#and iterators in many ways are... objects

[prokopetz]

Something that pops up in my notes from time to time is folks thinking I'm being excessively kind in my criticisms of Dungeons & Dragons, and I'm going to spin this off into a separate thread to address that without putting anyone on the spot.

First, if your own critique of Dungeons & Dragons is rooted in the idea that it's the Worst Game Ever, that speaks more to the limits of your experience than it does to anything else. Dungeons & Dragons in any of its iterations is far from the worst the tabletop roleplaying hobby has to offer – like, you have no fucking idea!

Second, I tend to be even-handed in my discussion of D&D's rules because, fundamentally, the rules are not the problem – or, at least, not the principal cause of the problem.

In many ways, the indie RPG sphere has never escaped the spectre of Ron Edwards, sternly pronouncing that the mechanical process of playing traditional RPGs causes actual, physical brain damage, and that this brain damage is responsible for the bad behaviour we often observe at the table. We don't say it that way anymore, but on some level a lot of us indie RPG designers still kind of believe it.

This is understandable. As game designers, we're naturally inclined to think of problems at the table as game design problems. When we see a problematic culture of play, our impulse is to frame it as something which emerges from the text of the game, and which can therefore be mitigated by repairing the text of the game.

Confronted with the obvious toxicity of certain facets of D&D's culture of play, we go combing through its text, looking for something – some formalism, some structure, some piece of rules technology – which we can point to and say: "this is it; this is where the brain-worms live."

The trouble is, this is not in fact where the brain-worms live. Certainly, the text of a game, particularly a very popular one, can have some influence on the game's surrounding culture of play, but that text is in turn a reflection of the culture of play in which it was written. The Player's Handbook isn't an SCP object, spewing infectious infohazards everywhere when you crack open the cover – hell, I'd go so far as to say that many of the problems of D&D's culture of play operate in spite of the game's text, not because of it!

Basically, what I'm saying is that I don't see any contradiction between being the sort of pretentious knob who writes one-page indie RPGs about gay catgirls talking about their feelings (which I am), and speaking favourably about this or that piece of rules tech from whatever flavour of Dungeons & Dragons is in favour this week (which I do), because I recognise that you can't game-design your way out of a problem you didn't game-design your way into.

The fact that one of the biggest problems facing the tabletop roleplaying hobby is something that can't be repaired by fucking around with dice-rolling procedures is a bitter pill to swallow for a lot of indie game designers, and I won't say I wasn't resistant to it myself, but it's something that's both useful and necessary to accept.

(None of this means that the text of Dungeons & Dragons in any of its incarnations is beyond criticism on other grounds, of course, and I've never been shy about highlighting those criticisms where they're warranted. The only way you're gonna arrive at the conclusion that I'm some sort of D&D apologist is if you're starting from the presumption that The Real Problem Is The Rules.)

[beforetimes]

i know the most popular version of stories where shen yuan is a disciple under shen qingqiu are the ones where he looks identical to him, but i remember seeing someone once a few years ago raise the idea of if shen yuan looked identical to yue qingyuan, instead, and it's stuck in my head ever since

because, like, i think there would be a world of difference between a shen qingqiu forced to look at a younger version of himself and one that's forced to look at a younger version of his qi-ge, especially considering that shen yuan in this au would still be studying on qing jing peak. shen qingqiu in my eyes is someone who holds onto the past so severely while also being absolutely unwilling to acknowledge that it ever happened. think of his never-ending grudge with yue qingyuan that he refuses to confront, only ever avoiding the sect leader and refusing to talk about the actual issue at the root of it all.

with shen yuan on his peak, taking yue qingyuan's young face, it would suddenly be much harder for him to avoid the reminder of his past when it's staring him in the face and wandering around his peak all the time. in my eyes i think that shen qingqiu would oscillate between pretending shen yuan wasn't even there and being overly severe with him when yue qingyuan needles him one too many times at a peak lord meeting, testing his patience until shen qingqiu retreated back to his home to find the reminder of his frustration on his peak. again.

i also think that there's a world where shen qingqiu's very very rare moments of like. very subtle and quiet softness would come out around this iteration of shen yuan. but it's very rare. like, once within the span of two years type of rare. where maybe shen qingqiu remembers long since passed times of huddling for warmth with qi-ge under scraps of a ragged blanket at night and instead of bitter anger he just feels grief at their relationship tearing itself to pieces the way it did.

now, when it comes to yue qingyuan interacting with shen yuan, i think it would be far different from versions of disciple shen yuan fics where he looks like shen jiu. because in these, yue qingyuan is facing a conjuration of himself rather than the friend he left behind, and it's much harder to take pity on and find comfort in the image of his past self — someone i think he's incredibly critical of — when it feels more like looking his mistakes in the face than seeing a student.

which is unfair to the point that it can be argued to be out of character, but i think the way that guilt weighs so heavily on yue qingyuan would lead to it manifesting outside his endless needling of shen qingqiu and unwavering following of him. because those are, objectively, pretty neutral ways to deal with those feelings, but we never really see the uglier side of it all. because i think it would rebel against his image as a calm and collected sect leader. we do know, however, that he got pushed to the point once that he nearly tore himself apart in the ling xi caves, so is it reallyyyy out of the realm of possibility that when he sees a face that is so clearly a reminder of those times that he gives them the cold shoulder?

and imagine shen yuan's reaction to it all! barely a preteen, too young for his adult mind to catch up and feeling like he's thirteen all over again instead of the twenty-something year old he died as. he hears about this kind and partial sect leader through word of mouth and from reading the novel and expects at least one adult to rely on through all the inevitable hardships just to get brushed off and ignored. turned away so politely it's almost like ice. wanting to talk to someone about getting hazed by qing jing / bai zhan but knowing somehow that like. yue qingyuan knows, he's just not particularly motivated to do much because it's not technically his business, it's qing jing peak's. retreating back home just for shen qingqiu to snap at him more than any of his other students combined some days and treat him like a ghost that doesn't exist other days, no matter what rules he breaks or what he does to get his attention.

i just think it would be interesting!! i wonder very much how shen yuan could help to bridge the gap between yue qingyuan and shen qingqiu after being thrown in the mix like that. i feel it'd be out of character to say that shen qingqiu and yue qingyuan would immediately decide they needed to sort this out and get to the bottom of the mess surrounding their childhoods but i think shen yuan there as a fresh reminder to keep it ever on their minds would eventually push one of the two to the point of needing to say something about it after decades of dancing around the elephant in the room so delicately.

shrug. i think it's such a fun concept. i will write it soon. #trust

[shantechni]

[a-very-tired-jew]

A lot of the current antisemitism I see on here, other sites, and experience in person reminds of behavior I see during cases where I'm required to attend in person and/or testify. Often there will be people outside of the court house who are associated with the defendant, accused, or victim and are there for one reason or another. Emotions are high as someone is watching a loved one be tried for a crime, another person is hoping that they get justice for their loved one, and every reason in between.

When I enter a courthouse people often do not know who I am outside of the lawyers involved (though sometimes an unsavory lawyer has told the civilians who I am or who my colleagues are so that they mob us beforehand). My job is to testify to the evidence that I analyzed and reported on. I simply state during what period of time insects could have potentially arrived at, what stage of development they are in, and what that developmental stage implies. I do not testify to the guilt or innocence of the individual on trial, and as a consultant I work on a first come, first serve basis so as to not be biased towards defendants, plaintiffs, or prosecution.

All things considered, my testimony is usually a dry lecture on insects, their developmental stages, their community stage and progression, what that tells us, and how we use it.

However, afterwards when I leave at the end of the day there will be some friends and family of one of the above persons screaming at me. I've been called a murderer, a criminal, a Spawn of Satan himself, and more insults than I can remember. This has come from families of accused who desecrated and mutilated bodies to families of the victims who are lashing out at anyone who would testify for the defense. I have no actual impact on the crime itself, I was not present in any capacity until after the fact when I was brought in.

But because I have some relation to the case, as a professional, I am now a target that can be lashed out at. I can be insulted and even assaulted if the emotional reasoning of these individuals so dictates.

That's why I'm drawing this comparison.

The way in which the current iteration of antisemitism is used to lash out at Jews just reminds me of these people outside of the courthouses. They're highly emotional and lashing out at anyone with the slightest relation to the thing they've labeled as bad. They see red and actual objective reasoning is replaced with subjective thought, which can be easily manipulated and directed. There's very little to actually be done when engaging with this kind of person.

No matter how many times you explain to the family members outside of the courthouse that you're only there to talk about insects they still view you as the enemy. Just as it doesn't matter how many times you explain to an antisemite that the average Jew in NJ has no impact on the war, they're still a representation of "Evil" and must be insulted/assaulted.

The unfortunate part is that it's the entirety of our people being targeted in this way (yes, even the anti-Zionist Jews get it - e.g. Yuval). Unlike the people outside the courthouse we can't actually ignore this either. You can't just walk away and go home, never to encounter those persons again (usually, sometimes you get called back). Antisemitism is ingrained and extremely prevalent with people attacking Jews and Jewish institutions regularly. There's no way to actually ignore it and be safe. I wish there was. I wish I could just tell an antisemite some cool bug facts and be done with it, but here we are.

[grunckle]

Qualia and Ascension in Rain World

(To clarify I'm mostly talking about base-game lore and not including Downpour, but honestly most of these things can transfer over)

Qualia

One thing that’s relatively hidden in Rain World’s text and subtext is the concept of qualia. Qualia is described as being, “sensory experiences that have distinctive subjective qualities but lack any meaning or external reference to the objects or events that cause them.” It’s a personal sensory experience that cannot be comprehended by another person other than the individual themself, and are often hard to convey via language.

Qualia is a reoccurring motif in Rain World, but what’s more important is the way in which it’s conveyed to the player. The picture that’s painted is that of a world or civilization that placed a great importance on the individuals’ experience, and it’s shown through pearls or environmental details.

Here are some examples of qualia appearing in the text through pearls.

“It's qualia, or a moment - a very short one. Someone is holding a black stone, and twisting it slightly as they drag their finger across the rough surface. The entire sequence is shorter than a heartbeat, but the resolution is extraordinary.”

“A memory... but not really visual, or even concrete, in its character. It reminds of the feeling of a warm wind, but not the physical feeling but the... inner feeling. I don't think it has much utility unless you are doing some very fringe Regeneraist research.”

“This one... is authored by Five Pebbles, when he was young. There has been an attempt to scramble the data, but it's sloppily done, and most is still somewhat legible. It's written in internal language, or thoughts, so it is hard for me to translate so you would understand.”

But the most prominent examples of qualia and it’s importance in this world are the Memory Crypts and possibly ancient naming conventions. The deep purple pearl (shortened) found in Shaded Citadel states,

“In this vessel is the living memories of Seventeen Axes, Fifteen Spoked Wheel, of the House of Braids (…) Seventeen Axes, Fifteen Spoked Wheel nobly decided to ascend in the beginning of 1514.008, after graciously donating all (ALL!) earthly possessions to the local Iterator project (Unparalleled Innocence), and left these memories to be cherished by the carnal plane. The assorted memories and qualia include:”

Ancients likely mutated their own neural tissue into the cabinet beasts we see in Shaded, which were used to store their memories and qualia before ascension. Even james said once "how 5 pebs got the rot is a good hint here" in response to someone asking how cabinet beasts work, and how they're made.

