#futures speculation

[egophiliac]

the lovers, reversed

(aka I'm still freaking out about Jou)

[cirrus-grey]

A theory:

Category: What caused this incident?

Category 1: Direct interference from the OIAR or one of its affiliates. (Bonzo, Needles, the person who reanimated Arthur Winstead)

Category 2: The location where it happened was marked. (Guy who turned into a tree, the charity shop, the liminal architecture)

Category 3: The victim walked into it on their own. (Violinist, dice guy, finance app guy)

Rank: What was the result of this incident?

Rank A: Net positive. There will be a price to pay. (RedCanary is the only A)

Rank B: Net negative. There is a benefit to reap. (Bonzo, Needles, dice guy, finance app guy, horror movie guy...)

Rank C: Net neutral. This incident balanced itself. (Guy that turned into a tree, violinist, charity shop)

Combined categories have more than one cause. RedCanary (23) went to a marked location, and chose to investigate the symbols they found. Gordon (23) chose to investigate the corpse, but was also affected by the cliffside location.

Combined ranks balance differently depending on whose perspective you take. Harriet (BC) was terrified of her reanimated husband, but Arthur had a balanced experience between being reanimated and losing parts of himself. Daria (BC) had a negative experience with Ink5oul, but balanced their own cost/benefit relationship with the tattoo. RedCanary (AB) had nothing but negatives after going to the Institute... but something else benefited from it.

-

Two notes:

1) Both dice guy and finance app guy successfully balanced their experiences as long as they rode the catastrophe curve between loss and profit. It was only when they tried to break the cycle that the final (deadly) negative blow came. This contrasts with the violinist, who reaped the benefits and paid the price willingly into old age.

2) The trailer with Sam's job interview was marked as Category 1, Rank B.

[nalyra-dreaming]

@savagewildnerness replied to your post “I think Rolin will work on the idea that "well,...”:

Ugh... what if Gabrielle, in wanting to *be* Lestat, only appears to show interest in him for his physical self - because she wishes his physical self were her physical self... but Lestat would therefore feel - because that's all he has of value. That's not how things are at all in the book... but it could be devastating if that's Rolin's plan (for Lestat AND Gabrielle, both)... (Sorry... my dark thought was a dark thought...)

​(I hope you don't mind me pulling this up, because...)

I think you might be onto something here. I am... not sure it will be that, but

I think that Lestat could maybe think it is. You know? When she leaves him, after Paris, the abandonment could indeed come with that added layer of emancipation from the stand-in that Lestat was for her, on so many levels.

I mean, it IS in the text:

"I have kept you here as surely as your father has, " she said. "Not on account of pride, but on account of selfishness. And now I'm going to atone for it. I'll see you go. And I don't care what you do when you reach Paris, whether you sing while Nicolas plays the violin, or turn somersaults on the stage at the St. Germain Fair. But go, and do what you will do as best you can. " I tried to take her in my arms. She stiffened at first but then I felt her weaken and she melted against me, and she gave herself over so completely to me in that moment that I think I understood why she had always been so restrained. She cried, which I'd never heard her do. And I loved this moment for all its pain. I was ashamed of loving it, but I wouldn't let her go. I held her tightly, and maybe kissed her for all the times she'd never let me do it. We seemed for the moment like two parts of the same thing. And then she grew calm. She seemed to settle into herself, and slowly but very firmly she released me and pushed me away. She talked for a long time. She said things I didn't understand then, about how when she would see me riding out to hunt, she felt some wondrous pleasure in it, and she felt that same pleasure when I angered everyone and thundered my questions at my father and brothers as to why we had to live the way we lived. She spoke in an almost eerie way of my being a secret part of her anatomy, of my being the organ for her which women do not really have. "You are the man in me, " she said. "And so I've kept you here, afraid of living without you, and maybe now in sending you away, I am only doing what I have done before. " She shocked me a little. I never thought a woman could feel or articulate anything quite like this.

And now that you have pointed it out, it seems logical that Rolin would go there, into those fears as well, especially also given Gabrielle's transformation re hair and clothes and demeanor in Paris and afterwards, and Lestat's reactions to it.

[novantinuum]

jen's "Hard-Light Hybrid Steven" headcanon dump

Okay so I'm just making this its own post, because frankly at this point... the original post is so hard to get all the pulp out of due to the headcanons being spread over multiple reblogs and half of it being in the tags.

So here we go. Self indulgent headcanon time. This is how I'm now personally interpreting things within the realm of my own fic work and the post-canon storylines that live in my mind. This is NOT, however, a work of meta- I am by no means suggesting this to be what I see as "canon," only having some fun playing around with ideas I think are cool on a speculative fantasy anatomy level. Take it as you will basically, lol. This is ultimately just for me.

With that stated:

"jen what the fuck do you mean when you say hard-light hybrid Steven, what are you even suggesting"

Essentially I am proposing that Steven becomes progressively more hard-light based in form as he ages. When he was born he was two almost entirely separate halves mashed together- organic and gem- and those two halves slowly but surely merge over the years (hard light replacing organic matter) until one day they are literally inseparable, and Steven is one permanently cohesive being... entirely hewn from hard-light, but with a level of anatomical complexity that still makes him a complete anomaly amongst Gems and humans alike. Instead of the innards of his body being solid light, he is still formed of cells- only now, those cells are entirely hard-light.

His gem is somehow mimicking the form of organic matter with a level of detail that's absolutely unobtainable by shapeshifting or tailored reformation alone. Steven has become the single most complex hard-light system to have ever existed.

Some more specifics on how I imagine this merge working:

Much of the "merging" is natural over time, basically his gem branching out new bits of hard-light circuitry within his body as it integrates within his system.

However, this process is sped up significantly by all the spills and injuries Steven deals with throughout his childhood... because his body's instinctive response to injury is simply to replace damaged cells with hard-light analogues. An almost instantaneous patch job.

Steven's component halves being so distinct early on is a large reason why he takes so long to harness many of his powers.

This is also why Steven's (mostly) organic half is so weakened during the split in Change Your Mind- at that point there's a lot about his anatomy that's been converted to hard-light, so it's basically as if White Diamond yanked the power source out.

(Same idea for why he's so weakened during the movie when his gem's on the fritz... his gem's connection with the rest of his body got partially severed for a time, which. Is not Good for someone who at this point is more hard-light than not hard light.)

At a certain point post-canon, it becomes impossible for Steven's organic and gem halves to be separated. They are so tightly integrated that attempting to remove the gem would only poof him.

Now, here's the thing though...

Steven does not realize that Any of this is taking place until the blunt reality of his strange new anatomical nature is put on display for all to see... when he actually DOES poof.

