#fun bit of local lore

[autopsyinreverse]

Went exploring today, and two minutes after I crossed the fence off private property, a cop rolled up to chat with me. Since she had no evidence I had been trespassing, we just had a nice conversation where she tried to figure out what the hell I was doing out there, utterly baffled and disbelieving when my explanation amounted to "exploring and studying the plants"

Now, the kicker is, the property is owned by a mining company thats founder is LDS, who had visions and prophecies telling him to mine there, and in the near future a city is going to be built around the mine and the mine itself will be used as a fortress to defend against "ravaging mobs"

[transyourjester]

the way of the rails is something that'd i start as like a joke on top of a legitimate public works project that would somehow last like 200 years and form its own cult that takes the entire thing deadly seriously. honestly as long as they still make trains itd be worth it idc if theyre wacky about it

[stochastiz]

i've never ever gotten into any drafting/tournament/collectable card games, but i accidentally got myself the rookie spot in a championship for an indie mech-battling card & dice game (PBL Robots) tomorrow by beating one of the title-holders on my second time playing... oops?

[miyasmagnolias]

𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𓂇⋆⭒˚｡⋆

miya atsumu x f!reader

you invite atsumu and the boys to your spring dance showcase to raise money for a good cause — and maybe get even after the viral video incident. atsumu, on the other hand? he just wants to ask you out and, if he's lucky, kiss you properly this time around.

part eleven of the in close quarters series, a friends-to-lovers college AU featuring you, atsumu, and the ten months you spend living together senior year.

a/n: a tiny bit of lore, but i used to dance throughout college (and still do to this day), so this one was super fun to write. enjoy! ( ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

"So...what kind of dance does she do again?"

"Uh..." Atsumu blinked down at the bouquet of flowers like they might contain the answer to Suna's question. "Hip-hop, I think?"

Osamu locked his car and shot his twin brother a judgmental glare. "Haven't ya lived with her for, like, eight months now? Shouldn't ya know what type of dance she does?"

"How am I supposed to know?! It's not like she performs for me in the livin' room or anythin'!"

Osamu's face twisted in disgust. "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't ya."

Atsumu's face turned beet red. "The fuck is that supposed to mean — ?!"

"To be fair," Aran interjected, ever the pacifist. "Modern dance can blend together a lot of styles — jazz, ballet, hip-hop. It's really not as cut and dry as people think it is."

"See?" Atsumu said, grateful to his team captain for coming to his defense. "It's not as cut and dry as ya think it is!"

Aran gave him a flat stare in return. "Still, I find it baffling that you didn't think to ask."

The four former Inarizaki boys began the long trek from their parallel parking spot to The Bloom Room — a seventies-inspired cocktail lounge nestled in-between campus and downtown. Your university dance troupe had partnered with the small business to host your annual spring showcase, the event doubling as a community-wide fundraiser for a handful of local nonprofits.

Invite the volleyball boys, too! you'd texted Atsumu a few weeks back, along with the link to buy tickets. We need as many people there as possible. The more drinks you buy, the more goes to charity!

Atsumu didn't exactly know who you meant by the 'volleyball boys' — Osamu and Suna didn't really count anymore, and Sakusa wouldn't be caught dead in a place like The Bloom Room. Aran, on the other hand, was a welcome surprise, the captain of the men's volleyball team happily agreeing to go when Atsumu brought it up to him after practice the other day.

"I'll do anything for a good cause," he'd said, though the fluorescent lights of the locker room did nothing to hide his amused expression. "Did you end up wooing her with your extensive knowledge of Pride and Prejudice?"

"I was not tryin' to 'woo' her — I was tryin' to help her with an essay!" Atsumu exclaimed, slamming his locker door shut. "There's a big difference."

"You stopped reading every other sentence just so you could ask me what it meant," Aran said dryly, recalling the two-hour flight back from their first away game. Off the court, he'd never seen Atsumu more concentrated. “If anything, you needed help.”

Atsumu shot his team captain an offended glare. "At least I finished the damn thing. It got good — ya know, once I got used to all the ol' timey English."

Aran folded his arms across his chest and exhaled slowly. "Look, it's clear you've got feelings for this girl. So in addition to reading her favorite books and kissing her on the cheek after games, why don't you just ask her out?"

The setter shifted uncomfortably on his feet. It wasn't as if the thought hadn't crossed his mind before — just that every time it did, it was accompanied by the worst possible outcomes he could think of. Him, finally working up the courage to ask you out. You, laughing in his face. Him, having to sleep in the room next to yours every day while he died of embarrassment. Just thinking about it made Atsumu want to yak.

It was much easier to flirt with you than to actually admit that he liked you, he'd realized. In fact, Atsumu kind of hoped you'd be the first to acknowledge it. He'd dropped more than enough hints for you to catch on.

But as your spring semester continued without so much as a peep, Atsumu realized he didn't have much time left. He needed to fess up to you before you graduated and went on to become a publishing mogul or a Pulitzer Prize winner — or whatever the hell English honors students went on to do after college.

The plan was simple: get you alone after the show, hand you the bouquet he'd spent nearly an hour picking out. Pop the question while somehow keeping his ego intact. Easy peasy.

At least, he thought it was.

"Oh, are you here for Y/N?" a girl with large hoop earrings and a handkerchief for a top said when Atsumu approached the check-in table. "You're her roommate, right? She's told us so much about you!"

"She didn't tell us you'd be bringing a whole team with you," another drawled, twirling a long braid around her perfectly manicured fingers as she sized up his friends. "Sheesh."

Despite himself, a stupid grin broke out on Atsumu's face. "She talks about me?"

The two girls exchanged humored looks from across the table.

"Let's just say she's gonna really love the flowers," the one with the braids replied with a smack of her gum.

"Wish my boyfriend bought me flowers," the one with the earrings chuckled, stamping the back of Atsumu's hand. "Enjoy the show!"

The Bloom Room was bathed in sultry purple lights as Atsumu and his group navigated the crowd of friends and family that had shown up for that evening's showcase. The high-top tables and stools had been cleared out to make room for a dance floor, with rows of folding chairs now lining the perimeter of the space.

"It's awfully intimate, ain't it?" Osamu observed as he sat next to Atsumu in the row closest to the dance floor.

"I'ma grab a drink," Suna quipped, already making a beeline for the bar. Meanwhile, their phones pinged in unison. It was from you.

Are you here yet?? you'd asked in the group chat you had created with all four of them. Did you get good seats?

Atsumu's fingers were already flying across the keyboard.

Yep, front row! Break at leg! Then, before he could stop himself, he added a pink heart emoji and hit send.

"Whoa," Aran said, blinking back at the text message not a moment later. "A heart? Things must be getting pretty serious."

"Shaddup," Atsumu tsked, folding his arms across his chest. At Osamu and Aran's bemused stares, he asked, "What? It ain't the red one! The red one is the serious one!"

"Dunno, man," Aran teased as Osamu stifled his laugh. "A heart's a heart."

Atsumu's confident expression faltered as he said, "W-Well, do ya think it's too much? Should I edit it?”

"I think it's a little late for that," Osamu drawled just as their phones pinged again. They all looked down at their screens.

Great! you'd replied, hearting Atsumu's message. Can someone take a video of me pwease?

On it, Suna texted back. He returned a few minutes later with a tequila soda in-hand.

"Dude," he murmured as he sat back down. "What was up with that frilly pink heart? Keep that shit to yourselves."

Atsumu rolled his eyes.

"Good evening, everyone! Take your seats, take your seats," the girl with the hoop earrings said into the microphone as the remainder of the crowd settled in with their drinks. "My name's Mina, and I'd like to personally welcome you to the Silk Club's third annual spring showcase!"

A wave of applause ricocheted through the venue.

"We've got an incredible lineup of talent here tonight representing several on-campus dance orgs, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the show," she said. "As a reminder, all ticket and drink proceeds go towards our city's women's shelter and the center for LGBTQIA+ youth, so I encourage you to get as drunk as humanly possible! It's for a great cause!"

Laughter and applause rippled across the crowd. Beside Atsumu, Suna tipped his cup back until all that was left was ice.

"Now without further ado, I have the pleasure of introducing to you our opening act," Mina continued. "The Silk Club is a group of young women whose mission is to feel empowered and body confident in their dance. This is their third year hosting their annual spring showcase in support of the local nonprofit community, and they are incredibly excited to perform for you all tonight. I myself have been a part of this team for two years now, and I can confidently say there's no other group I'd rather shake ass with to raise money. So without further ado, give it up for Silk!"

The crowd whooped and hollered as several silhouetted figures emerged from the back room and assumed formation on the dance floor. Meanwhile, Atsumu's heart kicked up a notch as he scanned the shadows to find you. Beside him, Osamu frowned.

"Shake ass?" Osamu repeated under his breath. "Don't tell me — "

He was promptly cut off as the opening chords to Mariah Carey's "Obsessed" blared through the speakers, the spotlight flickering on to reveal you — in the tiniest black tube top and skirt — staring back at the audience with a sultry pout on your face.

Aran's eyes widened. Suna nearly choked on his ice. Osamu ran a hand over his face and glanced toward his brother, who — for all intents and purposes — looked like he was about to have a stroke.

Because you were hot. Nay — you were hot as fuck.

And everyone in that room knew it, too.

"I thought she did hip-hop!" Aran yelled over the music as you danced across the floor in your stiletto heels, your confidence radiating with every body roll, every hair flip.

"Dunno what kind of hip-hop you're watching, but this certainly isn't it," Suna shot back dryly, having already hit the record button on his phone.

Except Atsumu wasn't even listening. All that occupied his brain was you. Batting your eyelashes at the audience. Rocking the headscarf you'd styled into your long hair. Touching yourself in places that made Atsumu feel faint. You looked like the seventh member of Katseye, only prettier. How hadn't he known this about you?

"Why you so obsessed with me? Boy, I wanna know..."

The crowd went completely ballistic as all the girls on your team planted their hands on the sticky floor and shook ass in perfect unison. Only then did Atsumu notice the phone in Suna's hands.

"Would ya not film my roommate's ass like that?" he stammered, doing a double-take.

Suna merely shrugged and said, "What? She asked me to."

Then, before Atsumu could argue further, you were sauntering up to him. Soft smile. Pouty lips. Eyes that could disarm him in an instant. You ran a delicate finger along the curve of his jaw, tilted his chin up to look at you. And winked.

For fuck's sake.

"I think you can see the exact moment his soul leaves his body," Suna deadpanned, scrubbing through the video after you and your teammates had struck the final pose to the sounds of ear-splitting applause.

Osamu elbowed his brother in the ribs and said, "Ya alright in there, Tsumu?"

Atsumu just stared at the dance floor as you and your teammates took your bows. Brain empty. Face steadily draining of color. His grip tightened around the bouquet in his lap as he tried to careen himself back to earth.

Asking you out was going to be way harder than he thought.

Atsumu's heart rate more-or-less returned to normal after that, the rest of the show featuring a variety of modern dance crews, cultural clubs, and K-Pop cover groups. Nothing as outrageous as the opener, but perhaps that was for the best. Atsumu didn't need his nervous system compromised for a second time that night — especially with the question he was about to ask you after the show.

The Silk Club closed the showcase with a much tamer, less anxiety-inducing routine to "Rocket" by Doechii, the choreography maintaining your team's signature charm while showcasing your versatility of style. Atsumu cheered for you as you danced your heart out in the center of the room, your energy infectious as the music coursed through your every muscle. From your cheeky smile down to the soles of your sneakers, it was clear you loved being up there. The entire time, Atsumu couldn't stop grinning.

He was the first to give you a standing ovation by the end.

"Seems like Atsumu isn't the only one who can work a crowd," Aran drawled in amusement, standing up so he could clap for you properly. Beside him, Suna snapped about a million pictures.

Osamu merely hummed in agreement and said, "Pretty sure this is the first time he's been more enamored by someone other than himself."

As usual, Atsumu didn't hear a damn thing — just clapped his brother on the shoulder and said, "I'll be right back."

Several families and friend groups had since flooded the dance floor to reunite with their performers, Atsumu shouldering his way through with the bouquet clutched to his chest. Your friend Haru had found you first and was currently gushing to you about your performance, Atsumu maintaining his distance for several nerve-wracking seconds before your eyes eventually latched onto his. Your face broke out into the sunniest smile he'd ever seen, and by God. You were beautiful.

You said goodbye to Haru and made your way towards him. His arms found purchase around your waist as he lifted you several inches off the ground and squeezed you as hard as you could.

"Hi," he murmured into your hair. It smelled of your sweat and shampoo.

"Hi," you whispered back, your voice warm and breathless. "What did you think of the show?"

"I..." Atsumu trailed off, the mental image of you throwing it back flashing across his mind. "I didn't know ya could move like that, that's for sure."

A chuckle rumbled out of you as he set you down. You adjusted the oversized jersey you had changed into for the finale and said, "Yeah. I'm a little embarrassed that you and your friends got a full view of my ass, but it's whatever."

"Well, for what it's worth, it looked good." Then, after realizing what the fuck he'd just said, "You. Y-You looked good, I meant. Shit."

You were full-on laughing at this point. "That's high praise, coming from the king of low sets himself."

The tips of his ears turned red as he finally remembered the bouquet in his hands.

"These are for ya," he said, watching your eyes soften as he gave them to you. You lifted your nose to the assortment of wildflowers like you did with all of your books. "Ya looked incredible up there, Y/N. Seriously."

"...thank you, Tsumu." A shy smile worked its way onto your features before you admitted, "No one's ever gotten me flowers before."

