#there’s an obvious hierarchy to my love for them but details details~

[merakiui]

The issue with having the TWST Halloween events happen at the same time for both servers mean that one overshadows the other 😫 it wasn’t really prevalent last year when ENG TWST had the NBC event and JPN TWST had Playfuland, but Skully has gotten really famous even outside the fandom that poor Fellow is being ignored 😓 This combined with his name change…he’s really not winning right now

Aaa that’s a fair thought!! Poor Fellow,,, >_<

I think it’s also a matter of preference. Skully is very easy to like immediately solely because (to those who aren’t familiar with twst) “omg anime boy Jack Skellington” or “omg Gojo reborn”!! Also,, Jack Skellington was and still is immensely popular. He’s one of the tumblr sexyman. It’s understandable that this amount of popularity would inevitably be thrust onto Skully. Additionally, Jack isn’t considered nearly as villainous as Frollo or Honest John (of course he isn’t completely innocent), considering he’s the protagonist of his film. He just has a lot of likability points in all areas, which allows for people both in and outside of the fandom to appreciate Skully’s character.

As for Rollo, he isn’t considered “attractive” by majority standards and it was easy to dislike him from the moment he was announced because of the villain he’s twsted from. (My personal, not objective whatsoever opinion is that they can never make me hate Rollo. I love him so very much. He’s everything to me.) I can’t give much of a thought for Fellow because his design is very attractive and it’s easier to not hate him solely because of this attractiveness(???). Like Rollo, they can never make me hate Mr. Fellow. <3 his name change may be discouraging, but he will forever be Fellow in our hearts. :D

Aaaa but maybe I’m rambling nonsense. T_T in short, I think it was destiny for Skully to become so popular. Even my friend who isn’t in the twst fandom at all found Skully on their tiktok fyp. He is just so popular!!!! :O

[tealvenetianmask]

I want to think a little about Blitz's self-perception with regard to his lack of education/sophistication. In my opinion, HB gives us a very accurate portrayal of what it feels like to navigate relationships when you're a person with a long history of feeling like you're never good enough ("I can always do better").

Let's start with his friendship with Moxxie, though like a lot of my posts, it will find its way back to stolitz.

Moxxie doesn't necessarily have more formal education than Blitz. I mean . . . he likely had the economic resources growing up, but I don't think Crimson seems like the kind of parent to prioritize education. Besides an education in violence. I assume that both Blitz and Moxxie had some basic education as kids, but the difference is that Moxxie likes "high culture(ish)" things like musicals and bow ties, enjoys knowing details about history, and probably reads for fun. He's also the kind of ". . . um actually . . ." friend who can make even a secure person feel a little stupid. Not that Blitz doesn't sometimes need to be called out, but Moxxie does seem to take some joy in correcting him.

And yes, Blitz bullies Moxx and calls his junk tiny and tells him to eat a salad, but like . . . it's pretty obvious that to some extent, Blitz is covering up for feeling inferior to Moxxie on some level.

We see how Blitz really feels about this in Truth Seekers.

Borrowed observation from excellent reaction youtuber Omn1media: When Blitz hallucinates Moxxie lecturing him, Moxxie goes really hard specifically on the insults to Blitz's intelligence. Moxxie's speech is also much more rambly/laced with figurative language than it is in their real (non-imagined) interactions.

We can see from Blitz's face in these scenes that these comments really get to him. Of course they do- he's making them up in his own nightmare.

"Foolish flights of fancy" is the rest of the caption there . . ."

He's very upset by the idea that he's really inferior to Moxxie- under all of the bravado, he's deeply insecure. It probably doesn't help that the truth gas made him admit that he didn't like the musical that Moxx recommended. Yes, I know that was a Cats joke, but also, Blitz bothered to lie, and he doesn't seem allergic to hurting Moxxie's feelings, so I think he wanted to pretend to "get" the "higher art" that Moxxie likes.

Okay so if Moxxie (with an essentially equivalent status and education) manages to unintentionally make Blitz feel stupid and uncultured, how does this translate when Blitz falls in love with Stolas, who IS objectively very high status and very well educated and DOES speak in "fancy rich people" language?

Oh. Right. The pedestal, the impossibility, and all of that.

I'm not saying that Hell's strict hierarchy doesn't have a lot to do with how Blitz perceives a real relationship between himself and Stolas as impossible- it absolutely does. And so does his history of failed relationships and heaping backpack of trauma. But also, the education/sophistication piece is there, and it's major.

I'm on the fence about whether Blitz actually sees himself as stupid or is just worried about being perceived that way by others. He obviously knows he's very good at the work he does, and that takes both a certain level of strategic thinking AND some very brilliant improvisation. I think he knows this. But he also knows he'll never . . . let's say, be the best read person in the room (if you want to know my thoughts on Blitz and literacy, click here- but short answer, I think he's quite literate but also dyslexic).

I think that like many real people who are kind of out of the box in this way (disrupted education and/or neurodivergence) he's simultaneously aware that he's very intelligent AND deeply insecure about being stupid or having others devalue his kind of intelligence.

[lucraven]

what are some other funger monsters you think Laios n company would eat and how

would they eat moonscorcheds?

Not including any humanoids/gods! I don't really know anything about Termina, so I'm not including them sorry ;-;

I don't think they would eat Moonscorcheds though because they used to be human

Click more to see my reasoning/tastes

Salmonsnake - You can eat it in the game outside of the devour function which makes it seem like a very reasonable thing to consume. It looks like a salmon steak, which Laios' party would eat. As for the taste, I'm not sure. Definitely meatier as the salmon snake is larger than a salmon. The flavor is also a little marshy due to the environment. It must taste like whatever tf axolotl tastes like, or any other creature its inspiration takes from. The eyes could be yummy too. Not sure about the tongue, but all-in-all it would fill you right up!

Scarab - I go into greater detail here, but overall it tastes like shellfish in some parts, and more like muscle-ly flesh. Very interesting textures, and the shell is crumbly if cooked properly! The hands can be used for broths as well. It is higher than the ice cream due to the variety.

Miner Spectre - Holy water ice cream. It's canonically yummy. Okay fr though I think they could have a bit of a rejuvenating function, as they must "feed" upon the life force of those who come close. If they are draining the life force, it would need to go somewhere (their own souls so that they can remain in existence). It would taste more refreshing!

Assassin Spectre - Same as above, but lower because of the lack of the rejuvenation aspect. Other than that it would taste the same, as the food is mores based on the contents of the jar.

Greater Blight - Similar to red dragon meat, I'd imagine! It is a Giant reptilian creature like a dragon is. It is also massive, meaning that there is a lot of it to go around. It makes a good meal, but the meat is pretty tough. It would be higher, but I'm putting it in "sure" because of the hassle to obtain and prepare it.

Blight - Very close to the Greater Blight. Definitely denser and darker/tougher due to the oxygen needed to allow it to fly. Overall a very rich meat. Its body is quite large, but not as large as the Greater Blight.

Spider - Just like a real life spider... I hear they taste like shrimp; the gang would be a little grossed out, but Laios might convince them!

Maneba - The heads texture is very gelatinous, so it could be utilized similarly to a slime. The preparation is tedious, as you have to be careful of all of the parasites. This would maybe be a one-time or rare treat. You would have to freeze/dry the head, and dissect it to avoid any further risks. The tentacles are similar, as they are used to inject the worms. Some of them might be completely safe though!!

Cavewolf - Yeahhhhhh I doubt Laios is eating a wolf. I don't know too much about the orc hierarchies in relations to wargs, but it is known that corpses are fed to them. Whether or not the orcs consume wargs determine Senshi's position. For the cave wolf, they mayyyyyyy decide it's monstrous enough? I haven't and don't plan on eating dog anytime soon, but I've heard that they are fatty/meaty with a pungent odor.

That is all!!! I didn't include any humanoids for the obvious reasons. I would LOVE to eat salmon snake ngl...