Here is how (in my own post-canon musings, which I have simplified here because y'all don't live inside all the intensive lore that jangles about my brain) I envision that taking place:

So, Steven would be in his mid to late twenties at this point. He's married to Connie, and they have an infant son.

Recently, there was a fairly severe Gem incident that left Beach City and Little Homeworld pretty damaged. Things are still being mopped up from that.

Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl head out on a quick mission one day to intercept one of the last few supporters of the Gem who attacked the Crystal Gem's hub of operation, and at first it seems like it's gonna be a straightforward trip.

Then, Steven sees the Gem in question pull a destabilizer wand on Garnet, and- unwilling to watch her to get ripped apart like that again- throws himself in between. He can take it, he thinks. These things never hurt him one bit as a kid

He cannot take it.

He poofs.

His gem unceremoniously falls to the ground, along with the clothes he was wearing and whatever he had in his pockets.

Cue the others going "what the actual FUCK" because based on everything they've ever witnessed and known about him no one had "Steven poofs" on their bingo card.

The insurgent Gem is captured and dealt with, but now... oh, boy. There's literally no playbook for this. Nobody knows what to expect.

Steven's gem is quiet for WEEKS. During that time, the Gems end up consulting the Diamonds on Homeworld to ask for intel on diamond reformation, but none of them are much help- Rose and Steven are the only ones who have actually poofed. Beyond them, this is completely unprecedented.

In a very vague sense, Steven is aware of what must have happened during this time... (even if a part of him wants to deny it, because How???)

He can pick up vague snippets of what's happening just beyond his reach... catching voices and what must be faint sensations of familiar people handling his gem, but beyond that he has no awareness of the passage of time, and he has no means by which to reach out to them mentally.

It takes almost two months for him to finally reform. When he does, his gem quickly shifts through its previous three forms and then just... outright h a n g s for a while on the new one... as if what's trying to "load" up is so complex it's goddamn buffering.

(my brain can only think of This image uyhjfsdbyuhjfg)

No one really knows what to expect but when he finally reforms, he... looks mostly the same? Still rather human in appearance, externally? The only notable difference is that his irises are pink now. (But with no diamond pupil- not unless he's going Full Power Mode.)

Steven also reforms WITH an outfit much like a Gem would.

The second he's back, he runs to embrace Connie (who is sobbing in relief) and asks how long he was out.

And he did NOT anticipate that answer to be two months.

As it turns out, he missed quite a few baby milestones while he was gone, and he feels horrible about it- it's not his fault of course, but he feels so bad that Connie had to go that long without his support, and that there's all those special "firsts" with his son he'll never get to experience.

This whole incident marks Steven's final "retirement" from participating in real combat- he outright tells the Gems to not involve him in any other combat situations unless the whole ass planet is under threat, basically. The potential risks are just not worth it now that he knows how long he'd be out of commission, should he poof once more. He can't put his family through that again.

Now, with all that outlined...

Ways that Steven is Weird now:

He looks rather human- his hair looks like hair and his skin looks like skin- but after he reforms, literally every "cell" of his body is fashioned out of hard-light.

However, if one were to theoretically slice him in half (which I PROMISE I am not going to do, this is only a thought experiment ahahah-), his internal anatomy would glow much like the Gems' do. (See below image for what I mean.) The "human-like" appearance of his skin and hair and other externally visible features does not extend very deep.

He "bleeds" pink now- but it's only surface, and is all just excess hard-light. No real blood.

His body would no longer show up on a radiograph- just the gem.

Many of his anatomical features (not all of them, though) are now vestigial in certain ways-? Like, various functions have overtly been taken over by his gem... he doesn't need to breathe or have any lifeblood beyond light pumping through his system, so his heart and lungs serve no necessary purpose anymore... but all of these organs still "exist" as like an echo of what once was, perfect mimics of their organic form but hewn from hard-light.

That being said, Connie enjoys the reassurance of his heartbeat, so he retains that function while conscious.

(Not to mention, "breathing" is literally just a habit for him by this point.)

HOWEVER, when he sleeps (another thing he technically doesn't Need to do but does anyways) his breathing and heartbeat stops entirely and it kinda spooks Connie out. The literal only evidence she has that he's still kicking during these times is the soft hum of his gemstone.

He does not have a biological NEED for food or water anymore and can fully operate on exposure to light alone, but he still really enjoys eating and drinking anyways. In fact, he's still able to absorb energy from food... so it's basically like he's over-charging his battery or whatever. He also still experiences taste (so still posesses some form of taste receptors) and instinctively feels "hungry" at meal times, so like... the running theory is that he must have hard-light analogues for all these receptors and neurotransmitters and hormones that communicate sensations like hunger in his system even though their function is entirely redundant with his gem powering everything.

Furthermore, his memories and sense of self and everything one might refer to as "the soul" is stored exclusively in his gem now. Which means, if one could manage to analyze his brain like one could with a human brain, there would be entire sections that simply... don't light up the way that others (such as the parts of the brain that govern motor control, as an example) do. This is because all the "data" once stored there has migrated.

He can fully shapeshift now, if he wanted to.

He can also still visually "age"- it's all based on his mental state, same as before.

But despite being hard-light in nature now, he can still interface with organics in fusion because his form is still so organic in shape and function. He's still the bridge between humanity and gemkind. I like to think that... theoretically... a Gem might be able to fuse with an organic too, but the sheer burden of trying to shapeshift and maintain such cellular complexity is what stops this from happening.

Steven, though? His very existence as a hybrid acted as a template by which hard-light could learn to understand organic life. He is still an intensely unique being, even IF he no longer consists of any actual organic matter.

_

I am sure I will probably add something to this later, but for now, those are all my musings.

Anyways, thank you for taking a brief visit to the deepest recesses of my brain, where I am chewing at the drywall and bouncing around the room like a cat who has just devoured the goddamn motherlode of catnip. Good night! !! :DDD

[reksink]

Angels. Those Virtuous, Those Powerful

[pianokantzart]

Thinking again about the weird design choices Illumination made for King Boo. Specifically his mouth size.

Like, the difference in size between the movie and the games is legitimately jarring.

I can’t help but wonder if he’s designed that way with the intention of eventually having him speak full sentences and display nuanced facial expressions in a future movie.

Now, there are fan animators that have shown King Boo speaking and displaying a range of emotions while staying true to his original design, but you can’t deny that there is a bit of quirk in the way he forms syllables with his lack of lips and 4 enormous protruding top teeth, and I’m sure these little quirks would only stand out all the more on an ultra-high-def-movie-quality rig.

