#It's basically what I stand for with Ghost and Jade

[thewertsearch]

Ah, the Sylladex. Across the entirety of my long, long journey through this comic, you've remained my oldest and dearest friend.

I honestly thought you'd run out of ways to surprise me - but as usual, I underestimated just how far you can really go with punch-card alchemy.

You flip the card over and look at the back. The thing about this modus you think is really cool is that instead of showing a completely useless wobbly garbled code on the back, it itemizes the components which could be used to create it!

The comic has just given us a way to reverse-engineer item recipes, which was one of the only missing pieces left to slot into the alchemy system. Back in Act 4, John was convinced that this was impossible, but Sollux solved it off-panel, and now we know how he did it.

This is pretty crazy, isn't it? We can deconstruct items now, allowing us to disassemble any object, and take a peek at the concepts that it's synthesized from. The potential utility here is insane. If this modus works on ghost images, we could tear apart a Kernelsprite, and see what makes it tick. Hell, we could tear apart a Genesis Frog.

...we could tear apart Skaia.

Just another wonderful innovation by your favorite company. It releases many products of an experimental nature, often with applicability to other kinds of technology and products which haven't hit the market yet.

But, of course, this wonderful innovation comes with some serious strings attached. I'm sure it was given to Jane for a reason, and she'll undoubtedly end up using it in a way that causes problems for us, and solutions for Lord English.

Ayy, it's the Matriorb!

Granted, this doesn't really help Kanaya recreate the thing. The orb's code was never that hard to obtain - just draw it on Jade's Pictionary modus, or something. No, the real issue is that the Matriorb is virtually inimitable, and as a result, its Grist cost is astronomical. Plus, it requires a type of Grist that we've never even seen before.

Edit: Wait, hang on. That's not the cost of the Matriorb, that's how much it would cost to use the Matriorb to make the hat. Strange, that the same item can have multiple Grist costs - but nonetheless, my point still stands. The Matriorb is probably too expensive to alchemize casually.

I suppose there's nothing stopping us from editing the Matriorb's code to try and make it cheaper. Like, perhaps we could scale down the recipe somehow, and try to just synthesize a single troll's genome, rather than the genetic base of an entire race. That would be a lot more affordable, and still useful.

You captchalogue your FAVORITE HAT, which is also your ONLY HAT. You spent basically your ENTIRE CHILDHOOD in this hat, pretending to be hard boiled detectives and whatnot.

I guess it sort of makes sense that the Matriorb can be used to make Dad's hat. The orb represents Alternian parenthood, and the book of prophecies it was merged with could represent the future. Combine those two concepts, and you get the future of parenthood, from the perspective of Alternia - in other words, the parenthood of humanity. So, the merger yields an item representing a human parent: Dad Egbert's hat.

Don't ask me about the potted plant, though. I haven't the foggiest.

[twistedpink]

One Night Stand with any of the octovinelle characters 🙂‍↕️

This is creative!! I feel like the tier list for likeliest one off is

1.Floyd (gets bored)

2.Azul (actually likes you, but gets rlly embarrassed)

3.Jade (so obviously we have to do him)

Jade leech is going on the hear me out cake, and you know he’s some mushroom creep- but it’s not your fault it’s so easy to get with losers!! Your exclusive night with Jade includes the two of you and the mountain lover’s storage closet ;) god aren’t you guys romantic, and he rocks but it’s not like you’re looking for a relationship!

But, one thing about Jade is that he doesn’t know what casual is (like, there isn’t even a word for it back home). You might be totally oblivious, but he throws his heart into his real passions, and he spends a lot of his time browsing. Poor Leech gets fully ghosted by you, and what is the poor, naive eel to do? :(

ONS!Jade becomes obsessed with his first romantic rendezvous, AND NOBODY ELSE KNOWS IT. He guards the secret with his life- if Floyd (or god forbid Azul) found out about his royal fumble he’d be ruined. The only logical course of action is the win you back, play with you until his heart’s content, and humiliate you in retaliation. It’s only fair.

ONS!Jade that learns to kiss sooooo good for you. He thinks about you to the point he goes insane, and then even farther off the deep end,, He’s trying so hard behind the curtain to make the two of you an item, but he has no experience. Your “pity pass” was basically charity work :^ ONS!Jade knows the chance of you crawling back to him is Mariana Trench levels of low, but he’s watched you enough to have a concept of how you tick. He yearns for your lips against his again- and so long as you stay private, he’s practically free use! Just please be creative, he wants a foul crash course on human relations <3

[creatingblackcharacters]

hello! i’m kind of looking for some advice from you or anyone who might have dealt with the same thing. i’ve always been outspoken about racism that i’ve faced irl and online and i’ve had some non-black friends that have always supported me in messages and listened or were open to hearing me when i talked about things they’ve done or said that have made me uncomfortable. but i’ve taken a step back and noticed that i’ve been saying the same things over and over to them with no real change in behavior. a particular instance was after several times of mentioning a specific author and their racism made me uncomfortable, they were still laughing and promoting and fawning over said author with a vague “i know some people don’t like this.” and when i mentioned it, and being tired of feeling like a resource more than a friend at times, i was ghosted.

i see them sometimes on here or insta or wherever else and they’re always boasting about being so progressive and standing on business and how they can’t be friends with people who don’t support BLM or Palestine. and i wonder if they care or ever really cared about these issues or if it’s all performative. i think they think they care but then if they do then why wouldn’t they care when it came to me? or they’ll make posts about how white shouldn’t be the default in fandom, and get tons of praise and people flock to it but when i said the same, nobody said anything.

it feels like i’m only good to privately teach non-black people how to not be racist so they can post about it and be applauded. and it feels lonely, like i have to wait and sus out everyone’s intentions when they talk to me to see if they actually care about me or these issues. and even then, there were people that i really thought did care and they didn’t. or maybe it’s me and the way i’m approaching things but there’s only so many ways i can politely say this thing is racist and it hurts to see people i thought cared about me praise it in front of me. and i shouldn’t have to be polite about it after several times but then i’m a bitch if i’m stern about it. it’s like i can never win, there’s nothing i can do, and i don’t ever want to stop trying or not say something but it feels so lonely. and obv i know they aren’t worth getting upset over but at the same time i felt close to some of these people and was vulnerable with them and it sucks that i’ve lost what i thought were real, in some cases years long, friendships while they just continue on like nothing’s changed.

and it’s like how do you come to terms with that? that you’ll never be friends with those people again? that you never were friends with them? how do you get over the anger at seeing them come here and get thousands of likes for saying a basic “white isn’t the default” when you get called slurs and threatened for the saying the same thing?

I feel bad that I don't have any uplifting words to give you, because I go through the same thing. Just did, yesterday, that lil painful reminder that some people that you were once or want to be close with... Will pick antiblackness for the sake of entertainment over you. Or will support someone else for saying or doing the SAME thing you did (from fandom to politics!), because it's safer to support them doing those things than it is to support a Black person doing them. It's annoying ASF.

Unfortunately, I've grown jaded, recognizing that I don't have the ability to have as many friends as I'd like on this website because supporting actual Black people is far harder than just reblogging posts that look progressive from safe nonblack people who- like them- understand the safety net of being able to back out at any time, that there is always Something that will be worth more than their support for you.

And so I go into this basically expecting that you simply cannot trust that most people will not find that thing, and move accordingly. Protect your heart. My rule is that if I see you reblogging nonblack people (fandom or politics) on Black topics or Black images and characters, but you are never around Real Black People (except when you want something), you are probably not to be trusted as an ally, and I won't be disappointed nor invested when you inevitably aren't. You have not shown to me that you actually care about me as a real person, but as a concept, a Barbie doll, that makes you look and feel "better". I am not your Negro!

It helps that I've (mostly) surrounded myself with people who DO reach that (basic, imo!) standard of being able to stand up for their own rights, but also standing up for mine at the same time. These are people I've seen in the trenches with me and mine, building that solidarity and actually platforming Black voices and activists and bloggers even though they know that being pro-Black often inspires anger and disgust within their own community. I also surround myself with other Black people; it's far less lonely and more empowering to know you're not alone or making it up.

