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withasideofshakespeare · 1 year

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A Rundown on the Absolute Chaos that is First Quarto Hamlet

IMPORTANT UPDATE: This post may be getting a revamp with better citations—my cross-checking source was scrubbed from the internet entirely???

I said I was going to sleep before writing this. I did not. Here it goes anyway!

TL;DR: Multiple versions of Hamlet were printed between 1603 and 1623. Across these multiple texts, we get some fairly major differences in characterization and plot disparities. The First Quarto is most infamous for its oddness- which includes shockingly brief soliloquies, mother-son bonding, wild spellings of everyone’s names, and deleted/adapted scenes with major plot/character implications.

A full (long!) rundown is below the cut, including sources, transcribed Q1 content and lore, further Hamlet lore, and my fan theories! Feel free to skip the bits you don’t care about, I got way too into this.

Note: *I have updated these lines to their modern spellings for ease of reading

What is the First Quarto? What’s a “quarto”? Who wrote this?!

All pressing questions, my dear dedicated fan of William Shakespeare’s hit play Hamlet!

The First Quarto was published in 1603 and was (presumably, as implied by the name) printed as a quarto (a little book created by folding printed pages into four leaves- eight pages). It is much shorter than the later publications and is presumed to be transcribed from memory by an actor (probably the guy who played Marcellus), who may have been a member of a touring troop of actors performing the play.

Q1 is not necessarily considered a first draft of the play, but something of a “pirated” (by memory) copy that was later amended by Q2 and F1.

Are you saying that Hamlet comes with the stageplay equivalent of a “deleted scenes and extra credits” movie disc?

Yes! And not just one, but many: Quartos 1-5, the First Folio, multiple foreign language versions, and more! Your typical modern copy of Hamlet is a combination of the Second Quarto and First Folio.

Q2 (published in 1604 or 1605) is considered more “Shakespeare-accurate” than Q1- it seems to be a manuscript actually written by Shakespeare combined with an edited version of Q1′s Act 1 text rather than just some guy’s memory of the play. F1 was published much later (1623) and is some combination of another playhouse manuscript and possibly Q2 (but which—Q2 or the manuscript—had more influence in the creation of F1 is unclear). Q2 and F1 have tons of differences in wording and each has some content that the other doesn’t, but what you need to know here is that a typical modern script is an F1/Q2 combo (because editors didn’t think the public would want like six different scripts- fair enough.)

Quartos 3-5 are slightly edited versions of Q2. There seem to be a few other versions in different languages (like the German version) which share points from a variety of the above sources.

So... Q1? How is it any different from the version we all know (and love, of course)? What do the differences mean for the plot?

We’ll start with minor differences and build up to the big ones.

First of all, the language! Everything is spelled to the discretion of the transcriber, which produces gems such as “for England hoe.”

These spelling differences also extend to the characters! Laertes is “Leartes”, Ophelia is “Ofelia”, Gertrude is “Gertred” (or sometimes “Gerterd”), Rosencrantz is “Rossencraft”, Guildenstern is “Gilderstone”, and my favorite, Polonius gets a completely different name: Corambis.

(This goes on for minor characters, too. Sentinel Barnardo is “Bernardo”, Prince Fortinbras of Norway is “Fortenbrasse”, Voltemand and Cornelius- the Danish ambassadors to Norway- are “Voltemar” and “Cornelia” (genderbent Cornelius?/hj), Osric doesn’t even get a name- he is called “the Bragart Gentleman”, the Gravediggers are called clowns, and Reynaldo (Polonius’s spy) gets a whole different name- “Montano”.)

The stage directions include more detail! Ex: Ophelia enters in Act 4 with a lute to play along to her song of insanity. (*Enter Ofelia, playing on a lute, and her hair down, singing). (Some bits are missing direction though! In Act 3, when Hamlet calls upon Horatio to watch Claudius on the night of the play, there is no instruction for Horatio to enter the scene. He appears without being asked.)

There is a slight reordering of scenes in Act 3. Claudius and Polonius go through with the plan to have Ophelia break up with Hamlet immediately after they make it (typically, the plan is made in early II.ii and gone through with in III.i, with the players showing up and reciting Hecuba between the two events). In this version, the player scene (and Hamlet’s conversation with Polonius) happen after ‘to be or not to be’ and ‘get thee to a nunnery.’ I’m not sure if this makes more or less sense. Either way, it has minimal impact on the story.

Many lines, especially after Act 1 are considerably altered or shortened. Everyone is a lot more straightforward and (sometimes) a lot less iambic pentameter-y and poetic. A few examples: Laertes’ usually long-winded I.iii lecture on love to Ophelia is shortened to just ten lines (as opposed to the typical 40+). Polonius (er... Corambis) is still annoying and incapable of brevity, but less so than usual. His lecture on love is also cut significantly! Hamlet’s usual assailing of Danish drinking customs (I.iv) is cut off by the ghost’s arrival. He’s still the most talkative character, but his lines are almost entirely different in some monologues, including ‘to be or not to be’! In other spots, however, (ex: get thee to a nunnery!) the lines are near-identical. There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to where things diverge linguistically.

And then the big differences: the additional scene and Gertrude’s promise to aid Hamlet in taking revenge. Act 3, scene 4 goes about the same as usual with one major difference: Hamlet finishes off not with his usual declaration that he’s to be sent for England but with an absolutely heart-wrenching callback to act 1, in which he echoes the ghost’s lines and pleads his mother to aid him in revenge. And she agrees. Here is that adapted scene (without line breaks for some reason- ah, formatting!):

*Gertrude: Alas, it is the weakness of thy brain which makes thy tongue blazon thy heart’s grief: but as I have a soul, I swear by heaven, I never knew if this most horrid murder: but Hamlet, this is only fantasy, and for my love forget these idle fits.

Hamlet: Idle, no mother, my pulse does beat like yours, it is not madness that possesses Hamlet. O mother, if you ever did my dear father love, forbear the adulterous bed to-night and sun your self by little as you may, in time it may be you will loathe him quite and mother, but assist me in my revenge and in his death, your infamy shall die.

Gertrude: Hamlet, I swear by that majesty that knows our thoughts and looks into our hearts, I will conceal, consent, and do my best what stratagem so ever thou shalt devise.

Hamlet: It is enough mother, good night. [to polonius] I’ll provide for you a grave who was in life a foolish and prating knave.

*exit Hamlet with Polonius’s body*

Despite having seemingly major consequences for the plot, this is never discussed again. Gertrude tells Claudius in the next scene that it was Hamlet who killed Polonius (Corambis, whatever!), seemingly betraying her promise.

However, Gertrude’s admission of Hamlet’s guilt (and thus, betrayal) could come down to the circumstance she finds herself in as the next scene begins. There is no stage direction denoting her exit, so the entrance of Claudius in scene 5 may be into her room, where he would find her beside a puddle of blood, evidence of the murder. There’s no talking your way out of that one…

And now the most drastic change: the bonus scene. After IV.vi (act 4, scene 6), (but before IV.vii) comes this scene*, in which Horatio informs Gertrude that Hamlet was to be executed in England but escaped. Here it is with modern spellings but without line breaks (man, I hate formatting things!)

Enter Horatio & Gertrude

Horatio: Madam, your son is safe arrive’d in Denmark. This letter I even now received of him, whereas he writes how he escaped the danger and subtle treason that the king had plotted, being crossed by the contention of the winds, he found the packet (letter) sent to the king of England, wherein he saw himself betray’d to death, as at his next conversion with your grace, he will relate the circumstance at full.

Gertrude: Then I perceive there’s treason in his looks that seemed to sugar o’re his villainy: but I will sooth and please him for a time for murderous minds are always jealous. But know not you, Horatio, where he is?

Horatio: Yes, madam, and he hath appointed me to meet him on the east side of the city to-morrow morning.

Gertrude: O, fail not, good Horatio, and commend me a mother’s care to him, bid him a while be wary of his presence, lest that he fail in that he goes about.

Horatio: Madam, never make doubt if that: I think by this news be come to court: he is arrive’d, observe the king and you shall quickly find, Hamlet being here, things fell not to his mind.

Gertrude: But what became of Guilderstone and Rossencraft?

Horatio: He being set ashore, they went for England and in the packet there writ down that doom to be performed on them pointed for him: and by great chance he had his father’s seal, so all was done without discovery.

Gertrude: Thanks be to heaven for blessing of the prince, Horatio, I once again take my leave, with thousand mother’s blessings to my son.

Horatio: Madam, adieu.

If Gertrude knows of Claudius’s treachery (”there’s treason in his looks”), her death at the end of the play does not look like much of an accident. She is aware that Claudius killed her husband and is actively trying to kill her son and she still drinks the wine meant for Hamlet!

Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for! My thoughts! Yippee!

Clearly, my favorite gift this Christmas was my copy of The Riverside Shakespeare, gifted to me by my grandma. I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again now that reading this is an option. (This play has me head-over-heels, goddamn!)

Anyway, here are my thoughts on Q1 (as abridged as I can get them, seeing as this post is already nearly 2,000 words long.)

On Gertrude: WOW! I’m convinced that she is done dirty by First Folio and Q2! She and Hamlet have a much better relationship (Gertrude genuinely worries about his well-being throughout the play.) She has an actual personality that is tied into her role in the story and as a mother. I love Q1 Gertrude even though in the end, there’s nothing she can do to save Hamlet from being found out in the murder of Polonius and eventually dying in the duel. Her drinking the poisoned wine seems like an act of desperation (or sacrifice? she never asks hamlet to drink!) rather than an accident.

On the language: I think Q1′s biggest shortcoming is its comparatively simplistic language, especially in ‘to be or not to be’*: (again with the formatting!)

Hamlet: To be, or not to be, aye, there's the point. To die, to sleep, is that all? Aye, all: no, to sleep, to dream, aye, merry there it goes. For in that dream of death, when we awake, and borne before an everlasting judge, from whence no passenger ever returned, the undiscovered country, at whose sight the happy smile, and the accursed damn'd. But for this, the joyful hope of this, who’d bear the scorns and flattery of the world, scorned by the right rich, the rich cursed of the poor? The widow being oppressed, the orphan wrong'd, the taste of hunger, or a tyrants reign, and thousand more calamities besides, to grunt and sweat under this weary life, when that he may his full quietus make, with a bare bodkin, who would this endure, but for a hope of something after death? Which puzzles the brain, and doth confound the sense, which makes us rather bear those evils we have, than fly to others that we know not of. Aye that, O this conscience makes cowards of us all.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but it doesn’t feel quite complete, which makes sense for Q1- that’s the vibe I get overall from this version: it’s Hamlet at an earlier point in the play’s journey to becoming its modern renditions and compilations.

On the ending: The ending suffers from the same effect ‘to be or not to be’ does- it is simpler and (imo) lacks some of the emotion that F1 later emphasizes. Hamlet’s final speech is significantly cut down and Horatio’s last lines aren’t quite so potent- although they’re still sweet!

*Horatio, to Fortinbras and co.: Content yourselves, I’ll show to all, the ground, the first beginning of this Tragedy: Let there a scaffold be reared up in the marketplace, and let the State of the world be there: where you shall hear such a sad story told that never mortal man could more unfold.

Horatio generally is a more active character in Q1 Hamlet. This ending suits his character here: He will tell Hamlet’s story, tragic as it may be. It reminds me a bit of We Raise Our Cups from Hadestown.

Overall, I loved reading this version and highly encourage you to do the same! (Two PDFs are linked below!) The spelling is hard to overlook at times, but if you can get through it, this is a fascinating interpretation of the same Hamlet we love and it’s worth a read! There’s so much more I want to get into but I absolutely must sleep, so adieu for now!

And finally, my sources:

The Riverside Shakespeare (pub. Houghton Mifflin Company; G.B. Evans, et al.)

Q1 PDF (Internet Shakespeare) https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Ham_Q1/complete/index.html

***THIS SOURCE NO LONGER EXISTS.*** Q1 PDF (STF Theatre) https://stf-theatre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/HAMLET-%E2%80%93-the-1st-Quarto.pdf (cross-reference for lines)

#Hamlet #shakespeare #first quarto hamlet #oh man i am tired #definitely entered my unhinged college student era #classical literature #you will be the death of me!#this will be edited for clarity and punctuation later

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hotcheetohatredwastaken · 3 months

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Hi! This is anon from the other day who was asking about outlining! First of all, thanks so much for your input! It was really helpful and I finally have an ok outline- at least in my opinion! Just wondering if you have anymore advice on outling in general- My fics going to be a longer one- looking at average novel length here for everything I want to shove in it. Have a good day! :D

Hello, dear anon! I am always happy to give advice (though the quality of it may be lacking, as I speak from personal experience rather than professional study).

If you're looking for some more advice (writing wise), I would suggest making sure that you don't spend too much time obsessing over any one chapter, especially as you're just starting out on such a long project. Not that you can't edit, but I've seen so many new writers (how new are you at writing? That may change my future advice, if you ask for it) edit and edit and edit their first chapters without ever moving onto the second because they're trying to get it perfect. I'm on a writing exchange platform on Reddit (Writers Helping Writers), and I had one kid send me his first chapter no more than seven times to review the different versions, because he couldn't get down the details of how he wanted that inciting scene to go. It's been like 3? months, and he just sent me an eighth version the other day, and I had to tell him that I wasn't gonna give (the same) feedback on the chapter anymore XD

Especially if you're going to be doing a long fic, new things you'll want to add to different sections will pop up as you go. You just have to accommodate for ideas as they come up rather than try to preemptively pin them all down, and I'm saying this as the person known as being super super detailed with crazy outlines, apparently. You have to be a bit flexible--the story will take you places that you didn't expect to go, and you'll have to go back and fix details and revise many many times.

Specifically for outlining, however, I am a very visual person, so I have drawings, diagrams, and I also have a corkboard with all my chapter "sections" on sticky notes, with string connecting big subplots (I've actually taken these all down right now, and the only one's up are concluded subplots XD Arc 2 is a mess rn). You'll just have to play around and see what works for you, when it comes to that. Have you seen the train station model for subplots? I'm not sure if that's exactly what it's called, because googling it gets nothing, but when I started writing years and years ago there was one for the Hunger Games going around XD Basically, deciding which subplots will be advanced in which scenes, and tracking them through the story that similar to a system of subway rails, with each chapter being a stop that only some of the trains (subplots) will stop at. It gives you the opportunity to visually make sure that you give each the amount of screentime they deserve and also remember to give them a satisfying conclusion that's going in the same direction, to extend the metaphor, as the main plot.

It's great that you have an outline already, as that'll cut down on those revisions that I mentioned earlier a lot! And you're going for NOVEL LENGTH? Wow, good luck, and as I said before, please message me when you get around to posting that! Feel free to message me if you need anything, whether that be talking through plot points or my specific processes for anything.

You have a good day yourself, my dear writing anon!

#cheetotalks #cheetowrites #cheetoanswers #lovely anon #perhaps dubious writing advice #but it is what has worked for me

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gertrudepetronella-blog · 1 year

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Master List

All HP (one Sandman crossover), all pro Snape! Please check tags and content warnings before reading.

All on Ao3 ~ Details below the cut.

The Book of The Sun and The Moon

Rated Mature, but with some explicit sexual content. Snupin.

A dark curse. An ancient ritual. An intense obsession. And a chance at the greatest power of all.

In a tale told across three decades, can two people overcome their own curses, self hatred, and outside influences and find their way back to one another?

~~~~~

The Prince and The Crow

Not rated. Swearing, mild sexual content and some violence.

Snape x ofc. Severitus. Complete re-write of the HP series. Semi canon compliant. Kind of a fix-it, broke-it, fixed-it again! Details of parts below:

The Crow Comes Home

Prequel and year one (Philosopher's Stone). Petronella Blishwick is a grumpy badass bitch, and only living friend of Severus Snape. She has been drifting for years since the end of the first war, but when Severus brings her home - to Hogwarts - it changes the course of all their futures. COMPLETE!

The Year of the Snake

Harry's 2nd year (CoS). Severitius and Snape x ofc, partially following canon, but with a few divergencies and extra sub plots. Fluff and Angst and baddass bitches. COMPLETE.

The Year of the Rat

Part three (PoA) Severus and Petronella plan to adopt Harry, but they will face opposition and challenges both internal and external. Beginning to diverge from canon somewhat. COMPLETE.

~~~~~

Artemisia Absinthium

Rated E for explicit. Graphic sex and violence. Adult themes.