I’m not saying that Illumination made the right choice by altering his mouth as much as they did, but… if my guess is correct, and they’re modeling him with the intention of giving him a more involved role in the future… I hope they find a workaround that lets King Boo keep his hideously enormous maw, because his little cameo in The Super Mario Bros. Movie doesn’t quite look right.

[hezzabeth]

There was someone singing in the greenhouse, someone with a pitch-perfect deep voice. Revati closed her eyes, pressing her ear against the glass door.

In a field where the paper daisies grow,

Underneath the sun's harsh glow,

I wander through, light and free.

Paper daisies, pink and white,

Your petals so bright.

I sing to you as the world beyond burns.

The smoke coils in the sky far above,

But your petals still dance around me.

Don’t be afraid; soon the rains will come.

Everything lost will grow again.

Paper daisies, pink and white,

Your petals so bright.

I sing to you as the world beyond burns.

The stars begin to rise,

My hands scooping your seeds.

Soon you will take flight

Towards the soft moonlight.

There was an old, prop piano in the abandoned Holly Bush Tavern. The only person who could play it properly was Mr. Gupta. During holiday festivals, he would coax melodies out of the sticky keys while Mrs. Gupta sang in a nasal voice. This was different. The singer’s voice filled Revati in a place she didn’t know was empty. The singing stopped abruptly as Revati’s weight caused the door to creak. Of course, the door creaked. The greenhouse was a wobbling claptrap box made out of welded-together old windows. Miss Grassroots, a tourist who had been dead for almost six years, had built it. Inside lay the heart of Baker Street. The heart had begun as a rose garden. Nanni was the one who began picking up the fallen red petals, drying them, and turning them into tea.

Revati only had vague memories of the first day of the invasion. Mrs. Grasston and Dusk had invaded the kitchens and gift shops. Together they managed to pool together seeds and cuttings in order to grow a small food supply. There was a wall of tomato vines, grown from several seeds found in old slices left in the bin. There were the garden beds where the potatoes and carrots grew. In fact, the potatoes were what kept Baker Street from starving to death. Next to one of the largest windows, the herb and weed boxes grew. Revati’s father was the one who ripped open gourmet tea bags in their home, discovering dried seeds inside. Bridgadeiro Bun was sitting under the lemon tree. “You’re a pretty good singer,” Revati said gruffly. “I was just trying to cheer up Deshia; she’s been feeling a bit depressed lately,” Bridgadeiro said, patting the tree's trunk. “Who’s Deshia?” Revati asked, faintly confused. “The lemon tree, of course! She said nobody's chatted with her for years,” Bridgadeiro said. Suddenly, the tree shook its branches, causing a fresh lemon to fall into Bridgadeiro’s lap. “Thank you for the gift, sweetheart,” Bridgadeiro said, patting the tree again. Revati stared at the lemon tree, not quite sure what to think. Could a tree really be depressed? It would explain why the lemons were so withered and small.

“All Buns speak plant; it's the same gene that causes our pink hair," he said. Revati glanced around, her eyes briefly falling on the giant pumpkin vine near the door.

"Are the plants talking right now?" Revati asked curiously.

"Most of them fell asleep hours ago. When they were awake, they just kept jabbering on about a golden lady," Bridgadeiro remarked.

"So, the lemon tree is depressed? I could get Aurora to come in here and read to her," Revati conceded.

"It's more than that. She misses the lady who planted her; she doesn't understand why she vanished and never came back," Bridgadeiro remarked. Revati found her hands stroking the book of fairy tales nervously.

"If she's talking about Mrs. Grassroots, she died," Revati replied flatly. Six years ago. Six years ago, there were over a hundred tourists living on Baker Street. Nanni, who had spent years living with mother, insisted on moving into an abandoned hat shop near the edge of the park.

The day the tornado hit was the same day Nanni decided to tell Revati all about her family history.

"I always carry the death stone in my handbag, along with everything else I'd ever need in an invasion," Nanni pointed out. Technically that was true; Nanni's giant handbag was filled with almost anything.

Outside, Revati could hear her father trying to roll down metal shutters. There was the sudden horrible roar, and Nanni's wall exploded in a cloud of rubble.

"A lot of people died," Revati finished, her voice trailing off. First came the tornado that caused a gap in the mirror walls. Then the trickle of automatic vegetable cleaners who decided to exploit the crack. Finally, the battle on Mansfield Park between the cleaners and a group of tourists.

"The lady that planted this tree was actually a member of the Lost Princess rebel army; she convinced a bunch of tourists to fight with her," Revati remarked, shaking her head. Then she firmly opened the book of fairy tales.

"It looks like some people survived," Bridgadeiro replied.

"I don't want to talk about it; I just want to read! Here, you can read with me; you might like this story," Revati replied.

Once long ago, in a lost village near the foot of Mount Raya, there lived a special little girl. She was known for her kindness and her deep love for nature. Everyone in the village called her Naisha. Naisha had a special gift; she could talk to plants. The villagers often saw her whispering to the flowers; they adored her magical gift.

One day, Naisha learned about a legendary tree called the Kalpavriksha. The old ladies in the village whispered that it had the ability to grant any wish. Drought, fearsome and terrible, had swept through the land. Flowers withered, no longer able to whisper. Trees forgot their songs. Naisha decided she must seek out the tree and wish for one thing alone: rain.

"Wake up," a voice screeched, and Revati's eyes snapped open, the book of fairy tales tumbling onto the ground. Aurora was standing above her, the bright morning sunlight making her hair glow.

"Morning," Revati yawned and then jumped when she realized Bridgadeiro was asleep next to her.

Bridgadeiro slowly awoke, smacking his lips together.

"Juniper said you were in here; she never mentioned the boy," Aurora remarked coldly as Revati slowly stood up.

"Anna made him sleep in here; I must have passed out while reading," Revati said.

It was then that Revati realized Aurora was holding a tray filled with fresh strawberries.

"Hmph," Aurora said, shooting Bridgadeiro a suspicious look as he also stood up, patting the tree trunk.

"Let me guess, Queen Victoria sent these with an apology?" Revati asked.

"Yes, and a request to fill her vodka order," Aurora said, placing the tray on the ground.

"If she was really sorry, she'd give us a strawberry plant," Revati pointed out.

"Oh, you don't need one of those! You have the fruit," Bridgadeiro remarked.

"You can't just shove a strawberry in the ground and hope for the best; it rots," Revati replied. Bridgadeiro merely leaned down, examining the strawberries. After a few moments of careful examination, he picked up the biggest, brightest berry.

"You can; you just need the right formula," he said. He vaguely walked towards one of the empty garden beds that was going to be turned into an onion patch. Carefully, he dug a small hole and placed the strawberry inside before covering it in earth. Then, he reached into his massive jumpsuit pocket and this time pulled out a small vial of portable perfume.

