#thus the world's least cat

[blade-liger-4ever]

Why I think Miko Nakadai is arguably the best human character in TFP

Don't misunderstand, I know Miko was handled haphazardly throughout the series' run. That said, aside from her skipping off into the battlefield, she was actually a great character - and, in my personal opinion, the actual audience surrogate character in TFP.

Now, let me explain.

Although Miko's backstory is told and not shown - a rich daughter who had everything she could ever want, up to and including two pure-breed cats and piano lessons from age three onwards (which, coincidentally, tells us she's brainy despite her antics) - much can be inferred from what snippets of her past we get, along with her interactions with the Autobots. For one, she obviously can't stand most adult supervision, which is likely because of a few things. For one, back home in Japan, Miko would have had to be proper and polite, always restrained, and had to do what she was told. While this is normal (to an extent) in the West, in the East this is etiquette that needs to be obeyed, especially if you're as well off as she is; her actions, specifically in Japan, will reflect on her parents, but to a far lesser extent in America. Thus, when presented with the freedoms of the USA, Miko not only jumps at the chance for an exchange program that will give her the mobility she craves, she also chooses the place that has the least amount of glamor. By extension of choosing to settle in Jasper, Miko's also displaying two other traits: she's not afraid of going to a place vastly different from her home, and she isn't disgusted by a small town with very little monetary value to it.

Secondly, Miko's disregard for authority from adults but deference to the 'Bots teases us with an insecurity - namely, an insecurity that no adult ever gives her a chance to make her own decisions.

Just think about it: All the times Miko's blown off the human adults, it's when they've tried to decide her life for her. Miko has, from what we can see, had her whole life dictated, up to and including those piano lessons. She may be a prodigy at almost everything, but her preferred instrument is the guitar - and yet, she wasn't given lessons in that from the time she was a toddler. Therefore, she feels confined and controlled by the authority of her elders. And so, while Miko may be able to sway Bulkhead into getting her out of detention and consistently slip past the watchful eyes of the 'Bots, it's out of a desperate motivation to control her own life. Now, she does hold too much interest in the battles and getting to watch them, but wouldn't you have that same eagerness if Gundams or Jaegers came to life before your eyes? Yes, she knows their lives are in danger, that they couldn't come home, but there's still a fantastical element to all of this about the Autobots. And it remains so because while she loves them all, Bulkhead is the only one who, while giving her life advice and trying to keep her in check/alive, lets her make her own decisions and take control of her life and her actions.

And that's why she keeps going to the field. That's why she only listens to the reprimands with half an ear and why she recovers so fast from Optimus' near death experiences, as well as Raf's close call with death.

And that's why Miko's world shatters when Bulkhead is left in a half-dead coma from his fight with Hardshell. Because the one person in the universe who gave her freedom and care without deciding her life for her was not just seriously injured, but possibly on death's door.

That's why Miko runs around without a care until the S2 episode "Hurt": because she wants autonomy to decide her life, even if it's stupid choices that could get her killed.

And after "Hurt", we see a new Miko. Yes, she remains gung-ho and fierce, but she stops running onto the battlefield. She takes less enjoyment from the War. Because now, with the reality of war fresh in her mind, she knows the risks and the stakes involved, and she will never take that or her friends for granted anymore. This is further proved when Miko 'sneaks' along for "Chain of Command", but with a twist: she asks Wheeljack if she can come along - and if memory serves, this is the first mission Bulkhead's been on with herself present since the events before "Hurt". Clearly, Miko is still worried about losing Bulkhead - only, this time, she values the words of the 'Bots, and now seeks permission to join a mission, though she wisely asks Wheeljack for this blessing.

This is the beautiful part of her arc, crowned by her battle with Starscream and his Seekers (which is also just straight up awesome.) When she's kicked the afts of everyone, and Starscream tries to intimidate her with his usual "I killed Cliffjumper" speech, Miko's response is this calm, slightly rough, retort:

"Big whoop. I snuffed Hardshell."

In this moment, Miko Nakadai is shown to have grown from an excitable child into an unyielding, but mature, adult warrior. She no longer treats the War and the 'Bots like a game, or a release. She treats them as her friends who she will gladly risk her own life for.

And that, in my opinion, makes her the best human protagonist in all of Transformers: Prime, and Transformers media in general.

As for what I said earlier about her being the true audience surrogate, be honest with yourselves: If any of us were given the chance to meet the Autobots, wouldn't you be just as irrepressible as Miko, as eager to help as she was, and tempted to go to the battlefield to see the action/make sure your 'Bot wasn't going to die? That's what I mean when I say she's the audience surrogate - Miko acts like we would, and learns as we would about the War and the 'Bots if we suddenly came across them.

That's my two cents on Miko, and why she's the human character I respect the most in Transformers...probably of all time. If you liked it, I'm glad; Miko deserves better, and I hope I explained why well.

Til next time, folks!

"Autobots, transform!"

[lavenderprose]

Emmrich is a morning person and Rook is only a morning person under duress, which becomes only a minor issue after the gods are finally dead because Rook's ideal wake up time is roughly noon, and Emmrich's up at the asscrack of dawn every day whether he works or not.

It's six thirty AM and Rook's face-down on the bed, titties out and hair splayed across three pillows, and Elgar'nan breathed this last breath less than a week ago. Emmrich gave the various factions of Thedas exactly three days to demand Rook's attention and, on the morning of the fourth day, grabbed Rook with one hand and Manfred with the other and asked the Caretaker if there was an Eluvian that might deposit one anywhere in the area of the Cumberland countryside.

Emmrich apparently maintains a small country house here, for 'Whatever occassion might arise' (demented) and it's modest but pretty. Manfred trampled straight into the rose garden when they got here and hasn't emerged since, but Emmrich claims that's normal for him. Rook personally believes that Manfred, even, is still processing their mutual ordeal, but she's content to let him do it with the caterpillars and the rose petals. Not like a skeleton can be pricked by a thorn.

The moment they arrived, Emmrich sought out the housekeeper and told her that her services would not be required for the coming week, and to stand by on the subject of next week as well.

"Go celebrate the world not ending, Helga!" he'd said, maybe a bit too loud and manic, as he closed what was surely much more than a week's salary into her hand. Knowing Emmrich, there was already a very robust system in place to assure that his housekeeper received her generous salary every week--this was merely some sort of consolation pay for the very difficult task of being given a week of vacation.

Helga was Elven, at least as old as Emmrich and blinked at him like a vaguely surprised cat. She swept her gaze over Rook as well before leaving. She'd been smirking, Rook thought, as the door closed behind her.

Thus, they've been alone in the house, and Rook has been sleeping, staring vaguely into the distance, sleeping, reading from Emmrich's extensive collection, looking at the ceiling while trying to forget the sight of Bellara's blighted eyes, sleeping, bouncing on Emmrich's dick like it's her job, and sleeping sleeping sleeping.

They've been here for two days, more or less 48 hours, and many of those hours were spent in his lap. Fucking him, yes, but also just clinging onto him like an extra limb because right now, she feels like she might disintegrate if he isn't touching her. He reads to her. Smiles and laughs through so many stories from his life. She thinks about Solas disappearing into the Fade, maybe never to be seen again. The last God of her people.

When she goes too quiet, sometimes he tells her a joke or puts a little chocolate in her mouth. Once, he ate her out while humming the Nevarran national anthem and she laughed as she came. Sometimes he joins her in melancholy and they lay together and cope. Sometimes she cries, mostly from exhaustion and relief and grief, and he kisses her face. Sometimes he cries. From exhaustion and relief and grief, probably. She tucks her head under his chin and rubs her small hand up and down his broad back, and then she swipes the snot and tears out of his mustache with her very own thumb because she loves him, she loves him.

This morning, she flutters her eyes open and enjoys the texture of the silk sheets against her bare body (Last night, and for lack of a better term, Emmrich fucked her to sleep--apparently, when the world isn't in active peril, he's very into the whole tantric thing. Hours of crazy hot, dragging sex that destroys braincells, but only the ones she's better off not having.) and she does that for about thirty seconds before she realizes it's just barely light outside, blue and cool. Then she starts wondering why the fuck she's awake right now.

The answer becomes apparent immediately: Emmrich is in the ensuite bath, running water and making the weirdest, loudest noises. She thinks at first that he's managed to gag himself with his own toothbrush, but then he sneezes, blows his nose with a honking noise like a malfunctioning horn, and clears his throat so thunderously that Rook thinks he must somehow be drowning.

She rolls out of bed and wobbles into the bathroom, birthday suit and all, because clearly he's become sick in the night and it's now up to her to guide him back to bed and care for him. She's surprised, then, to find him looking hale and healthy in front of the sink. He's wearing nothing but silk pajama pants and down slippers. He's making an absurd clicking sound and swirling a finger inside his ear.

"Are you okay?" Rook demands, propped on the doorjamb.

Emmrich jumps a foot on the air, winces as he jabs his own eardrum, and says, "Ow! Darling, please don't sneak up on--"

"You are being so loud," she says, because the polite section of her brain hasn't woken up. "Are you choking? Are you sick?"

"No," Emmrich says slowly. "I just--oh, the door must have fallen open. The floor isn't terribly even here. I'm sorry, darling--sound does carry in this old house." He twirls a finger behind his ear and clinks again. "I fear I suffer seasonal allergies, dearest, and it's been a long while since I slept more than a night or two outside of the Necropolis or the Fade. There's quite a bit of...mucus..." He clears his throat.

"Gross," says Rook, and then, "It's dawn, Emmrich."

"Mm-hm." Emmrich is now leaning across the counter, two inches from the mirror and examining his mustache like a jewel appraiser.

"Why are you making heinous old man noises at dawn?"

His eyes veer towards her reflection in the mirror, and they make eye contact in the glass. Very neatly, and with a raised eyebrow, he says, "Heinous old man noises."

Rook starts making hawking, gutteral noises in the back of her throat. It's a pretty faithful imitation.

"Dearest," he yells over the sound. "I apologize for waking you--"

"I cannot believe," says Rook, "that I'm going to spend the rest of my life being woken up at dawn by the hacks and sneezes of a man who wears wing tip shoes."

She's halfway through a half-asleep snicker at the hilarity of her own statement when Emmrich fixes her with a surprised look in his wet eyes and she realizes she's never actually voiced the idea that has become an unspoken certainty in her mind: That he's the love of her life, and her life may not be as short as she was thinking it might be this time last week, and that she wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her ambiguously-numbered mornings waking up to him.

She also realizes the truth of the situation. The baths in the Lighthouse were communal, and one never knew which companion they might encounter during their morning routine. Emmrich is fastidious and spends a great deal of his energy in broadcasting the image of a man who is utterly put together in everything he does. Never a hair out of place or a thread loose. It's a privilege of the highest order to witness him this way. Sleep-mused hair, shadow on his jaw. The bleariness of sleep in his eyes and, yes, even the throat-clearing and nose blowing.

Emmrich clears his throat and whispers, "Forgive me. I've...lived alone. For a very long time."

Rook's eyes water as she croaks, "Not anymore. I don't...want you to."

