#what thee hell is going on in these timelines

[mintedwitcher]

I've been on an X-men rewatch binge since watching Deadpool & Wolverine and oh my god the timelines are SUCH bullshit lmfao like I knew that before but oh my GOD

Tell me how Emma Frost and Scott Summers are both high-school age in Origins when in First Class Emma is an adult and Scott's older brother Alex is barely 20(?) in it?

Tell me how Charles is all Stewart-ed up in Origins & the OG trilogy if Scott was intro'd to McAvoy in Dark Phoenix AND Storm was intro'd to McAvoy in Apocalypse, how can Charles have aged 30+ years if these teenaged students of his are barely 30 in the trilogy era? (And which introduction of Scott's is the True One if he's met him both in DP and Origins?)

(On that note, how is Charles walking in his cameo at the end of Origins AND using his powers when we learn in DOFP that the serum he takes for his spinal injury blocks his abilities?)

Nothing makes sense and the points don't matter I guess 🤷🏼

[theemissuniverse]

“PULL ON THE HEART STRINGS” CASSIE CAGE X FLIRTY COMEDIC RELIEF FEM!READER

SUMMARY : Cassie painfully has a crush on you and it’s obvious to everyone except you. But when your friends tell you, you tease the hell out of her. (Your ability is heightened senses)

WARNINGS : mentions of sh and sh scars

MASTERLIST 1 , MASTERLIST 2

In the original timeline, you died. Plain and simple. You died by the hands of Sindel when you preformed your greatest move. She died along with you.

Now the time rip had brought you three: you, Kung Lao, and Liu Kang into the present despite circumstances. You two spontaneously were alive now.

It took some getting used to. Being in a timeline completely different from your own but you had managed to find comfort in it.

Currently, you and your best friends were at the base as you were instructed by Raiden to help out the special forces as needed. You and Kung Lao were play fighting, messing around and Liu Kang shook his head as the two of you played.

Further from you three, Cassie was watching you in awe as you fought Kung Lao. You were easily winning too. Jacqui saw her best friend staring and shook her head. “You’ve been obsessed with her since she got here.”

Cassie scoffed at the claim. “I have not. It’s just…she’s literally the best female fighter. Hell, thee best fighter. I’m just amazed is all.”

“Amazed? That’s an odd replacement for love-struck.”

Cassie quickly shushed her friend. “Not love-struck! Just impressed.”

“Really? Okay.”

You and Kung Lao had stopped fighting at that point and were just laughing. Jacqui took that as her chance to push Cassie over to you.

Cassie lost her balance and almost fell when you quickly saw this with your fast reflexes. You immediately caught her, sort of bridal style.

Cassie’s hand was on your chest and you held her tightly. “Whoa. You know for a Commander you’re pretty clumsy.”

She couldn’t even say a word to you. She was just hopelessly lost in your eyes. You were the embodiment of beauty to her. She felt her heart skip beats. You didn’t catch on though and raised a brow at her. You heard her heart beating fast with your heightened hearing. “You okay, Commander?”

She hated the fact you didn’t call her by her name. Cassie snapped out of it and nodded. “Oh yeah. Cool. Cool as ice.”

You carefully picked her up and held her until she was at her feet. You let go of her. “Hey, you got anything to drink? I’m thirsty.”

Cassie took her soda off the table and waved it around in her hand. “I have this. But I drank out of it-“

You didn’t care and took the soda from her anyway. You quickly drunk it in front of her. Every drop until it was all gone. You then simply threw the can somewhere.

“You have to excuse (Y/N) as she has no home training.” Liu Kang said.

“Blah blah blah. My name is Liu Kang. Look at me with my fire balls and self righteousness. Blah blah blah.” You mocked his voice as you made a hand motion like it was your puppet for him.

Kung Lao snickered some while Cassie almost busted out in full laughter. Liu Kang crossed his arms almost offended. “I do not sound like that.”

“You kinda do…” Kung Lao trailed off.

Liu Kang huffed at the two of you and you smirked at him, sticking your tongue out which made him playfully roll his eyes at you.

Cassie was never this nervous about anything. Ever. She was always sure of herself so the feeling she had at the pit of her stomach made her uncomfortable.

She felt like you were out of her league. You were a powerful warrior and you were the best female fighter of Earthrealm. Even though she did defeat Shinnok, you probably would’ve done it with ease.

“So, Cassie. You defeated Shinnok? That’s a way better status than what Liu Kang did. He just beat up a sorcerer. Boo-Hoo.” You said while leaning on the desk.

Liu Kang gave you a look. “Apparently in the original timeline I would’ve killed Shao Kahn.”

“Yeah and after he killed me!” Kung Lao said. “Which by the way, you sucked at because according to everyone else - he came back after that.”

“Boys, boys, this isn’t a pissing contest.” Cassie told him but with a smug look. “But yeah. It’s true. I beat him. I’m a badass.”

“So I became a revenant?” You questioned. “Was I a hot one?”

“(Y/N).” Liu Kang scolded at you.

“What? I’m asking the real questions.”

Cassie was so caught up in all of your beauty that what she said didn’t mean to come out her mouth. “You’re always hot.”

The monks turned to her curiously, as they knew of her overwhelming crush on you. (Even though you didn’t know.) You watched as Cassie covered her mouth when she said that.

You didn’t take it as much. You just thought she was being a girls girl and complimenting you. “Sweet.” You saw Jax, the Jax from your timeline walking with a bag of chips. “Dibs.” You snatched the bag out of his hands. He gave you an irritated look and you flipped him off. He rolled his eyes at you before walking away.

“I’m just going to go over there.” Cassie pointed back to Jacqui and walked over to her.

You ate your chips like nothing was happening. Kung Lao gave Liu Kang a look. “Now can I tell her?”

Liu Kang shook his head. “No, Kung Lao.”

“I can’t keep doing this. I’m about to have a stroke.”

You looked at your friend weirdly as you ate your chips. “What are you about to have a stroke about?”

Kung Lao snatched the chips away from you. “You.”

“Hey!”

Kung Lao placed them on the table behind the three of you before looking back at you. “I refuse to believe you’re that naive (Y/N).”

“I love her Lao but…she is.” Liu Kang stated simply.

You stopped leaning on the table and turned to face them. “What are you dorks going on about?”

Kung Lao gave Liu Kang a final look and he finally nodded, motioning for him to say it. Kung Lao faces you again. “The Cage likes you.”

You scoffed as if it was obvious. “Of course she does. Where’s the surprise in that?” It was at that point Kung Lao flicked your head. You held your head in pain. “Ow!”

“I mean she has a crush on you, you airhead.”

“She does not…” You were about to say but then you started thinking. And then you put the puzzle pieces together. It made sense why you could hear her heart beating fast when she was around you. Why she would stutter and sometimes say things that came off as flirtatious but would immediately get embarrassed by.

You felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.

“Oh…”

You didn’t really know how to go about confronting Cassie about her crush on you. You didn’t really have a problem with her. You thought she was pretty, fun loving and adventurous. Honestly, Cassie was your type.

It didn’t really cross your mind to think of her romantically as you never really saw someone in a romantic light unless you knew they really liked you.

You were currently at the temple, meditating. You used to argue about doing such a thing but Liu Kang showed you the pros of meditating. When you tried it, it eased your stress away.

With your heightened senses, you smelled a familiar perfume. It smelled of cherries and delight. You didn’t need to open your eyes. You already knew who it was. “What brings you here, Commander?”

Cassie stopped in her tracks. She didn’t expect for you to guess who she was. “Wow. Those heightened senses really are a blessing huh?”

“And a curse. I smell Kung Lao all the time.”

Cassie placed her hands on her hips as she examined you. “I just came to check on you.”

“Oh you wanted to check on me?”

Cassie felt a familiar heat come to her face and changed the subject. “I didn’t take it you were the type to meditate.”

“It helps with the pain.” You opened your eyes and motioned to her to sit with you. “Join me.” You patted your hand on the other mat.

Cassie looked at you curiously. She didn’t understand how it actually worked but she would indulge with you.

She sat on the mat across from you. “So do I just close my eyes or-“

“Close your eyes and take a deep breath in and then take one out.”

Cassie looked unsure but did what you said. She closed her eyes and took one deep breath in and out. “Okay. Now what?”

“Think about what brings you peace.”

Cassie did what you said. She was trying to think. Actually, really hard but nothing was coming to her head. “What exactly is the purpose of this?”

“It enhances your emotional awareness, compassion and mental calmness.” You peeked your eyes open to look at her. “It is the reason why Mr. Chosen One is a very calm monk.” You said, referring to Liu Kang.

Cassie had peeked her eyes to look at you and snickered at what you said before both of you closed your eyes.

There was silence for a moment. Then Cassie had thought about what you had said earlier. “What pain do you have?”

“What?”

“You said that meditating helps with the pain. Like physical? Mental?”

You sighed a little, regretting that you had said that. But you did trust Cassie and you didn’t really make it a plan to hide your scars. A lot of people just didn’t notice.

“Look at my arms.”

Cassie followed your direction. She opened her eyes and looked at your arms and when she did, she saw them. It clicked in her head.

She carefully took your arm and rubbed on your scars lovingly. “How did I not notice?”

“I distract people by telling a lot of jokes. If you tell a lot of jokes then people won’t care enough to actually hear you. They just…they just think that’s what you are. A joke.”

Cassie peered up at what you said. She tilted her head at you even though you couldn’t see her do it. “Is that what you think people see you as? A joke?”

You bit your lip a little. You didn’t really want to reveal the most important part of history to Cassie but she made it so comfortable for you that you felt like you had to. “Liu Kang was not suppose to win the tournament the first time around. I was. Raiden did not believe in me that I could defeat Shang Tsung and Goro so he made me lose the challenge to Scorpion so I would be forced to be out of the tournament.”

Cassie was actually shocked. Then she wondered how the roles would be different if you were the chosen one and not Liu Kang. Would everything in her timeline be erased? “Wow. Do you hate Liu Kang for it?”

“Nah. He’s my best friend. I know it’s not his fault that he’s good.” You took in another deep breath before letting it out. “Everybody hears the jokes and after that they stop listening. But I guess that’s a good thing because when nobody expects you to be the best, when they go up against you then it’s an easy challenge.”

Cassie was similar to you. A fun loving free spirit but she definitely wasn’t exactly like you. She knew how tone it down and when to be serious. You didn’t.

You seemed to do it as a defense mechanism and Cassie couldn’t blame you there. I mean, she almost did the same thing.

“Sometimes I just want to disappear.” You said.

Cassie turned her attention back on your scars and rubbed all over them. You didn’t open your eyes still. You placed your hand over her hand that was on top of your scars. “Relax, cupcake. I’m disappearing yet.”

Yet. Cassie didn’t like those words. You could feel her having a frown on her face. You finally opened your eyes. It was only then you took in Cassie’s beauty.

She was absolutely gorgeous to you and you didn’t understand how you didn’t see it sooner. From her hair, to her cute cheekbones, to those pretty eyes.

You placed your right hand on her cheek and gently caressed her face. “You’re so pretty.”

Cassie wasn’t expecting you to say that. She didn’t even know what to say. Her heart started to beat faster and her forehead started to sweat.

You heard her heart beating faster and you chuckled a little. You leaned in close, your lips gently grazing Cassie’s. “You know I can hear your heart beating fast right?”

‘Ah shit.’ “Really?” Cassie let out a nervous laugh.

Instead of leaning in more to close the distance, you pulled away. You then stood up from the ground and held a hand out for Cassie to take. “Spar with me.”

