#EDIT: IVE BEEN INFORMED OF THE SHIP NAME

[riddled-fingers]

lucy hydrokinesis-expert mux making goo-goo eyes at ford cringefail cruller

#my art #psychonauts #lucrecia mux #ford cruller #do they have a ship name?? #fordlucy? #i have no idea #but they are in love :) #lucy is soooooooooooo prettyyyyyyyy #EDIT: IVE BEEN INFORMED OF THE SHIP NAME #lucruller #thank u

[cum-villain]

so far the yjh @ kdj vibe i'm getting it is "i'd follow him to hell and back but i wish he'd just stop going there".

#just starting 236 #braincell posting #orv liveblog #also what even is their ship name #edit: ive been informed it is #joongdok

[lettersfromverabookreview]

Book Review: Piranesi

Hi! This is my first review of a book ive read recently, and i want to remind anyone that reads this that i want to do this as a hobby!! No edits, nothing, just whatever my brain wanted to spit out when thinking about the book!!!

First, I do want to say that this book blew my mind in ways that I do not believe appear as literal as written. Now it may be my understanding of this book in itself, the time of my life in which i was going through to understand it the way I did, or maybe that I understood what the writer meant to do.

Books like these I would not present it as either difficult to understand or to read, but I would say to not take this book (even when it could be a day reading) for granted and to read it with time and patience.

Piranesi, for me, is a great and interesting book that is about trauma, and dealing with it. Now, the book in itself is not directly about this, we begin first in a house, a house with multiple infinite rooms (the author herself said that she based this book on stories by Jorge Luis Borges, an amazing Argentinian author that I recommend as well, that talks about magical realism. I wouldn't say that this book is about magical realism because magical realism has a big history in Latin America, and even though it may be intertwined with the creation of this book, it would be simply incorrect to put it into this category.) and a main character ready to explore each and every one of those rooms. As the curious person that I am, I would have been able to love and read each description of the room that that house contains, and I´m more than happy with the number of descriptions that there are, which is not an opinion I´ve heard a lot either in Goodreads or in my group of friends.

Piranesi, the main character, which I´m not even sure if I should call Piranesi since he doesn't think that is his name (He simply calls himself “your friend” which I think is the best introduction to the innocent character we read about the whole book), is an innocent, goodhearted, curious person that ended up mysteriously in this house. Yes, I have to admit that I have gotten frustrated with this character, but thankfully his actions are not without reason, and I think that that is one of the reasons why it's so helpful to read this book from his point of view, his immense trust with the Other, how he tries to even speak with the birds and even !!! talks with !!! the bodies of !!! the people that were there before him !! You pity him before you even have the chance to hate him.

Now, I do realize that if another person who has read Piranesi may read this review and be like “Hey, you didn't talk about the statues, the birds, the messages” and yes, you would be right, but 1. my focus on the review of this book is not put on this because I was still not as enthralled as I became later on when this topic seemed the most important to me in the book and 2. I am not the best at deciphering secret messages in statues. But surely, if you ever want to read it and give it your own meaning, please do!! share it with me if you want, I would love to read all of the different opinions!!

Now, arriving at the main point ( in which I think I will have to warn about heavy spoilers) why do I think this book is mainly about trauma and going through it?

Well, I do have some main points that refer to the answer, but in a general sense, I did feel that way overall throughout the whole book. What happens after disaster? After the whole world has collapsed around us? After the reality that we thought was truly changed, and not only changed, but we were forced to change because of it? Are we still ourselves at the end of the path? Or are we some kind of Theseus ship, with all parts of us replaced, new and used?

Piranesi begins as a child would enter a new world, recollecting information as presented, never put to doubt, sort of a blank slate in this world, we are as lost as he seems, even in his comfortable way of living and knowing the closest rooms to him, there are some paths that he knows he has not gone to, some that he is aware he is afraid of going back again, he is from the moment that we meet him, like a vulnerable crab that has changed shell and is in its most delicate state, we see him longing for connection in a world that answers in its own, inexplicable way. He is always looking for an answer, for a message, but we are never sure what does that mean. This reminds me very well of the reconstruction of the self after a traumatic event, of course, in this case, his forgetfulness was the product of the “magic” of the house, but wouldn't it make sense if Piranesi, our friend, appeared to be so shocked, so unprepared for such change that his brain would choose block those memories? Because when he believes that his prison, the House, is his home, something to trust, to sleep in peace, to fish, to run around, he is able to continue on.

Now, continuing on the sense of the Magic of the House being the one that controls the memories of Piranesi, wouldn't it be Piranesi´s mind the actual House? Many memories, thoughts, messages, and people that circle our mind, we are not always aware or in control of which memories will rise to the surface, which ones will be forgotten, and how will we remember someone, a memory, in the future. The House is Kind, the book says, the House in its infinity is ultimately kind, and is this not a reflection of Piranesi, the man talking to the birds, pitying the stranger, believing the best of all the people around him, and many many things more? Even when the Other is about to shoot Piranesi, he wishes the Other would go back to the boat. He is the House, and his connection to the House, mysterious as everyone´s connection to our selves is, is also his connection to the world. Once the Other is washed up with the water of the House (and even though Piranesi did not want the Other to die, as it happens in a lot of traumatic events, when we do not think the person that did us wrong actually did us wrong) he is free to go to the Real World, which yeah, is uncomfortable, is not the House, it's not his home, but when are we ever comfortable when moving on?

Lastly, at the end of the book, Piranesi does not reflect himself with this Piranesi persona (the first person we met, living in the house) nor with the person that he was before Piranesi, Matthew Rose Sorensen, he is someone new, containing yes Piranesi and Matthew, but not one nor the other. After the tides of life have washed us over and over again, could we have the same kindness we had before?

Thanks for reading! Before I finish this post, I do want to leave this very interesting reddit post that I saw while writing this, that has a very similar pov from what i was thinking! and many others.

Anyways, Happy Reading!

#book review #piranesi #susanna clarke #fantasy #mystery #books #booklr

[madjazzed]

Homestuck Rare Pair Fic Recs

yall, i read a LOT of fic, and ive been reading a lot of specifically homestuck fic for the past, oh, seven years or so. my tastes in fiction are wide-ranging and i am happily unafflicted by any impulse toward ship exclusivity, so when i heard about rarepair hell weekend over on dreamwidth, i knew exactly what to do. the fics listed here vary considerably in style, length, rating, quadrant (where applicable), and degree of canon compliance, but they have two things in common: they feature ships with fewer than 50 works on ao3, and i think they’re great.

Scarlet and Bible Black by paraTactician rose is possessed by a grimdark horror of the furthest ring. sollux knows a few things about psychic warfare. this fic is a classic for a reason, the reason being that it’s absolutely fucking brilliant. perfect voices and characterization. Rarepair: Rose/Sollux. Rating: Mature. 12k.

goodnight moon by attentionmerrymakers upd8 fic following this page. terezi takes brain ghost dirk on a tour of her memories, and keeps visiting him in the dream bubbles. sweet and sad and lovely. Rarepair: Terezi/Dirk. Rating: General. 2k.

Gumshoe Tango by Azzandra snapshots of a professional-rivalry-slash-developing-caliginous-relationship between a private investigator and a police detective-inspector. clever, funny, delightful. Rarepair: Jane/Terezi. Rating: Explicit. 4k.

Hold the Line by dashery one of my very favorite fics sneaks in on a technicality—davejade isnt at all rare, but this wonderful story is about dr. jade english and dave strider, alpha universe edition, and its 2 of just 7 works in the tag (this one, and a podfic recorded by the author). canon compliant, funny and sweet and heartbreaking in the best way. Rarepair: Grandma English/Alpha Dave. Rating: Teen. 12k.

Caffeine High by mtjester this fic can be briefly and misleadingly described as a coffee shop au… in space! a janiterrorist in the alternian imperial fleet befriends a human slave whos value to the empire—and survival—depends on his ability to make coffee for highbloods. high stakes shenanigans ensue. fantastic character voices, drama, action, romance. Rarepair: Dirk/Tavros. Rating: Teen. 59K.

Shadowbound AU by CurlicueCal & LaughingStones in a world where most people bind their souls to extraplanar shadow entities, gamzee and dirk both have unusually strong and strange shadows, with a curious resonance between them… (and they were roommates). marvelous urban fantasy au, wonderful worldbuilding, superb character voices. not sure if youre up for a whole series? read the fic where they meet (4k) and let it convince you to keep going. Rarepair: Dirk/Gamzee. Rating: Teen for the first five fics, Mature and Explicit later in the series. 155k.

scream my name by Psythe meenah’s kismesis interrupts the grand opening of her latest moneymaking venture. beautifully choreographed knock down drag out fight sex, excellent banter (especially if you apperchiate a good fish pun), and a hilarious closing pesterlog. Rarepair: Meenah/Roxy. Not rated. 8k.

Forces Between Us by Laurasauras humanstuck soulmate au. bro teaches self defense to juvenile delinquents as court ordered community service. vriska is in his class. they are both terrible. a very fun fic. Rarepair: Bro/Vriska. Rating: Teen. 5k.

She May Be A ‘Girlboss’, but I Ain’t Her Malewife by semusepsu jane turns the tables on a sleazy asshole who tries to manipulate her into sex work. bro underestimates her business savvy, people skills, and ruthlessness, and has to face the consequences of his actions when she takes control of his business, and his person, in short order. delightful. Rarepair: Jane/Bro. Rating: Explicit. 3k.

an incommodiously situated bro by Caracalliope hal has a wealth of relevant information at his metaphorical fingertips, but still doesnt know what to expect after overstepping his bounds with his ‘kinky, justice-obsessed girlfriend.’ a fun character study with a depth of feeling that might surprise you. Rarepair: Terezi/Hal. Rating: Mature. 1k.

#homestuck #rarepair hell weekend #fic rec #theyre in chronological order by posting date #if anyone was wondering #rarepairs galore

[dr-meowmers]

For some reason ppl who get into crash zoom who use tiktok are always so fucking weird like. Ive had ppl tell me false information with so much confidence , had a 12 year old kid tell me he made fucking crash zoom porn, had people be homophobic to me, had people tell me like the most well known information about the show multiple times (sounds petty but it’s frustrating being treated like i just got into the show when ive been into it for almost 5 years now), and yesterday had someone see a ship edit of Jodie x Lucy and just say ‘the flight attendant is dead’ like dud have you never interacted with fandom in your life it doesnt need to follow cannon…. ALSO HER NAME IS JODIE. SHOW SOME RESPECT.

#dr meowmers evil plans #im so glad i have that clip n wonchop approving of my ship art #it has done me wonders

[blessedshortcake]

[Bit of a ramble incoming lmao sorry in advance]

I've always been a huge fan of good characterization in fanfiction, I always made sure to do through research on whatever character before I wrote about them. I dont hate fanon but I only consume "fanonized" content to an extent.

I always had a fear that I may be turning my characters in my own story fanon or too ooc for it to be enjoyable and today as I was burying myself in comfort characters I realized that I may have fucked up one of my ships

I have been a Cookie Run fan for nearly a year. I wasnt "one of the OGs" but I was there before Devsisters made the thirst trap we shall not speak about........

Now if you have been on my blog or seen my AO3 you can guess already that I am very big on Espresseleine. Espresso being one of my comfort characters next to Red Velvet and his goofy little relationship with Madeleine warms my heart. These gay little cookies are very dear to me

But recently I have been catching up with the new content. (I took a 3 month break from the game in like January and I havent been able to look at what I missed yet) I saw the Republic content and I looked for peoples opinions

Now when I first wrote about them back in circa October I spent HOURS picking apart the information about them (which back then was just We never met and fuckin... the puppet show thing i forgot the name bite me). I spent hours reading their wikis and wiki trivia, looking for every crumb of canon I could find about em.