A smile spreads his face. It is wobbly, boyish, and so so beautiful. The absurdity of the situation finally reaches her--she is very naked and he's only slightly more dressed and there is a perfectly warm, perfectly comfortable bed steps away.

"Come back to bed," Rook says. "Please?"

He does.

[jennamoran]

Hi Jenna,

Do you have any specific tips to offer for writers? I feel like I can make the vibe of a scene come through very well, but the idea of what is actually happening suffers as a result.

I guess a more specific question might be 'How do you describe how something feels without the comprehension of the scene suffering, or becoming overly verbose.'

-Thanks, Skane

As the famously concise and universally comprehensible Jenna Moran,

First, I should say that you must write for yourself. Trying to be clear to a set of notional readers will not make your writing clear. It will make your writing convoluted and afraid, and even more people will misunderstand.

This is a problem. Sadly I cannot at this time fix the world.

You can try technical exercises. You can try having as many interesting conversations as you possibly can. You can look for a writing club of some sort.

It helps to be safe. If you cannot be safe, it may help to be angry.

It helps to be valued. If you don't have that, it may help to work with slow dedication and accept things take time.

It helps to have people read bits of your drafts and work and enjoy them. If you cannot have that, let yourself read and enjoy them yourself?

I do not have more direct solutions right now.

**

As to your specific concern:

I will give a bad solution. Then I will talk about it.

You can describe how something feels. Then, describe the scene. One, then the other. Both things are now perfectly clear.

... or as clear as you can make them.

There are two reasons that's usually bad. The first is pacing. The second is language.

Why would you want to describe them at the same time? Why not one, then the other?

Usually, because they are a single event.

We experience "this happens, and I feel this" simultaneously. So separating them when you write misstates the experience(s).

They're not just accidentally simultaneous. They intertwine.

Knowing that, it becomes false to present one, then the other. In a linear present-tense narrative that does a deep dive on both mood and action, we must first present the beginning of the conjoined mood/action experience. Then the next bit. Then the next, and on to the end.

If the reader becomes impatient, they become impatient with the experience. Loosely speaking, the fault may be in your choice of which events to describe, and in how much detail ... or in them.

If the reader cannot parse something, it is your description of that portion of the experience that they cannot parse. Loosely speaking, the fault may be in your wording, or in them.

If we look at what you must present as a stream of experiences, then in at least one sense it becomes simple:

Identify whose experiential stream you want to share. Think through what they experience as a set of sentence-sized pieces. Present them one by one.

Thus for pacing.

**

You may discover at this point that you still are not conveying the scene clearly. That is because what you believe you must convey is not part of the experience. Either change the story you are telling or switch to a narrator with the perspective you want.

You cannot tell this post's story in a way that reveals that I did not eat much breakfast. Not without kind of shoehorning it in. It is not part of this story, even if it possibly should be? My cat came in earlier and drooled on my arm. Shadows only exist in the light. Oatmeal often has gluten. People are good. They should love themselves. I don't even own a shoehorn. I want you to know these things. But telling you right then was a little bit weird.

**

Let's talk about language.

Language is an issue because it likes to do its own thing. You often want the words to echo the experience. You don't want to use the same words over and over again. (At least, not by accident.) You don't want the sentences to sound awkward. You want to pause at natural places but you have to keep your punctuation navigably close to "correct."

It's like, language writhes when you try to nail it down.

It writhes. It screeches and flails. It tears off bits of its skin. It's a problem. That is before we even get to how other people are understanding your words.

If I ever have problems just telling people what happens in order then that is usually why.

I think it can help to read things aloud. Often I replace what I wrote with what I say when I read it. For me, this is only useful poetically. For the technical side---whether I'm communicating too fast or too slow for a reader to follow---it does not help. I have to guess.

I can tell you from experience that you cannot be too obvious. Just being you, when your reader is not you, will add plenty of mystery. Oodles of mystery. You don't need to add any more.

I do not have a great solution for language. I'm sorry.

I don't even know which of my own tricks and habits brought me my audience and which of my tricks and habits drive people away.

If you are riding language and it shies away from the content you have to convey to the reader, probably you have to murder it and find a new, dumber steed. I'm sorry again. The rest of the time, you can maybe just have fun with the ride?

I wonder if it would be better to explicitly state that language is a horse in that metaphor. I probably shouldn't. It goes against my own advice.

So, a scene. Suppose I am eating a banana and I am sad. I expect I would walk to the fruit with a heavy heart. I would peel it. I would look at the inner fruit sadly. I would notice the pale yellow of its color. I would notice the texture. The pores. (Looks up banana images) The long, fuzzy lines. I'd take a bite. I'd eat it. Maybe someone talks in the distance. The banana would be gone. Maybe I'd just stand there a moment. Then I'd pull the trash can out and throw out the peel.

I do not think people will gather around and point at that in shock and call it great writing. I don't even know that it's better than "so, there I was, sadly eating a banana" or "it was the first banana I'd eaten since my grandmother died" or whatever. But I do think that is the correct sequence of experiences.

If I really wanted to talk about grief I'd want to talk about stillness and feelings like rolling clouds and stuff. If I really wanted to talk about eating bananas I'd try to find words for that dull shock of sweetness on the tongue, the way you roll the lump of the bite in your mouth. I can't imagine what would force me to talk about both at once but presumably I'd have to start blending the experiences (this is how you get smoothies).

**

I think I did eat a banana not that long after my grandmother died, for clarity. It was a while ago. I think there were clouds in my chest. Or the sea? I don't know. This constant rolling, shoving motion, soft as water and hard as water both. I don't remember much about the banana, so I can't tell you about peeling it, or about what most of it tasted like. I can't include that honestly because it's not part of the experience, right? And if like the reader doesn't know how bananas work they may be like "wait, aren't bananas in some kind of squishy rubbery casing? And you're just EATING one?" but I can't do anything about that, they just have to suffer in ignorance, they just have to suffer. It's not important to the moment when I ate a banana after my grandmother died that my cat came in years later and drooled on my arm. It's not important that I don't have a shoehorn. It's not important that I'd already eaten enough bananas in my life to know my way around removing the peel. (I'm so cool.) Those things were not part of that moment.

I think my hand was on the counter, which was blue. I think the sky outside the window was grey. I don't think I looked. I just think it was grey. And if you don't know why I had to pull the trash can out, or where the banana was before I got it, or---if anybody did talk in the distance---who might have been talking, or how many bites it took---it's because the only moment there that was actually part of the experience was that first bite, dull and sweet on my tongue.

[baeddel]

in contrast to Demon's Souls, there are not many female humans in DS1 (spoilers follow; and we'll ignore the DLC for this post as it's very different in its treatment of women) who are as they say 'strong female characters'; or simply strong in any way, surviving as well as any of the male characters. Gwyndolin is a god, and Gwynevere is Gwyndolin; the Witch of Izalith is a god (and we would not say she was surviving in any case), and Quelaag, Quelaag's sister, and Quelana are i suppose therefore also gods, although corrupted and demonic gods (i'll return to this later). Alvina is a cat. of the human female characters who are not imprisoned, maimed, tortured, servile or dependent we can name Maneater Mildred and the Undead Merchant (Female), both of whom are excelling (they belong to a cluster of characters who were born to excel in the wasteland of humanity and not in life; more on that later also); the Darkmoon Knightess and Sieglind (once we free her--let's exclude temporary restraint, which affects almost every character when we meet them); the female forest hunter; and i suppose Dusk (who lacks strength or even really cunning, but does possess initiative).

of these, Maneater Mildred and the female forest hunter are minor characters who do not talk. Sieglind and the Darkmoon Knightess are very physically and (in different ways) morally strong, but both are still servants of someone else and are not masters of their own fate; the Darkmoon Knightess is mastered by Gwyndolin (who is in turn mastered by Gwyn), and Sieglind is mastered (in a different way) by Siegmeyer, who, because of his reckless and silly adventures, she must follow around, dote upon, and repeatedly euthanise, for eternity, thus never becoming her own master (what a familiar story of familial tragedy!), until possibly the end of her storyline in this game. the Undead Merchant (Female) appears to be trapped, but actually chose her own predicament, and talks lovingly about the iron bars that enclose her and the moss that grows on them. she appears to us a bit like Salad Fingers, a person of such strange and idiosyncratic desires that they are scarcely human (she actually has similar desires to Salad Fingers). but when you hit her, how does she chide you? "I suppose you fink you're speshul!" Listen to that! We realize that she has actually internalized a deeply classist, deeply misogynist, very English kind of ideology. on the converse, she doesn't think she's special. imagine her elaborating: "I don't go traipsing about, I don't, sitting on some grand throne, talking about 'my mission' or 'my quest', no I don't. That'd be a fine thing! Some undead wif some mission, what, to save the world or summink? That's a lark, innit!" she minimizes herself, in fact freely locking herself away, placing herself in a similar predicament to Anastasia (who we are horrified to learn, on restoring her speech, has a similarly self-minimizing ideology, when she begs us not to make her talk because she isn't meant to). thus even all of the strong female human characters who can speak, with the exception, as we said, of Dusk, are themselves fully bought into an ideology that subordinates women or at least subordinates themselves.

the point it's making about women is quite clear: "women are not born, but made." to make a woman you have to cut her apart, seal her away, remove her tongue, break her legs, chain her, impregnate her, and in the last moment, convince her of her own weakness and impotence, and that the point of her life is to serve men. the point is made more textually explicit in Bloodborne ("Of course I love you. Isn't that how you've made me?") and in DS3 (when we find the gigantic tower full of identical discarded firekeeper corpses). but it's suffocatingly omnipresent in DS1; wherever you look it's there, hanging and dripping gore in front of you.

i think it's also kind of a fetish thing too...

oh, about those points i wanted to get back to: first of all, the class of characters who excel as undead and (textually or probably) not in normal life. Laurentius, Lautrec, Undead Merchant (Male), Solaire, Domnall, Patches, Big Hat Logan, Siegmeyer, and as we said Undead Merchant (Female) and Maneater Mildred (possibly Kirk as well). which i think is actually most of the cast.

the other was on the gods. i was trying to sort out in my head whether the Daughters of Izalith and their brother were gods or demons. But then I realized that I was buying into the Lordran ideology a little bit. The game does use the word 'gods', but the precise term is of course 'Lords'; the Lords and their descendants are generally what is called 'gods', but the Izalith set are never afforded this distinction. nor is Seathe, but Nito is. why should all this be? but this is really all just ideology. the Lords are just people who found a Lord Soul. there need not be anything special about them. they are physically large because they have a lot of souls and humanity; as they lose souls and humanity they shrink. and so forth. and humans are considered to be those people who have some realtionship to fire, but is that actually even true? Kaathe doesnt think so. and we know what 'humanity' is, and its just a weird little guy that gnaws on you. and demons have some relationship to Izalith's recreated flame, the chaos flame. thus all these ways of being a person are not really substantially different from one another, and all the characters (god, demon, human) have more or less the same needs: souls, humanity, possibly some form of fire. when we met Gwyn, he has clearly hollowed. there is even a grave for him that Gwyndolin tends, so he is clearly undead. i had generally thought of the Pygmy as the source of the 'dark soul' and thus the legitimate ancestor of humanity, and i think the game does perhaps shepherd you in that direction, but it can't quite be true can it? Gwyn is human, and so must his children be human, and Izalith is human, and so must her children be human, so that even Quelaag and even Ceaseless Discharge are just humans (which is why Quelaag's Sister can be a firekeeper), with a certain composition of relations to souls, humanity and fire, and the ideology that keeps all these beings racially separated is the very thing the game is trying to challenge. am i right about that?

