#and parallels..might tag it but it's not really all there. feel free to though

[neurotonic]

Ouh. I really like how out of all the antagonists in the series, Prism's motivations (and her turning to Zoraxis) are directly influenced by Phoenix's track record. She has the most personal beef with the agent, though it's a little ironic that her TK implant helped the agent's success. If it weren't for Prism, Phoenix wouldn't be the legend that they are known for.

...Except...That's minimizing Phoenix's own ingenuity and skill with the implant, isn't it? It's a useful tool, yes! But in the end, it's just a tool. Phoenix was able to use it in unique ways, and that's not counting whatever else Phoenix has to do in the moment without TK. If it weren't for Phoenix's own efforts (and their strange ability to not Die), Prism wouldn't be forced to take revenge.

They're their own self-made people, but inevitably they left such a huge impact on each other before the third game...and if Prism wasn't the one who personally added the implant in Phoenix's head, then they haven't even interacted in person!

It could be seen as a little tragic, and it sorta is--Prism's desire for revenge is a little misplaced (and, yes, it is bolstered by Zor when she switches to their side). For all we know, Phoenix never intended to be the villain in Prism's story. But Prism's frustrated and angry and devastated about being reduced to the One Project she made. She just wanted to make something bigger than herself.

And it's really nice to see Phoenix help her once she recognizes that Zor's been using her all this time...even if it takes some time for Prism to really let them help her.

It takes the combination of their unique skills, brainpower, and their eventual trust in one another to destroy Zor's volcano kinesium base. Prism gets saved by the person she thought made her dreams impossible, and in return, Phoenix gets saved in the one IEYTD ending where they're not declared legally dead. I feel like that's something interesting? Because this is also the one finale where Phoenix has an active ally working with them close to their side (...as close as Prism and Phoenix could get, anyway).

Well. Anyway. What was I talking about? Enemies who are closely intertwined with one another's journeys end up becoming each other's most important allies? Okay, yeah. Let's go with that.

[bookish-bogwitch]

Thank you @roomwithanopenfire, @rimeswithpurple, @blackberrysummerblog, @nausikaaa, @larkral,

@hushed-chorus, @alexalexinii, @monbons, @whatevertheweather, @run-for-chamo-miles,

@artsyunderstudy, @mooncello, @brilla-brilla-estrellita, @forabeatofadrum, and @aristocratic-otter for the tags over the past few weeks. I've had a crazy month (90% in crazy a good way) and too frazzled to come up with my own WIP posts, but have enjoyed reading yours and being included.

Here are six ten moody little sentence from Chapter 11 of Basil Pitch's Diary. (In case you missed it, I posted Ch. 10, September, a few weeks ago, then fled the country.) Baz is hanging in in Niall and Dev's room:

The last time I was here with Niall, he’d told me to hold out for more than ear scritches and the occasional carrot. Now we sat on his bed with a chessboard between us. “Baz,” Niall said quietly. “What are you doing?”  “Beating you.” I moved my queen to menace his remaining bishop. “With Snow, I mean.” Niall did that thing where the rook and king hop around, which shouldn’t be allowed, and I realized he’d won. Again. Somewhere, in a parallel universe, there is a me who grew up with someone to play against, demolishing a Niall who never went to math camp.

Below the cut: musing, a posting plan, and more tags.

Musing: I've actually written a ton since the last chapter even though I've been AWOL, but for a while no matter what I wrote, Baz felt out of character. I'd write a scene, like it, and then think "but why is he doing this?" Then I'd rewrite with Baz behaving completely differently, and that also felt OOC.

I worried that I'd somehow doomed myself with inconsistent characterization, but then I figured it out: Baz at this point is deeply inconsistent. He presents himself to the world one way, he tells the reader / himself that he's something else, and deep down he's a secret third thing. And sometimes his masks slip.

To some extent this is every unreliable narrator. But boyo has REALLY tangled himself up at this point. Something's gotta give. Until it does--which it will, soon--I have to be very clear in my mind, even if Baz isn't, about which Baz is driving the Baz at any given moment.

A lot of you can do that sort of thing intuitively. I can't. So I've been building this out (showing you just the headers b/c spoilers):

This might stultify some (most?) of you. For me, though, it's freeing. When my brain isn't trying to keep track of everything, my imagination can unfurl.

"'Everything'?" you ask. "This isn't that plotty a fic." It's not, but it's already 2.5x longer than anything else I've written, which means developing skills I haven't needed before. Anyway, my BPD chart and I are having fun. We're very happy together.

Posting Plan

I pushed myself to get Ch. 10 up before leaving home for three weeks, because Ch. 9 had ended on such a wretched note. While I was happy to have gotten it up, I didn't love the self-imposed time crunch (though betas @cutestkilla, @facewithoutheart, and @thewholelemon were fuckin' heroes). Feeling rushed had me stressing and second-guessing choices that were probably fine.

My plan now is to pause updates until I have at least a very rough first draft of the final chapter, then post it all at regular intervals. I know a longish pause means some folks who'd been reading along will wait until it's complete, if they return at all. To those folks--sorry, and I get it, and thank you for reading in the first place, and I love you.

Tags and shy waves to @brendughh  @beastmonstertitan  @carryonsimoncarryonbaz  @carryonmylovelies  @creepyspice

@comesitintheclover @cows4247 @confused-bi-queer @artsyunderstudy@chen-chen-chen-again-chen

@chronicallyhomoerotic @drowninginships @dragoneggos @excalisbury @emeryhall

@erzbethluna @ebbpettier @fight-surrender @fatalfangirl @gay-at-ikea

@fiend-for-culture @forabeatofadrum @foolofabookwyrm-activated @arthurkko @j-nipper-95

@gekkoinapeartree @goblindad-emoshit @henreyettah @hertragedyconnoisseur @hushed-chorus

@icarus-n-flames @ineffable-grimm-pitch @ic3-que3n @ionlydrinkhotwater @iamamythologicalcreature

 @ileadacharmedlife @ivelovedhimthroughworse @shrekgogurt @im-gettingby @youarenevertooold

@monbons @mooncello @raenestee @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @messofthejess

[wantbytaemin]

[end of an era]: closing #analook

first of all, i want to say thank you times five billion to everyone who’s ever tagged me in a post. it goes without saying that i have enjoyed every single one of them and will treasure this entire experience and all the beautiful creations i’ve gotten to see (and discuss in great lengths in the tags of course 🤭). now, that’s partly the reason why i feel like i should wrap it up - you all create such wonderful things and they all deserve my full attention and all the yapping i can muster yet sadly just don’t have the time to type up. it’s silly how much it’s meant to me (i might be tearing up a little) and how much i’m going to miss it, but i really do think it’s for the best. of course, feel free to @ me or send me any post of yours in the future - you know i’ll respond with enthusiasm. though it won’t come close to a gif/edit/artwork, i’ve typed up little thank-you notes to the main contributors to #analook as a token of my gratitude under the cut. love & appreciate you all SO so so so much! 💖

@atlantis-area - my dearest alexa, the reason i even started a user tag and got to experience all this, thank you The most 💖 hopefully you already know how grateful i am for you, so i won’t make it too long. it’s been a pleasure (and will continue to be) to watch your giffing style evolve and to get to be a fan of taemin alongside you. love you! 🩵

@herewegobebe - oh my darling ru where do i start 🥹 i’m soooo so thankful for your wonderful presence and your gifs (as ive already told you numerous times). you’ve been a real highlight of my tag (it’s still a bit of a starstruck moment for me to be your mutual/get tagged in your gifs tbh!) and it’s going to make me really really sad to potentially miss some of your gifs now but best believe i’ll be checking ur blog whenever i can 🙂‍↕️💖

@minhosblr - MAJA my number one gorgeous wino gif source i literally can’t believe you even tagged me in them to begin with i feel like it’s all been such a successful fan moment 🥹🐰🫶🏻 thank you so so much & ofc expect me all up in your tags regardless 😽💓

@kimsuyeon - my lili the absolute master of gifs with gorgeous quality and beautiful coloring and stunning women like you can truly do no wrong in my books anytime i see a gif of yours i get giddy and feel like cracking my knuckles and going IN in the tags. thank you soooo much for gracing me (and everyone else) w your gorgeous gifs 💝

@pink-vacancy - the way im going to miss yuna & mina served on a beautiful platter cannot be overstated.. thank you so much for adding a beautiful touch of cherry red spice to my tag 🙂‍↕️🍒💋 (and kinda beside the point but also for always being SO incredibly sweet & nice to me)

@faunandfloraas - jess my third favorite australian 🤭💕 your creativity and collecting moments/pulling parallels + funny tags have brought me very many giggles, thank you saaaaur much 😽💕

@chanrizard - sa thank you soooo much for my chan gif fixes 💖 and SORRY for all the stuff you’ve had to read in your tags and still tagging me regardless lmfaojfkdjdk you best believe you’ll keep on reading them as i’ll be a frequent visitor of your blog from now on 🫡

@rainknow - your art has been one my favorite things to find in my tag, thank you so so so much for using it! most wonderful capturing of lino i’ve ever seen, no one does his eyes justice like you do 😽💖 (pls if you ever feel like it and i don’t see a post of ur art mention me or send it to me - it’d be highly appreciated!)

@linoyes - thank you SO much for amping up the amount of linos in my tag, it’s been such a delight to see your giffing evolve and im excited to keep yapping in your tags in the future 🤭💞💞💞

@jonghyunluvr - your jjong/taemin posts are always so enjoyable, i love your insights and how you notice the same things as me sometimes hehe 🩵🩵 please do keep sending them to me by all means 😌

@shorelinnes - raf pleaseeee if you want to still send me or tag me in your art.. i’d be so sad to miss it and your gorgeous gifs too! im so very happy to have you around and i appreciate all the posts you’ve tagged me in so so much 💞

@strayklds - em i remember being nervoussss to ask you to tag me hdksjdk i think your gifs are so good and want to thank you Very much for tagging me in them! it’s really been a pleasure 🫶🏻

@briankang - TAY my minchan friend and my bangchan gifs supplier you best believe i’ll be checking your blog 🤭 thank you SO much for all you’ve tagged me in so far 💖 (still thinking abt your minchan ate teasers edits.. changed my life now idk if for the better or worse but. lives have been changed for sure)

@taeiltual - bex your gorgeous edits truly make me think that most of these companies truly need to do better, thank you so much for making everyone look more beautiful and tagging me along (hehe) for the ride! 💖

@ashmp3 @kissoflifes - thank you two SO much for using my tag as intended and for the highest purpose of all - in your gorgeous selfies! (& thank you zaynab for your beautiful gifs too ofc ofc) for sure still send them to me if i happen to miss them we Do Nottt want a tragedy like that to ever strike. love u my beautiful friends 💞💞

@28reas0ns - not directly related to my tag (though you did tag me in a couple of beautiful sets!) but just wanted to once again thank you for my header gif(s) i’ll really treasure them for a long time 💝

and a shoutout to everyone who’s tagged me in a few of their posts, thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart! it’s really felt special every single time and i can’t thank you all enough for thinking of me and inviting me to yap in your tags like one would a vampire into their home. MWAH appreciate you all soooo so much 💖💖💖:

@reiiofsunn 💖 @drzephyr 💖 @hyunjinsource 💖 @minho-knows 💖 @speakofcompersion 💖@linolinoing 💖 @sunugf 💖

[khaoala]

get to know me 🐝

i saw this, thought, 'this is fun, i'll do this later,' and proceeded to completely forget about it. thank you @sherrymagic and @chinzhilla for tagging me! i might take a little bit, but i eventually get there, and i had fun answering these.

do you make your bed? - nope. i remember one time when i tried making it into an habit, but to no avail.

what's your favourite number? - lucky number 3.

what is your job? - as of right now, i'm studying. i also occasionally translate articles and school papers (i know, surprising).