Cassie felt her heart rate calm down a little. She took your hand and you helped her up. “Spar with you? I don’t know (Y/N). I don’t want to hurt you.” She joked at you.

You looked at her a little amused. “You? Hurt me?”

“Um, do I have to remind you that I’m the badass that defeated Shinnok? This is going to be easy.”

“Oh is it? Let’s make this interesting.” You grabbed your hand wraps out of your pocket and started to place them around the palm of your hands. “If I win, I want something from you.”

Cassie looked at you a little worried. “What would that something be?”

“That’s the surprise, sweetheart. What do you want if you win?”

Cassie was thinking a little. She didn’t exactly know what she wanted from you. (Well she did she just didn’t want to say it out loud.) Then she thought about it. “I want you to teach me See No Evil.”

See No Evil was a powerful move that you had come up with in kombat. Only very skilled fighters could mimic your fighting move. You raised a brow when she had said that. “I didn’t even know you knew about it.” You said as in the original timeline, you did not get the chance to preform the move as you were taken from it and placed in this one.

Though in Cassie’s timeline, you preformed it when you were battling Sindel. “You forgot about the crazy time jump. Remember?”

“Right. That.” You finished wrapping your hands. “Alright. Fine. Let’s do this.”

You watched as Cassie got into her fighting stance and you chuckled to yourself a little as it reminded you of Johnny and Sonya combined to be honest. You got in your fighting stance as well.

Cassie wasted no time. She immediately tried to kick you in the stomach but you block it. She then tried to hit you in the chest and you blocked it again. Cassie then tried to do a spin kick on you but you dodged it.

She huffed. This was going to be tougher than she thought. (She should’ve expected that from her idol.) She tried to charge at you and kick you again but you grabbed her leg.

Instead of throwing her off of you, you pulled Cassie closer to you. Real close so her leg was actually wrapped around your waist. You looked down at her, your right hand on her chin. “Is this the sum of the great Shinnok’s defeater might? I thought you’d be more of a challenge.”

That infuriated Cassie and you knew it would. Cassie kicked at your legs and then kicked you in the stomach.

You almost lost your balance but you stood on the ground. “Not gonna lie - the way you just did that was kinda hot.”

Cassie got a little flustered. Were you doing this on purpose? Flirting with her so you could throw her off?

She went to kick at you but you dodged it. She tried to punch you in the chest but you grabbed her hand. You made Cassie punch herself in her face.

Cassie fell to the ground and hissed a little at the pain. “Ugh. What the fuck.” You laughed slightly. Cassie stood up from the ground. “How are you so good at this? You’ve blocked every hit.”

You snickered. You were gonna win the match. You knew that but you’d help her out so she could get some confidence. “Remember, I have fast reflexes.” You walked over to her and got behind her. “You’re a special one. You use your legs more in kombat than your hands so I learn to typically block you there. Also, you’re just like your father. You get frustrated really easily.”

At this point you were directly behind her. You breath was directly on her neck which gave her goosebumps. Your hands wrapped around her waist. “You get a little nervous when you get close to me. Your heart starts beating faster. That’s how I know I have all the control in the fight.”

The way your hands were pressed on Cassie’s body made her go crazy. She just wanted to keep your hands on her forever.

But she couldn’t. She wanted to win to prove to you that she was ‘badass.’

Cassie elbowed you in the gut and then flipped you over on your back. She then got on top of you with her arm on your neck. “How’s that for control?”

You coughed a little at her arm being on your neck. Your hands went to her hips. “I didn’t know you were a top, Cassie.”

Cassie tried to push away the feeling she had at the pit of her stomach knowing you were only saying this to throw her off. “I’m not surprised that you’re a bottom.”

You laughed slightly. You switched the positions so you were on top of Cassie. “I kinda like this. Maybe we should stop fighting.”

Cassie wanted to so bad to give in but she knew (or more so thought) you didn’t mean any of what you said and were just saying that to throw her off her game.

She kicked you in the stomach, making you fall on your back. Cassie quickly stood up from the ground and you followed.

Instead of kicking so much, Cassie made it a point to change it up. She tried to punch you three times. The forth one she had landed a hit on you.

You felt your chest a little. You were a little impressed. It was very hard for an opponent to land a hit on you because of your fast reflexes. You got back in your fighting stance.

Cassie tried to kick you but you blocked it. She punched you in the gut and then kicked you at your feet.

Cassie tried to stomp on you but you moved quickly and swept her own feet, making Cassie fall.

You got up from the ground. Cassie groaned in pain before getting back up. “Did I tell you how hot you look in that uniform? Cause you do.”

Cassie now could ignore your remarks and went to hit you. You blocked the hit. She kicked you at your leg and you almost fell down.

She tried to punch you in the face but you grabbed her fist. Then you pressed her against the wall.

Your arm went on her neck and you started to lightly press down. “I would give up if I were you. The last time I did this to someone they didn’t enjoy it. You probably would though.”

Cassie felt the air get knocked out of her lungs as you sort of choked her. She tried to figure out a way to escape but she couldn’t. Cassie tapped on your arm as her way of tapping out.

You release your grip on her neck but you didn’t back away from her. You still had her pressed to the wall. “Who’s the greatest of all time?”

Cassie let out a laugh before slapping your shoulder. “I am not telling you that you’re the greatest of all time.”

“Don’t be a poor sport about it.” You looked at Cassie and noticed that she had a disappointed look on her face. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. You’re still good. Liu Kang and Kung Lao can’t even land a hit on me when we train together.”

Cassie felt a little better that you thought she was good despite her losing. She noticed how close you two were and also noticed that you didn’t back away. “So…what did you want? You know your prize if you won.”

You brought Cassie’s chin up so she was looking directly in your eyes. “I want a lot but I won’t be greedy.” You did something that Cassie wasn’t expecting.

You kissed her.

Cassie had to snap herself out of shock and kiss you back. Her hands wrapped around your neck and she pulled you in closer to kiss you.

Your hands went on Cassie’s hips. For her being a Commander you were a bit surprised at how soft her lips were. They felt like Heaven to you.

The two of you continued to kiss each other but it soon turned sloppy. You took your chance to stick your tongue in her mouth and Cassie moaned.

“Oh my gods. My eyes. They’re burning! They’re burning!”

You heard a familiar voice. The two of you pulled away and you looked to see Kung Lao covering his eyes as Liu Kang shook his head at his dramatics.

You rolled your eyes some and backed away from Cassie a little while Cassie looked beyond embarrassed. “You’re so over dramatic.”

“It’s like I just watched my sister kiss her girlfriend.” Kung Lao said still with his hands over his eyes.

You prevented yourself from rolling your eyes again and sighed. “What do you want Dumb and Dumber?”

“Raiden would like to speak to all three of us.” Liu Kang said before removing Kung Lao’s hands from his eyes.

“Of course the prehistoric bird wants to.” You looked over to Cassie. “I’ll see you later, Cassie. Maybe we can spar again later.” You said before kissing her cheek and beginning to walk over to your two friends.

Kung Lao groaned in pain. “Ugh. Don’t flirt with her in front of me. It’s bad enough I see Liu Kang and Kitana.”

You wrapped both your arms around their shoulders and began to walk with them. “What is that suppose to mean?” Liu Kang questioned him.

“It means he wants to claw his eyes out when he sees you two painfully flirt with each other.” You said.

“We do not painfully flirt with each other.”

“Tell that to my eyes.” Kung Lao said.

“I cannot stand the two of you.” Liu Kang commented.

Cassie watched as you walked away from her. She smiled and felt the cheek that you kissed. “She called me Cassie.”

[rozugold]

Ok ramble time

Ok imagine you’re Tubbo. You just got your distant brother figure and your bestie off that damn mountain, though not in the most ideal way (I will make those comics eventuallyyy)

But that’s beside the point. You saved your best friend! You did something right for once! Except sike! your best friend hates you now, and you kind of hate him too (you let him know as much) then you guys stop talking. Which is fine, i mean, it’s not like he was your entire world.

You return to Snowchester! It’s a ghost town, obviously. There’s a memorial of you, decorated with fresh flowers and dusty knick knacks. The flowers are from Ranboo, he’s pretty sweet. He’s also been the one to upkeep your town while you were gone. You hang out with them a lot, they’re the only one who sticks around these days. They’re pretty sweet.

You try to go back to doing the things you did before you died. There’s those nukes you never finished making, so you work on them. And you work on them. And you work on them. And you get nothing done. Your brain feels scattered and far away, it’s impossible to focus. So you give it a break, you can afford to. It’s pretty safe these days with Dream gone, you know because you keep tabs on everyone on the server. There’s some strange things going on here and there but nothing too concerning. You hang out with Ranboo more.

Ah fuck, you two find a baby. It’s a piglin, infected but not fully zombified as it has enough thought to run up to you two for help. So you take it back to snowchester and give it potions to stop the infection. Ranboo is worried it won’t work, you tell him it probably won’t. But you reassure him that if it doesn’t, you’ll take it back to the nether to let it “live” out the rest of it’s days. (Do zombies live?) Ranboo spends the night in your attic with the piglin. He’s pretty sweet. Regardless you tell him to not keep his hopes up too high.

Next morning, it worked! You “dub thee Michael!” Ranboo is relieved. There’s a kid living in your house now.

There’s a kid living in his house now. The timeline becomes unclear at this point since I’m still figuring it out. But now that Michael is in the picture Tubbo starts getting worried. He realizes he has no way of protecting him. Maybe the syndicate come visit Snowchester and that shocks him into thinking about the nukes again. And so Tubbo starts throwing himself into projects again. And it starts getting ✨bad ✨

Honestly, It’s been really fun figuring out how Tubbo deteriorates because everything is so internal with him compared to Tommy. It’s obvious with Tommy, you could see him visibly fall apart (think his exile skins, he stops feeding himself, he doesn’t care when he takes damage) But with Tubbo it isn’t so obvious, atleast not right away. Sure his eye bags get darker and he stares off into space for a little too long. But he still looks put together. (Habitable maybe. Or a learned skill.)

Maybe he eventually gets the nukes working but they’re not as successful as he wanted them to be and that guts him. He takes it as another failure. What if he’s just cursed? Is everything he cares about forever doomed to feel like holding water in his hands? What is wrong with him?

I’m gonna share a song and explain this next part using its lyrics because I’m so ILL over it, it’s the most di!tubbo song ever. Throw on …Well, better than the alternative by Will Wood 👍

Tubbo’s feelings towards Michael is complicated… He absolutely loves him to death but he’s really apprehensive about being a dad. He has this fear that he’s going to somehow corrupt Michael and or fail to keep him safe. So he ends up becoming emotionally distant from him and at his worst he gives him up completely to Ranboo.

I think Ranboo and Tubbo get married as a joke at first. But Ranboo continues to love him so unconditionally and honestly and Tubbo catches a crush, which is absolute HELL for him at first sjdhdj. I imagine him being arospec so this crush is a completely new and surprising feeling and he doesn’t know how to handle it. So he doesn’t, and keeps playing it as a joke even as their relationship develops.

Also the repeat of “everybody’s up on everybody’s business” is very fitting for describing the server. There’s things to be developed here I just haven’t yet… I’m just thinking about the possibilities like the egg, the syndicate, las nevadas… hmmm

This song is begging to be made into an animatic because I can imagine Tubbo screaming at Tommy during this part. He was just trying to help the best way he could… yet things still end badly, and everyone ends up hurt… di!clingy oh di!clingy, they’re such a mess. A bitter, angry, grieving mess. Wait ok i wasn’t planning on writing grieving there but then my next thought was “who are they grieving?” EACH OTHER. THEY’RE GRIEVING EACH OTHER. o(-(

Ok that’s it. Phew that was a lot of writing. Here’s some drawings for your time

[cari-canes]

I recently reread Frankenstein after watching the Underverse Series and BOY do I have thoughts. I’m going to separate them into a few posts over a few days because it would actually be an essay if I put it all down in one post.