[loudclan-clangen]

The World Ender by Lord Huron would be perfect for this moon

Anon you're so right and also I'm losing my mind over this song rn.

I had been imagining "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash for this moment but this song has all the vibes I loved from that one plus lyrics that are literally perfect for Wildfirecry, this is such a good pick!

Okay, SO: 7 farm cats attacked Fiercestripe's patrol. 4 of them were killed (Coal, his two sons, and one of Bee's sons), and 3 of them survived, but were wounded (Spider, Bee's other son, and Butterfly's son). These 3are the cats that Wildfirecry tracked down and killed in Moon 29 Part 3. He didn't kill anyone but those 3 toms!

No artistic liberty here! Wildfirecry committed at least three real life war crimes!

Absolutely! There's not a whole lot more to them than what is shown. I haven't put a ton of thought into Forestclan because they're already gone, but I imagine that they were a lot more religiously focused than Loudclan is. Their Starclan literally lived in the stars, and thus they were almost everpresent during the winter, and absent in the summer, when they were believed to hide underground. For this reason, if a cat died in the summer their body must be buried in order to join Starclan, and if a cat's body could not be buried, then they would be lost to wander until the sky darkened again. On the other hand, if a cat died in the winter, they would be left out to decompose in the open air, so that their spirit could ascend up to join Starclan in the sky, and burying them would leave them lost until Starclan returned underground. The rites that Wildfirecry performed doesn't allow for either of these fates. It traps a cat's soul somewhere in the middle, suspended in the air too low to escape into the sky and to high to shelter underground. I don't know if I've talked about it before, but I don't think the valley territories have a dark forest or equivalent "cat hell", so this is truly the worst punishment that Wildfirecry can bestow upon them.

It's Fiercestripe we're talking about here, she didn't waste time with some lovey-dovey good bye. She wants vengeance just as much as Wildfirecry does, if not more, and she only has a moment to speak to him. They'll have time for softness later, for now Wildfirecry has a job to do and she's here to help him do it.

I imagine that Rosehiptree would have been the one person Wildfirecry told that he was leaving. Quietly, before he excused himself, he told her that if he hadn't returned within a moon that she needed to go to the Black Water Pool and get her lives. While Wildfirecry didn't intend to lose all of his lives, he didn't want to promise to come back when he couldn't assure it, and honestly dying and passing his lives on to his only remaining daughter to make sure she outlives her illness is not necessarily a total loss in his book. Rosehiptree did that math, and considering everything she knew about her dad, decided that he was definitely not coming home. She relied a lot on Songpaw after their conversation, and even now that Wildfirecry's back and she's doing a little bit better, she still treats him as her anchor. She knows that Wildfirecry HAD to go do what he did to be able to live with himself, she's even thankful that he did it so that she doesn't have to fear Spider coming back, but he still left her when she needed him, and Songpaw didn't.

Thank you! That's a great compliment! I think it's pretty likely that you've spotted at least one of the ships being foreshadowed in Moon 30, but the real question is did you catch them all???

[arkaniist]

not to be overly dramatic about this and please forgive the forthcoming yap but i have to talk about this panel + a slightly weird trend i've seen in the fandom for a long time (but especially after the last chapter with a possible mention of sebastian's past).

it has long, long been established that sebstian did not exist before ciel summoned him. i am not saying this in a vague 'because love changed him' kind of way (even tho it did also do that but more on that later). i mean literally. ontologically. the being we know as sebastian, the protagonist of kuroshitsuji, came into existence near the beginning of the series of events being related to us by the manga, for and because of ciel, and everything - everything - we know about him since the moment of his manifestation in the human world has been a created facade for ciel's sole benefit.

i don't just mean the obvious things like his name or his job or his gender. i'm also talking about the way he looks, the way he talks, how he dresses, how he acts, how he treats people, the way he kills and what methods he uses, his 'aesthetic' and how he chooses to maintain it, his wants and goals, his tastes, his whole personality; all of it is completely unique to the character we are reading about now. he created all of it in a single moment and we watched.

sometimes i get the impression that people think of sebastian as always having existed, hanging out sebastian-ly in the dark ether, talking like he currently does, acting like he currently does, sometimes even looking like he currently does, caring about all the same things he currently cares about, with all the little personality quirks we like perfectly intact, just waiting to pop up in the human world like a jack-in-the-box.

that was not the case.

whatever it truly was - how it acted and spoke and what it desired and what it looked like and so on - are so far removed from our sebastian as to be unrecognizable as the same character. that former character stopped existing before we readers ever even so much as laid eyes on it - from the moment he manifested in front of ciel he had already completely changed his entire existence to suit what ciel perceived as a demon. he was quite literally born that day: fully formed, the galatea to ciel's pygmalion.

(now who's a cradle robber?)

sometimes sebastian talks about his former existence in such a way that tricks the reader into believing there had been true continuity - we know he has always liked cats! we know he has worked with witches before! he's been to schönbrunn palace and learned to waltz! but those miniscule details actually reveal nothing about the nature of the creature to which sebastian assigns those prior experiences - we can't help but retroactively apply an image of our sebastian in those situations even though we know, logically, that the being who did those things has passed on at least some of its memories* to its current incarnation, and nothing else.

(* this also requires the reader to take a demon at face value and believe his word when he says things like that. did he really live in the hapsburg court, or did he come into existence with the experience of a person who had lived in the hapsburg court because that suits his current aesthetic, or did he become that person the moment it was necessary for ciel? did he ever really work with witches (did witches even really exist?), or does ciel assume that demons must have worked with witches and thus sebastian certainly must confirm - of course i have. let me tell you all about this extremely stereotypical depiction that does not in any way challenge your view or expectations of me or other people that summon demons. anyways. my point is that he could be lying about literally everything he says about himself and we would not be able to tell because we don't really know him and there's no way to corroborate his anecdotes because he is the potentially unreliable narrator of his own story.)

what we do know for a fact is that sebastian's cinematic record starts from the moment he was born just like everyone else's - and for our sebastian, that was the moment our ciel first laid eyes on him, giving him form and function.

doesn't it just... drive you insane? it makes me dizzy. sebastian didn't just randomly choose ciel, or pick a master based on some pre-existing list of desires and show up, take-what-you-get. it was never a coincidence that they well suit each other, work perfectly together, understand each other like no other could. the brief period of time where sebastian had to learn to temper his strength and abilities was not a mistake or a remnant of his former self, it was his afterbirth. it was an extension of his coming into being, perfecting what raw materials ciel had created him from.

sebastian only exists at all because ciel wanted him to - exactly the way he is. every perfect strand of hair, every sweetly curled vowel, every whim and action we have ever seen has existed only for ciel. he was literally made for him in every sense of the word. he was born into the world wholy, entirely desired, down to the last eyelash and snarky joke.

and when ciel is gone, however it happens, there will be no reason for sebastian to keep existing. they exit the story together.

[triptychgardener]

What does becoming a furry in Homestuck mean? (In reference to your recent Nepeta post)

Okay so the thing is the way that Homestuck treats furries is honestly kind of equivalent to how it treats queerness. As in, Homestuck initially treats it like a joke or a thing to mostly sneer at. Homestuck was very much part of the wave of disaffected ironic assholes of the Newgrounds and Something Awful type, especially to start with, and that sort of relied on shitting on demographics that were seen as weird and permissible to find cringe and make fun of.

Jade comes onto the scene, and a lot of people sort of groan at her whole furry shtick. Jade is largely, however, just a pretty sincere character, and even though she feels some embarassment over the idea of BEING a furry (i.e. her distaste for the idea of actually wearing a fursuit) she nonetheless begins the admirable refrain of combining the finest qualities of humanity with the elegance and nobility of the animal kingdom.

Her earnest affection for all things anthropomorphic sets up more than just her excellent taste. And as much as she is a bit of a pattern-breaker, one pattern she doesn't break is that of having a Signature Animal.

The four beta kids have a bunch of different things associated with them: the four elements, four items, four musical instruments. But the animals are practically integral to who they are as people and characters.

John's attachment to the bunny is obvious, and helps to spur on one of the most emotional scenes in the comic. (For him. Him specifically.)

It's also something deeply precious to him, as it's a gift from every single one of his friends in a very roundabout fashion!

For Rose, Jaspers is half the reason she decided to play the game in the first place. She missed her dead cat so dearly she was willing to play a game that might end the world for it.

(Pictured above, Rose lying about her feelings, water is wet.)

Dave seems to at least feel some affection for crows, or at least shame when he kills them.

And his fusing to become Davesprite is what allows him to survive as a "copy" of the original Dave. Once again, Dave's disaffected irony giving way to the necessity of becoming a furry to save the world.

And for Jade, of course, Bec.

And it's notable that, by the end of the comic, at least THREE of our main beta kids have merged with their animals, and, in a way, become the best versions of themselves.

Jade obviously gets to achieve her dream of becoming a furry, and in doing so gaining power and agency that she was always denied due to her position in the story.

Davepeta, as I stated in a previous post, is the true Final Form of Dave, the pawn that made it to the end of the board, the only surviving character from Homestuck's "original" timeline, and is truly happy with themselves.

And Jasprose appears to have fully hurled herself through the walls Rose put up around herself to protect her image, and thus absolutely mortifies Rose. She just seems to be having a great time.

Homestuck evolved from a story that was deeply cynical and mean-spirited about furrydom, to a story where three of our four starting protagonists, in their truest most powerful forms, combine the qualities of man and beast to achieve self-actualization. And to bring this back around to queerness, these three characters also happen to be canonically queer. So there's that.

This isn't even to get into how this might relate to Troll Lusii and the concept of "growing up" to be more like one's parent on a planet raised by animals, but that's for another day.

[mc-lukanette]

"I'm the least-witch witch ever," Marinette groaned, burying her head in her arms on the table. A book titled History of Witch Fashion, thick but shockingly lacking in substance, laid open in front of her, turned all the way to the last page.

She understood it to some degree. Witches of the past had little need to change the way they looked due to their circumstances, as they tended to live far out in the woods where no one would see them anyway. It was a "waste" to worry about updating their look, and wearing all black tended to make camouflaging spells go more smoothly if they needed to go anywhere potentially dangerous at night.

Even in the modern day, there remained reasons to stick to tradition, such as to ensure that people knew what they were. Anyone who looked like a "genuine witch" was someone people could trust for potions or spells once magic became more socially acceptable.

