#and obv death and dying discussion

[crows-talking-place]

(109 spoilers!! tw for all stuff related to that, check the tags for more specific tws if unsure - stay safe :] )

Still not over 109

Chip died.

Like, say it how you want, he died. He was dead. There was a moment when he was no longer alive.

Chip is 19 years old.

He's a kid. 19 is still a kid. Yet he was dead, through no fault of his own.

He went to the Black Sea to find his father, or rather the closest thing he'd ever had.

But now he's dead.

Because technically, he still is. Undead is still dead.

What was it Ollie said, when he was corrupted? "My mom can't see me like this."

History is doomed to repeat itself.

Would Arlen even recognise him? Or would he just see what Chip sees? What Gillion sees? What Jay sees? What everyone must see, because what else would they see?

A monster.

Because that's what he is, isn't he? How else could this be described?

How is he meant to live, now that he's dead?

Maybe that's why he flips open the compass. What else could it possibly do? He's already stopped breathing.

Maybe that's why he slips into the sack. What could he lose? He's already lost his heart.

Maybe that's why he meets Niklaus' eyes What could he want? What could he take?

He's got nothing to give He's got nothing He's got nothing He's got nothing He's got nothing

He's already dead.

[deathbind]

Serot's own arsenal of spells and generally how he applies necrotic magic differs from modern day Anactaci. You can clearly see the foundation he laid, but it has been over a thousand years. The order has evolved considerably in that time. There's also the fact that he was reborn at level one and has structured his skills to suit his present needs, but [hand waves]

There are different sects and roles within the Anactaci who call on the Plane of Death in different ways, but certain generalities can be relied upon. Their magic is largely geared toward what would be considered divination. They are the bridge between this life and the next, the messengers of eternity. They commune both with the souls of the dead and with spirits — chiefly spirits / entities on the Plane of Death but spirits of all types, including those like Refhremmit. Indeed, every City of Eternity has one Anactaci dedicated to communing with their patron. It is a sacred office.

Beyond that, their magic is deeply focused on the soul and the threshold between life and death. They are adept at identifying and countering curses or maladies of the soul. They are adept at identifying and addressing possessions or spiritual attachments. The skilled can manipulate the ravages of time on a body or object (a skill shared with the Manthu). The most skilled of all can leave their bodies behind to inhabit ritually prepared objects; these become the teachers of the Anactaci and keepers of the deepest mysteries.

Yes of course, they animate and preserve corpses, either directly or by calling a spirit to inhabit it. This is part of Meketi funerary rites. But, simply making dead things move is only part of their skillset. Indeed, it's the most basic part.

Anactaci are bound by sacred oaths to turn their magic to holy purpose and with a thought for balance always. However, a truly irate or unscrupulous Anactaci could do serious damage. Particularly if they are skilled. Insidious curses and nigh-undetectable possessions (i.e. slowly driving a person to madness with ill luck or nightmares; far worse curses are possible). Yanking a person's soul directly from their body, either holding it captive or causing it to become lost. Learning secrets from spirits or from souls that can utterly destroy a person. Causing them to rapidly age, turning to sun-bleached bone before their eyes, one limb at a time. Or causing them to wither, then return to their correct age, then wither, then return to their correct age — over and over until they don't know whether they're alive or dead. If capable of severing their soul from their body, they can possess others directly, influencing or totally overriding their will. They might not touch a person at all; they might sap all life from their home instead.

Fortunately, such corrupt Anactaci are rare — and swiftly dealt with.

[rubra-wav]

SFW Vox x Reader head anon request where the reader was his nibling on Earth but he died when they were very little. They ended up very lost and numb due to the death and found the only time they felt anything was in a fight so they became a bouncer, which is actually what led to them dying at 28. Reader doesn't realize who Voc is until they hear him speak.

Vox x Former relative reader headcanons

A/N This is a very hyperspecific request, so I hope you understand I've made it a little more general. 🙏

General plotline and idea is kept tho - bit vaguer, however.

Reader was his favourite relative btw, if this man saw just some random family member come up to him I think he'd just swat them away faster than light ngl.

Cw: Sfw, platonic obv 💀, gn reader

- When you showed up before Vox, he didn't recognise you at all either. He'd died when you were young, and when demons die they don't exactly come back looking 'normal'.

- So when you show up before him after seeking him to speak for several weeks - sending letters to meet him in person like your life depended upon it, claiming you had something very important to discuss with him, he doesn't recognise the sinner who clearly died while enthralled in extreme violence before him.

- When the people who escort you into the room leave, leaving you two alone at his request, Vox's first instinct is to interrogate you.

- He immediately assumed you had some sort of blackmail on him and were trying to play games to extort money from him or something.

- But, when you're lunging forward at him to wrap your arms around him while calling him an extremely specific nickname he hadn't heard in decades, he's at a complete loss in disbelief.

- When his initial shock wears off and he realises who you were to him, he doesn't know how to react properly and sends you away, saying he needed a bit to think and he'll contact you again.

- The conflict between his past self that he was when he knew you, as compared to the self he is now, has him absolutely reeling.

- It wasn't exactly foreign for him to come across people who knew him from his shows when alive, but not somebody who had actually known him as a family member - much less one who still thought highly of him after everything he'd done to end up there.

- When he finally calms the hell down, he tells you not to tell anybody you two are related for your own safety (and his own image), and that he will help provide whatever you need.

- He'd be distant as all hell from you, but would still want you to be safe. Both of these are due to him having a particular soft spot for you even now.

- Would probably consciously make an effort to try be an asshole to make you not want to see him- then feel kinda bad when you still want to see him and obviously still very much love him. 💀

- Even if you want to spend time around him really bad, he'd probably not give in most times.

- if he does spend time with you though down the line, he's just screaming inside the whole time because he actually gives a fuck in the same way he did back in his life and that's terrifying to him after living in hell. You don't get to his standing with caring about many people.

