#they're quite literally doomed by the narrative

[riggsink]

Next

This is definitely not what I should be working on, but I was re-watching the movie and got an idea stuck in my brain.

Because in the "bad future" timeline, no one knew that the Foot opened the portal until it was too late, so theoretically, there should've been no one at the ritual site to stop the Krang from unleashing the technodrome. But according to Casey, they still did it at Metro Tower.

This is just my brain filling in the gaps to a plot hole no one probably cared about.

[errorkey]

so guess who's never getting over what jack says here!

it's a line that's devastating on it's own. it's heartbreaking, because jack feels so terribly betrayed by joke all over again, even though all joke was trying to do is save him.

but it's not just that. it's worse, because that's what the whole show's been about this entire time.

in english, the title we've been given is "Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart!" which is the most darling, lighthearted little play on words ever.

but the thai title? it's "Jack & Joker: ทำไมต้องเป็นเธอทุกที," which (according to MyDramaList) translates to "Jack & Joker: Why Does it Always Have to Be You?"

and isn't that exactly what jack's asking now? of everything that had to happen, of everyone that is to blame, why does have to be joke that is at fault again?

from the beginning, this entire show was meant to be about how it's almost inevitable that these two will hurt each other in some way or another. their lives have been entwined since that first moment 5 years ago, and regardless of whose fault it is, both of them are bound to be hurt because of just how much they want to save each other. ultimately, jack and joke are – quite literally – doomed by the narrative that they're in.

and all they can do is find a way to break this cycle that viciously dictates their lives – both in the world they're in and in the grand scheme of the show itself.

[communistkenobi]

Wrt your posting about the jedi taking on children, I disagree thst the argument about force sensitive people 'need' to be trained for everyone else's safety. It's like Dragon Age mages or BNHA quirks, it's not special if someone can fireball me if they're having a bad day, some random person can already beat or strangle me with just their own two hands in the real world, no fireball necessary.

I mean idk I feel like Star Wars does a fairly decent job of establishing how dangerous force sensitivity can be - it’s not just extra strength or throwing things, but also mind control, healing (which i know is rare tbf), communicating with animals, etc. It also establishes how scary it can be to have those sorts of powers without knowing how to deal with them. I think Rebels does a good job of exploring this kind of thing with Kanan and Ezra.

However I also agree with you that it doesn’t “need” to be a problem, like force users are not inherently doomed to darkness/violence unless trained eternally across all space and time. But I think force sensitivity introduces a wholly organic way to accrue power (both physically in the sense that you’re more powerful and socially in that you have a type of organic ‘capital’ that can be used to gain social and political power in society, either because people adore you and want to follow you, and/or because they fear you), and having that type of power isn’t dependent on class position or family history*, it’s essentially random chance if someone is force sensitive or not. Which creates a threat to the types of societies depicted in Star Wars where there are durable ruling classes who want to maintain power.

And I think the Jedi Order offers a solution to this problem by capturing that type of ‘organic capital’ for lack of a better term; you monopolise an institution responsible for moulding force sensitive people into a particular type of subject - one that is not a threat to the prevailing societal order - and in exchange for being forced to be a Jedi you get massive amounts of privilege via access to knowledge, social status, material needs, and so on. While this creates civil unrest and distrust of the Jedi from a lot of laypeople, it’s a pretty sweet deal in the eyes of the Republic if it means not having to deal with rival force sensitive groups using their power to make political demands, especially through violence.

I think looking at it this way explains why the Jedi don’t really accept or allow any other type of force user, especially as they become more enmeshed with the Republic (the coven in the acolyte is a good example, the dathomiri witches, etc), and why a lot of force users who are not Jedi are labelled Sith, either because they adopt that label themselves or because they’re labelled that by the Jedi. And I’m not saying “the sith are just misunderstood victims” or whatever, but that in a scenario where you have a very powerful monastic order that controls how the rest of society understands and interacts with force sensitivity, force users who fall outside of that are going to be treated as a criminal class who are a threat to the republic (because they are - Maul is treated this way, Dooku and Anakin quite literally topple the Republic, etc). So like in the settings Star Wars tends to play in, force sensitivity is narratively understood as a source of incredible potential power, and capturing that power via an institution like the Order makes sure that power potential is not disruptive to prevailing society and power interests. Which is why I think the Jedi do have a fairly good rationale for taking kids and training them, even if that rationale is tied to the maintenance of the status quo - the Order’s power depends upon the maintenance of their own monopoly

*KIND OF. obviously some of the canon loves doing blood lineages with palpatine and shit, the midichlorian thing, etc. which sucks so bad. But general canon consensus as far as I know appears to be that anyone can potentially be force sensitive

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Hey, I was just reading your idea for the ending of Homestuck and I noticed that in your write-up Davesprite died, which I found very interesting. I have always thought that Davesprite's survival sort of combated the idea of being bound and doomed to the Alpha Timeline, and the fact that he made it to the end was thematically consistent with escaping the narrative. What is your opinion on Davesprite, and what do you think his purpose in Homestuck is?

I really disagree with this idea that the "point" of Homestuck is to "escape the narrative," as if the characters discovering a means to unstick themselves from the alpha timeline (which is defined as "the timeline that brings about LE", and thus, has always been set up to be something that must be refuted for a happy ending) is not, in fact, part of the narrative. I think people tend to forget that John's aspect, Breath, is literally about choices and freedom, making the Retcon abilities a natural final culmination of his aspect, and that to master these powers, John was required to finish his planetary quest.

Or that when Dave and Rose discuss how much they don't want to finish their quests, the two of them are at their lowest emotional points (Rose having just gone sober and procrastinating talking with Kanaya, and Dave having just been reminded of his lost childhood innocence to the point he broke down crying). The point of them saying they don't want to continue their quests isn't "yeah, man, we're people, we don't have arcs, it's dumb to do quests" - because, again, finishing his quest is what grants John the ability to choose a new future. The point being made by Rose and Dave's reluctance is that self-improvement is hard, gruelling, unpleasant, and uncomfortable - that Rose doesn't want to do hers because it's painful to acknowledge that she was, indeed, a kid who needed guidance, and not the know-it-all-adult she was trying to be, and that Dave doesn't want to do his because it's easier to give up on it than to grapple with his feelings of inadequacy - easier to be a side passenger in his own life than to fight for a better future. We aren't supposed to agree with them that shirking their character arcs is cool and fun.

"They're escaping the narrative" doesn't actually mean anything... it's an odd battle cry that I believe arises from the HS audience's general unfamiliarity with postmodernism (and the fact that the story makes a hard swerve after Game Over in terms of themes and character arcs, which - given the context of Hussie's life and internet presence during and after - is pretty obviously the result of balking at continuing HS for any longer than they had to). Homestuck's storytelling methods, including its meta-ness, usage of the author as a character, etc. etc., are actually quite standard for that genre - having characters be genre savvy enough to comment on the tropes they see and act in defiance of them isn't new, Homestuck didn't invent that, and still counts as being "a narrative." It'd be "escaping the narrative" if John got his powers, grabbed everyone, zapped them away to somewhere the audience couldn't follow, and then the comic ended like that. But that's not what happened.

If we actually go back and look at Davesprite, his baggage is pretty consistently about the fact that he's not "the real dave". When Jade complains about Davesprite, Dave immediately goes "omfg, this is about him being salty he's not the real dave, isn't it". But that's not all that's in play with Davesprite, because Davesprite is a Dave, and thus a way for us to peer into Dave's psyche. Remember what I said earlier about Dave's reluctance to finish his quest stemming from his worries about inadequacy? That comes up again from Davesprite. The reason Davesprite is so concerned with being not the "real" Dave is because he thinks it's proof that he's inadequate (and, by extension, that the people around him are better off without him around).

