for respiration, as Krg didn't have an atmosphere. To even get to our habitats, we had to open one of the pressure doors, which we normally use to get to the surface whenever we want to access the telescopes. It was such a strange feeling, letting something else then a Krgian crawl through our living spaces. Usually when that happened, the intruder was some kind of pest, which we quickly drove out.

The Humans had trouble with the steepness of some of our tunnels, but they still insisted they come down here. Our multitude of locomotive limbs allows our kind to easily traverse these tunnels, but that didn't mean the Humans didn't manage. When we thought it would be too steep for them to follow us, they unveiled a rope and pulley system, which they used to hoist themselves down along the wall. Ingenious!

Though i couldn't help but ask: "Are you sure you can get back up?"

The lead human, furthest down the rope turned its head, and replied: "Yeah, easily. The gravity here is so much lower compared to Earth, it will be a cakewalk. Ah, sorry, human expression, what i meant was it will be a simple matter. To be honest, i am more worried about the light."

Light? "Oh right, you Humans have sensory organs that require light." I had forgotten about that, but supposed it made sense for surface dwellers such as them.

"Yes, we can't see much down here with our measly flashlights."

"What is a flashlight?"

"A portable light source, which can be directed into a specific direction. But in tunnels like these, in the dark, i can see why your species has evolved vibrational senses first and foremost."

"You are familiar with them?"

The Human made noise that sounded as if it had trouble with respiration. "Yes. We have lots of life forms on Earth that have whiskers like yours. Not even all of which live in tunnels. Some live together with us."

This surprised me. "There is another intelligent species on your planet?"

"No." came the swift reply.

"Ah, a pet then. Or is it livestock?"

"No, cats are pets. Though jury's out on who's domesticated whom."

I wanted to ask for clarification, but we had arrived at my workstation.

"We are here," i announced to the humans, opening the hatch. "You may enter."

"Whoa. Is that? A tardium crystal?" The third Human in line extended their forelimb toward one of the array crystals. "It is gigantic!"

Appraising the crystal, it was only about one and a half body lengths of the Humans. "It is for a communications array, after all. Though it is not the largest single crystal we have," i informed them.

"If the boys back home saw that, they'd be foaming at the mouth, you know that?"

"Isn't mouth foaming a bad sign?" I wasn't sure about all the intricacies of Human biology, i was a communication officer after all, not a biologist.

"It would be, if that wasn't just an expression. Sorry, i keep forgetting that idioms require context that you don't have. May we use the array to send a message back home? Our vessel is only equipped with a short range communication grid."

Another human whispered something i think i wasn't supposed to hear, but could clearly: "ET phone home." It was said in English, which i was rusty in, so i didn't know what it meant. We had been conversing in basic so far.

Of course, i agreed to let them use it. They proceeded to turn their heads in many different positions, but didn't go to the controls.

"Is something wrong?" i asked.

"We have no idea how to work this thing."

Oh. I went over to the vibromotor-controls, and softly brushed the control crystal. Brushing the harmony for communication with Earth, the vibromotors undulated, configuring the array crystals into the correct alignment.

The Humans then initiated a small scale communication from their own limited range communicator, which i configured the array to pick up and amplify, then transmit toward Earth. On the side, i used internal communications to call the council of elders up here, who to my surprise agreed to come right away. Only two millirotations later, they crawled up the side entrances, their chitin softness dampening their approach to a respectably low volume.

At the same time, the communications array was picking up a response, from the leader of Earth.

"Shall we leave the leaders to their decision?" one of the Humans asked me.

"Probably." i responded. We made our way outside the cavern.

"Do you have a water reservoir here somewhere?" one of the Humans requested. "We need to refill our oxygen supply, but we have electrolyzers and hydrogen fusers in the ship. So if you could spare a couple tons of water, that would really help us."

I had no idea what half these words meant, but lead them to a communal pressure well. We use those to transport cargo from the lower levels, but we had more than enough liquid water to spare. A couple tons were nothing.

After a trip back to the surface, hauling some metallic objects down the tunnels, the humans went to work. Why they were using construction material was beyond me, but soon, a rythmic hum came from one of the devices.

"Fusion in 3. 2. 1. Fusing now," one of them announced, having connected a soft pipe from one device to the other.

"What exactly is it that you are doing?" i inquired.

"Electro-chemically splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen, then using the hydrogen for the fusion reactor, which in turn powers the electrolyzer."

"I have no idea what any of that means," i admitted.

The Humans turned their heads to one another for a moment, then back to me.

