#what’s up gloop

[nny11writes]

I got a long ass analysis or whatever on how Shadow Weaver is nuanced and underappreciated that I lost the thread on multiple times. Don't even know it this'll fit in a tumblr post but below the cut if it does.

Shadow Weaver’s story is about many things, but I think the one most often misunderstood is her addiction. A lot of fandom recognizes that she has an addiction, but not what that actually means, not what that entails. Weaver is one of the show’s antagonists, no bones about that, but she is also a complex, nuanced, morally grey character and people tend to forget that to the disservice of her as a character.

I’m tired of that, so let’s get into this.

First off, Light Spinner was not an abuser or horrible person, I’m sorry y’all I think she was probably in her early to mid-20’s, a social idiot, and felt like Micah’s older sister. I think she was too young and inexperienced for the position she held at Mystacor, but that she could’ve grown into it beautifully if not for the war.

Light Spinner was self centered, she’s selfish. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, although Shadow Weaver certainly takes that into the next level being an ego maniac later on. She was self centered and obsessed with the idea that is she was powerful and strong, she could stop this war. She single handedly could do it with the right help and, as such, she felt responsible for ending the war too. That made her obsession grow wildly and Light Spinner then made a mistake in good faith.

I think when she touched that unbridled magical power without the safeties she needed, that Weaver got her first taste of what would become her drug.

But first, let’s touch on a few things.

Tell me, when you read that paragraph about Spinner’s obsession… did that ring any bells? Remind you of anyone? Because I’ll tell you who Light Spinner reminded me of. A combination of Glimmer, Catra, and Adora. Gosh, I do love me a good book end and parallel, and Light Spinner is one that we often overlook.

Now we’re heading into a bit of headcanon territory here, so stick with me for a moment.

HC1: Every creature and person on Etheria has a baseline level of magic, and without that magic they will die.

HC2: The failed spell of obtainment drained Light Spinner of all her magic, and in a desperate attempt to survive she was able to turn it on other powerful magic users. Low level demonic pact, she sacrificed them to have enough magic left in her to survive.

Light Spinner is riding a manic euphoria from her first hit of a strong drug, which just happens to be some of the purest most mind meltingly power drug to ever exist, and is absolutely on a power trip at this point. She SURVIVED dying! She has the power, so much power! She was only ever held back here, people here didn’t understand, and neither did she but she does now! She understands now that THIS FEELING, oh this feeling!! She is like a god, she can do anything ANYTHING- but not if she stays here. Oh no, no, no, not by staying here. She’s killed people to survive, terrible but necessary, but no one will accept her now because they barely tolerated her before. So she’ll go somewhere where her power- her VISIONS are appreciated, are more than tolerated- she will be a fucking QUEEN and if they won’t join her they will suffer the consequences. God damn she is HIGH AS FUCK!

And she’s, like, halfish right? She did survive death, she does have an ungodly amount of power but it’s very temporary and also killing her. She was held back but for good reason, there were people who loved her, cared about her, valued her, understood her who she is abandoning now. She’s not a god, again, temporary cosmic powers with a very itty bitty living space. She did kill to survive, and the debate on the ethics of that will go round and round. Light Spinner had a power fantasy and she thinks it’s become reality, so she’s a bit off the deep end.

Shadow Weaver goes to the Horde. I like to envision that wherever she went, the natural flora around her died, it’s magic sucked up into the endless black hole inside her. She gets there, shows what she has done, promises things she cannot fully keep, and asks Hordak to give her the Black Garnet. Something that he has to know by now he cannot control or trust the princess family with, so it’s basically an annoying stone to him, sure ya weirdo you can have it. Fuck up and I’ll kill you though.

Shadow Weaver, probably: Ah hell yeah!

She gets a runestone and as the magic she absorbed starts to really fade- so does the euphoric high. She is feeling more and more depressed, hazy, numb, bad… guilty. Ashamed. But Shadow Weaver is powerful and she doesn’t want to feel bad, she doesn’t want to look at what she’s done to survive, she doesn’t want to confront what she’s done wrong. (Remind you of anyone, yet again?) So she doesn’t. She convinces herself that’s weak Light Spinner thinking and talk. She’s Shadow Weaver, she’s been reborn, she’s a totally different person now!! (She’s pulling an Anakin Skywalker/Vader right now) So those guilt and shame feelings are because of who she was, not what she’s done! What she did made her stronger, more powerful, made her second in command of the Horde! 

And I think in that moment of, “Fuck you universe, I played your game and won and I won’t be denied again!” she manages to chip part of the garnet off. And that little chip radiates magical power. She makes her mask and uses it up, the hit of her drug feels good in comparison to how bad she felt, and once again she’s racing against the clock to magical death. But the chip of the runestone resonates with itself, she can re-charge it. She can now get an undiluted source of magic, take a good hard hit of her drug, whenever she wants. 

As the years go on she learns how to control that recharging to some degree, but mostly she’s stuck either drained of her power or brimming with it. (Remind you or anyone again again?) So she yo-yo’s with it. And the more she uses, the more she NEEDS to feel that sense of power and euphoria again. And the more she uses, the less good she feels but it’s still better to have than not. By the time we see her in the show I think Weaver is genuinely unable to reach that euphoria anymore. The Black Garnet is a lifeline now, charging up feels good but only to a baseline okay. She’s a functional addict now, but she’s miserable most of the time.

And to cap it all off, what did her ultimate cosmic power get her?

A position in the Horde where she’s the paper pusher for Hordak and also teaches young children. 

Hang on that sounds familiar… aw, shit, this is Mystacor 2.0 now! The only difference is she has two aces in the hole in the form of two abused and manipulated children instead of one shitty “little brother” (some friend he was!) and actually holds the respect (the fear) of those around her.

I think Weaver, to some extent, has accepted and loathes the mediocrity her life has become. She was once a god, but nothing can get her there again.

Let’s briefly talk about her relationship to Catra and Adora. First of all, yes, 100% she was their abuser. Like, that’s just straight up text, in the show, no duh. The controversial thing (bewilderingly) is that I think Shadow Weaver came to genuinely care for them. Like, in the most fucked up way possible, I think she cared for them. She projected onto them (both herself, Norwyn, Micah, Hordak, anyone who’s been important in her life she projected alternatingly on them) and she used them to stay emotionally balanced because the drugs just aren’t cutting it anymore fam. Likewise, I think to some extent she genuinely thought she was doing right by them.

Look, you need to accept that most people don’t think they’re wrong. They don’t think they’re monsters. They believe they are doing the right thing for themselves and usually everyone else too. Child abusers especially don’t see themselves as monsters, they are more likely to see themselves as victims fighting back than as a monster. It’s fucked up, it’s not okay, but that’s the way it goes. And I know that especially right now that might be cutting a little close to home, but it’s important to remember when it comes to Shadow Weaver and her story.

Weaver really thinks she’s helping these two little freaks she cares about out by making them “harder” (because Light Spinner was made weaker for being emotional), “stronger” (because Light Spinner was hurt and held back by not being stronger), and “powerful” (because doing drugs made her a fucking god-queen and got her everything she thinks is good in her life). So she has to be a little harsh (torturing children) at times, they’ll thank me later! Besides look at them, they love me (you’re basically their mom), they’re loyal to me (because they are desperate for parental approval), they respect me (they are terrified of you)! I’m raising them up so well :) (Madam, they are heavily traumatized!)

Weaver ALSO is still using them to regulate her own emotions. So when she has a good day, she can reward them within reason. If she had a bad day, all she has to do is be firm (torture children), and like magic she feels better! She can’t punch Hordak but she can electrocute and terrorize small children, and that’s almost the same thing.

So what if she’s drawing more and more power and burning through it faster and faster? So what that she’s started drinking to help ease the edges magic doesn’t? Life is pain and sucks, why can’t she do a few things to make it nicer? Does Shadow Weaver, too, not deserve a little treat in the face of the unending horrors?

And, god someone will want to kill me for this I’m sure, to some extent she isn’t wrong.

Shadow Weaver is a (fictional) person too. Everyone deserves to have some nice things. No one deserves to be in pain all the time, no one deserves to be scared all the time- and Weaver is in pain and scared all the time. Without her drug, she is weak and powerless and will die. That’s a horrifying and awful way to live your life. She doesn’t deserve that because no one does.

However, I think classifying picking up a second addiction and abusing children is, not, a little treat in the face of the unending horrors.

Weaver and me will just have to disagree on that point.

ANYHOW

Let’s jump forward a bit in time. Weaver gets in more dire straits, her life is more miserable, she’s at risk of dying from magic, magic withdrawal, and Hordak. Life’s a bitch and then you die. (Please picture modern AU Shadow Weaver as owning at least one throw pillow with “Life’s a Beach” on it, probably on her designer couch under the live, laugh, love wall art)

And all the sudden what she thought was solid ground just fucking vanishes under her feet.

Adora leaves???? Hordak is paying attention to her again and expecting shit????? CATRA IS IN CHARGE, WHAT!?!?!?!?!?

So Shadow Weaver is now powerless and locked up in her cell. Barely soaking up enough ambient magic to make her death particularly and excruciatingly slow. If she got sent to Beast Island it would either be quick or Micah could be her battery if he’s alive (and we’ll talk about Micah later, don’t worry). Once on Hordak’s shit list you are on it forever, so no getting her life back.

But she does have an option. It requires using up the last of Catra’s good will and loyalty (so she thinks) but it means she can get more drugs- I mean, uh, turn over a new leaf? Yeah, sure, we’ll go with that. Adora was always easier to manipulate without magic anyways, and now that she’s a literal princess she can do some magic charging too. Hell to the yeah- Shadow Weaver can never really lose baby!

First though I need to emphasize that when Shadow Weaver talks to Catra in the cell, she doesn’t full out lie. Maybe a half truth or lie of omission, but she uses the truth to get what she wants. And what she wants isn’t: to fuck Catra over (although that will be the consequence, too bad about that), to be explicitly cruel and traumatize Catra (although that will be the consequence, whaaaatever about that, poor little freak I care about), or really have anything to do with Catra.

