#which is the spade world iirc ??

[kaoharu]

cracks my knuckles. google amnesia memories walkthrough

[fandoms-of-a-random-existence]

Is this that thing that you like? (/j but also where would I be able to find it it looks interesting)

FSJFHSKFJSKHH I-

okay I will admit i was not expecting anyone to ask but holy shit/pos

Okay, so confession time, Kings in the Corner is actually a closed discord ARG that is actually on hiatus right now because of IRL things, however the mods decided to leave it as a sandbox for the players and we have steadily been descending into madness and brainrot (dreamscapes arc my beloved)

And so, I don't actually remember how we got on the topic but eventually a bunch of us came to the conclusion "being insane about the blorbos on the discord isn't enough, we need to subject the rest of the world to our brainrot, what if we posted on tumblr like it was an actual fandom with no context" and well I am giving context now but shhh don't worry about it sorry I took so long to reply, I just. there's so much...this is gonna be long- anyways since there really isn't any way to get kitc content besides the players brainrot spilling over, here~! (apologies for the way this is. not likely all that comprehensible)

The basic plot is you/your character has been invited to the Kingdom in the Four Corners where we have a King, Queen, and Jack for each card suit, and each player is/was assigned a suit based off of your vibes, and later on, just got shunted into diamonds due to the uh. tragedies. Anyways! Because of the way the invitation works, all the characters have the potential to be from different worlds and universes which has led to the colorful cast of characters including [looks at notes]

-Fallen London OC

-Twisted Wonderland OC

-An actual Warriorcat

-Doctor Who x the Beatles OC

-Charas from players own original worlds <3

-The personification of healing from grief who is also from pathologic now

-AND FUCKING HOMESTUCKED

All I really have to say about the last one is don't take any orange pills the Jokers give you. (The Jokers are... actually I should preface this with the information none of us take drugs irl, but they are the closest thing to medical doctors we've got so uh, if you want to take some joker drugs to get a funky hallucination to learn more details about the rebellion/experience the previous Ace's executions for yourself as a side effect for your stomach ache, well are they they guys you wanna see! Apparently Jokers start their training at age 10 and it's very fucked up and also there are domestic and feral jokers??? I am concerned.)

Honestly so much has happened in a relatively short period of time I don't think I could summarize all the important bits but some of the highlights so far include: -The Bitchless Allegations: King Dani of Diamonds (Incredibly Bitchless, the Universe told me-) accosted a group of candidates (Ash, Hugo(ne), Raevyn, and Riyo iirc) who proceeded to get his ass. He stabbed Hugo in retaliation with his fancy magic sword that he shouldn't have even really had, Hugo was spitting up red jewels for a while, and almost died. All Spades got free access to Diamonds tower though so uh,,, winning I guess??

-There was a bit more lore in the interim and some puzzled solved but to be honest I don't remember much-

-The Bear.

-Also the Hearts' resident gays Salem and Luci (Saluci beloved <3) (admittedly not together yet) hatched a plot to fake a fight so the could befriend everyone despite the wild and horrific state of relationships between the candidates. They fucked it up. Luci and Riyo's friendship will never return. Esp after the Hugone incident-

(And oh yeah, Riyo punched Luci at one point, breaking her face revealing the fact she's an artificial being made of porcelain and some sort of magical energy and I may be getting the lore wrong but she's so cool-)(Salem helped patch up the hole in her face with a pretty glass mosaic and waaaaa)

-At one point the 8 year old Diamond, and 11 year old Club stood on each others shoulders wearing a trench coat and called themselves "Painsley" (Paeden-Ainsley) to try and get joker drugs. They failed and only got glitter, and it was hilarious

-Olive the scientists experiments with almond water, I genuinely have no recollection of the details alas, but i have been told it was very neat and was unknowable by science. Also he got an entire almond out of it.

-One of the Most Days Ever: our small 8 year old boy made of clay had been recently possessed by a 45 yr old catholic man, who, while he was cooperative at first in helping getting Paeden back, soon realized if this went through he'd die, and so he ran off into the woods after burning the notes, and so candidates were sent to chase after him. It. Did not go well. (while the chasing him down and catching him went quite well, after the catching... not so good)

+There is a dice mechanic for certain actions, and uh. well. Two people rolled to toss knives (and like. intimidation. slight limb removal. he'd already reattached an arm, it would have been fineeeee aha) at Frankenpaeden, and both rolled nat 1s. Bye bye clay boy </3

(Knife to the head </3. Dw Salem resurrected him later on via sacrificing a bit of vasts life force and the boy is back!)

+But it doesn't end there! Oh no! That'd be too simple! Good ol' Queen Dorset of Diamonds himself (the grandmilf in the flesh) who originally sent the candidates out, tells them to head back to the castle and not leave their towers for the rest of the night. He then proceeds to head to the cave in the woods where one of the former candidates (who withdrew to go and become a Joker, changed his name and everything, incidentally also one of the people most attached to the now dead small child) was busy having visions in his emo cave. They did joker drugs mixed with bits of clay from the boy's body to try and bring him back, and well. They did not bring him back. Also Kane/Jahan rolled a 100 on the d100 for the joker drugs, becoming immortal and also insane and kinda possessed by the universe. The player may have left the server, but the guy is apparently still in a joker larvae stage in one of the cupboards. The life cycle of Jokers is deranged (i want to say affectionate but. man)

+if you thought the night's insanity ended there, you'd be wrong! Meanwhile with the candidates, they're all handling the death of the small child in very different ways! Ash, for example, the actual killer? No remorse whatsoever, a simple "Oops," vs Riyo who is very traumatized by all of this, Hugo's who's a little manic about it, and Raevyn, who for context is a and inherently tragic sort of character who literally cannot feel emotions past a certain threshold otherwise their biology fucks them over and purges it, is making smores up in the rafters, and Luci cannot believe these people, "A child has just died-!"

+Oh my god this next bit needs even more context, but up until this point Raevyn and Hugo have been in a very fucked up twin relationship despite not actually being related where Hugo is unhealthily codependent and Raevyn is simply incapable of returning the trust. The players had a cool plot in the works with lots of dominos that were half set up, what with Hugo using a machine from the future to turn his emotions into rocks so he didn't have to deal with them, and eating rocks made from Raevyn's emotions in an effort to be closer to them. Unfortunately, the partially set up dominos fell fast and in wrong directions.

+So anyways, Luci, already having negative feelings toward Hugo, who admittedly doesn't like her either, takes out her own feelings on Hugo along the lines of "What the fuck is wrong with you, eating smores so happily while a child has just DIED, what the fuck, you just stood around giggling as Riyo had a breakdown in the woods!" and then it devolved into a "I had to make sure Raevyn was okay" "OH, FINE job of that you've been doing! Do you know about their breakdown from two days ago? Would you care? Or do you plan on just shoving all your feelings into pebbles and never thinking about any of it again" and one thing leads to another, Hugo devolves into self hate and starts lashing out, accidentally ripping Raevyn's worldview out from under them, and now instead of 1 imminent mental breakdown, we have 2.

+Long story short, things get fucked up, lore is surprisingly hard to summarize, uh, Hugo eventually does die, Raevyn biology hijacks the way they can't feel emotions and shunts the Hugo(ne) memories in that hole and so now they have Hugo-specific amnesia, and the Hugo is replaced by another time travelling version of himself (Newgo).

(It. it sure was a day.)

-And so! The next day dawns! "Man," we think to ourselves, "Yesterday sure was wild! I hope nothing too wild happens today so we can process everything!" and then Otterson takes an orange pill from one of the Jokers and gets turned into a Homestuck troll, via hallucinated autocanabalism. I sure wish I was making this up-

(I was in vc when this was going down. Cannot coherently explain the mixture of emotions I felt that day.)

-So now Otterson is a troll! Who eats glass! The glass bit is now a very important part of their character, much in the same way Riyo is pals with The Bear, Raevyn is the Bearer of Baked Goods, and Diego is our four-eyed forest friend who brough mud into Club Tower to sleep in.

+She breaks into all of the towers except Spades to eat their windows, only thwarted by Raevyn bribing it with homemade stained glass so as to not eat the very cool stained glass windows that Spades Tower has.

+Fellow Club, eldritch forest being Diego, is interested in this window-eating endeavor, and the two of them put on silly hats and become "Jeff" and "Codeline Sealson," very impressive window inspectors!

+Having wised to "Jeff's" tricks, it is especially funny when Otterson comes in, rolls a high enough persuasion, causing Luci to believe that Otterson has indeed gone to window-school, and is actually quite experienced in these issues!

+Anyways it turns out there was a gas leak in Clubs Tower. Classic KitC /hj +I also want to share the glory that were the matched statuses from that day:

-as a Raevyn with wings i speak for the birds. please don't eat our windows </3

-gasleak gatekeep girlboss

-gasleak glassbreak, gayboss.

