#we know what he looks like? do they mean his true non human form? does that exist?

[lady-charinette]

I know nothing about the dreamwastaken fandom except that there's a group (?) of popular and good Minecraft gamers who hid their faces until they started revealing them one by one and now it's apparently Dream's turn?

I keep seeing people going apeshit in posts and that they will never answer a call except if Dream is calling and-

[inbarfink]

Any analysis of how Undertale deals with Pacifism and how it tries to guide the Player towards it has to take a deep look at Papyrus. Because Papyrus is the one character in the game who will never kill, the one actual ‘True Pacifist’ in the game’s main cast. 

I mean, the Player can be an even bigger Pacifist. Papyrus does still FIGHT, and the Player can get through an entire run without draining a single sliver of HP. But… they can also be the world’s biggest murderbastard and literally stab reality to death. 

Toriel would very much like to not kill, but she is also fully capable of doing so.

Same with Asgore, but he has a lot more actual blood on his hands. Undyne and Mettaton are both fully 100% willing to kill to accomplish their goals. Sans is non-violent in most runs because he’s too lazy and depressed to do anything, and when he is motivated into actions - it is in the form of a FIGHT to the death. Alphys… the timeline is a bit fuzzy cause both she and Mettaton love lying so much, but it seems like she did sincerely add deadly weapons to Mettaton cause killing humans would make him more 'useful' and then had second thoughts once she developed a parasocial relationship with the Human Child and THEN she and Mettaton started hatching their little play-acting plan. I think??

With Papyrus there is NONE of this ambiguity, we know for sure - no matter what timeline or what may come - The Great Papyrus will always choose MERCY.

And the interesting thing about that is on a Meta-Sense, Papyrus is a very rare example of the game giving MERCY towards the Player. 

Because the game starts out being really obtuse with the Sparing mechanic and how it works. If you want to be a Pacifist in Undertale from the get-go, you’re gonna have to work for it. You're gonna have to figure it out on your own and commit to it and believe that it's possible. It's basically a test of your own belief in non-violence and your moral integrity. Then, the RUINS end with the Toriel boss battle - in a way, that’s probably the hardest Sparing puzzle in the whole game. And it’s very very easy to accidentally kill her. (I’d almost say that’s the intention of the battle, to try to goad the Player into Resetting so they can see how the game remembers across RESETs)

And then we have Papyrus, and it’s not just that his ‘Sparing Puzzle’ is something as simple as outlasting him and letting him run out of dialogue - and it’s not just that he’s the only boss that will just give up and let you continue if you lose to him enough times. it’s also that, just as Papyrus is the only boss incapable of accidentally killing the Player - he’s also the only boss that the player is incapable of accidentally killing.

(Okay, fine, to be pedantic, there’s also Asgore)

I mean, the Player can certainly kill him if they want to - but draining Papyrus’s HP just makes him skip through his battle dialogue right to the end of it. It’s designed in such a way that, no matter what Route you're on and no matter what approach you take with Papyrus - you will always end up on this screen.

Unlike basically any other Monster in this game, including the major boss battle just before him - you can’t kill Papyrus accidently. You can't kill him without also having Sparing him as an option. The game kinda treats killing Papyrus as one of the Worst Things You Can Do because killing Papyrus will always be a deliberate, considered action done to a person who will not kill you and who has stopped wanting to FIGHT and has extended a hand of Mercy. With the game clearly communicating what you need to do to Spare him at that moment.

And that means that - even if you killed before, even if you don’t have the patience of a True Pacifist, even if you spent all this time in the game without even trying to engage with the Sparing mechanic… as long as you don’t want to be a Huge Rat Bastard, the game is basically gifting you with the very very easy option to not be. Being a Pacifist in Undertale is usually a challenge - a puzzle to be solved, a test to pass. But as long as you aren’t intentionally trying to be the Worst Person - the game is basically giving you Papyrus. 

If you accept his Mercy, you are accepting the game’s Mercy. That sort of benefit-of-the-doubt assumption that maybe all of the LOVE you might have accumulated so far was all due to honest mistakes or panic or an attempt in self-defense. That you still deserve this one chance to prove that you are not intentionally, maliciously cruel - or at least not like the Worst Person in the World. Even if you did kill before, you still deserve at least one friend.

And Sparing Papyrus leads you to his wonderful Hangout/Dating Sequence and to his Phone Calls and they all add so much wholesome charm to the Undertale experience and no matter what happens Papyrus will always think the best of the Player and he will always trust them and it also makes Sans also kinda your buddy by default. And more than just adding a little bit of wholesome charm into even the more LOVE-filled Playthroughs, I think this is meant to try and incentivize these players into trying out the Mercy mechanic a bit more.

Whatever it’s, like, for future playthroughs or Resetting the game right there to try a True Pacifist Run right there and then or just trying to be a little kinder for the rest of this current playthrough - especially since there’s an emphasis about the close friendship Papyrus has with the upcoming boss Undyne, and to a lesser extent with his idol and next-next boss battle Mettaton. It’s like “well, if you didn’t figure out how to spare before, this is how you do it? And isn’t it nice to have a friend? Isn’t it nice to not have to kill this lovable skeleton man? You should do this more often wink wink nudge nudge!”

And it’s like… all of Papyrus’ loved ones care about him so much but they also look down on his pacifism. They see his inability to kill and desire to make friends as simple naivete and that’s why all tend to hide the truth from him all the time. About what will happen to the Human he will capture, about what his new Human friend might’ve done, about the fact that they view him as so naïve. 

They admire it on some level, that’s why they want to protect it, but they also see it as a weakness which is why they want to protect it by lying to him all the time. But, you know, Undyne says that if Papyrus goes into battle he’ll be ‘ripped into little smiling shreds’ and that is certainly what happens every time a Player chooses to refuse Papyrus’ Mercy and the game’s Mercy and press that FIGHT button…

But have you thought about all the times that doesn’t happen? All the careless or violent players who were offered that skeletal hand of friendship, accepted it and then carried that offered kindness forward for the rest of the game? All the players motivated to do good for the sake of their buddy Papyrus? All the Murder Routes stopped because the player just didn’t have it in them to kill someone who believes in them so earnestly?

Like, no, it’s not a surefire thing - especially since Papyrus has so much less narrative power than the Actual Unkillable Time God that is the Player. But it happened, and it happened many many times to many players. Papyrus offered Mercy, the game offered Mercy. And much like Frisk’s Pacifism, it comes from a place of seeing the honest goodness in your ‘enemy’ and can inspire them to become a better person - this little sparkle of goodness being passed forwards. 

And I think that’s beautiful, even if it didn’t happen in every timeline. Any potential future where Papyrus’ kindness can have such an effect on the Player and thus the entire trajectory of the Underground validates his kindness and pacifism on some level - even if there are also always the potential worlds that it backfires completely. 

And there’s also one other way in which the Great Papyrus Proves Pacifism Pays. One that is a bit more practical, perhaps. And one that Papyrus himself is not even aware of. 

Papyrus’ boss battle can be a surprisingly challenging one specifically because he is the only one who doesn’t kill the Player.

Like there is a reason why Papyrus will just offer you to skip his Fight after you lose to him three times, because if he didn’t do that - there’s an honest risk that the Player can get stuck in a much stuckier way than anywhere else in the game. 

Because, like, for basically any other character in the game, being killed is the Worst Thing that could ever happen to them. For everyone except the actual Player Character because we are an Actual Unkillable Time God and dying is nothing more than a minor annoyance that sets you back to your last SAVE Point. So, leaving aside Papyrus’ admirably kind intentions - there is not much material difference from the Player’s perspective between getting Captured and getting a more traditional GAME OVER. Except…

Except getting Captured does not undo everything that happened in your inventory during the battle. In every other Undertale battle, if you use all of your items but still lose - the GAME OVER at least means you get your stuff back. But because Papyrus doesn’t kill you, any healing item you’ve used during the battle is still used. I have watched so many Undertale Let’s Players waste all of their valuable items on their first Papyrus battle and then have to face him again without them and thus do even worse in their second go… and then their third go... and thankfully then Papyrus offers them to skip the fight.

And while that technically can be circumvented by just manually closing the game and opening it back again on their pre-battle SAVE Point, a lot of players are gonna reflexively Save over it if they pop over to the Shop or the Snowed Inn before their second attempt at the battle. If Papyrus didn’t offer that chance to skip his battle, it could’ve easily become a softlock situation for a huge chunk of players - because he doesn’t kill the Player.

Most of Undertale deals with the value of non-violence from a standpoint of morality and kindness and personal connections. Since most people do die when they get killed. But when dealing with an Unkillable Time God like the Player, Papyrus proves that not-killing might actually be the most practical solution.

Of course, it doesn’t seem like Papyrus is aware of any of this. From his perspective, he is just offering genuine mercy to a being just as ephemeral as he is. But it accidentally turned into one of the most effective methods of blocking the Player’s way… at least he didn’t offer us an opt out so soon after that. 

And it’s interesting when comparing him to how his brother Sans - one of the few people actually aware of the existence of SAVEs and RESETs - deals with the Player. Because the Sans boss battle at the end of the Murder Route is entirely based on the concept that death is nothing but an annoyance to the Player. Sans is less trying to kill the Player (the way Undyne the Undying did), he is simply trying to annoy the Player into a ragequit. But he is still killing the Player.

Now imagine a Sans battle where he has all of his usual annoying tricks, but also instead of killing you - he captures you just like his brother would’ve in a happier timeline. And while it’s not a fool-proof plan to stop the Player in their tracks - he could very easily stick them in that sort of softlock situation where they have to battle him again and again without any Healing Items. Forcing them to either abandon the game or RESET the whole world back the way it was - just like Sans wants them too. 

But instead, by killing the Player, he is just allowing that perfect second-third-fourth-fifth-sixth-try where they get all of their Stuff back. And he does actually knows that. And why doesn’t he do that? (Speaking here from an in-universe character study perspective. Obviously the Doylist answer is that the game doesn’t want to Softlock you even in the most deliberately-frustrating part of the game).

Maybe, even though he intellectually knows that killing the Player will be of no help - he still does it because he wants to. Because he just wants to get back at the evil murderous monster that took his brother from him and destroyed his entire world even if he knows it’s actually ineffective. And this thirst for bloodshed is, ironically, blinding him from a new exciting way to actually practically stop that murderous bastard who is themself motivated entirely by bloodshed. 

Maybe he just can’t do something like that. Reducing an enemy to exactly one HP and then stopping is not a feat anyone else in the game is capable of pulling off - even the ones who would obviously use such a thing (like Toriel or a Player with a Pacifist intentions). Maybe it’s something that requires a lot of hard practice and discipline and carefulness, that Sans never thought to put in because he didn’t see it as a useful skill the way Papyrus did. 