That’s part of what makes her actions so painful. For Catra this felt targeted, it WAS a betrayal. Shadow Weaver is gone knowing what will happen to her instead of just letting Catra help. Catra genuinely thought she could flip their dynamic to some degree (she could help Weaver and then be the one in charge and then once mom sees how good I am at her job she’ll be all, “Oh I was so wrong about you! Let me apologize and grovel at your feet! You’re so amazing and cool and I will help you the way I said I’d help Adora because I love you and care so, so, so much about you!”) and that Shadow Weaver didn’t have a choice. But even when Weaver shouldn’t have had another choice she STILL CHOSE ANYTHING ELSE OVER CATRA.

From Shadow Weaver’s perspective it was very much more: I have nothing to give and don’t wanna die, survive at any cost. Catra is gonna probably be punished and/or die, which sucks, but not more than me dying. So Imma head out.

Catra was collateral damage, not the target.

Anyhow-

Weaver escapes and is booking it to her newest candy (drug) machine, she is already feeling a little better because, weirdly enough, it turns out isolating yourself away from free flora magics to maintain a baseline amount of your own magic is not a good thing. Weirdly enough taking hard drugs does not mean that you can stop taking your multi-vitamin and eating a balanced diet. She makes it to Brightmoon and quickly realizes her plan won’t work.

Adora is… mad at her? For some reason? Is she really holding onto those little hurts? Please! She was raised better than that, it’s war, she’ll get over it.

Someday.

But until that day Weaver needs another plan.

Good news, She-Ra magic did heal her. It gave Weaver her own source of magic again. Huzzah for not dying and being on a constant timer for death! Okay news, Brightmoon has so much more ambient magic it’s kinda wild and the forced withdrawal is not longer a cold turkey quit like the Horde was. Bad news, Weaver still doesn’t have a new source for her drug and she wants one- needs one!

And then Glimmer arrives.

Yeah, Shadow Weaver can work with that.

Teleporting to the Fright Zone and using Glimmer as a literal battery pack is the first real high Shadow Weaver has had in a long time. She had been drug free for quite a while, so having access to runestone magic again feels so much better than it did by the end of her time with the Horde. She is strong! She is powerful! She is on another euphoric ride! When Catra shows up, Weaver has no problem attacking her and torturing her for two reasons: 

Catra’s loyalty and love are gone because Weaver used it up to escape prison (so she thinks)

GOD THIS MAGIC FEELS SO GOOD, HOT DAMN!

Man this is going so well! Everyone is going to realize they were wrong about her. Once Weaver decides to change sides, she means it, all or nothing! She totally isn’t still struggling with the same insecurities she’s always had because she’s never addressed them or worked on them and fuck you for suggesting otherwise. She just likes being right, has nothing to do with having others see her as worthy and cool! They’ll get back and Glimmer will tell her mom, “And Shadow Weaver was instrumental in this victory, in fact, Shadow Weaver was key to it! She is a good guy now!” And Queen Angella will be like, “Wow, that is so great, thank you for saving and protecting my daughter! Would you like access to the moonstone? Perhaps a position of great power?” Maybe she’ll get another statue of herself, that would be neat!

(Shadow Weaver is high as balls folks, the thinking is not gonna be realistic here lol)

And then Queen Angella is dead.

Well…

Fuck.

Weaver’s high runs out long before things are settled and Glimmer crowned queen, but she already knows her game plan now. People still think she’s a bad guy, which is CRAZY TALK! So she’s going to prove them wrong, get in good with the queen (like a second mother perhaps?), get access to her drug, be powerful, and live the good life again. So there will be more work and manipulation to get there, it’s fine, Shadow Weaver is no stranger to hard work and a shitty life. She will make it happen.

And it kinda does. She gets in good with Glimmer. Teaching magic means accessing some magic, even if it’s not the good shit that gets you high. She’s proving how smart and talented she is, and also that she’s a good guy now and should be trusted with more delicious She-Ra healing magic.

Slight problem though.

Glimmer isn’t stupid.

If there’s one major critique I have for how fandom characterizes Glimmer in season 4, it’s that she’s treated like she’s either super naive or stupid.

Glimmer and Adora are, in some ways, having the same feelings about Shadow Weaver but just at different times. Adora sentiment of, “I won’t be tricked by you, trust me that I understand who and what you are. I need my friends to trust me.” is echoed by Glimmer in season 4. I think part of Glimmer’s frustration with Adora stems from the way that when Adora stood in this position, Glimmer did eventually trust her and let Adora do what needed to be done, but now that she’s here Adora won’t do the same? (It’s part of the larger, Adora thinks she’s better than me, Adora thinks she’s smarter than me, Adora is trying to undermine me, Adora doesn’t trust me- which is all actually Adora trying to show her love and respect while protecting someone in her very unhealthy traumatized way)

Glimmer’s fight with Adora and isolation in general in season 4 actually allows Shadow Weaver further in than she would’ve before (So everything is coming up Shadow Weaver!). But she takes it too far, Glimmer cottons on to what’s happening. And unlike Adora and Catra, Glimmer has had more support and love in her life. Weaver is not the be all end all, Weaver is not her mother, Weaver is a poker chip that Glimmer is trying to use. Glimmer also has more self awareness and coping skills. 

So Weaver doesn’t fully get her hooks in. She still does damage, she still uses Glimmer, it’s still skeevy as fucking hell. But it’s not the same and Weaver is locked out in the cold.

So what’s a powerful sorceress to do? She’s been off her drug of choice again for so long that I think she’s thinking of it as more of an abstract concept and following old bad habits because what else is she supposed to do? Reflect on herself, get therapy, and become a better person? That requires her admitting to doing wrong and dealing with all the guilt and shame- hard pass!

(Quick aside, Shadow Weaver is prideful. Very prideful. And do you know what that also entails? A lot of shame. So, so much shame.)

Then Glimmer vanishes and Micah returns.

Let’s finally talk about Micah and Shadow Weaver. Or, more accurately, let’s talk about Micah and Light Spinner to start.

I don’t actually agree with the take that she abused Micah. I think she did mistreat him, she was an adult and treated him like an adult colleague when he was a child she should have been protecting. Light Spinner had no right to expect a literal child who was under her care and purview to take care of her in any way shape or form, but she did. She went to him to vent and blow off steam which made him feel important and mature and grown up. Her childishness matched his actual childishness. It wasn’t a healthy relationship, but that doesn’t mean it was abuse. I genuinely get the sense that Light Spinner thought of Micah as her equal, that he was perhaps her only friend at that point. There’s nothing wrong with a friendship between an adult and a child, but there are boundaries that the adult is responsible for maintaining and Light Spinner did not. They cared for each other, platonically loved each other, considered themselves good friends to one another- and they were also too co-dependent and unhealthily attached in largest part because Light Spinner did not behave appropriately with him.

And I don’t think those feelings just vanished after the spell failed from Micah bailing on a shit situation.

This is headcanon territory again, so hold on tight please.

I think King Micah was captured by the Horde and spent time in a cell. In fact, I like to imagine it was the cell Weaver was thrown into because Hordak is a petty bitch like that. Shadow Weaver would go and visit him, maybe even personally delivered food to have the excuse to visit him. Show off a little, see how good I’m doing now! And look, Micah, if you just give me something, tell me some information, pledge a little loyalty, I can help you! Hordak wants you dead, but I care about you. So help me to help you!

(Sound familiar? I think this is a large part of why Weaver didn’t give Catra anything she could use, she’d been on the other side too and already knew what was actually at the end of that offer.)

Micah, meanwhile, hasn’t given up on her. He knows his good friend and mentor is still in there, and he believes firmly that he can bring Light Spinner back. He can convince her to stop this! She never even liked the Horde anyways, and now that she knows how evil they are, how could she possibly be okay with it? She could just leave and join him in Brightmoon instead! (Sound familiar????)

And Shadow Weaver is aghast that Micah doesn’t understand how mistreated she was, how hurt she was back on that side. In fact, he doesn’t seem to even think he BETRAYED HER by bailing on the evil spell! What the FUCK Micah, I thought you cared about me? I thought you were my friend!? But you don’t understand and you never will! (SOUND FA- *I am dragged offstage by a comically oversized hook)

The difference between Catra and Weaver in this situation is that Catra never stopped believing she could save Weaver. But Weaver used her hurt and hate to go to Hordak and tell him, “There’s nothing he will reveal.” She possibly even escorted Micah to the pod to send him to Beast Island.

Shadow Weaver saw this as tit for tat. Micah had betrayed her first, she was just returning the favor. See how he liked being left to die!

For Micah this is what broke the good will.

So, season 5. Glimmer is gone, She-Ra is gone, but Micah is back. Shadow Weaver thinks because she was advising the queen that she has a position to bargain from. To be fair, she has a better position than most people but it’s nothing special or powerful or even official. She is shunned, she is isolated, she is mistrusted, and she is hated. It validates everything Weaver believes about how the world works. She tries to ingrain with Micah a bit, I bet anything that she asked him for just a little drug because then she could fight more out on the field of battle. 

Micah is also not stupid. He blocks her every chance, they argue and bicker and Weaver realizes pretty quick that it isn’t gonna work.

So she focuses on her last chance for magical drug abuse- Castaspella.

We don’t know much about her and Light Spinner’s relationship in Mystacor. It comes across as very dismissive. That Light Spinner did not see Castaspella as an equal worthy of her time and, therefore, she didn’t get any of it. Casta seems like she was a little jealous of Micah’s treatment and special access, but never to an extreme amount. But Casta knows what Weaver did to Micah, she knows what Weaver did in the Horde, and she does not trust the woman at all.

Castaspella is also not stupid, it’s a family trait I think.

She is willing to partner up with Weaver and explore their options because this is literally the apocalypse and end of the world. So the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and Casta (unlike her brother) is willing to make a deal with the devil to make it happen.

