#so i'm just making those alterations to be resemble the time she used to have hooves

[sharpth1ng]

Hi!

So I rewatched scream recently after having read debaser four times (since November last year no I am not okay) and idk if you've already been asked this but: if you could write scream without making changes to the pov and stuff like that what would you change (if anything at all)?

Because when I was watching it I realised that I like the plot of debaser better (not necessarily because of the romance, but just on the murders and everything) and idk if that's just because you're an amazing writer (which you are BTW your writing is literally perfect I don't even know how you do it) or if it's because of how you made small details of the story make more sense or even because the killer pov works better? Idk

So yeah I'm really curious on how you would do it both on a story and on a cinematography level!!!

(also sorry if that did not make any sense I'm mostly rambling 'cause I have a lot of thoughts)

Hey, first off thank you that's so, so sweet! Second, this is a really interesting question.

Honestly theres not a whole lot I would change about scream, a lot of it is little stuff that wouldn't necessarily be a big difference in the final product. I wouldn't change much about the cinematography really, so many of the shots in this movie are made in homage to other horror movies and I love those. They feel like easter eggs.

Some examples:

Gale nearly hitting a blood-drenched sid and swerving around her matches the scene in Carrie (1976) where she almost gets hit by a car and they swerve (a bunch of the shots in these scenes are pretty matched to each other)

Caseys hanging and Pat's hanging in Suspiria (1977)

Casey's phone call and like, all of When a Stranger Calls (1979)

Billy sneaking in Sid's window and Glen sneaking in Nancy's window in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - especially because Skeet was partly cast for his resemblance to Glen

This isn't even a fraction of the shot references in the movie, let alone references in dialogue, cameos from other horror movies (Linda Blair has a cameo as a reporter and Sherrif Burke is also Sargent Parker in Nightmare on Elm Street), or just movies and pop-culture references seen in the background. Like it would take me forever to list them all. I honestly can't express how satisfying and dense Scream (1996) is as a fan of horror. It goes so much further than the movies actually explicitly mentioned.

ANYWAYS. All that was just to say I wouldn't change a lot about the cinematography.

A lot of what I would change has to do with tightened plot elements. One of the things that does frustrate me about the movie is how vague Billy and Stu's alibi's are after Casey's death. I don't need them to be perfect, but we know the cops talked to them the next day at school, and later when Billy is at the police station they seem surprised to find out he left his house that night. The fact that he either lied about that or left it out would have been a major red flag for the cops, and it just seems like something you would want to consider if you're planning to get yourself arrested and betting on being released. Basically I think that should have been something he revealed when questioned by the cops at school.

A number of other details I would change mostly have to do with off-screen events, but they would alter minor stuff on screen in a way that I think would make the plot more satisfying as it unfolds. Basically I just wish Kevin Williamson had decided who did which kill. It's obvious that he decided that it didn't need explaining since it was off screen and the protagonist wouldn't have access to that information. I don't even need it to be shot that differently, I don't need Skeet or Matt in the costume instead of a stunt man to give us a sense of who is who, I just want it to be physically possible for them to get around in a way that makes sense. It should be something that can be reasoned out in a consistent way if you pay enough attention.

This is particularly a problem for me with Himbry's death and hanging, and with the chase sequence at the house. Like Ghostface kills Kenny, watches Sid run away... doesn't chase her? Like he would be behind yeah, but also she's the main target and she seems to be running down the driveway. Instead he hides Kenny's body and goes back into the house? Why? Where did Randy go and why didn't he leave through the front door? Was Ghostface just waiting inside the house for Dewey instead of going and trying to find Randy or Sid? All of this feels a little sloppy to me since we know the phones in the house work. Any of those people could be calling 911.

Another moment like this is the one where Sid gets attacked in the washroom. A lot of people take that to be Billy given the fight they've just had in the hallway, but the timing of the scene seems to follow directly after that fight. Sid walks away from him, so if she's walking directly to the washroom he's behind her, how is he going to get into the washroom and hide in on of those stalls without her noticing if he has to come in after her? This also just seems unnecessarily risky for him, given how cautious he is otherwise.

I prefer the idea that this attack isn't actually a real ghostface, it's one of the ghostface copycats we see running around (one of the two dudes we see Himbry disciplining). In the original script the scene in the washroom comes directly after Billy and Sid's fight in the hallway, with the scene of Himbry yelling at the two fake ghostfaces following after the washroom instead of the hallway fight. To me this suggests that at least in the original script, these two likely got caught harassing Sid in the washroom and thats what Himbry is disciplining them for. I really don't know why the order of those shots was changed for the movie.

(side note could these dudes be more intentionally Billy and Stu coded? Lmao like my man on the left is literally wearing Billy's same plaid shirt)

Also as a side note- some people use the matching shoes as evidence that it was Billy in the washroom, but the movie deliberately shows us that several people have those shoes, one of the others being Sheriff Burke. These shoes are actually a red herring, so we can't use them as evidence.

So yeah basically some of what I would change is the order of certain scenes. I also wouldn't mind a better indication of the timing of things, some clocks in the background of certain shots would go a long way for me. I also would have liked for the movie to do a better job laying out the geography of Stu's house, so that we know where everything is in relation to everything else before the chase. I just think that works better for a movie like this with multiple moving parts.

Oooh another big one for me is the call that Randy gets to let him know Himbry has been killed. Who does he think is calling him like that? Why are they calling the house? It obviously has to be Stu, Billy has his hands full ( 💀 ) and it would be too much of a risk to bet that people in the house would find out in time to clear out when they need them too. Basically I just think the writing of that moment could be improved, but I also think it's likely written way it is because Himbry's death scene was a later addition pushed for by executives who thought the movie needed a higher body count.

Final thing I can think of (and its pedantic as hell) is that some of Randy's movie references don't make sense. Calling Billy Leather face? Bringing up Prom Night to argue that the killer isn't Sid's dad (when the killer in prom night is a relative of the original victim)? It would be fine if the movie was pointing out Randy as being a little full of shit but the franchise positions him as the Movie Guy who knows all the Movie Stuff, so they should at least make his references work better.

Lmao ok, thats probably enough, i've written an essay. Possible there's more I would switch up but thats the stuff that comes to mind right now!

#debaser fanfic #debaser spoilers #scream 1996 #stuilly #ask

[wasabikitcat]

I had this realization a few days ago when reviewing what we know about Gaster while theorizing about the mysterious Valentine from the newsletter and idk if other people have pointed this out yet, but I haven't seen anyone else talk about it:

I don't think Gaster's disappearance has anything to do with Core.

The Core is only mentioned in relation to Gaster once, in this dialogue from one of the Gaster followers:

This dialogue is why most theories and fanon built around the idea that Gaster fell into the Core, which for reasons unknown to us erased him from existence. But I'm now pretty convinced that this is a red herring, because it doesn't actually say Gaster fell into the Core. It says he made the Core, and that he fell into his creation.

It does not say that this creation is the Core.

The dialogue is written in a way that leads you to assume the creation he fell into was the Core, but that doesn't really make much sense considering the rest of the dialogue.

The dialogue says "they say he created the Core," which implies this is second hand knowledge, but then says with certainty "One day, he fell into his creation." Why do they know for sure he fell into "his creation," but only knows he created the core from what others say?

If you talk to the follower again, they say "Will Alphys end up the same way?" Why would Alphys also fall into the Core? As far as we know, Alphys doesn't maintain the Core; if I remember correctly, a few monsters at Mettaton's hotel are stated to work in the Core, so wouldn't this follower be more concerned that those monsters will end up like Gaster and not Alphys?

And another question that I think fanon has just ignored due to the assumption it was something we don't yet know about, but I am now wondering about: Why would falling into the Core erase Gaster from time? When traveling through Hotland and viewing the Core in the distance, Alphys says this:

And while this dialogue may at first seem indicative that the Core is more mysterious than a normal geothermal power generator (and it is in some ways), remember: Alphys didn't build the Core. Alphys doesn't understand how the Core works, not because it has some unnatural property that could erase people from space time, but because she didn't build it. Not only does this mean that the Core is likely just a power generator that utilizes the lava in Hotland to produce geothermal energy and convert it to electricity, it also means that Alphys doesn't work on the Core, because she doesn't know how it works. So why would the Gaster follower worry about Alphys ending up like Gaster if she doesn't have any involvement with the Core?

Additionally, that Gaster follower is the only one to mention the Core in relation to Gaster. In fact, one of the other followers says something that could be interpreted as actively contradicting his erasure being caused by the Core:

This follower says "his experiments went wrong," and doesn't mention the Core. Why would Gaster be experimenting with the Core? And if he was, we don't know anything about it.

But you know what experiments we do know Gaster was working on, because it's literally one of the only pieces of dialogue we have from him?

And do you know what other creation was presumably made by Gaster, as Alphys is unfamiliar with it's operation? That is also a creation that was actively being used in experiments, which Alphys is continuing to perform herself? Experiments that are directly involved with something we already know can alter time and space? A creation that is located in one of the most mysterious areas in the game with several oddities in it that are straight up never explained, multiple fourth wall breaking moments, and a couple explicit references to things we believe are associated with Gaster? A creation that suspiciously resembles in appearance the form of a character who canonically can alter time and space, not to mention resembling the thing that's literally called a GASTER BLASTER???

#ignore the crusty spriters resource gaster blaster. google images is useless when it comes to finding actual gameplay screenshots. #anyways I may be completely out of the loop and everyone already knew this. but also the whole Core thing was basically accepted fanon #back in the day. and i only just realized it probably is a misinterpretation like less than a week ago #im not sure the determination extractor is the creation he fell into. but i think the creation he fell into is related to the extractor #also when looking up stuff for this i came upon the information that the tree man may be referenced in the true lab #when you enter the room filled with fog and try to inspect things it mentions a tree and a man. #not to mention the true lab being the debut of everyman of course. #and whatever the FUCK is up with the memory heads. who have a suspicious connection to phones btw. #actually Gaster has an incredibly suspicious connection to phones. like the spamton thing obviously but his presence seems to fuck up phone #the memory heads. the garbage noise in the dark world. hell GRANDPA SEMI is even directly related to phones. #considering one of the only two places he is mentioned is in a list of characters to have phone call events in the code of the demo. #also the art book mentions that the phone itself was originally a character. which kinda ties into the unused video game content theme. #this doesn't have much to do with this post im just rambling now. #anyways tl;dr i am now a 'gaster did not fall into the core' truther #undertale #deltarune #ut/dr #ut/dr theory

[smartycvnt]

Love and Devotion

Pairing: Harley Quinn x Reader

Prompt: 3. "There's nothing I wouldn't do to make you smile."