But Marinette's problem was simple: she hated it. She couldn't pull off the all black look and found the generic pointy witch hats to, quite bluntly, look like traffic cones that just came back from a funeral.

"I don't even have a black cat!" she cried out in distress.

"Mrrah?"

She pushed herself up, turning to the white short-haired cat sitting nearby. "It's not your fault, Clawton! You're perfect just the way you are!"

The cat puffed out its chest with pride, a tiny gentlecat without a tuxedo.

Marinette smiled, feeling a little cheered up by it, but faltered when she looked at the book again. Centuries of witch fashion laid before her, yet there were only tiny, insignificant changes made over time. Even seasonal changes recommended temperature-related spells to show off instead of dressing for the weather like a normal person.

"It's fine!" she told herself, hitting the table with both hands. A surge of magic caused the book to float upwards, and Marinette ordered it into the garbage, deciding, "I'll just... have to take the witch fashion world by storm, all by myself!"

Clawton let out a concerned mew, but didn't protest.

—————

Step one of Marinette's lack of a plan was finding inspiration, and there were few better ways of doing that than walking around the town and taking in the sights. Clawton walked next to her, tiny pawsteps sounding beside her own footsteps as she scribbled anything that gave even remotely "witch-y" vibes. It was like making a mood board.

Nothing solid was forming in her head thus far, but it was better than nothing. While it wasn't likely to happen, she did hope for that special spark, that magical thing that'd make her go—

"Mrreow!"

Marinette stopped, surprised to hear her cat speak up when it was usually so quiet in public. Looking down, she called out worriedly, "Clawton?"

It didn't even glance at her, taking off like a shot down the street. She gasped, shocked but reacting quickly enough to chase after it.

"Hey, come back! Where are you going?"

She only hoped that her mood as of late hadn't been affecting it. Cats were sensitive to magical and emotional fluctuations in witches, making them solid pets but ones that could also take on or share a witch's stress if they chose to.

If that did end up being the case, she probably owed it a few treats.

Clawton turned on a dime to dart around a corner, Marinette not far behind. She heard someone yelp and fall over just as she turned that same corner, though slightly clumsier than her cat had been.

Sitting on the ground was a teenage boy, probably around her age, though she focused on little else when she saw Clawton purring in his lap. Horrified, she hurried to the two, plucking her cat from him and settling it in her arms.

She rambled off, "I'm so sorry! It's not usually like that, but now it knocked you over and—did it rip your clothes?! I swear I'll sew them up—I'll make it better even, I—!"

"They didn't scratch me."

Marinette paused mid-sentence, somehow managing to hear his soft voice over her panicking, and blinked at him. Taking in what she had assumed were "cat scratches," she realized that they were actually purposeful rips in the clothes. Even the knees of his pants had similar ones when she actually looked, and they more obviously weren't caused by a cat.

As the boy stood back up, entirely calm despite what had happened, Clawton hopped down from her arms to do figure eights around his legs. Marinette was still busy taking in his fashion, eyes scanning him up and down to fully capture it.

His pants and shoes were notably black, but not too much even with his black hair. He kept it interesting with the white and shades of blue he wore on his upper body, in addition to the blue highlights in his hair that were either natural or dyed. The rips she'd mistaken for cat scratches did still give off the same energy in a way, and if they were in another place, then maybe—

Marinette's eyes widened. Without another thought, she stepped forward, taking the boy's hands and clasping them together in her own. Looking him right in the eyes, she asked spontaneously, "Will you be my muse?!"

He blinked.

—————

The embarrassment took a few seconds to strike, after which came a slew of apologies and a promise to make up for the onslaught from both her and her cat. He insisted it was fine, but she insisted right back.

They eventually ended up sitting on a bench together at a public flower garden, complete with iced tea that Marinette had bought for them. Apparently, the boy often went there himself for his own inspiration - just as a musician rather than a fashion designer - so he smelled strongly of flowers that her cat adored, which explained why it had jumped him.

While Clawton rolled around and stretched amongst some thyme, the boy took a sip of his iced tea and wondered aloud, "So, changing witch fashion all on your own, huh?"

She whined, wishing she could hide behind her own cup. "I know. It sounds insane."

"No, I like the sound of that." He turned to her with a gentle smile. "I'm Luka, by the way."

She shot him a skeptical look. "Marinette. Are we exchanging names because you want a restraining order?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're fine. Honestly, I want to help you if I can."

"Really?" She paused. "Clawton didn't hit your head, did he? I know I said when we were getting drinks that you'd get benefits if this took off, but..."

He leaned back against the bench and swung an arm over the top of it, shrugging with the arm holding his cup. "I think if anyone can do it, it's you. You have incredible energy, Marinette." He grinned. "Enough to ask a stranger to be your muse."

He somehow felt positive enough about the experience to joke about it. Marinette knew then that either she had overreacted, she had struck diamond in finding this boy, or both. Either way, giving him up would be the most foolish thing she could do.

It helped that he, now that she was truly looking at him and not just his clothes, was exactly her type. He dressed in a style that was clearly his own and carried himself as such, confident and comfortable in the clothes he wore without coming off arrogant. Better yet was that he still had cat fur on his pants from when Clawton had rubbed itself on him, yet he seemed totally unbothered.

Gods and goddesses above, he was perfect.

Of course, if he was going to be her muse for such an important task, then it would have to be strictly professional, so she tried not to think about it too hard. She'd been told before that she could be a bit much, so she would have to be all business about this.

"Can I add a condition?" Luka asked suddenly.

"Huh? Yeah—er, yes." She tried to say it formally, straightening her back in perfect posture even if the colorful cup of iced tea kind of ruined it. "What is it?"

The corner of his lips twitched into a brief smirk at the action, but he carried on, "Can you be my muse too?"

"Ah?" Her shoulders slumped, already ruining the poise she'd been trying to maintain. "Me? You mean Clawton?"

"You," he insisted. "I like your cat too, but I think you're interesting, Marinette. If we're going to get to know each other, shouldn't we do it the best way creative people like us do?"

The logic was hard to argue with, especially with the slew of emotions he'd just caused her: bafflement that he'd want her of all people as a muse, shyness at the look he'd given her when he'd said it, and all of that preceding sheer joy.

"S-so you'll really do it then?" she realized, bouncing up out of her seat and facing him. "You'll be my muse?!"

He nodded, reaching a hand up to her for a handshake. "We've got a deal."

"Yes! I could just kiss you!" she blurted out. A second later, she caught herself and quickly corrected, "Ah, not really—not now—unless you—ah, thanks!"

She put her own hand out to complete the handshake, the two positively beaming, and thus began the relationship between the two teenage business partners that just happened to be each other's muse.

[atimesfeeler]

A stupid stupid poolverine au that won’t leave my head of Logan getting turned into a cat.

He gets jumped or something, getting groceries. Maybe someone from another timeline maybe someone magical who has a grudge for this worlds Logan, but poof. He’s a cat.

And he goes back to the apartment only to find that Wade is definitely not a cat person and communicating with him is harder than he thought it would be.

Wade won’t let him in the damn door for starters. He opens the door thinking the scratching is a raccoon or something and finds the grumpiest, fluffiest gray tabbish cat glaring daggers at him.

Wade’s not really a cat person. He can’t figure them out. Dogs at least tell you outright whether they like you or they don’t. The only concrete interactions Wade had with a cat was the stray by his apartment that would hiss and scratch at him or anyone who got close. This cat also looks like it might kill him if he looks at it wrong, but for some reason seems extremely determined to get inside.

Wade tries explaining that the apartment is full and really can’t hold another living being in it and is already at max capacity. Well. If Logan comes back.

The trek back took significantly longer as a cat Logan can’t really go anywhere else that is walking distance. Figuring out how to convince Wad to let him in is his best bet. But being sweet has never been his strong suit so Wade ends up closing the door on him. (Apparently getting angry and hissing doesn’t convince someone to let you inside).

Logan tries a couple more ways to break in but ultimately has to spend the night outside. He sleeps on the balcony and glares daggers through the window at Wade. It only makes Wade sure he’s been cursed by a witch and the cat was sent to finish him off.

When Logan doesn’t come back in his human form Wade begins to lose hope. Abandonment issues come out to play. He’s been waiting for the shoe to drop anyway.

He goes out to smoke and Logan hops up on the roof to join him (and convince him to let him inside). He attempts to bribe Wade into keeping him with cat affection, despite his reluctance. And Wade has never met a more confusing cat that purrs when he brushes up against him but will scratch and bite if Wade pets him. Logan sits on Wade’s lap but lets out a low growl of Wade attempts to touch.

They have a sweet moment but Wade goes back inside with a “sorry kitty. I don’t have a litter box.” And leaves Logan out on the balcony.

Next day no luck. Logan’s considering seriously walking to the mansion. But he’s struggling being a cat. He doesn’t have his claws and he has to find food in the city. He also doesn’t know if he has his healing factor and doesn’t want to risk it. There’s also all these new cat instincts he has to get used to.

At night he gets cornered by some dogs and chased. Logan runs to the apartment by habit and gets cornered at the door. Wade opens the door at Mary Puppins barking and sees Logan is hurt. Shoos away the dogs and brings him inside.

He realizes the cat is healing l- mutant cat!! And thus prompts Wade to keep him. The cat also reminds Wade of Logan so he can’t say no a third time when Logan jumps up on the couch and sits there like it’s his spot.

After that, cue cat shenanigans and Logan trying and falling to communicate to Wade that he’s trapped in cat from. All the while Wade slips into a depression at the fact that Logan took off without saying anything. And Logan ends up comforting Wade and learning that physical affection isn’t so bad.

Laura adores the cat obviously and it’s her idea to take him to the mansion where they ultimately figure out it’s Logan and reverse the spell.

Wade and Logan are obviously twisted up in knots about the bonding and cute cuddling (and also Wade rambled a lot about Logan and how he felt about him).

I’ll probably never write it but I think about it from time to time.