"We're using a machine, or two machines rather, to make breathable gas out of the water."

"Oh, so you breathe water vapor?"

"No. But we can make what we breathe out of water. We don't just vaporize it. I don't think i can properly explain chemistry or electrolysis right now. We don't have the time for that."

"Don't we have plenty, while the negotiations are underway?" i inquired.

"If you think they will take multiple cycles, then maybe. But i thought it would only be a few rotations, right?"

It takes multiple cycles to explain?

What?

Just what is up with these Humans?

...to be honest, i kind of wanted to find out for myself at this point. Maybe, just maybe, they would allow me to travel back to Earth with them. I didn't have a clutch of eggs to care for, nor a mate. Which hadn't exactly bothered me, but it did mean i had nothing holding me here. Except for the now obsolete thought that i couldn't go to any other civilization.

Hello, Author here. I am sorry to say this, but this is probably the last thing i write for this world. ADHD refuses to let me do such a sustained project. If any of you want to write something in this setting i created, though, be sure to run it by me to see if it fits the setting. Also, if anyone has a cool idea what to call this worldbuilding/setting/universe, feel free to send me an ask with a suggestion, i'll edit the tags so we can find stuff written in that setting later on.

[katyspersonal]

8, 12, 16, 18, 22, 23 for the last ask game!

(Asks from this ( x ) meme)

8) common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

I am not sure whether this qualifies as "everyone", the takes I've seen might not reflect larger fandom, but I'd say thoughts that beasts are innocent? Beasthood in Bloodborne is revealed, not created! Dark Souls trilogy AND Bloodborne both depict humans in their lore as inherently evil and dangerous by nature, but the gut punch is that the attempts to deal with it make things even worse.

Humanity did not need to consume the holy blood to start being violent, cruel, destructive, stupid, unhinged and to eat their own; we've always been this way. Does it matter if what we're consistently doing is in human form or furry form, in the end? Holy blood removed the restraints that already were not super functional should you analyse history and society in general! At the same time, attempts to 'remove' that side of humanity with Eyes Inside and Kin ascension are whole another can of worms, and likewise a bad thing no one asked for. But yeah.. Beasts, indeed, ARE men! This is just Fromsoft's brand of despair!

12) the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

I answered this question like 3 times already, because in 'choose peace' variant of the ask meme it was unaltered! XD ( x ) ( x ) ( x ) These replies are for Gratia, Forgotten Madman and Dores and they still work! This time I will offer not a set character, but a mentioned character that does have backstory potential!

Logarius killed the king, but who was he? Was he Annalise's husband, since she is a Queen and not a princess? Or maybe he was her father, and she is the Queen on the account of no other ruler left?

^ The King is unused content and there are two kinds of models used for him; the first collage is for 'ghost king' that comes in three variants, and the second one seems to be 'actual' king. Again, are these spirits relevant? Or they're his servants? Or you can use these references to make TWO characters - the father and Annalise's husband?

I think this is some really good material to use for Cainhurst backstory! Maria's past in general is never developed aside of her Hunter era and all that happened afterwards, but I think he'd be a presence in her past in some way! As well as characters like Annalise, and maybe Bloody Crow depending on your timeline headcanons! + My take on it is to use both variants; former was how King used to be and three ghost variants currently function same as Brador's phantoms, latter is what he turned into (just less skeletial xd) since apparently for the ritual featuring Ring of Betrothal to conceive a child of blood it doesn't matter if you propose to Annalise as male or female hunter 🤔 And what are your thoughts VOTE NOW FROM YOUR PHONES

16) you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

"Laurence is Choir and Micolash is Mensis" headcanon. Okay, this is instant lie, right off the bat, because I DO understand why so many people like this! It creates the parallel/opposition that is fun to utilise in Micolaurence ship. Rivalry and all. But, honestly though.. Laurence is the head of the Healing Church! The bit about "creation of the Choir divided Healing Church in two" could be read as either 1) the staff now had a proper distinction between blood ministration and Insight research, in which case Laurence still governs BOTH 2) Choir lowkey turned on Laurence by pursuing more Willem-esque research but wasn't defunded for one reason or another or 3) Choir formed after Laurence's death where Healing Church was no longer organised properly. And in all of these cases, he is not Choir's 'face'!

If anything, School of Mensis is closer to how Laurence researches with Moon rituals and removed Great One cords. He is not Choir, he is either above Choir or against Choir! And more than anything, I don't understand the appeal of drawing Laurence in unaltered Choir garb. Regardless of headcanons, it makes no sense for the leader to dress the exact same as his subordinates! He should create the impression of the most important person, not a Choir boy that forgot his hat! ......what?