DAVESPRITE: maybe she was that desperate to finally get away from me DAVESPRITE: between you and me john DAVESPRITE: i didnt really handle things with her as well as i could have DAVESPRITE: oh well maybe real dave will treat her better DAVESPRITE: or not i dont know DAVESPRITE: i did her a favor cutting bird dave out of her life

You know, because he's a kid whose brother was constantly physically abusing him under the guise of him not being strong enough, and Hussie outright says that know-it-all-ism, intellectual assertion and superiority, and mansplaining are traits Dirk tends to have at his worst. A huge amount of Dave/Davesprite's baggage is having spent so much of his life being made to feel less than Bro and not good enough, and then Bro died before Dave could get any closure on that front. And now, as a self-fulfilling prophecy, Davesprite's self-loathing and baggage cause him to ruin his own relationships - thus "proving" that he wasn't worthy of having them.

JADE: jeez you sure have some issues JADE: honestly it has become very tiresome listening to this sort of thing JADE: i thought davesprite had problems JADE: his issues i could kind of understand JADE: i thought you might be different, being the alpha dave and all JADE: but no JADE: you might be even more messed up inside than he was!

Therefore, Davesprite's character arc isn't about how "the narrative" has "doomed" him and he must "escape it," it's about how he (and Dave) need to address the root problem - their self-loathing and unresolved childhood trauma - and move past it. It seems to be a Knight thing to struggle with self-loathing, as Latula and Karkat have deep inadequacies and insecurities too, so addressing these emotional problems is literally part of Dave's arc set out for him by SBURB.

Moreover, Ultimate Self is in play, and in general, the comic has suggested that every iteration of every character is an extension of the original character multiple times. It's not just Dave and Davesprite who conflate themselves and play with the idea that they are ultimately the same guy - the Dancestors see their Alternian counterparts as being extensions of themselves, for example, and Heart players are explicitly said to have journeys of splintered selves, which can also be caused by certain classes in other aspects. What this concept of Ultimate Self brings to Dave/Davesprite is twofold:

First, it means that which Dave is "real" is moot - they are both equally real, and equally relevant, because they are facets of the same ultimate person. I think there's a reason that the person who brings up the Ultimate Selfhood spiel in the truncated ending we got is a mixture of Nepeta (the Heart player I think was intended to achieve Ultimate Selfhood in Hussie's original planned ending, since that's so Rogue of Heart) and Davesprite, who explicitly says that his baggage has been resolved by realizing that he's a part of this greater whole - in other words, finding acceptance with his place in the world, and with that acceptance, finding within him the well of strength needed to go fight LE (or, symbolically, to fight for a future free of what LE represents - which includes the shitty stuff that Bro imposed on him).

Second, what it means is that Davesprite dying (and getting to join the Game Over crew in killing LE) is, at worst, a bittersweet ending. Part of the Ultimate Selfhood spiel is that ALL characters will eventually reach that enlightened state as a final culmination of understanding their aspect (read: completing their personal growth journeys), so as long as a character survives the ending (which I believe all of them were originally intended to do), then eventually - even if off-screen - that character will remember being their other iterations, and doing the things their other iterations did. In a sense, all the dead ghosts from the bubbles (besides the dancestors, who are an antagonistic force overall) get to live on through the surviving cast.

So what I've given to Davesprite in my ending is this: he talks to Nepeta and is told about Ultimate Selfhood, which comforts him WRT his place in the world and helps him deal with his feelings of inadequacy - we see him dead in the bubbles, where he and (Dave) get to fight/talk and complete their character arcs by reaching an understanding with each other - and then we find out that he died by playing a vital role in the fight against the Jacks, a kind of culmination of his acceptance of himself and his duty to choose a brighter future, which isn't fully a sacrifice/death because there's an explicit understanding that Dave will one day come to be Davesprite and (Dave) as well.

And then Davesprite and (Dave) go to fight LE, because LE is the villain of this story. He directly symbolizes immaturity, cruelty, and the worst parts of society - a child who deliberately stunted his own emotional maturity via greed, selfishness, and ambition, combined with the worst aspects of Equius (a casteist), Gamzee (a religious fundamentalist), and Dirk (Bro).

Let's not forget that Bro became as bad as he did because he was under the influence of Cal, and that an aspect of Dirk is literally part of LE. (Dave)'s arc - his reluctance to fight LE because of his self-loathing - has a clear trajectory of picking up his sword to fight LE not because the game or Grimbark Jade are telling him to, but because (Dave) decides that he deserves to fight for a better future, one where the things LE stand for are consigned to the void. Even if (Dave) himself is not able to directly enjoy this future, post-retcon Dave will, and via Ultimate Self, so will (Dave) and Davesprite, in due time.

As God Tier!Calliope says, and as I believe is how we should view the struggles of those who wind up in the dream bubbles:

CALLIOPE: you don't need to do anything. CALLIOPE: be who you've become, and who i didn't. CALLIOPE: consume the fruits of an existence i could never understand. CALLIOPE: live.

The dead, doomed, and irrelevant - including Davesprite and (Dave) - are the ones to fight and defeat LE, and by doing so, they symbolically render him "nothing more than a bad dream". Moreover, Caliborn explicitly says he's orchestrating his own defeat: if Caliborn has it his way, then everybody loses. Game Over was part of Caliborn's plans BECAUSE it would render everybody dead and in the dream bubbles, where they'd be in position to fight and kill him. This is the ending he's chosen - one where nobody gets to survive, and his servants, the Condesce and the Jacks - get to impose their will on what remains of the new world.

What he wasn't counting on was that the Heir of Breath would gain the ultimate power of Breath - the power to choose something new. Using this, he's able to create a timeline free of LE's will. He isn't escaping the narrative, but he IS shaking off the alpha timeline - symbolically, shaking off the shackles placed on them by cruel ancestors, creepy uncles, abusive guardians, and messed-up society. These survivors are then able to fight and defeat LE's living servants, thus clearing the path for a new universe free of his influence.

(Dave) and Davesprite dying, fighting LE in the bubbles, and being sucked in by the black hole are part of the ultimate sacrifice, a culmination of their arcs and a will to defeat the cruelty that defined so much of their lives - and that is what lets them reap the Ultimate Reward.

[lintwriting]

i think i really love how visceral the politics of signalis is. not just in the in-your-face propaganda aspects. but like, the way it dooms the narrative.

the whole plot of signalis is based around two entirely disconnected settings -- the Penrose ship and the Sierpinski prison. They are so disconnected from each other across time and space that you spend the whole first half of the game disoriented by the whiplash these two locations give you.

and personally? I stayed confused until I realized what connected them:

they're the two branching paths of Ariane's future.

after her military service, she gets a state letter informing her that if she's not accepted into the Penrose program, she'll be sent to Sierpinski, a "re-education" camp that's actually just a prison mine.

And, to her luck, she "somehow did end up joining the Nation's Penrose Program, the same one on the posters she had seen years prior."

I love and hate the way the wiki frames it, because yes the Penrose space expedition program seemed preferable to the prison camp.Yes, she had seen posters of it and glamorized it as a new start for her. After all, she was an art-obsessed outsider in a world where people molded into being unfeeling machines, where art is frivolous and degenerate except for how it serves as propaganda. Why not dream of a new planet?

But it's all a lie. The Penrose program sounds too good to be true for Ariane-- how can this under-qualified, ostracized freak get accepted into such a prestigious program? -- because it IS too good to be true.

The truth of the program is that it's a glorified propaganda tool, and a useful way to get rid of political enemies. Just send them off into space and tell them it's for the good of the empire, to find new planets to colonize. Then, after 7.74 years of loyal service to the program, tell them:

If you have not found a suitable world for landing by this point, accept that you will not. Find solace in the thought that others might be successful where you failed.

Remenber, you will die having served your Nation by partaking in a glorious demonstration of our power. --- End of decrypted transmission ---

As you are probably aware, your ship's spare parts and rations will soon be depleted.

