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koteosa · 4 years

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here’s some modern au headcanons for the arcana ... it’s something I think about a lot

Asra

gamer memeing shitlord . he majored in minecraft you cannot convince me otherwise

plays A Lot of minecraft but also just enjoys any similar sort of game, sdv, animal crossing, etc. He’s really good at video games but he’s just fucking around . he likes to play online games and try his best to make everyone hate him in a really harmless sort of way . he heals the enemy spy . changes his display name and avatar to be exactly the same as someone else . tells people to go into the console and type unbindall

he plays games with his friends and he’s usually the top player so he just spends his time spoiling the shit out of his friends giving them good items carrying them through dungeons etc but not Julian, he tells Julian to dig straight down in minecraft . Julian doesn’t ever know what he’s doing in any video game so Asra trains him wrong on purpose, as a joke

anyway enough about video games (for now)

Asra lives in a van that he painted the exterior of himself, it was both a fun project and a very smug way to annoy people with this awful fucking hippie van strolling into town, eat shit

it’s decorated with crystals, furs, fairy lights, mason jars full of food For The Aesthetic, books, etc. It’s very cozy, cottagecore / bohemian and it’s ridiculously obvious that he’s into witchcraft. he just lets Faust explore because this isn’t real and I can pretend that a snake is exactly as well behaved as in a fantasy story

basically homeless by choice

drugs tw but I see him as the type to want to try anything and everything at least once so if he’s ever been offered A Drug (and he crashes parties for fun and for free food, so he’s got opportunities) he’ll try it Just To See, and this has resulted in some bad trips before, but Muriel saw him in the middle of one and then after he sobered up Muriel put his foot down and made Asra agree to only do these things as responsibly as possible, like, with supervision from a friend

still drugs tw but I also see Asra as a stoner but in the cbd edibles sort of way, a lot of this is because I headcanon Asra as having ADD (because I do and I want to project a little bit) so it helps him focus but also he just Likes It. the glove box of his car has like, chocolate/lollipop edibles stuff like that

goes between like super healthy elaborate meals with mushrooms and veggies and fresh meat and shit and then just eating nothing but cheez-its all day

style wise I see him as the type to wear a lot of tank tops, like, the loosest of tank tops so it hangs super low and long and you get some nice cleavage out of it, crystal necklaces, gold jewelry, pride pins/jewelry/etc (trans/nonbinary/bisexual flags), oversized hoodies with loud colorful patterns, joggers and other loose comfy pants, and either boots or slippers

he’s got like... the at home look that’s basically what I just described, and then the away from home look that’s got thirty layers and none of it makes sense and he just shows up in orange crocs With Patterned Socks and everyone who sees him just lets out the heaviest sigh

Asra getting home be like (takes off a layer of clothes) (takes off a layer of clothes) (takes off a layer of clothes) (takes off a layer of clothes) (takes off a l

He likes to go on long road trips completely at random and saves up money to go on more extensive trips like, out of the continent. It can be really hard to place him at any given time, especially because he’s extremely slow to respond to texts for a whole multitude of reasons. He just fucking vanishes sometimes and he doesn’t get that maybe people want to know where he is. He’s too solitary

He makes money either via street performances (magic, tarot readings, etc) or selling shit on etsy like handmade tarot decks, crystal necklaces, magic charms, etc. He Has Never Worked A Day In His Life and He Will Not Start Now

Responsibility? Don’t know her

People ask him really obnoxious questions sometimes and he makes outlandish lies to tell them for fun . Why do you live in a van? A house killed my parents

In the fall/winter he lives with Muriel or more to the point, he crashes on his couch for a really long time and Muriel’s landlord doesn’t need to know about it for rent purposes

Julian

he’s a highly paid doctor and your mother would love it if you’d marry him if not for the fact that he looks like he never left his teenage emo phase

PIERCINGS

There’s DEFINITELY at least one piercing on his d

he lives with Portia and Mazelinka and tries to handle all their expenses but Mazelinka won’t fucking let him

soundproofed his room but not because he’s a youtuber or anything but because he uh. y’know what I’m gonna let y’all figure this one out on your own

goes to like............. lgbt friendly bdsm clubs every now and then looking for someone to step on him and call him garbage it’s for his mental health you don’t understand

black turtlenecks . silver jewelry . distinguished but Edgy as well, black boots, winklepickers, doc martens, ohmygod this is my SHIT I’m giving him red plaid pants and a reversed cross necklace and a leather jacket that says some radical shit on the back and Lots of Rings . black jeans with tears in the knees and black eyeshadow, demonia boots, leather gloves, hhhhhhOHmy GOD

catch him at home in black leggings and a my chemical romance tshirt with holes in it . he wakes up in the morning with yesterday’s makeup and he just cleans it up a little and that’s good enough

fairly small bedroom because he’s usually never at home, but it’s still pretty clear what he’s into even if it’s not super decorated or elaborate, kind of just Default Room but with his stuff arranged throughout . band posters, black furniture, a bed that looks like a depressed vampire sleeps in it, a bookshelf but most of the books are scattered around his desk, bed, and the floor. there’s a taxidermy skull on display somewhere because it’s just so dramatic you gotta love it

plays a black electric violin

extremely out of tune with pop culture he still listens to 70-00s music and he doesn’t know what a minecraft is or why Asra keeps yelling CREEPER when he comes into the room nor why Portia yells back AW MAN

I googled it and he qualifies as a millennial but I still see him as such a fucking old man who doesn’t know how to use electronics

despite being a doctor he’s so unhealthy . he eats nothing but depression meals (or just, nothing) unless someone forces him to sit down and eat an actual meal . No Julian whiskey does not count for your daily water intake

Malak probably happened because Julian wouldn’t stop feeding every black bird he saw just for the aesthetic and that was like 17 years ago but they still show up at his window expecting almonds or whatever the fuck . he changes houses but they’re too smart . you try to be a cool gothic thespian with a raven that will pose on your arm ONE time when you’re a teenager and they just never stop coming

sad lonely no friends hasn’t been laid in six years because he’s too busy and no longer remembers how to form meaningful relationships. Portia keeps being like so I met this really hot (insert gender here) and like idk I think they’re into goth dudes............... just saying...................... and he’s like am I really so pathetic that I’m going to let my baby sister set up blind dates for me? Yes

would drive something very goth like a hearse or some shit if not for the fact that his family would make sure he ends up in a coffin in the back of it if he drove up in that shit . please . buy a normal fucking car . Julian . oh my god

he starts quoting melodramatic poetry at the slightest inconvenience . he is that “All you did was betray me as I lay sick and festering. You are the definition of dread. My cat stole my fucking garlic bread” meme

been arrested multiple times for general rowdiness but also for political activism . at this point Portia/Mazelinka will just sigh and pay his bail and they don’t even ask what he did this time . how does he still have a job? I wish I knew

theater kid

Muriel

lives in a rundown apartment in the shitty part of town because it’s all he can afford, it’s quiet, and no one will try to visit him (except Asra) because no one wants to go to THAT part of town . but no harm will likely ever befall him because he’s 6′10 and like three million pounds of raw muscle with battle scars like you gonna fuck with that? really?

even if he got robbed it wouldn’t matter because A) he doesn’t own anything B) Inanna will chase the thief away

depression man staying in his quiet rundown dark apartment distracting himself with idle hobbies and taking care of his dog to prevent the encroaching ennui from tearing him a new asshole

changes jobs frequently both because he never stands out therefore never gets taken on full time after the part time trial period, AND to protect himself from the horror of being known

works mostly things like construction, auto repair, dog sitting/walking/etc, woodworking, mostly hard labor but if he can convince granny to let a very scary but completely harmless man look after her bichon frise for the weekend then he’s pretty happy about that

in a similar manner, he orders everything online so cashiers/etc won’t start to recognize him. delivery workers leave everything outside his door and he just drags it inside after they leave like an itazura kitty coin bank

goes camping a lot because staying cooped up in his apartment is super bad for his mental health and he doesn’t like to take walks through the city for a multitude of reasons. he takes Inanna on walks through the woods instead

Asra is his only friend and that’s fine (it’s not fine)

convinced therapy doesn’t work and he wants nothing to do with it

doesn’t like using electronics and only keeps a few things around his house so Asra can use them when he’s around . Muriel has a phone (that Asra got for him) so he can text Asra, check the time, check the weather, google questions, and like, nothing else

pretty much only happy when something is about dogs. he wants to go to the pet store and look at the dogs but he needs Asra to go with him so Asra can distract the workers and Muriel can look at the puppies in peace

dresses in blacks, grays, greens, and browns for the most part, jacket with the hood up, tank tops, dark jeans with tears in them, brown boots with mud stains on them . functional, not particularly stylish, and if he’s going to be in public he doesn’t want to make it easy for anyone to see his face. at home it’s mostly no shirt + sweatpants/joggers/etc. doesn’t accessorize or put in any real effort. he doesn’t care what he looks like (because he’s convinced he’s not much to look at anyway)

lives that super eco friendly life like Asra does but it’s more that he just feels comfortable living like he’s always on a camping trip

he doesn’t want to eat junk like Asra does but if Asra shows up with mcdonalds then well he can’t really say no

the type who uses something until he absolutely cannot use it anymore instead of just buying a new one

has never been to a doctor, dentist, etc Ever. the most he can do is take Inanna to the vet because he loves her so much

drives a very old pickup truck with like, chipped paint and mud stains. he’d take better care of it if only anything in life mattered

didn’t go to school

Portia

I like to think that she took on a groundskeeping job at Nadia’s very expensive large house and they fell in love and now Nadia pays for everything and Portia just spends her time gardening, playing with Pepi, and like idk running a vlogging/gaming youtube channel