Started as a tumblr post, became a(n epic) series! AU set post Marauders, with a little lot of Snupin for good measure.

SERIES COMPLETE.

The Rat and The Snake

What if Severus Snape had discovered Peter Pettigrew's treachery before the Potters were killed? *Graphic violence.*

The Wolf and The Moth

The war is won, but is it really over? Relationships are forged and broken, as those that survived the war now have to learn how to live. *Explicit sex and violence.*

The Bear and The Dragon

Bellatrix seeks to bring back the Dark Lord, but a new power rises to oppose her. *Explicit sex and violence.*

~~~~~

Even Princes Can Dream

HP / Sandman crossover. Eventual Snape / Morpheus (implied). The Dream King comes across a child who only ever has nightmares.

~~~~~

Careful of the Stitches

Rated mature. Snupin.

A Death Eater and a Werewolf already on the brink of death are not the priorities in a hospital full of injured patients following the Battle of Hogwarts. They are shoved into a side room and left to die, so will have to help each other if they wish to live.

~~~~~

The Comeback

Rated G for general. Some swearing and mature content.

Also inspired by a Tumblr prompt. 1st September 1998. Hogwarts. The first school year since the defeat of Voldemort. There is grief, there is hope, there is a dark robed figure in the corner that nobody had expected to see again. A mildly humorous tale with dark undertones. COMPLETE!

The Comeback Pick n Mix

Series of one shots following on from The Comeback. May contain contradictory ships / events, but compliant with the main fic. Ongoing.

~~~~~

The Half-blood Prince

Not Rated. Contains graphic domestic abuse.

What would happen if Eileen Snape left Tobias and went back to her parents? Under 10k. COMPLETE, but may be added to.

~~~~~

Monsters

Contains implied violence, death, and graphic gore.

One morning Remus wakes to find the thing he fears most in the world. He goes to the only person he can think of who won’t judge him – because Snape already knows what he is. A monster. COMPLETE.

~~~~~

Mostly Smut! **All contain explicit sex**

Seven Deadly Sins

Everyone thinks that Professor Snape covets the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, which is true… in a manner of speaking.

To His Mind

Snupin! Extended version of a scene in The Rat and The Snake. The Order has a mole, everyone is a suspect, but when Severus Snape looks into Remus Lupin's mind, he gets more than he bargained for!

Prince and Crow, the Smut chapters

E for Explicit. Graphic sex.

Basically just all the sex scenes I left out of the main fic! Friends to lovers, becoming increasingly smutty, but also fluffy, as the relationship develops.

#snape fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #the sandman fanfic #snape fanfic #severus snape fanfiction #harry potter prequel #snupin #harry potter original character #severus snape #remus lupin #morpheus #pro snape #snape lives

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tkwrtnewsfeed · 1 year

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Newsfeed #133 May 2, 2023 (2 Lótessë)

You are about to read the Legolas origin story shortly. But first, a few notes. (You didn't think you'd have to do homework first, did you?)

So, anyway, that story is found in two places 1) @trenarnolegolaslasgalen (regular version), and 2) @tkwrtrilogylasttale (extended version). The extended version combines plot points from the extended version of his father's story.

(Yeah, this guy. The subject of Book II: The Saga of Thranduil @tkwrtrilogy and @tkwrtrilogy2, and the extended version @extendedtkwrtrilogyend). Oh, now you remember. Moving on.

Now, back to Legolas. The story begins today. Yay! I will not go into the details of how hard it was to get what is going up first done, but it was more harrowing than the first season of Rings of Power (or so I've been told). For those who read the books on WordPress, we're fixing that due to the minor hiatus Book I is going through.

Oh, in case you didn't know about Book I: The Epic of Eryn Galen (@tkwrtrilogy3), it takes place during this part except in actual Middle-Earth (Arda/Endor). We're almost nearing the end of the First Age, so we're WAY ahead of the television show. To be fair, I started this book in 2015, so I had a head start. Now, back to Legolas.

Yes, this book will take him on the Fellowship--just as soon as he grows up. Just so you know, he's going to do a lot of growing up like his father did in his story. I mean, it IS an origin story. Also, some things from his dad's story will overlap. It's supposed to do that. It's a generational family epic set in Middle-Earth. Uh, yeah. 🤪

Now for those that often read this on WordPress--it's coming. We have to set it up for the pause between the middle of Book I and the beginning of Book III: The Last Tale of Legolas Lasgalen*.

For those that don't know: There are actually TWO Legolas' in Tolkien (the first one makes his appearance in Book I: The Epic of Eryn Galen). He is an elf from Gondolin and his name is Legolas Greenleaf. Oropher (whose story got preempted by my family pulling a Jamie Spears on me--later about that) knew the first Legolas. Can't imagine how it got transferred to this Legolas (yet 🤫).

Wait! There's more (that you'll have to wait until after I post the first excerpt of Book III: The Last Tale of Legolas Lasgalen). I'm sure you'll like it.

Yeah, so enjoy what is about to be a really long book. 😁

And don't forget, after this one, there are 3 other books:

The Song of Seven Rivers (the story of Legolas' mother) @tkwrtsongofsevenrivers

Of Lords & Kings: The Legacy of Dale (about the Bardings) @oflordsandkingstkwrtbook

And coming soon (or eventually) is Loremasters: The Keepers of the Tales. (TBA)

Yeah, I think we're done here--for now.

*Lasgalen is Greenleaf in Sindarin (and Sindarin is Quendi for Grey Elven Language).

#tkwrtnewsfeed #the official tkwr trilogy #the last tale of legolas lasgalen #based on tolkien #welcome back to middle earth #writers on tumblr #in honor of tolkien #writers on instagram #writers on wordpress #books #novels #epic fantasy #announcements

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pippin-katz · 8 months

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RWRB Essay Part Ten: Pacing

Word Count: 611

The film moves fast, but this is because the book also moves fast, but the film has way less time to get the same point across. I may be in the minority, but after I disconnected the book from the movie, I didn't feel like it was rushed.

Here's the thing, a lot of movies have a nasty habit of being stuffed with filler. There's so much unnecessary stuff that's put into films to pad the runtime, make it longer. Most people don't really think about it, but it's actually super common, and annoying for those who notice.

The minimum runtime to be considered a feature length film in the US is 60+ minutes, but a lot of movies nowadays try to get closer to 120+ minutes, which is a big difference. Consider the original Avengers film, 143 minutes, which is a lot, and then we got Avengers: Endgame which was 183 minutes.

For some perspective, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers released to theaters with a 179 minute-long runtime, but the extended edition runtime is 235 minutes. The Lord of the Rings films are notorious for their extended versions and the fact that they are extraordinarily long. Almost everyone who watches the extended edition trilogy spreads it out over several days, if not a week because it is too much to watch in one sitting unless you have the entire day free.

These massive numbers come from the fact that they have a lot to show, most of which is vital to the plot. Too many movies now add unnecessary content to make their runtime longer.

Red, White, & Royal Blue does not move too fast. It simply does not waste time.

There is not a single scene in Red, White, & Royal Blue is meaningless. Even the fun montage scenes like those at the lake house are there to communicate the development of their relationship, and how far they've come.

While we can see their love showing up early on, obviously they lead with friends-with-benefits relationship that makes for most of their physically shared time being sex centered. The lake house shows them genuinely enjoying being around each other outside of that context, like reading together on a hammock or Henry doing drunk karaoke. Their small conversations are picked carefully to showcase their banter, then their growing connection.

The story is about them, and therefore, there's no point in taking a winding sidetrack to go into the details of Alex's college classes or the campaign progress. That's all great for the book, but in the movie, they don't need to do that, and the decision not to was the right one. It only would've taken the focus off of them.

They have a lot to do with just them. There's no reason to drag their feet around, so they don't! There's no point in spending fifteen-twenty minutes to show something they can accomplish in five. There's no point in dragging out the passage of time.

The fast pace only doesn't work if their progression as a couple isn't believable, and we've already established that their progress as a couple is perfectly balanced.

That's my take on the pacing, that it's not rushed. I prefer them just going, not wasting any time. That's the other part that makes the cuts not bother me.

As much as I love so many scenes that didn't make it, they didn't need to be there for the story to progress as it needed to. Trying to cram more in would've only made it hard to keep up with. That would've made it rushed. The way it is is fine.

previous part | next part | master post

#red white and royal blue #rwrb #rwrb movie #rwrb book #rwrb thoughts #rwrb spoilers #alex claremont diaz #taylor zakhar perez #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry hanover stuart fox #nicholas galitzine #matthew lopez #firstprince

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a-mag-a-day · 1 year

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MAG 50 - apple cutting

I had a reaaally hard time following these old statements, here we go…

"Dear Jonah" - ¬‿¬

"allow yourself some respite, or at the very least take some further secretarial staff into your employ" / "And it is this imminent departure that has had such a freeing effect upon my pen." / "I have been fearful that accusations of slander might dog me, were my tale to be set down, but with a boat to the new world beckoning, and your sterling reputation for discretion, I feel it may at last be time to divest myself of the disquieting scenes I have witnessed." / "Henry was very effusive about the talents and prospects of young Mr. Scott, and was at great pains to inform me that his young protege also received certain architectural tutelages from Sir Robert himself." - And here I was thinking I'm good at English xD That's probably the reason why I can't quite focus on those old statements. Tbf nowadays it's unusual to casually come across old English texts, so it's not really necessary to familiarize myself with those for my use. (It's not that I don't know the words - I mean a few I actually don't know, tutelages for example - just the way it is written is so different and I have to concentrate way more than usual)

"The plight of the poor and destitute has been a national disgrace" - WHAT? opening dict.cc and looking up "plight" and "destitute" sigh This episode might take a while…

"it was an undertaking I embarked on with no small amount of zeal." - crying in not a native speaker (oida T_T)

While copy-pasting all those quotes I totally lost the thread what's the rambling even about…

more crying in not a native speaker I would have to copy half the statement if I wanted to quote every sentence that made me go "the hell is he talking about???"

"Then from the other side that firm oak door, I would hear the strangest sounds, muttering and shouting. It was always in George’s voice alone. I could never quite discern the words. It often sounded as though he were in some great distress, and on more than one occasion I was within minutes of summoning a constable to assist in breaking through the door, when he would emerge, glistening from exertion and holding completely redone drawings. I’m sure I even saw blood on his collar once." - ??? I don't get it (plot-wise I mean)

Heading over to Patreon to send in a question for the next stream, which will be "Jonny, can you pls explain this episode to me like I'm dumb!!!"

"“Balance,” he told me. “Equilibrium. The hardest thing for an architect to achieve." - I've graduated from art school and we did have a bit of architecture and this makes me think of a hanging model. The most famous one is by Antoni Gaudi. Basically, by using chains you create an upside-down model of a building. The arches, which will be formed by the weight of the chains and gravity are supposed to help structural engineering. It's been over a decade since I graduated (T_T), I don't remember all the details, but it's cool!

"To my dying day, Jonah, I will aver that no one entered the building before I heard the footsteps approach." / "The walls and floor seemed to rise towards me, stealing the air from my lungs until I swear that I could feel the splinters from the ceiling digging into the soft skin of my face." / "The room returned to its natural proportions, which is to say, it… never truly changed." / "Extending from the unblemished solid stone of the workhouse wall were four fingertips." - This does sound like The Seven Lamps of Architecture, could this be an early version of it? The one Leitner uses was published 1845, the event of the statement took place in 1836, so it could be possible?

"End statement." - Excuse me? It's "Statement ends"…

Aaaah yes, Tim being Tim! Classic! Seriously tho, the way this conversation is set up it's really not far-fetching to think two people are hooking up. Great comedy!

I'll be honest my eyes glazed over listening to this episode to find a quote for the opening post I had to listen to it twice and I'm still having a hard time understanding it xD

#a mag a day #tma #the magnus archives #episode asks #mod ashes #tma spoilers #mag 50 #lycanlovingvampyre

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canyouhearthevoices · 1 year

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ATEEZ Theory TidBits Ep 11 - What did ZERO: FEVER Epilogue contribute to the storyline?

ATEEZ’s ninth album, made up mostly of their KINGDOM songs (with Mingi added of course), and a little twist. It was released just before Christmas in 2021, after the FEVER eXtended edition concert. It was also the final album in the FEVER series.

In this post;

Materials included in the album

Additions to the storyline

Track breakdown

Reactions from the fandom

Important motifs and storyline elements which were added

My perspective on the storytelling (from a screenwriting kid)

Quality of the album

Other important things to note

Conclusions

There were only like 2 new songs, so surely there’s no storyline here, right?

Bwahaha, jokes on you, haven’t you noticed that the smallest ATEEZ albums are the ones with the most storyline? And this one is probably the most drastic examples of that. An album noone expected, mostly full of songs they’d already performed, and yet with a completely different vibe, in a way that completely recontextualised the whole storyline (or at least, if you like to believe my old version of the storyline which may or may not be fully accurate).

A fitting conclusion to the FEVER series.

Full discussion below the line.

Materials included in the album

Only the particularly important things, not the random, daily content that groups put out as part of their... existence. Everything ATEEZ does have some references or relevance to their storyline, but that doesn’t mean that all ATEEZ storyline content is created equal.

Album - physical, with three versions, including the Diary version

MVs - Turbulence, The Real Heung Ver.

Dance practice/choreo videos, or other performances, for ‘The Real,’ and ‘Turbulence.’

The regular contents; teasers, reaction videos, vlives and so on.

Logbook roughly 80-88

Additions to the storyline

Well, less additions and more recontextualisations. As I write this, I am in the process of rethinking my perspective of the ATEEZ storyline, and FEVER Epilogue is the kind of album that is more about specific details than overarching plot details. But I’ll talk about what I used to think. Whether or not what I write below is disproven or not... we’ll find out.

‘The Real’ is at the beginning of the FEVER storyline, where the boys come together from different backgrounds to go against the government. It also foreshadows their conflicts across timelines. ‘Turbulence’ is similar to ‘Twilight’ - focused on the shift from dark to light, only, ‘Turbulence’ goes in reverse - it is the dusk of FEVERteez, not the dawn of Treasureteez. It also shows why they fell apart - they literally grew further apart as individuals. Teamwork makes the dream work, you know? Then we have the KINGDOM tracks - Wonderland, Answer, and Wave Overture. These tracks were so interesting to me - they used (mostly) the original TREASURE-era lyrics, but the performances on KINGDOM completely recontextualised them.

See what I mean about the recontextualising?

WAVE is a bright song with darker meaning, nonetheless bright and happy. But ‘WAVE: Overture’ is the aftermath of a battle that ATEEZ have lost - Hongjoong is barely holding them together, but they get back up again and are ready to fight again. Which version of ATEEZ is it? HALAteez? FEVERteez? Treasureteez? You choose, the message is the same.

WONDERLAND is originally about the group continuing their journey after the setbacks of One to All, and included lots of details about their relationship with HALAteez. But in KINGDOM, WONDERLAND becomes an epic pirate ballad as the group fights a kraken, the ‘miniboss’ before the actual boss of the Guardians. They are nearing the end of their journey. ‘Answer’ is initially the resolution of the Treasureteez storyline (to an extent), where they reach a truce with HALAteez. But in KINGDOM, ‘Answer’ is the epic conclusion to the HALAteez-Treasureteez storyline, the literal aftermath of the original ‘Answer,’ where the two groups come together to defeat the Guardians. There is a massive battle, with memories of their past journeys, and, in the end, HALAteez sacrifice themselves to defeat the Guardians. A similar idea to the original, but a continuation of the storyline.

So it’s a nice end to the HALAteez-Treasureteez storyline, but where does it all sit in relation to FEVERteez and THE WORLD? I ain’t so sure, but we’ll find out as they keep releasing more.

Track breakdown

Turbulence - Depressing and beautiful dusk of HALAteez - it is now too late to prevent the downfall of HALAteez.

The Letter - A combo of ‘Thank U’ and ‘From’ - aka amazing lyrics.

Still Here Kor. Ver. - Vibes but in Korean this time.

Be With You - Snow, spring, and love.

Better Kor. Ver. - Recovering from depression, in Korean this time.

The Real Heung Ver. - The Real but extra gangster this time.

WAVE Overture - ‘WAVE’ but amp the horror elements up to 1000.

WONDERLAND (Symphony No. 9) - Hongjoong is obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean.

