#this post is just me putting all the most random out-of-context and strange parts of my very underdeveloped oc lore into one sentence

[stoleyourgender]

Oh yeah, sorry, your girlfriend just discovered that she's the product of a genetic experiment. She's basically a clone. Yeah, she's currently experiencing some pretty conflicting thoughts about her own humanity. Sorry. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, she also might accidentally wipe out all of humanity.

[chloepleasestopdying]

i just finished life is strange for the first time yesterday and loved it! do you have any recommendations for fics or artists or anything? i fell in love with max and chloe and now i can't get enough <3 i love your blog, by the way!

Thanks ! I always love giving recs out and it's been awhile since I made a post, pretty sure these are mostly the same ones since I haven't been reading LiS fics a lot recently but hopefully you, and any other people new to the fandom will like them! Almost all of these are pricefield just because that's what I read the most

Better Then by IsraelBlargh, 137K, A dark post canon Bay fix it fic, might be a bit much for some people but there was a lot of thought put into Max's powers and it's a pretty good deep drive into them

run away with me by lagaudiere 3k, a cute short fic about Max and Chloe getting married

Recursion by CDNCrow 303K, this fic makes me want to eat dry wall. My favorite LiS fics and one of my favorite fics ever. This fic made me cry and also research book binding. Post canon Bae fix fit fic with really great character work on a lot of minor characters, like Kristen, Fernando and Max's parents, and also on characters that are really hit and miss with me like David and Victoria. Max's powers are also really thought out here and I love how she doesn't get OP over night but we still get those nice moments of 'oh Max is kinda fucking horrifying.' 10/10 and I wish I could re-read it

migratory animals by swapcats 11K, Post Canon Bae ending fic about Max and Chloe healing after the storm, notable (besides being great) for committing to the actual canon ending of the storm

the august bedroom of tangled sheets by venividivigor 11k Cute and fluffy slice of life

Just everything by OpheliaMarina. The most popular fic in the fandom (no grave can hold my body down) was written by them and it's the best for a reason

another day; another excuse to be sent your way by twodimecastle 3K this is a True Colors chenrich fic but it's cute and I like it. Just covers the missing part where Alex tells Steph if she wants to stay or leave Haven

A Different Way To Be by Mogatrat 9k This is LiS but not pricefield, a great character piece on Rachel and Kate. This fic made me ship them but also made me cry a little bit ( The canon fate of Rachel still happens in this fic)

Escaping The Light by Omnicyde, 275K, I feel like this is a classic fic of the fandom and I do love it. It's a complete AU with a lot of OCs so it might not be to everyone's tastes but it has some great moments in it. Rachel is really great in this fic and is one of my favorites

Pedestal by Mogatrat 28K Super great post canon fic (where the dark room stuff happened but there was never a storm) with a really good look at Chloe's mental heath and how she's dealing with everything

Imaginary Max by VengeSim 60K I can't explain the plot with spoilers but I love this fic because it's a nice little twist on a common idea that the fandom messes with a lot. I love fics that do stuff like this and it's a great read.

The Golden Hour by Ghost_in_the_Hella 18K This fic is a sweet and cute first date fic and one of the rare fics where Max just gets to play with her powers.

The Girls Who Broke the World by GeneralIrritation 173K (Spread over 3 works) I fucking LOVE this series. Just like Recursion above this fic is one of my all time favorites. I remember random lines from this fic like they are burned into my brain. It's a post canon fic set years after LiS with a really good twist on it. This fic has my favorite Vic and Max moments, my favorite protryal of Arcadia Bay and explanation of Max's powers. It also got to make to like Warren and Nathan (only in the context of this fic though.)

we've only got this hundred years by stiction 5K Rare fic set during LiS, really great with adding moments that very much could have happened.

And, though I know you asked for fics or artists, I can't let anyone new to the fandom not know about Love is Strange by Team Rumblebee which is a dating sim set in a completely peaceful alternate universe where nothing about the Dark Room took place. The player ( as Max) chooses between Chloe, Kate, Victoria, and Rachel on who to work with on a photography contest and it's just cute as all hell. The game is VERY well made, the art is amazing, the writing for all the characters is great and it's clear that the team loves LiS.

[gible-love-nibles-archive]

Eternal Diva Fic (Part 1)

I need to get better at naming things 😔 Anyway, here it is: part 1 of the fic that took over my life for over two weeks. It's incredible to have this monster done and ready to share with you guys. I'll be posting parts over the next few days, and then make a masterlist of all of them with the taglist. So if you're wondering why the taglist isn't on here. That's why.

But without further ado, enjoy!

Spoilers for L.ast S.pecter/S.pectre's Call. Also spoilers for. The entirely of E.ternal D.iva, obviously.

If you haven't seen E.ternal D.iva before and want to watch the movie before reading this, you can do so right here completely free! (Warning for animal abuse, kidnapping, and death {those last two are big plot points}) I'll put those same trigger warnings in the fic when they come up and any others I can think of. But for right now, no trigger warnings here.

Word Count: 952 / Next

Puzzles and mystery solving weren’t really my cup of tea (and neither was tea for that matter), but somehow I still got roped into all of it upon meeting one Professor Layton.

It was in the town of Misthallery. To most who heard its name, it was supposedly the site of a great treasure: the Golden Garden. To the professor, it was the town where his old university friend— Clark Triton— and his wife and son lived. For me, it was just a pit stop on my travels around Britain.

But it seemed I came at the worst possible time to visit. Misthallery was under attack by a ghastly specter. No one had been hurt yet, but homes were destroyed and tensions were high.

According to locals, a specter attacking the town wasn’t completely random. In the town’s mythology, a little girl once played a flute to summon a specter, saving the town from bandits. Now the specter from the legend was on a revenge path… or so it seemed.

Within an extremely short amount of time, the professor sniffed out the truth: the specter was in fact a pack of very real digging robots. They worked under the cover of night and fog to look for the site of the Golden Garden. But the specter towered over buildings and the robots were just above person height.

That was where a young girl from the town and Loosha the sea beast came in. Though her size was imposing, Loosha was extremely friendly and sweet. She would go into town every night of a specter attack, battling the robots to protect the town. The only way to calm her down was a special flute the young girl played, which reverberated through the whole town via pipes. Without full context, it seemed the flute called the specter into town, just like the town’s legend.

But who put this whole scheme together? The town’s police chief… and a masked stranger. All for the Golden Garden.

Once the mystery of the “last specter” was solved and things were back to normal in Misthallery, I continued on my travels, bidding farewell and thanks to the professor and his two friends.

It was after this puzzle where this story began.

I had thought the whole situation in Misthallery was strange and even a little fantastical. But as I look back on it, I realize I hadn’t seen anything yet.

~

It started with a ticket I received in the mail. The sender was Hershel Layton, no doubt the Professor Layton I had met in Misthallery. In the letter attached, he apologized that we had to meet in such dire circumstances and offered me the completely free chance to see this opera with him. I wasn’t the biggest fan of opera, but I didn’t want to disappoint the man, especially with such a generous offer. Who knows how much this ticket cost?

However, one glance at the ticket made me extremely puzzled. Advertised on it was not only the opera— “The Eternal Kingdom”— but also some sort of after-show game. The prize? Eternal life.

There was absolutely no way, right? That was just something in legends and fairy tales. Even if someone had figured out how to administer eternal life, they probably wouldn’t backpedal it at the end of an opera.

“Sounds like a bunch of snake oil,” I muttered to myself. I still wanted to go to the opera, if only to catch up with the professor. I would just leave after the show and not stay for the game. Easy as pie.

What was the worst that could happen?

~

I always felt out of my element in fancier places: weddings, big parties, performance theaters. And seeing the giant size of the opera house didn’t make that feeling any smaller.

The Crown Patone was grand and opulent, maybe even more so than usual for an opera house. But I didn’t really know anything about opera houses, so who was I to say?

However, the giant golden arches and some of the windows almost looking like jewels felt… off, in a way I couldn’t quite articulate. And the angel statue in the middle of the courtyard felt strange too. It reminded me of something you’d see on the bow of a ship.

But this wasn’t an outdoor show; it was about time to go in and watch the opera. The path lighting up as I walked towards the house certainly was inviting.

The interior of the Crown Patone was just as extravagant as the exterior. Red walls with white and golden sections certainly gave it a regal appearance. The checkered floor was polished so well, you could see your reflection in it. The entrance to the theater had a large crown-shaped sign on top that read “The Crown Patone”.

The real stars of the main hall were the displays: long lines of crowns were accompanied by remnants of history. There was something ancient everywhere you looked: a statue here, a fossil there. You could almost get lost in time with everything here.

But I didn’t have time to look at everything: I had to find my seat.

Apparently, I was sitting up in one of the private balconies: away from everyone else, but I had a perfect view of the stage. And private apparently meant very private: there was only one seat here. Like it was made just for me.

That was odd. I thought Layton wanted to watch this opera together? I figured there were so many people coming, he didn’t have much of a choice on where we sat.

“Still weird,” I thought as I sat down. After a little bit, the lights dimmed and the show began.

[illicien]

“Nobody asked about my writing” meme

Ohhh thank you so much for the tag @amethyst-noir! Having read these questions already I can tell this is going to become a pain in the ass to answer, bless you and thank you for the suffering.

 1: what are you currently working on? 

Far too many things. My writing tab currently has open:

One-Time Thing (third part in progress, but I have all of the parts in the same doc)

HS / Mafia AU Outline (when this starts becoming a thing more effectively I hope every single one of you is ready for me to be the most whiny bitch on the timeline; when my wife said "oh that sounds like it'll be 300k" I was like lol I've never written anything that long! But this outline... this fucking outline...)

Captured (inspired by a whump prompt, whether this comes into existence is entirely dependent upon the whims of my muse and they are feeling incredibly tempestuous of late.)

Seeing Double (This remains my comfort fic to sit back in because writing Stephen occasionally manages to help reset my brain when I get stuck.)

WB Hanahaki (I completely blame a combination of @winterbonesthings @six-demon-bag and @bicycleonfire for the fact that this even started to happen.)

To The Victors (This is literally the fic I've had open and been casually poking at now and then since before I even started OTT and whether it will be finished is also dependent upon the whims of my muse.)

And that's all WinterBaron shit I just have that I'm casually flicking through depending on what is best meeting my interests at any given hour of the day.

2: summarize your current project 

Which one? I'm literally gonna randomize 1-6 and find out which project we're summarizing.

Well okay then. Seeing Double it is:

With the sudden splitting of timelines and opening of the multiverse, some of HYDRA's experiments in other worlds have created strange pathways to other worlds; while HYDRA has been mostly dealt with in their active timeline, the elimination of a specific base has left Sam, Bucky, and Zemo faced with an actively Winter Soldiered Bucky Barnes. Not quite sure how to handle their new situation, and mildly unnerved by the fact that this Winter Soldier has decided that obeying Zemo of all people is the best choice, Sam suggests taking him to Doctor Strange - because if anyone's going to be able to figure out sending him back to his own dimension, a sorcerer seems like the best option.

3: summarize your current project poorly 

(Same project? Different project? Different project.)

Zemo's fucking pissed to realize that he's in love with someone again; he'd ignore it, if it wasn't literally killing him.

4: describe your favorite character or characters

Tea sluts.

Oh, did you want a better description? Well you aren't getting one. They're tea sluts. You think they're perfectly put together, incredibly in control, and that's exactly what they like you to think as they casually sip their tea and pretend they're only the most sophisticated of people.

But it takes about two seconds to turn them from sophisticated and in control into whining little bitches. And I love that for them.

5: post a line from your current project without any context 

They'd taken time to collect - the remnants of Ultron scattered in a distinctive display, pieces welded together in a manner both grotesque and hauntingly beautiful.

6: how do you get through writers block?

Skip to a different project for a little bit. Sometimes it's less that I'm blocked in terms of writing, and more that I'm stuck on a specific scene or story, and moving on until I'm stuck on something else makes it easier for me to return to whatever I was initially stuck on.

7: would you want to live in the world of your current work? 

No. Not any of them. No thank you. Especially not anything MCU adjacent. I'll skip on that, thanks.

8: briefly discuss your outlining process, if you outline 

My outlining process only really exists for fics that I am well aware / intend to be more than one chapter. For example, there was no real outline for OTT, and it did get away from me because of that, in part. That's why OTT turned into a series rather than just being multichapter.

When I do outline, however, I have a very specific set-up that involves first jotting down several notes from my brainstorming session as I typically bounce the initial concept off of someone. Many bullet points exist. From there, it's a matter of grouping them into relevant areas, and then breaking things down into chapters from that point. I'll occasionally make specific notes about particular dialogue pieces as related to specific bullet points. Before I do a final dive into starting to write pieces, I'll go over chapter bulletpoints again to see if there are any specific things that could use to be arranged elsewhere.

If I write without an outline for a multichapter story, we get chaos like Collared and Embraced which are both currently still sitting unfinished, despite my best efforts.

9: what is the aesthetic of your current project?

