#trying to figure out how it will fit with the story I have now chronologically

[rosenfey]

this is how it feels to be writing without an outline btw

[daisyswift3]

A Summary of the 🎃 Messages--The Overarching Story

So I just realized sth abt the 🎃 messages while listening to ttpd—they’re in chronological order!! I am going to try to give a summary of these messages and explain why I believe this. This album has made 99% of her songs, mvs, metaphors, and symbols make perfect sense. There were always some things like getaway car, cruel summer, and the palm trees in rep era that I could never quite figure out but now it's all crystal clear. It's like ttpd is the last piece of the puzzle needed to make everything fall right into place and to see the whole messy complicated story. One thing I want you to take note of as you read this summary is how incredibly consistent Taylor is w her use of metaphors and symbols. This makes solving the puzzle that is her music more like solving a cypher that you can know you solved correctly bc all the symbols will fit together perfectly just like a secret code. Once you understand what one symbol represents you now know what it means every time you see it. Every word or phrase she uses is intentional and there's not a single easter egg that's out of place. You'll notice in ttpd there are several words and phrases that are repeated bc she wants us to know that certain songs are related. 🎃 anon said there would be many connections and foretellings in the messages that we could find if we held them to the light in the coming unfoldings, and boy they were not wrong. So w/out further ado let's get into it (just a warning though this will be pretty lengthy so grab your favorite drink, some snacks, and get comfy).

1st message: The first one starts right before rep era when her rep started going down and she started feuding w her record label. These are the obstacles she didn’t see coming that made her slam on the (getaway bike) brakes (which were cut so she had to use her foot to slow down) and not come out. The "heel damaged" could be a reference to Achilles' heel since this was a weak spot she didn't see or it could be a reference to Jesus' heel being bruised in the 1st ever biblical prophecy (see this post for more on that). This was her first big pivot and change of plans. Many ppl have theorized that TS6 was originally going to be a different album--perhaps lover/daylight--but kimye and BMR got in the way of that. This would explain why she wears an outfit w palm trees on it while cutting the wings off her TS6 jet. She spray paints "reputation" on it which seems to indicate it was a haphazard last minute change of plans (x). Plus the endgame mv has palm trees and shows Miami, Florida (which I think is related to Florida!!! but I'll have to get to that another time) connecting it to "Island breeze and lights down low, no one has to know...In the middle of the night in my dreams I know I'm gonna be with you so I take my time." Miami is the paradise where her endgame happens. This all seems to indicate she was ready for "daylight" or "paradise" during rep era but had to pivot.

The Prophecy: “Hand on the throttle, thought I caught lightning in a bottle, Oh but it’s gone again"

2nd message: This is abt the lover rollout that started in spring of 2019 -> "The time draws near, springtime sunshine causing small drips and fractures." The ice castle likely represents the lover house (her music empire, past eras, and closet) since she burns it down w a match just like she does in the eras tour visuals and midnights -> "You strike a match and blow the smoke toward the structure that shelters and protects you. Suddenly, you hear a crack, a crunch, a whoosh. There is a sudden give beneath you, and you tumble through the broken, melting hole in your palace." The ivy reference (spring breaks loose, the time is near) just solidifies my theory that ivy is a song abt an eventual kaylor reunion that will happen before she burns all the files and deserts all her past lives (eras).

Lover era was her second big pivot. I believe she knew there was a very good chance Scott B would sell her masters all the way back in rep era hence why she says "I'm always waiting for you just to cut to the bone, devils roll the dice" (see this post for more on that). "However, in this suddenness you find yourself still somehow underprepared, kicking yourself for the time you squandered by wallowing in the seeming endlessness of your predicament" -> Her being unprepared to come out along w the mastersheist is what caused her to miss her 2nd opportunity to come out. She was so caught off guard that it made her indecisive. And so she played it safe and stayed in the closet -> "Our coming of age has come and gone, suddenly this summer it's clear I never had the courage of my convictions as long as danger is near." Remember how I said Taylor is very consistent w her use of metaphors? Well I made a post a while back explaining how folkmore represents the seasons bc summer = daylight and winter = closeting and folkmore was Taylor trying to come to terms w her 2nd failed coming out hence the grey and beige ("I'm just a paperweight in shades of greige"); so that means the ice castle = winter = closeting and springtime sunshine = almost daylight = almost being out of the closet (and spring was also the time when the lover rollout started so it has a more literal 2nd meaning to it as well).

The Albatross: "So I crossed my thoughtless heart spread my wings like a parachute, I'm the albatross, I swept in at the rescue." [I think there's a good chance this song is abt Scoots so it makes sense the parachute metaphor, which relates to her masters and failed coming out, would be used in this song]

The Bolter: "By all accounts, she almost drowned when she was 6 in frigid water...It feels like the time she fell through the ice then came out alive." ['Long story short I survived']

3rd message: This is abt the mastersheist (diamond heist) during the summer of 2019. It parallels the I Can See You mv exactly (see this post). In hindsight it now makes perfect sense why 1989 tv didn't have any mvs--bc the Fortnight mv is a direct continuation of the ICSY mv! Before the Fortnight mv, the ICSY mv was the most recent one. She didn't want anything between those 2 mvs so that it was obvious they were directly related. Her losing her masters and her 2nd opportunity at daylight is what drove her to insanity and caused her to end up in the asylum -> "I find the artifacts, cried over a hat...I trace the evidence" // "And so I enter into evidence my tarnished coat of arms, etc" | "Is it okay? Is it you? Or have they come to take me away?"

"Mere feet away from the light of freedom...Your getaway bike begins to leave without you, sparks flying as the tires try and fail to slow down for you. You have frozen in this moment of indecision" // "It was the great escape, the prison break, the light of freedom on my face...he was runnin' after us, I was screamin', 'Go, go, go!'" -> There are 2 getaway car mentions in this message which emphasizes its importance. This is likely for a few reasons: 1) To explain what the song getaway car was actually abt--her feud w BMR, not the beards 2) To show that message 1 and 3 are related; the getaway bike is mentioned in both since both are abt her masters 3) To show that the lover era pivot was actually just history repeating itself; this is what Cassandra and the Prophecy are abt.

Cassandra (notice the piano melody from mad woman): “So they set my life in flames, I regret to say do you believe me now? ['If I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes too']…They knew, they knew, they knew the whole time that I was onto somethin', [She knew there was a good chance her masters would be sold as shown in cruel summer] The family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line" ['Now he sits on his thrown in his palace of bones praying to his greed']

Fortnight: "I was supposed to be sent away But they forgot to come and get me I was a functioning alcoholic 'Til nobody noticed my new aesthetic [Her fans didn't notice the shift from rainbows and pastels to black mourning clothes during the lover era] All of this to say I hope you're okay But you're the reason [The you in the song is Taylor; she's the reason she decided to stay in the closet] And no one here's to blame But what about your quiet treason?" [Taylor's indecisiveness is what led her to not come out the 2nd time]

loml (This is from Karlie's pov): "Mr. Steal Your Girl, then make her cry...You shit-talked me under the table talking rings [Paper Rings] and talking cradles, [Lover mv] I wish I could un-recall how we almost had it all, [They were so close to daylight]...It was legendary, It was momentary ['I touch you (daylight/sunshine) for only a fortnight']...Our field of dreams engulfed in fire" ['So they set my life in flames']

Florida!!!: "Little did you know your home's really only a town you're just a guest in, ['I touch you (daylight/sunshine) for only a fortnight'; 'And so a touch that was my birthright became foreign'] So you work your life away just to pay for a timeshare down in Destin" [Taylor did all this masterminding and planning just to end up still stuck in the closet and bearding and only being able to see her lover in stolen private moments]

Fresh Out the Slammer: "Another [cruel] summer, taking cover, rolling thunder, he don't understand me"

The Bolter: "But it always ends up with a town car speeding" [getaway car]

Peter: "Forgive me Peter, my lost fearless leader, in closets like cedar preserved from when we were just kids, Is it something I did?" [Peter is herself; 'I'd be a fearless leader' and the fearless album; 'closets' is obvious]

How Did It End?: "We were blind to unforeseen circumstances, We learned the right steps to different dances, and fell victim to interlopers' glances, Lost the game of chance, what are the chances?...It's happening again" [This is the 2nd time she's lost the opportunity to come out]

I Can Do It With a Broken Heart: "I'm so obsessed with him but he avoids me like the plague" [They're in love w each other but can't be together in public; 'Break my soul in 2 looking for you but you're right here']

Down Bad: "For a moment [a fortnight] I knew cosmic love, now I'm down bad crying at the gym...'Fuck it if I can't have him I might just die it would make no difference'" ['You (Taylor) told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I (Karlie) ever leave']

5th message: Out of all the messages this is the one I'm the most uncertain abt. But I think it is possibly about JA leaving before his contract was up. "You are in a kitchen. Not your kitchen, of course. Your kitchen is soft and cozy and sacred. THIS kitchen is hard and cold and purely functional" -> This is not the sacred kitchen from Cornelia Street that she shares w her lover, this is a PR stunting kitchen that's a false imitation of the real domestic bliss she has. A few yrs ago kaylors were talking abt how Karlie has a kitchen that she only uses for PR/social media purposes so pumpkin anon could've been trying to remind us of that. These 3 messages from flag 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 anon make me think the breakup happened sooner than planned.

The July 29 message wasn’t meant to be posted until Oct 8 since it was hinting at the Toe breakup happening 5 months later in mid March, 2023.

The Nov 23 message mentions a “shift of footing” which we all agreed meant Toe 🦶 was over. The Dec 5 message w “the need to flex is sometimes necessary” directly following the Toe breakup message is what really makes me think it wasn’t planned. They had to pivot/flex but “other milestones are resolute” meaning the endgame is still the same—K and T will still reunite and both will be out of the closet at a certain time. Plus there’s the “…” at the end of the Nov 23 message which also indicates the Dec 5 one is a direct continuation of that message.

To add more credibility to this theory, RFI and SIG also have ellipses. RFI always seemed like it was supposed to be a direct continuation of SIG bc SIG sets up the “chess game” w her and her lover doing magic and pulling the wool over everyone's eyes, and RFI is when this chess game officially begins, "baby let the games begin."

Some other kaylors said they thought “the need to flex” meant that she wanted to give anti hero more time on the charts so she was flexing or showing off. But I think it makes more sense for it to be related to London Boy himself and not having him as a beard since that’s the whole purpose of having the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 flag. I could be wrong though.

So Long, London: “Pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away…Holding tight to your quiet resentment…Every breath feels like rarest air when you’re not sure if he wants to be there” [This may mean that JA kept trying to break free from the contract and Taylor kept trying to convince him to stay but it didn’t work]. "My spine split from carrying us up the hill, Wet through my clothes, weary bones caught the chill" ['They are bowing out, leaving you with double the workload, now half burnt and smoking. Their duties weren’t finished, and yet there is nothing you can do to make them stay. Shaken by this loss, chaos descends upon the team. Most roll up their sleeves to work harder']. "And my friends said it isn't right to be scared, every day of a love affair" [There were several blind items talking abt how JA was hooking up w men in a very unsubtle way; this could be what the 'cheating husband' mentions in ttpd are abt]. “Two graves, one gun” [Makes me think of a smoking gun which could be what the 'smell of smoke' in the message was alluding to. Maybe JA threatened to reveal her secrets if she didn't let him go and he had the smoking gun evidence to do so which was the recipe card. 'This time is different. Because you know this person actually has the means to share the secret menu, and that they have enough proof to make the waiting guests believe them.' -> I mean if anyone could convince the general public it would be the man who was supposed to be her boyfriend for 6 yrs]. “And you say I abandoned the ship but I was going down w it, my white knuckle dying grip” ['But you have never been one to lay your armor down. When you fail, you fail gloriously. When you go, you go kicking and screaming']. "I didn't opt in to be your odd man out" [She didn't want to be his beard just like he didn't want to be hers; and odd man out is a game that's played w 3 ppl where the odd man is the loser who's eliminated bc he didn't have a match]. "I founded the club she's heard great things about" [The Tortured Man Club -> The Tortured Poets Department that she's chairman of]

7th message: This message is all abt the domestic bliss she has away from the public eye. She has worked so hard to make sure her secrets are safe by building a tall impenetrable fence. However, she chooses to intentionally blow a dandelion full of secrets--perhaps ttpd is the dandelion w all the songs being the florets or secrets. There is one floret in particular that she’s worried abt—my guess is it’s Robin since it’s so damning if you know what to look for. Plus the song Robin parallels this message perfectly and evokes the same imagery. And to add even more credibility to this theory, the lyric vid for Robin has dandelion florets in the background. See these posts: (x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x). "You are walking through your yard. It's one of your favorite places, all sprawling garden rows" -> Betty's garden; "your wife waters flowers," etc. "There are daisies - so many daisies - in every shade of your rainbow"--I don't think I even need to explain this. "Your lover and your fresh baked buns are safe. (The buns, of course, are in the oven turning golden as you speak. It's an old family recipe, jotted lovingly on a recipe card.)" -> The recipe card is perhaps a picture or some other sort of smoking gun evidence of Taylor's family and it connects the 5th and 7th messages together. And the meaning of "buns in the oven" is pretty obvious. "Golden" refers to Karlie.