Adding on to this, ancient (and iterator) naming conventions seem to be built off of the concept of qualia, with them focusing on individual images or experiences.

Nineteen Spades, Endless Reflections

Droplets upon Five Large Droplets

Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets

Looks to the Moon

Generally, this all points to a world focused on the expression and preservation of the individual experience. You could even consider some of the echo dialogue as more evidence for this running motif, but I already have too many quotes lol.

Ascension

So now time to talk about my interpretation of ascension. In short, you turn into a worm, but I should probably explain more than that.

So its been surfacing on rw-tumblr that the light in the end of the game is called the egg in files. Although file names shouldn't be taken as fact or canon, it is pretty obvious given the birth imagery.

But something a little lesser known is what happens to the worm that takes us down to the void-sea depths. Void worms normally have a bright glowing effect, on their body, which is present for ours as well. But after it unhooks us, it swims down, and when it passes us on it's way back that glowing effect is gone.

To be honest, I don't really think this can be interpreted in many ways, but the most obvious one and the one I personally subscribe to is that the worm laid the egg. Biology and spirituality really aren't that different in Rain World, it's implied that karma is stored in the brain through Five Pebbles's slideshow. Adding on to that, we see voidspawn after eating an iterator neuron. One's spiritual state is innately tied to their mental state, and that dictates what and what they can't perceive.

And for that reason I decide to take a more biology leaning approach to what happens in the ending. At face value, we are fertilizing the egg of a void worm to be reborn into a voidspawn.

Not only do void spawn and void worms have multiple characteristics in common, (worm like bodies, tendrils/tentacles, glowing heads, void spawn look microbial and void worms are likely some of the oldest "life" in game)

but voidspawn are seen inside egg-like coverings and share the same egg light seen in the end of the game, confirmed to be the same thing by Videocult in a livestream they did.

I believe that all this points to ascension being re-birth into a voidspawn, which eventually undergoes metamorphose into a worm. Higher-dimensional beings, who manifest and give birth to a new world.

So how does this tie in with qualia? Another thing you might know is that the area in which void spawn are most plentiful is Shaded Citadel and areas in Shoreline near Shaded. And shaded is absolutely packed with Cabinet Beasts, even outside Memory Crypts. I believe these qualia-storing creatures are what manifest voidspawn.

From what we see in ascension, it still looks physical and largely based around the real world. Hunter still has his scars and see's an iterator, survivor sees the slug tree in a more mystical and formless state, and monk sees survivor frankly just looking like a normal slugcat. I think that ascension is a product of qualia. We transcend our earthly knowledge via the egg, and our own qualia is used to give birth to a new world. This is why voidspawn appear most in Shaded Citadel.

Now I won't be getting into Void-Worm theories too much here, I'm mostly focused on ascension but I can't ignore the Gnosticism parallels. For those who don't know, Void Worms heavily resemble the Yaldaboath from Gnosticism, along with sharing some similar celestial motifs.

and running with that some people theorize that, like the Yaldabaoth, void worms are responsible for manifesting the material world. Ascension seems to be a mix of the concepts of Gnosis and Nirvana, but I believe it might lean more on Gnosis.

From my limited knowledge, Gnosis is a few things, some of which being a state achieved from experiences or intuitions, and an essential part to salvation is personal knowledge. While researching a bit, I came across this text by Peter Wilberg called "From NEW AGE to NEW GNOSIS" which brings up some comparisons between Gnosticism and qualia as well.

"Gnosis is subjective knowledge of an inner universe made up not of matter, energy, space or time but of countless qualitative spheres or ‘planes’ of awareness – a knowledge obtained directly through inter- subjective resonance. It is the subjective science of this inner universe."

One thing though that has been brought up when discussing this is how this can be consolidated with the tone of the ending. It is pretty un-ambiguously happy, but if we're going with the Void worm Yaldaboath theory then that would put a bit of a sour twist on it right?

I agreed with these for some time, but now I actually think it ties in perfectly with Rain World's core themes as stated by the devs, "overcoming differences and finding empathy." I don't think the void worms are "evil" or malevolent, but I think they (and subsequently us after ascending) play a key role in demonstrating this theme.

By manifesting the physical world, we allow these souls to experience life and develop their own qualia so one day they can ascend themselves. We are shown compassion, and pass it forward.

[just-honey-dewd]

THE GENIUS VS THE MASTERMIND

Thinking about the recent Link Click MOD…. The second song had the album cover(?) referring to Lu Guang as a genius. Which made me spiral into critical thinking. So this post will be covering Lu Guang's relationship to the term "genius," the way it differentiates from "mastermind," and then how Liu Xiao makes for a good character foil for Lu Guang.

I’ve never thought that far enough to consider Lu Guang one because genius as a term reeks of an exceptionalism mindset that I don't really subscribe to. But coming off of that trailer with more consideration for the term, it paints a picture on my head of the kind of exceptionalism mindset Lu Guang has always been subjected to: whether it'd be for his mind, his appearance, or his vast knowledge of things.

I find it fascinating from a writing standpoint how Lu Guang can technically be considered a genius in his specialised field: the intrinsic understanding of timelines. For the context of his world, and with the limited base of reference we have of other time-based power users, Lu Guang might be in uncharted territory, and the nature of his abilities make him a cut above the populace. There are several interpretations of the word genius from many people, but I quite take to looking at the word's etymology itself for reference.

It originated in Rome and was defined as "tutelary or moral spirit" who guides and governs an individual through life.

The Latin version of the word meant "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth; spirit; incarnation; wit, talent." The noun is related to the Latin verbs "gignere" (to beget, to give birth to) and "generare" (to beget, to generate, to procreate). A person's "genius" dictated their unique personality and disposition, so it used to be that the term "genius" was used to define a spirit that inspired the talent in a person, rather than the talent itself.

It's not hard to consider Lu Guang as a moral spirit or guide for those closest to him. And it's also representative to me that he is not only a guardian deity to Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling -- but also a spirit that possesses and guides himself when he dives back in time. So, yes, I've now taken a liking to describing him as a genius.

Which is where I get onto the other mystery man of the show...

The man of mystery, Liu Xiao— the mastermind.

It’s an oxymoron to me how he’s advertised as being behind the shadows, and spotlighted for how enigmatic he is. The most we know of him from now [2/06/2024] is that the environments around him go out of their way to tell you he's not to be trusted, that he's a red flag, and that he seemingly has a fascination with Lu Guang. Shout out to the PV trailer for showing off his haunting aura.

There's a lot of parallels he has to Lu Guang: both are adept at planning ahead, they are manipulators that haunt the narrative and each others' worlds, and they always know more than they let on. It's not even that other characters don't know they're mysterious -- but they recognise their distant and secretive dispositions.

I find it fascinating looking back at how easily Lu Guang never paid a glance at Liu Xiao in that previous iteration of the timeline, yet regarded Liu Xiao with familiarity in the Yingdu episodes.

So it could be suggested that in previous iterations, they would eventually meet Liu Xiao, but it was never in Bridon. Another thing to consider is that Lu Guang might've never noticed that Liu Xiao was at the airport, instead of ignoring him on purpose.

PV shows us this: Lu Guang seems unaware of Liu Xiao at the airport, but Liu Xiao is either aware of both Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang, aware of Cheng Xiaoshi (for his objective in Bridon), or aware of Lu Guang (perhaps as a long term threat to his objective).

While Yingdu arc shows us this:

[Lu Guang's heartbeat quickens]

LIU XIAO: You're not just tailing Cheng Xiaoshi now. I want you to keep an eye on Lu Guang. XIA FEI: You mean... LIU XIAO: What's the matter? Didn't you say you only get paid to do the job? LIU XIAO: Relax, I don't have any bad intentions. LIU XIAO, OFF-SCREEN: I'm getting curious.

This scene seems to indicate that Lu Guang's behaviour is enough of a variable for Liu Xiao to want to take him into account. But crucially, Lu Guang hadn't been on his radar. Which... makes little sense if he had been aware of the duo/Cheng Xiaoshi in previous timelines.

It's also kind of a headache if this is the same Liu Xiao seen later playing tetris with a high score that's dated at 12/09/2024

A lot of the time, the fun aspects of interrogating Liu Xiao's character comes down to trying to analyse what he doesn't already know: what isn't an absolute truth, and if he knows these truths.

I think a fun interpretation to me is that Liu Xiao has the broad strokes figured out, and -- through an unknown combination of means -- can predict the outcome of events, anticipate the intervention of third parties, and can quickly single out points of interest, pawns, and those he considers prey. But he's not omniscient in the same way Lu Guang is.

I think in a technical sense, Lu Guang has the vantage point of foresight and memory as the time seer, but Liu Xiao has the persistence and agility of a spider. Go to this post for a deeper analysis on Liu Xiao's PV.

In identifying the oppositional natures of Lu Guang and Liu Xiao, it can be read through through verses from the song "Train Trial," specifically lines like:

"The lights are down (oh?) I brought the darkness (wow)"

The character 光 in Lu Guang (陆光) means 'light.' And his corresponding verses:

"Give me a pair of eyes, where I can see all the joy and sadness Give me a pair of hands that I can cover the unpredictable darkness"

"Even if you want to get rid of my ropes, a hundred years won't be enough for you."

"Above me, the clock's hand turns"

"High places are cold, but it can't affect me"

If nothing else, we know that Lu Guang and Liu Xiao's objectives impede each other's. It's hard to say what Liu Xiao as a person truly believes in, but from all his appearances in and out of the show, what little can be gathered is that he has some deep connection to Cheng Weimin, has no true allies he won't betray for his objective, and consistently monitors Lu Guang.

UPDATED NOTES:

The interview with Li Haoling adds some extra information that might click with or disrupt my current notes:

Liu Xiao studied in Yingdu because it's in close proximity of Bahati: a school linked to supernatural abilities

Liu Xiao's interest in Cheng Weimin's case, as well as his own ability to "hear people's heartbeats," is tied to the concept that supernatural abilities can be taken away

Liu Xiao's objectives in Yingdu were to use Vein to locate Wang Qing to obtain Cheng Weimin's book, and to have Xia Fei monitor Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang due to Lu Guang's unusual heartbeat

Anyways, the point I've reached is Lu Guang is a rank below Liu Xiao probably due to limited political influence and power to influence the future the way he desires to -- even in spite of his vantage point. Quite like the knight and bishop chess pieces. Liu Xiao is deserving of his reputation of being several steps ahead of the game.

A genius isn't guaranteed to win against a sweet-talking manipulator who has determined the terms and conditions of his game longer than when the genius first learns it.

[autistichalsin]

Those of us who were raised near Evangelicals (like me who grew up in a largely Evangelical/Fundamentalist community) or in the cult themselves (many of my friends growing up) have been trying to warn you all for YEARS not to underestimate them, and our warnings went ignored because "no one is that evil" or "they're just stricter Christians, they wouldn't actually do that."

The exact same reasoning used when we tried to warn you 20 years ago how evil Republicans were, which isn't a coincidence because they are the same people.

So let me break it down for you, and if any of this sounds too harsh, feel free to talk to literally any exvangelical, who will back this up.

Yes, they are cartoonishly evil. I know, I'm going to get hate for saying this. But if you ignore this point, none of the other points will make any sense. This is the framework you have to use. This is cartoon villain levels of evil.