200 videos of Pepi on her youtube channel with 4 million views each bare minimum . takes random videos of cats where she has to audio edit it to shit so you can’t hear her high pitched squeals of delight

minecraft let’s play part 30 where her, Asra, Nadia, and Julian play together and it’s extremely chaotic because Asra and Portia decide to gang up on Julian who does NOT know what he’s doing, and then Nadia surprises them all by not being the bigger person and instead tricking Julian into some elaborate trap where he steps on a trapdoor and falls 15 blocks into some lava and he looks up and all he sees is Nadia’s smug fucking avatar looking down at him

nightcore. it’s just not FAST enough

wears sweaters with cats on them. generally dresses in warm colors + brown/green, it’s like a very soft cozy look that you could go camping in or just generally be outside and get grass stains and whatnot. cute, functional

likes to make Julian do things for her like drive her places etc because like, he will. he always will

really likes social gatherings with her friends; sleepovers, beach trips, sitting at mcdonalds and pouring all their fries into a pile etc. tries to get Julian to go with her but he’s Just So BUSY. she makes fun of him and makes him drive her to it, then manages to convince him to stay

cottagecore aesthetic . she just thinks it’s so cute to have the little mason jars and decorate everything with leaves and flowers and BEES and whatnot . would love to live in a little cottage with a farm if she could

her room has a big cat tree in it . green wallpaper with yellow flowers. pressed flowers into books, an extremely cozy bed, fairy lights, it’s very farmy but also there’s a lot of electronics. she’s got a lot of 00s games, like, right in that ps2 sweet spot

nicknames all of her pokemon

she spoils the ever loving shit out of Pepi. She’s got a little cat harness and they go on walks through the park together

I don’t have a lot to say about the other two I Am Sorry

#the arcana #julian devorak #asra alnazar #muriel #portia devorak #nix hydra #text #writing #modern au #headcanon #the arcana writing

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rosecolouredash · 5 years

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Querencia CH. 2

Previous Chapters // PROLOGUE ONE

Summary: A prince and his sword reunited with his knight best friend.

Warnings: Insinuated violence and death.

Notes: I’ve been heavily inspired to write as of late so another chapter it is! This was the last full chapter within my Google docs (before I abandoned it.) I do have random dialogue and scenes written out (ie. Luke’s story in this all.) Now to fill in the blanks, haha

—

CHAPTER TWO

King of the Wastelands, Michael Clifford and his family of unruly bandits—plus one gryphon—were able to drive off the invaders that set fire to their fortress. In the process, they saved the ousted Prince Calum from the wrath of, who they discovered to be, the Easentis Army. Left with nothing but a burnt husk of a stronghold, they decided to join the prince on his quest to return to his homeland and to defeat the Empire—on the promise that they received a new homebase.

They allowed themselves a couple of days to recuperate from the battle before they journeyed North of Veodia, setting their course towards the capital city of Waiburne.

Michael and Calum walked side-by-side, at the center of a ring of bandits. The group chatted animatedly amongst themselves, around the two young men. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits.

“How’s it look up there, Dionne?”

From her place in the sky, on her beloved gryphon’s back, the russet-skinned girl surveyed their surroundings. They had made great progress—travelling past the silver sands of the Veodian wastelands into an area less barren and with paved, though rocky, paths. Dionne pushed the dark curls that had fallen in front of her eyes while flying.

“Nothing to see for another ten miles.”

Arnie the gryphon let out a squawk, in agreement with his rider.

“All right, thank you!”

Calum watched as Michael waved her off.

Dionne and Arnie, flew ahead of their group to continue to scout.

“I don’t think she likes me much.”

Michael whipped his head towards his new royal friend. “What makes you say that?”

The prince pursed his lips, “she doesn’t seem comfortable around me.” Calum then let out a sigh. “She never speaks to me unless absolutely necessary and when she walks with us, she keeps her distance.” The frown on his face deepened. “Even the gryphon, gives me quite the glare.”

Michael chuckled at the last comment. “That’s just Arnie for you. I’ve known him since he was a hatchling and he still gives me the side eye, sometimes.”

The bandit kept a watchful gaze on his oldest friend as she weaved through the clouds on her gryphon. “As for Dionne? Well...she’s not the biggest fan of you royal folk.”

“But you’re a king too, aren’t you?”

Michael let out a loud bellow. He grabbed the prince by his shoulder—successfully bringing him into a one arm hug. “They call me king—yes but I have no royal bloodlines to back it up.”

Calum looked towards the wild-haired man who continued with a soft smile. “Look, if it’s something you’re concerned with, you should ask. S’not my place to completely talk for her.”

The prince then shifted his gaze towards the sky. “I just—a number of people have already made sacrifices to keep me safe.”

The bandit watched as Calum’s eyes seemed to cloud over.

“I wouldn’t want to hold anyone to the same fate if they were unwilling, which is rightfully so.”

Michael let what Calum said linger in the air before he offered some reassurance. “If it’ll help you sleep better at night, I did ask them if they wanted to do this.”

The leader of the bandits thought back to the night they met—when Calum had fallen asleep from exhaustion before Michael and the rest of his crew.

“I gave them the option to back out and to stay in our wastelands but they all agreed. This is a cause we can’t not help with.”

A warm feeling enveloped Calum’s chest—he was grateful for his newfound allies.

“Your dad—King David—he was a good man and from the little time I’ve spent with you, I can tell. You’re following in his footsteps.”

Calum smiled at the kind thought. He hoped so.

“It’s only right that you take back what’s yours and bring peace back to this kingdom.”

They continued to walk side-by-side, the bandit’s arm wrapped tightly around the prince.

“Michael?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you.”

—

“So your main force is at Clare View Point?”

The travellers neared the aforementioned area. Calum nodded at Michael’s inquiry while they picked up their pace. When Dionne had flown ahead, she quickly returned with news that she found a group of knights under attack by the Empire.

The prince could only hope they were Saerean knights. “They offered themselves as a decoy to cover my escape to safety but Lorian’s army must have seen through the ruse.”

From above, Dionne signaled for the men to slow down. They took her word and found cover behind a large rock. When Michael peered around it, he happened upon the battle that raged ahead. “That’s your main troop? They’re not looking so good.”

Calum too had a look, only to be saddened by how right Michael was.

“I don’t believe it. It was quite sizable before…”

The bandit gave him a reassuring pat on the back. “They won’t be able to hold out for much longer so we need to devise a plan quick.”

Dionne had Arnie bring them back down to earth. She hopped off the gryphon, once they landed and she joined Michael and Calum.

“The royal army is nearly sunk but I think I heard someone cry that the third cavalry was still putting up a fight.”

The prince let out a sigh of relief. “The third cavalry? That’s Ashton’s unit.”

For once, the gryphon rider regarded the prince but her face stayed neutral. “Well, whoever he is, his men are doing their best but they’re definitely short on numbers.”

“We might be able to help then, if we hustle.” Michael quipped.

He turned towards the rest of the group. “All right, everyone. Prepare for battle.”

—

“Sir, we’re surrounded.”

Ashton Irwin, leader of the third royal cavalry of Saere, gave Remy a tired smile. Or maybe it was Rome? He was usually very good at telling them apart but unfortunately, he was currently in a weakened state.

The Abal twins watched from their stallions, in concern, as Ashton picked himself up from falling off his white mare. He used said horse—affectionately known as Margaret or simply Peggy—and his giant lance to steady himself. When Ashton was suddenly flanked by the twin knights, he looked ahead to find the woman that caused him such pain to begin with.

“We’ve got you now.”

A rich velvet covered her body—cascading to the ground in the colour of fine wine. She approached the knights but stopped when the boys on their horses took a step forward—in warning.

“You can’t hold out forever.” Her hands began to glow—sparks of electricity crackling around her nimble fingers. “So, if you surrender now, I might just spare your lives.”

The head knight paid no mind to her threat. She could have sworn she heard him giggle too. “Surely you joke, witch. A royal knight never surrenders.”

He gave her a charming smile though winced at the sudden pain of his face, likely from being electrocuted moments prior.

“I say, I’ll give you one last chance to withdraw.” Both Remy and Rome smirked at their captain’s offer—if Sir Ashton wanted to fight to the bitter end, so would they.