-i have pelicans in my brain (also, why is there So Much Glass in the courtyard???)

-Out of sight, out of mind, What windows?

-windows ar3 sooooo tast3y!!!! >:)!!!

-[Looking over at the from afar.] Clubs are getting carbon monoxide poisoning?

-So! Sideplot time! Raevyn, Newgo, and Otterson are all down bad for one of their respective royalties, Queen September of Spades, King Shams of Spades, and King Caius of Clubs. Otterson seduces Caius with pipebombs, gifts of rat-children, and simply by being herself. Caius is captivated by her cowtroll swag. Hugo fails miserably by playing into Shams insecurities. Raevyn's crush never gets off the ground due to a mixture of denial, and also the mod in charge of September's tupper being very busy. Otterson is the sole winner!! Royal Romancers you were such fun up until the hiatus was announced </3

-Oh yeah Otterson also set a bunch of bear traps out once. It was great, even if none of the character appreciated it. She also got caught in one of her own traps fhdjfhdskfhs

-other fun things to note, there are a lot of animal companions, The Bear, which is actually an unfathomable eldritch creature who knows everything and likes baked goods (although it does seem to have gotten a taste for meat recently... goddamn it ottey/j) Ollie the mouse <3 who was orignally gifted to Luci, but she couldn't keep it bc Salem's raven Omen, technically a part of themself, would have eaten Ollie, so Ollie lives in Spades Tower with Page now. There is also a tiny cat-shaped fluffball named Acheron who goes by "Ghost," bc he's a bitch and hates everyone and only lets Raevyn know its name. Not actually a cat, but who really knows what they are. There is also some funky magic dog named Charon who is attached to and protects Otterson, and has a very charged hatred and rivalry with Acheron, it's very funny. Olive also build an android spider who became sentient an unionized <3 love to see it <3 Arsenic my beloved <3

-dreamscapes arc <3

-Now that the server has been placed on hiatus, the players were given free reign. I do wonder if the Universe (the mods) hide in fear of what they have inadvertently created- And so now it's time to bring in the other ocs~! Starting with Zoran my beloved, Luci's wretched brother the dreamwalker <3 (Entertainingly, ae was teased during a previous Luci-Raevyn conversation, where Raevyn promised they'd run aer over with their motorcycle if he ever showed up. Unfortunately for Luci, Raeven and Zoran have since developed a gay relationship. I and Raevyn are regularly bullied for our bad taste, as though it's not all going to go spiraling anyways smh /hj)

"zoran is great because for the first hour of knowing him aes charming and funny and normal and then out of left field he says some shit like “it’s not MY fault her best friend got stabbed. idk why luci was so upset about it” and your like Oh. Bastard." -quote from kitc server

+Salem, our eldritch bird person who is also the personification of healing from grief and has some powers over dreams is visited by this silly little gayass who judges the forest, and then kidnaps Salem via dream to meet his mother, the evil mad scientist dr. milf /j (please I don't want to call her that why must everyone continue saying it-) who tries to experiment on vast, but is thwarted by Salem being cool and having dream powers. Justified grudge against Zoran is held. +Meanwhile~! Little gayboy is off having fun and poking around other people's dreams, goes around causing mayhem and eats glass with Otterson, visits a cool tea house with Hugo, gets lots of enrichment from Raevyn's unhinged dreamscape with a alice in wonderlandesque chase scene, and a fancy tea party where they are attacked by a giant monster and card soldiers, and then take him to see the wishing tree. They also give aer the crown from the monster they defeated before waking up. gay people <3

+And so Zoran returns to visit Salem, where ae is promptly cursed to feel all the grief he's ever caused via doing his mother's dirty work and killing a lot of people. I should also mention he feels no remorse and is just kinda like "You gotta do what you gotta do, people die all the time." Salem fucking hates him. Sorry gayboy, welcome to The Horrors. It will not get better for you from here.

+Anyways so now Zoran is utterly haunted by The Horrors (Grief) and in aer efforts to ignore it, he goes off to hang out in dreams. He visits Otterson, and ae ends up finding out a little too much about their trauma, and she is not thrilled. He also is a bitch who is far too blasé about the corpse of her son he finds in the dreamscape. He is evicted from the premises.

+He then visits Olive the scientists dream! Finally someone who is normal about death! There is very cool floral imagery growing from the body of an unkillable patient. It's so cool

+Zoran's ass gets kicked by the personification of creation and art, physically (got yoinked out of the mirror) and also psychologically. Rip little gayboy you really are suffering The Horrors.

+Afterwards he visits Raevyn dreams once again, to fulfil their promises of stealing another crown so the two of them could match, there are so many fun visuals I'm so sorry I can't just show them all, but commit crime and theft in fancy outfits and they dance again, but the roles are switched from the tea party where Zoran dipped Raevyn, and now Raevyn's the one spinning aer around, I am so normal about Raeran I promise- So they get the crown, Zoran places it on Raevyn's head the way they did the same for him previously, and then that one wakes up, leaving Zoran along </3

+Soothed slightly from Eminence-induced horrors, Zoran visits Hugo again! But instead of a nice little tea shop, welcome to a warped coliseum where you get to watch a twisted memory from the shade of Hugone! For context, the memory was Hugone and Raevyn having to fight "to the death" (planning on faking it, bc of Raevyn's regenerative ability) to escape this planet they were stuck on, but as is the way with dreams, things get a little fuzzy around the edges, and the Hugo in the arena ends up graphically murdering Dream!Raevyn. Good lord poor gayboy, so sorry about you having to witness this- Newgo also ends up losing lucidity, and ends up in Hugone's place, where the Raevyn's corpse comes alive in a nightmarish way and rips his heart out. Newgo takes this very well, and calls the actual Raevyn a heartless bitch in responce. The twins are not okay.

+So now Zoran is really just out here having a time, huh? Honestly I tend to forget how terrible he is simply bc he's just out here taking L after L, but now he's poking around the mirrors and he mimics Page's reflection but moves differently, and scares Page. Admittedly it is not hard to scare Page, but still. Zoran is captivated by Ollie the mouse who hates him <3 what can I say the animals hate his vibes. During this, Page inadvertently gives Zoran a link to the world of kitc so he can come out of the mirrors in the form of a rubber ball... whoops? Dw Zoran does not have the time to use this power for evil, busy as ae is with The Horrors +Zoran then facilitates a shared dreamscape between Otterson, Hugo, Raevyn, and also Otterson's recently mentioned cousin Bunnyman. Hugo and Bunnyman spend the dream flirting via eating grenades and blowing up castles. Raevyn and Zoran spend the dream flirting via eating lit grenades and also liquid stardust. Turns out that stardust was the real deal aha and now Raevyn's biology has integrated it and so that one has glowing freckles and their hair is starting to be streaked a glowing white. There are more consequences that are yet to be seen. Poor Otterson spends the dream sad and alone as the 5th wheel </3

+Time again for Zoran to visit the waking world! Luci has learned about her wretched brother visiting and Is Not Happy About It. She heard through the grapevine her good friend Raevyn who is kind and desperately needs help, is friends with Zoran. And also likes him. If she hadn't already been one of the main receivers of Raevyn lore she'd probably be wondering what on earth happened in that one's life for them to like Zoran. Unfortunately, she's got a pretty good idea.

+It's through her that Page learns he's given Zoran a link to the waking world, and he freaks out, and manages to trick the ball out of Zoran's grasp, by suggesting a game of catch. Special catch... Where you catch the ball in your mouth. By some miracle, he manages to catch the ball, and then sprints away, before immediately getting caught by one of Otterson's bear traps. Rip.

