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sinfulequity · 9 months

Text

Swing and...A miss!

Mikoto’s door is finally here!

Along with the announcement of his cover song and his voice drama name; how fun~

Now onto actually analyzing this thing lmao (Gunsli/Archivalofsins and I both worked really hard on structuring and formatting this thing)

TL;DR- Neoplasm is a fitting evolution from John Doe for both personalities within Mikoto. It is fitting for the one we’re familiar with due to the abrupt change in perception and the one we found out about afterwards because they are becoming more active/growing more defined as Milgram progresses. There are a lot of horror elements involved in Mikoto’s song and previous mv that both of us are excited to see elaborated on in Double. The door is likely based on some sort of operating room and the lettering of the song title in English is probably referring to division.

I. The Title

Firstly, I want to go over how the title is formatted in English! Initially I was thinking of it in writing terms (i.e. how parentheses are used to add clarifying information to a sentence).

A parenthesis is a word, phrase, or clause inserted into a sentence as an explanation or afterthought. When a parenthesis is removed, the surrounding text is still grammatically sound. A parenthesis is usually offset with parentheses (i.e., round brackets), commas, or dashes. These are called parenthetical punctuation marks. A parenthesis is sometimes called an "interrupter" as it interrupts the flow of text.

Examples of them are:

· Andrew Jacklin (last year's losing finalist) is expected to win this heat.

· The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. (Journalist HL Mencken)

When parentheses (round brackets) are used to offset a parenthesis, the parenthesis is easily seen. However, some writers feel that parentheses can make formal texts look unorganized.

There are more links above, outside of the meaning, usage and formatting of parenthesis. If you’re interested, you can go through it all to see the way that grammar and formatting can help explain/emphasize a point! Being informed on this, at the very least, will be helpful for those that wish to more critically engage with and analyze written media.

Applying this logic to the English title of Mikoto’s second trial song, further emphasizes Mikoto being MeMe. As it can literally be read as Double I’m MeMe. Due to the lack of punctuation, this can be interpreted as both a statement and a question.

Something alluded to by Mikoto’s expression. However, this isn’t the only way it can be read!

We’ve had addition,

“Clothes Food Shelter + Love and Miss.”

We’ve had subtraction,

“Loving Affection (minus) Love, it’s tacky, this two-way deceit.” (Also, another effective use of parentheses.)

Now get ready for-

Division

Yep, the way I’m (MeMe) is written should be familiar to anyone who knows basic Algebra. Because this is exactly how basic division problems are shortened within that form of math and others.

Some examples,

This serves to follow up on what we were told within MeMe,

“Split in half, make that heart beat.”

Since that’s exactly what division is all about

“Division is a mathematical operation which involves the separating of an amount into equal-sized groups.”

Regardless of the outcome it will always be balanced and through recombining those groups will equal the whole. This is why any single number divided by itself equals one because it is equally distributed down. This is why uneven numbers when divided usually have solutions that are not integers as well. The exception being when they’re divided by themselves or by 1.

The point of division is breaking something down into equal parts that can be put back together to get the number you divided by.

For example,

7/2=3.5

89/2=44.5

In either scenario if one were to add this number to itself (essentially combining the two halves) it would make the number that was divided. Add forty-four point five to forty-four point five, to get eighty-nine and three point five to three point five to get seven.

Division is all about figuring out what number added to itself as many times as the number it is being divided by will equal out to the number that is being divided. So, in the case of our first two examples where we are dividing by two doubling the number we get will equal out to what we divided.

A more on topic example would be dividing Mikoto’s prisoner number by two.

9/2= 4.5

Ultimately, this would just be another way of stating something we know about Mikoto already. That he is the ninth prisoner within Milgram.

Let’s use Mikoto’s prisoner number in another division example,

9/3= 3

In multiplication three multiplied by itself equals nine, as many know. However, that doesn’t equate to three overall but three groups of three. Basically being,

3+3+3= 9

Only serving to further reiterate to us that Mikoto is the ninth prisoner overall. That’s just how math works. Now that we’ve gone over some rather basic math; what does the way they chose to organize the lettering on Mikoto’s second trial cd tell us?

Under this framing it could be read as Double I’m/(MeMe) or Double I’m divided by MeMe.

This could reflect that Mikoto’s current state of being is separated into these parts. Stating that these are the parts that make up I’m. Or to put it in math terms again I’m/(MeMe)= Y(X).

Get it because his first trial song quote is,

“Why?”

Also, because the solution, just like punctuation, isn’t here within the title. Something that further emphasizes this lyric in MeMe,

“Why, hey why, I’m nowhere to be found.”

In this case, the two me’s would be making up the I’m while being a source of division for it.

This way of reading it may allude to a disagreement between these two parts or just imply that both these parts are getting in the way of discovering “I’m” in some way breaking their overall sense of self down.

This is something, that has also been illustrated in Yamanaka’s tweet regarding the voice drama,

Which roughly translates to,

“I (ore) did it. I (boku) didn’t do it! You saw it through Milgram! What do you think?”

All this implies that we will more than likely be seeing Mikoto/and the other face this aspect of themselves along with the concept of identity in some way.

II. The Door & Speculations on the Voice Drama Snippet

When it comes to Mikoto’s door, Gunsli and I couldn’t really agree on what it was. At first glance I thought it was an elevator door and she thought it was a train door. However, the door opens outwards while noticeably not being broken in any way that would force it to do so, illustrating that this door has hinges.

Meaning that both beliefs are incorrect.

Train doors also don’t have this on top,

This digital prompter is why I initially believed it was an elevator before taking into consideration how it opens. These words have been put on all the prisoner’s doors. However, they have always been in some way apart of them. This implies that this digital prompter is a part of the door, proper.

Making it more unlikely that these are the doors to a train. I’ve also seen speculation of it being a swing door (opening both outwards and inwards, which would be cool), but… given how fortified the frame is and how thick the doors themselves are… I find that highly unlikely.

The closest thing that we’ve come to a consensus on is actually…

Operating room doors (Operation Theatre Doors). Possibly, emergency operation ones? If this is it, I’m curious to what Mikoto’s MV is visually gonna be like. I think it would be hilarious if we didn’t get visceral imagery, but I don’t think that’s likely after taking into consideration the horror inspirations that can be noted within his previous trial (something we’ll go into later).

Those give his door a few more fun implications. Especially, if these are in fact operating room doors. This is because a lot of zombie/infection type horror movies take place in hospitals. If one were to look at his door through that sort of lens, wouldn’t it appear quite reminiscent to the doors seen at ground zero infection sites in virus or zombie genre horror flicks- The blood smeared on the door as people try to make their way in the glass smashed in hopes of reaching in and unlocking it or breaking a barricade. That airtight thick frame around the door. The likes of movies such as Contagion, 28 Days Later, or The Sadness. Warning for flashing lights on all these trailers by the way.

Outside of continuing these horror inspirations, operation room doors would be a good fit considering his voice dramas name as well. This time, the voice drama is called “Neoplasm”, which is not technically a word that exists, but does follow the format of a bunch of medical terms.

Now, I’m gonna rewind a little, because I haven’t given my opinion on the first trial voice drama name, “John Doe”, either (I promise this connects lol). John Doe applies to both personalities in Mikoto in different ways.

The Mikoto taken into Milgram (referred to within this section from now as Miko), is initially described as “mass goods”. In other words, an “everyman” or to quote Gunsli, “a dime a dozen”. Miko is an office worker, one of the most mundane jobs out there.

This touches on the fact that, like Gunsli has said previously, he could be replaced at any point without much trouble. As we know, John Doe is widely known to be used as a generic name/placeholder in order to withhold details from the larger public.

Either that, or the details don’t exist.

The Mikoto we find out about after Milgram has started, proper, (referred to in this section as Koto), is someone we don’t have an identifying “tag” for. The only (overt) way we know that Koto is out is that he has different behavioural mannerisms and vocabulary.

Even then, his use of personal pronouns seemed to be the same as Miko’s in MeMe, given the line:

“I” will save “me”.

This line uses boku in both instances of a personal pronoun.

In this way, John Doe could be meant in its more formal way; where a body is called this when the identity hasn’t been verified yet.

Incidentally, did you know that John Doe used to be a court term?

Specifically, to hide the identity of a plaintiff in an ongoing court case. There’s also a counterpart called Richard Roe, that hides the identity of the defendant.

There is a mild but real possibility that Miko could be trying to implicate Koto as the perpetrator within his second voice drama to skirt taking responsibility for his actions. It has been brought to the audience’s attention that the prisoners can hear what the audience has been saying about them since the beginning of trial two.

Though Yuno is the most candid about it,

Absolute Zero Yuno Trial 2 Interrogation

“It’s fucking bothersome- I told you this from the start; didn’t I. There’s no end to how much people will punish each other outside of the law. Due to that I really had no interest in Milgram.”

Yes, I remember that. You told me that you wouldn’t pay my judgements any mind and just continue as you have been.

“Oh, that’s right; I’m happy you remembered! Yet, at that time, I didn’t exactly hate it…Milgram. Sure, this place is full of nothing but weirdos but it was much warmer than my day-to-day life at least.”

It did appear like you were having fun the last time we spoke.

“Yes, it was fun! Sure, they’re all murderers but they’re interesting people. They put me at ease a bit, there was just something nice about being around others who also seemed to have something missing in one way or another.”

You’re saying that changed because of me?

“Yep! The situation has become more bothersome than fun. Now all the novelty of it that I found fun at first has been overshadowed- So, I’ve chilled out now that’s all.”

…

“And…Are you satisfied with this situation?”

Everyone within Milgram is a murderer, to the extent of clarifying the information I’ve been handed, to understand your sins… This job, my role, is necessary. Milgram will pull to the forefront not just your essences but the truths that lie within.

“Who are you trying to convince with that? Do those feelings and observations of yours not hold up unless you repeat them over and over again to yourself?”

…!

“You want to find the truth…huh? Pf…Haha!”

Yes, of course, as the guard of Milgram finding the truth of the matter is integral to correctly judging your sins-

“It’s the result of A LOOOOT OF sugar-babying: abortion.”

…!

“That’s probably my murder. Well have it, go and partake of the truth you were seeking so badly.”

…

“How is it, as good as you thought? Are you satisfied? If so, can we be done already?”

Yuno…you…

“You don’t surprise easily, do you? As I thought, you knew it from the song extraction.”

Well, yes, I considered it as one of many possibilities. However, that is the one I believed was most likely. Taking into account Milgram’s lack of specifications concerning the terms murderer and murder alongside it acting outside of common law I could not overlook the possibility it could interpret such a thing as murder.

“Yes, I’m sure. Well, more to say, I had this inkling that was your way of thinking. I could feel it.”

You could feel it…you say?

“Feel it, hear it, all throughout Milgram it’s probably the same with the others as well. Voices talking, observing, poking their noses into things that they ought not to and then discussing my sins.”

Something like that…

“Were those not the sort of thoughts you were having or something? It’s not as if I can really know for sure after all.”

…I don’t know. I wasn’t informed that Milgram could have that sort of impact. It is true I decided to forgive you with that thought in mind. However, that decision is only provisional.

“Haaa….”

…

“Well, then now I’ll tell you the second reason I’m so chilled out! Yaaay!!”

…

“You’re bad at going with the mood, huh.”

I’m starting to lose what little grasp I had on the type of person you are.

“You know it’s dull if you get too serious all the time.”

Noted. Continue.

“My second chillout reason simply put is the fact I was forgiven.”

What?

“Well, to get specific, it isn’t the fact I was forgiven itself but…”

I don’t understand. Just state it plainly.

“Hm…well then, should I just tell you what I heard in my head, what those incessant voices were saying. “Because she’s pitiful.”, “There’s no doubt, she definitely had some sort of reason for doing it.”, “She’s probably this way because there were problems in her home life.”, “She just doesn’t know love yet!” Ah…! “Because of that… I’ll forgive her!”.”

It's true that my decision was impacted by that sort of analogical reasoning and those are all things I considered.

“Ah, yes, yes… Well, and I have to stress this is going to purely and fully my own personal opinion but- I find making those sorts of assumptions preachy and unpleasant!”

…

“It’s all worthless. Deciding that I’m pitiful, making up a backstory for me, creating this personal idealized version of me- This acceptable version of me that you can feel good looking at. Aa..h- They exist you know the sort of people who do that. Those sorts of people have never will never do anything for me.”

Yuno..

“I’m not pitiful, my family gets along great, and I’m not particularly struggling financially. I decided to do what I did of my own free will because I felt it was necessary for me.”

-End of Transcript-

Tear Drop

“Just shut it, will you? You know it all.”

During her voice drama, Yuno explains and calls to attention this new phenomenon within Milgram. Both before and after her the other prisoners conveniently omit the specifics of the information they have heard. Kazui being the most egregious display of this, as he does not bring up hearing the voices at all and only responds to questions after gaining more clarity on the situation. His entire voice drama really comes off as though he’s just leading Es by the nose.

Taking into consideration what was established through her interrogation (the implication that all the prisoners have heard the prevailing theories about their cases) who’s to say Miko has not weaponized the information he’s heard? Omitting he heard it like the others and using it to push the blame more onto the other personality. Whom if we’re being frank would more than likely be willing to take the fall for him anyway.

However, the fact that this is said,

“I (ore) did it. I (boku) didn’t do it! You saw it through Milgram! What do you think?”

Very quickly showcases to me that the one speaking is Miko here not Koto. Koto in the snippet of Double we’ve been shown is questioning what’s wrong,

“Why are you crying?”

If Koto is not aware of what is negatively impacting Miko in the song proper, why would they know what Milgram saw or how Milgram reacted to it? A thing stated to be specific to prisoners beneath Milgram’s control.

This is something alluded to during the second trial commencement notice. At that time Jackalope tells us Koto has been free and unchained this entire time.

Exempt from the rules of Milgram and unable to have punishment administered to them. This means the voices all the prisoners have been hearing as part of their punishments or rewards would not impact him.

So, once again, I ask- How the fuck would he know that anyone saw anything through Milgram? Especially the specific implication and pervasive theory that it was them (Koto) who committed the murders.

Something that gives more credence to this idea is how Koto has even interpreted the song,

“I should have saved you but why are you crying? Rely on me, praise me with your song, I am your saviour.”

As a form of praise and a way in which Miko is relying on him. Simply as if Koto doesn’t see a thing wrong with what was displayed on top of not knowing what is upsetting Miko.

How much Koto knows about the song and Milgram’s response to it is rather questionable as we’ve been expressly told he is not a prisoner proper yet.

This possible way of handling the situation on Miko’s part is oddly reminiscent to how the Devil within Not A Devil attempts to convince the viewers they’re good through lines like,

“Another clandestine rendezvous with myself. Drained, oh so drained, introspection and in prayer.”

MeMe

“Snuggle together and say, “Good night” switch, shake up that brain.”

“The minus energy that I swallowed hugged me.”

Double (though official translation liable to change)

“I should have saved you but why are you crying? Rely on me, praise me with your song, I am your saviour.”

“No worries, no worries everything’s fine. This is just a silly joke.”

Trial 1 Voice Drama

“Of course, I want to think of all this as a joke…Wouldn’t anyone?”

“Calm down, that’s just a rumor.”

MeMe

“I won’t forgive you if this is happening to me even though I’m right.”

“All those ridiculous accusations.”

“Now shut up and give me your signature. Not a devil, I’m not a devil. So, sayeth the devil.”

MeMe

“I’m probably not to blame, it’s probably nothing.” – “Why am I here? It must be a mistake, right?”

Taking the court terminology, Miko implicating Koto as the culprit with his denial firmly puts him in the role of John Doe (plaintiff) and Koto in the position of Richard Roe (defendant). Beginning a back and forth of finger pointing where Miko implicates the other and Koto can either deny the accusation or accept it.

This makes his second voice dramas title “Neoplasm” very apt naming. Because over the course of Milgram, the mold (interpretation) Mikoto was put under as this every man, silly little office worker caricature has been reshaped into to something new and abnormal.

Miko’s possible response to this new perception of his character being pretending to be Koto to fit this new shape he’s been given within the voice drama while attempting to save face isn’t surprising coming from him. He would know that Koto uses ore as well. Since, the audience has repeated it consistently over the course of the intermission. If Miko has been hearing the audience, as has been implied, it’d be very difficult for him to not be made aware of how Koto behaves.

Taking into consideration how much the other has been discussed, drawn, and written about. It has been more than shown that the prisoners know our speculations, in regard to their cases, and they’ve all been shown making attempts to confirm the validity of the statements they’ve heard over the course of their voice dramas. As such, there is a real possibility that Miko has heard the argument that the other committed the murders and he is in fact an innocent harmless individual.

Information that he’d rightfully take advantage of in this situation. Because it’d be a bit more difficult for people to condemn an innocent and harmless individual. Even if the other one did it and the only way to punish Koto was through punishing Miko a few people would be hesitant about doing such a thing. Simply put it would feel wrong to do as it’s dragging down a blameless individual just to get to someone who for all we know may not be at fault either.

We now find ourselves in a very classic dilemma-

MeMe

“The truth will come to reveal itself. I won’t forgive you if this is happening to me even though I’m right.”

“The truth will come to reveal itself. I will NEVER forgive you if this is happening to me even though I’m right.”

“So, I will NEVER forgive you if this is happening to me even though I’m right.”

At this point, or maybe even from the beginning, they’ve just been in a finger pointing competition. And things are only about to get messier.

III. Voice Drama Title

Now back to the title of the voice drama “Neoplasm” (orz). Remember how I said Neoplasm isn’t technically a word? Well, it’s technically not and is.

As many were quick to point out, Neoplasm refers to a new and abnormal growth of tissue within the human body that could either be benign or malignant. It’s a term to describe the discovery of new tissue growth such as a tumour that was not previously present. However, when this occurrence is discussed, the individual neoplasm is rarely referred to by name instead the phenomenon is usually referred to and discussed as “Neoplasia”.

As you can see in these lists of Human Anatomy & Physiology: Latin and Greek Word-Parts plasm is not included as a suffix.

Now this may seem like semantics. However, it’s incredibly important to differentiate between these two terms. Neoplasms are the result of Neoplasia. Neoplasia is when neoplasms are formed. Through naming the voice drama Neoplasm Yamanaka plainly stated that a Neoplasm has formed but Neoplasia, the act of it forming, has not been observed.

Through using this term instead of the one usually used in cases of observing (discovering) this new tissue and the process of its formation this comes off as saying though an abnormality has been observed it was present when the patient arrived. Again, unlike in the case of observing Neoplasia when doctors usually go okay this was not here several months ago but it’s here now.

Meaning, the Neoplasm is more than likely not entirely new but it shouldn’t be there, and it wouldn’t normally be there.

Let’s move onto word roots and meanings.

Now we know that Neo has an etymology from Greek

"New, Young, Recent," from Greek neos and "new, young, youthful; fresh, strange; lately, just now," from PIE root *newo-. In the physical sciences, caeno-, ceno- is used in the same sense. Paleo- is an antonym of these terms.

However, modern day definitions of the word (Yes, I said definitions!) are a bit different,

As it can mean “something new” or “new or recent, or in a modern form”.

For example, within Ace Attorney there’s a show called the “The Steel Samurai” the location of this show is stated to be Neo Olde-Tokyo. A new/revived version of old Tokyo. In this case the use of Neo and Olde together better highlight the intricacies of this word.

A more recent example of this would be NEOTWEWY. The title of the revival/follow-up game telling us out the gate this is something new built on the foundation of The World Ends With You (TWEWY). It is also, canonically, a remade form of Shibuya that Joshua made at the end of the original base game. Albeit, one made to be pretty much the same as the original.

So, while the immediate thought would be that it’s something new, it could also mean that it’s something that’s been reformed and shown as “new” that way. Something I’m sure that Miko is fully aware of. In fact, I’d say anything in reference to him would be more likely to use a pop culture meaning! Especially when you take into account his active attempts to keep up with the times and be seen as popular.

Plasm, however, has two roots in terms of etymology: Latin and Greek. In Latin, its root means “mold”. In Greek, it means “something formed”/“formation” or “to shape”.

The term also has modern-day definitions!

The first one is,

“formative or formed material (as of a cell or tissue)”

But there’s also

“Any of the components of protoplasm”

Protoplasm being the building blocks for all life on a cellular level.

In medical science it can also be used as a prefix and a suffix, but let’s focus on the suffix here.

Suffix meaning living substance, tissue.

These definitions of plasm may seem similar, but there is a difference in nuance. The first definition listed here refers to it as the material itself, specifying that it’s used in cells/tissues. The second one refers to the fact that they act as smaller parts to a whole (the whole in this case being the -cellular- foundation of life).

And the third one focuses on what the material makes as a whole. In other words, living substances and/or tissues.

Let’s move back to Koto. Well, we don’t know that much about him, right? Except, since the last trial ended, it’s been stated that he’s shown up more often. This includes in the trial two website voice lines, somewhere we’ve never seen him before! This, in addition to the usage of ore in the Double preview, seem to indicate that he’s solidifying more of an identity for himself.

Going back to the topic of the lettering choices on the CD cover real quick; specifically the division idea brought up earlier. Considering I’m as the whole and Miko and Koto as (MeMe) in this framework once again reiterates that Koto may possibly be growing a sense of identity outside of Miko and vice versa. Since Miko may be growing a more solid sense of identity as well after becoming aware of the other. You know, something you could also put as separating/dividing from Miko?

Neoplasms themselves aren’t really a big deal unless it turns out they are cancerous. In fact, benign ones are extremely common.

This is something that is once again rather fitting for Mikoto’s character and the implementation of it within Milgram. Allow me to elaborate, Mikoto as a character has subverted expectations from his first trial. There is a clear pattern with him of taking things that are usually considered normal and distorting them into something easily perceived as extreme, odd, or out of the norm.

Turning the mundane into the terrifying, a very common thing done within the horror genre.

This is one of the reasons Gunsli finds it very exciting that his second trial will be releasing in October. As it’s not just the month of his birthday but Halloween. So, she’s really hoping for some more horror inspired imagery with all those very common horror lighting tropes.

IV. Horror Influences

From static effects,

To flat lighting from a television,

Those fisheye lens sort of shot at the beginning,

Then there’s this shot,

and the usage of both anamorphic lenses and vignetting.