[normal-thoughts-official]

i don't think i've ever said this about choices before but wow this really was the ladies' chapter and i for one am thrilled. we didn't get a lot of imtura as usual but what we did get I was very happy with. i've said this before but i'm loving seeing imtura growing more confident (more than she was in book 1, even) and stepping into the leadership role she was always perfect for but never confident enough to really take. of course she was the wraith's captain but i think this is the first time we're seeing imtura really plan in detail what they're going to do, take charge of the group. she's not asking and she's not apologetic but not imposing either, listening to ideas and adjusting accordingly. she's a great leader and it's so nice to see her really grow into that role, especially since her main conflict in book 2 has been about feeling like she's not good enough to be anything other than the brawns. she has 100% been the brains of the team these last few chapters, and she doesn't even seem to realize she's doing it. it's great to see. i'm also liking seeing her slowly repair her dynamic with mal. i've written before about how mal and imtura have always been the only ones who get each other in the group, and how falling out must have been devastating to both of them. and now we're starting to see them slowly fall back into their groove, teasing each other but still with a lot of respect, and slowly starting to get over the hurt they both put on each other. although i wish it was being addressed more directly, i'm still loving it. and of course, their consistent reminders that her most important value is equality - you share the wealth, share the food, take care of each other. that's the kind of leader she is, in direct opposition of her mother who wished to centralize everything and institute hierarchy. imtura is an orc to the bone, free and strong but caring and believing in equality, and i love seeing that being consitently shown these last few chapters. also, her dancing scene was so fucking sweet

valax is simply the love of my life. and we got TWO separate chances to make out with her. the world is a beautiful place. but more than that, we are getting to know her better, and reconcile the valax we first met with the valax we saw at ironbreach. i like how they're not at odds, and although there's the obvious, well, brainwashing aspect, she is violent because she's kind and cares about her people. by which i mean lines like this:

it's not at all unlike what MC is doing. as much as everyone MC kills or incapacitates or whatever is some faceless rando, they're still essentialy waging war for what they believe in. and i like that. as i've said before, my favorite thing about blades 2 is how it's been unraveling all of the myths from book 1, showing the other side. history is written by the victors and all that, and i think book 2 is really showing how it's important to question those nationalistic myths where everything on your side is good, the other is bad, etc. and valax telling us about how the Light Realm fucked the Shadow Realm over adds to that, which makes valax an important part of the plot not only as a villain or potential love interest but also as an important source of information about the worldbuilding and what the other side is like. at the same time, we got to see her being conflicted - admitting that she's naive, starting to question the state of the army, betraying MC but also apologizing for it - and just overall a complex person/villain. we got more backstory, more of her motivations, more glimpses of Shadow Realm history, truly we got everything from valax this chapter

i also love how her betrayal was not only inevitable but also due to a fundamental flaw in nia's plan: assuming valax would choose self-preservation over completing her mission and helping her people. it'd be a safe bet to make with pretty much anyone else, but we've seen enough of valax to know that it definitely doesn't apply to her - she has never lived for herself, she doesn't exist for herself, and so she was always going to bid her time until she could go through the pain to complete the mission. that might be the most fundamental part of her character, and it is both shown very well and given even more important narrative weight in this scene

and at the risk of sounding like a hater, this was the first chapter where i truly felt like they were going somewhere interesting with nia's arc. i have a lot of sympathy for her book 1 arc - realizing she has been groomed, trying to reclaim her faith - but she still has always kind of felt one dimensional to me. this chapter was the first time we got to see more of nia; we even had it be implied that at least part of her always being cheery and put-together is a facade. more than just turning her back on the temple this is the first time she is turning her back on the shitty parts of what they taught her - that she doesn't matter, that she lives only for the light, that she can't have needs and desires of her own. all in all, she needs catharsis, and if it's the shadow form that gives her that, then cheers! but regardless of how you feel about shadow!nia i think we can agree that it's giving us more and better glimpses into nia as a character who feels a lot of pain and immense pressure to be good while also trying to figure out which parts of her upbringing she needs to unlearn and which she gets to keep, deal with the grief of losing MC and watching her friend group fall apart, and trying to be a rock for them through it all, then immediately dealing with another world-shattering threat while also trying to hide a part of her for a good portion of it. i've seen a lot f people complain about how no one noticed shadow!nia before and MC was forced to keep that secret but i think it's a good analogy to how there are parts of nia that no one sees, that she tried so hard to suppress they were bound to take over her eventually. nia is more than a bubbly born sexy yesterday sweet girl and i'm delighted to see that being acknowledged

so, yeah. the ladies' chapter. loved it

[gaygoetia]

Helluva Boss Theories

Caught up with Helluva Boss and now idk what to do with myself so have some theories!

(Not including my next episode/Asmodean crystal theories cause I already discussed that here)

There are so many plates spinning at this point in the story so here are my current theories/hopes/ideas in where each thread is heading:

Stella (and her brother)

Stella is a simple woman with simple goals - to kill her husband and take all his money (not necessarily in that order).

But as established in S2 E4, if Stella kills Stolas all his money and possessions will pass to Via, leaving Stella with nothing. Of course he also won't give her anything willingly on account of how she, you know, tried to kill him.

This leaves two obvious avenues that I can think of that Stella is likely to take in pursuit of Stolas' fortune:

1. Blackmail - It's only a matter of time before Stolas' deal with Blitzo is going to come back and bite him in the ass. It's pretty much an open secret that he's been loaning out his Grimoire so that Blitzo can illegally access the human world and at some point someone is bound to leverage that fact to their advantage.

As soon as Stella realises (or more likely, her brother points out to her) that this is prime blackmail material, I think she'll jump at the chance to squeeze as much money out of Stolas' as possible.

2. Ransom - I think this is much less likely because it's too similar to previous storylines and is likely to feel repetitive, but Stella could also potentially hire Striker to kidnap Blitzo and demand a ransom in exchange for his safety.

Mammon

Given that S2 E7 ends with Mammon warning Asmodeus that he'll regret crossing him, I imagine that Mammon has a plan of his own that will emerge in future episodes.

I don't know how likely this actually is given it would be pretty large scale and would likely impact the plot of Hazbin Hotel too, but I would love it if this leads to a civil war across Hell.

Mammon is all about money and he'll be losing a lot of it now his top money-maker has publicly decried him (and I doubt Asmodeus will continue production of the Fizzy fuckdolls either).

It could also be an opportunity to finally introduce Satan (Demon of Wrath) and Leviathan (Demon of Envy) as potential allies to Mammon (whose desire for vengeance is motivated in part by the sins they embody), leaving Beelzebub and Belphegor as potential allies to Asmodeus. Of course the other sins might also have beef with each other that we don't know about which could exacerbate the situation further.

Striker

Striker has been a major player in season 2 in particular, popping up over and over again as an antagonist to IMP due Blitzo's connections to Stolas and Fizz respectively.

While he's ostensibly killing for money, he clearly has a more personal agenda stemming from his hatred of the upper class.

At the moment it's hard to know how exactly his plan will come together but in the last episode we saw him approach Crimson with the intention of forming some kind of alliance, though the details weren't specified.

I think this must be the first step in Striker's long term plan to bring down the monarchy and topple the hierarchy of Hell, though how this will play out is unclear.

I don't see the show killing off Stolas but I can imagine Striker's next appearance being in conjunction with the assassination of another royal character like Stella or her brother or even one of the Sins like Mammon or Bea.

I can also picture him trying his hand at kidnapping again in order to lure in a royal target - maybe kidnapping Blitzo or Via to draw in Stolas.

D.H.O.R.K.S

Thanks to IMP's consistent failure to keep a low profile, they've drawn the attention of D.H.O.R.K.S, an organization on Earth that appears to investigate paranormal activities, and as of S1 E6 we know they have video evidence.

I don't see them finding a way to hell without dying but I suspect they'll continue to cause problems during IMP's visits to the surface. They might even find a way to bind or command a demon.

That said, rather than the D.H.O.R.K.S themselves posing a serious threat, I think major consequences for IMP and/or Stolas are more likely to arise from the D.H.O.R.K.S drawing the attention of Higher-Ups in Hell.