"Ya bein' serious right now?" he asked, equal parts surprised and pleased with himself. You nodded. "Well, that's only cause ya haven't invited the right people before."

You rolled your eyes. "The right people being you?"

"Damn straight," he said, already reaching for you a second time. "Come 'ere."

He wrapped his arms around you in the middle of the crowded dance floor, his cheek resting against the crowd of your head. Relaxing into his embrace, you listened to his heartbeat through this shirt. Steady. Grounding. A little fast. But then again, so was yours.

You craned your neck to look him in the eye. He gazed down at you like you were the only other person in that entire room.

Pulse picking up speed, Atsumu slowly leaned in until he was a mere breath away from grazing your lips against his.

But before he could kiss you, someone was already calling your name.

"Y/N!" Mina hollered, the both of you jumping backwards like two guilt-ridden teenagers. She scanned the dense crowd from the front of the room like a mother who'd just lost her child at the zoo. "Y/N, where the hell are ya?! We're taking a group picture!"

Clearing his throat, Atsumu adjusted the collar of his jacket and tried to channel whatever nonchalance was left in his body. Beside him, you haphazardly tried to fix your hair. The two of you locked eyes once more and, gradually, started to laugh.

"Go," Atsumu said, jerking his chin towards your teammates. "Don't keep 'em waiting."

Mashing your lips together, you looked like you wanted to argue. But your teammates were already calling your name.

"Come out to eat with us afterwards?" you offered, a hopeful expression on your face. "I think a handful of us are going to that new Korean spot downtown. You can bring the boys, too."

Chuckling, Atsumu nodded. "Sure. We'll be there."

"...okay," you eventually managed. It did little to mask the dazed, if not mildly disappointed expression on your face. "I'll see you soon."

And with that, you disappeared into the crowd.

"Ya boys in the mood for Korean food?" Atsumu asked his friends when he found them lingering outside the restrooms.

"Why, what happened?" Osamu asked, shooting his brother a grin. "Yer plan fall through?"

"Yep," Atsumu quipped, throwing an arm around Osamu's shoulders. "I'm 'bout to drown my sorrows in an army stew."

"At least you gave her the bouquet," Aran offered, drying his damp hands on his jeans. "You only spent half the afternoon picking it out."

"Seriously," Suna mumbled, eyes never leaving his phone. "You owe us dinner for the amount of moral support we're showing you right now."

The three of them debated how many dishes to order the entire car ride there. Meanwhile, Atsumu stared out the window, wondering when the hell he'd be able to get you alone.

"I never thought I'd see the day someone actually outdrank Mina," you giggled, fumbling with your keys to the apartment. "How much soju did Suna have?"

"I dunno, but he was scarily composed after all those domino shots," Atsumu murmured as you both entered through the front door and turned on all the lights. "Passed out like a light in the backseat, though."

Even though he'd barely managed to talk to you during dinner, it was surprisingly fun to see you relax for once. You were excited to introduce Atsumu and his friends to the people you had danced with for the past several months, grateful to see everyone get along so well in between spoonfuls of bubbling hot pot.

"It's nice to finally meet the best roommate she's ever had," Mina had teased, already four shots in. She flung a sweaty arm around your shoulders and said, "Her words, not mine!"

At that, Atsumu raised an eyebrow and grinned. "The best, huh?"

Maybe it was the alcohol, but he swore your face turned two shades redder at that.

Now, Atsumu watched from across the kitchenette as you meticulously trimmed the flowers he'd gotten for you, your fingers nimble as you arranged each one into a vase. The gentle hum of the air conditioner filled the silence between you, along with the rhythmic snip of your scissors.

Without looking up, you said, "You're staring."

"Am I?" Atsumu drawled, a smile toying on his lips. "Was just admirin’ yer makeup. Is that what they call a full beat?"

You nearly choked on your laughter. "Where did you learn that from? TikTok?"

He lifted a noncommittal shoulder. "I have my sources."

Smiling, you said, "Well, would you be so kind as to grab my makeup remover from the bathroom? I've been dying to get this off."

Five minutes later, Atsumu poured himself a glass of water as you tried removing your eye makeup with a soaked cotton round, a dark streak of eyeliner now smudged halfway across your face.

"Did I get it?" you asked, blinking at Atsumu from where you sat atop the kitchen counter. Laughing, he put down his glass and began wiping it himself.

"I like when you look like this," he confessed, gently dragging the cotton round across your skin.

Frowning, you said, "Like a rabid raccoon?"

"No, ya twerp. Ya know what I mean."

You didn't say anything for a long while as he continued removing your makeup. You felt your face warm beneath his touch as he did so.

"Thank you for coming to the showcase tonight."

"Of course. I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Then, after a brief pause, "Ya know, as the best roommate you've ever had."

You groaned. "I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

"Not a chance," Atsumu drawled. He cupped your cheeks with both of his hands and inspected your face from different angles beneath the warm kitchen lights. "There. Squeaky clean."

Neither of you moved as you realized just how close you'd gotten to each other. You, your knees grazing against his torso. Him, the warmth of his palms sending a pulse of electricity down your spine.

"Atsumu..." you breathed, your voice merely a croak.

"...yeah?" he managed, brown eyes searching yours for something — anything — to indicate that you wanted him closer.

"...is there a reason you're always so nice to me?"

Lips parting, he said, "I think ya know why."

You closed the gap and kissed him not a moment later.

Now, Atsumu had imagined what it would be like to kiss you — had even dreamt about it, embarrassingly enough. But nothing, nothing compared to the way your lips worked against his now, each movement slow. Deliberate. Almost like you were asking a question.

You like me? you seemed to ask, fingers curling into his t-shirt, pulling him closer. Atsumu merely cupped the back of your head and deepened the kiss, the feeling of his tongue against yours extinguishing all doubt from your mind.

Yes, he thought, melting into you completely. Yes. I always have.

He braced his hands on either side of the kitchen counter, boxing you in. Your hands slid into his hair. A low moan escaped the back of his throat when you parted your legs for him and wrapped them around his waist. Fuck. He couldn't believe this was happening right now.

But before he let himself fall any further, he had one thing left to ask.

"Wait — wait," he stammered, pulling away from you suddenly. Lips swollen. Hair disheveled. Heart hammering in his chest.

At your confused expression, he asked, "Will ya go to dinner with me?"

Your chest rose and fell as a bemused look crossed your features. "Are you asking me out right now?"

Atsumu gulped back and said, "I just...I wanna be sure I do this right."

Heart twinging at his words, your hands gently traveled down from his hair to cup both of his cheeks.

"You know, I thought you'd never ask," you drawled, eyes gleaming in adoration as you beheld him. Your roommate. Your friend. Your best friend, if you were being totally honest. "I'd love to."

The stupid grin that broke out on his face had you pulling him in for another kiss.

a/n: thank you for the love on these past couple of chapters, y'all! i'm slowly but surely responding to messages and comments — but in the meantime, please know that i appreciate all of you for reading this sappy lil' fic of mine. it means the world to me.

(next chapter will cover atsumu and y/n's first date mwahaha. stay tuned.)

@miyasmagnolias, 2025

[adachimoe]

Persona 4 - Inaba World Building

Happy New Years!

This is all written up from the lore/setting/etc books that Atlus released for fans, Persona Club P4 and the Golden Premium Fan/Fun Book. I didn't wanna do a 1:1 translation because this is multiple full text pages from two books so this is more like a summary or tl;dr of what's in the books.

I put this under a read more because it's a looot of text. I will probably inevitably edit something later when I realize I made a dumb typo.

General / Meta stuff not in the book that I feel the need to note first

Is Inaba a "town" or a "city"? Inaba is Inaba city (市). The qualifications to become a city are having ~50k residents and 60%+ of the central area being homes. Per the Premium book, Inaba does indeed have 50k citizens. The characters in-game also call it a town/neighborhood/area (町). (Think how in English, we have sayings like "back in town" even when we're not talking about towns?)

Inaba is not a real city, but Atlus lists multiple inspirations for it: Fuefuki, which they drove to randomly and spoke to people; the legend of the Hare of Inaba which is associated with the Tottori area of Japan (east Tottori used to be called Inaba in the past) and is where names like "Yasogami" come from; and "an unnamed developer's hometown" which was used as a reference for the central shopping district and the area around the Dojima house.

A briefer on the Hare of Inaba: A hare tricks a bunch of sharks (wanizame or same) into lining up so it can cross their backs to get to the mainland. The hare is an idiot so it proclaims that it deceived the sharks, and the last shark takes a chunk out of it. Meanwhile, Okuninushi and his brethren (collectively known as the Yasogami) come across the hare on their way to woo a princess. The Yasogami troll the shit out of the hare and makes its back worse, but Okuninushi actually helps the hare by telling it to roll in cattail, and this cures the hare. The hare then reveals it is actually a god, and Okuninushi is given the princess's hand in marriage.

From here on, anything from me that I felt like I needed to note or give my Unwanted Opinion on is wrapped in ( )s.

History

Sengoku period: A feudal lord built a castle on Mt. Yasogami, the highest mountain in the area, and a castle town formed at the base of the mountain. The area was never caught up in any of the major wars or battles of the Sengoku period.

Edo period: After the warring period ended, people began traveling to Inaba because of the hot springs. One winter, someone living in the castle started a fire, it went out of control, and the castle burnt down. The feudal lord's family returned to their old territory and left Inaba.

Meiji period: After the black ships, Japan's opening, Perry, etc, coal was in high demand. Coal was discovered in Mt. Yasogami, people began to move there to work in the coal mines, and this was when Inaba became Inaba City. Presently, many of the people living in Inaba are 2nd and 3rd generation descendants of these coal miner families.

Showa period: During the later end of the Showa era, the world swapped from using coal to using oil. The coal refineries began closing, and by the 1980s, the coal mine also closed, people began to move away, thus leading to the current state of Inaba during the time of P4.

Modern Day

Inaba has around 50k citizens

The city center is a flat area surrounded by mountains called Yasoinaba (so Yasoinaba is a region/district within Inaba, not the other way around)

The local plant is cattail (see the bit about the Hare of Inaba) and there is a lot of cattail that grows downstream on the Samegawa

The local animal is the rabbit and many facilities have rabbit decorations (Namatame's family's delivery service also uses a rabbit with a mail bag)

There has been a recent push to make Inaba Beefsteak a thing as part of the revitalization of Inaba efforts, but... since they have no local cows or beef farms, people don't know where the meat comes from, causing there to be rumors about the meat in town... Atlus notes that it really is beef, but it is unknown where it comes from...

Transport in Inaba

Inaba is sandwiched between other larger urban places (think a metropolis like Tokyo), but the closest one is 3 hours away even by train so Inaba isn't really a place you live in while commuting during the day for work to a bigger city

The only train station in the south part of the city is Yasoinaba Station which is the central/headquarters-like station for the local train line, the Inaba Line

Yasoinaba Station is last stop on the Inaba Line, and the stop before it is called East Inaba. Okina is also somewhere on the Inaba line. (In the opening movie for P4 and in Junpei's story mode in Arena, you can see the *station* sign that says "Next Station: Higashiinaba". However, in the ending of P4, the protagonist boards a *train* that says Next Stop: Hibari. Basically, Higashiinaba is the station after Yasoinaba, but the train presumably skips that stop and goes to Hibari instead. Like an express or a rapid train.)

The Inaba Line doesn't take you to straight to one of the highly populated urban areas. You also have to transfer to another train at the Yasogami Hills train terminal (the protag does this in the opening anime movie)

There are only a few bus routes: Less used ones that go north/south and connects the city area with Mt. Yasogami, and others go east/west and connect Inaba with other cities. (Shu's house, the hospital, the Amagi Inn, and the outdoor daycare are all known bus stops. In Arena, Nanako also takes the bus to the train station.)

Even though most people get around by car, the national highway - access to the outside world - only runs for 300m at the southern edge of the city, and there's no regular expressways to quickly take you to other nearby cities

Overall, people tend to live their lives within the confines of the city

Yasogami Hills and Mt. Yasogami

The mountains in Inaba, with the tallest being Mt. Yasogami, are collectively known as the Yasogami Hills

Somewhere in the Yasogami Hills is a hot spring resort district and this is where the Amagi Inn plus other hot springs are located

The Amagi Inn has 30 rooms, half of which are located in a building detached from the main building so that guests can enjoy the mountains

The ski resort visited in Golden is located somewhere on Mt. Yasogami

The Samegawa

Named after the Hare of Inaba tale and how the hare tricked the "wanizame" or "same"; name meaning "shark river"

The Samegawa runs north and south through Inaba

Downstream to go fishing, upstream takes you to the source of the river on Mt Yasogami

Halfway up the mountain, near the headwaters, is a campsite which is frequented by fishers and outdoors lovers

Upstream, you can drink from the water at the source, but it's too cold to go swimming in even in summer (recall the June camping trip)

It is very specifically a "Class B river system"

Yasogami High School

Name comes from Okuninushi's bros in the Hare of Inaba tale, the Yasogami (Yasogami means "eighty gods" but that was figurative language where 80 means "a bunch", so the meaning is more like "many gods highschool")

Built in 1944 as Yasogami Military School. It was built on Mt. Yasogami where the castle used to stand to deter the allied forces from fire bombing Mt. Yasogami, thus using the school / students as a shield for the coal mine. After the war, it became a normal school, though there is still a plane on campus as a memento of when it was a military facility.