(Side note; if you want to look more into how lighting utilized in horror, check out this video- x)

The atmospheric lens allows the lighting to look more ethereal. This, on top of the colouring used for the lights, makes the overall shot feel cold and liminal. The usage of a wide shot also emphasises this feeling of isolation.

In addition, the pillar at the foreground on his right makes him look crowded in while the emptiness to his left highlights how alone he is. This is also where the victim comes in from. The framing and direction here make it look as though the victim is cornering Mikoto.

That combined with the vignetting, makes the shot the visual equivalent of being “between a rock and a hard place”. This is likely a representation of how Miko was feeling at the time of the crime; trapped and as if he had to do this to survive.

Leading into another point, the way that all of the shots in MeMe are set up. Is something I find interesting, because a lot of them are ones usually used for victims/horror protagonists. Something that contrasts wildly with both his crime and how callously it’s shown. This puts Mikoto in the interesting position of both predator and prey.

For Gunsli this is all the stuff that just makes a horror fan go, “Yeah, this guy... This guy fucking watches horror movies for fun doesn’t he.” while everyone else who’s normal and hasn’t watched almost every horror movie they had access to goes how do you know this- Just for her to respond with, “I’m not the one on trial here he’s the fucking murderer; this ain’t about me!”.

All while managing to draw attention to and show off Mikoto’s genuine love and eye for photography. Possibly even nodding towards a bit of an interest in cinematography.

Q.07 What are your hobbies?

Mikoto: shopping / darts / photography / cycling

Every shot in MeMe meticulously planned out and executed in a way startlingly similar to how his murders are alluded to have gone down.

All this makes it difficult for them to say the team doesn’t know what they’re doing when it comes to him. Mikoto’s character in general turns the benign into something cancerous or the mundane into something controversial. A skill that has made him the topic of many divisive conversations and instances in Milgram’s history.

The usage of neoplasm could also touch on how Koto was immediately stigmatized by most of the fandom. Just as everyone assumes the worst-case scenario from tumours showing up, they assumed the worst of Koto’s entire existence. From statements such as,

“Having a person with D.I.D being a murderer is bad rep” to “I can’t believe they gave someone with D.I.D a murderous personality again”.

All this, despite the fact we don’t know who committed the actual crime. Though we’re pretty sure it was Miko for multiple reasons Gunsli has covered elsewhere.

Closing remarks from Gunsli- It’s always fun to write with other people but it’s always the best when I get to write with Star. I initially came to her for help with this one because I was just in the worst of moods due to multiple circumstances. However, this wound up taking so long mostly because there was just so much to cover and talk about. Plus, we haven’t even went into his cover yet. I was rather excited about guessing Mikoto’s second trial cover song correctly~ However, in the excitement of that I made some rather hasty observations myself like guessing that the door was train doors. Luckily, I took a step back to observe it more and talked over a lot of things with Star. Hope people enjoy all of this and sorry for leaving the TL;DR to you Star.

Here’s my (Star’s) parting words. Or rather, image-

-We try and have fun here

#milgram #Mikoto Kayano #Kayano Mikoto #thoughts #this is like 20 pages long so heads up there

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schleierkauz · 3 years

Text

Some Highlights from the 03.05 Stream

As usual, here’s some interesting bits of the last Cornelia Funke Q&A. I tried to structure it all a bit better this time but these talks are pretty chaotic sooo... bear with me. There’s more interesting stuff under the read more, I just put it there because it was getting so long. Anything in (brackets) is my own commentary. I hope you enjoy! :)

Inkworld

Q: What's the deal with the death bond between Mo and Dustfinger and will it be relevant in the new book? A: Since Dustfinger is probably immortal now, he’s been operating on a different level than Mo who is very much still mortal. Other than that, Cornelia doesn't want to reveal too much about TCoR for now. She worked on it the day before the stream, and she shows us the notebook she uses for it.

She thought she had a pretty good idea of what the story was going to be but more and more things keep happening and the book is already looking to be a lot longer and more complex than she intended.

- She will focus on TCoR once the move to Italy is complete and she's very excited about that since the Inkworld is essentially Magical Italy. She can't wait to sit in Volterra and write about Ombra.

- The TCoR sketch book might just be published at some point as a sort of bonus making-of book since it's already full of illustrations and other fun stuff

(That looks like the witch character, doesn’t it? I wonder who the other woman is... And god, I wish I could actually read the text. :/)

- The Inkworld exists around 1360 by our understanding of time

- The Mystery Chapter I translated ages ago is still canon! More info on that in the Reckless section

Q: Will we ever get to read the "original" Inkheart by Fenoglio? A: No, never. Cornelia's writing style is too different from Fenoglio's and she wouldn't be able to pull it off.

However! Cornelia still hopes for an Inkworld TV show that would begin long before the story of the first book. She already has a notebook all about Dustfinger's and the Black Prince's childhoods, how they met each other as well as other characters such as Roxane etc. Fenoglio didn't care much for their backstories so Cornelia feels like she can explore them without stepping on his toes.

- A long time ago, Cornelia had an editor who thought Dustfinger was a bad character (lmao. imagine being that wrong.)

Reckless

Q: Will one of the short stories Cornelia wants to write about the Mirrorworld be about Nerron's mother? A: Interesting idea! She will consider it.

Q: Will Cornelia include African and/or Indigenous stories in the Mirrorworld? A: Yes! She planned to do it in the sixth book but right now it looks like it might happen in the fifth, so she's trying to figure out how to include South-American fairytales alongside African and Indigenous ones. She wants to include those stories through characters we meet along the way, without necessarily taking the story to those places directly. Or maybe she'll write a separate book entirely to do those fairytales justice.

- The Mirrorworld exists around 1860 by our time

- Cornelia feels like there will be a lot of Mirrorworld spin-offs because she keeps having ideas and loves writing in that world

Q: Did Spieler (Player(?)), when he was in the "real" world, know about Capricorn and Fenoglio's Inkheart book? A: The silver book that makes people into silvertongues was created by Spieler. For a while he found it very convenient to travel the worlds through books but eventually he realised that books tend to develop a will of their own, which is why he ultimately decided to travel via mirrors. He probably knows about Fenoglio but Cornelia doesn't think he'd care much about Capricorn since he's playing in an entirely different league of villainy.

- Cornelia just signed a contract for a Reckless TV show

Cornelias new Farm in Italy

Q: Will she have animals on the new farm as well? A: Probably not! Right now she's more interested in befriending wild animals. Her dogs will stay with her but otherwise she wants to focus on wild animals as well as wild flowers. She wants to share her garden with any animal that stops by - including, hopefully, the occasional feral cat.

- Cornelia is getting into animation! She will work with a friend of hers who is a teacher in that field to create a little stop motion/animation studio on the farm so artists can bring their characters to life in a new way and create short movies.

Q: How can artists apply to be invited to the farm? A: Cornelia doesn't want people to apply directly, she'd rather leave it up to chance and fate. Most of her artists were recommended to her by friends or former colleagues and this method is working very well. She encourages people to post their work on the internet or send it to her via her website or twitter or something, she just doesn't want to hold contests regularly because it would be overwhelming and she doesn't want to have to reject people. Also, it's aimed at young artists who are just starting out and it’s mainly for girls/women, although not exclusively.

Side note, she plans to have another farm in Germany (probably in Schleswig-Holstein) and there will be other projects that happen there.

Q: Will it be possible to visit the farms, will they sell tickets? A: Cornelia doesn't want to sell tickets and definitely doesn't want "Disneyland vibes". The Mirror Farm (in Germany) isn't supposed to make money but she rather wants it to be a gift to her readers. They'll have to somehow limit how many people show up at once but there will be "open days" where anyone can just show up. Cornelia also wants to offer workshops or something similar herself once or twice a year, where people would have the chance to meet her in person.

Bonus: Life Lessons with Cornelia

Q: Does Cornelia have any advice for people in their mid-twenties who are not quite sure what to do with their lives? A: Figure out what you want to do and follow your heart because being stuck doing something you don't care about at all will make you miserable. And then it comes down to discipline and hard work. You might never get rich doing what you love but someone in their 20s is still young enough to try all kinds of different things and find a path that works. The important thing is actually following through instead of just endlessly thinking about what could be. Travel the world, try different jobs. Don't be fooled into thinking you have to go to university/college, that's nonsense. Knowing how to build a sturdy table or plant a good herb garden makes someone an artist in Cornelia's eyes. Listen to advice but don't blindly follow it. Don't be afraid to change your dreams. Make mistakes and learn from them. You live in one of the richest countries in the world, you won't starve or die on the streets so be grateful and be brave.

Misc.

- The three of them spend the first eight minutes of the stream telling us to visit this website and check out the cool bridge their bookshop is built on and the blackbird that moved into the store

- Cornelia's daughter got married and it was beautiful :)

- Cornelia is looking forward to moving to Italy and being closer to "us" and European artists. She says she'll miss California but she is incredibly tired of all the wild fires.

- Cornelia is now fully vaccinated

- Cornelia is working on a book about two girls. One used to live in Germany in the 40s-50s, was blind and collected plants from all over the world with her father. She would write letters about those plants to her sister, and those letters are found one day by a girl from Brooklyn. She starts to go looking for the plants the letters are about in the botanical garden. Cornelia has an assistant who keeps sending her pictures from that botanical garden and it's a very fun project because it's very rooted in the real world yet Cornelia still gets to tell a story about a friendship that takes place through letters. She hopes to have finished it by August

- The Wild Chicks movie might just actually happen and everyone's excited about it

- An animated Igraine Ohnefurcht movie is in the works

- So is an animated Geisterritter/Ghost Knight movie

- Cornelia keeps losing books and other important things in the mail and it is pretty infuriating

- Cornelia recommends the book "Sand Talk" and once again says white people should be careful about not speaking over marginalised groups in the name of protecting them

#ly dont look #cornelia funke #reckless #inkheart #damn cornelia that's a lot of projects #she didnt even really answer my question but i'm just happy to be noticed honestly #i am..... so interested in the silvertongue lore ngl #i really have to catch up on reckless #also thank u cornelia for validating me dropping out of uni to go live by the ocean hfghfghkfd #info

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etraytin · 4 years

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Quarantine, Day 132

July 21

So I got as far as writing the date on this journal entry when I got a text in the group chat that one of my TNR friends was bringing in a five week old kitten that was sick. The recovery room he got taken to didn't have supplies for a sick baby, so I packed my kitten emergency kit and headed down there just before 10pm. I took a snuggle safe (microwave heating disk), a heating pad, a stuffed toy cat for fake mama purposes, and some high quality kitten food. I also took along chicken baby food in case he didn't want to eat, as well as formula and a syringe with a miracle nipple in case he was younger than we thought. And if things were really rough, I took my lactated ringers solution, a butterfly needle and a syringe to deliver sub-q fluids. So prepared! I was very sad that Starbucks was not open, but that is probably better for me anyway.

When I get called out at night for Red Cross or kitten rescue stuff, I usually have a drive ahead of me. We live in a little town bracketed by many larger cities, so I'm almost always called out to one of those. As soon as I get in the car and set my GPS, I plug my phone into the sound system (old school, yeah?) and blast the soundtrack to Come From Away. Nothing chases away the sleepiness and gets the blood pumping like that opening track, and the subject matter is so on point. More for Red Cross stuff, honestly, but at this point my body basically has a Pavlovian wakeup response so it's all good. It's the second song that really gets me going though, I think because of all characters in musical theater, it's Beulah Davis who embodies the me that I would like most to be. And because it reminds me of why I joined the Red Cross in the first place, during Hurricane Harvey.

"Crystal I saw on the news that they're looking for blankets and bedding And maybe some food. Do you know what they need and how much? I need something to do, cause I can't watch the news anymore! Can I help, is there something? I need to do something to keep me from thinking Of all of those scenes on the tube, I need something to do Cause I can't watch the news, no I can’t watch the news anymore!"

I think there just comes a certain point when something bad is happening that you do make the decision that you absolutely have to do something to help. That impulse got me self-deploying to a Red Cross shelter for Hurricane Irma when I was so new I didn't even have a vest yet (another volunteer gave me his spare) and it was the impulse that had my new colleagues working through days and nights to handle two massive back-to-back hurricanes a third of the country apart. I listened to this soundtrack back then, too, and it's always stuck in my mind. Going to the next town to help a sick kitten is perhaps less elevated a calling, but it's still trying to save a life.

Anyway, I blasted my music all the way to the recovery room, and got a look at the kitten. He's just a scrawny scrap of a thing, all bones and fluff and goopy eyes, but he had some energy and was drinking and eating, so that was great. I realized I forgot my damn flea comb when I was packing everything but the kitchen sink, so they'll have to comb him out tomorrow. Poor bitty definitely has fleas, but is not in shape for a bath and too little for medicine. He's going to the vet tomorrow morning. For the night we cozied up his cage with a warm snuggle safe in a soft case and a snuggly fake mama cat. I left all the stuff I brought at the recovery room, just in case, since I'm going to be gone all next week and we are suddenly up to our eyeballs in kittens of all ages. At least they'll have access to formula and a miracle nipple if they need it!

As I was driving home, I was treated to an absolutely spectacular show of heat lightning that lasted nearly half an hour with flashes just a few seconds apart. I much prefer that to the rain they were predicting, though at least now I don't have to worry about kittens in a storm drain. And because I did not get the coffee I was jonesing for, I do have some hope of sleeping tonight.

Okay, now for the stuff I was actually going to talk about today, which thankfully wasn't too much. I started the morning early with another stakeout for Mamacat, once again unsuccessful. I just do not think she is hanging around the drain anymore! I waited for an hour and a half and saw not hide nor hair. I'll keep dropping off food for a few more days, just to be sure. The auction I've been following ended today, and as usual there were a flurry of last minute bids that drove a lot of the stuff I bid on out of my price range. That's okay, most of it wasn't stuff I actually needed, and it's good that these people who had to close their business are getting something back from their inventory and equipment. I did get some good deals though, especially on big baking pans and loaf pans. It's time to learn to make Italian bread, yay!

The kiddo got his room cleaned today with help from his dad, so it is all ready for his new bookshelf to come tomorrow. He also got his electronic privileges back, so he spent most of the day alternating between Minecraft and Prodigy. Two digit multiplication is still hard, but he's hell on wheels for patterning and pretty good at factors so he didn't get too overall frustrated. He and his dad also watched Flight of the Navigator at dinnertime, one of my husband's favorite movies from when he was a kid. I really need to find a copy of SpaceCamp, my favorite childhood movie. I have a feeling it does not hold up at all, but it is soaked in enough nostalgia that I'm sure I'll still like it. I hadn't even thought about it for ages until Kelly Preston died last week, and then I was sad. It was just such a fun movie for a kid who loved space but was too afraid of heights to ever be an astronaut. Maybe I'll see if I can find it streaming anywhere tomorrow.

#quarantine #volunteering #kitten #feral kittens #come from away

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thelivebookproject · 4 years

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Talking Books With @thereadingchallengechallenge!

[What is this and how can I participate?]

Hello again!

Today we talk with the queen extraordinaire of #LoveOZYA. Get ready, because this is a long interview: we discuss books she likes, accurate portrayals of disability, and reading under the radar.

Important note: I haven’t changed or edited any of the answers. I’ve only formatted the book titles so they were clearer, but nothing else. Because I’m incapable of shutting up, my comments are between brackets and in italics, so you can distinguish them clearly.

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[Image description: a square titled “Know the blogger”. Name & pronouns: Em, she/her; country: Australia; three adjectives to describe her: easy-going, verbose & curious /end of description]

1. What was the last reading challenge/bingo/readathon/etc you took part in?

Oh dear, I don't remember! I think it might've been the "Booklr Reads Australian" event I ran in 2019? I'm very much a mood reader so I find it difficult to stick to specific reading challenges. But I set my own little challenges for myself each year :)

2. Last book that made you laugh?

I've been listening to the audiobook of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones before bed and I keep having to bury my face in my blankets so I don't laugh and wake anyone up 🤣 Howl is the walking disaster I'm looking for and I am thoroughly enjoying reacquainting myself with him and Sophie's antics.

[Everyone says they laughed with this book and I don’t remember laughing when I read it???? Like, it was fun, but not laughing-out-loud fun. Am I broken?]

3. Do you read graphic novels?

I try. I have my favourites - Heartstopper by Alice Oseman 😍 - but I'm visually impaired so if the font in the dialogue and text is too small, I literally can't read it. This has meant I've missed out on iconic stories like Nimona by Noelle Stevenson. I've tried to think of a way to bring attention to this issue but I haven't come up with anything yet.

[Oooof that’s hard, I’m sorry. I don’t really read graphic novels because I’m not usually interested, but not being able to read them because you can’t... Perhaps having transcriptions of the dialogue in a bigger font would help?]

4. What are some books related to a topic you care about?

My ultimate passion when it comes to books is finding accurate representations of disability. With roughly 1 in 5 people around the world having some kind of disability but only around 2% of media including disabled characters, there's a major issue with this. Especially when you consider the fact that a significant amount of disability representation is inaccurate at best and actively harmful at worst. Finding good disability rep has been an enlightening experience during my blogging journey and I've found some great books that represent disability authentically and sensitively.

On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis - a stunning sci-fi novel about an autistic girl in Amsterdam trying to make it to safety when a meteor endangers life on Earth. Corinne Duyvis is autistic herself and is also the creator of the #OwnVoices hashtag which is now used across the publishing industry.

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera - I love a sad story and Adam Silvera writes them like no one else. I loved this story about a boy grieving his first boyfriend while trying to cope with OCD. Silvera writes about mental illness a lot, always with care and respect, and writes beautiful queer romances alongside it.

RUN by Kody Keplinger - I loved this book about two best friends, one of them visually impaired, running away from home to try and seek their fortunes away from their controlling families and tight-knit community. Disabled (and queer) herself, Kody Keplinger is a fantastic author who writes some of the most realistic teenagers I've ever come across. She writes about heavy topics like sex and abuse with such care and realism without it ever feeling sensationalised or over the top. I'd recommend any of her books but this has been my favourite so far.

Everything I've Never Said by Samantha Wheeler - A short, Australian novel, this follows 12-year-old Ava who is living with Rett Syndrome and desperate to find a way to communicate with her loving family. I found this book incredibly emotional to read because of how well Wheeler explained the difficulties disabled people (and their families) face while trying to seek even the most basic of aides and assistance. She didn't pull her punches in showing the ableism and abuse Ava faced in the community, from her doctors, from support workers, while also showing how empowering it is to connect with other disabled people and feel pride in that identity.

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens - edited by Marieke Nijkamp, a disabled writer I love to pieces, this YA anthology features a broad range of disabilities in characters whose identities range right across the board. If you want to learn a little about a lot of different disabilities, from authors who share those disabilities, this is a great book to pick up because it beautifully illustrates how disability intersects with other kinds of identities as well.

If you're looking for other books featuring disabled characters, check out Disability in Kidlit for in-depth #OwnVoices reviews or my "Disabled Characters" shelf on Goodreads.

5. Who do you share your passion or your reads with?

Mostly booklr. When I hang out with friends - remember doing that? - we usually catch up on what we've been reading or we visit a bookshop and I spit recommendations left, right and centre, but for the most part, I just share my reviews on tumblr and Goodreads. Which I enjoy - I love knowing that someone's gonna see my review and get a different perspective on the book than the blurb or how the publisher has marketed it.

I learned early on running my blog that books so often only tickle our fancy because of their blurb but when a blurb completely contradicts the actual story - like, say, The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater - we can miss out on books that we'd really love. So when I write reviews, I always try to present my reads a little differently than the official blurb has in the hopes that maybe someone will give that book another chance.

[I should write blurbs too, but I’m too lazy. I usually just copy the blurb off Goodreads when I review, and then just explain myself what’s going on if I think there’s something missing]

Free space to say/add/recommend anything!

In my search for accurate representations of disability, I have also discovered loads and loads of authors who fly under the radar around here. I love boosting these quiet voices of YA but I thought I'd share a few tips to help other people find these lesser-known books on their own.

Look for authors who aren't from America: I know, I know - the market is saturated by Americans, but it isn't too hard to find lists of books and authors from other countries if you know where to search. If you aren't already acquainted with Goodreads' lists feature, go check it out under their "Browse" tab. Search "UK YA" for books from Britain, search "#LoveOzYA" for books from Australia (and sometimes New Zealand). There are usually yearly lists and if not, there are definitely lists of popular books from other countries. It can be hard to buy these books from overseas but request them from your library, order them through your local independent bookstore - they are always happy to help you find books off the beaten path.

[Good moment to say that you should also read translations!!!! Not everything in this world is written in English, and there are very good books out there you all are missing out on because you don’t branch out!]

Use Goodreads "Readers also enjoyed" feature - carefully: If you use Goodreads on desktop, you've probably noticed the little slideshow in the top right corner of a book's info page with a stream of similar books. But did you know that it tends to group books from the same country together? If the book's American, it shows other American books. If it's Australian, it only suggests other Australian books. An excellent example of technological bias for anyone taking media courses but not too helpful for us bookworms searching for an obscure new read. The easiest way around this is to find one book from a different place and then just scroll through the other books, seeing what strikes your fancy. Go down the recommendations rabbit hole and see what magical land you end up in.

Look at the end of Goodreads lists, not the start: Back to those lists, you'll notice that they're sorted by votes, with all Goodreads members allowed to add books and vote for the ones they love or care about. So, naturally, the most popular books end up at the top - this is most evident looking at the "YA Releases by Month" lists. But if you go to the end of the list and work backwards, you're sure to find some interesting novels that only a few people have heard about before.

Sort your TBR by number of ratings: We've all done that thing where we hear about a book, add it to our TBR, and then promptly forget about it. Use this infinite bookworm problem to your advantage and sort your TBR by the number of ratings a book has, using the bold column titles on your shelf page. You may have to add the function by visiting your Want to Read shelf and selecting Settings > Visible Columns > activate "Num Ratings" > Save Current Settings.