Okay so I'm gonna return to To The Victors for this one, even though I mentioned it once already earlier, because of all of them this one has a very visual set up.

Piercing suspension; human food trays; an old castle hall draped with purple silk and velvet; the contrast of highly mechanical chrome bits and pieces against elegant fabrics and stone walls

10: what song sums up your current work the best?

Ooo this is hard, especially since I decided to save this one specifically for the OTT finale...

We'll go with:

Tagging

Sending this one over to @six-demon-bag @winterbonesthings and @winterytrash cuz I'm sure y'all are working on something at least. @bicycleonfire too if you've got anything ongoing you wanna share 😉

[caffeinated-beveraged]

Since I’m posting here again, I thought might as well post my old art. And by post, I mean roast because this whole thing is rawer than a freshly butchered chicken 💀 Roast under cut

Context: this comic was for a culminating art project. The theme for the culminating was mythology. I spent a majority of time given floundering around between options before settling on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. No reason for choosing them in particular, they were just the first myth I thought of when thinking of classic Greek myths. Also I just reworded the myth from some random site, so I have no idea if my comic has inaccuracies.

The only real hurdle I had to face for this project was drawing humans. I had little experience with humans prior to this project. All the other projects we did for that art class were mainly still lifes and drawing buildings with respect to perspective. For projects that were more open in terms of the subject matter, I tried my hardest to avoid drawing a person. So with this project I was starting from square 1. Now, a person with a modicum of common sense would logically start this project a week before the deadline so they don’t submit the equivalent of a stick figure. Unfortunately I am not one with common sense. Instead I decided to start the project the Sunday evening before the due date 💀 Completely avoidable pain and torture that could had been averted had it not been my inability to keep a consistent schedule.

Anyways, let’s analyze the panels themselves. Here we have panel 1. Right off the bat, literally none of the words in the caption match what’s being depicted. What do you mean conscious objects??? There is literally nothing there!!! Just an ugly ass rainbow (with no colours I might add) in the background with Orpheus playing a few notes. This guy has nothing: no colour, no mystical beings, no conscious objects, no neck. This is just the consequence of running out of time. The only real improvement I’d make here is add more to the background. Not just with characters but also colour. Now not everything has to be in colour to look good. I think a majority of the panels are fine without colour as it is consistently used for the most part. But I did add some colour to the emotionally intensive scenes so it just makes this panel (which should be showing Orpheus’ extraordinary talent) look odd and out of place.

Oh boy panel 2. We get introduced to Eurydice and my god does she look awful. That hair just looks weird, it looks like I just scratched a few lines and called it a day. Also that typo is killing me…

Skipping the 3rd panel as I don’t have much to say. Anyways panel 4, Aristaeus being murder happy. Fun fact: I actually used a reference for Aristaeus so it doesn’t look too shabby. I honestly forget to use references for poses, not because I think I’m better than them, I often have a specific pose in mind and have a tough time finding a pose online that matches what I have in mind. For this one, I used a reference of myself which turned out nicely.

Eurydice cringefail moment. Imagine dying to a snakebite couldn’t be me. I like the aforementioned use of colour, just wish it was more saturated. I also like the blood stains. That’s all I have to say for these panels. … ok fine let’s address the elephant in the room. Eurydice has four toes. For some reason during this time period I could only draw rubberhouse style hands with 4 fingers. Which looks fine on a cartoony style but looks strange on the semi-realistic style I was going for. I guess that translated in the toes as well. Phalange are phalange I guess.

I’m just gathering all 3 of these panels and putting my thoughts on them together since this post is getting quite long. The 1st panel looks kind of bland, hardly any emphasis on Orpheus’ loss. Just some rain and a flat rectangle which is supposed to be the gravestone I guess. 2nd panel honestly looks pretty great, with out of doubt my favourite panel. The scratchy cross-hatching with the pen looks great. I also like Orpheus’ lyre attached to back (have no idea how it’s attached) And finally the 3rd panel! Oh lord… It kind of speaks for itself. I think the weirdly defined knuckles just make the hands look short and sausage-y. Also Hades hand’s actually have five fingers on them 🎉🎉 The pinkie is shoved awkwardly to the side but it’s still there so I take it as a victory

Skipped the weird chibi looking panel for post length sake. Consistency has utterly left the room this time. I was literally finishing this comic in the last ten minutes of art class 💀 also we do not talk about what’s going on with Orpheus’ and Eurydice’s hands

95% of the budget (and my pen ink) went into drawing Orpheus’ curls. Would ancient Greeks even have this hair phenotype I have no clue I am losing my mind. Also where did Orpheus’ lyre go. Consistency is my arch nemesis apparently. Honestly these panels are not too bad. Orpheus is looking a bit cross eyes in that 1st panel but otherwise it looks fine

Overall this comic is fine, nothing to write home about though. For a first real go at drawing humans it’s great. But the real thing that brings this comic down is just the lack of consistency and overall messiness. You can see on some of the panels I forgot to erase the pencil underneath. Mainly this is due to my lack of forward planning. I mean I got a passing grade and got the credit for this course so it’s a win I guess. I’m really interested in revamping this comic for fun one day, just to see how I’ve improved. Definitely on digital though. Stay tuned in for that in the unforeseen future👀

[rainypebble07]

i hope you're feeling better now but i just saw your post from the other day and i sure do have Things to put in your askbox so

hello hi tell me about your writing process ! and i mean literally any part of it, literally any Thing, i'm just kind of curious because i really love what you write and my wips generally stay unfinished no matter how much i like the idea so i'm also kinda just curious how you manage to Get It Done yk?

no pressure at all i was just wondering

(Dude, I wrote too much. Sorry. i love to speak. I was excited I got an ask)

Hi! Yes! I'm feeling a little better now, still kinda sick, but so it goes. And that's so sweet of you! I'm glad you like my writing!

Writing Process? Oh boy, this is gonna be so disappointing. Most of the stories I've written come to me at random moments and over the course of a few days I'll make up this weird elaborate plot in my head until I get to the point where I'm like 'ok, this need to be a fic'.

I usually use two documents while writing something. I've got a layout (that's where I pull the crazy planning posts from) and the actual story(where I get the out-of-context stuff). I write down everything I want to happen in the layout document and add as much to it as I see fit (this can include really anything from specific conversations I want to really generic plot points) as well as block out chapters and after I'm finished with that, it usually just looks like a weirdly formatted poem or something. I never use spellcheck or anything on that either and I use such casual language, so it always looks like something I wrote while blackout drunk, but I love it nonetheless. Here's the first chapter of "Mike Wheeler's Ultimate Guide to the Undead"'s outline for example:

As you can see, it's a mess, but I love it. And somehow I got the first chapter out of this.

The point of that is pretty much it's an outline, but it's also kind of fun since it's so casual, so I've found it helps to motivate me to write new parts of the story bc I'm engaged by the strange wording I use on the outline. I also use this doc for title planning and other stuff I have to figure out beforehand. For example, I wrote the poem in Shady Business on an outline doc.

I then transfer this over to the story doc in an actual storytelling format. Most of my writing comes out of absolutely nowhere and idk what to say about it. I'll word-vomit for about ten minutes and get a page, look at it, and go 'oh hey, why isn't that horrible?'. I'm also super conversational in my writing, which helps it flow better. I always thought that made my writing hard to read, but a lot of people have actually said they like my writing style so I guess it's not that bad! I just treat it as if I'm telling the story over a cup of coffee. As for representing the character well (because they are real characters), I just try to get into their mindset as much as possible. I don't really have any specific way I do that, though. I recently had to create a fake "Am I the Asshole" post for Mike so I could try to understand his feelings on something better within myself (made it on the outline doc!).

After the initial word vomit of a chapter, I'll go back and read it over, adding or taking away what I see fit and fixing initial spelling mistakes and making sure it reads well. I don't have a beta reader (I wish I did), so I've gotta just assume it's readable and go with it. After the initial fixes, I'll read it over again just to make sure. I only fix all the spelling mistakes by the time I go to publish because I use Grammarly on the Ao3 post thing lol. By that point, it's only like 4 mistakes left anyway (and the stuff Grammarly says is incorrect but I don't care bc it sounds good and I can do what I want).

I also highlight my little outline as I go (usually in green bc byler brainrot, you can see it in the image) and it helps me visualize my progress and keep going!

But, yeah. That's pretty much the entire process and I have no better explanation than it's simply a dumpster fire of improv and weird pieces of moment I have glued together in my brain. It's arts and crafts, at the best, but somehow I pull it together and create a story!

As for motivation, most of it's four things. One, the anticipation of writing scenes I really want to. Two, telling myself I'm gonna get fun comments and reading old comments (I thrive off of positive feedback from poeple). Three, a specialized playlist for the fic. I make playlists for my stories with songs I like that fit the overall vibe and sometimes I get inspiration from them and it gives me new ideas. And four, probably the most important, I just really like writing. It's my favorite things ever to just put words on a page and make a story out of it. It's so fun and so cool and so magical and I love it.

And that's about it. The end. That's my writing process. It doesn't really make much sense, but I guess it works, so it works for me! If you're looking to improve your own completion rate, I mean, maybe try some of it, but it's really a personal preference. You've gotta do tril and error. And I've really gotta work on slowing down anyway because I can totally rush writing a fic and end up making it a lot less than it could have been if I took more time. And If you're not feeling motivated to write, don't force it. Seriously. Things like I suggested totally help me keep up with it, but what I hate more than anything is stuff I wrote when I didn't want to write. It's just... uninspired.

Okay! Thank you so much for asking that! Hopefully this long rant of nonsense (omg like my writing) answered your question! Sorry I wrote an essay!

[lucywrites02]

A brand new chapter

Main Masterlist | Between the lines

A/N: This story technically is the 2nd part of Between the lines, but I think you will understand the context without reading the first part. I don't know what it it with me lately, but every story I write ends up having 3k words or more. I'm not conplaining tho, I'm just surprised I can write that much with so little motivation and time.

Feedback is always greatly appreciated

Pairing: Stephen Strange x gn! Reader

Word count: 3.7k

Warnings: Probably many grammar mistakes. I was too excited when I finished it and wanted to post it asap

Summary: You were supposed to work for Stephen for a few weeks and then move on to do your own thing. But you stayed and it was the best decision you have ever made in your entire life. Aka your first date with the sorcerer supreme.

You shrieked, almost tripping on your own feet. You couldn’t see a thing, but thankfully Stephen was holding you tightly, navigating your steps. He was the reason you were going through the city of New York blindfolded, but you didn't even mind it. The sorcerer promised you a fun first date and even though you were the one who asked Stephen out he insisted on organising everything. Apparently The Sorcerer Supreme had come up with a great idea after your little talk in the restaurant all those weeks ago and just waited for the right moment to execute his plan. 

Stephen has been nothing but patient, waiting for you to get better and being there for you as a friend during the last 3 months. And you sure  hoped that the wait was worth being dragged around the town with a blindfold on. This must have looked hilarious to all the people who walked past you. You giggled, trying to imagine this scene- one of the most popular heroes dragging a random person through the streets of New York, smiling like a little child.

“We’re almost there.” The doctor announced with excitement in his voice. He can’t remember a time when he felt so happy and carefree- and your date hasn’t even truly begun. 

When you asked Stephen out on a date earlier that day he was nothing but thrilled. When the topic of your potential romantic relationship came to light that one night in his favourite Thai restaurant neither of you actually expected it to happen. Stephen insisted that you should take care of your mental health and has been incredibly supportive. It made you fall for him even more, but you feared that his patience would run thin and he wouldn’t be interested in you anymore by the time you decided you were ready to give him a chance . Thank the Vishanti you were very wrong. 

Suddenly you stopped walking- or rather Stephen stopped you. The city was always a busy place full of a variety of sounds, but you couldn’t recognise any of the noises around you. There were people laughing and music playing over some random sounds of buttons and balls hitting the ground but that only made you even more confused.

“We are here!” Stephen exclaimed, carefully untying the blindfold. “Okay, you can open them!”

You did as he asked and your eyes met with a hallway full of LED lights and dozens of different arcade games. You covered your mouth with your hand, feeling even more excited as before. 

"Oh my Vishanti." You gasped, turning to face your… boyfriend? You didn't want to make Stephen uncomfortable by putting a wrong label on your relationship just yet, but the thought of calling him your boyfriend made you all warm on the inside. The doctor smiled, offering you his hand which you gladly took and so the two of you made your way to purchase the tickets. 

"There are so many things in here I don't know where to start." You said with a huge grin on your face. Your date has just begun and you knew it was going to be an amazing night. 

"Hmm, we could walk around and see what we like the most." The sorcerer proposed, gently squeezing your hand as you went deeper into the hallway. "Or better!" He continued with a brand new dose of excitement in his voice. "Let's go look at the prizes first. You can tell me what you want so that I can win it for you." 

"That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me, Stephen." Giving his hand a light squeeze you leaned closer and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. 

The doctor’s heart jumped in his chest when he felt it. His face was surely covered in bright red. 