- Would be super paranoid during the whole thing as well about someone somehow finding out (especially the Vees because he'd never hear the end of it and if Val ever tried to flirt with you he'd probably go apeshit despite his on and off thing with him. )

- If anyone ever saw you were a soft spot to him, that would instantly make you a target. And, because it bruises his ego to know he still gives this much of a fuck about a relative who he hadn't seen in decades.

Writing this made me realise just how funny Vox would be as one of those bitter adoptive father figures who didnt sign up for this shit but just very begrudgingly love their 'child' and fucking hate themselves over it. 💀

[stevie-petey]

hello m i hope you are well. i'm finally reading chap 6 and 7 so that i'm ready whenever you release the final chapter of season 3 and once again, so, so good! i didn't realise how much has happened in such a short time!! here are my thought of chapter 6 before i read chapter 7 so you can get the chapter by chapter update.

Firstly, i wanted to compliment you on how scary you make the whole ordeal. obvs st is a sci fi horror show with elements of comedy, but i felt like s3's biggest flaws was not making the stakes feel as high as they were in certain moments. ofc you can't be held at an emotional tension all the time and there are down to be some low tension moments where it's appropriate to do some comedy, but overall, i felt like the scoop troop's dire situation was not always communicated well to the viewer outside of visual flare due to the actor's being instructed to keep things light and easy in their delivery. this was not the case with your chapter. i was very much feeling dread and horror at the thought of leaving steve and robin behind in the mega torture room together. you've always been quite good at making bug her own character and her own sort of adventure that doesn't depend entirely on steve, but do think that choosing to keep her separated from steve during the russian torture was a very mature writing choice.

immediately, right off the bat, this quote was so good at establishing the tone for this chapter, "it diminishes every sacrifice that has been made, it taunts the blood that has been spilled." reading bug be miserable over all the ways she hypothetically did or did not fail the group is so much more terrible when we keep in mind how much all of their efforts have been undermined, and it surprised me that the show itself was no interested in these fascinating questions. also this part, "All you ever do is try, you will die trying, you just can’t let it be in vain", omgggg bug is soooo "this is me trying" coded (affectionate).

ALSO OMG!!!! THE KISSS!!!!!!!! THIS IS BIG FOR BUG X STEVE TRUTHERS!!!! VAL MY SISTER IN ARMS WHERE ARE YOUUUUU!!!!! BUT OMG M THAT WAS SO GOOD!!!! I was soooo stressed out and everything was going a mile a minute and steve kissed her!!!! he finally did it!!!!! i absolutely love we-are-so-desparate-and-we-might-not-see-each-other-again-so-i-have-to-because-i-cant-die-knowing-i-never-did-it!!!!!! "It isn’t death that terrifies Steve, it’s the idea that he almost died without knowing how you tasted." SHUT UP!!!!!! IF HES NOT LIKE THIS, I DONT WANT HIM!!!!!! I was clutching my heart sweating like a victorian maiden feinting at hearing her lover dying on the sea!!!!! "Urgently, viciously, you scream the only thing you can think of that encompasses all the love and terror within you, “Come home to me!" TITLE DROP AFTER THE FIRST KISS!!!!! STUG ENDGAME !!!!!!! LUCAS SINCLAIR YOU *WISH* YOU HAD ACCESS TO THE FIREWORKS EXPLODING IN MY BRAIN RIGHT TF NOW!!!!!!! A smile spreads across your face when you think about him. The words spill from your mouth without any effort. “I do love Steve.” SHES SMILING WHEN SHE REALISES SHE LOVES STEVE AND DUSTIN KNOWS SHE LOVES STEVE AND SHES SMILING EEN THOUGH EVERYTHING SUCKS BECAUSE JUST THE THOUGHT OF THE OTHER IS ENOUGH TO BRING A SPARK OF JOY LIGHT AN EMBER OF HOPE IN THEIR CHESTS !!!!! YAYYYY!!!!! “Tried promising you I’d come home, angel.” Steve is sprawled on your lap. His eyes are cloudy, he isn’t quite here with you." COME HOME TITLE DROP PART 2!!!!!! WE KEEP WINNING STUG GANG!!!!! SEASON 4 GUILT TRIPS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TORMENT THAT LEAD TO ARGUMENTS IDC IDC IDK IDK THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!!!!!!

Now I would like to take a moment and discuss bug's excellent additions to the generation of action heroes. "And you’ve always evened out your debts to him." Killer line. Great end for a close up shot of her face while a light flickers in the back and the shot cuts to black before we reset in another scene. A tribute to all the action stars of the 80s, truly a brilliant work my you M.

final note, using the chemical SMART WORK!!! I remember thinking during the episode "wow what conveniently weapon-like substance is this that our heroes have stumbled upon and i know dustin and erica used them as well as dustin and erica and bug, i'll be real, i would started throwing them in the russian guards' faces idc idc!!!!

overall, excellent work as i'm sure you know and looking forward to reading chapter 7!!!!

Ps. "She lets out her own content sigh, and you play with her hair as well. They’re still with you. Still whole and alive." challengers core if u think about it. polycule anon kinda spit game on that one.

