#you have activated my world building trap card!!

[cabi-leodrann]

hi, person from infodump question here again! i feel like im being nosy but i couldn't help but notice those little symbols near each character on the ref sheets and that they seem to have a pattern to them. i did decipher the easy ones, like the top elements being the species, the elements of each crown, the little circles at the top of the desciples' symbols, but that's pretty much it. if it isn't spoilery, i would love to see the system of these symbols! it seems very intricate and intentional, like those half-sun elements have different number of x-es at their sides depending on what character we're looking at

if you don't want to reveal this yet it's completely alright, just know that i noticed aha

hehehehehe You fool! YOU'VE ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD ANON-FROM-INFO-DUMP-QUESTION! YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO READ MY RANT ABOUT THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE I MADE FOR LAMB! HAHAHAHAHAH You won't need to know this language to understand THaB. It's more for flavor and world-building, so you will see the language in the comic, but if asked, I will give the translation! This language is not very developed, I didn't really have the occasion/time/energy to use it extensively- There are problems with it, things will change over time, but this ask is the occasion to put down what I've got, nice and clean! Thank you very much to @wowowhy and @greenycartoon for your precious help✨ _ _ _ _ _ A BIT OF CONTEXT: This language has no spoken form, it was made to keep/give simple informations and/or orders. It is exclusive to Lamb and their disciples, as nobody else knows how do read it. Very useful to have secret/private written instructions to not cause a fuss in the flock. Context and interpretation are an important part of reading, as this language is not as precise as our modern languages.

HOW TO READ:

The text is written on a straight line, called the guide. It crosses symbols/glyphs throughout the whole sentence. It starts at the base of the first glyph, and ends by crossing the last.

(The post is REALLY long, so Imma put the magic "Read More" button here- I will put the symbol's lexicon at the very end)

-Head/person glyphs are NEVER crossed by the guide, no matter where you put them. It represents sentient beings, and can be customized to match the person's specie and/or looks. -Place Glyphs are pretty vague, and are not really used on their own. -Particles are additions to symbols to give more (often abstract) information. They can change the meaning of the glyph/verb they are attached to. -Punctuations and Regular Glyphs are pretty self explanatory. Punctuations are attached to the guide, unlike Particles which are attached to glyphs. To make a plural of a Regular Glyph, just put it twice, using the guide as a symmetrical axis. _ _ _ _ _

SUBJECT: It is always first in a sentence, and the guide starts from it. There are multiple different structures to format a subject:

-You can use a single glyph (fig.a) for simple concepts, otherwise you use a 3 Part Subject (fig.b). - For the 3 Part Subject, you start with the glyph of the head/object/type of place you are talking about. Then you use the other 2 slots to describe it further by adding other glyphs. The order is important, and there are different kinds of structures.

1- If you put a Head glyph first, followed by a glyph representing an object, and then nothing, you're describing the person's job. 2- A Head glyph in first slot and a Place glyph in last indicate the person in charge of the place. 3- An empty first slot with a Place glyph at the end gives a specific location. The middle slot indicates what this location is about. You don't need to fill the 3 slots. Just add a little line to the unused slot. -The 3 Part Subject with the "hats" is a Cartouche (fig.c), you use those to write names! Cartouche are a bit of an exception to the importance of placement and which glyph goes before/after which. The focus is more on the individual glyph rather than its interactions. You always put a Head in the first slot, then 1 to 2 glyphs signify important features. (The 3 slots limit can be broken if needed, but it's not common. Don't be like him.) -The Closed Cartouche (fig.d) is an abridged version of a cartouche . You don't really want to write the full cartouche again and again, so you can take a Closed Cartouche, and put the most recognizable glyph. (Often, it's the Head glyph, but if there are multiple names with a similar Head glyph, you could use another glyph of the cartouche)

_ _ _ _ _

VERBS: symbolized by a sideways parenthesis that includes the next glyph. This combo gives you a verb. If the action influences something/someone, you put the influenced concept after the verb's glyph, and then you close the verb. You always close your verb, except if it is at the end your sentence. In this situation, you leave it as is.

Some verbs have multiple uses, and change meaning depending on the structure. Here we have the verb "give", that becomes "exchange". The meaning changes when you add a comma (green) after the verb, and it is followed by the object being exchanged. The glyph of the person being interacted with is put at the end.

Particles give the state of what it's attached to, and can be attached to every glyph. Here you have the use of particles on a Head glyph (ex.1), and a verb (ex.2).

When half a particle is used to describe a physical attribute, write it down as you would if that person is facing you. Ratau and Loki's left eyes are injured, but in the cartouche, its inscribed as the injured eye on your right. _ _ _ _ _

PUNCTUATION:

Question Marks are the only instance where the first glyph is not the subject.

Commas are used to indicate a pause between parts of a sentence or separating items in a list. With commas, you can have multiple verbs, and/or multiple concepts that the action influences in one sentence. A lack of commas is the end of a list.

If/Then Commas are used to indicate the influence of the first part of the sentence onto the second. It can replace "Because" "So" "Therefore" ect.

Time arrows are used to indicate when a sentence is temporally affected by the Past/Future, but can also be used as a particle. Time Arrows follow the sentence they influence. They ends when you finish a sentence, or at a comma. When ending at a comma, if the rest of the sentence is still affected, you need to draw the arrow again. The Continuous Arrow (following the guide) is a special kind of Time Arrow, used to symbolize an action lasting in time. _ _ _ _ _

NUMBERS:

Numbers act like normal glyphs, but with the additional dots to indicate the beginning and end of it.

_ _ _ _ _

LEXICON:

[thana-topsy]

So wait, are you implying that Falmer babies are born like normal, but since they're raised by other Falmer, that's why they become animalistic?? But they can be raised by people, and develop normally?? I'm assuming they're born blind tho?? Genuinely, I am curious, not trying to sound accusatory :')

Ahhh my friend, it is safe to say at this point that I have dedicated nearly two years of my life to exploring this question lol. Apologies in advance. You've activated my trap card special interest.

Sarel comes from my fanfic "Halfway to the Sky", in which a mage kidnaps a Falmer child and raises him as an experiment to see if he can be taught to live as a "civilized" person. The short answer to that initial question is: yes, Sarel is just a normal elf child, though still blind.

As to the other part of your question, (if Sarel had been raised among the Falmer, would he become "animalistic"?), I'm going to answer charitably by pointing out that we are dealing with Fictional Races of People, in which our interpretations of these races are going to vary, and that's okay. First off, my interpretation is not "the correct" one. So any answer I give is just my personal take. Second, the way we are told to play the game (by the mechanics of the game) also informs our perception of these races. And lastly, there is no one-to-one allegory at play here in terms of "The Falmer represent [x] race in our world." I just wanna get that out of the way.

So, all that being said, the question always comes back to "what does it mean to be civilized"?

In the game, we are told that the Falmer are hostile and violent, so we must kill them, and that they are 'devolved', even though evolution cannot move backwards. So, to correct that second misunderstanding, the Falmer are actually evolved to better suit their current living environment, and as to the first, we (the player) are intruding on their settlements. I can only imagine anyone with a sense of self-preservation would react with some amount of hostility to the loud, shouty person carrying weapons.

To continue to use game-logic, we are shown that the Falmer construct buildings, create weapons and armor, craft potions, lay traps, enchant objects, and use magic. Already, these are things that animals, by definition, cannot do. To be a magic user, a character must have a relatively high Intelligence stat, (we see this in the older games more than in Skyrim). In order to construct settlements, people must also have the ability to work in groups and communicate. We never hear the Falmer speak to each other in-game, but the implication that they have language and a social structure is right there in what we're shown.