+It's also fun to note that all of Page's effort was for naught, as Raevyn, horrified by the knowledge Zoran hasn't ever really eaten sweets, living mostly in mirrors and eating dream food as ae does, and bakes up a storm in the kitchen, actively using themself as an anchor to get aer out of the mirror, before feeding him many baked goods and decorating a cake together in a very gay way, before Luci crashes the part, physically drags Raevyn away, and shoos Zoran back into the mirror. you go girlboss

+Zoran's back to dreamwalking again, there's a shared dreamscape between Otterson and Roulx, resident Ghost who is unaware of that fact, and also Eminence is there. He is sunk into the ground bc no one there likes him </3 +oh yeah he also visited an Eminence dream at one point and got owned again (dropped in a void) I admit I am focusing a lot on Zoran here but also man. Ae's got his fingers into almost every pie, and also all of them are hitting him right in the face

+So let's take a break from Zoran for a bit, Salem and Luci are very cute and very gay together, and now that the divorce arc is over (wait did i mention divorce arc??? fuck i'm tired it's fine just know that it happened) they're on their engagement arc! Otterson enables and also helps get the ring for Salem, Raevyn helps Salem pick out an outfit for proposal date, and then!! Saluci proposal!!! Gay people <3

-There's another Raeran dream <3 They get to go see a bit of Raevyn's past, there is a teaser to the upcoming events where those two will venture into the depths of Raevyn's trauma to hopefully help undo all the damage and make it so they can access their emotions again, Zoran triggers a pop-up event and gets kidnapped and Raevyn goes and saves him <3 They have another cool fight scene, and then,,,,, and then,,,,, The Horrors start to catch up to Zoran and we get the dialogue: "You should go. I'm- [he laughs] I'm fine, really!! There's got to be more fun things for you to do than this!! I wouldn't to keep you waiting!" "My dear 'Ran, it's you that makes the adventures fun [Ae can tell that they mean it sincerely] I'm happy to wait with you as long as you need" (I am so normal about Raeran I promise, so so normal-) +okay man so it's been hours and I'm tired so we're gonna go a little faster, but Zoran visits more dreams, meets the Hugo family, and then stumbles into Otterson's dreams and makes. all the wrong decisions. and accidentally kills Otterson bc he was told if he killed this [Otterson first name reveal] ae'd get to know where Otterson was, and also she looked the way she did when she was human, and not homestucked. So yeah, he goes to apologise IRL and is vibed checked by Charon the magical dog, who Zoran thinks is a cat. I will never get over that/pos +Charon hates him. Zoran's terrible vibes continue to annoy the animal companions <3 Oh yeah and I think Page bit Zoran around this time as well- +But anyways! Meanwhile, with Saluci, everything was going a little too well and the evil writers couldn't have that! So uh whoops, Luci's memories of Salem have been stolen, just as she once warned could happen.... time to go track down the little gayboy and threaten him until ae spills the beans ig

+Salem uses dream powers to go mucking around looking for Zoran with Luci, and they eventually find him in Raevyn's dream, doing some very gay flirt-sparring. Raevyn's taste is once again insulted, and Zoran is dreamnapped from their arms.

+Salem then proceeds to torture Zoran with the grief curse in hopes to get aer to give back the memories. It doesn't work, but hey! Luci was into it! Salem is morally opposed but too gay to care. Anyways, seeing as how this isn't going to work, Luci kills Zoran, the third Luci sibling shows up, and they work out a deal to get Luci's memories back in exchange for a favor from Salem. The gay people are back in action!! Rip to Zoran though ae's just Not Having A Good Time, and it'll only get worse!

+So you've just been killed, and now you want to go hang out with a friend in their dreams! Well, sorry gayboy but you really picked the wrong friend.... Zoran back to making the wrong choices in Ottey dreams, culminating in Otterson fucking losing it/pos and eating him alive, which is neat bc as an artificial being the squishy insides as a result of aer being bound by the dreamscape was very cool and evocative,,,, Anyways his death summons the third of the sibling Kier again, who calls him cringe as he's picking back up the body to be repaired, again, who Otterson promptly flirts with over Zoran's dead body. Zoran is naturally offended by this and complains to Raevyn later on. "She murdered me. Utterly ruined my outfit with blood. Ate a bit my face, too. And worst of all!!! I think she was hitting on Kier!!! Over my dead body!!"

+But yeah! It's finally time for the regularly scheduled break from The Horrors! Welcome to Raevyn's very cool masquerade dream~! More delightful imagery, I can't stop thinking about the color coordination of Raeran, Raevyn with their white and lavender ombre dress and silver mask contrasting to black hair, vs Zoran white hair, black mask, black and dark purple suit and cape and WAH

(I'm sorry that i don't have the energy to go into it rn, but they're so narratively compatible and their motifs and outlooks fit so well and they make me insane)

But so that's more or less how it's going in kitc-verse! I'd apologise about the info dump but I'm afraid I'm not actually too sorry about it, and the brainrot has me by the throat, I can't wait to see how all the things unfold Hope you enjoyed the un-asked for infodump in exchange for the tragic news kitc is not actually a piece of consumable media no matter how much I wish it was!

[snowtimeisbesttime]

Thoughts and questions on Pesterquest Volume 5, routes 1 and 2!

also: sollux for volume 6 (route 2) you (might have) heard it here first

-The trolls' Prospit is still perfectly fine when we see it, as we still haven't done away with SGRUB. In Kanaya's route we see Alternia's Reckoning, the Land of Little Cubes and Tea, and our favorite rainbow drinker fan hunting for frogs in the clouds; meanwhile in Karkat's we straight up see his dreamself- who winks out of existence when he wakes up. John's did that too when he woke up after Prospit fell on the Battlefield, but I had thought dreamselves just teleported to their dream room's bed when the waking self woke up.

-Actually, I'm pretty sure we've seen dreamselves just existing on the moons when their counterpart is awake: John's before Descend, Vriska's in Make Her Pay, Dave's being on the computer and of course Dirk switching between dream and real selves, Roxy's flying out of Derse, Jane's when she dream revived (??), and maybe more I'm not remembering. Of course, dead dreamselves such as Aradia's or Jake's can't go anywhere.

-Possible candidates for Volume 6 basically trolls who were namedropped or had a cameo: Sollux (VERY likely imo, he had a good bunch of screentime in Karkat's route), Terezi (very likely too, as she's also a Peak Protagonist troll), Gamzee (less likely than the other two imo, though MC's been to his hive already), Vriska (could or could not........ it's a gam8le.)

-Worldbuilding: *happens* Me: *burning through my good note-taking pens*

~ROUTE 2~

-Now to Kanaya's route proper: she's got sunproof dresses just lying around. Very nice sunproof dresses, in fact. (the clothes collecting tradition goes on...)

-Rose immediately comes up on MC's mind when they look at Kanaya's room, though she's dealing with another Light player herself. Whose cameo here was practically expected, in hindsight. ::::)

-We find out that Vriska had been planning the whole Pupa Pan thing for Tavros for a good while. (Probably since she started planning Aradia's gift at least, though that was both a bigger project and also an... easier-to-see fix to what she'd done to her).

-And now that we've seen Kanaya's side of this, the panel where she finds out what the dress was for hurts a lot more.

(-actually kanaya spends a good bunch of her entire volume being sad??? and so does karkat??? and ofc jade did too????? That’s Fucking Illegal Let My Children Be Happy At Once)

-mc still remembers their movie date with polypa...... the feelings at least

-MC encourages Kanaya to finally tell Vriska how she feels, and it turns out she wants to be matesprits too... and it ends horribly. (Rose's bad route also seemed to be going perfectly well until it didn't).

-We don't know how much of the week she was out was spent travelling between their respective hives, though. (did she fucking run there and back???)

(-Kanaya's heart eyes, motherfucker sprite has jade eyes while Karkat's terrified sprite has grey eyes. Further fancy-eyed friends will probably have their associated color as well.)

-And by the time Vriska might have felt what Kanaya felt (the 3-way showdown) instead of just using her for her own benefit, it was too late.

-Bright colors seem to be a rainbow drinker thing, specifically? As opposed to being Alternian goth... (daraya's route explicitly states that she looks goth because she's wearing a lot of black, when she's actually one of the Troll Call trolls that wears the least black. What is the truth? We just don't know....). Meanwhile, chainsaws seem to be the go-to weapon of rainbow drinker hunters, like stakes are for us...

-Kanaya doesn't want a vampire gf, she wants to be the vampire gf! And before MC realizes that, they come way too close to a bunch of murderzombies. Now we know they can choose who they zap with them, with potentially disarming side effects!

-Undead blood is black like His Honorable Tyranny's, and probably something you should NOT put in your mouth.

-Sadly, Kanaya doesn't get to actually talk to the Tentacle Therapist herself, though she is assured that she'd like her. Mayhaps some other time, they will finally meet... hopefully in person.

~ROUTE 1~

-Weird knowledge of alien stuff absolutely takes a backseat to Friendship. Good to know retcon powers have an aim assist of sorts too.

-Karkat's theme gets a remix like John's Pesterquest one!!!!

-Karkat himself is as fucking zen as ever. And while he's got a wonderful good end (as in what happens -wise), his bad ends -all his routes even- are VERY much sadstuck to compensate.

(-Especially his short one... he finds out he's not the only being in the world besides his lusus with crimson blood, because he just murdered the other one... and then you think about how he immediately warms up to MC in his good route, and how he did the same with -past- Spades Slick, and then how his dreamself died in canon...)

-He can project his voice very well, just like a certain other someone who wore a cloak... Actually no shit he thinks ancestors are bullshit (besides vriska & eridan being 2 out of 3 trolls he knows that are into that stuff, and all that), his own's the most illegal one so neither him nor the aforementioned trolls he knows that are into that stuff would have found much stuff... (even Mindfang stuck to sneaking just the sym69ls in her journal).

-Did he paint his nails? If not, who did?

-Of course he'd notice this random alien was very warm. What he didn't know is that we're less cullable than we look like- case in point, Folykl. (actually, do we still have Plot Armor?)

