#Corpse puppet Penny

[cherrythepuppet]

Corpse puppet Cherry and Penny (she ain't listening to Cherry she just wants to see her wife)

Corps epuppet belongs to @sketchquill

Penny doodles, We got mob Penny, Reboot penny, and penny in cosplay,

Mob au @/clownsuu

Reboot au@/bloodrediscream

Dandy in @cloudy-dreams tnbc au. I see Dandy as one of the vampires

Im working on Penny and Riley

The second image is Bella Dear, Eddie dears neice! New OC yippee

AND LASTLY THIS AMAZING PEUCE OF ART, I DISCOVERED THE DISMEMBERMENT SONG I LOVE IT

I have never done something so detailed I watched like 4 tutorials-

[mintywolf]

A Long Road Home - Page 111 Author's Notes

Page 111

This page went on a wild ride to get to where it ended up. In an earlier draft it was a lead in to an omitted plot arc (that has since been transplanted to Come In From the Cold) in which they make it across the river but both succumb to the cold before reaching the town. Imogen wakes up being treated for frostbite in a temple of the Matron of Ravens, where she is told that tragically her friend did not survive. Laudna is actually alive (as much as she ever is) but, since she is indistinguishable from a genuine corpse while unconscious, she was mistaken for one and interred in the graveyard receiving vault to await burial in the spring. I liked it, but I ended up cutting it because it did not add much to the chapter overall except extra pages, which this chapter does not need. (The parts I really liked, the reflection on how Laudna is treated with greater compassion as a dead body than an undead one, and her happiness at receiving a free burial shroud and two gentle repose pennies, did end up in the fic.)

So with all that gone, the three penultimate panels, which originally showed a timelapse of Imogen gradually sinking with exhaustion from struggling to carry Laudna through the worsening snow, didn’t really build up to anything and I wanted something more visually interesting than her trekking along listening to Laudna sing. I decided to show a glimpse of what Laudna is imagining when she sings this song, mainly because I wanted to draw some woodland critters in fancy little outfits, but it had to MEAN something. Unlike her gallows tree ballad from the previous chapter, which is an encoded message about Laudna’s sense of identity, "Gentleman Rat" is just a whimsical folk song from Matilda’s childhood. But the inclusion of a little puppet vignette is already so primed for symbolism that everyone was going to be looking for a metaphor even if there wasn’t one.

I decided to take advantage of the “lords and ladies at the ball” setting (which was originally just intended as a nod to Laudna’s lifelong interest in fancy ladies) and foreshadow the dinner party backstory reveal (which is imminent). At first I briefly considered giving Gentleman Rat dorky little quadruple spectacles and somehow turning it into a story about Percy, then thought well maybe it’s Fake Percy and also there’s a deer and Fake Keyleth is here too, but ultimately decided that I didn’t want to force the idea that the song is a direct allusion to the Sun Tree gang, because it really isn’t.

So the implication here is that Laudna was just having a good time imagining fancy little critters at a fancy little ball, but the Briarwoods invaded her daydream and ruined it, because they’re always there in her memory and she can never get away from Delilah, even in her imagination.

I first considered making the Briarwoods ermines (improbably in respective winter and summer coats so Sylas could be white and Delilah could be red-brown) but settled on foxes because they come in both white and red varieties and it gives some extra bite to Laudna’s Chandei Quorum masquerade ball costume. :)

[notbecauseofvictories]

I'm still thinking about it, so---if you're a local, I highly encourage Rough House Theater's "House of the Exquisite Corpse". It's lovely, arresting, from the performances down to the smallest touches. I still can't get over the ripped umbrellas hanging upside down in dreamlike suspension from the ceiling; the way each "station" is wrapped in plywood and decorated in its own meaningful pattern and design.

But first, let me step back. "House of the Exquisite Corpse" takes its name from the old Surrealist parlor game, at the heart of which is the idea that you can collect a disparate group, then smash their ideas together and create something from the smithereens. This is something like what Rough House has done, which is pick a theme ("Superstition") and then let the artistic groups loose to create short scenes built around that theme.

(I want to call them tableaux, because watching the performances I was struck by how it felt like something out of time---as though we were 17th century courtiers in Paris ushered into a candlelit ballroom, or early 20th century farmers in Minnesota, paying our penny to see what the circus brought to town.)

The set-up itself does a wonderful job ushering you into a time-outside-of-time---you step into a space divided from the rest of the space by black sheets, chunky headsets dangling from wooden ladders suspended just over your head. The emcee is carrying a clipboard and speaks into an old-school broadcasting mic---which you can only hear if you're wearing the headsets.

It is, you'll discover, the central conceit of the performance. From there, you're directed from station to station by silent ushers, carrying flashlights so they can point you forward. Unless you are wearing the headphones at each station, you can only listen to the absent, ambient music echoing around the room.

Not only are the stations set up to wrap you in a specific soundscape, but they play with your vision too---most stations have you peer through holes or cracks in the wall, though one station had us line up in front of mirrors and watch the reflection of the performance, while another station placed shards of glass at every peephole, so you watched the scene and the character's experience of the scene in a strange double-vision. A couple of the stations used tricks of the light---strobe effects that made the puppets' movements seem even more uncanny or imply violence; a haze of smoke or fabric to disguise the human "prowling" in the puppet-shape of a tiger.

(I always like when I can tell an artist is reacting to something I've seen before, and the Rousseau "The Dream" vibes in that scene were exquisite.)

I will say that “A White Bird in the House is an Omen of Death” was my favorite, not in the least because it featured a whole choreographed song (feat. a lovely articulated owl puppet, plus some very effective shadowplay work). However, “Through the Looking Glass” was beautifully up my alley, from the unique staging---this was the station where you watched the performance in a mirror---to the creative puppetry, and a meditation on loveliness that had some bite to it. “Broken Mirror” was more traditional in its puppet work, but it also had the most elaborate staging, a fully-realized world in miniature.

I keep going back to how enormously creative so many of these artists were, in ways I simply can't ignore. “Step on a Crack” didn't necessarily work for me, but I can't stop thinking about it---its trippy setup, the inhuman knit masks the creator used; the spines dangling, neon-colored, from the nearest tree as the protagonist recited lines about loving his mother with increasing, feverish and horrible energy. The glimpses I got during “An ill fate befalls those who pluck from fruit in their dreams” of the puppeteer's face---how she shut her eyes and turned away, as though she too was affected by the puppet's horror.

[icdrawings]

Corpse puppet au

By @sketchquill

Chapter 6

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Wally's pov

I sat in an open coffin noticing that there was a bouquet of flowers nearby; picking them up I saw the flower language it spoke making me fill up with sorrow "roses for eternal love, lilies for sweetness, baby's breath" I sight before throwing the flowers on the ground in anger "why so blue?" I turned to see Sally sitting next to me rubbing my back "maybe Gold's right, maybe we are too different" I was sadden by that fact "maybe they would like their head examined" home said as I forcefully pulled him out from my ear "I could do it" Home continued "or perhaps they do belong with him, Mr. Living with those rosey cheeks and beating heart" I said with jealousy 'like really what do they see in him or... maybe I was quick to conclusions but still!' I thought of what happened more clearly "oh, those boys are just ten a penny, you've got so much more, you've got-you've got-you've got a wonderful personality" Sally stuttered.

🎶 What does that that wispy little brat have that you don't have double 🎶

🎶 He can't hold a candle to the beauty of your smile 🎶

Sally started to chime in

🎶 How about a pulse? 🎶

I placed Home down harshly while thinking of Gold with that man.

🎶 Overrated by a mile 🎶

🎶 Overfed 🎶

🎶 Overblown 🎶

🎶 If they only knew the you that we know 🎶

I scoffed

🎶 And that silly little creature isn't wearing their ring 🎶

Sally lifted my hand with the ring.

🎶 And he doesn't play piano 🎶

🎶 Or dance 🎶

My mind went to me and Gold dancing.

🎶 Or sing 🎶

🎶 No he doesn't compare 🎶

🎶 But he still breath air 🎶

🎶 Who cares? 🎶

🎶 Unimportant 🎶

🎶 Overrated 🎶

🎶 Overblown 🎶

🎶 If only they could see 🎶

🎶 How special you can be 🎶

🎶 If they only knew the you that we know 🎶

I stood up slowly.

🎶 If I touch a burning candle I can feel no

pain 🎶

🎶 If you cut me with a knife it's all the same 🎶

I get to the door.

🎶 And I know their heart is beating 🎶

🎶 And I know that I am dead 🎶

I slowly slid down the door I was leaning on.

