#anyhoo here they are nice and neat!!

[deerspherestudios]

🔍 QNA MASTERLIST (LYS VER.👻) 🔎

This masterlist contains all questions and posts relating to Alma from Lift Your Spirits. They might also be referred to as Vida.

General Info about Alma❕

They love junk food. + dev ramble about their design inspiration.

Their favorite food is popcorn and chocolate-dipped churros.

They can form legs if they wish, but prefer to float.

Their birthday is on 20th July! 🎂

They're currently in their early to mid-20s, but feel free to imagine them older!

Their race is ambiguous as Alma. (If someone asks me about Vida specifically I'd be happy to answer in it's own post and add it here since their appearance in MO.)

Their reaction to discovering someone pushed the vending machine that killed them on purpose.

They can touch things if they concentrate.

Their favorite color is red. + Their height is 6'4 (193cm).

Their reaction to another ghost in the campus building. (same post as above)

Their favorite character in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic pre-death would be Rainbow Dash. Post-death would be Zecora. + dev rambles.

Their MBTI is INTJ-J.

They love listening to city pop, math rock and swing jazz.

They would win against Mychael (Mushroom Oasis).

They would disappear if the campus building is torn down/destroyed. + dev ramble about ideas for a sequel.

They have an interest in space and would've majored in astronomy.

Their favorite Disney and Pixar movies are Treasure Planet (2002) and Coco (2017) respectively.

What their writing looks like!

Alma’s romantic traits…❔

They identify as panromantic demisexual.

Their love language is performing acts of service for others and receiving quality time.

Their preferred pet names for themselves are ones that're sweet and dessert-like. + They would call their partner "my comet."

Alma and MC interactions…❔

If MC lived on-campus.

Their gifts for MC + favorite Christmas activities + thoughts on hot cocoa (as Alma and Vida.)

About Laika…🐕❔

Their dog's name Laika is based off the Soviet space dog.

Laika is hinted to be an ex-service dog.

Laika is given to a family member after their death.

Extras❕

Some in-game and general loredump!

Alma giving you coins for the vending machine.

Alma accepting sodas from the player.

Silly Alma monster-form edit.

Alma being (not) hit by a snowball.

Their reaction to mistletoe.

Alma with Mychael's chickens.

Vida for Valentine's.

[impala-dreamer]

Meet Me At The Beach

A Supernatural Story

~ Texting and emails can feel so impersonal. There's nothing quite like exchanging tangible, handwritten letters with someone you love...~

Dean Winchester x F!Reader, Sam Winchester

4,025 Words

Warnings: Bittersweet Angst. SFW. 

A/N: This is for @jacklesversebingo "Writing Letters To Each Other" was the prompt. I hope you enjoy...

June 2

Dear Dean, 

This feels so weird. Do people really write letters anymore? Am I going to get strange looks at the post office when I go to buy a stamp? Will they even know what to do with this tiny envelope and folded piece of loose-leaf paper? I almost don’t know how to write anymore. My script looks kinda like chicken scratch, huh? Hopefully it’ll get better. It is weird not typing though. But emails just seem like work. Impersonal, ya know? Besides, it gives us something to look forward to when we hit the mailbox. Nice to open something that’s not a delinquent credit card bill, huh? 

Speaking of which- how the fuck do you do it? I just got another card canceled. My credit is non-existent. Fuck, I need to get a job. Could you imagine me in an office? High heels and panty hose and my hair tucked into a neat, matronly bun? I shudder to think! 

OK, this is weird. I just wanted to write “LOL” but it’s not an email. Or a text. Why are we doing this again? Oh, yeah, see above. 

Anyhoo- - - - I don’t even know what to say! Umm… I’m in New Orleans for a bit. Not working, just hanging out. My friend Emily from high school tracked me down online and we’ve been chatty. She’s in a band. They’re not bad. Not great, but not bad. So yeah, I took a drive down to see a show and I’m just lingering. Drinking too much, sleeping past noon. It’s fun. Nice little vacation. 

Which - ahem - you should be taking. When are you gonna get your ass out of that dusty old bunker and stick your toes in the sand? I already told you I’d meet you in Pensacola with sunscreen and a cooler of beer. You know you want to. Or are you just scared to show off your ugly toes in flip flops? Your boots might actually cry if you ever took them off, so I guess it’s just as well. 

Hey, do you remember that night in Richmond when it started pouring and your boots sank into the mud puddle? God, that was a mess. We were soaked to the bone. Nice way to warm up, though - cuddled in the back of the Impala. I miss that car. Sometimes, I think I can hear it at night when the world is quiet and the wind is still. It’s like the engine roars in the back of my mind and I start thinking about all our adventures, all the time we spent driving into the sunset. 

I miss you. Is that wrong? I probably shouldn’t. Or at least, I shouldn’t tell you that I do. But I do. I miss you so bad sometimes that it hurts. Like someone has punched me right in the chest. Maybe we can end up in the same town soon. Grab some tacos and sit on the hood. Make a mess. I’d like that. 

OK, before I get too emotional and start asking you to run away with me, I think I’ll end this ranting scribble of horrid handwriting. 

Write me back soon.

Love, Y/N

June 21 

Y/N- 

Your handwriting does not look like chicken scratch. I like it. Mine is like some toddler just learning his letters. Whatever. I never learned that fancy shit. I can sign my name and make a grocery list. That’s all I need. 

This is weird, yeah. But it’s kinda nice. Feels more… like you’re here. Does that make sense? Like seeing your handwriting, the dents in the paper- I don’t know. Just feels more real. Like you’re not just some computer talking back at me. Also there’s something strange about answering questions weeks later. I meant to write this sooner, but I got a little distracted. There was a Kung Fu marathon on and I just lost track of time. Too much pizza, not enough Carradine. Ya know? You know. 

Remember that horrible motel in Raleigh when we both caught that nasty stomach bug and stayed up all night watching old tv shows? Saltines and Little House. I’ll never forget it. You were so sick that day. Shit, I was sure I was gonna end up taking you to the hospital. Sure, I was puking too, but you looked like death. I hated that. Hated that I couldn’t help you, make you feel better. I did cook up a mean chicken noodle soup though, didn’t I? Not that it stayed down for long. 

Thank god for that yellow Gatorade. And yes- it’s fucking yellow. Not green. 

Anyway- I miss you too. I try not to, I really do. Not all the time, no offense, but sometimes I’m just fucking insane with shit going on. But at night, especially, I miss having you beside me. I miss rolling over and seeing you there, or hearing you snore. I miss feeling your freezing feet under the blanket. I don’t know, I just- 

What can I say? I’m sorry. I’m an asshole. I’m the biggest piece of shit in the universe. I shouldn’t have pushed you away. 

Can’t change the past. Just gotta move on. 

Maybe someday you’ll forgive me. I hope so anyway. 

I’m sorry. I shouldn’t dump that all out in a letter. I almost ripped this all up and started over. I actually let it sit for a day before I came back to it. But, fuck it- we said we were gonna write to each other and be honest, and here I am, being honest. 

Fuck, I’m so tired. That kinda tired when sleeping for ten days wouldn’t even put a dent in it. Yeah, OK, so things are getting a little better. Chuck’s gone for good this time. Jack’s got things back in place, even made a few improvements. Sam’s- well, he’s Sam. He’s fine, doing his thing. The dog is- did I tell you we have a dog now? Yeah, I know. Me and a dog- yeah right. But we do. Miracle. He’s a good boy. I’ll send you a picture soon. 

Never thought I could slow down like this. Feels like for the first time we can just - work. I mean, I’m never gonna give up hunting, not totally, but- feels like I could just ease back a bit. Been looking at some jobs in town- nothing crazy, fixing engines and stuff like that. Don’t know if you remember, but I’m pretty good with my hands. 

Did you blush? 

You did. 

OK. I guess- that’s it for now. I have no fucking idea how to end this so - bye?

~ Dean

P.S.  I’ll meet you at the beach soon. I promise.

Fifteenth of July 

To Whom It May Concern:

Re: Beach Vacation

Dear Mr. Winchester, 

I am very pleased to hear that you are agreeable to meeting me at the beach. It should be delightful fun to run through the surf and hunt for sea glass with you.

Oh shit! Do you remember that new age shop in… where the fuck was that? With the sea glass necklaces in the window that I said were so pretty and the witch inside said they were blessed to give the wearer riches or some shit like that. Where was that? Who knows.

Feels like we’ve been all over the world together. Well, this country at least. Lord knows I could never get you on an airplane. If only you could drive to Paris. Did I ever tell you about my trip to France? God, it was beautiful. Rained the whole time, but it was this beautiful, warm spring rain that made everything smell like dust and petals. Not rose petals, but those little white ones that grow on trees, ya know? It was so beautiful. Fuck it. I’m taking you one day. You need to see more than the dash of your car and the backroads of America. Time to travel!

Speaking of- I’m glad you’re slowing down a bit. I know that won’t be easy for you but if you think about it, you’ve spent the last forty years running from problem to problem like a damned bomb-sniffing dog. 

A DOG?! Dean Winchester, I never thought the day would come. I can’t wait to see a picture. Don’t forget it next time. 

I think you’d be a great mechanic. It was always very hot seeing you covered in sweat and grease especially if you had those damned coveralls on. I mean… what? I don’t think about you like that anymore, you know. It’s over and done with and we’re just friends. We are friends, aren’t we? Maybe something more than friends, I guess. Ex lovers? Ew. I hate that word. Lovers. So gross. Well, then what are we? Just two souls swimming in a fish bowl…

Year after year. Day after day. Do you know that I put nearly a hundred thousand miles on my poor truck this year? Back and forth, up and down the country. I don’t have to tell you how exhausting it is. Fun, but exhausting. Rewarding, but not. I wonder how many people remember me after I leave? Does that family in New Haven think about me whenever they go into the basement and it’s no longer haunted? Is there a photo of me on a fridge in Wilmington where I saved that guy’s fiance from the vamp nest? Probably not. I’m sure people remember you - The Great Dean Winchester. The sexy hunter with the green eyes and the giant black car. You’re hard to forget. Also, you hang out with a giant. Tell Sam I said hi. 

I do remember that puke fest! And it’s green. It’s literally neon green. Fight me. 

We could probably write a book, you and me. ‘Winchester & Y/L/N Do America’. It’s a coffee table book with pictures of random diner signs and gas station bathrooms. Maybe a list of the country’s best french fry places. Shit like that. Let’s do it. I’ll call my literary agent in the morning. Ha!

SPARTA!! That’s where that damned sea glass shop was. It just hit me! Stupid brain. I swear, I’ve been hit in the head way too many times. Broken too many bones. I’m getting too old for this shit. Did you know that my left knee pops whenever I stand up now? Like, how old am I?? I can’t stand it. I need a month at a spa somewhere in the desert. That’d be nice. 

Damnit. I just got a call from Vinnie Alverez. Do you know him? Hunter out of Pittsburg. Anyway- he needs help on a job. Guess I’ll cut this letter short. Hopefully I’ll find a box to drop this in on the way to PA! 

Miss you. 

Sincerely yours, 

Y/N

P.S. - I do forgive you, Dean. Of course I do. Things were just too hard back then. Life didn’t want to cooperate for us. It’s not your fault. Not my fault. It just was. Please don’t carry that guilt in your heart. You deserve better than that. 

August 2

Dear Y/N- 

You’re a real character, you know that? Love the corporate letter. I’m in for the book by the way. Could be awesome. We do need a full chapter on onion rings though. Make a note. 