"One pump should do it," Bridgadeiro remarked before pumping a cloud of perfume onto the soil. The earth began to twitch and vibrate, and Revati gasped as greenery sprouted from the soil. The plants quivered and then twisted as white flowers bloomed. The petals then shriveled and fell off as the center of the flowers grew into green berries. A few seconds later, the berries blossomed into a deep red.

"They shouldn't be doing that! Strawberries take two weeks to grow," Aurora gasped.

"I suppose they would in the wild, but I just gave them a pump of my Gene Grow fusion serum!" Bridgadeiro said, leaning down to examine the strawberries.

"They should produce fruit every day, but only if you talk to them nicely," Bridgadeiro added as he picked a strawberry and handed it to Revati.

Revati sniffed it suspiciously before taking a tiny bite. It tasted just like a strawberry.

"Does that stuff work on all plants?" Revati asked curiously.

"It tends to go a bit haywire when you spray it on legumes; you end up with giant beans that have no nutrients," Bridgadeiro said.

"I saved your life; think it's only fair you spray all the plants in here," Revati said firmly.

"It would be better if I planted their seeds outside and created new crops; otherwise, the rapidly growing plants could burst outside the walls," Bridgadeiro replied. Revati nodded crisply.

"I'll be sending someone to check on your efforts later today; I'll be far too busy working," Revati replied with as much dignity as she could muster in a sleep shirt before marching out of the greenhouse. The book of fairy tales lay abandoned on the ground.

Revati carefully changed into her work uniform. When she was a child, her wardrobe consisted of souvenir t-shirts from the gift shop fashioned into dresses. Now that she was almost an adult, Revati had to get creative.

Most of the gift shop sweatshirts had been swiped long ago. Instead, Revati put on the top half of the cafe's old uniform. It consisted of a magenta and purple striped waistcoat with a navy blue blouse covered in tiny clocks. The bottom half should have been a matching bustle skirt. Revati switched it with the men's purple trousers. Revati then carefully redid her braid and applied some more soot lipstick. Aurora, still wearing the same clothes from yesterday, was waiting for her in the kitchen.

"You're wearing your second best outfit," Aurora remarked.

"I suppose I am," Revati replied as she grabbed her coat.

"I thought you said you were done with romance after that whole mess with Little Hardi last summer," Aurora said, and Revati stopped walking.

"I am!" she protested, and Aurora pressed her thin lips into a disapproving frown.

"You were sleeping with him."

"God forbid I fall asleep next to another human being," Revati said as she marched through the cafe past Nanni, who was sewing something.

"You kept him! You gave him a job," Aurora added knowingly.

"I didn't keep him! He's not a feral child; he can leave whenever he wants," Revati snapped as they stepped outside, and she put on her sunglasses. Olde Landon was always at its worst in the morning. Like all major tourist attractions and cities, Old Landon had an atmospheric blanket high above the park's surface. It meant that nobody in the park froze to death at night, but it also meant the morning light was far too bright.

"Is that Little Hardi and Queen Victoria standing next to the fountain?" Revati sighed wearily.

"They both arrived at sunrise; I told them you were busy, so your mother made them breakfast," Aurora remarked.

"Sunrise; of course, they sacrificed sleep so they could get here first," Revati remarked, marching towards the two other leaders. Queen Victoria was wearing one of the park's costumes, a stained white lace wedding dress. Little Hardi, on the other hand, was wearing a deep blue doublet with a ruff collar and matching tights.

"Little Hardi, is your brother still unconscious?" Revati greeted him.

"We took a vote last night, and he played Macduff," Little Hardi replied.

Revati, who knew fully well what that meant, had to stop herself from flinching.

"You killed him? That's a little harsh," Revati pointed out.

"It was for the best; we need a strong leader during a time of invasion," Little Hardi remarked practically.

"Time of invasion? Isn't that a little dramatic?" Revati had to ask.

"There must be another crack in the wall; thank Jane, it's probably not too big! You two would be far too young to remember the vegetable cleaner invasion," remarked Queen Victoria.

"I was twelve," Revati said dryly.

"I was fourteen; the tornado destroyed the Hamlet's haunted castle ride, and the appliances killed the actor playing Ophelia," Little Hardi pointed out.

"You're both still tiny children as far as I'm concerned; I can't believe this is who I have to work with," Queen Victoria replied, and Revati brushed past her with annoyance, heading to the dress shop across the street.

The shelves of the dress shop had long ago been stripped bare. All that remained were the three Penny Farthing Bicycles that had been part of the shop's window display. Revati wheeled her Penny Farthing outside only to see Queen Victoria having a heated discussion with Aurora.

"What do you mean she's going to ride to the wall by herself? All representatives from all towns should go!" Queen Victoria was screeching, slapping Aurora's shoulder with her fan.

Revati parked her bicycle and marched towards Queen Victoria, grabbing her hand.

"Slap my assistant again, and I'll break your fingers; you know I can do it," Revati growled.

Little Hardi, who was now sitting by the fountain, laughed.

"I was just speaking the truth! We have a treaty; during times of crisis, we unify," Queen Victoria said, her voice tight and a little frightened.

"I don't see Lady Morganna here," Revati pointed out, referring to the ruler of Medieval faire.

"You know perfectly well Medieval faire cut us all off after the tornado hit! They probably all died off years ago," Queen Victoria snapped back. Queen Victoria was right. Medieval faire was located in the center of a massive fake castle complete with a drawbridge. After the invasion, Lady Morganna had yanked up the bridge and refused to speak to anyone. Anna and Nanni had tried to visit several times with baskets of dried lemons. They were horrified when someone from above threw the contents of their toilets onto the streets.

"My new friend said he saw naked people in the wilderness dancing around a murdered television! Sounds like Lady Morganna to me," Revati merely replied, pointing to Bridgadeiro. Bridgadeiro, who was in the middle of taking several pumpkins out of the greenhouse, waved.

"Could be a coincidence; regardless, you are not going to the wall! We need to have a proper group committee meeting first! Then a vote," Queen Victoria's.

Revati just rolled her eyes and released Queen Victoria's hand, causing her to stumble and fall onto the floor. Revati then reached into her jacket, pulling out her stun gun, shoving it into the queen's stomach. The Queen made a faint whimpering sound as her eyes rolled backward, and she collapsed again. Revati then aimed the gun at Little Hardi, who held his hands up, protesting.

"I'm not going to stop you! I came here to propose marriage," Little Hardi insisted.

"Marriage? To me?" Revati asked dubiously.

"All kings need a consort, and I'm not interested in Big Hardi's husband," Little Hardi said, slowly getting down on one knee.

