#a throwaway line that got stuck in my head

[deepdeanvsweston]

Margaret Dolliswood Headcanons? (Thanks for doing the elizabeth one)

That's perfectly ok anon!!! Thankyou for sending it in!!!

Also I know this looks like just. a massive essay but I SWEAR it all relates and is relevant and the hcs are at the bottom!!!

Ok so her motive to kill Elizabeth was that she was a lesbian in love with Astrid Frith and Elizabeth knew this. Which I think is very interesting, considering the the stigma around lesbianism at the time, and also as seen explicitly in the books where Clementine says something along the lines of "something goes wrong in their brains" (I can't quite remember the line) when Margaret's secret comes out.

We of course don't know what was canonically happening between the Five and Elizabeth, if she was abusing them about their secrets, or simply holding them as leverage, but I do often wonder why in Margaret's case, Elizabeth wasn't afraid or disgusted of her, on page at least, because she was a lesbian - as again Clementine says "it's all the same to them" referencing how being hit or being affectionately touched is the same to a lesbian. Obviously they're all so close knit because if 1 secret gets out they all do, but I think a throwaway line in JFP like "none of the Five went near Margaret much" would have cemented the stigma.

BUT. There isn't a line like that!!! And I personally think it would have been fairly easy for the most of the Five to just ostracise Margaret, without fear of their secrets coming out as any credibility she might have had in revealing other people's secrets would have been lost completely because she was a lesbian AND THE fact that most of the Five's secrets don't much have real life consequences, if that makes sense? For example, if Florence's secret got out (which it did, but I'm referring to before E.H was killed) it would have been devastating for her and her family but not put perhaps their lives at risk. HOWEVER note I say most of the Five, because of course Una Dichmann was trying to get her Jewish grandparents out from nazi Germany which very much is a real life consequence that could put lives at risk. So imo Una and Margaret would have bonded out of sheer necessity because if Margaret was ostracised (as previously mentioned I think she'd be the most easy to) and revealed everyone's secrets, then Una's would be the one with actual danger of harm. So Una goes out of her way to cement a friendship or at the very least an alliance with Margaret to avoid this liklihood.

Ok so onto ACTUAL hcs now sorry anon

- I can't find a description of her on the wiki and I don't have my book on me so I think she has pin straight auburn hair with freckles that she hates (Astrid ADORES them tho)

- she used to be the prankster of her year, always pulling tricks on the teachers and during assemblies and creating mischief on exeat weekends

- she is always trying to put the attention away from her with all her tricks, but also desperately wants the attention

- she is the Eldest Daughter, with 3 sisters aged 3, 4, and 5 so there is an age gap

- her parents aren't cruel, not in any way, and do love her to bits, but with 4 other children they have grown a bit fatigued of parenting and so it lands on her a lot to be like 'oh I love your drawing!' 'i can take you to the loo! 'come here, your ribbon is all messed up'

- and of course as Eldest Daughter, she is expected to pave the way for her sisters, securing herself a decent husband etc etc.

- and she's actually happy with this!!! She's stuck in comphet but she thinks she's happy! Of course ALL girls stare at each other's legs in their gym kits!!!

- but then. She meets Astrid, a new student from Denmark who arrives in the last term of fourth form, and everything turns on its head

- Margaret honest to god genuinely thinks she's allergic to Astrid, or at least her perfume or detergent or something

- why does she keep having hot flushes? And butterflies in her stomach? And why does she lean forward every time Astrid goes to say something?

- Margaret realises she's a lesbian after several dreams about her and Astrid

- and her whole prankster thing changes. She becomes a model student, perfectly presentable, hw handed perfectly because she doesn't want the attention anymore. Attention means people look closer.

- one step out of line and she fears everything she has will fall to pieces because of Astrid

- they are friends at this point and through several tense moments during the summer hols before sixth form, they end up together

- and then the events of Jolly Foul Play happen and her secret comes out

- and that happens in like Sept - Nov so she still has a whole year of ridicule to go

- her parents are essentially embarrassed and ashamed of her but don't pull her out of school as they feel it's the one thing that could change her back to 'normal', and really push her into school work. And anyway

- Astrid's parents immediately pull her back to Denmark and ban any contact

- and that's almost that.

- 17 years later they find each other and buy a house by the sea. It's only ever been them for each other, anyway.

- as for the war, I'd imagine Margaret joins the WRNS (Woman's Royal Naval Service) and Astrid does something in communications (???)

- Margaret and Una, after everything, become actually close friends, and they'd both give their lives for each other given the need. I like to think their friendship becomes DaisyandHazel-esque in nature

[laviejaguardia]

FIC WRITER INTERVIEW

Tagged by @energievie and @nevermindirah thank you guys!! this looks fun :)

tagging if they so wish @youssefguedira @gaal-dornick @roboticonography @cafecitowriter @zairaalbereo <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 

37

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 

693,923 😳

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Technical Support w 788

Double Tap w 728

Sunbeam Garden w 450

the way the night knows itself with the moon w 403

I carved out a place in this world for two w 375

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do and I enjoy it a lot, with the couple exceptions of some comments clearly done in bad faith with I've gotten once or twice

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don't really do angst endings, but the closest might be per diventare immortale only bc it's "open"

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

All of them I'd say, but perhaps Technical Support bc the epilogue is super cheerful

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not really my jam, but I have done some scattered Wolf (2013) / Diabolik (2021) musings with discord friends

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Outright hate nah, just some bad faith comments yeah

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Whenever the mood (rarely) strikes, and of the kind that the mood strikes lol

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not afaik

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

just the one, the way the night knows itself with the moon but I brainstormed a few as part of events!

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

"all-time" is a tall order, I'm too much of a multishipper to settle for one. Oldest now relevant again is probably Percy/Annabeth but I was never super active online about it

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have 40k of a modern AU CarolMaria kdfic I started ages ago (last open rn is 2021 and it's older than that) and got stuck at the end bc I couldn't quite figure out the sequence of events. It has SO many scenes I love but I can never quite get back to it (the MCU's current storyline doesn't help either :/)

Another is a throwaway doc of a Monthy Python-style medieval comedy for TOG that I never sat down to brainstorm

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at creating visuals without needing suuuper lenghty detailed descriptions

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I get too wordy and over-complicate my sentence structure, it's why I usually try to get a beta that has no issues tearing my writing apart to streamline it

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I enjoy it! I routinely use different languages in my every day life so it feels natural to me. I think rendering everything to English can be flattening and strip characters of their richness sometimes, while I also understand there is a line between incorporating a character's cultural bg and making a caricature of it, so I try to get the right feedback before I hit post and I'm always open to talking it out.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Unposted Percy Jackson, posted the MCU (A Lot Of Issues)

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Don't think I have a particular craving atm, perhaps Spadeliano (Suburra: La Serie) but I have no plot for that, or maybe Kanthony (Bridgerton Netflix) bc when I went looking for fic nothing was quite was I searched for. Oh or Lupin (TV) cause I getting into Youssef's head when he's working with Assane promises to be so much fun, though it wouldn't be shippy

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I genuinely cannot pick, they all have reasons why I like them

[loquaciousquark]

Mulling over the news about the upcoming Patch 2 and trying to decide what I want to do here. I'm very, very close to the end of the game--just the dragon quest, Orpheus, and assaulting the Elder Brain left--and the news about the epilogues has me wondering if I should wait to finish until after Patch 2 drops, since IGN suggests it's coming out this week. (I mean, I played ME3 both with and without the Extended Edition DLC, and knowing what came first helped me much more deeply appreciate what came after, but...hm.)

I'm also trying to figure out what exactly is being suggested with this new Karlach content. The Steam post says it's a "more fleshed-out" ending that many have been asking for and that it's a "new optional ending" that's "fiery, poignant, and gives her the ending she deserves." The IGN article quotes one of the devs as saying "it will make a lot of people happy," which...what's going to make them happy other than an implication that her heart can be fixed permanently--but also, what's poignant about that? Hmm.

I don't really care about the Minthara stuff (sorry Larian), but I'm very interested in the expanded epilogues being suggested for the rest of the party. What Larian says on the Steam post, that they were sure fans wouldn't want a long epilogue in a game where you can complete so many quests in so many ways, is silly to me, but regardless, they seem to be addressing it, and I won't argue with more content letting you know how you've affected the world. It's also not clear to me if this patch is going to include new/expanded epilogues for everyone or if Karlach is just first. I've also read about the bugs with the LI post-epilogue scene not triggering unless you let Karlach die in the final battle, and I'm curious to see if this fixes that. Not that I'm exactly over-eager to get Astarion's at this point, ha--though whatever happens there will shape my post-game oneshot, for sure!

It doesn't really matter to me if they add the Upper City back in; I've been reading some of the original material (ads, trailers, and such), and frankly I think people made a lot more of a few throwaway lines than they should have, and I'm not sure that's Larian's fault. I don't even really want another area to explore in Act 3; what we have is plenty! I do think Cazador's palace's entrance is dumb, but meh. Not exactly a dealbreaker. So that they say here that they never meant the Upper City to be more than something to fight through in a climactic battle--fine, sure, good with me.

I am super glad to see performance in Act 3 especially is being addressed. I've had to restart the game for fps drops there more than any other place--it felt like almost every two hours sometimes. I found myself actively avoiding saving because it seemed like every time I saved, I dropped five fps. It'll be good to see that section run more smoothly.