NR

WC: 1051

It took a certain kind of person to thrive in Gotham City. You had not always been that kind of person, but after your admission to Gotham University, that was what you had become. You remembered your first week in Gotham vividly. Sometimes, you still woke up drenched in your own sweat at night with night terrors because of it. No matter what you did or how much growth you thought you went through, those memories still haunted you. For quite some time, you had lived your life in a way to avoid anybody finding out because it was a huge weakness, but you couldn't live that way any longer. Especially not living in such close quarters with Harley. It had been hard enough to keep Harley away from picking your brain whenever the two of you had been casual.

"You wait right here with Auntie Y/n," Harley told Lucy. You couldn't imagine how hard it was for Harley to pretend that she wasn't her daughter's mother. It took a toll on her, even if she tried pretending that it didn't. Both of you were full of secrets, but slowly you were opening up to each other. "Maybe she'll even give you a piggyback ride. She gives the best piggyback rides."

"Really?" Lucy asked skeptically. You nodded as you glanced down at the girl. She looked so much like Harley sometimes that you couldn't believe it. All of the Quinzels looked pretty similar, but Lucy was practically a clone of her mother. You knew that was just luck. Lucy's life would have been a lot harder if she had any resemblance to Joker. Harley would have had a harder time integrating herself into Lucy's life that way. You would have had a much harder time allowing yourself to be included in that integration as well.

"Not to toot my own horn, but Aunt Harley doesn't tell lies," you said. Lucy climbed around to get on your back as she waited with you for Harley to grab snacks from the kiosk at the zoo. The three of you were just leaving to drop Lucy back off at Harley's sister's house before you went back to Gotham. These trips upstate were nice, especially for the few hours that Harley was at peace knowing how good Lucy's life was. You didn't doubt that Harley wouldn't give it her all to make Lucy's life enjoyable if she ever wanted custody, but you knew how hard that would be. Harley loved Lucy more than anything else in the world, but there was a level of devotion required to be a mother that Harley couldn't commit to, not after everything she had been through. Harley doubted herself just a little bit too much for that.

"She is out like a light," Harley said as she looked at Lucy in the rearview. You turned your head to look at the sleeping child in the backseat. You wondered if you would have ended up in a similar situation with someone else if your life had taken any other direction. You wouldn't have to use fake names or aliases whenever you came up here if you had. You'd still be stuck out in the Midwest probably married to some guy who worked at one of the local factories. Gotham had completely altered your life, but you liked where you were these days. There was never a boring day whenever you were with Harley, and for the most part, the two of you managed to keep the wrong people out of your business.

"I'm just about to join her. I swear that when I was younger kids were not so tiring," you said through your yawn. Harley shrugged as she slowed at a stoplight. "Although, I don't think that's a normal amount of energy for a child."

"Normal for a Quinzel. Henry was way worse than Lucy when he was that age, but boys are different. Do you think that you could handle a whole one of your own?" Harley asked you. She seemed sort of nervous, which was not something that you were used to. Harley always approached everything with complete confidence.

"After everything I've been through, I'm not really sure," you answered honestly. "The thought of a family scares the hell out of me. It's what I've always wanted, but I don't know if I'm the same person I was back then. And I could never raise a family in Gotham."

"We would move. There's a place I wanted to show you actually," Harley said. The two of you dropped Lucy off at home before going a little ways further out of the city. You had never been so far upstate before, but it was beautiful. Harley stopped at a farmhouse, one that looked like it hadn't been inhabited in years.

"What is this place?"

"My inheritance from my grandparents. Technically, it was supposed to be split, but Henry and Melinda let Penny buy them out. Whenever I dropped Lucy off, Penny was going to move her up here once I got my Joker problem taken care of. They came up, but the pollen wasn't good for Penny's kids. I pulled some strings to get them a nice place not too far from the city, so Penny left this whole place to me for whenever I wanted to settle down," Harley explained. You smiled as you looked around at the property. "I kind of thought one day it'd be Ivy and me here, but she's got her own sanctuary and I'm not a part of it anymore. Besides, there was never going to really be a settling down with that relationship. There's so much shit that I could never tell anybody else that I want to let you know because I know you wouldn't turn me away."

"We've all got our baggage," you said. Harley smiled, but it faded when she remembered one of the first things the two of you had discussed once you got serious.

"Are you okay with leaving everything in Gotham behind?" Harley asked you.

"In a heartbeat. There is nothing I wouldn't do to make you smile like you were today," you told her. Harley lunged at you, knocking both of you onto the grass as she excitedly peppered your face in kisses.

#harley quinn #harley quinn x reader #dc #dc x reader #my writing

[hopeymchope]

Why Raeliana Ended Up... Being So Awesome

"Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion" is SO fucking good - so much more up my alley than I ever expected - and I'm going to now struggle to explain why.

The short version is that it's all about the quality of writing and the likeability of our lead heroine. The dialogue is so human and the conflicts never feel based in stupid actions that could just be equally discussed. The characters are all smart and engaging. The animation's no slouch, either, and the opening song is a BANGER.

...okay, so there's a lot of stuff to like. But the writing is the MAIN factor.

I'm getting ahead of myself. See, this all began as a Korean serial web novel, and I would DEEPLY like to read it some day but DAMN, there doesn't seem to be an English translation. It was then adapted into a manwha that thankfully IS being published in English. (...I'd still rather have access to the original source material though.) And now it's additional gotten a visual novel that's coming to Steam and it has this anime adaption! The very last of those being how *I* finally discovered it.

You know what this shot implies *already*, don't you?

Let me get this disclaimer out of the way: This is... an isekai. And I usually recoil from isekai stories because it's not a setup I like to begin with, but they are also SO overdone by now that they feel SO generic.

And yet... lately I've found a couple delicious exceptions. Such as this one.

Lovely Sarcastic Independent Aggressive Manipulative Funny Adorable Badass

Your quick story setup: A young woman (in the web novel and manwha, she's Korean; in the anime, she's Japanese) is killed under mysterious circumstances and wakes up inside the body of Raeliana, a minor character from a Eurpoean Fantasy-style romance novel she recently read. In the book she read, Raeliana's murder is what spurs the main heroine of the story, Beatrice, to come home from studying abroad, investigate and charge the killer with his crime, and fall in love with the mysterious Duke Noah Wynknight along the way.

This immediately presents our New Raeliana with multiple concerns rolling around her brain:

She now lives in a world that resembles a Regency-era European country, albeit with magic and monsters. This means that, as a woman, her options for autonomy are limited. Women in this fantasy world may have slightly more freedom than they did in reality at the same time... but not by a lot. And this becomes an overarching issue to EVERYTHING ELSE she tries to do.

She wasn't fully reincarnated, either — she woke up inside an already-adult body. Which implies that she somehow stole it from the soul that previously inhabited it. If that's the case, where's the Original Raeliana? And how will New Raeliana feel about suddenly occupying another person's life and altering it by her actions, either unwittingly or intentionally?

New Raeliana knows from reading that novel that "she" — or rather, the body she's inhabiting — is supposed to die soon. She also knows who the culprit will be: Her own fiancée that she's been engaged to for years, with both families long having agreed upon the match. She has no intention of just letting herself die twice in rapid succession, but how is she going to get adequate leverage to break it off? And even if she does, will that actually change her fate?

....though if she doesn't die, where does that leave Beatrice's future?

Of course, New Raeliana is wielding the inside knowledge she gleaned from the book about this world and its characters. She uses those resources to work her way into a protective arrangement wherein she lives at the mansion of Duke Noah Wynknight under the guise of being his fiancée. (The Wynknights are evidently well-known for their tradition of incoming fiancées having to live in the same house with their future husband, albeit on separate floors.) Then it's matter of manipulating over events into her favor...

PLOTTING.

This situation makes Noah and Raeliana into Uneasy Allies. And many more challenges will threaten that alliance, as well as his standing and her own survival, including physical dangers from murderers and monsters, societal threats from plotting nobles, the potential exposure of their lies, emotional turmoil from within, and SO MUCH more.

Duke Noah ain't a slouch on SKETCHY-ASS behavior, either.

Ultimately, this is a love story — the kind where some initial antagonism melts into affection against the supposed "better judgment" of those involved. It's can pretty touching, honestly. But along the way, there's just so much fun dialogue and characterization PLUS some really badass bits. The greatness isn't in the concept; it's in the execution. Which is something that's kind of hard to explain in a review like this one. You just have to see it for yourself, and I don't want to ruin any of the highlights.

Well... maybe I can imply a few things.

FEATURING SUCH DELIGHTFUL TROPES AS:

Fake Relationship

Deconfirmed Bachelor

Bodyguarding a Badass

Belligerent Sexual Tension

The Quiet One

Violently Protective (Boy)friend

Wham Shot

#why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion #anime reviews #anime review #manwha #web novel #romance #suspense #raeliana mcmillan #noah wynknight #anime gifs

[givehimthemedicine]

more thoughts on Hawkins Lab / memory alteration / NINA / the rainbow rooms / Kali / Henry / El / Terry

(of possible interest to laozuspo and aemiron-main bc of that other HNL post / possible implications for Henry. no pressure tho you guys are both way ahead of me on this investigation)

Owens implies that he developed the NINA program only since El's power loss in case she ever needed it restored, but I have very strong doubts.

how does Owens know that NINA could bring El's powers back stronger than before unless this technique has already been used? best-case-scenario, tested on someone during recent development to make sure it works for El, but worst-case and more probable scenario, used to psychologically manipulate or bring out powers in the lab kids, maybe even El herself, in the past. maybe even Terry Ives (Becky specifically mentioned Terry doing sensory deprivation tank experiments, which is a component of NINA).