HI BABY I MISSED YOU !!!

i really appreciate that u like how spooky i make the chapters. i never really understand the weight of the situations theyre in every season until i write them. season 3 especially has scenes they dumb down to make room for more comedy, and while its silly, sometimes i forget that a literal TEN YEAR OLD GIRL is trapped in a russian lair with very aggressive and armed men who want to kill her. like wtf stranger things ???

as for leaving steve, it simply had to happen. i wanted to do something different since most rewrites have them taken together (which is always juicy and i eat it up every time), i just couldnt do it for this rewrite. bug wouldnt leave dustin and erica behind like that. someone had to stay with the kids, protect them, and bug was perfect for that role !!! plus, it made for a GREAT first kiss scene so it was a win all around (your comments had me DYING LMAO). however, i dread the day i rewrite season 4 because i'll have to figure out how to separate steve, bug, dustin or if i even CAN because the teens and kids pair off differently. bug is the sister, the girlfriend, it will be a challenge :(

my sister and i always joke every time we rewatch the show that we would be so. done with living in hawkins. i think the show forgets its own time canon, because wdym every. single. year. thise kids are thrown inti danger ??? every time they think "hey, we won" MORE SHIT HAPPENS ??? i wanted to really emphasize that defeat, the feeling of doing everything right and it still not being enough. you always see exactly what i want the readers to see, its like you look into my mind <3333 you always know the themes im sprinkling in :')

AND YES !!! TITLE DROP !!! took us three seasons, but we made it!!! now, for the actual scene i have in the come home masterlist, that will be in season 4 when steve can finalllly promise bug he'll come home to her <333 and the ilu scene <333 bug loves steve so much and its so natural to her and i wanna cry thinking about them ugh.

THE DEBTS LINE ,,,, i felt so cool writing that thank u for feeding into my nerdiness and seeing the vision ,,, in my head i have a compilation of badass bug scenes that would routinely get edited and the scene with her preparing to save steve and robin is 100% in there. also for the chemicals sometimes the writers leave me no room to question how a plan gets made so im like ,,,, fine i will do it myself u cowards.

finally for the challengers bit i truly didnt intent for the fic to become so challengers coded but ,,,, whew. it is. and i love it dearly.

n i love u so dearly i saw ur reblog tags for chapter 7 and i am shivering waiting for the analysis i KNOW ur cookin up and u always pick apart my fic in ways i adore so so so much <333

[eastgaysian]

Hey, I wasn't sure if I should say so or not in case it would be upsetting to you, but since you brought up the idea of a survey I thought I'd say that I have lost a parent & like you the current season of Succession has had a cathartic effect on me. I've also seen one person on twt say that's the case for them too, so I'm willing to bet a lot of ppl who've lost a parent feels similarly and like... Regardless of if it's a "good" season or not, I think media that helps me process my grief is a positive thing, it has value, or what have you. Obv it's fine for ppl to dislike the season, & ofc I don't wish others could exp that kind of loss, but like 🤷🏻‍♀️ sometimes things don't resonate with you until you've experienced smth, & sometimes that happens when you're 0-10, sometimes when you're 50-60

yeah, i started noticing a gap in reactions after connor's wedding between people saying 'that felt far too much like my own experience with a parent/family member dying' and people who acknowledged the skillful execution of the episode but didn't seem to personally connect to it (which generated a couple takes on logan's death and the perceived indignity of it that rubbed me the wrong way, lol). on the one hand my continued posting about the Discourse is because it's aggravating to me, like why is the hot topic of fan discussion 'is the show we're all watching even good?' ??? but on the other, it's genuinely just confusing to me and i'm trying to understand what i'm missing. the minor criticisms that people have cited as the root cause of their dissatisfaction don't add up to me. they feel much more like things that are only noticeable/irritating if you already have some fundamental issue or disconnect with the season.

and i think it really is that this is a season about grief and only about grief, there's no space for anything else. the emotional arcs in other seasons were usually related but distinct - you could focus in on what you liked in particular, whether that was kendall's mental breakdown, roman's freudian mess, shiv's struggle to be taken seriously as a woman, shiv and tom's failmarriage, tom and greg's weirdness, and there'd be enough material for you to chew on and have a good time without worrying all that much about everything else (although i do think being able to understand how all of these connect improves your experience of the show immensely, but i digress).

s4 is about grief. everyone is reacting to logan's death in different ways, but it all comes back to grief. if you're interested in talking about grief, there's so much to explore. if you don't find that engaging, then you're out of luck. it's fine to not find that engaging because you wanted something else out of the season/show, but that doesn't make the season objectively bad or subject to flaws that weren't already present throughout the rest of the show. and yeah, based on my reaction and the reactions of other people i've seen who have that personal experience with death, i think it's a really spectacular depiction of loss and grief that handles all the complex emotions involved with more thought and care than i've seen in other media. it would not be as accurate or impactful a depiction of grief if time and space was spent on something completely unrelated.

i don't think you need to have lost a close family member to connect to the storyline, but i also don't think you can understand what it's like until it happens in your own life. it fucked me up badly when my aunt died in middle school because she had been a major part of my childhood, but the degree to which my dad dying fundamentally altered my life is just incomparable to anything else. you really cannot experience grief as a concept or thought experiment, a person's death is real and permanent in a way nothing else really is. which sounds obvious but it's just true

[steddie-island]

it’s been a long work week. I’m tired, my meds are fucking with my stomach, I’m a little depressed.

I linked Bentham’s Head earlier and now I think I’m gonna go on an ask a mortician re-watch (re-listen) while I work today.

In case anyone else wants to also go on your own little binge, some of my faves:

-The Forgotten Disaster of the SS Eastland

-Why JFK’s Casket Stayed Closed

-The Foreskin Wedding Ring of St Catherine

-honestly all of the Iconic Corpse series

-also The Middle Ages Were Magic

She also really delicately handles dying fat, protecting trans bodies in death, she discusses in several videos how traditions around death are very different for a lot of cultures and communities and maybe sit down and think for a second before you spout off something racist. Her video on Goonew is the first one that comes to mind but she has a lot of them. Anyway I love Caitlin Doughty and she makes me feel better and her videos are fun. They do handle death (obvs) so they’re heavy, too, sometimes, but. She helps with my existential death anxiety.