And for me, dare I say it- and I know it's hard- but I think that anger is good. You should be angry. You have every right to be angry. I'm not sure I ever want to become complacent with such a feeling, because that means I've stopped fighting. But I wouldn't let that anger be all there is. You see they're on bullshit, why should they be allowed to also be comfortable within it? Keep shaking the walls. 👍🏾

[ducksido]

Hi! I hope you're having a lovely day. I was watching some "Avengers" movies (god, I can’t stop watching the one called "war" or something like that), and out of nowhere, I started imagining—how would the characters from Twisted Wonderland react to a Yuu (preferably male) who’s an Avenger? I was thinking you could take inspiration from different characters(? I mean, maybe a Wonder Woman (in this case, Wonder Man? 😓) dating Riddle, and Leona with Black Panther?? Sorry if I’m not making much sense. 😭😭

Riddle Rosehearts × Wonder Man!Yuu

Powers: Super strength, flight, indestructible bracers conjured from magic. Noble, principled, and terrifyingly efficient in battle. Vibe: You’re basically a walking justice manifesto wrapped in charisma and polite sass.

Riddle tries to scold you for breaking school rules, but the moment you disarm a rogue monster from the Ghost Camera event with your bare hands, he’s sputtering.

“That’s... not how we duel at NRC, Yuu! And also—did you just catch a bolt of lightning?!”

You: “You said to handle it without causing damage to the courtyard.”

He becomes lowkey obsessed with your sense of justice. You believe in rules because they protect the weak—his heart does a full 360. The Heartslabyul students are so confused when Riddle starts blushing every time you call him “your little rose.”

Leona Kingscholar × Panther King!Yuu

Inspired by Black Panther Powers: Superhuman strength and reflexes, enhanced senses, vibranium-clawed gauntlets, ancestral magic from a hidden jungle kingdom. Vibe: Calm, strategic, and a bit smug, with deep loyalty to your people.

Leona thinks you’re just another high-and-mighty noble at first—until you outmaneuver him during a Spelldrive match without even sweating. The audacity.

Leona: “Don’t think I didn’t see that fake-out. You trying to show me up?” You: “Just making sure the prince gets his claws sharpened.”

He finds you infuriating and attractive in equal measure. He respects strength, but he adores subtlety—and you’re both. You challenge his laziness and show him what it means to lead with grace. Over time, your quiet authority makes him soften (just a little).

Azul Ashengrotto × Iron Mage!Yuu

Inspired by Iron Man/Doctor Strange fusion Powers: Tech genius, magical artifact wielder, portal manipulation. A dramatic cape. Vibe: Snarky, charming, and too smart for your own good.

You run circles around Azul in business negotiations and smugly open portals like it’s child’s play. He pretends to be annoyed, but really? He’s obsessed. You two are the “too powerful for anyone else” power couple. Everyone is scared of you both.

Azul: “I’d offer you a contract, but I imagine you’d find a loophole I didn’t even write yet.” You: “Oh, Azul, darling—I invented loopholes.”

The Lounge thrives with your tech support. You built Jade and Floyd magical espresso machines. You made Azul a holographic customer tracker. He’s in love and terrified.

🐉 Malleus Draconia × Stormbringer!Yuu

Inspired by Thor Powers: Weather control, god-like durability, storm-born magic. Can summon storms with your voice. Vibe: Regal, intense, a bit dramatic—but charmingly clueless about Earth things.

Malleus stares in awe the first time you call down a thunderstorm during a Night Raven blackout. You stand in the middle of the storm, eyes glowing, and then say:

“Sorry, I was cold. Thought I’d make some lightning to warm up.”

He finds you fascinating. You're powerful in a way that’s natural to him. The others fear him, but you match his energy—no fear, only wonder. You talk to him like an equal, even when sparking with raw magic.

You two take midnight flights together, him with bat wings, you surfing clouds like a celestial.

Vil Schoenheit × Vision!Yuu (aka “Aesthetic Android” BF)

Inspired by: Vision Powers: Intangibility, flight, hyper-intelligence, and emotional evolution through data and experience. Elegant af.

Vil didn’t know what to expect when Crowley introduced you as a “foreign exchange student from a distant… timeline.” You glide into the room, composed, graceful, and glowing faintly with cosmic energy. You analyze NRC like a poetic computer:

“The beauty of this place… is data arranged into visual harmony.”

Vil's ego was ready to scoff—until you proceeded to walk through a wall, save a Dorm Spelldrive match mid-game by phasing through the field, and then compliment his foundation by comparing it to nebula shimmer.

You’re logical, well-spoken, and slowly learning emotion—especially love. Vil finds himself constantly surprised when you’ll suddenly say things like:

“Statistically speaking, I find myself recalibrating around you, Vil. I believe this is what humans call… affection?”

He is NOT prepared for a boyfriend who phases through mirrors to bring him fresh tea during spa days. But he adores it. You remind him beauty isn’t just visual—it’s emotional, too.

Idia Shroud × Spider-Man!Yuu (aka “Neighborhood Chaos Gremlin” BF)

Inspired by: Peter Parker / Spider-Man Powers: Wall-crawling, web-slinging, spider senses, chaotic hero energy. Vibe: Nerdy, snarky, and charmingly awkward.

Idia has never met anyone who can beat him at games AND do backflips off the ceiling. You’re the only one in the entire school who can sneak up on him—by hanging upside down outside his window and tapping on the glass with a webbed hand.

“Hey babe! Wanna skip class and swing around the school? I found a cool mossy rock!”

He thought you were a hallucination at first. “There’s no way a real person just thwipped onto my gaming chair.” But then you offered him a home-coded arcade cabinet with your webs spun into LED wiring.

You two bond over tech, coding, and being the most awkwardly brilliant people in the room. You call each other dumb nicknames like “WiFi Warrior” and “Web Head,” and you cling to walls during romantic conversations just because you can.

When you get serious (like, defending him from a magical cyber attack), your goofy nature flips into “calm hero mode,” and Idia melts.

Kalim Al-Asim × Captain Sunshine!Yuu (aka “Yuu Rogers”)

Inspired by: Captain America Powers: Enhanced strength, speed, leadership instincts, a shield made from sunsteel. Glowing hope incarnate. Vibe: Sunshine protector who makes inspirational speeches and also loves hugs.

Kalim was already sunshine personified—but then YOU showed up.

You caught a falling chandelier on your first day with one hand, told Crowley “with all due respect, sir,” and then helped mop the floor. Kalim was starstruck.

“Waitwaitwait—are you a hero hero?! Like—defends the innocent and jumps off buildings and helps little kittens cross the street?! THAT’S SO COOL!!”

You both get excited about the smallest things—buffet tables, flower crowns, matching outfits. You're a “power couple” in the most literal way.

You give heroic speeches and Kalim claps every time. You protect others without hesitation. And when he gets overwhelmed? You kneel down and smile softly:

“You shine so bright, Kalim. Let me shield you when you need it.”

He’s sobbing. Jamil is quietly begging you to not encourage his chaos. You do anyway.

[loquaciousquark]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

This week has been hell and now that I'm finally coming to the end of it, I'm going to sit down & enjoy this! Sorry in advance for the length.

My favorite fics vacillate wildly depending on my mood, interest, and the time of year, but right now, I think this is what I've got. In no particular order:

Invicta, Invictus (2016)

Magister AU. Hawke ends up owning Fenris while in Minrathous & they fall in love anyway. This fic was difficult to write for a lot of reasons (a main one just being my fear of not doing justice to the premise and underselling the slavery aspect), and it took nearly a year to finish between the writing itself, the rewriting and additional scenes required from @jadesabre301's beta, and final edits. By the time I started posting I felt confident that I'd written something solid, but despite the otherwise positive response, I did end up receiving a series of extremely angry, lengthy critical comments from someone who basically accused me of perpetuating the glorification of rape, the enslavement of people of color, and the entrenchment of cruelty against victims of sexual assault. (I vividly remember a comparison between Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings.)

This came out of the blue from someone I knew & had otherwise quite respected; it was a blow that shook my confidence to the core, despite several wonderful people reaching out to me at the time, and while I finished posting the fic, I completely stopped writing otherwise. I ended up not writing anything of significance for three full years afterwards. It wasn't until I got extremely drunk on a work trip (after a personal dinner, no colleagues around) and went back to my hotel to jot down the first lines of the Hawke-is-rescued-from-the-Fade fic that I even entertained the idea of picking the hobby back up.