Robin: "Higher and higher, wilder and lighter" [This may be a double entendre--not only is she encouraging this child to bounce higher on his trampoline or swing higher, she is also encouraging the dandelion floret (the song Robin) to fly higher and go out into the world after she blows on it]

The Albatross: "Wild winds are death to the candle...One bad seed kills the garden" [This may be connected to the dandelion metaphor and I believe there are many layers to these lyrics; wild winds can carry the dandelion seeds into other ppl's yards; if Taylor's secret gets out this can destroy the domestic bliss she has i.e. kill her metaphorical garden or candle; 'love's a fragile little flame it can burn out']

I Hate It Here: "I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind people need a key to get to, the only one is mine" [There is only one way to get into this garden since a tall impenetrable fence surrounds it; there are other layers in these lyrics as well like the escapism aspect of it]

But Daddy I Love Him: "I'm having his baby, no I'm not but you should see your faces" [Bc it's Karlie that had the babies]

8th message: This entire message parallels the Bolter. I believe this is abt Taylor finally choosing her lover over her reputation and choosing to intentionally destroy it in order to meet her lover down at the bottom like 🌋 anon mentioned. This may be the purpose of the whole Ratty debacle—to tarnish her image (by jumping into shark infested waters) so that when kaylor are together in public again her fans won’t be able to hate on KK w/out being hypocrites bc Taylor has already done all the things she knows they’ll accuse KK of, like being connected to someone who’s quite problematic. I believe this takes place from May 2023-now since this is when MH and her started “dating.” The use of all lowercase in the 🌋 messages may be a reference to the reputation album title to indicate that this is going to be a repeat of rep era but this time the damage to her rep will be intentional. I find it very interesting that the Feb 20th 🌋 message is the only one that has a word capitalized and the word that's capitalized is "Gold." This is in contrast to "fools gold" which is not capitalized or colored.

The self-loathing is palpable in Taylor's music (x) and it is displayed heavily in this message as well. I think it's possible the "enemy" is actually just Taylor herself or her public persona to be more exact. She is her own worst enemy; the Anti Hero mv illustrates this. She's the one that spreads the dandelions in message 7 which is what the enemy does in this message; she's the bear, and in the Bolter she (real Taylor) tames the bear (Taylor the brand). I believe TSMWEL could possibly be abt herself as well. I mean TSMWEL literally has "TS" in the track title. The clean version of the Bolter has the line "Then she'll call him a bore" which parallels TSMWEL, "You said normal girls were boring." It's as if real Taylor is doing an UNO reverse on Taylor the brand by treating her public persona the same way she treated real Taylor for years. This is very reminiscent of the Archer, "I've been the archer I've been the prey." I think TSMWEL, while it is abt herself, is simultaneously abt Scott B. And the reason for this relates back to what I said abt the 2nd and 3rd 🎃 messages--she blames both Scott AND herself for her failed coming out. The mastersheist threw her for a loop, yes, but she could've still come out anyway were it not for her indecisiveness. And I haven't have time to fully analyze MBOBHFT yet but I think it's similar where it can either be read from Karlie's perspective to Taylor after the 2019 failed coming out or from Taylor's perspective to Scott B/the industry.

The Bolter: "But as she was leaving, it felt like breathing, ['When I was drowning that's when I could finally breathe'] All her fuckin' lives flashed before her eyes...He [the 'enemy'] was a cad, wanted her bad just like any good trophy hunter and she liked the way it tastes taming a bear, making him care watching him jump then pulling him under" [This connects to the 10th message: 'You limp over uneven ground, smiling at the pain of the shark bite with each excruciating step - replaying the satisfying splash as you finally chose her over the world. As you grabbed the enemy and dove into the infested waters']

loml: "The coward claimed he was a lion" ['You’re a selfish asshole. So much of your fear is your own. You wince at your cowardice like it is a gaping wound. You so often find yourself unable to meet your own eyes. You scramble into shadows like a black cat. Scared, even, of being scared...You are a coward, but you are not a fool']

I Hate It Here: "I was a debutant in another life but now I seem to be scared to go outside" [In another life she already came out but in this one she's too scared to even leave her house let alone come out]

The Tortured Poets Department (This is from Karlie's pov): "You're in self-sabotage mode throwing spikes down on the road"

9th message: This message is abt her finishing her 11th album, the last chapter of her 11 part story, and then sending it out into the world like a message in a bottle (the Manuscript). So I'm assuming this would take place on April 19, 2024, the release date of ttpd. "You are sitting on a beach, cold and windswept. The sea is dark and angry before you." -> This may be the same beach and sea from the folkmore era. "The sun sets in muted colors." -> Describing the sunset colors as muted is quite interesting since sunsets typically have very vivid colors; this makes me think it's related to the eras tour visuals during the transition from august to illicit affairs (which I explained the meaning of in this post), and the folkmore color palette was mainly muted colors. "You finish scrawling on the parchment. Your pen dries up as you reach the end of a story in 11 parts." // "Feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen," "my veins of pitch black ink." She is sick of having to dilute her truth through metaphors and allegories which is why she is a tortured poet -> "Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die." Plus there's the "parchment" which she mentioned many times during her eras tour speeches which relates it to the folkmore era (x)(x)(x). "And now it is just a matter of time. The dripping of candle wax. The ticking of a clock." -> (x).

I recommend reading this post which explains how the Manuscript, ATW short film, message in a bottle, the story of us, and 4th, 9th, and 10th 🎃 messages are related. Many ppl pointed out that the Manuscript lyric vid looks like a movie script, and she's been referencing films and books a lot recently which makes me think there's a good chance she's going to release a film and book abt her coming out story. The 9th message and the lyrics in the Manuscript make it clear that Taylor's discography as a whole IS the manuscript i.e. it's the author's (Taylor's) draft of her story that is getting ready to be published. In academia, a manuscript is a draft of your research that you send in to be peer reviewed and if it's accepted it then becomes a published academic article.

The Manuscript: "And the years passed like scenes of a show, the professor said to write what you know, [She's equating her life to a story w the different eras being different scenes or chapters] The only thing that's left is the manuscript, one last souvenir from my trip to your shores, [message in a bottle; 'It may wash up on a sunny beach in Florida, or a rocky shore in the northwest'] Now and then I reread the manuscript but the story isn't mine anymore" ['Once you blow a dandelion, you never get it back. It isn’t yours anymore']

The Bolter: "But she's got the best stories"

10th message: This is a direct continuation of the 8th message and takes place right before she comes out of the closet (the wooden door in the woods). So this would take place after her rep has already been destroyed which I don’t think we’ve gotten to yet. My guess is that things will start ramping up in the next few months. She may start being papped w all her previous beards looking happy w them or sth similar which is all she’d need to do to show that the relationships were all fake and she’s been lying this whole time. This may be the “chaos” that 🫚 anon was referring to (see this post). This lines up with the blood moon glitch vinyl, representing chaos and disruption, being the 2nd quarter of the yr according to the midnights clock (4-6 or April-June, 2024). Plus many ppl think BDILH is abt MH--and Taylor meant for this to happen bc this album is full of red herrings--and in that song she says "He (MH) was chaos" so this might be a hint that the bearding shenanigans are gonna ramp up. Of course things are already plenty chaotic now w everyone thinking ttpd is abt 3 different men, one of which is pretty problematic, so perhaps this is all ginger was referring to. Taylor calling herself "the Bolter" has 2 meanings: 1) She is a coward who often runs away from danger 2) The 2nd more positive interpretation is that she knows "when it's time to go." I think it's very telling that ITTG is the last track on the deluxe edition of evermore and comes right after RWYLM, a song abt being stuck in the closet after the 2019 failed coming out. She's saying that she's not going to stay there forever(more).

The Bolter: "But none of it is changing that the chariot is waiting, ['The story of 2 princesses. No place for a prince'; the Cinderella metaphor (x)] Hearts are hers for the breaking, There's escape in escaping...Ended with the slam of a [closet] door but she's got the best stories, You can be sure that as she was leaving it felt like freedom" [The 6/21/2020 ♠️ riddle spells out 'They Are Free']

11th message: This message takes place after midnight at 3am on Nov 1 after she’s gone through the wooden door. In this post I explain how 3am connects to the witching hr or devil's hr. The fact that this takes place right after Halloween is quite significant since it is a day dedicated to remembering the dead, and death and ghosts are a big theme in ttpd. This symbolizes how after Taylor kills her old self (by dragging her into shark infested waters), she will resurrect as a new version of herself and leave the past behind her. And in doing these things, she will finally be able to go back to her figurative home, her cabin, that she was exiled from. -> "I think I've seen this film before so I'm leaving out the side door," "And I was catching my breath, floors of a cabin creaking under my step...I had a feeling so peculiar this pain wouldn't be for evermore." "The flame🕯️ finally🕯️flickers🌬️OUT" -> The match that started the "goddamn blaze in the dark" is no longer needed now that the lover house (her closet) has burned down, so the flame flickers out. This metaphor shows up in Peter as well, "But the woman who sits by the window has turned out the light," where the light dying represents the woman losing hope that a coming out will happen. Notice in this message from present anon that "Goodbye" has a capital letter G which I believe links it to "Gold" in the volcano message that was mentioned earlier. This may indicate that Karlie is the woman/neighbor holding the light and waiting for Taylor's return home. The Dec 26th 🌋 message is likely from Karlie's pov in this case.

Fresh Out the Slammer: "Now pretty baby I'm runnin back home to you, Fresh out the slammer I know who my first call will be to...But it's gonna be alright I did my time...Get the matches, toss the ashes off the ledge, [the burning of the lover house] As I said in my letters [the anon messages this corner of the internet has been receiving? Could also just represent her songs] now that I know better I will never lose my baby again...Swirled you into all of my poems ['My mind turns your life into folklore (literally and figuratively)']...To the house where you still wait up and that porch light [jack-o-lantern] gleams" [see this post abt the porch]

The Alchemy (This is from Karlie's pov): "What if I told you I'm back?...I haven't come around in so long, but I'm coming back so strong, ['But I come back stronger than a 90's trend'] Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me"

imgonnagetyouback: "Push the reset button we're becoming something new...Even if it's handcuffed I'm leaving here with you, Bygones will be bygone eras fading into gray, We broke all the pieces but still want to play the game...I'm gonna get you back"

[vampkomori]

Ratio might be a Candelagraphos scholar

*The Candelagraphos is a school of the Intelligentsia Guild. theyre the so-called "printing department" of the guild.

despite having known Ratio for (arguably) a while, we still dont know what he actually does! funny. hes overall mysterious and we dont actually know anything about him, but we might be able to find out what he does at the guild/ or what hes planning to do.

^ emotional support ratio

lets start chronologically, im going to build this up again slowly for context, but also because i want to compile what Ratio actually does, so into the post it goes.

We know that he works with the Technology Department of the IPC as an outsourced science consultant. This is to be expected, because Yabuli, the head of the Technology Department, is also the controller of the Intelligentsia Guild.

- File Repository: Ally — Interastral Peace Corporation Headquarters, at the Seat of Divine Foresight

In the IPC trailer, you can see Ratio's bust in the bottom left corner-ish. The voiceover also says "Join us and team up with the Intelligentsia Guild!" So, its likely that the guild exclusively (or primarily) works with the Technology Department when the IPC requires aid.

Moving on to Ratio's qualifications/his 8 doctorates to establish what kind of fields he works in:

He has 8 doctorates, namely: Medicine, Philosophy, Natural theology, Mathematics, Physics, Computer science, Engineering, and Biology. (7 of his 8 degrees are mentioned in his character story, but his 8th (computer science) is only mentioned in his trailer)

From this we can gather he regularly publishes books and papers, invents machines/medicine, and does regular ol' research.

great job pookie. based on this, lets try figure out which of the guild's schools he would fit into:

Synesthesia School: Mostly known for its Synesthesia Beacon, the tool that lets you understand and speak languages. They mostly seem to focus on communiation-related things, as Herta says their next research focuses on "remote communication technology".

Ratio could probably thrive anywhere but he is not shown to have language-related interests or research, so this ones unlikely.

Astral Ecology School: Focus on Astrology/Cosmology, they study the void song whale, radiant jellyfish, and other organisms of the galaxy.

Highly unlikely. This one has nothing to do with his kind of science.

Armed Archaeologists: Very exploration-heavy. They do galactic exploration and archaeology. On the Interastral Peace Broadcast, its said that they discovered a miniature galaxy and recently unconvered the tomb of Rubert I.

Also highly unlikely. Ratio does science and is also a teacher, he doesnt go out into the universe to explore.

Quantum History School: This school is allegedly a bit of a scam. they used to try and "find the influences of disturbance and patterns of change hidden throughout history", but now they just scam you with calculation-based fortune telling.

No comment.

Candelagraphos:

Ill just add Hertas summary of it and marked the relevant passages.

Author✅ Ratio is a published author of multiple books and papers.

Programmer ✅ He has a doctorate in computer science and works with the Technology Department, so he likely knows how to programm.

Their altruistic philosophy ✅ literally matches Ratio's to a T.

"The science of the guild is gathered here" ✅ Ratio does science.

Naturally its possible that the guild has more schools than just these ones, but. well anyway lets keep going.

In 2.1, Ratios goal in Penacony is specifically to get Stellaron Research Papers from the Family.

"achieved what he desired" (to which he replies, "Thats true.") So, Ratio is doing research on Stellarons. interesting! this is a surprise tool that will help us later.

Anyway, Ratio was invited as a science consultant to Hertas space station, and its possible that it was during the events of Crown of the Mundane and Divine that the IPC allied with Herta

- Interastral Peace Broadcast Radio

Herta is known for a lot of things, but shes also one of the only people whos been able to seal a Stellaron and keep it "dormant", to the point that the Stellaron Hunters specifically used her sealed Stellaron for the Trailblazer.

Although Himeko later says that no one, not even Herta, has found a way to destroy a Stellaron.

Its interesting that Herta is emphasized, likely meaning that shes basically the universe's Foremost Expert On Stellarons. Naturally, the IPC allying with her couldve been for other reasons too, though.

In the same broadcast its said that the IPC has been doing research on Stellarons with the Intellgentsia Guild's support, and currently, their results are promising.

So, the IPC does research on Stellarons, recently allied with Herta who happens to be a bit of a specialist on Stellarons, has the guild's support, and recently Ratio acquired Stellaron Research papers, implying that hes the one doing research on it.

Fun bit: Stellarons are called "Cancer of all worlds" and technically what theyre doing could be considered "trying to cure cancer" which is funny because Ratio's a medical doctor and that absolutely sounds like something hed do.

But what school in the Intellgentsia Guild would do research on Stellarons? None of them seem to really have anything to do with them? how would you even classify Stellarons? biology????