Weaver returns and boom, Glimmer is back, She-Ra is back, Catra is back. Three potential aces in the hole and two potential power sources! Except Adora is spotty on the She-Ra stuff and Glimmer ain’t sharing. Fine, she has a plan anyways.

And this is an important moment for Weaver, I think she gets excited and then lets it go. She’s no longer locked into addiction. She’s still an addict, but she’s now been clean long enough that craving a hit doesn’t mean going half insane in the pursuit of it. But she’s still thinking and acting in a way that will lead her towards that drug, more habit than anything else. I don’t think she’s even aware at this point that raw magical highs are no longer the be all end all. It’s the power and respect she felt that gave her, it’s the euphoria and confidence it gave her that matters.

Now the failsafe, 100% if Weaver knew she could take it and get to the heart and survive she would’ve taken it as a “selfless good guy” act. But Weaver values survival almost above everything else, and she knows the odds are very, very against her. Whereas Adora has a good chance to survive, if she can focus and be She-Ra. If she does, then great, Weaver proves she’s a good guy (again, the ungrateful ingrates!) and proves she can be trusted with raw magic so maybe can they pwetty pwease let her get high on just an itty bitty bit of magic? As a little treat, perhaps? And if Adora fails and dies, well the heart fires and if they survive, Weaver proves she was a good guy who can be trusted around magic, and gets sympathy points for losing her pseudo-daughter. Maybe enough that Glimmer will trust her more again and moonstone power is hers to feed on like a fat happy house cat. Maybe she’ll even get Micah to see reason. And if Adora fails and dies and the heart fires and they die, well, she certainly won’t be around to notice, will she?

Shadow Weaver still cares for Adora, in her supremely fucked up way, but by now she is seeing Adora as the one who turned her back on Weaver. Everyone always “betrays” Weaver first (stop pointing at Catra, stop it, Weaver didn’t betray her and if she did then Catra betrayed Weaver by taking over and throwing her in jail so there for infinity) after all. Otherwise Weaver might have to think about all the bad things she’s done in her life, justified and not- and we all know Shadow Weaver has never done anything wrong ever and if she did, well now she’s a good guy so you HAVE to forgive and forget.

Then Catra has to be dramatic and run away (which Shadow Weaver wanted so Adora could focus only to realize that whoops, Catra was what helped Adora focus enough to transform) so now there’s no She-Ra so Adora is totes dead. Can Shadow Weaver get an f in the chat for Adora, everyone?

Also, Shadow Weaver can either celebrate surviving by being drunk off her ass or she can die happily sedated. If no one wants to give her hard drugs she’ll just have to settle for a good red!

And then Catra comes back and Weaver, drunk, is like, “Yer show BAHD for her! Dun tryin stopper. She’s gotta do it man.” Because, again, drunk, cynical, and falling into old habits. Catra, however, has been doing some of that self reflection and growing thing and doesn’t fall with her. Sobering up because, wait what the fuck, but my abuse script- I can’t abuse without my abuse script, she listens and thinks and remembers: Catra is the key to She-Ra.

Also the little ego stroke of “I know you’ve got more power than you’re letting on” (IE: you are so smart and cunning and strong!) which I don’t think Catra meant but I think a drunk Shadow Weaver who’s always had insecurity over not being enough and translated that into a lifetime of needing to get gassed up with drugs and false praise probably takes it that way, definitely helps with that.

Called out on the tracking (devices? Magic?) Weaver decides, fuck it. I am a good guy after all, let’s go get the failsafe to the heart and then I can leech some drugs off that as a side benny.

Pretty sure the teleportation drains Weaver heavily and sobers her up, the nausea is probably killer tho. That’s fine, the on screen action where she basically fades into the background is a great time to control that desire to vomit. Then it’s off to be a hero or something.

Except Catra goes hero mode and Weaver thinks, “I can work with this. Nice nice nice.” So she helps Adora limp to the heart, but of course Adora is distracted by Catra AGAIN. Messy ass lesbian love! Weaver tries to make Adora focus the way that used to work, but whoops everyone else has been learning to connect with their emotions and desires so it doesn’t work. Weaver gets a contact high that police have developed mass hysteria into believing fentanyl gives, and Adora books it. 

And this is one of the most pivotal moments in Shadow Weaver’s story and it happens entirely off screen.

Weaver has been left alone with the ultimate pure, raw, unadulterated magic for thousands of years. It’s so strong, so powerful, that she gets a fucking charge just from being NEAR it. She looks back at it, and she considers her choices.

Weaver can try taking that power for herself. If it works it’ll be better than the failed spell of obtainment. A better high, more power, more respect, she’ll finally single handedly be able to end this war. If it fails she at minimum kills herself but maybe everyone.

And unlike before where the idea that dying as collateral is 100% okay to her, Weaver decides that it isn’t worth it this time. The chance of getting the high, getting the power is not worth it. She will never have this chance again in her life. Shadow Weaver has made a lot of “good choices” for “bad reasons” up to this point. And whatever her reasons were, I think this is the moment where Shadow Weaver makes her first good choice for a good reason. It’s the most Light Spinner-esque choice she’s made in a long time.

Shadow Weaver takes the contact high she has and leaves with a plan to fight for a free Etheria.

It’s full circle, she’s finally back to her original goal, her original purpose. She can’t save the planet on her own. She’s not a god. She’s not a princess. But she’s a powerful sorcerer with full power banks, and she can use that.

When she gets to the creature Shadow Weaver has one singular mission. Get Adora to the heart to free magic and save the planet. That’s it. That’s the mission. No ulterior secondary plans. Perhaps a faint hope that she’ll survive this, but I doubt it. She’s too cynical and jaded to believe that, her actions don’t align with her desire to survive.

As much as people hate to admit it, Shadow Weaver genuinely does have a big damn hero moment here. She comes in, she saves Catra and Adora because she knows what they mean to each other, she knows Adora needs Catra for She-Ra, and that Adora needs She-Ra to survive the heart. Shadow Weaver is doing her one good thing, she is sacrificing herself knowingly to save her two pseudo-daughters and the planet. She is being, genuinely, one of the good guys in this moment.

I think that Weaver is riding the high a little, riding that euphoria one last time the way she originally meant to. She creates that nice little book end I love so much. Shadow Weaver is selfish, self center, power hungry, and craves authority. She is that way because of her own fears, insecurities, and traumas. 

Dying does not redeem Shadow Weaver. Redemption is not a gift, it is a life long act of compassion.

Dying does not forgive Shadow Weaver for what she’s done. Forgiveness is also a lifelong action of compassion which can only be given by willing individuals. Weaver does not survive long enough to be given forgiveness and then keep earning it afterwards.

But Shadow Weaver’s story is a very human story. It’s a tragedy in many ways. She is an antagonist in this show, and it does show! She was a good person with good intentions who made the wrong choice. 

The biggest difference between her and Glimmer is that as soon as Glimmer realized it was a mistake, she went to try and fix it, she apologized for it, she put in the work to put things to right. The biggest difference between her and Catra is that Catra was willing (eventually!) to actually look her behavior in the eyes and refuse to be that way anymore, she was willing to work on her insecurities to be a better person, she was willing to work for forgiveness and redemption. The biggest difference between her and Adora is that Weaver bought into her savior complex, she truly believed she was that powerful and strong and that that was the only way to do what she saw as the right thing.

So Shadow Weaver is here, riding the wave, doing the right thing and for those of you who have swooped in to save the day (big or small) you probably know the feel good feeling that comes as part of that. She has magic and adrenaline and endorphins pumping around her system- and Shadow Weaver is an all or nothing person. She dedicated to being good, finally, so she is going to be good damn it all!

I think when she tells the girls that it’s too late for her, but it’s the beginning for them she means it. It’s admitting she’s planning to die, it’s admitting she was wrong.

I think when she tells Catra she’s proud of her, that she also means it. Catra has become who Light Spinner wanted to be. Strong, powerful, loved, respected. 

I think when she tells them, “You’re welcome.” She means it. I think she also knows it’s the last thing she can really say, the last words of the condemned that will be remembered.

I think she wants to be a good guy and be redeemed and be forgiven.

And I think that despite all of this, she isn’t.

Shadow Weaver made bad choices and was held at gun point by addiction, and as a consequence she became a bad person because she was unwilling to work on the ugly, nasty parts of herself. She was a bad person not because she was an addict, not because she was naive, but because each time the opportunity to change for the better came- each time she actually had the ability to change her heading… she didn’t. Not until the very, very end. And one brave, heroic act does not make someone a brave hero. 

It makes her a bad person who did a good thing.

I feel like the Crew-Ra talked a lot about that idea. That good people can do bad things, and bad people good things, and that the real divide in the grey area between good and bad people are the choices we make. And I feel like in some ways the fandom has selective amnesia about that. We like to remember it for Catra. We like to remember it for Hordak. It’s easier to do for them, they did (at minimum) start turning themselves around more fully. It’s easier to remember for them because they had that time on screen for us to go with it.

Shadow Weaver didn’t, and honestly that is for the best. She is a great antagonist and I think her complex and nuanced ending is perfect for her BECAUSE it doesn’t just hand wave anything with her. We saw her evil, we saw her neutral, we saw her final attempt at good. More than enough for the message that bad people can do good things.

It’s part of why Catra and Adora wouldn’t dance on Weaver’s grave. They had complex relationships with her, more bad than good, but there was good and they did love and care about her in some fashion. That’s why Catra doesn’t say “good riddance!” when Weaver dies. She begs Shadow Weaver to not do this because she’ll die. It’s why both of them cry as they watch.

I know the joke, and I love the joke, that Shadow Weaver died doing what she loved. Traumatizing children.

Because, yeah, she did traumatize them one last time with her death! It’s part of what makes this heroic sacrifice a bit ironic to me. Even trying her hardest, even doing her one good thing, Shadow Weaver still hurts people. But it’s also trauma because Catra and Adora cared about her.

I’m not saying everything was hunky dorey between Weaver and the people/children she manipulated, mistreated, and abused and we should remember her as a hero. Not even close.