In other news regarding my actual game progress, I finished the House of Hope the other day, and that special fight song at the end has been stuck in my head on loop ever since. I really, really loved that song & how they used it, and I'm going to go listen to it again now.

(I also got the Devil's Fee woman the Gloves of Hill Giant Strength to complete that quest, then stole them right back out of her back pocket and gave them to Karlach. For as generally altruistic as Tavish has become over the course of the game, some habits die too hard, and some items are just too shiny.)

[miodiodavinci]

omg i get so excited hearing about dnd!!!! how many campaigns have you been in if u mind answering?

i don't mind at all ! ! ! ! i enjoy talking about dnd ! ! ! ! our group got together in 2020 has run a total of (counts on fingers) 6 campaigns and 5 one shots, with our average campaign length being around 20 to 30 sessions. each person's taken a shot at DM'ing thus far, but the forever DM and i have both run about four of those each w

also, outside of one or two one shots, it's all been exclusively homebrew ! ! ! which is fun because we've all gotten to create our own regions and design overarching lore that connects each campaign to the other ! ! ! (surprisingly, hannus barbarous is usually the connecting factor. we did not plan this but that's just how it is now KJSFLKJH)

and because i love talking about dnd so much i'm taking this opportunity to dump a whole lot of summary of each campaign/one shot in chronological order under the cut w

ON A SCALE of ONE to TWENTY .. campaign

After being shut off from the world for over a hundred years, the region of Celosia finally opens its doors, sending out an open letter to all would-be adventurers asking for help. Our party just so happened to be the fools who decided to answer (and who got lucky enough to not get eaten by wolves on the way there), and have been tasked with taking down the shadowy Emerald Division that has seemingly come to power. They'll get to it as soon as they visit the dump (it's on the way).

Our DM's first homebrew campaign and the result of all of us being stuck inside and realizing we finally had time to play together w. This was the origin of both Hannus Barbarous as a running gag (along the lines of "this is JUST like Thomas and Jeremiah") and the name Scott as a throwaway bit, and also the origin of "The Coolest Emerald Division" title w

Characters

Roachcock the Tiefling Barbarian (played by me) .. bastard at heart, just wants to split heads, get coin, and buy a boat

Babey Möd the Halfling-Tabaxi Cleric (played by @anonprotagging) .. here to eat gravy and spread the good word of Lyra

The Storm the Water Genasi Barbarian .. he's super famous dude just trust me i heard he once fought like thirty turkeys

In'hala the Tiefling Paladin of Pan .. looking for her lost moms and also stealing this guy's boots hahaaa sick

Opus Whitfield the Human Wild Magic Sorcerer .. trying to use this opportunity to set up a new storefront for his family's gem cutting business, is actually using this opportunity to get bullied

note: i don't know if the other players use tumblr so for now they'll just be identified as "Xs player" from here on out w

GRANNY'S COUNTRY APPLE PIE .. one shot

An aging wizard wishes to taste the sweet delight of Granny's Country Apple Pie™ one last time (despite the bakery closing decades ago) and thus tasks our heroes with scoping out the place and seeing if they can find a recipe. Somewhere along the way, things got weird and it turns out Granny was just an immortal 65 year old who was taking a vacation in the outer planes with her wife but she's back now :)

Pre-built one shot that very quickly went off the rails, as to be expected for my very first go at being a DM after being a player for less than 4 months. The first appearance of Hannus as an actual character and not just a running bit.

Characters

Hannus Barbarous the Half-Orc playwright and Bard (played by @anonprotagging) .. he's taking a break from his prestigious play writing career to see the sights and reconnect with the little piece of him that was shattered when his troupe broke apart (but not too much of a break not to sign every autograph he can eyyy)

Sir the Eternal Flame (and sorcerer i guess) (played by Opus's player) .. still frustrated at being locked in human form, this giant immortal moth is off doing busy work until his curse wears off (which apparently includes bakery heists???)

Tehn the Sun Elf Ranger (played by the Celosia campaign DM) .. with their giant bumblebee Spoobin and frankly obscene lack of dietary standards at their side, there's no meal that they can't tackle

THE OSSIFIED GARDENS .. mini campaign

Taking shelter from the rain in an unearthly structure, the gang is snatched away from the physical realm and into a crab bucket-like hotel for the fae. With their most prized possessions taken from them as an entry fee, the gang has to endure arduous tasks to receive the stamps of each of the five Managers in order to receive audience with the minor god who runs the establishment. Whether or not she'll be willing to give their possessions back, however...

My first solo campaign as a DM!! Heavily inspired by Spirited Away and mostly an excuse to put old game dev content to use (including a literal circus of NPCs), but ended up serving as an important event in the Hannus Barbarous lore.

Characters

Hannus Barbarous the Half-Orc playwright and Bard (played by @anonprotagging) .. on the road with Tehn to visit a trinket faire in the next town over, about to experience beginning of a long and scalding beef with a petty minor god

Tehn the Sun Elf Ranger (played by the Celosia campaign DM) .. Hannus and Tehn are best friends now—they're having soft tacos later! :)

Piers the Minotaur Cleric (played by Opus's player) .. he's just along for the ride—maybe there will be cool books! :oooo

Tess the Halfling Rogue (played by In'hala's player) .. laying low until the folks in charge of her latest warrant lose track of her (and by laying low i mean just stealing at waist height instead of top shelves)

ROLL to PHOTOBOMB .. campaign

A seemingly normal winter festival goes astray when our heroes poor fools accidentally soul-bond to an extraplanar device meant to be a birthday present for the renowned sculptor hosting the ball (spoilers: it's a camera). They have four months to take it north to Cobalt City, get the re-calibration redone, and get it back in time for her wife to give it to her for their anniversary. The only problem is, the mountain pass is closed and the only other way there is a several hundred mile road trip by wagon...

Time to take some photos in front of some kitschy roadside attractions, I guess.

Opus's player's first time DM'ing for our group (though they'd DM'd before, and frankly—their experience shows). This campaign was home to some of our most beloved NPCs like Cassidy the subterranean super organism, Barry the extraplanar knife slime, and Sir the Eternal Flame Moth (he got that curse figured out finally!)

Characters

Fafnir of the Boreal North, the human knight Mimic Berserker (played by me) .. they just wanted to leave their dungeon to find a better, damper place to sit and eat and somehow accidentally took part in the funniest case of mistaken identity this side of Alcione

Ranger Rain Rainer the human Ranger (and literal park ranger, played by @anonprotagging) .. originally here to supervise the environmental impacts of the ball on the local landscape, now soul-bound to an extraplanar camera and havin' a good ol' time hangin' with the boys :) y'want some soy sauce with that? i bought a gallon back in brass junction

Kit the Elven Ranger (played by Tehn's player) .. legitimately so traumatized he wraps back around to being the most normal person in this group—just don't mention Celestine Grove

Babu the Hobgoblin Artificer (played by the Storm's player) .. having been separated from his parents and raised by Kobolds, Babu, his steel defender Babu, and his clockwork creation Little Babu are on a long journey to reunite with them in Grand Arbor .. please do not look at him he's sensitive

THE GREAT COCKATRICE RACE .. one shot

It's that time of year—the Great Cockatrice Race is upon us!! But just as our party is soaking in the sights and staking out the perfect spot to watch, they witness a young tiefling have his cockatrice's racing gear shredded by a local gang. Desperate to win so he can help pay to treat his father's worsening eyesight (they're cartographers by trade), he asks the party for help, and they quickly oblige.

Another one shot run by me, based loosely on a one-page campaign document. Not much to say about this one beyond the fact that everyone was ready to kill for Noodles the bantam cockatrice.

Characters

Actias Saturnid the Aasimar Paladin (played by @anonprotagging) .. on a quest to popularize his deity's chosen form of entertainment—tinker vision (TV for short)

Squish the Changeling Bard (played by Tehn's player) .. here to have fun and maybe also look for his friend that went missing have you seen her please tell me i miss her ;_____;

Kai the ??? Swashbuckling Rogue (played by Opus's player) .. it's a big festival, and that means plenty of eyes and plenty of cash! not a half bad time to try negotiating some new patrons for her artist friends

TROUBLE at PORT MANDRET .. one shot

What was originally supposed to be the 58th annual showcase of Umbergate University's horticultural collection is turned sour as an incensed former professor unleashes a powerful awakening spell on the entire town. With only a few hours before the plants release spores that will spread the spell to the entire world, our party has to act fast and cooperate with a local mycologist who seems to know just the fix to this predicament.

Another one shot from me, this time entirely homebrewed! This is also the origin of Scott as a character and not just a throwaway bit, and very much the source of his dynamic with Hannie. They found him tangled up in a bunch of kudzu in a coffee shop and he sent them on a long fetch quest to help him make a cup of coffee using stolen coffee beans.

Characters

Hannus Barbarous the Half-Orc playwright and bard (you know his player by now w) .. you know, he was just trying to lay low after the whole "committing arson" thing, but now he has a gay little mushroom twink to look after and that's (????)

Tehn the Sun Elf Ranger (played by you know who w).. also laying low after helping Hannus commit arson, but mostly here to eat a bunch of plants when no one's looking

Hank the Aarakocra Barbarian (played by Opus's player) .. he's a goose who only says "HANK" and i love that so much about him

Quinn the literal, unawakened, plain old animal tiger and Rogue (played by the Storm's player) .. the reason Hannus and Tehn committed arson after discovering she was being kept in squalid conditions by a wealthy family .. i cannot stress enough that she is a literal, un-enchanted tiger

THE ENIGMA of DAHL CREEK .. campaign

Their boat having sank in a storm, the party washes up on a seemingly once populous island now drowning under webs of unidentifiable blue-green vines and the eerily human-like shapes it creates. Working to unravel the mystery of how the entire town disappeared one August day, they find the past and present blurring together in a strange and haunting way.