I heard about your hunt in Pittsburgh. Came through the grapevine that you kicked some serious wolf ass. Nice job, kid. Hope you’re being careful. I know how bullheaded and impulsive you can get when you’re in the zone. Just watch your back, OK? Promise me. Last thing I wanna hear is that you got your heart clawed out or you’re walking around with a demon in your ass. 

Demons. Haven’t seen so many running around lately. Queen Rowena’s been keeping them in check. So fucking weird that she’s in charge now. Not that I’m surprised- she’s a badass bitch. If I had a nickel for every ruler of hell I was friends with, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice. The kids still say that, don’t they? See, I’m not old. I keep up with pop culture and shit. Started watching the tik toks. I still don’t get it, but I like the woodturning stuff. Thinking about taking up whittling. Maybe carve you a keychain so you stop losing them. 

I got a call for a job interview. Chickened out though. I don’t know if I’m ready to start all that, ya know? Start a real life in the real world- just seems- I don’t know, scary. Yeah, I’ve faced every deadly thing on this and other worlds but the idea of getting a 9 to 5 civilian job scares me. I’m some kinda fucked up, huh? 

I think about it a lot though. Getting a job, finding a little house somewhere, settling down. A little fenced in yard so Miracle can run around and dig up dirt. Might put a rocking chair on the porch and watch the clouds, some shit like that. Would you come visit me in my Barbie dream house? I’ll cook you breakfast every morning and you can rub my feet at night. Real cozy couple stuff. 

OK, so maybe I’m thinking about you more and more these days. Maybe I’m regretting leaving. Maybe I’m just an idiot daydreaming about meeting you somewhere in the middle and sweeping you off your feet. One of those running hugs that hurts when you collide but ends in a kiss that makes everything feel better. I’m a real romantic fuck, huh? I was digging through my drawers yesterday and I found a pair of your socks. Those tiny ones that barely covered your ankle. I don’t know why they were stuffed in the back of the dresser, but there they were. Dingy white socks with the pink threads on the toes. I’ll bring them to the beach when we meet up. 

Oh, Sam says hi and he hopes you’re good and he wants you to shoot him a text when you can. You can do what you want, but you better not mail him a letter. That’s just for me. God, my hand is cramping up. I’m not used to this. Oh, and you’re not alone. My knee creaks like a haunted house when I go up stairs now. And my right wrist pops, and my neck makes this weird almost squeaking sound, and my ass- well, I could go on, but just know you’re not alone. Kinda weird to think that we lived long enough to be this old, ain’t it? I never thought I’d live to be thirty and here I am staring down 42. Forty Fucking Two. Can you believe that shit? Goddamnit I got old. Let’s go find a nursing home together. Maybe we can get a double room- or a king sized bed?

Think about it. We could be cranky old people together. Losing our memories and shuffling around with walkers and shit. You’d look cute with white hair. And fuck, my beard’s already going gray. Should I grow out my beard? 

Write back soon. I really like seeing your letters in the box. 

Dean  x

My dearest Dean Winchester, it is with great happiness that I write this letter to you and I do hope that it finds you well and happy and all good things and I can’t keep this formal shit up. Ha!

Anyway- but yeah, things are good. I know it’s been a while since I’ve written, but I was on a little trip around the continent. Headed up to Montreal for a bit. Killed some nasties, salted some bones, generally fucked around. My beloved truck crapped out in Burlington, Vermont, so I had to hang out there for a while and gather my resources to get a new vehicle. I think you’d like her. Green Ford Explorer from ‘94. OK, she’s not as sexy as the Impala, but she gets me where I need to go. Which, apparently, was Maine! I met up with some friends in Greenville. Cute little town full of witchcraft. So much fun. Also had a lobster roll on a pier… I swear to god, they plucked this thing right out of the water and slapped it on a buttered roll. You’d LOVE it. I’m gonna take you there someday. 

Speaking of- We need to make plans for Florida. I picked up a little bikini on my travels and I think I really need to show it off. Maybe you could be my bodyguard and keep the creeps away while I’m sunbathing? To repay you for your services, I’ll gladly let you take it off me at night…

Oh, and I’ve thought about this extensively, and I believe that you should, in fact, grow your beard out. Like, full on, bushy lumberjack beard. I can’t wait to see all that gray. You know I have a thing for older men… and you’ll always be older than me, Dean Winchester and don’t you forget it!

And for your information, I don’t lose my keys anymore! I got one of those… apple taggy things. Now I know where they are at all times. Can’t find my phone to find them sometimes, but that’s another issue. 

Two weeks later, I’m picking up my pen again. Sorry this is taking forever. Things are stupid busy. I wish I could just… put this fucking gun down and go live with you on a farm somewhere. Not a working farm, we wouldn’t keep pigs or anything because gross, but a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Big white house with a giant tree in the yard and a tire swing and a picket fence and a kid chasing the dog around and - 

Shit. Do you ever think about it? I do. A lot. More than I’d like to and it fucking cuts me up inside every time. I know we could never have kept it, and life- I mean- it just wasn’t meant to be. But I do think about it sometimes. Imagine if we’d just walked away from the life and tried to be a family? Impossible, I know. Maybe in another life. 

Shit, I’m sorry. Fuck. Ignore me. I haven’t slept in a while and I just

I want to see you. Can we meet somewhere? Wherever you want. I’ll come to you. 

~ Y/N 

Dear Dean, 

This is my second attempt at writing this. Crumpled up the first one because I’m an idiot. Am I an idiot? Did I piss you off with the last letter? I honestly didn’t mean to. I just- we said we’d be honest, and you’ve been so open in your letters that I thought it was ok to talk about, but I guess not. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have dug that stuff up. 

I’m so tired and stressed and I miss you so much. Since we’ve been writing back and forth it’s almost like I can’t stop thinking about you. I get so fucking excited to check the mail whenever I roll back into town. It’s like… I don’t know, it’s like Christmas every time I see your handwriting in my box. Remember the time you wrote your name on my thigh in Sharpie? That stayed on for like a week. I shoulda gotten it inked on. That’d be something, huh? Branded by a Winchester. 

Fuck, Dean, I really hope you’re not mad at me. I really want to call you, but we said we wouldn’t. Just write me back, please. 

I’ll be in your neck of the woods next week. Got turned onto a haunting up in Abilene. Maybe we can meet on the road somewhere? Please? 

Hey, did you know there’s a Hunter, Kansas? Wonder why they didn’t build the bunker there. I don’t know, made me laugh when I was looking at the map. 

Anyway- Please write me back. Or call. Or text. Or send a damned pigeon with a tiny letter taped to its foot. I don’t care, how, just do it please. Even if you’re mad at me and don’t want to talk anymore, I get it. But please. Just let me know, OK?

I’m sorry. 

Love, Y/N

Dear Y/N,

I didn’t know you and my brother were writing to each other like this, but I found your last few letters to him in his private P.O. Box. I didn’t even know he had one of his own, but I guess we all keep secrets from those we love. I hope you don’t mind that I read your letters. Not all of them, but the last two that came through. Please know that Dean would have responded if he could have, I know he would have. He talked about you a lot recently. Said you two were in contact and that he was hoping to find some time to meet you for a vacation. I don’t know where you guys were planning on going, but I found a new Hawiian shirt in his closet with the tags still on it. 

I know we spoke on the phone after he passed, but I wanted to send this to you. I was cleaning up his stuff and found his notepad. Looks like he’d started a letter before we left for Canton. I think he’d want you to have it. 

I’m closing up the Bunker soon. I don’t really know where I’ll go, but I can’t be here right now. Not without my brother. 

I’ll always be around if you need anything or want to talk. I’ll always answer the phone for you, Y/N. 

Be well,

Sam Winchester

Y/N/N, 

If I could take it back I would. Every fucking word. I think about it now and I know we made the wrong choice. I know we could have made it work if we tried. But we are both total fuck ups who can’t be normal. We just can’t. 

Forgive me

That’s dog slobber up there, not tears. Just fyi. Definitely not tears. I think I might have been a little drunk when I started writing and then well-

Anyway- Maine sounds awesome. We were there once but no time for lobster rolls. Guess I missed out. 

Not much to report since the last letter. Been kinda quiet here. But… I did apply for a job. Well, I filled out the application. Well, I started filling it out. It’s actually underneath this notepad right now. I’ll get to it. I will. I just need a good kick in the ass. Or maybe a pinch… wink wink

I absolutely think we need to get together. Pick some place stupid like the World’s Largest Frying Pan or South of The Border. I’ll meet you. Just say when. 

Guess this letter will take a little longer to finish. We’re leaving for Ohio in a little bit. There’s a buncha vampire dicks making a mess. Gonna take ‘em to batting practice. Show them my machete swing. I’ll give a full report when we’re back home

Dean Dean, 

I made it to the beach. It’s hot, like stupid hot. Had to stand in the water just to keep my toes from burning. I’ve been sitting here for hours trying to think of something to say, but all I can say is I love you. I miss you. I wish you were here with me. I wish things had been different. I wish and wish and wish. 

If I throw this into the ocean will it get to you somehow or will my words just wash away like the sand? 

I’ll see you again someday. I hope so, anyway. Let’s just pretend I’m destined for Heaven. I know you’re up there. You were too good not to be. You sacrificed so much, cared so much, saved so many people. I know you made it. If there’s any mercy in this universe, I’ll be up there someday too. Just don’t have too much fun without me. 

I love you, Dean. Always. 

Y/N

2024 Forever Tags (Always Open! Send an Ask!)

@alwaystiredandconfused @babysimpala @beardburnsupersoldiers @chenshemesh1 @cosicas-cuquis @deans-baby-momma @deanwinchesterswitch @feelmyroarrrr @foxyjwls007 @hobby27 @impalaspixie @jackles010378 @kazsrm67 @k-slla @leigh70 @lunaroserites @lyarr24 @nancymcl @nix-rose @peachy-vans @pizzagirlxnsfwx @rachiem4-blog @rosecentury @sexyvixen7 @suckitands33 @the-wounded-healer05  

[titleknown]

PD DAY CHARACTER: MISSHROOM!

So, how’d I get my start you didn’t ask? I died! Mostly!

Details are fuzzy on before, dying will do that. I think I was an actress? I think?

Well, whatever I think some guys musta taken issue with some of those details and it ended up they thought I’d look better in some gasoline lingerie after taking some of my skin out of the game. And I admit, I was pretty hot for a few minutes before things cooled down when I jumped off that bridge into the bay!

I admit, I probably was due for a final starring role on a milk carton, but as an unwise man said, trust the fungus! 

So, anyhoo, there was some kinda think-y space shrooms down there, and boy if that isn’t a cup o’ Red Bull and adderall after you wake up from the night terrors, eh? Eh? I think I remember those back from before. Doesn’t really work on me anymore, but anyway...

So, after I got back up, screamed at my cursed half-life, yadda-yadda horror of I-am-a-monster Ben Grimm shenanigans, I had a time figuring out what to do. But I saw I could do all this neat fungus stuff, acid spores, “acid” spores, shroom-turrets that could shoot the acid(s), heal back from from getting burned with things that are sometimes acid, buncha other stuff that’d run up the word count, the works!

So, I figured if I kept beating up goons, creeps, super-bastards, the works, I’d eventually stumble on the yoyos who tried to take the final cut to send me down some streets of fire into a dirtnap. I even had a costume, death + spores equals easy wardrobe department in the glitzy outfit-that-is also-mostly-dead! But there’s a lot to work through, you know this town. Not a nice place. I’d say at least it’s not Detroit, but honestly I think it takes the title for American nightmare away from there. It’s gotta need at least 10 Robocops to clean that mess up.