If you could go back to school would you? - honestly? yeah.

can you parallel park? - yes, but only if there are no cars behind me wanting to get through.

a job you had that would surprise people? - i don't know if it's surprising but i worked in a police station for like a year and a half during law school. it was actually my internship, but i did everything, so i will say it counts.

do you think aliens are real? - absolutely.

can you drive a manual car? - we learn how to drive in manual cars where i live, so yes. i do have an issue with inclines, though, but i can do everything else.

what's your guilty pleasure? - what is even a guilty pleasure, fr. nothing comes to mind, to be honest, and trust me i pondered over this for like almost 10 minutes.

tattoos? - unfortunately no. i do want to a haku on his dragon form on my shoulder, though.

favourite colour? - yellow.

favourite type of music? - pop, k-pop, r&b are genres i always go back to. during only friends, i started listening to a lot of alt/indie rock because of sand and khaotung's songs recommendations.

do you like puzzles? - as in jigsaw puzzles? yes. crosswords can be fun. i grow frustrated quite easily especially when there's a difficult puzzle on a video-game, so if i can't figure it out, i just skip it and move forward with my life.

any phobias? - i'm insanely scared of frogs (just found out it's an actual phobia, ranidaphobia). i guess claustrophobia, too, to some degree.

favourite childhood sport? - volleyball and handball. i was so good at those, but i got injured and had to quit.

do you talk to yourself? - yes, especially when i'm driving or riding my motorcycle.

what movie(s) do you adore? - i was thinking about this the other day, how all my favorites change depending on what phase i'm in, but the one constant has always been spirited away (2003, hayao miyazaki). i guess it's bc it's one of the first movies i ever watched that i could see myself in the protagonist, and it was the first one i could pinpoint as being my favorite. the ones i've been liking as of the last six months are la sociedad de la nieve and bottoms.

coffee or tea? - tea. any type of tea. coffee only if it's with milk (i'm lactose intolerant, but we ignore that)

first thing you wanted to be growing up - a dentist.

also another funny thing about me, i don't usually tag people in anything bc i'm like apprehensive that i'll be imposing on them (i don't feel like y'all are imposing on me when i get tagged, i feel really great actually, so i don't know why my brain just assumes that i'm the annoying one), but do feel free to do this and tag me if you wish to.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World! Chapter 39: Weaving of the Web

Something something spoilers.

Something something the entirety of The Wheel of Time, not just book one.

Something something block tags.

Something something read the books.

Something something chapt--

No wait this part I want to put effort into. This chapter's icon is the Lion of Andor once again, because we're still in Caemlyn and Rand is about to be diving skull-first into the lion's den.

Mat glowered from where he lay curled up in a ball on his bed. “Take that Trolloc you’re so friendly with.”

STFU book 1 Mat. Rand, if he needs a bath so damn bad, throw a full bucket at him for comments like this. Throw several buckets at him, then blind him with more lightning. All must love Loial or else.

Herbalists and hedge-doctors were lying low in Caemlyn right now; there was talk against anyone who did any kind of healing, or fortunetelling. Every night the Dragon’s Fang was scrawled on doors with a free hand, sometimes even in the daylight, and people might forget who had cured their fevers and poulticed their toothaches when the cry of Darkfriend went up.

It's impressive that Mat is literally being corrupted by a source of evil that is some equal yet opposite to the source of all other evil and yet he still isn't the most paranoid asshole in the city. The Whitecloaks are stirring this up of course, proof that they as a faction completely suck, but between the winter and the False Dragon it didn't take much.

“Don’t know his name. Just heard about him. I hear most things in Caemlyn, eventually. Beggar.” The innkeeper grunted.

Oh right, Fain's in town. Still, Mat's not even the SECOND-most paranoid asshole in town. Really, Caemlyn is all kinds of fucked: the dagger and Fain within, "strange shapes" outside the city, the Whitecloaks flowing in and out... This city takes beating after beating in these books. There's a noose tightening around Rand and he's barely paying it any attention.

“Watch your back today, man.” Lamgwin’s voice sounded like gravel in a pan. “When the trouble starts, you’ll be a handy one to have here, not somewhere with a knife in your back.”

I suspect that Rand had to have the accident he's about to have to keep his dumb ass from ta'verening the riot into some sort of coup. All the crazy accidents he causes most of the time would really be the last straw.

Today, Caemlyn celebrated a victory of the Light over the Shadow. Today the false Dragon was being brought into the city, to be displayed before the Queen before he was taken north to Tar Valon.

I feel like there's something here, with this false Dragon and soon-to-be former Queen (and soon-to-be false Amyrlin) being the thing that everyone has their eyes on while the real Dragon meets with the future Queen and the real Amyrlin (either Siuan or Egwene works) is miles away. Elaida's Foretelling in particular seems like an echo of the one Siuan received long ago. I just can't quite string all the parallels together.

No one would have dared do such a thing two days earlier. More, Rand realized, the men who had done the bumping wore white cockades on their hats. It was widely believed the Whitecloaks supported those who opposed the Queen and her Aes Sedai advisor, but that made no difference. Men were doing things of which they had never before thought. Jostling a Whitecloak, today. Tomorrow, perhaps pulling down a Queen?

It's never said so, but I feel very much that this is some of Rand's ta'veren, the way that these dudes who should feel like they're on the same side are all sniping at each other.

Where streets in the New City mostly ran every which way in a crazy-quilt, here they followed the curves of the hills as if they were a natural part of the earth. Sweeping rises and dips presented new and surprising vistas at every turn. Parks seen from different angles, even from above, where their walks and monuments made patterns pleasing to the eye though barely touched with green. Towers suddenly revealed, tile-covered walls glittering in the sunlight with a hundred changing colors. Sudden rises where the gaze was thrown out across the entire city to the rolling plains and forests beyond.

Frankly something about this construction sounds almost impossible. Too many angles, too many heights. It feels like navigating a city designed by M. C. Escher. Wish I could live in Caemlyn!

The ragged man paused on the far edge of the street. His cowl, torn and stiff with dirt, swung back and forth as if searching for something, or listening. Abruptly he gave a wordless cry and flung out a dirty claw of a hand, pointing straight at Rand. Immediately he began to scuttle across the street like a bug.

One of the reasons I never much liked Jordan's statements that Fain was unique and had "side-stepped the Pattern" is moments like these, where his presence in Rand's life seems like a necessary ingredient to victory. If Fain hadn't scared Rand so much here, he wouldn't have ended up at the palace. Sure, some other coincidence might have happened (and he hasn't been Winded yet, so you could argue that he's still mostly on track here), but every major Fain moment in the series seems as intricately necessary as other major events that don't involve him instead of anything feeling off-script. I'll talk about this more as we go forward.

The beggar would not give up; he was sure of it, though he could not say why. That ragged shape would be working its way through the crowds at that very minute, searching, and if Rand returned to see Logain he ran the risk of a meeting.

I think Rand's certainty here is him twigging off of the alterations Fain's had that make him more Shadowspawn that the average Darkfriend.

The face of the wall had been left much in the natural state of the stone, the huge blocks fitted together so well that the joins were nearly invisible, the roughness making it seem almost a natural cliff. Rand grinned. The cliffs just beyond the Sand Hills were higher, and even Perrin had climbed those.

Ladies, gentlemen, those who transcend the petty binaries of mortals, meet the shittiest construction in the entirety of the Third Age. A wall whose only purpose is to allow one idiot farmboy after another climb the wall like they're lemmings with a power-up. It's a miracle Perrin never actually ends up doing it, since Jordan establishes right here that even he could. Why did they build this wall? How many people have taken advantage of it at one point or another? Can I blame Thom in some way to make sense of this absurdist bit of architecture? Yes that seems best. It's Thom's personal "fuck the queen while Damodred's at the front gate" wall. Maybe other sneaky lovers have used it over the years.

His clothes seemed ordinary, a cloak and coat and breeches that would not have caused comment in any farming village. But the way he wore them. The way he held himself. Logain was a king in every inch of him. The cage might as well not have been there. He held himself erect, head high, and looked over the crowd as if they had come to do him honor. And wherever his gaze swept, there the people fell silent, staring back in awe. When Logain’s eyes left them, they screamed with redoubled fury as if to make up for their silence, but it made no difference in the way the man stood, or in the silence that passed along with him. As the wagon rolled through the Palace gates, he turned to look back at the assembled masses. They howled at him, beyond words, a wave of sheer animal hate and fear, and Logain threw back his head and laughed as the Palace swallowed him.

Logain's being so clearly important despite being captured is nice foreshadowing for the way he'll sidestep the fate the Tower has planned for him. It also explains why so many people were willing to follow him, if he had such an air before capture.

Though it's not clear yet, Logain is laughing because he has the Talent to see ta'veren and Rand is so much ta'veren that he can see him from this distance. I'd always assumed this Talent is what Logain's controversial TV show line was referring to, Nynaeve being ta'veren in that canon and standing much closer to him, but maybe I'm crazy. It's been awhile since I saw season 1.

I have gotten my Fire Cube working again though, so maybe I should finish my rewatch to refresh myself? Eh. I'll probably just read butterflydm's a few dozen times and call it good and pretend that rewatching Bojack six times in as many weeks is healthy instead.

“Why were the Aes Sedai watching him?” he wondered aloud. “They’re keeping him from touching the True Source, silly.” He jerked to look up, toward the girl’s voice, and suddenly his precarious seat was gone.

Aww, Rand and Elayne have a meet cute. Rand nearly getting himself killed and barely dodging a concussion is a way better start to their romance than Min's creepy routine.

Sadly, Rand being knocked unconscious means we're done with this chapter and there was absolutely no Loial in it. It's an absolute travesty and I don't think Jordan's fixing that in the next chapter either. But we'll find out tomorrow!

[bromcommie]

For the ask game ;)

🏜️,❄️,🥐,🌻 aaand 🥤

Hope you are having a good day!

Hiya, thanks for the retaliatory hit! (affectionate) hope you're having a lovely day too :) 🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work? Ooh, can I just say any? Kidding, albeit I am very grateful for everyone who takes the time out to comment, even if it's just a string of emojis or something! But I am eternally grateful for long, detailed comments and especially love when people point the things that they related to in my work or things that clicked for them (particularly the ones I thought might be overlooked or alternatively, too heavy-handed to land) or even line up certain things or parallels that didn't fully register to me while I was writing except as a vague ~vibe~. I just appreciate it a whole lot, and it makes the whole exchange feel like a conversation. ❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

Hm, I don't know - I don't think I have one specific dream theme/plot. That said I have been thinking a lot about Red Room/Department X plotlines recently. I really love the throughline of the struggle for identity + shifting ideologies/definitions of what it means to be a good person + autonomy & free will vs. wanting to belong dichotomy in those stories. Especially when it's grounded in interesting dynamics that aren't very black and white (i.e. Nat and the other widows, the handlers, the WS.) That era is also just very interesting to me in terms of real world circumstances and events, and the scifi potential to explore trauma and psychological fuckery in general is endless. So I guess I'd really love something that deals with Natasha's memories as a child + teen in the war and how that shaped her both before the Red Room even got their hands on her, as well as during and after; how she became this kind of mercurial person who is still (maybe surprisingly so) solid at her core. Something a la Name of the Rose, if you've read that run.

As for who I'd like to write it, I am in fact attempting to write something to that effect into my current post-CATWS wip, so I guess me? Not to say I wouldn't love to read something similar by someone else - there have been several fics out there that dealt with Natasha in a way that had me staring into empty space for an hour (in a good way) - just that I enjoy the process of developing ideas like that in my head differently than I do reading about them from another angle, if that makes sense!

🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh 

that vine with the two guys with heavy NY/NJ area accents screaming at a duck. wait no - any patrick william charlton vine where he suddenly acquires a german accent. wait no - the can I PLEASE get a waffle one.

oh man. any one vine really. I'm very nostalgic about vine. 🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis

I feel like if I started doing that I'd end up spamming way too many people haha. I do wanna say I very much appreciate everyone I've gotten to interact with and follow during this CATWS10 event and over the past two months I’ve been on here more!

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love Oh, god. GOD. This is so tough, I'm really blanking right now. I've been around for a loong while lol and there are so, so many insane, brilliant ones. It doesn't help that I really haven't read that many in the last few years as much as I've been writing them.

Off the top of my head though, I recently went back to Speranza's All the Angels and the Saints. One of the all-time old school Cap greats. All of their stuff is just wonderful, foundational Steve, Bucky & SteveAndBucky content. Also everything by magdaliny. I don't even know what to say there, except maybe goddamn.

