#i had a whole long post here i just realized i could summarize it

[breadandblankets]

you, batfam blogger, do you know that duke thomas is his own hero and isn't just a prop that you can use to make your favorites look good

#hes not your damsel hes not your straight man hes not your pov hes not your audience insert hes duke motherfucking thomas #duke thomas #bruce wayne #tim drake #jason todd #i had a whole long post here i just realized i could summarize it #batfam #bruce stans are usually chill im ngl #and dami stans are good i like them #batgirls stans we are one im ngl #bread talk #idk im just saying shit now

[incorrect-jojolands-quotes]

unexpected theory that i stumbled upon

I am in a JOJOLands discord server and a member of the server had this theory that I think should be shared. They plan on posting the full scope of it on Reddit (so I'll add the link to it here when it gets posted). In the meantime, I'm gonna summarize what I've found based on their discussions so far and add my own theories to it.

(This will be a long one :P)

The theory in particular involves the star emblem Jodio poses in that has numbers at each arrow.

On one hand, those numbers could simply be counting each point or is in reference to how there has been 9 parts for JoJo so far. But... what if the numbers are in refrence to this instead:

This is the Enneagram of Personality, a personality assessment that consists of nine personality traits. It's a system that focuses on a person's emotions regarding motivations and fears. Each of the nine personality types is defined by a particular core belief about how the individual thinks the world works. It's believed no one really changes from their numbers but one can relate to more than one number and each number has levels ranging from "healthy" to "unhealthy" that a person can resonate with over time. What's interesting is that the Ennegram is made to resemble a star, with the number 3, 6, and 9 working as a triad that symbolizes wholeness.

There are other details regarding the arrows such as sub-types, wings, and arrows, but we're going to focus more on the surface stuff in this post (the Reddit post can dive deeper). But, how does this relate to The JOJOLands?

Well, what if you place the numbers with the arrows? Not just literally but let's also have it match more with the Ennegram as well. Let's also try to put the numbers aligned in two different ways (images created by the person on the server).

With the numbers aligned vs with the empty arrow pointing upwards:

We can call the first one the original placement and the second one the "inverted" placement to differentiate the two.

But, there's more. Do you remember what the cover art for "Chapter 8: Let's Look at Luxury Watches" is? Remember how it shows the same emblem but with the 5 known characters at the moment?

It looks like each character is associated with a particular point of that emblem. Let's put the Ennegram numbers on them and see what they look like with the original placement and the "inverted" placement. The original OP also made these images.

Original Numbers vs Inverted Numbers:

Why does this all matter?

It obviously looks like the characters aren't just decorated around the star emblem but each one is associated with a number on the Ennegram. With the inverted, it also appears as if most of them change numbers.

Now, if you look at the numbers they're associated with in the "before" photo, you realize their personalities align with the numbers in the Ennegram.

Jodio has the ambitious goal of becoming obscenely rich. He prides himself for being reliable, getting the job done with no questions asked and mentioned how being this way gained him praise and money among other things. His recent diagnosis makes him speculate he could be a psychopath. 3s are are goal-oriented, viewing success as being praised for their achievements, and they act with efficiency. Their ambition can cause them to be relentless, even psychopathic.

Rohan is looked up to by Jodio among others and is considered a creative, inspiring individual due to his success as a mangaka and the perfection he strives to have in his works. Despite his actions towards the team, he continously warned them of danger during their interaction and even advises Jodio before they part ways. 1s are known to be perfectionists due to their creativity and their self-awareness, which inspires many. This belief makes them think they're different from others, which can translate to being critical of others and an air of self-righteousness due to their moral compass believing they are better than others.

Usagi is considered an oddball since the beginning yet proves his potential with how intelligent and inqusitive he is. Even if it got the team out of trouble in some cases, his approach is unconventional and he is still considered a troubled individual to his peers, even rejected from further connections. 5s are known to be inquisitive and would spend hours observing and experimenting every detail and concept to gain more knowledge if given the opportunity. However, going too far with their discoveries makes them very eccentric and their desire to seek knowledge can eventually drive them to insanity.

Paco is a kleptomaniac addicted to stealing due to the rush it gives him and, despite being academically weak, is a very capable fighter and planner of the group. He's rather rash with his decisions but can take control of any situation, especially in a fight. 7s are known for being quick on their feet, able to plan and act on instincts when the situation calls for it, and make up their lack of studiousness with their street smarts. But, this impulsiveness and desire to act on energy means their addictions can lead to self-destruction much faster due to how much energy they go through and they could be associated with BPD.

Dragona goes out of the way to avoid further fallout or conflict deemed unnecessary or cause further trouble. They engage in peaceful things like yoga and is the voice of calmness and trust that contrast Jodio's more violent nature. 9s are known as peacemakers, valuing harmony and simplicity above all, which makes others trust them due to how stable they seem. This stubborness to keep peace can put them in a state of disorientation and reclusiveness that can manifest into multiple personalities.

While some believe Ennegram numbers don't change over time, seeing the inverted numvers show different numbers seem to indicate that the characters we see will evolve into their new numbers as the story progresses. This may foreshadow what will happen to each character or what they will become in the end.

2s are known to be empathetic, putting others first as givers, and desire to be loved above everything, yet it can be seen as manipulative and lead to self-victimization.

4s are known to be authentic, finding creativity and deep connections with others, but can fall into despair when dreams and hope are lost.

See 5, 7, and 9 above.

Jodio as a 2 means he could become more loving to others and take on the typical Joestar personality of pursuing justice and determination due to empathy. It doesn't necessarily mean he's "cured" of his inability to feel guilt or have no affection to others beyond his family, but it may indicate him learning to find connections and going on some sort of self-discovery as a result. At the same time, the happiness he desired could be interpeted as love he yearns to feel for, and he could be changing his purpose of pursuing riches to fit more of a 2.

Rohan as a 4 is harder to speculate what will become of him besides a possible return. We know little of Rohan's full personality in The JOJOLands but we know Rohan as an arrogant, discourteous perfectionist from previous iterations. This does seem to imply Rohan will be a more present mentor who embraces more of his imperfections and increasing an appreciation towards those around him. He's sort of started doing that already with Jodio at the end of chapter 5.

Dragona as a 5 means they may start becoming less avoidant and more assertive and proactive in taking control of the situation. I speculate they have some sort of block that discourages them from doing this currently, maybe due to lack of confidence or having a not-so strong Stand compared to Jodio or Paco. Or, maybe being in Jodio's shadow has made them comfortable with doing minimal work. Regardless, they are finally able to show themselves as their own Joestar and fighter in their own right. As a possible 5, this also means Dragona may discover something ground-breaking and it could lead to some major sacrifice; possibly, Dragona's life may end as a result.

Paco remains a 7, which I find interesting but understandable if there needs to be a balance between characters that dramatically change and characters that remain constant; Paco in this case is the latter. Still, Paco could become either a better or a worser version of a 7 to show how much he's changed as the plot continues. I could be possible that Paco becomes more valued for his quick mind despite his lack of intelligence or his addiction to stealing and being impuslive causes issues with the team and ultimately his downfall instead.

Usagi becoming a 9 points two scenarios. On one hand, his transformation points him to be an ultimate traitor. Maybe the reactions to his eccentricities results in him feeling like he needs to hide more of himself and pushes him to villainy because of rejection. On the other hand, Usagi may come to realize he doesn't need to be complex and go beyond to try making friends, so he starts feeling more at ease. Either way, it seems like Usagi still has a wall of sorts hiding who he really is and becoming a 9 might reveal it soon.

We don't know too much about Knife Guy so far, but I'm guessing he's either going to be a 7 like Paco or a 2 who eventually becomes a 3. In the case of the latter, it could be due to Knife Guy pursuing the gang out of orders and following them to gain validation while lacking his own agency. Becoming a 3, especially under Paco's mentorship, may lead him to think about his own goals and ambitions instead of aiding the goals and ambitions of others.

The Enneagram also explains how the Stands work too. The Reddit post can go more into how these personalities relate to not just the characters but their Stand abilities and what the Stands might evolve into.

With that out of the way, I now want to talk about my two cents: the main villain.

What number would the main villain be? After all, there are 9 numbers total and only 5 (6 including Knife guy as I'm writing this) characters identified.

If we look at the chart and the inverted chart, there are only two numbers that remain untouched: 6 and 8. Coincidentally, they are the "inverses" of each other.

Between the 2 numbers, the main villain most likely will start as a 6 before turning into an 8. If you look at the Ennegram, the most obvious triad shown is the 369. I mentioned earlier how these three numbers hold significance in the Ennegram.

If Jodio and Dragona already took the positions of 3 and 9 respectively and no other character is a 6 so far, the main villain would most likely be the one to hold the 6 position. As a 6, this also implies they start out very close to Dragona and Jodio prior to becoming the main villain going against them. In terms of how close, a mutual friend or a relative is most likely since the two Joestars are siblings and the closest to each other in their gang. The main villain can also be someone completely unrelated but due to their role in society they are a major, unknown influence in Jodio and Dragona's life. Regardless, whoever it is will still fit being a 6 who becomes an 8.

If we look at the 6 and 8 traits on the Ennegram, something interesting comes up:

6s are seen as reliable. They are dedicated and ride-or-die with what they believe in, find security in having these loyalties. However, they can be driven to hysteria and dependency on what they believe in, being in deep denial when the beliefs starts failing, and then being lost when it crosses a point of no return.

8s are seen as assertive. They are the epitome of the ideal hero, confident in what they do and they end up becoming the voice to those who are saved or supported by them. Their actions, if left unchecked, can be seen as delusional and domineering, and some 8s are known to have ASPD and be sociopaths.

It seems like the main villain starts off as someone very loyal to some sort of system they support and are a part of. Something then happens (such as corruption, betrayal, and/or realization) changes them from a 6 into an 8. As an 8, they start doing things as a means of addressing the issue they found with this system that caused their change. They could be trying to save, improve, reform, or destroy it, and their actions cause more harm than good despite believing they are doing otherwise. Whatever the case, it clashes with what Jodio wants and thus making them a main antagonist preventing Jodio from his goals and harming his loved ones in the process.

What is the system, then? We don't exactly know but we have some possibilities.

The system could be something tangible and visible. The American legal system could be an example; we end up with a main villain who is a police officer, judge, lawyer, or social worker. Another example is American capitalism; someone as low as a migrant worker or as high as a CEO could become a main villain. Both could be individuals who feel mistreated by the system or has an epiphany on how to optimize it and both ways lead to them wanting to heavily alter said system at the cost of many lives.

Alternatievly, the system could be a more philosophical and invisible. A great example of this is the mechanisms. We end up with a main villain who either failed to achieve their goals because of it or succeeded yet remained unsatisfied. We can even have someone who started out with a similar life and goals as Jodio. In that case, the main villain could be some sort of warning of what would have happened to Jodio if he didn't change his ways.

In both cases, the main villain becomes someone who is a "hero" or "a voice to the people" because their change leads them to find followers that feel like they are being heard as a result of the main villain taking action for it. There are many careers that can allow someone to become such a voice, such as cult or religious leaders, social media influencers, celebrities, politicians, and more. Especially with how social media has made parasocial relationships prevalent, this could bring a new concept of betrayal that is seen today; think of modern influencer stardom or Asian idol culture. Similar to how DIO would have loyal minions sent to deter and defeat the gang in part 3, the followers of the main villain may become minor villains trying to stop the gang in part 9.

It seems to make sense that a villain would be an 8 because the last three villains we had could be described as 8s. Pucci wanted everyone to understand their destined fate, Funny Valentine wanted America to be a great nation, and Tooru wanted to change society for the sake of Rock Humans. All three were people of influence like mentioned above relative to where they worked (GDSP's Chaplain, president of the United States, Head Doctor of T.G. University Hospital respectively) and all 3 thought they were doing something good for a group of people. So, I speculate the main villain is in a similar boat and his attempts of doing something good may end up clashing Jodio's plans.

Something you might notice is that all the numbers have an associated personalty or mental disorder/symptom associated with them. This happens if the individual falls into the "unhealthy" levels of the number they are associated with. Note: they don't mean you will end up with such symptoms but rather they can explain why you have developed them. Most of the things listed repeat itself in some way and are rather generic (acts of self-destruction, having some sort of dependency or addiction, and becoming reclusive) but there are some that have specific diagnosis like BPD and multiple personalities listed.

What's interesting is ASPD and sociopathy is associated with the 8 personality. As someone who was diagnosed with ASPD by his school psychotherapist, you would think Jodio should have been an 8 for this reason and maybe start out as an 8 before becoming a 6. Instead, he starts as a 3, which does mention psychopathy, but that's about it, and he's expected to become a 2. Could this hint that Jodio's diagnosis is wrong (since the test itself is sketchy and diagnosing somone with that tends to be difficult to quantify in practice)? Or, is this going to end up being a battle between two individuals with ASPD and this could be some weird story about nature vs nurture (Jodio as nature and the main villain as nurture)?

I do wonder what this would all mean for Jodio and the rest of his gang. Even though Rohan mentions someone from the 3 of the gang members being potential traitors, the main villain is set up to be the ultimate betrayer of sorts. This is especially because of the potential that the main villain is very close to Jodio and Dragona, and it makes me speculate the main villain being someone like their estranged father, Meryl Mei, or maybe even Barbara Ann. When someone once mentioned the possibility of Josuke/Gappy becoming a villain, this theory puts him on the table too.

What do you guys think?

#the jojolands #jjba #jojo part 9 #jojos bizarre adventure #jjba part 9 #jojolands #jjba jojolands #jojolands headcanons #jojo headcanons #jojo theories #jjba theories #jojoland theories #jodio joestar #dragona joestar #usagi alohaoe #paco laburantes #rohan kishibe #ennegram #personality quiz #personality tests #ennegram of personality #comparing stand abilities with the associated ennegram number is also interesting #but i'm just going over surface stuff for now #in case you're wondering i'm a 4

[eneablack]

when i first shifted to my fantasy dr (part 1)

i shifted to this dr in the past and i made a google doc about it because i wanted to send it to my friends but now that i have this account i can share the experience with y’all too :)

i recently shifted there again and wanted to share that too but i thought it would be better to post this one first as it explains more about my dr.

i’ll just copy and paste the document but it says that it’s too long so i have to split it into two posts.

so here we go.