Penrose is ostensibly about founding new colonies on different planets, but the reality is that these vessels seem to have very little planning put into them, like throwing darts at the wall and hoping one of them will stick. Some people wonder about the efficacy of wasting ships of supplies for this seemingly useless endeavor, but they're missing the point and buying into the propaganda.

The truth is that Ariane was just a pawn for their political power play, quite literally a demonstration of their power, like a horrifying version of The Tallest sending Invader Zim on a useless quest to conquer Earth to keep him out of their hair, like Ozai banishing Zuko off to chase a hundred year old myth. And it cost Ariane her future.

And like, that means no matter what, Ariane never had a future. Penrose is death by space, and Sierpinski is death by mines. She never had a choice, only the illusion of one, because she was doomed by the political reality of living in under an authoritarian state that would never value her.

And like, it's so impossible to ignore the similarities of this to the Cultural Revolution in China. I think the retro aesthetic of the nation references that, along with the Chinese characters littering all the walls.

Ariane's story reminds me a lot of Ye Wenjie's story from the 3 Body Problem, as a similarly powerful woman who also dooms the whole world because of the ANGUISH of the Cultural Revolution destroying her future.

Except, unlike Ye Wenjie, we're not going to get a bunch of assholes calling her an Eve, doomer of mankind. Instead, the story actually succeeds at portraying Ariane as a tragedy doomed by the narrative.

[reminiscentrainclouds]

The Dragon Prince season 6 spoilers below! Just a bunch of my thoughts because boy do I have a lot of them!

I still can't believe the way that whole switcheroo trick with the pearl backfired on Callum. It was so painful to watch because I knewwww it was going to happen the minute he decided to carry the fake down there by himself. Rayla was literally offering to go down there with him!! It would have been so easy for both of them to go down there just in case! I mean, the fake and the pearl both looked exactly the same; it would be easy to make a simple mistake and confuse them, so you'd want to make extra sure you were taking the right one with you!! Callum's confidence is very admirable, but considering he was so worried about it, he really should have been more cautious!

I just really like the way that part of the plot played out. This whole season had soooo much irony in it, but especially with this whole thing. The second it was revealed to be the fake pearl, I was like, "Yippee I was right!!" But also, "They're doomed." Because!! It's left completely unattended!!

And then Sol Regem started attacking Katolis and I was like NOOO IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER. Although at first I was thinking it was gonna get like, smashed or something in the rubble and that would release Aaravos but man. MAN. There was so much more in store, that was a wild ride... Don't even get me started on Viren's sacrifice. I hate him and I think he got what he deserved, both in terms of what he lost and the crushing guilt he felt, but man. I was really sympathizing with him ever since he got revived, and that last scene with him hurt.

But it was a satisfying and fitting conclusion for him. He had intended on swearing off dark magic and attempting to right his wrongs, but instead, after a lifetime of sacrificing other lives for magic, he ends things by sacrificing his own life, which was already stolen after being revived anyway, to help save the people of Katolis. Sucks that he ultimately was convinced to use dark magic again, as if it was something he could never really escape, as if he never really learned anything, but the big difference was that he was sacrificing no other life than his own here. And he did help people. I'm probably massively misinterpreting everything because my interpretations are always kind of off...but he's just a really interesting character.... He made a lot of bad decisions but I understand his motivations, and I feel like he was really quite Doomed By The Narrative, pushed into a corner and faced with two equally bad decisions in many cases. He's the kind of bad guy who I really wish could have had the opportunity of not being a bad guy, y'know?

Aaravos is much worse and much less redeemable to me, but I feel a similar way about him. Like I Get It. Can't relate to what appears to be his thirst for revenge but I can understand. Learning about what happened to his daughter makes me angry on his behalf! The fact that all this had to happen in the first place hurts a lot! All this could really be blamed on that council of Startouch Elves, for what seemed like an extremely unnecessary punishment for his daughter. Although I'm curious about what more information we might get on the whole cosmic order and everything, I don't know. Taking Aaravos's child like that was unnecessarily cruel though; regardless of how serious of a crime or whatever giving humans magic was, there's no way she had bad intentions, and it's not like killing her would reverse what happened. AUGH anyway. What a season.

[kradogsrats]

Here’s another question, what are your thoughts on Ezran? Since the fandom and I think he comes across as the least developed character of the main cast and no matter how hard he tries, it seems like he constantly has to learn that word won’t be enough to fully persuade an opposing side

I mean... Ezran's twelve. He decides what kind of king he wants to be when he's ten. When I was ten, I was reading a lot about historical atrocities because I couldn't quite wrap my head around the idea that people weren't all inherently good, deep down. Even if they were huge jerks on the surface, surely they'd do the right thing when it was really important, right? So I think he's sometimes just... thinking like a child. Because he literally is one.

We don't know what Harrow may have written to Ezran for after his death, but if we assume it's essentially the same as what he wrote to Callum (minus the cube stuff)—it's a lot of regret for Ezran to take on all at once. You can see in every word that Harrow wasn't proud of the king he had been, even though he started with the best intentions. He wanted to be a different king than his own father, to change Katolis and the world for the better, but he got caught up in the trap of history and its false narrative of strength. Ezran's obviously going to look to his father as his example for how to be king, and here's Harrow confessing that he wasn't the king he wanted to be, and wished he'd known the things he reveals in the letter earlier. So Ezran's takeaways are basically:

True strength is in vulnerability, forgiveness, and love

Reject the past and do not allow it to rule you

It's on you to make a brighter future

From before he's crowned, Ezran is struggling with how he will be king relative to Harrow. In The Royal Council, he literally worries that his choices are to reject and forget the father he loved, or doom himself to making all the same mistakes. As a result, he winds up going all-in on his interpretation of what Harrow wished he would have done.

Harrow wants him to create a brighter future, so not taking the throne at ten years old in the middle of an escalating inter-kingdom crisis would be "letting everyone down." As Soren later points out, this is kind of fucked up. ("If you spend all your time doing adult stuff now, you'll grow up weird, like your brother and Rayla," he says, while cheerfully engaging in the child-like attitude and behavior that his father denied him during his own childhood.)

True strength is vulnerability, so he never carries a weapon. Instead of accepting Harrow's sword to begin his rule, he has it forged into a new crown—something to honor both his father and his own commitment to strength not being about weapons and war.

Freedom is not letting the past define the future, so he holds a ceremony honoring Zubeia practically right next to the memorial to his own mother, who was killed by Zubeia's mate. He fully believes everyone wants the same thing that he does, deep down—a future of peace, free from old grudges and strife—and will join him in putting aside their grief and anger to achieve it.

He's essentially a product of having to mature too quickly in some areas, and having built his version of maturity on his father's example, while also holding on to a few developmentally-appropriate immature ways of seeing the world.

(In terms of development, I think they kind of shot themselves in the foot as far as making Ezran as relatable as Callum or Rayla, because he doesn't actually have anyone who's all that close to him. Soren, Corvus, and Opeli are much older than he is, and are really there for The King(tm), not scared or angry or grieving Ezran. He's literally never had a friend his own age. The only characters he could conceivably play off of in the deep and vulnerable way Callum and Rayla do with each other are Bait and Zym, neither of whom speak in a way the audience can comprehend. It's possible that they're finally setting up Aanya to fill that role with him, whether romantically or not. I definitely think she'll definitely be the one he can be conflicted and vulnerable about Runaan with in s7, since she's been in a very similar place. But yeah, because of all that he comes across as kind of removed from both the main cast and the audience.)