Answer: Ode to Joy - Epic battle and Hongjoong’s acting skills + Jongho’s vocals.

Outro: Over the Horizon - HALAteez/FEVERteez have been defeated, and they will keep going (in Treasure era).

Reactions from the fandom

It was a very unexpected album, so soon after both their last album and their anniversary. But it was very popular and well-received. The Real is a song that many people like, from all sections of the fandom, and we were delighted to see the songs from KINGDOM, now with Mingi, as they had always been intended. And maybe this was why this album was largely made up of KINGDOM songs - Mingi had always been a part of them, so they weren’t actually whole on the show. It was very hype, let’s say that. And especially so, since many fans had been brought in by Deja Vu, so were excited to see this mysterious album!

Important motifs and storyline elements which were added

Whatever the hell the ‘The Real’ MV was

Added on to the school concept from INCEPTION

The thunder thing in The Real

The boys being split into pairs (rip Yeosang and Mingi who are alone)

The runways

Paper planes were brought back

Brought back the Diary Film elements

My semi-professional perspective of the storytelling, production and production values, etc

When it first came out, I was a bit disappointed. Sure, it had only been a few months since the last album, but I kind of expected more than the very down-played ‘Turbulence’ and KINGDOM songs, which I’d heard a billion times before. But looking back at it now, it was the perfect, circular conclusion to the FEVER era. As above, we can see that it was less about bringing new things in, and more about returning to the old and referencing previous motifs. Primarily, we had the KINGDOM songs integrated into the FEVERteez storyline, and the elements of the Diary film, such as the eight different lives of the boys and the importance of Yeosang. Each of the songs connected to TREASURE, FEVER, and the upcoming THE WORLD, and they made poignant duologies with other songs, such as ‘Turbulence’ and ‘Twilight,’ or ‘WAVE’ and ‘WAVE: Overture.’ The story of the album was confusing to say the least, especially compared to the rest of the FEVER era, which was, compared to TREASURE, quite hard to follow, if you didn’t read the Diary entries, which, actually, possibly even made the story harder to understand.

As far as production values - well. ATEEZ are growing and growing, and it is obvious in their production values as well. This album brought in some snazzy new special effects, and very good costuming which was both cool and did storytelling. I especially love the design of the physical albums, and the school graduation concept of the Diary version of the album. It’s so cool and just fits them really well. And it definitely helps that Hongjoong’s hair was amazing. 10/10 the black with grey streaks is up there with red and blue Joong. We don’t accept no orange Joong in this house.

I mean, look at this:

He just looks like an expensive superstar.

Quality of the album

Honestly, considering how unexpected it was, it was AMAZING. Especially the physical versions of the album. The styling was great and it just looked like a lot of passion and effort went into it. Of course, I can’t give it a 10/10 because they decided it was a good idea to bring back ‘A Teenager Z’ even though, now, none of the members are teenagers, and that was always a stupid name for obvious reasons anyway... Why won’t KQ let us forget that? Does it sound better in Korean? IDK.

And, of course, around this time we also got ‘Don’t Stop’ the Universe single. Which was also of great quality and with a great MV which added to the storyline.

Other important things to note

This set up the next album very well - ‘Turbulence’ and ‘The Real’ established semi-dystopian cityscapes, and the ‘A Teenger Z’ school motif would come back at the end of Guerrilla’s MV. Which just makes me more confused about the storyline and the different universes, but, I mean, good on ATEEZ for making the albums consistent over real world time, if not storyline time??? Or not. Who knows?

Only Hongjoong.

Conclusions

I was initially very disappointed to see that the tracklist only had a few new songs. But then I saw and listened to the album, and I went feral for the storyline. If anyone needed confirmation (for some reason) that KINGDOM was canon - this was it. They did it. They brought back the mish-mash of pirates, modern and medieval, crazy and powerful that was KINGDOM, and this time, with Mingi.

AKA the album that epitomises ATEEZ’s dedication to the storyline? Except perhaps MOVEMENT.

#ateez #atiny #ateez theories #ateez theory tidbits #fever #zero: fever epilogue #fever epilogue #zero: fever

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gb-patch · 3 years

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Ask Answers: August 8th

Well, doing big posts all together worked for a while but lately I’ve been putting it off because it takes a long time to get them done. I think I’m gonna try switching back to answering asks whenever I can fit it in and posting them one at a time instead of waiting until I’ve filled out one of these major collections.

But for now, here’s more ask answers! Thank you for the questions and for all the kind words along with them ^^.

Hello!! I'm here to ask if its possible to get the game and its dlcs on steam and play it on android?

I’m afraid not. Steam doesn’t have Android builds on their own site and Steam is not cool with keys for other sites being given out for Steam purchases, so you don’t get the Itch version from buying on Steam.

Hello! Sorry to bother you but, I had a question, if we buy the Game on itchio do we get steam keys or would we need to purchase it twice?

You would have to buy it twice if you want it in both places, I’m sorry. To repeat myself a little, Steam doesn’t like the key trading thing. Itch may support giving keys for another site, but the reverse isn’t doable with Steam and Steam doesn’t even really want you to get a Steam key for buying somewhere else either. So we just don’t mess around with that.

hey, sorry if this is frequently asked, but is step 4 free dlc or paid for? some of your sources are contradicting each other.

It’s free! There’s a paid wedding DLC, but Step 4 itself is entirely unpaid.

Hello! I just had a quick question, for the Baxter and Derek DLC's will we be able to confess our feelings to them or let them confess to MC? or will it only be one way? (they confess to MC)

Both type of options will be available!

Hey there! I wanted to ask whether or not the Derek DLC is still on track to be released in August since on the steam discussion board it says it will be released mid 2021. I totally understand if it isn't, I'm just really looking forward to it! If you answer then ty! And keep up the amazing work :D

It’s not, aha. Unfortunately, 2021 wasn’t easier than 2020 as we hoped so things are still slower than planned. It’ll come out late 2021 or early 2022.

Hi! Firstly I just want to say that I LOVE Our Life. I have played a bit of similar games but this one instantly wins for the best one! Everything about it is amazing! I just wanted to ask if Derek would ever lose feelings for MC, like if they make the deal and then MC gets with Cove would he move on? and even if you don't, after "losing contact" would his feeling fade or would he still like MC?

If you don’t really keep in touch with him and clearly move on with your life, Derek will too and he’ll be over it. But if you are still close as best as you can be, he’ll still think the MC is special. Though, he’ll always support your relationship with someone else if that’s what’ll make you happy.

Hello! Sorry if you've answered this before but: 'How's Lee related to us? Though which momma? And does she share our player-chosen last names? Also, do you know if Noelani took Pam's last name or did it happen the other way round?

She’s related to Pamela and Pamela’s last name is the one they use, so the MC has the same last name as Lee.

Will we be able to choose which (they or he) we tend to call Qiu by more often, or will it randomly change depending on the moment?

Qiu knows which pronoun they’re comfortable with at a time and you’ll call them what they’re happy with. And it doesn’t change between lines, it takes multiple scenes or even full Steps for it to switch. So for extended periods Qiu will be totally a guy or fully agender.

Will Step 4 of OL2 have moments?

It’ll be an epilogue like it is in OL1, so it won’t have a bunch of different Moments.

Hello! Just a quick question, is Sunset bird from OL1 based on a real location? If so what's it called? I wanna visit it +_+

ps i love your games so much <3

It isn’t based on one specific town you can go to, but there are a lot of little coastal towns in Cali that have a similar vibe!

Heyaaa ( I hope you're all well ), umm… it might seem kinda stupid to ask but did Patreon members can have a key for the dlc's ( all the steps-released dlc ) even if they became a member this month or later ? (me? saying this cuz it's my case? maybe ;-;), and once again thanks for absolutely all the amazing works on all the games ! u-u

You wouldn’t get the DLCs for backing there. The Patreon is for extra bonus content/early access, rather than being a storefront to purchase the normal DLCs. Rarely we give them out as a side gift, but it hardly happens and if what you want is the DLCs it’s best to ignore the Patreon and buy keys for those directly from Itch or Steam. I’m sorry for the confusion.

Hey y'all, love what youre doing w/Terry. Trans rep outside of player customization is so rare and important to see more of so thank you so much. I do have a question and its that does he have a canon sexuality? I know Miranda was said to be straight ace but I dont believe anything was stated for Terry probably because he wasnt revealed to be a guy which changes things. Im also curious if well get answers on how long hes liked Miranda since he may have liked her in step 3 before she liked him

Terry likes women and Randy likes men! And he did like Miranda back in Step 3.

Will the Wedding Dlc release at the same time as Step 4?

They’ll come out separately with Step 4 releasing first.

I really love Our Life so much! I've spent over 20hours playing it even though I only got it a week ago! I was wondering if I could make a fangame for Our Life with a different love interest but same plot. Next-door neighbors romance, multiple steps, etc? I'll probably make it on Google Slides though-

Sure! I hope you have fun with it and I’m glad you love the game.

How does Cove feel about poly relationships?

He’s got nothing against them for the people they work for, but he’s 100% monogamous and would only be comfortable with a partner who was willing to be monogamous with him.

Idk if this has been answered before but will Step 4 include the option to advance your feelings towards Cove?

Yep, you’ll be able to determine your feelings and what your relationship is.

In step 4 will there be a chosen to say we live with Cove even as just friends?

Yeah, you can choose to live with Cove and that can be done when you’re friends.

I just played the game with the MC and Cove being best friends and omg it’s still so damn cute like the wholesomeness of it all is too much for my heart I swear ^.^ Now with that all said I was wondering can we still marry Cove? if we only love him as a friend like let’s say we’ve made deal with him similar to the one we can make with Derek because let’s real no one could compete with what the MC and Cove have even if they aren’t in love.

It’s great to hear you enjoyed the friendship story! You can live with Cove, but you can’t marry him platonically. Cove has familial affection for the MC if they’re best-est friends. He wouldn’t think to marry someone he loves like family and even grew up with as though they truly were siblings.

Are you still going to be making a DLC for XOBD? :]

Yes! We’re slowing adding voiced lines and fixing errors.

It makes me laugh that Shiloh's last name is Fields because that's what I put as my last name! So in Our Life when he talked about "Ms. Fields" picking him up I was extremely confused, lol. That dude mimics personalities so much that he stole my surname!

Oh, wow, that’s a very funny coincidence, haha.

hi !! i cant seem to be able to get the scene where mc is able to propose to cove despite being at the 'love' stage and telling him i'd want to get married, are there any other details that im missing out on? the options just dont appear at the end...

Maybe you missed telling Cove you were in love with him even if you mentioned wanting to get married or you might’ve accidentally said earlier in the game that you don’t want to progress your relationship further with Cove. We haven’t removed them, so you can get the scene again. It’s just kind of easy to miss since there’s multiple requirements. You can read a little guide in the FAQ.

wait what di you need to do to be able to propose to cove? I've been trying but haven't had much luck

You can check out the FAQ linked above!

does cove only develop a crush on the mc if the mc is also at crush/in love with him?

Technically, yes. We treat the non-romantic relationship options as truly non-romantic since we don’t want to bait and switch people. But there’s nothing wrong with headcanoning that Cove does have feelings developing for the MC even before the MC has.

Is there a way to make/allow Lee and Baxter to date?

No, they just don’t have enough time together.

We also got a group of asks related to Tamarack in OL2, but I’m afraid the way they talked about people with larger bodies made me not want to post their words, even if the person didn’t say they’re trying to be hurtful. I will separate out the core question and answer it though, so people can know that info.

Does Tamarack lose weight in later Steps?

No, she doesn’t. As for the other questions included, to be honest, I don’t have to explain/defend having romance options of different sizes. I’m sorry if you’re dealing with unhappiness that’s connected to body image, if that’s where the negative emotions are coming from, but even so I can’t meet you on that level and pretend it’s a problem that needs an answer. A girl who simply isn’t thin being a main love interest is just not an unreasonable concept. Also, Tamarack isn’t a lesbian. Yes, she can date a female MC, but that doesn’t undo her actual sexuality, so I’m not sure where that one part at the end was coming from.

I wonder... can we "fight" with Qiu over leader status? 👀

Not really, haha. No matter how cool your MC is, they’re never gonna replace Qiu for the other kids around. So you can either partner up with him, follow him too, or not be a part of all that group politics stuff.

So when I play the game, sometimes I mentally call Cove “Covie/Covey” and that made me wonder, how does Cove feel about being nicknamed? Not like Romeo/Space Cadet/etc. but like pet names relating to his actual name

It’d depend on his age, personality, and your relationship with him! When he’s younger he’d probably be embarrassed, when he was grown he’d probably be more casual or happy about it.

will you be able to date baxter in step 3 while at crush with cove (but not dating him ofc) sorry if this has been asked already. i really love baxters step 4 design btw!!

Yeah, you can be crushing on Cove and date Baxter if you weren’t already dating Cove. You just can’t be truly in love with Cove and then switch to Baxter.

I just got my friend into our life, and they adore shiloh and derek sooo will there be more of them in the second game?

I’m afraid not. But you can see plenty more of Shiloh in XOXO Droplets/XOXO Blood Droplets, haha.

I see you haven't gotten any xoxo droplets asks recently but I'm still obsessed with these boys!! I was just wondering if Nate would curse under any circumstance?

Yeah, Nate does use certain swear words (damn, hell, bastard) on very rare occasions.

Hi there! I have a question about the wedding dlc. Will we be able to plan a honeymoon during the planning stages of it or would it be something that Cove and the mc would rather plan later on? Thank you! Absolutly love the game by the way, definitely one of my favorite games!

The focus will be on the wedding day itself. The topic of the honeymoon might come up a bit, but there won’t be any choosing of the exact location and such.

Hi! I have two questions and it's completely understandable if you only answer one/neither and I'm sorry if you've already answered either before! First, is there a set year in which OL:B&A takes place (ex: Step 1 being set in 2010 & Step 2 being set in 2016, etc.) or is it simply up to interpretation? Second, have you guys thought about doing a coming-of-age game where the MC has a tough home life or upbringing? (like one of their parents is an addict, a parent being transphobic whilst the player has the option to be trans, or having friends that are influencing them to do drugs, etc.) That's all! Thanks for making beautiful games. <3

There is a set timeline!

Step 1: 2006 Step 2: 2011 Step 3: 2016 Step 4: 2021

And we don’t currently plan on making a game like that. The Our Life series exists to be a safer environment for people to play around in and if we did do a brand new series that was harsher edged it’d be something more fantastical and/or plot-driven instead of a different type of modern day slice-of-life growing up story. I’m sorry.

i don’t know if you’ve already answered this, but do you have a guess on when phase 4 will come out? as well as ol2? i’m so excited for both of them, the inclusivity in this game is amazing, you guys should be really proud of it!

Step 4 will be coming out very soon! OL2 is gonna take until 2023 to be anywhere near completion. But we might episodically release the Steps one at a time as they get done instead of waiting for three to be finished before launch like we did with the first game.

Hello, I was curious if there was an official or unofficial discord server for the game?

We do have a discord! You can join by clicking this link HERE.

how long do you plan to keep ol's patreon running?

Hopefully for at least a few more years.

Are you considering ever making merch?

Yeah, but I don’t know when it’ll happen or what exactly we’ll make, aha. It’s something we want do, just nothing is set.

hi! i just found out about your game a couple of days ago on tiktok (so sorry if you’ve already answered this question) and i was wondering if y’all are ever planning to release it on iOS?

I have no idea. It’s hard for a small group to get Apple approval and I honestly can’t say if it’ll ever happen or not. Maybe someday, though!

Hi, I love the art style of Our life and I would like to know if the artist has a Twitter? Also, could it be possible to fund more CGs for the game from him/her? So many times, I wish there was one like when the cutscene of the sunshower.

That’s nice of you to offer. He doesn’t have a Twitter, at least not one that’s public enough to be shared with me. And I’m afraid not. The issue is that the CGs take huge amounts of time rather than there not being a budget for it. He’s gotta make CGs for Step 4, the DLCs, and new character sprites, too. There isn’t space in the schedule for even more. Sorry for that.

Hi, how are you?!

Are you planning on accepting new writers or is it always the same people who write your stories??

Thanks!!