OKAY SO I don't know where to start because I'm still freaking out okay. first of all, to shift, I simply set the intention to wake up in that specific reality (which I called “fantasy reality” because I didn't know what other name to give it) and went to sleep without doing anything else except visualising some parts of my dr house. the next morning i felt something on my face like someone was holding my face in their hands which scared me because i went to sleep alone and usually no one wakes me up but then i remembered it could be mom since we had something to do that morning. only that it wasn’t mom- opening my eyes I was hella shocked, I can't even explain what I felt after seeing that I had neteyam in front of me (yes, I added him to the script of this reality too), after all these months of pure agony (and I'm not kidding) I was finally in front of him and him in front of me. i immediately tried not to act weird but it was super hard so after he asked me if i was sick i told him i had a very weird nightmare and i still had to recover. the fact is that in this reality where I shifted he is not a blue alien but a "human" version (not so much human because he's an elf) and god, he was beautiful, the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life. at that point he seemed kind of worried about me because i was staring at him the whole time in silence trying to realize what had just happened so to avoid freaking him out more i told him i was so tired again and fuck, he laughed and then he fucking kissed me. to say that I exploded at that moment is an understatement, but let's overlook it. we got out of bed and started getting ready because, from what I understand, we had decided the night before that that morning we would go to my best friend's café (her name is auri and she is a fairy) and it was initially strange to realize that I had wings on my back (they are not so big anyway, that's why I didn't even feel them at first) and I immediately wondered how the fuck do I put a shirt on 🧍🏼but in the end I wore something all shredded. auri (one of my best friends) was so energetic, she never stopped talking but it didn't bother me. then my other friends yuri and will joined us (it’s will byers lol, i added him to the script after watching stranger things this summer). and will is a faun here 😭 he is truly a love, the sweetest and kindest person i know. I'm writing too much maybe I should cut it a bit, i’ll try to summarize from now. in the afternoon comes my favorite part: my work. in this reality I am half fairy half witch, which is a rare gene there (i scripted so because i wanted to be main character), in fact I am almost the only witch in the village apart from my mother and grandmother. so I went home to prepare a potion that someone had asked me for, they had to spray it on the garden that would make the crops grow well. meanwhile, while I was working on my table/altar, neteyam was working on a wonderful painting (that’s his job) which represented the image of the ocean at sunset with a ship in the centre. it was incredible, he was so talented. after i finished the potion i had another customer that day who ordered me a tarot reading so i went to her house (customers often come to my house but it is more usual for me to go to them). she was a young fairy and lived with her mother. as soon as I arrived they were both very kind and asked me if I wanted something to eat or drink before the reading, I said maybe later but they insisted so they made me sit down and gave me a slice of lemon cake (y’all it was so good) and some tea made by them.

(go to my next post for part 2 cause i can’t fit the entire text here for some reason)

#shifting realities #reality shifting #shifting #desired reality #success story #shifted #shifting stories

[platonically-loving-alastor]

Aroace Alastor

Hoo boy here we go- This one might make some people mad at me, so I'll preface by saying I do not want to start a fight and as long as you respect my business, I'll respect yours. But let's get this over with-

First off, I genuinely don't understand how some people can see the Ace-In-The-Hole quote and still believe that Alastor is only intended to be asexual and not also aromantic. Yes, the term Rosie used for purpose of the pun was 'ace', but can we look at the context of that moment before jumping to conclusions?

Rosie, motioning to Charlie: "Oh, who's this you brought with you? Come now, Alastor, she's much too young for you! Oh, I'm just kidding. I know you're an ace in the hole!"

Her original statement implies nothing sexual, only that he's involved in a relationship with Charlie, and she follows it up with why she knows that couldn't be because he's an 'ace in the hole'. I don't think you have to read too far between the lines to see that.

I would also like to say that when Vivienne has spoken about his orientation before, I recall her saying that she didn't want to confirm him being aromantic so that she wouldn't 'ruin anyone's fun', which I just feel like is an odd thing to say if she wasn't already explicitly picturing him as aroace. If she thought he had romantic attraction, why wouldn't she just say that? What fun would that ruin? I also feel like keeping things like this ambiguous just to appease the shippers is a little weird, but I digress-

And to those of you who I know are saying "But aromantic people can be in relationships too!!" *deep inhale* yeah I know. I'm not gonna pretend you're not right about that, but there are also aroace people who have exactly 0 interest in romance or sex at all. This is the part of the post that really is based on how I interpret certain moments, but to me he is absolutely one of those people. I don't really know where people get any vibes of him being interested in that stuff. I have never once looked at him and thought "Yeah I could see him in a romantic relationship with *insert character here*". Even aside from attraction in general, since that's what we'd be talking about at this point anyway, he just seems like the kind of guy who'd rather work and live independently instead of relying on anyone, whether practically or emotionally (which is also probably part of the reason he never joined the Vees, but that's another topic entirely). Hell, I'm pretty sure he's in heavy denial about even developing any kind of care or friendship with the people at the hotel (ie. the episode 8 scene with him and Niffty).

The only ships I see him involved in with people he doesn't hate (so ignoring RadioApple, RadioHusk, and StaticRadio. But to be real, maybe the fact all his main ships are enemies to lovers coded says something about the whole situation, but that's just me-) are Charlastor - which I will not even try to discuss here, people aren't gonna like this post as it is - and RadioRose. Rosie and him would at least be fair, if it weren't for one thing (which is also personal opinion on my end), and I don't know exactly how to word it. I'm tempted to say she has wingwoman vibes? But she knows he's aro, so that's not the right word, but there's vibes of like, she probably did act as a wingwoman before she realized that about him or something.. There's also something about her joking around like "Oh this is the girl? You have a girlfriend and I'm only now meeting her?" is almost giving motherly behavior. Idk man they're just besties to me, I could see them in a QPR though (not that they'd probably label it that way, considering the word queerplatonic is likely just complete gibberish to Alastor lmao).

So to summarize: It feels incredibly likely, if not practically canon, that Alastor was written with aromanticism in mind, even if Vivienne refuses to explicitly state it. Subtext and not-that-subtle implications can say just as much about a character as word of God, especially when that God has explicitly told us why she won't confirm or deny this information. Do I think any of this will stop people from shipping him romantically with literally any other character? No ofc it won't, and that's okay, that's just what fandoms do. I do think there's something to say for the fact the one aroace (or even at the very least asexual) character gets constantly shipped with everyone else in the cast, but this post is long enough I think. The only point of posting this is that I wanted to get information out there in one post to say "Hey, let's look a little bit past the surface for a second before saying there's no proof of him being aromantic"

Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you at least took something away from this

#*prepares to be metaphorically burned at the stake* #i will also say i have a complicated relationship with staticradio #if its one sided thats fantastic but the moment alastor reciprocates feelings im out #will probably make a post on that too at some point #hazbin hotel #alastor #aroace alastor #rosie hazbin hotel #platonic radiorose

[darkkbluee]

What are your lawlight headcanons?

Oh, an ask? In my inbox? It took a while to realize there really was something in the inbox and it wasn't a bot this time. Anon, this is my first real ask, I'm so touched <3

To the topic! Lawlight headcanons! I have so many, I don't even know where to start. Some of them are AU genre specific, some are based on which arc/timeperiod it is. So many thoughts, how to summarize...

Warning: Below is a long ramble of a few headcanons and why I think that way. They're headcanons, and don't need canon or authorial proof to exist, thanks. Some of them might be AUs too, oops.

For AUs set in the early 2000s, where Light is first arc age. L realizes he's in love first. Not because L's older. Because of the circumstances Light grew up in.

Light is the eldest (and only) son of his family. He had his life figured out since childhood and never doubted he would do anything other than follow that path: Become a detective, chief, and eventually director. Get a girlfriend, buy a car and a house, marry said steady girlfriend, have two kids, the whole traditional family thing. You can even see hints of that in second arc.

When I first read the manga, I could see it in manga!Light. It seemed that way to me because it is sort of a common cultural thing between some Asian countries. Not anime!Light though, which is interesting, but not the point here.

So, Light does not realize he's in love, because he's never had the question of whether he's gay, because he never thought the reason he can't keep his eyes off L is because he's attracted to L, because 'attraction to L' is a non-existent concept in his consciousness.

Light is not dense, nor homophobic or anything. He recognizes when other men are attracted to him, he accepts that people can love whoever they want. He just never superimposes that image on himself.

It takes a whole long while for his brain to cook enough, to separate himself from the image he has in his mind. Then, he questions his sexuality and realizes he is, indeed, attracted to men as well. Or rather, one specific man. He has no sexual and romantic interest in anyone else and by that age, Light has experimented enough to know that.

Between Older Light and L, Light would be the first one to figure it out. But between 18 - 21 year old Light and L, it would L.

2. L is very specific about textures. His favorite, the one he discovers when he meets Light, is Light. Light takes very good care of himself, his face and body being as much a resource he uses as his brains.

Cue touchy L. L likes to run his fingers through Light's hair, he likes it when he can touch Light skin-to-skin, likes it when Light touches him back with his fingers.

As much as L likes watching Light (because L will freely admit he is a shallow creature and Light is very attractive to watch indeed), L loves touching Light more. He may or may not miss body language cues if he's too close to observe the full picture, but the trade off is worth it to L.

3. Light's long list of ex-girlfriends and admirers has stumped L many times. Especially when Light admits they all knew about the others. And that they don't begrudge Light for not committing 100%. And that they still happily help Light with whatever he wants them for even decades later.

Sometimes, it makes L wonder if he is just another victim of Light Yagami's charisma. Then he discards that thought because it doesn't matter. He has Light and Light is just as obsessed with him right back. L is the eventual winner and it doesn't matter who caught whom when they're both in it together.

4. They're both highly competitive. It translates over to board games as well. It's a Rule TM, posted on the fridge, notarized, signed and stamped by their friends and family, that they are never allowed to play Monopoly. And Uno. And Catan. And- [an increasing list of trade focused games].

Addendum - Twister should only be played in personal space, behind closed locked doors! — Sayu and Mello

Addendum 2 - Light is forbidden to play Jenga with Near. — L

That's all for now! If I continue, I'll never stop XD

Thanks for the ask, Anon!

#lawlight #death note #light yagami #l lawliet #asks #ask: lawlight headcanons #my first ask!

[voydhund]

Could you explain flickergate?

I've seen it in a few of your posts and I admit I'm curious.

(you've opened a can of worms, grab some snacks and get ready because WHOO this is gonna be fun.) RAHHH THIS IS MY FAVORITE THING EVER I LOVE IT SM Where to start with Flickergate? Suppose it's only natural to start at the very beginning. (BIG LONG POST BELOW!!!)

November 6th, 1983. Will, Mike and the rest of The Party had just stopped their game of D&D, after Mike's mom had shut it down. While Mike complains to his mom, asking for more time, Will and the others had been cleaning up, and he had found the dice he'd lost- which rolled a 7- and mentioned it to Lucas, who says 'If Mike didn't see it, it doesn't count.' A few moments later, they're all outside, Dustin complaining about Nancy being a bitch, and they ride off, Will staying behind for a moment. "It was a 7." "Huh?" "The roll. It was a 7, The Demogorgon got me. See you tomorrow!" the garage lights flicker behind him as he rides off. Mike notices, but shrugs it off, turning them off as he goes back inside. On his way home, Will's bike lights flicker aswell. He looks down at it for a split second, and he sees a Demogorgon in the road once he looks back up, startling him and causing him to swerve off the road and into the woods, crashing. He abandons the bike and runs home. When he can't find Joyce or Jonathan, seeing the unlock itself with a figure in the window, he runs to the shed, loading a gun and pointing it at the door. Instead of coming through the door, the Demogorgon appears behind him, and it's too late once he realizes. The shed light flickers and grows brighter.

Ok so, there's like, all of Will's screentime for Episode 1. Remember, The Upside Down is frozen on the exact day Will first went missing- November 6th. In later seasons that becomes an issue, but they discover they can manipulate the lights in the rightside up from The Upside Down. Electricity seems to be a pretty big thing in this show. For example, Dustin's "I could feel it" "The electricity." line (in refrence to a canon romantic pair btw), the whole 'Demogorgon make lights go brr' thing, etc.

>"It was a 7." "The roll. It was a 7, The Demogorgon got me." Here, it shows that Will can't lie to Mike, even if it was going to help him. Will seems to think that lying to Mike- to himself -and pretending he doesn't like him at all is going to help the both of them. But Will isn't a good liar, and he can't lie forever. So. Season 5. Will and Mike have ended up in the Upside Down somehow. They are at Mike's garage again, and still, it's November 6th. Will can't lie anymore- he admits that he likes him, sounding stressed and nervous, like he might cry. Mike kinda just pauses, processing, and just kisses him. The lights flicker. They notice. That's basically it, though pretty summarized. Cool, right? While I don't think it will happen that exact way, its probably gonna happen. Again thanks so much for asking about this this is genuinely my favorite Byler thing ever. (/gen) @lucas-nowhereislands @looking-into-the-voids-jaws

#Hurray for gay #void answers #byler analysis #flickergate #byler #miwi #miwi season #mike wheeler #will byers #mike x will #will x mike #stranger things #stranger things s5 #stranger things s1 #flickergate explained

[lucienarcheron]

Elucien ( Taylor's Version ) 🦊🌸

Originally made this a few years ago but had to update it with the newer Taylor songs and her versions of the songs! This was inspired by the many many T-Swift songs that fit our lovely OTP Elucien. I will be highlighting all the lyrics that fit Elucien in each song and I have always said, TSwift is for Elucien and Elucien only haha. I started from her earliest albums and worked my way up, so buckle up, this is a long post! You can find the playlist here.

Invisible (Taylor Swift). This is a song I can see from Lucien’s perspective and ugh, it crushes my heart.

And you can't see me wantin' you the way you want her* But you are everything to me And I just wanna show you *She don't even know you *She's never gonna love you like I want to And you just see right through me but if you only knew me We could be a beautiful, miracle, unbelievable Instead of just invisible There's a fire inside of you That can't help but shine through *She's never gonna see the light No matter what you do And all I think about is how to make you think of me And everything that we could beI just wanna open your eyes And make you realize

Untouchable (Fearless). This song genuinely hurt my feelings. Every single lyric works for Elucien. The whole entire song just works from both Elain and Lucien’s perspectives. She’s untouchable, like a distant diamond sky. They’re reaching out to each other by can’t tell why (they can, it’s the mating bond) but my favorite of the lyrics is: Untouchable burning Brighter than the sun And when you're close I feel like coming undone

You Belong with Me (Fearless). One specific part that stands out coming from Lucien’s perspective.

Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find That what you're looking for has been here the whole time If you could see that I'm the one Who understands you Been here all along So, why can't you see? You belong with me You belong with me

Jump Then Fall (Fearless). Lucien’s pov as him and Elain start to get to know each other as friends. Lucien just can’t help the way his heart beats frantically for this adorable girl.

I realize your laugh is the best sound I have ever heard I like the way I can't keep my focus I watch you talk, you didn't notice I hear the words but all I can think is we should be together Every time you smile, I smile And every time you shine, I'll shine for you

Whoa-oh, I'm feelin' you, baby Don't be afraid to jump then fall Jump then fall into me Baby, I'm never gonna leave you Say that you wanna be with me too So I'ma stay through it all So jump then fall

Well, I like the way your hair falls in your face You got the keys to me, I love each freckle on your face Oh, I've never been so wrapped up, honey I like the way you're everything I ever wanted I had time to think it oh, over And all I can say is come closer Take a deep breath and jump then fall into me 'Cause every time you smile, I smile And every time you shine, I'll shine for you

The bottom's gonna drop out from under our feet I'll catch you, I'll catch you When people say things that bring you to your knees I'll catch you The time is gonna come when you're so mad, you could cry But I'll hold you through the night until you smile Whoa-oh, I need you, baby Don't be afraid, please, jump then fall Jump then fall into me

Today Was a Fairytale (Valentine’s Day). The song that summarizes how every day will be for them moving forward.