Maybe that wouldn’t have worked anyways. After all, and that’s something I kinda touched on in a previous Overly Long Rambly Hot Take - Sans’ War of Attrition against the Player is greatly helped by the fact he can’t remember every single previous try and so he can’t get exhausted the way the Player can get. Obviously, without a GAME OVER induced RESET that will not apply. Which is especially notable because… Sans’ laziness is literally what brings him down at the end of that Boss Battle. 

So maybe, while Papyrus, as long as you decline his offer to skip the battle, is capable of offering just the same Battle as before over and over and over again.... It’s possible that Sans just won’t be able to pull off two or three or more battles of the same intensity and difficulty in a row without a RESET to undo his own exhaustion. 

But I think it’s at least worth considering the option, y’know? That after all this time of viewing Papyrus’ kindness as sweet-and-yet-kinda-foolish-naïveté - that exact viewpoint made Sans overlook the perfect solution to dealing with his little Murderous Time God problem. Cause he just never considered that while killing might be fully morally justifiable in this situation and very very satisfying, that does not necessarily mean it is actually the most practical solution. And that maybe, in a weirdly twisted way, Pacifism WAS the answer.  

[keicordelle]

You know, I was going to make a post about how, for all that Mizora says she can't undo the magic that transforms Wyll, there are plenty of ways a powerful enough spellcaster could restore him to his original body, but when I went to read up on the spells I had in mind-- there really isn't, huh?

The obvious go to is True Resurrection. I mean, you don't even need the dead person's body to restore them to life, the spell creates one for them. And admittedly, the spell description is a little vague about restoring them to their own body, but I have to assume that's the intent. It does restore undead to their non-undead form, so it can alter the body of whoever it resurrects, but given that it states that so clearly, I'm reluctant to assume it'd be the same for someone altered in a different fashion (say, a werewolf, or perhaps someone twisted into a devil as a result of their pact). It does clear curses and other nefarious effects, so if it's a curse laid upon him then maybe it would work. But I think the chances of it simply giving him back his devilish body are pretty high, and given the 25k gold price tag on it, that's not really a risk I'd want to take.

Resurrection is similarly worded, except it can't clear curses or raise undead, so probably even less likely to restore Wyll's human body.

Clone can restore your youth, but given that it requires an offering of flesh to cast, I think it's safe to assume the test-tube grown Wyll would also bear horns and pointy bits where he does not particularly want them. If even Mizora can't undo the magic that turns him, I have to assume it's transformed him down to his DNA, and growing a new body from that same flesh will result in the same appearance.

Reincarnation could craft him a new body with a reasonably high likelihood of not being a tiefling, but he wouldn't necessarily be human -- and even if he was, it crafts him an entirely new body, like hitting the randomizer on a character creator. There's almost a 0% chance he'd end up looking like he used to. So new appearance yes, original body no.

If he felt like dipping into less savory techniques, he could try Magic Jar and then possessing someone else's body, but again, that doesn't really help him regain his human form.

True Polymorph could work, depending on how you define "creature". Is a human a different creature than a tiefling? Or are we talking broad categories here? Do I need to turn from a humanoid into an aberation? (This could work though to turn a mindflayer back into a humanoid though, couldn't it? Hmm...) The changing of stats makes the idea of tiefling-human transformation a little awkward, but it could work. Maybe. Just make sure he's stripped down before you cast it, or you're losing all that lovely gear you spent 17 levels gathering.

And of course there's always Wish, but I'm not sure there's a Wizard in the world who wants to risk that 33% chance of never being able to cast it again.

But I also feel like all of that is moot, because I really don't think Wyll would take you up on it if you offered. For all that his new form discomforts and discomfits him, I think he'd refuse to part with it. He wears his altered, intimidating form with pride, because it stands for his beliefs, his refusal to bow down in the face of evil when his morals are on the line. For all that he looks the part of a devil, that body represents his complete and utter goodness, and even if that's probably not how he sees himself, I think that he would want to keep his body if only to show that you can look like the most monstrous version of yourself and still hold true to your virtue. And once he's had some time to grow accustomed to the horns and the stares, he would not wish to erase his body and what it stands for, even if the opportunity presented itself.

[fangirleaconmigo]

It's been awhile, Geralt x Jaskier enthusiasts, but here is your newest installment of...

Otherwise known as...

Things that sound like Geraskier fic writers made them up, but that are, in fact, book canon.

This time with commentary on the original Polish wording from @cherrypoison1889! Thanks, Cherry!

Today we're talking about dopplers, otherwise known as shape shifters, also called vexlings in the world of The Witcher. Dopplers are often used to expose the fact that Dandelion is a vulnerability for Geralt, that he loves him.

There are quite a few Geraskier fics that play with this trope. (I will give you a rec or two at the end of the post.)

It makes sense! Plus, the show used a doppler, (more on that later) so the concept is right there!

But does the concept of using a doppler to reveal Geralt's true feelings for Jaskier just exist in the fevered imagination of Geraskier fic writers?? Is this pure fanon? Or canon?

Well, you may have guessed (since I didn't write all this out for my health!)...

It is canon.

In The Witcher book, Sword of Destiny, we meet a doppler called Dudu, who turns into Dandelion (Jaskier) to protect himself from Geralt. He even has a few choice words to say about what he sees in Geralt's thoughts.

Want the details? Of course you do, you've read this far, why not?

When Geralt meets Dudu in this story, the doppler is in the form of a halfling called Dainty Biberveldt. Dudu has bonked Dainty on the head, stolen his shit, taken his form, and is running around Novigrad making business deals with his ill gotten gains.

Dainty wants his shit back from the doppler, but does not want to turn Dudu over to the city guards because Dainty is a decent person who knows that they will murder the doppler in an absolutely horrific way that I will not describe to you. Novigrad is rife with violent bigotry towards non humans, and dopplers in particular have been slaughtered to near extinction. They've been subject to genocide, basically, just because they creep people out. (I could write a thesis just on the way this short story handles themes of racism)

But anywho. That's how we get Geralt's involvement. Geralt is pitching in to get Dudu under control so they don't have to involve bigoted law enforcement. (We stan Dainty ACAB Biberveldt in this house)

This particular scene opens when Geralt has pursued the doppler into a crowded marketplace and has finally cornered him in a tent. Dandelion is elsewhere in the market, being a slut, so he is nowhere to be seen. When Geralt corners Dudu, they are alone, and the doppler panics. He can't get away. So, he decides to be crafty.

First, he turns into Geralt as a way to protect himself. The book describes Dudu changing into Geralt, down to the last detail. Now there are two identical witchers in the tent. Then Dudu speaks.

"Don't come any closer," the second witcher said huskily and smiled. "Don't come any nearer, Geralt. I won't let you lay your hands on me."

So now he looks just like Geralt and has his husky voice. Perhaps he is hoping Geralt will not be able to harm someone who looks like himself. Perhaps he just wants to be equal to him physically.

Either way, Geralt's self esteem is too low for the first one to work. Here is how Geralt responds to an exact copy of himself.

"What a hideous smile I have," thought Geralt, reaching for his sword. "What a hideous face I have. And how hideously I squint? So is that what I look like? Damn."

So, Geralt reaches for his sword immediately, and the only reaction he has for himself is disgust.

Here is where I asked Cherry for her thoughts. Is Geralt as mean to himself in the original Polish? Hideous is pretty strong a word! Here is what she said:

Cherrypoison1889: Geralt is indeed very harsh on himself, when he sees the doppler transform into him. In Polish, he uses the word "paskudne" to describe himself, which is literally hideous. However, he also calls his face "gęba" which is a more vulgar word for face, which in Polish is "Twarz". So he's even harsher on himself, I'd say.

Oh noooo. But just when you think Geralt's low self esteem is going to be a strategic advantage, it betrays him. Why? Because when Dudu says, you can't defeat me, because I am you and I know everything you know...

"I am you," the doppler repeated. "you will not gain an advantage over me. You cannot defeat me, because I am you!"

That is where Geralt starts to lose ground. Why? Because Geralt of Rivia says, no, you can't really copy me! Because you are a good person, and I'm a bad bad bad man. I kill people. I'm a killer. You cannot relate. You cannot even begin to understand the mind of a bad evil killer man like me.

"No," the witcher countered, "you are not. And do you know why? Because you're a poor, little, good-natured doppler. A doppler who, after all, could have killed Biberveldt and buried his body in the undergrowth, by so doing gaining total safety and utter certainty that he would not be unmasked, ever, by anybody....But you didn't kill him...Because you're a poor, little, good-natured doppler, whose close friends call him Dudu...you only know how to copy what is good in us, because you don't understand the bad in us."

Geralt isn't saying this to be strategic. He truly believes it! He knows Dudu has seen his thoughts! Listen to what he says next...

"you aren't capable of defying me, because I am what you are unable of copying (sic). You are absolutely aware of this, Dudu. Because you took over my thoughts for a moment."

So, Geralt is like, you saw what a mess it was in there. You know what a killer I am. You may as well give up now.

I thought 'took over my thoughts' was a little bit of an awkward phrasing, it almost implies thought control, when I feel like the context is thought reading, so I asked Cherry about that. She said:

Cherrypoison1889: As for the "taking thoughts over" bit, it is the same in Polish, I am afraid. the word Sapko uses is "przejąć" which means exactly that, although I assume that the "take over" in English was meant to be understood as "acquiring" although I can't be sure of that. It sure does sound a touch awkward.

But back to the story, Tellico (Dudu) has now been inside Geralt's head. So he knows that's absolute bullshit, even if Geralt doesn't. He has seen what is in Geralt's heart, which prompts him to take another shape.

Tellico straightened up abruptly. His face's features, still those of the Witcher, blurred and spread out, and his white hair curled and began to darken.

"You're right, Geralt," he said indistinctly, because his lips had begun to change shape. "I took over your thoughts. Only briefly, but it was sufficient. Do you know what I'm going to do now?"

Do you? Do you dear reader, know what he's going to do now? I'm going to let you make a guess.

The leather witcher jacket took on a glossy, cornflower blue colour. The doppler smiled, straightened his plum bonnet with its egret's feather, and tightened the strap of the lute slung over his shoulder, the lute which had been a sword a moment ago.

Well, if you've read the books up to this point, we all know who's form he has taken. Cornflower blue, egret's feather, lute....smart doppler.

"I'll tell you what I"m going to do, Witcher," he said, with the rippling laughter characteristic of Dandelion. "I'll go on my way, squeeze my way into the crowd and change quietly into any old body, even a beggar. Because I prefer being a beggar in Novigrad to being a doppler in the wilds."