So, in this long-winded, roundabout answer to your original question: I do not think that the Falmer are animalistic at all. I think they are culturally different, but made of the same stuff as Joe Thalmor over there. They have a different way of living in the world, and they adapted to their environment as best they could. This does not mean that they are perfect or better. But I think that referring to them as animalistic plays into what the game tells you to think, all while giving you a lot of evidence to the contrary. They're very much a complex, functioning society of people. We just never see their side of the story.

[siryouarebeingmocked]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: I may have activated my own trap card

Spoilers for a movie that's two months old and also out on home release.

So, Miles, Gwen, Pavitr (Spider-India), and Hobie (Spider-Punk) all seem to have modern left-wing politics, though Gwen's got edited out. Hobie's introduction specifically says he hates "fascists", which carries over from the original comics.

By the time Hobie came around, I assumed he was just another poser, cooler than the hero rival character, expressing generic leftie politics, and his punk ethos wasn't sincere.

Which is exactly what the writers wanted me to think.

Not only is Hobie perfectly sincere about being anti-authoritarian, but he's been helping Miles since before they even met. He's been blatantly stealing junk from the Spider Society to build his own universe-jumping watch, and disguising it as petty vandalism.

He even tries to talk Miles out of trying to join the Spider-Society before the reveal that Miles himself is an anomaly, and the SS (geddit?) tries to detain Miles.

When Hobie says he's against authoritarianism, he really means it.

Speaking of the left-wing politics, Miles has a "#BLM" pin on his bag. It's very visible while he sits next to his dad.

Who's a cop.

(TANGENT: A few years ago, someone drew a stupid, very bad comic where Spider-Man (Peter Parker) was a) black, b) hated cops, and c) assaulted and subdued riot cops when they asked him for help.

That the comic didn't even show the riot cops were wrong. We were just supposed to assume they deserve to be left to the mercy of an angry mob.

Also, in this comic, Uncle Ben was killed by a cop, not a random thug who Spidey could've stopped but chose not to. Which makes me wonder how that would shake out.

It's kind of weird for someone to look at a character who's about personal responsibility to an unhealthy degree, and use him to express their collectivist anti-cop terrorism fantasies. That, or they didn't think through their fantasies.)

During Spider-India's opening, Miles says "I love Chai Tea!" And Pavitr goes on a rant about how "Chai" means "tea". Later on, The Spot says he's been on a "journey of self-discovery", and Pavitr basically says he's racist.

Which is a tad ironic, because Spot is literally white. And also because Pavitr is the one making the racist assumptions.

And I personally go to a church - in England - that has a lot of non-white non-British people. Mostly Africans. And me, of course. I wonder if any Asians ever went on a journey of self discovery to South London.

And I don't just mean as a cab driver.

"Wait, SYABM, didn't you move to the UK for self-discovery?"

W-well, yes, partially.

Aside: I made the mistake of watching a Youtube video with the Chai Tea joke, and then I looked at the comments.

One guy said "tfw when Twitter users write a movie". An idiot (with much more upvotes) said "bro out here wanting blatant racism in movies".

...When the whole point of the joke is that the racism is not blatant.

It's only "blatant" if you're insufferably Twitterized. There are loads of redundant phrasings in English, like "ATM machine", and words often shift when they're adopted from other languages.

Also, "I dislike this joke" is not the same as "I want racism in this movie", when the "racism" in the movie is only there so it could be mocked.

One of the issues with putting real world movements in worlds that are drastically different - it's one of the main selling points of the franchise - is that it may seem odd that those movements exist in very similar form to the IRL version.

For example, Miles supports BLM in both his video game, and this. Which makes me think "did Trayvon Martin get shot in Florida? How about Mike Brown? Wouldn't the existence of supervillains throw things into a new perspective?"

Did I mention the giant George Floyd-style "REST IN POWER" mural to Miles' dead uncle? I cringed at that in the Wakanda Forever trailer, and I rolled my eyes at it here.

Floyd wasn't a saintly martyr, he was an unlucky violent thug.

Also, Aaron was a supervillain killed by another bad guy who nearly destroyed the city, not a cop.

Also, this is at a party to celebrate how Miles' dad is about to be promoted. Assuming Floyd died and the 2020 protests/riots also happened in Miles' universe, then it seems a tad tasteless to have a mural inspired by an anti-cop movement overlooking it, even if the party is not full of cops.

Spider-India lives in "Mumbattan".

The people who settled the Manhattan area were originally Indian. But the other type of Indian. The Indians we're not supposed to call Indians anymore.

The name "Manhattan" is even Native American.

The first permanent settlement was Dutch. Then the English got it. I guess the English could've shipped Indians to the other side of the world and eventually ceded the area to them, or maybe in this world India was a world-conquering superpower and Mumbattan is the result of...importing Native Americans?

Which would make Pavitr's complaint that "the British stole all of our stuff and put it in their museums" seem a tad hypocritical.

Of course, since I wrote all that, someone reminded me that Pavitr explicitly says the joint is in India.

"SYABM," you say, "you're overthinking this."

Yes, I am. Because the filmmakers didn't think it through. If you want to use ha-ha-funny to make a serious point, you invite examination of that point.

Miles (as Spidey) now works with his dad, though he disguises his voice. At one point, Miles tells his father that men bottle up mental health issues.

This is true (and ironic, considering Miles is hiding who he is from Jeff), but it's not the first time I've seen some progressive work try to address men's issues in an very awkward way. At least here, it's played for comedy.

Also, seems a tad hypocritical coming from a guy who wears a "#BLM" pin in the presence of his cop father.

Also, if you work the timeline, that would mean Miles was about 7 or 6 when BLM started. Which means he's gone most of his life knowing nothing else.

There was a controversy over a "protect trans kids" trans flag in Gwen's room, which was apparently edited out.

IMO, it seems a tad strange for a girl who feels estranged from everyone in her world to join a social movement, but what do I know? Maybe it was there before then.

Some people came to the extremely logical conclusion that Gwen herself is trans. Even though she's distinctly physically feminine and possibly too young for puberty blockers depending on Earth 65′s laws.

Like the "oh great, it's Liv" shippers, people are reaching really hard to see what they want to see.

Some people have said that Gwen's issues with her dad and herself seem awfully similar to the issues LGBTQIA2S+ kids go through.

Gee, it's not like, y'know, feeling estranged from one's family is a common theme in fiction about teenagers and superhero, and the whole "superpowers = minority" thing has been done to death for most of the past century.

Perhaps most notably - and clumsily - in X-Men.

I'm not saying this wasn't the intended subtext. I'm saying if it was, it would just be really, really cliche.

There's this recurring theme of people telling miles "how [his] story is supposed to go".

When he's at a meeting with his parents and his guidance counselor, the lady says his story of being a black-Latino son of an immigrant would sound great in the college application letters. His mom is a tad miffed, given that they're a) solidly middle class, and b) as a Puerto Rican, she considers herself American.

Miguel (Spider-Man 2099) doesn't want Miles in the multiversal council of Spiders, because Miles was bitten by the radioactive spider from a different universe. Which is why his local Spider-Man died, and the spider's home dimension has no Spider-Man.

Also, Miguel is fixated on "canon events". The idea that there are certain things, especially tragedies, that have to happen to Spiders, or their entire universe falls apart.

And he knows this, because he tried to take over for a version of him that got shot dead by a thug. Tried to raise his daughter.

And he watched as the universe collapsed in front of him.

So he's projecting his own guilt onto Miles, a tad.

According to TVtropes and other sources, this was actually about the people who didn't accept Miles as a replacement Spidey, possibly out of racism.