[chirpycloudyrobin]

Masterlist || START || Next

im just thinking abt an au where wwx actually did die at the burial mounds but him surviving long enough there and even pioneering a new branch of cultivation to do so was enough to punt his ghost straight up to wrath rank. however he is unaware that hes actually dead since hes too focused on his goal to absolutely decimate wen chao to pay attention to his bodily functions/needs or lack thereof.

everyone else gets this feeling that something is off with wwx but they figure its just heebie jeebies from the demonic cultivation. it's only until wwx went back to the burial mounds with the wen remnants that it sinks in that hes dead. but then he realises that if this gets out, the cultivation world will be hunting for his head more viciously so he keeps this very tightly under wraps. all this secret keeping and exhaustion and starvation just makes wwx a teensy bit more volatile but at least he has his own little family to keep him sane.

until shit starts to go downhill. and it just keeps on going. until everyone is gone and hes the only one left standing and he needs to destroy the stupid fucking seal and keep the others from discovering where he hid a-yuan so he takes his chances and pours his everything into destroying the seal. except this time hes a little more powerful than he wouldve been if he was mortal and he levels part of the burial mounds before he went. and thus was the last of wwx.

or was it ?

the world believes wwx to be dead ("good riddance") but actually hes still kicking and in a more incorporeal form. he had to retreat somewhere deep in the burial mounds to recover and thus was unable to see that lwj had come back and taken a severely feverish a-yuan with him. wwx thinks everyone is dead and gone and everything was all for naught so he stews in his mistakes and tries to repent while stitching himself back together.

sometime after, he ends up in mount tonglu which was reopened because the aftershocks of the destruction of the stygian tiger seal were strong enough to disturb mount tonglu's magma chamber of resentment basically. so for ~12 years wwx was in there fighting his way thru which was why he didnt answer to lwj's calls

wwx survives as the last standing ghost after the slaughter and stews in the kiln for another month and a half or so. this would be around the time mxy is preparing to summon wwx's ghost for the summoning.

so imagine wwx just came out of the thing as a newly minted supreme/ghost king and hes immediately yanked to where mxy is. wwx's soul isnt stuffed into mxy's newly-emptied physical body since hes a ghost king this time around. still, he helps mxy but in the shadows bc hes still not keen on getting yoinked just when he returned to the mortal world.

everything proceeds as canon, with wwx sharing mxy's body via possession at some points for the comedy gold and the bit (because he would !! let the man be silly)

after that he absolutely yanks mxy outta there after lwj arrives (just after he spends like 5 minutes staring at lwj's beauty of course) and decides hes gonna adopt this sad little wet cat and teach him the actual proper ways of cultivation and steer him away from demonic cultivation bc tbh it's just not worth it esp since mxy has a golden core and who knows how demonic cultivation will affect a golden core-

anyways

wwx decides to do a silly little makeover so he wouldnt be recognised by any of his old acquaintances. his new appearance ends up a weird lil mix between himself and mxy, enough to claim that theyre distant cousins and normal rogue cultivators just starting out. wwx plans on taking his new charge around the country and away from the sects after he learned the godawful way the lanling jin have treated mxy

"single parenthood will be hard, but this father will make sure you get the best life on the road, my sweet little loquat." "you barely look older than me to be my father, wei-qianbei" "shush let me have this"

their traveling is off to a good start. but then dafan mountain happens and holy shit wen ning is still alive(?? technically ??) and holy shit why the fuck is everyone from wwx's previous life gathering here and holy shit did he just insult his shijie's son and-

why the fuck are they going with the gusu lan cultivators

what the fuck just happened

what

anyways

wwx introduces himself as a golden core-less distant mo cousin ("had an unfortunate run-in with the core melting hand back then") who used to be a rogue cultivator back in the day and is now dabbling with the art of talisman making and definitely isnt practicing demonic cultivation no siree

somehow he and mxy end up separated as lwj and wwx go to investigate the severed arm together and mxy ends up going w the juniors with a lil encouragement from wwx

"youll have a better time socialising with people your age, little loquat" "wei-qianbei plz ,,, u just want to go w hanguang-jun alone dont u" "lmao hahahahah who said that"

wwx is absolutely having the time of his life roleplaying a damsel in distress while being completely oblivious to the bone chilling fear he induces in their undead opponents. he invents silly little talismans to help hanguang-jun in battle. hes a little perplexed at how much shit lwj is letting him get away with.

hes also 90% sure lwj has figured out that hes a ghost and hes sweating like a sinner in church deep inside

i havent thought of much past this but heres some more tidbits of info that i thought about

at some point wwx is made aware of his infamy as the "Devil Flute Upon Graves". his self destruction at the burial mounds wiped out most of the vengeful ghosts in that area and, as mentioned before, shook mount tonglu w enough resentful energy to bust it open

wwx has an army of ghostly corvids that are essentially made of condensed resentful energy. they are also sort of empathetically connected to him ??? so theyre also chatty, yappy things who are extra fond of lwj and the junior ducklings

actually wwx's entire being post-supreme promotion is just condensed resentful/yin energy and being in his presence should be dangerous for regular ppl and cultivators alike but (a) he has mastered the art of keeping the effects contained within himself and (b) existing within the same space as lwj and doing their everyday means that their yin and yang energy are constantly balancing each other out to the point where it just naturally and passively happens. lwj literally dampens wwx's natural heebie jeebie vibes bc of good dick

because hes made up of yin energy, this does mean that it's ridiculously easy for him to switch back and forth between a male and female form. he usually ends up walking around in an androgynous form that leans towards a healthier, happier looking yiling laozu

VERY IMPORTANT ADDITION: yes ofc wwx gives lwj his ashes. it's in the form of an ornament. idk where to hang it tho. maybe wangji-guqin ? or his belt ? still debating on it for sure

the burial mounds are regarded in the ghost realm as his territory now and the ghost realm and heavenly court wait w baited breath to see what this new ghost king would do

the answer is he gallivants all over the damn continent with his new cultivator husband and their gaggle of children. wwx really dgaf about anything else really, he just wants to be Wife and Teacher

the wen remnants are given a second chance at life by wwx himself after the second siege of the burial mounds and they now live a happy afterlife at wwx's new ghost town where their old settlement used to be

he and hua cheng get along by virtue of being former street kids who just want to hang out w their godly spouses and their conversations together are just praise after praise for said godly spouses

wwx's birbs do eat hua cheng's butterflies and it's a frequent point of contention. no harm is done to the butterflies tho, the birbs just spit them out whole bc they taste absolutely nasty/poisonous

wwx 🤝 xie lian : little to no self-preservation instincts. they just want to help people okay !!

after the entire guanyin temple ordeal wwx ends up with a worshipped godly aspect whose primary place of worship is in yiling, who still remember the yiling laozu who just wanted to help his little family survive to the next day. to them, wwx became the god of innovation, ingenuity, and protection

he also becomes the patron god of street children ??? he just finds himself helping street kiddos and taking in vengeful ghost children because it was what he needed back when he was a kid okay ??? hes just using his powers for good, thats all

mxy is taken in by the gusu lan clan where he ends up become a promising candidate as a talisman master, thanks to wwx's encouragement and guidance

also !! it turns out more than a couple of other ppl ascended into the heavenly court, namely:

- jiang yanli ascended as the new water master, while jin zixuan became a martial god. shes a goddess of abundance, the home, and reconciliation. hes a god of wealth, fortune, and justice - nie mingjue also ascended to become a martial god after his spirit was laid to rest. he was supposed to ascend naturally but jin guangyao's bullshit derailed his fate. - wen qing ascended to become a medical master/goddess of medicine and sacrifice tho shes also kind of infamous for her friendship with devil flute upon graves. but nobody can say shit cz if they do say shit then they wld also be saying shit abt hualian and they dont want to deal with two calamities up their ass

thats all i can yap abt rn but i might add more we dunno

[twilightofthesandwiches]

I'm pretty sure my very first post about 'Fionna and Cake' was about pointing out this line in "Fionna Campbell"

Is a reference to "I Remember You", where Marceline said that very same line to Ice King

At the time I just took it as another little bit of Foreshadowing for the connection between Fionnaworld and Simon.

But now that we've established a bit more about Cake's plights, and I started thinking more about this... I wonder if this line is meant to highlight the ways in which Simon's struggles under the Curse of the Magic Crown and Cake's struggles after having her Magic taken away from her kinda mirror each other.

You know, turning into Ice King took away Simon's mind and ability to reason (by pumping his brain full of Madness and Sadness) and his ability to communicate (by tanking his already-kinda-awkward communication skills) and even kinda took away his body.

And becoming an ordinary cat did all of these things for Cake as well - took away her mind and ability to reason (by giving her an intelligence closer to a regular housecat) and her ability to communicate (by making her unable to speak or even comprehend human speech)

And taking away her voice and the Stretchy body that is clearly the one she feels most comfortable with.

And ... so what happened in that scene back in IRY is Ice King, in the middle of writing a love song about Princess Bubblegum, suddenly has a moment of Clarity about how lonely and miserable he is. Enough Clarity to know that he's unfathomably sad and that there's something Wrong with him that's sabotaging all of his relationship - but not enough clarity to know what it is. So he just... has a total breakdown

Lashing out and throwing ice magic anywhere. Then Marceline, uncomfortable and worried about Ice King's behavior, tackles him and says the Line.

Meanwhile, in the first episode of 'Fionna and Cake'...

Both Fionna and Cake feel like there's something off about their lives, But Fionna can at least articulate it better as like, general ennui or a quarter-life crisis, rather than Cake's little housecat mind not really comprehending or capable of fully expressing what she's feeling at all.

Leading to concerning behavior such as her apparently not eating for the last three days.

And suddenly, she has her moment of Clarity. She sees these Portal Sparkles and she seems to know on some level that they'll do something good for her. Especially as she tries to shove her head in the ice

And later is shown obsessed with ice in general - even without the sparkles directly being around.

On some level, Cake understands the mechanics of the Portal Sparkles better than Fionna does - but on all other levels she's still a housecat and probably has no idea what is going on with her own mind as well.

And from Fionna's perspective she's just acting weird and spreading ice all over the house and lashing out at her in her confusion over her own feelings.

I think, perhaps whatever part of Simon's subconscious has subtle control over Fionnaworld noticed the similarities between Cake's situation and his own memories of being the Ice King - and thus, Marceline's old words coming out of Fionna's mouth.

The similarities don't end there, either. Cake and Simon both have to go through a lot grief with people still treating them as their old selves. General folks in Ooo treating Simon like Ice King

And Fionna's tendency to be overprotective of Cake even though Cake is now an incredibly OP shapeshifter and Fionna's still just an athletic human

And to speak for her even though she can speak for herself now

And sometimes kinda condescending to her about her own judgement

All make Cake feel, and not unjustifiably so, that Fionna still sees her as her old self, as a Housecat. She literally says so in the same episode where Fionna and Cake's friendship is tested the most.

And Cake's anxious desire to bring Magic into her world even after it was confirmed that she can at least stay as herself in Fionnaworld, I think that's also a mirror of Simon's anxieties. Simon felt like he, an ordinary non-magical man, could never truly fit in within the wacky and magical world of Ooo

And Cake might've been afraid of the same being true in reverse about being a Magical Cat in the least Magical world in the whole multiverse. At the very least she must've been worried about being forced to pretend to be a non-magical cat again like Simon tried to make her do back in Farmworld.

(Remember how her failure to pull this off almost got her eaten?)

And in the end, the resolution to both of these mirror dilemma was... kind of the same? Well, sort of. Fionnaworld now has a bit more of the Magic and Weirdness in it but it's not like Simon made Mainworld Ooo less wacky. But even with that extra bit of Multiverse Wackiness going on in Fionnaworld now... if the Normal Guy can get along among the strange and magical creatures

The Magical Cat can get along with all the normal and mundane people.

[frootloopscos]

Grim starts bidding war for Yuu’s hand in marriage ;3

Oh hohoho, I couldn’t help it and had to write this!

Grim steals your phone and starts a bidding war!

