#I actually have no idea how big transformers are i always just say 20 feet is average i dunno

[starheavenly]

hey just curious are meggs n op just REALLY big or are the seekers really that smoll?

[katzkinder]

(multiple linked image references throughout this post)

Ok, so I loved this post

The part that got me though was when you said “I wonder what type of animal form they take factors into that” - that’s where the gears in my head started turnin’

So I went snooping on each animal counterpart associated with each sin.

1.) SLOTH: are cats sensitive to cold?

So Kuro isn’t JUST a neet that prefers blankets or a kotatsu over the cold… his animal form being a cat does play some part… key word beings some

“Cats are pretty well adapted for cold weather, but when the temperature dips below freezing they are susceptible to hypothermia and frostbite. During periods of cold weather, cats will go looking for a warm place to hunker down. How cold is too cold for indoor cats? Cats prefer warmth but will be okay in rooms hovering between 50-60°F degrees; while their counterparts Lions, in a zoo environment, stay outside in the winter unless the temperature dips below 40°F (in the wild, most lions don’t have to worry about temperatures dropping below 65°F so in most cases 40°F and below is too cold).”

SLOTH SENSATIVE TO COLD? ✅ (yes)

2.) PRIDE: are bats sensitive to cold?

“Bats can't survive freezing temperatures, even when they're hibernating. Any roost bats shelter in for the winter must be at least 45°F or warmer. They also seek out dark, secluded, and sheltered places that can keep them safe from predators. Bats are defenseless while they're hibernating.”

PRIDE SENSATIVE TO COLD? ✅ (yes)

3.) ENVY: are snakes sensitive to cold?

Jeje being a snake is pretty much a given… but it’d be mean to not include him (so no funny ideas outta you, ok Mikuni?)

“What is the coldest temperature a snake can withstand? Snakes usually stay out of cold climates. Because the coldest temperature any snake can thrive in is around 65°F, snakes normally live in the warmer temperate or tropical zones. Below 60°F, snakes become sluggish. Above 95°F, snakes become overheated.”

ENVY SENSATIVE TO COLD? ✅ (yes)

4.) WRATH: are wolves sensitive to cold?

“Wolves don't need to do anything. They're much better adapted to cold weather than we are. Thanks to their winter adaptations, wolves can live in temperatures as low as -40°F. During the coldest nights, a wolf will curl itself into a ball, covering its nose with its tail, which will hold the exhaled warm air over its feet and nose, conserving precious body heat. It will also sleep close to its pack-mates(her Eve) in a unified effort to stay warm.”

WRATH SENSATIVE TO COLD? ♾ (neutral-ish)

5.) GREED: are hedgehogs sensitive to cold?

“Hedgehogs getting cold is a BIG ‘No no’. It slows their metabolism down, leaving them susceptible to infections, dehydration and starvation. It's important to keep your hedgehog in an environment between 72-80°F. Even if it’s not always comfortable for us humans (comfortable for angels? no clue), temperatures lower than 70°F are considered ‘cold’ for hedgehogs and can result in a hibernation attempt, which can be fatal.”

Maybe that’s why Lawless always wears that scarf? Since hedgehogs are severely thermally sensitive then it would make sense…

(Crantz, Gil… please stop the angel from getting any ideas)

GREED SENSITIVE TO COLD? ✅ (yes)

6.) GLUTTONY: are pigs sensitive to cold?

In this case I will refer mostly to Vietnamese Potbellied Pigs because as far as I know, we haven’t actually seen Ildio’s pig form yet - one of the only depictions is Lawless’ stage depictions of the 7 vampire siblings in ep6… and based on his stage depiction of Ildio’s pig form, Viatnamese Vietnamese Miniature Potbellied Pigs seem like they’d be the common type of pig that seems to fit that shape/size.

“The ideal temperature range for a potbelly pig is 65-88°F. Pigs in winter do not need any type of supplemental heat down to at least -20°F. Most potbelly pigs require more feed to maintain heat production and body condition; meaning that housing aside, the more feed/calorie intake, the easier it can be for pigs to regulate their body heat.”

However, seeing as Ildio is an ageless vampire with the mother-effing holy grail of metabolisms, we don’t know if his MASSIVE calorie intake, that he doesn’t really gain much/any weight from, will actually help him in cold weather.

GLUTTONY SENSATIVE TO COLD? ♾❔(neutral/unknown where they stand exactly)

7.) LUST: are butterflies sensitive to cold?

Snow Lily’s butterfly appearance is probably one of the most exaggerated of the 8 servamp animal forms. That gorgeous shade of pink and black aside, I couldn’t find any real buttwrfly species with that wing pattern or wings shaped like that. So color and wing pattern aside, I’d say the closest real-world butterfly to Snow Lily would be a variation of Swallowtail Butterfly.

Butterflies are cold-blooded critters, however, generally speaking butterflies won't fly when temperatures are less than 55-60°F.

LUST SENSATIVE TO COLD? ✅ (yes)

8.) MELANCHOLY: are foxes sensitive to cold?

Even though Tsubaki’s two tails seem to be a play of of the legends of Nine Tail Fox, generally speaking based off his other details being black fox with white on the end of his tail(s), he is most likely a Silver Fox; which is a type of Red Fox.

The upper critical temperature of the red fox is probably between 86-89°F. An official temperature range of what is too cold for red foxes is more or less unknown or unofficial at best. The arctic fox is said to be able to tolerate temperatures as low as -72°F but red foxes haven’t occupied the tundra in the past partly because it was too cold; with their longer ears and limbs, they lose heat faster than their arctic cousins. So we know the average red fox can tolerate and survive cold temperatures, but most likely not temperatures like their arctic counterparts live in.

MELANCHOLY SENSATIVE TO COLD? ♾❔❌ (neutral/unknown where they stand exactly/least affected of the bunch)

and after ALL OF THAT…

the most interesting thing is–

when I first got into SERVAMP, I remember being curious where the concept of ‘the different sins transforming into animal forms’ came from. After a little research, I found that there is a history to it! A very detailed account of the origins and representations of them within history. And a small portion discusses the animal depictions of the original 7 deadly sins⬇️

“An allegorical image depicting the human heart subject to the seven deadly sins, each represented by an animal (clockwise: Toad = Avarice [greed]; Snake = Envy; Lion = Wrath; Snail = Sloth; Pig = Gluttony; Goat = Lust why? I have no idea; Peacock = Pride).”

So Jeje and Ildio’s animal forms are the only ones true to the original depictions of their associated sins.

Pride as a peacock does make sense… but I can understand adding the bat into the mix because - vampires.

I get why they’d change Kuro to a cat instead of a snail because I can’t see a snail being threatening at all unless it’s either severely poisonous or Gary… like, supernatural vampire powers or not, Kuro as a snail wouldn’t be very badass.

Why the ever living f*ck would a goat reprint lust? Originally I was going with the possibility that goat could be related to ram, ram represents Aries, Aries is one of the most lustful zodiac personalities… but no, apparently the goat represents the Devil, lust, lubricity and the damned… so that’s fun - I prefer the butterfly thank you very much.

Apparently frogs symbolize greed because it is a greedy creature in desiring to live in both worlds- on the land & in the water… okay I guess?

& lastly even though the Lion role is also occupied by Kuro within the series, I can understand Wrath not maintaining the original Lion role swing as Wrath is female and they probably wanted a male to hold the depiction of Lion so that the could use the lion’s mane, again, to add to the badass factor… regardless I don’t think Wrath as a lioness would have played out the same way… is it sexist when referring to animals? Whatever - that’s a question for another day.

If you’re interested, the full article can be found here

I am so sorry this random rant turned out WAAAAAAAY longer than I originally intended… I always love your analysis and theory posts so I hope you enjoy :)

YOOO ANON, THAT’S AWESOME! I’ll definitely check that article out!

In return, have this!

We know what piggy ‘dio looks like now! :D

Hopefully this will make your research a little easier?

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #199

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're making the Jotaro Kujo of FGO, Semiramis! (Seriously, how does that cape/hair... thing work? It's wild.) The queen of poisons is a Graviturgy Wizard to make building a floating castle slightly less difficult to make and cooler to live in, plus a Witherbloom Druid for some dove friends and extra poisons. If you've seen our builds for Waver and Edison, you might know already that building things with magic is costly and time-consuming, and for once that is 100% accurate to the character. Get ready, this is gonna be a weird one.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: I'm 40% appendicitis!

Race and Background

Semiramis is technically an aasimar, but she doesn't fly around or heal people, so we can just focus on her human side. .... Oooor we can focus on those ears, because we need to nick some stuff from being an Elf. Specifically, we're going with the Vahadar Elf from Plane Shift Kaladesh, since they've got the ears, the proficiencies we'll need later, and their backstory's still about living in general society, unlike wood elves and other Kaladeshian elves. Thanks to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, this gives her +2 Intelligence and +1 Wisdom, as well as Darkvision, Fey Ancestry against being charmed, a Trance instead of sleep so she can't be put to sleep, Keen Senses for proficiency in Perception, the Mending cantrip to piece together the castle later, and most importantly Elf Weapon Training. Normally this would give her proficiency with four weapons, but thanks to Tasha's we can swap this out with four tools instead. Carpenter's, Glassblower's, Mason's, and Smith's Tools proficiency should give us everything we need to build a castle later- we'll go into the why when we get there.

Semiramis is also a Noble- grab History, but swap out Persuasion for Deception. Yeah, not even her background can escape how weird this build is.

Ability Scores

Poisoning skills come from Intelligence (I think. WotC are really nonspecific about how to actually fucking make poison), and it's also your main casting modifier: put that first. Second should be your Charisma, nobody drinks poison on purpose, so you'd better get good at lying. After that is Wisdom. If your poisons aren't made with Intelligence it'll definitely be wisdom. That means your Dexterity isn't great- yeah, you fight in a dress, but if you're fighting and not your lackeys, something's gone wrong. We're not dumping Constitution because we're not stupid, so dump Strength instead. You've got minions to carry rocks around for you.

Class Levels

Wizard 1: Starting as a wizard nets you the weakest hit die in the game, but it also gets you proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, plus the Arcana and Medicine skills. You're half caster, and if you want to ruin someone's bodily functions you have to know what those are first. Starting as a wizard also gets you Spells that you can cast and prepare using your Intelligence. You get six at first level and two each level after. That's a lot, so we're just going to over spells that are important for the build here, though there's a full list of what we'd get in the character sheet. For cantrips, grab Infestation and Poison Spray for poison damage. For once infestation is completely kosher as is, since Semiramis can summon any creature as long as its poisonous. Also, grab Message. Castle halls are big and echo-y, and it's probably not a good idea to shout at people to find out which glass they put the poison in. Aside from that, grab Mage Armor so you die less, Magic Missile for Assassin balls, and Tenser's Floating Disk to carry all the raw materials you'll be using later. Finally, you get an Arcane Recovery once per long rest, letting you recover a couple spell slots on a short rest. The total level you recover is equal to half your wizard level, rounded up.

Wizard 2: Going into second level of wizard gives you a school of magic, and it's hard to lift several tons of stone into the air if you're not into Graviturgy. When you take the subclass, you can Adjust Density as an action, doubling or halving a large or smaller creature/object's weight for up to a minute with concentration. If you reduce a creature's weight it'll increase their speed by 10', double their jump distance, and have disadvantage on strength saves and checks, and vice versa if you increase it. I checked, and stone is roughly 1,000 times denser than air, not 2, so we'll have to do some brewing later to make this work out. Make your strong minions stronger, your fast minions faster, or do the opposite for your enemies.

Wizard 3: Third level wizards get second level spells. You won't get any dragons in this build, sad to say, but you can use Dragon's Breath to turn just about anything into a dragon. They can even spit poison breath, which is really good with the poisoner's feat. Speaking of..

Wizard 4: First Ability Score Improvement of the build, so grab the Poisoner's Feat for more poisony goodness. All poison-based damage rolls you make ignore resistance, you can coat weapons as a bonus action, and you get proficiency in the poisoner's kit. You also learn a special poison that'll force a dc 14 constitution save on the creature you use it on, dealing 2d8 poison damage and poisoning them for a round.

Wizard 5: Fifth level wizards get third level spells. Animate Dead will help you make dragontooth warriors, a.k.a. skeletons. You can make one per casting right now, but you can recast the spell to retain control over up to three skeletons at once. Otherwise they'll be uncontrollable monsters, which is probably less of a goal.

Druid 1: Semiramis might be known for her poisons, but she's really a multifaceted person. Well, not really, but if you want poisons, you're going to get them from animals. If you want animals, you're going to get them from druids. First level druids learn Druidic- it's a language! They also get another set of Spellcasting using their Wisdom to cast and prepare spells. Check the multiclassing table to figure out your spell slots. Grab Guidance and Resistance to be a bit better than everyone else. For first level spells, look for Entangle and Snare to summon chains to slow down enemies, and Speak with Animals to make sure your dovey-woveys know their work is appreciated. We haven't gotten dovey-woveys yet? Don't worry, they're coming.

Druid 2: Second level druids join their circle, and you're so goddamn smart you just joined another school. At the college of Witherbloom, you'll learn how to turn the vitality of nature into deadly poisons. Right off the bat you get circle spells, which are always prepared for you and don't count against how many spells you can prepare. Right now you get the Spare the Dying cantrip as well as Cure and Inflict Wounds. Now you don't literally have to summon a whip every time you want to hit someone. You can also tap in creatures' essences with your Essence Tap. As a bonus action, you empower yourself for 1 minute, gaining one of two options. Overgrowth lets you heal yourself with a hit die each turn as a bonus action, adding your wisdom modifier to the amount healed. Withering Strike lets you change your damage to necrotic when you hit someone with any sort of damage, ignoring resistances to make your poisons even deadlier. You can use this proficiency times per long rest. Most importantly, you gain a Wild Shape / Wild Companion. Both features use the same two charges per short rest. You're limited to what you can turn into based on its CR and movement options, but those limits and how long you can transform/summon a creature for grows as you level up. Currently I'd stick with Wild Companion for dove familiars, but some versions of Semiramis' story include her turning into a dove herself at the end, so Wild Shape isn't out of the question. As long as we sink eight levels into druid, at least.

Druid 3: Third level druids get second level spells, like your freebies Lesser Restoration and Ray of Enfeeblement. Look, if you're going to make poisons it only makes sense that you'd have antidotes on hand. You can also grab spells like Animal Messenger to send your doves out for ingredients, and Locate Animals or Plants to find them yourself.

Wizard 6: Sixth level graviturgists can make a Gravity Well when you cast a spell, moving the target 5 feet in any direction if it is willing or you successfully hit it with the spell. Speaking of spells that push people, Pulse Wave does just that, stepping in for the big stompy dragon animation. Creatures in a 30' cone make a constitution save, and if they fail they'll take force damage and get pushed back 15', or 20' with Gravity Well. You can also pull them, but that's not really stompy at that point. You can also Summon Undead to create a stronger skeleton to lead the others.

Druid 4: At fourth level, druids can transform into swimming creatures, and you also get another ASI. Bump up your Intelligence for stronger spells. Also, grab the Control Fire cantrip, it'll be cold in your castle without it.

Druid 5: Fifth level druids get third level spells, like Revivify and Vampiric Touch. Neither of those are in character, but you can also Conjure Animals (as long as they're poisonous) and Dispel Magic to keep your throne room free of nonsense.

Wizard 7: Seventh level wizard get fourth level spells, including the one we've been working our way up to, Fabricate! As long as you have the raw materials, you can turn them into products of the same material. Since you're working with stone, you're limited to creating Medium objects this way. Just line the outside of the medium objects you make with halves of smaller objects, then mend them together, and eventually you'll have a castle. This will take a while. For a decent-sized castle of 300'x400', you'll be looking at roughly 480 medium-sized blocks per floor. At level 20 you'll have 12 spell slots of fourth level or higher, so you can knock out a floor in roughly 40 days, not including things like doors or other furniture. Also worth noting, you can't make fancy things like glass without proficiency in the tools required to make them normally, hence all the tool proficiencies from your racial bonuses.

Wizard 8: Use your next ASI to bump up your Wisdom for better healing and stronger druid spells. You also learn Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum, so you can prevent creatures from spying into your hanging gardens. Especially useful is the ability to block creatures from teleporting or plane shifting onto your grounds, as that's probably the only way to approach your gardens safely. Or at least it is after you learn Ice Storm, a long range spell that pelts enemies with ice and turns the area into difficult terrain. Of note, it doesn't say the ground, so the entire cylinder will be difficult to fly through. If you want to build giant arcane cannons instead for authenticity, I salute you. Just remember that'll have to come out of your budget.

Wizard 9: Ninth level wizards get fifth level spells, and Wall of Stone will help you speed up construction by making ten 10'x10' panels or ten 10'x20' panels. You can also use this spell to create bridges or the like, and if you hold concentration for 10 minutes the stone remains permanently. If you want to skimp on materials so you can just get this fucking thing in the air already, this'll help with that. You're also learning Geas. If you can't summon a dragon, forcibly controlling a dragon is the next best thing.

Druid 6: Did you think we were done with druid? I said we were stuck here for 8 levels, didn't I? Sixth level witherbloom druids can make a Witherbloom Brew thanks to their new proficiency with Herbalism kits. At the end of a long rest, you can use that kit to make Proficiency brews, which last for 24 hours. A Fortifying brew gives a creature resistance to a damage type chosen at brewing (cold, fire, necrotic, poison, or radiant) for an hour. A Quickening brew heals its drinker, and ends one disease or an effect of charming, frightening, paralyzation, poisoning, or stunning. Again, antidotes might be useful to have on hand, but the real reason we're here is for the Toxifying brew. You can apply the brew to a weapon, and the next time within an hour that weapon hits a creature, they take 2d6 poison damage and have to make a constituiton saving throw (DC 8 + your wisdom modifier + proficiency) or be poisoned for a minute. This is literally so much better than the poisoner feat what the hell.

Druid 7: Seventh level druids get fourth level spells, like Blight and Greater Restoration for stronger poisons and antidotes respectively. You can also Dominate Beast to hold any poisonous critters still while you milk them, or summon Giant Insects instead. They obey you and stay giant until they drop to 0 HP, dismiss the effect, the spell ends.

Druid 8: Our last level of druid finally lets you turn into a dove with a second Wild Shape Improvement. You also get another ASI, so bump up that Wisdom for stronger spells and poisons.

Wizard 10: Tenth level graviturgists can create a Violent Attraction between a creature's face and a weapon, causing a nearby weapon attack to deal an extra 1d10 damage. Alternatively, you can increase the attraction between a creature and the ground, adding 2d10. I doubt your hanging gardens need help making the fall more deadly, but now you can help out of need be. You can do this Intelligence modifier per long rest.

Wizard 11: Eleventh level wizards get sixth level spells, like Guards and Wards. This will make it so much harder for enemies to breach your castle it isn't even funny, if the "hanging out in the stratosphere" thing didn't tip them off already.

Wizard 12: By twentieth level you should have a castle set up, so grab the Lucky feat. Basically, everything that can go right for you does while you're in your castle, so now you get 3 luck points per long rest to make sure that happens, letting you re-roll your attacks, saves, and checks, as well as attacks aimed at you.

So how the fuck do I get a flying castle?

So, admittedly this is up to DM fiat, but let's be real, a flying castle sounds sick as hell and gathering resources is a great reason to go adventuring. If I was your DM, it'd go something like this; After x months of research, you find a way to prepare materials so Adjust Density is permanent on them if you concentrate for the duration. Then you make and fuse together castle chunks as described in level twelve, and eventually you lighten the load on the special rocks so much they're lighter than air. Boom, liftoff, you're fucking awesome now. If you want to go down, just make the float rocks heavier again.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Even if you don't build a giant floating castle in your adventure, that doesn't mean all this prepwork went to waste. You are a master at protecting areas from invasion, so no matter where you lay your head you know it's going to be safe. Not as safe as a floating castle, but still, safe.

By mixing together all your tool proficiencies with Fabricate, you can make pretty much whatever you need from raw materials. No more paying a smithy for fancier armor!

If you do get your castle in the air or you're near a cliff, you are incredibly deadly, with plenty of ways to shove opponents around or otherwise control movement. Slow them down, trip them up, or shove them off a cliff it's so good. Pulse people off the edge of your garden and laugh at them as they fall.

Cons:

There's literally no rules about building your own castles & poisons, so most of this build is entirely dependent on your DM. If you get a cool one, cool! If you don't, this build is pretty much a writeoff.