The JP name is 八十神高等学校. The school's nickname is 八高, derived from 2 characters in the full name. This is pronounced "Hachiko". (I think this was removed from the English version entirely, but if you ever play in Japanese audio and wonder why students say "Hachiko" sometimes...)

During the coal mining period, there were lots of students and the two buildings (what we know as the classroom bldg and the practice bldg in-game) were both classroom buildings. After the mines closed -> less people -> less births, they renovated the unused classrooms into vocational / practice rooms. This is how Yasogami High ended up with so many different things in the practice building lol.

There is a small baseball field in addition to the other outdoor facilities. (I don't think we see this in-game)

The book notes that there is not actual rule explicitly stating that girls can't wear a boys uniform (...Naoto is using Air Bud rules...? lol)

You aren't allowed to ride a scooter to school, but according to Daisuke in one of the Strength hangouts (or so says the book; I don't think I've seen this hangout), people do so secretly.

Students have to get permission from school to get a part-time job. They're allowed as long as it doesn't interfere w/studies and the job is age appropriate.

The cultural festival is open to people outside of school, thus it is treated like an event similar to the shrine festival. Businesses from around Inaba also set up stalls at the festival and get into friendly competition with one another.

Many students who graduate from the school tend to stay in Inaba and get jobs there. Attending Yasogami High gives you an advantage / favoritism over students from private schools when job hunting.

Dojima Residence

A house that was built anywhere from a few years to decades ago

It's located in west Inaba

It's not a family home, Dojima bought it

The house has 3-4 bedrooms, exact number not given

The garden outside was started by Chisato, but of course it's been left alone since she passed

If the protagonist eats Nanako's pudding, she will just assume she ate it and forgot about it............................................... (I don't think Adachi would even do this shit.................................)

Junes

The store opened within the previous year

The manager is Yosuke's dad, Yoichi Hanamura

Many students and housewives work there part-time

Students make 690 yen per hr, adults make 900 yen per hr, but Yosuke is worked like a dog for 400 yen per hr (690 yen/hr ended up being the min wage in Yamanashi in 2011)

1F has the grocery department and a line of small specialty shops

2F has the clothing department and home appliances department

The part in July where you find Teddie on a massage chair is part of a special event space where they demo new products. Oh, and the Death SLink, Hisano, wins one of those massage chairs after submitting poetry for Junes' anniversary

The roof has the food court, children's land, and an event stage

1F with the grocery department is open 24/7 and they put out prepared foods every day at 4pm / 7pm / 10pm

The food court has a special called the Ultra Young Set (JP name from the JP slogan) or the Meat Lovers Combo (Eng) that has salisbury / hamburg steak, beefsteak, menchi katsu, and fried chicken; people besides Chie who eat this will be blessed with heartburn. In a dungeon chat, Yosuke wonders if it's made using fox meat since it's so cheap, but it's actually from cows and chickens at farms that Junes has partnered with.

Junes is located in the south area of Inaba and is accessible for people passing through on the national highway, bringing them customers who are passing by, Inaba locals, and even people from Okina

Junes doesn't sell Teddie's favorite snack, Homerun Bars (a real ice cream product, localized as Topsicles in English), so he spends his Junes paychecks buying them at Shiroku

Central Shopping District - South Map

Yomenaido Bookstore: The owner's family name is Yomenai, meaning "can't read". They didn't realize how much of a mismatch their name was for a bookstore until after they opened. At first they were concerned about their business, but have begun stocking books for their own tastes and hobbies, drawing other enthusiasts of certain hobbies to their store. Thus, the majority of books in the store are ones that the average person "can't read". ba-dum-tsh

Daidara Metalworks: JP name is "Metalworks Daidarabocchi", with the bocchi written as a dot (e.g. "Daidara。") Daidara makes pieces of art.

Shiroku Store: Shi and roku mean 4 and 6, and the name comes from an old story about there being a toad with 4 front legs and 6 back legs called the Shiroku Toad. It was originally a pharmacy and medicine seller (the shiroku toad was said to have medicinal purposes), but now the store sells a bunch of whatever. The capsule machine outside was handmade by Shiroku's deceased husband.

Marukyu Tofu: A tofu store that sticks to old-fashioned simple tofu recipes (my opinion here, but I believe this is why it's still around after Junes opened). Run by Rise's grandmother. The people in Inaba call her grandmother "Marukyu" as a nickname (in-game dialogue, the nickname is written differently than the sign on the store). Due to her old age, she has been open less hours and making less product. But once Rise comes back to town, she helps out at the store, and her grandma is back to making more tofu and staying open longer. Rise is in charge of (uhh insert word used in fishmongering that seems to express Rise is in charge of selling?) the first batch of tofu in the morning before school, leading to male customers lining up early.

Central Shopping District - North Map

Souzai Daigaku: The name means Side Dish University. It used to be a lingerie store until the new owners took over. They made it a butcher, then converted it into a store that sells prepared foods that are "a taste of mom's home cooking". But in a small place like Inaba, people aren't exactly nostalgic for that, compared to the big city. The owner later added beefsteak skewers to the menu, claiming they're 80% beef, 20% something else, thus fueling the "what is the meat in Inaba?!" conspiracies. Due to its cheap prices, it's popular with students.

Marutake: A small hobby shop where the protagonist receives Gundam / Avatar Turner reference plastic models to build. The owner works on farmland during the day and his daughter attends Yasogami High.

Aiya: It used to be an oil store, but now it's a Chinese restaurant claiming to be authentic Shanghai style food. However, the owner is a Mr. Nakamura (hence why Aika in P4 anime's last name is Nakamura) who was born and raised in Inaba. On rainy days, Nakamura serves the Special Meat Bowl which has 3kg "meat" and 3kg rice. The meat is pork (the dish isn't called the Mega Beef Bowl in JP), but when asked what it is, Nakamura replies that it's "authentic Chinese cuisine: sheep head and dog meat" which is referring to the expression "selling dog meat under a sheep head", a saying about selling misleading products. (Btw, the owner speaks in Kyowago, saying Aiyaaaa and ending his sentences in "aru". But during say, Kanji's Social Link, he drops the act. So yes, he is LARPing as a Chinese guy.)

Tatsuhime Shrine: The deity enshrined is Toyotamahime, who's true form is similar to a wanizame (refer back to the hare of inaba story), and story is similar to that of Izanagi and Izanami. She protects against water-related disasters (she comes from an undersea palace) and offers safe childbirths (her story involves her giving birth to Hoori's child). The fox that lives on the shrine grounds heals with Inaba's local plant, cattail.

(If you are wondering about the fox in general, the fox statues at the smaller sub-shrine suggest it is dedicated to Inari Okami, so the fox IMO is a messenger of Inari - not literally, but hey. The red apron/bib it wears is based on the red votive bibs that you find on statues at shrines to ward off evil spirits.)

Tatsumi Textiles: An older store from the Meiji era, from when people used to dye fabrics in the clean streams of the Samegawa. The previous owner, Kanji's father, was a famous dyer. (I believe this is why the store is doing well for itself despite the Junes invasion.)

Konishi Liquors: Saki and Naoki's family's store. Saki was working at Junes as she thought the experience would one day help when she takes over the liquor store. They had been doing poorly lately, but a lot of people began visiting out of sympathy after Saki's death. The store is named after former battle planner and now composer Toshiki Konishi whose family owns a liquor store called Konishi Liquor. The name was used as a placeholder during development and it ended up sticking. (Thus, the YouTube comments on Konishi's remix of Fog talking about "remixing a song that your killer dances to" are kind of on-point...)

And now for the non-Inaba locations visited during Persona 4, because those were included in the Town Guide too lol

Tatsumi Port Island

Kashiwagi books the class to stay at Hotel Hamaguri, the renamed version of the love hotel from Persona 3. Instead of a love hotel, it's now a regular hotel. (The decor, however...) Teddie appears on the building opposite the group and impersonates Takaya with two cats as his Jin and Chidori (Teddie even gets a weapon called the Strega Claw lol)

Two years ago before Rise made it big as an idol, she had an invite-only / secret live at Club Escapade. Due to a power outage, they had to cancel the show. This was caused by a mechanical failure and was not the night when SEES fought the Hermit Shadow. (IIRC, Shinji mentions the club had issues with the power -- due to the Hermit Shadow -- leading up to full moon mission, so it might be that?)

Club Escapade quit serving alcohol last year to protest drunk driving

Akinari's book, the Pink Alligator, was published after Mitsuru found it among a certain person's things. True to the story itself, people like it, but no one knows who the real author is...

One of the Kirijo Group's companies is Kirijo Telecom. Dojima's cell phone service is through this company. When he calls Nanako on November 5th, he gets an automated message about her phone not being unavailable from "KJ Telecom", with KJ standing for Kirijo.

When Naoto takes everyone to the hospital in October, she mentions she has read documents about Personas and Shadows. These are thought to have been leaked from a Kirijo Group research lab.

Okina City

Okina is to the north of Inaba, separated from it by Mt. Yasogami

It has 250k people

Okina was originally a city built around a large shrine

Known for having good water

Used to have a papermaking industry

Recently it became very industrial due to companies making factories there, then the workers and their families moved in, so the shopping mall around Okina Station was built with new retail stores, etc etc

(The station at Okina has a sign for the "Inaba Line", indicating that the local train line goes south from Inaba, to East Inaba, then ???, and then north to stop at Okina I guess?)

Shichiri Beach

Not much to note here except that it is a beach within a distance that high schoolers could realistically access via scooter lol

[eeriepromis]

The Meaning Behind Their Names

Alright cuties, let’s talk about something CRUCIAL - the Love Interests’ names and how they are lowkey (highkey) hiding their lore in plain sight. Like, did you know? Their Chinese names aren’t just cool and mysterious - they’re basically spoilers with extra steps. Some of these names hit deeper than my sleep deprivation, and some of them make me wanna go “oh wow, that’s a bit tragic - anyways.” So, I did what any normal (unhinged) person would do: I broke them all down so you don’t have to. Are their English names doing them justice? Did the localization teams try to match their vibe, or did they just throw a dart at a list of cool names? 👀 Which LI’s name surprised you the most? Also, if we get a sixth LI in the future, what kind of name would you want them to have?

(His name is all about stars, fate, and returning cycles - which makes sense, because he straight-up created a time loop by traveling to the past, left his wife in the future, and is now romancing her past self like that’s not an emotional minefield. Sir, please just process your emotions normally.)

(Name literally translates to "grand and brilliant," but let’s be real - it’s just fancy talk for “Will burn your house down, but make it artistic.”)

(His name is all about dawn vs. darkness, deep vs. intense - so basically, he's in a constant internal battle between being cold and broody or the world's softest baby daddy. Sir, please just process your emotions normally - part 2.)

(He’s literally named after an ancient dynasty, which tracks, because he walks into every room like he owns it and has the energy of a man who casually sits on thrones for fun. He woke up and chose authority.)

(His name literally means “summer daylight” and radiates warmth … which is hilarious considering EVER basically turned him into a trauma-ridden Windows reboot with a robot arm. ✨ Delete System32 ✨)

⸻

Note: Header Image generated with AI.

[boymanmaletheshequel]

An altar for Hermes 🛐

🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌

Hello there! Yes, YOU! the little hellenist reading this post! Have you been wanting to start taking your worship of Hermes a little bit more seriously? Because I have, and I have just the thing for you! Hermes is a trickster, but also a very fun, very intelligent god who loves his followers, and is more than willing to grant his protection and deliverance unto them! Wether you’re a lawless little anarchist like me who seeks his protection from the not always fair side of the law, a traveller or wanderer who is looking for some shielding and luck on the road against the backdrop of a big, scary world, or simply a mail carrier who sees the king of mail himself as an idol to be followed, allow me to offer some ideas on how we can craft a little altar space for the hectic and honorable Hermes!

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• STEP ONE: colors and cloth:

When it comes to the domain of color, there’s actually a lot of mixed opinions when it comes to Hermes, as he’s one of the only Olympians whose sacred colors are not really divulged explicitly. Some say that red and green are the colors traditionally associated with him, but I feel like most devotees I know or follow seem to associate him with blue, yellow, and orange. Therefore, any cloth, a base fabric or cloth, the first thing you’ll add to your altar as the base everything else sits upon, would probably be best suited in this color scheme! You also may want your cloth to have more character, and it never hurts to have some symbolism on your fabric, which I’ll get to shorty! You can usually find cheap fabric at craft and thrift stores such as Johanns, Value village, or other local shops!

• STEP TWO: dishes and vessels:

The next thing you’ll want to add to your altar are some of the larger, more utilitarian pieces you wish to decorate with, these can include things like tarot decks, teacups or plates to hold offerings, offering bowls, candles, or books. It is also a good idea to select bowls, dishes, and teacups that line up with the iconography and sacred symbolism of the god the altar is dedicated to. For example, in my altar to Freyja, I have a small teacup with strawberries on it to honor her favorite fruit in Norse mythology! For Hermes, there are a couple different common icons you can look for, these include ironically, strawberries as well, as well as hawks, feathers, coins, gold trimmed and detailed, or gold painted pottery, String instruments, and the Greek key pattern!

• STEP THREE: Idols and tributes:

Another important way to respect your altar and it’s god is to decorate it with Idols of them, like statues, sketches, or other artworks depicting them! You can also donate tributary items to the altar, such as little figurines or charms of things associated with them, for example, my Artemis altar has a small porcelain cat figurine, and my Freya altar has a guilloche heart trinket. In an altar for Hermes, perhaps a statuette of a cherub with a lyre or harp, or a figurine of a mail carrier, or of one of Hermes sacred animals like a cow or ram, would make an appropriate idol for your altar space?