Siiiiiigh FINE, I'll downvote my own uploads here and say that it IS possible that Laurence was wearing this clothing and Choir copied him afterwards, when he either died or shifted into different direction (with new drip). It can work! But I still do not understand the appeal personally!

18) it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

The historical background within Bloodborne's universe! What happened with Pthumerians, how all of this started, how Pthumerians and humans divided exactly, what happened in Loran, the reasoning between civil war within Pthumerians, what happened with the Great Ones, who was the guy that created Holy Moonlight Sword, what the heck was with beta!version of the Hunter's Dream since you can see Hunter's mark and Messenger statues back in Dungeons- argh if only they've made Bloodborne PREQUEL, because all this information is so worth it! I want to create a Pthumerian warrior character xD

Also no, not the "then do it yourself if you're so damn smart" moment: I do have all of this and more mapped in my head! You can read the summary in this ( x ) post if you want to, but warning, it is fanfic-sized, not even an essay!

22) your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Everything in canon is my favourite part lol x) I don't even know which bit to single out! I think maybe Logarius' relation to the core Healing Church? With ignoring Brador, you could cope saying he was just 'another' assassin, or that the Cleric Beast he killed was not Laurence, or something.. But how can you erase Logarius and his Executioners, that went to destroy Cainhurst on Laurence's behalf? It is always just "oh look, Laurence and his TWO most important associates Ludwig and Gehrman! :3" meanwhile Logarius is just here like:

23) ship you've unwillingly come around to

I used to dislike Gascoryk, believe it or not! I started right out with the 'the grandpa little girl mentioned IS Henryk, so he is Viola's father!' so it constantly felt strange for me. And I also had bad taste after previous fandoms where people would take a male character who canonically had girlfriend/wife established and either ignored her to not let her "get in the way" or paired her with female character to "get rid" of her (you just know what I mean). It just felt so weird for me that people liked this ship when I just started in the fandom?

But yeah, I could only see this ship enjoyed and treated normally so often before I started to question my own perception of it. Like maybe I was reading it the wrong way, or projected former cringe experiences with shippers on this new fandom that is more mature? This is why I say that I came around it 'unwillingly': everyone enjoyed it and no one thought it was strange, so I ended up being chill about it over thinking that maybe I was the strange one about it. Granted, it was to the BETTER, since I figured that timeline is flexible and they still had a story before Gasc's marriage, also open relationship is a thing, also maybe 'grandpa' was not to be taken literally but just a sign of how present he was in the family or something they told to the girl xd Not to mention that the most active shipper of Gascoryk that I know of absolutely DOES care about Viola and Eileen too, so I've had a lot of positive exposure that completely overrode the negative impression from previous fandoms that I carried here!

[girl4music]

Watching the Frozen movies again. Remembering how much I love them. You know for children’s movies, they actually can get pretty dark when you really analyze the concepts used to tell the story. Showing how quickly magic can become a very destructive thing when not handled correctly or when there’s a lack of emotional control. Elsa’s magic being more so PK ability. That of hydrokinesis/cryokinesis. The psychic ability to manipulate or control water, ice or frost.

There has been similar stories about this with the element of fire as well. Stephen King’s ‘Firestarter’ specifically comes to mind. And many a Marvel or DC character have possessed these supernatural abilities.

It really is about learning to control your inner power because psychic ability (or magic) is an extension of our thoughts and emotions - of our internal selves. The Frozen movie specifically tells the story of a gifted/cursed child that has to overcome their fear of putting their loved ones in danger out of a mishandling and lack of control of their mental and emotional power - which manifests as a physical supernatural ability.

You take the metaphor of that away and you’re left with a child who grows up to be afraid of their own power because they’ve been taught that it’s wrong, that it’s a threat, that it’s destructive and chaotic. When really, what’s more dangerous is repressing it because the fear of it only continues to grow instead and that can be even more destructive in the end.

This is a very dark concept to be telling the story of in a children’s movie if not for the metaphor being used.

But this is also why it connects to an older audience.

Why it works as an all-the-family movie because the older audience can see behind the metaphor to the strong and substantial message that’s there while the younger audience thinks it’s cool and entertaining but can come to relate and resonate with the characters.