He then has a powerful monologue about being subject to extermination and genocide. About hunger and fear and freezing to death. He makes a very touching plea to Geralt, asking the Witcher why he is denied the right of survival, granted to everyone else, just because he is a doppler. It is about a page and half long and I HIGHLY recommend people read Sword of Destiny, because this is good shit. He says he will stay in Novigrad.

"As a resident of Novigrad, I'll trade, weave wicker baskets, beg or steal; as one of you I'll do what one of you usually does...."

The Witcher said nothing.

Now, Dudu, in Dandelion's shape, having seen Geralt's thoughts, takes his gamble. And boy does he have guts. He tells Geralt about himself, about his supposed bad bad heart.

"Yes, as I said," Tellico continued calmly. "I'm going. And you, Geralt, will not even try to stop me. Because I, Geralt, knew your thoughts for a moment. Including the ones you don't want to admit to, the ones you even hide from yourself. Because to stop me you'd have to kill me. And the thought of killing me in cold blood fills you with disgust doesn't it?

The Witcher said nothing.

Tellico adjusted the strap of his lute again, turned away and walked towards the exit. He walked confidently, but Geralt saw him hunch his neck and shoulders in expectation of the whistle of a sword blade. He put his sword in his scabbard. The doppler stopped in mid-step and looked around.

"Farewell", Geralt, he said. "Thank you."

"Farewell, Dudu," the Witcher replied. "Good luck."

Dudu wins that one, quite handily.

The doppler turned away and headed towards the crowded bazaar, with Dandelion's sprightly, cheerful, swinging gait. Like Dandelion, he swung his left arm vigorously, and just like Dandelion he grinned at the wenches as he passed them.

As he walks away, Dudu even plays the lute and sings "exactly like Dandelion". Then he shouts back advice for Geralt to pass on to the bard.

"Pass that on to Dandelion, if you remember," he called. "And tell him that Winter is a lousy title. The ballad should be called The Eternal Fire. Farewell, Witcher."

Dudu has seen Geralt's thoughts EVEN THE ONES HE WILL NOT ADMIT TO EVEN THE ONES HE HIDES FROM HIMSELF, and his next choice was to turn into Dandelion.

Now, do I think that the author meant to imply that Geralt is trying to hide his love of Dandelion? No. Slim chance of that. However, it isn't like it's a secret that Geralt hates killing creatures who do no harm or who cannot fight back. So there is still something a bit fuzzy to me about the thoughts that Geralt hides from himself.

It is ripe territory for a Geralt x Dandelion enjoyer to exploit, cultivate, and use for their fics and headcanons.

I asked Cherry for her thoughts about this, about what Geralt's hidden thoughts are having read the original Polish, and she said this:

Cherrypoison1889:

I feel like Dudu used Geralt's self-loathing against him, in a way. As in, if Geralt were to kill Dudu-as-Dandy, he would admit to himself that he is a ruthless, horrible person, who kills "intelligent" beings, despite what he claims, which would also make him a hypocrite. And we know Geralt is a big softie, so he wouldn't do it anyway. I think changing into Dandy was an additional precaution, just an extra measure in case Dudu turned out to be wrong.

I really liked this story, I don't remember reading it back when I read the books (it was ages ago, so I might be wrong anyway). It's really funny, and Geralt is babbie. Darling boy, he just bought himself a new jacket and it got ruined in the frenzy...

Babbie Geralt, that's our darling.

It is sad that Geralt has so much self loathing that it didn't help Dudu to look like him, but it is very sweet that Dandelion is such a point of vulnerability for Geralt, and that Dudu had his number.

Dudu wins this round soundly. The story isn't over. I won't spoil it in case you guys want to read it. But it has a great ending. It is definitely one of my favorites.

I will just never get over how easily he gets the upper hand on Geralt here. Geralt of Rivia, legendary monster hunter, defeated by little Dudu because of his low self worth, his mushy heart, his solidarity with non humans, and his love of a slutty bard.

Now, recommendations.

The Doppler Effect, by @a-kind-of-merry-war This is the first doppler fic I read in the fandom and it has alll the delicious emotional drama, pining, and sexiness that you want from a fic like this. It is excellent.

Images of You, by @pherryt This one is a delightful 'continuation' of what happens in Sword of Destiny. After Dudu learns about Geralt's feelings, he essentially matchmakes Geralt and Dandelion eventually receiving a sexy thank-you of his own.

Them, by @gilligangoodfellow I feel like dopplers and Dudu in particular is so ripe for exploration in fic. So it is wonderful to see a fic like this. It's a short character study of Dudu as gender fluid, with the doppler coming out to Zoltan. Seriously, try it.

Alright, thanks for reading, folks!

For more Geralt and Dandelion "I can't believe it's not fanon..."stay tuned. I am organizing a master post with all of the posts I've done. So keep your eyes out. (in the mean time, most of them seem to show up in the tag, just not all of them)

And lastly, THANK YOU CHERRY! I love having a partner to do these posts with!!

[fantasygerard2000]

My Issues With Starboy and Fandom Nostalgia Blindness

DISCLAIMER: This isn't an attack on fan artists who like Starboy. This is a critique of the misconception and I don't condone bullying of any sorts towards people who make and consume content they like.

As I have written in my previous posts about Wish, I am just generally not a huge fan of the Starboy. Well, specifically the fandom centered around him and what they represent.

Context for those who don't know, Star was originally going to be a shapeshifter with a humanoid base form, basically a mix of Peter Pan and the Genie in terms of personality. The misconception that he and Asha were originally going to be a couple was the result of people misreading a line from the art book about how Star and Asha are "soullmates".

As you can read above, the book says "Once Star became a mime character" meaning they meant the current plushie Star, and that they and Asha are connected.

But what about the love song? Well, someone already made a post dissecting the topic. At All Costs was always intended to be written about the wishes but the song writer wanted to make a love song but there wasn't needed for the movie so it sounded like one out of context. Which isn't a bad thing as Disney has been subverting the True Love trope that love does not come from a romantic partner but also from friends and family as seen in films like Frozen and Maleficent, hence why the song sounds like both a lullaby and a romantic duet.

However, even after this was disproven, some fans still insisted they were "robbed" of this non existent romance. Even with the fact that in this early draft of the film, Star was considered to be a younger version of Sabino who passed. Yet, fans still wanted their romance and decided to make fan content based on the unused draft. Well, more accurately the draft they imagined in their heads.

Honestly, I have never read a single one of these rewrites of the film and I am in no position to judge content I have never seen. I do encourage people to make their own version of Wish based on this concept wether it's romantic or not. However, I don't condone the behavior that some of these Starboy fans have.

Even though the art book says the early draft Star was a combination of Genie AND Peter Pan, fans opted to picked just Peter Pan. And that's also factor in the Star was a shapeshifter like Genie and Maui yet most of the general fan art I seen is just Star as a human very little if not rare have him drawn as an animal or as the abstract more alien designs the creators considered for Star after they scrapped the human shapeshifter draft.

Speaking of designs, a common criticism I and others have is that most fan designs for Starboy is just a blonde Jack Frost. Heck, fan edits of the film straight up use Jack as a stand in for Starboy but with his colored yellow.

There were attempts to alter the Jack Frost inspired design to be close to the concept art but the effort is just the equivalent of a Deviantart base being recolored in MSpaint.

The funny thing is that there's already a canonical design for human Star in the artbook.

Even though there's several considered designs for him, the fact that there's plenty of official concept art with this facial structure suggests this is the closest to a canon human Star we got.

And if you notice, this human Star doesn't look as attractive to the Jack Frost inspired ones. It's pretty telling they favored the fan made pretty boy one over the closest canonical one with thicker eyebrows, freckles, large nose, darker shade of skin, facial hair and slight tooth gap.

Not only that, in an animatic of a scene in the early draft, Star was a more comedic character.

And that just make notice how very rare it is for a romance to have one of the partners be conventionally looking and also be the comedic character.

Despite that this fandom makes content about Asha and Star's romance, it doesn't feel like about the both of them. This is less of Starsha and just Starboy.

Not helped is that Asha is already mischaracterized as selfish my media illiterates who didn't payed attention to the movie. So, seeing Asha, a character who is treated like the villain in her own story being shipped by a version of a character who mostly designed as light skin by a fandom who clearly hasn't leg go of their old fictional crush where she's suddenly cared for by audiences comes of as a little iffy, since Asha's is a bi-racial black girl, and that the people who treated her as a villain are in support of the film's actual villain, who is light skinned.

Asha is pretty much like Tiana in a way, being somewhat a discarded character but is only liked by her status of not being single, with Tiana's in film and Asha's in fanon.

Coming back to the plagiarizing Star design , this may come of weird and out of no where, but I partly think Jack Frost is responsible for this mess. Now, Jack Frost is a hot piece of snow, I agree. He was pretty much Tumblr's biggest dream boy of the period of his film's release to the point he is being shipped with characters outside of his film.

Remember the time where people make crossovers of him with Rapunzel, Hiccup and Merida? That was the hit fandom back in the day and like with all fandoms, shipping fights were present and take a guests who gets the most paired with.

This crossover shipping extends over to the Frozen fandom where Jelsa was created. I mean, it was obvious, lonely ice girl and lonely ice boy. The fact remains is that people still have the hots for Jack that they use him as a stand in for a character in a romance that doesn't exist.

And that's what the vibes I'm getting. People just want a romance for the sake of it but don't consider how it would affect the movie and its themes.

I mean, it would be nice if Asha gets a romantic partner but she has bigger priorities. Disney romances have been infamously bad, especially with the older films where the princes are more like plot devices than actual characters. They got better over time with Naveen and Eugene, but that's mainly due to the fact that they're obligated to because they're in a Disney fairytale movie made in the 2010's, of course they should fall in love. With their own princesses, not with each other. You're welcome for that visual.

If Wish had a romance, it would clutter an already cluttered film. Despite that most of Wish's ACTUAL criticism dwells on how half baked it is, a romance isn't going to fix it. It's like adding an extra ingredient to an otherwise fine but half baked cake, that's not gonna make it fully bake.

And this brings us to the fandom's nonexistent issue that they were "robbed". I don't like the usages of "rob" this way because they weren't robbed of anything. Robbed is when someone takes something away from you. Human Star is not theirs but Starboy and his romances with Asha is because they created it after misreading a line about soulmates in the art book and assumed they were romantic partners.

Not helped is that Wish is accused of being made with A.I. and then we have this person crying over a slideshow of A.I. generated images of her stolen romance.

I wrote in my previous posts about Tastes and Preferences and briefly brought up Wish as an example and I intend to expand it right here. The people who want Asha and Star as a couple to be canon is not because of they think it would have improved the film, but more so for their own tastes.