• STEP FOUR: traditional offerings:

Some traditional offerings like food, drink, crystals, herbs, flowers, etc. are an important, and very easy offer to make to your altars, and can easily be placed in the vessels and dishes you keep on the altar space. These offers vary drastically and personally on the god associated with them, but I’ll list some examples that I think would be good fits for Hermes below!

🌸 Crocus, Hydrangea, baby’s breath

🫚 olive oil, myrtle, sandalwood, Saffron

💎 citrine, blue lace agate, blue topaz, Aquamarine, Pyrite.

🍗 strawberries, olives, honey.

🍷beer, milk.

• STEP FIVE: ICONOGRAPHY:

The final step to creating your altar is the use of divine iconography. These symbols, emblems, and motifs celebrate your gods lore, history, and sacred things. You can honor this by finding things donning the iconography associated with your god! For example, almost all of my altars utilize antique painted porcelain or ceramics in some way, I have a porcelain sugar dish painted with strawberries for Aphrodite, a tea plate with wheat sheathes for Demeter, and an antique English teacup with Lilacs painted on it for Pan! Some of the sacred symbols and depictions of Hermes included, but are not limited to: strawberries, olives, lyres, sandals, mail and postage insignia, crocuses, rams, hawks, and coins! Depictions of all of these things on porcelain, pottery, fabric, or otherwise or on their own, are great ways to make clear your altar is dedicated to Hermes!

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Now that you have your very own space to worship and to commune with the hectic, humorous, and helpful Hermes, use it! Talk to him about your travels, bid on him to protect you from your hijinks, legal or otherwise, pray to him to guide your packages safely to you, and to guide you safely on your journeys! Enjoy your new altar space, and may lord Hermes bless you with riches, protection, and travels!

If you like this post, and wish to learn more about the gods of Hellen, Hellenism, paganism, and much more, please consider giving me a follow! I post every single day :) have a blessed day. 💙🏛️

🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌🪽💌

[maya-the-surreal-soldier]

Quite some time ago i made a lore post of my Na'vi x Yautja ship, i thought i'd redesing them a bit, now with new and improoved looks and story!

Im pleased to (re)introduce Iwë' and Zahn!

God they look so much better-

Anyway- onto the lore-

Zahn-Theall --

Zahn and his niece Ka'la go on a personal mission to Pandora, to take care of the human problem. Many other Yautja saw Pandora as not good enough of a hunting resort to save from the RDA's cluches, very few really cared if a planet or moon fell. Zahn was lucky enough that his sister Uthaul was the clan leader, and allowed him and Ka'la to excuse themselves of the clan hunts for a few months, until the human problem was at least more managable for the locals on the Moon.

Zahn was a naturally sensitive child from the start, his hunting instincts took far longer to kick in. Many made fun of him for late development, but little did they know, he never really grew out of it, he never truly enjoyed hunting, never had the thrill of the hunt cloud his judgement, or anger him beyond reason. His sensitivity allowed him to stay alive, and live up to 759 years old, despite his age he isnt a counsulor, he refused the title when his sister offered it to him (not wanting the responsibility really)

Iwë' --

Being born to an almost dead clan, Iwë' learned how to hide from humans before she knew how to speak. Her clan grounds were burnt to a crisp when the humans arrived first, the only survivors were the hunters and gatherers who were far from hometree. In her teens, she and the other children from her clan, managed to take over an RDA facility, and take back a part of their forrest. That is when Iwë' first tasted blood, and she couldnt get enough. She and the other kids slowly but surely started destroying RDA facilities, the adults joining in later, by the time Iwë' was 24, they had completely readicated the RDA facilities from her home forest, but She wasnt done, she heard from the windtraders about the resistence, The Sarentu's return, and the damage the RDA was doing there. And, albeit reluctantly, she decided to join the resistance, just arrows and spears wont cut it anymore.

It was in the resistence She met the others of her hunting party, Tifnu'keynven, Txep'tsyìp, and Teyr'ong, who were from resistence allied clans, Kame'tire, Sarentu and Zeswa..

First meeting --

She was on a regular scouting mission with her bonded, Temmrü, nothing out of the ordinary, the landscape below her was riddled with overgrown RDA machienery, she was simply making sure the humans dont come trying to salvage anything. The sound of a Vakirae and three escorting samsons hit her ear, 4 'o clock to her position, unfourtunately far away enough to escape by the time she go to them, well shit, she had to deal with those armored amp suits again, she hated those, she prefered killing the humans with her bare fists, amp siuts, especially the types they usually drop for these salvaging missions were completly sealed, she had to rely on her spear thrower to do most of the work, that was annoying, nevertheless she and Temmrü turned torward the humans, as they approached, with raised spears, the sounds of a violent gunfight finally reached them. But, they were shooting at nothing... yet one by one she saw them be evicarated by an unseen force. The human intruders were gone as fast as they came. She flew a bit closer, seeing a ripple in the sunlight next to one of the corpses, just barely visible. Temmrü noticed it first, and shrieked in alarm at the unknown, halting mid-air. Iwë' had only had a few seconds to brace, still, she fell forward onto the broken concrete, a roll saved her from major injuries but now she was face-to-face with whatever it was, the ripple was right infront of her, at an arm's length. She might not see them, but she could definitly smell them, mud, human blood, bark, specificly bloodleaf tree bark, it must have been in the plains recently... and the stench of metal... not human metal either, focusing, she managed to make out a shape. It was short, though taller than most humans, bipedal, two arms, one head, thats as far as her senses went. The fact that it has yet to attack her was good, but she still didnt feel like finding out what exactly its intentions were, she called for her ikran, a few agonising seconds later, she came, and Iwë' flew off with her as fast as she could. She'd rather not find out how easily it can tear through na'vi.

He recognised that female. Seen her hunt in the plains, take down mines and oil extraction towers with the clans, sometimes all by herself, he admired her resilience. He has been in this abandoned mine for some time now, waiting for a valkirae to drop troops, this place was next on their list of regainable facilities, they wanted spare electrical components, and the rations still here, if he remembered correctly, the Valkirae arrived perfectly on time, as always. He stayed hidden, the dust settled, and he striked. It took less than a minute to fry all five Amp suits, truly horrible designs, not that their leaders cared that much about pepole dying. He didnt notice the ikran approaching until it shrieked, and the rider fell with a loud thump, whipping his head around, he pulled out his combistick to defend himself. But he wasnt attacked. The Na'vi before him was about as shocked as he was, not a muscle moved in him as he stood there, making eye contact. The moment didnt last long, she left quickly, leaping onto the back of her ikran, he didnt realize he was holding his breath until she was gone...

(this was my first time writing like this, dont sacrifice me to the demon lord pls)

[storyweavingspider]

Why spiders? It’s a cute aesthetic but I’m also just curious about why spiders specifically? 👀

Not a furry, not an otherkin, not a therian, but a secret fourth thing.

Being serious, I don’t know *exactly*? There’s two different paths here.

When I was young, I was scared of spiders. I started identifying as pagan as a teen, and Anansi was one of my first deities and has stuck with me since. I’m not scared of them anymore but I still don’t want to be crawled on. I don’t identify as exactly pagan anymore, as what I practice is probably closest to a dialect of Hoodoo and I don’t exactly “worship” deities so much as they’re mentors who tell me to try shit in various ways (and fuck with me for fun smh). I also recently found older poetry from pretransition calling myself a spider I have no memory of so there’s that too.

Also it’s rare for me to talk about my spirituality publicly or even privately, because among the freak shit I’ve been accused of, the lynching exes begged me to tell them about it then after tried to accuse me of trying to forcibly convert them… to an ADR… when they was white… but people believed it with everything else, so I stopped telling most people about it without huge trust. I’d love to learn from DC local rootworkers “formal” regional hoodoo, as mine is based in Griot type work and deathwork, and I’d like to learn more apothecarying and rootwork. But it’s been hard to seek it out bc of my above experience. Yay trauma!

Other side, after I came out, I used to be a mononym-haver as a SW name from 2019-2023. Anonsee was a triple-entendre pun and I loved that (anonymous, seeing, Anansi. It actually used to have a hyphen as Anon-See but I liked it without later). In early 2023, I realized I really liked being called Anonsee and it just.. fit. And Anansi ain’t never seen to mind me sharing his name since it’s literally Spider. So I took it and the spider stuff grew from there.

Bonus:

Storyweaver can technically be blamed on Hadestown. At first my last name was M*****x because my ex that mentored me in online SW and I formed a SW House together, but after we wasn’t a thing anymore, I was kinda lost on if I should keep it bc Branding or change it and she didn’t give me an opinion either way. So I tried to find a change.

For a while on IRC channels before all this, I used variations of “Our Lady of (thing)” as topics changed as a bit, because of Persephone’s theme from Hadestown. My default was Our Lady of Storyweaving, and then it became a username elsewhere. After a different ex made me start a twitter, that was too long so I swapped to LadyStoryweaver.

Ironically, even when I still used my deadname, this led to so many people calling me that irl too. Not as in my username, but like… palpably as a title/with a space. The first time I got introduced as “Lady Storyweaver” randomly hit real good, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted it as a last name until mid-late 2023, and I been Anonsee Storyweaver since.

Hope you enjoyed the lore lmfao

[moodymuu]

{Iterator Ocs: Info and Refs}

I decided now is the time to actually expand on my lil Iterator characters and update their refs cuz they’re all not the same style. I also wanted to go over the bits of lore about them and the region they were in sooo- LETS GET TO IT!

Oc Refs:

Introducing my children.

All three of them belong to an Isolated local group called { Fatal Networks }. 09, Dale, and Ginger are completely far from any other Iterators in the area and have little contact with others unless a Slugcat was used as a messenger (Plus they only have a few overseer and do not want to risk losing them). It is just those three and all three Iterators are considered “experimental” or flat out weapons (Most notably 09 and Dale were the ones that were experiments, you can guess what Ginger was). None of them talked to each other until the end of the Ancient civilization.

Here are the placements. Organized in the shape of an isosceles triangle and are very close to each other which caused a few issues when it came to water.

Lil fun fact: They all shared the same citizens, even if those citizens didn’t agree with one another when it came to territory and technology (and possibly led to Dale’s lil structure fuck up *COUGH*) I’ll explain it later ;3

Here’s what they all look like

Moving to the region they are in:

Crimson Expanse:

The Crimson Expanse is a dry rocky grassland that the three Iterators are in. Covered with short red grass, rocky hills near the ocean, spiny rock masses and a sprinkle of light pink flowers. There are other subregions in the area, but I am way to tried from RW art month so I’ll be able to work on them more later. But ya this is the main region that surrounds them.

That’s all of the main information about them. Of course there will be more info, but that’s being worked on behind the scenes so don’t be afraid to ask me a few questions that you may have and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability. ENJOY!

Doodle bonus:

[victoriadallonfan]

Lets Talk: The Predator Franchise

About two months ago, I put my thoughts into my feelings on the Alien Franchise, and why I felt that they've been faltering so much.

It felt only fitting that I do the same for the Predator franchise, but I ran into a very curious thing... there's only one bad Predator movie.

A shocking statement, I know, but I'm not counting the AVP movie series (that's it's own separate thing). The Predator (film) is easily the only bad film in the entire series, but I'll get to that later.

First things first: lets talk about Predator (1987).

It's an all time classic, a great deconstruction of the 80's action film, with insanely quotable dialogue and memorable characters - not just the Predator itself, but all the human characters are easily recognizable.

Unlike the Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), Predator is not predominantly a horror film, nor is it emphasizing a tough topic such as sexual assault. It does HAVE horror aspects (the first time they find the skinned corpses is intensely unnerving, especially when they realize that this group of marines apparently lost all self-control and fired in all directions), and it does touch a bit on how the US government is using its own soldiers as cannon fodder to destabilize third-world countries.

But it's not really built to scare the viewer so much as to present a simple idea: what if these action heroes met a bigger, stronger, more advanced version of themselves? And the result is a near total party wipe.

Watching the original film, you realize that the Predator is depicted as incredibly unfair. The majority of its kills are it sniping someone from afar, rushing them when they aren't even looking (while cloaked), and doing a combination of the above. It would have killed Arnold while his back was turned, if the net trap hadn't been set in place.

Hell, it even kills a wounded soldier that Arnold is carrying, after Billy's "last stand" (that lasted mere moments at best, implying the Predator didn't give him the time of day).

(Also, speaking of Billy... he's psychic? Apparently?)

But yeah, the Predator depicted is not the honor clad warrior that some fans may stan (and some writers believe) but more like the equivalent of Counter-Strike hacker. The fact that it takes Arnold untold amounts of traps, ingenuity, and willpower for the Predator to finally face him man to man, no tech, no weapons is meant to be a testament to how impressive Arnold is.

Likewise, the Predator decides to blow himself the fuck up while cackling manically like a supervillain as he tries to finally kill Dutch, also opens him to showing that as alien as it is, it's remarkably human. A spite filled asshole of a human, but humanish nonetheless (amplified by him copying human speech on prior occasions).

It's a really great film about how alien life, if more advanced than our own, might see us as lesser people or outright livestock to hunt (keep a pin in that).

Predator 2 (1990) is often divided amongst fans.

Some hate the fact that it takes place in the "modern day" LA, instead of sticking to the blazing heat of the jungle (as the lore of the first movie implies that the Predator or a Predator visits at the hottest time of the season to create the local bogeyman figure), but this film does a fine job justifying the LA heatwave and honestly... the idea of keeping the Predator to one type of biome is pretty limiting. So I don't mind that.

