#I'll make this lore accurate even if it kills me

[the-face-in-the-mirror]

Me, furiously rewriting and overhauling Tears of the Kingdom because I can never let anything die if it can be improved: I'LL show you a FUCKING upheaval, motherfucker

[loverdotpng]

Found more really cute images of him

[lopposting]

The major question of the story that we are now asking:

Why, exactly, does Carlo never "wake up"?

[long post]

[Spoilers ahead]

Well, simply put - Because he is dead.

OK, that seems like too obvious an answer, but I'll elaborate, and bear with me here. I want to recap some elements first so you know where I'm coming from, but I'm also trying not to completely explain everything because that's way too hard and would be too long.

[Currently, we don't understand everything about the story or its meaning. Because of some of the shrouded nature of the lore and narrative, it leaves much mystery. But from viewing these questions and the story from a thematic standpoint, something unexpected and really cool happened. I found that the story and the lore opened up in reverse.]

The easiest way to explain the plot (in my opinion):

It was my impression that Geppetto never “started” the puppet frenzy. The puppets were NEVER breaking the grand covenant, interpretably they are protecting humans by stopping the spread of the petrification disease, it’s just that everyone in the city was infected by that point. 

Now with the puppets killing everybody in a city where everyone was infected (ergo being the result of the disease) Simon can go around harvesting all that ergo and Geppetto presumably plays him by letting Simon collect the Ergo first, and then sending P to kill him. [again, these details may not be completely accurate, but bear with me here]

Why create P in the first place?

He's made in Carlo's image so to speak because Geppetto hopes that Carlo's spirit will awaken. This is also why P is never bound to the covenant (it seems that not being bound to robot laws makes puppet egos awaken faster, since awakened puppets can break the grand covenant). So that is the two functions of P, to destroy puppets for ergo to harvest and so Carlo's consciousness can restore. I was just guessing that the arm of god was enough to get Carlo to revive, and Carlo's mental spirit reviving would be helpful but not entirely necessary. But for reasons we don't understand, Carlo never does regain consciousness.

Geppetto bitterly tells us that we don't seem to have inherited Carlo's memories. There is no big moment where Pinocchio or Pino or P reawakens, fully, as Carlo. He isn’t treated by the story as him. During the course of the game, P struggles to forge his own identity, to become a real boy, despite starting as a copy of the original. It’s a very fitting parable for the genre identity of a soulslike.

However, there are other successful re-incarnations of people through puppets, namely Sophia at the end of the Rise ending. We ask, for consistency's sake, why are puppet-form Romeo and puppet-form Sophia assumed to have retained their original identities, but not Pino? This is just my personal interpretation of why Carlo just couldn't or doesn't wake up. It isn't really based any lore or deduction from story details, this is from more of a philosophical point of view. And it isn't just the luck of the draw.

I had some initial thoughts about Carlo's failure. Romeo was made with intention of continuing to fight against the disease, as it's told that he "made a deal with the devil". Sophia may have been a special case, as she is a listener (Arlecchino even refers to her as the goddess in the tower), she may have had an ergo identity so strong that her essential self could retain this process. But either way, the implication is that Pino may have been able to recover her not long after that final fight. Look at the nameless puppet. The state of Carlo's body is so poor, that more than not his body seems to have been replaced with puppet parts. I think the implication was that Geppetto had been replacing parts as they rotted away. Maybe he had simply been dead for too long. But again, this isn't exactly why I think he couldn't awaken.

Simon and Geppetto

Lies has two main antagonists, although one isn't completely revealed until the last section. Both Simon and Geppetto are the perpetrators of Krat's destruction, but for what seems like different reasons. Simon is trying to be reborn, and Geppetto is trying to revive his dead son, Carlo. Interpretably, they are both trying to become Gods. Simon by grasping the supernatural, cosmic power of one, and Geppetto by raising the dead. They have destroyed Krat in their attempt to become a god, or more succinctly put, attempting to become God, singular. Geppetto's goal is, in essence, the same as Simon's goal - Because bringing back the dead would make him God.

That's why it seemed all so confusing. Haven't Geppetto and the alchemists already raised the dead, as Pino does at the end of the Rise ending with Sophia? Sophia, Romeo, and Carlo were all afflicted with the disease. Their Ergo were all made into puppets, but there's a minor but important distinction here. Sophia is still alive in her condition and actively suffering, this is the reason why she asks us to end her life. It seems as though Romeo lost his friend to the disease, and then made a "deal with the devil" to continue fighting, this implies being made into the king of puppets. We collected Sophia's ergo while she was alive, which we then used to animate the puppet. So the three of them were afflicted with the petrification disease. Sophia perished, Romeo perished, but Carlo died.

Now if we see the sand memories section of the beach, the stalker's words start to gain some clarity. If Carlo died from an incurable disease that the stalker couldn't prevent, why is she too late? Perhaps the goal was never to "save" Carlo's life. She laments; That she was too late, NOT to "save" him, but for him to be able to be restored. The stalker seemed to understand that whatever procedure needed to be done would be useless past the point of death.

I have to admit that there was something that I thought could override my theory. It seems as though the alchemists already were able to bring back both Champion Victor and The Eldest of the BRB, and from the dead no less. We read from notes in the Grand Exhibition that Victor had caught the disease, died to the despair of his adoring fans, but then miraculously made a comeback somehow stronger than ever. But maybe - he had only appeared to be brought back from the dead to the public, as Victor sought the help of the alchemists. And when it comes to the Eldest in the coffin, I'm wondering if he was actually only mortally wounded, leading the brotherhood to consult with the alchemists. [The way he was carried out by his brothers too (shouldered on either side) isn't typically the way you would expect people would handle a dead person]

Mirroring Sophia, Romeo, and Pinocchio, who were made into puppets: There is Champion Victor, The Eldest, and Nameless Puppet. We can see the former three as Geppetto's method of "cheating" God (cheating Death), and the latter three as alchemists' method. Only "Carlo" has a form in either one - The Nameless Puppet and the player, P. The Nameless puppet appears to share a similar undead quality with Victor and The Eldest of the BRB (including the tubes). We know that the collected Ergo can animate puppets, They are puppeting around their own dead bodies.

I feel like the Nameless Puppet tells us in a poetic way that Carlo is gone. My thoughts on this are more abstract. Again, this isn't from a factual analysis, but more of from viewing the Nameless Puppet itself as a metaphor. The Nameless puppet has qualities similar to the other undead bosses, yet the game doesn't describe it like it does Victor and the Eldest. It's not a body. It is a puppet [Human on the outside, mechanical on the inside - the inverse of our protagonist]. And straight in the text, we are told this is "The Nameless Puppet". But we know who Carlo was. His name was Carlo. We split open its head, and there are only cold, mechanical parts, instead of what we in the modern world now regard as the very most essential self (the brain). Because there was nothing to recover, there is no one there. Carlo's spirit had long, long since departed the world.

We are also told through one of the game's narrative devices that the Nameless puppet was the first puppet fitted with the organ. Ostensibly, Carlo's body was being prepared for whatever procedure that needed to take place, but Carlo died before that could happen (perhaps thankfully), and Geppetto pushed forward with his plans anyway, perhaps past the point of no return.

There are two forms of revival and we represent one of them, as in, there was the puppet form of Carlo and the undead form of Carlo. Presumably, the undead form was incredibly destructive, and thus stored away; We are the second try for Carlo's rebirth, this time in the puppet form, but we cannot even wake up without the aid of Sophia.

Lies, God, and the Finality of Death

But doesn't Geppetto actually succeed in one of the endings? Simon fails to become a god, (well, presumably only because we kill him in the process of doing so) and then we confront Geppetto. If we hand over our heart, Geppetto actually does revive Carlo. We see the resurrected Carlo, but with one simple smile we realize this isn't the Carlo the game has been leading us to believe existed. This ending leaves us with distrust and unease rather than a sense of peace and resolution. Simon fails to become a god, and at the bad ending - even if he "wins" - the game makes us wonder if So does Geppetto. No matter what, Carlo could NEVER be truly, and in both senses of the word, honestly, be revived.