“Don’t be too excited. I haven’t won anything for you yet.” The sorcerer said, swaying your joined hands as you walked through the praises section. Even though you had dozens of amazing things in front of you, you couldn’t keep your eyes off of your date. The blue light coming from the arcade games behind you made his cheekbones stand out. The silver strands in his hair seemed to be sparkling like glitter. And his eyes… You loved Stephen’s baby blues and now they looked like little diamonds, reflecting the light around them and creating tiny rainbow areolas. 

“It’s the thought that counts.” 

“I need you to remember that you said that in case I won’t be able to actually win anything.” The doctor joked, making you giggle. 

The two of you stopped at the shelf with prizes for 2000 points or more. Most of the stuff were giant squishmallows and other plushies that were bigger than your twin sized bed. In the corner you spotted a polaroid camera for 5000 points and exhaled loud enough for your companion to hear it. Stephen’s eyes followed your gaze, making the sorcerer smirk. 5000 points couldn’t be so hard to get, right? But before he could ask if that was what you wanted you pointed at a medium sized teddy bear with a little red cape. A teddy bear that resembled Stephen. As much as the doctor disliked seeing his merchandise he had to admit that this plushie was kinda cute. They even gave it his goatee and his hair looked pretty well.

“I want that one.” You said with a giggle, knowing very well what your friend thought about it.  You leaned your head on Stephen’s shoulder and threw your hands around his waist. “Please?” 

“From all of those things you want that one?” The sorcerer supreme laughed, embracing you as well.  You could feel the vibration in his chest as his laugh echoed through the alley you were standing in. “It’s not even 1000 points…ouch.” His smile fell, pretending to be hurt by this unfair arrangement. . “I’m worth at least 1500.”

You couldn’t help, but wheeze, hiding your face in his chest as you tried to steady your breath.

“You’re a funny one, mister doctor.” With a little pat on his shoulder you took a step away from his arms to point at the shelf. “What do you want?” You asked, playing with the hem of your shirt with your free hand. “And don’t you dare say you don’t want anything!” 

Your friend looked at you and then back at the display with a playful smile on his face. “That one.” He pointed at a little box in the 1000 points section. “I want that one.”

“You want a funko pop that looks like-”  the idea of Stephen bringing that little toy home was so ridiculous to you you almost cried from trying to contain your laughter. “This is hilarious.”

“Yes, I want it.” The doctor pulled your hand to try and move you to the next part of your adventure. You didn’t protest much and quickly followed him. Stephen would get you that ridiculous plushie and the camera. All he wanted in return was your happiness and that funko pop. “You know-” the sorcerer continued as the two of you made your way to an automaton with the classic Pac Man game. “Wong said once that it would be fun if he had his own merchandise. This toy will be the perfect gift for him and me.”

“We can start with this game. Play a few rounds together to get more points and then play separately?” The man  gestured for you to sit down, which you gladly did and inserted a few tickets into the machine after you gave him an excited nod. 

This night was getting better and better with every minute. You could hear Stephen saying “I will put it on my nightstand” as he sat down beside you on the chair that was too small for two people, making you slide. Instead of scoothing over and giving you some space, Stephen took the entire seat and pointed at his lap.

“If you’re okay with that you could sit here…” The sorcerer proposed with a blush covering his entire face. “Or you could just sit on the chair and I will-”

You didn’t let him finish and just sat down on his lap, putting your head on his shoulder to get more comfortable. “We switch after every round?” You asked, waiting for Stephen to hit start. You could hear his heart beating faster. You found it cute.

“What? Oh yes, of course.” And then the game finally started.

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹

“No wait!” You pulled Stephen back by his hand, laughing like crazy. Apparently the sorcerer was very skilled at arcade games. He had so many tickets it would be enough for two Doctor Strange teddy bears and probably some small keychain. You’ve been playing for hours and it was probably well after midnight.  Stephen wanted to go get the prices and leave, but you needed just a few more points to get him that funko pop and another gift. “I need 200 more points!” 

“But you already have enough for my mini Wong.” Your date flopped dramatically on the bench behind him, pulling you onto his lap for the 100th time that night. You liked that a lot, but you were on a mission! You desperately needed to get those points. 

You giggled, seeing some breadcrumbs- remains of your dinner at the arcade- on Stephen’s shirt he didn’t swipe off. With one move of your hand they were gone, but your palm stayed glued to  the sorcerer’s chest. He looked up at you and covered your hand with his, his thumb gently drawing circles into your skin. Of course it wasn’t the first time you two were this close, but it never failed to make you feel warm on the inside. You were curious how Stephen’s kiss would feel. 

The sorcerer thought about kissing you multiple times during your date, but he didn’t want to rush things. It would happen eventually- maybe when you come back home or maybe in two months. It didn’t matter to neither Stephen nor you. You had plenty of time and simply wanted to enjoy the moment. 

“Give me 10 minutes with galaga and I will meet you at the register with your mini Wong and a surprise.” You said, putting a stray silver hair behind his ear and leaned down to give him a quick forehead kiss.

“10 minutes?” The doctor sighed heavily, wiping an invisible tear.  “How will I survive it?”

“You’re a dork, Stephen Strange.” You stood up and headed to get your last points. “See you in 10 minutes!!” You shouted and smiled when he blew you a kiss. Anyone who saw you probably thought you guys were drunk or something. But it didn’t matter how crazy you looked and what other people thought of you. You were happy- Stephen was, too.

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹

Stephen didn’t want to let you go. He couldn’t imagine a moment away from you, but right now he was glad that you were doing your own thing. It gave him the opportunity of buying you that polaroid camera with his tickets. His pockets were filled with little pieces of paper and it was so hard to hide them from you. Of course you knew he had more points than he needed to get you that plushie, but you had no idea he had a secret stash in the pockets of his jeans. He might have cheated once or twice to get them, but some of those games were rigged anyways! At least that was what he chose to believe. 

Stephen couldn’t help but smile as he walked down the hallway to the register. At first he thought that a date at the arcade would be a mistake- it was something for young people, not two very much adult sorcerers- but thankfully Wong convinced him to take you there. The doctor had never had so much fun on a date. Never. Most of his outings were very generic- a dinner at a restaurant, watching a movie in the cinema. Not that those things were boring, but it just wasn’t it sometimes. It wasn’t as exciting as this. For the first time in years Stephen felt young and carefree. It was something he really needed. His job was stressful so it was really nice to just be normal for once. 

“I would like numbers 10 and 16, pretty please.”  The doctor said, putting his tickets on the counter. 

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹

“Okay, I know it’s been more than 10 minutes, but the freaking machine wouldn’t give me my points!” You greeted him, waving your little bundle of tickets.

“That is outrageous.” The sorcerer stood by the exit door, hands behind his back hiding your gifts. “Unacceptable.” 

“I know!” You laughed and ran to the register to get the prizes for Stephen. You were watching as one of the workers fetched your stuff and didn’t notice that your date was now standing right behind you.

“So what’s the surprise?” He whispered into your ear, making you jump.

“Dear Vishanti, Stephen!” You shrieked. The sorcerer hid his face in your shoulder, trying not to laugh and failing miserably. He laid little kisses on your cheek as an apology and you just couldn’t be annoyed when he was acting like a total softie. “You’re lucky you’re cute, doctor!”

“Grandma was right all along- this pretty face would help me get away with everything.” He murmured into your cheek. If his hands weren’t occupied he would have embraced you the moment he saw you again. 

“You’re so stupid.” you laughed, turning your face a little bit to the left to be met with Stephen’s angelic smile. Your noses were almost touching and if you moved just a little bit, your lips would, too. “I like that in a man.”

“Okay, lovebirds! Here’s your stuff!” The boy behind the counter gave you your prizes, packed in simple grey paper bags which you quickly snatched to hide behind your back. Stephen thanked him and you guys left the arcade with a blink of an eye.

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹

There were many benefits of being a sorcerer. One of them was the ability to create portals to almost anywhere in the world. Yes, this day was amazing, but you were so happy to be back in the sanctum. It was good that Stephen transported you right to his room because you wouldn’t want to wake up Wong. You would get an earful for that.

“Close your eyes!” you ordered when the two of you were comfortably sitting on his bed.

Stephen did as you asked and waited for your next command. He could hear you fiddling with some stuff, trying to open a box he saw earlier. As much as he was excited to receive his mini Wong, Stephen wondered what else you got him. 

He felt something in his hand. It wasn’t heavy. All Stephen could deduce was that this thing was shaped like a rectangle and had some sort of a cable attached to it. You put the box with his mini Wong on top of it so he wouldn’t see the surprise when he opened his eyes. 

“You can look!” You said cheerfully, making your lover’s smile widen. 

“Oh, he is so going on my nightstand.” Stephen laughed and opened the box, letting the other gift fall on his bed. He didn’t want to see it just yet- it was supposed to be a surprise. The doctor couldn’t remember when was the last time he felt such joy from getting something so silly. He felt like a kid opening his birthday presents. But somehow this felt so much better. He was a grown man and it was rare to have a moment for himself- to just care about his own happiness for once. And you made it possible.

“I will put him in my shirt pocket and carry him around until Wong notices.” He said and put the toy aside. His gaze travelled down to his sheets to finally see what it was that you gave him. All he could do was gasp. “No way.”

“I know your last cassette player broke when that demon paid us a visit and demolished our living room.” You said, fiddling with your thumbs. “I know how much you liked it and when I saw it at the arcade I just had to take it with me.”

“I-” The sorcerer stuttered, holding the player close to his chest. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you!” He whispered, hugging you tightly. 

“I’m happy you like it.”

“Like? I love it!” I love you, Stephen thought- the smile never leaving his face. “Okay, it’s my turn!” He announced, picking his bags off the floor. 

“Stephen the bear is now officially yours.” The sorcerer giggled, placing the plushie in your arms. You immediately embraced it, squeezing the life out of it. “I see I have some serious concurrence.” He joked, pointing between you and the teddy bear you were holding so dearly. 

“No one could ever compare with you, Stephen.” You said, giving your lover a kiss on the cheek. “Although I have to admit…. This guy is really huggable.” 

“Oookay, to the next gift.” Stephen blinked, taking the plushie out of your arms and throwing it on his pillow, making you wheeze. You knew he was just playing- he was being so silly and carefree today. You loved seeing him like that. “I saw you looking at it. I knew you wouldn’t ask for it, but I wanted you to have it.” 

He fished into the bag and pulled out a medium sized box. You recognized it immediately.

“You gave me a camera?” You gasped, covering your mouth with your hands. “You didn’t have to!” You jumped into his arms, hugging him as thigh as you could. 

“Well, I  said I wanted you to have it.” He murmured, laying gentle kisses on your head. 

You squeezed his waist once more and pulled away to open the box. You quickly inspected the camera to see if anything was missing and when you were sure that this thing was in a good condition you put the film in and turned it on. 

“Wanna take a photo?” You asked with excitement in your voice. There’s no better way to document your happiness than taking a bunch of photographs. 

“Of course.” Stephen smiled, pulling you into his lap- his arms wandered around your waist to keep you steady while his cheek was glued to your own. He couldn’t wait to hang this photo somewhere in the sanctum. He will make a copy to keep it with him when he’s away from you. To keep you close to his heart. And he didn’t care how cheesy it was.

You put your hand up, stretching it as far as you could and clicked the button. The film came out of your polaroid as soon as you heard the soul of the flash. Stephen took the pic out and shook it, too excited to wait.

“You’re actually not supposed to shake it.” You said, taking the photo out of his hand.

“I’m not?” 

“Not really. Let’s just put it next to your mini Wong and wait.” You said and did just that.

"There's one more gift I have for you." You whispered with a sprinkle of hesitation and shyness in your voice. You were really nervous about this one. Getting off of Stephn’s lap you took a seat on the opposite side of the bed, making sure you were still close.

"3 gifts?" Stephen smirked, blushing like stupid. "What have I done to deserve them all?" 

"You did a lot, Stephen." You have thanked him plenty of times. For letting you stay in the sanctum longer than it was necessary. For helping you start therapy again. For being kind to you and for making you fall in love with him. "You deserve so much more than I can give you right now."

"Meeting you is the best gift I have ever gotten." He said, squeezing your hand and bringing it to his lips he laid a soft kiss on your skin. It made you shiver in the best way possible. And maybe, just maybe your eyes became a little glassy. "And although I will surely love whatever else you will give me, your presence will always be my favourite gift." 

Stephen smiled and closed his eyes again, awaiting your next surprise. After his little speech you had no doubts- you were in love with Stephen Strange. And it felt fantastic.

You could feel his thumb drawing small circles onto your palm. You smiled, with tears threatening to fall from your eyes. You quickly freed your hand from Stephen's grip and gently put it on his cheek. You leaned closer. And closer. 

“May I kiss you?” You whispered before your lips could touch. 

The sorcerer opened his eyes to look at you. He could feel your breath on his skin, longing for the taste of your lips. “God, yes.” He exhaled, gently cupping your face in his hands, connecting his lips to yours with a little too much force. 