Yeah, that's real hard-hitting topical meta-commentary about a character who debuted 12 years ago. 8 years when the first movie came out.

I'd also like to point out that despite stereotypes of comic book fans, certain minority successors to banner superheros have been fairly well-received. Like Jaime Reyes, or Cassandra Cain.

(Note: I wrote that before the Blue Beetle movie came out. And flopped.)

And, of course, loads of people like Miles specifically because he's a minority Spidey, which is also racist, just from the other direction. In fact, a lot of his fans seem to forget the "Latino" part of "Afro-Latino". From what little I've seen of Miles early comics, they did actually put strong emphasis on his race.

I also suspect the filmmakers may be misinterpreting the usual successor knee-jerk reactions

as racism. If you're using an established brand name for your new hero, you're creating some expectations.

Also, you know the most popular meme about regular Spidey that I see? That Marvel's writers just keep making him suffer and don't want him to actually develop. Which would kinda make Marvel closer to Team Miguel than Team Miles.

Miles also gripes that Miguel is letting "some algorithm" tell him what to do. While I agree with the sentiment, I'd like to point out that, again, Miles supports BLM.

A movement popularized by an algorithm.

A movement made up of narratives and assumptions.

A movement which has never proven a single incident was because of racism.

During the big chase scene, we see a Spider girl in a wheelchair, aka Sun-Spider. She's from the comics. Same initiative that gave us "Web-Weaver".

Who is, of course, an extremely effete gay fashion designer Spidey. I kinda like his outfit, though the Spider-eyes with eyelashes is a little too far.

And Sun-Spider seems exactly like a character a stereotypical 90s executive and focus group would come up with. Down to the backward baseball cap.

(Turns out she's Dayn Broder's actual Spider-Sona.)

Also, while I was looking up that one black and white Spider who said "nowhere to run" (Metro-Spider, played by record producer Metro Boomin [/sic]), I found out that Aunt May's full name is "Maybelle", not just "May". TIL.

There's a bit of a double standard with this version of Spider-Woman, who's black and pregnant. -People in the movie - including Peter B - regularly point out how Peter B endangering his infant daughter Mayday by taking her along with him. But for some reason, nobody says a word about Jessica, who's an active-duty stunt-biking superhero.

Even regular motorbiking can be dangerous for pregnant women.

In fact, the movie portrays this as heroic and impressive. When Gwen sees  Jess is preggos, she asks if Jess can adopt her.

Not to mention the whole "afro and hoop earrings" thing, which seem like a bad idea for a type of hero who often gets into melee combat, even with Spider-Sense.

Yes, I'm aware that female heroes, including the Spider-Ladies, often have exposed hair. It's a genre convention. Incidentally, it was nice to see Batwoman wore a detachable decoy wig in the comics. Some bad guy tries to grab it in a fight? It comes right off.

Also, Jess doesn't have much actual character.

Being pregnant is not a character trait. In fact, her only real traits are basically "cool but stern sassy mentor", to contrast with Peter B. -Incidentally, someone on TVtropes pointed out the double standard. And when I saw the page again, a page-camper had deleted it, with no explanation.

Guess they couldn't stand someone pointing out the flaws of their waifu.

(One) Spider-UK in this movie is Muslim. I know she's Muslim because she wears a Spider-themed headdress. Note that regular Marvel 616 has a muslim lady Spider-UK, but her name is Zarina Zahari and she doesn't wear a hijabi.

(Also, she could be mistaken for Ms. Marvel.)

ms marvel.jpg

You might be thinking "wait, isn't a headdress impractical in a melee fight? Doesn't it give your enemy something to grab?" Yes, it is.

But so are Jess's earrings, afro, and being pregnant, so clearly there's a lot of artistic license going on.

Maybe it's partially tearaway, like Batman's cape.

I gotta wonder about the religious rules of wearing a head covering over a mask that *already* covers your entire head. Did she go see her imam and go "Okay, I have a really weird question..."

Come to think, Spidey is usually slim, but a lot of lady Spideys in this movie seemed to have wide hips. Including muscular ladies. Kris Anka's concept art goes really hard on wide hips. I don't know why. Stronger, faster character reads during the big chase?

I guess Spiders could be expected to have strong legs.

BOTTOM LINE:

I liked the movie overall, though the progressive bits made me roll my eyes a little. I...want to see the third one, with reservations.

[pencilofawesomeness]

What is Twisted Wonderland and how would you sell someone on it?

Ohoho. Ohohohoho. Anon. You have activated my trap card >:D

(I'm about to be soooo annoying/unhinged and I'm sorry. I'm not.)

Alright, so:

Twisted Wonderland is a Disney mobile game made in Japan and co-produced by Aniplex. (Yes, that Aniplex.) I'm not here to sell you on the game, so much as the story, but it is a sort of story-book rpg with turned based fights and rhythm games, where you build character units from a gacha pull. As far as gameplay goes, it's very simple, and most of the emphasis lies on the characters and the story. And it's wonderful.

The on-the-box description of this game doesn't do it justice, per se, but that might be because Disney has a little bit of influence on it and they suck at knowing who their target audience is. It is about a high school based on classic Disney villains—but no, not in the way you're thinking, because I once made that mistake too. It is not a villain school. Rather, the world of Twisted Wonderland is its own entity, with characters built as sort of nods or foils to classic Disney characters. The world itself is somewhat built with these films as its past, and history has become so twisted (ha) that modern society views some of these classic villains as the heroes or supporting characters of their stories, and respect them as The Great Seven. (The seven in question being the Queen of Hearts, Scar, Ursula, Jafar, the Evil/Raven Queen, Hades, and Maleficent. None of them are remembered by name, though.)

The game takes place in the modern era, a society with both technology and magic. Specifically, it takes place in a magic high school called Night Raven College, an all-boys dormitory prep school where the only requirement to get in is a magic mirror that peers into your soul and determines whether or not you can a) do magic and b) kin the Great Seven. And, of course, the player character is a regular-ass human who gets isekai'd in and gets stuck with a talking magic cat direbeast named Grim.

Now. That is the general synopsis. I, on the other hand, affectionately call this the Mental Breakdown game.

See, here's the kicker. The magic system is pretty nifty; while it's functions as a standard magic-is-magic sort of soft system, it has ✨consequences✨

Magic has this byproduct called blot. It's this icky stuff that builds up when you a) use too much magic and/or b) are emotionally distressed. But less so in a "I'm panicked right now" sort of way and more so in a "I have chronic depression and/or anxiety" sort of way. And, when a mage is powerful enough, and sad boi enough, and then goes and uses way too much magic and sad boi juice in one sitting, this amazing phenomenon occurs called "overblot"—which is pretty much a super-powered evil form that turns the mage into the darkest form of themselves and then uses magic until they die.

Naturally, this happens in the game. A lot. The formula is pretty much that each "book" of the story, there is an overblot. One for each of the seven dorms, which are based off of the seven villains/the movies they come from. (And "based on" is pretty loose. Yes you can see the similarities, but these are dumb teenage boys with their own hopes and aspirations, and, sometimes, the game completely lies to you about what character they emulate the most. The guy who's Jafar? Well yes but he's actually just a really stressed out Genie stand in. The Hades guy? Whoops that's Meg. Is that a card soldier or the White Rabbit? Doesn't matter, he's got problems.)

The characters are so well written. I could gush about them forever, and they are the driving points of this plot and it means everything to me. They are some of the most traumatized and messed up individuals, but also, they are dumb teenage boys who do dumb teenage boys things. It is all incredibly well balanced and startlingly realistic for a game that amounts to beating the emotional constipation around people. Mostly because it cannot be beat out of them. The blot can, but they have to deal with their emotions with their own two hands, with varying levels of success.