[Simon Manus - like Simon Magus, the biblical figure who tries to buy into the supernatural power of God. And Geppetto, of course alluding to the 1883 italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio - a puppet master, a creator indeed, but of wooden imitations of life, and a poor imitation of God]

So, why I think Carlo could not wake up? Because whatever needed to happen could not be done after the actual point of death, and Sophia and Romeo's hearts were both transferred before they actually died. His spirit had long gone from this world. Krat has methods of eternal life, but these transfers happened while they were still alive. While the alchemists and Geppetto could certainly cheat death (as we maybe even would with modern day medicine), they could not defeat it. Carlo can no longer wake up, Carlo can never wake up again, because he is dead.

[bimobuddy]

"Would you..."

I'M BACK FINALLY, BABYYYY

JUST HAD TO GET HAPPY AGAIN AND FIND A FIXATION

Anyway this is a Maxley tickle fic

Max Goof x Bradley Uppercrust III

I will also be writing Tank x Bradley, I like both ships

Lee! Max, Ler! Bradley

Don't worry, Bradley is gonna have plenty of lee moments in the future, he needs his shit wrecked

I gave them tails (._.) They're dogs, they get tails

Summary: Max and Bradley are having a horror movie marathon, and it starts a little game between them, which eventually turns into a much different, more one sided game

*cl-click... whiiiirrrr*

Max popped the tape into the player, and scooted back, sitting against the couch on the floor, while Bradley sat on the couch with his legs draped over his shoulders. He rested his chin on his head and fixed his eyes on the screen.

Everybody knew Max loved horror movies, but most people didn't know Bradley was much the same, on one condition.

"Does the-"

"No, I talked to Bobby, no animals die on screen in this one, just a pet bird that's already found in its cage, but they have a funeral for it."

Satisfied, Bradley rested his chin back down on Max's head as the movie started. He didn't like animal death scenes, but he was perfectly fine with people.

About half way in, he broke the silence between them. "If I got sucked into an alternate ghostly plane, would you come in after me?"

"Absolutely." Max's answer was immediate. He leaned his head back to look up at his boyfriend. "If I told you a man with knives for fingers was terrorizing my dreams, would you fall asleep and fight him for me?"

"Absolutely not," Bradley answered, earning a snort from Max, "The dream world was his world, and he had more power there, are you crazy? He'd obviously win. That's not even how it worked in the movie, they pulled him out of the dream and killed him in the real world."

"Okay well would you kill him in the lore accurate way?"

"Realistically, no I'd send Tank to do that, but for the purpose of this game, I'll say yes." He responded, his tail thumping against the couch, causing Max to start wagging his as well.

"My hero." Max mumbled sarcastically, looking back at the TV to finish the movie.

Sometime during the movie, Bradley started to twirl Max's ear around his finger and just mess with it, oblivious to the blush that had spread across his partner's face, or the way he tensed up and grinned nervously.

"Maximus, if I were a skeleton in your attic, would you help me rebuild my body to become alive again?"

Max normally would have rolled his eyes at the name 'Maximus' but he was a little too focused on the ticklish feeling in his ear. He opened his mouth to reply, but ended up pushing Bradley's hand away with a giggly, "Quihit-"

Now this caught the fraternity leader's attention. Any chance he got to mess with Max, he took. "Oh? Ticklish, Goof?" He practically purred, tightening his legs over Max's shoulders to keep him in place.

Max's cheeks reddened. He didn't have an issue with being tickled.. It was his laugh he was self conscious about, since he inherited it from his father. Ever since he could remember, he'd practiced his laugh to make it sound normal, and not... Goofy.

"Bradley wait, my laugh-"

"I know, I've heard you before."

And with that as his warning, Bradley started to play with both ears, gently rubbing them between his fingers, while Max just giggled and tried to shake his head.

"Nohohoho, Brahad- Nohot my ehehears-" He tried to duck his head but that didn't do much, since Bradley just followed. His ears weren't necessarily 'bad,' but more of a 'sweet spot,' in the way they always got him giggling, blushing, and fumbling like he didn't know how to react.

"Oh not your ears? Would you prefer I move down here then?" He teased, releasing Max's ears and slipping his hands down under his arms. Max arched his back and squeezed his arms down against his sides, his tail going wild slapping the floor.

"Brahahahadley nohohoho!"

"Max, I can't hear the movie, calm down~ Why are you laughing so much, it's not a comedy~" He teased.

He released Max from his legs and got down on the floor with him, briefly wrestling with him to get him down, delighting in the way he giggled in anticipation.

"Brahadley my laugh, ihit's-"

"Shut up about your silly little laugh, I like it~ In fact, I want to hear the original, unpracticed version."

Bradley latched his hands onto Max's sides, his fingers wiggling into his sides while his thumbs dug into his belly.

Max tossed his head back and started to kick his feet against the floor, trying to shove at Bradley's chest, his laughter kicking up and becoming more boyish.

Finally, playful hands found his knees and squeezed.

"Nohoho! Hahahahahahyuck-" He slapped his hands over his mouth, his face going red. The only noise that came from him was his tail continuing to thump against the wooden floor.

Bradley stopped and laughed so hard, he had to lean down, pressing his head into Max's shoulders.

Max huffed, slightly amused by Bradley's reaction. "At least one of us enjoys it."

Bradley sat up, calming down, yet his grin stayed. "Would you relax? It's not as bad as you think. I can see why Roxanne liked it when you guys met."

The younger of the two groaned and covered his face. "It sounds so silly though."

Bradley grabbed his wrists and pulled them back to uncover his face. "That's what makes it so great, you goof."

--

I'm not gonna lie, it took me a while to type the "hyuck" into the dialog because anytime I got close to it, I started laughing bc it's silly /pos

I think unique laughs are cute

Y'all get bonus points if you can name the horror movies I was referencing

[the-elder-polls]

so. i was enabled. tags courtesy of @trickstarbrave (hope you don't mind being tagged, if you do i'll remove it) who is what started my nerevar/lorkhan fascination because i him saw mention this once, causing me to lore deep dive and come out the other side, once again, like this.

once again, disclaimer that i am scatter brained and bad with getting my thoughts into words etc etc please be nice to me or i will cry

so. about the parallels between nerevar and lorkhan

to even try to start, lorkhan was killed/mutilated/brutalized/etc and his heart was separated from the rest of him. there are conflicting sources with saying this was a punishment, while others say he consented to it. regardless of his willingness, his divinity was subsequently exiled/fell/whatever to the nirn. there's a VERY obvious parallel here of nerevar being betrayed and killed/mutilated by whoever it was that killed him and the subsequent nerevarine prophecy.

nerevar, son of boethiah. this is a title given to nerevar, supposedly by lorkhan himself, in the five kings of wulfharth. that's not particularly much on its own. nerevar being a demiprince would hilariously not be that big of a deal considering everything else about him. the reason i'm mentioning this is the 10th sermon of vivec, which notes boethiah as saying about/to lorkhan, "We pledge ourselves to you, the Frame-maker, the Scarab: a world for us to love you in, a cloak of dirt to cherish. Betrayed by your ancestors when you were not even looking. […]" the gods of tes are known for being weird (to put it lightly). i personally think boethiah was in fact the mother-father of nerevar; that nerevar was created for the purpose of being the shezarrine; and that lorkhan, in his weird state, was still fully aware of this. also, again, the parallels of betrayal and mutilation are obvious when you compare whatever happened to nerevar to whatever happened to lorkhan.

nords revere lorkhan as shor, believing he sacrificed his life to help create the world as it is. nerevar and the nerevarine prophecy have some parallels here, i think. nerevar's life was sacrificed "for the greater good" (the eventual downfall of the tribunal as gods, the destruction of dagoth ur) to help "create" the world as it is.

at least one myth (the favored daughter of fadomai) describes azura as finding "[…] broken and bleeding, and there was a hole in his chest." and that she then tore his heart out due to it being corrupted by rot (hi, namira). foul murder is NOT canon, but i think it's worth taking it into consideration here, given that nerevar is depicted in foul murder as impaled through the heart. (i can't really get my thoughts together with what i want to say about this, but i want you to note azura and lorkhan being so strongly associated in this myth. given the EVERYTHING ELSE, it makes sense.)

following on the previous point, the claim that azura appeared and cursed the tribunal for their usage of the heart and their betrayal of nerevar is a good parallel for her finding the wounded lorkhan.