Worry no more, I have the answer:

The Candelagraphos

Theyre requesting data on Stellarons for their experiments. I rest my case (bows)

that was kind of the conclusion. Ratio's department is absolutely the Candelagraphos, hes doing research on Stellarons with the IPC, and it is undoubtedly going to be very very relevant in the plot (soon? ish? eventually).

id love if we got more lore on him once that happens. He absolutely has ties to the Laurel Wreath Galaxy and the Philosophers Union. Maybe that wont be relevant in the Stellaron Chapter but. well, theres ample foreshadowing that Emperor Rubert is going to make a comeback and he was the reason said galaxy and philosophers even perished and Screwllum recently uncovered his tomb alongside a member of the guild? so??? pretty please. thank you 🙏

Ratio stonks will rise

[dani-ya-dig]

THE ABIGAIL VIDEO!!! I HAVEN’T TALKED ABT MY WIFE!

Ok so like chronological order bc I have listened to the audio like a million times at this point lmao. And I WILL talk abt it bc everyone needs to be obsessed with this channel like I am it’s SO GOOD GUYS PLS I SWEAR!!! Kk

Glenwood’s magic is doing its thing, and I’m really glad that plot point keeps getting brought up. Like ofc right now most of us are definitely more focused on the romance between Abby, Wielder, and Rose (which same. Love my ladies) but also like HELLO??? Abigail, a nonwielder, was the first person to really think there was something behind how strange glenwood was! And she is actively trying to investigate it (with Wielder and maybe Rose), and now she has even more resources for that!!! Like I just love that Miss Castle is making sure we don’t forget abt this bc I think abt it all the time.

Abby knowing her mom was gonna get on her ass about buying shelves from Amazon rather than thrifting some >

Abigail apologizing every time she swears in the voicemail >>>>>

Also I wonder how far away Abby lives from her family now? She obviously misses them a whole lot regardless of how far away they are, but it makes me wonder if they are just like the next state over, or if this is an across the country situation. (Aka, Dani is desperately trying to figure out where Glenwood would be geographically so I can get more info). I think Rose mentioned something about her flying??? Unless I made that up. But if I didn’t that would mean her family is likely too far for Abby to be able to warrant driving there.

Abby telling her mom about her channel even if she doesn’t fully understand makes me wanna cry. ITS SO CUTE GUYS I SWEAR!!! imagining Abby sending pics of her streaming setup to her mom is fucking adorable and if you don’t see it idk what to tell you.

Also the audible cringe in Abby’s voice as she prepares herself for the knowledge that she would have to deal with everyone asking why she didn’t being a date to the wedding. So Harper coded lmao.

Maybe not a plus one… but a plus two???

“And they’re…. hah mom they’re really cool” IM GONNA FUCKING SCREAM!!! THE WAY HER VOICE WENT ALL SOFT IM COSBSOXSBHDKDKCJC GOD IM SO GAY HOLY SHIT

“Please don’t play this for Sammy, when he comes back home, please Ma…” makes me giggle so hard because yeah, that sums up what having older siblings is like exactly, if you slip up once they will NEVER let it go

It makes me so fucking happy to hear Abby going all soft talking about how she had made a home in Glenwood, and how she feels safe with Wielder and Rose. Especially after she has dealt with not feeling like she fits in and, no doubt, bullying for most stages of her life. I’m just really happy to see the silly little gay people talking in my headphones get to be happy.

I NEED WIELDER AND ROSE TO MEET ABBY’S FAMILY ASAP! I know that they would both just be so overwhelmed with love from Abby’s (most likely) massive family. Rose especially would be so flustered from all the attention and love, having not come from a home that gave that love freely and unconditionally. It would probably be so refreshing for her. I KNOW Abby’s mom is gonna be feeding all of them well, too!

OMG IMAGINE!! Abby’s mom doing the usual embarrassing family stuff like pulling out baby pictures, and telling embarrassing stories, and Abigail obviously red in the face but still taking it on the chin until her mom pulls out the voicemail that Abigail had sent her when she first moved to Glenwood and all of them lose their shit in very different ways. Abigail is embarrassed beyond belief, Rose is also flustered from the “going at it” bit, and Wielder can’t stop laughing hysterically.

UGH ITS A NEED! YOU DONT UNDERSTAND!!!

[megamuscle885-blog]

So, warhammer fantasy? Plus Worm. Lets brainstorm a bit. A non-exhaustive list of who would become champions of chaos, or be chosen by the chaos gods to become their heralds, in no particular chronological order.

Khorne: The Butcher XIV aka Quarrel.

I can see The Butcher turning rabid one awful night. Howling about an infinite ocean of blood. Slaughtering the unpowered members of the Teeth. Killing those who try to reason with her. Infecting others with her madness somehow. Most of the Teeth capes flee north to Boston and Spree's clique when they're told to run by those Teeth that were there for the slaughter. Of those that were present, maybe half maybe more, flee to the New York Protectorate, begging refuge, begging Legend to kill The Butcher before she breaks free, something like that. Incoherent babbling about how she's slathered herself in blood and is killing indiscriminately - Villains, Heroes and civilians alike - piling the skulls of those she beheads in one spot and sits upon it like a gory throne. The Teeth are reforged in The Butcher's charnel house, quenched in blood. The World Eaters. She aspires to wash the entire east coast in blood, a massive sacrifice that will bring daemons through in their millions, and she'll begin in the largest city in north america.

Nurgle: Nilbog aka The Goblin King aka James Rinke.

A particularly terrible winter's night, cold and frigid in Ellisburg, NY, James is holding one of his favourite creations, Polka III, as she dies from disease. He's trying to tell a bedtime story to the rest of the creatures, all sharing their body warmth as best they can, but the cold is making his puppet shiver and he's constantly interupted by a cough that rattles his ribs and won't go away no matter how much he clears his throat. He's in tears over the sorry state of his garden. A like-minded figure sympathizes with his plight. He begs the empty air for something to save them. Something comes. The acrid, infertile land around Ellisburg, stripped of nutrients to create his fantasy creatures suddenly begins to spring to life all around him. Strange and fantastic new fruits and berries curl out of the ground. Caramel-sweet rivers start to form. Everything is verdant and green and hot wherever he walks. His cough doesn't seem to go away, but it doesn't bother him much anymore. Polka III is alive and well. And he's suddenly struck by so many new and wonderful ideas. He goes to the carcass pits and begins to create and create and create. And his Grandfather looks on with paternal joy.

Slaanesh: Jack Slash aka Jacob Black, the Slaughterhouse 9.

This might not click for some people. Personally, I think a man for whom every new terrible torment needs to be more thrilling, more horrible, more impactful than the last fits perfectly here. I'm not entirely sure how to write his first moments though. Broadcast nudges him one way, Slaanesh nudges him another. He starts to indulge more and more. A little less careful. Broadcast's balancing act starts to slip as Slaanesh's prodding throws the relationships of the Slaughterhouse 9 into new dynamics. I might have to come back to this one, but it was one of the first I thought of.

Tzeentch: Taylor Hebert

Now who else would like to see Skitter but with birds? Fucked up mutated birds. Introducing the Raven God and his new magical apprentice. I feel myself running dry here, but I think as our nominated protagonist, Tzeentch is able to lend quite a bit of weight to Taylor's character, and her eagerness to grab onto an escape from her wretched life with both hands and take it to its extremes. Though one thing I will mention is that one of Tzeentch's aspects is as a God of Hope, and that'd be fun to play with I think. Though that's an aspect of his Fantasy version, and I tend to think of the Fantasy versions of the Chaos Gods as more interesting tbh.

[authoralexharvey]

INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @on-noon

Who You Are:

Onnoon || N/a

I’m interested in many different topics, from genetics to geology. I try to fit those into my writing but more often end up just making things up. (Benefits of being a fantasy writer, I can make up whatever I want)

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Fantasy and sci-fi. Young adult and adult.

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

Fantasy. I love being able to make up a world, figuring out what rules would need to exist to tell the story I want to tell, & then what else those rules would effect. Also magic is cool.

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

Romance. I can barely write romance as side plots, I would not be able to write a story with romance as the main focus.

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

I don't target my writing to an audience besides myself, but I suppose other people who like magic schools would be my main audience. I think other people can enjoy my books, of course.

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

A lot of stories I have end up with themes about family, or about like the morality of laws? For tropes, I have a lot of magic schools. I really like magic schools because it allows me to force characters together.

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

Countdown to Magic, a story about a magic school. The two main characters are Abora, who is intertwined with an ancient spell & Horatio a teenager too young to know if he has magic, but who is teaching magic theory to students older than him.

Why do you write? What keeps you writing?

I write to get the ideas out of my head.

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

I've been writing somewhat seriously since middle school, I got drawn into writing because I like reading, and I like stories.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

The best way for me to get inspiration is to write. When writing stories I come up with so many ideas! Most of my current main story ideas actually come from changed versions of previous stories I wrote, or offshoots. My current story, though, the inspiration comes from the title.

What work of yours are you most proud of? Why?

Right now I'm fairly proud of a short story I just wrote, mostly because it is finished, but also I like the story & especially like all the basically headcanons I have for it.

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

I haven’t published anything, and I’m not really looking to.

What part of the publishing process most appeals to you? What part least appeals to you?

What appeals most to me is having someone help me edit and also pressure me into editing. Having to market doesn't appeal to me because I have no good idea of how to do that and would rather just write.

What part of the writing process most appeals to you? What part is least appealing?

I really love coming up with ideas & writing a first draft (especially the beginning). Editing, specifically structural edits do not appeal to me. It just seems so overwhelming to me.

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

I usually write with music on, sitting in a chair with my laptop on my lap (but not neccesarily sitting straight in the chair). My writing process is opening up a doc and just typing away at the story, no chapter organization, in basically chronological order.

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

I've been a writeblr for approaching a year now, and I joined mostly to share my story ideas &characters.

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

There are so many cool writers here on tumblr! I don't remember much how I found most of them, but I definitely am glad I do! @aohendo has this one story, Prince for Hire, which is this fantasy prince-competition story of the type I like, and has one of my favorite characters (Kaar Kulok). @junypr-camus has this mall horror story that made me think I might like horror? @vsnotresponding has a story with an islands's magic rock that's failing, and I need to see it fixed @ambigouspuzuma writes short stories with some great worldbuilding, and some great plots (I loved captchured, it wove it's plot perfectly into the world created) @my-cursed-prince has a whole set of characters & all the characters have got such great complexities & arcs) @salty-super-computer has some pretty good sci-fi worlds & i love the humor in his writing. @treessndwords writes enviroments really well. @blind-the-winds writes my favorite romance, Mick & Eleanor are great together @aether-wasteland-s wrote this one ghost story, the cursed, that I loved. The whole half-ghost concept? And also the history inherently tied to the story. I like so many of the writeblrs here. It feels like I have a never-ending stream of amazing stories

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

Reading other people's stories! I read such good stories here on tumblr.

How do you contribute to the writeblr community? Do you think you could be doing more?

Of course I could be doing more. There's an infinite amount to do, and I haven't reached that, but I'm satisfied currently with my contributions, commenting on others' posts, doing tag games. I would like to send asks more, though.

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

I love reading excerpts of writing, and also people shouting at their characters/stories

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

I really like replying to writing prompts, & also

Finally, anywhere else online we may be able to find you?

I have a website with a few of my writings on it: onnoon.neocities.org

[loudlooks]

Day 13 - Nursing a baby animal back to health

30 day challenge notes: quantity over quality, limited editing, stand-alone/unrelated stories unless specifically stated otherwise, not always tiva, chronologically randomly set in whatever pre-s11 season seems to fit

A/N: Tony's curiosity could get Abby into trouble. Big thanks to @living-in-unreality for the prompt inspiration (please don't feel obligated to read this).

Prompt: Nursing a baby animal back to health

Word count: 850

-

The lab was mostly silent, except for the usual beeping and whirring of machines he would never quite grasp—Abby’s manuals were helpful, but without McGee’s help he surely would have made something blow up. He looked at the various monitors, trying to figure out if any of them were showing something related to their current case, but quickly realized he needed about five more years in college to even come close to deciphering any of that.

Tony blew air through pursed lips and checked his watch. Abby had ordered him downstairs immediately, and now there was no sign of her, or her tell-tale music. Not that he was complaining about the latter.

He sat down on a stool, spun around five times, and stopped facing the wall with the team’s photos. There was new one of Abby and Ziva, he noticed, and got up to get a closer look. Maybe snap a shot of it for his own team album, which contained a disproportionate amount of Ziva, but that was neither here nor there, and totally coincidental, doesn’t prove anything.

A somewhat muted chirping coming from the office was all it took to distract him and investigate the new noise. It didn’t sound like anything he had heard in the lab before. In fact it sounded suspiciously like a bird. Tony grinned, assuming Abby had changed the ringtone on her phone, and had left the device unguarded in her office. What kind of a friend would he be if he didn’t make sure there wasn’t an emergency.

With a quick glance in the direction of the sliding doors, he slipped into the office, zoning in on the direction of the chirping.

“Ha!” he exclaimed, as he pulled open the top drawer with confidence.

Victory made room for confusion as he stared at the source of the chirps. He tilted his head as if that would change, or rather, explain anything, and completely missed the sound of sliding doors and heavy footsteps.

“Tony!” Abby admonished. “Stop going through my stuff.”

With raised eyebrows, Tony said, “Your stuff?”

Abby made a disgruntled sound and stepped in between him and the open drawer.

Tony looked over her shoulder, and deadpanned, “It’s high time you do some spring cleaning here, there are birds nesting in your desk.”

Abby turned around abruptly, facing him and pushing him back a few feet, while shushing him. “You’re scaring it.”

“Abby, why is there a bird in your drawer?”