🎶 Yet the pain here that I feel 🎶

🎶 Try and tell me it's not real 🎶

🎶 It seems that I still have a tear to shed 🎶

I scurled up a bit before Sally picked me up.

🎶 The sure redeeming feature 🎶

🎶 From that little creature 🎶

🎶 Is that he's alive 🎶

She spun me around.

🎶 Overrated 🎶

🎶 Overblown 🎶

🎶 If only they could see 🎶

🎶 How special you can be 🎶

🎶 If they only knew the you that we know 🎶

She let me go as I started to walk back to the coffin.

🎶 If I touch a burning candle I can feel no

pain 🎶

🎶 In the ice or in the sun it's all the same 🎶

🎶 Yet I feel my heart aching 🎶

🎶 Though it doesn't beat it's breaking 🎶

🎶 And the pain that I feel 🎶

🎶 Try and tell me it's not real 🎶

🎶 I know that I am dead 🎶

🎶 Yet it seems that I still have some tears to

shed 🎶

I laid down as a single tear slid down my face, Sally and Home tried to comfort me in my sorrow not realizing that a certain cat took the bouquet.

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Gold's pov

I was at the same ledge where me and Wally first shared names; laying down on the seat as I hugged myself looking at the view.

I had finally calmed down when I heard a 'meow' looking down to see Rascal with a bouquet of flowers in front of him before he nudged it with his head towards me. I sat up before grabbing the bouquet of flowers and inspected each and every one of them before Rascal hopped up "...why couldn't I just do what I was told..."I whispered as I kept looking at the flowers "If I had just done what I was told then no one would have been hurt, everyone would have been happy" I picked out a lily knowing that Rascal was there to listen.

"... but then you wouldn't have been happy" I froze not believing the voice that spoke, the same that belonged to..... "...Jewel?"

I looked in disbelief, she was there even if blue she looked the same as she did all those years ago. She gave me a warm smile, a smile that had never changed, I tackled her into a hug "...big sister..." I felt myself weeping again and tried to stop it as she hugged me back, rubbing my head. "oh, Gold let it out, I'm here now" she hugged me tighter causing me to cry harder "that's it, there you go, good job" she rubbed my head more helping me calm down as I slowly let her go "now tell me what happened" gently grabbing my face as I nodded.

I started to explain everything, not skipping any details as Jewel listened intensely "I wanted to talk to Howdy, just to tell him that I didn't leave because of him and that he's a good person and should find happiness elsewhere but then he confessed to me and Wally appeared and-and" I had to stop myself from crying, Rascal climbed onto my lap so I could pet him to distract me "a-and he saw Howdy and n-now he's mad at me a-a-and I don't blame h-him" I stopped as Jewel rubbed my back "it's okay Gold, I know that everything is messy right now but who knows everything could fall into place before you know it" she said before grabbing my hand "but right now you need to focus on you, what do you want to do," she said "I-I... I want to be happy" Rascal pressed his head against my hand "then what makes you happy?" Jewel asked "Wa... Wally" I said covering my face with my hands to hide my blushing face "then do what you need to do" she said as she kissed my forehead, I handed her Rascal and left so look for Wally.

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The living realm

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Howdy's pov

"It's true, Mother! Gold is married to a dead man, I saw him! a corpse! standing right here with Gold!" I tried to explain.

"Gold was in your room?" She asked me "I have to help them!" I said thinking of the worse "the candle!" My Mother shrieked "oh dearie, come sit, your shakin like a leaf! here I'll get you a blanket" Ms. Beagle said rushing off to fetch me one leaving me here alone with my Mother "fetch him a straightjacket! He's completely mad!" She shouted at Ms. Beagle before she herself went and locked the door from the outside so I couldn't leave.

My brain was still foggy after what happened, how could they just disappear like that? How could they be so calm? I couldn't do anything here, I needed to leave and get help, sure I could ask Ms. Beagle, she has been like a Mother to me and I don't want to get her involved in this plus I need greater help, I need the Pastor.

I grabbed the blanket that Ms. Beagle had fixed for me, I would apologize later, and used it to climb down from my room and made my way to the church, frantically banging on the door for the pastor to open "Mr. Pillar, what are you doing here? You should be at home, prostrate with grief" he said

"Pastor Galswells, I have to ask you something" I begged "this is most irregular" he said "please I beg of you, you are the only one in the village who knows what awaits beyond the grave" I kept begging "a grim topic for a groom-to-be" he said finally letting me ask my questions "can the living marry the dead?" The Pastor looked at me like I was mad which was understandable.

"What on earth are you speaking about?" He asked "please, it's Gold, they're married to a corpse, they have a corpse groom! There must be some way to undo what's been done" I begged again "mmm, I believe I know the thing to do, come with me" he blew his candle as I followed him.

He tricked me, dragging me to my Mother "he's speaking in tongues, of unholy alliances, his mind has come undone, I fear" the Pastor said "it's not true! Let me go! Let me go!" I protested, trying to get away from his grip but he was strong for an old man "then you so very much, take him to his room!" my Mother said to the pastor before closing the door and handing me to Ms. Beagle "no, I'm telling the truth, Gold needs my help, Ms. Beagle, you believe me, don't you? Mother, Father, please" I begged trying to get away when Ms. Beagle picked me up and started walking to my room "seal the doors, and bar the windows, see to it that he doesn't escape again" my Mother scream "they need my help! Let me go! Let me go!" I kept screaming, wiggling, trying anything to get out of Ms. Beagles grip but nothing helped 'with her strength it was no wonder how she could hold Barnaby when he acted up' I thought.

I was put to my room by Ms. Beagle staying by my side "oh my dear boy are you alright" she asked "no, no I'm not" I tried not to cry "my dear you acted to reckless down there, you might be labeled as mentally ill and sent to the loony bin if you keep this up" she said smacking my head gently "heh I'm just, what I saw was real, I don't know where Gold is but with that corpse around them I dear for their safety" I said "Howdy, my poor boy, maybe he is actually their lover and they decided to run away" I looked at her shocked "maybe they loved each other before this, remember you are in a arranged marriage" she said before I interrupted her "but they came here to talk to me" I said.

"did you even let them talk first, you are one to rush into things without another thought" she said making me rub the back of my neck because what she said was true and that I was also embarrassed "I just... I need to know if they are alright" I said sadly "you love them don't you" she said rubbing my back "I guess I do get attached easily" I said shyly as Ms. Beagle rapped me up in a blacket. She left me with my thoughts until I heard my parents down stairs "will this mortification never cease? It will be years before we can show ourselves in public again?" I heard my Mother say, I bent down closer to the floor to hear more of the conversation "what shall we do?" I heard her ask most likely my father "we shall continue as planned with or without cold" "Gold" both me and my Mother correct him.

"Whatever" my Father said not caring "for that child to toss aside a young man like Howdy... It is positively criminal" I heard Lady Julie 'what was she doing here' I thought confused "why, if I had a man like your son in my arms, I would lavish him with riches befitting royalty" she continued making my uncomfortable "your gentlemen husband is a most fortunate man" I hear Mother say to Lady Julie "alsa, I am not married, I was betrothed some years ago, but tragedy snatched my lover away" she said and I caught a bit of actual sorrow at the end "when one lives alone, wealth counts for naught" she finished as I got up knowing where this was gonna go and I had to leave. Grabbing a crowbar I snagged when I was younger and tried to open the door for a few minutes until it opened but on the outside. I quickly hid the crowbar behind my back seeing my family.

"Marvelous news, Howdy, there'll be a wedding after all" Father said

I had to play the act of an oblivious fool "you found them?" I asked "we must have you looking presentable for Lady Julie" she said.Even though i knew this out come I was still shocked "Lady Julie?" I said "she will make a fine wife" my Mother said "aye, a fortuitous turn of events indeed" my Father said "a far better prospect this time" my Mother remarked "but I do not love her, you cannot make me do this" I protested me unwillingness but they didn't care "we must" my Father argued "please I beg you, there must be another way" I was begging at this point "without your marriage to Lady Julie, we shall be forced penniless, into the street, we are destitute" Father barked annoyed "but Gold-" I wanted to continue with my protest but my Mother cut me off "Gold Treasure has gone, child".

"You shall marry Lady Julie tomorrow" Father said before they both walked to the door "according to plan" they both said before leaving and locking my door.