Evangelical Christianity is, first and foremost, a death cult. They want your deaths, they want their own deaths. Birthdays are a celebration of being one year closer to going home to Jesus- no more and no less. They crave death like a suicidal person, but they would never actually commit suicide because it's "a sin," so instead they long for a rapture where they die and go to heaven while the rest of us go to hell. That is their ideal world- no world at all.

You have to understand that the root of evangelism is nihilism. NOTHING in this life matters at all, except for accepting their interpretation of God and Jesus so you can enter heaven. Your work, your relationships, your family, only matter if they are in service of God and Jesus, and not at all on their own merit. God/Jesus are the only thing that objectively matters. Which leads to...

Other humans only matter if they worship your same iteration of God and Jesus. Other Christians are liars at best and will go to hell. If your entire family dies, it's just God's will, no need to be sad- it's actually a beautiful thing because they're with Jesus now. It's why you will never persuade them to support abortion even in cases where the mother's life is at risk. If she's a good Christian, she'll know there is nothing more beautiful than to die while birthing another soldier of God, and if she's not a Christian, she deserves to die and go to hell as punishment for rejecting scripture. It's why you'll never persuade them that school shootings are worse than being queer. School shootings just send Their Own to heaven, and the nonbelievers to hell, but being gay sends everyone to hell, even themselves for tolerating it. If you don't believe in their God, the best thing you can ever be to them is a potential convert, and the worst is a test sent by God himself that they CAN'T fail lest you go to hell. Leading to...

Tolerance is cruelty to them. If you tolerate "aberrant" lifestyles, you are dooming them to hell, and yourself too. That's why they claim it's oppression to be told to tolerate others. They think only oppressing the "lesser" people will motivate them to become Good Little Christians, and avoid hell. And they think they themselves will go to hell if they are too tolerant to those outside the group.

They are pro-Zionist not because they support Jewish people in any way, but because they think it'll bring about the End Times. They want Israel to exist because they think it leads to the End Times where Jews will either convert or die. They support Zionism because they hate the nonconvertable Jews and want to convert the ones who will- that simple. Palestinian Christians are, to them, just cannon fodder sacrificed in the name of bringing about the End Times. (And of course, other peoples' Zionism isn't even the same as supporting Jewish people either, but it's especially duplicitous here).

Don't take this to mean they care about their own all that much. They see them as closer to human, but still ultimately just a soldier for God. Their deaths aren't a tragedy but a reward/celebration. They will subjugate the women in their congregations with glee, they will hatecrime queer people, and white evangelicals hate POC even if they have shared beliefs. They will tell their children to their faces they will only love them if they are the perfect Christians.

They think an Evangelical who commits rape or child molestation is still a better person than a nonbeliever who spends every minute of every day working for charity. Remember, nothing matters but accepting Jesus, so the former is fine, but the latter not only doesn't accept Jesus, but they're providing support to potentially the wrong people, which "deprives" them of the chance to be converted by an Evangelical who would capitalize on their suffering.

They know Trump isn't a Christian. They know he espouses exactly zero Christian values. They don't care because he is going to end abortion in this country and because his policies primarily make people they hate (IE non-Evangelicals) suffer. He's a flawed weapon they'll never stop using and adoring for that reason.

Similarly, they don't think climate change isn't real. They know it is. Rather, they want the Earth to become uninhabitable, and many people to die, to bring about the End Times. Then they get to go to heaven, and the rest of us sinners get to live on a ruined world as punishment for our "sins." Yes, they want to destroy the planet just so they can go to heaven in 10 years instead of 40. They are that staggeringly selfish. That's what a lifetime of being taught only Evangelical lives matter does to them. Again: they think life is nothing but a test of their worthiness to enter heaven. They don't take this life any more seriously than we took gym class. Leading to...

Every instance of human suffering, in their eyes, brings the End Times closer and is to be celebrated. Death, war, plague, etc, they think it means God is going to take them home really, really soon. They aren't interested in peace, because Jesus won't come in a time of peace. They want a worse world so they can "remind" God (who they think needs their help to do it) that it's time to start the Rapture. And this sounds weird, doesn't it? That if God is all-mighty, and even the Bible says no one will know beforehand when it's coming, why would they do this? Well, that leads to the last point...

They do not read the Bible carefully. They are told what the Bible means by their pastor, and that interpretation becomes law. That's why they believe in "the sin of empathy" despite Jesus saying to feed the poor and heal the sick- not only are they told they can't extend charity to non-Evangelicals lest they go to hell, but they are also told questioning their pastor is akin to rejecting the religion itself and thus they WILL go to hell for it. And in fact, interpretations of the Bible offered by others are seen as trickery by a false prophet, that they are being tested to ignore by God. You can't reason with them as another sect of Christian any more than you can as an outright atheist. They will not listen to you. They have been conditioned their whole life to see you as an evil agent of Satan who wants to deny them Heaven. You may as well put on a pair of horns and a devil tail and tell them to worship you.

Again: we tried to tell the public for years that these people weren't to be discounted, that their insanity and fringe beliefs made them MORE of a threat and not less, that it most definitely WASN'T reassuring that they were just "fringe lunatics" because they were working from the start to seize control of the government to turn the USA into a theocracy. Well, what happened? People stuck their heads in the sand and when they took them out, a newborn theocracy was there.

We can still mitigate some of the worst, but if people keep ignoring this and pretending they aren't going to do what they literally said they're going to do, a LOT of people are going to end up dead. Even more than the inevitable amount from climate change now that they've killed our last chance to stay below 2c of warming.

[adachikiyoshi]

Rating (almost) every Cherry Magic iteration

Manga, Japanese Drama, Chinese Radio Drama, Japanese Drama Movie, Thai Drama, Anime

After rewatching (almost) every iteration of the story multiple times, I've compiled a list of my personal reviews for each adaptation (and the manga) and how much I would recommend them, what they each did well and what they might have lacked.

Manga:

Personal Score: 9.5/10 (only because it's still on going)

Objective Score: 9/10

Skipability: 0, you can't understand the whole story without the manga and also, you're missing out.

If you're reading this post, you probably know the plot of Cherry Magic, so I won't explain much about that. Since this is mostly to rate the adaptations in comparison to the manga, I can only emphasize how important the entirety of the manga is to understand cherry magic. Doesn't matter how many adaptations you've watched, I don't think you can truly consider yourself a fan if you don't engage with the manga. It's the only version where everything has the proper time to be fleshed out, especially in regards to Adachi, Kurosawa and their relationship. Toyota's writing as the story goes on is something to marvel at and unfortunately, the adaptations have yet to reach that far to represent it properly. The art progression is also noticeable and even if the art style puts you off at first you can see and appreciate the improvement.

Japanese Drama (2020):

Personal score: 9.5/10

Objective score: 8.5/10

Skippability: Maybe a 2-3, you can still enjoy the story without it but it's worth seeing how the drama influenced the manga.

Arguably the most popular and most successful iteration of the story, the Japanese drama of Cherry Magic deserves every bit of praise it gets. Before I get into the pros and cons, I need to contextualise the environment the jdrama was created and aired in because recent conversations lack nuance on that aspect. The Cherimaho drama was produced and aired on TvTokyo in 2020 and it was the station's second BL drama, the first being the incredible slice of life gay cooking drama, What Did You Eat Yesterday? So, wanting to replicate the success of that, the creators wanted to focus on the human drama aspect of Cherry Magic without, of course, toning down its LGBT themes. And they did exactly that. And they did that very well. The execution, while not flawless, was incredible start to end. The way they adapted the characters into a more toned down environment felt natural, and not too far off from their original characterisation. It's a visual feast and among all adaptations, it has the best and most memorable soundtrack. The strongest point of this adaptation has to be Kurosawa as well as the way more minor characters were handled and fleshed out. The progression of the relationship feels natural and they managed to adapt the manga's fast pace in a way that doesn't feel rushed on film form.

As for the weak points, it all comes down to the second half of the show, which I feel I need to give context for once again: Cherimaho drama was created when the manga was merely at volume 4 (in events, that's their first date) and Toyota had shared with the writing team her drafts for volume 5. So, after the confession, the drama had to create original plot lines which, while not bad, did feel different from the strong beginning of the show. The most complained about is the rushed handling of Tsuge and Minato's relationship, which was to be expected as they had so little interactions at that point in the manga. And, of courss, the thing the jdrama is notorious for: the lack of a kiss scene. Was it disappointing? Yes. But believe me when I say that it's literally not as a big deal when you watch the entire show. The show does not shy away from its queerness and there is nothing in their actions that could be interpreted as platonic. This poor production choice (which we can assume was implemented by someone else, tvtokyo has also removed straight kisses from adaptations for some reason and also it Was the height of covid) should not sully your experience with the show and in no way does it take away from its queerness. This version also features an asexual character as well as a mini arc for them so it's clear that the writers knew what they were doing and they were doing their best and it's so clearly conveyed in the gentleness of the show. It is also evident in the movie sequel, but more on that on its time to review.

All in all, I would say you need to experience the jdrama as it becomes a set point for the manga; the story shifts in the best way possible and it's all thanks to the jdrama and its unpredictable success.

(Though nothing beats watching it weekly during COVID)

Chinese radio drama (2022):

Personal score: 9/10

Objective score: 9/10

Skippability: Above a 6 since it's not really influential but I am not exaggerating when I say you are missing out maybe the best spin on the story thus far.

Cherry Magic's first and best foreign adaptation to date. First of all, we need to acknowledge how bananas it is for a niche yaoi manga to get a chinese radio drama because of its drama's success. Second of all, it's hilarious and incredibly romantic and the best and most creative take on the story. The localisation made for some interesting changes in the story and when it came to original plot lines, they nailed every single one. It's been a hot minute since I rewatched it but it's such a memorable piece of media. It's extremely underrated considering how accessible it is (thank you naina <3). Audio form foreign media may be hard to get into but the radio drama deserves every second of your time. Literally the only weak point I can mention for this adaptation is that it's not a visual medium and it's hard to get used to at first. But the voice acting, the character writing, the music, the manga and original plots— everything was executed near perfection.

Oh and it's just fucking hilarious. Like, extremely so.

Japanese Drama Sequel Movie (2022):

Personal score: 9/10

Objective score: 8/10

Skippability: 0 if you've watched the jdrama.

Cherimaho the Movie was announced on November 28th 2021 for a, later revealed, April 2022 release. And us international fans were able to watch it on November 8th 2022.... And yes, it was worth it! A manga loyal sequel to the jdrama, which had an original ending, was a bit hard to execute so there are points you have to suspend your belief. But this sequel was a nice last peek into the relationship of jdrama Adachi and Kurosawa and a well done farewell to the jdrama franchise. I was especially moved by the tackling of the reality of a long term gay relationship and the way the characters handled it. The movie is essentially split into two halves and both are crucial for Adachi and Kurosawa's development. If I had to mention a weak point, besides one or two scenes, it would be that I would love for certain events and character actions to be more in line with the manga but I am also aware that those changes were made to fit the characterisation already set by the Japanese Drama. Oh and the no kiss thing is still an issue somehow. But again, the rest of the story being good enough makes up for it. Still questionable production choices.

Thai Drama (2023-2024)

Personal score: 4/10

Objective score: 6/10

Skippability: 10, only recommended out of morbid curiosity.