As one can tell already, I don't think this movie is bad. As good as the first? No, it rehashes a bit too much for that. But it's still a fun and good movie.

And, notably, scarier.

But for context, Predator 2 is set in the far future of... uh, 1997 LA, where there has been open warfare between the LAPD and the Jamaican and Colombian Cartels. Like, not drug busts or stings, but actual warfare with armies of gangs and shit.

The late 80's and early 90's loved to depict LA as a dystopian hellscape where "law and order" was the only defense from total anarchy (as anyone who has ever lived in LA can tell you, racial tensions, especially between the public and police have not been good to say the least).

This entire setup is like a D.A.R.E nightmare or wet dream depending on who's asking.

(Also the Jamaican drug leader, King Willy, might also be psychic? This is the last time it's brought up, but man, I sort of wish we could see future plot lines where people are randomly psychic in these films.)

Anyways, the situation is certainly perfect for this Predator (named City Hunter to differentiate between Jungle Hunter), who takes to the city with a gusto. The difference in how the Predator is portrayed is fascinating, because the bare bones remain the same: he hunts people who are deemed as sport with alien technology.

Fitting with the ultra-violent theme of this film however, this Predator feels like a legitimately horror movie monster. Unlike the Jungle Hunter, City Hunter doesn't prefer to attack from afar, but rather ripping and tearing in close quarters combat, and when he does use ranged weaponry, it's stuff like spears, bladed discs, and nets that shred people into bloody messes.

And he's 110% a bigger asshole that Jungle Hunter: when the City Hunter decides to focus on our lead man, Danny Glover, he doesn't just hunt the man but psychologically torture him. He murders his partner - who is probably the least threatening human in the entire series - just so he can taunt Glover with his necklace at his own grave. He then copies the innocent words of a child just so he can use it as a creepy catchphrase when he decides to hunt Glover's other partners.

The iconic subway massacre perfectly exemplifies both aspects of the City Hunter. He interrupts a massive stand-off between armed civilians, gang members, and the police, just wading in and killing everyone indiscriminately as people frantically scream and claw over each other trying to escape.

(Speaking of, this film does have a LOT of fun having the Predator on modern sets. The above subway scene, City Hunter investigating a meat locker, and him performing emergency surgery in an apartment bathroom are all really cool).

Also, for being so divisive, this film creates a lot of Predator lore: the Predator won't kill (unarmed) children, he won't kill pregnant women, and he WILL kill the elderly if they are packing heat.

And this includes the trophy wall (with xenomorph skull - actually funny because we never see a Predator collect a xenomorph skull in the AVP films) and that the Predator tribe will honor and respect those who defeat their kind with a reward.

It does include that the government is aware of the Predator existence and tries to capture them, but this won't be a major plot line again until The Predator (2018) though it gets some tongue in cheek reference in Predators (2010).

Anyways solid film, lots of cheesey scenes and very tropey stuff that hasn't aged well (or aged in a way that makes it amusing). It's also that last movie that actually tries to be true horror, in my opinion. The rest of the films stick to Action with Gore, but Predator 2 is truly the last film where you feel like this was written to be a horror film.

Also, this film will be the last to really play into the world as being an overly dramatic action movie earth. It's all realism from here.

And then the film franchise will go quiet until 2004 and 2008 for the AVP films (that I won't cover here).

Finally, we get to Predators (2010), and obvious title call back to Aliens (1986) and I have to say, a pretty good trio of ideas: The human targets are actually kidnapped and dropped on a safari planet, there are multiple Predators with their own unique designs and gimmicks, and there is a internal war between the Bad Bloods (aka the Predators who break the "honor code") and the 'normal' Predator clans.

(It should be noted that Bad Bloods have been a thing for years in comics and books, but not really in the mainstream until this film introduced it to movie audiences)

I have to say, despite having a fondness for the film and loving the new ideas, this film is not as enjoyable as Predator or Predator 2. It unfortunately suffers from what I call 2010ism, where there's a lot of CGI blood/gore, a lot of lighting/shadows aren't natural in a horror sense, and the dialogue isn't memorable because it wanted to ditch the action movie dialogue.

The last part isn't necessarily too bad, and it even works with how Adrian Brody is portrayed as a cynical asshole who is purposely meant to be the opposite of Arnold in every way. But the most memorable dialogue is definitely from Walter Goggins (including his highly disturbing "bitch raping time" speech).

Also, it really wastes Topher Grace, Laurence Fishbourne, and Danny Trejo, along with the whole idea of a gang of multinational killers/soldiers/enforcers forced to work together. Not nearly enough time is given to them to bond as a team and have a moment where they show off how cool they are like Predator and Predator 2 did.

Coupled with the safari world being just... a jungle, it feels like a lot of good ideas with "safe" execution.

I don't mean to rag on the film, it's still very fun, and a lot of that is due to the Bad Bloods.

The idea of a particular group of Predators being so evil that they are even warring with their (smaller) counterparts is a great idea, imo, and these Bad Bloods are memorable for their gimmicks.

You had one who used drones as "falcons" to scan and scout out large tracks of terrain, another who employed alien "hounds" to harass humans like a fox hunt, and the leader who had a rapid-fire plasma caster that was overpowered as hell. They also employed other tech like alien bear traps, net traps, and voice decoys.

This movie definitely had the most advanced Predator tech seen on film at the time, making the Jungle Hunter and City Hunter look low tech by comparison, and I think also served to try and force the idea of the Bad Bloods being really "unfair" compared to others.

And of course, we get our first Predator vs Predator fight, which was suitably graphic and badass. Also, I liked that one Predator died by a human pulling a suicide vest attack. Idk, I thought it was pretty ironic considering that's what predators do when they are about to lose, and thought it was neat.

Ultimately, there isn't much else to say about Predators (2010), even though the film ends on a cliffhanger with more people (and aliens) being dropped on the planet. I enjoyed it, it had a lot of cool ideas, cool tech, and cool lore... but if the prior films could be compared to novels, this one felt more like a guidebook.

And now... eight years pass and we get The Predator (2018)

Where do I begin with this movie.

I guess I start with the obvious: it's bad. It's a genuinely awful movie with few redeeming qualities. I'd say it's on the tier of Alien: Resurrection, except this movie is actually offensive because of autism ableism (turns out that autism is actually the next step of human evolution and makes you naturally predisposed to using Predator technology).

And don't get me started on the sex offender controversy.

Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. It's just that this movie... jesus christ, I rewatched it for this post, and it feels like a fever dream.

The Predator (2018) ultimately, is a film that looked at everything that came before it and said, "What if we did it all on a grander scale? And make it bad?" The plot is that a Predator is being hunted by an even larger, more powerful Predator, because it plans on harvesting humanity. You see, in this movie, some Predators use the genes of animals they hunt to improve themselves. The Super Predator as he is called, is a massive 10 foot tall monster that has turned his body into a super weapon, with technology built directly into his biology.

The Good Predator arrives on Earth to warn humanity and deliver a "Predator Killer" suit of Iron Man armor that will help humanity defend the Earth from the oncoming invasion force. The Super Predator wants humanity harvested because... autism makes them super geniuses.... and he declares that a 12 year old boy with autism to be the greatest Predator he's ever met... just because he has autism...

Look, I don't know how the fuck I'm supposed to describe the plot of this movie. It's just bad. It's stupid. At one point they turn a Predator hound good by giving it a bullet lobotomy.

It feels like this movie hates everyone. It hates the Predators, literally killing off the Good Predator not even halfway through the film. It hates the cast, because all of them are forgettable except for Olivia Munn and Super Predator, and it kills the mystique of the Predators because it has Super Predator monologue like an actual supervillain.

The dialogue is genuinely awful, the actors have no chemistry, and the comedy (oh yes, this film acts like a comedy on several occasions) is the definition of cringe. I would call it "ChatGPT writes Predator" but honestly, ChatGPT could do it better.

Let it be known that my words do not do how awful this movie is justice. You can only understand how bad it is by watching it, but it's absolutely NOT worth the time.

Is there anything good about this movie? Besides the Holiday Special on home release?

The effects are pretty good. We see a lot of high tech Predator stuff and that's always cool. I think this had the highest budget of any of the films and it shows.

There's an action set-piece where Good Predator escapes from a government facility and uses an M4-Assault Rifle which is badass. One of the best action scenes in the movie and a neat tie-back to the government investigating them.

The Super Predator is a cool concept and I actually enjoyed him for a large part of the film. I liked that he could just pick up a human like a toy and gut him like a fish before tossing him aside. I love the idea of a Predator that isn't a hunter, but rather a soldier sent in to fuck shit up, showing off the different tech. Really gives the impression that their society has different roles and tech for Predators beyond hunting.

I wish they gave him a helmet and didn't let him monologue like a supervillain.

And that's it. That's the good stuff. Nothing else matters. It says a lot that I don't think Super Predator or the autism plot has been accepted into lore in comics or books.

It's even been argued that this film was deemed non-canon because of how abysmal the reception was.

Suffice to say, after this awful film, fans were pretty low spirit. Which made it all the more surprising when Prey (2022) was released 4 years later.

There was a lot of drama about this film: the franchise is dead, why is the film so woke for including woman and minorities, how can any human expect to beat a Predator with a bow?

This drama is stupid and should rightfully be mocked.

Prey (2022) was a breath of fresh air for the franchise and I'd argue the best film in terms of quality.

It quite literally goes back to the roots of the series and does something that really elevated the film: it made the Predator symbolise something!

This film takes place in the 18th century on the Great Plains, following Naru the Commanche healer who dreams of being a hunter. Meanwhile, a young Predator - known as the Feral Predator for his aggression - is dropped on the planet for his first ever hunt.

Obviously, you can see the parallels between the two as Naru learns to use tricks and tools to handle her weaknesses, while Feral uses brute-force and high tech equipment to slaughter the animals and humans of the planet. The Bear hunt scene, where Naru is forced to flee from a bear and helplessly watch Feral kill the creature with it's bare hands (haha), thus condemning her in his eyes as not a threat is perfect character foil.

Also, he's such a piece of shit, cheating the moment he feels like his prey has the better of him. But in a good way that makes sense for his character.

But on the grander scale, the Predator represents colonialism. A secondary antagonist of the film are the French fur trappers, who have been skinning wild buffalo and depriving the commanche of their food source, openly compared to the Predator skinning animals/humans for trophies instead of resources.

It's actually a lesson Naru has to learn from her brother and mother, that to become a true hunter is about doing so to support a community, not just for ego and idolization.

Its no accident that the Fur Trapper leader dies when Naru sabotages his gun and Feral dies when Naru does the same to his gun as well, with both of them trapped and crippled without any means of escaping their demise.

This film finally moves to make the Predators feel like evil villains who are supremely selfish, much like the first 2 films emphasized (and the third film did to a lesser extent).

But talk of how amazing Naru is as a protagonist and how great the Feral predator is as an antagonist, the film is just good. The cinematography is gorgeous, the actors are great, the Predator effects and costume are terrifying, and lore wise, it does a lot to show that the Predator society is not stagnant.

They evolve over the years and it shows.

And my god are the action scenes incredible. The Predator vs Fur Trapper fight is probably one of the most iconic scenes in the entire franchise now, and for good reason.

Or Naru's knife fight massacre

All in all, this film really shows that the Predator films can be more that action films and... whatever the fuck The Predator (2018) was trying to be.

These films can be used to explore the history of humanity and symbolize concepts that deal with oppression, bigotry, and dehumanization.

The title of Prey - the focus on making the protagonists human - versus the Predator title is incredibly fitting.

While a sequel is left up in the air, we do have confirmation that a new standalone film - titled merely Badlands - is set to come out soon.

I can only hope they learned the right lessons from Prey and we can leave the horrid past of The Predator (2018) behind us for good.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Making up things about Danny Phantom herb lore for fun #1: Blood Blossoms

The specifics as to why Blood Blossoms have such strong ghost-repelling qualities are still unknown. The Blood Blossom flower has a strong and pleasant smell and is edible by humans, having a light, flowery, and sweet flavor to them. Traditionally, it was often used as a famine food, and it was not uncommon for the flowers to be put on bread as they were- cut straight from the stem- and consumed with a bit of butter. As summer turns to autumn, unharvested blood blossoms turn into a fruit known more colloquially as 'Blood Berries.' Blood berries are also edible by humans, maintaining a similar level of sweetness as their flowers, but with a much richer, often overpowering taste. As such, the berries would often be reduced and put into jars of preservers or used as a marinade for meats. Only a little was needed to draw out the richer dimensions of food. While the scent of blood berries will still drive away ghosts, the scent of blood berries is not as strong as their flower counterpart unless actively being cooked. However, dried blood berries, and preserves using them tend to keep especially well in the cold winter months.

While one may assume that Blood Blosdoms were named for their vibrant, red, blood-like hue, it is thought by many historians that blood blossoms were especially favored by the Blood family who hailed from England, and it was them who named the flower. The Blood family's coat of arms features a design that incorporates flowers that look very similar to blood blossoms, perhaps proving to be evidence of this theory.