But it’s got me, and I think I’m a pretty good me at it! But, when you start pushing back against creeps, you get to other stuff. Fighting systemamatical probalas, seein bigger picture bastards you need a whole lotta shrooms to sautee, meeting other folks who wanna be the Mr Rogers helpers, you know the drill. Good way to meet girls I tells ya.

And that’s how I found the team! I named it by the way! Nobody else liked it, but nobody else had a better idea, so hey, a win’s a lose that’s a win! And we always stay winning here, right? Right?!

----------------------------------------------

SO, as I promised, here's my design, a fungal superheroine, entirely under a CC0 Public Domain License! 

For a bit of trivia, I'm imagining she was some variety of gorgeous dignified starlet who was miserable being all those things before she died, death's just kinda gotten her to let loose. Also, I imagine that fungus to be the same kind that got Space Oddity, albeit from its own continuity, and less... warped by the factors that lead to the latter's nightmarish existence.

But, what's this about a team? Why, that's because she was designed as a part of a team! But, I realized a bit late that I probably couldn't tell a good epistolary story within the limitations I'd set for myself wordcount-wise for a whole team, so I decided to go bigger.

Because this is not just for Public Domain Day, but for Public Domain Month! 

I'll be filling out the super-team that is the Freak Legionnaires this whole month, along with another surprise guest, so you'll be seeing a lot of 'em! Hope you dig what's coming, cause I sure do!

[leias-left-hair-bun-again]

i do love munin skirata but i always have to squint when i read this chapter lol, if i’d been there i’d have been with hokan’s dad going ‘um munin don’t you think that’s a little much’:

“Get up! Get up and run, you little chakaar, or I’ll drag you up.”

Falin...couldn’t get up: he couldn’t go on. He knelt on all fours, struggling for breath, every muscle burning, but he refused to cry. 

He was seven years old. Nearly. He thought it was six years and ten months, but he’d lost count in the war.

“Can’t,” he said.

...”You can do it if you want to,” Munin yelled. “But you don’t want to, and that makes you a nibral. You know what a nibral is? A loser. A waste of space. Deadwood. Get up!”

Falin wanted one thing, and that was to show that he wasn’t lazy or stupid. His dad had never called him stupid. Neither had his mother; they loved him and made him feel safe, and now they were gone forever...

anyways i don’t think there’s a better book series to make one grateful that they have a living functional family lol not even besany’s safe from the Angst and she’s about the most normal one. oh except obrim of course; he’s fine, he just needs a vacation XD

[prophbuilds]

HG RX-78 MS00Z Gundam GP00 [Engage Zero] – A Review

 Pre-ordered in October. Shipped out in March. Missed the mentioned arrival date by a Day as the tracker didn’t bother to update when it was delayed thanks to *Gestures at the recent chaotic weather* all of this “Totally Normal" March weather system.

 That’s right! That monochrome box can only mean one thing: My P-Bandai exclusive Engage Zero has Finally Arrived! = D

 What follows is the basics of the build. It was a fairly easy and smooth build that was pretty fun. So sit back, get comfy and enjoy the read. = )

 So here’s the deal... I pre-ordered this on the US Premium Bandai website back in October. The thing about P-Bandai (especially the US site) is that kits tend to sell out fast. This means that, when the Engage Zero went up for sale, I jumped on it ASAP.

 Turns out I really didn’t need to as I’m Pretty Sure you can still order a kit from the US P-Bandai site at the time of this posting. o.o

 Anyhoo! Now that I got this kit in and got the change to build it, I'm really happy I didn't risk the wait. The Engage Zero is a neat little kit. The story is it’s supposed to be a Federation/Zeon joint creation and you can tell in the build. The head and body have a lot of design cues from the classic RX-78. The colors are very much Gundam Mk.II inspired. The limbs are VERY Much inspired by Zeon suits. It sports a back skirt similar to the Qubeley with some Neo-Zeon flavored arms and legs. The beam rifle has a Gundam SEED feel and the shield looks like it’d be at home in Gundam AGE.

 As for the build… it has a handful of color stickers. It’s not a Terrible amount, but it does have some to add some red bits to the arms, legs and Gigantic space backpack. The only stickers I used were the eyes, a handful for the lenses and I tried for the classic Gundam “Crotch V-Fin". See... this is an area that – in the past - questioned if it really needed a large sticker for. Most times, the bulk of sticker is the same color as the plastic piece you’re putting it on with only the V-Fin being different. Well… this kit came with Just the V-Fin.

 To give you an idea of the size of the this detail: It’s so small on HG kits that you can just leave it blank and the natural highlight and shading of any kind of light setup will make it pop and noticeable.

 This kit comes with this teeny tiny fiddly little golden metallic sticker for Just the V-Fin. I tried for a few minutes trying to line it up on the piece and get it to wrap around like it should and Yeah! Nope. I took the thing off. Although this was kinda’ sorta' planned to be a straight build, I’m adding that to the list of things to be painted in later. This kit looks great on its own and will look better with some panel lining. It also has a lot of very nice open space that’s just begging for some decals and detailing.

 Enjoy some in-progress shots! = D

 Final Thoughts: I love it. It's a very feminine looking kit without going the full "Not Sailor Moon" distance that the Nobel Gundam goes. The color separation is great with only a handful of parts needing stickers. Although it comes with a whole thing of polycaps, it hardly uses any. Instead, it has a lot of plastic on plastic joints. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, I’ll find out in time.

 The poseability on this is top notch. Massive space backpack aside, it’s well balanced and can hold a fair number of poses. As others have pointed out, the shoulder armor prevents it from getting its arms to go straight out. Like anything, a little bit of sanding would improve that but it’s not a deal breaker by any means.

 It also does something I rarely see from Bandai – It has a set of open hands, holding hands and a custom trigger hand for the rifle with backing parts for the whole set. That’s Two pairs for basic hands and a special trigger hand with Five backs so you don’t have to loot them from the others just to use them. = )

 Overall, I’m diggin' the Engage Zero. It was a relatively simple build with a nice payoff. I Might try to mod the back to accept something beyond the single post backpacks but, for now, it’s a nice little kit.

[izzycodes]

Building My Links Page - Log #1

I spent the entirety of my lunch on this...

Hello and welcome! I present to you a project that I am wanting to build! I have a link that has all my social media links on, so it's all grouped together for me to give out to people to say "Hey, here are my other social media accounts!". All fun, right? However, I don't like the design. I'm not saying it's ugly or anything. You can see for yourself here [LINK], it's a simple neat design! But it's not very me. On top of that, I have been having thoughts of making my own that I coded myself from scratch. So, I'm building one.

━━ ⋆

I don't know what to really call this page?? It's not my portfolio page, I'm making that one later. It's just a summary of me and my links - that's all. Something to add to the 'add a link' sections on my Instagram and Twitter!

Anyhoo, today I spent my lunch break just designing the mockup of the page how I want it to look! It's not the best but I'm happy with it so far. There are still some things I think later I will change when I actually start coding it but this will do for now! 😊

So, above is the design for the mobile devices (I used an iPhone 14 as a reference as that's the phone I'm using and will be testing on that) and below is what the page will look like on big and medium screen sizes:

What did I use to make the design? PowerPoint.

━━ ⋆

This will be a challenge for me as I don't know responsive designing like 100% to say I'm confident in it so it will be a nice challenge. Then afterwards I want to add some features like Night and Light mode etc. But, let's focus on just coding up the HTML and CSS part first!

I normally work from the Big screen design to the small screen design! I'll start working on it in a couple of days.

This is all a learning experience, and I am and always will be trying my best. Wish me good luck! 😅🙌🏾💻

[thedovahcat]

Gorillas and the Last Birthday Hour (And Dino Pics!)

Went to the natural history museum today with my dad since he said he’d take me out on my birthday. It was really fun! While the place was small, it still had a lot of neat exhibits to look at. I’m used to the overcrowded gigantic colossus of a museum that is the one in Los Angeles, so to see a small one like this was certainly noticeable. Not bad! Just different.

They had some special arctic dinosaurs exhibit with one big fellow who looked really neat. Can’t remember the name right now. Along with one that was just for Texas animals and such and these very nice video presentations. Texas is a very nice state, the thing is, all those pictures in the videos of the Rio Grande and the flower fields and the pines over towards the east side? I’m finding you really need to be an outdoorsy kind of person to appreciate what this state has to offer. And, with any luck, I’ll be able to do just that once I get my school/job situation back on track and have a normal job again. One that properly pays me AND properly lets me take time off. Naturally you can’t do anything without money.

So there was that, then there were these like... Ancient peoples kind of exhibits upstairs which was also really neat, a lot of rancher life stuff in the next building over, and a neat garden outside by the river. It was cold today so we didn’t stay out long before packin’ it in and vamoosing.

After that we had some great cheeseburgers at this little local joint, and as soon as I got home I fell asleep for most of the afternoon.

Had a little cake after dinner and here I am. All in all a good day! Nice and peaceful. The last year of the 20s for me... Next year the big 3-0. Terrifying! But that’s till young lmao.

It’s going to be raining all this week or at least off and on, so I haven’t had a chance to practice outside with my new bow. Saved up more than enough money to buy it and some arrows and a target! But now me and my dad really need to figure out this backstop business. Not a lick of building-things n our bodies, so we’re kind of wondering how to just hack something together... I seen plenty of DIY youtube videos but they’re a bit too advanced for us (even though in principle just gluing shit to some plywood is easy... It’s never that easy there’s always a catch.)

Not very much going on in the school realm. I’m still unable to register for fall classes as they haven’t set up the schedule for that yet. Still unable to do the stupid orientation.

Been doing some captioning work for Rev on the side. I was lucky to get in apparently. It’s not great but I appreciate having an extra 10 or 20 bucks at the end of the week. Even little amounts add up over time. But, now that I’ve bought what I want, I guess now I don’t really know what to do. I feel like I met a lot of my short term goals within the last couple months because boy, I was working really hard to study for that stupid placement exam. And I was saving up money like nuts for my bow. Now that it’s all over I’m back to the ‘now what’ phase. I’ll figure something out.

Other special note thing UoU today on my birthday Rev and Hass have -officially- been married for 10 years in Real Life. They had their big ol Pandaria wedding on my 19th birthday and I still remember it. Here they are. Couple’a old geezers. I cry. I didn’t even do anything special for them like a picture or anything. Shame shame!!

Anyhoo, sorry for the short update. Here’s some dinosaur pictures to make up for it.

[thatcharmingjerk]

Top 5 fictional animal characters :3c

Oh this was HARD!!!! And even I obsessed over this for few hours I still feel like I’m forgetting someone actually important but !!!!! Let’s try!!!!!!!

Ok first one is character that I do not like at all, I dont think I even sympathize with him but I think he’s fantastically written and I feel like I understand the point and motives of this bitch but I know some of yall will cringe at me for picking him but still! my first pick is:

-Walter White. I think he’s just so good depiction of how dangerous it can be when you have unresolved issues and you’re in a tight spot, like the cunt started as good ™ man who worked hard and did his best to provide for his family, but the cancer and the bitterness most people seem to overlook made him to spiral into such monster..! 

I just seriously think that he’s so good example what might happen when someone who has mental baggage and toxic and unprocessed bitterness is pushed too far 

......Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I only now noticed the animal part of the ask asdfghjhkg anyway my other picks for top 5 characters would’ve been Edward Elric, Dean Winchester, Ragnar Lodbrok and Nuuskamuikkunen (aka Snufkin) who I also thought to write little essays of!!! 