Now, looking back after almost ten years, I've long come to terms with her criticism. I've decided that I disagree with her, that I'm actually still okay with what I wrote, and that I'm proud of the work I did in that fic. I think the premise is good and the examination of the social and political structures is sound, and I think the fic does what it needs to where the relationship strains against the societal boundaries around it. Not to mention I think it has some of my best Fenris characterization I ever managed, and some of my better Hawke jokes. I think the letter exchange at the end is effectively poignant even after all this time (though I do wish I'd written Danarius's actual death a little differently), and I still find the ending as they approach Kirkwall very satisfying. I'll also never turn down a chance to let Varania have a moment or two.

I'm proud of this one, and I'm glad I wrote it.

A Midwinter's Carol; in Prose; Being a Ghost Story of Baldur's Gate (2023)

I think this fic has some of my best technical mimicry I've ever managed. I've always enjoyed a good stylistic parroting, but this was the first time I'd attempted Dickens, and I genuinely think I did a good job. 😂 I've always been fascinated by the mechanics of language, and I had a great time spoofing his oddly frank addresses to the reader and his serpentine asides.

It's quite short—less than 10k—but I think it does exactly what it's supposed to, and I'm genuinely proud of some of the AU elements. @eponymous-rose gave me Christmases Past and Present, so I can't lay claim to those (aside from execution), but the way Future's demand resolves & the Thayan book standing in for the door knocker were all mine, and I still think they're genius, ahaha. (I also fully acknowledge that I owe Jade big time for helping me clarify the final deal Astarion strikes.)

I think the wordplay throughout of what it means to be redeemed is well written, and I'm genuinely pleased with the turn of the mood during the Future sequence. I can tell my love of flippant characters having stark face-to-face encounters with gods is probably a little strong at the end, but Megan Whalen Turner was a formative influence, and I still love it the way it came out here. This is a fic that did exactly what I wanted it to from start to finish, and I love rereading it.

I also think Astarion refusing to participate in the narrative and Tav's modern voice against the Dickensian backdrop are utterly hilarious.

Iron Bound (2023)

This is the most ambitious project I've ever tackled, even considering Invicta above. I knew this would be a long fic, and while I'd daydreamed about scenes from it for nearly a decade, I genuinely didn't know if I had the technical ability to execute it the way I wanted. Once I finally, finally, finally sat down to write it, the words came out like butter, and I wrote almost 70k words in two weeks.

This fic was interesting because it included a love triangle, which is not something I have ever had the slightest interest in reading or writing, but I felt the relationships were strong enough between all three pillars that I wanted to give it a shot. I love Hawke & Fenris, obviously, but the Fenris + Sebastian brotherhood is likewise vitally important to me, and I've always treasured the Sebastian + Hawke friendship as well. Getting to examine all three of them closely here was wonderful from start to finish, and I loved looking at where the lines strained and grew lax as they got to know each other.

Likewise, I've also adored characters who have to face the conflict between love and duty, and this premise let me marinate in every part of the idea. Knowing that I'd be able to give them all happy endings—knowing that they'd be rewarded for doing the right thing—was very pat and yet very satisfying, and I enjoyed every minute of the tension before the resolution.

This fic was in many ways an homage to Patricia McKillip, one of my favorite authors, and also a frank wish-fulfillment exercise for me. This is the one where everyone lives. This is the one where no one suffers for too long. Malcolm, Carver, Bethany, Leandra—even Varania and Sebastian and Anders and the dog. Everyone lives. Everyone is happy and loved and fed and secure and will remain so for the rest of their lives, and I remain thoroughly unapologetic for it.

I do think (despite Jade's attempts to correct it) that there's some marked narrative clumsiness in the back third, and with a little distance I can see ways I could have revised the Danarius confrontation and the series of epilogues to hang together more cleanly. There are also some heavy-handed sequences regarding the broader world politics which I think stand out against what is otherwise fairly mature writing, and I wish I'd threaded those through a bit more deftly.

That said, I'm still immensely proud of this project, and once I finish this post I'm probably going to reread it start to finish. 😂

This Lethal Light Falls Softly (2023)

I was very passionate about the central conceit of this fic, and I think it shows. It's cleanly written with no wasted time—even rereading it now for this post, there's only one exchange I'd still tweak—and I'm very happy with the way I wrote the Tav & Astarion relationship at this stage. They're a wholly different beast to Fenris & Hawke, who are friends for seven years before they finally embark on a real relationship; Tav & Astarion know each other maybe a few weeks before they sleep together for the first time, and even with the most generous possible interpretation I don't think the game can take more than a handful of months. This meant I was writing lovers with new-to-me insecurities, and with Astarion's own basketful of bugaboos on top of that, everything felt fresh and exciting and a little terrifying. I think you can feel that energy in the prose, and I really like it.

Aside from that, I'm very happy with the solution I came up with to Astarion's vampirism. It was hardly inventive, but I did feel it was both practical and lore-friendly, and I felt like its cost (Tav's absence for Astarion, the exhaustion and battle and injuries for Tav) balanced out the number of boons it provided. It also made negating the vampiric effects an active, ongoing choice for Astarion, which I deeply prefer over more permanent solutions like True Resurrection or a god restoring him to mortality.

I also just honestly think it's just fun to read. I like Astarion being snippy and short-tempered while still being overjoyed to see Tav alive. I like Tav confronting the idea that Astarion loves her as much as she loves him and that her silent absence was an active harm to him. I think I did a pretty good job setting the scenery and conveying the appropriate atmosphere where it was important, and I think there are some turns of phrase throughout that came out quite lovely.

I also think ending on the button of him seeing himself in the mirror is hilarious. (Not pictured: Tav having to ask him to put down the hand mirror for literal weeks.)

ah! this grief like cold bells ringing (2020)

This is probably the most difficult fic I've written in terms of headspace. COVID's forced isolation was particularly awful for me, and I didn't know how to handle it except to try to write it out of me. This, like Iron Bound, contained something I never thought I'd write (rape/rape aftermath), but the gravity of the situation and the world at the time seemed to demand something likewise grave, and I ended up feeling like it was an appropriate choice. Hawke has been a tool of many kinds for me over the years, and I remain both glad and weirdly grateful for her resilience.

This was also the first fic where I felt like I didn't shy away from or veil Tevinter's atrocities (a necessary artifact of the premise). While it was hard to write, it wasn't hard to write, and looking back I'm glad I made the choices I did; I think to hamstring the severity of the moment would have broken the story's teeth and dampened the recovery which came after. The instinct to quit flinching away was the right one, and I think the fic is better for it.

I also think this is some of the most effective writing of catharsis I've ever managed. When I'm having a really difficult time and need to read a moment of recovery, the second chapter of this fic is always my first stop. I've actually only reread the first chapter a few times since I posted (usually the pain's not the part I need), but I've reread the second chapter a hundred times or more.

I also do think that the style of the prose—a little flatter and more direct than I usually write—came out well, especially given the subject matter. While I'd prefer never to go back to that emotional place, I'm glad this came out of it.

Honorable Mention:

Lacrimosa (2011). Still one of the oneshots I'm proudest of. I think it's technically proficient and emotionally very effective, and I love the structure of it.

A Detailed Accounting of the Rigorous and Remarkable Struggles Faced by One Fereldan Refugee in the Singularly Capricious City of Kirkwall, as Experienced by the Illustrious Author (2022). While the writing is not the best I've ever managed (it began life as a warm-up exercise, after all), it took ten years to finish, and I'm deeply proud of both finishing it and of the execution of several sections.

Find Me a Wayward Sun (2023). I like the emotional complexity of this fic very much. This was the first place where I felt like I really started to understand the dynamic between Tav & Astarion, especially in the complicated back half of Act Two, and I've gone back to it several times when I need to recapture that feeling of confused selfishness and nascent, uncertain affection.

[jadeazora]

My versions of Lysandre and Sycamore headcanon (with some Diantha and Malva too)

Lysandre

One of his biggest pet peeves is those who have a slobbish demeanor about them, he absolutely hates sloppiness

Is quite musically talented (violin and piano)

Classy drunk, keeps his shit together a lot better than Sycamore

Pan, appreciates the beauty of all sexes and genders, has had an on/off thing with Sycamore before and is currently dating Malva, biggest celebrity crush on Diantha tho (she turned him down)

Diantha knows he's trouble, all of the 🚩🚩🚩 vibes on-sight.

His whole relationship with Malva is her going "I can make him worse lol 😈" (this is a woman who, in Masters, stood by and smiled as he implicitly executed two Rocket grunts. There's something definitely wrong with her too.)

Roughly the alignment chart we're looking at:

All manner of misfortune (violence, murder, madness) runs in the family, originating around the time of AZ and the Ultimate Weapon, seen as something like a curse, particularly on the male side. As such, Lys is the last of AZ's descendants.

