#quests and focuses that were already planned from the beginning but that I got rid of.. former main characters banished to the side lol..

[icewindandboringhorror]

Hrmm... Revising my game and I feel like there's still sooo much writing left to do, for something that probably won't even amount to much, so.. I do want to narrow my focus more (especially given my health problems seeming to get worse/less energy the past few years), but I'm not sure how would be best to...

I currently have 5 characters as the Main ones with full planned questlines and such, with each character having 6 quests you can do for them. But I haven't really started the writing for the 5th main character. So then I was thinking, if I were going to write 6 full quests worth of content anyway... is it better to allocate that time on just doing a Complete 6 Quests for ONE single character, OR would it be better to do something like.. choose THREE side characters and do 2 quests for each of them? So that people have a wider variety to interact with and sort of sample around (of course with the idea that, once the first version of the game is released, IF people actually care about it enough to make it worth the effort, I would then add additional content to complete those 3 characters stories as well)

-

SO... If you were playing an interactive fiction sort of game centered around talking to & doing quests for a cast of characters (like there's no larger plot, more it's just about interacting with people, every character kind of has a self contained story, the focus is just learning about them and the world and exploring the area) --- Which would you rather have?

(and of course it would be stated up front which characters have only partial questlines, so people don't expect them to have full quests like the others and then get disappointed, or etc. etc.)

Basically, is it better to just focus in specifically on having one fully complete questline? Or for there to be a few stories that are not complete yet, but have more initial options available?

#I guess I just feel weird about investing too much into characters if possibly nobody will like them. so the idea of being able to sample #around a wider variety opens up the option of like 'hey even if neither of these 4 are your favorite - you have 3 other options soon too!' #or whatever. BUT I also am very anti-the trend of releasing half finished games or shit like that where people preorder and then #the game sucks on actual release and isn't fully playable or good until 5 updates later #HOWEVER.. those are giant companies with hundreds of employees and millions in funding. I feel like it's different for someone #if they're just like ''hey I am getting zero money for this and doing it entirely on my own in my free time and before I do like 50+ hours #of work on top of the 100+ hours of work that I already did - I would like maybe to at least see some proof #people are interested in this - so I'm releasing the game with like a small amount of the originally intended content removed #that I still have planned out and hope to add later and the game is still entirely done and completely functional #except for just a few quests I might add later.. sorry'' etc. etc. ??? like I think that's different. but maybe some people dont see #it that way and would still be like 'grrr.. how dare there be unfinished options..>:V" idk #And the nature of the quests is such that it's not weird to have it be partial like.. again.there's no major plot. it's not like the quests #are leading up to some dramatic thing and having them half done would make it feel like a cliffhanger. It's meant to be very casual just #chilling and doing little tasks and such. And last thing to clarify I guess - by 'side character' I don't mean taking some unimportant bac #ground character and forcing them to have quests. I mean like.. originally the game had 8 full characters and I thought that was #too much so I cut it down to 5. So I still had everything planned for all the side characters too. Id' just be like.. re-giving them #quests and focuses that were already planned from the beginning but that I got rid of.. former main characters banished to the side lol.. #ANYWAY... hrmm... hard to decide... It's just so niche I think. I feel more and more like I should just get it to a 'proof #of concept' state and get it out there to interest check rather than invest in it soooo much for nothing. Because I really do not have the #tastes other people do or interact with games or have interest in things in the same way. A lot of the stuff that I love (slow. character #focused things with basicaly no action or plot where its' just about getting to explore a world and learn about #people in a casual low stakes setting but ALSO not romance) I think people find very boring so... lol... #This year as I try to pick the project back up again after abandoning it for like 3 years I keep looking at stuff and going.. ough... #yeah... cut this maybe.. I should cut that too.. I should make them a side character.. remove this.. blah blah.. #Though I did ADD a journal and inventory system and other things that like People Expect Games To Have so.. maybe #that will count for something.. hey..you can collect items.. it's not just 'talking to elves for 600 hours simulator'.. are you #entertained yet? lol.... When I was making my other tiny game for that pet website and I gave it to the play testers and someone was like #''it should have achievements so I feel I'm working towards something concrete'' I was literally so blindsided like..??... people WANT that #in games..? is the goal not simply to wander aimlessly &fixate on world/character lore& make your own silly pointless personal goals? I did #do them though because it IS fun to make up little achievement names and such but.. i fear i am out of touch so bad lol..

[carebooks]

alright i watched the whole third season of House of Anubis

I first have to say how much I enjoyed the leads: Eddie and KT. They have such a good chemistry and they’re honestly hilarious together. As I mentioned before, I did ship them together when I was younger and first watched the show but with watching it again, I would keep them as friends. Best friends. (especially since KT is hella gay I don’t care what anyone says) They totally give me Cloak and Dagger vibes, especially in terms of partnership. At the start of the show, they were alone, they had no one to confide in, no one to be with, Eddie was torn about letting Sibuna know about Nina, still not over Patricia. KT just lost her grandfather and came to England on a quest with some key and vague warnings, she was hella confused but still did so out of loyalty to her grandfather (this baby is too precious and good for this world, i swear). And next thing you know, fate and Osirian visions bring them together. They form a partnership, they snoop around the Gatehouse, they form a bond. And I love it so much. What I love especially, is that at the end, when the sinners are everywhere and even the Sibuna members are taken as sinners, it’s down to Eddie and KT, just like the beginning. Sure, they get help from Willow and Harriet, but they lose Willow pretty quickly, and right at the end, Harriet sacrifices herself so they can get the other key and lock away the evil for good. And together, Eddie and KT join the keys and lock the evil as one. They started together, and they ended it together, and I think that was really poetic. I know that the Osirian and the Chosen One are meant to be the pair and the Ying & Yang, but in this particular case, Eddie and KT were a bond formed by friendship and hardship rather than destinies planned or written in the stars by the gods, yes fate brought them together, but only because they knew they could only accomplish their tasks with each other. I especially loved when they took down Ammut, and Robert tried a last ditch attempt to get KT to feel guilty over doing this, telling her that he would die if Ammut was locked away. It brings in KT’s loyalty to her family, even when it’s bad, but then Eddie yells during the commotion, “Don’t trust him, trust me!” And I think it really brings a full circle what a great partnership and bond they have.

Other than that, it’s really just random stuff I liked

i liked that Willow could sense bad vibes that Robert had whenever he was around Anubis House, as well as sensing the bad vibes that sinner!Victor and sinner!Patricia gave off. I kinda wished they could’ve looked more into that. Like she was naturally sensitive to these things or something.

Her relationship with Alfie was a nice touch, seeing him with someone who liked the same things that he did was real cute. Especially seeing them happy.

Victor and Sweet playing that card game gave me life.

Joy’s new attitude and look were certainly appreciated

While I preferred the Jerome that developed in S2 and won Mara over (especially over the course of the first season and second, i mean talk about a slow burn done right) and rather he didn’t cheat on her and Willow, the Joy+Jerome ship wasn’t terrible. I much prefer the developed S2 Jerome, I’ve said this twice now, but again, it wasn’t terrible. (but real talk? KT and Joy should’ve happened)

Amber being the one to bring Sibuna and the pair Eddie & KT together because *Amber Millington voice* “Hello people! Isn’t it obvious? Work together.”

Like that girl knew what was up. Well, she did invent Sibuna, not surprised.

Alfie was perfection this season, leave him be. Also, highlights of him:

“Crypts are for dead people!” “I’m afraid of everything.” “Guys, go! Get out of here! Sibuna! SIBUNNAAA!!”

I already talked plenty of Eddie and KT being the best, so yeah. But imma do it again anyway.

I have a theory that Eddie focused his primary Osirian instinct of being protective over the Chosen One to being protective over KT. Like he reffocused his powers to someone else for the time being. Nina wasn’t there, and when KT showed up in his vision it was almost like the house was telling him “You need to help her now. Keep her safe.” And I really like that.

It was especially shone a lot through out the season, and the last episodes too. 

When sinner!Patricia and sinner!Fabian had KT and wanted to exchange an artifact that Eddie had discovered, she told him to run and get away, like they did when Alfie told them to leave him behind. And he says, “That was Alfie, this is you.”

And when Eddie, KT, Willow and Harriet went to get the sun key from Caroline, and she managed to take KT and Willow and turn them into sinners, Eddie says, “Not KT,” very worriedly. Later on he’s hard on himself, “I can’t believe they got to KT.”

It was interesting that half the season was awakening the man in the tank and the other half was releasing evil into the world. Like a different feel for half the season, not many shows do that.

I kinda despise the fact that the things I didn’t like are probably going to be longer.

Let’s go paragraph first so, how about that plot? First off, the whole thing is very weird for Sibuna. The first two seasons were about riddles and thinking things through. They were real mysteries. In this, it was more direct, they had an obvious problem, they had to stop the bad guys from waking up a bad guy, and then literal evil converted their own friends against each other. It sounds super interesting for a Vampire Diaries or Teen Wolf or even My Babysitter’s A Vampire plot line (or just one episode) since those shows were more active based. This season barely had any hidden things or riddles, and half of it had Sibuna paranoid and working against each other which I’m sure no one really loved. Not to mention that the action mainly happened at the Gatehouse rather than the actual Anubis House, the center for two of the last mysteries. Now I know, I know, the new season couldn’t just be a copy, and having a third mystery with hidden compartments over the house would certainly be a lot for Robert and Louisa. But I mean, didn’t Het Huis Anubis have four seasons? They couldn’t just do their version of that? I’m guessing that they did something different (I really hope so, because if not, this is embarrassing)

things i did not like at all about this season

the fact that they twisted Mara’s character up in their new ‘messed up girl obsessed with a boy’ like Joy in S2. just- why?

the fact that they undid a bunch of Jerome’s development.

or how about the fact that all Jerome got to do this season was be part of a love triangle cheat fest and then a love drama with Joy. In S1 he shoved himself into Sibuna and Rufus and it was bad for him, but he was involved. And S2, he was just amazing, they managed to connect his family and his family troubles with something that Sibuna would’ve needed for the Mask of Anubis: the Frobisher Gem. It all came together perfectly.

we didn’t get anything of Mr. Sweet telling Eddie about his Osirian thing or their family history.

The way they treated KT when they thought she was evil. It was so messed up, honestly, that poor baby. (though I did appreciate that the other residents noticed, like at breakfast when she sat down and no one looked at her, and he said, “Good morning, KT.” and he just noticed something was wrong. And then Joy and Mara noticed. I just really feel like that was the moment where Jerome and Joy coulda been more involved with Sibuna again- wait what am I saying)

No, when they and Patricia and Alfie were at the Gatehouse and they tried to warn them about the ceremony is when JOY AND JEROME SHOULDA GOTTEN INVOLVED IN SIBUNA AGAIN. Or like, at least be more aware, I mean come on?? Joy, you’re better than this. And Jerome, you’ve seen enough weird stuff to know when it’s Sibuna-related and usually that means deadly-related so you’re whole having two girlfriends thing can wait for a while.

Caroline Denby sucked. (And Caroline Forbes from TVD is a fan favorite of mine and not to mention that MY NAME IS CAROLINE so imagine that).

the fact that we got rid of the real Victor was kinda just wrong for me. I mean, Victor has always been a pain in the ass with the kids, and he’s usually wanted what they were after as well but he’d never resort to murder or anything like that, so when he got turned into a sinner and lost his friggin soul (yes, they said that, this is true) we truly lost Victor and I didn’t like that at all.

Season 1 was all about a mystery but also partly conspiracy, there was a moment between all five of Sibuna where they got proof and realistic statements after Joy lied to them (at the insistence of her dad) they were starting to think that the mystery wasn’t real and almost backed out of the search. Remember? Nina said, “You guys aren’t giving up on me, right?” Anyway, that was that. It was all about finding more information about what really happened and what’s really going on. About finding answers.

Season 2 was darker, it was a race against time because unlike the mystery of the first season, this one was more about saving themselves. Nina’s life and her friends and Gran would’ve died, it’s a great motivator to go through the tunnels. And there were moments where we see just how serious this is, there’s one shot where Nina is in a dream sequence in the house and all her friends are running away from her, terrified. And even when Victor sees her, he backs away in fear and hides himself in his office and then in the mirror it’s revealed Nina’s dressed and appears as Senkhara. And then when Senkhara freezes Vera, Victor knows it’s time to back away, he’s scared, he’s worried, so we see him do what he has to do to get Vera back. And when he’s playing the game? With Sibuna as his game pieces on the huge board? When Alfie disappeared, he backed out, he knew when to stop and almost considered calling Mr. Sweet to do something about it.

Meanwhile, Season 3 was all dark evil stuff, run for your life or your literal soul will be taken. It’s the end of the world if they awaken this sleeping dude, we need heroes to stop the bad team. Oh no, he’s awake, now he’s going to unleash hell and evil and it’s the end of the world, only now everyone’s converted to the evil and it’s real bad, we need heroes desperately. 

This season might’ve been more dark or good vs. evil type of thing but it just didn’t feel right for HOA. The show has always been subtle, it’s quiet and the kids solve the mystery and they do everything very hushed and private, this season sort of felt like WHOAH PIE IN YOUR FACE GUESS WHAT IM A SIBUNA what with turning the whole school into sinners, I just didn’t like the whole school being this active. but that’s me personally. 

Robert Frobisher-Smythe being the one in the tank is ridiculous considering wE SAW HIS FRIGGIN GHOST AT THE END OF S1. And honestly, bringing him in and saying that he’s going to bring forth a darkness to make people evil and bring the apocalypse is just a really bland plot. It’s no mystery, it’s legit good guys vs. a villain. It’s a ‘save the world’ plot, yeah like we’ve never seen that before.

We love the mystery, where was it? oh right, nowhere.

When the four descendants of Robert’s expedition party were revealed: Patricia, Joy, Alfie and Jerome, there could have so much content.

The four of them speaking in unison while they sleep should’ve been used more.

Remember the childhood lullabies they were supposed to use to find a random artifact? Those lullabies were riddles and other than that cylinder that KT opened using her synesthesia, it was the only thing that made it feel like good old days of House of Anubis.

again, making Robert the man in the tank and then evil was just stupid. im not gonna approach the fact that he took the punishment meant for his expedition party and that’s why he’s cursed, and now he’s evil? oh gods

again, seeing the three OG Sibuna gang members evil and not on Sibuna kept killing me.

that ending bugged me

like oh no! everyone’s gone insane, we gotta shut this thing down before it devours more souls. TWO HOURS LATER and now it’s time to enjoy fireworks and Fabian and Mara and flirting and its so unnecessary, whyy??

Leave Mara with Jerome (in which he didnt cheat) and Willow is happy with Alfie and KT and Joy are out there being gay as hell. Those are the ships that shoulda happened.

Honestly, when I think back at S2 and Amber and Nina are there, it just brings back such good vibes. S2 really is the best season, but I stand by my love for Eddie and KT. Friendship goals AF. Like I said before, the third season was in your face, it was loud and it was telling everyone ‘end of the world’ and when you think about it, it’s perfect for the characters they introduced. S1 and S2 fit so well for Nina, because she’s like that, she’s quiet yet badass and is about riddles and mysteries. Meanwhile, Eddie is loud and wants to get this over with, LET’S BREAK INTO OUR TEACHER’S HOUSE BECAUSE I HAVE A HUNCH. YOU WANNA SEE THE SLEEPING MAN’S FACE, FABIAN? LET’S REMOVE THE GLASS. LET’S STEAL THE TANK WITH THE SLEEPING MAN IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.  LET ME JUST BARGE INTO VICTOR’S OFFICE TO TAKE YOUR KEY BACK, KT. LET’S DO WHATEVER IMPORTANT TASK OR MISSION WE NEED HAVE TONIGHT. LET ME BANG AGAINST PIPES AND BRICKS REALLY LOUDLY. And let me tell you, it just makes me laugh how into it he gets, like “why not?” it’s just so funny for some reason. Anyway, I think they decided to make this season fit what they wanted Eddie to be and that’s what they did. I loved Eddie’s performance, I loved him so much, I loved KT more. But I just didn’t love this season.

#carebooks #house of anubis #eddie miller #kt rush #my opinions #season review #this isn't an analysis

[clan-sayeed-fic]

Let me earn your trust (Kamilah Sayeed & MC)

Previous chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Book: Bloodbound (property of Pixelberry Studios) Pairing: Kamilah Sayeed & MC: Amy (I do not own those characters, they're the property of Pixelberry Studios as well) Warnings: fluff/ a little smut Rating: Mature Author's note:  I'm not a native English speaker, I'm sorry for any mistakes (feel free to correct me).

I'm super excited to share this chapter with you. It took me a while to post it, I know... I am not sure if I’ll be able to post another one tomorrow, but if not, be prepared for it on Thursday. 

Enjoy the slow burn!😘

~ 2000 words

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Chapter 10

Kamilah wasn't surprised when she didn't meet Amy in the morning. She prepared herself that the girl would oversleep.

It actually made her feel relieved. Even though she agreed on taking Amy with her to work, the unsureness didn't let her sleep last night. Kamilah was avoiding Amy for the past two weeks, and now they were supposed to spend the whole day together.

That's why she didn't even bother with waking up the human. Kamilah made it clear about how she would feel toward lateness. Moreover, she had no time for such thing as waking up some mortal. Getting this thought out of her head, she grabbed the keys and purse before stepping into the elevator.

When she got out, the view she found in the garage made her stop for a moment.

Cause there she was: Amy with a pretty smile on her face. She was standing next to the red cabriolet with a closed, black roof. If it wasn't enough to surprise, she had prepared a cup of coffee for Kamilah.

The woman took the coffee with suspicion and told Amy to take a seat. Then, she sat in the driver's seat without another word.

Amy couldn't stop a grin on her face. Kamilah undoubtedly sensed her enthusiasm but ignored it successfully. She left her purse on the back seat, acting like this morning was no different than the others.

"I impressed you, didn't I?" finally Amy asked, she couldn't hold back the pride in her voice.

"It takes a lot more to impress me," Kamilah drove them out of the garage, not caring to look at the girl.

"But, you were surprised to see me awake?" Amy bit her lower lip in anticipation of the response.

You truly disarm me, Kamilah thought. But she would never say that aloud. Instead, she answered mysteriously.

"You could say that," Kamilah let her win, holding back a smile.

Amy was satisfied. She looked out the window as they drove past the city in sweet silence.

***

They headed directly to Kamilah's office. Amy was astonished by how much respect workers showed to their CEO. Everyone greeted her happily. Even if Kamilah's responses were much more stoic, it was clear that she respected her employees equally much.

One thing was known for sure, Kamilah Sayeed couldn't have gone completely ignored.

When they walked on the right floor, the young woman greeted them with the most precious smile. It seemed weird that someone this cheerful was working as Kamilah's personal assistant.

"Welcome, Ms. Sayeed. And..." she looked in shock at the person who accompanied the woman.

It was a rare look to see someone different than Adrian as a quest in Kamilah's office. She usually had meetings in the conference room, even those private ones.

"I'm Amy," the girl shook her hand, excited by finally having a chance to see someone.

"It's nice to meet you," the assistant would be much more interested in the relationship between both women than Amy's name. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Um..." Amy was rethinking the question when Kamilah interrupted.

"She would not," the woman unlocked doors from her office and opened them wide, gesturing Amy to walk in. "Shall we?"

Amy gulped ashamed but stepped inside as she was told.

She looked around carefully, taking the surroundings in. It was similar to Kamilah's penthouse, decorated in the same style. Modern, with huge, dark windows, like the ones in Kamilah's car. Here as well, she saw artifacts hanging on the walls as the decoration.

Kamilah left her purse on the table while Amy was looking over the place. The woman wrote something down on the piece of paper. Her voice echoed, interrupting Amy's thoughts.

"I have a job for you," Kamilah said, giving her the note. "I want you to go to the library in this building and find these books. Then, I want you to read them."

"You want me to read?" Amy was shocked and quite disappointed.

"It's a valuable gift, being able to read," Kamilah teased.

Amy fought the urge to roll her eyes, knowing that Kamilah was watching her reactions. She didn't want to give her the pleasure of seeing Amy unsatisfied with the task. Kamilah wouldn't pass the opportunity to say something about how much Amy insisted on coming with her to work.

"As you wish," Amy said with a smile since she came up with an excellent idea.

Kamilah was sure that thanks to her plan, she would finally work in silence.

She couldn't be more wrong.

***

Kamilah was sitting behind her desk.

She was checking statistics about her company. That was usually the first thing that she was doing after she got to work. In this business, everything could change overnight.

Her thoughts traveled to the girl that she brought to her work. She made Amy go to the library, which was on the first floor of Ahmanet Financial. Did she do this on purpose? To get rid of the girl, and to have a chance to focus...

Kamilah looked again on the screen of her laptop, trying to concentrate on the charts. At that moment, she heard steps growing louder outside.

To her great astonishment, the doors opened. And Amy appeared in her office with three old books in her hands.

"I thought you would stay in the library," Kamilah said, taking off her glasses.

"I thought the same, but there were so many people down there, I couldn't concentrate," Amy said, putting books aside. "Wait, no, there was absolutely no one there,'' she said, sarcastically, ''and it was so quiet, so I decided to read here."

"That's how libraries work, they should be quiet," Kamilah felt amused by Amy's sentence. "How did you manage to get these out of there?"

Amy looked at the books as she sat down on the couch near the coffee table.

"I thought that it would be difficult," she smiled at this memory, "so I mentioned you." Amy stared into Kamilah's eyes, "people react differently after hearing your name."

Kamilah smiled, quite dazzled.

"I need to upset you," the woman said, dismissing her thoughts, "it would be quiet here too."

"It's okay," Amy was already lost in the book, making herself comfortable on the couch.

Kamilah looked at her for one more second before getting back to her work. She felt warmth spreading in her chest against her own will. But, what fascinated her most was that she finally felt ready to concentrate since Amy was near her.

She made her read books about the history of vampires and Bloodkeepers. Technically, every title that she wrote on the paper included the word: Bloodkeeper.

At first, Amy read in silence. But after some time, she couldn't help it but ask Kamilah about discussed topics in the books. In the beginning, the woman seemed to be annoyed with Amy interrupting her. Soon after, Kamilah found herself enjoying the company.

Sometimes they strayed off the subject and chatted about Kamilah's past. It didn't refer to anything personal, it seemed more like a history lesson to Amy. And one thing was clear, Amy was taking this moment to get to know this woman as much as she would let her at that moment.

***

Amy was silent for half an hour now. She must have found an intriguing subject.

Kamilah, not used to the girl being quiet, raised her gaze from paperwork to look at her. She saw Amy being focused on the book. Her wavy blonde hair fell on her light skin. She had the habit of touching her lower lip with her thumb while she was focusing. Kamilah felt lost in this view.

Amy finished reading. She was looking ahead with the same look on her face. She stopped playing with her lips for a moment.

"What is on your mind?" this time, Kamilah was the one who asked.

Amy looked at her as she got her out of her thoughts. Eyes full of desire.

"Um..." Amy shook her head with a sigh before continuing, "Did you know, that someday, I might be able to have control over vampires? Like a mind-controlling.''

"I do, indeed," Kamilah put her glasses aside, feeling that Amy would not let go quickly this time. "Moreover, I presume that you already did that."

Amy looked at her without understanding.

"I did?" she was confused.

"At Priya's party," Kamilah was quite shocked that Amy didn't think of that.

"Oh..." Amy didn't feel proud of it. "Then, it happened by mistake. What I am talking about now is being able to control the vampires consciously."

"Would you like that?" Kamilah smirked, teasing her.

Amy didn't answer the question. Instead, she put the book aside and stood up, making her way to Kamilah's desk. She stopped on the opposite side of it. It made Kamilah lean back on her chair with a question in her eyes.

Amy put her hands on the table and let her upper body move forward ever so slightly. Creating an illusion between acting submissive and dominant.

"Kamilah," she said with a husky voice while keeping intensive visual contact with the woman. "Can you say," Amy quickly rethought her sentence before continuing, with a shy smile, "that us, living together, is what you wanted for a long time?"

Kamilah stood up slowly as she was under someone's influence. She put her hands in the same way right next to Amy's. And slowly leaned into her, faces close to each other.

"Amy, us, living together. It's..." seductive whisper, sending hope over Amy's body, "not working." Kamilah finished with a mischevious smirk.

Amy laughed at first at her naiveness, looking down at the table.

When she lifted her gaze to meet Kamilah's eyes again, the tension between them was already perceptible in the air.

Kamilah dropped her gaze for a second, looking at Amy's lips. She took in her features before finally staring back into her beautiful, light, green eyes. It made Amy swallow hard, which seemed to compliment Kamilah, making her smirk with satisfaction.

Amy felt Kamilah's fingers gently stroking her palm, working it's way up her arm. She gave into this hardly noticeable touch. It made her close her eyes and bit lower lip, feeling Kamilah's gaze as she examined Amy's reactions. The heat raised inside Amy's body. Shit, Amy cursed in thoughts angry at herself for reacting this way at one stroke of Kamilah's hand. She wasn't even sure if it was from the touch or just the fact that she looked at her with such desire in her eyes.

Kamilah gently tucked hair that fell on Amy's face behind the girl's ear. Amy leaned into her touch from the moment she felt the warmness of Kamilah's hand against her cheek. Then, she opened her eyes, seeing Kamilah's face just an inch from her.

The woman saw for a split of seconds how Amy's eyes returned green from its golden color. She found it very flattering.

Kamilah's hand moved from the cheek to Amy's neck while she leaned more, closing the distance between them.

It felt like forever when Kamilah's lips got closer to Amy's, making her heartbeat increase. Forever before, she could smell the woman's perfume. Feel the warmth of her body even without directly touching it.

Forever before, the phone rang.

Amy stepped back automatically. Partly scared by a loud sound, but mostly overwhelmed with emotions.

Kamilah answered the phone, still looking at Amy. After she heard the first words, she turned her back and listened carefully.

Maybe, if Amy tried to focus on voice talking through the phone, she would hear the conversation. But clearly, focusing was not the easiest under those circumstances.

Finally, Kamilah hung up and turned around to Amy. The girl could already tell by the look on her face that something was not right.

"What was that about?" Amy asked.

"I had to move the date of the Council meeting about Lily," Kamilah was deadly serious.

"Wasn't it supposed to happen next week?" Amy remembered that they were supposed to have plenty of time to convince the Council members on voting in favor of Lily's case.

"It was," Kamilah sat down in her chair, Amy never saw her so devastated.

"Kamilah," Amy could feel her stomach getting tight. "When is this supposed to happen?"

The woman looked into her eyes.

And Amy knew that she would not like the answer before she could even hear it.

"Tomorrow."

Next chapter: 11

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tag list: @onyxgaytrash, @lightning-fury, @scarlet-letter-a0114, @caliseds

#kamilah sayeed #kamilah x mc #kamilah #bloodbound kamilah #bloodbound mc #bloodkeeper #vampires #bloodbound #choices bloodbound #choices bb #choices stories you play #choices fanfiction #choices fic

[manifestationuser]

How to manifest letting go

Do one find it hard to manifest the things one want into your life? Perhaps people follow the Law of Attraction and just can't quite conquer manifestation? It can be tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, manifesting can become second nature to individuals. Maybe anyone are unsure of what manifestation really means. Or maybe you need clarity on what the purpose of manifestation is! In order to succeed in your manifestations, one need to truly believe in them.

This guide will show you how to manifest letting go. If you follow these steps you learn how to manifest anything in your life

So, it's worth knowing the ins and outs of what exactly manifestation is and how to properly manifest what you want. Before I share my manifestation guide with individuals, let's take a look at what manifestation means and how it works.

What Does 'Manifestation' Mean?

There are many different 'definitions' of the word manifest, but the simplest would be that a manifestation is 'something that is put into your physical reality through thought, feelings, and beliefs'.

This means that whatever you focus on is what people are bringing into your reality. People may focus and manifest through meditation, visualization or just via your conscious or subconscious.

This process is called manifesting!

If people have been thinking about getting a new job and individuals focused on exactly what you wanted and when you wanted it, your thoughts and feelings would be strong surrounding this. People could then try to meditate or visualize your goal and this can help to manifest it into your reality.

If people then got your new job and it was everything you wanted, one would have successfully manifested it into your life. Now that people know what manifestation means, it's time to find out how manifestation works.

How Does Manifestation Work? Like with the Law of Attraction, a manifestation is where your thoughts and your energy can create your reality. If you are constantly being negative and feeling down, then people are going to attract and manifest negative energy.

The first thing to do when manifesting is to take a look at your thoughts and feelings. Are you feeling negative? Do your thoughts surround negativity? If so, one could begin to manifest things one don't want in your reality. This is why it's important to clear your mind and have a positive mind when individuals are wanting to manifest.

Manifestation doesn't just work with your thoughts, presently there has to be a form of action on your part. This could be literally applying for the jobs that suit what people are looking for and going to the interviews.

Trying to visualize your thoughts and feelings about your job; this will then help one to feel more positive and motivated to make these changes a reality. This will then push people to take some action and, ultimately, manifest your goals into your life.

How To Manifest Anything In 5 Steps When you read about the Law of Attraction, it can sometimes feel like it will take months or years to manifest anything you desire. However, experts advise that if anyone carefully work your way through four distinct manifestation steps, it's possible to get results a lot more quickly. In fact, if anyone are wondering how to manifest anything in simply 24 hours, people may only need 5 steps.

So, if people follow this straightforward manifestation guide, anyone may well get exactly what individuals want in 24 hours or even less!

Manifestation Action 1: Choose What People Want To Manifest When people decide on something specific to manifest, it's vital that one know exactly why anyone want this specific thing in your life. And when one're trying to manifest something in just 24 hours, people also have to pick something individuals believe people can manifest in a day.

So, for example, certainly, there's little point in saying one want to start a new business in 24 hours unless you really believe people can attain this goal in the next day. However, anyone may well believe that you can successfully manifest the next action in your journey to a new business in a day, in which case individuals might set that as your goal (e.g. to complete a business plan, get a loan people need, or find someone to collaborate with).

When picking a thing to manifest, ask yourself the following questions: Do I really want this, in my heart of hearts? How will I benefit from having this? When I think about having this, does it feel right? How will it be good for me and for others? Whatever want should be the greater good, and something people want in itself; most likely something that's a significant action on the journey towards a greater manifestation goal.

So, in sum: decide what anyone want, really connect with the intention to have it, and believe that individuals will receive what anyone ask for.

Manifestation Step 2: Get Rid Of Things That Stand In Your Way Almost always there will be something standing in your way to success. This shouldn't scare people, this is just part of the whole manifestation process.

Keep an eye out for these three most common manifestation blocks:

Negative beliefs/mindset If you are in a bad place emotionally, people need to first get yourself into the right attitude before people can successfully manifest anything. People can't be focusing on negativity and expect to attract good things into your life.

Toxic people When people are working on manifesting your dream people need to make sure no one is holding you back. People who don't believe in individuals, always criticize you and/or complain about everything are blocks that will keep one from doing your best.

Manifestation Action 3: Visualize What You Want To Manifest You probably already know the basics of visualization and have at least tried to practice those techniques a couple of times. On your current manifestation quest, start by going somewhere that's quiet and private, and spend just a minute on visualizing the thing you want.

Apply all your energy and concentration into seeing it with your mind's eye, and let all the good feelings about the object or outcome well up inside anyone

This action works best if anyone do a multi-sensory visualization; if one can see, hear, smell, touch and (if relevant) taste the outcome one're looking to create. Make it as real as you possibly can, so it's almost like it's yours already.

Mix in as many details as people can, and don't try to imagine exactly how the thing or outcome becomes yours; instead, focus solely on the end result of receiving what you desire.

Don't think about how your desired object or outcome will manifest and don't try to see it coming to anyone through any particular person or means. Your focus should be on the end result of receiving the thing of your desire.

Manifestation Action 4: Take Action To Manifest What One Want You can spend the rest of your day pretty much living as one normally would; now there isn't any particular action individuals need to take in order to make manifestation possible (your intentions are what will determine your success). Rather, once anyone've finished steps 1-2 as described above, you are just waiting for what anyone want to appear.