-...Who was Gamzee talking to when we zapped into his broom closet? And why did Karkat freak out so much when he came close? He did know Gamzee was a clown, iirc... was he just leaking psychic spoops or what??

-The second Karkat finds out MC and him have the same blood color, they became friends in his eyes.

-Sollux (is here!!) kinda calls back to Dave in Volume 1, after Karkat and him finish their regular greetings and get to the point of the conversation. Hacking into the caste records is incredibly illegal, though Sollux's more than willing to risk being culled for Karkat*.

-We know there was an Adalov way before Hivebent time, but we don't know if that's our Adalov- and sadly MC doesn't get the chance to even hear that name. (it's too soon still.)

-How do we get rid of SGRUB? We take Karkat “The Fucking Leader” Vantas to Earth, obviously! Where he'll be able to play various skate games, bond with the kids over games left unplayed, and escape a certain death. Wonder how everyone’ll react to him disappearing...

-Narratively Unimportant Traits 1: dave loves olive garden's breadsticks!! Narratively Unimportant Traits 2: ...because he can eat a lot of them when otherwise he might not get to eat much of anything Narratively Unimportant Traits 3: karkat's been years perfecting hiding from drones that will kill him if they so much as detect his body temperature, and it's implied he may have been moving (will keep moving) from hive to hive as needed all this time because of the early warning systems, which warn him of his hive being about to go up in flames and killing everything inside it- including his lusus. We're in Hivebent's timeframe, but considering his good route's what takes SGRUB out, he might not even have turned 13 yet.

-Karkat's bad route ends with him just leaving, shrouded in Signless callbacks, after being put on a cull list not even retcon powers can escape from. ...That's also a way to get rid of SGRUB, I guess.

*Back to Sollux being a likely choice for volume 6- in Karkat's bad route, he repeatedly tells Karkat to come to his hive, after seeing him on the cull list and knowing there's drones after him. He knows and explicitly doesn't give a fuck about him being a mutant (though he doesn't seem to know how exactly is he a mutant). The last thing he tells him is “don't make me tell you how much i hate you.”

After that, he doesn't hear anything more from Karkat because he throws his palmhusk away, and then he just leaves into the wilderness. And even if we get the typical Friendsim timeline smoothie shenanigans, Karkat's on Earth in his good route and we don't know if he can still contact his friends. (Sollux can hear the imminently deceased. There's the chance that he might hear from Karkat one last time.)

If we do get the timeline smoothie, that's a hell of a motivation to seek out MC. (And even if we only follow the good route, Karkat still dropped off the face of Alternia after asking Sollux to hack the caste records and telling him MC was in his hive.)

[agoddamn]

re: rhea suppressing tech, at this point i'm pretty sure it's just people seeing shambala and jumping to conclusions. haven't seen any dialogue supporting that. if anything, the impression i got was that sothis/the nabateans shared *their* tech with humans in the past, but most of that was lost when they were killed. rhea herself doesn't have the same know-how (see her golems vs titans), and fódlan isn't lagging behind the other countries so it's just at the "normal" tech standard for the world.

Yeah, that's what I think too. IIRC Hubert or Edelgard uses the word "stagnant" while accusing her of secretly controlling all of Fodlan (which we know she doesn't), and no more detail is provided than that word.

Edelgard and Hubert are also canon, explicit opportunistic liars and manipulators when it comes to Rhea and what she's capable of (see: javelins of light).

So when a known liar tries to tell me something that contradicts what I'm looking at with my own eyes and is never mentioned anywhere but their own words...I think I'm gonna just call a spade a spade.

[rgr-pop]

LONG POST AIRING GRIEVANCES ABOUT DUMB SHIT IN BEAUTY COMMUNITY!! 

oh my GOD. okay, so, small youtuber who is climbing. beloved by many small youtubers because she is a regular girl and very nice and FROM UPSTATE NEW YORK and has social justice interests, she also posts a lot of drama content and some people (including me tbh) really like the way she kind of ~~democratizes drama content. don’t @ me it’s whatever. reddit HATES her because her mother buys her a lot of makeup for her birthday (literally) and she is not into self-punishing no-buys which is the only thing people like right now very coincidentally (going on a no-buy is apparently how you end landfills).

this youtuber is fat and not conventionally pretty--I really hate even saying the latter because it is objectively not true and also an evil thing to say even nicely, but for example she is always talking about how she doesn’t really care that her lips are small and is not interested in overdrawing or “fixing” them, and getting flamed for it. in the community (the respectable arm of it, which is the rddt, where we are ostensibly not allowed to be like “she looks terrible”), where there is smoke there is fire, and “not skilled at makeup” + maybe some nebulous complaints about whininess = she is a fat girl, end her. (”rude” = black youtuber too much power, end her.)

i’m talking about sm*key gl*w whose name is hannah, hannah #1, i think it is interesting to contrast her with the other hannah that i talk about sometimes--i try not to talk about her too much because we sort of teechnically have real world social connections and, also, i just feel bad for her. i feel desperately bad for hannah #2, because she is in her thirties having lived in art communities and global urban centers but for the first time in her life having to reckon with things like--”it is not appropriate to talk about calories at dinner, etc.” that is the second hannah, and while she is sweet and interesting to many in the small youtube community precisely because she is very alien to them (has mfa), it’s very difficult to watch, and sometimes i think she is the most “toxic” youtuber i follow. she is not an originator in any way, but she found herself in the center of a so-called anticonsumerist movement in small beautube that is kind of taking over, which is related to but not exactly minimalism--you have probably heard me talk about this already, at length. a good example of this is that second hannah recently said in a video that she was thinking of doing a shopping “fast.” i don’t know how she became this person, and how she held onto this kind of personality in spite of being in lots of communities that i am also in or have friends in where i know that if you talked this way about dieting etc. at a social event, someone would probably softly scold you. she somehow insulated herself from this kind of learning, i don’t know, then she threw herself into beautube where a woman who maybe sort of likes art and writes poetry and has heard of “fair trade” before is an absolute anomaly, but that community--like literally, where people do liposuction and skinny teas!--has only encouraged this absolutely unreal nasty and BAD behavior. etc. i have a lot of feelings about this.

so first hannah is a fat girl who is not rich--we will get to that!--but spends her money primarily on makeup. people HATE her. second hannah is thin, possibly rich in family origin (i think she is) but basically your average working artist in life. she frames her so-called overconsumption not even precisely as an addiction but specifically as a lack of willpower that she also struggles with when it comes to sometimes eating sugar (really). both of these hannahs consume and talk about quite a lot of luxury makeup--second hannah is very openly committed to luxury purchase as part of her self-conception. second hannah sometimes goes on “shopping diets” though, so people praise her! it is evil. 

above is the shit i hate day in and day out but the points below will have more to do with the screencap +...upstate new york, i guess. henceforth we are only talking about first hannah.

so this girl is from some kind of small town around rochester or syracuse--something up there. iirc she goes to a suny school i had never heard of (i looked it up and it is a “suny comprehensive college,” though i can’t remember if she transferred out of this school to a bigger school. but, as many of you know, sunys are cheap as hell and should be protected at all costs, this school costs well under half what my state school did, for residents anyway.) she is in her mid-twenties and not graduated yet, due to struggles she has had (and spoken openly about) as well as having gone to community college. they LOVE to bring up how she is too old to be a college student! she’s like...idk 24 or something. she is going to school to be a social worker in one of those accelerated programs, which she has found quite difficult (again, spoken openly about this) and which also requires, as many of you know!, lots of extra work, unpaid and paid. she said somewhere that she does not have student loans, but i don’t know if her parents paid for her college or just shouldered loans, or if she paid for it, or if it is all financial aid. (”not having student loans” is something that enrages people, ESPECIALLY when someone doesn’t have loans because they got need-based aid.) again, she probably had some financial catastrophes due to school failures (speaking from experience here), but: sunys is cheap as hell and there are a million reasons why someone could go to one and not be struggling with loans!

where was i...her parents. watching this has fascinated me! her dad was a school teacher and her mom is a social worker--absolutely public servant middle class. i thiiink (could be wrong) that her father retired already and ended up retiring from a principalship, so they were probably extremely comfortable by the time she was in college, but they are definitionally middle class. the biggest controversy around this youtuber is that for birthdays and christmas her mother goes fucking insane--probably spent two to four hundred dollars on her for her birthday. she talks about this all the time: her mother and her are very close and their hobby is shopping. people treat this like the bougiest fucking thing on earth and it is ba nanas. straight up, this girl has probably never even HEARD of anthropologie. listen, i can’t afford to live like her either but i recognize poor shopping when i see it. working class people like to blow their money on bullshit and to take issue with that is demonstrably racist and classist! i will not hear this conversation over again in 2019. for example, hannah made a video about her “high end bag” collection, in which she said she got a bcbg bag on sale for like $30 but had never heard of the brand before. she had once been gifted a kate spade bag and her DREAM was to purchase one on her own. she buys coach at the local coach outlet, which is a regional attraction. THIS GIRL IS NOT BOUGIE! THEY ARE JUST MAD THAT SHE OWNS CLOTHES AND IS ALSO FAT! she did a closet tour where she talked about how she has like 50 crop tops, they were ALL like forever 21. they are just mad about fat girl in crop tops. there is nothing to see here! does she have too much shit, and shop too much? sure. welcome to flyover country you dumb bitches. that is what I think about that!