You need to hide away in your castle and send out minions because you're kind of pathetic in person. With only 14 AC and less than 100 HP, you'll go down faster than Medb if you don't use your Wild Shapes well.

A lot of that can be chalked up to mixing caster classes, meaning we have to spend more ASIs to make both spell modifiers good, and we miss out on higher level spells. Also, spending 8 levels in druid just to turn into a dove isn't that great unless you really want the flavor. I highly recommend skipping out after 6, the last graviturgy effect is great both to knock people out of the sky and make them bow if they get to your throne room.

But, getting to your throne room is 90% of the fight. This build is one that emphasizes patience, and that's what puts you above the common folk. Hang out in the stratosphere, attend social events in style, and let your poisons and skeleton warriors do the fighting for you. Just be glad there aren't any wacky knights riding hippogryphs around.

[goneseriesanalysis]

Astrid Ellison

So here are my opinions on Astrid Ellison from book 1. Astrid was the character on which my opinion changed the most, which is why it’s taken me so long to get my thoughts together. Sorry for the length again but it seems I have a talent for ✨rambling✨

Spoilers for Gone by Michael Grant down below

Original Opinion: Astrid was one of my least favourite characters. I remember finding her irritating and self-righteous and honestly couldn’t think of a single good thing to say about her.

New Opinion: Astrid was my favourite character in this book. She had moments where I found her slightly irritating - but I think that was Michael struggling to right a smart character more than anything else. She was so kind and brave and not at all like the emotionless and manipulative girl that I remember hating at the grand age of 14. 

1.) Astrid’s appearance - Astrid is one of the better described characters in Gone. In the first chapter we find out that she “had shoulder-length blonde hair, and liked to wear starched white short-sleeved blouses that never failed to catch Sam’s eye.” This description immediately establishes her as Sam’s love interest, from her being the first character to get a proper description to Sam’s clear infatuation with her. This is perhaps one of the reasons why I’m not a huge fan of their relationship – it was obvious from page 3 that they were going to end up together.  We get three other main descriptions of Astrid throughout the book that really stood out to me:

“Her normally sharp, discerning blue eyes were wide, with way too much white showing” – Chapter 1

“She sat in the big white wicker rocker with her feet propped up on the railing. Her bare legs were blazing white in the sunshine.” – Chapter 20

“The starched white blouses of the pre-FAYZ had given way to t-shirts” – Chapter 28

What really stood out to me in these descriptions is the repeated use of the colour white. Now, in religion white is symbolic of faith, innocence and sacrifice, all of which really seem to fit the characterisation of Astrid. She has a lot of faith in the beginning, not only in God but also in herself. She is relatively confident in who she is and in her place in the world. As the book continues, however, she begins to lose this faith. As she sacrifices more of her time to the care of Little Pete (I really don’t like how Michael constantly treated him as a burden but that is a topic for another post), she becomes less and less confident in her faith and begins to resent what she has become. 

As for Astrid’s innocence, I believe this is more of an insight into how Sam views her as opposed to how she actually is. Astrid is intelligent and brave and caring (although a lot of the time I think she struggles to show it) – but is she innocent?? I don’t think so, at least not in the traditional sense. She has grown up as a parent, been forced to mature faster than other children her age. She is Little Pete’s constant defender, and I think in this way Sam underestimates her. As the book continues, he begins to see this, with her staple white blouses transforming into t-shirts, he begins to see her for who she is. 

2.) Astrid’s Personality and Character - Aside from Astrid’s intelligence and religious beliefs, Astrid has a very well-rounded personality. She is brave and kind-hearted but seems somewhat socially inept, meaning that the softer side of her personality is often hidden by her cool exterior. (I think there is a possibility that Astrid is autistic-coded but I don’t know enough about the topic to develop this point past mere observation). She takes on the role of a mother to Little Pete and this calmer, kinder, and more protective side of Astrid is often shown in small moments throughout the books. Astrid is the first person to offer comfort to Quinn when he realises his parents are missing, and it is only once she does this that Quinn finally allows himself to fall apart (Chapter 2). She places a hand on his shoulder and for the first night is the one who hears out Quinn’s wild theories, instead of shooting them down (cough cough Sam). 

Her relationship with Little Pete is a complicated one. While she often seems resentful about her new position as a guardian, it feels like her resentment towards Little Pete is a way for her to mask her anger at things that are beyond her control. She is furious that the FAYZ has left her without parents, and is even more furious because she can’t truly understand why it has happened. So, to stop these feelings of helplessness, she targets her resentment towards the person she is closest do (as most of us unfortunately do when we feel this way). But despite her anger, her unconditional love always wins out. And this is one of the things I absolutely adored about her when re-reading. Despite her often feeling trapped by her new role in Little Pete’s life, she is still willing to distance herself from Sam, Edilio and Quinn (who are, as far as we know, the closest thing she has to friends) in order to keep him safe. She realises that Little Pete caused the FAYZ in chapter 11 and, even when Sam confronts her, her first move is to defend LP – she is not concerned with what they think of her, only with the safety of her brother. 

Further on in the book, after Drake forces her to call Little Pete a slur, she is horrified with herself. She gives almost no thought to the pain she went through stating that “now she was far more angry at herself than she had ever been at him.” I think this really just shows how devoted Astrid is to her brother and, when you remember that she is only 14 it really is amazing how strong she forces herself to be for him. I began to notice on this read through just how much she neglects her own emotions and wellbeing in favour of protecting others (she even shields LP with her own body when the church collapses on top of them and we get no indication as to how injured SHE is). Once again her thoughts are only on her brother. While I wish she had made more of an effort to communicate with Little Pete in a way that he could understand (the few times she does this in the book, he does respond well and it would have been interesting to develop this side of their relationship more, rather than just the one sided protector/protected dynamic), when you think about her age and the trauma that she must be experiencing, I think she does exceptionally well to stay so kind, patient and collected for the majority of the time.

 One thing that really surprised me the most when revisiting Astrid’s character was her immense bravery. This is a huge part of her character that I had completely forgotten about, leading me to remember her as little more than a typical damsel in distress. While she often uses her intelligence as a defence mechanism, such as in Chapter 15 when she stands up to Diana, in times when a verbal smack down is inappropriate, she is perfectly willing to put herself in danger in order to protect those that she cares about. We first see this in chapter 10 when she breaks up the fight on the highway. We see it again when Panda and Quinn attack Little Pete, with one of my favourite quotes of the whole book, “Did you throw a rock at my brother?’ Astrid yelled. Fearless in her outrage.” It reminds me so much of the Frankenstein quote “I am fearless and therefore powerful” and was the point in the book where my past prejudices got completely wiped away and were replaced by my new love for her. She cares so much about people, and gets hardly any recognition for it. I just want to give her a hug 😥

Another thing I noticed about Astrid, which I thinks fit’s in really well with the idea of her being this awkward social outcast (I mean did she even have any friends before??) is that while many pop culture references are made by a variety of characters, Astrid makes multiple references to historical figures:

“Patrick was named for Patrick Star, the not-very-bright character on Spongebob” – Lana’s pov Chapter 2

“It’s like a roadrunner cartoon” – Quinn Chapter 9

“I’ll bet you’re one of those brainy Lisa Simpson types” – Diana Chapter 14

“Let me guess, you’re secretly a wizard who was raised by muggles.” – Sam Chapter 21

“And this isn’t exactly the time for me to consult Yoda on how to use my power” – Sam Chapter 26

“..an ornate, heavy iron thing that Coates kids joked was the tenth Nazgul” – Jack’s pov Chapter 32

“Too bad Dr Phil’s not around.” – Diana 39

VS

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” – Astrid Chapter 5

“To understand this you’d have to be Einstein or Heisenburg or Feynman, on that level” – Astrid Chapter 13

“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I forgot who said it.” – Astrid Chapter 17

I don’t have much else to say about this other than I find it quite interesting and I think it perfectly highlights how Astrid never quite fits in, no matter how hard she tries. 

3.) Astrid’s Intelligence - Astrid’s intelligence is mainly used for world building throughout the first book. It is from Astrid that we learn the full story of the power plant incident, learn that the barrier is a dome and are introduced to the idea of animal mutations, as well as many theories about the outside world/ what caused the FAYZ (although those last theories are a misdirection on her part). This works well for the most part as it means that important information can be spaced evenly throughout the book, without the need for info-dumps. However, sometimes Michael’s attempts to showcase Astrid’s intelligence were, I think, a little on the nose and took me out of the story. The worst offender for this, in my opinion, is in chapter 2 with the line “Is that meant to be a pro forma reassurance or a specific commitment?” This is a really nit-picky complaint but this line just really bugged me as it seemed like he was making her smart for the sake of being smart and it kind of came off as annoying. I know one of her character flaws is her social awkwardness but this just felt too much. I love the way she over-explains and over-analyses things when she’s nervous, and I think her constant referencing to things that the other characters just don’t understand perfectly demonstrate this flaw, but lines like this seemed a little irritating and obnoxious. 

The secondary use for Astrid’s intelligence in this book is as her primary line of defence. Her intellect is something that she prides herself on, but it is also something that separates her from everyone else. People are intimidated by her, and, as a result, she has learned to use her intelligence as a weapon when necessary. This is clearly seen in chapter 14, when Diana tries to intimidate her and Astrid immediately starts asking Diana questions about the cause of the FAYZ (questions that she knows Diana has no answer to). It’s later seen in chapter 22. When Drake begins to bully Astrid into calling LP a slur, she fights back by explaining that said slur is outdated; explaining the meaning of it; and then explaining how it does not fit LP anyway. While she knows that she cannot use her physical strength, her intellect is something that she can weaponise in certain situations in order to protect herself and those she loves. Her proficiency in this tactic also leads me to believe that Astrid has probably been in similar situations before. Everyone in Perdido Beach seems to know about LP. Is that why she has no friends?? Has she distanced herself from her peers in order to protect LP from their ignorance, whether consciously or not??

4.) Astrid and Religion - I don’t have as much to say about this, as I’m not religious myself and have very little understanding of Christianity (Or Catholicism – I’m actually not sure which Astrid is meant to be so if anyone knows I would appreciate it), but I feel like this is a such a huge part of who Astrid is that I had to at least mention it. One thing that I do like is Astrid’s seemingly constant battle between her scientific beliefs and her religious beliefs. While she does believe in God, she won’t accept him as an explanation for the FAYZ, and still looks for a scientific answer. Her relationship with religion seems to act as more of a moral guideline rather than a fundamental belief system. She looks to God for guidance and support in times of trouble, such as at Bette’s funeral (Chapter 17), as she is being chased by Drake (Chapter 24) and when the church is collapsed on top of her (Chapter 45) and seems to be convinced that her morality is directly tied to her faith. However, she relies on facts (things she can explain and control) for true comfort, and doesn’t allow her faith to interfere with her action. I think these ideas are perfectly encompassed by this quote from Chapter 40 “No. I believe in free will. I think we make our own decisions and carry out our own actions. And our actions have consequences. The world is what we make it. But I think sometimes we can ask God to help us and He will.” – And I am quite excited to see how her faith/ loss of faith changes her perceptions in the later books. 

5.) Astrid’s Role in The Book - For the most part, Astrid has three main roles in this book:

- To act as LP’s protector

 -To act as a source of plot-relevant and world building information to the reader

-To be Sam’s main motivation is becoming the leader

And this, in my opinion, is a phenomenal waste. Astrid was the perfect candidate for the leader of the FAYZ, and giving the role to Sam made no sense?? I think what Michael was trying to do was suggest that Sam had to be the leader instead of Astrid because, while Astrid is the intelligent one who knows how to work people, Sam is the one who people look to when things go wrong. (Think of Katniss and Peeta’s dynamic in The Hunger Games). But, it just doesn’t work. For one, we know that what the people of Perdido Beach think has very little effect on leadership. There was no uproar when Caine took over. Were people scared and upset?? Yes. Did they run to Sam’s aid and rebel against Caine?? No. So why should it matter whether they prefer Sam to Astrid – Sam could still be the hero without being the leader. In fact, I think it would have made both characters so much better if this was the case. Also we know that in times of crisis, people DO look to Astrid. Albert’s cat anyone?? Furthermore, Astrid’s ability to use her intellect to play on people’s emotions is a much better match for Caine’s easy charm than Sam with his flame throwers. I mean please. Astrid has a cool and intimidating exterior that actually hides a well of deep emotions that she can pull from and use to manipulate people into doing things they never thought they were capable of (we mostly see this work with Sam in this book during the fire, chapter 4, and the first time he controls his powers, chapter 28). Caine has an easy going and charming exterior that hides his lack of empathy, allowing him to use people for his own gain as he sees them as expendable. They are such PERFECTLY MATCHED OPPOSITES. But no. Michael wanted the leader to be Sam because?? Fire?? Ugh. Even when the question of who will take over if Sam poofs comes up in chapter 40, NOBODY EVEN MENTIONS HER. Astrid suggests that Edilio takes over and that’s that. (With that being said I do find it interesting that Astrid basically chose both the leader AND the backup leader but still. Let her live up to her full potential Michael.)

I think I’ve pretty much covered the first two bullet points in other sections but I’ll just quickly mention her part in Sam becoming the leader. It’s very clear from the fire onwards that Sam being in charge is Astrid’s main goal. Is this so that Sam can protect her?? Maybe. Idk. But it kind of frustrates me that she is broken down into Sam’s love interest towards the end, rather than coming into her own role. We are constantly shown that she is the main reason that Sam is becoming the leader, and this is even explicitly stated when Sam tells his mother/the gaiphage that he has “someone I have to stay here for” – chapter 46. I think the book should have ended with Astrid taking on her own role (as the leader obvs but I would have settled for something smaller or, you know, ANYTHING), instead of her just becoming Caine’s human shield. I do have more to say on this topic but I feel like it falls more into the relationship category so I’ll leave that for a later post.

And I’m not even going to talk about her powers past saying: what was the reason?? As far as I can gather Michael wanted a reason for Astrid being so insistent about Sam taking on the role of leader and so gave her a weird power and then decided hmm no. 

Thank you so much for reading and I would love to hear all of your thoughts on Astrid. I think I’m going to do Caine next but who knows.

[runenc03]

Four

Writing date: around October 2020, I think? Not sure tbh, lol

Genre: fluff

Warnings: no warnings! :)

Word count: 3.1k 

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The first time you saw him with a baby was in the hospital. You were four, nestled in your mum's lap beside your godmother's hospital bed. You watched with big eyes as your godmother gave her second - barely one day old - son to her firstborn, who took his little brother eagerly but gently, making sure to support the baby's head at all times just like his mum had told him to do. You smiled, he suddenly looked so big in comparison to the small baby in his arms.

"They grow up so fast"

That was your mum, complaining to your godmother - her best friend since kindergarten. Your smile morphed into a grin as she put one of her arms around you, rocking you from side to side, as if she was trying to shrink you to match the little baby in your best friend's arms. Needless to say, she failed miserably. You were a big girl after all.

"Tell me about it. They're already going to school! Not that it isn't nice to see them grow up, but, well, I missed having a baby in the house. As hard as it is, it makes me feel so empowered, taking care of such a small miracle..."

Your mum nodded, a nostalgic gleam in her eyes. You smiled too, knowing you'd been that baby for your mum, a long time ago of course. The baby in your best friend's arms started fussing, not quite crying but not as happy as possible either, and you recognised the fleeting panic in your best friend's eyes. It was the same look he'd had when the teacher asked him to show his teddy bear to everyone - you knew he was very protective of his stuffed friend and only wanted to share it with you. Your godmother quickly took the baby from her oldest son's arms, naturally taking him into her arms, and started breast feeding him. Your best friend moved as well, crawling through the hospital sheets to get closer to his little brother once again, placing a kiss on his forehead, as if to say sorry for whatever he'd done wrong.

As you watched the scene in front of you, you heard your mother's 'aww', but your smile faltered a bit. The kissing on the forehead was something exclusively for the two of you, or so you'd thought. Was he going to forget all about you now that he had his own personal playmate at home? Were you going to become just another girl in your class he was scared he'd get cooties from? He'd always assured you that the two of you were an exception to that, claiming it was because your mum was his godmother and vice versa, or something like that.

You decided you'd seen enough for now and wanted to take a nap. Turning your head to the side, you readjusted your head to lay on your mum's chest, closing your eyes and - after checking to make sure no one was paying attention to you - sucking on your thumb before slowly falling asleep.

You weren't sure how much time had passed since you fell asleep, but when you woke up, your godmother was asleep and your own mum was scrolling through her Facebook feed on her phone. You rubbed your eyes, trying to push away the last remnants of sleep in them, and focused on your best friend. He was still sitting cross-legged on the hospital bed, looking every bit as energetic as he did whenever the two of you ate a bit too much sugar. Again, his gaze was turned to the baby, a small smile playing around his lips. You decided with a frown that you still didn't want to talk to him, stubborn as always. You closed your eyes again, pretending to sleep.

"You know, buddy, mummy says you'll have to learn to walk first, but as soon as you can, I want to take you with us on our adventures. 'Us' is my best friend and I. She's sitting here as well, you see? Our mum is best friends with her mum, just like I'm best friends with her. She's my best friend though, so you can't be her best friend, I'm sorry, but you can play with us! She's the best in playing tag, oh and also in telling stories! You should ask her to tell you a story sometime. Mum also told me it'll take a while for you to be able to speak, but I can ask her for you if you want to..."

And as much as you tried to fake being asleep, your smile won.

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The second time you saw him with a baby was on an indoor ice skating rink.

Okay true, he wasn't holding a baby, but you were both sixteen and he had grown so tall over the years that everyone looked like a baby in comparison to him. You were no exception to that by the way, but you'd never admit that in his presence. About a year ago, your town had decided they wanted to present themselves as a place where all children could grow up in peace while having fun, and so they came up with the idea to organise little holidays for kids. Your best friend had instantly loved the town upon learning that they still needed young adults to go with the kids as supervisors. He'd bugged you for weeks, claiming it would look just as good on your resume as any other thing you, as a responsible teen, had planned to do during the holidays, and so you found yourself living the first day of said holiday, on an ice rink, surrounded by exactly 19 kids, a dumb grin on your face because you were having way more fun than you originally anticipated.

You were shaken out of your stupor by a little girl tugging at your gloved hand to get your attention. She pointed towards the large clock hanging above the ice rink, and you were reminded of your promise to buy everyone a hot chocolate at 4 pm. Your best friend had shaken his head a little, trying to let you know that you were an idiot for giving kids hot chocolate in summer, but you'd just shrugged your shoulders, a provocative smile around your lips.

"Just because you had to vomit that one time we each drank an entire bottle when we were 8, doesn't mean it's a safety risk for every child."

You took the girl's hand with one of your own and whistled to let all the kids know you were taking a break from skating. The result was 18 kids bolting to the door of the cafe connected to the ice rink. 18 kids, your entire group except for one. You turned around after counting them, looking to see where your last kid had gone to. They were normally all very quick to gather around you upon hearing your whistle.

"Don't worry, we're coming!"

That was your best friend of course, yelling from the other side of the ice rink. You noticed suddenly that this was the first time you'd actually seen him interacting with one of the kids today. Before, you'd been so busy learning names by heart and organising everything that you hadn't paid attention to how good he actually was with them. You felt a weird move in your stomach, like a tingle quickly shooting through it, but you decided to ignore that.

The 19th kid out of your group - her name was Alicia - couldn't ice skate. Her posture was awkward, her legs wobbly, her face the same as yours that one time your best friend had convinced you to go on a rollercoaster with 4 consecutive loops. You honestly felt sorry for her, although you expected that the panicky look in her eyes would soon be gone because you thought your best friend would just pick Alicia up, she probably didn't weight more than the ice skates themselves.

You raised a brow when he crouched down to whisper something in her ear instead of carrying her to the other side of the rink. You watched intently, seeing a small smile slip onto Alicia's face, her hand grasping onto his as firmly as she could. And then, very tentatively, she let her right foot glide forward. Then her left, and the right one another time. Her smile broadened, before quickly slipping away because she started swaying on her feet again. Your best friend immediately reacted though, steadying her on her feet and saying something that sounded a lot like "don't give up!"

You suddenly knew what you had to do. You started yelling to Alicia, clapping in your hands, sending encouraging words her way, and soon all the other kids followed, cheering on their friend. The closer Alicia got to the group, the bigger both the sound echoing in the rink and the smile on her face.

Once Alicia reached the other kids, she got tackled into a group hug, and your heart warmed at the sight. This was only day one and they were already such a close-knit group.