Now we have more and its blatantly obvious that I've been slowly loosing my grip on their characters. Ive seen others talk about the mischaracterization of the ship already and I have to agree, some people have made them... well there will always be people who say fuck canon and thats good, good for then.

But I want to keep their characters. When I wrote Bittersweet Aftertaste I was satisfied with their actions, chemistry and conversations even if i made my boy eat shit and die (literally).

When I made Sleep has never been on my schedule I was satisfied with their established relationship dynamic. Pretty much the same in Distractable but thats more goofy

But now that I'm looking at my WIP fics, some partially published, some still in editing, I cant help but find myself hate it. (Maybe not hate but dislike. I know I can do better. I know I can give them justice.)

Which brings me to this post. I will keep updating my ongoing fics but I will make a different slow burn. A different story where I can actually pick apart their characters and make them grow both as people (cookies?) and both as lovers. Platonic or romantic we shall see.

#cake rambles #cake rants #sorry for the long post #long post #but i felt like i needed to get it out #im dissapointed in myself #but thats okay #i will make it work #cookie run #madeleine cookie #espresso cookie #madespresso #cookie run kingdom #espresseleine

[kiwinatorwaffles]

hi guys

now that ive been using tumblr more why dont i make a real intro?

hi im kiwi and welcome to my blog!

i also go by fels/waffles and nathan/nate, but kiwi is generally preferred unless you already know someone named kiwi and need a way to distinguish.

as you’ve probably guessed, i’m aroace!

i use both she/her and he/him pronouns, but honestly use whatever’s funniest. like call me bro if you want. my gender is The Bit. (but i only use gendered terms/honorifics)

i am a multifandom... kinda? i mean i rb stuff relating to my interests

but my main fandom for now is hermitcraft + hermit-adjacent SMPs, and on the side there’s legend of zelda, ace attorney and cookie run ovenbreak

feel free to use my art for icons, banners, edits, dubs etc as long as you credit me.

i’m also a mod for @thelinkconvention (although i can’t check notifs very often) and i’m totally not a mod for @evilxdoodles but you should check it out wink wink nudge nudge

a lot of my art ideas and fics are co-written by my best friend and partner in crime @skyspersonalhell :D

i try my best to write image descriptions for my art (which i put in the alt text) but i’m not always consistent :’] i appreciate any IDs people write for me!

VDHAU masterpost for those who want it!

check out my store on etsy!

please don’t tag my work as ships if i don’t tag/specify it myself 👍 i can’t stop you but i would prefer not to have my works misinterpreted. you can check under the cut for my more detailed stance on shipping!

please do not bring discourse to my page. don’t make me tap the sign.

open up the cut for my tags, page content warnings, boundaries/full shipping stance, and other socials!

my tags!

art- #kiwi’s scribbles random thoughts- #kiwi’s calls writing & headcanons- #orchard’s library asks- #birdhouse inquiries homemade memes- #kiwi’s shitpost central oc content- #kiwi’s ocs (individual stories are tagged with the "original story: __" and "fandom ocs: __" format but you can check out my toyhouse for more actual stuff)

and as a bonus, #kiwisonator for any drawings that i might make of my sona

a masterpost of silly misc tags on my page can also be found here!

IMPORTANT NOTICES FOR MY PAGE!

i might end up drawing possible triggering content! here are some things i draw: - blood, gore, and violence - dark and heavy material - general spooky content sometimes - gay people /j /j /j /j

my page also includes lots of swearing and all caps! if you dont like that then it probably isnt the best choice to follow me.

i filter any triggers with # ___ tw and keep in mind i do also use the #cursed tag for filtering those type of posts if you know what i’m saying just a heads up

BOUNDARIES—

here is my full stance on shipping! please read it if you are wondering about my boundaries! but the tl;dr of that post is that while i am not against shipping, please do not take it to my page if i don’t mention it myself 👍

there are certain ships i am really not comfortable with, so please don't take it personally if i block you for that reason

like i said earlier, please do not tag any of my works as a ship, unless i specify it myself! i mean you CAN i can’t stop you but i’ll probably end up blocking you for my own comfort. nothing personal

as mentioned before, do not bring discourse topics onto my page! any asks or comments about discourse will be not be dignified with a response and promptly deleted!

if the discourse pertains to something i posted, then please do inform me with a reason why i was wrong! however, if you phrase it like a callout or discourse, i will be treating it as such and deleting it!

if you want to learn more about me, here’s my carrd! it includes other socials as well as a (kind of loose) byi.

i don’t have a specific dni, but i do block people who make me uncomfortable. i also don’t interact with people if they’re weird.

IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE ART

i post most of my works and doodles on instagram-- @ kiwinatorwaffles for my main and @ kiwisnotgay for my doodles/alt. you can check out my original characters in more depth on my toyhouse, which is also @ kiwinatorwaffles!

THANKS FOR READING! FEEL FREE TO CHAT OR SEND ME QUESTIONS!

#kiwi’s calls #birdhouse inquiries #kiwi’s scribbles #orchard’s library #the waffle answers to thee #kiwi’s shitpost central #kiwisonator #important sacred texts #saved #saved art #art for kiwinator <3 #kiwi’s ocs

[genshin-impact-updates]

The "Fleeing Sunlight" Klee Sticker Contest Event Has Begun!

Hello Travelers!

The Klee sticker contest event has begun! Get your drawing tools ready, it's time to make some cute Klee stickers~

[Note: Participation in this contest requires a HoYoLAB account. Works posted exclusively to tumblr will not count as valid submissions.]

Event Duration (UTC+8)

June 2, 2021 – June 13, 2021 23:59

Results: June 28

How to Participate

During the event, you can post submissions that meet the event requirements in the Fanart forums. All you need to participate is to choose the "Klee" topic when submitting your artwork.

Submission Criteria

1. Post Format

Title: Each submission name should start with ""Klee Sticker""

2. Submissions must be original works. Unfinished works, works that use editing software (e.g.: Photoshop) or include copied elements are not eligible.

3. Submissions of the following nature do not qualify to participate: works with content that violates our Community Rules, works that plagiarize or misappropriate the works of other creators, works with no relation to Genshin Impact or Klee, works that contain any form of advertising, and those which seek to spread malicious rumors or discredit the game and its characters.

4. Travelers should take part in the event in accordance with the participation steps mentioned above. Participation will be deemed invalid under any of the following circumstances:

i) Submissions fall outside of the stipulated time period (UTC+8) or are posted outside of the Genshin Impact community (HoYoLAB).

ii) Submissions are posted in the wrong section of the community.

iii) Submissions are published in the wrong format, or do not have the correct topic.

iv) Submissions are entered as replies to the main event post.

Event Rewards

Creativity Bundle x3 (Primogem x500, Spark Knight Klee Figure Bordered Poster x1, Klee Acrylic Keychain x1, Klee Character Stand x1, Klee Character Badge x3, and Genshin Impact Mousemat x1)

Popularity Bundle x7 (Primogem x500, Spark Knight Klee Figure Bordered Poster x1, and Klee Acrylic Keychain x1)

Rising Star Bundle x 20 (Primogem x200 and Klee Character Stand x1)

Of all eligible submissions, we will:

Select three of our favorite works and award each of their creators with a Creativity Bundle.

Select seven of the most popular works and award each of their creators with a Popularity Bundle.

Select twenty excellent works and award each of their creators with a Rising Star Bundle.

P.S. Likes, comments, and the number of times works have been favorited will, to a certain degree, factor in selecting the winners.

Notes

Travelers, please pay attention to System Messages, as information of merchandise prize-winners will be sent out via such messages. We ask prize-winners to contact the email address as stated in the system message to provide their shipping address. Prize-winners who have not provided their address within one month after the system message is sent will be deemed to have voluntarily forfeited their prizes.

Event FAQ

Q1: How should LV.1 users participate in the event? How do I level up to LV.2?

A1: Currently, LV.1 users are unable to submit their works to participate in the event. Travelers, please level up to LV.2 before the submission window opens, so that you can successfully submit your works and participate in the event!

By completing HoYoLAB Daily Tasks, you can gain EXP to level up your account! Please refer to the chart below for specific tasks:

Q2: Can PlayStation users participate in the event?

A2: Yes. If Travelers don't have a HoYoLAB account yet, please follow the steps below to create an account, and submit your works according to the event requirements:

i) Create a HoYoLAB account

ii) Link email (go to Account Management https://account.mihoyo.com/#/login, and log in to link email)

iii) Raise your HoYoLAB account level to LV.2. Please refer to Q1 for the account level-up method.

#genshin impact #genshin impact updates #official #genshin impact news #contests #i know there are a lot of talented people here who might be interested! #i might do one idk

[classpectingshitposts]

welcome to classpectingshitposts, also known as mod lis little clout blog. we have a good time here

 hello. unfriendly local neighborhood mod li here to give you a funny little rundown of what goes on here. this is the recently refurbished classpectingshitposts blog, on tumblr dot com, if you missed the memo. an faq:

did you guys used to be classpectingquotes?

yep. now we are not. 

why did you change?

felt like it. also, we did not really do the quotes thing anymore. it was a lot of work, and for me, it was way more fun to interact with the community. we keep getting new followers, so it seems to be working. who knew.

can we still submit quotes?

yes! the submit box looks exactly the same. go for it. 

what kinds of asks do you accept?

not nsfw ones. pretty much everything, except for most of the things that normal classpecting blogs accept. dont send us classpect shipping requests. please. ive done roasts ten times over, so probably dont send more of those. if you want us to do a rundown of your classpect, we probably wont. theories though? things you think are funny? insulting words? any random bullshit you think of? “im x of x and i think ____” ? yeah. go for it. we do get a great deal of asks, though, so if we dont respond to yours, it is not because we hate you. and if you really want it answered, send it a second time after like three business days. 

how much clout do you guys have?

so fucking much

what are the mods classpects? what are the mods pronouns? mods? information on the mods?

heres a basic rundown. i, mod li, am writing this, and the others can feel free to edit whatever they want on their bios. i do not want to put words into their mouths.

hello. i am mod li, and i am also the local asshole, which you might be able to guess if you knew that i am a thief of time. my pronouns are they/them, and i am an adult. my ego is huge. my main blog is @li-thality. i care incredibly little if you follow me there. my main purpose is to get into fights, about many things, but especially sylphs. i have very strong opinions on those. if you get an ask answered, it will most likely be answered by me. my least favorite classes are bard and page. my favorites are the rest of them, in some descending order beginning with thief.

Hi hello My “name” is “mod” astro, and I enjoy “using” quotation marks to “throw people off their rhythms”. I am a rogue of space who uses he/him pronouns, and have been diagnosed with terminal cishet 😔. Anywho, big fan of The Medium, specifically lands and player quests. Interests include: making dnd characters without campaigns, confusing mod li, music, and storytelling. My main blog is @astrologicalcedars , so do what you wish with that. My only rules here are please don’t be weird with the asks and don’t be a jerk. Do that and we’ll be fine. Anyways, Aradia Medigo best girl non-negotiable.

mod morning is the owner of the blog, a sylph (?) or witch of light who uses she/her pronouns. 

mod astrid is a witch of hope who uses she/her pronouns. 

why do you get into fights so often?

its pretty fucking funny man idk what to tell you

do you mean it?

do i?

whats the link to the discord?

it will be forever closed.

#pinned post #faq #homestuck #mod li

[corvidshipping]

Valentine Cinematic Realm (VCR) cheatsheet - characters

hi so given im working on a fic abt val, and ive been slowly adding on pieces to her story bit by bit since about 2017, its kind of hard to convey everything someone might need to know about the story in one go at the beginning of a fic, especially given my general preference to keep long expository narration to a minimum. so instead, im making cheatsheets - to explain important plot points, character relationships, and introduce some of the OCs i include in these stories!!! here we go

(i may edit this later with more characters or information, depending on if it becomes relevant)

Paladins

The Paladins are Valentine's primary team, separate from the X-M.en, G.uardians of the G.alaxy, and the A.vengers. They are currently a group of four: Victoria Valentine as the de-facto leader, Bishop as the communications officer and second-in-command, Caroline as the pilot of the ship and weapons manager, and Venus as the ship's navigator. The group is named for the ship, the Paladin, which is in turn named for Valentine's power suit which she piloted while working under the Collector, the Paladin Suit, which also became her nickname.