If anyone feel the urge to do something specific; whether it immediately makes sense or it's more of an intuition-based yearning. Consider following your gut and taking that action. If it feels natural, do it!

If you find that one don't get the outcome anyone want within 24 hours or less, look back at the first two actions and go back through them. Sometimes, writing down what one want (and some of the answers to the specific questions posed) can give the universe the extra nudge it needs to fuel your manifestation.

There really are some common reasons why anyone might not be manifesting quickly. In particular, consider whether individuals're doubting the process; do individuals either not believe individuals'll get what people ask for because individuals don't think one deserve it, or perhaps doubt whether it's possible to manifest using the Law of Attraction?

Any kind of negative feelings (e.g. anxiety, worry, anger, and doubt) or negative beliefs can inhibit your results.

Manifestation Step 5: Recognize And Appreciate

This final action might not look that significant at first glance, it can effectively do a lot to shape your manifestation potential in the future. Basically, the key thought here is that individuals need to fully appreciate what anyone have once you achieve your goal. It can be easy to forget that you asked for what anyone received, so take proactive actions to prevent this.

Go back to what individuals first thought and felt when individuals were visualizing your desired object or outcome, and connect those experiences with the new experience of having what individuals want. Consider the tangible proof you have that thoughts are things, and that thinking in a certain way can create concrete changes in the world around you.

The more you make this connection and emphasize it, the better people'll be at manifesting in the future (as one'll replace negative, limiting beliefs and doubts with confident, positive thoughts and feelings).

Do individuals find it hard to manifest the things you want into your life? The first thing to do when manifesting is to take a look at your thoughts and feelings. If so, people could begin to manifest things one don't want in your reality. If individuals are wondering how to manifest anything in simply 24 hours, one may only need 5 steps.

If anyone are in a bad place emotionally, people need to first get yourself into the right approach before you can successfully manifest anything.

Heres a simple video on how to manifest letting go.

#how to manifest #law of attraction

[rutilation]

Does mulching a prisoner of war into shiny little woodchips before burying them alive indefinitely count as a violation of the Geneva Conventions?  Asking for a friend.

(Hi guys, I’m back, and I brought 4,400 words with me.)

First of all, my apologies for the nearly five month wait.  Ever since last spring, I haven’t had much time at all to devote to writing and I’ve only been able to work on this essay in small increments.  And yet, despite the fact that I don’t have the time to do so, this essay somehow turned into a bloated treatise on the failings of gem society.  Truly, I am a slave to my obsessions.

I’ve refrained from reading chapter 80 because I just know that if I do, it will insinuate itself into my brain like a tumor and I won’t be able to concentrate on finishing this essay.  (That said, I did happen to see someone on twitter make a joking reference to third impact in regards to said chapter, so I am certainly Afraid.)  Though my takes may be ice cold by this point, I hope that there are some nuggets of insight to be found in this.  With that said, here are my thoughts on chapters 78 and 79.

While the past two chapters have certainly been…hard to read, I think that their contents have been a long time coming, primarily regarding the parallels between Phos and Kongou, and the uglier undercurrents of gem society reaching their logical conclusion.  (And I gotta say, this display of—for lack of a better term—inhumanity on the part of the gems jives quite well with all the Shirley Jackson I’ve been reading lately. When I get tired of one display of flagrant mob violence, I can quickly flip to another.)  

And then there’s the matter of the gems on the moon…  I remember that when I first got into hnk, which was right around the time when Phos and the others left for the moon, everyone was afraid that Phos would go off the deep end and the gems stuck on the moon would end up as collateral damage in Phos’s quest for vengeance.  But since Ichikawa is too powerful us, she said “what if it was the other way around, and Phos is the one getting thrown under the bus while the moon gems start a death cult?”

So there’s a lot to talk about, but let’s address the earth gems first, because these characters sure do live in a society.  (In order to make my prose more tolerable, I encourage my readership to take a shot every time I write the words “gem society.”)

First of all, I’ve seen a number of people interpret Kongou’s line about the gems forgetting Phos very literally, and assume that the earth gems all have Phos-specific amnesia. I highly doubt this is the case, and he probably just means that Phos is now out of sight and out of mind.

As bleak as the situation is, I think it’s been a long time coming.  From the beginning, one of the major philosophical elements of the story has been how the gems’ desire to give meaning to their long lives has compelled them to create a society in which only those with a concrete purpose have value.  The characters see themselves and each other as instrumentally but not inherently valuable.  With so much of the story focused on how this ethos hurts those individuals who aren’t seen as useful, how much it fosters shame and self-hatred, and how much it makes the gems unable and unwilling to help each other through hardship and depression, it makes sense to me that this inhumane mindset would eventually boil over into something truly cruel, and thus the other shoe has finally dropped.  In a strange way, I have more respect for Rutile’s attitude towards the situation than I do the rest of the earth gems (sans Euclase, who I’ll get to in a moment.)  Rutile is treating Phos like an enemy that must be vanquished, whereas the others are treating Phos as a kid treats their dirty clothes when they don’t want to do laundry—by shoving it in the back of a closet and trying to forget about it.  The former strikes me as less dishonest and dehumanizing than the latter.

Even before chapter 79 made it official, I had a gut feeling that the timetable for figuring out what to do with Phos was nonexistent.  I’ll be generous and assume Cinnabar was being sincere in the moment when they implied that they’d put Phos back together eventually.  But just like how everyone ignored Cinnabar’s suffering because there was no compelling incentive to do anything about it, or how they all turned a blind eye to the Kongou/Lunarian situation for millennia, I figured that Phos would end up as another problem they wouldn’t bother solving. (Regarding Cinnabar, while I hope they’re still on good terms with everyone after the time skip, I would not be the least bit surprised if the earth gems started ostracizing them again once it became apparent that there would be no new attacks from the moon and thus no further reason to tolerate their mercury.)

(Bort, please stick up for them.)

And to be clear, this is a problem that the earth gems are refusing to solve in exchange for a short-term sense of security.  If Phos and Kongou had been allowed to hash things out, and this stalemate hadn’t festered for 220 years, then maybe the moon gems wouldn’t be entertaining the idea of starting that aforementioned death cult.  (Tbh, this mostly applies to 84, Yellow, and Dia, since Cairn has been their own personal death cult since chapter 33.)  Even leaving aside how bad things have gotten already, if this state of affairs had continued to drag on, I think the situation would have gotten very ugly the second Aechmea got tired of waiting.  While playing fruit ninja or whatever with Cairngorm, he says something to the effect of losing a battle here or there isn’t important as long as you win the war in the end, which I’m pretty sure is meant to communicate to the audience that Aechmea is playing the long game.  And since he hasn’t done anything in the interim other than reluctantly and incrementally humor Cairngorm’s pet project, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he’s biding his time specifically for Phos, and that he’s counting on them eventually being reawakened.  In that case, what would have happened if Kongou had been too meek to interfere, and the gems succeeded in getting rid of Phos for good?  If Aechmea eventually gave up on his current scheme, scrapped working with Phos, and came up with a new plan, I’m betting things would quickly devolve into heinous war crimes since he’s only played nice so far in order to keep Phos on his side.

In chapter 78, we get to see two instances of the most common nugget of gem wisdom: only act when you’re guaranteed to succeed, and never take risks.  It been a common refrain, with Antarc, and more subtly, Dia being the only gems aside from Phos to push back against that sentiment.  And to be clear, I’m not saying any one of these iterations necessarily are bad advice, but it’s become increasingly obvious that it’s the only acceptable mode of dealing with problems in gem society.  More on that in a minute.

So, uh, regarding Euclase, here’s an exclusive picture of me, after I’d spent months writing: “Gee, this Euclase character seems pretty shady, but I have faith in Cinnabar, Bort, and Jade to act humanely!’

That said, I think I got at least one aspect of their characterization right in my Euclase-focused essay—that they have a greater comprehension of their mortality than most.  Unlike the other gems, they’re not childishly naïve enough to believe that ignoring their problems will save them; they understand that death is always around the corner, and that the (mostly) tranquil life the gems lead requires constant maintenance.  Simply sliding down the path of least resistance will come back to bite them all in the ass later down the line, and Euclase knows it.  That’s probably why they at least went through the motions of asking Kongou to pray every day for two hundred twenty years.

This is a bit of a tangent, but regarding my earlier point about the gems not commiserating at all, Peridot and Sphene come across as anomalies in that they helped each other through their grief over their lost partners, but that doesn’t seem to happen all that often.  As we see in the aftermath of the winter arc, it seemingly did not occur to any of the gems who had lost friends of their own to try and help Phos through their grief.  And I think it’s likely that they weren’t given much comfort in their hours of need either.  Yellow bottled up their grief, Alex and (presumably) Red Beryl threw themselves into their work to the point of obsession, and Ghost seemed to have largely withdrawn from everyone else.  But none of them really healed or helped anyone else heal.  Despite their society placing a high value on interdependence, the gems are truly alone when they have to reckon with complicated or inconvenient emotions.

It may be hard to remember, but Phos was once influenced by all these toxic mindsets as well.  Recall Phos’s conversation with Benito in chapter two: it implies that Cinnabar did live with the other gems during Phos’s lifetime, recently enough that Phos expects to find them in their room.  From this we can infer that our kindhearted Phos never reached out to the clearly lonely Cinnabar while they were actually around, and didn’t even notice when they left the school for good.  They may have had the potential for kindness from a very young age, but it was only when they were hit with with the stark truth of Cinnabar’s suffering that they snapped out of the fog of apathy that seems to surround the gems.

In fact, it almost seems like the struggle to drag the gems kicking and screaming out of their comfort zone is a macrocosm for what Phos had to grow out of at the beginning of the series.  You’ll recall that once upon a time they were lazy, wanted easy solutions to their problems, and had no faith in their ability to effect change.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say that in the eyes of gem society, the problem wasn’t really that Phos was lazy, it’s that their laziness manifested in the wrong ways.  They were supposed to be fastidious and reliable about things like crafting, or fighting, or writing reports, but apathetic towards anything that requires more nuance or imagination than that, kindness or cruelty be damned.

All this is cast into even sharper relief if you think back on the arc with Ventricosus.  She was in far more dire straits than the earth gems are now, and had a compelling incentive to throw Phos under the bus.  But in the end, that wasn’t a line she was willing to cross.  Her final line: “If we’re not willing to change our ways, we’ll end up just like the Lunarians,” seems quite portentous in retrospect.  I don’t think Ichikawa is positing that being immortal makes you a sociopath, otherwise characters like Kongou, Yellow, and Padpa wouldn’t be such cinnamon buns.  But I think she is insinuating that someone who refuses to change is dooming themselves to a state of perpetual immaturity, and that being truly kind requires growing up a bit.  It’s a harder for someone who knows they’ll die one day to remain in a state of arrested development than it is for someone who could indefinitely procrastinate on growing up, and just focus all their mental energy into making paper or whatever for all of eternity.

And this seems as good a point as any to stop harping on gem society and start talking about the gems on the moon, starting with my muse, my most problematic of faves.

I brought up in my chapter 77 essay that Aechmea may not be willing to divulge what he was about to tell Cairn, and that was exactly what happened.  Since he’s only willing to share this mysterious information if he literally would not be around for the fall out, I’m guessing that whatever this secret is, it’s not benign.  And while Cairn has probably put it out of their mind by chapter 79, it’s clear that it’s bugging them before the time skip.  I smell a shocking revelation brewing and I dread to imagine what could possibly top mind-control eyeballs.  Make no mistake, I’ve devoted an embarrassing amount of brainspace the past nine months or so to contemplating what it will look like when the other shoe finally drops for Cairn’s character arc.  (Is there a German word for the ambivalence that arises from wanting to call future plot twists for bragging rights, but not wanting to look like a dipshit if your predictions are wrong?)

Their line from chapter 78 that I alluded to earlier in this essay is rather interesting to me, because although they’re referring to Phos, they might as well be talking about Aechmea.  They exhausted themselves to their breaking point trying to look after someone who didn’t take care of themselves, but they’ve nonetheless latched onto someone who is also seeking self-destruction.  And as I pointed out earlier in this essay, this line also serves as yet another iteration of the defeatist sentiment that the gems often espouse.  But, for a while, it had seemed like Cairn was moving away from that.  The decision Cairn made in chapter 67 was certainly…fraught.  But, one can’t deny that it wasn’t a brave one on their part, to leave behind everything they knew and cared about for a shot at living authentically; the only problem was that they undercut that step forward by returning to their chronic doormat tendencies.  And again in chapter 70, they took a risk by sneaking off to earth knowing that Aechmea would pitch a fit later.  But ever since chapter 75, they’ve been backsliding.  As said chapter pointed out, their wish has shifted from wanting freedom to wanting what amounts to eternal codependency.  I also find it interesting that Cairngorm apparently hasn’t bothered with getting a new name, and is just copying Aechmea’s shtick of going by his title.  They’ve gone from sharing a name with Ghost, to having their own name, to not having a name at all.  In conclusion, my child is a god damned mess.

I know I said I was done talking about gem society, but I guess I’m not.  Going back to what I said in the last paragraph, about Phos not taking care of themselves, that’s been a reoccurring element throughout the series, and in my opinion, it was a significant contributor to the breakdown of Phos’s relationships.  The reason Phos never just tried to make friends with Cinnabar—which is what the latter really wanted, and only focused their efforts on following through on their promise, was because Phos’s self-loathing runs so deep that it doesn’t occur to them that anyone would actually want their company for its own sake. Chapter 14 is the most direct allusion to this in my mind.  Phos clearly wants to talk to Cinnabar, but instead they hide away and mutter that they’d have nothing to say to them.  And as I touched on a moment ago, Phos’s self-destructive tendencies wore down Cairngorm over the course of their partnership.  

But, here’s the thing: Phos’s self-loathing isn’t some immutable part of their nature, it was instilled in them by their society from the moment it became apparent that Phos couldn’t slot neatly into a role.  This is very apparent in the early chapters, in which no one ever misses an opportunity to remind Phos of their uselessness (except Dia, bless their heart.)  Back then, they pretended to not care about it by way of snark and bravado, but in truth, I think it warped their self-perception in an incredibly negative way.  

There’s also something that illustrates this which has been on my mind for a while, but I haven’t had the opportunity to talk about it.  When Phos was trapped by their arms during Antarc’s fateful capture, the insult they yelled at their arms to get them moving is the same one that Bort lobbed at them a few times in volume one.  I usually see different translations of the word between the two scenes, but to my non-Japanese-fluent ears, it sounded like the same word to me when I watched the anime.  It was a striking way of implying that this moment of personal growth had been seeded with something more insidious, that their self-loathing is a taint that has followed them across their many incarnations.  I’m not the first one to point this out, but there’s always been a certain tension within the text regarding Phos’s changes.  On one hand, their courage to change is framed as admirable and heroic, but on the other hand, they’re also hurting themselves because of social pressure to avoid being useless, which is kind of awful.  I think the narrative resolves this tension by making Phos’s quest for validation something which would eventually lead them to try and tear down the status quo that they hurt themselves for in the first place.  

Okay, back to the moon gems.  I’ve reread the part of chapter 79 focused on the moon several times, and it just feels more ominous with each iteration.  What exactly was their idea of administering therapy for Yellow?  Why is Amethyst on board with Cairn’s death bullshit?  Why is Dia okay with it?  Why did they stop fixing the dusted gems?  And most concerning, where are the other three gems—especially Alex who would probably be extremely opposed to halting the gem restoration?  It feels as if there’s something terrible just out of our field of view and chapter 79 is dancing around it.  (But hey, my intuition was wrong about Euclase so maybe when I read chapter 80 Ichikawa will tell me that Alex, Goshe, and Benito were at moon-disneyland the whole time, and that Aechmea is a real swell guy, actually.)

(No, I’m not bitter in the least.)

I also find it interesting that in chapter 79, Cairn is espousing a lot of the same sentiments as poor Yellow, but since they can mask the dysfunction better, they’re treated as an expert rather than a victim.  In reality, both of them are in serious need of a therapist, which is apparently non-existent in the post-post-apocalypse.

And finally, Barbata continues to be the truest audience surrogate.  I find it interesting that he clearly doesn’t approve of all the bullshit going on, while at the same time being too reticent to do anything about it, aside from some side-eyes and passive-aggressive comments.  Perhaps there will be some payoff to this down the line?

At this point, let’s talk about Kongou, because both his actions and his role as a sort of parallel to Phos in the narrative are fascinating.  I think this is the first time in the story that he’s really done something proactive.  I touched on this in a cursory character analysis I did for him, but to reiterate, the impression I got from his at times obtuse and contradictory behavior was that he had completely given up on trying to solve the Lunarian problem long before the series had begun, and that the only thing cutting through his despair and compelling him to get up in the morning and not just “meditate” forever was the prospect of spending a little more time with the people he loves, even knowing that he couldn’t protect them in any way that mattered.  But watching Phos’s struggle reignited a tiny bit of hope in him, enough that he wanted them to succeed in their efforts, but not enough for him to believe that he himself could make a difference.  To me, that seems like the only explanation that accounts for both his obstinacy when Phos directly confronted him along with his casual acceptance of the path Phos has been walking.

So for him to go behind everyone’s back to fix Phos is quite the departure from his usual passivity, and it tells us that he’d rather subject himself and everyone else to Phos’s brand of chaos than endure stasis that comes with their absence.  And it really does seem like the world enters a stasis along with Phos whenever they end up comatose.  Nothing moves forward, and the only thing to mark the passage of time are small deteriorations: Morga and Goshe are captured, and Cairn quietly becomes suicidal, and this time around, Yellow gradually loses their mind, the Admirabilis that Phos tried to spare overcrowd the tiny waterways they were released into, and the gems on the moon stop caring about whether they live or die.

For a while now, various characters both gem and Lunarian have called Phos their hope, or their savior, or some variation thereupon, and with each new iteration, the sentiment feels more and more ironic.  Time and time again, Phos rises to the occasion only to buckle under pressure, their noble intentions haven’t gotten them good results since, like, chapter 10, and everyone who at one point had faith in them is completely done with them.  And at the end of it all, they don’t have it in them to ask Kongou to pray on anyone’s behalf but their own, as if they’ve become so exhausted that they don’t have the energy to be kind anymore.  And just to rub salt in the wound, their ambiguous phrasing makes it unclear whether Phos is asking to Kongou get rid of the Lunarians or themselves.

All of this seems to mirror what Kongou is implied to have gone through.  He was created to save the souls of humanity, but was ill-equipped for the task, and he’s spent god knows how many millennia dogged by his failure to deliver.  Aechmea’s line in chapter 55 about how his human creators didn’t bother to think about what would happen to him after everyone was gone, in my mind, parallels how Phos has been abandoned by the people who once supported them once they became too much of an inconvenience.

So now that these two failed saviors are finally confronting each other with no lies to hide behind, and nothing to get between them, what’s going to happen?  I get the feeling that chapter 80 is going to give us some long awaited catharsis, for better or worse.  (Please Ichikawa, make things a little better for once.)

On a related note, I’m hoping this possible catharsis might clarify something else for me.  For all that the series is steeped in Buddhist symbolism and philosophy, I’ve never been able to tell what Ichikawa actually thinks of Buddhism.  On one hand, the assumptions that life boils down to suffering and that the self is ephemeral and illusory are certainly present, but on the other hand, the characters who lean most heavily on the Buddhist aesthetic are villains, the characters most invested in reaching nirvana are portrayed as…let’s say misguided at best, and as I’ve already noted above, our two would-be Buddhas are chronically ineffectual.  If I had to take a stab at it, I’d guess that the aspect of the philosophy that she takes issue with is the idea of relying on a savior figure and the idea that there exists a nirvana that could save anyone from samsara.  But if the Lunarians’ wish were a complete pipe dream, then Shiro et al wouldn’t have already disappeared?  Unless that was a misdirection and their souls were actually reincarnated?  Idk, I don’t have enough brain cells to parse The Most Viable Interpretation at this juncture in the story.

Lastly, assuming Phos doesn’t ascend to nirvana via pure rage next chapter, I think their next replacement is going to be imminent.  All of Phos’s other changes have been accompanied by death and birth imagery: they lost their legs out at sea, which is where inclusions are said to emerge, they lost their arms and their head at the site of their birth, the time they spent comatose evoked the image of a shrouded corpse in a morgue, their first trip to the moon in which they got their new eye apparently lasted the length of a Buddhist funeral, and now, they’ve literally been buried.  (On a side note, it’s interesting that there’s a lot more death imagery for their later transformations, while their earlier changes alluded to birth.)  I’m not the first person to point this out, but it seems likely to me that Rutile made good on their threat to throw Phos into the ocean, and discarded whatever pieces they were assigned to bury.  And indeed, there seems to be a gaping hole in Phos’s torso.  I still think Padparadscha is the most likely candidate for a replacement—the red stone from the lotus sutra has been alternately described as ruby, carnelian, amber, or coral, and Padparadscha is the closest we have to any of those—but who knows.  Ichikawa might even decide to stop short of all seven treasures in service of some greater thematic purpose.

And with that, this belated essay is finally done.  Except it isn’t.  This is a complete tangent, but I recently looked up the one and only region where gem-quality phosphophyllite was briefly mined, a mountain in the Bolivian Andes called Cerro Rico.  Hundreds of thousands have died there since the 16th century while mining silver, and that figure may be lowballing it, as some scholars think the death toll is actually in the millions.  It is colloquially known as “the Mountain that Eats Men,” and the miners pay tribute to this fellow in hopes of avoiding cave-ins and pockets of toxic gas, but are otherwise doomed to die young from silicosis.  According to a forum post I found belonging to a mineral collector, the mineshaft where all the phosphophyllite came from had to be walled off with a concrete bulkhead because the poisonous gases that accumulated in the tunnel had killed a number of miners.  The idea of gem mining already conjures up images of exploited workers in abject conditions, but I must say that Maneater Mountain exceeded my expectations.

Okay, now I’m actually done.  I’m going to get some sleep on account of the fact that it’s 2 AM, but afterwards I shall read the new chapter and repeat this whole grueling cycle over again, but like, in a timely manner.

#houseki no kuni #land of the lustrous #I know I’ve spent the whole essay trashing ¾ of the cast but I really do hope they eventually get over themselves #i've spent hours rereading this but i just KNOW in my heart that there are a billion typos and those typos will haunt my soul #goodnight

[darthravage]

Why and how does Watcher X help Cipher Nine?

When you meet Watcher X at the Shadow Town which is basically like a open prison you know about him that he feels traited by the Empire. That makes it astonishing that he helps you without any promblems (except the paranoia which caused that he was sent there). It isn’t that astonishing anymore when you find out that he has to do it since he is tortured with headaches when he dosn’t serve the Empire. But you get out by own experience that he is very inteligent when he uses your mission to escape from the Shadow Town. After that you can choose if you want to help him or kill him.  In both cases he is helping you later on when the Republic uses the IX serum against you. (Question in passing why did I need almost two month to find out that IX ist the Latin number for nine what relates to your Charakter?) Since you don’t get a final answer in game I made some theories myself.

First I want to get out how he was able to help you what you can basically seperate into three points.

The first one is that he gets acess to your mind due to the poison and/or implants he gave you when he worked with you on Nar Shadaa. But there is the question why he has done it. If you think you can beliefe him that far he hasn’t had the plan to escape in the beginning of your mission but later on when he saw you work. So it were the implants for sure maybe in a mixture with the poison he gave you in the beginning of the quest.  If this is the truth why has he done it? I can’t believe that he has done it in a good porpuse since he is too cold and calculating therfore so I think he wanted to have an advantage by doing it so that he can defeat you only with the power of your own thoughts. But there is still the oportunity that I think too bad about him. Since he informed you about his escape instead of just hiding from you he must have thought that you aren’t a normal agent and he has experienced himself what happens to people who work for Imperial Inteligence and aren’t like just obeying and nothing else. And that he acts perspicacious is obvious. (That can only be true when Cipher 9 left Watcher X alive because I don’t see how somebody without a body could use such a technique.) And I ask myself why Watcher X didn’t use this technique when I fought against him since it would have saved his life.

The second posibility is that Watcher X became something like a force ghost due to the experiments they did with him. This had enabled him to talk to Cipher nine freely without being concerned about the conditioning.  But that seems unlikely since actually only stron force users can become force ghosts and Watcher X wasn’t capeble of using the force. If he were others would have noticed it or he had used it in the fight agains Cipher nine since it was clear that only one of them will leave the place and using the force would have made it easyer for Watcher X to be that one. 

The third and in my eyes most likely case when you killed Watcher X is that he is only a delusion and the Agent goes mad. In addition to be more realistic compared to being a force ghost it might have logical reasons. First, you can say that Cipher Nine was stressed due to the occurences which hapened and the fact that he wasn’t able to ask anyone for helf even if he wanted to do it. This kind of inner tension makes it more likely to get delusions.  More over, Cipher Nine is enabled to empathize with Watcher Nine. When you killed him than because he knew to much and was a potential danger who got tortured by headaches when he didn’t obey. Now you are almost in the same situation. You know a lot of things which the Republic, which only needs one word to get it from you, isn’t supposed to know. And you are in the situation since the Sith and the minister for Imperial Inteligence distrusted you for helping them and risking your life for them. That is also similar to the story of Watcher X when you regard Operation: Undertow in witch Watcher X fought for the Empire and got punished because of paranoia witch is the responsibility of those who did the genetic experimens. All that causes that Cipher Nine can empathize to Watcher X and maybe has bad conscience about his deed. And together that can cause that Cipher Nine almost becomes crazy and he hasn’t somebody to talk since he can’t tell about his situation even if he wanted since the conditioning makes him say something else when he tries to tell the truth. When you become mad you automatically remember Watcher X since he was mad either and Watcher X was high analytic minded and not loyal to the Empire so you could’n have had a better help for getting yourself free. In addition to that imagine Watcher X gives you the feeling that you don’t have to do anything on your own what can be a great relief either. When you dind’t kill Watcher X leave the part where I’m talking about killing him away the rest will fit in both cases)

But why should Watcher X help you?

The answer can be splitted in why he helped you when you let him alive and why when you kill him (without the dellusion theorie which is already explained).

Let’s start with the theorie that you let him alive.

I think it’s basically a practical thing when you let him alive because Watcher X observed how Cipher Nine fights and dosn’t wat to get into conflict with him for saving his own life. Additional to that he can get a ally against Imperial Inteligence which betrayed both of you. When he keeps his promises now and you are betrayed by Imperial Inteligence you are more likely to help him in secret and it is a very easy chance for him. And I don’t know if you can say it about him but he knows how it feel to be traited what possibile makes him honest when he promises something (except he only promises for building a trap by it). Finally it could be that he is seeking some ways to get his own conditioning away and hopes to find something when he helps you (I mean he can transmit the princip he used for getting rid of your conditioning to get rid of his conditioning)

When you killed him there is still the thing with seeking rvenge in Imperial Inteligence what was only your job since he isn’t able to act. More over, it could be possibile that you almost did him a favour by killing him. I mean like what could he do? He had headaches as soon as he acts against the Empire and it was unlikely that he could get rid of the conditioning of his own.

The intersting and almost ironic thing is that, when Watcher X is really there, he is the only one who can at least almost fulfill his aims. Imperial Inteligence gets abolished what causes that he gets his revenge for what they did to him (be honest I don’t think that the Dark Cauncil is frindly to the former members of the secret service) and since there isn’t like a person who watches what he is doing he can get rid of his conditioning. More over, the only one who works as a kind of Secret Service is one of his allys. And since Cipher Nine didn’t obey when he let Watcher X alive the former Watcher controls the situation. What he also does by being the only one who knows that Cipher Nine got rid of the IX serum (except the minister for Imperial Inteligence if he is still alive). (The part which is written cursive is only important when you let Watcher X alive).

Thinking further

When I looked for inspiration I found a topic in a internet forum a tread which told that the Imperial Agend acutally died when he fought against Darth Jadus. Even though I dont think so it’s an interesting story which would explain a lot of the things which aren’t explained in the game. Like why didn’t i notice that I’ve got the IX serum, how can a young member of the Imperial Intelligence stop one of the most important and powerfull Sith Lords for a while? And it is an additional explanation how I was able to see Watcher X. When we both are dead he musn’t do any efforts to get into the real world and he dosn’t need any power. Another thing which could be used to agree to that theorie is that Lord Alaric (?) tells at the temple of the Sark side that some people don’t notice that they are dead when they die in a trap or someting like that (and Ciffer Nine was the only one on Jadus ship. That agents have no value in the end is something that I musn’t explain...) But there are also things which speak against the theorie. First of all you get to know people who you never could haver have heard of like Hunter and why would you imagine that? More over, nobody could have described Voss to you and you are there. And when you play as a Sith you have to find out conspiracies which are supposed to known by Imperial Inteligece what shows that they to either a rather bad job or they don’t exist anymore. But the first thing would lead to the second thing since nobody needs a organisation which works that bad, especially when war goes on. (Except in one old religion where the number nine stands fror trancendence it has no meaning which has to do with things like dead and that was interpreted too far)

Nevertheless, the story of the Agent contains a lot of things where you never get an answer for. For example Hunter tells you that you are the only one left who is like the star cabal but why? More over, Hunter asks in one part of the game if Cipher Nine could remember the code word which was given to him by Watcher X but it dosn’t appear in the game anymore what leads to the question if it was only a try to frighten Cipher Nine or if it had a deeper meaning. And it was interesting to know what happened to the other people of Imperial Intelligence (although I believe they are dead or soldiers what means basically the same at least after a few time). 

I hope this text dosn’t contain that much misstakes but in the end i had problems by focusing me and I never needed complex English for around a half year. So if you’ve got problems with understanding something or you notice misstakes in my spelling or grammar I was greatfull if you would tell it :)

#swtor #darth jadus #imperial inelligence #imperialer geheimdienst #hunter #wächter x #watcher x #ziffer 9 #cipher nine #star wars the old republic #star wars #swtor stuff #swtor spoilers #swtor blogging #swtor theories #i know i should train my english skills #nar shaddaa #conditionig #ix serum #star cab #a lot of questions #gaming #old games

[0asis-sanctuary-0wn]

tarot cards predict my future husband..

i think it was in feb when a tarot reading video came on to my feed in youtube. i watched one and i honestly cannot remember the exact video i watched. so yeah and then i watched many videos about my love life but not consecutively.. it was during different times and i actually watched on different youtube channels to see if there will be a consistent message the universe wants to send me regarding my alleged future husband HAHA 

and to be honest these readings were at random. i chose from different piles of cards so it is not all the same. but luckily there is some similarities from the readings.

1. HOW WILL YOU MEET YOUR SOULMATE? (yt channel: supermoon tarot)

Cleaning house (getting life together), chariot, queen of swords, 6 of cups, 5 of cups, wheel of fortune, devil, strength card, queen of pentacles, king of pentacles, Cleaning creates momentum, the queen of sword in the chariot making it happen, no more excuses, has a plan, time that i am focused, six of cups (absolute satisfaction), they seem to pop up starting an event that benefits others, extremely satisfying that's when soulmate pops up 

Soulmate: opposite, breaking an addiction, loss, developed a bad negative habit, masked feeling

2. WILL YOU MEET YOUR SOULMATE IN 2020? (yt channel: charmed intuition tarot)

quick, unexpected, big yes

Tarot: The fool, wheel of fortune, 9 of cups

Other cards: let your friends help you, wedding, New beginning, adventure card, moon card (gaining momentum), transformation card, lily (positivity from each other, chance card (when u least expect it), expansion card (grow together, long term)

Charms: flexibility, go with the flow, unexpected surprise, letter I, spiritual connection, contrasting na hindi quick slowly din to open up, strong friendship, little getaways

3. WHO WILL I MARRY? (yt channel: charmed intuition tarot)

Cards: King of wands, king of pentacles (doctor, hard worker, perfectionist, very protective), excellent leader, magnetic personality, engagement card (territorial, propose quickly), let go of control issues, controlling, very passionate and romantic, bond over music, very financially well of, hard work paid off, hates being bored/lazy, treasure island (focused on my needs), 9 of pentacles (very focused on needs), very handsome, self confident, charming, excellent family man, work oriented, loyal, say things quickly, hyena card (very funny, sense of humor), jealous at times, possessive, head over heels, protective

Charms:Fire sign, masculine, passionate energy, family oriented, hard worker, focused on fantasy, committed, letters: DR doctor????? 