And the shenanigans!!!! Oh, the shenanigans. I call this the Emotional Trauma game but I have once laughed so hard someone heard me through the floor. It's not all doom and gloom for sure. Sometimes you're watching your friend fall apart because his toxic mother instilled debilitating perfectionism and slowly start making enemies of everyone and sometimes you're sending three of the most gremlin students plus one cinnamon roll to infiltrate a gala that a bunch of weather fairies are throwing in the greenhouse because they stole your temperature regulating magestone to be shiny jewelry and you want it to stop snowing inside your dorm room. And sometimes you can have the exact same character who experienced losing his little brother right in front of him gush about a magical girl sledding anime and all of his gacha games. It is the best of both worlds.

And, that's not all! No, no. We get amazing character interactions. Not just pre-determined friend group interactions, but also random interactions. Yana Toboso (the writer/artist) really likes to stick names in a jar sometimes and make them interact and it is the best thing ever. Every single one of these characters I hold in my hands. Every single one of them gets to have their moment to shine. You can emotionally invest in all of them and be rewarded for it.

The game itself is free and pretty easy to get into. There's not really a bad power creep so you can get through it with what you got. Of course the fun part of collecting cards is that there are stories attached to them that you can watch, and those are also sources of joy. (And it's well documented, so you can find things online pretty easily to catch up and see more.)

I just think it's neat. (Read: I accidentally became wholly obsessed with this game and its characters and they are all blorbos to me.)

You should definitely fall into this rabbit hole with me :))) It's so worth it :)))

[fresita08]

Silhouette eyes

*English is not my first language, I apologize in case of errors*

Resume: In the search for your friends you arrive where they are trapped without knowing that this would define your destiny.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Gon and killua They had been missing for a long time, they were supposed to follow the ghost company and retreat in case of emergency but that had already been 2 hours ago.

Worried, you decide to go look for them, a tarot card appears in your hand. The world materializes in your hands and immediately with the image of kilua in mind you can follow the course that guides you

After a while you arrive in a strange space with destroyed buildings with a chill running down your spine two more cards appear in your hand the star And the madman materializes and while your aura lights up you immediately appear on top of the building where you felt the two children falling in the middle of the room along with various debris while at your side Several flashes fall trying to get those people as far away as you can from the children you certainly didn't mean to fight you weren't that crazy you just wanted to grab the children and

—Gon killua— Before you know it you take the children away from those people who were still in a little shock because they had to dodge your stars — I'm glad they're okay — you look at them Trying to look for wounds and seeing nothing, you sigh and your gaze falls again on the eccentric characters who are in front of you, already in a position to want to end your life.

You raise your gaze and pass it from one to one until something falls on a boy under his eyes. They look at each other and you only feel a greater chill while sweat falls down your back. You were terrified by that look. He said a lot of things and all you could think about was that you were really afraid of him.

You smile trying to lower the tension - hello, I'm really sorry but I'm the babysitter of these children and it's their bedtime so excuse me - you try to turn around while grabbing my boys But before you can leave, a guy with a sword is pointing it and you're sure he wants to cut your head off—that's dangerous, you shouldn't play with things you don't understand— You say as you activate the card you had left and a jester appears next to you and immediately separates that man from you. His face is in a half sun which means that as long as there was light everything would be fine

—my deepest apologies— You address the man who looks at the creature that appeared out of nowhere —he will do nothing as long as nothing is done to me —you keep some of the information to yourself although you are still afraid

Your gaze is directed again to the boy who watches curiously as your jester spins around his companion and then turns his head to you.

You hold his gaze as a feeling of electricity passes through your entire body, you smile at him as if you were old friends before pushing your luck. — My name is Laena, what is yours?— You formulate before you can think clearly, he gives you a heavy look as if you were a circus animal.

— I... Feitan— To your surprise, you smile at him with a certain blush on your cheeks.

—Nice name, it's a pleasure— You speak again while everyone watches that 5 second interaction pass by as if they had gone crazy Feitan didn't know but your eyes reminded him of the sun of his ability something beautiful But at the same time painful — I would like to stay and talk but I really have to go now.— And as if it were magic, the sparkles that fell on the ground rise and return to the sky where they came from while you and your friends disappear at the same time.

—Who the hell was that girl?— Nobunaga exclaims even in his annoyance

—He has an interesting ability maybe the boss would like to know about it— Shalnark says as he approaches where you were just a few seconds ago, noticing a letter on the floor in your place "the lovers" — What is this— he says while looking at the card. Feitan goes to see the letter while examining it and continues thinking about that eye color

—Mine... — Express as he returns to his place with the letter in his hands and the thought of your expressions in his mount. What I could do with it, the pain it could cause you and I definitely would once I had you. — From now on no place will be a refuge until I find her— If your smile is noticeable as you leave the room

—He's already gone crazy�� franklim He says while everyone laughs with the thought that you would surely cause problems if Feitan was so interested in you. —He only saw her for a second and he already fell in love HAHAHAHA—

[thedeafprophet]

@warabola you have activated my trap card!! (my love of rambling about my homemade blorbos)

So. Alex's connection with Parabola is pretty directly influenced by his experiences during Lignt Fingers. In fact he doesn't actually become a silverer until like the very end, or just after the ambition. It's a response to it, so to speak.

He only came in contact with Parabola due to the events of light fingers, and the tense journey there from the ceiling was his first real introduction too it. He was very fascinated by the world of dreams to begin with, curious in a way he's not usually. And most importantly, he needed to know how to work with the place if he was going to properly defend anyone.

His connection with the Obliging Silverer (a character you only meet if you do the LFs exclusive path of having a silverer help you build the base camp) also played a role here too, being interested in the things the man did.... but most notably, the impact of Clara handing him the shattered cosmogone glasses after he was killed in the basecamp attack was harrowing. The fact that Alex wasn't there in time weighs heavily on him.

Above all else, Alex hates feeling weak. He's someone who feels the need to always take charge, to defend others, to get hurt so other people don't have to. Having something so far out of his control...he can't stand it. He feels like if he had just known more about dreams, he could've broken out of the one Edward had brought him into, he could've shown up sooner, he could've stopped stuff from happening.

It's not true, but it's what he thinks.

In the end Alex became a silverer not truly out of a love for Parabola and dreams, though he's certainly become fond, but mostly out of a desire to not be weak, to not be caught like that again. Perhaps now, guiding other dreamers and fighting nightmares, perhaps that makes a difference. Even if he can't defend his own dreams, he can help defend someone else's.

.....And also he's a catboy. Nyah

[decepti-thots]

not a meme question, but do you have a favorite pen? i don't know anything about them but you seem to, lol

I do, but my answer will differ depending on if you're asking my personal favourite pen or if you want advice as someone who doesn't use FPs as to what a good way to try one out is, anon! (sorry you just ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD)

I currently have six fountain pens, five of which are 'starter'/budget pens and one of which is a mid-range 'enthusiast' pen. My favourite I own is the latter. It's my Nahvalur Original, which I own in the Spring colour, and which cost me around £45. It's a pen designed to exclusively take bottled ink with a fancy filling mechanism, instead of ink cartridges. It's not high end by the standards of fountain pens, per se, but it's solidly in the 'enthusiast' realm. (My Dad, who once owned an FP because he needed something that looked good while signing Important Work Documents, did a double take when I told him how much it was, lmao. He did not ever spend that much on one pen.) It is a hefty, lovely thing with great build quality which I can use with fancy ink and feels great to write with. Nice nib, great quality, looks awesome.