Harsh score. What did the show get so wrong? I will admit being biased against it at first. Right after the movie had just dropped, a new adaptation is announced and almost immediately steals the spotlight. It doesn't help that it's produced by GMMTV, who, along with japanese channel MBS, I consider the most annoying BL factories (with the rare exceptions) for fans and shows alike. I also wasn't thrilled that the casting was decided on a pre-existing couple rather than which actors would fit each individual character best. But I tried to look forward to it, especially since the cast and crew insisted that this was a manga adaptation rather than a remake and that they would go beyond the plot lines the japanese drama did. I had some gripes with the jdrama in comparison to the manga so that was good to hear. After a while, they dropped a few trailers and I decided that my worries were probably for nothing and that the show seemed interesting and we produced. And it surprisingly was! For a few episodes, at least. The localisation is very well done. Adachi's living situation, his transport to work, the work environment— vastly different from the original setting but successfully adapted to Thai culture. This version is a lot more lighthearted on about everything. At first, this was a fun spin. Focusing on its comedy, since it's a strong point of the earlier story. But, as the show went on, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. The strong point of this adaptation was the first few episodes as well as the production quality. It's visually beautiful as far as settings, Tay and Jan go. The runtime being longer kind of worked in their favor, as each episode would cover more ground (with exception ep1 which managed to adapt like 15 pages into 50 minutes). Another strong point is the handling of Tsuge and Minato—although their age gap wasn't properly conveyed, the chemistry they had, even if they were a bit out of character, was fun enough. Unlike the Jdrama, the writers here had a clearer visiom of what they wanted to do with them (and they also had like 7 more volumes of content).

Unfortunately, this is as far as my praises go. The weakest point of this show is its main character. Adachi, in this show Achi, is the most unlikeable protagonist I've seen in a hot minute—and I was watching Ossans Love while this was airing. Generally, he's not even that bad ; but he's kind of run of the mill stereotypical uke archetype you'd find in those manufactured BLs, pretty opposite of what Adachi is. He goes through no character development as he begins pretty much at where Adachi ends and he's just so uninteresting to follow. The actor didn't do a great job either but to his defense, he wasn't given much to work with. Kurosawa's counterpart, Karan was way better, at least but he can't make up for the protagonist. The completely made up heterosexual ship between Fujisaki and Rokakku (Pai and Rock here) was a pain to watch especially since they tried to keep Pai's independent nature from the Jdrama (where she was canonically aroace) which just made her disinterested in Rock's advances until the very last episode where she's suddenly into him–if i wanted to watch a badly paced heterosexual couple I wouldn't be watching a BL, respectfully. But besides all that, I think this adaptation was a wasted opportunity. It clearly had budget and time. But it relied heavily on the Jdrama instead of the manga and well, that's fine for fans of the drama but promising manga accuracy and delivering an even more sanitised version of the jdrama was just a huge disappointment. Why should I relive the japanese drama? What's YOUR take on the manga?

Also to clarify rumours I've seen spread around, Toyota was not involved in the making. The japanese side that needed to approve the script was not directly reporting to Toyota because another company has the rights to distribute the Cherry Magic IP, she wasn't as involved in negotiations and stuff as people claim she was, especially considering she learned of the show's existence a few days before the general public did. The usage of AI art in the drama's promotion despite Toyota being vocally anti AI was also a point of disconnect that left a bitter taste in my mouth. But also I acknowledge that Cherry Magic Thailand exists mostly for Thai fans, probably in a similar way the 80% of my country's tv shows are remakes and honestly good for them, I'd love to have a CM remake in my culture even if it's not "perfect" and I'm sure parts I personally found confusing as changes make sense in a way I cannot understand, hence why the objective score is pretty higher than my personal score.

Anime (2024)

Personal score: 8.5/10

Objective score: 7.5/10

Skippability: 4, cute and loyal enough so it's worth checking out

The much anticipated Cherry Magic anime was something, alright. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish but it, unfortunately, has some glaringly big problems when it comes to its animation. For the runtime they were given, they were able to include much more than I thought they would and even if the pace tended to be faster than expected at times it wasn't as much of a problem; I love Cherry Magic a lot and I believe its strongest narratives begin after volume 5 or so and I'm glad we had the chance to see a little of that as well. The voice acting is definitely the greatest thing about this adaptation. In most of CM's adaptations, Kurosawa's actor tends to always stand out more but the anime for me is a bit more balanced; both Kobayashi and Suzuki are extremely talented and passionate in this. Thankfully, the same passion is also transmitted in the english dub, which is so fucking funny. A lot of people were disappointed with the last episode, as they fast forwarded some things for a grand finale but I'm willing to let it slide because at least they are self aware about the impossibility of a second season and chose to show some highlights we might not have gotten otherwise. Plus, they're making up with the movie so, we'll see! Back to the animation though, some episodes were criminal to sit through. It's sad because this treatment is likely because CM is a josei bl manga and animation projects like that tend to get the short end of the stick a Lot. That piano BGM *you know the one* was also frustrating at times. And I wish the colors popped a little more, yknow?

Honorable mention: Audio Drama (2019-)

I can't score it because I listened to it once on a bus ride and I'm not even sure I finished it. I'm sure I'll come back to it.

Happy Cherimaho The Musical to all those who still celebrate <3 And if you made it all the way here, don't forget to check the Cherry Magic Masterdoc <3

[felikatze]

listen to me. the Emblems are living existential horror. I am just going to talk about them and you can do nothing about this.

They are. Explicitly. not the people they seem to be. Emblem Marth knows he's not the real Marth. He's aware that he is simply a simulacrum, the personified image of Marth, as seen by myth and history, reconstructed into a person.

Listen to me. Look me in the eyes. What route is Corrin? What route is Byleth?

All of them. It's ALL OF THEM. And that's why they're so vague. That's why they're nigh contradictory. They're every telling of that character, rolled together into a ball.

And in Elyos? That's fine. There is only one Marth, and one Corrin, and one whoever Emblem. But you see, in Askr... There's so many of them. And they're just Another One. Just Another Marth.

But also, now suddenly all too keenly fake.

Any given Corrin in FEH is not filled with contradiction, because FEH is not restricted to having Just the One - you can have one for BR, one for CQ, another for Rev, keep some vague... The multiplicity of the characters can be portrayed in different figures in different stages of life.

But. the Emblems are just "stories".

DOES ANY EMBLEM EVER REFERENCE POSTCANON?

My theory is. the Emblems only remember what is contained in their story, within their game.

Take for example, Emblem Lyn, and Emblem Roy. If Lyn truly is the Lyn-- how come she doesn't recognize one of her best friend's children?

And yes, Sigurd is keenly aware that he dies, but... His death is part of the story, no? It's not something that happens far off and far away, it's part of the plot. Of course he's going to know it.

Whereas Emblem Hector, who dies in a different game to his Emblem's origin, is blissfully unaware of his own fate. It's not part of his story, it's part of Roy's.

(Listen. This first crossed my mind when I read all of Emblem Hector's bond conversations. He references Serra thrice, and his own daughter not even ONCE.)

They are their games, down to the fundamental level. FEH can have a Celica be Queen of Valentia, but that's just one blurb of epilogue, so obviously Emblem Celica is not.

You cannot change my mind on this reading of them. You cannot.

And. The game of course never explores this. But how does it feel for them? To only have this nebulous sense of identity? To remember and feel iterations of you that contradict one another? FEH opens so many doors it is too cowardly to explore in depth.

How does Marth feel remembering both versions of his own past, one with Kris and one without? How does Corrin feel knowing every path she has walked? How do they feel seeing versions of themselves that are specific lived experiences, instead of just legends?

In Elyos, there is no one to contrast them. There are only the legends, only the Emblems. Nobody truly remembers exactly how their stories went, so they never need to specify and show their version of events. They just exist, as the holy, powerful, worshipped Emblems.

Does Lucina know who her mother is? Does Roy? Does Lyn know who she marries? Does Hector know he's going to die? Does Byleth see every student dead or saved?

They are their games and they are every version of their games they are every version of themselves which amounts to being NONE of them.

Which amounts to vague platitudes and allusions to other events and what is a doylist fear of spoilers and an advertisement is also a watsonian nightmare.

This isn't even the worst thing about them.

They're not just simulacra. They're also tools. Literal objects to be called upon and dismissed at will. Sure, in the Somniel, they can move around. But.

They can only affect the physical world in the arena. In combat. Because that's what they are! They are tools of war!

And sure, the divine dragons ask them nicely for their powers, and they get to keep their free will when summoned this way instead of having their souls subjugated.

or well. Do they...?

Do we ever.... see an Emblem say no...?

Of course, the divine dragons are Just and Good and Nice. Obviously the Emblems want to aid them. Obviously the Emblems would rather fight beside Alear than Sombron, saving the world they've been entrusted to. Because the Emblems are their stories, the manifestation of Good and Rightous Heroes, always ready to save the day and slay evil.

Which, of course, leaves us with something unconfirmed.

Could an Emblem say no if it wanted to?

The line between divine and fell is dangerously thin. (That is a conspiracy rant for another day.) Like, we see Alear combine prayers and incantations into one package with just prayer effects. You can use an incantation as a prayer if you put your mind to it and you can probably also do it the other way around.

The Emblems either have no choice at all, or are given a choice with one option they would never pick, which renders having a choice moot in the first place.

They are tools, and they know this. They are swords, and it's all a matter of how nice the sheath is.

And yet. All of them remember being human. All of them have loved ones that do not exist, not for them. And what strikes me about the Emblems added to FEH so far... they're all universally stoked to be able to eat.

It's like a fucking sensory deprivation chamber. Unable to touch, to eat, to decide where you go, and the only physical sensation they DO feel is when someone touches their ring. Like I'm realizing this as I write this goddamn post. An Emblem going "That spot was bothering me" when being polished is the only time they ever express physical sensation. Like feeling the dirt on the metal is all they get.

(Side note: you know you're fucked when you look up the petting minigame for Lore)

Like. They know they're fake. That they never had anything outside of this half existence. But they remember it anyways. Of course these memories are going to be precious to them, as vague and muddled and contradictory as they are.

They're tools. They're literal objects. They're alive. They just want to eat some good food again. They want to be with people they love, with people that are long dead and gone.

And this weird spirit existence has to be enough. Smell good food instead of eating it. Make friends with your wielders, enjoy the scarce scenery you get to witness after every battle.

It has to be enough. There's nothing else for them.

And when their duty is done, they can finally rest.

[comicaurora]

Hey Red, I'm trying to build a better understanding of mathematics, because to my mind math has always been a collection of arcane sigils that I had to memorize to pass tests in school. I must know how these sigils came to be and why they mean what they mean. Are there any resources you recommend I use in my pursuit of these secrets? Please and Thank You 🙏

It's good you described math as something you "build," because I think that's the best analogy possible.

Mathematics, in its purest form, involves no memorization. Math is the process of taking a very small number of established truths and defined operations that preserve truth, and using those operations on your established truths to expand your space of known truths. As long as you start from a point of truth and only use operations that preserve truth, you will derive truths. If you understand the base principles from which a branch of math is constructed, you can rederive it from first principles. Memorization is easier, but you can rederive it.