Our Life: Beginnings & Always won’t be getting new writers, but we will be hiring a new team of writers for Our Life: Now & Forever eventually!

perhaps this counts as nsfw and I'm sure it has been answered before but what does Cove prefer, chests/boobs or butts? or perhaps both :3c thank you for this wonderful game (and the patreon bonus moment, it was worth all the waiting and more ♥)

He’s a “chests of all shapes and sizes” kind of guy, haha.

i was wondering- did any of the writers actually grow up by the beach? as someone who's lived in a beach town all their life it really did feel nostalgic to play through our life 1

I was born and raised in Cali! Though, not right by the beach. We still had to make trips out, but the setting is based on my own childhood memories of small beach towns we went through.

In Derek’s upcoming DLC, will we be able to reference the pact we made as teens? (love olba and xod/xobd so much btw you’re literally amazing)

Yep, you will be able to talk about that!

Oh, sorry about the Cole being secretly L ask, then!

If you wanted context: Death Note is about this one guy who finds a notebook that kills anyone who you write the name of in there. The guy eventually develops a God Complex and starts mass killing criminals and stuff. L is the one trying to find out who is killing all these people.

Me and my sister first joked about it because I couldn't remember how to translate a word about the way Cove was sitting, so I just did the pose, and it looked a lot like how L himself sits! Then we just snowballed from there, with more and more nonsense connections.

That’s okay! Thanks for explaining. I’m sorry I didn’t know what you meant.

#our life #ask #gb patch #gb patch games

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cayenne-twilight · 3 years

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Professor Layton Iceberg Explanation

As I said in the tags of the original, the iceberg I made was a meme consisting of both real theories and satire/parodies/fandom memes. If anyone is interested, I can work on an unironic version that only has real theories.

Buckle in because this post is LONG and heavily saturated with lore and information.

Actual theories

Parallel universe 1960s where the world wars didn’t happen. There’s an unused file in Curious Village that shows the year as 1960 and the time machine from UF is set to 1973, ten years into the future. The series canonically takes place in an undefined time period (hence the technological inaccuracies and fantasy elements), but it’s based off the 60s. There’s more evidence but we don’t have time to go over every little thing. I linked my “no wars” theory below but TL;DR the outdated airplanes and underdeveloped medicine in the Layton series imply that the world wars may never have happened. https://cayenne-twilight.tumblr.com/post/632205992162099200/outofcontextdiscord-timegearremix-zonosils-war

The real meaning behind the statue in Future London. In UF, the purpose of the statue is to spark Layton and Luke’s conversation about their friendship. Luke is stressing out about moving overseas and sees himself and the professor in the story behind the statue, but in the bigger picture, Clive must have been the one to commission it. Some theorize that the little boy is Clive and the man is either his father or the professor. One idea I’ve seen is that Clive wishes he could be Luke for real, while another is that he wishes he died ten years ago, and another is that he’s literally terminally ill explaining why he doesn’t care about consequence. Personally, I think “the boy succumbed to his illness” refers to his mental illness seeing as he wanted the professor to save him from his madness as he saved him all those years ago.

True location of Monte D’Or. there are no deserts on the British isles to my knowledge, so it makes the most sense for Monte D’Or to be in Southwest USA where English is the default language, they have a desert, and there exists a city famous for flashy hotels, casinos, and entertainment. What makes it odd is that nobody ever mentions overseas travel, and all the major characters are from England.

Loosha’s origins are not explicitly explained if I remember correctly, but the implication was that her prehistoric (supposedly) species was sealed away along with the garden, allowing them to survive all the way to the time of LS until Loosha was the only one left. The garden provided a good habitat and protection from predators, and it’s logical that they’d slowly die out anyways, but there’s no explanation of any specific factors that led to Loosha being the last.

Beasley is not a bee I wrote a post about this one as well, but TL;DR Beasly lacks several defining bee traits whilst having several human ones. He is not human, yet, by definition, not a bee. It’s possible that he is the result of Dimitri’s testing, but whatever his untold story is, he remains an enigma of nature. https://cayenne-twilight.tumblr.com/post/632381715250282496/theory-beasly-isnt-a-bee

Subject 2’s identity is currently unknown. There is a subject one (parrot) and subject 3 (rabbit) so there has to be a second. For a long time, people suspected Beasly to be him seeing as he’s a bit of an amalgamation and definitely not a regular bee (see above). After the release of LMJ, though, people began to suspect Sherl, the intelligent hound who could speak to certain people but not others. That being said, it’s possible for one to be subject 4. Sherl’s memory of a bright flash matches up with subject 3’s memory of being electrocuted. They never explain why the animals were being experimented on, but it was probably Dimitri making sure the conditions of his machine were safe for humans before reliving the incident from ten years ago.

Lady Violet died from the plague from DB. There’s no evidence for this or anything, it’s just an idea. People say she died from the flu but I don’t remember them saying that in the game, at least the US version. Extending off my “no war” theory: it’s theorized that the Spanish Flu was spread by the travlelling soldiers, so if that’s true, it’s possible for the epidemic to have been averted for some decades. Maybe the Spanish Flu reached England later than in real life. The hole in this is that DB’s plague must’ve been close in time to 1918 while Violet’s death was much later, so it would’ve had to stick around.

Bill Hawks is working with Targent and Arthur Cantabella. There was a force in the shadows buying the time machine technology from Bill. Someone with a ton of money who helped him cover up a freak accident and get away with it completely, a feat that involved shady means like violence by hired thugs. Some theorize that it was Targent, seeking power over time in exchange for a little mafia magic. The Labarynthia project was sponsored by the UK government, so as the PM, Bill must’ve known about it. He probably supported dubiously ethical, high stakes (witch pun) psychological experiments like Cantabella’s and helped him stay in the shadows.

All the NPCs in St. Mystere and Folsense are dead. I make fun of this type of theory later, but they’re admittedly captivating. I’m pretty sure the canon in CV is that the villagers are Bruno and Augustus’s OCs that they made robots of and built a town around, but it’s more interesting to think that the village was there before, and the townspeople died of a plague and were replaced like Lady Violet. In Folsense, there really was a plague and they never explain the NPCs there. They’re either real people who appear way younger than they are due to hallucinations (even the ones who already look old ?), or they don’t exist at all, which is pretty spooky. This part of the story is a gaping plot hole. In a similar vein to CV, the edgy yet plausible theory is that they used to live in Folsense but died of the plague and now live on as hallucinations.

Hershel seeing everything as a puzzle is a coping mechanism for all his trauma. This was a joke but I thought about it for more than five seconds and it makes way too much sense.

Plot holes and unexplained questions that we like to overthink because it’s fun

The downfall of the Azran was vaguely explained in canon by people being so greedy that it lead to the civilization collapsing. It’s not a stretch to imagine that happening, but it would’ve been more interesting with a little more detail.

Layton and Luke are programmed to routinely forget how to walk. I didn’t know whether to list this in the joke section or not, but it’s odd that the characters actively participate in the walking tutorial (as opposed to showing a little memo to the player) as if they didn’t know how to before, especially when they go through this several times a year.

The truth behind Pavel. He’s simply a joke character who teleports, is a polyglot (sort of, at least he wants us to think he is) and is mega confused all the time. He’s a fun character to make crack theories about because of his cryptic nature that even he doesn’t seem to understand.

Miracle Mask deleted scenes. The first trailer for MM featured animations that were not in the final game. One was the Randall falling scene, except in a slightly different style than the one we know. Others were completely foreign, like Layton and Luke pacing across a theatre stage as if Layton’s about to expose someone with a dramatic point. Cut content and “could’ve beens” are always curious to think about.

Evan Barde: secret mastermind. Arianna and Tony’s dad is a mysterious character who died under mysterious circumstances. I think the canon is that his death was a genuine accident, but concept art of him making a creepy evil face suggests that maybe he originally had a larger role in the first drafts of LS than the finished game.

The secret to how Paul and Des pull off their disguises is unclear and will remain unclear. There is no plausible explanation for their shape shifting. Unless Paul is just a little dude wearing a human suit like that one Wizard of Oz species and Des is the best quick-changer ever and hides his naturally feminine legs under his cloak.

Alfendi’s mom. When LBMR came out people scrambled to piece together who Hershel had a kid with, but there’s no way alfendi is his biological son. This happened with Kat as well and her biological parents turned out to be brand new characters, so I’m sure Al will get an adoption backstory if his arc continues, be his parents old major characters or nameless, faceless NPCs.

Granny Riddleton and Stachenscarfen are omnipotent deities. Idk which section this fits best under, but these two characters have some serious power. At first introduction, they’re implied to be robots, but they appear everywhere in later games. They follow the Professor wherever he goes and assist him on his adventures, GR collecting puzzles and housing them by some odd magic, and Stachen teaches you how to walk. They both introduce and supervise the gameplay. By extension, I guess this idea could apply to Albus as well in the prequels. GR and Stachen even had the power to appear in LMJ, something no major character could do. I consider them akin to the velvet room attendants from the Persona games.

Clive’s kill count is a vague subject in the game for the sake of keeping it PG. I don’t know if anyone’s ever mathematically estimated the damage he caused, and I sure don’t want to try, but the game appears to push the idea that he didn’t kill anyone at all, saying they stopped him in the nick of time and things like that, even though we watch him raze the city. If they ever want to bring him back post-time skip, I can see them twisting it so that the mobile fortress cutscene wasn’t a linear sequence of events, but instead a compilation of scenes over the course of hours so that London neighborhoods around him could be evacuated and have it make sense. Knowing Level-5, it’s more likely that they wouldn’t think this deep and do something more lazy, though.

Memes and references

Post-time skip Flora is real references the famous L is real theory from Super Mario 64. Like Luigi in SM64, Flora was also a highly anticipated character who didn’t appear in a new game, in this case LMJ or LMDA. In the end, Luigi did become real in the DS port so hopefully Flora is real will be realized as well.

Hershel can’t read is a veteran fandom meme referring to how in the first few games, especially Curious Village, Layton asks Luke to read every document out loud for him. Perhaps this was an exercise to improve Luke’s reading skills and independent thinking, or perhaps he was just too lazy or preoccupied to do it himself, but this grew into the joke that our genius Professor was actually illiterate this whole time.

Layton’s smash invitation is hidden in PLvsAA. It’s no secret that the fandom would kill a man to get the Professor into the smash brothers franchise. In PLvsAA one of the puzzle artworks features a goat eating a familiar white envelope with a red stamp, sparking the joke that either Layton or Wright got the invitation their respective fans desired, but it got lost along the way.

The science board is the mysteriously vague organization Don Paolo got kicked out of for the crime of being evil. It’s the epitome of liberal arts majors and art school graduates trying to bs their way around not knowing any science and failing miserably. “He was very good at all the sciences, but then the CEO of science told him to stop because he was using the power of science for evil science”. They do this again when “Dr. Stahngun” describes his time machine what with the soolha coils and whatnot.

Hoogland is death cult initiation is a parody of “Mario 64 is Freemason initiation” which is ridiculous, just like the creepy human sacrifice subplot of AL.

You can see the reflection of someone watching you in Aurora’s eye references the famous, creepy Talking Angela theory. In retrospect it would’ve been funnier if I said Angela instead of Aurora.

Every copy of Professor Layton is personalized references the famous “every copy of Super Mario 64 is personalized”

Clive’s fat ass in HD is a meme that originated from the announcement of UFHD, saying that half of the excited fans wanted to cry again while the other half were simply attracted to Clive. If we want to enter real bottom-section-of-the-iceberg-chart territory then let’s say Clive’s character has some sort of psychological siren properties that draw people to him like a magnet and/or Harry Styles.

Things I pulled out of my ass for shits and giggles

Infinite hint coin hack: I’m sure a tech savvy cheater could hack the game for infinite hint coins, but there’s no easy or interesting way. I don’t know why someone would do that though, considering a lot of the hints suck and there are puzzle guides on the internet.

Cringy, unused Randall villain monologue. This joke is derived from the actual scrapped MM content as well as deleted content being a popular element of iceberg charts, but it’s sadly not real. Would’ve been hilarious, though.

Last Specter Puzzle 031: Light Height tracks and records children’s intelligence level. It doesn’t, but it’s always fun to make fun of arguably THE most ridiculously difficult puzzle in the franchise. (Seriously, do they expect 7+ year olds to know trigonometry???)

Hershel struggles with tea addiction. Hershel from the games drinks tea in moderation, but the manga begs to differ. He has a tea set in the Laytonmobile, and an attempt at teatime while driving causes him to crash.

Folsense is a metaphor for Alzheimer’s. This is inspired by those edgy kids’ show theories where everyone’s in hell or something, but nobody has ever said this.

London Life is reality and the plot of the games is all in Luke’s head. That’s one way to fill every plot hole. How funny would it be if Luke made up crazy characters and stories based off his fellow townspeople Sharkboy and Lavagirl style. “This dude who lives in a castle and asks people to give him all their money for nothing in return is a vampire from 50 years ago involved in a tragic love story”.

Secret ending encoded into Tago’s Head Gymnastics. It’d be crazy if there was, and Dimitri would hound Tago for the secret to time travel. If you didn’t know, the Layton games started as an adaption of Akira Tago’s puzzle series, except they decided to add a story to make it more interesting and marketable.

Daily puzzles datamine your DS. I’m bad with technology but is it even possible to datamine a DS??? Idk, but I think my DS lite from 2008 is safe.

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artobotsrollout · 3 years

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Transformers: Harbingers

The Pirate Scream AU

Before I talk about it you guys are the best thank you for indulging me and my AU from this post xjdjd. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

@badlydrawntransformers @cosmic0de @warrioroffandoms @measlyfurball13 And a bonus thank you to those encouraging me in the tags as well ❤️

I plan to do art for it as well as accompanying written bits and maybe even an animatic but till then have some general info under the cut.

Also there is transformers: Prime spoilers below so open at your own risk.

TRANSFORMERS: HARBINGERS

So this AU comes from the same place many AUs heavily involving TfP Starscream come from: the unfulfilled potential in our boy Scream. Now deeper discussion of that is not gonna be in this post. It'd be a whole essay.

It also comes from just how salty I was that the Team's kindness never really benefitted them much and they kept getting slapped for it. And OP really wanted to win over a con and Starscream kept wanting a partner. ALSO ALSO Optimus was portrayed as keeping his emotions in check and then never really gets a message that it's okay to be emotional so... I'm doing that here.

And the Starscream Pirate AU was born...

Aka Transformers: Harbingers (maybe idk if it's catchy enough djjsw)

Why Harbingers? ''It's just a SHIP Starscream chills in for awhile in the show' ' I hear you say. WELL HANG ON!! I got two very good reasons!! .

First off: Starscream, with the help of some Cybertronians who he wins over one way or another (Ill get to that), help him essentially use the remains of the Harbinger to put together their own functional ship. It's smaller than the Nemesis and will take some pirate ship inspiration. While it is a hardy beast it's a bit jury rigged.

Second of all:

Imagine being a fictional character living in a ship with a name that basically means 'Foreshadowed bringer of change' and then going back to Megatron and his bullshit. I'm gonna grab this and run all the way with it. Highway to Hell just came on my Spotify so... That may be an omen.

---------

NOW LISTEN

I feel like Starscream and Optimus could really have had such an interesting dynamic but we never really got to see that in TfP and I feel cheated. Also both could have mutually benefitted a great deal.

So what do I do? I shove them together to be sorta begrudging Co-Captains. As a result there's a lot of shenanigans to be had!

How this happens OP has some run ins with cons and, through a way I'm still deciding, has the opportunity to extend a hand to Starscream. Starscream, being kindness starved, doesn't entirely know what to do about Optimus being nice to him one whole time with no sarcasm or ulterior motive and sorta starts trying to get his attention.

Starscream and his crew are a bit of their own team at this point. MEANING sort of new LOGOS!

I'm yoinking the crossed out Decepticon logo from the Dark Energon Starscream and Dark Energon Knockout toys cause I mean... It's right there and also kinda like a skull and crossbones. It fits too well guys.

Starscream essentially manages to win over the autobots enough so they can sorta make a mutually beneficial, if strained, alliance to aid their aligned goal: killing Megatron and revitalizing cyberton. This is aided by some slight changes to the plot of course. It's also a benefit, much to Ratchet's delight, since they finally get some cybertronian tech to work with.

And so they gotta work together to take Megatron out and there's much bonding moments esp later when the autobot base is destroyed. Starscream extends his hand to them and offers them a more permanent position onboard. (rubbing in how unfortunate their situation is and how this is such a big favour but he's paying Optimus back.)