Today was a fairytale You were the prince I used to be a damsel in distress You took me by the hand

&

You told me I was pretty When I looked like a mess

&

Time slows down Whenever you're around Сan you feel this magic in the air? It must have been the way you kissed me Fell in love when I saw you standin' there It must have been the way Today was a fairytale It must have been the way Today was a fairytale Today was a fairytale You've got a smile That takes me to another planet Every move you make Everything you say is right Today was a fairytale Today was a fairytale All that I can say Is now it's getting so much clearer Nothing made sense 'Til the time I saw your face Today was a fairytale

Mine (Speak Now). This is a song I can see representing if (when) Elain leaves the Night Court to work with (become friends) with the Band of Exiles.

Do you remember, we were sittin', there by the water? You put your arm around me for the first time You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter You are the best thing, that's ever been mine

If you think about it, Elain is a rebel waiting to be unleashed. The careful (mediator) daughter of a once careless (up until the end) father. I can see them sitting there, enjoying the silence, and Lucien getting the courage (and with her permission) to put his arm around her for the first time.

I Almost Do (Red). For this song, I view it as Elain’s resistance to Lucien being her own stubbornness. She’s scared of finding something she could want forever, scared of how there’s a pull towards him even when she doesn’t actively want it. Her resistance can be viewed as her fighting the pull of the bond because she doesn’t want to be influenced by it, she wants to make her own choice. I’m sure she could be wondering how often her mate thinks of her compared to how often she thinks of him.

I bet This time of night you're still up I bet You're tired from a long hard week I bet You're sittin' in your chair by the window Looking out at the city And I bet Sometimes you wonder 'bout me And I just wanna tell youIt takes everything in me not to call you And I wish I could run to you And I hope you know that every time I don't I almost do I almost do I bet You think I either moved on or hate you 'Cause each time you reach out there's no reply

Treacherous (Red). This song makes me think of Elain and Lucien both being drawn to each other because they can’t help it, even when they try to resist it. For Elain, Lucien is the hard choice because it challenges everything she’s come to know about the mating bond and takes her away even further from the life she wanted. I can see them hating the attraction they feel but succumbing to it regardless (not as far as haters to lovers but definitely reluctant until they start hashing it out — “is it the bond or do I truly feel this way?”).

I can't decide if it's a choice Getting swept away I hear the sound of my own voice Asking you to stay And all we are is skin and bone Trained to get along Forever going with the flow But you're friction

& Two headlights shine through the sleepless night And I will get you, and get you alone Your name has echoed through my mind And I just think you should, think you should know That nothing safe is worth the drive And I would follow you, follow you home I'll follow you, follow you home

Message in a Bottle (Red). This song is all Elain realizing her feelings for Lucien after all this time and distance. She's reaching out, scared but he could be the one she loves, right?

I know that you like me And it's kinda frightenin' Standing here waitin', waitin' And I became hypnotized By freckles and bright eyes Tongue tied

But now You're so far away and I'm down Feelin' like a face in the crowd I'm reachin' for you, terrified

&

'Cause you could be the one that I love I could be the one that you dream of Message in a bottle is all I can do Standin' here, hopin' it gets to you You could be the one that I keep, and I Could be the reason you can't sleep at night Message in a bottle is all I can do Standin' here, hopin' it gets to you

This Love (1989). This song is so soft and I want to scream because of how it fits so well. Both Elain and Lucien would consider the bond both positive and negative because of how it came to be, how it shifts their memories and faithfulness to their previous lovers.

In silent screams and wildest dreams I never dreamed of this

Tossing, turning Struggled through the night with someone new And I could go on and on, on and on Lantern, burning Flickered in my mind, only you

This love left a permanent mark This love is glowing in the dark, oh-oh, oh These hands had to let it go free, and This love came back to me, oh-oh, oh

Your smile, my ghost I fell to my knees When you're young, you just run But you come back to what you need

Wonderland (1989). Certain lyrics reminded me of their moments with Hybern when Elain got turned. The few moments before, when Lucien picked her up and away from the cauldron tipping Nesta so Elain doesn’t get wet. The tense, crazy moments after finding out she’s his mate.

Flashing lights and we Took a wrong turn and we Fell down a rabbit hole You held on tight to me 'Cause nothing's as it seems And spinning out of control

I reached for you But you were gone I knew I had to go back home You search the world for something else To make you feel like what we had And in the end, in Wonderland, we both went mad

You Are In Love (1989). This song screams Elain watching up one night and looking at Lucien's sleeping body next to her and realizing, "Oh. This. This is it."

One look, dark room Meant just for you

&

No proof, not much But you saw enough

&

No proof, one touch But you felt enough

You can hear it in the silence, silence, you You can feel it on the way home, way home, you You can see it with the lights out, lights out You are in love, true love You are in love

&

You kiss on sidewalks You fight and you talk One night he wakes Strange look on his face Pauses, then says You're my best friend And you knew what it was He is in love

&

You two are dancing in a snow globe, 'round and 'round And he keeps the picture of you in his office downtown And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars And why I've spent my whole life tryin' to put it into words

Delicate (Reputation). Normally this is a Nessian song for me but with Elucien? This is a song that is going on as they very slowly get to know each other, possibly pretending they’re not falling very deeply in love with each other because it’s too #delicate to rock the boat.

You must like me for me Yeah, I want you

Is it cool that I said all that? Is it too soon to do this yet? 'Cause I know that it's delicate

Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it? Isn't it delicate?

Sometimes I wonder; when you sleep Are you ever dreaming of me? Sometimes when I look into your eyes I pretend you're mine, all the damn time 'Cause I like you

So It Goes (Reputation). This is the moment Elain and Lucien stare at each other, seeing each other for the first time as equals and not...fighting it. The moment right before...the kiss and they fall. But when you get me alone, it's so simple 'Cause baby, I know what you know We can feel it And all the pieces fall Right into place Getting caught up in a moment Lipstick on your face So it goes I'm yours to keep And I'm yours to lose You know I'm not a bad girl But I do bad things with you So it goes

Dress (Reputation). Does this one even need explaining? Elain and Lucien exploring their relationship without anyone knowing, without anyone interfering. Shameless plug of my own fic where I used this song just for them.

Our secret moments in your crowded room They've got no idea about me and you There is an indentation in the shape of you Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo

All of this silence and patience, pining in anticipation My hands are shaking from holding back from you (ah, ah, ah) All of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting My hands are shaking from holding back from all this

&

Inescapable, I'm not even gonna try And if I get burned, at least we were electrified I'm spilling wine in the bathtub, you kiss my face and we're both drunk Everyone thinks that they know us, but they know nothing about

Lover ft. Shawn Mendes (Lover). Once they’ve opened themselves to the beauty of what they have together? Inseparable.

Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close? Forever and ever, ah Take me out, and take me home You're my, my, my, my lover &

I'll sing love songs to you when we're eighty See, I finally got you now, honey, I won't let you fall

&

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand? With every guitar string scar on my hand I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover Look in my eyes, they will tell you the truth The girl in my story has always been you I'd go down with the Titanic, it's true, for you, lover And you'll save all your dirtiest jokes for me And at every table, I'll save you a seat, lover

The Archer (Lover). I see this as a very Elain song as she’s battling with her own self and mindset as well as what the bond means to her and her potential with Lucien.

Combat, I'm ready for combat I say I don't want that, but what if I do? 'Cause cruelty wins in the movies I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

Easy they come, easy they go I jump from the train, I ride off alone I never grew up, it's getting so old Help me hold onto you

I've been the archer I've been the prey Who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay?

I Think He Knows (Lover). This fun song is Elain’s thought process as she shamelessly becomes o b s e s s e d with her mate, the love of her life.

I think he knows his footprints On the sidewalk Lead to where I can't stop Go there every night

I think he knows his hands around A cold glass Make me wanna know that body Like it's mine

He got that boyish look that I like in a man I am an architect, I'm drawing up the plans It's like I'm seventeen, nobody understands No one understands

He got my heartbeat Skipping down 16th Avenue Got that, oh! I mean Wanna see what's under that attitude Like, I want you, bless my soul And I ain't gotta tell him I think he knows I think he knows

I think he knows When we get all alone I'll make myself at home And he'll want me to stay

&

He's so obsessed with me, and boy I understand Boy I understand

Paper Rings (Lover).  Reluctant mates to friends to best friends to lovers? This is the song Elain scream-sings from the rooftops.

The wine is cold Like the shoulder that I gave you in the street Cat and mouse for a month or two or three Now I wake up in the night and watch you breathe

Kiss me once 'cause you know I had a long night (Oh!) Kiss me twice 'cause it's gonna be alright Three times 'cause I've waited my whole life

&

I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings Uh huh, that's right Darling, you're the one I want, and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this Uh huh, that's right Darling, you're the one I want In paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams Oh, you're the one I want

&

Kiss you once 'cause I know you had a long night (Oh!) Kiss you twice 'cause it's gonna be alright Three times 'cause you waited your whole life (One, two, one two three four!)

&

I want to drive away with you I want your complications too I want your dreary Mondays Wrap your arms around me, baby boy

You’re the one I want

False God (Lover). Elain and Lucien fighting to know, “Do you want me for me? Or is it the bond?” Give me angry kissing. Give me some frantic hands roaming bodies that set their souls ablaze. Give me the moment they break away from the heated kiss and have hurt in their eyes because those idiots turned away from each at the same time.

They all warned us about times like this They say the road gets hard and you get lost when you're led by blind faith Blind faith

But we might just get away with it Religion's in your lips Even if it's a false god We'd still worship We might just get away with it The altar is my hips Even if it's a false god We'd still worship this love We'd still worship this love We'd still worship this love

I know heaven's a thing I go there when you touch me Honey hell is when I fight with you

But we can patch it up good Make confessions and we're begging for forgiveness

Afterglow (Lover). I see this song as Elain’s perspective as she’s been fighting against this bond and pushing Lucien away because she thinks it’s the worse thing that’s happened to her then slowly realizing exactly how in love she is with him.

I blew things out of proportion, now you're blue Put you in jail for something you didn't do I pinned your hands behind your back, oh Thought I had reason to attack, but no

Fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves Chemistry 'til it blows up, 'til there's no us Why'd I have to break what I love so much? It's on your face, and I'm to blame, I need to say

Hey It's all me in my head I'm the one who burned us down But it's not what I meant Sorry that I hurt you I don't wanna do, I don't wanna do this to you I don't wanna lose, I don't wanna lose this with you I need to say, hey It's all me, just don't go Meet me in the afterglow

I lived like an island, punished you with silence Went off like sirens, just crying

&

Tell me that you're still mine Tell me that we'll be just fine Even when I lose my mind I need to say Tell me that it's not my fault Tell me that I'm all you want Even when I break your heart

Daylight (Lover). After the heartbreaks and all the fights…they walk into the daylight together.

I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you I've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night And now I see daylight, I only see daylight

&

And I can still see it all (In my mind) All of you, all of me (Intertwined) I once believed love would be (Black and white) But it's golden (Golden) And I can still see it all (In my head) Back and forth from New York (Singing in your bed) I once believed love would be (Burning red) But it's golden Like daylight, like daylight Like daylight, daylight

&

I wanna be defined by the things that I love Not the things I hate Not the things that I'm afraid of, I'm afraid of Not the things that haunt me in the middle of the night I, I just think that You are what you love

Mirrorball (Folklore). Learning the beauty of falling in love and seeing how a mate is an equal, a mirror to show you all the wonderful sides of themselves.

I want you to know I'm a mirrorball I'll show you every version of yourself tonight I'll get you out on the floor Shimmering beautiful And when I break it's in a million pieces Hush When no one is around, my dear You'll find me on my tallest tiptoes Spinning in my highest heels, love Shining just for you Hush I know they said the end is near But I'm still on my tallest tiptoes Spinning in my highest heels, love Shining just for you

Invisible String (Folklore). Isn’t this the song for every mate? Highlighting how there was always a string tying them to a chance for a most magnificent love.

Time, mystical time Cuttin' me open, then healin' me fine Were there clues I didn't see? And isn't it just so pretty to think All along there was some Invisible string Tying you to me?

&

A string that pulled me Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons One single thread of gold tied me to you

Peace (Folklore). A song from Lucien’s perspective. A future high lord from a broken home. How could he ever bring her peace?

But I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm If your cascade ocean wave blues come All these people think love's for show But I would die for you in secret The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?

And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences Sit with you in the trenches Give you my wild, give you a child Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other Family that I chose now that I see your brother as my brother Is it enough? 'Cause there's robbers to the east, clowns to the west I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best But the rain is always gonna come if you're standing with me Willow (Evermore). Elain as she’s realizing how Lucien has sneaked into her heart by being everything she didn’t know she needed.

I'm like the water when your ship rolled in that night Rough on the surface but you cut through like a knife And if it was an open-shut case I never would've known from that look on your face Lost in your current like a priceless wine

&

Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneaking in As if you were a mythical thing Like you were a trophy or a champion ring And there was one prize I'd cheat to win The more that you say The less I know Wherever you stray I follow I'm begging for you to take my hand Wreck my plans That's my man You know that my train could take you home Anywhere else is hollow I'm begging for you to take my hand Wreck my plans That's my man

&

Wait for the signal and I'll meet you after dark Show me the places where the others gave you scars

Gold Rush (Evermore). Elain, as she watches Lucien dazzle every crowd he’s in, feeling both proud that he’s her mate (while still nervous and apprehensive around him) but can’t help being slightly annoyed at how many people seem to want his attention.

Gleaming Twinkling Eyes like sinking ships On waters so inviting I almost jump in But I don't like a gold rush, gold rush I don't like anticipating my face in a red flush I don't like that anyone would die to feel your touch Everybody wants you Everybody wonders what it would be like to love you Walk past, quick brush I don't like slow motion double vision in rose blush I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush Everybody wants you But I don't like a gold rush What must it be like To grow up that beautiful? With your hair falling into place like dominos At dinner parties I call you out on your contrarian shit And the coastal town We wandered 'round had never Seen a love as pure as it

Ivy (Evermore). The struggle of wanting someone while they both navigate the waters of grieving an old love. The struggle of how they find themselves in each other’s dreams.

Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow Tarnished but so grand

And the old widow goes to the stone every day But I don't, I just sit here and wait Grieving for the living

&

Oh, goddamn My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand Taking mine, but it's been promised to another Oh, I can't Stop you putting roots in my dreamland My house of stone, your ivy grows And now I'm covered in you

I wish to know The fatal flaw that makes you long to be Magnificently cursed

&

it's a fire It's a goddamn blaze in the dark And you started it You started it So yeah, it's a war It's the goddamn fight of my life And you started it You started it

Cowboy Like Me (Evermore). Elain and Lucien realizing they’re both more similar than they think, having to cater to the feelings of those around them, telling people what they want to hear and just trying to make the most of life. Until they find each other.