“Well, aren’t we brave? May lady luck see you through because you’re going to need it.” She made a grand gesture when turning around so her full skirt kicked up dirt into their faces. She looked towards her troops when her body started to dissipate. From the hem of her dress to the tips of her long, blonde hair—she fell away like smoke.

“Finish them.”

—

“Boss, it looks like the enemy can use magick.” Michael regarded the comment as they neared the battlefront.

“We’ll just have to keep our guard up then.” the bandit king replied, cracking his knuckles.

Calum looked over his allies, unsheathing Zephir from its scabbard. “Don’t worry about the magick.” The wind suddenly whirled around the prince and his sword. “I’ve got your back.”

Michael smirked as he felt something in the air shift. He should have known—the legendary spellblade was not named in farce.

They entered the fight, Michael bringing out his Chasm to deal damage onto the Empire’s troops.

Dionne and Arnie made waste of Easentis’ men—the gryphon grabbing onto them with his talons and tossing them out and away from the fight. The rest of the bandits helped to defeat many of the soldiers but what was most surprising was the prince himself.

Calum, ever quick on his feet, moved with his sword around the battlefield with ease. He slashed down enemy after enemy—sometimes casting a harsh wind to knock them away.

Eventually, they ploughed through the troops enough to find three knights and their horses at the center of it all.

“Who are you?” One of the young knights questioned. Remy had dismounted from his horse and held onto his captain, who did not have the strength to keep himself up.

“What do you mean, who are we?” One of the bandits responded.

“We’re here to help.”

Rome looked at his twin and then back at the bandits. “Help? You’re allies?”

The King of the Wastelands stepped forward. “I’m Michael, the leader of these knuckleheads.”

Dionne scoffed at the statement.

Grinning at her, he turned his attention back to the knights and continued. “Which one of you is Ashton?”

“I am he.” The royal knight, with some help from Remy, approached the group. “Brave bandit, what is it that you ask of me?”

Michael stepped aside so that Calum came into view.

“Ash!” The prince rushed to his best friend—looking him over. Though he was concerned with the minor burns that littered the knight’s skin, Calum thanked the gods that Ashton was, at least, alive.

“Cal, you’re safe.” Ashton engulfed the royal in a tight hug that was immediately reciprocated.

When he pulled away, Calum frowned. “What happened? When I left?”

The head knight recounted that Lorian’s Court Magician, Estelle appeared soon after they let Calum run away. She caused a storm that decimated the royal army—quickly and violently. Ashton let out a shaky breath, thinking back to the horror of it all. “My ranks have been thinned, considerably. Remy and Rome are the last of our unit.”

Calum regarded the brunet twins as they bowed their heads, in respect to their prince. These boys were young—barely the age of adulthood. They had much life to live. How fair was it that they must go through this war because of him?

“Don’t feel bad.” Ashton was versed in reading his best friend like a book. He recognized the expression that settled on Calum’s face. The prince was tenderhearted—so much so that the knight believed he would likely be as benevolent a king as his father before him.

“You are the throne’s true heir. The kingdom’s last hope.” Ashton nodded to himself and the twins. “The royal cavalry will fight alongside you—” Then he gestured towards the bandits, “—all of you, until the very end.”

The twins eagerly agreed, both responding simultaneously, “we are at your command, your highness.”

Calum thanked the twin knights.

He took a moment to gaze upon their group. From the bandits to the lady gryphon rider. From his best friend to his newfound friend from the wastelands. Calum then grinned as he remembered his conversation with Michael, earlier that day, so he addressed his allies with absolute determination.

“To defeat the Empire that took our homes and our families. To bring peace to our kingdom of Saere. I, Prince Calum, hereby form with you, the Royal Liberation Army.”

—

Tagged: @irwinkitten @calpops @rosecoloredash @lilbabycalum @gorgeouslygrace @rainingcalum @cashton-dolan @lockthisheartinchains @americanhorrorstudies @lovableah @cals-eyebrows @quintodosuniversos

#ro writes #fantasy!5sos #fantasy!au #5 seconds of summer #5sos #calum hood #michael clifford #ashton irwin #5sos imagine #5sos fanfic #calum hood imagine #calum hood fanfic #michael clifford imagine #michael clifford fanfic #ashton irwin imagine #ashton irwin fanfic

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death-himself · 5 years

Text

enjoy my theories and me connecting dots that weren’t meant to be connected and also random notes

this is from my third time watching the new episode, including every single tiny detail i noticed because when it comes to theorizing i either dont do anything or go all out

also know that I am terrible at reading facial expressions so most of those parts are likely wrong

(under the cut because on google docs it said it was 7 pages long and i am afraid)

virgil looks automatically anxious and frustrated

logan stutters a lot after roman makes the "take off your glasses" joke and i cant tell if hes confused or if hes actually offended by that

what they all say the first time they yell at logan: virgil: "shut up before i shut you up" thomas: "WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH" patton: "hey now heeeyy nowww" slowly turning into song

thomas calls virgil "the purp man"

references to Sword and the stone? may refer to something?

second time they yell at logan: virgil: "i'm gonna prohibit your BREATHING if you keep this up" (damn virge calm down) thomas: "please stop please i really dont want to think about it" patton doesnt speak (im pretty sure)

virgil glances at thomas a lot

is it just me or around the time virgil says "we're going to talk about something else now" he starts to sound a lot like deceit? Especially with that "sure"

roman gets easily distracted

"of course you're not a chick. You're a metaphysical human being. A chick is a really ??? girl"

why does remus appear behind the TV?

patton notices remus when saying "evil" virgil notices remus when saying "show up" and his tempest tongue comes in

when roman get knocked out the first time virgil looks at thomas like hes frustrated or annoyed maybe he looks at thomas like that because he thought it was thomas that was to blame for him showing up? since he was the one to have those intrusive thoughts?

also why does remus smack roman with a morning star?

all dark sides wear eye shadow confirmed

also this disproves the theory that all dark sides have a more animalistic features, therefore proving the headcanon that deceit just puts on makeup to look like he has scales on his face because hes dramatic

virgil looks kind of scared right before the song starts

during the song: logan looks done with everything thomas looks scared virgil looks furious and maybe defensive (that snarl tho) patton looks confused

why is patton of all sides to be the one to puke out remus (that's probably not the weirdest line i've written)

Remus considers any creativity that isn't dirty or horrific (aka his stuff) to be dull or boring

I think the A-Z part of the song is a reference to this one song video about the ABCs of ways to die but i have no clue

Even early on in the song when logan says "It's fine" it shows that hes trying to sort this out and get to the problem, but Remus prevents him from continuing, then allows Pat and Virge to say their thoughts

ROMAN CALLS REMUS "BRO" 8 MINUTES IN

"recently a snake offered me a morsel from the tree of knowledge" reference to deceit but also adam and eve

one of deceit's hands is holding a gavel reference to SvS

also deceit wears a coat just sayin

"No longer will you deceive yourself about the ugliness within you" this means that deceit really doesn't want thomas to lie to himself

why is deceit always the one with multiple arms when half his face is a snake? snakes dont have arms

Is remus holding up the mirror to thomas a reference to remus and roman basically being mirror images of each other?

Remus is SO PALE compared to thomas WHICH IS WEIRD CUZ THOMAS IS ALREADY REALLY PALE

I think remus is actually a lot smarter than he seems he knows how to manipulate thomas into believing hes a bad person by using religious topics and language, something that's been with thomas his whole life

also while remus is singing about hell he turns from normal to fully colored green, similar to all the other sides

Virgil looks so disturbed and frustrated after the song

"I'm really stupid right now" MOOD

when remus agrees with thomas that roman's his creativity he's just like "yeah...." SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS TO A T

Virgil and Remus argue like they know each other super well

Patton's so pure he doesn't even like to say "B-hole" precious dad

Remus uses words that have been said before to back himself up "Why do you want to stifle your own creativity, thomas?" 12 Days of Christmas: "We shouldn't stifle Roman's creative whimsy!" also all the other times roman's admitted to feeling ignored

Virgil's so uncomfortable he might have been afraid that remus would outright say that hes a dark side (bc honestly remus seems like the kind of guy to do that)

Why does remus like Jeffery Dommer so much?

also when remus turned his head to the side at about 10:30 the music matches and sounds like hes cracking his neck

Remus gets confused for a moment when Logan takes his "lot of good that did him!" seriously this seems to be a recurring theme throughout all the dark sides: them being confused by logan taking things literally You think I'm joking? I'm not Virgil early on gets frustrated that logan seems to "only take what he says literally" and I'm pretty sure I remember some time where deceit has to stop to process the fact that logan took one of his metaphors seriously

LOGAN IS A PSYCHOLOGY NERD AND WOULD LIKELY BE A PRETTY DECENT THERAPIST. YOU CAN NOT CHANGE MY MIND

Patton looks so scared when logan asks him to do the experiment. Hes like "what? what do you need me for? what's going on?"

virgil looks so tired and annoyed when he says "good save"