“I found it this morning.” She glanced at the hungry baby bird, not quite a fledgling, but getting close. “If you tell anyone I’ll-“

“Yeah, yeah, not an atom of evidence left behind, I know.” He looked at her seriously. “You really shouldn’t keep it here, though, you know that, right? If any of the evidence gets contaminated-”

The sound of the sliding door was quickly followed by Ziva’s hurried footsteps. She rushed into the office with a triumphant look on her face, and held up a cardboard box. “Abby, I have the…” Her eyes went wide as she spotted Tony. “Crickets.”

Tony looked at her in disbelief. “You know about this?”

“It’s just a baby bird, Tony, what was she supposed to do?”

He shook his head. “You can’t have live animals in a lab full of evidence and dangerous chemicals.”

“Shush!” Abby admonished, and took the box of crickets from Ziva, and tweezers from the desk.

Ziva played with one of her earrings, and glanced at Tony. “We can keep it in your desk, then, you always brag about how good you are at attracting birds.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I have never referred to women as birds, and you know it.”

“Never?”

He shrugged half-heartedly. “Not since I was a teenager.”

“Fine, I’ll keep it in my desk,” Ziva said matter-of-factly, and turned her attention to the nestling being fed. “It’s so round and puffy,” she said with a bright smile.

Tony frowned, and shook his head. “That’s not going to go down well with Gibbs.”

Ziva stood up straight and crossed her arms in front of her. “I was a Mossad officer, do you really think I’m afraid of Gibbs?”

He looked her square in the eye. “Yes.”

Ziva pursed her lips.” Okay, maybe a little.” She held up a finger. “But, Abby is his favorite, so all I have to do is survive his glare long enough to explain…” Freezing for a split second, she quickly glanced over her shoulder, certain Gibbs had snuck up on them.

Tony scoffed. “A little, huh?”

“You guys, it can’t even fly yet, it can’t go anywhere near the evidence.” Abby looked at Tony expectantly and gripped his arm with both hands. “You know how careful I am with evidence, it’ll only be for today.”

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes, then looked at Ziva for backup. Ziva, who was staring at him with a puppy dog look he had never seen, nor expected from her.

His shoulders slumped, and he nodded imperceptibly. “Fine, but if Gibbs finds out, you two are on your own.”

-

Tagging (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @hopeless-nostalgiac, @mrsmungus, @indestinatus, @happygirl-0408

[ladystormcrow]

For the author ask thingy! (No pressure to answer all of these if you don’t want to, I just think they’re great questions and it’s hard to narrow them down even this far!)

3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

6) something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change now

11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

13) your strengths as an author

19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

3) When it comes to actually writing prose, I write front-to-back. It gives me more flexibility to adjust planned plot details and key scenes once I finally get to them.

6) Oh man, this is a ongoing problem for me. I frequently find myself looking back at old works and going "why didn't I include [ABC] more?" or "why didn't I make the story about [XYZ] instead?".

There's a post I remember reading on Tumblr once (I wish I could find it again) that goes something like "that's the story that only your past self could have written at the time, you couldn't write the same story now because you're not that same person anymore, and that's okay", and I've tried to keep that in mind ever since.

11) I think I've gotten better at restraining myself when it comes to descriptive narration; when I first started writing (in middle school), I went into way too much detail describing characters and settings, and it bogged down the flow of the story. When I read Stephen King's On Writing, I took to heart his advice to only describe details that are truly important to the story and scene and trust that your audience's imaginations will fill in the rest (and that it's okay if their mental images don't precisely match your own).

13) I like to think I'm pretty good at dialogue that strikes a balance between sounding realistic and flowing well as prose (speaking and acting scenes out loud to yourself really does help), and including small details that make readers feel more present in the scene (when it fits, I try to include smells when describing a scene; it's a very powerful sense for stirring emotions, and one that I think often gets overlooked).

19) Before I start writing, I usually map out the whole story in bullet points first, including key scenes and plot threads. Some of those details may change in the course of the actual writing, but it helps give the story a framework ahead of time.

23) I'm a psychology major and a social worker IRL, as well as someone who's dealt with a number of mental health issues over the years (including severe depression), and I think it's helped me in terms of figuring out what makes characters tick and making them and their relationships more nuanced. Sometimes I apply actual professional views, especially the strengths perspective (it's fun to look at a character's negative traits and figure out under what circumstances those traits could actually be helpful).

[azucarmorena97]

Cold (2)

Prologue | Pt.1

Spoiled rotten. Idiot. Greedy. Gluttonous. Evrything you could ever despise in a human being, all wrapped up in a beautiful, gold foil package. Seokjin is known across the land- or, at least all over three different IVY league campuses in the area- as the party-legend and the guy to call for a good time. Not to mention, a total whore. The last person you ever would've wanted as a group mate for the first quarter of the new semester, and the last one you would've ever imagined to have fallen absolutuely, head over hell in love with.

Hell as officially frozen over.

A/N: This takes place before Jin's part in my BTS as Cliched School Tropes. I will be inserting a link to that piece right where it fits chronologically in the story so you can read it and come back when it's time. All the boys in this story are from that piece with each story occurring in the same universe and on the same timeline.

Recap: "We're waiting for you." "Who's waiting for me?" He asks, a genuine look of confusion on his face. You stare at him blankly, deciding on whether or not he's pulling your leg, "Hoseok and I. Your team. For the project." He glances over at Hoseok, who is texting away at the other table. "Right, the project." - Everyone starts gathering their things and walking out, chatter filling the room. The crowd Jin was sitting with all walks forward to exit the room, and of course, Jin doesn't even look yours or Hoseok's way. Fuck it. You don't need him.

You stare intently at the screen of your open laptop, fingers typing away furiously. You haven't spoken two words to Hoseok since you've sat down next to him, and he's too afraid to speak up on account of your biting his head off. You don't like to be interrupted when you're on a roll- especially when you and Hoseok are the only ones working on this entire fucking project.

Thankfully, you've been doing a fine job of keeping your mind off of that ingrate. After the first day when you'd made an attempt to reach out to Jin, you've not even bothered to try again. For what? You're all adults here. No need to beg.

If he wants to fuck up his time at one of the most prestigious universities in the entire country, that's his business.

Hoseok clears his throat, "I- I know you're like...in the zone right now but we gotta figure out how we're gonna do the presentation."

"Eh," You grunt, barely listening to him. "I think it would behoove us to plan, seeing as how neither one of us is much of a public-" "Hoseok, we can think about all that later. Please. I'm working."

Hoseok purses his lips, deciding it's better to just drop it for now, "Alright then. Well, I have got a very important meeting to attend so I shall be bidding you adieu." You wave him away, "Have fun on your date. Tell B/f/n I said 'hi'." "I'm closer to telling her how mean you are to me," He mutters, grabbing his stuff and then walking out of the library.

You continue working for a while longer, until you feel your eyes start to ache from all the strain.

For the first time in two hours, you finally lean back against the stiff, hard wooden chair, stretching your arms upwards and trying to fight the urge to do that thing where the stretch is so good that it makes you scream in relief.

As you try to focus on recovering whatever's left of your eyesight, you manage to pick up on some voices coming from a few tables away.

"It's gonna be huge. I might go shopping the night before- I have like, nothing to wear." "I'm definitely tagging along. I heard last year, he ordered a petting zoo and then set the animals loose."

You're only half paying attention, until you hear one voice say, "Knowing Jin, it's probably true. He always does some crazy shit at his parties."

To your intense dismay, your ears can't help but perk up at the sound of his name.

Of course, too busy planning grand orgies to contribute jack shit to the project. Typical.

"I just hope it doesn't get shut down like the one he threw a few years ago. Cops came and everything." "I don't think so. It's gonna be at his family's beach house- it's in like, the middle of nowhere so the neighbors can't snitch." You roll your eyes and slam your laptop down a little harder than you mean to, causing the girls at the other table to whip their heads in your direction.

"Sorry...some of us actually came to the library to study." You say dryly, shoving the computer into your backpack and slinging it over your shoulder.

Some of us came university to actually get shit done.

"Great news," B/f/n runs into the kitchen and sits next to you at the kitchen counter. "Hit me," You say, mouth full of cereal.

"Taehyung's coming over tomorrow to help Hoseok with those math assignments he didn't turn in," She says excitedly.

Your eyes widen and you almost choke, your series of coughs sending bits of Lucky Charms flying about.

She slaps your back a few times until you're able to clear your throat, "I'm okay-" "Isn't this great? You'll get another chance to talk to him." "Ugh, but what if I fuck it up again like last time." "You won't. I know you won't. Besides, it seemed like he was totally into it last time." "Really?" You furrow your brows, searching her eyes for validation. "I'm so serious. You have nothing to worry about." Her words put you at ease and you're able to relax a bit, your mind already running through various topics of conversation you can run through.

"Anyway, you and Hoseok almost done with your speech project?" "Mm?" You ask, head very much in the clouds. "The project? You guys done with it?" "Oh, yeah basically. Piece of cake."

You wake up the next morning with a smile on your face, mind already on this evening when you'll finally be able to see Tae again. You rarely see him around campus as his schedule seems to run completely against yours. And even when you do see him, he seems always to have his nose in a book or be on his way somewhere and you're much too chicken to actually approach him on your own. Hopefully you'll be able to change that when you see him later.

Of course right now, the task at hand is the project.

That pesky little project.

When you get to school, you head straight to your speech class, taking advantage of the empty classroom for a good hour and a half before everyone starts trickling in.

You worked practically through the night to fully put it all together and then to piece your part of the powerpoint to Hoseok's. You've managed to put the finishing touches to everything, but now there's just one last detail to iron out...

"I told you we should've been planning this days ago." "When did you say this?" You furrow your brows. "Multiple times!" He says exasperatedly, beginning to scratch his arms furiously. "What's wrong with you?" You ask. "You know how I get when I'm nervous!"

His arms are forming hives before your very eyes, but you can't bring yourself to feel any compassion- not after the 8th-Grade-Valedictorian-Throw up incident of 2011.

"Hoseok, I can't. There's no way- It took me all night to do my part, yours only took a few hours. It's only fair-" "Come on, you know how I am with public speaking," Hoseok complains.

"I'll do it."

A/N: This is where our prologue comes in!

"Was it as good for you as it was for me, AP?"

Jin's words are seared into your head even well after all your classes are over and done with; in fact, you're now sitting in front of your vanity and beating the crap out of your skin with a beauty blender still thinking about Jin.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Come in." You say dryly. B/f/n skips in, a big smile on her face as she closes the door behind her, "How's it going?"

"Great." You stare coldly into your reflection, patting even more harshly than before.

"You're still thinking about Jin?" She rolls her eyes, coming over to take your hair out of the claw clip and beginning to fix it for you.

"Thinking about Jin? Please," You lie, violently shaking your head. "You're such a bad liar." "I'm not lying," You hiss. She doesn't answer you, just keeps fixing and fixing- "But him doing well on this project was a fluke. A total fluke." You can't help but say your peace.

"Yes, mhm. A fluke," She says sarcastically. "What? You think it wasn't?" "I mean... come on, Y/n. Look at the type of person he is," She shrugs, "He's kind of a natural performer, you know? It's just something he's good at." "Oh please, Jin? Good at something? No way." "Well, whatever it is, you should be happy- you guys did well." "Yeah, yeah, yeah," You pout, reaching up to hand B/f/n a bobby pin. "Yeah, yeah," She mimics you, finishing up your hair. "Anyway, you better finish up. Tae's gonna get here in like-" Knock. Knock.

You and B/f/n look at each other confused. "Yeah?" You call out. "Hate to break it to you but Tae can't come over tonight afterall. He won't be able to come until tomorrow night."

It takes you a moment to register what he's said, but once you do, you shoot up from your vanity seat and stomp over to your bed, "I hate this day!"

B/f/n can do nothing but pat your back, "There, there, my melodramatic friend."

"Excellent work," Professor Song says, walking over to you and Hoseok, setting a paper down on the desk. Hoseok is first to grab it, his face immediately lighting up, "Hell yeah."

He hands you the paper and you see it's a page full of notes on a rubric for yesterday's presentation. All positive notes on Jin's section, though yours has one or two "tips" on being less monotone and being more charismatic "Like Jin".

"Look, I know you hate him but he kind of saved our asses yesterday," Hoseok says, trying to help the situation, though of course, it just makes you wanna murder him.

"How'd we do?" Jin's voice both surprises and irritates you, though neither of them notices, clearly, as Jin comes and sits in the seat right between the two of you.

"Dude, you did it." "Nah, man. You guys did it. I just wrapped it up nice and beautiful..." You glare at Jin, who finally acknowledges you, "I mean, we wrapped it up nice and beautiful. Didn't we, AP?"

"Actually, considering Hoseok and I did all the heavy lifting, I don't think you should really be getting more than a one percent increase on your grade." You don't even care to hold back. You've been sitting on these feelings for long enough.

"Y/n-" Hoseok sheepishly tries to reel you in, but Jin shakes his head to signal him to stop. "No, no- she's right. You guys did all the work and I just piggy backed off of you." "It's no trouble at all, really Jin. Like I said, you saved our asses."

"Well, you two definitely could've managed it without me, but-" "You can say that again." You add, though it doesn't deter Jin who only looks at you with a smirk.

"As a token of my gratitude for letting me piggy back off of you, I wanted to extend an invitation to a party I'm throwing on Saturday."

You narrow your eyes at him as you remember the conversation you'd overheard a few days ago.

There's no way this fucker thinks an invite to a party full of burnouts is gonna be enough for basically slapping his name on a project he didn't even do.

"I'm in, man!" Hoseok says immediately, a big smile on his face.

Your mouth hangs open in disbelief at how easily Hoseok sells himself.

"Alright!" Jin celebrates, dapping Hoseok up before turning to you, "What about you, AP?" "I have a name, you know?" "Oh, I know. But I like my nickname for you much better," He says, looking at you with a distinctive look that, for some abominable reason, gives you butterflies.

"Yeah, I'm not doing this. Count me out." You grab your stuff and shove it into your back as quickly as you can. "Wait, but class is just starting," Hoseok furrows his brows. "Then I guess Jin better pay real close attention," You say, shoving past the both of them and walking straight out the door.