I’ve also been reading a couple Red Room fics that I can’t find right now but that were great, so I’ll have to dig through my old laptop bookmarks and get back to you with a personalized list, hehe 🫡

[deatheless]

@curseplay sent: i wish you could see us. / accepting.

she's pretty sure long-distance has to be classified as a form of torture somewhere. under cruel and unusual punishment, or something like that, because there's no way this ache in her chest should just be allowed to happen to people.

they should be used to this by now. she knows that. and they are, in a way, considering just how often their schedules require them to be apart, but somehow, that doesn't make it any easier. if anything, it almost makes it harder, which feels ... really unfair.

( every day, paris' jokes that she should just cancel her own tour to tag along on silk's instead get more and more tempting. )

she knows that parallel tours obviously means they're going to be on opposite ends of the world a lot of the time. she knows that it means they're going to miss watching each other's late night show performances live, and will have to read interviews hours after they drop, and that visits would have to be carefully timed and scheduled over the brief intersections of breaks and travel days. knows that a lot of the time, visits won't be able to happen at all, even for special occasions. mostly, she'd come to terms with that, even if she didn't want to.

this might just be the worst one yet, though. she'd been over the moon when the headline had dropped — had sent at least thirty texts to their group chat, all different variations of YOU WON YOU GUYS WON YOU WON! — up until she'd noticed that the date of the ceremony, and immediately recognized it as one etched across the tour dates graphic she'd pinned to her instagram. it was extremely likely ( would have been more shocking if she'd had the evening free, honestly ) but that didn't stop her from feeling positively stepped on at the realization. she knows it's not true — and knows paris would be heartbroken if they knew the thought had even crossed her mind — but it's kind of hard not to feel like a bad girlfriend when you have to miss so many milestones.

at least the time difference means they can call while the three of them are getting ready for the ceremony while she's in the car on the way to her hotel.

❛ yeah, me too. ❜ she says, holding the phone up a bit higher as she rests her cheek against back of the seat, fighting back a yawn. the tug of post-show fatigue is strong, as it always is, but there's no way she's missing talking to them at least briefly. a smile ghosts across her expression as she gazes at her through the screen. ❛ you look amazing, you know. ❜

her hand twitches by her side as she watches them fiddle with their curls in the mirror, and she adjusts her position to sit on it. she focuses instead on the grin they're fixing her with, clearly glowing post-compliment. god, she loves them.

❛ can you get lauren and andie to come over too? i wanna see what you're all wearing. ❜ another yawn, but she switches it out for a bright smile before paris is able to comment. ❛ and wish you all luck, obviously. not that you'll need it. the second you get on that stage, everyone's gonna lose their minds. i'm gonna be cheering you on from here, too. ❜

[lunavagans]

||Back to lore hub||

Decided to overhaul my Cult of the Lamb!AU because I started playing the game again. Scratch everything I‘ve written and drawn for it. I think I wanted to explain everything from the game so everyone kinda gets where I‘m coming from even if they don‘t know the game, but screw that.

Uhh I can‘t tell you to go play the game and then come back even though you‘ll probably understand the parallels only then, but like. I only go over what I deem relevant for the characters and the main gist stays faithful (hah) to canon. If you‘re fine with confusion, go off and go forward. Or don‘t, I won‘t know.

Genuine question, though: Do I tag this as Cult of the Lamb?? Is that a thing one does with AUs?

Trigger warnings: descriptions of gore, violence, death and injuries; drugging en masse that‘s implied to be at best dubiously consensual; general cult manipulation; vague description of war between multiple cults; a mention of cannibalism; vaguely referencing eggs and generally reproduction once; mild swearing that‘s not necessary but I choose to

MAIN CHARACTERS

Zelda

A feathered creature created by Hylia as her servant. Now that Hylia is pretty much dead and gone, she still carries out her duties, since she sees the sense in them (to not increase destruction by letting just anybody use the treasures) and nobody else will do it.

Said duties are to guard a vault of the goddess full of weapons, crowns, tomes and other objects of divine origins. Zelda has created a small army of mechanical soldiers (because hey, why not) to protect it so she has a bit of free time for once, not to mention the spells surrounding it.

The vault is in a place called the Lost Woods, but Zelda‘s abode is actually at the entrance of it, both she can keep an eye on who enters them and so she can interact with the unfortunate souls that somehow find their way there. Her abode might be safe for them, but the rest of the world sure isn‘t.

Reads tarot crads to travellers and uses them to prophesize.

Basically a combination of Chemach and Clauneck.

The Crowns

Created by the first generation of gods that Hylia and Demise belonged to, but the means of their creation were lost. Zelda knows how to do them, but she refuses to tell anybody. It wouldn‘t work anyway, the tools for it don‘t exist anymore.

Speaking of Zelda, most crowns are currently either in her or a younger god’s possession.

Crowns are weapon, tool, pet and adviser in one. They grant power over living beings in various ways (ingame, the bishops only exert their power over your own followers and are never shown shaping the land or something. Makes me wonder if maybe the power of the older gods was absolute like that.)

Devotion seems to be the fuel for all but the most basic of functions, these basics functions being: morphing into weapons and tools at its owner‘s convenience.

As they seem to possess a sentience, they can also mimic living beings. However, they‘re mostly focused on self-preservation and don‘t really act on their own except in genuine danger, which is difficult to get into with the abilities given by the crowns.

They also give anybody who‘s ever had one immortality, mostly for my plot-plotting convenience, but you can also spin it that just ever having had something from the old gods leaves a literally eternal imprint on you.

Same thing with giving every character that owned a crown at some point animalistic traits because of the game, and no humans existing there, and I think it‘s fun. Not gonna go full furry route because I don‘t feel like it, but I do like the idea of crowns blurring the limits between mortal species in exchange for removing all mortal needs. Like yeah you will never go hungry again but goodbye to staying in one coherent form without concentrating.

I love unintentional and casual shapeshifting so much. Like, it‘s not even shifting anymore. It‘s passively drifting between the forms while you go about your day. That‘s the shit.

The Old Faith

Founded during the war after the disappearance of the original gods, with new ones with crowns granting them power. The origin of the founders, gods themselves, is said to be a sacrificial ritual gone wrong, not only not killing the sacrifice, but splitting it in four. What everybody thinks: these fragments, making use of their new godhood, eradicated the ones wanting to kill them and went on to found the Old Faith.

The part that nobody knows: said four fragments fled from the furious mob and found themselves in the Lost Woods. It was a pure coincidence that they survived the robots, the spells and eventually found themselves in a chamber with crowns that accepted (or rather took over) them.

In time, the Old Faith consumed most other cults and assumed the top of the hierarchy in the lands. Their territory is relatively peaceful by now, divided equally under each of the leaders, who each have roughly identical doctrines with only few differences.

Map with the regions here, but also because while Hyrule itself isn‘t named that anymore, I do want new names for the singular regions:

Green: Darkwood -> Faron // Blue: Anchordeep -> Ranelle // Red: Anura -> Death Mountain // Vio: Silkcradle -> Hebra

I changed up the order of the regions because it would make more sense if Shadow goes south to north instead of south and north and south and west again. Not like the game‘s dungeon order is strictly linear, anyway.

Green

Replaces Leshy as the God of Chaos. Instead of a plant worm thing, his animal inspo is now a moose, both because I associate deer with him and because moose are aggressive woodland creatures. Aggression, chaos, etc.

Though I‘d say he wields his title as a tool more than an actual aspect of himself. It helps him keep his cult in line, but he doesn‘t enjoy it for the sake of it.

Also had his eyes gouged out by Ganon. I‘m not going to be creative with the parallels, because they work well. See no evil and all that.

So the lighthouse cult stays pretty much the same. Not sure where they‘d get their boats from that need the lighthouse, but there‘s enough countries other than Hyrule to choose from.

Blue

Replaces Kallamar as God of Pestilence (and it doesn‘t even refer to his resting bitch face). Not a squid/octopus anymore because of personal preferences, but a shark now, specifically a dogshark, pretty much the only venomous sharks out there! They’re so awesome and fit the sickness theme.

I like to think he keeps the rows of teeth out.

Ears ripped off, check.

I feel like he‘d forever be miffed that he got a crown discouraging direct combat and suited more for biological warfare. Would‘ve been Vio‘s thing, but alas.

You meet Plimbo in Anchordeep, so I think it was Kallamar that kept the rivers safe for travel, which would make it Blue‘s responsibility to guard those. I think he‘d enjoy doing it himself every once in a while, instead of his more capable followers. After Red probably one of the more approachable gods, if you define approachable only by ‚you can see him doing his own thing‘.

Red

Replaces Heket as God of Hunger (not fear, though, that‘s a different game. Funger AU idea?). I went through such a process trying to find a good animal to replace toads with, and I think I got one. So, Heket threatens her followers with starvation. Where does food come from? Harvests (among other things). What animals can destroy harvests? Rats, rabbits, birds, insects; generally anything considered a pest. I like the idea of Red reenacting Hitchcock‘s The Birds when things don‘t go his way with the cult, so bird it is.

Throat ripped out again, yup.

Okay, I wanna talk about menticide mushrooms. Red definitely uses them to keep everyone complacent. They can‘t complain and start a riot if they aren‘t even capable of orienting themselves. Only an emergency measure, of course. Most times.

No the ingame crown isn‘t yellow. What are you talking about. It‘s clearly red. (No but seriously I can‘t just rename Red so now I have to find a new name for Ganon‘s/Shadow‘s crown jfc-)

Since I‘m replacing Sozo with Tingle, I thought about wether to replace the mushrooms with fairies, but I figured I‘d only do so when they‘re for Tingle‘s requests. Everybody can do mushrooms, but there can only be one fairy eater! Smth like that.

Vio

Replaces Shamura as God of War and Wisdom (why do they get two things, anyway?). I originally wanted to keep the spider aspect because I do vibe with that, but after failing to draw the other four arms for his design, I switched to snake. They‘re both ambush predators, there‘s some level of consistency, though I might just change it again. A spider just fits so damn well. Also, I feel a bit guilty putting a snake on a snowy mountain. Do spiders fare better with cold? I don‘t actually know.

The cracked skull is also carried over, and since the ramifications are apparently more severe with Shamura than their siblings (at least while they‘re still gods), I thought a bit more about what exactly they might be. Ingame dialogue suggests that it‘s mostly their short term memory that‘s fucked (I think they talk about anything before Narinder clearly?), so their ability to strategise would be, too. Same with Vio.

The other three would also be a bit more protective of him on account of, well, one of his biggest assets being gone. He still puts up one hell of a fight when Shadow gets to him, though; not that it matters.

I feel like I should write something about the tons of eggs in Silkcradle and how I could translate that into the AU. I don‘t know what, though. Jokes about the ingame mating tent, probably. I understand, Vio, I also use that for easy follower production. No shade thrown here.

So, I have no idea who to make Midas. Like, there‘s Jovani from TP, but he gets a redemption arc and learns that gold is meaningless or something, and I don‘t want to make him the ruthless, greedy merchant with the laughing statues. I might keep him in, I might not. Who knows? Honestly, I hate Midas, so he might not get into the AU in the first place.

Ganon

Not a cat anymore, I‘m taking over the Twilight Princess boar idea.

Don‘t know whether he gets a full backstory just yet, so just assume he appeared one day with a crown and cult of his own, already being the God of Death.

Maybe he was already a worshipper of Demise, who was an enemy of Hylia which made Ganon and Zelda enemies by proxy, and Demise gave Ganon a crown because of… something. After the old gods‘ disappearance Ganon just carried on hating Zelda. She eventually allied with the Old Faith and the colours also became Ganon‘s enemies and it all snowballed from there. He never takes a break from being a hater, and if anything, the dedication is admirable.

That story is very much subject to change, though.

One thing I want to change from CotL pre-game-wise is that there, the aggressors are the Bishops who are afraid of the power Narinder will have if he actually figures out a way to expand his domain to encompass also its opposite, like theirs do.

In this AU, I want Ganon to be the aggressor who‘s grown inhumanely paranoid and unable to make any compromises on anything -> attacks anything and everything, but his power is literally death, so he always wins until the Old Faith get some rad relic from Zelda or smth.

