#A lot of incursion stuff

[huldrabitch]

a blowjob between friends would fix this tbh

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

[yukasyukasyukasyukas]

Valorant Timeline so it's easier for me to write stuff

Official content from social media (TikTok, ig, twitter etc)

Game (maps, voice lines etc)

Cinematics (on YouTube)

Brimstone's office e-mails and voicemails (on the Range)

Not sure where from

My assumptions based on what we have

Before the protocol:

Sabine Callas starts the researches about radianite

The Scions of Hourglass try to kill Sabine

First light, radianite becomes a popular topic of research and energy source and some people become radiants

Kingdom starts building radianite extraction areas, emphasis in Rabat, Morocco and Thimphu, Buthan

Kingdom attempts to build an extraction area in Bahia, Brazil, but is stopped by locals, Tayane Alves included on the group

Kingdom Corporation starts growing a lot and has installations in different locations, emphasis in Tokyo, Japan

In some time, before the game lore and first cinematic, Nora and her children die, Amir al Amari becomes a widow

Before the in game lore:

Creation of the Valorant protocol by Brimstone and Viper

Omen joins the Protocol

Killjoy joins the Protocol as the first sentinel

Cypher joins the Protocol

Sova joins the Protocol as the first initiator

Sage joins the protocol and quickly ascends to second in command after Brimstone

Phoenix joins the Protocol as the first duelist

Jett joins the Protocol

Lucia gets ill, Reyna starts collecting souls to heal her

Reyna joins the Protocol

Raze joins the protocol

Breach joins the Protocol, accepted by Viper, against Brimstone's will

During in game and cinematics lore:

Episode 1, Ignition:

The Valorant Legion (Omega Earth) does its first incursion mission in Alpha Earth, causing the Venice incident, incriminating Jett and Phoenix and causing part of the city to float 300m above the ground

Ascent map creation

Discovery of a Kingdom research installation in an island in Russia, where there is an excavation of a Japanese ship from the Tokugawa era

Icebox map creation

Skye joins the Protocol

Episode 2, Formation:

Ryo Kiritani steals a samurai mask from the ship in Icebox

Yoru joins the Protocol

Astra joins the Protocol

Discovery of an island in Bermuda, where there is an unworking portal

Breeze map creation

First multiple agent mission by the Protocol in Bind, Rabat, Morocco

Killjoy creates the spike defuser

Episode 3, Reflection:

Kay/o is found in Breeze and is recruited by the Protocol

A Kingdom Corporation and Kingdom Industries research installation in New Mexico, USA, researches about transport between the Alpha and Omega Earth

The installation has its generator exploded by gunshot and is destroyed

Brimstone is kidnapped by Vincent Fabron, who chantages Viper to allow him to join the Protocol in order to release Brimstone

Chamber joins the Protocol

Episode 4, Disruption:

Chamber suggests Tala Dimaapi Valdez to Brimstone

Neon joins the protocol

Someone blackmails the agents in the Protocol

We get to know more about their lore

Sova, Neon, Chamber, Breach and Cypher are sent in mission to find the blackmailer

Fade joins the Protocol after she finds that they don't have her missing brother

Raze and Killjoy build together the Maxbot

Episode 5, Dimension:

Killjoy researches about the portals in Breeze to make it possible to travel to the Omega Earth

The Valorant Protocol does it's first incursion mission into the Omega Earth

A life support system in Lisbon, Portugal, on the Omega Earth is discovered by the Protocol

Pearl map creation

Varun Batra is sent in a mission by Realm to recover an artifact and steals said artifact

Batra runs from the authorities and by the Realm, causing disasters on his way

Brimstone helps him scape

Harbor joins the Protocol

Raze and Killjoy are announced to be a couple, the non-confraternization rule is suspended

Raze and Killjoy are the first confirmed queer characters in the game

Episode 6, Revelation (honestly, the one I know less about the lore):

Is discovered by the Protocol the existence of the City of Flowers, India, Omega Earth, where the Multiverse Nexus is located. We're not sure what the Nexus is

Harbor, Astra and Skye are sent in mission to explore the city and the Nexus is activated. We don't know what it did

Lotus map creation

Mateo Armendaríz de la Fuente steals some radivores being researched in a Kingdom installation near his home

Strange things happen on the area

Gekko joins the protocol

Episode 7, Evolution (when I joined the game<3):

Iselin, Anna and Frøya are sent on a mission by Ståljeger with a Kingdom scientist to recover a radivore bear in the Vault in Svalbard, Norway

Frøya and Anna are killed by the radivore during the mission

The bear injuries the scientist and eats Iselin's arm before being anihilated

The scientist also dies from the annihilation

Iselin is traumatized from the radivore attack

Sova rescues Iselin from the Vault

Deadlock joins the Protocol. She has problems getting along with some agents, emphasis on Gekko

Killjoy makes Deadlock a prosthetic arm

Some agents monitor the area around the installation Gekko steal his radivores from and where the Landfall Project is researched

Deadlock, Brimstone, Gekko, Reyna and Sova are sent in mission in the Kingdom research installation in California, USA, after Deadlock declares emergency

There, an interdimensional portal is destroyed, causing a skinhole to open in front of the installation. The scientist there is able to scape Deadlock's annihilation

Sunset map creation

Later, the same scientist and some bodyguards try to recover the research

Zhao Yu Li, aka Dead Lilac, sent by the Scions of Hourglass, kills them

It's revealed the Zhao Yu's next target is Omen

Iso joins the Protocol

Sage, Jett, Viper, Sova and Phoenix are sent in mission in Haven, to prevent the Legion's mission to be successful

Sova dies in mission but is later revived by Sage

The Protocol mission is successful, keeping the Legion from extracting the radianite from the area

Episode 8, Defiance:

Iso attempts to kill Omen but gives up, letting him know the Scions are after him

After the occuring, Omen wants to know more about the Scions and why they wanted him dead

Sova, Omen, Cypher and Iso go in a mission after the Scions lead to find out more about Omen's past

Iso, who hadn't left the Scions yet, leaves

Omen finds out that he used to work for them and was the one sent to kill Sabine, but failed

Omen is eager to find out all he can about the Protocol and temporarily leaves the Protocol

In Edinburg, Scotland, he meets Clove and recommends them to Brimstone

Clove is the first confirmed trans and non binary character in the game

Clove joins the Protocol

After his unsatisfying research, Omen is back to the protocol

Clove lets them know about a library in Jan Mayen, Norway.

Clove, Omen, Viper, Sage and Iso are sent in mission to explore the library

Abyss map creation

Episode 9, Collision:

Some agents are sent to Abyss to explore after the place is cleaned from the Scions

Reyna and Killjoy find out that the radiant history started way before the First Light and is as old as human history

Skye discovers anormal vegetation in the library

We find out the Scions' goal was to keep radiant history and knowledge hidden from the humanity

The Legion starts sending several agents in several missions into the Alpha Earth

Jett had nightmares about her Omega version

Deadlock discovers a containment cell in Abyss

Sova monitors the cell

The prisoner scapes the cell and runs away

Jett, Omen, Chamber and Yoru are sent in mission to recover the prisoner who scaped

Omen asks the prisoner, Vyse, to talk

Vyse joins the protocol

We find out Vyse and Viper have history together

Vyse focuses on getting rid of the Scions, in which she's successful

V25:

Tejo joins the Protocol, recruited by Brimstone

Phoenix, Raze, Brimstone, Vyse and Tejo are sent in mission (at the time I'm writing this we don't know where to or what for) and Tejo sends someone a message that implies he's working as some sort of double agent together with someone outside of the protocol

[unsoundedcomic]

Any advice on how to convince someone to give the comic a shot when the child abuse stuff and shirtless Sette throws them off?

Well, first of all, don't bug someone to read something with content that they aren't comfortable with. I don't care for realistic war stories and it doesn't matter what the author's intention was or how it all resolves - I just don't like 'em. I empathize too much with the soldiers and am miserable.

But if you think their reluctance has more to do with authorial distrust, just be honest with them; tell them how you feel about how it's handled and resolved. Also remind them that different people have different boundaries. I'm a woman, I used to be a little girl, and drawing little girls with their shirts off should not be some scandalous thing, in my opinion. I actually think it's kind of sus to find that problematic rather than emblematic of their free spirit. Which is why it's done with Sette. Sette is a Forever Child. Sharteshanian Sette is not restrained by body shame in the way that dead Duane and the Alds are. Duane shrouds himself in his cloak and bandages; Sette strips to climb trees and swim in rivers. This is a really intentional contrast.

Sette's free spirit unsullied by shame is why Starfish was such a great foil. He was this horrid demon of perversion; this tumor of adult derangement that hampered not only Sette, but Jivi and Matty, and ultimately became the Final Argument of all the forgotten dead. It's better not to exist than to live in a reality with monsters like THIS.

It's heavy shit and not everyone wants to stomach it - nor should they be made to feel bad if that's the case! - but Starfish and the repeated incursions against kids in this story are deeply a part of the theme of the work. They're not frivolous.

That's how I'd frame it for doubters. And their doubt is understandable. There is a lot of questionable perversion in media. The line between smut and literature ain't that concrete.

[mortalitasi-nevarra-lore]

Mourn Watch Lore by Sylvia Feketekuty

Collected by @felassan in [Post One, Post Two, Post Three, Post Four, Post Five, Post Six] I read, copy/pasted, categorized, formatted, light edits:

Politics: “I was wondering if there were any Mourn Watch details you wished you had more time to explore? I was so struck by some of the ethical implications in your stories”

Sylvia: “Geeze, now that’s a question. I mention it with Emmrich, but there’s some resentment over the power the Watchers hold as THE mortalitasi of the Grand Necropolis, between them and the other orders. There’s something to that situation I liked. There’s also questions of how they select people for the order. What their standards are, how closely they work with benign spirits. And how they cultivate those relationships. How deep does that go? I also mentioned in a codex "the lives and bodies of those who tamper with the undead of the Necropolis are forfeit unto the Mourn Watch.” which is pretty chilling. What’s that punishment like, exactly? And in general, writing about anything weird or unexplained in the Necropolis brought me much enjoyment, and it would be fun to dig around how the Mourn Watch deals with (or what they want out of) all these mysteries and entities.“ [source, two, three, four]

Visits to Nevarra City?: “In another post you mentioned shops in Nevarra City near the Necropolis. Do only senior MWs get to go?”

Sylvia: "I never imagined junior MWers are forbidden from going into town or such. It could be they have set hours and times where they’re allowed. But got to get all those chores done first…” [source]

Living situation: "Could you tell us how Mourn Watchers life is arranged? Do they live in Nevarra or right in Necropolis? Are their rooms similar to that coffin room?”

Sylvia: “The Watchers live in the upper, safer levels of the Necropolis. I imagine this is where they sleep, eat, teach/train, and also where they prepare bodies for interment. "Are their rooms similar to that coffin room?” I don’t want to say either way, just because we never actually go there, and I prefer to keep things open until something is actually in the game or in a story or comic or etc.“ [source, two]

Daily Life: “Also, are you able to talk about what you envisioned every day life for Watcher’s to be like? Or maybe some cultural tidbits you’d imagined while writing?”

Sylvia: Oh that is fun. I’ll be honest though I’ll be a little reticent, just because I tend not to talk about too much until it’s in a game. I do think a lot of their everyday life is what Emmrich describes to Rook: Preparing bodies, helping grieving people visit their loved ones, maintaining the graves, and the undead that help maintain the graves. And of course hunting down malign manifestations. The MW and their carefully-courted spirit allies are good at preventing demonic incursion. But as we’ve seen, it’s not impossible. And there’s a desire to figure out the weirder stuff that not even the Watchers really fully know. (X-files theme). [source, two, three]

Festivals: “I like to think they’d have some incredible festivals and create really interesting folk art”

Sylvia: Me too! They involve the dead in their lives so much, I think that includes going down to the graveyard to celebrate milestones, versus visiting on a calendar date. One of my favorite things to write was the folk tale about how spirits were first drawn to Nevarra in particular. I really wanted to make it feel like one of those founding myths filtered through storytelling embellishment in the winter nights. [link] [source, two]

Social Events: "Do members of the Mourn Watch often attend social events with the Nevarran elite like other Mortalitasi?”