LOGAN GIVING OUT VALIDATION TO PATTON AND THEN LATER TO VIRGIL IS ADORABLE

wait does virgil blow at his bangs whenever he's really annoyed or anxious? because he did that in moving on part 2 while he was dealing with his panic attack in pattons room and then in this episode where he is clearly anxious throughout the whole thing

"No mommy I dont want the mashed potatoes" ROMAN HAS A MOM WHICH MEANS THAT REMUS HAS A MOM BUT WHO TF IS THEIR MOM

when thomas calls remus scary and he responds with that it sounds like a virgil problem Virgil glares at him so clearly defensive and angry remus just smiles like "yeah, i know whats going on"

virgil's the only one who doesnt suspect logan to be deceit when remus claims it

you know when everyone was creating theories about who romans counterpart would be and everyone was expecting them to be extremely elegant and suave? yeah, why the fuck did we think that? If the dark sides are like mirror images of the light sides, then of course remus would be this chaotic demon with literally no elegance whatsoever roman's the elegant, romantic, graceful prince, so of course whatever remus is would be his opposite

Cane and Abel - another biblical reference

also after remus says that virgil looks like hes confused or maybe just deep in thought about something

self-immolate means to set fire to yourself i had to look it up too remus literally wants thomas to strip, set himself on fire and play shake it off

despite all the biblical references reeling thomas in, remus is sooo bad at getting his point across "and then the baby...dies" "AND NO ONE SURVIVES"

a demented version of that "hallelujah" thing plays while hes talking about the baby bird and the airplane

"I am YOUR creativity" at that it flashes to Virgil, who looks like hes thinking about it. probably a sort of build-up to show how long virgil thinks about it before admitting that remus had a point

virgil looks so nervous when remus says that hes never been one to soften the truth

"why would you aspire to be so...boring?" (i feel like the word aspire there is important for some reason)

patton tries so hard to believe that thomas is a good person to the point where he ignores logic

THAT TURN TO LOGAN REMUS DOES IS SO FRICKIN TERRIFYING

it seems like both remus and deceit seem to understand that logan is the most dangerous for them remus threatens logan to try and get him to stop talking deceit chucks logan to the very back of the courtroom in SvS

"TURN INTO A GHOST" "TURN INTO THE HULK"

"I merely gave him a baby...AND A LARGE SHARP KNIFE" ME

"one of you is enough!" I wonder how that line affected Virgil? since it's possible that at this time he was already doubting whether or not hes really grown

PATTON LITERALLY DOESN'T KNOW WHAT REPRESSION IS

that voice-crack when virgil says "But what if he's lying?" That might show how he feels about lying and deceit a bit more. he might be terrified at the thought of being lied to

paranoid is definitely a really bad word to virgil and the others know it. virgil and patton turn to look at logan the moment he says it, and logan freezes for a moment to change it into something better

when both virge and remus say "but what about jeffery dommer" virgil just looks so scared, his eyes darting around as if his mind is racing, probably worried that he really hasnt grown

they keep referring back to "that can't be where the bar is"

Logan says "figuratively" to stop Remus

"I LOVE BEING GIVEN TWO D's AT ONCE"

Virgil looks so afraid that he's still the bad guy in this its so sad

both patton and virgil laugh at poop jokes they are 29— they are very mature adults

"I would never hide anything from you" *glances at virgil* I feel like that might have been the moment virgil realized he couldn't just hide him being a dark side much longer

THEY DON'T EVEN LOOKED SCARED WHEN REMUS SCREAMED THEY JUST LOOKED ANNOYED

as the vid goes on remus tries more and more to be noticed

why did logan ask virgil how thomas was feeling instead of patton? was it because he knew thomas was really anxious or because he felt like patton would claim that he was feeling fine?

while everyone's calming down during logan's lecture, virgil just seems to grow more and more anxious, since he knows that he'll probably have to tell thomas that hes a dark side

thomas and virgil STILL dont want to go to a therapist

virgil just looks so guilty when thomas decides to lie down on the couch

"It was just like old times" when remus says that patton and logan just look so mad that he would say that

after that logan glances up at virgil to see how he feels aww

VIRGIL'S SMILE WHEN ROMAN GETS BACK UP IS SO UNSURE YET SO HOPEFUL AT THE SAME TIME

everyone just looks so proud of logan awww

virgil sounds so lost when hes about to reveal himself

he never calls them "the dark sides", just "the others"

virgil looks on the verge of tears when he says "because i was one of them". it shows how much this affects him, and how terrified he is to tell thomas. this is even more terrifying to him than telling them his name, which was shown to be an important thing to him

and afterwards thomas just goes silent, and looks so lost and confused, maybe even betrayed. he clearly needed a moment to think before saying anything

then virgil shrugs and leaves, his eyes red and full of tears, probably too scared to stay any longer

once he leaves thomas just stares at the ground processing the information

i’m bad at theorizing and my thoughts are a mess rn so all of this is probably complete shit

#sanders sides #ts spoilers #tw remus #tw duke #cursing #what i do when theorizing is write down my thoughts the moment i have them and dont look back

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sam-i-am-27 · 6 years

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Dive Right In

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Summary: Roman wants to know what in the hell happened last night with that strange half-mer, half-human. Fortunately, so does Patton. As does the halfling and his human friend. Unfortunately, one uninvited person wants to know more as well.

Word Count: 2550

Thank you to @pastel-and-gore for being a loverly editor as always and making this 100% better than it was when I first spewed it out onto a Google Doc!

Roman didn’t know what he should do but sit there in the cave. He didn’t know what was coming out of his mouth, random incoherent sounds or the actual Song. That was… impossible. He had just watched a mer save another human and then become one himself?! The scales literally melted off of him and he had legs! That didn’t just happen! It couldn’t have happened!

“AGH!” he yelled randomly, his voice echoing around the cave, the enchanting magic in his voice making his own mind go fuzzy with lust.

So he came in contact with… one and a half humans? One was unconscious, the other half was a mer a majority of the time Roman had been talking to him… so was it illegal? Nah, it wasn’t illegal. He was fine… but there was still that nagging at his subconsciousness. It wasn’t worry or fear, it was curiosity. He wanted to know more about that half-mer. How did a half-mer even exist if mers weren’t even allowed to talk to humans?! How was he able to resist the Song when neither mers nor humans could?!

There were so many questions that Roman wished he had a quill, some ink, and a few hundred feet of parchment. He could ask them to Thomas-

No, he couldn’t know. If Thomas knew, no matter how close the two of them were, he’d be forced to uphold the law and imprison Roman. Then he and the royal Alchemist would go hunting for Virgil to wipe his memory of the experience.

He had to talk to someone who could keep a secret for reasons like protecting him and someone else from the King’s laws.

The instant the sun rose over the horizon and Roman no longer felt the pull of the moon’s magic, he shot towards the kingdom as fast as his tail would carry him. The sea turned into a white blur of bubbles and sea foam as he sped past coral reefs, over deep trenches until he reached the entrance of the kingdom. He sped through the dark and once through the tunnel, sped through the kingdom as fast as possible without completely speeding.

Roman reached the front gate and slowed down in front of his father. He saw eyes with a burning rage and hate of a thousands suns shining through the helmet.

“Roman. What brings you here again so soon?” his father asked. “I hoped you’d be gone-”

“Save me the insults, father. I need to see Patton,” Roman croaked. Instantly, Roman knew he had come back just a bit too early. Although the moon had stopped its spell almost an hour ago, he could feel his vocal cords vibrating with the magic that drew that human to him. Not enough to be deadly, but definitely enough that his father’s eyes lost all sense of hatred and his body slackened.

“Go right ahead, don’t let me stop you, Jules,” he said in a dream-like voice. Roman grit his teeth at the name but swam on inside without second thought. Of course his father would call him that; the only Siren voice he had known was his mothers and since she passed, he hadn’t heard any others.

He swam through the castle silently, giving only nods to the guards who greeted him before he reached Patton’s room and knocked on the door.

“Mmm… who’s there?” Patton mumbled from the inside. Roman just continued to knock, unable to say anything without entrancing every mer in the very echoey hallway for the next ten minutes.

“Coming, coming.” The sound of shuffling came through the door and when it opened, Roman had to muffle any sound he made at the sight of Patton. A blanket haphazardly slung over his shoulders, his glasses on upside-down, and his hair floating around at odd angles. He smacked his lips and looked at Roman through bleary eyes.

“Oh hi, Roman. You’re home early,” he muttered, turning around when Roman was half-way in the room. He rummaged around the messy desk, around all of the toys from their childhood before finding an old scroll and pen. As he scribbled down his note, Patton groaned. “Aw, I liked that scroll.”

Roman shoved the scroll into Patton’s arms and quickly swam to close the door so Patton didn’t read the news to the entire castle. Patton sighed and pushed his glasses down and off his nose. He sighed, grabbed them and put them back on to read the scroll.

“I met a hu-” Suddenly Patton was wide awake, looking at Roman with wide, excited eyes. “Is it okay?!”