I literally saw a posts from someone saying the potentials if Asha and Starboy being canon would mean them appearing in the Disney parks. Now, that just shows where their priorities lie. This eerily reminds me of the time Tumblr users fangirled over a Peter Pan face performer at the parks where it got so heated that he was allegedly fired.

And remember how human Star was inspired after Genie and Peter yet fans mostly prioritize on the Peter inspiration? This pretty much confirms what I get off of them, they're still crushing on Jack Frost and Peter Pan got mad when a character they perceived to be just like them was scrapped. If human Star was kept, imagine the poor actor being looked after by fangirls. If Reylo fans got angry when Daisy Ridley didn't sat next to Adam Driver during that one time, imagine when some derange fans find out that the performers for Star and Asha weren't actually dating.

Heck, this general unhealthy behavior from shippers is even more oddly similar to Zutara fans.

I get the appeal that fanon ships are more immersive than the canon ones, but this behavior saying that it's better than the canon already established ship is just wrong. You're just coping you didn't get what you wanted.

This isn't to say that most Starboy fans are bad. There are those who genuinely love the idea so much they want to make their own take on it. Some even make their own non Jack Frost inspired designs but they are just as rare as the people who like Wish as it is, flaws and all. They just don't want to be lumped in with the obsessive ones.

I'm not against the human Star idea, or giving Asha a romantic partner at all. I even consider Dahlia to be a potential love interest given that she and Asha are close and since I am not a fan that most romance stories are about characters getting together and becoming official AT the end instead of BEING together from start to finish, why not have Asha and Dahlia be established girlfriends.

I'm rather fond of the cat monster Star design because I'm a furry and would love to see fan content of him but I don't necessarily need it that bad I would be pointlessly unreasonable salty.

I'm disinterested at the Starboy craze at best and annoyed at worst. I still hold my opinion that most designs are just so samey you could practically make NFTs out of them but I am aware there are fan designs that take a different approach and make no mistake that's genuinely alright.

As much as I don't like, as in neutral towards most Stargirl fangirls, I do appreciate the work and effort they put into their art and I highly encourage them to take risks with their creativity and think outside of the box.

However, I highly discourage the behavior some of them have about being robbed when they are literally making and consuming content that was taken away from them for themselves and acting that a work with the things they like in it is better than those without them.

Thank you for reading and I am sorry for wasting your time.

⭐️

[nekropsii]

do u have any links to resources about the beta and alpha kids' characterizations and personalities if you have any? i am interested in writing for them and i just wanna know what makes them them iykwim

The Beta + Alpha Kids are... By no means my specialty, as everyone knows, and I personally have zero interest in writing them. That said, I'm pretty sure that most "guides" like that are written by and for writers of lighthearted, canon non-compliant roleplaying, and all the ones that I've seen... Aren't good, and are typically incredibly biased. They definitely tend to want the reader to portray the character in whatever light they see the character in, rather than... How they are in canon. For example, some lean heavily into making Dave a soft, perfect victim, Rose into a tea-drinking lesbian, Jake into a lowkey villain, et cetera.

This is about to get pretty long. It's been a while since I've had to put something under a Read-More... But here we are. Let's get going.

Content Warning: Long, Whole Lot of Rambling about the Technical Aspects of Writing.

There tends to be interjection of headcanons, unnecessary opinions, and ham-fisted attempts to make characters look better or worse than they actually are. Context is missing, sources are missing, so on. Oftentimes when looking at guides to writing characters, I wind up just questioning what comic the writer read, because it doesn't feel as if we read the same one. Their writing and critical thinking skills are often called into question as well, given the way these guides tend to approach characters as a concept.

There's often a distinct failure in being actually analytical or observant, and they tend to view characters more as People than they do... Well, Characters. Which may sound like an odd distinction to make, until you realize that when you're writing a character, you need to understand what role they're fulfilling in a narrative before you focus on who they are as a person and judging their morals. Characters aren't anything more than narrative devices. They're strictly there to drive the plot forward. Yes, since characters tend to be people, of which are often in situations, you tend to judge their morality, ethics, the way they handle their circumstances and other people with average human judgment... But at the end of the day, moral arguments and personhood matter less than what they are meant to do, what they're supposed to represent, and how they're supposed to drive the plot forward. To focus on who and how they are as People- how righteous they are, how much their morals align with yours or those of the real world- is to focus on Form over Function.

Characters are Tools. A tool can be painful to use, or painful to watch in action, but it's still a tool. Sometimes pliers are for pulling teeth, and sometimes they're for twisting wire. You can't effectively pull teeth with a wrench, and you can't effectively hammer a nail with a screwdriver. You could, theoretically, and I'd love to watch someone try, but it's not recommended. It's ineffective. You need to know what a tool is for, how you could use it, and maybe even how you could make your usage of them surprising. A hammer is typically used for driving nails into place. Usually with the head. This doesn't mean you can't drive the nail in with its side, and it doesn't mean you can't use it to break fingers.

What this "Form over Function of a Tool" means in practice is... A lot of "guides" to writing Dave will go over the fact that he is the Ironic Cool Kid who has suffered a lot of Abuse at the hands of Bro Strider, and interject that headcanon of his character arc "being about overcoming Internalized Homophobia and/or Toxic Masculinity" (neither of these are true), but fail to mention that he is essentially a Tutorial Agent, and how his whole character hinges on how he absolutely does not want to be a Main Character. Everything he does is grounded in the fact that he's a Tutorial Agent, and therefore an NPC. He's a regular kid with a rough home life, and wants nothing more than to keep playing his role as just a random NPC. He doesn't want to be a Main Character. He doesn't want to fight, he doesn't want to be in an epic, he just wants to be Some Guy. He wants to be normal, and he wants to be able to be forgotten to the sands of time.

They focus so much on Who he is as a Person that they tend to fail to recognize What he is as a Character. It's not effective. You don't really need to worry about who they are as people. You don't need to focus on the paint job on a tool. You need to know what that tool is, and what it's being used for.

It's best to not consult guides written by other fans. It'd be best if you read through their dialogue yourself, and really dissected them and how they function... Find out what makes them tick.

Luckily, there's a blog out there that does have just about every line of dialogue in Homestuck sorted by character, so that's pretty good for ease of access. Good for you and good for me. I use it all of the time. Here you go.

[creamiceandsugar]

i talked previously on how i just love thinking about the paths characters are and what it means about their character or story and nothing makes it more obvious than going "of course, what else but erudition" at jade, realizing I forgot to even register what path firefly is but going "uuuh, destruction. what else could she be" and just checking for confirmation.

so i guess i'll loosely define what personality traits i personally think each path represents (very very loosely bc it really does depend on the character and there's a wide spectrum for interpretation. i'll put some examples). and right away i'll tell you i do not have harmony figured out. it's the hardest path. like, i'll try, but i am not confident.

also i'll say this, none of these "personality traits" are inherently good or bad. like for erudition i used the word "manipulator" bc i have no other word i can put down but i dont meant it in a bad way. jing yuan manipulates people all the time but it's generally for the greater good.

destruction: pretty literal. linked to destructive behavior (hook) or destruction of others and/or the self (blade/firefly). dan heng IL is so neat because technically he is so non-confrontational and doesn't Want to be destructive but it's his past self that carries it over. like, he can't escape it, it still haunts him and that is why his true path is destruction. delicious, right? also destruction of bonds (unwillingness to reconnect with jing yuan etc.) clara is the hardest to interpret but if you got a big robot with you that fires lasers then idk what to tell you

erudition: chess players, manipulators, "genius/smart". do i need examples? it's so self explanatory. easiest path to interpret for real. i think argenti is the weirdest one to be erudition, but we also dont know much about him yet and i think he's plenty smart and manipulative just. in a very eccentric way?

hunt: "has a goal to follow" in the simplest terms. very narrowed in on that goal. stubborn. (yanqing wants to get stronger, dan heng wants to be free/escape his past etc. etc.)

nihility: disconnected from people or the world around them. (in different ways. welt is from a different dimension and guinaifen works mainly online but both disconnects them from the people around them. which doesnt mean they cant form bonds or care about people)

preservation: very simple and obvious but a protector type. "by the book" (doesn't cheat). upfront. (you'd think aventurine would be the outlier but i maintain that he's more honest than people expect him to be and he hates cheating. so he plays by the rules even if he bends them and he HAS a protective instinct. i personally actually think march is the outlier here who's a bit hard to pin down but what can you expect from a girl who doesnt even really know herself)

abundance: researcher type. fascinated with humanity in one way or another. (so so hard to pin them down but i think this fits broadly, at least for now, even for gallagher. may change the more abundance characters we get. dont mention huo huo, Please, she's like a harmony/abundance hybrid anyways. and she IS fascinated with humanity ok, fascinated how confident her coworkers are anyways)

harmony: bro please, idk. look at the characters we have and tell me what they have in common. i'm dying i'm in the desert and i have no water. i WOULD have said administrators/bureaucrats who are willing to take on responsibility but then sparkle happened so i don't know anymore. also she's playing a character so what do we REALLY know about her. how about "puts their all into things". "commits"(to the bit). that feels vaguely right.

so anyways this is what i have so far. i've thought more about some than others, obviously, i have my favorite characters, but i think this can at least for now broadly apply.

[intern-seraph]

ok i gotta bring some of my deranged malleus twisted wonderland thoughts here from twitter. warning: i talk a lot about mammalian anatomy here. there are a lot of (non-sexual) nipple mentions in this post.

so like. malleus canonically hatched from an egg. dragon fae are oviparous. here's some Questions that this then creates for me:

does malleus have a belly button? because uh. oviparous animals do not have belly buttons (those are scars from the umbilical cord!). is his stomach just smooth all the way down?

(possibly my most pressing question) is malleus a mammal? there are only 5 species of mammals that are oviparous; they all fall under the order of monotreme. these are the platypus and the 4 species of echidna. my point here is that it is very rare for mammals to not give some form of live birth (but it's not a requirement).