Dealt with those sorts of intrusive thoughts by becoming a philanthropist in an attempt to counteract them, but it ended up having the opposite effect, fueling them and making them worse instead. (He was always destined to fall.)

He had convinced himself of a feeling of disconnect with him using the Ultimate Weapon and those that would die, but he would end up becoming directly responsible for the death of the one who became the Lumiose Ghost Girl. It wasn't initially his intention to kill her, he wanted to try to convince her to not go public over the Holocaster's spyware/Flare's schemes, and wasn't able to, leaving him with little other choice than to silence her. (He's unaware of her haunting, or that she's looking for him.) Probably the closest he's been to realizing he needed to STOP, but Malva was the worst person he could have called to confess to.

Has committed orchestrated a few murders "disappearances" since tho (some himself, some by other members of his organization, they're functionally a secret police), there were some people becoming more aware of Flare's activities and presence. It's said to be unsafe going into certain areas of Lumiose City at night.

Despite things between them being strained, still would prefer trying to save Sycamore and the children as "chosen ones", by force if he has to. They have to come around eventually that things were better for the future this way, right?

Sycamore:

Is an absolute, clumsy menace on rollerskates. Has nearly cracked a rib more than once.

Lysandre gifted him those bright red-orange socks

Party drunk. More than once, Lys has had to half-drag, half-carry him to his Cafe before to get him something to help sober him up

Seriously, do not trust this man with any alcohol

Sina and Dexio have also had to deal with this (they do get "apology pay")

Disaster bi, disaster magnet (probably what attracted him to Lysandre in the first place)

Diantha had (quietly) warned him about Lysandre, while the man was in the room, while they were dating. Sycamore just mentally standing there dying from awkwardness.

Masks a more jaded streak from failing to dissuade Lysandre of his misanthropic views, and plays oblivious when they're around each other now. (He's also somewhat aware of Lysandre's end goal, tho not really of the "when" or the "how.")

He's not at the point where he wants his old friend dead despite his awareness of Lysandre's intentions, but there is the looming horrifying thought that it just might be in Kalos's best interest if he were. He hates it, especially that he's not strong enough a Trainer to stop Lysandre himself.

Not sure if learning of Lysandre/Flare "disappearing" a few people would be enough to push him over the edge fully on that tho. (He still harbors some feelings that he's been trying to shove down.)

It really bothers him having Calem and Serena basically fight his battle there, there's a good amount of self-loathing over his failure to talk some sense into his friend and that the kids are doing the adults' job.

[davekat-sucks]

Hello, I want to add that most time players suck, by a lot. Seriously it’s laughable that theirs only like two successful time players in all of Paradox Space, Caliborn and Damara, and it’s the fact they doesn’t understand something laughably basic and Christian. Suffer now to be rewarded later. Sure we might forget because Caliborn is a funny goblin manlet but he suffered, suffered a lot (because he is a masochist) because he chose to play the hardest game of Sburb (Caliborn is a Fromsoft gamer) . And he was rewarded with the power to do whatever the fuck he wanted, the power to put himself on the path of suffering so he can achieve it, sure he did the opposite of ascending (like Mobster Kingpin) but it does give a idea what a time player’s storyline is supposed to look like. Our next case is Damara, a girl who suffered so much she DOOMED HER OWN SESSION OUT OF SPITE, the funny thing is due to her acting like John when he was retconing but still being bound to alpha timeline time travel bullshit she indirectly caused her own suffering.

Now our Beta set, absolutely fucking atrocious. Dave doesn’t seem to realize that going down the path of the hero would give him a understanding on why his life is so bad, and if he still think it sucks he could figure out a way to change it while still within alpha timeline because through sburb bullshit he’s probably the reason Bro is a possessed Mall Ninja. Aradia doesn’t DARE to step out of her role, maid or time, despite the fact that one is basically finding the right time to strike after observing everything and the other is being rewarded after suffering so greatly. You can argue her being alive is reward enough and the fact she influenced herself to being a robot is proof of my theory that time players eventually write their own past but is she seriously just going to bounce around aimlessly like some sort of ghost? Fuck that’s ironically sad, she was the most alive when she was dead.

Where was I going with this? Oh right, the only thing good to come out of the Alpha sets are the time players, so Caliborn and Damara beat Dave and Aradia in Time Fuckery

Lord English and The Handmaid/Damara really are the better Time Players out there. In the case of Epilogues and Homestuck 2/Beyond Canon, Dave and Aradia are still avoiding to be suffered or face the harsh situation that is thrown at them. Especially when they themselves, made direct mistakes that would lead to some consequences in the near future. We see this with Meat Dave as all he does is just use Karkat to distract him with love as they go along with Kanaya to go after Dirk. He is called out to be useless. Not taking part in anything about Ult Dirk or Alt Calliope. Davebot and Aradia are both relaxing and enjoying themselves as they watched JADE HARLEY suffer more by letting Alt Calliope take over. Aradia left SOLLUX in the Candy Timeline and doesn't think much of him all because he didn't want to stand by and watch the timeline fall apart anymore. Davebot believes that him leaving Jade was fine and that he should be gay for Karkat, that it will solve everything. Davebot may have reached Ultimate, but I don't think it's a reward in itself. Perhaps it is a suffering that he remains blissfully unaware until he acknowledges what he is doing is fucked. But he will never accept it or face it. And I'll be pissed if they try to say that Davekat by the end will be his reward for being imprisoned in a robot body when it was Dave himself who chose to KILL HIMSELF to ascend because fucking Obama told him so.

[atopvisenyashill]

The Magic Users Before Old Valyria, Part One: Magical Nuclear Fallout

i am positive this post has been made before but i'm making it anyway because it's eating away at my brain so let's gooooo.

We are delving into a fever dream that Dany has in AGOT, that will take us to the Pre-Valyrian magical users and their link to Valyria.

so in Dany's fever dream in AGOT, she has a vision of her ancestors:

Ghosts lined the hallway, dressed in the faded raiment of kings. In their hands were swords of pale fire. They had hair of silver and hair of gold and hair of platinum white, and their eyes were opal and amethyst, tourmaline and jade.

They look just like other Valyrians - hair of gold, white, and silver with funky colored eyes.

But note the exact gems mentioned! In TWOIAF, we get a little background on Yi Ti and their belief system. read here:

[In the beginning] a single realm ruled by the God-on-Earth, the only begotten son of the Lion of Night and Maiden-Made-of-Light, who traveled about his domains in a palanquin carved from a single pearl and carried by a hundred queens, his wives. For ten thousand years the Great Empire of the Dawn flourished in peace and plenty under the God-on-Earth, until at last he ascended to the stars to join his forebears.

Dominion over mankind then passed to his eldest son, who was known as the Pearl Emperor and ruled for a thousand years. The Jade Emperor, the Tourmaline Emperor, the Onyx Emperor, the Topaz Emperor, and the Opal Emperor followed in turn, each reigning for centuries…

When the daughter of the Opal Emperor succeeded him as the Amethyst Empress, her envious younger brother cast her down and slew her, proclaiming himself the Bloodstone Emperor and beginning a reign of terror. He practiced dark arts, torture, and necromancy, enslaved his people, took a tiger-woman for his bride, feasted on human flesh, and cast down the true gods to worship a black stone that had fallen from the sky.

Opal, Amethyst, Tourmaline, and Jade Emperors, just like her ancestors. It's not a huge stretch to say that likely, Dany, and therefore Valyrians as a whole (or at the least the Dragon Riders of Valyria) are the remnants of this ancient empire, The Great Empire of the Dawn, the same way that the Ghiscari culture is the remnant of Old Ghis - changed a bit, but with many similarities passed down amongst its people.

But who exactly is this civilization and how did they eventually turn into the Valyrians? Well, let's keep continuing with that passage about the Bloodstone Emperor:

In the annals of the Further East, it was the Blood Betrayal, as his usurpation is named, that ushered in the age of darkness called the Long Night…How long the darkness endured no man can say, but all agree that it was only when a great warrior—known variously as Hyrkoon the Hero, Azor Ahai, Yin Tar, Neferion, and Eldric Shadowchaser—arose to give courage to the race of men and lead the virtuous into battle with his blazing sword Lightbringer that the darkness was put to rout, and light and love returned once more to the world.