For instance, we can start with two things, the number "1" and the operation "+". 1 means "a single thing" and + means "put them together." If those two concepts exist, then we also have 2, 3, 4, and every other positive integer, because we can derive them by using + on as many 1s as we want. If we drop a rock on an empty patch of ground, and then drop a rock on that same patch of ground, that patch of ground now has two rocks on it.

If we include within the definition of "+" that there exists an identity value 0, and every value has an inverse that when added to it produces zero, we also get 0 and all the negative integers, producing the group of integers. Every integer can be expressed using nothing but the number 1, the + operation, and its inverse - if we're feeling spicy.

If we decide to add another truth-preserving operation, "*", with identity value 1 and the same kind of inverse property that "+" has, we rederive every rational number. Every number in this field of rational numbers can be described as a combination of 0s and 1s using only + and * and their inverses; truthful objects combined in truth-preserving operations. We started from the truth and we used it as our only building material to create something equally truthful.

We can memorize a multiplication table, but multiplication is just iterated addition. If we forget, we can just do the addition again.

Algebra is a simple rearrangement of a simple beginning math problem by way of other truth-preserving operations. When you're starting out, you might expect to see something like

3 + 5 = ?

Algebra starts when we replace "?" with a placeholder, "x". This is just a change of terminology. It preserves truth.

3 + 5 = x

This isn't what most algebra problems look like, though. Most basic algebra problems look more like

3x + 7 = 31

But these two formulae are the same, because we can turn one into the other through operations that preserve truth.

3x + 7 = 31 -> subtracting the same value from both sides of the equation is an operation that preserves truth. We subtract 7 from both sides, getting

3x = 24 -> dividing both sides of the equation by the same value is also an operation that preserves truth. We divide both sides by 3, getting

x = 8 -> addition is associative, so we can break 8 up however we want if we do

x = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = (1 + 1 + 1) + (1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) = 3 + 5

Solving an algebra problem is the process of breaking down the things that make it complicated using the truth-preserving operations that defeat them. Added values can be subtracted. Multiples can be divided. Exponents can be root'd.

We understand what it means to put a placeholder in a math problem. We realize, by the same token, we can put in more than one placeholder, if we want. This gives us problems that don't have single numerical solutions, but spaces of solutions. Consider

2*x = ?

We do what we did before, replacing that "?" with something that means the same thing. We use a different letter to avoid confusion.

2*x = y

Now we have multivariable algebra. Instead of getting hard numbers for both variables, we have pairs of numbers. If we pick an x, we get a y. If we pick a y, we get an x. The relationship between the values is clearly defined; x will always be y/2. If x is 3, y is 6. If x is -1.8, y is -3.6.

Now for the sake of convenience, we create shorthand - another change of terminology that preserves truth. We come up with a term that describes this relationship between x and y. We decide to call y a "function."

y = f(x) = 2*x

A function is what we're calling one half of an equation; what goes on the other side of the equals sign. It's just a rename, like when we turned ? into x. It preserves truth.

The trick at this stage is that every element of this seeming increasingly complexity is actually an attempt to make the process simpler as we handle more and more things. We don't technically need any numbers other than 0 and 1 if we're just dealing with rational numbers. We could write 378/5 with nothing but 1s and +, -, * and /, but by god we wouldn't want to. We could write [x^3 + 2x + 5] as ?*?*? + ? + ? + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 and it would mean the same thing. The shorthand and symbols get dizzying if you lose track of what they mean, but when you remember what they mean, you understand why you need them.

Any piece of mathematical shorthand basically means "for this thing we're talking about, this set of things is known to be true." We can rederive those things if we need to, but the shorthand is there to help us avoid doing it unnecessarily. We call the integers a group because that means it has an associative operation that is invertible and has an identity element that, when used in the operation, leaves the operated-on value unchanged. We don't want to write that out every time we use + or remember what 0 means, but we can if we have to.

Calculus is where most people think math turns into wizardry, but derivatives and integrals are just another pair of inverse functions like + and - or * and /, and the building block of this branch of math is the derivative. Any formula for a derivative can, in a pinch, be rederived by calculating the difference quotient (f[x+h]-f[x])/h as h approaches 0. If f(x)=x^2, we may memorize that its derivative f'(x)=2x, or we may calculate

[f(x+h) - f(x)]/h =

([x+h]^2 - x^2)/h =

(x^2 + 2xh + h^2 - x^2)/h =

(2xh + h^2)/h = 2x + h

And the limit of this as h->0 is 2x.

Everything in math can be broken down to first principles. Everything. Sometimes it's very hard to figure out what tool you need to break it down to its next stage of simplification, but it was built from first principles and it can be broken down the same way. If it isn't making sense, break it down with truth-preserving methods until it does - even if you have to go all the way back to zeroes and ones.

[mysteryanimator]

Thought process of Powerful Predatory Deadly Fan-Animatic

(Aka I ramble about how I went about storyboarding this because i have many thoughts)

I haven't done this in a proper while, where I just vomit out how I went about doing this kind of stuff (more so animation) to track progress! I stopped doing it because the self doubt worms were being really loud, but these are fun, so we're bringing this back (maybe)!

“Mystery there’s no way you thought and did all this in the span of 2 weeks with breaks ON TOP OF UNIVERSITY-“ Objection, hyperfixation and the drive to improve is absurd. Not only is this really enjoyable to me that I actively make sure I carve out time for it, but I also want to make sure I strive to do my best at all times. I want to be like my online peers and mutuals :D

(This was me streaming the process to my friends so I could lock in)

This is going to be different from all the other breakdowns because this is not an analysis; this is more of a personal run-through of how I went about it and how I am reflecting upon it! How I storyboard now is very different from how I used to approach it. By all means, I know there could’ve been stronger shot choices, better pacing, etc. There's a lot to improve on, but suffice it to say, between January to now, the difference is night and day.

This will be way more casual and more just a blabber of thoughts. This also means a huge chunk of it is just me word vomiting, which also means if the grammar is somewhat off, I apologise in advance.

Before we start with the actual shots, we have to go through

✨ iteration process and research ✨

While I do have a script, the story beats were as follows:

1. Tera and Mizrak meet in the forest (intent to 'lure out' Olrox via Mizrak)

2. Fight (put pressure heavily on Mizrak)

3. Mizrak says something that reignites Tera's grief and humanity

4. Tera momentarily loses herself, allowing Mizrak to get the upper hand, only to lose it a second later

5. Tera says/does something that reignites Mizrak's fear and humanity

6. Olrox appears, therefore ending the fight/scene

I initially went in with the mindset of this being a somewhat even fight (in every single script draft, Mizrak loses tho LOL). This meant that for me, at least, to keep the fight visually interesting was to have both characters move very differently. For Tera, I looked at ice skaters, ballet, and lyrical because I have a personal preference when fights look like a dance; it’s my most favourite thing ever. It also just establishes from the get-go Tera’s composure and control before I eventually had to break it and make the contrast that much more harrowing.

Mizrak was always going to be rough compared to Tera. I thought an interesting fighting style would be Arnis, a Filipino martial art style that uses sticks or improvised weapons for self defence and combat, which would be a fun a way to extend use of Mizrak's nails (also me, Filipino, just a wanted to finally have an excuse to board it). This would be combined with Muy Thai, break dancing and tinkling (that is so fucking cool for dodging ice). It also kind of already flows into Mizrak's melee sword style because it's very 'wooshy', and I noticed he does a ton of curve-up/down and follows the line of action from his sword. I digress, though.

As you can tell, the action shifted from a somewhat balanced 1-v-1 fight to a "this isn't a fight, this is a trap". This was paired with the horror aspect I was leaning into, which meant I disregarded a ton of my research. However, all the fight styles were not completely lost. They still find themselves using those techniques! Mizrak has shifted to just kind of doing defensive drills without sticks/nails to cement how he’s not used to dealing with magic fights, and he can't repurpose the ice that hits him because it shatters on impact. Tera, I'm not 100% sure if this was the right call for this, but I ended up just making her from the waist down really still until she lept forward. This was to make her seem very inhuman, controlled, and calculated like a predator (wow title) because:

"You've been stalking me for a month. What the fuck do you want?"

I felt like I had to showcase that and give that line proper weight. Like she knew beat for beat what she was doing, purposefully aiming for Mizrak's arms, knowing they'd shatter, throw him off guard, and pin him. Again, I'm not sure if it was the right call, but I wanted it to make it doomed from the start.

This is where I now delve into media-specific research. Since action is not a particularly strong suit, how to actually capture action on screen was challenging BUT fun. So with the addition of the storyboard classes I took (Ae Ri Yoon and Danny Araya are both wonderful teachers, and I learnt sooooo much; their classes are amazing. Ae Ri Yoon runs a class each season so definitely check her out if you want to do action!!) I did research into Legend of Korra. Specifically metal/water/ice bending. I limited it to just ice, cutting out the fire ability because I saw the potential to further the rhetoric of the lack of humanity/warmth in Tera's life. While I'm still not entirely happy with the core fight itself and not very confident about how it was captured, it is a step in the right direction into strengthening that skill. Only with time and more precision I get better at it presumably, LOL.

Even though a huge chunk of actual research went into just staring at LOK and filling my fyp with copious amounts of MMA fighters, I did want to lean onto horror. Often, when I’m doing uni assignments, I have a ton of video essays/films playing as background noise, and for a long while, it has been gothic/folk/religious horror media. After realising the potential of doing 'horror' due to dabbling in it for the Rabbits animatic, I set to properly delve into making this one horror adjacent. While horror/fear is subjective, and I knew I couldn't do true horror justice (also, this is an action scene), I still wanted to take the visual tension they do. I took inspiration from Mike Flannigan and Robert Eggers' work, The Ritutal, along with video games such as Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and the American McGee's Alice franchise. There's probably way more I'm missing out on, but this was simply a mosaic of all the stuff I love in all fairness.

The video essay "The Fear of Transformation" by ProfessionalViral, while it discusses Tokyo Ghoul, made me deeply think of Tera and Mizrak and what I could visually convey about the tragedy of still being human on the inside yet facing the consequences of being a 'monster. ' Unfortunately, that video has been copyrighted to hell and bac,k but it stuck with me a lot and made me still push really heavily on focusing on portraying Tera and Mizrak's anguish, so the "action" of it got smaller and smaller.

✨ process time ✨

I’ll briefly run over how I actually went about it.

For this, I did some explorative thumbnails, and some of them did stick around to the final- such as the framing box shots and Tera's ending monologue. Once I felt confident enough, I laid down roughs or just text placements, knowing what should be happening but not knowing how to visualise it. Some will be sentences, others will be WHOLE PARAGRAPHS just detailing the meaning behind a scene and what specific mood I want. With this board, I ended up jumping around a lot, never solely linearly going from beginning to end. Also, my roughs can be absurdly rough or absurdly clean, which is very funny.

(like dude what)

Also, I wasn't supposed to do shadows/lighting but also this is horror adjacent. I feel like it establishes the more eerie tone I wanted to go for :D

Fun fact: many of the forest shots came from me scoping out irl places for compositions/nature literally any time I went outside. While yes, I had very specific compositions in mind, actually running around was very helpful to figure out the space and understand perspective better since I do struggle with it from time to time🫰

now the moment y'all have probably been waiting for

✨shot breakdowns✨

While I'm not going to go through every scene for this to let people have more free reign to interpret each shoy as they wish, I sat with each individual shot for sooooo long. Trying to figure out why and when to cut, what story beats motivate for entirely new camera positions, etc. Especially with action, it is a new territory for me.