(source: artbreeder)

A.N.T

Species: Artificial intelligence Age: Unknown Gender: Agender (they/them, it/its) Skin: N/A Hair: N/A Eyes: N/A

A.N.T., an acronym for Artificial Neural Technology, is the ship's onboard artificial intelligence on the Paladin. It was originally on board the Apollo, an old defunct Ravager ship salvaged by Valentine. It is an extremely old software, and while functional, is extremely glitchy, slightly corrupted, and at times a bit broken. It is typically in charge of background systems on the ship; such as life support, artificial gravity, autopilot, day/night cycling, etc. Due to its frequent glitches, Caroline usually takes control of systems such as navigation and weapons from it. It is very friendly and attempts to be helpful, though these attempts are often clumsy and misinformed. Valentine regards it as somewhat of a friend, as it was the only sapient being on board the Apollo when she first salvaged it and therefore the only being she was able to communicate with any regularity; however, as Caroline frequently interfaces directly with the ship, she often regards it with a bit of disdain due to its slightly bumbling nature. Venus and Bishop often find A.N.T. somewhat amusing.

(trivia fact: A.N.T., as well as the Apollo, were named respectively for the English musician Ad.am A.nt, and for his song Apollo 9.)

(source: artbreeder, edited)

Bishop/Bisharo

Species: Uzuth Age: About 37 Gender: Female (she/her) Skin: Green Hair: Black Eyes: Black

An Uzuth Priestess, birth name actually Bisharo Te Na Uzura, how she fell into a group of bounty hunters and marauders is often confusing for those familiar with the strict, honorable culture of the horned Uzuth race. As the largest woman in her clan and indeed her town, and the most accomplished fighter, skilled in fighting both with calans (traditional large Uzuth double-handed swords, which are notoriously far too large and heavy for most other humanoid species to wield), she was granted the title of Priestess - the matriarch of a town who is responsible for defensive strategy, organizing hunts, and town infrastructure, and who would be expected to be on the front line of any hunt or battle. After her planet was victimized by a Kree accuser and much of the population decimated, she left her town in the hands of her eldest daughter in order to search space for the man responsible. This led her to encountering Valentine, at the time a drifter and a bounty hunter, and joining her both in the hopes she would help her lead her to the accuser and also out of a certain kind of maternal care for this seemingly aimless young woman, hoping to be a guiding presence for her. The nickname Bishop was given to her by Valentine, both because of its phonetic similarity to her given name, and also because she is considered the most morally good and "pure" of the group, acting as the moral and ethical bishop (or mother, as Venus calls her) of the rest of the ship. Aside from combat, she is fluent in several languages (due in part to being in charge of trade for her village), plays an Uzuth instrument similar to a lute, and enjoys reading and writing poetry. She is fascinated with human literature and enjoys reading classical novels in her spare time, currently working through a copy of the Odyssey - though she also has a particular personal fondness for the author Ter.ry Prat.chett. Bishop's linguistic expertise, as well as her experience in diplomacy and governing, has led her to the position of communications officer on the ship, as well as Valentine's second-in-command.

(source: artbreeder, edited)

Caroline

Species: Human (cybernetically enhanced) Age: Around 25 Gender: Agender (she/her) Skin: White Hair: Black Eyes: Blue (naturally), red (cybernetically enhanced, left)

Caroline was a human abducted by slavers at a very young age, much like Valentine herself, and eventually placed in an unethical laboratory - the same one in which Venus was found -, where she was experimented upon in the hopes of creating a form of supersoldier or living weapon. Over 80% of her body is cybernetic now, and her entire lower half as well as her hands are entirely robotic. These cybernetic alterations have, among other things, granted Caroline the very unique ability to interface directly with most electronics and computational devices, by use of the exposed cords emanating from her lumbar area which connect directly to her spinal cord. Due to these alterations, Caroline no longer thinks of herself as human, but rather as a new species, and considers herself closer to a computer. She often expresses disdain towards organic species, though she has not been directly malicious or violent since her escape, and dislikes wearing clothes due to a belief that modesty is an organic trait - however, she is in agreement with her crew to dress normally, but comfortably, in public. Caroline was discovered by the Paladins when they were attempting to retrieve Venus from the same facility in which she resided; Caroline saw the retrieval attempt as an opportunity, and made a violent escape. She attacked Valentine and Bishop before escaping, but was defended by them when all four were cornered by guards. This led her to develop a small sort of trust in them, and she agreed to accompany them in order to help free others in similar situations to her. On the ship, her role is typically piloting and weapons control, being able to directly interface with the Paladin and control the systems directly. Caroline is selectively nonverbal, able to speak and make noise but typically preferring to convey information in other ways - though she will speak if necessary, especially when around people she is comfortable with.

(trivia fact: Caroline was named after the character Caroline in P.ortal, who may or may not have been integrated into/became the AI G.LaDOS)

(source: artbreeder)

Victoria Valentine

Species: Human (Mutant) Age: Early 20s Gender: Feminine (she/her, they/them) Skin: White Hair: Red (natural red in childhood, which turned brighter and more unnatural with age) Eyes: Grey

Born to Maureen Valentine in Bay City, Michigan, Valentine grew up never knowing her father. With her mother's distress turning to alcoholism and neglect, Valentine learned at an early age not only to care for herself but to care for her mother as well. She befriended a neighbor, Simon Ley, early on. On a walk home from school, after separating from Simon, she was abducted by Sakaarans and sold to a Sakaaran senator. During a meeting with a trader in which the senator attempted to sell an artefact, Valentine murdered him and escaped with the artefact, eventually finding herself to the Collector's museum on Knowhere, where she attempted to sell the item for money. Instead, the Collector recognized her and used the senator's murder to blackmail her into working for him as a bounty hunter and mercenary. Eventually, this led her to her first run in with the G.uardians of the G.alaxy, where she faced off with D.rax and managed to stun him. Five years after her first encounter with the Guardians, she was met with a ship run by a woman named Invidia, who was obsessed with exacting revenge on the Collector for the murder of her family. When Invidia destroyed her ship, her distress signal was found by the Guardians and they eventually agreed to assist her. Eventually, she was killed in the attempt to save the Collector, but resurrected by an entity known as Numinus, though without memories. After a brief period on Earth with no memories where she teamed up with D.eadpool, she eventually regained memories, and learned the truth about her parentage. She returned to space briefly, where she would meet Bishop and join forces as bounty hunters, eventually liberating Venus and Caroline from their facilities. She currently acts as a scout in the larger galaxy for threats to the Earth and greater solar system, as well as a mercenary and bounty hunter, occasionally making trips back to Earth to work with both the A.vengers and the X-M.en.

(source: artbreeder, edited)

Venus

Species: Flora Sapiens (genetically engineered hybrid) Age: Around 20 Gender: Female (she/her) Skin: Green Hair: Green Eyes: Pink

Venus is the youngest of nine, all genetically engineered organisms created in the same lab as Caroline. These sisters were created in an attempt to revive the extinct Flora Colos.sus species by using human DNA (similarly to the Jurass.ic Park theory of filling in gaps in dinosaur DNA with frog DNA). However, the experiments were unsuccessful in creating true Flora Col.ossi, and instead resulted in a sort of human-plant hybrid. The question has been raised of whether or not the DNA used to create the Flora Sapiens sisters was, in fact, Caroline's. Venus had originally escaped the facility with her elder eight sisters when she was a sapling; however, operatives with the laboratory attacked and managed to retrieve her, injuring her other sisters. Years later, her sisters were able to contact Valentine and Bishop - who were working as bounty hunters for hire - in order to locate the facility and retrieve Venus once again. While retrieving the now grown Venus, Caroline used the opportunity of the break-in to stage an escape, leading Venus to protect her saviors from both the violent Caroline and the defensive guards. After their escape with Caroline, Venus, though happy to see her sisters once again, chooses to remain with Valentine, hoping in the same way as Caroline to help prevent others from falling into their situation. Venus is skilled in astronomy, leading to her role on the ship as the navigator. She has a tumultuous relationship with Caroline, often butting heads over Caroline's aggressive and hostile nature compared to Venus' quiet and placid demeanor; however, the two actually consider each other best friends. Venus is fascinated with Flora Col.ossi, wishing to know more about them to understand herself better, and frequently requests Valentine to let her speak to Gro.ot; however, due to her isolated upbringing, she is actually very poor at understanding his speech, and usually requires Rocket, Quill, or Bishop to translate for her.

X-M.en

(source: artbreeder, edited)

Soobin Kim (김 수빈)

Species: Human (mutant) Age: Around 20 Gender: Nonbinary (they/them) Skin: Tan Hair: Black (bleached white bangs) Eyes: Heterochromic; red (left), blue (right)

Soobin is a Korean mutant, with strong telepathic and empathic abilities. Their primary ability is extremely powerful empathy which is unable to be deactivated, with others' feelings constantly "broadcast" into their mind; because of this, they have developed a sort of emotional numbness in order to cope with both the massive amount of negative emotions that are projected onto them daily, and also their inability to distinguish clearly between others' feelings and their own. They often speak in a sort of trademark cheerful yet blank tone, frequently saying dark or morose things in a very chirpy manner. Their secondary ability is touch-based telepathy; upon touching someone, they are able to read the entirety of their thoughts and memories, as well as project thoughts and memory onto them, granting the ability of mind control as well. They also possess an eidetic memory. This is often useful for them as a sort of courier for the X-Me.n, able to steal information and transfer the memory of it to their teammates without the need to have a hard copy of it. They share a special telepathic bond with Valentine: Valentine's own potential energy seems to "resonate" at the same "frequency" as Soobin's own telepathic abilities, which is amplified by Valentine's latent psionic abilities inherited from her genetic father, R.emy L.eBeau. As a result, Valentine is one of few other people who is entirely quiet to Soobin, producing no background empathic interference to them unless they both choose to open a channel. This also makes them extra-sensitive when they do open a channel, experiencing her thoughts, feelings, and memories twice as vividly as others'. They also are able to inherently understand each other, despite Soobin only speaking Korean, due to communicating on a telepathic level; this appears to each other as the other speaking in their native language, as they do not consciously notice the telepathic communication. This bond is similarly echoed with her genetic father Remy, though it is not entirely the same; Remy also does not produce empathic background noise due to his potential energy creating "static", but he cannot inherently understand Soobin and requires Valentine to translate for him. Soobin met Valentine when she had traveled to Seoul seeking information on her biological father, a man known as Inkblot with the ability to shapeshift and replicate mutant abilities using DNA samples. They were surprised to notice they could not sense Valentine's emotions, and then surprised once again to discover Valentine could not speak Korean despite holding full conversations with them. When the two were cornered by a disciple of Inkblot, they fought as allies; later, Soobin would go on to create the South Korean chapter of the X-M.en, frequently collaborating with Valentine on away missions which brought her to Asia.