And insert team dynamic stuff!! Like cons teaming up with Bots, Starscream and Optimus trying to stick with it leading their own teams but keep accidently backseat-leadering one another. I will write some other ex-con and bot dynamics cause there's a lot of chaos to be had.

Optimus doesn't open up to his crew for morale sake and masks his emotions well, and Starscream is... well Starscream is Starscream so he masks what he truly feels a lot and doesn't share a lot of personal stuff besides complaints with his team either. So there's a lot of tension.... That is until Starscream has had it at just how good a poker face Prime has.

Because he's absolutely paranoid got a harmless curiosity about Optimus's ulterior motives and wants potential dirty secrets he can use as blackmail to have power over the Prime, he essentially puts cybertronian booze (but kid friendly version of course fbejek) in Optimus's energon heavily expecting him to spill the beans when heavily drunk. What he doesn't expect is that Optimus is just... LIKE THAT to his core. He's smart but very sad and guilty. And maybe a bit weepy and exhausted cause this man has not shown an emotion for eons now. /s. Starscream doesn't know wtf to do but swayed by how earnest Optimus is he sorta softens up and does open up. Might have helped that he took a swig of the tainted energon to get on his level though. But it also helps that neither is the others subordinate so they don't need to maintain their image as badly with the Co-captain as they do their team.

The ex cons sorta accidently absorb some of the autobot's morals over time. The cons help the autobots have some fun. There's a lot of stuff learned both ways. Also the cons realize how cool humans can be and after a lot of argument and forced time spent with the kids, they want to protect earth too.

Starscream, helps Optimus open up a bit more and allow himself to be emotional. He also shows him how to be a little selfish. Optimus in turn helps him with self confidence and making friends. Both help each other with the shit Megatron put em both through and overall boost one another up. (This also does change the start of the war a bit but I'll get to that in another post.)

Miko tries to fight all of the cons at first but quickly changes her tune cause "BOOYAH PIRATE CONS!!"

Other bits about this AU:

Starscream will eventually get a slight design change. It'll be less scrappy and look more confident and put together. It'll be minor

Because they are on a flying ship but have less energon than the Nemesis, everyone gets equipped with mods for flight. There is a jetpack upgrade one can get or Knockout can straight up help change their alt mode surgically.

I'm working up a list of who gets what flight mod but... Ya'll should know that Wheeljack dares Knockout to make him into a flying car. Largely cause I just got the image of Wheeljack flying above vehicons and just turning into a car and dropping on them. That and driving up the side of the Nemesis and confusing the fuck out of Megatron. Out of all the characters you know that would be a Wheeljack thing.

Arcee and Knockout grieve together.

Knockout loves bugging the hell out of Ratchet. It's extra fun for him cause Ratchet often can't do shit about it since they both need the room and tools.

Knockout and Wheeljack become an insufferable duo with the nicknames they have for everyone.

Wheeljack won't leave Starscream alone and keeps coming up with worse and worse nicknames like he did with Ratchet.

Starscream and Ratchet become complaining buddies.

STARSCREAM'S SEEKER SQUAD REJOINS. Well some of them. Skywarp, Thundercracker and maybe other peeps.

Miko manages to befriend Skywarp and Bulkhead now has to watch both Miko AND Skywarp. Wheeljack refuses to help Bulkhead round them up.

Raf hits it off with Thundercracker.

Knockout: "FINALLY a team with fragging MANNERS!"

Instead of Beeftimus Prime from the forge, Optimus actually gets access to a third alt mode and.. Idk something else primely. So he actually gets wings.

Starscream and the other fliers are greatly amused because Optimus, as great as he is at his poker face most of the time, hasn't yet figured out how to not emote with the pair of wings he gets from the forge. Thundercracker is the one who eventually informs him while the rest of the crew are booing loudly in the background.

I actually do have designs of TFP Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Ironhide in the works.

Fowler and Starscream have insult battles. Oddly both grow a weird almost fondness for these verbal sparring sessions

They frequently raid the Nemesis

Miko keeps talking in a pirate voice. Smokescreen has joined her.

AND A LOT OF OTHER STUFF I'LL GET INTO WITH MORE DETAIL AND ART. I'll also talk more in depth about some of these things that isn't a ramble like this post is. xnwjskw.

Feel free to ask about anything you're curious about.

#My aus #Autothots content #Transformers: Prime Au #Tfp au #Transformers: Harbingers #Harbingers AU

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curioussubjects · 4 years

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come be a season 12 truther with me; or what if dean and cas got together offscreen

Originally, I wrote this post to celebrate “Galaxy Brain” airing as Berens & Glynn gave us “The Future.” It’s been a while since that episode aired, and some things have changed about this meta. As such, there are multiple versions of this post floating around, so make sure to go back to the source for the most up to date version. For all intents and purposes, this post functions as a meta manifesto not unlike shipping manifestos from days of LJ past. In keeping with that tradition, this post is a close reading of Dabb Era Destiel in which I argue that by using narrative gaps, queer coding, and romance tropes, Dean and Cas are shown to be in an established relationship. Although beyond the scope of this post, it’s worth pointing out that keeping Destiel mostly off screen was a way for the creatives to bypass network censorship while still remaining true to the characters.

This post is divided into three sections. Section I focuses on giving an overview of why earlier seasons of Supernatural aren’t as compelling as season 12 as a turning point for Dean and Cas’s relationship. That said, special consideration is given to 09.06 “Heaven Can’t Wait” as a potential rest stop in our journey due to it’s significantly placed narrative gap as well as themes in the episode. However, this post isn’t going to examine season 9 trutherism in depth, though it does coexist with and allow for it. Section II analyses season 12 and proposes a timeline and justification for the shifting Destiel dynamic. Finally, Section III will offer an analysis of how Dean and Cas’s relationship has changed dramatically from previous seasons in a way that is most like the shift from a “will they or won’t they” pairing to an established one.

Before I move to Section I, I’d like to note something this post takes for granted: Dean and Cas are the main romantic subplot of Supernatural, and, in fact, their relationship is elevated to main plot for both characters in season 15. This post won’t argue about the canonicity of Dean and Cas’s feelings for each other, therefore, and so won’t spend time looking at many Destiel defining moments. I’d also like to make clear that this post also takes for granted that Destiel is being intentionally developed by the writers starting with Carver’s Era, and more so in Dabb’s.

I. Why Seasons 4 through 11 May Not be It

The tl;dr. here is that while there are many moments throughout these seasons that Dean and Cas could potentially get together, none of those moments are ideal for a bunch of reasons that can be summed up as really bad timing. I also think the narrative is actively pushing them towards a moment that works. We get plenty of stepping stones, especially once we hit seasons 8 through 11 (and 11 most of all).

Seasons 4 & 5:

I know there’s been a lot of get together fics over the years set in this time period, but I just don’t see it. Do I see them being intrigued and drawn to each other? Yes. Do I think either Cas or Dean would act on it? Nope. I’m not arguing anything re: Dean’s feelings, but with everything going at the time I find it hard to believe he’d pursue anything with his angel friend. Most importantly here, though, is that during this time Cas was still very alien and other. There was too much angel in him, and while he obviously came to care about Dean (and Sam) very much, I just can’t see him navigating the realm of human relationships. That said, seeing human!Cas in “The End” is the first we see of potential developments for how Cas could behave without his angelness interfering. Being human changes Cas a lot, beyond even his experience existing among humans, though that of course matters too. This development will be important later /wink.

Seasons 6 & 7:

Before anything else let me just recognize that if we could see some sexual tension in seasons 4 & 5, these two seasons come with our first taste of romantic tension. The pining! Also note the difference between season 4 Cas and season 6 Cas in terms of behaviour. He is much less the angel we saw in that barn in “Lazarus Rising.” In season 6, we have a Cas making misguided decisions guided entirely by his emotions – namely, not wanting to involve Dean with the war in heaven – which is peak human, honestly. Put a pin on how sad Dean is in both seasons with Cas’s absence. Finally, put a pin on this being our first moment of Cas doing things on his own to spare Dean and it not ending well (soulless!Sam, Cas “dying” after Leviathan) because this is *the* hurdle in their relationship (along with Dean’s lashing out and self-worth issues). With all this said, the marked distance between Dean and Cas in these seasons negates the possibility of them entering into any kind of relationship. Much like seasons 4 and 5, there’s too much going on.

Season 8:

Ah, yes, the summer of purgatory. If you thought we had pining before…! I think we’re all very clear on season 8 being a turning point for the show, not only because new showrunner, but we also get the bunker. TFW now has an HQ, which pretty soon becomes home. Yes, Baby will always be home, but the bunker becomes the *unmovable* safe haven that Baby couldn’t be. The bunker is a place to coalesce, and for all the amazing things Baby is, she is not that. The acquisition of the bunker marks a shift in the psychology of the show: with the stable home space we can start to imagine domesticity, a place to come home to, the stuff of ordinary living. Most of all, the bunker is emblematic of security, of safety –keep this in mind, as we go forward.

This season also continues to see Cas go down the path of independently solving his problems instead of asking for help from Sam and Dean (his family in a way heaven never was) – note that the better together issue is at play in different ways with Sam and Dean also, but I digress. I also want to point out disastrous instance #2 of Cas’s insistence on figuring it out on his own: he loses his grace, and the angels fall. As for Dean, season 8’s focus for him has much to do with Sam, and them coming face to face with their issues with codependency, which hit catastrophic levels with the gates of hell and Gadreel plots.

So despite all the deliciously angsty get together purgatory fics and spec, there’s too much distance between Dean and Cas on Cas’s part due to his guilt over betraying the Winchesters in s6 plus slaughtering angels plus unleashing Leviathan. We do see Dean being more emotionally open with Cas and continue to voicing his wish that Cas would just stay with him and Sam, and let them help. It’s clear as day how much Dean cares. The timing is still bad, though.

Before moving on to next season, let’s take a moment to appreciate that this is the season Dean admits being kinda done with one night stands because “always with the adios.” Remember the bunker as a sign of stability? Yeah. I wouldn’t say Dean is craving a relationship, exactly, but I think we can see that he does want something more (ahem also I’m nodding to Cas refusing to stay put just cause).

Seasons 9 & 10:

The most important thing to happen between this two seasons is Cas’s stint as a human for an extended period of time. There’s been plenty of spec and meta written over the years about the effects of being human on Cas’s grace (a proto-soul now maybe?). What we can say for sure, regardless, is that Cas is much more humanized once he becomes an angel again. The understanding he gets from being human doesn’t go away once he regains his angel powers. You’ll notice that while we still see some of season 4’s characterization, Cas is not the same as he was – he is alien to angels now and is more intelligible to humans. Additionally, in an interesting reversal from previous seasons, we now get to see the depth of Cas’s feelings for Dean (thanks, Metatron) as well as seeing him be more open emotionally, while Dean does most of the pushing away (first because of Gadreel, then because of the Mark of Cain). In short, the timing is still bad as Dean and Cas are largely kept apart both physically and emotionally.

9.06 Heaven Can’t Wait

This episode is my white whale, friends. While I’ve come to fully subscribe to the idea that something did happen between Dean and Cas during the fanfic gap, I don’t actually think it’s feasible that it marked the start of a relationship -- be it sexual or romantic. My reasoning here is quite simple: the timing is bad. Were it not for external events (Cas regaining his Grace and Dean taking on the MoC), the course would have likely differed. Furthermore, Dean’s guilt over making Cas leave the bunker as well as Cas’s own hurt and self-loathing pose a significant and as yet insurmountable obstacle, which is easily seen with how Dean and Cas’s character trajectories go separate ways.

YMMV on what exactly happened between them in that Motel, but something definitely did. Perhaps one day I’ll have a proper s9 trutherism post to link to here for more details (likely won’t be written by me, though).

10.16 Paint It Black

From the point Dean gets the MoC until the end of season 10, anything between him and Cas is quite impossible due to distancing, to say the least. Again, yes, the fic is really good, but alas. One of the reasons I’m bringing up this episode in particular is because of the confession scene. One, it’s a rare bit of explicit emotional honesty from Dean, and two, it tells me that while he and Cas may be well aware of the Thing™ between them, it’s still uncharted waters. It’s scary, and murky, and they’re unsure how to navigated it or if they should even try. Makes sense, too, there’s been A LOT going on since s6. Anyway, he’s the full confession:

You know, the life I live, the work I do…I pretty much just figured that that was all there was to me, you know? Tear around and jam the key in the ignition and haul ass until I ran out of gas. I guess I just thought sooner or later, I’d go out the same way that I live – pedal to the metal, and that would be it. […] Now, um… recent events, uh… make me think I might be closer to that than I really thought. And…I don’t know. I mean, you know, there’s – there’s things, there’s…people, feelings that I-I-I want to experience differently than I have before, or maybe even for the first time. […] Yeah, I’m just starting to think that… maybe there’s more to it all than I thought.

Can I just say, first, that this confession keeps me up at night because we never actually see anything done with it explicitly? I mean, obviously, I think we do in fact see the effects of this confession in the show, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this behemoth, but still, like. Damn. Ok, so, remember when I brought up that thing in season 7 about Dean being kinda done with hook-ups? Here’s where that led us. We’re seeing a Dean here who wants more than what he has convinced himself he gets to have. He wants more than dying bloody. And when he talks about wanting to experience people and feelings differently, well, that says a lot not just on the queer coding front or the romantic front. I mean, jfc, Dean is accepting the idea that he can have more in life than just hunt until he drops, and he’s specifically talking about experiences at the interpersonal level.

Do you ever see a character having an epiphany and find yourself wanting to cry because this is it right here. Dean is just blatantly admitting he wants more and maybe he can make himself be open to that (!!!), which all culminates in season 11, so…

Season 11:

The pining is still here, but it’s worse now since it’s the whole plot? It’s been *checks calendar* 5 years of this. How are any of us still kicking I don’t know. Your slow burns could never. Cool worth noting points: Cas says yes to Lucifer (bad decision #2.5, lots of mitigating effects_I don’t actually hold it against him that much but Dean is another story & not entirely rational at this point); for the first time since the early days, Dean and Cas are on equal grounds: they’ve both fucked up a lot and have hurt each other. The issues this season are outside their dynamic. Amara and Lucifer here serve as externalizing forces for Dean and Cas’s problems: Cas checks out with Lucifer because he thinks it’s the only way he can help, Dean is caught up in the turmoil of Amara, the emblem of absence and avoidance of struggle. We do get something like an affirmation from the two of them to each other via Dean calling Cas his brother (and I want y’all to consider the historical queering of that statement, and Cas’s “I could go with you.” It feels like we’re headed to them being on the same page. By the end of the season, though, it feels like we’re getting a clean slate: Mary is back, nobody died, no end-of-the-world in sight, no interpersonal crisis. We’re also getting a new showrunner, so. No wonder. We’re gearing up for something, but I’m getting ahead of myself. What this season does that is super important is that it sets up the stage for the possibility of an actual relationship between Dean and Cas, something that has, up until this point, been pretty much impossible.

11.04 Baby

Y’all know what I’m about to quote here, right? That conversation between Dean and Sam about having something with someone who understands the life. Here we still have Dean reverting to the idea that it’s impossible, which is a direct contrast to the openness in 10.16. It’s understandable, though, considering there’s been little reason to think anything like that would be possible (see all the mess and poor timing from seasons past). The quote in question, though, marks a continuing development regarding the issues Dean is struggling with this season:

DEAN: Piper? That’s awesome. Heather. One-night wonders, man. Shoot, we’re lucky we still get that at all. SAM: Really? You don’t … Ever want something more? DEAN: I’m sorry, have you met us? We’re batting a whopping zero in domestic life, man. Goose eggs. SAM: You don’t ever think about something? Not marriage or whatever. But … Something? You know, with a hunter? Somebody who understands the life?

We wouldn’t be talking about this stuff all these years after Sam and Dean had a serious relationship if it wasn’t important, right? Also who else do we meet this season? That’s right! Eileen! And doesn’t that hit different with season 15 hindsight? And who does Dean have that understands the life? Whose stories have been intricately connected to his? Right now, this is all conjecture. A pipe dream Sam is revisiting, and Dean is skeptical about. Except, well. Look at what we get in “Into the Mystic” and “The Chitters.”