Split diopters!

This was a thing I wanted to play with as it commonly occurs in The Haunting of Bly Manor! Here, I've linked a video essay, but it should take you straight to the section talking about split diopters in the show. If that doesn't work, it is at 41:45!

As Haunting of Bly Manor uses it to highlight empty space, I also wanted to do that to create not only that same unease, but give Tera an immense amount of power over Mizrak even though she's not there, especially in the subsequent shot where a hugeee amount of of the space just nothing but trees, as Mizrak stands closed off with the house.

This here basically answers Mizrak question of "what the fuck do you want?"

Tera is here to dismandle the comforts of homely life for Olrox, which happens to include Mizrak. To get Olrox out of his comfort zone means also taking Mizrak out of it. Also, I wanted to convey that Mizrak is clocking what Tera is putting down, so he's positioned as if he's defending the house. This is also why I wanted to cut to a close-up.

This also becomes a nice moment to come back to because I reuse a very similar set up when Olrox gets introduced into this animatic.

Also, yes, that is a box; it's not a Myst animatic if there are no boxes/framing devices. While the boxes are still somewhat suffocating, as most boxed framing is, each windowed frame communicates wildly different things. Every single character who appears in this animatic has a full body in a specific frame, including Tera.

What I planned to communicate was the following:

Mizrak - He acts as one of the pillars to box in the house rather than being within the frame itself, implying stability and structure. This showcases how he wants to defend the house, however, it also establishes he's the 'weakest' amongst the three characters in this animatic because he's off to the side.

Tera - While using someone else's body as a frame, most of the time, it usually means the other person has more power. It's flipped on its head this time because it all the shots before this one have characters off-center to suddenly being dead in the middle. This breaks up the pattern and therefore breaks up our initial understanding of what's going on (hopefully). Therefore, it creates a lot of tension and unease. Also, Mizrak's legs practically go in the row of the trees, as he's lined up, which is where Tera wants him to be because Mizrak is now predictable. Tera has been stalking Mizrak for a month, as stated before, so she knows Mizrak's patterns and repetitive actions, like the trees showcased.

Olrox - He basically combines both Tera's and Mizrak's boxed frame. He's set off to the side like Mizrak; however, he's in the center of the hole in the wall. He also basically makes the frame himself by using the skulls and he blocks the only exit out of the house, creating an imposing force that puts Tera into a box off to the side. Also, if you compare the Olrox shot with the "(OS) Not exactly" shot, Olrox is placed where the house is, so it really really cements down that this is what Tera/Mephistopheles/Old Man Coyote/"Some other name" was after. It can also suggest a ton of other things relating to Olrox's relationship with Mizrak.

This was very very fun way to establish the character's power dynamics.

While sharing a WIP of the early script, someone mentioned Mizrak's line directly to Tera, and I just had to do a direct comparison. Tera should be allowed to mock him (everything changed for me when Tera was a lot more sassy towards Emmanuel; that was so fun to see that side of her, so I wanted to channel that here).

This camera truck from Tera to Mizrak was really fun! It helped to quickly establish the gist of the fight, with Tera being much larger that she doesn't fit the screen while Mizrak is way in the back and is really small. It also establishes that Tera is intentionally putting pressure on Mizrak to move back because it means they're getting closer to the house.

I also from the getgo wanted to just give a sense of impending traedgy that Mizrak is so fucked. He is losing this fight no matter what; that's the horror aspect of it. Rather than focusing on the horror for the audience, it's the horror for Mizrak that would hopefully seep into the audience because, presumably, I've gotten people to connect with Mizrak before this fight has commenced. Basically, my statement here is, "We're watching a man try to vie for his life." Not only does Mizrak ALMOST DIE, but the sanctity of the home is destroyed. Olrox is the sole reason Tera didn't accidentally overcommit to her grief and rage.

This shot was fun, I feeel like i could've keyed it out more BUT I like what this shot tells. It basically cements Mizrak into a trap and gives him no exit. There's also a momentary pause JUST before Mizrak does a spin around as if he is calculating what to do next but Tera already anticipated it.

Dutch angleeeee as it moves from a close up to a full body, and then we have the contrasting circular motion of the icicles against the straight line of Tera. This was also a very fun shot as it basically establishes how powerful she is and how much control over this entire fight she has. Also dutch angles not only appear more "dynamic" but it also shifts the balance to be uneven to cement how uneven this fight is.

My friend pointed out how this shorthand of Mizrak was just his chest, which is the funniest thing ever because I genuinely didn't know how else to shorthand him, because this is a hahaha what if season 3 had a Tera Mizrak face-off? He'd be wearing different clothes.

This was fun to showcase that while yes Mizrak is a vampire and supernatural, this feels really human, very much still a beginner at this new life (because vampirism in a queer context can mean self-acceptance of what you consider taboo). This was one of the shots I knew I had to keep grounded. Not entirely sure if it was the right call, but I wanted to showcase him being worn down and thought that this was a good way to portray it.

Also, if you watch carefully, all of this is calculated by Tera because again: "If you're worried, I'm not here to kill, and I'm not here for you."

In both of my storyboard classes, they mentioned something about having your "wow" moment. This was one of the intentional ones!

I'm glad people gasped and went, "oh shitttt", alongside the other mizrak eye shots I'll talk about a little bit later. It holds for a bit longer in an uncomfortable way. In a way, it has you questioning what's going to happen next as you grip your chair in fear (hopefully).

I also tossed up the idea of making Mizrak yell/scream, but I wanted to hold off until we got to the second important eye shot of Mizrak. So here, I hopefully gave off the impression of Mizrak trying to maintain control even though he's absolutely terrified. He's in adrenaline mode.

The Jesus implications :D not only do we have the very well-known puncture wounds in the hands, but we have wounds to the left side of his body! I was very close to puncturing his feet to really cement that connection and make it more horrifying how Mizrak was trapped, but I needed them free so he could land a metaphorical/physical gut punch to Tera later on.

In this instance, Jesus and Mizrak knew they were going to die, but they went through with it anyway. I also thought it would be visually interesting that Tera, the sacrificial ram, would be perscuting Mizrak to the cross. Allowing people to infer as they wish from it because that is very heavy symbolism.

I kept ending up doing a lot of cuts to close-ups in this fight, which I don't inherently love, HOWEVER, this fight is extremely emotionally loaded. It was very important to me to capture the faces of the characters, especially when they start verbally wounding each other.

To mirror Mizrak's shot to Tera was sooo important to convey the idea that Mizrak's words really tug deep into Tera, also helping to visualise the fact that if this was to be ever animated, for a few seconds- her vampire pointed ears get hidden and her eyes are shown off properly and it is as if we regain Tera back. For the majority of the scenes, I just intentionally blacked out where Tera's eyes were or just obscured her face a ton with hair.

I'm sure there are more ways to explicitly share their deep, vulnerable human moments besides close-ups, but for now, this is just what I've got, and with time and experimenting more, I'm sure I'll break out of this repetition.

Then we get the GUT PUNCH.

This was important because this is Mizrak's single and only physical attack against Tera, which on paper is REALLY FUNNY, but the mere mention of Maria disarms Tera, translating into Mizrak being able to fight back. I considered him kicking Tera to make you physically wince or some other thing, but I just went for the knee jab into the stomach because it felt the most like a "punch to the gut".

I also just needed another shot that wasn't a close-up. I needed something to pull you out of the close, intimate moment because Tera and Mizrak barely share the same screen space on purpose. It's an uneven fight; they're never going to be level and grounded in the same space, being really disconnected. HOWEVER, was this the best way to portray this disconnect and uneven balance? I'm not entirely sure.

This was me experimenting with switching to two backgrounds and pinning characters to the camera! I thought it was also a nice way to transition from Tera's initial loss and then seeing a gradual but quick switch up, which I thought matched well with this type of camera move.

Admittedly, I got really stuck on how to get Mizrak into the air and create build up for. It was very important to get to this shot. Like, I love how this shot looks and feels, but the build-up before it doesn't feel all the way there (personally) THOUGH, this became a point of i was fully stuck, and I just had to move on. This is supposed to feel like the final blow/strike within the fight before Tera begins to go overkill when they get to the house. Like here, she's won the fight, especially paired with fact that this goes in 'slow mo' and the subsequent scenes are Mizrak smashing into the house.

Which, by the way, THAT WAS SO FUN CAPTURING THAT. While I do realise now I could've made it way more gnarly and have him tumble/hurt more to really push for that Mizrak was completely outmatched, I think this was still cool regardless (I was consuming invincible boards to figure this out lol).

THIS WAS SO FUN.

The Tera monologue was actually one of the first things I planned out, and this close-up shot was important to me to see Mizrak's struggle. Not only was the hand piercing supposed to be one the iconic moments in this fight, Tera turning Mizrak's tears into icicles was also planned to be one of those moments.

Not only is it just cool (pun intended), but it's also directly showcasing how Tera is physically weaponizing his fear and humanity. Much like how Mizrak dug deep into Tera's grief and humanity when mentioning Maria to cause a literal gut punch, Tera is just returning the favor. Just ten times worse, you know. After this, we pair with a tonnnn of extreme closeups and quick cuts to get more of that chaotic feel as if Mizrak's attention is jumping between multiple different things to try and find a way to get out, contrasting this long monologue Tera is going through.

Which Tera is talking about how loved and lucky Mizrak is. I love doing contrasting imagery to audio.

Seeing Olrox BEFORE we actually see him was very important to me here because it somehow breaks the initial tension whilst simultaneously elevating it tenfold. Especially since the line JUST BEFORE the purple glow is "you are far too spoiled by god", only for Olrox, who's straight up associated with Quetzalcoatl, a Mesoamerican deity, to APPEAR.

Also, by this point, Tera has completely WON. Not only has she disarmed Mizrak to feeling human and vulnerable, but she's also brought Olrox to his limit.

When Olrox's genuine appearance occurred, I wanted to do very pulled-out shots, completely contrasting the much more panicked, frantic close-ups. Even the skulls are super skill. Despite this, I still wanted to make it feel quite suffocating but presented it differently to showcase an even more elevated power. Olrox is stronger than both Tera and Mizrak, and he displays that power. Olrox here is grounded, which is why we get 'establishing shots'. Not entirely sure if this is the right term since this isn't the start of a new location/sequence, but it is here to establish the new tone and properly ground us to the setting.

Also, intentionally, I'm not allowing you to see Mizrak. I'm stooping it in mystery (pun intended) to make people question if he's alright or not, and for the rest of the animatic, you just never see his face. I'm ripping that connection from you to make you sit in worry and, therefore, place you in the same headspace as Olrox.

Wow more closeups of side profiles, Myst (im sorry im a sucker for them but I swear it works here... I think)

This was fun because Tera and Olrox understand each other here, but they don't ever look each other in the eye/acknowledge each other's physical presence. Again, going back onto verbally wounding like what Mizrak does, except this one is way more subtle and controlled because again, Tera and Olrox amictably understand each other. They both understand how they are so interwoven with the ones they are loved by, so they know their places are not to kill each other. There's a lot of power in having Olrox let Tera enter the scene and exit it without moving. Double fun fact: the wall in the background have direct lines that Tera crosses over. This is meant to visualise how Tera is really testing Olrox, especially paired with Tera jabbing back at how love in the vampire is a dangerous thing to hold. This makes them both somehow be on the same level playing field, which is why I went for this specific shot of their side profiles back to back (and also why they both have the hair thing that goes across their face)

Holding on this shot was fun, too, because it's akin to holding your breath due to the tension. Any sudden movements and everything falls apart. It's a race to see who breaks first, which ends up being Olrox as we see how his skulls kind of flicker for a moment before dissipating as he looks in horror for Mizrak, which we don't get the luxury of seeing.