The Celosia campaign DM's next big campaign, and frankly the one that haunts me most to this day. I cannot put into words how fucking good this campaign was. Legitimately gave me chills and occupies a region of my brain that cannot be vacated.

Characters

Hannus Barbarous (you know him) .. just trying to recover from the fae thing and the tiger incident and then the Port Mandret fiasco and really doesn't need this right now (but deal he will)

Biscott Cortinarius the human mycologist and Necromancer (played by me) .. putting a little distance between himself and the university due to the ""legal ramifications of interviewing university property without familial consent,"" but mostly sticking with Hannus because he's a bard and... well... bards aren't exactly beefy are they ;)

The Destitution of Mires the Lizardfolk Circle of Spores Druid (played by the Storm's Player) .. to this day i still don't know what their deal was, only that they sensed and so they came, and they left just as easily

Theo the ??? Circle of Dreams Druid (played by Opus's player) .. wanted to get out there and see the world, managed to sneak onto the one and Only boat that shipwrecked that day, now paying for it dearly

TIDECLEFT ISLES .. campaign

When the great Captain Wicke died, he arranged in his will that his treasure was to be given to the pirates of Tidecleft—so long as they could find it. Having arranged a massive, death-defying posthumous treasure hunt, several teams (including our heroes) must now compete to locate Wicke's treasure if they want to claim it all for themselves. What the late captain has in store for them, however, may call the worth of the treasure into question.

The Storm's player's first time DM'ing for our group, but not his first time DM'ing by far (read: he was Tehn's player's forever DM long before he came to our group). This was a grand old romp around a bunch of islands and sea caves that culminated in a frankly off-the-walls batshit final battle.

Characters

Acanthus of the Western Isles, the Mano (shark man) Scholar (played by me) .. a doctor and academic seeking to pay off a massive debt he incurred thanks to the Silver Lampreys and their web of loan sharks .. he doesn't care for jokes... or laughing, or puns, or metaphorical language or

Lemon the Warforged Circle of Stars Druid (played by @anonprotagging) .. realized she's accrued like twenty years in paid time off from working as a docent in an observatory, now taking her first vacation with her best friend Owen Gnome :) (he's a garden gnome she found outside and decided to keep in her pocket) (may or may not be venomous)

Bellamy the ??? ??? (played by Opus's player) .. ever grateful to the squid trawlers that took him in, he's competing in this hunt to earn enough to turn their venture into a franchise .. he is shockingly normal despite the whole "may not be from this plane" thing

Rayin the Tiefling Storm Sorcerer (played by Tehn's player) .. having received that sweet sweet "got hit by a magical explosion on campus" money and gotten magical powers out of it, Rayin is ditching academia to do COOL things like throw lightning bolts and meow at people

these character descriptors are getting long sorry

MIETTE SIMULATOR .. one shot

Somehow, our band of unfortunate souls has wandered into a town caught in a frenzy, raving for the execution of a seemingly normal tiefling man for an unspeakable crime (literally, no one will say what it was). The gang decides to get to the bottom of this, only to discover the very laws of reality are essentially optional in this neck of the woods.

Hannus's player's first time DM'ing as a dry run for his future one shot, and it was a hoot. Also the first time we got to meet Ranger Rainer's brother, Shine Rainer (who is the polar opposite of his brother thanks to all the trauma that comes with being a record keeper).

Characters

Lark the Aasimar Gunslinger (played by me) .. just trying to do as many good deeds as possible to get her dad off her back so she can get a girlfriend without him scaring her off with his whole "incomprehensible being of holy light" thing

Clare the human ??? (played by Tehn's player) .. i don't remember why she was there she just was and she was probably the most okay with everything that was going on

Hank the Aarakocra Barbarian (played by Opus's player) .. he's playing it cool after the Port Mandret thing, except this is not cool this is chaos

MOON TOWN .. one shot

It's Actias! And he needs help! For some reason, they've been disconnected from their god, and they can't figure out why! When our heroes decide to help, they end up getting snatched away to an otherworldly version of the long abandoned Sun Town and need to solve the mystery of a long cold case in order to find their way back home.

Hannus's player's main group DM'ing debut. Full of fun puzzles and good laughs (I'll never forget Actias asking us for help with a puzzle and showing us one of those shapes and holes boxes you give to kids) with plenty of throwbacks to old running gags. Felt like a nice homage to what DnD had been for us thus far.

Characters

Calamund Galbraith the Reborn Echo Fighter (played by me) .. a completely average guy who just so happened to get roped into getting "engaged" to a wraith that now endlessly pursues him .. he just really wants to go home and eat soup with his birds

Squish the Changeling Bard (played by Tehn's player) .. really worried for his good friend Actias :(

Tiel Alleywollow the Halfling Warlock (played by the Storm's player) .. a girl of few words (literally, she only speaks when casting spells) and eternally fond of her fiendish patron, an asshole imp named Dition

In'hala the Tiefling Paladin of Pan (played by the same guy as before w) .. hit her head on a ship and somehow ended up far, far south of Celosia. who knows what happened? certainly not in'hala, but EYYY SHE STILL HAS THE SICK BOOTS YEAAA

Teller Artax the Warforged Gunslinger (played by Opus's player) .. originally out to hunt down his lost creator, but got sidetracked, and then got sidetracked from that sidetrack, and then got sidetracked from that sidetrack's sidetrack, and then

THE CURIOUS CASE of ACTON RIDGE .. campaign

50 years before the events of Dahl Creek, a similar event is taking place—after a shoot out in the canyon, the town of Acton Ridge is also carpeted in strange, blue-green vines and locked in time. Our heroes must unravel the mystery of their pasts and the two intertwined fates of a pair of brilliant inventors who were seemingly on the hunt for something not of this world. Ongoing!

The Celosia DM's latest campaign and prequel to Dahl Creek. A little different vibes from the last one considering most of us apparently lived here before things went to shit, and many of us have tie-ins with the events taking place. Cool, eerie mystery fun ! ! !

Characters

Outis the Warforged Paladin (played by me) .. an archaic tour guide emissary from the Feywilds who's trapped on an endless journey towards an unseen destination .. it's sassy as hell and just the right amount of british to be infuriating

Emeril the Sea Elf chef and Fighter (played by @anonprotagging) .. retired from being a soldier and running from his past to owning a small tavern (and running from his past) .. very blunt (like his cast iron frying pan)

Spinifer the ??? Bard and travel-book writer (played by Opus's player) .. looking for the scoop on the local scene in hopes of bringing more folks over from her homeland .. common isn't her first language and she delights in learning cool new words, like "paranormal" and "clusterfuck"

Phira the Deep Gnome Monster Hunter (played by the Storm's player) .. haunted by her past and now interested in that which is haunted, this little conspiracy theorist is going to get to the bottom of this mystery if it's the last thing she does (but not actually—she'd like to live you know)

[mcbitchtits]

My non-spoilery review of Dial of Destiny is that I think it succeeded; it’s a good movie. People seem to like it, despite whatever critiques Cannes had going on (and I need to go back and reread all the reviews now that I’m no longer avoiding spoilers). I think everyone should go see it, because a day with an Indiana Jones movie is always a good one. I wish Mads Mikkelsen had been given a little more room to chew the scenery as the villain; I can’t for the life of me figure out why he had last billing on stuff??? Shockingly most of all to me, the CGI de-aging pretty much worked.

ANYWAY, and then once everyone has seen it, you should come back and dig into the spoilers with me because there’s really so little I can say without immediately ruining... any part of it.

And so with that, here be spoilers:

When I say it succeeded I mean they put together a lot of parts that makes a fun movie, and it has Indiana Jones, so right there you’re golden. Ultimately, it’s literally just Tomb Raider (2001) But With Indiana Jones. Which I don’t think they did on purpose; if anything, I suspect they were trying to give a nod to the original Raiders plotline of the two headpiece pieces, and uh, oops, time travel macguffin. (I haven’t seen any official comments to substantiate that it’s supposed to be an allusion to the original script, I am wholly pulling that out of my own ass.)

Surprisingly, I think the movie succeeded where I expected it to fail (Disney’s hand in it, the CGI de-aging, the extremely dubious interpretation of the antikythera mechanism), and failed where I expected it to succeed: most notably, the score felt tacked on after the fact (what the hell) and while they fully delivered a cathartic and mature character arc, well, uh... it’s kind of miserable. I kind of hate it!

There are a lot of pieces I enjoy, and absolutely none of them— once you’re past the first 30 minutes or whatever— can manage to overtake the fact that you’re watching Indiana Jones drown in depression and complete personal despair for two hours. The final two hours of this character’s “grand finale”, I might add!

I’m totally fascinated by the fact that Mangold and Ford were able to look at the development and say, “we don’t want to make cheap Old Indy jokes” and then go and do that. It really feels lost to me in the line where Indy talks about “I’ve seen things I don’t understand... [...] it’s not a matter of what you believe, it’s how hard you believe them,” and I know it’s supposed to be sort of a commentary on hope (and Helena being the Indy-character and being stubborn and bringing him back to himself and his life), but also, WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!!!!!!!!! MY DUDE YOU WATCHED SO MANY PEOPLE GET PHYSICALLY DESTROYED BY THE HANDS OF MULTIPLE GODS AND SUPER BEINGS. WHAT. ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. A real “?” from the writers on that one, chiefs, fuck’s sake.