one nordic source (five kings of king wulfharth) states that lorkhan reappeared somehow at the battle of red mountain, reunited with his heart, and that he wounded nerevar before nerevar defeated/killed/etc him. given the absolute absurdity of tes lore, i don't think it's far fetched to say that this could be true in a roundabout way: nerevar WAS lorkhan, or more accurately, the shezarrine. whatever happened at red mountain was a Whole Thing that we don't have concrete answers to. i personally think the proximity to the heart gave nerevar a fucking power up of some sort/allowed him to channel lorkhan much more intensely, which helped him in the next point:

the same source claims that lorkhan said the dwemer would die by his hand which, again, while i'm stretching (all of tes lore is stretching lbr but anyway), i gotta point out that nerevar and the disappearance of the dwemer are intrinsically linked. there's no denying that. if nerevar was the shezarrine, then this could be true - when dumac was struck down by nerevar and kagrenac truck the heart, the dwemer vanished. it's a bit roundabout, but it's not incorrect. ["Nevertheless, it is true that they will die by my hand, and any whoever should side with them."]

also the tribunal's jealousy of nerevar + his outright refusal to use the heart makes a lot of sense if he already had some of that godly power and they didn't. if they saw him at his full potential due to the heart and wanted it for themselves.

anyway. who said that

[coraniaid]

A random ask if you're up for it: what's a terrible take about the Buffyverse you've seen on tumblr but have not yet publicly kvetched about?

I'll be honest: this question prompted a moment of minor panic on my part because my very first instinct was to say something like "hmm, no, I don't think I've ever seen a bad take about Buffy on here I've not immediately complained about". Which is an admission that, were it accurate, should probably prompt rather more introspection on my part than I'd enjoy.

Thinking about it though, I don't think that is really true. In fact, I probably don't say anything negative about most of the bad Buffy takes I see, either because they're not particularly widespread (I try not to publicly disagree with other people's headcanons or even argue against popular posts if it would be obvious who I was responding to) or because they're about characters who I just don't talk about on here at all (either because I don't find them interesting or because my understanding of them is so at odds with the wider fandom's we'd be talking at cross-purposes).

(Or, sometimes, I don't say anything negative because I'm too busy enthusiastically reblogging the post in question, if we're being brutally honest about what counts as a "bad take".)

One concrete example I don't think falls under those headings and which I don't remember complaining about before is the way people talk about Buffy's speech in Selfless. Now, I'll be honest: I don't really like Selfless that much. It's in the top half of Season 7 episodes for me, possibly even the top third, but that's a pretty low bar. But what I do like a lot are Buffy/Faith parallels, and this episode has a big one in Buffy's speech towards the end of the episode:

At some point someone has to draw the line and that is always going to be me. You get down at me for cutting myself off, but in the end the Slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook; no all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law.

Obviously this reminds the audience of Faith's similar speeches in Season 3's Consequences, when she tells Buffy that the two of them are "better" than ordinary humans and then later that "you know I'm right. You know in your gut we don't need the law. We are the law."

We obviously aren't meant to agree with Faith in Consequences. (The fact that she follows this speech up by almost immediately defecting to work for the Mayor, commiting at least one cold-blooded murder, having a sobbing emotional breakdown where she begs somebody to kill her and then turning herself in to be judged and punished by the very human laws she sneered at earlier is something of a clue.)

A lot of people point out the parallel but then try to explain that what Buffy is saying is actually substantially different from Faith, and that Buffy is right while Faith was wrong. in Myth, Metaphor and Morality Mark Field (who I don't think is actually on Tumblr, technically, but who I'm referencing to avoid talking directly about the many people on Tumblr who agree with him) ties this in to the wider themes of Season 7, and describes the difference between Buffy and Faith as being that Faith is trying to avoid responsibility (for accidentally killing Allan Finch) while Buffy is taking responsibility (for doing what has to be done and killing Anyanka).

And yes, Buffy is doing something different to Faith here. She is not trying to say that she doesn't have to be accountable. She is not making excuses for her own mistakes or bad behaviour. She is trying to do (what she perceives as being) the right thing.

But Buffy is wrong as well. She is proved wrong within this episode. She doesn't have to kill Anya: in fact, she fails to kill Anya (indeed, given what we see of vengeance demons in The WIsh and in Older and Far Away I don't believe Buffy could possibly have killed Anya, but I know that vengeance demon lore is even less rigorous than vampire soul lore). The problem of Anya being a vengeance demon is resolved, not by Buffy, but by the people she was giving her speech to. The people who she was arguing didn't have a say.

Buffy is wrong, too, within the show's established lore. There is a mystical guidebook (even if her Watcher didn't have her read it), and there is a Council (even if they're far from all-knowing, Buffy could have been making use of their resources ever since she asserted her importance to them in Checkpoint, but she chose not to do this). And Buffy isn't alone. (At least Faith got the number of Slayers right in her speech!)

And Buffy is also wrong in terms of the wider season arc. Season 7 is not about Buffy saving the day by heroically taking all the world's burdens on to herself and making all the decisions. Her attempts to beat the First this way end disastrously; cutting herself off from her friends and her family and the very the Potentials she's trying to protect.

(Yes, the climatic scene in Empty Places is poorly written, but the season does very deliberately have Buffy fail to establish any sort of rapport or connection with the Potentials and spend less and less time with her friends. Buffy isn't blameless for those relationships falling apart, even if having her friends and sister kick her out of her own house is absurd.)

Instead of being the lone voice of judgment, Buffy beats the First and saves the world by not isolating herself. By working with her friends; by realizing they can do things she can't; by sharing her power with the Potentials (because "my power should be our power"); by reconnecting with Faith; by accepting help from Angel and from Spike; and by realizing that the people who "made up the rules" for Slaying thousands of years ago made a mistake.

The whole point of Chosen is that it is a refutation of the vision of being a Slayer that Buffy outlines in this episode.

Quoting it uncritically as if it sums up who Buffy is as a person is like, well, using Andrew's speech about "the Dark Slayer" to describe Faith. (Which ... oh, yeah, people also do.)

[starry-pierrot]

Sleeping Critters

So I'm not the biggest fan of Poppy...at least until CH3 had come out. Don't get me wrong I still dislike the creators and I'll never pay for the game but the smiling critters and Dogday got me. So have this super indulgent fic! Also this is canon divergent so not 100% accurate to the lore!

Warnings: Mention of cannibalism, death. Kissy Missy is dead (Hoping she's alive in CH4)

Characters: Dogday, Reader, Poppy, Smiling Critters

After defeating the prototype you, Dogday and Poppy try to rebuild what you can of PlaytimeCo to offer whoever is left a safer home.

===================

You were tired. 

Very tired. 

About a month ago you had finally defeated the prototype, freeing whatever toys that were left in PlaytimeCo from its claws. But that also left you with a lot more work to do. You could have just left it all behind and maybe taken Poppy and Dogday with you but that wouldn’t be fair to the rest of them. 

Not to mention you did not have the space to house a partially giant dog. 

And he had wanted to stay to watch over the rest of the smiling critters…wherever they are.. Now that Catnap was out of the way they might see some reason. Which is why you were so tired. After everything had been dealt with you agreed to help Poppy and Dogday find the others, to build a new home in PlayTime Co, even if it was temporary. 

Who knew when whoever owned the damn buildings would come and legally claim them someday. Sure it’s already been years but you wouldn’t be surprised if the titles were transferred to someone else after so long. But until then rebuilding would at least make everyone more comfortable. 

The problem was that…you three had hardly found anyone just yet. Poppy knew there probably wasn’t much of the toys left but still she encouraged you to check every nook and cranny you could. So far you’ve only found a few Mini Huggy’s, a Cat-bee and a Candy cat. It’s not much but it's cute to see them all snuggled on some of the beds in the orphanage. 

 “Angel, are you sure? I can go by myself.” Dogday asked as he looked at you, the two of you were standing at the entrance to Playhouse. “You haven’t been sleeping much lately.” 

“No, I can do it. Besides I’d rather not leave you to potentially cannibalistic little fur balls if I can help it.” You manage to hold back a yawn before reaching for the door. “I’ve handled them before, I got the flares.” 

Meanwhile Dogday only had his hands and a pipe you had torn off from the wall when it was loose, you’d be more worried if you hadn’t closed his lower half with a sewing kit. And now he seems to get around alright on that little bright yellow gym scooter. But still you worry he might get overwhelmed. 