"You should have seen him, B/f/n," You rant, walking back and forth as B/f/n has her back to you, stirring the chili she's spent the past four hours preparing for tonight. "Oh, I can imagine." "In that moment, he was a rich man's whore, that boyfriend of yours." "I believe it," She nods, turning around with a big spoon full of chili, "Taste."

"And then-" You blow a few times and then take the scoop into your mouth, "-woah, that's hot-" You breathe in and out a few times to cool the food in your mouth, "-that's really good- and then Jin turns to me and he gives me this...this look."

"A look?" "A LOOK." "What kind of look?" She tilts her head to the side, much like a dog would when it's trying to understand. "I...I don't know, a look. Like he wanted to like...devour me or something."

"Oooh, devour," She says teasingly in a sultry tone. "Shut up, it's not funny," You say exasperatedly.

"Well, you already told him no, right? So it's done. You won't need to interact with him until the next project. He's bug on the windshield."

"You're right. I-I've spent too much energy thinking of this asshole already." "Exactly. You need to focus your attention on something better. Like...Taehyung?" She says, a smirk on her face.

"You're very right," You smile back, smoothing out your carefully curated track suit; just casual enough to pass as not having tried to hard, but still cute enough to seduce the object of your desire- plus it makes your ass look really good.

About twenty minutes later, there's a knock at the front door.

"I've got it!" You sing, dashing past Hoseok who was already on his way to open the door. Of course, when you see Tae, you immediately lose all confidence. You've never been good at this kind of stuff.

"H-hey, Tae. Oh, ha, that rhymed. I didn't even mean to..." You feels your cheeks get redder and redder with every word, "I'm a- a poet and I didn't even know it." Tae chuckles, "Hey, Y/n."

"Ahem," Hoseok says from behind you, cringing at how weird you're being, "Come on in, man."

You step to the side, keeping your eyes glued to the carpet, wanting nothing more than to disappear.

"Thanks," Taehyung smiles at you, then at Hoseok.

"Taehyung, I hope you're hungry- I made chili for dinner!" B/f/n calls out from the kitchen. "Oh, that sounds great- I'm starving," Tae says, patting his stomach.

"I'll go get the bowls!" You interject, walking quickly to the kitchen. "You're too anxious, Y/n," B/f/n says, glancing at you from the corner of her eye as your nerves make you suddenly forget where the hell the bowls are, so you're opening and slamming every damn cabinet.

"I know, I need to relax," You pause for a moment to take a deep breath to regain your sense. Then, you go to the cabinet next to the sink, grab four bowls and some spoons.

"I put the biscuits in the microwave so Munchkin wouldn't get them," B/f/n serves one of the bowls and then places it down on the counter to grab the next on.

Munchkin is her very adorable, very fat Black cat. You glance down at the ball of fure, sitting there like a shark, waiting for a piece of food to "accidentally" fall too the floor, as it often does whenever you're in the kitchen.

What can you say? You're a sucker for those pretty, green eyes.

You manage to balance all four bowls in your arms and carefully walk out to the dining room to set them down. Hoseok has his laptop open and set to whatever math homework, Taehyung is sat next to him, eyes narrowed at the screen as he figures out a way to explain it to him.

"Oh, thanks-" Tae says when he realizes you're carrying his bowl of food. "No worries," As you're about to set it on the table, he goes to grab it directly from your hands, his fingertips grazing against yours ever so slightly, making you blush.

He seems not to have noticed at all though, his eyes returning to the task at hand.

B/f/n, who'd followed behind you with the drinks, glances at you with a small smirk. You smile back at her, trying not to make it to obvious that you're completely over the moon.

Tae and Hoseok switch back and forth between Hoseok's math homework and conversations with you and B/f/n. You've learned Tae grew up in Daegu and has younger siblings- and with every crumb of information, you hunger to learn more and more.

"Ugh, this is so hard...I don't even know how the hell I'm gonna pass this class," Hoseok groans, shutting his laptop closed. Tae sighs, "I'm not gonna lie, I don't either." "Ah well...guess I'll just have to make my peace with it." "I mean, you have this weekend to study, right?" Tae asks, taking a drink from his beer; the first sip he'd taken all night. Not much of a drinker, you take it.

"Fuck no. I'm going to a party this weekend," Hoseok says, leaning back in his chair. "Oh are you know?" B/f/n asks, crossing her arms and raising her brows at him. Hoseok chuckles sheepishly, "I mean, we're going to a party." You roll your eyes, "Traitor." "Whose party is it?" Tae asks, sounding interested. "Seokjin- that guy Y/n was complaining about last time" You wince- you'd like to forget last hangout's rant.

"Oh! That's the guy? Small world," Tae says, tilting his head. "How small?" You ask, narrowing your eyes at him. "Well, he invited me and a few of my friends to his party this weekend too. At the beach house, right?"

"Yeah! That's dope, we'll see each other there," Hoseok cheers. "Yeah, guess so," Tae chuckles. You're in disbelief at what you're hearing. How could Tae be attending a party thrown by such a twat? Did he not listen to a word you said last time? What kind of company is he keeping?

And how the fuck are you gonna get into that party?

"No." "Come on, Hoseok!" "No." "Please- you know how much I need this!" "Y/n, he asked you if you wanted to go and you said no. Now you want me to jump in and speak for you?" Hoseok places the freshly washed bowls onto the drying rack.

"I would owe you big time, come on." "I said no-" "Babe, come on. Throw her a bone," B/f/n cuts in, dragging her nail gently across his neck and tracing the side of his jaw so that she can pull his face toward her. Of course, like the golden retriever he is, he immediately caves, "Alright, I'll ask him."

"Yes! THANK YOU, HOSEOK!" You cheer, patting his shoulder firmly, "I owe you one."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," He waves you away, drying his hands with a kitchen towel.

You browse the bookshelf carefully, your eyes narrowed at the each spine as you search for the assigned reading for your history class. "Where is that little fucker," You mumble to yourself. "Looking for me?" An all too familiar voice says from behind you.

You whip your head in the direction of the voice, face already fallen before you've even fully laid eyes on him. "Jin." "AP," He smirks, leaning against the shelf. "What do you want?" You ask irritatedly. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He narrows his eyes at you, though the smirk never leaves his face. "Why would you do that?" "Well, seeing as how you got Jhope to come back and ask me to invite you to my party, wouldn't you think it begs the question?" "Ah, yes..." You search your thoughts for some kind of excuse to give him since you will absolutely not be telling him about Taehyung. "Tell me the truth, AP," He takes two steps forward and now he's close enough that you smell his cologne. You try not to let it distract you. "You've always been in love with me, haven't you?"

You can't help but scoff at how brazen an assumption he's made. "Excuse me? Me? In love with you?" "Don't act so surprised- you're a girl, I'm a guy, is it so hard to believe?" "Correction- you're not a boy. I'm not even sure you're human, actually," You turn your attention back to the shelf, feigning disinterest in the conversation so he'll leave you the hell alone. He chuckles, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly.

"Besides, I've got my eye on something better." You grab some random ass book and then turn around to walk right past him, though he doesn't get the hint as he immediately follows behind. "Mmm, so that's why you wanted an invite to the party. I see," He strokes his chin, "The interesting thing is that, well, I don't remember inviting anyone who could hold a candle to me."

You stop walking and turn to face him again, "Goodness, how do you breathe with your head shoved so far up your own ass?"

"Through a little straw- would you like to see?" He smiles.

That smile... Stop it. "Anyway, I only came to tell you that if you want me to invite you to my party again, I need you to do it, not your little squire." "Technically, he's my best friend's squire," You roll your eyes. "Whatever he is to you, I want you to ask me nicely." "Ask you nicely to what?" You feign innocence. "Playing dumb, I see. Alright, well, I won't have an idiot coming to my party," He shrugs, walking past you this time with his hands in his pockets. You stand there for only a moment, contemplating whether or not it's worth losing the last ounce of your dignity to ask again.

"Wait." You finally pipe up.

"Mm?" He asks, arrogantly holding his head up to look down at you. "Jin..." 'Mhm...?" "Will you please..." "Will I please...what?" His smile is growing wider and wider. "Will you please...invite me to your party again?" Your face is getting more and more red. This is so fucking embarrassing. You wouldn't even be giving a fuck about this party if it weren't for Tae.

"Since you asked so nicely, I shall accept your request," He says with a bow.

Your shoulders drop in relief, "Thank you," You say, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Of course. Here, type your number into my phone." "Why?" You ask, your disgusted expression delighting him further. "So I can send you the details? Or would you rather me tell the squire?" He asks sarcastically.

"Fine," You say, taking his phone from his hand and typing your number in. He takes the phone back and types something else that you can't see, before shoving the phone into his pocket once more.

"Pleasure doing business with you, AP," He says with a smug expression. "Likewise."

A/N: I know there doesn't seem to be a lot of Jin fans out here but I really like this story so far. Show it some love <3

[foxymoxynoona]

Hi Foxy, I hope your day is going well! I saw a precious recent ask where you spoke about your story planning process. I'm so so curious about what other direction did you try to figure out for Meadow? Only if you're comfortable with sharing of course.

I also wanted to ask about the Secret Song Series. From your previous asks, am I right to assume you have had that story planned/pre-written for a long time? If so, was it from before you got into BTS meaning it started out with different characters? Are any of your other stories that heavily pre-planned/written as well? Or any other stories you have pre-planned/written that you haven't shared or published?

Sorry for all the questions, I just truly find your writing, work, and dedication to your stories so inspiring and fascinating. I hope you'll be able to continue doing what you love forever! We'll all be here reading. Thank you for sharing your amazing stories with us. 💝

You're humoring me asking all these questions about writing, I really enjoy the topic!

Regarding Meadow: I really wanted it to just be a sweet Korean location drama at first, but Bronwen's history blew up in my face. And then I really wanted them to just settle in Europe together, but they couldn't quite make their peace there (fwiw, JK was supposed to go find her, not go with her in the original plan) and needed the fresh start together in Thailand and by that point I realized I was heading for the big bad ending I kept trying to avoid but I did still cling to hope that actually they would just stay in Thailand and their family would all move there. I just didn't think I could pull off all the political intricacies of the story and also make it make sense when they took over the pack... I'm pretty happy with how it ultimately turned out though and any other ending, I would have known I chickened out because i was scared of the writing.

Regarding Secret Song Series: it was always and only BTS, I started writing in January of 2020 and wrote furiously FOR MY EYES ONLY lmfao until I impulsively decided to start posting it in November 2020. Since I didn't ever plan to share, I just jumped around and wrote whatever I wanted. To be honest though I actually haven't really needed to "fix" things as we go despite it being written out of chronological order. Maybe a few minor things here and there but the story and Sasha and all the people in her life just really formed in my mind pretty clearly. I think I once added up how much I had written before I began posting and it was something insane like 2,000,000+ words... maybe it was even more? I'm sure it's somewhere on this blog lol but it's harder to calculate now that I've filled in so much more as we go. I kind of think of this story as the chronology of me falling in love with BTS though, because I knew even less about them when I started writing it and then as I would learn things in Run BTS or the On comeback happened or things like that, I could jump around in time in the story and weave it in. It's also why sometimes things are "wrong" in the story, it was never meant to be like... real true to life, it was me making up the future, but some meaningful things I've been able to add in as we go as they don't really change anything or even fit the themes really well!

In the beginning a lot of my stories were heavily written before I started posting (Sugar Fairy, Sea of Indigo, I think Lowlander was like 60% done by the time I started post) which helped me post a lot faster. Amended had a lot done too by the time I started posting, maybe like 40%. In contrast, stories like Lone Blue Egg, Tell Me What Changed, To Kill A King, After the Applause --my more recent stories-- are being posted as I write them. That doesn't mean I've posted all my "old" stuff though, even just BTS fics I wrote since 2020... there are a lot LOL. Some of them were 200 pages before I abandoned them. Sometimes I've cannibalized pieces of them for other stories, or they just kind of stalled out, or I just don't think they were unique/different enough from my current stories to bother finishing up.

