#the only thing i will say is that there’s a lot of convoluted lore

[conquerthenight]

What's your favourite fic you've written?

It changes a lot, but at the moment it’s I Know Who You Pretend I Am. I just love the whole concept of Lydia dreamscaping and @edgyparrot is the best cowriter 🥰😘❤️

[downtwngrl]

INTRICATE.

hi so it’s been a WHILE. uhhhh rewatched challengers for the thousandth time and it broke me out of my writers block! i don’t know how im going to continue w this, so feel free to drop any ideas and ill add it to the lore 😈 note: series prob isn’t gonna end with any smut scene bc im incapable of writing one without it sounding stupid asf! but who knows, you might be surprised

cw: 1.4k words,,, art and reader are dating but fighting, set in stanford era, tashi is NOT injured, patashi, hints of reader crushing on tashi but repressing it, fighting, tensiontensionTENSION! basically everyone is friends with one another but they all want each other BAD. lmk what else i should add :)

“it’s complicated.” that’s what you say every time someone asks you what your relationship with art donaldson is. and it’s true— you guys are fiery, but not explosive. complex, but not convoluted. it’s just… strange. intricate. hence, complicated.

you think he’d probably say the same thing, but there’s no real way to know, since you can’t exactly ask. the two of you aren’t on speaking terms right now, and for the same reason you two stopped talking last time, and the time before that.

art donaldson can’t split his time between his girlfriend and his fucking best friend’s girlfriend. and you can recite the argument quite well, maybe even word for word; it’s still fresh in your mind, engraved there.

“c’mon, you can’t just keep ditching me for her. it’s annoying, and it hasn’t just happened once or twice, you know.”

“i know.” art sighed, a hand tangled in his hair as if to ground himself. your name fell from his lips, voice cracking midway. “what do you want me to do? she needed help with her physics homework.”

“she can get one of her fucking groupies to help her! she’s a big girl, she doesn’t need to rely on you.” the way you said it, mocking and condescending, was mean, and you know it. you don’t hate tashi— you can’t even bring yourself to dislike her. but it hurts every single time you text art on your motorola and get hit back with some half-assed variation of ‘helping tashi. sry :( i’ll come later.’ he never actually shows up at ‘later’, which only rubs salt in the wound.

art’s jaw ticked. his eyebrows furrowed and eyes darkened in a way you’d only seen once before, when someone was talking shit about tashi in the cafeteria. you had watched as she calmly reassured art that is was fine, that he needed to relax, but he only shook his head and clenched his fists. in that moment, you wondered if he ever got that angry if he overheard someone talking about you. you now doubt it.

“don’t talk about her like that.” he said it calmly, but your skin still prickled. “she’s an accomplished lady. what about you? what have you done?”

if you sounded condescending before, it was nothing compared to how he sounded then. you scoffed away the sinking feeling in your stomach, blinked back the sting in your eyes. there was a lot you could have said to him then: ‘i might not be half as good at tennis as she is, but that’s less embarrassing than being second-best to her boyfriend.’ or ‘i didn’t compete for her number and lose.’ hell, even a good ‘fuck you’ would have sufficed.

instead, you just stood there, frozen, as he grabbed his stanford sweatshirt and left.

when you tell the story to patrick, he laughs, and doesn’t stop laughing until you jab him with your elbow, effectively knocking the oxygen out of him. his hands raise in mock surrender before speaking. “sorry, it’s just funny to see him get like this, i guess.”

you frown. “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“i mean that he likes you, but he likes tashi. i know it, tashi knows it, and from what i heard on the walk here—” he gestures vaguely towards the door to your dorm, “—the school knows it, too. i dunno, i guess it’s amusing ‘cause art has never been so disturbed about this kind of shit. usually he just picks the girl he likes best, but he can’t.”

“you mean he can’t because you’re dating her.”

patrick smirks his signature smirk. you have the urge to punch his teeth out; vagueness is beginning to be a pet peeve of yours. “no, i’ve told him that tashi is free reign.”

the way your stomach flutters at that is shameful. you push the feeling away. “like, you guys aren’t..?”

patrick shrugs. “i mean, currently she hates me because i said i’d go to her match yesterday and i missed it.” these guys really need to stop promising us stuff, you think. “but yeah, when she isn’t pissed off, we’re dating, and we talk about it. ‘bout you guys. she doesn’t really care if the two of you make moves on either one of us.”

you don’t say anything, but your ears feel warm, and your heart is about to explode out of your chest. it doesn’t help when patrick takes that as a sign to keep talking and says—

“i don’t care either.” it suddenly hits you, the closeness between you and him. close enough that you can smell his cologne, one typical of a rich frat boy you’d pass by in the halls. but it feels different, with him. patrick’s smirk has shifted into a grin, a big one. you realize he’s been gauging your reaction, and is thoroughly pleased.

“oh,” you breathe. he snickers, repeats it back playfully. you don’t understand how he’s so relaxed, able to make light-hearted jabs in this moment. art likes you and tashi. tashi doesn’t care if he likes her, or if you like her. patrick doesn’t either. but where do you stand in this?

your phone jingles, the sound muffled from the blood roaring in your ears. you don’t know if you should thank or curse out whoever decided to call you at this second, but you excuse yourself to answer. patrick nods begrudgingly, backs up enough for you to have room to finally start to inhale and exhale again. “hello?”

“hey.” it’s art on the phone. impulsively, you look around, as if he’s hiding somewhere in the dorm he marched out of a few days ago.

holy fuck. “hey!” you sound too cheery to your own ears, and hope that over the line it sounds more convincing. you hear a sigh on the other end, and can imagine art physically loosen. “what, uh— i thought you were mad. at me.”

patrick perks up. ‘art?’ he mouths, and you nod. he attempts to come closer, but you swat at him, moving a few steps away. he pulls a face, but doesn’t move closer. still, he’s definitely trying to hear what art is saying.

“i was.” art laughs nervously, the sound tinny over the phone. “but you’re right. i fucked up. tashi… she isn’t my girl. i need to pay more attention to you, and that’s gonna happen starting now.”

she isn’t my girl. “she could be,” you think aloud. you tense. art chokes. patrick stifles a laugh.

“what?” you pray that he didn’t hear it. you had mumbled it, whispered it, there’s a chance it didn’t pick up. art says your name one, two, three times before you respond.

“sorry, i just zoned out a little.”

“no, you said something. baby, what’d you say?”

“i said ‘you should be’. like, you should be paying more attention, dumb joke, i was trying to sound threatening,” you slap your free hand against your lips to stop your word vomit, then your forehead as you reprimand yourself for acting so stupid.

art hums. “oh, okay.” it should relieve some on the tension in your shoulders, but it doesn’t. he usually laughs when you fluster, but he didn’t. is he unconvinced, or are you overthinking? “hey, tomorrow can you come to my practice at noon? we can go to the cafeteria after, i’ve got wayyy too many meal credits.”

you look to patrick for help, but he shrugs, enjoying the moment. “sure.”

art says his goodbyes, goes ‘mwah!’ through the phone (which usually makes you laugh, but now you feel bad), and once you say bye, he hangs up.

“i’ll go to his practice, too.” it’s never a question with patrick (or with tashi); he just lets you know. “tashi’ll be there. she’s always on the court when she’s free.” you find it endearing that he knows her schedule.

“tashi.” you like the way her name rolls off your tongue, but you’d rather die than admit it.

before you can say anything else, patrick walks over, swings an arm around your shoulders and pulls you close. “don’t forget about what i said.” his breath smells like spearmint gum, the type art is always chewing. maybe he gave him a piece. “just think on it, yeah?”

you nod, and he pats your cheek before walking out the door, leaving you feeling dazed. after a few moments of just laying on your bed, soaking in the conversation you just had, your phone dings.

we’ll see u tmrw :-) -pat (&tash)

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog: Wakfu Season 2 (episodes 13-16)

Episode 13 - The Night of the Thirsters

Proof Amalia and Joris are not close friends number 829342345: if she knew the alcohol he drinks and what he considers "a clean environment to live in" she'd get scared.