Physical feature:Black hair, green eyes, 

4. WHO WILL YOU MARRY? (yt channel: vision quest amal)

Already met?, pale skin, white skin?, north card, king of water (blue eyed fair skin), horse card (works out, likes to eat, strong, tall), king of swords, goblin (younger looking) baby face, mature, high up in career, very wise person, very hardworking, earth energy, very ethical at work, very happy at work, work with hands, loss card (alone for a long time), not a party animal, solitude card, high priestess, lost someone in the past, matured a lot, abundant, super super similar, sarcastic, sense of humor, way of talking, the bard card (really good at talking, history) king of sword (storytelling), older person, got stories to tell, immersed in their circle, different culture or country, very romantic, person wants you, cultural difference, religion in the way, conflict with family, 9 of cups, exciting relationship, great friends, high priest, immersion 

Words: Dream, coming, in time, beautiful, leave, old, game, bond, try

5. WHO IS YOUR FUTURE SPOUSE? (yt channel: vanessa somuinya) 

cards; Earth sign, crystals, water earth sign, persistent about goals (perform as well as possibly can), focused and determined, laser sharp focus, very passionate, im going to feel it, a lot of talents (never fail to suprise), new info that surprises you, done so many things, very responsible, family man/ person, nightingale spirit, flamingo spirit(embrace in between life), fire energy, very happy with their life, last minute type of person, think on their feet, nothing stresses them out, makes everything work, solution oriented, delight card, leadership card, loves responsibility, leader genuinely feel they protect others, gonna make you smile, loves to protect and guard love ones, not afraid to start a fight, strong protective instinct, healthy life (getting rid of toxicity), dont have an addictive personality 

6. How will you recognize your future spouse? (Lunar light tarot) 

Very focused on you, 8 of cups, high priestess in reverse, moon in reverse, blindsided, show up out of the blue, like a secret revealed, not gonna see it coming, the tower, claim relationship, gonna shake things up in your life, 2 of cups (amazing connection, full of surprises, spontaneous), cautious and nervous, high priestess inn reverse, meet in something not obvious, three cups in reverse unconventional place, unexpected, moon in reverse, nine of swords, might be at work, do similar work, someone has a change of job, king of pentacles, shift something for you, attentive, change things to fix things, prove through action that he deserves in your life, have anxiety and soothe that for you, really care for you, loving, caring, might give gifts, take to dates, do most of work in the relationship, lift you up in this relationship, 

Light colored hair, light colored eyes, life of the party, full of energy, full of life, passion, energy 

7. Who will you marry? (Brook waldorf tarot) 

Todoroki group

Fire sign, magician (manifesting), princess of wands (maid in waiting), waiting where is he/she, go out, go do something, get out more, two of wands (new path or old path, optimistic and getting out more) flipping of perspective, more optimistic, leo sagittarius aries, masculine energy, in charge, entrepreneur, self employed, humble person, very grateful, friendly, lovers card, commitment, instant connection, really balance with you, work well together, both want commitment, Step out of your comfort zone, manifesting this person, listen to intuition, peaceful resolution (maybe didnt work in the past life), heart to heart conversation, soulmate card (instant connection), fear of vulnerability, 

Hair: Light brown, dirty blonde, light platinum blonde

Eye color: wears colored contacts, brown

Zodiac: fire signs (leo, sag, aries)

Personality: tough love, cold, aloof (think todoroki), intense, compassionate/gentle, 

Style: average, high fashion 

Your wedding will be like: april and andy (parks and rec) Quick courtship, spur of the moment, simple and sweet, close friends and family only, marry your best friend

8. How will you meet your soulmate (charmed intuition tarot)

Anchor charm

Nine of wands, star card, world card, action, choose love, express you love

Beginning of something new, courage, feeling strong against the odds, after major shift and life change, major turning point in life, both had major change, relief, wish coming true, good connection, feeing hopeful and renewed, be more optimistic, least expected, dont prevent yourself from finding a person, very exciting, suspicious, nervous, new person, surprise, least expecting, fully being yourself, open and honest, Yes met at somepoint, hasnt been with similar experiences, 

Dive/action : you are gonna make the first move, 

recharge: January/February 2021

Charms: time, fire sign, initial contact thru phone, transformation, growth, finances, career, 2020 focused on goals, start talking this year, 5 of pentacles, feeling of loss, stuck, 2 of cups, 4 of swords (patience) rest, 2 horses, both single and independent, new beginning, spend a lot of time, new kind of person, working out with anxiety, pull from someone from the past, very understanding, wish come true, 

Rescue: helping you in a sense, 

J & W

[thecartoonuniverse]

The Truth about Aaravos: The Dragon Prince Theory

(This script will soon be turned into a video. Let me know if you spot any factual errors so I can fix that for the final video!)

Not only will I be discussing the future of Aaravos, but also what we know about his past and how that shaped him into the elf he is today.

So, let me cover my bases if you can’t really remember what went down in season 2. Bad dad Lord Viren had long been trying to figure out what made the mirror he found in the layer of the Dragon King so special. He tried a ton of spells to get it to reveal its secrets, but it wasn’t until he got rid of all the light in the room that he was able to discover that he could view into a completely different room.

After waiting long enough, an elf appeared! But this elf could not see Viren at first. Eventually the elf was able to see Viren as well, and made him do a series of tasks to be able to speak to him. We learn his name is Aaravos and he promises he can provide knowledge and power. Of course, Viren agrees to work with him, which eventually leads to Viren getting captured, but Aaravos promises to stay with him.

At first glance we really don’t know much about him. Aaravos was able to enchant all books that mentioned his name, so before Viren could get a good look at them the words turned into a jumbled mess.

I will get to what we do know about those texts in a minute but we do actually know a few more things about him.

As is pretty clear, he is a Startouched elf. This type of elf is very rare and are associated with the heavens. While they don’t live forever they live a very long time, as it was compared to the time scale stars experience... Which honestly is pretty close to immortal if that is the parallel they are drawing. The type of magic star elves can do is also quite mysterious and involves divination, cosmic vision, and seeing into the beyond.

However, Aarvos is said to be different than other Startouched elves, and it’s not only because he is stuck in a magic mirror. In episode 6 of Season 2, we learn that the cube Callum found at the Banther Lodge was called the Key of Aaravos and is said to unlock something of great power in Xadia.  As is probably obvious, we learn that Aaravos originally owned the cube. He is called an Archmage, and he even mastered all six primal sources. Definitely getting some more Avatar the Last Airbender vibes here.

Combine all this with the fact that Runaan said that whatever was in the mirror was worth than death, and we already have many reasons not to trust this good-looking elf.

To learn more about his past, we need to look at things that were not said, but shown in season 2.  

In the eighth episode of season 2, the book of destiny, Viren takes a look at a few books to find out more information about Aaravos after he learns his name. But as I mentioned before, we only get a quick glance at them before they get blurred and they are not in English.

Luckily, they are translatable! So, the translations I am about to show you are a combination of a few sources, all of which I will link at the bottom.

The first passage we have is in Danish. It is cut off at the end but there is quite a lot to gather from this.

It says: “Finally, he told me his name. I had never heard a name like his, but neither had I imagined an elf like him either. He is stronger, older, and wiser than any other magical creature in Xadia. Yet he is a friend to all humans. Where others look down on us, call us inferior, he sees great potential in us. When we receive the gifts Aaravos promised us, they will pay for their conceit and become forced to see us as equals. And when we are equals, we can take our destiny into our own hands and build our future. I can see it before me-”

So that was quite intriguing! We can see here that this isn’t the first time Aaravos has befriended a human, and a long time ago he gave them a gift that allowed them to become more powerful than the elves and dragons. But just what that gift was is something I will get to later.

The second piece we got about Aaravos is a poem written in Arabic. The Dragon Prince social media accounts actually confirmed a single stanza of this, but the rest is up to interpretation. And once again Viren’s hand gets in the way and makes it hard to translate the whole thing.  

She cried when the stars of the sky turned black

They donned their masks

They turned their backs on her

And left Elarion to die.

Elarion, while her vessel fought death

Withered and suffered in darkness

Until the last star

Communicated from afar

She touched it: A fire, a gift, a spark

Elarion, with her pure whiteness

Embraced the night’s great dark flame

And when she bowed

She declared her faith

A whisper. His name was Aaravos.

Elarion, black-eyed child,

Her twisted roots spread deep and far,

The humans’ might

Sparked by the light

Of Aaravos, her midnight star.

Elarion, shaking to her core,

Laid on the ground on an icy night

And in the cold

Pulled her roots close

Daring winter’s deadly bite

The rest of the poem is obscured but some more lines from the poem include:

Her flowers blossomed

Fears withering and darkness

Has searched

For

It lit with flames

A spark

The eyes of a hungry dragon

So this is quite confusing as it focuses on a totally new character named Elarion. I have a couple of interpretations, which I will share.

It could be that Elarion was a human that did something where the rest of the humans turned their backs on her and left her for dead during a cold winter night. But just before all was lost, she saw a star shining above her and it told her it would save her if she pledged allegiance to it. She did, and we learn the star’s name is Aaravos. From there it seemed she lived once again, and she was gifted with the power to do dark magic, as denoted by her black eyes. Or perhaps Elarion was already a dark mage to begin with and that is why the other humans abandoned her.

Or maybe Elarion may have also been another Star elf, since they have black eyes. The rest of the elves banished her and  

But I am seeing it more likely that Elarion was a human.

I have a feeling that the rest of the poem might discuss how Elarion got revenge on those that turned their backs on her once she got her powers.

In addition, the poem calls Aaravos Elarion’s midnight star. I feel like this could be taken that they could have been in love, which if this was love between a human and an elf it would be extremely taboo.

I do find it interesting how it seems that Aaravos literally came from the sky as a star, meanings Star elves are literally born from stars and that’s why they live so long.

With all this said and done, it is clear that Aaravos is a gift giver. He not only gave powers to Viren, but also to Elarion and to many more humans in the first passage.

And for the former two, it’s pretty easy to see that the gift they got was the power to wield dark magic. From there the first dark mage used it, which scared the elves enough to cast the humans out of Xadia.

How this knowledge of who gifted humans dark magic became completely lost is a mystery.  Perhaps once the elves forced the humans out, they no longer wanted to remember Aaravos, even though his gift to them was passed on through the generations.

Or, since Aaravos is the one who narrated the opening scene of the show, he made sure this secret was covered up. Any passages containing his name are unable to be read, after all.

I realized that this is also what happened in the show RWBY, with the big bad narrating the beginning monologue. But this time around Aaravos is turning out to be an unreliable narrator.

But of course, whatever he had planned the first time around with humans did not work out, as they were sent away from their home and later split into 5 kingdoms. Now he is back, and by teaching Viren his secrets he may be giving his plan another shot. This time the forces in Xadia are weaker since the Dragon King has been killed. Obviously, I don’t know his plan, but as a preliminary guess I think maybe he is trying to get rid of all elves by teaching humans dark magic. They probably did not like his quest to seek out as much power as possible, and punished him for it.

Or maybe I’m making our Aaravos out to be a worser elf than he actually is. Perhaps he also saw how unfair it was that humans were treated as weak by the elves and dragons when they had so much potential, and felt the need to level the playing field.

While not confirmed, there are already a lot of parallels between Aaravos and the Greek Myth Prometheus. One of the creators of the show, Aaron Ehasz, already stated that this is his favorite greek myth so it’s really no surprised it is showing up in TDP.

As he mentions, the myth is about Prometheus, a titan that stole fire and gave it to humans, elevating them. But he was punished by the gods for this. He was a divine messenger who shared these gifts with humanity, and from there the humans have to choose what to do once they obtained these gifts.

That definitely sounds like what we learned about Aaravos from these passages.

Star elves seem pretty close to god-like with how long they live and their powers. And Aaravos may have been the most powerful Startouched elf ever. Meaning, if he gets out the mirror, we have a lot to worry about.

Before I end this I would like to give a small guess about the cube that Callum has. The Key of Aaravos is something only a master of all six primal sources can unlock. The only one that is currently able to do that is Aaravos. But as some people have been speculating, Callum may be next on that list.

While I am not the biggest fan of the theory currently, since Callum just seemed so in tune with Sky magic, there is a definite possibility this will happen. It is likely that only a mage that also wields all six elements will be able to defeat Aaravos. So yeah, once again... Avatar.

Or if six different creatures with all six arcana touch the cube, it can also unlock something. I am hoping another elf joins Callum and Rayla on their adventure next season, so maybe this will happen!

I also wrote a smaller theory about this image we got in the end credits for one of the S2 episodes. There may be some parallels between Aaravos’s story and that of the Great Gatsby. Check it out here.

So that pretty much wraps up everything I wanted to say about Aaravos, and I want to know what you guys think! Do you think he’s just plain evil, or is there more to him than that? Let me know!

Sources: [x][x][x][x][x][x]

#tdp #the dragon prince #aaravos #tdp theory #viren #elarion #dark magic #the dragon prince theory #tdp s2 #tdpspoilers #elves #harrow

[a-merman-not-a-guppy]

BDRP QUESTIONNAIRE

Your Name: Lena

Characters: Anthony Coleman, Arthur Pendragon, Ashley Armbruster, Celia Gorgon, Fflewddur Fflam, Finn Flounder, Kanga DeRosa, Llewellyn “Louie” Mallard, Sora Hamasaki/Roxas

Pick one of your characters and talk about their growth: Oh man I think of my characters I’m the most proud of Celia’s growth? I mean a lot’s changed since I got her, and I’ve been able to see the progression and build up that change from her being and nervous and terrified about everything to starting to come into her own and be a confident woman. I’m proud of having taken that journey with her, and I like that she’s no longer the mousy shy character that I thought she would always be in the beginning. There’s a lot more strength and determination to her than I honestly expected. She’s been through a lot, she fell in love and everything and I think the amazing part is that she’s not regressing now that she’s heartbroken. She knows a little more about what she can handle. I find that super exciting for her. I’m really really pleased with how far we’ve come since I rejoined with her.

Pick another character and talk a little about where you WANT them to go. What are your plans for them going into the new year? So I honestly have a lot of plans for a lot of my babes that I don’t want to reveal but I can say in the vaguer sense where I want them to go. Anthony - honestly just want him to terrorize and go hard. Unleash his full villain in this next year. Help him do that friends. Arthur - I know I want him to do something heroic and noble, but on a smaller scale, I want him to form a proper attachment, maybe have feelings for someone. I think he’s so work focused it’d be interesting how that might affect him as a character. Ashley - I have a lot of change in mind for her. I want to see her move past the struggles she has with her family/find her own way. Celia - just see her continue to gain confidence and figure out what makes her happy. Fflewddur - I honestly want to see him really struggle. He’s always had everything handed to him. I’d love for things to go horribly horribly wrong for him. Finn - Honestly my plan is to go into who he is as a merman and more of the magical side to his life. I love the teen stuff but I am very very eager to do mer stuff with him. Kanga - It’s a secret. But it’ll be fun. Louie - As always I want him to get into a lot of trouble. lol. I also want to see a rift with family with him and see how he handles that. He has a tendency for the dramatic and I think that’d be fun. Roxas - see them figure out what’s going on/learn about Sora Sora - see him learn about Roxas. it’ll be fun.

Pick a thread or a plot that you’re proud of and talk about why you loved it. Honestly it’s still ongoing but I’m really proud of what I’ve developed with Arthur. The ongoing quest for the sword and everything around that. It’s the first time I’ve had a longer term plan with a character and known what I wanted to do with it and it’s so cool! It’s exciting to do, and I really really loved the thread lauryl and I had in the lake and writing the Lady of the Lake briefly. It was just COOL.

In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 strengths and talk about why you think it’s one of your strengths. oh I’m so bad at this. ahaha. I’m gonna do my best but it’s hard for me to talk about myself and stuff like this. Let’s see...I think 1) Dialogue. I think I’m pretty good at making my character’s voices distinct and their own. It’s been especially fun with Finn because of his stutter and the way that he speaks. 2) Teen hijinks. I know this is an odd thing to put as a strength, but honestly I do think I somehow have my niche with teenagers. Maybe their drama just suits my dramatic cancer self who knows. I feel like all three of my teens are unique and quirky and idk is this valid? I find it far too easy to think of ridiculous teen plots. 3) Getting into character’s heads. Thoughts and stuff, I feel like I am good at sharing where my characters are at and how they feel and all that. I feel like I do a good job of diving right into emotions.

In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 areas of improvement. 1) showing not telling more. You know trying to really give more detail to what’s happening around characters and their actions rather than a ton of their thoughts. I know I need to work on this more, sometimes I just get lazy and go with what’s easier and habit. 2) There’s another thing I want to work on and again get lazy, where with dialogue you don’t respond to every thing a person says cause that’s not natural to a conversation. You want to respond to like the last thing and then maybe something else after. I think about it but I forget about it and I could work on it. 3) Description. I want to do better at describing things and giving a better visual image of things happening and stuff. I feel like that’s something I’d really like to do better with in the new year.

Pick one of your plots, or even just a character, and come up with a list of 3-5 “mentor texts” where you can look for inspiration or research, then write a short (2-4 sentences) why you picked those texts So I noticed I used tv and film as inspo more than books and stuff but it’s still a reference material to go back to and I’m not sorry. Finn: -It by Stephen King. So this is largely chosen because the character of Bill Denbrough in It has a stutter, and it was one of the first real examples I could think of where I could listen to it and the sound via the movie and how that would work with Finn’s stutter. I go back to it every once in a while for reference. And I’d love to read the book one day and see if there’s more to uncover. -Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: Study of Cameron Frye. So this is a high school movie which also helps with the right vibe, but the most important thing to me is the whole vibe and fear of going out to do ANYTHING. Finn has a really hard time with that and Cameron Frye is honestly pretty good inspo on this sort of thing. Also he’s got two more outgoing friends in a sense, which Finn also has in the form of Ariel and Nemo. -Star Trek: Study of the character Bones. I think this is sort of a good reference as to where I’d love to see Finn in the future and it’s a cool thing to try to work toward. Bones has channeled his innate worrying into helping people, and I think that’s something that Finn could learn to do. How and in what way? I don’t know. But it’s a good reference point for the future maybe. -The Rugrats: Study of Chuckie. Yes is it a bit funny to find inspo from another animated character for Finn? Sure a bit. But honestly the more I think about it, Chuckie Finster is a very anxious child and that is basically Finn on the regular. And again a character that has a much more confident best friend and gets dragged along on the adventures. And even though Chuckie the character is an actual baby and Finn’s a teen there’s a lot to really look at and be inspired by. When I was little I didn’t think Chuckie was that relatable but when I got a little older I was like ‘oh man that’s a mood’ and honestly he’s anxious, I’m anxious, and I’m writing about an anxious character so it all kind of works.

And now, a wishlist!  I looooove wishlists and this’ll probably be the longest part of this whole thing so that if anyone wants to brainstorm stuff/looks at this list and goes ‘hey me too’ we can start scheming. -fake dating! -alexa play fake love- it’s a trope for a reason and I really really love it. Someone get in on it with me. -rags to riches (I want Louie to experience being rich for like a day or something. I think that’d make a really interesting story for him.) -murder. well. If anyone wants to get rid of a character one day hmu. -more magic based plots. I have magicks but somehow they HARDLY use it and that’s lame. I want more magic. I want to def explore mer stuff with Finn more especially, and generally just chaotic magic things. -i want Sora/Roxas to fuck with people. Like I want someone to date one of them just for an awkward scene in bed or something. That’s a very small plot thing but I think it’d be hilarious. -I really like romantic plots and I like the soft puff/seemingly cold slytherin relationship. idk I guess I want a duo like that. Or more romance in general. Date my characters. Long term, short term, to make someone else jealous? let’s go. -DISASTER AGENTS. I had a vague idea and I want it but who knows if/when that happens but two brothers with a rescue agency but they are completely incompetent. I like the witty characters sue me. Anthony: -i already said this but murder. -i also want him to hook up with/become friends with a sorcerer. i. have.an.idea. =D -continue to have him sink his teeth in the board and try to influence the town Arthur: -a slow burn love story would suit him nicely. i have plans for him and i think it would up the stakes. -a buddy cop story. idk Arthur is a workaholic so I feel like the best way to be buddies with him is to work with him. lol. this loser. Ashley: -i have her future planned mostly. she’s good i think. Celia: -turn a boyfriend to stone. seriously! -a hero moment for her? idk i think it’d be cool to have what she thinks of as a curse save someone’s life. Fflewddur: -someone let him spill your secrets with his harp. let him cause DRAMA. -connect him to other musicians. He’s got an ego and he’s kind of the worst, but I want him to talk more music and do more music things. Finn: -MER THINGS!!! -i want to explore some of his trauma from the bullying and everything. I know I’m gonna do a one shot, but I also would love to have him be able to open up to a friend about how things were/have been. I don’t think he’d even have told Ariel all of it. -touch. touch is his love language and I think that he’s probably fairly touch starved as he keeps to himself a lot and is afraid of like everything lol. So I’d love to explore his relationship with touch and see him learn to trust people and open up and more free with his affection and holding hands and hugs and that sort of thing. -first love/kiss. with him i think it would be a very slow thing but also it would be SO CUTE and yeah. he’s more of a romantic than my other teens so gotta ask for it here. lmao. Kanga: -board things. She’s on it now woo! I’m here to explore that more -it’s a secret. It’s coming soon to theaters. Louie: -again. Rich for a day, see how the other 1% lives that sort of thing. -family plot line. I want it to happen so bad. I want to see Louie sort of self destruct. Someone help him get there. -further down the trouble path. Drugs? Or fighting or something considerably more reckless? He’s still a fairly good kid, I’d love to explore something a little darker with him. -also to explore him being gay and let him really come into his own there. He’s too busy being Louie to notice so that’s a thing I really want to push with him and see him figure out feelings more. Roxas: -have them figure out about Sora first. Let him and friends struggle with how to handle that. so really mission a) make Roxas a few friends. then b) share the chaos of their life with said friends. it’ll be fun. -get in a fight with battle magic. I think it’d be interesting to see it in play, especially since they are not fully in control. A magic fight guys. Who’s in?Sora: -oo you know what might be fun? having him become good buds with someone and move in somewhere with them and then and have him and Roxas’ stuff make a mess of things. roommate drama HEIGHTENED. -Someone telling Sora about Roxas. Because he is not the smart one of the duo. He’s pretty damn oblivious -break someone’s heart. I feel like he’d be the type to do it without realizing and that’d be an interesting thing to go into.

OPTIONAL: Why do you RP? Well honestly I’ve been rping for so long it’s hard to remember a time before I did it. It’s a good escape from reality sometimes and I really love to write. Writing makes me feel good and unwind and I like that I can express things through characters that I might not be able to do myself places because I’m too awkward. It’s nice to be able to let things out and enthuse online and to get to know a great community. I’ve made some great friends through rp and I love that a lot about the whole thing. Plus it’s through rp that a lot of the time you can let out over enthusiasm. Or at least for me that’s the case. As many of you already know I tend to obsess over things and when I do it’s like I need so many outlets to get by. Right now BTS and then having Finn as my outlet for example. But before that it would be like my years long Steve Rogers fixation and how I’d be off and on in group rps with him as a character or on an indie blog and that would be how I expressed my love for this character and let some of that out. It’s so helpful and therapeutic almost, since I feel like I get too enthusiastic for people around me to relate a lot. 

#bdrptask #this got long oops

[prayermiracles63-blog]

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[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 58

Wooooo here we go with The Last Mabelcorn, finally! You can’t imagine how long I’ve wanted to write this chapter and here it finally is for you to read and enjoy! I’m quite proud of it and I honestly don’t have a ton else to say outside of that so I suppose there’s nothing keeping us from diving right in! Let’s get started!

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/177662322439/universe-falls-chapter-57-part-2

Chapter 58: The Last Mabelcorn

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With Dipper and Mabel spending the night up at the temple with Steven and the Gems in light of their ongoing quest to release Malachite, the Mystery Shack was even quieter than it usually was in the deep, dark, dead of night. Though Stan had turned in for the night at a reasonable hour, it had taken Ford much longer to pull himself away from his ongoing research in the basement. By the time the author finally did trudge up to his old room, it was quite late and as a result, he was quite tired. Though he was now thirty years removed from his extensive bout of paranoid insomnia, there were times every now and again when Ford would stubbornly resist the lull of a full night’s sleep out of fear of what might lie in wait in the often unpredictable world of nightmares. This particular, night, however, wasn’t anywhere close to one of those cases, for almost as soon as the author’s head hit the pillow, he was out, fast asleep and promptly thrust into the dreaming state he so often tried to avoid.

Or rather, into what was very soon about to become yet another nightmare, one that seemed to refuse to end even 30 years after it had first begun.

When Ford opened his eyes, he was quite caught off guard to find himself not back in the peaceful darkness of the room he had fallen asleep in, but rather he was standing amidst a vast, arid field of tall, ripe stalks of wheat. This curious expanse seemed to stretch on for miles, only broken by three landmarks afar off in the distance: an aged and broken swing set, a dilapidated, half-rebuilt boat, and the ruined remains of a certain portal looming large and inactive on the horizon. The author took pause as he glanced around his odd, new surroundings, though he didn’t have much of a chance to make sense of them. Completely out of nowhere, the wheat surrounding Ford suddenly began to flatten itself out into a shape that the author knew all too well. A shape that was, of course, accompanied by the maniacal cackling of a demon, a demon Ford had hoped in vain that he’d never encounter again.

“I know that laugh…” the author growled, his hands already curling into tight, defensive fists, just in case. “Show yourself!”

Right on cue, the demon did just that, his triangular form materializing right from the imprint of himself he had made in the wheat as he sharply rose to float right behind Ford, his sinister laughter continuing all the while. “Well, well, well, well, well, well, well!” he quipped brightly, splitting up into several smaller versions of himself as they all cheerfully circled the quite unamused author. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eye! Stanford Filbrick Pines! My old pal! It’s good to finally see ya in the flesh instead of on all those wanted posters I had put out for you during your little stint in the multiverse. Those sure were some fun times, huh, Sixer?”

Ford wisely chose to ignore his longtime foe’s callous taunting, more than used to them by now as he sent the demon a cold, distrustful glare. “Bill Cipher…” he stiffly acknowledged, countless years of ire and hatred dripping into his tone. “What do you want from me? I already told you more than once that I want nothing more to do with you!”

“Oh, quit playing dumb, IQ!” one of the several Bills mocked knowingly. “You knew I’d be back! And boy, have I been busy… Heck, right before I dropped by here, I nearly snagged the deal of a lifetime with some kid you may or may know. But oh well, its not like he can really hold onto that space rock of his for too much longer since its already mine anyway!”

“Kid?” Ford questioned in alarmed confusion, wondering what poor child could have possibly been subjected to Bill’s cruel tricks. “Who did you-”

“Eh, forget it, Sixer, all that business is soooo two chapters ago,” Bill interjected with a flippant wave of his hand as his many doubles all merged back into one. “What I actually stopped by for was to tall you that you must not be that much of a ‘genius’ after all if you think shutting down that portal could really stop what I have planned! Like I said, I’ve been making deals, chatting with old friends, preparing for the big day! You can’t keep that rift safe forever…” With a single snap of his fingers, the interdimensional rift appeared floating above the demon’s palm, its amorphous, glimmering substance still safely contained within its protective globe, though not for long. “You don’t have good ol’ Quartzy around anymore to bail you out this time, Sixer! You’ll slip up sooner or later, and when you do…” As Bill trailed off, he suddenly slammed the rift hard onto the ground, its very breaking violently tearing open a nightmarish hole through the otherwise smoggy skies and igniting the wheat field in a burst of bright crimson fire all around the author. Yet even despite this horrific display, Ford refused to let Bill get the better of him this time; after all, he had already accomplished that more than enough countless times in the past.

“Get out of here!” the author shouted fiercely, wishing he could put an end to the demon’s twisted ambitions right then and there. “You have no dominion in our world!”

“Maybe not right now,” Bill began, his eye turning black as he began to ascend into the chasm of untold horrors and nightmares he wanted to unleash upon the world. “But things change, Stanford Pines! Things CHANGE!”

On this final, ominous proclamation, the demon departed, laughing wickedly all the while as he thoughtlessly left Ford to burn in the field, awash with fear over the dreadful threats he had just heard. Fortunately though, the author wasn’t left to such a terrible fate as he was instead met with quick flashes of three very distinct images: his own six-fingered hand, a set of runes containing various unknown symbols, all of them surrounding a visage of Bill himself, and finally, four bright, vibrant diamonds, one white, one blue, one yellow, and one pink, arranged together and positioned against the backdrop of a distant, foreign planet that seemed to be crumbling apart at the seams.

And on that, the author sharply awoke, his nightmare over. For now, at least.

Even so, Ford bolted upright on the couch that served as his bed, his entire body covered in a cold sweat as he tried to catch his breath amidst his current panic. The fact that Bill Cipher, of all beings, had suddenly shown up in his dreams was concerning enough, but even worse were the frightening implications he had left behind. Before, the author had only ever assumed that the demon would target the rift, but now, there was no doubt whatsoever. Bill wanted that rift and if he got his hands on it, then the entire world, no, the entire universe, would certainly face untold destruction and devastation. He’d be all-powerful, unstoppable, and completely and utterly merciless to anyone who ever dared to try and get in his way. Which was why Ford knew that he had to stop this disaster before it even had a chance to begin. He had to put an end to Bill’s plans before they could come anywhere close to reaching fruition, there simply was no other option. But unlike last time he had made such a bold, dangerous attempt, the author wasn’t about to undertake such a risky venture on his own this time. He had learned his lesson and seen his folly in trying to walk this path alone 30 years ago. And as far as he was concerned, that wasn’t a mistake he was about to make again.

“I have to warn them…” Ford muttered to himself as he finally began to calm down, even though Bill’s haunting warnings still rung in his mind as loudly as ever. “He’s coming…”

A cloud of solemn anxiousness hung over Steven, Dipper, and Mabel alike as they departed from the temple the following morning, their minds still equally focused on worrying thoughts of a certain demon and his malicious intentions, whatever those might be. The Gems had sent them off quite early on, encouraging them to relax for the day and try to find some way to take their thoughts off Bill, even if it was very likely they didn’t intend to do the same themselves.

Still, none of the kids argued with them as they set out for the shack, running into Connie halfway down the hill as she had been going up to meet them. Despite the Gems’ advising them to focus on other things, neither Steven, Dipper, nor Mabel were able to keep themselves from telling Connie all about the events of the previous night, including both Steven’s alarming encounter with Bill in his dreams, as well as their nightmarish confrontation the Gems had with the demon themselves over twenty years ago. Needless to say that after hearing such a disconcerting account, Connie herself was every bit as shaken as the other three kids were to know that Bill was still out there somewhere, still plotting to harm them all, if not worse. Which was why the conversation was still very much focused on the demon, even as the kids made it back down to the shack to try and ‘relax’, even if there was a slim chance such a thing would even end up happening.

“So… even the Gems don’t know how get rid of Bill once and for all?” Connie asked, her voice kept rather low as the four of them wandered down the hall.

“No…” Steven sighed, rubbing his arm apprehensively. “They said the most we can do for now is just make sure we don’t fall for any more of his tricks, but… I don’t know how long that’ll really work for…”

“Probably not too long, seeing as how he’ll lie to just about anyone to get what he wants,” Dipper remarked quite bitterly, clearly quite frustrated with the situation at large. “It’s just… you’d think there’d be some way to keep Bill from messing with us anymore, at least. I mean, how are we supposed to figure out a way to stop him if we can’t even keep him from showing up in our dreams any time he wants?!”