There are many theories as to why Blood Blossoms repel ghosts, among which is the idea that the scent of these flowers is exceedingly repulsive to ghosts, that something in their chemical makeup makes ectoplasm react in adverse ways when a ghost consumes one, or that it is a component of ghost-repelling spells- therefore ghosts feel a natural aversion to them. However one legend purposes that the reason for why ghosts are repelled by blood blossoms stems from their origin- There is a legend that says that once upon a time, a man would secretly worship at a shrine to a local forest spirit of life and the harvest. The man and his family had been cursed by evil spirits some years before, and where the Christain God had forsaken him and his family, the gentle forest spirit took pity on him and gave him what help she could. He did not have much to offer her. He would work all day in the field and barely yield enough to feed his family. His wife had been injured some years before and so could not work the fields with him anymore, nor could she even ready his meals for him when he returned home each day. And his daughters had fallen under some kind of mysterious illness that, while it fortunately had yet to take their lives, also refused to subside. Still, what little he could spare he would sacrifice to the forest spirit in hopes that she would bring them better fortune, a better crop, and protection from the evil spirits that had cursed him and his family. But one day he came to the nature spirit's alter, a gaping wound in his chest. The ghosts that had cursed his family before had returned for their souls. He did what he could- cast incantations around his humble home, but this injury had been the cost of trying to keep his family safe. The spirits were stronger than his incantations, and it would not be long until the spirits broke through them. He begged the goddess to protect and help his family. Without him, how would they eat? How would his family survive? The humble farmer died on the forest spirit's alter. She wept for the man who sacrificed everything he could to her to protect his family. And so she thought that the least she could do was to grant his wish. Plants erupted from the ground where his blood had spilled, bearing bright red flowers with black thorns. They traveled along the forest path to his home, where they surrounded the building, forcing the ghosts away. They would never return to hurt the family ever again. And with the spirits gone, the daughters were able to heal from the illness. It was soon discovered as they trimmed the wild black thorns back that the flowers were edible and delicious too. The stems and twigs burned especially hot, helping them to keep their hearth warm throughout all the autumn and winter. And the berries kept all the winter through. And so the man's wishes had all come true. For the rest of their days, his family would be protected from the spirits that had haunted them, and they would never need to go hungry ever again.

[dearinglovebot]

discussing all things arab in jwct s2e05!

first off, that is shish tawook (chicken kebab), not beef. but overall a pretty good representation of fast food in the arab world. white rice is an extremely common side dish with kebabs (alongside grilled vegetables like tomatoes, onions, peppers) and that little container is garlic which is common to put on meats. particularly pita bread wraps/sandwiches.

and she really didn't need to say "beef" kebab. only chicken kebab really gets singled out. really outting yourself as a foreigner there, brook. broadly, the default for all meat-based dishes will either be lamb or beef. and no menus will not clarify which it is 90% of the time. they force you into russian roulette.

moving on to the few lines of arabic they speak, this is probably the MOST fascinating part. arabic is not like english. there is universal language which is derived from the qur'an and regional cultural language. modern standard arabic is basically "formal" arabic that is used in international business, government documents, the news, etc. this is the kind of arabic you'd learn in the united states from a textbook. however, native speakers have regional dialects. regional dialects are SO expansive that it's argued that many of them might actually be qualified as separate languages. even the same country might not be able to understand each other because of things like rural vs urban language developments.

why does this matter? soyona speaks egyptian arabic. this is the dialect you'd use to communicate in places like cairo. egyptian is ALSO the "film" language. egyptians completely dominated the arabic speaking film industry meaning it's widely understandable to arabs who grew up in the age of television. but it's also famous for having a thousand unique words that make you go "what the fuck does that mean".

as someone who lives in dubai, soyona should actually be speaking gulf arabic on a daily basis. gulf arabic is the common dialect of lower saudi, the UAE, most of oman, etc. it's also famously not spoken any where near cairo. it'd be equally understandable if soyona spoke MSA to brooklynn as that's likely what she'd speak with trading partners. i must stress that arabic dialect isnt like americans talking to british people. it's closer to spaniards talking to french people. you kind of get the gist but only kind of.

while meta-wise we know this wasn't something the crew intended, it adds an interesting layer to soyona's canon lore. while egyptian is something somewhat *understood*, it is NOT the common language of where she's doing business OR the common dialect overall. meaning she almost certainly has to have some major base of operations in cairo, too, and it likely happened before moving to the gulf.

brooklynn ALSO speaks dialectal arabic! for her, it makes a lot of sense with the previous mention of egyptian being the "film" language. she could've honestly picked this up by watching a few shows on the way over. and fun fact, it's also dialectally what yaz would say as a lebanese since the same words are used in levantine. however, again, this is definitely NOT msa meaning it's extremely unlikely she picked it up from a textbook or any kind of formal language learning platform.

moving on, we have fashion: brooklynn, dear. you look like such a tourist. no wonder she caught you so easily. the tight, ripped pants and short sleeved, close fitting t-shirt give her away instantly. while yes you'd be allowed to dress like this, everyone knows you're an american vacationer instantly. you might be able to get away with this in the levantine cities, but the GULF? her ass is NOT the delivery woman.

soyona actually hits the nail pretty well for what a local would dress like. she's got a bit of a "western" influence to her, but honestly that's how a lot of the upper business class dresses in the modern era. her sleeves are long and to the wrist, her pants are long, and she's got a loose overcoat. she looks very much like she shops designer which is exactly how a local would display wealth. the only thing she's missing is gold jewelry honestly.

lastly, there's the elephant in the room... the gulf. we call people from this place khaleejis. everyone outside the gulf hates khaleejis. even non-khaleejis in the gulf hate khaleejis. the kind of rich opulence you see in this apartment is exactly what you'd expect from a khaleeji.

one of the worst places of the animal wildlife trade is in the gulf. while certain regulations have since been put in place, being at the center between africa and asia with some of the wealthiest people in either region makes it prone for animal trafficking. big cats are seen as one of the ultimate status symbols for the ultra wealthy. dinosaur trafficking moving to dubai is about as realistic as it gets.

the only unrealistic part is the lack of visible indentured servants. to put it frankly, the cultural norm is to have a pseudo-slave (90% of dubai is made up of a non-khaleeji slave class. i'm serious. and westerners like soyona make up a significant portion of the slave-owning class. the building brooklynn was staying in was 100% actively being built by slaves) who lives in one of your guest bedrooms. it's actually weirder and more sus if she doesn't have one. pair that with soyona wanting to sell militarized dinosaurs which will be used exclusively on the areas exploited by the dubai elite and umm... well, lets close that can of worms before this gets really awkward

[artistically-hershie]

So I see my drawing for the RusAme AUs got alot more love than I expected and I saw a few tags and a few friends asking what AU's are shown, and what is their plot.

I will say this, these are my AU's or an AU that I helped create. A lot of them are inspired by games or music, truthfully.

1. Monster Hunter

A big AU i am working in with @gremlins-hotel . We do plan to make a blog and reveal more of the AU eventually but with the new game coming out, we want to polish the plot a bit more before we post anything

Ivan being a Hunter from the New World and Alfred being a Rider, and his monstie Alti [a Tobi-Kadachi] being from a secluded tribe in the Old World.

2. Horizon x Hetalia

An AU based on the Horizon [ZeroDawn and ForbiddenWest] game series.

A post apocalyptic US setting where these guys made a clones of themselves along with their history to try and help aid the future generations.

But of course, time erodes everything. Even history and memories.

Alfred having his process to remember his history haunted due to a malfunction leaving him with broken memories and being in the hands of a very territorial tribe. He was raised a warrior struggling to remember this real name, all while Ivan is helping Matthew on the search to find Alfred .

3. Ersatz

One of my older but more proud AU's. A sci-fi, horror setting in the...strangely not so distant future with alot of drama between national embodiments and their yearn to be immortal through...experimental methods. Even if that means using an Alien for their own bodily needs.

Majorly inspired by the game Prey [2017]

4. Final Fantasy 14 x Hetalia

Astrologian Ivan and Red Mage Alfred, two Au Ruí from different tribes, grown in different ways, even told to hate one another. Yet they are somehow bound together...through time and soul.

5. XenoChronicles [name may change] *

Based on the multiple Mech Animes I've watched , (mainly) Xenoblade X and the few sci fi shows i grew up loving; these two are lost in space.

Alfred being a mechanic added onto the ship last minute, he is shown very little respect for being a cyborg. But Ivan being commander of a mech squadron who sees potential in the young man, even if he isn't completely human.

6. A Forgotten Story *

One of Two High Fantasy AUs where Alfred is the hier of a Dragon Goddess and has no clue of his heritage and Ivan being a Arch Mage of the Arcane. Some call the Mage a god but he is just highly skilled.

7. Godly Vessels *

Second of the two High Fantasy AUs where a cult tries to overthrow a kingdom by summoning a god using a peasants body for sacrifice. But instead the god shares the body with them (Alfred). Ivan being a unwanted Royal Guard from a neighboring kingdom (that was destroyed by these vessels) is to protect this entity.

Eventually his service will be a blessing.

8. Voodoo down Bourbon *

This isn't a official AU compared to the others rather a fun joke AU i couldn't help but include. Espically since Mardi Gras is just around the corner and I am from Louisiana.

Ivan based on drunken tourist gets a bit too cocky with a stranger, and Alfred being of course a voodoo artist takes advantage of the tourist.

Truthfully it was fun to throw my own speech and slang to Alfred, so to have him say cher is so fun.

Besides based on some local folk lore I'm sure he reminds you of a certain villain.

The ones with the stars after the name are ones that I posted maybe once or never posted because I was too embarrassed to share these ideas. I make quite a few AUs but sometimes it's just for comfort reasons or something just sparked a sudden idea and then actually thinking on the subject, it is scrapped.

Or even just for a quick doodle and the idea is gone

So to see you guys actually are interested makes me quite happy, espically since I've been very stressed.

If any peak your interest or you'd like to see more of these let me know!

[midnight-mourning]

*Taps mic* Heard y'all like Moon around here, you're in luck, this one's for you

massive, MASSIVE thank you to @lunarmoves for beta-reading this chapter!!

She put a lot of time and effort into making my BS readable for y'all and it's greatly appreciated <3 <3 <3

Shay also makes really good dca stuff (also sebastian solace but I know very little about the fish tbh) and you should check her out!

Also, happy 200k+!!! We're only 297k from truly becoming the 500k enemies to lovers slowburn of our dreams lmaoooo

But for real I apologize for such a delay with this one. If you'd like to hear my excuses/reasoning they're below the cut, or you can just go read the chapter whatever suits ya ^-^

Tag list (if you would like added please see this post for more info):

@scarletcowboy @beemyhuneybee @fishm0ther @deviouscrackers @elsajoyagent8

@luckyyyduckyyy @zenkaiankoku @jogimote @local-shrub @amarynthian-chronicles

@robinette-green @everlightreader @sinister-sincerely @starredeclipse @dangerva

CW: medical stuff & additionally a bit of unreality mentions

Okay going to try and keep this simple bc I've said parts of it before

So as most of you know, I've been sick for 3 months now

I've now been on two rounds of steroids, and currently on my third round of antibiotics, which are basically keep me fucntional, not improving

besides general discomfort and pain, my memory has been pretty shot at times, I will go through the day and barely remember what I did/what I'm doing/what I need to do

as someone who had brain fog caused by covid a few years ago, this was genuinely a scary experience because ultimately, this has been worse

i've felt out of control of my body, having times where I'm mid thought and then instantly lose it

this is not my normal, I usually pride myself on my memory, so losing it has been incredibly devastating and scary

this was not helped by the fact that the quick care I went to (THREE TIMES for this) basically kind of sort of tried to gaslight me into believing nothing could be done and that it's not an infection

so not only has this entire thing has gotten dragged out so much more, which makes me sad tbh, but I've also felt like I've been going crazy bc it felt like no one was believing me when i said I was sick and not getting any better (including friends, family, coworkers etc, though unintentional on their parts to be fair)

I feel like I've lost three months of my life and coming to terms with that has been, yeah

on top of all that, I'm still in school AND doing grad stuff, and while the school side of things has been okay (thank god), grad's had it's moments, won't get into it but have had multiple issues with my advisor that have been at times just really tough to deal with

Confused spirit got pushed to the back burner, because i quite literally at times could not think, and when it comes to this fic, where there's multiple ongoing plot threads, characterizations, lore, and so on to keep track of, it was just, impossible to me to even consider writing for it

having shorter stuff like promptober, the oneshots and such was great to keep me writing, and also still interact with everyone in the community, plus i had a lot of fun with them so that helped too

this is all to say that I do sincerly apologize for the delay, and at the very least I should've clearly communicated about there being a hiatus, when this all started I thought i'd be down for two weeks max, then as that time kept increasing I just kept putting it off and putting it off because i thought i was going to get better, and then I didn't

I do this for fun and for nothing else, fic writing isn't content (it's engaging with fandom) and i have to remind myself of that sometimes but given that I've been around in some capacity on and off I feel I should've said something in some regard

Having said all that, I'm doing okay now! Still sick, but as long as I'm on meds I'm functional, stuff is getting managable with grad, and hopefully have some fun things coming up irl! Point is, the last three months haven't been the best, but they've been alright, due in part to all the support you all have given me, so thank you for that, can't say it enough :)

Okay, I think that just about covers it, thank you for taking the time to read all of this if you did <3

[necrocrafter]

MCD Episode 1 Transcript

I apologize for the wait and for how long this post is. I was honestly jumping back and forth on what was too much or what wasn't enough because I wanted to ensure everyone was able to find what they were looking for. Whether it was only lore bits, details on the setting or just fun observations. I just said fuck it so you guys get everything. If you find or have any critiques on how to make this more organized, then by all means go for it! Without further ado, I hope you like this transcript.