Your free hand- the one that wasn’t resting on your lover’s cheek- landed on the mattress to keep you from falling. The doctor could feel you smiling into the kiss and his heart threatened to rip his ribcage open. And although he would surely die because of it he would die a happy man.

The kiss- although powerful- didn’t last long. Neither of you dared moving away- your foreheads were connected and you were smiling like crazy. You closed your eyes again, leaning closer to kiss him again.

“Wait!” Stephen whispered, making you freeze. He quickly turned around to face his nightstand and picked up mini Wong to make him face in the other direction. He stole a quick glance at the, now fully developed, photograph of the two of you and he could feel his heart melting. “Okay, you can kiss me now.” He said in a serious voice and you couldn’t help but to laugh. And it was contagious. 

“You’re so silly.” You said in between kisses, still giggling like a little kid. “I love seeing you like that.”

“I love that you make me feel like that.” Stephen whispered into your lips. “Plus I won’t let him look at us  with those round black eyes when we make out. Gross.”

You shook your head, amused by his behaviour and put your arms around his neck. 

“I’m glad I met you, Stephen.” You said, stealing a few more kisses. “Coming here was the best decision I have ever made.”

“And I’m glad you decided to stay.” 

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹

Tag list: @gaitwae @funsized-mimi @queenjosielaufeyson @mischiefmanaged71 @eternal-silvertongued-prince @evelynrosestuff @andysnewgroove

[thefirstknife]

In regards to whole uluran/cabal thing I would suggest reading the post by @allonsyjeni in regards to their thoughts on the matter

Thanks for sending this! Here's the link. I'm glad to hear another perspective!

I want to say that my involvement in this is because my Jewish friends have been incredibly uncomfortable with Destiny ever since the stuff from Chosen and when things were put together + combined with the name "Cabal." A lot of the times when they wanted to speak about it, they would get harassed online for it so I offered to speak in their stead since antisemitic harassment doesn't affect me. I'm glad to take the punch instead of them.

Most of these things separately would not be as strange to see, but together it raises eyebrows. I wanna leave the majority of the discussion to people who are actually Jewish, but I do already know that a lot of Jewish people are unhappy about this naming so ultimately, it would not affect anyone outside of people who would be made less upset if the word was dropped.

I'd like to point out a few things from the lore perspective. First, what the "Cabal" describes. So far we have not seen any indication that it just describes their ruling style. All Cabal rulers, some of which differ wildly, have called their people "Cabal." Calus largely abandoned conquest and war but still calls himself and his people "Cabal." The word is also used to refer to individuals of the species. If it were just a ruling style, then we would reasonably see a difference.

This COULD be just a thing to make in-game stuff more uniformed but even outside of gameplay elements, all Cabal regardless of affiliation or status or rank are called the same. The name of the military leaders ruling prior to Calus was the Praetorate. Calus overthrew them to take reign as the Emperor. Despite all of these disagreements and differences in ruling, they all call themselves "Cabal."

OP also pointed out that they are heavily based on Ancient Rome. Which is true! It's something I am very familiar with, having a master's degree on this topic. It's also why it's extra strange to me that they are called "Cabal." Everything else they have has Ancient Roman terminology; centurions, legions, phalanxes, praetorians, gladiators. Their whole culture is based on Ancient Rome with conquest and war and integrating conquered species into the Empire, assimilating them and giving them citizenships... It's all a very clear reference.

So why "Cabal"? It is not in any way related to Ancient Rome or anything from antiquity. There's also other influences from other cultures for them as well! But never anything Jewish. Naming them "Cabal" makes literally zero sense. Which is exactly why it raises eyebrows for me and others, when paired with other stuff. Nothing else about them is Jewish, so why that name and random bits and pieces? Why "golem" out of nowhere? The guy is called Basilius! It originated from Greek and was adapted by the Romans! It's always been very strange to me, even outside of the context of antisemitism.

I also want to touch on "shadows" because that only works in context of Calus. Calus was exiled and brought with him his loyalists, aka people who still believe he is the one true Emperor. Calus has also always been preparing to one day return and rule the Cabal again. The "shadows" in this context absolutely evoke an idea that Calus is the real ruler, ruling in secrecy from the sides, like a "shadow government" until he is put back into his rightful place again. Which is an antisemitic conspiracy.

The association of the two words, "shadow" and "cabal" is directly linked to antisemitism. His Shadows are explicitly here to help Calus re-establish his reign again and they're all a part of his elite council. The imagery involved here is not subtle. Furthermore, the Shadows are all parts of other species, which evokes another troubling imagery of "the elite members of every group are in on this." The idea is that there are members of every species that believe in the true Emperor Calus, who want to help him become the ruler again. Similarly, the problem with "Shadow Legion" is the "Shadow" part.

Obviously, this may have been just a coincidence. It's really hard to prove what was the thought process behind this, as that is the whole point of dogwhistles. It can easily be explained with something else, leaving only those "in on it" to understand what it truly means. It definitely doesn't remove the fact that some people see it and have a visceral reaction to the implications.

Other details mentioned are all stuff that can be easily explained otherwise, as OP pointed out. I definitely agree on that which is also why I don't want to assume malice on Bungie's part. Unfortunately, the word "cabal" is pretty clear. Obviously it has a more benign possible meaning, but as we both said, it's why it's a dogwhistle. The origin of the word and the most common usage is very explicitly antisemitic, even when people don't know where it came from. And the situation irl currently is such that I cannot see that word and not flinch. It's incredibly difficult to remove the association and think of "cabal" as just my silly little space rhinos.

But I do want to show this perspective as well and ask others to see that as well. And I especially invite other Jewish people to weigh in on it because it primarily affects them. My personal opinion is always that if there's a group that is upset by something and the rest of us are indifferent to it, we should act on the behalf those who are upset.

[doshmanziari]

Most English-speaking people today who are aware of videogame developer T&E Soft only know of them through two titles: the first Hydlide (specifically the, by 1987, dated/inferior NES re-release) and Virtual Hydlide. Both of these have acquired a pretty undue notoriety, mostly encouraged by the exaggerations of e-personalities intent on making everything out to be either AWESOME or LMAO TERRIBLE, since that’s what gets the most attention. It’s better to see Hydlide in its PC-6001/PC-88 context as an innovator of the action-adventure-RPG genre, and the influence for the first two Ys games’ format (also little-known: Ys III: Wanderers from Ys was modeled on the design of Tritorn 2, a game by developer Sein/Xain/Zain Soft; it even copied some of the settings!). Understood as such -- compare the PC releases of Hydlide to, e.g., the original Dragon Slayer, also released for the PC-88 in 1984 --, we can also begin to understand its popularity as a consequence of something more than millions of Japanese citizens being deprived and deluded. Virtual Hydlide is noteworthy too as a strange and perhaps unique attempt at crafting a lightly randomized, score- and time-based 3D arcade game for a home console using the overworld + dungeon crawler format. Its most significant downside is a miserable framerate. I get why this would put people off from playing it, especially since it’s always conflicted with the design’s speedrun-like emphases. But if this were the worst thing you could knock a game for, the medium would be specially positioned among all others for a minimum of faults (hint: it isn’t).

With that preamble out of the way, I’d like to bring to unaware readers’ attention Rune Worth 2 and 3, released for the PC-98 in 1991. As usual, if your only resources on the English-speaking Internet for videogames are Wikipedia and MobyGames, you would probably never know about either of these (Wikipedia cites the first Rune Worth (1989) for the MSX, but says nothing of the sequels; MobyGames does not even cite the former). The Rune Worth series was, by all appearances, T&E Soft’s successor to Hydlide, and while it is formally organized as a trilogy, the three-months-gap between the second and third installment’s release, their discounted price, and the way in which 3 picks up right where 2 leaves off (to the extent of being able to transfer your character data from one to the other), means that, really, there are two full entries. Much of this information was laid out on a dedicated stream for both these games by Macaw45, who has dedicated years to researching, cataloguing, and exposing people to lesser-known videogames. If you can’t read Japanese, or just don’t want to play the games yourself, the embedded video would be your best bet for seeing them in action.

There are many things to say about Rune Worth 2/3 -- the dramatic introductory sequence preceding the main menu, the luxuriant sprawl of its public spaces (one can, for example, go out to the first castle’s rooftop, partitioned into a little pseudo maze, despite no requirement for doing so), its equal emphasis on setting, story, and action -- but since I’ve elected to make this into an image-based post, I want to illustrate how amazing these games look. Even from a distance, many PC-98 games have a distinct and highly abstract composure; and, looking at them up close, where the unlikeliness of certain chromatic and textural decisions make themselves known, it’s a wonder over and over again how representation emerges from what I described in a post about Super Hydlide as “an ornate and time-worn carpet.” The resemblance to a tapestry is especially obvious with Rune Worth 3 and its faded floral border depicting a grape vine. The overall visual splendor of these mosaics on a PC-98 monitor would, of course, be all the subtler and greater.

Over time, a handful of early- to mid-90s Japanese PC videogames have gotten more exposure in the West as the consumption of anime and nostalgic sentiment have grown hand-in-hand (not infrequently to pathologically anti-social effect). The bulk of these have tended to be of the visual novel/eroge type. YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World, released in 1996 for the PC-98, is a particularly popular example, in part because of its soundtrack by Ryu Umemoto. For me, the in-game artwork for these titles can be technically commendable, but is otherwise not very exciting. When I look at Rune Worth 2 or 3, it sometimes reminds me of looking at artist Kathleen Ryan’s beady sculptures of rotting fruit and marveling at the surprising vibrancy and coloristic range within putrefaction: the intersection of the beautiful and ugly, and its fructifying of the grotesque. This extends to a number of PC-88 titles too, like Sorcerian (Falcom, 1987) and DIOS (Zain Soft, 1989). In some cases, there is a remarkable convergence of visual grit/granularity and fidelity, maybe exemplified best of all by the PC-98 release of Xak III: The Eternal Recurrence (MicroCabin, 1993). But even there I find myself missing the marvelous polychromaticism of these two Rune Worth games. The intention for, say, Super Nintendo games to be played and seen on CRT TVs has never been an impediment to contemporary indie developers mimicking their look for modern LCD monitors. Even if it feels unlikely, then, I wonder if we will one day see a small revival of that fibrous, loom-woven PC-88/PC-98 look.

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[shazos]

Rouxls is Hiding Something Big: A Deltarune Theory

FORENOTE- For some needed context, it may help reading my previous Deltarune theory here for important details that I will cover in this post. (My previous theory provides notable evidence on why Gaster is indeed the “Knight” figure talked about by multiple characters in Deltarune.)

Now, this is going to sound crazy. But after much time of poring over and analyzing Deltarune, I have come to a conclusion. One that I’ve been convinced of for awhile now. Something that’s been lying right under all of our noses without many of us even realizing it. We have all been bamboozled. Hoodwinked. Tricked. Why, you may ask?

Because the comically stupid and inept Duke of Puzzles is actually... not an idiot. No, he’s the complete opposite. He is a downright mastermind.

As collective players, we are all falling into the same trap once again. Putting faith into a character’s preconceived personality !

When their true personality turns out the complete opposite of what we expected...

It is here, my evidence for this claim begins—and we delve into the true identity of Rouxls Kaard. Buckle up everyone, cause this one’s gonna be a fun ride. 👀

So, to spill the beans up front, and get it over with. I believe Rouxls Kaards identity... is none other than W.D. Gaster in disguise.

Now. I didn’t immediately become invested in this theory—I was skeptical at first like everyone else. But, once I began examining Deltarune and all of its characters a bit closer...things weren’t exactly adding up about the Duke of Puzzles.

Point #1: Anagrams

I initially began to become suspicious of Rouxls Kaard because of his odd name. Sure, it is a play on the words of the term, “Rules card”. But it is spelt in such a peculiar way. If it were just simply a play on words, I think that there would be a much better way of going about spelling it rather than just jumbling a bunch of random letters together. There is a very intriguing reddit post found here that goes more into depth about his name that ties well into my theory. The thing that stood out to me in particular, is that Rouxls’s name is actually also an anagram for “A Dark Soul RX”, (with the left over RX typically being used in terms relating to doctors/medicine.) Not only is Gaster a Doctor, but he’s also always associated with darkness and the research of souls. Toby loves his anagrams—so I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if this was intentional. But it doesn’t end there.

I’ve noticed that Toby Fox has a tendency to tease certain things about his games through merch. And wouldn’t you know it—he has in fact, a particular item on fangamer of a “dark heart.” One which description describes the Angel’s Prophecy. Hm...

But let’s back on track onto my second observation, shall we?

Point #2: The Physical Resemblance to Gaster

Now, there seems to be some interesting foreshadowing related to inverted colors in Deltarune. Before Ralsei takes his hat off, he appears black. But once he takes his hat off, voila, his colors are inverted, and he is revealed to actually be a white goat highly resembling Asriel.

In addition, the entire Dark World is literally just. An inverted version of a normal world.