Roman nodded and took the scroll back, scribbling down another note.

Patton read it and scowled slightly. “He… he grew a… how did he grow a tail… what?!”

Roman nodded in agreement, pointing to his throat and mimicking singing.

“He survived your singing?! But even we can’t do that!” Patton exclaimed. “Oh, I wanna meet him!”

Roman mimed in a way that hopefully said, ‘I think we can!’

“We need to go back up there… tomorrow night. You need to rest but we NEED to see him!” Patton said, pacing the room slowly. Roman noticed that his face suddenly fell and he became a bit serious, the excited twinkle in his eyes dimming. “He can become a mer in the water but has legs out… I wonder if he’s like those illegal half-mers? If he is, you didn’t technically break the law since half-mers haven’t been seen in, what, hundred years or so?”

Roman shook his head, but then thought about the situation and shrugged. It was possible but they couldn’t be sure unless they went back up and talked to him.

“So we go back up there tonight and see if he’s there?” Patton asked, looking Roman in the eyes, the excited look returning again. Roman gave a cocky grin and gave his friend a thumbs up.

“I really wish we had a fire,” Logan said, wrapping his blanket around him even tighter.

“Well it’s illegal to burn at the moment and you wanted to come. I don’t blame you for being curious,” Virgil argued, fiddling with the zipper on his hoodie.

“Yes, I am curious, Virgil. You grew fins in my bathtub. Your legs fused together and you grew gills, a tail, and fins,” Logan retorted. “If you had almost drowned and got mild hypothermia, you’d want to know the reason why. Plus on top of that, you’d want to know the reason why your best friend keeps saying that while he was saving you, he grew a tail and met a merman who spoke clear English. I’d say I came out of more than a little curiosity.”

“Alright, alright, just teasing,” Virgil said, inching towards the water slightly. “Want some jam?”

“Of course,” Logan said, reaching into the cooler and pulling out a jar of Crofters and spoon.

“Still don’t know how you eat that plain,” Virgil said, reaching over with a cracker and scooping some onto it.

“Ish delicioush,” Logan said through a mouthful of jam.

“You don’t say,” Virgil said, wiping cracker crumbs and jam off his face. He looked out at the ocean and sighed. The sun was nearly set, making the water turn a beautiful purple-blue-orange color. The waves were rolling up onto the sand slowly and the foam was lapping up closer and closer as the tide rose.

“I’m going to stick my feet in,” Virgil said. “I kinda wanna see how far in I have to go for there to be a reaction.”

Logan finished his last bite of jam and nodded. “Great idea.”

The two stripped down to their swim trunks, Virgil keeping his tank top on, and scooted to the water’s edge, not really wanting to walk the five feet.

“Alright… these are just my feet in the salt water.” Virgil took a breath and stuck his feet into the water, shivering at the low temperature. Instantly tingles shot through his toes and up to his ankles. The slime that had formed his tail last time formed around his feet, shaping into a large colorless mass of a half-formed fin. The tingles were still there, as if they knew he was in salt water and wanted to expand outwards and form the entire tail, but they stopped just below the ankle where the fin melded into skin.

“Fascinating. It seems that if you have the saltwater in one place, that’s the place that gets transformed. It’s like a sponge that’s absorbing water for the first time,” Logan said and splashed a little on Virgil’s upper thigh. A new set of tingles appeared there and wherever the water droplets hit, slim began to envelop his skin.

“I really don’t like the look of that,” he said. “I’m just gonna get in a bit more. Slowly though, it’s really cold.”

He crept in until the water was just below his knees. By this point, the slime had fused his calves together, formed the shape of his tail completely and created the outline of where his scales would appear. He could feel a slight pain in his neck as his gills began to open up.

“Do you think I have to be all the way in for color to appear?” he asked Logan.

“We have to test to find out for sure, but I say most likely,” Logan said, not taking his eyes off what was left of his legs.

Virgil nodded, took a deep breath, and slid his entire body under the next wave. The tingles shot up his legs faster than he could blink, the slime enveloping and fusing his legs instantly, tearing through his shorts and forming every individual scale. His gills opened up and took in as much salt water as they could, extracting the oxygen so Virgil could breathe. By the time the wave had passed over him, his tail had formed and he looked like a regular merman, color and all.

“Okay… so yeah. Figured out how all that works,” he muttered, flicking his tail fin and splashing Logan in the face.

“It appears that a single drop of water will not inconvenience you but diving in will,” Logan muttered, cleaning off his glasses with one hand and pulling out yet another one of his scales with the other.

“Ow! Dammit, Lo!” he complained, rubbing the spot. Logan ignored him and blew on the scale until it was dry, groaning a little as a small amount of slime fell off it, leaving only a bit of Virgil’s skin.

“Gross,” his friend muttered but than dunked the skin into the water. Instantly, the slime reformed and he was holding a purple scale again.

“It doesn't matter what part of you touches the water as long as it’s you,” Logan muttered. “Absolutely fascinating.”

Virgil shrugged and looked out at the water again. The sun had completely set, leaving only a dark ocean reflecting the few stars that had been revealed without sunlight. He sighed and scooted sand.

“Hey, Lo, I'll be right back, I'm going to go check something out,” Virgil said.

“Uh huh,” Logan said, drying off the scale again and sinking it into the water. Virgil smirked and dove in. The water froze his bones for a second before his body warmed up at an impossible speed. Probably another mer thing… better tell Logan when he got back.

Breathing was such a strange experience. He did it involuntarily but it was so… forced. He felt like there was a pillow over his face but he could breathe. His gills allowed him to take oxygen from the water and let him live but still… it felt strange, like breathing after eating a piece of minty gum. But more salty.

Virgil’s tail was a miracle of nature. Powerful and lithe, it sped him through the water faster than any boat could ever hope to go. Virgil felt like a living boat, the way he could turn and twist however he wanted without losing speed or sight of where he was. But he tried to not be theatrical and focused on finding the spot where Logan had swam to the night before.

He slowed down near the cliff and surfaced, his gills flapping uselessly in the air.

“Weird,” he muttered and looked around. Definitely the place where Logan had dove. He looked around him, not seeing anything interesting on the surface of the water, so he ducked under and swam deepe, keeping close to the cliff face. He must have been few dozen feet underwater but he didn’t feel a thing on his ears or his body. He could see clearer down here than he could on land… Even more mer stuff to jot down when he had a piece of dry paper.

The sandy bottom of the ocean appeared below him and with it a large cave. He swam in and asked, “Hello?” the words coming with a small stream of bubbles. There was no response though so he swam a little farther into the cave. “Roman? You there?”

“Over here.”

He turned and saw Roman sitting near the entrance of the cave with another mer, this one with a bright blue coloring with black stripes going up and down his tail. At the sight of Virgil, he squealed and swam forward. His blue eyes gleamed behind a pair of slightly cracked glasses that he had to constantly push up his nose as he smiled at Virgil. Although Virgil was slightly creeped out by the fact that a random mer was smiling at him, he was a little comforted by the fact that he was keeping himself at a comfortable distance and watching his body carefully for any signs of uncomfort.

“You’re Virgil! Oh, I’ve heard so much about you! You’re half-human, right? Oh, the human world must be amazing and-”

“Patton, calm down,” Roman said, putting a hand on the other mer’s shoulder.

“What does he mean he knows a lot about me?” Virgil asked. “I said five words to you.”

“Well we may have done a little reading between the lines and figured out how your existence may be possible and all that,” Roman said with a shrug. “Half-mers are illegal to us, so you’re a criminal so we just-”

“You know what, I’d love to hear this story, but so would my friend on the beach,” Virgil interrupted. “Besides, I don’t like the feeling of breathing water.”

“Your friend is a human, isn’t he?” Patton asked.

“No, he’s a unicorn,” Virgil said in a monotone. “Come on. He’ll be thrilled to meet you guys.”

Deep below the sea, a figure stood floating around a single golden orb, watching as the two-and-a-half mers swam out of the cave towards the human on the beach. The mer smiled maliciously and held up a single glowing finger, tracing it around the orb. The one with the purple tail stopped for a moment, shook his head and continued towards the beach.

“Perfect…”

They swam away from the orb and began to pull ingredients off the shelf, preparing a potion. There wasn’t any doubt that he would need it. Now that the halfling had the idea, he’d be down here with one of the others soon… it was only a matter of time…

Yes, it’s been a while. Just lost motivation but it came running back at the speed of sound just two days ago and I got this chapter finished! So yeah, you guys can probably guess a few things now but I really hope that you don’t know what’s going to happen because this is a great story that I am really excited to finish.

But yeah, I’m continuing this!

Reblogs are amazing.

Taglist for general and Dive Right In are both open, so all you need to do is ask!

Have a great day!