You're a cowboy like me Perched in the dark Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear Like it could be love I could be the way forward Only if they pay for it

You're a bandit like me Eyes full of stars Hustling for the good life Never thought I'd meet you here It could be love We could be the way forward And I know I'll pay for it

And the skeletons in both our closets Plotted hard to mess this up

&

Now you hang from my lips Like the Gardens of Babylon With your boots beneath my bed Forever is the sweetest con

&

I've had some tricks up my sleeve Takes one to know one

Long Story Short (Evermore). Elain has had her ups and downs, struggling to find herself, letting herself get lost in options here and there but finally, finds her way home. To herself. To Lucien.

Fatefully I tried to pick my battles 'til the battle picked me Misery Like the war of words I shouted in my sleep And you passed right by

&

And I fell from the pedestal Right down the rabbit hole Long story short, it was a bad time Pushed from the precipice Clung to the nearest lips Long story short, it was the wrong guy Now I'm all about you I'm all about you, ah Yeah, yeah I'm all about you, ah Yeah, yeah Actually I always felt I must look better in the rear view Missing me At the golden gates they once held the keys to When I dropped my sword I threw it in the bushes and knocked on your door And we live in peace But if someone comes at us This time, I'm ready

&

No more keepin' score now I just keep you warm (keep you warm) No more tug of war now I just know there's more (know there's more) No more keepin' score now I just keep you warm (keep you warm) And my waves meet your shore Ever and evermore

Lavender Haze (Midnights). The moment I heard this song, I knew it would be an elucien hit. This is Elain and Lucien in the stages of secretly getting to know each other away from everyone. I see this from Elain's POV as they try to take it slow and stay in that lavender haze~

Starin' at the ceilin' with you Oh, you don't ever say too much And you don't really read into My melancholia

I've been under scrutiny (yeah, oh, yeah) You handle it beautifully (yeah, oh, yeah) All this shit is new to me (yeah, oh, yeah)

I feel the lavender haze creepin' up on me Surreal, I'm damned if I do give a damn what people say No deal, the 1950s shit they want from me I just wanna stay in that lavender haze

&

All they keep askin' me (all they keep askin' me) Is if I'm gonna be your bride

Sweet Nothing (Midnights). Elain and Lucien knowing they're each other's safe spaces.

They said the end is coming Everyone's up to something I find myself running home to your sweet nothings Outside, they're push and shoving You're in the kitchen humming All that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing

&

And the voices that implore, "You should be doing more" To you, I can admit that I'm just too soft for all of it

And lastly, to wrap it up with an oldie, I’m Only Me When I’m With You (Taylor Swift). “Mine…you are mine and I am yours. Mate.”

Friday night beneath the stars In a field behind your yard You and I are painting pictures in the sky Sometimes we don't say a thing Just listen to the crickets sing Everything I need is right here by my side

And I know everything about you I don't wanna live without you

I'm only up when you're not down Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground It's like no matter what I do Well, you drive me crazy half the time The other half I'm only trying To let you know that what I feel is true And I'm only me when I'm with you

#elucien #elain archeron #lucien vanserra #elucien playlists #my elucien tswift dissertation #ANON WHERE ARE YOU!! #this is for you lmao #acotar playlists #gp #playlists #elucien taylor's version

[thewatercolours]

King Quest Ficlet: "Always on Hand"

Note: This is an unfinished scene. I ran out of steam, and summarized how it would finish at the end.

After taking the throne, Graham found fewer opportunities to visit the old Llewdor homestead. He had to grasp such chances firmly by the scruffs. If he did not, other needs would press on his time and make it vanish. Then one evening he would have a nightcap that tasted just too much like the golden bitter his mother and Madeline used to brew and sell to the local tavern, just to keep bread on the table. Or he would find himself strolling in the gazebo courtyard, and realize he could no longer picture the ivy back home – only that he had noticed the differences when he first arrived. And the longing to tread roads that knew his boots would set in, stronger and stronger, until he had to go.

The first time, Royal Guard Number One took an entire week just plotting the trip out. He marked maps in red ink. He arranged for enough provisions to equip a polar expedition. Amaya was commissioned to outfit half a dozen guards with new weaponry. (“Can we even afford this?” “Your safety is our priority, sire.” “But we can’t even pay to have the castle roof patched!” “It already needs patching. You don’t, and we’d like to keep it that way.”) The whole trip was pushed back by a month just for preparation time.

Graham bit his tongue.

The guards made quite the sight at the farmhouse, posting themselves on either side of the ladder that led up to the loft which had been Graham’s childhood bedroom, ramrod stiff. Guard Number Three went through a phase where she taste-tested every food Rosie served up, because it “wasn’t prepared in the royal kitchens. And according to the handbook, we are to assume it is, (sniff, sniff,) suspect.”

Madeline and Ginger tried to put a brave face on it and crack all the inside jokes despite the outsiders, but it wasn’t the same. Especially with the running commentary Guards Number One and Two kept up when they thought the family was not listening. “The noses on this family, though. I’d assumed the king’s nose was some kind of… exception.”

Rosie took to setting tea for the guards on the lawn, just so she could get some space alone with the family, and so that private conversations did not have to be whispered. “I’m racking my brain,” she told Graham in an undertone as they watched the guards through the diamond-paned window, “whether there’s some sightseeing I could suggest for them. You know, so they’d, um, give us an afternoon off. But darned if I can think of any sights round here.”

Ginger stroked her chin. “Maybe we could take them round to the ol’ griffin cave down by the river, and we could be really loud so it would wake up. And while they’re distracted by the griffin,  we could slip off and -”

“Ginger!”

“Just saying, they’ve got two swords apiece. They’d be fine.”

But Rosie put her foot down.

Three or four years into his reign, Graham had to put own foot down. “No guards,” he said firmly the day before he was due to set out for Llewdor. “None.”

Number One crossed his arms sternly. “Out of the question. You are-”

“ - perfectly fine traveling on my own,” Graham all but snapped, crossing own arms as though in mirror image. “You know I made my way to the tournament here completely alone, right? You know I recovered the three treasures alone, right? And you take up half the house when you’re there. You eat my mom and sisters out of house and home!”

“But sire –“

“For Pete’s sake, Number One! Putting a crown on my head didn’t turn me into china!”

“You were literally –“ The captain caught himself, then seemed to think better of it. “- literally kidnapped from Daventry Square not so long ago.”

He had something of a point. But, “That was a few years ago! I’ve leveled up since then. And I’ve worked hard to move on from all of that. It seems to me part of that is having some confidence that nothing of the kind’s going to happen again.” Graham stopped to catch his breath. “Look, I’ll compromise. I’ll take the main roads, and stay at inns where I can, and leave letters for the landlords to forward on to you. Zards, I’ll tie straps onto a cage of homing pigeons and wear it like a backpack, if that’s what it takes to get you off my back. Um, sorry,” he hastily corrected himself, feeling Number One’s glare even through his helmet. “I meant, if that’s what it takes to reassure you. Ten to one the magic mirror’s going to show what I’m up to the whole time anyway. Come on!” Graham summoned as charming a smile as he could in his frustrated state. “Meet me in the middle?”

Number One considered. “I might meet you at the 13.5% point. There’s a defensible-ish old guard house there, and it’s not that far from Daventry, and –“

“Not what I meant.”

To make short a long story, it took some haggling, but eventually Graham rode alone once again. Only Triumph heard his highway songs. There was no warm but careful politeness when his family opened the door. On the contrary, they tackled him. Fireside chats lasted into the wee hours, with no need to respect anyone’s carefully planned night patrol hours.

As the ancient grandfather clock chimed 2 o’clock, Madeline processed in from the kitchen with a steaming pan. “Anyone for seconds on hermit cookies? I’d just give them another couple of minutes - ” she said, even as her brother swiped one.

“Aaagh!” screamed Graham, dropping the cookie into the depths of the ancient sofa, and sucking his fingertips. “Zards-zards-zards!”

“Serve you right!” Ginger chuckled, bouncing Baby Jimmy on her hip. “You know that’s how Anisette lost one of her fingers in Puerto Pollo, right? Kind of.”

Graham fished for the cookie amongst the cushions. “Can you imagine if my guards were here?”

Ginger rolled her eyes. “Can I ever. Full blown emergency mode. That second guard would probably swan dive head first into the sofa, like you’d dropped your crown into the lake, or something. If you weren’t forbidden to eat it because it was more than one second.”

“You’re probably thinking of Number Three, not Number Two.” Graham gave up the search and reached for another cookie, using his shirt cuff as an oven mitt. “Matt would be more likely to

OK, this ficlet won’t resolve itself, and if I don’t do something soon, I’ll lose the drive to post it all together. So, in the spirit of that bullet points post, the general vision went like so:

Graham complains about the guards to his family but over the course of the scene actually describes some of the things he loves about them without knowing it.

Another quick scene takes places a few years later, when Valanice is preparing to move into the castle, and Graham’s mom and Madeline come to help with prep for the wedding and get to know her a bit. They end up having to work with the guards, who are surface level annoying but actually click really well with them, as we see through little hints.

Number One and Rosie get a one-on-one scene together. Though it’s never stated, it’s conveyed over the course of the scene that they begin to understand that in some respects, their relationships with Graham are similar, and that the other has a good deal more to them than meets the eye.

Montage, featuring the guards intersecting with Graham’s life. Adventures. Daily doings. Alexander’s kidnapping and disappearance. The guards are there, supporting, protecting, sometimes being doofuses but always reliably there.

Graham takes Valanice and Rosella to Llewdor for the first time. And the visit is awesome and everything but… at the end, Rosie says carefully, “Graham I haven’t seen your captain – or any of your guards – since you and Valanice got married. I was wondering, do you want to… bring them along next time?”

And Graham heartily agrees.

Cheesy! Corny! But soft one-shots is the name of the game.

#king's quest #kings quest #king graham #my writing

[asyastudieskorean]

9/20/2023 — Hello, studying world. Today I start my journey of learning Korean with my first university Korean class (online). We didn't have any work on the first day, so all I did was read the syllabus (the most basic, non-informative syllabus I've ever read, ha), set up my new desk space, and updated my student bio on Canvas. I haven't been a college student for about 3 years, so it felt like I accomplished a lot. When the readings and assignments start coming in, I'm sure reality will hit.

I've always wanted to learn Korean, and my goal is to reach a near-fluent level, but I know it'll be hard, especially with my full-time work priorities. Eventually, being able to teach and work in translation is my goal. FYI, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese are on my list, too, but I'll be realistic and focus on one language for the foreseeable future.

Last week, as it so happens, I had to move from my family and childhood home, and I am lacking in the positivity department rn, so I think having a place to chronicle my studies and the progress I make will be good for me. I tend to start a new blog on here when I'm having a hard time, and it helps.

So, the plan is to take two full academic years of Korean (that's 3 quarters per year at my university). That's just how much Korean the school offers. I graduated in 2020 from this same university with a BA in English with a focus on professional and creative writing, and I really enjoyed the overall experience studying here.

I spent a whole lot of time obsessing over grammar, reading new and old literature, trying to understand poetry, and just enjoying the inner peace I felt when writing fiction. It was maybe my most happy time because I had no other real responsibilities or worries besides school. All I did was read and write.

Anyhow, fast forward to now, after pondering different language learning options (which are limited in my area), I decided to take my Korean classes at the university level because the classes will show up on my official university transcripts, and I imagine that will be best when I apply for future Korean-related jobs. I am also hoping that by taking university-level language classes, they will have some sort of superior level of... intensity? accuracy? efficiency? Something like that. Granted, this route isn't the best for my finances, as there is no aid for non-matriculated post-grads, and the cost of a single class is quite ridiculous. But alas, here I am, with an empty wallet and hope in my eyes.

Upon reading the syllabus today, which could basically be summarized as "TBD," I realized the textbook I bought, the textbook I waited over a week for, the one listed on the online course materials list, is, in fact, not the correct textbook.

And, icing on the bitter cake, the correct textbook appears to be a rare Pokémon that isn't available anywhere except the dark corners of eBay, where shipping will take at least 2 weeks. Like how did other students get this? Did they order it two months in advance? Meanwhile, I have my first assignments and readings due Monday.

I quite literally just sent an email to my professor and asked what I should do, so we'll see what she says, but I really wasn't hoping to be that one student, emailing the professor about an issue on day 1.

Since this is my first post here, here also is a tiny bit about me:

My name is Asya ("Asia"), and I'm a 24-year-old English grad based in Washington; no, not the one followed by DC, but the state with a lot of rain and trees. Twilight? Starbucks? Amazon? Yes, that one.

Since graduating in 2020, I've been a freelance editor and writer. I'm taking Korean both for passion and for work purposes, and I really should have started sooner. But I guess we're all on our own timelines.

I've been on Tumblr for a long, long time, but I've never been part of the studyblr sector. I'm glad to be here. :)

#student #college student #back to school #university #korean #korean language #language learning #korean classes #studying #studyblr #study blog #washington #washington state

[banamine-bananime]

preface: i was writing a list of my headcanons for funsies and got completely derailed with angsty grimmons shit that needs to be scooped out of that post because it’s stupid long. so here

grif worked in honolulu a couple years after hs graduation until kai was old enough (17) he felt he could leave. did a year at university before realizing he’s smart enough to be admitted to cornell but not to get the scholarship he realistically needs to not be in crushing debt on graduation, and also there’s not nearly enough regimentation to college life to prevent him from rotting in bed paralyzed by “oh my god i don’t have Responsibilities That Need To Be Done Right Now for the first time in forever and idk what to do now” and executive dysfunction. went through basic and stationed on the doomed outpost. That Whole Thing (a polite way of saying “sneaking off for a nap on duty, sleeping through a massacre, and waking up to find literally everyone else dead”) was the nail in the coffin that pretty much shot his last shred of motivation and hope to shit, and based on his behaviour and psych eval afterwards (best summarized as “learned helplessness that everything is shit always and he’s useless and never gonna be able to help anyone so 👍 fuck everything fuck everyone just try to eke some hedonistic joy out of life before you die”) he was reassigned to the sim soldiers.

meanwhile simmons tried to do university several times and had to drop out for mental health reasons (a very polite way of putting “rapid spiral into absolute disaster every time”. it leaves room for giving him the benefit of the doubt that this was a proactive “ah i should take care of myself and this is not working for me :) #selfcare #therapy” decision. this is not benefit of the doubt that anyone who knows him would extend.).