Sylvia: Absolutely. The MW are pretty prestigious in Nevarra with their running the Grand Necropolis. Much as Emmrich dislikes politics himself, there’s probably a lot going on at the top.” [source]

Death Culture: “This makes me feel like Mourn Watchers include the dead in important personal milestones/events and, if so, I love that so much. Like they want to share these events and the joy/love/excitement/etc. with those who have passed (and perhaps linger.)”

Sylvia: “That’s absolutely how I thought of it too.” [source]

Grave Gold: “I wanted to ask if you have anything you can share about MW grave dowry jewellery - is it the sort of thing they keep on at all times? Also, would Emmrich like jewellery gifts or give them to Rook?”

Sylvia: “I figured it would be something they wear most of the time, or at least in public. You don’t want to be without your grave-gold if you pass away! Emmrich would love to get jewellery, especially if it marked a special occasion like his other pieces do! He’d also probably like to gift Rook a piece of grave gold himself, though he knows a non-MW Rook might look at that part askance.” [source, two]

More Grave Gold: "if two mourn watchers were to share a piece of grave dowry between them, that's grounds for a serious relationship?"

Sylvia: "You mean like each one having the half of a necklace, or having the same bit of gold made into matching rings? Or swapping jewelry? Either way, what a nice idea. It could be!" [source]

Mourning Jewelry: “Curious how Nevarrans, and specifically Emmrich, would view stuff like Victorian mourning jewelry. Obviously would be horrified by the ones containing ashes, but what about hair? Wondering if it would be seen as special or grotesque!”

Sylvia: “What a good question! I think a lock of hair would be perfectly all right, even romantic. Perhaps a LITTLE bit of bone would be okay, though the actual Mourn Watch wouldn’t love breaking up the body. I don’t think they’d see keeping a small fragment or such as wrong, just a bit unfortunate.” [source]

Vegetarianism: “Are the Watchers overall vegetarian, or was it a personal preference Emmrich developed?”

Sylvia: “I think it’s a thing among some Watchers, but not all. Because they think a lot about life and death and the cycle of life, and their place in it, and what constitutes a death they feel comfortable with or not.” [source]

[assortedshrift]

Keyblade reader in Yandere Twisted Wonderland

This started as a thought I had while working on my otome isekai au and before I knew it things kinda spiraled out of control. I'm posting this in the hopes that doing so will let me move on with my life.

Since my priority here is Twisted Wonderland, I’m gonna diverge from the Kingdom Hearts canon. Sora and Co. have counterparts that might be referenced occasionally as legendary Wielders from ages long since past but their adventures in the KH games are not the focus of this AU.

Since I’ve had yandere-verse content on my brain for so long it kept sneaking into my notes until I gave in and added a KH related reason for that as well. Even so I don't really enjoy the mindset it takes for me to write angsty stuff, so the yandere content will have a bit of a comedic spin to it. Also I just think the boys are at their most entertaining when struggling to get what they want. The idea is to take the NRC yanderes who consider themselves too good for the RSA’s affection-based methods, and then give them a darling who is strong enough to overpower or at the very least sidestep their violence-based methods.

Also, I’m not planning on doing smut or anything but my brain has always autocorrected twst as being set in an actual college instead of a highschool-college mashup. So when reading you can assume the characters are 18+ years old.

Anyway, here is the way-too-elaborate backstory for my latest daydreams.

Waking up in the NRC coffin is the fourth time you've experienced the beginning of an isekai storyline. First was when you were reborn into a modern-ish world of paranormal activity. Your new family surname is Yuu and your family took the revelation of your past life surprisingly well.

Second was when you got your Keyblade (Twilight Dream) and you realised your new life is a disney crossover. This would have been a lot cooler if it didn't also come with an invasion of heartless and other Darkness-aligned monsters. Unfortunately your new disney MC powers come with a tragically orphaned backstory which… honestly you would rather be a generic background character.

But you and your siblings carry on. Your family is moved to the United Lands of Disney, the main world for Keyblade wielders and their allies. Your older sister Addie takes charge of you and your younger brother Zain. The three of you continue your lives in this new world, and you get enrolled in a special Keyblade program. Because at some point in the past people realized that letting untrained kids wander around looking for fights isn't the most efficient use of resources in the war against Darkness.

The third was the only time you had any sort of agency over the matter. In order to graduate and become a fully qualified Keyblade Hero™ wielders travel to a world with a relatively small darkness incursion. They are accompanied by two keyblade heroes who provide backup. The prospective hero is meant to develop a Keychain under the supervision of their seniors. 

Keychains are physical representations of the Wielder’s light and friendship. Keychains can manifest when a Wielder faces off against Darkness alongside non-Wielder friends. Each Keychain is unique but you can predict its powers and appearance based on the friends the Wielder is fighting alongside, and the nature of the danger they are facing. Along with granting special powers and altering the blade's appearance, the wielder gains an outfit that further represents the friendship that created the Keychain. 

So the day of your graduation quest comes and your siblings send you off with the surprise gift of a health charm made from your parents' wedding rings. It's a labour of love and you're left genuinely speechless.

You wind up being sent to a world called Wonderland (you think you can guess what it's going to be like). Your team consisted of yourself, Yuuken Enma, and Yuuya Kuroki. The three of you were introduced to each other by Oujou Yuuna, another Keyblade hero who thought it was funny that so many of the latest batch of Keyblade wielders had some variant of yuu in their name.

Team Yuu might have started as a joke, but over the years you've grown to really appreciate the support and guidance of your seniors. Your gratitude has never been greater than when you discovered that travel out of Wonderland was being sabotaged, and soon entry would also be impossible.  The rest of Team Yuu was already waiting at disney to celebrate your return, when they were informed of the situation they rushed to provide backup.

It feels like every adventure revealed some new stakes that made your journey even more stressful. Turns out Wonderland is the homeworld of Maleficent, a longtime foe of King Mickey, who disappeared a hundred years ago.

The reason she disappeared? The Thorn Fairy was setting up Wonderland to become the staging ground for her ascension as the one True Master of All Darkness. If she goes through with the ritual but it fails, then Wonderland will become overrun by Darkness. It's residents would transform into a potentially more dangerous type of heartless. The world would become the staging ground for a universe-spanning war.

In the unlikely event that she succeeds then a similar situation would play out, just with Maleficent at the head instead of Darkness. 

Thankfully the people back home came up with a solution. Maleficent needed to harness the power of heartless created from six powerful individuals, however if you can slay them in time then the ritual should be disrupted enough to destroy her wards and save Wonderland from heartless-ization.

Only Maleficent knows for certain who’s hearts she intended to use, so Team Yuu splits up to track down the prospective heartless. It shouldn't be too hard, how many powerful, strong willed, darkness imbued people can there be?

A lot. There were a lot. Maleficent must have altered the ULD’s records because this world is definitely not Low-Darkness/Low-risk.

Normally Keyblade heroes are supposed to lay low and keep their full powers hidden from the locals. There's even a whole system for sending heroes to worlds where they are or look like one of the most common sentient races. This is meant to prevent the contamination of worlds that haven't learned to reach out to worlds.

Team Yuu does not have time for that. There are way too many fires that need to be put out for you guys to even think about subtlety. Armies that can be summoned from an indestructible cauldron. A global child trafficking ring that disguises its victims as donkeys. Undead pirates rampaging across the seas. Literally every country has at least one ongoing coup attempt.

(This is not the wonderland Lewis Carroll promised you!)

Even after throwing stealth out the window Team Yuu struggles to catch up with the Thorn Fairy’s machinations.  

Good news: you manage to stop Maleficent from becoming an unstoppable god of darkness. (mostly).

Bad news: the ritual seems to have taken on a mind of its own and it intends to see things through. Maleficent lost control and has been transformed into a heartless and now you have no idea what could happen. 

Team Yuu is ordered to evacuate. Your support back home took advantage of a disruption you caused to create a one-time path for you back home. Plan B is to seal off the now twisted Wonderland and try to quarantine the world.

It's unfortunate, but the only way the world could be saved now is if one of the Yuu’s had a Keychain made from defeating each of the people used to make a heartless for the ritual. They could theoretically use those bonds to stabilize Wonderland and mitigate the worst of darkness's power.

About that… Coincidence is a funny thing. 

Somehow between all the traveling, team ups, and wacky shenanigans, you managed to be present for the creation of every heartless used in Maleficent’s plot. And wouldn't you know it, you have a Keychain formed from each confrontation.

We all know where this is going, but everyone objects anyway. There's no guarantee that it will work, and even if it does there's no guarantee you'll survive. Someone invites Addie and Zain to the call and now they're yelling at you through a gummiphone.

And it's not like you want to die. This mission has been a train wreck from start to finish. The whole world felt like it was hand-crafted to stress you out. 

But despite your nerves, your queasy stomach and shaking hands, you go through with it. Because even if it's a hot mess, Wonderland doesn't deserve to be abandoned. The people you've met deserve the chance to live. Your friends deserve a happily ever after.

There's no way to tell if you succeed, but even as your legs give out and black spots gather at the edge of your vision, you find peace in the knowledge that you did your best.

…

And now here we are. Isekai number four. You survived your heroic sacrifice which is nice, great even!

But also whatever force that kept you alive also sent you to a boarding school that worships your greatest enemies for some fucking reason. 

The world isn't overrun by Darkness, so that's good. But it's definitely not the same world you entered for your graduation. Twisted Wonderland indeed. You quickly learn about the biggest impact of Maleficent's failed ascension.

Blot. 

A type of darkness that takes a liquid form. It feeds off of magic and negative emotions. The biggest difference between blot and regular darkness is that rather than turning people into self-replicating heartless, blot induces a transformation known as overblot. When someone becomes consumed with blot a second being known as a phantom is formed. If the overblot is allowed to progress long enough then the phantom consumes its creator and goes on a rampage.  

It looks like most people can be broken out of an overblot state fairly quickly thanks to an organization called STYX. In the modern era most phantoms are left over from past ages when the world wasn't as united. Still, if a strong enough mage undergoes overblot then their magic can offer it enough power that STYX cannot save them, and the resulting phantom is leagues stronger than the average phantom.

Furthermore, vast swaths of land are rendered inaccessible due to a blot-based miasma that sends people into madness. Only phantoms have been recorded as surviving extended time in miasma-rich areas. There is an ongoing issue of phantoms leaving the miasma to ravage nearby lands. Some texts theorize that powerful phantoms from ages past have survived in the miasma and may one day follow their lesser brethren back to civilization.

Now, this is all a huge problem, but there is one final change that you suspect is also a consequence of Maleficent's meddling. 

During your adventures Team Yuu learned that the Thorn Fairy intended to basically inoculate herself from Darkness in order to prevent it from controlling her. General consensus among Team Yuu was that Maleficent is a sociopath, so imbuing her heart with darkness probably didn't change much of her personality. 

But the average person? That's a different matter. Most of the population is classified as dark-hearts, a condition where emotions you associate with the Light such as compassion, joy, and fulfillment are all dulled. 

You personally suspect this is a side effect of Maleficent's darkness inoculation. The darkness infused into their hearts might prevent the creation of true heartless, but it's also likely suppressing sensations brought on by the Light. But you're a shield, not a staff, so it's just conjecture at this point.

Individuals who are free of contamination are referred to as light-hearts in most texts, though more modern documents have taken to using the term ‘darling’. When a dark-heart is in extended contact with a light-heart the suppression over their positive emotions is lessened, however the degree by which it works is varied.