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Eddie's pov

My mind was twisting when I was called up by the Van Dort's for their carriage "oh, it's almost dawn! Where could they been?" I heard Ms. Van Dort's say 'maybe hiding from you' I thought "Gold Treasure, elopes with a corpse! Heartbroken groom to wed a newcomer" I heard what the news said and so did the Van Dorts' "wealthy newcomer? It cannot be" I heard Ms. Van Dort 'of course, more worried about the money' I snarled at these so called 'parents' "did he say 'corpse'" Mr. Van Dort said "oh, don't be ridiculous what corpse would marry our Gold" Ms. Van Dort said making me angry.

'your Gold? YOUR GOLD?! YOU MEAN MY KID, NO MY KIDS THAT I RAISED AND LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY, HOW DARE YOU TRY AND TAKE THE TITLE OF PARENT AWAY FROM ME' I held the reins tightly making my knuckles white before I started to cough, but taking Gold's advice earlier, the cough was getting better

"oh, Eddie! Silence that blasted cough" Ms. Van Dort said trying to hit me with her umbrella 'oh, I'm gonna enjoy wasting your time' I thought as I made the horse start running startling the two "Eddie!, are you trying to kill us!? I think he's trying to kill us!?" Ms. Van Dort shouted but I couldn't hear her due to my laughter.

Helping me with my worry 'my little Peach is a smart and kind person, they'll come back, I just need to give them some time' and this would also give me time to work on my plan.

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Chapter 7

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[kitkatopinions]

I think we're never going to be able to actually see good arguments against rwde criticism posts until people start treating RWBY like a fictional story entirely created by and written by flawed human people and not like a documentary of things that actually happened with real people who actually exist. And I know if I get any response from this from people who hate rwde, there'll be some like 'omg I can't believe they think we think cartoon characters are real' but that's not what I said. I said some people are out here acting like they're real in their arguments.

This shows up in two ways.

Number One: Acting like the characters or events in RWBY are real and had to happen, like the RWBY writers are just dutifully recounting what really happened instead of creating everything and making all the choices for everything that will be in the story (obviously with no input from the fictional characters)

Arguments like "of course the RWBY writers portrayed the White Fang as a terrorist group full of criminals, the White Fang IS a terrorist group full of criminals." The White Fang doesn't exist in real life, every single fucking thing about the White Fang was chosen by writers who then purposefully wrote it into their story, so they could've just not written the White Fang to be that way, and then the White Fang wouldn't have been that way. When people are talking about whether or not the writers should've written the White Fang the way they did, nobody should be saying "but that's how the White Fang was." (Btw I have quite literally seen this happen.) Arguments like "Blake chose Yang, shipping her with other people and wishing she was with someone else is disrespecting her choice in the matter." Blake is fictional, she can't control her own actions because she isn't a real person. A group of (majority men) have decided everything she does, and someone not liking the relationship the writers chose to go with isn't 'disrespecting a character's choice' because she has no volition, she's a puppet. If someone is saying "I personally just don't like the ship between Blake and Yang and like this other ship instead" nobody should be saying "That's hurting Blake." (I have also quite literally seen this happen.) Arguments like "Blake doesn't mind when her friends do things like lead her around with laser pointers, talk about how cute her "kitty ears" are, or anything else, so since she's okay with it, we should be too." Again, Blake is fictional, she's only 'okay with it' because the writers write her to not say anything (outside of that one time she yelled at Weiss for being bigoted which is something Weiss never apologized for.) If someone is saying that there's a problem with the writers making members of Team RWBY commit microaggressions towards Blake with next to no consequences, nobody should be saying "but Blake never said she had a problem with It." (I've also seen this happen.) Arguments like "Penny had to become a flesh human, didn't you see that there was no other way" and "No one else but Jaune could've been there with Penny when she died" and "Jaune had to kill Penny," and "Penny made that choice for herself and it's what she wanted" in response to complaints about Penny's eventual end. Every single choice made that turned Penny into a human corpse at the end of season 8 was purposefully crafted and written to be that way by human writers who decided that Penny had to get hacked, and decided that she had to turn human, and decided that Jaune had to be there, and decided that Penny 'couldn't be healed' and would ask Jaune to kill her. If somebody is complaining about what the writers did and the choices the WRITERS made, it's really disingenuous to be like "But what could Jaune have done differently?" "But how can you say you didn't want Penny to become flesh when she would've died if she didn't?" "But of course Jaune was the one with Penny when she died, Ruby had already fallen into the void! What do you want her to have done, just teleported back? Heheheh." STOP IT, the events that happened in RWBY were all chosen by writers, none of what happened in RWBY had to happen! (Again, I've literally seen people do this.) Honestly, I could go on with this section, but everyone probably gets the point.

Number Two: Acting like the entire show (and its side content) has always existed as is and that anyone who didn't see the whole picture all at once is just like an idiot or something. This one is a little harder to explain than the above, but I will do my best with examples of what I mean.

Person A: "You know, back in the first two seasons of RWBY, it seemed like they were setting up a clash of ideals between Blake and Adam, and even though I don't trust that it would've been done well, it would've been really interesting to see Adam's early displayed care towards the Faunus actually carried through the rest of the show." Person B: "Don't you even watch the show? Adam never cared about the Faunus cause, he just was using it for power and to hurt Blake! All of this was clear in volume five and six." Just because something happened in later volumes doesn't mean it was always going to happen or that it should've happened, or that it was inevitable. People saying "Adam once acted (insert character trait here) and I wish they'd kept with that" doesn't warrant a "well clearly he was just pretending because we know from (insert later volume here) that he never believed that." It's very possible that the writers once wrote Adam with a different idea in mind than they wound up writing for him later. And even if they didn't and they always only had one thing in mind for Adam, that doesn't mean that people are wrong to say that it didn't come across that way.

Person A: "They're putting so much emphasis on Summer and I don't like it because she hasn't been treated like she was important for like the first five seasons. If they wanted her to matter to me, they should've set more groundwork into establishing her importance." Person B: "Summer is important, clearly, don't you see how much she means to Ruby? Like tell me you don't watch the show without telling me. What's this 'Summer isn't important' thing, she's literally a huge part of Ruby's character, did you never watch volume nine?" Volume nine didn't exist before this year! Saying that Summer is unimportant to me because she was super unimportant for literally more than five years and then barely important for like two seasons after, saying 'but then she did become important' doesn't... Make any sense with the conversation!

Person A: "RWBY's queer representation has been pretty lackluster in general. There are very few queer characters and for the majority of a decade, there were no canon confirmed queer main characters when there could've been the whole time." Person B: "Blake and Yang were literally queer the entire time lol, just because they didn't kiss until volume 9 doesn't mean they weren't queer, you can be queer without being in a relationship." As a bisexual woman, I know this. However, Blake and Yang are not REAL. They weren't written to be canon confirmed as queer until they became canon confirmed as queer because the writers WROTE them to be and chose when to do that. Saying 'there were no canon queer main characters in rwby for eight seasons and like ten whole years is just true. Person A: "At the end of volume seven, it was established that they didn't have the resources to launch the communications tower. This was then retconned in volume eight where the writers made it so that they could launch the communications tower, but Ironwood just wouldn't." Person B: "Umm, clearly Ironwood was just lying about the communications tower. It's not a retcon lol, the tower literally launches in volume eight, so obviously it could." The writers wrote one thing to be treated as completely true in one volume, and then the writers wrote that it wasn't true in the next season. This was the writers changing things around. The 'communications tower' doesn't exist, so it wasn't 'always ready to launch' and Ironwood in volume seven could very well not have been lying because Ironwood isn't real and he only *does* what the writers make him do. So while in the complete rwby canon Ironwood was lying because that's the story the writers eventually wrote..... While we're discussing the writing and flaws in the writing what Ironwood *wanted* and *meant* and *kept secret* doesn't have a place in the conversation.

Basically, a bunch of people like to act like everything that exists for rwby now has always existed for rwby and that talking about what it could've or should've been or was in the early seasons needs to fit with what's currently being made. People can't talk about the choices the writers made involved in changes to characters like Ironwood, Blake, Adam, Winter, etc because other people treat rwby like all of it has always been and everything that happens is how it always was.

In conclusion:

When some people argue with rwde posters, they act like (again, not that they really believe, they just act like) the writers are entirely inconsequential, that RWBY is and was always inevitably the way it is now. Some people argue like the characters are real and have real opinions and choose things for themselves. They act like RWBY is like, gifted to the writers by divine knowledge of events in other worlds and the writers are just dutifully recounting it to us as it happened. They argue like the writers are more like Lemony Snicket the character bound to the fate of narrating the unfortunate events that already befell the Baudelaire Orphans, rather than Daniel Handler the real life person writing children's novels.