Revati stared at him and shook her head.

"I'm seventeen," Revati pointed out.

"Well, the wedding wouldn't be for another couple of years," Little Hardi replied.

"I thought we agreed to keep our relationship professional after the handkerchief incident," Revati pointed out, and Little Hardi held a hand to his heart.

"I told you dozens of times I had nothing to do with my brother's plot," Little Hardi insisted.

"He accused me of cheating on you using an old prop handkerchief as evidence, and you believed him despite it being the exact same plot of the play Othello," Revati pointed out. The entire incident occurred over a year ago and ended with Revati kidnapped and tied up on the stage in a white fluffy nightgown.

"I'm a very insecure person," Little Hardi pleaded. Dating while trapped in a fun park during the apocalypse was difficult. Before the feral children came along, Revati was the youngest person on Baker Street. All the teenagers in Whistleton were raised to be incredibly prissy. Most of them refused to do anything more than dance or hold hands. Little Hardi had been a fun, age-appropriate choice. Little Hardi was happy to do far more than hold hands.

"No," Revati said firmly.

"No? Really?" he asked, sounding faintly surprised.

"First of all, your legal system involves killing criminals on stage in the middle of plays, which is horrifying," Revati pointed out, and Little Hardi shrugged.

"Secondly, I'm not an idiot! You just want to marry me so you can take over our greenhouse," Revati pointed out, and Little Hardi gasped as if looking deeply insulted.

"That's not true! If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, but no such roses see I in her cheeks," Little Hardi pleaded as Revati climbed onto the penny farthing.

[psychopomp-namine]

I wonder if part of the reason for the neglect on shao yuanyuan's part is because she's even more reckless about the time travel

presumably, she's been diving in and out for years trying to save cheng weimin. I wonder if her mindset is something like, "once I figure out how to save my husband, I can just dive back to an earlier point in time and be with my son"

and she believes this for years until time has passed and cheng xiaoshi has grown up. but it's okay. she can take all the time she needs. this will all be resolved soon once she finds her solution.

after all, what is time to a time traveler?

[draconicaceart]

Here's my piece for the Counter-Pale Resistance zine! The song used is "Von" from the anime "Terror in Resonance" though the original song is sadly not on youtube. The covers of the song on youtube are still very good if you'd like to listen to them.

Please consider checking the project out; everyone worked really hard on it. And a hearty thank you to @de-fanzine-cpr-pale for organizing everything. The zine looks amazing!!

[unrealward]

future lifeform (2020)

[egophiliac]

Have you heard of the "Crowley is Malleus' dad" theory going around? Where Prince Levan (or whatever his name is) didn't actually die and just went out to get some milk and is now known as Dire Crowley, the silly man? The implications of that theory is absolutely hilarious when you think about it

hold on, we can figure this out, we just need LISTS

PROS THAT CROWLEY IS SECRETLY REVAAN/LEVAN/LAVERNE/WHATEVER:

unspecified fae of some kind, with similar coloring to Mal

the animal masks are apparently a Briar Valley thing

has some kind of big blackmailable secret that was alluded to in episode 4, and then as far as I know never brought up again

(unless this was just Azul bullshitting, which is extremely possible)

based on Diablo, which...maybe means something?

has canonically worn Dad Shorts

CONS:

(gestures to Crowley's entire personality)

NO LISTEN Revaan was the guy they sent off on diplomatic missions and to take care of delicate political situations, and...look, I love this dweeb, but would you trust Crowley to be in charge of negotiating your war treaties

despite my brain insisting on reading his name as "Raven", Revaan's title does imply that he was also a dragon (or super into longan berries, I'm not ruling that out)

currently unclear why Lilia "my closest friend Revaan...he is no longer with us...I used to make fun of him for being kind of a priss about eating jerky..." Vanrouge has somehow not noticed or said anything

Malleus' Aloof Anime ~Aristocrat~ vibe had to come from somewhere, and by all accounts it was NOT his mom's side of the family

???:

turns into a bird in the opening, I don't know if that means anything but it's kinda cool, I guess

all that aside, if Malleus and Yuu are any indication, then the Draconias have...questionable taste in their social choices. so anything is possible!

[v88sy]

Would it be crazy to say that I genuinely think Tim has absolutely no clue what his plans are for BuckTommy but he just wants to see what the reaction will be first?

[gayofthefae]

I actually have a take that if Mike just kinda uses their language they'll totally get it immediately without reservation. If Mike's kinda talking about his queerness and hiding it, if he says like

"I tried avoiding it...kinda just made me an asshole"

or something of that nature they'll be like "I CALLED HIM AN ASSHOLE! I REMEMBER SAYING THAT! When did I say that? Season 3?! Wow, they've planned this for a long time it's really threaded back through the story! Not out of the blue, also I forgive you, proceed!"

And I actually write that out I think part of the reason that works is because it gives them the idea that they predicted it. That reference to those unanswered questions in some capacity that everybody called out but said was something else. Give them the chance to go "I KNEW something was off". Right now they're mad they can't say "I called what it is". But let them say "I called THAT there was SOMETHING".

That makes it go from a "fake news. if I didn't see it didn't happen" type of twist to a "UGH, I should have listened to my gut! I dismissed it too early but I CALLED it" type of twist.

From discrediting without fact checking to what it actually is: through clever timing and tricks of the camera, they steered you away from the fact that you were smart enough to see it.

It really is just that people don't want to feel stupid. That's why they don't want it fed to them but it's also why they don't want to be completely surprised. They don't want to feel condescended like you think they won't get it but they also don't want to feel like they didn't get something they were supposed to. But "I saw it and I ignored it", by pointing out to the audience "yes, you did see it" it changes from "bad writers" to "ooh, you sneaky bastards".

And I just remembered 3 twists. They said the 3 twists is so you never get all of them but there's a behind the scenes secret they didn't share. It's also so you'll at least supsect at least one of them. It raises the number you can miss is what they tell you so you feel smart and trusted. But the secret they keep is it also raises the number you get, which raises your enjoyment of it. They're not just trying for you not to get all 3 like they say. They specifically want you to get 1-2/3. Feel like you're part of it, you're playing, to say "gah, I almost had it! You sneaky bastards. But I still get credit for what I did get." And they'll go 'great job, kiddo, yes you did.'

3 twists. The third is what I don't know either, what I spend all my time theorizing about. I don't know the timeline or any details of Mike's experience, I don't know its supernatural ties. Number 2, we do know: he's queer. But that's twist number 2. Number 1 is his sudden change in behavior.

You caught that. That's the one you're meant to catch. So you can credit yourself regardless.