But!!!!!!!! Animals!!!!!! Ok ok ok lets seeeeeeee 

(I had to get my thoughts out of my system so dude rambling is under cut too!!) 

1. Moro from Mononoke Hime, the wolf mother, I just love her she’s fierce and dangerous but also nurturing and kind enough to raise a human among her pups, I think Moro is just one of the good wolves in media, like good as in pretty correct, not a pet but also not a mindless killing machine either!! 

2. Black Beauty, the main character from the movie with same name, idk he just is so horse, he just keeps being kind and nice and working even after all the shit he has to put up with because he trusts that some people are good too. Yes that movie makes me cry, yes I’m emotional of horses!!!!! 

3. Scar from Lion King, he’s queer coded!!! He’s got this greasy style!!! His moral compass is set on whatever!!! He just lies and cheats and don’t give a shit of anyone! Gotta love a good villain! 

4. Akame from Hopeanuoli/Ginga, idk he’s got style, plus also gotta love a bitch who decides just not to give a shit of old tradition he notices are just empty, like ‘’hey I just now noticed there’s actual problems in world and us guarding some old scrolls ain’t one, bye boys i’mma burn this place!’’ 

Ok last one shall beeeee...! 

5. Balto!!! As a weirdo myself the whole conflict of not feeling like belonging with either dogs nor wolves, might I say, mood. 

Really tho I think Balto is one of the rare cases where main character dude being an underdog (hehe) don’t come with the scott pilgrim -syndrome so thats neat, 

and I just really liked and i still like to see an outsider find self worth in their true self and, AND!! becoming cherished part of community!!! 

So there we go!! Did I overthink this? Absolutely!!! Did I ramble too much? Mayhaps!!! But yeah, here we goooo! And yes theres what I originally thought for this ask before properly reading it under the cut!!! XD 

Thank u for the ask anyhoo <3 

Yes!!!!! My semi-planned rambling of my boys went here before I could think if best animals!!! so yeah!!! walter is a cunt but the rest of these choices i actually do love so! 

Edward Elric, a bastard!!! I love that in any character!!! He’s just so well written too, like he’s the big brother, he has responsibilty, he knows he needs to do stuff no one else can, he’s smart but in believable way so it doesn’t feel too god-like etc, the trauma!!! the tenacity!!! and at the end of the day behind all of he’s just a teenage who lost almost everything and just..... *clenches fist* yeah......

Dean Winchester, yes another big brother but this dude is whole different story, yes he had to look after himself and his little brother but there was also terrifying father figure present to beat him up (mentally, possibly physically too?) for any mistake like its telling he gives Dean shit about car maintenance even when he’s over twenty so....... and yes big part of Dean character isn’t probably what writers intended but I don’t care, i just like what i see in him and his macho-mask and what else!!! 

Ragnar Lodbrok, yes also a historical figure but we’re talking about the dude from vikings show obviously!! I just LOVE how he’s a very manly man and etc blah blah but also soft..! He’s a family man!! he loves his wife!!! plays with his kids!!! he’s a leader sure but his real interest isn’t power or gold he just wants better life for his family and people!!! He loves good soil over gold!!!! but he’s also not a perfect ™, he has his weaknesses and his morals can be interesting to say at least, I just adore his vibe and the self confidence!!!!!

and then, Nuuskamuikkunen, he’s perfect being, this bitch has it all figured out, acab, fuck the stupid rules and just yes!!! if I didn’t love my trinkets and place for creating art so much I would absolutely live in a tent too, or at least with life that fits in single backpack!!!

[hedgefairy]

Okay, I know, I know, it's already old news, everybody and their uncle in the costuming community has already talked it over, but anyhoo, I made notes when I crawled my way through effing Bridgerton and I will be damned if I don't vomit them onto this site. I have 32 pages of this shit, I'm not gonna throw that away.

I'm also typing this on my phone because I'm stuck on a trainride that's just doubled in length because this is the 2021 Northern German snow storm. What, there's snowflakes on the rails? We cannot possibly keep up our schedule, say goodbye to 90% of the connections.

Okay, on to Bridgerton, Episode 1

We're in Britain (oh, London, okay), allegedly 1813. I see people who are clearly meant to be asympatico, but is this size incusivity I spot there? Daring! Gasp! Me li...

Oh wait, no. The character is promptly shamed for her figure (which is mostly caused by the horrible cut of her dress. Every size can look great in Regency garb, but never mind, we need to make the "fat one" look bad!).

Also, no shifts under the stays. Why. There was obviously enough budget, don't tell me you couldn't afford a few strappy tops - it's not like the rest is historically accurate, so it would have sufficed to send some poor underpaid intern to H&M and get some. Nvm, that wouldn't be sexay.

Wait, is the garishly dressed (always a sign of a character of bad character in a costume drama) woman Delphine from Selfridge? Does she always have to play bitches? That's not nice, and just because she has a recognisable face, which by modern (read: americanised) standards is not favourable enough. Ugh. But I like the actress, so I'll let it slide (for now).

Lol, buttocks.

Not sure about the girls' dresses. Also, the Queen is a WOC, cool!

Oh no, one of the Featherington sisters faints! But that's okay because the Featheringtons are just comic relief and foil anyway.

I get weird incest vibes from the Bridgertons.

So the court is clearly 18th century and the show is set in the 1810s. I've by now seen several explanations for this decision, I still think it robs the Queen of reproductions of her actual historical gowns which were heavily inspired by the 18th century but so. Magnificently. Weird. It would have been so neat, and more of a "hey, I'm kinda out of touch with things" vibe, but hey, I'm not the one getting paid for making those taffeta gowns here (her hair is glorious, tho).

I'm very into the intro.

That Regency gossip girl is a real b, not unlike the Dowager Countess of Downton (unpopular opinion, I think she's pretty overrated, yes, I like Maggie Smith).

Again, no shifts.

Where do I know the "pragmatic" Bridgerton sister from? Ah, it's The Paradise. And Jonathan Strange. (Wait, she's my age. And she's supposed to be a teenager. Man, do I love a good Dawson casting. I like the actress, though, she has a face ™!).

Aaaah. We get it. She's the spirited one. She also doesn't care about dresses because she's not like other girls™. I really like her voice (but she still doesn't sound like a teenager).

The heck is up with Lady F's dress and that of her friend? Oh, yeah. Antagonist fashion.

Of course the Featheringtons are Horrid Hags™ aside from Penny who's nice, but the pudgy one (at least we don't get a case of "she's not conventionally attractive so she's bad").

Oooh, the cousin! Supposed to suck, but ofc she's a stunner, and only Penny (who's the nice one, remember!) is delighted to have her around. She's also a POC, which is nice but apparently that means she does not follow fashion, hair-wise. I would have loved to see some Regency hair on her, it would have been so pretty *cries in Greek updo*

Ugh, we're still in Ep. 1, typing this on my phone was a bad idea.

Lady Danbury and the Duke guy are delightful with each other (more POC! So neat!).

The girl the oldest Bridgerbro screws is apparently a singer, which isn't up to status for his doucheship, and she doesn't wear a shift.

The music at the ball sounds like something from the Top 40s, but I'm woefully ignorant of contemporary music charts so I can't tell what it is. I like it when they do that in historical-ish works, making well-known pop or rock stuff work for the ambience (ugh, that dance scene to Golden Years in Knight's Tale. My heart. In a good way.)

I dig the Ducktail hair of Penny's crush. Oh, wait, that's a Bridgerbro. I don't quite get why the hair trends of the time don't apply to the POC characters or extras, but seeing how most white characters also show a shameful disregard for the weirdnes and gloriosity (that's not a word) that is early 1800s hair (the 1830s take the cake, tho) despite those hairdos being basically designed for white people hair, I don't think I care much (well, I do, but about all of them). Overall the hair is horrid and not very 1810s. Let's just leave it at that.

Like a good old romance novel (I've since been told that Bridgerton is supposed to be a pastiche of such novels, but I really couldn't tell from the series, not at all, and I'm not inclined to read the books) we have

a pretty, kind, superpure daughter of the main family

the mean matriarch (could have been an aunt, too, but here she's the mum) of the rivalling or antagonist family

a spirited daughter of the main family (in most romance novels this would be our heroine but so far she refreshingly lacks a love interest and pretty daughter seems to get the most screen time)

a Horrid Suitor™

a Hot Suitor™ who doesn't want attention

a really good and doting good parent

Lol, misheard Greece for Grease with Ducktail Bridgerbro, whose name is Colin, apparently. This is funny because of his Danny Zuko memorial hair.

Overall a bit too much bling for my taste, and too few pearls. It looks like an episode of My Super Sweet Sixteen with a Regency theme.

Of course the romance is going to be the Pretty One aka. Daphne and the Duke and he's even bros with her eldest bro. Wait, are they exes? I can haz bi? No? Aww, shucks. Maybe in another episode (spoiler: no).

Okay, WHAT is it with Lady F's dresses and hair. Like, she reminds me of Mars Attacks. Which, as you might remember, was not set in the Regency period.

Lord B (Bridgerbro the Eldest) sucks, he's screwing Opera Girl without any intention of marrying her but he's bitchy about his sister being ogled by his Eton (or wherever) bestie?

Oh, I'm in Hamburg now. And my train back home got canceled, so back to Berlin it is because there's not a single option to get to Hanover tonight, at least that's what the lady from the train station is saying, "oh well, you'll have to go back and try again tomorrow", so that's awesome...

Honestly, if it weren't so late and I didn't have things to do at home I'd find this terribly exciting.

Back to Bridgerton!

Where were we? Ah.

I can't even read my own annotation. Something about George III. I think I was upset about how they totally ignored that it's called Regency because George IV acted as the regent king, and he doesn't even feature in the series, I guess because they wanted to play up the Queen? Not a fan, because thanks to Horrible Histories I'm quite fond of that guy.

Again, no shifts.

Oh, look, it's Horrid Suitor™, destined for leftovers.

The Featherington cousin gets all the attention but no fleshed-out character.

Penny Featherington's dog is named Lord Byron, which ❤️

I like the Duke! He's there, drinking in his club (even though they're a patriarchal remnant of the past I have a weird appreciation for stuffy Gentlemen's Clubs, I blame Bertie Wooster and the Drones), calling Lord B out for his general fuckery.

Oh no, Ducktail Colin is more into the Cousin than Penny, who obviously pines for him!

Thank you, Lord B, for enabling Horrid Suitor™. Nobody asked you to be such a fucktwit.

The Queen is, of course, a bit of a bitch, but patronage from cool Lady *scrolls up for name* Danbury ensues for Protagonist Girl™ Daphne.

"I wish they had found a better trend language", what the heck did I even mean by that? That's what you get for just scribbling down notes while watching and simultaneously sewing. 18th century pants, in case you wanted to know.

Cousin is angry, probably because Lady F behaves like Cinderella's evil stepmother, because Cousin is prettier than her daughters and gets, like, all the suitors because Lord B bitched away everyone who wanted to get into Daphne's dowry ifyouknowwhatImeanwinkwinknudgenudge, right across the street into Cousins parlour.

The Bridgertons are annoyingly perfect. Ugh.

Oh look, it's "banter" between Daphne and Dukey! It's so Pride & Prejudice! It's almost a tiny bit Shakespeare! I put banter in parentheses because wow, nope, I'm not getting any chemistry here.

Uh, Lady B calls out Lord B (aka. her son aka. Bridgerbro the Eldest) for his screwery with Opera Girl and his outpimpery of his sister to Horrid Suitor™, buuuurrrrrnnn. He promptly calls of his affair with Opera Girl.