If people want to argue with rwde posters about whether or not the writing in rwby can be criticized, they shouldn't do it this way. It's very frustrating to try to have a conversation about writing when people are coming at it acting like fictional characters can get their fictional feelings hurt when mean old me doesn't understand that the fictional circumstances had to happen for some reason or always were as if we're in a wibbly wobbly timey wimey situation. XD

[softlyproblematic]

William would often joke to Henry that the only thing Mike inherited was his his looks. The biggest thing Mike had in common was their concern with their appearance. In William's mind, the only thing his oldest did right was being handsome like him, and Mike was aware of this.

After Evan's death, Mike stopped taking care of himself. This depression isolated Mike, and he was sick more often. Williams' only concern was that his only surviving kid was too embarrassing to be seen.

Ironically, getting scooped was the thing that made his care again. The lack of control between watching his body be puppeted and changed filled him with a desperation. He stole every penny his father had and spent it on preserving, fixing, and replacing parts of his body. Over time, he got good at it.

The farthest he could get from looking dead was looking like he was dying, but he took pride in that. His off-putting features made distinct from his father, and he seen enough corpses to know he's doing a lot better than most would be.

He stuffed his torso with cloth soaked in perfume and had a collection of wigs. He jokes that his vanity is his worst trait. But when disfigured people are sent to him, he's able to make them look like themselves again. He gives people the closure he fought for, and he can't help but think maybe it's ok that he survived.

After he befriends Vanessa, he helps he dye her hair again, and chats about how hair dye has changed over the decades. Gregory gets him a "dropdead gorgeous grandpa" mug as a joke, but Mike uses it every day.

[penny-plundering]

Oh, it's D&G? Interesting way to spell UG&LY.

While me and my purpose may be... neglected as of recent, I assure you that will soon change.

I will use the change that I have... my PENNIES! PENNIES TO BRING CHANGE!

Very subtle way to flaunt the fact that they still write for you. But I'd rather exist a gleaming memory than be puppeted around as a corpse of my former glory, I suppose.

You… exist? I’d honestly forgotten of your existence. As is most of us.

Yes, I exist. And my relevancy is only on the up and up from here.

Like prices under our current economic situation, I will rise! I will not be ignored! You and your lesser green suit will not regard me with scormn, but with reverence!!!

[reddawnmultimuse]

" any means necessary " | @hana-akari

" Don't make them like they used to, do they? "

Sasori huffed in frustration with his hands cemented on his hips as he looked out at all the dead shinobi littered on the ground, their bodies in various stages of mutilation. The lucky ones died quickly while the unlucky ones...well, the unlucky ones were still alive but dying, be it from poison or bleeding out.

There must've been fifty of them and yet not one of them was of a caliber to be used a puppet--not even a trifling one at that. This "era of peace" bullshit was making him mourn for the days of the Third War. At least he would get a penny on their corpses but he didn't canvass a Konohagakure camp for five fucking days just to get a few bucks! He'd never finish his army of five-hundred like this.

He sighed and massaged his prosthetic jaw, smudging the pale wood with the dark blood on his hand. As he looked over the carnage did his eye catch a quaint blood stain unlike the others, smeared through the dirt indicative of a body being dragged. Looks like one of the poor bastards got away but Sasori wasn't worried.

He'd long be dead before he got back to Konoha, either from bleeding death from his injuries or internally from the poison. Even if he did make it back, no one believe him and then he would die.

Afterall, who would believe that Akasuna-no-Sasori was still alive?

[littlemisssquiggles]

Based on your post about Oscar, Ruby and the other world I was wondering if the Volume 9 preview was foreshadowing of Ruby's arcs this volume since Yang and Penny(her corpse that is) are both on the island after all

Y’know up until this point, before you brought it to my attention anon-chan, I never considered the possibility of the way Ruby learns about Penny’s death was by discovering her corpse on the island.

And now that you have, naturally, it got me thinking again.

This is making me recall a comment that Lindsey Jones made in respect to Ruby during one of the panels. Now I’m just paraphrasing here but didn’t Lindsey not say that there will be a prospective moment in V9 where Ruby walks into the ocean and starts laughing uncontrollably or in a really awkward way?

Correct me if I’m wrong on this.

But keeping this idea in mind, imagine if…this is indeed how Ruby learns of Penny’s death and is one of the things she is forced to come to terms with on her own while searching for her friends in the Other World.

Because picture this, why don’t you?

Imagine how emotionally devastating it would be for Ruby if she had been frantically searching for her friends for quite some time; growing desperate with each passing minute of not finding them especially if a bloodthirsty Neopolitan was constantly on her tail not giving her much of a moment to breath.

Imagine how upsetting of a moment it would be if…Ruby stumbles upon “Penny”, believing her friend to be alright and rearing for their heartfelt reunion only to make a startling revelation as she drew closer.

Let’s say…Ruby is walking along through the island when she spots a familiar silhouette. She sees “Penny” in the distance and in that moment, heaves a breath of relief and breaks into a happy sprint towards her friend; beyond jubilant that she had at least one friend with her.

That she--- Ruby Rose--- wasn’t as alone as she thought she was.

But as Ruby neared Penny, she almost trips over herself; nearly collapsing in the dirt as she came closer to the startling truth. Ruby’s skin paled. Her heart practically leaping out of her chest as she was forced to stifle a scream.

Because to her upmost horror, there before her---instead of what she originally pegged to be her beloved friend Penny waiting for her with open arms and the bright smile she always gave her was instead what was left of her corpse, cold and lifeless as it swung from a branch of a tree like a puppet on a string; swinging delicately in the wind.

Picture that for a moment.

Even worse, imagine if…this was done by Neopolitan. Imagine if…Neo was the one who discovered Penny’s corpse first before Ruby on the island and thus, she did something like this as a sick ploy to lure Ruby out of hiding.

Imagine if…Neo used Penny’s corpse as both bait and a proverbial middle finger to the little red rose?

Let’s say…. Neo strung Penny’s corpse up on a tree with carved message for Ruby in the bark.

You’re next lil Red.

Orrrrrr…..

To paint an even worse case scenario, imagine an alternative to this concocted scene of mine where…apart from stringing Penny’s corpse up on a tree: Let’s say…Neo disrespects Penny’s body even further by chopping off the girls’ beautiful long ginger locks to a haircut that was meant to emulate Ruby’s.

And written above Penny’s corpse was another message for Ruby that boldly read:

It should’ve been you!

Y’know as an indicator from Neo that Ruby should’ve been the one to die in place of Penny---simultaneously harkening back to the very last message Cinder Fall gave Ruby before she left her to drop to her demise.

“…You should’ve never been born…”

Picture a scene like this and how horrific and emotionally devastating it would be for Ruby to experience alone with no one to comfort her through such negative emotions.

I’m not saying this will be a case for the canon. But I will say that it would be quite a scene if it were done. But this is just me tossing out ideas like I always do.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2021)

[powerbottomblake]

the P in Penny stands for (V8′s) Protagonist

So Monstra! Interesting name! Reminiscent of Monstro, the name of the whale from Disney’s Pinocchio (1940).

This confirms that the whale is indeed, here to complete Penny’s Pinocchio allusion. In other terms, Penny is the protagonist of this volume. The main conflict is her conflict; taking down the whale is her endgame and her turning point.

More undercut because apparently I am cursed with not knowing how to make brief and to the point meta

We know that RWBY uses the narrative beats of the original allusions (with some decisive tweaks that align with its overall hopepunk vision and themes), going as far as having direct visual parallels to the source material (Adam vs Bees fight/the original Beast vs Gaston fight anyone?). 

In the original Pinocchio movie, Pinocchio is tested three times before finally achieving becoming a little boy, and I think, likewise, Penny faces three tests before becoming a fully flledged huntress and maiden:

- Setback n°1: Pinocchio, still new to the world, the very concept of morality but eager to “do good” and willing to listen to Jiminy Cricket’s guidance, is tricked by a duo of conmen; in the movie, it’s into captivity, but the original story takes a much darker turn where the evil cat and fox - one pretending to be blind (Emerald and her perception bending Semblance) and one pretending to be a cripple (Mercury) - actually cause Pinocchio’s “death” through hanging (the author abhorred naughty children and was very...extreme about it). This is V3 Penny in a nutshell, discovering friendship and bonds and values through her own Jiminy, which is Ruby, but being set up by Mercury and Emerald to fight a losing battle that ends in her apparent “death”.