[most-datable-datable-bracket]

ROUND 2 MATCH 19

Shinjiro propaganda:

"shinjiro is leaps and bounds ahead of any of the other persona romance options. sorry NOT sorry literally jerk with a heart of gold taken to the nth degree his romance is BEAUTIFUL it's TRAGIC it's ultimately DOOMED BY THE NARRATIVE. literally a guilt-ridden man who despite his death wish reluctantly opens his heart to the MC and it's so touching and despite his struggles he still finds beauty and kindness in love and the small things. he's a great cook he's a lover of animals he is one of the only romance options that gives a shit about how the MC is doing. he TAKES a bullet for a kid but is saved literally by the PC romance/power of love in an ironic twist of fate that depends on the player liking his romance SO MUCH that you keep trying to hang out with him AFTER COMPLETING THE ROMANCE LINK.... he wakes up from a COMA at the end of the game because he feels the MC about to fade from this plane of existence (doomed romance alert) just so they can spend a few last moments together. Fucked up. his romance accomplishes more in his one month of gameplay time than any other options have in their whole runtime."

John Doe propaganda:

“any pronoun nb-fluid bi non-human humanoid eldritch horror cutie swag

now for the important stuff

ok so technically john forces you to love her, but he's a loveable dork anyways and there's an ending where you say that you accept her for who they are and he doesn't need to change to be more "normal" for you and it's adorable as hell

they will literally warp reality for you

she might hurt you on accident because he doesn't understand pain because no pain receptors

before anyone says "oh but john doesn't shower!!" they CAN'T. they will DISSOLVE in water. plus her species has a natural fear of water due to uh the way they're "born" (if born from 'Mother Ball')

honestly quite friend shaped

also likes baby rats!!!

..those aren't self-harm scars, by the way.”

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

Crackpot Predictions - Only Friends Episode 1

Welcome to a new thing I do where I try to predict (*cough* wildly guess *cough*) what's going to happen in a show based solely on my read of the first episode. I'll try to cover all of what I think are the main story beats, record them here for posterity (and so I can either say "ha I told you so" or you can all point and laugh at me later), and hopefully by the end of the series we'll all be able to see if I'm a clairvoyant with a magic orb or, alternatively, a numpty with a glass paperweight. Some of these predictions are completely serious, others are complete crack, and some are just random thoughts that had the misfortune of wandering into my head.

With that, let's get started shall we?

The Hostel

Setting up a hostel for your graduation project? How cute!And with your best friends too? How adorable!

Too bad that hostel is absolutely Not Going To Happen. And not only is the hostel Not Going To Happen, its also going to be the site of some of the worst moments of your entire lives!

Prediction: is this is where it's all going to go down, this is where they're going to have the final argument, this is where the climax is going to happen, this is where shit hits the fan and then explodes. I mean why else would you introduce a building site if not to have all your characters have mental breakdowns symbolically in the middle of it? Scaffolding and painter's tarp is for screaming matches and for saying things you never meant to say.

Mew

Oh Mew. Soft, virginal, innocent Mew. Mew who lives in a completely different world to his friends where he wears cute pastels, gets a teen movie montage when he wakes up in the morning, gets a public confession like something out of a romance movie... Surrounded by people with impure thoughts and even worse intentions. What on earth is going to become of our sweet pastel boy?

Who am I kidding, he's going to be fine.

In fact he's probably going to be one of the few people who is fine by the end of this series, and will probably be at least partially responsible for quite a lot of other people being very fucked up (especially Top, sorry my man but you are doomed by the narrative). He's definitely doing to be hurt and he's definitely going to lose his honour student title and he's definitely going to have less friends by the end of this but he'll be fine, he's literally the only one in the friend group other than Chueam with the emotional maturity to cope with and process what's about to happen.

Prediction: He's going to lose friends (but not Chueam, she'll stick with him), his academic record is going to be messed up (but not irreparably so, he'll just have to put in extra work to repair it), and he won't have a boyfriend by the end of the series but he'll be okay, he'll be able to walk it off when it's all said and done. He may even start to get his man back (if he wants him, that is).

Ray

Poor Ray, he's a rich brat who clearly has some self-esteem issues and is whipped for his best friend. He's in for a rough ride I fear, especially seeing as he currently deals with his emotions by getting very drunk and/or lashing out.

Sand will probably be good for him (perhaps a little too good for him) in both bringing him down a peg and hopefully giving him the kind of ego boost he actually needs (no Ray you are not a burden but please stop ruining your liver) and I'm really looking forward to the development of their enemies to fwb relationship and all entails.

Unfortunately for Ray he looks like he might be a bit of a bleeding heart romantic on the inside so he's probably going to get his heart broken twice in a very short space of time; once by Mew and his new relationship and then once again by Sand and his refusal to play second fiddle and Ray is only going to realise this when it's a bit too late. Needless to say Ray will probably not be having a fun time for most of this series and of all the character he is tied as most likely to end up in hospital at some point.

Prediction: He's going to lose friends, he's going to fail his degree, he's going to get his heart broken twice and he's probably not going to be okay about it (but hopefully he'll be on the mend by the end of it all). Ray is going to start shit he can't finish and he, more than anyone else, is going to be a victim of his own actions but hopefully he's also going to be the character with the most growth. Sand might be around to scrape him off the floor at the end, but Ray is going to have to work himself out first.

Boston

Boston, what to say about Boston other than currently he seems to be trying to break the record of most men slept with in a single episode (his competition is Brian Kinney from Queer As Folk btw).

There's definitely a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to him and I look forward to unpacking all of his messy laundry when the time comes. He seems to be both incredibly confident with his life choices (good for him) and incredibly insecure about them at the same time which is fascinating and I definitely get the feeling that he has issues with Mew (to the point where I wouldn't really say they're actually friends) because of that insecurity. I genuinely wouldn't be surprised is at some point we get a lot of pent resentment spilling out from Boston about Mew because no one casually mocks someone they're genuinely okay with that many times behind their back.

Prediction: Boston wants but he doesn't quite know what. He is definitely blowing up every single friendship he has in the process of working it out and he's probably going to find himself on his own for a while too, which might actually be what he needs. That being said, if anyone decides to put forward a laurel at the end of the show though, I also think it's going to be him. I also predict no romance, but I also don't think that's what he wants or needs.

Top

Top the Top Tier player who's never not got his object of interest before. He likes casual sex, comes off as a bit of a sleaze (but at least a sleaze who respects boundaries), and is apparently looking for a new challenge now sleeping around has got boring (but not boring enough to not sleep with Boston again).

The problem for Top is that he thinks he's approaching Mew in his world and on his terms where in reality he's already dancing to the tune of Mew's fiddle and it's only going get worse. Mew's world has rules and regulations and things you just don't do (like sleeping with your boyfriend's best friend) and Top is going to find himself caught up in them. What's worse is he's probably going to find out (much too late) that he wants to be caught up in them. Top might be the big man now but he is well and truly fucked.

Prediction: Top isn't going to take his relationship with Mew 100% seriously until he realises he's already completely invested in it and at that point it's going to be too late. He's definitely going to break Mew's heart but Mew is going to break his ten times over and he's not going to recover easily from that. He might have a chance at redemption, but only once he's completely wrecked himself first.

Sand

Sand was just trying to live his life and then he threatened to pee on someone's head and it all went down hill from there.

At the moment he seems like the audience stand in: watching all the chaos and wondering what on earth is wrong with all these privileged brats (semi-affectionate). Like Mew he definitely seems to have himself together in a way that makes me think he'll come away from this pretty okay emotionally (it'll hurt but he's not allergic to emotions, he'll heal). Unlike Mew he definitely doesn't seem to completely together life-wise (i.e monetarily) though, which does make me wonder if our 3 friends (I'm not including Chueam in this, she's not a guilty party) are going to mess that up for him instead.

Prediction: Emotionally he's going to be okay (although he probably has heartbreak in the cards), in every other aspect I think he'll sustain the most damage (and therefore will be entitled to compensation). He feels the most like an innocent bystander and, as such, is definitely going to regret the day he lay eyes on the back of Ray's head. Out of all the characters, he's probably going to be the one due the most apologies all while having done very little to anyone else.