HNL has need to alter potentially all the kids' memories, not just Henry

the lab wants all those kids uniform and tractable, so they'll make good little lab rats / spies / assassins, right?

the lab-born kids like El would be relatively easy to mold, because the lab is all they know. but what about Kali, Henry, and any other kids who were wild-caught old enough to remember their former lives? you'd think even remembering the fact that there IS a world outside the lab would make them harder to control. don't they need to be wiped of their memories of their past lives and stripped of individuality, identity?

you would probably also want to wipe any kid after sending them on psionic spying / assassination missions so they don't retain classified info or gain too much knowledge of the outside world, lest they become an escape risk.

I think there's a strong possibility that NINA or equivalent was already used throughout the HNL program for this purpose.

I don't know how you straight up delete memories, but it's easy to see how NINA could be used to plant fabricated replacement memories. add a dash of brainwashing and presto.

Kali tells a little of her life after the lab, but I don't remember her saying anything about before it. all our knowledge about her kidnapping comes from that newspaper clipping, right? do you think she remembers her former life?

Henry is the only other kid we know is wild-caught, and he still has his pre-lab memories, but maybe that doesn't matter in his case because he's uniquely kept in line with soteria.

Two - Eighteen have to be free to use their powers for experimentation, so the lab can't soteria them, they have to be controlled a different way. the most secure way to keep someone imprisoned isn't with strong locks, it's for them not to fully realize they are imprisoned or that escape is even an option. I doubt any of the kids like the lab, but they probably have a limited awareness that there is any other place.

Henry's pre-lab memories could also have been made safe for him to keep (tampered with). we know Virginia was in cahoots with Brenner before Henry even went to the lab, and I wouldn't put it past her to cooperate with the creation of staged footage of Henry's home life to NINA him with. possibly even Alice, unwittingly. not Victor.

now let's talk about the rainbow room(s)

Kali and El both refer to a "rainbow room" in season 2, but the room we see in Terry's memories bears basically no resemblance to the season 4 one.

the areas Terry is seen searching look reasonably like a 70's hospital, and the rainbow room looks like be a small exam-room type area. but season 4's rainbow room is big, with tiled halls, heavy metal doors, high security, the whole works.

these definitely can't be the same room, but I've always wondered whether we're supposed to just fudge it and consider them to be the same?

did the lab retool and get a high-security makeover after the Terry incident, or did both places exist the whole time?

I haven't scoured every frame of the show so tell me if I'm off, but I think I'm deciding that no, the two rainbow rooms aren't supposed to be the same, and that HNL has always had both a publicly presentable hospital area (where the s2 rainbow room is), and a more intense locked-down lab/prison area (where the s4 rainbow room is). they serve the same purpose, just with different security levels.

the lab isn't the mid-70's hospital area made-over because for one thing, they still have a hospital area when Will is a patient there in 1984. this doesn't look like Terry's exact hallway, but note those wood-veneer doors and square plated handles.

HNL has always been both a "hospital" and a prison.

from the path we see Hopper take in 1x5, it would appear that the tiled hallway familiar to us from s1, El's room, etc, is on the ground floor, just beyond a keycard security access point. we see him get in the elevator and go down to the water tank / mothergate floor. he later describes this to Joyce as "upstairs vs downstairs".

but the lab is at least a handful of stories tall. so I feel like the hospital area must be on the second floor or up.

we aren't shown the path that Terry Ives takes to locate her rainbow room, but we do see her come walking from the direction of what looks like elevators just before she finds it, opposite bright windows, which I'm taking to mean that the Terry rainbow room was on an upper floor. not on the same floor as the s4 rainbow room.

tangent: is the hospital where Sara died supposed to also be Hawkins Lab? I thought that was in New York? this looks like a different landing in the same stairwell. I'm confused about the Hopper lore because I think some of it comes from the novels I haven't read and idk whether we accept that as canon. please advise?

anyway, idea: were the lab kids not numbered, not officially program subjects, from birth?

little Kali and El have long hair and seem allowed to wear fairly normal clothes during their free time. the tattoos go on left wrists and I don't think I see one on baby El, not that we're given a very good look.

the lab kids seem to be roughly a year apart each, but they don't go all the way down to babies. the youngest (Eighteen)'s actor was probably 7 or 8 at the time of filming. so there is such a thing as a minimum age for the program.

It can't be that they didn't start numbering the kids until after the Terry memory, because we saw Henry get tattooed in '59 or '60, very possibly before Two was even born.

I'm now chewing on a scenario where maybe young prospective lab kids were kept in a lesser-security area to be evaluated, and officially made test subjects only once they demonstrated powers.

after all, Brenner took newborn El because he expected Terry's abilities to be passed down, but you can't ask a baby to do telekinesis for you. it'll be a while before you get proof. and the lab can't be handing out number tattoos too hastily and wasting resources on some kids for years only to find they show no promise.

we know that didn't happen because there are no numbers 001-018 unaccounted for. no failed discarded subjects.

if not all people have equal latent potential, you can't pick all winners from the getgo, and if you also don't discard any failed numbers, that means you'd have to evaluate a bunch of kids, keep the best for the program, and discard the others before they ever become numbers. and if you do that (without just killing them), you probably wanna wipe their memories first so they don't go around telling what you're up to. this avenue of thought may be of interest to Will-as-a-lab-kid truthers (doesn't this require Will to be missing from home for a chunk of his childhood? explain to me please).

a program intake system like this could help explain how all the kids can be numbered neatly in order of age despite the ages of wild-caught kids being impossible to anticipate, which has bothered me for a long time. edit: I may have misjudged Kali's age, although if any other kids were wild caught I guess the question still bears asking

I hc this memory to have occurred during that preliminary observation time, unless they just didn't start shaving heads until the mid 70's. electric shock seems overboard for standard kid misbehavior. Kali must have already demonstrated psychic potential in order to be kidnapped in the first place, so I imagine this was probably disciplinary action for refusing to use her powers for them.

now let's look at El's and Kali's memories:

what event is this describing? if Kali escaped before El, how was Kali the one who found El gone?

could this be when El disappeared from rainbow room 1 and taken to rainbow room 2? did Kali ever see rainbow room 2?

or was El just in sick bay or isolation or something, and Kali thought she was gone-gone?

Henry corroborates Kali's escape being prior to El's. this puts Kali's escape after - what, say 73? 74? but before 79.

El apparently has no memory of Kali except for the one she got from Terry. did El lose her Kali memories (along with pre-massacre memories in general) from the coma, or did the lab wipe/brainwash her after Kali's escape, not wanting her to remember her at all?

because it's funny that even during the scene where Henry is jogging El's memory about Terry's visit, that same Kali rainbow room footage all we see. I know the scene was about her remembering Terry, not Kali, but it makes me wonder if she remembered that scene by way of her 1986 knowledge, or if that's also all 1979 El remembered about Kali?

El is struggling with the cognitive dissonance here - she insists that Mama died making her, even though she also does successfully recall the memory Henry is describing, and it upsets her. again, I imagine NINA is a lot better at restoring or implanting memories than at deleting them, so you'd have to rely heavily on old fashioned brainwashing to try to cover up an event like this. until Henry brought it up in 1979, El probably believed she had imagined it.

WHY does Kali pause like that before calling the Terry/rainbow room footage a "memory"? it makes me feel like she questions its veracity. either Kali was given different information about how kids enter the program, or she knows that isn't really how El's situation went down. or something. I'm suspicious of ALL lab related memories, even from the good guys.

flies in my ointment:

if Kali finding El gone is describing a time when El was taken out of my theoretical observation area and locked fully into the program, before Kali, you'd think she would have a lower number

if Kali escaped the observation area before she ever made it into the program proper, how was she already known as Eight? unless they were all numbered unofficially before that and just not tattooed yet, and if you gotta discard a kid you recycle their number

if you don't earn your number/tattoo/spot in the program until you're at least something years old, I wonder if El wasn't called Eleven as a toddler? Kali asks her name, she says Jane, and then Kali checks her wrist for the tattoo. I can't actually recall any proof that Kali remembers El as Eleven.

spinning my propeller hat and honking my clown nose:

HNL has high security and Terry already shot a guy on her way in. she had to have already had some idea of where to look in order to find El before the guards got to her. somebody told her where. hint: Henry somehow

did Henry lie and tell Kali that El was gone to prompt Kali's escape?

did Henry think he was telling the truth when he told Kali that El was gone, but really Brenner fed him that?

Kali seems less empathetic than El, do you think Henry would've had a similar alliance with her? why would he choose her to help escape. or did she not need help escaping?

why don't these people just ask each other the most obvious questions in the world AAAAAAHHH

#analysis #hawkins lab #mine #givehimthemedicine analysis #kali prasad #I ran out of brain in the middle of this post but you get my point

[multifandomteddybear]

What will Gwen and kiven be like in Ben 12?

Oh, boy, do I have ideas for these two!

Gwen:

- Instead of being a sassy, mature bookwoorm like in the prime universe, in dimension 12 she's an energetic, fun and hyperactive anime fan who can have a short attention span sometimes, unless it's something she's really interested in (like her family, magic and anime/manga), but she can still be a tough opponent despite kind nature

- She gets the Charm of Resurrection instead of the Charm of Luck

- Her hero alter-ego resembles a much more classic anime magical girl

- Her primary color is red and both her casual outfit and magical girl form are red and white

- Unlike classic Gwen, she actually gets along great with her cousin Ben (so the summer trip with Grandpa Max is organized in the first place not because the two need to be brought closer together but because Ben and Gwen themselves want to spend more time together as a family)

- Since I was personally never a fan of the retcon of Gwen's magic with Anodite species, I decided to not include Anodite-related stuff as a whole for my au, and make Gwen in Ben 12 the same type of magic user as Charmcaster, Hex, etc.