Yuu held Grim by his scruff as they yelled at him, “why in the name of the Seven would you do that?!” Grim whined, struggling in your grasp, “I wanted more tunaaaaa! And the dumb headmage doesn’t pay you anything!” He said crossing his arms, “now you have marriage proposals and money! What more could you want?” Grim asked Yuu as they stared at him with murderous intent.

“How many times do I have to remind you that I’m not from this world, I have no documentation I belong here.” Yuu said before dropping the cat to the floor. Now I have to go clean your mess and explain to everyone that that bidding was fake!”

Or at least

That’s what they tried to do

But Crowley being the “kind” headmage he is decided that no! The bidding shall go on, and whoever puts in the highest bid gets to keep Yuu in their dorm (with the addition of bragging rights)!

So here Yuu was standing in front of ramshackle with everything packed up and hiding behind Professor Crewel who had tried to intervene to no avail and thus instead was there to protect the Prefect of Ramshackle incase anything were to go wrong. Crowley stood proudly next to the two with an envelope in hand, “and without further ado, the winner of the prefect is….”

—————

GUESS WHOS FUCKING BACK BITCHES!

This is gonna be a short mini Sires with the dorm leaders (as I write and post the results of each I’ll link them in here as well) to rid my writers block!

(Everyone say thank you to King and the anons who entered my ask box while I was on break!)

Posted: May 13th, 2024

Edited: N/A

Tag list: @naompspsps @bagofburntcreampuffs @lemon-koii @bluerosegardens @lost-woods-rabbit @friskybee @amebaby @transriddlerosehearts @imhere2dosomething @g0ul666 @stupidneko

Want to be added to the taglist?

[hellaverse-reimagined]

Husker: Reimagined

Character critique + explanation under the cut:

Husker is my 2nd least favorite Hazbin Hotel design, right after the radio demon himself. Husker’s design, however, ranks #1 as the most frustrating, based on this origin and the executive decisions made.

Throughout the wiki, Vivziepop is quoted referring to Husk as a “magician”, but watching the show, we don’t get that at all, not even from his design, which while it showcases a lot of card suits, still invokes more of a casino/gambler vibe than a magician. Even when he used playing cards as weapons in episode 4, it still came across as more of a gambling thing than a magician thing to me, so I am approaching Husk from more of the casino angle, with magic tricks being a footnote in his abilities.

I like how Husk is characterized as a “husk of his former self�� - a dry-humored, secretly empathetic straight-man who’s good at reading people, all which are well-presented in the show. I think that he’s used too much as a tool for lazy expositing by the writers, so my version of Husk will be more of the strong silent type who is only speaks intentionally, besides grumpy grumbles.

As for his design, the magician/casino thing feels tacked on considering that he was originally an oc gifted to Vivziepop by her younger sister, favoring nostalgia over effective character design.

His design doesn’t feel like a professional character design, it feels like a professional deviantart OC. Not to imply that I am a professional, but I do believe that Vivziepop has poor and tacky character design sensibilities.

Besides his real-world origin, being a winged cat doesn’t seem to have anything substantial to do with the way Husk lived or died besides “hating cats” and a possible “death by falling” which feels so tacked on and lacking creativity, which is why I have opted to make Husk a manticore from myth and legend, to make sense of these design elements from his official design.

I chose to make Husk a manticore bc in my iteration, I see him being a ruthless casino owner with possible mob affiliations in life, reduced to simply being a gambler in Hell, where he regained power by dealing in souls which ultimately became his undoing.

The Manticore of myth is described as a man eater that swallows people whole, even the bones, which I think in this case could be a tongue in cheek way for how he treated people in life as a ruthless casino owner.

I think that gambling away his soul to Alastor would be humbling and would have helped him gain some perspective with how his victims felt in life and death, making him more quiet and withdrawn as a result, speaking only when he feels necessary. This makes what he does say have more weight, making interactions feel more meaningful when he opts to speak.

My biggest gripe with Husk, of course, is that he is voiced by Kieth David. Husk’s official design is not something befitting the voice of Kieth David. I suspect they cast him mainly for his singing voice, as the majority of VAs trying out for the role were only doing Rick from Rick and Morty impressions, as according to the wiki, Vivziepop cited Rick Sanchez as inspiration for how she’d like his voice to sound like. I don’t think Rick would fit either for the modern Husk, but his voice would definitely befit the original DeviantArt design.

Thus I decided to make a design for Husk that would be befitting for the voice talents of Kieth David, opting for a heavier, more boxy design, with 70’s inspired clothing (the era he supposedly died). I used more oranges and yellows for his color palette to cite his sins of Gluttony (orange) and Greed (Yellow/Gold), while also throwing in some green sheen in his black dragon wings and scorpion tail, to balance the everything out. I kept the tophat as I think Alastor would force him to wear it to hide the only part of Husker’s demon form that he actually likes about himself- his coif of hair (as seen in the flashback in Episode 4). Alastor would do this as a silly way to torment him.

I also kept his suspenders, and kept the card suits motif but much more subtly. The clasps on his suspenders are diamonds, his nose is an upside-down spade, the tufts on his ears and the white patch on his chin are vaguely heart-shaped, and I plan to make his paw pads resemble clubs. Not pictured is an Ace of Hearts tucked away in the brim of his hat.

I dont know how big or tall to make him, but I do want him to hold an imposing figure when compared to anyone sitting down at his bar. His wingspan is definitely going to be bigger than in his official design.

I personally am not a big HuskerDust fan, simply because I see them having as having a mentor/student relationship, with Husk being a glimpse into Angel’s future if he continues down his self-destructive path, and with Angel being a symbol of hope for the future for this old grizzled man.

Also, you can’t tell from the show, but Husk is canonically supposed to be in his 60’s??? I look to rectify that with visible crow’s feet and wrinkles when he emotes.

That is all I have for now, here is a bonus Husk drawing as a thank you for reading this far 🙌

Likes + reblogs appreciated 🧡💛❤️

[sparkly-sediment]

Tf2 Mercs Weedequitte

Asks are open my little giggle biscuits!

Scout

He hands that joint back WET

Slobber dripping off the sides, the tips cold when you go to take a puff, and you can see the corner of his mouth glisten

If Scout ever got high he would have munchies and get scared. He would have to go outside and walk around, maybe even hug a tree for comfort

Coughing and gagging in the most annoying way possible. Like that one cat picture with its protruding tongue and watery eyes void of complex thought

Scout couldn’t handle a bong. Just couldn’t. Stick to a cold can of bang! He might try to make a bong outta a bang can, but he won’t figure it out

Soldier

Do not give him weed.

Do not give him anything.

Dont give him any drug hes insane nuts bonkers and, yes, even bananas

He took acid once by mistake. Ended up in Europe a year after the war ended

Soldier is borderline on a good day but king will spiral into a drug induced psychosis. There will be bugs, skin, and a whole lot of paperwork for Medic

Wouldn’t even smoke he’s a total fucking narc too

Says devils lettuce

Demoman

Uses every weed euphemism known to man

Mary J is his fav. Kush, grass, gas, doubie, all of them

Approaches Sniper while the poor bastard making his trek between camper and civilization. Demo does an insinuating chuckle and says, ‘let’s make love to that wee lass Mary J’

Sniper starts running

He prefers drinking but this guy smoked some grass back in the day. Doesn’t fuck around and can pass a blunt without falling out

In half baked, Demo is the guy who gets munchies and accidentally kills the horse

Will smoke with Sniper and always provides what he can or hits a curtesy role, but he doesn’t pursue weed much and if snipes didn’t share, probably wouldn’t smoke

It does help the pain from his missing eye!

Pyro

One time, he got wild.

Pyro burned down an entire pot grow and was absolutely spazzing off that za rolling his way down the mountain

They were on the astral plane the entire hike down. Pyro crashed through the trees, crawled, laughed hysterically, cried, and vomited. Pyro drank water from a creek thinking it was the fountain of immortality

Pyro befrinded a squirrle named Banabo Jo. He knew Jo and knew his people were wise and brave. Banabo Jo recognized Pyro’s mystical capabilities and ability to see beyond, thus creating a mutual respect and brotherhood.

Banabo Jo guided Pyro from the mountain top and into the Heart of the Valley. He watched over as Pyro awaited rescue and gave the sacred squirrel farewell through the van window

(hypersensitive to drug induced psychosis)

Heavy

Rolls a blunt on Medic’s back and smokes it while they fuck

Smokes weed but only pipes. Very rarely will roll with paper, typically in the aforementioned situation

He can do some of the smoke tricks like puffing out O’s. He cannot french inhale and tbh has a chronic stuffy nose 😏

Medic

Wholeheartedly believe in and support the usage of medical marijuana

Smoked a little weed in university, but his classmates were too scared of him to invite him to the smoke sesh

He kinda gives off narc vibes!! Completely chill though, unless he could gain from blackmailing you

Asks if Sniper wants to puff and Sniper is shocked! Medic uses pompous words like oder tho and not the German oder

Arches his back so Heavy can sprinkle some flower on him for the roll-hole ritual

Engineer

Scene in Top Gun, “we’re in the spirit world asshole!” HIM OKAY HIM

Builds intricate and sick as fuck bong structures, dab rigs, and some real crazy stoner shit.

He love getting blazed and tinker with something, but that did cost him the tip of his pinkie finger

He’s a lightweight and really just skims a hit or two and bounces

Totally hotboxes that fucking workshop

Spy

He’s a classy kind of smoker

No weed inside, at least not his house. Very discreet about it and even if he was just in the world’s foggiest hotbox, he would never snell like week

No weed smell ever it’s incredible

Mainly sticks to cigarettes but he will smoke with Sniper.

Smoking, whether it be weed or cigarettes, is a form of foreplay for them fr

He never has cotton mouth either

Sniper!!

Save the best for last bc he is a canon pothead

Sniper just tries to be a chill guy. Go to work, fire a gun, smoke some weed. Would he like more? Sure. But is he okay where he’s at? Good enough

The first to discover his gardening habit was Spy. The whole breaking and entering thing really gives away secrets

Sniper has SO MUCH TEA. Various team members come to him and smoke, which is cool with him. He prefers when they replenish his stash, though. Or at least give him something in return

When they smoke they also complain. Inhibitions are dropped and suddenly Sniper knows that Demo is pissed at Medic for not letting him drink rubbing alcohol, every though Demo knew it would kill him, because he and Pyro were trying to light a burp on fire

He only enjoys smoking with Spy and Ms. Pauling. Pauling is fun and they talk mad shit together, maybe do something stupid on a minor scale

Spy and Sniper venture into the bush if yk what im saying. Weed is just kinda a plus but Spy can get too zesty sometimes

[amerricanartwork]

RW Headcanon: Know the Difference! | An Overview of Quetzalli's Slugcats

Here’s a headcanon I’ve wanted to elaborate on for a while, and today I finally felt compelled to make it real! Also, just a disclaimer I am not a huge biology nerd nor have I studied it that heavily, so I apologize if something here doesn’t make sense or if I get something wrong. I just like fantasy worldbuilding from time to time, and I always like trying to make sense of things I’m interested in!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Basically, I’m in the crowd that interprets slugcats as mustelids rather than literal slugs. When I say this, however I don’t mean that slugcats would necessarily be classified in the actual mustelidae family, seeing as Rain World’s world is most-likely not Earth and therefore our taxonomic classifications and phylogenetic relations can’t necessarily apply. Thus, when I call them “mustelids”, I really just mean that I imagine them as some kind of weasel with all the necessary physical traits to earn that general label. 