I go back and forth on whether to roll with the “that one throwaway line with a suspiciously specific hypothetical of being in a unit that was stranded and had to eat their dog to survive” thing or just say he was assigned straight to sim troopers. on the one hand, i really love grif and simmons having a parallel immensely traumatic first assignment that made them both Worse in kinda similar kinda opposite ways in line with the ways they were each already fucked up

(grif “life is inherently a garbage fire. i am useless. all i can do is look out for myself and save my own hide by absolute never trusting any authority, refusing to get attached to the other fuckers around here (they’d hate me anyways so just let them hate me), and obsessively hoarding any access to food and shelter and comfort because Maslow said I can’t work on health or belonging or esteem until i do :/ yeah i know, sorry, i’ve got a doctor’s note from him right here.” vs simmons “my life is a garbage fire probably because everyone around me is an idiot fucking something up but also because i’m not trying hard enough. i’m sure if i keep Performing The Maladaptive Behaviours even harder they will work and i THEN will feel respected and powerful and loved. you see you just have to keep repressing every feeling so you can suck up to anyone you detect a whiff of Authority Figure on no matter how little you actually respect them, and follow EVERY RULE and work and work and work. and you had better abandon any compunctions about things like eating a dog you loved or backstabbing a friend for brownie points from the CO who hates him or Literally Murdering your CO for a promotion. and if you ever stop desperately trying, fighting dirty looking out just for yourself, and instead just sit still for a moment and enjoy sincere zero-ulterior-motives connections with people, you will probably definitely immediately die of starvation or exposure (it is a metaphor you see. of exposure to the elements while stranded without resources. for the agonizing exposure of allowing yourself to be known.)”)

on the other hand i’m like whoa now. this boy’s got enough problems we really don’t need to be giving him any more or we’re really never gonna pry him free of the woobiefication fics.

#rvb #red vs blue #dexter grif #dick simmons #alexa send post #grif #simmons

[deathon1leg]

we all know by now that blue represents mike and yellow represents will but... i’m also a FIRM believer that red represents el. (and this is a good thing for byler!)

here’s why.

⚠️spoilers ahead for all of st but mostly s4⚠️

this is gonna be a long one, so, strap in. i promise i’ll make it worth your time!!

also, i’m sure someone’s talked about this at least a little already so i’m sorry if i end up reiterating someone else’s point!

i’m gonna be focusing mainly on season 4, but i wanna start by saying stranger things has always heavily utilized primary colors, aka blue, red, and yellow, for characters’ clothing, set design, lighting, and promotion. now, this doesn’t necessarily have to mean anything but things add up when we get further into it.

here are just a few examples:

in the poster, clothing, and even the background lights in the s3 mall pic, primary colors are the main ones used.

so... what’s with the colors?

if you’re here you probably know fellow delusional bylers have made wonderful analysis posts about the strategic use of yellow and blue to represent will and mike, and i’ll add some links if i can find them, but to summarize: will is most seen wearing yellow, mike is most seen wearing blue, and they often wear each other’s colors in elements of their outfits. here’s a couple examples from season 4:

anyway, these are obviously two out of three of the primary colors that stranger things loves to use so much, and mike and will could be considered two out of three of the main characters.

the third primary color is red.

the third main character is el.

i know this sounds like a reach, but hear me out, okay?

eleven is often seen wearing red. it’s hard to say if it’s to the extent that mike and will wear their own colors because of all the time she’s spent in her hospital gown or the sensory deprivation suit, but it’s definitely prominent. mike and will’s outfits also often have red in them, just as el’s outfits often have blue and yellow.

she usually doesn’t wear a LOT of red, it’s almost always an accenting color to the rest of the outfit. i’ll explain what i think the reason for this is later, and more on why i think it’s her color. this is just me establishing this notion so we can get into it.

what does the use of each color in their outfits mean?

mike, will, and el’s clothes often include each other’s colors, be it a whole shirt or a few stripes, as you can see in some of the pictures above.

from what i’ve gathered the use of each color indicates how much the wearer is thinking about the character it represents, or how important the character currently is to the wearer. this includes when they’re wearing their own color.

i think el beginning to wear more red than she used to signifies her becoming more of her own person, which could also be why she still doesn’t wear that much of it—her life since escaping the lab has been all about saving the world and obsessing over her boyfriend, she hasn’t had time to fully realize who she is as a person.

that, and the idea that the the colors they’re wearing correlate to who they’re thinking about/who’s important to them helps put the s4 ending scene in better context.

i believe (at least in this scene) that white symbolizes neutrality, as in either no specific person at all or maybe every person as a whole. i included her white sensory deprivation tank outfit because i think it encapsulates neutrality, because being in one of those makes it feel like you’re sort of floating in nothingness.

her outfit in the last scene of s4 is almost completely white with a little bit of pink on the bottom of her sleeves and the flowers in her shirt, and an even smaller amount of yellow and green as a part of the flowers. mike’s confession and max’s near-death might’ve caused her numbness and/or confusion, explaining the neutrality. pink is just a lighter version of red (or red + white) showing that her sense of self is still there, but dimming. then there’s yellow for will, and green for will + mike. there’s no blue at all—she’s probably just done with mike’s shit.

even though i’m focusing on clothes i should point out that all around her in the field are yellow, red, and blue flowers. from some camera angles yellow flowers are the majority which could be hinting at will becoming the main character again in s5. all of the flowers are dying as the upside down takes over their world, and the sky flashes with red lightning. el picks up a dead flower and you can’t tell at that point what color it was, but it might’ve been yellow based on the others in the bunch, which... i’m not actually sure what that means.

the dying flowers look a whole lot like the ones mike brought her in the airport and they’re even the same colors, suggesting a m*leven breakup.

the previous “person they’re thinking about” theory also goes for set design and lighting, but in terms of clothes, here are some of what are imo the most concrete examples of this in s4

in the top left, will’s waiting for mike to arrive at the airport and he’s SO excited to see him and give him his painting. his shirt is all blue, because his head is completely full of mike.

in the top middle, mike is having a serious argument with el but he doesn’t really care about it. he’s mostly thinking about himself hence the blue shirt, and thinking a little bit about will, hence the thin yellow stripes.

in the top right, el’s shirt is blue and the flannel over it has blue and red stripes, but the base of the flannel... is green. green = blue + yellow. to be fair, the brightness on that picture is significantly turned up and in the original it mostly looks blue, but there is undeniably green in there, especially in other pics. she wore this during her and mike’s fight and while being arrested when mike was telling her that he would fix everything. i don’t think she believed him. i think the green is her beginning to get suspicious.

in the middle, will is emotionally supporting el during her presentation and comforting her when she gets bullied, so his shirt is mostly red stripes. it’s very hard to see here but there are super thin lines of blue, yellow, and green between the red ones.

in the bottom left, el’s dress has big blue, red, purple, and green stripes with scribbles of yellow on most of them. once again green = blue + yellow, but the ones on her dress are leaning more toward blue. then of course, purple = blue + red, mike and el. the stripes on her flannel are blue with yellow on the edges. she’s excited to see her boyfriend for the first time in a while, and will’s tagging along, so she’s thinking about all of them, including herself, and her and mike as a couple.

in the bottom middle, mike’s hat is mostly blue and orange. orange = red + yellow, so he’s thinking about el and will at the same time, and blue means he’s thinking about himself. there’s also some blue-ish green and a few small red circles for el. he wears this when he first arrives in cali, showing that his mind is pretty much split on will and el even though he gives el all his attention.

lastly, in the bottom right is another shot of mike’s cali outfit with his t-shirt being blue and his over-shirt being yellow. this illustrates even further that he’s thinking a lot about will even when seeing his gf for the first time in ages and focusing on her! even his glasses chain is yellow! mike wheeler i know what you are.

so. that was long. but we’re not done yet.

does each character’s color have a deeper meaning?

honestly, yes, i think so.

i’m not some color theory (or film theory) expert and even the small bits i’ve gathered could be wrong, but here’s what i think:

will’s yellow represents the sun

mike’s blue represents the sky

el’s red represents the upside down

let me elaborate.

i’m mostly gonna go in depth for my thoughts on el to support my “red” theory, but i’ll start with will and mike.

the sun and the sky go hand-in-hand, you can’t have one without the other... kinda like two boys we know. they’re also (at least to me) the most obvious blue and yellow “duo”s i can think of, and there’s lots of symbolism of them that fits mike and will as a duo.

i can’t think of a lot of examples for this off the top of my head, but notice the pictures of will being hit with direct sunlight while mike’s in the shadows beside him. also a picture of el during her fight with mike in nearly the same spot as the pic of will next to it, but no sunshine is on her. this could be meant to show us how mike views will vs how he views her.

mike is the vast, never-ending sky and will is the giant, warming star that lights him up.

okay, now for el. this one’s important.

el opened the first ever gate to the upside down—this is one of the most crucial plot points in the entire show, let alone for just her character. el sent 001 to the upside down and he created his own area of it to keep his victims in. el bleeds out of her nose when she uses her powers, and out of her eyes and ears if she overworks herself.

in general, she has a connection to the upside down and vecna different from any other person in the show.

all of these things are red.

are you convinced yet?

what do their colors mean in relation to each other?

as i just mentioned, will and mike represent the sun and the sky, some of the most basic symbols for the universe and the earth out there. the sun and the sky are worldly, natural, supposed to be there.

here’s where things look up for byler.

i wanna preface this by saying i absolutely LOVE eleven. she’s always been one of my favorite characters, and i’ve been watching since the beginning. i’m not trying to say she’s unnatural or not meant to be with the rest of the group, hell no. this is just my interpretation of what the show has given us and what it could be for the future of mike, will, and el.

el’s red represents the upside down, which is quite literally the opposite of worldly, a dreadful mirror of the natural universe. this isn’t to say el’s from the upside down because she’s not, she just happens to be connected to it not of her own volition, and opened a portal to it without knowing what she was doing.

this blatantly separates her from will and mike. their motifs are embodiments of the universe and go together effortlessly, while el’s motif is, well, basically the anti-universe. sorry el. love u.

but, is there any other significance behind the use of primary colors besides them being the “main” colors and these three being the main characters?

well...

i don’t know about you but this looks awfully like a triangle to me.

it’s love triangle symbolism, everyone. pack your things, we’re going home.

besides the obvious that there’s nothing going on between el and will because they’re siblings... there’s a clear love triangle between the three of them regarding el dating mike while will has a crush on him, and the fact that mike will inevitably have to choose who he wants to be with if they continue the storyline they’re on.

they’ve given us some pretty blatant imagery of this in s4. will is in the middle or on the sidelines of basically every m*leven scene this season (and they want us to root for him!)

additional primary color imagery

there’s a few more things i want to point out.

had anyone else noticed they’ve shown us three different versions of the upside down with three different colors?

i’m gonna be real and say i have no idea what this could mean. i’ll leave that up to you. what i do know is that the top one, the yellow upside down, is the untouched version of it before vecna altered it. the middle blue one is the current version of the upside down, BUT it does have lots of flashes of red lightning. the bottom red one is... honestly i don’t even know, but vecna takes his victims there.

one more thing i noticed before i go:

this season 4 poster that uses the three primary colors and... green.

we all remember that green = blue + yellow, so.

this could very well just be a graphic design choice, because green is usually what’s added to the other three if another color is needed, but... who knows.

in conclusion, we already knew that mike and will are blue and yellow, but i’m also positive that el is red.

byler endgame is in our sights!!!

if you read this entire thing, first of all, wow. second, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! i hope you found this interesting :)

#byler #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #byler analysis #stranger things analysis #byler meta #stranger things meta #stranger things spoilers #stranger things 4 #byler endgame #antis don’t even look at this post this isn’t for you #i hope u guys like this #i’ve been having these thoughts since pre vol 2 #it’s nice to get them out #eleven #el #el hopper #jane hopper #long post

[neutral-emerald]

SWAP AU SUMMARY BLITZ GO

I have had this Roleswap AU sitting around half-told because I (genius) thought it would be a good idea to tell the adapted plot of Sonic Heroes through little comic snippets, and then realized that the points I wanted to cover could not be easily conveyed through comic snippets. Well, NO LONGER! I am now going to write up a summary of most of the games I have notes on, with doodles interspersed where I see fit!

Firstly, a summary of games I've previously covered! Mostly covering Sonic and Shadow, because they're kinda the centerpiece(s).

Sonic Adventure

Not a lot to say about this one, actually. It's kinda just a prelude to SA2. Rest assured that it DID happen, though.

Sonic Adventure 2

Sonic gets taken out of stasis and tries to blow up the Earth, much like canon!Shadow does. I go into the details of his motivation in this post, and kinda nudge at some of his interactions with Shadow in this one. Relevant to note is that Sonic mistakes Shadow for a Prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform, and then eventually concludes that Shadow is the real Ultimate Lifeform, rather than Sonic.

Sonic Heroes

There's two comic snippets I've made of this, here and here. To summarize/explain:

The first follows up on SA2, with Shadow still bothered by the stuff Sonic said to him about being a prototype, and being unaware that Maria found and has spent all this time reviving Sonic.

The second comes in two parts: First, Tails finds Sonic (and Knuckles, who was trapped in this vault as a casualty of the Shadow Androids having taken over (reminder: the Shadow Androids are swapped with Metal Sonic)), and discovers that Sonic has lost all his memories. Second, Team Sonic bump into Team Shadow, which Shadow isn't terribly pleased about seeing as he's spent all this time thinking Sonic was dead.

It is at this point that I left this whole AU sitting on a cliffhanger for several years. But NO LONGER! I will now elaborate on what happens next... under this readmore bc this is gonna be a long post.

So the main conflict between Sonic and Shadow would be based on the fact that Shadow desperately wants Sonic to elaborate on what he was talking about when he implied Shadow was artificially created like him. Sonic, who might I remind you has amnesia, doesn't know any more about it than Shadow does. Shadow thinks this is a cheap attempt to dodge his questions, they fight, you know how it goes with temperamental hedgehogs.

Now, as I mentioned, the Shadow Androids have been swapped with Metal Sonic. I don't feel like figuring out the details of what that means for the Androids, but what it means for Metal Sonic is this: Maria wasn't sure if she'd be able to save Sonic's life, so she drafted plans for a robotic body to transfer his consciousness into as a last resort. Whether she actually has the technology to do such a thing isn't entirely relevant; what matters is that Tails discovers the blueprints for this and perhaps even a half-built prototype, and it raises the question of whether or not the Sonic he found Knuckles guarding is the real deal, or just a robotic doppelganger.

And that all covers what I have to say about Sonic Heroes, which leads us into...

Shadow the Hedgehog

The Black Arms attack. Alien invasion, y'know the drill. Due to his swapped status, Sonic is the one with Black Doom's DNA in him, so Sonic is the one who gets approached and told to come help take over the planet.

While Sonic is getting seduced to the dark side to varying levels of success (I do NOT know how to adapt the multiple routes system and I'm not even going to try), Shadow is having an absolute time of it. He's started experiencing intense intrusive thoughts/compulsions directly in response to the aliens, driving him to A: Destroy the Black Arms at all costs, and B: Gather the Chaos Emeralds. Not that he wouldn't be doing those things regardless, it's just that some previously dormant part of his brain has switched on and is forcing him to do those NOW, RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW IMMEDIATELY. NO TIME TO THINK ABOUT OTHER THINGS DO IT NOW.