But I am saying that all these years later…

I’m tired of watching such a brilliantly written, designed, animated, and acted character be flattened out into a caricature. Shadow Weaver is not a cardboard cutout villain, there is a lot of genuine depth and nuance to her character. She has a character arc, and I believe she does grow as a character too!

I personally think Shadow Weaver is the best written character on the show. She’s probably legit one of my favorite characters (not just villains, characters) of all time! I’m never going to write a soft Shadow Weaver story where her heart grows three sizes blah blah blah. But I want to see takes about her and works about her that aren’t boiled down to: abused Catra, or abused Adora, or child abuser general ™.

She did and she was. She was also a lot more and if you wanna give her that full depth that she was so lovingly crafted and presented with, you have to start acknowledging that Shadow Weaver had good traits too, at one point was a good person, and died doing a genuinely brave and heroic deed. Same as you have to recognize that someone genuinely loving her deeply (romantic or otherwise) would not be enough to help her insecurities and fears. Same as we have to remember what redemption and forgiveness are.

I’m not asking you to love Weaver because she was a misunderstood little meow meow. Mischaracterized, yes, misunderstood? Oh god no.

I’m asking you to love Shadow Weaver because she’s a fucking cool and amazingly done character, and she deserves a bit of in depth love beyond love to hate.

[zukkaoru]

i need someone to crush my skull with a hydraulic press

[waspsinyouryard]

I plan to aebitrarily release the Gloopius story (the one I've been internally calling "Gloop Odyssey") on the r/HFY subreddit instead of anywhere reasonable, but I'm wondering now if I should somehow include that in the story itself

[wildflowercryptid]

really debating if i wanna use a new team in kitakami bc i just caught a shiny bellsprout and kinda wanna use her...

[kuroashims]

ֆօʍɛ ֆɨʍʟɨֆɦ քɦʀǟֆɛֆ ʏօʊ ʍɨɢɦȶ ʄɨռɖ ʊֆɛʄʊʟ ɨռ ʟɨʄɛ

hello : sul sul! / what's up : bloo bagoo? / how are you : cuh teekaloo? / i'm hungry : oh feebee lay / something in my way : choo waga choo choo! / you've got some nerve : firby nurbs / yes : yeibs / no : neib / oh my god : jamoo / woah this is fun : bum bum! / anyone home : nash na poof? / are you serious right now : ugh...groble! / you! yes you! go away : depwa spanewash depla blah! / excuse-me! get out of the way : blursh! meshaloob blursh! / i don't like you : boobasnot / no bullying : yabihorn! / i'm so bored : uhh shamoo ralla poo / happy birthday : humple borpnah! / this food is delicious : dis wompf es fredesche / thank you : vadish / nothing is impossible if you believe : benzi chibna looble bazebni gweb / cat : minicule / dog : woofum / baby is upset : aw crankus nooboo! / i'm pregnant : baba / i think you're hot : za woka genava / selfie : ongie! / i need a taxi : nicloske ga gloop / see you soon : geelfrob / i love you : por see gab lurv / live laugh love : leeb leefuh lurve / i'm on fire : wabadeebadoo! / goodbye : dag dag

[onlygarden]

reptile jungwon drabble

warnings: lizard hybrid won, monsterfucking, knotting, spiked cock, venom use, tummy bulges, mentions of blood. no one asked for this hehe but i couldn’t stop thinking about it and then i remembered my convo with cheye

when he enters you, his pupils slightly shrinking in their diamond-like form, he brings you a sensation you never could’ve experienced with any other man, or even a silly toy replica. not only is he fucking hung, he’s spiked, the spikes soft and bending back and forth, stroking your walls with a near threat of penetrating them with each devastatingly blissful thrust. he’s not just filling you, so thick and plentiful, he’s delicately scraping through your silk, the sensation almost akin to the feeling of a round brush entering you. his eyes pierce you further, and you curl your fingers on his back, the skin textured with patches of scales.

“w-wait, you’re gonna make me—“

“gonna make you what, doll? gonna make you bleed? i know i am.”

he’s languid in his movements, dragging his cock throughout your warmth, watching the way his tip swells against your tummy, all while his smooth spikes drive through the pool you’re providing around him. you keep cumming, can’t stop cumming, spurting around him and he hasn’t even picked up the speed yet.

“you should be ashamed of yourself, you know. letting me fuck you, knowing i’m just gonna breed you.”

his scaly tail snaps up to wrap around your throat, the scales sure to leave indentations that he’ll love to watch you struggle to explain the circumstances of. he spits a generous glob of his saliva, tinged with venom, onto your pussy, the liquid glooping from his unimaginably long, pointed tongue and sizzling against you in its presence— branding you. the way you squirm around his cock and squeal only causes a chuckle to erupt from his chest. his tongue rolls from his mouth, slithering across your lips as his saliva causes the plump flesh to tingle. that’ll shut you up.

“you like being such a dirty little plaything? you should really know better than this.”

when he climaxes, he fills you with such bountiful amounts of his cum that it begins to gush out of you, tinged green, but his cock only expands in response —the velvety spikes press further into you as he locks his cum in, forcing you to stretch further around him.

[cryptotheism]

One Bad Gloop if it was translated like the Emerald Tablet:

Original text, now lost to history:

1) “One bad gloop, and she do what I yoinky 2) Two big splurgs and a big ass gloopy 3) Three more yoinks, then I buy me a smoothie 4) Poured up a gloop, that's a gloop and a splurgy”

From the Jabirian Corpus, of legendary islamic alchemist Jabir Ibn-Hayyan, 8th-9th century:

1) A single bad gloop! What I yoinky, done! 2) They number among this: Two teaming splurgs, and a donkey-drawn cart of gloopy 3) The yoinks number three, at which point, one must acquire for themselves a smoothie 4) Poured up a gloop, that is a gloop and a splurgy”

Notes: Earliest extant translation is notably corrupt.

Secondary Arabic translation by an unknown author. 9th century:

1) One gloop of malicious character, and what I yoinky is done of her 2) Attested are two great splurgs and a gloopy of great magnitude 3) Of yoinks, three! A smoothie follows shortly after. 4) Upon the pouring of a gloop comes another gloop, and a splurgy.

Notes: This version is as corrupt as the Jabirian corpus edition.

From the Book of the Composition of Alchemy, 12th century Latin:

1) One bad gloop, a yoinky be done 2) Two great splurgs, a gloopy of a strong mule 3) Three yoinks, a smoothie 4) A poured gloop, a gloop, a splurgy

Notes: This was the earliest translation into Latin. However, it was not widely circulated.

From Roger Bacon’s Secretum Secretorum, 1445:

1) One badde gloope, and what I yoinkie hath been done of her 2) Two greate splurgges, and the gloopie of a strong asse is produced 3) Add upon this three yoinks, and the purchase of a smoothie 4) From this is distilled a gloope, another gloope, and a splurgie

Notes: This translation was the most widely read in Europe for the time. This form was the basis for several centuries of translations.

From Giorgio Beato’s Aurelium Occultae, 1613:

1) Only a single gloop is required for them to yoinky 2) Whatever splurgs are needed, they are half that a mule's gloopy 3) Where yoinks number three, this will result in a smoothie 4) Also, a gloop, when added to the mixture, will be doubled, along with a splurgy

From Roscrucian mage William Kriegsmann, allegedly from Phonecian 1633:

1) I speak of a gloop, and all I yoinky shall be done 2) I speak of two great splurgs, and their gloopy most tenacious 3) I speak of three more yoinks, and smoothies 4) I speak of a gloop upon the chalice, for it is but a gloop and no more.

Notes: There was no phonecian. Kriegsmann was likely working from the Secretum Secretorum Latin.

From Sir Issac Newton, 1680:

1) Tis a single impure gloop, and from this a yoinky is born 2) Fore is added a grande gloopy, comes a pair of splurgges 3) Purchase of wane smoothie tis built, upon the three pillars of yoink 4) Ye gloop poured, tis but a gloop and a splurgy

Notes: Newton was an accomplished polyglot, his translation is based in one of the Arabic originals, though which is unclear.

From Rosicrucian mage Sigmund Bacstrom, allegedly from Chaldean, 1802

1) Tis from CHIRAM ONE of the GLOOPY 2) Of two SPLURGS and a great GLOOPY 3) Of three YOINKS and a SMOOTHIE 4) Upon the chalice, a GLOOP and a SPLURGY

Notes: Though many translations claim to be from a Chaldean original, this is unlikely to be true. The Bacstrom translation is notably corrupt.

From Madame Helena Blavatsky, unknown date, mid 19th century.

2) Two splurgs and a gloopy conjoin to form The One 3) All things are produced by conjunction of Splurgs and Gloopy 4) Poured up a gloop, a gloop and a splurgy are Complete.

Notes: It is not known why Blavatsky omitted the first line.

From Fulcanelli, translated from the Sieveking french, 18th century.

1) One malicious gloop, and what is yoinky shall be done by her. 2) By divine conjunction, two big splurgs produce gloopy most grand 3) Upon three additional yoinks, the ONE sires the smoothie 4) Here, a gloop and and a splurgy are poured upon the chalice

From Fulcanelli, revised translation, early 19th century

1) One bad gloop, and what is yoinky be done 2) Two big splurgs, to this, a big ass gloopy 3) Upon three yoinks a smoothie is sired 4) Upon pouring of the gloop, a splurgy and a gloop are produced

I had fun writing this. If you want my actual alchemy research you can find it here.

[dark-lord-of-awesomeness]

was reading Fords pov of payphone birthday and I noticed that he said he hopes it wasn’t a being that targets a specific person? You have also made several comments on asks about Stan’s emotions…being less volatile as a result from the gloop

is the monster gonna come back and gets him as it is already attracted to incredibly depressed and sad dudes?

Listen. Its taking every fiber of my being not to expand Pay Phone Birthday Blues into a multi fic where they all go on a road trip to get Stan's car, while Stan's still suffering under the effects of almost being eaten, and also getting hunted down by the Entity so it can finish its meal.