A soft hand on your shoulder and a warm breath on your ear made you focus again.

"I believe someone deserves some hot chocolate."

You were about to rub in his face that your idea had been brilliant, but the words were stuck in your throat when you finally looked at him.

"You are brilliant."

His eyes twinkled, and you knew you wouldn't be able to stop the heat from residing in your cheeks for the rest of the day.

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The third time you saw him with a baby was in your neighbor's house. In this case, you had just turned 20 and the baby was more of a toddler, but you didn't want to ponder the details: it was cute.

You were actually supposed to be studying for your exams, but your best friend had asked you if he could come study with you, and foolishly you had agreed, convincing yourself you'd be able to motivate each other. What started as a study session transformed into a pillow fight, and, when your neighbour called you to ask if you could come over to look after her toddler, it ended up being a babysit date.

You looked at the clock above the fireplace, already getting a headache at the prospect of having to study all night in order to keep up with the schedule you had sworn to follow. If it had been up to you, you would've just been honest with your neighbour. She liked you a lot and wouldn't have minded if you'd just honestly told her that you were in the middle of your exams. Your best friend, however, had immediately agreed to babysit, telling your neighbour that the two of you would take good care of her baby. Truth be told, the woman's relief had been visible on her face, and it did make you feel good to take care of someone else.

"Hey buddy, it's getting late, and your mummy told us to get you in bed on time. What about this: we go get you ready for bed now and if you're quick enough, I'll read you a bedtime story. How does that sound?"

You watched your best friend almost being knocked down by the eager boy. As the toddler ran to the bathroom on his chubby legs, your best friend threw his head back in laughter, dimples in his cheeks. Your stomach did something strange, as it usually did nowadays whenever you were in his presence, but you ignored it. You had to focus on the little one now, you could dwell on your emotions later on.

Your best friend's strategy worked. Within a quarter of an hour, you'd managed to put on the little boy's pyjamas, brush his teeth, go to the toilet with him, and get him into his bed. You tucked him in, making sure all his stuffed animals were in the right place as you did so, and giving him a kiss on his forehead.

"Are you reading a story for me?"

You chuckled, and you heard a lower voice behind you match yours. He came up to you and your young neighbour then, a gigantic book in one of his hands. You swiftly noticed the veins on his under arm, and turned your head, forcing yourself not to get distracted. You weren't even together for God's sake, you should actually be able to keep yourself in check.

"Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away from here, there was a dinosaur called Inky. He was the most beautiful dinosaur you could ever imagine, with big, blue eyes, green skin and two gigantic wings. Inky ..."

Your eyes took in the scene in front of you, your small neighbour watching your best friend intently, eyes wide with wonder, sometimes giggling a bit when the story was particularly funny or when the narrator imitated Inky the dinosaur.

By the time Inky's adventure was over, the toddler had already fallen asleep, his breathing evening out, a content look on his face. Making as little sound as possible, you both tiptoed out of the door, keeping it ajar in case the little one wanted to come to you.

As you sat down on your neighbour's couch, your best friend wrapped an arm around you, and you leaned into him. You didn't say anything, it wasn't necessary. A new episode of peppa pig started on tv, and you stared up at him. His eyes stared back, full of unspoken promises.

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The fourth time you saw your best friend with a baby was in your own house. Today was actually supposed to be all about your 25th birthday, but your party had ended up being about something entirely different, although you wouldn't have traded the day for something else even if you could have. You had started the day off together by preparing some snacks for your guests, but those preparations had quickly come to a halt as you'd gotten a call from the adoption agency, stating that some things had shifted rapidly, resulting in you being able to bring home your baby that exact day. If everything would go smoothly, the baby would be officially your child within a few weeks to months. As exciting as the day had been, it had also been tremendously exhausting, and so that's how you found yourself waking up from your slumber on the couch, your watch telling you it was only 9 pm. Embarrassingly early. When you let your eyes travel further than your own wrist, the first thing your vision fell on was the mass of congratulations cards scattered on the table. Oh, how people had probably stressed themselves out, trying to find a different kind of congratulations card last minute. You grinned, a warm feeling you could only identify as true happiness spreading in your chest.

A gurgling sound made you look to the left, your smile unfolding completely now. Sitting in the armchair was your best friend, holding a baby with dark, curly hair in his arms. The baby was staring at her dad with big eyes, as if trying to drink in as many details as possible, learning every crinkle and dimple by heart.

She was claiming him as her dad.

Your best friend didn't need to look away from his daughter to know you had woken up. He simply brought one hand to the baby's stomach, slightly tickling her there, and her small gurgling sounds intensified, her legs wiggling as if trying to get away, but not having enough strength yet.

"Look darling, mummy is awake. Now I need to share you again."

His face morphed into a fake pout, and the baby, your baby, stopped her gurgling, trying to figure out why her dad suddenly wasn't smiling anymore. Too late, your best friend realised his mistake, but his attempt to cheer her up again was to no avail, she started fussing, and even though you'd never done this and she had come way sooner than you had anticipated, you knew that that wasn't a good sign.

"Give me my daughter please, I missed her."

Your best friend handed her to you, and you gently bounced her in your arms, kissing her little forehead. Instead of going back to sit on the couch, you went to your dinner table, now morphed into a congratulations card holder. You sat down on one of the chairs, turning your daughter around so she had a good view of the table herself.

"You see that sweetie? All for you, all those people already love you! Isn't that nice?"

You traced her cheek with your finger, and she grabbed onto it with her fist. You observed how both of your skin colours contrasted. Though that was only a coincidence seeing as children of all skin colours got adopted, you loved it, loved the variety of it. While your skin might not match your daughter's in colour, it matched in beauty.

On the other side of the room, soft snores were coming from your best friend's lips. That's right. After all these years, he was still your best friend. Not just your best friend, but not more than your best friend either. To you, he had always been a special someone, you had always loved him, from the day he had been your friend in kindergarten to your partner and the father of your child now.

At the end of the day, those names were only labels, a way for society to put feelings into boxes. The thing is, feelings aren't made to be put into boxes. Love is love, and there are different kinds of love, yes, but one isn't necessarily less important than another. You loved that man just as much now as you had as a toddler, the feelings had just evolved, you had moved several boxes, and now fit into 'family'. Or maybe not entirely, your skin colours didn't all match, after all.

You grinned. Your daughter would grow up knowing the concept of love. Not in boxes, but in all its beautiful, overflowing, free glory.

[0vorenation0]

The Island (series #4)

As I stepped outside and walked done the path. I saw the old foundations, where houses used to sit. With further exploration, I walked up to the old graveyard. It’s was destroyed by years of abuse from the elements. As I continued one the oddly familiar place, I came across a old tombstone. I read the name and it was of my grandmother. The name was the same, my grandfather used to tell me about her. It said she was a supreme fighter and warrior but was striked down by a rival clan.

That’s when I heard a branch break in the distance, I stood up and looked around. Then another break of a branch and another. I drew out my sword and waited. I listened and watched, then I saw a dark shadow walk into the light. “ Damn Saladin haha, you nearly got yourself killed. What you doing out hear, btw have you seen my guards?” I ask just know noticing there gone. “Cal I see you found the graves, and no I haven’t seen them. Listen there’s something I need to tell you, but I know your gonna freak out.” Saladin says “what are you talking about, did the werewolf escape?” I ask nervously. He looks as me and says” no he didn’t but I’m much older then I let on Cal, when I first met you I wasn’t gonna take you to the island. However when I heard your name and who u were I knew then and there your useful. I’m all about preserving ancient history and knowledge. I know your a powerful pred back at your kingdom, but hear you have no idea. Shortly after your tribe left the werewolf’s at the least the pack of ancient alpha originals were hunted down. All except for one, everyone thinks there extinct. However the last one was about to be killed when he attacked me. He bit me and his genes fused with mine, I became the first human pred werewolf hybrid. Usually not possible, but since I was a pred, I could turn. I’m gonna show you how powerful I am Cal haha. This is true power.!!!”

I stood there shocked and terrified, Saladins eyes turned yellow. He began to change and morph, he started getting massive and hair popped out everywhere. He nose grew long and his teeth became sharp and long. After that I drew my sword and went to stabb him. His hands grew claws and as I came in with my sword he swatted me up and I flew back into a tree. My sword flew and stuck in the ground and I passed out for a few seconds. When I woke up I looked around and there was nothing. I slowly got up and looked around, my arm felt like it was dislocated. I could defend myself I was helpless as I look around. Then a drop of liquid fell in my hair and I realized it wasn’t water but spit. I slowly lift my head up and there he was standing in the tree teeth put snarling at me. I panicked and ran, I picked up my sword and didn’t make it far before I fell. He jumped down and I could hear him behind me, I went to swing but he blocked my arm and it went flying away.

He got in my face and sniffed me, and then licked my face chin to hair. His breath was so hot and felt like a gush of wind. I could see his maw and I waited for the worst. His mouth was huge and could easily swallow my head. I could practically see down his throat. The beads drops of spit were scary, I felt truly helpless as he poked his maw wide and went to swallow my head but stoped as my head was in his throat. It was so slimy and gross, smelled like death, and I could feel his muscles squeezing me. I felt him pull away and my head left his mouth covered in slime and spit. I was confused, he could have easily swallowed me in one gulp. I was nothing to him but a bug that’s wouldn’t make a dent in his gut. That’s when I saw it though, it was massive and mesmerizing. His cock was huge, and that’s when I realized why he didn’t swallow me. I cleared the slime out of my eyes and felt him grab my legs. He striped me done to nothing but my underwear, and places my feet in his maw. He licked all around them and the. Finally let them go fully covered in his salvia. He grabbed the massive cock and began rubbing it, making it hard once again. It grew to and I possible 15 to 20 inches. My face was turned in horror as he grabbed my feet and slid my feet into his cock slit.

I tried to kick but his strength was ungodly, I was helpless, my arm was dislocated. So I could fight back. I could only sit and watch as his massive cock swallowed me. I used my on good arm to grab a stick. With a quick move I jerked my arm and tried to stab him but he caught my arm. He gripped it harder until I dropped the stick and he let arm go. I grabbed my thighs and pulled me more and more into his cock. I squirmed my feet and could feel the powerful muscled cock walls squeeze and pulse. With every pulse of his cock he pulled me further and deeper. His cock just didn't end, I could tell he was getting pleasure from swallowing with his member. I grabbed dirt and grass, as his cock lifted me off the ground. Gravity kicked in and I was slowly being pulled in faster, that's when I began to beg him. However nothing worked, his pred instincts kicked in and I was helpless. As the king of VoreNation, I was not about to die a bitch. So I made my peace and closed my eyes, an honorable fight I had put up. Nothing last forever, my cock and ass entered passed his cock slit. The slime made me hard and as I was pulled down. I felt myself cum, the made me descend faster and my cum dried down into his own massive balls. My feet finally enter the massive chamber that was his balls and I could feel the puddle of cum I would be descending into.

He placed his massive hand on my head and pushed me down. My time and reign had come, as I was up to my neck in his fleshy giant cock. He pushed the rest in and I was sent slowly in the dark hole that was his cock. I looked up and the light faded fast until it was nothing but dark. I tied to move around but his walls just squeezed and held me. I could feel his massive hand help push me down his urethra. Although he might have been rubbing his cock as the pleasure of swallowing his prey felt good. I began to curl into a ball and then my head finally enter his balls. His cock began to soften, and once I was fully in his balls the weight dropped them down. Saladin began to walk away and entered the lab. He sat down and rubbed his balls, this began the process of churning, I could feel the cum rising. Soon I would be nothing but a werewolf cum.

I had always wondered what it felt in to be churn to cum. Surprisingly it was quite peaceful. There was no pain, I just dissolved into thick white slimy cum. Saladin still in wolf for began rubbing his balls further this made his cock hard again. Once fully hard he began to jerk off, I could feel it hi shi balls as they were jumping and shaking all around. As he jerked out my feet and hands dissolved away, then I arms and legs. The cum balls, filled with cum and soon they shrunk and shriveled up and squeezed me tight. The rest of my body was dissolved and I passed out. Outside the balls, he knew it was close and cries out a load Awhooooo and ropes of cum went flying all over the room. A solid kitty pools worth of cum spewed out and covered the room. After he cummed his balls well saggy and cock went flaccid. He stood up and began to transform back into a human. While he transformed I regained consciousness and the puddle of cum began to reform. It went up in the shape of a human and I turned around at Saladin. He was back as a human, I was naked covered in werewolf cum. I coughed up a bunch of cum and it was all I could taste. It tastes nothing like human cum it was more gamey.

Sometime after gathering what just happened...

”what the FUCK!!! You dick, you cock vored me. I could have died if I didn't drink that serum. Why did you do that, you also we're gonna eat me? What did I not taste good enough so you shoved me up your massive cock?” I said as I walked over to him and threw him against the wall with the strength I didn't normally have. ”it worked, look how powerful you are. I'm a genius, after I got turned I realized I had power. Not just any power true power, something I call true vore. The original type of vore, it gives me complete control over it. Don’t you see I gave you the power too, well not yet. It has take. Me years to figure out of to use the skill properly. First it was powerful strength, then the ability to absorb the engage of prey and distribute it anywhere I want. Cock, muscles, ass, anything why do you think my cock is so big. I can teach you this, your actually the last one who can have this ability. Only ones with what you call the royal gene, but it’s more of an ancient blood line that only true pure bread humans can have. No body on the island but me and you have this.” He told me saying this all while I had him against the wall.

This made me think, he knew everything was going to happen. He planned it, the serum, voring me. He’s right, I do feel different the power I have. As a pred and the last one with the unique bloodline. I must learn this, but no one can know. It would be dangerous to put out knowledge like this. “ how do I learn this? What do I have to do?” I say, he looks at me and smiles, “ well the only way I’ve found is that I have to vore you multiple times. With every Vore you unlock more and more knowledge u til you have learned everything I have.” “ okay I want to learn, teach me. Not know tho I have a kingdom to run, I can’t be away for this long or they will notice. I’ll return soon and we can begin”

With that I returned over the next serveal months, each time I wa scored I u locked more and more hidden talents to Vore. The second session, I unlocked the absorb and redistribute Vore ability. I used it to make myself the ultimate pred. The third allowed me to merge with others, instead of forcing them in a hole. I could simply aboard them through my body. After the finale session it was time to leave the island once again. “Saladin, thank you for teaching me the ways of True Vore. My time here is over but if your ever in VoreNation please come by. We will terrorize the citizens hahaha. Goodbye my friend” I said as i walk away he stops me and places a necklace in my hand. “ Cal I almost forgot to give this to you, it’s a necklace made from the original alpha werewolf’s tooth. I want you to have it, keep it safe. Goodbye” I put the necklace on and boarded my boat and we set sail for VoreNation. I didn’t know but I would meet Saladin again one day. I arrive back home and is greater by Corey. “Hey Corey it’s about time I come see those changes you made to the city. Shall we!!”

(haha yes I know the pics are furry, but I thought it looked better than a regular werewolf. Hope y'all enjoyed it, more to come!!!!!)

[justatiredghost]

Living for the Moment Ch16 A series of glimpses at Klaus’ life if he’d met Dave in his mid 20s. His life isn’t magically transformed, love can’t fix either of them when they’re both homeless and in a bad place. They’re not even really ready for a relationship yet. But maybe a supportive friendship can set them on a better path, the two of them inspiring each other to take care of themselves. It’s going to be a long and bumpy ride, and the question is, when will they actually admit to themselves that they have feelings for each other? Read More AO3

Klaus stumbled down the alley, chuckling quietly to himself. He couldn’t really remember what was so funny, but that was fine. He was incredibly high and, over all, in an amazing mood. He’d had several lucky scores, so he had more cash on hand than he had in a long while, which was why he was headed to a dealer’s. He probably should have accepted one of the offers he’d gotten to stay over, it was winter after all, with an icy bite in the air, but he was on pretty friendly terms with this particular dealer, so he’d probably let him crash there for the night.

He wasn’t exactly steady on his feet, and he giggled when he tripped, laughing even harder as it sent him tumbling into some trash cans. They were louder than he had expected as they clattered to the ground, ringing out through the darkened street. Klaus thought he’d been alone out here, but movement caught his eye and he turned to see a figure curled up against the wall withdrawing further under a coat

It wasn’t exactly an unusual sight, he’d seen plenty of weirder places people chose to sleep out here. He himself has woken up in many of them as well. He only took a second look because the coat caught his eye. It was one he recognized.

“Dave?” he said, not sure if it was actually going to be him.

He wouldn’t put it past the guy to give away his only coat, after all. And usually he was more careful about where he settled down for the night, so it would be stranger if it actually was him. This wasn’t a particularly dangerous part of town, all things considered, but it still wasn’t a great idea to be so out in the open. When the figure didn’t stir, he called out again, a little louder this time. He should probably have just left, but somehow curiosity got the better of him.

“Yoohoo, you alive in there?” He called, nudging the bundle. In retrospect, that probably wasn’t the smartest move. Thankfully he wasn’t greeted by a fist.

“Hmm?” came the sleepy reply as a head poked out from under the jacket, and when it turned out to be Dave after all, Klaus had to laugh at the coincidence.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he said

“Klaus, hey,” Dave said with a smile, but he still looked out of it. There were dark circles under his eyes and he was much paler than the last time he’d seen him.

“You doing okay?” Klaus asked.

“Yeah, sure, fine,” Dave said, and it would have been more convincing if it didn’t look like he was about ready to collapse. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I didn’t want to be rude, but you look like shit,” Klaus said with a laugh, because it was easier than actually being concerned. “You’re not dying, are you?”

“Boy, I sure hope not,” Dave said with a little laugh of his own, but it ended in an ugly cough.

“What is it, a cold?” Klaus asked accusingly. “How long have you been sick?”

“I don’t know, a few days maybe. But I’m fine, really,” Dave said, waving him off dismissively. “I’m just still not used to the cold.”

“You don’t look fine. Come on, let’s go find somewhere you can warm up,” Klaus said with an exaggerated sigh.

“No,” Dave whined pathetically, slumping back against the wall when Klaus reached down for his arm. “I just need a bit more sleep is all, I’m fine.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Klaus rolled his eyes. “Come on, just give me your hand before you freeze to death, or something. You can sleep when we get where we’re going.”

“I don’t know if I can stand,” Dave finally admitted, not quite meeting his gaze.

“Hey, I will carry you if I have to, don’t test me,” Klaus said and he finally gave in.

They must have looked quite the pair, barely able to stay upright as they leaned against each other, stumbling along both unsteady for very different reasons. Thankfully, they managed to make it to one of the cheaper motels nearby with minimal injury. Dave seemed to be on autopilot, swaying slightly on the spot whenever Klaus released him, and following along obliviously wherever he was led. When they were finally in their room and Klaus left him briefly to close the door behind them, he almost climbed into bed fully clothed.

“Woah, hang on,” Klaus said, grabbing Dave’s arm again and steering him towards the bathroom. “How about a shower first? You’re not gonna drown if I leave you in here, are you?”

“Hmm?” Dave mumbled in response.

“Come on, let’s at least strip you down to your boxers,” Klaus said with a heavy sigh, turning on the water on to warm up.

Dave did as instructed and climbed in at Klaus’ urging to sit at the bottom of the tub, letting the water wash over him.

“Feel good?” Klaus asked, dropping to sit on the floor, leaning back against the tub.

“Mmm,” Dave nodded sleepily, slowly looking a bit more alert. “Sorry about all this.”

“All what? Being sick?” Klaus asked. “Just don’t die on me and we’ll call it even, okay?”

Dave nodded absently instead of joking back. After a moment, he slowly reached for the soap, like his limbs weighed too much, and started to clean up. Once he was done, or at least run out of energy and stopped, Klaus helped him climb out and into bed, convincing him to strip out of the boxers as well. At least Dave had the presence of mind now to blush as he did so, even though the blankets obscured the view. Adorable, that this was all it took.

“You get some rest,” Klaus said. “And when I get back, you’ll have fresh clean clothes ready for you.”

“You’re not staying?” Dave asked.

“I’ll only be a little while,” Klaus assured him.

He wasn’t sure he actually would be back, though. Sure, he’d drop off the clothes after visiting the laundromat, he wasn’t that mean, but after? Just being here was probably a pretty big trigger for Dave and he definitely didn’t want to be the cause of him falling off the wagon. He probably reeked of weed and alcohol too.

Maybe he needed to wash his own clothes as well. And shower. Then, as long as he didn’t actually take anything in front of Dave, it should be fine, right? He wasn’t sure, he’d never seriously tried to get sober, so he didn’t know what it was like to try to fight the urge.