Nick

Wow well Twison changed when he went to uni, wasn't expecting that trajectory at all 😋

In all honesty I feel like I have the least to go on for Nick in terms of predictions (not that I have much to go on for anything else I've been saying). He seems to be completely gone for Boston already (oh Babe he is not a good target to fall head over tits for) and I like the idea that's floating around that Nick is already familiar with Boston somehow based off his reaction to their first meeting.

That being said, I am getting a little bit of a creep vibe from him (maybe it was the invasion of his client's privacy and subsequent masturbation scene that pinged the alarm idk) but I can't help but feel like everything Mew said he'd do if he slept with Top? Yeah Nick would actually do all those things and more. So yeah, while Boston is going to mess him up with their ambiguous relationship, it's only because Nick was pretty messed up in the first place and he'll end up messing Boston up right back with his clingy/obsessive tendencies.

Prediction: Looks like a marshmallow, is actually on fire. Things are going to go wrong for him but only because things were not right in the first place. Possibly the most likely to actually need therapy. I also wouldn't be at all surprised if he's the one to swing the bat that brings it all crashing down, in fact in this crack-pot prediction, I'm expecting him to.

The Friendship Group

Is going to be in tatters by the end of this series, I'm so sorry Chueam. (I mean is this even a prediction or am I just stating the obvious?)

Prediction: Mew and Chueam are probably still going to be friends (they seems like the closest to each other) but no one else is going to be talking. Ray might have Sand (and Chueam if he doesn't fuck up too much) but Boston going to be on his lonesome and so is Top unless they want to throw a pity party together. At the end of the show there will be a tentative reconciliation, but with the knowledge they're never going to be the same, never going to be as close as before.

TLDR + Extra Predictions

Mew: About to have the worst time of his life but he'll make it through, his pain is going to end up being other people's problem.

Ray: Poor, unfortunate soul checking in at heart-break hotel twice in the space of a few months. Most likely to get his man though.

Boston: Needs to figure out what he wants. Probably going to end up completely cut off from everyone but also most likely to extend the peace offering at the end.

Top: Fucked. (Might get a chance at redemption at the end if he's lucky)

Sand: Emotionally fine, financially screwed. Out of everyone he has to most to complain about and he doesn't even go here.

Nick: Most likely to need actual therapy.

Climax: A big argument at the hotel surrounded by the ruins of their hard work

Likely scene: All of them at Yo's bar they used to go to as friends but this time ignoring each others existence.

Likely scene 2: Boston unleashing a load of suppressed resentment towards Mew, possibly to do with their different lifestyles/world views.

Best chance at romance: Chueam

Best chance at staying friends: Chueam and Mew

Key theme: The importance of friendship

Me: happy to be proven right or wrong with these predictions and here for the wild ride regardless.

And that's it! As I said, these predictions are completely pulled from the air around a single watch of episode 1 so they're not at all serious. If I'm right yay, if I'm wrong also yay, I'm just happy to be watching, I just thought it would be fun to test how well I can predict a narrative based on very little information indeed. If anyone wants to share their own crackpot predictions I am more than happy to hear them, let's clown together.

[starlit1daydream]

CLASSPECTING RED GUY: DHMIS and the aspect of Breath

So, Red was technically tied for first with Yellow in the poll I made, but given that I had more clear ideas for Yellow I elected to make this first. Now I've taken some time to think over Red's classpect, I think I'm confident about my answer.

Red's characterisation hinges on two key factors, I think.

Factor one: Red Guy is disaffected, apathetic and bored. He seems to enjoy doing nothing, to the point where he gets frustrated when his plans of doing nothing are scarpered. Red Guy is lazy.

Factor two: Red Guy always seems to want to leave wherever it is he is. He never belongs. Consistently, throughout both series, Red Guy has the urge to depart the most frequently.

With this, it's pretty clear what Aspect he's bound to? Red Guy furthers the narrative, is in constant pursuit of freedom, and remains avoidant and detached throughout it all. He's a very clear Breath-bound, and I'm irritated it took me this long to realise it.

Red Guy's desire for escapism and refusal to fit into boxes comes into play particularly during the Family episode, which serves as a little mini-arc for him, I feel. He seems to like the idea of family, connection and 'belonging' (a very Blood-coded idea), but finds very quickly that he's not cut out for it and is rejected outright by the people he seems to think he belongs with. It happens again in the Dreams episode of the TV show. Red's among those whom by all accounts he should conform with. They're quite literally carbon copies of him... but he doesn't connect.

So, what Class does this place him as? What do you give to a player who has quite literally been rejected by their opposing Aspect? I'm going to pin him as a Seer of Breath. He has the stubbornness, argumentative nature and self-destructive nature that most Seers have, for sure, particularly Rose. Much like Rose, he begins without his Aspect and disregards it (lacking in freedom, adhering to Blood rather than Breath) and his quest begins once he starts searching for it. Once he has his eyes on the Aspect, he is relentless in his thirst for knowledge of it. Red, like Rose, rejects the role given to him by the higher powers (Roy & SBURB) in the name of something greater and desires to destroy what's been laid out in front of him. And, as you can see in Transport, that's what he does.

Ultimately, Red's motivated wholly by desire to understand Breath in the name of others, working tirelessly to free himself and his friends from the chains they're bound by. And, of course, in the web series narrative he grants them that freedom.

There's an alternative reading for sure that Red is a Thief of Blood - not understanding the value of Blood whilst continuing to crave it and obsessively hoard it, but Thieves aren't really known for ghosting their opposite and he doesn't really strike me as being selfish or callous enough to be a Thief. Plus, the Breath in his characterisation outweighs the Blood significantly.

Finally, I'll be going over Duck Guy for June 19th, as a player of Doom. Don't miss it.

[angelmichelangelo]

not even just leos last brother, but his BABY brother. mikey, the youngest, the heart and soul of the hamatos, being asked by his big brother who he looks up to so dearly to sacrifice himself for the greater good. and of course he does!! immediately and with zero question!!! mike trusts his brother with his life, quite literally, and throws himself into the sun as soon as it's asked of him. and leo knew he would!! he knew mikey was ready and willing, and knew he had no other choice than to use the loyal adoration of his little brother to ultimately kill himself in order to save the only being that actually had a chance. and speaking of that being, he saw Everything. casey watched every single one of his family members die, and then saved the world right after. yes, the new timeline exists. no, leo and his family never got to see it. but casey did. and he has to ALONE. how is he supposed to find comfort knowing that this great new world exists for him to live in when HIS family, the ones that raised him and loved him as their own, will never get to experience it???? THE GRIEF oh it kills me. leo watched everyone die, but ultimately met them again in his own death. casey watched everyone die, and then had to KEEP LIVING. i can't this 5 minute opening scene had such a detrimental impact on my psyche i could scream about it forever.

oh im so NORMAL about doomed narrative portal duo ;__; we're not given much insight for how long its just been the two of them but the fact that they're able to wordlessly agree on the plan that is essentially mikey blowing himself up, shows us that this had been on the cards for some time now. i imagine just before this battle takes place, mikey reassuring leo that it was going to be okay, knowing what his big brother was potentially going to have to ask of him. leo running through those ruins hoping against every ounce of whatever was left that he didn't need to call upon it... only for that being the case anyway :( and that being the catalyst for him being pretty okay with dying too, knowing that they'd done their part and there was essentially nothing left for him now anyway... OUCH !! imagine leo having to come to terms with the fact when he knows that he himself cant make that ultimate sacrifice, it has to be mikey. and then having to chose the fate of the world over his last remaining brother. his little brother that would move mountains on his word... DOUBLE OUCH !!!

and yes your point about casey is so right! i think it would really freak me out majorly to go through all of that and then essentially live with your family that was just... slightly wrong. it makes me squirm to think about. imagine it: these are the people you know! the people you've grown up with, but like, a little to the left of what you know. just a fraction off but enough to be noticeable. sure, it's a much better, safer and happier future than the one you've come from and you can sleep well at night knowing the threat is gone and you can have a normal life. but boy wouldn't you still mourn the fact that the versions of the sensei and uncles you once knew are dead and gone... forever? that would really mess with me i think. he can't even properly grieve them because... they're like.. right there. they're technically not dead but he's still missing the other versions of them that he's known his whole life.

that opening scene from the movie is just so so good i think about it a lot. tmnt does some really good horrible insights to horrible futures that lay in store for the turtles (2012, the last ronin) and this rise bad future definitely sits up there with those because WOW its depressing as hell when you really think about it ! oof. thanks for the ask :')

[prism-forgone]

So how long till you drop the Deltarune Classpect expansion featuring the secret bosses? Haha just kidding. Unless... But anyway having not thought about classpects in like half a decade that post was a fun read.

i'm so glad you enjoyed it! ^^ it's nice to know there's a demographic for stuff like that still sksjsjk

the post in question for those out of loop here : x

and now.....