No shifts!

Penny gets to dance with Ducktail Colin at the thing! Good for her, but it's a country dance with jumping and fun, because she's a) the pudgy character and b) a Featherington, so it can't be something romantic and pretty (I personally like country dances, but they aren't protagonist dances).

Oooh, Cousin had her period, oh no, oh snap, oh she didn't, because she's PREGNANT! Shit, that's problematic, and not because she's an unmarried woman in the 1810s, but because she gets close to no lines at all so far, and suddenly she's pregnant and telling Lady F that she sucks for being privileged, violence ensues, this is ugly. Man, I get what some critics mean by "the POC actors*actresses get all the problems" and that not exactly being great.

Horrid Suitor™ makes property claims about Daphne, eeewwwww, thanks to Lord B's general suckiness, ewww, r@pe attempt ensues, was that really necessary? It doesn't really fit in with the rest of the series and generally nope, yay, broken nose! (which was indeed totally necessary). Nice one, and probably the only scene so far (spoiler: overall) in which I actually like Daphne. Dukey thinks a mean left hook is attractive, and, generally speaking, he's not wrong.

Daphne and Dukey come up with a pseudo-shakespearean plot to pretend to be totally into each other so she can attract suitors by being not available and he gets not to have fangirls by being not available, and as someone who has read a few too many historical-ish bodice rippers I know exactly where this is going. I mean, come on.

I can't see enough of the following choreography to complain about it. Man, I miss historical dance classes.

And that concludes Ep. 1! Finally! Thank you for getting this far, sorry for all of it (especially typos, it's the bane of unwanted autocorrect), I guess?

Update on the train situation: I've been told by the ticket control person that I shouldn't get my hopes up until noon tomorrow.

To be continued,

because I didn't take these 32 pages of notes for nothing.

[glitchyfrills]

Has it been over two weeks since Last Day part 1 came out? Yes. Did I mean to send this ask back when it was posted? Also yes. Anyways, Last Day part 1! The drama, the fighting, the sibling bonding time! I really like how you've connected the story to the videos (I mean that is how this all started lol). Yay Samantha did it, she became an intern! When she said she was lonely eating lunch, I thought about Miles. Also her concern over Shawn's eating and drinking habits was heartwarming. It's great that she cares so much about him and looks up to him as well. Miles POV!! I thought that was pretty neat. And Miles helping out Sam by getting Shawn was nice. Oh no Shawn's angry. Hugs! The three of them talking and hugging was so cute, I love all of their interactions. Sam and Miles becoming friends! Miles' pun about "gofer a tour" was great. Also, the tour! A nice start to a good friendship. Overall, I really liked this part (if you couldn't tell by this long as heck ask) and I can't wait to see what you come up with next!! 💚🌌

Oh my gosh it’s been so long since I’ve updated or posted anything lol. But it’s OKAY! *breath in and out* ITS OKAY!

Anyhoo... the response to this story/part has been so encouraging. Since it’s not entirely Shawn Flynn/Darkiplier focused I had some concerns. But I’m building a world here and so far it’s been welcomed and that makes me smile because I love this AU world and the characters that live in it.

And of course! I was happy that the video fit the situation. A year ago I was writing parts of a story that were very heavily inspired by tiktoks made by @cuttyren and @mythicalitycosplay. It’s nice to go back to the roots of what started The Bent Universe. It’s a bonus that it’s expanded as much as it has video/TikTok wise. That’s what made Please, Take It so fun to write and read (at least in my opinion). You could actually see parts of what was happening in the story acted out.

The interactions these characters have have been so nice and sweet to write. Simple but heart warming. And writing Shawn as an angry/defensive older brother is just so much fun.

I’m going to tell you a secret.... *whispers* I didn’t intend for that to be a pun.

lol But the fact that it’s read as one is just perfection and honestly very Miles. So it’s natural. Yay!

Samantha and Miles’ friendship is something I’m looking forward to writing and developing. I’ve been viewing/reading about so many different kinds of friendships and I can’t wait to see how this one turns out. So far it’s been a sweet one.

Hopefully something new is posted. I wrote a bit today/yesterday so... PROGRESS!

Sending all the light and good vibes!✨

-Glitchy💚

[pepperstrawberry]

Verdant Flame (working title)

Okay, I’m running with the suggested title.

This post is going to be just putting thoughts out there about how I’m going to do this project, possible ideas of how to publish, and what major changes I’m going to roll with.

I’m going to put it all under the cut so I’m not wreaking havoc on your dash. X3

Before the cut: For those somehow not in the know (like, how could any of my followers on Tumblr or Twitter not have caught wind of the bonfire of gnashing teeth much of the Magic LGBT+ community is dealing with right now, I don’t know, but just in case, and especially if this post is seen later): WAR Forsaken dropped and with it Gruulfriends went from canon to retcon in a way I didn’t expect: Biphobia and erasure among other issues. I’ll talk about the mess itself later, but for now, lets adress what we are doing as a community and what I”m doing in particular.

The basics is that we are kinda rebelling against Wizards in what small way we can; but being creative, interesting and having fun with the canon. Take the means of production, canon is ours now!

But for me in specific, I’ve been playing with using Chandra and Nissa as well as the world of Magic to create frame works for stories I wanted to tell, but until now I boiled down everything to its basics because I just wanted to use frame works and use tropes as jumping off points. But now? Fuck that, I’m thinking about pulling an E.L. James, but good.

What does that mean? Well, E.L. James literally wrote a fanfic, changed some names, and published it. So screw it, going to do the same over here. I’m going to take a step or two further back then she did, since 1) Wizards/Hasbro might not be as nice as Stephenie Meyer and 2) I feel like I can be a better writer then E.L. James.

So, how will this project play out? This is where I make a cut and we get down to business:

First: How to publish?

I think if I’m going to make this a thing, I’m going to have to go with self publishing and do these in short stories. I’m not sure how short, but I feel like once I get the ball rolling, I want to just keep going. If I’m taking years to put out one book and you guys are waiting that long for it, I’m going to loose steam and you are going to loose interest. This is definitely a ‘strike while the irons hot’ situation.

And the iron is near melting right now.

Second: What is going to be the basics and how will it differ from MtG Lore ‘Canon’?

First and most obvious is that I need to figure out what I can keep and what needs to be changed.

As I said above, while I am definitely in the mood of ‘you know what, this is ours now, fuck off’, the fact is, the law is the law. If your work is too similar to another, you can get in some heavy trouble.

I’ve covered some of this in my other posts about this, but I’m pulling this into one spot with the new info to make it easier for me and others to find.

World: I’m going to use analogs of each of the planes of MtG to make countries and kingdoms. It’s a lovely short hand and will make the world building go that much faster... Tricky part (much as the characters) is renaming things and setting it enough apart that it isn’t exactly the worlds and what not from MtG.

The main ones I’m going to use are:

Zendikar: Still going to be the land my ‘Not-Nissa’ hails from. First step is to just fully expunge the eldrazi history and effect. I am thinking about having some sort of ancient thing buried there, but in a very adventure-y feel of like an old dragon or some other powerful creature.

Kaladesh: Still home to ‘Not-Chandra’, still a place of one-ness with nature and artifice. Debating on how much I should carry over the sense of Indian aesthetic. Like, I don’t want to be window dressing like the actual Kaladesh is, but at the same time I’m not sure how well I can make it feel ‘right’ in that regard. I think I’ll keep the plot idea they started, but carry it through right.

Theros: Not-Gideon and Not-Elspeth will definately have history here. There won’t be actual gods, though a great power they attribute -to- gods will exsist. Which brings me to wonder how I should handle the cosmology... especially when we are talking about

Innistrad: I envision a very gothic, germanic country side, probably bordering Not-Theros. There will be a cult that worships a great power hidden on the moon. I’m going to use this as an opportunity to do a thing that came to mind when Emrakul locked herself away...

Vryn: I’m not sure if or how I’ll use this since we know so little about it. Might just cut it and have my ‘Not-Jace’ come from somewhere else. Hell, might just cut to the chase and make him connected with my Not-Ravnica. And speaking of...

Ravnica: Obviously a major trade hub and likely a center piece of the setting. Not-Jace, Not-Vraska, Not-Kaya, and Not-Ral all would be seen here. I think i’d also take all of the Fiora stuff and fold it into this so that I don’t have too much going on in the world and can pull together a lot of neat characters from that set too. Not-Marchessa might be fun as a side... well not ‘villain’, but definitely not helpful to our heroes... usually. X3

Ixalan: Pretty easy; coastline adventure. Just use any ideas from the block for pirate based shenanigans. Not sure if I will write enough to get to this sort of craziness, but it would be a lot of fun if I do.

Amonkhet: Not sure if, when, or how I am going to use this. Though a desert region might be fun. Might combine this with Regatha and that plan that Teyo comes from.

Kamigawa: I mean, really, this is ‘japan: the setting’. They went so hard on the Japanese lore here that it’s not going to be hard to make my own with little effort or consideration. Do expect there to be a Not-Tamiyo. X3

Alara: To be honest, I was never too big on this plane, but then it was a big deal years ago and I never really ‘set foot’ there. I mean if I did use it, I could use it to sorta map the bigger world’s zones? But that feels too much like the silly ‘elemental nations’ angle. Worked well for Avatar, but won’t work here.

Eldraine: I’m thinking about using this as a rough overlay of the main areas and goverment and what not tied to and surrounding my not-ravnica. Not sure. I haven’t finished the book yet, and it’s hard to get a solid bead on the details of the world without the old uploads, the clear posting of lore that used to happen (remember how we all knew what was going on with the color pie/race spread of Kaladesh?) and just having mostly the cards to go one leaves me wanting a bit. Not to mention they aren’t making the art books anymore. FUCK. I liked those. They needed to be improved not canceled T3T ... anyhoo...

Dominaria: Given what Dominaria now is to magic lore, I think I’ll set it as the history past. This world IS my Not-Dominaria.

I’ll figure out other planes as I go along, though I might just stick with what I got here. Adding in more is going to muck up the world I’m crafting. I may be taking parts that aready exist and remixing it (which, if we are honest with ourselves, is really how we tell stories in the first place, I’m just leaving my ‘mix’ lumpy XD), but I do need to concetrate more on the characters. I can’t introduce a new land every book. I need familiar ground, routes that readers can follow, places characters can be from that matter.

Speaking of characters:

Characters: Again, the idea here is that you should be able to recognize them to some extent, but I sitll have to work with the ‘legally distinct’ Not-Gatewatch... So here is what I got so far:

Chandra: What we keep: Fire based magics, brashness, cute. What we change: Not much. Most of her changes are going to be involved with the way I change the world around her. I think the big difference is instead of having her ‘planeswalk’, when her family gets hunted, they end up traveling toward the border, and she ends up running, getting lost, and finding herself on the steps of a (monastery). Also... no one would hate me for going ahead and making her trans, would they? Like, by the story proper’s start, she’ll have a woman’s body (or maybe that could be a part of her quest?), but I do like the idea. X3 It adds more of a personal touch to my Chandra.

Nissa: Debating on if I should keep her an elf. Keeping her an elf AND keeping the nature magic might be too alike. If not Elf, what should I make her? Still, the basics of her story are that she is looked down on, shunted to the side. stuff that leads her into being more comfortable on her own. Chandra is going to help her out of her shell, but only due to her honesty and clarity.