I'm just. Really envisioning a specific scene. Like, halfway to Stan's car or back he sort of wanders off by himself, not paying attention or he gets separated or something, and its not that dark, but he's freaking out a little and, well.

There's a pay phone right down the street. He'll just call the motel they were staying at, hope one of the Fords is there to answer, and sit tight until they get him. If not he can just figure something out, no biggie.

Gets some loose change from his pocket, and man, its a little hot, huh? Thats the thing about deserts though, they don't cool until the suns down, but its fine. The motel has ac, and so does the car. No biggie. Puts the change into the pay phone, picks up the phone, dials the number and-

All at once every defensive ward and spell Fords saddled Stan with goes off, and the world goes pitch black. The heat is way more intense, and he can see shadows wiggling over the barrier that popped into existence around him when the world disappeared.

He just got eaten. Again.

Except it can't dig in and finish its meal, because Stan's got more wards on his person than anything ever, and it can't break through to get at him. Stan's standing in its pocket dimension stomach, clutching the pay phone and listening as it breathes and whispers around him, not trying to hide what it is now that they both know whats happening here.

But he's got the pay phone, and so he makes a frantic call to the motel and leaves an almost incomprehensible message with the clerk for Ford before the line goes dead mid call

The phone's part of the entity after all, and it's not going to let him call for help again.

So now they're both just. There. Stan's in its stomach, not digesting because Ford's wards are keeping it at bay, but its not really comforting because he is still in its stomach. Its very hot, very dark, not dead silent anymore, as he can hear it whispering creepily and also its stomach gurgling.

Its terrifying. The darkness is wiggling like hands, teeth, claws, and also maybe a stomach. Hard to say with the shimmery barrier in the way and Stan huddling down, clutching his knees in terror.

Since Fords closer he can track Stan down (freaking out, because half the trackers he stuck on Stan aren't working, which means-), figure out where the two dimensions are closest, and use magic to physically pull Stan out again. Or something. Details are blurry there, but Ford saves the day here.

Then the pay phone follows them. Now that Stan's aware of it, he realizes it the same pay phone, innocently sitting in places pay phones would be, and no one but him can see it. Its a lure, trying to get Stan to use it so the Entity can pounce.

BUT! I already have Princess Stan, Doppeldead, Venus Vampire Trap, and my cat Stan's i'm working on. Not to mention Dragon Ford and related shorts. I've got too many ideas and not enough time! Its physically killing me! My brains bursting all the time!

[billskeis]

i quickly thought of this after watching a porno and needed to get it out.

ᡣ𐭩 loser virgin bill and his experienced gf

“a-and you’re sure you’re okay with this..?” he stutters as you’re already opening your mouth, drooling at the pretty cock in front of your face, mushroom tip leaking with pre. you stop and just look at bill, whose thighs tremble in nervousness but anticipation as you talked about giving bill a blowjob.

“of course i am! wouldn’t have gone this far if i wasn’t, hm?” you lean your head to rest on one of bill’s thighs looking up at him as he sits upright on the edge of his bed, propped on his elbows as you sit on your knees placed right between his legs. “o-okay..” smiling brightly at the boy in front of you.

sticking out your tongue, wet with drool from how you’re salivating. you’ve been waiting for this moment forever, the right time to finally pounce. from simply hanging out and watching movies in his bedroom, you pulled up with the ‘can i suck you off?’ question, leaving bill in complete and utter shock. and to your surprise, he said yes.

bill has no experience. whatsoever. its so cute. he gets all shy and flustered whenever you make an advance on him. holding his hips, kissing his neck, whispering dirty things into his ears. he’s never known what it’s like to cum. never masturbated in his life. never seen porn before. he’s never fucking seen a tit or pussy, period.

this excites you to the max. you can’t help but physically get wet at the thought of taking your boyfriend’s virginity and corrupting him. and here you are, about to make it happen. you lick up the length of bill’s cock, he whimpers, it’s high pitch and nasally. fucking delicious, you thought.

“ahhnn, y-y/n..” “shhhh baby just let me do all’tha work mmkay?” he nods feverishly, gripping the sheets as you work your tongue along the shaft of his penis. feeling it throb against the flat of your tongue, you moan, propping both your hands on each of his thighs as you hold them wider and begin to bring your whole mouth to the tip of his cock.

engulfing it, you swirl your tongue around the head, ensuring that you lick up alllll the precum that gloops out. “oohh.. f-fuck..” you kitten lick at his cock and look at him, smirking as his dick stays in your mouth, “feelsh’good?” as you talk with his dick in your mouth, bill can’t help but shudder at the erotic scene in front of him. is this what porn is like?

“ja.. my tummy feels nice..” bless his heart. “does it now?” and before he could speak, you go down, bobbing your head up and down his thick length as you motion your tongue to continuously run against the flesh of his cock, feeling every vein that decors his member, cupping his balls in your hands as you fondle them.

“eek! schatzi! no! please!” bill’s legs attempt to clamp close as he tries to bring your head up from his cock, overstimulated from the sudden pleasure of a blowjob. he’s sooo sensitive.. but it’s his fault! how can someone so cute never have gotten a blowjob?? you feel honoured to be his first, and you wanna make sure it’s the best and last he’s ever had.

you swat away at his feeble attempts to escape from you. sucking even harder, you’re hollowing out your cheeks and stick your tongue out deeper to make sure you don’t gag, deep-throating him. his tip hits the back of your throat leading you to moan at the sensation. bill can only moan, mouth formed into an O shape as the rest of his body falls against the bed, there’s no winning with you and he’s given up on trying to stop you.

the sounds are nasty, lewd, wet, and squelchy as you blow off your boyfriend, occasionally stopping to pay extra attention to the head of bill’s cock, his favourite spot. you can tell it’s his favourite because he get’s especially whiny when you do.

“y/n..! y/n baby please stop ‘m gonna pee.. please!!” but you don’t. you don’t understand the concept of stopping because you’ve already gone this far. but bill doesn’t understand that he’s not actually gonna ‘pee.’ how silly of him x3! such a naive boy..

as much as he wants you to stop. he feels shooo good. he’s just too shy to actually admit it, feeling like a complete loser for moaning and whimpering like a bitch in heat cause it’s his first blowjob. he hates how much more experienced you are than him. he wants to make you feel good too! but that’s a discussion for a later time.

as you suckle on the tip, bill finally sees white. breathing extremely heavy, his moans are caught in his throat and they come out as cries. his thighs shake and tremble as he paints your throat walls a creamy white. you milk him, ensuring to suck out every drop of cum from him. it’s delicious, you love the taste. it’s even tastier coming from bill, an addicting ambrosia that you can’t wait to get more of.

latching off bill’s cock with a ‘pop!’ you lick at the cum that formed on the flesh of your lips, relishing in the taste. smirking at your boyfriend, you giggle at how he can’t look at you, eyes darting to everywhere in the room but you. that is, until you cup his face to look at you and place a kiss to his lips.

you dart your tongue to enter his mouth, assaulting his own. tasting himself, he cringes at the taste of his own cum. you like this? he moans into the kiss, not knowing where to place them, holding himself up on the bed instead as you now sit in his lap. as you part lips with him, bill snuggles his head into your chest, now hugging you. “you okay? how was it?” “felt s’good.. i want more..”

petting his hair, you can’t help but laugh at how cute he is. you get up from his lap to grab the tv remote from the floor, movie finished from your previous session. reaching for it from over the bed, bill gasps as he stares at you in front of him, ass up with your skirt all ridden up to reveal the wet patch on your panties. you’re soaked from just sucking him off. “y-y/n.. you’re.. um, i-i—”

“hmm? oh! ‘s all your fault billy.. now come fix it..”

[sockssquishiiii]

can we learn more about your ocs if you have any like . lore on them . I would love to know what they’re like

love your art and have an amazing day <3

hmm yes yes i have exactly two characters who have a bit of lore behind them. as for the others, i'm still comin up with something

all of these characters are in the same universe, one where monsters/hybrids and humans live together in peace

before Cosmo took her more "human-like" appearance, she was just this alien gloop nonsense from another world

after hearing about the coexistence of humans and other wacky critters, she came down to see for herself, possibly to bring aliens to earth

it was here that she met Ellie, a complete nerd and scientist with a great interest in otherworldly creatures. naturally, she was drawn to Cosmo by pure interest and made it her mission to learn as much as she could from her. in return, Cosmo was able to learn more about humans and whatever else lived on earth

seeing as Cosmo has a shapeshifting ability, Ellie suggested that it'd be better if she were to take a more human-ish form to blend in with the others. while unnaturally tall, she seemed to fit right in with society. the two have seemed to grow close over their time living together.

NEXT UP we have some background on Raiyuu

believe it or not, Raiyuu wasn't a thunderbird her whole life. before the whole incident, she was a humble adventurer, often going out on errands. one day she insisted that she were to take a mission that required delivering an antidote to a sickly resident of the high mountains. usually, this is a task left for the Dragons, as the area in question was known for its extreme weather conditions.

she successfully delivered the antidote. but due to being much more vulnerable than a much stronger creature would be, she didn't seem to make it out alive, as she ultimately succumbed to hypothermia.

fortunately, there happened to be a traveler nearby, seeming much more equipped for the unforgiving cold of the mountains.

lending its power to the harpy, she successfully regained consciousness, with a new form that displays her new power, granted with a greater lifespan, enhanced endurance and control over lightning. however, it costed her everything she knew about her past, thus she could start a new life in her new form.

that's basically all i have for now, i like having visuals for my stories so whenever i post about character lore it'll all have to be drawn. i'll make a tag specifically for my oc lore stuff.

[hailsatanacab]

a father's son

Happy holiday truce, @dashing-through-ecto!! I was your gifter this year, I hope you enjoy the fic! Based on your prompt: "Do you need any help, Dad?"

Word count 2.2k - ao3 link

Things have not been going well for Danny Fenton.