Both Frozen 1 and 2 navigate these icy waters quite literally to tell the story of the danger of repression. Keeping it in over letting it out when the latter, while still dangerous, is less dangerous than the former because there’s no emotion more chaotic than fear. And when you possess such immense power that you can’t control, and there’s no real guidance for how to… that fear only intertwines with that immense inner power and exacerbates it - it doesn’t stop or quell it. In that way the moral to the story is about allowing and accepting our inner power than it is about controlling or concealing it and that’s why it’s so empowering and captivating to audiences of any age or gender. They learn that repression just makes power worse because there’s no true understanding of it in the first place.

And I feel like a lot of people who do possess psychic/intuitive power innately need to know and learn this because they’re taught and encouraged to control and conceal their power more so than they are taught to allow and accept themselves as they naturally are.

Speaking from personal experience - when I realized that I was psychic and possessed claircognizant and clairsentient abilities, I didn’t understand my experiences: I thought there was something wrong with me and there was no one I could talk to about it. So having a fictional character like Elsa when I was young would have really helped me with knowing and understanding myself and my own abilities before I had even come across the right or correct “term” and “definition” for them. Before I knew that they were good and that they were a natural part of who I am.

The Frozen movies matter to someone like me that does possess psychic power and ability. But they would also matter to someone not like me because the metaphor doesn’t have to be taken literally. It could simply just be that of understanding our inner power and that we are just as worthy with it or without it.

And that’s the deep story there behind the metaphor. But also very much through the metaphor as well. For me it’s through the metaphor but for most people it’ll be behind the metaphor. Both are just as empowering.

[emblemxeno]

Did you enjoyed Engage story more than 3H or less ? if so why and if not why ?

I enjoyed it more.

Ultimately, for all of 3H's in-depth prose regarding characters and some really hard hitting story beats, it fails to cement itself as a story I can enjoy because it lacks focus, cohesion, and respect for itself. There's too many plot threads that can go unanswered and characters that are treated as important are otherwise shafted (Rhea especially). The biggest reason though, is that for all of it's lore and worldbuilding, IMO it 1) fails to incorporate any of it in a way that's exciting in a gameplay medium 2) due to the monastery being static and centralized, the world doesn't actually feel lived in and 3) serves little purpose other than to be lore for lore's sake. The backdrop feels artificial, and does little to buoy the story when it needs help, especially since character dialogue can feel overtly bittersweet and melodramatic (I can only hear about the "horrors of war" so many times before it becomes incredibly annoying and lowkey disregarding the player's own intelligence to infer anything for themselves).

Engage meanwhile, though not "deep" in the sense that you're gonna get extreme political intrigue and similar things akin to what most expect (to a sometimes unreasonable degree) for a war story, it hits the marks it wants to and respects itself as a story. It knows it's a story about overcoming fear and despair, found family, self actualization, and being true to who you want to be no matter where you come from, and doesn't stray from that goal. I never feel like a blatant audience member looking into a story as the characters exposit at me, instead I feel genuinely engrossed in what's happening to Alear and the world of Elyos as a whole. And like, people can complain about things like Zephia, Griss, and Sombron having "sad" backstories, but I'd rather have the cliche "they were evil cuz they were sad and just wanted companionship" than the constant Edelgard sympathy the game throws at me as if I'm either 1) unable to comprehend morally gray storytelling or 2) a person who wants to hear that a violent, imperialistic war is being led by someone who "isn't evil ackshully."

And in general, as an FE fan, while I don't like to limit each individual game by precedents set by past entries, 3H and Engage both take story inspiration from previous entries, and the latter, y'know. Is good at it and the former isn't. I can't take 3H's attempts at plot threads of racism/xenophobia, social hierarchy, and grand politicking seriously when it fumbles the landing despite previous FE games sticking said landing just fine. On the flip side, I can take Engage more seriously when it asks me too, because the character driven, save-the-world narrative is something that it does well consistently, like most FE games before it.

[pompadorbz]

you obivously like taka but what do your think of ishda both as a concept and in the story proper

Ok prepare yourselves for this one, because I need to go on a full-scale rant and analysis over this actually. I think that Ishida is perhaps one of the most WASTED concepts I have EVER seen in my life. There are so many directions he could've gone in as a character and the writers decided that the best option was for him to just stop at a screeching halt before he ever got even a MOMENT to gain momentum. It's a decision that both angers and fascinates me, because not only is it shrugging off an entire character for practically no good reason, but ALSO, there's even some table scraps of evidence pointing to the possibility that he was meant to have even just a LITTLE more to his character. For starters, he not only has unused gift dialogue for when you give him a present before a free-time event, but an entire (albeit INCREDIBLY short) event.