For now - I’ll leave quotes that I found most impactful from Frankenstein (and other gothic horror/horror) stories with a few of the characters from the Underverse Series.

Also - sorry for the bad grammar. I’m typing this on my phone at like midnight.

Ink: Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it. (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley)

Obviously, Ink or Cross would be “the monster”. I think it’s even more fitting that although the “monster” never really has a name in the book, Mary Shelley did reference him as “Adam” in her earlier version. The “first born” creation. I think it’s very fitting, especially as Ink’s role, how his cannon role was formed, and what his new “goal” in the multiverse is.

Cross: I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other. (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley)

OR

I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel. (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley)

For Cross’ quote, I actually had a difficult time choosing which fit him better, so I went with both. Cross being one of XGasters creations who ��breaks free” is just amazing. XGaster was so focused on perfection and trying to make his timeline perfect that he completely abandoned his creations in the meantime. This causes Cross to meet Ink, Dream, and eventually Nightmare and start his own reign of terror.

Dust/Killer: The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone. (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson)

A different book for the two killers felt fitting, especially considering Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - at its core - is about addiction and loss. (It’s also a murder mystery but that’s besides the point). Both kill everyone in order to prevent another Gen*cide, but in doing so, allow themselves to be completely alone. (I’m also obsessed with the religious imagery but that’s another ramble for another day.)

Nightmare: To the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. (Moby Dick - Herman Melville)

Obviously, Nightmare was going to be Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. He’s chasing a goal that’s frankly, nearly impossible. He let the corruption completely take over him “for hates sake”. (I also think this is something Nightmare would actually say in cannon).

Error: Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm. (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson)

For Error, I had a very difficult time finding just one quote. He has so many complex layers to his character, especially in his own cannon. But I eventually landed on the Jekyll and Hyde quote, as I felt it resonated more with him. No matter what could or could not happen, he always has the antivoid to return to. The story of Jekyll and Hyde being about addiction and loneliness only made that point clearer for me, especially with the duality of man potentially paralleling the duality of Errors own psyche.

Fresh: Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing. When you think it fled, it may have but become transfigured into some still subtler form. (Moby Dick - Herman Melville)

I think this is pretty self explanatory for Fresh.

Dream: When falsehood can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness? (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley)

Finally, Dream. He spent so long thinking that he was the one who killed his own brother, that the ‘truth’ was so painful that he couldn’t necessarily come to terms with it. His brother no longer exists and is instead consumed entirely by the corruption.

I think using gothic novels as a starting point, the Underverse - or at least the Undertale Multiverse could become a fascinating story about the connections between creation and creator, dark and light, and the pursuit of an unattainable goal.

[snowyh2o]

Every Demon’s Rainbow AU

@redactedtimes

Oh 100000% she’d be horrified. Part of Charlie’s goal and reasoning with the hotel is that redemption should be a choice for the residents, not something that’s forced upon them. And (here’s where I get to talk about world building lol) it’s worse in this AU because the reason the Hotel’s got this influence is due to Charlie herself!

The Hotel’s Redemption Be Upon Thee! Powers come from Charlie’s own deep seated belief that there’s genuine good inside of every demon (hence the name Every Demon’s Rainbow). In this AU, she and Vaggie have been living inside the rundown hotel and working on her redemption plan for a couple of years now. And Charlie’s reality altering magic ends up seeped into every creak and crevice of the hotel. And since this is Charlie’s magic, and also because she isn’t consciously using it to cast a spell, the magic ends up taking a life of its own and latches onto Charlie’s greatest belief/desire. Which would be that every demon is capable of redemption and change and Charlie wants to create a place that can give those demons the opportunity to do so. (The end goal being that redemption means there would be no need for the yearly exterminations or at the very least the ones who ascend to heaven will be safe).

What the hotel actually does is bring out or amplifies the best/good traits in the souls who stay there for an extended period of time. Makes it easier for demons to choose to do good things— suppresses the hang ups someone might have for saying sorry, for example. Nothing the hotel makes people think or do are things that they haven’t thought about doing before. If I had to describe it, it’s like an enabler, but for good or more positive actions/thoughts/traits? And creates an atmosphere/environment that would make said souls more likely to act on their good/positive thoughts.

The effect is actually really subtle (and different for every resident), which is why no one else notices it aside from feeling more at ease and generally happier while staying at the hotel. Which can be explained away as just the hotel being a genuine relief to go back to compared to the rest of hell. And that the people there are also much more pleasant to be around, something that Charlie actively works to cultivate.

Alastor’s just a little bitch stupidly in tune with himself and who he is and when his thoughts and actions are his own that he notices the effect the hotel has (so he gets to deal with intrusive positive thoughts :P). And that’s not until he’s stayed at the hotel for a while (Still working on the timeline). But because he knows himself so well, and also because he’s arguably the worst of the people who’s staying at the hotel/has the most baggage and issues that he actively represses, he feels the Hotel’s magic affecting him all the more keenly. And it grates at him that this is now another part of his life he’s slowly losing control over, and it’s not even because he wouldn’t consider improving the quality of Husk’s bribe booze or put together something to celebrate the hotel’s (minimal) success— but that he’s actively considering it at all that makes him recoil and actively fight against/reject it. Especially when a big part of Alastor’s self image is the reputation he’s crafted for himself, the persona of the Radio Demon, a charming but cold heartless murderer who’s only ever out for himself and couldn’t care less about the people around him aside from the mild entertainment they could bring. Everyone knows who the Radio Demon is. Everyone is scared of the Radio Demon. (Even the Radio Demon’s friends are never sure of when he’ll turn on them <- complete lie that he likes to believe in, all his friends will say he’s actually quite pleasant to be around) He can’t have people thinking, seeing, the Radio Demon has a soft side. That he could care about people, that he is, at the end of the day, just another human soul stuck in hell.

This, however, is also why he’ll never on the threat of death tell Charlie about the Hotel’s magic. Because it’s a weakness and he’ll be damned if he ever reveals something as vulnerable as that about himself. So he just, deals with it as best he can.

If Charlie ever does find out about her inadvertent magical hotel, it’d probably be through Lucifer. And either only after they’ve rebuilt the new hotel, or right after Lucifer’s visit to the hotel. Which would be a whole thing that ends with the two of them undoing the spell on the hotel. And, if I ever get into after finale AU speculation, the new hotel also won’t have any magical compulsions tied to it— not that Alastor would know lol.

[tallerthantale]

What Does Aziraphale Actually Believe, Part 7: Armageddidn’t Begins

This is a series of my takes on what Aziraphale believes through the timeline of the show. It is all my personal interpretation, and I am happy to hear others. You don’t need to read them all in order, but know that I am coming from a perspective on Aziraphale’s machinations that can be difficult for people without a psychology background to follow without the first two as a primer. The quick version is that Aziraphale has a set of beliefs that exist in some form or another within his mind. However, at any given moment, only some of them exist ‘with awareness’ or as I am putting it here, conscious!Aziraphale only has access to the beliefs that the rest of his mind, veil!Aziraphale, allows him to know about. The context of the moment will determine what lives on the surface and what stays buried behind the veil, whatever arrangement best prevents a threat to Aziraphale’s sense of self and makes whatever he is inclined to do feel right.

This post covers modern Season 1 up to the end of the Bandstand, with the bulk of it on that fight. Its too long. I can't stop myself. I apologise profusely. About 3.3k words.

The Modern Era

We come into the modern era with an Aziraphale who knows he is in love with a demon, knows heaven is run by morally bankrupt stooges, is willing to accept he is represented by shades of light grey, but will still say with a straight face that Armageddon will be heaven’s glorious triumph over evil and it will all be rather lovely.

Crowley doesn’t believe Azriraphale really believes that, and after getting drunk Aziraphale admits he doesn’t like it either. He was trying to convince himself, and it worked for a short time, like some of his temporary beliefs at Uz. Just like he can’t maintain the idea that he is suited to a life in hell, he can’t maintain the idea that Armageddon is good. He still has conflicting feelings about working with Crowley. “Get thee behind me foul fiend” is a joke. “We’re hereditary enemies” isn’t.

Aziraphale agrees to go along with raising the antichrist towards good as long as he can frame it as thwarting evil, and present it to his supervisors as part of his official duties. Once that rationalisation is in place he is practically beaming about the idea of stopping Armageddon by getting to be a positive influence godfather. I think at this point he has convinced himself that the ineffable plan is to prevent the great plan. He is so invested that he is surprised and frustrated that the other angels consider his work doomed to failure.

Doomsweek

The kid's grown up, and Aziraphale and Crowley are workshopping a backup plan. Crowley wants Aziraphale to kill the antichrist. He makes a greater good argument because he knows Aziraphale responds to those sometimes. Aziraphale still insists that he has never killed anything before. The executioner doesn't count. The meat doesn't count. There's no blood on his hands literally, there's no blood on his hands figuratively. Aziraphale doesn't disagree that it would be for the greater good, but he still isn't willing to do it. Neither is Crowley.

On the way to the ex-nunnery Aziraphale gives a whole ass speech about evil containing the seeds of its own destruction. It is very self righteous, and the speech does ingroup Crowley into that evil. He is the one who botched the baby switch over. It's a way for Aziraphale to not worry about the prospect of hell winning the war, as he is trying to accept the inevitability of the great plan. At the same time, I think it was an attempt from Aziraphale to argue that to the extent Crowley was involved in things going wrong, the blame was with the role he was playing as an employee of hell, for which he is not responsible. As in, it wasn't that you were a low quality employee of hell, hell's plans are inherently doomed to failure. I think from Crowley’s perspective it reads as ‘demons will inevitably fuck everything up, it’s what you do.’ Not that different to Aziraphale’s ”you’re a demon, that's [lying] what you do,” from the previous night. 

Paintball

I could pretend like we are going to talk about guns giving weight to a moral argument, but honestly their positions here are more for exposition of the way Aziraphale and Crowley’s paired traits often subvert expectations. Aziraphale the angel is more willing to consider violence or the threat of violence worthwhile than Crowley the demon is. The actual merits and disadvantages of absolutist pacifism aren't really something they are hashing out. We’re here for the saucy bits.

While I did enjoy reading the theory that Aziraphale had Crowley time miracle the coat so that it never had the paint in it in the first place, whilst also eliminating Aziraphale’s memory of the paint, I don’t buy it. There was no reason Aziraphale couldn’t just miracle the paint away himself. He still remembers that the paint was there and that Crowley miracled it away. When he rambles about “but I would always know it was there… “ He is spouting nonsense. The pivotal part of the communication is not his flimsy words, it’s him slowly hopping his shoulder towards Crowley’s face while making puppy eyes. ‘But would Aziraphale really just make up obvious lies to Crowley like that?’ you ask. “Is that a travel sweet?” I retort. See this gif breakdown of the paint miracle scene.

Why the act? Because as much as Aziraphale knows he is in love with a demon, he wants Crowley to do all the romancing bits. It’s mirroring the Bastille nonsense, baiting Crowley to come to the rescue. Before he was still lying to himself about his motivations, now he knows them, but can’t speak them. Here there are enough clues for Crowley to figure out what Aziraphale wants him to do, but not necessarily why he wants it, and Aziraphale isn’t ready to have that conversation.  See the spicy meta.