Now that I've remembered their 3 part rule I feel even more secure in them executing this successfully relative to that reception. The people who just want to feel smart. They'll connect it back to what they put in place for those people to notice.

"Hey, remember when I did this?" and they'll go "I do! I caught that! I remember catching that! I didn't know it meant something, go on!" and he'll go "it's because I'm queer" and they'll go "I should have followed my gut and theorized on that! If I had theorized on it I'm sure I would have gotten it."

Of course there will be the inherent pushback from more people now that know other people predicted that second part before they did and will still feel stupid so I guess I say to that: it is in your best interest to not push it right now with people who reject it. "I saw it and you didn't" is what they're hearing. If they don't think about you for 6 months, they'll probably be a lot more receptive when it comes around because they'll be able to pat themselves on the back on how they were ahead on his abnormal behavior instead of thinking about how they were behind you.

The Duffers have everything in place to cater to them. Trust The Duffers to that now and don't hinder the process. They'll only come around if they're not holding on out of spite.

But I have faith that with that, they will do it. They will start with references to things the general audience did catch but didn't think would be followed up on, then maybe remind them of things they forgot, then explain what they mean. But by easing in with that first step, going in that reverse chronological order maybe - starting with the details they know the audience remembers themselves catching, they're setting up for the audience to feel revealed to, not manipulated or hidden from.

As opposed to "I had no idea and therefore it's stupid" giving way for any pride at all is huge (we've all sort of but not really predicted a whodunnit and bragged anyways). To go to the classic "I knew he was queer! - ok well not specifically queer but I knew that something was off, and I dismissed it, but when they brought it back, I KNEW that it was SOMETHING, so that counts really".

But even more faith comes from: think about Will. Will was also famously speculated to be queer, and popularly rejected in that idea. Then season 4 rolled around and very few people say that it was unplanned, even the same who thought it was at the time, even people who maybe still think it started in season 4 received it better. Because even just that single season build up allowed them many opportunities to "call it" before the reveal. And maybe they remembered "I DID notice the homophobia towards Will in season 1, ugh, I should have known that was setup! clever." Or maybe they didn't catch anything until "what if they don't like the truth", but either way, they credited themselves. Because none of those are technically reveals.

All we have to do is make it so when they see the first subtle hint of Mike liking Will, they think of themselves going "I'm calling it, I will have called it" and NOT your voice saying "I told you so". That will ruin it for them, they will continue to not receive it well. That's where the "ugh they're doing the fan service" comes from. It's an avoidance of an internal "I told you so" because if the writers didn't come up with it until you said it, then you weren't right and you aren't smarter than them. They're angry and all-capsing because they hear the prediction they didn't make constantly and because they didn't make it, they don't want it to be right.

So if you do me one favor here: let them call it themselves. Let them forget they didn't think of it first. Sometimes it's not straight up hatred. Sometimes they just need to feel like they're the smartest in the room. And if we lay off and let the room they're in go back to being the real room with their friends who didn't predict it and not the internet, then they are the smartest in the room. And when they come back they'll see themselves as with us in the "community of people who totally called it!" (even if they called it in 5x05).

And as a parting gift, a memory some viewer will bring back up as proud proof(sound on):

[nalyra-dreaming]

https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/783583189912485888/i-feel-like-im-going-crazy-because-i-keep-on

Okay, what arcs had been destroyed and what repercussions will this have on future arcs specifically by Rolin introducing Amel early?

Also you said her fate was not as inevitable in the book, is that because they aged her up and given her freedom (went to college and left for 7 years) and found love (w/madeleine) which book!claudia couldn’t do? What parts of the relationships did Rolin and Hannah chip that? Sorry, I’m not well versed on the books and I’m curious. Thank you for a detailed explanation.

cracks knuckles

Okay, nonny, this is gonna be long, and hopefully not too rambly :)

The Amel arc has more or less been confirmed by Sam already in this video 34:15 mark forward. I would advise to just listen to it.

In and by itself it is quite the genius move - bring in Amel early, therefore likely condense the two main destruction events of the vampire world into one (the “burnings” of Akasha and Amel in the books), and bring this element of the later books all the way back hooked into season one. Bring in reasons for some of the vampire’s behaviorisms, too. It IS clever.

When I say “destroys arcs” then I mean that, by rebuilding the show from scratch in a way - shifting Lestat’s age, pulling some events forward, recentering relationships differently - he is ultimately changing those relationships - and the events that shape them - irrevocably. They simply cannot work the way they do in the books.

Take for example Claudia’s turning, which I talked about here:

The very welcome(!) changes re Louis resulted in a myriad of little repercussions, which then resulted in very different circumstances for Claudia’s turning.

By having Amel rise to consciousness already - in whatever rudimentary form - they are setting up the “excuse” for Lestat already, an excuse and a reason, which will not be received well within this fandom, lol.

By using him already (I think! Analogous to the repercussions of the turning of Claudia and the changes they made!) they change the reasons for a lot of behaviorisms by Akasha and others. Again, it is clever! It solves a bit of the problem of why Akasha does what she does - why she chooses Lestat, too, and it expands the reason why she ultimately misjudges him, but at the same time it creates new problems.

In the books, Akasha kind of falls for Lestat’s brazen display of naive, rash masculinity which he displays in her shrine, and then in the music videos which he creates to provoke the other vampires. She makes up an image of him in her mind, an image which does not quite fit.

“I love you because you are so perfectly what is wrong with all things male. Aggressive, full of hate and recklessness, and endlessly eloquent excuses for violence-you are the essence of masculinity; and there is a gorgeous quality to such purity.”

Lestat is not full of hate though, on the contrary. Oh, he revels in violence - but then that is something ALL vampires do. They love the kill. But he only goes along with her in the first place because she threatens those he loves. She misjudges him, and he turns against her, ultimately, despite her threats.

By making Lestat older, more jaded, and not as naive and rash they had to shift the reasons for her choosing him the same way as they had to shift the circumstances of Claudia’s turning. Or will have to, I should say.

I’m not sure how they will play the rockstar arc. In the books, Lestat starts that whole thing to find the others, to find LOUIS. And to shield Louis. I can see that stay the same, given the end of the second season.

But this Lestat… the show!Lestat - is so much more powerful. He has the cloud gift - another little repercussion: he does not need to fight off hordes of vampires at the concert, he can just… fly off. He has a strong mind gift, he has the fire gift, can manipulate matter (open the door by will) - why, if healed and powerful, would he not simply incinerate everyone threatening him? What would make this Lestat go with Akasha? Can she just abduct him, like she does in the books? I doubt that, actually.

I think this Lestat might go with her willingly, at first. I think this Lestat might be driven to align with her views, for a while, maybe through Amel.