He would have liked to take a long bath, but laundry took forever and he wanted to be back as soon as possible in case Dave woke up. Since his own clothes needed a wash, after he was all clean, Klaus just wrapped a towel around his chest before heading out. Sure, he got a few odd looks, but there weren’t many people out this late, so he just winked back and continued on. It was boring waiting for the washer and drier to do their thing, but he was still riding the tail end of a high and the hypnotic spinning certainly helped.

By the time he got back, Dave was sitting up, blinking around the room owlishly, like he was trying to remember what was going on.

“Oh,” Dave said when he saw him. “So it wasn’t a dream.”

“Do you dream about me coming to your rescue often, then?” Klaus joked, surprised when Dave turned crimson. That wasn’t exactly what he was expecting. He cleared his throat and continued quickly. “I’ve got your clothes for you. And snacks from the vending machine that I definitely paid for and didn’t almost get my arm stuck stealing. Think you can stomach some food?”

Dave grimaced and shook his head. “Think I’ll just sleep.”

Klaus shrugged, put on his own clothes with no regard for his own modestly, and sat on the edge of the bed to pull his boots on, granola bar held between his teeth. And no, he definitely wasn’t disappointed when Dave didn’t try to take a peak, seemingly asleep with his face buried in a pillow.

“Thanks,” Dave said suddenly, breaking the silence. Not asleep after all, apparently.

“Hey, I was gonna stay here anyway; had a really great score and the cash was burning a hole in my pocket, so I thought I’d treat myself. You just get to benefit from my good luck.”

He didn’t mention the fact that he was running low on drugs and that was what the money was actually for. He didn’t need to know that. Not that he was completely sure Dave bought his lie. Regardless, he needed to figure out what to do next. Most bars were closed by now, but maybe he could walk the streets a bit. Not the safest way to earn a bit of cash, but there wasn’t exactly anyone around to con, pickpocket, or seduce, unless he wanted to do a little breaking and entering to steal. That could be fun, but he hadn’t cased anywhere.

He’d barely finished a bag of chips and was getting ready to come up with an excuse to leave when Dave spoke.

“I called my family,” he said, still not looking at him.

“Oh yeah?” Klaus said. Family wasn’t really a topic they discussed often. Klaus’ was too fucked up, but Dave’s didn’t seem too bad. They just didn’t know where he was or what he was doing, which in retrospect probably meant there was something going on there.

“Purim always makes me nostalgic. I found an alcohol-free celebration and it left me missing my sisters. I thought it would be nice, but my uncle was there too.”

“Yeah?” Klaus prompted when he fell silent.

“I used to look up to him, you know,” Dave continued. “My uncle. I forgot how easy it is for him to make me feel like shit. Part of the reason I left to begin with.”

“Sounds like an asshole,” Klaus said. He never had been great at saying the right thing.

“Yeah. Yeah, he is.”

“Well, we’re half way across the country and also hot, so who's the real winner here?”

Dave smiled weakly, but at least it was a smile.

“You should get some sleep,” Klaus said, patting where he thought Dave’s ankle was under the blanket. “There’s still some food, so help yourself whenever you wake up.”

“Can you stay?” Dave asked, and how was he supposed to say no to that face?

“Okay, fine, you win,” Klaus threw his hands up. “Scoot over, we can both get some shuteye, then.”

But as he lay there, he couldn’t help but think about how long it had taken him to slip back into his old life, his old vices. He’d done a good job letting the numbness take hold as he sunk back into oblivion, but already, being back here with Dave, listening to his quiet snoring; it caused an ache in his chest. Or maybe the high was just finally wearing off. That was an excuse that was getting harder and harder to believe.

He hadn’t realized just how miserable he’d been since they parted ways.

That thought startled him. No, he couldn’t go through this again. He couldn’t fall back into having a real connection with another person, to finding himself actually caring about someone else, and letting someone else know and care about him. He couldn’t go back to that only to lose it all over again once the sun came up, because that wasn’t a life he could have. He was too fucked up, and the best he could hope for was the numbness. It had to be enough.

He got up and headed for the door, only hesitating briefly in the doorway, but he didn’t look back. This wasn’t his life. This wasn’t where he belonged. The chill in the air was a welcome relief as he trudged outside and down the sidewalk with no real destination. At least it kept his mind from wandering or thinking about what-ifs.

[tardisman14]

Enchanting: Chapter 3: A Night to Remember

A novelized version of Enchanting Grom Fright, told from Amity’s pov. A look into what was going through her mind in that episode, with snippets of happenings in-between scenes. Told in 4 parts (3 main chapters, plus the prologue), rated to be safe, and obviously Lumity.

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Bits of final scene and flashback inspired by this tweet (12/28/20 update: screencap because Dana deactivated her Twitter) and this image which was cut from the episode for time

That wasn’t Eda. It appeared to be some kind of human. In fact, Amity could’ve sworn they looked quite a bit like… Luz.

Amity saw Luz start to back up nervously. Was this one of her relatives? What was going on? With all these questions going through Amity’s head, she suddenly heard Grom’s form shout something from the arena.

“...have you been lying to me?!”

All of a sudden, Grom turned into a more monstrous form of whoever this was supposed to be. Lying? What could Luz have been lying about? Could it really be so bad that she couldn’t bring it up during the training session? This was bad. If Amity was reading the look on Luz’s face right, she wouldn’t last much longer.

And she was proven right. Amity saw Luz make a break for the door. And… Oh no. Grom was escaping! All around her, everyone started piling out of the bleachers and went right for the hallway. But Amity was so in shock over what just happened, she was frozen in place.

“Hey, kid! You in there?”

Amity was snapped out of it by Eda, now standing in front of her.

“Come on!”

Amity and Eda started following the others already in the hallway.

“Yeah, that's right, so let's follow them and see what happens next.”

Apparently King and Gus were leading the others to see the rest of the battle. Amity and Eda were still a bit behind, but with one look at each other, they both had the same thought. They had to help Luz, and fast.

Once they made it outside Eda summoned her staff.

“I’m gonna follow them from the air. Try not to fall behind.”

With that, the Owl Lady took to the sky while Amity followed from the ground. Judging by Eda’s current direction, Amity figured that Luz and Grom must’ve been headed for the woods.

As Amity ran towards that direction, her mind was racing. This was all her fault. She LET Luz get involved because she was too scared to face her fear. She KNEW Eda was right about Luz getting in over her head, and she went forward with it anyway. And now because of her, Luz was in danger. All because she couldn’t face the possibility of Luz not reciprocating any feelings she STILL didn’t know whether or not even exist!

Amity had to make this right. She just HAD to.

She made it to the woods, but lost sight of Eda. Just then, she heard some kind of blast and figured that Eda had caught up to them. She went towards the source, and came across the other students and Principal Bump gathered behind some bushes. She went to see what they were looking at and saw Luz, Eda, and Grom several yards in front of them.

Whatever thoughts might have been going through Amity’s mind at that moment, her body started acting on instinct. And right now, it was telling her to protect Luz, no matter how dangerous it might be.

Deciding to act, Amity lept out from behind the treeline and rushed to put herself between Luz and Grom.

“Stay away from her!”

Just then, Grom reached out and grabbed a hold of her. Amity knew what was coming next.

“I'm sorry, Luz. I should have fought my own battle. I-”

Right then, Amity could feel Grom going through her head, searching for what it was that she feared the most. She could barely hear Luz calling out to her. And then, Grom had found what it was looking for.

Amity had felt Grom set her down. When she came to, she had seen that it had transformed into some kind of humanoid form, roughly around age if she had to guess. It reached into her pocket, took out the note, ripped it in half, and crumpled it right in front of her.

And with that, Amity had her answer. And it hurt even worse than she could have imagined. It didn’t matter how vague Grom’s form was. Deep down, she knew exactly who it was supposed to be. And while she knew it wasn’t the real them, she could still feel her heart shatter into a million pieces in that moment.

As Amity picked up half of the crumpled note, she saw Luz run over and pick up the other half. Well, looks like the secret was about to get out.

“You were afraid of getting rejected.”

And when Amity looked up at Luz, she could see her start to… smile?

“Amity, it's okay. What if I went to Grom with you instead?”

Had Luz not seen the half that had her name on it? Whatever the case, Amity started to feel as a weight was being lifted off of her.

“Really?”

“That’s what friends do.”

In all that time Amity had spent that day worrying about the idea of her now-confirmed crush turning her down, she had forgotten about one of things that she admired about Luz the most. Her kindness. All those times. At the covention, the library, fixing Willow’s memories. It was always Luz trying to reach out to her. There was no way she could see Luz deliberately hurting her like that.

With her worries eased, Amity felt a renewed sense of determination flow through her. There was a shapeshifting fear monster that needed to be dealt with. She knew that Luz would be by her side to face it together. And given the occasion, there was only one way she could think of at that moment.

“Well, then, if that's settled, may I have this dance?”

It was now Amity’s turn to reach out to Luz. And Luz seemed more than happy to accept. They joined together, and it was as if something had clicked in that moment.

The two began their dance, taking one step after another. Throughout it all, the two were in perfect sync, never missing a beat. It was like neither one needed to tell the other what to do next. Amity used the routine to cast a spell circle with her feet, rising her and Luz atop a giant abomination. They continued from there, with Luz placing her glyphs on the abomination before they leapt off, sending the abomination into Grom itself. At that moment, the glyphs start to take effect, causing various plants to bloom from Grom’s body. Finally, the two land, finishing off their routine in a flourish as Grom explodes behind them.

In Grom’s place, a tree stood before them. The two look in awe as tiaras appear on each of their heads. They look at each other and smile as, for the first time that night, all felt right.

“Sooooooo.... who did you wanna ask out?”

“Oh, it’s… not important.”

Amity tossed her half of the note aside. As amazing as that moment was, she still didn’t feel like she was ready to tell Luz. Not yet, anyway.

“And there you have it, folks. A happy ending for this year's Grom. Let's give a big hand to our Grom queens, Luz and Amity!”

Well, Amity was certainly caught off guard. She had been so caught up in the moment that she had forgotten there was anyone there besides her and Luz. Right then, the rest of the students and Principal Bump came out from behind the bushes and started cheering the two queens. As the two were lifted up by the crowd and started to make their way back to Hexside, Amity felt on top of the world.

---

Hexside gymnasium,

Not much later

Now that Grom had been taken care of, the rest of the evening went a lot smoother. More students had been dancing than before the main event. The photo line was even longer than before. Everything was going great.

...And then, there was Amity just standing off to the side.

“Hey, kid. Why the party-of-one?”

Amity looked to her side and saw Eda standing next to her.

“*SIGH* I know I should be thrilled that Grom was defeated. But… you were right. Luz got in over her head trying to help me, and she almost got hurt because of it. I should’ve done more to keep her from doing it, but I was too scared to face my own fear to do anything about it.”

There was a few seconds of silence before Eda spoke up.

“Look, don’t be too hard on yourself. Fear can be a powerful thing. Even for most powerful witches, having to face your worst fears can be intense. The importanting thing is that when the time came, you stepped up and were willing to face yours so that Luz would be safe. The way I see it, it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Also, speaking from personal experience these last few weeks, it gets harder and harder to say no to Luz when she offers to help. The kid’s just more endearing that way.”

“Heh, yeah.”

Amity would admit, trying to turn down Luz’s help was getting difficult for her at this point.

“Plus, I won’t lie. You two look rather cute together.”

...WHAT?

“Uh- W-well I mean, I g-guess it WAS a rather impressive dance routine, and I suppose Luz’s outfit COULD’VE been way more unusual than what it already was. But, um… Is it me, or is the room getting smaller?”

“Kid, you can save it. I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at her all night. I’ve seen it plenty of times before with many different people.”

“...Oh.”

So it was that obvious.

“Listen, I’m not gonna tell her if you don’t want me to. That’s your business, so it’s up to you to decide when you’re ready.”

Huh. That’s actually pretty cool of her.

“Although, I will say this. You can’t wait for the right moment forever. ...But for now, I’d say enjoy tonight. Have fun with your co-Grom queen”

At that moment, Eda looked behind Amity.

“Speaking of which…”

“Get in here, Blight!”

Amity felt Luz yank her towards where the photos were being taken. She was so caught off guard, she could feel herself blushing. Right then the photographer spoke up.

“Say ‘Grom Fright!’”

“‘Grom Fright!’”

Amity realized that there were two other voices there that weren’t her or Luz. After the photo was taken, she turned to see that Willow and Gus had managed to get in as well. 

Maybe Eda was right. The worst part of the night was over with. Amity should be having fun with her friends. If Luz could be enjoying herself after everything that happened, then so could she.

---

Blight Manor,

Later that night

The walk home that night had been surprisingly quiet. While Amity may have had a lot on her mind then, it was rather jarring to not hear a word from the twins. Although, given what she had heard, she couldn’t really blame them. Apparently their dates had stood them up. While they could be annoying a good amount of the time, she couldn’t help but feel a little bad for them. She was just glad that HER night hadn’t been as bad as she feared it would be.

As Amity made it to her room for the night, she decided to reflect on the evening. The night had certainly been eventful. Not just for her, but also Luz, if that one conversation was anything to go by.

*flashback*

“You really think Willow and Gus will be able to convince Bump to let you back into the dance?”

“We’ll see. Looks like I at least found one thing magic school and mortal school have in common. Otter suits are a ‘no’ at dances.”

“Yeah… Sorry you got kicked out because of it.”

“Eh. I at least got a picture in with it, AND I lasted longer than my last school dance. I still consider this a win.”

“Well, I guess that’s one way to look at it. So, just in case they can’t convince Bump, you want me to stay here until Eda’s done chaperoning?”

“I’d like that,”

There were a few moments of silence. Then, Amity figured this would be a good time to ask about something that had been on her mind since the fight against Grom.

“Hey, there’s something I wanted to ask about. But, you don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“Well… I guess it depends on what it is.”

“That last form Grom took when you were going up against it. It wasn’t anything you had brought up while we were training. And from what I saw, you weren’t expecting it either.”

Luz looked uneasy for a moment. Did Amity cross a line? After a bit, Luz gave an answer.

“That last form that Grom took… That was my mom.”

“Your mom? Did something happen between you two? All I was able to hear from where I had been sitting in the stands was something about lying. What did she mean?”

“*SIGH* You know how I can be a bit of a weirdo at times?”

“Um… yeeeeeessss?”

While Amity didn’t like saying it after how close they had gotten, if Luz wanted the truth, she supposed it was only fair to tell her.

“Well, back home, it was starting to become a problem. My mom had decided to send me to a summer camp to help straighten out my eccentric tendencies. While I was waiting for the bus, Eda’s palisman, Owbert, got a hold of one of my Azura books. So I chased him to this old house, which actually turned out to be a portal to the Boiling Isles that Eda had been using.

Eda agreed to send me back if I helped her and King with something. After I helped her, she held up her end of the deal. ...But I decided I wanted to spend some time in the Isles so that she could teach me magic. And the rest is history.

While I’ve still been able to keep in touch with my mom through my phone, I still haven’t told her where I am or what I’ve been up to these last several weeks. I feel bad about having to lie to her, and I know I’ll have to tell her eventually. But, I still don’t know how, when, or even IF I’ll be able to tell her.”

To say Amity was surprised would be an understatement. To think that Luz has been having to deal with this for weeks… No wonder she looked so freaked out when Grom took that form.

“...Wow. I had no idea.”

“Yeah. I know I should have brought it up during training so I could’ve been better prepared. But, I guess I thought that I could distract myself from one big fear with another. Guess we both know how well that turned out.”

It was then that Amity remembered what Eda had said to her earlier.

“Well, as someone rather wise told me, you can’t wait for the right moment forever. Maybe at least start with trying to open up to her a bit more.”

“...yeah, maybe you’re right. Thanks Amity. I felt good to talk about this with someone other than King.”

“Did he have any advice?”

“Well… sort of. But, I think yours was more helpful.”

“Anytime.”

*end flashback*

It really put things into perspective for Amity. If she had been having a difficult time trying to tell Luz how she feels, she imagined that Luz was feeling even worse. She hoped that Luz would be able to work it out somehow.

As she took off her tiara and placed it in her hope chest, Eda’s words ran through her head once more. ‘You can’t wait for the right moment forever.’ Amity knew that at some point, Luz was going to have to leave the Boiling Isles and go back to her realm. She didn’t know when, but she knew that it was certain. How will she know if she’ll be ready by the time that happens? It looked like all she could do for now was make the most of her time with Luz and hope for the best.

But, Amity would choose to worry about it tomorrow. For now, it had been a long night, and she needed to get some rest. As she got ready for bed, she thought about everything that night had been. Intense, nerve-wracking, and scary for sure. But most of all, that night had been… enchanting.

[dailyaudiobible]

12/29/2019 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 14:1-21, Revelation 20:1-15, Psalms 148:1-14, Proverbs 31:8-9

Today is the 29th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is great to be here with you as we sail through these last couple of days of the year and…and disembark from the journey that we've been on all year. Obviously, of course, we’ll be beginning a new journey into a new year, but we are…we are on the home stretch. So, we’ve got a brand-new week and before this week is over, we will have entered a new year and a new decade. So, new is all around us and we will be experiencing the coming of the new this…this week in profound ways if we pay attention. And one way that we certainly do pay attention what's going on inside of ourselves and in our lives is to pay attention to what the Scriptures are teaching us each and every day, which is why we come around the Global Campfire in community and share this time every day. So today, the next step forward would take us back into the book of Zechariah this week we’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible. And today, Zechariah chapter 14.

Commentary:

Alright. Let's talk about justice because this is important…an important thing to talk about as we move into a new year and as we’re considering our priorities and the things that we’re resolving to accomplish in the new year. And the idea of justice may not be on the short list of New Year's resolutions. And the word itself immediately takes us into the political arena. And, so, that can get supercharged in a quick minute but that’s not actually where we’re going here. We’re talking about this because the Bible brought this up today for us to talk about. The Bible in the last chapter of the book of Proverbs told us, “speak up for those who have no voice. For the justice of all who are dispossessed, speak up, judge righteously and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.” So, I suppose globally and culturally we could, you know, we could politicize this and start bending it to our will, but that's…that's not…that's not the point…that’s not what I'm trying…that's not what we’re doing here. We have been instructed from the Scriptures and the Scriptures have spoken into our lives. And, so, it's up to us to figure out what we’re supposed to do with what the Bible is telling us. So, the proverb isn't like dispensing suggestions for a more comfortable life or isn't just kind of stating things that might be good to aim toward, it…it's actually giving action words to what it's saying, right? So, speak up is an action, right? Speak up for those who have no voice. In other words, be the voice of the voiceless. Speak up for the justice of all who are dispossessed. Speak up, judge righteously. These are actions. And defend, this is an action, the cause of the oppressed and needy. So, the voice of wisdom isn't giving us things to think about. The voice of wisdom is suggesting things that must be participated in. And its super easy to get very surface-y and and…and…and get very supercharged. The rhetoric starts flying and the talking points come out, right? Oh….and as we move here in the United States into a new year that happens to be an election year then its just gonna get…its gonna get louder and louder and louder. So, here we are kind of out in front of all that and here’s the Bible saying, “you know, wisdom would be that that justice was on your radar.” Like I said at the beginning, this kind of thing, like justice, this probably isn't on our New Year's resolution list but that doesn't mean it's not important for the new year. It's very important for the new year because…because the sense of justice that we have, that…that shapes us, the sense of what is right and what is wrong and what is just and what is unjust. And we have spent this entire year working our way through the stories in the Bible. And some of them very, very in depth. And, so, we have seen what happens to people when…when justice is blurred, when justice is suppressed. And if we ignore this idea of justice then we’re ignoring something that we believe is a foundational fundamental characteristic of the God that we serve. We believe that He is just and good, that His mercy endures forever. So, it’s not…it's not something we can just ignore or just think that it has nothing to do with us, that the way that we participate in justice is to cast a vote or the way that we participate in justice is to stand back and ask God to be just and bring his justice to the poor and needy. But we've been on a journey together all year and the Bible has never given us those kinds of instructions about anything. Instead of that, if we begin to understand what we've learned from the Bible this year then we’ve…then we've become aware that the voice of wisdom is calling out from every corner and those who are looking for her will find her. We've been told that the Holy Spirit, the same one that raised Jesus from the dead, the Spirit of the Almighty God indwells us, is within us, and is transforming us day by day setting us apart as holy, sanctifying us to Him. We are His hands and feet. We are the flesh and bone that brings God's light and blessing to the earth and one of those blessings are supposed to be that…that the poor and helpless are treated justly, especially if they have no voice. And…and how that hits us and what that means for our lives in the coming year, I…I have no idea. It will be different for all of us, but we shouldn't just get sucked into that this idea is only a political idea. These are the ways of God's kingdom. This is what He's asking us to participate in, and it may not be waving signs, right? It may be just finding the needy and helping however…however possible. I'm not here to say like, “here are the three fundamental ways we should participate in this, and here's what we should do and here's what God’s gonna do because that.” Proverbs is speaking the voice of ancient and deep wisdom into our lives and ancient and deep wisdom, the wisdom of God, says that justice matters to humanity. It is our dignity. It is the work of God through us in this world. And it's being brought up because the Proverbs have brought it up today, like on this day, but this is a great day for it to be brought up because we’re thinking about what the New Year's gonna look like and this needs to be a category. Not so much a category that we, you know, have outlines all of the different things that we might do, but a category to invite God into. “God, how do I look at this world and see through your eyes what would be just and righteous and then how can I, in my life, participate in that? What does that look like for me in the coming year? How can I simply be aware? That would be a good posture as we pray ourselves into this new year.