This leads him into conflict with Sonic, who may or may not be tentatively on Black Doom's side for the promise of answers about who he really is, and/or who is also trying to gather the Chaos Emeralds. Again, Shadow the Hedgehog's story has way too much going on all at once to coherently adapt within the purview of this post.

The TL;DR for the ending is this: It turns out that just like Sonic accused back in SA2, Shadow is an artificial being created by Gerald Robotnik, but he's got nothing to do with the Ultimate Lifeform project. Rather, he was created with the express purpose of destroying the Black Comet when it would return 50 years later. He was put in stasis as a baby and unfrozen some ~35 years later by Maria's parents, to be raised as their own and prepared for his eventual purpose of fighting off an alien invasion. Unfortunately, Maria's parents died when they were still young, so he just kinda stumbled ass-backwards into a bundle of sleeper-instincts and has to figure things out as he goes along.

Does a pretty good job in the end, though.

I could get into Sonic 06 too, but that one's pretty disconnected from the arc that these games form, so I think I'll save it for another time. Sorry for the long (long, LONG) wait for all this!

#swap au #dot txt #my art

[roguelibrarian]

Book club with Rogue, part 2

The book: The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan

CW: the plot involves antisemitic persecution and violence, so I'm gonna be touching on that a bit in this post

I literally just finished this one last night and damn. damn. Okay. So, brief plot overview:

Our main characters are Toba Peres and Naftaly Cresques, two Jewish young adults living in the fictional city of Rimon. Toba was raised by her grandparents since her mother died giving birth to her and she's Weird. Naftaly is also Weird, and when his father dies shit gets even Weirder because Naftaly is entrusted with a book that's been in his family for generations but that they're never supposed to open. When the Jews are expelled from Rimon, Toba falls behind a group that's heading for the border and gets attacked by a man who believes she might be smuggling valuables with her. She escapes but gets lost in the woods and stumbles through a magical gate into another world. Toba's grandmother Elena realizes she's missing and doubles back to find her. She meets up with Naftaly and the nameless old woman he's traveling with and the three of them stick together for safety and begin their search for Toba. On the other side of the gate, Toba meets Barsilay, who doesn't particularly like her (don't worry, they become friends later), but offers her shelter with his uncle so she won't get killed for being a human who crossed the gate. Toba learns she's stuck there for a month because the gate only opens on the night of the full moon. While there, Toba learns that there's a reason for all her Weirdness: she's not actually completely human. Turns out her father was a Mazik (one of the magical beings who live on the other side of the gate) and she has supernatural abilities that her grandmother suppressed with an amulet that she told Toba never to take off.

I'm ending the plot overview there because I don't wanna give the whole thing away and also because so much happens in this book. It's nearly 600 pages long. There's a lot of plot. If I summarized it all, we'd be here all night.

Now, thoughts:

this book is so, so unapologetically, beautifully, proudly Jewish

like, I'm honestly having trouble putting into words just how Jewish this book is and how much it means to me, but I'm sure other Jews will get what I'm saying

like at the very beginning of the book there's a list of characters and just seeing so many extremely Jewish names in one book was like...relief

see also, in the first few pages of the book, when Toba is reflecting on how even when she was a small child her grandmother would play the 'where would you go if you had to flee?' game with her

Toba is extremely autistic coded and you may quote me on that

seriously, there's this one quote that's just very Autism Vibes: "It was one of the peculiar things about Toba, and there were several: Toba could walk, but she could not run; she could talk, but she could not shout; and she could write faster-with either hand-than she could speak."

see also: "She was too quiet, too peculiar" and "Food often tasted poorly to her, and she ate little as a consequence."

Like yes, all of this does end up being related to her magic and the suppression thereof, but it's also very Autism Vibes and even after the suppression of her magic stops there's a lot of Autism Vibes still.

she's also very asexual coded imo

Naftaly is also very autistic coded

someone needs to cut Naftaly a break like yesterday

like let's see (SPOILERS), his father dies, his entire community gets kicked out of the country, he almost gets eaten by wolves, he gets drugged and sealed in a coffin, almost gets thrown into the sea, gets kidnapped and tortured, and that's just the highlights of bad shit that happens to him (END SPOILERS)

they're only around for like a page and a half but heck yes Jewish pirates I am always here for Jewish pirates

I absolutely called the plot twist about (SPOILERS AGAIN) the Big Bad being Toba's father (END SPOILERS) which does not mean it was a bad twist, it was in fact a very good one and I'm always here for this specific type of twist

my one big complaint about this book is that after over 400 pages without a hint of romance, I got ambushed by some unnecessary romantic nonsense. luckily none of it took up too much focus in the story because more important stuff was happening.

this book was just so damn good, okay? I was hooked by page 4, that's how good it is, and in almost 600 pages it never got boring. it never felt like it was too long. that's skill, right there.

also I'm weak for good, complex fantasy worldbuilding and boy was there a lot of that.

anyway, it was good. go read it. highly recommend for people who like long, dense fantasy novels, and portal fantasy in particular (though I will say I normally don't even like portal fantasy but I loved this one)

#book blogging #book club with rogue #the pomegranate gate #ariel kaplan

[unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff]

For the morbidly curious, this is the sort of thing Tony stans who write fanfic say

Remember how after Civil War a bunch of Tony’s fans transformed into stans and decided that he could do no wrong and that everyone who opposed him was evil? Well, some of those stans took to writing fanfic so they could make the story they wanted where that was actually true. There is one particularly rabid stan (who I shall not name) that is still active even today. This author has a very long series of ficlets that pretty much all amount of Team Cap hit-pieces. 

Because I hate myself, I have recently spent an ungodly amount of time reading this series of ficlets and summarizing each of them. I don’t know why I did it, but I’m realizing now that it would be a useful way to give those interested some idea of what the Tony stans say without giving them more attention than they deserve.

If you want to play a drinking game while reading my notes, take a shot every time one of the following happens:

Natasha is exposed and humiliated (not like that) during Iron Man 2

the SHIELD Info Dump got hundreds of agents killed, this could have been avoided if they just called Tony, and Steve, Nat, and Sam are arrested for it

the chase in Bucharest caused a tunnel to collapse and killed a bunch of civilians

Team Cap (mostly Steve and Wanda) are imprisoned and/or executed for their "crimes"

the Snap is never undone, and this is portrayed as the right thing to do

the world unanimously loves the Sokovia Accords and the only people on the whole planet who disagree with them are Team Cap

Steve and co were in Lagos illegally and there would have been no explosion if they had just let the Nigerian authorities handle Rumlow

one of the Avengers (usually Tony) murders the Maximoff twins at some point during AoU and no one cares but Steve

Tony (or one of his props) explodes at Steve (or another member of Team Cap) over something)

Wanda is abandoned, arrested, tried, depowered, imprisoned, humiliated, or executed. Or all of the above, in that order. (Seriously, the Tony stans are fucking vicious to her)

So with all that said, here we go. I swear on all that his holy in the multiverse, I did not make up a single one of these:

Steve bankrupts his mom with medical bills after getting into fights and they end up homeless.

Steve is arrested for trying to get into the army

Steve is arrested for his trip into Hydra territory to rescue the 107th

Same as above, but in this one Howard and Peggy are shot down after dropping Steve off and both die

Steve, Sam, and Nat are arrested for the Info Dump

Tony berates Steve for asking him to mind his language

Bucky is brought to the Avengers Compound, and when the truth about him is revealed everyone turns on Steve

Sam is arrested for stealing the Falcon wings

Tony explodes at Steve for judging him based on footage

Tony explodes at Steve during the wood-chopping scene in AoU

Tony refuses to give the Maximoffs a second chance and arrests them in the tower

Zemo wakes up the 5 Winter Soldiers and they kill Steve

Tony explodes at Bruce for nodding off at his story (the IM3 post-credit scene)

Bucky has a PTSD attack in Bucharest and is gunned down

Tony refuses to give Wanda a second chance and she is imprisoned after the battle of Sokovia

Natasha is unmasked in Iron Man 2 and leaves in disgrace

Sam turns on Steve when he says that Wanda is a kid

Rhodey explodes at Steve, Bucky and Sam when he arrests them in Bucharest

Steve and the Howling Commandos accidentally charge guns blazing into a civilian factory and kill dozens of workers before noticing anything is wrong

Bucky freaks out when he meets Wanda in the parking garage and turns on Team Cap

Scott, Hank, and Hope are arrested for raiding the Avengers Compound, and Scott’s family abandons him

Scott almost dies inside Tony’s suit in CW, and gets arrested and abandoned

Scott has a seizure when becoming Giant-Man and is arrested and abandoned

Steve and Wanda are accosted by civilians after Lagos, and Wanda turns on Steve

Steve and Bucky are unable to start the Quinjet, and Rhodey is shocked to learn about the 5 Winter Soldiers (this one pretends Steve didn’t mention them minutes earlier)

The Nigerian authorities deal with Rumlow and Steve’s team is arrested for illegally being there

Steve is overzealous about being the army and gets himself killed

Same as above, but this time Bucky dies as well

Tony explodes at Coulson and Fury in Iron Man 2 after the party scene

Bucky explodes at Steve for protecting him in Siberia

Bucky runs back into the Siberian bunker to save Tony

Steve is berated for sympathizing with the Maximoffs at the start of AoU

Helen Cho is horrified to see that Wanda is an Avenger now, and gets her arrested

Natasha is arrested at the Capitol at the end of Winter Soldier

Steve isn’t allowed to see Peggy because her family is worried that the sight of him will make her forget them (because of course that’s how Alzheimer’s works)

Bucky surrenders in Bucharest and there is no fight at all (apparently this one forgets that it was a kill-on-sight order)

Erskine didn’t care one bit about Steve and was just using him as a guinea pig. The serum is a complete failure and Steve dies.

Natasha is arrested for her undercover work in Iron Man 2

Sharon refuses to help Steve find Bucky and he attacks her, getting himself arrested

Steve and Bucky are arrested when they go to break their friends out of the Raft

Steve holds a press conference after Lagos and it blows up in his face. Apparently Tony has no obligation to help with the damage in Lagos, but there were no disasters while he was on the team because Ultron was Wanda’s fault, not his. Wanda gets deported back to Sokovia and executed, and the other three are imprisoned for life.

Bruce returns and when he sees that Wanda is an Avenger now he Hulks out and beats the shit out of her

Clint’s family were killed as a result of the Info Dump, so Clint kills Steve, Nat and Sam as revenge before killing himself

Pietro dies in Strucker’s experiments and Wanda destroys the Hydra base as revenge (this one pretends she was the one who wanted it instead of him)

Sam turns on Steve during the Accords discussion

Ultron is disgusted by the Maximoff twins backstory, so he kills them and decides that maybe Tony is worth listening to

Steve is berated for his “there’s only one God” comment in the first Avengers film

Sam’s wings break and he wants to go to Tony to get them fixed, but Steve says no

Steve gets killed when he goes to free Bucky and the 107th

Clint turns on Wanda after seeing her subdue Vision. He later learns that she was manipulating him and the rest of the Avengers to make them feel sympathy for her, and she gets imprisoned for life.

Tony goes on a profane rampage at Steve over the “big man in a suit of armor” comment in the first Avengers film

Fury and Coulson berate Natasha for her assessment of Tony in Iron Man 2

Sharon is arrested for helping Steve get to Bucharest (despite presumably being written before FatWS, this one does offer a decent explanation for why she might be evil now).

Ultron stops mid-fight to say that Wanda is his creator and Tony is innocent, so Clint kills her without hesitation. This understandably blows up in their faces, and he and Steve get killed as well. Also, Hulk paralyzes Natasha, Thor kills Pietro, and Sam bails, so the only Avengers left are  Tony, Rhodey, and Vision (aka, the only ones Tony stans like).

Tony freaks out and shoots Nick Fury at the end of Iron Man

Vision stops Wanda from leaving with Clint and talks down to her

Natasha turns on Steve after the chase in Bucharest

Wanda fails to contain the bomb in Lagos, so she and Steve die. Sam and Nat are arrested for being there illegally

Sam is a Hydra agent and he kills Steve and Nat when they go to him for help (I genuinely do not know what the purpose of this one was. Maybe it was the writer’s idea of punishing them for not going to Tony).

Bucky yells at Steve after breaking up the fight in the theater alley, because apparently the guy protesting was just grieving his brother and Steve attacked him for it.

Team Cap are actually OK with the Accords and are enraged at Steve for not explaining it to them when he comes to break them out of the Raft. Also, Wanda apparently brainwashed them into being on Steve’s side.

Steve and Nat are arrested at the airport and killed by vengeful SHIELD agents who were victims of the Info Dump

Team Cap is kicked out of Wakanda and arrested

Tony ousts the World Security Council as Hydra after the first Avengers film, and the team disbands.

Peggy accidentally hurts someone when testing Steve’s shield, and both of them are arrested for it.

Shuri explodes at T’Challa for harboring Steve and Bucky.

Tony goes to help Vision, who has been severely hurt by Wanda in her escape. This one also involves Natasha getting exposed and berated for “betraying” Tony.

Jarvis comes back after AoU and gets Wanda executed.

Tony notices Wanda coming up behind him in Strucker’s base and kills both her and Pietro. Steve is berated for showing sympathy to them.

Wanda helped mindwipe Bucky once, and when they meet Bucky recognizes Wanda and murders her.

Team Cap is mean to Tony when he doesn’t have time to help them with their equipment (this is easily the pettiest one yet).

Sharon is a Hydra agent who led Steve on in CW in order to get him disgraced.

Bucky turns himself in before Steve can get to him, and explodes at Steve when he visits.

Clint is Team Iron Man.

Friday hacks into Wakanda’s systems and kills Bucky in his cryo-tube. Steve attacks T’Challa over this, and all of Team Cap are kicked out.

Steve is talked down to after expressing his disapproval with the future (it’s one of those “you’re not a real captain” ones)

Zemo tries a diplomatic approach and sends the tape of the Starks murder to Tony. Steve and Nat are disgraced and imprisoned, and Wanda is deported back to Sokovia and executed.

Rhodey freaks out at Steve for not supporting the Accords. Steve goes to Vienna and is injured in the bombing, so Tony and Rhodey retrieve Bucky from Bucharest. Steve and Wanda are denied a place on the Accords-approved Avengers (and though it doesn’t say, I’m guessing he went to prison for life and she was executed, because that’s this writer’s favorite thing to do to them).

Wanda leaves the Compound against Tony’s wishes, gets attacked by angry civilians, talked down to by Vision for defending herself when they get violent, and eventually sent to Sokovia and executed.

Tony sees Natasha’s assessment of him and laughs at it

Natasha realizes that Steve doesn’t actually care about Wanda and is only using her so the Avengers will accept Bucky, so she comes to the conclusion that the Avengers are dangerous terrorists under Steve’s command and sells him out to Tony. Steve is disgraced and imprisoned for life, Wanda is depowered and executed, and Nat is imprisoned for the foreseeable future, but she is happy that she finally “saw the light” (read: realized that Tony was a blameless baby and she was an irredeemable monster).