so, she definitely makes money on youtube, but mostly enough to sustain youtube and makeup buying (possibly some savings? unsure. i know she said this in a video but i forget.) she has lived with this boyfriend of hers for a number of years and they are building a life together that doesn’t immediately include marriage, probably largely for financial reasons. i get the sense that his jobs pay a lot of their bills, but he just finished getting a teaching MA of some kind (i think he is a math teacher? i already forgot) and is entering the regular teaching job market. based on some of the following i think his parents might be wealthier than hers but i think they might also be teachers. as you can see in the screenshot above, people are enraged at this girl for apparently being a gold digger for getting a house with him before they are married! 

people are SO pissed that she was “able to buy a house” at age 25, but they did not watch the video! in which she said that they had been dealing with the death of her bf’s step grandpa all year, and the family had decided that they should take over the step grandpa’s house. (step grandpa’s family does sound “richer” because, according to her, this house had been owned by a GREAT grandparent and paid off decades ago.) her descriptions of this house are confusing to me because she keeps referring to it as both “old” and “from the eighties,”; I think it is an actually old house that had not been “updated” since the eighties. seems like the family did not “gift” it to them as much as sign it over to them in exchange for them being the ones to take out the renovation loans, which allegedly she said are $50k. unclear to me if she and her bf got approved for that loan--probably not, I think it was taken out in the family’s name. ($50k is too much to put into a house in rochester imooo but I am reserving my judgment there! rochester has a very flyover housing economy, much like ours, but with a much higher end, I think?)

so anyway, these vultures are sociopaths. “ Who gives someone a house no matter how much they like them? That seems wild to me” ...p-parents? dead grandparents? is your will gonna be like “my kid has to buy their OWN house like i did!” who are these people

YES SOMETIMES YOU STOP NEEDING YOUR HOUSE, WHEN YOU DIE

anyway I’m done. I just thought this thing would be of interest in particular to the upstate new yorkers. the whole condition of the indebted working-middle class is just like inconceivable to people who consume only ideologically pure content by wealthy west coast whites all day long 

[sparxwrites]

An old fandom friend @stardustandseas asked for some Caleb whump recs, so here!! Have forty eight of my personal favourites (alongside some quality angst-fic because that’s in the general spirit of whump, too). Feel free to reblog this post and add your own faves / plug your own writing! And I’m sure more excellent hurt!Caleb and sad!Caleb will be written in the future, so I may reblog this and add to it at some point.

If one of your fics is listed here and you’d like your tumblr url added to the credits, drop me a message and I’ll try to do so.

(Please check the tags/warnings on the fic itself. I’ve tried to tag for spoilers as best I can - I’m counting spoilers as Caleb backstory stuff and recent [as of August 2018] campaign developments. I’ve not tagged triggers on these, but several involve graphic descriptions of violence, sexual assault, and other similar upsetting things – such is the nature of whump.)

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“Betrothed” by MeBeShe (@matt-the-blind-cinnamon-roll) [Caleb/Molly; 70k WIP]

After nearly a decade of war, Archmage Caleb Widogast has brokered a peace with the Xhorasian empire. It comes at the cost of his hand in marriage. They send the Nonagon, leader of their bloodhunters, to marry him. He wasn't expecting a beautiful tiefling. He wasn't expecting Mollymauk Tealeaf.

[A truly delicious mix of slow-burn relationship, sexual tension and pining, and ongoing physical health issues and angst on Caleb’s side. It’s both soothing and emotionally satisfying, it’s currently my “save to read before going to bed” fic, and I love it so much.]

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“the mist upon the hill” by BucketofWater (@ereborslionheart) [Caleb/Molly; 80k WIP]

Caleb is a mottled canvas of thin, white lacerations so many that Nott can hardly begin to count them all, she wouldn’t even know where to begin.

Or, the soulmate au where some soulmates share injuries and Caleb is very tired and very sore.

[My other current “save to read before going to bed” fic. It’s got everything – slow-burn, soulmates, angst, Caleb trying to hide his injuries, miscommunication… I also adore this one and honestly, the whump is just so satisfying.]

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“Traveling Hearts” by CatKing_Catkin (@pangurbanthewhite) [Caleb/Molly; maybe spoilers?; 117k

A figure from Lucien's past shows up to collect on an old arrangement. When Molly doesn't want to talk business, the stranger takes him and the Mighty Nein for himself instead.

Caleb is only just able to get Jester to safety in time. But when the rest of his friends fall victim to their captor's vampiric thrall, that leaves him trapped and alone against the twisted attentions and easy cruelty of a wizard more powerful than he's ever dreamed of being.

Jester struggles to understand her enemies and make a plan of attack. Her friends are counting on her to save them, even if some of them don't know it anymore, and so she is determined to be the light in the darkness for them and all the people of Tanner's Crossing.

With a little bit of magic and a little bit of research and a whole lot of determination as they fight their own battles, Caleb and Jester might just save their friends before they lose themselves in the bargain.

[I’m… genuinely unsure if anything I could say about this fic would do it justice. Please, please read it if you haven’t already, because I adore everything about it and it’s delightful and stressful and upsetting and plotty and incredibly whumpy aahhh. I’d probably put it in the top ten fics I’ve ever read, which is high praise indeed.]

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“The Trauma Cafe” by MeBeShe (@matt-the-blind-cinnamon-roll) [Caleb/Molly; major spoilers; 114k WIP]

There's a cafe that specializes in rehabilitating people with trauma. That cafe was home to Mollymauk Tealeaf. Now it's home to cult survivor Caleb Widogast.

[Another of the big campaign two fics that I suspect is something of a fandom classic by now. It’s less whump and more angst, past whump, and recovery, but I do suspect there might be some whump in the next few chapters. We’ll see. You absolutely have to read it, though, as with the above three.]

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“The Mighty Fieber” by hufflepirate (@hufflepirate) [Gen; (major?) spoilers; 13k]

When Caleb gets very sick, the rest of the Nein take care of him. The fever draws some of Caleb's issues to the front, but if Beau can figure out how to use punching for medicinal purposes, she can figure out how to talk about feelings. Maybe. Caleb isn't used to being cared about, but sometimes if it's masked enough, he can navigate it anyway.

[Hey you know how good the “comes down with a fever and people don’t notice at first, and then they do and are really scared by how ill the person is” trope is? This fic is basically Entirely That.]

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“starwalker” by ashinan (@ashinan) [Gen; 8k]

Those whose souls are claimed by the Fey are to be feared. Briderall learns this lesson the night Caleb is taken.

[There’s only a little whump in this, but it’s high quality whump, and the rest of the fic is so fucking good honestly. I adore terrifying unknowable eldritch creatures that dote on humans so...]

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“Oversharing” by Verity_Kindle [Caleb/Fjord; 7k]

When a spell goes wrong, the group tries to deal with the fallout. Fjord’s biggest concern is for Caleb’s well-being, while Caleb’s is...complicated.

Otherwise titled, Why Magic and Secrets Don’t Mix: The Autobiography of Caleb Widogast.

[Old and now jossed, but I still love it - accidental / uncontrollable telepathy is such a good fic conceit, and this one has it in spades. Somewhat au since this was written with the first few eps of the new campaign, iirc, but I adore it nonetheless.]

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“More Than This” by CatKing_Catkin (@pangurbanthewhite) [Gen; spoilers; 22k]

The Empire got a lot more unfriendly towards “unauthorized” mages, after the attack. Molly hadn’t even been aware that “unauthorized” mages were a thing beforehand, but suddenly they were. That was just the way things worked in the Empire, now more than ever, and it was one more thing The Mighty Nein had to roll with.

(Or, post Episode 12, the Mighty Nein get in trouble with the law by virtue of being a group containing a goblin, two tieflings, and a couple of mages. Caleb pulls off some heroics to let them get away, and by the time they find him again he's been hit with the Feeblemind spell as punishment. Rather fumbling attempts at coping ensue while the rest of the group tries to fix things.)

[I honestly can’t remember a Huge amount about this, but I remember it being angsty and kind and gentle, and I remember loving it. It’s also written by CatKing, and I love All their stuff, so that’s a point in its favour. Plus, feeblemind has such good angst and h/c potential tbh.]

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“This is Not an Asphyxiation Kink” by Catzgirl (@fenesvir) [Caleb/Fjord; 3.5k]

Caleb is hiding some secrets from the gang, and they come back to haunt him at the very worst of times. Fjord is there to catch him.