Aziraphale continues to regard Crowley to be a nice and good person, who is living in the transient condition of being existentially evil due to his current demonic status. This is pretty out of step with how Crowley views himself, which is its own complicated mess, and it’s something he is touchy about. Enough to make him angry and 'slam' Aziraphale into a wall. Not that Aziraphale regrets any of it for a second. Maybe he regrets getting interrupted. 

We get another glimpse at Aziraphale’s conceptualisation of angels and demons. Crowley refers to them both together as occult forces. Entities that are basically the same thing. Aziraphale takes offence to being described as occult, and insists that as an angel he is ethereal. I think these descriptions follow their metaphysical properties, not their professional role. Crowley might call himself a former demon after getting fired, Michael might call Aziraphale a former angel after Aziraphale is sacked, but Crowley is still occult, and Aziraphale is still ethereal. Aziraphale’s concept of abstract existential alignment with good and evil goes to the occult / ethereal distinction, not the professional one. 

Aziraphale doesn't tell Crowley he has found the antichrist. In my opinion, this is 100% because he knows Crowley will respond by telling him to kill the antichrist, and Aziraphale already knows he isn't willing to do that. He wants to have his own alternative plan before he tells Crowley. Unfortunately, he's often not very good at the coming up with his own plan part, so the strategy doesn't really work out for him.

Crowley Gives Mixed Messages Too

I think it has been and continues to be Aziraphale’s hope to bring Crowley back to angelic status. And I think there are reasons why he believes Crowley wants that too.

Crowley and Aziraphale are often speaking not quite the same language. They’ve got different exactlys. The Bandstand scene starts right off the bat with a small example.

“Have you found the missing antichrist’s name, address, and shoe size yet?”

“His shoe size, why would I have his shoe size?”

If Crowley spoke Aziraphale’s language a bit better he might have noticed Aziraphale just admitted to knowing the antichrist’s name and address. If he hadn't found any of the facts, he would have just said no. Crowley takes it as sass because that's what it would have been if he had said it himself. This will be the theme of the Bandstand, they each interpret what has been said to them as if it meant what they would have meant if they had personally said it. 

Crowley gets shouty about the Great blasted Plan. When Aziraphale responds, “May you be forgiven,” it isn’t just about shaming Crowley for lashing out, Aziraphale is starting to be resigned to the idea that Armageddon will happen, he believes heaven will win, and he doesn’t want Crowley destroyed. Aziraphale is saying 'may you be spared from the destruction of the great plan.'

Crowley responds, “I won’t be forgiven. Not ever. Part of a demon’s job description. Unforgivable, that’s what I am.” Crowley is making a philosophical incision. Aziraphale’s phrasing called to mind forgiveness from an authority outside himself, presumably God. Crowley is commenting that were God to grant that forgiveness, it would create a paradox. When God made Crowley a demon, She declared him unforgivable. God is infallible, so She can’t forgive him without being wrong, and She can’t be wrong. It isn’t meant as a representation of Crowley’s actual opinion, he isn't being self deprecating, it's a statement presented for the sake of argument, to make a dig at something Aziraphale said.

The dig doesn’t land though, because Aziraphale doesn’t parse God with formal logic, She’s motherfucking ineffable. Who said demons are unforgivable? Did they say it with words? Even if it was God Herself, Aziraphale has long understood that God plays messed up games, he just believes there is a greater good at the end. He could believe that God chose to cast Crowley out, proclaim that means he is forever unforgivable, and then later go, 'just kidding, welcome back lol.' It could be a lesson for the other angels, a lesson for the other demons, it could be about putting Crowley in the right place at the right time, it doesn't matter. God is ineffable, and that means Aziraphale can't be told what God thinks by anyone, including God. "That's ridiculous, you're ridiculous, I don't even know why I'm still talking to you." 

As he is wont to do, Aziraphale is very quick to take Crowley’s facetious statements at face value if it gets him somewhere he wants to go. Recall, “Oh, you’re an angel, I don’t think you can do the wrong thing.” Now we have Crowley bitterly, resentfully, describing himself as unforgivable specifically because he is a demon. If taken at face value out of context it isn’t that much of a stretch to read it as Crowley essentialising himself as evil, resenting being unforgiven, and thinking being a demon is the evidence that he is unforgivable. Right after Crowley states “unforgivable, that’s what I am,” Aziraphale brings up that he used to be an angel. Crowley brushes it off as having been a long time ago, but never specifies that he wouldn’t want to be one again. 

Aziraphale can see as much as the audience can that Crowley likes being able to have the opportunity to do kind things for people but is curtailed by the expectations of his position as a demon. What Aziraphale doesn't see is that the good deeds Aziraphale does for heaven are probably not what Crowley likes doing either.

One of the points that comes up in The Bastille is that Aziraphale gets in trouble for doing too many frivolous miracles. While I don't think that's the real reason he won't miracle himself free, I do believe that the strongly worded note happened. We see modern Aziraphale doing miracles as favours for humans pretty often, fairly recklessly, and I wouldn't be surprised if Aziraphale regularly got in trouble for doing unsanctioned good deeds. We also don’t see him have the same enthusiasm for his tedious assignments that he is given from heaven that he has for spontaneous favours.

If they actually talked it through I think Aziraphale could understand that what Crowley wants is more about the freedom to do specifically the good and mischievous deeds that he wants to do, rather than being forced to follow management's checklists. If they talked through it, Aziraphale might be able to realise that's also what he wants for himself.

Holierly Than Thou

At the Bandstand fight Crowley again raises the option to kill the antichrist. Aziraphale argues Crowley is the more appropriate choice for executioner, that way "heaven won’t have blood on its hands." He means his own angelic hands, that he still believes are mostly aligned with his intuition of God’s will. While he knows it is often God’s will for things to die, he doesn’t tend to believe it’s God’s will for him to kill someone or something directly. Aziraphale knows God and heaven have the blood of billions on their hands, though he is very good at avoiding paying attention to that fact. He also is still trying to maintain the appearance of being on team heaven, and by starting to think that the great plan is going to happen, he's feeling the need to lean into that more.

Crowley responds, “That's a bit holier than thou, isn't it?”

Aziraphale answers, “I am. A good deal holier than thou, that's the whole point.” 

He means that when he says it. This is not a joke, it is not said flippantly. Aziraphale is ethereal and Crowley is occult. He cannot let go of the idea that angels are inherently 'good' in comparison to demons even if it's mostly reduced to an abstract quality that is unrelated to an entity's character or actions. It is still what he believes, it’s still connected to his sense of his role in the universe. It’s not what he sees himself believing when he’s staring at Crowley’s lips, but just because the belief isn’t always visible to conscious!Aziraphale doesn’t mean it’s gone. 

When Crowley says 'holier than thou' he means it figuratively. He is accusing Aziraphale of being pretentious. It is a fair accusation, but not quite what Aziraphale is trying to mean. When Aziraphale responds that he is 'holier' he is referring to his ethereal status, not his personality. He can view Crowley as being the better person, and still consider himself more holy. Aziraphale reads the accusation from Crowley literally. To him Crowley might as well have said, 'what, do you think you're some kind of angel?' What can he say to that but '...Yes?'

Crowley’s response is my inner philosopher’s favourite line in the whole show, “You should kill the boy yourself, holierly.” If Aziraphale is good and holy by definition, and everything he does is a good and holy thing by definition because he is an angel, wouldn’t him murdering an 11 year old boy whilst being an angel be definitionally good and holy?

Aziraphale can’t go that far and Crowley knows it. That’s why Aziraphale is refusing to do the killing in such a pretentious way. Which ought to mean that Aziraphale understands the moral goodness or badness of his actions are not defined by his angelic status. Crowley is trying to get Aziraphale to put that together and admit it. However, Aziraphale did not reason himself into his position, and that means Crowley can’t reason him out of it.

The main driving force for Aziraphale here is he knows it would feel wrong to kill the child, and therefore he won't do it. It gets him defensive because there is a clear and obvious moral greater good argument for killing the kid, and he's been rationalising various atrocities of God with greater good arguments for a long time. He ought to be persuaded by the greater good, but he can feel that he isn't. That friction is making him get bitchy. Aziraphale is the one more ok with guns. Aziraphale is the one who disparages himself for being soft. Aziraphale is ok with the ends justifying the means. I don't think he sees his personal unwillingness to kill the kid as moral superiority, he might even see it as a moral failing. His comments on holiness are about angel esthetics, not morals.

Killing the antichrist wouldn’t feel right to Aziraphale, therefore it isn’t God’s will for him to do that, and there must be another solution. Through no fault of his own, Aziraphale is correct. Unfortunately for Crowley, this exchange comes across as Aziraphale insisting he is too morally superior to Crowley to be expected to be personally involved in preventing Armageddon. Aziraphale doesn’t actually want Crowley to kill the antichrist instead, he is mostly pointing out that there is some hypocrisy to Crowley being deeply invested in the kill the antichrist plan whilst being unwilling to personally do it. Aziraphale isn’t willing to do it either, but he isn’t the one pushing the plan. It’s been Crowley’s plan every time.

The Bandstand argument is also where Aziraphale says “We’re not friends, we’re an angel and a demon. We have nothing whatsoever in common. I don’t even like you.” This is tonally distinct from his other problematic statements, and mostly rubbish. Crowley responds to Aziraphale’s assertions with the level of dignity they deserve: “You dooooooo.” But there are traces of authenticity to Aziraphale still struggling to conceptualise them as being properly friends as long as they are designated an angel and a demon. It’s been an issue this whole time. However, there is one major sign of the issue finally lifting, in the least expected place.

“Even if I did know something I wouldn’t tell you, we’re on opposite sides!” 

“We’re on our own side.” 

“Not anymore. It’s over.”

Not anymore.

We have never seen Aziraphale acknowledge that he and Crowley are on each other’s side. He once asked if Crowley saw it that way, but he didn’t agree to seeing it that way himself. He never lets himself say it as a statement, I don’t think he has let himself believe it or think it. Veil!Aziraphale cannot allow conscious!Aziraphale to perceive himself as being currently on the same side as a demon, working together against God, that is too terrifying to consider. But when he convinces himself that they aren’t working together anymore, he can let himself see that they were on the same side together in the past. It’s less threatening that way. I think in Aziraphale’s mind, they were on the same side insofar as Crowley was helping him bring the universe towards his idea of God’s ineffable plan, and not that he was deviating from God’s ineffable plan. He didn’t see himself as leaving God for Crowley, he imagined Crowley had joined him in being aligned with God intuitively, even if Crowley would disagree with that description.

This exchange is remarkably honest from Aziraphale, but spoken in a language Crowley doesn’t quite understand. Aziraphale has effectively said he does know where the antichrist is, but is unwilling to tell Crowley, because while he had started to consider himself and Crowley on their own side together, he doesn’t any more, because Aziraphale won’t accept either running away or child murder as solutions.

I think Crowley mostly just hears “Fuck you.” And to be honest, that's valid.

Post 7/10

[whoblewboobear]

Idk what it is about Starbreaker that makes me latch onto the idea that they deserve to love each other. There’s kind of a desperation to it because Jace was dealt such a shitty hand and there’s also so much tragedy in Porter.

They were both tied together and changed for a bit, which is fine. D20 is bit city and it never bothered me before but it bothers me now. So at the very least if making them fall for each other in dozens and dozens of different ways makes them even a little less tragic and a little less doomed by the narrative I’ll take it. If it gives them back some agency or creates personality where there were notes but nothing concrete? Even better.

I want their mess, I want their drama, I want them living through every romcom and romance genre and trope known to man. I want them finding comfort in each other even if the world is going to shit around them. Always a duo, in every timeline. Even if things are bad, there’s still love there. Even when it’s fucked up, or heartbreaking.