Meaning that at some point, there was likely going to be more of an attempt to flesh him out that they just didn't end up going through with. Another thing that will forever fuck with me, is. Why does this splash art exist?

Like it's cool. It's raw as hell. But what reason does it exist? Like really think about it for a moment here. Ishida as a character doesn't have much more than. I'd say about 1-2 hours of screen time. And this isn't a Syo kind of situation, either. Syo appears fairly early on and then CONTINUES to front on multiple occasions. No offense to my guy Ishida but he literally eats dirt and then dies. SO WHY DOES HE HAVE AN ENTIRE PIECE OF SPLASH ART?? AND WHY IS HE WEILDING MONDO'S PICKAXE? AN ITEM THAT HE NEVER RECIEVES (and if I recall correctly, you only ever see in the chapters FOLLOWING his death)??? Why go through all the effort for a character that is around for only a tiny portion of the game if there weren't MORE PLANS for him initially? And like. No matter how you choose to look at Ishida's existence there is always SOMETHING that just doesn't add up or is never explained. Is he possessed? Or is this just a really poor coping mechanism? If its the latter, then why does his hair turn white? Why do his eyes light on fire? If it's the former, then why is the fact that A GUY GOT POSSESSED BY A REAL ACTUAL GHOST NEVER EXPLAINED, NOR EXPLORED??? Really, the only thing Ishida is used for is just a quick fix to nearly everything left unaddressed in chapter two's climax. A band-aid over a bullet wound. SO IM GONNA PERFORM FUCKING SURGERY RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES. CHECK THIS SHIT OUT. I'M GONNA WRITE A BETTER ISHIDA, AND BY PROXY, A BETTER CONCLUSION TO KIYOTAKA RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW (spoilers: I literally cannot think of a SINGLE way for him to die that doesn't work to the detriment of any other character. I am a firm believer that for his character to even WORK to a well written degree without using other characters as fodder, he needs to end up in the survivor roster)!!! This isn't gonna be like. INCREDIBLY detailed, um. I'd love to write this in full form someday but for now I'm gonna just do a sort of synopsis. BUT FIRST!! I need to talk about Kiyotaka as a character and the silly, funny, and interesting little things that are done to establish him because weirdly, Kiyotaka has this like, air of importance to him for both the first and second chapter. Like I might even go as far as to say that he could've been written as a red herring for BOTH the chapter 1 and 2 murder trials if the writers really wanted to go in that direction. Ok so with the prologue and chapter one, obviously every character is going to be given at least a little bit of time to have their base personalities established, and Taka isn't exempt from that by any means. He honestly gets a LOT more establishment than others in this chapter since he ends up becoming this sorta de-facto leader of the group right off the bat (and btw, I don't consider his eventual downfall and death to be a subversion of his character by any means. To me, a subversion implies that there's going to be at least some sort of attempt to tie in the subversion to his previous actions somehow, and no effort is made here. Chapter one already gives a great character subversion of the childhood friend trope with Sayaka, so if Kiyotaka's death is meant to be a subversion of his own character trope, then I'd say that it's comparatively much weaker). Kiyotaka even ends up being the one to set the morning meetings into action, which Is kept up for the entire rest of the game with little to no breaks in that formula if I recall correctly? Can you believe it guys. He started that. He started that and nobody thanked him. Anyway.

Then in chapter 2, things start to get a bit inch resting. The obvious one is Kiyotaka becoming friends with Mondo to then set up the events of the trial and how they relate back to Mondo, while simultaneously not making the culprit and victim completely obvious. Which by the way. Mondo's friend didn't necessarily HAVE to be Kiyotaka. It could've worked with multiple other characters but they chose SPECIFICALLY Kiyotaka. Absolutely fucked up. Anyway. The OTHER thing that happens to establish Kiyotaka in chapter two is. This.