The first half of the name “slugcat”, in my headcanon, is thus not referring to any literal connection to slugs or other mollusks, but is instead derived simply from their appearance. Due to their long ears and thick tail, and because their fur and fat often squishes together in such a way that it makes their features blend together and their bodies appear more smooth (it’s the same physics as that whole “cats are liquid” idea), the general silhouette of a slugcat can easily be likened to that of a literal slug. The second half of their name is also not literal, and instead refers to their jumping and acrobatic abilities and their skill in hunting and pouncing on small prey, which is very similar to that of small cats.

Species Overview

Now to give a little more detail on slugcats themselves as a species! I headcanon them as small to medium-sized mammals most similar to Earth weasels in both their biology and their ecological niche, who originally served as cute low-maintenance pets for the Ancients and as hunters of small pests in facilities on the ground. They’re clever by nature and good at fitting through tight spaces, and later on they evolved greater jumping abilities to pounce on prey. They’re also very social creatures, who’ve taken to forming medium to large colonies primarily in and around the massive trees that thrive between the cracks in iterators’ rainstorm areas (like the one Gourmand, Survivor, and Monk’s colony lives in). Due to this social nature they also generally travel in groups of at least two, both for company and protection against tougher animals. Travel partners are usually siblings or good friends, and sometimes even whole families will journey out together to find food and other resources for the rest of the colony.

Despite being a small prey animal, slugcats have managed to get by not only due to their intelligence — the evolution of which would be seen as a rather unexpected twist of events if you asked their creators, for the Ancients found them cute but rather simple — but because of their impressive adaptability. It’s similar to that of real life red foxes and pigeons, and it allows them to survive decently well even in less ideal environments; a trait especially necessary for a world as industrialized as this one, even if its people are gone and most of the machinery is inactive. As such not all colonies live in trees; some find homes in the abandoned facilities, large underground hollows, and a few bold colonies have even claimed territories high up in iterator cities alongside scavengers. Slugcats are opportunists and masters at making the best of their surroundings, yet even beyond that they carry a certain other, “special” ability of their own that makes them as diverse as they are clever. But that’s a headcanon for another day…

Reasoning

Now for some out-of-universe explanation for this classification choice. I’ve always seen slugcats as some kind of small scurrying mammal (kind of a bias on my part, I just like mammals honestly, and they’re most familiar to me), mainly due to the way they look and move when on all fours, and their place in the game’s food chain. Originally though I saw them as rodents and compared them to mice and rats, which I still sometimes use for anatomy reference for these creatures. But one day a friend of mine saw me drawing slugcats and thought they were weird ferrets, and the more I thought about it and the more I developed personal speculative biology headcanons for slugcats, the more that label seemed the most fitting for them. It was also solidified when I did a bit more research and realized the main characteristic of rodents is their buck teeth, which just didn’t seem to fit with how I perceived slugcats. Not to mention rodents aren’t really predator animals, and slugcats’ implied natural diet and the gameplay itself does strongly imply if not confirm they have some instinctive hunting ability. 

Thus, it seemed “weasel” was the best classification for these creatures, and I quite like it so far! Once again it satisfies my mammal preference, but I also just think it’s a fun idea that neither part of the “slugcat” name is literal, similar to a lot of real-life creatures named after completely different animals, including fellow weasel, the polecat. Plus, I realized recently it’s kind of ironic with how I perceive the messenger slugcats, Hunter and Spearmaster, as being like hunting or guard dogs for their creators, when weasels are exactly the kind of animal humans with their dogs would normally hunt for! It’s cute, it’s familiar, it’s fun, yet I think it still has just as much potential for some interesting speculative biology ideas as the literal slug slugcat interpretations!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I'm so glad to finally get this out! I like seeing specbio slugcat headcanons in the RW fandom, yet I haven't seen many more in-depth takes from artists who don't take the "slugcats are literal slugs/mollusks/primarily mollusk-based" angle. Not that that's a bad headcanon of course; do what you think feels right! But once again I personally prefer slugcats being mammals, and I always look for fan-content that's as close to my personal preferences as possible. And when I can't find enough of it, I make it myself!

So hopefully this serves as a bit more of that kind of representation for the mustelid slugcat interpretation. It at least helped me develop my own idea of the species a bit more; much of that stuff in the overview part was ideas I came up with while typing this whole headcanon out!

As always, I hope you enjoy this headcanon of mine! I've still got so many ideas to develop and share, and even more coming as I continue to ponder these characters and their stories, so as long as you guys still like these Rain World headcanons of mine, they'll keep coming!

[daethvalley-sims]

ARCANA LEGACY CHALLENGE

Hello!! I started putting this challenge together back in March when I played Persona 3 Reload and made that my entire personality for a while. I'm a master procrastinator so I didn't get much down at first other than a vague outline but I'm SOOOO glad I waited because the Lovestruck and Life & Death packs have added SO MUCH to this challenge. Really it was the release of Life & Death and the tarot theme of the pack that inspired me to come back to this and it ends the challenge so nicely. I'm obsessed.

This is a 14 generation legacy challenge with each gen representing one of the first 14 of the 22 major arcana cards, beginning with The Fool and ending your journey with Death.

Anyway... below's the rules. If you play this I'd really love to see so please tag me here or on bluesky (daethvalley.bsky.social) !!

Updates:

8/12/2024: The Fool can now get jobs to be able to complete the Renaissance Sim aspiration.

Generation 0: The Fool

Young and vulnerable, you have not yet experienced any of life’s challenges, and thus embrace all that lies ahead without fear or worry.

Your founder will begin as a Young Adult with §0 and nothing to their name besides the clothes they’re wearing and the companion at their side. Representing the start of your journey, the Fool generation will lay the foundations of hopefully a long standing and successful legacy. 

Generation Rules: 

Create a new Sim. The only limitations are that they must have the Kleptomaniac, Goofball and Cat/Dog Lover traits and the Chief of Mischief aspiration. Their gender, appearance, likes/dislikes and turn ons/offs are all up to you. If you choose to download a Sim from the gallery, they must be a blank slate with no skills, milestones, or achievements. 

Your sim must start the game with or adopt a fluffy companion - Cat or Dog is up to you (a Dog is suggested) and the corresponding Cat/Dog Lover trait. 

Move into an empty lot. The location is up to you (you’ll only spend one generation here) and once moved in, cheat your money down to §0.

There are no rules about how you make or spend money other than you must never reach higher than level 3 in a career. 

Complete the Chief of Mischief aspiration. 

Complete the Renaissance Sim aspiration. 

Purchase the Brave trait from the Rewards Store (8,000 satisfaction points)

Have at least one child (this is a legacy after all!) and have the best relationship with them. 

Marriage is optional but only after completing your aspirations. 

Swipe an object every time you leave your home lot.

Master at least one instrument.

The Fool embraces anything and everything that life throws at them. Accept all self discovery moments. 

Traits: Kleptomaniac, Goofball, Cat/Dog Lover

Aspiration: Chief of Mischief AND Renaissance Sim 

Max skills: Mischief, one instrument. 

Career: Various

Generation 1: The Magician

Raised by the Fool, you see the potential of the world laid ahead of you. You feel a spiritual calling to the Magic Realm and determination to do whatever it takes to master its sacred power. 

Generation Rules:

Leave home as a teen and move to Glimmerbrook and become a Spellcaster via completing the Rite of Ascension ritual at the magic realm. 

Drop out of high school to focus on your magical studies.

Complete the Spellcaster skill tree and become a magical Virtuoso.

Have at least one child with one of the Sages (don’t move in with them as they will lose Sage status). 

Never marry.

Embrace the power of crystals and master Gemology to manipulate your abilities and moods.

Complete both your chosen Spellcaster aspiration and Crystal Crafter.

Traits:  Childish, Creative, Self-Assured

Character values: Irresponsible

Aspiration: Spellcraft & Sorcery OR Purveyor of Potions, Crystal Crafter

Max skills: Gemology

Career: Freelance: sell your crystal creations! 

Generation 2: The High Priestess

Your parent, the Magician, achieved the greatest heights of the Magic Realm. Inheriting the intuition and knowledge of a Sage you seek enlightenment: serenity, acceptance, and a peaceful life. 

Generation Rules: 

Leave Glimmerbrook and move somewhere peaceful. 

Don’t contact your parents after you leave - they’re in another realm! 

Start afresh: Complete the Inner Peace aspiration and gain a clear perspective. 

Get married and have at least one child with any sim. 

At least one child must be born a Spellcaster, that is your heir. 

Coach and guide others to achieve enlightenment as you have by completing the Zen Guru aspiration. 

Remain a Spellcaster but never use your abilities. 

Never use any Mean or Mischief interactions.

Traits: Proper, Neat, Squeamish

Character values: Emotional Control

Aspiration: Inner Peace AND Zen Guru

Max skills: Wellness

Career: Any 

Generation 3: The Empress

You are a 3rd generation Spellcaster, not that you’ve ever had a connection to the Magic Realm. Still, your strong magical bloodline connects you to the elements and the natural world. You bring life - a large, happy family and a flourishing garden. 

Generation Rules:

Complete your childhood aspiration (you choose which!) 

Never use your Spellcaster abilities.

Move to Henford-On-Bagley and embrace the simple way of living. Your home must have the Simple Living lot trait applied.

Grow your own food, and keep farm animals for milk, eggs, and wool. 

Get married to any sim. 

Complete the Freelance Botanist aspiration.

Progress through the Big Happy Family aspiration up to Loving Guardian. 

Have at least 3 children. 

Any child not born as a Spellcaster is eligible to be heir.

Traits: Family Oriented, Generous, Loves Outdoors

Character values: Compassionate

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist AND Big Happy Family (up to Loving Guardian level)

Optional university degree: Biology

Max skills: Gardening, Parenting

Career: PhD of Pollen (Gardener - Botanist branch) 

Generation 4: The Emperor

The magical abilities that ran through your family lineage have been lost. You are left with a natural born ability to lead and easily gain the respect of those around you. With strong family values instilled upon you from an early age, you respect authority, and command the same in return. A figure of strength to many, it’s up to you to solve the mystery surrounding the small desert town you moved to after joining the military. 

Generation Rules: 

Complete the Playtime Captain childhood aspiration. 

Complete the Leader of the Pack aspiration while in high school.

Early graduation is allowed if Leader of the Pack aspiration completed. 

Do not attend university. 

Move to Strangerville immediately after high school graduation and join the Military career. 

Fall in love with a local and get married before fighting the final boss - you never know what could happen. 

Solve the Strangerville Mystery and become a local hero! 

Have at least 2 children. 

Be a diligent parent - all children must gain the Top-Notch Infant/ Toddler traits, have a strict family dynamic, and they all must gain at least 2 positive character value traits. Any child with the Responsible trait is eligible to be heir. 