Anyway, in terms of it being an Indy movie, also weird that they clearly are reacting to the reception of Crystal Skull the way that Last Crusade reacted to the reception of Temple of Doom; and yet the thing they managed to extract from that was “oh, people hated Indy feeling out of his element of this being a 50′s movie instead of a 30′s movie, so let’s dial that up even more and make him depressed about it.” (pun circumstantial)

That is. certainly a choice.

But it also misses to me what Indiana Jones is on a fundamental level in that they are movies about other movies. They are movies about movie-making. And there is a whole lotta None Of That in dial of destiny. There’s like, a couple of lines that are maybe supposed to be throwaway references to the earlier films? But I honestly can’t tell if they did it on purpose or if it was just, like, everybody binged the movies for research and the words got stuck in their head and fell into the script because they happened to sound right.

There are some things structurally that worked for me. The diving and the eels felt like a good nod to the Bond structure while being fresh and not out of place, unlike the bugs which felt unnecessary. The Atlas boulder that was in the trailer didn’t make it into the film, which is fine by me. I was surpised to find that Sallah’s role did not feel gratuitous and out of place, but very welcome. (And also when did Indy bring him to America and WHY WASN’T HE AT YOUR WEDDING, INDIANA)

I will take a Midwest/Wright brothers joke literally all the time. Dayton pride, babey, SUCK IT NORTH CAROLINA

There were no location/date title cards, and then the weird choice to end with an iris on the hat which— always yay, the hat—what on earth are you trying to say, here? You just spent the whole movie telling us he’s retired, this is the end of his saga (but not his life), he wasn’t back in the saddle, the world doesn’t really have a place for him —and to be clear You, Mangold, and You, Ford, and You, Marketing are promoting these statements—and now... he’s “back“? I mean, do be trying to pitch more Indy films. I will watch them. Especially after this mess. But like... what is your point. Again, I realize the other characters are telling him how wrong he is and how he shouldn’t give up and things are just different now, but the whole denoument just feels like an afterthought to me. And then we do not soar into the Raiders march with a final finesse a la Raiders, no, but go from something for Helena, drop into the Raiders March for a loop, then detour into... a ballad???????

Again, the score on this felt like a hot mess. It never seemed to hit its stride.

I am glad they didn’t give me the Disney castle to start; sad though we didn’t get a mountain. Lucasfilm felt like a good compromise, but also just kind of... there.

I do like that they had the spear of Longinus and it was a fake. A+, I am so tired of Christian artifact bluster.

I think they could have tightened up the script and cast a bit; Klaber as a character felt very poignant (it took me 70% of the way through the movie to realize he was not supposed to be a secretly-trained-up-German-Nazi but rather a good ol’ fashioned deep south American white supremacist), but also I think he took screentime that I would have rather seen given to Voller. Hauke (?), the Pat Roach stand-in, was kind of just... there. I don’t want to say Teddy was excessive, because he was there literally to be Helena’s Short Round, and to give their relationship some heart, but it also felt like a lot on top of also meeting Renaldo and then he and all his men immediately get killed, and also the Moroccan mobster is Helena’s ex and we have to have a ten minute chase about that. Mobster and his chase scene could have been folded more into the casino kerfuffle and his part of the tuktuk chase cut pretty much completely, were it me editing.

Despite being maybe-a-Raiders-concept-homage, I don’t think the antikythera needed to be in two pieces AND there was the graphikos AND then there was the necklace in the tomb. It starts to feel like just a video game series of missions at that point and to be quite frank, as much as I love them choosing a Greek artifact, a lot of the puzzles didn’t feel grounded to me. Just... pulled out of mysterious nowhere (or ahistoric nowhere), which on top of the conspiracy theory angle equals my distaste. Too much like the Akator puzzles in Crystal Skull, just being fantasy for fantasy’s sake and not for any other reason other than padding out the artifact story. It’s not doing anything for the plot. I understand why they chose to lean on Archimedes, as a scientist and a point of resonance for Indy’s and Basil’s and Voller’s characters (and archaeology), but again, me hating the conspiracy side of things, I wish they had 1) given it a more mythological grounding in the Greek pantheon, and 2) used that mythology more explicitly to give Voller his comeuppance. (Maybe he deserved a shitty and forgotten death, since he clearly had visions of grandeur and assuredly an ego to match Hitler’s. But nonetheless I WANT MYTHOLOGY.)

Also for no other reason than personal taste, I hate the hexagonal design of it.

At the very least when it comes to the macguffin and the time travel, they managed to hold back until the end— unlike Crystal Skull where they pulled the trigger showing the audience too early in the movie— and so that pretty much worked despite its ridiculousness. It’s maybe a little too Young Indiana Jones Chronicles for my tastes, but also it felt sort of respectfully reminiscent of the Grail Knight, just going in the opposite direction, so. It works enough.

I’m glad Helena punched Indy and brought him back to the present because I *ALSO* have been thinking about Indy’s death for a long time and boy howdy this movie could have been a lot worse. Jesus christ. A near fucking thing, though I’m hoping they never considered it as a real ending. (Indy certainly spent a lot of time being conscious for a man who got shot in the chest and was bleeding out like ten minutes previous.)

On a strictly personal taste note, and realizing it’s something most people felt no loss for since it figured centrally in their distaste for Crystal Skull, I hate that they killed off Mutt. I did actually like Mutt. I thought he was cast perfectly, sorry to the haters. And again, I think it was a fucking cruel thing to foist onto Indy and Marion’s relationship and THE FUCKING FINALE INDIANA JONES MOVIE. FOR TWO FULL HOURS!

Unrelated, just wanted to also point out that I was right about the “I’ve been looking for this all my life” line in the trailers being a dubbed fakeout. What’s up. This has no bearing on anything other than stroking my ego.

I did expect there to be a joke about Medusa or the Aegis what with Athena being Right The Fuck There in Archimedes’ tomb, but alas.

...

Anyway. I’m mad about it and I’m going to see it probably five or six times in theaters anyway and then, like, just always watch Raiders instead for the foreseeable future. For the past 24 hours now I have just been oscillating wildly between, like, this is fine, and also this is the worst thing ever, and also I love that everyone else likes it but I am sort of thrilled in my distaste? Like, Crystal Skull was a disappointment, for sure. I remember feeling that. I remember exactly what I thought coming out of the theater. But I also actively enjoyed a lot of parts of it (c.f. Mutt) and I developed a sort of wider appreciation of campy/corny/actively terrible things due in part to that.

This is not that. My distaste here is very specific, and very nearly overwhelming. And, I don’t know, I have some weirdly gleeful response in everyone asking me if it’s good, if they should see it, what did I think of it, and I can’t say anything that isn’t spoilery because even “it’s a good movie” is a clue enough that I didn’t enjoy it, and idk, maybe it’s, like, a weird science experiment? Where you’re getting RESULTS and that’s just purely fucking enjoyable no matter what they actually are? You just get to have something and examine it? I don’t know. I honestly don’t.

It’s far and away for me, technically and personally, the worst of the five.

On the whole it feels like... exactly matched to Disney’s/Lucasfilm’s efforts lately in general. The mediocre graphics and poster. The trailers that just kind of existed. A score that somehow turned out to be barely anything. The fact that they put out tons of shirts and collectibles with outright errors. The fact that they had to steal their Facebook page ages ago from a fan, then never post to it, and never bother to take over/rebuild their site from Paramount (they sold in 2013!!!!) until two months ago, wherein now it just forwards to Lucasfilm. A macguffin that, for the first time ever, seems to have no actual resonance to the plot. (Should have been, for Helena; instead we spent that time being chased through the streets of Morocco by her ex.)

Yep. You sure did put Harrison Ford in a fedora again. And as I’ve said forever, I will be there every time, and I will watch it.

But. like. The End, I guess? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Hell of a note to go out on. And you didn’t even go out on the Raiders March.

[jettorii]

My Movieverse Play-by-Play (if you’re interested:

- The Good Morning Ninjago segment at the beginning may have started out as an actual segment but the birthday bit was DEFINITELY Lloyd’s internalization of his Issues. Might have even been a dream considering how he was asleep at this time.

- The whole thing being a dream would also say some pretty funny stuff about how he sees both the news anchor and himself and his fellow ninjas.

- Garmadon really did try to call him in order to wish him a happy birthday. He does it over breakfast. He tries to play it cool in order to come off as suave and interesting, but ends up coming across as an asshole instead. He gets Lloyd’s age wrong, makes a couple comments about how ugly he was as a baby and then somehow forgets to actually wish him a happy birthday before he hangs up to go to work. (He may have tried and failed to cheekily tell him that he has big plans to conquer Ninjago today but if he does it completely goes over Lloyd’s head.)

- Zane is CONSTANTLY attempting to relate to Lloyd by referencing Cool Teen stuff, but he does such a horrible, horrible job with it that Lloyd just thinks he’s doing a really bad job at trying to disguise his being a robot. He is also constantly trying to Emotionally Relate to Lloyd in order to make him feel better, but is just. The worst at it.