Basically, the people of Yi Ti believe that the Great Empire of the Dawn stretched far across the globe, and that when the Bloodstone Emperor usurped his niece, The Amethyst Empress, potentially using some weird blood magic, it caused the Long Night and the collapse of the Great Empire of the Dawn.

I think that this blood magic he was messing around with was, to use a metaphor, basically a magic nuclear bomb and I think ground zero for this - and therefore the capital of the Great Empire of the Dawn - is Asshai-by-the-Shadow. It's very notable that Asshai is so old its people don't even know what its origins are:

The ancient port of Asshai stands at the end of a long wedge of land, on the point where the Jade Sea meets the Saffron Straits. Its origins are lost in the mists of time. Even the Asshai’i do not claim to know who built their city; they will say only that a city has stood here since the world began and will stand here until it ends. Few places in the known world are as remote as Asshai, and fewer are as forbidding. Travelers tell us that the city is built entirely of black stone: halls, hovels, temples, palaces, streets, walls, bazaars, all. Some say as well that the stone has a greasy, unpleasant feel to it, that it seems to drink the light, dimming tapers and torches and hearth fires alike.

Note that last part, about the city being built from black stone - Valyria is well known for having Weird, Cool Architecture that involves black stone, fused together by dragon fire. From ADWD prologue:

Across the wide blue expanse of the Rhoyne, he could see the Black Wall that had been raised by the Valyrians when Volantis was no more than an outpost of their empire: a great oval of fused stone two hundred feet high and so thick that six four-horse chariots could race around its top abreast, as they did each year to celebrate the founding of the city.

and again from Tyrion's POV:

The gateway to the Long Bridge was a black stone arch carved with sphinxes, manticores, dragons, and creatures stranger still. Beyond the arch stretched the great span that the Valyrians had built at the height of their glory, its fused stone roadway supported by massive piers. 

And one more time F&B/The Princess and the Queen, when Aegon and Sunfyre on are Dragonstone:

Sunfyre’s scales still shone like beaten gold in the sunlight, but as he sprawled across the fused black Valyrian stone of the yard, it was plain to see that he was a broken thing, he who had been the most magnificent dragon ever to fly the skies of Westeros

rip to the hottest dragon in westeros.

It's very much a Valyrian thing, this fused black stone...yet the entirety of Asshai is built with black stone, even though the city predates Valyria, and the black stone of Asshai is just a little different - a greasy, unpleasant feeling. I think that this greasy feeling comes from the remnants of the magic that caused the Long Night - going back to that idea of a magical nuclear bomb which is poisoning the land the way radiation does. I think this because there are actually several ancient cities of mysterious origin with black stone and a greasy, oily feeling to them, all of which seem to have suffered some sort of magical nuclear fallout the way Asshai has, and they're all not too far from each other either:

The Idol on the Isle of Toads in the Basilisk Isles

Ruins found upon the Isle of Tears, the Isle of Toads, and Ax Island hint at some ancient civilization, but little is now known of these vanished men of the Dawn Age. If any still survived when the first corsairs settled on the islands, they were soon put to the sword, so no trace of them now remains … save perhaps upon the Isle of Toads…

On the Isle of Toads can be found an ancient idol, a greasy black stone crudely carved into the semblance of a gigantic toad of malignant aspect, some forty feet high. The people of this isle are believed by some to be descended from those who carved the Toad Stone, for there is an unpleasant fishlike aspect to their faces, and many have webbed hands and feet. If so, they are the sole surviving remnant of this forgotten race.

The Five Forts

The Five Forts are very old, older than the Golden Empire itself; some claim they were raised by the Pearl Emperor during the morning of the Great Empire to keep the Lion of Night and his demons from the realms of men … and indeed, there is something godlike, or demonic, about the monstrous size of the forts, for each of the five is large enough to house ten thousand men, and their massive walls stand almost a thousand feet high.

Certain scholars from the west have suggested Valyrian involvement in the construction of the Five Forts, for the great walls are single slabs of fused black stone that resemble certain Valyrian citadels in the west … but this seems unlikely, for the Forts predate the Freehold’s rise, and there is no record of any dragonlords ever coming so far east.

The Ancient City of Yeen

Maesters and other scholars alike have puzzled over the greatest of the engimas of Sothoryos, the ancient city of Yeen. A ruin older than time, built of oily black stone, in massive blocks so heavy that it would require a dozen elephants to move them, Yeen has remained a desolation for many thousands of years, yet the jungle that surrounds it on every side has scarce touched it.

And even more suspicious is the fact that Sothoryos, where Yeen is located, is known for its large wyvern population:

Most terrible of all are the wyverns, those tyrants of the southern skies, with their great leathery wings, cruel beaks, and insatiable hunger. Close kin to dragons, wyverns cannot breathe fire, but they exceed their cousins in ferocity and are a match for them in all other respects save size.

Now there's different stories on how dragons came to be, but most interesting to me is what the Asshai'i claim:

The Valyrians themselves claimed that dragons sprang forth as the children of the Fourteen Flames, while in Qarth the tales state that there was once a second moon in the sky. One day this moon was scalded by the sun and cracked like an egg, and a million dragons poured forth. In Asshai, the tales are many and confused, but certain texts—all impossibly ancient—claim that dragons first came from the Shadow, a place where all of our learning fails us. These Asshai’i histories say that a people so ancient they had no name first tamed dragons in the Shadow and brought them to Valyria, teaching the Valyrians their arts before departing from the annals.

Septon Barth later writes that he believes Valyrians used wyverns and blood magic to make dragons:

In Septon Barth’s Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns, he speculated that the bloodmages of Valyria used wyvern stock to create dragons. Though the bloodmages were alleged to have experimented mightily with their unnatural arts, this claim is considered far-fetched by most maesters, among them Maester Vanyon’s Against the Unnatural contains certain proofs of dragons having existed in Westeros even in the earliest of days, before Valyria rose to be a power.

So to sum up basically:

Dany's vision shows us her ancestors, who are almost definitely the rulers of the Great Empire of the Dawn

We know several cities - Asshai, Yeen, the Isle of Toads - that have an architectural resemblance to the fused black stone that the Valyrians used, but their structures predate Valyria.

We know Septon Barth believes dragons were made through blood magic with wyverns as a base stock and that there are a lot of wyverns in one of these ancient places, Sothoryos/Yeen, where the black stone architecture is found.

The people of Yi Ti believe that a magical calamity of some sort caused the Long Night.

THEREFORE: The Great Empire of the Dawn had its capital in Asshai, and used blood magic to start the Long Night (by accident, most likely), which caused a huge magical calamity that affected the entire world, and while their people never recovered from it, they brought their magical knowledge with them to their new home in Valyria, where they made more black fused stone architecture and turned their wyverns into dragons. Meanwhile, the "ground zero" for much of this magical calamity still experiences the magical fallout of this calamity.

OKAY. That's part one because this is getting super long winded. Part Two will be....JUST HOW BIG WAS THE GREAT EMPIRE OF THE DAWN ANYWAY?

[mexicanegbert]

on hammers (from hussie commentary)

here is anything relevant to hammers i could find. all commentary is sourced from here.

(Book 1, 10) The ghost gauntlets holding that ridiculous paisley hammer are just a fixture of the environment in this game. I didn't want them to be an item you could use, because that would have been complicated to implement. It was a little attention to detail on my part, by which I mean my inclination to consider how John could wield this huge hammer in his inventory. Specific items that are accrued by the players become a lot less relevant much later in the story. Because it stops being a thing about a Guy In A Game You Are "Playing," and starts being more about a bunch of Characters In A Story You Are Reading, Who Are Sad All The Time.

(Book 4, 20) What the hell is going on with that hammer? Actually, let's not talk about the Zillyhoo hammer yet. Jade was right that John would get this unstoppable bunny warrior exactly when he needs it, just in time to defend against an unwelcome, highly premature Jack-murder. And Jack knows he shouldn't mess with this thing, no matter how powerful he currently feels, because this was the exact instrument he used to kill the queen and steal the very powers he has now. He knows he is no match…yet. What Jade doesn't mention (or know) is that this timely assist she helped provide is the very reason for Jack's rise, and therefore John's need for assistance in the first place. Idiots. They're all idiots.

(Topatoco 1, 22) John: Deallocate hammerkind specibus, reallocate as ghostbusters2mmorpgkind.

(Book 2, 34) A basic, serviceable sickle is readily available for Karkat to wield in lieu of the simple, workmanlike hammer that was available to John. Is there any meaning to draw from the fact that the hammer and sickle combine to form a widely recognized symbol for communism? Doubtful. Except to provide the shippers with a quality name for the Johnkat ship.

