#welcome back to 'someone explained a scene in my lore for me'

[sunset-peril]

Obligatory reblog because I think about this comic every time I think of ideas for the ~2ish years immediately after the Calamity

And because everyone needs to see this.

Now that you're gone

[staridust]

“I also remember that the smallest gesture of affection would bring a lump to my throat, whether it was directed at me or at someone else.” — Bernhard Schlick, The Reader.

★ DO NOT USE/REPOST WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. NO MINORS.

Doodling scenes of cute story lore but they’re derived from song lyrics that’s on their playlist… part one of whatever

Hi! Good to see you below the chop. This is where the cool kids are.

Welcome to Stari explains star’s doodles. I love romance tropes in media, and I’m a sucker for pining! There’s something about the moments before confessions that warm my heart and make way for some tasty developments.

It’s like watching two colors mix and muddle and swirl until it finally begins to form a solid new hue from the paint of the universe.

Or something like that, I could write pages upon pages with the amount of things that the stage makes me feel, but I’m not here to type to the void about that! I’m here to bring it back to the story of this doodle. Ofc this is going off of SunnyTimeTown(AU)+Sunnyverse(My Story) lore.

For this particular scene Jack is of course on the telephone with Artemis, as this is something that he does very frequently/almost every night since they moved back to Cloudy Town. Operator, get me love on the line, haha…but seriously. They usually talk about everything and anything, but on that night it’s time they chatted about dating.

Jack’s no stranger to the dating scene. In fact, his failures of some dates ends up being the talk of the night many times. Sometimes it’s comedic or sometimes it’s moral support, but tonight it’s a bit different. Jack’s a little over the moon and head over heels in love crushing on a date that went pretty stellar, and for some reason Artie is not too excited about it as they thought they would be.

They normally don’t mind anything he has to say, but suddenly this brings a distaste to them that they can’t explain. She’s so perfect? How perfect is she if you just met her? Suddenly he’s speaking the words they don’t care to hear for the first time and they’re pulling the cords of the phone without noticing it.

Artemis, are you jealous of something?

[mystycalypso]

Can i just say how much i freaking love the work you two are doing, Holly hell this is some wild stuff as veteran of hello neighbor you two are making me proud of this small community that is running on tumblr!

Also i hope you two don't mind me asking two questions.

Firstly, If one of you two had the control over welcome to ravenBrooks show what will be some things you two will change.

Secondly, What are you're thoughts on the artstyle of the show considering that Man of Action is working on the show?

Okay to start, I know I say it every time we get asks like this but y'all are genuinely so sweet and nice and it's just really really cool to see people enjoy our stuff. Like- especially fellow old fans of the franchise. I know Kaydin also really appreciates how sweet you guys are but just idk it feels like my fandom dreams come true when people like things like our au and art for this series

As for your questions...

Personally, to start, and this is Jack being slightly particularly- idk nitpicky? But there are three things I'd want to just- fix immediately and all three of them are Nicky related.

Number one, his shirt. I'm sorry guys but I've been here since the alphas and I didn't even realize this was his Sharkotron T-shirt. It's- It's just an egg

Number two, I realized after intense studying of Nicky's- face that it looks really weird when he's front facing, but his nose is facing right. So scenes like this suddenly seem- off model for no reason? I've poorly edited the image below to fix both of these

Yes I am too lazy to edit them properly, sadly. Did make his shirt logo still one colour for ease of animation. Idk why but left facing nose Nicky just looks less weird. Just me and kaydin? Maybe.

Number three- uh... that hairline is atrocious /lh

I know he wears his goggles in the show like constantly but also- this is a 13 year old boy guys. I was 13 once and I have a very flat (minus a widows peak) hairline, but it did not stop my hair from falling all over my face, and I think it's fair to assume the same for the kid who's hair refuses to behave anyway

Just fluff him up a lil (again I'm sorry these aren't better edits lol)

You don't even have to have it show when his goggles are up because like a headband or headphones it pushes hair back, or otherwise

Although ironically while I'm explaining what I would change in the designs, I don't mind the art style at all, actually I kind of love it. Sure some things you kinda of have to get used to, like their ears being pretty low to the head, but in general I think it really fits the franchise. I know it didn't look too drastically different from the pilot, but there's so many little nuances in the designs that just make it better (especially when you look at characters like Trinity)

I've told Kaydin a dozen and a half times how I think show Nicky is the franchise's second best design for him. The first being this singular piece of art from Nicky's Diaries, like I have gone on for hours about why this rendering of him is just perfect.

Third being fan renders, followed by the book artstyle, the pilot and finally games

And while other designs I wasn't sure about when watching through the show the first time, really just lore hunting instead of caring about anyone who wasn't Trinity or Nicky ngl, when I started doing my expression analysis I realized just how nice the designs and individuality of the characters are. If you put Nicky's expressions oh Enzo or Ivan's on Trinity it wouldn't fit and that's something I don't think people would expect from a Hello Neighbor cartoon.

They also have things I can just appreciate as someone who's special interest is animation (but doesn't have the patience to animate TvT gotta love audhd) for example, just having shading even in shots where they could completely go without it. It makes it less drastic and a smoother transition when lighting gets intense. They're also now afraid to switch up camera angles and push the rigs for a more intense shot.

Also something I really appreciate

Smear frames!

God I love smear frames!!! It's another one of those things that It's like- knowing how much this cost Tinybuild, they could've easily cut it down to save money. But it just wouldn't have been as nice without it.

Sure there are probably people who look at the fact that Man of Action is working on the show and are disappointed by the art style. But I say this entirely genuinely when I say I couldn't picture this show looking any other way and working as it does.

Yeah, they could've used more realistic proportions for these kids, but it works so much better when it's pushed like this when Mr. Peterson is nearly double their height. He's visibly a hulking intimidating man who could lift a middle schooler and lock them away. You fear his build which contrasts his outfit best (really feels like they took the book description of him and just pushed it, as we know he doesn't have this same stature in the games)

Plus it feels like in general, they stopped focusing on that dumb "Oh we need to hide things in every frame" which- thank God. Sure they are still hiding little details, hell I have changed a whole chunk of theory about Theodore's relationship with his son because of something I found on accident

This photo of (seemingly) 12 year old Aaron Peterson.

I'm not gonna go into it here lol because this is already long and it's supposed to be about the animation.

Are they still building mysteries and people are still crafting theories? Absolutely! Not a day goes by that I haven't been thinking about whether or not Aaron will ever be seen in the series in the present day and if he is, what he will be like mentally.

But the point is, they're focusing on crafting something GOOD over just theory fodder. Both animation and story-wise, and I can appreciate that so much.

Like- this is gonna be a really hot Jack take here so be aware.

I enjoy this franchise and it's spinoffs much more than the FNAF franchise.

Sure, Hello Neighbor one is and will always be awful. But I am 100x more likely to play Hello Neighbor 2 or Secret Neighbor than I am to play any fnaf game myself.

When I make fnaf content it is almost entirely AU based. Because the idea of getting lore super wrong since I just can't be bothered to try and figure that convoluted mess out is annoying. Why even try to solve lore if I need to read more than 10 books for a minor detail that becomes a major antagonist? We can't even get a full confirmed backstory for the main antagonist!

But with Hello Neighbor they realized that people don't want to be jumping through 50 hoops for lore. Yes we want mystery, but one we can solve without dumb contrivances and plot holes.

Do I still love FNAF? Of course. My senior quote is from William Afton ffs ("You may not recognize me at first, but I can assure you, it's still me") but one of these franchises is growing to better itself and gain more love, while the other is slowly becoming more of something I enjoy without trying to understand, and I think the Hello Neighbor animated series is- the pinnacle of this difference.

I love Welcome to Ravenbrooks. I love Hello Neighbor. I can’t wait to see what comes next from TinyBuild, and how season two will be even better than season one. (As proven by the fact that Nicky gets to yell louder in that one teaser clip alone than anyone got to in season one lol)

[basuralindo]

You'll Have Me Rise ch.15 is up!

and it's not even midnight yet

This is basically a director's cut of the unfinished chapter I posted earlier, there's some edits for context and then an added scene at the end, but the second half I had planned evolved into a separate chapter again.....

Anyway, commentary under the cut!

-Yeah so, I feel like Jade has never seen Azul prioritize any new person over business, and has never had Floyd discourage him from hurting someone before. And for someone this meticulous, who's used to a very particular dynamic and environment that the trio has cultivated over years of knowing each other and not letting anyone else in, the introduction of Jamil is incredibly stressful. Like, while he does love chaos and new things, he also has a routine, he's always had something comfortingly reliable and consistent to fall back on. Having that feel threatened, especially in a way that he doesn't feel as involved in, is finally getting to him.

-Describing the positions Floyd plops into is so fucking hard!! Like they're so clear in my head, and imo so relevant to his depiction in general, but omfg is it hard to describe in writing without stopping the whole scene and explaining in detail risitskfskts

-I guess Azul being an emotional drunk is my headcanon now rip. He never did help find that paperwork

-I feel like these three take turns stepping up and taking care of the other two. Not really on purpose, but they all tend to crash and burn now and then, and whichever one can force himself to have the most spoons at the time ends up keeping the other two afloat. Azul definitely has his moments too.

-Drunk Azul out here forgetting about smartphones and google because tech and wifi don't do well at the bottom of the sea. I imagine they have some technomantic electronics in the more densely populated cities, but I picture most of the kingdom consisting of towns spread out over vast distances, so widespread internet would be a challenge. So like, basically the same issue america has, but with the added challenges of extreme water pressure, water damage under that level of pressure, and trying to transmit signal across that kinda distance with so much potential environmental interference. Point being I absolutely refuse to believe that the average merperson had a working smartphone with wifi. 

-Also you can't tell me Floyd hasn't tried sneaking into every possible school facility while drunk in the middle of the night

-Aaaaanyway, I don't know how much I can say about the implications of the second half of this without ruining the impact of later chapters? But I'm excited about it because it was a recent decision for the lore. Sooo I guess you're welcome to dm me if you want anything confirmed Right Now and don't mind if it results in mild spoilers?

[the-vibes-are-off]

‘ The Stormlight Archives Volume One: The Way of Kings’ Review - Prelude + Prologue

So is the way when my partner buys me his favourite book and I study English Literature, so must I be overly thorough in reviewing it. Welcome to my scuffed part-by-part criticism and appreciation.

link to contents page - https://at.tumblr.com/the-vibes-are-off/hey-hey/96xd9ohihrzs

Now I’m busy today so I’m only doing the prelude and prologue for now as a way of introducing what I’m tabbing and why. Since I don’t know a lot about the series I’m tabbing it like I would most other non-focused tabbings mainly with just bits that I like over anything else and, since it’s an author I’m unfamiliar with in a genre I don’t read, I have included a ‘hate this’ tab in case this reaches anyone who is either interested in reading the series and wants honesty or for any particularly argumentative fans that want to debate.

I’ve decided to split into spoiler free and spoiler filled sections in order to explain my tabbings to both read and unread readers - tab count for the current section and total read so far will be at the bottom.