WoT twitter would kill Amalia.

I know it's more likely that both alcoholic and non-alcoholic bamboo milk exists, but the thought of everyone being a-ok with Yugo underage drinking makes me giggle for some reason. Ruel would fucking do that.

Are your villains 1. indestructible, 2. want to consume something that could theoretically fix them, 3. in the process, inflict a fate worse than death upon their victim, who 4. becomes one of them?

...Necromes were a missed opportunity. Shoulda called them Wakfu Thirsters instead.

Episode 14 - The Voice Thief

It's always sad to see the way the world has been devastated by Ogrest's Chaos.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...This says:

Her singing is so cute!

She is now fully bamboo milk-pilled. GOOD.

New Krosmoz music lore: We already know that vinyls and their players exist, as well as the fact that rock music exists (due to the fact that The Blues of a Hypermage (parody of the IRL song The Blues of a Buisinessman) exists).

Now we have the confirmation that metal bands are real.

Also, electric guitars are also real.

Mics are also real. (I am totally not noting all of this down because I want to write a "Joris, Kerubim, and Atcham go to karaoke" scene in one of my fics in the future, nuh-uh...)

Hummina hummina hummina bazooooooooing! eyes pop out AROOOOOOOOGA! jaw drops tongue rolls out WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF.

It's very rare to see, within the show, characters who differ from their usual class skin and hair colours, which is a shame. (I am 99% sure this is an iop due to his clothes and his hair pointing upwards)

Text behind Eva: rien ne sert de payer il faut en fuir / there is no point in paying, you have to run away

Text behind Amalia is too shielded to transcribe fully.

This is written in Brakmarian. It says:

This means that, metal music is stereotypically a Brakmarian form of music (big news: spoon found in kitchen)

I usually don't point this sort of stuff out but, man, this tavern is really well off. Not only is there a lot of food, there are also huge hot baths...

Also, once again, canalization and running water are real in this setting.

I choose to believe that this bubble thing is the Krosmoz equivalent of vaping because it's funny.

[blushing] Would!

Jpop is real in this setting, and someday, I will be able to prove to you, that Joris is a fan of it, using some proof besides "well ecaflips are kind of japanese-coded sometimes" and "it just makes sense."

Good rooms in taverns like these not only have hot baths but also fruit, candles, and drinks... [starts writing down "Joris, Kerubim and Atcham go to an expensive tavern and start talking about some convoluted topic, with vivid descriptions of delicious fruit-eating, how good the wine is, and how soft the bubbles in the bath are" in my fic self-indulgent scene ideas document. I can live my vacation fantasies vicariously through those three men]

Of course metal music from Brakmar is about the fact that the apocalypse caused inflation and that it's Good.

This says:

ourse

olle

m al

venu

Episode 15 - Wabbit Island

Hhh she is a very good artist.

[guy who is insane voice] This means that if I ever want to use the expression "canary in a coalmine" in a fic it'll be "tofu in a coalmine" instead.

The word Sayonara exists in Krosmoz which implies that some sort of fantasy Japanese is real. Big win.

Episode 16 - The Cursed Fountain

:(

While I usually talk a lot about character parallels between Yugo and Joris (these men who had to grow up far too fast will someday commit acts which no human being can be forgiven for in the name of goodness—-) there is a lot to be said about parallels betwen Eva and Joris.

They're both artistic, kind people who try to appear logic-driven (and sadly, they are both basically the wranglers/babysitters of their entire adventuring groups).

[rainbow-neko-artblog]

I've seen a couple art pieces and other posts for your polyverse au now and I think it's neat!

I know next to nothing about it but that's OK! I will learn more about it soon

It's okay not to know much about it! The reason you've only seen bits and peices is because polyverse au is actually based on a 3-4 year old roleplay with me and my friends- it started as a regular fnf roleplay but as we added MORE and MOOOORE modded characters it became so convoluted with story that it might as well be an au because it sure ain't like the og game.

The best way to recognize it is by the Bf- obviously! His angel form + jacket and miku inspired look are original to him in this au, as well as a the polyam pin on his hat! I often draw him with his partners- which....are ranging OFBDKDBFND

Fun fact: originally my friends and I called this fnfverse. We still do actually- but I switched to calling it polyverse online because I would primarily post about the fun relationship development between polyverse's Bf and every other character in his polyamory.

Also it was easier to keep apart from other fnf aus when I called it polyverse.

That's not to say that the polyamory is all we talked about- that would be boring. Flat. Nothing like this should focus only on the romance plot-

So there's a lot more going on like Bf being a living weapon made for war by a giant toothpastey biblically accurate angel glob- and how the war is basically a giant CIVIL War because demons and elangels are actually the same race created by the two "gods" who help the computer work.

Or the entire eddsworld/tankman/picoschool/newgrounds subplot with a giant fuck off portal into the internet and everything scary.

Or the ENTIRE lore of garcello we made before it was confirmed how he actually got the cigs- which included whole ass ocs at that point.

It's a time.

At this point explaining a single plot in fnf polyverse au takes me ranting to everyone for 2 hours about the whole thing- taking everyone in the call on an unwilling adventure via my autistic rambles.

[pale-opal]

Hear Me Out:

I know that image and what I'm about to say has a chance of being incredibly niche, because I have no idea how much overlap there is between the Homestuck and Mega Man fandoms. But if there's anything I've learned from the internet, it's that no matter what fandom you're in, it's almost guaranteed that someone in said fandom has read Homestuck before. So I think someone out there will understand the rant I'm about to go on. But for everyone who hasn't read Homestuck before, here's a quick explanation: Homestuck is a webcomic that was written and published by a man named Andrew Hussie. It ran from 2009-2016. It follows the misadventures of four kids as they play a game called Sburb with the help of twelve other kids known as "trolls." Together, they go on a quest to complete the game, as the initiation of it has caused the world to end (so even if they wanted to quit, they couldn't. Whoops). It is currently available to read on mspaintadventures.com, however I do NOT recommend reading it if you are a minor, or if you have sensitivity to content that contains violence, strong language, etc. - There were also two (technically one?) epilogues produced afterward, as well as a sequel called "Homestuck^2". - The disclaimer above applies to those works as well.

Okay. Now that I've explained what Homestuck is, let's get into why I put these four Doctors in the squares that I did.

Dr. Cossack: Has read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - He just seems like the kind of man who casually knows a lot about a lot of things. - A "nerd," if you will. - I can see him reading this in college and subsequently getting totally invested. - He relates to John Egbert (one of the four kids I mentioned earlier) on a personal level. - He did not like the epilogues. - He likes Homestuck^2, though. Dr. Light: Has Read Homestuck, Doesn't Know What Homestuck Is - I imagine that Light was introduced to Homestuck through Cossack while they were in college. - Like, what if Light got sick at some point, and Cossack came over and showed him this random webcomic he found in an attempt to make him feel better, only for Light to wake up the next day, convinced the whole thing was a fever dream? - Cut to many years later, after the birth of Proto Man. - Light and Cossack are having a conversation on the phone: - Cossack: "Hey, Thomas. Do you remember Homestuck?" - Light: "...Homestuck?" - Cossack: "You know, that webcomic I showed you when you got the flu back in college?" - Light: "I'm not sure I-" - Cossack: "The one with the little gray people?" - Light: "Little gray- wait. Wait, that was real?!" - He has not read the epilogues or Homestuck^2. Dr. LaLinde: Has Not Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - I think that Dr. Cossack would go on many coffee-fueled 2 a.m. rants to her during last-minute attempts to finish projects on time when the two of them were in college. - LaLinde would always listen respectfully, and as a result knows the entire lore behind Homestuck despite never reading it. - One day, she decided to give it a go. Here's how that went: - LaLinde: "Okay, let's see here- what? Eight thousand (8000) pages? Where am I going to find the time to read all of that?" - And so, she has to this day never read the darn thing. Dr. Wily: Has Not Read Homestuck, Does Not Know What Homestuck Is - The reasoning behind this is simple: he just couldn't get into it. - Dr. Cossack tried several times while they were in college to convince him to read it, but it sounded really convoluted to him. - Dr. Light tried to get him to read it before the whole "Dr. Wily becomes evil and takes over the world" thing after he remembered what it was. - That didn't work either. - Plus, the whole thing just seemed too long. - He eventually just forgot it existed once Light stopped trying to get him to read it. But here's something else about the Doctors: they all had kids. Kids who all grew up with different levels of parental involvement. Kids who would've probably heard their parents talk about this strange little webcomic at one time or another. Which brings me to my next point:

Blues: Has Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - I imagine that he heard the aforementioned phone call between Light and Cossack, and asked Dr. Light about what they were talking about. - Light straight up tells him that he's not allowed to read it. - Blues accepts this. - Cut to Blues' life after he runs away from home. He's at the library. - He's also in the midst of his "I hate my dad" arc, and as a result is more than willing to go and read this comic Dr. Light told him was off-limits. - He spends a whole day reading the webcomic, its epilogues, and its sequel. - He is there from the time the library opens to the time it closes. - And once everything is said and done, he is a changed man. - His favorite character is Dave Strider. - He also used to like Dirk Strider and Jane Crocker, but then he read the epilogues. Bass: Has Read Homestuck, Doesn't Know What Homestuck is - Bass was just minding his business, until he finds Proto Man broke into his house... again. - I like to think Blues breaks into Wily Fortress sometimes, just because he can. As a treat. - And to visit any Wilybots he's friends with. - He goes to confront Blues, only to find him in the midst of his third reread of Homestuck. - He asks what he's doing. - Blues tells him to pull up a chair. - He starts the reread over so that Bass can understand what's going on. - Bass, too, ends up a changed man. Even if he has no idea what he just read. - His favorite character is Karkat Vantas. - He made a trollsona (basically a troll OC), but has never told a living soul about it. - Also, he will never admit it, but "[S] Game Over" messed him up on an emotional level (if you don't know what "[S] Game Over" is, don't worry about it. Don't look it up. It's okay. Just forget I said anything). Tempo: Has Not Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - Quake Woman has not read Homestuck for the same reason her mother hasn't read it: She's simply too busy. - Blues tries to convince her to read it, though. - But here's the thing: Vesper Woman HAS read it... but she just thought it was just alright. This leads to conversation like this happening: - Vesper: "Don't listen to him, Tempo. It's okay at best." - Blues: "..." - Blues: "...would you like to elaborate on that?" - They get into arguments about different aspects of the plot a LOT. - Tempo just listens quietly while she works. - Out of curiosity, she ended up looking it up one day when she had free time, and ended up stumbling across Hiveswap instead. - Hiveswap is a spin-off game that takes place in Homestuck's universe. The first Act was released in 2017, and the second was released in 2020. - I will admit that I haven't played Hiveswap, so I'm not sure if the disclaimer I provided for Homestuck applies here. Kalinka Cossack: Has Never Read Homestuck, Does Not Know What Homestuck Is - My reasoning behind this is even more simple than Dr. Wily's: - Dr. Cossack does not let her know that Homestuck exists in an effort to keep her innocence in tact. - That's it. That's the reasoning. You can all go home n-. - ...wait. Is that ANOTHER image down there?

You see, there's one more set of characters that I want to discuss in this long, long post. Characters that wouldn't be influenced by their parents, meaning that whether or not they've read Homestuck would be more up to happenstance:

...I can explain.

Zero: Has Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - Part of the reason I put him here is because he ended up being the opposite of what Wily wanted him to be. He wanted a ruthless killing machine, and instead he got someone who helps save the world on multiple occasions. So why not have him be the opposite of his creator in Homestuck knowledge as well? - (Although if you think about it, Zero is technically a ruthless killing machine, but that's not what we're here to talk about). - Another other part of the reasoning is that I thought it was funny. - Zero had trouble getting invested until Act 5. - After he reached that point, he was locked in. - He sees a little bit of himself in Rose Lalonde and Dirk Strider. - He has never read the epilogues, or the sequel. Once he saw the Snapchat bonus content, he thought that was it. - Zero successfully got Iris into the comic as well. - Her favorite character was also Rose. - I like to think he and Layer also became friends after realizing they were both Homestuck fans.

Axl: Has Read Homestuck, Doesn't Know What Homestuck Is - He found a dub of the series on YouTube on day while watching random videos. - He was invested almost immediately. - Axl would talk about it with the other Red Alert members a lot - especially to Red and Tornado. - But there was one problem: He didn't know the name of it. It just completely slipped his mind at one point, and he wasn't able to get it back. This led to stuff like this: - Axl: "And THEN John and his friends are losing to the Condescence, but-" - Red: "That's nice and all, but what's this webcomic you read called?" - Axl: "Uh... I dunno. I can't remember." - Red: "Are you sure you didn't just make it up?" - Axl: "Wha- Yes! Yes, I'm sure!" - Red: "...sure thing, little buddy." - After joining the Maverick Hunters, Axl casually brings up the plot of this comic he can't remember the name of. Zero soon says this: - Zero: "...are you talking about Homestuck?" - Axl: "That's what it's called?!" - He made a trollsona like Bass did, but is a lot less shy about sharing it. - His favorite character is Roxy Lalonde. - Axl got Palette into it as well. X: Has Not Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - He heard Zero talk about it with Iris a lot, but it sounded a bit too violent for his tastes. - He did play the Pesterquest visual novel, though. - Yes, the disclaimer does apply for this visual novel. - I like to think that at some point in X7, X complains about Zero and Axl's interest in "overly violent media" and asks if Zero has started "corrupting the youth." - He is promptly told to shut up. - X is more open to the idea of reading Homestuck by the time X8 comes around though. But it isn't until Axl is recovering from the game's ending that he actually starts considering it, since he knows it'll make Axl happy. - Speaking of which: will Capcom ever give us X9? - I just want to know if Axl is really okay, or if Lumine messed him up somehow. - It's been almost 20 years since the game released. 20 years is a long time to leave part of a video game franchise on a cliffhanger (but then again, Mega Man Legends fans have been waiting for 24 years...) Sigma: Has Not Read Homestuck, Does Not Know What Homestuck Is - The reason Sigma is in this category is very easy to explain: - He deserves nothing that could give him any semblance of happiness. - Also, I hate him.

Alright, rant over.

The inspiration for this post, as well as the original template, can be found here.

...now you can all go home.

[sarkyfancypants]

Fascinating observations upon the release of the Borderlands movie

I've been digging a lot through video reviews about the games and the movie and I've caught a few things:

-Non-gaming people were all on the same page about how it's terrible from the outside perspective that the movie is just bad and convoluted and tragically butchered through constant script rewrites to get that PG 13 rating when it originally had the R rating so it is unbiased from the game lore

-However gamers who do know the lore and gameplay were all on the same page about how it is terrible because it does nothing with its source material and only made whatever the hell they wanted and being like a decade late to deliver it

-Borderlands games had a sudden increase of players upon the movie's release very likely because fans wanted to wash out the horrible stench while non-fans probably wanted to actually give it a try, this one is hilariously shocking almost like it was Gearbox/2K's plan all along (it wasn't)

-Everyone who has played the Borderlands game either old fans or new, EVERYONE and their dog are saying Borderlands 2 is the best out of all of the games if we focus on the story, while some comment that Borderlands 3 is pretty fun only gameplay-wise

-There has been a sudden rise in Borderlands gaming/lore video reviews and analysis by people who finally gave the franchise a chance after twelve or so years or people who were already familiar with the game and wanted to revisit the franchise

-The Pre-Sequel is suddenly getting the recognition it deserved u_u

-A lot of people are saying the franchise is dying but idk, it's pretty bad yeah but saying that "it's all over" might be a bit too overdramatic. We'll live (I hope)

And that's it so far I guess. Nothing too special, just something I started noticing and I'm quite amused by it.