“W-well, even if the Gems don’t know what to do right now, m-maybe they’ll figure something out eventually,” Mabel assured with a weak smile, hoping to, if nothing else, reassure her clearly on-edge brother about the concerning situation. “For now though, we should probably just drop the whole Bill thing and relax like they told us to.” Her smile widened somewhat as she pulled open a nearby closet door. “Why don’t we see if Grunkle Stan has any decent board games lyin’ around here? Huh? Huh? Come on, you three, don’t hold out on me. Steven, I know you’re always up for a good round of Latzee.”

Steven, Dipper, and Connie all briefly exchanged tentative glances at this, all three of them still rather worried about the situation with Bill, but even so, they knew there wasn’t really much that could be done about it now. Wasting their thoughts and energy on it at the moment wouldn’t really produce anything but more dread and woe, things that the kids largely wanted to be free of after the harrowing night they just had. Which was why Steven was the first to perk up somewhat, stepping forward into the closet to take a look at what the stack of old games before them had to offer.

“Hm, let’s see here… ‘Battlechutes & Ladderships’, ‘Necronomiconopoly’, ‘Don’t Wake Stalin’…”

“Oh, what’s this one?” Connie grabbed an interesting-looking jungle themed box from the pile. “‘What Could Go Wrong? The Board Game. The last players who opened this box never made it out alive!’”

A beat of silence passed between the kids at this, but even so, they were all quick to reach largely the same conclusion.

“Well, I know what we’re doing today!”

“Yeah, this should take up the next half hour or so.”

“Sounds like fun!”

“Can’t be too bad, right?”

However, before the kids could even leave the closet to set the game up to play, their plans were instantly dashed as they heard Ford’s stark, urgent call coming from the kitchen. “Family meeting! Family meeting!”

Needless to say all four of the kids were somewhat surprised to hear Ford of all people, call for a so-called ‘family meeting’. But even so they were quite curious to hear what apparently serious demand was all about, which was why they put the game aside to hurry off to hear whatever it was the author had to say.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to any of the kids, Amethyst had hurried down from the temple to the shack herself, surprisingly not because of anything remotely pertaining to what happened last night, but rather to make good on her promise to help Stan with a certain, rather illegal smuggling deal. “Alright, Santiago,” the conman remarked gruffly to the Spanish man him and Amethyst were passing off a sizable truckload of young pugs off to. “You have 24 hours to get these pugs over the U.S border.”

“And you better not… you know, no lo jodas this time either!” Amethyst snapped with a knowing scowl. “O de lo contrario lo vas a conseguir!”

“Yeah, what she said,” Stan remarked, though he did raise his eyebrow somewhat over the purple Gem’s rather crude use of language. However, before the exchange could properly end, Ford’s call for a family meeting rung out from inside the shack, startling the trio and cutting their illegal operation short as Stan swiftly shoved the last barrel of pugs into the back of Santiago’s truck before shoving him off.

“No te preocupas!” Stan shouted urgently as Amethyst kept a close lookout so they wouldn’t get caught as the truck sped off. “Vamos! Vamos!”

With Stan and Amethyst as busy avoiding the law as they were, it wasn’t surprising that they decided to avoid Ford’s meeting, though the kids were right on time to it, venturing into the kitchen just as the author was finishing setting up his copious array of scrolls, notes, and books. “Ah, children,” he greeted tersely, only briefly glancing over his shoulder as they arrived. “Come in, come in! Do any of you know if any of the Gems can make it down here within the next… minute or so? This is a very important discussion that I doubt they’ll want to miss out on.”

“Uh, w-well, actually… the Gems are kind of… busy today,” Steven replied, knowing this was both a truth and a lie in that, as far as they knew, they were still up at the temple, thinking about what to do to stop Bill. “We sort of had a… rough night last night…”

“Hm, you’re not the only ones…” Ford muttered to himself as he glanced away. “All the same, I suppose we can always pass this warning off to them sometime later.”

“Warning?” Connie spoke up with a worried frown. “What warning?”

“Does it have anything to do with these mysterious scrolls and potions?” Mabel asked curiously as she began rummaging through the author’s possessions. “Are you going to tell us we’re finally of age to go to wizard school? Is there an owl in this bag?!”

“No,” Ford interjected, quickly taking his bag away from her as his manner seemed to grow even more serious than it already was. “I can assure you that if there is an owl in this bag, then he’s long dead. Now, what I have called you children here for today is by far more pressing and urgent. Do any of you recognize this symbol?” At this, the author held up a weathered old scroll, one covered in ancient script and arcane text, though the triangular being emblazoned, large and dark and menacing on its center was one that all four of the kids knew the instant they saw it.

A round of frightened gasps escaped all four of the kids at the same exact time, each of them feeling as though they had been thrust right back into that horrific puppet show weeks ago. Connie quickly tore her gaze away from the scroll, as if simply looking at it would somehow summon the demon forth from it. Steven choked out another smaller gasp, one hand against his heart as it hammered away in his chest while his other was pressed close to his stomach, or rather his gem, protectively. Mabel latched a hand down onto her brother’s shoulder so fast that it normally would have startled him but instead Dipper only stared, his face pale and his eyes wide as he barely managed to even get the demon’s name out in so much as a weak, frightened whisper. “B-Bill…”

Ford flinched, quite taken aback by the kids’ initial reaction alone as he looked back to the scroll with growing alarm. “You… you know him?”

None of the kids offered an immediate answer save for Connie, who only gave one in the form of a small, anxious, silent nod. As for the other three, Steven tightened his grip around his gemstone, the vicious threats the demon had issues against him just a few hours prior ringing in his head as loudly as ever before. At the same time, Mabel’s focus remained on Dipper as she prepared to offer him whatever comfort and support he might need but in light of both his growing distress and his growing frustration he was hard pressed to accept any such sentiments now.

“I-it just won’t end, will it?” Dipper began, his tone quiet yet harsh as he shook his head incredulously. “First there was what happened last night with the Gems, and now this? Why won’t he just quit already?!”

“Dipper-” Mabel attempted to interject, though her brother was far too upset to back down now, especially as he got up to pace around frenetically.

“I was right last night after all,” Dipper continued, angry and anxiously as he largely talked to himself, even as the others all watched him with growing concern. “A-and I was right even before that! This isn’t over! Heck, maybe it never will be! He’ll just keep showing up and messing with us and lying to us and forcing us to play his games and there’s no way to stop him or get rid of him a-and it’ll just keep happening over and over again until he-”

“Dipper!” He finally cut himself off with a sharp gasp, stopping in his tracks under the weight of Ford’s firm, steadying hand on his shoulder. The author’s expression was initially fraught with palpable worry and dread, which quickly shifted into untold remorse before finally settling on what almost looked like grave, yet muted fury. “He… he possessed you, didn’t he?”

Dipper flinched at this, quickly averting his uncle’s gaze out of slight fear of how he might react to the truth of the matter. After all, the last thing he wanted was to admit such a momentous failure to the author he practically idolized and looked up to without question; the thought of disappointing him with his own shortcomings alone was enough to bring him more shame than he really knew how to deal with. But even despite his lack of a concrete answer, it was clear to see that Ford had inferred one anyway as he rose to stand, closing his eyes and letting out a long, almost tired sigh, one that gave really no indication of any sort of react at all.

“G-Great Uncle Ford,” Dipper began, his former frustration gone and replaced with obvious nervousness instead. “I… I just-”

“It wasn’t Dipper’s fault!” Steven suddenly interjected, tears already starting to well up in his eyes as everyone turned to look at him. “B-Bill tricked him! H-he lied to him and then he took his body a-and I was there for the whole thing and I wasn’t able to stop it a-and I couldn’t even tell anyone about it ‘cause he said he’d hurt Dipper’s body a-and I was so afraid and confused and we almost didn’t stop him in time but-”

“But we did,” Connie interjected as calmly as she could, taking Steven’s hand reassuringly as Mabel did the same for Dipper. “And that’s what’s important here.”

“So the four of you… ‘defeated’ him…” Ford mused, though his tone conveyed a hint of doubt in this fact. Still, he didn’t voice that doubt as he met all four of the kids’ fretful expressions evenly enough. “Even so, the fact that you kids have dealt with Bill before is gravely serious.”

“So… you know Bill too, Grunkle Ford?” Mabel asked, anxiously curious.

“Too?” the author frowned, confused.

“Uh, well, l-last night the Gems told us about how Bill tricked them before too…” Steven admitted somewhat hesitantly. “Mom even had to fight them to get him out of him. I-it was-”

“Oh yes, I already know about all that,” Ford interupted. “Pearl… told me all about that rather… unfortunate encounter just a few days ago. Honestly, I can’t say I’m even really surprised; it’d only make sense that someone as mad and as power-hungry as Bill would try to target someone as dedicated to protecting the Earth as Rose and the Crystal Gems.”

The kids looked to each other again at this, their expressions all somewhat uncertain but craving to know more about whatever knowledge the author might have concerning the dream demon. “Um, so how exactly do you know Bill, Great Uncle Ford?” Dipper asked rather hesitantly in light of his own lingering regret.

“I’ve encountered many dark beings in my time, Dipper,” Ford replied curtly. “But perhaps none as dark as Bill Cipher. All the same, the specifics aren’t important right now. What matters is that his powers are growing stronger, and if he pulls off his plans, then none of us, not this family, not the Gems, not even Gravity Falls itself will be safe!”

Upon hearing this, none of the kids were able to hold back a unified frightened gasp. In light of their past encounters with the dream demon as well as everything the Gems had recently revealed, it was obvious that Bill was certainly a threat to them all. But to hear this confirmation come from someone as wizened and well-traveled as the author of the journals himself only served to hit that alarming thought home even more. After all, if Bill really was such a severe and present danger to not just them but the town, possibly even the world as a whole, then what hope did any of them possibly have in trying to stop him?

“Fortunately,” Ford continued, as if he had somehow heard the kids’ shared worries and decided to address them. “There should be a way to shield us from his mental tricks. A way to ‘Bill-proof’ the shack and even the Gems’ temple, as it were.”

“R-Really?” Steven asked with a small but growing smile, one that was filled with relief that the other three kids equally shared. “That’s great! How does it work?”

“It’s quite simple, really,” the author began, laying a map of the shack out on the table. “All I have to do is place moonstones here, here, and here, sprinkle some mercury, and… let’s see, I always forget that last ingredient!” Ford frowned as he flipped open journal 1, briefly glancing through his notes before finding what he was looking for. “Ugh, that’s right… unicorn hair…”

“That’s not… rare, is it?” Dipper asked, picking up on the author’s disgruntled tone.

“Its hopeless,” Ford shook his head dismissively as he looked back to the journal. “Unicorns reside deep within an enchanted glade, and their hairs can only be obtained by a pure, good-hearted person who goes on a magical quest to find them. And of course, unicorns themselves are-”

The author’s explanation was abruptly cut off from a loud, shrill, undeniably excited squeal from Mabel, one that tore starkly through the ongoing solemn manner of this meeting. “Grunkle Ford! Can I please go on this quest?!” she asked with a large, eager grin as she hopped out of her seat. “I am literally obsessed with unicorns! My first word was unicorn, I once made my own unicorn by taping a traffic cone to a horse’s head and got banned from the petting zoo for it, are you even looking at the sweater I’m wearing right now?!” She quickly pointed to said sweater, which, fittingly enough, had a colorful design of a unicorn stitched onto it. “Not to mention that I’m probably the most pure of heart person in this room. Well, aside from Steven, that is.” A round of murmured agreements arose from this, no one really dissenting to such a claim given Mabel’s very transparent sense of altruism and helpfulness. “So can I please go on a mission to get that hair?” she continued pleadingly. “Please, please, please?! I’ll give you my blood!”

Despite this concerning vow, Ford simply nodded, albeit a bit hesitantly given the nature of the quest his niece wanted to go on. “Very well,” he consented gruffly. “But it won’t be easy. Take this,” he handed off journal 1 to her, largely since it offered a map pointing to where unicorns were known to dwell. “And this,” he also gave her a fully-loaded crossbow, much to excitement, even as she struggled to properly lift it. “I haven’t been in this dimension in a while. It’s still ok to give children deadly weapons, right?”

“Pssh, come on, dawg,” Mabel remarked with a casual wave of her hand. Of course, she didn’t notice that her other hand had accidentally squeezed the crossbow’s trigger until an arrow fired off through it, crashing through the nearby window and startling a certain pair of partners in crime outside.

“Ah! It’s the cops!” Stan shouted frantically somewhere outside. “Gun it!”

“Soy inocente, ¡lo juro!” Amethyst cried as a truck carrying a heavy load of pugs sped off.” ¡Todo fue idea de Stan!”

“Amethyst! Cut it out with all the Spanish already!”

“Heh, sorry, dude, can’t help it. Its mucho divertido.”

“Um… on second thought, why don’t I go with you, Mabel?” Connie asked after a beat of somewhat awkward silence. “Not that I don’t think you can handle yourself, but maybe having my sword along with that crossbow will make this whole, uh, ‘enchanted quest’ thing go a little easier.”

“Oh my gosh, yes!” Mabel gasped, cheerfully pulling Connie up out of her chair as she spun her around excitedly. “This is gonna be great! Mabel and Connie: Unicorn Hunters Extraordinaire! Ooo, wait! I got another idea! We should turn this unicorn duo into a whole unicorn party!” Without another word, Mabel quickly pulled her phone up and began dialing several numbers at once as she ran out of the room. “Wendy, Candy, Grenda, clear the afternoon!”

“Oh boy…” Connie chuckled as she prepared to follow after Mabel. “This oughta be… interesting.”

“Hm… perhaps you girls should take one of the Gems along with you as well…” Ford mused. “As far as I know, they do have some experience with unicorns so their aid will likely be an asset, and not just in finding them either…”

“Get a Gem to come, got it!” Connie nodded, offering the remaining trio a thumbs up as she headed out herself. “Thanks, Mr. Ford!”

“Yes, yes, try not to come across any packs of marauding ware-fairies while you’re out,” Ford advised, waving both girls off as Steven and Dipper did the same.

“So… what are the odds that they actually get that hair?” Dipper asked Ford, trying to hide his rather palpable concern.

“Unlikely,” the author replied as soon as he was sure the girls were out of earshot. “I’ve dealt with unicorns before and if I had to describe them in one word it would be… frustrating.”

“Aw, but this is Mabel and Connie we’re taking about here,” Steven said with an encouraging smile. “If anyone can get that hair, its them!”

“Well, just in case they don’t,” Dipper countered diffidently. “Is there anything else we could maybe do to stop Bill in the meantime?”

Ford took pause at this question, his expression initially unreadable as he looked between both of the boys sitting in front of him before his focus finally settled on Steven. The young Gem shifted somewhat apprehensively under the author’s scrutinizing stare, one that seemed to almost be searching for something, though he had no idea as to what that something could possibly be. “Um… Mr. Ford? What’s-”

“Steven,” the author interupted, his tone and manner both very serious as he glanced around rather discreetly. “Rose Quar—I mean, your mother, used to be the one person, or Gem rather, that I always felt like I could confide in. I trusted her immensely, and… I’d like to think that I can trust her son as well. So… can I?”

The young Gem was admittedly somewhat taken aback by this, but as he glanced over and met Dipper’s rather expectant expression, he found he was hard pressed to say no. “Y-yeah—I mean, yes,” Steven said with much more resolve, hoping that he could somehow honor the genuine bond that used to exist between the author and his mother even in some small, simple way. “Yes, you can. But, uh, can I ask with what exactly you wanna trust me with?”

Ford cracked something of a small smirk at this, clearly glad to have the young Gem on board. “Dipper, why don’t I let you tell him?”

“Oh, uh, ok,” Dipper nodded, immediately understanding exactly what the author wanted him to reveal. Even still, he hesitated somewhat, remembering the promise he had made to Ford himself to keep silent about it only a few days prior, a promise he devoutly intended to keep even still. And yet, since Ford was the very one telling him to make an exception to that promise right then and there, he decided to relent and do just that, knowing that if there was really anyone who he’d personally trust with such a momentous secret, it would be Steven. “So, Great Uncle Ford took the portal apart, right? But it sorta left this… what was it again?”

“An interdimensional rift,” Ford filled in, his voice low as he took another cursory glance around the room for any sort of prying eyes.

“An interdimensional rift, right,” Dipper said with a bit more confidence, which was something Steven only met with confusion as he tried to follow along. “And that’s bad because it could…?”

“It could tear our reality itself apart,” Ford finished gravely. “Especially if someone like Bill were to get his hands on it. If its power were to be unleashed, then he’d be completely free to wreak untold havoc upon this dimension, destroying everything and everyone in his path.”

“W-whoa…” Steven whispered, his eyes wide as he tried to take such a dark implication in. “And I thought everything the Gems told us last night was bad. B-but this… rift thing sounds like it could be even worse than that was!”

“Indeed it could,” Ford nodded coldly. “And that’s why the three of us have to do everything in our power to protect it from Bill. Including maintaining its secrecy from everyone.”

“Even the Gems?” Steven asked apprehensively. “B-because I-”

“Even the Gems,” the author interupted staunchly, glancing away. “The more people who know about the rift, the more danger it could potentially be put in. I did have some reservations about telling even you, Steven, but… well, I figured I might as well fill you in since I very likely would have done the same for your mother if she were still… around.”

“Oh, uh… gee, thanks…” the young Gem said with a halfhearted smile, the comparison Ford was apparently drawing between him and his mother not lost on him. A comparison that, in light of recent revelations, Steven wasn’t sure he was too comfortable with anymore, even if he knew that it was rather fitting. After all, wasn’t keeping such a potentially earth shattering secret hidden from the Gems the very same sort of thing Rose herself did before him? Still, he knew he couldn’t exactly betray either Ford’s trust on the matter either, especially since it was of such grave significance. The author had said so himself: if Bill ever managed to get ahold of that rift, then reality itself could very well cease to be. The knowledge of that fact alone was a momentous, massive weight, one that the young Gem feared he wouldn’t be properly carry but at the very least, he didn’t have to do it alone. For just as he began to doubt his own resolve, he was broken out of his thoughts by the comforting hand that fell upon his shoulder. Steven was unable to hold back a small smile as he met the gentle, affirmative one Dipper was offering him, one that carried the promise that, despite how daunting protecting the rift and its secrets might be, it was a task that they’d carry out together. And that alone was exactly the kind of warm reassurance the young Gem needed to hope that they’d be able to carry that untold, almost crushing weight after all. “B-but… you don’t have to worry,” Steven said as he turned back to the author. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

“Very good,” Ford said, genuinely grateful as he rose to stand. “Now, both of you, follow me. We’ve much to do.”

Neither boy questioned the author any further as they hurried after him to the gift shop, watching in curious anticipation as he opened the hidden elevator behind the vending machine up. However, instead of taking them down to the basement lab, the elevator stopped on the floor between it, at an ornate wooden door that only Ford seemed to hold the key to. And needless to say that that boys were quite amazed by what they saw.

Contained between the gift shop and the underground lab was an entire floor in and of itself, one that surprisingly spacious, even despite the walls lined with full bookshelves and old, interesting artifacts and machinery strewn just about everywhere. The rather long room stretched back into a corridor with covered walls and a massive machine consisting of several large screens and a dizzying array of wires and buttons. Of course, both Steven and Dipper were absolutely amazed to discover such an impressive hideout, one that neither of them ever even knew existed before though Ford was steady as ever as he led the way into it.

“Welcome to my private study,” he began, not making much time to give the boys even a simple tour of the room. “A place where I keep my most ancient and secret knowledge. Even Stanley, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl don’t know about this place, however, Rose did.” At this, the author briefly sent Steven a small, knowing grin over his shoulder, one that he only weakly returned as he continued following after Ford to the other end of the room. Dipper, however, detracted somewhat, curious to see exactly what knowledge his uncle might be keeping in this extensive collection, however, before he could really try to investigate, Ford urgently prompted him onward.

“Dipper, come along!” the author called as he began setting up the large machine, which was only labeled as ‘Project Mentum’. “If we can’t Bill-proof the shack, then we’re going to have to do the next best thing.” At this, Ford held up a rather old-looking metallic helmet, one that was connected to the machine by several wires and seemed to carry some sort of unknown purpose to it. “We’re going to have to Bill-proof our minds.”

Both Steven and Dipper let out a shared gasp at this, but even so, they were unable to hold back relieved smiles as they looked to each other. Because for perhaps the first time since last night, it seemed as though there was actually a way to fend Bill off after all, to keep him from tormenting them any further, from plaguing their thoughts and haunting their nightmares. And, after everything they’d been through because of the demon throughout the summer, that alone was enough to fill both boys with more hope than they had known in quite some time.

Even if such hope wasn’t destined to last.

With their unicorn-finding mission clear and their shared resolve burning, Mabel and Connie set out on their intrepid quest, gathering a motley crew consisting of Wendy, Candy, and Grenda to accompany them. And, as Ford had advised, the girls managed to recruit the first Gem they could find to act as something of a chaperone, said Gem just so happening to be Pearl, who had just ventured down to the shack to check on the kids as soon as Connie and Mabel stepped out of it. Without filling the white Gem in on much of their mission, she still decided to join the group, largely out of her lingering worry concerning the upsetting reveals made throughout the previous night. All the same, Pearl was somewhat surprised by just how overtly upbeat the majority of the group was as they ventured into the depths of the forest with only journal 1 and the knowledge contained therein to serve as their guide.

“It’s nice to finally be out on a mission, just us gals!” Mabel quipped as she led the way with a bit of an excited spring in her step.

“Well, a mission that isn’t super likely to put all of our lives in danger, at least,” Connie remarked rather knowingly.

“And exactly what the purpose of this mission again?” Pearl asked, making sure to keep an eye out for any supernatural monster that might possibly assail them. “You girls failed to really give me all of the details before we set out on this so-called ‘magical quest’ of ours.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Grenda asked boisterously. “We’re going to meet, touch, and/or become unicorns!”

“U-Unicorns?!” Pearl gasped, completely appalled as she looked back to Mabel and Connie. “That’s what all this is about? Well, if that’s the case then you girls can count me out of this little venture!”

“What?” Connie asked as the collective group stopped short to look to the white Gem in confusion. “But why?”

“Why?” Pearl repeated incredulously. “Because simply put, unicorns are nuisances. They always have been, ever since we happened upon them decades ago. Even Rose couldn’t stand their self-entitled attitude and honestly I completely agree with her. I can’t even begin to fathom why on Earth any of you girls would actually want to actively go looking for such… infuriating creatures!”

“Because Grunkle Ford said that if we get a whole bunch of their hair then we can use it to make some sorta barrier thing that’ll keep the shack and the temple safe from Bill!” Mabel informed with a sense of pressing urgency.

“Wait, what?!” the white Gem exclaimed, even more stunned to her this. “Y-you mean there’s actually a way to arm ourselves against that… that monster? All this time and we had no idea… This changes everything!”

“So… does that mean you’ll help us find a unicorn?” Connie asked, exchanging a hopeful glance with Mabel.

Pearl hesitated for a beat at this, though inevitably she let out a long, begrudging sigh, knowing that she really had no other choice. “I suppose I will if I really must… Still, I wish there was another way of going about this… Dealing with those infernal unicorns almost isn’t worth the aggravation, even if it will potentially help us ward off Cipher…”

“Um… well, who knows?” Mabel said with a bit of a forced, encouraging smile. “Maybe unicorns aren’t as bad as you remember them being, Pearl. I mean, based on everything I’ve heard about them, they sound like they’re the most magical, sparkly, amazing magical horses out there!”

“I hear that if you lick a unicorn’s neck, it tastes like your favorite flavor in the world!” Candy added enthusiastically.

“Candy, I will make sure you lick that unicorn’s neck, because I care about my friends,” Mabel said with heavy resolve, remembering what Ford had said about unicorns only allotting their hair to the most pure of heart. And as far as Mabel was concerned, she was already that and then some, to the point that the unicorns very likely wouldn’t need any proof of her innate kindness and goodness at all. Or so she thought.

“Honestly, I stopped believing in unicorns when I was like, five years old,” Wendy remarked, casually swinging at low-hanging tree branches with her axe. “I’m just coming along to keep you kids from stepping into a bear trap and to make sure you guys aren’t too disappointed when you find out unicorns aren’t actually real.”

“Oh, they’re real all right,” Pearl countered, her eye twitching out of slight frustration over the thought of merely encountering any sort of unicorn alone. “Real aggravating.”

“Stop!” Mabel suddenly exclaimed as they reached a rather ethereal glade, filled with shimmering, otherworldly flora, ancient stone monuments, and the occasional fairy or sprite floating nearby. “This is the magical part of the forest! Now, let’s see…” The others gathered around her as she flipped through journal 1 before landing on a map of the mystical area they now found themselves in. “The gnome tavern is over there… the fairy nail salon is over there, but it says that to summon the unicorn, one must bellow this ancient chant droned by only the deepest-voiced druids of old.”

“On it!” Grenda proclaimed, grabbing the journal and rushing forward to the center of the glade. And from there, she got right to chanting, her abnormally deep voice carrying across the clearing as she belted the ancient non-melody out while the others stood by watching curiously.

“Ten bucks says nothing happens,” Wendy said, crossing her arms dubiously.

“I’ll take that bet,” Mabel smirked, confident that this chant would work. And work it did as suddenly, the entire glade began to violently shake. In response to Grenda’s deep, summoning chant, a massive stone structure began to rise up from the ground, one that was clearly mystical in nature based on its castle-like appearance and the shimmering golds and lush vinery decorating it.

“Here we go…” Pearl muttered bitterly to herself as the younger girls reacted excitedly, all of them rushing through the large wooden doors and into a place somehow even more dreamlike and enchanted than the magical forest it was situated in. A rainbow-accented waterfall fed a flowing stream that cut through the grassy enclosure, one that was inhabited by a pan flute playing faun and none other than an unquestionably magical unicorn, one that was practically straight out of fairytales and legends of old. Simply put, she was ethereal, lightly shimmering all over, from her pale blue skin to her bright, multicolored mane and tail, to her huge, wide, sparking eyes. She tossed her rainbow mane and let out a mighty neigh as the intruding group entered, almost all of them completely dazzled by her mere appearance alone, much less her actual existence.

“Mother of mothers!” Grenda gasped, amazed.

“Dream of dreams!” Candy exclaimed, just as stunned.

“It can’t be…” Connie whispered, shocked.

“No way,” Wendy scowled, especially as Mabel reached her hand up for the bet she had just won and the ten bucks she now had to fork over.

“Oh of course…” Pearl grumbled upon looking to the familiar unicorn poised before them. “It just had to be her…”

“Hark!” the unicorn proclaimed sharply, apparently communicating through her glowing pink horn. “Visitors to my realm of enchantment!”

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” Mabel squealed happily, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. “What’s your name?”

“I am Celestabellebethabelle, last of my kind!” the unicorn introduced herself. “Come in, come in. Just… take off your shoes. I have a whole thing about shoes.” The girls were quick to comply, all of them removing their shoes at the gate save for Wendy and Pearl, both of whom were already none too enthused about this encounter in the first place. Even so, Celestabellebethabelle was quick to notice their belligerence and even quicker to call them out on it. “Ah, ah! I’m talking to everyone!” Despite their increased annoyance at this, both the cashier and the white Gem complied, though the unicorn let out something of an angry snort the moment she caught sight of Pearl in particular. “You! Crystal Gem!” she exclaimed hotly, slamming one of her hooves down. “I do believe I was quite clear with your leader many years ago that NONE of your kind are welcome back into my mystical domain! So please, be a dear and… REMOVE YOURSELF FROM MY PRESCENCE AT ONCE!”

“Oh, believe me, I gladly would,” Pearl huffed, crossing her arms as she unapologetically at the unicorn. “After all, the last thing I want is to be in the ‘presence’ of someone as completely gaudy and over the top as yourself, Celestabelle.”

“It is Celestabellebethabelle, and I will thank you kindly to remember it!” the unicorn snapped fiercely, lowering herself as though she planned on charging the white Gem herself, though fortunately, Mabel intervened before any such altercation could take place.

“W-wait!” she exclaimed, rushing to stand between the two before offering Celestabellebethabelle a very saccharine smile. “Heh, you’ll have to forgive Pearl here, she… had a pretty rough night last night.”

“I did not!” Pearl exclaimed defensively. “I’ll have you know that I tried sleeping for the first time last night and even if I still don’t understand the functional purpose of such an activity, I’d like to think that I still did a suitable job at it!”

“Pearl…” Connie whispered, giving the white Gem something of a pleading glance. And, despite her own apt frustrations at the unicorn that was still issuing her a rather harsh look, she begrudgingly backed down, knowing that acting out was doing nothing for their much more important cause.

“A-anyway…” Mabel continued, trying to make up for Pearl’s outburst with a heavy layer of politeness. “Celestabellebethabelle, we have journeyed far and wide-”

“About an hour!” Grenda chimed in.

“-On a mission to protect our family with your magical hair!”

“This is your chance, Candy…” Candy whispered to herself as she snuck to Celestabellebethabelle’s side, her tongue out as she leaned in close. “Lick the neck… lick it…”

“Very well!” the unicorn exclaimed, lifting herself up and her neck out of Candy’s reach. “Despite your rather… poor company,” she paused, briefly sending another cold scowl Pearl’s way. “I shall allow you this opportunity out of the immense goodness of my immaculate soul.”

“Oh please…” Pearl muttered, rolling her eyes at such an exaggerated claim.

“To receive a lock of my enchanted hair, step forth, girl of pure, perfect heart!” Celestabellebethabelle called, her tone as dramatic and bold as ever.

After a round of encouraging smiles and nods from Connie, Candy, and Grenda, Mabel stepped forward with a confident grin, assured that she’d be able to win the unicorn’s favor, even despite the rather rough start of this meeting. “Presenting… bum buh da bum bum ba bum bum! Mabel!”

Celestabellebethabelle seemed to take pause for a moment, as if sizing the girl before her up for a moment before letting out a harsh, appalled gasp. “What? You?!” she asked in what sounded like offended disbelief. “A unicorn can see deep inside your heart, child, and you have done WRONG!” To punctuate her claim, Celestabellebethabelle pointed the tip of her horn directly at Mabel, sparking up a bright, heart-shaped glow on her chest, one that was quick to turn dark and black, much to her alarm. “Wrong, I say!”

“W-what?” Mabel gasped, confused and distraught as she quickly covered her heart from the unicorn’s piercing gaze.

“But how can that be?” Connie interjected, quickly placing a comforting hand on Mabel’s shoulder as she addressed Celestabellebethabelle with apt seriousness. “I’m sorry to sound rude, but Mabel really is one of the kindest, most helpful people you’ll ever meet. Right, guys?”

“Yeah!” Grenda exclaimed in rowdy agreement.

“Absolutely,” Candy said resolutely as Pearl and Wendy also nodded.

“So… maybe your magical, uh… heart-scanning magic was just a bit… I don’t know, off?” Connie finished amicably enough.

“It is most certainly NOT ‘off’!” Celestabellebethabelle scoffed hotly. “A unicorn’s tuition is never wrong! And my intuition can confirm, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that THAT girl’s heart is nowhere near pure enough to obtain the prize of my glorious hair!”

“But-”

“H-hold on a sec, Connie,” Mabel interrupted with a fretful frown. “I… s-she… might have a point… I mean, I do make fun of Dipper a lot… Plus there was that whole… puppet show thing with Bill that was kinda mostly my fault… and I did just shatter a window with a crossbow…”

“Your bad deeds make me cry!” Celestabellebethabelle let out an embellished sob, rainbow tears spilling from her eyes and burning up the grass below on contact.

“Noooo!” Mabel cried, shocked and horrified by the unicorn’s incredibly harsh reaction. A reaction that was only garnished from her own apparently unknown lack of purity all along.

“Alright, that’s quite enough!” Pearl interjected hotly, sending Celestabellebethabelle a vicious glare as she came to stand defensively between her and Mabel. “Don’t think I’m not wise to your little ‘game’, Celestabelle.”

“Again, its Celestabellabethabelle!”

“I don’t care!” the white Gem huffed angrily. “If you think I’m going to let you get away with emotionally devastating a poor innocent child like Mabel, then you’re dead wrong!”

“Oh, well that’s just the thing,” Celestabellebethabelle remarked with a knowing smirk. “I don’t ‘have’ to get away with anything. I’m a unicorn. I do whatever I want! Including kick you out of my enchanted glen like the rabble you are.”