Spoiler Free Zone:

The prelude definitely starts off the book with an interesting historical baseline and soft introducing what I assume is lore to be further revealed as time goes on. Very typical dark and gloomy fantasy setting I would say, definitely could probs be written better but is certainly interesting.

This follows in the prologue 100%. Brandon deffo has the imagination to be thinking up races/groups of people, characters, weapons, abilities etc and the scenes are descriptive and dynamic to an extent however I have beef with some of his basic writing technique. Clearly with it being 1007 pages long he has no qualms with book length but has a tendency to repeat paragraph openers (which whatever like that is admittedly minor) and tell rather than show (which is the bit that gets me).

*SPOILER BUFFER*

Spoiler Zone - Enter at your own risk:

Admittedly I can’t say the first page was initially gripping me, typical large scale beast fight. I think the desolation of the fight could definitely have been described better but from what I can gather the fight is more of just a precursor to the important lore so it isn’t that deep.

Naturally I tabbed cool swords yes yes yes cool swords gimme cool swords followed by torture (horror fan me very happy at any gruesome adjacent description). Tabbed a ‘WTF? Why?’ At furthering lore. Oathpact? Cycle of Desolations? Why is it ending? Gimme more pls pls pls but at the end of the day it is the prelude so I had to live.

Loved the quote at the start of the chapter, a lovely form feature I wasn’t expecting. 100% first slay quote I love when books have quotes at the start of chapters, usually allusions to other texts but an in world quote definitely still works.

First love this was at the description of the women. What can I say. I love women. I am biased.

My first beef (hate this) was with the explanation of a ‘lashing’. I get it needing context with lashing typically meaning something else but like maybe gloss it in the back or at the bottom of the page so that it doesn’t take you out of the fight and rather acts as like an optional contextualisation.

Tbf tho Brandon hit me with more cool swords for my first ‘WTF WOW’ tab bc sword that cuts someone’s soul? Come on man like that’s so sick.

We love a cheeky bit of lore too - I had to add a bonus tabby for lore insertions. Nice to have more context for the start (I assume?).

Our first named death too? Before chapter one? With a cryptic last wish. Classic set up that you can’t help but love.

Tab Count:

This Part -

Cute: 0

Fights/Violence*: 2

Sad :(: 0

Death**: 1

Cool: 2

Wtf why: 1

Wtf wow: 1

Slay Quotes: 1

Love this!: 1

Hate this >:/: 1

Cool lore insert: 1

Total-

Cute: 0

Fights/Violence: 2

Sad :(: 0

Death: 1

Cool: 2

Wtf why: 1

Wtf wow: 1

Slay quotes: 1

Love this!: 1

Hate this >:/: 1

* - fights are tabbed at a new enemy (ie in prologue when it changes from guards to the king)

* *- deaths include named character deaths only

[lampmanliveblogs]

Up some stairs, they find this wall in the rock. There is a circle with old inscriptions. The signs look vaguely like letters, but I can’t decode them. Although… at the bottom, there is a small symbol that looks like a half-moon (which might actually be called quarter moon? Or third quarter moon?) You know someone who is associated with moons? The Collector!

…wait, wasn’t there some stars and moon imagery in the ruins in Echoes of the Past too? I seem to recall there were. I might’ve been onto something with there being a connection between King’s family and The Collector.

There’s also a small hole in the middle of the circle, which is where I bet they have to put the little key.

Uh, wha-?

There was a flash of light, then veins on the finger lit up and sent a bolt of energy into the sky… a portal opened and sucked in Luz, King & Hooty and transported them to… wherever this is.

So… where is this? There is another finger there… but the rest of the hand is also visible, and there’s a platform or port next to it, so it’s clearly not the same one as they came from… unless maybe they traveled really far into the past? Something tells me that’s not what happened though.

So this is somewhere else, somewhere far, far away. Somewhere with the remains of another giant, possibly another Titan.

…okay, make that ”Titans.” We see here a collection of bones, in what might be an ancient battlefield for primordial giants, or maybe a graveyard of some kind. Is this the Edge of the World? 

That large skull in the back looks vaguely familiar, hold on…

My first thought was the skull you can see in the background with the scene of The Collector in Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door. I double checked, and I don’t think it is, that skull was at a different angel and didn’t have horns. This may be somewhere close to where that flashback took place though, I’m not ruling out that possibility.

The second thought was it might be the skull from that monster King’s dad/ancestor was fighting in the mural found in the ruin back in Echoes of the Past. So I went and checked and… it might be, but we only get to see part of that creature’s head, so it’s hard to tell.

It’s happening! It’s happening! We have a guy who knows Lore! And I’m gonna find out The Lore! If the rest of the episode is literally nothing but exposition, I will be so happy. Oh, and maybe like thirty seconds to check in on Hunter too. Literally, the perfect episode.

He gives us a little appetizer by welcoming our trio to the other side of the world. This explains why no one has mentioned this place before.

Forget exposition, King introducing Luz as his friend/sister is everything. That is the only measure by which we determine the quality of episodes henceforth.

Anyways, the old guy’s name is Tarak (I think) and he was going to chase out intrepid heroes away until he noticed King, at which point he welcomed them.

I’d love to go on, but I’m afraid this is where I’ll have to end things off for tonight. I’ll continue tomorrow. See you guys then!

[starlightkun]

hi!! this is a different anon than the one who sent smt abt tdhea but i read thru that post and everything you said and i just want to say how it’s SO COOL how the strawberry sunday universe and characters sort of unfold parts of the story by themselves as part of ur writing process. like i genuinely think that’s the coolest thing ever (coming from someone who used to write a ton and had to trudge thru awkward scenes and horrible writer’s block and … procrastination…..)

i’m loving all the details you include with every neo u mention and would love to hear you go more in depth with the characterisation choices u make

also!!! very excited for pupsick 2 coming out tomorrow !!

lots of love💞💞

i definitely still have those awkward scenes that i just trudge thru (currently writing one for changer rn) and start and stop and write like two words and stop in the middle of a sentence and come back and write two more sentences and then stop again and it just takes me forever because i just for the life of me cannot do it for some reason. that absolutely happens to me, you're not alone.

lots of love back 💕💕 and also v excited for pupsick 2 as well!!

since u asked, i'll talk abt the character choices i picked for the neos a bit more (under the cut bc it's.....long)

127

taeil + doyoung: the witches! i picked witches for them because in my lore, witches are connected to nature and all that like dryads/fairies but they still have that mysticality to them while maintaining a bit of a folksiness to them with their herbs and teas and stuff, which i thought was just very endearing. i made them have slightly different specialties despite being in the same coven to reflect different aspects of their personalities. taeil is a lot more grounded and in tune with himself internally, so he does a lot of rituals and spellwork with innate power that get built upon with all of his ritual tattoos (and i feel like we don't see a lot of tattooed taeil in fics. which is a shame, bc as soon as the image of taeil tattooed from neck to ankle popped into my head i was hooked. that's rlly hot.) ; meanwhile, doyoung's character is a lot more snappy and sharp-tongued (inspired by how irl dotae and doten bicker), and prefers magic with words like hexes, jinxes, and curses. since these tend to be quick, minor bursts of magic, he doesn't need this big store of internal magic like taeil does for his rituals, he can just draw it in quickly from crystals or metals that naturally have magic, so he wears a lot more jewelry and the like

taeyong: our irl yonggie is just such a good leader and such an empathetic, sweet person who really does everything he can to make his members feel more at home. around the time i was writing strawbsunday, for some reason i was going back through my taeyong tag and there were a couple gifsets of him that rlly stuck with me. one was of him saying he was learning chinese to make the chinese members feel more welcome and be able to communicate with them more comfortably, and another gifset of him and shotaro in the waiting room of a music show during maw promotions, and tyong was helping taro read a soda bottle that was in korean. tyong read it in korean first, then explained the flavor in japanese so taro would understand it better. and idk, i rlly want to emphasize that part of taeyong in strawbsunday, so i made him a unicorn, a creature known for either having/finding/believing in a pure heart!

yuta: he's sexy. yeah, remember how i said some were more thought out than others? this is one of the less thought out ones lmao. sirens are enchantresses, luring sailors to their deaths with their call. modern interpretations take that to a more........seductive place, and i fully, wholeheartedly agree with my own sirens, and yuta was my blueprint lol. i was envisioning punch yuta specifically. the hair, the tattoos (his butterfly tattoo, the iconography, the placement, never has a man had a sexier tattoo im sorry)

jaehyun: i was 100% thinking about that tweet that was made around 'favorite' era that was like 'give me your vampire nct 127 opinions go' and someone said 'jaehyun would be like "how did you know i was a vampire?" while being the weirdest fucking dude in the room' and i was just like "yep that's going to my vampire jaehyun character." i also love the idea of like a brand new vampire. not a fledgeling vmapire, but one that was turned less than ten years ago. I feel like we usually either get fledgelings or vamps that are hundreds of years old and act like it, so i rlly wanted to see a vampire that like, wasn't old enough to rlly have the immortality part affect them yet. and i made him weird bc jaehyun's weird. (i specifically have a tag for my weird!jaehyun posts here)

mark: mark was like one of the very last of the ilichils to get assigned, and at this point i had fairy, dryad, witch, vampire, siren, and unicorn and i was like "hm, i think that's enough creatures? six? what else could i even use?" but i had already doubled up w the two witches (and two humans technically w [strawbsunday] reader/johnny) and nothing i had so far with those six kinds really felt like it fit with how i was kind of imaging mark and how he was going to fit in with the group. so i literally was googling like lists of mythical creatures and stuff, and was trying to fit what i saw to irl mark, to my character mark, and to my world i was building, to see if it would all fit. and i ended up going with basilisk! and i decided there would be a little C plot of my precious loserboy basilisk markie figuring out his powers and accidentally petrifying his poor human roommate johnny

johnny, hyuck, and jungwoo were all already talked about here!