Other

(source: artbreeder, edited)

Maureen Valentine

Species: Human Age: Between mid-40s and mid-50s Gender: Cis female (she/her) Skin: Pale Hair: Auburn Eyes: Dark brown

Maureen Valentine is the biological mother of Victoria Valentine. Her early life is mostly normal, spending her entire life as an average woman in Bay City, Michigan. At some point in her twenties, she encountered Inkblot (Father Paul Hermann), then disguised as G.ambit (R.emy LeBeau). The two began a dedicated relationship, and eventually conceived a daughter, who they agreed to name Victoria; however, just a month before the baby was born, Inkblot disappeared, leaving Maureen to raise the child alone. Devastated, Maureen fell into a spiral of depression and developed several unhealthy coping mechanisms, including hoarding (especially items related to her former partner) and, after giving birth, alcoholism. This caused an unintended neglect issue in Victoria's childhood, as Maureen was not emotionally present nor stable enough to offer Victoria the care she needed, leaving Victoria to often parent herself. After Valentine's abduction in 2008, she spiraled further for a brief period, but the events seemed to shock her into recovery, and as she dedicated her time to campaigns to find her missing daughter, she entered therapy and began work to become sober. When Valentine returned about ten years later, Maureen was mostly recovered and more stable than she was in her childhood, though still traumatized. This has led the two to reconcile greatly and try to fix their relationship. Valentine also determined her mother stable enough to explain the truth of her father to her, as well as where she went when she was abducted; she is aware of her daughter's status as a hero and her membership of the Aven.gers and the X-Me.n, as well as her mutant powers, and supports her where she is able.

(source: artbreeder, edited)

Simon Ley

Species: Human (potentially a mutant, unclear) Age: 20s Gender: Cis male (he/him) Skin: Pale Hair: Dark blonde (later with white streaks) Eyes: Blue

Simon Ley is the childhood friend of Victoria Valentine, growing up two houses down from her in Bay City, Michigan. His childhood was mostly uneventful, with a regular, functional family life. He was always a highly sensitive, compassionate child, and often felt guilt at his own life being so comfortable while watching his friend struggle; because of this, he tried to assist her however possible, helping her with groceries and bringing her home-cooked meals from his parents. The two were extremely close throughout their childhood and teenage years - in fact, Simon was nearly present for Victoria's abduction, as the two were supposed to head home from school together. However, as they headed home he encountered a clearly lost dog, and split off from Valentine to assist it. Feeling that had he been present that day, she may not have been taken, Simon was wracked with guilt after her abduction, and turned to esotericism to cope. One such art which he became obsessed with during high school was the act of astral projection. Simon began to pour his time into research of this art, eventually leading him to attempt to practice it. Whether he possessed a latent mutation which these rituals activated, or if he truly managed to tap into an occult power is not clear, but eventually, Simon was able to successfully astral project. However, the projection was somehow incomplete, and he became trapped on the astral plane, unable to return to his body. His body is now kept in a local hospital on life support, believed to be in a long-term coma, as Simon searches in this new dimension for both his friend (who he still believes to be missing), and a way to return from the astral world. Years in the astral plane have altered his astral form, and slowly also affected his physical form. His formerly sandy brown hair has grown a white streak in the front, from the stress of his soul being separated from his body.

possible appearance, true appearance unknown

(source: artbreeder)

Father Paul Hermann/Inkblot

Species: Human (mutant) Age: Unknown, believed to be anywhere from his 40s to his 70s Gender: Cis male (he/him) Skin: Unknown Hair: Unknown, reportedly black Eyes: Grey

Not much is officially known about Inkblot; due to his particular powers, it is difficult to discern his true identity to corroborate any information, and all information on his past is taken directly from his own mouth. As such, this information can be unreliable as it is impossible to tell if he is unreliable or outright lying. According to Inkblot, he was the son of a Catholic priest in a small, isolated town on the East coast. He grew up highly religious, and as he hit puberty, his particular mutation developed. He began to show the ability to transform his shape into any being whose DNA he imbibed, as well as the ability to mimic their mutations (if they had them). At first, he believed his mutation to be demonic and began praying obsessively to God to save him from Satanic influence - however, he became curious over time about his ability and, as he began to explore it, became convinced that rather than being demonic, this power was given to him directly by God. As he explored his powers, he also began education to, himself, become a priest. He became obsessed with blood, as it was a highly efficient method of imbibing DNA, as well as the metaphor between imbibing blood and Catholic mass. Shortly after taking his rites, he began to abandon his belief in God altogether, beginning to believe in a sort of Gnosticism, that he is himself an Aeon, or an emanation of God, and will reshape the world with his powers, that he is powerful in order to lead the meek and destroy the Demiurge. He began teaching these beliefs in his church, often frightening the congregation, but managing to glean a few devoted followers as well, most of them mutants who felt oppressed and afraid of their powers or afraid to reveal them to the small, conservative town. He began to refer to these followers as his disciples, giving them new names as a symbol of rebirth, and he left the town to spread his beliefs across America, as well as to attempt to find the Demiurge and its Archons, and the followers of such. At some point, Inkblot encountered the X-M.en. It was at this point he was given the name Inkblot; until then, he had been referring to himself as The Father, Monsignor, or The Reverend. During this fight, he obtained blood from G.ambit, and began to disguise himself as him. After escaping, he fled to Bay City, Michigan, where he would meet Maureen Valentine, a young waitress at a local diner. He became curious about the laws governing his abilities, and wondered if a child conceived while disguised as another person would bear his own DNA or the DNA of the person whose identity he stole. He convinced Maureen to name the child Victoria, as he believed she would eventually become his greatest victory and assist him in his final battle against the Demiurge. However, he left the city suddenly just before she was born, feeling he needed to continue in his journey. He kept an eye on Victoria for as much of her life as he was able (except for the years she was missing), mostly through his disciples, and has come to see Victoria as a sort of son-of-God messiah, who has a great purpose she will come to fulfill. Despite all evidence showing that Victoria has inherited only Gam.bit's DNA, Inkblot is convinced there is an amount of his genetic material present in Victoria, and that one day it will present in the form of his own intense bloodlust.

Inkblot is one of the most wanted criminals known to the X-Me.n, as he is known to serially murder non-mutants, favoring Catholics, believing himself to be 'liberating' the innocent from the physical world built by the Demiurge.

#paperheart.txt #s/i: valentine #oc: soobin #oc: venus #oc: bishop #oc: caroline #valentine cinematic realm (vcr) #oc: inkblot #oc: simon ley

[hazyaltcare]

Request Types

"...and in the Haze, a spark of generosity was fed..."

AESTHETIC (#aesthetic)

A collage of images. More freeform than moodboards.

CANON CALL (#canon call)

A post designed to seek out others from a source and/or timeline you feel attuned to. This can also be used as a way to simply find likeminded alterhumans. Please note if there is a specific type of alterhuman you are seeking to contact (i.e. -ive, -kin, -hearted, copinglink etc.)

COMMUNICATION CARDS (#communication cards)

An image designed to communicate something. These are generally made for individuals who struggle with verbal/text communication, but we are happy to make these for anyone who'd like one.

COIN FLIP (#coin flip)

A yes/no question answered by a coin flip.

COLOR PICKED FLAG (#color picked flags)

A pride flag that has been composed of colors picked from an image of your alterhuman type.

CONFESSION (#confession)

A confession from you, posted without comment unless you specifically ask for feedback.

CUSTOM FLAGS (#ship flag, #alterhuman flag, #custom flags)

A flag design based around a ship, alterhuman type, system type/origin, or other xenoidentity of your choosing. We will not do flags for transIDs.

DRAWING (#art)

A drawing for you ranging from a pencil sketch to however complex the mod is comfortable with.

FASHION (#fashion)

An outfit created for you based on your tastes.

HEADER (#header)

A social media header tailored to your specifications. (Make sure you provide dimensions and specify if you would rather it be stylized as an aesthetic or moodboard.)

ICON (#icons)

Avatar icon(s) tailored for you based on your specifications.

INSCRYPTION CARD EDIT (#inscryption card edit)

A picture of an Inscryption card modified to represent your alterhuman type.

LENORMAND (#lenormand)

A question that's answer is divined via a Lenormand deck.

LOCKSCREEN (#lockscreen)

A lockscreen tailored for you based on your specifications.

MAKE-UP LOOKS (#cosmetics)

A collection of make-up products tailored to your alterhumantype.

MEMEBOARD (#memeboard)

A "bad" moodboard designed to be a shitpost and playfully roast the subject.

MOODBOARD (#moodboard)

A grid of images used to represent a theme you request.

NAME SUGGESTIONS (#name suggestions)

A set of names curated for your alterhuman type.

NEOPRONOUN SET (#neopronouns)

A set of neopronouns curated for your alterhuman type.

PENDULUM (#pendulum)

A yes/no question answered via pendulum.

PLAYLIST (#playlist)

A playlist made in a music library (usually YouTube or Spotify) comprising of 5+ songs in your choice of music stylings, with an album cover and a link to the playlist included.

POETRY (#poetry)

A poem devised in either the requester's choice or the mod's choice of poetry form.

POKÉMON TEAM (#pokemon team)

A team of 6 Pokémon on display with the character(s) you request acting as their trainer.

POSITIVITY (#positivity)

A comforting message.

SCRYING (#scrying)

Divining an answer to a question by interpreting images seen on a mirror or crystal ball.

SELF-CARE (#self care)

A kit of comforting items suggested based on your tastes.

SHUFFLEMANCY (#shufflemancy)

A question that's answer is defined by shuffling a playlist. The playlist used and the amount of times the songs are shuffled first can be your choice or the mod's choice.

SPRITE EDIT (#sprite edit)

An edited game sprite tailored to your specifications.

STIMBOARD (#stimboard)

A grid of 9 "satisfying" gifs.

TAROT (#tarot)

A question that's answer is divined via tarot cards.

TYPING QUIRK (#typing quirk)

A typing quirk set that is tailored to your alterhuman type.

USERBOXES (#userbox)

A small colored box that is designed to appear on a user's page as a communicative notice about the user. It can convey a variety of information.

WALLPAPER (#wallpaper)

A wallpaper tailored to your specifications. (Make sure you provide pixel dimensions and specify if you would rather it be stylized as an aesthetic or moodboard.)

#menu #request types #alterhuman #mod haze #otherkin #fictionkin #positivity #self care #fashion #aesthetic #moodboard #stimboard #coin flip #divination #tarot #lenormand #shufflemancy #poetry #drawing #pendulum #sprite edit #userbox #communication cards

[mayabruhbruh]

Stranger Things 4 Analysis and Theory

I don’t know if anyone else has done posts on this stuff yet (it’s really likely, but i’d not want to take the credit if i’m not the only one who’s thought of this)

I know @kaypeace21 has made tons of posts on the s4 movies from Video Store Friday, and many others have theories and analyses, but back in July I took it upon myself to research more into the very last few scenes of s3. Specifically the three months later time stamp, where Steve and Robin are in search for a new job.

My main focus was the four movies that they mentioned for Keith at the counter. “Animal House”, “The Hidden Fortress”, “Children Of Paradise”, and “The Apartment”.

(reminder that if you read this, it could be spoilers for the final cut of the actual show if i end up being correct about some of this, so read at your own risk)

My first theory, which I’ve already discussed in a separate reblog, is about The Hellfire Club. But i’ll say it here too.

Basically,

(sorry for the sucky quality)

Animal House is about two awkward freshmen going into college and joining a fraternity of rejects. It matches Mike, Dustin and the Hellfire Club perfectly! Personally, my lowkey theory is that they’re going to have to go though an entirety of initiation activities (possibly drugs too, if what we’ve heard is correct) and Lucas and Max will be in their own storylines up until the supernatural threat brings them back together again. This could be wayy off, but still its my idea.

As for Max and Lucas...

I’m not sure about the entirety of the plot of this movie, but the last line sounds a lot like something that would happen between Lumax. Lucas is a basketball jock now, I think that’s crystal clear now seeing from the Pep Rally poster, and how he’s always been the one in the group to be able to mask his nerdy side. For Dustin and Mike, I know it’s much harder for them. Anyways, Max, I’m pretty positive by now, is going to be extremely distant and defensive from everyone just like she was in the beginning of s2, since she just had a big change happening in her life. It’s the same now, except with the grief and loss of Billy. My guess, from the hints of this movie and other stuff, is that Lucas is going to come face to face with his reputation as a popular kid, and his love for Max. Like the summary says, he must decide between the advancement of his career or the girl that he loves. Real hard hitting stuff.