“If you say so. Just please don’t go too far from me.” Dogday urges as you open the door and slip inside. Much like the last time you visited the place was a mess, meaning those wheels on Dogday’s scooter aren’t going to be much help. 

“Seems the dog is gonna have to do a trick to get around.” You tease as you step over some toys that were left on the ground.” 

“Har har, Angel.” There was no malice in the fake laugh, planting his hands on the ground he hauled himself up into a handstand he began to follow behind you as you searched. If it was one thing that was annoying it was all the crawling you had to do, your knees weren't meant for all this crawling!

“Hey Little critters! We have food back in the orphanaaaggee!” You try to draw them out but so far the two of you haven’t seen any of them. You don’t remember seeing many on the prototype, it couldn’t have killed all of them could it? No, there were far too many. 

“Catnap is gone, you don’t have to listen to him anymore!” Dogday called out as he crawled around on his belly, “Come on you little fellas!” 

Where the heck could they be hiding? This play house wasn’t that big! Maybe if-

CRACK!

“ANGEL!” 

Suddenly the floor snapped under you, you would think you would have remembered to check that considering what happened the last time. But suddenly you were tumbling down and down..and down-what did you find a secret deep tunnel or something?!

“Ooof!” Hitting the ground hard you could help but gasp as the wind was knocked out of you, your already tired body screaming in pain from the impact. 

“Angel!?” You could barely hear him calling from the top of the hole, “ Angel are you okay?? Say something!” 

It took you a moment but eventually you turned over, “Yeah…y-yeah I’m alive.” With a groan you sat up noticing that you seem to have fallen into a hidey hole. It looked like it had been dug out, there was another hole further up but there was no way you could reach it. 

“Stay there I’ll…I’ll come find you!” Dogday said, “That or I’ll find some rope.” 

“Nowhere I can go!” You call up and after a few more moments of talking Dogday was off to find something to pull you up with. Which just left you here…alone…in a dark and quiet spot. Oh this was going to be terrible. You didn’t even have your phone or heck even a book on you. 

Sure you were fine when you were moving around but now that you had to sit here and wait in an admittedly comfortable little spot…your eyes were drooping after the first ten minutes. You knew you should have listened to Poppy when she told you to get more rest. Jerking your head up you shook yourself trying to wake yourself up a little more. But that didn’t seem like it was working much. 

“Dogday?” you tried calling up hoping that he was still nearby but with no response you had no choice but to sit and stay. “Well shit..” Your eyes grew heavier and soon against your will your eyes closed as your head dipped into the crook of your shoulder. 

Only for you to jerk awake once more which quickly turned into a little spat with your body as you tried to stay awake. Too bad your body had won out eventually. 

You had fallen asleep.  --

“Angel!” 

“Angel!!” 

You cracked your eyes open to the darkness, feeling awfully comfortable in the little hole you had fallen in. Was it always this warm down here? 

“Angel!” Dogday yelled whispered at you, frantically trying to get your attention. Looking up you could see him erratically moving a hand only to stop once he’s realized you were awake. “Oh thank god! Don’t move! I’ll l-lower the rope down!” 

He must've found some rope. Good thing because your legs were starting to cramp from the curled position you were in, “How long was-” 

“SHHHH!” He quickly hushed you. “I said don’t move! Be quiet!” 

What? “Wh-why?” 

“Sh! Sh! Just-quiet! And..don’t look down.”

 Well now you had to look down. And when you did you had to force every bit of nerve in your body to stay still, a squeak just barely escaping your lips. Even stuck in the dark you could make out a Catnap Smiling Critter sitting right on your chest, sleeping. Little growling snores filled the space and when you looked around you could see at least one of every single smiling critter either sleeping next to you or outright on top of you. 

Something touched your head and looking up revealed the rope Dogday had lowered down to you. Craftycorn had taken your right arm hostage but luckily the left one was free. 

“Just hang on…gonna t-tug you up alright?” It wasn’t much of a game plan but the idea of being tugged out only to have to run was better than staying down here in a potential feeding hole. Lifting your free arm up you almost grip the rope when you feel movement. 

Looking back down your eyes stare into the little Catnap’s eyes alight with their white pupils. The two of you stared at one another for a moment. It wasn’t attacking. But if you broke the spell that seemingly had overtaken the two of you…would it? You did come here after all to try and get them to go back with you, to save them. 

Best case scenario Dogday pops your shoulder out of your socket while pulling you up to get you away from the man eating plushies so the both of you can run. 

Worst case you become a meal. 

Taking a breath you lick your dry lips “T-the prototype is dead....we can feed you. At the orphanage.” You whispered, “I can fix you up.”  You knew the Critters were experiments made from children but did they even know that anymore? Dogday had made it sound like they still could understand what was going on like most normal children but would the years of being down here change their view point to follow the strongest out of the pack? 

Still the little creature stared at you for a long while before it bumped its head against your cheek making a little sound. 

You felt your heart beat hard in your chest as you stayed still, soon it became apparent that the little critter wasn’t going to hurt you. Lowering your arm down you carefully petted between it's ears, “Um…ya know what just let them nap for a moment.” You say while looking up at a panicked and still nervous Dogday.  --

It took almost an hour before the other Smiling critters in the hole woke up and much like the Catnap one they all just stared at you. It was a little unnerving in the dark but once Dogday pulled you up and the little critters climbed up behind you, you couldn’t help but coo a little bit at them surrounding your feet. 

“Ohh who’s an adorable little monster?” You smile as you pick up a Hoppy Hopscotch and scratch right under it's chin. Catnap had climbed up onto your shoulder and a Dogday one had been attached at your ankle. 

“Angel…please don’t tease them like that.” Dogday’s voice was flat, clearly unamused at you acting like they were adorable little creatures and not the monstrous flesh eating plushies they were. 

“But look at them!” Holding out Hoppy you pouted at the dog, “They’re harmless!...at least now they’re harmless!” 

Dogday’s eye twitched at that, “I question how much self preservation you have. Lets just get them back to the orphanage. I’m sure Poppy will be happy we found more toys.” Seems the dog still had some nerves about the critters, but it was only right considering what had happened down here.

"Okay okay, I'm coming!" Pulling Hoppy back you began walking behind the dog and the smiling critters followed closely behind. 

“I’m cooking all of you some beef.” 

--- Please like and reblog if you like!

[makoredeyes]

What's a favorite lore piece you've read for the sake of writing fics?

Oh goodie you gave me a good one here because I love to screech about this one whenever given the chance because I don't think a lot of people have ever noticed this.

This Grimoire card is from the Rise of Iron expansion in D1 and is one of Rasputin's Logs. It's what appears* to be his knee-jerk reaction to the Iron Lords' break in to Site 6 where SIVA is kept.

I reference this lore directly in my Isochronism fics, but it's also one of my absolute favorites regarding Rasputin, Felwinter, and SIVA because of some of the fascinating little details that, so many years further down the road into the story, we can pick out of it. I'll unpack it for us, but TLDR Rasputin is a fucking LIAR.

Rasputin likes to keep his records in some pretty purple prose code so I'll start by decoding most of the terms he uses here, and then I'll back up and loosely translate it for us all.

--

YUGA SUNDOWN- cancels all protocols for protecting humanity/activates MIDNIGHT EXIGENT

MIDNIGHT EXIGENT - long term counterattack protocol and moral structure change. Essentially allows Rasputin to ignore morals for the 'greater good'

[O] Means the Traveler /ie [O] Energy = Lightbearers

SKYSHOCK - usually there's other qualifiers attached to this but it indicates hostiles of an unprecedented scale

AURORA RETROFLEX - A defense subroutine - presumed to be for when Rasputin is directly threatened

SUBTLE ASSETS IMPERATIVE - Meaning this is in secret/does not escape Rasputin's records

SCRY OVERSIGHT - is an observation protocol but here is used in conjunction with SILENT VELES which means effectively "no oversight"

--

I'm going to start by pointing out that that very first line indicates SOMEONE gained unauthorized access into a terminal and managed to cancel at least one of Rasputin's protocols (YUGA SUNDOWN). Ballsy AF and imo pretty uncanny that they were even remotely successful. Rasputin immediately reverses this, but I can only assume the only person who would know to do this in the first place, let alone have the capabilities, would be Felwinter, especially among the Iron Lords, who appear to file in next in the very next line.