wayv

so like i've already said, when i went to assign creatures to the ilichils, i went ahead and backlogged every neo just in case i needed a random background charcter, i could essentially pull a neo out of a hat and have one ready to go instead of needing to come up with one on the spot. the weishens were done next, and i very quickly realized i was going to need more than seven types of things (including humans)

kun: while i liked my newbie vamp jaehyun being a weirdo, i do still like the idea of an old, elegant vampire, but one who uses that experience to have an optimistic, fresh take on life instead of being all nihilistic about it. irl kun has all these sexy skills and hobbies outside of just being an idol (producing, flying, skydiving, photography, at least one bachelor's degree to my recollection probably more, etc.) and i think if he really were to live forever, why wouldn't he use that as an opportunity to just do everything, and experience all the new things that are being invented all the time and learn more stuff and continuously go back to school? so kun was just the perfect template for that sort of vampire character

ten: ...........he's sexy. IM SORRY i swear i didn't just toss every sexy neo into the siren category or else there would be a lot more sirens here. i chose neos that were sexy, knew they were sexy, and i thought would probably enjoy luring men to their deaths with their sexiness if given the opportunity. ALSO i made him an art major bc i loveeee irl ten's drawings and art and tattoos

sicheng: again, i really expanded the strawbsunday universe of magical creatures out with the weishens. i've also been rewatching supernatural and it was around here that i was at the episode where dean goes back in time and kills a phoenix, and they opted to make that character a person instead of a literal bird. so that was kind of inspo for sicheng's phoenix character (except i still made him very birdlike, the phoenix on supernatural didn't have any bird qualities whatsoever)

dejun: it is a coincidence that dejun is a dragon and his emoji is a dragon. i swear. this was one of those where i was like hm...that sounds good and then the more i thought about it the more i liked it. no exceptionally deep thought here. i regret not mentioning any sort of gold jewelry or the like on dejun in rid like i did on jisung in tdhea, but alas. smth to remember when/if he pops back up in future fics. we'll just pretend it's always been there tucked under his shirt or something

hendery: i had already thought about using gryphons in strawbsunday with johnny (was flipflopping on gryphon or human with him for a while and ended up on human, obvs) so it just seemed natural to make someone else a gryphon later on. gryphons are part eagle, part lion, and while i know i usually focus on the eagle parts of my gryphon, i do think both of them are important! they're both seen as very noble creatures, with lions protecting their pride fiercely. and i feel like i very much kept those attributes in with kunhang. you might not have seen it yet, but underneath the banter and everything, kunhang is fiercely loyal to his friends, and has a strong sense of right and wrong. it might not line up with everybody else's idea of right and wrong, but he's not wishy washy with it

yangyang: i already had an idea for a love potion debacle with witch DOYOUNG that hinged on a conversation that went something like “Are you telling me I just drank a fucking potion?”/“Botanical blend!”/“Why would you put a potion in a fucking Gatorade bottle?”/“Botanical blend!” but as i thought abt it more i was like omg no that's so yangyang coded and i sort of imagined witch yy who almost pictures himself like a mad scientist in that he specializes in potions and such and is always experimenting with new crazy stuff

dream

jeno: werewolf jeno was just like too perfect. like, he couldn't be anything else. has werewolf jeno been written thousands of times? yes. has big puppy werewolf jeno been written at least hundreds of times? yes. and its good every single time. i am not immune to puppy jeno. you are not immune to puppy jeno.

jisung: irl jisung is one of the few neos whose mbti type is an i, if im remembering correctly? he's at least an intp, i do know that. and irl, while he def gets along w everyone, you can tell that he and chenle just r besties and have a next level bond (they're so close and r close enough in age, chenle lets jisung call him casually instead of using honorifics despite being born in different years). irl jisung also isn't super big on skinship with members or wtv. so like with a lot of other stuff, i took a few perceived irl personality characteristics, honed in on them, stretched them, and picked a creature whose lore and powers fit that personality i assigned my jisung character. and dragon fit him best! usually a solitary creature, but for some reason he's taken a liking to this one fairy, and generally tolerates all these other friends that the fairy has

mark already talked abt above; jaemin, chenle, hyuck, and renjun already talked about here!

sungtaro

shotaro: now i know what you're thinking. but i think shotaro has a different brand of siren sexiness to bring to the table. kinda like how chenle and jungwoo r mischievous in different ways despite both being fairies, not all my sirens r sexy and alluring in the same exact way. yknow? bc shotaro just has that adorable little cherub baby yoda roo from winnie the pooh face too. so he's kind of all innocent and cute and lures you in that way, but then switches it up out of nowhere. duality, as the kids say

sungchan: this one was self-indulgent lol. he's one of my biases and i think werewolf sungchan is a very delicious concept. also i thought it would b hilarious to write in my notes "D plot that werewolf jeno LOVES peanut butter. sungchan swears this is just a jeno thing and NOT a werewolf thing. nobody believes him." i still think that's really fucking funny

and one more thing that i do kinda wanna touch on that's tangential to this? the ratio of characters/creatures that we see in here is supposed to be fairly representative to the actual population percentages of these species. like, i do imagine that humans, witches, and werewolves are all roughly equivalent in population; then it's fairies, sirens, and dryads are all about the same, but less than the first three; then vampires, gryphons, and basilisks; and dragons, sphinxes, unicorns, and phoenixes are all extremely rare. or, at least populations are generally academically unknown due to many staying out of integrated society. and wyverns...........well, that would be a spoiler.

[smokeowl-mx]

I explained it reaaaally poorly in the comments but the whole thing connected for me when Sun Wukong says: "Aren't you sick of living in my shadow?"

(Mind you, the whole story of JTTW was very vaguely written in my head when I started watching Lego Monkey Kid. So when Macaque came and did all he did to MK and Wukong, I didn't consider the original story and it's plot to figure out their past. I know, I'm dumb. But now, I've got the power!!)

For anyone that was as lost as I was, what Macaque tells when he's posing as a storyteller is partially true, though he leaves certain...details out.

Turns out, there are 4 celestial monkeys that don't fit into the 10 basics categories.

- Sun Wukong, the Intelligent Stone Monkey

- The Red Backed Baboon, prospect of balance.

- The Long armed Ape, wise of the universe.

- The Six Eared Macaque, oracle and fortuneteller.

JTTW tells how, after Wukong was kicked out of the group after killing some bandits, he just dissapeared. Some days later, he came back to offer apologies to Tan Sanzang who, obviously, said no, so Wukong beat the Monk and stole all of the group's stuff. When Sha Wujing (Sandy) went to his mountain to confront him, he found out Wukong planned to do the whole journey with a group of clones of the Monk, Sandy and Pigsy. Basically wanting to reach illumination by himself.

Sandy, seeing Wukong was beyond all reason, went to the goddess who was...basically Wukong's legal tutor to ask for her help on changing the Monkey King's mind. Turns out, the Real Wukong was with her the whole time since he was kicked out.

Long story short, after both Wukongs fought endlessly through earth, the celestial realm and the underworld, they ended up in front of Buddha, who unmasked Macaque. Right afterwards, Wukong killed Macaque for stealing his identity and his monkey army.

Why do I explain this? Aside from cutting everyone to speed on JTTW and it's lore.

Well...do you remember all those jokes Macaque makes about his "living streak"? What finally put the last nail on Macaque's hatred (or heartbreak) on Wukong was, basically, that Monkey King killed him after both of them were considered two powerful entities feared on all realms.

"Their light, a protective glow, shining upon the world. Together there was nothing that could stop the two of them. Either in the Celestial Realms, or on Earth..."

With Macaque at the brink of death, he made an Oath to the Lady Bone Demon to be brought back. And we all know how that went...

Knowing all of this makes certain scenes cut deeper than they did at first, doesn't it?

"You've got Lady Bone Demon powers, huh? I mean, it is in brand for you to have the worst version of someone else's powers"

"...You always had a "Sidekick" kinda vibe"

"Mk: You're...not Sun Wukong

Macaque: heh...I get that a lot"

At first I kinda just interpreted it as "Yeah sure, they look similar" and "Looks like they have a heavy history together" but it was always confusing to me how certain thing tied up.

The series gives you hints, but still nothing definitive. Just the idea that they were friends (cofcofloverscofcof) and something involving Macaque taking Wukong's identity and then Macaque dying. But having a bit more of backstory, makes the whole drama more effective.

Mind you, haven't watched Season 4 so if anything's there, I don't know at the time of writing this essay.

So yeah, you're welcome for everyone that was confused.

P.S. A little thing I want to point out, even though it is not ShadowPeach related, is about Dragonfruit.

Mei calls Red Son "Red Boy" as a way to mock him. She's accidentally dead-naming him. Red Boy is Red Son's name from JTTW.

I like to think Red Son made the change so his affiliation with DBK was more obvious and to wield it as a banner of sorts. And Mei comes around just accidentally calling him by his past name, that why he's so mad when he's called Red Boy.

Or at least, that's my theory...

I JUST REALISED SOMETHING

In lmk when we first meet macaque. Him and sun wukong are fighting. We hear macaque taunting SWK by saying “the old you would have levelled this whole mountain range just to stop me” and we know that macaque stole swks powers.

HE’S TALKING ABOUT WHEN HE TOOK SWKS IDENTITY IN JTTW AND THEY FOUGHT. OH MY GOD

[bearmustard]

Hi Clare! I've been listening to your podcast and I love that there's a lot of talk about the bears there so I thought I'd ask you, right now there's a lot of accs on Twitter trying to be like them and make people think is all happening again and I know I know is all fake but like idk how to explain why?? Like why can we trust the bears but not all these accs?? My actual question is what was the one thing that made you realize the bears were actually Louis and Harry and not someone random??

Oh nonnie, you really know how to fire me up! Welcome to my favourite topic in all of Larrie fandom. Not the bears, per say, (though I love them with my entire being and they are the thing that kept me a larrie when shit got really hard and confusing) but about thinking critically about how communication is happening, what that looks like, and how we can separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, when it comes to weighing up evidence. 

A quick note - I am wary of the phrase ‘do your research’, especially since it’s become the catch-cry of conspiracy groups like Q etc etc. I believe that you should research, and consider the expert opinions (in this case, a combination of expert evidence, veteran larries’ experience, information from H & L themselves) but human beings are pattern seekers, and there is only so much ‘research’ will tell you, before your brain starts looking for patterns in the smallest things to create a narrative, and that’s not always how real life works. So you have to kind of hold two things in your mind - the first is that we will never know the full story, or even a fraction of it. (Maybe one day we’ll get a tell all, but I’m not holding my breath). The second thing to keep in mind is that real life is messy as fuck, and often stranger than fiction, and things that are TOO neat are things you want to investigate/think critically about/maintain a healthy suspicion about. 

So to your first question - how do you know all of those accts are fake in your gut? Often it’s because they are TOO neat. They line up too well with the story people are telling, which is rarely what the story is. It gets a lot of clout at the time, but long term it doesn’t make sense. I arrived in this fandom at the tail-end of the @goodbyeadulthood phenom, where anybody making any kind of sensible, evidence based theory was called a plant (mostly jokingly) (mostly) so I guess being able to see that this has all happened before gives me a bit of perspective when it comes to excitement about “insider accounts”. Accts like CBO and hscox94 have very clear patterns - they are ridiculously vague, they almost never predict (always following, not leading, events), and they conveniently change/adapt their story to the prevailing winds of fandom opinion. 

How we know the bears were the real deal then? I mean, honest answer is we really can’t ever know, but there is compelling evidence that they were. @tellmethisisnotlove has an excellent masterpost (that I just realised feature some of my own theories, lol) on how the bears link to 1D, and specifically to Harry and Louis. 

What people forget, though, because it’s been accepted fandom lore for so long, but many larries were not convinced that it was Harry and Louis themselves at the time. It’s only with hindsight that the majority agree. We knew they were connected to the band. RBB definitely started from (probably) Josh Devine, probably as a joke, because he created the first twitter acct, but it was very different in tone from what the bears would become. 