[tremendouskoalachild]

recovering from jaw surgery and shouldn't be laughing or even smiling really, so this week's tlou episode was a great choice! i mean sobbing like a bitch is not ideal either but whatever

lemme just list the heartbreaking moments real quick (might as well be a synopsis of the episode hehehehe)

starting the episode by very pointedly not acknowledging tess's death except joel making a little shrine

the arcade game :(

the fact that many post-outbreak kids just have no clue what even happened

joel's recollection of outbreak day obv

open mass grave of lincoln's inhabitants. the nazis at least hid their warcrimes jesus christ

the transition from corpses in happy bright clothes to the mom and baby still wearing them probably mere hours before their deaths, getting on a transport to a safer place

happy music cutting off as bill eats dinner at a table with an empty chair. due to his interests my guy was probably alone his whole life pre-frank

the implications of a QZ being gone and frank being the sole survivor (presumably of a specific group heading in that direction but still)

everything about how frank gets upon seeing gourmet food/having a hot shower/playing the piano etc

THE KISS the tears the hesitancy the tenderness

young tess and joel, less beaten up. alive tess, period. joel referring to her as "mine", even if he can't name the relationship

ptsd/paranoia positivity

just the reminder that joel had a normal job pre-apocalypse

strawberries

"sorry for getting older faster than you" sad on its own, devastating on a rewatch

the caring expressed by both frank and bill in the gunshot wound scene

the realization of frank's condition through his paintings

"and we'll get married"

on the nature of daylight over shots of their home and sunlight through grass? just start playing the Up opening why don't you

it's the exact same meal and wine as their first meeting but now they're sitting side by side 😭😭😭

one last laugh together

bill's entire letter honestly: joel unable to even read it. ellie stumbling on tess' name. the implication for the future

joel presumably wearing frank's shirt

ellie all excited about being in a car

joel taking steps to protect ellie without any real incentive anymore

final shot through the bedroom window coupled with the song

the fact that i kept off discussions for spoilers and only found out about Annie Wersching (game Tess) dying of cancer today on reddit

[lucivinyl]

genshin characters as stages of grief

characters : yoimiya, childe, kaeya, dainsleif, thoma, zhongli

warnings : major character death obvs

note : some of these aren’t even that angsty but i just really wanted some character death

Yoimiya (denial)

It just doesn’t make sense. 

What do they mean you’re gone? You were still here with her yesterday, discussing what kind of fireworks to use on Anna’s birthday, roaming around town to stock up on materials, lying in bed with her fingers threading your hair at night. How could you just suddenly… not exist?

She suspects that it will simply take time for it to sink in, but weeks pass, then months, yet she never gets to make peace with the fact that you were gone.

How could she, when she still looks for you in your untouched room, still thinks about you when she’s eating your favorite food?

There are days when she finds herself needing to share with you some entertaining encounters she had, only to remember that she no longer has the privilege.

Even years after your passing, she still keeps her eyes out for you on the streets, as if you’ve simply been travelling elsewhere.

Childe (anger)

At first Ajax is angry at the bringers of the news for even daring to say something so ghastly about you, though he is soon forced to face reality.

Then he’s blinded by fury, storming out of the hospital with red in his eyes. You bet he won’t stop until he finds the ones responsible for your death so that he can watch the regret scream on their faces every time he drives them near the brink of death.

Still he knows that no matter how much he lashes out at them, nothing can bring you back.

In his solitude, he confronts the truth: of course he’s enraged at those who laid their hands on you, but on top of that there is anger directed at himself. 

He should’ve been able to protect you, he should’ve gone out with you, he shouldn’t have let it happen, these self-inflicted blames are to plague his days to come, for it was his carelessness that costed him the only person who keeps his nightmares at bay.

Kaeya (bargaining) 

On the outside, Kaeya looks like he’s coping with your passing pretty well— as well as one can be, anyways.

But in the dead of night, alone in his grotesquely quiet room, his deepest feelings shine through. Circling the half-empty wine bottle on the floor, he wonders how it is that he can never keep the ones he loves around long enough.

He wants you back, so badly that he would do anything. He would pray to any god, look for any unorthodox methods, if just for a slim chance to feel you in his arms one more time. 

If he could just turn back time, he can fix it all. 

Of course, most people aren’t aware that he’s been hoping for the impossible. He knows that they will only look at him with that disgusting look of pity, so he puts on a facade and plays his role.

But sometimes, when everyone else has gone home and the only thing keeping the tavern alive is the noises Diluc makes as he cleans his glasses, the red-haired often finds his teary-eyed brother clutching his forearm, slumped forward while mumbling about how he would do anything if he could just help bring you back.

Dainsleif (depression)

You never knew that he loved you, not when it mattered.

The burden of his curse and the weight of history hasmade it hard for him to care for another, but you were a bright exception. You were the sole flower blooming in the dry, parched land, the safety Dainsleif never dared dream of having.

That Is precisely why he couldn’t have you. Even though it hurt the both of you, he knew the only way to keep you safe was for him to stay far away. So he kept his distance, even though it felt like his numb heart was being torn to pieces every single time.

The funny thing is that it did nothing— all the heartbreak and dull aches were worthless as he cradled your dying form in his arms. It was the closest he’d ever been to you.

Dainsleif is familiar with losses, but this one is particularly hard to carry. His heart succumbs to a deep, frozen winter, clinging to him like a dead weight.

He now knows more than ever that there’s no salvation awaiting him, and that love is just a luxury he can’t afford.

Thoma (depression)

Once the initial shock passes, all that remains is the gaping hole in his heart.

The thing about your death that haunts him the most is that he will never live out his life with you. All those plans and talks about him guiding you around Mondstadt, opening a pet cafe near Ritou… they’ve all vanished into smoke.

There are still so many things he wants to experience with you— relationship milestones, travelling around the world, maybe even starting a warm, lovely family.

But because time is merciless and doesn’t look kindly on those who spend time wishing instead of doing, it takes away the most precious treasure from him.

He tries to heal, really he does. He works with tripled efforts, spends all his time running errands around Inazuma, keeps himself busy so as not to leave any opening for grief to sneak in.

Yet there is only so much he can do to protect himself against sorrow. After all, it is a raging thunderstorm capable of destroying even the strongest man. If Ayaka hears his muffled cries at night, she doesn’t say a word of it, and Ayato knows better than to try and console a man who has had his present and future stolen in one breath.