Something about that desperation in Jace’s voice in part 2 of the finale with him calling out to Porter just makes me think about that same tone, that same desperation in the private moments we didn’t get to see.

We follow the protagonists, Porter and Jace were never meant to be anything more than background characters. The lens of the camera is meant to be unfocused on them. But I’m in awe of zooming in and seeing what could’ve been. All those late night that must’ve happened, all of those private whispers while they planned together. The commitment of being tethered to someone for 3 years so much so that the camera turned to them ever so briefly to highlight not once, but twice, that they’re connected.

Even if they’re jokes in canon, two bumbling fools that couldn’t even kill god, the part of them that is treated with care is the fact that they are THEE Aguefort teacher duo. There’s a list of staff we never met, that will never be anything because they don’t serve the narrative. But Jace and Porter do, hell, Porter is one of the teachers that had a ton of screen time and maybe he looked around at the set he was on and said hey, I’m dragging this threadbare excuse for man in front of the camera with me even if we come out the other end changed, we’ll still have each other.

[solradguy]

Mr. Badguy I have a question as a guilty gear lore baby. I have been told sol/ky is problematic and I do not know why I fear. Could you please explain

Oh boy. I'm probably not the best person to ask about what ships are and aren't problematic because I honestly... just don't have the energy to care about it that much, it's like infinitely easier to block/blacklist and then move on. I don't know how people have the free time to get as worked up about it as they do.

Anyway. So, Ky's age before Missing Link (the earliest in the timeline of the games' stories) is generally the biggest problem. He was 20 in ML and a teenager through the Crusades. I think he was probably at least 18 near the end of the Crusades right before Sol left but that's pushing it. Anything with Ky and Order Sol's bad weird. I won't argue that at all, Ky was a kid and Sol was very much an adult, on top of the physical and mental power imbalance between them. Not good. Luckily, I really only see HOS/Ky stuff from the really early fandom (<2006) and IIRC their ages were still pretty vague back then so I'm just gonna chalk it up to no one knowing, especially in the EN fandom where it was a lot harder to find/get official information.

Between Missing Link to like late GGX/early GGXX I don't see what the problem with shipping them then is; they were both adults at that point and there wasn't even the power dynamic between them that there was during their Holy Order days. This, I think, really just comes down to personal reasons for not liking it. Which is fair.

After GGXX it gets... complicated.... Ky marries Sol's daughter but it's vague on when exactly Sol pieced it together that he even had a kid and that it was Dizzy, of all people. Ky definitely did not know she was Sol's kid until at least like partway through Xrd, when they both kind of put the pieces together and had a crisis over it. So shipping them after this point, between the timelines of Overture through Strive, you've got the issue of Sol now being Ky's father-in-law.

But the canon never straight up says Dizzy is Sol's kid (it is VERY HEAVILY implied though) and Sol and Ky both end up being dads together for Sin...?? It's like ASW is playing gay chicken with whether or not Sol and Ky are still shippable from an ethical standpoint lol Whatever that saying is about having a cake and eating it too, etc.

I saw the email for this ask this morning and I presented the Sol/Ky situation to my mom as if they were real people (she doesn't know anything about GG) and she was like, "That's a hell of a love triangle but I guess if the guy (Ky) and the daughter (Dizzy) got divorced and the daughter is alright with it, and it's consensual between the men, then it's weird but it's not as bad as some other relationships I've seen."

That's kind of how I feel about it too...? It's messy as fuck lmfao But I guess if there's a way to like write it so that Dizzy doesn't end up needing lifetime therapy then like... go for it....? I guess....???

I don't ship Sol/Ky because I think their dynamic is WAAAYYYY more interesting keeping them as rivals-turned-friends, and I like Dizzy too much; there's too big a chance of her ending up getting completely devastated by it. But as far as "problematic" Guilty Gear ships go, Sol/Ky's in the like... "People are wasting time arguing about this?" tier, imo. It being Thee biggest GG ship throughout the series' entire history is something to be considered, too. It's unavoidable, even the official art contributes sometimes. I often wonder why they decided to make it weird by throwing Dizzy into the mix because I know that, from digging through old forum archives, that change made a lot of people furious hahah

Disclaimer because the reading comprehension on this website is abysmal: I DON'T SHIP SOL/KY. IT'S FUNNY AS A JOKE BECAUSE IT'S AWKWARD BUT I DON'T SHIP IT IN SERIOUS CONTEXTS BECAUSE IT'S JUST NOT THAT GREAT A SHIP AND THE FATHER-IN-LAW THING MAKES ME A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE.

[felinespooky]

Yet Another Twisted Wonderland Theory

Still about Yuu

I am back on my mad ramblings regarding Twisted Wonderland. This time it’s not gonna be as far fetched as a previous post I did that proved to be nothing more than connecting dots that are never there. I feel like this one actually has some merit though as long as I don’t spiral out of control thought wise. Without further ado, let’s begin.

The theory this time around: The game Yuu is more of a conglomerate of the various manga Yuus.

“But how would that make sense?” I hear you, but before I can answer any of that, we are to hit the necessary bullet point questions:

* What connects the Yuus together?

* Who’s crazy enough to do this?

* What purpose does this serve?

Starting with “What connects the Yuus together,” I would have to say I don’t have all the answers considering that, at the time of writing, one Books 1-3 are out and available. Although, I’m only aware of Books 1 & 2 being in English; I play on EN so everything will be lagging behind all things considered. And to make it easier, I’d advise to have a separate tab that has information about what is canon to Game Yuu (@starsilluminateourgalaxy, @mee-op, and @darkscorpiox are where I find all the information regarding Game Yuu)

**A/N: Now, this is where I’d make a vinn diagram but unfortunately with the busy schedule I have going on, I haven’t been able to sit down properly and go full on MatPat or Theorizer on this section before someone or something demands my brain. I will one day make this list; just one a different post or a future edit.**

Now for “Who’s crazy enough to do this” question. The answer is simple: Crowley, our deadbeat bird dad. It’s been heavily hinted, dare I say proven, that it’s him we heard in the beginning of the game as Spooky Hand TM. Spooky Hand/Crowley does this whole speech right before waking up:

“Ah, my lovely Lord,

The noble and beautiful flower of evil,

You are the most beautiful, number one in this world.

— Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the most…

— For thee, guided by the Mirror of Darkness,

Follow thy heart and take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror.

Flames that turn even stars into ashes,

Ice that imprisons time,

Great tree that swallow even the sky,

Don’t be afraid of the power of darkness,

Come now, show your power,

Mine, theirs, and yours,

There’s only little time left,

Do not let go of that hand, at all cost.”

Now, going by key lines, it seems more like an incantation of sorts. Like, asking Hades to release a soul, and the companion to a flower. As if Yuu/the player is merely a seed that’s in the process of blossoming into whoever you want. Hell the “mine, theirs, and yours” line in particular strikes me as off.

Which brings me to the “what purpose” question. The answer is to merely complete a timeline that doesn’t end in tragedy. I believe there is a “time loop theory” running around in the fandom. Though it doesn’t function like the usual trope like in that one Supernatural episode; it functions more like an Undertale loop. In this case, it’s Crowley being able to do it instead of us. Now, why would this matter? I believe it’s because Crowley feels guilty about what happened the first time, most likely a death to some unknown previous Yuu. He genuinely felt sorry for this kid and decided that until he can figure it out, he’d let them stay. Plus they’re keeping Grim under control… but then they die. Best guess is either the cave he sent us to with Ace and Deuce, though that might’ve been different than the one we know, or Riddle’s Overblot. Regardless, he probably felt guilty about it, so he decided to rewind time. Except, something happened, the kid changed. He’d be confused, but he can’t blow his cover since he’s not supposed to be messing with time. So he takes it by the chin and acts normal. And the timeline does change, this Yuu (Yuuken) survives! But only a little as eventually, this one dies to Leona’s Overblot. However, he’s not letting this piece of Yuu die, he tries again. Except, it’s a different Yuu, Yuuka. The timeline changes just a little, she survives just a bit longer than the other, but she soon succumbs to death. This pattern happens until it’s Game Yuu’s turn. This time, Crowley has decided to create this Yuu, one that’ll survive everything in Twisted Wonderland! One that’ll survive Grim’s Overblot this time around! Maybe for shits and giggles, he forms this one into the image of the very first unknown Yuu. After all, if he just so happens to have something from the previous Yuus, how hard can it be to make life? However, that’s not the only thing that’s changed, he’s changed too. He was probably an actually great dude, but getting too attached to the most unluckiest kid to ever exist has wounded him. So, he tries to keep us busy and away from him. He probably cries seeing our Yuu just living life ignorant of his goal. But sevens forbid he cry, so he acts. All the while he hints at his works, calling himself kind and generous, probably wanting us to remember if possible.

Even if this theory flops like my other hot take, this makes for some hella great Crowley angst. Let the deadbeat crow suffer.

[kae-karo]

I saw your tags on the link click post and I love your theory that this isn't the first time lu guang has saved cxs. Would you happen to have the energy to expand on that? I'd... 👉👈 like to hear your thoughts (only if u want to though)

HELLO THANK U FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPAND ON THIS (for context - x) don't get me wrong i ADORE the sentiment in that post, but i am SO far down the "this isn't the first time lu guang has saved cheng xiaoshi" path that i can't come back lmao

before i say anything else, BUCKLE UP cause i have absolutely zero tangible proof and any canon reasoning for this is a stretch that would make a rubber band look rigid, but i can't stop thinking about it and i'm having fun so here we go

first and foremost: hat guy is a time cop ("cop"). hear me out, i promise this is relevant.

also sorry his name is liu xiao lmao (ignore the moment i thought his name was lu xiao and was about to be like he is the physical manifestation of lu guang and cheng xiaoshi's melding of their powers and/or their lovechild and/or their future combined self and/or- etc u get the idea)

AHEM. okay so. the first number of times we see liu xiao (as a kid and a friend of li tianchen) he seems relatively normal? although he does make a comment that stood out to me when i first watched ep9, where he says "i believe in the near future, you will definitely encounter the opportunity to become a hunter". when tianchen asks if they'll meet again, he says "surely we will" - and then, when they do, he reminds tianchen that he said they'd definitely meet again

he proceeds to comment (when tianchen asks if he has any choice) that "it seems everyone has only one path in their destiny, but in fact, it is made up of countless parallel lines...sometimes we want to change it, but we can't." - this specific phrase is spoken over lu guang's memory of watching cheng xiaoshi get shot.

and of course, we can't forget liu xiao's critical line "i wanna bring all parallel lines together, to turn all uncertainties into certainties." i think that's beyond metaphorical, i think he can not only see (in some sense) the parallel lines of a person's fate/futures/etc, but can manipulate them. or, rather, can corral them all into a single line, a single destiny, a single path for every person

now brief reminder that li tianxi was able to see lu guang's memories when she looked at the pic (revealed in ep12) - and she immediately started crying. i know the implication in that moment (ep10) was that she was experiencing lu guang's pain from the wound, but what if it was more than that? what if she saw his memories, too - in ep12, he implies that he went back to the beginning, presumably the start of the season, effectively, to prevent cheng xiaoshi from dying (hence all his careful planning through the season)

also real quick can we talk about how the passcode to his phone was the time (and date?) he went back to save cheng xiaoshi? THEE moment of "he is worth more than my rules". whether this is the first time or the thousandth, i'm still unwell

OKAY so anyway i think i've established that liu xiao has some fascination with timelines and, more precisely, with paring them down to whatever he's determined to be the Correct or Perfect timeline (ie establishing 'certainty') - this is why i call him a time cop like i don't think he's actually executing on some authority i think he's just decided that he has the power and that he wants the world to operate according to his certainties.

ones that lu guang has fucked up by saving cheng xiaoshi. possibly more than once.

for my next act, lu guang's character sheet:

yeah can we talk about age: ? like excuse me ?????? i'm also intrigued by the unknown blood type, but let's ignore that for now lmao

back to his unknown age - why the hell would this be unknown if he's just a guy? cheng xiaoshi has a normal age in spite of his abilities, right? and lu guang's ability is only to view the 12hr surrounding a photo, right?