What do y'all think?

I'd love to hear alternative theories on where all these storylines are leading!

Do you think all the different threads will end up intersecting?

If so, how do you think they'll tie it all together?

[royal-rivalry]

Collector Society Ideas: Preservation

Now I know everyone likes to give all their collector characters special archival powers and that so neat but think- how inconvenient would it be for each collector to need to do everything when it comes to overseeing and preserving other life forms/civilizations/worlds (possibly even dimensions) even with the cosmic powers they have?

I think while most of them would probably be able to do those things, for the sake of efficiency they could have assigned specialties. Not even delving into the inner workings of their own social hierarchies and societal niches, I feel like preservation could be put into at LEAST 3 different areas; Scholars, Archivists, and Exterminators

Scholars: Collectors who would specialize in the documentation of important cultural aspects as well as the natural workings of each world they may be preserving. Much like in S3E2, collectors have an obvious love for documentation, whether in story form or other, even just the storybook the collector in the show has takes 300 years to finish reading (as per development storyboards). They’re meticulous in writing precise details.

Archivists: Collectors who specialize in the hands-on approach to preservation. While archival could ALSO refer to the written documentation, inferencing from the show it has more to do with capturing life forms in a preserved form, almost like how museums and science labs have specimens (ie. taxidermy and specimen jars) Knowing exactly how something looks plays a huge part in knowing how it works, so archiving other beings goes hand in hand with the documentations scholars would perform.

Exterminators: When preservation efforts go haywire, specifically due to outside interference from other beings, Exterminators can be called in to cull opposition on larger scales. While a single collector of another type may be able to deal with one or two interfering “pests”, when a whole civilization or world defies their efforts, a specialist would need to be called upon in order to keep efforts on track. As apathetic to other’s emotions normal collectors could be, exterminators would by far be the most apathetic of the bunch. It would not mean however that they themselves are inherently devoid of emotion.

But this is just my rambling and personal world building, yours might be different, but if you have any addendums or thoughts on other niches feel free to share them! I’d love to hear them. Some niches might even be able to be broken further down into subcategories.

[tyrannuspitch]

thor meta directory

hello and welcome, i'm lucian and i've been analysing mcu thor in excruciating detail since march 2022. this directory is intended to help me and anyone else interested to navigate my backlog of thor posts, which were all initially grouped under one umbrella tag.

a few notes:

my main focus is on the asgardian royal family, and my favourite portrayals of them come from 2011-2013. i have a bit of a loki-centric bias, but i do my best to be self-aware. i think all members of the family are terrible people and i love them for it <3

older posts should be taken with a pinch of salt. my opinions have developed a lot since i first started posting, but i've left pretty much everything up for archival purposes.

sometimes my opinions are strong, but they're never personal, even when i express them in hyperbolic ways. i promise i don't really hate you because of a marvel movie :3

to prevent clutter, source, character, relationship and theme tags are only applied to posts that also qualify for a meta or concrit tag.

some of the theme tags overlap a lot, but i'm doing my best.

most of the theme tags don't have an immediately obvious "thesis" post, but hopefully you'll get a sense of them by scrolling through. i'm also happy to answer any questions on this!

at the point when i organised this archive, it contained 1600 posts, so please excuse any tagging mistakes or typos, and let me know so i can fix them :D

finally: my inbox is open and i love talking about thor! comments, questions, suggestions, discussion, and lighthearted/friendly debate are all very welcome :D also, if you send me music associations or fanart, i'll love you forever - i probably haven't seen it, since i hardly follow anyone in this fandom. (just please no th-rki - i'm firmly in the familial relationship camp.)

okay that's all. have fun! 💚💙💜

main tag (completely unfiltered: 1600+ posts, including liveblogging, thinking aloud, silly jokes, complaints, and just about every other thought i've ever had)

by post type:

meta (600+ posts) - meta highlights (100+ posts) - concrit/negativity - text reblogs - fanart - gifs - stills - edits (mine)

by source:

thor 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - avengers 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - loki tv - other mcu - comics - thor: tales of asgard (cartoon) - other marvel - myth + history - fandom - other

by character:

thor - loki - odin - frigga - laufey - hela - malekith - thanos - the other - sif - warriors three - heimdall - valkyrie - jane - erik - sylvie - mobius - kang - avengers - fury

note: tumblr has a link limit! i've had to remove the links to supporting characters' tags to stay within it, but the format is: /tagged/ch:%20laufey, /tagged/ch:%20hela, etc.

by relationship:

thor: frigga - loki - odin - sif - w3 - jane - erik - avengers - fury

loki: frigga - odin - laufey - sif - w3 - thanos - the other - sylvie -mobius - kang - erik - jane - avengers

odin: frigga - laufey - hela - kang - fury - bor

house of odin (for when it's really the entire family at once - not an umbrella tag)

by theme/topic:

abuse + empire - fate + hierarchy - suicide + sacrifice - imprisonment + exile - devotion + treachery - honour + villainy - cycles + scapegoats - manipulation + mind control - order + chaos - war + apocalypse - undeath + afterlife - the threefold death - trickster loki - jester loki - servant prince

childhood + immortality - gender + sexuality - ergi - sorcery - prophecy - disability - ethnicity - godhood - monsterhood - playing the monster - mirrors + masks - eye motif

expressions of love - love as horror - neck/throat motif - grief - codependence - odinsons as twins - redemption - mjolnir - saint thor - thor's sinister side

worldbuilding - modern psychiatry - etymology - mimesis

and finally, my ao3 is here. i'm not as active as i'd like to be, but i'm working on it!

[eisforeidolon]

I recently went down a rabbithole and came across some of the most idiotic nonsense I've ever seen.

Someone asked the blog I'm quoting below what they thought the reason for prequel gate was and I'm just flabbergasted at the insane armchair psychology presented as fact. This person clearly has no idea what co-depency actually means and yet they have a whole buch of posts spanning multiple years where they repeat this nonsense over and over again (newsflash: you can't diagnose people you've never even spoken to from afar).

Not to mention calling Jensen "under-functioning" or "low functioning" (and his parents too in some posts, it's genetic apparently /facepalm).

This person seems as insightful and trustworthy as goob to me, but because it isn't as immediately obvious by their writing style (compared to goob's barely comprehensible ramblings), people take them seriously and they have at least a small amount of followers who seem to believe every word they say.

(Though it seems to be mostly Jared stans who are only to happy to believe anything negative about Jensen, no matter how unqualified the source and how ridiculous the claims.)

I just can't roll my eyes hard enough:

"You'll find the answer to most of your questions in the codependency tag.  The short answer is Jensen was trying to be good enough for Jared by creating a project on his own without Jared's help or leadership.

Let's take out the codependency aspect and just look at basic male competitiveness even between friends.  Men go through the competition phase with each other in order to determine hierarchy and once that’s established, then they “reconcile” and move into the cooperate phase and even become loyal friends.  Nothing demonstrates this better than the Top Gun movies, which is actually about a love story between Maverick and Iceman.   "Frenemies" is not supposed to happen among men, instead it's more common among women because they go from competition to cooperation and back to competition.  Jensen is a bit under-functioning, so he goes back to competing with Jared even though Jared is not competing with him; there’s no need to change the hierarchy.  At the same time Jensen was competing for Jared in order to continue their Maverick and Iceman love story."

Let's talk about Goob for a second. Goob wants to present himself as a totes unbiased observer with super secret insider knowledge ... that just always ~*somehow*~ happens to validate that D/C is the center of the universe.

Not just fandom, but people at large? Have a tendency to question something far less to not at all when it agrees with what they already want to believe. The problem is, you don't just have to want to believe with Goob, you also have to get past how he writes in word-salad rants, makes factual statements/predictions that are proven directly indisputably false all the time, and throws out claims that are blatantly fantasyland batshit like Kripke stealing the YED from him or his having been personally involved in TW, is clearly wanting to bilk fandom for money - among other issues. Goob is so bad at what he's trying to do you have to be completely fucking desperate AND incredibly thick to continue to buy into it.