11.11 Into The Mystic

I’m bringing up this episode as a cross reference to “Paint It Black” as well as to complement the talk from “Baby,” and to show, again, that, for all the closeness between Dean and Cas, there’s still a marked distance they haven’t yet bridged. There’s still truths they haven’t told each other. Thanks Mildred for the delicious exposition:

Darlin’…If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years on the road, it’s when somebody’s pining for somebody else. […] Oh, don’t try and hide it now. Follow your heart. Remember?

11.19 The Chitters

And here we see some validation to Sam’s imagining of a possible future with someone else. We actually see hunters who not only are married, but they both make it out alive. Jesse and Cesar get their happy ending. They make the dream come true. And the reality of it important not just for Dean to see, but Sam too.

Dean: [with realization] Oh, so … [points back and forth to Jesse and Cesar] Cesar: Yeah. Dean: Okay, that’s… Cesar puts his beer bottle on the table and looks at Dean, while Jesse is being silent. Dean: What’s it like, settling down with a hunter? Cesar: Smelly, dirty. [turns to Jesse] Twice the worrying about getting ganked.

I’d like to point out, too, that the fear of getting ganked is thematic when it comes to the tension between Dean and Cas. More on this when we hit s13.

Alright, now, having said that, let’s take a look at season 12. Bear in mind, this is the official start of Dabb’s era, even if he kinda began taking over in season 11, and the change in vibes is obvious. In fact, 12 jumped out at me as a turning point, in hindsight, after getting smacked by the domesticity of seasons 13 and 14.

II. Why Season 12

[Out of date section. Update coming soon when spoons. After significant debate, I’ve altered the definitive start of Dean and Cas’s friend-with-benefits-with-mutual-pining relationship to between 12.02 and 12.03. I briefly explained why here, and yes it’s a shitpost--still true tho.]

Finally, the promise land, y’all. Getting right to it: what s11 was for Dean in terms of setting up the relationship stage, s12 was for Cas. In its initial beats, any way. That is, until the Kelly debacle, this was the longest Cas has been around the bunker and with the exception of seasons 13 and 14, it’s one of the first times we get to see how Cas might actually fit into the bunker-as-home. Things seem remarkably chill. Of course, we’ll notice that there’s still a lot of baggage hanging around because despite Dean and Cas being in a more stable place, they haven’t actually dealt with their interpersonal problems. I didn’t single out directly this episode, but do keep in mind Cas’s declaration in 12.09 First Blood as far as how much the Winchesters matter to Cas & how we also see Dean and Cas be particularly singled out with them seating together in the backseat of the Impala. What we also see this season is Cas trying to prove he is worthy of this family, his family. He’s not fighting for heaven or to right some grievous wrong (a la s8). No, this season he’s fighting to spare the Winchester, to bring them a win. To bring Dean a win. The major disconnect is that Dean (and Sam & Mary) already sees Cas that way, he doesn’t think Cas has anything to prove. And just maybe, Cas starts believing that too – or, at least, believing it enough.

12.10 Lily Sunders Has Some Regrets

This episode, oh my god, the goodness. In the wake of 12.09 we have Dean and Cas in a tiff because Cas mistake #3 (killing Billie and “cosmic consequences”), this is a pattern. Twice the worry of getting ganked, etc etc. But where this episode really shines is through the contrast between Ishim’s obsession with Lily and Cas & Dean’s mutual affection for each other. Ishim sees no difference here and, to him, Cas’s feelings for Dean are a human weakness. Returning to my point about human!Cas, this episode underscores that Cas’s increasing humanity is what puts him in the place where he can want what Dean wants instead of either being too alien to get it (see s4 & 5) or unable to experience it properly (Ishim).

12.12 Stuck in the Middle (With You)

Cas’s trajectory culminates here with the whole I love you (@ Dean), I love all of you (@ Winchesters). Let’s note too that Cas is dying here, in a way that is much more human than going up in light. This declaration of different types of love is entirely human. It’s also a definitive step wrt to Cas and Dean’s relationship because of what happens in 12.19. This. is. it. Oh, and, of course, let’s not forget to point to Dean’s face when Cas says that “I love you,” and how terrified he is that Cas is dying. Might make one rethink some things, hm?

12.19 The Future

This episode is simply hella suspicious, and all the kudos to Berens and Glynn for writing it. It’ll haunt me forever. Consider watching it again and just questioning everything. So. Weird things:

1. Dean’s reaction to Cas no getting in touch as opposed to Sam’s. Dean is pissed, which is Dean-speak for worried out of his mind. Sam is very worried, too, and puzzled, but he’s mostly expressing his relief that Cas is back. But Cas has gone awol before, but this time Dean is much more worked up about it; Sam takes note of this, too. Now, let’s imagine that maybe the events of 12.12 led to something happening between Dean and Cas. Then Cas decided to leave to find a lead on Kelly, but eventually Cas decides to work with Heaven and goes radio silent. For days. Having taken a chance, and something having happened between them, how would Dean react to Cas just going poof and not contacting him – despite Dean having called Cas multiple times.

2. Cas knows about the Colt. Ok, nothing off there. But when he goes to Dean’s room to talk, right after Dean leaves we see Cas looking around briefly. Like he know Dean would keep it in there. Maybe Cas had looked other places already. Who knows. What we do know is that eventually he does find the Colt not only in Dean’s room, but under Dean’s pillow. Sam didn’t even know the Colt wasn’t in the safe. So how did Cas know?

3.“He came into my room and he played me.” So, this quote right there, makes it seem like some seduction for personal gain, right? But can you see Cas actually doing that if they hadn’t gone there previously? For Dean not to suspect anything and go with it? There’s plenty of plausible deniability here, but the gaps in time in the narrative make me question what is there in those spaces. The scene where Cas tried to give Dean the mixtape back doesn’t read like “playing,” so it’s about a different interaction. Hm. Hmmm.

4. Dean and Cas’s brief conversation in Dean’s room is clearly Dean just wanting Cas to stay, so they can work (and be) together – because they’re better that way. Which, yeah, truth, but also ow.

5.And most importantly: When did Dean give Cas that mixtape??? How did that happen?

Sequence of events: Cas tells Dean he loves him – Dean is clearly shook by it – Dean gives Cas a mixtape (romantic gesture, often a declaration of feelings; in true Dean speak too lolsobs) – Cas goes awol - Dean acts like he got ghosted by his new bf -?????- Cas somehow knows the Colt is under Dean’s pillow – "He went into my room and he played me."

What am I supposed to do with that, hm? Like. Y’all realize they probably had some emotionally constipated getting together moment, right? Something that Dean clearly initially thought meant things were gonna change, now. Something that Cas couldn’t allow to happen until he could give Dean a win. Y’all are seeing this, yeah? I’m not saying they slept together and were full of feelings, except that’s kind of what I’m saying. But YMMV, there are other possibilities beyond sex. The full of feelings isn’t up for debate, though, even if the whole thing is informed by ridiculous amounts of miscommunication.

III. Seasons 13 through 15 As Established Relationship

Regardless of what happened in season 12, exactly, I can’t shake the feeling that something did happen, and something did change. My reasoning here is actually really simple: in comparison to previous seasons, Dean and Cas’s dynamic shifts significantly come season 13. I know some folks have been disappointed with some of season 13 and then season 14 for having dialed back on the destiel side of things. And, hey, maybe there’s truth to that in terms of backstage stuff, but I also want to point out that...well, the dialing back isn’t quite dialing back is it? Let’s look at 13 a little more closely:

Season 13:

So I said the deancas dynamic changed, right? I also think that change caught us unaware because the pivotal turning point that would cue us in never happened on screen as well as being subsumed by Cas’s death and Jack’s birth. But if I ask you about deancas in season 13 what would come to mind? Grief arc? Brokebacknatural? How domestic Dean and Cas are? There’s just something easy about their relationship after Cas returns from the Empty. The tension we’d grown so familiar with over the years is gone. Actually, it feels like we skipped the getting together bit of their relationship and went straight to established relationship and parenting. Some of the most peak married deancas moments we see circulating? Season 13, (and 12.10). It’s a lot, and it’s different, and it’s amazing.

13.01-13.05

Dean’s grief mini-arc. He was acting like a widower. Here’s me vaguely gesturing towards the mapping of Jonh, Mary, Dean, and Sam onto Dean, Cas, Sam, and Jack. And the reunion? I can’t help but be giddy at the song choice: “it’s never too late to start all over again.” To. Start. All. Over. Again. I’m just saying.

13.06 Tombstone & 13.16 Scoobynatural

I’m not going at length about these episodes, I just want to point out that they reveal that Dean and Cas have a whole thing going on off screen: they watch movies together, Cas knows about Dean being an angry sleeper, Cas seems to have been aware of the Dean-cave before Sam was. It’s little things like this that are examples of the narrative gaps surrounding Dean and Cas that have cropped up over the years. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to wonder what else could be hiding there. And when did the movie nights alluded in “Tombstone” happen? Maybe in season 12 when Cas in hanging around the bunker? The same period when Dean and Cas seem to be coalescing into something safer and more stable? Something that we never see come to a head because plot happens and Cas dies? Something that is immediately taken back up once Cas is alive again?

Season 14:

Overall, this season is more of what we got during 13, but it had two high notes I wanted to single out before ending this already too long post.

14.15 Peace of Mind

Look me in the eye and tell me Dean and Cas talking in the kitchen about Jack doesn’t read like husbands talking about their child. Look me in the eye and tell me Cas just texting Dean to gossip about Sam isn’t couple-y as hell.

14.18-14.20

Ah, yes, the divorce arc. Awful. Terrible. The culmination of Dean’s problem in all this: he lashes out, he pushes Cas away, his anger is alienating. Cue all of us suffering. But while Dean is clearly in the wrong in how the deals with his feelings, let’s not pretend some of his anger doesn’t come from a long established, and unaddressed, rift between him and Cas, which had its last traumatic turn when Cas died in s12. Dean isn’t being rational here: he saw Cas doing something on his own, and he saw that his mother is dead. What else could happen? Why won’t Cas just trust they can work as a team? What if Cas died again? And why should Cas put up with Dean’s behavior without knowing the cause? How can any relationship work this way? But notice how caught in the middle Sam was during all this. Notice how Jack is running off and acting out. The whole family is falling apart. Divorce arc, indeed.

Season 15:

But what about what we’re building up in 15? That seems like it could be a getting together plot, too, right? Well, yeah. It could very well be. But I’d argue the tension we’re seeing isn’t a will-they-or-won’t-they because they already have. We’re are watching a getting back together plot! The tension is, instead, will-they-or -won’t-they use their words to talk about the baggage that has kept them from truly being confident about their relationship. That’s the crucial step in their togetherness that they’re still missing, which is also the bedrock of the divorce arc that spanned twelve fucking episodes -- y’all, that’s half a season.

And technically? We’re not even done with yet because Cas never let Dean finish his prayer/confession in purgatory. What’s more, Cas hasn’t grappled with his role in the breakdown of their relationship, either: that he keeps going off on his own and getting hurt (and getting other people hurt), and Dean has to deal with the fallout. The deep emotional understanding, the truly being on the same page is what we’re on the edge of our seats for. We’re waiting to see what else Dean had to say, and what will happen when Cas’s deal with the Empty comes to light.

Finally, could we still have this plot without Dean and Cas having gotten together off screen? Sure, but I think the stakes are higher if they already did have something between them. If they actually have an established romantic relationship going on. Something real and tangible and as of yet much too fragile.

"...you asked what about all this is real. We are."

#destiel #deancas #supernatural #spn #spn meta #this thing is gargantuan yikes #anyway enjoy? let's chat #my writing #this thing is half meta half my adhd unleashed

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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 3 years

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The Voyage So Far: Alabasta (Part One)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

(this is a repost, i deleted the first version of it by accident cause im Idiot)

the entry into the grand line is such a great sequence. it feels like such an ending- a triumph after they’ve spent pretty much all of east blue struggling to make it here, and at the same time the beginning of a new adventure, the biggest yet, one that has yet to end a solid two decades later. they all look so happy to have made it here- it makes me smile.

whiskey peak is one of my very favorite short arcs, and i think of the whole first half of the baroque works saga its the one that hits and maintains a tone best (almost certainly because its so short, admittedly, but still). i love the repeated shots of the moon, the reveal that the cactuses are actually covered in graves, the way everything seems far too good to be true at the start and the sense of suspense that creates.

zoro’s extended fight scene in whiskey peak is so great- it’s so creative and so dynamic and the odds are stacked so high against him and yet he’s clearly having so much fun. i do miss this sort of scrappy, improvised fight, cause its largely absent from later one piece but its SO much fun to read- zoro cutting holes in rooftops for people to fall through or shoving ladders to the ground as bounty hunters try to climb them.

i’m a huge fan of fight scenes that use the environment to their fullest, and this is such a perfect example of it. it makes the fight feel a lot more real and exciting, in my opinion.

i’ve never liked zoro and luffy fighting at whiskey peak, its always struck me as frustrating and contrived and kind of out of character for both of them, but i will say that i do like how on the same page they are even when they’re trying to kill each other.

the entire first half of the baroque works saga basically serves to introduce and endear us to vivi so we’ll be invested in the alabasta conflict, and that starts here in whiskey peak, when we get our first glimpse of her actual personality rather than the act she was putting on as miss wednesday, when she bites her lip hard enough to bleed in order not to break down at igaram’s apparent death.

watching robin’s actions with the added context of later one piece is one of the great joys of rereading alabasta. she does a fantastic job of appearing to be crocodile’s most dedicated and capable and dangerous employee while quietly but consistently sabotaging his efforts; saving luffy, sparing pell, sparing igaram, not telling crocodile anything about the strawhats despite meeting them here at the very start of the saga.

little garden has some really cool and striking panels that really put the scale of things on the island, the dinosaurs and giants alike, into perspective, and i love it.

i’m a huge fan of the depth of in-universe lore one piece has. just having little details like this, quotes from books written in-universe, go so far towards making the world feel like a real and wondrous place with mysteries to be solved and details to be uncovered.

i still think sanji is firmly at his best when he’s being a sneaky bastard, and i will never cease to be delighted by how thoroughly he manages to fuck crocodile over with nothing but a phone and some quick thinking not once but twice.

i really like dorry and brogy! for minor characters who’ve only appeared in one relatively minor and inconsequential arc so far, they’re not only very fun and memorable but also leave a hell of an impact on the story, not only in usopp’s new dream of eventually visiting elbaf but also in how they and their crew just keep coming up, first in enies lobby and then even further down the line in dressrosa and whole cake island.

i’m really excited for when we eventually get to reach elbaf, because this plot thread has been so thoroughly and subtly built up over such a long time that i can’t wait to see how it ends.

this is one of my favorite little moments to really drive home how much the strawhats care about each other. they all fell asleep on the floor rather than leave nami alone.

the whole introductory scene to drum is a really good summary of who vivi is as a person and how she contrasts with luffy, and it’s something i’ve written extensively about in a past meta. here ill just settle for saying, vivi is chronically selfless, and always the sort of person to sacrifice herself for others, and these traits which save the strawhats here are the exact same ones that bring her and luffy to blows later on in alabasta.

a good thing to remember when writing characters is that traits aren’t really inherently good or bad, they’re just traits and can have positive or negative consequences depending on the situation, and i think oda is really good at this. vivi’s selflessness, usually a positive thing, becomes reckless self-sacrifice when she’s pushed to her breaking point.