It would seem that some hearts are more compatible than others, and dark-hearts will quickly become jealous and possessive over compatible light-hearts.

Delving further into the history textbooks reveal that this post-twisting world has not been kind to the light-hearts. 

Twst’s early history is filled with attempts to extract whatever quality it is that allows light-hearts to experience the full breadth of life’s joys. Strategies include blood transfusion, ritualistic sacrifice, and creating cures made from parts ‘harvested’ from light-hearts.

Yikes.

Some would even hunt and eat light-hearts under the belief that doing so would transfer their light to the hunter.

Big fucking yikes!

At least that was easily disproved. Though some cultures still hold up that cannibalism can be romantic if done the right way.

The hell do you mean “the right way”!?!

After it was made clear that no you can't just yoink the goodness from a light-heart the dark-hearts started changing their approach. If they couldn't live without the light-hearts then the light-hearts wouldn't get to live without them.

In theory thats better but in practice things still suck. The normals were still outnumbered and usually found themselves under the authority of more powerful dark-hearts.

It must have been miserable being at the mercy of their quasi-sociopathic, emotionally-stunted peers. It wasn't uncommon for a ruling dark-heart to barter off non-compatible light-hearts as a way of securing favors or alliances with other factions.

As countries developed their own centralized governments they also developed their own laws, however those laws could often be bent or broken in the name of securing your compatible light-heart.

Different regions had different laws on the handling of light-hearts with the most consistent similarity being that dark-hearts were given leanancy when acting in the name of protecting their light-heart companions.

In the modern era treatment of light-hearts is more consistent across the board due to the different countries becoming closer. With this came things like standardized money, language, and rights. A little under two hundred years ago an event called the Darling's Rights movement took place. 

The core of Darling’s Right’s was that the light-hearts are people in need of protection rather than a resource to be exploited. Light-hearts and sympathetic dark-hearts pushed their governments to take a hard stand against brutal practices such as the heart hunts and sentient trafficking.

In the current era things aren't exactly great, but at least the normals seem to have gained some autonomy. You should probably focus on something more relevant to your current circumstances, like how Keyblade wielders are viewed. (Narrator Voice: Foreshadowing is a literary device…)

Records of Keyblades are mixed. Some stories describe you as forces of good that work tirelessly to keep Twisted Wonderland safe from nightmarish monsters. Others decry you as the reason for basically everything wrong in the world. Rude!

The general consensus is somewhere in the middle, viewing you as mysterious figures with unknowable goals. In stories and myths it's a toss up whether the Keyblade wielder will help or harm the protagonist. A bit like how your birth world viewed spirits, funnily enough.

As much as you would like to correct the record, you doubt people would just take your word that Maleficent is the root of all evil and Team Yuu was simply doing your best to stop her. Also Wonderland wasn't meant to know about Keyblades in the first place.

But there's still the issue that you don't have an identity in this era. TW has developed to the point that you can't just call yourself a wandering adventurer and be done with it. 

Somehow you wind up convincing Crowley that you are from a society that was cut off from the rest of the rest of the world due to becoming surrounded by the miasma. Maybe a better hero could have come up with something simpler, or more creative, but you were coming off the shock of waking up in a coffin in a cult that venerates a bunch of narcissistic psychos. You need to do something to avoid multi-world contamination while also explaining away your ignorance of basic things. This is good enough. Yup. 

There is definitely no way your half-assed backstory could come back to bite you. 

Somehow he buys it and the staff are informed of your circumstances. Crowley says it's so that they can help facilitate your transition to “real civilization” but you suspect he’s just the kind of person to excessively delegate.

You’re sent into a moment of heart-stopping despair when you realize that it's been thousands of years since Team Yuu adventures across Wonderland. You recover when your gummiphone still gets a signal to ULD, but only for a few hours at night while you're near a specific mirror in Ramshackle. Not sure how that works but at least you figured it out before following through on your threats to drop out of NRC.

Despite the passage of time you manage to call your sister, and from her you learn that it's only been a few years from the perspective of the rest of the worlds.

The other members of Team Yuu were safely recovered and healed back at ULD. They insisted on going back to save you, but Wonderland had already been sealed off. You felt your heart break as Addie explained how it felt, thinking that you were lost forever.

“I’m sorry. I'm so sorry.”

But King Mickey himself stepped forward with an idea. He said it’s the Keyblade king's duty to do whatever he can to look after his subjects and together with his aids they came up with a way to craft a stabilization field around the now twisted world and then temporarily distance Wonderland from the rest of the universe’s time-space.

The technical details go way over your head, you're a shield not a staff, but if it worked then it worked.

Wait. You've basically been in stasis until TW synced back up with the universe. But time still passed for your family…

“Am I still older than Zain!?”

“Really? That's your biggest concern? Learn to prioritize!”

“Answer the question!”

When you left Disney you had a good four years over your baby brother. It took roughly three years from their time for TW to stabilize. You've narrowly avoided being demoted to the family baby, but it was a close thing. Another round of stasis for any reason could be devastating to the family dynamic!

“You're still such a brat.”

Some might say that you wasted your first call home, and they would be wrong. 

After figuring out when your gummiphone could and couldn't get a signal out of twst you all hash out a plan to get you back home. Reconnecting TW to the Lanes Between will be time consuming, but the hard part is dealing with blot.

The multi-world contamination department is unlikely to ever sign off on a reconnection project until they can confirm that blot and phantoms won't become heartless 2.0 and start spreading to other worlds.

Honestly, you get it.

With the constant arms race between Light and Darkness you can't afford to be careless with new variations. Disney World is literally made up of the remnants of worlds that were shattered by the forces of Darkness.

Disney’s best tinkers are working on a program that would allow your gummiphone to scan blot and phantoms. By sending that information home they can analyse blot and work out a way to neutralize them. The only issue is that the scanner doesn't work from very far away so you'll have to get within punching range.

No worries. It shouldn't be too hard to go beat up some I-cant-believe-its-not-heartless. The Dark Mirror recognizes you but seems willing to cooperate, or at least he didn't spill your identity at the intro ceremony. He’ll probably be amicable to cooperation in the name of saving the world (or at least making it less bad).

To summarize:

Your little brother has almost caught up to you in age (Devastating). You are a girl at an all boys school. You are indefinitely stranded in Twisted Wonderland. You may have accidentally created a new type of Darkness. You become the parent of a pyromaniac cat monster with delusions of grandeur. Some of your classmates want to hunt you for sport.

Shit is fucked.

[livingasaghost]

just developed a string of (tentative) bone season theories everybody...i'm sure somebody's already dived into this but i don't care because i want to talk about it!!

(spoilers for the dark mirror)

this is a scene from book one that i entirely completely forgot about. i logged it when i was vlogging, assumed it was referencing something i forgot about from a future book. i don't think it is?????

then i was thinking about the first card of the tarot reading, the card which symbolizes the past and/or the root cause of the situation/challenge

and initially i think we all just brushed past it because paige was adamant it was her father and that's all there was to her past

but the more i think about the dark mirror the more i'm...skeptical

we have so many references to cade's family and heritage, the way fitzours and mahoney both reference bears, the vagueness of paige's mother (who was she? did she die? did she disappear? was she a dreamwalker?) and on top of that there's the mystery of paige's relationship with the poltergeists + the scars on her hand that read KIN

paige's relationship with the poltergeists starts when she's young, it helps awaken her gift (and the poltergeist who first touches her is a woman she sees in a poppy field), but more than that, there is that prophecy from book four that references "THE SCION" which you'd think would just the scion republic, but "scion" also means descendant (kin), which could suggest that paige is a descendent of [blank]

which brings us back to the five of cups — was the thing paige lost not her father but her mother? if he is the one whose cups of water are spilled, it's HIS GRIEF and HIS DISAPPOINTMENT and HIS LOSS that he cannot move on from - paige is standing behind him (trying to talk him out of his grief?) but he doesn't answer...

but we do know that her father left her something in his will, something that jaxon doesn't understand (because it's irish? because it's amaurotic? because it's a secret or a message between paige and her father? because it's a family heirloom?)

and all of this family stuff - with her father yes but also the hints at her mother and the absence left by her disappearance/death - suggests that if that memory of blood is from paige's past, and it doesn't have to do with the dublin incursion (which happened when she was six and did not yet understand or know about her gift), then surely it has something to do with her early childhood and/or her mother and/or her father

but if we go back to the five of cups for a second, the five of cups is associated with the element of WATER, and water is often a symbol of feelings or emotion

i haven't been able to figure out what the hell she's implying by all this talk of water (am i stupid or are we all in the dark here) but there's no way this isn't all connected!!!!

this is just someone else's interpretation of water in tarot (The Moon card it sounds like?), but it's an interesting idea that speaks a lot about ancestors and reflections and judgement and life after death...

i do wonder how much of this water / dark mirror stuff comes back to the her (first) memory of blood - especially because there's the age old adage "blood runs thicker than water" etc etc

admittedly i also wonder if any of this also has to do with the prometheus and pandora stuff (or any of the other greek myths like adonis or persephone etc) because assuming jax is right (unfortunately, he usually is, isn't he?) then if the greek myths are correct and real and true and all came from the rephs, then is each myth about a different reph or are the stories all about the same reph(s)?

because adonis's story uses blood as well and his story is the origin of the amaranth WHICH BLOOMS WHEN PAIGE AND WARDEN KISS...

i just feel like if samantha shannon is listing out myths for us to pay attention to.......this one has some serious weight to it, especially when we know that paige and warden's connection made the windflower bloom in the real world

that would imply that arcturus is adonis (NASHIRA GREW SO JEALOUS OF THE PAIR THAT SHE SLAUGHTERED HIM AND PAIGE CRIED THAT SINGLE TEAR WHEN HE WAS "DEAD"...) and i guess that means that [Zeus] allowed [Arcturus] to spend half the year in life and half the year in death, even as paige is implied by jaxon to be persephone who would spend half her time in the syndicate and half her time in the free world...

and of course, we can't forget that death is an external influence, that it works differently for paige (and arcturus) - and even now the world is changing around her (them) but ultimately that change occurs because the two of them choose to stay together as the lovers

now here's where we get a little crazy - because i still don't know if this passage was cut because sam changed her mind and the story (and it's now and always will be irrelevant) OR if this passage was cut because she had to backtrack and rewrite this or reintroduce this at a later moment. if i was smart i'd assume it's dead in the water but she didn't entirely cut the word "thaumaturge." it's mentioned in passing by jaxon in book one and then in passing during didion's interlude poem in book two.

and yes, in theory this is a comment made in jest, about a concept that is suggestedly not real, but you have to wonder...because of objectively, zeitgeist aside, paige is someone with unprecedented mastery of the aether's secrets, whether she's aware of it or not.

this is one of the opening passages of the dark mirror - when paige is still trapped by the white aster - and even though it could be about anything, especially because she gets taken to oxford against her will, i have to wonder if it's bigger than that

then there's the "old secret" that seb mentions in book one, that paige has some sort of strange connection to death (the netherworld? the aether?) - initially i assumed that the "cords" he mentioned were the silver and gold cords, that it was her connection with arcturus that occurred in oxford that joined her to flesh and sarx but now i wonder...i wonder if she had that connection the whole time, even before warden...or rather, before she met him...[in this life?]

(sorry i do also also wonder if paige has a connection to the rephs and the netherworld that she ummmm was made to forget about ...)