I genuinely wish I didn't need to make a living and could just write these free little stories for pleasure and sharing for the rest of time. I'm well aware of how rare and crazy it is to have found such an open and supportive group of people who will let me experiment and try new things and be so thoughtful with their feedback. I'm a better writer thanks to all of you, so thank you for your support and interest! <3

[spidermanifested]

returning to the concept of greed playlists: im actually really proud of the one ive been working on. its not "done" yet, in the sense that i like to make my character playlists go in chronological order and theres still comparatively few songs representing the latter half of his arc, but what ive got so far is very solid in my humble imho. so. heres a big post with all the songs ive got in it so far, particularly relevant lyric excerpts, and explanations for how they fit into my Grand Vision

act i: greed the avaricious

softy by kiltro

there's a boy who stalks these halls, he never leaves and when he talks, he talks a lot always by mistake there's a man who runs the show you never see and where he walks, all our breathing stops, how he quiets things

i figured this was a good one to start off the playlist, it sets up the quiet unease of greeds existence. also starting with a song called "softy" on a playlist about the Ultimate Shield and building everything else on top of that is a move of genius i think

shadow's keeper by black rebel motorcycle club

what is the purpose if you feel so incomplete? what is the reason if it beats you to your knees? what do you keep? your eyes were wide but there's a world that keeps you blind a painted serpent turning water into wine seeking light

hes starting to acknowledge how unfulfilled he feels, and the shadow/light motifs are an extra treat considering he uses the metaphor himself. ive done my best to continue that theme throughout the playlist. especially fun if you take the "painted serpent turning water into wine" as the "world that keeps (him) blind" AND the thing "seeking light", aka father, and combine that with the later verse:

you're begging for the truth but now you've seen too much you're living in your head but never feel their touch and everything was buried by the deep blue sky help me to breathe 'cause I don't wanna see the light just tell me to breathe 'cause I don't wanna be denied

he doesnt want whatever grand plans father has in store, he wants a family that cares about him. truth mentioned also, as well, give it up for the truth

willard! by will wood

i've never understood what humans do and want it's quite confusing to me to try to connect never learned how I should feel, instincts somehow stunted just seem haunted by my stupid urge to protect

replace "humans" with homunculi and you have a whole song about how his chimeras are the only ones who really get him. "being haunted by (his) stupid urge to protect" is also such a greed line

hast thou considered the tetrapod by the mountain goats

and alone in my room i am the last of a lost civilization and i vanish into the dark and rise above my station

he, father and the other homunculi quite literally are the last of a lost civilization. also

held under these smothering waves by your strong and thick-veined hand but one of these days i'm gonna wriggle up on dry land

^these lines make me cry on their own already and when i place them in greedcontext it has an effect

what's a devil to do? by harley poe

oh, when the saints go marching in i won't be there, 'cause I love my sin am i so bad that you hate me? there was a time when i could see my hopes and dreams, they are no more i'm not a rich man, but blessed are the poor oh man, forgive me, i turned away i won't come back, so i'll have to pay

i dont think i have to expound on how this relates to greed very much do i. entire song about your inherently sinful nature making you unfit for your home

act ii: taking on the world

could have been me by the struts

don't wanna live as an untold story rather go out in a blaze of glory i can't hear you, i don't fear you i'll live now 'cause the bad die last dodging bullets with your broken past i can't hear you, i don't fear you now

the tiger! he destroyed his cage! the tiger is out!!!!

i by kendrick lamar

and i love myself (the world is a ghetto with big guns and picket signs) i love myself (but it can do what it want whenever it want, i don't mind) i love myself

hes seen how much pain society has in it at this point, but he still has no regrets about leaving home. for the first time in his life hes starting to fill the void in his soul

i want it all by queen

i'm a man with a one track mind so much to do in one lifetime (people do you hear me) not a man for compromise and where's and why's and living lies so i'm living it all, yes i'm living it all and i'm giving it all, and i'm giving it all

the first of several songs about Wanting Everything because you have to have songs about wanting everything in a greed playlist. but thats not the only reason this one fits, youve got the "not wanting to live a lie" part, as well as talking about giving instead of just taking

raise hell by dorothy

young blood, run like a river young blood, never get chained young blood, heaven need a sinner you can't raise hell with a saint young blood, came to start a riot don't care what your old man say young blood, heaven hate a sinner but we gonna raise hell anyway

hes way past young at this point but theres always room for a Fuck You Dad song

emperor's new clothes by panic! at the disco

welcome to the end of eras ice has melted back to life done my time and served my sentence dress me up and watch me die if it feels good, tastes good, it must be mine

this is maybe The classic greed song. everybody knows its about him. the only difference in opinion with the masses i really have is that even though emperor is in the title it really fits more as a pre-nest wild party era greed song than a greedling era song because at no point during the winter road trip does he get to engage in the songs brand of lavish hedonism. hes too busy being depressed

also its fun that it has the word decapitated in it. when, you know

the man by the killers

i know the score like the back of my hand them other boys, i don't give a damn they kiss on the ring, i carry the crown nothing can break, nothing can break me down

obligatory Toxic Masculinity Song. some of the lines about not taking advice dont really apply here because this is greed "looks to his minions for social advice in the middle of a kidnapping" the avaricious but he does have his weird chivalry thing and also a lot of baggage around his own vulnerability. i also think its funny to put in a song where he brags about his dick

thrift shop by macklemore

imma take your grandpa's style, imma take your grandpa's style no, for real, ask your grandpa, can i have his hand-me-downs?

unfortunately this is definitely a greed song.

mr. pinstripe suit by big bad voodoo daddy

now he strolls through the city like a big ol' alley cat with his pinstripe suit and a big bad voodoo hat i don't believe i ever saw him without a kitten on his hand and no one swings as hard to the big bad voodoo band

the time period doesnt quite line up but the Vibe is there. hes making a name and a reputation for himself and hes looking good doing it

busy earnin' by jungle

you think that all your time is used too busy earnin' you can't get enough

a more uncertain interlude. the melody doesnt falter but the lyrics ask if this is really what he wants out of life. after all, he has a long time, but he doesnt have forever.

everybody loves me by onerepublic

don't need my health got my name and got my wealth, i stare at the sun just for kicks all by myself, i lose track of time, so i might be past my prime, but i'm feelin' oh so good, yeah

this answers the question the previous song posed with a "psssh, ill think about it later"

i want it by viv and the revival

in the stores make it rain 'cause it's wet like a dream (a-wooo) cars, boats, big house, everything in between (a-wooo) i don't know i don't care i don't give but i can share, so i'll make you scream make you believe that you can have anything, anything!

another "i want everything" song that stands out by mentioning wanting someone else to have things too. still not really addressing the uncertainty yet in favor of continuing to fuck around

gimme! gimme! gimme! (a man after midnight) by abba

gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight won't somebody help me chase the shadows away? gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight take me through the darkness to the break of the day

well? give him a man after midnight

i'll rust with you by steam powered giraffe

i'll rust with you i'll rust with every one of you nostalgic nights have got me feelin' its all gone, gone, gone to rust

song about being immortal and watching all your relationships fade away before your eyes as the decades roll past? dont mind if i do

highwayman by the highwaymen

i was a highwayman along the coach roads i did ride with sword and pistol by my side many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade the bastards hung me in the spring of '25 but i am still alive

by this point hes been living among humans long enough to have racked up a considerable number of deaths. but hes still around. he'll always be around. Or Will He

act iii: coming together

red right hand by nick cave & the bad seeds

you don't have no money? he'll get you some you don't have no car? he'll get you one you don't have no self-respect, you feel like an insect well don't you worry buddy 'cause here he comes through the ghettos and the barrio and the bowery and the slum a shadow is cast wherever he stands stacks of green paper in his red right hand

the tone of the song is sinister. within the context of this playlist i am envisioning it as entirely literal. whats up with this weird guy and his red right hand. well he got me a new car so he cant be all that bad. he definitely casts a shadow wherever he stands but you know itd be kind of weird if he didnt

this marks the beginning of his quest to find lasting friends minions. clearly just bribing them wont really work

evil friends by portugal. the man

it's not because the light here is brighter and it's not that I'm evil i just don't like to pretend that i could ever be your friend

return of the light motif and the cataclysmic collision of greeds refusal to lie and his refusal to accept the most basic truth about himself. hes gotten to the point where hes able to recognize that who he is isnt a bad thing, but he still cant connect the dots and understand that he was lied to from the start about who he is at all. so he says shit like this with full confidence

let me bathe in demonic light by the mountain goats

someday the old flesh will give way to the new find a functioning mirror inside and slip right through and there, there i'll be and who, who's coming with me? to show me my one true face when i arrive at my preordained place

the light theme continues, and illustrates the fact that in starting to seek out immortality he's retreading the same ground as father-- making the same mistakes. the hunger, as the lyrics explain, runs "deep in the bloodline". just like father, he cant do it alone, and calls on others to join him, while the lyrics run in direct contrast to the past song by saying the word "friend" multiple times. this will continue

amy aka spent gladiator 1 by the mountain goats

i hide down in my corner because i like my corner i am happy where the vermin play

i might wind up relocating this somewhere else on the playlist at some point but right now the sound fits well in this part so. song about Coping, and not necessarily coping healthily or well. but hes surviving, with his little crimelord hobby

if i lead by kiltro

show me the ways that you talk and all of the places you walk if i lead would you follow? let me at the corners where the light don’t touch colors, figures sway love, they might lift you away from the street to what’s under and everything that scatters by the light of day

weve got light again folks! this ones (very plainly i should think) about recruiting the gang. he asks for their trust and brings them down into the underbelly of dublith.

modern jesus by portugal. the man

don't pray for us we don't need no modern jesus to roll with us the only rule we need is never giving up the only faith we have is faith in us

the Greed Crucifixion jokes are hilarious but this song i think fits very well as a refusal by the nest to treat him as anything but an equal, at least in terms of his being a homunculus. they dont want a god, they want a boss and an ally and a friend.

bourbon street by jeff tuohy

every night we throw this little soiree i'm gonna turn her head until she's mine, all mine every night I breed a new disaster might be right, might be wrong try to get away and i will bring you right along

another party song, this time with hints that being on his side isnt totally safe, and he might not be as in-control as he makes himself out to be. everyones having fun, though. for now!

guys on every corner by the mountain goats

with your tabloid stars and your unmarked cars with your special forces and your inside sources with your radar fields and your riot shields and heavy horses i'm coming to swat you down like flies 'cause i got guys

come at him, government. hes got guys.

act iv: the downfall

alligator teeth by mother falcon

i will turn my friends to gold for the treasury to hold them safely while they dream

a sudden shift in musical style to something way more... i dont quite know how to describe it but its soft at first and then turns frantic and its generally not the kind of music i would typically listen to for Fun but in the context of the events leading up to the raid i think the sound works to illustrate the confusion and fear. immortality, i think, was never just for greed. he wanted to protect his friends too. the lyrics start to repeat "i don't wanna ever dream", and then "'cause all it ever leads me to is bad things, bad things"-- this desire is exactly what gets them all killed.

king rat by modest mouse

we spun like birds on fire right down towards the residence, and i i took all that I desired, even crooks have to pay the rent we swam like rats on fire right, right down the reservoir we took all that we could carry, but we tried to carry more and you know, you know, you know it all went wrong

the musical panic continues into the next song, which describes a burglary gone sideways and perfectly captures the raid. greed tried to bite off more than he could chew and paid the price for it. plenty of the lyrics can be directly associated with the situation-- the "king rat" who "has (greed) on his list again", the "deep water" he's sinking in, the claim that he was "honest even when he cheated them". i dont think id be able to find a more fitting song for this part if i looked for a year

going to hell by the pretty reckless

father did you miss me don't ask me where i've been you know i know, yes, i've been told i redefine a sin i don't know what's driving me to put this in my head maybe i wish i could die, maybe i am dead and he said for the lives that i fake, i'm going to hell for the vows that i break, i'm going to hell

barring any better future options this song has provided the title for the whole playlist-- "redefine a sin". the in-context priest being called father really elevates this one, if the whole premise wasnt enough to begin with. a+ greedsong

heretic pride by the mountain goats

and i start laughing like a child and i mark their faces one by one transfiguration's going to come for me at last and i will burn hotter than the sun

maybe greeds emotional state is a little different from the narrator here, but overall this is a certified Song to Get Put in the Soup To

act v: rebirth

still feel. by half alive

floating in outer space, have i misplaced a part of my soul? lost in the in-between, or so it seems, i'm out of control floating in outer space, have i misplaced a part of my soul? lost in the in-between, but it can't keep me asleep for long 'cause i still feel alive

i can so vividly picture the animatic to this one. greeds little soulface flipping around in the stone. zooming in on fathers weird eyeball as he cries him out and puts him in different guys. the last verse being him coming to life again in lings body. why dont i have 7 million dollars

same man i was before by oingo boingo

i'm not the same boy I was before but I haven't changed my desires i've not extinguished the fires i haven't lost wide-eyed wonder i haven't lost, haven't lost, haven't lost that stupid fear of thunder

AND everyone keeps telling him everything he does is wrong. cut that out

ドーナツホール ft. GUMI by hachi

いつからこんなに大きな | When was it that I got these memories, 思い出せない記憶があったか | These big ones I can't remember? どうにも憶えてないのを | Out of what I just can't recall, ひとつ確かに憶えてるんだな | There's one thing I remember pretty well もう一回何回やったって | Try one more time, a hundred times, 思い出すのはその顔だ | All I remember is your face それでもあなたがなんだか | And yet you yourself, I'm not sure why, 思い出せないままでいるんだな | But I still can't remember you…

this is the bido song. look up the rest of the lyrics its about bido. i searched bido on japanese twitter one time and saw somebody else saying this song reminded them of greed and bido. its about greed and bido

act vi: memories returned

stronger by the score

set me on fire set me on, set me on fire (whoa, whoa-oh) i'm still alive i'm still a- i'm still alive (whoa) bet you didn't think that i'd come back to life

every single line fits him perfectly. youve all seen @humming-fly's animation right you dont need me to explain. if you havent what are you doing

long way down by black rebel motorcycle club

don't you cry to yourself just to feel like someone who's hit bottom? but you can't run away 'cause the hole that remains will follow don't you care just enough? don't you feel your heart stop? but you can't know what you want

after the emotional high of 'stronger', representing the anger overtaking him as he goes to attack bradley, 'long way down' takes us, well, Down. hes is so fucking sad. but he cant know what he wants! now more than ever! because to admit it would mean admitting he lost it!!!

clean slate by the mountain goats

rest until you're rested, climb back onto the caravan remember at your peril, forget the ones you can and then just when you think you've learned how to forget you learn it's just the ones who haven't risen to the surface yet

this is The Roadtrip Song. hes sorting through his memories and struggling the entire time. i owe john "the mountain" goats my life for continuing to make ten million songs about extremely specific situations. ideally id have so many more songs in this category but until i find more this is it for the time being

act vii: final sacrifice

human heart by thao

god damn your crooked mouth and lean your fear is a bullet in the wing is it so brave? tell me, is it so brave? the private posture of the self homemade

with this, we skip ahead to the final fight and the moment when he decides to sacrifice himself. shout out to whoever transcribed "eat and won't you be hungry" as "ethan won't you be hungry" on the spotify lyrics for this one, i dont know who ethan is but i hope he has a good lunch. what was i talking about. oh right

children play with fire by mischief brew

children lead us to the lake of fire (fire!) children lead us to the lake of fire (fire!) and as we drive down into the flames maybe I'll let you hold the reins

change da world... his final message. goodb ye

epilogue

just one more by mad caddies

no necesito la vida rica (i don't need the rich life) estoy contento contigo (i'm happy with you) 'cause in the end we all go the same place, yeah so i'll be happy with what i know

like the title says: just one more. because whatever form it takes, he IS partying it up in that shitty bar in the sky. and all his friends are there too.

like i said i would very much prefer to have more songs in the latter parts so if anybody has recommendations. please rant at me about the songs you associate with greed. and if i can fit them in i will. this post took me all day to make i have got to get some follower interaction out of it

[aquata-the-champ]

the demon went down to texas: a playlist for the devil within ( @boointhenight / @kenneth-carson )

the family jewels by marina

the devil went down to georgia by the charlie daniels band

you first by paramore (feat. remi wolf)

eat your young by hozier

hospital (one man down) by madison cunningham (feat. remi wolf)

haunted by taylor swift

doomsday by lizzy mcalpine

punisher by phoebe bridgers

satanist by boygenius

the kids don't stand a chance by vampire weekend

the family jewels by marina

Oh, you think I'm unfit Little did you know that I was cut for it No glass slipper will ever fit 'Cause I could never see a diamond in it

One thing that I love about this arc is the way that Vicky and Lins use the supernatural as a way to talk about toxic family dynamics and generational trauma and general difficult family stuff! And I think this song gets at that and the use of jewels as a metaphor is perfect for the uber rich Carsons. Plus I pulled out this part because I think it nods to how Ken is kind of seen as less than his siblings, but really it's because he sees through the toxic nature of the family's past in the way others don't.