But if you have never used a fountain pen, and want to try it, you do not need to spend over £20 or your local equivalent, fwiw. Many cheap fountain pens suck, but equally, many people who have spent thirty years collecting them who own pens worth hundreds will happily tell you, many cheap fountain pens are excellent, and noone needs to spend much to get an industry-gold-standard one. My second favourite pen is my Pilot Kakuno, which is aimed mostly at schoolkids in Japan where Pilot are based, can be bought for under twenty pounds shipped in the UK, similar prices in most of the world, and writes better than multiple 'adult' pens I own. Because Pilot has incredible high quality pen nibs and the Japanese FP market is competitive. You could easily buy just a Kakuno and be set forever with a pen that is extremely good quality! And there's other similarly great options too; there's a whole section of the market that is just 'good pens for newbies'. The Lamy Safari is a very famous option from a western (german) brand, for example. (Also have one of those, it's good.)

If you want to try fancy fountain pen inks with special qualities like sparkle or sheen, you'll probably need to put down a little extra money for a converter- basically a refillable cartridge that refills from a little ink bottle, instead of the disposable ones most stationary shops sell. But you don't need that if you're happy with the normal ink cartridges. All cheap fountain pens accept cartridges, though the better brands do tend to require you buy their cartridges, unfortunately.

And if you REALLY don't want to risk it: buy a Platinum Preppy. Platinum are a very well regarded brand, they use the same nibs in their entry level pens as they do their £30 ones, just with cheaper gel pen like bodies- and they are like. £5. Comes with a cartridge. Writes great, I own one. Again, a Japanese brand aimed squarely at schoolkids, very cheap but genuinely good to write with.

(The one thing for fountain pens I would say is, do spend the extra little bit on a cheap notebook with fountain pen friendly paper. Same as with e.g. paints, good paper is more important than the pen a lot of the time. The worst fountain pen in the world on good paper is better than a £500 pen on shit paper. Here is a guide; I use Clairefontaine.)

anyway sorry maybe you didn't want all of that. but if you think fountain pens sound Interesting and are curious, i'd encourage you to try one, but buy cheap. many cheap pens rule. and fountain pens are great- they are better than almost every other kind of pen for doing longform writing, because they don't cause wrist strain when doing it for long periods. i would definitely recommend a fountain pen over other kinds if you want to use it to write for long periods, no matter what pen you get, tbh!

[sparklecryptid]

About your post with Gandalf and Eonwe retriving Feanor

Isnt Ace a Prince (?), they would have troubles speaking with him in person? (I don't know much about Final Fantasy, sorry). There are guards and a city in the way, they would have to through it? And probally fight them first? Or the King would willing let the in for some reason?

The other Anon is so right, their diplomacy is ass. No wonder Elves have a reputation of begin arrogant among some men and dwarves if they are so disrespectful

You’ve activated my trap card! Talking about my blorbo and world building!

Okay so Ace is technically a prince. He’s the bastard son of a king and he doesn’t get discovered until he decides to fuck up a prophecy and bitch out a god. So even when he’s acknowledged as a prince he has much more freedom than most because 1) the aforementioned bitching out of a god 2) he’s one of four people with access to extreme destructive magic and 3) he literally sat his father down and went ‘if you try to keep me in insomnia I am going to Leave and you Will Never Find Me Again’ which was a very real threat considering Ace is from a jungle nation that is largely unexplored by his fathers people.

(Because Ace’s people are fiercely protective of each other.)

Now, what I was imagining with the Eönwë and Gandalf situation is that they came as representatives of Aman and because they have magic-ish things going on with them they got access to the Citadel (basically the castle royalty lives and works in) because magic is rare and King Regis would Wanna Know who These Strange People with Magic Are and that’s how they meet Ace! Because Ace’s specialty is espionage, diplomacy, and causing mass amounts of destruction.

(Thanatos: can we hold off on the mass amounts of destruction?

Ace: *cheerfully holding fire in the palm of his hand* no!)

Basically whenever King Regis wants to send someone running away in fear he sends out Ace to have a chat with them! It usually works!

[littleplasticrat]

🌜🐡 🃏

Wildcard question: this one ambitious project you keep dreaming about but do not have the energy to attempt yet

Thanks for your questions! 😘 I love reading your answers to ask challenges

-

🌜 How would you describe your style?

Painterly, vividly coloured, horny, semi-realistic

🐡 What is something you worried about a lot when you first started, and why don't you worry about it any more?

Funnily enough, I worried a lot about not having a style! I constantly saw IG posts from big artists about "How to develop your style" or answering questions from beginners who were feeling insecure about it, and so I felt I had to be insecure about it! I also fell into the trap of trying to pass off errors in my work as 'just my style' rather than something I could improve upon.

After a few months, I decided my end goal was to have my art featured on a Magic the Gathering card, which informed the genre of my work going forwards (semi-realistic to realistic fantasy) and that helped to give me some direction.

Much like learning any discipline, "style" is really just how you apply the principles you've learned. For me, it developed with time and as I experimented with studying other artists' work and learning techniques for things like anatomy or lighting.

Here are some of the styles I've tried below. Would love to improve in all of these, but they're each their own discipline that require a lot of commitment to do properly!

🃏 Wild card: ambitious project I haven't had the energy to attempt yet

I'd really like to do an action illustration of an original character for an original setting! This would involve having to practice the following (very rusty) skills:

- Prop and clothing design

- World building and visual development for the background

- Active poses (my subjects are usually 'holding' a pose for the viewer)

One day!

X

Take care of yourself, and keep an eye on your own inbox haha

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: Round 3, Group A

Match 3

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Reira Akaba

Point me to another “little sister” character who had such an interesting arc that they ended up taking down the big bad of the series? Her relationship with Reiji gets to be complex and not perfect, yet they clearly still care about each other. And then the way she bonds with Yuya, Tsukikage, and Serena, becoming her own person, willing to rebel against everyone to do what it takes to save the world? Truly one of a kind. gender might be ambiguous but her already great gets even better with a trans girl reading. vote for the gender child

Sunavalon Dryatrentiay

MILF Ok but seriously, yugioh is an amazing anime because it has set up a premise where I genuinely believe this tree is the best mother in the entire series. My logic being she has a son with a face only a mother could love and provided him with essential care & comfort. (This is about her, so I don’t want to delve too far into this point, just read my mind for the rest). And whilst she may not be essential (I don’t even think she’s included actually) to the best build for a competitive Sunavalon deck, her search and combo with the Sunavalon Bloom trap card is nasty when you time it right. Its like a better Effect Veiler since you can choose when to activate it and this card also has a very funny second effect where that if you have monsters attached to her (eg 2 Sunvine thrashers) she gains 8000 atk as a lowball, maybe more if you can snatch an opponent’s link monster using Thrasher. Queen. She’ll always be my ace monster of choice <3 I’m manifesting that she gets her well deserved summon animation in Master Duel any day now. TLDR VOTE FOR THE SAINT HOLY TREE

#vote for the tree she’s a single mom who works two jobs who loves her kid(s) and never stops#with gentle hands and the heart of a fighter she’s a survivor#I fucking cackled writing those but in all seriousness she is mother vote for her

[definitelynotshouting]

grian pains me why is he such an angst child (rhetorical but needed to be said nonetheless)

i do have a query, punctuation ranking list mayhaps? em dashes?/lh

im glad our love for the fic and universe helps motivate you, remember to take care of yourself!! us avid readers will wait

He rlly is squeaky-toy coded isnt he [said as i am gripping him and throwing him repeatedly against the wall for my own amusement]

AKSNWKSNSM CALLED OUT MERCILESSLY FOR MY LOVE OF EM DASHES.... THIS IS SUCH A CRUEL WORLD /SILLY

Unfortunately youve activated my editorial trap card bc while i dont know if i can rank punctuation since they all have such specific uses that make them each invaluable i do have an internal system of prioritization for how and when i use them that sorta.. denotes how well they might make a sentence POP

For example: em dashes, semicolons, periods, and commas are my staples. My general rules of use for em dashes and semicolons specifically is that i TRY not to use them in the same sentence more than once or twice per chapter/story, and i try to alternate between them where i can to keep things varied and interesting, depending on whats being written. Both are very good for asides and building on top of the previous sentence!!! Semicolons, however, get SPICY if used for a list >:] and that can be REALLY useful for me if i want to hit hard and fast with a series of particular images!!!