Book shopping? Check the Bargain section: A lot of my early unknown YA discoveries came from looking in the bargain sections of websites and bookstores. Often cheaper, because the bookseller is trying to clear space, it can be really interesting to see what books you find in these sections of stores. You don't always have a lot to choose from but you can often be pleasantly surprised by what you'll find and you're almost guaranteed to come across authors you've never heard of before.

[This is actually a super neat trick, I’ll definitely try it next time!]

All sound a little overwhelming? No worries! I have several lists of "under the radar" recommendations available on my blog if you just want to pick out a few titles to get you pointed in the right direction 😊

You can follow her at @thereadingchallengechallenge and on Goodreads.

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Thank you, Em! This gave us lots of food for thought and your links are super handy.

Next interview: Wednesday, 23rd of September

#talking books with #booklr #september 2020 #thelivebookproject

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mtgbracket · 3 years

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Tiebreaker - Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest vs Polukranos, Unchained

Hi folks! Yesterday, these two cards both got 177 votes in Batch 2.3, leading to a tie. I don’t vote in the polls so that I can be the tiebreaking vote when it’s needed. So here I am doing that.

I am going to be using the same format as I did for the ties in the original Magic Bracket - see this old post for an example. Essentially I will provide a written analysis on each card over five categories, and then finish with scores. If the scores also tie then my personal favourite gets the nod. The categories are:

- Quality of design, scored out of 10 - Power level, scored out of 5 (overpowered cards will score lower) - Flavour, scored out of 5 - Art, scored out of 5 (combined across multiple arts if there are any) - Place in Magic history, scored out of 5

Let’s get stuck in.

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

Design

Fittingly for a death priest, Mazirek cares about death - specifically, he’s one of the relatively few cards that care about sacrificing. While we’re more used to seeing this on black-red cards in recent years, Mazirek was printed in Commander 2015 and the sacrifice-matters element is perfectly at home in black. While it doesn’t feel green, the reward you get - +1/+1 counters on all your creatures - certainly does, and Mazirek has a solidly black-green feel as a result. And by both caring about death and growth/life, he also feels specifically Golgari - which matters as the Kraul are a Golgari insect group. Sacrifice-matters probably does play better in black-red (where red’s ability to sacrifice its own stuff lines up nicely), but it’s not massively out of place here.

Having flying (which makes sense for an Insect) but a measly 2/2 body for 5 also guides the player to imagining growing him into a massive threat through adding lots of sacrifice effects. The design is also kept light by not having Mazirek provide any inherent way of sacrificing things or making sacrifices happen - the player has to provide their own. This is pretty common for these kinds of designs, but is good because it means the rewards can be a bit juicier, as the player has to provide a sacrifice payoff, an enabler, and likely some fodder - although making your opponent sacrifice things also works!

One ding against the sacrifice trigger is that it does require players to handle a small bit of rules knowledge - specifically, identifying the “sacrifice” keyword action and understand which things are and aren’t sacrifices. And effects that make temporary tokens are annoyingly inconsistent about whether the tokens are exiled or sacrificed, which sets up a bit of a reading debt.

Power level

Fittingly for a card from a Commander precon, Mazirek is pretty potent. He can grow your team quite substantially with a few triggers, even if he doesn’t provide you an in-built way of getting them, and promises unbounded payoff. Combined with a sacrifice outlet and something with Persist can even make infinite combos, which is pretty compelling as a power option. Mazirek is technically legal in Eternal formats, but isn’t up to grade there - but that’s not a mark down on him as few cards are.

Mazirek ranks #278 on EDHREC, as the Commander of 424 decks, and as a card appears in 4% of decks on the platform. This indicates a potent and popular Commander card.

Flavour

Mazirek, as mentioned above, is the leader of the Kraul, the Golgari insect race. His card name certainly conjures up a lot of what’s going on with him - “Death Priest” is quite a title, and gets across both the death-focused aspect of the Golgari as well as the Kraul’s society - Mazirek was the leader of the Kraul race until his death in the War of the Spark storyline. His name is also fun to say - and feels quite insectile. It’s a shame that the “priest” title, which feels more like a Cleric, is not matched with his typeline, where he is a Shaman. There are plenty of green and even black-green Clerics, so this does feel like a minor ding.

Mazirek’s flavour text reinforces the “insect” thing nicely, with talks of clicks and buzz, and the very Metal “incarnation of decay”. Overall the picture of a rotten, death-feeding entity is well sold. Being empowered by death is a flavourful concept, but “sacrificing” specifically is hard to convey as a flavourful concept - it’s a bit too mechanical.

Art

Mathias Kollros’s piece revels in the black-green colour palette we’d expect from a Golgari legend, and shows the central figure suggestively in dark greens and yellow highlights, but with the details hidden by strong green-white backlighting. The posing emphasises the many additional limbs that Mazirek has over a humanoid figure, with his wings and extra legs, as well as his elevated position. Some drippy, slimy looking moss decorates his podium and the darker edges of the piece give us the sense that we’re in the Kraul’s tunnels. After adjusting to the main image we also see the eggs at the edges of the image, adding to the insect / creepy vibe for an overall very effective piece.

Note that the colour palette appears to have been significantly darkened from the original printing for the later Double Masters version for no clear reason. I think the original printing is the superior.

Place in Magic history

Other than a supporting role in the Ravnica / War of the Spark storyline, Mazirek doesn’t have much to write home about here - no particularly unique or interesting things about him.

Polukranos, Unchained

Design

From this year’s Theros: Beyond Death, we have the zombified version of Polukranos. Originally gaining infamy as Polukranos, World Eater, this hydra is now presented in a black-tinged version - our second black-green card. He starts out with square stats as a very undercosted-seeming 4-mana 6/6, before later promising to escape as a 6-mana 12/12. The “permanent damage” drawback here is something originally seen on Judgment’s Phantom creatures, which only ever lost one counter per instance of damage; the counters-per-damage version was premiered on M11′s Protean Hydra as a “heads” metaphor, and was also seen on Ugin’s Conjurant. Conjurant and Polukranos share an important improvement - they only apply the replacement effect while they actually have a +1/+1 counter, which stops them becoming invincible if you raise their toughness some other way.

As well as being a big reservoir of power and toughness, this newer version of Polukranos connects mechanically to the original by including a fight ability - and a very rare repeatable one at that. This opens up some interesting options whereby if Polukranos has shrunk too much, you can fight him off in order to have him die and then be able to escape and reset him with his final Escape ability. Polukranos has the highest card-cost for any Escape card, needing six other cards to come back - justified by his massive size upgrade when you do so.

The design overall hits some of the right notes for the established Polukranos power set - beefy and activated-ability-fighting - while adding some interesting play patterns with the Escape mechanic. It doesn’t do a great job of feeling green-black to me instead of just green however - monogreen has Escape cards and that’s all that black is really bringing to this package other than a generic multicolour power injection and the Zombie creature type. And the design is very busy, with a lot of text and moving parts that is a bit confusing to play.

Power level

While being a Limited powerhouse, Polukranos hasn’t managed to get anywhere in general constructed thanks to competing for resources with the far superior Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, which is commonly played with black.

In Commander, EDHREC shows Polukranos, Unchained at rank #494 as a Commander of 170 decks, and appearing in 3% of decks. The combo with Vigor is particularly nice - you can choose to apply Vigor’s replacement effect instead of Polukranos’s own one and have him grow every time he fights instead of shrinking!

Flavour

The name is straightforward enough - and connects with the art - but not inspired. The lengthy rules text doesn’t even leave room for Escape reminder text, let alone flavour text. The character of Polukranos is of a dangerous monster that Elspeth had to defeat in the original Theros storyline as the champion of Heliod, but the new version is just “that same guy from before, only he escaped from the Underworld”.

Art

Chris Rahn is one of Magic’s most notable current artists, with a great ability to render detailed fantasy images with beautiful details. The purple-and-grayish hues of the underworld are used here to show the location, and nicely we see the upper purple head of Polukranos blending with the beautiful night sky.

And those purple heads are shown coming from the same root - I believe they are actually regrowing at the time of the art! There are a lot of nice visual indicators of this - a pinkish glow showing where the stump was, the purplish colour of the two new heads, and the fact that those are a little smaller than the other four. The new heads both have collars on so I imagine these are magical collars designed for a hydra - but the art also shows that the chains weren’t strong enough, as the name tells us. A close look shows a loose chain breaking a statue in the foreground - and the other foreground figures help sell the size of the monstrous creature in front of us. The overall mood is “Oh s***, the monster has got loose!”.

Place in Magic history

We have a minor storyline character here and the card has no particular resonance or important part to play, so not looking at a whole lot here.

Final verdict

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

Design - 7/10 Power level - 4/5 Flavour - 3/5 Art - 5/5 Place in Magic history - 2/5 TOTAL - 21/30

Polukranos, Unchained

Design - 6/10 Power level - 3/5 Flavour - 2/5 Art - 4/5 Place in Magic history - 2/5 TOTAL - 17/30

Good luck to Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest in Round 3!

#mtg #magic the gathering #mtgbracket #tournamentofchampions #magic bracket tiebreaker

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nothingunrealistic · 3 years

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just for fun, some snapshots of this fic as it was being written, with commentary. under a cut to avoid dumping dozens of screenshots in a row on anyone’s dash. also i’m going to reblog this and add some more because tumblr is cutting me off from saving any more changes but i’m not done saying what i wanted to say.

i got this prompt back in july, dropped it into a new google doc, and then didn’t do anything with it until october. as you can see, i didn’t immediately have any good ideas, so i just let it percolate in the back of my mind (along with one or two dozen other writing prompts and projects) for a while.

then, three and a half months later, i finally had an idea! at three in the morning! (not pictured: half a dozen links to pages about autistic burnout, meltdowns, and shutdowns. research is important but it’s not as fun to look at.)

sometimes you think of dialogue well before you think of how to fit it into a scene.

this was eleven days later.

finally! some actual prose! and a way to tie the story to the events of canon! (after this, i worked on this particular fic every day until it was done.)

just putting stuff in brackets works basically every time. the bracketed notes start out as a more high-level interview of what’s going to happen, then get broken down / separated / elaborated on further until they pretty much stand in for individual paragraphs / sentences / lines of dialogue or inner monologue.

see: stuff from the Big Block Of Text getting copied and pasted to where it should be.

pretty sure *this* big block of text got written on one of the rare occasions where i actually managed to write for the entire hour i have set aside specifically For writing. if i were to break down the revision history further, it’d almost certainly show that many of these paragraphs started out as bracketed not-quite-prose, some of which still remained at this point. (also pictured: one particular line from mafee that did not make it into the final draft.)

more details from canon and just details in general.

mafee does Not have rights. (also, it turns out it’s much easier for someone to press their hands against their whole face if they’re not wearing glasses.)

by far the funniest change i made while writing this.

writing any new character’s pov is an adventure in trying to nail down how they’d talk inside their own head. doubly true for any new billions character given that no one talks like a normal person on billions; triply true when it’s a character like rian who Knows no one talks normally and is trying to fit in with the Accepted Dialect.

i’m like dropping hints that winston is having a bad time right now.

winston is having a bad time right now.

rip post-it note fidgeting; long live pen fidgeting. (another research topic: what *do* quants do all day that they might still be working on late at night? well, possibly, backtesting and optimization of algorithms.)

two character threads that started here: rian trying (and ultimately failing) not to make it obvious that she Cares about winston, and winston speaking more tersely than usual, for obvious reasons.

i watched Many clips from the show trying to figure out whether the doors at axe capital ever stayed open on their own, what sound they made when people opened them, and if it was even plausible for characters to hear construction noise through the glass when the doors were shut. (on that last point, i ultimately decided that if the mase cappers could hear becky lynch yelling through a closed door — and most likely they did hear her before they saw her — they could certainly hear power tools.)

“everyone else went home” was the best reason for mafee to walk back into the tmc office that i could think of. he just wants to hang out with Someone yknow?

mafee’s made the noise worse not only by leaving the door open, but also by sitting down loudly and talking a lot!

mafee’s use of “quisling” is a very specific shoutout to the incident he’s describing. axe declared that there was a quisling in the office; mafee had to ask what that meant, and donnie defined it for him; a few episodes later, mafee went out of his way to drop “quisling” into the conversation when talking about it to someone he wanted to impress.

getting the wording of this exchange just right was tricky. also rip mafee’s chair spinning.

switched up the placement of hammer noises and drill noises so that it’d be a Continuous, unrelenting noise that forced mafee to talk louder still and ultimately became too much for winston.

also had to figure out how to fit this comment from mafee into the flow of the scene.

mafee jumps to act as soon as he realizes something’s wrong; rian thinks about what the best course of action would be first.

rian’s got a pretty idealistic perspective on how taylor operates. (this connects nicely to a canon comment from wendy about how taylor tries “to solve every problem [they] see.”) she’s also still working out How people talk here.

wanted to include this early point about it being quieter in taylor’s office, but i couldn’t really make it work.

this was the first point at which i had a clear idea of how this fic was going to end / would conclude in any satisfactory way. bringing that “rian cares but doesn’t want that to be Known” detail full circle.

punctuation pickiness! (and the door is finally closed!)

you know what sounds even worse than metal on wood? metal on metal!

i spent so much of one day just working on these few paragraphs.

and then i got the idea to throw in rian’s recollection of winston’s description of the mase cap office either late that night or the next morning and wrote most of it down while sitting through a meeting. (ft. more emphasis on the Separation between rian and winston & taylor.)

DUMBO is an acronym (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) but it isn’t always written in all caps. i found a style guide (from a college department in nyc, though i can’t remember which one) that declared it should be written as Dumbo rather than DUMBO and decided to go with that.

mafee is WELL out of the loop here. no wonder he wants to leave.

i went pretty hard on “mafee is being Less Than Kind And Understanding about this whole situation” and eventually had to have him walk it back with “well i didn’t WANT him to suffer or anything.”

this is everything i managed to get done in the Designated Writing Hour (and then some) the night that the supernatural finale aired. oops.

i was torn between rian hearing Something to alert her of taylor’s presence and hearing nothing at all; ultimately i chose the latter. (this revision was also from the brief period of time where i changed the google doc to a landscape layout in the hopes that the Changed Visual would shake some more ideas loose. it worked, a bit.)

see: rian Not hearing taylor.

this detail was added pretty late — one of the last changes i’d made the day before posting. (i’d also switched the google doc back to portrait mode at this point.)

#sometimes i write #Soph's Writing Podcast: Text Edition

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danetobelieve · 4 years

Text

Fairy Lights || Orion and Winston

Note: This happened before the eye chatzy

It was time. It was the day that they had both been waiting for. Winston and Orion had been prepping for this for days now and they finally both had a free day to fully set up the electronics, internet, cable and anything else that Rio wanted in there room. “I’m honestly beyond excited,” Winston said pulling their tool box down from the shelf in the workshop and making their way up the stairs towards Rio’s room, which was now opposite their room and beneath the massive attic that was Ricky’s room, “once we’ve got your room set up then we should definitely start thinking about how you want your corner of the workshop to look, obviously you’re gonna need a tonne of light for all the reading.”

Orion still wasn’t completely convinced that this hadn’t all been some kind of idealistic day dream. He was almost afraid that at any moment he was going to wake up in his bed, back at the Quinn household being yelled at to get to the guest house for training. But instead, he got to wake up in a bedroom and be greeted by friends and most of the time, breakfast. It all seemed too good to be true sometimes. “I can’t believe this is real,” Rio found himself admitting to Winston, thankful that the resident tech expert was around to help make sure that things were hooked up correctly. For the most part, Rio was decent with technology. He was a computer science major so he hoped that he could function around the stuff. But it was nice to have some that knew for sure what they were doing. Plus it was just a good excuse to hang out with Winston. “I get a corner of the workshop? Woah.” What the heck was he supposed to do there? “Actually, never mind I’ll stress about that after we figure this room out.”

“You know, living with us really isn’t that great that you’ve got to pretend that you’re in a state of disbelief about it,” Winston teased with a bright smile. Reaching up to their glasses, Winston shifted them for a moment before walking into Rio’s room backwards with their arms full of cables, a monitor and a keyboard. “Yes, you get a corner of the workshop, even if you don’t want to do anything with it I think that Ricky is insisting that we all have a space that we feel is our own. Which is super nice of him.” They had to admit that Ricky had been nothing short of saintlike, for the both of them. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to stress about it, you could even just turn it into the place that you do your college work. I only really use the workshop for college work and working on the technomancy.” They set the box down on Orion’s bed and looked around the sizeable room that had once been a library for Ricky. “So, what do you want to start with?”

Orion rolled his eyes at Winston’s comment, clearly joking but downplaying how great the two of them had been since Rio has shown up at their door. They had gone way out of their way to make him feel welcome in the home. “I want to get my whole screen area set up first.” He waved in the direction of his desk, hoping to figure all of that out first and foremost. It was the most important part of his room by far. “This laptop basically has my entire life on it, so.” He smiled and waved the thing around for show. “After that I had some ideas... like Bluetooth maybe. Some colorful lights to go around the room. Okay admittedly that’s the end of my creativity. But it’ll be fun regardless! We can figure more things out as we go along.” Rio explained, digging into a bag that he had bought from the store with a few of the supplies and ideas that he had in mind. “My game system is already downstairs so I’m not worried about that I guess. Pretty much as long as the internet works that’s all I need. Ooh and a bookshelf obviously. But let’s start with the desk.”

“Yeah, that was obvious, I should’ve guessed screens first,” Winston replied with a smirk as they started to pull the brackets and mounts that they would need. “So you want like just the one monitor? Two? I think I have a third somewhere and you could always buy a fourth? Like basically we can set this up so that it works however you want.” They understood loving a computer more then yourself, Winston would literally kill someone if they lost their harddrive. It had everything, their research, their magical notes and less importantly their college stuff. “Well, bluetooth and mood lighting are things that we can make happen, and we can definitely hook it all up to the AI system that I am going to write to replace Alexa because I don’t trust Jeff Bezzos as far as I can’t throw him.” They pulled an extension chord from the box and plugged it in. “Can you pass me all of those metal things, I gotta stick the brackets to the wall so that you can adjust your screen height and shit.” They grabbed a screw driver and began rummaging along beneath the desk. “So, how are you settling in?”

“I- uh, I don’t know” Orion stumbled through, “I’ve never had anything but my laptop screen I guess. I thought I was lucky to get a single monitor I’ve never even thought about getting even more screens.” What could he possibly use that much screen space for? He supposed it would be helpful for research purposes and cross checking. Though he would need to get farther into his project of translating the text before he could ever think about actually using it for research. “I can’t believe you can just build an AI. That’s so cool. And I could totally throw Jeff pretty far, but same.” He laughed and shrugged, tossing the requested metal objects over to Winston and standing off to the side as Winston grabbed a drill and explained that they could hang his monitor. Like on the wall. Winston was way too cool. “You’re joking right?” Rio has strayed away from the desk to take in the room and try to plan how he could hang the lights. He wondered how many lights were too many or if that number existed. “I don’t think I had much of a choice besides settling in. You guys forced me to a burden.” He was joking of course, he was overly gracious for all they had done, “You’re both like the best roommates anyone could ask for. Besides the fact that I’ve been thrown through a window and almost drowned now following you places. Which for the record, I totally did because you went there.”

“Cool so we’ll start with two and then you can decide if you need more, I personally think three is perfect but everyone is different.” Winston worked quickly, it wasn’t that hard really, most ot the work was done for them, all they had to do was mount the struts and attach everything securely to the wall. “I have never actually built an AI before, but I don’t think it should be that much hardwork, plus I’ve got a few side projects going on that mean that it might be easier, I’m kind of toying with a few ideas on incorporating magic into things further, we’ll see I guess.” Winston smirked gently at Orion’s joke, it was a cute joke. Frowning gently, Winston shook their head. “Not joking at all, you’ve seen some of the shit that Ricky makes, drilling holes in walls is nothing.” They laughed gently and shrugged. “Yeah, I think we’re now kind of duty bound to be extra nice to you because we keep putting you in dangerous situations, although, we got some good information from the lake and the mime place, the killer mimes weren’t exactly our fault either, so, it could be worse. We had Skylar over for a dinner party and almost got turned into dinner by the giant crabs that attacked.”

“Yeah, for sure. It’s a good start.” Orion agreed, staring up at the walls of the ceiling. It wasn’t that the ceilings were unfathomably tall, but Rio was only 5’8. He would need a ladder or some kind of step stool if he had any hope of hanging those lights. “Oh right. Building an AI sounds so easy. Just a day’s work.” Rio stated nonchalantly just as Winston had made it sound. Magic or not, it was impressive. He rested his chin into the palm of his hand, pondering a plan of action. “You’re not duty bound to do anything for my technically speaking, but considering your mime fireballed me…” Rio shrugged watching as Winston worked their magic. Or well, considering Winston really could work magic, Rio supposed Winston was just plain old working right now. But Rio enjoyed watching Winston work. He pretty much enjoyed any time he got to spend with Winston. “Yikes. I can’t say I’m especially heartbroken that I never had to deal much with the creepy karkinoid things. But I’m glad you all weren’t hurt.” He fell back on the bed and continued watching Winston, realizing maybe a bit too late that Winston was working to put Rio’s monitor together for his own room. “I’m literally not doing anything. I should probably lend a hand. Considering it’s my room and all.” He face palmed himself and then jumped off of the bed, “Do you need me to hold something in place or do anything while you drill? Not sure if you heard or not, but I am pretty strong despite the lack of muscles.”

“I mean, the majority of the coding that it would require is probably accessible through open source software libraries, the majority of the other stuff that I would need it to uniquely coded to the home would be difficult, but I can’t see it being completely impossible, plus I really enjoy it so it isn’t like it’s work or anything like that.” Winston shrugged. They’d always found tech so much easier then anything. It just worked for them and they understood how to make it do what they wanted. “Yeah, I feel like if your mime had fireballed me then I would also be pretty pissed, and … sorry that I didn’t tell you about the magic and you had to find out that way. I’m … well believe it or not I am really new to all of this and I don’t really like telling people about the magic because there is a vampire that hunts spellcasters and it’s dangerous…” they swallowed gently and turned back to their work. “But she just thinks I’m good with tech so we’re safe for now.” They paused and sighed. “Thanks, I’m glad that I wasn’t hurt too, and I’m very glad that you got to avoid dealing with them.” Pausing for a second longer, Winston took a long breath and realised they needed something from their kit. “Pass me the pencil in the top of the tool and then can you hold the monitor in place whilst I make sure that it’s all lined up so it isn’t crooked.” Winston marked the various spots on the wall and positioned the drill before beginning on the holes. “Is that because you’re a hunter? Like genetically?” Winston asked curiously.