“Oh, I’ll show you ‘rabble’ you self-righteous, pretentious, over-glorified equine snob!” Pearl yelled, more than ready to summon her spear and outright attack if not for Connie and Wendy holding her back.

“Uh, Pearl? I’m with you on this whole thing being pretty screwed up, but you should probably reign it in just a little,” Wendy remarked as they began to lead the still quite hostile white Gem out of the glen.

“Yeah, its not worth it,” Connie agreed. “Well, I mean, it is worth it if it means we can get that hair protect the shack and the temple from Bill, but still we shouldn’t resort to violence to get it unless we absolutely have to.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right, leave with whatever small shred of dignity you have left,” Celestabellebethabelle said, turning her nose up at the rest of the group as they dejectedly left in defeat. “Perhaps try coming back when you’re PURE OF HEART!” At this, the unicorn let out another dramatic neigh, only to pause for a brief beat of silence as the group looked to her once more rather incredulously. “Exit is that way. Oh, and shoes! Shoes! Take your shoes! This isn’t some… some shoe store!”

And with that, the collective group was shut out of the unicorn’s glen, though thankfully it didn’t sink back into the ground, just in case they all decided to actually return again. Even so, that wasn’t something any of them were too keen on after the very cold reception they had just received from Celestabellebethabelle, especially Mabel, who was practically fighting back tears over the rather biting, perhaps accurate, claims the unicorn had made against her.

“Hey, Mabel, don’t let her get to you,” Grenda said as both her and Candy put comforting hands on their distraught friends’ shoulders.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t trust a horse that wears makeup,” Wendy scoffed, rolling her eyes over the unicorns’ uppity mannerisms.

“How dare that haughty horse pull that ‘not pure of heart’ gambit again,” Pearl remarked crossly, sending a cold glare back at the now closed gates of the unicorn’s glen. “I wouldn’t put any stock into anything she said back there, Mabel. After all, she had the gall to tell Rose, of all people, that she wasn’t pure of heart around the turn of the century! True, Rose may have made… a few mistakes in the past, but even so, such a claim is completely ridiculous; I mean, Gems don’t even have hearts in the first place!”

“Uh, I think what Pearl is trying to say, Mabel,” Connie interjected much more rationally. “Is that you shouldn’t worry about what that unicorn said about you. We can always find some other way to protect ourselves from Bill. Probably… Hopefully.”

“No, girls, she’s right,” Mabel said, sucking in a deep, resolved breath. “I used to be one of the sweetest people I knew, but recently I’ve been seriously slacking in the whole goodness department. Well, today, we’re gonna fix it! From this moment forth, I’m gonna do so many good deeds that I’ll have the purest heart in Gravity Falls!” With this dedicated proclamation, she threw a first up into the air with gusto, only for it to squarely strike a low flying bird by mistake, knocking out of the air and clearly injuring it, much to everyone else’s concerned surprise. “…That… that bird is fine.”

Knowing that time was of the essence when it came to halting Bill’s ambitions, Ford wasted none of it in calibrating his mysterious Project Mentum while the boys stood by, both of them curious, hopeful, and anxious as they mutually wondered whether or not this plan of action would truly work at all. Eager to finally be rid of the menace that was the dream demon once and for all, Dipper had volunteered to go first, with Steven patiently sitting next to him while Ford carefully hooked him up to the machine by way of its bulky metal helmet. Things had been rather quiet amongst the three of them in light of the seriousness of their shared endeavor, but when this tentative silence finally was broken, Steven was the one to do so.

“Um, Mr. Ford?” he began somewhat hesitantly as the author turned to the machine itself to finish setting it up. “Are you sure this is gonna work?”

“Yes,” Ford said, completely confident as he glanced over his shoulder. “I built this device specifically with the intent of using it as a defense against Bill quite some time ago. Which is why I have the upmost certainty that it’ll do its part in shielding you boys against his influence.”

Steven and Dipper exchanged another brief, somewhat hopeful glace at this, knowing that the promise of freeing themselves from the lingering nightmares Bill caused them even still seemed almost too good to be true. And yet, even that promise, as wonderful as it sounded, wasn’t quite enough for Dipper. Based on past encounters with the mysterious dream demon, as well as the Gems’ own horrific account given last night, he couldn’t help but still have quite a few questions concerning the looming threat that had been terrorizing them all practically all summer. “So… what exactly is Bill anyway?” he asked, hoping that, with his vast knowledge, Ford might hold at least a few answers to those questions.

“No one knows for sure,” Ford began, handing off a folder to his nephew that was simply entitled the ‘Cipher File’. Both Steven and Dipper glanced over its sparse contents, a few old documents that game only very brief, not very detailed information concerning matters only remotely related to Bill as the author went on. “Accounts differ of his true motivations and origin. What I do know is that he’s older than our galaxy, and far more twisted. His current domain is the Nightmare Realm, an unstable place of untold horrors all crafted by Bill himself. Thankfully though, he’s mostly confined there, for now. Without a physical form, he can only project himself into our thoughts through the mindscape. That’s why he wants this,” Ford held up the rift, being ever careful with its fragile form as the boys both looked to it apprehensively. “I dismantled the portal, but with this tear, Bill still has a way into our reality. To get his hands on this rift, he would trick or possess anyone.”

“Wait, so… he wants that rift too?” Steven asked, unconsciously placing a hand over where his gemstone was.

“Too?” Ford paused, turning to glance at the young Gem at this. “What do you mean ‘too’?”

“Uh… well…” Steven hesitated somewhat, though upon receiving an encouraging nod from Dipper, he decided it was best if he spoke his piece. “Last night, Bill showed up in a dream I had. He tried to get me to give him my gem, but after I told him no, he said that its already his since my mom promised to give it to him. The Gems are pretty sure that Mom never did that, but… I’m still not sure. What do you think, Mr. Ford?”

The author didn’t answer right away, instead looking to the young Gem with an expression of unquestionable alarm upon hearing such a claim. Yet at the same time, his reaction to the news was every bit as vague as it was when he learned that Bill had possessed Dipper, almost as if he was trying to conceal how he really felt about such a revelation. “So you’re the one he-” Ford quickly cut himself off, noticing the curious looks both boys were sending him as he immediately regained his usual scholarly composure. “Hm, yes, well, the fact that Bill is after your gemstone is extremely troubling indeed, Steven. Even so, I agree with the Gems; its highly unlikely that Rose would have agreed to turn over her gemstone to the likes of him, no matter what he might have promised her for it. As for why he might want it though, that’s… unclear. It makes sense that he’d want to get ahold of the rift, but its hard to say what he might want a gemstone—Rose Quartz’s gemstone in particular—for. Unless…”

“Unless… what?” Steven pressed, immensely curious.

Ford jolted at this, quickly shaking his head as if to clear it before offering both boys a somewhat forced reassuring smile. “Oh, i-its nothing, nothing at all,” he remarked with a dismissive wave of his hand. “What matters now is that we do what we can to protect our minds from Bill.”

“So how exactly do we do that?” Dipper asked intently.

“Well, there are a number of ways,” the author said. “I personally had a metal plate installed in my head by an otherworldly, seven-eyed oracle.”

“Heh, good one,” Dipper chuckled in response to such an admittedly outlandish claim. That is, until Ford proved it to be true by knocking against the side of his head, eliciting a strong metallic sound that was more than enough to get his nephew to awkwardly retract his doubt.

“But this machine is much safer,” the author continued, nodding to the several screens behind them. “It will scan your mind, bioelectrically encrypting your thoughts so Bill can’t read them. Now…” Ford paused, only to press the final button to set Project Mentum in motion. “Say hello to your thoughts.”

All at once, the machine sparked to life, its various screens filling in with Dipper’s own thoughts, putting them all on unfettered display for all three of them to see and hear as they cycled through at a seemingly random pace: “Oh man, I can’t believe I’m actually with the author!” “Is my fly down?” “Disco girl! Coming through!” “I miss Tyrone…” “Bill better stay away from Steven if he knows what’s good for him!” “I have to find a way to save Lapis!” “Huh, I might be just a little emotionally unstable… Maybe I should go get some therapy or something?”

“Um, y-you might wanna… ignore that last one…” Dipper said, quite flustered by his thoughts being so openly and unintentionally revealed like that.

“Whoa, that’s so cool!” Steven exclaimed, stars in his eyes. “I wanna see what my thoughts have to say! I mean, I already know what they say since they’re in my head, but I wanna see them laid out on a screen like that!”

“And you will,” Ford interjected. “After Dipper is done. This is a very delicate process that could potentially take hours to complete. Which means all we can do now is be patient and let the machine do its job.”

“Oh, well, uh, maybe in the meantime you could… I dunno, maybe fill us in on what your history with Bill is in the first place?” Dipper ventured, still quite eager to know exactly what the apparently quite significant context for Ford’s impressive knowledge concerning the dream demon actually was.

“Dipper, do you trust me?” Ford asked, his tone quite serious as he knelt down next to his great nephew.

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Then you’ll trust that that’s not important,” the author concluded staunchly, standing as he headed back over to his desk, leaving both Dipper and Steven as much in the dark as they ever were. “Now, focus. Its time to strengthen your mind…”

Determined to prove herself to Celestabellebethabelle, Mabel took to the town, the others following suit to do whatever they could to help her carry out the lengthy list of good deeds she had come up with. Their main objective was clear: to help out as many people as they could in the hopes that no one, not even the unicorn herself, would be able to deny that Mabel was not just more than worthy enough to not just obtain that magical hair, but also that her heart was overflowing with purity and goodness beyond compare.

And so the group set out to do just that, lending their cheerful aid to any troubled soul they could find. They moved snails from the danger of the streets to the safety of the grass and planted a tree right in front of the door to the Gravity Falls’ Gossiper office, unknowingly trapping Toby Determined inside of it. They helped Kiki on her pizza delivery route and fixed up several of the games at Funland Arcade. They gave Stan a literal smile in the form of a giant smiley face sticker slapped onto his face and Mabel even went as far as donating three pints of her own blood to those in need, disregarding her own lightheadedness after the fact. From there, they covered several smaller deeds on the list, like helping old ladies and ducks cross the road, to filling Lazy Susan’s tip jar, to sprucing up the town statues of Nathaniel Northwest and William Dewey with a fresh coat of glitter. Though their altruistic mission took several hours of hard, selfless work on their part, by the time they were finished, they all felt quite satisfied that they had met their goal, particularly Mabel as they began to make their way back to the unicorn’s glade.

“Boom! A thousand good deeds!” she exclaimed happily as she crossed the last item off her list. “When that unicorn scans my heart again, she’s gonna say that I’m absolutely, one hundred percent, bona-fide-”

“NOT pure of heart!” Celestabellebethabelle proclaimed after the group returned to her glen, her insistence on the matter just as harsh and firm as it was before.

“Booyah!” Mabel cheered, though she quickly changed her tune upon realizing exactly what the unicorn had said. “Wait… w-what?”

“How is that even possible?” Wendy asked with an incredulous scoff. “Mabel’s a straight up saint, you judgmental hoofbag!”

“Seriously, she just spent the entire afternoon helping people,” Connie added knowingly. “Doesn’t that mean anything here?”

“Please! Tell me what I’m doing wrong!” Mabel practically begged, distraught that her efforts were apparently all for naught.

“Doing good deeds to make yourself look better isn’t good at all,” Celestabellebethabelle remarked haughtily. “Not to mention you’re crushing like, ten dandelions right now. Those are basically children’s dreams.” Mabel let out a horrified gasp at this, quickly stepping off the small patch of dandelions she was incidentally standing on before the unicorn condescendingly continued. “I’m sorry, Mabel. It’s not my fault you’re a bad person.”

Unable to take the unicorn’s brutally harsh criticisms any longer, Mabel ran off, not even trying to hold back a heartbroken sob amidst this second, much more painful rejection. As appalled by Celestabellebethabelle’s rather cruel attitude as they were, most of the others didn’t stick around to chastise her on it as they all hurried out of the glen to make sure she was alright. All except for Pearl, who decided to hang back solely for the sake of giving the unicorn a few choice words in light of the completely shameful display she had just witnessed.

“You may have those girls fooled, but you’re not fooling me,” the white Gem said, her voice almost a vicious hiss as she glared at the unicorn unflinchingly. “I know what you’re trying to do here. You did the exact same thing to Rose Quartz about 100 years ago so if you think I’m going to stand by and let you tear someone else down like that, especially someone like Mabel, then you’ve got another thing coming!”

“Oh really?” Celestabellebethabelle deadpanned, clearly not taking the white Gem seriously. “And what exactly might that ‘thing’ be?”

“Trying to act like you’re some grand authority on the contents of a person’s character!” Pearl exclaimed hotly. “I don’t know who made you had the right to judge others like you do, but whoever they were, they probably knew as little about actually being good and kind as you do.”

“As if you really know any better?” Celestabellebethabelle scoffed crossly. “The last time you were here a century ago, the only thing I saw you do was helplessly cling to your precious Rose Quartz as if she was paradigm of perfection. But even still, all these years later, I still stand what I said. She’s not pure of heart and neither are YOU!”

Pearl simply let out a harsh scoff at this, not even bothering to dignify the unicorn with a response to this as she simply turned on her heel to leave, though not before giving one final, bitter remark as she departed. “I don’t need some sanctimonious unicorn to tell me that,” she huffed, her anger dissipating into remorse as she completely turned away, recalling a certain recent mistake of hers that had all but proved her impurities through and through. “After all…” she muttered to herself somewhat sadly. “I already know…”

However, the white Gem’s self-pity didn’t last too long as she left the unicorn’s glen, only to find the girls all gathered around Mabel, who was lying close to the nearby stream, curled up into a miserable ball as she wept quietly, even despite the comfort the others were trying to offer her.

“Come on, Mabel,” Wendy encouraged earnesty. “Don’t beat yourself up about this.”

“Let’s just forget about that dumb hair and go home,” Candy advised, though Mabel was having none of that.

“It’s not just about the hair anymore, guys,” she sniffled as she sat upright and held her list of failed good deeds close. “It’s about me. Being kind and sweet is what makes me who I am. If I’m not a good person, then who am I?”

“Well, I know who you are,” Connie interjected, placing a steadying hand on Mabel’s shoulder. “You’re Mabel; you’re fun and creative and most of all, kind, no matter what that unicorn says. And you don’t have to prove that to anyone, especially not her; because as far as we’re all concerned, that was something we all knew from the very start.”

Upon hearing this, Mabel briefly looked up at Connie, her cheeks still wet with tears as she met the warm smile her friend was offering her. And for a moment, her encouraging, hopeful words almost managed to convince her that it was true, that she was a good person, despite Celestabellebethabelle’s claims. And yet… it still wasn’t quite enough. “I-I appreciate it, Connie, but… she’s right…” Mabel sighed sadly as she pulled her shoulder away. “Its time I finally admit it to myself; I’m just not as pure of heart as I used to think I was… Which is why I’m not leaving this spot until I think of a deed that makes me as good as Celestabellebethabelle!”

“But Mabel-” Grenda attempted to reason before she was promptly cut off.

“Just leave me be!” Mabel snapped in morose frustration, turning her back to the group as she began pondering over her list once more. The other girls were largely at a loss over what to do to comfort her at this juncture, but even so, they didn’t get much of a chance as Pearl discreetly called them all over to her spot under a nearby tree.

“Alright, enough is enough,” the white Gem began as soon as they had all gathered near her. “It’s time to put an end to this unicorn nonsense once and for all. And the sooner we do it, the better, especially for Mabel’s sake…” Pearl frowned as she stole a sympathetic glance at the miserable girl sitting only a few feet away, desperate to find a way to make herself worthy in the eyes of a creature who clearly didn’t deserve that kind of valiant effort.

“I’m with Pearl on this one,” Wendy staunchly agreed with a deepening scowl. “If you ask me, this whole thing is a serious load. Mabel’s like one of the best people I’ve ever met. We tried getting that hair the nice way; now its time we try the Wendy way.”

“Are you suggesting violence? Sabotage?” Grenda asked, caught off guard.

“Oooo… you know, normally I’m not the kind to approve of such roguish behavior but… in this instance… that sounds… quite intriguing…” Pearl remarked, sending a daring smirk towards the nearby unicorn’s glen.

“Honestly, at this point? I’m up for trying something like that too,” Connie said, crossing her arms. “Its about time someone puts that awful unicorn in her place, so it might as well be us.”

“But what about Mabel?” Candy asked worriedly. “She’s not going to like this…”

“Mabel doesn’t need to know,” Wendy shook her head dismissively. “Look, its time we stopped trying to be so ‘perfect’ and be who we really are. We’re crazed, angry, sweaty animals—well, except for you, Pearl, I guess. No offense.”

“None taken,” Pearl said, nodding for her to go on with her inspiring rand.

“But anyway, we’re not unicorns, we’re WOMEN! And we take what we want!” To punctuate her point, Wendy slammed her fist into the nearby tree, eliciting excited cheers from Connie, Candy, and Grenda alike as well as a satisfied grin from Pearl.

In fact, the newfound revelry was so contagious that Grenda ended up smashing a rather large rock to bits against her forehead, instantly quieting the cheers as the others all looked to her, aptly startled. “…Too much?”

“Ok,” Wendy said as the group huddled in to begin their ambitious, albeit morally ambiguous plan. “Here’s what we’re gonna do…”

Gnasty’s Gnome Tavern was by and large the most popular gnome tavern anywhere near Gravity Falls, largely since it was just about the only gnome tavern in the surrounding area. Its usual patrons were a notoriously rowdy bunch who spent their days knocking back honeysuckle shots and exchanging the regular brutal punch or kick to the face to anyone in the remote vicinity. Yet despite their renowned roughhousing, none of the gnomes occupying the tavern were quite prepared for the much larger group that rather violently burst into the bar completely out of nowhere.

“It’s the cops!” one of the gnomes cried as the tavern was immediately thrown into a panic as the group of girls forcefully pushed themselves into the hallowed-out tree. “Hit the deck!”

“We’re looking for someone who knows how to take down a unicorn!” Wendy shouted fiercely amidst the clatter of scattering gnomes. “No tricks or games!”

“We are human!” Candy yelled, breaking an empty bottle over a nearby table and holding its sharpened end up threateningly. “We take what we want!”

“I know a sure-fire way of K.Oin’ a unicorn,” a rather shady, grizzled gnome sitting in the darkened corner of the tavern spoke up. “Too bad I ain’t in the market for spillin’ that kinda info to a bunch of normal-sized girlies like yourselves.”

“Oh, I think you will,” Connie said coldly, drawing Rose’s sword and aiming its sharp tip directly at the gnome.

“Heh,” he chuckled, surprisingly not surprised by this overt threat. “I like the way you ladies operate. So, listen up. Fairy dust; a whole magic bag’s enough to put a unicorn out cold. But if I do you a favor, then you gotta do somethin’ for me.”

“Just spill it, half-pint!” Grenda roared, slamming her fist against a nearby tree stump.

“Now, now, patience,” Pearl advised much more calmly as she looked back to the gnome with solid seriousness. “Name your price.”

“Butterfly traffickin’ is illegal in this part of the forest,” the gnome began, his voice low and discreet. “But I like butterflies. They tickle my face and make me laugh. Bring me a bag of butterflies and we got a deal.”

The girls all exchanged a dubious glance at this, most of them rather bewildered by how the odd rules and regulations of gnome culture. Even so, they were quick to nod their agreement to this plan, knowing that this haggle would be more than worth it to make Celestabellebethabelle pay for what she had done.

Fortunately, it didn’t take the group but a few minutes to capture a whole bag full of butterflies before meeting up with the gnome in the designated clearing. The others all hid out in the nearby bushes as they sent Grenda in to preform the trade, her manner just as unsuspecting as the gnomes as she quietly handed him off the bag of butterflies before he produced his end of the bargain.

“Two bags of fairy dust, just as we agreed,” he said, turning over two small pouches of the glittering substance.

“Where do you get this stuff?” Grenda shook her head, glancing between the dust and the gnome.

“Everyone likes sausage, but no one likes to know how it’s made,” the gnome smirked as he peeked into his bag of butterflies.

“You disgust me.”

“Hey, you got your poison; I got mine. We made a deal.”

“Yeah, well, the deal’s OFF!” Grenda shouted, blowing a whistle to summon an entire squadron of gnome policemen from the nearby woods. The arrangement with the cops had been an easy enough one to make, one that resulted in a meticulously planned-out sting operation that was already unfolding exactly as planned.

“Freeze!” the chief shouted as the first gnome was heavily pinned down by the other cops, his butterflies quickly swiped away from him. “You’re under arrest!”

“These butterflies aren’t mine! I swear I’ve been framed!” the gnome cried, sending a harsh glare to Grenda and the other girls as they came out of the bushes to join her.

“Tell it to the adorable owl we’ve dressed as a judge,” the chief scoffed as the gnome as hauled away for sentencing. “My cut?” he held his hand out to Grenda a beat later, and she handed him one of the two bags of fairy dust, just as they had agreed upon.

“Has the gnome criminal justice system always been this corrupt?” Connie asked with a somewhat concerned frown over these shady proceedings.

“Oh believe me, they have,” Pearl remarked, crossing her arms knowingly.

With the butterfly bust complete and a full bag of fairy dust still in hand, the group wasted no time in hurrying back over the unicorn’s glen, taking care to not let Mabel spot them as she remained at her spot near the stream, still trying in vain to come up with more good deeds to accomplish. With Celestabellebethabelle distracted with reading as she was, she didn’t even notice as they all slipped into her magical domain, filing in behind a row of rocks and trees so they wouldn’t be seen as they prepared to carry the final steps of their daring plan out.

“Oh, sure, I wish I could travel, but its just not feasible in this economy!” Celestabellebethabelle huffed to herself as she read through her copy of Whinny, Prey, Trot. However, it was only a moment later that the unicorn was struck squarely in the face with the full bag full of fairy dust as a result of Candy’s accurate aim. “W-what the hey-!?” was all she really had time to say before the magical substance did its trick, knocking her out cold. Her attending faun witnessed all of this with apt horror, but as he tried piping out an SOS on his panflute, Grenda was quick to slip out of the shadows and cover his mouth with a towel dosed with a healthy amount of chloroform.

“Sleep now!” she hissed as the faun slowly went limp and unconscious as well. “Sleeeeeep…”

“Alright,” Pearl said as the others hurried over to the fainted unicorn. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Right,” Wendy nodded, pulling out a pair of scissors and a sizable lock of Celestabellebethabelle’s multi-colored hair. And yet, before she could make the decisive cut, their plans all too quickly fell through when they were unexpectedly discovered by the very person they had been trying to keep their ambitions a secret from in the first place.

“No, wait!” Mabel gasped, standing in the entrance of the glen only to see the others about to outright steal some of the unicorn’s precious hair. “Stop! What are you guys doing?!”

“What does it look like we’re doing?” Pearl asked in a careful whisper, glancing over at the still unconscious Celestabellebethabelle. “We’re taking what we deserve, whether that uppity unicorn likes it or not!”

“Yeah, seriously, Mabel, keep it down!” Wendy cautioned, moving her scissors in to clip the hair. “You’ll wake her up!”

“But this is wrong, you guys!” Mabel exclaimed, swiftly taking the scissors away from the cashier.

“But protecting the shack and the temple is good,” Wendy rationalized, trying to take the scissors back. However, before she could, the unthinkable happened as Celestabellebethabelle suddenly began to stir from her momentary slumber only to spot Mabel and the scissors she was unintentionally gripping the very moment she opened her eyes.

“What?!” the unicorn gasped, quickly rising to her feet. “Doth mine eyes deceive me?! THIEF! You shall never be pure of heart!”

“N-no!” Mabel cried, instantly dropping the scissors as she looked to Celestabellebethabelle pleadingly. “Y-you don’t understand! I-I wasn’t… it was… P-please!” she ended up begging, tears falling from her eyes as she made one final, desperate plea to the outraged unicorn, even though she knew it likely wouldn’t help her now. “I-I just wanna be good like you!”

Celestabellebethabelle was more than prepared to fire off a harsh retort at this, however, right as she was about to, this intense confrontation was suddenly interrupted by a very unlikely pair. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” a male voice said, coming from one of the two unicorns that had just emerged from the other side of the glen, one red, one blue, and neither of them looking that amused with Celestabellebethabelle in light of what they’d just witnessed. “Yo, C-Beth, are you seriously pulling that whole ‘pure of heart’ scam again?”

“That is messed up, man,” the other unicorn added, shaking his mane disapprovingly.

“Wait… scam?” Mabel asked, exchanging a confused glance with the others.          

“Listen, kid,” the blue unicorn began rather dryly. “Unicorns can’t see into your heart. All our dumb horns can do is glow, point towards the nearest rainbow, and play rave music.” To prove his point, his horn began to somehow play a bout of upbeat techno music, which he could easily switch off at ease.

“Yeah, the whole ‘pure of heart’ racket is just a line we use to get humans to leave us alone,” the red unicorn said with a knowing scoff.

“Guuuuuys…” Celestabellebethabelle whispered nervously as her entire scheme began to fall apart. “Shut uuuuuup…”

“Wait, so… it was a lie all this time…?” Pearl spoke up before breaking out into a bout of triumphant, albeit somewhat unhinged laughter. “Ha! I knew it! I knew she was a fraud! All these years and I was right! It really was just a cruel trick to tear others down all along! Oh, if only Rose was still around to hear this, I bet she’d feel just as vindicated as I do right now!”

However, despite the white Gem’s zealous excitement, not everyone was as elated to hear the truth of the unicorn’s malicious gambit. “All this time…” Mabel began, her voice low and practically shaking with rage as she crushed her list of good deeds in her hands altogether. “All this time I thought I was a bad person, but you’re even worse than I am!” Her anger reached its mounting height as she threw her notepad down hard, her hands in tight fists as she glared at Celestabellebethabelle, refusing to let the deceptive unicorn be the judge of her any longer.

“Ok, fine,” Celestabellebethabelle huffed haughtily, knowing she’d been caught. “So you learned our secret. We’re jerks, ok? We have more hair than we know what to do with, and we keep it to ourselves just to tick humans off. So, what are you gonna do about it, huh? Huh? What are you gonna do-”

The unicorn was abruptly cut off the moment one of Mabel’s fists made brutal contact with the side of her jaw, instantly drawing some of her sparkling, rainbow-colored blood. Just about everyone gasped in shock in light of this sudden attack, and even Mabel herself was stunned by it as she looked to her own blood-covered hand, one that quickly turned back into a fist as she sent Celestabellebethabelle another hateful glare.

“Woo! Go Mabel!” Wendy cheered, already pulling her axe out of its hoister to join in on the fight.

“Join the dark side!” Grenda yelled, grabbing a nearby log to use as her weapon.

Mabel did just that as she fiercely tore the unicorn stitched onto her sweater off, making it quite clear that her former admiration and respect for the hypocritical mythical creatures was all but completely shattered right then and there. This sentiment of righteous fury carried throughout the rest of the group as well, with Wendy, Candy, and Grenda cheering for the no doubt oncoming fight as Connie swiftly drew her sword and Pearl even went as far as summoning her spear.

“You know, I usually don’t believing in physically harming any of the magical creatures of Gravity Falls,” the white Gem began as her expression slowly changed into a vengeful smirk. “But in this case, I’m more than willing to make an exception.”

“Oh, so it’s a fight you want, huh?” Celestabellebethabelle growled, digging her hoof into the soil below her as her fellow unicorns prepared themselves for the inevitable brawl. “Well, then it’s a fight you’re gonna get!”

Without any further hesitation from anyone, both sides rushed each other, meeting in a violent clash that quickly devolved into boundless chaos. Mabel was initially kicked back clean in the face by one of the unicorn’s hard-hitting hooves, though Connie was quick to swoop in for retribution, slamming the dull edge of Rose’s sword against his head in a decisive move. Grenda had landed one of the other unicorns in a headlock, repeatedly punching it in the face as Candy jumped onto his back and pulled on his hair as he let a heavy neigh of protest. Wendy was the first to get the jump on Celestabellebethabelle herself, only to be nearly trampled underfoot as she reared up high. Even so, she quickly fell back to the ground as Pearl landed a swift, elegant kick to her gut, one that was followed up by Mabel coming in for another punch to her snout. As intense and wild as this scuffle was, none of the girls could really deny that it was cathartic as could be; with each blow or beating they inflicted upon the deceitful unicorns, it felt as though there weren’t just taking out their anger in some much-needed revenge. It felt as though they were righting a grave wrong, breaking out of molds that they saw no reason to belong in any longer, and rising above unattainable standards that never truly existed in the first place. And most of all, they were proving, not just to Celestabellebethabelle, but to themselves, that the content of their characters was no one’s call but their own.

A feat that in and of itself would have been rewarding enough; though socking a sickeningly snobbish unicorn clean in the jaw only made that reward all the better.

As Ford had said, Project Mentum’s mental encryption process worked at an incredibly slow pace, something that Dipper and Steven realized more and more every time they stole a glance back at the screens behind them, which, even several hours later, still only showed its minimal progress at a mere 15%. In fact, it was taking so long that Ford had ended up falling asleep amidst pouring over his notes, leaving the boys to keeping themselves entertained during what was certainly a very lengthy, very boring endeavor.

“Ok, its my turn,” Steven grinned as he carried on the rather one-sided game of ‘I spy’ they had playing. “I spy with my little eye something… blue!”

“My vest,” Dipper answered immediately, clearly far from invested, especially when compared to the young Gem.

“Oh yeah, you got it!” Steven cheered brightly. “Then again, that one wasn’t that tough since there aren’t a lot of blue things in here.” The young Gem chuckled lightly at this, though his humor died down somewhat as he glanced over to far less enthusiastic friend beside him. “Um… Dipper? Are you ok?”

“Huh?” Dipper sat up a little at this, glancing over to Steven briefly. “Oh yeah, I’m fine, its just… we’ve been at this for hours now and it really doesn’t seem like anything’s actually happening.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how do we really even know that this thing is actually gonna keep Bill from messing with us anymore?”

“Well, Mr. Ford said-”

“I know what Ford said,” Dipper sighed in growing frustration, especially as he glanced over at his sleeping great uncle a few feet away. “But how does he know? Why does he have to be so mysterious about Bill anyway? The Gems told us what they know about him, so why won’t Great Uncle Ford? He knows we’ve dealt with Bill before, which means whatever he’s keeping from us, I can handle it! I-I mean, we can handle it.”

“Maybe… he’s just not ready to tell us about it yet?” Steven suggested, largely respecting the author’s call on this. After all, given just how brutal and horrific the Gems’ past was with Bill, it only made sense that if Ford’s previous encounters with the dream demon were anything of the sort, that he’d be hesitant to discuss them. Dipper, on the other hand, was not so easily allayed.

“Hm… or maybe…” he trailed off, his sights still set on the author as his thoughts, made audible by the machine he was still connected to, filled in for him. “Maybe you should just use the machine! It’ll show us his thoughts!”

“H-huh?” Steven glanced behind him, somewhat alarmed to see and hear Dipper’s thoughts once more, especially as Dipper himself hardly seemed to pay them any mind. “Dipper, I… don’t know if using the machine on Mr. Ford is such a good idea…”

“Yeah, you’re probably right, we really shouldn’t…” Dipper said in apparent agreement, though his thoughts clearly said otherwise. “Great Uncle Ford won’t have to know. He’s going to tell you anyway.”

“Y-yeah, I’m sure he will!” Steven interjected anxiously. “Which is why we should probably just respect his privacy and let him tell us when he’s ready! R-right?”

“Right, right,” Dipper nodded, closing his eyes pensively as his thoughts continuing unveiling the truth. “No, not right! The more you know about Bill, the safer you’ll be! The more you can help!” “But then again… it could show us something really useful. You never know.”

“W-well, I do know that I think this is a bad idea,” the young Gem shook his head, his dread growing more and more by the second in light of his friend’s rather concerning thoughts, especially as they began to take on something of a more frustrated tone.