As of yet unnamed cult of Ganon‘s that Shadow eventually takes over

This thing goes back to ancient times, we‘re talking when the old gods were still around, eons ago. Still, it might change idols every once in a while (Demise->Ganon->vessels like Vaati->Shadow), but the main idea behind it to revolve around death stays the same.

How the cult actually fell wasn‘t just because Zelda lent the Old Faith a relic; it was because the Faith, crown owners that they were like Ganon, exploited a mutual weakness of him, which is that the crowns require devotion to stay powerful.

Vio, as the one who’s region was the least affected by the war on account of being fucking cold and barely uninhabitable by anyone but those with his blessing, temporarily left the Faith to disguise himself as a follower of Ganon and learn more about their practices. The goal was to sow doubt, return to the Faith and appeal to those not completely satisfied with Ganon to convert them.

Yeah, he did befriend Shadow, who at the time was just amazed somebody spoke to him without giving orders.

His escape from the cult was pretty easy; the guards only watched for approaching figures, not fleeing ones, and the next morning nobody except Shadow wondered where he‘d gone. He didn‘t ask, though; it was common enough for followers to die unseen, either for sacrifices or missions. Ganon wouldn‘t like him asking after a specific person, anyway.

The strategy worked. It was a slow, but steady decline of the cult.

Shadow

I‘m not entirely sure if I‘ll choose one specific animal to refer to when designing him? Definitely not a lamb, but I could see the canon goat for him. Could also work as a sort of link between him and ganon, with the tusks and the horns? Familiar shapes? Idk. Kinda wanna play around with racoon inspo, though… Or maybe a ferret?

A follower of Ganon‘s that was very useful because of his outstanding stealth skills and thus, whenever he died during a mission, resurrected.

Not exactly sure if I want to define his backstory further back. Probably won‘t.

Ganon liked to show off his powers, so these resurrections took on the form of spectacles. Shadow has learned to hate the sound of cheers, to say the least.

When Vio came around into the cult as a ‚rescued‘ follower, Shadow mostly ignored him because that‘s what he was used to. Vio, deducing that the guy that seems to spend a lot of time around Ganon and be close to him should be a good source of information about the practices, tried to befriend him. Didn‘t work at first, because others tried that before with the motivation of gaining Ganon‘s favor through Shadow. Eventually, he came around after Vio ditched a ritual to talk with him.

Vaati

Way more chill than in the manga

Ratau replacement which tells you all you need to know

One of many MANY vessels before Shadow. They just managed to survive somehow.

Knucklebone addiction, but all money that‘s gambled with stays in their friend circle anyway because none of them go outside to shop.

Goes easy on Shadow whenever he visits because they feel responsible for him, in a concerned-but-distant-relative kinda way. Since they had to lead the cult for a while, as well, they relate to the routinely struggles of figuring out your stance on p.e. cannibalism.

[thewickedbohemian]

Two of the things that make my neurodivergent ass most vulnerable to manipulation (and make me afraid those I consider "bad guys" will take advantage of that and, no, any reading this this is not an instruction guide) other than the typical sort of innocents-in-danger stuff that'd get to most people are when it feels like my special interests are threatened and when it feels like doing a given thing would add "genre" (used in the sense of umbrella term for fantasy and sci-fi) to the world. An example of both is that post I just reblogged about "The most unbelievable part about the US election for me is that the Swifties didn’t manage to make Harris win. I was halfway convinced that they have the power to move mountains and bend reality, what do you mean they couldn’t keep the crazy orange man from winning" because that got a certain intrusive-thought-in-the-colloquial-sense part of my brain wanting to find some way for the Swifties to either still keep him (in the sense of his whole succession-line) from being inaugurated somehow or use paradox-free time-travel to have kept him from winning (if time-travel-to-stop-him wouldn't legitimize him too much as a villain in ways that'd compare him to villains it'd be insulting to them to compare him to) because it felt like "if we don't do this we're not a true fandom and have no real power but if we can pull this off we gain literal reality-bending mountain-moving power [and it's taking all my willpower not to make an Agatha All Along reference as it feels like there's demographic overlap]"

But I didn't just make this post to vent about that post. Some other examples of the special-interest-under-threat thing are me getting so panicked about someone's cynical joke on the Brilliant Minds Tumblr tag that it'd get cancelled after two seasons if not one because it's actually good and has diverse writers and characters that I made a petition to help get it a S2 after it had only aired three episodes of S1 that managed to get a bunch of people on Reddit worried that it had gotten cancelled and how personally (even for a 3x OWkin) I take anything bad that happens with Blizzard/Overwatch or any criticism of them (in part of a comment on a post on r/fictionkin I framed the kin-related reasons why I feel the way I do about the controversy in terms of (though not to say writer(s) of source = literal god) "Imagine if you discovered that all the weirdness (derogatory) in the world was because God was a money-grubbing dick you had to take down but he put some magic rules in place to make it seemingly impossible for people to and there's a non-zero chance you don't know the size of that killing-or-at-least-overthrowing God might end your world anyway" (the impossible rules are a parallel to that one TOS update which meant players couldn't sue, however as someone who doesn't have OW2 I could, I'm just worried I can't class-action).

Some other examples of the wanting the world to be more "genre" thing include this weird feeling of uncomfortability I get when history (albeit not commonly-known-history) has the potential to contradict some historical-y fantasy fiction (not in the sense of actual period pieces but stuff like The Librarians or The Da Vinci Code, y'know, that genre) I love and really want to be some kind of Wormhole-X-Treme-esque cover for real events and whenever I see that one picture of that one cyber-y-solarpunk-y city that always vaguely reminds me of Numbani for some reason despite not really looking African as part of that meme template of "The world if [bad thing hadn't happened or good missed opportunity happened]" and always get some immense pang in my heart of unless there's some monkey's paw subtext I'm missing I want that kind of world so how can I make that outcome have happened

[afkphorabit]

OKAY SO. i took a bit to respond to prev's (@feuerscram) (it's not letting me tag them though) tags because i was busy and i wanted to do some sketches before posting but i. severely underestimated how hard it is to draw clothes with lots of fluffy bits. and cool patterns. and transparent veil things. and dresses in general

but i really, really like these tags so i'm just gonna write my way through it and hope that tomorrow i'll be free and fine enough to make more progress on these sketches!

OKAY. SO. MERLANYON RIGHT? i hadn't even considered the idea of a "human transformation outfit" until feuerscram brought it up! i was probably just gonna cover him in atrocious amounts of seaweed or hide him behind rocks and call it a day. But. this is really cool to think about.

one small issue is: i haven't really come up with How he transforms into a human, or What makes him transform into a human. i'm not sure what kind of magic does it yet. is it a curse? an ariel-type deal with a witch? an artifact? is it just a kind of magic he possesses by himself? so many questions. i don't have an answer yet. however, i do have the strong notion that i want him to be able to transform back into a siren from time to time- and though i think just splashing any form of water on him H2O-style would maybe be a little too inconvenient (especially in moments where he has to be on deck with the rest of the characters), maybe it's water in some really specific circumstance that gets him. sea water during the high tide? water bathed by a full moon's light? something weird and arbitrarily magical-sounding like that, probably. something that could happen from time to time, but rarely.

so, earlier today, i did a wee bit of research. i looked up mermaid dresses. then an idea came to mind: what would a mermaid dress look like in the 1800s? how can i try to merge these concepts? ooh, and what would his "transformation outfit" look like if it was more masculine, too? well uh, these are.. works in progress.. i'm sorry prev i might take a little longer to post these </3

on jekyll and hyde though:

hyde is definitely plaguing jekyll very similarly to how he does in canon. he's the bane of jekyll's existence (though also a form of relief when he goes get to be out and about).

in this au, as a curse of some kind, hyde may still be a part of jekyll's soul, but one that's been snapped off and reshaped and a little altered by the curse. jekyll can see him in shadows and reflections, as well as talk to him in their head anytime - like in canon - but here, hyde is.. a little more unnatural. (i've mentioned he has tentacles for hair sometimes. yeah.) his relationship with jekyll directly parallels their canon dynamic, where hyde is often trying to get under his skin and convince him to Do Sin (for lack of a better, less funny word lmao), and he gradually takes to more drastic measures as the story goes on. only, in this au, hyde getting worse as time goes on is like 50% the curse's fault. he's also got significantly more aura, and maybe some powers if i feel like letting him have Nice Things. and instead of regular conversation he's gonna be ominously whispering in jekyll's ear.

they do cooperate from time to time. sometimes they have a common interest. they usually have different methods to Achieve said interest in mind, though, so that's another obstacle in the way of them agreeing and properly getting along lmao.

and i wanna talk about this specifically because i like the idea: i want hyde to have some sort of kraken-octopus-cthulu motif going on. it's the idea that there is a higher power they don't fully understand that is behind his existing in the way that he does, and it bleeds into him as it shapes him according to its own image. another inspiration worth mentioning is the maggot-dog from Army Of Nightmares, in the way its head sillhouette is comprised of shadowy writhing tendrils and all.

he's.. a little freak for sure. i love him. here's a vague pencil sketch from yesterday that i drew at school as a way to just think about the concept.

yet again pondering a Sea Things au. yet again pondering. i am not immune to the allure of male siren robert lanyon nor the image of jekyll switching between "sailor guy :)" and "what the fuck kinda blackbeard wannabe is that blonde creature. WHY DOES IT HAVE TENTACLES FOR HAIR WHEN IT'S IN SHADOW."

[mentallyinvernation]

WIP Word Search Game

Tagged by @sleepsonfutons with the words appearance, revenge, master, reward, jacket, double

Snips under the break!

Appearance - This Boy’s Too Young To Be Singing The Blues

Robyn blinks three times in rapid succession, a twist of horrified astonishment scribbling over his face as though he strongly believes that by all appearances this is a terrible set-up for a kingdom, but knows not how to express or fix any of that at the green age of five.

Revenge - Better the Devil You Know (than the one you don’t)

The owner, a pompous woman in her late thirties, sought revenge on an adulterous husband - bit overkill to hire a demon for the job if you ask Hob, but really who is he to judge?

Master - If I am To Perish By The Power of Fire (at least let that fire be yours)

“Oh, look at me, I’m the King of Dreams. Master of Nightmares. I throw sand at people and make homicidal teeth creatures, aren’t I cool. Fuck off.”

Reward - Better the Devil You Know (than the one you don’t) 

“Well, we can’t have that. You’ve done Hell a great service. I can’t let such a thing pass unrewarded. Perhaps, you might accept this as a token of my gratitude: your ennoblement. It’s time you rose within the ranks.”

Jacket - Until the Sun and Moon Go Down

“What about this then?” Alex challenges, withdrawing a hand from his jacket to reveal the ruby, dangling it before Dream’s cell. Even at this distance Hob sees the way Dream’s eyes dilate in response. “Will you marry me for this?”

Double - If I am To Perish By The Power of Fire (at least let that fire be yours)

The stranger would always just be there, walking parallel to Hob on the treadmill of time; their paths fated to conjoin once a century in a double helix shaped dance before parting once more.

Tagging (but no pressure): @beauty-of-nyx @phinofthestorm @spockandthings @certifiedbisexualdisaster @meadowziplines and @sleepsonfutons (I know you tagged me but also uno reverse)  Anybody else who wants to give this a go pls feel free!

Your words are: gun, glass, raven, nose, red, and cat.

[votederpycausemufins]

College has stopped kicking my butt enough for me to post another chapter of the the Scattered au fic. this one is meant to be a parallel to last chapter, so you might want to reread that one.

scattered au is by @hermitcraftheadcanons and their community

reading tag list: still just @helleborusangel right now. Send an ask if you want to be added on.

Xisuma pulled himself out of the water, coughing a bit from what had gotten past his filter. He tried to look around only to squint at the light from the surface. He didn’t think he had swum that far up, but for all he knew, he was able to push himself that far to finally escape the warden. So when something suddenly attacked him and didn’t immediately kill him, Xisuma quickly fought back.

While initially swimming, he thought he had felt something though wasn’t sure, but this was much more clear. And slimelike, it seemed, since that’s what it felt like when he attacked it. But the following grunt of pain from the attacker sounded much more human like.

Xisuma did his best to focus on whatever was there, but he was seeing double. He looked back and forth, trying to tell if it was just from the intense lighting change or from there actually being two… things there. And it seemed it was the latter when the things looked at each other.