Not only did he fail in intercepting Lancer’s call home, so now Mom and Dad know about his latest grades—he didn’t even get enough answers for an F this time, not when he fell asleep within the first five minutes—but they also caught Jazz taking the trash out for him.

“That’s one of your chores, young man! Heaven knows you don’t have many of them, which is why you need to be responsible and actually do the ones that we give you! It’s just not good enough, Daniel James Fenton, do you hear me?”

The full name.

It’s not often he gets it, but it sucks each and every time he does.

What sucks even more is that now, with what little free time he has, he’s cleaning the lab. It’s just not fair!

Broken glass skitters along the floor as he sweeps it up into the dustpan, ectoplasm still clinging to the bottom of the beaker. 

He can’t even goof off—can’t even use his powers to finish quicker—because his dad is sitting at the workbench tinkering with whatever his newest interest is.

Great. Looks like he’s stuck cleaning the boring, human way.

The lab is quiet, but it isn’t silent. 

Ectoplasm drips, maddeningly, from the gloop stuck on the ceiling. That’s a form of torture, isn’t it? Danny’s pretty sure he’s heard that before, that the constant sound of water droplets will drive someone insane. He can relate, because this is certainly testing him.

Dad’s talking to himself, too, little murmurs about what he’s doing, where he should be soldering, how it should be working and why it isn’t. 

Vaguely, Danny wonders what he’s working on. Sure, it’s probably some ghost thing, but that’s not all they do! His parents made some pretty great advances before the portal switched on and monopolised all of their thoughts.

Yeah, that might be wishful thinking, but stranger things have happened! You never know.

Every 30 seconds, the motor on the ecto-filter whirrs into life, syphoning off the excess, pure ectoplasm from the portal and filtering it into something less volatile. In theory.

Underneath everything, the portal hums.

A droning beat that pulses in the same rhythm as his heart. Sometimes, he catches himself staring at it, leaning closer as it calls to him.

It scares him.

“Shit!” his dad shouts, dropping the soldering iron with a loud clang. 

It’s enough to knock Danny out of whatever daydream he’d lost himself in and he whirls around to see his dad sucking on one of his fingers.

They lock eyes, both widening as they realise what’s happened.

“Ah, I mean, suffering spooks! That really hurt…” He shoves his fingers back into his mouth and his shoulders droop as he considers Danny. “Don’t tell your mother.”

Danny laughs.

“Are you alright?”

“It’d take more than that to put Jack Fenton down! All good, Danno, don’t you worry,” he smiles back before shaking his hand out and turning back to whatever he was working on. “Or, I would be, if this hunk of junk was cooperating with me!”

“What’s up?” Danny asks, curiosity getting the better of him.

Normally, he likes to stay out of the lab, as much as he can. 

Obviously, what Phantom does doesn’t count. Phantom can’t help but come into the lab, set ghosts loose into the Zone, trash whatever weapons his parents have got going on, sneak out into the Zone when he can for some much needed R&R. The ectoplasm just hits different there.

“I’m trying to repurpose this toaster, but the ecto won’t run smoothly through the wiring. I think it keeps getting cooked by the element.”

“Oh? Do you need some help?”

Danny doesn’t like spending time in the lab, because if he’s in the lab then he’s either Phantom and he’s trying hard not to be seen or heard, or he’s Danny and he’s being punished.

But his curiosity is piqued.

“Yeah, come here, have a look! Perhaps another Fenton brain can knock some sense into it!”

So, he does.

Hell, anything beats cleaning the lab.

“You’re trying to run it through here?”

Dad nods and shifts in his seat to give Danny a better view.

“But you can’t, because the ecto is tripping the heating element… which is way higher than a toaster has any right to be, wow. No wonder it’s destabilising the ectoplasm, that would destabilise anything.”

Danny pokes around the casing, wiggling the wires back and forth to get a better look at the absolute mess his dad has made of it all. Sometimes it amazes him that his parents' inventions work at all.

“That’s what I’m thinking! But it has to be that high so we can completely break down the ecto!”

“You want it to break down?”

“Yep!” Dad says, clapping him on the back hard enough that he wheezes. He grins down at him when Danny turns around reproachfully. “Think of it, boyo, if we could figure out how to flash fry that ectoplasm high enough so that it evaporates—which it should do, it’s goopy gross liquid, after all!—then you wouldn’t be stuck down here cleaning for so long! We could take it to the streets after a ghost fight and clean up the whole town!”

Well, it’s not a Nobel Prize level invention… Danny’s pretty sure at this point that his parents would be laughed out by the Nobel committee. But, a quicker cleaning of the lab does sound nice.

It would mean he’d be stuck down here a lot less.

Besides… It's interesting.

“What if we…” Danny trails off and pulls the metal frame towards him, grabbing the tweezers as he goes. Vaguely, he’s aware of his dad leaning over his shoulder, the weight of him watching is a comforting presence that he’s not felt in a long while. 

The real trouble is that you need ectoplasm to affect ectoplasm, and that’s not going to work if the object of the game is to evaporate it. 

So what if they don’t introduce the reactive ecto until the end?

He makes quick work of stripping down what his dad’s already done and starts again, this time focussing on keeping the heat contained separately away from the ectoplasm. Just as he’s piecing together a trigger to concurrently shoot a blast of ecto towards the heated tip, Dad exclaims as he realises where he’s going with it.

“Oh! Danny, you’re a genius! Look at that!” Dad laughs and squints closer at what Danny’s doing. “Just wait until your mother sees this, she’s going to be so happy!”

Danny can’t help but grin as he ductapes everything to a piece of toaster casing to give it the first test try. Dad’s enthusiasm is catching as he whoops when the first puddle of ectoplasm burns off in acrid smoke.

They spend another couple of hours perfecting it, welding a case together and branding it with the Fenton F.

It’s not pretty—but then again, when are his parents’ inventions?—a long stick with a cattle-prod-like taser at the end. Instead of electricity, it launches ectoplasm from one rod and superheats the other. When activated, all you need to do is touch the tip to a puddle and poof! It’s gone.

Danny shivers as he watches another pool go up.

But, no! He’s thinking about it wrong. It’s not a cattle-prod, it’s more like one of those sticks you see people using on the highway to jab at the litter on the floor. It’s for cleaning. It’s going to make his lab cleaning chores way easier! It’s—

“Danny, just look at it!”

Danny looks at it, and then back to his father’s face when he can’t bear to see the smoking ecto anymore. It’s painfully happy and Danny does his best to be happy, too.

“Here!” Dad shoves the contraption into Danny’s arms. “You use that and finish what you’re doing and then when you’re done—I can’t believe I’m saying this, galloping ghouls, I’m so happy, I’m working with my boy—we can get to work transferring it over to the Jack o’ Nine Tails! Imagine it, Danny, with one whip and that pesky poltergeist Phantom will be gone!”

Danny freezes.

It feels as if Dad’s just dumped a bucket of ice water over him.

“Poof! Up in smoke!”

The fumes are getting to him. That must be it. His head is swimming and his stomach is churning. There’s a ringing in his ears and it melds with the sharp, stinging whirr of ectoplasm sizzling. It pulses in time with the portal behind him.

He stumbles, almost goes down—almost throws up—but it doesn’t matter. Dad doesn’t see him, already turned away back to the work bench.

It doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter.

You know what, it’s okay! It’ll be okay, Danny can sneak back down here later tonight and he can undo it all, it doesn’t matter!

Take a deep breath, now, finish cleaning the lab, ignore Dad—it doesn’t matter—and get this over with. Being here makes his skin crawl, he needs to finish—

“I’m so proud of you, Danny.”

For the second time, Danny stops.

Dad doesn’t say anything else, just sits with his back to him, opening and closing his hand over a screwdriver with the Jack o’ Nine Tails splayed out in front of him.

It takes longer than Danny wants to find his voice, but he manages to croak out, “What?”

“I’m proud of you, Danno. I know this year hasn’t been easy for you, don’t think we haven’t noticed. Your mom and I have been talking about how you're doing at school. We're not blind. We know kids can be cruel, and that Dash Baxter… But we're so proud of you for not rising to it. We love you so much, Danny.”

A lump grows in Danny’s throat and his eyes prickle.

His fingers bleach white where they grip the Fenton Evaporator too tight.

“Look at what you can do when you try, Danny! This is the boy that I know, this is the Danny that I love. I’m so proud of what we’ve done here today. It’ll make the world a better place, just you wait! Now, come on, boyo, pass me that soldering iron and let’s really get stuck in!”

And… And Danny does.

With shaky limbs and tears threatening to spill, Danny reaches over and passes Dad the soldering iron, watching as he gets to work, and when his dad asks him to get his hands dirty—“Here, run this wire up the rope, there’s a good boy!”—he does.

Danny does it all and he does it well.

He sucks in a deep breath, swipes a hand over his eyes, and he helps his dad.

He laughs when Dad tells his stupid jokes:

“Quick! What’s red, white, and blue all over?”

“I don’t know, Dad, what’s red, white, and blue all over?”

“A ghost that we’ve beaten into oblivion!”

And he hopes that his mom is going to be just as proud as Dad says she will be when she sees what they’ve done.

It’s easy, really.

If he doesn’t think about it, if he tucks his mind away and just lets his hands get on with it, then he’s just helping his dad and he can do that. He can do it.

He can do it.

So, no, he doesn’t sabotage what they’ve built. He doesn’t add in a failsafe. He doesn’t loosen a few screws, or overload the element, or untwist a few wires.

Danny does his best and at the end of the day his dad holds up the new and improved Jack o’ Nine Tails and absolutely beams at him. A work of art, he calls it.

Danny doesn’t sabotage it then and he won’t sabotage it later, because it’s a work of art. This is what he and his dad built. Together.

Danny can’t help but grin back, happiness curling in his belly even as it gives a sickening lurch.

He doesn’t eat dinner that night, he can’t.

He stays downstairs long enough to present the new weapon to Mom—very pointedly ignoring Jazz’s look—and then he heads upstairs. There’s an English essay he needs to get started on, after all.

He doesn’t miss the look Mom and Dad share, the fond tenderness, the love, the hope, all directed at him.