“Easy for Steven to say, he wasn’t the one who Bill tricked and possessed and nearly killed like YOU were!” Dipper’s expression darkened at this recollection, something that made Steven’s heart and stomach both sink in worry and fear alike. And those feelings only spiked as Dipper slowly removed the helmet, his stream of consciousness finally going silent as he kept his resolved sights on Ford and nothing else. “I’m sorry, Steven,” he said, his voice almost unnervingly quiet as he rose to stand. “But I have to know.”

“B-but-”

“It’ll be just a quick peek, I promise,” Dipper assured, casting a brief final glance back at Steven before carefully and quietly putting the helmet on his still-sleeping uncle. “What are you hiding about Bill…?”

The moment that Dipper finished securing the helmet onto Ford was the moment he got his answer. And that answer was much more horrifying than anything either him or Steven could have expected. For as soon as the device began to read the author’s thoughts, none other than the menacing image of Bill Cipher himself appeared on all of Project Mentum’s many screens, floating amidst a background of his iconic, sinister blue flames and cackling like the madman he was absolutely known to be. Unified gasps of equal fear rose up from both of the boys as Steven shot out of his seat, rushing to Dipper’s side as they watched with wide eyes and racing hearts as Ford’s slumbering thoughts told a story that neither of them ever thought they’d see.

“Where are these ideas coming from?!” A much younger McGucket yelled to a younger Ford, harshly shaking his shoulders as he gave him a look of complete and utter distrust. “Who are you workin’ with?!”

“Stanford, you HAVE to tell me what’s going on!” Another screen switched to Rose, her expression rife with worry as she spoke to the author just as urgently. “Who is ‘he’? Why won’t you let me help you instead?!”

“Because I don’t NEED you as long as I have him!” Ford shouted back, quite furious with the pink Gem for whatever reason.

The other screens were just as active as they flashed with an array of alarming images. Ford restlessly tossing and turning in his sleep, lost in an apparent torrent of unseen nightmares. Him writing “I’M LOSING MY MIND!” and “TRUST NO ONE!” into journal 3 in frantic, erratic script. The portal, sparking to life as nothing but sheer darkness and devastation lay beyond its otherworldly light. And throughout all this, several different voices joined in, weaving into this disjointed, frightening narrative each in their own unique, disconcerting way.

“My brother is a dangerous know-it-all…” Stan warned, though Ford himself soon cut him off with a warning of his own.

“He would trick or possess anyone-” the author had said and Steven and Dipper hadn’t doubted him. And yet the next scene they saw was more than enough to make them both doubt everything Ford had every said to them.

“Then it’s a deal,” Ford smiled, young and clearly confident as he held his hand out in offering. “From now until the end of time.”

Bill’s eye flashed with some unknown intent as he also extended a hand, one that was aglow with blue flames as he spoke with faux amicability. “Sure thing! Just let me into your mind, Stanford!”

“Please,” the author’s smile widened, completely oblivious to the danger the dream demon posed as their hands met in a solidifying shake over their ‘deal’. “Call me… a friend.”

The very next thing the boys saw was the result of this deal, Ford himself possessed by Bill, his eyes dark slits against piercing yellow and his voice mingling with the demon’s as they both cackled wickedly together in perfect, awful unison.

While Steven was largely stunned into silence by all this, Dipper only managed to get a few words out himself, even despite his own immense panic as the demon’s telltale maniacal laughter rang in his ears just as much as it had when he had been pulled out of his own body weeks ago. “N-no…” he choked, his voice barely a whisper as he shook his head in disbelief, hoping and practically praying it wasn’t true. “No, i-it… it can’t be… Ford a-and… and Bill?!”

Another sharp gasp rose from both boys as a sudden clamor rose from behind them, and as tense as they already were, they quickly spun around only to find that Ford himself had finally woken up at the very worst possible time. “You shouldn’t have done that…” the author said, his voice low and dark as he slowly stood. By his expression alone it was clear he as tranquilly furious, even though his eyes were obscured by the screens’ bright reflection off his glasses, which only served to make him even more admittedly intimidating as he towered over both of the terrified boys. Even still, Ford hardly seemed to note their obvious fear as he roughly took the helmet off and tossed it aside in his anger. The helmet just so happened to strike one of the many sheets covering the walls as it landed, easily pulling them down to reveal something that only made the boys’ palpable horror skyrocket exponentially.

Hidden behind both layers of curtains and secrets was what could only be defined as an all-out shrine to Bill Cipher. Several statutes prisms and statues of the demon were tucked away into the shadows, almost like twisted idols paying homage and reverence to someone who both Dipper and Steven knew to be an absolute monster worthy of no such honor. But worst of all, the walls were covered in detailed murals depicting Bill’s triangular over and over again, all of his painted eyes seeming to stare down at the frightened boys below them.

“W-what is all this?!” Steven asked, his entire body trembling as he forced himself to look away from the depiction of the demon who had haunted his dreams just a few hours prior.

“W-why… why were you shaking hands with Bill?!” Dipper exclaimed, quickly turning back around to face Ford, quickly glancing around for some means of defending himself and Steven, just in case. Fortunately, the Sword of Seasons was sitting on a table close by, largely since Ford had been tinkering with the invention a bit earlier, and even though the thought of drawing that blade against his own uncle made him sick, Dipper grabbed it nonetheless, as well as the memory erasing gun lying right next to it. “Steven! Grab the rift!”

Steven sucked in a sharp breath at this but he didn’t argue, quickly grabbing the rift off the table next to them, though amidst his rush to summon a bubble to further protect them, he nearly dropped the precious tear altogether.

“Careful!” Ford scolded harshly, his glasses still reflecting gold as he reached out to grab the rift, though he couldn’t get too close thanks to the bubble now surrounding the pair as they began to carefully back away. “Hand me the rift! Now, boys!”

“N-no!” Dipper retorted, trying to sound as brave as he could amidst his mounting fear. “You said Bill could possess anyone so he could get this, but—but you made a deal with him! How do we know you aren’t Bill right now!?”

“Now, just calm down, p-”

“Pine Tree?!” Dipper instantly cut Ford off, finally aiming the memory gun at him as opposed to his sword as memories of constant sleeps plagued with endless nightmares where Bill taunted and teased him with that very nickname flashed through his mind. “Is that what you were going to call me?!”

“I was just going to say please, kid!” Ford rationalized, but even so, his tone was still harsh and cold. By now, the boys had essentially backed themselves up into a corner, leaving them trapped with only Steven’s bubble serving as their only real defense against what could very well be Bill Cipher.

“Great Uncle Ford told me to protect the rift!” Dipper shouted, glancing over to make sure that Steven was still holding it close and tight. “And I’m not about to let you get your hands on it or on Steven’s gem! Get one step closer and I’ll shoot!” He aimed the memory gun up a bit higher at this, with the full intent to fire it off even despite knowing full well what its effects could be. “I’ll erase you right out of Ford’s head!”

“It’s me, Dipper!” Ford yelled hotly, his severity hardly calming either of the boys down whatsoever. “It’s your uncle!”

For the briefest moment, Dipper hesitated at this, his hands shaking as he tried, so very hard to believe that it really was just Ford, that Bill wasn’t using him as his own twisted puppet just as he had been weeks ago. And yet, he knew he couldn’t; because doing so could very well put himself, Steven, and even reality itself at risk. And that was a risk he wasn’t about to take when it came to Bill. Not again, not ever again.

“Steven, drop the bubble,” he said starkly, his tone every bit as shaky as his arms were.

“W-what?” Steven’s longstanding fearful silence finally broke at this, his eyes wide as he clung onto the rift and looked to his friend in disbelief.

“I said, drop it,” Dipper repeated, still not tearing his hardened gaze off of Ford, especially as the author threw his hand down onto the bubble’s pink surface out of anger.

“B-but that’s-”

“I know.”

“But if you shoot him, t-then his memories will-”

“I know, Steven!” Dipper shouted back fiercely, finally looking to the young Gem and allowing him to see just how much panic, rage, and sorrow were all mingled into his expression all at once. “Just drop it already!”

At this final, harsh command, Steven found he could no longer argue as he instead pulled the rift even closer to his chest, closing his eyes tightly as he slowly let the bubble disappear, leaving nothing between them and Ford. Nothing that is, safe for the memory gun that was brightly sparking with its erasing light in Dipper’s hands.

“T-trust no one…” he muttered to himself, tears starting to well up in his eyes as he prepared to squeeze the trigger. The author’s own mantra rung true, certainly in a moment like this, when even the person who wrote it himself couldn’t be trusted. And while Dipper had failed before in upholding it, he knew that he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, not when so very many things that mattered so much to him were at stake. “Trust no one! Trust-”

“Hand it to me!” Ford demanded, and it was at that moment that Dipper knew he had no choice. On a beat of sheer terror and impulse alone, he squeezed the trigger, the bright beam firing off directly at the author as both boys were knocked back by it. Miraculously, the ray struck Ford clean on his glasses, which reflected it perfectly and sent it bounding across nearly every surface in the entire room. Steven was quick to protect himself and Dipper from it by way of his shield, though as soon as the beam struck it, it ricocheted upwards towards the many screens of Project Mentum, where it finally met its end by breaking every single one of them in the process.

And yet, this brief bout of chaos only gave way to another one. Both Steven and Dipper were quick to act on sheer panic, knowing that Bill could very well still be in control of Ford and out to get them both. Dipper quickly dropped the memory gun and took up the Sword of Seasons instead, yet before he could do anything with it, Ford suddenly grabbed him by the back of his vest, easily hoisting him up into the air. He nearly latched onto Steven’s arm as well, though the young Gem had the wits about him to pull away just in time and run, taking the rift with him. That is, until he heard Dipper’s fearful struggle against the author holding him.

“L-let go of me!” he cried, weakly swinging his sword about in moves that showed no signs of hitting Ford, as far out as he was holding him.

“Dipper!” Steven gasped, stopping dead in his tracks as he hurriedly set the rift aside and ran back towards the action. “W-wait! Stop!” The young Gem cried, completely panic stricken as both the events of a particular puppet show as well as his own haunting dreams the previous night came rushing back to him in an oppressive torrent. “I-I’ll give you my gem! Just please, don’t hurt him again!”

Both Ford and Dipper froze at this, surprised gasps escaping both of them as they looked to Steven with what seemed to be horrified shock. And yet, for as shaken as he was, Dipper used this brief distraction to his advantage, finally landing a blow on the author’s arm with the very tip of his sword. It wasn’t too large or deep of a cut, but it did cut through his coat and sweater and break the skin just enough to catch Ford off guard and force him to drop his nephew entirely. Steven quickly rushed over to him, summoning his shield and tightly grabbing Dipper’s free hand as the two of them stood together, more than ready to defend themselves against the demon who had caused them both so much pain and devastation.

Or, at least they would have been if Bill was actually present there at all.

“N-now, now, just calm down,” Ford advised, his tone much softer as he adjusted his glasses, finally allowing the boys to past the reflective glare. “Look into my eyes, both of you. It’s me, not Bill, I promise you.”

Upon seeing the lack of telltale signs of Bill’s possession, Steven and Dipper both finally let out the heavy breaths they had been holding in, yet even so, they hardly relaxed. Dipper in particular quickly picked up another round of hyperventilating, especially as he caught sight of the bleeding wound torn across Ford’s arm. A wound that he had inflicted.

“I-I… I tried to erase your memory…” he began, quickly dropping the Sword of Seasons as he pulled his hand out of Steven’s. “A-and then I hurt you! I hurt you with the same sword you made for me!”

“Dipper, it’s just a scratch, it’s fine,” Ford tried to reassure as he covered the relatively harmless injury, though his nephew was having none of that amidst his massive wave of guilt and anguish.

“No, its not fine!” he practically shouted, his tears quickly starting to return as he pressed his hands to his head in remnant terror. “I messed up so badly! I used the machine on you without even asking you about it because I couldn’t just wait for you to tell us the truth about you and Bill for yourself! And then I just had to go and make it even worse just by being dumb enough to believe you were possessed by him!”

“Dipper-” Ford attempted to interject once more, only to be drowned out by the boy’s ongoing hysteria.

“W-what was I even thinking?!” Dipper yelled, his hand now pressed tightly against his chest as his breathing grew even more short and frantic. “How could I be so stupid?! Every time I try to convince myself that I actually stand a chance against Bill, I only end up doing is ruining everything and it just keeps happing no matter how many times I try to fix it! B-but… but there just isn’t any way to fix this… There’s no way to fix me…”

Dipper had just about broken down into a remorseful, painful sob, yet before he could fall apart again, Steven quickly rushed in to help hold him together. He stilled, letting out an almost inaudible gasp as the young Gem suddenly hugged him from behind, wrapping his arms tightly yet securely around him in a steadying, comforting embrace. “You don’t need to be fixed,” Steven assured, his voice a gentle, warming whisper as tears started to well up in his own eyes. “You don’t need to fixed because you aren’t broken. You’re gonna be ok someday. We’ll be ok. I promise.”

As overwhelmed by his own many mingling emotions as he was, Dipper didn’t offer too much of a response to this reassurance outside of the small, somewhat weak sob he had been holding back. All the same, he did slowly reach up to place his hands over Steven’s, more than grateful for his support and solidarity in a moment such as this. While he wasn’t entirely certain that he’d actually ever truly be ok as Steven had said, what Dipper did want to believe that he did at the very least have a chance at someday moving past all of this lingering fear and dread. And, with someone like the young Gem standing beside him to keep him standing hopeful and strong, that was a belief that he didn’t have too many difficulties holding onto.

Ford let out a long, remorseful sigh as he watched the boys’ embrace slowly break apart, but even so, he largely averted eye contact with either of them, even as he hesitantly spoke up. “Dipper, Steven,” he began rather pensively, clear shame leaking into his tone as he continued gripping his injured arm. “I… deeply appologize for what just happened. I never intended to frighten either of you. But, I can say that if I really had been possessed by Bill, then you both would have done great, especially you, Dipper. I only wish I had been more like you when I was younger…”

Of course, given everything that had just happened, Dipper was quite surprised to hear such praise coming from the author himself. But Ford’s proud smile and comforting hand on his shoulder was indeed finally enough to put an end to his already fading panic attack once and for all as it gave him the realization that, perhaps this time, he hadn’t really made as momentous of a mistake as he at thought. “T-thank you…” he said quietly, somehow smiling in spite of it all.

Ford returned his nephew’s smile briefly, though all too soon it vanished into a look of shame as he glanced up at the countless images of Bill on the walls surrounding them. “I was a fool to hide all this…” he said, a hint of bitterness in his tone as he shook his head. “The reason why I’ve been trying to prepare you boys for Bill’s tricks is because Bill tricked me. It’s the biggest regret of my life. Bill wasn’t always my enemy, you know. In fact, I used to think he was my friend…”

1981

For six years, Ford’s ongoing research of Gravity Falls and its incredible anomalies had been going strong and steady. With the invaluable help of the Crystal Gems, he had unearthed discoveries that would certainly boggle the mind and ensure him a coveted spot in the scientific community once he one day published his findings. Yet even despite this success, the young researcher still craved to know more; he wanted to know exactly why Gravity Falls was such a hotbed for strangeness, where did all of its bizarre creatures and landmarks originate from, how did such unbelievable things even exist in their world at all?

And yet, for all his wondering and all his theorizing, these were questions that Ford never seemed to find the answers to on his own.

Even despite the Gems’ vast knowledge on the oddities of Gravity Falls, they themselves were plagued by the same questions of their origins as well. Which was why, when the collective group had dedicated themselves to uncovering those answers, they all too quickly hit a stark and heavy roadblock in their research. Weeks of intensive thought and pointless leads had gotten them nowhere closer to discovering the truth, and even despite Rose’s warm encouragement and reassurance, Ford was starting to become rather frustrated by his own lack of any concrete findings. If he couldn’t discover just why Gravity Falls was so strange in the first place, then what was really the point of any of his hard-earned research at all? Without a strong and proven theory to back it all up, certainly no one would ever believe his accounts of the paranormal, downright mythical sights the town had to offer. He might as well have packed all of his things up and headed home, a thought he had considered as his hopes running dryer and dryer by the day.

Until…

In order to clear his jumbled thoughts, Ford had, almost randomly, decided to take a break from his research to go on a calming walk through the woods. Bereft of the Gems by his side as he usually was, the author casually decided to venture down an unmarked path he had never taken before, only to happen upon a mysterious, somewhat darkened cave that had never showed up on any of his maps of the surrounding area whatsoever. Curious, Ford ventured inside, with only his lantern light to guide him, only to find something that left him reeling with amazement. The entire cave was covered in ancient markings that likely dated back thousands of years; though they it was somewhat hard to make out, the writing described a powerful being who possessed the answers to all of humanity’s wonderings. And yet, despite such miraculous claims, the cave markings were also quite grave, with dire warnings against summoning this being lest impending doom and disaster strike. All the same though, Ford was desperate; certainly, if such a being did exist and was as wise as these carvings claimed, then perhaps they might be willing to finally provide him with the truth he so intently craved.

And so, with only slight trepidation, the young researcher read the summoning inscription aloud, only for nothing to apparently happen as a result. Disappointed with what he assumed was nothing more than ancient legends and folklore, Ford left the cave, eventually deciding to take a brief rest under the shade of a tree not too far away. Of course, the young researcher hadn’t expected to doze off in the warmth of the afternoon sun, but he did all the same; and as he did, his dreams provided him with what he believed, at least at the time, was nothing short of a miracle.

Needless to say that Ford was quite amazed upon opening his eyes only to find himself floating amidst a vast, peaceful space-scape, one littered with countless stars, notes, lab equipment and even journals quite similar to his own drifting all around him. The young researcher had no idea what to make of any of this as he began exploring this intriguing space, only to be met by something, or rather someone even more bewildering.

“Hiya, smart guy!” Ford spun around with a gasp upon hearing this unexpected voice echoing through the void, but who he saw was the last thing he could have ever expected. It was a being that was, simply put, a triangle, bright yellow in coloration with only a single slitted eye to emote with and thin black limbs to over the young researcher a friendly wave of greeting. “Whoa, calm down there! Don’t have a heart attack, you’re not 92 yet!”

“W-who are you?” Ford asked, his initial alarm turning into immense curiosity at such a bizarre being.

“Name’s Bill!” he introduced himself brightly with a cordial tipping of his long tophat. “And your name’s Stanford Pines, the man who changed the world! But I’m getting ahead of myself; let’s relax! Care for a game of interdimensional chess?” With a simple snap of Bill’s fingers, a translucent chess board appeared out of midair, along with a comfortable chair on each side of it. “Have a cup of tea!” he exclaimed warmly, materializing a teapot and cup to pour into, one that floated directly over to Ford, who was more than fascinated by this point.

And thus, their friendly game of interdimensional chess was underway, and through it, the young researcher was able to learn a good bit more about his new acquaintance. According to Bill, he was a muse, one who chose to inspire one brilliant mind every century with his boundless knowledge and wisdom. And with apparent excitement in his tone and a playful wink of his singular eye, he cheerfully informed Ford that, impressed by his zeal in researching Gravity Falls, he had selected him to be the one to receive his otherworldly insight next. Of course, the young researcher was elated by such an incredible offer, and, without really thinking at all, he gladly accepted it on the spot.

From that point on, Ford wholeheartedly considered Bill to be his research partner just as much as he did with Rose and the other Gems. And yet, for as excited as the young researcher was by this new alliance, Bill gently cautioned him against informing the Crystal Gems of it, mostly to keep from arousing any distrust or suspicion on their end. While Ford was somewhat confused by this warning, he decided to uphold it nonetheless, for certainly the Gems, as stuck in their rather alien ways as they often were, wouldn’t understand the contract between himself and a higher being such as Bill.

Even so, right from the start, Ford saw the immediate benefits of his newfound deal with Bill. Not too far into their regular meetings within the dreamscape, the triangular being unveiled the very thing the researcher had been looking for: a way to finally answer his longstanding questions concerning Gravity Falls’ weirdness. According to Bill, all of the town’s strangeness leaked into it from another dimension entirely, and the key to discovering that dimension would be by way of a grand gateway, a portal to another world entirely. To this end, he even provided Ford with complete schematics to such a seemingly impossible machine, one that he gladly allowed the researcher to add his own ideas and equations onto to improve it even more. After all, it was as Bill told him: this was how genius happened, and all as a result of a little help amongst friends.

And, for the longest time, that was what Ford fully and fool-heartedly believed.

So construction of the portal began, with the Crystal Gems and Fiddleford to aid Ford on the corporeal end of things while Bill continued to provide his unseen yet very impactful assistance through his dreams. As weeks turned into months, Ford’s determination on the project grew even more determined and intent, especially as Bill regularly reminded him that the portal would certainly give him all the answers he had ever hoped for and then some. To further lend his aid, Bill even volunteered to keep work on the portal going, even when Ford himself was too physically exhausted to persist. By simply allowing his muse to come and go through his mind, possessing him as he pleased, the young researcher saw his productivity practically spike tenfold, pushing progress on the portal along even faster. What Ford didn’t notice amidst his enthrallment with the invaluable help his muse was providing him with, however, were the worried looks Fiddleford often sent his way, the confused whispers between the Gems as they wondered exactly what was going on, the general, unvoiced dread between his other partners in general as they questioned whether or not they were the only ones working with the author on his mysterious portal after all.

And all too soon, they all were quick to discover such worries were not unfounded, in perhaps the worst way possible.

The moment that Ford and the Gems hurriedly pulled Fiddleford out of the finished portal after he was accidentally sucked into it was the moment the author began to suspect something was wrong. However, his alarm only grew when the mechanic and the Gems all angrily quit the project in a huff, leaving him alone with his anxious pleas to Bill, pleas that were only answered by quiet, sinister laughter and a single, ominous message: “The door is open…”

Desperate to know exactly what went wrong, Ford ventured back into the familiar dreamscape him and Bill often met in, determined to get to the bottom of exactly what path his supposed muse had led him on. “Bill!” Ford shouted hotly, rushing towards the triangular being as he lingered before a tear in the space-scape, one filled with vague silhouettes of countless untold nightmarish creatures. “You lied to me! Where does that portal really lead?!”

“Hoho, looks like Mr. Brainiac finally got smart!” Bill laughed deviously as he turned around to face the author, no longer masking his malicious intent. “Let’s just say that when that portal finishes charging up, your dimension is really gonna learn how to PARTY! Right guys?” he asked his apparent ‘friends’ inside of the otherworldly tear, who all simply roared and cackled in a chorus of wicked triumph.

At first, all Ford could do was let out a gasp of shock as he realized just how much of a monster Bill truly was. But blinded by flattery and charming games as he had been, the author had never once considered that the demon planned on tricking him, had been using him as nothing more than a foolish pawn to meet his own destructive ends all along. “N-no!” Ford exclaimed, resolved to fix this incredible mess he had mad. “I… I’ll stop you! I’ll tell the Crystal Gems everything and together, we’ll shut that portal down once and for all!”

“Ha, as if!” Bill rolled his eyes, clearly not taking the author seriously. “You really think Quartzy and those Crystal Chumps are ever gonna trust you again after all this, then you’re gonna be sorely disappointed! All the same, a deal’s a deal, Sixer! You can’t stop the bridge between our worlds from coming, but it would be fun to watch you try! Cute, even!”

At that very moment, Ford awakened with a stark gasp, his eyes wide and his heart racing as he reeled with everything he had just heard. Bill had betrayed him, that much was clear and there was no undoing the massive mistake he had made by even trusting the insane demon in the first place. Which meant that the only thing he could do now was try to minimize the damage before things could get any worse. Acting quickly, the author shut down the portal in the hopes that it would never be active again, lest Bill gain access to the Earth as he so eagerly wanted. From there, Ford quickly filled what he could of his third and final journal with frantic and paranoid warnings concerning the demon and his tricks, even though he planned to hide his research so no one could ever finish the demon’s treacherous work.

And yet, despite these valiant efforts, Bill had been right in the fact that his deal with Ford still very much stood. No matter how much the author tried to protect himself against the demon, Bill still had complete access to his mind, just as they had agreed years ago. Just about any time Ford happened to slip into the depths of slumber, even amidst his growing panic and insomnia, Bill was more than happy to take over, littering the journal with his own inane coded ramblings and even going as far as to injure his pawn just for fun. In fact, it was in the midst of one of these wild spells of possession that Rose herself happened to discover just how much Ford had really been hiding from her all along.

“Stanford?” the pink Gem called as she entered into the author’s secluded study one chilly autumn day months after their own partnership had ended. “Are you in here? I-it’s been a while since any of us have heard from you and I’m starting to worry if-”

Rose cut herself off with a sharp gasp as she finally spotted Ford, digging a knife into his upper arm as he slowly looked back at her with a huge, uncharacteristic grin of sheer, sadistic glee. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about Sixer here, Quartzy!” he quipped in a voice that the pink Gem immediately recognized. A voice she had never wanted to hear ever again. “In fact…” His smirk widened as he pulled out the blood-soiled knife. “I’d say he’s doin’ A-ok!”

“I-it… it’s you…” Rose shook her head in disbelief, her voice but a stunned, genuinely fearful whisper.

“Yep, it sure is me!” Bill exclaimed brightly as he began to walk over to the terrified pink Gem. “Right here in the flesh. Or, I guess in Fordsy’s flesh, but since he did decide to let me in whenever I want, I guess you could say it is mine after all!”

“B-but… but how did you… when did you-”

“Oh, it looks like Sixer really did chicken out about telling you after all, huh?” Bill asked with a knowing glint in his slitted yellow eyes. “Turns out I’ve been the one pulling his strings all along! Dumb old ‘Brainiac’ here let me give him the plans to a certain gateway that I remember someone else promising to build for me way back when. A gateway that’s gonna give me a one-way ticket to your perfect little planet, Quartzy.”

“M-my… t-the portal?!” Rose gasped, overwhelmed with shame and terror at the thought. “N-no… no, you… you tricked him! You tricked all of us, just like you did before! If I had known that you were behind all of this, I would have never allowed Ford to-”

“See, that’s just it, Quartzy!” the demon interupted smugly. “You didn’t know. No one did, and all because it was so easy to get him to do whatever I wanted. Now that I mention it, that sorta sounds like you, doesn’t it? In that case, you really do belong down here with these dumb old humans seeing as how you’re just as empty-headed as any of them are!”

Rose practically had to fight back the urge to draw her sword upon hearing such callous remarks, reminding herself exactly who the demon was possessing at the moment. “G-get out of him,” she ordered as sternly as she could. “Right now.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m leaving,” Bill shrugged casually. “But only ‘cause Fordsy’s about to wake up. In the meantime, have fun dealing with the fact that you’ve basically doomed your precious planet over several times over. See you and that rock you still owe me next time, Quartzy!”

And with that the author’s eyes fell shut, his entire body growing limp as he slipped into unconsciousness. Rose barely managed to catch him before he hit the ground, healing tears already spilling down her cheeks to work on the several injuries Bill had left behind as Ford slowly, painfully awakened.

“Hm… R-Rose?” the author groaned as he opened his eyes to find the pink Gem anxiously hovering over him.

“F-Ford…” the pink Gem whispered, holding back a sob. “Why didn’t you ever tell me a-about… about him…?”

Ford quickly looked away from Rose at this, knowing exactly who she was talking about and not even having to ask how she found out about him. “B-because…” he began, deciding to finally be honest with her. “I was too ashamed to tell you about the terrible mistake I made…”

“No,” Rose corrected, offering a hand to help him up. A hand that seemed to offer so much more than that and then some. “It’s a mistake we made…”

And it was a hand that Ford only barely took. For even though he immediately came clean to Rose about his deal with Bill as well as the demon’s inevitable betrayal right then and there, he still hesitated to trust her any further with helping him in the matter. After all, he had trusted Bill and had seen where that had gotten him. How could he trust Rose, or anyone else for that matter after such a cruel and immense deception?

But in time, he did decide to trust her again, though only for the sake of helping him hide his final journal away. Later he would wish he had only trusted her more, for perhaps if he had, it could have saved him from all of the tragedy and woe that had began following him like a shadow. And yet, he didn’t, deciding to walk alone in his fear and anger and carrying one, single sole resolve all the while.

To stop Bill Cipher’s twisted ambitions. No matter what the cost.

Present Day

“Bill’s been waiting for the gateway to reopen ever since,” Ford finished his lengthy tale, his tone still quite grave as Steven and Dipper tried to take it all in. “All he needs to do is get his hands on the rift. To Bill, its just a game, but to us, it could mean the end of our world…”

“Oh man…” Dipper sighed, shaking his head with immense worry. For so long now he had been preoccupied with the threat that Bill potentially posed to himself and his friends that he had never really even considered just how destructive and devastating the demon’s ends really were. But now, it was clear; if Bill had his way, then certainly nothing would survive, a fact that only served to make both him and Steven alike fear him even more than they already did, if such a feat was even possible.

“Oh man, indeed…” Ford nodded with serious agreement, briefly glaring up at one of the many images of Bill on the surrounding walls. “I know that I might never truly be able to compensate for the foolish error I made in trusting Bill, but I’d still like to think that preventing him from getting that rift is a start. Unfortunately though, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make up for the brief time I actually decided to trust him over Rose…”

“Why not?” Steven asked with a worried frown.

“Well, simply because I never got around to making amends with her,” Ford sighed rather sadly. “I was so consumed by paranoia and dread at the time that the thought never really crossed my mind to just… appologize to her for all that went wrong between us. I chose Bill over Rose and I completely ruined our partnership and our friendship as a result. I’d easily count that as my second biggest regret because now… well, I doubt I’ll ever get the chance again.”

The three of them were quiet for a long time after this, all of them feel rather small under the scrutiny of the eyes of the effigies of dream demon on every wall around them. In time, it was broken, again by Steven, whose voice was small, but sincere as he addressed Ford once more. “I think she would have forgiven you…”

The author couldn’t help but finally smile in spite of this, knowing that, even if that forgiveness hadn’t come from the pink Gem herself, it still felt genuine and comforting all the same. “Thank you, Steven,” he said, choosing to believe that if Rose herself was still around, then perhaps she would have said the exact same thing.

An air of solemnity hung between Ford, Dipper, and Steven as they went upstairs, largely since Project Mentum was no longer a viable option to safeguard them against Bill. Their thoughts and worries were still largely on the dream demon, even as they unanimously decided to take a much needed soda break around the kitchen table in what was initially fretful silence until Dipper ended up breaking it.

“Ugh, I’m still so embarrassed about earlier…” he said, clearly bothered by his burst of blind panic in the study. “I’m such an idiot.”

“No, you’re not!” Steven chimed in earnestly. “You were just scared, we both were! At least this time, if we really had been up against Bill, we would have been able to fight him together. Just like we will next time, right?”

“Right,” Dipper said with a small laugh, truly comforted by the young Gem’s continued reassurance.

“Dipper, I can assure you, you have nothing to be ashamed of,” Ford added just as sincerely. “From now on, no more secrets between us. We’re not the first ‘idiots’ to be tricked by Bill, boy. But if we all work together, then we could be the last. And the same thing goes for you too, Steven. For now, I suggest following what the Gems said to protect your gem from Bill at all costs. I’m still not sure how him getting his hands on it would factor into his plans, but we can only assume that if he did get it, the outcome would not be good.”

Steven simply nodded at this, still resolved to do what he could to keep his gem out of the demon’s possession. Even if he did still secretly wonder if his own mother really was the one to promise it away to him or not…

“But… what about Bill?” Dipper spoke up anxiously. “I broke the machine! Now we have no way to protect the shack or the temple!”

“Did somebody say unicorn hair?!” Mabel shouted as she suddenly burst into the room, slamming down a fistful of shimmering, rainbow-colored hair onto the table. Pearl, Connie, Wendy, Grenda, and Candy all filed in behind her, all of them looking much worse for wear with torn clothes, bruises, scratches and various multicolored unicorn fluids covering them from head to toe. Even so, they all wore bright, satisfied smiles, their mission accomplished and their vengeance against Celestabellebethabelle and her deceitful tricks achieved.

“Um… no actually,” Dipper frowned, pushing Mabel’s hand away as she playfully waved the hair in his face.

“Oh. That would have been perfect,” she shrugged before quickly perking up again. “Either way, we got some unicorn hair!”