“Well, that’s probably not good.” The two things spoke in unison, which didn’t help the headache that Xisuma could feel coming on. Still, he was able to focus enough to get a good look at whatever was there and was a slime hybrid of sorts similar to Jevin, though instead of his very clearly blue slime, these two - one? They were more of a sea green. Plus from what Xisuma could guess, they were able to split like a regular slime, something Jevin couldn’t.

“Sorry.” Xisuma spoke up, it finally clicking in his mind that he had likely damaged them enough to make them split. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I thought you were attacking- I mean, maybe you were, but this does seem to be where you’re staying, so I guess I invaded your home a bit.”

“I guess. So, are you from around here?” The slime pair asked, making Xisuma shake his head. “Huh, neither am I… are we… This is the first time I’ve split so-”

Xisuma tilted his head a little. “I guess it is pretty safe here. Have you had any deaths so far?”

“I thought that was going to be my first.”

“So that would explain the lack of death messages as opposed to Gemini or Pearlescent. Do you know either of them?”

“No, sorry, not really.” The slime people answered. “Well, uh, there’s just enough here if you need basic tools, but not much else. I’ve got a pickaxe- crafting table.”

Xisuma looked between the two. “I think both would be nice. I spawned underground and had trouble with getting anything at all.” And before he could say more, the slime people were handing him those two items and a few more.

“You’re on your own for food though. Berries aren’t the most filling, so I’ve been eating them all up. They taste nice though.” And to prove their point, each of the slime people went after a berry, though they went after the same one and ended up fighting over it.

Xisuma nodded and went up to one of the walls. This would be much easier than getting the warden to do all his mining, seeing as how he would now be in control. He started to staircase out of the cave, placing what few torches he had until he found more coal. Technically he didn’t need to, but then something could spawn and head down and attack the slime pair. And Xisuma didn’t want to never return and just leave them there alone forever. So when he finally did get up to the surface, Xisuma went straight back down. “Are you sure you want to- er, what are you doing?”

The slime people looked back over to Xisuma and shrugged. “Trying to fuse back together or something. Why did you come back?”

Xisuma wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but the next thing he really knew, he was going back up towards the surface, his arms full from holding the slime pair, one cradled in each arm. Sure, they said they would be safe alone in the cave, but X couldn’t help the feeling that they wouldn’t be safe so far away. He was pretty sure it was just from his worry about everyone else, and this was just one person he could protect, but Xisuma couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else going on.

.

.

.

Hypno leaned against Etho, who was doing surprisingly well considering their current situation. Both of them were low on hunger, only managing to stay alive from what little they could get from the flowers and grass they picked and ate. Etho somehow managed to find a pig wandering around and killed it for some raw pork, handing it to Hypno to eat. They couldn’t cook it, but Etho was less worried about the hunger the meat would satiate and more about the fact that Hypno wasn’t fully himself.

After the initial shock of finding horns on Hypno’s head, the pair looked him over. Hypno made mention of an ache at the base of his spine, and Etho found a few concerning bumps on Hypno’s upper back. Until they actively looked into it, Hypno hadn’t noticed anything wrong, which led to them checking Etho, and also giving the ninja something to plan for on his next respawns.

Etho was glad they didn’t notice much with him, but with little to do, he explained to Hypno his encounters with Ren, Impulse and Grian. Out of the three, Impulse had seemed the most normal, only having red eyes instead of the golden brown he usually sported. Ren had seemed fine at first, but then in the attack from the creeper, the shifter had killed Etho, acting like an attacked wolf. And then Grian for the most part had been acting like a bird, though near the end…

A moobloom trotted over, pulling Etho out of his thoughts. It nuzzled against Hypno, who happily reciprocated. Still worried about the other hermit and the effects the environment was having on him, Etho forcefully separated the two, needing to attack the animal to make it flee.

“What was that for Etho? It was just being friendly.”

“Right now, we need to be cautious of everything. Especially those cows and all the flowers around here. Because in case you forgot, growing horns like that is not normal. Plus, we could use the food right now.”

Hypno huffed. “We’ll use up more energy trying to kill it than we would get from anything it drops. It’s better to let us willingly help us than-”

Etho suddenly held up a finger to shush Hypno, letting them listen to the breeze. “Do you hear that?”

Hypno listened, only hearing a few moos from the nearby moobloom. “The cows?”

“Well, okay yeah. But it’s more what I’m not hearing.” And then Etho pulled out his communicator. Hypno watched as Etho stared at the screen, mask moving ever so slightly as he mouthed counting up. But nothing was happening. At first, Hypno didn’t get what was so important until he pulled out his own communicator. No death messages were coming in. Specifically none from Impulse.

“Impulse got out.” Hypno said, whispering in disbelief. “Someone must have found him.”

Etho nodded. “Yeah, but the question is who.” And then almost immediately, it was answered.

Zedaph was slain by impulseSV

.

.

.

If there was one thing that was a benefit to respawning in the same place every time, it was the fact that no matter how many times Impulse died, the guardians wouldn’t disappear. Meaning that after a few attempts, he finally killed one of the monsters giving him grief. Just being able to slay one of them felt freeing with all the torment he was currently being put through, but that wasn’t the only benefit.

When the guardian died, it dropped two things, a prismarine shard and some cod. Impulse greedily grabbed at the items, stuffing the shard in his inventory and then stuffing the fish in his mouth. After not eating in so long, the fish seemed like the most heavenly food in the world, though Impulse had other ideas on why that was the case.

Here and there, guardians had completely ignored him. Sometimes he felt like he was getting a full breath of air even though he was still stuck in the water. He hadn’t missed the webbing between his fingers and toes growing each respawn nor the scales that appeared and itched like crazy. Half of Impulse would have preferred drowning forever instead of whatever this was, but his other half realized that it was likely his only way out.

Another respawn left him fumbling for his prismarine shard, using it to dig into the nearby blocks. Along with the claw-like nails he had gained, Impulse was able to break another block, making him smile at first, but then his expression dropped. With the way the temples were constructed, the walls weren’t that thick. Instead of gaining an air pocket, he had just broken into another chamber.

“Impulse.”

In anger, Impulse took the prismarine shard and used it against the next guardian he saw.

“Impulse.”

He started by using it like a knife and jamming it into the eye of the beast, making it flail and spread its spikes.

“Impulse.”

As the world around him seemed to fade into blues and golds, Impulse kept attacking, needing to get his anger out somehow.

“Impulse. Impulse. Impulse.” And then Impulse felt like he was falling, but he still thrashed around, trying to stop whatever it was. Then the next thing he knew, it was like gravity had increased drastically, leaving him pressed against the floor. Something moved and he attacked it, surprised to find it feeling much fluffier than the guardians had been. There was a sound, like someone talking, but why would anyone be talking with him stuck all alone. Etho maybe? Was he back?

As the creature died in his hands, Impulse looked towards the sound. The first thing he noticed was that Etho’s eyes were now both red. Even the sclera were red. He had also dyed his hair blond, and gotten rid of his mask, and well that wasn’t Etho at all. Impulse kicked his legs to try and swim closer, only to finally realize he wasn’t underwater anymore.

The moment Impulse realized he was out of the sea temple, he started taking gulps of air. His lungs had already started breathing it all, but now he was trying to get as much oxygen as he could before he drowned again. A part in the back of his mind told him he couldn’t drown right now, but his mental state wasn’t the best right now.

“Hey Impulse. Calming down now?” Tango was asking, and Impulse looked over, glad to see his friend. He nodded, which got Tango to smile before looking off towards the horizon. Impulse briefly followed Tango’s eyes before his hand moved and he felt the soft wool of the carpets beneath him. It almost felt overwhelming how different it was compared to the past week plus that he had been stuck in the temple. But it was also good, so he wrapped himself up before following Tango’s eyes once more.

“What’s that way?” Impulse spoke, voice feeling unfamiliar from disuse and possibly alterations that matched everything else going on with him.

“Zed. I’m hoping he’ll be able to find us again since I have made a bit of a path.”

Impulse tilted his head before noticing his inventory had many more items. “Did he get killed or something?”

“Yeah, you sort of killed him when we first summoned you in.” Tango explained, and Impulse felt horrified. Him? Kill Zedaph? For a prank or something, sure, that was believable, But this had been from pure bloodlust at the time.

“I killed him? Oh no! I didn’t know! It had been a guardian at first, and then I was falling, and then I was-”

“Hey, calm down.” Tango replied. He took a step toward Impulse, obviously to comfort him, but then Impulse was surprised to see his friend change their mind and step back again. “Zed and I figured something like this might happen. We would have made beds to set our spawn, but we haven’t been collecting wool that much, so at most we would have had just one piece.”

Impulse chucked a little after realizing there were no sheep around. “What? Did Zedaph finally grow his hair out enough?” And he expected Tango to laugh in return, but the frown that appeared didn’t bode well.

“Impulse, do you… realize what you look like?” Tango asked, and then Impulse looked down at his hand and flexed it.

“What’s happened with Zedaph?”

Tango took a few steps to the side and a moment later the nearby leaves of a tree caught fire. “Zed and I have had both of our more animal-esque traits acting up. I’m burning just about any flammable thing that gets close to me and his wool is growing out of control. There’s other stuff too but…”

“But even if you’re not ending up like me, you’re still dealing with your own things.”

“Hey! I’m back! And it looks like Impulse has not killed you!”

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.

Hels cut down a hoglin that was in the way of he and Wels as they travelled the nether. Wels was reluctantly following, his copy being the only reason he was doing so well right now. Well that, and the fact that he was promising some sort of shelter. They went a bit further, and then Wels spotted something that was clearly man made, making him try to run forward for shelter before he was grabbed by Hels. “Don’t run ahead idiot. I just know that you’ll manage to die if you try that and we’ll have to start all over.”

“Well I’m sure I could find a way to survive fine on my own.”

“Sure you could.” Hels said, obviously sarcastic. “And your death messages make that so very believable. Tell me, have you noticed anything odd about your situation, other than being stuck in the nether.”

“Well, chat hasn’t been working right and I can’t regenerate my health.”

“Right… Well, what have you been eating?” Hels asked as they finally reached the door to the helsmit’s base, opening it to let Wels inside.

“Mainly crimson fungi or the rare pork if I can chip enough health away from a hoglin.” Wels answered, linking himself to the respawn anchor sitting inside.

“That fungi is only edible to hoglins you know.” Hels said, closing the door and then crossing his arms.

“Well obviously that’s not the case here.” And then Wels made his point by munching down on a mushroom he still had in his inventory.

Hels pursed his lips before yanking the fungi out of Wels’ hand and then smashing the knight’s head against a nearby wall. “Spit that out right now or I’ll go again until I break your tusks.”

“My what?” Wels asked, reluctantly spitting out the half chewed fungus.

“You’re an idiot. How did you not notice you were growing tusks?”

And Wels didn’t have an answer, just letting his hand go to his mouth and feel what were definitely tusks. “When did-”

“Who knows. My guess is it's something with this world. It’s not like any of us want to be here.”

Wels looked back over to Hels at that comment, a questioning look on his face. “Evil Xisuma approached me a few weeks ago. He was planning to get into the new season before the rest of you so he could keep from getting banned and put some action into play with his brother and a number of the other hermits. I wasn’t as interested in his plan, but having fun on the server on my own seemed like a good idea to me. A few others were planning to join us, but I’m sure they haven’t followed along. So as far as I’m aware, it is only Evil Xisuma and I trapped here with all of you.”

“Well, at the very least neither of us are stuck here alone.” Wels spoke, trying to give a positive spin on things.

“I would have preferred to be alone.” Hels replied. “You’ll use up more of my resources. That being said, my guess is you’re necessary for whatever is going on around here to stop. So until that’s fixed or I learn otherwise, I am reluctantly helping you.”

“Alright, that sounds fine for now. And you said Evil Xisuma is here too, correct? Any clue where he could be?”

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.

Bdubs stared down at the void below his feet, glad to have stopped moving, though his gut was still getting used to that change. The guy in pink armor next to him was reluctantly patting his back as another wave of nausea hit and he started to dry heave. “Th-Thanks.”

“Whatever. I just know what being stuck in the void is like so I have a little sympathy.”