Steve refuses to train more and gets talked down to by everyone (it’s another “you’re not a real captain” one). He eventually gets arrested and sentenced to life in a mental ward.

Tony realizes that Steve doesn’t actually care about Wanda and is only using her so the Avengers will accept Bucky. Also, Steve refused to read the Accords even though he is the only Avenger who canonically did.

Steve is unable to get through to Bucky on the helicarrier and they both die

The Ancient One, Mordo, and Kaecillius show up at the Avengers Compound to arrest Wanda at Tony and Bruce’s request. She is depowered, sent back to Sokovia, and imprisoned for life. Steve is disgraced for siding with her.

Everyone is angry at Wakanda for not sharing their vibranium sooner (honestly, I think that’s valid)

Tony lures Team Cap into a trap and gets them all arrested. Laura divorces Clint and says she hates all of them, Vision talks down to Wanda before she is deported to Sokovia (and probably executed), and Tony talks down to Steve.

Sam turns on Steve and sells him out to Tony instead of recruiting Scott

Tony gets mad at Thor for insinuating that Asgard is better than Earth, and after New York he burns SHIELD to the ground and makes sure everyone in it is arrested.

Captain Phillips refuses to let Erskine use Steve for Project Rebirth

Hydra agents find Team Cap after they are kicked out of Wakanda, and Steve abandons all of them to save Bucky

SHIELD confiscates Steve’s shield, and they get mad at him when he demands it back. Also apparently he killed people when he shoved them out of the way after waking up, because fuck you.

Scott berates Hank Pym for insulting Tony (I fucking love how this author’s idea of “redeeming” a character is just turning them into a massive Tony simp)

Wanda attacks both Steve and Bucky in Wakanda and erases Bucky’s mind completely as revenge for Steve “taking away her compensation” (which I guess was getting to live in the Compound).

Team Iron Man wins the airport fight and Peter lectures Team Cap for not supporting the Accords.

Sam goes to visit his old army buddies, but all of them are disgusted with him, Steve, and Nat for the Info Dump, insisting that they should’ve just called Tony

The Avengers (mostly Steve) are berated for not helping Tony in Iron Man 3, and later are arrested for the Info Dump

The people of Novi Grad are furious at Wanda for compelling them to leave the city, and she gets arrested

Steve lashes out at Natasha when she tries to stop him and Bucky at the airport, and he ends up paralyzing her. Tony doesn’t come to Siberia, so Bucky freaks out at Steve when he learns Tony didn’t know about his role in the death of his parents. They fight, Bucky wins, and Steve is imprisoned

Ramonda lectures T’Challa for his actions in Civil War

Bucky is disgusted by Steve’s eagerness to fight, and ends up going home. The Howling Commandos are never formed

Peter is injured by the crate at the airport, and Tony explodes at Steve over this

Hulk murders Wanda and Pietro in Sokovia, and is angry with Nat for triggering him

The Avengers are all psych evaluated after Sokovia, and Wanda, Steve, and Nat are jailed for what is found

Steve, Sam, and Nat are arrested for accidentally assaulting FBI agents assuming they are Hydra

Clint kills both of the Maximoffs at the shipyard. Nat is later arrested for not telling Tony about Bucky.

Tony sends the scepter back to Asgard with Thor after realizing that Wanda showed him a vision, and later kills both of the twins.

Tony kills Steve in Siberia after being rendered half-dead himself, and both he and Bucky are rescued later.

Scott Lang and Darren Cross both die in their battle, and Hank gets arrested (I seriously have no clue what the purpose of this one was).

Captain Phillips explodes at Steve for his grenade stunt

Tony explodes at Steve for objecting to the Accords after telling him about Charles Spencer

Wanda and Pietro turn on Ultron before Seoul and end up defeating him (on paper this one is fine, but it’s FULL of prop-Tony shit, such as Wanda “seeing reason” by realizing that Tony is actually a blameless baby and she is the true monster)

Peggy rejects Steve when he goes back in time for her, and later he gets killed trying to save Bucky

Pepper explodes at Team Cap at Tony’s funeral, and makes sure all of them get arrested

Rhodey actually obeys Ross and arrests Team Cap at the Compound.

Zemo explodes at T’Challa for not caring about innocents (lmao what?)

Steve, Nat, Sam, and Wanda recklessly go after terrorists in Cleveland and cause lots of damage, but they don’t care

Shuri realizes that she killed people during the chase in Korea and has a breakdown. T’Challa is dethroned and disgraced.

Bucky gets a serious head injury protecting Steve in a fight in Brooklyn, and gets up getting denied an army position because of that

Scott has doubts about being on Team Cap, so Wanda tries to mind-control him into being on their side, but Bucky kills her.

Wanda is in fact a loyal Hydra agent and tries to detain the Avengers for them, but Tony defeats her, and then she is deported and executed.

President Ellis lectures Team Cap for not supporting the Accords, and Natasha betrays them by telling Tony about Bucky.

Apparently Wakanda kills people who come close to discovering their secret, so they get charged for it.

Tony and Steve actually start fighting each other on the helicarrier before Loki’s attack. Tony wins.

Laura is pro-Accords, so Clint goes behind her back to help Team Cap. Laura divorces him, the kids hate him, and he ends up in jail.

Loki learns about Wanda and decides to look into her. He realizes she is just biding her time to kill Tony, so he takes her powers and gets her arrested.

Peter is told about Wanda’s escape from the Compound and tells Vision that he is in an abusive relationship (this one lies and claims that she is trying to manipulate Vision into hating Tony, and that she actually doesn’t care one bit about his feelings).

Wanda tries to use her powers on someone during a mission, and that person kills her in retaliation. Steve is disgraced for defending her.

Clint gets imprisoned for his 5-year stint as Ronin (fair enough, but the author clearly did this to punish him for betraying Tony).

Sarah Rogers explodes at Steve for constantly getting into fights.

Wanda kills Nat during the airport fight, so Clint kills her in retaliation and then joins Team Iron Man.

Steve loses the serum, and Tony and Bruce are unable to recreate it. Tony stops trying after learning about Bucky and kicks him out.

Bucky explodes at Steve over his plan to go back in time, and later gets him arrested.

Tony explodes at Bruce at the Sanctum for not caring enough about him.

Vision follows Steve and co to Lagos, prevents the bomb, and lectures Steve for illegally entering and hiding things from Tony. Steve and Nat are jailed, Sam is disgraced, and Wanda “owns up to the consequences of her actions” (which I’m guessing means life in prison and depowerment).

Steve is killed by a Hydra spy shortly after getting the serum.

Wanda confesses her guilt to the Avengers and all of them except Steve turn on her. Both of them are imprisoned and she is depowered and deported. 

Stan Lee��s character from Winter Soldier gets fired because the Captain America costume was stolen on his watch, so he turns to crime and gets arrested for it, but so do Steve, Nat and Sam (I will admit, the idea of Stan Lee robbing a jewelry store with alien tech is hilarious, but still)

Steve’s team is arrested and interrogated after Lagos, and all of them turn on him

Natasha hurts Happy during their boxing match, and Tony explodes at her after realizing who she is

Okoye deters T’Challa from going on a revenge quest, and as a result Steve and Bucky are both killed in Bucharest

What’s left of Wakanda throws out the Avengers after the Snap, blaming them for everything. Steve and Nat are immediately arrested after getting back to the US (because of course the government would have that as their top priority).

Bucky sneaks into Strucker’s base and kills Wanda and Pietro

Pepper convinces Scott to turn in Hank and Hope after he breaks into the Avengers Compound

Tony murders Steve and Bucky in Siberia, personally oversees Wanda’s execution, and completely destroys the rest of Team Cap. Clint ends up in prison for life (and gets paralyzed), Natasha gets brutally murdered by victims of the Info Dump, Sam goes to prison as well, and Scott is more or less ignored. (This one has a Dark!Tony warning at the start, but to be completely honest I seriously think the writer believes this is 100% what should have happened.)

Steve only rescues Bucky from Zola’s base, and the rest of his unit are executed by Hydra as punishment

Natasha rats out Steve to Tony at the Barton farm

Scott is Team Iron Man

SHIELD agents who lost their families in the Info Dump torture Steve, Nat, and Sam to death

Tony actually tells Pepper about the palladium poisoning (nothing wrong with this on paper, but it includes him exploding at Nat and SHIELD for not helping)

Tony works round the clock to save as many SHIELD agents from the Info Dump as he can, and later explodes at Steve and Nat for not calling him for help

Loki explodes at Frigga and leaves Asgard in a rage

Clint is so broken by Loki’s mind control that he retires in disgrace

Sam is horrified to learn about what Steve is hiding, and sells him out to Tony. Nat and Wanda are executed, and Steve is imprisoned for life.

Vision “sees the light” and realizes that every Avenger who isn’t Tony or Rhodey is an evil psychopath, deciding that he hates Wanda in particular, and he is the one to go to Siberia, where he seriously considers murdering Steve on the spot after the video is played (does ANY of this sound like Vision to you?).

Tony and Pepper explode at Steve, Nat, and Scott when they come to their house. The Snap is never undone, and this is framed as the right thing to do.

Steve gets arrested for starting a fight and Bucky bails him out, but then turns on him

Steve is killed by a sniper during the chase in Bucharest, and Sam and Bucky are both arrested (because of course a sniper would aim for Captain Fucking America instead of the Winter Soldier)

Steve and co are going behind Tony’s back searching for Bucky, and he explodes at them when he finds out

Tony explodes at Natasha after the airport fight (over her ego retort), and gets her arrested

This one was essentially a full-length prop-Tony fic from Thor’s POV; instead of choking Stark he immediately forgives Tony’s betrayal and gets mad at Steve for berating Tony, and he later murders Wanda in the tower (and also, Vision isn’t Vision, he’s just Jarvis in a body).

Tony’s blowup at Steve at the start of Endgame is taken further (and played as if he is in the right). Also, Nebula wants to murder Steve and Nat because Tony

Bruce freaks out at Steve in Wakanda, demanding to know why Wanda is an Avenger now

Tony and Rhodey have an argument over Rhodey apparently treating Tony like an idiot

Bruce returns during the Accords discussion and takes Tony’s side. Wanda is depowered and humiliated, and the rest of Team Cap is arrested

Steve and Nat are tried and convicted for the Info Dump

Sam discovers that Wanda is a psychopath who is just biding her time to kill all the Avengers

Wanda turns on Hydra and flees with Pietro, but they are caught and killed

Hope calls Tony instead of recruiting Scott

Peter explodes at Steve for dropping a crate on him

Strange explodes at Mordo after defeating Dormammu

Nick Fury explodes at Steve for suggesting the Info Dump, then rats him out to Tony when he suspects Bucky killed the Starks

Wanda is detained after the Battle of Sokovia and executed

The Avengers disband after the Battle of New York, and Steve and Nat are disgraced for not caring about collateral damage

Jarvis takes matters into his own hands during Iron Man 2 and tells Rhodey about the pallidium poisoning. They later burn SHIELD to the ground, and Steve is never defrosted.

Thor explodes at Sif and the Warriors Three after Loki’s “death” in the first Thor film

T’Challa “sees reason” after bringing Steve and Bucky to Wakanda, realizes the Accords are actually a great thing, refuses to help him free his friends from the Raft (because in this writer’s mind they deserve it), and turns both of them in for ridiculously long prison sentences.

This author also wrote a few other ficlets in a separate story regarding what would happen if Tony died earlier:

Natasha accidentally kills Tony when she injects him with that chemical in Iron Man 2, so JARVIS goes on the warpath and burns SHIELD to the ground

Thor inadvertently snaps Tony’s neck when he lifts him up in AoU, so Bruce Hulks out and beats the shit out of him. Steve, Clint, and Natasha go to Africa and get killed by Ultron, and later JARVIS returns and takes matters into his own hands, defeating Ultron and brutally murdering the Maximoffs as well as turning Thor’s cell into a gas chamber to kill him (which is framed as a good thing without a single hint of irony).

Wanda kills Tony when she drops cars on him, so Rhodey beats the ever-loving shit out of her and makes sure she gets executed. Also, the rest of Team Cap goes to jail for life.

Steve accidentally kills Tony when they are fighting over the Cradle, so Bruce Hulks out, graphically disembowels Wanda and Pietro, and beats the shit out of Steve. Ultron is defeated, but not before killing Natasha.

This same author also wrote a full fic series in which the following happens:

- Howard and Maria come back to life and prop Tony.

- every character aside from Tony, Rhodey, Pepper, FRIDAY, Vision, Happy, Howard, and Maria are treated as monsters who deserve no sympathy.

- Team Cap (including Natasha) is arrested and put on trial. The entire world hates them, and all of them are convicted. They are all thoroughly demolished (Laura divorces Clint before he goes to prison, Sam is told that everyone hates him, Natasha is humiliated on live TV when she tries to speak in her defense, Steve is almost attacked by a furious mob, and Vision takes the time to talk down to Wanda and tell her that he hates her). All of them get insanely long prison sentences, except for Wanda, who is executed. The world is absolutely ecstatic at the downfall of them.

- Clint and Nat get no sympathy because they used to be assassins

- Wanda gets no sympathy because she is apparently a loyal Hydra agent

- Steve gets no sympathy because he killed thousands of people in the Info Dump, Bucharest, and in Uganda apparently.

- Sam and Scott get no sympathy because... they followed Steve? Yeah, I dunno.

- T’Challa is still vilified because... he betrayed Team Iron Man I guess?

Yet despite all this, Tony is treated as a paragon of virtue who has every right to get his perfect life, because apparently he has never done anything wrong in his life.

In the fic’s follow-up, Team Iron Man actually beats Thanos, because apparently Team Cap was always the problem. And (this is my absolute favorite part) Loki is allowed to be an Accords-sanctioned Avenger. Loki. Think about that; this author unironically believes that Loki is more of a hero than Steve Rogers.

If anyone REALLY wants to know more, I will post a link, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

In the near future I will be providing some screengrabbed comments from this fic and others like it.