The Dark World could have hypothetically been the created world/experiment that Gaster had fallen into in the first place. After all, his experiment had to do with “darkness”, and “negative” photons--AKA the Dark Fountains, and the negatively/inverted landscapes of the Dark World.

And how does Rouxls Kaard appear inverted anyways? Well, he looks like THIS.

He even has the strange dangling lip thing—which another character said to directly resemble Gaster, Seam, has as well:

In addition, if you look at Rouxls’ text-box profile very closely, his eye colors are actually mismatched which is a rather interesting detail!

Point # 3: His Accent is Extremely put on.

I think anybody that has read any sort of Shakespearean/Old English writing, can instantly realize that Rouxls is as bad as imitating an Old English accent as a high-schooler reading Hamlet for the first time. Rouxls absolutely butchers it. He practically adds eth, and est at the end of any word he chooses, and calls the job done. What is even more interesting though, is when he gets nervous or panicked, he drops the act all together and talks normally.

Point #4: He is Pretending to be Dumb; His Puzzles are Actually Impressive!

I found it intriguing how there are countless puzzle traps in all the forest areas and in the Card Castle prison that were actually very well done. You have to flip the spades, diamonds, hearts, etc to unlock doors, and open secret chests. They require a decent amount of thinking skills, and are actually competent. But who made them?? Oddly enough if you observe one of them in the forest areas, it appears that Rouxls Kaard vandalized one of the puzzles to make it harder for the player to beat it—which further implies that he actually indeed made those puzzles himself. This shows that Rouxls is much more competent than only being able to make a single box shove puzzle that is comically easy. Where else do we see a place full of plenty of rather well made puzzles + traps seen? All throughout the Core in Undertale—a place which Gaster himself created!

Point #5: Rouxls IS Aware the World is a Game--AKA DON’T FORGET TO READ NPC DIALOGUE FOLKS!

I think it is well aware by now that Rouxls likely wants us as the players to underestimate him--and deem him a fool so we wouldn’t bat an eye at what he’s actually up to. But the most biggest give away to this is something that I have surprisingly seen no one mention at all. And oh boy, it is the most damning evidence that Rouxls is no idiot to be trifled with.

To the left of Seam’s shop, there can be found a little group of former puzzle-makers that used to live at Card Castle, until they were fired and replaced with Rouxls Kaard. They are now all out of a job, and are just barely scraping by since the Spade King didn’t give them any severance pay. However, Rouxls Kaard offered them a way to get money--by selling the tutorials he made.

These tutorials go over TP, stats, information about Susie, Ralsei,  and Kris. Rouxls Kaard has never once met any of the players yet--and he knows everything about them. He knows about stats. He knows the world is a game.

HOW??

In addition, when you talk to Rouxls in his shop, he calls you three the Heroes of Legend. He is well aware of the Angel’s Prophecy. He knows.

Whenever any character in the world of Undertale & Deltarune knows that the world is a game, it is an instant red-flag. It goes to show that they know much more than they let on. Flowey and Sans are big examples of this in Undertale. Pure hearted, dorky idiots that we trust earlier in the game--but wind up seeing the real side of them later on.

...So why should we treat Rouxls any differently?

Point #6: The “Control Crown”

Something that I immediately thought was kind of weird, was the fact that Rouxls Kaard was able to control the K. Round with a “Control Crown” device. If he is so stupid, how was he able to create a full on mechanical device that can brainwash a life-form into being violent/cause it to triple in size?! That is genius material right there!

But things start to take on a much darker side when you begin to look at the subtext of this realization, which I will get to in a moment...

First of all, Seam claimed these exact words.

The remaining king was the Spade King-- as the King of Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs are seen to be locked up in the Dungeon. Therefore, the Spade King put the Knight, and his strange son into power. IF it were the Spade King in power, the dialogue box WOULD have said “himself”. Therefore, the Knight, and his strange son were put in place to control the kingdom. And who are they?

Gaster/Rouxls Kaard, and Lancer.

Evidence to back this up:

Lancer calls Rouxls his “Lesser Dad”. And Rouxls calls Lancer, his Strange little darling/son.

The Spade King is not in charge. During his boss-fight, he states that he obeys the word of the Knight.

If you observe more of Lancer’s dialogue in the scene right before the gang enters Card Castle, he states that his dad, (Spade King), recently forced his troops to listen to Lancer instead. Therefore, Lancer is by all respects actually second in command to the Knight.

One of Rouxls main interests is...Lawmaking. Even though he is just supposedly an innocent Duke of Puzzles.

Another one of Rouxls main interests is...Cages, and long strolls in the dungeon... 

There are innocent puzzle-makers locked up in the Prison who are terrified--they were arrested for the simple act of making a puzzle without a license. HM, I wonder who could have possibly locked them up? *Wink wink nudge nudge*

And what ties this all together, is perhaps the most obscure, tiniest detail that no one would have likely observed on a first play-through. If you go to the first floor of Card Castle and click the description tablet next to the elevator to the Prison, it claims that the Prison used to just be a Basement Which Just Happened to Have a Lot of Cages. This is backed up by the caged animals in the basement, who say that they miss the “good old days” when they used to be the only ones there in cages, and not a bunch of people behind bars.

In summary, Rouxls is locking up a bunch of innocent people, and playing nice to our faces. He IS the knight. And he is not to be underestimated.

Point #7: Rouxls�� Plan is Already Set in Place

The part where this theory gets a little dark, ties back to my mentioning of the control crown earlier.

If you observe the throne room, it looks like it was recently torn apart in a sort of...conflict.

Why was the Spade King the only king left un-caged to begin with? Why wasn’t he locked up too?

Well...Rouxls Kaard needed someone to put him in charge. But not only that—he needed a scapegoat. Someone to blame. Someone to be “The Bad Guy” for the Heroes to fight.

The Spade King...is actually innocent. He is obeying the Knight, because he is being controlled by a Control Crown. The throne room is in ruins because the Spade King likely fought against this at first, but Rouxls won and successfully put the Spade King under his command. I thought it was strange how the King was so...violent. So irredeemably evil, and even murderous toward his own son Lancer. Yes, it could be argued that this is indeed his true personality, that he is a complete, abusive jerk. But, the whole ending battle of Deltarune chapter 1 feels so...set up in a way? It feels so starkly good vs evil, black and white. Almost like a play.

And oh boy. I think I was onto something.

If you pay close attention to the fight with the Spade King, there is a brief moment at the beginning where he is completely shrouded in shadow. Except. For. His. Crown. It glows stark white in comparison to himself. Like a Chekov’s Gun if you will.

And even more interesting, in the supposed good/pacifist ending, the Spade King is locked up in Prison, the other three kings are still locked up in cages, everyone else is freed, and Rouxls and Lancer now have full control of the kingdom...

Guys. We just played right into Gaster’s hands.

Point #8: Seam Knows that Rouxls is the Knight...

The final observation that genuinely makes me convinced in this theory, is a small detail I noticed at the end of the Pacifist run of Deltarune. Once you have beaten the game, and all of the prisoners are freed, everyone comes to celebrate at Card Castle for your victory. Everyone, except for Seam. That is because Seam knows what the “Strange Knight” did to Jevil. He knows who the Strange Knight is. And he knows what the Knight’s true intentions are.

Point #9: Extra Tidbits I noticed:

When compared to the other denizens of card castle, Rouxls seems out of place. He is the one vaguely humanoid character among a bunch of card and chess themed Darkners. 

His puzzle is... too easy.

Rouxls is oddly excited about overthrowing the king/taking his place. 

Rouxls is well versed in calligraphy of all things. (Relation to fonts + letters.)

Rouxls “sparkles” have an odd resemblance to the shining save states...?

He makes pop culture references, such as ones seen here and here. Could just be random throwaway jokes, but often times more “aware” characters such as Sans and Papyrus are keen on breaking the fourth wall at times/making references to relate with the audience.

His hair looks strangely out of place. Especially the hairline which is really receded to an unnatural degree on the left side. It’s a wig guys...

He gets a suspiciously new position for no reason at all. In any normal situation, he would be extremely unqualified for it if he were as stupid as he makes himself out to be.

Rouxls is literally wearing armor, akin to a medieval knights.

If you pay close attention, Rouxls has a few very subtle similar speech patterns to Gaster. They both occasionally repeat words twice. They both use the words wonderful and truly a lot, etc.

When Kris and the gang beat the K. Round, Rouxls said it was just to test their abilities.

Rouxls theme has leitmotifs from Gaster’s theme.

End of discussion. Deltarune’s finale is legit going to be Gaster getting his wig snatched.

[mugichaaaa]

Bad Batch Analysis prt2

Welcome back everyone to part 2 to my Bad Batch analysis trailers. The trailer just happened to be posted around midnight and my wifi went out in the morning so I couldn’t really do much until now. Since we got another AMAZING trailer for the Bad Batch series I believe it’s time to do another analysis. If you haven’t read my first analysis from the first trailer you can read it here 

Without further ado let's get started. 

The first scene we get from the trailer is a shot after that one shot we got from the first trailer. This could probably be around the time they landed on Kamino because if you look in the top right corner there is the Havoc Marauder. 

Training Sequence

Next we see one of the many training grounds on Kamino. It’s strange seeing only one training ground and not multiple. It seems like this specific training ground might be underwater, as there is this long pole in the center with surrounding lights around it. Now that might be a reach, but honestly where could you see that training ground on the round houses above the ocean. 

Along with that in the Legends there was a Kaminoan Jedi who lived under the sea to try to prevent the vision she had. (the vision was the clone army betraying the Jedi) So it could be possible when the Kamioan’s were building the floating city they builded the bottom levels to be used as training grounds or something. 

In this scene we can see that Echo is using a vibroblade. Now is this Echo’s own vibroblade or does this belong to Hunter and Echo just picked it up to destroy one of the droids?

I feel like this shot can tell us a lot about the bad batch and how they interact with each other. Hunter and Crosshair are looking at the camera to which I can probably assume where Tarkin speaks to them. Echo lightly turns towards the direction of Tech, Hunter, and Crosshair. Tarkin probably said something that would make Echo turn to look at the three of them. 

Also Tech although very subtle looks at the ground. Now this could be two things, if Tarkin said something then it might be tech looking at the ground like a Child does when their parents scolds them. Or it might be Tech is exhausted and is looking at the destroyed droids all around him. 

Hunter is seen talking to someone (probably Omega) telling them that their squad (aka the Bad Batch) is nothing but trouble. We can see Crosshair and Tech walk to a door which I can assume to be their barracks for the time being (before they escape). 

I really like this scene from Crosshair. This seemed to show how well the Bad Batch worked together. Hunter throws his knife in the air and Crosshair goes and shoots it in place. Which might make it even more sad if Crosshair betrays the Bad Batch. Imagine this, The bad batch is in this certain situation where a duo between Crosshair and Hunter would work. Hunter turns to where Crosshair would normally be. 

“Cross lets-” 

All he sees no one, and the feeling of betrayal and pain seeps through him. 

“Right…” 

Hunter Civilian Clothing

So we see Hunter in Civilian clothes which is like. UGH please let me hold your hand Hunter. The first time we see them is at 0:31 where Hunter steals a speeder, probably to catch up to Fennec as we can see in 1:39 who has a kid. 

We get a better look at Hunter’s Civilian clothes, it really reminds me of Cut lawquane’s outfit from The Clone Wars Season 2 “The Deserters”. Maybe we might see Cut lawquane in the Bad Batch, if so I think that would be really great to see. Cut’s children with Omega might be the cutest thing we might get from Bad Batch, that’s if it happens.  

Now in this scene we see Tech piloting the ship, but if you look at the corner there is Hunter on a control panel with bandages wrapped around him. So this might be either Hunter getting injured from a mission (maybe from Fennec Shand??)

This kid (not Omega) is dangling onto a cylindrical object. The Following scene with Hunter and the kid following a speeder that belongs to Fennec Shand. 

The Final Part of the Clone Wars 

At 0:37 we see the Batchers coming down from what seems to be like a hill destroying B1 battle droids. While the next shot is Tech and Echo shooting down said droids. 

So in my previous analysis I mentioned how for one the explosions I was wondering if it was the Batchers or the Empire. Now with this new Trailer it seems to be leaning more towards the Batchers doing this. 

We see Hunter putting away his knife with Wrecker carrying what seems like to be a destroyed droid. 

Now I mentioned in my previous analysis that the snowy planet might be a Crosshair arc. But now with these new scenes with the snowy planet it might be a set up to Crosshair being something that most Bad Batch Stans don’t want. 

Crosshair as the traitor

So I know I talked about this in my last trailer analysis and I said this was very unlikely. But uhhhh now with this trailer I'm 70% sure Crosshair will betray the Bad Batch. Now the reason why I said Crosshair wouldn’t betray the Bad Batch was because the Purge trooper and Crosshair just didn’t have things that lined up. But now with this new trailer I am pretty worried for our boy Crosshair. 

This is the ONLY scene we get of Omega and Crosshair together. Any other scenes with Omega and the Bad Batch Crosshair is nowhere in sight. 