“Oh right. Super easy. I think I’ll just do it, since you explained it and everything.” Orion laughed, not even sure where he would possibly begin to try to do something like that, and he had the basics of coding down. He wasn’t great at it, but he understood how it worked. “Don’t sell yourself short. I think you’re super impressive.” Rio assured, his face turning red immediately and trying to backtrack, “it’s. I think it’s super impressive. Like your tech skills is what I meant. Not that you’re not impressive. But like I was talking about it specifically. You know? Okay.” He needed to shut himself up immediately. He welcomed the opportunity to talk about secrets instead. “Please, don’t apologize to me about that. It’s not like I offered up my secret or anything either. You’re not obligated to tell me anything you don’t want to.” Rio was curious by nature, but he didn’t consider himself especially nosey. He liked learning but liked to keep that separate from learning about others private lives. He had learned from his mistake with Skylar. It was their story to tell, not his to seek out. “Right, well make sure to keep your distance. And let me know if she does anything sketchy. Not that I can really do much, but I want to make sure you stay safe.” He didn’t know anything about the witch hunter in town, but knew enough. A hunter was a hunter, no matter what it was that they targeted. They couldn’t be trusted. Rio jumped at the opportunity to help, picking up the monitor in one hand and reaching to grab the pencil with his free hand. He held the monitor up, balancing it against the wall and passed the pencil off. “Yeah. Being born a hunter comes with some perks. Or I guess you could call them perks. Enhanced strength, heightened senses. Night vision. All stuff I can’t really complain about, but wish I never had.”

“I’m sure you would work it out eventually and I could help, it could definitely be a group project.” Winston really liked Orion. He made them laugh. He was kind. He cared about helping other people, so much so that he had rejected a family of hunters because he knew that what they were doing was not right. Winston felt a warm glow over take them and gave Rio a bright smile. “Thanks dude, I’m glad that I impress you so much.” They weren’t sure that they had been called super impressive by anyone. But they knew that they liked it. “Either way, I think you’re trying to compliment me and I’m just going to take it.” Winston paused and nodded. “Okay, thanks, I just, I wanted to explain myself because I would really love to show off to more people but I can’t and I didn’t want you to think that it was because I didn’t trust you, because I cannot express to you how glad I am that I met you watching anime and then I sleep walked in on you and you know, this is awesome. I’m glad you’re here.” Winston was worried that they might have said too much in that moment, but they really enjoyed Orion living with them and they weren’t about to apologise for it. This definitely was not a mistake. “I’ll be fine, I’ve got it under control and Nell wouldn’t let her hurt me and you know then there's everyone else who might help.” Winston paused to consider Rio’s reply. “Just because you were born with gifts that has been used one way, doesn’t mean you can’t use those gifts to help others.”

“Well I definitely wouldn’t say no to a group project. I love helping you with stuff. But I definitely think I’ll let you take charge on the AI thing. I can help clean up coding along the way or something where I’m more involved like in a support role. I can keep the coffee flowing for you.” Orion felt himself blushing, and he was exactly sure why. Of course Winston impressed Rio, he shouldn’t be embarrassed by that. And yet the idea that Rio had something wrong or suggestive was mortifying to him. “I’m definitely complimenting you. Just not like weirdly complimenting you. If that makes sense. I don’t think it does. Let’s ignore that comment.” Oh boy. Now Winston was complimenting Rio. And Rio really didn’t know how to handle that. He couldn’t imagine how red his face must be at the moment. “I- uh feel the same way. Seriously, I just am really bad at expressing it apparently. But like... you sorta changed my entire life, when you accidentally strolled into the Scribe building, so I can’t thank you enough for your friendship and stuff.” His mouth felt dry as he tried to express his gratitude to Winston. Winston was a majority of the reason that Rio had finally gotten the courage to leave, and was certainly part of the reason he had made the progress he had with the Scribe building. It felt weird expressing feelings like this, but Rio didn’t mind it. “Good. I think you’re pretty capable by yourself, but it makes me feel better that Nell knows about it too. She’s awesome.” Winston made the same argument that others had made for Rio’s abilities, and of course they were right. Rio wished he could separate the powers from the family, to make himself hate the gifts a little less. “It just doesn’t seem fair. This... I don’t know what to call it. Curse? That doesn’t sound right either. But I just wish I was a normal human sometimes.”

“Cool, well, I’ll see what needs doing around here and if we think of something else we can work on that too.” Winston wasn’t going to say no to help, nor a chance to hang with Rio. They listened carefully, patiently to everything that Orion had to say. They were maybe the only person that they had ever met who stumbled over their own words as much as Winston did. “I get it, you’re complimenting me.” They smiled. Rio didn’t make them feel nervous or uncomfortable. Not like so many other people in this supernatural world. Miriam, Deirdre, hell even Athena. Not to mention all the other weirdos that were out there. Hunters, Slayers, Wardens, they were all just a piece of the puzzle but none of that seemed to factor into it with Rio. “Don’t worry, sometimes explaining things is easier … well I was going to say said then done but that’s not helpful,” they laughed and shrugged, “I get it. We’re both happier now we’re doing this shit. It’s cool.” They smiled and turned back to their drilling, placing the wall bracket and beginning to mount the monitors. “Curse seems dramatic, but I think you’re looking at it in the wrong light. You’re not a weapon or a tool, you’re a person. Sure, you’re not /entirely/ human but these days who is? I know i’m not, you now know for sure that Ricky is also … not. Some of my best friends are barely even a little human. The world sucks, and you’ve got super strength and regeneration? I don’t think that’s a curse at all. Sounds a lot more like a blessing to me. Not just for you, but everyone else that you decide to help with it.

Despite the way Orion seemed to specialize at stuffing his foot in his mouth, seemed to understand what Rio was trying to say. Rio enjoyed how much the two had in common. He had made a good amount of friends the last few months, and they were all the kind of people that Rio never thought he would actually have made friends with. Winston was one of the few that Rio seemed to have a lot in common with. But for fear of embarrassing himself again, Rio decided that they two had already had their heart to heart. So instead of trying to form some sappy response, Rio laughed and nodded at Winston and focus on the human topic instead. “I don’t know what you mean, when have I ever been dramatic?” Rio asked innocently. He would reign a halo if one of his hands wasn’t be used to hold a monitor in place. “But yeah, I get your point. It’s weird. I want everyone that’s not human to embrace themselves and understand that they’re not a monster or evil like the narrative tells them. And then I can’t do it for myself.” For some reason, when Winston said it Rio actually wanted to believe the words. “Thank you, seriously. I really want to help. And I know you do too. I don’t really know much about your world. Magic and all. I’d love to learn more about it. Like your experience with it, I mean.”

“Well, there was the time that someone threw a fireball at you, there was the time that we were running from that mime spider, there was the time that you arrived at our house drenched from the rain because you’d been too dramatic to ask us to pick you up…” Winston scratched their chin in faux confusion, “need I go on?” They smirked gently, hoping that Rio would take the teasing in the good natured manner that it had been given. They finished placing the monitor on the wall and settled on the desk for a moment, drawing their knees up under their chin and drumming their long fingers against the wooden top. “Sometimes the hardest advice to accept is your own, believe me, I learned that one the hard way.” They pulled themselves to their feet and wandered over to the bed to take a good look at it from a distance. “That looks straight? Right?” Winston should probably get a spirit level, but if Rio couldn’t notice then they wouldn’t have to. “I mean, dude, I don’t know what to say, there isn’t that much to tell, I’ve been doing it for just more then five months now and for the first three months I was stumbling along uselessly in the dark. The last two months, well we’re getting there but I’ve still got a very long way left to go.” Winston shrugged gently and began hooking up the LAN cable that they’d need to hardwire Orion’s computer into the internet. “You probably have more experience then me.”

“Ha ha. Very funny.” Rio faked a laugh in Winston’s direction and tried to go for a fake pouting face. “I don’t see how the fireball thing was my fault. Okay well I guess I was the one that actually dove through the window, but that was the only way I could think to get away from it.” He defended himself, though he was grinning the whole time. “Yeah, so I’ve heard. Not sure I’ve ever taken my own advice to find out for myself.” He shrugged. He meant it as a joke to keep the mood light, but his tone felt flatter than it had before. Self esteem issues were no fun, especially when he was trying to tone them down. He knew how Ricky got around self deprecation and he was trying to avoid anymore compliment battles with him in the kitchen. When Winston got everything screwed in they both took a step away and tried to figure out if everything was hanging properly, “I don’t know. I feel like we covered that I don’t really understand straight very well.” Rio tried to remain serious for effect, but was giggling by the end of the sentence. He needed to brighten the mood a bit. “Got it. So this world is all pretty much new to you then?” Rio asked them, absentmindedly pushing at the mounted monitor to see just how easy it was to adjust it. That was way cool. “I’ve known about the supernatural for as long as I can remember. I never knew much about witches aside from the existing. There were a few that helped out hunters sometimes but besides that all I know is how strong they can be. I’m glad you’re getting a better handle on it though.”

“In your defense, if someone threw a fireball at me then I would also probably leap through a giant pane of glass in an attempt to get away from it.” Winston smirked gently, Rio was cute. That grin was very cute, even if it was shit eating. “Well, maybe you should break that bad habit and for the first time in your life you should take your own advice, I know that seems like a novel thought but who knows what you would be able to do if you took some advice better then my own for once?” It was Winston’s turn to grin now. Rio was actually really funny when you let him get out of his shell. He was smart too. “Ha, you kill me dude,” Winston adjusted their glasses and shook their head as they laughed. “Literally dude, I found out that werewolves were real less then five months ago, maybe slightly more at this point but fuck, yeah, all super new, all super terrifying.” They were still wrapping their head around their new reality and there were many days where Winston simply sat there wondering what the hell had gone on to make all of this happen. “I’m starting to learn a lot more and there are lots of paths to take, like a coven asked if I wanted to join, I said know, but you know that’s always an option.” Winston perched on the end of the bed. “It’s pretty scary sometimes, this, whole deal, but then people like you are always here to help and … that really helps.”

“You know, sometimes I take Ricky’s advice too. Works about as well as yours.” Orion seemed to be making some progress, as far as his anxiety went. He felt more comfortable around Ricky and Winston daily. He was able to joke around with them, hang out with them while feeling relatively at ease. He was even able to play some of his games around them, which he had never been comfortable enough with before. He had always enjoyed watching them play games, but had always talked himself out of playing any himself while they were there. “Yeah… that’s a lot to take in all at once.” Rio couldn’t imagine the culture shock. Once it began, it all poured in at once too it seemed. That must have been a pretty stressful time. “I think you’ve handled it all really well though. Considering everything.” And he wasn’t lying about that, Rio wouldn’t have known that Winston had just learned about the supernatural without Winston telling him just now. He really seemed like a natural. “But uh, you know I’ll always help however I can… Can I ask why you said no to the coven?”

“Ricky’s advice is usually better then mine,” Winston replied with a smirk, “he usually knows when something is a bad idea, I just don’t usually do anything that will probably get me killed. Usually. Ok, maybe it is the other way around.” Winston was glad that they were beginning to see Rio come out of his shell a little bit more, of all of the people who were new to their life Winston was beyond glad that Rio was among them. He was important. “Yeah, I won’t lie, it was a bit of a change, but some of it has been really cool. Like, I find it difficult to really find a good reason to complain about being given the ability to cast magic spells, there are much worse things that someone could have to deal with let’s be real.” Winston smirked gently and shrugged. “Thanks dude, it is what it is, can’t change any of it now, just got to keep going you know.” They considered it for a second. “The person who invited me, it’s their coven, like they’ve always been part of it and we’re really good friends, I just, I want this journey to be mine. I worry that joining a coven would get political and plus coven’s have rules and no offense, I kind of don’t want to be restricted by more rules.”

“Well we’ve lived through everything. So I think that’s all that matters.” Orion shrugged. Putting himself in danger wasn’t exactly Rio’s favorite thing to do. Nor did it make any of his top ten lists. But for Winston? Rio supposed he could make an exception or two. Rio was pretty sure he’d do just about anything for his roommates at this point. Especially because someone needed to be the levelheaded one. “The supernatural world can be really cool. Besides all the, like horrors and dangers of it.” Rio found his fascination with the subject was hard to explain. On one hand, he loved learning about the supernatural and their cultures. On the other hand, he knew that they had to live in fear. Of people exactly like Rio. “But it’s awesome learning about what others can do and what makes them unique.” And that was all he really wanted, and it seemed like his beliefs lined up pretty well with Winston’s too which was nice. “I’ve never thought of it that way, but I get it. You deserve that time to grow for yourself.” Rio wished there was a way that he could help Winston more. Maybe they could find some more information on magic at the Scribe building to share. Something that could help them learn about magic without the need for a coven. “Besides, a coven is just like a… family you know? And you already have that.” Wow that was corny. Rio sighed at himself, rubbing at his temples and now digging through the bag to pull out the lights he had bought. “I need a step stool if I’m supposed to be tall enough to hang these.”

Swallowing, Winston shrugged and looked to the rest of the room. They still had work ahead of them, but it wasn’t as if this was difficult. “I just wish it was less violent, maybe that’s naive of me but I just don’t see why everyone is so insistent on killing each other all of the time. Like, we get it, you don’t like each other. Chill out please.” Fiddling with their glasses, Winston straightened them on their face once more and shrugged. “Exactly, I’ve got my own coven; though most of them aren’t witches. It’s not even just the whole family thing though, I don’t know. There feels something different or difficult about it, I’m not ready for that step yet.” Winston bit their lip as they tried to think of how to explain it. Nell’s coven just left a bad feeling in their stomach. Winston looked up at the ceiling and tried to think of the best way that they would be able to do this. “Can you like lay out on the floor how you want your fairy lights because I’ve got a cool idea that I want to try out, but I need to know how you want it to look first?”

“You and me both. But it won’t stop. Or well… they won’t stop.” Orion wished that it would of course, but he knew that it was just wishful thinking. The hunters would never give up on their quest. They were too sanctimonious. Convinced that they had some right above others to extinguish life from this planet. It wasn’t fair or right, but they couldn’t be convinced of that. Of course, Rio wasn’t completely blind. They knew that the supernatural could be dangerous too. It was all a messed up situation. “I get it. And sorry… to bring it up and all. I support whatever you want to do.” At Winston’s suggestion, Rio knelt down, arranging the lights along in a row. “Maybe some kind of strings like this? I thought it might be cool to have a single wall of them that I could hang pictures or something on. I don’t know. I can obviously get the lower stuff but the top of the wall won’t be easy.

“It won’t stop if people take that attitude to it,” Winston replied with a shrug, “but it does suck, no one needs to be dealing with someone hunting and hating them just because of what they are.” Winston paused for a second and wondered how they would actually ever be able to effect real change on such a dangerous and difficult world. “Thanks, that means a lot. I don’t think I will do anything, at least not yet.” There was still too much for them to learn. There were so many points of view in the supernatural world and Winston didn’t want to become biased. “Cool, okay, let me try something new.” They smiled and grabbed the end of the fairy lights, plugging them into the wall, they flicked the switch on. Pausing for a moment before reaching out carefully, Winston extended their presence and will. Feeling the flow of energy surging through the wires and illuminating the tiny bulbs, Winston began to move the wire. It wiggled a little as they got used to the motion before carefully beginning to snake it’s way up the side of the wall before settling in place. “Like that?”

“I don’t mean to be a buzzkill,” Orion started. He didn’t know how to explain it to Winston without sounding even more pessimistic. That people like his family wouldn’t stop until they were stopped. And Rio hadn’t figured out how to do that yet. “I just- I don’t know. Sorry. I don’t really want to be the kind of person that thinks that way. It’s just hard, I guess.” He didn’t really know what he was saying anymore. Rio was happy to focus instead on the lights, which Winston was putting up… like with their mind. “Holy woah.” Rio held his hand up towards the wall but stopped himself before getting in the way of Winston’s magic. “This is perfect. I can’t believe that you can just… do this y’know? That’s so cool!”

“It’s cool, I get it. The stuff you’ve experienced has tinegd your perception and I would probably feel the same. But I’ve got to believe that we can change things. Otherwise I have to live in a world I don’t like.” Winston wasn’t about to sit idly anymore. They could affect real change. “I get it though.” Winston felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of their temple. They could feel the exhaustion in them. A shortness in their breath. They were still getting used to magic and show off had taken it’s slight toll. “Thanks, I’m still fucking around with the tech magic, but I think there’s some real potential outside of wire hanging.” Winston couldn’t help but grin. It felt good to impress Orion.

“No, you’re right. And I want things to be like that too. I just haven’t figured out how that’s possible.” Orion wanted to be like Winston, positive thinking and not willing to withstand any less than. How did Rio get himself to be like that? “Yet, at least.” Maybe the trick was to just stick around with Winston. That was assuming Winston didn’t get them killed first. Rio was staring at the wall, watching as the lights snaked across the wall. But he heard the change in Winston’s breath. He turned around, noticing the swear pooling on their face. “Are you okay?” Rio moved back over towards Winston to get a better look. “Is that what using the magic does to you?” Rio questioned. It made sense, thinking about it. The energy for the spells had to come from somewhere. But was it dangerous? It had to be, if overused. “You need water or something?”

“I don’t know either, but we’ll work something out and see if we can change things, but I know that’s not super likely.” Winston shrugged gently and smiled, it was a hard road but it was nice that they had friends along with them to help them along the way. Winston just hoped that it all worked out in the end. Though they weren’t sure how they would. “Yeah, I’m okay, I kind of need to keep trying to flex the magical muscles as much as I can so that I can develop more and keep the stuff going, I don’t know if that makes sense.” Winston shrugged and looked at their shoes. “Magic requires energy, I have a theory about using electricity to power magic but right now that isn’t the point, when I use magic, the energy comes from me which is exhausting. But this was worth it.”

“I think if anybody can do it, it’s probably you. Or well, us I mean. Like us working together.” Orion shrugged. He still wasn’t incredibly optimistic. But he knew that if he thought there was a world that could change. It started with people like Winston and Blanche, others that were excited to learn about the supernatural and embrace the differences instead of fearing and condemning it. “And by us I mean like… all of us. Blanche and Ricky and Nell and others too.” Rio listened to Winston explain about the magic using up energy. He wasn’t going to pretend to understand how it would work to use technology to power magic, but Winston didn’t seem to have all the answers yet either. Rio would just let Winston work on that. “Do you exercise a lot?” Rio found himself asking. “Uh- Well having the enhanced strength and senses that hunters have, we expend a lot of energy when we do stuff. So we tend to have big appetites and get tired out quickly. So one of the big things that we are taught is training up endurance. So that you can go longer when the time comes. Maybe we could… try something like that? The more physical endurance and energy you have, I bet the same goes for your magical ability potential.”

“Well it isn’t like that is a lot of pressure to put on one guy, so let’s go with working together. But yeah, I think we can make a change. Winston bit their lip for a second and gazed at Rio thoughtfully, they were a good friend and maybe a better person. Winston paused for a moment and nodded. “I get it, we all have to pull our weight if this is going to work.” They shrugged gently and shook their head. “I know it looks like I’m super unfit but I’m also slightly asthmatic which makes exercise … interesting, so, you know I try and work out, but yeah, it would probably be a good idea to do it more…”

Orion still had doubts, for sure. He was skeptical that there was any chance he could convince the hunters that things could change. But he knew hunters that had already started to doubt the way of life. Maybe it wasn’t as far off as Rio thought it was. “It sounds really cheesy right? But whatever. Someone has to do it, I guess.” He wanted to stay positive for Winston and for Blanche and others that actually wanted the change. “I don’t think you look unfit” Rio mumbled, hoping that didn’t sound weird to say to them. “But uh- swimming! We could try swimming? Swimming is specifically recommended to those who have asthma. Sometimes chlorinated swimming pools can though so we would want to be careful with that.” Rio trailed off, thinking of places that they could try out. “I guess the ocean, but the place doesn’t seem like the safest right now.”

“I’m sure we can think of something, but usually I’m fine around pools. Besides it’s not like I’m going to die of an asthma attack any day now, it’s just something I have to manage. Usually it’s not even a huge problem at all, but yeah, it would be cool to do something like that with you.” Winston smiled gently and nodded, swimming was something that they could manage. Although the last time that they had been in water it hadn’t ended well, they were sure that wasn’t going to happen everytime.

#p: orion #wickedswriting #para #chatzy para #chatzy

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fortheheavenssake · 5 years

Text

💜💜 PG MM Anon 💜💜 Interpretation Collection - 2

Anon said:

You go PG!!! 😊😊😊🌸🌸🌹🐼🐼🐝🐝👍👍👍💖💖💖🌻🌻🌼🌼🌼😊😊😍😍💜💜🌹🌹🌹🌺🌺🌺💙💙💙🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌹🌹🌹❤❤❤👍👍👍👍 Violets 🌼

Anon said:

💗🌲🌞😺 hi Skippy this is for PG and JG 🏡🌲🥰🥰🧚‍♀️👑👑🐱🐰🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🐥🌺🌹🌼🌸💐🐿

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13.

💜💜💜💜PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON💜💜💜💜💜

MM Anon

MM ANON… Hope SPRINGS eternal. “ you’ve brought SHAM-E upon this house”. SussexRoyal,one potato two potato…… (Amazing grace,how sweet… ). A Fall in the fall ? But…but, I still have friends!! “ grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel”. The deal was…NO DEAL !!!! “Ladies”do NOT … BBQ. 🎼 ‘Put it in the family …album 🎼

Hope SPRINGS eternal.

Besides the obvious mean of , there is always hope, this has a possible second meaning as SPRINGS is capitalized. Knowing our MM ANON , that was done for meaning. In fact, SPRINGS is a city in S Transvaal, in the E Republic of South Africa, E of Johannesburg. Does this mean South Africa is still a possibility?