Gideon: No inviciblity. But definately going to keep him being the classic hero type, but with a genuine heart of gold. Going to change up his armorments from the sural to a short sword, buckler, and a lance/javalin? something like that. Hails from Not-Theros, has taken residence in Not-Ravnica

Jace: Trans man. Doing that right from the start. I know it was some folks head canon for a long time, and I see nothing wrong with making it canon here. Going to have to play with his past a bit. I think I’m not going to bother with the memory erasure. Instead, he trained as a spy with some mental powers and illusions. After betraying his original handler (someone that was a part of a different country), he defects to the not-ravnica and gets wrapped up with that stuff, eventually going out to help other nations in an effort to unite the continent or something... I’m kinda forming stuff as I write this. XD

Liliana: Still a necromancer. Going to cut out the deals with the devils. Maybe one, but not four. Might still have marks, but it will be more from her own magics rather then a contract. Still served a terrible master, but maybe with less strings attatched (or at least she thinks so). A friend in a discord suggested I have her have a binding on her bother as a lich vampire hunter. I’m warming to the idea, but still need to work out the details. I like the idea of her regaining her youth, that might even be the first story where Not-Chandra and Not-Nissa interact.

Vraska: Will end up in a relationship with Not-Jace... but I’m not too keen on keeping her a gorgon. I like the look of her ‘hair’, but I might just go with straight up dreads. Someone suggested making her some form of Naga, and though I’m not big on taking away her legs, the idea of some snakish relation is not out.

Ral: Inventor. Jackass. Friend of Not-Jace, has a Gay lover? yep, keeping all that. I think most of his changes, like Chandra, will be more about how the world around him shifts do to how I write rather then actual character changes.

Kaya: Keeping the Assassin, and can fight Ghosts. Still fleshing this one out. Likely to have ties with whatever I do with the Orzhov still. I adored the whole being hired by Teysa and ending up in charge thing, though I’m not sure I’ll go quiet that far? Mmm

Jaya: Still a mentor to Chandra. Less mystery around her though. It’s going to be less ‘she was the founder of our group’ and more ‘an adventurer that chose to settle down in her old age’ or something. And yes, the cookie scene I drew a comic for a while back will be in the story X3

Karn: Golems are a thing in fantasy, I don’t see a reason to stop now. But the Urza history is going to be retired. I think he might be an invention of someone in the current world and ends up as a helper to Not-Chandra and Not-Nissa at some point. 

Jhoira: I’m thinking grand daughter to Not-Jaya. I like her and I want to keep her, but I like the adventure her. Might have a rivalry between her and Not-Chandra. like a friendly one. She might even have a bit of a chip on her shoulder as she doesn’t have fire magic, but Not-Chandra does.

Rat and Teyo: Might might not. The cast is getting big already, we’ll see. Might have them as a duo from the start with a sort of ‘adventures in the sewers’ thing going on.

Ugin: Not a dragon, but definately a powerful being. and still has that stick up his ass. Often wrong about what he thinks should be done, but his heart is genuinely in the right place. Going to make Not-Mizzet his son maybe?

Nicol Bolas: Bastard, got a plan, and it will be similarly a slow build, but he is going to be less ‘has his hands in everything’ and more a ‘mmm, I could use this’ sort.

Alesha: Fuck timelines! This woman is a friend of Not-Chandra and helped her discover herself. Whether she rides with her people near... wait... OH GOD I LOVE IT: Something I literally thought up while writing. She and her nomadic bandit team travel the roads between many lands, and they find young not-Chandra. After coming out as being a girl, Not-Alesha is what helps solidify her sense of Identity. After showing off her fire magics and how uncontroled they are, adding in how young she still is, they drop her off with the (monastery) XD I’m loving this change already.

Oviya: Still Chandra’s Auntie. Big change? Her lover is still alive, because fuck that noise.

Olivia: Plans. Hungry. 

Avacyn: Doesn’t exists at the start of the story, but thinking about having her be created during it.

Sorin: Not sure....

Still thinking about a lot of other characters. I’ll get to them as I go.

There is also the Guilds of Ravnica to consider... With those, I think I’m going to keep the identity but not quite the orginizations. At least not so directly. Like not all of them are absolute ‘guilds’. There is less straight up organization. But there are definately a strong sense of jobs and a loyalty to those you work with...

Story:

And then there is the story itself. I think I’m going to start it with Not-Chandra meeting Not-Gideon much like before, but the goals are that he is traveling on a mission to see what is going on in Not-Zendikar. The seers/mages/whatever have been sensing some shit going down in that area and it’s close enough to the boarders of not-ravnica to check out. He and Not-Jace pass through and Not-Chandra gets curious and follows. She is going to meet Not-Nissa on the way. The four become a team and face down a nasty threat to the land and uncover a old history of Not-Zendikar that might need to be followed up on.

That can be book one.

Book two can be Not-Liliana’s introduction. The four, having worked so well together, are made a team by Not-Ugin and charged with trouble shooting all around the realm and seeing about maybe making more allies for Not-Ravnica. They find an old woman and they help her regain her youth... and in her they find an old villain. But the world has changed since last Not-Liliana walked the lands outside her keep. And it turns out that Not-Olivia, a vampire queen, has been making a name for herself. There are other darknesses afoot in her territory. For now, she would offer the team aid... as long as it suits her.

I think that can be book two

A return home would be the third story. Yes, this is kinda following how the stories were flowing at first, but after this one things are going to shift. The return home will bring Not-Chandra in direct confrontation with her past. The big changes I made to that and to Not-Kaladesh become big here. I’m thinking this is also where Not-Jhoira hangs out. The war behind the scenes is brewing, but it’s only starting. The all out mess won’t be till a later book.

What will happen in the story though is the confrontation with Not-Baral, Not-Chandra almost nuking herself in grief, and Not-Nissa being the anchor she needed. This will be the point of confession.

And so on... I’m not sure how far I’m going to go with this, but I want to try to push as many stories, but with as high quality as I can. Can I do it? I have no freaking clue.

I’ll post more as I go. For now, the working title is Verdant Flame. If I change it, I’ll continue to use the title to tag all the stuff I do till I go back and add the new title to old posts.

Now to transfer these notes... and figure out names. you don’t know how tiring it was getting adding ‘Not’ to everything.

And for those really keeping score: Why yes, some of this -was- what Dragon Quixotic was. There is enough difference between the two worlds that I feel confident that I can keep them as separate stories now.

[nimblermortal]

Why Is the Universe 10-, 11-, or 26-dimensional, and Not Some Other Number?

This is in response to @kittydesade​‘s post questioning why those numbers, and the rough answer is: because it is referring, respectively, to either superstring, M-theory, or bosonic string theory. In any of these cases, the answer is “because that’s what makes the math work”, but I want a refresher on the distinctions. 

Cookies to me if I reach the end of this post without typing “Strong Theory” and failing to correct it.

Oh, and string theory is the idea that - well, you know how E=mc^2 which means that mass and energy are equivalent? Well, to link those, atoms are made up of subatomic particles like electrons, which are made up of sub-particles like quarks, which are made up of vibrating packets of energy in the form of strings, which may or may not form loops like hair ties. The mathematics of this is complex and it’s a generally questionable discipline of physics (or it was when I was a kid and first learned about it on PBS) but it’s Neat. It’s one way to understand gravity at a quantum level. Because despite its intuitiveness, gravity is really one of the most difficult forces to understand (which I am not actually sufficiently steeped in physics to understand, more’s the pity; I thought magnetism was at least as bad? but to some degree the more intuitive an idea is, the easier it is to ask why about, and therefore the less we end up understanding about it).

Bosonic String Theory is the oldest version, and so called because it includes bosons.

Bosons are not fermions; fermions are particles that, if identical, cannot occupy the same quantum state, whereas bosons can. Another way this is described is that fermions have half-integer spin (1/2, 3/2, etc) whereas bosons have integer spin (0, 1, 2). Exactly what this means is another discussion. This paragraph exists because I always forget the distinction, so there we go.

Bosonic string theory only covers bosons and does not cover supersymmetry, so in fact it is an outdated model and we can ditch the 26-dimensional option, which is nice because that’s a lot (as Caduceus Clay would put it)*. I want to go in more depth and reading about open/closed, orientable/non-orientable systems, and what a worldsheet is, and explain to you guys things about D25-branes (and branes in general), and work through the actual math in the Wikipedia article linked above, but this is supposed to be an overview of the differences between string theories, and I need to go grocery shopping. So I shan’t. For now.

Superstring Theory is the update to bosonic string theory. Apparently there have been multiple “string theory revolutions”, which is a fascinating statement to make and I want to know more. Superstring theory is nice because it incorporates supersymmetry, which we want to be true because it makes math elegant.

Elegance essentially means ‘small formulas, simple relations’. Historically speaking, the more elegant an equation is, the more likely it is to be at least broadly correct - think F=ma (Newtonian equation for force) or E=mc^2. Very short and nice! As opposed to our current Standard Model for particles, which requires more than one sheet of paper just to write down, and almost as John Mulaney* would put it, nobody likes that.

But we don’t have any proof of supersymmetry, we just want it really badly. If you are a (Christian-raised) atheist, you probably think of Christians as wanting there to be a God the way I am thinking of physicists wanting there to be supersymmetry. It makes everything easier, simpler, nicer to think that there is supersymmetry out there, and if we can just find proof then so many things will be more straightforward. (For the record, this is not how I think of God or theists.**)

Supersymmetry says that every boson has a partner, opposite fermion in mirror to it. In typically cute physicist fashion, they have decided that the partner for an electron is called a selectron. This solves all sorts of problems that I don’t have the space or time to go into here. The problem with this is, of course, the Fermi paradox: if these aliens* (particles) exist - where are they? And so far, we have not been able to answer this question, about either aliens or particles.

And the Fermi paradox is an ongoing problem with all of these theories. If there are these particles, where are they? If there are strings, where are they? If there are all these extra dimensions, where are they? The stupidest explanation I have heard for this last is that they are curled up very small inside each other. I have no idea how that works (fractals maybe?) but it seems much less intuitive than the simple answer “outside”. Referring back to A. Square’s perception of a sphere: Where is the sphere when A. Square does not perceive it as some form of a circle? Outside A. Square’s plane of perception. So that is what is intuitive to me, but maybe I am missing something.

M-theory unifies various superstring theories and apparently precipitated the second string theory revolution, which I think deserves capitals but sometimes we can’t have nice things. And apparently what happened was, we had about five major string theories, and then people started poking around and pointing out that if we used various dualities (situations in which two seemingly different things turn out to be the same in a nontrivial way) then several of these major string theories look to be the same thing.

One of the major dualities was S-duality, which says that strong couplings and weak couplings are the same thing, if you translate them into a different space (probably by something akin to Fourier analytics, which I am not going to explain here). And that’s... a lot, as Caduceus Clay* would say. First off, what is a coupling? Well, you know how if you are fitting data you can fit it to a polynomial? And if it’s random data, well, maybe a line (polynomial to the first power) doesn’t fit well, but a parabola (polynomial to the second power)is a little better, and if you keep raising that exponent you can get better and better fits, even as it becomes a meaningless fit? Well, some things are expressed better as polynomials of infinitely many terms. For example, Taylor series. And as long as the thing you are raising to a power is less than one, this gets more accurate without exploding (because, for example, 1/2^1 = 1/2, 1/2^2 = 1/4, 1/2^3 = 1/8, and so it keeps getting smaller and less significant). Those are weak couplings. Whereas if that term you are raising is greater than 1, it gets bigger and bigger (because, for example, 2^1 = 2, 2^2 = 4, 2^3 = 8...). Those are strong couplings, because naming convention is terrible.