And we're done with the shots :D

✨ animatic editing ✨

So I know this portion I don't have to do, but also,

a) It makes the animatic feel that much fully rounded for general viewing

b) I have a background in media analysis and production. I miss doing the production part, like editing LOL

While admittedly I am a much weaker editor/ audio mixer, this was still a fun challenge! This was more self-indulgent than anything.

A fun note is that originally, Duo Seraphim by Monteverdi was going to be the music because it fit sooooo well, especially since a third singer joins later. However, the vibes did not work, and I just stuck to Powerful Predatory Deadly from the Nocturne soundtrack because that also fit really well for the haunting vibes. Also, Tera humming at the beginning was majorly inspired by Death from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish but also other villains who have melodic motifs to signal if they're in a scene before visually seeing them. It is soooo fun. This was also because I wanted it to contrast with how you sense Olrox's presence first with colour (also with an electric hum, but it's not distinct).

Ok now im done. This was supposed to be unserious so i could truly cool down from this animatic. I'm glad people liked this and also that people really enjoyed watching me improve over the last two months, it is superrrr appreciated! The sky is the limit and I know I do have much to improve on, but the final effect of getting people to have takeaways from these animatics and to actually feel something is fantastic. It means I'm definitely going in the right direction :D

Again, thank you guys for reading this really lengthy ramble!! Closing my eyes as i share this and immediately running lol

[maiios]

My Rainworld AU: Dried AU!!

This au takes place after five pebbles' collapse but instead of endless snowstorms, the skies turn blazing hot and the once heavily rain filled terrain make for a heated wasteland in which all creatures (and iterators) have to learn to adapt to this new type of environment.

After gaining a second chance from being washed up ashore on the, once in tact, shaded citadel for cycles and saved by a familar explosive slugcat, he searches on a much contemplative and obligated journey to find his big sister, Looks to the Moon. He, begrudgingly, plans to apologize and try his hardest to make it up to her, if he even finds her alive, but first and foremost, he must learn to forgive himself, if he ever could.

A wandering iterator on the lookout for her lost brother, she has searched high and low for his puppet with companionship of the one who had repaired her systems with a, presumably stolen, rarefracture cell. Firstly, she has repaired her damaged puppet at her, once beautiful and flourous, city that laid on top of her submerged structure, which was currently easier to roam because of the water that covered the facility had since evaporated.

A gatherer and his companion, a hunter, with many purposed, deceased, organisms in their posession. He scours the land searching for objects and the like that spark an idea for whatever it is he plans to create for the iterator populace's benefit to give them a second, livelier chance at life that the anciets had stripped away from them.

Farther from the west of the outer expanses give way to one of the most dedicated researchers, set on find what else the world that they have been trapped behind in a can has hidden from them. Exceptional with the crossbow and spears provided by their trusty messenger, given the name Dusk, they set off to record and document everything about this new world. They seem to keep pearls containing poetry and artistry, with seemingly no interest in the matter, for unknown reasons that they refuse to share with anyone.

if anyone is interested and would like to learn more about my au, feel free to ask away in my askbox! id be willing to draw doodles/art for specific asks too :>

credit and thank you to my partner, @basilirl for helping me with the scug designs!!! <333 (i cannot design animal patterns at ALL)

credit to @lyss-butterscotch for the gjinka inspiration for the designs!! i was very inspired to many elements i absolutely adore about her designs to be able to make my own au!!!

[entities-of-posts]

from the earliest time I can remember up until the age of about 9 or 10, I had a recurring nightmare. it would happen every night without fail if my memory serves me.

I used to fall asleep covered by a blanket, head to toe, tucked in and wrapped around me like a mummy. I did this because I didn't know what else to do about the nightmares.

They always started the same way: I would wake up in the dream, still under my blanket. I was always scared, and maybe just lucid enough to know what was happening. After a varying amount of time, I would work up the courage to peek out from under the blanket, just the tiniest gap underneath one side. There was always something looking in at me. it would lean in close and peer with what I can only assume was one of its eyes directly at me. I would quickly close the gap, then I would try peeking out a different side.

left, right, over my head, it didn't matter. it was already there by the time I looked. This would go on as long as I could take it. Eventually, I would get sick of it, and still frightened, would pull the blanket down from over my head. I learned with the repeated experience what to expect, but it didn't make it much more tolerable.

the thing would be next to my bed. it was always bigger than me, though not extremely tall it still dwarfed me at that age. I would stare at it, terrified, and it wouldn't take long for me to be lifted from my bed by what I can only assume was it's will. It would bring me to its "mouth" and "eat" me whole. it's insides looked the same as it's outside, but I could feel the pressure of its mouth constricting me, and it would become hard to breathe.

the nightmare almost always ended right after it swallowed me. Most times I would wake up right away, usually during the dead of night. a couple of occasions immediately pushed me into a new dream, but not often.

The nightmares stopped after one extremely memorable instance where I had the nightmare on repeat in one night without waking up once, each time It would end I would "wake up" right back under the blanket, and it went on for at least 10 iterations before something changed. it turned into an unrelated dream for a brief moment before I woke up in an unfamiliar room in a dream scenario and had to deal with it hiding throughout the room instead of peering under a blanket. That strange encounter was the last time I saw it, after it ate me in that dream I woke up and have never had the nightmare since.

I don't sleep with the blanket covering my face anymore.

Seeing as I never properly described the thing, I made my best approximation of what I remember it looking like. It isn't conventionally frightening, I know this objectively, yet even as I recreated it my heart began to pound and hands shake. I had to look away a few times to steady myself before I could continue drawing it. I guess there's something left of that experience that still scares me, even if it really shouldn't.

I’d put it with the Dark as many childhood fears are. This is a thing that comes at night when you are vulnerable, when your eyes are closed and your senses dulled, when the darkness makes the familiar space of your room alien and unsafe. You try to hide from it in vain; the blanket never did anything.

[thespnreferencedesk]

A Fic Writer's Guide to Bobby's House

Part 1 | Part 2: Library/Den

Click for the full-size, annotated versions of images!

Bobby's library is the unofficial home base of many of the show's earlier seasons. If you keep an eye out, you can spy a handful of objects and pieces of furniture consistently popping up over this room's many appearances, but no two episodes have them arranged the same way. It's also very often that a piece of furniture will pop up in one episode only to be gone the next. Since 4.02 reveals that Bobby has a spare storage room upstairs, it's possible that's where he keeps most of this extra furniture.

There are two main iterations of Bobby's den. The first appears during seasons 1 - 3 and features less furniture, far more books, dark brown trim instead of black, and a different wallpaper (or no wallpaper in 1.22). The new wallpaper and black trim first appear in 3.10, and they can be seen alongside the new layout in seasons 4 - 7. This iteration of the library includes a large Persian rug, ornate wooden desk, twin book shelves to the left of the fireplace, a floor lamp and bookshelf to the right of the fireplace, the red couch in front of a set of bay windows, a half bookshelf in the far left corner, and a rolltop desk in the far right.

A large Persian area rug typically sits in the center of the room except for when some type of trap is being painted on the floor. A devil's trap can be seen on the ceiling in 1.22 and 6.20. Bobby's ceiling is beige and has wooden beams that match the rest of the trim.

The heart of Bobby's library is a wood-burning fireplace with green tiled surround and a black carved mantle where Bobby keeps books and random knick-knacks. In the later seasons, these include a small bulldog statue/bookend, a pewter pitcher with tankards, two silver trophies, and a wooden antique radio. Above the fireplace is a landscape painting framed by two electric wall sconces.

Decorations aside, Bobby's fireplace is also a practical hunter's tool. It's often used as a flame source for spells, and the iron pokers and other tools make for an easy handheld weapon against ghosts and specters. In 5.04, it's revealed that the center section of the mantle hides a secret compartment where he keeps a hunting journal similar to John's.

Bobby's carved wooden desk is first seen in 4.02 and, with a few exceptions, appears consistently up until it burns with the rest of Bobby's house. Earlier episodes (3.03, 3.04) either have a simpler table in its place or no desk at all (seasons 1 - 2).

Bobby's desk is a free-standing open pedestal desk with turned legs, lower shelves, and diamond-shaped carvings. Based on the style, it's likely from the late 19th or early 20th century. Similar desks can be seen here and here. The desk also has three shallow upper drawers, two deeper drawers on each pedestal, and a green stone top that Bobby uses as a chalkboard for spells. In 5.18, it's shown that Bobby keeps his Single-Action Army revolver in one of the drawers. In 6.15, Balthazar is rummaging through Bobby's drawers and finds a saint's bone underneath a false drawer bottom.

In seasons 4 - 5, Bobby tends to use a black flexible goose-neck desk lamp. Starting in season 6, he switches this lamp for a thin, rectangular, golden brown mid-century lamp. It could be assumed that this lamp was also destroyed in the fire that burned Bobby's house, but it actually shows up in Dean's bedroom in the Bunker in later seasons. So either the Men of Letters had the same lamp, Dean found a similar one at a thrift store at some point, or he was able to recover the lamp from the ruins of Bobby's house.

In seasons 1 - 3, the corner to the left of Bobby's fireplace contained the rolltop desk, a console table, and piles of books. This layout can still be seen in 4.01, but it is replaced in 4.02 with two matching bookshelves. The more left of the two bookshelves has a black gooseneck lamp clamped onto the top shelf, and sometimes a dining chair stacked with extra books is also pushed into this corner. Inside of Bobby's mind in 7.10, these shelves also hold framed photos of Bobby with loved ones as well as a book cut out to hide an elaborate crucifix.

Along with the matching bookshelves, 4.02 places a floor lamp, chair, and upright bookcase in the corner to the right of the fire place. This chair is typically some kind of living chair but is sometimes one of the wooden dining chairs that frequently get moved around the library. Next to the bookcase, underneath the bay window, is a red couch with a faint swirl pattern, carved wooden feet, and decorative panels on the arms. Bobby also owns a matching armchair (5.18, see above), but it is not usually seen in the library.

This couch is where Sam or Dean sleep while at Bobby's. If the both of them are there, Sam takes the couch while Dean sleeps on the floor (4.02, above). A gray blanket with faint stripes pops up in a few episodes as well as a striped pillow that appears to match the pillows on the cot in the panic room and in the linen closet upstairs (4.02). Various end tables and dining chairs get moved around the couch and used as nightstands or bookshelves.

To the right of the couch is a half bookshelf and console table stacked with books. In season 5, the console table is replaced with a vintage stereo cabinet. The stereo is used as a table and sometimes holds records (5.18 - 5.21), sometimes holds drawers and books, and sometimes holds a TV (6.04). A similar stereo can be seen here, though note that Bobby's has tapered legs. Also note that the wall sconce in this corner is the only one in this room that has two lights instead of one.

A pair of black pocket doors sits at the back wall of the library and leads to the kitchen. These doors slide into the wall rather than opening in- or outward, and are typically left closed. To the right of the doors is a black double light switch.