WRONG. well, right, but also wrong. BEAR WITH ME OKAY cause we're jumping to qiao ling's experience in ep12 now - the moment she held onto tianxi when she died. where we saw...something travel from her to qiao ling. her memories? or her abilities?

now perhaps u, like me, recall lu guang's solitary moment in ep12 where, while covered in blood, he looked at his phone, his eyes turned cheng-xiaoshi-gold, he clapped, and he zoomied back to the past. because he was holding cheng xiaoshi when he died. and thus inherited his power.

OKAY SO why the fuck does that matter !!!! WELL I'M GLAD U ASKED. because we have no problem with cheng xiaoshi's age, right? he's done this 'jump back in time' thing a bunch!!! for 12hr at a time, and then he's back!

okay, but what happens when lu guang, who acquired cheng xiaoshi's power, jumps back to a time before he had cheng xiaoshi's power? now what? how would he jump back (or even be forced back) to his present body and time if he no longer has that ability? wouldn't he now be forced to re-live the hours, days, years after going back to make a change?

in his words, he went back to the beginning, thus he'd have to relive the whole thing, but now, he can make the Right choices this time to protect cheng xiaoshi

but what's a week (or a couple days or whatever it was) in the grand scheme of things? how would his age be unknown if this is the first and only time he's ever done it?

(critical caveat that 'the beginning' could absolutely refer to something far earlier than just the season's start - it could be the beginning of their relationship, for all we know, but let's start here for the sake of keeping this...i'd say manageable but we're well beyond that i am YAPPING)

if his age is so impossible to define, i think it could very easily fit to suggest that he's done this before - possibly many times. so many times that to suggest he's only as old as his physical body would be utterly ludicrous

okay but what in the world would make him want to change fate so often, for so long, so many times? what would make him go against his own rule (*i don't think this was always a rule for him but bear with me, we'll get to that)? well, we know the answer to that :)

so, i don't think this is the first time he's gone back in time to save cheng xiaoshi. i don't think it's the first time he's held cheng xiaoshi as he dies, because that's the way he would've acquired his ability in order to do this (an argument could be made here that he's hidden some facets of his own ability and that he's always been capable of this, but i don't think it was an accident that we saw qiao ling Acquire tianxi's ability)

in fact (if u thought this was all crack theory up to this point, hold onto ur horses) i think the first time he went back in time to save cheng xiaoshi was (seriously, hold on tight) when cheng xiaoshi died with his parents when he was a kid

that's right i'm going all the way baby. i think cheng xiaoshi was supposed to die when he was a kid. why the hell did his parents leave him all alone? to go on some random trip?? like we all agree this is peculiar right???? how does NOBODY know what happened to them, where they were, etc?

now i could go into possible scenarios (lu guang was a kid, too, and didn't know what he was doing, lu guang knew EXACTLY what he was doing and that it would have consequences, lu guang didn't even know he HAD any abilities til he tried to save cheng xiaoshi, the list goes on) BUT the gist of this being: i think lu guang saved cheng xiaoshi. i think he went back in time (into his own body) and figured out the right choices to make (maybe after many tries) to ensure that cheng xiaoshi didn't go with his parents. that he stayed home, for whatever reason, and survived

now why do i believe this, you may be asking? because it's fun, of course !!! and because we have no idea what happened to his parents yet, so i'll continue to theorize in the meantime lmao

you could also alternatively suggest that the going back in time to save cheng xiaoshi doesn't start until after they meet - i mean, hell, look at the situations they get themselves into just within the span of two seasons, they are RIFE with danger. like, cheng xiaoshi could've died MANY times !!!!

but honestly what really sells me is - going ALL the way back to the post that i linked at the start - lu guang didn't hesitate. not only did he already know, but he had no qualms with immediately (still covered in blood) going back to before and doing this all over again. unlike qiao ling, who does not appear to realize she has tianxi's ability, lu guang seems to immediately understand that he has cheng xiaoshi's. that just smacks of experience

(also, an aside: what photo did he use? how far back did he go? there's another route of course - did he go so far back that he's relived his life to such a notable degree that calling him whatever age of his physical body would be missing a notable number of years? in which case, one could argue that this could be the first time, though his immediate knowledge of acquiring cheng xiaoshi's remains unexplained. ANYWAY i digress)

okay back to the point here - lu guang immediately knowing that he has cheng xiaoshi's ability and using it without hesitation, though he does comment on how he broke his own rule. and it sounds like a first-time thing, but consider...

what if this is the first time he's broken it since making the rule?

enter time cop hat guy (i hear u, i promised this was relevant), aka our boi liu xiao who wants to create 'certainties' by (presumably) eliminating branching possibilities in some regard to create single paths/fates/destinies/etc. for lack of a better way to phrase it, a single timeline where everything can be predicted and accounted for (yeah...i suspect we'll be unpacking some of his trauma in s3)

now, different choices mean different outcomes - different timelines, a long list of uncertainties. i think liu xiao aimed to stop that. i also think that his ability gives him some kind of godlike manipulation over timelines (how else would he speak with such confidence about making this future a reality?) assuming, of course, that he has no interference from others with similar abilities

enter lu guang, who has now - potentially multiple times - messed with liu xiao's perfect timeline, one wherein cheng xiaoshi dies (not necessarily with intentional malice, just by virtue of securing whichever certainties liu xiao wants). this, of course, is a problem for liu xiao

and perhaps he makes lu guang's life a living hell - hey, why not go all the way? perhaps he makes a point of manipulating the timeline to kill cheng xiaoshi in new and horrifying ways, again and again, just to watch lu guang play this pathetic game trying to save him by going back in time. perhaps it's entertaining, for a while, but he grows tired of it eventually

so, he proposes an agreement: he'll stop trying to kill cheng xiaoshi, but lu guang has to agree never to manipulate his perfect timeline again (or something similar, you get the idea - they reach a ceasefire of sorts wherein they both, to an extent, get what they want)

thus, the rule was born - whatever they do, they cannot ever change these critical nodes. so long as lu guang adheres, liu xiao won't try to kill cheng xiaoshi

but then someone else does. someone else succeeds. and lu guang breaks his side of the deal, he changes the timeline. he knows exactly what he's doing, what he may invoke, but he does it anyway (i'm fully writing my own au of this story at this point lmao but hey, hope ur having fun if u made it this far)

and so liu xiao returns from abroad, because he has a score to settle

[don't ask me why s3 is set in london and they look like they're teaming up, i'm all for a 'forced to work together' arc but how that fits in with this wildly out of pocket theory is beyond me lmao]

anyway hope u enjoyed this delve into my silly goofy theory !!!! thank u deeply for the ask LMAO

[blackstarchanx3new]

Creations AU FNAF 4, But I obnoxiously over explain it 2

Pages 30-59

The sad story of Cody and his miserable life.

I know for a fact some of these pages were lined don't remember if they colored any by @akdrawsandwrites thanks AK. ^w^

More NPC dialogue.

In FNAF 4 game: There's an oddity with the NPC with a green shirt and brown hair, he has a STRIKING appearance to one of the "bullies" older brother's friends. But the one in the green shirt in the game has blonde hair. Idk if they're meant to be the same character and the sprite was just bonked up or what. FNAF color pallets being consistent is NOT something this series is known for lmfao.

I made these two characters brothers and modified his dialogue to suit that he knows Cody by "Josh's brother". Either way this character should know this kid's name lmfao.

The party coming up is apparently Cody's. The last NPC is debated to be the character "Susie" from the games....I color picked and this girl looks black to me. (Susie is white with styled blonde hair) Like they both have bows and wear pink so MAYBE it was meant to be her but idk. This was the design I went with. Retconning design and inconsistent colors in FNAF again: Is not new.

Susie is used as a character in another place in Creations anyway and it wouldn't line up timeline wise. (This makes an animatic with her as the Chica we meet in Mike's story outdated and incorrect but there's LOTS of ideas in the animatics that were abandoned going over all of them would take hours lmfao.)

Exposure therapy, I say as a joke.

You might have noticed an itty bitty detail of Josh getting set off every time Cody starts shouting. Bro does not handle that shit well.

Yeet the child again, damn it Josh you gotta kick that habit.

Josh's main response to dealing with Cody: Lock him somewhere where he doesn't have to deal wit him.

Oh dear. This looks familiar.

Creations readers and FNAF players alike know where this shit is going.

HI MIKE! ❤️ Yes that's Mike without his dyed hair lol.

Reasonably avoiding confrontation but uh, to the determent of others oof.

Dude proceeds to never stop throwing himself in danger later so I guess he decided to slam to the other side of the two extremes lmao.

HAH.

Well that explains Cody's creepy ass stalker crush on Mike.

He didn't really SPECIFY he recognized Mike verbally when talking to him in the main comic but here we get conformation he for sure did.

Again Cody/Golden Freddy doesn't consider himself a 1 to 1 with the original Cody. Rather just a robot with the kid's memories/soul.

They don't feel like his memories.

Lol. Cody and his Para-social relationship with Mike Schmidt.

We can tell this genuinely amuses him as his eyes aren't red.

Hah he says something to the same affect in thee FNAF 1 Arc...with a lot more body horror involved.

"It was just a prank bro"

Daddy's gonna make it all better.

Cody stop that. We've talked about how the faces you make are unsightly.

Also Puppet. She's here.

People didn't really GET Cody's reality bending abilities: So he explains it pretty plainly here.

He's powerful as hell. X'D

Basically the most OP character in Creations much like the cannon Golden Freddy.

So I'll give ya some writing advice: If you're gonna make an OP character, just make them lazy as fuck.

Easiest way to nerf them: Make them just not care about fighting. X'D

Cody's got a mixture of laziness, apathy and fear of daddy to keep him from being helpful much in the plot.

Because if he wasn't he'd clap Afton in 2 seconds and that'd be no fun. So he's a coward lmao.

He was gonna snap that bitches neck while he slept. And not a single one of us would have blamed him. UwU

Casually hides in his brother's closet XDDD

Also I pointed it out before but Josh's room is Michael's room in main story.

Cody's cowardess is on full display: He bent to NOT killing Josh when he realized how badly Josh was coping with his brother's death.

Just like his daddy!~

Jokes aside this is my fave page in FNAF 4. It was lined by AK. I drew the sketch

I like, never draw the nightmares but the ended up so good here. Props to Ak for translating the sketches real well.

This is another instance of what I mean when I say there's no real good "Starting" place for the Creations AU.

This is smth that happens in Sister Location, but I feel Josh's character is more interesting with this context.

Buuuut this scene makes no sense. Aaaaand FNAF 4 shows more chronological events.

Agh.

Honestly whenever I get around to doing "Spring Bonnie's friends" I'd argue that is the best place to start chronologically but we'll see.

Anyway Cody saving his dumbass brother is so funny to me.

It's also really sad to think that he saved Josh because he knew how much Josh HATED the idea of dying in a springlock suit. Cody shows empathy quite often, especially towards Mike but this extends to helping Josh too.