[Hey remember when we were all convinced that Caleb had been waterboarded / drowned at some point, and was terrified of water? That was a good time tbh.]

and, from the same series, “The Leaving of Caleb Widogast” [Caleb/Fjord; 31k]

When there's no way out, Caleb makes his own.

[This is… honestly, very fucking good, and gripped me the whole way through. A beautiful mix of Caleb’s PoV and the panic of the others trying to find him, engaging all the way through to the climax.]

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“the sea, take us back” by vannral (@vannral) [Caleb/Fjord; 9k]

The sea says: You are not welcome here. This place is not for you.

Caleb Widogast fights with everything he has to get back what was once ripped from him.

[A fun twist on the “Caleb is a werewolf” theory that everyone had at one point. Or, well. Not so fun for Caleb, but fun for the whump fans. Very intense and dramatic, very satisfying ending.]

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“confession / absolution” by duckbunny (@duckbunny) [Caleb/Molly; spoilers; 8k]

Molly risks a glance over his shoulder – Caleb is a private kind of man, he won’t want to be stared at – and sees eyes so wide that Molly might have been ten foot of venom and claws. “No,” he says, slowly, “I don’t think you want to be alone. What’s up?"

[More emotional h/c and angst than whump, technically, but a favourite so I’m including it anyways. Also has some really nice smut as an added bonus, which is always fun.]

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“[untitled]” by words-writ-in-starlight (@words-writ-in-starlight) [Caleb/Molly; 3k]

viciousmaukeries asked: Molly/Caleb, both of them injured, waking up beside each other. hell, maybe there's even a cave-in somewhere in there?

[Both Caleb and Molly whump, my favourite combination!]

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“Suggestion” by pok3d3x (@tamiyos-pokedex) [Gen; maybe spoilers?; 6k]

In a world where mind altering magic is cheap, it's unwise to drink alone. The Mighty Nein step in to protect Caleb a little late.

[Caleb gets magic-roofied, and the team closes ranks to protect him and deal with the emotional fallout. Very intense and at times upsetting, but a delightful, emotional read.]

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“Everything’s Coming Up Flowers” by thismagichour (@calebwidogasts) [Caleb/Fjord; 5k]

The Hanahaki Disease is an illness born from unrequited love, where the victim coughs up flower petals until the love is requited, or death.

Caleb loves Fjord, to the point that it's literally killing him.

[I’m always a slut for the Hanahaki disease trope, which is a cross between soulmates and whump in the best way. Also, this list is uhh… super Widomauk-heavy, so it’s nice to have a wee bit of variation.]

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“till the last flower” by vannral (@vannral) [Caleb/Fjord; 8k]

The Hanahaki Disease is an illness born from one-sided love, where the patient coughs up flower petals. The infection can be removed through surgery, but the feelings disappear along with the petals.

Caleb Widogast is heartbroken and very tired.

[Hey look, I did say I’m a slut for this trope���]

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“swallow up the flame like me” by words-writ-in-starlight (@words-writ-in-starlight) [Gen; major spoilers; 8k]

It has been nine days since Fjord, Jester, and Yasha disappeared in silence and left nothing behind them but blood and scuffed grass. When the rest of the Mighty Nein manages to capture someone who might have information, Caleb decides it's time to take things into his own hands and convinces Beau to let him.

[Not… technically whump but it’s such a nice, angsty, awful emotional portrait that I can’t help but include it…]

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“a country far away as health” by LoosePilgrim [Gen; major spoilers; 2.6k]

In the fall of a certain year, in the north of a certain kingdom, a man took a body to a box and laid the body inside. He walked away from the body, and the body stayed there for many years.

When the body had been a boy (a man; a boy) it had had a good memory.

The body in the box had a good memory too. Here is what the body remembers:

[Kinda experimental and very weird - ymmv on whether it counts as whump, technically speaking - but, as with all the other kid-of-whump things on here, I love it, so. It’s staying.]

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“be gone” by mnemememory [Gen; maybe spoilers?; 3k]

Beau has had this conversation before, in a different place, with a different man.

(or; beau walks out of a cupboard, and can't seem to find her way back)

[I’m… legit unsure if this should be on here, but it’s gorgeously written, and grindingly dark and unhappy, so I think it’s earned its place.]

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“Disguise Self” by Agrotera (@agrotera-ilisos) [Caleb/Molly; maybe spoilers?; 10k]

“Even huddled beneath a cold, driving rain, Zadash was a brilliant city. It wasn’t substantially larger than the other cities Molly had visited when he was with the circus, nor was it especially more beautiful. The people certainly weren’t kinder. It stank of mud and horse dung, and the rain only helped to make the smell all the more oppressive. But there were little carts that lined the main avenues, and the proprietors of those little carts would sell you a bladder of still-hot mulled wine and an armful of cardamom and pistachio pastries for two silver coins and a smile.

All things considered—the gnolls, the fool bandits, the gods-be-twice-fucked weather—Molly couldn’t complain.”

It's their first night in Zadash, and Molly needs to get away. Caleb, unsure of Molly's motives, follows him.

[Less whump and more a character portrait with hints of past whump and trauma, with a copious helping of smut, but I love it, it’s on here, deal with it etc. etc. Honestly, I spent the whole time reading this sighing dreamily with delight at the perfect mix of sexy and Concerning, so like. You know it’s gotta be good.]

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“A puzzled love of the light” by ottertrashpalace [Caleb/Molly; spoilers; 16k WIP]

Molly, possibly the most flamboyant queer individual ever to exist, wound up saving the life of a homophobic Christian picketer. It's not the weirdest thing that's ever happened to him, but suffice to say that it has long-ranging consequences he did not expect.

[Ymmv on the fic’s conceit (I personally enjoy it tbh), but it’s an enjoyable read with plenty of angst and emotional catharsis, and hints of more to come later...]

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“a lighter in his pocket / a matchbook in his socks” by ScreechTheMighty  (@screechthemighty) [Gen; major spoilers; 11k]

‘and a block full of charred skeletons / closeted, begging to get out’

The ghosts of your past catch up to you eventually. Sometimes, they bring more than just the memories with them.

[Again, unsure if this… technically counts as whump, but there’s enough miserable, stressed, panicking Caleb that I’m going to count it, honestly.]

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“the echo valley” by vandenburg (@momlymauk) [Caleb/Molly; spoilers; 5k]

Sick from the incessant raining on their way to Shady Creek Run after a job well-done in the Labenda Swamp, Caleb receives some comfort – from Kiri.

[Sickfic!! Sickfic!! Sickfic!!! Also, Kiri being adorable, as an added bonus.]

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“Snow Rise” by AiraKay [Gen; 1k]

Injured and alone, Caleb Widogast takes a moment to contemplate the falling snow and his place in the world.

[Somewhere between character study and whump, but very lovely.]

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“Check the Cards” by Catzgirl (@fenesvir) [Caleb/Molly; 3k]

Molly ignores his foresight and everyone suffers for it.

[More from Molly’s PoV as Caleb gets injured, but it’s still a nice fic - very well-written and I love the way the author weaves Molly’s tarot cards into the narrative.]

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“sunset” by aviators (@farfel) [Caleb/Molly; 3.5k]

Caleb brings a trembling hand up, cupping Molly’s cheek and pressing his thumb to his lips, wetting them with his own blood. “Hush, Mollymauk.”

“No. No,” Molly gasps out, hand meeting Caleb’s and grasping around it until both their knuckles turn white. “You’ve never known me to stop speaking my mind when I’m set on it. I’m not about to stop now, even for you.”

[Dreamy sighs about this fic tbh. Lovely Caleb whump, lovely Molly angst, long and difficult recovery, character introspection… hhh.]

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“Scorched Bonds” by Akiko_Natsuko [Caleb/Molly; maybe spoilers?; 8k WIP]

“No!” It comes out as a strangled shout, his chest heaving and breaths coming in frantic pants. Too close, he had come so close to surrendering to the charm and if he had…the flames are roaring in his chest now, reminding him of what he can do, what those whispered words could have made him do.'

When a fight goes wrong and magic ensnares the rest of the Nein, Caleb is left alone, facing his friends… his family… and he's forced to make a choice.

[A lovely mix of whump and angst, with the “having to fight your friends” trope, and some aftercare as an added bonus.]

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“Little Monster” by Lesetoilesfous (@lesetoilesfous) [Gen; 21k]

Nott hasn't been in prison for very long when she gets a cellmate, a human called Caleb.

This story follows the development of an unlikely friendship, and the way it saves two people who'd long since decided to give up on the world.

Or: prison is not the first place Nott imagined she'd find a family, but she isn't complaining.

[A Nott and Caleb meeting fic, with assorted whump and angst and getting out of prison shenanigans. Good, clean straight-up torture for both of them tbh.]