But! There are ways and ways of looking at things. Because, say, I am looking at things in Cartesian coordinates, I plot something as being a units from the center on the x axis and b units from the center on the y axis, and it is at point (a, b). But if I switch to polar coordinates, I plot that as being c units from the center in straight radial distance and d degrees from the x axis if you rotate a line of length c from the x axis, and then that point is (c, d). And this is still the same point, but we are starting with different base assumptions for how we plot it. And if we want to move it, in Cartesian coordinates we might go a few units on the x axis, which is very simple, but in polar coordinates in order to do the same thing we would have to move some units on the radial axis and then some more rotations in order to get to the same point, and it is much more complex; or vice versa. And we can do that (not plotting, but changing how we look at things in order to make the problem we are working on simpler) in a lot of different ways, depending on our assumptions about how things work; the one I am most comfortable with is Fourier analysis. So if we do something akin to that to a strong coupling, it might start to look like a weak coupling - and then we have S-duality, and we start looking askance at just how different our major string theories are.

The other major duality was T-duality, which is an equivalence between quantum field theory and string theory. The simplest example has to do with strings propagating around a circle of radius R being equivalent to strings propagating around a circle of radius 1/R. Another example (or an example of this? my understanding is breaking down here) is that momentum is inherently particulate, a word I am using to mean ‘comes in discrete quantities’ because quantum is taken, and equivalent to the number of times a string wraps around one of these circles (which are the same circle). In terms of this being particulate, it makes sense in the same way that individual grains of sand become a beach, or Xeno’s Paradox - and again, it puts a floor on how finely one can divide something, which is something that humans a) keep trying to do and b) keep getting dissatisfied with and trying to break the smallest particle down again, most recently into strings. Anyhoo. In terms of these two circles being the same circle... well, Christians ought to be comfortable with that anyhow.

In general, T-duality relates two theories with different spacetime geometries - e.g. our two circles being the same circle. And now we really start looking askance at our different string theories, and asking questions, because both of these dualities apply to different options.

So one fellow, a Mr. (or more likely Dr.) Edward Witten sat down and looked at these two dualities, and he looked at something called eleven-dimensional supergravity, and he said, “What if there were in fact sufficient dualities that all of these string theories were the same?”

And physicists, presumably, went nuts trying to make this happen, because 1. it was elegant 2. it made things seem like they might make sense again 3. it was only 11 dimensions 4. he said that the M stood for “magic, mystery, or membrane” depending on what we eventually learn about what this theory actually is, and physicists love that sort of naming.

Personally, I like to think that M is the number of dimensions it takes (presumably 11), or theories (presumably 6), or physicists who die trying to make it happen (presumably infinite).

Every description of string theory I have ever seen has included a physicist who says something along the lines of, “String theory is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; it’s the Philosopher’s Stone. People keep devoting their lives to making it happen, but there’s just no evidence that it should. So it’s lovely to read about, but it’s such a waste of effort.”

But then - so is all art. Art is elegance, art is beauty, art is making a point about the nature of the world we live in; and so is string theory, whether it is true or not.

*See? I’m making this approachable by putting in popular culture references. Nyah.

**It is representative of how I think of (Christian-raised) atheists, because a lot of (Christian-raised) atheists are assholes about it.

Additional posts to make:

-What does spin mean, in a quantum sense? -What is an open, oriented system? What does it mean for a string to be closed and non-oriented? -What is a worldsheet? -What does the math for bosonic string theory mean, in terms of giving it a simple description? -What is a superstring theory revolution, how many were there, and what did they mean? -What are the following problems and how does supersymmetry solve them: the hierarchy problem, gauge-coupling unification, dark matter, “other technical motivations” -What is eleven-dimensional supergravity?

[cupofsorrows]

Howard Lovecraft 5: Yes, This Is The Last One

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Alright chums, let’s do this, home stretch!

- Alright everybody, welcome back to Eldritch Wipeout!

- We’ve had a pretty uneventful day so far, but that might turn around with our next contestant! Standing three feet tall and hailing from Rhode Island, let’s give it up for Howard “Hard R” Lovecraft! *air horns*

- He’s gonna need to keep a level head for this, Tim.

- That’s for sure, Jack. Always keep your wits about you!

- That is, if you haven’t already lost your mind from revelations no man should bear!

- Looks like he’s already running into some trouble with the first trial- And they’re past it already!

- But let’s see how well they do in the second trial!

- We pulled out all the stops on this one...

...and by “all the stops”, I mean ‘ripped the hell off of Indiana Jones’!

Don’t forget Howard...in the Aklo alphabet, ‘Jehovah’ begins with an ‘I’!

- Pretty straightforward, Bob, just gotta find the right tiles to step on --

- Ooh! Do you think he realizes that the words “my father” in that inscription DON’T refer to his father?

- I’m sure he does, John. If the inscription had meant that, it would have said “your father”!

- Appears he does NOT understand this, Rick.

- You know kids these days, Bill, they just don’t got the grammar too good.

- Wait, looks like he’s got another idea...could it be?

- I think it is!

- Looks like he’s spelling out ‘Azathoth’ which IS the correct answer!

- Terrible animation as always, of course.

- No argument there, Dick.

- Just the worst.

- Anyway, it’s on to the third and final trial! This one’s gonna require a lot of creative thinking...

- Looks like he’s planning on reflecting the light from his glowy blue friend, definitely an unconventional solution!

- I’m not sure that’s how physics works, Fred...

- Well, it’s working, Don!

- Well, fuck me in the ass with a Honda, Paul, so it is!

- Just goes to show you can’t trust physics in a place like this.

- No you can’t, Ron.

- I think our boy Howard might just be home free - OH! LOOK at that! A mob of Deep Ones!

- Copy-pasted, by the looks of it!

- Earl, this might be a pickle they’re in now.

waaait a minute...Deep Ones don’t blink!

- Actually, Mark, it seems like they’re cool! They’re just letting him walk out of there.

- Come to think of it, Ted, I think those might just be some set technicians. They’ve been waiting to start disassembling the course, I think.

- Well then, that’s our cue! We have a winner, ladies gents and assorted entities! Thanks for tuning in!

whew, doing those voices was murder on my throat. Now back to the hostage situation:

Nothing much to say here, badguy seemingly wins, activates the ritual, yadda yadda.

oola ooh couchez avec moi, c’est soi?

You can’t really tell from the screencap, but at the crucial moment the book stops working because...

...yeah. I’m not sure ‘deus ex machina’ is the right term for a situation involving actual elder gods, but it sure is a convenient development that in no way hinged on the protagonist’s actions, isn’t it? (also wow. They...just did not bother to give that book any texture here, did they?) Anyhoo, the evil plan fails, miserably,

(I think this was Pepsi’s slogan back in the ‘90s.)

Abdul has finally Outlived His Usefulness™, although he manages a few more lines after being set on fire so I wonder whether that dorky outfit was actually flame retardant.

And there’s Dagon, just standing there awkwardly because this is his place and he actually has people coming over tomorrow so if you all would please hurry up?

The goodguys actually left before Nyarlahotep had even begun soliloquizing back there, and now they’re back safe and sound (except for Ma Lovecraft who is still dying).

Oh, look who it is! Yeah, they’re safe, no thanks to you. Hope you had a nice cup of tea while everyone else was almost dying.

He binds the three journals together into The Necronomicon, which is the only thing that can save Howard’s mother (apparently that requires a higher level of magic than awakening freaking Cthulhu).

Speaking of Mark Hamill, that new Dark Crystal show has been pretty good so far (he’s one of the skeksis in that). Anyways sorry I called you useless, Doc.

lol that bitch is FADED!

*ding* Turkey’s done!

Howard reads from the book to save her. BUT WILL HE BE IN TIME?

My God, she looks like she’s made of vinyl! SHE’S BACK TO NORMAL, EVERYBODY!

There it is, the ONE GOOD BIT in this whole sordid affair. And I’ve capped and posted it, so now you can safely not watch the movie without missing anything.

So Spot (...is he Cthulhu for real now? I don’t think so but...) Must Go Back To His Home Planet Now, His People Need Him. By the way, I am increasingly sure that this is supposed to be R’lyeh:

(sorry, Ruh-LAY)

So the baddies didn’t kill these guys. Ah, too bad, I guess.

Howard shares some meaningful last words with Armitage:

- And they return (via portal) to their home. Yes, their quiet, peaceful home, with its cozy beds and its tranquil garden and their little cat, Ni-

...why, who could THAT be?

I will say this about the animation: it stayed shitty right up to the end.

...

So...not Nick Fury, then.

Right now, I feel, the joke is very specifically on me.

Roll credits, including this bit here about how this was actually adapted from a graphic novel:

Notice that director/producer/voice of Spot/father or husband of half the cast Sean O’Reilly is there, but notice how many other people there are who seem to have had little or nothing to do with this movie. Wonder what that’s about?

If it’s one of those guys that did this credit art - orders of magnitude better than the animation for most of the actual film - it’s nothing short of a travesty that not only were they not involved with the main project but also that we get to see their stuff now just to taunt us with what might have been.

I mean, LOOK at all that! Damn!

“Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental”, says the movie with the child version of a famous horror author as the main character. SURE, WHY NOT.

WELP THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE - well, all she wrote, maybe, but I still have a bit more to add. So yeah, this was on the whole pretty dismal. Not quite as bad as it could have been, I’ll grant, but it missed most of its major cues. I DID like some things - Doug Bradley played a decent Nyarlahotep, the stuff with Azathoth was neat, and Winfield Lovecraft’s character was actually kind of engaging - even funny - at times. AT TIMES. And I will say that, perversely, Abdul Alhazred’s lackluster character design actually kind of stood out - I don’t think you’ll find very many other depictions of him where he’s Just Some Guy (who happens to be a powerful sorcerer). If nothing else, they pretty diligently avoided racializing him (not even a turban!) - yeah, it’s still true that the one evil human is also the only one with any nonwhite identifiers whatsoever (really just the name, in this case) but considering the source material if that’s the most problematic it gets then we got off SUPER easy.

Bad news is, basically everything else about this blows. The animation only hurts if you have eyes, but even the blind can hold O’Reilly accountable for the decision to cast all his kids. Then there’s the fact that the movie tries to bait us with big names, even though two of the top-billed stars (Plummer and Perlman) have probably less than a minute’s worth of lines between them (and ‘lines’ is a bit charitable in Perlman’s case [no disrespect to Ron, you’ll always be my Hellboy]). Seriously, did you even remember Dr. West until I brought him up just now? Wait, no, don’t actually try to recallAAUGH

AAAAAAAHH!

And now the Nyquil’s kickin’ in so I’m gonna have to bow out - but fortunately I’ve said pretty much everything I could think of to say anyway. Perhaps one day, when the stars are right, I might recap the other movies, including Howard’s Mother Eats A Whole Chicken. The future is full of mysteries!

...OK, bye.