His little "Now who's the cry baby?" is just the icing on the cake. XD

So Josh IS dead...?

Kind of?

His "remnant" is just kinda all over the place.

Will pick up in part 3 since PAGE LIMITS.

[dreamsclock]

i can deny it no longer...... i must ask thee forbidden knowledge for doodling.....

how does pandora (m!dream) look like?

YIPPEEEEE LETS GO IVE CONVERTED ANOTHER!!!!!!

here are two picrew designs for m!dream aka pandora !! long white hair, usually tied back (and longer than what it looks like in the second picture), unruly and wavy. lots of scars on his face: he’s got a really bad one over his mouth which is why he usually wears a lower face mask - it also helps cover his expressions, which helps his overall mission. he wears a pendant around his neck from his timeline’s george, and can usually be seen with a pearly white snake round his shoulders that he picked up from his timeline’s destruction of las nevadas! his eyes are green, tired, jaded: he’s been through hell by this point. he hides as much skin as he can in fear of attack, though is never in armor. i wonder why…

he has revive book runes all over his limbs too, though he keeps them hidden. his skin is absurdly pale: the guy spends a lot of time either in any timeline’s prison, or in the void, so he’s lost any tan & freckles he once had :(

wears casual plain colored clothing, usually greens and browns, and dresses practically with weapons, minimal accessories, etc.

[coffee-in-veins]

Have you heard of how reynauld goes back to being a farmer after it all in dd2? Apparently if you fully upgrade his altar, a narration says that "he will retire his battered helmet atop a scarecrow, and labour the land beneath its baneful gaze" Any thoughts on that?

hello hello o/

thank you for the ask! ^^ i hope i won't dissapoint you with my answer, but after the last stunt RH pulled, on top of my already sour reception of the butchering changes the game made to characters...

let's just say, don't expect a pure, not salty, unbiased opinion, alright?

short version:

i'd say - i'm getting progressively more and more glad DD2 got cancelled in the making the more info i hear about it :}

long version:

the word choice in that particular snipet is so baffling i don't know where even to begin.

let's start with the simple things. upgrading the altar means nothing to land restoration. you either channel your JRPG and kill a god, or you don't. there's no in-between. you're restoring memories of what once was by grinding the candles and pouring the wax into the altar instead of feedingit to Tardif or something. if it implies living in the memory and denying reality as the only thing worth doing in a ravaged world, well, that is a shitty message to bring along as the only hope your fictional world has.

then again, looking at the real world now, i somewhat get the appeal... but i digress.

secondly, the guy is naively optimistic if he thinks he'll be able to return to farming without some community or an armed force to defend that land and whatever results of his labour bring - especially after such a massive shitshow as the full-world calamity DD2 implies. after DD1, localized and contained in just one county at worst? oh, sure, no issue with that. grab that Dismas' arse and go fulfil your redemption husband dreams in a neighbour country that have never even heard of walking fish. but after the fuckupery of DD2 where the whole world is corpses, burned cities, undead and tentacle fun? ehhhh... not as many places to go to, ain't it? starting community from the scratch? again, see point 1 aka "good luck putting that helmet away instead of sleeping in it if you found some untainted land".

thirdly, "baneful gaze" addition is just... what do you even imply here? that it's his past sins and he's the only one who can't leave the past behind? that there's some higher ups (probably the church who canonically have military here) who will be watching him and controlling his land and its harvests? is it just a throwavay line to make it sound more poetic? is it vague for the purpose of being vague...?

"baneful" is a very strong word. it implies hate, poison, promise of harm. is this a hint that DD3 Electric Boogaloo will be about the crusaders DD2 tried so furiously to scrub out of itself and then just slapped a DLC about them on top of itself without care and thought about the timeline and how none of it makes even a lick of sense if you stop for a moment...?

let's say, i can see Rey wanting a retirement and starting a farm somewhere on the outskirts of some village. but i doubt it will keep him, unless there will be some trauma which would prevent him from asking to work anywhere better - or someone who'd keep him there. Rey is knighted. he's a soldier in a medieval world, with a gear and maybe even a horse. he's worth a small fortune and i doubt he doesn't know that. hell, if we look at his barks:

Eyes down, you cowering sheep!

The faithless have no right to harm anyone...

Fool! Stop getting in the way of the soldiers!

No. And if thou breaks rank again, I will smite thee.

It profanes the Light to visit blessings upon you unworthy dogs!

You are not worthy of aiding me.

does he sound to you like someone who'd settle for a peasant position unless he has some outer reason to...? he doesn't to me. more like a guy who has a pride of a knight - and the life expectations of one. i can see him becoming a borderline knight, with a castle tower of two rooms and a village or two in his grasp, tho. that would fit, imo. a tiny lord with a lot of secrets in his past, battling PTSD and trying to get back into the civil life. that would be interesting to see.

then again, maybe he's a poor little meow meow like the rest of DD2 crew, i honestly have no idea. i tried to play the DLC, but the story was giving me seisures, so i dropped it pretty fast. i got him and Dismas together to the tavern, fed them chocolates, quit the game and never opened it since because that scene with the warlord was making me unreasonably angry.

sorry if you were expecting a better opinion.

[mekatrio]

too sick to draw or do anything else which means its the perfect time to watch mca and be a little autistic nitpicky bitch about it. planning to do a post like this per episode, this one's for episode One. well episode one part one bc nothing in my life is easy and i keep forgetting theres a fucking image limit for posts 🙄

- I HATE THIS FUCKING ANIME ok i needed to get that off my chest...... groaned so loudly at the first four seconds fucking... Church Bells and POLES?!?!? POLES?!?!!! i hate shaft's enviromental choices ok moving on

- how the fuck did i not realize that ayano's VA is rena ryuugu lmfao its all i can hear nowadays

- right theyre on a fucking clock... for some reason.... also honestly i dont like ayano's voice that much. like the voice is fine but i dont think it fits ayano's character

- also this clock sucks i wish it was like more More you know more gears more machinery like ep12 insanity ok wait. are shinaya 3d models here lmfao.. maybe?

- i like this line. saur mysterious

- hahaha.... the Kaien Panzermast

now that i think abt it i have no idea why its called kaien panzermast. like i what its referring to (the song siren thing thats telling kids to go tf home) but what the hell is a Kaien Panzermast?

- this scenery is near meaningless to kagepro literally just a whole bunch of nothing when i say i hate shaft's choices for this anime..... like what is any of this shit. also orange??!? orange of all colors..... god damn man

like yes ok its the evening BUT THIS IS KAGEROU PROJECT. GIVE ME MY RED AND BLUE!

-- this part is cool tho. a bit too heavy handed in the symbolism but i appreciate the gesture

- lol at this:

BECAUSE SHE DIDNT! not until 2017 lmfao. this makes me suspect that the revelations from mr2 were initially supposed to be in the anime. but in the end for whatever reason it couldnt fit itself there, so the only revelation we got was The First Tragedy Exists. and no elaboration.... now that i think of it, iirc me and many fans were pretty thrown off from this opening back when it first aired cuz this was like, the first time we've seen ayano act like this. wait. let me check my timeline

ok nvm lol. second time. first time shes ever like this is in the manga:

but anyways back in 2013/2014 before the LTM episode, there was like no context whatsoever for Why Is Ayano Like That. so that was a doozy

- damn can u imagine working on some songs writing a novel and getting these amazing voice actors to voice ur characters... ohhh i wouldnt know how to act

-HJEKHJSKDFHASJKDFH THIS LOOKS CHEAP AS HELL HELP ME

i mean thats um. one way to show a timeline getting thrown away... I Guess. ignoring the fact that Mary Has Long Hair (which she shouldnt), its a cool visual idea but the execution is um... hfjkssjk

- hehe

headphone actor mv on the left and mca countdown thingy on the right. holy shit they are near identical damn, i just thought they were similar but no, its practically identical. thats so cool T_T if only the rest of this anime was this cool.... whatever onwards i go

- shintaro's stupid futuristic high-rise apartment... i loathe thee

- the fuck is this

- first instance of shaft's trademark of putting random shit on the screen and im already annoyed its gonna be bad for me for the rest of this rewatch if i can even last that long. i know i will at least til ep 10 (11???) cuz i need to see baby mekatrio

- no aku benci lmfao shaft hates to animate so much they threw this story into the future so they could just conveniently project things onto shintaro's cyberwall hahaha..... i fucking hate this anime

- looks like shintaro was drawn by 4 different artists in these various shots that only span like 5 seconds

- damn in the anime its not even ene's fault that shintaro spilled the soda lmfao. thats all on him this time

- also shinene's voices are srsly perfect

- XX you say...... 🤨

- storyboarding sucks shit they went from flashback to not a flashback to flashback again my fucking god dude. the only reason i can make sense of any of it is cuz im rewinding every little thing

- literally no reason to add 'roomie' to this translation but it made me laugh so I GUESS

maybe i should hunt for the official crunchyroll subs. but im too lazy

- lmfao

text from Mekakucity Talkers 24, translated by x0401x. only difference from tht and the screenshot is that shintaro still has hair lol

- hm. i wish it made a bigger deal of shintaro leaving the house. yeah he threw a fit but i wish the actual stepping outside aspect was more dramatic yknow. like how Children Record emphasized it

- WHY IS THIS CITY SO EMPTY

- also curiously this episode is missing this sentence from shintaro abt someone rebuilding the city bit by bit which is in the novels and the manga, which is meant to foreshadow saeru's influence. but then again the first 17 manga chapters are taken nearly word-by-word from the novels so maybe thats all it is 🤷

- also it took like 6 minutes for shintaro to leave the house... theres other things being done ofc, establishing shinene's dynamics, quick exposition of how ene ended up with shintaro to begin with, and spilling soda onto the computer and leaving the house. but i feel like it wouldve been better if the anime stuck to what the novels + mr1 does, where ene blares a loud fucking alarm. that quickly establishes shinene's dynamic and easily leads to a So You Must Be Wondering How I Got Here type of thing, and then knock over the soda leave the house bam easy. instead the anime really took its time with like..... idk making shinaro look ikemen. yeahhh not the best choice, especially considered how rushed the last few episodes are gonna be. ok back to watching the anime

- also aku benci x2 like its only futuristic when its convenient which is soo fucking Lazy. theres literally no reason for this story to be set in the future. like all this city scenery is based off actual modern day Kashiwa its just... ugh. barely any care put into this anime at all

- this anime is cool sometimes

- reused this pencil texture from the start of the episode... wonder how many times ill be seeing that

- the fucking comedic timing of these terrorists lmfao. and right theyre clowns... for some reason....

- also dude ill still never understand why only their thumbs are the only parts ziplocked like what. also isnt that harder to animate... THIS STUPID ANIME

- this is a completely fair reaction to having kano shuuya speak to you for the first time

- no the fuck he isnt he hasnt thought of shit my god.

that comic person on here was not lying shaft really fucked up the order of events here bigtime. kano only speaks to shintaro after shintaro's done brooding.... also seto doing fuckall lol. ik he'll say smth in like 2 seconds but i do find it funny that we've seen him for like the past minute and he hasnt said shit

- ok but its cool that kano's hand just doesnt obey the ziplock.... very clever of the artists to just make him put his hands behind his head and other gestures to indicate that theres something up with him

- why are his eyes red.

[noisymutantherelol]

Overlords x child!dragonreader TW:cursing, blood,weapons,OOC,Camilla almost having a heart attack

(ps.you have toothless personality) You were just wandering looking around looking at the blood,organs spilled by random ass people, you were walking but not paying attention to where your going until you bumped into someone in particular,"ew that looks gross- oFf-",you stumbled back hitting the ground,rubbing the back of your head you look up to see Zestial

"Oh Shit I am so sorry- uhm sir"

"ah its all right." Zestial looked around before asking.