Colons are smth i try to use more sparingly and deliberately, but are REALLY fun bc almost every time i use them its like code for my brain to go "oh so we're going absolutely batshit ham on this next line, got it" skdbwjdkwkdkd. Sometimes that looks like me going crazy with imagery, and sometimes thats just me dropping something i find structurally simple yet achingly poignant. Either way its meant to be a gut punch >:]

Ellipses are something i generally don't use much outside of dialogue with some exceptions (listen if it fits the narration then it fits) but my gods they are SO MUCH FUN within dialogue..... guys when they trail off like irl people do all the time...... tbh the em dash and ellipsis are my bestest friends when it comes to dialogue bc i am so damn obsessed with writing people who sound like people. Thank u tma for upgrading my dialogue significantly<3 podcast fandoms are REALLY good for that to the surprise of absolutely nobody

Exclamation and question marks are very fun to put a lil flavour into your prose too but i also try to use them sparingly outside of dialogue-- i personally feel that if used too much in the prose itself it can read as either a bit childish or like its very blatantly trying to lead you around by the nose. But my gods starting off a story with a question??? That shit ROCKS i love doing it and reading it, its a banger every time. By and large i think my favorite opener to a story ive written so far has to be "What is the definition of a haunting?" from my dsmp fic when the night cries. Good shit your honor good shit

Anyway yeah i dont have much of a tierlist per se but those are my general thoughts on how i personally use punctuation :]

[mizziix]

@bedofherteeth​ Tch... you’ve activated my trap card. You absolute fool.

Putting this under a readmore just in case it gets long, because I’m on PC now and can do that!

For those that missed it, this is Andrei Nichols, 7th Generation Lasombra Elder who has no idea that’s what he is.

For some further context, the game that he’s in is a straight up ERP game. Some people in the game treat it exactly like that, a chance to just have some of their powerful OC’s meet and bang like you’re browsing Meet’N’Fuck games. More power to them, but me and my friends in the server are what’s known as slightly insane. 

Within this game, one of the first scenes he did was, well technically the first one was meet’n’fuck a vampire milf, milfpire if you will. This is an ERP game. However, at every opportunity the fact has been emphasized that he is creepy. He lives in a completely abandoned, dilapidated apartment building. It’s always cold there, and no matter how many people you enter with it always feels like you are hauntingly alone. Everything is watching you even though nothing is there. It has managed to unnerve other vampires and even seasoned mages, one of which I’ll explain later he’s important. The other vital element here is that, again, Andrei is aware of exactly none of it. He is confused why more people don’t visit unless invited, he doesn’t know why he doesn’t have neighbors, and it’s actually left vague if he’s even paying rent to a landlord or he just thinks he does. He’s called the plumber about the fact that his shower doesn’t spray water but instead the cold black nothingness of the Abyss, but they didn’t show up. Eventually he stopped calling as, well, it cleans him well enough. All of his clothes and towels in the room kept getting stained with old, rotting black blood though, so he’s learned to just leave all cloth outside of the room while he’s showering. You get used to it.

He also collects things, just idly. At the recommendation of the aforementioned milfpire and the soon to be mentioned Mage he’s begun to spice up his rather drab apartment. So, he has a few pretty flags up, he’s strung up some lights, and over most surfaces he has various nicknacks scattered around. Cool things he’s gathered in the city, more than one of these are magical artifacts. However, he’s not a Tremere nor a Wizard, so he has no idea. You might be noticing a theme here.

Also Playstation games! He collects old Playstation games, the good and especially the bad.

The most important interactions he has so far are with two mages, one played by my boyfriend and the other played by @bloodtreachery​, the Hermetic mage Adeptus Maior Artixano le Bateleur bani Criamon, Entertainer of the Ephemeral, Storyteller of the Elemental Cycles, Wanderer of the Nine Worlds, and Tapestry of Tales Yet to Be Told. Andrei just calls him Artixano, or Artie. The long and short of it is that these two are coworkers, have been for years at this point. They work at the magical femboy hooters mentioned in my last post, a free use tea house run by my boyfriend’s character. It’s a wild ride.

Artixano came by to Andrei’s place to chat, hang out, play some games, and deliver some gifts. They ended up playing Crash Bash Haberdash, a hat based cart racing game that absolutely sucked. So they stopped doing that, and through some flirting Artixano got Andrei to play dress up for him, modeling some clothes he had bought. This server being what it is, after Andrei stripped he didn’t make it to the first dress before they were making out.

This is where I have to re-emphasize something.

Even if he’s not aware of his past, Andrei is still a Lasombra elder on the Road of Kings. From the START, the MOMENT he was out of his clothes he was scheming on how to defeat Artixano in a battle of seduction. What does that mean? How does that even work? You obviously don’t understand.

For the sake of everyone I will refrain from recounting the details, but safe to say Artixano did pick up on the invisible battle of wits and dicks going on here, once he started teasing Andrei and Andrei started to fight back it was on. 

The rest of the scene was the most calculated sex scene either of us had ever written, it wasn’t about having fun (even though it was) it was a chess match of planning, maneuvering, and outplaying your opponent. The entire time we were joking that L’s theme from Death Note was playing in both of their heads even though neither of them had said that this was actually a challenge. There were Dune levels of Machiavellian plans within plans within plans going on while these two were having anal sex.

It all ended with one of them winning. It was never stated who won. They will forever disagree on the conclusion.

[almea]

I've got random 2.2 thoughts because I had such a good time with it.

I'm so glad I didn't try to power through the rest of the story before going to sleep last night because the boss fight was so hype that I don't know if I would have been able to fall asleep after it. I will never get over slamming the Express into the boss, and Stelle looks SO PRETTY in the animation when you use it. I loved Robin and the rest of the crew having a line the first five times you activate it. Himeko's line fucking took me out. Hoyo… truly knows what my weaknesses are.

I heard you still have the Express's help in the Echo of War version of the fight but you don't get the animation of Stelle and Clockie summoning it and that's just. A crime. I'm pretty sure they still show Dan Heng in the Echo of War Phantylia fight, so why don't we get Stelle and Clockie? Like, I guess??? It could be weird if you're using Destruction or Preservation Stelle in the fight and then it's the Harmony version in the animation, but it would be the same situation as using 4 star Dan Heng against Phantylia. I'm just so sad I'll never get to see it again in the game.

I loved the whole part where Stelle's trapped in the Order's dream because I was just like. What is happening? This is feels so abrupt and I'm so disoriented and, bitch, I know the boss has two more phases and there were cutscenes in the trailer that still haven't happened yet. And then as soon as Topaz was like "Everyone has agreed to work together to help Penacony" I was like. Yeah. No. This is 100% a dream lmao.

I think it's incredibly sweet that Stelle's dream was a world where everyone would work together and be happy though.