Taglist: @octopushugs @ryuity @fandergecko @rileyfirstname @spectacled-renegade @ijustreallylovesanderssides @redqueen29 @fire-flies-and-pattons-eyes @teaspoonfulofpatton @beneath-the-ash @thesynysterunknown @nightmarejasmine @i-like-cookiez @savemefrompainfulagony @randomfanderfriend @kingbumbles @spaceacesam @anxietywolf @enderperson43 @collie7700 @sassyshoulderangel319 @abigail-kaulitz

#Sanders Sides #Logan Sanders #Patton Sanders #Virgil Sanders #Roman Sanders #Deceit Sanders #Thomas Sanders #Fan Fiction #AU #Mermaid AU #Dive Right In #Rogue Writes

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gallifvrey · 3 years

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fic writer review

ty @taardisblue for tagging me in this! (also gonna leave this under a readmore to save everyone)

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 7! which is honestly a lot more than i was expecting

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 19544, which is also way more than i was expecting ngl

3. How many fandoms have you written for? on ao3 ive only published for two fandoms (doctor who and the magnus archives) but i’ve got some wips for critical role stuff and some old mass effect stuff i’d rather not revisit 😬

4. Top 5 fics by kudos? seconds. comes in at number one and is probably one of my fave fics ive written. talks about 12 after escaping from the time dial and his regeneration into 13 and dealing with all of that built up trauma. same with never cruel or cowardly, has lots of callbacks to episodes in hopefully just the right place to break your heart!

never cruel or cowardly details thirteen’s life after regeneration and specifically dealing with trauma from her experiences right before she regenerated (i.e. time dial, losing and remembering clara, dying on a spaceship etc.)

should have been a TMA fic that goes from martin and jon starting to rebuild their life in the safehouse to then the apocalypse and then the end of the world (written before the finale even aired so its all speculation)

what would you do, to save humanity this was written as an alternative darker ending to Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos bc i figured that episode didn’t have enough angst.

every star a fic about the doctor and the master’s relationship bc this ship always kind of kills me and i am always kinda thinking about it. about how they are so very, very alike. two sides of the same coin.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not? ahhh unfortunately i generally dont - partially i get rly stressed about responding “the right way” but also i like seeing the little notification of unread messages! nice reminder that ppl comment on my fics! but also sometimes i do just forget and feel rly awkward. just know if you comment on my fic i literally owe my entire life to you

6. A fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? ah man the tma fic ends in their combined death so theres that? the thoschei fic is... well.. i mean, yknow. a thoschei fic. none of them end particularly ‘well’ tho i think.

7. Do you write crossovers? nah i dont particularly like crossovers tbh

8. Ever received hate on a fic? thankfully, no

9. Do you write smut? that is between me, google docs, and a secondary ao3 account no one knows about

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen? thankfully, no

11. Ever had a fic translated? No

12. Have you ever co-written a fic? no! i’d like to tho!

13. All time fav ship? god i dont think i could just have one but i am kinda obsessed with thoschei from doctor who, or twelve/clara is a huge one for me also

14. WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? oh man i wrote a really detailed rewrite of the pyramid at the end of the world episodes, where instead of the doctor coming back he was still indoctrinated or still was like, done w humanity ig, so it was bill who singlehandedly was saving the world kinda like martha did. it was my first time writing a longer fic and sticking with it and i think it had real potential! but someone never has time anymore

15. Writing strengths? i’d like to think im pretty good at descriptions and like, idk what to call it but like the vaguely meta-ish stuff, references to past eps and kinda like “poetic” language describing stuff?

16. Writing weaknesses? i cannot write dialogue to save my life. tbh both in real life and in fic

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic? see above. but also i think i’d be fine with it, at least in short bursts. if there’s ever a character that speaks ukrainian i’d be super down to write some of their dialogue in ukrainian in a fic but alas :(

18. First fandom you wrote for? definitely doctor who! i wrote a fic when i was like, 13? or smth and had just started watching the show and it was the most self indulgent thing ever but it was all about the doctor coming to pick up random teenagers from around the world and bring them onto the tardis in this big camp-like sleepover. i absolutely loved thinking abt that fic

19. What’s your fav fic you’ve written so far? hmm i like pyrite a lot bc its more ~experimental~ than ive written before. but i also have to say seconds. bc it introduced me to @yesokayiknow & then suddenly 2 yrs later had a bunch more dw friends! cool times

ty maddy for tagging me! this was a lot of fun. ik im supposed to tag ppl but alas i know limited tumblr urls off the top of my head so genuinely if you got this far in reading this post like, feel free to do this and tag me in it i’d love to see your response!

(if you’re thinking “oh but surely they can’t be talking about me!” i am. do the post if you want! tis fun)

#personal #tag meme #i.. dont know if thats a tag #it is now...

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biayahlife · 3 years

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Onion and Cider Soup (Plus EXTRAS!)

I save recipes in my Google Docs. Like a dragon that hoards treasure, I find a neat looking recipe in a cookbook, or on a random website, or in one of my friends’ personal repertoire, and I steal them away into my online repository. Many of these recipes have never been made, probably at this point nearly half, and there are delights such as Whiskey Lucky Charms Ice Cream, Pumpkin Spice Truffles, Honeyed Duck Breasts, and Scallion Herb Chickpea Salad. This Onion and Cider Soup has languished untouched in my collection of recipes for over two years, and I decided that this sad streak would end today.

You will be delighted to discover that this is actually three recipes in one; the original O&CS includes toast so it was necessary to make bread. To make bread, I needed to put together a Gluten Free flour blend to boot. So….. three recipes! The basis for our bread recipe came from a lovely book called “Gluten-Free: The Complete Series;” we have modified it fairly heavily to fit into my allergies, but it still turns out really well.

Let’s get into it :D

Ingredients:

Gluten Free Flour Blend:

400g Superfine besan

400g Rice flour

200g Glutinous rice flour

200g Tapioca starch

Bread:

2 Tbsp Gelatin

1 Tbsp White sugar

2 Tbsp Dried yeast

1 Whole duck egg

2 Duck egg whites

1 tsp Salt

450g Gluten free flour blend

60g Tapioca starch

½ cup Avocado oil

Onion and Cider Soup:

115g Salted butter

3lb 5oz Onions, finely sliced

1 Tbsp Sugar (optional)

250ml Dry cider

2 Pints Chicken bone broth

3 Sprigs Fresh thyme leaves

2 Slices Toasted bread

1 Goat Brie

15g Melted butter

Instructions for Flour Blend:

Measure out the denominations of ingredients and mix together thoroughly.

We have this delightful plastic tub with a strong seal that we use for the gluten free flour. Once the flours have all been put in, we seal up the container and shake it until everything is uniform. It’s easier than using a spoon or a whisk which can be really messy.

Instructions for Gluten Free Bread:

Grease a loaf tin (11in L x 4in W x 3in D) and line with parchment paper.

We chose a different shape of loaf tin on purpose for this recipe. I’ve found that a lot of gluten free breads that we’ve made don’t rise very well in the middle if the batter is too deep/thick. This tin is longer and more shallow which gives it a much better rise.

Place the gelatin into 1 cup of cold water and let it soak until it sinks. Heat the gelatin mixture until it is clear. Set aside to cool.

I recommend doing this first (hence its location in the recipe!) as the gelatin mixture has the ability to scramble the eggs used later if it’s too hot when combined.

Place ½ cup of cold water and ½ cup boiling water in a small bowl and add the sugar and yeast. It will become frothy in a few minutes.

With this step make sure that the water isn’t super hot. You should be able to comfortably put a finger into the water; if it’s too hot this will kill the yeasty boys and you won’t get any rise in the bread.

Combine the gluten free flour and tapioca starch in a bowl. Whisk together until the tapioca starch has blended.

Definitely combine these two dry ingredients before adding them to the wet so the tapioca starch ends up evenly distributed.

Whisk the egg and whites with the salt. While beating the egg, add the gelatin mixture a spoonful at a time.

The actual recipe used in the book calls for three egg whites, rather than one whole egg and two whites, and suggests whisking until stiff. With the addition of the yolk you will not be able to get the eggs to be stiff however you’ll be able to achieve a very strong froth. This is a-ok. Also, adding the gelatin a spoonful at a time is VERY important since the gelatin mixture is not going to cool particularly quickly. You don’t want to end up with scrambled jello eggs.

Remove bowl from the mixer. Slowly add the flour and tapioca starch mixture to the egg mixture, whisking each fourth of the flour.

This will get very thick as you mix; the next step will loosen everything up completely.

Fold in the frothy yeasty boys, then the oil.

The mixture will be hella lumpy at first but don’t panic. Use a gentle folding motion again and again until the oil and yeast are fully incorporated.

Once fully incorporated, whisk the mixture to ensure that the ingredients are blended and preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave the bread mixture to stand for about 15 minutes. Don’t be surprised if there isn’t a notable change in size. Resting the batter is important though. It gives the yeast time to work.

There won’t be as much rise as you’d think. The oil retards the rising but especially with the residual heat from the gelatin mixture you’ll absolutely have some puffiness happen.

Whisk the mixture once more and pour into the prepared bread tin. Place the bread on a lower shelf in the oven and bake for 50 minutes.