Kevin:

- In a lot of ways, Kevin in Ben 12 is similar to prime one but certain aspects are expressed more vividly, for example, he's more of a hardcore goth and is really into horror genre (primarily, well, gothic horror). It's actually gonna be his main interest instead of cars (I left the latter for another character)

- Just like Ben 10's Kevin, he was messed up by life in many ways but Ben 12's Kevin had some more loses in his life which led to him being more love deprived (in terms of any relationships) and, as a result, more possessive and overprotective of those he cares about (primarily Ben, Gwen and Argit), which he tries to overcome and show his affection in less drastic ways

- There will still be a Rooters arc for Kevin but there would be no "Kevin is a mutant, not an alien" reveal (he'll still be partially an alien Osmosian), only that Alan, Manny, Helen and Pierce were made part alien through experiments, using Kevin's powers

- I'm likely to make one of the ghoul aliens, likely Viktor, become Kevin's father figure, but I'm still trying to decide at what point of the timeline that would happen in

#ask and replies #ben 10 #ben 10 au #ben 12 #comfort ben #dimension 12 #gwen tennyson #kevin levin

[scaryspears]

Fem Young Severus Snape - Let's discuss

So I'm working on a story on archive of our own where Severus Snape leaves Hogwarts, but it's a fem Snape and it's tagged as Snape/Sirius and James, which I'm still unsure about. I love stories where characters realise their self worth and the toxic people behind and having character growth. Fanfiction or not those stories are the best.

But I'm mostly wondering what people think young female Severus Snape would look and be like, ignoring my fanfic counterpart that I already wrote up. I will be switching between him and her for addressing canon and fanmade Snape.

Now before any Snape supporters or bashers get onto me, I'll just quickly reveal that I haven't read the books and have only watched at least 4 films, but did some research in my mid teens in curiosity. I've always been interested in the characters, their dynamics, and what if scenarios, but never the magic.

There's a lot of fanart where she's given the same hair style as her male counterpart, and honestly I believe her hair would be much longer. Long to the point where it's unusual and makes her look unhinged. Long to the point where it's too easy for someone to pull it. Most of the time using it to cover her face, unsuccessfully hiding herself from the marauders. I can imagine her eyes and face glaring creepily at anyone who disturbs her, with her nose sticking out through it. She would have a really ghostly appearance, and if you count the mudblood incident you would sense the distress, anger and sadness waving off of her. I'm also thinking of this fanart made by @iscawen.

For an obsessive personality I would take inspiration from Palm Siberia. Palm starts off as creepy but goes off to become someone we sympathise with. Not saying that you have to sympathise with Snape, but I think he's someone to pity at a logical standpoint. I'm also speaking as someone who could relate to certain parts of his character.

Her obsession with Lily has more to do with being her first and only true friend. I think Snape wants love, but that love needs to come in different forms other than romance. With the whole unpleasant parents thing, and people staying many feet away from her due to her unruly appearance, it's safe to say that Snape latches onto Lily for a reason. She wants to be appreciated, cared for, recognised for something good rather than the bad omen that the people she's stuck with think she is. And she doesn't want to be punished for being a bad omen. I guess the same could be said for canon young Snape.

I don't ship them together, and I cringe whenever I come across a fanfic that does. Not only is it fun to hate Lily, but the whole marrying your former friend's childhood bully even though he's changed is super suspicious.

With the leaving Hogwarts thing Snape would have to realise that Lily isn't the angel that her mind made her out to be, but I don't know if that's while she's at Hogwarts or after she leaves.

By this time Snape gets a makeover, none of that altering physical features stuff. Just giving her healthier hair and skin, I don't think she needs make up but I think something Goth related would suit her. The story is set in the 70s so it was more of a decade filled with punk fashion (not everywhere of course) which would suit Sirius. (Another note that isn't relevant, when the fandom gives Snape makeover stories they always change his nose to be smaller, you'll be some hating ass people). I bet Snape had a thing for formal attire so I think she'd wear something similar to Wednesday Addams. I can definitely picture her with a black pencil skirt and blouse.

Also the 70s where a different time when it comes to beauty standards compared to the ones of today, I genuinely think a lot of guys would be into her even though a lot of people in the fandom love making Snape out to be some hideous creature. I think she would resemble Shelly Duvall or Angelica Hudson.

Note: @iscawen sorry that I didn't use your permission before putting up the art, if you want I can edit this post and remove the picture. I really love it and wanted to use it as a reference as well as inspiration.

#female severus snape #harry potter #hp fandom #marauders #snape love #snapedom #young snape #snape apologist #Lily Evans Potter bashing #snape content #snape community #hp snape leaves au

[mollish-art]

Hi same anon who wrote the revive niki ask I really enjoy the whole study on bodily autonomy and the continuing fridge horror of having that be so irrevocably violated that death is honestly a reasonable and respected desire and could very well be interpreted as a happy ending. However I also think it’s cool to speculate on how these characters would exist out of showfall. What accommodations would Niki or Ranboo need to live comfortably in a home? Pain medication? Specialized methods of communication given that ranboo can’t really use sign language (could they?) and Niki can’t read braille? Does Niki need water or could she slither around on carpet and hardwood? Would ejther need aid in the form of mobility devices?

also why was Niki just singing in the middle of nowhere and trying to lure people , is that just behavior showfall had her do for plot reasons? Is she also motivated by constant hunger like ranboo and this is how she lures prey? Is she just on a murder spree because why tf not at this point? Is her perception being altered?

For starters, both U!Niki and U!Ranboo would need to be extraordinarily wealthy to afford the operations they would need to 'restabilize' themselves. And it would also depend on just how much they would want to attempt to 'fit in' with the rest of society.

U!Niki would likely want to replace her hands and tail with standard human-looking prosthetics. But even then, it's not just her legs which have been removed, but everything from her waist downwards, so her entire excretory system would have to be replaced somehow (I haven't done enough research to know what real-world alternatives there may be). She would likely end up in a wheelchair. There's the additional issues of her blindness, although she could benefit from having a guide dog of some kind. But she would not be able to read brail with her hands, I'm afraid, so she would have to make use of other forms of assistive technology.

Ranboo would probably have an easier time of re-adjusting. He would likely just replace his forearms and forelegs with standard prosthetics, but would need to have a lot of orthopedic/physical therapy, especially with his back. He would probably need the aid of a mobility device, at least until he adjusts. As for U!Ranboo's mask, he would probably keep most of what Showfall has already implemented (since it's not just his jaws that have been altered but the whole area from his cheeks to his larynx) as that has already been fitted perfect for him. He would probably just seek to replace the segmented mandibles with something resembling a regular human jaw, and then just use a mask to cover up that part of his face (like CC!Ranboo does now). As for communication, he would probably seek to learn sign language.

As for your last questions regarding U!Niki singing before Charlie and Sneeg encountered her, I partially answered that in another ask just before this. Showfall programmed her to lie in wait in this area, allowing her to believe that the only people she would encounter would be Showfall employees. Regardless of her programming, however, U!Niki no longer believes that anyone would help her, anyway (after all, no one did anything back in the warehouse to prevent her death). Much like U!Ranboo, she's accepted the violent role Showfall has forced upon her, but wants to get back at those who made her this way in the first place. So yes: she sings to lure in potential victims, although she never would have imagined that those victims would be people who actually want to help her. In a word, she's given up hope, and believes that the only thing she is capable of receiving now is, if not freedom and salvation, revenge.

#UnpersonGL

[orange-orchard-system]

I can't really talk to my friends about this because most of them are singlets and I don't want to post about it because I worry about attracting syscoursers but I've been following your blog for a while and I'm curious about something you might be able to comment on or respond to in some way (I know you're not a super-authority and can't 're-diagnose' me or anything but I struggle to find information on this anywhere, I'm just curious):

I was evaluated a few times for DID/OSDD to 'narrow down' what I'm experiencing and living with since I have a concurrent psychotic condition but long suspected I might be a system (I won't be too specific but my evaluations were spread out, from 2018 to 2020) but I also had a lot of shame and anxiety about that possibility, due to feeling like I wouldn't be believed, or that I'd be judged and stigmatized (I feel much differently about it now but, at the time, I sort of wanted to be proven wrong). It was concluded that my experiences most closely resemble OSDD-1/DDNOS-1b; a system with alters and no DID-typical amnesia.*

I have identified 12 distinct headmates in therapy since then. I try not to rely too heavily on those guides about defined roles alters have because all of them I find online are DID-centric and don't always match the 'roles' my headmates fill, but I know that I have memory-holders (for both trauma-related memories and memories that have nothing to do with trauma). And I don't have DID-typical amnesia but (I'm sorry this is getting long, I felt the context was necessary) I just want to know if it's common for OSDD-1 systems like me to sometimes have 'denied access' to memories? It's difficult to describe but there are memories that I know exist somewhere in my mind, because they get described in my headmates' notes or when they are fronting during therapy sessions... but I can't access those memories.

My therapist is trauma-specialized but not an DID/OSDD expert... she's learning alongside me from her mentors. I would ask her about this stuff but I don't know what insight she could provide me. I just wondered if you had any... thoughts? Comments? Advice seems like too big of a request, I just don't quite know what to make of this.

Before I speak on anything, I'm just going to affirm what you said about us not being an authority or expert. Don't take what we say as gospel; I, for one, am just going to spitball my thoughts, and the others may do so, too.

I think what you said about not having access to some memories is common. Even systems with higher memory sharing and fewer amnesiac barriers usually have a few memory issues; just because your amnesia is not "as bad" as it might be if you had DID doesn't mean it automatically doesn't exist.

We have periods of "denied access" too, sometimes, even in situations where we want to share memories, and those memories aren't traumatic or hurtful in nature. Have you heard of the concept of "the veil"? It's not an official concept or anything, more of an idea that's tossed around the disordered system community. This "veil" is like an amnesia barrier between the front and the rest of the innerworld, and you can forget things by going in-between the two. I don't know if it has any relevance to you, I just wanted to bring it up because it's something that causes a lot of our "denied access" moments. Could be worth looking into and figuring out if it exists for your system, even if it's not what's causing the memory problems you're talking about here.

To wrap this up – amnesia is weird, and nebulous, and doesn't always make sense, because neither do brains as a whole. If you're having these problems, then shit, they sure do exist I guess! But it probably doesn't mean you need to re-evaluate your diagnosis. As I said earlier, OSDD systems usually have at least a little amnesia, it's just not on the same level as DID. If one child gets hit with a baseball bat and another gets hit with a stick, is the second child not really in pain just because the first child is hurt worse? Of course not! That'd be ridiculous. So don't tie yourself up in knots over your memory problems. If they exist, they exist, and you can either wear yourself down to the wire worrying about them, or get to work on figuring out what to do now that they exist.

I'm gonna let someone else from my system leave their own comments, now. See ya!

- random headmate who somehow managed to forget their own name thanks to – you guessed it – the veil.