Also, I don't know if this was just an audio glitch, but when I went back to the train, the music was reset to the default song, so I was like. Um???

When Black Swan said the card she gave Stelle was an empty light cone, there was a moment where I thought she would use it make a light cone using Stelle's memories and I was so disappointed that didn't happen. I really want a light cone with Stelle in it one day...

Harmony Stelle's animations are so good, I'm in love with her. There's so much personality and sass to them!! I'm surprised Stelle and Caelus's ultimate animations are almost exactly the same except for one part because their other ultimate animations look very different from each other while conveying the same thing. It's probably my bias speaking, but I feel like, aside from that really cool knee slide only Caelus has, the rest of the dance looks like it was animated a little more with Stelle in mind than Caelus.

I love Harmony Stelle so much that I'm going to start building break DPSs for her. And Ruan Mei lmao. I've been sitting on Ruan Mei for ages as I farmed relics for other characters. I was already planning to build Xueyi eventually because I used a trial version in one of the combat events and she was very fun and now I have another reason to do it.

I'm thrilled that Stelle got to talk and say cool shit in the cutscenes. I love her and she's so precious and I love that she gets to be cool!!! I always want Stelle to talk more.

Dan Heng's interactions with Boothill are so funny. He's just like. I don't want this man to ever speak for the rest of his life, I will murder him if he claims to be a Nameless again.

I was like. This close to crying when Dan Heng said his companions are once-in-a-lifetime treasures. My fucking heart, man.

All the Nameless stuff makes me so emotional and I'm not even entirely sure why. There's something about the way they present it that always has me dead on the ground. Like, the fact that the Astral Express has been around for so, so, so much longer than the current crew and they will continue to visit worlds that were visited and loved by their predecessors. The way the Nameless who left the Express still held it so close to their hearts. I love the reverence they have for the past Nameless. Stelle kneeling in front Mikhail after she received his hat was so beautiful.

I cried over Misha getting his memories back, and how only the other trailblazers were able to see him. The 2.0 explanation that only honest people with childlike innocence could see Clockie was very funny and I had thought it was a Stellaron thing since Stelle being able to see weird things related to Stellarons is an established thing, but the fact it's actually that you need to share the same spirit of trailblazing that Mikhail had is so uggggghhhhh.

Acheron finding Tiernan and helping him find peace and move on was soooo sweet. Now that we very concretely know the final fates of two of the three Nameless that stayed on Penacony, I'm curious whether we'll eventually get a more concrete ending for Razalina since I think her fate was still a little ambiguous.

I fucking LOVE bookends, so Acheron repeating what she told Stelle during their first meeting being one of the last things that happened in 2.2 and asking her the same questions she asked at the beginning... Those were personal attacks on me.

I'm still not 100% clear on the meaning behind Acheron's red text. I know it's related to red being the colour of existence (I think that's what she said) but I don't know what it's supposed to mean in the context of the red text. My first thought was that the red text is her breaking through the Order's dream's influence, but I don't remember if that fits with all her red text. And her red text appears when she's talking to Tiernan too, and I don't think that was part of a dream.

So I really don't know. Maybe her red text isn't that deep and everyone freaked out when they saw it for no reason lmao.

I have no idea what Sparkle was up to. I thought her buttons would do something during the last boss fight, but no? That doesn't seem to be it? I guess the Charmony Festival technically didn't start yet, so it's might be setup for something in 2.3. Either that or it's more of her red herring imagery.

[the12thnightproject]

The Brotherhood of the Travelling Warlords

Thank you everyone who helped send me armchair travelling around the world (and in some cases, into the past as well). It was a lot of fun to research these places and try to figure out what our warlords would want to check out while they were visiting.

Event summary...

Fifteen postcards written, as requested by fourteen people.

Warlords on the move: Mitsuhide (4), Nobunaga (2), Shingen (2), and Masamune (2) win the frequent flier honors, but Sasuke, Yukimura, Keiji, Mitsunari, and Kennyo also got to do some sightseeing as well.

Of all the places requested, I had been to three: Times Square, Washington DC, and Dublin Ireland. I've been to Chicago before, but not during the 1896 World's Fair.

Warlord who gave me travel-envy. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, New Orleans and Prague, so I would have stowed away in Mitsuhide's suitcase without question.

Places I learned about that I now want to visit: Vigan City and Hoi An Ancient Town.

Place that was a nope... well, we sent Sasuke to an active volcano...

Request that gave me the most difficulty. Rome in 2020, only because I had to do some research to figure out what the COVID restrictions were at that time.

Favorite finished postcard design. I really liked the way Paris France, 1900 turned out. The artwork and graphic design of the era is so very much in my aesthetic sweet spot.

Easter eggs... all of Mitsuhide's postcards have a faint hidden graphic underneath the text of the postcard.

Favorite postcard text - I think I might go with Mitsunari on this one. I figured of all warlords, he'd be the one who started out writing his postcard too big, and be forced to make the lettering get smaller and smaller until he had to write up the side of the card (also he was writing the postcard while on a tour bus for part of the time, so it was a little messy for that reason too). Plus, I just enjoyed thinking of him trapped in Trinity College library and not worried at all about it. Him losing his shoes was a running joke in his longfic, so I stuck that in there too.

Mistakes... I think my biggest planning mistake was not figuring out in advance a couple of the world building issues. Would these warlords be going to a recipient who was currently living in Azuchi (or Kasugayama)? Since some of the requests were anon, or from posters I don't know very well, I made the assumption that the postcard recipient had indeed been previously wormholed into the Sengoku. Also, how would the warlords deal with a language barrier? With that one, I figured that for any warlord travelling to a timeline past (or just around) the 20th century - they could probably find someone who spoke their language (both Kennyo and Masamune went to World's Fairs where there was a Japanese installation). But when Shingen went to Ancient Greece and Mitsuhide went to the Golden Age of India, I figured they would just have to do their best with pointing and making up a sign language as they went along (they're both smart men, they can adapt!). Masamune had less difficulty in medieval Poland, not because he found someone to translate, but because he travelled into a siege situation and I figured he was well enough acquainted with battles that he'd do ok ... I er, quite possibly overthought these.

Along those lines... while I had fun picking out handwriting fonts for the warlords, I made a few mistakes early on... Mitsuhide's for example, took up too much space and I couldn't fit as much content on his cards (and so of course, he was the most requested warlord).

Curious about the handwriting I picked? I was pretty random about it... mostly it was a combination of what felt right to me, plus whether or not it would fit on the postcard. Shingen is more romantic, so his handwriting is flowy, whereas Nobunaga's takes up a lot of space - but I had to balance an authoritative font with being able to include a decent amount of text. I figured that Mitsuhide would think faster than he writes, so his is a little more careless looking, and Sasuke would print, because he's used to writing lab reports. And of course, once I picked a handwriting font for one postcard, I kept it through the rest of them.

Here is everyone in a row, for comparison:

As for the postcards themselves... here they are gathered once more...

Masamune visits Malbork, Poland in 1460

Mitsuhide visits Maui, Hawaii

Keiji visits Times Square, New York, New York

Sasuke visits Koma-ga-take volcano in 1582

Shingen visits Ancient Greece

Yukimura visits Rome, Italy in 2020

Mitsunari visits Dublin, Ireland

Kennyo visits Paris, France, 1900

Mitsuhide visits Pataliputra, India, 300 to 600 CE

Mitsuhide visits New Orleans

Nobunaga visits Washington, DC

Nobunaga visits Vigan City, Philippines

Masamune visits the World's Fair, Chicago, 1893

Shingen visits Hoi An Ancient Town

Mitsuhide visits Prague, Czech Republic

Thank you again to everyone who requested a card. Maybe some day I'll bring this back!