RBB really was just considered a cute tour mascot, and that only started to change in the Europe leg of the OTRA tour. Coincidently, this was after the 2 month break where BG was set up, H & L were separated, and L had a bunch of behind the scenes stuff going on with Sony and SYCO. Prior to this, H & L had been less cryptic in their resistance (big gay war of 2014 anyone?) and had paid a heavy, heavy price. 

So in Europe, RBB gets a pal, and all of a sudden, they’re being dressed up, usually in the same costume (this is why he was called Teddy Mercury to start) and was just a fun thing to watch out for. They were linked to the band (any roadie you talk to says there’s no fucking way they wouldn’t be signed off by the band) but not in a tangible way. 

It got really nuts in July (which, in my head, is when Louis takes over the bears fully, with Harry) for the US leg. This is when big money starts being spent, the scenes get way more elaborate, they start using the blue and green (and red) stickers, and they start featuring props about closeted gay artists, or famous people who had to hide a secret, or sony flip phones (you get the gist). My recollection is that it wasn’t until Vancouver, and the KD Lang book, that the fandom started thinking the Bears were telling us anything, and then we went back and with hindsight realised there were small references to events. 

Even then, there was extremely healthy skepticism in the fandom about the bears being directly from Louis and Harry until much later, when in London they had the blue and green spotlights and the ‘Love Larry’ picture. You can hear in the podcast ep the week we finally feel like we can say for sure it’s Louis (and we are hysterical about it) and that’s the week of Belfast, the countdown, the newcastle gay bar, and the reflection of Louis’ shirt in RBB’s sunglasses. That’s in OCTOBER. Nearly FIVE MONTHS of RBB and SBB leaving us cryptic clues and getting more and more elaborate. Five months of people (including die hard RBB fans like myself) constantly doubting themselves as to whether it really meant something. Moreover, the interview where they are asked about it was December, and so for many that was the final piece of the puzzle, so we forget now that there was so much uncertainty about how much we could trust it. 

Even now, there are things that we haven’t figured out about the bears, that suddenly make sense when something from the time is revealed, and that has been happening since hiatus. 

And that’s my answer - TLDR - that hindsight, critical thinking/understanding, and context are what tells us the bears are the real deal, and were orchestrated by Louis and Harry in response to events and pressures behind the scenes. That they found a way to support and encourage their LGBT fans (and allies) in a year where a lot of things were awful. Those bears were the goddamn light in the tunnel, showing us a way to understand. 

[starrysupercell]

UwU the rest of the outline at per request. @lumpy-veev (still unfinished but it's okay! This should be thought of as a rough draft.) 💙

🦝 "RaR 3" or "Breaking Point" 🐍

It would be an unofficial Brawl, which is not allowed, but it happens, and what can you even do?

I see the two as basically ignoring each other's presence upon finding out that the other is there. Of course, as much as they won't admit it, it's making them think of. Everything.

This leads to even more on edge tense atmosphere whenever they would cross each other's path, because even if it’s a big park, you can only avoid someone for so long, especially when you happen to have common associates. (the Coworkers, Tara, etc.)

It doesn’t help they have growing animosity and take every little thing personally for every interaction.. and it’s only been a month or two.

Rumors begin to pick up around the park-- Just a little chatter at the bar. Just a little observation that those two sure have something between them huh? The gossiper is shushed, because did you forget who runs the place? his connection to Byron?

Luckily, the bartender didn’t seem to hear. He was busy cleaning glasses. The topic’s changed. customers continue to come and go.

One who arrives is Piper, who sits down at the bar. It’s busy, so she waits patiently for Barley to get her usual. (he’s good at that.) He sets down a coaster and the glass in front of her, but instead of a greeting and bustling away this time, he sticks around.

“Byron is well on his way to becoming a topic of interest around here...” he tells her.

She leans forward with a smile. “What have they said? And who, for that case?”

He explains what he heard, and omits the names.

Piper thoughtfully considers this. She had noticed this, but hadn’t chalked it up to a personal history, just conflict of interest. (byron was well off, belle was a thief. he would be cautious) Now that she knew, she wanted every drop of intel.

“I can talk to him. we wouldn’t want our dear coworker being talked about, do we?”

“I do not.” Barley replied, tipping his hat to bid her goodbye as he steps away to another client. He lets Piper take care of this, because he likes letting people come to him if they want to talk, and he feels that Byron would have already approached him if that were the case.

~

So, it’s another one of their patented teatime tête-à-têtes.

Piper skirts around the issue before dropping the news of whispers about the two.

But Byron doesn’t humor the topic, and refuses to talk about it.

Piper cheerfully pokes at him. “Crossed paths? Did you know her before the Park? maybe previous business associates? She robbed you, but you had good insurance, and one day she tricked you? Ooh~ Former flames-?"

And then Byron stands up and is about to leave wordlessly until that last suggestion processes bc if he doesn’t clarify now, ugh that’s gonna be what Piper thinks is plausible (kind of, bc he gay af) and he does NOT want that to be a thing.

“She’s a relative,” he says with so much distaste before he leaves that Piper is even more intrigued. but at the same time, there’s something that tells her she shouldn’t fan the fire any further.

they’ve had their share of back and forths, and it’s been a blue moon since something had gotten him so upset that he just up and leaves.

she drops it, and as the #1 gossipmonger of the park, the hushed whispers of “mystery between byron and belle?” is completely stamped out with a dismissive attitude and several “Really? I didn’t notice anything.”

If Byron really and truly didn't want this around the park, she'd honor that.

~

Of course, with QD Edgar on occasional trips with the Gang, that’s the biggest connection the sibs have at the moment.

The first time Edgar name dropped Byron, Belle froze and listened to 2.47 more seconds of the teen's rambles before telling him to get a move on around camp and quit yapping.

Edgar didn't notice this first time around and grumpily went about his way.

But I'm sure there's one thing or another that makes Edgar talk about his dad manager again, and one thing that will really piss Belle off, is comparison.

Tara, who notices the shift in mood, puts herself in between Edgar and Belle and swiftly soothes things over. She suggests getting on with the plan they have (already knowing what Belle will respond with).

"heist cancelled," Belle states, rearing up Elodie and galloping away from camp. (She usually winds down on her own after celebrating a big heist, but never before-- and never had called it quits at that.)

Edgar is put off. Tara muses that it's nothing he could help...

On her own, Belle just contemplates everything. Hours. It brings up familiar memories of being up on the rooftop with her head buried into her arms and knees feeling terrible.

Except now she's more than grown, with her share of things to be proud of and great memories she forged on her own. She's not curled up on herself anymore. She's staring to the long distance of the desert-- her home-- traveling with ease.

That stupid rooftop section of her life is nothing more than a fraction of her well-lived life.

It doesn't make her feel better.

Yet another thing Byron ruins for her without even trying.

She needed a drink.

~

Not wanting to head back to her camp for the night, and not in the mood to try nabbing some good drink, Belle simply walks into the bar and orders something.

Barley treats her the same as any Brawler, despite what he now knows about her.

As far as he was concerned, she came in there as a customer. And as long as she paid, he saw no problem in serving her...

She drinks quietly, and he keeps an eye on her intake.

And eventually, just like with any other customer with something heavy on their mind and enough drinks, words flow easier.

She doesnt use names, and keeps terms vague. Speaks angrily of her parents. Calls the brother a "dumbass of a pushover."

Now, it isnt like he associates Byron as a (pardon his french) 'dumbass' in any way, but it's the way she uses it that makes Barley connect the dots. The tone wasn't as bitter. Almost fond. Almost.

He lightly prods for a little bit more insight, and she gives up a little more as she drinks.

Unlike the other two members of his Trio, it wasn't in his nature to gossip, so this would stay between them.

Barley listens, because that's what she needs right now. Not advice, not interjections or lectures or deflecting the subject. Just someone to listen.

Eventually he cuts her off before she gets too inebriated (and probably causes trouble.)

{I AM going to write this scene out in depth. And cry while doing so.}

~

On the other side, after the season and back at the Gift Shop, Edgar is 🤔🤔 over that incident. He considers talking with Colette but 1) she's as mad as a Colette could be at the fact that he hung out with the NEW BRAWLER and TARA and didnt bother getting her ANYTHING. and 2) tbh she's a blabbermouth.

Byron does his regular check of the shop that day. Making sure Colette hasn't run off and Edgar isnt sneaking a nap.

He welcomes Edgar back from his little trivial loot and shoot games.

While Edgar hadn't even thought twice about it before, he recalls that when he had told Byron he'd be working at a different section of the park (namely with the new Brawler, Belle) he had acted just as dismissive.

Like yeah, there was your usual "old man doesn't get the teens" shenanigans, but Byron had never belittled his interest in anything before. Calling his involvement in the season a 'trivial game' sounded... personal.

He outright asks Colette if Byron was acting weird.

Any snippiness that Colette may have had for 2 minutes diminishes when there's a chance to talk with her favorite person in the world that she's seen little to none of for two months, AND about her favorite topic: Brawlers!

She spills everything she knows, because despite Piper's efforts, theres no secret a Brawler can try to keep when shes around.

She didn't find out everything of course. But she knows that there were questions involving Byron and Belle. Piper hushed it up, so for sure there was something.

Edgar nods. "Totally. I think she was close to rippin' my head off once. I brought up Byron once and she was ready to chew me out." (in case i didn't make it clear, Edgar picked up a slight drawl because of belle)

"Cool!" Colette exclaimed. "..I mean, not the rip your head off part. But that is cool too. I meant do we have lore on our hands?? That nobody ELSE knows!!?"

Edgar shushed her. Byron is in his office but the shop wasn't really sound proof.

......cue shenanigans from the Coworkers trying to figure things out in their very amateurish ways compared to Piper by "sneaking" around and "nonchalantly" trying to get him to admit something.

Byron knows they're up to something, and humors them until realizing the topic when Edgar tries bringing up the Goldarm Season.

He shuts them down even faster than Piper.

Of course, instead of deterring them like her, he just confirms their suspicions. Colette and Edgar are "o yeah we are def going to get to the bottom of this."

~

So, it's plan B! If they even try asking Piper she throws them for such a loop and leaves them so bewildered that Colette even forgets to ask for anything she could keep, and Edgar didnt realize she gave them nothing to work with until they're already out the door and down the street with cake pops in their hands.

So, Plan C! ...Barley.

It's hard to find a time to go there, since it's busy when they get off work. And Barley always seems to be at one place or another....

So the kids choose the perfect time (roughly midday), and just wait for the perfect day... when Byron comes in and checks the shop, then decides on his own that they could handle it for the rest of the shift and leaves them to it.

When the stars align, the teens wait until Byron is out of sight, and close up the gift shop. Their plan is to head to the bar... and maybe try and get something out of Barley..... not much of a plan, but they don't realize it there.

They make haste, running to the bar, because time crunch (when/if complaints start rolling in.)

Bursting through the doors of the Bar, Barley gives them a look. "Don't.. do that, please."