Because, again, this is not “Anne’s Lestat” as Sam put it. He is not young, naive, rash, impulsive, and still discovering his powers. He HAS those powers already, and has had them, for quite a while.

If this Lestat would want to fight Akasha off (while she did not want to incinerate him on the spot, granted), then there must be a reason for it.

Within the setting of this universe they created, they have to provide a logical reason for this character. And it isn’t that Lestat is “filled with hate”… not really. But it could be, if that “hate”, that violence was Amel’s canonically violent awakening.

Lestat in the books is fascinated by and afraid of Akasha. He loves her and shies away from her, unable to fight her off in any kind of way really. And she forces him. By mind and spell gift, as well as her pure strength. Granted, some of that might stay the same - but it cannot stay fully the same.

This Lestat will not be changed so much from his previous self he does not quite recognize himself anymore afterwards. This Lestat will not experience severe body dysmorphia in the books afterwards. This Lestat will not be afraid of his own powers.

This Lestat will not hate himself or his body afterwards. This Lestat will not shy away from the others because of that. This Lestat will not run from his relationship with Louis after the ordeal with Akasha.

This Lestat will not seek “a way out” the same way. He will not try to kill himself over what has happened to him, because of these feelings. He will not try out the “mortal body” deluding himself he only wants to feel the sun again (after all we saw that his hand did not really burn when catching the rat, meaning he is quite sun-proof already). He will not try to convince himself he is the same evil Magnus was because of that.

No, THIS Lestat will likely do these things because of other reasons. And these “other” reasons totally change the character, and the resulting relationship(s).

They change the upcoming “body thief” arc, because if they really pull in Amel as a reason for Akasha and Lestat’s driving violence, the mutual recognition of it too, then that changes the “why” as to why Lestat would want to escape his body. It changes the why for the why he does it all in the first place. It changes the why of his running from Louis.

Rolin has talked about agency a lot - the thing is though, in the books Lestat is often the victim. He is not so much that in the show. He cannot be, not really, due to the way they shifted things. And that is why Rolin had to bring in "more" agency for Louis, too, at least supposedly.

IF the Amel awakening is already happening, then whatever happened in the driveway in 1x05 and has been memory-edited (as we know now) will have to do with it. If it is, then Lestat’s reasons for reflecting after that, and the reasons for “murder night” have also shifted, rather severely. (Here, too, a lot of Claudia’s reasons in the books fall away, since she is older - there will be a revisit of murder night, likely next seasons (the writers have already confirmed that, ages ago), so we will still see what really happened, for now just remember that Claudia’s diary does not match what we saw, and the writers… have NOT used the reveals from the book “Merrick” yet (which is where Claudia’s diary comes from)).

Because THIS Lestat, IF we take Amel as awakening/there in the driveway scene, this Lestat will be scared and bewildered by what happened just the same as Louis was. This Lestat will be ashamed by what happened, yes - but he will also be bewildered. That much cited “time out” Lestat got in the garbage dump will come with different meaning for him, the rejection part will be much more felt - that too, has been hinted at in episode 6 in the car scene, and then in the trial setup in season 2 already I think, with the insinuation that Lestat maybe… just maybe also came there to get revenge in some kind of fashion. Oh, we know already that the trial was scripted and that what we saw was not the truth there either, so it remains to be seen what they will make of it next season - but THIS Lestat, this Lestat came to Paris with a bitterness that his book counterpart likely did not carry.

His book counterpart came to Paris, knowing Armand, and afraid for both Louis and Claudia. And he went to Armand to more or less beg for their lives.

Lestat in the books understood why Claudia had to do what she did. A lot of people mis-cite that part of the books, claiming he “deserved to die” because Lestat was “abusing” them - which is in line with what season ONE claimed, I get it, but what he really says there is this:

“It was the crime that was to be my undoing: the creation with Louis and for Louis of Claudia, a stunningly beautiful vampire child. Her body wasn't six years old when I took her, and though she would have died if I hadn't done it (just as Louis would have died if I hadn't taken him also), this was a challenge to the gods for which Claudia and I would both pay.”

He knows what he did to her, locking her into that too small body, damning her to eternity as a “doll”.

Claudia in the show is no child though. Not really. And definitely not anymore in season 2.

And that put the show into a difficult situation, because, as pointed out, show!Claudia… would not really have needed to die, not even by the vampire laws. Her behavior was carefully adult, her clothing and makup, too. And they had already established that she could just leave… so they had to bring in a reason why she would return, why she would feel the need to return. And they needed to bring in a reason why Lestat would (supposedly) not let her go.

They needed to bring in actual abuse, both domestic and sexual, setting up parallels for season 3 (and Lestat’s (upcoming) past), because the reasons of the books weren’t cutting it anymore for the changed settings. Now, others have talked a lot about all this, @virginiaisforvampires has, at length, so I won’t repeat all that here. Just another nod towards “Merrick” here, from which the writers took the diary pages and Louis’ attempted suicide so far - but not yet Claudia’s ghost, and the reveal of Claudia's hand in all of it.

Bringing in actual abuse (in the books Lestat and Louis fought ONCE, and on equal grounds(!)) and in the way they did though… would continue to bite them in the ass though, and I think they knew that.

Because book 2 forward, LESTAT is the main character, narrator of most of the chronicles. They always knew the switch was to come, and so they knew they would need to find a way to more or less annul what they did there - without (and here it gets really difficult, imho), without letting the black man stand there as a liar.

Now, it is canon that book!Louis DID lie. It’s literally stated in the books, and Jacob has also inferred that, in that video, in the end. Jacob has been quite blunt about it also, that Louis’ tale is a mixture of memories, deliberately and not-so-deliberately delivered scenes, and that Louis "presented Lestat as a monster.” The show obviously went much farther than that, namely made Armand literally edit Louis’ mind, edit his memories - shift the blame to him (something I predicted would happen before s2 aired btw, and which made people real mad at me lol).

Book!Armand HAS influenced Louis as well, to turn Madeleine for example, and he put a “veil” over him, before they came for them. So the show going further is built on canon - but there, too, it is a “ramping up” of what was/is.

With them knowing Lestat would become main character and them knowing that they had to bring other reasons for “murder night” it is actually quite… logical that they would need to think of something to shift perception. Logical for them.

They already did so with the fight revisit in s2 - oh look, it’s actually Louis who was the aggressor, at least until the coffin room. Haha!!! //sarcasm off. I think it’s clear that that little reveal… mostly fell flat, because Lestat as the “white racist abuser” had been thoroughly established by then. But I think they think that bringing in Amel will bring that final shift in perception, namely shift the “violence perception” away from Lestat.