(Book 2, 54) Behold, the mighty pogo hammer. Once, John's dangerous childhood nemesis in the form of the backyard pogo ride. Now, a similarly self-jeopardizing implement of only marginal combat value. Just think how easily one misfiring BONG could send him launching off the roof, or maybe just send the hammer careening back in his face?

(Book 2, 189) If you ask me, there aren't enough hammers whose handle is a fully functional, presumably delicate telescope. Not enough hammers made out of huge ancient joke books either.

(Book 1, 263) In this scene, a moment in Con Air is reenacted, when John Malkovich threatens the bunny and delivers that line, while Nic Cage assaults him with a sledgehammer, discovers it's a bit too heavy to wield, topples backwards and breaks it, while Malkivich proceeds to taunt him with the bunny forever thereafter via infinitely looping animation. (Some of that isn't true???????????)

(Book 1, 289) Davesprite made this sick time-powered hammer because he spent months on LOHAC and presumably mined its legendary riches. Including the hammer, or at least the ingredients to make it. His denizen, Hephaestus, is a legendary blacksmith, and his planet is a realm of clockwork, tailor-made for a Time Hero. Also look how big it is in its natural state. Almost like a thing an absolutely huge blacksmith would wield in the core of a planet made of lava.

(Book 1, 290) When you bash someone over the head with this hammer, it stops time for them for a little while. Regardless of its actual damage-dealing capabilities, it's a very tactically useful weapon. That's probably why it actually stays in John's inventory all the way to the final battle, and he still gets some good use out of it in that fight.

(Book 1, 299) John just got this killer hammer upgrade, so of course we should get to see him take it for a spin. We've never even heard of a lich before, but it stands to reason they are a lot deadlier than mere imps. But John makes light work of them anyway with his new hammer. So, yep, it's a strong hammer all right. Good to know.

(Book 6, 415) Then we enjoy another sick weapon upgrade, which is always gratifying. CD agrees, obviously. ONE ZILLION isn't even a fucking number, so I'm really not sure how this thing ever got made. But it doesn't matter much, because these "ultimate weapons" are all deus exed out of a self-fulfilling paradox hole, in a way that sort of makes it clear that it isn't the point to see how they get made or where they originally came from, and any future access to this info will basically be bonus material. But for the record, Gamzee probably made this thing originally. We saw him with it earlier, and he's a random ass clown, so…checks out? Yeah.

(Book 6, 416) Obviously we need a very serious Flash accompaniment to celebrate the existence of this preposterous hammer. Which I guess I should point out originated in a Problem Sleuth bonus page, per a fan's suggestion. The name of the hammer was provided, and I simply drew a rather silly fucking hammer, and that was that. Until I crammed it deep into the unforgiving craw of Homestuck lore, because given enough time, I'm just going to find a way to import everything I've ever done in the past into everything I will ever do in the future.

(Book 5, 455) I have another confession to make: this battle serves no purpose. Few of them do, really. It's just that the game logic was already there, so it was easily adaptable for this game, with a couple of updated sprites. It is a more challenging battle, though, and you get to try out your cool, new time-freezing hammer while you're at it. Which, to be fair, isn't just a fun thing for you to try out. It actually does help defeat this much tougher imp in a tactical sense.

[lazy-dog24601]

behold, the A/B tier reasonings!!!!

I've combined the two of them because they're basically the same. If S tier is like, amazing, these two tiers are like good and good.

I hope you get it, most of these characters are dead anyway. They're all about equal.

Some bonus thoughts about the characters:

I really don't remember Sollux's personality or character arc. I don't even know if he ever had one. He had a rivalry with Eridan because racism I guess??? I really don't remember why the two were fighting. Not like it matters after Eridan dies. After that Sollux becomes "a bunch of pixels that stands next to Aridia" beca-

FUCK I misspelled Aradia, how *embarassing*. Oh well, I'll play it where it lands.

Anyway, Sollux and Aradia are like, dating or something? They're like, in love? I don't know why. I don't know why Sollux does anything. Fucker just stands around after Eridan dies, and the four lines of dialog he had before that doesn't really craft a character I like to think about a lot.

Actually, that reminds me- Sollux was the one who translated Sgrub, there's the Aradia connection.

Speaking of Aradia, what's her *character*? She was like, a happy living person, then a sad(?) ghost and then a angry(?)/sad(?) robot and then finally became a happy(?) god tier? What? Who is this person? Why are they smiling? Is it a Disco Elysium reference?

Seriously, I can't remember anything about Aradia. She basically just wants to see how homestuck goes down, so I guess she is just as compelling as anyone who reads homestuck.

Kanaya is like, a vampire or something. She's a boring character. Like, it was cool watching her kill Eridan but after that she becomes Rose's meek woman-servant-lover character.

Of course, I say servant as a cruel joke. I know Kanaya isn't Rose's servant, I said that because I thought it was funny and showed how I believe that Kanaya basically lives in Rose's shadow once Eridan dies.

Her *one* desire to kill Gamzee never happens because Gamzee can't die or the story can't happen!!! What a load of shit!!! Fucking time paradox shit, but I know this complaint isn't valid- Metal Gear Solid 3 did this too and I love that game, so Homestuck gets a pass on this one.

Nepeta is a cat, but has wolverine claws and a drawing tablet. She also does speculative romance stuff too. These are all fun traits. Then she died.

Feferi is a fish who eventually died.

Equius is a horse who's like, sweaty and stuff and I like him. A classic incompetent bad guy character. He's all horny and shit and racist but is also a total fuck up, like awww the little baby fell down time to pick him back up so you can knock him over again how cute :)

Eridan is a fish who's like, an involuntary celibate or something. He's also an incompetent bad guy character- I have a soft spot for villains and bad guys who are repulsive but also big fuck ups that show some hint/ illusion of humanity/ being good.

Describing it here makes me realize how vast and vague those conditions are, like perceiving repugnancy isn't inherent to life itself. Anything can be repulsive if you got the right peepers!

Yeah, but Eridan is like a bad person or something. He's got L rizz and everyone hated him. He was like, sad and shit that he was alone but he wanted to team up with Jack Noir so he basically deserves to be unloved forever I guess. Eridan is like if Vriska was just a side character. Well, that's not true since Vriska wrote in her last will and testament that she felt bad about being a killing machine who is also a huge bitch has bullies people whilst Eridan said, uh... something I guess? I don't really remember what Eridan said, or if he showed any regret or sadness about being in a murder-society of racism and shit. Maybe he did? I think he tried rizzing up Nepeta but failed. I think he also tried to rizz up Jade? Whatever, I guess Eridan never got the time to show the reader that he's just a poor abused little did-nothing-wrong like Vriska so he's forever just a villain.

[spacedhead]

homestuck reread #13 act 6 p4

still in these conversations where the kids reveal their true feelings about each other except not TO each other but to someone else. this dirk one is so true though roxy has been the goat of their session and the one fucking thing holding them all together. god i love roxy

wow so cool they all ascended at the same time! surely nothing bad will happen immediately after

theyre finally arriving. holy shit . theyre COMING THROUGH THE WINDOW. JOHN AND JADE

yeah ok so jade showed up and her and jane immediately got turned evil

DAVE AND KARKAT HIIII

this is a CLASSIC dave/karkat mess around. if you know, you KNOW . shit had me ROFLing.

holy davesprite . i havent seen this mf since like RIGHT AFTER cascade. literally its been eons

TRUEE i think its a strider lalonde thing they looove to go on and on about random bullshit

hey its these bozos what up yall

waitt theyre being friendly to each other? breath players CAN get along!!! this is huge news. especially for me.

this actually would be a hard ass shirt fr i need that shit

this is the reaction i get when i bring up minestuck to my friends... and im like guys please its actually fun i promise... .(im lying)

yo its the fan trolls what uppppp

okay nice meeting you

this is all very silly :D

OH GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU. WHY DO YOUHAVE EYES.... WHAT THE FUCK I DONT LIKE IT I DONT LIKE IT I ACTUALLY HATE IT GET IT OFF GET IT OFF