() - side notes 

(( )) - my commentary

[] - Timestamps

{} - MCCA Villager dialogue

Introduction [0:00]

Jess starts off by introducing the 2nd season of diaries

Shows us a signed book in her inventory that is titled "Diaries". It holds entries of all her adventures (in days) of each episode of the previous season (which I think is now non-canon and unconnected to Diaries). 

"I did a ton of crazy stuff. I had a family, I raised a village, I got a Pegasus and a unicorn! It was crazy, I even became the Avatar at some point. But like all good adventures, they come to an end. However, a new one is beginning right here, right now." [0:20-0:40]

The diary ends in, "My journey has ended, but a new one is just beginning…”

Jess shows us the little "headspace" room she's in with her cat, Johnny Cat. She puts the previous diary away on a shelf before heading towards a desk to begin a new saga of adventures.

Episode Starts [1:05]

The opening scene starts at the edge of the village of Phoenix Drop, where the forest (a mix of birch and oak) line meets the last pathway around a farm plot. A man in chainmail outlined with a golden colored metal with a helmet that only allows to see his brown eyes and the barest hint of brown hair peeks through (Zenix) is speaking with another man in distinct armor, white garbs with a long black cross-like symbol on the front and chainmail; his face completely covered by his helm (Garroth)

"What are we gonna do? Since our last lord passed away, the people have been going crazy. Not to mention, we're running low on local resources. And we have no connection to the other villages." -Zenix

"Zenix, do not worry. I have a plan." -Garroth 

As they speak with each other, Zenix turns around sharply, his head whipping around before his body turns towards a perceived disturbance.

"Wait, did you hear that?" - Zenix 

The frame zooms out to a man cloaked in black and green who is hiding behind an oak tree a few paces away. A single green eye peeks out from behind a curtain of brown hair, his face carefully hidden away in a black hooded cowl outlined in grey with an equally grey neck gaiter. He's wearing a long-sleeved green top with a brown leather waist belt (?) with a gold buckle. His hands are covered in elbow length (?) brown fingerless arm gloves (Vylad)

The mysterious man turns and takes off into the forest

Cutscene Ends - Gameplay/RP begins [1:28]

Aphmau has spawned into the world, with the typical Minecraft starting day cycle beginning. She's wearing a purple crop top, grey half gloves, short purple daisy duke's (?) and black knee-high boots with purple laces-outline. She's in the middle of an oak forest in a small clearing in front of a water hole.

She's addressing the viewers, "Day 1, and now it is time to, of course, find some shelter before the night falls."

Looking towards the sky above the treetops, she sees the sun just rising above. "As you can see, the day has just begun, so I've got plenty of time." Grassy oak-birch forest with alliums, orange tulips, and azure bluets. The sky is clear with faint wisp of clouds.

She begins to head through the forest, "There's a lot of trees around here, so I should be good in terms of getting like a crafting bench going and all that kind of stuff but let's just go ahead and try to find like a nice little hole." ((Real)) 

Aphmau continues to climb up hills, past birch trees, and through short grass sprinkled with roses (poppy’s), red & orange tulips.

She stops to examine small craters in the ground, displaying dissatisfaction at not hiding a deep hole

"That...that's not a-that's a terrible hole! I'm not going to go in there, but let's try to find, like a nice little hole or something I can-" 

She continues to wander past the hole and up to the crest of the hill. Only to stop at seeing a person in the distance.

Aphmau sees a mysterious hooded man in green and black (player username, Vylad) in the distance, punching a birch tree, gathering logs, and she runs in his direction, running down the hill and past the thick, low hanging, tree branches.

"Hey, there's a guy over there. Come here, I need to talk to you! I need to find a nice little hole. If you happen to know like" 

She stops as she comes upon his previous location, he has disappeared 

"Wh-where'd he go?- Oh my god, he did..." 

She comes upon the birch tree he'd been punching and finds that he left it floating. She gazes at it in disdain and takes a quick peeved inhale before looking around. 

"...that really upsets me. The fact that-" [1:50-2:05]

While she's distracted by the floating logs of the tree, he waits in the background for her attention to once again find him. She continues chasing after him, to which he flees; seemingly leading her somewhere

Through clearings, flower patches (peonies, rose bush patches, dandelions), past a rather large watering hole.

"Come here! Hey! Come here, I need to talk to you-You just left that tree...you just really left that tree undone. You just literally were-" she keeps running after him, not stopping even when he runs past two men at the edge of a farm plot of wheat. 

"Oh my god, that guy is getting attacked by that guard."

The man leads her straight to two guards, nametags reading Zenix and Garroth. He runs past Garroth, who gives chase and attacks him whilst doing so. (Garroth hits him once (?))

Aphmau continues past them, even as Garroth walks past her to return to his spot. She looks around but sees he's disappeared.

"Where-Where'd he go? Where'd he go?...um alright. But...he's gone, but ya know what? He led me to a village. And there's some awesome guards here. This guard is pretty cool. What are you doing?" She turns back towards the two men before her and turns to speak with Garroth first. [2:30]

"I don't think anyone in the village will listen to any of the guards. Not after how terrible the last Lord was..." -Garroth

"Now that the Lord is gone, the village is in chaos. What are we going to do?" -Zenix

"Oh...oh! What kind of chaos is the village going through?" She travels around the wheat farm edge heading into the village onto the wooden plank pathway, past small huts, and a village library. 'Cause I could help out. I mean, I just spawned in the world so I could absolutely like take over this village and become the new terrible lord... I mean, awesome lord."

She stops at a tight intersection with a well in the middle. "...oh my god. OH MY GOD, there are so many people in here! Literally in this water!" ((The Well has claimed its victims))

She takes a horrified yet stunned look at how many people are trapped in the village well whilst also being greeted by the other town citizens like it's a normal occurrence. ((You know that one The Hole meme? Yeah, it feels like that)) [2:56]

The first person to greet her is Emmalyn the Librarian {"Greetings.}, followed by Dale the Guard {"Oh, hello. Aphmau, was it"}, Stephanie the Farmer {"Hey, what's up?"}, Jeremy the Guard {"Oh, hello there"}, Aidan the Farmer {Good day to you, Aphmau"}

She tries to go past The Well as she contemplates

"I don't know where that other guy went, but I-oh crap."

Not watching where she was walking, she falls into a hole. ((LMAO))

"Oh hey, here's my hole. Look at that." It's a small cave tunnel filled with stone, gravel, dirt, and large veins of coal. "This is a nice hole to begin in."

She begins to climb her way out the hole through a small gap to the surface next to another hut

"All right, so really, let's go ahead and see what's going on in this village”

Gets greeted by more villagers; Arthur the Farmer {"You must be new around here"}, Brendan the Farmer {"Oh, hello. Aphmau, was it?"}

She wanders back towards The Well, trying to get a vantage point of where to go next.

"So I got a lot of people here, and there's a lot of people literally taking a little nice bubble bath."

She gets greeted by a woman named Molly, the farmer, who is also trapped in The Well {"Hi, stranger."}

"And, um, I don't see that-"

She's cut off as she falls into the same hole she fell into moments ago ((Bruh, LMAO))

"Gosh darn it, I did the same thing again."

She climbs out and glares at The Well

"That is really going to hurt somebody, and uh, that's not going to be a good thing, and there's-"

She climbs the rooftop of a small hut and then looks down and sees a man with green eyes, black hair, in pale-bright green clothes, staring at her (Brendan). She stares back.

"Hey, look, there's like a bolin skin there, and who is that-?" [3:28]

She hops off the roof but is cut off as she, once again, falls back into the same hole. ((LMFAO and she teases Laurance for falling into holes when she's just as bad))

"Oh my goodness, that's the third time!"

She stands next to The Well, looking at Brendan, who hasn't stopped watching her.

"All right, first time shame on you, second time shame on me third time I don't know what's going on."

She turns her attention forward, down a long pathway, past two large farms. The one on the left has 4 plots; 3 of the 4 plots are in rows of 2, which contain wheat all next to each other, while the last row are carrots.

"But all right, so we got Brendan the farmer, and we have a bunch of stuff to work with."

The one on the right has the same setup principle as the left one, but a plot of carrots is set in between that separates the 3 plots of wheat. (Left: Wheat, Wheat, Wheat, Carrots | Right: Wheat, Carrots, Wheat, Wheat) [3:42]

She takes a look at the crops while slowly walking down the pathway

"We also have a lot of food here, which is something that was about to be a problem, but now that I'm actually here in this village, I don't have to worry about that anymore."

She gets atop the right farm's edge and begins to punch the carrots without, initially, replanting them

"All right, so let's go ahead and get settled in here. I don't think that they're going to mind if I'm here."

She proceeds out the farm, climbing up the hill towards a woman and a man who was watching her in the farm. The man happens to be Brendan, once again, watching her, but from inside a patch of lilacs ((omfg, he scared the HECK out of me. I didn't realize he was there until I looked at the paused screen)) [3:56]

“I mean Lilith the farmer. L-Lili-Lili-sorry. Lin-Linda-Lil-Lydia the farmer!”

She continues on past them up the hill until she hits the wood pathway, turning left, quickly looking around at a medium sized house with a chicken yard in the back and another farm of wheat before turning right back towards the center of the village back to The Well.

“All right so there's a lot of stuff that needs to go on here, but I think I'm going to go ahead and settle in this village. Um, I know I was looking for a hole but I kind of already found it down below, especially inside of the nice little well.”

She proceeds to run back towards the beginning edges of town, zeroing in on an oak tree.

“Um so first things first let's go ahead and start with the crafting bench. The basics of Minecraft. Literally visit-visiting the basics of Minecraft.”

She then proceeds to choose a tree near where Garroth and Zenix are still standing watch, and proceeds to punch the middle log, circling it whilst delivering precise precision jabs, collecting the logs from bottom to top. ((I just KNOW Zenix and Garroth are losing their minds LMAO)) [4:25]

“Um I think what I'm going to do is, I'm going to stay in this village now and uh, ooh! First achievement.”

“Aww I always love getting that first achievement because it's just like you're building your way up and I might even try to keep track of like, the achievements that I have. So that way I can try to get them all but I'm sure that will happen in due time. But let's go ahead get this village started.”

“Um, first let's start by fixing that stupid hole that's-that's incredibly annoying.”

She stops to look at The Well and the people stuck bobbing inside [4:50]

“Um and saving those poor people down in The Well. All right um, uh let's see this is nice-”

She stops and whirls around as she hears and sees the distinct sound of a burning zombie lumbering from the hole as it climbs to attack the vulnerable people in The Well.

“Oh, oh my god! there that zombie is about to destroy those people and I just realized that I spawned in with a bunch of really cool stuff!” [5:00] (Hotbar: 6 ½ health, 5 ½ hunger. Pet wand 1st slot, Doggy charm 2nd slot, Command Emblem 3rd slot, 33 Carrots 4th slot, 5 oak wood 5th slot)

All while she casually jumps from her perch above on the path down in front of the zombie. Punching it with the oak wood logs in hand.

She goes to show off her hotbar items, focused on them whilst also acknowledging the 2 other zombies that come burning and lumbering past her, focused on the helpless villagers in The Well.

“Um right here I have a Doggy charm, a Command Elm, and a Pet Wand which I'm going to use to destroy-!!”

She goes to try and hit them with the wand, but it does not work, retreating back before becoming determined (This type of creature must be under the effect of a potion of weakness to be tamed) [5:08]

“Oh okay…I can't use that okay. I'm just going to destroy them with my own bare hands!! I'll show these villagers how hardcore I can be.”

Knocking them back into the hole, kills both of them without taking damage

“There we go I saved you guys from the zombies.”

She earns and collects the XP and 2 zombie brains in slot 6 before climbing out the hole back to the surface.

“Awesome all right so you know we're going to have like a little rocky start here not as Rocky as these people because they're just they're just they're just terribly terribly doomed and hey there's a crafting bench here, so I don't even have to worry and why did I-”

Aphmau explores a large house next to The Well and finds it to be a Library, with books, a table + benches, and a crafting bench. She goes to use it but instead of interacting with it, she ends up in Brendans NPC interface which causes her to eat a zombie brain. She gets the hunger effect (Last for 30 seconds)

“Brenden you made me eat a zombie brain I…don't want to see you again! Just, just-just follow me, please follow me here. You need a…you need a since you're a farmer, I'm going to take you all the way over here because you could, this could be like, your little farmhouse Brendan yeah. Or Bolin since his skin is actually like a Bolin kind of skin.”

She leads him down the pathway past the farms and sets him up in a large house across from a very tiny house ((BABE HOUSE))

“So I'm going to put you right in here since I-I have some-some stuff to spare. You can come in here. See come on you, can do it. Aww man, I just housed one person-”

He then proceeds to run out the house ((me too buddy))

“Hey, hey! Where are you going!?!”

He proceeds to turn right back around to her ((he’s so real for this cause I’d be scared of this random scary woman too))

“Stay right here this is your house now Brendan it's nobody else's house but yours you have your nice little place.”

She leaves and heads back up the path

“I'm already being a better to-be-Lord than the other person was.”

She walks past 3 people but only one says anything {Adian the Farmer: Hi, stranger} [6:25]

“Hello, Aiden the farmer!”

“All right, Aiden is doing his thing, uh wow so now that we have Aiden, we have a lot of farmers here. I'm going to have to see what I can do as far as helping them all out.”