He’s happy.

They’re happy.

They’re proud of him.

And despite it all, he had fun today! 

When he lays down on his bed, he smiles and he can’t stop the laughter bubbling up as he thinks about his dad. At one point, he had been holding up a circular piece of metal he’d cannibalised from the lamp shade to his eyes, moving it back and forth as he pulled his funny faces, and some of that full belly laugh creeps back in as he remembers doing the same back.

He laughs so hard until he cries, and he cries, and he cries. 

Today, he and his dad built a weapon. 

Tomorrow, it'll be used on him, but that's okay. 

It's okay because today, today his dad was proud.

[waspsinyouryard]

I want the sun to finally set over the First Place, but I also want it to be a surprise for later

[bucketofbugz]

Part two of my live tpot 19 reaction!!!

this is honestly a really interesting conversation.

I wish we knew more canon algebralien lore, considering the sub specials aren't canon. sighs

THREE CONFIRMATION HELLO??

"what do you think comes between 2 and 4?" Six I get that's common sense to you but I don't think these objects have processed that there's an algebralien for every number yet

Tree leave her alone just go awayyy

WHAT> WHAT HAPPENED. WAHT IS THAT. WHAT DID TREE TURN HER INTO. WHY IS THERE GOLF BALL GLOOP ON THE FLOOR NOW????

ohohohohooooooo loving this

genuinely I feel pure joy and whimsy from the Freesmart stuff, in both bfdia and tpot. yesss be mad at each other!!! YAYYYY!!!

"they could've acted a little reluctant" Book I don't think Winner cares about you at all if I'm being honest.

ouu,, he's just a baby :((

NOT AGAIN. BRO.

LITERALLY ME RIGHT NOW

Chat I am so scared. I'm terrified. GATY :(((( GATY COME HOME :(((( EXIST AGAIN :((((((

they literally SIGNED THEIR EXISTENCE AWAY????????? THAT'S WHAT IT WAS??????

"the only ones not to sign were you and that ANNOYING LEAF"

oh my god what did you do to Leafy. ONE. WHAT DID YOU DO TO LEAFY.

HOW WAS SHE WORSE THAN DONUT???

ough. I love this show

what

what did you do

ONE WHAT DID YOU DO??

BARF BAG??? NO

when this guy's being so annoying you just gotta delete his girlfriend from existence

chat. chat what am I doing right now. hOW IS THIS MAKING ME SO SAD. THERE ARE TEARS. IN MY EYES

BAKTBALLL NOOOOOOO

this is horrible I hate it here

I knew that was gonna happen. dang it

Yeah TB just keep digging your grave deeper

GIGGLING TB cannot catch a break this episode with these scene cuts

oh my god

I have no reaction to the Liy Murdering Everyone scene because I was so focused on watching it but. oh my god that was really cool

HI ONEEEEEEEE

oh yeah that's fair. I'd be mad too if I was trying to let a rip in reality take over and some guy kept it closed

"YOURS? WHAT?" that's genuinely how I sound watching these shows

Pencil what were you doing up there

Pencil

Pencil why don't we get to know why did this happen off-screen

shes glowing <3 also One what was that.

OH NEVERMIND. GAVE HER A WEAPON

PENCIL

rest in peace Liy I guess. YESS Pencill get worse!!!

Who is the other one alive what

Ohohoho. I'm loving this. YES. GET WORSE!!!! GET WORSE!!!!!!!!

kill that number. lash out because of your trauma. you go girl. this is horrible for you and I'm living for it

YEAHHHHHHHHH

YEAHHH

oh my god and she immediately tries to start recovering people??? OUGH. ough I am in pain. Pencil </333

"I've been rooting for you this whole time" omg me tooooooooo

playing into Pencil's feelings in her vulnerable state in order to manipulate her? oh One you silly rascal

chat this is genuinely horrifying when did this become a horror movie

"oh it's not that scary" IMAGINE YOU WERE IN PENCIL'S PLACE RIGHT NOW. I DARE YOU

OWIEEE

Promising her that she'll get a second try at her friendships. That she'll be given the chance to not lose everyone she cares about. I am ill. don't talk to me

THE SPARKLY SOUND EFFECT I"M GIGLING

oh my god she killed her

"hehe" HUH. WHAT JUST HAPPENED

THERE'S SOMEONE STILL ALIVE BTW. PENCIL WAS STILL SECOND. WHO THE HECKis that Grassy I hear

no.

no don't do this to me

this probably reminded her of when she yelled at Ruby and she started crying. oh my god. don't talk to me

THAT'S WHY SHE WAS UP THERE??????

"You're safe here Grassy. From them, and, well, me" don't. stop it. STOP IT I CAN'T HANDLE THIS THE BABYYYYYY

I CAN'T DO THIS I CAN'T DO THIS I CAN'T DO THIS WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE"S ALL ALONE NOW?????? STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP I should have never said anything about me feeling maternal for this stupid bundle of grass I'm gonna go become seafoam

wow I sure do love the "the child is the only one that survives" trope!!!! not heartbreaking at all!!!!!!! it's so fun and joyous!!!!!

eguh......

I can't even be happy about the Winner and Loser reunion because I'm SOBBING and CAN'T SEE THROUGH MY TEARS

wow! so that was tpot 19!! excuse me while I go lay down and cry!!!! :D

[whimsymoonpages]

chapter 8. beth march by the sea

cw: chronic illness/condition (lycanthropy), physical injury and pain, emotional vulnerability, social awkwardness, feelings of guilt and regret, subtle emotional tension

the sun was higher in the sky by the time you finally stirred. the cottage was quiet, the usual morning clatter absent. you stretched slowly, your body stiff from falling asleep hunched over yourself.

they were home now. you'd heard them come in—maybe not fully awake, but enough to register the soft thud of footsteps, the scrape of furniture, the low murmurs of familiar voices. you'd wanted to wait for them. you really had. but sleep had pulled you under.

you pad into the kitchen, the kettle still cold, your abandoned tea mug exactly where you'd left it last night.

james is the first one you see, sitting at the table with his head resting on his folded arms. his hair is a mess and his glasses are off, but his eyes flicked open when you walked in.

"hey, y/n," he said, voice rough with sleep but warm. "g'morning."

"morning." you hesitate, hovering near the counter. you leaned over and rested your arms against the cool granite. "is...how's remus?"

james lifts his head, offering a small, tired smile. "better, thanks to you. still knocked out, but better."

"thanks to regulus." you weren't sure what else to say. it still felt weird, like you were stepping over invisible lines. you grab a bowl from the cabinet and open the fridge.

"y'know," james starts, standing up from his spot on the couch, "you didn't have to do all that. the potions. staying up. looking after us."

"i wanted to..." you pour crack open an egg and watch it gloop into the bowl. "you don't have to keep saying that."

"we do, though," james said, a bit softer now. "we didn't make it easy for you, did we?"

you shrug, not looking at him. "it's fine."

"it's not," sirius's voice came from the doorway, rough but sincere. he looks like he hadn't slept much either. "it wasn't fair. we've been proper wrong about all of this."

you blink at him and bite at your bottom lip, unsure what to do with his sudden honesty.

"we should have said something when marlene and dorcas were acting that way," he adds, rubbing the back of his neck. "the fact that we didn't negates all of the friendliness we had shown you before."

your throat felt tight, but you nodded, busying yourself with whisking the eggs. "i...i just didn't want to change things for you lot."

"yeah," sirius said understanding. "but we knew change was coming when we agreed to let you live here. we wanted things to change."

james and sirius now stand at the kitchen counter with you, both boys looking sheepish and uncomfortable.

"if all marlene and dorcas know about you is that you're a slytherin, then they hadn't been paying attention as much as they should have been. not as much as i have been, anyways," chirps james. he runs a hand through his messy curls and finally finds his glasses to put on his head. "life has been better since you moved in. smells better in here, anyways."

"is that a joke about my shampoo and conditioner?" you smile incredulously, but laugh anyways.

later, when you tiptoe into the living room with a plate full of eggs and sausage, remus was still curled on the couch, your green blanket tangled around his legs. his breathing was steadier now, though his face still looked drawn, the edges of fresh bruises blooming across his skin.

you set the food on the table beside him and perch carefully on the edge of the opposite chair, just watching him for a moment.

"you can stop hovering," remus rasps, not even opening his eyes.

you startle. "i wasn't."

"you were."

"was not."

he cracks one eye open, the faintest trace of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "thanks. for everything. you didn't have to make me breakfast."

"i wanted to," you murmured.

his smile faltered, like it almost hurt to hear. "don't get used to seeing me like this."

"too late."

he huffed a soft, tired laugh. "fine. but next time, you're staying far away."

"we'll see."

his eyes slip shut again, but his breathing was easy now. you lean back in the chair and sigh. his body is in worse shape than you had expected to see.

"james," you call quietly for the curly haired boy.

"yes, y/n?"

"can you get the mendwell salve and healer's hush from the bathroom?"

james stares at you as his ears turn red. "and how d'you expect me to know where that is."

you raise an eyebrow at him, as if to say do we not literally have a rule prohibiting you from using all my stuff in the bathroom? of course you know where the salves are!

james throws his hands up in surrender. "alright, alright," he mutters, shuffling off toward the bathroom, his socks sliding just slightly on the wooden floor.

you turn your gaze back to remus, who's now fully pretending to be asleep.

"you can drop the act," you mumble, holding a piece of sausage under his nose. "you're a terrible faker."

"don't know what you mean." he rasps, but there's no weight to it. he's letting you fuss over him. you'll take it. he chomps down on the sausage with a smile as grease coats his lips.

james returns, holding the two tins precariously in one hand. "i would like to state, for the record, that these were in plain sight. not hidden. not protected. completely accessible to anyone."

"you knew where these were because you keep using all my shampoo." you deadpan, reaching out to take the salves from him.