YES!!!!!!!! OKAYYYY TAVROS!!! stand up for yourself girl you are serving like crazy right now. i think maybe this is more meaningful than when he tried to kill her, cause that was just a too little too late type of thing where he wouldnt have actually accomplished anything by succeeding, and also had no chance of doing so. BUT realizing his CONFIDENCE and his FREEDOM actually is meaningful and it will accomplish things later on!!! :D YAY TAVROS

insane behavior

i think i agree with john here, i dont think it is out of line for him to hesitate in giving you the life ring. you dont have to be a good person to be a hero. but you do have to do... heroic things? like, ever? maybe once in your fucking life? when is the last time ANYTHING you did could be considered "heroic?" when you were alive, all you did was make everyone around you suffer. they had to kill you just to make sure you didnt doom them all. when youre dead, sure youre hunting down a weapon to kill the big bad monster, but you dont even seem to care about the millions of troll lives you are mind controlling against their will to be bait for your big mission. who the hell are you trying to save? the heroes that are alive in this story literally NEVER encounter the version of the villain that you are trying to stop. whats more, this big plan to use the your ghost army FAILS because the one who was doing basically ALL the legwork mind controlling most of the ghosts ditches you, and the only reason you still have an army by the end is because the guy you fucking bullied the whole time when you were alive (and a lot of the time you were dead) BAILS you out by ACTUALLY being a hero and a genuinely good person that doesnt need to MIND CONTROL PEOPLE to get them to follow him. look. i understand everything you are saying. about not having time to deal with the morals and ethics of what you are trying to accomplish. because the ends justify the means. but the thing is that NONE of it matters. YOUR PLAN FAILS. YOU GIVE UP and have an actual SATISFYING character arc. then it gets retconned and the main version of you goes back to being Worse. and then her plan...? succeeds? i guess? if succeeding means literally EVERY ghost in the army gets obliterated, the secret weapon deploying the four beta kids who are almost all killed by LE, and randomly davepeta being the one to throw him as well as themself into a blackhole. i guess if that counts as success, then congrats. you didnt even get to see that happen though, because you got ejected from the fight frame one. HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT!

anyway... what was i doing. oh yeah look at this. this is a bit sad

okay this is pretty real. even if it is nonsensical, and maybe a little bit problematic?

me talking about myself three images ago

i like this panel. poor john cannot find his friends

this is a very cool panel as well

FAWK

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO worlds most epic meetup

my worst nightmare

fucking scary ass motherfucker please get a grip. also brown contacts .

GOD. ROXY IS SO FUCKING REAL AND TRUE. THEYRE ACTUALLY MY GOAT ITS SO FUCKING INSANE HOW MUCH I LOVE ROXY

well. things are pretty bad right now! jade is evil jane is evil everyone is on random planets with no memory of how they got there john is missing. if i didnt know any better this might seem like the beginning of something really bad . but what do i know. anyway catch you on the next one. or catch me? joff i will see you next time. ok joff bye joff

[il3x]

Okay, first thing to understand, they don't call it grimdark. It's not really a delineated subgenre. What it IS is a fair amount of fics and videos with the selling point of "everything goes to shit and the Clan is destroyed". Examples:

Scénescence - serial killer terrorises a Clan + tears open many existing cracks in their society, "the collapse of a society"/"a descent into hell"

Grim Hollow - daughter of an abusive father inherits his leadership position and spirals into authoritarian warmongering, there's also a serial killer, "a looming darkness unfolds"

Withering Herbs - don't recall much except there's a plague and almost everyone dies. "Clanmates (...) may wilt until they are nothing but a pile of dust, blown away by wind."

Everlasting Night MAP - sun goes out (almost) forever and everyone starves and dies, but only after being reduced to cannibalism!

Mr Fear Zombie AU MAP - arguably overlap with the separate Zombie AU trope, but it does focus on "everyone slowly (un)dies except one cat". Similar atmosphere.

I'm 98% sure there's a nuclear winter AU somewhere but I encountered it once and lost it + if it focuses on rebuilding after the apocalypse rather than the apocalypse itself, different schtick.

What I find interesting, though, is that 98% of the time they... well, 15yr old me would've complained that they don't live up to the "utter destruction" they promise. Scénescence seemed headed in that direction last i caught up with it, but the others all end on some ray of regenerative hope:

Withering Herbs ends with the next generation telling stories about the MC, which he appreciates from cat-heaven.

Grim Hollow ends ambiguously, IIRC, with the war over and the MC dead, but regaining her sanity + her afterlife unspecified

Mr Fear ends with one cat dead but not zombified, standing against the zombie plague.

Everlasting Night ends with the sun rising again during the end credits, and I remembered the host mentioning in a comment that they didn't initially intend this, but it seemed right. checking back, I can't find any comments like that, so I might be mistaken. that said, the original script doesn't include or mention it, so...

Particularly notable because portraying the apocalypse as regenerative is common in older apocalypse mythology and writing, but less so today.

“Recent studies of the apocalypse, moreover, have dwelt extensively on how the trauma experienced by contemporary writers has led to the portrayal of a world that is devoid of any meaning. Vita Fortunati, for example, has discussed how modern apocalypse has drastically changed the biblical myth of the apocalypse. While the traditional apocalypse exemplifies "three basic elements of apocalyptic writing ... : Destruction, Judgment and Regeneration" (83), its modern counterpart is "completely devoid of its cathartic, regenerative significance" (89) and is instead characterized by "utter hopelessness and nihilism" (89).” (Hui-chuan Chang, 2011)

I do have a few theories on why Warriors fanworks lean towards older apocalyptic literary traditions:

Age - maybe the young audience is just, on average, less traumatised and jaded (and/or have a lower tolerance for dark fiction) than adult authors.

Narrative structure. Warriors is a generational saga focused on the survival of the Clans, which lends itself well to regeneration - almost any number of cats can kick it, and so long as one or two survive with their cultural traditions, the Clan survives. (Happens in canon, with SkyClan.)

Religion, on two levels. For, ah, better or worse, Warriors has a lot of thematic and ideological influence from Christianity. On a broader scale, it's therefore unsurprising that Warriors fanworks lean towards a biblical apocalypse. On a literal level, the afterlife worldbuilding also opens up a lot of bittersweet, open endings to an individual arc, like dying but reuniting with your loved one in cat-heaven, or ambiguity between heaven/hell/becoming a ghost for a villain protagonist who attained Redemption Through Death (Grim Hollow).

...Yeah, I dunno. Don't have a grand conclusion (yet). I think it's neat that regenerative apocalypses are still alive and kicking in this particular informal literature scene, and I think it's funny that people see kids book kittycats and go "what if they all died in a forever winter?". I also think apocalypse stories absolutely slap. Very curious if this is a cross-fandom phenomenon, and if there's a pattern of source media. From what little I've heard about Fallout Equestria, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a similar subgenre over in MLP.

the Warrior Cats Purportedly-Grimdark Apocalyptia is such a fascinating little subgenre of fanworks I have to talk about it sometime

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Hey sleepy! So i have a quick question, do you think a combat medic SO would be a good fit for Ghost? Im asking cuz im thinking of making an OC and i would looove to hear your opinion. It's just i think he's so versatile like that that you could create almost anyone for him so long as there's trust and understanding. What do you think? :D

Hello Anon! (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)/ First off, I really am honored that you'd ask me about how to pair an OC with Ghost. I was like WHY but I'll probably just tell you what I think about when making things happen with Ghost.

I think you can make any type of SO work with Ghost, it's just how the author could make it work with him.

Ghost is a very, VERY private man, would talk only when he needs to, and I'd imagine he would literally avoid talking to other civvies, and create as less as possible the connection with other people given his job and identity. Dude's living as quite literally 'no one'.

"As long as there's trust and understanding" -> THAT'S RIGHT! But the question is, how does your OC earn his trust? Why would he trust your OC, being the extremely private man that he is?

I feel like he's a person who wouldn't bat an eye/wouldn't care for anyone or anything -> That's why, this SO gotta have something/do something - A trait - that makes Ghost care for them ✨

In your case, a medic SO would very much make the SO care for Ghost, but making Ghost care for a medic is the part where you gotta work on.

How did the interaction start? How did they meet? What was the first impression (is it a BANG or is it just an ordinary meeting)?

What was the hook? At what point did Ghost start making an effort to get to know the SO better? What happened that made Ghost start to do that? Cuz it's EXTREMELY hard for someone to interest him, like he avoids people, it's gonna take something special -> what is it?

It is entirely up to your creativity and imagination to answer those questions!