“Well glad to know I’m not the only one stuck in this situation. Not that that’s a good thing.”

“Right.” The armored person deadpanned, looking down at the void as well.

Bdubs was quiet for a little before looking over to his savior. “So then, I don’t really think I caught your name in all our yelling to heave both of us up here.”

The other person raised an eyebrow at Bdubs, as if to ask if he was serious, then being a little surprised when he was. The person hesitated, looking down, not to the void but more at their lap, then a hand fiddled with their hair before they finally looked back at Bdubs. “Name’s Xannes.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Bdubs!” And he held out a hand, pausing as he noticed the state it was in.

Xannes took the hand carefully and shook it, before helping it back to Bdubs’ side. “Side effect of the void. I’m more protected because of my armor, but you don’t have that.”

“Well now I’m actually upset about not having armor, even if it were pink.”

Xannes looked incredulous at that before putting his hands on his hips. “Hey, this is simply a… lightish red.”

“You mean pink.”

“Lightish. Red.”

“Lightish red is red mixed with white. And what does that give you? Pink. You’ve got pink armor.”

“Alright, so maybe it’s supposed to be pink.” Xannes conceded. “But my color is red, and this isn’t my armor, I’m simply borrowing it. So for anyone else, it would be pink, but as long as I wear it, it’s a lightish red.”

“Whatever you say.”

Xannes sighed and then carefully took Bdubs’ hand again. “Alright, so looking again, this doesn’t quite look as natural as being stuck in the voice can make it. Obviously that’s because none of this is natural. Even though it wouldn’t help me in the long run if it were working, I have tested plenty with my communicator and learned a number of things. First, we are not the only ones in a situation like this.”

“Yeah.” Bdubs agreed. “I already met Scar stuck on one of the islands below.”

“Noted.” Xannes nodded. “Well, others have similar odd spawns. I- Someone named Impulse had been stuck in a guardian temple, a Docm77 has been sent to his death by goats. X-Xisuma has been dealing with a warden.” Xannes started to explain, voice getting quieter at the last example, though Bdubs didn’t notice.

“And the void stuff?”

“If I knew more about what was going on, I could tell you. But as it stands, I can just tell your limbs seem to have a form of void-bite and your eyes are as dark as the void itself.”

Bdubs leaned back a little in shock at the comment. “Wait, really?” And then he was fishing into his shirt before pulling out a knife, Xannes’ eyes widening at the weapon. Bdubs held the blade up, briefly putting it back down to shine it against his shirt before using it as a mirror and then staring into it. Sure enough, his eyes seemed to go on forever into their sockets, pure darkness filling them.

“How many knives do you have?” Xannes asked, tearing Bdubs’ gaze from the weapon.

“Huh? Oh, I’ve got plenty. Want one?” And he pulled out another, only the tiniest bit worried about being stabbed by the unfamiliar person. But instead of stabbing him, Xannes simply threw the knife off the edge, watching it fall down. “What was that for?”

Xannes didn’t really reply, just holding a finger up for Bdubs to wait. Reluctantly, he did, but then got restless as time seemed to drag on. Any time he attempted to talk, he would just get shushed, making it feel even worse. Finally, out of nowhere, the knife suddenly fell past them, making Bdubs jump back enough that he nearly fell off their gateway and into the void, but Xannes grabbed him before that could happen and pulled him back in.

“Well then, it seems like a loop around the void lasts around two and a half minutes.” Xannes stated, shifting to turn his body and move to a different part of the gateway. “I guess it would be less on a second loop after already reaching terminal velocity, but it's good to know. I know something has been flying past here ever so often but I was still sort of stuck on the side of this thing for most of it, then I was dealing with you, so… you get the idea.”

“You telling me everything’s looping up and down like us?” Bdubs asked, looking around the sky, or what passed for it in the end.

“Us and anything non-living. I’ve already seen that there have been three void related deaths by Scar, Etho and TinFoilChef.”

“Well so far I’ve only seen Scar and you.” Bdubs replied. “I guess those other two are stuck around here too.”

“The chef, yes, but I’m not so sure about the other.” And Xannes handed his comm to Bdubs, showing a list of death messages, all belonging to Etho. “I have a function that lets me sort these messages. It’s very handy.” And then he reached off to the side, catching a comm as it fell from the air. “And this would be yours. I’ve seen it here and there… To be honest, it seems like it takes more than two or so minutes. We might need to test more.”

Bdubs swapped their communicators before looking down at the abyss below. “Well, Scar’s somewhere down there, I already found him once. I’m gonna see if I can get to him again and you can do whatever while I’m falling.”

Xannes rubbed his chin and then nodded. “Alright, go ahead. I’ll look out for you. If you respawn, wait a loop for me to catch you because I don’t have omniscient reaction time.”

“Sounds good to me.” Bdubs replied with a smile, then jumped into the void once more, ignoring the fear that came with it.

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.

Scar rolled around on the end stone, trying to get to sleep. Sure, beds didn’t work in the end, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t sleep. It just wasn’t restful enough to keep phantoms away or set a spawn. Not like he needed to set a spawn three blocks away from his current one.

But right now, there was too much noise. The endermen were slowly losing their cool with Scar and he was also hearing the whispering of the vex. To be honest, that was probably why huge endermen were acting as they were. Void magic didn’t like to work with other magic.

But even with all of that, Scar really wanted to sleep for another reason. The whispers of the vex weren’t the only new thing with him. He had polished the pillar near him as just something to do other than wait around. The end rod in particular he shined until it was just mirror-like enough that he saw his green eyes were now vex blue. From that, he checked himself over a bit more and found that his eyes weren’t the only change. He seemed to be an inch or three shorter and his skin was definitely paler than before. He didn’t have wings again, but he knew it would only be a matter of time.

Scar really didn’t want to use any more help from the vex yet, knowing it would speed things up. He wanted to keep hope out for seeing Bdubs again before doing anything since it could be his last chance before a deal was needed once more. If he could just-

“Convex.” A much clearer whisper spoke, making Scar jump a little. “Are you sure a deal is such a bad thing at this stage in time?”

“Oh no no no no no.” Scar insisted, standing up and waving his hands in refusal. “I’m sure I’ll be better use to my friends if I’m not mostly stuck working with you guys.”

“What if you were not working for us?” The whisper asked, making Scar pause.

“Wait? I’m Convex because I can’t become true vex because of Xisuma and him tainting me and Cub with the void or something. I would think now being stuck in the end would make it worse, not better!”

“You still cannot, that is true. But a new evoker is being trained, one also tainted by the void. And I believe you would want to work with them.”

Scar inhaled sharply at the implication, knowing that it must be a hermit they were referring to. He fumbled in pulling his communicator out and then scrolled through all the death messages before finally seeing what he wanted. Death messages to vindicators and evokers, both about Mumbo. “So clarification on this deal?”

“You will still be considered Convex, but on a higher level than before. Not quite at the level of standard vex however. But during this, you will be linked to the new evoker, and cannot be released unless they themselves will it. And you should not will your release either.”

“Yeah, yeah, if that’s all, sure!” Scar agreed quickly, so excited he didn’t really take the time to think it over. Then suddenly he could feel more magic flowing into him. So much it felt like a red hot iron pressed all over his body, especially at his scars. And then it was gone, and he was left panting on the ground.

He didn’t know how long he had been there, but suddenly his name was shouted and Scar managed to lift his head up. He saw Bdubs rocking down towards him again and suddenly felt stronger again, getting a burst of energy and moving towards the builder. New wings spread from his back and let him fly, keeping him above the void as he grabbed his friend and then slowed them before reaching the abyss below, then slowly dragging them back up.

“Bdubs! Are you okay?!” Scar asked the moment they were both on the endstone, only staying on his feet for a second before his knees buckled beneath him.

“Am I okay? Am I okay?! I’m on the sweet sweet ground again!” And then he kissed the stone beneath him. “What about you? You look… not Scar but sound normal.”

“I can explain more in a bit. There’s an end city just over that way and I want to get something so we can start towards the main island. I’ll see if there’s elytra for you.”

“Oh no. I don’t think I ever want to fly again. If anyone, give it to Xannes.”

“Who?”

“Okay, guess my story first.”

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.

On the main island, TFC dodged another attack from the dragon. She had been attacking less frequently, which was good and bad in his eyes. No attacking meant less dying, but TFC needed her attacks to even attempt destroying all the crystals. Because there was no way she was dying to fists alone with them still around.

That all being said, TFC had a sneaking suspicion on why exactly that was happening. His prosthetics were built to match his remaining limbs in function, but gradually over the past few respawns, they were becoming off balance. In trying to fix them, TFC realized he was less human than before, claws on his hands and feet, and tenderness at his tailbone and shoulder blades.

TFC was old, that much was true. And because of that, he had seen all sorts of situations. While for the most part the problems of this world were new to TFC, adaptations were not. A number of present day hybrids were a result of that. Heck, mob variants were also sourced from suce and occurrence. So yeah, TFC was not too surprised about seemingly becoming a dragon hybrid.

Thinking it over, in the long run it would likely give him just enough of an upper hand to defeat the dragon, but there was also the concern of how long it would take to get to that point and how far these alterations would go. If this went too far, the world itself could mistake him for a new ender dragon, and even after killing the real one, no portal would form due to his existence.

Well, if that was the case, he would need to figure out what it was that made the existence of the dragon close the portal and see if he could reverse it. Especially since he recalled at least one or two hermits were supposed to be stuck in the end with him. Though that did give him another idea. Maybe he didn’t have to keep fighting if the dragon opened the portal herself.

The next time TFC respawned, he waited, giving her time to rest. When he was sure the dragon was fully healed again, the miner made his way to the podium and waited. The dragon swooped a few times, giving some warning shots, but she didn’t attack TFC directly, and he made no move to attack the crystals. She didn’t look happy, but TFC had plenty of time to wait.

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In a bout of frustration, ink was spilled over the floor, making Mumbo even more frustrated than before. He didn’t understand the need for learning another language just for spells. He was sure that knowing the characters that appeared with enchanting would be enough, but apparently the illagers had their own writing system. At the very least, Mumbo recognized a character or two that Scar or Cub must have had written down, but it still felt like he was learning a new language from scratch.

With ink all over the place, Mumbo paused to work on cleaning everything up. He had ruined nearly all his materials, so now he would have to attempt to get more or find an illager who would assist him in such a task. Paper was easy enough to get, a farm already set up in the mansion, but Mumbo hadn’t automated it yet, so there wasn’t going to be much to reap. And squid ink wasn’t something they just had on hand.

Mumbo reached the farming room and grabbed what sugarcane had grown, taking the reeds over to a crafting table then cutting and pressing them into paper. He only managed to make six pages from all of that and didn’t have the material to bind them into a book.Instead of leaving the room, Mumbo put the paper into a nearby chest and then pulled out his redstone materials.

As Mumbo built, he decided to multitask by using redstone dust to practice some of the characters he needed to learn. He couldn’t remember the normal order of the characters, so he just wrote them at random. He never really focused on the characters, so he didn’t notice when a few in a line started to glow a bit. In fact, he was just pausing his writing to work on fixing a bit of redstone, his head stuck in the contraption.

His hand blindly reached for some string to add as a tripwire, but he was about half a foot to the wrong side of his pile of materials. When Mumbo’s hand started to go further, it was stopped by some thread being placed in his hand. The redstoner said his thanks and then strung it up before pausing and pulling his head out.

Standing nearby was someone Mumbo immediately recognized, not knowing anyone else with a bright red sweater like that. Not caring that he was currently covered in redstone dust, Mumbo jumped at the newcomer and hugged them tightly, so glad to see a familiar face. “Grian! You’re okay! How did you get here? Where are the bots? Are you alright?”

But pulling away again, Mumbo watched as Grian just blinked at him, seeming a little confused. “I think you may be mistaken and confused, my mustachioed friend. I mean, I am okay and I got here because of you, but I’m not sure what you mean by bots and well, you were trying to take to someone named Grian.”

Mumbo furrowed his brows. Looking them over again, he could tell this had to be Grian. His clothes and hair and everything were the same. He couldn’t quite tell about their eyes because they were wearing a mask, but it matched the one he had seen Grian with in the past, a black mark on its face instead of the purple Eflyn expected. The only thing unfamiliar were the wings. Shape and pattern wise, they matched the wings Grian had, but the colors of the feathers were no longer red yellow and blue, but purple grey and black.