Prayer:

And, so, Father we’re at this threshold of a shiny, sparkly, new week and we’re walking into this new week and it's going to lead us into a new year. And as we move into that new year it's going to lead us into a new decade. And, so, big new beginnings are upon us and the Proverbs have brought up this idea of the voiceless and the helpless and…and…and a posture toward them. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit to begin speaking to us in this regard and to begin opening our eyes and breaking our hearts in this regard, so that our hearts and our motives and the trajectory of our lives lines up with Your will and Your heart. We are Your children after all. You have adopted us and made us Your sons and daughters and turned us loose upon this world to reflect Your glory upon it and part of that is that we pay attention to justice. And, so, come Holy Spirit in whatever way that You want to, in whatever situations You…You allow us to encounter in the new year, we ask that You help us be awake and aware. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its the website, its where you find what's going on around here.

Can you believe it? Like this is the last Sunday of the year, the last beginning of a week for a decade. So, that's kind of what's going on around here. So, all the preparations to do…well…to turn this ship around and get ready to set sail again in a few days. And just all of the activity that goes around that as well as just moments of trying to be thoughtful and in reflecting and reflective over all that has taken place in last year. So, you’re probably doing the same thing, I mentioned that yesterday, you’re probably doing the same similar…we all kind of do similar things as we prepare to turn the page and move into a new year. So, I hope you are encouraged and excited about the journey in front of us as we begin again in a few days.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these remaining days of the year, thank you, thank you, thank you with all of my heart. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, you can just press the Hotline button, the little red button in the app at the top and begin to share from there or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you hear tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good evening Daily Audio Bible family my name is Betty. I’ve called in the past about my son Nathan and I’m calling once again to ask for my prayer warrior friends to pray for my son. Since October he’s been diagnosed with dissociative __ schizophrenia, catatonia. And anyway, he is in the hospital right now for the third time. He was brought to the hospital on Friday night by crisis services. And as I hear the report today, he is not eating, not drinking, not taking his medicine, unresponsive, somewhat catatonic again and I’m just praying that God can reach him in this state and pull him through once again. So, please join me in my prayer to have Nathan restored to…to where he was before, but even better because of having the knowledge of Christ in him. Thank you DAB family.

Hey guys this is Cindy the Silver Lining Miner from Seattle and I’m up early this morning working on this report for my, soon to be, old manager and I’m so grateful for that. So, that’s a praise that I got a new job and I’ll be moving on. And I’m praying that I’ll have the grace in this transition. I’m so angry and so hurt about what’s happened and the performance improvement plan that my boss put me on last summer. It’s been pretty traumatic, and I’ve lost a lot of good stress-free time and summer with my kids. So, it’s hard not to be hurt and want to transition and be passive aggressive but I’m really trying to be Christlike in this transition. Also wanted to praise the Daily Audio Bible. I’m way behind but it’s like wonderful to be doing these reports and things that I’m having to complete while I transition. It’s just a beautiful thing and I’m catching up. I’m on December 11th and it’s so nice to hear everybody and I’m grateful for all the prayers and all the support. While I still have a chance, I’d like to pray for the Australian woman who called. Continued healing for your brother, your sister-in-law, and God’s grace, and love finds Danny and the kids, to D in College Station. I pray for peace in your heart and savoring the love that you shared with your dearly departed husband and also reconnection with Roxanne this Christmas. I’m praying for Rebecca in Kansas to find a godly Christian man who loves you as you are and really loves your kid. To Bob Kelly in Nicaragua, thanks for your note about information revelation and transformation. Praying for you. Summer in Ohio for renewed strength and God’s grace. Asia from Chicago I’m praying for all the homeless as well. Thanks for that prayer. Sherry in Kansas thanks for the…

Hi, good morning DAB. This is Kim in recovery, I just want to pray for Mary. I heard her today. She lost her husband and it just hurt my heart to know that you are going to be hurting and, you know, sometimes it’s time. And Lord I know. I’m gonna just pray for Mary that You give her the comfort that only You can give Lord and pray for other people that have lost their life partner, their spouse, somebody really close to them during this holiday season. Let’s just pray. God, I just want to lift up Mary and other people that are hurting with grief and loss of someone very close to them that they love so deeply. Lord, we know that You are the comforter and that You can wrap Your arms around these people and show them the compassion and the healing that that’s going to take to Lord to get over this period of time that is…is difficult. Lord we pray for Your strength. We pray for You to be their refuge and we just want to bless her and take her of her and have Your hands and feet come around her and guide her in Jesus name. Amen.

I would like to lift up Mary right now who lost her husband a couple days ago. Oh, my heart breaks for you Mary. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now. So, I ask Holy Spirit that You wrap Your loving arms around her and her family members and they can really sense Your presence and that You really touch her heart and heal her and be with her in her grieving, be with all involved in their grieving. I just pray that she will really sense Your love and Your presence and Your healing in the midst of all this and that she will even find hope and peace because of Your wonderful grace. I pray that in Jesus’ name. This is Karen from Washington.

Well hello from beautiful Cincinnati Ohio this is Daniel Johnson Junior. I’ve been trying to send a message through the app. It has been going through apparently. So, I’m calling back in here. Merry Christmas to you guys and also want to just ask for some prayer. My mother two years ago had very serious thing going on with her heart failure and she recently had gone on some other medicine and wound up having a very bad fall. Fortunately, her…she’s okay, just a little disoriented and they wound up having to call the life squad to come and take care of her and she wound up being okay. Just a little…just very scary moment for her. For me, I spent the last week from the December 7th through the 13th in the hospital. I went to the emergency department because I myself was having shortness of breath. It turns out that I have heart failure, 49 years old. It’s turned out that it’s more of a genetic thing or something that’s not related to my arteries, but I get to live with this now. And, you know, I hear…just wanted to…you know…I just I refuse to let myself be defined by this. And I want to continue to work toward living, you know, within my diet and within my fluid intake and taking my medicines so that I can have, you know, as much heart function as possible. I just wanted to encourage everybody who is dealing with something that is a chronic thing not to define yourself by it. You are not…it would be the same thing as saying I am cold. I am flu, I am bipolar. You know, you are not your illness. I remember one of my doctors many years ago saying you are not your illness. You may have an illness, but you are not your illness. So, please pray for us. God bless you from beautiful Cincinnati Ohio. This is Daniel Johnson Junior. Make it a great day.

Hey DAB family this is Byron of Florida. I just wanted to call and say thank you. Thank you to Brian, thank you to Jill, thank you to the Hardin family and thank you to the whole DAB community. It’s been an interesting year for me, and I have made many many prayer requests over the line recently and everything that you guys prayed over as turned out well. So, thank you. Thank you so much for that. It’s so amazing that the Lord allows us to have this thing, this DAB thing that we all get to take advantage of and even participate in. Today’s reading was from the book of Haggai and the message was pretty pointed. Do we give to God? Do we honor Him before we honor ourselves? And it begs the question. If we are really good about regularly funding things or anything that gives us love, life, value, joy peace, in the DAB are we really giving to God, are we really honoring Him first? God enables us to give not because He needs the money but because He wants us to participate in His joy. And, so, we have this opportunity to be like God, to give life, to give hope, to give peace, to give the everlasting word. So, why hold back on that. Take a look at what you’re putting your money to and see if you can prioritize the DAB. I’ve gotten back much, much more than I ever put in and I just praise God __ . Love you guys. Talk to you later.

[badlydrawndrawnings]

Theory: Takuto Maruki is a Pisces

Until Atlus shoots it down with official information, I theorized Apple Juice Man is born between February 20 (Feb 19 is Futaba’s BD) and March 20 (Excluding March 3 as it’s Yuka Ayase’s BD).  IDK about his age, but I don’t think anyone can be a therapist/counselor at 21 or 22 (unless you’re a genius or faking being a therapist/counselor, unless you’re like an assistant training to become one, which is not the case for him) but I doubt Atlus wants him to be over 30. So amendment: I theorized Takuto Maruki is born on 1988 between February 20 (Feb 19 is Futaba’s BD) and March 20 (Excluding March 3 as it’s Yuka Ayase’s BD). That would make Takuto 28 in 2016, and 29 by the game end. Reasonable realistic age that is the middle ground.

Why the ball park estimate of Takuto being a Pisces? I found this book The Guide to Astrology: Understanding the secrets of the stars and planets. It’s over a decade old, and they got some the birth dates wrong (everything is off by one day. Example: It places Feb 19 as Aquarius). So I had to look up other online sources to see if the book isn’t BS-ing stuff, and it seems the book is accurate, but the printing got birth dates incorrect. Now, from what I can tell from fan translations/summary translations of Royal (by juicedup14′s sub and from the royal spoiler megathread on the persona 5 reddit), Takuto fits the textbook definition of a Pisces. (and Yuka, which I will do my best pointing out things in her case because I had no idea she is a Pisces lol have fun with some p1 comparisons then)

Pisces Basic: 

Pisces seem to have compassionate, sensitive, and intuitive as positive traits (*looks at Yuka who intuition allow to see something was up with Maki). They also the most tolerate of the signs and rather forgiving. To quote The Guide to Astrology, “they are gentle and kind hearted people who will prepare to sublimated their own desires in order to make the lives of others happy and comfortable.”  I had to look up the word sublimation, which means transformation. In psychology, sublimation is like, the transformation of unhelpful emotions or instincts into healthy actions, behaviors, or emotions.

Takuto had to deal with the messed up accidental breakup of him and Rumi, and he had to deal with the fact his research got stolen as well has his funding and potential lab for the research got canned as result. If he’s not channeling his emotions of the two into deciding to become GOD-LIKE and grant others their happiness sublimation, I should look up more definitions to understand it better.

Negative traits are that they lack decisiveness and if you can call this a trait, they desire to escape reality when things get tough (*looks at Yuka running away from her future*). Guide to Astrology has it as “simply walk away leaving other people to clear up the mess.” And like, the PT has to stop Takuto from making his ideal dream world a reality (which is like, a big mess).

Love and Relationship

Speaking of the whole wanting to grant people their happiness, The Guide to Astrology says they want a love affair that sweeps them off their feet and transport them to a place where they can live happily ever after (pretty sure Takuto and Yuka wanted something of a happy ending with Rumi and Yuka’s unknown husband). They would also do anything for their love ones. I don’t think Takuto meant to accidentally retcon himself out of Rumi’s life, but he accepted the fact Rumi needs to be happy and completely heal without him in the picture.

Careers

Everywhere from the book to online sources say Pisces are creative people with great powers of imagination. Lots of their careers are in the Arts (preforming or not), but not always. Pisces also like to work on their own, kind of like a freelancer (they want do things at their own pace). The Guide to Astrology has a paragraph saying Pisces “compassionate people who ability to empathize with the suffering of others often takes them into the healing profession. They make fine doctors, nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists.” Don’t need to say much for Takuto since we know what profession he’s in.

Money Management

Money is like the last thing on a Pisces mind. It’s not the top of their list. When they do focus on money, they’re a bit stingy with it (*wonders if Yuka complaining about her husband’s salary is her being stingy*) or spend it with little thought. The Guide to Astrology words it as, “they are not financially savvy [...] are easy prey to anyone unscrupulous enough to play on their kindheartedness.” Thanks to juicedup14′s translation of Takuto’s first scene, Takuto pretty much tell the students to not come to him for financial help.

Thanks to one of My Palace Conversation translated from p5cezaria, if we take it as canon, there’s a good reason why. Takuto talks about how he tried to save a cat from a tree and fails. Yoshizawa comments about how Takuto is kindhearted. Goro comments he will get scammed. Takuto tries to defend himself saying how he won’t fall for scams or give out money, but remembers he gave an old man money because he [old man] lost his wallet. Yoshizawa expresses disbelief Takuto fell for an easy scam. Goro smiles and call Takuto an idiot. RIP Takuto’s savings because he doesn’t know how to manage it.

(Body and) Health

This really took me by surprised. Everything I read about Pisces comments they are prone to addictions, with alcohol being a major one. The Guide to Astrology has it as, “when their dreams get shattered, they withdraw into themselves, often seeking comfort in alcohol or other substances.” And we all saw Takuto drank his sorrows until he passed out in his Palace Flashback. As of this posting, there is no 100% context why, but I personally assume it’s right after Takuto’s funding/grant and lab got canned. Given his clothing and appearance, it must have happened within the time period he and Rumi broke up. Not much needs to be added. Well...

There is one more thing. Pisces rule over the body part of the feet. There are other parts they rule over obviously, but feet stood out to me because of the other two Pisces characters. Yuka wears those legwarmers over her lower legs that covers part of her shoes (the ankle part, based of her official artwork). Futaba before she stops being a hermit goes barefooted (iirc). With Takuto, he prefers to wear sandals and show off his feet. If that’s not a weird connection to Pisces, then I don’t know what to call it.

While I am 100% pulling a birth year out of nowhere, I really think theorizing Apple Juice Man as a Pisces has some support based off his actions of Royal from the fan translation available (as of this posting). If Takuto isn’t a Pisces, I actually won’t be too disappointed since I just want a freaking birthday for him.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 174: Fancy Rich People Tea

Previously on BnHA: Mirio and Deku took Eri on a whirlwind weekend tour of U.A. We learned that class B is putting on a play for the festival which sounds amazing and also appears to be infringing on no fewer than three copyrights. We ran into Hadou and Amajiki who were doing some preparations for Hadou’s Miss Con campaign. We learned that the support department has a tech exhibition at the festival each year which is a big deal for them. We also learned that Shinsou is Still At It. Not sure what it is. But he’s still here guys! Finally we ran into Midnight and the Rat Principal at the cafeteria and learned that Rat Principal had to pull lots of strings and jump through a bunch of hoops in order to run the event this year. Basically security is going to be crazy, and if someone so much as sneezes something that sounds like ‘villain attack’ they will immediately call the whole thing off and evacuate. Sounds fair. All in all, Eri had a good time and is looking forward to the actual event! Also Deku got fired from the dance squad. That’s rough, buddy.

Today on BnHA: Mina explains that they need Deku to help the staging team turn Aoyama into a human disco ball. Deku agrees so long as he still gets to dance a little bit. The next morning Deku and All Might run into Mei while training in the woods. We learn that she’s working on a new support item for Deku which will be ready soon. That evening Momo makes some fancy tea for everyone while Deku fucks around on Youtube and accidentally stumbles across one of Gentle’s videos. We then cut to Gentle and La Brava, and Gent breaks down the details of his plan. They’ll take a sneaky route to approach U.A. on the day of the festival, using back streets and side roads. Then they’ll stop and drink tea (the same fancy brand that Momo uses) for an hour and a half. Then they’ll approach U.A. from the woods, and La Brava will breach U.A.’s security barrier with her mad hacking skills. We learn that she used those same skills to track down Gentle after she first saw his videos, and afterwards she devoted herself to his cause. Gentle says he is putting his heart and soul into this new plan for her sake and for the sake of his own dreams.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 199 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.) 

look at this sweet girl trying to soften the blow

yeah because Aoyama totally ditched them. sorry Deku, they need a new disco ball

...or maybe not!

sorry Deku we need a new dispersal method for our disco ball

so wait. they’re really going through with this, huh. this wild stream-of-consciousness rambling from Mina really became the centerpiece for the entire dance floor

and Aoyama is FULLY ON BOARD now

so now this job is perfect for you huh. well you sure are a good sport

so they want Deku to break off from the main group at the same time as Aoyama and help him out

so once he has been “dispersed” you can probably still go have your dance with Eri, Deku! you can do that thing where she stands on top of your feet and you waltz around. it’s going to be so cute omg. make sure your mom videotapes it

speaking of are the parents going to get to come to this thing too? or will it really only be the kids. let their moms and dads come see all of their hard work!

(ETA: I was hoping we would see some of the parents but if they were there we missed it. booooo)

now Kiri is doing that hands-clapped-together pleading thing and apologizing to Deku, but he says they really need his help

lol so they’ve realized that they can’t put all their eggs into the “Aoyama as disco ball” basket

this is an honest-to-god serious conversation these kids are happening. with note-taking and everything. Todoroki fucking Shouto is in on this. “how long can we hold people’s attention by transforming Aoyama into a disco ball.” science

okay but. you guys... are planning other stuff too. right. ...???

(ETA: they sure are. that ice stuff that Mina also suggested. I’m telling you guys, she’s the undisputed MVP of this whole arc, and without her their festival program would have been shit)

lol well okay then. this is going to be so interesting

anyway so Deku’s all “I guess it’s okay then as long as I have a turn dancing,” and he’s agreeing to it

now we’re cutting to 6:30 a.m. on some random unknown day and Deku is training for his new move under All Might’s supervision

All Might is chock full of sage mentor wisdom

“always remember: bleeding internally is bad.” good stuff. write that down, Deku

he’s asking All Might if he has any tricks for maintaining control of the attack, since this is the first move he’s learned that he can’t just use freely

sage mentor wisdom

so apparently All Might was some sort of OFA prodigy and was able to control 100% OFA almost instantly. so he really genuinely has no idea how to teach it, because to him it just came naturally

was he just that buff when he got the quirk?? how old was he when he got it? did he actually attend U.A. as a quirkless kid? because middle school Toshinori sure as hell wasn’t ripped just yet, I can definitely tell you that much

I’m very, very, very curious about this, ngl. because I feel like the series has yet to clarify whether you need to be built like a Marvel Chris in order for your body to have the stamina to withstand OFA, or if that actually doesn’t have that much to do with it and the control needed to master it is actually more mental/spiritual than physical

like obviously physicality has a lot to do with it, though. but All Might could still use 100% for a long time even in his withered and weakened body. and Shimura, the only other OFA user we’ve seen at this juncture, was obviously super cool and tough, but it wasn’t like she was a female body builder or anything

and then of course there’s the question of exactly how much stronger Deku’s version of OFA is, though. how much of a difference is there because All Might’s strength was added to the mix? that obviously makes a big difference as well

basically I still have a lot of questions! maybe I should get back to this training scene and see if it answers any of them!

so he’s telling Deku to visualize the image of OFA -- the egg in microwave image again, I guess? -- and remember that sensation in his body. basically he’s trying to coach him on bringing it out intuitively

and Deku’s thinking to himself that even though they were both born quirkless, there’s a big difference between them still

so this does make it sound like a lot of it is mental

honestly that’s exciting and very important to me because it means that if Deku ever has a breakthrough, he could potentially make a huge leap forward in progress very suddenly

(ETA: LOOOOOOL good god I’ll say.

also! now that I know more about future developments with OFA, I’ve been thinking that I wasn’t giving Deku enough credit here. he is, in fact, just as much of a prodigy as All Might, I think. the difference is that All Might was able to master the physical aspects of OFA, whereas Deku seems to be more in touch with the spiritual side that All Might (supposedly) never really awakened. or to put it in Avatar: The Last Airbender terms, All Might was more of a Korra and Deku is more of an Aang. fortunately for Deku, it seems that being in tune with the spiritual part of OFA gives you access to some really neat stuff, holy shit.)