I literally called this when I wrote about my predictions about the Bad Batch series. Where I wrote two paths. One where Crosshair was not the traitor and stays with the bad batch and one if Crosshair was the traitor (I censor the right since it had my actual name since I did the bad batch analysis during school)

And 1:19 seems to likely prove my Crosshair is the traitor snippet I did. All the batchers + omega are running through what seems to be like the late night halls of Kamino. Who knew Echo would be following his brother’s footsteps. 

Again Crosshair isn’t here 

… or maybe he might be hiding him behind Hunter to give us anxiety about what happened to Crosshair. But if Crosshair is gone then they need a new sniper to fill in his role...

Omega

We are first introduced to a new character who is called “omega”.  Now who is Omega? Well we don’t know this is the first we EVER got to see them anywhere. Now when I first saw Omega I immediately thought of Satine’s Mandalore. We are not talking about the houses and clans (like house Wren). We’re talking about Satine’s Mandalorians (the pacifist) in which when we see her people in the clone wars they are normally pale with light colored eyes. Omega almost fits that but without the bright blue eyes. Another thing is that Omega kinda sounds like they have a Satine Mandalorian accent. As I was listening to Omega speak I was comparing it to Korkie and his friends and Omega lowkey sounds like Korkie’s friends but that’s probably a really big reach.

This is where I think if Crosshair betrays the Bad Batch this is where Omega would come in and take Crosshair’s role as sniper. We don’t know how good Omega is but with Hunter’s heightened sense his sight might be just as good to teach Omega to work with a bow and arrow

The Explosion

Now we have an explanation for the explosion we saw in the last trailer. It was definitely the bad batch and now we know it was part of the thrusters from a broken Venator Star Destroyer. Since now we got more context to that explosion, I believe that this will be on Bracca where maybe MAYBE we might see a young ginger Cal Kestis. 

Rex

*breaths in* 

REX I MISSED YOU SO MUCH 

I’m so happy Rex and Echo are going to a reunion. I really hope Rex and Echo have a moment where Rex completely vents to Echo about everything that happened. Like Umbara, how much Five’s death took a toll on him, and when he left Jesse and his brothers during order 66. It would be really interesting to see if Rex has some sort of survivor's guilt. I know we see a little bit in Season 7 when he’s talking to Cody about the Domino squad but after order 66 I think it would be nice to dwell onto a little more. 

Another thing I really hope we get to see how Rex meets up with Wolffe and Gregor. 

AT-ET Walker

We get a couple of scenes here of the AT-ET but here look at this. The republic symbol and the red paint is completely removed, it’s completely bare (which is so boring). Another thing is that the AT-ET are completely cutting across a group of people, these could be protestors of something that we yet not know of. 

It seems like Hunter and Tech snuck into and AT-ET, now the next scene we get is an AT-ET blowing up another AT-ET. There are two possibilities on who shot at the AT-ET, one could be the Bad Batch themselves shooting at the other AT-ET or two it could be the Empire shooting at the Bad Batch stolen AT-ET 

Saw Gerra

It’s really nice to see Saw Gerra, we have seen him in 5 star wars projects (Clone wars, Rogue one, Rebels, Jedi Fallen Order, and now Bad Batch). Since this is the beginning of the Empire we get that small time between Clone wars and Jedi: Fallen Order to see what Saw was up to. 

Fennec Shand

My wifey, I love her so much. But I did get something wrong and right with Fennec Shand in my last analysis. 

First of all the explosion we see with Fennec Shand is NOT connected to the factory arc but instead connected to Hunter saving the kid. 

But the thing I did get right was that one scene where Fennec was holding a gun out. That fog is from a fight and Fennec and her opponent are at a standstill. 

One thing new about Fennec is that she had a Kid dangling off her speeder. First of all that’s not safe at all and 2 why does Fennec have a Kid with her and then why does Hunter have the child in the next scene?

Small theory but this kid might be just like Omega that escaped. Fennec is sent out to retrieve the kid but Hunter is like “not on my watch” and takes the kid. Fennec looks shocked that Hunter interferes with her job and looks ANGY. 

Or this kid might be just some random kid that Fennec took. 

Now a recurring segment called Cool things I saw on the Trailer 

Just any scenes from the training scene with Wrecker is just cool and I’m like yes sir go off. 

I swear every scene with Wrecker is a joy to see. He just brightens my day all the time

Bad Batch are taking notes from Waxer and Boil about adopting kids during war times. 

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

This segment was short due to most of the trailer being analyzed and not much random spread out scenes. 

And that’s that! Thank you all who read this far, I hope I was able to make this clear enough for you all to understand. If there’s anything else you saw in the Trailer that I miss I would love for you to comment about it! I think i’m going to do a countdown for Bad Batch, idk let’s see how I keep this up. 

[actualbird]

Honestly I feel a lot of Korean things got popular around 2017 out of seemingly nowhere. I try to pinpoint when and how they became popular and come up empty. It's kind of strange. Definitely not complaining though because a lot of it is very good.

Yeah I imagine soju still tastes strongly of alcohol because I can very much smell it. Even when the other flavours are added and I can smell other stuff it only makes my brain associate it with scented soap which is extremely sad because I do want to at least try it. I might try your suggestion though, it sounds quite interesting.

The sped up timeline kind of hurts. I felt my soul leave my body for RRG part 1 because I had been aiming for Vyn's RRG card and all the anniversary cards but now potentially a lot of time to save s chips just got taken away. I mean it was kind of for nothing when Skadi rolled around because apparently I don't like really romantic lines unless Vyn says them and the twitter preview kind of bit me there, but still. I should be able to get bday 2 though because not many of these year's banners interest me which means I'll absolutely have enough s chips unless one of the cards has a ton of lore.

With gacha games I've kind of developed this strange habit of absorbing spoilers from everywhere else but waiting to see the nuances in the actual story. It's definitely served me well because stuff like Luke's Shape of You ending hit harder when I read it for myself with the context instead of seeing it posted without context but it very much gets in the way when I have bad luck and cards don't come home. I'll probably cave for Vyn's RRG if I don't get it honestly, that card feels too important to skip.

MARIUS ROLLING A D20 DFJXG. Does he just roll it every time he visits Vyn until he gets the nat20. Honestly it might work a nat20 makes you feel invincible sometimes. Whenever you write that dnd au I will very happily read through and scream about it.

🌌

a lot of it is very good!!!! maybe theres a reason, maybe theres none, but either way, i am thankful for soju entering the global market HAHA. and YEEEAA it's a great drink mix!! theres like, set recipes online for the ratio of sprite + yakult to add to the soju, but i just mix by taste. i personally put a looooot of sprite cuz i like the sweetness haha. if ever u try it out, i hope u enjoy it :DDD

also apparently soju has a shitton of alcohol content in it based on ihavenotfallenyet's reply KJBKJSDK I HONESTLY DID NOT KNOW

my siblings drink soju on its own holy fuck. theyre so strong, stronger than i ever will be

the sped up timeline hurts me too :(((( not so much bc of s-chips tho bc im not too bothered honestly about not getting cards even if i want them since like, all the story will be available on yt after a day (thank u uploaders). im mostly hurt bc the out of order events jarred me irt to story development, MOST ESPECIALLY WITH MARIUS. i swear, when i was playing his route in RRG i was like. what. whats going on. why r u so nice, why is MC SO NICE, i know theyll get to a point i their relationship that is this point, but the necessary build up (which happened originally in xmas partyland and skadi that originally preceded it) hadnt happened yet ksjdbgksjd

ohhhh same-ish feel on wanting to go thru the story urself!!! same same!!! i just have a non-existent impulse control JKBKSJKGS back in like, october, i said to myself "okay im not watching any of the cn server future content" and then i broke after 1 week. not too bothered tho, that was my own doing sjdksdjks

and marius rolls the d20 he keeps in his pocket at all times for like, whatever random reason. he likes rolling high but even when he doesnt, he has confidence in his base charisma score

sucks for him tho cuz that wont always get him out scot free since im preeeeetttyyy sure that

vyn's perception modifier is high as it can possibly get

[princess-of-the-corner]

Ok, so I remember Dragon coming up with a Chloe DP au, and for some reason that combined in my head with your post about Vlad and the rich kids and the S4 spoilers so... imagine Chloe at Vlad’s party during a ghost attack, feeling depressed and useless and generally just thinking about being replaced. somehow she ends up in Vlad’s lair, self reflecting in front of the portal when it gets hit by a power surge. Most of the class just sees her being carried out to the ambulance, but 2 know better

Me: “I need to work on all my other fics.”

Also me: “Time to work on several pages of Chloé half dying!!! And another bootleg version of one of Dragon’s AUs!”

Vlad and Danny are on kinda friendly terms in this mostly because I wanted to write them snarking at each other. 

Chloé was glad to get out of Paris for a while. A decision her father had made after, well. Certain incidents. Making her feel unsafe in Paris. So she was sent away to a place without Hawkmoth or Akumas.

Smoothing out the skirt of her pale yellow, nearly white, dress, she contemplated the place she ended up.

She would have been prepared for New York. But of course Audrey said she was too "Unexceptional" yet. But as Audrey had to go on a business trip to meet other rich business people at some fancy party, Chloé's dad convinced her to take her to this place. 

Not that business parties full of other rich people were something she really wanted to deal with. They were usually too condescending at best. A few of them could be creepy. Giving her looks that made her want to take a shower for a year. 

It was almost enough to make her want to stay in Paris. But the one thing that made her decide it wouldn't be too bad was who was hosting the party. 

Don't get her wrong. Vlad Masters definitely gave off some strange and downright intimidating vibes. But the few times Chloé had met him at events like this, he was one of the few adults who seemed to respect her, despite her age. And he only used his threatening vibes on any of the other men looking at her. 

That said, Chloé wasn't expecting much conversation with Vlad. They didn't usually talk much anyway, just polite conversation common at these things. And as Audrey was currently attempting to engage with him, almost as if she were blocking Chloé from getting near, it was unlikely she would.

"If you're going to commit a murder could you wait another twenty minutes? I have a bet going."

Chloé jumped, realizing someone was speaking to her. When she found who, her initial instinct was to glare. Blue eyes and black hair making her think of someone else. 

However, as she took in the rest of the context, she found someone new. And male. A boy about her age. 

"Who are you?" Chloé asked. 

"Head of security," the boy said. 

It was obviously a joke, from his tone and lopsided grin. And Chloé almost laughed at the idea of a teenager being any kind of security. 

But she noticed the way he stood, the way he analyzed her. It reminded her of Adrien, in a way. Seemingly all smiles and laid back, but far more capable than he looks. 

There was something else about him too. It actually reminded her of Vlad. The general vibes he gave off. But Vlad felt more… firey. Heat under his skin, waiting for the temper to snap. This boy felt more cold. Not emotionally, but like a snowfall that could quickly engulf you in a blizzard. 

"I think a name would be better," Chloé said. 

"Call me Danny then," the boy said, offering a hand. 

"Chloé Bourgeois," she replied, politely taking it. "So, judging by the fact that you didn't give me your last name, you don't want me guessing who you're connected to."

"You probably wouldn't know them," he said. "My family's known for their studies on the paranormal. They're scientists. And not really the kind for this kind of party."

"But you are?" She raised an eyebrow. 

"Absolutely not," he said. "But hey. Vlad's trying to buy his way to an apology by giving me money if I hang out and make sure nothing spooks the guests. Other than him, of course. Might as well put it in my college fund. So, you actually planning a murder or not?"

That almost made her laugh. A small smile on her face, Chloé's gaze drifted across the room to her mother. 

"No murder yet," Chloé said. "If I do kill someone, it'll be the local supervillain back in Paris."

"Heard something about that," Danny said. "My parents keep debating on checking it out. It's obviously paranormal and magical, but they specialize in Ghosts."

"Are they the Ghostbusters?" She did actually laugh at that one. 

"Something like that," he chuckled. 

All of a sudden, Danny stiffened up. It had to be a trick of the light, but she could've sworn a mist came out of his mouth. He frowned, looking around carefully. 

"Sorry, I have to go," Danny said. "A disturbance in the garden. See you around."

"Yeah, see you," Chloé sighed. 

As he ran off through the crowd, Chloé wondered how he knew about the "disturbance". Maybe he was actually part of the security team and had an earpiece in? 

Brushing the thought off, Chloé grabbed a drink from a passing waiter. Then she headed the opposite direction.

She wanted some time alone. It had been nice, talking to Danny. But the party was still overwhelming. She might be out of Paris, which meant less stares and whispers. But still too much interaction for her liking lately. 

Chloé headed out of the main ballroom. Few paid attention to her. Those that did were quickly dragged back to their conversations. 

As she wandered the halls, Chloé wondered if she could get lost in here. If her mother would notice. Maybe she could just. Not go home and just secretly live in Vlad's mansion. 

A tempting idea, if she could figure out how to do it. But for now, she settled for exploring. 