—

Okay, resident gatekeeper here to speak on amnesia I guess. Here goes nothing.

We're a DID system, and as such I can't speak on what's normal for OSDD/DDNOS systems from a place of personal experience. However, I can say that the amnesiac divide between DID and OSDD isn't as clear-cut as it may seem at first glance. Some psychiatrists make the distinction on whether one experiences "black-outs" of memory. In the ICD-11, no such distinction exists as OSDD is not a diagnosis, and you would likely be diagnosed with DID instead. The amount of amnesia one "needs" to have DID isn't an exact science. It's closer to guesswork, as is a lot of things in the field of psychology.

So with that said, I don't think it's useful to worry about whether it's "normal" for an OSDD system to experience this form of amnesia. As my headmate said, if you're experiencing it, you're experiencing it, and that's all that really matters. ... Well, it's all that would really matter to us, if we were in your shoes. I think a simple step to take next is to ask yourself why this matters to you. Are you worried that you may have been diagnosed incorrectly because this amnesia was not previously known? That's an issue you can bring up with your therapist and seek out more specialized psychologists for. Let them duel out where the line between OSDD and DID is. Bring some popcorn and make sure not to forget the candy too, because you'll likely be waiting a long while for a consensus. Figure out for yourself if you feel that DID may have been a better diagnosis, or if you think you can understand this as part of your OSDD.

But as a short answer that has less to do with psych critical philosophy... Yeah, that's probably normal. OSDD systems typically have some amnesiac barriers.

It can definitely be annoying, distressing even, to find that some of your memories are so close yet so far. Any upset you feel about this is perfectly understandable, and it's okay to feel that way. You can try improving communication with your system, which will likely help lessen amnesia between you, and keeping a record of your memories is a quick fix if you're worried about forgetting something important. Just remember that forgetting things isn't a personal failure. It's just something that happens sometimes, especially with disorders like these.

Hope this helps. Stay strong, anon.

- Tarot

#amnesia #asks #tarot.txt #front soup.txt

[finsterhund]

I'm planning to finally write the long awaited update to my first medium article on Sly, so I went back and read my past articles and holy shit did I dump trauma into them. God. The one where I talk about needing to replace Ope because he won't survive much longer if I keep chewing on him pretty much documented how my life fell apart when Cazza left remission for the last time. Seeing photos of her on it made me fucking break. I tried reading the one about stuffed dogs that resemble Spot and I had her REVIEW EACH ONE. She was like my little coauthor. God.

No wonder it's gotten so much harder to write those. I'm missing my best friend who gave irreplaceable input.

I want to write the Sly II of Sly II though because I want to share the collective information I've found about Sly since then. It's criminal that unless you get your hands on a tag of Charlene's forever toys to read it yourself their stories are all lost to time.

If I had the energy I'd make my own fansite. Provide more lore info than egnome provides for them. But sadly I'm too exhausted. Just Sly for me. Also you literally have to buy one complete with tags to see the whole tag story and obviously I'm going to limit the amount of 300 dollar stuffed animals I buy thank you very much. My first, Sly II I got for way less than he's worth and my upcoming Christmas present I'm drastically reducing my calorie intake to afford. (Don't worry, they are raising my disability income for the new year and I'm not destitute yet lol)

I just. Man. I keep thinking what it must have been like when Charleen was around and actively making these guys. Meeting up at toy expos and such. All in the US, yeah, but still. Would have loved to meet her. Asked all about Sly. Back when her toys were still in production getting promotional materials would have been easier too. Apparently she had a little fan magazine she shipped out every so often where people could send in letters? That's the sort of stuff you don't get with mass produced toys but is also too much work for modern independent creators who are treading water in today's economy. The egnome mailing list doesn't even work anymore. I wonder when it stopped running.

I'm still not giving up on trying to recreate my own backup Sly, but I'm just so tired all the time. I wish I had a workshop and wasn't just doing everything in life straight outta my bedroom. If you saw my bedside table situation and the mess it is you'd all hurl. The discount section of a fabricland was shit out all over every even remotely flat available surface.

As futile as it seems and as tired as I am, I am also pleased to report that some level of progress is being made though. I'm designing ideas to make my own take on the character distinct enough from the original. I'm also on that subject thinking about finally learning how to quilt. For real this time. Using my roommate's sewing machine is a pain in the ass so most of what I'm doing is by hand so not as nice looking but I have more control and am less likely to murder my hand.

I keep wishing we could go to the other thrift store so I can go on a quest for a ton of vintage buttons. I'm looking for upholstery buttons specifically. God that's another thing. I love buttons. You know that? I should make a quilt that also serves as a button collection. And I still want to one day make a quilt from many of Cazza's old things but currently I can't bear to alter them in any way so I've put them in a tote in my closet so I don't stare at them and cry.

Good news in that I cleaned my room a bit and that Scott is almost finished with his ear medicine. He's become such a good boy about letting me out the drops in his ears. Really adaptable he is.

I keep thinking about how I wish I could go back to drawing tons of Heart of Darkness fan art again. But I remind myself that my very own Whisky died in my arms and yeah. It's no wonder I don't have the heart to do what I'm passionate about anymore.

Maybe I make a Sly entirely out of the dollar store paw print blankets of which Cazza died with. I'd get brand new ones, enough to make the Sly, don't know how many that would take but they're a nice texture. I have old fleece I got at a discount that reminds me of the Cazza collar maybe I could make a Cazza Sly and give him a Cazza collar.

Another thing is there's just been no info on the crying dog. None at all. I didn't stop caring about him. Just that nothing new has happened. Very sad.

Hopefully playing pikmin 3 and then 4 will be a nice reprieve. I can hope.

#text post #negative #long post

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

fine line - a close reading

gonna cry bc i’m at the end, gonna cry bc it’s fine line.

(x x x)

want to give the same disclaimer as with lights up: this song is so layered, so multi-faceted, that i could never hope to give an exhaustive analysis. due to its vagueness and openness for interpretation, i assume that everyone, just like me, has their own ideas about it and has attached importance to it in ways that no one else’s words can or should alter. this song means the world to me for reasons that aren’t necessarily in this post, and that’s how it is with art that touches us deeply. i’ve tried my best to pull it apart, lay it bare, spread it open, if you will, so it’s almost as free as it can be for you all to form your own opinion on it. in the synthesis i will make my own conclusions, but feel free to ignore that if yours are totally different. i’m just one set of brain and heart taking in fine line and projecting whatever i think is right onto it. alright, let’s go

fine line, track 12

sung in falsetto

live version at the form: first verse not sung in falsetto - after first chorus goes into falsetto - like “thinking of her” has summoned her

live version at the form: first verse not sung in falsetto - after first chorus goes into falsetto - like “thinking of her” has summoned her

Put a price on emotion

pouring emotions into the art you create: how much is genuine / how much do you show - line between being authentic to your audience and giving away too much, wanting to keep things to yourself and not feeling truthful with what you’ve written

exploits of the industry: lay your soul bare - or the exact opposite, some pretend emotion - to score that hit

I'm looking for something to buy

cynical. emotions aren’t genuine, right? where can i go buy some?

～ lights up themes. fake life, industry, being a sell-out

You've got my devotion

But man, I can hate you sometimes

“you” = career, music, Harry Styles™. devoted to the craft, to the job, all the ups and downs of it, despite the hardships it brings 

“man” is deliberate: can be seen as an offhand interjection, like “man, that’s rough”, but nothing is casually placed in this song. “man” is: The Man, the heads in the industry, the people pulling the strings. The man in Harry, the man he’s been in the media all these years, the part he’s played/had to play, the man that’s in him

⟶ “hate you”: hate for industry shit, self-hate created by having to play pretend (～ only angel analysis, the persona of the Bukowski womaniser)

“sometimes” - it’s not fucked up all the time

“you” could also be a lover, but the sudden “hate” there then would be for that person, which is absent in any other song about them, doesn’t make any sense

I don't want to fight you

And I don't want to sleep in the dirt

like there’s a choice to me made, but he doesn’t want to make it: either I fight this “you” or I sleep in the dirt

“you” as the industry: if he doesn’t fight them, he might end up being a beggar, lose all his self-worth bc he gave in to everything they asked/told him to do

“you” as himself: fight your instincts, part of who you are/the persona. if he doesn’t fight to figure himself out, though, he fears he’ll also lose

“sleep in the dirt” as a sense of rejection, as well

We'll get the drinks in

So I'll get to thinking of her

drinks to cope - falling, only angel, from the dining table - or to be braver and confront emotions better - tbsl

who is “we”? who is “her”?

narrative of “you” as “lover” further disproven: if “I” and the lover get together over drinks and “I” starts thinking of “her”?

⟷ “her” could be the lover, but then who is “you”? the industry? some other person, besides that lover, harry is devoted to? multiple lovers, all of a sudden? no.

⟶ “I” and “you” are all harry, that get to thinking of “her” because she is in daydreams with him. the narrative that harry is fighting a part of him, the persona he has (had) to play bc of industry limits, makes most sense. that persona is within him now, and part of his work, but all of him, “we”, is begging to come into the light - of which she is a huge part

We'll be a fine line

balancing act. let everything coexist but pay attention that those lines don’t get crossed the wrong way. what we are, what i am, is a fine line between what makes us go under and what lets us thrive

we will be: determination to fulfil this prophecy, statement of fact “we always will be”

“we’ll be a fine line”: other way of interpreting it is that on both sides of that line is what entails “we”, all that is harry. what merges on that fine line is where it’s just right, when harry is fully himself in every way

“fine line” can also be an echo of criticism, bigotry, in the style of: it’s a fine line between being simply flamboyant and queer, between dressing like that and people thinking you’re a transvestite or summat (cause we wouldn’t want that, now, would we) - “we’ll be a fine line” could be owning all of it. putting himself in the middle of all those messy lines, as someone queer without a category

Test of my patience

patience with himself - kindness to self - took a long time to figure shit out and it was a challenge

waiting for change: industry and its allowances/openness

There's things that we'll never know

my favorite line

“we” = harry / harry and company / us in general, all of us listening 

～ tpwk “i don’t need all the answers”: deep sense of acceptance

peace to be found in accepting this!!