Rasputin records the arrival of the Iron Lords as a mighty surprise, and responds to them, in this record, as such, and as a threat.

This is incongruous with his admission later to Ana and the Guardian that he deliberately lured Felwinter (and his people) there deliberately. In this record, Rasputin has gone, "oh holy shit what the hell is that turn off all my moral structures I don't know what the hell those things are fire everything purge it all kill it kill it kill it!"

*And also I'm going to turn off my body camera (see SCRY OVERSIGHT + SILENT VELES) and don't ask permission or tell anyone ever (SUBTLE ASSETS IMPERATIVE)

Even though he made sure they found this vault.

This is all 1000% deliberate, premeditated, and a forged record my friends.

Edit: *semi- forged, or perhaps more accurately greatly bending the truth. Sylenth makes some damn good points in the comments that I kind of glossed over on my analysis and kind of took for granted but she’s right and it should be pointed out.

(also, worth noting, that REPLICATE.ELIMINATE.IMMUNIZE imperative sent to SIVA that is recorded here is different than what is recorded elsewhere also)

[iamcautiouslyoptimistic]

Call of Duty Werewolves🐺 - Part 2!

{Author's Note} Since y'all loved the first part so much, here's a second for you to enjoy! I've included more lore and some cute werewolf snippets for each of the characters I mentioned in the first post so hopefully I managed to write them all accurately. I'll probably do a fic for one of them at some point so let me know who you'd like to see! Thank you for all the love and please feel free to write/ask for more headcanons for this AU! I'm having so much fun with it❤️ Happy Halloween! 🎃🧟‍♂️👻 >Call of Duty Werewolf AU -> Part 1 >Shadow Company Snippet by @http-paprika -> SC Werewolf AU (she's also writing her own werewolf AU fic so go give it some love👀)

~ ~ ~

>Werewolves have fangs in both forms. The human canines are replaced by longer, sharper teeth when natural werewolves lose their baby teeth. In bitten werewolves, the human canines are pushed out within their first month of being turned. While in human form, only the sharper tips are visible, resulting in fanged smiles (just imagine your favorite boy flashing you a fanged grin👀). When transforming, the teeth extend from the gums as the muzzle forms.

>Werewolf hair and nails grow faster and are usually thicker, requiring more frequent trimming, especially after a transformation.

>Werewolves heal faster than their human counterparts. Cuts heal in a few minutes, broken bones take days rather than weeks. Most tissues can be fully regenerated, except for entire limbs. The canine teeth will always be replaced if lost.

>Bones and muscles are thicker and heavier than those of humans, resulting in increased strength and stamina.

>Werewolves digest meat more easily than humans and prefer carnivorous diets. It's healthier for them to consume more meat on a regular basis.

>Werewolf senses are far more acute than humans'. They have great night vision and colors are more vivid to them, as if the saturation has been increased. Their enhanced hearing, however, can be problematic and a werewolf will often have to learn how to tune out certain sounds so they're not completely overwhelmed. Scent is also important to them as it denotes health, emotional state, and belonging. Familiar smells offer comfort, whether they belong to people, places, or things.

>While transformed, werewolves can't really speak. The fangs and muzzle tend to prevent intelligible human speech. On the other hand, their unique vocal cords allow for animalistic grunts and growls, even in human form.

>Transformations will always be painful for both werewolf types. With practice, the process can become smoother and faster but it will always have a pinch, especially as the face changes. Heightened emotions can trigger the beginnings of the change, though it takes a conscious effort to completely transform, unless a werewolf is suffering from moon blindness. Bitten werewolves tend to be more reactive but transform more slowly as it takes longer for their bodies to get used to the shift in comparison to natural werewolves, who are specially built for it from birth.

>A werewolf's transformed state is so dependent on their human traits that they don't always look very wolfish. Some can look like coyotes, foxes, or even bears because of differing body types, features, and hair colors.

>Poisonous to humans, wolfsbane also has an adverse effect on werewolves. It clouds their senses and prevents them from transforming but it won't kill them. It's often used to control a werewolf and keep them in line. However, it can also be mixed into a poultice to treat wounds caused by silver.

>Silver causes mild allergic reactions in werewolves. It only becomes fatal when enough of it pierces the skin and enters the bloodstream, which is why hunters lace their weapons and bullets with silver. Despite this, many werewolves still revere the metal for its association with the Moon.

🌙 🐺 🌙

💲Price is the fluffiest. His iconic beard remains when he's transformed, making him easily recognizable, though he has been mistaken for a bear in the past. If you laugh at that fact, he'll simply huff in feigned annoyance and lay on top of you to prevent you from escaping. Being a natural werewolf, not only does he have more hair but Price's transformations are about as easy as they can be so he'll often use his time with you to relax and catch up on sleep. He sleeps the most soundly when you're cuddled into his chest or back, your face pressed to his fluffy mane. He loves hearing about how much you love his fluff and secretly takes pride in it.

💀Ghost is the biggest. As a 6'4 mountain of a man, he's even larger when transformed. It'll take some getting used to, especially when he transforms in your living space. If you try to make the area more comfortable for him, he'll be especially grateful for your effort. More than anything, he'll just want to be close and feel your touch. His body aches after he transforms and he's more easily overwhelmed so the gentleness of your hands helps him settle into this second shape. No matter how many times you've seen him transformed, he'll always feel some degree of shame around you so make sure he knows just how adored he is.

🧼Soap is the most playful. His transformations tend to energize him rather than exhaust him so expect him to be bouncing off the walls for a bit. If you match his energy level, he'll never let you go. He'll want to chase you and wrestle around but he's hyper-aware of his own strength so any change in your attitude will make him settle down. Once he's burned through that extra energy, he'll just want to listen to you ramble about anything that comes to mind, even if he can't really respond.

🧢Gaz is the sweetest. In the field, he’s known for his level-headedness and clever quips. When he gets home, he’s nothing but a big softie with you. His favorite place to be is in your lap, his wolfish head snuggled against your stomach as you card your fingers through his hair. To know that you accept and love this side of him warms his heart and he'll let you know just how happy it makes him with plenty of cuddles and kisses. He absolutely loves hearing you giggle and does just about anything he can to get that reaction from you.

🦿Alex is the most sensitive. All werewolves tend to be very in-tune with their surroundings, especially in the military, but Alex is even more so. His job as a secret agent of sorts has honed his ability to pick up on the tiniest changes in his environment and, when it comes to you, he's even more aware of your reactions. A slight change in your scent or heartbeat will immediately have him hurrying to your side to check in. More often than not, he can tell if he's actually needed but you're always grateful for his attentiveness and respond with a reassuring hand to his head or chest so he knows you're alright. When you're not, prepare for some inescapable werewolf cuddles.

🪦Graves is the most stubborn. As the Commander of Shadow Company, one of the most notorious groups of werewolves around, he's used to getting his way. When it comes to you, however, he tends to give in far more easily, especially so when he's transformed. A simple scratch around his ears or under his chin will make him melt in seconds and he'll never be able to resist when you run your fingers through the sandy blond hair covering his neck. The usually snarling and snapping werewolf commander will want nothing more than to hold you close, peppering your skin with gentle kisses and warm huffs of breath. Just don't let his Shadows know or he’ll withhold his cuddles.

🐺 🌙 🐺

*BONUS: Werewolf features! Thought it'd be fun to do short descriptions of how I imagine the boys! This includes height, eye color, and hair color for each of them. Pretty straightforward lol

💲Price - 6'2" -> 7'2" ; blue eyes ; brown hair w/ strands of gray

💀Ghost - 6'4" -> 7'4" ; brown -> yellow-amber eyes ; dirty blond/brown hair

🧼Soap - 5'10" -> 6'10" ; blue eyes ; dark brown hair

🧢Gaz - 5'11" -> 6'11" ; dark brown -> orange eyes ; black hair

🦿Alex - 6' -> 7' ; blue -> silvery-gray eyes ; light brown hair

🪦Graves - 6' -> 7' ; blue eyes ; sandy blond hair

[nitewrighter]

Hi! I'm very new to the overwatch Fandom and am currently obsessing over your fan kids (specifically Seye bc I don't see a lot of doom content and I love him) ANYWAY, doomfist does die, right? If so, who is it that kills him, and how do Seye and his mother react? I did read the post about Seye eventually destroying the doomfist with some help, but am super curious about some of what happens in between and after :>

Wow! Asks that make me dig through my ancient 'Marsey' tag.