[altocat]

Oh lord of FF7 lore I beseech thee once more.

What was it exactly that led to Genesis defecting, and what did he do afterwards? I played Reunion but honestly both of those things eluded me. I know there were Genesis copies and those Raven things (the AVALANCHE knock off SOLDIERs made by a knock off Hojo) but like, what was Genesis doing during that time? And also why did Lazard defect? One second he’s there the next we’re told he’s also deserted the company.

Also, Wutai. What the heck was going on there? Apparently Rebirth says that Rufus was funding them in addition to AVALANCHE, which if I recall was situated in Wutai and might’ve been working with their government, but in terms of the war effort were they just losing the entire time?

Fair warning I might occasionally bombard you with lore questions because I’m writing a fic and want to get the details right but it’s so confusing figuring out the plot and sequence of events sometimes. This game is so convoluted 😭

Genesis left because he was pissed. Simple as that. He finds out that the company he gave everything to is the reason why he's dying. He was angry. This is his revenge. He takes a bunch of loyal soldiers with him as his "followers" and they end up being converted to Genesis clones thereafter. I assume as a test of loyalty or something idk. Or maybe as an initiation. Hollander is producing them so it's possible he mutated them without their consent. Genesis is "working" with Hollander, but only because he's trying to find a cure.

Lazard defects because he's always hated Shinra and was actively working against them this entire time. He was using company funds to help boost Hollander's research and, upon realizing he was close to getting caught, bailed. It's a long story there--Lazard has held a grudge against Shinra for years as a result of drama from his past.

Wutai is an ongoing quandary as lots of its historical conflict is being retconned in the new Remake timeline. Rufus has been acting as a double agent on multiple ends as a means of undermining the current Shinra presidency. It's basically just sneaky power moves on his part. Wutai itself entered a brief ceasefire at the beginning of Crisis Core following Zack's mission to Fort Tamblin, but gets stirred back up again by Sephiroth's meddling years later in Rebirth.

Hope that clears it up! I'd suggest checking out the official timeline on the wiki but atm there's a lot of contradictory information there. So I'm going off of pure memory here as a makeshift FF7/Crisis Core "historian" lmao So if anyone has additional info to add, please by all means expand on this.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

hi! I'm new to the beatles lore and I've been trying to catch up on an insane level of information for weeks. it's been fun but also heartbreaking 💔💔 anyways, I wanted to ask a couple of questions if that's ok? for example, I keep seeing this narrative that john was using yoko as some sort of weapon against paul... what was john trying to achieve by that I mean where does this idea even come from? according to this, john was hurting paul on purpose while he was singing him love songs in the studio asking him to be partners again (as in songwriting creative partners) WHAT WOULD JOHN ACHIEVE DOING THAT? also it sounds very one sided like paul is the most innocent in the break up eventho he was the one who came up with a secret album and a lawsuit. I don't know what to think. before knowing them I used to think lennon was in love and on drugs so he got so annoying to the point that he broke up the band but now...

Hi there! Welcome to the fandom! don't worry about feeling overwhelmed at first there is a LOT to take in.

I want to say, I do get the feeling you are somewhat mixing things up here, though I don't particularly blame you for being confused. (if not then sorry! just want to clarify as much as I can)

Tedious as it sounds, I find keeping a timeline in my mind (ideally, accurate to the month) helpful to provide some clarity regarding the breakup era specifically, so the period of 1968-1971. John's studio taunting you're referring to would have happened between mid '68 and mid '69, but Paul worked on his solo album (what I presume you meant by "his secret album", though it wasn't all that secret – John had already released solo music of his own by that point*) in late '69 and early '70. He filed a lawsuit against the others in late '70.

*I think you're conflating the album itself with the fact that, along with the release of McCartney (said album), Paul "surprise revealed" he had quit the band to the public, which the other band members, especially John, were not impressed with.

That being said, the events of the breakup are still convoluted at best, even to "seasoned" fans, I'd say. One of my main pieces of advice I can provide as someone who's been doing this for more than 3 years is get comfortable with not knowing things and with some of the actors involved doing something fundamentally irrational sometimes. They're humans, they don't always make sense and they won't always be forthcoming about why they behaved the way they did.

Which brings me to the narratives you mention: I say this as nicely as possible, but sometimes people want to tell themselves the best story rather than the most truthful one. It's more important to some that John is taunting Paul out of some twisted form of love than why specifically.

To answer your question regarding where this particular idea comes from, I would say: Paul has indicated that he felt John replaced him with Yoko (in whatever way he meant by that – some think it's sexual, some it's about creative partnership, or simply as a best friend); John's behaviour clearly and drastically shifted for the worse in mid '68, which is around the time he got together with Yoko, left his family, and started doing heroin; footage from Get Back shows John both all over Yoko and trying to reach out to Paul periodically.

There's probably more, but I don't know if there's much point in getting into the weeds of it right now. My point is: it's not the only valid theory, IMO, and probably not the whole truth if it is true, but it's not unfounded.

I think it may be a misstep to dismiss a theory because "what would John achieve by that?" Again, people are not always acting in a way that strictly makes sense, especially not people with the issues John struggled with. Some people might say John was testing Paul, trying to make him fight for him. Some might say John had an outright sadistic streak. Others that he was too out of it to notice the pain he was inflicting on others. I think it could very easily be a mix of all three. When dealing with human emotions, I personally think it's a mistake to assume things are simple and straightforward, which is why a lot of tinhattery turns me off. It very often feels like a blanket-statement self-confirming axiom, rather than a truly thoughtful and multifaceted argument.

My most condensed version of events would be: John became incredibly difficult to work with in multiple ways (including but not limited to bringing Yoko to the studio) by mid '68; Paul, for the most part, tried to accomodate him, to diminishing returns, while having his own longterm relationship fall apart and being completely in over his head running a brandnew business; Paul deals with distress by burying himself in work, the other three do not – this leads to further conflict, along with issues over creative control; the band decide they need a new manager type to help them out with their new business and provide the guidance they haven't had since Brian died; cue John wanting Klein and only Klein and massively distrusting Paul's "nepo" choice of Eastman + apparently not trusting Paul's belief that Klein was bad news; extreme resentment over money issues which are incredibly underrated by the fandom because at their core they are boring, emotionally, ensue; John decides he's "over" the band and tells the others he's out; Paul is destroyed over this (and everything that led up to it), spends months spiraling and recording his album; wanting to get this all out of the way, Paul finally breaks down and admits he's leaving the Beatles to the world and to the band itself, even though he had asked John to stay quiet about his own quitting the band months earlier; John (understandably, IMO, though I don't blame Paul exactly – this is what I mean by not everything makes perfect sense) assumes Paul is using the band breakup for PR and gets a hell of a lot angrier than he already is about the money stuff; John undergoes primal therapy which opens up about 43273289635298 wounds; John does an interview in which he spills his guts and tears down almost everyone in his life except Yoko; meanwhile more financial issues. I cannot overstate that those matter too, tumblr is just not a place where finance peeps hang out; Paul is getting more and more fed up with all of this and he, as a last resort, files a lawsuit to no longer be legally tied to the others.

I for the most part left out George and Ringo here* and I'm writing off memory here without re-checking sources, so take what I say with a massive grain of salt. My main point is that this shit is complicated and don't let people tell you it isn't.