Onto the next one. MIKE WHEELER. (or will byers)

I watched an analysis video on this movie, because I haven’t seen it yet, but again the very last line is what I’d like to focus on.

My. Jaw. Dropped.

I’ve read many analyses of Mike Wheeler being gay (courtesy of @kaypeace21 @hawkinsschoolcounselor and MANY others), but I dunno, I was always just so skeptical no matter how much it made sense. But when I saw this WHAT THE HELL?!?’);/&? It’s stupid of me to not have believed it sooner, but I hope this is the movie that foreshadows Mike’s storyline this season. I’m assuming Mike will have to “prove his expertise in battle”, or perhaps prove he can go through with all of the initiation shit for The Hellfire Club, while hiding his growing revelation that he might be gay/bisexual.

BUT a possibly more likely scenario would be that this movie connects with Will Byers’ storyline this season instead. Perhaps the hardships of a new school and a new town has Will shaken up, and he also has his sexuality awakening that he has to hide from new people. I say that it’s more likely for him, because Will has always been more heavily queer-coded (not exactly heavier, but just extremely much more apparent and obvious opposed to Mikes queercoded subtext that we really had to dig for).

I also didn’t mention this in my reblog from earlier, but I want to address my opinions on the apparent cheerleader that meets Mike and befriends one another. One of my friends on twitter said Chrissy (her name, or so we think lmao) might be a key component to Mike being able to discover and come to terms with his sexuality. But then again, a different friend of mine thinks that the amount of content were getting is oddly suspicious, and that the Duffers are feeding us all the wrong information to lead us to all the wrong conclusions. But, at this point, why not both. At the moment, everyone thinks that Chrissy is Mikes new love interest, but what if she really isn’t, and they’re pulling a Robin on us (i call it a robin because it was technically straight-baiting in s3 LMFAO). I’m not saying that she might be a lesbian (although 👀 it says on her character info that she’s 18 (robins got some game to work with now ahaha)) but it could be a straight-bait up until she helps Mike realize his sexuality (i would have said realizes his love for Will😍😍 but recently ive been trying not to input byler into everything i fucking say, so theres how that’s going). Anyways. Last movie!

Now, I’m currently not super concrete on this one to be completely honest. I have a few in mind...

Okay, so don’t attack me, but this could possibly be a mileven storyline. It sort of fits. They have an undeniable connection, but “their fortunes shift considerably and they’re pushed apart” aka the misfortune of the mindflayer and hawkins not being safe for them leads them to moving away and literally being pushed apart. I don’t know about the pursuing other relationships, but we still have no idea what’s going on with El Hopper tbh, i havent a single clue what’s going to be happening with her storyline atm. But either way, that could be it.

ORRRR the MUCH more likely scenario, Jancy :)

Bloggers on here have already predicted that they wouldn’t be endgame, and I was only slightly skeptical because although their relationship was built on shared trauma, a very unstable foundation to have for a ship tbh, i still hung onto the fact that they cared for eachother a lot :,( But the entirety of their season 3 bickering and this summary kind of sealed the deal.

Just like Mike and El, Nancy and Jonathan have been pushed apart aswell. It was already seen in season three that they’d be better of leading separate lives, aka Jonathan was doing fine at the internship, whereas Nancy could have been somewhere better for herself. I doubt they broke up at the end of season 3, but there’s bound to be new relationships for them seperately. It sucks bc I love Jancy, but s3 showed how badly they snap at one another when there isn’t a life threatening event at hand. Jopper on the other hand, I thought their bickering was adorable, but i’m getting off track, sorry lmfaoo.

Once again, I probably am not the first to talk about these, but jsyk if you steal this from me specifically i will track you down and end you. I’ve been speculating about these things since April and July, which is pretty weak tbh, but that was when i had nothing better to do LMFAO. i hope i got at least something right, but i haven’t seen many of the video store friday’s movies, which sucks bc those could really help. But whatever.

(i wrote this really late at night, and it’s poorly edited bc my eyesight sucks lmfao, but i hope you get what i mean)

And that’s it! I hope you like it, or had some sort of impact from it idk, just sharing my thoughts tbh. Anygays, if you have any questions/added ideas/thoughts of any kind, my inbox is always here, you can private message me, and comment if you want!! i love y’all sm lmfao, so excited for the upcoming content were about to get soon, byee!

#stranger things s4 speculation #strangerwriters #stranger things #stranger things ships #mike wheeler #will x mike #mike x will #will byers #el hopper #eleven #jane hopper #max mayfield #lucas x max #max x lucas #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #analysis #byler #byler aesthetic #byler is canon #byler is real #mileven ships #mileven #finn wolfhard #millie bobby brown #noah schnapp #sadie sink #caleb mclaughlin #gaten matarazzo #nancy wheeler

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game - CH65

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

-----

Chapter 65: Seed of Slaughter (IV)

He hadn't died?

Qi Leren was so frightened that he was at a loss.

The wind poured in from the blasted iron wall, and the fresh but cold air from the high altitude quickly lowered the temperature in the cabin.

The cloaked man was everywhere. Those thorns on the ground slowly shrunk; most returned to his body, the rest were like a black python, cruising and crawling on the ground.

The cabin was silent, and the survivors looked at Qi Leren who had come back from the dead in astonishment, which was even more shocking than the murderer's survival in the explosion.

Thump, thump, thump. His heart beat fast, his body was cramped with nerves, and he was stiff in the cold air.

He only had 30 seconds, and within these 30 seconds, he would either die or couldn't die again.

The murderer's burned face was naked - showing the burned muscles due to the explosion. He seemed to be laughing, without the cover of his lips, and white teeth were embedded in the dark red flesh, looking horrifying. With his smile, the thorns came crazily toward Qi Leren, and he rolled on the spot without thinking. Those thorns beat on the ground like waves, and one even nicked his arm, scraping off a large piece of skin and instantly pouring blood.

At this moment, Qi Leren unexpectedly calmed down, and the primary fighting skill equipped in the card slot gave play at this moment, so he narrowly escaped those crazy thorns and vines and approached the cloaked man.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flying thorn, watching the inevitable, and a figure flew out. The long stick in his hand hit the thorn, which gave Qi Leren a chance. Qi Leren didn't even have time to look back at him, and his feet kept rushing towards the cloaked man.

There was another inescapable thorn, which stabbed him in the stomach like a sharp arrow. Qi Leren stared at the cloaked man who was less than half a meter away from him, and grabbed his clothes - the thorn passed through his belly, but failed to shake his strength to hold the cloaked man. He was not thrown off, and his other hand also held the cloaked man.

The setting sun was like blood, shining into the cabin from outside the broken wall. Qi Leren wanted to push hard and drag the murderer down from the blasted bulkhead.

The wound that pierced his abdomen was not judged by the S/L skill as fatal. Instead of being reloaded, he dragged the cloaked man and fell from the airship together…

Too high, too fast, and the wind was too fierce, Qi Leren simply couldn't open his eyes, he just felt out of balance and kept falling.

The afterglow of the setting sun hung over the sea where the airship flew. His eyes were closed, but the golden red light still passed through the thin eyelids and came to his retinas. It was like a glowing red sea of fire, so vast and magnificent, and every knife cut on his skin was so sharp that the pain was like being burned.

For a moment, he thought he was falling into a lake of fire in hell, and the golden sunset was an eternal industrial fire burning in hell. The cloaked man who was grabbed by him struggled hard, and the thorns running through Qi Leren’s belly twisted crazily, but they could not stop the two from falling out of control.

To die together.

Once again, Qi Leren returned to the save point, his legs so soft that he almost fell down. The people around him gave him a quick hand. He murmured a thank you in a cold sweat and sat down on the chair.

Outside the cabin wall that had been blasted by the miniature bomb, the golden sunset gazed gently at the survivors. They looked in amazement at Qi Leren who had come back from the dead twice in a row, but he was too immersed in the instantaneous death just now.

Although it is not as high as an airplane, it made no difference whether it was the sea or the ground below when falling from this height. In an instant, it turned a living person to a mass of meat sludge. Fortunately, this kind of death was fast enough and direct enough. It was much simpler than a soft knife to cut meat. It was just that the feeling of falling briefly before death made Qi Leren instinctively feel scared, completely out of control, unable to stop and powerless.

"Amazing, outstanding determination and courage. That we can survive from the madman who started killing wildly was thanks to you." The man who gave him a hand just now clapped his hands, and Qi Leren noticed that he was the one who had just blocked the thorns with a long stick.

The surviving people in the cabin also clapped their hands one after another. Surrounded by applause, Qi Leren was a little embarrassed. He whispered to the man near him about the killing: "I just heard someone say that that person’s seed of slaughter had awakened. What does that mean?"

The man arched his eyebrows: "Are you new?"

"...Well, I haven’t been here long." Qi Leren gave a wry smile.

"As a newcomer, you are already very good. Most of the people in the ship are old players, and they still weren’t able to turn the tide. Haha, sometimes luck is more important than strength here." The man laughed, "Oh yes, my name is Luo Yishan, and I’ve been here for about half a year."

"Hello, my name is Qi Leren. Thank you just now. If you hadn't helped me fend off the thorns, I'm afraid I probably wouldn't be able to chat with you here now." Qi Leren didn’t say when he came in, so he thanked Luo Yishan for his help just now.

Luo Yishan looks like a well-built young man. He was powerful and straightforward at first glance.

"Don't mention it. It's a pity that you couldn’t help everyone..." Luo Yishan sighed and glanced at the mess on the ground.

Qi Leren also looked at the devastated cabin, with tables and chairs swept by thorns everywhere. More than a dozen bodies were lying on the ground. Several surviving players were moving the bodies and putting them together. Several friends of the dead stood beside the bodies to mourn, and several women sobbed.

There was no need to say any more about the damage on the wall. Such a big hole made the temperature in the cabin plummet. He didn't feel it in the critical moment just now. Now as he calmed down, he began to shake. He rummaged through the system inventory and finally put on Ning Zhou's coat.

The dying sunset lingered near sea level, sending a brilliant golden light, which shines brightly, but it was still so cold.

"Xiao Qi, are you from the Vatican?" Luo Yishan suddenly asked.

Qi Leren looked at him blankly: "Huh?"

"Isn't this the symbol of the Vatican?" Luo Yishan said, pointing to the insignia at the collar of his coat.

Qi Leren turned up the collar of his coat, and sure enough, there was a logo embroidered in gold thread, which looked quite abstract. At the bottom, it seemed to be a demon with horns, while at the top, there was a cross with a crown: "Is this the symbol of the Vatican? Sorry, I don't know, this jacket isn’t mine ... "

"Oh, I thought you were a member of the Vatican. I heard that the headquarters of the Vatican moved to Neverland at the north pole after the demons’ invasion. It’s cold enough to freeze penguins to death there." Luo Yishan suddenly told a cold joke, and he burst out laughing.

"..." The man's laughing point was so low that Qi Leren just forced a laugh without words.

Neverland? Vatican? When he played "Nightmare Game", the Vatican did exist, but he didn't know exactly where it was. His understanding of the Vatican was also very limited. Although the main task did involve the Vatican, he even needed to go to the temple cathedral that was captured by the demons more than 20 years ago …

"About the seed of slaughter..." Qi Leren asked about the word he had just heard.

Luo Yishan gave him a dignified look and warned: "It's not a good thing. Those who walk on this side of the road will not end well."

The back of Qi Leren's neck suddenly stung, and he touched the stabbing pain. The sharp pain disappeared like an illusion.