(are we sure her early memory of blood is from earth and not the netherworld?) ((yeah yeah that's a little crazy.....or is it.....))

i know jax said this is in passing, as a snide comment (and possibly a real warning) but fatal flaws are very important in greek mythology and to the gods themselves and i wonder......i guess i just wonder if these two have been through all this before.......if he's ALWAYS been her fatal flaw....

then again, there are frequent mentions to paige's mortality

and that last one specifically will haunt me until it gets resolved, i think!

if we're all thinking the same thing - surely prometheus would be arcturus, if paige is implied to be pandora - then what crime did arcturus commit? (he's been known to commit two - acting against the suzerain and loving paige....) if he's the one who "pilfered fire from zeus" then possibly that could mean giving clairvoyance to the humans......?

side bar, i do find it interesting that arcturus' specific gift is "wisdom in the past" and memory and looking backward - especially because that can feel like a curse...or a mountain...like wouldn't it be crazy if he was punished for [x crime here] by being given this gift?

especially when he uses it later to help paige get her memories back from the white aster

and if we look at pandora's story, she's the first human woman (jaxon calls paige EVE...) (relevance of dreamwalkers here? maybe it isn't necessarily paige herself but her kin?) but then each god gifted her with things. she supposedly brings a jar to earth with plagues and evil, and after she lets out nearly all of them on earth, the last thing that remains is hope....

and then of course there's the unspeakable transgression by the mothallath that rended the veils in the first place...

i do wonder if that transgression is either rephs partnering with humans or giving clairvoyance to humans (or it could be both in theory)..... but i feel like that goes against the golden cord in a lot of ways. because it seems like paige and arcturus' connection strengthens the veils. - if only because the amaranth bloomed when they kissed plus paige can bring arcturus back to life from latency and ALSO there's that whole crazy moment in the colosseum when she kills all the emim because of the power of the golden cord

it's almost like the golden cord (the connection, the love, the care, the partnership between rephs and humans?) is the hope that pandora saves in the end - especially when we know that rephs can safely take aura from offering humans, to seemingly no detriment

there's no end to this just as there's no real concrete theory to this, i just needed to put all my thoughts and questions in one place. i do worry that i'm just the last person to come to all these (vague) conclusions but that's what i get for putting off my read of the dark mirror, i guess!

[rileyav]

that loredump is singlehandedly making me want to come back to this website properly. i've been curious as hell about her and xander just seeing you post elsewhere.

i'm not even going to lie, Xander's existence changed my life LMFAO

holy shit i am so hype to talk about Xander

Xandra got really bummed out pretty early on in the game about a bunch of shit. Erron basically gave her a coin to put in a magic wishing well and she wished to understand herself better

lo and behold, Xander shows up in their session, and Erron catches him stealing all the booze in one of the train cars. Erron thinks Xander's an invading player from another session and he's pissed about his booze so he puts him in a scary ass death-fog prison

Xandra at this point is on the train (which is also where Erron and the prisoner are) so she goes to see who the prisoner is.

Xander is super antagonistic at first. it hasn't really clicked to Xandra that this might be another version of her but she does identify with the fear he's exhibiting.

eventually during their conversation, they realize they are basically each other, so Xandra tells Erron to let him go. Erron ends up saying something threatening (because at that point he is like ... kind of a HUGE FUCKING ASSHOLE to Xandra half the time) and he leaves but tells Xandra that Xander is her responsibility.

so she takes Xander to the train bar since they both like drinking LOL

he grabs some random bullshit and clumsily mixes some drinks together, spills shit all over, acts like a total goof and then beams a big toothy grin at her and hands over a glass.

it reminds her of how awkward she's been lately, and she realizes how fun it is to be around someone who's messy and goofy and silly and clumsy.

she drinks the concoction he made, and it ends up tasting super good. he can't believe it, he's like "no freaking way" and whips up another one. she laughs so hard she slams her palm against the countertop, and he watches her laugh with her full chest, the kind of laugh he doesn't let himself have, and starts laughing with her.

they both learn to like the part of themselves that they're embarrassed about from seeing it in each other :')

IT'S SO FUCKING CUTE

they stare at each other as they drink their lil' drinks, talk about THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE REST OF THE TEAM, which is A WHOLE OTHER THING...

they both fumbled the same person, and they both have a weird relationship with Erron/Erra who are abusive as hell towards them. Xandra kind of realizes she doesn't deserve the treatment that Erron puts her through because she hates that Xander goes through the same thing.

she ends up liking herself more and wanting better for herself because of Xander. because of her classpect, her luck actually gets better after this lol

Xander also ends up being around for the conversation Xandra has with Tiffy about her relationship with Erron, and Xander watches Tiffy stab Xandra for it. Xandra has a little menty b on the floor while she bleeds and cries about how much she sucks so he picks her up and carries her to her room on the train.

he doesn't sugarcoat it, he tells her the way she went about the conversation really fucked shit up, but that it's okay. he tells her he's gonna learn from her mistake once he gets back to his dimension LOL

they end up cuddling in her bed and having a really really good talk, and just as it's ending he fucking gets teleported back to his dimension because another incursion is happening (it's like a thing that happens every 12 hours and he always gets pulled back to his dimension)

because of their connection, she and him have a telepathic connection that's able to cross dimensions. whenever she has a tough time (which happens a fucking lot) she basically "phones" him and they have cute little telepathic conversations where they can feel each other's emotions and stuff.

anyway, before he left Erron gave him instructions for a portal with some blood samples for reference, so right away Xander pretty much works himself almost to death to get a portal working so he can see Xandra again.

they have a Prince of Time on their team which basically leads to them having the ability to re-do their game over and over again if something fucks up catastrophically. so, while Xandra has only been in her game for a few days, XANDER has been in his for WEEKS if not months.

Xandra being all about connections and other people ends up being kind of selfless. she works herself to exhaustion doin shit for other people, but also because her game genre is co-op so she kind of ends up being around others constantly.

Xander tells her how he wants to take her on a date, how he wants to have a day where it's just them and they relax together. he has all these cute plans for dates, and there is a really beautiful non-canon story of them going on the most romantic date on the planets in his session that the DM wrote for me. IT'S SO FUCKING CUTE but I'd need to get his permission to share it

anywayyy at some point something really WEIRD happens with Erron and Tiffy and Xandra runs away, shuts herself away from everything, and asks Fortuna to make it so that she can be alone.

so, LoLaC goes from co-op to single player.

Xandra reaches out to Xander telepathically for comfort, and it's kind of great timing because he's ready to come through the portal that's finally been finished!! after like forever!

they reunite and !!! well a type of confession happens

i was actually working on drawing how it happened in a little comic lol but it's not done yet

BUT YEAH they are pretty much inseparable after that!!!!!!!

Xandra goes through the last gate on her planet and ends up umm!!! destroying the twin stars that their fates are connected to! which also destroys their fate. and also their telepathic connection. and also the uh... the portal gets broken in the process. a whole bunch of other shit is going on at the same time but she ends up working with Eli to fix the portal and Xander and Leif show up to take her to their dimension so they can use her luck to fix THEIR portal.

WHILE SHE'S THERE, OH MAN

SO. XANDER TAKES HER TO HIS VERSION OF LAND OF LUCK AND CHARMS!!!

YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THE WAY HE DESCRIBED IT TO HER EARLIER ON IN THE GAME

He squeezes her hand, fingers intertwining as they walk. "But alright, my world?" His smirk turns thoughtful. "LoLaC, my version? Picture this—" His free hand gestures grandly as he speaks. "Giant, towering casinos built into cliffsides. Whole valleys filled with rolling dice, the size of boulders, tumbling down into rivers of liquid gold. The sky? Always shifting like a roulette wheel—sun, moon, stars, cycling overhead at random. Never the same pattern twice." His eyes spark with excitement. "There’s this one place, the High Stakes Strip? It’s a mile-long boardwalk of flashing neon, always changing depending on who walks through. The games, the rules—hell, even the dealers—they adjust to your fate. Walk in lucky? You’ll feel like a god. Walk in cursed? Well… don’t." He laughs, shaking his head. "And then there’s the Denizen’s domain—House. Imagine if the Mad Hatter and a high-stakes gambling addict were the same guy, with a voice like velvet and a grin full of bad decisions. He is the House, and the House always wins. His palace? It’s a sprawling, ever-shifting casino where the walls shuffle like a deck of cards. You don’t just walk in—you ante up. Every conversation’s a wager, every request a bet, and every deal?" Xander tilts his head, smirking. "Well, let’s just say, if you can’t afford the cost? He’ll be happy to name his price." He swings their hands lightly, looking at her. "What d’you think? Sound fun?"

anyway so while they're there, he takes her to meet his denizen! and House JUST SO HAPPENS to be a BIT OF A ROMANTIC, so he basically gives them rings that replaces the stars to create a new reference point of connection for them. they can feel each other and talk telepathically again, AND the portal works better now.

but, yeah, pretty much they also get married without knowing what marriage is, at all.

the white dress was what she was wearing for girls' night and so much shit happened she just never ended up changing out of it so it was a coincidence. and he was wearing a tux cause he wants to dress nice for her, which is so fucking goddamn cute because he's a total punk

after that, Erra has this denizen on her planet which is basically death fog. yeah you know Erron's death fog? yea Erra has one too. it's white and black fog, basically 2-in-1.

honestly, fuck, it was so cool. they let the fog take their bodies over and engage in a deadly waltz for their liiiivessss so that they could defeat it

black fog = oblivion, death, finality white fog = afterlife, lies, comfort, wishes Xandra took the white fog because she's used to filling people with hope, and Xander is all about brutal harsh truth so obvi he took the black fog.

the DM set it up to have three checks that i had to pass, it was like an open-ended problem to solve.

the first one was grounding Xander because he was getting lost in the black fog, Xandra had to ground him with an appropriate shared memory, which the DM had measured with emotional intensity and personal value and there were only 2 possible answers that would have passed. i fucking clutchedddd and got the right moment which was when they cuddled for the first time 🥹 because it was him being loved, needed, and there for her. the other correct answer was the present moment because Xander loves any moment he's in with her currently.

the second moment was Xandra getting lost in the white fog, and i passed because she thought of her future wedding with Xander and how she wanted the friends that were around her to be there. at the same time, Xander was thinking of his only regret which was not getting to have the wedding with Xandra. their thoughts synced up which fucking saved them 🥳🥳🥳

the last one was the final moment of the waltz. they had to let go of each other and the fog reacted by making them feel like they were going to lose each other forever. Xandra was able to do it because she saw it as honoring their love instead of betraying it--because she and Xander love each other enough and have experienced each other in ways that pretty much nobody ever gets to, enough for a lifetime, and if she lost him forever she considered that a price equal to getting to love him for the short time she had him.

there were 9 possible endings and i clutched tf up and got the one where nothing bad happened and no negative residual effects!!!

they love each other so fucking much. it's awesome

anyway

so as you know (or don't know) Erron's name isn't actually Erron. Xandra helped him get his true identity back and his real name is Johan. this will be relevant in a sec.

Johan becomes Foe of Doom. which means he opposes doom and opposes others through doom.

Johan goes on a double date with Tiffy to see Erra and Leif. while he's there, Xander and Xandra go to Fallen Star Valley! he takes her by throwing his scythe super fucking far and then using his electromagnetism to basically fucking throw them to it at mach 3

while they're there, the double date goes fucking bad. Tiffy had her own open-ended problems to solve but unfortunately she critfailed and Johan ended up killing himself, taking ALL OF THE DOOMED TIMELINES WITH HIM.

because of where Xander and Xandra are, she and Xander watch it happen. it's so fucking sad.

they were all really good friends, every time Xander came to visit Erron/Johan would cook food for them and they'd all have dinner together and Erron would always do some shit to ruin the vibe. it was like, their thing... it was awesome... they were like a little dysfunctional family.

anyway, Johan's star falls into the valley, and ichor comes pouring out of it. Xandra touches it, makes a wish, and Johan's final gift to her is basically freeing Xander of his doom as well.

which was like, pretty much 100% confirmed because he felt like "a weight was lifted off of him"--he was going to end up dying to save Xandra at some point.