Zhongli (acceptance)

Zhongli is no stranger to grief. Over the centuries he has seen people succumb to the corrosion of time, so much that he has the illusion that he’s somehow made peace with grief.

That is until you’re gone. 

He knew from the first day that you wouldn’t be with him forever, he just never expected death to be so impatient that it took you early.

In the eyes of an outsider he looks tranquil, but that is only because he is not used to displaying his emotions in big letters on his face. Deep inside, the cracks that have healed over his heart are tearing at the seams again, and your sudden end leaves him with regrets he could never hope to overcome.

Just how many times must he see those he holds close leave this world? He finds himself pondering this question sometimes, even though it’s pointless. He is eternal, mortals are not, and now even you have become history.

With you gone, he feels as though life is missing a fundamental color. The world is less due to your absence. To fill the void in his ribs, he finds himself lingering around your grave with flowers most of the time.

[phantomrose96]

I don't know you obv so idk if this was intentional or not & this might sound kinda weird but I wanted to thank you for not making Reigen's "sacrifice" in ch. 45 actually be the "solution" - be what immediately fixed everything or made it all better. Having struggled with suicidal ideation for years & repeatedly having to convince myself that ending my life will not make things better for other people or make the world a better place, I really appreciated that. Phenomenal chapter overall btw!

(ABoT ch45)

fdjkf, yeah, yes this is intentional. I was talking about this last night on the ABoT discord let me copy-paste some stuff I said from that discussion:

ABoT is, to the ABSOLUTE best of my ability, thematically consistent. To have Reigen's sacrifice be the end of Mogami and just get… a weepy "he sacrificed himself so noble" send off to Reigen… would've grated badly against the hard-fought-for-themes of living to fix your mistakes, not dying for them.

And on some level Reigen is aware of this. He hides the plan from Ritsu knowing that the hypocrisy of it would have deeply off-put Ritsu. How high-and-mighty Reigen has been telling Ritsu that getting himself killed is a terrible answer, and Ritsu would be wrong to choose it, only to have Reigen demonstrate that was lip service by taking the spot himself…

The CHARACTER moment is meant to be consistent. Like, Reigen would do this. Because for all the big-game he can talk to other people, he's still constantly living with the voice in his head of ("Oh but not you. You're an exception. You don't matter. You can tell other people they matter but deep down, that's not you.")

So from a character standpoint: Yes, Reigen would do this. From a narrative standpoint: No, this cannot be the means by which Mogami is defeated.

Particularly, particularly with this line, right before he's set to kill himself and Mogami:

“—There’s a great ramen shop around here, you know? I took Mob there. I hope Mob goes back there after this is all over. I hope he goes back 100 times, tells ‘em Reigen sent him.” The fire crackled. Reigen’s smile faded. “…I hope Mob never goes back. I hope after today he forgets everything he ever had to do with us. I hope he forgets everything about me. I hope he forgets you. I hope he goes home with Ritsu. I hope his life picks right back up where it left off. I hope it’s normal.” Reigen’s eyes were dry. Everything evaporated in the heat. “I hope I never matter again after this moment.”

This really is meant as a genuinely powerful moment for Reigen. All his self-sacrifices, from the start, have been done with that… twinge of "I'm doing this so maybe I can finally matter, somehow". Still GOOD. Still selfless! Still noble! But rooted in something just a bit pathetic and desperate in Reigen. This desperate need to matter to someone became his literal downfall when it came to Mob and keeping him for so long--this was the choice that allowed Ritsu to get worse, and allowed Mogami to come back.

And in Reigen's final moment he's... relinquishing exactly that. This isn't "for Mob to know Reigen mattered." This is for Mob. End statement. Reigen can vanish into absolutely nothing after this, and it's what he wants. This is big for Reigen.

…………………..but. but but but but BUT BUT!!! THIS IS ALSO. EXCEPTIONALLY NAIVE… To just say "I hope he forgets about me" and wish it into existence won't make it so. (Ritsu is literally trying to do the same to his parents and he's gotten a hell of a lot of flack for it.)

Truth is, Reigen's death will ABSOLUTELY hurt Mob. There is no forgetting Reigen that Mob can just do. This sacrifice Reigen is making will hurt Mob. Point blank. It'll hurt him DEEPLY. ABoT focuses so deeply on the hurt of missing loved ones. On how experiences and connections matter and there is no just brushing things off as meaningless. To wish Mob's life just goes back to normal is naive. To wish Mob would just forget Reigen and not care is naive. And Reigen is so… caught up in his own Reigen-ness, he doesn't have the capacity (more like he can't afford) to consider the damages of his sacrifice. He tells himself it's simply necessary… So he builds this little fantasy, where he doesn't have to think about what hurt he's causing. So he tells himself "I hope I won't matter after this", which is so much easier than the truth of how much dying can hurt others. Reigen would matter after this moment, whether he wanted to or not.

He just needs to believe he can make this simple enough to do. "It's him or Ritsu". "It's him or Mob". And Reigen will always be the more sacrificable person. "It's only right", since it's his fault Mob went back to Mogami. "It's only right", because it's his fault the horde found Ritsu in the first place.

But Reigen's wrong. And it really, really comes back to this quote from ch39:

“’The one of us who’s home safe.’ Bullshit. Make it the both of you who are home safe.” Reigen adjusted his legs, one knee up, lame hand resting over it. “Choose the option where you both go home alive and healthy, and then do the hard work to make up for whatever awful things you’ve done. Apologize to the people you hurt. Make it up to them. If it takes years then put in the years. If it means facing consequences, face them. Be better. Be brave like your brother and choose to make the hurt end with you. I’ve seen him do it. Don’t tell me you can’t do the same.” Reigen glanced to Ritsu. “If you get yourself killed, you’re just exploding all the hurt you caused outward. You’d be dying with a debt you’re forcing your family to pay. If you want to help your brother, accept responsibility for what you’ve done, pay that debt off yourself, and save your brother.” Reigen looked forward again. “Mob’s been through enough. Don’t take his little brother away from him on top of it all. He loves him more than anything else in the world.”