- Lloyd thinks Nia is an absolute badass, which is why he imagines her riding a motorcycle into the school building. She’s probably much sweeter in reality (especially to Jay, who is her boyfriend) but he just thinks she’s so cool and awesome and badass that he always sees her as an absolute rocker chick.

- Lloyd thinks Cole is awesome, too — to a bit of a lesser extent but not by much. He’s mainly kind of a stable, grounding figure. Unlike Zane, Cole actually does a pretty good job at relating to Teen stuff, especially when it comes to music, so the two of them vibe quite a bit. Maybe he even sneaks Lloyd into the concerts he DJs at sometimes! (Maybe he introduced Lloyd to Scene Kid music — *gets shot*)

- Kai is super passionate and openly affectionate, like, ALL the time, hence the big birthday hug at the beginning. Kai wants Lloyd to think he’s awesome, too, but he. Tries a bit too hard :/ So Lloyd sees him as a bit of an overzealous dork. But that’s NOTHING compared to

- Jay, who tries so, SO hard to get Lloyd to see him as a Big Strong Hero and Older Brother Figure (maybe even like he did when he was a little kid) but constantly screws it up to the point where it backfires into making him look like just. The BIGGEST loser (affectionate). But he’s honestly the most, like, emotionally intelligent member of the squad? Which is why we get little throwaway lines like “They’ve all got their quirks, you know?” and “Maybe I should take your father this time!” and even that little close up shot of his face after Lloyd snaps at Garmadon publicly. Because even if Lloyd doesn’t see him as a badass, necessarily, he does see him as a very heartfelt friend (which ironically is probably one of the last things Jay would have expected lol).

- That cheerleader squad at the beginning with the “Boo Lloyd” chant thing was WAYY less successful in reality, because it’s just So Ridiculous. Unfortunately it stuck in his head because Lloyd is just so sick of getting bullied all the time (hence it somehow showing up on the RADIO), so the other ninjas don’t bring it up in front of him — but they totally cackle about it when he’s not there because it’s just so over-the-top DUMB.

- The ninjas let him take the lead on missions usually because they think Lloyd is genuinely a pretty good strategist. He gets it from his dad!

- During that fight scene at the beginning, when Lloyd was trying to get his dad to say he cared about him, Garmadon was legit just trying to throw the Green Ninja off his scent. When Lloyd accidentally slipped and said “what happened to your child,” Garmadon immediately tried to distance his son from him as to not make him a target. This backfired, obviously.

- The scene at the volcano had a LOT more of Garmadon ranting about his son to his generals. Lloyd isn’t really in a headspace to get this, so we only see a small hint of this with the line “I’m not your father” (“is that a weird thing to say to us?”) while in actuality Lloyd was a MUCH bigger part of his motives. Hence them choosing to throw both him AND Lloyd into the volcano later down the line.

- A lot of the background characters are really just voicing Lloyd’s inner monologue. Like when they’re wondering why the Ninjas don’t just get rid of Garmadon already. This happens with the side characters too, like when Garmadon commented on “all that information [playing catch] is just sitting in his brain, un-utilized”, or when his mom was on the phone and said that she knew the neighbor said they never wanted Lloyd to play with their kid despite Lloyd being sixteen and not at the age where that would be something adults would typically be saying to one another.

- The ninjas are all actually much more competent than they’re shown in the film, but Lloyd always feels stupid whenever he’s trying to learn their moves and hide behind bamboo and stuff, so they LOOK really stupid to reflect this.

- On a similar note, Lord Garmadon is actually WAY more intimidating, but 1) Lloyd is too pissed at him to be scared and 2) Garmadon tries to make jokes with him post realizing that this is his son, thereby making him seem goofier than how he normally acts.

- Sensei Wu legitimately learned how to play Emo songs on his flute just to try and relate to his nephew. (Cole probably taught him.)

- Lloyd’s mom is actually way spunkier, but he sees her as way softer and stuff because she always makes a point to be very kind and loving to him.

- When Lloyd first threatens to use the ultimate weapon, Garmadon is legit trying to defuse the situation and frantically trying to calm him down because he and Wu are the only ones who know what that thing is, but Lloyd is so on edge that he sees it as way more threatening than it actually is.

- Lloyd being the Green Ninja is actually a Way Bigger Deal to Garmadon than it seems at first, hence the whole Record Scratch thing. This was a BIG twist for them, and Garmadon is actually pretty emotional about it, but Lloyd is just completely pissed off and unable to see that.

- Likewise, the rooftop pool party is almost entirely Lloyd’s enraged imagination regarding what went on after he left. His mother’s appearance was the closest to what actually happened, though it was still MUCH less chill when it actually happened. (Might be a result of Garmadon trying to play it cool when he retells it later lol)

- The ninjas don’t actually blame Lloyd that much for the weapon disaster: they didn’t know either! But Lloyd feels so guilty and everyone is so frantic that he interprets it like that anyway. Also they were totally freaking out way more than he remembers: he was feeling a bit too guilty to pay attention to that.

- Lloyd thought Wu said “Ultimate Omelette Weapon” at first and was so embarrassed that he pretended that his dad thought that instead.

- Garmadon specifically went after them to try and find Lloyd, actually, but Wu (understandably) beat his ass the moment they made eye contact.

- Wu and Garmadon keep promoting the books they wrote lmao, it’s like a weird midlife crisis thing

- The other ninjas took the chance to actually try to get to know Garmadon, who was trying to get close to his sob for once. This includes them trying to prompt him to join in by playfully ribbing him.

- Again, the former General Number Ones DEFINITELY targeted Lloyd as well as Garmadon when they captured those two. AbsolUTEly. No other way to explain why they left the other five ninjas completely unscathed. The “And this random ki-ID!” line is a cheeky nod to how Lloyd is seeing the situation as opposed to what’s actually going on.

- The “who would make fun of you for that” line was an attempted apology done very, very poorly.

- Not an addition but “I think I might be an adrenaline junkie” is an underrated line.

- Them saying that they need to be better friends is Lloyd’s mind’s way of crying out for their help when he thinks he’s about to die in a volcano. He still needs his older siblings :)

- That one General Number One ABSOLUTELY targeted Lloyd specifically when his arm got ripped of are you kidding me.

- Also I can’t decide if the others were panicking more or less than he imagined when he lost his arm. (Same with Lloyd: can’t decide if he was ACTUALLY that calm or if he was babbling in terror and pain as they tried to calm him down lol)

- Garmadon actually was trying to suggest they try to be a family again, but again: he FUCKED it UUUUP.

- Lloyd didn’t actually remind them of their powers: he just helped them keep their cool and follow a plan to get out of there. (Like I said: they let him be the leader because he’s genuinely their best strategist.)

- “No. I thought being dead would make you listen to me more. And I was right!” LMAO

- Lloyd doesn’t actually reveal his identity to the world at the end, it’s just a metaphor for how he’s actually opening up and finally letting his dad in.

- His apology to his mom for taking her for granted is kinda aimed at all the ninjas, too :)

HEJEHEHWHE THANK YOU FOR WAITING!!!!! I READ IT ALL AND AHRVRHHHG IM EATING THIS ALL UP

im pretty sure i said this in my last reply but. the fact that you put these notes with lloyds perspective in mind makes my perception of the entire movie so much more enjoyable to think of :]

the way you wrote how garmadon genuinely cares for lloyd but keeps fucking up is so ogugh to me???? and how he has lloyd in mind throughout each of his actions is SO heartwaming to me im going to sob

AND THE. THING YOU WROTE ABOUT LLOYD NOT ACTUALLY REVEALING HIS IDENTITY AND IT ACTUALLY JUST BEING A METAPHOR IS SO GOOD PLEASE this helps so much in finalizing/continuing to build my views of the movie specifically with your thoughts in mind and i could genuinely see all of this being apart of the movie

thank you SO MUCH for sending all of this!!!! i really appreciate hearing all your thoughts n i absolutely loved reading all of them hohooho i am going to save this because omg. thank you again my love muah <3333

[the0ldmann]

Been a lil' bit since I posted anything. Hope I just formatted this right. Not much of anything other than fluff, really. But oh well.

Brief flashback of adults being dicks to each other in front of a kid, and a throwaway line implying they were dicks to said kid.

As always, lemme know what you think- I super appreciate comments. Also this is an 18+ fandom so minors and ageless blogs will be blocked.

---

.

.

.

.

Snow.

Soft.

Quiet.

Blinding.

Pure...

They always had a love-hate relationship with snow.

It was gorgeous and gentle, blanketing the land and putting everything to rest.

Sleep... Sleep and only resume work when the warmth of Spring comes to rouse you from my slumber...

The snows of winter slowed down time and society. It wasn't a bad thing, to them. So much as a moment of peace was hard to come by in the hustle and bustle of modern life, every second to stop and stand still was worth holding onto.

But if your home was a prison, well...

"Daryl! Daryl it's snowin' again! Driveway's gonna need shovelled and you know I can't do it with my bad back... Daryl are you even listening?"

They flicked the little stick they held between their fingers.

"Goddamnit woman, for the hundreth time I heard you! I'm gonna do it once it stops snowing, now let me get back to watching the game! Ain't  no point to shovelin' if it's still gettin' buried right now..."

It was the same argument they had every year before. Snow piled so high they were stuck at home, not able to go out and see any of their friends. As they brough the stick up to their mouth and held it there, they figured the argument probably wasn't any different this year either.