So Xandra finally has someone in her life that she won't lose 😭

and ever since then he's been basically by her side while they mourn Johan together. JOHAN EVEN LEFT HIM SOMETHING IN HIS WILL BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS YET

the most recent happening is he got pulled back for the incursion while they were napping.

but he did make fun of Xandra for having a black crush on Cogito so now she's trying to beat the allegations while he's gone.

it's not working out so well.

OH RIGHT and Erra is really pissed at Xander now for leaving when he knew something weird was going on with Johan sooo he's gonna get hella guilt tripped

anyway that's pretty much it so far

GOD

IT'S SO MUCH

HOW LONG DID THIS TAKE ME TO WRITE

[turndecassette2]

I do remember those magic knight people! Every once in a while I go back on your blog to try to track down those drawings because I like them and the concept in the description so much. I would love to hear more about them. Do you have a story planned out?

yeah, vaguely. so for the cosmology; there's this dystopian city I desperately need to draw a map of built above the fossilised remains of an ancient hell. the city mines the hell for 'hell-flesh', a semi-sentient magical substance that's kind of the physical container of the souls of the damned. I suppose this is like fantasy rare earths for fantasy compute or w/e. this has been going on for a while and the city is, kiruna-style, gradually falling down the pit. also as more of the hell is laid bare, semi-autonomous demonic creatures are let loose, maybe as a kind of immune response against human incursion.

(imagining this sort of thing + branching passages. but in the middle of an italian intra-feuding city-state w a population ca modern day singapore)

a kind of grid of bridges and fortresses has been built above the pit to protect the fancier, upper parts of the city from the decaying/descending bits below. the lower city is mostly miners etc & due to the fucked up mutagenic influence of living near a hell & touching hell stuff all day the people in the upper city treat them with suspicion. there's a 'join the US navy-army-whatever to get health insurance & education & basic human dignity' or like french foreign legion situation where by joining the elite magic army manning the little fortresses, ppl from the lower city can gain some access to the upper. in the reverse I guess for the upper city ppl it functions a bit like 'the wall' in asoiaf where criminals, noble bastards etc go to maybe redeem themselves or die horribly.

the fire magic used by the guards to fight demons etc is derived from the burning corpse of a god that is said to have been there since before the founding of the city (presumably the entity responsible for the hell situation in the first place). by swearing fealty to this dead(-ish) god one gets the ability to summon his divine flame but you forfeit your chance at an afterlife, or maybe you go to hell (no-one is quite sure). everyone kind of assumes once the body is fully burned the god will return/reincarnate (and either save or destroy the city, depending on who you ask).

the politics part; at its founding the city was part of some empire that has since collapsed (pretty recently). the city is dependent on trade to stay viable/fed and to appease the new warring states/mini-empires that have sprung up around it. the current ruler is a reclusive young queen & she has her favourite lord/advisor, an ageing academic who is sort of trying to liberalise the place or make it superficially less fashy. other lords dislike this & are working to either find her a proper king or hasten the return of some deity or other that will return the place to its former glory.

I guess the story? has this noble child bastard protagonist from a shady family* of word-mages who is sent to the 'centre' fortress & works her way up to become the apprentice of some hero-knight demon slayer guy with a possibly shady past (I think rn the name I have for the guy is Chaimé & idk if this is a good name? like the spanish jaime but w more e, & the tiny bastard is Myia I think). I imagine her being the sasuke to a happier, more popular girl who saves her from a demon (embarrassing) then is outed as a half-demon herself (she's the redhead in the drawings) & Myia warms up to her as she (demon girl) becomes increasingly isolated from the outside city (being supposedly dangerous or too powerful? I don't think Myia has much natural magic or w/e in her aside from being a nerd & very persistent).

sorry there's a lot here that would be SPOILERS if I ever actually made this into something coherent enough to be an actual comic ha ha. the knight/mentor guy gets dragged into a kind of fantasy 'business plot' & I guess part of that would be like, seeing to what extent he goes along with it & if he's actually a good person ha ha. + there's a bunch of other characters w stuff going on that I haven't figured out the looks of yet but. they're important in my head. the big bear-ish bf guy who gets sent on an expedition down the pit etc

* I have a distinct image of these people living hidden away in some gormenghast-style estate. they've habsburged themselves into being mostly deaf but the only ones around who can fully read/write the divine language that lets them do word-based magic & the other houses kind of have to put up w their weirdness. also scheming nobles in dune using sign language is 1 of my favourite things in the new film adaption & I like the idea of outsiders being forced to learn to sign (or else being cut-off from higher level magic) as some sort of power move? I don't think they involve themselves that much in politics since that's below them but are def part of the 'bring the gods back' thing, for better or worse. anyway after 'avas demon' (GUILTY PLEASURE I know it has such pretty colours but comes from such an unhinged part of the internet, will never stop apologising for this) started posting again I realised it had a character w the same look & vibe so will try and re-design protag girl to look more like this cute person I saw in a fashion post on IG

... let's see how this goes. came up w all this BS after some viz lady at comicon asked me if I wanted to make them a manga but it's grown from being too little to being too unwieldy to pitch. will see after I finish up my current projects. how much blood, swearing & genocide can a story have before it stops being YA. I think chainsaw man is sort of YA but dorohedoro isn't

[imdonnalynn]

THE MULTIVERSE SAGA

Made a new header with who I believe will be big players towards the end of the Multiverse Saga. Agatha maybe not so much but in her own way however that may be.

Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch SPECULATION -

What happened to Wanda with the collapse of Wundagore in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?

Did she die in the collapse like so many would have you believe?

Did she simply put herself in some hibernation form within the rubble?

Did she transport herself elsewhere to self-isolate? An off shoot of this speculation was she banished herself to the Void.

Hear my theory, think about it, in Multiverse of Madness when Wanda finally realized the Darkhold had corrupted her, in the eyes of her children, it was only then she was able to see the monster she had become and stop her rampage.

I think Wanda realized how truly dangerous she was and in an effort to protect her children and by extension the Multiverse she brought Wundagore down on top of her in an effort to rid the Multiverse of her as a future threat.

But what I think really happened was instead of killing her she sent herself to the Void.

She absorbed some of America's power, its possible with her already powerful reality warping abilities with what little she took she was able to send herself to the Void with a thought, like she erased all mutants in the House of M storyline by stating "No more mutants..." in this case she thought "I want to be where I'm no longer a threat to anyone..." and to me that means the Void.

I think Wanda unintentionally banished herself to the Void. As evidence by her Scarlet Witch statue from Wundagore making a cameo appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine in the hideout of the resistance team against Cassandra Nova.

Wanda has likely been in the Void since Multiverse of Madness and has avoided any interaction with anyone and anything fearing she will become an unstoppable threat again. So I don't think Cassandra Nova felt any need to try and kill Wanda even if she somehow knew about her.

But once Avengers: Doomsday comes, RDJ's Doctor Doom, will very likely pull an Avengers: Infinity War and leave audiences stunned when he causes incursions of the Multiverse into one place, the Void making it BATTLEWORLD. That is a lot of populus and stuff of all kinds coming into the Void and between that and Wanda possibly running into some of her old friends from her universe 616, she will begin to realize she has to get involved if the fate of the Multiverse, the fate of her children, is at stake. Any projects that take place between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars has been heavily rumored to take place in Battleworld.

Wanda will be an integral part in restoring the Multiverse so the Mutant Saga can thrive. Loki, Doom, Wanda and maybe even Strange will all have a hand in reestablishing everything.

p.s. ...Clea may also be a big part with the other magical beings of the Multiverse.

update 9/5/24 - She could also be in some form of Hell based off the souls of the damned in Multiverse of Madness. If you count the souls that she was trapped with versus how many burst free when she did the number is short so its implied she could have been dragged to some hellish realm.

[babacontainsmultitudes]

Let's Talk About Lincoln And His Dads, Okay?

I think people claiming that Lincoln and Grant "aren't so different after all" because, like everyone else in the show, they both have blood on their hands, have mostly missed the mark on where the core of Lincoln's issues with his dad(s) lie in the first place.

Moreover, I'm tired of people insinuating that Lincoln's troubles pale in comparison to Normal's or Scary's or Hermie's, and I'm tired of people saying that Lincoln is overreacting, or that Lincoln is a hypocrite for calling out his dad's behavior, or that he is in the wrong for setting boundaries, or that he's ungrateful, or that he's responsible for ensuring his dad's emotional wellbeing and not the other way around!

*breathes* So let's. Let's finally talk about Lincoln and Grant (and Marco also him).

[WOAH THERE! Hey you, yeah you, this is a long-ass post, mhm, it's one of those, so please keep that in mind before venturing below the cut. Maybe grab yourself a drink or a bite to eat first, yeah? Additionally, sorry the transcript stuff is a bit messy in this one, tumblr has a 30 image limit and well, I had to find workarounds. Also, I haven't yet added alt text for the transcript screenshots- I plan to when I have a bit more energy for it, but I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause in the meantime!]

Part 1/4: "Honesty is hardly ever heard, and mostly what I need from you"

Lincoln is certainly a pacifist at heart (in more recent times important examples of this include Lincoln's refusal to harm Scary in the Swallows household, as well as Lincoln being the only one of the teens to successfully avoid using violence in front of d00d during their most recent standoff with Willy), and in good paladin fashion functions as the group's moral compass the majority of the time.

Despite this, Lincoln's morals are not so simplistic and idealistic as to not differentiate between different motives for violence, nor does he view acts of violence in and of themselves as signs that a person is "evil" or "irredeemable". He can for example, see the difference between the acts of Willy and those of the kiddads, as he tries to explain when confronted by the other teens on the matter:

In fact, even after Grant tells Linc all of this during the incursion:

Lincoln's primary goal is still to save his dad first and foremost, then offer him the room to explain himself, without immediately chalking him up as a bad person because of what he has done.

Lincoln certainly doesn't approve of Grant and his violence, though he can understand that things are seldom black and white. But the killing is far from the only issue here. In fact, it's not even the main issue.

Grant creates a foundation based on trust and accountability whose importance in the Li-Wilson household is hammered in from the very first episode.

And we see throughout the early episodes of the season just how strongly Lincoln believes that Grant would never lie to him.

Then of course the incursion point encounter happens. There are several elements of this encounter that we will gloss over for now and go back to later, but of immediate importance is the fact that this interaction serves as direct confirmation for Lincoln that his dad has in fact been lying to him his entire life.

Additionally, he learns that Grant possesses a deep hatred of himself, wants to die, perceives himself as "broken beyond repair", and fears that Lincoln will somehow wind up just like him. That's a lot for one kid to have dropped on them, let alone all at once and without warning!

So- Lincoln wants to confront his dad after this both because he wants his dad to explain himself and take accountability for his dishonesty and for his actions more generally, and because he is concerned for his dad's wellbeing.

Now let's look at how Grant has, over the course of the season, responded to Lincoln's attempts to get him to take responsibility for his actions, and talk about his mental health:

The first thing Grant does is pull a classic Wilson "we'll talk about it later". Then the very next thing he does is lie to Lincoln again, now pretending that his plan is to fix things with Erin by offering her a gift (when of course he's actually set out to steal the sun)

Then as a deflection when Lincoln further tries to confront him about the lying, he indirectly equates everything he has kept secret from Lincoln (see the incursion point stuff) to "little white lies" and, contrary to the philosophy he so heavily instilled in Lincoln, argues that sometimes lying can protect the people one cares about:

Which as a point of interest I would like to compare and contrast to something Lincoln says in an earlier episode:

"lies can protect" vs "protecting is also trusting"- anyways moving on,

From there Grant's plan to steal the sun eventually comes to light (heh) and gets foiled, forcing the teens to be the mature ones in the situation and try to negotiate something with Erin. While he is certainly disappointed by everything going on, however, Lincoln's priorities vis-à-vis Grant are still, first and foremost, to ensure that he is safe, and when time allows for it get an apology from him and get him to talk openly about everything he has withheld. At this point in time Lincoln, while obviously angry at his dad, still very clearly cares about his dad and just wants to be able to talk with him without all the lies or deflection or excuses.