Thematically, Reigen choosing to kill himself to end Mogami could never succeed. It could never be the solution that fixes things. It's entirely too at-odds with the absolutely central themes in ABoT of living to fix your mistakes, and living to heal, and deserving the chance to live and heal.

[jonathanharker]

NOPE SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT PLS FEEL FREE TO DISCUSS IT THEMATICALLY WITH ME

this is all stream of consciousness so please bare with me.

(I refer to the alien as an angel, cause that’s how I personally interpreted it!)

Ok so to me Nope is about the how capitalistic hubris drives us away from the very true very real reality of man vs nature. It opens up with the Book of Nahum quote in the Bible that said

“And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a spectacle.”

So the only way to not be eaten by the angel is to not look it in the eye. Looking something in the eye suggests you’re on equal playing ground, that you’re both at the same level in a conversation, etc. Only the humans that did not put themselves at the level of the angel were spared. Money mentally removes you from the reality your flesh and blood.

So those trying to make it “vile” (the angel having to eat metal/trash/things that hurt it + the chimp being put into human clothes and forced to act + the horses being freaked out by Hollywood movie stuff) while making it a spectacle (again, chimp and horse on tv, angel with the rodeo guy, and even the main characters at first with trying to get the evidence of aliens) met a horrible death unless they realized how small and insignificant they were and just wrong for thinking they could control things out of their control (the chimp, the horses that run away, and obvs the angel). In nature the only that you can expect is the unexpected, and your certainly cannot force your own will upon it, that’s just not how natural selection works at all. Money distorts this.

The main characters were already sort of humbled by way of having to sell off most of their horses. All technology failed—the only way to win was to work symbiotically with another animal. And even the angel didn’t start lashing out at the main characters until they started actively trying to hunt it for a photo, like the thing with their dad was just the angel coughing up the junk that the other humans forced it to eat until the weird rodeo guy started feeding it horses, etc etc etc you can probably tell where all that goes and just ties back into everything else.

Also I guess the camera man killing himself was just to further drive the point home that nature isn’t meant to be capitalized on and we all decay the same way in death anyways,, Also also, the humans that ended up dying for trying to make a spectacle out of the chimp and the angel ended up becoming spectacles themselves via news/the media.

The whole thing is just absolutely ingenious imo. Plus, growing up in the Bible Belt, I’m extremely into exploring religious narratives from a naturalist perspective as a way of healing from religious trauma. All the actors were amazing. I would love to hear other peoples’ thoughts!

[midnightsslut]

Can you tell us more about your concept of the lover trilogy made up of false god/afterglow/me? Would love to read a proper analysis with all the connections, similar themes etc + obvs your thoughts x

Hey! First of all, thank you for being interested in my lyric analysis omg that’s very flattering!! This is actually my first ask lol.

This got super long, by the way, so I’m adding a cut.

Anyway, let’s get to it. First, let’s talk about the structure of Lover’s tracklist, because that’s part of the reason why I consider False God, Afterglow, and ME! to be a trilogy of sorts, all foreshadowed by The Archer. From the first time I heard the album, I’ve always thought that Lover can be divided into a few main parts. The first five tracks serve as a primer for what’s to come. Taylor is also careful not to have too many bops or too many emotional ballads together. We get the dark, desperate, escapism-themed Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince between happy love songs like I Think He Knows and Paper Rings. The emotional core, however, lies in the second half. Cornelia Street acts as a bridge between the carefree songs and the more vulnerable ones, since there is a mix of tenderness and a fear of losing what she has.

This trilogy in particular is foreshadowed by The Archer, which discusses Taylor’s anxieties that stem from her past relationship (something she described as ‘phantom tragedy’ in her Live Lounge interview iirc). She has ‘a hundred thrown-out speeches’ ready for him, but she’s still ‘searching for a dark side’ on purpose, which runs the risk of ruining their honeymoon phase. Again, that risk is reflected on Cornelia Street, but that’s still a very romantic ballad about ‘sacred new beginnings.’

Taylor’s fears reach a new peak on Death By a Thousand Cuts. Once again, she’s ‘looking through the windows of this love,’ even though they ‘boarded them up’; in other words, they said they wouldn’t question the relationship in the same way you don’t question your god in the religion that her love has turned into (see: ‘sacred new beginnings that became my religion’ in Cornelia Street), yet here she is.

The False God trilogy is placed at the end of the album because it offers a resolution to this conflict. First, we get False God, where Taylor essentially announces that the honeymoon phase has come to a close. She has finally found the dark side she’s searching for (‘I can’t talk to you when you’re like this’). She’s no longer keeping her thrown-out speeches to herself; she’s daring him to leave her outright. Just three tracks earlier, she says she’s dying by a thousand cuts, but she flips that theme on its head and names the notion of dying for him as one of the things they were crazy for thinking. These doubts harken back to Cruel Summer. However, they also bring the story full circle; just as the then-friends with benefits stuck with each other through physical intimacy when they couldn’t confess their emotions, they are still hanging on, as if by a thread, because ‘they might just get away with it’ if they turn sex into their object of worship (‘the altar is my hips’). Cruel Summer’s theme of both angels and devils being involved makes a return as well, as the lovers end up in Heaven and Hell by turns. Whenever they do confess their sins, they use the sacramental wine to get drunk, have sex again… and refuse to actually address their issues, because neither of them can talk to the other ‘when [they’re] like this.’ When they have nothing left, their intimacy, the same thing that first brought them together, is ultimately what keeps them together. False God is ultimately more hopeful than Death By a Thousand Cuts, however, because Taylor is still adamant to hold onto her faith ‘even if it’s a false god.’ It doesn’t matter if their religion is a hoax. As long as they can stay together, she’ll keep worshiping. The title of the song is therefore a bait-and-switch à la peace and happiness.