*I'm of the opinion that John and Paul are at the center of the breakup, but they also aren't the be-all, end-all of it. But because in the end George and Ringo fell "in line" with John and you didn't ask about them, I decided to mostly leave them out.

[listard]

Hi!

I drew how I tell my friends the lore of my comic, and their reactions to my storytelling!

the text that the friend at the top is saying:

I didn't understand a damn thing you said! How can your lore be so convoluted!?!? You didn't even explain anything in half an hour! And you haven't even finished the comic and you want to draw it!?!? Come up with something more logical and interesting, not about your stupid lizards!

sometimes… (always) I think my comic is too confusing, it's like it has almost no plot, and it's really hard to come up with stuff, I wish I had a clone of me now, so we could use our two heads to come up with stuff, maybe we could come up with something interesting. i have about 4 sequels to the story where i stopped creating, with totally different events and outcomes!!!! it's very complicated, I also need to add some new characters so that my story isn't desolate because, yeah, like 16-18 beans is a lot, but not when there are only 4 of them at each location! because of this, each character is considered to be in some way the main character, and because of this, it's going to be hard for me to figure out whose demise will be the first, or will it be at all…? honestly, my comic book has deviated from the standards of the game, it's literally unlike any comic book, instead of looking for a traitor, these traitors are literally running away from everyone!

I never realized that coming up with comics, even before drawing them, is so time-consuming…

[heretic-altias]

Now that people are starting to post more spoilers, I’m gonna say it. I don’t believe Alexandria came from the 12th reflection. I don’t think we could have tapped into a reflection that’s gone and rejoined. I think whatever shard it was is similar to the first, it ALMOST had a lightning based calamity but for whatever reason it didn’t work out.

When they say time flows differently, that doesn’t matter for a calamity. The setup has to be correct at the same moment across both shards. It already happened. Maybe the 12th had a much longer or shorter history before that than the source, but it happened to both worlds at once in the multiverse regardless because conditions had to match between the two. The 12th couldn’t still be before a point where both had to match at the same time, otherwise the calamity would never happen because conditions aren’t right on the source.

Also, the shard travel used has a very obvious Ascian connection (thanks Azem symbol!). The Ascians could shard hop, but they clearly didn’t move through time. Otherwise what would stop Emet from having just gone back and undoing any mistakes? I know a lot of people justify the time thing with what G’raha did but that was only done once very deliberately and took generations of work. And it wasn’t Ascian based. This key is. The Ascians don’t do time travel, as far as we know.

Yoshi P also did say to pay attention to the lore on what shards are gone and what shards remain in an interview. A lot of people are taking it as proof it could be the 12th, but I’m getting the opposite. The lore book clearly shows which shards remain and I bet the one we were one is one of them and yoshi p was trying to hint they were important for that reason. Besides, why jump to dead shards when we have the 1st and 13th both as examples of rejoinings failing? I doubt the other shards were left alone all that time, they might all have at least been prepped for calamities that didn’t work out. It just seems more likely to me that they’re going that way with it than some convoluted mess saying it’s a world in the past.

Obviously the writers could throw a brick at me later on and decide it is the 12th anyway, but with what we have now I just can’t believe that and was honestly surprised to see people talking about it like it is the 12th as if it definitely was when I first started talking spoilers with others. It never even occurred to me because of how empathized it was that rejoined worlds are GONE, my first thought was a failed attempt at a second lightning calamity.

[starry-blue-echoes]

Okay, I just got here. Sorry for intruding and I'm kind of freaking out about part 4 of Star Swap.

Because there are two Jotaros. Why is nobody talking about the fact that there are two Jotaros? Am I missing something??? 

Unless I am completely failing in Star Swap lore, in order to not become super convoluted and insane, a universe is localized to a Swap… probably? Anyway from what I understand three universes have an event happening in them and Star Swap is a series… except there's also an OLDER Jotaro here in Part 4! which would be the same Jotaro that experienced part 4 as Josuke! Which is causing problems in my brain.

… I was thinking it's either Joseph and Giono is the exception -Thanks to Hermit Purple Rrequiem- and swaps actually jumps across universes making Older Part 4 Jotaro have that Canon backstory.

…Or… hear me out..

 JoJo

 Specifically, Jotaro gets some of that Time Jumpy Amnesia and has not a single fucking clue what happened to himself.

JUST HIM 

No one else

He is the sole one that gets bonk with a forgot stick

For all Jotaro knows: he blacked out, got possessed, and went to Egypt. Everything went well. His mom got cured and people survived, but STILL. said person that possessed him made a bunch of friends and now Jotaro has to deal with them. HE has to rely on other people's information to figure out what the hell HAPPENED.

Jotaro still gets that Battle Experience in and gets those cryptic forgotten fog of memories from the trip But Yeah

Jotaro has no idea what happened to him when that guy was possessing him. Jotaro doesn't know! he doesn't remember shit!!! All people got is theories.

I have a lot of thoughts and this is probably not even an issue.ARGGGG

.. I'm here thinking that for The Star Swap parts 3 and 4 to connect in an interesting way is Memory Blockage or else Part 4 Older Jotaro would have to walk on fucking eggshells if something wasn't blocking his memories because if he talks or says anything that doesn't link up then he breaks time. Jotaro's fault for actively getting involved!

Probably. I don't know!!! I'm just thinking!!! 

you're correct, Parts 3 and 4 have been criminally neglected amongst all this chaos, so this is p e r f e c t

to clarify the universe shenanigans of everything: I've always been thinking that each "set" exists in its own universe. 1 and 6, 2 and 5, and then 3 and 4 all exist in their own sort of "pocket universe" just so we don't need to keep track of of all the inevitable changes and how they influence each other

that being said, funnily enough what you've brought up with Jotaro is REALLY close to what I've been imagining too!

Jotaro is So Fucking Lost when he wakes up back home. He feels like complete and utter shit and is covered in more bandages than he's ever had before. The last thing he remembers is his mom leaving after visiting him in the prison cell after he tried to shoot himself with Star Platinum

only...... when did Star Platinum have a name? When had it stopped being an evil spirit?

when had he stopped being scared of it?

Kakyoin and Joseph are of course INCREDIBLY worried by Jotaro's apparent and very sudden shift in personality. And of course, this panic only multiplies when they find they think Jotaro's stand has been changed as well. They immediately think it's a Stand attack......

but then Holly steps forward and denies this. That this is how Jotaro normally acts and more importantly, that she remembers seeing Star in the jail

now, technically this might be bending the rules a little bit, but I think it would be interesting to give Holly some..... memory weirdness. Maybe we can tie it into her Stand somehow, or maybe it's just For The Plot, but Holly has two distinct sets of memories before she collapsed from her illness

One where Jotaro comes home with her, quiet and awkward and open in a way he hadn't been since he was a child. And another where he refused to leave and shot himself in an attempt to goad a spirit hovering over his shoulder

this then raises the incredibly uncomfortable idea that the Jotaro they'd gone to Egypt with was the imposter. That there had been a fake in their midst the entire time and they never knew. Was he working with Dio? Another group? What was his goal? Why had he done it? And of course, the biggest question of all, where was Jotaro the entire time and why doesn't he remember?

because it's obvious Jotaro was somewhere. He has skills and knowledge he hadn't before. He's different, he's grown in some ways, but has receded in others

Electricity and loud sounds terrify him in a way that can't be described as simple fear

they do what they can to help and figure things out, but they can never find any leads. It actually during these investigations that Jotaro decides to start working with the Speedwagon Foundation on the side and "rekindles" his friendships with the Crusaders

(he finds himself drawn to Kakyoin at times. Or to be more specific, he's drawn to his Stand. The colors and shapes and eyes all feel so tantalizingly familiar, and sometimes he finds himself talking to the being as if expecting a response)

years go by, and the fog around his memories stays. It bothers him less as more time passes and he makes new memories with people who had a headstart on their relationship, but there's always a quiet niggling in the back of his mind about what could've happened

and then a decade later he finds a boy with a different face but identical Stand and temperament to match

[heart-of-the-morningstar]

In Defense of the FNAF Movie…

I was thinking about the FNAF Movie again today and I wanted to go on a little tangent if that's alright with y'all lol.