Then the teens are backed into a corner when their attempts at negotiation go sour, and ultimately wind up helping Grant steal the sun. Once that is over, Lincoln tries to confront his dad again, now with regards to some of the things he said about himself:

(Do note that last bit especially as it will be of relevance in the next section)

Then after Grant ignores the other teens when they try to talk to him, Lincoln calls him out and once again asks him to apologize, in part for having told Lincoln previously that they were dangerous and that he was not to hang out with them:

(as you might have guessed, Grant does not apologize).

Then it is established that the "zone of truth" in the Li-Wilson household isn't actually a spell but an agreed upon promise between Marco, Grant, and Lincoln to tell only the truth when someone calls upon the zone of truth, further cementing the degree to which honesty is an important Li-Wilson family value. Whilst in the zone of truth, however, Grant beats around the bush with regards to his intentions, and the teens ultimately decide that they do not want him to come along with them to the church of the doodler, as he is untrustworthy, in addition to Lincoln saying that he needs some space for his own sake. Grant then pretends to respect this decision, though he is in fact once again lying through his teeth, and sneaks back on later.

Before exiting the bus for the first time, however, Lincoln tries to get his dad to open up a bit about his feelings. Grant's response?

Time after time after time, Grant refuses to confront himself and address anything from what occurred at the incursion, and in fact adds on to everything with a whole new slew of lies, and with each failed attempt at connection the rift between Lincoln and Grant increases. And Lincoln, true to his values and how he was raised, is not a hypocrite in wanting openness and accountability from his dad. Lincoln is not and has never acted like he is perfect and beyond making mistakes, but Lincoln takes responsibility for his actions, even when the degree to which he is actually complicit in the crime at hand is questionable. He writes a letter to the families of the firemen because he feels responsible for their deaths. He apologizes to Taylor for lying to him about the bracelets and helps not only Taylor but also Nicky escape the clutches of the FBI, even though the consequence of doing so could easily have been his own death. When he thinks he may have inadvertently lead Hero on, his immediate decision is to take accountability for it and clear things up. All of this in addition to consistently apologizing to his friends when he thinks he may have hurt them for one reason or another.

This is also an important thing to consider when we talk about the place of violence in the show. Yes all the characters, including Lincoln himself, have had to kill at some point or another for the sake of survival and protecting the ones they love. But Lincoln does not use the blood on his hands to justify violence in future decisions. Despite the fact that he has had to kill before, Lincoln, as mentioned in the beginning of this essay, continues to try incredibly hard to act as pacifist whenever he can, choosing to protect those around him with as little collateral damage as possible. Does he have a perfect track record? No! Does he still try his damned hardest to choose kindness and mercy? Absolutely! And this is an important distinction especially between Lincoln and Grant.

And then Grant kills Terry. Now Lincoln must shift his priorities towards protecting his friends from his dad, but in running after Scary still finds himself forced to confront him. So what does Grant have to say regarding his actions?

Both Lincoln and Scary are right to be furious with this response, Terry Jr. is dead and all Grant can offer in response is what is essentially another excuse. Grant's mental state does not absolve him of responsibility or accountability for his actions, which as Lincoln points out (and repeats later) consist not only of the singular choice of shooting Terry, but of every choice he has made before and after that. "I'm sorry your dad is broken" obviously doesn't bring Terry Jr. back, but perhaps more importantly demonstrates that Grant is still not willing to reflect on his actions any further than that and work on himself moving forward.

So Lincoln does what is perhaps the most difficult thing he has done in his life, and disowns his father. This is not a rash, impulsive decision. As established, Lincoln has given Grant many chances throughout the season to address his behavior and at least fucking *talk* with Lincoln about his mental state, but he refused. He refused, not because he means harm, but because Grant truly believes himself to be fundamentally broken and irreparable, and doesn’t see the effect that his own suffering is having on his son. This, in addition to continuously failing to take Lincoln seriously and treat him as more than a little kid, both in failing to listen to Lincoln's voices of concern as well as in disregarding any of his proposals to go about things differently (whether that means avoiding violence, trusting rather than lying, or both).

So when Lincoln says:

"It's not about what you just did now, Dad. It's all your choices. You chose me. There wasn't some passion, or, or just a kid. You chose me as your kid, knowing you were broken. You can't take that back. And… I love you, and I hate that you made me love you, when… you are who you are and you knew it."

This isn't Lincoln saying that Grant should not have had a kid because he is mentally unwell or has trauma, it is Lincoln saying that Grant continues to make choices without acknowledging his agency in those choices and the effect they have on those around him, instead choosing to pin his mistakes on his perceived brokenness without any resolution to do something about that.

And before you say, "but Grant didn't have a choice in becoming Lincoln's parent since he saved him from the Titanic":

This simply isn't true, as strictly speaking there was nothing stopping Grant and Marco from putting Lincoln up for adoption if one or both of them did not feel themselves to be ready or capable of taking care of a child and

Ignoring Lincoln's exact phrasing, "choosing to be a parent" is not just about the literal choice to have a child, it's about every choice you make before and after that. It's choosing not to express your concerns over parenthood with your spouse, which based on Grant's track record:

-Is definitely in-character for him. Conversely, in Marco's case, it may be choosing not to ask your partner about their feelings on the matter (because, really, asking Grant on the spot while literally on a sinking ship if he's okay with adopting the baby they just found is kinda rough). It's choosing not to go to therapy (not that we know whether Grant specifically did/does or not but all the same). It's choosing not to apologize when your child is upset with you because of something you did. It's choosing not to take them or their friends seriously. It's choosing to lie instead of trust. It's an endless amount of choices that Grant (and Marco) made every step of the way!

As a final note for this section, what's particularly unfortunate is that even with Lincoln's disownment, Grant still has failed to show any major signs of change. Note this telling exchange (from episode 40):

Grant: I-I understand that. I just thought. Just something that just occurred to me. Hey Dood.

Dood: Yeah?

Grant: Why did you kill those two guys?

Dood: Because I love you so much and I wanted to protect you.

Grant: Okay. That's all I wanted to know.

In which Grant is still making excuses rather than owning up to or apologizing for anything or striving to change his behavior in the future. What's great about Grant's "point" here too is that the two guards that d00d killed were absolutely unnecessary deaths, so this example does anything but work in Grant's favor.

Part 2/4: "My mother hates her body, we share the same outline"

But this is only part of the problem. As aforementioned, we learn early on and see repeated on multiple occasions that Grant thinks ill of himself to the point of believing that he deserves death, and does not want Lincoln to be anything like him.

This affects Lincoln in two major ways. Perhaps most obviously, it leaves Lincoln greatly concerned for his dad's wellbeing, which in turn acts as his main motivation for trying (and failing) to get Grant to explore and explain those feelings. Additionally, however, Grant's self-loathing also has a passive but deeply damaging effect on Lincoln's self-worth. The most important indication of this is when Lincoln says:

"Okay. Look, Scary, I just... You know what? I don't even care. I just needed a friend and I don't know… I don’t know what you're going through, but… no, my dad always said you can't love somebody unless you love yourself, right? Well, last time I asked him if he loved himself, he… He doesn't. So… I don't know, so maybe he doesn't love me either. And you seem to know what that's like, and, you're my friend! You're dealing with these things and I'm just here. I just, I don't know! I don't love myself either! I don't know! But I know that more people will die if we can't do this together, and you're the only person, like, in this group— I mean you guys are, I mean— [sighs] Look, you can go. I'm not going to stop you. You go if you want to go. I'm done."

Also classic Lincoln move to say he doesn't care then proceed to hug Scary through an Eldritch Blast. In this essay, on why people misuse the word "apathy" in applying it to Lincoln,

Though the issue comes up again in a less obvious but very interesting way when Lincoln says that:

Which I assume probably seems pretty out of left field. To explain a bit what I'm trying to get at here, consider the following scenario:

Your parent, who you care about immensely, possesses certain qualities (say, idk, intrusive thoughts or mood swings or delusional thoughts or *something*) that they possess great shame over, and truly, wholeheartedly believe makes them "evil" or unlovable or even outright deserving of death. Of course, you do not believe that your parent is any of these things, it hurts to see that they feel this way about them-self, so you try your best to support them, even if you know deep down that you are their child and this should not be your responsibility. Your parent does not see the effect that their mental state is having on yours, does not take your voices of concern seriously, and mostly leaves you feeling like you are talking to a wall.

This hurts already, but it gets worse. You are your parent's child, and you are human, and so you inevitably find yourself with some of the characteristics that your parent loathes so much in them-self. Maybe you have similar thought patterns. Maybe you've made similar mistakes. Your parent doesn't love them-self because of these qualities that you now see in yourself, so how can you be sure that they do not hate you for them too? Do they believe that you deserve to die for these things as well? Your parent obviously assures you to the contrary, after all, they love you more than anything. But your parent fails to offer any meaningful line of distinction between their flaws and yours (after all, there isn't one, not really), and continues to assert that, unlike you, they really do deserve to die. Your parent is a hypocrite, and their reassurance does little to convince you.

Hopefully that makes some sense. With regards to the "dreams about killing my dads" part, mostly what I'm trying to say is that these dreams, while certainly very different from Grant's conscious thoughts about violence, still tread the line of mimicking them to some degree, and Grant's "I deserve to die because of how my brain works, don't be anything like me because that's bad!" really doesn't leave Lincoln with a healthy way to process and interpret this fact about himself, even if these dreams don't actually say anything about who he is as a person.

Anyways all that to say, on multiple levels Grant's unwillingness to even try to love himself and treat himself better has been having effects on his son that he can't even begin to realize, in addition to everything discussed in the first bit.

"But baba," I hear you say, "what about Marco? Why has Lincoln seemingly disowned both of his dads?"

Part 3/4: Three is the loneliest number

Well, I think there's a couple things going on here. For one thing, I think in a sense Lincoln sees his dads as kind of a "package deal", which is to say that from his pov disowning Grant means Marco would have to pick a side, and though it pains him immensely (as we see evidence of on several occasions), Lincoln would ultimately rather give up Marco than have Grant be left alone without either of them, because he will always love and care about Grant, and because he's selfless that way.

Additionally, for a good long while, Lincoln doesn't actually appear to harbor any resentment towards Marco:

However, this later part of the season has brought with it a new wave of disillusionment, and in its wake Lincoln has finally come to question the last major issue characterizing his relationship with his parents: social isolation.

We have known from basically the first episode of the season that Lincoln has lived a very isolated, lonely life, and that the only reason he's even going to public high school now is because he finally convinced Grant to let him:

As a side note, I have seen discussion of the fact that since Lincoln was rescued from the Titanic, it's possible that he was homeschooled solely because he did not legally exist. The above statement from Matt seems to work against this theory, in addition to the fact that if Lincoln was missing legal papers to get into elementary school... That would also prevent him from going to high school. Also, I mean. If you actually were to find an abandoned baby there's a whole legal process you're supposed to go through, and since Lincoln surely wouldn't have any close blood relatives around, that would still leave the possibility for Grant and Marco to adopt him legally if they wanted to (and if they chose not to go through said process, that's kind of on them?). Which isn't to say that this theory is out of the question, but in any case being homeschooled is one thing, whereas the actual degree of social isolation Lincoln goes through growing up is way more than just that, as we will delve into.

Now, we know that Grant eventually puts an end to Lincoln and Normal seeing each other on the basis that Lark and Sparrow are dangerous, which... Itself is actually fair tbh, in particular given what we now know about Hero. Not fair to Lincoln or Normal, obviously, but understandable. Much less acceptable, is the fact that Lincoln actually grows up without any friends his age whatsoever:

We understand of course that the motives behind this extreme social isolation are not malicious or otherwise done with ill-intent, but that doesn't make this even remotely okay! Of course then Lincoln is very clingy and perhaps even territorial over his dads, to the point where one of his biggest fears is his parents having another child who would take some of their attention away from him- they've created an environment in which they are basically all he has!