"Where are your parents?,dear child?" He asked looking at you while you got up "oh me? I don't have any...."

"Hm...",he was just looking at you scanning every inch of your body wondering someone as young as you could end in place as cruel as hell,he held out his hand saying to you," Here my child I may be thee Overlord but I am not always so cruel, now would you like to come with me dear?",You were hesitant, your heart skipping a beat,but you have nowhere else to go so...,"sure", you reached your hand out to his smooth hand,you continued to walk with him felling peoples eyes on you, it felt like a bunch of spiders crawling on you, making you uncomfortable and well before you knew it you were at Carmillas company (?),"My dear child,I would like to introduce you thee Carmilla carmine,my dear friend",you simply nod while follow him to Her office, she welcomed him but then her eyes fell on you scanning your small figure before then saying,"Zestial,who is this you brought with you?"

Zestial looked at you forgotten to ask for your name,"Oh dear where are my manners?, dear what is your name?" he asked while looking at you.

"Y/n", you muttered out,looking at the ground

"And Zestial why did you bring them here?"

"To be looked after of course", he said with a shit-eating grin

"By you right?", Carmilla said while pointing at him,while his grin grows wider,"By the me AND the rest of the Overlords,I simply want to see if they can handle the pressure,that's all dear...."

Carmilla face palmed remembering the last experiment that he pulled off,"Zestial are you sure?"

"Yes I am,now do you know where I can find Rosie?"

HEADCANONS START NOW

Rosie🌑🌹

-When she first laid eyes on you you looked adorable too her she wanted to give you a lil'makeover To match the timeline of her town

-She would give you stuff that wasn't human flesh,such as cookies but gave you to much and your chasing Susan around the plaza,she snickered a bit then went to chasing you before you started flying. She told Zestial to never give you too much cookies.

-she would teach you manners,and how to be a nice woman,and cook simple foods and how it's fine to be LGTBQ+

-She also learned to never leave you unsupervised while using the stove,almost burnt the whole place :0

-Overall the most things she likes about you, She LOVES it when you call her "Aunt Rose", anyone else who calls her that will die,well besides Alastor,if he says it as a little tease,and you both like drawing and colouring with eachother

A scenario in my KFC brain

Y/n:Aunt Rosie,look! look! *shows a drawn picture of you and her"

Rosie:*on the bridge of tears* Awww *wipes a tear* it looks amazing

-she guards it with all her life

Zeezi (I had to make a personality for her)

-When she first saw you she was like,e fuck-",then Zestial explains everything and then she was like,"*sigh* there's no getting out of this huh?" And Zestial is just like "Not in the 7 rings of hell-, anyways good luck!"

-She turned on her tv in the living room and put on a show that was usauly watched by imp children, while looking for a actually healthy snack,but found nothing,"Alright kiddo we'r-" she stopped talking as soon as she saw you Laying on her couch sleeping in peace she turned off the tv and brought a blanket and put it over you

-She told one of her minions to watch you and make sure your ok while she went to the store to get food for you

Pt.2 coming wait ya'll

[teecupangel]

One of the readers of Zero Eclipse created a Spotify Playlist for the fic and I'm

I love knowing my fics were so memorable that people take the time to make stuff for it.

Then they asked if I have any songs to suggest and...

Well.

I normally listen to the AC soundtrack when I write AC fics with the exception of smut (that's purely jazz versions of Xenoblade songs and I don't know why).

Then I remembered how much of a weeb I am and that, yes, there are songs I can think of on the top of my head that would work for Zero Eclipse.

So if you want to see my suggestions for songs that inspired or I think works well for Zero Eclipse, check underneath

(Warning it's mainly music from my 2 favorite JRPG series XD)

BEFORE I START WITH THIS LONG POST!

Shoutout to chemicalhypebitch in AO3 for suggesting these songs because they work so well too

I still believe I still firmly believe We can still meet We will connect no matter what

I, I loved you in secret First sight, yeah, we love without reason Oh, twenty-five years old Oh, how were you to know, and My, my love had been frozen Deep blue, but you painted me golden Oh, and you held me close Oh, how was I to know that

ALRIGHT. Long post time!

Let's start with the actual reason for the title of the fic

ZERO ECLIPSE - Hiroyuki Sawano

Yeah, that's right. Zero Eclipse's title was based on an Attack on Titan song from the very beginning. I'm not gonna talk about AOT though because, well, I have a complicated history with that manga/anime. But I am in love with Hiroyuki Sawano's music and, while the primary plotline of the fic was created before I realized how well Zero Eclipse worked, there are other parts of the fic that were inspired by the song itself.

Anyway, the song encapsulates Altaïr's feelings for Desmond (both Bleed Altaïr and Original Altaïr) and I have to give special mentions to the following lyrics

For now you are a part of me I will defend and honor thee Did you think that you could die a hero? Our awakening means less than zero! ------- Sad am I to never hear you sigh Of ecstasy And fingertips You're trembling We share a kiss Our worlds eclipse ------- Make a promise that I cannot regret As long as I can see you but in secret I'll never I'll never forget my feeling, no! I'll never I'll never Learn how to let you go

That's just the main three but the rest of the song fits well I think.

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Next is a song I believe works well as Desmond's feelings for Altaïr (especially after Chapter 43)

Follow You - Bring Me The Horizon

(sidenote: this also works well with Desmond from fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum hahaha) Anyway, this song shows how much Desmond is willing to go through just to be with Altaïr and it also works well with the whole 'If they are gods then I will be the devil' drama queen shtick Altaïr went for. Special mention has to be given to these lines

So you can drag me through hell If it meant I could hold your hand I will follow you 'cause I'm under your spell And you can throw me to the flames I will follow you, I will follow you

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Next is an instrumental actually and is the unofficial theme of the 'AQ'AQ program and Original Altaïr.

The Bereaved and Those Left Behind (Version 2) - Yasunori Mitsuda (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

There's a Version 1 but I think Version 2 works better as both the theme of the 'AQ'AQ program and Original Altaïr. Both versions deal with pain and loss with a hint of hope towards the end (like the start of hope at around 2:20 to 2:54 but ending in an almost question-like tone which signifies the uncertain future) which I think encapsulates what the 'AQ'AQ program truly represented and how the original timeline and the original Altaïr had been. For an extra punch, this works well as a bgm for the final scene in the Grand Temple while the questioning tone at around the 2:55 mark works well with the error message of Chapter 41.

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Next is a song that I think works well as the modern day Levantine Brotherhood's theme (most especially Clay and Lucy)

Melancholia - Hiroyuki Sawano

For Lucy to Altaïr and Desmond

You cheer me, reminds me There is a sun rise You told me to save me from a hell on earth

For Clay

They try to wear me down with what they tell me I'm just trying to make moves, see beyond what they're trying to sell Push for it, even if some attempts fail Take problems mix 'em up like a cocktail It's not the cards that life deals Anyone can alter their situations by Not sitting around, accepting the Abuse and devastation

The entire modern day Levantine Brotherhood

We're kept unheard if we're silent Waiting on others to make a sound Leads to walking blind instead of self-reliance Eyes on the back of the pack It's time to make the day yours Complacency never makes an impact Believe media controls you if you don't act Nothing ventured, nothing gained But when we speak, listen, and act That's what we change

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BONUS: William Miles' Theme (No, I am not sorry)

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Alright, the next 2 songs are in Japanese and can be considered spoilers for Chapter 41. The last song is in English BUT it is an absolute spoiler for Chapter 43. You've been warned.

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Next is a song that works well as Bleed Altaïr's feelings for Desmond

Ai no Uta - Falcom sound team (Trails of Cold Steel 4 Ending Song - This is also available in Spotify but I embedded a video with the English lyrics added)

Special mentions to the following lyrics

Your loud playful smile Fills me with so much satisfaction Staring at your honest eyes, they're so bright I have to close mine and hug you tightly Even if I'm pierced by a thousand flashing arrows I promise I'll be your shield ------- The tears covering your face when you cry Make my chest feel tight, it's painful To make your pain and sorrow go away I'll hug you tightly until you fall asleep Even if the whole world turns against you I'll never let go of your hand ------- I just love you; I just love you I'll tell you again and again, I love you I just love you; our heartbeats are in sync And my feelings for you are overflowing I love you; I just love you I'll tell you again and again, I love you I don't know if it was fate That we met and we formed bonds We'll draw a new trail for the two of us I love you ------- There are good times and bad times Let's walk through life together There are good times and bad times Let's walk through life together

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Next is a song that I think works well to summarize Desmond's feelings for Ezio, Ratonhnhaké:ton and the rest of the Brotherhood at the end of Chapter 41

I'll Remember You - Megumi Sasaka / Falcom sound team (Trails of Cold Steel 2 Ending Song - This is also available in Spotify but I embedded a video with the English lyrics added)

Special mentions to the following lyrics

The time for parting has come Our Boundless Futures Await In case we never meet again I make this promise here and now: I'll remember you… ------- In awe of the bond we two shared We spoke of our histories and our most heartfelt desires Mysteries unpacked and mysteries forged Between those who'd previously never even known the other existed. ------- Love is a wordless understanding Two heartbeats resounding together as one Yet the time for parting has come Wavering tears in your eyes… In case we never meet again I'll burn your image into my mind and I'll remember you ------- Trust is a wordless understanding: Two heartbeats resounding together in solidarity Yet the time for parting has come You fade in the distance In case we never meet again, I'll burn your image into my mind and I'll remember you… ------- Let us always remember our first shy smiles And the future beat we heard the day we met The time for parting has come We must go our separate ways In case we never meet again We must keep moving forward The time for paring has come Our boundless futures await In case we never meet again I make this promise here and now I'll never forget that The trails we drew are our true selves You'll remember too

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Alright, the final song is a major spoiler for Chapter 43. This is your final warning to read Chapter 43 first before checking out the final song

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This one is a song that I think fits Original Desmond (Vega Prime/The Reader).

One Last You - Jen Bird / Yasunori Mitsuda (Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Ending Song)

Alright, let's dive in to this one because I have feelings and I am making it your feelings as well

Original Desmond as the Reader all alone in the Gray and hearing Altaïr

Very end of eternity The final day has come to an end, it's gone for good I would then slowly close my eyes And be cuddled by the shining memory piece ------- I will trace back all the memories with you That's the only wish I have

Original Desmond's feelings for the past years he spent with his Altaïr and how reuniting him with Desmond Miles is his 'handful'.

You have gifted many things to me But I wonder if I could've done the same for you If you would let me, I will give back a handful If it would put a little smile on your face

The goodbye scene between Original Desmond and Original Altaïr before Original Altaïr became the program and Original Desmond returns to the Gray

The final grain of sand has dropped I will slowly so quietly fall into sleep I see you gently fade away Your silhouette has gone to the other side of the mist And all the memories with no sound so quiet Just like in slow motion it moves so slowly

Original Desmond to Minerva about the creation of VegaEye and his decision to give up everything to Desmond Miles

Can I ask you, God? Despite all of this… Could the sandglass somehow take back the time One last time is all I ask from you Can you please spare me some time with the one man I loved? ------- I wouldn't care how and where it should be But I need one last time I want to tell you how I feel inside for you I want you to know…

The final scene between Original Desmond and Original Altaïr as the timeline gets rewritten

And so that last day with you was truly magical The frozen time began to flow At last the longest night has gone and brought in light I felt myself melt in the morning light

Excuse me while I go cry again XD