Colette apologizes enthusiastically, and urges Edgar forward. "Ask him! I'll keep watch!"

She hops over to the door and peers through it periodically.

Meanwhile, Edgar is stammering because he didnt plan anything to say, he expected Colette to talk to the robot.

"If you two think I allow underage drinking, I most certainly do not, no matter what Penny says." Barley warns.

"Uhh, no it isn't that. ...Umm. do ya know... well, you would know about Byron, and not Belle, I guess. But they've been acting weird lately, and we want to know why."

. . .

Barley pauses in consideration.

Options and questions flood around his mind, and he still had no answer.

Wonders if he should even mention Belle's visit some time ago, or the fact that he knows more in depth about it than Byron would care for, or that if Piper found out he knew more than her, and then told these two over would she be offended? ....Actually, in that case, why was he considering telling them anyway? Well, if they were interested in the topic for genuine reasons...

Edgar doesn't even know what to do either. Barley's not saying anything.

Colette squeaks, and scrambles from the door. "Edgar!! Any luck here? Because we're out of it over there!"

"What?"

"I think I see Byron heading here!!"

Who would have thought.

this is where i kind of dropped off the outline, but to continue/wrap it up, Barley points them to the curtain that covers the back room. There's an exit there which he tells them about, but the teens stay to EAVESDROP bc they care.

Barley and Byron chat. the conversation dips into the area having to do with Belle.

Byron frowns. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you're trying to get me to admit something, Barley. I can understand Piper, but you?"

"Me?" Barley asks. "Sir, you know I never mean harm."

"..." Byron stares at him unconvinced. "If Piper did put you up to this, you can tell me."

"U.. Believe it or not, I am among others in this park who care about you, Byron."

"...." wouldn't that be nice. But Byron believes him. My bad. He humors his coworker for now. "Fine." And asks for a drink.

Barley gets him his preferred one. [Lol I'll come up with it eventually.]

They talk. Barley finds out a little more. But just a little bit. Byron... it isnt like he has practice talking about ☆~feelings~☆

The teens listening in leave before too long. Colette is like O.O;; and Edgar decides that all they wanted to know was the relation between Byron and Belle, and they got that.

She agrees, and they both leave through the back door.

Byron didn't get as drunk ofc, it's still his working hours. Just enough to loosen up a bit and get through mild robot therapy.

After his leave, Barley sees him off, and then goes to check in the back. They're gone and he has a brief "oh, thought they would have gotten the hint to, listen in. Oh, well."

[There's one more event, involving the Coworkers interacting with Belle one last time, but still unplanned <3 it leads to the meet up and the fight... somehow though. I'll release that when I think of it.]

I can also see Piper being ":0 you knew before I did? And didn't tell me? You're mischievous, Barley!" In a very light hearted way at the very end.

Barley frets ;;; "I am not!"

[rumor-imbris]

Hello, Lady Connor! I want to ask out of unbearable, suffocating curiosity in my heart, even though in the previous post you already said to not mention "that certain comic". Could you please enlighten me about your view on that comic and what you despise about it? I would love to read your detailed thoughts about it even if just once. But if this is too triggering for you, I'm truly sorry for your discomfort and you don't need to answer it.

Hello, dear Anon and welcome ^-^ It's weird you naturally called me Lady Connor, as usually only my little fairy @giuliettaluce does. Well, I guess her magic put a spell on everybody here!!

If you really care to know, I'll answer, but brace yourself, it's going to be very long, almost an essay, because I can be very detailed about that comic being a failure in its every part. There's so much to say. You're right, as I mentioned before, it can trigger me, but I have attentively analized it and I know it makes not a single atom of sense. So nothing can actually bother me that much, don't worry ^_-

First of all, my general consideration of the AC Reflections comic issue #4, (yeah, that thing -.-) is that of a mere attempt to desperately make Bayek's remote vision through Senu's eyes a canon feature. It was created and published in 2017, the same year AC Origins was released and yes, they needed an excuse to make believe Connor's alleged daughter inherited a skill someone (who isn't even their direct ancestor!!) that lived 1700 years ago in ancient Egypt had! OMG, this should be funny enough, but I'll go on. Also, I think it was likely a carelessly arranged way to satisfy those AC3 fans demanding a "happy ending" for unlucky Connor (quite 5 years later, of course).

I'll better go step by step to figure out where to start from, seriously.

1) In the comic, when Otso Berg opens the file related to Connor, the scene is set in "1796: Upstate New York." Now this is chronologically and spacially incoherent and illogical. We see Connor still wears his assassin outfit in it, right? According to AC Initiates (2012) in 1804 Connor invites the Dominican assassin Eseosa at the Davenport homestead to provide him some advices and further training as he's involved in the leading of the Haitian Revolution. That's a really cool character, read about him, if you want!

So, until then Connor is still an assassin, probably the mentor (by now) of the Colonial Brotherhood. He still runs the homestead and he still commands the Aquila, I guess, he's the captain still. I calculated the distance between the homestead and the then upper NY frontier territories is approximately 260 miles (quite far nowadays with cars and planes as well). Then, why the hell should he have a family located in the forest upstate NY? It sounds very unconfortable to run back and forth to reach them and go back to take care of all the Brotherhood matters, doesn't it? Unless he knew about teleportation!!! Also, wow, he lives all alone in a nice massive villa with all the comforts of that time while his children and wife still live in a Native village constantly menaced by settlers wanting to steal their land? Beside the fact that Connor, at least in my point of view, seemed at last very familiar with european way of living by the end of the game, this leads us to the next point.

2) By the time the game and the comic are set (second half of 18th century), most of the East Coast Native tribes were facing the tragic and forced migration to western and northern territories (mostly towards Canada, protected by the British) because of all the consequences of the Revolutionary War (lost territories, failed alliances, settlers advancing and buying their lands and so on). So tells us history, unfortunately. It's a fact. And this is wisely showed to us in the AC3 main game when, after all the Kanien'kehá:ka tribes had left the territory around Connor's village (yes, even those near New York, to be clear) even Connor's own tribe at last migrates west, leaving an empty ghost village. They had remained all along to protect the secret temple, but in the end they as well were forced to leave. So, to me it's highly improbable that in upstate NY, one could still find a tribe and even if so, that Connor would let his family live there and risk their safety everyday.

3) The whole comic plot revolves around the fact that Io:nhiòte has a "special gift"... She inexplicably knows how to read the ground and find animal traces, she also can perform a perfect twisted acrobatic flip in the air and land unharmed to the ground. Do we know why? No, don't ask! xD She simply knows U.U, even if right after the next scene she slips and falls miserably down a cliff xD, but... ok!! Beside that, when Connor is far away to search for some water and is about to be attacked by a wolf hidden in the grass nearby, she sees the whole scene from the eyes of an eagle flying in the sky above her. As I said before, this reminds us of Bayek's (never clearly explained) ability to see through his eagle Senu's eyes and spot dangers and enemies. Now can you tell me why the hell this little girl has super powers and a skill Bayek had? As I said, they are not even directely related, as Bayek is not one of Desmond Miles' ancestor, we know him simply because Layla's new Animus is magical and can inexplicably read fragmented DNA from people who died a thousand years ago (it can also prepair coffee, I think!). So, where did she get that from? Magic? Mysteries of life? Convenient improbable connections for marketing's sake? We'll never know and you should simply accept that and ask no question!

4) From her height, way of speaking/moving/running, I assume Io:nhiòte is at least 8 years old, 8 - 9 minimum. She's the youngest of three siblings, who must be at least two years older than her and than each other (according to a human woman pregnancy timing!). If the comic events are set 12 years after the main game ending (1784, when Connor also starts to train the young ex-slave Patience Gibbs, arriving at the Davenport homestead with Aveline De Grandpré, according to AC IV Black Flag bonus mission with Aveline), so, this means that in that same year Connor must have found hastily the love of his life in a Native village (as if he was easy to open himself with other people after all he's been through), married her, impregnated her and seen her give birth to their first child, all in the same year when (let's not foget! xD) he still is the leader of the Colonial Assassin Brotherhood at the Davenport homestead training novices. Now, this may even be possible humanly speaking, (well, if you force the things a bit and hurry up!) but highly unlikely to happen!! xD

These are the main problems affecting the logic of the comic in my opinion, the points making its foundations crumble apart. Though I'm sure there are many little others to point out, such as Otso Berg "opening" Connor's files... like what? Where did those data come out from? I remember playing AC IV Black Flag and uncovering a file where Abstergo researchers themselves closed access to his memories as there was "nothing appealing to this character anymore"! So, if no more researches were conducted on him since 2013, where did Mr Berg magically or conveniently discovered such data in 2017?

Or... do we want to talk about the cover? It shows Connor in the spirit outfit from the Tyranny of King Washington DLC, which has apparently nothing to do with the comic, since it is set in his present day and he wears his assassin standard robe. Now, I think that can be either a simple marketing choice to make the comic more appealing, as... well, that cover is so cool, let's admit that, or maybe the subtle suggestion that the events told in it are just a parallel Disney-like reality and are not to be considered true at all! xD i don't know, maybe both explanations are right.

I'm sure that the deeper i dig, the more nothing rational I'll find!

If you played the old games, if you know well the franchise and its lore, the true, good, old AC lore, you definitely realize by yourself how that comic is useless and senseless.

This doesn't mean I do not wish an "happy ending" for Connor. But I'd rather accept something coherent with the main game events and AC chronology. Also, it doesn't necessarily needs to be a "happy" ending, as they conveniently created to please complaining fans. I wished for something real... coherent with his personality, acquired life-style and endless sense of duty and values.

Maybe that's what pushed me to write my FanFic novel in the first place, after all... To give him MY OWN cohesive ending, including my love, for love is always needed, I guess.

I'm so sorry if the answer took this long in time and words, but you were warned! ^w^

Though, thank you... Seriously, thank you so much for asking. You made me reflect once more about this matter.