After the bop buffer (lol) of You Need to Calm Down, we get back to this story with Afterglow as Track 15. The theme of sticking together through sex is affirmed by the title of the song, which basically refers to the period after an orgasm. That’s another, albeit partial bait-and-switch, however, because Afterglow involves Taylor finally admitting that she’s at fault. She did beg for forgiveness in False God, but she followed it up with daring him to leave her in the next pre-chorus (this cyclical nature of their fights resurfaces here, as she says she either ‘punished him with silence’ or ‘went off like sirens’). Here, all she does is ask him not to walk away (whereas she was literally threatening to do so herself two tracks earlier). The morning after a fight, Taylor suddenly realizes this relationship is worth it. This ‘ultraviolet morning light’ is the turning point in their relationship, for Taylor is now resolved to make things right with him again instead of patching things up temporarily. All she wants now is to share the light of her newfound insight with him… or, in other words, to meet him in the afterglow.

Despite its blissful title, Afterglow is still anxious, because she doesn’t yet know if he’s also decided to stay with her. Meanwhile, ME! is absolutely mutual (again, note the title vs the theme here lol), which is why it’s a duet. They now look at the flipside of all their troubles. She might have gone off like sirens/gone psycho on the phone, but that same fiery nature of hers causes her to be his summer. His nonchalant nature might have been the cause of her despair in Cruel Summer, but that same unpredictability is also the reason why he ‘will never bore her.’ ME! is all about them embracing all their flaws and declaring that their relationship is one of a kind and worthwhile because of them. This triumphant acceptance (as evidenced by the literal marching band she used for its debut performance) is a bookend to the self-loathing in The Archer and all the doubt scattered throughout the record.

The album ends with a short, calm summary of the whole story in It’s Nice to Have a Friend. On the album’s closer, Taylor finally puts all this turmoil, which stems from external (‘I trusted the wicked’)—something her relationship helped her through—and internal factors (‘I wounded the good’/‘maybe I’ve stormed out of every single room in this town’), behind her to step into the daylight. A frequently overlooked part of the song is the plural in ‘threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it’s morning now,’ which indicates that he is also stepping into the daylight with her. Without the aforementioned trilogy, including the blind faith in False God, the watershed moment of epiphany in Afterglow, and the declaration of self-acceptance in ME!, none of this would have been possible.

[meteor752]

Dsmp Hogwarts AU, except it’s all the characters and I go into why they are what they are, please reblog this took a long ass time

Man, what a title Huh? Anyways, this will obviously go over the characters and not the content creators, because in some cases those are vastly different

Also, before we start, I will go over an important thing that I will mention probably a few times, and that is the difference between Hufflepuff Loyalty and Slytherin Loyalty.

Both of these houses value loyalty, but in very different ways. Take for example that you’re a spy who has their best friend as their partner, and you’re out on some super important mission. Let’s also say that your partner got shot and is close to death, and the only way to save them would be to abandon the mission entirely.

A Hufflepuff would try to complete the mission because it would be the best for all, while the Slytherin would abandon the mission despite the fact that it could result in countless deaths, just to save their friend.

See it as Selfish Loyalty vs Selfless loyalty. Both are great things to have, but are still different.

Anyways, on with the show

Tomathy Danger Kraken Careful Innit

I have seen people try to argue that this boy is a Hufflepuff because of his loyalty and such, but gosh darnit everyone this child is a god damn Gryffindor. I mean, one of his main character traits is that he’s brash and too brave for his own good. The reason he got fucking exiled is because he burned down George’s house without thinking of the consequences, and then just screamed at Dream without thinking of the consequences. The same goes for Ghostbur’s “death”, it was because he had no real plan except Stab Dream with an axe. So yeah, Gryffindor

Wilbur Soot

Slytherin, 100%. This man has created one and a half nation, one entirely out of spite, he was both a general and a president, he’s a smart lil fella, and he managed to hold his own against the god of the server. I don’t even thing you guys wanna argue with me here

Tuberculosis Underscore

This one is tricky, because it’s really between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw for me. Like, he does possess the Hufflepuff loyalty™ plus he is very kind, but he’s also one of the more logical and observant characters we have in this server (The bar is very low let me tell ya). But I think I will have to go with Ravenclaw, just because like, the boy invented nukes. He built fucking nukes. So yeah, a very chaotic Ravenclaw that will spout bee facts at you, be prepared

Technoblade

My man is a Ravenclaw, no doubt about it. I mean, he started talking about an old greek myth in the middle of a war? Just Ravenclaw things amiright?

Philza Minecraft

I will have to go with Slytherin on this one, simply because of the large amount of Slytherin Loyalty, but also because of his cunningness and resourcefulness, but for real this was very tricky, simply because I don’t like to think about c!Phil too much because as some of you may know, I kinda hate him (Not the cc though, obvs, he’s awesome)

Ranboo My Beloved

Hufflepuff. This boy’s ideology is literally “Choose people, not sides”, he’s an honest and compassionate boy who works hard, and has a very open mind. He’s literally the by the book Hufflepuff

Eret

Honestly, Slytherin. I mean, they are ambitious as fuck, both shown by them betraying L’Manburg for the throne, but also by working hard towards their redemption arc. They are also a good leader of the smp, and in general a great role model to have

Nikki Nihachu

This one is actually difficult, simply because Nikki has gone through quite the character arc the past couple of months. She started out kind, sweet and loyal, a classic Hufflepuff. Then she joined the syndicate and straight up tried to kill a child, which is less Hufflepuff but who am I to judge. But in her core, as seen through her discussion with Jack about Tommy’s revival, she is still a good person that works hard for what she believes in, wants the best for everyone (Despite sometimes working in her best self interest) remains kind through it all. So yeah, Nikki is a Hufflepuff, just a bit of a sadistic one. But we can’t all be perfect ya know?