You sunshine, you temptress

“sunshine” - as in all the love songs (blue skies, sunflowers, summer days…): lover - possible that there are multiple “you”s in this song?

sunshine could ofc also be directed at the temptress, still

female “temptress” - “i’ll get to thinking of her” - she - it’s tempting for harry to think of her all the time, to lose himself in the “her” in him

other interpretation for “temptress”: woman he knows with negative influence in his life - resemblance to woman “you flower, you feast”, so echo of Bukowski ～ only angel, kiwi (my sunshine, my love, who is involved with this temptress…)

My hand’s at risk, I fold

⟷ tpwk “dropping into the deep end”

not showing his cards just yet / forfeits

anxious to show all of him, to take the chance, with all the risks and consequences involved

Crisp trepidation

I’ll try to shake this soon

nervousness, anxiety - about (not) taking (enough) chances, (not) laying himself bare (release of the album that reveals much more than before)

“crisp” fresh, this feeling is unfamiliar - change is coming “soon”

sense of agency: I can get rid of this feeling by my own volition and make these changes - hesitant, insecure: “try”

wants to be braver. he’s not going back, but still needs to calmly coax himself further and further into the light, out into the open (“we’ll be alright”)

Spreading you open

Is the only way of knowing you

(can anyone else hear “spread thin” like a whisper under “spreading”? or am i imagining things.)

“you” is back - the only way of knowing “you” is to spread them open - the physical

to spread someone open - very literal, don’t need to paint the picture, or to lay bare, to lay it all out 

⟶ “you” as himself - the only way of knowing who i am is by doing this: writing this album, performing these songs, letting others listen in and form their own interpretations, let this world grow where i’m laid bare and OPEN and exist as this person who has issues, who is angry, who doesn’t know who he is a lot of the time, but is still so happy to be here - let it spread and let it all circle back to me so i can grow deeper into myself

We'll be a fine line

We'll be alright

“we” = h & self, h & lover, h & fans

collectiveness from tpwk

(notes on a piano sounding like drops, like he’s emerged from the water and dripping dry)

SYNTHESIS

Everything about this song is plural. Personal pronouns are all over the place. I, you, her, we. The sound is incredibly layered, with Harry’s own voice echoing through its verses like he’s singing to himself in an empty cave. Meanings can be attached to every word like it’s a wax tablet used too many times. What Harry has said in interviews for once holds pretty true to the actual meaning, in my opinion. 

“It felt like it described to me the process of making it and how the album felt in terms of the different kinds of songs on it.” (Capital FM)

This can mean a lot of things, and I think it means all of the things, of course. It means Fine Line is a summary of all of his emotions he visited on the album, of the things he’s laid bare. And it means that the actual process was also described, as one that can be frustrating and challenging, with added industry shit. 

Harry has expressed straightforward gratefulness to his label for "leaving (him) alone” while making the album and that speaks volumes. This time, he had the chance to make his art without the constant interference of a label, which meant he could weave in criticism as well. “Put a price on emotion” is first and foremost a critique on the industry. It’s the first line of the song, setting the tone for the interpretation of this song is about the risks I took while making this album. It involves criticism on an industry that creates such an atmosphere that only a certain type of music and artist breaks through or can be successful, that limits people in their personal expression. Convinces them that it’s better that way. That it’s better to hide who they love because the general public won’t accept them. That it’s better to create a song about a fake emotion than be honest. Harry loves writing songs and being on stage, but it’s taken a while for him to be fully comfortable there as a solo artist and bloom into the person that could make Fine Line. He loves his career, but it’s also limited his freedom in ways beyond our comprehension, and it’s exploited him to the point where he didn’t know who he was, in ways that have clearly taken a toll on his mental wellbeing. To a point where he finishes this album reassuring himself, most of all, that everything will be alright.

That process of making Fine Line obviously includes Harry confronting emotions he hadn’t before. He has stated that he experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows while making it. There are things he hates, he was fighting but doesn’t want to (anymore), uncertainties he was trying to figure out but had to accept he couldn’t, risks he still doesn’t know he can take without shaking. At the centre of it all is this sense of “knowing you.” The different personal pronouns in the song paint a fractured picture, which is ultimately deliberate. That the “you” Harry is devoted to and can hate sometimes doesn’t line up with “her,” that the end focus does seem to be this “you” that is mentioned in the same breath as “man” and “temptress,” forming the “we” together with “I”. 

After having songs like Lights Up, She, Falling and even TPWK, one of the central themes on the album has undoubtedly been self-discovery, in all its pain and glory. There are no female pronouns on the album besides, obviously, in She, and then here, in Fine Line. She is about a man living with a woman “just in his head”, who “sleeps in his bed while he plays pretend.” It is very clearly a trans narrative, the story of someone struggling to put into words what they’re experiencing in terms of gender. To a point that they fantasise about running away. Fine Line brings the ideas of knowing what it all means, which Lights Up kicks off (“do you know who you are?”), Falling deepens (“what am I now?”) and Treat People With Kindness turns on its head (“I don’t need all the answers”), together. Harry is still doubtful, and the questions asked earlier in the album haven’t disappeared, but he has accepted that “some things we’ll never know.” His aim, however, is still “knowing you.” 

To have Fine Line, as the summary of these emotions of self-growth and self-discovery, echo that one female pronoun, speaks volumes. It is a direct reference to She, to that story about gender. “Her” in this song refers to “she (who) lives in daydreams with (him).” The one who still only fully comes out when they’ve had a drink. The one he’s still working to include in who he is, as he tries to figure out who he is, all of it. The song where he sings in falsetto, just like on Fine Line. Of which he sang the first verse an octave lower live at the forum, switching between those voices, those perspectives. That’s also why “you” in this song is also Harry to me. We get this fractured sense of self, this “I” and “you” conversing over a drink, this “you” Harry is devoted to and wants to figure out. “You” and “I” form “we” and all of them are Harry. The lines are blurry on purpose, there is no way to figure out where “you” ends and “I” begins. 

“You sunshine, you temptress” is the most enigmatic line in that respect, and to me blurs those lines even more between the pronouns. “You” is suddenly also identified by a female noun. And no this isn’t about some kind of love triangle. “Sunshine” aligns with all the odes to his lover in the rest of the album. So what does that mean? That there are multiple “you”s in this song, meaning that Harry is addressing both his lover and a temptress? So “her” he’ll get to thinking of, the only other female pronoun used in the song, is identified as a temptress, but tempting to do what? To take risks? And no I won’t forget the “man, I can hate you sometimes,” where "man” is not a casual interjection but an identifier of “you.” 

Or is it an echo of “the light” from Golden’s “bring me back to the light” and Light’s Up’s “step into the light”? So that the “sunshine” symbolises being in the clear, being out of the darkness running through his heart, the darkness caused by not knowing who you are. “You sunshine,” you beacon of light. “You temptress,” risk-taker and source of anxiety. You, one I need to spread open to figure out, to know about, source of happiness and despair, one I’m devoted to but also hate. You, man, you, temptress. You there, in the mirror looking back at me. 

All of you, and myself included, we’ll be a fine line. And we’ll be alright.

This song is about all of that. The self in art, the self on its own, the other, the journey, the chances, the fears, the passion. Hope. Reassurance. Confidence. And, most importantly, that everything will be alright in the end.

x

read all my lyric analyses here

#lzjrkfhlejrhgfzjehgrfjhaegrfjhger #i'm done #it's done #this is it #did i have to take breaks to get through this? yes #did i write this with tears in my eyes at times? yes #very much yes #this song.............. oh this song #will i fret and fret wondering if i did it justice? permanently #it means so much to me and it literally makes barely any sense #it's so fucking beautiful #we can try to make sense of it but it's impossible #as it should be #wow #cause of death: fine line #fine line analysis #my post #lyric analysis #gaaaahhhhhh #harry what you do to me #long post

[drazavonia]

RE: Theory of a possible past or future for Kairi & Stella 

Future

At the end of M.O.M, along with some pushback from Riku, Kairi decides against going to Quadratum to resume her training with Aqua in the Realm of Light. 

But, I noticed something odd towards the end of that scene.

When a dejected Kairi admits she has to continue her training, the camera shifts onto the Nameless Star. Stella can clearly hear everything spoken to her, so is this telling us that it was important that she overheard Kairi's dialogue?

Right after that, the camera shifts back to Kairi making a fist over her chest/heart. This pose is commonly associated with a character gaining newfound resolve or understanding to accomplish a goal. In most cases, and in this case, this pose represents a character's proclamation, "To become stronger".

Was Stella intrigued to hear Kairi’s declaration to become stronger? We know she wants to do whatever she can to help Sora, but what if like Kairi she wished she could do more? 

The star is Stella's heart, but what if when the camera transitioned back to Kairi's hand over her heart it was meant to be indicative of some past or future connection between the two?

I theorized before M.O.M dropped that maybe Stella would join Kairi's heart to find Yozora when Kairi went to find Sora. It would be a callback to how Sora carried Kairi’s heart  throughout KH1.

Not to mention, Stella seems to desire having a body once again. Maybe she could share Kairi's body, allowing Stella to take over sometimes, similar to the Yugi twins.

Past

Another interpretation of this scene: when Xehanort jettisoned Kairi off of Radiant Garden within the Ark, somehow she arrived in Quadratum and her heart somehow became fused with Stella, or her heart was able to make a connection with Stella.

Like the other characters in VERUM REX, Stella's design is heavily based on her original design. But in this case the only big difference between the original and new designs, is the hair.

We've seen before that someone's physical appearance can be altered by their heart(s), memories and connections. 

When Xehanort replaced Terra's heart with his own, Terra's body gained the physical characteristics of a young Xehanort. (Ashen Hair, Amber Eyes and slightly tanned skin)

Replica Xion originally had no face at all, but Xion received Sora's memories of Kairi, changing her face to resemble Kairi. Also, before replicas can take a heart, either the replica body or the heart must contain the appropriate memories. 

Vanitas gained the face of a dark-haired Sora after Ventus' dying heart bonded with Sora's heart. Vanitas was Ventus' missing half, so Sora filled that missing half and as such Vanitas gained the face of Sora.

I'm more inclined to believe that if somehow Kairi made it to Quadratum and resonated with Stella, then the case would be more similar to Xion.