You’ve brought SHAM-E to this house.

Sham is something that is not what it is purported to be. Shame is embarrassment, at the least. The House, is the House of Windsor.

Sussex Royal, one potato two potato.

Supposed foundation collecting money for supposed charities. One potato is a children’s counting game. Is the foundation treatment of donors childlike, ie that phrase like taking candy from s baby?

(Amazing grace, how sweet…)

It’s in brackets, the old hymn, a wretched soul saved by God’s love and expressing gratitude for same. Is this our Harry , reaching out??

A Fall in the fall….but l still have friends!!

Things are near bubbling over, might things snap in the fall. Fall is capitalized so it’s important. She is still threatening with having friends!!

“grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steal” as said earlier another Shakespearean reference from our beloved MM ANON . Hold your trusted friends close. Harry still close with friends even though not appearing so publicly? Pure supposition on my part. The phrase holds your friends close and your enemies closer.

The deal was ..NO DEAL,!

She was offered a financial settlement before the wedding, allegedly, first accepted, than changed mind at the last minute and went through with the wedding. Allegedly she was told if she didn’t take the offer THERE WOULD BE NO FURTHER DEALS, Also play of words on her suitcases tv career game show.

Ladies do NOT….BBQ . Reference to her trashy bbq burger tv commercial. Also long list of things allegedly done, that ladies, real ladies ala our Catherine, do NOT DO!!

🎼 put it in the family…album🎼

Is this reference to photos to put in the family photo album? I am not absolutely certain of that due to the musical notes. So it’s musical album, is this used perjoratively? Or do the royals like karaoke? Either way it’s musical related.

That’s my best go at it , not the best day but that’s me.

💜💜🐼🐼💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜🐼🐼💜💜

Great job PG!!!!! I so appreciate you doing this, as I know how difficult it can be for you, so thank you so much!🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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27 notes

Jul 18th, 2019

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14.

PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON

💜💜💜💜💜💜THANK YOU NANNY ANON, I HOPE YOUR SKIN IS GORGEOUS 💜💜💜💜💜

💜💜💜💜💜💜👋🐼💜🙏🏻🐼💜💜

MM ANON,

Blood diamonds and a immaculate conception. The Three wise men- in grey suits. Gold, Frank-incensed and mur-der?… Sussex Royals ‘ boiled or Roasted. A royal tape-worm. Shrouded in mustique …… Sunset bully-vard. “We’re gonna need a bigger wall”. 🎼” ain’t no cure for the summertime blues “ 🎼

Blood diamonds and a (an) immaculate conception.

Blood diamonds are illegally sourced, literally via the blood/back breaking work of locals. Is this to suggest her diamonds are blood /illegally smuggled? Immaculate conception, is she faking yet another pregnancy? Everything is so sleazy, it’s really hard for my head to wrap around it all!

The Three wise men -in grey suits. Gold, Frank-incensed and mur-dear?

Obvious Christmas carols. Men in grey suits LG and his team, incensed at what they have learned , they are still investigating, is there mur-der in the past?? The island is still in play…..LOTS of wicked wicked things to be revealed and big names. We keep hearing warnings from the government legal teams ie SDNY, preparing the public for the horrors.

Sussex royals…boiled or roasted…🤣

Obvious reference to the 🥔 potato. Deeper meaning perhaps boiled/roasted may mean legal troubles.

A royal tape-worm

I hate referencing her as royal but as a tape worms does inside it’s hose, it uses and takes anything and everything the host needs to survive. We have seen that in spades, ESPECIALLY with a Harry, he looks on the edge. I know many disagree but he is our Harry, we have loved him since before he was born.

Shrouded in mustique …..sunset bully-vard

Shrouded in mystery, lots of the past years unknown. Mustique, is also an island in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Sunset Boulevard is an old movie about a haggard ageing actress trying desperately to make a comeback, the line “ I’m ready for my close-up Mr.DeMille” hilarious was made fun of by Carol Burnett on her tv show. I believe this means she is still trying to bully and get her way, using PR, Harry was missing 48 hours oh me , oh my, AS IF!!!

“We’re gonna need a bigger wall” a twist on the Jaws reference MM ANON made in an earlier riddle. They needing to do more to contain her, maybe also her access to media and PR teams.

🎼ain’t no cure for the summertime blues🎼

Is this meaning things won’t be wrapped up in summer, the above use of two Christmas carols also suggests patience, patience and more patience!

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦💜💜💜💜💜

Thank you PG! I know how you struggled to do this! Great job!🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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43 notes

Jul 19th, 2019

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MM Anon -PG

MM ANON ……… many thanks to PG for her excellent an succinct interpretation of the riddle. Kind regards and gentle prayers 💜💜💜💜💜💜

Thank you…..😁❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

23 notes

Jul 19th, 2019

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💜💜💜💜💜 I AM SO HONOURED!!!!💜💜💜💜💜

💜💜💜MY DEAR MM ANON, my deepest and most sincere thank you, for your kind words and wishes. God bless you richly.💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

GSTQAOBC 💜

I think you are quite popular here my friend!😁💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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19 notes

Jul 19th, 2019

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15.

PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜SORRY THIS IS SO LATE💜💜💜💜💜

MM Anon

MM ANON …… Fab 4 2.0. It’s not rocket science. Northern parlour games will be a welcome distraction. The odds are in his Flavour. She can hide, but she can’t run. “Thank goodness it’s My little helpers. An unwelcome birthday present. (How old!!!!!!!!)………” its Carmen Miranda. “ Tomorrow is another daydream.”

Fab 4 2.0 It’s not rocket science.

Perhaps Catherine may be pregnant, two things give me pause though, with all her pregnancies she has suffered very severe hyperemesis gravidarum, so perhaps the fourth times the charm? Second is the trip to Asia, Afghanistan they are taking, high risk stressful trip. However, Catherine is not one to let much stop her. It’s not rocket science may be reference to the ‘ normal’ way to get pregnant and appear while pregnant versus the 10 month long tummy clutching horror show we all endured for a non pregnant pregnancy. Pardon my grammar.

Northern parlour games will be a welcome distraction.the odds are in his Flavour.

Reference to Balmoral, time spent there to relax and be together as a family. We know the Royals like goofy silly games, Christmas gifts etc, so do we all😁. Parlour makes me think of ice cream and odds being in his, l take to be Harry, Flavours, things will be in his favour in the media as more comes out.

She can hide, but she can’t run.

She likely has no passport in her possession, she may try and hide but she is under 24/7/365 supervision by LG and the men in grey suits, she is running nowhere, except a treadmill, not to be mean, but l doubt that too.

Thank goodness it’s my little helpers.

I want to go nice here, if indeed Catherine is pregnant l often hear expecting or new mums say that to the other children to include them and feel special.

An unwelcome birthday present…..

Her real age will be revealed with the avalanche of media….it’s going to get real for her. Or she will stay forever in her own narcissistic world.

It’s Carmen Miranda..l loved her in the old musicals..there are a couple of ways this fits, her fruit hat ie banana reference for the instagram pic mm posted of the two bananas and her writings to sex workers on bananas, she was thinking how nice it would have been to get one sent to her in her yachting days. The other way is the age…..l am not convinced l am correct on either.

Tomorrow is another daydream.

She will continue in her narcissistic way of thinking and behaving, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace. A man struts and frets his hour upon the stage…sorry, l digressed to Shakespeare, l know MM ANON loves Shakespeare!

THANK YOU everyone for all my mentions and suggestions, love you for it. I just a few weeks ago got fibre optic tv, l get so many channels now, and finally can watch the shopping channel!! I love my new Korres wrinkle creams and oils!! No joke. Also has a PVR, on demand, hbo, crave, music stations etc etc.

Thank you to all who post animals, historical items and anything Royal especially the royal jewelry. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

💜💜🐼💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🐼🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Thank you so much! Lovely post! God Bless you dear PG!🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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19 notes

Jul 21st, 2019

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16.

PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON

MM Anon

MM ANON … sympathy for a milked visit to Di for. … A troop amend awaits … they txt each other …… PR or BS,go figure ……… A “tell ALL” in the PIPE’ Oh No!!!…… “this conversation will be taped for TRAINing purposes “ …… LIE- DOWN and take a nest………The Mouse-TRAP will run and RUN. ……How many sugars to screw in a LIGHTbulb.

THANK YOU MM ANON, I hope you’re well😊🙏🏻💜

Sympathy milked visit to Di for

Lovely photos of Prince Harry today visiting hospital patients, so like his mother, just naturally loving

A troop amend awaits,

Is something in the work for Harry going to Lion King instead of attend the memorial of the 30th anniversary of the IRA attack, perhaps another memorial, late but will he be forgiven?

They text each other…

Is this Harry and Chelsea, mm and ma ???

PR or BS..go figure

All the stuff in the papers, her PR is going fast and furious and yes all BS! Figure, is this the rumour about her working a deal with weight watchers? I could be way off!

A TELL all in the PIPE..oh No!!!

Rumours of a tell all book, and also the book that is readying for release in the U.S. we have seen articles here about that..PIPE, crack pipe????

Conversation taped for TRAINing purposes…

First out was the totally unusual overnight on the train with the Queen..was she recorded on the phone?? Ooo HM and LG BRILLIANT!!

LIE-DOWN and take a rest…

Continued lies, PR LIES, we all need a break from it

The mouse TRAP will run and RUN

she is caught in the trap, is she going to try and do a runner? impossible l doubt she has a passport but she is resourceful if nothing else! Constantly seeking PR and attention, running the hamster wheel every day

How many sugars to screw in a LIGHT bulb?

We have seen sugars realizing the lies , panicking. What will they do today with the paper saying Archie born in March….sugars are abandoning ship, but hard core remain……

That’s my best

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦💜💜💜🙏🏻💜

Prayers for you dearest MM ANON

Thank you so much PG! Excellent!😁💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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36 notes

Jul 25th, 2019

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17.

💜💜PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON 💜💜

MM Anon

MM ANON,… HOW OLD !!! … Forty something?Bal-moral birthday. …… 38,a-Gain … Broadsheet birthday?Sunday subversion. … who will blink?… Ageing elbows! Photos please …TPTB pouring concrete down the rabbit hole …online blogs followed with fervour … Lamestream media GAG on evidence. …Eps-And sulks won’t get parole. …🎼 “in a rich mans world “🎼

HOW OLD!!! Forty something/ Balmoral birthday….38 a-again

Whew have talked about, what is her real age? Sounds like she will be at Balmoral for 38 th birthday all over again, like Groundhog Day !

Broadsheet birthday?Sunday subversion…who will blink

Will the Sunday papers reveal her real age or articles about that. Who is gonna pull the pin and throw the grenade, metaphorically and public the real truths they have been sitting on FOREVER,?Subversion (Latin subvertere: overthrow) refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed, in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. We have seen any sense of Royal protocols norms, even social functioning at a decent persons level non-existent, narcissism extraordinaire! Me Me Me-gain.

Ageing elbows, photos please, we all saw and read and some commented, especially photos from behind at Wimbledon how old her elbows looked😮😲

TPTB pouring concrete down a rabbit hole..why, what are they burying or further covering permanently….curiouser and curiouser🤔

What are they blocking, covering up?? This is curious, protecting someone . PA??

Online blogs followed with fervour..

Mm following blogs with fervour, might this be the KP team also doing so?

Lame stream media GAG on evidence..

Lame versus main, lame as in not being able to do their job because they’re lame, or lame as in a joke being lame, l think it’s the first. GAG is obvious something oral, and the media gags watching it as perhaps the person in photos or video is gagging 🤮🤢

EPS-n-sulks won’t get parole…

JE will not get parole, is she sulks? Because she does sulk! A LOT!

Song lyrics, rich mans world

Hip hop star Immortal Technique, l encourage you all to google and read the lyrics, they are bang on how the upper crust gets away with everything, look up the lyrics!!!

THANK YOU MM ANON💜💜🙏🏻💜💜👋💜💜😊💜💜🇨🇦💜💜

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Thank you PG! Looks good!😁💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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20 notes

Jul 26th, 2019

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18.

MM ANON SHAKESPEARE

I think what happened is outrageous, Cawdor or any family place of that historically significance should remain with blood family.

My take on why MM ANON uses Shakespeare, 1), she obviously loves it, l remain firm she is a professor of literature or English studies, that’s just my supposition, based on her submissions and vast knowledge. 2) There are no dramas or tragedies like Shakespeare, also involving royalty. Revenge, adultery, murder, ghosts, wars, etc it’s all a version of what we have seen unfold before our eyes in the last few years, since the day of mourners when she who shall not be named wore a white dress.

Shakespeare just lends itself to tragedy. There are so many quotes etc that fit in so well.

JIMHO💜

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

💜💜🐼💜💜🙏🏻😊💜💜👋💜💜💜💜💜

Interesting ….makes sense to me…thank you😁💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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9 notes

Jul 26th, 2019

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19.

💜💜PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON 💜💜

THANK YOU MM ANON 💜💜🙏🏻😊👋💜

MM ANON, … delusional acceptance of a VB co-edit.… “I’m worried about spiralling “… “ she needs help grandma”… not very straight’ that jacket … but, there’s no more rope left. … “good morning LG, we need to talk “… the hidden pre-nup.… “Down and out in Scotland and L.A. “. “Don’t argue darling , just shoot the messenger “ … Very interesting intelligence’ thank you M.

Delusional acceptance of the September Vogue Book, as it’s their largest issue. Somehow she got her way again, absolutely delusional thinking, she is editing co-, this issue. She is now the official dictator to the fashion ‘bible’ , no blasphemy intended.

Spiralling, needs help, no more ropes…

Her mental state is drastically spiralling downward, due to substance use, illness or both, she does need help legal and medical. The BRF have watched her cause damage to herself. She has defied kicking and screaming, disrupting from seas to sea.

Good morning LG, we need to talk,

I suspect HM is done and dusted with her, enough is enough! And called LG to say it’s time to pull the plug on this horror show.

Hidden pre-nup 😮very interesting,

First l have heard of that, maybe that’s what they were signing after that ceremony when Harry held the book so camera couldn’t see it. Hooray for hidden pre-nup!

Down and out in Scotland and L.A.

She has absolutely no where to go, no one to turn to……it’s finished

Don’t argue darling, just shoot the messenger.

I know what shoot the messenger, blame the bringer of bad for the bad news itself. No arguments now, but not sure who darling is, perhaps PP to HM?

Very interesting intelligence, thank you M,

LG thanking HM for making the final decision and he will carry out her orders. Yippitty doooo bring it on,

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

I think you hit it spot on….MM Anon…what do you think? Thank you PG!😁💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Ask Skippy submission

53 notes

Jul 30th, 2019

:::::::::::::::::

PG Anon you have mail!😁💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

MM ANON … nice one PG. 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

12 notes

Jul 30th, 2019

::::::::::::::::

💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜😊👋💜💜🐼💜💜💜💜💜

💜💜THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART 💜💜

Thank you for all the loving comments directed my way, it’s so very much appreciated!👋😊

I try and live my Christian Faith without being pushy, if l ever am, please tell me. I think God and Jesus’ words in Scripture are guidelines, encouragements, love, hope as well as reminding us we live in a spiritual realm, and evil is insidious and the vile pedophelia, sorry my spelling, that word is not on auto correct! Anyhow, l do feel Scripture, reading it and memorizing it helps me a great deal AND arms us against evil. I have had many medical tests etc, MRI’S are not fun, Psalm 121 got me through that, l don’t know how many of them l have had but, Scripture helps me. When l read that you were benefiting from it, my heart just sings😊. Due to being home bound, my opportunities to share faith are not what they used to be. God has continually amazed me. GOD BLESS EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU💜🙏🏻😊👋💜🐼💜🐼💜💜🐼💜💜🐼

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Lots of love and prayers for our Royal family and especially HMTQ.

🐼, lots of 💜🙏🏻👋😊💜 for all you do for us. I am so very blessed to have found this wonderful place.

Sweet dreams everyone 💤😴. Till the ‘morrow.💜💜💜💜💜

Thank you so much! You are our treasure! God Bless, and happy dreams🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Ask Skippy submission

15 notes

Jul 31st, 2019

——————-

20.

💜💜PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON💜💜

MM ANON …Negative In Positano !!…TWO ? OUCH!! a sanctimonious prick!!… defending the indefensible… racist!! Sorry’ I was unconscious … the conscious distain of a nation… useless damage control ……… try backpedaling uphill … I’m on planet privilege’ you’re not… middle England turns on a minor irritation. …Granny is VERY upset. … exiles in there own lunchtime … “Cha’Cha’Cha’Changes”… “Graves at my command have waked their sleepers

Negative in Positano…

Catherine and William were NOT at the celeb ‘woke’ environment saving, jet flying celeb meetings in Italy as has been rumoured by hmmmm whose PR?

TWO? Ouch a sanctimonious prick

Harry in his interview with Dr. Jane Goodall, in the Vogue edited, well, co-edited by mm, says no more than TWO children is responsible thing to do for the world and environment, slamming his brothers family and he comes off as a sanctimonious p****.

Defending the indefensible, racist…..

Huge backlash to this interview, did he really say the things about racism being unconscious😮, oops subconscious or was he edited? Either way, gasoline thrown on a fire, raging out of control now..

Conscious distain of a nation, backpedaling uphill, useless damage control, l’m on planet privilege you’re not

The unmitigated nerve, do as l say, not as l do, l am woke, you’re all ‘subconsciously’ racist…..there is no recovery from this, Harry, dear Harry if you actually said these things, l don’t see a way back to being beloved as you were, killing me to say this, but is she edited it, either way, there is no unringing this bell and the damage it’s doing and how angry people are!

Middle England turns,

As above, oh the people are just a minor irritation, we are on planet privilege, we CAN DO ANYTHING WE WANT,,

Granny is VERY upset, exiles in their own lunchtime, cha cha changes,

HMTQ is VERY upset. They have been exiled to meals alone, if at Balmoral. Changes, big changes are forthcoming. The purse strings may be cut off now that separated from CH. That might happen quicker than first thought. We know she lives, eats breaths $$$$$££££££€€€€€€€ and PR , PR COSTS A LOT OF MONEY!

Graves at my command have wakened their sleepers.

HM has given the official go ahead for all the silence to be broken, all the truths that had been buried and laid silent are going to explode in the media, Hang on, it’s going to be a very bumpy ride!

GSTQAOBC 💜

THANK YOU MM ANON

Excellent! Thank you so much PG!😁💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Ask Skippy submission

87 notes

Jul 31st, 2019

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PG you have mail from MM Anon

MM ANON…… 💜💜💜💜 WOW , PG You’re quickly becoming the new emsi247. Thank you for your de-coding …… Bletchley Park awaits 😉😉😉 ‘ quick break out the wrinkle cream. 🤣🤣🤣

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

32 notes

Jul 31st, 2019

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💜💜THANK YOU MM ANON💜💜

It has been awhile since my critical thinking and knowledge have been put to the test, given my health issues. It is so nice to use that part of my brain! No joking! I am honoured to even be mentioned in the likes of emsi. Thank you.💜🙏🏻😊👋💜 GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Wonderful PG!😁💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

———————-

23 notes · View notes

soft-gay-stuff · 5 years

Text

The Delayed Train - a short story

(So I did some writing which I don’t usually do and decided to share it)

“Late, late again,” I mutter, “why is it always me?”

Impatiently, I check my watch again; only 10 seconds had passed, why does time move so slowly when you are waiting for something? It is like when you order something you immediately sit and wait for it to arrive, even though Amazon tells you it won’t arrive until the next day by 9pm. The public transport system is so unreliable; the Government tells you “use public transport it is better for the planet,” but would my car take this long? No, it would not.

The station is becoming more and more packed and more and more impatient. Little children are tugging at their mother’s sleeves whining “I’m bored mummy” repeatedly and then the mother just shoves a fun peppa pig video in front of them to shut them up. I’m not saying it is good to use technology as a parent, but honestly it is better then shouting children. The businessman next to me is drumming his finger and thumb against his briefcase. My intrusive thoughts want to scream shut up. He is also far too close next me, my personal bubble feels threatened by any person within ten feet of me, let alone some preppy businessman who is now starting to irritatingly drum his leg, which keeps brushing next to mine whenever he moves it. It is common human nature that people have no respect for other people, everyone is so self-centred and self-absorbed these days; no one takes a seconds to breathe in and notice that there is a world around them.

An announcement echoes round the station: TRAIN TO MANCHESTER DELAYED BY THIRTY MINUTES. I, much like everyone else, lets out an audible, annoyed sigh. Since I am going to be here a while I pull out a book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a classic that I can always read when I am in need of some light-hearted entertainment. 5 pages in and I just cannot focus with the sheer noise of the station, I put Harry back in his cupboard under the stairs - aka my bag - and go on my phone. “Five unread messages,” - oops I better reply; three of them are from Virgin Media who honestly text me more than my own friends; one is from my mum, asking some random technology related question, I swear she does not know that Google exists and the final one is from my Girlfriend. “Have you got your train yet?” she asks, she is so thoughtful and loves to make sure I am okay. I reply with a simple “no” followed by a frowny face made up from a semicolon and bracket as they are way better than doing an actual emoji like I am a twelve year old. For the record, I am not a twelve year old; I may look it as I blessed with a baby face, but no I am actually sixteen and I don’t want to ever be twelve again.

I look over at the person next to me, it is a boy, probably a similar age to me, who is doodling. On his page there is about five small, cute, little drawings of dogs in all shapes and sizes; he is concentrating very hard on doing the sixth. He pauses and looks up at me and gives me a smirk.

“They are really good,” I say and I actually mean it despite the tone of sarcasm I seem to always air.

“Thanks, I always doodle to pass the time,” he replies. I finally properly look at his face, he has tan skin and chocolate brown eyes that perfectly match his hair, which is small curls that lay on his head. He also has thick rimmed glasses which give him a dorky approachable look.

“I’m Ben by the way,” he says.

“Oh I am Ella, but everyone calls me El,” I look at his jacket he has a small little pride pin. “Oh my god I love your pin,” I blurt out suddenly before I can stop myself.

He looks slightly taken aback, almost as if he wasn’t expecting some random stranger to yell that they love his badge, but is beaming and chuckles, “Thanks I just got it from Primark.”