To the right of the pocket doors are typically a dining chair stacked with books, a black trunk, an upright blueprint holder filled with maps and plans, and at various times books and a radio. When this radio isn't on the trunk, it tens to sit on top of Bobby's rolltop desk alongside one of his many desk lamps and a decanter and glassware set. This desk is also where Bobby keeps a CB radio (used in 5.10).

Like Bobby's main desk, the rolltop desk is also either likely from the early 18th or early 19th century or is a replica of a desk from that period. It's always seen open and has an assortment of small drawers, cubbies, and cabinets on the desktop. It has a center drawer, and four drawers on the pedestals, and sits on casters so it can be easily moved.

As previously mentioned, there are several variations of Bobby's library within the show. In it's first appearance in 1.22, the library didn't have it's signature red wallpaper. The first wallpaper appears in 2.14 and has a toile pattern while the second wallpaper has a look closer to a jacquard or brocade. When we see Bobby's heaven in 10.17, the wallpaper (and rug and radio and couch...) is different once again.

Sometime between seasons 3 and 4, the dark brown wood trim in Bobby's library is painted black. In season 5, while Bobby uses a wheelchair, the couch is replaced with a twin bed with wooden headboard.

Bobby's library gets neater and cozier with every episode. What is little more than a dark place to stack hundreds of books in its first appearance is, by season 7, a proper living space with multiple light sources, tchotchkes, records, a couch, and pillows. No wonder it's the place where time and time again someone is brought when they need to stay somewhere safe and familiar. After years of being alone after his wife's death, it's almost as if reconnecting with his boys motivated Bobby to finally turn his house back into a home.

[copepods]

the oc refs i made for artfight :) character descriptions below

Reluctant Abstinence:

A dedicated and curious iterator with a great interest with the physiology and neurology of scavengers. Her latest project heavily involves luring local scavengers into her structure and performing neural and behavioral experiments to see if she can make them more similar to her creators. Her primary experiment is The Student, a kidnapped elite scavenger who she’s trying to program with traits from the Ancients. She speaks to it often and tells it stories about her creation and upbringing.

She is close with her fellow local group members, but often forgets to check in with them in favor of her work. Prior to Mass Ascension, she was very close with her creators, and losing them hit her hard. She became much more withdrawn, and what before was a fascination with the fauna surrounding her superstructure quickly became an obsession. She’s quite difficult to contact if you don’t live nearby, so both Many Rocks Orbit and East-Facing Pillars keep Overseers in her can to get her attention if they need to.

She and East-Facing Pillars are romantically involved and used to be very close. Their shared respect for their creators and mutual dedication to the Great Problem brought them together, and she found EFP’s social nature to be a refreshing break from her work. Once they spend more time together, though, their differences began to grate on each other; EFP tolerates RA’s interest in scavengers, but doesn’t care much about it otherwise and finds it disrespectful to dedicate so much time to a task uninvolved with universal ascension. In turn, Abstinence regards Pillars as fickle and high-strung. She doesn’t bother to respond much to him anymore, in favor of her work.

She has a more positive relationship with Many Rocks Orbit, who tries to keep themself largely uninvolved in relationship drama. Orbit also dislikes her hobby, but would never say so to her face, so she finds it easier to converse with them about her work without facing constant judgement.

East-Facing Pillars:

Studious and dedicated to the Great Problem, although he is also nosy and easily distracted by interpersonal drama. He takes great pride in himself and his work, and views himself as the most competent and respected of his local group. He’s very close friends with Many Rocks Orbit, and often takes over tasks a group senior would do when MRO neglects them. He always has his nose poked in as many anonymous boards as he can, and the two of them spend a lot of time gossipping together.

EFP was also close with Reluctant Abstince, and the two are technically romantically involved, although RA is often reluctant to respond to any kind of messages these days, and while her interest in fauna used to be endearing to Pillars, it now seems annoying and somewhat embarrassing to him. He checks in on her still every so often, with increasing reluctance.

Many Rocks Orbit:

The senior of their local group, older than East-Facing Pillars and Reluctant Abstinence. They are quite negligent in their duties, as they find management work to be stressful, especially when it comes to resolving conflicts with others. Many of their work ends up offloaded onto East-Facing Pillars, who mostly doesn’t mind but occasionally objects to too much work shoved onto him at once. If he ever broaches the subject of Orbit handling their own affairs, they will stop responding to messages or steer the conversation elsewhere. They prefer to quietly iterate and converse with close friends, avoiding topics they regard as difficult. They are uncomfortable with many of the flora and fauna that have evolved in their creators’ absence, finding most animals disgusting, and they’ll use their inspectors to shoo out anything that finds its way into their structure. Despite their dislike of animals, they find unnecessary violence deplorable. They also think Reluctant Abstinence’s latest project is highly morally questionable, and have spent a great deal of time with Pillars complaining about it.

The Lure: A creation of Reluctant Abstinence, used to gather live creatures for her to experiment on or use as spare organic material. It’s become incredibly unpopular with the scavengers surrounding RA’s city. The Lure doesn’t seem to care much, though, and it takes joy in completing tasks for RA, who it sees as its mother. The Lure is intelligent and quite curious, and Reluctant Abstinence has begun on the side to teach it to crudely write glyphs in her language.

The Student: Reluctant Abstinence’s latest pet project. she’s observed the intelligence scavegers have, and believes they’re capable of becoming the next great civilization. The Student is a test run to see if she can imprint the ideals and behaviors of her progenitors onto a living scavenger. surely there will be no consequences from this?

The Student was once highly regarded in their pack as a great warrior. Nowadays, they have a shy and nervous disposition, and spend most of the time missing their family. They reside in a lab chamber that was formerly used by the Ancients as an interface to connect with Reluctant Abstinence.

(Shifting Towards Red is a newer iterator from a different group that i havent conceptualized much yet :,3 )

[threestarsaboveclouds]

Greetings, Three Stars Above Clouds.

Due to my absence of work, I have been quite intrigued by the activity of other iterators in the vicinity, and I must say, your purpose is the most unique by far! From listening into past broadcasts, you have quite the intricate history.

As for the questions, I only have some simple ones. But I hope they will suffice.

Has there been any anomalies in the sky that held your interest for a while? If so, has it remained mysterious or been found out? Also, the stars appear green here, but I’m not sure how. Is it because of something in the atmosphere or are they truly green?

… ah. One more. What are the physical features of your surrounding grounds? Any special structures to help with observation?

Thank you for your time. I hope your future teachings go well.

[Mirrors Reflecting Incisions, Group @rain-upon-forgotten-blades]

@rain-upon-forgotten-blades/@wingbluff

TSAC: Hello, Mirror Reflecting Incisions! I am happy to answer your questions.

Firstly, to address your questions about anomalies in the sky… the study of such occurrences is the main focus of my research, in fact! I was designed by my creators to study a wide manner of night sky phenomena. In particular, my research focuses on changes in the Celestial Spheres.

Long ago, it was believed that the objects in the sky were permanently affixed to an immutable Firmament. This belief persisted throughout the public consciousness and was widely considered fact. The Celestial Spheres, inerrant and perfect, existed, and will always exist in the manner they do in the present. Any deviations to the contrary were considered to be a bad omen; a disruption in the Karmic balance of the universe.

However, my creators, the Firmamentalists, pioneered the idea that the sky is not a static, unchanging thing; rather, the Celestial Spheres are shifting in predictable, rational ways, which are apparent to anyone with an open mind and the ability to notice. These apparent abnormalities were not signs of Karmic unrest, but instead were just small precessions upon a much grander Cycle, whose changes were previously too minute to observe, before the advancement of observational techniques.

…all that is to say, that I have studied these “anomalies” you mention in great detail. I myself have published many treatises on their origins over the Cycles, and I struggle to pick among them for one to share with you…

Hm… perhaps I shall share a topic that has been intriguing me for some time; another type of precession, namely the precession of our planet’s rotational axis.

One can think of our planet as a spinning top, rotating on its axis. This axis is tilted slightly relative to the planet’s orbital plane around the Sun, and it maintains its direction as it orbits. This axial tilt results in the seasons.

However, over a much longer timescale, this axial tilt slowly traces out a large circle, just like a spinning top will slowly wobble as it spins. This precession is very slow, completing one full circle about once every 25,000 orbits. It was almost undetectable, until the introduction of more advanced astronomical measurement techniques and the maintenance of more extensive records.

This precession also results in the movement of the celestial north pole- currently, the north pole is close to the brightest star in the constellation of The Vulture, but in several thousand orbital cycles, it will move towards the constellation of The Mother.

This movement of the planet’s axis is well understood, but there is another aspect of this phenomenon that is more mysterious. As the axis slowly precesses, it also wobbles slightly due to the gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon, in a process known as nutation. Some nutation is also caused by the gravitational distribution of the planet itself.

Due to the length of the great precessive cycle, we lack a full dataset for one complete rotation. My creators first made note of the phenomenon approximately 12,000 orbital cycles ago, and I myself have only been collecting detailed records for less than half of that. 

I have found from thousands of cycles of data that the nutation of the planet’s axis predicted by my creators appears to be inaccurate; the data I have recorded seems to be diverging from the pre-determined model. I am not sure why; I doubt it is an issue with my own equipment, as I keep it meticulously calibrated… it may be the case that the gravitational forces acting on the planet may be different than what has been estimated. I will have to re-evaluate my models… perhaps I need to change the inputs to account for the karmic effects of movement within the Void Sea…

…

…ah, I may have become distracted thinking about personal projects. I apologize.

Where was I…

…

...As for your question about star colors… I have actually discussed this before!

Put simply, the stars in the sky appear green due to the composition of the atmosphere, as you mentioned. Upon filtering out these atmospheric effects, the stars take on a wide range of different colors… though, interestingly, none are truly green.

Much can be learned about the physical properties of stars by studying their colors, so their spectra are one of the many types of data I collect with my telescopes.

Finally, speaking of my telescopes… the location of my facility grounds was specifically chosen by my creators to accommodate astronomical data collection. My structure is located high in the mountains, where the air is very cold and dry. This discourages the natural formation of clouds, which would otherwise interfere with my telescopes.

Of course, this does not prevent artificial cloud formation caused by my own functions as an iterator. Thus the vast majority of the observational equipment I control is located on the roof of my superstructure, above the cloud layer. Some of my telescopes are located at the base of the mountain; my radio arrays in particular take up far too much space to be accommodated by the limited area available on the roof of my can. However, my own steam output is much easier to predict than the erratic movement of pressure systems closer to sea level, so I am able to easily schedule periods of radio data collection during times of clear skies.

The telescopes on the roof of my structure benefit from clearer skies, but other atmospheric effects can interfere with observations; namely, turbulence in the upper atmosphere. Thankfully, my telescopes are equipped with adaptive optics systems to help mitigate these distortions. Lasers are used as artificial guide stars, allowing the system to analyze the patterns of atmospheric turbulence and correct the telescope mirrors accordingly. I actually developed this system with the help of an old colleague, Fleeting Green Sunsets. They are quite knowledgeable in the field of optics.

I hope this satisfies your curiosity, Mirrors Reflecting Incisions. If you have any discoveries of your own you would like to share, I would be happy to hear about them.

[ Un-obstructed projection here ]