There are people in this fandom a lot better at it than Goob. Who can write a coherent paragraph. Who know how to flimflam enough to not directly say things like 'X [did/will] happen on Y date' which are easy to catch out as blatantly factually false - there's a lot of 'it's just my opinion (even though I keep stating it as fact)'! Who aren't obtuse enough to claim their super speshul insider knowledge is directly personally in SPN, just ~*the industry*~ in general that just so happens to tell them everything about how BTS on SPN must have operated in minute, exact detail!

So if, say, you already want to believe Jared is the center of the universe around which all existence revolves - even that of his own friends' who are just desperate to earn the approval of such an amazing godlike being they obviously can't help but feel inferior to in every possible way? You maybe don't notice the absurdity when somebody claims to be a fan of Jensen but constantly laments the fact he can't be so much smarter/more talented/business savvy/fashionable/whatever like Jared, woe! You maybe don't notice the double standard always leaning one way when somebody insists in one post that when X applies to Jared it proves he's popular/cool/savvy, and five posts later, X applying to Jensen proves that he's forgettable/lame/dumb, actually. You maybe don't notice when they spout off a bunch of psychobabble gibberish with no qualifications in the field on top of zero personal experience with the people they're incorrectly diagnosing. (Honestly, that one's even less noticeable because so many fans do it so cluelessly all over the place ... not as if that makes it better, but.)

The difference between them and Goob isn't a matter of what they're trying to do, it's a matter of basic competence in the attempt. Goob just can't help being so very Goob about everything - and again, even he has people willing to swallow it whole because they WANT the validation of it being true so so blindly. Conversely, no matter how competent anybody else's sleight-of-hand, they're only going to distract the audience who already agree with their underlying agenda from being able to see the light catch on the wires.

[ultimate-quartz]

my main takeaways from good omens s2 & my own theories for s3

This is going to be long and slightly incoherent, but I've watched the second season of Good Omens several times now and need to put my thoughts out into the universe to make sense of them. Proceed if you wish for a lengthy take and some light reaching.

Season 2 of Good Omens has already been acknowledged by Neil Gaiman as an in-between, a sort of setup to get to where the story needs to be for the third and final season. As many people have already pointed out, there are multiple hanging threads left at the end of season 2 (some more obvious than others - see Book of Life). The season was described as "slow and romantic" before release, and I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment despite the whole demon invasion that occurs in the finale. Season two does an excellent job at weaving in new concepts and making some existing themes in the show more evident than they were in the first season. I will not explain these all in detail, but they will be important to my theory on how season three will tie everything together.

The whole goal of this season, in my view, was not to move the dial in terms of major world-saving events, but to develop the characters of Crowley and Aziraphale further, alongside their exceedingly complex relationship. They do just the correct amount of growing to wind up in their required positions by the end of the finale: Aziraphale, making one last attempt to save Heaven by accepting the position of Supreme Archangel from the Metatron, and Crowley, abandoned by his love and cast out from both Heaven and Hell. There is a parallel of incredible loneliness and rejection on both sides following Crowley's confession and Aziraphale's proposition in the last few minutes of the season. Their individual perspectives on dejection and doubts on the paths they've chosen will heavily influence the direction of season three along with, what I believe will be, an incredibly difficult reunion and regain of trust.

Let me start with Aziraphale, as the end of the season leaves him in a very interesting situation. The Metatron, a semi-omniscient(?) being who has been exposed by Crowley's experience in Heaven as potentially having a considerable investment in Armageddon, has offered Aziraphale the role of a (metaphorical) lifetime: Supreme Archangel. Aziraphale takes this offer after some considerable heartache, still believing that he can make worthwhile change from within the walls of Heaven. It is important to note that the Metatron is the sole being who can alter the Book of Life, a text which recounts all existence, and is heavily referred to in season 2.

Aziraphale has arrived in a Heaven which has had its entire status quo upended, and will take authority over the archangels who have already expressed discourse over their current hierarchy. I don't see any world in which Michael and Uriel let Aziraphale take rule without some difficulty. While I do believe that Aziraphale will be allowed to make initial changes (ones that won't threaten the great plan) due to his status with the Metatron, I do think his experiences with Crowley and within Humanity will cause him to question the plan, especially once the details of the Second Coming are revealed to him.

The Second Coming is an incredible setup for the main plotline of the final season, from a narrative perspective. We have already seen one foiled Armageddon, but this time the inclusion of the resurrection (after all of those hints from season 2; the Resurrectionist Pub, the revived Nazi zombies, etc.) is set to make the story very interesting on levels both Earthly and ethereal. I believe the Metatron will use this plan to hide the plans for rapture from Aziraphale, making Aziraphale put into action the very events which would destroy humanity. The Metatron has already put the chess pieces in place; he has Aziraphale's trust, as indicated by the odd scene in which he offers Aziraphale a coffee, and he has a very gullible angel left on Earth.

This moves me into my thoughts on Muriel. As a side character, Muriel is pure comic relief, and is easily overlooked as a device to reveal the truth about Gabriel's disappearance. Now, this may be a reach, but thanks to some cunning fans I have done my own dive into the accounts of the angel Muriel in original scriptures. There are accounts which identify Muriel as becoming Abbadon (or Abbaton), the angel of death. The sticking points of this recounting are that Abbadon oversees the Bottomless Pit, has been identified by some interpretations as the antichrist / Satan, and performs work of destruction while involved in the Last Judgement. I don't think it's a coincidence that Neil Gaiman included a character named Muriel, whose namesake is historically linked to the Second Coming. I believe Muriel was chosen by the Metatron specifically to stay on Earth as he knows that she(?) could be easily swayed to act in any future plans which would involve intervening with Humanity. While the Metatron can keep Muriel at an arm's length due to her dim-wittedness, he keeps Aziraphale close as a potential danger to the second attempt at Armageddon.

This will lead me into Crowley's part in season 3. We know by Shax's return to Hell that Crowley might be able to move back into his flat, which is where I believe we will find him at the beginning of the season. Crowley opened himself up to Aziraphale and, at his most vulnerable, was abandoned by the one person he thought he could trust. I expect a boatload of sadness and vice from his side of the story. In having his flat back, Crowley would be staying close to the bookshop, which was entrusted to Muriel upon Aziraphale's ascension. I don't necessarily see Crowley moving to try and get Aziraphale back on his own, nor do I see him involving himself in the affairs of Hell now that Shax is on top. In my opinion, it will take a significant plot event to make Crowley understand that something is very wrong, that the Second Coming will bring about the end, and that Aziraphale is indeed being used - placing him in direct danger. As upset as Crowley must be from the argument at the end of season 2, I don't think anything will truly stop him when he believes Aziraphale to be in serious danger.

As for the details, I am still muddy on a lot of elements. The Book of Life must return in a significant way with the direct connection to the Metatron, and I would not be surprised if the Metatron himself has been interfering with the written record of existence himself to aid in his plans. Some keen observers have mentioned how odd particular elements of season 2 were, in a way that feels like some of the show's fundamentals have been tampered with. There are loose threads that don't get followed up on, such as the mysteriously vanishing Eccles cakes, and moments in the historical recounting of Aziraphale and Crowley's meetings which feel just odd enough to merit a second glance at the narrative we are being fed.

One thing I am certain of is that Aziraphale and Crowley are being purposefully separated by whatever force sees them as a threat to the recurring plan of Armageddon. We have enough evidence to believe that an angel and a demon together can be incredibly powerful; this is shown through the 25-Lazarii miracle that Crowley and Aziraphale perform to hide Gabriel, as well as more inconspicuously in the flickering of lights when Gabriel and Beelzebub hold hands and sing together. Whether or not this is due to the nature of opposing forces alone, or exacerbated by the overwhelming presence of love, is still to be seen.