Come visit me again, if you want. Take care

- Rumor Imbris 🦋

P.S. Oh, and if you're interested, this is my "jelousy song", for when things like this trigger my inner witch!! xD

[ammocharis]

Writing Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @cleverblackcat and @tejaswrites!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

12 as of now, though some of them are parts of the same story and I might weave them all in a single work one day, but I decided to split them due to time skips and changes in tone. I don’t know when I’ll be able to bridge all the gaps but I still wanted to share what I wrote, so I ended up creating a series with a couple of installments.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

140 699 words

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Watch the Skies - 125 kudos

Vatna of Two Falcon Hold as a companion in Dragon Age - 8 kudos

Mirrors and Braids ex aequo Rattle the bars if you like, but I chose to enter this cage - 7 kudos

Aval'var, it means - our journey ex aequo Avvar History Reconstruction - 5 kudos

4. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes, I do respond to almost every comment and I really appreciate receiving them. When someone comments on certain aspects of the story, I usually try to explain some of my choices, like why I decided for that character to react in such a way, why I deviated from the canonical storyline, or why I included those lore tidbits. It allows me to share my perspective, my reasons for writing the story in the first place.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Well, I have started writing an alternative storyline for my Avvar Inquisitor, Vatna, in which she becomes a part of the Jaws of Hakkon, which ought to be super angsty, but it has no ending yet.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Do limericks count? They’re fun but each is five verses long.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I had, in fact, the first fic that I wrote was a crossover between Dragon Age and Puella Magi - it’s just not published on AO3 and probably never will. It's pretty crazy, that’s for sure, given how wildly different those two pieces of media are, though strangely, I found a few of thematic parallels that compelled me to explore them for a while.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, and I hope I’ll be spared from it. My writing is not perfect by any means, and I do welcome constructive criticism and corrections, but I probably wouldn’t deal well with hate comments. Mustering motivation to write fics is hard enough as it is.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

No, not really. I have written some scenes that focused on sexual interactions, but they weren’t quite smutty, if that makes sense, as the POV character is a sex-indifferent asexual.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I write in English, even though it isn’t my native tongue, so I could probably translate my own fics if I wanted, but I didn’t feel like it so far. If someone approached me with an offer to translate my fic into a language I don’t speak, I’m not sure what my reaction would be, as I’d like to know how they present my characters in the translated version. Translation is a tricky craft, and there are many ways to express a single concept. Sometimes, a translated work has a completely different tone from the original.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yeah, I wrote Fool's Gold with Toshi Nama as a part of Discord server collaboration, in which her Warden, Farin Brosca, and my Inquisitor, Vatna Einarsdotten, meet up to investigate a red lyrium smuggling operation in the Frostback Mountains. It was a fun challenge!

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I’m not sure, I don’t focus on shipping that much.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I probably won’t get back to finish my unpublished crossover xD But I enjoyed thinking about the possibilities, and I did have the general storyline thought out, but I don’t think I could finish it. For one, it would take a lot of time and motivation that I don’t have, and if I ought to pick a project I would like to see till the end, it’s the story of my Avvar girl.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I’ve been told my worldbuilding is well-thought out. I do have the benefit of writing fanfiction, so there’s no need to built a world from ground up, but I do expand upon what’s presented in the original work, and I greatly enjoy it. I wonder a lot about the unexplored details, like when I’m writing about the Avvar, I imagine what kind of holidays they could celebrate, what cultural taboos they might observe, what is their main source of food, how their families could be structured, little things like that, which, hopefully, create a compelling picture together.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

My pacing is probably not that great, when I think about what I’d like to write, I don’t really ensure that each story beat is nicely spaced out, that there are no sudden accelerations or decelarations of plot. I do have a general plotline in my head, for the most part, but when it comes to writing, I focus on individual chapters. 

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think it has its time and place, but I believe it should be done sparingly. I wouldn’t be excited to read a super long dialogue in a language different from the one that the work is written in, and I won’t include such things in my fic. It disrupts the flow and doesn’t benefit the story very much, in my opinion. If it’s necessary for the plot or characterization to show that someone speaks in another language, I think it’s enough to use a foreign word or a phrase from time to time, hint at its meaning through context, and describe how the communication barrier affects the characters.

My main character, Vatna, does alternate between her native tongue (Avvar, which is I represent as Icelandic/Old Norse) and a second language (Common Tongue, which for all my intents and purposes is equivalent to English) so I do include some lines in a different language, but I keep them short. Usually, it’s just a single word whose meaning can be easily inferred from the surrounding text. More often than not, I signify the language barrier through other means. Sometimes, Vatna slips into her native tongue for a longer moment, and she may even have conversations with her fellow Avvar, but the actual dialogue remains in English (i.e. Common) - instead, I use the narration to show that the language barrier is ever present, like describing the reaction of accompanying characters.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Dragon Age

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

My favourite is Mirrors and Braids, a part of the Saga of the Avvar-Daughter series, which focuses on Vatna’s reaction to the loss of her arm. Though it’s not really a “fun” story by any means, I am quite fond of it. It was somewhat cathartic to write.

Tag list under the cut

@samuraisaucefrites @dreadfutures @crackinglamb

[fr0gi-b0y]

Happy Feet Lore

just made my friend watch happy feet and he was asking me why the penguins were being racist to dancing, which spurred me to come up with an entire history of the penguin population Mumble is from, and then that spiraled into a deep subplot linking all of the characters, and i needed to put it somewhere where others can be enlightened. 

so first off, the reason why the penguins don’t like dancing but are fine with rapping like Seymour did, it’s because of an event known as The Great Ice Break. in the past, the penguins DID sing and dance in harmony, but all of the funky steps caused micro cracks in the ice. one year, during a particularly strong blizzard, the penguins were dancing in their huddle to keep their body temperatures up, and all of the vibrations from their steps caused the ice to break into parts, separating the colony and countless families the vibrations going through the water also alerted a herd of killer whales to their whereabouts. it was a slaughter. the elder penguin, who was the most staunchly against dancing in the movie, was there during that event, and he was able to see how the singing penguins were able to call out to one another through harmonizing and find their way back. since that time he vowed to rid the colony of the dangers of dancing. 

now to the events of the movie. the archetype that mumble represents (outsider, misunderstood, hidden talent) is one that is very common in underdog films, but it is also present among neurodivergent people. Mumble taps his feet even while he walks and in the graduation scene he waves his arms and vocalizes in an excited manner, similar to the way an autistic person might stim. because of how he manifests his emotions and energy and how it goes against the “norm” of singing, he is ostracized and while his parents do try to stick up for him, they are pressured by the rest of the population and try to get him to conform to their traditional way of life(there are some heavy religious undertones which will be discussed more later).

again touching on how Mumble goes against the “norm” and must conform, this is also a common sentiment among the LGBT community. this, pairing with the religious tones of the elder penguins and how Mumble’s juvenile feathers don’t molt at the same time as his peers, implies that he is a “late bloomer” of some sort, or perhaps he is hiding a part of himself that is a part of growing up: sexuality.

on to Mumble’s journey and eventual meeting of the group of Adelie penguins. these shorter penguins, who refer to themselves as “The Amigos,” are meant to represent Mumble’s breaking free of his oppressive uprbingings and exploring other cultures . The Amigos immediately welcome Mumble into their group and celebrate his dancing, and bring him back to their colony where pebbles are used in place of singing to attract mates and show status. upon Mumble’s asking, The Amigos explain that they’ve never tried to give a pebble to a female penguin or build their own nests, and while they are shown to make some flirtatious gestures towards a group of females, it is in a joking manner and they move on quickly. this, along with their lack of discrepancy when it comes to physical contact (as is seen in the scene where Lovelace tells all of the penguins to hug and they are the only ones to do it), would imply that they are actually all in an open polyamourous relationship and have accepted Mumble in his journey of self exploration and actualization. However, he still has very real feelings for Gloria, which leads on the the conclusion that Mumble is bisexual.

having made this discovery about himself with the help of The Amigos, Mumble returns briefly to the colony and reunites with Gloria. he still feels the need to put on the impression of fitting in with everybody else in order to win her heart, however his scheme of lip synching is quickly found out and Gloria is disappointed in him and begins to leave. however, Mumble reveals his true self to her, and is able to achieve harmony with his dancing and her singing(i must comment that during this scene where Mumble and Gloria were dancing together and she was singing he SLAPPED HER ASS with his penguin hands.) their compatibility encourages those around them to embrace the dancing as well, spurring an episode of self exploration and deviating from tradition for his peers. however this is quickly put to rest when the elder penguin hears of it, and he berates Gloria and the rest for succumbing to temptation. Mumble’s parents try to defend him but ultimately he is banished after trying to convince the colony that the aliens he was told about by a predatory bird are the reason that the fish is disappearing, not his dancing as the elder penguin implies. he vows to find proof and leaves with The Amigos, once again shunned by his home for his differences.

when Gloria is revealed to have  been following Mumble, at first he is overjoyed, but quickly realizes how dangerous the journey will be for her. he tries to get her to go away by mocking her singing, and she retorts by mocking his singing and how he thinks he’s special just because he can’t sing. this scene can be understood as Mumble trying to abandon his colony, and in turn his heterosexuality, in order to protect Gloria from a life of being shunned if she chooses him, as well as his own fears that he won’t be able to protect her on his journey. he still has something he needs to discover for himself, which brings us to our next major character.

now for Lovelace. while it seems that he has everything he could ever want when we first meet him - eager mates, the adoration of the colony, anything he wants - he holds anxieties deep within him and perhaps a sense of imposter syndrome, represented by the plastic around his neck. he gives generally negative answers to questions that are asked of him, such as an unnamed penguins mate being happier without him, or another never hoping to achieve his level of success, but these are more likely him vocalizing his own self doubts. at first he tries to ignore these feelings and acts boisterously to try and convince everyone around him and also himself that the “voices” that give him answers to the colony’s questions are legitimate, but they start to choke him, quite literally in the sense of the plastic around his neck. it is only when he separates himself from this pedestal he has been placed on and joins Mumble and The Amigos is he freed from this burden, the situation coming to a climax in the scene with the killer whales. There are 2, one representing his overcompensation and vanity and the other representing his crippling self doubt, and after a tense scene where the whales push him and Mumble around and nearly devour them, he plastic comes free from his neck and they escape the water. free from his own expectations and self doubts, Lovelace confidently commands the killer whales to leave his presence, and soon after finds new purpose in vowing to tell Mumble’s story of bravery and compassion.

the part where Mumble is put in a zoo can be summed up as he lost himself and missed his family, and became isolated and depressed. the little girl tapping on the glass is representative of his inner child getting him back in touch with his passions, and the antenna is indicative of his new, clearer mindset and his goal of changing the mind of his colony once and for all.

and here is the climax of the movie, when Mumble returns to his colony once and for all. with his journey of sexual and spiritual exploration complete thanks to Lovelace and The Amigos, he is a confident and self assured penguin who is dead set on changing the old ways. the first person he sees upon his arrival is Gloria, who he mocked and turned his back on at their last meeting. she is the first of the past regrets and inner demons that he has to come to terms with. he begins dancing and instructing others how to do the same, claiming that it will save them and send a message to the aliens that are stealing their fish. the elder penguin berates those who join in the dancing, and the rest of the elders begin vocalizing in a way that is very similar to a church choir, beginning the butting of heads between tradition and modernity. more penguins quickly join in, and the commotion brings forth The Amigos his mother, who now fully accepts him and wants him to stay because of how much she missed him. when Mumble asked about his father, his mother directs him to a solitary ice cave. there his father is consumed by depression over abandoning his own son, the second demon Mumble must conquer. his father tells him that he lost his heart song in his sadness, and Mumble is able to help him by getting him to see his perspective as someone who never had a “song” to begin with. father and son dance together and finally reach an understanding, going out to join the rest of the penguins dancing.

at this point the “aliens” arrive in a helicopter, and all of the penguins are given pause. the elder penguin spent so long telling the colony that they werent real, and now they were standing right in front of them. Mumble’s father encourages his son to start dancing, finally showing his full support and trust. Mumble begins to move and the rest of the colony follows suit, with even the elder penguin being converted after having his beliefs disproven before his very eyes. the humans record the penguins dancing and their message is received around the world, with arctic fishing being reeled back and the fish shortage ending. 

the last scene shows everyone dancing in harmony together, a fully fluid community broken free of the oppressive traditions. the elder penguin is seen dancing with Lovelace, which could imply his own exploration of sexuality and the two being in a relationship. everyone is in harmony.

in conclusion: Mumble is a queer coded, neurodivergent revolutionary who broke free of the oppressive bonds of tradition and freed his entire colony from its grasp with the help of a group of polyamorous poc (penguins of color) and a body positive spiritualist.