You’ll know the bread has finished baking when you tap on the top of the loaf, and it sounds hollow all the way across. You can use a wooden spoon to do the tapping; it’s very satisfying.

Remove from oven and cool in the tin before slicing.

Instructions for Onion and Cider Soup:

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan and add the onions. Sauté them gently, turning them round in the butter, until they start to soften.

This was my very first experience with caramelizing onions so this was a bit of a mystery. I will say, the combo of butter and onions together is a god-tier smell.

Add a splash of water, cover with a lid, and sweat the onions until they are very soft and start to caramelize. This can take up to 50 minutes.

You will need to add a splash of water every so often and turn the onions over in the buttery juices. I don’t recommend adding as much water as I did during this time. When the recipe says a “splash” of water, we’re talking about an ounce or so at a time. Especially if you have weepy onions like me, you’re not going to need a lot of water. If you add too much water the sweating process will take significantly longer. The recipe says 50 minutes but I ended up sweating these for an hour and 20.

Take the lid off and turn the heat up to medium so that the juices can evaporate and the onions caramelize.

If the onions are not caramelizing well you can add the optional sugar, but before you do so, let it go by itself. You’re looking to have the vast majority of the water gone. Once this is uncovered you’ll need to monitor it much closer. It will burn in a split second when you’re not looking.

When the onions are dark, add the cider, stock, and thyme and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

The next time I do this I will probably change this part up. I think the cider should be added first, cooked off a bit, and THEN add the bone broth. I think the cider waters the whole thing down a little too much in retrospect. Additionally, I ended up with dried thyme instead of full fresh sprigs and I definitely regret that. The mouthfeel of dried thyme isn’t nearly as nice as I wanted it to be.

While the soup is simmering, take a slice of the homemade bread, brush butter over the bread then pop into the oven under the broiler for a few minutes. Remove and then add a couple slices of Brie, brush a little more butter over the cheese, and put it back under the boiler on low until bubbling.

Of course you can pick any cheese you want for this. The bread is great for dipping and the salt in the butter is the only salt that I added to this, so a salty cheese is a great addition. It is 100% up to you!

Ladle the soup into a heavy bowl. Place the slice of toast with Brie on top of the soup.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

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erickjack-blog1 · 5 years

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How Much RAM Do You Really Need?

“How much RAM do I need?” It’s one of the most frequent questions asked by anyone buying or upgrading a desktop or laptop, and while there are some reasonable stock answers that people usually share, there is no one-size-fits-all answer, and very little of the advice you do see has any real testing to back it up.

We’re here to fix that. By testing a variety of use cases on different amounts of RAM, we can get a very good idea what sort of uses can be comfortably done with how much RAM, and even give you an idea of how you can stretch the RAM you’ve got.

What is RAM and how does it work?

Let’s start with the most basic elements of the question. RAM is where data is stored before processing. RAM stands for Random Access Memory, and it consists of dynamic memory chips that can be written and rewritten with data very quickly. Unlike your hard drive, however, the memory used for RAM is also volatile, meaning that it only holds onto that data while the chip is powered, so it’s not designed to hold information long term.

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Essentially, RAM is the memory that actually lets you work with the data needed to run programs and open files. Whenever your computer loads a program or opens a file, it opens up that data in RAM. Even your operating system uses RAM when it’s running. If you want to run a program, it pulls the data from long-term storage on your hard drive to short-term storage in RAM, where it can be accessed quickly enough for smooth operation.

This flow of data between the disk and the RAM is controlled by the computer, which manages the writing of data to physical locations on the memory chip, and that it needs a certain amount of free space to function. For each program you run, it will actively use some of the space for in-use memory and allocate some of the available space as standby memory, essentially reserved space for potential operations.

Once you hit the limit of what your RAM can hold, then your computer will compensate with a swap file, putting some of the data onto your storage drive. It will try to use this swap file in the same way it does RAM, constantly reading and writing the data during operation, but the memory in your storage drives simply isn’t designed to move data as rapidly as DRAM. A swap file still lets you get some things done, but will be dramatically slower.

The bottom line is that RAM is essential to the smooth operating of your computer, particularly for things like multitasking and accessing multiple files at one time. While your overall performance will largely be dictated by the capabilities of your processor and graphics hardware, your memory allotment will directly impact how well you can take advantage of that performance. Too little RAM creates a bottleneck that slows everything down, and the basic rule of thumb is that more RAM is always better.

How Much RAM Do I Need?

The answer to the question of how much RAM you need always will come back to what you want to do with it. While opting for more RAM is always good advice, it doesn’t answer the more specific questions of how much RAM is needed for specific uses, or what you can reasonably expect to do with the RAM your laptop already has. To answer these questions we performed some testing, looking at specific use cases, identifying the basic memory requirements for each and providing some hard numbers to back our advice.

To help you find the best answer for you, we tested for five specific use cases, each common but distinct in its memory demands:

Office productivity

Web browsing

Media streaming

Photo editing

Gaming

Each of these uses is common, but has distinctly different hardware requirements and memory demands. We broke down each of our five use cases, finding the memory demands for both basic and heavy use, and matched that to common allotments of RAM. Want to edit photos, but you’re not much of a gamer? Want to do some document work and web browsing but still want the option to do more? Whatever your mix of uses, we can give you a very good idea of how much memory will be enough to meet the demands of the task.

Putting RAM To The Test

For use case testing we used an Alienware 15 R3, equipped with an Intel Core i7-6700HQ, 16GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX970M graphics card. To obtain data on memory usage, we used Windows Resource Monitor, one of several tools built into Windows to view system information and tracking the performance of various components. We chose Resource Monitor because it provides more granular information than Windows Task Manager, but both tools are helpful for getting an idea of how memory is used as you run processes and programs.

Office Productivity

While creating and editing documents is generally a low-resource task, office productivity gets much more demanding as you open multiple files in multiple programs. For this test we looked at various programs in Microsoft’s Office Suite, examining how large files stress memory as well as using multiple productivity programs at once. If you want to make the most of your multitasking, these are the tests to look at.

We started with smaller files in multiple programs, opening Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, PDF files and photos. Whether we had one Word doc open or 10 files open across 5 programs, working with standard small documents barely exceeded 5GB of memory in use, and never exceeded 7GB of memory in use and in standby.

Large documents were another matter. We tested with a number of documents with upward of 1,000 pages. Whether looking at a single text file or a handful of documents (Word Docs, PDF, Text files) and larger Excel files (multiple sheets, each with 100+ columns of data), the memory usage ranged between 3,283 and 3,971 MB. The standby memory, however, jumped to nearly 10GB.

Key takeaway: You can do a lot of work with only 4GB of memory, but if you need to work with extremely large files, you’ll want to bump up to 8GB or more.

Web Browsing

Basic web browsing can be done on almost any connected device, but loading up multiple browser tabs will use up your memory. To test the memory demands of web browsing we used Google’s Chrome browser, which is notable for being both popular and a notorious memory hog. For our tests we assumed that normal browsing behavior included the use of multiple browser tabs, with no additional measures taken to cut down on data usage; meaning no ad blockers, no special permissions for media, and no other data-saving measures. We started with a list of 10 popular websites and then opened new tabs of these same websites in batches of 10.

This test was rather eye-opening in how clearly it showed the impact of web browsing on memory use. The initial 10-tab test used 3,333 MB of memory, with an additional 3,963 MB in standby. Those 4GB of standby memory held throughout testing, but every additional 10 tabs used roughly a full GB of memory.

Key takeaway: If you’re a heavy web user, you can get by with 4GB of RAM, but will definitely see a benefit from a larger allotment, such as 8GB. If your open tabs routinely hit the 30+ mark, you’ll want at least 10GB of memory; more if you want to multitask in other programs as you browse.

Media Streaming

Streaming music or binging on videos is a slightly different use case than simple web browsing, putting its own stresses on memory. We looked at both audio and video streaming, across several services, to see how much memory was impacted by video, be it cat videos, news clips, or high-definition movies.

Surprisingly, the overall memory demands weren’t that different from regular browsing. Whether listening to multiple audio streams or watching multiple videos, the overall memory use didn’t change much. Single audio or video streams from Spotify or YouTube used less than 3GB of memory (2,747 MB and 2,532 MB, respectively), and you had to bump that up to 4 or more simultaneous streams to get above the 3GB mark. At that point, you’re streaming an unenjoyable cacophony of sight and sound, but you can add more if you want.

Key takeaway: If your primary uses for a system will be streaming media, a basic 4GB should do the trick just fine.

Photo Editing

Photo editing is far more demanding than basic office or web functionality, and is usually right on the cusp of what an affordable system can do well. We decided to test photo editing with Photoshop CC, Adobe’s current offering, and used unedited photos from a smartphone, each with 5312 x 2988 resolution, and measuring 5-6 MB each.