Love is where the story begins and ends, in my view. It is the one constant that will ensure that our protagonists prevail, as we have been shown time and time again, both implicitly (through longing glances and helpful hands) and explicitly (in small touches and a kiss of last-ditch desperation) that Crowley and Aziraphale love each other in a way that supersedes both Heaven and Hell. The way that their love is explored through parallels within Humanity, and doubled down upon even in their worst moments, leads me to believe that there is no choice but for them to have a happy ending. Love will be the one thing that neither Aziraphale nor Crowley can ignore, and I foresee a difficult but euphoric reunion in season 3 which will ensure victory for neither Heaven nor Hell, but for Humanity; for it is Humanity which taught them how to love each other.

I have many more thoughts, but this is where the train of coherence ends. Let me know if you have any additions and/or would like to theorize!

[papercut-chronicles]

papercuts by gym class heroes (and how it is about a mother-child relationship)

this is my first analysis to be ever put on paper and published! i love to look at details and consider what they can mean, and i’m kinda happy to be doing the first one with a gch song. shoutout to @clubnate for leaving a super simple comment which motivated me a lot to do this, so thank you! i’m also applying they/them pronouns, since the gender of the lyric self isn’t specified.

1) “We met 22 years back / Fresh out the womb / Now she consumes me / No room for self these days”

okay, let’s get some facts together. the official papercuts release date is in 2005, but the song could be written before this year, so it’s acceptable to consider that travie was 22-24 when he wrote the song. 

joining the previous fact to when he says they met “fresh out the womb”, this means the person in question knows him since birth. although it can be an expression for a friend or a relative who knows him since he was little, a mother knows more about their child like no one else could.

2. “And she's so demanding / Do this, do that / Don't forget to take your medicine”

this part catches my attention because of intimacy. yes, you can be intimate with someone who came from a whole different place than you, and it’s okay. but the demanding tone, as written before, is so crucial and connects really well with coming off from someone who is older than the speaker. it also shows a kind of “hierarchy” here, since these are all orders directed to the speaker.

3. “I hate it when her face is invading my head again / The welcome mat reads “please take off your shoes” / But she disregards the statement”

things here start to get kind of interesting. not because only know the feminine pronouns (for the person they’re talking about) are obvious, but the fact that the face of said person is invading their head — meaning that, somehow, they had grown up apart from her. 

for having these illusions of her face in their head, they saw each other at least once or for very short periods of time. so we can be dealing with an absent or a single mother.

4. “I've grown accustomed to bending my beliefs to / Satisfy her needs / But I'm fed up / With plugging cuts everytime they bleed”

these verses show lots of vulnerability, how sensitive this topic is (and since this happens with such ease, this makes me think they are talking to someone they’re closer with). also, can we talk about how the lyrical self reveals that they had been doing this since they were born and how it feels just like a normal habit for them? we can see that it isn’t a healthy environment for them. 

5. “So I dip my pen in the puddle / What a bloody mess its been / Trying to end this struggle”

this is more about the way the speaker responds to the household and their self-destructive attitude than something coming from their mother. you can see that the situation isn’t good, but the lyrical self chooses to hurt themselves even more. it’s also visible that is a conscious decision, even they actively recognize the mess that is being around them as they speak. it’s like seeing something in fire and doing nothing in order to help.

6. “But I love her, / She's the reason for the lesions / Man I love her / I start bleeding when she's leaving”

again, another moment they show themself as someone sensitive (and possibly in a toxic relationship). even despite all the bad things that happened to them in their lifetime by the side of their mother, they still love her no matter what. it’s like they know, deep down, that she has her flaws but still being someone for them to love.

7. “And every scar on my fingertip is a reminder of / All the lessons learned / On my missions to try to find her but / I'll sit alone until she comes back home / And I'll be waiting by the phone”

now, they are conscious of present time and see the marks that she left behind on them. even they try to search her and even learn some things with this journey. but, at the end, they decide to sit alone all by themselves (this is, even without someone they trust) and wait endlessly for her to give any sign of life.

8. “She don't live here no more / I heard she's staying down the street with two dead beat / That don't treat her right with two bad ass kids / Guilt and Regret”

this is a report of a part of their journey to search for their mother. at the address they stop in (which it can be the place they grew or lived the most), they got information about the new life their mother has, with another partner and kids. their names being guilt and regret can be a sign that she never wanted this destiny for herself.

9. “And I'm willing to bet / My last album (that?) she's wishing she was kissing me”

while searching for her day by day, they have a musical career that it’s just in the beginning (as a way to earn money to live). so their last album went kind of popular, since it came to the mother’s ears that the album is from her child, and it makes her wish to be closer to them.

10. “Man the nerve of this bitch / Pardon my French / But it's been 10 days / And I'm getting kind of light headed”

after knowing the new life their mom has, and how easily it seems that she doesn’t miss them, they allow themself to feel. despite the obvious anger inside of them, seeing by the choosing of words they do, they hate to feel like some replaced object. 

11. “Maybe I'll write her a letter in a gentleman's way / And send it with the hopes that she might get it”

you can see the anger and hate is no longer strong here, but it’s obvious they didn’t forget about the things they discovered after so many tries. so, thinking more rationally, they come to the conclusion that writing to her is better than randomly appearing at her new place. 

12. “I can't believe I let her run all over me / But all I think about is / When she's here and holding me”

this writing phenomenon is brilliant in the context, using the present tense to describe things that happened in the past. it can really indicate how bad they miss them, even after all the hell they went through. it’s a double-sided state because they can be missing their mother, specifically, or just feeling the absence of a maternal figure.

13. “I can't complain / I kind of like the pain / She ain't even got a name / She just lives in my brain”

it is indubitable that their childhood (and present life) are full of traumas from the very first minute of breath. so, as a way of trying to deal, they create the image of their ideal mother in their head to fulfill their feelings. things get messier when the dreams mix up with reality, and they seem to deal with it kind of well. also, the absence of basic information (in this case, of a name) can represent how they lack of motherly love.

14. “She says she loves me / But she comes and goes when she pleases / When the door shuts / It's like another papercut / And now I'm stuck with a hand full of bandaids / Until she comes back around like them ceiling fan blade”

“Claims she loves me / But she cuts me into pieces / When I'm sewed up / Here comes another papercut / Now I'm stuck with a hand full of bandaids / Until she comes back around like them cailing fan blades…”

the chorus is more of a summary of the past they had been through, how their mom comes like flashes in their life and how bad this is hurting them until the present days (represented by the moment they’re talking).

15. the ending (bonus)

“She says she loves me but / She really thinks that I’m an asshole

She says she loves me but / My hands are too big

She says she loves me but /  I pick my nose too much

She says she loves me but / She says I never really listen

She says she loves me but / I take too many pills

She says she loves me but / I never pay my bills

She says she loves me but / I wait into the last minute

She says she loves me but / I don’t try hard enough”

i think this lays here, significantly at the end, to act like a vague mention of one time they finally met their mother and talked to her (it isn’t too much important itself, but the speaker shares with us). they show us their mother’s list of excuses to direct all the guilt to them instead of holding herself accountable. they are all nonsense and don’t even connect to the fact that she made a hell of their life and then, left them behind without a single kind of support. not only does it show how much she doesn't care about her child, but how much of guilt-trip she has (and doesn’t mind using it, even if it’s against a child of her).

[bumpintheroad]

Oh! Well... fifth, as established, your entrancing beauty; fourth, your love of nature - your desired house full of plants, you loving your walks... it's very heart-warming; third, your love of reading - you get so happy when you finish your books! 🥰; second, your sense of humor (ahem, humour 😁) - a trifle obvious, but as you well know, you are hilarious (and in a bunch of different ways!); and first and foremost, your kindness, which seems to emanate like an aura in everything you do, and is so much more beautiful mentally and emotionally than even your remarkable physical beauty.

I have a sixth, seventh, eighth, and maybe ninth incredible thing, too 😅 - and could probably come up with more (though I lack the innate lyricism to adequately convey them); 3-9 shuffle around in the hierarchy from time to time.