I know most fans enjoyed the movie, which is great! But I did see some fans, especially some OG fans, who did not like the movie at all, saying it didn't take itself seriously enough, it was too campy, it wasn't scary enough, and it didn’t follow the lore. I can understand those criticisms to an extent. But as an OG fan myself, I think the movie captured the tone of FNAF perfectly.

FNAF at its core, is silly. The concept of kid-friendly animatronic characters that are mascots for a Chuck E Cheese type restaurant being possessed is a ridiculous concept. Granted, how they became possessed is where the horror of the franchise comes into play. FNAF was never all campy or all horror, it was always a mix of both, even in the first few games, just based on the concept alone.

I think too many people expected it to be really scary, but I believe that was the wrong perspective. There were jumpscares in the games, yeah, but I think the most prominent emotion from the early games would elicit dread, not horror. I went into the movie knowing it would be campy and goofy, but I also knew there would be some horror aspects. BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT FNAF IS!

I think if the movie took itself too seriously, no one else would, because fans know it’s not an overall serious franchise. This is the same franchise that brought in Exotic Butters and MPreg in one of their books! That’s not to say that there aren’t serious subjects in the game; a serial killer, multiple child murders, grusome deaths, loss of family members; the game is not all sunshine and rainbows.

But what I think FNAF does as a whole is mix those horror aspects with its campiness really well. You can’t have one without the other in this series. And that’s what I think the movie did a great job with. I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much if it was too serious or if it relied on humor alone. Don’t get me wrong, this was not a perfect movie, there were definitely things that needed improvements. But I don’t think the tone was one of them.

At first I was a little disappointed that the movie wouldn’t be rated R, but now I can appreciate why they stuck to PG-13 instead. FNAF has never been bloody or gory, any deaths that would occur in the franchise would be off-screen or portrayed in the 8-bit mini games. I think the only time we see blood is during the springlock failure in FNAF 3, and again, it was 8-bit blood. Most of the horror is left up to the imagination of the viewer, which in my opinion, is a lot scarier than just outright showing you what happened. Fear of the unknown is extremely powerful.

The last point I wanna bring up is the fact some people do not like the deviation from the game’s lore. Need I remind you, this is not the first time the franchise has done this. The books have their own separate lore! Some of it lines up with the games, a lot of it doesn’t. But what all of these continuities have are animatronics who are possessed by children who were murdered by William Afton; that is the core story of FNAF no matter if you’re playing the games, reading the books, or watching the movie. They each take their own liberties in telling different versions of the story, but they all revolve around the same main focus. In my opinion, I think it would have been a little boring to see the movie play out one for one like the games, especially considering how confusing and convoluted the game lore is!I’m curious as to where they will go in future movies!

I can see why general audiences and critics would not like this movie, because they wouldn’t understand the tone that it was going for. They wouldn’t get the references or the story beats that the fans would. But it wasn’t really made for them, which is fine! I think the movie we got was really great, not a masterpiece, but just a really good adaption of what FNAF is: a campy horror game. And I’m looking forward to see where they take it next!

Also, if I hear one more person complain about the “Building a Fort” scene in the movie, I will gnaw your arm off. I’m happy we actually got to see the ghost children ACTING LIKE GOD DAMN CHILDREN!

[paragonrobits]

so i've been annoyed now and again when i see big name v-tubers or whatever making fun on Transformers for being a toyetic series (which is deeply ironic when they're super into things like My Little Pony which is also a toyetic series) and get weirdly intense about saying its actually a garbage series for boring people that has no dimension outside of being a commercial, and they get super shocked when you tell them its one of the more convoluted series out there, with every single series almost invariably being a completely different setting and universe and timeline with no real connection to others, for the most part with a TON of lore and characterization and like

not a lot of people are into Transformers as intensely as, idk, people like me who get salty about Beast Wars not being respected

but i got to thinking and i realized something about Transformers that makes it stick out is, its basic premise is usually set around the point of no return, the complete cessation of hope for the protagonist's initial dreams:

their homeland is lost.

There's no going back to Cybertron; in most settings, Cybertron is not occupied territory, or a place they were driven away from. Sometimes that's the case, but not always. Its not a matter of beating the Decepticons and then you can finally go home and live in peace.

That's already gone. There is no hope for that, and there never was. Cybertron is dead. The planet is, more often than not, poisoned or drained of resources from the war, and can no longer support life. There's no going home because... that home is gone.

The war continues, but the Autobots generally have the motif of trying to restrain the Decepticon war machine from ravaging more worlds like they did to Cybertron. There's no real win condition besides a slim hope that MAYBE Megatron will see reason and just stop (which is unlikely) or that a marginally less deranged Decepticon will take office and be willing to accept peace talks even for a generation or two to just STOP killing everything for a while.

That's the best hope. Otherwise, it seems that the only peace is the peace of one side being wiped out, in a rather tragic sense rather than a 'we're the good guys so its okay if we wipe them all out' thing. Most series, when they acknowledge this, very strongly go with the Autobots don't want that. But it doesn't seem like there's a choice.

So this wraps around to the initial point here; people often don't respect this series because its goofy, and it is that. It's a series about transforming alien robots that turn into cars, military equipment and more silly, bizarre stuff; into airplane-dragons and scientifiaclly inaccurate robot dinosaurs and unusually large rats and whatever the heck the Transmetal 2 line and the Fuzors were. It's often bombastic, cheesy as hell, with a soundtrack codified by 80s glam rock and its perhaps best personified as 'GOD EXISTS, HE'S A GIANT ROBOT WHO TURNS INTO A ROBOT PLANET AND HE HAS AN EVIL SIBLING WHO IS BASICALLY ROBOT SATAN WHO TURNS INTO BIGGER EVIL PLANET'

But at the same time, even in the cheesiest series, when the war is still a thing, there's still a melancholy aspect to it. Robot God existed, and he was legitimately good and kind (if somewhat hands off), and he's probably dead. He was murdered by the ones he made; maybe bcause of the horrors of war draining resources until there's nothing left to keep anyone alive, or because the self centered despot in charge of the Bad Guy Team poisoned the planet with the hateful blood of the ungod of death and oblivion just for a tactical advantage, and now God's dead. The homeworld is dead with him.

The Autobots left home because there's nothing left to return to. And often, when there IS some hope of bringing life to Cybertron, the price is far too high for a mind to consider and still think you can be a hero of the story; it requires the mass death of an alien species, the subjugation of a planet, to let humanity die so the Transformers can prosper.

Optimus and the Autobots say no; no matter what. That is a price they can't even consider and still call themselves Autobots. If making a decision like that is the only way to save Primus, then Primus would rather them let him stay dead. And it goes on, in other ways; Optimus is often characterized as tremendously burned out of being the ultimate perfect heroic figure he's become to the fandom, carrying out through sheer grit and heroic spirit but keeping no hope for himself, and just coming off as so tired of the endless conflict, of seeing a former friend completely lost to his own ambition and becoming so much worse than everything he fought.

As a plot, it tends to be significantly broader in scope than the sort of stuff I see these v-tubers and reactors that I dislike really get into. I've seen people dismiss Transformers out of hand and just go 'lol how am I supposed to relate to robots even if they're gay' and its like, I see you relating to demons; that's not any more realistic than robots even if you gave them cutesy little horns or something. But that's still making it about YOU, about pretending they're actually you or something.