fucking!!! oopsie!!! I fucking guess!!! Kiyotaka is the one to suggest revealing the secrets, which other than Monokuma himself dropping the motive, ends up being the domino that sets the entirety of chapter two's murder in motion. In a really fucked up in evil way, you could technically say that Taka blaming himself for Chihiro and Mondo's death actually has some merit if you pin it back to this! Fun! I think something about the second chapter that I don't see people discuss a lot is that while Kiyotaka is obviously being put into horrible grief over Mondo and Chihiro's deaths, blaming himself for both and even going as far as to vote for himself due to the amount of responsibility he feels, there's also this underlying second. thing. That I think acts as the nail in the coffin for his entire mental state once chapter 3 rolls around. Kiyotaka is somebody who at his core, has an INCREDIBLY black and white understanding of morality as a whole. In his mind, a person is either good, or they're bad. With him befriending Mondo, we see his morality take its very first major deviation. Almost. Mondo is somebody that Kiyotaka considered to be wholly bad at FIRST, but upon learning how similar the two of them were, he came to the conclusion that he made a lapse in his judgement, and that Mondo was actually wholly good. And THEN he commits real actual murder. Kiyotaka JUST made a friend for the very first time, and now he's learning that said friend committed murder. But not only did he commit murder, he committed ACCIDENTAL murder, and is still being punished. Meanwhile, Togami, someone who tampered with Chihiro's corpse for the sillyfunnies, and Syo, a wanted serial killer, BOTH go free completely unscathed, lacking any sort of further consequence for their actions. So not only is Kiyotaka in a state of heavy and immediate grief, but in addition to all that, his entire perception of morality as he knows it, and the BASIS for how he's lived his ENTIRE LIFE, has just crumbled in front of him in under an hour. This bad boy can fit so much PAIN and CONFUSION. This was so life shattering that I will once again remind you- he was suddenly willing to give up his, AND everybody else's lives to let Mondo go free. AND THIS IS ALL JUST TO PREFACE THE ISHIDA STUFF!!! So now we've hit chapter 3. I think pretty much everything goes as it does up until Kiyotaka becomes Ishida. THEN there are some substantial changes. I figure to start, I could think up a fun little reason for Ishida's hair to be white, although it's really just a metaphor. Once again, bro's entire understanding of morality has just crumbled, and I think that in his head, he tries to justify where he went wrong. Instead of just being the Mondo-possessed Kiyotaka, I think he becomes more determined than ever to fix the mistake that he 100% swears he must've made for chapter 2 to transpire the way it did. He begins to believe that he must've been acting too much out of pure logic, and that he should instead switch gears to a more emotional way of thinking through issues, hence his hair going from black to white. it's cute (it's also a nod to this lil line here).

When it comes to the chapter 3 murder, I think that Kiyotaka is vocal enough about his change of heart that Celeste susses him out in no time flat, and realizes that he's in a very vulnerable and easy to manipulate state. I think that he essentially swaps places with Hifumi here, and she's able to convince Ishida that Hifumi plans to hurt alter ego, or rather, that he hurt Celeste in one way or another. She's able to sniff out that Kiyotaka still feels spite towards everybody else, so if he can be convinced that she is the only good person left in this entire killing game (or grow a bond to Celeste), then he could end up helping her commit her murder. Except I don't think he needs to be convinced that he'd be making an escape with her (I didn't mention how he was willing to vote for himself in chapter 2 for no good reason). Rather, I think that he would play the roll of a red herring in the trial along with an unwilling Hiro, pretending to be the murderer as a last resort to cover Celeste's tracks. However at some point I think he would end up slipping (possibly in a similar fashion to how Mondo did with the colour of the tracksuit, which also ties to Celeste's own account, funnily enough), and that ultimately leads to Celeste's death. In Ishida's mind, i think he feels like he'd failed a second time to keep someone he cared about alive. He doesn't catch onto him being manipulated to begin with until later I think. Chapter 4 rolls around and I think things start to calm down, BUT. I think he remains INCREDIBLY silent during the entire thing, maybe only making a comment or two during the trial. I think as the truth gets slowly revealed it's like looking in a mirror. A. Very Hina shaped mirror. Watching somebody else also go to incredibly extreme lengths for the sake of someone they care about and trust strikes SUCH a chord, I think. It's perfect timing for alter Ego's execution to happen as well, I think. It's all a giant metaphor for something, probably. Anyways the reason I didn't go into depth with chapter 4 is because. There is a fic that I love that does that already. When I read it I was in a voice call and I had to refrain from actually losing it because it just??? happened to share a brain cell with me??? thank god??? Anyways it's called Stage 3: The Chrysalis (Also Known as Pupa) and it changed me forever. Go read it. That's an order. BUT ANYWAY after chapter 4 ends I think Kiyotaka would be fully back in form (now complete with emotional damage but hes working on it), and he'd end up taking a backseat so that the major endgame plot stuff can kick into high gear. Him and Hina are best friends now (real), and Ishida as a concept is fixed. This took like two hours to write, Spike Chunsoft should hire me so that I can write them a better game.