I think you'd be a remarkable person to know, M - romantically or platonically; even just what you graciously share with all of us here is a privilege to see, and should be a highlight of every follower's experience.

Wishing you happiness and peace, always. 🖖😊

oh my god. i literally don’t know what to say!!!! this is so thoughtful and kind 😭🤧 i appreciate the details (my curiosity would’ve been fed with bullet points!!)

reading, going for walks and being funny truly does sum me up hahaha. thank you for saying all of that. i’m glad my kindness translates through here as well!

i’m grateful for your kindness! have a wonderful day 😊😊

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

Hello I am writing a book (fic)

It involves a character developing a sort of para social relationship to another character who died from the things and actions they left behind

I was wondering if you had tips to make it seem more convincing than ''we have similar tastes, I will base my entire personality off of you''

(this got much longer than i intended so i apologize for rambling)

The thing to keep in mind is that there isn’t one singular way to write a toxic parasocial relationship. One of the things that often makes real people fandoms and stan culture so toxic is that there is a lot of infighting between groups with different kinds and levels of toxic. And the groups themselves can often in force their own toxic positivity where they hold themselves and each other up as enlightened paragons superior to the ignorant masses. The way you describe things here, it seems like it’s just one person, but keep the above in mind if there is a ‘fandom’ around the dead character, even a small one.

Speaking broadly for individual thought processes, the core factor of what turns a normal interest/admiration of a famous stranger into a toxic parasocial relationship is when the person on the outside no longer recognizes the scale of the barrier between then and their object of interest. They start to believe the object is sending them all these special messages and details that only a ‘real’ fan would understand. (The ‘real fan’ part is especially important, as another big chunk of the mindset behind toxic parasocial fandoms is the perceived hierarchy. There are haters at the bottom who only live to tear down the object, the ignorant normies who don’t recognize the object’s greatness, there are the bad fans who interpret the object wrong or like them for the wrong reasons, the fake fans who pretend to have the right reasons for clout, and finally the few, the oppressed, the enlightened individuals who are better and smarter than everyone else because they like a stranger in the correct way. Said enlightenment tends to assign them the authority to do whatever they want to anyone who doesn’t meet their standards.) It’s a form of projection; the fan spends all this time and effort thinking about their object, so the object must be doing the same thing and they clearly love the fan back just as much. This can extend into conspiracy territory when they start searching for patterns and messages that aren’t actually there in order to find ‘proof’ of a conclusion they’ve already come to. The obvious example being when fans ship two irl people so hard, they convince themselves that the two are in fact secretly dating and the reason they aren’t public is because of nebulous nefarious forces. And if only the object would listen to the ‘real’ fans even more, they know exactly how to ‘save’ them from their situation because they understand what the object wants better than them. But in the mean time, there is a moral imperative to post about them as much as possible because that is the most important thing for the object. This kind of worldview can be difficult to wrap one’s head around without being in the thick of it, let alone writing it, so hopefully this will help get the gears turning.

As for specific suggestions, the details will vary based on how the worshiped object died. But based on what you’ve said here, I would start with the similar tastes angle that gradually snowballs into the character believing they know them better that anyone who actually knew them before they died. It starts innocently enough, reading about, empathizing with, and imagining that they would have gotten along if they knew each other before the one died. Perhaps the living character is very lonely, and the death of someone who could have been a rare potential friend hits that much harder. Maybe (depending on how they actually die) the living character starts believing that if they did know them, they could have saved them from their end. Maybe hindsight reveals answers the living character is sure they would have figured out before it was too late. To take your “I will base my entire personality off of you,” literally, maybe the character starts copying the behaviors and tastes they don’t have in common under the belief they need to emulate them in order to ‘honor’ them. But on the other hand, they start projecting their own issues onto the object to fill in the blanks: “They never said it, but I know they must have felt [blank] about that because I’ve been there.” Anyone who says otherwise is just too ignorant to read the signs. You could also throw in an insult about how detractors just don’t have the life experience/aren’t mature enough to get it, I’ve seen that one a lot. Picking fights with people who don’t have the exact same interpretation in general. Again, the character earnestly feels deeply emotionally attached to this dead character, claiming them as a lost friend. Any evidence in contrast to that worldview is an attack, on both the titular character and the dead one. And as more ‘attacks’ come, they align themselves as a ‘fellow victim’ to the dead one. Maybe even the dead character’s family are ‘out to get them.’ Maybe they decide the few remaining friends they do have are lesser than them because they can’t see the truth. But, if you want to take them to the next level, they could formulate the fantasy that the dead character made all the stuff they left behind specifically for the living one. It was fate. It was a classical, romantic tragedy selflessly gifted on behalf of the living character. They were meant to find and understand their words better than anyone else, and in turn become the keeper of their legacy.

[iwander12]

Gaster is the narrator not Chara I'm right You're wrong and you Smell!!!

I don't typically talk about UT/DR on here but I do love this little pair of games a lot and think about them and their narratives quite often. If you've been around the fandom spaces, I'm sure you're familiar with the misinterpretations of characters like Chara where they're exaggerated more than what the canon portrayed. Sure, these characters are little pixel creatures, but they have faceted personalities and it's obvious Mr. Fox had put a lot of thought into them. The thinking pattern typically goes as, you digest the game, then you digest the fandom, and fandom becomes more fresh in your memory since the game is pretty short. So you start defining these characters are what people say they are and not what they are in canon, if that makes sense. And ever since I realized my interpretations matter too, it's been bothering me.

As mentioned before, Chara was misinterpreted as the big bad, the evil, the TRUE final boss of Undertale!! , yet in canon they were plainly a traumatized kid who wasn't a great person. They were just a kid who had a poor life. Although they had the great power that came with being a human.

Your soul persists after death, right? And they were taken and buried in the Ruins. I guess that means you'd still be alive in some sort of way. The human souls that Asgore had seem to have woken up during the battle with Flowey. I wonder why. But that's the similar circumstance that wakes up Chara at the end of the Genocide route. Which means they weren't aware of what was going on at the beginning of the Genocide route or any other timelines.

I won't deny the red text at the end of the game is them. Though, I think the red text at the save point represents your soul. Not Chara's, nor Frisk's, yours. (but that's a topic for another time)

If Chara had a specific text indication, and says you woke them up at the end of a certain run, how would they be narrating your every action? Why would they be, if the narration doesn't match with their formal manner of speak?

The narration is playful. It tells jokes. It seems friendly. It inspires you. It makes fun of you. It teases you. It berates you. It is cruel. It makes fun out of violence. It makes fun out of you. It's with you at nearly every single point throughout the game. This all just doesn't seem characteristic of Chara to me, and it wouldn't make sense that they're everywhere despite being "asleep" most of the time.

Gaster is described as being scattered across time and space. He could be with you, all the time. We don't particularly know him, he could be friendly at some points and horrible at others. After all, it is the best outcome that he fell into the CORE... Of course, he's not just in Undertale. Time and space, yeah? He's everywhere. And Deltarune does have the same narration.

So, in my perspective, that makes Gaster a second "player" in this situation. There is a hierarchy of power over this world, where you're at the top. Following a monster of time and space and another human. (whether it be your vessel or Chara) Gaster does seem to be enjoying himself. He inserts himself into the game's code. (Unused Gaster fight, where every value is 666, lol) I would assume all the Fun events are caused by him too, trying to play and goof along with you. And to him, these characters, despite having been his own acquaintances and people, are just toys to play with for him. Like how we see them!

(I could go into a bit more detail regarding Deltarune but i'll just leave it here since my memory of chapter 1 isn't the greatest. Thanks if you read this all the way!)