Several players sat down beside Qi Leren, and inquired about his skills in a beat around the bush. Qi Leren frowned impatiently and didn't want to pay attention to this group of people. Finally, Luo Yishan gave the excuse that he needed a rest and let him lie in a chair to have a rest. Qi Leren was really tired. He just wanted to take a nap, but he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The airship had already started to land, and the swaying hull made people feel very uneasy. Passengers also sat down and held tables and chairs to avoid falling out.

With the whistle of the landing, the passengers walked down the cabin in twos and threes.

Qi Leren says goodbye to Luo Yishan, holding the handrail and getting off the airship.

Under the airship, Al, in uniform, stood there with his arms crossed. Several players were telling him about the accident on the airship. He nodded carelessly and toyed with the ring on his index finger. When Qi Leren came down, he immediately looked up and then came to him.

Qi Leren looked at him for a while, startled: "What's the matter?"

Al looked him up and down. "Did you kill that garbage?"

"...Mn," Qi Leren answered

Al's lazy attitude seems to be slightly corrected. He glanced at Qi Leren: "Very good, come with me."

"Where?" Qi Leren asked.

"Court. Congratulations, your movements are restricted from today on," Al answered coldly.

-----

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#Welcome to the Nightmare Game #欢迎来到噩梦游戏 #danmei

[yessoupy]

the @imetyouonljpodcast episode this week gave me lots of thoughts and feelings about star wars. more like, reminded me of all my thoughts and feelings around my first fandom. thus, I decided to write my own journey into and throughout star wars fandom, and what it means to me. buckle up, this story spans decades.

my very first memory of anything star wars-related is a yoda puppet that my grandmother had. it had to be from the original run of the movies, because I was maybe 4 in my first memory of it, and i was born in '86. my sisters and I loved it, and one of our cousins was deathly scared of it so we'd chase him around the house with it.

my second memory of star wars was going to the movie store with my dad and sisters and seeing our favorite yoda on the cover of a VHS. "yoda yoda yoda! daddy, it's yoda!!! can we get it?" we were holding up the display cover for return of the jedi. dad said no, we couldn't get that one yet because we had to watch them in order. so we rented a new hope and all I remember was falling asleep while artoo and threepio were trundling across the tatooine desert sands. at five I guess I was too young.

in early 1997 the special editions of the original trilogy were aired in theaters and I was in 4th grade. dad took us to see one of them (I think empire, at some point we'd finally finished a new hope). at school that grading period I sat next to a boy named mark and he noticed I was drawing little x-wing silhouettes on my paper. "you like star wars too?" he asked. when I said yes, he declared that because of my name, he was going to call me skywalker. that's the name on the back of my high school letter jacket.

in fall of 1998 I started the 6th grade and I came home from school one day to a hardbound book my mom had checked out for me from the library. heir to the empire by timothy zahn. mom pointed out where it said on the cover it was a trilogy, and I could get the other books when I finished this one. she hadn't found the young jedi knights series for me. she'd checked out a GROWN-UP star wars book.

in spring of 1999 the phantom menace came out and my parents' friend took me to see it on opening day because neither of them were free and I HAD to go that day. later on that year she took me to a star wars exhibit at the museum of fine arts. that was also the first time I saw a monet and a renoir. the exhibit had costumes (real costumes!!!) from the original trilogy and the newest prequel. I bought a book about the myth of star wars in the museum gift shop.

I read every expanded universe book our local library had, which was a lot. I had a lot to catch up on, too, since heir to the empire had been published in 1992. you never saw me at school without a star wars book. I read while walking in the hallways, even. in 6th grade I read during lunch, since I was in varsity orchestra with 7th and 8th graders and was terribly shy. they'd tell me I should socialize at lunch, not read my books, but... I wanted to read. I had a lot to learn. I have a lot to know.

I was in 7th grade when I read vector prime, the first in the new series. my first class of the day was science, and the boy I had a crush on was in that class. we had DEAR time at the beginning of that class - drop everything and read. not a hardship for me. that day, I read the part of the book where chewbacca was killed. I looked up, astonished. heartbroken. I locked eyes with the boy I liked. he nodded at the book and I showed him the cover. he nodded sympathetically. "they killed chewie," I whispered. he said "I know."

I wrote original characters in star wars fan fiction when I was about 13. I had an internet friend named rachel who lived in brisbane. then there was dave and 'roswell' who gave me ideas for my story. I loved being able to talk about the wide world of star wars with other people. we used aol instant messenger and email. my username in those days had 'skywalker' in it. I am pretty sure we met in an aol chatroom. I didn't find much of use on the official star wars site and I have probably visited it fewer than 10 times since 1999.

I read those books all through middle and high school. they were my christmas presents and my birthday presents. I moved into our family beach house after college. it sounds really nice but I didn't have running water because it was the summer after Ike hit. I would go to the used book store on 23rd street and buy a stack of star wars books and read them while I waiting for calls to interview for a teaching position. weekends I'd go into town to stay at a friend's house and help her with wedding stuff. I'd shower there, too. that's where my new stash of star wars books started, with me catching up on the legacy of the force series I hadn't read in college and then finishing up through the fate of the jedi as those came out. I felt that I had grown up with these characters. I remembered when kyp was just an orphan han rescued, when jacen and jaina were five years old, when corran horn had no wife, no kids, and was just finding out who his family was. I had capital o opinions about what color lightsaber i would have and why (silver; bc corran), I knew the geography of the galaxy and where everyone was from and my favorite planet was dathomir because women ruled it. I knew all of these characters' histories and motivations and the difficult decisions they'd made and had to live with. I loved them.

i never ventured into the online fandom space for star wars, even after I'd found other online fandom spaces, because I didn't feel like there was anything anyone could add to it for me. I was satisfied with all I'd gotten. sure, favorite characters had been killed (after chewie, the one who stung most was Mara, luke's wife), but people die. and in such a long-running series spanning so many years and trillions of miles of space... you come to expect it.

people would ask me ALL THE TIME when the sequels were coming out and I said never. then, disney bought star wars. initially I was excited (tears of joy happy) to have sequels confirmed. my mind raced, imagining a trilogy centered on the events surrounding jacen's descent to the dark side. the original actors would be the right age for that. who could play jacen?

then, the announcement came that the canon was now 'legends' and they wouldn't be taking any of it into account when writing the sequels BUT that didn't mean we wouldn't see old canon favorites. they announced adam driver as the villain and I thought "jacen." I held onto the idea that this knowledge I had, these years of knowing these stories, would still be worth something. that I'd be able to add new information to my mental bookshelves and maps. that my universe would expand further.

the force awakens was a bitter disappointment. I was upset from the crawl, leia's title making it clear to me that she wasn't chief of state, she wasn't the mother to three children, han wasn't her husband, and all of her history I'd grown to love really was gone. what I saw was the older version of a woman I'd met when she was 18 and hadn't seen her since her early twenties. I didn't know her.

I didn't know the galaxy, either. starting with the new jedi order series, a map of the galaxy was included in the front of each book with the planets named so you knew where everything was happening. the new galaxy was bare. it was small and knowable. while the hosnian prime system was destroyed in the movie, I'd never known it, and all the planets I DID know were similarly blasted out of memory. where was dathomir and its fierce warrior witches? if their planets were gone so were their people.

as the movie trudged on, a retelling of a new hope, I kept thinking, "at least let his name be jacen." I hung my hopes on this sith character being han and leia's son and sharing that name of the boy I'd known and the man who'd grown up to turn to the dark side. at that first shout of 'BEN!' I was angry. Ben?? that was the name of LUKE'S son! that was MARA'S child! Ben??? with three letters jacen solo and ben skywalker were also dead to the galaxy.

I know, I know. I should get over it. I AM thankful for poe dameron. the x-wing books were always my favorite. poe was familiar to me the way other new characters weren't. he was part of the new republic navy. I knew what that was. he flew an x-wing. I knew what that was.l and what company manufactured them. he was from yavin IV, I knew where that was and what it looked like. finn was a stormtrooper, yes, but the empire had not stolen children to be raised as stormtroopers. they were recruited like any other position. his story wasn't real to me, it wasn't something I could easily accept. and the idea that the new republic just LET the first order rise? leia's new republic would NEVER. but leia wasn't chief of state in this universe. leia hadn't had that power.

I read a lot of articles about the force awakens and the reactions to it, and never saw myself in any of them. the star wars fanboys whom I'd never known were painted as being angry because their fan knowledge was useless and "boo-hoo poor widdle fanboys" they would be mocked, rightfully. but that's why I was angry, ultimately. everyone I knew and loved was dead. worse, they'd never existed. "what do you think will happen?" some unsuspecting coworker would ask. I'd shrug, but inside I was yelling "who the fuck knows! my favorite characters don't exist anymore. nothing I know as this person you know as SKYWALKER means anything anymore."

it only got worse from there. One day I spent four hours figuring out how far the casino planet was from the drifting ships in the last jedi and doing math to figure out how long it would REALLY take to get there, using old canon star wars physics. I couldn't suspend my disbelief during that movie. everything was wrong. (the other space physics quibble I had was from TFA when poe is using comms while in hyperspace, and dropping out on a command and not... when nav told him to?? you'd fly right through a star!! were they HOVERING in hyperspace? none of it made sense.) I knew too much and too little to enjoy it.

TROS was a narrative mess already retconning new canon and I decided that I would only keep what I liked about the new canon (poe and his family) and pretend the old canon is all there is. one day I'll write the story of poe being part of the storied rogue squadron being sent by leia's new republic to put down the fascist upstarts at the edge of the unknown regions. one day.

one more quick story -- i met my college friend’s three kids for the first time when the oldest was 6. i’d sent a toy lightsaber as a gift when he was born, because i believe every child should get their first lightsaber from a skywalker, and his father had shown him the movies when he turned 4. when i walked into the house i said hello and he said, “i have some questions about star wars.”

we sat on the couch with the tfa visual dictionary, a book he’d gotten out of the library. every question he had was an excellent question, and i couldn’t answer any of them. “why does his lightsaber look like that? and why does he have the extra blades?” 

“well, kiddo, let’s see what it says here about how lightsabers are made. i used to know all about it, but they changed everything on me.”

---

what i love about star wars since disney bought it:

poe dameron, cassian andor (and all of rogue one, i got over the fact that the movie wouldn’t be about rogue squadron it was PERFECT), solo (a fucking DELIGHT), the mandalorian, and i’m sure the cassian andor live action will be amazing and i’ll love it. 

#star wars #fandom thoughts #i've just spent SO MUCH of my life being a star wars fan #and being perfectly happy to describe myself as such #edit i tried a read more but it didn't work so sorrryyyyyyyy

[the-busy-ghost]

Shoddy History Edits: Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran

The oldest surviving daughter of James II of Scotland and Mary of Guelders, Mary Stewart was probably born in Stirling in July 1451*. Over the course of the next decade she would be joined by at least five siblings, four of whom lived to adulthood- the future James III (b.1452), Alexander Duke of Albany, John Earl of Mar, and Lady Margaret Stewart. Although their births secured the future of the Stewart dynasty, the early lives of these children were not exactly stable and Mary would lose both her parents by the age of thirteen. Following her father’s accidental death at Roxburgh in 1460, her mother took charge of the government of Scotland on behalf of the young James III, until her own early demise in late 1463. After this Mary’s powerful kinsman James Kennedy, Bishop of St Andrews, assumed a leading role in the kingdom’s affairs but when he died in turn in 1465, things began to get a bit out of hand. Possession of the king’s person was a valuable commodity during Scottish minorities and it wasn’t long before the favoured tactic of ‘rule by kidnap’ was employed by Robert, Lord Boyd. 