[theamityelf]

-I liked the way they conveyed the characters’ backstories; it was for the most part pretty graceful and felt rewarding, as someone who knew these things from the book. The stuff about Miss Hannah was not something I expected to see acknowledged on such a level, and they were able to have Sarah verbally state what happened to her without it feeling unjustified.

-As I mentioned in previous posts on the subject, I disliked most of their adaptation choices for Dana. They took most of her ideas from the book and had other characters verbally feed them to her in the show. I felt like a lot of what I loved about her character wasn't there anymore.

-They adapted Rufus well. He seemed true to his book self, and the scenes between him and Dana were largely lifted from the book. The extra scenes of him that weren't in the book also felt in-character.

-They did Sarah DIRTY, and overall weakened Dana’s relationships with the enslaved characters; in my opinion, this was the biggest flaw of the addition of Olivia to the story and the dulling of Dana’s situational intelligence; in the book, she didn’t have to be told to help out around the cookhouse, and she didn’t have to be told to do what she could for the slaves.

-Except for the ways where I felt she overstayed her welcome and took too much attention from characters and relationships I liked, I thought Olivia was fine. I like that she "poisons" Dana. I like that Olivia felt protective of Alice, and I’m happy that Alice got to have a cat.

-WHY NOT JUST NAME WINNIE TESS?

-I really loved the Carrie fake-out. I fully believed they were going through with it, and the impact it would have on Rufus's friendship with Nigel and how it might parallel Tom's relationship with Luke intrigued me. I was very curious where they'd go with it. Then when that culminated the way it did, I was still intrigued. Also, I really liked Carrie and Nigel.

-I dislike how it tried to spin her concerned neighbors as Karens? Like, I get that you're going through a lot and don't feel like explaining, but you guys have been SCREAMING and you're visibly injured. It's not weird that they're concerned. Like, I understand Dana’s reaction of like “I get it but please leave me alone right now; I do not have the emotional mileage for this conversation,” but Kevin getting actively angry and being so aggro over barely anything was weird and really very stupid.

-I kind of enjoyed the encounter with Temperance; this weird evil child who very much isn’t written as just a little kid who is a product of her time; she isn’t normal with most people and then racist with slaves, she is just a weird evil Bad Seed-esque child, and Dana very mildly no-dice-ing her cruelty was enough to violently shake her worldview, and I found that fun to watch.

-I like that they placed it in the modern day, but I dislike that they made no use of it, really. IF YOU HAVE AN IPHONE THAT CAN TAKE PICTURES, THERE IS NO REASON TO LET ANYONE DOUBT YOUR STORY. Also, show Auntie the ring???

-Margaret was very in character; Tom was a little off. I didn't mind it, but I don't like the way Tom ended things with Kevin; it felt like a change that would threaten future book events, and that worries me.

-I like that they brought chocolate back; I wish they’d played with that idea more. The fact that they made a shopping trip for this is a change from the book that I enjoy, because while it didn’t make too much sense lore-wise, it had the potential to give us some cool moments. I wish the show had indulged in that more. If driving to the store is on the table, I want you guys drawing up some freedom papers for Dana, some old timey money for both Dana and Kevin, etc. You have iPhones? Take pictures. While you’re at the store, buy a multipack of candy for the enslaved children. Maybe you notice the attic is cold and leaky and you come back with putty. The fact that your thesis is that we wouldn’t stand a chance in slavery times doesn’t mean they can’t use the tools available; it means you need to show how those tools are ultimately a band-aid solution for the larger problems, and show us what those problems are! Yes, you’ve made freedom papers, but someone can easily take them from you. Stuff like that. These are things they thought about, in the book, but couldn't accomplish, for various reason. Here, there is no reason given.

-The characters don’t know how to lie, and it’s very frustrating. Like, really frustrating.

-I enjoyed the adaptation and have hope for the future of it, if it does continue. But they did not write Dana well, in my opinion.

Have yall been watching? Im interested to hear from people who have read the book and watched the first season of the show. What worked and didn't work for you?

[genshins1mpact]

okay so i know i mentioned on here before that i have a bunch of dreams when i sleep and how i had that cute one with xiao & mingxiao before right?? 👀

forgot to share it sooner bc life but anyway i had a funny/cute dream with diluc the other day (i'll try to add a read more bc this got a lil long but it doesn't always work on mobile so i'll try & fix it asap if so!) but yeah this kinda turned into a whole fic of its own lol,,

☆ the dream itself is here, under the cut! ☆

basically, to not have to explain all the lore about my oc/self insert and all that again, the tldr of it is that i landed on teyvat similar to traveler but didn't really have anywhere to go so after gaining his trust and becoming close, diluc sort of just takes me in and lets me work at the tavern + lets me stay in a spare room at the winery. so yeah we often walk to/from work together if he's working at angel's share that day, and i guess everyone just assumes we're dating?? ...except for me, that is, who still thought he was in love with jean (bc of the whole stormterror thing).

one night, kaeya's been hanging out in the tavern all night, venti's already left or passed out or smth, and then once things close up, diluc and i get ready to head off, but apparently this is the first time kaeya's seen us head off together/in the same direction, and immediately decides to start teasing. he's all "ooh look at the two lovebirds, you've moved in together already? how'd you ask her out, i didn't know you two were a thing, congrats bro so glad she likes you back" kinda stuff and then i just start laughing and telling him to knock it off, wouldn't want jean to overhear and misunderstand. and they're both just like ......wait what? and i'm all "oh cause diluc likes jean right? i thought the were like an Unspoken Thing yknow??" and both stare at me as if i've grown like 3 heads and started doing a one-(wo)man barber shop quartet. lightbulb goes off in kaeya's head that i don't know jack shit & we're not a thing (yet) and diluc is just thinking like "i can't believe you're literally this oblivious, holy shit". hence kaeya's teasing The Sequel, where he just starts complimenting my uniform and says i look like a cute little maid or whatever and diluc is silently fuming behind me. he mutters something along the lines of "how oblivious can you possibly be?" and all but throws his coat/jacket over me to try and cover me "bc it's cold" (yeah yeah sure, jealous much? haha), then asks me how i never noticed how he felt about me. so i'm there having an earth teyvat-shattering moment of revelation that it WASN'T jean he liked, and that he didn't do all those nice things for me bc i'm friends with her, but because he liked...me????

kaeya smugly walks off with a little "you're welcome", after a his shenanigans, and i'm still trying to process things bc i'd never seen diluc that way, always assuming he'd liked someone else so i never really looked at him that way. we kind of quietly resume our walk back "home" and im clutching his jacket close to me, then we both try to speak at the same time, he tries to ask for my response/reaction and i was trying to ask for some time. he's kind of confused and almost looks hurt, but agrees to give me some time to think, since i explained the whole "not seeing him in that light" and didn't want to answer on a whim. that i didn't want to mistake gratitude for all he's done for me for affection and stuff so he was like hey good point i wouldn't want you to feel like i forced you into this, and no you're not gonna get kicked out/fired if you don't like me back, it's okay. diluc mentions having to be away for 2 weeks cause of a work trip and that i can respond then.

in the meantime, a bunch happened like a trip to liyue with aether & paimon, a whole girls' talk over tea with jean & lisa over the situation, and got my own lil serenitea pot so i potentially had the option of moving out now if i wanted to. i decided to my day off from the tavern to go out on a little adventure, just journey around and test out the teapot home and all that jazz. ran into noelle and we hung out/trained for awhile together and invited her in for for a tea break and stuff, like it was just really cute and fun. but apparently diluc came back a few days early and was freaking out when i was nowhere to be found, no one had any idea where i was, and was just really concerned something might happen to me. then noelle arrives through the gates and overhears him asking lisa stuff and goes all "oh she's over by (idk where i was maybe that bit of land between mond & liyue?) and he thanks her for the info and runs off to find me. he finds the teapot (somehow) on some rock but doesn't see me and i come back out of my lil abode bc someone outside kept saying my name and then i felt the teapot shake (he'd picked it up). cue a dramatic reunion in the rain bc when isn't it pouring and trying to kill me in teyvat in true romcom fashion i guess.

diluc is all "do you have any idea how worried i was about you? all alone out here? any of the abyss mages could have hurt you or taken you away or-" just rambles on and meanwhile im having this sort of Oh You're Back and I Think I'm Feeling Things realization (absence makes the heart grow fonder lol). so there's just this kind of strong, desperate hug moment and everything's quiet, save for the pouring rain and faroff occasional lightning strike. and i whispered something along the lines of "i think i'm in love with you" and his eyes widen before responding smth like "i think i'm in love with you too" with a fond smile, the first genuine huge smile i've ever seen on him (pls picture him like in the manga and not his in game ._. face PLS-🤣). cue another romcom cliche reunion hug + kiss scene in the rain, in which we take shelter from the rain inside the serenitea pot bc of how bad the storm kept getting.