[shellxrls]

considering this piece feels to me like moony tore a chunk of cameroncest out of my brain and bettered it beyond what i could imagine, here is a collection of my thoughts and highlights of my favourite lines while reading this:

his heart would thud and his dick would pulse at the thought if the invasion. neither of you had any idea of what he was doing. he would spit in mascara tubes and drag pairs of clean panties across his balls. didn't matter who's it was--yours or sarah's--as long as something was defiled in some way. as long as rafe was included.

my favouriteee lines of description out of the whole thing. neither of these things are generic, and both are so immensely perverted that you can tell there was obsessive thought put into them despite the hurried actions. so much so that pieces of rafe would not only taint reader and sarah but constantly be paraded by both for him to have the satisfaction of viewing. also interesting how despite being related to sarah he still feels the need to impart bodily fluids/functions across her things, its not enough to go beyond the surface he needs to see it, to know he put it there and have that tangible cause and effect.

could be yours, he saw you pull them out of your suitcase. could be sarah's, he saw her wear them.

i LOVE the parallels between reader and sarah. truly it was the best decision you could've made to phrase them like this cause it provides rafe with an extension of his sister who's more keen on fucking him than sarah is. it also makes reader and sarah seem more like siblings than friends at times and even if it wasn't intentional it means rafe's jealousy is that much hotter cause he wants to be the sister fucker and the rage becomes familial even when directed at reader (who isn't related but atp feels like she is).

he saw her wear them.

interesting how rafe is so keen on these little details about his sister even when he claims to have such distaste for her.

"you think we don't know rafe? you think we just see your nasty fucking cum in our underwear and don't know where it came from?

even more interesting that sarah most definitely recognises and being the less volatile of the two she waits until she can manipulate someone else (reader) into the right position to act on it.

"you-- think that's all i did? christ you're fuckin stupid."

he's so prideful considering he's being called out on his deranged incestful fantasies and i loveee it its awfully pathetic and in character of rafe.

rafe takes the underwear out his mouth--this time baby blue with little clouds on them. sarah was wearing these earlier.

again loveee how he's always taking notice of the subtle details and snooping in such a blatant expression of desire (staring at his sisters fucking panty line whenever she bends down or catching a hint of the colour when her skirt blows up in the wind) even if he doesn't recognise it to be obvious himself.

you've done such a great job in enforcing a hierarchy between the three, you can really feel sarah's presence and recognise her dominating each scenario despite the lack of her actual character within the scene. this specific line is also even better to think ab in application to the hierarchy of the three, clean underwear passed down first from sarah to reader for use and then worn out and discarded for sex once reaching rafe.

pervert - sarah x reader x rafe

kinktober day 4 - incest?ish? sorta not really they don't touch.

lets all pretend that sarah is still kook princess and rafe is crazy but not murder people crazy for this okay? ok. they're all still a "happy" family.

rafe hated you almost as much as he hated sarah. he hated how you two whispered and giggled in your own language. how you moved in synch, like a hive mind. sarah couldn't have everything she wanted, and right now he wanted you too.

sarah was your best friend, so much so that when her family went on vacation so did you. to say you were attached at the hip was an understatement. ward used to say it was like you were the same person, two halves of a whole so to speak.

rafe saw it differently, he saw how sarah bossed you around. even when she did it with that sweet smile on her face, rafe swore there was a mean glint there. almost self satisfied. because if sarah said you were going out thats what you did, and if she changed your outfit even though you told her you liked it well you just trust her opinion. and when sarah told you to "ignore her weirdo brother" you did that too, darting your eyes away when he looked at you and scurrying behind her when she left you alone with him.

he thought he had you figured out. sarah had to own everything, even you, and it pissed him off.

now you thought you were better than him. you scoffed when he spoke and rolled your eyes every time he entered the room. just like sarah. and it made him ache with the need to wipe the smirks of both your faces. he would imagine pinching into your soft flesh, digging his nails deep until he broke skin and you were crying. just how he did to her when she was little. rafe figured nothing would be funny when he was done with the both of you, maybe then you'd respect him more.

but there was a little hope this vacation would be different, you were all adults and if he tried rafe wouldn't run into you at all. you and sarah spent your days on the beach and nights at beach parties and clubs just like he hoped. it meant he had time.

when everyone was gone rafe would circle back to the house, scavenging through you and sarah's shared belongings in the dark, flipping through newly updated scrapbooks and rummaging through dirty laundry. it was a rush every time, his heart would thud and his dick would pulse at the thought if the invasion. neither of you had any idea of what he was doing. he would spit in mascara tubes and drag pairs of clean panties across his balls. didn't matter who's it was--yours or sarah's--as long as something was defiled in some way. as long as rafe was included.

it was gonna be routine as usual when he picked up a pair of pink polka dotted underwear, could be yours, he saw you pull them out of your suitcase. could be sarah's, he saw her wear them.

but he stopped, you left your camera and it was still on, it's led screen slightly dimmed but rafe grabbed it. he started to scroll through. there's no way there's pictures he hasn't seen.

there was. and videos. you and sarah in the shower together, kissing and soapy. flashing the mirror in a dressing room. another in your room, grabbing each other's asses in the mirror with your skirts flipped up. you're wearing the panties this time.

"what the fuck..." rafe couldn't stop scrolling. he guesses topper's fears of you two being dykes werent unfounded because here you were, eating her out no less than what had to be 15 minutes before you left the house.

when you walked into the room, lip gloss already smudged and already tipsy off two vodka crans he froze.

"rafe you fucking pervert gimme that!" you lunged at him, tripping over your heels as he jerked back, holding the camera above his head.

he knows you can feel him hard against your stomach, he doesn't care, "mind telling me what this is about."

for once you look nervous, "none of your fucking business rafe give it here--"

rafe jerks back again, "now given how this shit is full of videos of my sister cheating on my best friend, i think it is my fuckin business." he dangles it over your head, watching as your expression shifts to a glare, "and need i remind you...you have a boyfriend sweetheart. there's a lottt of people who would be very interested in knowing the kook princesses are dyking every night."

you laugh, and rafe's taken aback, "please rafe give me a break." you laugh again, leaning closer against his chest with a smirk, "you're just fuckin jealous."

"of who? sarah? you fuckin wish." rafe's blood runs cold when you shake your head no, leaning up on your toes until your lips brush his.

"of me. cause i got to her first. but i'll share, just this once." you kiss him, tongue first with a flick against his own and he moans.

there's the taste of your lipgloss yeah--strawberry and sticky sweet, but something else. headier, muskier, that lights up his tastebuds and he almost melts.

sarah, still lingering on your lips with such potency rafe's sure you had one more round before coming back. he's so hard he's dizzy, letting you direct him to the bed with a hand shoved down his pants, rolling your palm over his tip.

"you think we don't know rafe? you think we just see your nasty fucking cum in our underwear and don't know where it came from? cmon now i'm a slut but not that big of one." you waste no time with build up, shoving his shorts down. you were only supposed to come back for a quick second for the camera and you needed to be back soon.

rafe's flustered, for once. bucking his hips up to chase your fist, mouth agape as he keeps licking his lips, "you-- think that's all i did? christ you're fuckin stupid." he lets out a pained groan when you smack his balls, but you snort when he lets out a sticky spurt of precum against his torso.

"as if, now shut the fuck up i have to go soon," in a slight fumble you reach under your dress, slipping off your underwear you shove them in his mouth. he barely has time to register it as you spit directly on his tip, making him shudder as you spread it across his shaft, "now hurry up and you can snoop to your heart's desire."

with a kiss to his panty suffed mouth you speed up, keeping one hand resting at his base as the wet schlick of your motions fill the room, "damn rafe, you almost get as wet as she does." your hands are covered in him, precum running down your knuckles and your wrists as he groans beneath you.

"fuckfuckfuck," rafe's voice is muffled, but his quickening breath and tense thighs are all you need to know he's close. already you can feel his balls drawing up, so you cup them in your hand, massaging and coaxing him along.

"fuckin finally, there you go let it out."

he cums so long and so hard you're worried he'll black out. hips stuttering as he struggles to catch his breath."

while he's still fazed you grab the camera, wiping his cum off on your shorts as you get up to leave, "make sure you clean up okay? if sarah finds out i did this without her she'll be pissed."

with that you leave, heels clacking as you rush down the stairs and the door slams.

rafe takes the underwear out his mouth--this time baby blue with little clouds on them.

sarah was wearing these earlier.