As a direct result of this, Lincoln gets lonely very easily, and when he finally does make some friends of his own, he will do anything and everything for them, even if it means risking his own life (at least then he isn't alive and lonely!)

This is also why Lincoln is so especially distraught after the loss of Mr. Kicks, a digital avatar whom he considered his best (and only) friend.

Additionally, Lincoln's fear of returning to his lonesome childhood creates an unfortunate scenario in which he cannot be honest with his dads about the fact that he is being bullied at school

Even though that is definitely the case (and in fact we see it first-hand on many occasions), because to do so would run the risk of his dads taking him out of public school, and that, to him, is worse.

Lincoln beginning to view this aspect of his childhood (the isolation but also the over-protectiveness and overbearing attitude more generally) for what it is is why Matt's intros have recently shifted from "schooled at home" to "schooled in prison", in addition to pretty directly saying that high school was like heaven compared to his home life (in episode 40), and I don't think Lincoln is even remotely in the wrong for looking back at his isolation and thinking "hey, even if you had good intentions, that was kind of fucked up actually, and I need to distance myself from you for my own sake."

Not that Lincoln wanting freedom from his overbearing dads is a new thing! I mean apart from what one can logically infer from Lincoln convincing Grant to let him go to public school, Matt does drop a bunch of telling details here and there such as Lincoln's favorite sound being "the silence of being home alone and free". It's just that now is when these feelings are finally starting to come to the surface.

It is also something that Lincoln naturally would hold against both Grant and Marco, because they are both aware of and responsible for this aspect of his upbringing (whether Marco acted actively or as an enabler in the matter notwithstanding- though I would look no further than both Grant and Marco getting red cards the one time they tried letting Lincoln play soccer with other kids to observe how that family dynamic plays out), hence feeling the need to cut himself off from the both of them in order to set a long-overdue boundary. That said, to be honest with you, I really don't think he's actually all that upset with Marco, and would mostly just like to see him again.

If the events of the Titanic help to ease any aspect of Lincoln's frustration, it would be this one. Not in the sense that it magically makes what Lincoln went through growing up okay, but it does still recontextualize Grant and Marco's degree of overbearingness and (part of) why they are how they are, and I absolutely think that Lincoln would have sympathy for that.

So, where does that leave us?

Part 4/4: What remains (+ the case study of Scary)

"But baba," you say, "Grant and Marco are not just their mistakes! They've both done so many things right as parents, and they love Lincoln more than anything!"

I turn to you, tears in my eyes. "I know," I say, "I know, but that does not contradict or erase the fact that they have inadvertently hurt Lincoln in many, many ways, and he has a right to be upset with them, and express that, and set boundaries if he feels the need to."

You sigh. "So do you think Grant is a good dad or a bad one?" you ask.

I shake my head. "He's just... He's just a dad. A dad who's had a rough swing of things from the beginning. He never meant to hurt Lincoln, and I truly believe he's got a good heart, but I want to see him try harder. I need to see him try harder than he currently is to better himself, for Lincoln's sake as much as his own."

Is... More or less how I feel. I absolutely agree that as a parent Grant obviously gives a shit, and my intention here is absolutely not to say "hey actually, Grant is awful!"

As I mentioned at the very beginning of this essay, however, collectively I have found over the course of the season that Lincoln's trauma and struggles have gone severely understated and undermined, sometimes to the point of even turning him into the bad guy or depicting him as acting dramatic for a decision that I think was very brave of him, actually. So... It does feel necessary to me to point out that, as much as I care about Grant and recognize that he's suffered immensely too, he's still made a lot of mistakes over the course of the season, and still has a lot of room to grow as a person.

As things currently are, I would not blame Lincoln if he did not forgive Grant by the end of the season. Do I think that's what's gonna happen? No lol.

If you'll excuse a mini side-tangent, because for now I don't really want to make this a separate post, the mid-season evolution of Lincoln and Scary's relationship is actually a great case study for Lincoln's capacity for forgiveness, in addition to his inability to give up on people:

Tony Pepperoni's murder is, I would argue, an attack against Lincoln most personally (relative to the other teens). Aside from Lincoln having the strongest pacifistic tendencies of the group, it's in his home, it's in front of Marco, as established in the 3rd section Tony Pepperoni, by virtue of having been over for dinners at the Li-Wilson household before, is someone Lincoln knows more personally than the other teens and one of the only people in his life he could have possibly approximated to a friend. Most importantly though, Scary goes behind Lincoln's back in letting Willy out and disclosing the location of the party, and that is a significant breach of trust.

So Lincoln kicks Scary out of the house (and more or less out of the group by extension) because protecting the others from her is the most important thing at that point in time (sound familiar?). For the next bit, Lincoln's behavior towards Scary becomes a juggling act of keeping a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't cause more harm (and yes, it's also when they are meanest with each other), but also keeping a close eye on her to look after her (a notable example of this being that he doesn't leave her behind in the hall of mirrors, even when it would have been easier and perhaps even "beneficial" to do so in the context of the anchor quest).

And yet despite all the mutual hostility, Lincoln without question also fights the hardest to get Scary back. He breaks the pick as a sign of trust (and as Freddie put it: "that's love babeeey") and to show her she's welcome back in the group, follows through on this decision despite the fact that it creates a temporary rift between him and the others (Normal and Taylor) who oppose her return (perhaps a good time to also say as a reminder that Lincoln was the most against letting Willy out in the first place), breaks a door down to protect her from Willy even when everyone else in the house treats him as crazy for doing so, refuses to fight Scary when she goes on the offense, and hugs her through a god damn eldritch blast because he can't let her leave and hurt more people but still cares about her to the point that he would literally choose to die before hurting her or giving up on fighting for her. Like, if that's not love and forgiveness, I don't fucking know what is. This in addition to him encouraging the others to go easy on her and otherwise looking out for her past that point.

So do I think Lincoln Li-Wilson has it in him to forgive Grant in spite of it all? That is a resounding yes from me. Will the events of the Titanic facilitate this if only by painting Grant's situation in a more sympathetic light and showcasing some of his virtues? Totally, I mean, there's a reason Anthony decided to make the arc go this way. But will I be a bit disappointed if this forgiveness comes without any major growth on Grant's part? Also. Also yes yeah.

MM. I DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW TO END THIS ONE TBH. Heh. Well, thank you for one thing, for taking the time to read a post this long. If you're reading this not too long after I posted it I am most definitely pacing around rn going "oh god they hate it!" but uh. Well that's a me problem lol. Anyways, I hope this proves to be at least somewhat insightful? ...Yeah no apart from that I really am struggling to end this properly and honestly I'm real sleepy lol so I'll just say again (whether you agree with the points listed here or not) THANKS FOR HEARING ME OUT Y'ALL AND TAKE CARE.

[celestine-witch]

TMAGP 037 THOUGHTS

Ah! Georgie an’ Sam! Back in the post-Archivesverse

“You could pass for human soon” damn girl

“We’re pretty sure you’re harmless at this point” well uhh he is

“Your Archivist” yeahhhhhhh

“Free to go” but like not really.

Sgajfmkfkfnsns MELANIE

Georgie’s “better half” oh they’re so cuuute I’m gonna explode.

Oh fuck it’s the Archivist!

Oh okay we got a cultist. Oh she pines; girl the Archivist ain’t gonna fuck you

It’s interesting how easily the words come out of her mouth. It makes sense, obviously, just a sharp contrast to everyone we’ve heard before.

This one’s more heartbreaking than terrifying… I feel bad for her.

Thanks, Archivist. Let her rest.

Ah, Melanie my beloved! Glad to have you back!

Damn so they’re cut off from everyone in the London Exclusion Zone. Interesting.

I love Sam’s conspiracist excitement! Me too man, me too

Yeah you’re special! You’re the cutest little lesbians there ever was! And also immune to the horrors.

Wait wait wait—did Melanie just call Jon a friend?

The fuck that was only a WEEK!?

Yeah chaos makes sense. Can’t imagine anything else happening tbh

I like that we have an actual name for the Eyepocalypse: the London Incursion. I’m gonna be using that from now on.

Hold on we’re years post-Incursion? Oh damn. Also calling MAG200 “Towerfall” is rad as hell

“Most people will do stuff, even if they aren’t forced to.” THANK YOU, MELANIE! You get it!

“His better half” nuh uh Melanie she’s for Gwen

“We’re not actually together, sooo…” finish that sentence. I dare you.

No, seriously, what kind of answer is that?? A relative stranger just called your ex your “better half” and all you’ve got to say is “we’re not currently dating”?? Mf didn’t even bother trying to correct Melanie.

Am I reading too much into this? Maybe it’s just because of that one post that suggested Sam & Alice would get back together but Sam’s reaction really implies that he’s not over Alice and just… knows that.

Ah yeah good. Smash those tape recorders. I mean maybe not too quickly, they’re how we get to hear this amazing story, but I get it.

I know a lot of people were speculating that maybe this universe isn’t quite the TMA-verse we were expecting, but this ep has really hammered home for me that this is our Melanie and our Georgie. I’m almost certain that this is our Archivist, too, based on how *checks transcripts* Ashe seems to recognize it.

[possumspaperpals]

Since Our Last Chat

This is another piece of art I did for my exploration into isolation. This one was to build off my mania painting with more desperation expressed. I did this one digitally at the beginning of my senior year and experimented with some of the different brushes to create more textures. It’s one of my favorites because of the angle and vibrancy of the colors. I did my best to make it feel like the figure was really pressing themself against the floor.

To explain the lore of this art further I must give a warning because it does go into some dark ideas and personal stuff

As I explained in my previous post with the triptych, I was exploring some of what I would feel in a situation where I was completely isolated and had expanded the ideas into an entire scenario. I find that being able to be messier with my art style, really move my hand arm and body while I’m painting helps release excess emotional energy. It’s definitely very weird to do so but I find it very cathartic to draw a version of myself experiencing this nightmare. Due to anxiety I’ve always experienced some level of isolation from others, but have also built very strong bonds with family and friends and I know I’d be devastated and spiral if I were to permanently lose them. I wanted to express feelings of loneliness and some more explosive feelings that I don’t usually express. I also wanted to share my art because I find the concepts I’ve come up with fun and interesting, even if it’s dark and weird, and I hope that I’m not alone in finding catharsis in this kind of thing.

In this scenario that I’ve come up with, an unknown event causes the entire universe to be completely erased. A bright crack of light consumes all and everything is gone in an instant, leaving me completely alone. I’m alone and wandering for a long time, having the occasional breakdown. Because the very reality of this place has unraveled, it becomes apparent that some level of manipulation towards my surroundings can happen, so I make a “home”. This building eventually becomes very warped, impossible, and large, like the house from House of Leaves and nothing much changes. This version of me can’t die, not permanently. Maybe a few seconds or minutes of relief, but the body will rebuild itself as if nothing happened. This is the life of this version of me for the rest of eternity, doomed to forever reminisce on what was lost, what was never had, and to slowly decay and regenerate in mind and body for the rest of time.

I have considered making this character entirely separate from myself so it’s a little less weird, but I’ve already drawn a lot of art with myself in it (even if it doesn’t look like me very much) and I don’t really feel like changing it.