2. the devil went down to georgia by the charlie daniels band

Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard. 'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia and the Devil deals the cards. And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold, But if you lose the Devil gets your soul.

How could I not?? This is the og demon deal song and I think the southern gothic of it all is very fitting for this thread being set in Texas. I wanted this playlist to kind of go chronologically through the story and this is the part when the Carsons make the deal with the devil kind of.

3. you first by paramore (feat. remi wolf)

Everyone is a bad guy And there's no way, no way to know Who's the worst Karma's gonna come for all of us And I hope, yeah, I hope, I just hope She comes, comes for you first

I know this is not what this song is about but I like to think of it as being from the demon's perspective lol. It also reminds me of like the way Boo talks to demons and how she's not easily spooked by them because she's dealt with them all her life. Idk do you feel the vibe??

4. eat your young by hozier

I'm starving, darling Let me put my lips to something Let me wrap my teeth around the world Start carving, darling I wanna smell the dinner cooking I wanna feel the edges start to burn

So this song has been interpreted in a lot of different ways and they're all valid but to me this song is largely about screwing over the next generation to get what you want now. And I think that's kind of the story of the Carsons' demon; they just keep making it the next generation's problem and that's why Ken and Boo are so determined to break the cycle!

5. hospital (one man down) by madison cunningham (feat. remi wolf)

Checking into a hospital Where the nurse is earth and sky Fighting against my flesh and blood There's nothing I won't try Even heartache looks so easy To a pair of grieving eyes I am always one man down

There's just something about a Remi Wolf collab idk idk it just works for this playlist. So idk what this song is really about but to me it is about like the world beating you down and you feel unwell about it? There's a lot of rlly visceral imagery here and idk it was just giving me Ken and Boo vibes

6. haunted by taylor swift

Come on, come on, don't leave me like this I thought I had you figured out Can't breathe whenever you're gone Can't turn back now, I'm haunted

hadtodoittoem.jpg Look it's a spooky playlist I had to put Haunted on it. To me this song is about when everything that was already kind of fragile suddenly turns into a horror movie!!! And all the dark stuff you were trying to ignore comes to light. I see this as the soundtrack to that crazy scene in the barn!!

7. doomsday by lizzy mcalpine

I'd have liked to plan out my part in this But you're such a narcissist That you did it on Halloween I had no choice in the matter Why would I? It's only the death of me

Ok so this song is about a breakup lmfao but I mostly wanted to include it because the idea of arguing with your murderer about the correct way to do it is so funny to me and idk just seems to fit here. Are you picking up the vibe I'm putting down? I also like that it's kind of a quieter song in the midst of a generally loud playlist, like an eerie moment of quiet.

8. punisher by phoebe bridgers

The drugstores are open all night The only real reason I moved to the east side I love a good place to hide in plain sight

This song is also more about vibes than meaning. I just find it so creepy lol I think Phoebe did an amazing job of like portraying this ghostly persona that works with the lyrics so seamlessly. But rather than really talking about the lyrics I just think that the sneaky, secretive nature of this song is fitting for like the demons hitching a ride back to Swynlake with Ken and Boo!

9. satanist by boygenius

Will you be an anarchist with me? Sleep in cars and kill the bourgeoisie At least until you find out what a fake I am Spray paint my initials on an ATM I burn my cash and smash my old TV

To me this song is about like rebellion and dealing with a shattered worldview and feelings of ennui by like picking some philosophy and just going crazy with it with your friends. Ken and Boo are not satanists/nihilists/anarchists as far as I am aware but they are dealing with a lot of shit together! And kind of rebelling in their own ways against some of the values they grew up with. So I thought this was fitting!

10. the kids don't stand a chance by vampire weekend

The pin-striped men of morning Are coming forward to dance Forty-million dollars The kids don't stand a chance

So I hate to end this playlist on a downer but think of it this way: this story isn't finished! I think a cool part of this arc was that it was a complicated victory: they saved Ken's life, but now they have a whole other set of problems. And meanwhile, the Carson family fortune and their tie to the demon continue on! The same way the evils of the world that the demon can represent, like greed and exploitation, also continue on. That's what this song is about to me: you win a minor victory, but now you have a whole other set of problems that makes it hard to feel hopeful.

Anyway can't wait to see what happens next!!!

[alectology-archive]

Ianthe/Harrow for the ship game

I think this goes without saying, but yeah, I ship them!

1. What made you ship it?

the bone arm sex scene, in all its messy glory - but the reread did make me appreciate some finer details that I missed since I was so lost on the plot the first time around because of harrow the ninth’s story structure. chronologically speaking, I’d now probably go with harrow kissing ianthe with tongue or the intensely sexual depiction of ianthe stabbing harrow with her trident knife. if we want to go back farther, the lobotomy scene probably counts. the ship also excels when harrow is resisting her clear attraction to ianthe or insulting ianthe within an inch of her life (ianthe obviously pretends that she’s not offended). more recently, I was laughing at how ianthe wanted to take harrow home as a ‘sex thing’. harrow just doesn’t care as much about ianthe as ianthe does her, and that’s what really makes the ship for me, I think.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

I just love messy relationships but it’s also the sheer degree of codependency colouring their dynamic in harrow the ninth! ianthe didn’t have a twin around anymore so she tried to make a coronabeth out of harrow instead by giving her makeovers and trying to establish her authority, mostly failed, and never forgave harrow for it; they’re both forced into mutual vulnerability with one another against their will - ianthe is present as the most empathetic figure in harrow’s life when she’s most vulnerable, and ianthe clearly misses her sister and struggles a lot with her disability. they’re both very proud people and harrow also has a way of cutting to the bone with criticisms that I don’t think ianthe has ever quite been subjected to in her life, and I like how she kind of gets off on having her aptitude and effort recognised by other people (which is circumstantially ianthe) besides the pair also helping one another hold onto their identities and navigate the social and sexual landscape on the mithraeum - they just have So Much going on! I also get the impression that ianthe is very attracted to people who can give her access to power, and while harrow isn’t necessarily powerful in a way that really matters in harrow the ninth, she’s a very, very skilled necromancer and ianthe is acutely aware of that.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

this question is always so hard for me to answer because I just Do Not Know what the fandom consensus on any ship is (for the best, probably). I guess what I appreciate most about their relationship is all the heavy subtext? I have to wonder if it wouldn’t have worked otherwise - I think it lays emphasis on the forbidden nature of their relationship (two incompatible personalities, ‘sister’ lyctors, gideon witnessing the erotic tension) in a way that really appeals to me, and I also think it fits better with harrow’s pov since she’s so repressed.

[kinghijinx22]

Full unedited House of the Dead 3 thoughts that wouldn't fit into the description of my Youtube video and had to be edited down

I decided to play some more House of the Dead because replaying House of the Dead 2 for Halloween has kinda of given me rush for the series and so I've now decided to cover my personal favourite entry, House of the Dead 3. It's the one that have the most nostalgia for, having played it and the unlockable House of the Dead 2 on the original XBOX but there is still so much about this game that I really love, even though I'm aware that it's one of the less popular entries. I did actually want to emulate the original XBOX version, but I haven't been able to get an emulator for it working on my laptop so I had to emulate the PS3 version which has this weird sound bug where rapidly shooting causes the sound of the gun to cut itself off and if you shoot really fast then there is just barely any noise which isn't ideal but it's fine. The good thing about this version is that it's at least the most graphically impressive.

Speaking of good looking visuals, holy damn do I love this game's whole setting and aesthetic. The art style for this game really compliments the slightly darker tone they where going for, which does contrast with the last couple games and especially House of the Dead 2 which was much lighter and sillier. But House of the Dead 3 still has the silly charm that House of the Dead usually does in some of it's dialogue, I just think it effectively balances it with the darker tone and more serious story.

As for that story, House of the Dead is actually the latest in the chronological timeline and is set in the post apocalyptic far future of… 2019, one year before the real life apocalypse. Which I guess implies that the AMS couldn't save humanity and the zombies won? I think GOLDMAN in this game's prequel House of the Dead 4 even mentions his plans to launch some missiles which I guess might be want lead to this game's post apocalyptic setting. But even still, the remaining AMS agents continue their fight in trying to save whatever remaining humanity is left by locating the source of the apocalypse in Doctor Curien's research facility and destroying it. Leading the team on this mission is the protagonist of the first game Thomas Rogan, along with a guy named Dan Taylor who has the same last name as James and I like to think they are related in some way. But Dan gets smoked by a giant security guard zombie named Death and Rogen gets knocked out but is abducted by a mysterious figure. Two weeks after the prologue is where the game really begins, where we follow the true protagonist of this story Lisa Rogan who has come to rescue her father Thomas from the facility, along with Thomas's old partner G who once again takes the player 2 role.

Lisa is actually my favourite playable character in this series, she is such a sass queen who has THE BEST one lines and I love her attitude so much. I also always found her to be one of the more relatable characters and we actually get to learn a little more about her through her conversations with G which I love, where she talks about her home life and the strain that Rogan's job as an AMS agent puts on his relationships with both her and her mother Sophie. I also think it's really cool that Lisa is the daughter of a previous protagonist and his love interest who where both in the first game, and the confirmation that Sophie did survive the events of that game. Although as stained as her relationship with her father has become, she still really cares about him and I like they reconcile when she rescues him in the end. And as cheesy as it is, I really like how Lisa accepts his advice of believing in herself which is also genuinely sweet and has that hopefulness that is present in all of the House of the Dead games. Throughout all the suffering, G is also the coolest he's ever been and I like the banter between him and Lisa and the sort of Uncle vibe he has.

In the end however he's replaced by new character Daniel Curian who yes, is the son of big bad Doctor Curian who unlike his father is actually one of the good guys. We actually get some retroactive sympathetic backstory for Doctor Curian in this game where through flashbacks we find out that he was also developing a cure for a deadly illness that Daniel had when he was a kid which I think is what led to developing whatever he used, presumably a virus, to create the zombies? But then he went mad when all his scientists left him, which is when he developed he developed the Magician and the Wheel of Fate, and then eventually let out all his zombies and they killed everyone which is what led to the events of the first game and then the rest of the series. Daniel survived his illness, but has grown into an adult who knows better and disapproves of his father's harmful methods in his research.

Which is why he rescued Thomas Rogan and in the end takes the player 2 spot from G, teaming up with Lisa to finally defeat the Wheel of Fate who I think is supposed to be Doctor Curian reincarnated? Or resurrected, or it's a copy of his consciousness in a cyberpunk sort of way. Either way this final level is awesome though and I love how the daughter of the protagonist from the first game teams up with the son of the antagonist from the first game. Future generations getting along when their previous generations where enemies is something that I always love to see. It reflects how society really has become more understanding of eachother with every generation, which plays into the themes of this game of learning to appreciate change and leaving things in the hands of future generations to build a better future.

As for this game's setting, I mentioned before how much I love the darker post apocalyptic vibes but I also have to mention how much I love Curian's research facility. The game is set in this giant industrial looking tower out in the middle of nowhere that looks really cool and feels like this big spooky labyrinth. It almost has this sort of surreal vibe at times as well and each of the areas you visit as you ascend the tower has a distinct look between the animal testing area looking like a really messed up vet or hospital, the plant testing area being covered in vines and looking "like a jungle" as Lisa says, the level where Death chases you looking like a big abandoned factory. It all looks really good and there is just something about the atmosphere of this game that I REALLY vibe with.

The bosses that you face in each level for this game are all great as well, with the represented Tarot cards in this entry being Death, Sun, Fool and the big bad Wheel of Fate. Death is actually used in an interesting and unique way that hasn't really been replicated with any of the other bosses in this series, pretty much being a stalker or rival enemy who shows up multiple times and chases you akin to Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 or Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2. He's the monster who killed Dan and knocked out Rogan in the prologue, and shows up again to chase Lisa and G throughout multiple levels. He's the boss of the first level who chases them into the tower but is left alive by the end of it, continuing his pursuit in the factory looking level where he is finally killed which by that point is really satisfying and is punctuated by one of Lisa's beautiful one liners "when a lady says no, she means it" which, so true that consent is important and too many straight men think they are entitled to a woman's affection. Then we have Fool who is a personal favourite boss of mine because of how unique a zombie sloth is, the fact that they where able to make a sloth actually REALLY scary like damn, and the giant cage that you fight them in while they climb it and you move along with spiral staircase is a really cool arena. Sun is also cool and is another very Resident Evil boss because they remind me a lot of plant 42, and is also one of the scarier monster plant designs I've seen because of the weird monster heads that extend out of the flowers with their long necks, as well as even having human looking heads attached to the tree part which I assume are all it's victims that have become a part of it. Then we have the electric man Wheel of Fate who a pretty cool final boss, I like the digital looking void that you fight him in and that he's kind of Curian, but man is he maybe the hardest boss in the series. Still more interesting then Emporer in my opinion, but not as cool as Magician.