[narraboths]

Non native English speaker here and honestly? I don’t feel oppressed. Seems like a pretty neat way of telling how much I’ve learned and what I can improve. Good day to you, mr. Aron — anyhoo, people need to chill the fuck out ✌🏻

lmao the og post was’t as neatly and lovingly worded but i always do find it mighty funny when people are so amazingly wrong in their assumptions. have a nice day too mate ✌️💕

[ruffiorocks]

Wow, tweeted for the first time last night about how maybe the superfriends should have considered mind wiping James Olsen to since he's well known to be associated with both supers. Col Haley isn't daft and neither 's the government. Someone so public and easily found knowing the Supers secrets is a liability. It's nothing to do with a dislike for James, it's just common sense. Eliminate all threats. And some called GeekyBriggs came for me 😂. I suppose I should have expected it, I've seen her replies to people on here. Girl has some issues, I think she probably just wants someone to interact with. I'd have been happy to discuss what I said, but her replies didn't even relate to what I said. 'James doesn't work at the DEO' did I say he did? It's not like he hasn't been seen hanging around there. Then she said government kidnapping (who said kidnapping? ) James would be a neat trick. I asked what she meant politely of course! (Manners Matter!) She then proceeded to tell me Lena wouldn't allow such a thing. Erm.. Lena couldn't even stop herself from being arrested by Maggie! Or taken to the DEO after the Reign incident, the DEO or the Police (however the government would decide to proceed) aren't going to be like 'oh hold up! We can't possibly question James Olsen! He runs a magazine and is dating Lena Luthor! Quick tell the president Lena said no!' Yeah... you see the Ill logic in that. Even Maxwell Lord couldn't stop himself being taken to the DEO. In fact he was only let out because James gave Kara a lesson in holding humans at the DEO. Something I have to give James kudos for. The president wants to know supergirls identity, does anyone think he wouldn't find a way to question James Olsen if he wanted it? Yeah no again. This GeekyBriggs person then said people would notice Olsen is missing due to his position. Erm. ..isn't this the guy who regularly popped up as Guardian? At night at first yeah, but we've seen him doing this in the day to. No one questioned it. Also getting James to the DEO and testing him on that truth teller alien thing would take what? An hour or two? Hardly enough time to be considered missing. Anyhoo I told this person I was aware she would disagree and it seems to be something she enjoys. I don't want my first tweeting experience to be soured with negativity like that. So I told her I was done and she should have a nice day. (MANNERS MATTER!) And then blocked her. I hope she mellows out soon and maybe goes outside more. I'd advice anyone else to do the same, don't engage with trolls, they thrive on it. This girl seem to comb through every Tumblr post and tweet looking for reasons to be annoyed. (?) Enjoy your fandoms, but don't be trolls or rude. 😘

[mairzymarzipan]

Night of the Full Moon Character Reviews: The Big Bosses(Minus Werewolf)

Hello again

I know I said I’d be talking about the Hunter, Old Mage, Fallen Priest and so on today, but I realized that those characters were actually more interesting in the context of other characters, so I put them off for later.  I decided instead to talk about the main bosses of the game, as it so happens, are the closest people to Red Riding Hood.  Because this game wants to be an ironicy soap opera/anime that way.

When I say Big Bosses, I mean that you always fight one of these characters at the end of the game.  Unless you’re like me and you start all over at the end because you’re bored and tired of all four of them playwise.

Werewolf

Wait, no, never mind.  This is another one of those characters who’s more interesting in the context of different, non-Red Riding Hood Characters.  We’re saving this boi for later.  But, you shouldn’t too surprised, if you read the title.  Instead, I’ll just use this space to talk about a mechanic.

Throughout the game, you can get ‘courage’ and ‘reputation’ points by talking to characters.  Very very generally speaking, you get courage points by doing brave things, and you get reputation points for doing nice things.  You also can get courage points when a character talks shit about the werewolf, and reputation points when a character talks shit about the witch.  So naturally, if you have more courage in the end, you get to fight the wolf, and if you have more reputation, you get to fight the witch.  I guess what they’re going for is only a meanie would fight this doggo?  And the witch is who any empathetic person would hate???

I feel like the latter is not the case, but more on that later.

Witch

“Only your Hope family can lift the dark magic curse.  This is what the priest is most afraid of.  That’s why monsters run wild on full moon nights. First they made your grandmother disappear and then they drew you into the forest...but they never anticipated that you would make it this far.”

By the way, you’re part of a prophecy.  Only someone in your family can lift the curse on the forest.  jsyk

Yeah so, as you see, the Witch’s description does not really tell us much about the witch herself.  This description also pretty unique in that none of the other character descriptions go into the second person like this.  The description also kind of hints that Red dies in the timeline where she fights the witch, so that’s depressing.

Nah, to figure out what the witch is about, you have to delve into the fragments around her. 

So, you actually do encounter the witch earlier in the game.  In the third or sometimes second chapter, she will recruit to find some magic apples she lost.  She makes a mention about suspecting a queen of stealing them.  The apples, I guess, are just lying around on the forest floor, and you bite into each of them bc you’re a dumb lkid.  Each apple changes your stats by a few points and the witch does not at all seem upset that you hand her a bunch of bitten fruit at the end.  In fact, she offers you the choice of two random buffs, so that’s fun.

You’re likely to hear about her way before that, though, depending on who you talk to.  Generally anyone who’s been cursed feels like it’s the witch’s fault.  

But if you choose to fight her(or you might not get a choice in the matter) she accuses you of stealing said apples.  She’ll also talk to you throughout the battle until you defeat her- a trait that only the big bosses and a few of the newer ones have.  Her lines...make her sound pretty unhinged.  She’s speaks of disbelief that you would do such a horrible thing, and threatens you with with her magic, and talks about how misunderstood she is.

When you defeat her, she’s got a really interesting line, tho.

“No!  I don’t want to fight you!  I can’t!”

Huh.

Before I move on, let me talk about this other witch character.

Yep.  That sure is the art style this game is going with.

So this is one of the shopkeepers.  There are four different shops you can find along the way, only two of which have characters you can see in them.  This character is known as the Witch Apothecary...but you can only see that on the outside of her store.  Otherwise she’s just called “Witch”.

The thing is, along the way, characters will talk about the Witch and, they don’t specify that it’s not the one with the white hair.  They just talk about The Witch like she’s the only witch that matters.  So is this woman not really a witch?  A witch wannabe?  Nah, we already have one of those characters.  Could it me that the shopkeepers don’t actually exist in the story of the game?  That would bum me out, bc there’s this lesbian owl I want to be real.

But...I think they’re the same person using shapeshifting.  Or if you want a really wild theory, maybe there are time travel hijinks and she’s the Magic Apprentice grown up.  But I’m going to go ahead with the former.

Anyhoo.  I like the witch.  I’m gonna give her 🍎🍎🍎🍎 four apples

Priest

“They mistakenly thought that on the full moon night they could help the monsters quietly eliminate Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.  Once the Hope family was wiped out, the legend of lifting the curse on the Dark Forest would disappear completely.  However, they didn’t expect they would have to go personally and pay such a high price to fight their enemy. When the priest fell, the cursed monsters reverted to their human forms and the Dark Forest was no longer covered by snow all year round, but the church’s blind greed still remains.”

Again, not much is said about the priest himself.  The most interesting thing here is that he apparently is the keystone holding the curse together.  Interesting, because he seems to be letting the witch do all the work for him.  Usually in these stories, you have to kill the person who casts the spell to break the spell, not just their friend.  Is it because he, himself, is a stone?  That is to say, he turns into a statue sometimes.

Why the heck is he having her turn all his enemies into cartoon monsters instead of killing them, anyway?  Don’t tell it’s to make the game family friendly, bc in one of these timelines a child kills another child.  

Honestly, the priest/church just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  His big plan is selling everybody from his town as slaves.  Gross.  And the way he accomplishes this is by...making it snow all the time, and turning people into vampires and fire bears?  What?

He is.  A delight to fight.  I’m being sarcastic.  He’s a religious edgelord who likes to go on about how humans are sinners and everyone deserves to be punished.  Also she cheats by turning into stone.  Eh.  

It feels like someone just spun a wheel for of evil traits and just stuck them together haphazardly.  His evil plan is...human trafficking!  His personality is...self righteous!  His means is...tf!  His super power is...turning into a statue!  

He’s the biggest of bads but also not that thought out.  He’s super important to the over-arching plot and yet I have no idea why this guy does what he does.  I’m gonna give him 🗽🗽 two statues.

Mystery Men

idek why this person is called “Mystery Men”.  I’m guessing it’s supposed to be mystery man?  Or mysterious person or something?  I know I haven’t talked about the art much but, I do appreciate how much their face looks like a dog snout and her hood looks like dog ears.  It’s a neat touch.

This description was actually changed.  The new text is longer and more awkwardly worded.  I don’t like it!  And I don’t get why it happened.

But, yeah.  The very last enemy of the game- who you can only reach by playing through at least four times and defeating all three others- is your Grandmother!  Le gasp!

So what exactly went wrong with her?  Oh, nothing, she just has a big wolf growing out of her back(told you the concept was backed up by canon)

Is this her daemon or patronus or something?  I have no idea.  I’ve been calling her a werewolf sometimes, tho, bc she’s better at being a werewolf than the titular werewolf.  Which is to say she can revive instead of just healing.  Her buffs and deck change throughout the fight.  She’s a long battle, fun, except for her ear piercing voice.  She sounds a bit possessed.

I’ll give her 👁️👁️👁️ three big eyes.  She’s a fun battle, but I always mute it.  Also not real big on how the text got changed for the worse.  But she does add some good details to the story.

In Conclusion... 

Grandma’s text tells us a few things.  

1. Not only is the Hope family connected to this prophecy, but family members actually have the power to control the curse.  That leads me to believe that the person who got the curse started was a Hope themself.  

2. The church came along long after the curse was in full swing.  So the priest is not responsible for it.  Whether he’s a Hope himself is not relevant.

We also know these things:

1. The witch is still the one casting all the tf spells, which is part of the curse.

2. There are two timelines were Red has a natural gift for magic

3. In the Little Witch timeline, the Witch is teaching Red magic.  On top of that she’s v patient, which is surprising, for some reason.

4. The Witch seems a little out of touch with reality.  She sends you to find apples, and then yells at you for stealing them.  Almost like she thinks you’re another person.

5. The witch verbally expresses her desire not to fight you when she realizes who you are.

I have to conclude that the Witch is a Hope.  A Hope who’s close enough to have a fondness for Little Red Riding Hood, and is invested in her well being/education.  And yanno, is turns her enemies into pig people because she can.  

She helps you on your quest by giving you one of her own.  But earlier on, she takes on the form of the other witch offer you potions and the like.  She even gives you the first one in each chapter for free.

“My potions can change your appearance!”

Of course she can’t get too close to you.  She can’t reveal that she’s helping you.  Hence putting on a new face when she’s a ‘good’ witch.  One wonders if she’s trying to hide her identity from you, or the people she’s allied with.

Hey can we look at her description again?

Red doesn’t get addressed in the second person in any of the other descriptions.  There is a character who talks about his life in the first person, and we’ll get to him.  But this is odd to me.

What if Red isn’t being addressed here?  What if it’s someone else?  What if it’s the Witch?

What if the Witch was captured and ensnared in the priest’s plot?  What if he messed with her memory?  So then who is she?  Red’s sister?  It seems like she’s been working with the church a lot longer than Grandma’s been missing.  Also Grandma went into the woods on her own accord.  You could say that the grief the church caused her *made* her go out, but it seems weak.

So maybe a Hope in another generation, who lost her grandmother to- either the church or monsters?  Was it this other Grandmother who *started* the curse?

Dude, what if she’s your Mom?

What if instead of killing her the priest did...something...scared her enough to get her to work for him.  And messed with her memory so she couldn’t conceive a way out?  And sort of had her transfer the power of the curse to him so that people had to kill him to break it?

What if he had the Church Doctor scoop her brain out and put it in another lady’s head?  Who knows.

I’m not certain about the witch being your mom.  I think I would like that to be the case because it’s fun, but I’m not quite convinced yet.  I AM certain, tho, that the Witch is a Hope, and she cares about you.  She’s not just this cackling meanie turning people into flowers.  She’s...complicated.  And she needs help just as much as all the trapped monsters.