“I really need to get a pride badge but my local small town is as straight as possible apart from me and my Girlfriend there is literally no one else,” I laugh.

He laughs back, “I completely get it, I have definitely been there.”

We both sit and laugh, I feel so taken by shock that I have found what feels like a new friend of all places as waiting for a train.

#writing #write #story #short story #author #lgbt #gay #lesbian #pride month #pride #wlw #girlfriend #wholesome #couple #relationship #wholesome meme #gay wholesome #rainbow #dog #dogs

39 notes · View notes

elk-and-thearchivist · 5 years

Text

Rules

Read before interacting!

Other Info Links: Info Masterpost | Characters | Tags | Verses

Asks: Open RP: Selective

See Ask Memes for active ask memes.

I’m 18+, but I Do Not Like NSFW things. Violence is alright, that can be pretty fun. I generally try to stick to the wholesome angst and feels side.

Asks

If you would like to send an ask, you can do so as a random ask, a character, or anonymously if you like. I will try to answer every one with artwork.

If you send an ask as an anon regarding your OCs, please include your blog handle so I can find references! I’ll let it slide if you’re 100% sure I know you though fjghdf

If you want to ask me, Auspice, specifically, a question - whether about worldbuilding or whatever strikes your fancy, please surround it in square brackets like so: [Hi I have a question]. Or if you say “For Auspice” or something, just so I know. I may or may not answer these types with art.

I’ll answer asks of the same type in the order they were asked, barring a few exceptions - if there’s a certain event/meme I might move second/multi-time askers to the end of the line, and if there’s something I can answer very quickly (probably asks with little art involved) I’ll probably do those earlier.

If any of you want to request art from asks and stuff without text, or if it’s in a gif or video and you want something in HD, feel free to send in a request in the askbox! If there’s a specific frame you want, please specify. For ones with a lot of similar frames, if you don’t, I’ll just choose the most unique ones.

In brief: talk to me if you want to make a story. Spontaneity makes me nervous a lot, especially if I don’t know much about you.

I’ll try to respond within a few days for text, and a week or so for drawings.

Story RP

There are various kinds of RP I might do. The most enjoyable for me is what I call “story RP”, in which we discuss things in advance and separate things into scenes, or chapters, and then post each one accompanied with art. Preferably, we’d trade off doing art for chapters or just collab each one. Another level is re-writing and streamlining the chapter to post on AO3, to read like an actual story. Also, Discord is the most optimal medium for this, for organization purposes.

Before we begin to RP, we must discuss expectations. How long we should each expect the other to respond, before offering a reminder or something. I will try to respond within one to three days or so, but it’s fine if you do not, as long as I know what to expect.

In terms of style, I can vary between short, rapid responses or longer passages. It all depends on what flows best in my mind.

Examples: - Chiaroscuro - The (Mis)Adventures of Two Children and an Irresponsible Chaperone

Drawing RP

Usually, this is rather spontaneous. Perhaps if I sent in an ask and that set off a chain of replies. If I’m not feeling up to one, I will inform you before we go too far into it.

I will confirm with you before doing so, but I have a system of organization: I make a new post, with your most recent reply on the top and my addition at the bottom. That way, content is only added to my blog once. You can do as you wish - same as me, or just reply as usual.

For these, I will try to reply within a week or two.

Examples: - The Enthusiasts - Long Time No See (Dead)

Other

Co-Writing: Not exactly RP, but I like the idea of discussing and writing a pre-planned story. Possibly accompanied with art. Contained and efficient!

Groups: I find groups hard to manage, so I prefer not to. Co-writing in groups may be acceptable, though.

Unplanned / Less organized Text RP: I don’t get much fulfillment from them, so I’d also rather not. And the lack of organization makes me nervous!

Brief RP: Say, responding to an ask or art with art or dialogue of my own. I’m totally fine with that, since there’s little commitment attached.

#information #op

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full-course-identity · 5 years

Text

Overview

Queere Theory: a deeper look at Jeremy Heere, by Sebastian Sabra Thomas

Anxious teenager. Main character. Chronic masturbator. All of these may be used to describe Jeremy Heere at quick glance, in and out of both canon and fanon alike. However, I believe no flippant descriptors can adequately describe his hidden potential lying just underneath the surface.

This is part 1 of a multi-part meta essay wherein I make my case for Jeremy Heere’s character. Links are added to text in [brackets]. Per Tumblr’s broken spam filtration however, I will be removed links and content warnings from any versions of these posts in the tag, and censoring any words I think might be flagged (unfortunately). For the complete version of part 1, please see /post/183607694271/overview on my blog, or /works/18187976/chapters/43020944 on AO3.

This is my first meta, as well as my first essay since… shit, high school. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

For closing on a year now, I’ve been consuming from, and occasionally participating in, the Be More Chill fandom. Still rocky on its feet after the initial Boom of Summer 2017, but steadily gaining traction with the Off (and now On) Broadway performances, BMC is coming to terms with it’s own fanon identity as common characterizations grow more locked in by the day.

As the months go by and I fall deeper in love with this series, I’ve been slowly tracking down abandoned or underappreciated content in my usual stomping grounds (excessive angst and unpopular pairings), solidifying my own thoughts and opinions as a creator first and a fan second. In some ways, I’ve come to similar conclusions as the rest of the fandom. In others, I stand alone.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I’d like to try and make a case for what I’ve come to think of Jeremy, or Jeremiah, Heere, both for my own benefit and as an attempt to persuade others to my side for various, admittedly selfish (but c’mon, would I be writing this if it wasn’t?) reasons. I would deeply appreciate it if you’d come along on this metatextual journey with me to places far and wide inside Jeremy’s subconscious. Do you hear that? That’s the sound of Pure Imagination played over wet slapping noises and the occasional electrotorture flashback!

Anyway.

This essay will be broken down into 7 Parts (links to be added as they’re completed):

[The Overview (that’s this one!)],

[Characterization],

[Mental Health],

[Interpersonal Relationships],

[His Family],

[The Squip], and

[Final Thoughts and Recommendations]

To start with, Characterization will be loosely split two ways: personality, and appearance. This will overlap with the other parts of course, but you should have a solid understanding of the foundation from which I carve details like ‘neurodivergency’ and ‘familial bonds’ from by the end of it. Jeremy Heere may look like an Enigma along a Fault line, but really, he’s a vulnerable kid who’s gone through some intense trauma--whether in canon, fanon, or my own funky concoction of both.

He’s also insanely pretty. Don’t worry, I’ll be reminding you of that a lot.

Mental Health covers MI Disorders like PTSD (which, yes, I do believe Jeremy has), and Neurodivergent behaviors like his autistic symptoms (I don’t generally consider him autistic, but it’s not a hard sell, and I’ll try to go over it either directly in the post or through a follow-up some other time). It’ll also be going over his traumas, both in canon and my headcanon. Heads up: I am mentally ill and neurodivergent, including professionally diagnosed PTSD, among other fun things. I have strong symptoms and trauma which, yeah, I sometimes see in Jeremy. I will be going over how these personal experiences color my perception.

Interpersonal relationships will discuss his friends and romantic prospects--as well as his se-xuality as a whole. From his identity as queer(e) and bise-xual, to his thoughts on being Achellian, to his kinks and latent polyamory and desired hook up habits. Also, all of his identities here reflect ones similar to mine, but with a few important distinctions.

(Speaking of Queerness, across all of these posts, as I feel it’s necessary, I’ll be making a point to talk about the differences between cis boy Jeremy, trans boy Jeremy, and brief thoughts on how I could see a trans femme narrative as well.)

I’ll be using the Family part as a follow up for, and a further exploration of, the specific trauma he’s sustained from his Mother and her abandonment, and how his dad (bless his heart) is 100% canonically neglectful. I truly believe Jeremy has all the hallmarks of an abused kid.

… The Squip will be an interesting topic. If you’re opposed to Squipemy, feel free to skip it, although I will try to segregate the shipping half from the platonic half.

Finally, for the Wrap Up post, I will be writing down my final conclusions and then going over fan content that inspires me and tweaks my perception in ways large and small. For example, I’m always consuming animatics in some form; one great artist is the famous [Cla Comics], who provides a good base for mannerisms and overt humor, though, by nature, her content is on the lighter end of the spectrum then what I’m usually wallowing in. Other artists, like [PINE TRE3] and [Torpedomyass], have both provided some nice angst, and fit right in line with my general taste in aesthetics. It’s not just those three either of course, and I’ll also be doing the same for fanfic, too.

(… in fact, and I consistently sing this to the Heavens whenever I have the chance, but uh, do yourself a favor and read anything written by [Vanceypants]. Vancey is not only my best friend, they’re my longest running collaborator, my biggest fan, and my other muse. They also far surpass my writing, and Smoke Signals, a Rich Goranski origin story, is a fuhcking masterpiece.)

Okay, gushing about content aside, I do truly appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my rambling, and I hope to keep you both interested and engaged from start to finish. All I truly want is for the world to understand just how lovely Jeremiah “Furry Enthusiast and Slowly Burning Anxiety Attack” Queere really is.

Thank you!

#be more chill #bmc #jeremy heere #jeremiah heere #jeremy queere

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welllpthisishappening · 6 years

Text

A Touch of (March) Madness (1/2)

Emma can't quite remember how it started or why it happened, just that it did and she wants to win. Desperately. To prove something. Probably.

Or just to beat Killian. Either or. It doesn't matter.

She's picked her teams and her upsets and she's got a string of trash talk ready for any potential on-court situation. They're not playing the game, but they're playing a game and this one might change everything.

Rating: Teen’ish. Trash talking requires swearing. Word Count: 9.1K HA. AN: I owe @laurnorder my fic-writing soul, so when she texted me a couple weeks ago and was like...”It’s March, I think you should write basketball fic,” I was like...ok. And because I cannot rationalize Killian Jones playing basketball unless he’s some kind of JJ Reddick-type asshole, here are a lot of words about over-competitive friends and brackets and (maybe my very specific, personal) college basketball opinions. I will be honest and tell you guys this is definitely the most sports niche’y thing I have written and you probably need a general working knowledge of what the NCAA Tournament is, but there’s banter and eventual makeouts because of who I am as a person. Thank you, as always, to @distant-rose & @katie-dub for being endless sources of support and general fantastic’ness. Also on Ao3 if that’s how you roll.

Selection Sunday

“Can you just pick?”

“No.” “No? Did you tell me that you can’t pick? Are you physically incapable of making your picks then? Because that would almost explain some of your choices last year.” Killian doesn’t lift his head up, keeping his eyes trained on the small stack of papers in front of him and Emma cannot sigh loudly enough. His lips twitch slightly.

“This is not that hard,” she says and it’s hardly the first time she’s told him that, but it doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference and it’s nearly eleven o’clock at night.

“You say that like you’ve got a title to defend, Swan,” Killian mutters. “This is a tried and true system with several minutes of actual research put into it and long-standing biases that have helped shape the sport for what it is.” “Overflowing with controversy?” Emma asks glibly, jumping onto the edge of the counter and kicking out towards him. “Deception? Disgrace?” “You’re trying to goad me into quoting something, it’s not going to work.”

She sighs, but she absolutely was and his pen sounds impossibly loud in the otherwise relative silence of the apartment. Mary Margaret fell asleep hours ago.

“That’s stupid,” Emma grumbles, drawing a quiet laugh out of Killian and she probably should have left already. She’s not sure why she hasn’t. Well, no, that’s a lie, but her apartment is far enough uptown that it’s probably better if she takes an Uber and she’s fairly certain they’re doing construction on the 2-train anyway.

Killian will probably make her take an Uber.

David’s probably got it on speed dial already.

“You really haven’t picked yet?” Emma continues and Killian shakes his head slowly, eyes darting up and she’s glad she’s already sitting down. “That’s also stupid. What’s your system, then?” “Excuse me?” “You said you had a tried and true system, explain it then, o ye master of competition.” Killian smirks, one eyebrow pulled dangerously high and Emma knows she’s not going to get an answer. “You know, I’m starting to think your compliments are ringing a little hollow there, Swan. I’ll admit that’s disappointing, but, again, I’ve got a title to defend and I’ll probably feel a lot better when I beat you all this year. Again. As per usual.”

He tugs a different pen from behind his ear – Emma dimly remembers something about color coding and possible upsets getting a different ink, but she’s fairly certain that it’s all conjecture just to annoy her. His tongue is pressed into the corner of his mouth and it’s as infuriating as it is distracting because he’s absolutely right.

They’ve been at it for what has felt like actual days, crowding, as tradition dictates, onto the couch in Mary Margaret and David’s apartment for the selection show

And, as tradition dictates, they complain about every single seed and the pros and cons of Syracuse making it again – ”They finished tenth in the ACC, that’s just insulting to the rest of the field. “We know, David.” “What even is an Orange? That’s a fruit. That’s not a mascot. That’s not intimidating me at all.” We know, David.” “If I were Mt. St. Mary’s, I’d sue.” “We know, David.” – and eat a questionable amount of Indian food from the place that is, technically, closer to Killian’s apartment, but he knows their orders by heart now and he got Emma an extra samosa, so she’s not ever going to complain.

Unless it’s about how goddamn long it’s taking him to fill out his bracket.

It’s March and there’s still, somehow, snow on the ground in New York, but Emma’s just brought in some perp she’d been trailing for the last month and she’s got the next week off. It is, officially, the most wonderful time of the year.

And she can’t even really remember how it all started.

Technically, it probably started when she landed in the Nolan house several decades before, a vaguely jaded orphan no one had ever really wanted until Ruth Nolan did and decided, quite quickly, to give Emma the world.

And a brother she didn’t ask for.

Emma and David didn’t get along at first. They argued and bickered and they were the same age and he had that annoying, incredibly nice friend who lived down the street in Storybrooke who, at one point, Emma was convinced could talk to birds.

Emma was a frustrated, bitter eleven-year-old and the new girl again and Storybrooke, as far as she was concerned, was the absolutely worst. Until she tried to run away – and Mary Margaret found her.

It was Mary Margaret’s birthday and Emma couldn’t stomach the idea of another party and another town event at Granny’s and she slipped out the backdoor and...couldn’t get any farther. Mary Margaret showed up, exactly, twenty-seven minutes later to find Emma huddled in the corner of the alley, shoulders shaking and disappointment looming over her like a storm cloud and she did the single most Mary Margaret thing that Mary Margaret had ever done.

She hugged her.

And then went to bring her a slice of ice cream cake.

It got better after that.

Mary Margaret kept smiling and, presumably, talking to birds and Emma stopped picking fights with David just because he was there.

They were some kind of three-headed monster – never more than a few feet apart and speaking in blinks and tilts of heads when they had to and no one was surprised to discover that all three of them applied to the same school.

Xavier.

Naturally. They were already like the three musketeers.

And it was good and great and a slew of other adjectives for three musketeers who’d never really experienced the world, until David got assigned a new roommate second semester freshman year and Emma Swan hated Killian Jones with a passion strong enough to rival several suns.

He hated her right back.

Loudly. With a string of curses that regularly made Mary Margaret blush and left David smacking Killian’s shoulder, mumbling that’s my sister, man under his breath.

He was smug and far too good looking and he did that thing with his eyebrow that made Emma’s stomach twist and she would show up in his room unannounced and laugh when he couldn't quite scrape by a passing grade in that one business class they both took together.

The good looking thing wasn’t important.

And the bracket thing had been Mary Margaret’s idea.

Naturally. Again.

“Maybe if we’re doing something fun, you won’t hate him so much,” Mary Margaret reasoned and Emma hadn’t argued, much, because it was a chance to beat Killian Jones at something and then make sure he never forgot about it for the rest of his life.

Only Killian Jones was, actually, really, really good at picking teams in the goddamn NCAA Tournament.

“He’s some kind of soothsayer, I swear,” Emma shouted, her own bracket torn to shreds and she still hated him, but he was always around and Mary Margaret and David had started acknowledging the longing looks they kept sending each other’s way that January.

“I think he’s got an algorithm or something,” David muttered.

Emma spun on the spot, glaring metaphorical daggers because she didn’t have any real daggers, and Killian held his hands up in mock surrender.

“There’s no algorithm,” he said. “Just a very good gut instinct and proclivity to being right.”

“God, you’re such an ass,” Emma groaned. “I bet you’re the only person in the country who picked that upset.” He shrugged.

And defended his inaugural title. For three years straight.

No one ever asked if they wanted to keep going, even after college and jobs and life, but no one asked if they all wanted to move to New York City either.

It just kind of happened.

And Emma just kind of stopped hating Killian.

He got under her skin. Or something less disgusting.

“Swan,” Killian says, jerking her out of memories and back to reality and she has no idea where she actually put her bracket.

“Yeah,” she mumbles and he’s smiling at her. Not smirking. No stupid eyebrow thing. A real, genuine smile and she wonders when that started making her breath catch and her eyes widen just a bit. “Here,” she adds when he stands up, eyeing her like she’s lost her mind. She might have. It’s probably with her bracket.

“I can see that. Although here seems a bit more physical and a hell of a lot less mental.” “Was that an insult? That sounded incredibly insulting.” Killian shakes his head, crossing the tiny space masquerading as a kitchen in three steps and his hand lands on her knee like there are magnets involved. “Not an insult,” he promises. “A genuine show of concern when you look like you’re trying to teleport back home.” “None of these words are making sense the way you’re saying them.” “Sounds like a sign.” “And an insult,” Emma hisses, kicking him in the shin. That feels a bit more normal. “Are you finally done?” “Mmhm.” “That’s awfully smug.” There’s the eyebrow arch.

“You’ve got quite a few opinions on my bracket, Swan,” Killian says and he’s started tapping his fingers on her jeans. Emma swallows. “I think it’s a defense mechanism.” “I think you’re refusing to talk about your so-called methods for picking teams because you know your good luck has finally run out and you’re nervous about what will happen if you don’t live up to expectations.”

She regrets the words as soon as they’re out of her mouth, Killian’s fingers going deathly still when her mouth snaps closed and Emma bites her tongue to stop herself from doing anything else quite that stupid – like crying while sitting on the counter in David and Mary Margaret’s apartment.

And maybe she knows exactly when she stopped hating Killian.

“Purdue,” he says, ducking into her eye line and Emma has to blink, at least, sixty-seven times because the whole thing is ridiculous.

“What?” “Purdue. I picked Purdue to win.” “For real?” Killian tilts his head. “Why would I lie about that?” “I honestly have no idea, “ Emma admits. “But I’ve kind of lost track of the conversation and...honestly, Purdue though?” “You have something against Purdue, Swan?”

“No,” she snaps, shoving lightly at his shoulder and his gasps like it actually hurt. His hand is still on her knee. “But, like, why?” “That seems to fall decidedly in the realm of giving away my plan.”

Emma groans loudly, drawing a set of footsteps that were absolutely eavesdropping on the conversation and David hands her the bracket she filled out hours ago as soon as he’s within arms reach.

Killian’s hand is gone.

That’s fine. It’s fine. Cool. Totally cool. God, she can’t believe she just thought that.

“You’re going homer again, this year, huh, Em?” David asks, phone already out and she nods so he can order her the goddamn Uber.

She scowls, eyes darting Killian’s direction before she can stop herself and he’s trying very hard not to smirk at her. It’s not really working.

“I am going with a potential winner this year,” Emma corrects archly. “If it just so happens that I pick our alma mater, then, you know, so be it. It’s their year.” “Did the boosters get you to say that?” “How far do you have them going?” "Far.” “That’s not an answer,” she mutters, but it sounds more like a growl and they’re definitely going to wake Mary Margaret up at some point. “When did we all decide to descend into secrecy over our brackets? M’s told me as she was filling hers out.” “That’s because Mary Margaret is not trying to win,” Killian points out. One of the pens is back behind his ear, arms crossed lightly over his chest and there’s really not enough room for all of them in this quasi-kitchen.

Emma rolls her eyes, but it’s probably true and Mary Margaret regularly makes her picks based on nicknames, color schemes and the overall creepiness of mascots.

She’s never picked Providence. Ever.

“Whatever,” Emma mutters. “We’ve all reached a brand-new level of super strange competitiveness. I picked Xavier to win, not just because we all possess degrees from that school and they’ve now started calling asking for money, which I think is a sign of actual adulthood, but because they’ve got a good team this year and I genuinely believe they can win a national championship.”

“Because it’s their year, right?” David asks and he can’t quite keep the laughter out of his voice. Emma flips him off. “Honestly though, Em, tell me something. Did you...did you rehearse that?” “Oh my God, you’re even worse than him.”

She jerks her hand in Killian’s direction and he makes a good show of being affronted, but there’s something lingering just on the edge of his expression that makes her wonder all sorts of things she shouldn’t even be thinking.

“These insults, Swan,” Killian grins. “And you do remember that Xavier lost to Villanova twice this year, right?”

“Villanova lost to St. John’s. At home. When they were the top team in the country.” “That’s a good point,” David mumbles, but Killian and Emma both wave him off and this is almost, painfully, normal. “Xavier still won the Big East outright,” she argues. “First time in like...I don’t know, whatever it was historic.” “Not the tournament and if you’re going to bring up facts, you need them to be accurate. That’s arguing one-oh-one..” “Why are you so against a Xavier run?” “I’m not,” he says. “I’m simply pointing out that Xavier has a habit of fucking up once they get to the later rounds. It happens every year.” “If you say tried and true I will get off this counter and punch you right in the face.”

Killian laughs, head thrown back and shoulders shaking and Mary Margaret makes noise from wherever she fell asleep. Hours ago. “I wasn’t going to,” he says lightly and maybe Emma’s got food poisoning from that extra samosa. It would explain whatever is going on with her brain and her thought processes and whatever her whole being does as soon as Killian’s hand lands on her knee. “These are just facts, Swan. And David picked Arizona.” “What?” Emma gasps, laughing as well when David starts cursing Killian to several different underworlds. “Oh my God, David, seriously? You want to talk about a team that disappoints regularly. Plus all that off-court shit! No way they even make the Sweet 16.” “They’ve got the best freshman in the country,” David reasons. “This is a sound choice. And I’m doing some kind of thing this year.”