HOLY SHIT

THIS DUDE’S STILL GOT IT

holy shit that came out of nowhere at top speed and he caught it without looking like a total badass. WHO EVEN NEEDS ONE FOR ALL. OR ORGANS

so now Mei’s traipsing out of the woods and asking if anyone got hurt. nope, but you almost killed my husband and my son so try to be more careful next time

Deku’s belatedly realizing that this looks kind of weird, him being out in the middle of the woods having SECRET TRAINING with All Might at the crack of dawn

so All Might, master of improvisation that he is, is switching to Kansai dialect for some reason. to try and disguise himself. because of course that’ll work

thankfully, out of everyone they could have stumbled across in the woods, Hatsume Mei is the most singularly one-track-minded person they could have possibly met, and she’s barely even batting an eye

hmm?

new item, eh?

and he’s surprised and says he thought it wouldn’t be ready until after the cultural festival

but she already had the materials, so she says it’ll take no time at all

so he’s thanking her and now she’s walking off again

and by the way, this thing that All Might caught literally is a golden snitch, though

All Might > Harry Potter confirmed

(ETA: and by the way, this makes two HP references two chapters in a row, given the title of 1-B’s play. Horikoshi must have recently marathoned the films or something)

now he’s asking Deku about the new item

Deku says there was something he wanted to try out with his new technique

All Might is mentioning that he also tried using support items at one point back in the day, but apparently they only ended up getting in his way and tended to break whenever he went over 20-30%

oh hey

haven’t seen this in a while. here I thought his suit was way too fitted to accommodate this sort of thing anymore. he’s probably ruined it now

(ETA: you can actually see that the top button is about to pop off lol)

anyway, he’s telling Deku that using support items is great, just so long as he doesn’t end up relying on them too much

he says he’s seen a lot of instances where heroes that relied too much on their items had a bad time when those items were lost

this kinda seems to go against what Aoyama was saying a few chapters earlier. he’s an example of someone who does rely on a support item, and he seems to do all right. but I get what All Might is trying to tell him though

so Deku is all “got it!” and clenching his fist determinedly

aww

it is, though. I was just thinking that. I adore these All Might/Deku training scenes and it’s been great to have a return to this

so now we’re cutting back to Heights Alliance, and I’m assuming it’s the evening because the moon is up

Bakugou is squabbling with Kaminari and telling him he he plays too fast. Kaminari says Bakugou is the one screwing them up because he keeps improvising

obligatory posting of this panel of MomoJirou being lesbians

I live for the little things, I really do

omg

okay, (1) this is the cutest thing that’s ever happened ever in history, and (2) I just remembered that that was the chapter title. “imperial golden tips.” so it appears the chapter is named after Momo’s fancy tea that her mom sent her

everyone’s all excited to try it because it’s fancy rich people tea

lmao. Ochako’s asking if Deku’s going to have any, and

“am I... a bad nerd??” Deku berates himself while lying awake in bed that night sobbing uncontrollably

so I think that while Deku and Ochako are being clumsy dorks here they’re going to accidentally click on one of Gentle’s videos perhaps?

yep

in a way it’s kind of charming to know that Youtube’s suggested videos algorithm is still complete shit even in the BnHA universe 200 years from now. Deku was looking for All Might support items. Youtube: [brings up villain tea videos]

so Ochako has no idea who he is, but Deku’s actually heard of him although he says he’s not too familiar. but he knows he’s an infamous Youtube Villain

:) the answer may surprise you!

though it shouldn’t, actually. you guys should just go ahead and assume you’re the targets of every upcoming villain plot from here on out. that’s the way the dice seem to be falling nowadays

now we’re cutting to Gentle and La Brava

Gentle is writing something out with a feather quill like some sort of Harry Potter character. I couldn’t come up with a more creative simile because my mind’s still in that mode thanks to the golden snitch earlier

this man just sits around in full costume writing letters with a quill even as a laptop sits inches away. he’s just that committed to his gig. he lives this life 24/7 huh

he says that the public is growing more and more dissatisfied with heroes nowadays, and it’s because they’re “feeble-minded”

I’d actually argue that at this point, them being attacked is the predictable thing

now La Brava is asking if he’s going to involve the kids that will become future heroes. YEAH, GENTLE

I’D ARGUE THAT THEY’VE HAD ENOUGH WAKE UP CALLS BY THIS POINT

like. can they live. can they just have this one little thing though, god

oh my god

thanks La Brava. this is why he keeps you around

so now they’re going over the route!

so they’re going to approach at 5 a.m. that morning, taking a route that passes by the fewest hero offices

then they’re going to turn onto a side road, go through a residential area, and then they’ll end up at a park

blah blah so about an hour will elapse during this time and they’ll end up at a rundown house that’s actually a cafe

and he says they’re going to stop there to get some tea

apparently they serve the same tea that that Momo was coincidentally serving to everyone earlier. the imperial golden tips stuff

so... they’re going to wait until the shop opens, and then take a 90-minute tea break

let me tell you, it sure is riveting going through every detailed step of this elaborate criminal operation

then they go back outside and pass through a construction site and then climb a hill

ah, finally!

yeah probably at like 5pm at this rate. the festival will have already ended and you shrug and turn around and head back home

he says that since Hounddog will probably be guarding the area, they’ll rub themselves with dirt and leaves to mask their scent

then they’re gonna hit the famed U.A. barrier, which is impossible to get through without a permit

but apparently La Brava is A HACKING PRO, so she’s gonna hack U.A.’s network and shut down their sensors

is it really that easy? shit. doesn’t U.A. have any IT heroes? little did we know this whole time the password to their network was 1234

lmao we’re flashing back to when they first met

“corrupt businessman scolded” sounds like the kind of shit that should have gone viral tbh

then one day La Brava tracked him down and said she was a huge fan and she offered to help him

she apparently hacked his address. since the police haven’t found them yet, I’m assuming they’ve since moved, or taken down that initial video, or both lol

so now he’s proclaiming that this time around he’ll proudly put his life on the line

aww

yeah so that’s basically it. and now time is progressing to the night before the cultural festival OH GOODNESS

BONUS:

so as promised, we’re gonna do two pages today since I flaked out yesterday!

page one - class B painting the prop dragon

nothing much to say about this one except that obviously they’re going to keep painting it until they’re fucking done painting it, Colander Man

page two - Kenrazaki Bibimi’s profile. I couldn’t find a scanlation for this, so my Google Translate-assisted version is below lol

likes: glittering people, glittering things

the beauty gal

“too beautiful. it’s fun to draw her eyelashes.” lol

is it weird that now that the shock of said lashes has died down some, I actually do think she is really pretty? lol what is this manga doing to me

[edwinfaulding7-blog]

Totally different Sorts Of Music Genres For Children

The previous few years have been something of a golden age for music documentaries, with the Oscar-successful success of Looking for Sugar Man and 20 Feet From Stardom opening up the sector http://www.audio-transcoder.com/ for jerrodgreenwald.mobie.in films about much less apparent stars. No other word has appeared on extra t-shirts followed by the word sucks" than disco. While the opposite genres on our record had a period of peak reputation followed by a steep or regular decline, disco is the one style to have had a literal loss of life date". On July twelfth 1979, marthawright.hexat.com Disco Demolition Night was held at Comiskey Park in Chicago. A crowd of 50,000 confirmed up to present their deep hatred for the style. The occasion culminated in a riot as fans rushed the sphere after the ceremonial exploding of a box of disco vinyl. It has been called the night that disco died", and certain enough, it marked the beginning of a rapid decline in recognition of the style. That was until Daft Punk made it cool again with the discharge of their 2013 album Random Entry Recollections. My favorite style in music would have to be Tejano. I like Tejano as a result of when I hear it, I all the time really feel like I'm listening to the stories of an actual arduous working Mexican-American. My step father introduced Tejano Music into my life and for that I thank him, because Tejano isn't just Spanish music. Similar to everybody else who listens to their "music" Tejano is a lifestyle. To many it is just a bunch of Mexicans singing about ineffective things, however to me Tejano is the guts and soul of the Valley. Positive we hear about many new artists that come and attempt to deliver their hip-hop and rap music, when their music is the kind that has no that means to it. I am not one to speak and disrespect their onerous work, as a result of I take heed to some of it also. However I do not forget my heritage and where I come from. It's possible you'll suppose that I'm only a child that does not know what I am saying, but I do. If I'm born Tejano, and I am raised Tejano. Then consider me Tejano. The scent of incense drifted throughout the dark, cavernous house. By a forest of bodies, it was potential to catch glimpses of a dancer onstage, contorting her physique to the dense, rhythmic music thundering from the audio system. The mix was potent. Experiencing electronic music this unusual being interpreted as dance gave the performance an uncommon vitality. The artists on stage that October evening have been the US electronic producer Jlin and the Indian dancer Avril Stormy Unger, who took a prime slot on the Saturday night time at this 12 months's Unsound competition. Their set was emblematic of a lot of 2017's greatest stay artists, whose emphasis on performance mesmerised audiences. The history of Widespread Music hardly qualifies as an actual science. It's a retrospective analysis of events that focuses on the underlying forces or widespread symptoms in the overwhelming manufacturing of music records, ignoring nuances and side-results to understand a understandable construction. It is because (fashionable) music is far from a static phenomenon: it's a continually evolving, transforming, big organism. Nearly by no means has a music style all of the sudden emerged as a shocking revolution without any hint or evolution up to now. All of them have naturally evolved, mutated, merged, or turn out to be (theoretically) extinct. Solely the previous may be examined of this pure, natural network.

In 2017, extra DJs took advantage of the only element that makes their artwork kind truly unique: they can play anything. Nina Kraviz, despite the absurd controversy it once brought on her, continued colouring exterior the strains, be it with 150 BPM techno or straight up drum & bass, on the primary stage at EXIT Competition or in room one at Unsound's Hotel Forum. Avalon Emerson, armed with wildly eclectic music on impeccably organized USB sticks, drifted seamlessly from straight 4-four into hip-hop and R&B. On the ultimate morning of Sustain-Launch, PLO Man appeared intent on encompassing as much as possible of the entire panorama of digital music in a single set, with separate chapters dedicated to jungle, garage, deep house, dub techno and ambient.

Unsigned Solely is a competition exclusively for newbie musicians, who've an opportunity at getting publicity and recognition from trade professionals. The purpose of this contest is to seek out an excellent performer, band, singer, or solo artist who has yet to signal a report deal. The foundations of this competition are additionally very useful to the beginner musician; for one, anybody can enter, and they can submit as many songs or pieces of music as they like. Secondly, Unsigned Solely offers a wide range of different genres during which musicians can enter their music. Plus, there aren't any restrictions regarding into what number of genres you can enter a track.

The problem with the concept of "genres" is that it caught the public's creativeness. The public, along with the music critics in the press, seemed to enjoy the idea of "I am a country music fan" or "I am an R&B fan" and defining themselves thusly. I keep in mind within the Nineteen Seventies when nation music followers would put on T-shirts that said, "If it ain't nation, you can kiss my ass", that means that they would solely hearken to music which the radio stations and document labels, and by extension the advertisers, defined as "country". For a lot of a long time, people turned accustomed to solely being prepared to take heed to music which was marketed within the specific "genre" that the followers had recognized because the one they preferred.Of the 4 Roles, Sentinels only got here first of their appreciation of two genres: nation (forty three%) and spiritual music (forty%). The sturdy sense of group that characterizes Sentinel character varieties - whose work ethic and desire for order stems from their perception that life is essentially about sustaining the social fabric for the nice of all - could clarify their affinity for these two types, both of which often comprise messages in reward of service, whether or not to a higher power or to 1's fellow human being. The ambivalence that Sentinels tend to have for standard entertainment - a lot of which strikes them as a waste of precious time - may additionally explain why music should embrace a minimum of a bit of didacticism to carry their attention for long.Via my travels I had all the time questioned if the world audience was in harmony with the music trade on the subject of music-style. The answer is indisputable no. Most people in the world like one genre more than others and that genre is - maintain on; it's nation music. In almost every country I have been to on the earth, country music usually wins. And it would not actually matter what kind of country music we are talking about; American nation music, Canadian country music, Australian or Swiss nation music. Folks want good tales, substance and creditable lyrics with nice artists to carry out.MARTIN: For those who're just becoming a member of us, we're speaking with musician and composer Jae Sinnett about the future of jazz. What does that say? How do you - how do you interpret what which means? Does it mean that it is a good news, unhealthy information story? That people who perceive and recognize music are nonetheless searching for it out, or is it that there is simply got to be this ongoing fight to take care of house for jazz amid all of the commercial pressures? They've always been there.

[skeletorific]

Ascendancy-SF!Sans

y’all I’ve just been having so many fuckin swapfell feels. Also I’ve been working on my swapfell lore so this got super long. I’m putting it partly under a cut because I assume you guys would like to see the rest of your dash at some point

(Also I know including music for fics is so  2014 but honestly Hey Look Ma I Made It by Panic! at the Disco, Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea by Fall Out Boy, and Glitter and Gold by Barns Courtesy were so important to this piece that I can’t not recommend them.)

Sans is 6 and Papyrus is 12. Two children, but Papyrus is tall for his age. He seems older to Sans. Like the other adults, he sits quietly and still. He talks seriously about serious things that Sans doesn’t understand.

Sans is not still. Sans is not solemn or quiet. Sans is loud. Sans is hyper and angry and self-willed. His first word is “no” and for a long time, it seems like his only. When he was younger it was simply the Terrible twos. Then simply an energetic child. Now he was simply a difficult one. Someone to be glared at and shushed and told to behave. But he couldn’t behave. It felt like all his energy was bursting out of him from every angle. Like his body couldn’t keep up with whatever force was driving it. Change, disorder, neglect, they all made him angry. He didn’t know how to take it quietly. If he didn’t strike out he thought he might die. If he didn’t strike out, no one would hear him.

But Papyrus did. Papyrus always seemed to hear what he was actually saying. When he was so angry he couldn’t speak, when his insides were so complicated that no matter how many people asked him about it he couldn’t begin to make them understand what kind of hurt he was carrying inside him. Papyrus read the language of sobs and tantrums and was usually able to back him away from the ledge. Before he got in too much trouble.

Gaster called Papyrus an old soul. He had the patience of one. While he had normal bouts of teenage moodiness, Sans only ever felt calm when he was with Papyrus. Only ever safe with him. He was also one of the only ones who ever understood when Sans was trying to apologize.

“why can’t I be good?” he asked him once.

“you are good. just harder for you to show it than everyone else” Papyrus said. “Your only problem is I’m the only one who sees how much harder you’re working for it.”

Sans is 8. Papyrus is 14. They’re on their own. And Sans feels another emotion joining the ever-constant anger. Fear. Anxiety. He sees it in Papyrus’ fidgets (now his older brother has trouble staying still too), in the caution with which he covers their footprints through the snow. He hears it in the presences that dog their footsteps and the low growls. So when Papyrus screams for him to run. Hise finds his feet are already moving impossibly fast. That energy comes in handy, he runs and runs until the terrain around him is utterly unfamiliar, and only realizes then that Papyrus is not behind him, and hasn’t been since he started running.

He can only wait in fear, hiding out in a bar where the owner of the establishment, a spider woman, begrudgingly allows him to stay, on the condition that he clean her tables and not bother her customers. And Papyrus does show up, worse for wear, with cracks in his scar and a tooth missing. He doesn’t want to talk about it. He doesn’t want to talk about much, but Sans follows him like a shadow, barely letting him out of his sight for the next few weeks. But Papyrus is here, and he’s going to make it alright now. They’ll make it now.

The town is peaceful. Or at least, more peaceful than life on the outskirts. They stay with the spider woman and wait for their father to come, as he promised he would. But Sans is 12 and Papyrus is 18, and both are old enough to know what happens to lingerers. Sans is not ok, but nothing at all is. They are warm, for now, and safe for now. Muffet offers them protection in exchange for labor, and though she’s strict she’s not unreasonable. She pays them, though scantly. Papyrus replaces his tooth with some copper that tastes foul, but it makes him look tougher. Sans is afraid to go outside sight of the bar alone. The one time he tried (an attempt to go to the library), he was quickly spotted as an easy victim. The marks around his eyes would stay with him for the rest of his life, though he managed to get away.

Papyrus didn’t say much. These days he rarely did. But he came home that night covered in dust and San never saw the bullies again.

His brother is not okay either. He's been sneaking sips of the amber liquid Muffet serves to dead-eyed customers. Some night he has too much and goes glassy and vacant. A shell. It frightens Sans, and every time he apologizes but it happens again and again.

The powerlessness of his life frustrates Sans day to day. His energy is all in fear now, but he has nothing he can do. He will always be short, he is slowly discovering, and always have a face that is cute despite his scars. He is an easy target for cruelty and though his brother will always save him, there is another fear yet greater, that one day there will be a day when Papyrus is the one who needs protecting. And he won’t be able to do anything. The visions haunt him with every waking hour, and often in his dreams. Papyrus dead. Muffet Dead,. Himself tormented and beaten and dying.

Over and over again, with no way to escape. But he walks with the fear every day. wakes up each morning and leaves his bed and gets up and goes to deal with customers who at any moment could strike out against him (its happened before, despite Muffet’s rules). And though he doesn’t know it, it's making him stronger. Because he is no longer afraid of being afraid.

Sans is 14 and Papyrus is 20, and unbelievably, Gaster reappears. He never explains his long absence, at least not to Sans, but there he was again. And it was only then that Sans had realized that he missed him. The old man was gruff and uncompromising, could even turn cruel in odd moments. But he was more stable than most adults he knew, and there was even a part of him that loved his sons. He bought a house in the village big enough for the three of them. For the first time he could remember Sans had his own room, to do with what he pleased. He decorated it the way he used to daydream his bedroom would be as a child, and though Papyrus sometimes ribs him gently for the rocketship bed, he doesn’t bring it up often. At least one of them should get to reclaim a childhood.

Sans would never call it a happy home, but it was better than most, he knew. And one day Gaster looked up, watching Sans rushing around the house and cleaning at his usual top speed...and saw something in his son he never had before.

Potential.

It would seem odd to Sans in the future but he hadn’t wanted the training when it started. For better or for worse, growing up with Papyrus as a wall between him and danger had impressed on him the idea that he wasn’t up to the task. But Gaster refused his excuses and Papyrus’ attempts at intervention. It was hell at first but...suddenly the energy had an outlet. He began to learn to transform the fear into something else. He was...strong. Powerful, even. His control was deft and his stamina formidable. When Gaster began letting Papyrus train alongside him the two only became stronger. Soon Sans felt no danger in traveling freely. If someone tried to start something, he could shut it down in moments. It felt...liberating.

Papyrus seemed a little better too. Fewer nights where Sans would find him half in the bottle. He had picked up smoking from Gaster, though, much to Sans’ chagrin. He hated the smell of the smoke and how the ashes would get into everything. Though skeletons didn’t have lungs that could be damaged by it, it still wasn’t healthy for either of them. But things were better.

Until they weren’t.

Sans is 17. His brother is 23. They never had a father. He doesn’t think so at least. Sometimes Papyrus will mention one and then seem confused that Sans doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He can only assume that he was long gone before he was old enough to remember. But it doesn’t matter.

The wolves are closing in. As both of them have grown out of childhood there are fewer and fewer people to take pity on them. Muffet is still an ally, but she can only extend her protection so far. They’re both strong. But Sans can feel things slipping out of his grip again.

Papyrus seems worse than ever. He’s rarely around in the daytime, disappearing on what he calls odd jobs. He’s bringing money home, to be sure, but Sans doesn’t know from what. When he home in the morning he’s terse, always acting like he’s on the edge of telling Sans to run along. He’s nearly an adult but Papyrus seems to have missed that memo.  

Not that he doesn’t also saddle Sans with some undue responsibilities. It feels like every night Sans is being called in to drag him home from Muffet’s, he’s bothering the other customers with strange ramblings. When he’s not as Muffets, he’s at home, puking in the toilet and slurring incoherently about someone named “Gaster” or about how they’re all going to die. Bleak. Grim. Not what Sans wants to hear. And it aches like hell....that it feels like he’s not worth staying sober for. Like he’s the last connection keeping Papyrus tethered to reality, and even then it's not strong enough to keep him healthy.

He met Alphys at the dump. On one of Papyrus’ few good days (such as they were) they were scavenging around the Labs for parts to fix the TV. The dino had caught them unawares and demanded to know what they were doing. Papyrus’ smooth-talking had gotten them out of trouble but she’d insisted on escorting them home to ensure they didn’t try anything. Sans knew the Captain of the Royal Guard only by reputation, but this is the first time he’d seen her.