It appears my work is not yet done.

Jevil // Bard of Breath

So this is a bit irregular.

Since classpects are not only an allegory for a place in the narrative but also for character growth and progression, it can sometimes be hard to pin down a title of a character who had already gone through their arc. Jevil is someone like that - he's just hanging out. He fights you because it's fun and he's bored and won't you come outside? Let yourself be free?

Jevil screams Bard from miles away and his theme of freedom couldn't be more blatant but the problem I encountered was pinning down which aspect he was ghosting and which was his own. Bards usually experience a psychic break of sorts - we call it a crisis of aspect - that causes them to stop acting aggressively like they're bound to the opposite aspect. But the problem is - I would describe his encounter with 'a strange someone' as something exactly like that. So is he a Bard of Blood that is still in a way ghosting his opposite aspect, destroying the concept of imprisonment by calling being locked up as being truly free? Or is he a Bard of Breath that destroys through Breath by getting himself imprisoned and twisting the definition of freedom?

I decided to go with the latter because not only do I see his encounter with that strange someone being his aspect crisis as non-negotiable, this is not the only clue we have (even if it's the most crucial one). The way Bards operate before their aspect crisis is destroying their aspect through embracing the opposite one. Being a court jester is a very social role that I would say fits someone who is Bloodbound or ghosting the hell out of Blood well. Blood heroes are leaders, confidants and advisors and I think this fits well pre-crisis of Breath. He realized he's not truly free and never will be so he simply smashed his definition of freedom and remade it.

Spamton G. Spamton // Mage of Life (Kind of.)

So, hear me out. I promise it adds up.

Spamton has clear marks of someone Lifebound. This clingy attitude towards success, recognition and money is a very clear mark of that. Another one is how Life heroes are laughably susceptible to contact or persuasion by some kind of dark forces. His separation from other Addisons to become a big deal on his own has connections to a theme of rebellion, and his subsequent rise to the top of the social ladder is emblematic of the theme of authority, both of which being something that very up Life's alley. ...Also, he can literally heal. There's that.

Mages, as I've discussed in Noelle's case, experience the good and the bad of their aspect and can even experience harm because of it. And the cycle of Life says what rises up must fall down. In fact, I believe that what we're dealing with is Spamton's experience with the one who stopped calling him pulling him to the bottom and straight through, leading to him inverting to being the opposite of his title.

Spamton G. Spamton // ↺ Heir of Doom

Sometimes characters can experience a switch to the opposite title. That is called an inversion. It won't make sense for those who are reading this just for character deconstruction and have no knowledge of HS but think of how Rose acted like a Witch of Void, the inverse or her Seer of Light title, when she went grimdark. This isn't ghosting - it happens when a character actively rejects not only their aspect but their whole title.

This leaves Spamton acting in a way that is contrary to his nature - something isn't quite right. We get a feeling this isn't how he should operate but something happened and left him like this. For all intents and purposes, the narrative treats him like an Heir of Doom now, bringing about all things that have to do with being Doombound - this means he attracts the worst parts of the narrative, acts bitter and resentful, even fatalistic, is prone to visions of an awful end or unfortunate fate (this one I'm bringing up specifically because of his phone) and has a connection with nihilism and fatalism.

The inverse of his class being an Heir is also significant. Heirs inherit and embody their aspect, and Spamton does this two-fold - he serves as a cautionary tale of what happens when you hit rock bottom after trying to climb too high up, and, after the fight in the basement, becomes an omen to Kris that leaves a significant impact on them.

[kerubimcrepin]

Episode 16 - West of Astrub

Considering Joris doesn't know Keke can ride for free, one can assume this is his first trip outside the city. Considering this is a Bonta-Astrub coach system, I am assuming this might actually be them going on a trip to Bonta, or somewhere in that direction.

NUMERO DE MEMBRE 001 / MEMBER NUMBER 001

Kerubim Crepin Sexe male / Sex: male Ne a Astrub / Born in Astrub

While in the past I had assumed that Kerubim was probably born in Amakna, or a village close to it, due to him and Atcham going to an orphanage there after The Horrors happened, I suppose he was canonically born in Astrub!

And this, right here, is exactly why I started this blog. XD

To quickly review the unified Crepin family lore, and how this may change it: I'll be real, this doesn't change it at all. Astrub and Amakna are close, and it's reasonable to assume that the Crepin family might have moved there from Astrub, when they were very little.

It also doesn't change the fact that, growing up in an orphanage just outside the city walls of Amakna, their cultural mindset would be very... Amaknean.

My analysis of the fact that instead of being each other's haters, Atcham and Kerubim should have been baking cakes together, for their mental wellbeing, is very real.

Let's not dwell too much on the cringe depiction of a native person from the USA. Both because I had never even been to an USA in my life and therefore don't really have much to say, and because it is just kind of cringe.

Let's instead talk about why the fuck is Kerubim riding a kids' playground horse.

The western music being diegetic is so fucking funny to me. Easily one of the funniest bits in the whole show.

Rates of orphanhood among Twelvians are staggering. The second you adopt or birth a child it's OVER, you're doomed by the narrative.

This whole scene is Kerubim fighting his two sides:

Being a guy who just loves kids, especially orphan, in part because they're cool and in part because he himself was an orphan.

VS.

Being a FUCKING HATER.

He really has no backbone when it comes to kids. You just know his literal son could be like "papycha!!! I want you to do a pirouette and also then we need to go to the grocery store so I can buy chocolate milk to eat with oranges" and he'd be like "oughughu my Jojo eating oranges with chocolate milk is a bad idea. But who am I to stop you. 😢 one pirouette incoming."

The idea of Kerubim Crepin spanking a child is so funny to me. All bark no bite.

Guy who just threatened to beat up a child just deciding to die instead. Sad!

I love how much of a businessman he's always been, especially considering the dubiously-canon insinuations of it being a general Crepin family thing.

Okay, geographical notes here:

The lake with the tower (the one where Kerubim took Lou's dance boots), is to the west/north-west of Astrub, in the direction of Bonta.

Despite the differences this intro has to the actual geography shown in the show, it is consistent with where this lake appears directionally, in the relation to the city.

And this intro, by itself, is consistent with where the lake appears in-game. (As well as with where the Zaap is.)

I suppose the show's perspective is quite a lot more realistic.

The game's map can't as big as the real world, but the show's medium allows everything to be much bigger, and much more realistic. This, in turn, means that in-universe the lake is probably a bit farther away, than how it appears in-game.

[itsclydebitches]

Fans use flat arcs as a shield against criticism from the title team. Iroh from ATLA has a flat character arc he serves as a catalyst for the main characters' arcs. Likewise, the girls do influence the world and characters around them but these aspects never stick around long enough for us to see that change. Penny is still dead. Nora is still with Ren. Atlas is still incapacitated. The CCT is still down. The academies are still inactive. The status of the WF and SDC is still unknown, etc.