DOES MALLEUS HAVE NIPPLES? the defining trait of a mammal is the presence of the mammary glands. these are what produce milk for the animal's young. platypi famously do not have nipples and neither do echidnas (because monotremes are bizarre little freaks), but they still possess mammary glands. they just, like, secrete it. from their skin. like the little freaks they are. "michelle!" you might say. "that just means that if we get a malleus boob reveal, we can narrow down whether or not he's a normal mammal or a monotreme/non-mammal!" au contraire. betitted species of mammals all sport nips on the females. however! the males are a different story. we again divide mammals into 2 groups: those where males also have nipples (like humans!), and those where they do not (like cows and rats!). if malleus has nipples, he could be the former, or he could still be the latter and he's just a trans man (good for him!). on the plus side, it would narrow him down to being a mammal of some kind.

however. this entire analysis comes crashing down when you consider one silly green puppy dog of a man: sebek zigvolt. sebek is half-fae, half-human. humans and fae can interbreed. two similar species are considered separate species if they are unable to produce fertile offspring. think zorses, mules, etc. if they can produce fertile offspring, they're considered to be subspecies of some all-encompassing other species. wolves and dogs are in this category. if sebek zigvolt or any of his siblings are capable of producing children of their own... that means that fae and humans. are subspecies of some Other species. THE QUESTION NOW IS NOT "Is malleus draconia a mammal?" IT IS "Could malleus draconia hypothetically produce fertile offspring with a human?" if this is true. this then means that fae and humans are merely the wolves to the other's dogs.

what the FUCK does the scientific classification of species look like in twisted wonderland? i just KNOW it's gotta be fucked up.

(of course, then book 7 part 4 came out and dropped the "an egg must hatch via love and magic" lore, scrambling my brain further. this is what happens when you think too hard about a fun little detail in a fantasy setting. let this post be a warning.)

[welcomewithmetonight-thechaos]

The Evolution of Hob Gadling

(and Dreamling as its consequence)

This is inspired by this post. The person asked not to fight in the comment section and I want to respect their wishes. The premise was just too good to let it go entirely, they pointed out many accurate things; so I’d like to bring up some additional aspects I think are important to consider to understand the totality of the episode. (I’m drawing on the TV show, mainly, because I don’t have the comics present).

In their quest for immortality and defeating death there really is no difference between Burgess and Hob in 1389 and I’m pretty sure that if Hob had had the means, he, too, would have tried to capture Death and make a bargain, just as ruthlessly, might even have become greedy, same as Burgess. 

Hob is self-centred and ignorant at the beginning and stays it for a long time. I’ve thought a lot about the meetings once a century from 1489 going onward and how in the first conversation Hob asks if Dream is interested in him, while Dream only cares about Hob’s experience of the world. 

Dream pretty much intends to use Hob to prove a point, which is that Dream is justified in being tired of life himself. 

Hob appears as the personification and representation of Western European/White humanity in the comic, which means he will not be non-conformist or critical of society; he just goes with the flow, following the currents of shady justification that is Western thought and philosophy over the centuries. He is not a creative or great mind. He will probably never write a book or learn a musical instrument; he’s just some guy.

It took Dream pointing out the cruelty of the slave trade for him to even consider it. Trying to protect Dream against Lady Johanna is a matter of civil courage, which people show no matter their political beliefs – it is a key trait of humanity.

 In the 18th century, too, Hob just does things how they’re done. Calling Lushing Lou “the hospital” and thinking it funny, etc. However, I must point out that he is receptive to Dream’s assertions about her and beyond being quick to judge, as society is, he considers her as a person (if not becomes sympathetic towards her) when he learns more about her through Dream.

I do not think it is loneliness that motivates Hob to offer Dream friendship. Humans strive for connection, that is true, but in some way we can never totally achieve it. And Hob is not much more lonely then he was in the 14th century, before he became immortal: an age where death of close family was common and a force to be reckoned with; child mortality was high, plague was everywhere and people who got sick or hurt simply died. He probably grew up used to everyone around him dying. The loneliness that Hob might experience is simply the human condition of an individual that understands itself as a separate person/entity.

Just as instinctual is his reaching out to Dream for friendship, his need to connect with people. He sees human traits in Dream and relates to him.Hob basically says “I think I’m worthy of your friendship” to a clearly prideful eldritch being whom he knows nothing about.

It is simply the audacity of a humanity that considers itself worth of love, that considers itself equal. Hob is very much the personification of a life form that writes stories upon stories about their own cruelty and how it would be better if they didn’t exist at all but still found their right to existence on their capability to love, on their capability of creation, not least the creation of relationships of all kinds.

Whereupon Dream’s reaction is that of a god (I know he is not a god, but his role is very similar) who looks in disdain upon those he was meant to serve. Therefore, his acknowledgement of friendship is so important in 2022; he essentially deems humanity worthy of love. For this meta-level it is no importance if their relationship is platonic or romantic, what matters is their mutual respect and caring about one another.

As to why people ship Dreamling: Hob’s character is not only coined by his representation of humanity but by his love for and of life, his enjoyment of simple things (see: ale to drink, people to drink it with). Whereas Dream appears as simply fulfilling a duty, burdened by his role; depression is a recurring theme when it comes to his character. In loving Hob beyond the level of platonic friendship (again, it doesn’t matter if it’s queerplatonic or romantic) and seeking his company more frequently, Dream essentially ceases to be a tragically flawed character destined to bring about his own doom. He is in love with the love of life in a time where he struggles with loving life on his own accord. Hob is also one of the only characters in the TV show who is not either Dream’s enemy, his subject or his family; instead he appears as Dream’s opposite.

Hob in 2022 on the other hand is someone who lives in a pluralistic society, where go with the flow could be  many things, which means that he cannot serve as the personification of humanity anymore, because the complexity of humanity is finally acknowledged and cannot be represented by a single person. He is thus free to find his own way in a individualistic society as one amongst many others, is basically forced to think for himself and make his own decisions. (The existential dread as described by Sartre). This impression is reinforced by the closing of the White Horse and Hob being stood up in 1989. It is obvious that without the consistency of the centennial meetings Hob’s purpose for live – that of telling about it, is no longer relevant. Hob feels adrift, so he decides to cling to the closest thing that he has to a constant and waits for Dream in the nearest Inn. 

But it isn’t enough. Hob is forced to make a life in this new, everchanging world, so he becomes a teacher/professor (based on him grading papers). Now we do not know his profession in 1889 or 1989, but regardless this new position symbolizes the change Hob has gone through. It is his first profession over the centuries where its prestige is not based on the opinion of society (as were his previous knighthood or his status as a tradesman) but on respect and his own abilities. With teaching also comes responsibility which he previously preferred to brush off.

But still, he is anchorless, still he comes to the New Inn. When Dream comes back, he brings that needed affirmation with him. 

In conclusion, over the course of their acquaintance, Dream and Hob drift towards each other, Dream overcomes his sense of superiority and learns to enjoy life again while Hob learns to become responsible for his actions, a responsibility that is superimposed on Dream as the ruler of a realm.

Both have done horrible, unforgivable things in their pasts, but both find themselves changing and encouraging change within the other. Neither of them are good people, not even in 2022 (judged by current morality standards they may even be the villains of other people’s stories) but they’re good for one another as in they complete each other. (It is this complexity which makes it so difficult to write these characters accurately in fanfiction; much of what comprises them is a metaphysical undercurrent and never said out loud but cannot be disregarded in characterizations.)

And then there is of course the tension underlying of all their interactions, 1489 “are you interested in me?”, 1589 Hob being jealous, 1689 the sadness and first moment of compassion in Dream’s eyes when he thinks Hob wants to die (which is also sadness for himself, for having been right), in 1789 especially their facial expressions and body language (think of Hob nervously tugging at his ear), Dream’s willingness to open up slowly in 1889 and their sickeningly fond smiles in 2022. 

For Dreamling becoming a possibility, it is very important that we know nothing of how their conversation goes in 2022. We see only Dream’s relaxed posture and Hob’s broader than ever smile, which open a wide range of possibility for how their relationship proceeds. All of them are positive.

Do I think their relationship could have turned romantic anytime before 2022? No.

 But by 2022 both of them have evolved enough that love between them becomes not only possible but also very probable.

[itshoneywhatever]

Seven Sentence Sunday

Tagged by @ravens-words 🫶🏻 Here are seven sentences from my Hangster Shapeshifter!AU that is still in the works!

(and we are going to ignore the fact that is no longer sunday)

For someone who is a baseline human who didn’t grow up around many shapeshifters, Jake is surprisingly good at dealing with them when they are in their animal form. Jake suspects it’s because he grew up surrounded by animals.

Javy, his best friend, true to his callsign, loves to be around Jake when he shifts. He says it’s because he smells non threatening and is nice to be around. Jake had no idea what that means, but he won’t say no to cuddling with him when he’s a literal coyote.

That’s why he does what he does when he sees the wolf next.

He has seen the brown wolf around base at night when he goes out for a run. The wolf simply looks at him as he runs some laps around the place, yellow eyes never leaving Jake's form.

Today is the fourth time he sees the wolf and decides to approach him.

“Y’know,” Jake starts, walking closer to the wolf, only 90% sure that it won’t attack him. “I was thinking about driving to the beach to run there for a bit, thought you might want to come since, you know, have been watching me run around here every night since I’ve been back. So, would you like to come with me? To the beach.” The wolf tilts his head. “You don’t have to change back, if that’s not something you wanna do.” He tilts his head to the other side. “Well, this was unsuccessful. Good night.”

Jake turns around and makes his way to where his Jeep is parked, unaware that he was being followed by the wolf until he opens the door and the wolf jumps into the car.

For anyone seeing, enjoy!!

[thecatbrat42]

Italy is one of the countries of all time. It has food, it has people, it has buildings. But what if i were to tell you that the italians have a dark secret that no one has discovered.. until now. Well in this post im gonna inform you all on the dark secret of the italians and italy as a whole.

Part 1: Italy’s creation.

Let's start from the beginning. Italy had for all of human history been empty, But then in 1987 the shadow government discovered

aliens and took them captive. But they needed a place to store the aliens, and they discovered Italy, a land without people, this place was perfect to store their aliens. So they made the aliens disguise themselves as humans and start living on the Italian land. The shadow government had control for a long time,

doing all sorts of experiments on the Italians, but then the bombing of 1999 happened, in which the Italian “people” bombed the headquarters of the shadow government, weakening them heavily. The shadow government was too scared to further associate with the Italians so they left them alone. And then the Italy that we know today was formed.

Part 2: The Evidence

Are you not convinced yet? Well you will be soon. Because this evidence I will give you is earthshattering. My first piece of proof is my brother. He is at the mere age of 6 years old but he is already a genius. He has figured out several different crimes that the shadow government committed and recently he made a new discovery. My family was eating lunch and we started talking about Italy, that's when my brother said.. “Italy? You mean the aliens?”. At first, I laughed him off, but then when I really thought about it, it all made sense. Besides, he is a genius, so anything he says is facts. Now for the second evidence: Has anyone actually seen an alien and an Italian in the same room together? Italians and aliens are both often seen in photos, but they have never been seen together. This is undeniable evidence, because aliens have been seen together in photos with world leaders from all countries,

except for one.. Italy. What are they so afraid of? That people realize that they really are aliens?? This is truly the best proof we have. Now onto the third proof, for this I interviewed an expert with direct ties to the Italian “people”. And he has confirmed that he has seen them use ufo’s regularly. And the fourth evidence is so obvious and I cannot understand why no one has figured this out earlier. Italy actually has a secret E in its name, you just need the right eyes for it, here is an artists rendition of it:

“Now how is this proof?” you may ask yourself. Well, what is the name for Italian “people”. That's right, Italians. Now if you replace the A with the secret letter E, you get Italiens. Remove the “It”, and what do you get? “Aliens”! This is true proof.