She goes back into the Library where she interacts with the crafting bench (taking a single plank, making wood to make sticks, and making a wooden sword and placing everything in her hotbar but the sword in her inventory) [6:38]

She crafts a sword, wooden axe and pickaxe

She heads outside and is greeted by 2 people: Stephanie the Farmer {Are you new around here?} and Jeremy the Guard {I haven’t seen you around before.} [7:13]

“Plus, we have a bunch of carrots, we have some zombie brains, um and we're going to free these people right here because they are just utterly dying.”

She observes while eating 3 carrots and 2 more people call out to her: Kent the Guard {Oh, hello there.} and Molly the Farmer {Greetings.}

She takes her pickaxe and destroys 2 cobblestone walls

“So let's see, I would at least like to have like, a nice little place settled into-”

“There we go, your free people run!” she watches as they all practically stay stuck only a few guards rushing out “Get out of there…” Dale the Guard free’s himself only to immediately fall back in just as Molly pulls herself out, turning to watch him fall only to turn towards Aphmau.

“Don't-don't okay…Molly just like, ‘hey I was in my bath, this is what this how I-this is how I get clean every now and then’”.

She looks to Stephanie, Emmalyn, and Molly, telling them to follow her. Stephanie { Where are you taking me?} Emmalyn {Where are we going?} Molly {Okay. I’ll come along} ((Molly, love, where are your survival instincts)) [7:43]

“All right follow me how about, you follow me. You follow me. I'm going to save the babes first. Come on babes, let's go let's go.” They follow and she takes them down the path to the tiny house across from where she put brenden.

“I'm going to-I'm going to move all the babes out this way! Oh look! They're all following me. They-they are all babes holy crap. All right so this is going to be the Babe House right here. Come on-come on in ladies. So you stay right here. Um or follow me”

The ladies then proceed to repeatedly open and close the door rapidly

“Actually if you guys-if you guys could stop opening the door that would be fantastic. It's kind of just slamming in my ear. Um, alright so you guys just stay outside of the Babe House, how-how about that? You stay there and then you stay there. There we go. Alright, so this is the Babe House right now.

She walks back to The Well

“Um I saved them, they are now in depth-depth, not they're not in depth, they're in debt to me.” [8:22-8:29]

She looks at the guards and people still stuck in The Well

“...and the guards, well the guards are really dumb. No wonder nobody's gonna listen to them!”

Acting- “I say villagers it's time we take a bath together, a bath we can't get out of!”

“All right so I don't think…I think the guards are pretty much doomed…um yeah they're doomed”, she says as she puts the cobblestone back, trapping those inside

She chops some oak trees nearby using her wooden axe

“Least try to upgrade my weapons, try to get some um..maybe a nice bed inside of my place? Um I don't even know if I'm allowed to have like the big house. I'm assuming that it's, I mean, I haven't seen like a Lord's house or anything around here, so I'm assuming that all these houses are up for grabs since the village is really kind of in like, quite literally, in chaos.” [8:57-9:18]

Walking back past The Well both Derek and Emma the guard both say, {“You must be new around here.”} [9:18]

“I-I actually am new around here and I actually haven't properly introduced myself.”

She looks into The Well and see’s everyone still in there Derek the Guard, Emma the Guard, Dale the Guard, and Kent the Guard. With Dale asking, {“Are you new around here?”} while Kent says, {“Hi, stranger.”} ((omg I did NOT remember Dale being in The Well THIS much-))

Aphmau goes to interact (chat) with Kent, laughing at seeing all the guards bobbing in the water

“Um Kent the guard..all the..nobody's going to listen to you guys if you keep acting like that.” [9:24-9:30]

He replies back with, {“You heard this from where?”}

Aphmau responds with, “I've heard things from everywhere, actually.” ((That sounds mad spooky ngl))

She goes to walk away but sees another guard trying to pass her fall into The Well [9:35]

“Yeah, see the guards just keep, they just keep going inside! they are so bad-”

She then falls into The Hole ((LMAO))

“-I got to fix all of this!”

She decides to take the opportunity to mine some stone (gathers 7 cobblestone)

“As I continue this series, I'm definitely going to have to make sure that I do a lot of farming.” [9:50-9:56]

She collects some coal from a nearby vein (collects 8 pieces)

Gets distracted by a name tag through the cobblestone (probably a villager in The Well) and then hears a cave noise

“What is that? What is that..what is that noise, that was creepy. That was like, really creepy!”

She goes back to mining stone as she notices that the sun is beginning to set (gathers 6 more cobblestone, making 13 in total)

She heads out The Hole [10:50]

She’s greeted by Cameron the Baker{“Oh, hello there.”}

She cheerfully chirps back, “Hello there, Cameron the baker! It's good to see you.”

She spies Lydia the Farmer on an adjacent rooftop [10:58]

“We have a lot of farmers here.”

She goes into the library just as Derek and Emma the guards call out to her again Derek {Oh, hello. Aphmau, was it?} and Emma{Are you new around here?} [11:01]

Aphmau heads to the crafting bench and begins to craft a stone sword

Adian the farmer pops in {You must be new around here} before going to stand on the crafting bench, looking at her [11:08-11:10]

“Why do people keep coming and Stan-why do people keep coming and-!” he suddenly disappears

Flabbergasted and slightly panicked, Aphmau looks around the library, calling out, “where did you go!?... What is going on? Where did he go? Where did he-”, outside the glass windows shows that it’s almost night time and she then heads back to the crafting bench to then finish up

“I'm assuming he went to bed but that was just creepy as heck! I mean, come on! You don't just stand on somebody's crafting table, look at them, and then disappear! It's completely rude!”

Aphmau quickly makes a stone shovel, stone pickaxe, and axe

“Okay, I'll go with it, if that's how this village wants to play. This is a little weird.” [11:34]

Aphmau then proceeds to make some torches, stating, “Of course, I need some torches, and I think we're going to set down some torches here in the village, if there aren't some there already. I don't think there are, uh, because just traveling around, I haven't seen anything crazy, but I'm going to go ahead and just..you know, kind of light up my area.” (Made 16 torches, placing 2 in the library before heading out; 14 left)

Looking around, night has completely fallen. She spies the guards nearby, still in The Well.

“I feel so bad for those guards. Okay, um so… I can't help but laugh at them because they're just being silly now.” (Placing 2 more torches on either side of the libraries door; 12 left)

Almost falling into The Hole again, she takes the rest of her cobblestone and covers the top half up

“Now- Oh god, I hear zombies.”

Going down into The Hole and places a few torches as she travels through it (5 torches; only 7 left)

“Let's just start to get the mine going, um, so I can start digging down deep and finding out feelings and stuff like that-” as she walks past another opening, placing another torch, she sees two mobs (creeper and skeleton) in the entrance but only the creeper goes to attack her, “oh God there's a creeper, oh god there's a skeleton.”

Drawing her stone sword, Aphmau fights the creeper off. Hitting, retreating, repeat.

“Go away Creeper! Shoo shoo shoo!”

She successfully kills it as it drops XP (3?) and two gunpowder. She runs to collect it, turns the corner and see’s the skeleton right there

She kills it, only losing 1 heart of damage and getting 1 arrow and XP

Taking a breath and telling herself, “she’s fine, she’s good.”

“I hear zombies and I don't like it. I don’t like it at all.”

She goes and mines a nearby wall, thinking the zombies are behind the stone (collects 12 cobblestone; 13 cobblestone in hotbar slot 6) before turning back to the coal vein from earlier (collects 8 coal)

Still seeing the nametag, she digs towards them to see if she can get them out (collects 19 cobble; 32 cobblestone in total)

“I still see more like, little health bar thingies, down that way, so let me go take a look in here, see if I can find something. ‘Cuz these guards-are they drowning? Like are they legit drowning?”

She mines a block and The Well water rushes past her

“Oh God! See I have a feeling that this would be a wonderful idea if-if-”

She places the block back and realizes the name tag is gone [13:58]

“Oh my God! Are they dead!? Did they die, did they drown!? WHAT! They're gone…”

Aphmau goes and mines some stone + coal (12 cobble and 2 coal; 44 cobblestone in total)

“I'm a little sad, but at least we know why the village isn't going to listen to the guards anymore, because they're just going to get themselves murtalized and stuff ((The little sniffle jess makes ;-;))

She leaves the small cave through the furthest exit, leading into the woods by the farms [14:32]

Collecting flowers along the way as goes back towards the housing area, she thinks about her next move, contemplating how she hasn’t properly interacted with anyone (collects 2 white tulips and lilacs)

Going towards The Well, she sees a group of 5 zombies (3 being attacked by the guards in The Well, and 2 she kills herself) [14:57]

“Oh gosh. Oh gosh! There they are, there's a zombies! They were trying to attack the guards”

Noticing the guards hitting the zombies from The Well

“Oh, the guards are smart, they're hiding themselves…you cowards don't do that. You got to come out and fight. Fight for your right… to party.” ((lol))

Aphmau breaks the barriers once more, with Dale immediately rushing out only to turn around ((with the speed)), knocking both he and Emma the Guard, who was almost out The Well, right back in ((LMFAO))

Seeing this, Aphmau gives up and walks away leaving The Well sides open

“I'm going to leave that open just in case the guards decide that they're going to stop being so flaky.”

Looking around curiously, she checks the small hut next to The Well and see’s Aiden sleeping

“Oh, this is where Aiden the farmer lives”

Closing the door, she goes past the farms towards the Babe House and Brendan’s home. As she approaches, she sees zombies going after them

“Then we got the-BABES! Oh, they need, they need help! They need help, they need help, they need help!”

Rushing forward, she slays the zombie at the door while a sleeping Emmalyn and Emma remain unaware of the chaos

“These babes are lucky that these monsters didn't go after them.”

Turning, she sees 3 more zombies trying to get to Brendan

“Oh gosh, oh gosh. Why are-oh my gosh! The zombies are trying to get my babes” ((Is Brendan being counted as a Babe lmao??)) [15:35-15:46]

She tries to get Emmalyn and Stephanie inside but they won’t budge so Aphmau hit’s Stephanie {Ow! Why did you hit me?} (losing 1 point of health; 19/20.0)

She apologizes to Stephanie but asks her to go inside, which she does, before turning to Emmalyn and hitting her too {Ow! Why did you hit me? Before quickly saying Oh, hello. Aphmau was it?} [16:09]

Tries to get her to follow her (clicking move instead of follow me), trying to explain and apologize for hitting her

“I'm sorry I had to hit you, I didn't mean to-...I really didn't mean to, but I'm trying to save your life here! I'm trying to save your life, I'm thinking of you. Come here-!”

Seeing that Emmalyn hasn’t come through the open door, she panics

“Hurry before the zombies and the spiders get in! Where'd you go!?” [16:24]

Going outside, she sees that Emmalyn has completely disappeared

“She does doesn't like me anymore, and I completely-”

Just like she predicted, a spider jumps from the babe house to Brendans roof and goes to attack her ((LMAO)) [16:30]

She kills it gaining XP and 2 string (losing 1 health point; at 5 health and 5 hunger)

Going back to the library, she goes past Dale and Gary the Guard, with Gary saying {Hey, what’s up?} [16:43]

“I’m going to go into my house (the library) and retreat for the night”

Aphmau proceeds to eat 3 carrots to fully restore her hunger and health (27 carrots left)

She turns seeing Emmalyn run in [16:55]

“Oh hey, look she made it! You made it! I'm so happy you're here.”

She commands Emmalyn to stay (Emmalyn likes her at 1 heart, her mood: agitated, trait irritable)

“You can stay with me tonight, all right? You can-I'm sorry. I'm sorry about having to wake you up with such a rude manner, but you know, I really just…I really was looking out for your safety Emmalyn the Librarian.” ((Insane since that’s her own house and omg I didn’t see Dale patrolling (looking up inside) outside the house)) [17:03-17:13]

Aphmau proceeds to look around the library, realizing something

“You know, this is actually a nice place for you. So you can hang out here, because I got lots of books! You can read books and have like, a great time!” ((LMFAO this is insane within canon lore. Is this considered gaslighting??))

Aphmau tries to reassure her and make her stay

“Here you, you'll be, we'll be fine. We-you'll be fine, don't worry. I got you baby.” [17:20]

Aphmau does her begins her outro, turning and looking outside the large library window before going outside to talk to herself

Dale greets her with {I haven’t seen you around before} [17:27]

“We still have a lot of questions that need to be answered like, where did that guy go in the beginning and how am I going to actually fix up this village? Because it seems like a lot more problems than I had originally anticipated!”

Standing on the rooftop of the house in front of the library, she looks out around her, spotting a creeper wandering at a cave entrance above the Babe house

“We got a creeper infestation problem over there,” going to The Well she begins to pull out her cobblestone [17:41]

“We got our guards, which are making like, a huge guard soup here...I might have to like just cover this thing up”

Seeing no one in The Well ((a surprise tbh)), she uses her cobblestone to remake the barrier and then places 6 cobblestone overtop so no one can fall in ((I thought she was gonna accidentally get rid of the water for a second))

She goes back into the Library, Emmalyn greeting her {How can I help you?}

“And I will see you all, in the next episode. Until then, hopefully Emmalyn won’t be mad at us anymore. Take care! Bye-Bye!” [18:01-18:10]

Episode Ends Cue Nostalgic Outro Music

Not sure if you all wanted to be tagged, so I hope you this is okay! @hetaverseshit @cloverrae @shuublebunny @mcdgarroth @faenemy @shadowknightapologist @will-do-anything-for-a-dollar @biscuits-spooky-diner @lyraofthestarsss @its-dark-girl @bluepenstemon @mina919 @woetothepeople