Our initial testing showed no real impact on memory usage from actual use, with little to no difference between viewing open photos, simply cropping photos or performing complex edits with multiple layers. That said, as a general rule, Photoshop is a bit of a memory hog, and will put as much memory into stand-by as it can get. Adobe recommends your system have at least 2.5GB of RAM to run Photoshop CC in Windows (3GB to run it on Mac), but in our testing it used 5GB just to open the program and leave it running.

Where things really get interesting, however, is when you’re working on multiple photos. Opening a single photo changed our in-use memory from 5,049 MB to 5,310 MB, but opening 10 photos bumped that up to 6,511 MB. Subsequent sets of 10 increased the in-use memory to 7,699 MB for 20 photos and 8,828 MB for 30 images.

Key takeaway: The bottom line here is that you can use Photoshop CC with the minimum 2.5GB required, but you’ll see smoother performance and better photo handling with larger allotments of RAM. We’d recommend a minimum of 8GB for anyone who expects to regularly edit photos.

Gaming

Finally, there’s gaming. While every gamer knows that the best gaming laptops need to have impressive graphics and processing hardware, the place of memory in that overall equation is something of a mystery. We look at how gaming impacts memory use, what the requirements are for various current titles, and whether or not it’s worth getting memory that is optimized for gaming.

First, we tested how much memory was used opening and running a game. For this we used Grand Theft Auto V. It’s not the newest game on the market, but it’s still relatively demanding, requiring a decent graphics card to handle all the visuals. According to the hardware requirements reported by Rockstar Games, you’ll need at least 4GB of RAM to run the game, but the developer recommends a minimum of 8GB.

When we ran the game on our Alienware 15, we saw that firing up Steam and opening GTAV from our games library resulted in 5,324 MB of in-use memory, with 9,319 in standby. On a 16GB system, that’s a sizable chunk of memory to dedicate to a single program. Those numbers held fairly steady throughout actual gameplay, so there’s no appreciable difference between running the game and playing the game that we could see. For this particular game, we’d echo the recommendation to have 8GB of memory or more, and think our 16GB system probably hits the sweet spot for playing demanding AAA titles.

But not everything is quite so demanding, and you can find games that will run on nearly any laptop out there. Low-end gaming doesn’t require much in the way of hardware, letting you play games like Cuphead, Minecraft or Overwatch without investing in a purpose-built machine. These games can generally run on 4GB of memory (sometimes less), and don’t require discrete graphics card.

Minimum GB Recommended GB

Cuphead 2 2

League of Legends 2 4

Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 1

Minecraft 0.5 1

Overwatch 4 6

Portal 2 0.5 1

Rocket League 2 4

Shovel Knight 2 2

Star Wars: The Old Republic 2 2

World of Warcraft 2 4

Mid-range gaming may require a GPU to handle the visuals, but titles like Tacoma or Dragon Ball FighterZ don’t demand an upgrade to the latest Nvidia or AMD offerings. Memory demands stay quite reasonable, running smoothly with 4-8GB of RAM.

Minimum GB Recommended GB

Dark Souls 3 8 8

Destiny 2 6 8

Dragon Ball FighterZ 4 8

Elite: Dangerous 4 4

Far Cry Primal 4 8

For Honor 4 8

Grand Theft Auto V 4 8

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain 4 8

Tacoma 4 8

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 2 4

The area where you’ll most want to maximize your memory is current AAA titles, like Far Cry 5or PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. These are games built to make the most of current hardware, and a tricked out system will need a decent amount of RAM to accompany the high-end graphics and processing hardware. For this level of gaming, 16GB seems to be the sweet spot, meeting all of the memory needs for unimpeded gameplay without throwing extra money into an already-expensive system.

Minimum GB Recommended GB

Far Cry 5 8 8

Street Fighter V 6 8

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds 8 16

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6 8

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 8 16

Forza Horizon 3 12 16

Gears of War 4 8 16

Mass Effect: Andromeda 8 16

Prey 8 16

Star Wars: Battlefront 8 16

One of the other things we looked at was how memory use impacted game performance, and how much memory you might need in order to multitask while gaming. While most people won’t be doing much photo editing in the middle of their next battle royale, it’s not uncommon to chat with friends or pull up a YouTube tutorial. So long as your gaming rig can handle the game, these simple uses should work without a memory upgrade.

Key takeaway: Opt for 8GB of RAM if you want decent performance on less demanding titles, but go for 16GB if you want to play the latest and most resource intensive hits. If you want to do things like stream to Twitch, we’d recommend opting for the 32GB options offered on many gaming PCs.

Multitasking

While these five use cases are all common, they’re also relatively simple in the sense that the testing focused on one or two specific uses at a time. But what about those times you need to jump back and forth between programs, flipping back and forth between files and tools? This sort of flexibility is where you’ll get the very most out of your memory, as larger allotments of RAM facilitate exactly this sort of behavior.

To test multitasking we started by simple adding one use case on top of another, and ran the same test on three different systems: An inexpensive Dell Inspiron 11 2-in-1 with 4GB of RAM, a mid-range Dell Inspiron 17 5767 with 8GB of RAM and the Alienware 15 R3 with 16GB of memory.

First, we started at a basic level. We opened all of our office files, maxing out the least demanding test we ran. Then we opened up 10 browser tabs, followed by 2 media streams (one audio, one video). On our 4GB system, this was enough to overwhelm the laptop, causing the system to slow to a crawl, and basic functionality to become inconsistent. Mouse clicks failed to register, simple documents struggled to scroll smoothly, and even gathering the screenshots we used to document our testing became difficult.

As we were able, we also ran Photoshop, with 10 photos open. We did this on both the Dell Inspiron 17 and the Alienware 15, without trouble. Photoshop is a notorious resource hog, and while you can use it for a quick photo crop or similar simple edit with 4GB, you’ll definitely want a system with 8GB or more if you expect to do routine edits or work on multiple photos.

Then, on the Alienware 15 R3, we also ran our gaming test, using Grand Theft Auto V. While it was the only system equipped with the graphics capability needed to run the game, it was also interesting to see how demanding the game was, especially when run in conjunction with our other tests. Simply running the game uses an additional 2GB of memory, but with little difference in memory load between running and actively playing the game, we simply left it running for the duration of testing.

Once these baseline tests were running, we proceed to ratchet up the memory demands incrementally, first by adding another 10 browser tabs, then another 2 audio streams, followed by an additional 10 photos in Photoshop. The 8GB Dell Inspiron 17 continued with normal functioning. On the Alienware we checked back in on GTA V and found everything running smoothly.

We did this again, bumping up to 30 tabs, 6 stream and 30 photos. Everything still worked, including the game. At this point, on both the 8GB Dell Inspiron 178 and the 16GB Alienware 15, you’ll notice that the amount of standby memory changes, reprioritizing things to briefly open up additional free space.

We repeated the increasing demands, stepping up to 40 Chrome tabs, 8 media streams and 40 photos in Photoshop. The Dell Inspiron’s 8GB of memory was effectively maxed out, and once we hit that 8GB choke point, performance became erratic. Switching between windows became difficult and the laptop finally locked up when we tried to open more browser tabs or photos.

The 16GB Alienware 15 held strong, but the in-use memory approached the 14GB mark, while the amount of free memory dwindled to nearly zero. At this point we started to see programs slow down, with jittery navigation and slowness in loading files as they were opened. GTA V continued to run, and we enjoyed a shootout and a car chase before moving on to the next level of multitasking torture.

We ratcheted up to 50 tabs. Then 10 media streams. Everything was holding thus far. Finally, we opened 10 more photos in Photoshop, bringing the total to 50. At this point, programs started to lock up. Windows popped in and out of view of their own accord, and our clicking and typing lagged considerably. When we tried to reopen the still-running game, the system locked up and refused to cooperate. With 13,625 MB of memory in use and 2,562 MB in standby, we had reached the limits of our 16GB of RAM. Only after closing one of our programs did function return to normal.

Key takeaway: Multitaskers should really opt for 8 GB of RAM when possible, and those running multiple applications along with a ton of tabs should opt for 16 GB.

Lessons Learned

The moral of this story is pretty straight forward; you want to have more memory than you’ll actually use. As you approach the limits of your memory, the impact on your productivity and user experience will be felt more and more, right up until you can’t do much of anything. The good news is that, as PC components go, RAM is easy to install and extremely affordable. If you want a quick way to upgrade your laptop, adding a stick of RAM is a great place to start, and is something even a novice can do in very little time.

The 4GB laptop hit that limit after simple opening some documents and a handful of browser tabs. The 8GB system did better, providing good support for photo editing in addition to a healthy number of browser tabs and simultaneous media streams, while the 16GB system supported dozens of tabs, an unreasonable number of concurrent media streams and even offered usable gaming right up to the end. Unless you plan on doing a huge amount of multitasking while gaming, there’s little reason for most gaming rigs to go beyond 16GB of memory.

From that we can knew, if you want to the best performance, you’d better have 16GB RAM, you will use it for gaming, working, anything you want.

So here the smallest ultrabook GPD P2 MAX is used 16GB RAM and 512GB ROM, to ensure all your working and gaming is run smooth.

#ram #laptop

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