#mcu fanfiction #ao3 #shit tony stans say #wtf #i am so sorry #this should never have seen the light of day

[stitchthesewords]

HI I WOULD LIKE EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT I ACTUALLY READ THESE CHAPTERS SEVERAL DAYS AGO BEFORE STITCH MADE MAJOR CHANGES TO THEM AND OH MY GOD SHE MADE THEM SO MUCH WORSE THE BOYS JHJKSJKFSJKKJ I AM RATTLING AT MY BARS-

ANYWAY. This was so much better than what I imagined but oh my god. The funny cute banter between Scar and Mumbo that is like barely inches from flirting. The teasing. The little jokes. Scar's fascination with "human stories." His excitement over the most mundane of memories, the minecart ride and the discoveries AND THEN WHAM, HURT!! ANGST!! NO COMFORT!! "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" AND THE RUNNING AND THE SHEER PANIC OF IT ALL OHHFDSHHAH-

Okay. Okay lemme back it up. Man the cute domesticness at the start, the little signs of Mumbo warming up to Grian (my dear readers that scene originally went very different and as good as the original was I am delighted by the change). I still can't get over the mental imagine of "Scar! :D And Grian :|" but he's warming up and he's becoming fond of the bird boy and aaaaaa I love them and they love each other <3 Helping Mumbo do something as boring and domestic as make item frames and just mmmm <3

"We have guns" YEAH WELL GUESS WHAT SCAR THAT'S NOT GONNA FUCKING HELP-

The minecart ride.... you should totally post the whole thing as an aside on tumblr or something, the long 700-ish word version was very fun :) But you summarized it very nicely here <3 I just love Scar tripping as he gets out and Mumbo ZOOMING over to help him, like honey I think you cut some of Grian's hair there LMAO

Just the whole arguing about the chorus fruit. "I'll go first, no I'LL go first you could get hurt, no ME-" Then Grian just fucking peaces out and immediately injures himself SORRY that SENT me I love them so much. I wonder how Mumbo and Scar react to that. "No I'll go first you're accidEEEGRIAN-"

Grian batting Mumbo away from the flame with his wings and Scar floating his staff away LMAO. Mumbo just Causing Problems On Purpose. Grian and Scar fighting to keep him Away From The Torch and him just being like having no self preservation cares BUT THEN TWO SECONDS LATER JUMPING AWAY WHEN THE TORCH GETS TOO CLOSE ON ACCIDENT LMAO. I'm sorry I love him so much, turns out a wet cat is still a cat indeed-

And Grian getting lost in his memories. Like he was in two places at once, in his head and physically (that is such a mood ngl, me every time I walk across my grandmother's farm jkgfdkj). The concern Mumbo and Scar have about him getting lost in thought and Scar's excitement over him getting a little flash of a mundane little memory aaaaa <3

THE ONES WHO CAME BEFORE I LOVE IT. I mean you know me you know I love a good ancestors and city ruins plot. AN ANCIENT MOB FARM KJFJKSJKFSJK at least they get the idea to dig around it. My god Mumbo's immediate "No you are not building a bridge here" and trying to be Intimidating™ and Firm™ and Scar just looking him dead in the eyes and lighting the torch to send him scuttling back like the wet cat he is under his vampirism HJKFSJLFKJSL I LOVE THEM SO FUCKING MUCH also the "I'm not as flammable as Scar says I am" WHY DO I GET THE FEELING YOU ARE LYING MR. JUMBO HUH?? HUH????

Anyway Grian just SEEING the purple light in the distance and knowing it's the Rift and immediately being mesmerized by it, drawn forward. God I want to see that scene from Scar and Mumbo's pov, Grian just running past them and flying and just jkfgkjdkj. AND THEN. THEN THE RIFT????? PUTS HIM IN A MEMORY???? I legit thought for a moment that Grian was remembering his home falling apart and then it just turned out to be an accident and then Mumbo and Scar's voices and words just melded with the memory?? dream?? and he had no idea what was really happening AND ALMOST WALKED STRAIGHT INTO THE RIFT I AM SOOO JKDSJKFJKS

AND SCAR SCREAMING. SCAR REALIZING WHAT'S HAPPENING AND SCREAMING AND GRABBING GRIAN IN POSSIBLY THE MOST PAINFUL WAY SO HE CAN DRAG HIM BACK WHILE THE RIFY TRIES TO EAT GRIAN?!?!?! THE RIFT REACHING OUT FOR THEM AND INJURING THEM??? OR ONE OF THEM IDK HOW MUCH I CAN SAY BC GRIAN IS DISASSOCIATING AND THE FEAR AS HE REALIZES WHAT'S HAPPENED AND THAT THE RIFT LURED HIM IN AND EVERYONE SCREAMING WONDERING WHAT'S HAPPENING AND SCAR YELLING AT MUMBO TO STAY AWAY FROM IT AS HE BODILY DRAGS GRIAN AWAY AND THEY RUN AND DON'T STOP AND THEY JUST RUN AND RUN BECAUSE THEY NEED TO GET AWAY (ARE THEY BEING CHASED TOO??? IF SO BY WHAT SCAR SCRAMBLED AWAY FROM THE HOLE AND MUMBO SEALED IT IMMEDIATELY JKSLK) AND OH MY GOD THEY HAVE CHOSEN THE WORST POSSIBLE OPLACE TO PUT A VAULT-

BUT. The first time, when Grian went through the first time it showed him grassy fields........ it didn't lure him in with a memory/dream IT TEMPTED HIM IN. BUT IT DIDN'T CONSUME HIM THEN. WHAT'S HAPPENING. But god imagine seeing grass and sunlight only to walk through INTO A FUCKING CAVERN. AND THE THOUGHT THAT HE WAS BEING CHASED I AM WONDERING NOW AND I AM. SO FEARFUL. STITCH. S T I T C H. WHAT IS HAPPENIIING EVERY TIME I THINK I KNOW YOU THROW A WRENCH IN IT HHJSDJHJKFSKJ

Anyway so obviously if you could not tell by my unhinged screaming this chapter was amazing and I am DYING holy shit. Thankyou for this it's wonderful <3

HI I WOULD LIKE EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT I HAVE BEEN THREATENED WITH THAT MIDNIGHT UPDATE FOR WEEKS AND IT WAS DESERVED. RATTLE YOUR BARS, YOU CANNOT STOP ME

I am clapping from my glass lil box of emotions though bc have the two of us in our dms last night while we freaked out about each other stories was the most fun I’ve had w writing in ages and genuinely so much joy in my heart. Could not have been a better night. AND YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES I ‘m glad the panic got across. I was typing, VERY fast.

That scene did originally go. Very different. Actually here hold on-

“Well. You don’t have to show us anything then. It’s our vault, and we know you used a chorus fruit to get in. So, we can just do that,” Mumbo said. His tone was a bit colder now and Grian swallowed.

😊 I much much much prefer ‘Grian [neutral]’ I think but man there is something about Mumbo slamming his metaphorical door shut in the original scene too. But also yes the domesticity of storage organization. They’re all so married already its sort of insane.

ITS FINE THEY WERE FINE EVERYTHING’S FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE

I should post the whole minecart scene actually. Not here, I’ll do it later. Shout at me if I don’t do it later klghsdhs But I really love it. I’m like a kid in a candy shop w the redstone mechanics and the minecarts in MC I just. Love. Them. So much. AND YES SCAR TRIPPING which was inspired by the fact that getting into and out of rollercoasters for myself is a fucking time and a half tbh. I love Mumbo using his Vampire powers for like, mundane everyday things like helping scar I am soFT ABOUT IT

Fun fact what you DIDN’T see was the original where Mumbo bit into it – the only reason I changed it is because it was weird having the non-POV character teleport away. The tension of the scene got muddled. Also peacing out w a chorus fruit in the middle of an argument about who should actually use the damn thing seemed like either a very Grian or Scar thing to do anyway sooooo. BUT YES HE JUST. IMMEDIATELY CAREENS ONTO HIS CHIN. Bless his hollow boned ass. They’re all such wet cats.

I picture mumbo as one of those tuxedo cats who just always looks like they are Up To Something. Slinking around. Making a lot of ruckus but then always sitting politely when you go to check on them. Batting at everything and anything. You get the drift. He is. SUCH a wet cat

[Grian would be an orange tabby and Scar would be a tortie, for the record. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.]

One of my favorite like. Bad??? Things?? [Well. Not necessarily always – disassociation and getting lost in your memories can be good for you in certain places for sure] the human brain does is go “Mmm hey there’s this Thing That Happened but instead of thinking about it directly we’re going to make you spiral around it like a bathtub draining and THEN let you remember what it was.” You know? Idk I think it’s a really interesting aspect to like, healing from trauma/how the brain deals with difficult memories. It helps, too, that there’s definitely Weird Magic Things at play too, which is a really interesting way to examine it. IDK one of my favorite aspects of fiction is how we can explode the human condition outwards to utterly ridiculous lengths in order to really peel back the layers of our own experiences and study them and learn from them/how to deal with them. And then the fact that not only is Scar Concerned and Excited but Grian has even attracted Mumbo’s Concern like. Mumbo Jumbo you are not living down the ‘Actually Cares About The Bird’ allegations.

FUN FACT ‘THE ONES WHO CAME BEFORE’ IS SOMETHING I STOLE FROM MY NOVEL- That’s what the people who live in the ‘modern day’ call Human Ancestors [Like, neandertals and homo erectus].  I DO know you love a good ancestor city ruins plot 👀👀👀. I do in fact know this about you. Eyes the recent midnight update. ALSO YEAH ANCIENT MOB FARM DLKGADFG They used to be so much easier to build I miss it. I should go back to alpha for funsies. Also I love mr Wet Cat Jumbo he’s so Scary tm and then he’s not at all in the slightest actually. It’s so funny. Scar has put up with him for so long. TBF He has put up with scar also for so long.

IN HIS DEFENSE, WHICH ONE OF THEM IS LYING TBH. THEY BOTH WOULD CATCH FIRE LIKE MATCHSTICKS LKADFG but also 😊

A little bit of excited to see it again a little bit of lured in. Excited /neg. I guess. Also I too want to see that scene from their POVs so. Uh. We probably will. Rift AU IS self-indulgent first and foremost after all 😊 AND Y E A H I wanted the Rift to get to play with Memories and Dreams in a really funky way for Reasons Revealed Later. I LOOOOOOVE How confusing it turned out to be honest. It is meant to be read as disorienting and not clear when is why is how. BUT THAT SCENE OF HIM ALMOST WALKING IN – I HAVE HAD THAT PLANNED BASICALLY SINCE I STARTED THIS AHHHH

CAN YOU IMAGINE THE PANIC Okay like I didn’t do a lot of description of the room the Rift is in because Grian has got Bigger Fish To Fry and taking time away to describe this MASSIVE PURPLE RIFT IN THE CAVE WALL felt out of place but. Imagine you are Scar. And the Avian you’ve grown fond of who occasionally does work for your lowkey criminal empire is walking towards it and not responding to you screaming his name and you have seconds to act and you GRAB HIM BY HIS WING which is a thing that’s already been shown to be a little bit sensitive [a lotta bit sensitive] and you feel the feathers pull out under your hand but you have to pull him away and as you do TENTACLES OF LIGHT BURST FORTH FROM THE RIFT, REACHING FOR HIM, SEARCHING FOR HIM [their POV is gonna be. Fuked.] AND ITS ALL YOU CAN DO TO GET AWAY BUT THE DAMN THING GRABS ONTO YOU AND YOU CAN FEEL THE SKIN OF YOUR ARM BRUISING AND TEARING AS YOU PULL YOURSELF AND GRIAN AWAY FROM IT I CANNOT BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS SCENE, OKAY? OKAY. AND THEN YOUR BEST FRIEND ALMOST LOVER ISS WATCHING AND ABSOLUTELY TRYING TO GET CLOSER TO HELP BECAUSE, I MEAN, HELLO, AND YOU CANT LET HIM get any closer, you can’t let whatever the hell this is touch him, hurt him, so you start just screaming. And running. Aaaaaugh. AND THE TWO OF YOU ARE RUNNING AND you’ve GOT GRIAN IN YOUR ARMS AND GRIAN IS FUCKING GONE HE’S SOBBING INTO YOUR CHEST AND NECK AND SHOULDER AND YOUR LEGS ALREADY HURT BUT YOU CANT STOP RUNNING AND-- 😊I cannot be normal about this scene okay I CANNOT.

WHAT IS HAPPENING INDEED, MY DEAR BELOVED FRIEND ATHERIX, WHAT IS HAPPENING INDEED.

Thank you for screaming it was a DELIGHT I cannot wait to write the next chapter I am practically vibrating out of my skin about it.

#Asks #Mutuals #Atherix #Rift Asks #Rift AU #Hermitshipping #Mumscarian #<- Implied/Future so I figured I would tag it #G O D I WANNA WRITE CH 3 #BUT I NEED TO GET SOME WORK DONE ON MY EXCHANGE FIC TOO??? #REPLY TO ALL MY COMMENTS ON AO3??? #AH

[luigitimecritique]

I literally just reblogged something on this, but here we go this is just too cool to me: The idea of changing the generic (?) Zelda formula and flipping it on its head.

The post I reblogged had an interesting appeal idea where, to summarize, a princess is born that is not Zelda (as in the mortal reincarnation of the Goddess), and not blessed with powers of wisdom. Scorn and disappointment ensue. She eventually has a daughter who actually IS Zelda, and we see just how struck she is by this, and tyranny ensues. Fantastic concept honestly, and it has me thinking just how many other ways we could shift the Zelda stories.

Let's discuss the absolute first one that needs to be said: Zelda being the one who saves Link. Frankly, I can't believe that there isn't a single canon game (to the best of my knowledge) where Zelda has to save/help out a trapped/distressed Link. While there's certainly no problem with this whole idea, especially due to the execution of it and how well various games have shown Zelda in states of lesser and more independence (think Sheik or Tetra), I do think playable Zelda in a mainline game is long-past due. Honestly, my main idea behind this would've been to do a half-and-half, where you spend half the game as one character, and the remaining half as the other. Or even the first half switching between the two, before Link gets snatched up and Zelda is left alone. Start the game similar to Breath of the Wild, where Link is assigned to protect Zelda, and we see Zelda's dependency on Link. I think we can take an interesting angle showing the literal embodiment of courage "leaving" Zelda . Change the tone of the game drastically to reflect this idea of courage having left, but still show Zelda persevering all the same. As she fights on and on, everything feels more and more doable. She becomes more powerful, she is able to lead on by herself. Create emotion, and pomp when they finally reunite and fight Ganon. Let them charge in, not with sheer Power, but with Wisdom and Courage.

Path number 2 that I probably heard from somewhere and I'm not even gonna try to pretend like it's mine although I cannot recall where I heard it: Ganon tries to break the cycle. Ganon, or in this iteration, Ganondorf, is raised in a healthy ass environment. Let's just say the Gerudos raise him to be this kid that truly cares and has a heart, only to realize he is the incarnation of Satan (I think I heard theories about OOT (or was it TP, I can't recall) Ganondorf being somewhat like this, essentially only doing what he did for his people but idk). He meets with Link and Zelda and the entire game revolves around ending the cycle once and for all. Create real emotional bonds between the three, show a true dynamic that goes from distrusting (bc why WOULDN'T you distrust Satan v17.72) to begrudging acceptance, into true camaraderie.

I could probably write more but I can't think of any off the top of my head lol. I don't know if you can tell, but I fucking love deep emotional connections between characters (I would maul man, woman, and child to see more interactions between BOTW Zelda and Link,,, SHAR MY BELOVE-).

#legend of zelda #zelda breath of the wild #link #zelda #zelda au #new zelda game idea?? #ganondorf #shittyideatown #gaming #nintendo