(aether has tubby but i have chummy, kinda looks like the teapot salesman, and i usually just call her chums.) so we're greeted by chums who kind of is like staring daggers at diluc bc i showed up with a guest unannounced, drenched, and we're holding hands. she's overprotective in a very Mom Friend kind of way but she just means well. we change into some baggy share clothes i have and then i scrambled up something to eat (since we can apparently cook & forge in our lil pot i love that so much-) anyway so we decide to get some rest bc it's late and have the Oh No There Was Only One Bed conundrum until we agree to just share and sleep on opposite sides bc nbd right? i turned in my sleep and essentially was hugging his back whilst asleep, and he just turned over at some point and hugged me too, and booooiiii was this fire boy WARM, he felt like a personal heater and after all that rain, i slept like a log. diluc woke up before me cause he's used to an earlier schedule and slips out quietly to speak to chummy, asking if she knew where the supplies were cause he wanted to surprise me with breakfast (and man can he cook! goodbye kfc, hello good hunter). chummy is still kind of not vibing with him, until he apologizes for "intruding" and explains everything that's happened, to which chums kind of softens up and realizes he's sweet and just wants to do something nice, not go around raiding the house. woke up alone and went to look for the source of the smell, and kinda just clung to him, making diluc blush. don't remember too much more after the cooking thing though besides going for a stroll around my teapot layout, meeting all the pets that chill there, and kinda just having a relaxing day off together. the winery staff was probably freaking out wondering where we were, but we were just kinda in our own world (literally?), enjoying the peace before returning to all the chaos that is teyvat. cutest damn dream ❤

[lovleez]

oner 《恶浪》 mv/film theory

(this is less of a theory and more of a debunking of the mv though)

warnings: mentions of violence, murder (i wont include gifs of the bloody moments but it will be discussed!!!), animal abuse, and a bomb or two ? (someone gets blown up ;-;)

honestly the debunking might get a lil bit dark around the ling chao and ziyang individual parts, so be warned of that!

it would be helpful for you to watch/listen to these to process whats going on here:

oner 《恶浪》 mv (cw blood, murder, animal abuse, & heavy violence - please dont watch if these are triggers for you!!!) (there’s also eng subs in this link ^^)

oner - AGENT  (this is a song, but there’s quite a bit of dialogue near the end that ties into this plot!)  (cw gunshot, beeping noises that resemble a bomb ?? - all at the end of the song w/ the dialogue)

okay lets dive into it d(^-^)> !!!

to get the important info out of the way!

the start of the mv shows the three of them chilling on the couch, as friends do, watching,,well themselves on the screen (oner’s past performances as idols) (and i do believe that the idols part of this has some significance that i can figure out). the important takeaway from the beginning rlly is that they’re three good friends...who are completely unaware of each other’s secret occupations

their occupations being: ziyang, a murderer, yueyue, a spy, and ling chao, a hacker

now to jump into the main story! (starting around 1:35)

yueyue and ziyang both have the same target: the man in the restaurant. however yueyue gets there first and does his job well, as he gets away without being caught. ziyang is frustrated that his target is taken already.

*interesting detail here, but when trying to enter, ziyang shows them a ring with a purple jewel in the middle for entry,,,coincidentally, the man yueyue kills in the bar in his personal segment in the film later also has the same ring? obv the ring is for the restaurant entry so maybe ziyang wasn’t going to kill this “boss” but maybe negotiate/discuss something with him instead...but also thats disproven by the fact that ziyang pulled out a gun to presumably shoot him before realizing the dude was dead....

but also,,,suspicious how there was a zoom in to the purple ring when yueyue kills the man in the bar..maybe it means more than we think it does? altho im not too sure what  to think abt it for now

     for reference:

     ziyang’s ring                                    

     dead man in bar’s ring

.

moving on 

okay so since yueyue is a spy n all, he has to confirm his kill somewhere right? this somewhere is a phone booth,,,one that ling chao has rigged up with a bomb,,,,

speculation: someone hired ling chao to kill someone who will be approaching the phone booth; at this time, lc doesn’t know that this someone is yueyue (and is v shocked to see him there through his cameras as evident by his “what the hell! are you kidding me?”)

....and after this part the film dives into their personal stories to give more background on who  these three are (i’ll expand on those after i finish explaining the present timeline ^^) before coming back to the main story 

so!

ling chao “accidentally” blew up yueyue oh no (he’s still alive tho yey)

& then yueyue holds up a piece of candy,,,and immediately knows its ling chao (cuz its the piece of candy lc was eating earlier in the film) 

(and to take care of all loose ends that my brain is providing me with: in the beginning they didn’t know abt each other’s secret occupations...how does yueyue know that lc is capable of doing this? my answer: they used to be agent buddies!!! i’ll expand on this later hehe)

 .

and so

it was at this moment ling chao knew...he fucked up

he’s afraid yueyue might come after him.

which, is exactly what yueyue does

after going home or somewhere, yueyue receives a text telling him to get rid of “them” (ling chao) bc his “identity is exposed” 

....so now yueyue has to go and hunt down his buddy ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

and they fight! looks very painful for ling chao,,,poor dude,,,

since ziyang comes out from the back door to join the fight, theres two possibilities that come from this:

1) ling chao knew yueyue was coming and knew he couldnt take him down himself (lets be honest; he looks rlly scrawny) so he called ziyang to his location for backup (how could he know ziyang can fight? agent buddies 👐) 

2) ziyang and ling chao live together in the same house

anyways, both results making it obvious that ling chao and ziyang are on the same team while yueyue is on another (lets ignore the fact that ling chao was getting up to fight ziyang as well)

the fight scene is so dramatic oml T-T

ziyang could also be motivated to beat up yueyue in this fight cuz the dude did  take his target before he himself could (loophole: how did ziyang know it was yueyue who took his target? answer: maybe yueyue left like a signature or smthn at the crime scene, or ziyang saw him walk out  ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ )

and when they all beat the living heck out of each other and are dramatically lying down in different areas of the room 

the tv turns on to a council saying “still want to be idols?”

(and remember, the thing they were watching on tv earlier was themselves performing,,,as idols. i cant connect it further than that so lemme know if yall figure smthn out ^-^)

so mayhaps this council is yueyue’s agency and they wanted to turn the trio against each other...? they would have set this whole situation up: they knew ziyang wanted to kill the restaurant “boss”, so they assigned yueyue to take care of him first, which creates conflict between those two. then, they hired ling chao to rig up a phone booth with a bomb; basically setting him up against yueyue

whether this council succeeds with their plan or not is unrevealed bc the film has a “to be continued” at the end, so the storyline still will have more to it!!!

although i would say the council succeeded since they all did beat each other bruised and bloody

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that leaves the question: why  is the council setting them up against each other?

what are there previous connections beyond them just being friends 👀 ?

and here i shall bring back the “agent buddies” bit i was talking abt earlier, as well as why i linked the agent song in the beginning

near the end of the mv, there’s quite a lot of dialogue between the three of them, and it goes like this:

[robotic voice: welcome agent oner

ling chao (?): check 

yueyue: yo what up guys!

ziyang: yo what up bro

ziyang (yueyue?): alright lets take them out

yueyue: okay gentlemen we got a lot to do

ziyang: ey we gotta finish this quick, i got a date tonight

yueyue: really?

ziyang: no hard feelings (couldnt catch the rest)

yueyue: okay shut up

ling chao: hey guys, i saw a hit

(?): copy that

yueyue (ziyang?): hold your breath....now

ling chao: guys watch out

yueyue: okay guys locked and loaded

*single shot can be heard, then the reloading of a gun*

yueyue (?): go go go!

yueyue: fire fire fire!

yueyue: ???? *indistinguishable orders*

ziyang?: i got trouble i got trouble

yueyue: ?? i got ?? lets go

ling chao: stay together

ziyang (yueyue??): okay set to kill

ling chao: damn the truck is (blown?)

yueyue: what the hell

ziyang: okay let me (???) it

*bomb beeping noises*

yueyue: ???? clean this blood on my shirt]

(not sure how accurate my hearing is but its enough to make some guesses 😅)

agent buddies! the three of them used to be agents, as the song is titled, at some agency...and they probably made a pretty strong team together

the agency story would explain why they all seem to be good fighters too!

thats why the council might have wanted to tear them apart. perhaps the council was doing something that they knew would displease the trio, so they needed them separated lest they team up and try to defeat them 

i also think this audio could have been describing a mission going wrong for them, possibly their last one as a team. someone was probably hurt (im betting on either ziyang or ling chao), and they quit the agency and aimed to live normal lives from then on

...but old habits are hard to forget, so ziyang starts to kill ppl in his free time, yueyue joined another agency as a spy, and ling chao uses his hacking skills for other purposes

however they all dont tell each other, which could add on to the tension of their fight at the end of the film

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now to dive into their individual bits of the film. these all don’t connect much to the main lore, just expands onto their lives with their secret occupations btw!

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YUEYUE

his segment details moments in his daily agent life; im guessing he’s not very happy with it judging by his nightmares? or the nightmares are bringing up his past at his old agency which he does not like

he’s also master of disguise woah

personally i think he’s losing “who he is”. he’s always playing the role of another person, always putting on another disguise...so he starts losing his sense of identity (if that makes sense ;-;) 

(and if you wanna stretch it and make things wholesome, maybe the only times he [feels like himself] is when he’s around his two friends)

so basically: he’s always filling out other personas to the point where he doesnt know who he is anymore

(this is also the segment where he kills a man in the bar with poison,,,and the man was wearing the same ring as ziyang,,,,which is like Hm. why’d the directors do that 🤔)

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ZIYANG

aka the murderer :D

(and not just regular serial killer type, more like joker-esque type where they’re a bit insane,,,)

okay his segment starts of with him dragging a man through a white room, where the floors is covered with plastic, and on the walls are a bunch of clay molds of human body parts

:D

my brain has concluded that! ziyang takes clay and makes molds of his victim’s faces/body parts of who he kills! to make statues! 

(i dont even know how i got there aksjdhdh but thats just what i assumed the first time i watched this film thingy)

and to make it more messed up than it already sounds,,,im guessing he’s a famous statue maker too, and holds shows where he presents his works to the public and maybe even bids them off ?

     ,,,,little did the audience know,,,,

          (this kinda remind me of sally and gabe’s statue from the pjo too now aksjhdkdh)

(i got this assumption from 6:50 in the film where he walks out in front of an audience who start clapping,,,and let my brain run wild with the rest,,,)

of course, he probably kills off the people he was the molding the clay off of once he’s done with his works,,,or sometimes even in the middle of his works as shown in the mv (*-* )

but alas that is not all to his story,,,

judging by his flashbacks when he’s beating that one dude to death with a bat, he used to be bullied when he was in school, which seems to be the source of all his anger throughout the film..

    ( yeah he killed the bullies too (_ _ )> )

its part of his personality to be rough and short tempered - he doesn’t like people looking down on him (as the bullies did)

and,,,if you want to be wholesome again! perhaps he found some bits of happiness and peace when hanging out with the others :]

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LING CHAO

cw: animals abuse!!! 

his is pretty simple and is already explained in the mv itself! i’ll walk ya’ll through it though in case you didn’t watch the film tho akdjdjkf

basically: he’s just a dude who loves dogs :]

a lot

in his segment, a girl (handong, looking absolutely stunning ToT) approaches him wanting to take home another stray, and when he asks her where how the previous dog she adopted was doing, she says that “my bestie loved him a lot, so i gave him to her” ( -_- )

so...he lets her keep the dog, but also decides to keep an eye on her...to the point where she becomes very paranoid that someone is stalking her (which..she isnt wrong in)(but she doesn’t believe it to be ling chao because they’re..dating? i think? and he lulls her into a false sense of security that he’ll protect her from harm)

and then bam! one day he breaks into her house, steals the dog away, and then,,,,blows her up,,,,,

(i must say as disturbing this scene is,,,,i absolutely adore ling chao’s look here askjdjfd)

(i mean?? look at him?? loving the black lipstick ugh)

(v pale tho ;-;)

okay anyways the next flashbacks reveal that handong was abusing her dogs & starving them, and him being the animal lover he is, decides to kill her for it ig

(also she,,,stabbed the other dog that she “gave to her bestie” so-)

yeahh thats the end of his story; nothing much to take from it except that his hacker skills are still intact past agent days 

.

.

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annnd thats a wrap folks! nothing else to expand on; i’ll definitely make another part to expand on this if they decide to release another mini film in the future tho :]