Again this would leave some possibilities. Maybe Kairi's heart bonded or fused with Stella's, changing her hair from blonde to reddish-brown. (Like Terra)

Maybe just like Xion, if their hearts resonated somehow, Stella gained some of Kairi's memories.

"WE HAVE FAILED."(A tangent)

Yozora's shoulder patch on his jacket has two keyblades crossed with a skull on top. The skull looks to have a combo of Sora's hair(right) and Riku's new hair(left) or a flip/mirror of Sora's kh1 hairstyle. The symbol of two keyblades crossing has appeared in two important places previously within the series:

Both times the keyblades crossed were two of Kingdom Key L.

On the "Duality" wallpaper, it indicates Sora and Roxas becoming one heart, unlocking Final Form. 

On the x-blade, the keyblades overlap a heart of darkness. This reminds me of how Vanitas described his relationship with Sora and Ventus.

Two hearts in sync, either of pure light and pure darkness. Or in their case, a greater whole of two pure hearts of light joined by the shadows they cast together.

Sora= 50% Light/ (1) Kingdom Key

Ventus= 50% Light/ (2) Kingdom Key

Vanitas = Sora's 50% & Ventus' 50% Darkness/ Heart of Pure Darkness

It's possible and most likely that Yozora is an amalgamation of the hearts of Keyblade Wielders. 

However, like Apprentice Xehanort, he may lack the memories of those Keyblade wielders.

As such he may lack the memory of being capable of summoning a Keyblade. 

Why could this be important? 

If the hearts of the children of the Keyblade War went to Quadratum using Kingdom Hearts as a gateway of sorts to the Unreality and the Master placed those hearts within vessels of his choosing (Yozora & co.), which may be why he gave each child a Chirithy, to take away the memories contained within their mind. (Which may be why Chirithy was waiting for Ventus in The Final World.)

The Master may be trying to assemble as many warriors who follow his command without question (like the Foretellers).

I think on of the Master's endgames is to bring all Keyblade Wielders from Reality to the Unreality to be hunted down and captured.

In other words, like so many other people have theorized since the end of KH3, I also think the Master is assembling:

KEYBLADE HUNTERS

But why?

Why would he want to get rid of Keyblade wielders? Or why would he want to get rid of Keyblades entirely? Especially considering he created them.

Keyblades have shown numerous and incredible powers, as well as enabling their wielders to pull off Incredible Feats.

But the Keyblade has shown to have power over and to be powered by what this series is best known for: The Heart.

Keyblades have been used to manipulate the heart. 

They can be used to traverse the heart with the POW.

They can be used to unlock hearts or remove them altogether. 

They can help someone to replace the heart of another with theirs.

They can be used to wake someone's heart and restore someone's original form.

The powers that keyblades has over the heart makes them pretty game changing. And that would make them a huge problem for the game the Master's trying to play.

Keyblade wielders could manipulate the hearts/characters that the Master had assembled. Just like Xehanort, the Master is trying to control the minds of his Warriors by depriving them of their original memories and assigning them roles to carry out just like the Foretellers (and just like rpg characters).

This means any traces of Keyblades in Quadratum must be eradicated by all means. In Kairi/Stella's case, knowing the "word" keyblade (kh2 intro) or having the memories of "a keyblade wielder" made them a primary target to seize and nullify any possible problems they could create using that information. 

For example, in kh3 remind hearing Saix call out Roxas and Axel's names caused the memories in Xion to stir. This messed with Xion and prompted her to irrationally go berserk on Axel.

Xehanort had made it to Quadratum prior to BBS somehow and was most likely also pursued for being a Keyblade wielder. Apprentice Xehanort must have regained the knowledge of the Unreality amidst the recovery of his memories. 

If Stella gained Kairi's mission from Xehanort to seek out a keyblade wielder in a world where Keyblades and anything associated with them are forbidden, that would explain his ominous last words to her:

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts 3 remind #kairi #melody of memory #kingdom hearts melody of memory #stella #stella nox fleuret #xion #yozora #xehanort #sora #sora kh #verum rex #ventus #vanitas

[dreamsister81]

"If  you listen to the lyrics of Hallelujah closely, you  notice  it’s a  song  about  sex,  about  love,  about life on Earth. The hallelujah isn’t a tribute to a worshipped person, an idol or a god, but it’s the hallelujah of orgasm. It’s an ode to life and to love."-OOR, August, 1994

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Why did you cover a Leonard Cohen song?

Because I find myself in Hallelujah, not because of Cohen.-Knust interview, September 13, 1994

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“Any of the covers on the album are there because they mean a certain thing in my life that I love and I miss. One day I was house-sitting for a friend and she left her whiskey out and I got into it and hit this horrible sorrowful jag. I went to the gig-Sin-É, in fact-weeping like a fucking animal. The whole time. I sang ‘Hallelujah’ that night and I got through the show just on the edge of tears. I don’t know why. It just wells up inside you."-Hot Press, October 5, 1994

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And this version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", does he know the John Cale version? "Well, actually, I'm playing John Cale's version, that's where I got it from, from that record "I'm Your Fan" that I listened to at a friend's house. I also know Leonard's original, but he doesn't sing every verse, the way John interprets it is so...simple."-Rock & Folk, October, 1994

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" 'Hallelujah' for example I learned in New York from John Cale after a year working at Sin-é on a day when I found myself crying like a baby and that song expressed exactly what I was feeling. A title like 'Hallelujah' makes one think of the church, of morality and instead there is a deep humanity inside, there is the idea of making love, losing love, being crucified. Leonard wrote ten verses for that song and I don't know why he didn't sing them all, I just chose the ones I felt were most mine. He has this extraordinary ability to grasp the fundamental element of a certain situation and to "steal" it, make it his own and build the text around it."-Rockerilla, October, 1994

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The artists you've covered so far are Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Alex Chilton, they're connected on a certain line. It's kind of cult people or like that. Do you select those songs consciously?

It doesn't matter who's song it is. I did it because each moment in my life matched the song so well. For example, Leonard's "Hallelujah." One day, I was intoxicated with so much sadness, I was totally wasted after drinking whiskey and practicing this song. Right after that, I went into the gig as I was, and I was screaming like an animal. I'm singing that song with those experiences in mind. I have to be myself before the song exists.-Rockin'on October 1994

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"Hallelujah, I was just housesitting for a friend, watching her cats while she was away and I got into her whiskey and got into her record collection and there was there was John Cale's version of Hallelujah on I'm Your Fan. And I'm not...there are Leonard Cohen enthusiasts...it's not because of Leonard that I did the song, it's simply because of the song and because of the verses. I'm just in there somewhere. I have no blood bound allegiance to Leonard, although i have an incredible admiration and real great love of his work you know? There's a difference between somebody who's a total Tom Waits freak and just somebody who just likes to listen to them, and you know, the Tom Waits freak will know everything: the demos, the back in the days when he used to sound like Billy Joel, blah, blah, blah...hear the European demos, well, he didn't used to, but back when he was a bit smoother. You know, just knows everything. And I don't know everything about Leonard Cohen, and I haven't read Beautiful Losers, and I haven't done that, but it was just a great song."-WBCN's "Nocturnal Emissions", October 23, 1994 in Boston, Massachusetts

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" 'Hallelujah' I didn't do it because it's by Leonard Cohen, but because I like the song. Based on that it was done for all the songs, including mine. The version that inspired me is a John Cale version with all ten verses, unlike the way it appears on Various Positions. The night I first proposed it at Sin-é was a special night, I had also been a bit of a jerk. You see, the word Hallelujah has its own definite sign, you connect it to the church. Instead, for me it is a word that celebrates something very human, it speaks of a deep connection between pain and the human condition. That word has nothing to do with being nailed to a cross: there's when you're hurting, but there's also when you're making love, when you're losing it."-Buscadero, November, 1994

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"The fact that I did Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah doesn't mean anything, Cohen is something you discover when you're discovering life, you don't get there when you're very young."-Rumore, November, 1994

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"Finally, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah not for the meaning of religious purity that anyone can see, but for more earthly reasons: pain, sex, orgasm and the cruelty of everyday life. I believe in people, not in heaven. Without people God would not exist, he would not make sense."-Tutto, February, 1995

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I wanted to ask you about your version of "Hallelujah". I guess its based more on John Cale's version than Leonard Cohen's original?

Yeah. But I heard the one on (Cohen's album) Various Positions first. Then I was stuck in a room with that I'm Your Fan CD (a Cohen tribute album) and I listened to (Cale's version) and it was, again, very simple. Then I heard that version one time again in Tower Records, and I was just struck. There and then, I thought, "This is wonderful ."

But am I right in thinking you don't really rate your version, compared with Cale's?

Well, he's a man. Mine's too fast. I know the difference between myself in a totally empty situation-which is best, where anything can happen-and in a situation where something's expected. And I don't feel very good about that day, and the time I chose that song to be included on the record, it was between that version and another version that I really despised. All in all, there must 22 versions floating out there. It's just never the right time. It seems that the only right time is when I'm telling it to people. And I guarantee, I have mashed that version into the ground nightly on tour, just creamed it. And there's also a version on the master reel for "So Real" that, because I was so wiped out and exhausted after that day-we'd recorded "So Real" and I recorded one last "Hallelujah", and that was my best one-I just forgot about that "So Real", I was so tired. So it's just hanging around out there. C'est la vie. Part of making records is letting stuff go.-February 28, 1995 interview, published in Uncut, September, 2004

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 I tell him that Bono loves Grace and says that Buckley's cover of Cohen's Hallelujah is better than his own. (Buckley plays John Cale's slightly altered version of the song from the I'm Your Fan tribute album to Cohen.) Buckley slumps back in his chair, as he does when on the defensive, and curls his lip in a manner that accentuates his resemblance to Matt Dillon. "I don't think I did that right," he sighs, passing over the compliment without comment. "I hope Leonard doesn't hear it. The way I do it live is better. I did it all live in the studio, there's no overdubs at all, but I pop it in unexpectedly in the show and it works better. The way I did it sounded more like a child and sometimes I've sung it more like a man."-Mojo, March, 1995

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"It's a hymn to being alive. It's a hymn to love lost. To love. Even the pain of existence, which ties you to being human, should receive an amen-or a hallelujah."-Schwann Spectrum, Spring 1995