- Setback n°2: Pinocchio is embarked on a trip to Pleasure Island, an apparent playground especially catered for everyone to be happy! and have fun! but oh wait they’re actually being turned into jackasses geared for labor or sold to the Dust I mean the salt mines! You’ve guessed it, this is Penny’s V7 arc. Atlas Academy is Penny’s Pleasure Island, masquerading as a safe place where  but the veneer of Ironwood’s civility and apparent conflicted utilitarianism finally cracks to reveal how it’s ultimately a place of indoctrination, producing no actual people-serving Hunters but perfect soldiers concerned more with following orders than doing right, and where the disadvantaged and the poor are ostracized, taken advantage of and ultimately sacrificed. Pinocchio escapes Pleasure Island with Jiminy’s help, but not unscathed, having grown donkey ears and a tail. Likewise, with Ruby’s help and constant strong supportive presence, Penny proves herself fit to receive the maiden powers and escapes Atlas, but she’s still not completely free of Ironwood’s hold, still having to grapple with his and the AceOps’ manipulation tactics, still not sure what her role, who she is and how she fits really are. Which bring us to the third and last test:

- Setback n°3: the Whale. In the original movie, Gepetto gets swallowed by the whale when he tries to follow Pinocchio to Pleasure Island to save him. Pinocchio then dives in, saves Gepetto and, in the process, apparently “dies”, before finally earning his existence as a “real” little boy after that show of bravery and self-sacrifice. And I think these are the beats to look for in Penny’s V8 storyline. As of Episode 3, Penny is about to join Pietro and Maria, and there have been strong hints (and by that I mean we were basically hammered over the head) that she’s about to be “hacked” by Watts. How do the original narrative beats play out? Here’s how I think it fits:

Gepetto is swallowed by Monstro: After Penny is effectively “hacked” and by that I mean that while her soul and spirit remain unchanged, Watts hacks into the mainframe and forces her to surrender control over her body the same way we’ve seen her do (but willingly) for Pietro. Penny essentially ends up trapped inside her own body as it follows Watts’ commands. I suspect Watts will force her to take Pietro and Maria (who’s of interest to Salem by being one of the last remaining SEW, and I strongly suspect her soul/aura could be used to make more of whatever the Hound is, but this is a whole other matter to delve into in a separate post) to Salem.

Pinocchio dives in to save his father and takes down the whale: I think Pietro and/or Ruby will appeal to Penny/be in enough danger that she will snap out of Watts control on her own, effectively reclaiming her bodily autonomy on her own and then creating a mayhem big and terrible enough with her powers that will take down the whale and give everyone else enough time to escape. This will be Penny’s heroic moment and her stand. Right now, everyone is making the mistake of having people protect the maiden powers. Penny realizes what makes her a maiden is to use those powers to protect the people; it’s a decision she makes on her own that cements her as a true Maiden and a hero of the people.

Pinocchio “apparently dies” but is then granted his wish and becomes a “real” little boy: Here I think Penny takes down the whale but goes down with it. We don’t see her die again onscreen (I think it would be overkill to show her “corpse” a second time and would cheapen her dying at all. In general I am wary of the resurrection trope being overdone or coming without a cost because it severely undercuts the emotional payoff of a death), but I think by the end of V8 she’s MIA (which would make her the second person Ruby loses that way, but also the first to return to her so). I think Penny uses her powers to stall Monstra, and I’m willing to bet good money that whatever Penny does next has to do with the Gravity dust that keeps Monstra afloat. The thing with Gravity dust is that, it does push things off the ground, but it can also pull things towards it. I think whatever number Penny pulls on the gravitational field ends up pulling her down in that sillage as well.

I know the popular theory is that Penny “dies” again and Pietro sacrifices his life to resurrect her one last time, and I can see it happening, but here’s the thing: RWBY subverts popular tropes, exploring new (and more hopeful!) paths. Just look at Qrow: RWBY said, oh the mentor figure, scarred and haunted by his past? is not just another stepping stone whose death cements the hero on his journey, but becomes a character with a drive of their own, and an arc of their own, and who gets to pass the torch and live to see it burn well and bright and to the end. Gepetto lives and mourns the apparent death of his son but is there to welcome him home when, rewarded for courage and abnegation, Pinocchio earns the right to become a human boy. I think Pietro, too, will live, and get to welcome a Penny that has finally earned the right to call herself Mantle’s Protector, no longer Ironwood’s puppet (heh) nor an extension of her father but an actual established hero of the people, around whom Mantle can rally and who can work with the right people (Robyn and the Happy Huntresses) for the right reasons and outcomes, people and reasons she herself chooses and decisions she herself makes and a power she’s reclaimed and accepted and knows how to use. 

Penny’s quest has always been one of identity, slowly transforming from getting her bearings and realizing what makes her humanity is her soul, her ability to develop and deepen and protect her bonds to people and her natural empathy and kindness (V3′s ”am I worthy of calling myself human, too?”); to navigating morality, the nuances of doing good and the need to make her own calls and judgement of what is right and wrong (V7′s “who should I protect? what should I follow?”); to now, having established that she’s worthy of being one, Penny still has to find how to be a maiden, what that role entails for her and how she can finally fit as herself and into this new role, 100% reclaiming herself, her body (even from Pietro!!), her title and her mission. V8 (and maybe onwards) is the culmination of Penny’s identity journey, and I see it playing very much as an Iron Giant moment.

“You are who you choose to be,” says RWBY (and Ruby!) to Penny.

“Superman A human, and a hero, and a maiden” will be her answer.

And just like the Iron Giant, Penny saves the world, and rises again.

[cherrythepuppet]

Corpse Puppet AU

Corpse Puppet belongs to @sketchquill

Corpse Puppet Penny! I won't go into too much detail since I want you all to figure out how she died!

Ahem, Penny had a lovely life as she was the brightest in town! Along with her Wonderful wife! The Two lived in a farm outside of town

Penny and her Wife were upstairs unaware of a fire that started in the kitchen, the fire spread and the two were trapped in their house

Penny was knocked out by a wooden beam hitting her head and when she opened her eyes people surrounded her

She instantly asked where her wife was but nobody replied...and that's when she saw the remains of her home

.

.

.

And the charred body of her wife... "Poppy?" Penny whispered with tears staining her vision

Since that Day Penny showed signs of survivors guilt and always seemed to be talking to someone that wasn't there

Until the day of Penny's death...

[my2phetaliaheadcanons]

2p Romano

Name:  Fabrizio Vargus

Age: 24 human, 1600 nation

Height: 5’7

Weight: 142 lbs

Appearance: Look at this male model. His body is overall similar to Luciano’s but he is much softer. It gives Fabrizio an overall gentler look than his brother, so it gives him a bigger advantage to get what he wants.

His hair used to be a dark copper, but as the years passed, especially under Spain’s control his hair grew lighter. Eventually, once he reached adulthood it stayed around a light penny color. Many people have loved his hair color, but Fabrizio has not. So he dyed it blond, to him it looks nicer and he feels like he is more fashionable that way. Fabrizio has magenta eyes like Luciano, but his are a little lighter. He tends to attract attention when he isn’t wearing his sunglasses. He paler than his brothers, because of his fashion/tailor lifestyle he spends more time inside. So it is a natural tan that is like two shades lighter.

Fabrizio goes all out when it comes to clothing. He is always ahead of the trend and usually making each outfit himself. He dresses up to the nines, suits, and tuxes. They are his favorite things to wear, usually, they are white or the traditional navy suits because he likes how it looks with his skin tone. He wears ascots and scarves that go well with the suits. He also wears sunglasses almost all the time. They are rose-tinted and he always keeps them on his person along with a pair of black leather gloves.

Personality: He is the biggest drama queen. He takes all his reactions to the top. He sees a spider, screams for help. Gets hit by his opponent, overreacts to the bruise. Rips his pants, get ready for bloodshed.

 He wants to have his way and won’t take no for answer. He will pull whatever strings to get his way, and even will start a war to ensure his wants. No one is exempt from his want for control. Even Luciano has suffered until Fabrizio’s warpath.

Vain. He has to be the most handsome man in the room. If not he isn’t afraid to push a more attractive man into traffic. He wants validation for the effort he puts into his looks. The more compliments the better, and he knows by now other nations won’t give it to him. So he goes out and about to get it or preys on the nations that don’t know better.

Dead: “Never gonn-a happen darling!” -Fabrizio

Weapon: Poisons, knives

Family:  Italy, Rome, Seborga

ETC: Fabrizio just like his brother uses knives, but he coats them in poisons. He likes that the knives add a sense of elegance to his killing, and the poisons help him stay clean. After all, it only takes a nick versus a gash with poisons. Also, he believes that everyone deserves to leave a sexy corpse, so the less external damage the better.