Daryl was an ass and their mom was an enabler. Fucked up as it was and as miserable as they were, there was something almost nostalgic about it. They wouldn't live through it again willingly, but at this moment in time, they almost found themselves missing those two they used to call family...

Or were they missing what they wished could have been?

"Sunshine, the cookies are almost done! Are you just about ready to come decorate?"

And then there was Sunny Day Jack, his cheery voice breaking through their thoughts. They looked up just as he poked his head around the doorway.

The sweater he was wearing was as garish as his usual outfit, but it looked cozy and warm compared to the frosted window they were leaning up against.

His eyes narrowed at the sight of the stick in their hands and a brief look of panic flashed across his face. However he was quick to compose himself and stumble out a question.

"Uh, haha, Sunspot what uh... What do you got there?"

They cocked their head, holding the stick higher up, as if they were trying to wave with a lit cigarette in hand.

"You mean this thing?"

"Yeah, what is that?"

"It's just a stick."

Confusion.

"A... stick?"

"Eeyup."

"Why are you holding it so... questionably though? Were you a smoker? Why didn't you tell me? I can help you if you ever have the urge to pick up again, there's no need to go back to bad habits... O-or to start them either! You're not thinking of picking up-"

They waved their hand.

"Jack, shush. I've never smoked and I've no plans too. My childhood caretakers smoked enough around me to last me a lifetime. Just... Something about the motions feels familiar and calming. That's all."

A frown. They knew it wasn't going to be that easy to put his mind at rest.

"Do you not believe me, Jack?"

"N-no, that's not it at all Sunshine! It was... very concerning to see is all. I'm still uh, processing."

They weren't convinced by his words, but they offered him a small smile anyway. Putting the stick down, they stood to approach him.

"The snow just has me thinking a little too much about the past, that's all. C'mon," they patted his chest and then leaned in close. "You said something about decorating cookies?"

If they couldn't ease his worries right now, then the least they could do was distract him.

It seemed to work as he lit right back up and wrapped an arm around their shoulders.

"Ah, yes, the cookies! They're going to need to cool, but that shouldn't take long. Let's make some hot chocolate and we can drink that while we decorate."

They flipped the light switch off as they left the room. Casting a quick glance back as they did so, they could still make the stick's tiny shape out on the windowsill.

Jack was always going on about plans for the future, even if the future he was planning for wasn't more than a month out. There was always something to look forward to with him.

Perhaps that stick was part of a past best left behind...

They'd figure out what to do with it tomorrow though. This evening was for cookies.

Jack's back was turned to them as he got the hot chocolate going. Swiping a bit of icing from one of the bowls, they walked up to tap him on the shoulder. He turned around, only to be met with a poke to the nose that left it smeared with aforementioned stolen confectionery product.

"Heehee, I got you back for getting me with the melted chocolate last week!"

Jack's grin was wide as he gave them a quick kiss, leaving them speechless.

Yeah, this was certainly worth thinking about more than some stuffy old house with a couple of miserable chainsmokers. Let them be miserable. Happiness was right here, in the warm glow of a Sunny Day.

[temunitu]

i have the line fugitoid says in 2012 stuck in my head for some reason. the one where he mentions “the ten dimensions” and it’s driving me up the wall with theories and possibilities

(warning it’s midnight i am RAMBLING)

it’s such an interesting number for such an interesting concept - the turtlepedia itself lists some of them, but the ones it lists are

- 1984 (dubbed “Turtle Prime” by the 2009 movie Turtles Forever)

- 1987 (“Two-Dimension Earth” - )

- 2003 (“Dimension Third Earth” - The Big Brawl)

- 2012 (“Earth-7”)

- Dimension X

and dimension x seems so out of place here. i mean, it’s not just a different version of the turtles here, it’s got completely different laws of physics.

and it got me thinking about how dimensions are portrayed in 2003 - the Nexus, which as Mikey put it, is “a subspace of overlapping commonality” (paraphrased)

and then all the warriors that came to the Nexus because that’s the Nexus’ whole point - a gathering place for the greatest warriors in the multiverse. there’s at least a very large number of dimensions right there.

and there’s a bunch of other episodes where the turtles deal directly with alternate dimensions, too - The King, April’s Artifact, Reality Check, The Real World (Usagi’s world), The Trouble With Augie…

(I’m not counting SAINW cuz it always struck me as more time travel than alternate dimension)

i think 2012 was also trying to imply that the Dimension X of that show was the same as the Dimension X of 1987, too - but there’s no real proof it is.

so already we’ve gone WELL OVER TEN DIMENSIONS!

but some of them seem to be treated so differently - like, all the parallel/mirror dimensions with the turtles are so different from Dimension X, or Usagi’s dimension, or the Nexus

so i’m thinking they don’t count each and every parallel dimension of one type. the turtle dimensions (Turtle Prime, Third Earth, Earth-7, etc) would all be classified as one dimension since they’re all parallel

but then it’s like - ok, there’s different types. the Nexus doesn’t seem to be the same type as the Turtle Dimensions - the Nexus doesn’t have an entire galaxy backing it up. it’s a pocket, it’s contained. it probably has a hard ending like an old world in minecraft, or maybe it loops in on itself like the freaky circle prison in Thor: Ragnarok. so would the Nexus really count as it’s own dimension among the ten??

also like,,, where does the Hidden City from rottmnt fit in? to me it strikes me as either a non-parallel (which i’m going to call a perpendicular) or a nexus type. you could make a case for parallel because of the mud dogs but that’s sorta a shaky comparison. of course, the hidden city might be still within the rise dimension. it’s unclear but it feels like it could be either way.

not to mention the dimension the rise turtles saved karai from in the finale, or the one leo got stuck in during the rise movie (which might be one in the same, it’s unclear).

i just have so many questions for one or two throwaway lines in a cartoon about turtles

[flfverse]

TRANS KIRI RIGHTS!!!!!

Oh my god I read it last night before bed and it’s ALL I could think about!!! And it’s STILL all I can think about!!! I’m so in love with this concept and so glad you ended up writing this. The slow realization, the denial, the imposter syndrome, the perceived selfishness—it’s all soooo good and really speaks to what I feel like is kind of this internalized orientationism that exists unconsciously in the greater society of your worldbuilding from which a lot of the trans issues or Hawks’s internalized subphobia (is that a thing? Is now) kind of stem insidiously. Kirishima is like “I’m a dom! It’s my job to protect ppl and I’m a hero anyway so it all works out!” But that’s a trap he doesn’t realize he’s stuck in until he’s really forced to confront it, and I’m soooo in love with how you handled him avoiding the issue until it blew up in his face (because I’m an angst/hurt/comfort lover). Got all the swoopy feelings in my stomach about it and even when I go back to read it again I still get em 🩵

Kiri’s evolution is something I’m so excited to read further about… I really hope you’ll explore him trying to hide it from his friends, who are so used to using him as a dom sounding board when they need help. I can’t imagine he’ll find it easy to give up that role easily, since he cares so much for his friends and wants to support them in any way he can, and also because I wonder if the weight of their expectations will be hard to get out from under without outing himself? Like I can just see Sero torn on the sidelines watching Kirishima do things that hurt himself but not knowing how to intervene in a way that respects Kirishima’s boundaries but also is healthy for him?

Which also makes me wonder about our dear, beloved, hyper vigilant Aizawa-sensei… because I’m an ever-guilty Aizawa lover…….!! But that aside, my excuse for bringing him is that I think he would at least notice something off with kirishima and his dynamic w the class (unless he’s not their teacher at this point? Tbh I’m admittedly not sure how school is looking for these kids at this point in your story ehehe). But I can also picture sero going to him like “girl help! My bf is (redacted) and he’s hurting himself over it and idk what to do!” Or also kiri showing up in the office like “Sensei help! I’m (redacted) and idk what to do!” And Aizawa being like “well I can’t help if I don’t know the root of the problem but also I respect boundaries so….”

Sorry got carried away a bit. But the point is! I loved this fic and CANT wait to see where you’ll take it next.

Enjoy your hiatus! You’ve more than earned it. Until the next update, I’ll be lurking on old chapters and poking you in your asks 🩵

—V

TRANS!!! KIRI!!! RIGHTS!!! 🩵🩵🩵

oh yeah, i definitely want to explore him hiding things from the others. we loveee that angst. i don’t know when i want him to come out…in Cross the Line i did write a little throwaway convo about him and sero both being doms before i decided to hit him with the trans beam, and i’m still undecided on what to do about that. they’re all around 23 at that point, which is a pretty long time to hide, so i might change it. i can definitely see him only coming out to a few people for the sake of his hero career….we’ll see.

aizawa is definitely still around! in my head they keep the same homeroom teacher bc i loveee dadzawa and it makes sense?? right?? if he’s training them?? yeah.

i lowkey forgot he would be around noticing all of this but yeah, he would definitely notice the dynamic was off and be like, waiting for the right excuse to poke at the issue. and sero would absolutely come to him well before kiri would :(( ack i’m making myself sad thinking about him now

i like this version of kiri (and all versions of trans kiri) bc he has this kind of comedic level of emphasis on manliness and being the steady unwavering rock for his friends, which is very wholesome, but also BUDDY. you need to base your identity on more things than that. i think it is very genuine, which is why i love him, but also you could play it like he’s compensating, like if he just says it enough it’ll be true.

augh. enough sadkiri thoughts. let’s think about puppykiri again and ask the REAL question which is: why does his costume have a psuedo-muzzle, hm? what’s happening here

thank you for coming to my ted talk. i think the next little edition of this mini saga will just be focused on kiri and sero and puppy play (and some trans feelings), but after that it’d be fun to do some angst. or before. depends which i finish first, i guess?