“Well then. If you’re not Grian, then who are you?” Mumbo asked, and the person giggled slightly.

“I could have swore you already knew, but I guess not. The name is Xelqua, but don’t go throwing it around to just anyone.” And just hearing it reminded Mumbo. It had been a name Grian had told him before.

“Well, if you don’t want me throwing it around, I’m going to have to call you something.” Mumbo spoke up, Xelqua seeming to agree. “Since I already mistook you for him and he’s not around, how about I call you Grian.”

“Hmm.” Grian thought about it before shaking his head. “Just you and me, you can call me Xelqua. Otherwise just Watcher is fine, okay?”

“But I-” Mumbo started to say, and then there was a clatter, making Mumbo and Grian look over at the door where Eflyn was standing.

“Well. It seems we have another guest then…”

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.

.

Joe had paused in his material gathering. It was just going to be for a little bit, but he needed to clear his head. And the best idea he had for that was climbing the tower at spawn the correct way. Sure, he could try climbing from the outside or something, finding a window, but at this point these were definitely Watchers, and Joe was very much aware that they were not to be messed with.

Joe needed to pause on a platform to hold his head, a headache forming. It had been coming and going for a while, but it didn’t feel so bad now, the tower already lit up pretty well. As he waited, his other hand clutched at the wall as best it could, just feeling the texture of the wall, as if to check that it was real. “Guess you really couldn’t have been swayed, now could you?” Joe asked, speaking into the empty air around him. “Well maybe after this mess we can try it again.”

Joe climbed a few more parts of the parkour that acted as steps before nearly falling to a sudden splitting headache. He half considered letting go and trying again, there being enough hay lining the floor below to break his fall, but he had already gotten so far. And maybe if he could get to the top of the tower…

It had been ages ago when Joe had first met a Watcher. From what he could tell, it was even the first Watcher to exist. One that eventually disappeared to time that not even the other Watchers knew what happened. He wasn’t an expert of whatever the Watchers exactly were, but it had been enough that he recognized Grian as one pretty quickly when they first met in season six. Though that was partially from that not being their first meeting.

Yes, Joe had been along for a very long time. Which is why he was not happy with everything going on. But he had a bargaining chip in the form of knowledge, so getting to the top might be the one place to try and use it.

His headache passed and the glow from his eyes faded. Joe pulled himself back onto the platform and then adjusted his glasses. Just a bit more to go until he was at the top.

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.

.

Doc woke up in a wood hut, lying in a bed. His back and head hurt, getting worse when he attempted to move to get up. He tried to remember what happened last, but suddenly being knocked unconscious wasn’t the best thing to try and remember. Looking around in a way that didn’t hurt as much, he was able to see a chest as well as something lying on the ground to his right.

Some crackling implied there was also a furnace running nearby. Mixed with that was some slight banging of metal from crafting and the hum of a tune that was familiar to Doc, but he couldn’t quite place it.

Another attempt to sit up left Doc yelp slightly in pain, stopping the humming and crafting sounds, getting replaced with footsteps that came towards him. “Are you awake this time?”

“Grumbot?” Doc asked, vaguely recognizing the robot that appeared in front of him. He only really distinctly knew his larger form, only seeing him and his brother at this size when they were just about to leave their previous world.

“Yeah. looks like you are. We have some bread if you’re hungry.” Grum spoke in a quiet voice that felt so odd compared to how energetic the hermits usually were. That being said, it had been a while since he had seen anyone else, so it might have just been from what others were dealing with. “I also left some of the wheat as wheat if you prefer that.”

“What? Why would I want that? Bread sounds fine.”

“Okay, I wasn’t sure if you were like dad or not.” Grum said before he went over to the chest, giving Doc a moment to think things over.

“Dad as in Grian or Mumbo?”

“Grian.” Grum answered, pulling out some food. “He was with us on the mountain. Everything was getting to him, so he started eating seeds instead of other stuff.”

“Okay. Is he out getting supplies or something?” Doc asked and then Grum’s face shifted to something sadder. “What happened to Grian?”

“I don’t know.” Grum spoke, managing to be quieter than before. “He just disappeared and Jrum and I were stuck alone on the mountain. And then I messed up.” And it took all of Doc’s willpower to not sit up and possibly hurt himself in the process with how sad Grum sounded in that moment.

“Why? What happened?”

“Someone figured out how to send messages in chat by accident. Jrum and I noticed, and we were going to try it out for ourselves, but it didn’t go right. And now Jrum… Jrum didn’t respawn right.”

And with that comment, Doc realized what was on the ground nearby. Jrum’s body was laid out, screen dark and body unmoving. “How long has he been like that?”

“A few days I think. It got really snowy so I couldn’t quite tell. Then I got busy digging through the snow until I found some ice to break.”

“And that must have been the waterfall I took down off the mountain.” Doc said, making Grum look a little sheepish.

“Sorry about hitting you when I fell. I freaked out a bit and then you were there and I couldn’t react in time. I’m sure if it was anyone else, they would have been in worse shape.”

“Why’s that?” Doc asked, though he had an idea based on which side of him ached more.

“Well, your metal parts helped protect you plus I think your thicker skull helped from a concussion.”

“My what?”

“Oh, I thought you…” Grum said, trailing off. “Um, so I think more weird stuff is happening than just being stuck wherever.”

“Yeah, I knew that.” Doc said. “Creeper instincts have been kicking in like crazy.”

“Well, your death messages mentioned goats a lot. It looks like because of that, you’ve started turning into a goat hybrid as well.”

“I’ve what?” Doc asked, incredulously. He ignored the pain from moving when he started feeling himself over, finally finding horns coming from his head. “Oh… huh…”

Grum forced Doc back down to a resting position before feeding him some bread. Here, how about I tell you what I know about, then you can tell me what you know.

“Sounds good to me.”

[angelpointe]

SCREAMS AND SHOUTS AS YOU INVADE MY HOME

Hello @ User Pastelaspirations ( I don’t know what you like to be called you should totally tell me Mayhaps ) !!! PLEASE DONT LEAVE AFTER I INFODUMP , YOU ARE A VALUED GUEST !!!!!

PLEASE TELL ME WHEN YOU INFODUMP ABOUT YOUR SILLY , TAG ME !!! DM ME !! ANYTHING !! I WANT TO SEE YOUR LITTLE GUY !!! OUR LITTLE GUYS COULD BE FRIENDS ,, I’d draw that tbh

All of the art is rather old ,, but I RENAMED THIS GUY SO MANY TIMES . He was just Angel sans at one point ! Then Seraphina Sans (different than Seraphim) and then he was Cherubim sans , dubbed Cheri , but I never liked that ?? So now I’m stuck on what to call this thing !!

Right now I’ll just call him Angel because ,, simple , easy .. she uses both He / him and She / her because . ME .

So … I don’t have a solid backstory for this fuckhead ,, I put her in so so many different trials and stuff - but !! I think I got the vague idea down ?? And if I don’t , who’s gonna stop me from changing it !! MWAHHAHAHA !

SO . BACKSTORY ?? Ish . GO !!

Angel is a specific timeline’s version of Reverencetale’s sans , ( Reverencetale is an au I made that’s a traditional and psychological horror parallel to Undertale , NOT AT ALL SIMILAR TO HORRORTALE , but it’s similar in some aspects , like the human child you play as isn’t frisk , and story differences and changes . I might ramble about Reverencetale one day , it’s very deeply personal to me though and I’m frightened by how people might react to it ?? Especially with the human child , because ableism is inescapable no matter what fandom your in .. ) ANYWYAS SO .

For context ; In Reverencetale , religion plays a massive part in the story , specifically a very radicalized and dangerous form of it that implies that monsters are sworn to become evil , and that locking them underground — closer to hell than heaven — has sealed their fate to never cross heaven’s gates . The monsters , as well as the humans in this world , are extremely religious and the monsters are terrorized by the ideas that they will all be eternally damned for the actions that they are ‘bound to commit’ , and in very very simple terms - live their lives as complete saints underground , foretelling of a prophecy that’s bound to come true . That a young human would come down from the heavens and put an end to their eternal damnation as long as they wait and never give into the temptations of sin . The monsters are specifically convinced that the only way they will be allowed into heaven is to die with no faults . That a short life that only demonstrates the best of themselves , even through punishment , would allow them to be free .

SO . with that being said ,, Angel is from a specific timeline in Reverencetale , but things went . Wrong ! And Angel got out of bounds ( went too fast or something , wing speed ) and fell out of the game - Which shattered her perspective on EVERYTHING . I don’t really knnnooww hhhow (??) but he eventually found himself in other parts of the multiverse , and was so confused about everything that people were saying about their own aus - about the kid , about themselves , about monsterkind , humankind , the nature of the world - everything was so different and so so much happier . Which made Angel feel so out of it , so confused , so . Angry . Frustrated . Why was everything so different ?? Why was everything so — beautiful ?

Angel never really was able to imagine a world where monsters could just . Be . Never experienced the joy and beauty of the world in a way that didn’t feel so haunting . He never knew a world where people didn’t live in fear of eternal damnation , that one day they’re feathers , skin , bones , every cell of their monstrous , disgraceful bodies would all be torturously plucked , peeled and grinded down into powder small . . A world where monsters didn’t have to be evil , or die early deaths to be saved . To be worthy of salvation .

And now Angel lives in what has always essentially been paradise in her eyes ! Made a few friends maybe , and is just ! There !!

That’s all I have for backstory IM SORRY :[[

HIS FAVORITE COLOR IS PINK !! He loves it very dearly !! She’s actually a very soft and kind individual , even though she can come off as rather stoic and scary sometimes ,, she’s so so friendly , just nervous ! Not well socialized -

I don’t know if he’d have any specific relations with any characters from Utmv , but I’ve like to add some !! I know he has some sort of relationship with my wife Sira’s Sansona , but that’s about it !!

Probably very weirdly poetic about existence ! She’d place meaning in everything , and I mean . EVERYTHING .

The bows and bells are actually meant to be a little ironic in her au , because . The playable character ( May ) is deaf , and the game tells you that you’ll know when she’s coming when you hear the little bells jingle , even though May can’t actually hear things like that - but the actual reason for her wearing them is silly , she just really likes the sound it makes ! And likes that people associate her with it ,,

OH YEAH , the hemangioma thing ! Okay so , so !

Hemangiomas are a real form of tumor .. a benign vascular tumor ( which essentially is a cluster of blood vessels that just . Exist ! ) it’s very common for people to be born with them , but very uncommon for them to really . remain ! After a certain point , they usually dissipate or rupture , but sometimes they don’t and they just . Stay there !

Angel has one of these , and it’s actually located in the same spot as mine , although her’s is bigger and EVIL . It’s not Malignant in the sense of like . It being a cancer or something damaging to her , but EVIL in the sense it makes him EVIL . A danger to OTHERS .

It initially was joke with my friends I had because I said my blood is evil and that’s why it congregated to the back of my head , its trying to form a secondary EEVVIILL e ( E , the evil twin ) but because I’m silly and I like making all my my characters dubiously evil , dubious little creatures ,, if her hemangioma ruptures , she will be consumed by the EVIL BAD BLOOD within her .

But that’s him !! I hope you liked my little ramble ,,

POINTS AT YOU . I WANT YOU TO RAMBLE ABOUT YOUR GUY EVENTUALLY . KEEPING YOU IN MY HOUSE AS A HOSTAGE UNTIL YOU DO !!! SHAKES YOU !!

I can and will draw them together , being pals , friends Mayhaps , perchance ,,,

Did I ever show you guys my Sansona ,, kind of ??

I forget that I ever have one of these , I don’t ever use him - I tried to put him in an au once and it didn’t work out

⚠️ WARNING . Blood and . Hemangiomas ? Blood tumors . There’s an evil blood tumor under the cut !! You’ve been warned !!

[selkiewife]

So I was wondering if you have any thoughts on Robb and Dany parallels?