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“My Friend Filthy” by 99BottlesOfBeerOnTheWall [Gen; maybe spoilers?; 21k]

Nott is a goblin with no friends, and nowhere to go. Caleb is a human with no family, and no hope left. They don’t expect each other, but Caleb is empty, and Nott needs something to care for. So they work with the broken pieces.

Together is better.

[Another, slightly longer variation on the above theme - I just love All the ‘Caleb’s in jail and miserable and barely a human’ fics. This one plays especially hard on the ‘barely a human’ bit, which is delightful.]

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“twisting the kaleidoscope behind both my eyes” by confines  (@wholeneinyards) [Gen; maybe mild spoilers?; 5k]

Nott and Caleb meet in jail. They escape together and then they survive together.

[A nice whumpy, angsty backstory elaboration piece.]

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“The Courage and The Fall” by mollymauks [Caleb/Molly; 4k]

Prompt: “Shivering long after everyone else has stopped.” After ending up fighting a battle submerged in a frozen lake, the Mighty Nein strip off in their camp to dry out and warm up. All but one. Content warning: this fic deals quite a lot with scars, if that’s not your cup of tea, maybe avoid.

Teaser: “I’m going to stop you freezing to death, you idiot,” he said simply, hand still extended. Caleb still didn’t move. “Trust me,” Molly murmured, his words only for the darkness and the wizard staring up at him, the firelight glinting on his pale eyes making them look strangely opaque and ghostly. “I should think I’d proved myself quite adept at keeping you alive after all this time.”

Caleb stared at him for another long, thundering heartbeat, then he let a soft laugh huff past his lips. He reached up and grabbed Molly’s forearm, letting him pull him to his feet.

[What kind of whump rec list would this be if I didn’t have a “cuddling for warmth” fic on here…? A terrible one, that’s what.]

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“Süss” by drekkeri (@tragedyboycentral) [Caleb/Molly; 3k]

Caleb was pretty sure he was dead. It was the only logical explanation.

He was drenched in sweat, trembling, and the mere act of thinking for more than two seconds took more effort than he could manage. As he tried to get out of bed he grabbed onto the wall, holding his head as he saw spots of back.

Yeah, he was definitely dead.

[A lovely fic involving diabetic!Caleb’s blood sugar dropping too low and his friends having to work out what’s wrong and help him. Whumpy, plenty of the ‘panicked confused friends’ trope, and with a happy, fluffy ending.]

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“A Lovely Man” by Justanotherfangirl [Caleb/Molly; 1.5k]

Caleb gets injured, and Molly can’t keep his feelings for him a secret any longer.

[Whump, love confessions, bleeding out…? What more could you want from a fic.]

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“Me for You” by MeBeShe (@matt-the-blind-cinnamon-roll) [Caleb/Molly; 5k]

Caleb gets badly wounded when a mission goes awry. Molly uses his Bloodhunter powers to heal him, despite Caleb's protesting.

[Another excellent whumpy character study thing, short and sweet but delightful, fluffy schmoop for an ending.]

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“Another Part of Surviving” by notsoappropro [Caleb/various; 1.5k]

He doesn’t anticipate it, the first time. He’s head to toe in filth, having slept under trees and in city alleyways for an uncountable number of days on Nott and his neverending escape. The grime under Caleb's fingernails is aggressively visible in a clean store he clearly cannot afford to be in as he counts his silver. He only has four, it’s all they have between the two of them, and it’s many coins short for the medicine they need.

[A kinkmeme fill technically, but angsty enough to be included here, just about. A series of vignettes on the times Caleb is forced to prostitute himself.]

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“Hot and Cold” by Emberforge [Gen; 3k]

It was all going well, until it wasn't.

[Caleb gets poisoned, and the team deal with it; mild whump, plenty of aftercare and worrying. Short and sweet.]

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“What Friends Are For” by Justanotherfangirl [Gen; maybe spoilers?; 8k]

It’s been a long time since Caleb had any friends, since he had deserved to have any friends. But with the Mighty Nein, he found himself caring almost in spite of himself. And the Mighty Nein might just care about him too.

[A lovely collection of drabbles exploring Caleb’s relationship with the other members of the Nein, through the medium of whump and comfort/care.]

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“Here with You” by Akiko_Natsuko [Caleb/Molly; 1.7k]

It was a terrible plan from the start, but it was the only one they had. Fortunately Molly and Caleb were together, and that might just be enough in the face of a situation that brings the past pressing in on them.

[Less physical whump and more delicious descriptions of panic and misery, which imho count as whump / give me the same whump feels as physical whump does. Also, Caleb locked in a cell!]

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“Dominate Person is Never Really A Good Time” by sterphfy [Gen; 4.5k]

The title kind of sums it up. Some angst, some implied Molly/Caleb, but painfully little physical contact. probably done, but may write a companion later.

[More fun with mind control and hurting friends! I’m predictable in the tropes I like.]

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“bruises and comfort” by vannral (@vannral) [Caleb/Fjord; 643]

After a random battle, Caleb's less than fine and Fjord's there, helping.

[Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin - Caleb’s hurt, Fjord looks after him and comfort him. Short, satisfying, sweet.]

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“Hidden and New” by Avorna [Caleb/Nott; 3k]

Fighting a horde illithid is well above their job description.

In the midst of battle, Caleb is caught by a desperate illithid and it decides to play with his more well kept memories.

[On here primarily for the first half, where Caleb nearly gets his brain eaten, and gets thoughts and memories he wants to keep secret broadcast to the MN - which is always a good time.]

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“Storm After the Calm” by UzbekistanRules [Gen; major spoilers; 1.5k]

Caleb deserves nothing. Or... so he thinks.

[More self-loathing and emotional h/c than whump, but some nice mentions of past whump and tbh panic attacks probably count as whump? The aftercare in this is also very lovely.]

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“What Was, What Is” by lostsometime [Gen; mild spoilers; 1k]

Caleb would have been able to stop himself from causing collateral damage with his spells, once. He can't now.

[Again, more angst than whump; again, I like it enough to include it here, and also panic attacks / dissociation totally do count as whump in some circumstances tbh.]

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“Fever Dream” by Chaya (@fieldbears) [Gen; major spoilers; 245]

Someone asked for either Caleb or Molly to be delirious with fever. This is probably the least creatively titled thing I have put up in a while, but at least there's plenty of angst?

[Honourable mention, as it’s a very short little drabble - but what there is of it is delicious, so I couldn’t leave it off.]

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“Feeblemind” by Chaya (@fieldbears) [Caleb/Molly; spoilers; 13k WIP]

There are some ugly spells out there. Sometimes you just have to do your best to get through it.

[Fun times with the feeblemind spell, and then the emotional fallout from that for the whole group. Bonus Molly angst too, which is always nice! May or may not have been abandoned, but what’s there is somewhat complete in and of itself, so...]

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“Under His Gaze” by EllenofX [Gen; maybe spoilers?; 4k WIP]

Caleb is a smart man. It is a fact that he is more cautious of now, with how far astray it once led him, but one that is undeniable. So, when a stranger wakes them in the dead of night, it does not take him long to figure out that he and his companions are being toyed with. That they have been toyed with for quite a while, now.

[Another ‘is it abandoned?’ fic - essentially a variation on the theme of ‘Travelling Hearts’ recced above. First chapter seems pretty whumpy though, so fingers crossed it continues!]

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“Our Early Days Are Always With Us” by sandssavvy (@sandssavvy) [Gen; major spoilers; 8k WIP]

Sometimes the past won't let you rest.

After a run in with Trent, Caleb isn't sure he will ever find rest again.

[Again, unsure if this has been abandoned?? It’s not terribly whumpy as-is, mostly angst, but if it’s not on permanent hiatus then it should get whumpy…]

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Lastly (and shamelessly), I’m gonna plug my own writing here. The only whumpy fic I’ve written for Caleb is “lesser of two evils” [Gen; 2.4k]:

Caleb’s running a fever by the time the rest of the Mighty Nein find him.

He was expecting that much – he’s done this before, after all, knows that it’s a bad idea and will not go well in the long run. However, bleeding out in the middle of a forest is also not a good idea, and will also not go well in the long run. The difference is that bleeding out in the middle of a forest will go exceptionally poorly in the short run, so it’s a lesser-of-two evils sort of thing. He’s well-versed in Faustian bargains, made both unwittingly and otherwise. It’s fine.

(In which Caleb gets separated from the rest of the group, and then injured, and then some rather ill-advised DIY field medicine involving fire. The rest of the Mighty Nein are left to pick up the pieces when they find him.)

However, I’ve got other whumpy tidbits and headcanons under my general #critrole 2.0 tag (though my blog / that tag frequently contain nsfw or triggering material, as a heads-up).