Fabrizio works on his own clothing and would love to create a company. But his bosses have been very firm with preventing him from doing so. Mostly because he likes using his pretty victims as models. Though he is coming up with a plan to put a puppet in place, he just has to find a way to prevent his bosses from finding out.

He and his brothers do work together to manage their mafias, the work as an umbrella company. Three different companies under one parent company.

Fabrizio’s time under Spain has left him hating and fearing said nation. He would love to even the score, but so far life has not been kind enough to grant him such a chance. There are many times when Fabrizio has had nightmares about his time with Spain, and each one fuels the fire more to do so.

[lennythereviewer]

Getting my Showdown Bandit theory out before MatPat beats me to the punch

Gonna put it under a cut to avoid spoilers

Also gonna tag my fellow theory fren @adobe-outdesign TL;DR: This is a story about coming to terms with your own existence

Long Version Based on everything in the first chapter (And a few people making connections between this and Bendy possibly being in the same universe) here is the conclusion I’ve reached Like a certain Joey Drew, the creator of the Showdown Bandit Show used black magic to bring the puppets to life; to make them truly animated and alive, to have a show like no other! But of course something went horribly wrong. As we’re told, the Showdown Bandit Show was cancelled abruptly and suddenly at the peak of it’s popularity, and no one is quite sure why...

There are three laws in this universe that are repeatedly hammered in, in both the game and in the trailers:

Play Your Part Guard Your Strings Don’t Look Up

Translation: Don’t ask questions, do what you’re meant to do

The something that went horribly wrong was that the puppets started to become self-aware. They began to realize that they are just what they are; puppets being strung around and forced to perform. Their lives are just a show for children. 

Everyone took this revelation differently.

Miss Undertaker is very OBVIOUSLY aware of her true nature; she’s the one enforcing the three laws after all. Notes from Lookout in the game inform us that something happened that deeply troubled her, but she brushed it off pretending to be okay. She knows she’s just a puppet, but she wants to continue living the lie and is making sure no one else questions their existence so they can all continue on with the show. She could even be directly working with the Puppeteer

The Banker is very timid and scared, and he is questioning his existence; but is too frightened to act upon it

The Doctor is in on it with Miss Undertaker, but I’ll get to him in a moment

Penny IS self-aware, but presumably she’s seen what happens to those who step out of line, those who look up, so she yanked out her own eyes and that combined with the revelation has driven her mad

Which brings us to Bandit himself:

Presumably the inciting incident is that one day in the middle of a show; Bandit  became self-aware and had some kind of meltdown that frightened the children and ruined the whole show. 

And now... the creator is holed up in the old studio, still clinging to his precious show, and going through a process of trying again, and again to have ONE Bandit puppet that won’t become self-aware; in some vain hope the show will continue again

It’s obvious that there has been more than one Bandit, and we’re NOT the first. You get your gun from the corpse of another Bandit, Faceless IS a Bandit, and Undertaker even remarks: “I haven’t unboxed a Bandit that wasn’t quick on the draw!” also there’s the ominous line at the end: “You Bandits come a dime a dozen and no one bats a wooden eye”

Now, the very start of the game: Undertaker is searching for someone, who I believe to be Lookout; another puppet who became self-aware but got away. Undertaker then spots Bandit’s box and is genuinely surprised to see him

“I didn’t drag you up here on purpose, but if you’re here, it must be what HE wants” She says, while subtly pointing up to the ceiling

He, the Puppeteer:

It’s time for another attempt at a perfect Bandit that will do as he’s told.

The Strings are all a lie; Bandit is perfectly capable of moving on his own while he’s in the box; it’s only after he stumbles out do the strings latch onto him and seem to cause him pain at first. The strings are only there to keep the puppets in line and in control. We KNOW this because the Stringless are enemy marionettes that are perfectly mobile without their strings!

The Doctor reinforces the idea that you even need strings; he’s in on it with Undertaker. He even remarks how it’s yet another Bandit he’s tending to: “Another day, another Bandit...”

Faceless I’ll bet isn’t even a villain; I wager that he’s the original Bandit, and him carrying a scythe to cut your strings is him trying to FREE Bandit!

So where does this even go? How does all this even turn out? And what did the ending of that chapter mean? I couldn’t tell you, this is just a baseline for what I believe to be going on.

Now watch MatPat do this exact theory

[adobe-outdesign]

About the Last Note

This might just be me over analyzing things, but does this note seem really strange to anyone else?

First off: Every note in the game, much like the tapes in BATIM, tell us something about the plot, gameplay, or characters. Here’s a quick recap of the ones I can think of (I might have missed one or two, but you get the idea):

Note confirming Penny used to have a general store that shut down

Note introducing the West family and hinting at an Easter Egg

Note revealing what happened to the other Wests

Note confirming the stringless are effectively corpses, and that Showdown Valley has a sheriff somewhere

Note from Farmer Mill implying that whatever happened to the show, it was something that happened on one specific day (not over the course of a week or something)

Note telling you to obtain the second key and why there’s two

Note introducing Lookout and telling us that Undertaker saw something traumatizing

Note that tells us that Undertaker was lying to us (she says she lost her key, Lookout says she hid it intentionally)

Note from the Banker confirming that puppets have only started dying recently, and that this was not the case back when the show was still airing

Note warning you about the large puppet

Note telling you the code to the mines

Note confirming that the Stringless die via headshots and do feel pain

This is why I get stuck at this note. Not only is it the very last note you get before the ending... but what does it tell us, exactly? We already knew that there was a stage and a live audience - the Steam description mentions it directly, and even if the player didn’t read that, you see that exact thing like half a second after reading this note. It’s the only letter where, taken at face value, it seemingly doesn’t give us any new info. 

But the other thing that’s throwing me is what’s said in the third line:

1) “They’d call our name” - our, plural, and name, singular. Not our names, not the name of the show, not Showdown Bandit’s name, but “our name”.

2) “We’d stand up” - Marionette shows usually open with the characters either already standing up on-stage, or being walked onto stage by their puppeteers depending on the kind of performance. This is because if the puppet isn’t already standing when the curtain opens, they’re lying lifeless on the floor. The only other thing I can think of is that the puppets were sitting when the curtain opened, but why would they be?

The beginning line is also weird - “I remember that” usually implies “I don’t remember much, but I do [remember that]”. Why would the Banker not remember much of his time on-stage?

And it’s also a little weird that it’s the Banker recalling this, of all puppets. It seems unlikely he’d be front and center on stage at the beginning of every performance, given that he’s more of a side character.

Now, don’t get me wrong - I’m not super fond of the idea of the puppets being possessed, mostly because I think there are more interesting options. But it is a valid possibility - and it does work with this note. If you take this as the Banker remembering something from when he was alive and working on the show, rather than as a puppet, the letter suddenly tells us something and seems to make more sense.

Take, for example, the Dusty Hills Band:

They’ve been mentioned a few times, namely this bit of writing on Keyman’s wall. It’s possible they were a live on-stage band that provided the music for the show, which would have been necessary on a filmed-live-on-set show like Showdown Bandit.

I’m bringing them up as a potential example of what I’m talking about because they work to demonstrate how the Banker’s letter makes more sense from the perspective of on-stage human performers:

“They’d call our name” - The name of a group, hence the singular/plural combo. “Introducing The Dusty Hills Band”, for example.

“We’d stand up” - House bands are usually seated during the performance. They may stand up briefly while being introduced before the show starts and the curtain opens.

But you want to know what’s really interesting?

According to this old poster from the trailer, “The Showdown Bandit Show” was not always called that. It appears the original name was “Showdown Bandit & the Dusty Hills Band” - which makes more sense as a name anyway, as it’s much less repetitive. You can also see this name used on some posters at the beginning, which seem to sport slightly different designs for the characters (Undertaker has a solid-black top, for example):

This means that originally, the name featured the Dusty Hills Band. At some point, they stopped featuring them for some unknown reason. We don’t know how many characters existed in this early version of the show, but we at least know from the poster that the Banker was one of them.

And as a side note, have you ever noticed how the Banker’s poster is the only one that’s conspicuously flickering during this part...?

TL;DR: The Banker’s last note seemingly contains no new info and doesn’t make much sense from the POV of a puppet. It does make sense from the POV of a person who worked on the show (such as the Dusty Hills Band), implying the puppets could possibly be possessed. Something happened to the Dusty Hills Band, as they stopped being included in the show’s name early on.