Part 3: Their plans.

Now you may be thinking “Alright, the Italian’s are aliens, but how does this change anything”. Well, dear viewer, I have discovered the Italian’s true plans: One of Italy’s most iconic foods is spaghetti, and it is enjoyed by people worldwide. But we have actually discovered the true nature of the spaghetti. A brave volunteer ate spaghetti and a camera, recording inside his stomach so you could see the effects of the spaghetti on the human body:

My scientific research has concluded that it is NOT supposed to look like that, and closer studies show that the creature in the picture is a space worm. Thats right, the Italians are putting space worms in people and have done that for many years. Now what is the purpose of these worms? Well, according to my research, they control peoples brains to believe the lie that is “round earth”. This is why the round earth lie is such a common belief, the space worms made them believe it! But that's not all, the worms have a second (unintensional) purpose. As some of you already know, the government (the non shadow one) has spy drones everywhere known as “birds”. They have previously only fed on the electricity from powerlines, but recently they have gotten a taste for the space worms (spaghetti), and here is the worst part, with their advanced x-ray technology they can spot the spaghetti from inside peoples bodies. This means that if you have consumed space worms, the drones can attack you and get you killed just to acquire the spaghetti.

Part 4: What to do

Now all of this may make you scared and confused, but worry not, for I have some simple things you can do to protect yourself from the Italians! Firstly, don’t use any products that originate from Italy as that actively supports the aliens. Secondly, this should be obvious, but don't consume any spaghetti, you don’t want any space worms inside you. Thirdly, stay away from any Italian, online and in real life. These aliens are dangerous and you do not want to subject yourself to what they can do. And finally, spread the word, reblog this post with people or tell them yourself. The world needs to know about the truth of Italy, and if we get enough people to become enlightened, we might have enough people to form an army and raid Italy, putting a stop to those aliens once and for all. But for now, stay safe, and have a good day!

[lensman-arms-race]

⚠️Possible Spoilers for Part 3 Below, if you haven't seen the leak on DFB's shop or don't want to spoil yourself, feel free to delete this ask⚠️

So. As we seen in the leak, Sci looked super worried (sad-shaped-mouth) and shocked (wide eyes and eyebrows high up). This has to mean some sort of unexpected danger has arrived. Was wondering what you think it could be?

The most likely candidate is (our glorious, beloved) Cinemaman returning. All the signs are aligned for it to happen, with the 2 titans being drastically injured or dead and GT re-emerging with huge upgrades. Plus, this is exactly 20 episodes after TTV got injured (not counting parts). I'm assuming Sci will escape since unless DFB is gonna unveil a bigger threat, the 2 main antagonists aren't gonna die so suddenly and i highly doubt there's gonna be a trap. Can't say the same for GT though.

It's almost turned into a Wile E Coyote vs the Roadrunner situation: GT comes back with better upgrades, does a very small bit of damage, has the ever loving shit beaten out of him and retreats for another upgrade. He looks really powerful now, but if Cinemaman was fully capable and was going to beat GT when he was just Cinemaman (no super cool upgrades yet) then he's def gonna destroy GT once and for all. Plus, we've seen TCam and TSpeak kill more and fight more effectively when their enraged, and Cinemaman will EASILY lose his cool when he sees the thing that trapped him and caused him so much pain, so he'll absolutely SHRED GT.

We could also see some sort of Astro Toilet Titan with the other Astro Toilets, not necessarily for the purpose of saving TCam, but to overthrow Sci and GT as rulers. An AstroTitan would be super OP.

I have a personal AT (Astro Toilet) headcanon that they are all toilets that have full memory of their human past. They faked their way up the ladder and got big upgrades, and shortly after they rebelled and formed a separate faction with the goal of eradicating the other toilets and building a society as close as possible to the old human one.

Because of this, I feel like they could try and make an alliance with the Alliance. We seen Poly play the clip of them attacking GT to the Alliance so they know well that there's discourse in there. What if the AT's and their possible AstroTitan teamed up with Upgraded TTV to form a battalion with earth-shattering power? Then, when the evil toilets are extinct, the AT's are given a large country (Probably something the size of the USA) to rebuild their society in while the Alliance rebuilds the rest of Earth.

But anyway, that's enough rambling from me, what do you think?

If it's not Titan TV that the Scientist Toilet is reacting to, I am going to shit my bum off with rage and post my disembodied buttocks to DFB.

I love your AstroToilet headcanon; I'd love to see that come true! I'm not sure how DFB could convey that information in a series without dialogue (TV utterances don't really count because they're easter eggs rather than requirements for understanding the episodes). But then he is a skilled storyteller, so who knows?

(If they did form an alliance and overthrow the non-astro skibidi toilets together, I'd rather see the hardwares and astros live together in harmony rather than have the astros split off like that. The astros in this scenario are as human as skibidis can get, and I get the impression the hardwares appreciate many parts of human culture.)

I will say it is strange that we haven't seen the Astro Toilets since episode 60, though. Are they up to something??

There's no getting around that we're approaching the Meme Number. I wonder if that's the episode in which the Alliance defeats G-Man and Scientist, and then the series does a kind of soft reboot and we start a new story arc. (By 'soft reboot' I mean like God of War 2018, which technically does follow on from the previous God of War games but starts a completely new storyline that doesn't require you to have played the previous games to understand.)

[cocobeanzies]

Sonic Forces - THE END

A short Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction, reimagining the ending of Sonic Frontiers

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

Sonic's adventure- his new frontier- is coming to an end. He fought titan after titan, uncovered a catastrophic past, buried deep in the whispers of ancestry that spirits and ancients he had met on his journeys silently bear, but now…

Now, the being that caused mass devastation, genocide, discord. The being proclaimed of infinity and nothing. The being that brought these past civilisations to their knees; it takes its form in space.

This is it. This is the end.

“Is…that it?” Sonic wondered allowed, beads of sweat rushing down his face as he carefully studied the crippled Supreme collapsed before him.

“The ancients contained the beast inside of Supreme, as a vessel. All we did was destroy that shell.” Came a voice in response- Sage. She paused to contemplate the situation for a moment, before continuing.

“I think…my data suggests our real threat is retreating to regain its true form. Not even Super Sonic will be enough to defeat it when it does. I can’t believe I overlooked this in my calculations.” She finished, hanging her head low and gripping her hands grimacingly.

The air hung silently for a moment. Eggman watched nearby, silent, defeated. Sonic watched Sage, impatiently waiting for her next say, folding his arms and furrowing his brow. Sage continued to hang her head…but something else was with her.

As Sage calculated her choices- or rather, painstakingly confronting her lack of choices- a sudden spacial energy wisped through her. The young girl gasped, feeling a strange sense of security and knowingness. It was if the very Universe had tried to catch her attention.

It was then that the idea came to her- a last resort, but maybe doable if they acted quick enough.

She turned to Eggman. “Father, I’m sorry…I think I need to leave you.” Her eyes felt human for a moment, looking sadeningly at her father, knowing her plan may mean she’ll never make it back to Earth. I’m going to take over control of Supreme’s shell and aid Super Sonic. We might have a chance if we act fast.”

“…I understand, you were designed with pristine capability, Sage… Go. Fulfil your function…” Eggman murmured back, refusing to keep eye contact with his prized creation.

Sage silently turns and flies into Supreme, disappearing into its framework and reviving its battered corpse.

“Sonic, we must hurry. We won't be any match if it regains its full strength.”

“Heh, ladies first!” Sonic replied, beaming. Despite the melancholy nature of the situation at hand, Sonic isn’t the type to think of a threat as anything more than an enemy. Nobody gets hurt when he gives it his all! At least, that’s what he believes. He may have to slow down and face reality when the time comes, but more often than not it’s fight first and ask questions later!

The two make their way into space, leaving a lonely Eggman alone with his thoughts.

“Be careful, dear daughter.”

[ 🎵 - I’m with you ]

As Sonic enters space, he notices the usual stars and Earth behind him become completely non-visible. A veil of crimson scarlet surrounds the two instead, almost like a sickly, twisted dimension had clawed itself out of the gates of hell to consume them whole. The golden hedgehog shakes his head, directing his thoughts to the moment with a mission in mind.

“He took your world, he took your lives! Are we going to let him do it all over again?”

“Mortal.”

An eerie voice consumes the surrounding space. With seemingly no direction, it’s as if this voice is telepathic, consuming Sonic and Sage’s minds as they find their bearings in this strange pocket.

“You've served your purpose. Done my bidding. The rest of you can be discarded. Now face your end!” The voice bellowed, reverb bouncing around in Sonic’s skull as he squinted and looked around frantically.

“I am the all-consuming void. What can one mote of golden light illuminate within the abyss?”

Sonic snapped. “Some tough guy speak for a coward that won’t even show its face! Come on out, our fun isn’t over!”

“Countless stars.” The voice continued, a laser shooting from seemingly nowhere at Sonic, dodging by a hair as he exclaimed in shock. “Woah!!”

“Countless worlds.” The laser shoots again. “Countless lives, all fell to me, all bought to nothing!”

A bigger laser shoots at Sonic, throwing him back against a distorted red wall of the scarlet veil. A horrifying face, somewhat resemblent of a scorched, melted skull formed behind Sonic as the impact rippled up the dusty walls.

“Sonic!” Sage yelled, making her way towards him- blue jet engines thrusting out of Supreme.

“All the teeming chaos of creation? Brought to order. To neutrality. To nothing.”

Sage aided Sonic as he shook off shock from the impact and readied himself once more. Gritting his teeth with a smirk, it was time to fight. “Alright, we’re doing this the hard way. Sage, let’s attack the walls!”

Sonic performs Homing Shot at the reddened space around them, while Sage shoots Supreme’s gun and blasts at them as hard as the mechanised titan can handle. Nothing changed.

The formerly bright scarlet seeps into a deep, blood red- the skull-like face consuming the whole backdrop, staring at the two. Judging the two. Piercing through the small, insignificant specs of light that flutter in the void.

“I saw your mind, hedgehog, as you charged through that prison.” The voice spoke, focused on Supreme. “You have fought many gods. They were mighty, but they were finite.”