To be honest, I used to be SUPER protective and vague when it came to stuff at this stage of the story I wanted to tell with my fankids, and was also being sadly dangled along by Blizzard's breadcrumbs of lore---I was in a dance with Blizzard where, I did have a very strong idea of how I wanted the story to end, but I was also dependent on Blizzard for canon lore so that I could make my ending the most accurate, the most satisfying. But seeing as there's basically only lore drops now because Blizzard no longer gives a shit about continuity or quality, and basically the cast has expanded so much since I initially plotted it out that I'll probably have to reconfigure this ending in some capacity anyway, I can talk about it now.

Basically there were two avenues I could have taken with Doomfist, the first one, that actually had those Marsey fics, where it was basically a 'continuation' of the Doomfist cycle, that is, some guy challenges Doomfist for the gauntlet and is able to kill him and take the gauntlet, which obviously puts Seye into a lurch as Doomfist's son and the previously assumed successor. I literally didn't have a name for this would-be killer, and in a way, it didn't really matter because you as the reader weren't supposed to see Doomfist's killer as the rightful bearer of the mantle and Seye's whole arc would be defeating this guy (with Marti's help) and then basically shutting down the weird Metal Gear-esque war cult that's risen around the Doomfist gauntlet as a symbol.

The other option was that Doomfist would be killed in the Final Battle™ at Nepal by... drumroll... Junkrat and Roadhog. NOW BEFORE YOU YELL AT ME, Junkrat and Roadhog would also die in this fight. Roadhog would die before Junkrat, but Junkrat would basically be talking to a very clearly bled-out-past-the-point-of-no-return-and-unconscious Roadie like, "It's okay, Roadie, you can take a nap. I can wrap this up," Before pulling all of the pins on all the grenades on his little chest harness while clinging onto Doomfist. Okay you can yell at me more now. But mostly I loved the combination of dramatic irony of Doomfist being consumed in these fires of chaos, and of the ~Junkers~ of all people going out in a blaze of glory against one of Overwatch's Final Bosses. I had this in my brain for years before Junkrat even got his "I killed the Doomfist!!" elimination line, btw. Doomfist views conflict as its own sort of order, but ends up getting killed by the wacky Mad Max randos who have kind of been the comic relief this whole time. Basically the fact that the Doomfist gauntlet itself would also be destroyed in this kind of fight would aslo be the thing that ends the cycle. That was also the battle that was vaguely referenced in this fic.

In both potential deaths for Doomfist, Seye becomes disillusioned enough with Talon as an organization to basically split off and form his own splinter mercenary organization (I was going to use my Talon Goon OC's as his starting lineup, haha), and he also attempts to create his own mantle as "Earthshaker" but he's still deeply affected by Doomfist's death because that's so much of his identity and he's had this enormous fear of irrelevance all of his life. Like this isn't just the grief of losing a father, this is the threat of oblivion that he's dreaded his entire life. As for Seye's mother, Tejuka, it's less of a blow to her--she more or less came to terms with the fact that Doomfist really doesn't have the philosophy or lifestyle to "go peacefully in his sleep," and that's one of the reasons why they divorced and she put so much effort into grooming Seye to actually be the successor of Ogundimu Prosthetics. Dying is easy, living's harder, etc, etc.

[tobi-smp]

are the gorillaz those guys with the animated music videos that have lore n stuff ??

context: [Link]

yeah they are !! I've been aware of them basically since I've had an internet connection, even if I wasn't always are of it, though I've been putting off getting Into them for basically as long specifically because I Did know there was a story but didn't know how to get into it

I watched a video essay on it the other day, and Specifically on the fact that their most ambitious story telling venture nearly killed the entire band. or more accurately Did kill it until the band reformed with sort of a soft reboot. the video is Really good, you can watch it here uwu [Link]

everything about it scratched the Sorting part of my brain, the nearly lost media the websites preserved through 15 year old youtube videos and walk throughs, the ambitious plotline left hanging by canon and yet never forgotten, the Everything

so ! I've started a project, that ended up turning into Two In One

first I wanted to collect All gorillaz media and put it roughly in order. all the music, all of the shorts, all of the commercials, specials, live appearances, books, interviews, podcasts, radio dramas, Etc Etc Etc that I could physically find on youtube into One Playlist. so if someone asks "how do find out more about gorillaz" it's all there baby

my Second task, which came to me as I was sorting and came across some True masterpieces from the fandom (such as three and half hours of a fandub audio book with in character voice acting, or finishing the animation for scrapped music videos that existed in the form of canon animatics).

and that's seeing how far I could get into crafting a cohesive and satisfying narrative for "plastic beach" (the aforementioned storyline that almost killed the series but fucked big time), Including An Ending, while still keeping it roughly in line with canon. and it turns out the answer to that is Pretty Damn Far.

I'm still working on that Huge Massive playlist, which is understandable since I started three days ago. (though it can be found here for anyone that wants to poke through it while it's under renovations [Link])

But I decided to make Another playlist that's Just all of the songs and all of the shorts for phases 1-3 in one place. Because it's less intimidating for new fans (that don't hyperfix instantly like me jfkladsjklfads), for Binging Purposes (which you wanna just let all the videos autoplay without having to skip around a 5 episode pirate drama), And because it's Finished jklfdasjklfads

so ! If you wanna watch all of the first half of gorillas, including a Finished Plastic Beach, Click here [Link]

I'll probably make another playlist like that for phase 4-present once I finish the main playlist ! I like the idea of keeping them separate both because it just feels right with the sort of soft reboot that happened between them, And so that I can justify shoving the recent songs that Do reference the plastic beach story line into phase 1-3 playlist without having to break the continuity of the 4-7 playlist, Like This

I'm Almost Certainly gonna make another, Shorter, announcement once all of the playlists are Done. but ! I'm happy to get the chance to do it now too fjksldaljkfsad

@sunlitmcgee

[phantomoftheorpheum]

PLL: OS (Summer School) Finale Predictions

*Spoilers for 2x01-2x07, the final 3 episodes trailer, AND SOME ONLINE BTS AND CONCEPT ART

Okay, I wanted to post my 2x08 predictions early enough in the week that I could hear your thoughts as well. So here they are-

I believe Bloody Rose is a team of minimum 3 people. My best guess is 1 mother who has lost a child (Mrs. Lansgberry, Mrs. Beasley, Dr. Sullivan), 1 film obsessed character (Wes, Christian, not actually dead Chip [though I have some reservations about that last one which I'll talk about in a minute]), 1 additional love interest (Jen, Johnny, Christian, etc.)

I've been saying most of the season that I think the BR team members may have different end goals. I believe someone is attempting to make a movie, but I also believe someone else (in this case, one of the mothers who has lost a child) fully believes their own lore and has a motivation related to their child. As for the love interests, depending on which one is on the team, I believe it would be for different reasons. If it's Christian, I think it's movie related. If it's Jen, I believe it's financially motivated. And if it's Johnny, then I think he must be related to or former friends with Chip (or possibly someone else, but Chip makes the most sense) because I don't believe we've been given any other possible motivation for him.

I think the "mother" of the BR team is attempting to resurrect her dead child. I have to shout out mr.-walkingrainbow for this one, I highly recommend going back and read this ask, because this has completely informed this part of my theory (I would tag you, but I'm about to talk about some concept art that was released in a minute, and since this is extra spoilery, I didn't want to spoil you if you don't want to know), which is based in the use of Christian imagery and the focus on resurrection. To me, this makes the most sense for it to be Mrs. Langsberry attempting to resurrect Chip, because of Tabby being the final, final girl. She has more connection to this storyline if it is Chip-centric. However, some of my lingering questions point more to Dr. Sullivan attempting to resurrect Sebastian.

I believe the BR team is setting up a fall guy for their plot. Or, more accurately, I believe whichever member of the team is making a movie is setting up a fall guy (they may intend for the other members of the team to die). At this point, it feels the most likely that if there is a fall guy, that person is Wes, but it could also be Christian or even Mrs. Beasley.