There was a library. Very nice. Bookshelves along every wall, except for a spot for a fireplace. Comfortable chairs and a couch to read on. 

She looked through the bookshelves. It seemed well stocked, despite the impossibility of ever reading them all. Most were nonfiction, texts on various subjects. A few seemed to be typical fiction, though Chloé didn't inspect those too close lest she judge Vlad's collection of trashy romance novels. 

What intrigued her was one large shelf, right across from the fireplace. These books actually looked well-used. Texts on the paranormal. Hadn't Danny said something about that? Between this and the familiarity with Vlad, perhaps it was a family-friend situation.

Dragging a finger along the spines of the books, she picked one at random. Pure curiosity more than actual interest. 

The book was soon dropped and forgotten when the shelf slid open to reveal a doorway. 

Now that had her curious and interested. 

A look over her shoulder at the door, and Chloé was in the new room. No, a new hall of stairs. Descending down stone steps. 

She was suddenly worried she would find some sort of kinky dungeon type place. Perhaps she should quit while she was ahead. 

It was the buzzing in her fingertips that made the decision for her. Something… familiar. 

It wasn't like the buzzing she felt near an Akuma, or near someone using a Miraculous. No, this felt more like Vlad. Like Danny. Whatever she was feeling from them, there was more of it down here. 

Eventually the stairway opened to a room. It looked like a laboratory of some kind. Weapons and tools of shiny metal and magenta accents lined the walls. There were a few that traded magenta for green, but not as if two people consistently shared a space. More like one occasionally left objects behind. 

The one thing in the room that was overwhelmingly green and not magenta was against one wall. 

It almost looked like a doorway of sorts. Or a Magic Portal, really. Swirls of green that she couldn't see into. And if she hadn't spent the last year and a half being attacked by Magical Supervillains and becoming a Hero herself, she would've assumed it was just a large tv screen embedded in the wall for aesthetics. 

The reminder of her time as a Hero brought back some bitter memories. 

She might not have been the best person, but she was a good Hero. Chloé would have gladly continued being Queen Bee, despite the risks, because she had felt like she finally found a purpose. But Ladybug told her no, she couldn't have the Miraculous anymore. For her safety of course. 

What a joke. Not only had Chloé been in more danger without it, as there was no way she could defend herself against Hawkmoth. But the other Heroes were still active, even with their identities known. 

With a sigh, Chloé attempted to distract herself. Walking around the room and investigating the weapons around the lab. They were strange. She wasn't a gun expert, but these didn't look normal. Not regular guns that shoot bullets. 

Were they alien weaponry? That didn't seem right. Chloé wasn't an expert, having never met an alien(as far as she was aware). But the weapons seemed very based on Earth designs, their sizes intended for average Human use. Maybe weapons for Humans to use on nonhumam creatures. 

Whatever it was, Chloé was now a bit curious. What did Vlad get up to when he wasn't hosting business parties like this? Did he perhaps moonlight as a superhero? With that Danny kid as the Robin to his Batman? Perhaps she should stay. Be the Jason Todd of the family. Though with less dying.

She almost laughed at the idea. But as a crack of thunder rang through the mansion, loud enough to be heard from this basement laboratory, she jumped, instinctively spinning around to look for an attack.

A second crack of thunder, and all the lights went dark.

Chloé was not afraid of the dark. She never had been, even as a child. 

But she was afraid now. Because this wasn't a normal blackout. In a mansion like this, there would be emergency generators. They didn't kick in, which meant this was likely something else. 

Amity Park was different from Paris. No Hawkmoth. No Akumas. But that didn't mean there was no danger. 

And the thing Chloé had become afraid of, after so many Akuma attacks and even Hawkmoth himself coming to her home, her room, and confronting her. The thing she was afraid of was being unable to fight back. 

Her breath began to quicken, the only noise she could hear in the dark room. Heart hammering in her chest, Chloé tried to calm herself down. This wasn't Paris. Whoever or whatever it was wasn't after her. 

But what if it was? What if this person had decided she would make a good target? What if Hawkmoth had followed her, hoping to get revenge for failing him as Miracle Queen? What if it was someone else, furious about what she had involuntarily done, knowing that if something happened here, Ladybug's Miraculous Cure would be too late?

Hands trembling, Chloé remembered the weapons on the wall. It wasn't her Miraculous, but it was something. She refused to go down without a fight. 

The only problem was that, in her panic, she had gotten turned around she couldn't remember which was she was facing. 

Blindly choosing a direction, Chloé kept a hand out in front of her, slowly moving it back and forth hoping she'd hit a wall. Her ragged breathing and the click of her heels on the floor being the only sounds. A good sign, she hoped. 

Her hand hit something. A wall, she thought. Somewhere to her left. Keeping her hand flat against it, she hoped to follow it until she found the weapon rack again. 

She kept walking, barely noting how the sound of her footsteps changed from heels-on-tile to heels-on-metal. Had the floor been metal? She couldn't remember. The stairs up had been stone so obviously she was still in the lab. 

The lights suddenly came back on, the blackout over. Yet Chloé wasn't nearly as blinded as she should have been by the sudden brightness. It was coming from behind her. Had she somehow found a different hallway out of the lab?

As she turned to head back to something familiar, a different brightness flickered on. But she was completely unaware, as all she could focus on was pain. 

Burning, crackling under her skin. Through every inch of her. Worse than anything she had ever felt, as Civilian, Hero, or Akuma. 

The pain began to subside. Not going away, but no longer the intense agony. Just an ache, but as if she had run a marathon around Paris without being transformed. Her throat still burned the worst though. Had she been screaming? She couldn't remember doing so, but it seemed likely given the pain.

Stumbling forward, she managed to find herself back in the lab. Yet her vision was blurry. So blurry, in fact, that when she looked down her white dress appeared black. 

The pain and exhaustion was too much for her. Pitching forward, everything went dark again.

--------

The next thing Chloé knew, she was somewhere soft. Everything still hurt, which made her not want to move. But she could hear two male voices arguing. 

"You should let me explain it to her."

"You will confuse and scare her with your morbid humor."

"And you'll just freak her out!"

"I have more experience in this."

"Not in explaining it!"

"I explained it to Danielle."

"And I explained it to everyone else because you had to be a fruitloop!"

"Are you still using that insult?"

"It still fits."

Registering that she should probably see what's goin on, Chloé went to get up. 

Her right arm must've slipped off whatever she was laying on, as she almost immediately slammed back down. The feeling that had her jolting upright instead of trying again to be slow, was that it felt like something hit the inside of her arm?!

Inspecting the limb, she didn't find anything wrong with it. It was there. No burns or bruises. The worst thing was a chipped manicure. 

As her gaze went further up her arm to her shoulder, she noticed something. A discoloration in her skin. It was hard to see, having to look nearly straight down and only being able to see what skin was showing. But there were thin lines across her shoulders and chest. She couldn't tell how far they went up her neck, or how much further they extended under her dress. 

The lines looked almost like lightning. It was then that she remembered the lab. The pain. But she swallowed down her fear.

"Well say goodbye to swimsuit season," Chloé muttered, her voice still a little shaky and her throat still raw. 

"Perhaps your humor will be helpful after all," one of the voices from earlier mused. 

Chloé jumped, having completely forgot that there were people in the room. One was Vlad, the other was the "head of security" kid. Danny, wasn't it? 

"What happened?" Chloé asked.

"You received quite a shock," Vlad replied. 

"Oh, and my humor is too much for her," Danny glared.

"Kind of used to puns in horrifying situations," Chloé said. "One of my best friends loves making puns to deflect dealing with things."

And okay yes she also did that. But she was not going to tell them that. Even if the looks they gave each other probably meant they guessed as much. 

"Where am I?" Chloé asked, looking around. 

"One of the guest rooms," Vlad explained. 

"Not a hospital?" She asked. 

"A hospital isn't quite equipped to handle… this," he said. 

"One of the guests was a doctor who did a general checkup," Danny said. "She was sure you probably just fainted from low blood sugar or something."

"And… and my mother?" Chloé asked. 

"She is back at her hotel," Vlad said, visibly bristling. "I may not be father of the year, but her lack of concern is appalling."

The exasperated look Danny gave him said there was a long story there. Chloé wasn't sure she wanted to hear it right now.

"So why would a hospital be bad?" Chloé asked instead. 

"That is quite a story," Vlad said. "Do you know what you were messing with in the laboratory?"

"I know it had weapons," she said. "Then the lights went out and I tried to find my way around."

"I think that makes her smarter than both of us," Danny said.

"I didn't enter an unstable device on a dare," Vlad glared. “I knew what I was doing.”

"You stuck your face right up to a prototype device not knowing if it was stable or not," he retorted. "You're lucky you only half died.".

Vlad glared at him again. Chloé could have sworn he man's eyes flashed red. It was more than just a trick of the light. 

He said a hospital wasn't a good situation for her now. He implied that he'd had something similar happen to him. And those books on the paranormal, leading to a lab… 

Vlad wasn't Human. At least not anymore. Danny wasn't either, most likely. And Chloé realized, with mounting horror, that she probably wasn't either.

Once more she focused on her hands. What… was she now? Chloé flipped through her knowledge of the paranormal. It couldn't be a Vampire or Werewolf. She didn't get bit or infected with anything. Most other creatures she could remember Humans becoming had very specific circumstances or longer processes. 

Then, she recalled something Danny had said. His family deals with Ghosts. 

As if to confirm her suspicions, her hands flickered out of existence. An involuntary whimper escaping her throat. 

"I… I'm dead, aren't I?" Chloé asked. 

"Only half way," Danny said. 

"That is nowhere as reassuring as you think it is," Vlad said. 

This time it was Danny's turn to glare. But his eyes flashed a green color instead of red. 

Meanwhile, Chloé was having a crisis. She died. She fucking died. But she was still here. 

She was vaguely aware of their voices. Both males had come closer, sitting beside her on the bed. She knew one, or maybe both of them, was telling her to breathe. To focus. 

She tried to focus on how strange it was, sitting between them. One burning, one freezing. Was that related to… This? 

It helped ground her. Remind her that she wasn't alone. 

"That's right," Danny said. "You're not alone in this. Which is already better than what we got."

"You could have had a mentor," Vlad said. 

"But you were still evil back then," he smirked.

Oh boy oh boy. This was going to get oh so complicated. 

[morgan1413]

Miranthan Stuff I Guess 😅

okay so I wasn't really gonna do this but it's been on my mind for a little while now and when it comes to these things I think it's best if I have it written down somewhere 😄 so what I'm gonna do is mention a couple of the reasons why I think this ship kinda works within the lore as I do believe the implications are there, even if it would take a lot of amending of the other parts of the story for it to all work 100%. Let's get started 😁

So the first thing that came to mind was a really strange quote from Moreau during one of his cutscenes. This is the one right after he knocks Ethan and Chris into the water and he's talking to you on that flimsy pier thingy. About midway through the cutscene he says "I should be with her, not you", with "her" obviously referring to Mother Miranda. What gets me the most about this quote, besides how random it feels, is what on earth is he getting at when he says "be with her"? It would be incredibly weird if it was meant in a sexual/romantic context (but maybe that was what they were going for with Moreau anyway) but I can't for the life of me come up with any other way on interpreting that quote. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I definitely think that's something's up with that quote. To put it in a Miranthan context, I'd like to imagine that Moreau had more of an idea about Miranda's plans and what she had in store for Ethan, I mean he did seem to understand the implications of Rose being her "true daughter" in his diary entry, so I guess anything is possible here really.

Another thing is the Heisenberg cutscene where he states that Miranda wants Ethan to be a part of her family. I find it frustrating that this plot thread isn't picked up on again after Heisenberg mentions it for the first time (Miranda doesn't mention it at all which is really weird), but also what does he mean by being a part of her family? You could argue that it just means he'll end up being another lord like the others (which wouldn't really make sense at this point) but combined with the Moreau quote above you could start to put the pieces together that may suggest things going in a certain way. Perhaps Miranda, knowing about Ethan's affinity with the mold, saw him as an ideal partner due to there being some level of connection and compatibility there. Again the details here are fuzzy but you could feasibly draw your own conclusions here based on the way the story plays out in the game.

That's all I have for now, again I'm not planning on doing anything serious with this (at least for the time being) but I do find it to be a fun idea to play around with even if it's a strange idea at first (which let's be real, the best ships are usually odd anyway 😄). If you have any questions or things to add about what I've written then by all means, the whole purpose of putting this out there was to make people aware to see if there's much interest, my last post got more interaction than I thought it would so I guess we'll see how things go from here.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a lovely day 😊💖

[yourfinalbow]

hi lol this is totally random but based on a harry potter post you just reblogged and you can completely ignore me if you want, but do you think snape deserved better, or are you a quote unquote "snape apologist"? I'm genuinely curious cuz I've come across a lot of different opinions on severus. Again, feel free to ignore :)

This ended up way longer than it needed to be, and I apologize for that lmao.