She wasn’t what he expected. He’d had run ins with members of the Guard before. Feckless thugs, for the most part, barely worthy of notice. Sans didn’t run risks against the law nearly as often as Papyrus did, but he had his own ways of avoiding them. But Alphys was bright. Quite bright, actually, once you managed to make out what she was saying. Her speech was slow but her reflexes were quick, and as he found out later, she was a cunning fighter, even when cornered. But most notably....she seemed just as scared as any of them. That scaly face didn’t betray much emotion, but she was jumpy, anxious even. He went on to spend more time with her: they had bonded a bit on the walk home and after he’d let it slip that he was no slouch in the combat department she’d insisted on seeing his abilities. And he only became more and more aware that the Captain was hanging on by a few threads. Her abilities were considerable, but rebellions stirred constantly and power shifted with the wind in Toriel’s court. She could lose her seat at any moment, to insurgents or to politics, or even to the whims of their Mad Queen.

It was the first time that power seemed mutable.

He spent more and more time with Alphys. She came to trust him, no small feat, and she began taking him on trips to the capital. And the impression only sank in deeper. No one’s position was assured. Everyone, even the higher-ups....was scared absolutely shitless. Toriel seemed the only one free of fear, and she spent her days wandering her palace, waiting for news of another fallen human.

Some might have taken it as a sign that things were worse than they had ever imagined.

Sans...found it oddly empowering.

He began digging discreetly into his brother’s activities, using Alphys’ contacts to do so. Turned out his brother was gaining quite a bit of notoriety as a criminal. Toriel extended him meager protections (for reasons that were never clear) but his actions were catching up to him. Theft, assault on important persons, hacking the mainframes of the Lab, terrorism....the rep sheet was a piece of paper as long as his arm. It didn’t seem to be an act of political dissidence, not properly. There was no consistency to his targets. After a little investigation of his own Sans came to the conclusion that Papyrus was simply taking jobs for whoever would hire him, for whatever task. Anything...to provide for him. The realization hit him like a freight train.

The dossier on his brother was immense. The only thing they lacked was conclusive proof: the courts of the Underground were brutal but it seemed unless they had an ironclad case against him Toriel wouldn’t let it go through. Sans even found his own file marked as evidence.

“Not A Known Threat” it said.

Interesting.

Sans is 20. His brother is spiralling. More days drunk than sober. Alphys doesn’t give him much information on the investigation regarding his brother but he’s certain they’re getting close. The stress is getting to Papyrus. Smoke surrounds him like a cloud and empty bottles litter his room. Finally Sans can’t take it anymore, opening the door to tell Papyrus off....and finds his brother in tears.

He can’t remember the last time he saw his brother cry.

It comes out, a confession that Sans doesn’t need but didn’t expect. Papyrus is fighting back puke and sobs, begging for forgiveness and apologizing over and over. In the lowest moment he asks Sans to turn him in. It’ll be better for him in the long run. He’s insistent that Sans call Alphys, promising he’ll be fine...but Sans knows his brother is afraid. So afraid he can’t keep his hands still. His mouth demands it but his eyes are pleading for an escape.

So many thoughts spiralling in Sans’ head....and suddenly they click into place. Like those jigsaw puzzles Papyrus does. Suddenly it all stopped being composite pieces and fixed together to form a greater whole. A vision, maybe, or at least a plan.

Sans doesn’t touch his phone. He forces his brother into a cold shower and cleans up the mess while Papyrus tries to sober up. And when he’s pulled himself together a bit, Sans offers him a deal.

The Guard is protection. Black marks on its members tend to get slowly scrubbed off the record. The Guard is salary: the wage isn’t lucrative but it’d be enough to keep them comfortable. And the Guard....well its opportunity.

They’ve been tractionless for far too long, in a world that kills its stragglers. Papyrus tried to get them some momentum, but through channels that were destined to be punished. Sans has an in. Rising through the ranks should prove feasible, and the higher they rise, the safer they are.

The deal is this: from now on, Sans is the head of their household. At least as far as outsiders were concerned. Papyrus would defer to his judgement anytime they were outside the house, no matter what Sans ordered. The narrative they would assume was that Sans, growing more powerful due to his proximity to Alphys, had finally brought his wayward brother into line. His criminal activity would be drawn to a halt. Even if they were brothers it would be considered an impressive move, and as long as he appeared to toe the line chances are the scrutiny would soon fade. In exchange Sans would take over the role of provider, and ensure that they were both fed and protected for the rest of their lives.

In another life Papyrus might have laughed in his face. But...looking back he’d had more than enough opportunity to fuck up his own life. His dreams and ambitions were long since dust. All that was left to dedicate himself to his brother’s, if it meant they’d be able to live without constantly looking over their shoulders.

They shook hands in their kitchen.

Sans is 22. Papyrus is 28. The older follows at the beck and call (or more often, beck and scream) of the other. They make their rounds on the village every day without fail, calibrating traps and sticking their noses into the business of everyone in Snowdin. Sans is a pint-sized tyrant, bitterly termed “the brat” by irritated locals while his brother is little more than his guard-dog. Even has the collar to prove it.

(It was Papyrus’ idea actually, something to confirm his “humiliation”. Sans was hesitant at first but in a way, it became a visual reminder for Papyrus to latch onto, a memento of the promise between them. No leash, though, despite the rumors).

The two have a fair amount of wealth set by, though the exact amount is not known. Its demonstrated by the new, gleaming gold of Papyrus’ missing tooth and the sleek armor clothing his brother.

And no one but Muffet seems to remember it was ever any different.

Papyrus has barely touched a drop in years, though he’s yet to drop the cigs. His sweet tooth is as voracious as ever, though, and so he still frequents the spider woman’s bar. The residents of Snowdin aren’t known for their kindness but he’ll occasionally get sympathetic looks from some of the sloppier drunks. “Yer bro’s a reaaaal piece a’ work, huh? Mus’....mus’ be hell to live with.”

Papyrus usually makes it clear that these are not welcome comments.

He’d be lying if he said it wasn’t hard sometimes. He misses his freedom to roam sometimes. And its inevitable that their performance begin to leak into their private interactions. His brother has discovered a taste for power, for control. Maybe it’s understandable, considering how little he’s had over his own life up until that point. The collar chafes some days more than others.

But ultimately he wouldn’t change a thing. For the first time some of the burden is off his shoulders. He’s free to protect Sans without worrying where their next meal is coming from. His brother has always had the drive and the energy to get himself wherever he needs to go. Now that he was steering the ship, he was showing a mastery over it that made his brother proud. Sometimes there was so much of the old man in him...

Sans, for his part....well, he’s tired. They’re playing a very long game, with the highest of stakes. He has to juggle his few valued relationships with a certain cold calculation. Reputation and friendship are currency in their world: who you know can be the difference between a knife in the back and some gold in your pocket. As he climbs the ranks the relationships only become more difficult to maintain. There are egos to soothe, lines to toe, deals to be made. It takes so much patience that he has little to spare when he’s with....well, underlings. He does his best to keep himself in check when he’s at home, but the residents of Snowdin are afforded no such protection. Even his brother can sometimes be an unwitting target of his wrath.

Still, let them whisper about the upstart skeleton, a nothing from nowhere. This nothing was used to being the problem child. He was ready to fight his way out of this hellhole, no matter what it took.

And what it took, it seemed, was a human soul. What faster ticket into Toriel’s good graces? The queen’s favor was uneasy and tenuous in the best of cases, but it was well worth the risk.

Sans is 24. Papyrus is 30. And there are rumors of a human in a green sweater, making their uneasy way through the Underground. The coward won’t even strike to kill.

Perfect...

[love-god-forever]

The Great White Throne Judgement in the Bible Is Fulfilled This Way

By Nick Yang, United States

“And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened” (Revelation 20:11-12).

Every time I read these two verses, I would imagine the splendid scene of the returned Lord judging mankind in the last days. I thought that at that time the Lord Jesus would sit upon the great white throne in the sky with the records of every person in His hands, and imposingly judge them all. I continued to stick to this notion until I heard God’s good news.

I heard God’s good news.

One day in February 2018, after I returned home from a holiday in another state, my wife happily said to me, “The Lord Jesus has already returned in the flesh. He has expressed words and done the work of judgment starting from God’s house. I went to listen to a few sermons about this. From them, I’ve understood many truths and really gained sustenance. Moreover, those brothers and sisters have a fresh and clear way of fellowshiping about the Bible. Also, they are very compassionate. So I felt unrestrained when gathering together with them. How about listening to them with me tomorrow?” Hearing this, I said in amazement, “How is this possible? Revelation clearly states that when the Lord returns, He will sit upon the great white throne in the sky and personally unroll the scrolls where everything that every single person did throughout his or her life has been recorded. At that time, people will be lifted in the air, personally confess to their sins committed throughout their lifetime, and accept the Lord’s righteous judgment. But so far we haven’t seen any scenes like this, so how can it be that the Lord has returned?” And I reminded her, “There is no true love in this world. You should be careful. Don’t be cheated by others.”

She said, “Indeed there is no love in this world. But they are true believers in God, and are really different from ordinary people. You’ll see when you meet them tomorrow.” Hearing her speaking like this, I felt a bit curious, so I wanted to meet those people praised by my wife and listen to their sermons.

My notions and imaginings were barriers to my knowledge of God.

The following day, when we arrived at the meeting place as arranged, the brothers and sisters greeted us with enthusiasm. By closely observing their speech and actions, I could feel their hearts were genuine. Slowly, my own heart felt a lot more liberated. Furthermore, hearing them communicate their own experiences of believing in God, I felt their fellowshiping was very practical and novel. Accordingly, I thought their way was worth seeking and investigating. So, I asked the brother who preached, “Brother, I heard my wife say that the Lord Jesus had already returned to flesh to do His work of judgment. But I remember Revelation states, ‘And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened’ (Revelation 20:11-12). Therefore, it’s reasonable to say that judgment in the last days ought to be in the sky. When the Lord returns, it should be that He’ll sit upon the great white throne in the air, with books of records in His hands, and imposingly judge each man and woman based on his or her individual actions. How can you say that the Lord has already become flesh to carry out upon earth the work of judgment?”

After hearing my question, he nodded and said solemnly, “Based on the record of John’s visions in the Book of Revelation, many Christians are full of notions and imaginings about judgment during the time of the Lord coming again in the last days. They believe that the work of judgment will be carried out in the air. In their thoughts, there will be a white throne in the sky, and on that throne will be the Lord Jesus. With the book of life and the book of the dead opened beside Him, the Lord Jesus will ask all people to account for all of the sins they have ever committed, and then He’ll decide people’s end based on their actions and deeds. We all imagine the work of God’s judgment to be very supernatural. However, will God fulfill it in accordance with our imaginings? Will God’s judgment in the last days happen in the air or on earth? Let’s first look at two verses. Revelation 14:6-7 say, ‘And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’ These verses clearly tell us that an angel told people that when the time God performs judgment comes, people aren’t in the sky but on earth. Let’s think about this. Heaven is where God resides; we are mortal beings who have always lived on earth and are also the mankind corrupted by Satan. So how can we possibly ascend to heaven to be judged? We’re only worthy of bowing down at God’s feet and accepting God’s judgment on earth. That is more practical.”

Taking a good look at the verses and pondering the brother’s fellowshiping, I felt it made a lot of sense. I had always believed that when the Lord returned, He would judge us in the sky. But I never thought about whether it was realistic or not. I thought, “It seems that my faith in God is confused.”

Not much later, he turned on his computer and asked me to read a passage of God’s words, “The ‘judgment’ in the words previously spoken—judgment will begin at the house of God—refers to the judgment God passes today on those who come before His throne in the last days. Perhaps there are those who believe in such supernatural imaginings as that, when the last days have arrived, God will erect a big table in the heavens, upon which a white tablecloth will be spread, and then, sitting upon a great throne with all men kneeling on the ground, He will reveal the sins of each man and thereby determine whether they are to ascend to heaven or be sent down to the lake of fire and brimstone. No matter what the imaginings of man, the substance of God’s work cannot be altered. The imaginings of man are nothing but the constructs of man’s thoughts and come from the brain of man, summed up and pieced together from what man has seen and heard. Therefore I say, however brilliant the images conceived, they are still no more than a drawing and are not able to substitute for the plan of God’s work. After all, man has been corrupted by Satan, so how can he then fathom the thoughts of God? … Everyone imagines God’s work of judgment to be preternaturally wonderful. Do you know, however, that God began the work of judgment among men long ago and all this while you have been nestled in peaceful oblivion? That, the time that you think God’s work of judgment is officially beginning, it is already time for God to make heaven and earth anew? At that time, perhaps you will have only just understood the meaning of life, but the merciless work of punishment of God shall bring you, still deep in sleep, into hell. Only then will you suddenly realize that God’s work of judgment has already concluded.”

After I finished reading, he fellowshiped this, “God’s words reveal that our ideas about the Lord coming to do His work of judgment in the sky completely come from our conceptions and imaginings. In fact, even though we haven’t seen any signs and wonders, God has already expressed truths and started His work of judgment beginning with His house among the group of people predestined and selected by Him. This is exactly the judgment of the great white throne, as prophesied in the Book of Revelation. All those who accept God’s work of judgment in the last days, and gain purification and transformation, are the overcomers made by God before the great catastrophe. Their names will be recorded in the book of life. This is completely in accordance with the prophecy recorded in Revelation, ‘These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God’ (Revelation 14:4-5). When the people who accept God’s work of judgment in the last days are made complete by God, God’s judgment work will be thoroughly complete, and then God will reward good and punish evil. If we accept God’s judgment work at that time, it’ll be too late. So, only by accepting the incarnate God’s work of judgment by the word can we survive the catastrophe with the protection of God.”

It turned out that God is judging mankind like this.

His fellowshiping made me feel suddenly enlightened. I thought, “As it turns out, the work of judgment beginning with the house of God is the judgment of the great white throne, as prophesied in the Book of Revelation. God’s work really is wise and unfathomable! I must listen carefully to figure out whether the Lord has truly returned to start His work of judgment beginning with His house.” Then I asked him out of curiosity, “Brother, has the Lord really come to earth? Then how does He judge mankind?”

He smiled and gently said, “In the past, we all believed that when God judges people, He’ll sit on the seat of judgment and directly decide their end, based on their deeds. Then the good people will be accepted into heaven, while the wicked will be sent to hell and punished. Actually, this is all just our notions and imaginings. Then how does God judge people on earth? Let’s take a look at God’s words and see what He has to say about this topic.” He opened his Kindle and read, “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God.”

After reading God’s words, he continued to fellowship this, “From these words we learn that in the last days, God expresses truths according to the need of mankind, and that these truths are aimed at our corrupt thoughts and nature. He uses truths to judge and chastise our disobedience and unrighteousness so that we can accept the judgment in His words and achieve an understanding of the truth. We will know how evil, absurd and preposterous the wrong ideas Satan instilled in us are, recognize our satanic nature that resists and betrays God, and see how filthy and ugly our souls are. This allows us to develop repentance, and no longer rely on our satanic nature when we do things. Rather, we can be good people in accordance with the word of God, and, in the end, change will occur in our life disposition. In this way we’ll be totally made complete by God, and His judgment work will be finished. Take me, for example. In the past, I believed that to believe in God was just to receive blessings and grace, and to enjoy God’s eternal blessings. Directed by such faith, I constantly demanded grace and blessings from the Lord, using my sacrificing and traveling for Him as capital, and felt that I was the most qualified to get these things. But I saw the words of Almighty God, ‘Man’s relationship with God is merely one of naked self-interest. It is the relationship between the receiver and giver of blessings. To put it plainly, it is like the relationship between employee and employer. The employee works only to receive the rewards bestowed by the employer. In a relationship like this, there is no affection, only a deal; there is no loving and being loved, only charity and mercy; there is no understanding, only resignation and deception; there is no intimacy, only a gulf that cannot be bridged.’ The disclosure of God’s words made me ashamed of myself. I saw that my nature was so selfish, deplorable, and treacherous. My belief in God and sacrifices for God weren’t to pursue the truth nor fulfill the duties of a created being. On the contrary, I was trying to engage in a transaction with God. I did so in order to satisfy my desire for gaining blessings, and to demand eternal blessings from God. With this knowledge, I felt especially regretful, and began to forsake my personal ambitions and desires and pursue the truth according to God’s requirements. Afterward, God arranged many situations in which He tried and refined me to reveal my shortcomings so that I could see even more clearly the truth of my corruption. I loathed myself even more, and gradually no longer believed in the Lord just to fill my belly. Through experiencing God’s judgment work in the last days, I deeply sensed that the judgment work of God in the last days can really cleanse and change a person. So only by accepting God’s work of judgment in the last days can our corrupt disposition be purified and we ourselves be saved and perfected by God in the end. Brother, do you understand what I’m saying?”

I smiled and nodded, saying, “I understand it a bit. Before, although I knew God’s judgment will start from God’s house, I didn’t know how it was to be carried out. Today, through your fellowshiping, I understand that judgment starting from God’s house means God incarnates in the flesh to express the truth and judge and cleanse the people who come before Him. When God’s work ends, all people will be sorted in accordance with their own kind.”

I have been raptured before the throne by God after being freed from my preconceived notions.

Later, I gained an even greater understanding of the meaning of God’s judgment work on earth after watching the video of recitation of God’s words The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a “White Cloud” on The Church of Almighty God website. Also, the brother leaned upon pictures of the three stages of work and fellowshiped about the truths of the three stages of God’s work, the incarnation of God, and God’s names to me. This allowed me to gain a better understanding of the truths about God’s six-thousand-year management plan for mankind, the significance of God’s incarnation, and God changing His name in each age. And after watching the video The Origin and Development of The Church of Almighty God, I fully determined that the incarnate Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus.

Dear readers, God’s work of judgment before the great white throne in the last days has almost reached its end. Are you already in the flow of God’s judgment work or not?

[kittensartswriting]

Physical OC Ask Game

@writeawayjake thank you for tagging me! A great idea to transform this to a tag game!

I’ll go with The Bear Castle cast (it’s a big cast so I’ll probably come up with something mildly interesting for every question :D)

1: which OC has the softest hair?

Cassia has super silky hair, but Valeri has fluffy soft curls, which he inherited from their mother.

2: which OC spends the most time on their appearance?

Julie easily. She is vain, but not in a way that she wants to keep up appearances or impress someone. She loves beauty and aesthetic things. Everything that is new and shiny and preferably a little bit weird is her taste. And high society always frowns her norm defying style until they start to copy her.

3: Prettiest eyes?

It depends who you ask :D If you ask me however, I’ll go with Agrippa and Marcus. Agrippa has very typical eyes for an Ahinian; deep blue, askew and oval shaped. They are also big and her endless freckles give a nice contrast to her eye color. Marcus is actually known for his intense eye(s), he is sometimes called Eagle-Eye. His eye is narrow and bright amber colored, eyelashes are dark and eyebrows black, bushy and hangs deep over his eye(s). Also his semidark skin highlights his eyes even more.

4: physically strongest/most fit?

I’d say Valeri. He is long and bulky and his body type is muscular. He has always done a lot of physical work (as well as fighting) and that has just increased after he joined the army.

5: What scars/birthmarks do your OC(s) have?

Agrippa has A LOT of freckles, densely all over her body. Valeri has a scar on his face reaching from cheek bone to lip and one third of his back is burned. He also has several smaller scars on his torso. Marcus has a rough scar on place of his left eye and a lot of other scars all over his body. I think I’ll include albinism, which Manoheahpi and Gid’alon both have.

6: Best Laugh?

I’ll go with Julie. She is generally a loud person and her laugh is eve louder. She laugh her mouth open almost like shouting and it sounds pretty much like this: “Krhahahahahaha!”

Alexis gets a honorary mention. He’s voice is normally soft and warm and he is large (not long) man, so you’d except a deep laugh, but his laugh is actually high-pitched. It sounds like this: “Wiiiiiiihihihihihih!”

7: Gives the best hugs?

Probably Valeri, because he is big and when he (rarely) hugs anyone, he hugs them really tightly and holds them close, so his hug is really reassuring and feels safe.

8: Who is the most physically affectionate?

Oddly enough Faerathos. When he is romantically into someone, he mainly shows his love with a lot of cuddles and gentle touches. He’s also not afraid to show his affection for (male) friends with hugs. He frequently touches or pads his friends shoulders.

9: Who is the most adverse to being physically touched?

Cassia, but Marcus is a close second. Cassia is really private person and needs a lot of personal place, while she is acting as a courtesan to spy on Imperial soldiers, which means letting people she despises to invade her personal space. That has made her frown every touch.

10: Who is the fastest/most agile?