The gameplay of this game is also really good, probably being my favourite in the series? So in this game you actually use a shotgun instead of a handgun, which has some nice weight to shots and feels satisfying to shoot, especially with how much you can blast apart the zombies in this game. But the reload is a shotgun pump that actually has an animation that take time and some people have a problem with this, but not me because I think that just adds another layer of strategy to the gunplay and it also just looks cool. This game has an alternate path system like the previous entries but it also does work a little differently. So you don't really get diverging paths depending on who you save or by shooting certain things, but in the first level you do get to choose which path you take to get into the tower at the start of the level. And then with the middle 3 levels you actually get to choose the order that you do them in and depending on the order you pick, the level path will actually be different which is a fun thing that once again adds some nice replay value.

So yeah House of the Dead 3 is all around my big favourite in the series, love the vibes and setting so much, Lisa is the most endearing protagonist to me, and it also plays real good. I want to do videos for House of the Dead 1 and 4 as well but getting either of those games to run at all on their respective emulators has been the most annoying thing ever and I've had no success.

[radsunny]

vers 1.1 update

This is going to be the first big update about the project. Mostly because I finally got around to re-tooling the project into an actual narrative – think of this first jump from CONCEPT to DRAFT.

Many issues to consider after doing so, and the main points are:

This thing is way too goddamn big!!!!!!!

There are issues with how the player accesses pages in a chronological or nonlinear order (basically, the calendar page “index” is not very responsive)

I need to telegraph more clearly when players have made a choice that changes the narrative structure or adds new content

Some screenshots of what CHURL looks like right now:

Graphically, it looks great. It’s exactly what I want it to look like. It makes me happy to see how insanely garish and overwhelming it is to see the content for the first time.

The main point of this prototype was to see if the content I already had could be fit into the new framework of treating BEED’s narrative like a blog you can browse through a centralized WayBack Machine-like index calendar page.

The gameplay cycle is as such:

Look at the index and pick a date (does not have to be day 1, but that does help contextualize the story more easily.) to visit a version of BEED’s site at that moment in time.

Browse the main page (BEED’s posts), the chat (side window) and other links (ABOUT, TYPEWRITER, PROJECT ARCHIVE, etc.) that look clickable. Read the content, analyze what is happening on that day for all the characters.

Repeat for all the available days on the calendar.

(not implemented yet) according to the textual clues collected during the month cycle, provide a summary statement on what BEED’s research ‘yielded’ or not throughout the month.

The most difficult part of transferring the project from a straightforward linear set of Twine passages to this new format is figuring out how to repeat content structurally while changing the content narratively on a fairly frequent basis.

Also, just in terms of my own lack of restraint when it comes to filling out the game, I ended up with six days of content in the new prototype totaling 58 passages. The original prototype outlining three weeks has a total of 55 passages. big time uh-oh moment.

A part of why CHURL ballooned so hard is that I am limited in my understanding of Twine’s ability to automate sections of the narrative, so I was basically copy-pasting static pages time and time again when a new “MAIN’ page was created.

Coupled with this is the fact that I wanted to include bonus content for players who visited certain pages or clicked ‘secret’ links. I had only become comfortable with using the (else), (either), (if x is true/false) macros that I limited myself to a binary variable structure. Again, this led me to just start multiplying passages to avoid the confusion that comes with players clicking the “RETURN TO MAIN.HTML” button and it working only on day 4 + 5, when they are on day 6…etc.

The solutions to these problems are basically: pull out the Harlowe Cookbook and read it properly without taking the simplest macros and trying to push them past their limits.

There is also the issue of how I started using Twine: as soon as I booted it up three years ago, I realized that I could use HTML and CSS to deal with a lot of the game’s links, pages, and graphic elements. I largely discarded the idea of using Harlowe as a language for this kind of stuff, so I am now atoning for my sins by trying to understand it better.

Turns out telling yourself “oh wouldn’t it be cool if also this happened” every time you thought it makes it impossible to maintain a workable structure for a project that you want to have an ENDING by April. So, I am also pulling the reins hard on outlining a developing/designing pipeline that does not kill me (metaphorically, psychologically, metaphysically).

After having the folks from the Behaviour Research Chair group play the prototype, I was given feedback which I summarize here:

Figure out the saving of player options, constant hotlink that takes the players to what they’ve found – journal updates for players – collects for them, shunting off a path – an inventory of sorts

How to get back to the progress, locking content and saved

History and Storylet tags in Harlowe/Twine – need to look into

The peripheral chatter is great – helps flesh out the world nicely – read on BEED through them

But, it isn’t clear who “I” is, who is it coming from sometimes – who is speaking at this moment?

The handholding of the first week of content – tutorializing the site!!!!

(not familiar with Beowulf) Felt overwhelmed – what is Beowulf? you have to tutorialize a bit

Every month could be a self-contained chapter, drip-feeding the initial bits

Real-time events – look into how to add this, maybe

The sound of the old mouse clicking, ads, broken gifs, etc

Notification sound or graphic on the DM window to draw attention to it

Interacting with the game’s text confirms the excitement for it, the text is great – it is a rewarding chunk of text every time, my time is worth it       

The trajectory is hard to understand – need framing for why you are doing, you would accumulate, this is developing live to some extent – how do you take this? needs to be framed – needs a progression scheme

Rather than a test, this site is a quest – directing the attention of the player to something

For ex: We unearthed a snapshot of the website, click on it – to move forwards the next website page

Telegraph a few things, and they should be part of the experience – it is worth overdoing it and backtracking.

“this will be remembered” something like that

On the issues with the Calendar Index page: The story might be better served without the overarching top-down view – leaning more into the interactive idea

Idea to replace the index: The split screen of the graphs (the top section of the WayBack Machine) always present on top of the screen, letting players interact with them at any point

Waypoints for the next prototype are pretty clear after documenting what I’ve done and listened to feedback on what could work better or differently:

WORKING LIST OF NEEDED TASKS (EMPHASIS ON NEEDED, NOT WANTED):

Investigate the storylet and history macros in Harlowe

Talked to another designer who has used storylet extensively – this might be an option for more ‘randomized’ content rather than structurally aligning things to happen one after another in a specific list.

Re-tool the narrative to be spread out across a much larger span of in-game time

A “week” of tutorializing sounds good to me, and it will allow me to fix a couple of issues at a time:

orienting players, setting up the “quest,” telegraph how player choice impacts the narrative.

Turn the landing page into the graph of years the WayBack machine has “crawled” a site and paste it on top of the MAIN.HTML page of content, allowing players to go back and forth between days more easily.

Maybe keep the calendar index for the overarching narrative which is supposed to last a whole year (with gaps!!!!!!!!!! I will not write a whole year of content that’s crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[mystxmomo]

Creating characters

Character development - Things I consider while developing characters

This is going to be a multi-part saga outlining what I consider with characters and why. Each part is going to explain something else. This post will act both as the first part, and as master-list to all of the parts that will be updated as I go. You can also look at the tag "Character Design Saga" on my blog to see all of them in one place. Not exactly catchy, but it gets the job done.

Thank you for your time and interest ^^ Even if you don't get anything out of it, I hope you enjoy seeing how my own personal thought process works.

== Links ==

Master Post (Here)

First post - Concept (Also here)

Posts in chronological order

==

Note 1

Disclaimer: I am not a professional writer.

I don't think this is the only way to do character development. This is just what works for me, and an outline/explanation on why and how I consider it. If considering any one of these points helps you put together your character a little smoother, I'm glad to have helped! But if not, I completely get it. Some peoples minds just don't work like that.

Note 2

I always keep my answers to these flexible. I'm someone who thinks that it's important to let the characters sort of shape themselves as they're being written. While it's good to have a base to work up and off of, I also think that letting characters wander off in their own direction at times is good. In a way, this is an outline for where I start with them, and not a full guideline.

Note 3

Right now, I focus more on story writing then I do roleplay. Therefore, a lot of the logic I use is with consideration of characters in a more confined story. However, I think some of this is still applicable for character development within a roleplay. A lot of my roots are from roleplaying, and thus the way I considered their personality was from how they'd be able to bounce off characters I often had no control over.

That in mind - At the end of the post is an outline of all of the points put together like an old roleplay forum application. I know having things in a list helps me, so maybe it would help someone else as well.

Note 4

Many things on this are a "if applicable" Style category. Not every character is going to have a nickname/alias. You might not have an interaction immediately in mind for them. Once again, a lot of these categories aren't meant to be concrete cookie cutters that will fit every character - These are questions and prompts used to help build and shape the character, and if something doesn't fit the character, or the way you personally build character, hit da bricks and ditch the question!

I personally believe there's no "correct" way to build characters and character relationships. Humans are incredibly nuanced, and characters should be as well. There's also the context a character will exist in to consider - A character you're writing for a childrens story will have a much different focus then a character you're writing for an adult mystery, which will have a much different focus than a character you're developing for a tabletop (Which would have a different development then a character you were creating for a discord roleplay)

All in all - Context matters. I'm sharing this because this is what I consider and how I focus - But you don't need to do things my way.

Basic information

This is the information that I start with when creating characters. When I'm personally creating a character, I almost start with trying to figure out the aesthetic of the character more-so then I figure out the specifics of them.

I use aesthetic loosely, here. It's not just an appearance that I'm looking for - but rather, how the character is going to feel and present as a concept. The building blocks for this can generally happen in any order - My most recent character was built on a conceptual gag of a character admitting that she "walked in and got a job by pretending she already had the job, and the communication between the MC and his husband was so bad that they both just assumed the other person hired her." - That, in itself, gave me a lot to work with when it came to the kind of personality I saw her having, and so that's where I started with her.

However, sometimes I start with a focus on a more literal aesthetic. One of my longest lived characters, Poppy, started with the conceptual idea of a necromancer with a pastel lolita fashion style and evolved as a character from there.

Naming

You don't have to start with a characters name if you're not good at naming characters.

Maybe it goes without saying, but it still feels like something worth pointing out. Personally, names tend to be one of the last things I come up with for characters, because I want to get to know who they are before I name them. But I'm also someone who enjoys naming my characters like an edgy 13 year old on deviantart, haha.

As an aside, if you're someone that struggles with names - I love this website so much. It's a website that allows you to put in names that you already enjoy, and will dig up similar names to it.

Name:

Nicknames and Aliases:

Species & Information.

Species:

Perhaps only applicable if you're doing fantasy or sci-fi, but me and my friends all love a good sci-fi. Remember - Right now, we're not getting bogged down in the specifics of that species information. We're only focusing on the simply question of what they are.

Age:

To follow the theme - A lot of the time, I don't actually start a character with a concrete age in mind. I adjust their age to the story I end up wanting them to have. I think age is fun to play with, and consider within the context of a characters story. A 25 year old who has experienced the trauma of war will move and act differently to a 40 year old who has. We'll get more into that when we get to the more complicated dissections of each category, however.

Unless the characters age is crucial to the aesthetic of the character I'm building, and especially when it comes with fantasy ages, I tend to personally leave it at a Child/Teenager/Young Adult/Adult/Middle Aged/Elder and decide the exact age later.

Pronouns:

I'm going to have an entire category on gender and sexuality here. So for now, don't focus on the specifics of the characters gender. Just focus on the pronouns they use and have a baseline that you can use while discussing them

Physical appearance, Backstory, and Personality

Remember, right now we're just throwing around concepts and ideas for these characters. These three are all placed in the same category because I don't personally think it's worth getting immediately bogged down in the specifics of it. I think that you should give yourself breathing room in letting them and their concept evolve around the story or setting you're putting them in - Something that can only happen if you both give them room to do so, but have an idea to grow off of. This portion right now is a seed rather than a plant with roots. It's traits and ideas, not fleshed out plots.

Description:

Quick description of what you want them to look like. You know the deal here. For human characters, eye-color, skin-tone, hair-color. For fantasy creatures, details like horns, wings, claws. Sci-fi, robot eyes, ect.

Once again, don't get bogged down in the specifics of the why right off the bat (unless, of course, thats something you personally want to focus on, and feel is important to this specific character.) Just focus on the What of their appearance. They have blue eyes. They style their hair in a braid. They have dark skin.

Finally remember - You can change these later. Characters are not something static and fixed the second you decide something about them - They're completely within your control.

Basic backstory idea

Once again. Don't get bogged down in the specifics of their backstory just yet. Just give a few lines as to what you want to do with their backstory. What's are the big ideas of their backstory. You're looking strictly for the concept you want to build off of, not the multi-paragraph biography.

Example: I want a character that is a painter. She comes from a poor household, but her brother found a bit of wealth and now sends her a bit of money to help support herself. She cares about her brother a lot.

Basic Personality traits

Once again. Nothing to get too bogged down immediately by. Come up with traits, rather than full explanations. We'll come back around to those traits down the line.

Example: She's calculating, dry, exhausted, and blunt. However, she seems to have a soft-spot for her family, and a good sense of humor.

Together now.

Name: Nicknames and Aliases: Age: Pronouns: Description: Basic backstory idea: Basic Personality traits:

Example for my own character:

Name: Natalie Lorde Nicknames and Aliases: She goes by her last name - Lorde Age: Adult Pronouns: She/Her Description: A woman with short black hair styled in a slicked back, unruly hair style. She dresses mostly in men's-wear, preferring modest, and somewhat outdated styles. Basic backstory idea: I want a character that is a painter. She comes from a poor household, but her brother found a bit of wealth and now sends her a bit of money to help support herself. Basic Personality traits: She's calculating, dry, exhausted, and blunt. However, she seems to have a soft-spot for her family, and a good sense of humor.

And that's the seed we will be developing the character from.

In the next post, I will be going more indepth in exploring what I consider with a characters name, age, and description. And we will go from there.