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"I found myself in that song and I performed it many times in solo shows. But I'd be neglecting something if I didn't say that I learned it from John Cale. John Cale was the one that brought it to recording first, on the tribute album I'm Your Fan and he used these lyrics, these verses, for the song that didn't appear on Various Positions, which was the first album that Hallelujah appeared upon. I was house-sitting for my friend Susan and she had some whiskey...I don't know, I just hit a big, really bad sorrow jag and put on the song, and it was so simple the way John sang it that the words went through me, and I learned the words that night, played it that night at my gig at Sin-e...I don't know, it just stayed with me ever since. I wasn't gonna put it on the album at first 'cause I didn't write it and it would be kinda cheesy but I thought better after a couple suggestions from a friend of mine, and I did. Unfortunately, I think people will ask for it until the day I'm grey and old and fat, which I don't like, so I'll have to write something better, and I will."-Sony promo interview

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"He has a unique talent for making everyday life poetic and surreal-the most difficult way to write. However, on Hallelujah, I much prefer the lyrics rewritten by John Cale for the I'm Your Fan compilation. It is this version that I have taken up, not Cohen's version."-Les Inrockuptibles, July, 1995

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"That's not a hallelujah of chasteness and piety," Buckley explains. "It's more menstrual. It has more to do with the hallelujah of orgasam, of pain, of joy, of flesh, of being tied to the earth. Not of invisible angels in heaven who may or may not come down to tell you how good or bad you are, or Santa Claus."-Sydney Morning Herald, August 25, 1995

#jeff buckley #hallelujah #mylove #supremebeing #favorite #music #behind the song #it's NOT a bloody Christmas song folks #or meant for a church or kids #please and thank you

[hyliassilentblossoms]

The Hound

So like most people after episode 2 I'm gonna have a mini theorizing/ gathering my general thoughts about the new grimm.

First things first. The Hound had been stalking Oscar out through that entire episode (which I didn't notice until I rewatched it). I know it was obvious from the get-go when we saw Salem ordering the Hound and giving it a scent that it would be coming after Oscar. But it's a cool little detail to show it following him through Mantle, instead of going for him on sight. It (in my opinion) made the Hound actually seem like it was tracking Oscar down throughout the city, and that it was a smart move to send something behind them at a time where that half of the group weren't watching their backs and were focusing on moving from point A to B as quickly as possible.

Soooo theory time:

1) The Hound is a result of grimm hybridisation/ fusion (basically what's happening to Cinder)

So the part of that made me consider this as what could've happened is the intelligence level the Hound shows (this isn't just talking about the talking). We haven't seen a grimm so far (to my knowledge, but I could be wrong) that has been smart enough to act how this one did, e.g. Using one of the weakest aura levelled humans (even though Oscar was it's target in the first place) as a shield. We know that the grimm are attracted to people's aura as well as negative emotions. It could likely sense YRJO's (I don't know if these four have an official team name) stress from trying to evacuate an entire city into the crater. From there it could likely deduce Oscar as both its target and the lowest aura so he'd be the easiest of the four to go for.

Now, we also know that grimm get more intelligent with age from when Oobleck was explaining to Ruby back in V2 why the Goliaths weren't immediately attacking. However, what we see the Hound doing seems to stretch more than 'this grimm's been around for 100+ years so it's developed this skill'. It seems to be human-like intelligence, it found the groups' weakness and it will exploit it to win. That, compared to the more instinctual approaches of other grimm e.g: work as a pack, overpower weak targets, etc, seems like an actual thought out tactic. Also the Hound was clearly under strict instructions to bring him back to Salem, there's no guarantee that any other grimm wouldn't try to kill him. But the Hound did exactly as it was told without any faults, as if she sent the best she had- maybe a former member of her circle who did something to disappoint Salem and this was their punishment?

2) Something Salem's been saving

As we see in the scene, the Hound possess most of the grimm we've seen into one: Long arms (Nuckelavee), wings (Wyverns), basically making itself look like a Beowolf. We saw at the end of V6 Salem was 'evolving' some Beringels to have wings at the black pools near her castle. Who's to say this hasn't been on the back burner for a while? Maybe when she made a new grimm she'd give one quality to the Hound. Salem's been around for thousands of years, in that time there would've been countless grimm produced. It's possible she could've been working on this as early back as when her and Ozma's kingdom fell and the next incarnation was running around, we don't have a timeframe for when any specific grimm came into existence.

It's main form seems to resemble an Usra but much bigger

and later it looks like a Beowolf.

However, this leaves the point that we see it's vocal cords form in it's throat just before it talks. Now the only human-like grimm we've seen are the Apathy. Yes these things didn't talk, but they could scream, which requires the use of vocal cords. It's entirely possible the Apathy had them (with them being made with only the capability to scream) and these were added to the Hound during its creation but were altered slightly to allow for coherent speech.

Another explanation for its speaking capabilities could be similar to the jellyfish grimm Salem uses to communicate with her people. Those grimm are able to be used basically like telephones, if Salem speaks, the people near will hear. It could be that the Hound is simply this and Salem's voice is distorted. Buuuuut I realise this is a bit of a stretch, even though it would be, and was, a good way to put fear into her enemies.

3) Salem's magic

So my last theory is arguably the weakest of the 3. Basically this theory suggests that the Hound was a rush job that was meant to be effective in both striking quickly and hoping Ozpin's group would stand down. We know Salem still has her magic, just like Oz from humanity's first run. The Hound could've been something she knew the black pools wouldn't be capable of creating and had to tap into her own magic to create what she needed. I'll admit though, apart from the maidens and relics, I don't really like the 'because magic' explanation if it isn't already cannon.

So that's just a few thoughts. I've heard theories that the Hound is Summer Rose having gone through grimm hybridization, that would also explain the lack of eyes. But I haven't read those theories enough to form an opinion on them yet, so I'll leave those be until I read and understand them.

#rwby #rwbyspoilers #rwby8 #rwby8spoilers #the hound #grimm #rwbytheory #salem

[musashi]

do you have any tips for making pokemon teams for characters? you said you guy way in depth and i'm interested in your process bc you're one of my favorite pokewriters

so there is no right or wrong way to do it! a lot of people just give them pokemon that fit their aesthetic and that is more than fine and i am not better than those people like you do you.

but because pokemon is my special interest, and specifically the pokemon anime, AND i’m a pokemon kinnie ten times over with LOTS of vivid memories, my brain is basically constantly living in the pokemon world. so when i think about a fictional character i am not just thinking “these pokemon would look good beside them!” i straightup just DROP them into the pokemon universe and go from there.

in the anime, trainers don’t always just link up with pokemon that resemble them or what they’re looking for--they simply meet pokemon as they’re traveling, become fond of those pokemon, and decide to stick together. oftentimes, trainers will bond with pokemon that are their polar opposite, finding they balance one another out (see jessie & wobbuffet)

so like here’s my pokemon team for zuko atla

i start with their upbringing. zuko’s a prince, so coming from a noble/rich family means young royalty are likely gifted their starter pokemon. a starter doesn’t have to be a “traditional” starter, but traditional starters do feel like more of a big deal than just befriending a rattata you meet in the garden. since zuko’s a firebender i narrowed it down to a fire type, and decided both him and azula are gifted charmander as their partners, a tradition for fire kingdom royalty. 

as a parallel to his relationship with azula, her charmander is a charizard before his is even a charmeleon. she constantly bests him in battle and in terms of overall strength/strategy. eventually, they both get mega stones--azula having x is a no brainer to me because it deals exclusively in blue fire, and y fits perfectly on zuko as a contrast.

then you kinda just most up through major life events and factor pokemon into them where you can. zuko has this moral crisis when hes young in canon where he tries to save a crab being devoured by a bird but realizes if he saves the crab the bird will starve and if he saves the bird the crab will die. in my version of canon he elects to save a krabby, nearly drowns, and the krabby saves his own life in return for him saving it.

the blue spirit is zuko’s hidden alter ego, one he takes on to play the hero, more or less. the blue spirit works entirely with swords--no bending--and wears a blue mask to conceal their identity. no one who knows the blue spirit really ever suspects it could be zuko. bisharp is a blade wielding pokemon with a blue shiny form, so i consider it a stand-in for that aspect of zuko. he only battles alongside bisharp when he’s acting as the blue spirit. much like no one would ever suspect its him in canon, no one would ever suspect it to be him in pokemon’s canon--the prince uses a charizard, and an unlucky disgrace like him would never live to see a shiny.

absol is my one free ‘aesthetic’ choice for him but it also stands as a testament to zuko being ‘lucky to be born.’ absol are also incredibly misunderstood--people bemoan them as bringers of disaster, when in reality they simply sense calamities and appear to warn humans. 

cherrim, i decided, was a gift from the person closest to zuko--iroh. while zuko’s family just gifted him with a pokemon they deemed traditional and proper, iroh gives zuko a pokemon he feels truly represents him. cherrim are reclusive in the shade, closed off from the world and not at their fullest potential. but when the sun shines on them, they bloom, becoming more powerful. i decided iroh deals mainly in grass types, which is beautiful because both grass and fire types benefit from sunlight. zuko’s charizard has the ability drought, which makes sunlight shine brighter. as such, cherrim and charizard represent two different sides of zuko, working in perfect harmony to represent who he is and who he’s come to be.

alolan marowak i do not need to write an essay on. it is a marowak. marowak are cubone who have overcome the loss of their mothers and grown strong enough to evolve. alolan marowak are fire types. alolan marowak have lightning rod--an ability that absorbs all electric type moves. azula deals almost exclusively in electric types to represent her dealing in lightning in the show. zuko learns to absorb and redirect lightning as a metaphor for his abusers no longer having control over him and their abuse passing through and away from him. this pokemon exists for me to give to zuko.

when i’m familiar with a series, i will open a list of every pokemon and drop potential ideas into a document, narrowing them down as i go, coming up with various ideas like this that play into their past. when i’m not, i’ll do the same with a character’s wiki open. i have a lot of pokemon lore/trivia memorized, a lot of dex entries in my head, which helps. but this is what i mean when i say i can’t just assign based on aesthetics, THIS is what is the most fun to me :’3

#long post #pokemon teams #Anonymous #wendy answers