A thicker, larger laser, caked in white light as many forces combine, targets Supreme like it’s a mere weak side-character. Sage blocked the beam in time, throwing them back as she steadies the titan to a halt and braces.

“But I am infinite. I am nothing.”

“Yeah yeah, quit bluffing!” Sonic retorted. “We may not be able to see you, but if the ancients could contain you, there has to be an end to you somewhere!”

Sonic and Sage continue attacking the walls, hoping to reveal a form behind the voice, or at least any kind of a weak spot. Nothing.

“You struggle as so many have done before. And you will be consumed all the same.”

The environment hushed a gastly silence, the red seeping deeper, the quiet of black feeling louder. Sonic and Sage had only a moment to contemplate the changes to their environment before heat began to form around their bodies, Sonic’s fur sticking up like a magnet was attracting him like a moth to a flame.

Suddenly, the entire void is consumed by a blinding white light of pressure, crushing the two senselessly as nothing but chromatic spurs of red and blue hint at the hedgehog and the titan. The two immediately buckle, being able to do nothing but scream in agony as the pressure grows second by second, demanding the compliance of any mortal being before being surely obliterated in the heat.

“GAHHHH!!!”

The voice continued on to itself, somewhat triumphantly, believing the fight to be over in seconds.

“When I saw your mind, your courage never wavered. Why? Arrogance? Ignorance? Stupidity? I was contained once. Once. Is that why?”

The pressure gets worse as Sonic and Sage’s screams grow louder. Supreme’s shell starts to melt, giving off a toxic scent of burnt metal wavering through the thin slice of atmosphere they are in, smoke filling the bright white as the voice goes on to finish its speech.

“My captors bent time and space, had to build a whole new reality just to contain me- They bent their souls away to fuel their engines! And you?”

Sonic winces an eye open.

While the voice can only demean Sonic with its booming words, Sonic knows he is capable of so much more than to bend over and submit in the face of an enemy. Maybe this can hold a mortal…

…But it chose the wrong emerald-powered hedgehog to thrust that mindset onto.

Sonic performs Sonic Boom, breaking free of the pressurising beams of light, causing the red, dusty walls around them to visually shatter. Space is finally revealed around them.

“You underestimate the Chaos Emeralds! You're not the only invincible one here!” Sonic remarked with a cocky smile, before turning his attention to the damaged Supreme floating lifelessly below him. “You alright, Sage?”

The titan glitches violently as Sage fails to respond. Sonic, growing worried, drops the cocky expression and flies down to the enormous teeth of Supreme, gazing inside for any semblance of life. “Sage?”

“I’m fine.” Sage finally replied. “I was able to defend against a lot of the pressure that would have damaged Supreme’s inner shell. Most of the damages you see are cosmetic.”

“Phew, good!” A relieved Sonic sighed. “Then lets end this!”

Sonic and Sage gaze up at the shatters of red from the strange pocket of space they were contained in before. The particles begin to accumulate, forming what looks to be almost like a second Moon. It’s red- pinkish, even- Floating robustly with quivers of light and smoke teeming off of its rocky surface.

“Looks like that beast has finally given us a single target! Come on Sage, let’s get it!” Sonic calls out, charging at the rocky structure confidently, beginning to attack it with Supreme rushing to aid at his side.

“Hmph. You glitter. You fly around me like a gnat.” The voice contained, coming from the rock as Sonic and Sage pummel it with all their might.

Sonic performs Wild Rush on its surface, carving out a small crater on impact. The voice grows angry, irritated by the little creatures before it, adamantly refusing to die.

“I am inevitable!” It screams.

Sonic follows up with a Stomp attack, making the creater deeper and deeper.

“I cannot be denied! You strike this incarnation with all your might? It changes nothing!”

Sage clasps Sonic in Supreme’s hands, launching him at the structure in blazing speeds, carving the crater enough that the moon-like structure breaks apart immediately with Sonic shooting through the other side like a canonball.

“Whoo!” Sonic exclaimed- however, that celebration would not be for long.

The pieces quickly spread out and created the twisted, scarlet dimension once more. This time, the walls were worse. They appear angry. Bloody. Deadly.

The walls waver with streams of blood red, the skull-like face twitching, distorting, almost screaming in any direction you look as light warps around to one central focus. Without much time to react, lasers forming the shape of an icosahedron strike down at Sonic and Sage. The two dodge, and regroup back-to-back in the centre below the lasers.

“Sonic! None of the data I’m calculating suggests we’ve even caused it any harm!” Sage cried, a bead of sweat returning to Sonic’s face as he grows frustrated at the seemingly endless efforts it’s taking to take this thing down. “Tch…”

“Alright, whatever-your-name-is… You might just be the toughest big bad I’ve gone up against yet.” Sonic admitted with a face of seriousness glistening in his eyes.

Everything started to feel redundant. The golden glow trickling off of Sonic’s fur began to grow dim, as the hedgehog punched his fist in frustration, unsure of what choices he even has from here. All began to feel lost. At any moment, it could unleash that deadly pressure all over again- and yet, this isn’t even its full form. What are they to do when it gets strong enough to rebuild itself in full? What can they do to prevent that? What can they do to protect the Earth against that?

They’ve lost.

He’s lost.

…

Like ghosts, Sonic’s friends buzzed beside him in this brief moment of standstill. From cyberspace, they reach out- praying to give Sonic the strength he needs, the strength that has led him to defeat every enemy before this one.

“Sonic, we’re with you!” Came an Amy.

“If anyone is strong enough, it's me! …Well, you too I guess.” Followed a Knuckles.

“We all know you can do this!” Included a Tails.

Sonic smiles, with a tear escaping his dulling eyes. “I don’t think I can, guys…”

Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning striking through Sonic’s chest, a fourth voice consumes his mind as a galaxy resonates in his eyes. “ Sonic. The Universe stands by you.”

The lasers stop as Supreme hovers back, Sage staring bewildered. Sonic begins to transform, with brilliant purple lights shooting from his body as orange and cyan gas from the surrounding space begins to take form in Sonic’s very fur. In a flash of light, there he was.

Burnt flaps of glove escaping his gravity as dust and illuminant sparkles consumed his body. Plated, golden stars standing stoically by his eyes. Eyes as void as a blackhole, pupils shining like an accretion disk- the embodiment of The Universe itself.

Galaxy Sonic.

“Your foe is a destructive force, causing havoc across the Universe for almost as long as existence.” The Universe spoke. “If anyone can stop it, it’s you, Sonic and Sage.”

“What?! You are not brave! You are not victorious! No matter what form either of us take, The End comes for you all!” The eerie voice shouted furiously, offended by this cosmic interference. Beginning to feel afraid, it began to hold a defensive- but there’s no use.

What can one mote of darkness do against the grand scheme of the Universe, after all?

“It’s now or never!” Galaxy Sonic announced with encouragement, his voice louder than a million giant stars humming in unison.

The galactic hedgehog performs a devastating Spin Slash all around the crimson space, escaping the clutches of The End and peering into its pocket dimension from the outside- appearing like a hyperbolic plane. In an instant, Sonic shatters it like glass.

But it doesn’t end there.

In one final Cyloop, Sonic orbits the spherical plane of shattered dust, aiming to annihilate it completely before streaking off like a shooting star, lighting up the night sky with his dazzling light.

A giant explosion takes place as Sonic returns to Sage’s side. The two look hopefully at each other- but in no time at all, the red-pink particles rapidly begin to reform once again. It won’t. Stay. Down.

“No! I won’t let you rebuild yourself again!” Sage called out in the heat of the moment, not even hesitating before heroically throwing herself and Supreme into the forming matter.

Like the fission from a nuclear bomb, the dust split apart in one final catastrophic explosion, a blinding white light signalling the true end to the proclaimed being of everything and nothing.

“Please…look after…Father…” Sage requested, before dissipating to the blast.

Sonic, realising the weight of what Sage just did, reached out his hand desperately and could only call out as his newly made friend split herself into oblivion before his very eyes.

“SAGE–!!!”

[ 🎵 - Dear Father ]

Sonic's gaze goes solemn, as the blinding light throws him towards the Earth. His galaxy form slowly melts away from his body, leaving lesions and burn marks all over his fur and skin as he struggles to maintain consciousness in his descent down.

The blast creates a wondrous display of shooting stars in the sky as Amy, Knuckles and Tails reform under it. Sonic lands nearby, tattered and badly injured- but alive, just as his friends knew he would be.

Sonic pants as he looks over to his friends who notice him in the distance, “Okay…now that’s it. I hope.” Sonic muttered with an air of relief, seeing his friends are okay, and faints as the three rush to his side.

In the distance, Eggman watches the group atop a cliff, somehow comforted by the fact that at least some of the faces he knew are alright. But Sage…

Eggman turns his attention to the shooting stars and holds his hand out.

“I’m proud of you, daughter…”

[faithandfairies]

Supernatural Musings; 12x11 and 12x12

So, I watched 12x11 and 12x12.

And I pretty much only have two things to say.

1. Dean considers Cas his family and his best friend. And when he was losing his memories the last 4 memories he had were of 1. His name, 2. who his parents were, 3. who his brother was and 3. who his best friend was. 

Bobby didn’t even rank, sadly. But hey, Cas did and so yay!

2. Dean’s mother considers Castiel one of her boys. As evidenced by her telling letters douche “I almost lost one of my boys.” and we know the only one who almost died was Cas.

(I like Mary but I don’t really love how she’s written but that’s beside the point.)

All of this brings me to wondering though

Does Dean realize he’s into Cas? Because I always assumed they were sleeping together on the down-low up to this point and that Dean had just convinced himself it was meaningless sex or something. I mean, Dean stared at Cas’ lips all flustered in what, season 4? And Cas was staring at Anna and Dean kiss, longingly, like he wished he was Anna in what, season 5?

But here in 12x12 we have Dean trying to get Cas laid by recruiting waitresses (no disrespect to the beautiful girl Dean recruited) and I’m just over here like

1. “Dean, you haven’t slept with Cas yet?!”  (or maybe he has and he feels like he broke Cas by doing so and now he’s trying to unbreak him. And by “broke” I mean Cas developing feelings for him that he himself doesn’t understand) 

and 

2. “Dean you could just tell Cas you’ll teach him the sexual ropes yourself. A completely selfless act, of course. Not at all for personal gain.  I’m sure angels dig that shit.”

But yeah, seriously, what mental gymnastics is Dean doing? Inquiring minds wanna know.

If Dean realizes he’s into Cas he might be recruiting women to sleep with Cas because he feels like sleeping with Cas himself would be taking advantage of him if he really doesn’t understand sex yet. Maybe he wants a woman to explain it to Cas. Wants Cas to be more familiar with the mainstream experience first so that he can make informed decisions. Dean might even be doing this unintentionally.