Hi! Hmmm I have many mixed opinions on this. First we have to talk about which Snape. Book!Snape is actually kind of an asshole, and not in the fun way. (Way more than I remembered.) But but but Alan Rickman!Snape I like a lot.

And no I'm not mentioning Snape from TCC. That was not Snape and that world was not Harry Potter.

Snape is an interesting character because of how flawed and layered he is.

(Putting a cut because it's so long, and tw for non-detailed mentions/reference to abuse, as well as both trauma and death.)

He wasn't born in a very good household, which I can definitely see as being a reason for why he is who he is. (A reason, not an excuse. Those are two extremely different things.) You look at Sirius, who also came from a horrible household, yet he managed to dig himself out of the mud and make his own path for himself. (Though I have many angsty headcanons for the thoughts he has and being afraid of what he will do and in turn his own mind. WolfStar solidarity. Neither one of them know what they are truly capable of, and both are completely afraid to find out.

Ahem sorry I got a little distracted there.

During the Marauder's era, Snape wasn't a good person in general, but he tried to be nice to Lily. (One of the only exceptions he made.) That being said, (sorry, going on a tangent again), it does not excuse what the Marauders did. As much as they are, in my humble opinion, JK's greatest creation, they should be held accountable for both the prank, and dangling Snape upside down. (Though Remus does make a few good points in their defense later, it's still not an excuse.) Two wrongs never make a right.

Snape doesn't deny Lily's claims at him wanting to join a supremacy group, nor does he say he isn't friends with Death Eaters.

It's clear through the flashbacks we're given that Snape is apathetic in the face of innocent people dying, but once again Lily is the exception.

Dumbledore defends Snape by saying it wasn't his fault that Harry's parents are dead. I actually semi-agree with this. On one hand, he was directly at fault, but on the other hand he had no way of knowing. As a severe Loki apologist, I do not blame Loki for Frigga's death. He may have led the dark elves to her, but he didn't know it was her she was sending them to. That's the comparison I make in my mind, and so I don't completely blame him like other people do. (One could also make the argument that Sirius is to blame. Sirius, who is 100% my favorite character in the entire franchise, gave the secret keeper job to Peter, thinking it would be safer with him. However, he had no ill will or malicious intentions towards Lily, James, and Harry, so I don't blame him.)

All that being said, Snape not only would have been fine with random people dying, he also didn't care whether or not James and Harry lived.

For context:

(Dumbledore is speaking, right after Snape comes to him for help.)

"You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child?" They can die, as long as you have what you want?"

Snape said nothing, but merely looked up at Dumbledore.

He has a strange relationship with Lily. He obviously loves her, but not enough to want to stop Voldemort from killing the two things that bring her the most amount of happiness. It's clear he doesn't care about anyone except for Lily. Which on some level, I can understand why. When people have traumatic childhoods, they tend to hold on to a person that was there for them. Sometimes it can be the hands of the person who caused them pain in the first place, but other times it is another person who was there for him. He holds Lily's opinions of himself higher than anybody else, and he holds Lily above anybody else, and I think this can be attributed to some sort of trauma response, which is why his love for her is so unusual. That doesn't mean I think he should be fine with killing innocent people.

On the topic of trauma, I think joining the Death Eaters was another response to this, as well as a result of what kind of family he had.

Similar to both Harry and Voldemort, Snape much preferred Hogwarts to where he lived, and such the castle became his home more than his house ever was.

The Death Eaters could offer him something he had never been offered before. He belonged to something. In his own, twisted, traumatic mindset, he might have even almost seen the Death Eaters as a family. Not consciously of course, but there was definitely a feeling of belonging they gave him.

And there's something to be said about the fact that many serial killers in real life come from an abusive family. I don't pretend to understand the minds of someone who can do something so vile, but I have watched enough Criminal Minds episodes to know what they long for is control.

So being apart of this supremacy group, even though he was a half-blood himself and undoubtedly didn't entirely share Voldermort's racist beliefs, gave him both control and something he belonged to.

It's not an excuse, but it's a reason.

Alternatively, you can look at it through a quote from the most recent episode of Loki.

"It's part of the illusion. It's a cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear."

So it's also possible that when he was a kid, he thought being a villain was the only way to prevent others from being one to him.

Ok sorry, back on the chronological track.

So he agrees to change sides and work with Dumbledore. (Who must see just how distraught Snape was over Lily's death, to trust him immediately.)

Snape spends most of Harry's time at Hogwarts humiliating his own students. He particularly calls out Harry and his friends a lot, but I can definitely see this being a defence mechanism. He assumes Harry is James and reverts back to what we talked about earlier. (Becoming the villain so nobody else has a chance.)

But but but, he does a lot of good throughout the books. Snape mutters the countercurse, saving Harry from Quirrell during the Quidditch match. He then actually referees at the next match, preventing anything from happening altogether.

In retrospective, we see that he spends most of the first book helping Dumbledore by protecting the stone, and helping Lily by protecting Harry.

Now I could go through and list the goods and the bads of Snape throughout the entire series, but I have neither the time nor the patience, and I think you get the point.

(Except I would like the mention that Snape becomes a double agent for Dumbledore in book four, and risks his life every single day by constantly betraying Voldermort, and never once does he use this as a way to double cross Dumbledore. This was actually probably really hard on him. You can assume that having to pretend to be a Death Eater means he had to do some despicable things just so he didn't blow his cover. If he really has changed by this time, which I would like to think he has, is a lot of added guilt to live with.)

(I would also mention that he tried to save Sirius in book five, but... *falls on floor dramatically* I don't want to think about it.)

Severus Snape's time comes to the end in book seven. At the hands of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, his death is a valiant act of sacrifice. Protecting the living and defending the honour of the fallen.

So, he has done a lot of bad in his lifetime, but by the time we as readers get to know him, his fundamental set of beliefs have begun to change. Through the eyes of what started as an eleven year old boy, you can definitely see that even after this he wasn't necessarily a good person.

And that's because his good is behind the scenes. He's good on a larger scale. He's chosen the light over darkness, but in his everyday life he's still the scared, traumatized little kid he's always been.

And him being this way has reasons, but these reasons are not excuses.

Sorry anon, this kind of turned into a long winded review of the entire character. I know that's not really what you asked, so I'll sum it up in a final few sentences sentence.

Yes. I wish Snape had gotten to live. Not because I'm necessarily a "Snape apologist", but because I find his character interesting, and seeing his reaction to his sacrifice could have been a really good read. Also Harry coming up and thanking him would have been really touching, and as a cherry on top maybe we could have gotten to read Harry apologizing for his father. Maybe even Snape sharing memories of Lily?! (Sorry that might have gotten a little to fanfic-y.)

That being said, his death being a final sacrifice towards the good of everyone, and a final testimony to his change of heart, was -- and I'll give JK credit just this once -- good storytelling, and a good way to end it.

Also I like movie!Snape because fuck yeah he's just so awesome.

If anyone has anything to add/take away, or they just want to discuss the wonder that was Alan Rickman, let me know! (Ask/Comment/Reblog/Etc.)

[handonhaven]

I've seen every theory there is about Landon/not being Landon. And this one I saw made me speechless. They said they it wasn't Landon because since he's gotten back Handon hasn't had one fight. I'm sorry but how far do you have to reach to come with that one.

I know there are a lot of theories that could be possible. The only one I don't think is possible is the Landon we see is someone else. It wouldn't make sense and I just don't see the writers going that way with the story. I think the three most likely are the he's spilt, someone put a block on his memories and there's someone else in his mind with him.

Another theory I saw of someone saying that wasn't Landon is that Wade said the monster hates fire and Landon is a Phoenix they're made of fire and it still went after him. But the thing is Landon doesn't have any Phoenix powers right now.

Another thing I've been seeing is people say this episode just proved that Hope doesn't really love Landon if Wade was the one to notice something was off about Landon. Yes there is something a bit off with Landon but I don't think it's to the point that someone would be like yep there's something wrong with him. The only thing about that scene that didn't make much sense to me was the situation that they were in when Wade said that thing about D&D. Clearly Landon was more worried about Hope so of course he wouldn't remember playing a game of D&D right then and there. Or Wade telling Hope that Landon would never do something to hurt but still stabbed her. That wasn't him doing something to hurt her That was him doing something to save her. It was litteraly said That was the only way and they were running out of time. Wade and Josie was just standing there talking about if they should do it or not, which could have cost Hope her life.

I know there are people who think it's weird that he only remembers things that includes Hope. But that doesn't add up. If he only remembers stuff with Hope he wouldn't remember the qoute from when they were class, he wouldn't remember anything syfy/fantsay relate or how to play/what is D&D etc.

Wow I'm sorry that got really long.

Oh my gosh. I should’ve seen that coming, but I really didn’t haha. Of course they would say that. They’re reaching far, which they’re quite used to doing at this point. These people need to learn that having a fight and having a difficult conversation are two different things, and the obstacles Hope and Landon have gone through have only made them stronger to get to the point where they are now. They’ve been working through those obstacles and are on the same page. Not that those people would realize that...

And I’m with you, I also really don’t think that Landon is someone else. I don’t think the writers would do that either, that’s going too far. I just can’t see them having it end up being someone else who’s been kissing and cuddling with Hope this whole time, that would be disgusting. Plus there’s a ton of other reasons why that wouldn’t make any sense. And I agree, I think the split theory is very likely. And his memories could be blocked as well, though I hadn’t thought of someone else in his mind with him! That could be possible!

And yeah, as far as that Phoenix theory goes, Landon doesn’t have those powers right now, so there wouldn’t be any fire involved so you’d think that’s why the monster wasn’t affected. But I know some people have thought of the theory that if he split, this could be his human side, which could also explain why the monster didn’t sense his Phoenix side if it isn’t there.

Ahaha I’ve been seeing that too, which is ridiculous. You’re right, there have been some things that aren’t quite right, but nothing that noticeable, particularly when you look at it from Hope’s perspective. Because what reasons did she have to be suspicious before this last episode? She should’ve been more concerned about him being unable to remember the prison world, but that’s purely the writers’ fault because they clearly haven’t wanted the characters finding out what happened yet. So I’m not even gonna count that. And Hope also doesn’t know about her necklaces, she knew Landon grabbed them when he was dissolving, but she couldn’t know that he still had them after. And besides that, Landon has been acting like himself for the most part. His mannerisms and gestures and so many little details point to him being Landon. And him acting more “perfect” at times is not enough to cause suspicion, he’s not done anything that out of the ordinary for him. And Hope has just been happy to have him back so it makes sense that she would appreciate him more and see him as more perfect after she thought she had lost him. But none of his behavior before this last episode has been suspicious enough on it’s own.

And everything Wade noticed happened only in this episode anyway, not before. Hope wouldn’t have known about the D&D memory, it happened to be a memory involving just Wade. Up until now, it’s only been his prison world memories that Landon has seemed to forgotten. And yeah, the scene with Wade talking about D&D didn’t make much sense to me either. It was just a very strange time for Wade to bring that up. Because exactly, Landon was focused on saving Hope and it was a very desperate situation. You would already be in a panic if that was happening so I don’t think it was that odd that he couldn’t think of it. But they’ll often throw in weird and random stuff to move the plot forward, so I think it was just one of those times. But regardless, that’s still something only Wade would’ve noticed Landon not remembering. And Hope was not herself when she was turning into the creature and went after Landon. And Wade was the one who knew more about the creature as well, so of course he was the one to wonder about the creature being attracted to Landon.

And as for the stabbing thing, there’s a lot I could say about that which I might post about later because that whole thing was just dumb. I literally thought the same thing! That situation was not about hurting Hope, it was about saving her. Exactly, it was the only option and there was no time left. Yep, Wade and Josie just stood there and it looked like they were gonna continue to stand there and Hope would’ve been gone forever. Landon knew what he had to do to save her and he did it. And of course he didn’t want to hurt her, but there’s no way he’d ever let anything happen to her, so of course he would do the hard thing in order to save her. And he literally does that, he saves Hope’s life, and then Wade‘s like, “Landon would never do that!” What?? 😂 He really thinks Landon would just let Hope turn into some other creature? I mean, in any other circumstance, he’s right, Landon would never hurt Hope. But he would also never take any chances with Hope’s life and there was no other choice. And Hope understood that too. But they took him saving her out of context in order to make it look bad so it would seem like something he’d never do even though Landon would always save Hope. And Hope knows he would, so it makes sense why she wasn’t suspicious.

So her not noticing the things Wade mentioned has nothing to do with her not knowing Landon well enough or her not really loving him. For whatever reason, the writers decided to have Wade figure it out. Possibly because Hope wouldn’t have considered it even if she had noticed something after all the trauma she went through from losing him and when she just got him back. So she needed an extra push to know that something is wrong probably?

And I didn’t know people were saying that about Landon’s memories, but yeah, that doesn’t add up because he’s definitely remembered things not including Hope, like all that you mentioned. But it would be interesting to know if the memories he’s forgotten all have something in common and what that could mean.

But no worries at all! You’re talking to someone who writes super long posts and responses (as you can see 😂) so it’s absolutely fine! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!