[colorisbyshe]

Previous anon here, I did not mean that WWX wasn't a victim but rather he wasn't a perfect victim like that in Untamed nor did I mean that JGY isn't a gross villain but I was rather commenting on how Untamed presents/introduceds things in contrast to the novel. Sorry if I come off as aggressive or rude 😅

Before I go on about how MDZS ends, I think it is important to talk about the worldbuilding, so cultivators are certainly the elite but their influence comes from the money collected by what is essentially ghost-hunting and protecting non cultivators from hauntings , they are not exactly feudal lords who rule over people or collect taxes but have areas of influence (I am mentioning this because a lot of people have misconceptions ) . So the position of cultivators in the society of MDZS is essentially that of a protector but of course they are pretty self absorbed and normal people are dissatisfied with them and we get to see their plights and complainints throughout the story .( I think it is difficult to get an idea about this by watching the Untamed where the sole focus is on the four great clans but nonetheless ). The ending of MDZS is bleak in the sense that it doesn't actually provide an exact solution as to how can the whole cultivation world be changed but it ends with WWX and LWJ removing themselves from the larger cultivation world and travelling the world, helping with ghost hauntings regardless of money and other stuff, basically working on cases the rest of the cultivation world doesn't do and ofcourse teaching the juniors. iirc the position of chief cultivator post canon doesn't exists as such as it was started by the Jins in the first place and they are shown to be pretty much doomed, there's certainly no mention of another chief cultivator

No, no, we're mostly on the same side! I'm saying even in both the OG text and CQL, I think both try to a make WWX as perfect a victim as they can. My point wasn't that you're saying JGY isn't gross or that WWX isn't a victim, rather that I think CQL and what I can tell about the OG text from the manhua... are more similar than you're maybe portraying. Like I think WWX still is a rather perfect victim even when he is the one to more directly kill everyone rather than it coming from JGY's meddling because his killing is justified.

And, yeah, I think the canon ending is a bit better than the one in the untamed buuut I also think it feels as much as a cheap dodge of providing a solution as the untamed does. Like... they're still fighting for justice on the small problem but it still seems like both are going "the institution itself cannot be fixed, so we'll just fuck off and do our own thing" whereas the untamed is like "the institution itself cannot be fixed, but maybe LWJ will reach immortal status and the liberal leader won't be too bad" and it's like... neither decide to like... overhaul the system?

I think in a lot of ways, the story comes up short on actually providing solutions. Which is fine, a story doesn't have to fix the world to be worth telling, but with "justice" being such a major theme in the story, the kind of lackluster solution is a bit *fart noise*

But at the end of the day I think I came to this story the most for good character building (which is present for the characters that matter but IMO was better in the untamed), good character dynamics (yup, in spades), and then I was surprised by pretty good themes, which it didn't always stick the landing on but did decently in at least invoking good parallels and very poetic statements.

[snowtimeisbesttime]

Thoughts and questions on Pesterquest Volumes 1 & 2! Two days late, but better late than never I guess!

Overall:

-[insert all the heart emoji pics ever]

-The title screen's kinda ominous, what with the music and the glitchy logo... Also kinda fitting for what goes down in certain routes of the launch volumes, though. (It should be noted that Friendsim's first volumes were relatively calm compared with later ones as well.)

~VOLUME 1~

-No fucking shit MC would be pissed off, and at Scratch specifically. Thankfully, the Best Guest (Spades Slick)'s here and has them covered while they go off on a new adventure... though if a certain other DS decides to poke around here and fuck shit up, methinks he's going to catch some fucking hands. And i'll be here cheering the MC on.

-MC now has the powers of the house juju (canonically the most powerful thingy in all the narrative, as it can retcon pretty much anything) and therefore the ability to zap anywhere... though it came at the cost of their memories of Friendsim. Obviously this had to happen because they had to forget they read Homestuck in order to properly befriend the cast, but in-universe... did they get “scratched” somehow? (Is that what happened to Fozzer back then?)

-Also, they were trying to go back to their friends in Alternia... we're going to have fun when we get to the Hivebent trolls. (inb4 the “probably vriska” thing comes back here; there's no way the MC isn't recovering their memories at some point)

-Scorist, sign of the Mutineer Mail

-And with the MC's yeeting of John's mail into a sewer, Pesterquest officially becomes a whole ass No SBURB AU. It's a shame the bunny had to be lost too, but there's a possible reason for that: breaking (more) timeloops, both here and in post-scratch Earth (Jake helping Jade build Liv Tyler the bunny)

-I hope they do get to play another, non- world-destroying game all together, though... wait, now that they're not playing Sburb they could play Minecraft, when it releases in about a month from now!!

-Unstoppable force (John wanting to know wtf happened to his mail) meets unmovable object (MC's willingness to keep digging themselves deeper in order to make friends)

-The beta kids are confirmed to be pretty much each other's only friends... :(

-MC looked like a weird alien on Alternia, but here on Earth they're just shaped like a friend, and nothing else.

-Dave's here too!! and he's also understandably concerned about this random Not Mailman that popped out of nowhere, at least at first. Considering we know Volume 4's title (The Loneliest Girl in the World) Volume 3 will probably feature him.

-mc Hass the ghost blanket

-MC says the house juju may belong to Lucifer... which obviously means Lord English, but might also refer to Vriska... (lucifer means “light- bringer”, and iirc vriska did have some overlap with the whole “demon without an eye and an arm” foreshadowing??)

-Considering Rose's volume, John probably finds out about the MC's powers in his good route, while in his bad one they both go on a stroll through time... then again, we don't know if this is like Friendsim, where only the good ends were “canon”...

-Whenever people need to Discuss Important Tactics, John's backyard's the first place anyone thinks about. Good to know there can be multiple people running around with retcon powers though.

-We get to see something of what led up to the Masterpiece, after who knows how long! And John gets to imagining what events will lead to him and his friends getting colorful pajamas, powers and four (4) new friends... not that he knows that *he specifically* won't have that future. John's bad route is... actually very depressing when you think about it...

-the first thing i thought of when john said that he thought Future Him & Co kept saying “english” was that they were telling jake to get off the pogo ride before he like fell off and fucking died or something... and then a while later i was like Wait Fuck They Meant Lord English He Sure As Hell Exists

-even back at the very beginning of homestuck, dad's dadly energies are too powerful

~VOLUME 2~

-This singlehandedly catapulted Rose to my Most Favorite Characters list; not that I didn't love her before, but now im love her even more.

-We know now that all the kids wanted to play SBURB, be it because of Weird Destiny Stuff or to have a good time with their friends, but Rose was the one who wanted to play the most... to talk with Jaspers again. This hasn't been addressed in this volume, but it might be in later ones.

-Good kitty, best cryptid. Also, Mom Lalonde's guide to lab intruders: sic a pumpkin tiger on 'em. Then again if she really thought we were a danger to her or to Rose we'd been sniped before we knew she was there...

-Rose doesn't have a short end; the first choice of her route only decides whether we befriend Cryptid Mc Whiskers (plus get some additional dialogue) or not...* or at least that's what i thought before seeing the image rips orz

-She's the kind of person who has a lot of interests but also has trouble settling down and focusing on one at a time... yall mind if i relate? (also, adhd rose??)

-And now we begin again the timeless MC tradition of “accumulating clothing from friends”. *At least in one route, apparently.

-MC gets into one of those “Screw This I'm Doing (What I Think Is) The Right Thing” moods, though they do mellow out later and Rose didn't take it badly. To be honest after the oatmeal thing I thought they'd head for the kitchen, rather than get rid of the alcohol; now we'll have to see if it has any effect...

-!!!!! Jade & Rose interacting ON SCREEN!!!! (also, Jade seems to still have access to Prospit despite the fact that they're not playing Sburb anymore... is this where “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse” (the paradox space comic) hapens??)

-Bec's acting weird... wonder what's up with him.

-Then again, even in her good route Rose seems vaguely aware that something's different; in her bad route she straight up does Weird Light Shit, while apparently being able to hear MC's narration and probably referencing her Land (her comment about the rain lighting up a little). Looks like you can take the game away from the players, but you can't take the game out of the players... Rose's a Seer of Light whether she plays or not, and same with the others.

-Rose's routes are kind of weird in that the good one looks like it's going to be the bad one (re: MC getting in one of their stubborn moods, see two points above), while the bad one looks like it's the good one until it doesn't. Before getting there I genuinely thought Rose was going to have 2 good ends.

-We get some talk on wizards and witches, and we also get to read some fragments of Complacency of the Learned!!! Which is very much a subversion of typical wizard stuff, as Rose told us; even if she has a genuine interest in wizards she's still putting her own spin on things... kinda like fans interacting with content, maybe.

-Wizards hoard knowledge for themselves, while Rose, as a Seer of Light, explicitly guides others with her knowledge; from the SBURB walkthrough in GameFAQs (which she ripped from Earth's internet to upload it onto a server on the Furthest Ring, so it would help more people) to the book she wrote on the meteor. No wonder she despises them.