This isn't a series about projecting really hard onto a character and erasing their personalities so you can imagine you're the main character, this is a series ROOTED in character and bizarre tones and a surprisingly somber aspect at times. Even G1, the least serious of its interpretations, still had surprisingly brutal and gruesome deaths for a good portion of the cast, and did the unexpected; showing its robot characters as having been made by others and rose up to free themselves, and being treated as heroes for it. And then, those same creators show up later, prompting Rodimus to state: "We Transformers have seen the face of our creators... and it is the face of an enemy."

This is a series that REALLY goes all out on investment in characters, specifically. Makes me wonder if the people who dismiss it just aren't that invested in characters, or don't really get the concept of continuity specific stuff. Or that they dismiss it because they don't think sapient robots are relatable, which is a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. (Again, if you're constantly depicting your online persona as some kind of fictious creature, or a demon or something, mocking sapient robots as being worth having interest in is just splitting hairs.)

There's one episode in G1 that ends in a pyrric victory; a lake with a powerful resource is discovered, the Decepticons attack and the Autobots fight them off, but in the destruction, the entire natural area is completely obliterated, leaving a smoking ruin. The episode ends on a somber note, and nature-loving Beachcomber ends the episode looking at the ruin as he bitterly says "We won."

and in a lot of ways, that kind of feels like a summation of the series at its more somber.

[gcantread]

July 2024 reads

[loved liked ok nope dnf bookclub*]

^borrowing this format from @ofliterarynature—hope that's ok!

The Blue Castle • The Metamorphosis • A Reaper at the Gates • And Then There Were None • I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons • To Be Taught, If Fortunate • The Mysterious Affair at Styles • Till We Have Faces • This Ravenous Fate • Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch • Dragonhaven • [title withheld; SMP] • The Name of the Wind • Better Left Buried • The Body in the Library • Rose Daughter

My biggest reading month so far in terms of quantity, though only third-biggest in terms of "pages" (which I think is a bad metric anyhow—you can typeset them so differently! I wish every book told me its word count.) I read a lot of books in order to see if they're worth reading in @bellasbookclub for the 2024-2025 season, plus I was doing the BBC summer reading challenge! I also devoured my way through several ARCs coming out in August.

The Blue Castle ★★★★★ - I reread this once or twice per year at this point. This time around I read it to @flowerslut and we had a blast! Still the ultimate comfort read.

The Metamorphosis ★★★☆☆ - Also with Shannon (we listened to the audiobook on the way to and from San Diego!) Figured it was high time I actually read this if I was gonna go around calling things "kafkaesque." Somehow exactly what I expected.

And Then There Were None ★★★★☆ - Pre-screened for book club! So I don't wanna say too much other than "I liked it."

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons ★★★☆☆ - Disappointing. Plot was a bit all over the place and it was difficult to sympathize with the main characters. A shame, because I like the premise!

To Be Taught, If Fortunate ★★★★☆ - Read for the BBC 2024 Summer Reading Challenge. Fun and reflective! This was my first time reading Becky Chambers, and I liked the writing style and themes.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles ★★★1/2☆ - Another book club pre-screen. A solid mystery.

Till We Have Faces ★★★★☆ - Yet another book club pre-screen. My best friend's favorite book and now I can totally see why.

This Ravenous Fate ★★★☆☆ - An ARC I got signed by the author after seeing her speak on a panel about YA and romance. Unfortunately a huge letdown, possibly because I had such high hopes for the premise of "queer Black 1920s vampire x human." Alas, it had some cool vampire lore but was overall a convoluted mess and not nearly 1920s-enough!

Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch ★★★★☆ - Another ARC I got from the same event and liked much better. Cool Jennifer's Body-esque premise, snappy voice, and a fun protagonist in the murdered and vengeful Annie. Perfect Halloween vibes!

Dragonhaven ★★★★☆ - Also pre-screened for book club so I shouldn't talk too much about it but I can't help myself (@ book club LOOK AWAY) I wasn't expecting much from this book because I've heard Robin McKinley fans voice their disappointment in it, but it turns out I'm the exact niche target audience for this. National Park politics and conservation science struggles and zookeeping?? I'm seated. I can see why others didn't like the pacing, but I was nodding along like "Yes, the difficulty of procuring grad students to come study dragons, of course. Do go on"

[title withheld; SMP] - I didn't realize this was an SMP book until I was halfway through it. Oops. A shame they still don't have their act together, because I'd love to talk about this one.

The Name of the Wind ★★★★★ - A title I've heard raved about a million times by a zillion people, so naturally I picked it as one of my BBC 2024 summer reading challenge books to see if it lived up to the hype. IMO it does! Fun, poetic writing style, cool framing device, and interesting worldbuilding and magic system. Curious to read the sequel.

Better Left Buried ★★★☆☆ - Another ARC. Cute queer YA murder mystery that I honestly don't have much to say about other than "it was cute."

The Body in the Library ★★★1/2☆ - And another book club pre-screen book. My first Miss Marple! Mostly elevated by having an interesting ending twist and class themes.

Rose Daughter ★★★☆☆ - And to no one's surprise, my final book of the month was also pre-screening for Bella's Book Club. Very pretty writing and it was fun to read while wearing a bit of rose oil (smell-o-vision!) but I didn't loooove the pacing and overall prefer Robin McKinley's other Beauty and the Beast retelling, Beauty.

DNF

A Reaper at the Gates (50%) - I sprinted through book 1 and walked sedately through book 2 of the Ember in the Ashes series, but this one (book 3) was taking me forever to read (and is almost 700 pages), and I was impatient to move on and read other stuff. Reaper at the Gates was decently interesting and I still care about the characters, but the timing just wasn't right. Will probably pick this series back up later.

July superlatives

[trauma-bot]

ouuuu i need the lore... i love selfships so much.... nuze lore please.... if you want..........

YAY YAY YAY. im gonna try so hard to keep this somewhat brief to leave room for any more questions but we'll see how that goes <3

so to preface this E does have a toyhouse bio that you can look at if you're curious! it has a more in-depth look at his personality and whole deal. you can also look at his gallery if you'd like; thats where his references and other artwork for him are stored!

ALRIGHT. RAMBLING UNDER THE CUT

a lot of it is very much to fulfill my weird convoluted fantasy of "what if i lost all hope for a future that i exist in and was convinced that i was going to succumb to the claws of my trauma and rot there forever (basically dooming myself in my own narrative) thus becoming the absolute worst version of myself in what i believe to be my final moments only for someone (two someones in this case) to love and believe in me so much that, despite it all and despite everything that was done to me and that ive done myself, gives me enough hope to undoom myself". i'm normal i swear.

also just generally im a big big sucker for stories about survivors of trauma being there for each other, and in that way i get a lot of comfort from nuze.

SO. NUZE LORE... (once again shout outs to my bestie night for coining their ship name lol)

i guess ill break it down like this, starting with N/E. (alt. ship name being pupE love (coined by another bestie of mine charlie)) E knew N back at the manor and they were close friends then, N was the first person E came out as trans to (by that i mean. N helped E work through his tumultuous robo gender feelings in real time) and N was the only one E really felt comfortable around. (other than tessa! E was also friendly with V back then as well<3)

however, E was also badly traumatized by his time in the manor, and of course Canon Events happen. E, as a disassembly drone, is now much more muted, detached, numbed, and devoted completely to their directive. he's very very very repressed and his specific brand of memory issues as well as the fucked up memory dreams causes him to dissociate and spiral a lot. he also distanced himself a lot from N for reasons even he isn't entirely privy to. something in his hardwiring just told him that N would be safer the less E stayed with him. and N is!!! really saddened by that!!! its normal! E has to learn to not be an emotionless object and actually let himself feel and need and yearn, and N is a big help with that (uzi is as well ofc!!)