[doctorbunny]

Just got struck with a vivid memory of being 12 and reading Naruto manga in my high school library.

Specifically during the first (Chunin?) exam arc, there's a bit where they're meeting the other villages' ninja students for the first time, Naruto is being Naruto and almost says something he shouldn't so Sakura panics and says that Naruto doesn't know what he's talking about and they should just ignore him because he's a "special ed ninja" And that specific phrase always stuck in my head ww I'm so curious what the Japanese phrase used was...

But also the idea that Naruto's universe had special ed classes... Even if just for a throwaway line... I think it really inspired me more than I realised at the time

[10000-paper-nohara-rins]

It's very frustrating how the only way some people can give characters "value" is by making them either ultra capable and strong, or totally removing all their teeth and agency in the story... :(

Rin was like a barely blooming flower when she passed; sure, she had Isobu sealed in her and she showed remarkable aptitude for medical ninjutsu, but those aren't the SOLE defining parts of her character! Those aren't the ONLY THINGS that make her interesting!

Like, I get how people can be a little upset by the untapped story potential but MAN!!! Her decision to die by Kakashi's unwilling hands was HER OWN DECISION, and a complex one at that!!!!!!!! It was a moment of selfishness from a character who everyone else decided was selfless... It was a moment of cruelty from a person others believed to be kind... It was a decision people can debate about forever, but at the end of the day, Rin's the only one who'll ever really know her motivations behind her own death... AND THAT'S INTERESTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S THE GOOD SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huh. Is it just me, or do Rin Nohara and Rose Quartz from Steven Universe share a lot of overlapping qualities in their stories? Well, anyway... LET RIN EAT MINATO IN A CAVE!!!!! For team bonding. ❤️

sooooooo true anon twirling my hair kicking my feet she contains multitudes!! i have a feeling insisting that rin is Super Powerful and Talented Actually comes from people trying to play by naruto's rules for valuing characters (in which the stronger they are, the more important they tend to be) but i dont really know where the insistence that rin did nothing wrong comes from. dont you guys LIKE characters with flaws??? why are we acknowledging nuance when it comes to analyzing kks's teaching but not rin's suicide? hello??

goddd it's so true though. like. regardless of my own headcanons, rin's death hits HARD!!! killing herself like that was undeniably selfish. iirc kishimoto puts a throwaway line somewhere saying that she couldnt just kill herself because there was a genjutsu compulsion over her but obviously it was not that strong or she would not have been able to jump into kks's chidori. there were loopholes to be found. but she still did it that way!!!! what was going through her head?? how do you justify that? tbh that was the moment that really got my brain churning around her because the manner by which she killed herself suggests so much more lurking beneath her smile!!! REGARDLESS of how you choose to interpret her, there's so much implied by that single moment. and for some reason people like to pretend it didnt even happen??

anyways you're so right <3 let rin eat minato in a cave. for enrichment. also the picture of rin as rose quartz is stuck in my head forever now. help

[isca-tide]

4x17 Okay, that was a sweet and sad opener but police can't just call it. Right? They can't do the whole donor thing. You need a doctor to do that, surely? And even with an organ donor card, you still need to talk to the next of kin first, right?We Ah yes, the episode where Lucy is thoroughly retraumatised and gets no support from anyone aside from Tamara because story reasons, and where she should have dumped Chris' idiotic ass no question. All they would've had to do is a throwaway like by Nolan or Tim or anyone about Lucy doing trial prep today. Asking if they spoke to her or if they're seeing her later, how she seemed. Hell, one of them could have even offered to be there for her or meet her for lunch but then they got stuck at the hospital. S'all you have to do, writers. I'm not demanding feral!Tim finding out that Chris is a grade a fucking idiot, but just a mention. This is a big thing for her and they would know it. Also Chris should not be working on that case. He should've called Lucy the second Sarah called in sick and said they had to rearrange for another day, not waited for her to get there and then ask her if she wants to cancel. Or they could've gotten literally anyone else to trial prep with her. Wesley could've helped, right? Imagine if she'd had someone actually supportive taking her through this instead of Chris. He should have never been in a position to see that video or be on the case at all. Presumably he saw it all after he entered into a relationship with Lucy, and he should have told her. And if he saw it before then he definitely should have told her. Maybe humming it was an honest mistake, I get music stuck in my head all the time, but jesus man no. Just no. He apologises but then everything after that seems so blunt and insincere. "Well yeah, it's evidence." How about fucking grovelling for forgiveness, asshole? It's moments like this, Chris, that made us think you might be another bloody acolyte. I just don't like how he always smiles, even when he's meant to be upset or sorry about something.

Lucy, god, she just needs the biggest hug. She needs a Lucy hug for herself. Literally just a throwaway line from another character about hoping Lucy is okay or planning to be there with her but getting stuck at the hospital. That's all. You always tell us that everyone respects her and is there for her, so show us that too in moments like this.

Sidenote, they give up so easily when people flatline or 'die'. Also sidenote, zero sympathy for this couple. Love makes you do a lot of things, but also Meredith is selfish. Purely selfish. This wasn't her plan but she's going along with it. To let other people suffer because she doesn't want to die. I can understand wanting to do whatever it takes to protect the people you love, but doing the same to protect yourself? That I won't ever understand.

Oh, Lucy. Melissa is such a brilliant actress. Lucy is such a brilliant character. She's not perfect and that is perfect. I really wish they'd given her some kind of follow-up to this. Just a mention next episode or something. Anything beyond her going home/to dinner with Chris like he didn't completely fuck up beyond belief. I know they're showing that she's moving past it and she's strong enough to get through it now, but eh. They just wrapped it up way too neatly so they could also fit in a random kidnapping storyline? I know she's not the only character but you can't throw out breadcrumbs and expect us not to get hungry for something more substantial. I don't even need her support to come from Tim, but let's face it he would be there for her during this. Or he'd try to be. Just anyone else who isn't bloody Chris. Hell, have them all meet up at the end for the closer, Chris can be there too. Just someone asking Lucy if today went okay, if she's okay, and her saying she is or will be.

I have a lot of feelings and all of them are about Lucy and I'm not sorry whatsoever.

[roublardise]

1, 8 & 11 for the writer asks 🐈

THANK YOU 💕💖

this is about The Way Home which is my destiel fic that everyone should read imo

1- Start to finish, how long did it take to plan and write? Did you take breaks during the process?

I had pinpoint May 2nd 2021 as a starting date, as in when I wrote down the first notes about the story. and I posted the last chapter on ao3 on Feburary 26th 2024 so.... almost three years!! this is just like my master thesis except I'm actually more proud of this story somehow

I did take breaks, that's the main reason I write so slow. summer 2022 was the first break, I know I barely worked on it. and then it went through periods depending on my free time.. but basically everytime i was on days off/unemployed that's when the writing was going. let's bless my winter 2023-2024 unemployment era for getting the fic out there finally!!

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8- Did you cut something out of the outline or an early draft? What was it and why did you decide to cut it?

yeh.... i work with both outlines & drafts, and let me tell you there are times the first draft is smth else entirely 😭 chap 1 stayed pretty solid and just got polished with each draft, but chap 3-4 is nothing alike and well, chap 5 simply barely existed in the first draft as i knew it was gonna change. the ending would have be SO different it wasn't even worth getting into it in rough details

little break down of things that got cut:

most of what was cut is jokes & little scenes of Cas at Jody's... big rip ngl!!! i had notes of a whole thing of when Cas basically brought Meg into Jody's uninvited, like "here's my demon bestie :)" and Meg getting stuck at the doormat (in parallel to chap 4 wink wink).

again at Jody's: they used to play board games..... but it wasn't fitting with Cas's development anymore, and also didn't quite fit with the place I wanted the women to have in the story. Claire got a bit too close to the destiel drama when I wanted her OUT like what does she care she has daddy issues to work on!!! big disservice to every character involved so. they can play board games post-chap 5 :)

the side characters also lost a Meg/Claire (& Alex & Patience) convo in the car in chap 4 (a bi to lesbian communication with Meg mentioning Bela that was SO cute) but turned out they were both too in their own head for this to happen

destiel wise I don't think anything was cut, except a moment where Dean was sharing pictures of Amara in chap 3........ everything to me. you also had the awkward "ahah fuck there's my ex on this pic ignore that 👍" moment that i love. again, the characters weren't there yet so bye bye. we still got exes in that scene anyway <3

voilà!!! besides that it was details here and there, or well maybe i forgot smth major honestly sometimes i don't even remember which lines actually make the finale cut. there's a throwaway canon trans dean line somewhere i could NOT tell you 1/ if it's actually still there 2/ in what shape it would be i rewrote it like ten times

.

11- What was the most challenging aspect of writing it?

bringing the plot home!!!! i am NOT used to write actual plot and tho it is a pretty simple one, well, there are dynamics at play to make it interesting that is not my usual thing. making it all click into place with a good ending when it's 55k was quite challenging, i've never written anything that long before!

i'm gonna cheat and say two things: getting the characters right and do them all justice. i wanted to have all three: cas is actually cas / get dean (that boy is self-aware!!) / women are respected 🙏

.

this was quite long but i hope it was interesting!! i love talking about my fic so at least i had fun, thank you for the questions 💖💕

now eveyone stream THE WAY HOME, there's a little cardd with more info and little fun things 😊

[princessplaidheart]

While I've been watching season 8 of Supernatural with my husband, I got to mention the fandom's general feelings on Sam not looking for Dean after the end of the leviathans. In particular, the theory that multiple people have had that Sam hit the dog while recklessly driving the Impala at high speeds/on back roads (maybe intentionally risking death due to Dean's disappearance).