[pettyelves]

a man opens a door

three’s a crowd I TW: Sexual themes

A man opens a door.  He is seeking. He is confident.  He is curious.

Shadows consumed the room, bodies-- even the dead ones swallowed up. It was a force of nature, meant to knock the attacker out of not just her mind, but Zelphryin's. The caveat being the transportation. If they were actually moving through space and time, it was unclear-- but to be certain, the Infinite felt real.

Images bombarded him. Chaotic shadowy visions that jittered in whatever manner of vision he was seeing it all with. A massive puzzle box balanced impossibly on a corner, constructed steel colored metal. It rotated endlessly. The vision jumped, as though they were moving inside of it. No clear door, or passage inside. From a dark abyssal floor, rose constructs-- an entire city of pillar, obelisks, platforms. High up, to down below. Nothing made perfect sense. Objects seemed to come out of the sky, or black pit below at random. Buildings wove like mazes on into eternity.  Wherever they were, the influence had lifted from his mind and they stood on an open platform, over looking the life's work of the the Shol'Shar bloodline.

"Why do I get the feeling that we are not in my apartment anymore."

His wonder was to be expected. The construction permeated with raw shadowy energy and was a display of power which any man, particularly one like Zelphryin would be drawn to. While he looked, Mirin took the time to compose herself fully.

"We are inside of the Infinite," she stated, as though that explained it. "And as much as I enjoy being conjoined with you physically, it would behoove us both to locate the host and cast it into the Axis. I encourage you to stick closely to me, lest you be lost inside."

She had never seen him so enthralled by anything. Unlike the stare he gave any woman. Greedy eyes that stared around at everything they could. He wanted to learn this place--he wanted to own it. 

Mirin knew he did not know what it meant to own this place.

"I suppose this is the part where I promise to make it up to you on the later." He said as he came to stand near to her once again. "Will certainly do better at vetting my next communal, no clothes, soiree." He took 

She waited patiently for him. It was likely that the threat was not immediate. Not here. But when he joined her, she twisted her hand  and metal particles constructed a bridge before them. Not only did she seem to own the space, but she had full control of it.

"Oh yes, there is plenty of time to discuss you making this all up to me. My preference is naked, and directly following  some manner of provocation." Though it seemed they were inside of her mind, one distinct thing of note was there was no place where her thoughts echoed loud enough for him to hear. Whispers, faint as though they were held elsewhere in the puzzle box. She moved, her split-pupil eyes scanning above and below for signs of their attacker.

"Well that seems a bit unfair, placing the entire blame on me. Stormwind has a number of cart peddlers, how exactly was I to know she was somehow involved in all the slug fest." He neither really seemed to be helping. Perhaps the longer it took to find their assaulter, the longer he would have to mentally map this; the grand center piece being that of the steel and churning puzzle box like a piece of clockwork. "Had you taken my original offer for the Cock and Candle we certainly would not be in this situation." His lips drew tight as he leaned down over her shoulder. "Now who is to blame?"

Zelphryin was a master of manipulating each and every situation to suit him. There was no winning against him-- yet there wasn’t any losing either. Mirin decided, in for a penny-- in for a whole pound. 

"This was inevitable." She said, stopping on the bridge to push her hands outward. From the bridge, extended more bridges. Each with a doorway to nowhere at the end of it. Now she resumed walking by it. Each door they passed, seemed to glimpse into another reality, another option, another timeline? She explained as they passed them, her arm hooked in the crook of his. 

" If I had not come tonight, she would have found you alone. Inside of the Cock and Candle, distracted by your cock buried in your chosen whore. Your night, ended-- with a Warden's blade in your back. Standing trial for the brutal murder of all the women you had brought to your bed." The options went on. "Had you stayed at home, you most certainly would have fucked a corpse. And in the middle of it, been invaded with naught but me to wonder where you were the next day." And on. "Had we gone together, sharing chocolates with the lovely women we planned to enjoy. Carnage. As an army of puppetted whores turned on each other, on patrons, on me, on you. The would call a massacre the next morning, you and I--captured or dead." They moved on along the bridge and if he thought to look behind him, the way they came looked completely different. It was always moving. "Blame, is irrelevant. I.. am more interested in purpose. Why you. Why tonight." And why had she known about Mirin's father.

At An’Diel Manor, Eilithe had provoked Kurel with a single press of the bare knee to his rough knuckles. He’d sat in his chair with a drink gripped loosely in his hand-- covered gaze our over his kingdom harbor. 

His hand moved flat to palm against the skin of her thigh, up and under the silk of her gown. She stared down at him, and he-- without eyes, back up at her. A smirk formed on either’s face and the night was slated to be spent tangled in their sheets. 

For nearly a month, Eilithe had gone to the city very little-- sent her Whispers, or Mirin to do her dirty work. Instead, she had been doing this. Enjoying Kurel and the little blip of peace that came when things were good. 

Hours later, she was laying half a-top him, nearly put to sleep by the sound of his slow-beating heart. She did not hear the seal-- and so whatever came to Kurel’s ear must have been through a communicator she did not possess.

“What’s wrong?” She asked when he sat up and started to get his things.  "Zelphryin."  Kurel spoke his name with a growling snarl, throwing aside the bedsheets as he moved swiftly out of bed. His next words heard across the seal-- publicly to everyone who was privy to the link. "I nee' available Wardens to the Starse' Reach district stat. Zelphryin's apar'men'. Blow the fuckin' buildin' up if you have to to ge' inside. Issue a new bounty. Dead or Alive. Sin'dorei. Male. Former Gambi' crew member Severin."

"You cannot lie to the Infinite, Zelphryin."

By now there were more doors than there were obelisks and structures. It was loud, whispers from each scenario. "It knows your preferences," It learns them. "It knows the probabilities." She turned, as though she would leave him to keep opening doors. "The power is in the control of it." The power was in the ability to push one outcome over another.

He pressed, like a toddler. For each new option he presented, a new path, a new door presented itself.

A man opens a door.

"In another scenario, I do not leave you at the bath house." He turned his head to the presentation of a new door. "I give you what you want. I have my own fun." He grinned. "My shirt and jacket are not left for you to take with you. The following day, the exchange at the fortune teller never happens. I skip my meeting with Mavas Hawke, rescheduling for later. During the time frame where I would have encountered the cart woman is when I am in Duskwatch. Our paths still converge in the courtyard of Stormwind. Only I had just arrived. If the cart woman is present, she does not interest me. Because I have seen you, before you have seen me.”

He is seeking.

"She tries to get my attention, but she can not. I am too preoccupied undressing you in my memory and constructing my first five reactions and responses to you, while you are preoccupied with spying the evenings entertainment as you had put it.”

"You have no plans to make an appearance at my apartment and I have made arrangements ahead of time at the Cock and Candle, Room 5.”

He is confident.

"Now the cart woman could attempt to still infiltrate the harbor, but at a greater risk with less information. Making it, in this scenario, not worth the reward.”

"In this scenario. We would never be here, either."

 He is curious.

The game he was playing excited her. Not only physically, but in a way she would have struggled to describe. Her teeth seldom showed when she smiled, or in this case, when she grinned. But for him-- in the expanding Infinite, they did. The construct shifted now, bridges bending up and over them like archways that turned.

Somewhere in this maze of mindmap, there was a fraction of an intruder. But it was far out of Mirin's thoughts by now. Caught up in the Droste effect that was slowly forming. The Infinite did not seem to be outsmarted easily, if at all.

She answered him. "You are distracted. By my hand slipped in your pocket, working your cock in the slowest of manners-- to which you protest. I tell you, absently, as I work-- that I felt someone watching me at the Faire. You make no reply, so as not to seem too interested. You in fact, aren't interested. We slip away, she follows but cannot rightly attack effectively." 

"There is no attack that night, no-- but the choices you made. To leave me. There. In the bathhouse. Tonight. To walk me backward to your bed. To undress me slow and indulge in me. There is no other outcome." Her voice was but an echo by then.

The longer they remained. The more questions he asked. The closer their minds became. "And what of your choices, Miss Mirin? What outcomes would they have changed?"

The archway bent locked into place, like they were not a part of the construct. She stood before him, and decided if she would answer or not.

One door opened. "I never come to your apartment, we never rut in your shower, nor meet in the bathhouse. You greet me, incorrectly and are forced in my company for many years to come. You never end here. You never get a taste of power that brushes what your father found, nor have the thought to push even deeper than he went."

"A more concise inquiry." He looked to a door. "What if you never came to Dead Sun at all."