Purchase the Mentor trait from the rewards store and mentor your heir in Charisma. 

Traits: Hot Headed, Glutton, Insider

Character values: Mediator

Aspiration: Leader of the Pack AND Strangerville Mystery

Max skills: Fitness, Charisma

Career: Grand Marshal (Military - Officer branch) 

Generation 5: The Hierophant

Your parent taught you absolutely everything you’d need to know, and as a result you’ve grown into an equally diligent sim. Drawn to knowledge over strength, you studied hard and under the mentorship of your parent, became a master orator. Beloved by all, it was inevitable you’d be voted in as the National Leader. However, romance wasn’t something that interested you, and your work responsibilities left you little time for the one child you did have. 

Generation Rules: 

Complete the Admired Icon aspiration while in high school. 

Attend university and complete a Distinguished Degree in History. 

Join the Debate Guild at UBrite and reach Level 3.

Max Research & Debate skill before graduating university. 

Move to San Myshuno and join the Politician career. 

Work from home and complete the active work tasks at least twice per week. 

Never have woohoo or a romantic relationship.

Have one child only, either through adoption, science baby, or alien abduction. 

Have a full staff - nanny, maid, chef, gardener (if applicable). They will raise your child. 

Live in a Penthouse by the end of the generation. 

Achieve the Wise trait if played until Elder. 

Be acquaintances only with your child. 

Traits: Ambitious, Outgoing, Unflirty

Character values: Responsible

Aspiration: Admired Icon AND Friend of the World

Max skills: Charisma, Research & Debate

Career: National Leader (Politician - Politician branch) 

Generation 6: The Lovers

You lacked attention as a child, and as an adult crave affection more than anything. Where better to find it than the City of Love itself? Your rich, sheltered upbringing has left you naive and sadly you had to kiss a few frogs before you found your prince.

Generation Rules: 

Perform averagely in school.

Do not attend university.

Move to Ciudad Enamorada as a Young Adult.

Join the Barista career.

Have a toxic relationship with a bad/ awful compatibility sim. Get engaged but NOT married.

Leave your toxic ex and explore your options by completing the Paragon Partner aspiration.

Quit your job as a Barista and join the Romance Consultant career.

Meet The One and complete the Soulmate aspiration.

Have at least one child. 

Be a loving but ineffective parent - never use discipline.

Any child with the Irresponsible trait is eligible to be heir.

Traits: Lovebug, High Maintenance, Jealous

Character values: Uncontrolled Emotions

Aspiration: Paragon Partner AND Soulmate

Max skills: Romance

Career: Certified Dating Specialist (Romance Consultant - Matchmaker branch) 

Generation 7: The Chariot

Your parents loved you, but you were still left to find your own way. You were a daredevil child and carried your bravery and willpower into adulthood, determined to achieve a feat no sim had managed before. 

Generation Rules: 

Complete the Mind and Body aspiration as a child. 

Complete the Live Fast aspiration as a teen. 

Move to Mt Komorebi and take up Rock Climbing AND either Snowboarding or Skiing. 

Complete the Extreme Sports Enthusiast aspiration.

Lead a mountain excursion (solo or with another sim) and reach the peak of Mt Komorebi. 

Staying in Mt Komorebi after completing the excursion is optional!

Only join a career after completing the Mt Komorebi excursion. Part time jobs are ok before that. 

Marriage is optional.

Have at least one child - your heir must grow up with the Responsible and Mediator traits. 

Traits: Self Assured, Adventurous, Practice Makes Perfect

Character values: Irresponsible

Aspiration: Extreme Sports Enthusiast

Max skills: Fitness, Rock Climbing

Career: Any (after generational goals achieved) 

Generation 8: Justice

Your parent was reckless, but you admired their tenacity and strength of mind. You grew up brilliant in the more conventional way, committed to earning the highest grades and learning everything you could. More importantly, your strong sense of right and wrong led you down the path of seeking justice. 

Generation Rules: 

Complete the Whiz Kid childhood aspiration.

Complete the Goal Oriented teen aspiration. 

Join the Chess Team after school activity and become Captain. 

Maintain the highest grades and study hard to ace your exams so you graduate as Valedictorian - this means NO early graduation. 

Learn skills through reading books and studying where possible. 

Attend university and complete a Distinguished Degree in History.

Complete the Academic aspiration while at university.

Tutor other students twice per week.

Write and publish research papers. 

Join the Law career - Judge branch after graduation.

Get married to your first relationship. 

Have two children with a negative relationship - one Genius (they will be heir) and one with the Outgoing trait. 

Have high expectations for your children - discipline them often and have a strict family dynamic, but always help them with homework, school projects etc. 

Adopt a dog. 

Traits: Bookworm, Overachiever, Loyal

Character values: Responsible and Mediator

Aspiration: Academic

Max skills: Logic, Research & Debate 

Career: Chief of Justice (Law - Judge Branch)

Generation 9: The Hermit

Your parents had high expectations for you and your sibling, who couldn’t be more different from you. You were a born Genius while they excelled socially, and you often felt as if you were in competition with eachother. As a teen you retreated further inside yourself and preferred the company of your family dog to spending time with other sims. You spent your time learning everything you could about computers and gaming, and eventually made a living from your bedroom. 

Generation Rules: 

Complete the Whiz Kid aspiration as a Child. 

Have a negative relationship with your sibling. 

Attend high school but only to study. 

Only befriend other Loner sims. 

Spend most of your time in your bedroom - you’ll need a computer in there! 

Reach level 5 of the Tech Guru career before becoming a Freelance Programmer.

Complete the Computer Whiz aspiration. 

Earn money through video gaming tournaments, hacking, and making apps & video games. 

Your relationship must be online only - never meet them in person (if you choose to have one).

Never move out of your parents house. 

Have at least one child. Be creative with how you get one, it’s still a legacy after all! 

Your parents will raise your child. 

Traits: Genius, Loner, Geek

Character values: Argumentative

Aspiration: Computer Whiz

Max skills: Video Gaming, Programming

Career: Project Manager (Tech Guru)

Generation 10: Wheel of Fortune

You were raised by loving grandparents, but you felt a bit abandoned by your parent that hardly saw you. You wanted to rebel against the life your grandparents laid out for you and in the spirit of the founder of your family, the Fool, you embraced everything that came your way. With a belief in destiny and sheer good luck, you moved forward without a plan and trusted that everything would work out in your favour. 

Generation Rules: 

Anything could happen!

Have your grandparents help you get the Top Notch Infant and Top Notch Toddler traits.

As a Child, choose and complete the aspiration that best fits your randomised trait. 

As a Teen, we’ll use the https://simsrandom.com/ random legacy generator to set the rules for this generation. 

Stick to what the randomiser gives you unless you don’t have the packs, in which case you can re-roll. 

Traits must be randomised when your sim ages up, and can’t be changed. 

Age up to Young Adult with a character value that suits your path.

Select an aspiration that suits your randomised career/ hobbies. 

Reach the top of your Primary Career.

Complete the Generational Goal. If it’s something you’ve already done in this legacy (i.e. the Strangerville Mystery) you can re-roll. 

Miscellaneous Fun must be followed. 

Max 1-2 skills that align with your sim’s goals. 

Traits: Random!

Character values: Random!!

Aspiration: Random!!!

Max skills: Random!!!!

Generation 11: Strength

The legend of your great-great-great grandparent being the first sim to reach the peak of Mt Komorebi inspires you. You come from a line of masters in their field and you aspire to live up to the greatness of your ancestors in the only way you know how - you are determined to push your body to its limits and perfect your physique, and nothing else is important to you. 

Generation Rules: 

Complete the Rambunctious Scamp aspiration as a Child.  

Join the Football Team as a Teen and become captain. 

University is optional.

Befriend other Bros and lead a club practising physical activity.

Drink protein shakes every day! 

Complete the Bodybuilder aspiration. 

Join the Athletic career and reach level 10 in the Bodybuilder branch. 

You can have relationships but never marry. 

Have a one night stand resulting in a child and raise them as a single parent. 

Have a permissive relationship dynamic with your child. 

Traits: Active, Bro, Self-Absorbed

Character values: Insensitive

Aspiration: Bodybuilder

Max skills: Fitness

Career: Mr./ Ms. Solar System (Athletic - Bodybuilder branch)

Generation 12: The Hanged Man

The idea that your family is born from magic feels like a distant dream. Your parent was so self-absorbed that they never saw the truth. Spellcasters don’t exist, not for generations anyway. Any magical connection to the earth has been long lost.  Instead of striving for greatness, can’t you just be normal? A normal life, a normal job. Of course you have aspirations - they’re just not realistic right now. 

Generation Rules: 

Maintain a B grade through Grade school and High school. 

Don’t complete your Child or Teen aspirations. 

University is optional but you can’t do a Distinguished Degree. 

Keep a Private Journal as a Teen. 

Have the Beach Life aspiration but never start it. 

Never travel outside of the world you live in. 

Join the Salaryperson career and become Head of Department (Supervisor branch).

Gain the Workaholic lifestyle. 

Write many books on your family history but never publish any. Put them in a keepsake box.

Marry a sim with Bad or Awful compatibility. 

Have at least one child. 

Fight Father Winter and ask him for proof of his powers. 

Traits: Gloomy, Noncommittal, Skeptical

Character values: Responsible

Aspiration: Beach Life (never complete this) 

Max skills: Writing, Logic 

Career: Head of Department (Salaryperson - Supervisor branch)

Generation 13: Death

There has to be more out there than your parent had you believe. You’d read their unpublished novels on your family’s legend and knew it was up to you to seek the answers and return to the magic your ancestors were born from. You left everything behind and travelled alone to the town under a permanent autumn. It was here you found your answers, and your end. 

Generation Rules: 

Complete the Artistic Prodigy aspiration as a Child. 

Don’t go to university- you’ve got better things to do. 

Move to Ravenwood as a Young Adult. 

Get involved in the community and complete all the favours for the Order of Lenore. 

Complete the Ravenwood tarot deck. 

Write a bucket list and work towards it but don’t complete it. 

Complete the Ghost Historian aspiration and befriend many ghosts. 

Never marry or have children.

Be the only sim in your household when you die (you can have pets). 

Meet an untimely end - die before you become an Elder.

Traits: Macabre, Music Lover, Chased by Death

Character values: Good Manners

Aspiration: Ghost Historian

Max skills: Writing, Thanatology

Career: Publish your history books! 

Mini Generation: Temperance

That can’t be… it? You were so young, and you were so busy searching for your answers you never did everything you wanted to do. Fourteen generations and it ends here. However, death had taken a special interest in you, and offers you the chance to address your unfinished business before you move on. 

Generation Rules: 

Attend your own funeral.

Achieve your unfinished business and complete your Soul’s Journey to earn the Burning Soul trait. 

Head to Mourningvale on the day of the Thinned Festiveil and be reborn in the Baleful Bog. 

With the knowledge of 14 generations behind you, you are reborn as The Fool, and the cycle is completed.