Other inspirations for this scenario comes from the results of an incursion as shown in multiverse of madness but with a far emptier void, I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream, A Short Stay in Hell, Manifold Garden, the library of babel, NaissancE, art by Matthias Jung, Cinta Vidal, and Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

[turboacek-blog]

Trying to make Agents of Shield work in the MCU now

So they said they want to reintroduce Quake in the MCU

And iirc they said they’re going to make Agents of Shield Canon as previously like most shows wasn’t canon before

But due to events happening at the end of season 5, it’s going to be weird how they try to fit the show now

Summary Agents of Shield is a show that mostly followed S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents were running parallel to the MCU movies from post-Avengers 1

At the end of season 5, it was supposed to be parallel to Infinity War but due to how secretive Disney was being with the Thanos Snap and the five-year-jump the show was forced to be original which created some weirdness

So the general consensus is that Season 5 is the end of canon to MCU and seasons 6&7 is a different timeline due to things like time travel being in those seasons

So to make Agents of Shield work it’s either going to have to be a lot of retconning of those last couple of seasons

Or seasons 1-4 are canon but now there’s a hypothetical season 5 that makes sense with Infinity War knowledge mainly the snap that we have never seen

And like at the end of the show, most characters are still doing agent work now while others retire and Daisy/Quake is one still working so it’s feasible she’s a potential hero/character/agent as she’s inhuman

(Which might get changed into mutant like how they did Ms. Marvel )

So I don’t know if they're going to go into the whole Coulson explanation and the whole history that Shield is still active especially with them shifting to Sword in the recent phases

But I think introducing Quake is relatively simple especially if it’s the actress Chloe Bennett for the general audience that has that kind of recognizability

Most wouldn’t have watched the show so she can give a quick explanation she’s an agent or former agent of Shield trained under Coulson and most will accept it that alone

As for the nitty gritty for those who watched the show and are very particular over the continuity and timelines and such

I think the simplest explanations are…

Time Travel

Basically, while the lack of reaction to the snap happening is weird and weird how no one from the main cast was snapped (there’s theories why they weren't)

The MCU time travel rules of going to a different branch in the timeline make seasons 5-7 make sense as they just weren’t there for some of the snap and when they come back at the end of season 7 they’re back in the MCU

There was a cut line about them being in the quantum realm to jump through time, which protected them from Thanos in a sense similar to Ant-Man

The Multiverse

I know some are tired of it or think the multiverse stuff isn’t working but it’s probably the simplest explanation without completely overwriting the show

Basically AoS world is its own earth/universe still, but a parallel story did happen up to season 5 in the MCU but instead of what happened in the show the snap happened and you go from there

As at that point the potential is endless as you can still have some elements of season 5, 6, & 7 but the show does diverge with the Thanos effect instead of where they went

Incursion

Or you do the yet to happen incursion idea from Doctor Strange 2 where two earths collide and combine, this is how people think the Fox X-Men will join but this can work with any non MCU marvel world such as Fantastic Four, older marvel movies like the first Hulk’s and Spider-Man and marvel shows that weren’t original in the sacred timeline which can be AoS among others

What if

Just going to go off a ramble to see if I could make something up

So they elude to Thanos a lot and even say his name so honestly a lot of season 5 can stay but that climax scene of Quake vs Gravitron is fine but the snap happens and half the character gets snapped away

Who gets snapped is literally up in the air, I think since a character like Fitz was going to die anyway and Coulson also slowly dying can mean only a couple get snapped like Elena and Mack along with some of the notable side recurring agents and you never get characters like Deke since that storyline I imagine is gone

This way I imagine we get a “season” of some characters dealing with the snap and characters like Jemma still go for the frozen Fitz like in the show, May and Coulson live out his last days, and so on…

Now the details of how they handle the five years is its own story but the general idea is that Daisy needs to stay alive through this

Maybe kinda like Endgame we just jump five years and have a scene that shows Daisy and May fighting some of Thanos’s army and when everything is fixed and snapped back have a scene with Fury about still needing Shield etc which allows storylines like Mack being the next head, Jemma finds Fitz, Daisy is now the character she needs to be when they reintroduce her and etc

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: I had an old draft I think I deleted right after I finished binging AoS as I figured no one would care back then since even shows like Daredevil weren't being canonized

So I had probably had better recollection and thoughts and theories then sadly so sorry if this isn’t the most thought out

Does make me want to rewatch the show now that

[tgrailwar-zero]

Well, after our last big attempt to destroy the Solar Cell ended in failure we had our memories wiped and were forced to fight against each other in simulated grail wars. Anytime one finished we were thrust into another. A version of you was there for at least a few. Apparently we went through at least a trillion or something. Our memories were also wiped after each war to keep us fighting each other. We only managed to break free with the last one and ended up in this whole affair. Might have had something to do with most (if not all) the Servants that were summoned in that loop being versions of you and the other guys we had upon our initial incursion. From time to time we manage to recall bits and pieces of stuff either from our original arrival in the Solar Cell or a previous grail war loop, but that’s all.

Also, we seem to be a lot less callous than we were in the past. Probably something to do with us not longer having personal memories of the absolutely backstabbing life that is living in mage society and especially Clock Tower.

MUSASHI: "Ah, I see..."

You've gotten this sort of 'oh, wow'-type of reaction before. Best to just leave that one be for now. She's picked up enough from the conversation so far regardless.

MUSASHI: "Charlemagne... the name kinda sounds familiar, but I'm not totally sure... as for the other questions- not really. Sorry, I'm not much of a computer person."

INVADER: [ "We do not have that capability yet, and I cannot properly analyze the spell. However, Musashi possesses an innate Magic Resistance as a Saber-class. Whatever spell cast should have a weakened effect on her, but…" ]

MUSASHI chuckled, sheepishly.

MUSASHI: "Ah, you noticed that, huh? Basically. I'm sure I could have shrugged it off and made them struggle for it, but I didn't. A punishment's a punishment, after all. And it wasn't like my situation was drastically changed- I just went from one person's vengeful spirit to another. Either way, I wasn't fighting in a way I enjoyed."

INVADER: [ "…With how damaged her Spirit Origin is, you'd need a considerable amount of magical energy to restore it to a proper state. Either via my Command Spells, or through a powerful Mystic Code- and the only one in our possession is the Crimson Blade. However, that blade also belongs to the Servant 'Draco'. It is a considerable bargaining chip, and may be able to restore the Beast to a more manageable state. Examining our currently very limited resources, destroying her body and gaining a new Code Cast would be the most efficient course of action." ]

INVADER stated, coldly listing out the facts. You could see MUSASHI listening quietly, nodding, not exactly disagreeing with the sentiment.

MUSASHI: "...So it's this kind of situation, huh?"

You had come here in order to damage or slow down the MUSASHI in 'reality'. Leaving would just set you back to square one- maybe even worse than that, if she ended up adapting to your hacking.

You felt a tremor in the ground, as the mental world around you began to destabilize.

MUSASHI: "Ah- I think 'Shadow Me' is trying to boot you all out, so we don't have any more time to really chat. If you're going to do something, make it snappy."

You'd have to make a choice here.

[txttletale]

bundletober #17: ASCENT

i am going to catch up with these... tomorrow. or at some point afterwards. Society. anyway today's bundletober i'm looking at ASCENT, a trophy incursion by ex statis games--hey they're from wales? that rules

so for those who have not played trophy, it is a set of very closely connected games -- trophy dark and trophy gold -- about OSR-style adventurers who are doomed to die horribly in a wretched world that corrupts them. it bridges a lot of interesting gaps between OSR stuff (no classes, emphasis on modules and prewritten dungeons, encouraging a thinking puzzle-solving approach from players) and storygame stuff (handing some level of narrative control off to players, failing forward, mixed successes and fiction-first approaches). the main difference is how doomed the player characters are--trophy gold player characters will only probably die, while trophy dark characters are the most doomed motherfuckers to ever briefly walk this earth.

an 'incursion', then, is a module or an adventure to be run in trophy. something i really like about trophy is that it encourages its incursions to have 'themes'. a lot of trophy incursions will have a list of 'moments', little pieces of set dressing a GM can describe to bring that theme across. i love this shit because i think that everyone agrees it sucks when the GM reads out like fifteen paragraphs of prewritten text from the module but it is also nice to have some guidance or a handrail--this provides a lot of really cool interesting little moments without being overbearing or handholdy. the theme of ASCENT is 'EXPOSED' and the moments reflect this beautifully:

this shit is sublime. the meat of the incursion is its 'rings', descriptions of the progressively darker and bleaker dangers your characters face. the rings in ASCENT are beautifully put together, each one telling its own miniature story. ASCENT also hews very close to trophy's storygame side, giving the GM probing questions to ask the party at each ring:

i really like the inversion of the classic "dungeon", the fact that instead of delving deep underground each progressive increase of danger takes place in the context of scaling a mountain, exposed to the elements, the very sky at your back becoming your enemy. i love almost everything about ASCENT--but when it comes to it, without wishing to spoil--i find the ending a little disappointing. not bad disappointing, just--when taking into the consideration the very real practices of mountain climibing in the modern day, the everest expeditions of old that this seems to be taking some inspiration from, it ends in a very generic and unconsidered OSR loot-the-ancient-relic-with-a-twist setpiece.

it's not a bad ending so much as a missed opportunity to mediate on shit like the environmental destructin to mount everest caused by tourism, or the grisly monument to pointless thrill-seeking death that is rainbow valley, or the failure to credit sherpa guides for the success of early expeditions in favour of showering praise on white colonialists. or, hell, even just to do something a bit more on-theme. it doesnt' feel very EXPOSED, is all i'm saying.

ASCENT is available for purchase as a digital download through itch.io

[ihatebrainstorm]

I've been thinking quite a while now about Brainstorm's potential origin story and am just using this post as a way to compound/spitball my thoughts/theories/headcanons? I don't know what to call it but apologies, it's realll long:

"Genitus of Operation: Solar Storm", what if Operation: Solar Storm was a military campaign that literally utilized solar storms? Solar storms come in various types, including but not limited to Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), Solar Flares, and Solar Particle Effects (SPE).

Generally the dangers of solar storms are that they can blast radiation, protons, plasma, etc. (depends on the type of solar storm) which could potentially in turn affect satellites/spacecraft, radio communication, GPS, electronics, etc. and funnily enough, transformers (the electrical kind, not Cybertronian kind).

Unless Cybertronian comms also use radio waves that utilize the Ionosphere, or their tech also utilizes electricity, the main danger from solar storms to Cybertronians would likely be the actual outward blast itself. Radiation probably being the bigger danger? Since its been shown radiation does affect Cybertronians (ex: Kup and Nickel's radiation meter probably having some purpose).

A sort of idea I had is that Operation: Solar Storm involved the Autobots utilizing a nearby star's solar storm to take out a large amount of Decepticons via a concentrated radiation blast?

The operation of this kind likely needed a lot of scientists to work on a mass weapon or device to pull it off.

Brainstorm's altmode is a fighter jet, so it's likely he wasn't built with the intention in mind to do science. Instead, my guess is that his purpose could've been either to protect the scientists/device, or (bc he's so disposable as an MTO) get dangerously closer to the sun in place of the scientists? Such as to collect data or to plant stuff there for whatever theoretical device.

Perhaps if this military operation theoretically had a lot more science involved than others such as Simanzian Dawn or Corcapsia Incursion, at some point Brainstorm picked up/was more involved in the science aspect? Especially if it involved building a massive weapon as suggested. During which, he might've had superiors noting him on his intellectual prowess; resulting in him being transferred from combat to research/engineering instead.

A military operation that largely involved building a massive solar weapon could also potentially explain how despite being deployed as an MTO, he never killed anyone? As he'd have less of a chance of seeing active combat.

Also we see him in MTMTE lie about being forged? I always wondered if after he was theoretically transferred, his superiors gave him a new identity/told him to pretend to be forged?? Perhaps they either wanted to not encourage other MTOs to try and transfer, or some good ol' past functionist beliefs were at play I dunno.

Or his origin story could be as dumbed down as: was actually born in the science division or something I dunno, I'm not an IDW writer lmaoo

Sorry its so long, I've sat on these ideas/theories for such a long ass time and needed to spitball them out kdsks- (but also I have the infodumping sickness, hence that semi-irrelevant chunk about solar storms whoops)