‘kindness begets kindness’ is a pretty consistent theme throughout one piece, though luffy is most often on the other side of it. someone (rebecca, law, tama, etc.) does something for him without really expecting anything in return, and gets paid back a hundred times over. this is a case of the opposite- luffy helps someone offhandedly, and is later saved by their gratitude.

i think luffy wearing his fingers bloody as he climbs the drum rockies is the only time one piece has ever made me cringe back from the page. this sequence is absolutely brutal, and it’s so well-done.

the way luffy decides chopper should be his crewmate is precious, and also reminds me a little of his recruitment of sanji (ironically, given he’s talking to sanji about chopper here). in both cases he sees someone do something good without even really knowing the full extent of their abilities and makes a snap decision that they are awesome and are gonna be part of his crew, no matter what they have to say about it.

i really, really enjoy the way the drum island flashback is set up, with the cutaway right as luffy is about to punch wapol’s lights out. the cut back to that punch finally hitting when the flashback ends is by that point infinitely more satisfying, since you’ve just read chopper’s backstory and therefore have a deep and abiding desire to see wapol eat shit.

hiriluk’s final speech is definitely one of the best and most memorable quotes from one piece, and effectively the crux of one of its biggest themes. one piece is all about inherited will. all of our main cast and a solid percentage of the supporting cast bear the legacy of at least one forebear on their shoulders, from kuina to corazon to otohime. the entire setting of the story is defined by roger’s legacy.

all those people are dead, but they’re sure as hell not forgotten- how can they be, when their legacies are actively shaping the world as a direct result of their lives and influences?

i really, really like the use of flags in one piece. flags are how you declare loyalty or war in equal measure, and flying a pirate flag is a declaration that you’re choosing freedom, come what may, over the laws of the world government. it’s just a really excellent running motif, and a great symbol of what one piece’s definition of piracy means.

this scene is also one of the ones that gets even more extra weight behind it when you know luffy’s full backstory with sabo, which i love.

chopper’s recruitment scene sums up one of the reasons luffy is really great. he just doesn’t care about a lot of things other people would normally take notice of. occasionally that gets him in trouble, but other times it leads to him responding to a situation exactly right, like here. chopper is listing off all his insecurities and reasons he can’t go with the strawhats, and luffy just flat doesn’t care. he wants chopper on his crew and he knows chopper wants to be on his crew, so as far as he’s concerned, there’s no issue at all.

it really is wild that the will of D is named this far back in the story, and has consistently been referenced and built up ever since in very slight ways, through comments by characters like robin and corazon, and yet we still know basically nothing about it.

and a toast to a new crewmate!!

continued in the next post, which covers alabasta arc proper.

#the voyage so far #arc: reverse mountain #arc: whiskey peak #arc: little garden #arc: drum island #one piece #opmeta #not japanese #long post

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silver-starlight-99 · 3 years

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Monsters at Work: The Jokester Generation

Chapter One: Everyone's Gotta Start Somewhere

Wow, I finally got around to writing this. To those who bothered to stick around since my initial Monsters at Work post, thank you.

To the newcomers, this fan fiction is based on the... I guess drabbles I'd written to create my own version of the animated series Monsters at Work, one where Boo would get to be an active part of the plot. While the events of Monsters University remain relatively the same, I am changing up certain events from Monsters Inc, following the arrest of Mr. Waternoose. I'll do my best to organically integrate the important parts of those drabbles into the story. But if you wanna read all the details yourself, feel free to check them out. Just think of it like an extended prologue:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

There will be other little things in regards to names and character descriptions that may be changed from their canonical iterations. Either for story reasons, because I didn't know about certain characters' official names, or just 'cause I wanna do my own thing. I might go back and change certain details if I feel the need to, but don't expect anything definate.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Likes, comments and reblogs are always appreciated.

As a mother and son drive through a bustling metropolis, a rather coincidental commercial is heard on the radio.

"The future is bright at Monsters Incorporated!

We power your car, we warm your home, we light your city.

Carefully matching every child to their ideal monster to produce screams, refined into clean, dependable energy.

Every time you turn something on, Monsters Incorporated is there!

We know the challenge: In a time where talk of alternative energies is becoming more common, it's hard to know who you can trust for reliable services.

The voice of narration changes to a flat, almost wooden tone. It's as though the Monster is reading his lines directly off the script, but even if he'd memorized what he had to say, he'd still use the same inflection. It's a change from the warm, grandfatherly timbre that belonged to the old CEO of Monsters Incorporated.

Not to worry. As always, MI prepares for the future. With the top Scarers in the country, the best in refineries, and ever-constant trials to explore more efficient scaring techniques.

The voiceover shifts once again, this time to someone younger, and far more enthusiastic.

That's right baby, we're working for a better tomorrow TODAY! Because we're Monsters Incorporated!

MI, Monsters Incorporated: We Scare Because We Ca-"

Millie turns off the radio as she reaches her destination. She parks her car and turns to look at her son Tylor, somewhat cramped in the seat next to her.

The younger monster's face is a mix of anxiety and anticipation as he gazes at the building outside. She’s not surprised. After all, he's been waiting for this day for what's seemed like his whole life. And Millie can't imagine the pouring rain outside is doing anything for his stress.

"Mom, you didn't need to drive me. I could've walked."

He wasn't wrong. The Tuskmon homestead was just a fifteen minute walk from their destination, maybe twelve if someone ran. And with Tylor's umbrella, designed specifically to cover his extra-long horns, the poor weather wasn't much of an issue.

I know, but I just wanted to make sure you were alright before your first day.” One of her hands cups his cheeks. The familiar gesture does help to relieve his nerves, just a bit.

"Have everything you need?”

Tylor grabs a thick, tan messenger bag from the back seat, and pats it in assurance. “Yeah, don’t worry. I triple-checked everything before we left.” His parents didn't have the kind of money to get him a fancy car or an elaborate summer trip like some of his fellow MU graduates, but he still appreciated his parents' gift. And, call it paternal instinct, but Bernard Tuskmon had the idea that his son would've been embarrassed to show up to his dream job toting around a lunchbox he'd had since middle school.

"And you're certain you don't want me to walk you to the door?" Millie gets very close to undoing her seatbelt before her son dashes out of the car, quickly trying to put on his new bag. The strap gets snagged on one of his horns.

"No no no! That's alright!" Tylor says in rapid succession. He fixes the bag strap. He's about to sprint to the door, but turns back around to his mother's window. "I promise I'll be fine. But I gotta get in to turn in my paperwork. See you later. Love you."

Millie chuckles in amusement, before giving him a wave as she starts the car back up. "Okay, I'll see you at five then. Love you, my baby behemoth!" Her voice is muffed by her window and the rain, but Tylor knows his mother well enough to get the gist of what she'd said.

Millie drives off, and Tylor groans in embarrassment. But a quick look around shows that everyone nearby is too busy trying to get out of the rain to have paid attention to him or his mother. He wants to take a moment to reflect on everything that's led to this day. All the hard work, sacrifices, and sleepless nights that got him to this moment. And how it will all be worth it when it's his efforts that are powering his hometown, and making his mark on Scarer history.

The screeching tires of a swerving car pull Tylor out of his mind. Just long enough for him to see the car in question, a sleek, yellow, six-wheeled beast of a machine rushing to the parking lot in the back of the building. Suddenly, he remembers the rain. And the fact that a cloth bag can only do so much before the water starts to get to the papers inside.

"Right. First day, big day!" He says, more to himself than to anyone nearby.

Following the example of his fellow monsters, Tylor rushes to the front doors, stubby tail wagging as his earlier anxiety gives way to excitement. On the way, he gives a spirited, "Mornin' co-worker" to a stout, crab-like monster wearing a thick, blue rain jacket. They're on an elevated platform, doing some kind of work on the building's famous We Scare Because We Care logo. Tylor gets through the doors before he can see the other monster wrench off one of the letters. The maintenance monster lets out an amused, "rookies" before shaking their head and moving on to the next letter.

"There's nothing to be worried about," Tylor reminds himself. "This wasn't a mistake, they specifically asked for you. They wanted you. You were meant to be a Scarer! Just show everyone your stuff and everything will be fine. Everything today is going to be fine!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The warmth of the lobby is a relief to Tylor's skin, somewhat chilled after his time in the rain. He makes an honest attempt to get some of the water off his bag. After shaking off the last few droplets, he takes a moment to absorb his surroundings. This wasn't his first time inside the revered factory. Heck, for most Monstropolis natives, trips to Monsters Incorporated were considered a staple of elementary and middle school. It was no different for Tylor, having taken his first steps into this very lobby when he was seven years old. But that didn't take away from the sense of awe encompassing him. If anything, it was enhanced.

"Today, I'm not a guest, or just a visitor. I'm a Scarer, an actual Scarer. Huh, I wonder how many kids are gonna look up to me when I'm the one racking up the numbers."

Despite his familiarity from childhood, it is interesting to see the upgrades made since his elementary school days. They added a few more tables and chairs on the side for visitors. It looks like the tile work on the lobby dome had been refurbished; the rainbow of colors showing through even on a rainy day like this. And just above the ring of clocks showing all the different time zones are a bunch of tv screens, displaying a news channel or a number of Monsters Inc commercials.

Looking around, Tylor tries to see if he recognizes anyone there. It had been a while since he'd collected any Scare cards, but he did his best to stay updated on the top Scarers of all the major energy companies. Sadly, no one stands out.

"I guess that makes sense. It is early."

Anticipating his excitement for the day, Tylor had his mother drop him off ten minutes earlier than he needed. Just to give him the time to get all his fanboy-ing out of the way before he made a fool of himself in front of his more seasoned co-workers. "Would it be too forward to ask them for an autograph?," he wonders.

"Okay, first thing's first… " he mumbles to himself as he looks around the lobby.

Unsure of where to go, Tylor heads to the front desk for directions. The employee working there is an orange, bespectacled fellow who looks to be around his age, maybe a year younger.

"Uh, hi… Otis." Tylor says, spotting the receptionist's name plate. "I'm, uh. I'm sorry, this is my first day as a Scarer here. I was told I needed to bring in some special paperwork before I got my IDs, or my Scare assignment." Tylor pats his bag, indicating to the documents inside. "Do you know where I'm supposed to do that?"

The receptionist uses one of his many vine-like arms to pull out a clipboard. "Sure, I can help you. Name please?"

"Oh, right. I'm Tylor, Tylor Tuskmon. I got my acceptance letter from the Board of Directors, if that helps." He can't help but let a hint of pride ooze into his tone as he brings up his special letter of recommendation.

Otis flips through several papers before finding Taylor's name.

"Yup, here you are. Huh, you're not the only new guy coming in today."

Otis takes a moment to skim the rest of the document.

"Well, it looks like you'll need to stay here until someone from monster resources comes by to take your paperwork. And… then I guess they'll give you your assignment. They should be here in a few minutes."

"Great, thanks."

For the next few minutes, Tylor does his best to not look too awkward as he meanders by the front desk. But the child-like enthusiasm in his smile is too hard not to notice. Lucky for Tylor, the custodial and office workers already there are plenty familiar with that excitement, having seen it on the faces of many a Scarer on their first day. Most simply ignore him as they make their way to their departments. Others are at least courteous enough to wave back at Tylor as he gives an awkward "hello" to try and break the silence of the lobby.

By nine o'clock, Tylor isn't the only Scarer in the room. Slowly, one new face after another comes to the front desk, all with their own instructions to wait for a monster resources employee. By the fourth monster, Tylor decides to step in and explain the situation for the other new arrivals, giving Otis time to focus on his other responsibilities. Meanwhile, all the new Scarers engage in introductions and small-talk, most of which are just iterations of the same first-day excitement.

Five minutes after nine, a green, lizard-esque monster slithers into the lobby while carrying a box. He takes a moment to adjust his tie and glasses before approaching the front desk.

"Ahem, excuse me? Excuse me? May I have your attention?" the Monster asks as he tries to gain the attention of the crowd. All the Scarers are too engaged in their discussions to notice him. Otis is too preoccupied answering the phones to be of any help.

"Huh, newbies" the monster sighs, his irritation clear as he shakes his head.

The monster pulls a small notebook out of the box. He flips through several pages before finding something.

The monster shouts, with no small amount of sarcasm, "Oh no! A child has escaped from the Scare floor and is currently stealing monsters' bones!"

It's a ridiculous claim, but it does the job of getting everyone's attention. It's not just the new hires, suddenly everyone in the lobby is now staring at this diminutive monster, expressions varying from bewilderment to horror. He clears his throat.

"Ahem, now that I have your attenti- ACK!"

Suddenly, a monster decked out in a yellow hazmat suit bursts out of nowhere and tackles the smaller employee, restraining him. The whole action is so fast, Tylor almost misses the Monsters Inc logo on the suit's right side, just bellow the CDA agent's rank number.

In a distorted voice, the tackler barks, "We got a 16-2 in progress. The employee is secured. I repeat, the employee is secured. Do a sweep of the area. And we'll need someone to check in with the security team to see what they know about a loose kid!"

At their command, at least eight more monsters in the same yellow uniform pop out of nowhere to secure the lobby.

Some of them are using strange devices to scan the entrance and exit points. One can even be seen walking on the outside of the lobby's glass dome, looking for something. But mainly, these workers just keep everyone in place while the others do their jobs.

The green monster is unamused. "Oh for the love of Criamat. Unhand me, you overpaid oafs! I didn't mean it! I was just trying to get their attention!"

"Huh?" the CDA agent utters. He releases his grasp on the employee just a bit, before turning to one of his fellow operatives to see if their team's findings can confirm this.

"Wow, these guys are hardcore!" Tylor says in shock, some of his fellow newbies nod in agreement.

"Yeah, they're always like this," Otis chimes in, no less uncomfortable than the other new hires.

For a second, Tylor's mind goes back to one of his late-night research sessions at Monsters University. It wasn't necessary for Scarers to know much about the histories behind the major Scream factories, but he always liked to try and stay informed. He remembers reading about these guys.

After the event dubbed The Waternoose Scandal, Monsters Incorporated faced many visits from the CDA. Some were due to false alarms on the Scare floors, brought about by the jittery atmosphere lingering in the building. Others were the result of faulty tips the CDA received, made by paranoid Monstropolis citizens who believed the Tiny Terror of Monstropolis had snuck back into the city. It was impossible of course, the human was returned home and her door was shredded for good measure. But after the discovery of Waternoose's Scream Extractor, and a… rather unsettling chamber filled with child-sized cages, the CDA couldn't take any chances.

Eventually it became too much of a hassle, and a waste of resources to send so many agents to deal with false alarms. So the CDA stationed a small team of their own at Monsters Incorporated to assess any claims of child breeches and report back to the main facility if further assistance was necessary.

An agent with a 737 on his hazmat suit comes up to the one tackling the green monster. "736, it appears that Mr. Crummyham is correct. We haven't picked up anything on our scanners, and the security team came up empty too."

"I could've told you that!" Mr. Crummyham snaps.

"Also, sir," agent 737 continues, "we might want to bring in the team. 749 says our quarantine has caused a build up by the front doors, and the monsters are getting restless."

Muffled shouts and banging sounds are heard by the entrance.

Agent 736 sighs, disappointment evident even with his voice modulated by his suit. "Alright, bring it in everyone. It's a false alarm! Agents, clear out and head back to your stations."

The agents do so, with 749 slipping off the roof because of the rain.

Agent 736 helps Mr. Crummyham up and hands the employee back his box.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenienc-"

"Touch me again and I'll have your pay docked!" The assaulted employee snaps back.

The agent sighs, "whatever," before calling back the rest of his team.

As the last of the suited monsters leave, the front doors open, and a wave of new monsters pour in, all desperate to get out of the rain.

Tylor might have tried once again to see if he recognized any of the incoming Scarers. But he, much like all the others by the front desk, were still reeling from… whatever you want to call what just happened. If there's any good that came from the whole affair, at least it got everyone's attention on Mr. Crummyham. Who furiously scratches out something in his tiny notebook as the atmosphere in the lobby shifts to a busy hum.

"Well then," he begins, doing his best to regain his composure. "I am Mr. Crummyham from monster resources. I imagine you all have questions in regards to the paperwork asked of you to bring in today?"

Murmurs of agreement are heard from the crowd. "And our Scare assignments!" Tylor chimes in.

The green monster nods in confirmation.

"To answer your questions, you're all being assigned to a floor with a specific set of regulations. It's nothing dangerous, but a certain amount of confidentiality will be required until you've all been officially cleared."

The green monster opens his box to reveal several thin folders.

"By one thirty, you'll all be expected to meet in conference room B. There, you'll meet your floor supervisor, learn more about your given assignments, and have the time to get any other questions you have answered. But until then…"

The monster resources employee reads the name labeled on each folder and begins to hand them out. In return, the new hires hand him their own documents stapled together.

"You will be temporarily placed in another department."

Everyone's faces shift to express their personal level of confusion or shock.

"Wait, what?" Tylor exclaims.

"Is this like, a downsizing thing?" Another monster asks.

"But we're still getting paid the same as a Scarer, right? I really need the money," says another in the crowd.

"How long are we expected to work like this?" an anxious voice pipes up.

Quickly, the lobby is flooded with the sound of questions. But unlike the last time, all it takes is for Mr. Crummyham to raise his hand in a halting motion to get everyone to go quiet. He continues to hand out folders while talking.

"I'm sorry, that's all I know about this arrangement. Please wait until the meeting this afternoon to express your concerns. In the meantime, I advise all of you to get to your departments. If any of your supervisors get on your case for being a little late, just blame the CDA. I always do." He says that last bit with something almost akin to a smirk, before it returns to his usual, tired expression.