Mary Margaret pads into the kitchen when Emma can’t bring herself to stop laughing, a blanket tugged tightly around her shoulders and sleep clinging to every one of her movements. “It’s a Wildcat movement,” she mumbles. “He’s picking Wildcat teams this year.” “What?” Emma asks. Killian is barely standing up.

“Wildcats. He's picking as many Wildcats teams because he thinks it’s funny.” “And because it makes sense,” David adds sharply, rolling his shoulder when Emma grips it to try and stay upright. “Or it would have if I’d been able to get it to work, but Midwest doesn’t have any Wildcats--” “What team,” Emma interrupts and Mary Margaret drops her blanket when she starts laughing, shouting back Wildcats on cue.

David rolls his eyes. “Anyway,” he continues pointedly. “I got three of four, so that’s a majority and it’s totally going to work because an Arizona and Villanova final is not only probable, I’m guaranteeing it.” “Wow, talking a big game.” “I’m confident. That’s all. And I’m tired of Jones winning every goddamn year, so I’m willing to do whatever it takes. “It’s not going to work,” Killian says easily and the other pen is in his back pocket. Emma can feel Mary Margaret staring at her. “I’ve got a system. And I’ve got consistency on my side. And nicknames or mascots or whatever don’t have anything to do with it.”

“Yeah, yeah, so you’re always saying,” David grumbles. “You know what? Get out of my apartment and take your research with you because I’m not walking down the hall to put that in the garbage disposal.” “I mean, it should probably be recycling, right?” Emma asks, sliding off the counter and she’s suddenly far closer to Killian that she anticipated. She’s ninety-two percent positive he moved.

“You can get out of my apartment too. Your car is here, anyway.” “Ok, well, that’s rude, but thanks for the ride. Go back to sleep, M’s.”

Mary Margaret salutes, already halfway down the hallway and Emma glances Killian’s direction before she can lose her nerve. “You want a ride?” He blinks, like he’s trying to make sure he heard her right, and Emma chews on the inside of her lip, willing her stomach to act like an actual part of human anatomy.

He nods before he answers.

“Yeah, sure, Swan,” Killian says, grabbing his stack of paperwork and his ridiculous number of pens and they both sit in the backseat of an Uber on their way uptown.

They don’t say anything for the first dozen or so blocks, a companionable silence Emma never would have considered possible when she was a sophomore in college and spent most of her free time trying to figure out what Killian’s deal was.

She’s still not entirely sure she knows.

It’s a work in progress.

Or something.

Whatever.

“I can hear you thinking,” Killian says, gaze flitting her direction. “It’s very loud.” Emma bites her lip – mostly so she won’t smile and he won’t lord that over her for the rest of time. “Is it distracting?” she asks, but it feels like a much bigger question.

“No. Just general curiosity.”

“Because you claim to hear my thoughts. That’s...you know that’s weird, right?” “Only because you’re making it weird,” Killian challenges and they’re at his apartment already. Emma’s not disappointed by that. God, she needs to sleep for the entire week she’s off. She can’t. She’s got basketball to watch.

And a bracket to defend.

“God,” Emma sighs, rolling her head on the back of the seat and top of her hair is damp from resting on the window. “Do you have to be right about absolutely everything? Or do you just get a kick out of arguing with me?” “Did you just use the phrase get a kick, Swan? That’s...did we teleport in this Uber?” “Get out.” “I’m asking a genuine question.” “And I’m telling you to get out.”

He blinks, lips pressed together tightly enough that it’s difficult to make them out in the dim light from the street lamps and the Uber driver is getting more and more pissed off by the second. And suddenly it’s like that day and Killian’s face does something stupid, softens or settles more into him, like he’s seeing Emma for the first time and pleasantly surprised to find her there.

She’s going to bite her lip in half.

“You know I’ve got Friday off,” he says and maybe they did teleport.

Emma lowers her eyebrows, tilting her slightly and if he doesn’t stop smiling at her she’s going to get out of the Uber and walk the rest of the way home. “What does that mean?” “Are you confused by the words or…” “God, stop being a dick!”

The Uber driver snorts.

Killian glares at him.

“I’m saying that I know you caught that guy last week and now August requires you to take at least five days off to recoup or make sure you actually get the kind of sleep a human being needs to function. Which means that you, presumably, will be home screaming at your TV--” “--I don’t scream at my TV.”

“Swan, sometimes you get up and actually try and play defense with the team. It might be my favorite thing you do.” “Ok, well, if this is just some twisted way for you to make fun of my questionable interest in college basketball then…”

Emma trails off when she notices the look on his face – another expression she’ll probably file away in that metaphorical file she’s absolutely, positively not keeping because they’re kind of friends now and that’s cool.

She can’t believe she just thought the word cool.

“What?” Emma asks, the word coming out like a whisper and her lip is bleeding.

“I wouldn’t do that, Swan.

“Anymore.” He shakes his head, the muscles in his throat moving when he swallows and maybe whatever place they’ve teleported to has slightly brighter street lamps because the blue in his eyes seems to get sharper when he looks up at her.

“No,” Killian says. “Not anymore.” “So...was there an offer or an invitation in there or…” He grins. “I’ve got Friday off and I know you’ve got Friday off and I’ve got a better takeout selection than you do.” “See, you’ve just gotta add in those last, little insults don’t you?”

“You blink quicker when you get angry, did you know that?”

Emma shoves at his shoulder, like that will do anything at all, but he’s always had impossibly quick reflexes and she’s not even surprised when his fingers wrap around her wrist. She’s a bit more surprised by whatever her heart does in response and she’s fairly certain it’s the most he’s ever touched her in a 24-hour span. Or, like, a two-hour span.

“You want me to come here on Friday so we can watch basketball together?” Emma asks skeptically. Killian’s nodding before she can get the question out, eyes a hint wider when he tries to speak without actually speaking. “I think your team plays on Friday.” “I’m aware of the schedule, Swan. Xavier does too.” “It’s weird that you’ve memorized it already.” He hums noncommittally, but he really does have better takeout near his apartment and an exceptionally good coffee maker that Emma will undoubtedly use several times and, well, it might be kind of nice.

They’re friends now.

They spend time together. On their own. It’ll be fine.

Cool. It’ll be cool. Cool, cool, cool.

“Was anyone actually going to get out of the car or….” the Uber driver starts and Emma can’t quite mask her laugh. “Because I’ve got other fares I could be taking and…” “Yeah, yeah, I’m leaving,” Killian promises, twisting behind him to open the door and it’s fucking freezing outside. He glances back at Emma, one leg on the sidewalk already. “Friday?” There’s something just on the edge of that too, but Emma can’t quite figure it out and the Uber driver is the single most impatient person on the planet. She nods before she can come up with any of the reasons it will not be cool.

“Yeah,” she says. “Friday.”

He flashes her a smile, rolling his eyes at whatever noise the Uber driver makes when he kicks at the door and Emma’s fairly positive she doesn’t mishear him when he leaves, the quiet see you later, love ringing in her ears for the rest of the night.

The Play-In Games

David Nolan, Tuesday, 7:53 p.m.: Did we know that LIU Brooklyn was in the tournament? Emma Swan, 7:54 p.m.: It’s a play-in game it doesn’t count.

David Nolan, 7:55 p.m.: Also, what channel is TruTV?

Emma Swan, 7:55 p.m.: I’ll repeat myself.

Mary Margaret Blanchard, 7:56 p.m.: They’re playing a game, it definitely counts! They’re doing their best. And almost winning, kind of. Emma Swan, 7:57 p.m.: They are not almost winning. Where is LIU in Brooklyn? Shouldn’t it be...on Long Island.

Emma Swan, 8 p.m.: ????

Killian Jones, 8:01 p.m.: It’s right near Barclays.

Emma Swan, 8:03 p.m.: Why do you know that? Who knows that? No one. No one knows that.

Killian Jones, 8:04 p.m.: I know everything. You know this, Swan.

David Nolan, 8:07 p.m.: Guys. Seriously. This is a group text.

Emma Swan, 8:08 p.m.: Did you pick them?

Emma Swan, 8:15 p.m.: ……. Honestly, Jones? The tournament has started you can tell us who you picked.

Emma Swan, 8:17 p.m.: Killian, seriously!

David Nolan, 8:18 p.m.: This. Is. A. Group. Text.

Emma scowls when LIU Brooklyn shoots like garbage in the second half and loses its opening-round game and she’s already picked one team wrong, which doesn’t seem like a very good sign. Her phone dings almost immediately.

Killian Jones, 8:59 p.m.: I didn’t pick them. Did you?

Blackbirds are stupid mascots.

David Nolan, Wednesday, 11:37 p.m.: WHAT THE FUCK IS AN ORANGE, ANYWAY?!?

Killian Jones, 11:38 p.m.: Bahahahahahahahahaha.

David Nolan, 11:40 p.m.: Screw you, Killian.

Emma Swan, 11:42 p.m.: Did you put a period after your maniacal laughter?

Killian Jones, 11:44 p.m.: Proper punctuation is important when you’re lording your basketball-picking ability over your lesser competition, Swan. And I take offense at maniacal. It was reserved, at worst.

Emma Swan, 11:44 p.m.: Think very highly of yourself, don’t you?

Killian Jones, 11:45 p.m.: The Pac-12 is garbage. ASU was never going to win. Syracuse plays in the ACC. Strength of schedule is important.

Killian Jones, 11:45 p.m.: Plus, no college kid knows how to play against a zone.

Emma Swan, 11:46 p.m.: You shoot out of it. That’s just...that’s basic.

Killian Jones, 11:47 p.m.: Tell Arizona State that.

David Nolan, 11:49 p.m.: This. Is. A. Group. Text.

The First Round, Thursday, Day One

Emma sinks into the corner of her couch, hair still a bit damp from the shower she probably should have taken hours before, but she’s officially in basketball mode and basketball mode requires her to be as lazy as humanly possible while watching college-age kids be the exact opposite for the next twelve hours.

It sounds weirder out loud than it does in her head.

LIU Brooklyn was the only misstep in her First Four picks and, really, that was more of a technicality because most brackets don’t require First Four picks, but they’re all a bunch of over-competitive weirdos and they do it anyway.

She still has no idea what Killian’s bracket looks like.

It’s probably frustratingly accurate, but there are sixteen games that day which means there are sixteen chances for him to be wrong, which is really all she wants.

And maybe she’s the most competitive weirdo of all.

Because Emma really, really likes winning and she liked it a hell of a lot more the one time she beat Killian the first March after undergrad, but she doesn’t hate Killian nearly as much as she did before.

It's a very confusing sentence and a very confusing thought and she needs to watch some of these games to distract her from whatever her mind has been doing over the last few days – replaying that Uber ride and the slight shake in his voice when he asked about Friday, like he was scared she’d say no or like, maybe, it meant something good and big and important and it felt a bit like déjà vu because his voice had done the same, exact thing when she decided she didn’t hate him.

He’d just defended his championship, making sure to point it out as often and loudly as possible, a few days into April and Emma desperately needed the Benadryl she knew David kept in a box under his bed in the apartment just off campus.

She considered going back to her own room – only a few blocks away with her own stock of Benadryl because pollen seemed to exist only to ruin her life every April – but Emma was fairly convinced her nose was about to fall off and she was walking through the door before she even realized she’d taken her key out.

And Killian nearly ran her over as soon as she walked through the threshold.

“Swan,” he slurred, eyes a bit glazed and an actual bottle in his hand. He wobbled when he stopped to glare at her, a sneer to his lips that had become almost too familiar at that point. “What are you doing here?” Emma shook her head, kicking back to close the door and Killian winced when it slammed into its frame. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked, reaching out to tug the bottle out of his hand. He tightened his hold. “It’s like...two in the afternoon.” “Ah, well, then we’ve clearly fallen behind schedule. You want a drink, love? There’s a few options in the kitchen, although I’m not willing to share the rum.” “Not your love,” she said, mostly out of habit and he stumbled when she took another step towards him. “Seriously, what the hell is going on with you? You can’t even stand up straight.”

“That, my dear, is the point.” Emma glared, pressing her tongue on the inside of her cheek and it probably would have been intimidating if she didn’t sneeze very loudly two seconds later. It shook through whole body, leaving her sniffling and red-nosed and Killian was staring at her like she’d been replaced with a cyborg as soon as she lifted her head up.

“What?” Emma grumbled, sniffling again.

Killian opened his mouth, only to close it three more times and Emma realized, rather suddenly, that they’d never really had a conversation about….anything. They’d circled around each other for more than a year and had almost gotten the hang of small talk when David and Mary Margaret started making eyes at each other, but there was no depth to any of it.

She’d never asked about his hand – the prosthetic at the end of his left arm catching her attention the very first time she met him, but David had glared at her and the questions got caught in her throat and no one ever gave her an explanation. She’d never even really asked how he ended up at Xavier or why he was a year older than all of them with far fewer credits and he kept taking six classes a semester.

She hadn’t really ever bothered.

That felt decidedly….wrong.

Killian had, simply, come blazing into their lives like some kind of dying star or possibly a comet and Emma didn’t know enough about space to make those kinds of comparisons, but the dying part seemed particularly apt at the moment.

“David’s not here,” Killian said softly, a note of something that might have been disappointment in his voice. “He and Mary Margaret had class and then they were going somewhere to be painfully adorable so…” “So you decided to drink your entire alcohol supply?” “No, no, that had nothing to do with their proclivity to romance. Quite the opposite, in fact.” “That was a lot of very fancy words for a guy who’s having a difficult time staying upright,” Emma pointed out, tapping her finger lightly on his chest and it looked like he’d frozen. “Honestly, you’re really not going to tell me what’s going on with you?” Killian tilted his head, gaze a hint sharper than it had been a moment before and Emma bit her lip. Tightly. “It’s not exactly like we’re friends, Swan. Or even acquaintances, really. You tolerate at me, at best.”

“Ok, well, you don’t really like me either,” Emma argued. “You think I’m…” “What? Please. Tell me exactly what I think about you.”

She stomped her foot, growling low in the back of her throat and Killian did something absolutely ridiculous with his eyebrows. “Fine, fine,” she hissed. “You want to get blasted in the middle of the afternoon, fine. I couldn't care less. I came here to steal some of David’s allergy medicine because the world is attacking me. So I will go get that and then you can get back to your one-person pity party of whatever it is you’re being pitiful about.”

Emma nodded once, like that had won whatever argument they’d been staging, stepping around him towards David’s room, but she barely made it one step before Killian’s fingers wrapped around her shoulder.

“Did you say the world was attacking you?” he asked and it was the last question she expected.

“Yeah. I’m, uh...super allergic to pollen. Spring is, like, my own personal brand of hell.” Killian hummed, taking another swig of whatever was in the bottle – the label had peeled off at some point – before offering it to her. “It’s almost better than Benadryl,” he said and it felt like a much bigger offer.

She took the bottle and the rum – it was rum, incredibly good rum that probably cost a questionable amount of money – shivering when it burned the back of her throat and settled in the pit of her stomach and it almost felt like she could breathe a little better.

“He really never told you?” Killian continued softly. “David, I mean. He knows...the whole thing.” Emma shook her head. “David wouldn’t do that. Not if you didn’t want him to.” “Well, I mean, they’re dead, so it’s not as if they’re going to be offended by me talking about them behind their back.” “What?” “There really is almost a reasonable explanation for the alcohol.”

“Ok,” Emma muttered, nodding in the direction of the second-hand couch in the corner of the room. “But we really should sit down for this because you honestly look like shit and I don’t know that I’ll be able to do anything if you fall over.” Killian scoffed, but he didn’t argue and they spent the next forty-six and a half minutes sitting on opposite sides of the couch, passing the bottle back and forth and he told her everything.

He told her about Liam and Milah and the accident that took both of them at the same time and how he was fairly positive it was some kind of absurd joke when he woke up in the hospital bed, eighteen years old with one less hand than he expected.

He told her about getting out of that town and trying to decide what do next and how to honor both of them without living in the past.

It wasn’t easy, but there were classes and loans and his brother always thought Killian could do anything, so he figured he might as well. He ended up at Xavier by chance, a scholarship that just sort of landed in his lap and a business program that was good and great and a slew of other adjectives that might have included insane because--

“Liam would have been thirty today,” Killian said, taking his time on the words and he kept staring at a piece of string on the one couch cushion in between them. “And he would have hated that I did…” He waved his hand through the air, as if that was enough description, smiling softly when Emma pulled the bottle back to her side of the couch. “But I woke up this morning and I got another shit grade in that marketing class and I can’t…” “So then don’t,” Emma shrugged. Her words felt heavy, hanging on the tip of her tongue and jumbling in the air and Killian stared at her like she was that cyborg again.

“What?”

“Don’t,” she repeated. “Do something else.” “Like...what?” “Anything. You’re minoring in something, right?” Killian nodded slowly, groaning when she wouldn’t relinquish control of the bottle. They’d put quite a dent in it. “Classics,” he said. “You know...Greeks and myths and that kind of thing.” “So do that.” “That’s not really how it works, Swan. And this is sounding incredibly out of character. I wasn’t aware you were so positive.” “Ok, first of all, that’s rude and, second of all, I have known Mary Margaret for nearly a decade now, so some of that is bound to rub off. And third of--” “--There’s a third thing?” Killian asked incredulously and he grinned when Emma stuck her tongue out.

“There would be if you’d let me finish,” she muttered. “Everything you’ve just told me about your brother makes it seem like he was Mary Margaret levels of supportive, right?” Killian hummed again. Emma rolled her eyes. “So then he thought you should major in business because, what, there were careers in it?” Killian shrugged.

“God, you’re the most frustrating drunk in the world, you know that? We’ll go with that theory for now because there are also jobs in the classics and you could...I don’t know, you could teach or something.” “What?” “We are going in circles.” Killian shook his head, like he was trying to work through some more fog or metaphorical cobwebs and Emma felt the muscles in her face shift. She was smiling.

She was smiling at him.

“I just think you could do it,” she said, absolutely ignoring whatever Killian’s entire being did as soon as the words fell out of her. She took another swig of rum. “And I bet your brother would have too. You shouldn’t have to be worried about a marketing grade.”

He didn’t say anything for several days, at least, and Emma had never been particularly good at patience and she wasn’t entirely prepared for--

“I’m sorry,” Killian whispered, leaning forward to rest his hand on one of her knees. Emma suddenly felt far more drunk than she was. “For, well, for all of it. Being a dick and...being a dick.”

Emma’s smile widened, ducking her head and she sneezed when her hair brushed her nose. “Yeah, me too,” she said. “Truce?” She stuck her hand out and, eventually, she’d blame the rum and whatever he was doing with his face, but in the moment it made a hell of a lot of sense and Killian’s fingers were warm.

“Truce,” he echoed.

Emma never got the Benadryl, but they finished the rum and Mary Margaret’s laughter woke both of them up where they’d fallen asleep on the couch.

He changed his major two days later.

And, now, Emma can’t stop thinking about that day and what it meant or, maybe, means because things got better, but Killian is still David’s friend and Emma is still David’s sister and she’s definitely thinking about this way too much.

Particularly when there’s an upset brewing.

“Oh shit,” Emma breathes, reaching for her phone because she totally picked this one. She absolutely picked this one. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” she mutters and patience is still not one of her strong suits.

He picks up on the third ring.

“What?” Killian whispers. “Is someone dead?” Emma nearly drops her phone. “No, what? Why?” “Swan, it is four in the afternoon. I have class. I am in class.” “Why did you answer your phone, then?” “You called me, love,” he says like it’s obvious and it kind of is and it makes every single one of her internal organs do something stupid. “So just to double check. No one is dead? David and Mary Margaret are fine?” “Presumably.” “Swan.” “Yes,” Emma sighs. “David and Mary Margaret are both fine. I just...well, it sounds stupid now. Are you actually in class? Aren’t there rules about that?”

“In a normal class, sure, but I’m a fantastic professor and my rules are much cooler than a normal class. And,” he adds, ignoring her not-so-quiet laughter completely. “It’s March, Swan. Early’ish March. There are midterms, you know.”

“Is that why you have tomorrow off?” “Mmmhmmm.”

“Oh, shit, does it make me a bad friend that I didn’t know that?” “I don’t expect you to have my schedule memorized, love.”

That’s two loves in the same conversation and, maybe, three in the last week and it’s not like Emma’s counting, but she isn’t not counting and--

“Yeah, but I feel like I should know that,” she continues. “Are you talking on the phone with me in the middle of a midterm? Because that’s also kind of shitty.” “I went outside. Figured if there was some kind of death notice imminent then I should be away from the prying eyes of undergrads.” “That is...morbid.” Killian laughs and Emma’s organs are just, like, on fire at that point. “I’ve been reading a lot of essays about the Underworld recently. It’s put me in a mood.” “Maybe I should bring more alcohol tomorrow.” “I wouldn’t say no, although we probably should wait until the later games for that, don’t you think?”

“Look at you, a picture of responsibility,” Emma says and her cheeks are starting to ache. She refuses to acknowledge the symmetry of her thoughts and their current conversation and he never brought it up again.

He just changed majors and started taking more classes and went to grad school and he had a satchel now. She teased him about it mercilessly.

“Sometimes,” Killian admits. "Why’d you call, Swan?” “Did you pick Loyola Chicago?”

“Excuse me?” “First-round games. Loyola Chicago. Did you pick them beating Miami because they just beat Miami. I know you didn’t pick this so--” “--Of course I did.”

Emma blinks. “What?” “I definitely picked them. I think they could make a run. How’d they win?” “No, no, you don’t get that,” Emma mutters and he’s laughing again, free and easy and she wishes he were there. So she could kick him. Or something else. Whatever. “You can’t be serious. What the fuck is Loyola Chicago even?” “Presumably it’s a school,” he reasons. “And you might want to watch that, Swan because my research shows they’ve got some kind of nun on their side and I don’t think you want to jinx yourself like that.” “I’m going to murder you.” “You’ve just jinxed it.”

Emma makes some kind of noise in the back of her throat and it’s not particularly human, but it draws another laugh out of Killian and at least she also picked the upset. “I can’t believe you researched Loyola Chicago,” she says. “Why?” “Swan, we’ve been over this, there’s a system and it’s tried and true and I’m sharing it with you. Also Miami has been streaky all season. That was an easy upset.”