This led to me noticing something that Sam says in "Heartache." He and Dean are talking about the football player (and Mayan warrior) Brick who crashed his car and had his organs donated. They're headed into the strip club to kill the woman who now has Brick's heart, and Sam wonders if Brick's wife is right about destroying the heart ending the whole sacrifice cycle. Dean hopes so, and Sam replies:

"You think Brick thought maybe he'd burn to nothing when he crashed that car?"

Either that's a very random throwaway line, or Sam did think about killing himself by crashing the Impala, hoping the crash would burn him up like a hunter's funeral so he wouldn't be stuck on earth as a ghost. It could be nothing, but for me, it definitely adds weight to the theory that Sam was possibly suicidal when he hit the dog with the Impala.

[agentjazzy]

okay it took over a year but me and my mom just finished watching the ENTIRETY of Beverly Hills 90210 so here's a giant text dump of my Thoughts

Matt might have been a late addition, but he was my favorite cast member, all his wrong doings are NOTHING in comparison to the rest of the cast, he deserved a better ending smh 😔

also they COULD'VE snuck in Andrea/Brendon in the end, just a little hint, but they DIDN'T and for that they're COWARDS

Kelly was a mean girl that slowly evolved into such a karen, she got so annoying towards the later seasons 😭 girl is SO entitled and spoiled and ALWAYS found faults in others but when SHE did the same no one??? ever called her out????? terrible

David continually annoyed me with his storylines, but he got less annoying thank GOD tho he still had his moments

rip to Noah tho, they did NOT know what to do with him and stuck him with a Carly rip-off a few eps before the finale to keep him busy but I was NOT invested (and also reminded me of how much I miss Carly 😔 she was played by Hilary Swank and was easily the best actor in the cast until they very suddenly kicked her out 😔😔😔) they could've and should've cut his character wayyy earlier but oh well

Valerie was the baddest bitch (positive) and LOVED manipulating people, then got surprised when those same people did not. like her. she was only a victim of bad writing and deserved better smh 😔 (the way she lost her money was SO STUPID the writing was SO DUMB like WHYY DID SHE DO THAT. UGH)

Gina was no replacement for the type of shit that Val got up to, but at least she was interesting - surprised she wasn't at the finale especially bc it would make narrative sense but Apparently she wasn't written out and instead wanted to leave so that's understandable

Donna was a literal nepo baby and you could tell 😭 her acting was NOT on the level near the others, and she had so much screen time............

(also her mom was classist AND racist, and 2 episodes after she told Donna she couldn't date a black character - who was a fun, interesting character! - they uh. never showed him again 😶 wtf)

rip to Nat's wife and kid, we saw them once and then they Never Mentioned Them Again, not even to babysit, not even a throwaway line, and that's on the gang for being bad friends tbh

also rip to the entire Walsh family, the main house became the Sander's house, which good for them, but I missed Cindy and Jim 😔 they were good parents and funny and they KILLED THEM (sent them to Tokyo)

okay but like. Brenda was SUCH a BITCH (negative) I was happy when she left the cast, she got SO annoying. she let everyone know that she thought she was better than them, then wanted All the attention to be on her, I hope she never leaves London, California doesn't need her

I loved Brandon until they committed character assassination and had him cheat on Kelly for absolutely no reason with a weird character that was more annoying than interesting 😔 as previously mentioned, him and Andrea should've been endgame - they both were single at the end of the series, their chemistry was great

Andrea was fun, her self-righteousness butting heads with reality and her morals were always fun to watch, but I'm sad that they didn't know what to do with her after they made her 1)get pregnant 2)immediately marry the father. she should've and WOULD'VE aborted that thang but the writers were cowards. and also bad at their jobs as evidenced by season 10 showing is that they ARE capable of keeping characters relevant/in the others' stories even when they're parents

Dylan was the most consistent character, even if he's a brat (positive). he kept cheating on people, though EVERYONE in the show did which like. writers. are your relationships okay. the soulmate thing with Kelly was dumb, but his commitment to creating problems just by being there was fun. also loved how he kept throwing money at problems, he was always a brat about it too - my favorite was when he did it to Noah, that's what he gets for trying to kick out Nat tbh

also Dylan was the only person in the cast to do CPR correctly, which isn't relevant to anything, except that Donna probably should've started chest compression with her dad........... dunno why she got mad at Gina when she, as the daughter of a cardiologist, can't even do chest compressions.......................

Steve was the 2nd most consistent character - after they started writing him as a jerk with a heart of gold moreso than just a plain jerk, he was pretty entertaining. even if he is THEE definition of white, rich, male privilege 😭 bro shouldn't have even graduated high school, and DEFINITELY not college. his job was literally handed to him by his dad 😭😭 he was silly and goofy though, which counts when David and Noah were being The Worst. was a highlight tbh, which is saying something, bc there wasn't one but TWO transphobic episodes, of which he was part of 😭 Didn't Like That!

uhmm, let's see, who am I missing......

oh! Janet was fine. at least her characterization was consistent. her and Steve were cute even if I missed Carly and her son - notably she was the ONLY character of color in the main cast which uh. 😐 this show was so white...........

lots of incidental characters of color, but when they dropped the "The Walsh kids help a random person" format, they stopped happening, which sucked. like, again, what happened with the Black guy who was interested in Donna? what happened to Donna's Black friend who she met during the Rose Parade thing?? why can I count the amount of Mexicans in this show on one hand??????!!?!!?? Beverly Hills and LA are white, but not as white as this show made it seem :/

but, anyway, the show was Fine. not very good, sometimes Bad, but mostly Fine. I can't believe I watched 290-something episodes, ten entire seasons

Brandon was my favorite, Steve was good comedic relief, and now I'll be a Matt defender forever, I guess - if I ever see any of their actors on the street, I'll probably say hi

oh! and angels are canonically real btw. also Santa Claus. and Mrs. Claus. so that's fun

also the theme song will forever be in my head now 😔

[transingthoseformers]

Early in the sixth episode of TFA Ratchet mentions that Cybertronians have been around for 10 billion years (in this universe at least) and you KNOW I've gotta run those numbers and use them to figure out how this mess (aka Cybertronians) happened. Maybe it's not a good idea to read the read more bc evolutionary science is CRAZY COMPLICATED

Bc the universe in the irl canon is what we consider around 13.7 billion years (it could be more for all we know but for now it looks like that) so that means in TFA Cybertronians developed when the universe was 3.7 billion years old-- pretty young. so you know as i am someone really into paleobiology and evolutionary science so little numbers like this make me very interested

bc other sources suggest the War was around 4 million years and one of my main HCs is that a Cybertronian lifespan is around 24 million years but if anybody has anything different please tell me. I'm going to take this line as when life began on Cybertron bc that's a smaller unit to deal with aaaand if it's referring to modern Cybertronians then idk what to say.

I particularly do not like the idea that Cybertronians were built by another species or created by one of their gods bc that means another being(s) had already hit pretty advanced levels before these guys. Also all the theistic debates and metaphysical ones. So for simplicity's sake I'm pretending they happened on their own on this case. It took humans 4.2 billion years from single celled organism to homo sapien sapien and around 50,000 to reach behavioral modernity.

Now since Cybertronians have much longer lifespans (not going to choose how new Cybertronians come about bc that's very different per universe not discussing fanon ideas either) but let's use our numbers from the world bank, bc mortality/birth rates varty wildly and we're gonna think very widescale here real quick so let's use the current data of 2.5 births per death because it's actually really hard to get a B:D ratio for an entire species's entire history. Generally, a number i found for rate of evolution was 4% per million years. Now we are gonna want to turn million to billion, bc a human lifespan is approximately 0.00041667% of a robot lifespan. So 4% per billion years for Cybertronians for now. I'm starting to really lose attention, but hang with me.(what counts as modernity honestly I don't even know at this point but around 45,000 is when Neanderthals went extinct but i do consider them fully sapient, but honestly it's the concept of self awareness and purposefully building culture that I'm going by rather than just pure instincts) so around what i got is 4 billion. Four billion years as a species.

Was this a waste of time likely very very likely. But i like that clear cut soft mini society that the fossil records and artifacts that they keep finding and the idea that the whole world seems like it's againat you yet you keep making music and sharing and taking care of each other. When you'd only need to fight each other if something serious happened rather than the petty rich ppl "survival of the fittest" nonsense of today. And I'd like to think of a time in Cybertronian history where it wasn't advanced enough to already be corrupt or at war. Where it was just surviving and building and learning for everyone. I'm in sociology this year, my last year of regular school and we just finished social classes and i feel like that's super useful when worldbuilding with these guys. and I've been coping badly with life so why not try to see how the rich culture of Cybertron built itself before the big crash of corruption and war and destruction. In every series we constantly see the Autobots learning more about human customs, but we rarely see the reverse. IDW is deep in that but i can't find the comics to read. So for now I'm trying to get timescales right to make the idea of living millions of years easier on my small human brain who can barely comprehend living through a whole day.