“Also some unicorn tears, unicorn eyelashes…” Candy listed before Grenda continued, holding up a large, ornate chest.

“They finally gave us this treasure just to get rid of us!” she proclaimed, dumping the contents of the chest onto the table to reveal a massive horde of gold and jewels.

“Not to mention we got to put a very irritating, very unethical unicorn in her place,” Pearl said, crossing her arms with a smug smirk. “So all in all, I’d say it was a very successful day.”

“Also, a pretty weird one, what with that butterfly sting operation and our all-out brawl with the unicorns,” Connie added, rubbing some unicorn blood off her arm.

“Whoa, that’s so cool!” Steven exclaimed, stars in his eyes as he looked to the girls. “I knew you guys could do it!”

“It… can’t be!” Ford exclaimed, just as amazed as he looked to the plentiful clump of unicorn hair Mabel had gathered. “This is a great day, girls! With this unicorn hair, we should be able to completely shield both the shack and the temple from Bill’s mind reading tricks!”

“Is it ok?” Mabel asked, her tone hopeful as she handed the hair over to her uncle.

“Its better than ok, its perfect!” the author laughed warmly as he placed a proud hand on his niece’s shoulder. “You’ve protected your family and your friends. You’re a good person, Mabel.”

“Aw, thanks, Grunkle Ford,” Mabel smiled, glad to hear it. After all, she’d much rather have the approval and support from those she cared about then some uptight, uncaring unicorn any day. “But today, I’ve learned that morality is relative!”

Before anyone had the chance to question her on this somewhat bizarre life lesson, Stan suddenly rushed into the room, hurrying past the treasure-laden table and grabbing a plentiful armful of it in his wake. “MONEY!” he shouted wildly as Amethyst ran in after him, grabbing yet another load of treasure with a rowdy laugh and another bout of her somewhat botched Spanglish.

“Viva larga CHASH MONEY!”

Not wanting to waste any more time to risk subjecting themselves to Bill’s tricks any further, Ford and Dipper got to work, Steven and Pearl both volunteering to join them in erecting shields around both the temple and the shack. It was a lengthy, somewhat dull process in gluing the long strands of unicorn hair around the foundations of both structures, with the temple in particular proving to be something of a challenge given its large perimeter and odd structure. Even so, as soon as they were done, a magical shield, covered in mysterious protective runes and symbols, bloomed around both buildings before fading back into invisibility, ensuring that them and everyone within them, would be in no danger from the dream demon’s tricks.

“Perfect!” Ford grinned as they finished up on shielding the shack. “This should protect us from Bill. As long as we’re inside either the temple or the shack, our minds—and gems should be safe.”

“What a relief!” Pearl sighed as she placed a hand on Steven’s shoulder. “If only we had something like this 24 years ago. It would have saved us a lot of trouble, to say the least.”

“Well, who knows?” Steven interjected with an encouraging smile. “Maybe now that we have these barriers put up, there won’t be anymore trouble!”

“Yeah,” Dipper agreed, unable to hold back his own allayed grin. True, Ford had said that the protection spell was only a safeguard and not actually a way to vanquish Bill once and for all. But if it truly could give them a much-needed reprieve from the demon’s mental games and relentless tormenting, then for now, it would be enough. “No more trouble. I’d say that sounds like a pretty good deal.”

Unbeknownst to the group standing outside of the shack, they were all being watched by a familiar, singular eye, one that was carefully observing their every move from his home deep within the unimaginable depths of the horrific Nightmare Realm itself. Bill couldn’t help but let out a mocking laugh as the motley crew celebrated their success, success that he knew was only going to be very short lived if he had anything to do about it.

“That’s what you think, Pine Tree,” the demon remarked, hands held behind his back as he finally looked away from his peek at the shack. “Still, I guess if I can’t possess anyone inside the shack or the temple, then I’ll just have to find my next pawn… on the OUTSIDE…”

At this, the demon’s eye rolled back, a variable roulette of people and Gems alike, either in or around Gravity Falls: McGucket, Lars, Candy, Pacifica, Jenny, Tyler Cutebiker, Mr. Smiley, Lazy Susan, Manly Dan, Sadie, Soos, Onion, Peedee, Greg, Robbie, Lolph, Dundgren, Barb, Jamie, Durland, Blubbs, Kiki, Sour Cream, Preston, Priscilla, Toby Determined, Mr. Fryman, Malachite, Nanefua, Lee, Nate, Ronaldo, Blendin, Connie, Shandra Jimenez, Kofi, Kevin, Grenda, Vidalia, Mayor Dewey, Gorney, Tambry, Yellowtail, Buck, Bud, and Wendy. As far as Bill was concerned, any of them would make excellent puppets to use in furthering his sadistic schemes along.

And fortunately for him, he already had the perfect pawn in mind…

 Next: 

#jen writes #universe falls #gravity falls #steven universe #crossover #au #the last mabelcorn #dipper #steven #mabel #connie #ford #pearl #wendy #candy #grenda #bill cipher #rose quartz #amethyst #stan #fanfiction #keyword be mentum

[redrosella]

Avarice - Chapter 5

Summary: Roman hasn’t been feeling well lately. He’s been waking up at random times in the middle of the night, is perpetually exhausted, and he can’t seem to get rid of this damn headache.

…If only that was all it was.

Series Warnings: Mind Control, Brainwashing, Dark Sides, Corruption

Word Count: 1742

Tagged: @sanderstalker​ @rosie-the-bi 

Chapter 1  Chapter 2   Chapter 3   Chapter 4

It didn’t pass over in a week. It had been a month since Roman had barricaded himself in his room, and he wasn’t planning on coming out soon. It was almost like he was Thomas back in middle school.

It’s not like he had much of a reason to leave, anyway. The other sides didn’t want to talk to him, and that was fine. They just didn’t understand his creative genius. They didn’t understand that he knew what was best for Thomas, and this was how he had to achieve it. He realized that now.

It was simple, really. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t seen it before.

The other sides were holding Thomas back. They all had their own agenda, and none of them would look at the bigger picture. Roman on the other hand didn’t have an agenda. He just wanted Thomas to be happy. He wanted him to flourish, and get everything he deserved. The others only got in the way of that.

He should never have entertained them before. That just gave them power. Power that only he should have, because only he knew what was best. Only he deserved to hold the reigns.

Roman frowned as he looked at himself in the mirror. He hadn’t been looking like his usual glittery self recently, and it was starting to bother him a bit. It must have been from the added pressure he had valiantly put upon himself in his quest to save Thomas, but that still didn’t make it any more unsightly. Even if he wasn’t talking the the others anymore, he still thought he should look good for himself. Besides, he did need to talk to Thomas soon, and showing up looking like a train wreck would do no good for his image.

He pulled his makeup kit from off the floor, ignoring the layer of green mist covering it. The mist was a new addition to his room, showing up just before his new revelation and covering his floor, but he didn’t think much of it. It was no big deal. Probably just some residual stuff hanging around. He had bigger things to worry about.

He began by covering the dark bags under his eyes, not wanting to accidentally resemble Virgil in his sleeplessness. His sleeping schedule had gotten all kinds of messed up recently, and it was showing. There was simply no time to sleep when he could be drafting ideas, coming up with new and exciting innovations, and figuring out the best way to propel Thomas to the top.

Plus, he really didn’t want to have that one dream again. Just the thought of seeing Thomas that decrepit and lost again sent a shiver down his spine.

Once that mess was covered up, he moved on to his eyes. In his room, with the glow of the green mist coating the floor, he could almost swear that they looked green rather than their usual brown. It was off putting to him in a way he couldn’t explain, but he quickly forgot about it, moving on from his eyes and to his outfit.

The princely attire was not looking so good. He hadn’t done laundry in forever, not wanting to risk running into anyone. He might be able to fix it with a wave of his hand, but his summoning abilities recently had been… lacking.

Again, he attributed it to his activities wearing him thin.

He didn’t entertain the thought that maybe he should cut back and focus on himself for a little bit. That’s what lazy people did. You take one break and then you’ve fallen behind and soon you begin making all kinds of excuses for why you can’t do something. Roman wasn’t going to fall into that trap.

In the end, Roman decided to not bother with his outfit. So what if it was a little wrinkled? No one would even notice.

He pushed himself away from his vanity, sighing. His bed was looking very alluring right now, but the niggling in his mind was telling him that he still needed to do more. Perhaps talk to Thomas. He hadn’t done that since the Morning video, instead taking the more subtle approach. It wasn’t his usual style, but everything told him that it was better to stay on the down low for a little while before.

So far it was working brilliantly. Thomas had gotten quite a few videos out recently, and they all seemed to be getting quite a bit more clicks than usual. Still not as much as he could be, but they were getting there.

Maybe now would be a good time to speed things up, though.

He had so many ideas he wanted to run by Thomas. So many new ideas and tactics to elevate his videos to the next level. It was astounding to him that he’d never thought of them before. It was like a mental barrier had suddenly been lifted, and now he knew exactly what to do to better Thomas!

He had never felt more liberated! And tired... But mostly liberated!

Roman took a deep breath, focusing in on Thomas to figure out what he was doing currently. It seemed he was just sitting in bed scrolling through tumblr, not doing anything productive. Perfect! That gave Roman ample time to talk with him.

He sunk out of his room, appearing in Thomas’ own. It was a bit tougher when he wasn’t being actively summoned there by Thomas’ accord, but it was worth it.

“Thomas!”

“Oh, Roman!” Thomas startled, putting down his phone. “I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve been meaning to summon you but have never had the time.”

“But you were just browsing tumblr?”

“Yes, very important work. Anyway, what was the reason you came up? Was it to also talk about the videos recently?” Thomas stood up from his bed, moving closer to Roman so that he wasn’t awkwardly sitting in bed while his fanciful side was towering over him and monologuing.

“Exactly!” Roman exclaimed. “I’m glad we’re on the same wavelength here, Thomas! I think that what we have been doing recently has been working well, however there is a lot more that we could be doing and I wanted to talk to you about these ideas and begin implementing them.”

Thomas frowned, scrunching his face up. “Roman… I’ve been feeling the exact opposite. I don’t think my videos have been all that great recently... I’ve been feeling really burnout lately, and I think all of our fans are noticing it as well. I’ve been pulling a lot of long nights trying to get them right, but all the videos seem a bit… gimmicky, in a way? People have been saying that they don’t have that usual soul put into them.”

“And you’re just going to believe all them? Who cares what they think.” Roman waved a hand dismissively.

“Roman, they’re our fans! Shouldn’t we be listening to them and giving them what they want?”

“We are! What do you think I’ve been doing? All these videos are what the fans want! They want a consistent upload schedule. They want a person who can be onboard with the most recent trends. Sure, your other videos are fine, but to really get your numbers up you need to be more in line with what others want.”

Thomas bit his lip. “Roman, that doesn’t sound like you. Is everything okay?” He made a motion like he was about to reach out to the creative side before stopping halfway through, lamely putting his hand back down.

“Of course everything is okay, Thomas. I’ve just come to a realization recently. You need to apply your creativity in different ways, or else your channel is going to fail. It’s just common sense. Youtubers who refuse to adapt and change with the times will inevitably become less popular. We don’t want that, Thomas. We want to become better, reach more people, be famous!”

“...Is that what I want, or what you want?”

“It’s what we want, Thomas. I am you. We’re in this together, and I know what is best for us.”

“And what’s best for us is doing what everyone else is already doing? What happened to wanting to be original?”

“Original doesn’t pay the bills, Thomas. Vincent Van Gogh was original, and everyone hated him until he died broke and alone missing an ear!”

“Pay the bills- what? Roman, what are you talking about? We’re fine. I’m not about to be evicted out onto the streets.”

“But for how long? How long will you stay relevant if you refuse to change? Just listen to me, Thomas. I know what I’m doing. I’m your creativity. You should be listening to me. So what if no one else agrees? This is what’s best for us.”

Thomas shifted back slightly. “Roman… Maybe I should call the others in here-” He made a move to summon them.

“Don’t call them,” Roman snarled, stopping Thomas in his tracks. “They’re using you, Thomas. I’m the one helping you here. All they want is for you to do things that will inevitably kill your channel. Logic doesn’t want you to spend more time on your videos. Morality wants you to waste your time doing whatever you want without any regards to your passions. Anxiety doesn’t even want you to make videos at all! And they all want you to spend more time with your friends.” He spat out the last word.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Thomas took a few steps back.

“Remember what I said, Thomas? Only spend time with specific friends who can help you achieve your dreams. Everyone else is just holding you back.”

“Roman, that’s not-”

“I can see you’re not going to listen to reason, Thomas, so I’m going to do this. I didn’t want to, but if I must, I must. I won’t be giving you any more ideas if you won’t listen to me. I’m not going to give you the tools you needs to make yourself a failure.”

“Roman-”

“Call me when you’re ready to actually go somewhere with your life, Thomas.”

Roman sunk out.

That did not go according to plan, but it was fine. He would just have to make Thomas understand using some tough love. After a few days of being creatively dead he’d come crawling back to Roman, begging to implement his ideas.

Then it’d be his time to shine.

#Sanders Sides #Thomas Sanders #Sanders Sides Fanfiction #Roman Sanders #redrosellawriting #Avarice

[comicteaparty]

April 25th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on April 25th, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Castoff by Star Prichard.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Castoff by Star Prichard~! (https://castoff-comic.com/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

im probably going to go with frankie's introduction. this scene fulfilled several things for me. first, it explored more of the world in a super natural way that makes complete sense to the story and gives you a better picture. second, i super love frankie. he is a great character deserving of hugs. third, i enjoy how frankie joining the party works out. it felt like so logical how everything played out despite the difficulty in getting another person to join the party naturally.

just overall though i love frankie's addition. i think his personality is a great balance to vector and arianna's personalities since both are not the friendliest of sorts since one is super shy and the other super grumpy. and i feel like frankie perfectly fits the triforce

keii4ii

That triforce analogy is great and I agree

RebelVampire

another scene i really enjoy is the one where arianna captures vector. i love the lighting on the pages because it is so ungodly ominous and really sets the mood. plus, its the first major time we get to see magic and it looks amazing (edited)

but on the frankie train, i also enjoy how he offers vector something that arianna cannot. which is knowing what its like to be feared and kind of one-of-a-kind. cause i think this makes for a beautiful friendship between the two that offers vector more emotional support in a way than arianna can't. not to mention, one of my other fave scenes is the one where vector stands up for frankie against arianna and says nah my dude, hes coming with us. that was such a significant character growth for vector that hit me right in the feels. and i think it works cause of how vector clearly empathizes with frankie, so it all ties together

mathtans

Little one seems calm in her crib now. Hiyo, and awesome to have another creator who's a teacher. ^^

RebelVampire

hi math

mathtans

I made it through 5 of the chapters. My favourites in general through that is probably the "Wait, What" moments, just because I tend to use them myself... there was the one with Zera, about Arianna's full name, and then with Arianna, who did it about Frankie coming along with them. (Also, a hint that they're related? Hmmmm.)

Zera and Arianna that is, not Arianna and Frankie.

Good point about the Frankie and Vector similarities, incidentally. I wonder if the "Frankie" name is a riff on "Frankenstein"?

There's also the fact that "Vectors" can refer to small organisms like mosquitoes that carry diseases. I feel like there's stuff going on with names.

RebelVampire

nope arianna and frankie are related now. new head canon

arianna was also a robot this whole time

mathtans

It would explain how she died.

RebelVampire

you know what, i didnt draw the connection between frankie and frankenstein

thats a good catch math

and very fitting for the character

mathtans

Though I admit my own feelings about that are Arianna's got amnesia or something, which is why she can't be tracked.

Just kinda occurred after the dramatic reveal.

Also, since I teach math, I was already suspicious of the name "vector".

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. The comic’s central character, Vector, has many mysteries surrounding him. What exactly do you think Vector is? Why is Vector seemingly able to do powerful magic beyond any mage? Why does Vector make everyone become almost possessed and panicked, and why are Arianna and Frankie exceptions? Why do you think Vector is wanted for treason? Is Arianna right that it’s a trumped up charge to get rid of him? If so, why would Alveria want him silenced? How do you think Vector wound up with Ms. Robins? Last but not least, what might all this have to do with the prologue’s opening scene?

mathtans

I got this. Vector's the guy who was tied up in the prologue, they were trying to use him to do crazy magics... and he wasn't the first, since it's implied there's others. But with him it went wrong and the magic ended up inside him. Arianna was that girl peeking at the door when it happened, so she's okay with the crazy eye thing, and it's why they thought she died. They want Vector back to undo the magic stuff, hence "treason" in order to get everyone interested.

Also, for Vector... coo coo kachew, Ms. Robins' son, Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

RebelVampire

math no XD

i also agree at least that vector is the guy from the prologue

and he got all the magic trapped inside him

and is now super magic baby

he is the living essence of magic

and the voice hes been hearing is the soul of magic

RumSoakedChicken

^^^

mathtans

Maybe it was a big plan to try to bring magic to the other parts of the world that went very bad.

RumSoakedChicken

but perhaps the yellow eyed one recieved a part of the magic

since i bleieve there was a lot of light paths coming off

and he was the first one we meet

mathtans

Speaking of which, massive props to starting things out with the failed radio-like device at the start. To put us into the frame of mind of magic. Sets the scene real well and acts as a misdirect later when you realize it's not worldwide.

There was actually a bunch of sneaky stuff then, like the mention of "Feron" ages and ages before it came up again. (Honestly, if the creator hadn't pointed that out, I'd have missed it.)

RebelVampire

i really need to go back and examine the prologue closely.

mathtans

I meant this part: https://castoff-comic.com/comic/chapter-1-page-8/

RebelVampire

ah. that is smart. good catch in details!

actually i take my theory back. reexamining the prologue, i dont think vector was the guy tied to the chair. but i do think hes basically an aspect of pure magic. and i agree that given all the light balls coming off the event, there are probably more of vector's kind out there(edited)

but since vector is an aspect of magic, thats why he has the effect he does. like maybe yellow magic is the magic of fear

vector was a yellow lantern all along

mathtans

Oh, that's an interesting idea. I like that. Since magic is colour based in this world.

(Zera is Green Lantern?)

RebelVampire

yeah see this is just an origin of the lantern corps story.

but i think vector being an essence of magic ties in all the dots. but rather than the voice being the soul of magic, maybe its the guy who probably got killed during that event.

mathtans

So how is Arianna red if zombies are supposed to be black lanterns...

RebelVampire

though if there are more vector's, youd think theres be more wanted posters. unless vector is the only one they never found

cause shes not a zombie probably

mathtans

There was no picture of Vector since he was just a wee one at the time. And I think it was said he was the only one with no image. The others they had pictures for. So if they weren't found, they're probably in hiding.

Probably amnesia. Zombie is a fun thought though.

RebelVampire

i mean its not impossible for her to be a zombie.

mathtans

An amnesiac zombie?

RebelVampire

another point for why i love vector and frankie's relationship though, if we go through this vector is magic theory, it means he and frankie are polar opposites. making their friendship more beautiful

best of both worlds i see

i can respect that

mathtans

That's pretty cool, actually. Do you ship them?

RebelVampire

i dont think i ship vector with anyone yet cause vector has to do some character growth first.

mathtans

Fair. (I think all I can ship is Arianna and Sonja. And the latter seems to have a thing for Zera.)

I do like Arianna's nickname habit.

kayotics

Popping in late to say Arianna is my fav because I’m a sucker for angry girls

mathtans

Hi kay. Cool. She seems to have had a harsh childhood.

RebelVampire

i wonder what her nickname for zera would be

maybe raccoon

cause of the dark circles

mathtans

She seemed to know him, from Zera's mental flashback. She was saying things were his fault. So maybe "jerkface".

RebelVampire

that is also plausible

actually tbf, double plausible

cause i doubt shes gonna be happy to know hes the reason shes wanted

whereas if he had just left it alone everything would be fine

and only vector would be the wanted man

mathtans

Yeah, puts a wrench into her plans. Whatever those are.

Maybe she's trying to find out her true identity. What with the amnesia.

(I should fix this broken record.)

RebelVampire

the plot twist is zera was what she wanted to steal back all along

QUESTION 3. Besides Vector, Arianna herself has some mysteries surrounding her. Who exactly is Arianna? Is she the real Arianna Marcel, or did she steal the name? If the latter, why would she steal it? Who is the real Arianna Marcel to Zera? What do you think will happen when Zera catches up with Arianna in his quest for truth? How do you think Arianna wound up on the streets as she mentions regarding her past? What do you think Arianna is after in the capital, and why was it taken from her? Ultimately, how do you think Arianna’s quest to retrieve her stolen property will interfere with her taking care of Vector and getting him home?

arianna is probably that person whose name got covered up by the speech bubble on that one page. and i think arianna took the name out of sorrow for missing who im just gonna assume is her sister. cause she desperately wished she was the one who was dead

mathtans

All you other Arianna's are just imitating so won't the real Arianna please stand up, please stand up...

I'm not sure which name coverup you mean, but I think it is clever how the art does faded bubbles for when someone's half unconscious or when someone's talking over someone else.

I do feel like Arianna's the real one though. And that she was the one spying in the prologue, as I said.

RebelVampire

i will try to find the page im talking about

the alternate is that she is the real arianna and the one who dies was her sister. i dont discount that

given the same last name i assume siblings tho?

in regards to the relationship between zera and her

mathtans

Tempting. Could be cousins.

RebelVampire

https://castoff-comic.com/comic/chapter-5-page-11/

that page bottom right

so there is clearly someone else with the marcel named that exists or once existed

mathtans

Ahhhh! So that's the mystery sister.

(Incidentally, been reading Chapter 6 in the background here. Elves are colour-coded too... makes me wonder if it's personality based or what.)

RebelVampire

i think when zera catches up to arianna hes gonna have a my life is a lie conflict and realize that whether shes the real one or not, he was never told everything about the death. cause the death of the real or fake arianna i think has a lot to do with why she was on the streets

i did get the impression the auras were based on personality

like arianna is super angry therefore gets the red magic

i feel somewhere it was mentioned real arianna's aura was pink?

which is why i do think this arianna is the sister of the real arianna. that apparently zera didnt care about at all. for shame zera. especially cause if i knew there was another marcel id be searching for that one to make sure there were no shenanigans

mathtans

Yeah, Zera said pink. Which is close, which is why I think she was just mentally tweaked a bit. Also, Arianna's eyes do the red glow thing, and I don't think that's necessarily true of others doing casting?

Starfish

Okay I’m back from class Will have to leave again in a bit but I just caught up reading everything and I’m enjoying all the theories

mathtans

Yay class! Next comes the grading. What a life. ^.^

Starfish

Ehehe, I’m technically an assistant teacher so no grading for me~

I’m an assistant ESL teacher in Japan- my part of teaching is mostly “get the kids to practice their English” via games and stuff

mathtans

Fair enough. Didn't mean to vector us off track. ^.^ Incidentally, I originally thought that maybe Vector's power didn't work on Frankie because he only had the one eye, so the eyepatch was saving him. Until the whole metal revelation.

biab

RebelVampire

ya know tbf that was a decent theory before the metal reveal.

im sticking with our arianna being fake and think shes after something of the real arianna's. like a magic gem or something. i do think down the line arianna is gonna have to pick which is more important: the thing she was trying to get or vector. and i think shell be a good person and pick vector cause shes growing and learning its not cool to sacrifice ppl for your aims

on a side note i hope we get to meet her merc company

im interested to see them(edited)

mathtans

Maybe they have gem boasting nights out. "Mine's bigger" and all that.

RebelVampire

i hope thats true somewhere in the comic's world XD

mathtans

It might be why people are annoyed at the elves.

Heh, "Best Friends plus Arianna", nice one. Made it to Chapter 7.

RebelVampire

i found it interesting that even the elves freaked out at vector. cause the minute they appeared that was the largest question on my mind. if theyd be effected or not

QUESTION 4. Of course, there are a few other mysteries present within the story. Do you think there is any story related reason only some continents in the world have magic? Why do you think Frankie, a machine, was created? Further, what is Frankie doing in Kardia in the first place? How do you think Frankie might help or hinder Vector and Arianna getting back to Alveria, especially since he’ll be aiding criminals? Back in Alveria, why do you think General Brisse was so critical of Zera? Do you think he might know something the others don’t? Overall, what do you think will happen once the characters are back in Alveria? Who will side with who on this matter?

i do think the lack of magic might be related. but i kind of think maybe its the opposite to what was already stated. and that the ppl in the prologue were trying to monopolize magic so they could be the superior country

mathtans

I think Frankie coming to Kardia is related to his injuries. Like he escaped from his creators or something. That's why they couldn't fix him and he had to do it himself.

Hmmm, maybe there's some big magic/tech war going on in the background and only the General is in on it. The magic people are temporarily undefended what with Vector having most of the magic bottled away, hence why their shield is only around their castle and not the whole capitol, and why they want Vector back - or dead, if that would spread the magic around.

RebelVampire

i considered that as a possibility. cause usually magic and tech are at war. and weve already seen evidence that magic users think tech is dumb cause how silly of ppl to want things that magic can already do.

but also math how dare you suggest frankie has such a tragic past

hes too innocent for that

and i have to go weep in the corner for him now

frankie was probably created with not good intentions. i mean i could pretend he was meant to test the legs of tech and see how far they could go. more likely they just wanted a robot assassin

am i the only one who things brisse has something to do with arianna's death? cause he seemed really critical of what is actually a good lead to finding a criminal he super wants. and i mean it could just be the last name thing, but i still get the impression he knows something

mathtans

Aw. I feel like all the characters have tragic pasts though. And when Frankie told his story, I did wonder why he had to fix himself up... like, did he maybe even kill his creator? And repressed the memory along with the defense personality?

I think Brisse is just pretty focussed and has probably read Zera's files. I could be wrong. Though it reminds me of Terran. I like him as a secondary character. Good puns, and good plans for circumventing things that aren't technically against the rules.

RebelVampire

yes i appreciate him having a loose interpretion of what he should and shouldnt do

i hope the creator isnt dead just for the story potential tbh

for frankie

cause thats just what they need

frankie's creator showing up to say "hey frankie what up"

and frankie can be like "oh noooooo"

mathtans

Twist, Frankie's creator is a zombie.

Still thinking about side characters actually, the scene between the bookstore woman and the priest was nice. Kind of superfluous at first glance, but it gave Vector more backstory and added more to the world.

Also confirmed not-dead.

RebelVampire

yeah i was intrigued by that scene. but tbf as a character ms robins is useful cause she can give us insight into whats going on in the capital outside of the royal guard

cause surely shell see the wanted poster at some point

and go wtf

maybe even try talking to someone

get thrown in jail

tell vector if he doesnt show up theyll assume she did the treason

i took that from happy to sad

very quickly

mathtans

That's a very good point. I hadn't considered that.

Maybe she'll meet them as they're approaching the city.

RebelVampire

yeah she could also be a key ally in helping them

cause for sure i think itll be obvious to the guards at a point theyre heading back to the capital

mathtans

She does seem very overprotective. I wondered about her reaction initially, as Arianna didn't seem so bad. Then, of course, she proved to be self-serving.

RebelVampire

after they get frankie his own wanted poster

mathtans

Wanted... for cuddling.

RebelVampire

wanted for being a great dude

mathtans

One other thing I want to mention before we wrap up is I dig the art style on the characters. I'm not quite sure what it is, the larger eyes or the hairstyles or some mix? But I like it.

Just don't get Frankie wet. He's like a gremlin.

RebelVampire

yeah i really love the art style as well. although what sells it for me is the magic. that magic circle in the prologue was beautiful with how it glowed and made me eager to see more of the magic.

but i might just be a sucker for magic circles

before we close out i do want to say i think zera will join forces with the main trio at some point

mathtans

Oh, I dig magic circles too. Big Nanoha junkie over here.

RebelVampire

cause zera does not seem like someone whod look at shady stuff going on and be like "im ok with this"

mathtans

Zera does seem to have a conscience. I think they'll butt heads first though.

RebelVampire

oh for sure

i hope terran finds something interesting in zera's file

like zera has a side career as a juggler once

mathtans

He finds... a magic square!

(Hey, if colours can vary, why not shapes. )

RebelVampire

ya know what, despite that being a joke thatd be very interesting

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Star Prichard, as well, for making Castoff. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Star Prichard’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://castoff-comic.com/

Star’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/castoff

Castoff’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/CastoffComic

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[manifestationuser]

Do anyone find it hard to manifest the things people want into your life? Perhaps people follow the Law of Attraction and just can't quite conquer manifestation? It can be tricky at first, but once anyone get the hang of it, manifesting can become second nature to one. Maybe anyone are unsure of what manifestation really means. Or maybe anyone need clarity on what the purpose of manifestation is! In order to succeed in your manifestations, people need to truly believe in them.

In this guide you learn how to manifest your thoughts, but before you learn how to manifest your thoughts you first need to learn what manifestation is.

It's worth knowing the ins and outs of what exactly manifestation is and how to properly manifest what anyone want. Before I share my manifestation guide with one, let's take a look at what manifestation means and how it works.

What Does 'Manifestation' Mean?

There certainly are many different 'definitions' of the word manifest, but the simplest would be that a manifestation is 'something that is put into your physical reality through thought, feelings, and beliefs'.

This means that whatever you focus on is what people are bringing into your reality. Individuals may focus and manifest through meditation, visualization or just via your conscious or subconscious.

This process is called manifesting!

For example, if one have been thinking about getting a new job and individuals focused on exactly what one wanted and when anyone wanted it, your thoughts and feelings would be strong surrounding this. Individuals could then try to meditate or visualize your goal and this can help to manifest it into your reality.

If individuals then got your new job and it was everything you wanted, anyone would have successfully manifested it into your life. Now that people know what manifestation means, it's time to find out how manifestation works.

How Does Manifestation Work? Like with the Law of Attraction, a manifestation is where your thoughts and your energy can create your reality. If one are constantly being negative and feeling down, then you are going to attract and manifest negative energy.

The first thing to do when manifesting is to take a look at your thoughts and feelings. If so, you could begin to manifest things one don't want in your reality.

Manifestation doesn't just work with your thoughts, there has to be a form of action on your part. This could be generally applying for the jobs that suit what individuals are looking for and going to the interviews.

Trying to visualize your thoughts and feelings about your job; this will then help you to feel more positive and motivated to make these changes a reality. This will then push one to take some action and, ultimately, manifest your goals into your life.

How To Manifest Anything In 5 Actions When anyone read about the Law of Attraction, it can sometimes feel like it will take months or years to manifest anything people desire. Experts advise that if anyone carefully work your way through four distinct manifestation steps, it's possible to get results a lot more quickly. In fact, if you are wondering how to manifest anything in simply 24 hours, people may only need 5 steps.

So, if you follow this straightforward manifestation guide, anyone may well get exactly what individuals want in 24 hours or even less!

Manifestation Action 1: Choose What Anyone Want To Manifest When individuals decide on something specific to manifest, it's vital that one know exactly why individuals want this specific thing in your life. And when individuals're trying to manifest something in just 24 hours, one also have to pick something individuals believe one can manifest in a day.

For example, presently there's little point in saying anyone want to start a new business in 24 hours unless you practically believe anyone can attain this goal in the next day. However, people may well believe that people can successfully manifest the next step in your journey to a new business in a day, in which case anyone might set that as your goal (e.g. to complete a business plan, get a loan individuals need, or find someone to collaborate with).

When picking a thing to manifest, ask yourself the following questions: Do I really want this, in my heart of hearts? How will I benefit from having this? When I think about having this, does it feel right? How will it be good for me and for others? Whatever want should be the greater good, and something you want in itself; most likely something that's a significant step on the journey towards a greater manifestation goal.

In sum: decide what anyone want, really connect with the intention to have it, and believe that anyone will receive what people ask for.

Manifestation Action 2: Get Rid Of Things That Stand In Your Way Almost always there really will be something standing in your way to success. This shouldn't scare anyone, this is just part of the whole manifestation process.