Even further, usually a relationship/a pairing/a ship changes the character, in personality, emotionally, etc, either to the positive way, or negative way. It's a character development. Does your OC impact Ghost in positive or negative way? Your call 👀

Other than that, in order to make the story as authentic as possible, don't forget to search up what an army medic does! What does your OC do in their daily life? What differentiates them from a medic or an army surgeon? Do they go to the battlefield or stay back? What rank is your OC? These questions can make your character more believable and even help develop your stories as you pair your OC with Ghost.

So there it goes! Hope that answers it (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

[yuurei20]

Malleus Info Compilation part 2: Malleus' Power

Malleus is described as “one of the five most powerful mages in the world” during Halloween (and Glorious Masquerade, by a nameless Savanaclaw student and by Trey).

Riddle says he “is one of the preeminent mages in the entire WORLD”. During Spectral Soiree Silver cautions, “I’m sure I don’t need to tell any of you how powerful Malleus and Lilia are…I believe we need to content with this matter in a more serious fashion than usual”.

At the end of Spectral Soiree the students attempt to fight Malleus (while he roleplays as himself possessed by a ghost for a prank), leading Rook to say “Malleus and Lilia are powerful enough individually; we won’t stand a chance if we have to face them working in tandem” and “So this is the power of the Roi des Dragons…truly, it knows no bounds. It feels as though he is but toying with us” (which, at the time, he very much was, as a part of the Halloween prank).

Sebek is proud to explain that “(Trey)’s magic could never compare to Malleus or Lilia’s” and when Ace says “That dude’s a beast” he responds, “Of course he is! What did you expect?! He is MALLEUS DRACONIA, Briar Valley’s heir apparent!”

In the Wish Upon a Star event Sebek says that “There’s no question Malleus is the most powerful being in this world!”, though Idia expresses doubt, "if (final bosses) existed for real, your claim might not hold any water..." Unlike other students that excel in potion making or flying while struggling with magical history or summoning Malleus says there is no one magical subject that he excels at or struggles with—if anything, he excels at everything. Instead of using a pickaxe to access hidden mage stones in a cave in Vargas Camp 2 he breaks apart the cave wall by punching it repeatedly.

In his second birthday vignette we learn that Malleus’ physical strength is independent of his magic: he says, “even without my magic, my body is stronger than those of humans”, saying he does not need magic to break boulders and that he is faster than any animal or fish.

In Beanfest Malleus gets attacked by dozens of members of the opposite team simultaneously but never once gets touched, with Cater saying “He’s so nimble, it’s basically cheating”.

We have received several hints that Malleus’ magical ability is, simply, unmeasurable: Lilia explains that “he often broke boulders with his lightning bolts when he threw tantrums as a child”, and we are given an example of when a much younger Malleus set houses and fields ablaze in Briar Valley by complete accident, because he had been overexcited by a lantern-lighting duty assigned to him by the queen.

Jade comments that “Malleus’ power isn’t to be underestimated”.

Ace says that “everyone thinks he’s invincible”, Idia says “the amount of power you could get from a magestone would be a drop in the bucket to Malleus” and “He’s already a balance-breaking character with that auto-filling MP gauge of his”.

During Firelit Sky Cater has to stop Malleus from accumulating power and causing an international crisis via his attempts to catch a pickpocket and Crowley has to stop Malleus from magically interfering with campus guests. He also breaks coconuts with his bare hands.

Crowley says, “if you used your full power we wouldn’t have a campus left to eject them from”, and during Book 5 Malleus himself says, “No curse, no matter how powerful, will work on me”, to explain how he passed through the poison cloud from Vil's overblot unscathed.

[thesunshineriptide]

Twisted wonderland brain rot has taken hold so please enjoy some doodles of my MC in that world

Yeah my MC is basically me

Anyway, they go by Howl Pendragon because that’s a) what I went with in game and b) don’t give magic users your real name???

They use they/them pronouns and are 17 (as a first year, pulled a Leona) and are absolutely feral because much like me they’re also neurodivergent

Howl is in Octavinelle (they do have magic, their signature spell is ‘Siren Song’ and basically works like a Disney princess on steroids) and spends most of their time pissing off Azul because you cannot make them do something they don’t want to, it simply won’t work. No amount of punishment or praise will work

They 100% bite

Late at night they do actually do stuff to help the lounge (sweeping, straightening, leftover dishes, prep) and simply refuse to acknowledge it when someone brings it up

They also manage to speed run half the overblots by simply being a blunt little shit. It also doesn’t happen in order because two weeks in Azul tried to get them to work mostro and it didn’t work out well for him :)

They’re from this universe and reference shit that nobody else gets which makes them look a little crazy (that and the talking to the ghosts)

Howl isn’t afraid of Azul or Floyd but is absolutely fucking terrified of Jade because their entire life in wonderland so far is built on lies and they have no clue if he knows

They try to pass as a guy for the first month or so but get found out by accident when someone overhears them singing

So then they just pretend to be a girl for a while until eventually they snap and blurt out that they’re non-binary

Howl hates Jamil with a passion and can’t figure it out until chapter 4 and then they’re like ‘oooooh’

They rarely take part in group activities (see: Halloween costume) but they like being around people so they’re basically just the guy at the party who stands in a corner for 20 minutes, says hey to the host, then leaves. Or they just stare at people

Simultaneously have their head in the clouds and manage to convince everyone they’re paying attention.

Vargas doesn’t appreciate the ‘lack of effort’ in class but in truth they have really shitty joints and trying to run while you’re binding sucks. It only gets worse with a bra

Their Halloween costume is Jack Skellington. Nobody else realizes it. They made their hair white with cornstarch because potions is hard

Their best subject is musicology and their club is board game club because it seemed easiest. Accidentally gets a dnd groups going and ends up dming for like 5 people though

[fioras-resolve]

it is kind of amazing, a lot of the most passionate ace attorney fans i see these days have gotten into it fairly recently, like after the series basically finished. the modern ace attorney fandom is largely a better one than what i saw back when the 3DS was the hot new thing.

maybe it's a different experience getting into the series now because the games are all out. i got into this series a decade ago when the original trilogy came out on the WII, so while i did have the entire DS era to appreciate, i had to experience dual destinies, spirit of justice, and the layton crossover as they came out, and they kind of had to stand as their own experiences. while the layton crossover came out in japan in 2012, we in the states had to wait another two years, after dual destinies came out.

and to me both of these games were like? fine? you know i had a fun time with them, and they're not bad mysteries, but they also didn't make me feel the way the original trilogy did. i played apollo justice back in 2012, then waited a year to find out its themes would get undermined in the next game. it took another three years for spirit of justice to come out and reveal that the series really is in a strange relationship with itself now. it gives us a new set of characters each game, a new game mechanic to enhance the trials and blur the mechanical focus the series once had, a new backstory for apollo justice instead of bothering to develop the plot threads that were established at this point 15 years ago.

(ugh) i don't mean to mean to be negative about the modern trilogy. it does have a lot of charm to it, and i'm actually more willing to defend spirit of justice than you might expect, but like. when you wait years for "pretty good, yeah" it starts to make you a bit jaded about the future of the series. i've chosen to believe that, since the last new game the series has gotten was in 2017, that there simply isn't a future. the series is done now, and i can make of that what i will.

but if you got into this series recently, you basically have the entire series to binge, and can do so as a full package. you get to see phoenix wright's growth over six games, his relationship with edgeworth, maya, the law as a whole, and you get to appreciate all the characters for what they are rather than anticipating what they could be. if you don't like the games, you can just play another one. or, hell, watch a longplay of it. it's probably a better experience because the trial design of JFA and T&T are fucked.

i'm excited for the future of the AA fandom, but i wonder what place i really have in it. i mean, i'm a game designer now, part of why i made those graphs was just to understand the mechanical design of the trials, what makes these things work or not work. but ace attorney is enjoyed as a story first and a video game second, and i can't bring myself to get passionate about the story anymore. these days i'm more often impressed by games than i am excited about them, and in general my mechanical analysis mind doesn't work well with the kind of fandom that is primarily about characters and relationships. i envy the modern ace attorney fandom.

at this point i've... i don't wanna "moved on," but it's more like "branched out." i've tried a lot of other mystery games! a few mobile ones, aviary attorney, ghost trick, her story, layton, socrates jones (which is fucking excellent by the way), and umineko, which is textually a game but not practically. i might try famicom detective club sometime? i dunno, i just like trying new things, because i love discovering ways that games can surprise me. maybe ace attorney 7 comes out and makes me reconsider all this. but, in the meantime, i'm glad to be here for what the ace attorney community has become