Fiolew, Cassia and Marcus all very different ways. Fiolew is really quick from his feet and hands (important features of a child thief). He can move silently and quickly keeping undetected, skill he has been practicing since very young age. Cassia is especially agile, but not that quick. She does acrobat roles in opera (their opera is more like Chinese opera than western) and she has been trained in Ahinian martial arts, which requires a lot of agility. Marcus is quick fighter. He is thought to be the best swordsman in the Empire and is know for his amazingly quick and aggressive fighting style.

11: Which OC likes hot weather best?

Agrippa, which is kinda weird considering she is from the polar circle.

12: Which OC likes cold weather best?

Probably Valeri. He sweats like a pig in hot weather and can’t sleep so he hates it.

13: What is your OC(s) favorite physical activity?

Okay for the main cast:

Fiolew: swimming, he loves water so much

Valeri: hiking/walking in nature

Faerathos: “is sex on option...?” he doesn’t really like working out, he’d rather read, but if he had do say something it would be sex riding a horse

Cassia: acrobating? doing acrobat stuff? how do you express that thing?

Agrippa: she likes to defy gravity and climb on things

14: Tallest OC?

Faerathos and all other cor Mantgamia ever except Fiolew, who is normal height, but short for a cor Mantgamian. Faerathos is like 194 cm, Valeri like 188 cm and Cassia like 185 cm.

15: Smallest OC?

Cateline (who I haven’t really talked about). She maybe super short, about 150 cm, but she is not really that small. She is muscular and strong, a short killing machine. She is an assassin (and kind of a terrorist) and Vauquelin’s right hand woman.

16: Which OC has a physical weakness/handicap?

Marcus has only one eye, which disturbs his vision´a bit, but he doesn’t notice it often anymore, he has gotten used to it.

Valeri has back pains because of the severity of his burn in his back. Some of his muscles have been damaged too by the fire and they haven’t been fully restored. Also he can only smile with one side of his mouth because of the cut on his cheek. 

Manoheahpi is almost completely blind because of his albinism. He can only see some light. (Also all Oracles are almost or completely blind.) Gid’alon has also very bad vision for same reason.

Empress Verginia has couple of chronic illnesses including osteoporosis and usually uses a wheel chair.

17: What does your OC(s) smell like?

Valeri: sweat, gun powder, dogs and horses

Faerathos: dust, old books, shaving lotion, coffee and pipe

Cassia: flowery, deep and dark perfume

Fiolew: sea water, perfume, cats

Agrippa: grass, herbs and poppy

18: What positions does your OC(s) sleep in?

Valeri: fetal position, hugging a pillow

Agrippa: really weird positions, all limbs pointing apart

Cassia: curled up under a lot of blankets

Faerathos: always on his stomach

Fiolew: turns a lot, no position is good enough

19: Does you OC(s) have any physical ticks/tells?

Valeri licks the scar on his upper lip and twist his fingers when he is nervous. His eyebrows curl down angrily when he is sad or helpless. When Faerathos is thinking he touches his ear and then his nose and then again his ear. Fiolew smiles with only his mouth when he is afraid or panicking. Agrippa’s face goes totally blank and eyelids half closed when she is about to use magic. Cassia smiles softly when she is super angry.

20: OC with the softest skin?

Cassia probably.

Tagging @madmooninc, @teacup-universes, @lady-redshield-writes and @theprissythumbelina!

[evenstevensranked]

#6: Season 1, Episode 18 - “Movie Madness”

Louis takes a stab at directing a short film in hopes of winning the Sacramento Young Peoples Film Festival and it is absolutely incredible. Not the film, the film is god awful. But Louis’ blatant, unfiltered narcissism -- THAT is something to behold. The subplot follows yet another one of Ren’s attempts to approach Bobby Deaver for the first time but somehow results in some glorious miscommunication between her and recurring character Ivan.

This one opens in history class with a teacher named Todd Zanders who only appears in this one episode. I kinda love this guy and wish we saw more of him. He’s a total hippie and is making the class take “deep, cleansing breaths -- in with the good, out with the bad” when Louis comes running in late and disrupts the peace. Louis is clearly excited about something so Todd pulls the old “why don’t you share with the rest of the class” card, probably hoping that will intimidate Louis and shut him up, but this is Louis Stevens we’re talking about here. Todd technically gave him the floor, so ya know Louis is gonna run with it. He gets up on his chair and announces to everyone that he’s going to be entering his currently non-existent film in the Sacramento Young Peoples Film Festival. 

“I, Louis Stevens, will be entering my film in the Sacramento Young Peoples Film Festival. And after I win first place in the festival and get my million dollar movie deal... I will, sadly, be moving to Beverly Hills to a sprawling ranch home.” -- The narcissism is already in full swing. I love it. I also love that Louis says he’ll be moving to a ranch home because he already stated in Episode 15 that he’s “always liked ranch style!” houses. Good continuity. 

Louis goes on to say he’ll be needing a limo driver, a gardener and even suggests that Todd should be his personal chef. Oh my god. He tells Tawny, Twitty, and Tom to meet him at his house after school to discuss the logistics of the project and its million-dollar plot.

It cuts to the subplot where we meet both Ruby and Bobby for the first time! Ruby is reporting to Ren with her latest gossip column and the two of them end up checking out Bobby Deaver from across the hall. I just gotta include a gif of Bobby’s first appearance because the level of intentional dramatic cheese is hilarious. 

Ren is gushing over Bobby from afar saying things like “He’s so cute. Look at his hair... It’s perfect. Look at his walk! He’s so cool!” and for whatever reason, everyone’s favorite lackey Ivan is within earshot and assumes Ren is crushing on him. He’s flying solo in this episode and I guess this shows us why he’s a hanger-on every other time we see him. Ivan on his own is pretty sad and shy. 

Ivan under the impression that Ren’s compliments are directed at him. 

Ruby inspires Ren to talk to Bobby but warns Ren that she should write down everything she wants to say to him beforehand to ensure their first conversation will be absolutely perfect. We get a bit later on where Ren is in her room trying to come up with an ideal icebreaker and oh my freaking god. This has got to be one of my favorite Ren scenes in the entire series. Good LORD! She imagines how each scenario could play out in her head and I die laughing every time. Two brilliant ideas she comes up with are to walk right up to Bobby and say “Hey, Bobby. Nice belt!” or my personal favorite: “Hey, Bobby! Oh, I wouldn’t try that Salisbury steak if I were you!” The writing on this show is so incredibly random sometimes that it only ever results in greatness. Also “Nice belt!” is so disturbing. She says it in the most suggestive way too. Why are you staring at.. that... region, Ren?! Each ridiculous scenario ends with Bobby making the most irritated and confused face and completely ignoring her... because, I mean... would you know what to say to someone who walks up to you, creepily smiles, and tells you to avoid eating Salisbury steak with no further explanation? 

I just realized that this show often depicts girls as being the first ones to make a move or initiate a relationship, which is kinda cool since we’re pretty much conditioned to sit around and wait. 

After everything, Ren ultimately decides that marching up to him and saying “Hi, Bobby! I have a big crush on you and I just wanted to let you know how I feel!” is the best way to go. 

It cuts to Louis’ room where he’s having that meeting with Tawny, Twitty, and Tom. Once again, we see Louis determined to find his "thing." That’s pretty much what the overall theme of the show originally set out to be. In addition to our lovely bickering siblings, of course. Here, he’s super optimistic that he’s finally found his “thing” in writing/directing. Sweetie!!! Your thing is comedy!! We all know this already!!!! But, still. I really enjoy the idea of Louis constantly searching for something to excel at. He explains to them that “Everyone has their thing. Twitty has his music! You’ve got your poetry! Tom’s got..... his... parents!” HAHA. Poor Tom. 

Louis goes on to brief the gang on the plot of the movie which he describes as “the classic love story about an alien (Tawny) and a cowboy (Twitty).” An instant classic, honestly. Louis truly believes that they’ll “walk in as nobodies, and walk out as stars” after appearing in his movie. Well, everyone except Tom -- who he relegates to the role of his assistant. 

”I see stars.” 

It cuts straight to filming and boy do things really get going now. Louis has transformed part of the living room into a tinfoil explosion, which I’m assuming is supposed to be the inside of a spaceship. (see cover photo.) This episode is FULL of amazing dialogue and quotes from Louis. It’s insane! So, as usual, it’s going to be very difficult for me to not quote every single one. Twitty decided that his cowboy should have giant mutton chop sideburns and speak with an English accent without consulting Louis, Louis gets insulted because “that’s not in the script” -- which Twitty and Tawny haven’t even been given yet. Once they get their scripts, however, they’re confused as to why it’s only one page. Louis, being the informed and gifted director he thinks he is, condescendingly explains “We’re only shooting scene 27 today. We shoot out of order. It’s called filmmaking.” Except everyone knows that films shoot out of order due to the availability and scheduling of the sets/locations and actors, etc. Louis Stevens has only two actors at his indefinite disposal and seemingly one set location. He’s literally shooting out of order for no reason and is completely oblivious. It’s great. 

Louis can’t be bothered with rehearsals, blocking, or any other necessary steps towards making a movie and jumps straight to filming. Tawny is unsure of what he wants her to do because “all that script said was ‘the spaceship lands and the alien looks around.’” Louis has no time for her valid confusion and snaps “THAT’S RIGHT. YOU’RE CONFUSED AND FRUSTRATED. DID YA READ IT?!?!” I love this so much. Louis starts recording and Tawny vents out of character/as herself: “This is ridiculous. I don’t know where I am! I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!” and Louis praises her ‘performance.’ HAHAHAHAHAHA. 

“GENIUS! THAT IS GENIUS! RIGHT ON THE MONEY, BABE! RIGHT ON THE MONEY!”

I’m not even sure how to review the next part of the episode because the performances truly speak for themselves and I gotta stop myself from typing out a transcript of the whole thing, lol. Basically, Louis goes into full meltdown mode. Freaking out over Tawny saying “Hi, Cowboy” instead of “Hello,” Twitty’s unauthorized addition of a gold tooth for his cowboy, and Ren interrupting a scene. “PEOPLE, THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY. THIS IS A MOVIE. IT’S MY MOVIE. WHICH I WILL NOT LET YOU MESS UP!” He instructs Twitty and Tawny to meet him outside for a saloon scene. Except Louis doesn’t have saloon money: 

Twitty: “Louis! What is this, man? Where’s the rest of the saloon?!” Louis: “CUT! Twitty, it’s a close-up. No one’s gonna see the saloon!! Let’s try it again. But this time, give me a little more.” Twitty: “More what?!”  Louis: “JUST MORE!!!!!!”

-- Louis Stevens, everyone. The greatest director of our time. 10/10 would recommend. 

We get possibly the greatest line in the whole episode when they start filming and a lawnmower revs up as soon as Louis shouts ‘action.’ He cannot believe the audacity of his neighbor and shouts “WHAT IS THAT? WHAT IS THE NOISE?! WHO MOWS THEIR LAWN ON WEDNESDAY?!?!?!” Things only get worse when the sprinklers randomly turn on too. At this point, Louis is #confirmed crazy. 

“TOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I also love Louis’ little toilet paper roll that serves absolutely no real purpose. 

The next day, they move on to filming the big finale scene where Zenobia the Alien takes off in her spaceship, leaving her cowboy lover behind. Louis originally intended for it to take place during a harsh winter blizzard and assigned Tom the responsibility of making convincing snowflakes. Tom shows up with this: 

“TOM, YOU CHOWDERHEAD! I ASKED FOR SNOWFLAKES, NOT DOILIES!”

Louis has no choice but to ditch the blizzard and changes it to “a blazing desert windstorm in the middle of fall.” Okay. Zenobia’s spaceship is a tiny tinfoil thing way up in the trees and Tawny’s like “......how am I supposed to get up there?!” and Tom arrives with a “harness” that’s actually just a freaking elastic luggage rope as if that’s going to handle Tawny’s weight. But Louis assures her “of course it’s safe!!!” because he had Tom test it on a 20-pound sack of potatoes. Sounds legit. 

Is he gonna add that “blazing desert windstorm” in post, or? 

They start filming and sure enough, the “harness” breaks and Tawny falls a good 8 feet to the ground. Louis couldn’t care less though and the gang is D O N E with him at this point. They all quit the project on the spot, leaving Louis to finish the movie himself. Tom was the last one to quit and it’s pretty sad. Louis immediately looks to Tom as a last resort and expects him to step in and help finish the movie, but Tom flat out says “you’re only nice to me when you want something” and Louis has no remorse like “yeah, so?” -- This is the only part of the episode that kills me. But even so, you can tell that Louis is realizing the error of his ways pretty quickly. 

Louis left sad and deserted. “I CAN FINISH THIS MOVIE BY MYSELF!!! .....It’s my ‘thing’.”

Unfortunately, finishing the movie himself includes having to play every role himself as well. Louis is confident that if he shoots at the right angle and disguises his face and voice, no one will be able to tell the difference: “It’s called Movie Magic.”

Ren: “I’m sorry, little three-eyed girl, but do you know where my brother is?”

It cuts back to the subplot. Remember how Ren wrote a hypothetical note to Bobby just to get her thoughts down? Well, she gave it to Ruby to read and Ruby proceeded to stuff it into Bobby’s history textbook without Ren’s permission. Great job, Ruby. Unsurprisingly, Ren is livid. I would be too. Ren is a mess during history class, sweating the moment when Bobby will take out his book. So she crawls on the ground and tries to sneakily retrieve the note from his backpack. This is pretty funny. Her teacher is the same hippie guy, Todd, and this time he’s making Ren’s class do stretches “for knowledge, focus, and concentration.” Once Ren is spotted on the ground lookin’ like a weirdo, she makes up some bogus excuse that she was “squatting for truth!” HAHAHA.

She’s unable to get the note back in time, but amazingly... the note isn’t even in Bobby’s book! Turns out Ivan and Bobby bumped into each other in the hallway earlier and accidentally swapped books in the process. Therefore, the note was delivered to Ivan. You guys know I love a good miscommunication plot. They never fail to make me laugh. Ivan dramatically approaches her later and says “Ren... It needs to end. The looks in the hall, love notes...” I really love Eric Jungmann’s performance here. He’s pretty hilarious and obliviously arrogant, thinking that Ren is in love with him. One thing I never understood was how Ivan could think the note was written for him though? Because I’m SURE Ren must’ve written Bobby’s name somewhere on there! Unless she was keeping it super mysterious for whatever reason. Anyway, Ivan says “Please, Ren. Don’t speak. I’m gonna walk away now. Try not to watch me.” I love it. That’s the end of the subplot. Much like in Surf’s Up, I wish this miscommunication plot had more layers!! 

Ren just stares at him all ~fake-emotional~ and lets him believe what he wants to believe lol.

CUT TO THE FILM FESTIVAL!!! Which takes place at the real-life Vista Theatre in Los Angeles. (Another filming location I’ve added to my bucket list, tbh.) Louis is clearly anxious while waiting around for the festival to kick off and is kinda dreading the ~big premiere~ of his million-dollar movie. He’s sort of standing there rambling random things off to people like ‘have your people call my people!’ and at one point walks alongside a guy and says “yada, yada, yada... let’s just talk about somethin’!” -- Seinfeld reference, anyone?! Crazy to think that the “Yada Yada” episode first aired a mere 4 years before this at the time. I just thought that line was another awesome, subtle thing to throw in and makes for a cool connection to Louis’ Kramer poster. Of course, Louis Stevens would casually quote Seinfeld! I bet it was an ad-lib, honestly. Shia’s the best.

In the end, Twitty, Tawny, and Tom eventually show up in support of Louis and his movie. Louis apologizes for acting like a jerk and Tom even vows to put  “the snowflake incident” behind them. It’s a nice moment before the premiere of what might be the best worst movie ever made, only in competition with Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. 

Let’s just say, “Three Eyes Wide Shut” premiered to... mixed... reviews from the audience. It's very embarrassing. We never actually see the finished product. They only show us a few scenes, which always bummed me out. So I took it upon myself to edit together what “Three Eyes Wide Shut” might’ve turned out like given everything we saw Louis film. And it’s... something:

The intro alone kills me. You know a movie’s gonna be a doozy when the opening credits are typed in Comic Sans. Notice how at the very end Tom mispronounces his own name?! He definitely says “Tom Griblaowski.” Really weird. 

Needless to say, Louis is absolutely mortified by how awful his movie was. He tries hiding by attempting to blend in with some cardboard cutouts in the lobby, but... you can kinda see him there. 

Fun Fact: I was recently binge-watching “That’s So Raven” in preparation for the “Raven’s Home” spin-off, and I was so shocked to discover how many actors they recycled from Even Stevens. Beans, Cynthia Mills, The Asian radio announcer guy, the “Look Smart, Be Smart” instructional tape guy, Beans’ cousin Chris, Mr. Crappizi the school photographer -- the list goes on and on. And if that wasn’t enough... THEY EVEN RECYCLED THESE CARDBOARD CUT-OUTS!!!!!

I DIED LAUGHING AS SOON AS I SAW THIS. Oh my god. I obviously recognized it right away. All of this recycling makes sense though, as both shows were produced by Brookwell/McNamara. But, like... wow. Amazing. After the movie, Twitty and Tom try to make Louis feel better by telling him “You got into the festival, didn’t you?! And they only took the Top 10 entries!” Which would’ve been nice... except Louis explains “Everyone got accepted. There were only 9 entries.” HAHAHAHA. As Twitty and Tom head home, Tawny emerges from the theater and her mind is still reeling from the movie. She’s the only other person on the planet who understood the message Louis was trying to convey which is apparently “feeling like an outsider and wanting to be accepted by your peers.” Yeah, right. 

I always thought it was a nice touch that Tawny wore a green shirt with eyes on it to the premiere of the movie. Definitely feels like a little tribute to Zenobia, lol. 

This is really great though because it sets up Louis and Tawny again nicely. It further establishes that Tawny understands Louis better than anyone else. She got the point of his film when no one else did. She asks if they can watch it again and after they do, all we hear is a sultry voiceover of Tawny saying "I liked it even better the second time" - Oh, God. This always made me really uncomfortable lol. The episode ends with fake “bloopers” from the making of the movie and I can’t deal with it. Interestingly, I watched this episode on TV not too long ago and they cut out Tom's rapid-fire accented quote "Taco burrito, nacho's premio, $1.89 for a limited time, you know what I'm saying?" -- Is that considered offensive or racially insensitive now? I’m assuming. I have no idea but, I thought that was weird and suspicious. 

And that’s it!

I love this episode. So, so much. There’s an aspect to it that is very ahead of its time. Like I mentioned, quality quotes are flying left and right in this one! The humor is ON POINT and the performances are stellar. Especially from Shia! I always say that this is one of the episodes where Louis is at his most ‘Michael Scott.’ There’s just this level of hilariously endearing narcissism that Michael exudes all throughout The Office’s run mixed with that signature dry humor and I get those vibes from Louis so strongly here. It makes me SO HAPPY. I mean, yeah, I usually don’t like it when Louis’ ugly side makes an appearance, but it’s beyond tolerable for me in this one because the plot is just so hysterical. As entertaining as Michael’s narcissism was, it also got him in a lot of trouble as well. Often resulting in very cringe-worthy moments or people resenting him, which we see happen to Louis here. Idk. I just love finding similarities between my favorite shows. This episode also reminds me of when Michael wrote and directed his own terrible movie “Threat Level Midnight.” HAHA. 

I love Ren’s side story, too. It’s one of her stronger/funnier ones for sure. The miscommunication always gets me and the plot is also pretty important because we’re introduced to Bobby and Ruby! I’m ranking this one juuuuust shy of the Top 5 due to it having two separate plots. My Top 5 are all episodes that interweave A and B plots because I feel like Even Stevens just works better that way in general. But, still. That doesn’t take away from how solid this episode is. It literally meets all of my criteria: Personal favorite, quality plotline, quotable dialogue, hilarity, iconicness, overall entertainment value, and there’s even some character development too! So good. 

Thanks for reading!!

Just so y’all know, I actually managed to get “Three Eyes Wide Shut” listed as a legitimate short film on IMDb. I am not kidding. Please feel free to leave a sarcastic review. It’s currently boasting a 6.0. LOL! 

For this episode’s Redbubble design, you can get a reproduction of the Three Eyes Wide Shut theatrical poster!! Omg. This is one of the first things I designed and it’s been sitting in my Redbubble drafts for months. I’m so excited to publish it! haha. The poster can be seen on Louis’ bedroom wall throughout the series! I also made a little “A Louis Stevens Production” design (Comic Sans and poor capitalization and all) with Louis as the MGM Lion, lol. 

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