"In case you're worried, each of your MI applications have been read through to ensure you're somewhere that best suits your pre-existing skill sets. Please wait until after the meeting if you want to talk about changing positions."

Mind frazzled as he tries to process everything, Tylor almost misses Mr. Crummyham mumble a "good luck" to him specifically as he hands the maybe-scarer his new assignment.

"Huh… wait, what did yo-" Tylor tries to ask. The green monster finishes handing out folders and addresses the crowd once more.

"You'll find a general map of the facilities in your folder to help you find your department. If you still get lost, don't be afraid to ask someone for directions."

With his task completed, Mr. Crummyham picks up his box, now filled with everyone's entry paperwork, and leaves the lobby.

Tylor, along with his fellow newbies, is still trying to make heads or tails of the whole situation, unsure of what this development means for his career. Suddenly, he realizes something.

"Wait, he didn't even give us our IDs!" Tylor exclaims, his frustration causing him to raise his voice.

"Maybe we'll get them after the big meeting?" Someone answers back.

"Why is it so hard for them to give us answers?" Someone on the other side of the crowd asks.

It is a small, orangey-red, winged monster who breaks the growing tension. Tylor can't remember the guy's name, but the other newbie's southern twang helps him to stand out.

"...I, I guess I'll just head on over to my new department. I'll see you fellas later." With that awkward goodbye, the orange monster flies out of the lobby, personal folder clutched in his tiny talons.

Unsure of what else they can do, the others in the group follow suit, slowly trickling out as they follow their personalized maps. Everyone except for Tylor. He stays behind, his befuddled expression never leaving his face as he looks through his thin folder.

"Hey… Otis?" Tylor asks, having to remind himself of the receptionist's name by checking his plate again. "I don't see a map, or any directions in my folder. Do you know where I can find… the MIFT department?" he asks, unsure if he's pronouncing the name correctly.

"The what?" Otis replies.

Tylor's about to elaborate, when a loud but distant gasp grabs his attention. The gasp is accompanied by the rumbling engine of some kind of cart. Both sounds grow louder as they approach the front desk, and very nearly hit the purple monster.

The maintenance cart halts, but the driver's gasp continues, though it is clear now that it's an exclamation of excitement rather than shock. The driver, revealed to be an orange, furry monster wearing a blue lanyard and a tiny blue helmet, keeps on gasping, but now has a look on her face that implies she wants Tylor to say something. Tylor himself maintains a confused expression, unsure of how to respond. Though mildly impressed she's managed to gasp for a full minute without looking like she's seconds from passing out.

Eventually, the orange monster stops. Her expression changes from one of absolute jubilation to one of confused amusement. She takes a second to try and study the purple monster's face.

"Tylor? Tylor Tuskmon?" She asks.

"... Ye- yes?" He replies.

"Tylor, it's me, Val! Val little!"

His mind's drawing a blank. Weather or not she realizes this, Val continues,

"Monsters University, freshman year. We had that Origin of Fear class together. I guess you didn't recognize me because I'm doing my hair different now." Val playfully bats at her magenta hair buns. "It's just that, where I work, there are a lot of little hazards I always have look out for. Eventually, it was just easier to cut it and make 'em into these cute bun-thingies."

"Right, Origins of Fear." Tylor eventually gets out. "Since it was such a big class, I guess… well…" Tylor doesn't know how to keep going without this conversation turning awkward. "So, you work here now? When, uh, so when did you graduate?"

"College? Yeah, that was an interesting detour. Too much of a commitment for me. Not really a regimented, stuffed-shirt, college-scene kind of gal. Blegh! But enough about me, what've you been up to?"

"Graduating from college." Tylor replys, not sure how to take the monster's blase attitude towards his alma mater.

Now it's Val's turn to be embarrassed. Realizing she may have hit an unintended nerve, she gives a sheepish, "Huh, well, good for you."

"Yeah, it's...it's great."

"I mean, except for the loan debt. That's gotta be like, ka-ching! Or, I guess in your case, ka-ching ka-ching! Because you know, you actually graduated"

"Scarer Cum Laude, actually. I graduated Scarer Cum Laude from MU, top of my class. And now…" Tylor looks back at his folder with uncertainty and a bit of bitterness.

"Now, they've got me working with MIFT, whatever that-"

Another joyous gasp escapes from Val. "No way! You're our new MIFTer?"

Tylor gives an uncertain shrug, but is quick to correct her. "Temporary MIFTer, but, yeah. I guess I am."

"Tylor, that's my department! Come on, I'll take you!" She pats the adjacent seat on her cart.

Unsure of how else to find MIFT, or even the specific details of what MIFT is, Tylor puts his folder in his bag, and hops aboard Val's cart.

He and Otis share a wave goodbye before Val drives them both out of the lobby.

"This is crazy right? I drop out of college, you graduate from college but we end up working at the same place. COSMIC!!!"

"... Yeah that's… one way of putting it."

The two continue to ride along until something catches Tylor's attention.

"Woah woah woah, hold on a sec! Is that a Scare floor?" It's the first time since his initial arrival that his mood shifts back to something genuinely excited.

Val takes a second to stop her cart in front of the aforementioned Scare floor. It's from a distance, but the two can see the Scarers and their station assistants begin to prepare for their busy day ahead.

"Yup, but I wouldn't get your hopes up Tylor. We only head in whenever there's a problem with the machines. And that isn't too often."

Val starts up her cart once again, and goes on to talk about… seemingly anything and everything. But by this point, her tag-along is already tuning her out.

"It's just a minor setback, that's all this is," Tylor reminds himself. "Just a few hours at… whatever MIFT is, and then your real Scarer career will begin. Everything will get back on track. Everything is going to be fine."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something Tylor discovers pretty quickly is that Val is a very chatty monster.

"Sorry about the whole missing-map thing. It's just that, when I first started working here, I think I got lost every other day on the way to the office. It's a total maze down there if you don't know how to find the right landmarks. If you can find them at all. Sometimes the lights on the lower levels don't get replaced on time, so some places just look like flickery hallways. Which is why I decided, if MIFT ever got any new members, I would personally chaperone them to and from the office. Just to help them find their footing, ya know? But to be fair, we have a pretty understanding boss, so don't worry if you still wind up coming in late sometimes."

It's all rather sweet, if only Tylor wasn't too lost in his own mind to register it.

"Gagh, it smells awful down here. I gotta remember to clean up before the meeting this afternoon, can't let these fumes seep into my skin. But it's okay, it's just gonna be for a few hours. Then I'll finally get my IDs and... what could be so special about my Scare assignment? I really hope dad wasn't right about this."

The rest of the drive to MIFT goes on like this; Val doing her best to be approachable, but completely blind to her passenger's disinterest. There are a few seconds where Tylor gets the feeling he's being watched while the two of them are in an old elevator, but he chalks it up to his frazzled nerves.

"... and well, I guess you could say I learned the hard way to always put the plastic down before cleaning up the bloo- oh hey, we're here!"

"Huh?" Tylor asks, knocked out of his thoughts for a second.

Val drives her cart up to a building that seems to be built into the wall, just bellow some kind of underground door track. While appearing sturdy, this section of the factory looks to be far less maintained than the clean lobby or the immaculate Scare floors above. Here, specs of rust can be seen on some of the larger pipes. The paint on the front doors is chipping away. And then there's that weird, stale odor lingering in the air.

Overall, MIFT headquarters could've looked worse… but that doesn't do much to improve Tylor's already bitter opinion on it.

"Yup, here it is, MIFT headquarters!" Val does an impromptu little song to build up the team's supposed grandeur. Its meaning is lost on Tylor who's doing his best not to roll his eyes while she's watching.

"Okay," she continues once her song is done. "You can just head on in through those doors. I'll be in in a sec, I just need to park this bad boy." Val loving pats the steering wheel of her beat-up little cart.

"Alright, sure."

Tylor walks up the steps and through the double doors to see a simple office space. A small kitchen area to his right with a beat-up vending machine in the corner. To his left is what looks like a makeshift meeting area, complete with a scratched up table, several plastic chairs, and a large dry erase board. The rest of the room seems to be several cubicles, with one larger walled-off office against a back corner.

But none of that is what has Tylor's attention. It's that it should be the start of the work day, yet this place seems to be totally empty. Even the lights aren't on. It's only by the light coming through the front doors' frosted glass that Tylor can see anything.

"Uh, hello?" He asks aloud. He's almost expecting a bunch of monsters to jump out of nowhere, welcoming the new hire with a loud obnoxious party.

"If they're anything like her, that doesn't sound too far off." He ponders.

It's a few seconds before he gets a response.

"MIFTer!" Someone quietly calls out, like a stage whisper. It seems to be coming from a door on the other side of the room.

Tylor isn't sure if he heard correctly.

"MIFTer!" They call again, just a bit louder.

"Huh, maybe I wasn't too far off with that party idea." Tylor wonders. He sets his bag on the scratched table, and walks towards the door, taking his time to make sure his horns don't bump into something by accident.

"MIFTer!" Someone just shouts regularly, sounding impatient.

Surprised, Tylor accidentally bumps one of his horns against a wall, leaving a very noticeable scar. Internally debating whether or not to leave a note to explain things, he is interrupted once again by a-

"MIFTER ALREADY!"

Deciding to deal with it later, he rushes to the blue door the sound's been coming from, and goes through.

Tylor is met with a seemingly empty, pitch black room.

"Uh, hello?"

As though responding to his voice, Tylor begins to hear some kind of rhythmic drumming. It's a simple, steady beat, but one that begins to fill the young monster with a confused sense of dread.

Until suddenly, there is a bright light directly over him.

"Young neophyte! Take swift to repairs, I welcome you to MIFT!" Someone proclaims in a jaunty, sing-song manner.

That someone is revealed by another burst of directed light. It is an older, furry monster with a single eye above his tapir-like nose. But what catches Tylor's eyes is what the monster is wearing; a fuzzy orange robe, some kind of necklace made from different colored paper clips, and a… crown (?) that's just an orange traffic cone with a wrench taped to it and leaves coming out the top.

A fashion statement this is not, but it certainly is eye-catching.

"Yes, MIFT!" The larger monster exclaims as he shimmies over, and puts a hand on the shoulder of a bewildered Tylor.

"Since the day Monsters Incorporated was founded, there was a need. A need for monsters behind the monsters. The unsung heroes!" The monster continues as he gestures in front of him.

Suddenly, there is a bit more light in the room, but not enough to fully illuminate it. It is enough to show that what Tylor initially believed to be an empty room was actually rather packed. Going all around the walls are somewhere between twelve to sixteen monsters wearing orange hoodies, makeshift robes or bathrobes. All of them are holding large buckets upside down, and are the source of the rhythmic drumming.

"M.I.F.T!" Says a group of four.

In front of Tylor and the jaunty monster are four MIFT employees. Val is one of them, eagerly shaking a wavy piece of metal panel, wearing an orange robe and a rainbow taped to her Monsters Inc helmet. Beside her is a pea-green monster in another robe, his wings sticking out of holes in the back, with paper wrench cutouts taped to his helmet. He plays a pan flute made from smaller pipes, but doesn't look as into it as Val. On one end of this lineup is a blue crab-like monster in an orange jacket that Tylor can't help but find to be familiar. The only accessories she has are two dented pipes on her helmet, similar to the pipes she's using to play her own bucket-drum. And on the other end is a small, three-eyed monster that kind of looks like a slightly peeled green banana. He's wearing what appears to be a coffee filter as a makeshift tutu, and a bunch of orange straws taped to his head. The only instrument he has is a tiny noisemaker, but is also making fart noises with his nozzle-like mouth.

...you know, when I describe it like that, I can't really blame the look of absolute "what-the-fuckery" on Tylor's face.

"Is this a cult? Did I just step into some kind of freaky corporate cult thing? Seriously, all this is missing is the runes drawn in blood and the virgin sacrifice to tie it all together. Wait... would I be the sacrifice in this scenario!?"

The monster to his side, seemingly oblivious to Tylor's reactions, continues his little speech.

"If a part breaks, we fix it! If a machine needs maintenance, we maintain it! This elite squad of polished professionals, each of them an expert in their fields! They are the girdles-"

"Girdles?" Tylor pipes in, unsure if he's hearing that correctly.

"Girders," the blue monster supplies.

"Griddles!" The "crowned" monster decides on.

"... upon which the factory stands! And Monsters Inc is a very big factory! But before we proceed, how about a few words from our esteemed initiate?"

Finally, in this whirlwind of weirdness, things are starting to make sense to Tylor.

"Oh, oh! This is an initiation ceremony."

"I mean, I guess that's better than what I was thinking. But... I should still be careful. If Oozma Kappa was anything to go buy, ceremonies like this can go from weird to fire-hazardy real fast."

Hey guys, this- this has all been… great. But this is just a temporary thing. So-"

"So you're leaving?" The green monster interrupts, a suspiciously eager gleam in his four eyes. Suddenly, Tylor recognizes this voice as the one calling out to him just minutes ago.

"Leaving in a cardboard tube most likely." Added the monster with the bucket drum. "Just like Rodney after that hydraulic press incident. Flat Rodney." Her blase tone makes it very hard for Tylor to tell if she's being serious, or trying to make a morbid joke.

Before he has the time to question things, one of the monsters by the walls comes forward to slide a beat-up toolbox towards him with an eager, "heads up!"

"Behold!" Decrees the crowned monster as he opens the box, "You will signify your readiness, for everlasting membership-"

"Everlasting?"

"With your first sacred tool!"

He pulls out an electric toothbrush.

There's a look of realization on the blue monster's face "Oh, so that's where I put it. Thanks!" She takes back her toothbrush and stuffs it away in her jacket.

The crowned monster pulls a wrench out of the box, and gently hands it to Tylor. "Tylor, I beseech you. Wrench the nut!"

"What kind of nut are we talking about? 'Cause I have allergies."

Another hooded MIFTer pops into the light, rolling along a tool cart, a heavy-duty clamp on it holds a plank of wood in place. This plank looks old, but ornately painted with blues and whites. Proud to be MIFT is painted in the center, surrounded by the names of fellow employees scratched into the wood. An old bolt is wedged between the lines of the painted motto, and on its end is a large silver nut.

Tylor is gently nudged closer to the plank.

"Wrench the nut! Wrench the nut! Wrench the nut." It's what everyone is chanting by now, some admittedly more into it than others. The green monster looks like he wants Tylor to burst into flames for some reason.

The crowned monster continues, "You're on your way, to a lifelong membership in MIFT! Do not feel unworthy, young neophyte. Fulfill your joyous destiny, and wrench that nut!"

"Wh- what? I don't- No, I don't want anything to do with this nut. You people are crazy!"

By now, everyone's gotten into a frenzy. The chants are growing louder, and one of the hooded drummers has gone completely off the rhythm and is doing his own kickass solo.

"It's just a temporary job, it's just temporary. Just give the cultists what they want, and soon you'll never have to see them again. Everything will be fine"

"Ok, fine, fine fine fine! If it'll get you guys to stop chanting!"

Not seeing any other choice, Tylor takes his wrench, and proceeds to wrench the nut.

...or try to, at least.

It's been a while since he'd even held a wrench, let alone used one. And the growing noise certainly isn't helping his concentration.

"Uh, is the ground supposed to be shaking like this?"

Tylor isn't mistaken, as he continues to try and wrench the nut, the ground does seem to be rumbling, as though going through minor earthquakes. And it's somehow keeping in time with the beating of the drums (minus that one guy.)

"It will all be okay, you just gotta wrench this stupid nu-"

With a wrench that's just a bit too powerful, Tylor causes the nut to pop off its bolt, and roll through the gap in a nearby floor grate.

Suddenly, everyone goes silent, except that one drummer guy. His grand finale serving as the drum roll to follow the nut as it descends deeper into the pipe system. This goes on for a full minute, until the echoes of the nut can be heard no more, and the drummer lets out an enthusiastic, "Wooohooo!" before finishing his number, and passing out from exhaustion.

There is a beat of silence before the crowned monster speaks.

"Good enough. Tylor Tuskmon, welcome to the Monsters Inc Facilities Team! Now then, how's about we get you settled in?"

"... Are we just not gonna talk about the mini earthquakes!?"

#monsters inc #monsters at work #monsters at work: the jokester generation #fanfic #link post #lengthy post

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