"your shampoo smells like the mermaid lagoons at crescent moon," james defends, crossing his arms. "who wouldn't want to smell like that?"

you bite back a laugh, focusing instead on carefully unscrewing the lid of the mendwell salve. the sour scent of the salve, that you were so familiar with, fills the air. "hold still," you say, dipping your fingers into the soft green cream.

"yes, ma'am," remus mumbles, trying and failing to not tense as your fingertips brush against the fresh cuts on his shoulder. "gods, that stinks."

you laugh, and work slowly, smoothing the salve over the angry skin. the cream sinks in and dulling the edges of his pain. you can feel him relax, bit by bit, under your touch.

"next salve, please!" you motion to james as you wipe your fingers off on a dish towel. he hands you the open jar. when you switch to the healer's hush—thicker, almost like honey—you catch remus watching you through half-lidded eyes.

"you're good at this," he says quietly.

"comes with the territory," you say, not meeting his gaze. "when your best friend is a walking magnet for broom accidents and untested spell burns, you get good at first aid."

"regulus made the draughts and salves, and you'd use them?"

"precisely. usually on myself and barty."

remus lets out a soft hum, like he's considering something. "i was wrong about him. and you."

you glance at him, surprised by the honesty. "you barely knew me."

"still," he shrugs, wincing just slightly. "wrong's wrong."

you don't say anything for a minute, focusing instead on the gentle circles you're rubbing into the bruises on his ribs.

"thank you," he adds, quieter now, like it costs him a lot to say it out loud. "for staying."

you pat his chest gently, right over his heartbeat. "where else would i be?"

remus closes his eyes again, but this time, there's no tension in his brow.

"so," james pipes up from his spot, clearly deciding he's done being left out. "what you're saying is, you don't mind if i keep using your shampoo?"

you throw the dish towel at his face. "james!"

that evening, remus had decided he wanted to rest by the ocean. that was easy, considering it was just in the backyard.

air smelled like salt and chips by the time the boys sprawled out on the beach, the takeaway bags crinkling between them. you'd all agreed to a slow evening for remus—no plans, no expectations, just the four of you and the sea air.

the sand was still warm under your legs as you settled near james, who was already determined to build the world's most structurally unsound sandcastle.

"that's not gonna hold," you said, watching him dig furiously with his hands.

"oi, i'm an architect now," james declares proudly, pushing his glasses up his nose, already smudged with sand. "you just don't see my vision."

"i see your vision," you said, barely hiding your grin, "and it's a pile."

"it's an abstract fortress," he corrects, tossing a handful of damp sand your way. "help me, or you're banned from my kingdom."

you lean in, starting to shape the lopsided mound with your hands. "your kingdom doesn't even have a moat."

"it will."

"sure, james."

behind you, remus was stretching out on a beach towel, eyes closed, the sun painting his face in soft gold. his breathing was easy now, steady, his arms folded loosely across his chest. occasionally, he hummed quietly when the sea breeze brushed past him.

out near the shoreline, padfoot bounded through the waves, the spray catching the fading light as he crashed joyfully in and out of the water. he barked sharply when a wave caught him off guard, earning a sleepy laugh from remus.

"idiot," remus mutters, not bothering to open his eyes.

you shape the top of the sandcastle carefully, smoothing the edges. "it's nice, isn't it?" you said, not really to anyone. "just...this."

"yeah," james agrees quietly, his usual energy softening. "it's been a while since we've just...."

you risked a glance at him, finding his expression unusually thoughtful as he packed another wall onto the lopsided castle. he didn't continue his sentence. he didn't have to.

"you're part of this, you know," he adds, flicking some sand toward your knee. "you're part of us now."

your throat tightens, but you covered it with a smirk. "just because i'm helping build your sad little tower?"

"especially because of that." he leans towards you and brushes his shoulder against yours, deciding that's where he wanted to stay. it made your cheeks burn like hell.

padfoot barreled toward you both, still wet from the sea, and you yelped as he shook out his fur right next to you, spraying saltwater all over your arms and james's glasses.

"pads!" james shouted, shielding the sandcastle with his arms. "you absolute menace!"

padfoot let out a proud bark before taking off down the beach again.

you laughed, heart full, the sky melting into pinks and oranges above you.

"leave him," remus murmurs to james, still stretched out, a lazy smile tugging at his mouth. "he's happy."

previous next

[gimmick-blog-bracket]

What were all the "replacements" you had? Since there were only 2

I'm glad you asked! It was very important to me that these blogs are owned entirely by me (currently, or when they were active in the case of a couple) so they wouldn't be put on the hot seat.

Here are the ones that I ended up using:

@how-many-evil-flags (brought back from the dead!)

@reallycool12345 (my digital garbage dump)

And here were the ones I was considering:

@pelvis-official (brought to life by me just now)

@veryspecificsitter (made it to do a single bit a couple months ago...)

spirits-of-posts (Would have been reanimated for this purpose. It was to collect various traits of the style and content of various posts to define several spirits, and determine which was most likely possessing the OP of a particular post when they wrote it)

reading-comp-posting (the less is said of that blog, the better. Plus it would overperform compared to these other options)

@waspsinyourclan (a strange Warriors semi self insert thing I made and posted to from February 14, 2024 to February 14, 2025. It isn't very good but is actually the reason why submissions for this blog closed on the 15th and it has an unreasonable stranglehold on my emotional state.)

@shrodingerswasp (I wrote a truly sublime story I still need to finish and/or rewrite in which reality shifting is an important part, so I decided to attempt it myself. This blog was created to record my experiences shifting learning CSS. Maybe I should give it another shot some time soon.)

And here are some half baked ideas for more blogs to spawn if needed:

Some sort of "gloop detector" blog that would detect instances of a certain character from a story of mine that is incomplete and not currently posted anywhere.

Some sort of "tumblr detector" that would always be triggered because that is the site we are on

A sort of "translating posts to English" gimmick that would translate posts from English into English.

A "horny converter" blog that would copy a post but make random key words pink.

A "horny converter" blog that would copy a post but convert a specific noun (for example "mouse") to a noungirl (for example "mousegirl")

One of those counter blogs except it would come up with a completely random string of characters (postsofbabel style) for each post and then inevitably not count even a single one of it in the post

Converting posts to rot13

Translating posts into emojis

A panopticon blog that reblogs completely random posts at a regular interval

Random (non gimmick blog) things to add if I somehow got through all those ideas:

Each individual Unicode character

The post itself

Various pictures of bugs I have taken on my phone

Various abstract concepts (showers, education, video games, etc.)

Programs offered by the University of Phoenix

[slowlysoluminary]

after that wack-tastic piece of media i figured we could all!! use a break!!!!!!! so!!!!!!

(more) doodles below the cut. and some commentary! Hurray!

^^ Post game is interesting. Most of the timeloop is about figuring the deal with the memories, some of it is about sif comng to terms with the king, and the very very end of it is about everyone regaining their memories.

so i say it again post game is REALLY interesting!!! because everyone, collectively, is trying to balance their old memories and their new memories. everyone except siffrin. who is not 1:1 old siffrin but is the closest to it, considering how much loop's been through.

loop??? becomes corporeal at some point in the end.

it's very bittersweet! i think! the whole of the party does an "i want to remember!!!" sequence, fighting with their own minds to fill the gaping holes they'd always ignored.

-- loop, after realizing the extent to which they're familiar with the party, had tried desperately to get the party to remember them throughout the loops. in hopes that something would change. they never remembered.

at the same time, siffrin is talking to the king - they're fighting with eachother physically and verbally, desperately trying to get the other understand. resetfrin is not the siffrin the king hated so earnestly, not the siffrin he tried to snuff out.

over the course of many conversations with the king, siffrin caught on. the king is the major lore dump here and is who causes most of the narrative development because i say so !!!!!!!!!!!!

actually. about post game. do you know why their designs are like that

resetfrin hated the lack of autonomy he had over their own body so they decided to. cut their hair. it's a bit curlier now that there's not a lot weighing it down

they decided not to keep the star stuff the king gave them. yada yada character development or whatever.

they gave their cloak to loop!! who is. siffrin again. physically at least. both siffrins are siffrin but with clear differences! like hair length and hair texture! and ohhhhhhhh no what do you mean the universe gave them the wrong body?? what?????? how cruel!!! how blasphemous!!!!!!!

loop hated the idea of keeping her hair darkless (mirror pronouns for loop btw!!! remember that!!!). it reminded them of what it was like to be ghostloop. which they hated!!! but they couldn't have their hair be lightless because that was resetfrin's new thing, so... they just. kept dying the bottom parts of it lightless. it's a compromise

how does the party distinguish the two siffrins, name-wise? uhhhhhh. ask me that question later. idk.

if.... if i have pre-game planned out. and post-game planned out.

then the inly thing I don't have planned out is the ACTUAL time loop bit

it's quite daunting because? that's like the entire point of the original game? it feels like i hve to live up to so much and like fhe loops have to have such a packed, coherent story

though, to be fair, most of what I'm writing will just be. the time loop bit. so i guess I'm figuring it out as i go

anyway, actually talking about the two sketches above, ghostloop is for SIFFRIN'S EYES ONLY!!! she can hit things but things can't hit her and all that.

after figuring out, through past loops, that the King can't see them, they realized siffrin was their only connection to the physical world. The Last Piece Left of them, physically and metaphorically. the whole time they longed for something else to acknowledge their existence. acknowledge theyre real

they also realize they can do Fuckery

the king has a Sixth Sense for loop's Fuckery,,, flipping him The Bird resulted in a rather quick death for Siffrin. whoops!!!!!

this au is. more closely revolved around gloop than i thought. don't worry!! i have a lot of gloop content planned! but. but you need to understand the pain of resetfrin and the king. the misery snd desperation fhe king felt about his country. siffrin pleading with the king, countlessly, hoping to see some SEMBLANCE of the man he once knew. you need to know the missing pieces the party finds, a hollow feeling settling itself around their hearts. you need to know so bad.

so you'll get gloop content! i am a big fan of the little guy myself, really. but !!! this au is not ONLY about them, believe it or not! hehe. haha. giggles. ok ill stop