“Of course it was.” “Anything else to report?” “Don’t you have some kind of internal update that lets you know when your bracket stays perfect? That way your ego never takes a hit?” “That’s rude, Swan. And, no, I don’t. C’mon, update me.”

She does – spends the next five minutes giving him a run down of the early games and the pros and cons of Trae Young leaving Oklahoma after his first year, of which there are many because his jump shot is off sometimes, Killian, you know it, I know it, NBA front office knows it and she’s almost surprised when he mutters that he has to actually go acknowledge his class eventually.

“Oh, right, right, right,” Emma stammers, but she’s ninety-nine percent positive Killian is still smiling. “And I think Collin Sexton is a better freshman than Trae Young and whoever that Arizona kid David was talking about.” “I’ve got no doubt you’re right, love,” Killian says. Her body, possibly, explodes. “You want to tag-team David when Arizona gets upset later on tonight?” “Arizona’s not going to get upset later on tonight.”

Her phone dings as soon as the Arizona game ends and Emma’s watched enough basketball that her brain is starting to get a bit muddled, but she can still spot a monumental sporting moment and Arizona got upset.

By Buffalo.

Mary Margaret Nolan, 11:57 p.m.: Please do not say anything. He threw the remote.

Emma Swan, 11:57 p.m.: Uh oh.

Mary Margaret Nolan, 11:59 p.m.: I’m serious, Emma.

Emma Swan, 12 a.m.: I said no words.

Killian Jones, 12:02 a.m.: I will gladly say words. Off-court issues are on-court problems and Sean Miller is a terrible coach. Go back to Dayton.

Emma Swan, 12:03 a.m.: Were you...just talking to Sean Miller? Via text?

Killian Jones, 12:03 a.m.: Yes. Also I will repeat myself from the First Four. The Pac 12 is terrible. You picked the wrong Wildcat, David.

Emma Swan, 12:04 a.m.: It’s unfortunate, but you know, someone’s got to be out first, David. It just so happened you were first on the first day.

Emma Swan, 12:04 a.m.: The very first day.

Emma Swan, 12:04 a.m.: The first one.

Killian Jones, 12:05 a.m.: As early as possible.

David Nolan, 12:11 a.m.: THIS. IS. A. GROUP. TEXT.

The First Round, Friday, Day Two

“It’s freezing and I’m here and I bought really expensive rum!”

The lock to his building clicks and Emma doesn’t exactly race up the stairs, but she doesn’t just walk up the stairs and by the time she makes it to the third floor there’s a stitch in her side that leaves her just a bit breathless.

Killian’s eyebrows are doing something ridiculous.

“You ok, Swan?” he asks, stepping out of the doorway and grabbing the bottle before she can object. “Did you run here?” She sticks her tongue out in response, pushing lightly on his shoulder and she really does lose her breath at the sight in front of her. There’s already a pre-game show on TV and two more screens and some kind of projector thing hooked up to his laptop and Emma can feel Killian behind her, something that feels like nerves rolling off him.

“Wow,” she breathes. “That’s just...wow.” He makes a noncommittal noise, more nerves and caution and Emma wonders if her week-long thought process makes a bit more sense than she originally thought. But that’s only more confusing and she kind of wants to drink some of the rum now.

“It’s really not that impressive,” Killian promises, dropping into the corner of his couch with forced casualness. “The laptops are mine and I borrowed the projector thing from school and there are a lot of games, so I figured…” Emma nods slowly, trying to take it all in and it might be the nicest thing that’s happened to her in several years. “You figured right,” she promises. “You going to let me see your bracket then?”

It’s enough to break the tension or the nerves or anything else that isn’t the sort of normal she and Killian have settled into and the couch creaks when she sits down.

“I think you’re obsessed with my bracket, love,” Killian says. She’s still not counting. “And, no, you can't look yet. Not until it's over.”

She rolls her eyes, but doesn't really argue because there's a game starting and she doesn't really want to argue. They’re both more than vocal when Cincinnati plays, shouting a string of insults that gets progressively more crass throughout the game.

And they’re somewhere in the middle of the schedule, debating when they should order food and how qualified Emma is to operate the coffee maker on the other side of the apartment, when she decides fuck it, she’s going to ask.

Or something a little less crass.

“Why’d you pick Purdue?” Emma asks. “Honestly?” The question catches Killian short, eyes widening until there’s far too much blue there and it looks a little like the Creighton uniforms on TV, which is, honestly, the single most absurd thing she’s ever thought.

“And please don’t make a quip about being obsessed again,” Emma adds. “It’s stupid and a deflection and--” “That’s where Liam wanted to go,” Killian cuts in, voice scratchy and emotional and she knows her mouth drops open. She’s not sure she’s breathing.

Her lungs have been through the wringer all day.

“I have no idea why,” he continues and he’s not looking at her anymore. “It makes no sense whatsoever because Purdue is several states away from where we grew up, but he did and he thought a Boilermaker was some kind of fantastic mascot and I think he kind of wanted to be an engineer? But then my mom died and he had to take care of me so--” “That wasn’t your fault.” They need to stop interrupting each other. They need to stop having these emotionally-charged conversations in the middle of a basketball marathon with takeout menus everywhere.

They probably should have done this before.

“That sounded suspiciously like a compliment, Swan,” Killian grins. “And you didn’t even make a joke about Purdue’s top kid getting hurt.” “You think I’d make jokes about kids getting hurt?” He sobers for a moment, eyes darting to hers immediately and the whole word seems to shift when he shakes his head. “No,” he mutters, but it sounds like several admissions and some kind of major sporting moment and Emma tries to remember how important oxygen is to the human body. “I know you wouldn’t do that.” “You’re kind of a sap, you know that?” Killian chuckles softly, leaning forward and his hand is on her knee again. Time, it seems, is some kind of twisted circle.

“Sometimes,” he agrees. “I’m glad you’re here, love.”

Emma’s mouth goes dry at the sincerity in his voice, the hint of hopefulness on the edge of his gaze, like he means it and has been waiting to tell her for several years. She can feel the flush in her cheeks, teeth digging into her lower lip and his hand tightens a fraction of an inch.

He doesn’t flinch when hers lands on top.

She considers twisting their fingers together, but there have already been enough upsets and that team with the nun mascot was all over social media the night before, so Emma figures the world only allows so many surprises in a twenty-four hour span.

“Yeah, me too,” she says instead and she might think about his answering smile for the next week. “You want to order some food?”

They order way too much food and eat way too much food and Emma almost expects Killian’s cheers when they both start yelling during the Xavier game.

It’s easy and simple and they watch every single moment of every single game, only pausing a few times to answer David’s manic texts once UMBC takes a lead into halftime against Virginia.

“He thinks they’re going to win,” Emma mutters, but she’s standing and pacing, mumbling instructions under her breath.

Killian arches an eyebrow. “Do you not, love? As predicted, you’re playing defense. And rooting against your own pick.” “Aren’t you? I thought we determined you were a giant, sentimental sap?” “I’m not sure we settled on that turn of phrase, particularly, but to answer your question, of course I am. A little bracket chaos never hurt anyone.” “Plus you’re a great, big history nerd.” “You know none of these compliments sound much like compliments.”

Emma flashes him a smile, but her gaze darts back to the TV when Jim Nantz’s voice reaches a previously unachieved register and she’s not sure she’s ever heard of UMBC before.

They’re up double digits.

“I’m definitely complimenting you,” Emma promises. “And you know…” She waves her hand towards the screen, rolling her eyes when her phone makes more noise. Killian hasn’t blinked since the takeout got cold. He’s staring at her like he’s trying to read her mind or figure out what league UMBC plays in and they’re equally disconcerting and exciting because there’s more history to be made.

Maybe.

Emma hates her own metaphors.

“I don’t,” he mutters, gaze steady and just a hint imploring. Like he wants to know. Desperately.

“Well, maybe you deserve some compliments,” Emma starts. “And, you know...maybe I’m kind of a sap too. Rooting for the underdogs and upsets and picking the alma mater because there’s some history and...cut me off whenever.” He shakes his head, standing up slowly, and he’s in her space a moment later, one hand on the curve of her shoulder – as if he’s trying to make sure she’s there or keep her there and there are only a few minutes left in the game.

“That’s not a bad thing, Swan,” Killian says. “You’re allowed to care about things.”

“Yeah, sometimes those have a habit of blowing up in my face. The underdogs disappoint. That’s just how it works.” They are drowning in metaphors.

And he showed up on her doorstep a little over a year ago when she and Neal dissolved into whatever they weren’t, got her to let him into the apartment and brought her an entire box of samosas. He slept on her couch.

The buzzer on the TV goes off.

UMBC won.

History made.

Or something less sentimental.

“Not always,” Killian breathes, but Emma hears him perfectly and she’s, at least, seventy-six percent positive he’s going to kiss her when her phone dings, at least, seventy-six times.

She’s not sure which one of them groans louder.

“David needs a hobby,” Emma grumbles.

“This is his hobby.” ‘Well, then he needs a new one. This is just…” “Yeah, exactly.” “Why did that sound like an insult?” Killian makes a dismissive noise, an air of frustration lingering around him and Emma needs to go home. She doesn’t really want to go home. “It wasn’t,” Killian says. “It was just…” He’s going to do damage to his neck if he keeps shaking his head, but Emma’s forgotten how to hold a conversation and she’s too busy being stunned by the next words out of his mouth to be worried about saying anything except--

“What?” “It’s late,” he mumbles. “And you’re going to get surge pricing and you can just stay here.”

That’s what she thought he said.

Huh.

“Oh,” Emma blinks. “That’s um...are you sure?” That’s not what she expects to say.

Huh.

Again.

Killian nods. It’s a nice change of pace. So is the smile and that one lock of hair on his forehead and his hand is still on her arm.

“Yeah, yeah, it makes sense, right?” he asks. “And then you can raid the coffee again in the morning. It’s a win-win for you.” “Ok,” Emma says, a quick agreement that seems to rush out of her and into the air molecules where it lingers for several history-making, relationship-changing moments. “Ok.”

He absolutely refuses to let her sleep on the couch and Emma doesn’t argue, just smiles and lets herself be silently charmed by it and of course he has extra toothbrushes in the bathroom cabinet. She falls asleep under the questionable number of blankets on his bed, a smile lingering on her face and in her soul or something equally ridiculous and he doesn’t say anything when she drinks four cups of coffee the next morning.

#cs ff #captain swan #cs #cs fic #captain swan ff #a touch of (march) madness #spoiler: i have a lot of college basketball thoughts #like...more college basketball thoughts than hockey thoughts

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fantroll-purgatory · 6 years

Text

Calvis Duvide - Troublesome Tyrant

@chaoticevilfantrolls

(Heard you were doin Trollsonas)

Planet: Alternia, AU where Cusp Bloods exist and are considered more or less average trolls, and the age of conscription is 10 sweeps.

Name:Calvis Duvide To be honest, Calvis doesn’t have much of a specific meaning, beyond being a preferred lengthening of my own name. Duvide comes from the term L'appel du Vide, which means Call of the Void in French. In psychology, L'appel du Vide is a term referring to the urge to do self-destructive things without a distinct cause, like the urge to swerve off the road while driving or to jump off of a high place. Additionally, Calvis is a void player who feels drawn to the void as a sort of comfort.

Calvis is a good name and I definitely prefer to keep it around. Now… keep track o’ this leap of logic I’m going to do here to also justify it, but Calvis is also plural for Calvus, which can serve as a reference to Constantine Calvus, a Scottish monarch who attempted to change the rules of succession of the throne and who qualified as heir, which fits with some of Calvis’ behaviors. It can also be a reference to Altolamprologus calvus, a common aquarium fish. And, lastly, a reference to Cumulonimbus calvus, a type of cloud that can look a little, uh… eldritch, sometimes.

Yay for retroactive justification!

Age:9.25 sweeps

Strife Specibus:This one is a little tricky. Because Calvis is a trollsona, I’m drawn to giving him either bladeKind or knifeKind, as those are actual real weapons that I own and am reasonably skilled with? But at the same time, something more thematically relevant like cardKind (tarot and playing cards) might be nice?

I’ve also given him pipeKind before, using both a smoking pipe and also literal lead pipes ala Russia’s cane from Hetalia. That’s more relevant to a massive trollsona generator me and a friend of mine made that was based on the natal astrology chart.

I definitely think in the case of trollsonas, you should go with what you feel a draw towards. If you like blades, if you feel an affinity towards blades, I’d go with that.

You could also do the very void player thing and not have a traditional strife specibus so to speak. You’ve got a character here who seems good at talking his way into things, and who’s good at justifying his logic and having a lot of information, so maybe he could primarily rely on talking instead of fighting?

OR you could have him utilize the tooth he wears, since that’s a nontraditional weapon that relates to his title and because it could be utilized in a way that’s a nice callback to his/your interest in tabletop games. You could utilize it like a fear spell, an intimidation roll, or even something like vicious mockery or hideous laughter. Do that psychic damage, Calvis.

Fetch Modus:Polyhedral Modus

Calvis’ items are stored in a set of polyhedral dice (1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d%, 1d12, and 1d20). It’s sort of a relic from when he was much more into playing tabletop rpgs. It’s purely random what item he receives, which is why he puts items he retrieves more often in the lower-sided dice. Funnily enough, his modus becomes more troublesome to use the more he embraces his aspect, stepping away from fortune to accept the unknown and nebulous.

So many spots in his sylladex are filled up with items based on former or current interests, among other things that he would rather just… hide from others in general.

Oof, I’m imagining the frustrating ordeal of rolling a d4 and landing on 1 six times in a row.

Blood color:Violet-Fuchsia cusp. The blood color is based on a blood color test that determined a hexcode value from numerical values based on personality traits of each color group (red, green, and blue). He’s kind of in a tricky situation, being just below the cut-off for fuchsia, but definitely redder than most violets.

In the session he’s from, he’s actually in a kismesitude with the proper fuchsia (seeing as they don’t have the biological imperative to kill each other, only really squabble like idiots), who has abdicated his position as heir and given it to Calvis.

Hmmmm… I’m going to go ahead and assume you’re talking au where the cusps are still viable instead of the more established canon, so that I won’t have to fiddle with this and ruin your good fun.

If I were going to push it into the canon range, though, I would say that him just bein a standard violet who picks up the fuschia helm for his kismesis can work about as well.

And if I were suiting him to your au where dual blood traits present in trolls, I could definitely argue that with nowhere else to try to represent both sets of traits uniquely, his body just kinda fell in the middle.

Symbol and meaning: A combination of Eris and Pittarius from the extended zodiac. Eris is the goddess of chaos and discord from Greek mythology. Eris is also the name of the second largest dwarf planet in the orbit of the sun, just after Pluto.

Erises’ ma is Nyx, The Night, which is extra fitting. Child Of The Night is a great way to describe a void player. The planet Eris is also part of The Shattered Disk, which sounds cool as hell, and also means the planet has high eccentricity. Relatable, really.

Trolltag: cynicalTeuthida Cynical: Concerned only with one’s own interests and typically disregarding accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them. I mean. He kind of manipulated his kismesis into naming him the heir, just because he could.

Teuthida: Name of the taxonomic order containing squids. Mostly a reference to his lusus and 100% absolutely wholesome appreciation of tentacles.

I think we all need to wholesomely appreciate tentacles more, if I’m being honest. …But now I can’t stop thinking about Calvis having those weird New England Aquarium ad campaign posters hanging up in his room totally wholesomely.

Quirk:Because Calvis is a trollsona, he has sort of a simple quirk, based primarily around my personal manner of typing.

He types in almost exclusively lowercase, only capitalizing the first letter of words to emphasize them. He also has a tendency to misspell things by cutting off the last letter or last couple of letters. He surrounds his text in pointed brackets, but otherwise uses little punctuation besides commas. Expect a lot of typos from him in general, which he won’t really bother fixing.

CT: <the quick brown fox jumpped over the lazy dog>

Hmm. I do like it but I wonder if something more tentacly might be fun. {like using curly brackets instead}. It’s not really a big enough deal to stress over, but just a thought. }}=o Also check it out I Just made a betta fish.

Special Abilities:Like most seadwellers, Calvis is ridiculously strong. Probably even more so than average, given that I myself, as a puny human being, can lift about 400 lbs. He’s also able to withstand changing between salt and fresh water, actually preferring the briny water in the lake surrounding his hive to anything else.

The idea of an extra strong seadweller scares me because Feferi is capable of dragging a whale.

Lusus: L'lythro, a minor eldritch being that lives in a fish tank in the underwater portion of Calvis’ hive. L'lythro is known as the Denizen of Madness, and the source of the horrible whispers that fill the forest surrounding Calvis’ hive. Because of L'lythro’s terrible mutterings, the forest is believed to be haunted or cursed, known for driving lowbloods to madness or worse.

It’s hard to describe L'lythro as anything besides a graphical glitch in the universe, sometimes taking the form of an amorphous puddle of eyes, teeth, and slime, and sometimes taking the form of an abstract concept of patterns. Calvis doesn’t mind. He loves them no matter what nebulous and unknowable form they take. He actually wears one of L'lythro’s teeth on a chain as a necklace, which carries enough residual psychic discordance to give him an unsettling aura.

…A fun fact here is that while trying to google this name I discovered a “fossil fighters” character named The Gore King. That’s not relevant I just had to share or the knowledge would eat at my mind forever. Anyways I like this, continuing the tradition of eldritch lusii pals.

Personality: The best way to describe Calvis is ‘ecclectic’. He finds it hard to focus directly on one pursuit or another, flipping from interest to interest to endeavor to interest. Even now, as he nears the sweep of his conscription, his interests tend to branch out so much that it’s hard for him to even begin imagining what he could possibly make of himself…

So he doesn’t.

He spends most of his time collecting knowledge on whatever bits and bobs he can find, no matter how trivial, looking for some kind of validation of his intellect and talent. He reads and writes extensively, creating entire worlds he scraps once he’s become bored of them. He picks up games and hobbies like tabletop gaming and knitting only to drop them weeks or moments later. The only real consistency to him is the fact that he’s outright unpredictable.

He can come off as a bit cold and callous, not really caring about the emotional aspect of things until it directly involves him, in which case he will get much, much too involved. He can come off as overbearing in some situations, forcing his good will down others throats so he’ll have something to parade as evidence of his virtue.

Despite all of this absolute poncery, though, Calvis has quite a few good and sympathetic traits, no matter how much he lets them get overshadowed. He’s insightful and careful. He’s legitimately kind and gentle with the few trolls he can be bothered to care for (even including his kismesis at times). He’s just going through a bit of a rough time, nudging him gently toward his Crisis in one way or another.

I like how a lot of his traits come through as validation-seeking- which is a trait you mentioned up top but which really manages to carry through. I think if you want to carry the light/void theme and push his inversion, definitely increase his desire for Attention more. For Acknowledgement.

Interests: Calvis has many, many interests, but not so many that he’s actually stuck to.

He legitimately loves betta fish, especially for their bright colors and feisty attitudes. He has multiple fish tanks throughout the above-water portion of his hive, each tank filled with a small ecosystem dedicated to each of his fish. Most of them are named after snack foods. Don’t worry, he doesn’t eat them… just the fish flakes he feeds them. Don’t judge.

Calvis also enjoys collecting and decorating his hive with items of significant eldritch imagery. Teeth and eyes and tentacles are the motifs he chooses to decorate the walls of his hive with. Some of it comes off as quite lewd, not that he cares or notices much.

The rest of his interests, like collecting bladed weapons, knitting or crocheting, playing tabletop games, or writing, tend to be on-and-off. He picks them up again whenever he’s bored of what he was working on before.

Oof, cycling through interests is also relatable. He’s a fantroll, so I can’t exactly recommend More Interests. ……..Maybe roleplay-

Also sorry I’m just going to share one more of these ad posters because I can’t stop fucking looking at them.

Title: Bard of Void

Calvis acts more like a Maid of Light initially, relying on his kismesis for any real chance of power, yet finding luck and fortune a natural and powerful tool to his whims. He will leap at any opportunity to provide information about any topic he’s even remotely versed in, and he has a peculiar penchant for getting the right card or number when he needs to in games of chance, smirking sadistically all the while.

As he progresses in a session, or even matures as a person, he begins to accept the role of the unknown and mysterious, letting himself let go of his aggressive need to know everything, learning to go with the flow. He embraces the potential of the void, learning more about the origins of his lusus in the process. He loses out on some of his luck in the process, but like, yaknow, who cares about the outcome, man? It’s all the same in the end.

I know you’re not so keen about suggesting alternative god tiers for Trollsonas, but I did want to provide my reasoning.

I think even if we did tend towards suggesting alternatives for trollsonas, I definitely wouldn’t. Learning to embrace the void and kind of accepting the solace of the blank sheet and getting out of the need for the limelight, the need to take the reigns and try to guide others, the despair at not Knowing what the future holds or what he wants the future to hold… It’s definitely a good route for this trollsona, narratively.

Land: Land of Butterscotch and Tentacles

A massive desert of sugary tan sand populated by light purple Illithids, full of incomplete temples to the denizen Cthulhu. Calvis actually has two possible routes for his quest: completing the temples and receiving Cthulhu’s blessing, or dismantling them to free the Illithids from his control.

Ooh, always interesting. I do have to wonder why butterscoth tho, LOL. Sounds tasty.

Dream Planet: Derse? I prefer Derse just for the void connection and such.

Oh yeah, he’s super derse. Derse is in his blood.

Design:

Hhhonestly there’s not really a lot I would edit about his design? Violets/fuschias are high enough up that they can get away with wearing just about anything, really. If I had any recommendations, it might be to adjust the color of the undershirt or try out horns more similar to the traditional Heir Horns (hehe), but then I don’t know what Horn Rules you’re going by in your au.

Here you see me playing with changing his shirt color to a true tyrian. I think it makes more sense- it’s a way to acknowledge his kismesitude with the fuschia- and, since he’s trying to overtake the heir position, it makes most sense for him to try to visually associate himself with the fuschia role.

He’s a really well balanced trollsona! Thank you for sharing!

-CD

#chaoticevilfantrolls #calvis duvide #calvis #duvide #violetblood #fuschiablood #?#review #cd review #submission

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