Characters most likely to die, even if they aren't villains, imo - Johnny, Greg, Shawn, and Henry. Johnny because of the shots from the trailer (though I think this is less likely since I believe an officially affiliated account posted this screen-cap, drawing attention to it, and that feels like a huge spoiler. This has me leaning towards "this is either an Imogen hallucination/nightmare, or he is wounded but not killed"). Greg because it feels like they could be setting him up to die for Faran (however, the fact that we know he's had scenes cut earlier in the season makes me feel less confident about this, since you would think if they were going to kill him off, they'd do their best to make us really care about that first), Shawn because at this point I find myself asking why they even bothered to bring him back for this season, and this could be used as a consequence for Noa's actions, particularly if Jen is a bad guy, and finally Henry because, again, why is he even here? He's had a fall from grace this season so I could see him being killed off to add to the finale body count.

Imogen will stab someone. This may happen in a nightmare or hallucination, or it may be real, but I think this is a "rule of threes" thing and she is stabbing someone in 2x08.

If a dead character is going to be revealed as alive, I think it will be Chip. I'm not convinced that we are getting a "surprise, they're alive!" reveal at all, but if there is one, it makes the most sense for this to be Chip, imo. Chip is connected to Tabby, who is the final, final girl. He is obsessed with horror movies. His mother is a member of the cult. He is the father (biologically only, it feels gross to call this man a father) of Imogen's baby. He died off screen. The actor was brought back for flashbacks and that nightmare scene with Wes, but despite 2x01 opening with all of Archie's kills, we still don't see Chip's death. And he had a great motivation to fake his death, as he was going to be forced to either stand trial or take a plea deal in his r*pe case, which the girls specifically mention not getting the closure of that in 2x01.

OKAY SERIOUSLY SOME SPOILERS FROM ONLINE, NOT THE SHOW OR THE TRAILER, PLEASE STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE ANYTHING. ---- However, I think it's more likely Chip is the dead child whose mother is attempting to resurrect him. This feeling comes from some a combo of the concept art (which I think is real because it matches the BTS footage that has been released, though I don't know where the concept art was originally posted or by whom) of the season and the promotional poster. It's been pointed out to me that there appears to be some sort of body underneath the roses that Tabby is kneeling in front of in the promotional poster. In the concept art for 2x08 that is floating around, we see what is presumably Tabby's test location, which is the altar of Kelly's church. On one side, there is a body lying on a bed of roses. There's been some speculation that this is one of Rose's other victims, but... why only one? She's killed at least 4 people that we know of, so why place only one of these on the altar alongside the throne? (The only one I could make an argument for is Pastor Malachi, since he was the pastor of this church). The bed of roses feels like a veneration of this character, which I can't imagine BR doing with any of her victims. I believe this is a loved one, probably her child.

I believe the purpose of the online BR cult and "The Reckoning" is to create big finale action sequences for the film. If someone is making a real life horror movie, you can't exactly advertise that you're looking for extras.

Some Unresolved Stuff That Really Bothers Me

There are a few things that bother me with my own predictions, elements of the story that I don't have a strong explanation for, unless Dr. Sullivan turns out to be the "mother" in my theory. I do want to mention them here, in case any of you have any ideas.

Who/What does the snake in Imogen's poster represent? All of the posters have reflected quite literally the "tests" the girls are going through, except for the snake in Imogen's. The rest of her poster accurately represents her test, so why is there a snake? It seems that this would either be representative of "The Serpent" from the Garden of Eden, possibly whispering to/influencing Imogen. If so, the character that fits this the best would be Dr. Sullivan. Or possibly the snake represents temptation, which could be Johnny. I also noticed that Imogen wears a snake ring in the scene where she threatens to cut off Rebecca's fingers.

What is the connection to Rose Waters, Angela, and Archie? While Chip and his mother would have the most relevance to Tabby specifically, I struggle to see how any of this would connect to the Waters plot. It that seems out of the remaining characters, Dr. Sullivan in the mother with the most connection here.

Who pushed Dr. Sullivan down the stairs? Another unresolved Dr. Sullivan plot point. It feels weird that they've completely dropped this.

The Bloody Rose poster - In the concept art, we see a poster with Bloody Rose and a golden figure (a mother?) above her. I'm far too tired to try to understand what this is referencing.

So, that's it for now. I think I got most of my big predictions out of the way. As always, shoot me an ask if you have any thoughts/theories that you'd like to share!

[siswritesyanderes]

Hey just a random anon poppin' in to say love your fic on Deltarune, ngl at first thought I wouldn't like it had been reading a lot of stuff looking for a good yandere kris as I was craving it but all of them left me disconnected how ironic with your fic title it finally scratched that itch and even allowed me to start reading some other stuff now feeling more connected to the idea of kris

However, don't think I've found one yet that tops your idea of them and the way you write them (I've also only looked on Tumblr so far but with how great yours has been at having me on the edge of my seat I don't know if I'll ever find one that tops you)

And goner! Goner is amazing! I usually end up either just accepting or hating a lot of writers who insert characters that feel like mostly oc material but goner doesn't at all and fits really well with the story (Really impressive tbh cuz sometimes on first readings even when a character isn't the op oc insert and actually plays into the story I can end up feeling eh about them just due to deciding they are but goner just immediately on the first few lines captivated me)

It probably helps that most of it is your interpretation on them since Kris also doesn't have much personality known about them so cause of that nothing feels screaming out of place or wrong instead it reminds me of when I read a lot of au stuff- with fics that feel like their trying to capture the magic of the source material I think I get a lot more critical but your writing in this fic has it's own magic and lore

Like why they're both obsessed! The SOUL is pretty much drug-like and addicting to such a point without their guidance Kris is crippled, this not only creates amazing tension with their weakened state but also really makes you think about if it's actually even good for either of them to pine after the very soul that will take them both over. But as the soul we also have a life not of our own to live, to see, and explore every possibility and every outcome. The reader is almost god-like with resets but an easily chained-up one without a host. Which also creates an understanding of why Kris chooses to put the reader in a cage, limit them and create interest and mystery but also because that feeling of power over something so powerful has to also be somewhat addicting and why they view the soul as wholeheartedly (pun intended) *theirs*

And it also shows how much they're willing to go through to get it back that even while weakened and at every possible disadvantage they still want to risk it all.

And honestly with all of this really do feel like the SOUL in this situation, which may be my favorite part as the main element you do keep in deltarune is that feeling of playing a game. Is there that concern for goner? Yes, but do I also want to see how far goner and kris will go tearing each other apart to see who gets the SOUL? Also yes. Recreates that aspect of deltarune very well including the accurate freak out every person playing games has when the character their playing makes a sudden decision [See goner killing a monster cuz they called them Kris] and it perfectly ties it back into the plot and uses it to make further tension as the SOUL just goes along this new path while Kris is freaking out thinking there have already been resets because of it.

Just? Love? So? Much?

Keep doing what you're doing- I hope my feedback has only influenced you in positive ways- (slightly debated on taking out the more negative aspects where I mentioned things I disliked in other fics and things I hyper-fixated on or possibly misremembered outa fear it would make you change yourself too much- I have no idea what I'm talking about or what makes a story a good story only what makes my brain go brrrrrrr and that's all you should read this as, someone just really over-excited rn- ill probably calm down later)

Wow, thank you so much! This was an absolutely delightful ask/comment! I'm so glad you've been enjoying Verge of Connection so far! It's been very fun to write. 😁

[pinkautist]

i have another VERY original question!! top 5 video games :3

YIPPEE another question! i actually don't know if i actually even HAVE five favorite games, but i'll try this!