I think Dean is feeling his feelings for Cas but he might mostly be brushing them under the rug. For several reasons. They’re certainly busy enough that even if Dean is feeling his feelings, he can easily distract himself with a case or 2.

Like, I know what’s up with Cas. He’s not human and everything confuses him when it relates to humanity and how they operate. And while I’m sure he’s feeling his feelings for Dean, he probably hasn’t figured out yet what they mean. In the sense of understanding that they’re non-platonic. Because he understands love, but I don’t think he understands romantic love just yet. His love confession in season 15 confirms that he only just figured it all out. Put the pieces together to form a picture that makes complete, not just partial, sense to him.

Which to me also explains why the empty takes him in season 15. Because he realizes what true happiness would look like for him, through figuring out his feelings for Dean. That those feelings aren’t familial as he previously believed, they’re romantic, and just the thought of what a future with Dean could look like if he got everything he ever wanted, based on that realization, makes him happy. And telling Dean, making Dean understand what he’s just realized himself, that’s the first step in the direction of that happiness, the only step he himself controls.

[furaill]

Nestiio

As already mentionned before, I like the song “Nestiio” from the Dead Apple OST. I tried looking up for the lyrics but couldn’t find anything so I tried to transcribe what I could hear,

lyrics and translation (and notes) under the cut ^^

important note before you keep reading: I do not speak Latin. The song had lyrics that sounded like latin so I tried to match the sounds heard with latin words from various sources; please be indulgent because there will be mistakes.

thank you :)

Nestiio

cauda immundus demens illius (quae que) quasi illi mors etenim demum communis novo muneris

hora diutrnus peregrinus (crestortia) nauta nihil noster animi aeternus perustum

termino bestia custos vestio cornu sustuli non prius malus doleat quem monstrum animi mens tollo cur nunc quies sparsi nonnullus ne solis cornu nos vae

mors auctor antea mors auctor iam mors heri quo mors

quod est urbis nonnullus noster cura demonstro qui mens oro cur nunc

a sermo prius nestoii cur nunc

Translation

   The impure tail of that madman    Just as if THAT death had indeed changed his objective

   Long hours    A wanderer    (Crestoria)    Sailor    We do not burn eternally

   Put an end to the guardian who clothes the beast    The horn does not destroy the wicked, previously turned into pieces    This monster’s essence takes one’s mind off    Why are you quiet now?    So as not to scatter with the sun’s horn    Woe to us

   The author was dead.    The author is dying    Death occurred yesterday.    How did he die?

   Who is the one in the city?    There are several of them; this is a concern for us    To show what mind is pleading    Why now?

   A former discussion    Nestoii    Why now?

Notes

[contains Dead Apple spoilers]

Some lyrics make sense and some others are very confusing.

Here is my interpretation so far:

This a song about Shibusawa;

First 2 lines -> the ‘tail’ might be a reference to the draconic form of his power. This defines him as a foul character and we learn how ‘his’ death changed him.

Next 4 lines -> I couldn’t find neither a translation for crestortia nor words that would sound similar so I left it this way. “For a long time he wandered alone, but life isn’t eternal”. (I don’t know how these relate to Shibusawa. It could be about these years he roamed alone while looking for “the one”).

Next 6 lines -> (the translation was a nightmare to work on here so take it with a big grain of salt) “guardian who clothes the beast” could be refering to 2 things. 

Case 1: the guardian is Shibusawa and the Beast is Atsushi

In this case it would refer to when Shibusawa forced the White Tiger out of Atsushi when he was young; “to cloth” could mean the method employed to this end

Case 2: the guardian is Shibusawa and the Beast is his power

Here the guardian means how Shibusawa remembers how he used to be; this memory is what allows him to hide (clothe) his real form (no longer human ;p )

I don’t know what “the horn” refers to. The only one I can think of is the one on Shibusawa’s head at the end of DA (in his true form). “into pieces” = when Shibusawa met his end. These lines are probably mistranslated, which is why i have some troubles interpreting them ^^’.

Next 4 lines -> (I really like that part; it’s the only part of the song that is sung with a soft voice, compared to the opera diva singing the rest; almost as if to tell a secret, which is an amplification of the whisper previously heard ^^) 3 lines about the author (originator) being dead as a way to illustrate Shibusawa realizing that he is dead, and the last one to transition to the next part

Next 4 lines -> there are people in the city trying to stop him (the ADA). Not sure what the “mind pleading” refers to.

“Why now” -> I think that ‘why’ could be a reference to the memory of his death

Next 3 lines -> Not sure what “nestiio/nestoii” means. Ggl translated it as a “nest” but it isn’t the correct latin word.

If you have something you want to add or want to correct something, please do so! You are more than welcome to! ^^

[uesp]

Theory: Todd is the sleeping Godhead that we all talk about. Also he achieved absolute CHIM

You're definitely free to come up with whatever theory on that you like, but if you're genuinely curious, I would say you're a bit off from the intended takeaway.

Trying to figure out who the Godhead is a bit of a self-defeating exercise. In fact, to get a bit ahead of the point I'm going to make, it's often easier to describe the One by what he is not. If you're looking at the rare in-series mentions of the Godhead (most of the uses of "godhead" are actually referring to more generic godhood, which is also a more modern form of "godhead"), you come up with two mentions of the Godhead, and only one of them describes the Godhead at all.

The eyes, once bleached by falling stars of utmost revelation, will forever see the faint insight drawn by the overwhelming question, as only the True Enquiry shapes the edge of thought. The rest is vulgar fiction, attempts to impose order on the consensus mantlings of an uncaring godhead.

From Waking Dreams of A Starless Sky

The Godhead is uncaring. And that is basically the depth of actual text on the Godhead. If you go with sources that did not appear in the game, you'll do a bit better, but not really to any satisfying degree. So how do we get a satisfying answer? We escape the confines of the rare and deliberately esoteric mentions of this part of the lore and look at its real-world inspiration. Speaking for myself, the best summary of this part of the lore I ever read is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism

Sincerely, after reading that and its associated articles, I went from "wow this is all a bit complex" to "alright, this is surprisingly straightforward". To tangent slightly, while there are numerous fan writings that try to explore these concepts, and I do enjoy a lot of them, I find that some of them often have trouble expressing what it all actually means because they often restrict themselves to the trappings of TES. We're going to remove those trappings, and see if it helps.

If you want more help, here is how I mentally tie some TES lore topics to its real world counterpart.

The Godhead is the Godhead (Monad)

CHIM is Gnosis

CHIM has been described as the secret syllable of royalty. It is best understood as a state of being which allows for escape from all known laws and limitations. It is the process of reaching some sort of epiphany about the nature of the universe and one's place in it, leading to a simultaneous comprehension of the full scope of existence as well as one's own individuality.

Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge. It is best known from Gnosticism, where it signifies a spiritual knowledge or insight into humanity's real nature as divine, leading to the deliverance of the divine spark within humanity from the constraints of earthly existence.

Amaranth is Emanationism

The Tower touches all the mantles of Heaven, brother-noviates, and by its apex one can be as he will. More: be as he was and yet changed for all else on that path for those that walk after. This is the third key of Nu-mantia and the secret of how mortals become makers, and makers back to mortals.

Emanationism is an idea in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems. Emanation, from the Latin emanare meaning "to flow from" or "to pour forth or out of", is the mode by which all things are derived from the first reality, or principle. All things are derived from the first reality or perfect God by steps of degradation to lesser degrees of the first reality or God, and at every step the emanating beings are less pure, less perfect, less divine. Emanationism is a transcendent principle from which everything is derived, and is opposed to both creationism (wherein the universe is created by a sentient God who is separate from creation) and materialism (which posits no underlying subjective and/or ontological nature behind phenomena being immanent).

Anu and Padomay and their derivatives are Aeons

Lorkhan is the Demiurge

Lorkhan, the Missing God, is the Creator-Trickster-Tester deity present in every Tamrielic mythic tradition. He is known as the Spirit of Nirn, the god of all mortals. Names for versions or aspects of Lorkhan include Lorkhaj (the Moon Beast) in Elsweyr, Lorkh, the Spirit of Man, the Mortal Spirit, or the Sower of Flesh to the Reachmen, Sep in Hammerfell, Sheor in High Rock, Shor in Skyrim, and Shezarr in Cyrodiil. He convinced or contrived the Original Spirits (et'Ada) to bring about the creation of the Mundus, upsetting the status quo—much like his (figurative) father Padomay is usually credited for introducing instability, and hence possibility for creation, into the undivided universe (or the Beginning Place).

In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term demiurge. Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not necessarily the same as the creator figure in the monotheistic sense, because the demiurge itself and the material from which the demiurge fashions the universe are both considered consequences of something else. Depending on the system, they may be considered either uncreated and eternal or the product of some other entity.

The word demiurge is an English word derived from demiurgus, a Latinised form of the Greek δημιουργός or dēmiurgós. It was originally a common noun meaning "craftsman" or "artisan", but gradually came to mean "producer", and eventually "creator". The philosophical usage and the proper noun derive from Plato's Timaeus, written c. 360 BC, where the demiurge is presented as the creator of the universe. The demiurge is also described as a creator in the Platonic (c. 310–90 BC) and Middle Platonic (c. 90 BC – AD 300) philosophical traditions. In the various branches of the Neoplatonic school (third century onwards), the demiurge is the fashioner of the real, perceptible world after the model of the Ideas, but (in most Neoplatonic systems) is still not itself "the One". In the arch-dualist ideology of the various Gnostic systems, the material universe is evil, while the non-material world is good. According to some strains of Gnosticism, the demiurge is malevolent, as it is linked to the material world. In others, including the teaching of Valentinus, the demiurge is simply ignorant or misguided.

I think that by seeing these concepts side by side it will help make sense of it all. You can definitely research this further, and argue that specific parts of the lore are more directly related to other concepts, but from my limited understanding of theology/philosophy, this is a framework for understanding what the lore was based on, and the ideas that might otherwise go unconnected. If you can do better than me here, by all means, be better than me.

But this takes us to the secret question within all of this: How does this effect the setting? The answer to that is that it really doesn't. Knowing that the setting of The Elder Scrolls is the material world created by the Demiurge, separating its inhabitants from the Godhead, doesn't really change anything. After all, you can literally say the exact same thing about our world. The presence of these concepts in The Elder Scrolls setting should change how you appreciate it in roughly the same way that this school of thought existing in our own world changes your view on our setting.

If you thought this was interesting, I certainly agree with you. If you think this is all a bit too much, and don't want to think about it anymore, you won't be missing out on much by ignoring it going forward. If you want to explore different theories on this, you’re definitely free too, I hope you enjoy exploring your own thoughts on this subject.