[microtonalmatt]

Introducing a hostile and mysterious world

I'm still getting used to this site, so I'm not entirely sure what to use it for. Right now, my plan is to share progress on my games and music, of course, but the blog format entices me to share more detailed thoughts on specific subjects into the ether, whether or not anyone cares to read.

I have been watching a lot of classic science fiction TV, partly as research for my own science fiction game, Star Crucible. I never really watched TVshows as a kid and that pattern followed me into college. In 2017 I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation for the first time and found out I loved it. A few years ago, I began sampling other shows. I watched a bit of Deep Space 9, Voyager, Enterprise, Babylon 5, and Stargate. The show I found myself hooked by the most was, probably to the dismay of many of its detractors, Star Trek Voyager.

Of the many Star Trek series, Voyager falls in a weird spot where its name is spoken in the same breath with the original series, TNG, and DS9 as the core and "best" Trek, yet it is frequently disparaged as terrible, though perhaps not as much as Enterprise. Voyager has some really bad episodes, it's true, but it also has some incredible highs, the cast is pretty well fleshed out and balanced, and there is a lot of humanity that I think Voyager explores better than other Trek shows.

The premise and long term goals of the show are very well laid out in the pilot episode: the starship Voyager is flung deep into a part of space far away from home and the federation and must travel back to familiar space. The problem however, is not finding the way home, as their sensors are more than capable of identifying where they are and where they want to go. The issue is the travel time required is unfeasible, and thus they must reach out to unknown alien cultures for assistance to make the journey. The Voyager crew must embrace new technology and share some of their own to survive, frequently in conflict with Trek's prime directive. And, in addition, half of Voyager's crew is made up of a dissenting faction of rebels that initially do not trust the military hierarchy of the federation. By the end of the pilot, it is very clear who the characters are, what their predicament is, and what they need to do, and how they plan to approach achieving their goals, and the series makes regular strides towards getting them home.

Just recently, I watched all of Farscape, a show with a similar premise which I enjoyed immensely. John Crichton and his motley crew of escaped alien prisoner friends must find their way home while fleeing the watchful eye of the Peacekeepers and other hostile aliens. The trouble is, through either a lack of initial planning or purposeful concealment or both, the introduction of Farscape's alien side of the galaxy is somewhat muddled.

Farscape's pilot focuses on getting the proverbial fish out of the proverbial water. John is an astronaut on Earth around 2000 and ends up in an accident that sends his solo-piloted module through a wormhole in the middle of a space battle. His craft accidentally collides with a small fighter craft and then is hauled into a larger organic ship, where he meets its alien pilot, three escaped prisoners, and a captured Peacekeeper. All of these characters, to one extent or another, want to find their way home. However, it's not initially obvious why this is a challenge for anyone other than John, because the level of technology available to this crew is not evident, and the prisoners are concealing their true goals.

Their ship, Moya, is a living creature called a leviathan, it has no weapons or means to defend itself, its starburst seems unreliable and random, and despite all of the aliens in the cast coming from space-faring cultures, none of them seem to have any idea where they are or any way of pinpointing what direction to travel aside from "away from Peacekeepers" into the "uncharted territories." At one point John asks to see a starchart in order to try to find a point of reference for where he is, and he is met with blank stares.

Sci-fi regularly breaks the laws of physics and realism for its narratives to work. However, it's hard to fathom how a part of the galaxy so rife with a multitude of diverse space-faring alien cultures constantly interacting can survive in space without a comprehensive mapping system for their neck of the woods. It took me nearly until the end of the first season to realize that the show was never going to make a serious attempt at establishing technological boundaries or relative location, both which I felt were essential to the progression of the overarching story. Granted, the true appeal of this show is its wide variety of interesting and weird aliens and the gradually developing troubled romance between John and the Peacekeeper Aeryn rather than a Trek-level dedication to worldbuilding.

I wanted to watch Farscape for inspiration to create aliens for Star Crucible, but I found myself thinking of Beeknighted instead. My current demo for the game does not yet establish much of the world and the player bee doesn't have a strong objective beyond "survive," so the subject has been on my mind. Much of the world map will be traversed by an airship-equivalent vessel called the Skepscog (literally a Beehive ("Skeps") ship ("cog")). How do I firmly establish the limitations and expectations of the world when the humans are using bows and arrows and bees are flying in skyships?

In the coming revised demo, Aife, the bee, will have the chance to meet a variety of other bee characters and learn about their place in the world. There are larger and more dangerous forces at work, the conflict between the humans and the troll, for instance, which will remain unknown for the player to discover. But I hope to better mesh the opening conflict with a more solid introduction to the world to give the story more weight and depth for those looking for it as I do.

Farscape is a harem isekai.

[hekateinhell]

I’m high and in my TVA feelings, so naturally I made an incomplete, incoherent wish list for what we should’ve gotten but didn’t:

Daniel

Can’t skip over the obvious. Armand literally and figuratively destroys this man’s life and he only gets couple paragraphs? I get the subtext, the wound’s still fresh, etc etc, but like…

Was there a time where Armand realized Daniel was starting to lose it/lose what little of it he had left? If he so, did he feel responsible? Did he panic that he might have another Nicolas on his hands, only this one belonged to him?

Who left who? Did Daniel nope out of there one last time? Did Armand just abandon him to his own devices to go stalk Lestat? Was it another angsty (it was), sort-of-mutual, sort-of-not disintegration/separation like with Armand and Louis? Was Armand the one chewing grass this time?

I could devote an essay to Daniel Questions, so I won’t right now. But know I have them.

Speaking of…

Louis

What was that reunion like? You know they’d never planned on seeing each other again, then Armand shows up with Mr. Daniel “You Are a Gift to Me From Louis” Molloy.

Did Louis get a thank you, at least? Was he absolutely mortified when he saw Daniel? Louis is someone who knows good and well what Armand is capable of, and in fact, had witnessed first-hand what became of one of Armand’s other human pets.

Which brings me to…

Denis

???

I don’t believe for a second Armand only had two human pets over the past 500 hundred years (maybe 200 years, since it was a CoD rule that vampires weren’t allowed to reveal themselves to humans, so it would’ve been after the dissolution of the Les Innocents cult — but back to CoD in a minute).

How many more pets were there? What was the criteria? We know Denis was quite young, but Daniel was an adult. Was Daniel the exception to the rule because he had known Louis? Did Armand ever have any rules here to begin with?

We got to see a human/vampire dynamic at play in the Venice years, but would’ve been a fascinating parallel to read in Armand’s own words a detailed account what it was like being on the flip side of that, with any of his pets!

Was he intentionally trying to emulate Marius (as he remembered him) with Daniel? Denis, maybe, to an extent? I doubt Armand formed any sort of deeper, beyond-the-blood attachments to Denis and the others—which is what set Daniel apart when the time came (and once again, I would’ve loved for Armand to tell us what exactly it was about Daniel that did it for him).

Last, but most certainly not least…

Children of Darkness, Theatre des Vampires

TVA gave us a basic intro to the tortures practices of the Roman coven, and we already met the later Parisian coven in TVL, but I wonder—what was their day to day like?

Just how intricate were the CoD social hierarchies?

How developed was their system for dealing with “unwell vampires”? Armand clearly already had a very refined, methodical approach by the time Lestat dropped Nicki in his lap. Eleni seems to be in the know when she’s corresponding with Lestat in TVL, it’s obviously part of their coven culture. So where/with whom did this originate? How expansive was it?

Theatre des Vampires! What was the development of that like? What did Armand think about making it in the Parisian newspapers, after spending so long in complete obscurity? We know he didn’t care too much for this coven either (evidently), but why?

I don’t believe for a second he Frankenstein-monstered Claudia (he’s a smart guy, he’d been around 400 years by then—I have to imagine he played around with heads before and knew it wouldn’t work). I do believe he had a lab though! Especially given how obsessed he was with taking things apart and experimenting in QotD.

There’s more, but I don’t remember it right now. I’m in a mood.