In summer 1466, a group of Boyd supporters led by Robert’s brother, Alexander Boyd of Drumcoll, seized the fourteen year old James III while the king was out hunting near Linlithgow, and took control of government. A  reasonable amount of nest-feathering ensued, which was not entirely unexpected. However the Boyds seem to have overstepped the mark when, on or around 26th April 1467, Lord Boyd’s eldest son Thomas was created Earl of Arran and wed the king’s older sister Mary. We don’t know what Mary herself thought about this sudden development but her brother certainly didn’t like it- James would claim in later years that he wept at the wedding, but was unable to stop it out of fear that he and his brothers would be destroyed. This bold move from the Boyds- whose chief representative was only a lord of parliament before 1467- may not have impressed the wider political community much either, especially since Mary was the eldest daughter and was probably expected to make an important match with another powerful European dynasty*. After all, several of her paternal aunts had married into princely dynasties- like the late Margaret (d.1445), who had married the dauphin of France, Isabella (d. after 1494) who married the duke of Brittany, and Eleanor (d.1480) who married the (Arch)duke of Further Austria, while three other aunts had also been involved in important, if obviously less impressive, marriage negotiations. During her mother’s negotiations with Margaret of Anjou in 1460, Mary herself had been suggested as a bride for Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, the son of the exiled Henry VI of England. But as fate would have it, neither of James III’s sisters were destined to marry outside the kingdom- although, like her younger brother Alexander, Mary would experience her fair share of European travel.

After three years of power, the tide began to turn for the Boyds in the summer of 1469. Robert, Lord Boyd had been busy over the past year arranging the king’s marriage to Margaret, daughter of Christian I of Denmark, and now he and his son Thomas, Earl of Arran, had the honour of escorting the royal bride back to Scotland. But in the meantime James III had finally managed to seize the reins of government, and, by the by, he had also come to the conclusion that Lord Boyd and his son weren’t really in need of their heads. This must have put something of a damper on proceedings when the Boyds’ ship docked in Leith. Later sixteenth century accounts claim that Thomas Boyd was intercepted on board by his wife Mary, who warned him of her brother’s intentions. Instead of disembarking with the rest of the fleet, the couple promptly sailed away from Scotland again, with Thomas’ father Robert joining them later in exile- a sensible precaution really since James had Robert’s brother Alexander Boyd of Drumcoll executed on the castle hill of Edinburgh a few months later, and forfeited the possessions and lives of Robert and Thomas Boyd in absentia**. Whether or not Mary played an active role in the flight of her husband and father-in-law like the sixteenth century writers claim***, we do know that she joined them in exile. Sixteenth century sources claim that the Boyds in vain sought the support of the king of France, while contemporary sources show that Mary and the Boyds took refuge in Flanders, throwing themselves on the mercy of her cousin Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. 

Bruges was then a fashionable place for exiled British royals to mooch around (Edward IV of England and co. were also in residence over the winter of 1470-71). Charles the Bold was not always a reliable ally but, in the Boyds’ case, he did at least send a message to James III through his ambassador Anselm Adornes (soon to become a favourite with the king of Scots), asking for the Scottish exiles to be pardoned and allowed to return home. James thanked the duke for his courtesy to his sister but stoutly refused, recounting the Boyds’ crimes and arguing that the duke, “ought no longer to favour traitors, who to the king’s dishonour had brought his sister to exile in many foreign lands.” So the Scottish exiles remained in Bruges for some time, staying at the Hotel de Jerusalem which belonged to Anselm Adornes while its owner went on pilgrimage to the real Jerusalem. During this time Mary gave birth to two children- James and Margaret Boyd- whose godmother was Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy. 

In late 1471, though, the situation looked like it was improving. Some modern historians interpret the sources as stating that a plan was developed for the Boyds and Mary cross the sea again, and for Mary to travel to Scotland to soften her brother up while the Boyds waited in England until it was safe for them to return. On the other hand, sixteenth century writers like George Buchanan and John Leslie were of the opinion that James III had lured his sister home under false pretences, “on account of the great love she bore to her husband.” In any case, a safe conduct from Calais was granted to the exiles, and to Anselm Adornes who was to accompany them, and they sailed for England in October 1471. Thomas Boyd said goodbye to the rest of the group in the southern kingdom, and went to the court of the newly restored Edward IV, where he had business with the king. The rest of the party went on to Alnwick, where they were to remain to await the outcome of Mary’s mission (Robert, Lord Boyd, now quite old, is supposed to have died there). Mary then crossed the border with Anselm Adornes and his wife. She is not known to have seen her first husband again. 

Little is certainly known of Mary’s career between her return to Scotland in 1471-2 and her second marriage in 1474, but clearly any plans to restore the Boyds to favour failed. Mary herself was receiving ferms from lands in Scotland by late 1473 at least, if not earlier, indicating that, if not exactly back in favour, she was at least able to conduct some business without royal obstruction. Both Leslie and Buchanan (and other writers) claim that she was detained by her brother in Ayrshire while James III wrangled a divorce between Mary and Thomas. The grounds and exact process of any such “divorce” are unknown, other than Buchanan’s puzzling story that the king summoned Thomas Boyd to Kilmarnock to answer for his crimes within sixty days and that, when Boyd naturally failed to appear, the marriage was declared illegitimate. Mary was then married (by force and “against her inclination” according to Buchanan) to James, Lord Hamilton, a man many years her senior but greatly favoured by the king. Once again we do not know Mary’s thoughts on this match, but it had taken place by Easter 1474, when, at the king’s command, “my Lady of Hammiltoune the Kingis sister” was given six ells of purple velvet for a kirtle.  We know this was not James III’s younger sister Margaret (though she did later reside in Hamilton) since in July of the same year, Lord Hamilton surrendered several lands into the king’s hands so that they could be granted back in conjunct fee to the couple, with the wife named as “Marie Senescalli ejus sponse, sorori regis”. But aside from the minor detail that Mary’s first husband was perhaps still cutting about, there were other impediments which made the new couple’s relationship less than legal. Accordingly, in April 1476, Pope Sixtus dispensed them from the impediments of consanguinity, affinity, and public honesty, and declared the child which had since been born to them legitimate. By the time of Lord Hamilton’s death three years later, at least two children had been born of the marriage- a boy named James and a girl named Elizabeth. 

In the meantime, Mary’s first husband Thomas appears to have died abroad, though we have almost no information about his life following their separation, and even the sixteenth century writers do not agree on this point. Buchanan claims that he died in Antwerp not long after the “divorce”, and was buried there with great honour on the orders of Charles the Bold (he also gives his personal opinion that James Hamilton was far inferior to Mary’s first husband- hindsight is a wonderful thing). The Italian humanist Giovanni Ferreri had obviously heard very different stories about Thomas and his character from his Scottish sources, and, in his rather unreliable continuation of Hector Boece’s history, he gave Thomas a reputation as a man capable of any vice, and claimed that, after much travelling in Europe, he was murdered in Italy by a man whose wife he had seduced. But two letters in the celebrated collection of the Pastons of Norfolk have survived which refer to Thomas Boyd’s time in England , and the first of these gives a very different character sketch to that offered by Ferreri- and a rare contemporary insight into the whole affair. On 5th June 1472, John Paston the younger wrote to his older brother of the same name:

“"Also I prey yow to recomand me in my most humbyll wyse unto the good Lordshepe of the most corteys, gentylest, wysest, kyndest, most compenabyll, freest, largeest, most bowntesous knyght, my Lord the Erle of Arran, whych hathe maryed the Kyngs sustyr of Scotland. Herto he is one the lyghtest, delyverst, best spokyn, fayrest archer; devowghtest, most perfyghte, and trewest to hys lady of all the knyghtys that ever I was aqweynted with; so wold God, my Lady lyekyd me as well as I do hys person and most knyghtly condycyons, with whom I prey yow to be aqweynted, as yow semyth best; he is lodgyd at the George in Lombard Street.**** He hath a book of my syster Annys of the Sege of Thebes; when he hath doon with it, he promysyd to delyver it yow."

We are offered no such contemporary insight into Mary’s character, which must remain something of a mystery, although if even half of what the sixteenth century writers claim about her is true, she must have had her fair share of both mettle and misfortune. Though she never saw her husband again, her two children by Thomas Boyd were eventually allowed to return to Scotland and, in the early 1480s, young James Boyd was even allowed to succeed to his grandfather’s title of Lord Boyd, possibly through his mother’s political influence. Norman MacDougall has raised the possibility that the young Boyd- then only in his early teens- returned to Scotland in 1482 in the company of his uncle Alexander, Duke of Albany, who had invaded Scotland with Richard, Duke of Gloucester and an English army. Since James III wasn’t entirely free to govern as he liked during this troubled period, MacDougall suggests that Mary Stewart may have seen her chance to rebuild the Boyd patrimony in Ayrshire. The fact that the grants of land made to James Boyd (several of which which Mary received liferent of) were part of the queen’s dower and supposedly could not be alienated meant that the grants were semi-illegal, and unlikely to have been made by the king acting on his own initiative. But James Boyd’s career was destined to be brief and when his uncle Alexander fled to Dunbar in 1483, the nephew followed and the grants made to him were rescinded. The following year, the young James (who could not have been much older than fifteen) was killed by Hugh Montgomery of Eglinton, sparking a local feud in Ayrshire between the Boyds and the Montgomeries which lasted over a century. 

Mary was only in her early thirties but she had already lost two husbands and was now left to bury her teenaged son. Of her four siblings, only two remained by 1488, since John, Earl of Mar, had perished in mysterious circumstances in royal custody in 1479 and Alexander, Duke of Albany met his end in 1485, when he was hit by a splinter from the lance of the Duke of Orleans (the future King Louis XII) during a tournament in France. However, Mary did not live long enough to see the death of her last brother James III at the Battle of Sauchieburn in June 1488, since she herself seems to have died earlier that year, aged around 37.

Her posthumous legacy, as with so many other women of her time, has generally been seen in terms of the later prospects of her offspring. The descendants of her two children by Lord Hamilton were destined to play an important role in the fraught politics of sixteenth century Scotland. From her son James Hamilton were descended the Earls of Arran, including the Regent Arran who governed Scotland on behalf of the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, by virtue of his position as “second person of the realm” and the little queen’s direct heir through his descent from her great-great aunt and namesake. Mary’s younger daughter Elizabeth Hamilton married Mathew Stewart, Earl of Lennox, and Elizabeth’s grandson the 4th Earl of Lennox would later challenge the claims to the throne of his cousin the Regent Arran, creating a rivalry at the very heart of Scottish politics. Margaret Boyd, the only surviving child of Mary’s first marriage, married first Lord Forbes and then returned to Ayrshire to marry the first Earl of Cassilis. Although Mary Stewart herself remains a shadowy figure to this day, her story- both factual and speculative- has attracted interest and sympathy throughout the centuries and still offers opportunities for further discovery.

Additional notes and references below the cut.

Edit: the ‘read more’ section isn’t showing up on a lot of versions of this, so I will just have to put all the notes and sources below, even though it’s messy:

* In the twentieth century there was quite a bit of debate over the correct dates of birth for James III and Mary. Despite what is on wikipedia, this has largely been resolved and the general consensus is that Mary was the elder sibling.

** Some historians have debated whether Mary’s marriage prospects were quite so important to the political community in 1467 as has been traditionally assumed, but the Stewart dynasty’s contemporary European marriage alliances are nonetheless important to bear in mind.

*** Lord Boyd’s two younger sons were spared the king’s wrath however, and the youngest of them, Archibald Boyd of Naristoun, was the father of Marion Boyd, a mistress of James IV.

**** In all fairness though, we have so few contemporary chronicles/histories for the reign of James III that we have to take the sixteenth century writers at their word sometimes, especially where they agree with each other. Nonetheless we should always be cautious.

**** It’s worth noting that the site of the George in Lombard street in London is still occupied today, since there has been an inn on the spot since the twelfth century and its current incarnation is an eighteenth century building housing the George and Vulture restaurant. It seems that several of the buildings of Anselm Adornes’ estate where the Boyds were housed in Bruges also still exist, though I will have to do more research on this.