Iroh is a fantastic example of how to do a flat character arc well (and I love that this arrived in my inbox today because I'm currently crocheting an Appa key-chain lol). Despite the majority of his own journey taking place off screen, the viewer still gets to experience two things. 1. Iroh's off-screen development has a strong impact on the world and our main characters' development, particularly Zuko, and 2. We don't know at the start of the series that his will be a flat arc, so everything we learn about him is new and surprising, despite it not being new to Iroh. It takes the viewer a long time to realize that he's not just a lazy, oblivious, well-meaning but ultimately kinda useless uncle. The slow reveal of Iroh's skills and true loyalty can feel like an arc even though, technically speaking, he's been that way since Episode 1 - we just didn't have the context to see it.

Now, compare someone like Iroh to Oscar. He's not someone who went on a journey to find unity with Ozpin and become a powerful wizard in his own right prior to the series, so the fact that what little development he gets in that regard happens off screen is a problem. There's no surprising reveal for the viewer, no on-screen arc (there are nods to the conflict, but we consistently don't see the resolutions), and Oscar does not successfully help our main cast - from a narrative perspective, I mean. He literally helps them by blowing up Salem, but as a story beat that feels unsatisfying because there was no buildup to that moment, it's riddled with inconsistencies, denies our title team the chance to defeat Salem for the first time themselves, and takes out the Big Bad with a Deus Ex Machina rather than giving the characters an earned victory. Though I'll always reiterate that I love my farm boy, the fact is that his presence in RWBY has only harmed the mains' journey. His presence introduces huge character flaws that are never properly resolved: attacking kids, Jaune's paranoia, the hypocrisy about lying, being totally fine with an ally serving them until he's doomed to disappear. As said, giving Oscar magic undermines a moment that should have been a huge stepping-stone in Ruby's journey (with the threat hanging over us now that it may undermine more, or else raise the question of why his magic isn't coming to the rescue every time it's needed) and, as discussed elsewhere, his very presence interferes with Ruby's emotional arc. This is seen pretty clearly in Volume 9 where Ruby is struggling with being the young hero destined to save the world from Salem, forced to solve an impossible task... even though she is none of these things. OSCAR is the young hero forced into this war via reincarnation, destined to solve the Salem problem if he wants to break his own curse. He is not the helpful uncle serving the hero, he's the protagonist disguised as a side character. Which, for obvious reasons, causes problems when your story is titled RWBY and Ruby Rose is supposed to be the one on his journey.

As for the girls, they're certainly having an impact on the world, but nothing that's reflecting back on them for development. Nothing sums that up quite so well as Weiss' "I'm so sick of leaving places in ashes" as she willingly leaves another place to burn instead of doing something to help. The shield I see against criticism the most is, "But they couldn't have done the thing that would have forwarded their development because [insert headcanon here and/or a stupid in-world claim that never had to be there]!" Why did the girls leave the market? Because a stranger - a total stranger they didn't recognize then as the Knight or Jaune - told them to run. That's it. Complete stranger gave them an order and they did it, despite being perfectly capable of taking on more of Neo's clones/helping the civilians. Even if that wasn't a flimsy excuse to keep them from developing, the issue is always, "Why would RT write it this way?" rather than "Why would you ignore our in-world explanation for this? Clearly you're not paying attention/approaching RWBY in bad faith." The explanation is the problem, either because it doesn't hold up under scrutiny or because it's existence shouldn't be upheld over the chance for good, strong, forward-moving writing. RWBY is Volumes worth of the Supergirl problem: "Uh, she has to dress like that because she gets her power from the sun. Duh 🙄" You're missing the larger point that the writers chose to create a scenario in which they could dress their supehero in scantily-clad clothing, excuse it through lore they also made up, and then have fans like you defend it like these choices stem from the Sacred Texts of Absolute Truth and Historical Accuracy rather than a fictional story that someone made up at every turn. Team RWBY isn't developing because the writers aren't writing that, but many fans act as if they're real girls in a real world who are bound by those realities. "You can't expect a bunch of teenagers to go fight when they're exhausted and their friend is injured!" Of course I can because they're fictional characters whose entire purpose is to tell a good story. Sitting in a mansion while the city is swarmed with monsters, after a Volume of taking the moral high ground over protecting civilians, and while the B Team confronts the villain instead of our protagonist does not a good story make.

[schizosamwincester]

happy wincest wednesday! my question for this week's round table (lol) is: what's your ideal for sam and dean's "apple pie" life? would they settle down and retire with each other, or would they keep hunting? who does the cooking, who does the cleaning (do they even know how to clean?), do they hide the fact that they're brothers or are they the freaky incest bros down the street? do they have kids (mpreg or adoption)? pets? i'm curious about any and all ideas you have :) (@incesthemes)

Oh see this is such an interesting question because I'm a slut for tragedy, so to me, there is no apple pie life. I love the doomed by the narrative themes of early SPN so, so much. I'm the kind of person who is so fascinated by the idea of the universe where SPN never got a second season, because I do think in some way, that car crash would have made a good ending. Family really does end in blood, you know? You try to save your family, and instead you send all three of you to your doom.

Also I'm aromantic so picturing staying together forever as a happy ending is such a foreign concept to me. Like, I do intellectually understand that's how it works for other people, but it still doesn't quite compute.

For me, the idea end game of Sam and Dean is them on the road forever, chasing hunts around the country, still living on that adrenaline rush, thinking that as long as they keep killing literal demons, they can avoid confronting their metaphorical ones. They keep going on the twin addictions of sex and hunting and try to never give themselves enough time to question if it's all worth it or if they're irreparably fucked up. At the end of their lives, they've run in circles for years and yet never really gotten anywhere. Their whole lives have just been one long purgatory. That's about my level of interesting ending. I don't want them to be happy, and I don't know if they're capable of it. I'm not through with the Kripke era yet, because I am the slowest watcher of things imaginable, so I certainly don't think the Kripke Sam and Dean are capable of actual happiness. They need to keep running. If they stop running, they need to confront their issues, and for the love of God they can't do that.

Of course, they could also go out in a blaze of glory together, dying in a pool of blood so deep that you can't tell whose blood is whose. That's also fun. That is the other way for things to end when they are too scared of themselves to ever stop.

But I guessssss if I have to allow happy romantic endings, I feel like the canon one is pretty good? I don't think they're at all capable of retiring, and I do not want them to have children to fuck up.

Probably not the answer you were looking for, lol, but that's what happens when you ask a hopeless aro romantic questions

[angeygirl]

June of Doom Day 12: "I can't stand to see you like this" Coma, Grief, Dehydration

[Warning for implied child death in the sense that a child dies and the narrative just doesn't use those words exactly, and implied alcoholism but its way more subtle. Neither of these are the focus, but they're in there]

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

Henry Emily was not fond of hospitals in the way that no one was fond of hospitals. The fear of being turned away was almost strong enough to prevent him from entering. His loyalty was stronger. Very cautiously, he approached the ICU and entered. There were two figures in the room, a very large man and a very small boy.

Henry had expected the boy to look like he was sleeping. He was, but it was not a peaceful sleep; it was nightmares. The soft, young features looked as though they would spring awake screaming at any moment. Henry carefully reached out a hand to touch his friend's shoulder.

William looked up dully for a moment, then back to his son. “How many sick days do I have left?” He asked roughly.

“What?”

“How many sick days do I have left?”

“I dunno, a week maybe?”

William nodded and dropped his head into his hands.

“What have the doctors said?”

There was a long pause. “Hmm? What was that?”

“What have the doctors said?”

William’s eyes went glassy.

“Is it bad?”

He nodded.

Henry was lost for words. The pair stayed locked in a heavy silence for about ten minuets before it weighed too heavily and Henry quietly left.

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

No matter what the doctor had said, William was adamant the passing was anything but peaceful. He insisted the boy had quite literally been frightened to death by his own nightmares. The doctor said the bleeding had restarted on its own.