Obviously there is a lot of stuff out there that considers Dany and Sansa and whether they are in opposition as characters or not. And people consider the parallels between Jon and Dany, or Arya and Dany, but in my mind the Stark who's arc she has most in common with is Robb, both thrust into positions of power and responsibility, both succeeding in conflicts which clearly leave devastation their wake and then having to learn how to rule (as a side note I would prefer if asoiaf young team were learning how to govern not rule but it's a feudal society so what can you do?)

Anyway have you ever thought about this (probably you have and have said something insightful and I've not noticed). Thanks.

Oh no. You know when you get an ask and you are suddenly like, oh shit, I have fooled people into thinking I know what I am talking about. I have really not explored their parallels in depth. Mostly because I have not been as obsessed about Robb’s ruling arc as much as I have about Daenerys’. And my obsession with her ruling arc was a direct result of Season 8 and me being like... if this was where it was all leading, where is the evidence in the books? And going back to reread and finding... well, no evidence lol. 

Thank you for this ask though @st-clements-steps! It is really interesting. Especially since you are right! It is strange that people don’t seem to focus a lot on Robb and Dany parallels compared to the other Starks, especially since they are both in ruling positions. I am going to post some of my thoughts but I’m also going to tag @rainhadaenerys who might have written or know of metas written about their parallels. I ramble a bit about the parallels I see in them under the cut, but it is not well researched or backed up with textual evidence. But hopefully this might start an interesting discussion at least. And please feel free to point out inaccuracies and such!

One of the cursory parallels between them off the top of my head is that they are both such young rulers. And yet, they are both incredibly introspective and strategic rulers that honestly don’t get enough credit for their intelligence or wisdom from the fandom. They are also both fantastic examples of how difficult ruling is. They are both often faced with horrible choices- where it is not a choice between a good thing and an evil think, but rather, two equally bad things. And they try to choose the thing that will do the least amount of damage. 

They both have a magical beasts (though I’ve never seen anyone say that Robb would be “nothing” without Greywind. lol sorry. My saltiness jumped out.) There also seems to be a parallel where they are both called upon to chain up their magical beasts (which again, leads to Robb’s death... but not Daenerys since she ends up being able to tame and ride Drogon.) I think there may be an inverse parallel there where Robb has wolf dreams, like all his siblings, but doesn’t completely understand what is happening, whereas Daenerys understands her dragon dreams and that is possibly what saves her from death. We see that with Jon again later- where he does not completely understand the dreams or their bond which leads him to ignoring Ghost’s warnings the night he is assassinated. 

Both Daenerys and Robb are idealistic and want to do the right thing to the detriment of their own rule at times. They also have parallels about duty vs desires. Though, I don’t really want to compare the inverse parallel of Daenerys putting aside her personal feelings to marry Hizdahr for peace vs. Robb marrying Jeyne Westerling instead of his Frey betrothed. Because in the books, Robb did not marry her for personal romantic feelings but because of his sense of duty towards her. Though interestingly, this action led to his death and Daenerys marrying Hizdahr almost led to her being poisoned by the honeyed locusts (though I know there are other theories that is was someone else who poisoned them).... hmm I mean, there might be something there but... I don’t know. Anyone else have any thoughts? 

I also think it is very interesting that Daenerys sees Robb at the Red Wedding in her visions in The House of the Undying: 

Farther on she came upon a feast of corpses. Savagely slaughtered, the feasters lay strewn across overturned chairs and hacked trestle tables, asprawl in pools of congealing blood. Some had lost limbs, even heads. Severed hands clutched bloody cups, wooden spoons, roast fowl, heels of bread. In a throne above them sat a dead man with the head of a wolf. He wore an iron crown and held a leg of lamb in one hand as a king might hold a scepter, and his eyes followed Dany with mute appeal.

The idea that his eyes are following her with mute appeal... that is so sad and  creepy- and what could it mean? Is it a silent cry of empathy towards her, echoing his, “Gods be good, why would any man ever want to be king?” Is it a warning that she could also be assassinated (but she definitely knows that- she has always been the victim of assassination attempts since birth.) Does it have something to do with Jon and the fight against the Others? I don’t know, but I think it’s interesting.

These are a few of the parallels that I thought of right away. But I am sure there are many more. I will definitely keep my eyes open as I reread and maybe at some point write an actual meta about it. But again, if anyone knows any metas or discussions about Daenerys and Robb’s parallels, please let us know!

[hado-31-shakkaho]

i really can't stop thinking about ep 211 & tiny nanao & also lisa and kyoraku

i haven't made a tumblr post in a long time but i read a really really good nemu/nanao fic today (the only one in the ao3 tag?! i can't believe it but also, i can. they're both kind of side characters aren't they.) and i also saw a gifset that reminded me of Tiny Nanao so i've been thinking about that scene. you know those three minutes of ep 211, during the flashback/pendulum arc, where kyoraku returns to the eighth division barracks and nanao is there with a book and she's asking where lisa is...

it just! it makes me feel insane! the shot of kyoraku looking away when he says lisa is on an important mission, the fact that he's the one who volunteered her for it, the way that he can't meet nanao's eyes when he says "it's okay. she'll be back by dawn, i'm sure".

AND THEN THE FUCKIGN... THE ARC OF BLOOD AGAINST THE MOON HE WAS GAZING AT... THE WAY THE MUSIC STOPS AND WE GET BACK TO THE BATTLE... it just fucks me up! the song is called "here to stay"!!! it really ruins me!!!!!!! it lives in my head rent free!!! thinking about how the last words he had with lisa were him asking her to go in the place of the head of the kido corps, the little exchange of "can i count on you?" "of course!" "then, if you would, please" (ja, yoroshiku). how she left immediately to join the team and then! they did not see each other! for a hundred years!!!!! do you ever think about how she's the only visored who had something personal to say to a shinigami when the visored appeared in FKT, do you ever think about how both of them greet each other with actions and words that say, so clearly, i remember what kind of person you are, i remember you, i haven't forgotten. she yells at him to stop playing dead and he makes one of his usual playboy comments about how she's gotten more beautiful since she last saw him!!! lisa won't say anything more sentimental than "stay there and rest, i'm going to show you how much stronger i've become". and then AFTER she turns away kyoraku calls out to her and says "lisa-chan, i'm glad you're well". i think that in all his time serving as captain he must have found ways to deal with the death and loss inherent to the position, to the whole organization. he had to have found ways to grieve and cope and then move on or at least keep going, especially since as a captain a good deal of those were his fault. i really read that "i'm glad you're well" as like... an admission of responsibility and guilt about something he's had to carry with him for a hundred years. a hundred years! he sent his lieutenant off to what must have been her death and he just had to live with that! it wasn't even that she was assigned to it from on high, he sent her in someone else's place, and she never came back!

but then she calls him an idiot, in a way that really really sounds to me like something she's used to saying, and goes off to fight. it sounds so much like banter, like the way nanao talks to kyoraku now. and after she's flash stepped away he agrees with her.

there's just! i feel like it's maybe not the most intentional parallel, having a tiny meaningful exchange before lisa heads off to a fight that she takes because of kyoraku, but that little snippet of conversation feels like it at least echoes an old dynamic. "i'm glad you're well" "idiot" isn't something strangers can say to each other!!! (though i wouldn't put it past lisa to kick a stranger across a street.)

but at the same time that simple exchange sounds so... layered. he's glad she's been doing well, and he expresses it, and he does so sincerely. he's not saying anything flippant like "oh you've been up to a lot in the past hundred years" or anything like that. and i really wouldn't put it past kyoraku to sit there and joke a bit with his lieutenant, just in general, you know? but he doesn't. he takes a moment and says so sincerely, so genuinely, i'm glad you're okay. to me it sounds like he's also accepting responsibility for, you know, being the reason she might have not been okay that whole time. for sending her off to a horrifying mission where she got hollowfied and cast out of soul society and had to go into hiding in the human world.

and then she calls him an idiot. i feel like forgiveness is too strong or too direct a word, but it has a similar undertone to what i read into that. she knows he was the one who sent her to that battlefield a hundred years ago, and she hears him accepting that and maybe implying an apology for it, and she says you idiot. not forgiveness, because it might not be that there's something for her to forgive - the gotei 13 are still a military organization, you know? and she was a lieutenant and he was her captain and he sent her on a mission, the way captains do - but she knows he's being a sentimental old fool and taking that burden on himself, and in reply she wants to emphasize the "fool" part.

and she steps away back to the fight and he sits there, watching her go, and agrees with her.

anyway that scene with nanao asking in her tiny baby voice where lisa is and kyoraku not being able to make eye contact with her even as he's reassuring her and telling her lisa will come back for sure and the way it cuts back to the doomed fight. the way the song, which is called Here to Stay, cuts out on the "i'm sure". it gets me! it really does!!!!!

[fallenrayvens]

Hey, so…

I was looking through the manga again (searching for something else entirely) when I came by the flashback in which Sebastian, the dog, tries to save o!Ciel. I found it interesting the way that happened, so I’m going to leave my thoughts here. It’s nothing consistent, I haven’t written anything before posting this. I literally saw it again and decide to ramble on the hellsite. That said.

Here’s how the O!Ciel finds Sebastian, the dog, in the middle of the Phantomhive manor attack:

After waiting for a long time for his brother who told him he was going to investigate why nobody has showed up to pick them up to their birthday celebrations, O!Ciel decides that things are too weird and he doesn’t want to wait alone in their room, so he leaves to look for his brother and anybody, really.

He doesn’t find anybody, though. He’s all alone, it seems, and the house is terribly silent.

That is until he catches someone desperately scratching and banging behind a closed door. He’s terrified, but gets worried about whoever might be there and opens it.

He opens it and out jumps Sebastian, the family dog. Scared and alone trapped in a room just like he was, with the added bonus that he’s also restrained.

The dog who’s been, at his words, bullying him since it stepped into their home. But the boy doesn’t care about that right now.

They are now both terrified, but no longer alone. The boy takes the muzzle off Sebastian, freeing him, and declares he’s no longer scared. Sebastian’s gonna protect him now.

The dog stops him, tho. It pulls on his clothes as to stop him from moving, and O!Ciel thinks Sebastian’s “bullying” him again.

He tries to fight against it but it’s useless and he finally falls to the ground, so he whines about the pain and is probably feeling even more desperate before the dog approaches him and licks his face, showing it’s gratitude.

The boy’s confused and surprised. The dog stares back at him, and then decides to move on the other direction, contrary to the one the boy meant to take before he fell, so naturally O!Ciel reads this a lead and follows.

Or tries to, at least.

He loses the dog for a moment because it runs a lot faster than he can, but it barks so it can be found by him. He recognizes the barks as coming from his father’s bedchambers and runs towards the sound.

By the time he gets there, unfortunately, someone has attacked Sebastian, and also both of his parents. The three of them lie dead on the floor of the room where the boy found them.

After this, you know the rest of the tragedy. Sebastian, the dog, tried but wasn’t able to get his master to safety and died on duty. The boy was, once again, all alone.

(No more pics bc mobile hates me)

As I said, I get the vague feeling that just like the beast before him, Sebastian, the demon, will show he genuinely cares about his master in a very tense situation.

I don’t think Yana showed us so much of this dog, who’s the reason why o!Ciel’s demon is called that, for nothing. I think we’re going to see something very similar happening — maybe at the hotel, but probably at the end of the series —, but I at least hope this Sebastian may be able to save the boy.

Will he? I don’t know. Maybe it’s a direct parallel. Maybe he dies on the job and is unable to come back like he said he would. Maybe this time we’ll see O!Ciel scream and demand the butler to get the fuck up and do his job but he won’t be heard. I hope that’s not what happens, but oh would that be some powerful angst.

As I said previously on the tags, I don’t even think Sebastian will give up O!Ciel’s soul. I don’t think he will give up his meal. But I do think he grew to genuinely care about this child (as much as a demon could grow to care about anyone), which will make everything even more tragic when it comes to that. I half expect to see a Sebastian’s flashback of some sort, or a monologue, talking about his master, at the end of the story.

If you read all this nonsense, please feel free to comment about it. I’d love to know if there’s more people who see what I’m seeing here or if I’m just delusional.

I think demon Sebastian will somehow act like dog Sebastian did in the end of the series. I don’t know how exactly. I don’t have anything particularly in mind, but I do think he will show us he’s more than just a hungry beast doing his part of the contract.