References (I have included links to online versions where available):

- “The Date of the Birth of James III”- there are two articles by this name in the Edinburgh Historical Review for the years 1950 and 1951 respectively, and both of them were consulted. The author of the first was Annie I. Dunlop while corrections and debate between Dunlop and Dr William Angus comprise the second. 

- “James III”, by Norman MacDougall

- “Power and Propaganda: Scotland, 1306-1488″, by Katie Stevenson

- “The Boyds in Bruges”, W.H. Finlayson

- “A Letter of James III to the Duke of Burgundy”, C.A.J. Armstrong

- John Lesley’s “The Historie of Scotland”

- This translation of George Buchanan’s “History of Scotland”

- “Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland”, vol. 1

- “The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland”, vol. 5

- “Register of the Great Seal of Scotland”, vol. 2

-  “Vetera monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum historiam illustrantia...”, Augustin Thenier

- “The Paston Letters”, vol. 3, edited by James Gairdner 

- Giovanni Ferreri’s continuation to Boece I had to use the translation from this website since I couldn’t get access to the 1574 printing any other way, though my reading is backed up by secondary sources.  

#This was not my best edit I may redo it later #My sources are pretty decent though so proud of that #women in history #British history #History edits #But had to get the word out about Mary- apologies for the length when I know there's not much definite info on her but context is important #Also James III and his siblings were a bonfire of insanity- Mary actually got off comparatively lightly #I don't know what was in the air in the 1470s- the York brothers were just as bad and on the continent there's a fair few similar cases #the Stewarts #shoddy history gifsets #Mary Stewart Countess of Arran

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy Review

Year: 1987 Original Platform: Famicom Also available on: Nintendo (NES), GameBoy Advance (Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls), PlayStation One (Final Fantasy Origins), PSP (Anniversary Edition) Version I played: PSP

Synopsis:

The world is in danger. Four monstrous fiends, each corresponding to an element of nature, have wreaked havoc on the world, causing each of the four elemental orbs (in later remakes, crystals) to turn dark. Four Heroes of Light, each holding their own orb, meet and band together to take on these fiends and restore nature to its proper balance.

Gameplay: The original game introduced the Job System. The six jobs are Warrior, Thief, Monk, Black Mage, White Mage, and Red Mage. Each have their own stats. You are free to name each of your heroes. Later on the game, each job can be upgraded.

We are introduced to a classic setup of turn-based combat. Final Fantasy was notable for being the first video game RPG to show your characters on the right and the enemies on the left; all previous video game RPGs had a first-person view with the enemy directly in front of you.You choose your action between Fight, Magic, Drink, Item or Run. Then the enemy takes their turn.

It’s a simple system that at the time was already well-known. It was really the Job System that intrigued players. Black Mages perform destructive magic, White Mages heal and restore, Warriors are the powerhouses, Monks deal damage without weapons, and Thieves can run from battles successfully (they cannot steal, as later games would introduce that). The game can be quite difficult on the original Famicom and NES. It was made at a time when technology was limited, so developers had to make the game harder so that people spent more time playing it. There’s a gaming term that I’ll be using in many of these Final Fantasy reviews called “grinding”. Grinding is when you end up having to run around and fight monsters for the sake of leveling up your characters. There is a lot of that in this game, as well as the early Final Fantasy games in general. Unlike games today, the direction isn’t fully laid out. You are thrown into the world and wander about from town to town to figure out where to go next. Instead of games like today where other non-playable characters (NPCs for short) tell you what to do in cutscenes and whatever, you actually have to approach the NPCs and find out the information. The overall effect is more open-world. You walk across fields and oceans and deserts. There are caves and other secret places to find more items. From a modern gamer’s perspective, the exploring can be quite bare and – for lack of better word – boring. The remakes, like the PSP version that I played, brightened it up with updated graphics. They also added a couple extra dungeons. I actually spent time in those extra dungeons believing they were part of the story, appalled by how difficult they were, when I later found out they were extras put in for the PSP version. That has happened a lot to me with remakes of old RPGs (Chrono Trigger for the DS, another example). A little more obvious sign would have helped to make me realize that I didn’t need to finish those extra dungeons. The pace is definitely slower than the other Final Fantasy games. Most of your time is spent grinding. Grinding can sometimes be a wary word when talking about video game RPGs. If an RPG is too boring or tedious, grinding is the last thing you want to hear. But even when an RPG is fun, grinding means that you need to spend time battling enemies, and that means hopefully you don’t have a huge backlog of other video games. It's probably why I never got around to finishing the original NES version on an emulator. Once and a while I'd be pumped up about going through with it but then as I played I just. . .got distracted by other video games that I wanted to finish.

You definitely need time and patience. The most aggravating thing about the original version (Famicom/NES) is that if your character is set to attack an enemy but another one of your characters defeats it first, that character attacks nothing but air when it's their turn. It was a very annoying issue that they fixed in all subsequent remakes. When comparing the original to any other version, the original always is the best way to experience the game. It can also be the hardest and most time-consuming. You would need to pay attention to this game entirely and not be distracted by anything else.

The PSP version is watered down. I found it infinitely easier than the NES version. I actually played them side-by-side to figure out at what point the difficulty branched off. Right away when you venture to save Princess Sara, I realized that the PSP version gives more XP per battle than the NES version. Hence, you have to grind more in the original version.

Graphics:

Everybody loves some 8-bits, but let’s be honest here – there’s a whole lot of black empty space going on when you battle.

But hey, that was due to the limitations at the time. Battles may seem more boring to you due to the lack of detail to catch your eye.

The later remakes added a floor or ground where appropriate. The PSP remake did a good job of giving a facelift to the original, as shown below. It has this cute, rounded feel to the characters.

(My favorite battle background was in the final battle.)

The opening FMV sequence is ripped straight from the Playstation One remake. That didn’t age well. It’s awkward as hell. Want to see how awkward it looks? It looks mad awkward. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Just look it up. I don’t want to sully this post by posting a screenshot. In my opinion, they should have created a brand new opening FMV sequence for the PSP version.

Story: The first several minutes of the game acts as a prologue. The Four Heroes of Light save a princess - Sara - from the clutches of Garland, and then the King of Coneria allows a bridge to be built for them to enter the world and save it. It’s not until that bridge is built that the game truly starts and the title screen actually displays – much like a late opening title in a movie. In retrospect, saving a princess probably seemed like the most common trope in video games throughout the '80's. Gamers would have been used to it by then. That short prologue acts like a trope-breaker. The average gamer would have probably expected the game to be like Mario or Zelda. Oh yeah, save the princess from some evil fiend, okay, got it. They would have then maybe been perked with interest when they "defeated" Garland so quickly, and then when the King of Coneria lets them pass into the world and the title screen opens up with the theme song, they maybe were like, "Ooooh. NOW it starts." Final Fantasy then plunged them into a wide open world.

The bulk of the story is mostly comprised of self-contained incidents. You run into someone who needs help with a thing so you do that thing and then you’re on your merry way again. You know what would be a great adaptation of this game? A Netflix series. It’s very episodic. First you deal with these pirates led by Bikke, then get a ship to sail across the land and go on a sort of delivery quest for a crown, a crystal eye, an herb, a magic key, until the main story picks up with defeating the Four Fiends and bringing light to the darkened orbs. There's no real huge spoiler other than the time travel paradox at the end, which had me wracking my head a bit. It's quite admirable that a game this early in video game console history produced a higher concept plot involving time travel. Music:

Composer Nobuo Uematsu created a legendary score that immediately became on par with the Mario and Zelda theme songs.  The Prelude/Crystal theme – the harp-like scale that we are all familiar with – was actually composed last. Uematsu had complete the score when Sakaguchi approached him at the last minute realizing they needed music for the game’s introduction. None of them had any idea that the theme would become a staple for Final Fantasy.

Due to the technical limitations at the time, you can imagine that the soundtrack is limited, but even so it was still quite expansive for its time. There are several individual tunes for dungeons, for sailing your ship and for flying your airship. The map theme will have you humming it without realizing it.

Uematsu drew his inspiration from two sources – classic rock and living in Shikoku, an island off Japan. The melodic world map theme in Final Fantasy (and the rest of the series) derives from the picturesque memories he has of the island. The town theme is reminiscent of the sleepy villages – as he was never a city person. Meanwhile, the battle theme has undertones of rock music.

There’s only one battle theme, even when fighting bosses and the final boss, but the amazing thing is that it never gets old.

Final Fantasy games are known for their great battle songs. The opening bassline always gets you in the groove to fight. You’re fighting but want to sing at the same time. Maybe that’s the brilliance of Uematsu; because of the fact that you need to grind many times in these old Final Fantasy games, he created a tune that you wouldn’t get tired of because it’s not so serious or mundane.

Not to crap on other great developers, but other video game RPGs at the time of Final Fantasy didn’t quite have memorable battle music. Just look up the battle theme to the first Dragon Quest game (released before Final Fantasy). You can imagine how that simple tune could get old really quick. I could be pulling this out of my ass, but after Final Fantasy, it seemed that battle music in video game RPGs suddenly got better. If you listen to the Dragon Quest IV battle theme, there is a portion that sounds similar to the battle theme of Final Fantasy.

The PSP version adds more tracks, specifically to the boss battles, and I like how they incorporate the original battle motif thrown into the new battle songs. The original battle theme has a guitar and drums added, which is the style that Final Fantasy battle music was known for by then.

There is one last thing to note about the score that I found very interesting for its day and age. You see, in a movie score, you have themes and motifs, just like a video game score. But in a movie score, other tracks reference those themes and motifs. For example, you have The Raider’s March in the Indiana Jones films; that’s the theme for the character Indiana Jones. Then in the movie, whenever Indy does something badass, you hear his theme blare in that instance. Obviously the entire theme doesn’t play, but it is incorporated in snippets throughout.

Uematsu actually does this with the Town Theme. He incorporates it at the ending music in the epilogue. It took me a while to try to understand why. Then it hit me. The epilogue mentions the heroes becoming legends as people talk about them. Legends are told and spread in towns.

It’s a very small detail. It’s such a small detail that it could be nothing but if it is what I think it is, then it’s cool that he was already in the mindset of passing on themes and motifs throughout the game, treating it like a movie.

Notable Theme:

I already posted the main themes in the introduction, but here’s the original battle theme:

Verdict:

A strong debut to the Final Fantasy series. To a modern gamer though, you may be spoiled by the fast-paced, eye-catching video games of today. When console games first hit the market, developers had to create games that took longer than the average arcade game to finish, or else kids would get bored with their games in minutes and gee, wouldn’t that be a waste since they paid way more than a quarter? Thus, that’s another reason why old games are harder. Given the technical limitations at the time, developers couldn’t expand much on the game, so there’s a lot of leveling up and grinding because what else could you do? You know? Ultimately, playing a video game back then was all about honing your skill with that game.

Ideally, you could play through every Final Fantasy game in order of their release, and that would give you a greater sense of the evolution of the gameplay and the series as a whole. However, most people reading this (and me) are probably more modern gamers – and as such, our perspective is biased on what feels “exciting” and “remarkable”. The first Final Fantasy game could feel boring and tedious to you now, but if you put it in the context of when it was made, this was entertainment for hours on end. This is basically like watching one of those silent adventure films starring Douglas Fairbanks. Yeah, you’ve been spoiled with more amazing stuff like The Matrix and Star Wars, but golly – this stuff blew people’s minds back in the day.

Direct Sequel? No. However, there have been multiple remakes, which I have already listed above.

#final fantasy #final fantasy nes #final fantasy famicom #nobuo uematsu #square enix #square #squaresoft #final fantasy i #final fantasy origins #final fantasy psp #final fantasy anniversary edition #onvideogames #video games