That first day was the eye of the storm. The winds had been harshest just before it happened, lulled to total calm, and then kicked back into a fury as denial wore off. Now, William seemed to be controlled by three different people. The first version of himself was totally unchanged, the same cheerful persona he put on at all times. It must have been second nature to him; must have been easier to put on an outward mask then to face the feelings within. The second version did not have an ounce of patience. Henry wished he could ask for others to be patient instead, but when someone as large and imposing as Mr. Afton begins to lose his temper, all others are excused for being afraid. This version would only appear for minuets at a time at work, and then vanish back into the initial persona. Judging by how timid the remaining two children were, this variant of their father was still quite active at home.

Henry Emily was not a man who understood people. He didn’t know whether to get closer or pull away. He couldn’t bring himself to imagine what would happen if he was in that situation, but he didn’t know how to tell someone who towered over everyone else to control himself.

There was a third persona, however. This was who Henry was truly afraid for. It was someone he thought he could help, but would never have had the words. This was someone Henry found in the dark of the maintenance closet all alone, usually with a whisky nearby. Someone who seemed to subsist on caffeine and alcohol alone.

Summer dragged on. The rage had subsided, the drinking had not. Even as the desert heat continued to climb, William insisted on taking his time in the rabbit suit; said it made things feel better. Henry himself knew how much freedom was to be found inside a costume, but he also knew the dangers. Specifically, he knew the dangers other then the spring-locks.

It was late in August and, dry air or not, much too hot to be wearing a furry costume.

“What? It’s not like we’re outside.”

“Yeah but the A/C isn’t enough to keep up with the heatwave.”

William waved his hand dismissively and continued pulling on the rabbit pants.

Henry leaned on the door with concern in his eyes. “Bill, I know you hate when I ask to talk, but are you sure you’re hydrated enough, at least?”

William thought for a moment. “Dunno, but it’ll be fine.”

“The first rule of mascot safety is to drink your water, I don’t think you’ve had a drop in weeks.” Henry stepped closer.

William huffed. “Would you just stop?”

“No. I can’t. Bill, I can’t stand seeing you like this.”

“Like what exactly?” He snapped.

Henry shuffled back and looked down. “I dunno. You haven't been acting like yourself. You’re.. meaner. Irresponsible. Its just… I dunno.”

“You don’t think I’m like myself but you want to stop me from being myself.” William clicked the fastenings at his back shut. “Sorry to disappoint you, but Spring Bonnie is more like William Afton then William Afton is like himself at the moment, and Spring Bonnie has a show to put on. If Fredbear would like to join, he’s more then welcome to, if not, then we will be dancing alone as usual.”

Henry glanced at the decommissioned animatronic bear in the corner. It sat on a bench, looking lonely, or perhaps guilty. Henry couldn’t tell. Spring Bonnie went out to entertain the dwindling crowd, while Henry watched from the maintenance room door. A few minuets into the routine, he noticed a sort of lethargy in the yellow bunny. The wide, preformative movements were downplayed. A few minuets later, it perked up once again. Henry bit the inside of his lip. He tried to call the rabbit over to him in such a way that it looked part of the show, with a goofy exaggerated wave.

The rabbit tilted its head and waved goodbye to the three children it had been playing with and skipped back into the maintenance room.

William fumbled off the costume head, hair sticking to the sides of his face. “What? What happened?”

“You looked dizzy out there. I can tell even with the costume on.”

William shook his head and Henry noticed how pale the man looked. “I was dizzy but I’ve got my second wind now.”

“Second wind? William you’re about to go under!”

“No, I’m- I’m... I’m seeing spots.” He tried to swallow. “Henry? Henry, I’m seeing spots.”

Henry scrambled around behind him and started to undo the clasps keeping the suit on.

William tried to help, but his fingers seemed to lose all dexterity. “I feel fine, I just... I... I can’t see.”

The top part of the suit fell away, and the black undershirt was only slightly damp. With the heat, William should have been letting off dangerous amounts of sweat. Henry winced a little as he tried to unclasp the belt keeping the suit’s pants up.

“Ok, step out of it.”

William tried to obey but his eyes were glazed over. He stumbled forward a few paces and crumpled to the ground with a thud. Henry jumped up and rushed into the kitchen to find a rag. He quickly drenched it and darted back to the maintenance room. A cook had followed him.

“Mr. Emily what’s-?” She yelped when she saw the other manager on the floor. “I’ll get him some water!”

The initial sweat was drying, but there didn’t seem to be any more. The man’s mouth looked dry too; his eyes were sunken. The cook came in with a glass of water and promptly poured it all over her boss’s head. He didn’t react.

“Worth a shot.” She shrugged.

“Get another glass!” Henry shouted, exasperated and started pressing the wet rag on William’s neck and arms. The cook seemed to misunderstand. She darted away and came back, only to drizzle water along Mr. Afton’s back.

Henry raked his fingers through his hair. “Let him drink it next time!”

Embarrassed, she nodded and hurried to refill the cup. A redheaded security guard cautiously came in. “Is everything alright?”

“I...I dunno. We might need an ambulance.”

The man on the floor groggily pushed himself to his elbows. “He-hen-hen...”

Henry wiped the rag against William’s face. “It’s ok bud, it’s ok.”

William made a sound that almost sounded like ‘help’, but collapsed again.

Henry nodded to the guard. “Go call an ambulance.”

The cook came back with the water cup and timidly offered it. William propped himself up on one arm and drained it in seconds. The cook was gone and back again in time for the guard to confirm help was on the way. Henry helped hold his friend upright.

“Drink it slower this time, bud. Think of it like those bottles on the sides of rodent cages, you gotta drink it in little sips.”

“L-l-lag-a-m-m-mor-phszz.”

“Huh?”

“L-lagam-m-morphsss.”

“You’re makin’ up words there, friend.”

“R-rabbitsss are lag-a-amorphsss.”

"Same idea." Henry ruffled the other man’s hair. It was sticky.

Nevertheless, the rabbit cage analogy seemed to come in handy. William took the water in little sips, and seemed slightly recovered by the time the paramedics arrived. They checked him out fully and determined the cause was dehydration. Heat exhaustion had also been to blame. The only reason they had convinced William to go to the hospital with them was because he was too close to unconscious to argue.

William did not stay in the hospital overnight. In the meantime Henry went to make sure the Afton kids were all taken care of. Michael was mostly capable, but had been too emotionally drained to be at full strength.

When Henry knocked on the door, Elizabeth had answered. “Uncle Henry! Why are you here?”

Henry stepped inside shyly. “You’re dad ain’t doing to well. He’s alive, don’t worry about that.” He was careful to reassure Elizabeth when he saw the fear in her eyes. “But he’ll be tired when he comes home.”

Henry explained the situation and helped the two reheat a donated casserole. Michael was fine to eat it cold and Elizabeth was too scared to use the stove. William came home at a somewhat decent time and dropped himself directly on the couch.

Henry appeared and sat on the other side. “So, you’re alive?”

William nodded.

“Tired?”

He pinched his lips together and nodded again.

“You gotta drink your water.”

William glared. “Water isn’t very good for sleeping.”

“Neither is- Never mind.”

“Say it.”

“Naw, I’ll spare you the lecture.”

William nodded. “Much appreciated.”

There was several minuets of awkward silence. Usually Henry appreciated that, but not now. Elizabeth seemed too frightened to approach her father without permission and Michael had vanished into his room again.

“Guess I better be heading home. Take care of yourself, Bill.”

William sighed and nodded.

Henry glanced over his shoulder as he was about to leave. “I mean it.”

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@juneofdoom

idk why this was the prompt that spoke to me, but it spoke so clearly that I mixed in all four ideas into one

R.I.P. random cook and security guard, you existed only to serve the plot briefly

(plz don't tag as a ship?)