[toboldlynerd]

helloooo ela 😊✨!! glad your week has settled down a bit, hopefully you have an enjoyable weekend ahead of you!

i loved reading about your spotify wrapped, i haven’t listened to most of those artists/songs, so i will have to give them a try! i just listened to runaway by AURORA and i loved the way the song kept building and building, it felt almost cinematic 🎥💫. do you have a fav song by AURORA that you’d recommend 👀?

ahhhhh, your tea box sounds so cool!! is it designed to keep the tea fresh/preserved while you’re traveling, or just as a means of storage?? i’m a coffee girl through and through 😌 (and hot chocolate too, aksjsjjj that’s how i survive the winter months, but it can be our secret 🫶)

the 9-1-1 gay firefighters are also my blorbos-in-law 😂, i have yet to succumb and watch it but sounds like it might be inevitable! it looks like there was just a new season? did you enjoy it??

i looked up the summary for graceling, it seems very compelling! i haven’t read any fantasy since i was much younger but i’ve had a few recommendations for it recently, and i remember absolutely loving getting lost in those worlds as a kid 🦄

also, btw, i adored the cute animal gifs 🥺🥰, sending love your way 💙❄️✨

Hi yes hello,

This brightened my day for sure, thank you 🧡

Oh, you've asked the million dollars question lmao AURORA was my favorite artist this year (unsurprisingly) and I do love all her work. So much. It's hard to recommend her songs so I will try my best with 3 good vibes songs, 3 heart-wrenching songs and 3 in between.

Positive

1) Queendom (the YouTube video is so good!?!)

2)

3) Exist For Love (because that music video came out way earlier than planned because “her fans needed something to be happy about” and it is just so damn beautiful)

In between

1)

2)

3)

Heart-wrenching, tears possible

Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) (yes, that specific live video for ultimate tear potential. Also tw murder as a significant plot point of the lyrics lol)

Through The Eyes Of A Child (yeah, that version is stripped back. Yeah I cried the first 3 times listening)

Boy In The Grass (it's live, I can't listen to it often cause the raw emotions rattle me every time because of the event the lyrics are based on tw gun violence and child death if you research)

Hehehhe you activated my trap card called “asking about something im passionate about”! This was so hard my dude, it took half an hour and I nearly made the list longer again.

It's just a habit I took over from my mum I guess? It's one normal teabox that gets the designated job of traveling tea box (a little bit like the jeans of teen girl book fame lmao) and then I've also bought some small one that I can use if I don't have much space to work with. It's a certain comfort to know you've got your favorite tea with you at all times...the bigger one is for loose tea leaves and the smaller one for tea bags btw hihi

Omg omgggg, friend, the gay firefighters have taken over my shipping juices since February and won't give them back for nothing 😅 Not gonna lie, a big part of my enjoyment comes from the way it's more of an ensemble show and how they incorporated canon gay and lesbian couples in the main cast (yes, you heard right! POC lesbian main character firefighter!!!!! I am still crushing on her and her wife omfg) and those two blorbos with the most excellent little boy (Chris 🧡) made me read the trope friends to husbands (as in “24hrs marriage speedrun” lets get married - why not right now - alright then) with glee and acceptance of in-character choices that got them there. They are so idiotic sometimes but also so so intelligent 😂✌️

Do you have a favorite artist? Favorite ice cream? (mine is ben and Jerry's cookie dough lol) is there a favorite holiday sweet you always Es eat this time of year?

All the best and warm greetings from a little blanket burrito called Ela ✨🧡

[slpraevians]

Your spouse is annoying and a brat.

The entire hero community is aware of this, and there are a good few memes that hint at the population also being aware of this.

But getting targeted by Acislos takes the cake.

You retired after a particular heavy alternate dimension invasion, with most doubles killing the half from another world. You yourself can remember the double who posed as part of a resistance, before the desperation got to them as well and they betrayed you and your squad.

A lot of others retired with you, heck even some villains took a break. It was a weird few adjustment months.

Your spouse did not retire, they picked up the slack and went from a C to a B rank hero.

But it appears like they might have done that by annoying Acilos, they did arrest the villain 4 times in a row, not counting the time they literally stopped the villain at the gate..

Regardless of what they did, the fact is that now you’re walking up to the news station, focusing on the inside so you can teleport the last bit, hoping you don’t look as tired as you feel.

You successfully pop into existence and float in the air, careful for boobytraps. Acilos has always been a bit of a trickster, something they have in common with the twat they captured.

“And who may you be?” This was to be expected, you used to wear a mask. You look at the villain, their face marked by past trials and mostly the errors. Made in pursuit of compact bombs.

“I am Galaced.” You say, making your voice echo like it used to with the mask, it feels like riding a bike and it feels good.

“You are retired are you not?” The villain asks, when your beloved notices you.

“Hey babe, sorry..” They don’t look afraid, just uncomfortable, like they were caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“Just here to pick up my dumbass.” You float comfortably, flaunting your power to make it appear like the human world is foreign and everyone dances to your tune.

They look intimidated enough for it.

“I’ve heard stories about you.” Right, Acilos wasn’t active until after you retired, you were wondering that.

“I’ve seen the damage you’ve done.” They go on to say, clearly talking about the time you destroyed four city blocks in one go, which was to neutralise the nukes hidden somewhere in the sewers, you destroyed everything on top and tore up the streets in one swoop. The people had been evacuated already, but the reason had never been disclosed. It was another reason to retire. Kids aren’t supposed to run away out of fear if you’re a hero, but that wasn’t in the cards for you.

“And how did you like it?” You smile, knowing there were no deaths reported, and you stopped the organisation that did it a week later.

“Some of my friends saw you in action once, said it turned their world upside down.” Ah, classic way to deal with small time crooks, just leave them upside down in the air until the authorities arrive.

“Good to hear.”

“One of them died in those four blocks.” What?

“Impossible, everyone was evacuated.”

“Who told you that? The same people who gave you the address of the organisation that did it?”

You feel angry at the implication that the hero agency is crooked. “Yes.”

The villain scoffs. “You’re all the same.”

You raise an eyebrow. “You blow up buildings with bombs that leave enough toxic residue to keep rescue parties from saving anyone still inside!”

They nod. “And proud of it, I may not have expected you here today, but a titan like you will do.”

You look around in slight alarm, that sounds like a trap.

They let go of your behated, and they rush over to you.

You notice the smirk on Acilos’s face a moment too late, and feel the touch of your significant bother start to burn you.

“Sweetie please let go of me, you’re hurting me, you’re hurting me please!” You plead, but you already know, they’ve been too silent this entire conversation, they’re already dead, just not aware.

“I’m sorry.” You whisper to them, before you snap their neck, feel their grip loosen and you free yourself of their grasp.

The villain smiles. “Didn’t see that coming, so now what?”

You look them in the eye, as you stop the flow of air.

They don’t notice at first, with all the internal damage their work has caused them this doesn’t surprise you.

Then they do notice, their breathing becomes more exaggerated, in an attempt to get air in, then more shallow as the body starts complaining, then they look at you with a silent plea to stop, they fall to their knees as their legs go numb, their arms switching from their neck to your knees as the pleading becomes more violent. Finally the arms give out as well and the chest moves more and more erratically before giving in with a final and painful gasp.

You kneel down and look them into their dead eyes.

“Now I go and find my old coworkers, catch up, talk to them and visit their families. See if there’s anything I can help them with.”

You’re a retired S-tier supervillain. After you retired, you married a B-tier hero. You are forced back onto the stage when an A-tier villain attempts to kill your spouse.