Keep an eye out for these three most common manifestation blocks:

Negative beliefs/mindset If one are in a bad place emotionally, anyone need to first get yourself into the right mentality before individuals can successfully manifest anything. Anyone can't be focusing on negativity and expect to attract good things into your life. Take some time to practice self-care. Try meditation and different stress-relief techniques.

Toxic people When one are working on manifesting your dream individuals need to make sure no one is holding people back. People who don't believe in you, always criticize you and/or complain about everything are blocks that will keep anyone from doing your best.

Manifestation Action 3: Visualize What You Want To Manifest Anyone probably already know the basics of visualization and have at least tried to practice those techniques a couple of times. On your current manifestation quest, start by going somewhere that's quiet and private, and spend just a minute on visualizing the thing individuals want.

Flow all your energy and concentration into seeing it with your mind's eye, and let all the good feelings about the object or outcome well up inside you

This action works best if one do a multi-sensory visualization; if people can see, hear, smell, touch and (if relevant) taste the outcome you're looking to create. Make it as real as anyone possibly can, so it's almost like it's yours already.

Incorporate as many details as people can, and don't try to imagine exactly how the thing or outcome becomes yours; instead, focus solely on the end result of receiving what individuals desire.

Don't think about how your desired object or outcome will manifest and don't try to see it coming to one through any particular person or means. Your focus should be on the end result of receiving the thing of your desire.

Manifestation Step 4: Take Action To Manifest What People Want People can spend the rest of your day pretty much living as anyone normally would; presently there isn't any particular action you need to take in order to make manifestation possible (your intentions are what will determine your success). Rather, once one've finished actions 1-2 as described above, anyone are just waiting for what individuals want to appear.

However, if anyone feel the urge to do something specific; whether it immediately makes sense or it's more of an intuition-based yearning. Then consider following your gut and taking that action. If it feels natural, do it!

If one find that you don't get the outcome individuals want within 24 hours or less, look back at the first two steps and go back through them. Sometimes, writing down what individuals want (and some of the answers to the specific questions posed) can give the universe the extra nudge it needs to fuel your manifestation.

There actually are some common reasons why individuals might not be manifesting quickly. In particular, consider whether people're doubting the process; do one either not believe individuals'll get what anyone ask for because you don't think anyone deserve it, or perhaps doubt whether it's possible to manifest using the Law of Attraction?

Any kind of negative feelings (e.g. anxiety, worry, anger, and doubt) or negative beliefs can inhibit your results.

Manifestation Step 5: Recognize And Appreciate

This final step might not look that significant at first glance, it can truly do a lot to shape your manifestation potential in the future. Basically, the key thought here is that individuals need to fully appreciate what individuals have once people achieve your goal. It can be easy to forget that you asked for what individuals received, so take proactive steps to prevent this.

Go back to what people first thought and felt when one were visualizing your desired object or outcome, and connect those experiences with the new experience of having what one want. Consider the tangible proof people have that thoughts are things, and that thinking in a certain way can create concrete changes in the world around individuals.

The more one make this connection and emphasize it, the better you'll be at manifesting in the future (as individuals'll replace negative, limiting beliefs and doubts with confident, positive thoughts and feelings).

Do you find it hard to manifest the things people want into your life? The first thing to do when manifesting is to take a look at your thoughts and feelings. If so, you could begin to manifest things people don't want in your reality. If anyone are wondering how to manifest anything in simply 24 hours, individuals may only need 5 steps.

If you are in a bad place emotionally, people need to first get yourself into the right way of thinking before individuals can successfully manifest anything.

Now that you’ve learned how manifestation works you can watch this video which will teach you how to manifest your thoughts.

[wordcollector]

January Book Review: Wayfarer

Wayfarer (Passenger #2) By: Alexandra Bracken Release Date: January 3, 2017

*Beware: Spoilers Ahead!*

Official Synopsis:

I’ve been orphaned by my time.  The timeline has changed.  My future is gone.

Etta Spencer didn’t know she was a traveler until the day she emerged both miles and years from her home. Now, robbed of the powerful object that was her only hope of saving her mother, Etta finds herself stranded once more, cut off from Nicholas—the eighteenth-century privateer she loves—and her natural time.

When Etta inadvertently stumbles into the heart of the Thorns, the renegade travelers who stole the astrolabe from her, she vows to finish what she started and destroy the astrolabe once and for all.  Instead, she’s blindsided by a bombshell revelation from their leader, Henry Hemlock: he is her father.  Suddenly questioning everything she’s been fighting for, Etta must choose a path—one that could transform her future.

Still devastated by Etta’s disappearance, Nicholas has enlisted the unlikely help of Sophia Ironwood and a cheeky mercenary-for-hire to track her down.  But after a deadly mistake derails their search, they discover an ancient power far more frightening than the rival travelers currently locked in a battle for control—a power that threatens to eradicate the timeline as they know it.

From colonial Nassau to New York City, San Francisco to ancient Carthage, imperial Russia to the Vatican catacombs, #1 New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Bracken charts a gorgeously detailed, thrilling course through time in this stunning conclusion to the Passenger series.

My Synopsis: 

The day Etta Spencer discovered she was a traveler was the day she was thrown through a tear in time, emerging centuries before and miles away from everything she’d ever known. Now, once again lost in time, she finds herself without the one instrument capable of saving her mother’s life and returning them home.  Even worse, she finds herself separated from Nicholas, the eighteenth-century privateer who holds her heart.

When Etta suddenly finds herself surrounded by the Thorns, the band of rebel travelers now in possession of the astrolabe, she’s determined to stick to the plan and get rid of the astrolabe permanently.  But even the best laid plans go awry, and Etta’s resolve is tested when she discovers that the leader of the Thorns, Henry Hemlock, is her father.  Suddenly, everything Etta knows is called into question, and she’s faced with a decision between doing what’s needed to save the timeline and doing what will allow her to be with the ones she loves.

Having found himself alone of the search for the astrolabe, Nicholas teams up with Sophia Ironwood, former enemy and the one responsible for Etta’s disappearance, to hunt down the powerful object.  As new secrets are uncovered and new friends are made, Nicholas’s hunt turns to finding Etta and, more importantly, to staying one step ahead of a powerful new enemy more terrifying than anything he’s faced before, one who threatens to destroy the timeline once and for all.

Etta and Nicholas’s journeys lead them across the globe and through several centuries as they work to save time and find one another.  The thrilling conclusion to the Passenger duology delivers danger, action, and romance that will leave you on the edge of your seat until the final page.

My Thoughts:

Time travel books always seem to fall into one of two categories for me: well done or wasted potential.  There are endless scenarios and storylines a time travel story can explore, yet more often than not, it seems like I love the concept but not the final outcome.  

That’s when I wish I were a time traveler so that I could go back and tell myself not to waste my time on that book.

You’re probably wondering where this complaining is coming from since I gave my latest time travel read, Wayfarer, 4 out of 5 stars on my Goodreads account, so allow me to explain.  I complain only to say that the Passenger duology fell into the first category.  The time travel in these book promises a lot, and it truly delivers in terms of adventure and emotional impact.

Passenger, the first book in this duo, was the story of Etta Spencer, a young, modern-day violinist who discovered her identity as a traveler, an individual able to locate and move through passages in time and space.  This book followed Etta as she was forced into the search for an ancient astrolabe with the ability to create new passages; joining her on her quest was Nicholas Carter, a privateer and bastard of the powerful Ironwood family, who wanted nothing more than to wash his hands of time travel and return to the sea. But of course, things weren’t that simple, and Etta and Nicholas found themselves falling in love as they raced through time, fighting to stay one step ahead of everyone else searching for the astrolabe and trying to decide if they could ever have a future together.  Passenger ended on a cliffhanger, with Etta injured and orphaned in time, Nicholas determined to find his love, and the astrolabe in the hands of the enemy. It was a rough spot to leave everyone—characters and readers alike—but what follows made it worth the while.

Wayfarer picks up a few weeks after the ending of Passenger, with Nicholas and his new partner, Sophia, searching for the astrolabe, Rose searching for Etta, and Etta herself held captive by the Thorns as she recovers from her gunshot wound.  We are immediately flung into the chaos and danger of this new world, where former enemies must work together, secrets and lies will be uncovered, and the timeline threatens to shift at any moment, and not necessarily for the better.

My favorite thing about Wayfarer had to be the fantastic character development. Etta and Nicholas are both forced to adapt to being apart, and it changes them in very different ways. Etta becomes even more of a spitfire, willing to shoot first and ask questions later as she fights to figure out how to reset the timeline.  Nicholas, on the other hand, seems to revert back to internalizing everything.  He doesn’t have anyone around that he trusts enough to share his feelings with, so he pushes his emotions down, becoming more sullen and more focused on finding Etta and setting things right.  For both Etta and Nicholas, this book was a tough journey emotionally, mentally, and physically, but they had already shown that they were tough enough to handle themselves in any given situation, especially after everything they had gone through in Passenger.  Resultingly, it seemed like Wayfarer was the opportunity for others to grow and to let Etta and Nicholas act upon the development they’d already undergone.

What’s more, I think that the different reactions between Etta and Nicholas and their new situations can in part be attributed to the company they finding themselves keeping. Their separation allows for the introduction of a number of new characters as well as the promotion of sorts for Sophia Ironwood to a more primary character.  

I was quite excited to meet Julian Ironwood.  I had taken Nicholas’s description of his half-brother with a grain of salt as there was a bit of bad blood between the two, but no, Julian was exactly the flighty, flirty coward that Nicholas made him out to be.  I have to admit, though, that I really liked Julian— especially his tangents and his ridiculous bragging—and I loved that Etta was forced to team up with him.  It says a lot about Etta’s self-restraint that she doesn’t simply steal his journal and dump him somewhere.  It also says a lot about her optimism and her faith in Nicholas that she keeps trying to find a spark of goodness in Julian.  Surprisingly, it’s Julian himself that eventually finds that spark, and from that point on, although he’s still flighty and flirty, he’s all-in for helping Etta, stopping his grandfather, and fixing the timeline.  I liked this changed in Julian, and I was glad to see him become less of a jester-type character and more of a true partner by the end.

Another new character that is dedicated to fixing the timeline from the start is Henry Hemlock, the leader of the Thorns and Etta’s father.  I loved the relationship that grew between Etta and Henry.  Rose certainly had never acted like a mother to Etta, leaving Alice as her only family growing up.  After meeting Henry, I was so sad for Etta that she had never gotten to meet her father.  Henry is everything Rose is not: open, friendly, caring, and determined without being ruthless.  He wants to take care of his daughter, but he also wants to help her in whatever decisions she chooses to make.  And, like Etta, he’s musical; the scene of Henry and Etta playing for the tsar warmed my heart, and it showed just how alike father and daughter were.  I also appreciated that Henry knew the reality of sacrifice and the need to save the many at the cost of the few.  Henry isn’t perfect, but he is trying to right all the wrongs Cyrus Ironwood has inflicted all across time, even if that means losing the people he loves.

Looking at Julian and Henry, it seems like Etta got perhaps the more frustrating but better end of the bargain in terms of new partners.  And by better, I really just mean safer, because at least those two aren’t threatening or actually trying to kill Etta.  Nicholas isn’t quite so lucky in that regard, but he does get lucky in terms of ending up with a new set of fierce and fearsome females to work with.

Although Sophia was featured somewhat in Passenger, she was really only present at the beginning, where she was responsible for getting Etta through the passage, and at the end, where she showed up as a surprise villain before being beaten, robbed, and left for dead.  She wasn’t a likeable person—she was bossy, threatening, and racist—but she was always unashamedly herself, and it was impossible not to feel for her as yet another person hurt by and forced to do the bidding of Cyrus Ironwood.  Now that she’s split with the Ironwood family, Sophia initially seems to have taken a turn for the worse.  She deals with her new reality, both as a woman on the run and as a woman missing an eye, by drinking, and her alcohol-fueled temper makes things worse for Nicholas and herself before she really starts to be helpful.  But Sophia isn’t the type to stay down for long when revenge is at hand, and soon she’s racing through time alongside Nicholas.  

Even if Sophia had no other redeeming qualities, her never-back-down attitude would’ve made me like her.  Yes, her mouth consistently gets her in trouble, but she has the fighting skills to keep herself safe.  Seriously, I loved seeing Sophia’s ferociousness and skill in her fights, and Nicholas easily owes her his life many times over.  At first, she only saves Nicholas because she needs him as a partner, but eventually she’s saving him because she cares about him. Nicholas’s true nature manages to extinguish Sophia’s prejudice against him, and the two become friends.  It’s still a rocky relationship, with lots of threats and violence, but that’s really just Sophia’s way of showing she cares. I was glad to get to know Sophia better and to see her out from under Ironwood’s thumb where she could allow herself to be a bit more vulnerable and where she could find the respect she’d always wanted.

Of course, some of that vulnerability and respect is related to the appearance of Li Min.  I loved Li Min and her unorthodox introduction to Nicholas and Sophia.  It was obvious pretty early on that she was playing multiple parties, but that didn’t make me like her any less.  In fact, as Li Min opens up about her past, it becomes clear that even though she’s lying to Nicholas and Sophia about Etta’s whereabouts, she’s doing so to pay back a debt and preserve her honor.  She also manages to save Nicholas and Sophia multiple times, so it would be hard to wish she’d leave them alone.  I liked the relationship that began to develop between Li Min and Sophia; they brought out the best in one another, and I appreciated that Li Min not only encouraged Sophia to open up about her difficulties in dealing with her disability but also helped teach her how to compensate for her blind spot in a fight.  Those little moments move them from friends to something more, and I was glad that they were both willing to open their hearts to each other knowing that even if they both made it out of the final showdown alive, they could still be separated forever when the timeline reset.  Both women are willing to hope for the sake of the other, and it’s obvious that this is a dramatic change in each of their characters brought on by the potential of finally having found someone who could love them just for being themselves.

And speaking of being themselves, the final new character that I came to love was the Belladonna. I’ve always liked obscenely powerful characters and even more so when those characters were women, so it was hard not to like the Belladonna even in spite of the fact that she was responsible for Nicholas’s slow death via poison.  I loved that the Belladonna owned her position and enjoyed striking terror into the hearts of others.  She is clever, manipulative, and patient, and she has a knack for seeing the truth of a person even if they themselves can’t see it.  I had an inkling early on that the Belladonna was more than she seemed, and that really explained how she’d become the person she was and also how she’d managed to amass such a collection of historical artifacts.  I loved seeing inside the Belladonna’s treasure trove as well as seeing how protective she was of her possessions; although her shop seemed like a terrifying place, it also seemed like it would be fascinating to visit.

The Belladonna is two steps and a few centuries ahead of everyone, and I think it would take a second reading to see all the pieces of her plan and how they fit together. While I wasn’t wild about the threat that precipitated her having said plan—I’ll get to that in a moment—I did appreciate that she planned a chance for Nicholas and Etta to have their happy ending.  It showed that while the Belladonna may have seemed like an antagonist, she was playing a long game to save everyone, and for that, she landed on my good side.

The other thing I absolutely loved about Wayfarer was the ending.  After the astrolabe is destroyed and everyone is thrown back to and stuck in their original time, it seems like no one will get the happy ending they’ve fought so hard for.  Etta and Nicholas ae separated, Rose and Henry are torn from each other and from Etta, Sophia and Li Min lose one another, the Thorns and their families are scattered, and poor Julian is left all alone.  For Etta in particular, it’s a shock as she not only returns to the future by herself, she returns to a future that has been significantly altered due to the reversion back to the original timeline.  It’s hard to see Etta faced with such utter uncertainty, but then again, it’s Etta.  She’s already proven that she’s tough, that she can take a few hits and keep on fighting. And after an initial period of mourning—for Alice, for her parents, for Nicholas—she makes a plan and gets on with her life.  She finishes school, gets a job, and eventually begins playing the violin again.

I was glad that Etta returned to one of the things she truly loved, but I liked that she chose to play with an orchestra.  Playing as part of a group took some of the pressure off and let Etta enjoy her playing, and it also meant that she didn’t have to be quite so alone, even though she was still forced to hold everyone at arm’s length to keep her past a secret. I knew something big was going to happen at Etta’s debut concert, not just because there weren’t that many pages left, but because it would be a fitting parallel.  Everything began for Etta at her first big performance in the altered timeline, so of course everything would begin again at the same point in this timeline.

I was smiling like an idiot as Etta found Rose, then Henry, then finally Nicholas in the audience.  It’s such a sweet and encouraging way for them to reveal themselves to Etta, and of course, it gives Nicholas a chance to finally hear Etta play.  And play she does, buoyed by the love and joy she feels at seeing her love and her family again.  The reunion between Etta and Nicholas was perfect, and I was glad that Nicholas explained everything right away: that the image of the astrolabe had been burned into his hand as he destroyed it (a la Major Toht and the headpiece of the Staff of Ra in Raiders of the Lost Ark), that he’d found Rose and Henry and that together they’d gone to see the Belladonna and get something from Etta’s time, that they were opening all the passages to allow everyone to be with their loved ones, that time travel would be possible once again but that the rules would change to keep something like the war between the families from ever happening again.

It’s not a plan without a risk of failure or without its fair share of challenges, but it has to be better than keeping everyone apart forever and never letting anyone experience the wonders and knowledge that time travel can provide. Of course Etta and Nicholas aren’t going to be forced apart after everything they’ve been through, but I liked that their happy ending was gained alongside that of so many others and via a reasonable and logical means.  It’s the ending they deserve, and I was happy to see them happy and ready to explore new times and new places together.

Despite all the things I loved about Wayfarer, there were a few things that kept it from being a perfect read for me.  The pacing in particular really bothered me.  There was plenty of action in both points of view, but I felt like the characters failed to truly more forward for a good portion of the book.  On Etta’s side, she spends a lot of time getting to know Henry and learning the truth about Rose’s actions, and although learning the truth helps explain as well as change motivations, there isn’t a good balance between exposition and acting upon the new information.  It isn’t really until the explosion in Russia and Etta’s escape with Julian that things really start moving on their end.  

Unfortunately, the pacing for Nicholas and Sophia is even slower.  I lost count of how many times Nicholas’s sections ended with him and Sophia in a new time and place but still being chased and collecting new injuries.  Yes, I understand that they’re on the run, but it still seems like their escapes take longer than I would’ve expected from two such resourceful and knowledgeable people. Maybe it was just that their new enemies were more powerful, more deadly, and more determined than Cyrus Ironwood and his people who had chased Nicholas and Etta in the first book, or perhaps it was that Nicholas and Sophia had to face more traps and plots to keep them from achieving their goal.  Nonetheless, it takes Nicholas’s imminent death to get the group in gear and get them to finally break their cycle of fight-run-hide.  It wasn’t quite a deal breaker for me, but it did make the story seem unnecessarily long, and when a book’s already as long as Wayfarer, you don’t really want it to be too much longer.

But now that I’ve mentioned the new threat that chased after Nicholas and Sophia, I have to admit that I didn’t especially care for the Ancient One and his Shadows.  Do I like the idea of such an ancient and powerful character threatening our main guys and gals?  Yes. Do I like the idea of a group of highly-trained assassins with terrifying weaponry and nothing to lose? Definitely yes.  But the whole Ancient One plot felt like it came out of left field.  It isn’t that I didn’t like the arrival of another big bad—in truth, a Bigger, Badder—but there was absolutely no indication of anyone else after the astrolabe in Passenger, not even a hint.  And to me, the final book doesn’t seem like the best place to introduce, establish, and make a threat out of a brand new group of characters.

Like I said, it’s not that I disliked the Ancient One and his Shadows because they were bad guys.  In fact, I liked the threat that they created and that there was a bigger story going on aside from the one Etta and Nicholas were immediately involved in.  But the inclusion of the Ancient One almost felt contrived at this point.  Wayfarer could’ve had an equally powerful and dramatic outcome if Cyrus Ironwood has remained the main villain, and the Belladonna’s plot could’ve still been successfully enacted.  It was nice to get more background about the astrolabe and its true power, but that also could’ve been introduced another way.  I guess when it comes down to it, it was the fact that the Ancient One just came out of nowhere that I had a problem with.  If he’d been alluded to in Passenger, or if someone had mentioned the Shadows, or if someone had shared that creepy little nursery rhyme earlier, their appearance might’ve been easier to believe.  As it was, though, they felt shoe-horned in for the sake of adding more danger and drama, and I thought that was a mistake.

I know a lot of people also had a problem with Etta and Nicholas being separated for the majority of the book, but that really didn’t bother me all that much. Yes, I missed the romance, the banter, and the partnership between them, but being apart allowed each of them to grow and work in ways that they never could have if they’d been together.  And Etta and Nicholas never would’ve gotten to know Julian, Sophia, and Li Min so well if they’d all been together, and it would’ve been a real shame to deprive us of the greatness of these characters. So perhaps surprisingly, I thought keeping Etta and Nicholas apart until just before the final showdown was a wise decision.

The last thing I want to mention about both Passenger and Wayfarer is how much I love the times and places the characters explore.  They aren’t the typical eras and locations that are used in time travel stories; they’re new (old?) and exciting locales and time periods that allow us readers to learn a little bit more about history and about different cultures both past and present.  The descriptions of these travels are vibrantly written, too, which adds another level of authenticity and fascination to each new place.  I now have a number of new events and people to research and some new places to add to my bucket list.

Overall, Wayfarer is a strong sequel and a wonderful ending to this duology.  I didn’t like it quite as much as I liked Passenger as a whole, but I did love the wonderful and realistic character development, the wide range of new characters, and the perfect ending.  Etta and Nicholas are definitely one of my OTPs, and their determination to fight across time to be with one another shows that nothing can stop true love.  The places and times that are brought to life provide vivid backdrops and turn another time travel story into an intriguing exploration of the past.  Fans of history, family secrets, and star-crossed romances will love the Passenger duology, and I suggest you check them out today.  You never know when the timeline might shift and keep you from ever getting the chance to read these wonderful books.

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

I love the ship imprint on the actual cover of the book!

What a brutal opening.  No wonder Rose is so messed up.

Etta has gotten to be a right badass.  Her knack for finding/creating weaponry on the fly is awesome.

Henry Hemlock is such an awesome name.  Points of alliteration.

I love that the Belladonna has Excalibur.  A neat little extra.

I would either be a great time traveler or a truly terrible one.  I could learn all the history and the languages and the etiquette easily enough, but I think I would fangirl hard if I ever met anyone truly famous and blow my cover.

This reunion between Julian and Sophia is priceless.

Kisses in the heat of battle are my favorite.

Oh Alice, taking care of Etta to the end and beyond.

I definitely need the story of Nicholas, Rose, and Henry going to see the Belladonna and fighting over that keychain.

I would like to see Nicholas and Etta pop up in the background of some future book.  They could fit in pretty much anywhere and in any time, so it’s not an unreasonable request. So get on that Bracken, please and thank you.

Favorite Quotes: 

Rose finally closed her eyes.  She imagined her veins, her ribs, her whole chest hardening like stone to protect the parts of her that hurt so very much.  She was too little to fight them now; Rose knew this.  But she also knew that one day she wouldn’t be.

Wondering if the reason her mother seemed to rarely speak to her was because her language was color and form, when Etta’s was sound and vibration.

“My mother met that woman and both survived?”

If the first woman sang her words, this one crushed them between her teeth.

There was something else that Hall used to say—that life itself was uncertainty and the only remedy to its madness was to act boldly.

“There is the journey you make through the world—the one that aches and sings.  We come together with others to make our way and survive its trials,” she said.  “But we are, all of us, also wayfarers on a greater journey, this one without end, each of us searching for the answers to the unspoken questions of our hearts. Take comfort, as I have, in knowing that, while we must travel it alone, this journey rewards goodness and will prove that the things which are denied to us in life will never create a cage for our souls.”

It was simple, but even simple plans were prone to unexpected disasters.

“Why didn’t he go way back—beyond ancient times?  Prehistoric. Actually, how far back do the passages go?  Could you see, like, the dinosaurs?  Cavemen?”  Julian leaned back against the rock, pressing a hand against his chest, his expression one of pure astonishment.  “My God, Linden-Hemlock-Spencer.  I believe you’ve just given me a new purpose in life.”  Etta’s brows drew together.  “Finding new passages?”  “No, hunting for dinosaurs,” he said.  “Why did I never think of that—oh, right, the eating thing.  Big teeth and all.  Well, never mind.”  “How quickly the dream dies.”

“I went to the Thorns,” he said quickly, “which was a rotten idea all around.  They despised me and I slept every night with one eye open—oh God—I heard the words leave my mouth and I couldn’t stop them, Soph—“

“I don’t really want logic right now, Carter.  I mostly want murder.”

A man made his own future. He chipped it from whatever hardships insinuated themselves into his life; he carved out the happy, glad moments to capture his gratitude for them.  It came from the simple magic of merely living.

“Name the horizon, and it’s ours.”

#wayfarer #passenger #alexandra bracken #time travel #etta spencer #nicholas carter #sophia ironwood #julian ironwood #li min #astrolabe #the ancient one #the belladonna #timeline #book review #january 2017 #multiple timelines #explore the past #history #privateer #violinist #rose linden #henry hemlock #the thorns #ironwood #travelers #girl power #romance #danger #final showdown

[manifestationuser]

How To Manifest A House

Do one find it hard to manifest the things one want into your life? Perhaps people follow the Law of Attraction and just can't quite conquer manifestation? It can be tricky at first, but once individuals get the hang of it, manifesting can become second nature to people. Maybe you are unsure of what manifestation really means. Or maybe individuals need clarity on what the purpose of manifestation is! In order to succeed in your manifestations, one need to truly believe in them.

This simple guide will teach you how to manifest a house

So, it's worth knowing the ins and outs of what exactly manifestation is and how to properly manifest what one want. Before I share my manifestation guide with people, let's take a look at what manifestation means and how it works.

What Does 'Manifestation' Mean?

There really are many different 'definitions' of the word manifest, but the simplest would be that a manifestation is 'something that is put into your physical reality through thought, feelings, and beliefs'.

This means that whatever anyone focus on is what one are bringing into your reality. Individuals may focus and manifest through meditation, visualization or just via your conscious or subconscious.

This process is called manifesting!

For example, if individuals have been thinking about getting a new job and individuals focused on exactly what one wanted and when anyone wanted it, your thoughts and feelings would be strong surrounding this. People could then try to meditate or visualize your goal and this can help to manifest it into your reality.

If individuals then got your new job and it was everything anyone wanted, you would have successfully manifested it into your life. Now that one know what manifestation means, it's time to find out how manifestation works.

How Does Manifestation Work? Like with the Law of Attraction, a manifestation is where your thoughts and your energy can create your reality. If one are constantly being negative and feeling down, then one are going to attract and manifest negative energy.

The first thing to do when manifesting is to take a look at your thoughts and feelings. Are one feeling negative? Do your thoughts surround negativity? If so, individuals could begin to manifest things individuals don't want in your reality. This is why it's important to clear your mind and have a positive mind when one are wanting to manifest.

Manifestation doesn't just work with your thoughts, now there has to be a form of action on your part. This could be frankly applying for the jobs that suit what you are looking for and going to the interviews.

Trying to visualize your thoughts and feelings about your job; this will then help one to feel more positive and motivated to make these changes a reality. This will then push anyone to take some action and, ultimately, manifest your goals into your life.

How To Manifest Anything In 5 Steps When people read about the Law of Attraction, it can sometimes feel like it will take months or years to manifest anything individuals desire. However, experts advise that if one carefully work your way through four distinct manifestation actions, it's possible to get results a lot more quickly. In fact, if people are wondering how to manifest anything in simply 24 hours, people may only need 5 steps.

So, if people follow this straightforward manifestation guide, individuals may well get exactly what individuals want in 24 hours or even less!

Manifestation Action 1: Choose What One Want To Manifest When one decide on something specific to manifest, it's vital that people know exactly why people want this specific thing in your life. And when individuals're trying to manifest something in just 24 hours, anyone also have to pick something one believe people can manifest in a day.

For example, currently there's little point in saying one want to start a new business in 24 hours unless you in fact believe you can attain this goal in the next day. You may well believe that anyone can successfully manifest the next action in your journey to a new business in a day, in which case anyone might set that as your goal (e.g. to complete a business plan, get a loan you need, or find someone to collaborate with).

When picking a thing to manifest, ask yourself the following questions: Do I really want this, in my heart of hearts? How will I benefit from having this? When I think about having this, does it feel? How will it be good for me and for others? Whatever want should be the greater good, and something one want in itself; most likely something that's a significant step on the journey towards a greater manifestation goal.

So, in sum: decide what people want, really connect with the intention to have it, and believe that you will receive what individuals ask for.

Manifestation Action 2: Get Rid Of Things That Stand In Your Way Unfortunately, almost always of course, there will be something standing in your way to success. This shouldn't scare anyone, this is just part of the whole manifestation process.

Keep an eye out for these three most common manifestation blocks:

Negative beliefs/mindset If individuals are in a bad place emotionally, one need to first get yourself into the right mindset before you can successfully manifest anything. Anyone can't be focusing on negativity and expect to attract good things into your life.

Toxic people When people are working on manifesting your dream people need to make sure no one is holding you back. People who don't believe in people, always criticize you and/or complain about everything are blocks that will keep one from doing your best.

Manifestation Step 3: Visualize What You Want To Manifest Individuals probably already know the basics of visualization and have at least tried to practice those techniques a couple of times. On your current manifestation quest, start by going somewhere that's quiet and private, and spend just a minute on visualizing the thing anyone want.

Flood all your energy and concentration into seeing it with your mind's eye, and let all the good feelings about the object or outcome well up inside you

This action works best if one do a multi-sensory visualization; if you can see, hear, smell, touch and (if relevant) taste the outcome anyone're looking to create. Make it as real as anyone possibly can, so it's almost like it's yours already.

Provide as many details as anyone can, and don't try to imagine exactly how the thing or outcome becomes yours; instead, focus solely on the end result of receiving what anyone desire.

Don't think about how your desired object or outcome will manifest and don't try to see it coming to one through any particular person or means. Your focus should be on the end result of receiving the thing of your desire.

Manifestation Action 4: Take Action To Manifest What Individuals Want You can spend the rest of your day pretty much living as anyone normally would; of course, there isn't any particular action one need to take in order to make manifestation possible (your intentions are what will determine your success). Rather, once people've finished steps 1-2 as described above, individuals are just waiting for what one want to appear.

If you feel the urge to do something specific; whether it immediately makes sense or it's more of an intuition-based yearning. Consider following your gut and taking that action. If it feels natural, do it!

If you find that anyone don't get the outcome individuals want within 24 hours or less, look back at the first two actions and go back through them. Sometimes, writing down what people want (and some of the answers to the specific questions posed) can give the universe the extra nudge it needs to fuel your manifestation.

There actually are some common reasons why one might not be manifesting quickly. In particular, consider whether one're doubting the process; do you either not believe you'll get what anyone ask for because people don't think one deserve it, or perhaps doubt whether it's possible to manifest using the Law of Attraction?

Any kind of negative feelings (e.g. anxiety, worry, anger, and doubt) or negative beliefs can inhibit your results.

Manifestation Action 5: Recognize And Appreciate

This final step might not look that significant at first glance, it can absolutely do a lot to shape your manifestation potential in the future. Basically, the key thought here is that you need to fully appreciate what you have once you achieve your goal. It can be easy to forget that people asked for what people received, so take proactive actions to prevent this.

Go back to what individuals first thought and felt when people were visualizing your desired object or outcome, and connect those experiences with the new experience of having what people want. Consider the tangible proof people have that thoughts are things, and that thinking in a certain way can create concrete changes in the world around people.

The more one make this connection and emphasize it, the better individuals'll be at manifesting in the future (as one'll replace negative, limiting beliefs and doubts with confident, positive thoughts and feelings).

Do one find it hard to manifest the things individuals want into your life? The first thing to do when manifesting is to take a look at your thoughts and feelings. If so, people could begin to manifest things individuals don't want in your reality. If individuals are wondering how to manifest anything in simply 24 hours, you may only need 5 actions.

If individuals are in a bad place emotionally, anyone need to first get yourself into the right mindset before you can successfully manifest anything.

This simple video will show you how to manifest a house

#manifest #manifest a house #law of attraction