I don’t think it will. I think it will be hell in fandom when they try to do that. And I have stated before, and am stating it here once more, that I personally do not like this setup that I think they chose.

But I do think they think it will. I think that was one of the reasons for their plan to bring in Amel that early, and in this kind of manner.

By bringing in this (let’s call it) concept though they changed all the surrounding relationships, rather irrevocably.

Some of it is based on the settings change, and the therefore changed ages, and I DO appreciate that they thought about what that would mean for these characters.

But Louis and Lestat are built now on a power-imbalance, and NO MATTER the reason, there will always be the end of episode 5 now between them. ALWAYS. Their first flight, so very important for them in “Queen of the Damned” is now forever tainted as well! Also, Book!Louis and Lestat were only a few years apart. Both were more or less “young vampires”. Not so in the show, no matter what will be now, Lestat and Louis will not have grown into it all together, the show jump-started them to the big discrepancy of the last books. To the acceptance that is, in the books, so very hard won.

Louis and Armand are much worse off as well - Armand sees Louis as a vessel for himself, and their parting is one in anger not numb and disillusioned neutrality. I seriously doubt we will see them in any kind of acceptance of each other in the show which we DID get in the books in the Trinity Gate era.

Lestat and Claudia are worse off, too - oh, there are enough clues in the show that Lestat did love Claudia, but it is clear I think that Claudia saw him more as her keeper, and not in a good sense - so far, at least, because there, too, the incoming reveals of the missing diary pages will play a rather big part though.

By focusing the show on the cycles of abuse - and I have no doubt whatsoever that they will continue to do so in the upcoming seasons and the relationships to come - they created pitfalls for themselves.

Because how can you root for these characters, right, how can you forgive them?

And they have stated that they have want(ed) to focus on that needed forgiveness....

Rolin and Hannah both said that it’s a “gothic romance” and “within the realms of his evil” as a defense for this chosen angle, cherry-picking at things that have their place in certain arcs to justify their ramping up the abuse and violence. And (I think) they think that a lot of it will be explained away with Amel.

But, again, the abuse and violence… the FOCUS on the abuse and violence… changes these characters and their relationships with each other. Irrevocably.

Don’t get me wrong here, abuse, violence and even sexual abuse and violence are parts of the books. But a big part of the books is also the try at overcoming that - breaking the cycle of abuse (which Lestat does btw, and which Rolin annuls with the changes he made in setup and focus), and forgiving. Louis, accepting his grief, and his depression, and his story. And that he chose this. Lestat, accepting that he was forced into this, and is who he is. And that he wants it, despite not choosing it.

The show jump-started Louis at the end of season 2 to the end of “Prince Lestat” with that “I am the night” comment. They condensed the journey. Which does free Louis up, yes. But - if they want to do “body thief” - why then would this Louis, who has/seems to have accepted who and what he is, reject Lestat? For example? Because book!Louis rejects Lestat in the “body thief” book because he does not want to condemn Lestat’s soul to their life (again) - and he does so, knowing losing Lestat will likely kill him.

All the changes they do in the show have ripple-effect repercussions for the arcs yet to come.

Who knows, maybe they’ll do “body thief” with Daniel (getting a new body), the possibility is definitely there. But then Jacob and Sam and Rolin have all talked about that book, and finding a “clever way” of doing it, and Jacob about how much he wants to do that scene with Sam. And it will be reallllyyyy interesting what they will choose as “reason” for the rejection. Because imho it will have to be a different one, now.

And Lestat will not have to withdraw after QotD and Akasha’s abduction either. Louis is already used to the power-imbalance, hell LESTAT is already used to the power-imbalance. He HAS all the powers already, so why would it frighten him, make him feel body-dysmorphia and suicidal??

Amel “choosing” Lestat makes Lestat the proverbial “prince” of the titular “Prince Lestat” book. There’s more to it, of course, but Rolin has already talked about this Lestat having traces of the prince in him.

The Lestat of the books though… manages to reach that status amongst his kind on his own, through what has happened, and how he dealt with it. The Lestat of the show… will be hobbled/buffeted by Amel from the beginning, as well as the choices re abuse and violence. As such, the journey he takes, will be, by necessity, quite a different one, bodily and mentally. And it won't be the same.

This show is an adaptation.

It does not need to follow the books word by word.

It does not need to be the same. Absolutely.

But by focusing on the cycles of abuse, and by introducing some rather important changes they have changed some core traits of the characters - and therefore their arcs, through the ripple effect adaptions that are needed because of them.

Claudia was old enough to live on her own, and had proven she could. Chosen solution: sexual violence and toxic overbearing domination and abuse.

Lestat is much older and jaded, much more experienced and much more powerful - and he needed to be killed but knowing he would take over the show at some point there would need to be a caveat. Chosen solution: Make it clear he was an abusive asshole, but leave a trap door for later.

Louis could not simply be a liar, or missing memories. Chosen solution: His mind had to be fucked up by someone else.

And so on.

Ultimately, we will only be able to judge, and evaluate afterwards. Afterwards, after all our seasons have hopefully run (fingers crossed), we will able to look back, look at the clues, and analyze whether our takes were correct. Given my predictions for season 2... well. We'll see :)

And I cannot give you a definite prediction as to how the arcs will change, because it will heavily depend on how exactly they do them.

But if I am (even if partly only) correct re Amel and the upcoming Akasha arc - and again, I don’t WANT that, it’s just something I see coming - then there will be a lot of ripple effect repercussions incoming.

I do think the show can pull it off btw - but it will be very much a beast of its own by then. The relationships will not be the same as in the books, and the reasons for some of the events won’t be either. They cannot be.

[currentlyonstandbi]

thinking about that article where Aidan talks about Five being lost this season, about how he doesn't know what his place is in the universe. thinking about how it might be because there's no longer any apocalypse to stop, no world to save, and comparing it to similar circumstances in season 3. thinking about the fact Five's response to having fulfilled his purpose in that situation is not to despair but to celebrate. you could argue that maybe it's because the reality of it hasn't set in, that he's essentially in the honeymoon phase of no longer having a place in the world, but I'd argue there's another consideration - his family. Five in S3 is content, happy even, despite no longer having a purpose because at least he still knows his place. and that's amongst the people he's dedicated decades of his life to saving. thinking about how, by the end of the season, Five was ready to finally put an end to it all - no more stopping the apocalypse. because at least he'd get to go out surrounded by the people he loved. but S4 sees them all split up. and now Five's without a purpose and without his family. and there's no end of the world to save them from; they won, timeline fixed, universe restored. his family is finally safe. and Five is still alone.

the unbearable tragedy of getting what you want.