Bloodborne

Persona 3/4/5

Fire Emblem Awakening/Fates

Pokémon (can't pick a favorite game so i'm going with the franchise)

WorldNeverland - Elnea Kingdom

bloodborne gets to be at the top of this list, even though it's largely unorganized, MAINLY BECAUSE it pretty much saved my life back in 2018 or something. i got extremely good at the game, despite how difficult it was, and it apparently happened so fast that my boyfriend that the time became jealous ^^" it's a great game that accurately portrays eldritch horror with a really neat lore that i really could go on for hours about.

i listed the persona games as one because i got into one because of the other and i played all of them around the same time, so. as i've told my mom, in terms of aesthetic, persona 5 is my favorite, and in terms of characterization, persona 4 is my favorite, but persona 3 holds a special place in my heart because it was the first one i'd ever played. the persona series is really neat because it introduced me to a lot of eastern psychology theories, such as the idea of the shadow self and whatnot. it also introduced me to the concept of the subconscious manipulating how people view and interact with the world, and just. a lot of neat psychology things. it's another series that i could just go on and on about LOL

the first fire emblem game i ever played was awakening. i was playing it while my mom and sister were, and i vividly remember talking to and recruiting gaius, and then talking to my mom and sister about it and them just exchanging a look and being like, "YOU CAN RECRUIT HIM????" turns out, they had BOTH killed him during the battle LOL another memorable one was fates. i had played the conquest route first, and BOY, did that one MAKE ME CRY. to this day, my mom is STILL afraid to play that route, simply because my reaction was so raw.

and, well, of COURSE pokémon makes this list. your girl is autistic. that was my first ever hyperfixation. i had memorized type strengths and weaknesses before the age of ten, which i think has really influenced how i play games now. also, notice how many of these are turn-based games? yeah. i think pokémon had to do with that, too.

and worldneverland gets to be on this list! it's a mobile game that's been ported to switch, and while i am playing the mobile version, i WILL be buying the switch version when it goes in sale. i just bought a new switch because my old one was dying, so my bank account is kind of hurting 🥲 worldneverland is, like, the ULTIMATE life sim. you move into a kingdom as a traveler, and if you like it, you can become a citizen. from there you marry and have children while working to earn work points so you can make money. once you're done with your current character, you can pass down to one of your children while retaining all items from your previous life and pick a different career. it's really fun!

[lesbrarians]

Nona the Ninth: A Spoiler-Free Review

Disclaimer: I'm a librarian who received an Uncorrected Advance Reader Copy of Nona the Ninth. Thank you to TOR for providing me with this ARC.This review is my own and is not influenced in any way by the privilege of receiving this ARC. I swore on the Tomb not speak its secrets, and as promised, this review will contain no spoilers.

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The only negative thing I have to say about my experience of reading this book was simply that I could not sit down and read it all in one sitting. Unfortunately, I needed to do such stupid human things as go to work, eat, and sleep. Which was most unfortunate, because Nona was the most engrossing book I've read in a long time, and I would've rather read it than do, you know, any of those things.

I've been waffling about where Nona ranks in my personal ranking of the Locked Tomb books. Because like, I didn't think it was possible to like a book more than GtN, but tbfh? NtN is a strong contender to replace it.

This is not to say that NtN is similar in tone to GtN, though! One of the things I admire most about this series is how uniquely different each of the Locked Tomb books has been in terms of its narrative voice. And look, I'll be the first to say that I struggled when I read HtN at first. My brain had a really difficult time getting over the mental roadblock with the switch to second-person tense. Of course, the emotional payoff was worth it in the end! But it was a challenge for me to get into at first.

I didn't have that kind of mental roadblock with NtN. Nona immediately sucked me in. Her narrative voice is so different than the narrative voices found in Gideon or Harrow, and it is truly such a delight to read. It wasn't as meme-y as the first one or even the second one. I think I only caught like two legit memes? The humor was still on-point (when I tell you that there was one moment towards the end where I went from quiet blubbering to actual hooting with laughter, the emotional whiplash killed me and I loved every second of it), but it took the side seat next to the worldbuilding. God, the lore encased in NtN... I need a reread to really digest it all.

And Nona herself? Being inside her head is just... it's charming. Nona as a character absolutely charmed me. The little cover blurb of "You will love Nona, and Nona loves you"? Accurate in every respect. I would die for Nona. I was so sad to finish the novel and honestly wanted to flip back to the start to go on Nona's whole journey all over again. (Because goddamn, what a journey it was.)

Also, every other character in this, not just Nona, was amazing. I loved reading about every character on the Dramatis Personae, especially the "you three." Well, except for the dogs listed. There sadly wasn't enough of the dogs. Asides from Noodle. There was a satisfactory amount of Noodle, whomst I adored.

Let's talk (not really, because No Spoilers) about twists. I went into Nona with a starting theory, and as I read, my theories changed as we learned new pieces of information. There were a few twists where I picked up on the breadcrumbs that Tamsyn was laying and called it before it actually happened, which I must say is tremendously satisfying. And then there were a few twists that absolutely sucker-punched me right in the gut because I was not expecting them at all. And then I had one theory that I was convinced was gonna be true and... I mean, it wasn't confirmed. I suppose it wasn't also denied, though? I'll sit on it.

And now that I've finished writing this review... there's some research I need to do. A few things I've written down that I must look up. A few comparisons to make between my notes and the text.

And so much thinking I must do.

And after I do all that.... then I need to decide: do I immediately reread Nona, or do I go back and reread Harrow and Gideon first? Decisions, decisions.

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TL;DR Absolutely incredible. Thought-provoking, insane, amazing. As with Gideon and Harrow before them, I am so, so excited for the world at large to read Nona. It is worth the wait.

[blog-of-hubris]

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 179 - The Battle reaches its Climax

The Clash of Three Domains

The Sendai Colony has been crazy, and its very clear that the volatility is MUCH higher than that of Tokyo Colony One. The three way domain clash that was teased last chapter didn't happen this chapter and I am SOOO happy it turned out that way for multiple reasons;

The way domains work, a three way domain seemed very unlikely

How they would clash if they were to all open

Drawing it

The first reason ended up being explained in great detail within the chapter. Since Domains work by having to full fill certain conditions to have the barrier space created, it makes complete sense that three different domains with three different conditions for creation would make the barrier enclosing them unstable. That leads into my second issue which was how they would even class in three parts and if they did clash (the final reason) how in the world would Gege draw that having a fever?! That’s a lot of work, a lot of time, and it just doesn’t seem healthy, so I'm glad Gege went with this lore accurate outcome. 

The Cockroach Returns

I’m not surprised at all that Kurourushi was brought back but the timing was too good. Deciding to appear when these fighters are bleeding heavily and are pushing out the limits of their strength WHILE screaming out “I love the taste of iron” was so unexpected it made me scream with excitement!! Kurourushi being called a “black demon” a play on its name was cool too but the coolest part was the explanation that the fear of cockroaches in Japan went into this offspring Kurourushi making it have the same strength as the previous.

This honed in on the fact that Kurourushi is one of the 16 registered special grade curses, and I love when Gege does stuff like this. 

Uro’s Defeat

I am actually glad Uro got taken down first (but not killed) because I find her way more interesting than Ryu. I like Ryu’s motifs revolving around dessert, food, etc but the introspection we get with Uro + her past with the Fujiwara clan seems much more purposeful and useful to the current state of Jujutsu Kaisen. 

The reason why I say I’m glad she got beaten first is because Ryu feels like a character that must die, while Uro seems to be a character leading into much more. The way Yuta talked to her while they were fighting interested me, and he seemed to be very genuine with the things he said to her regarding fighting for someone you care about. Uro seems to me (and I'll do a character analysis when this colony arc is over) as a character who has much more to offer us and Yuta pointed out she only has killed Sorcerers, meaning she isn't just on a massacre, but trying to prove how powerful she is. 

This to me feels like a trait for a possible ally. Not someone who will be buddy buddy with the group but once Kenjaku’s “Bomb” goes off, she may become a character who the cast can side with to get things done. She’s not the only character I feel this way with either (Remi, Higaruma, etc). We didn't see a Kogane give points for her death, so she’s most likely alive and can be healed by Yuta. I don’t think she would take losing to heart, especially if Yuta explains that he isn’t even from the Fujiwara clan.. if he remembers. (LOL)

Yuta vs Ryu

For the final clash of this battle, having it be Ryu who has always been unsatisfied be up against Yuta who has bottomless cursed energy is pure perfection. The symbolism of greediness or gluttony to be precise in buddhism is well portrayed by Ryu and the consequences of that greed will come back to give him a helping he didn't expect. 

There isn't much I want to say here hence it being the last section, but the hype for this clash is high, especially since Yuta’s technique has not fully replenished yet. I’m sure it won’t be much of a hinderance for him but the implication of it works very well. I wonder how Ryu will be in his final moments of his second life. 

Can't wait for Chapter 180!!!