i have to skip past a lot of things for the sake of not making this post so many words long but regardless; N/E is really special to me because they are two people who are in a very similar and scary situation and have had to see each other get hurt or even killed in many clone instances in many reset memory files. and its the just. the willingness to love despite knowing what happened to you and even witnessing it at times, to say "this is not all we are" and break free from those iron chains despite knowing how much it'll hurt and how dire everything is. E is so convinced that its all worthless and he couldn't be anything more than what he's used for, while N desperately wants a better life for himself and those he loves, and he's gonna drag E kicking and screaming to hope and healing. <3

NOW. UZIE :3 (alt. ship name is angelfangz)

E is MIA from the squad until like right after episode 3 canonically happens and is found by uzi and N. uzi does not trust E at first not one bit LMFAO. she doesn't hate him but like. her only frame of reference for murder drones besides N is V and J. and also E is like. he's weird and says weird cryptic things and is not exactly the easiest to talk to due to how off-putting and repressed he is. at first E is like "why is there a worker drone. in the spire. and we're all okay with this" but after actually getting more context behind Everything he's curious about her more than anything. he has to be swayed into betraying his initial directive (kill all worker drones. yknow) only because thats like all he knows how to do and would feel aimless without it, but once he is he's loyal to his new directive (help uzi figure out what the hell is going on with this solver business). yeah he treats himself like an object that can only find worth in being ordered around but we dont have time to unpack all of that right now. he unlearns it later i prommy.

uzi is like. spitefully resistant to getting to know E on a deeper lever, but this is uzi "no bonding thing" doorman and she cannot help but care about E and be concerned about his behavior. she will notttt admit that however and stubbornly holds her ground. it isnt until post-episode 4 when E and uzi are fully vulnerable around each other.

uziE is. so so very important to me. uzi has been outcasted and isolated for so much of her life, she's been treated as a weirdo freak monster by her classmates and becomes outwardly prickly and aggressive to cope with how little affection and reassurance she's been given. i know she's internalized it to mean there is something wrong with her that everyone else can see, and its only a matter of time before those who actually care for her see it too and leave her. and i know that the events of episode 4 confirmed it in her mind, that she is a freak monster and everyone was right to avoid and hate her, even though she never asked for any of this. thats a very familar feeling to me- and by extension E. E recognizes the feeling of being made into a monster against your will, of fearing and being unable to trust yourself, and of feeling like its best for everyone's safety to hide away. E and uzi find solace and comfort in each other for that. they dont see each other as broken irredeemable monsters, so maybe they aren't.

im stopping here because holy shit this got long but THERES A LOT MORE LOLL. tldr nuze altogether is very very important to me and i could talk about them forever and ever. they love each other all so much and they grow and heal and forgive and aaaaughhhgh<3 im normal.

[tempulian]

Soo about the last ask I did about the Illusionist...

It's fine if you infodump about how Ainé got trapped in her body or vice versa idk, or any other lore :')

I just honestly like the freshness you give with the literal idea of this characters :D

*banging my pots and pans together*

THE FULL ILLUSIONIST BACKSTORY, COME AAND GET IT

tldr: Girl died and was so pissed about it she came back as a ghost wayyyy too fast. Someone revived her body without her in it, and she got stuck on the outside. She had to unwillingly watch the soul in her body brain-fog her way through an entire smp - WHAT SHOULD OF BEEN HER second chance - before giving up. Then she figured out how to travel through dimensions, and became really evil about it when she met this cool spider guy and aided in the murder of an entire royal family.

full story under the cut :]

SOME CONTEXT BEFORE I GET INTO IT:

I've vaguely mentioned it before, but many of the characters featured on my YouTube are from role play servers me and my friends created as early as 2020. Naturally, that means most of their writing was improvised, and very little was planned ahead of time. Aine and Illusionist were made for Whispers and Kingdom, respectively. Whispers happened very organically out of a survival minecraft server, so a lot of the decisions about Aine's backstory were made on the fly. Kingdom's creation was a lot more deliberate, but Illusionist was retroactively fitted into Aine's backstory, so she shares the same writing quirks that come from improvised storytelling. ALL OF THAT TO SAY, these characters were made purely for fun. They aren't my best work when it comes to cohesive writing; They're a little convoluted, a little messy, but they were a lot of fun to play, and that was the goal :)

THE GETTING INTO IT:

Way before the events of Whispers, there was a sleepy little town where a young woman named Erena lived. That town was razed in the middle of the night, and she was drowned in a river after being fatally wounded by none other than Amadeus, the Soldier [ jojenis on instagram]. Erena woke up at the bottom of the river, dead. Her soul had died, and she became a vengeful ghost. She was nothing more than the memories of her old life, but she had every intent to come back and return the favor to the monster that killed her. 

Her plans were immediately halted. She watched as a fae  - named Jophiel, the Lover [also jojenis] - picked up her dead body, and brought it to a hidden bunker. Jophiel successfully found Erena's lost soul, but could not return it into the dead and broken body. Instead, she tenderly placed the soul and the body into the roots of the largest surviving tree in the village.

It should have brought Erena back to her body, but the spell was incomplete. Jophiel was unaware of the ghost already haunting the village and only pulled the soul from death. 

Without the soul's memories... The newly born Dryad became a blank slate. Erena's soul is living a new life without her in it.

Years passed, and Erena learned two important things:

1) she was physically tethered to the Dryad, so she couldn't leave or control anything, and

2) the Dryad was an oblivious idiot.

Erena has been quietly haunting this forgetful Dryad, but she couldn't see or hear Erena. She could instill emotions - dread, fear, sadness, or rage - into her, but nothing coherent enough to explain anything to the Dryad. She always just chalked it up to a deep seeded intuition that she couldn't quite grasp.

Then, the events of Whispers unfold. 

The Dryad finally uncovers the truth of her origins through Amadeus's first hand account, and an old dusty journal that once belonged to Erena...

and the Dryad ignored it.

The Dryad read about Erena, talked to Amadeus, and experienced every bit of rage, fear, and sadness Erena wanted her to feel, but Dryad wanted to define her own life. She wanted to become her own person, and assume her own identity. She knew she was no longer the person that died all those years ago. She didn't have the experiences that made Erena who she was. Without knowing about the ghostly figure haunting her, Dryad decided to move on without looking any deeper into her past. Later down the line, the Dryad would finally become her own person, and pick her name: Aine. 

This enraged Erena. After years and years of trying to communicate with the Dryad, she is just discarded. Erena didn't care that Dryad couldn't possibly know that she was still around. the Dryad decided that Erena's life was unimportant.

She had to sever herself from the Dryad. If her own soul wouldn't help her get revenge on the man that took her life away, then she would make her own...

Erena spent so much of her afterlife sifting through Dryad's head, she figured her influence must stretch beyond just Dryad's mindscape. 

and it did. 

Over the years, as the Dryad forged her own identity, the tether tying the two together began to decay. Aine was no longer part of Erena: she had become her own person, while Erena was still stuck as the girl that drowned in the river. 

Eventually, after the tether disintegrated, Erena found a way to travel in-between realms through the Void (evil worldbuilding shenanigans, just go with me for now). 

She successfully left the realm she used to call home, and ended up settling in Illador, where Kingdom takes place.

She spent her time hopping from mindscape to mindscape, learning about her newfound abilities. She learned she had a particular affinity with nightmares since her dip into the Void, and noticed she began to feel more present, more focused, and more powerful with every new victim.

She kept haunting people's nightmares until she crossed paths with a young Midas [@peitalo]. He proposed a deal that if she helped murder his father, the ruling king of Illador, he would help make her a new body that would be hers. No Dryad, no soul. Just a vessel to possess.

She accepted the deal. She killed his father, killed his mother, and aided in the murder of his older brother, leaving Midas to be the sovereign of Illador. As promised, King Midas helped conjure a vessel that would become a physical shadow that she could control. 

She would don a porcelain mask, and would adopt many names:

The Night terror, The Cleric, The Queen of Illador...

But "The Illusionist" was always her favorite.