A door dropped squarely in front of him, opening up and obscuring her view beyond it. "It is the Third War. I ignore the Infinite's warning for the first time in my life. I never meet Eilithe Duskbringer, I never return to the Eastern Kingdoms."

If he looked to long, the door was oh so inviting. Visions of warm sands, crystal clear.

"I wander the sands, in search of something that I never find."

Her an echo against his ear, she was moving away from him. Outside, their bodies were slumped in darkness. The corpse, being sucked up into blackness. As though she were falling into the floor, while the other two slept through it all. Severin was in a panic. 

@kurel-andiel​, kurel and zel, @bellwetherspromise​ @deadsunharbor​ 

[secretlyatargaryen]

ASOIAF and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

I don’t know if anyone has talked about this, but I know that there’s been some discussion of GRRM being influenced (directly or indirectly) by Mark Twain and, specifically in his novel Fevre Dream, which certainly invokes Huck Finn. I’ve also seen a review of Tyrion’s ADWD journey described as “a drunken Huckleberry Finn.” Which is a flippant description that, on the surface, refers to Tyrion’s literal riverboat journey, but Tyrion’s narrative also carries with it a Twainian edge of satire, and his journey in ADWD is one that deals with classism, slavery, and exile in similar ways as Twain’s famous novel, while Tyrion, like Huck, also occupies a liminal space where he is positioned to understand issues of privilege and marginalization.

But I think a greater comparison could be made between one of Twain’s somewhat lesser known novels and also one of my favorites, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

Most people know this story by its many screen adaptations, as a time-travel comedy, and it is, but it’s also, as is consistent with Twain, a witty, brilliant social satire. In Connecticut Yankee, Twain uses the backdrop of Arthurian England to brutally deconstruct social issues, and tackles classism, slavery, and chivalry in ways similar to GRRM. The first time I read about the Yankee I read it as an adventure story, then I read it in college for a dystopian lit class, and it was the only book on the reading list that isn’t technically dystopian literature, but the society it portrays, like the one in A Song of Ice and Fire, is definitely a feudal dystopia. I’m going to start with some surface level thematic similiarities.

On words:

Here’s Connecticut Yankee:

“Words are only painted fire, a look is the fire itself.”  

And ASOIAF (multiple times)

“Words are wind.”

On the human heart:

Connecticut Yankee:

“You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.”

GRRM:

“The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself” (quoting William Faulkner)

On rulership:

Here’s where it gets meaty and where I think the two stories have the most in common.

Connecticut Yankee:

The fact is, the king was a good deal more than a king, he was a man; and when a man is a man, you can't knock it out of him.

and

Unlimited power is the ideal thing when it is in safe hands. The despotism of heaven is the one absolutely perfect government, and earthly despotism would be the absolute perfect earthly government if the conditions were the same; namely the despot the perfectest individual of the human race, and his lease of life perpetual; but as a perishable, perfect man must die and leave his despotism in the hands of an imperfect successor, an earthly despotism is not merely a bad form of government, it is the worst form that is possible.

ASOIAF frequently deconstructs the idealization of kings and queens, and the noble class is repeatedly portrayed as fallable and only human, sometimes to tragic ends. There’s an extended plotline in Connecticut Yankee where the Yankee and the King disguise themselves in order to live among the common folk and figure out how to build a better government, at one point ending up enslaved. GRRM also forces several of his noble-born characrters, especially the ones who are positioned to be rulers, to be confronted with the lives of the smallfolk, live among them (sometimes in disguise) or be confronted with the reality of slavery or even live as slaves themselves.

Connecticut Yankee again:

There was a slight noise from the direction of the dim corner where the ladder was. It was the king descending. I could see that he was bearing something in one arm, and assisting himself with the other. He came forward into the light; upon his breast lay a slender girl of fifteen. She was but half conscious; she was dying of smallpox. Here was heroism at its last and loftiest possibility, its utmost summit; this was challenging death in the open field unarmed, with all the odds against the challenger, no reward set upon the contest, and no admiring world in silks and cloth of gold to gaze and applaud; and yet the king’s bearing was as serenely brave as it had always been in those cheaper contests where knight meets knight in equal fight and clothed in protecting steel. He was great now; sublimely great. The rude statues of his ancestors in his palace should have an addition—I would see to that; and it would not be a mailed king killing a giant or a dragon, like the rest, it would be a king in commoner’s garb bearing death in his arms that a peasant mother might look her last upon her child and be comforted.

And that, my friends, is how you deconstruct feudalism, chivalry, classism, divine right of rulership and what makes a hero a hero.

Here’s Dany in ASOIAF:

“Go if you wish, ser. I will not detain you. I will not detain any of you.” Dany vaulted down from the horse. “I cannot heal them, but I can show them that their Mother cares.”

Jhogo sucked in his breath. “Khaleesi, no.”

The bell in his braid rang softly as he dismounted. “You must not get any closer. Do not let them touch you! Do not!”

Dany walked right past him. There was an old man on the ground a few feet away, moaning and staring up at the grey belly of the clouds. She knelt beside him, wrinkling her nose at the smell, and pushed back his dirty grey hair to feel his brow. “His flesh is on fire. I need water to bathe him. Seawater will serve. Marselen, will you fetch some for me? I need oil as well, for the pyre. Who will help me burn the dead?”

Contrast Dany and the King in disguise, doing something as simple as showing compassion to the sick and dying, behaving more like a hero than any knight on a battlefield, with the riot in King’s Landing where a mother presents her dead child as an indictment of the failings of the ruling class.

Halfway along the route, a wailing woman forced her way between two watchmen and ran out into the street in front of the king and his companions, holding the corpse of her dead baby above her head. It was blue and swollen, grotesque, but the real horror was the mother's eyes. Joffrey looked for a moment as if he meant to ride her down, but Sansa Stark leaned over and said something to him. The king fumbled in his purse, and flung the woman a silver stag. The coin bounced off the child and rolled away, under the legs of the gold cloaks and into the crowd, where a dozen men began to fight for it. The mother never once blinked. Her skinny arms were trembling from the dead weight of her son.

Sansa tries to influence Joffrey here, but of course she can’t make Joffrey show real compassion or truly understand the plight of the smallfolk. And even though Sansa is sympathetic to their plight, those who get abused by those in power don’t see her as any different than the sadistic ones, like Joffrey.

On heredity and inheriting the sins of the past:

Connecticut Yankee:

We speak of nature; it is folly; there is no such thing as nature; what we call by that misleading name is merely heredity and training. We have no thoughts of our own, no opinions of our own; they are transmitted to us, trained into us.

ASOIAF:

It all goes back and back, Tyrion thought, to our mothers and fathers and theirs before them. We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance on in our steads. 

On knighthood:

A Connecticut Yankee:

“You see, he was going for the Holy Grail. The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several years' cruise. They always put in the long absence snooping around, in the most conscientious way, though none of them had any idea where the Holy Grail really was, and I don't think any of them actually expected to find it, or would have known what to do with it if he had run across it.”

In Twain’s novel, the knights are mostly ridiculous, violent idiots obsessed with honor and pointless questing.

In ASOIAF:

"He likes the stories where the knights fight monsters."

“Sometimes the knights are the monsters.”

In Connecticut Yankee, there is an incredible subplot where the Yankee is convinced by a princess to go on a quest to slay a bunch of ogres who have supposedly captured princesses and held them in a castle. When they get there, it turns out that the “castle” is a pigsty, the “princesses” the pigs, and the “ogres” some poor swineherds.

I left Sandy kneeling there, corpse-faced but plucky and hopeful, and rode down to the pigsty, and struck up a trade with the swine-herds. I won their gratitude by buying out all the hogs at the lump sum of sixteen pennies, which was rather above latest quotations. I was just in time; for the Church, the lord of the manor, and the rest of the tax-gatherers would have been along next day and swept off pretty much all the stock, leaving the swine-herds very short of hogs and Sandy out of princesses. But now the tax people could be paid in cash, and there would be a stake left besides. One of the men had ten children; and he said that last year when a priest came and of his ten pigs took the fattest one for tithes, the wife burst out upon him, and offered him a child and said:

“Thou beast without bowels of mercy, why leave me my child, yet rob me of the wherewithal to feed it?”

This is satire at its most ridiculous and over-the-top, but it’s also a pretty searing deconstruction of the futility of chivalry, more obsessed with romantic notions of honor and fighting against imagined monsters than its supposed goal of protecting the weak.

A Connecticut Yankee ends in a failed attempt at revolution but with the possibility of hope for the modern world. Perhaps this is what GRRM is trying to tell us as well.