Fun Jonathan Michael Vincent Georgina James Sus Dy Soot

Ah, my favorite character, and also one of the best examples of a Ravenclaw. And I ain’t saying that just cuz I’m a Ravenclaw, Fundy is one of the most Ravenclaw characters out there. He’s creative, Clever, Spontaneous, Witty, Curious, Sharp, and a real trickster. The idea of Ravenclaws being the goody two shoes kids that always does their school work is just false, we never do our Homework and instead sit and read about things we find interesting, and Fundy is a good example of that. Also he was quite the eager learner during the Dreamon Hunters arc, which again is a good example of a Ravenclaw. So if Ranboo is the by the book Hufflepuff, then Fundy is the by the book Ravenclaw.

Dreamwastaken

I’m pretty sure it’s confirmed that Dream is actually a Slytherin, and I ain’t arguing with that. This boy is cunning, sly, a leader, traditional, Self-Preserving, and a master with words. There is not much more to say here, apart from the fact that Slytherins main colour is literally green, so it all checks out, this boy is a snake.

George Lore

Mr not found over here really is hard to pinpoint down, simply because his main character trait is his apathy, which isn’t really a trait for any of the houses. I was discussing this one with my girlfriend, and both of us were pretty clueless of what to do with him. I was thinking if Hufflepuff since they take the ones that don’t fit anywhere else, but then I was reminded of the most recent Dream XD stream, which showed us one thing, and that is that George is clever, observant, and Sharp Minded, all the traits of a Ravenclaw. Sure, he could also be Slytherin as he was both cunning and sly as well, but I think Ravenclaw fits him more personally.

Sappitus Nappitus Boyhalo

Finally we have another Gryffindor, there’s been a serious lack of them on the list. My man is a fighter, he’s bold, he’s brave, he’s passionate, he’s confident, and he doesn’t really think that much of the consequences of his actions (Cough the pet war cough), so yeah this boy a lion.

Punz

Ah, Punzie, the mercenary themself. Tbh, I know very little about them because Punz don’t get involved that much in lore unless they are hired for something. I mean, they were in the eggpire, but even then they were barely involved, which is sad cuz I like Punz. But what we have seen of Punz is that they are someone who does not care about you or what you want, as long as you pay them. They are power hungry and self preserving, which means that I have to put them in Slytherin.

Jack Thunder1408 TV Manifold

The boy who I can’t help but be sympathetic towards. Jack is also a hard character to pin point because of the reason that he’s gone through quite the development. Jackie boy is a very broken character that has literally been through hell, so it’s hard to properly sort him. He’s quite confident and clever, yet cunning and resourceful, so for me it’s either Slytherin or Gryffindor. But I do lean towards Gryffindor more, partly because of his stubbornness and gullibility, and part because of all the fire imagery that’s associated with him. I mean, the cc described him as burning inside, he’s been through the scape of fire and death, and he burnt his nation to the ground. In case you didn’t know, Fire is the element of Gryffindor, so yeah, another red and gold boy.

JSchlatt

Schlatt is as both charming, charismatic and calm in the early days, using subtle manipulation tactics to get his way and achieve ultimate power. He’s ambitious, narcissistic, cunning, and tyrannical, while still hiding it all behind a facade of smiles and waves. He could also be both cruel and irresponsible at times, aka the time he had an underage child drink during an event, but ya know, mistakes. So all in all, I think it’s pretty clear that he’s a Snakey boy.

QuackityHQ

As much as I love CC!Quackity, I also fucking hate him because of the many, many different directions he’s taken this character which makes it possible for him to fit in literally any of the houses. The duckie is both Chaotic and lawful, he’s both friendly and hostile, he’s a smart cookie and a fucking dumbass, so like bruh. But, I’m gonna have to go with how he is now, which is manipulative, power hungry, cruel, and strong willed. Aka, another Slytherin.

Karl Jacobs

Finally, a character that is not broken down to the point of barely making out a readable personality. Karl is a kind and funny person, who is very open to new people considering how often he gives tours to visitors and new people, and he is quite literally loosing himself traveling through time in an attempt to help people. Hufflepuff

Awesamdude

This one I know will be controversial, but I’m saying Hufflepuff on him. Sam is one of the best cases of the Hufflepuff loyalty, literally letting both Tommy and Ghostbur be stuck and ultimately die in the prison just so he wouldn’t risk Dream breaking out. Before that point he was very kind and gentle towards Tommy, literally building a robot to keep him safe and take care of him. Sam nook is a reflection of Sam’s feelings towards Tommy, and they are kind and gentle.

Dropsbyponk

Ughhhh, another tough one. Ponk is a chaotic being who is mostly neutral in conflicts, but is shown to be very open about their feelings towards those they care about, like Sam or Foolish. They seem to be have strong feelings in what they believe in, and can be a bit brash sometimes, not really caring about the consequences of their actions, which is what makes me say Gryffindor for them.

Badboyhalo

Our favorite muffin demon. I assume, I don’t know what life you live. Anyways, Bad is like the stereotypical Hufflepuff. The kindhearted, well meaning, sweet, responsible Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuff that’s like in all of those incorrect quotes blogs and “Slytherin and Hufflepuff friendships uwu” posts. But for real, Bad is very Hufflepuff. He does however have Slytherin Loyalty, considering he pretty much sacrificed the entire server for Skeppy, but if you would try to convince me that Bad is a Slytherin I will just laugh at you

Skeppy

It was at this point I realized what I’ve gotten myself into with this post, which you know, not fun. Skeppy is both cocky and filled with energy, with a real ambition to cause chaos. He’s also shown to be willing to sacrifice himself for the person he loves, Bad, when he gave himself up to the egg. I’ve seen some people say Slytherin, but I’m kinda getting Gryffindor from the lad, so yeah, another lion.

Antfrost

Frosty here is a kind hearted person that for the most part seem to be along for the ride. He reminds me a bit of a parent of toddlers, with his patience and serenity towards the more chaotic people on the server, so of course my natural instinct is Hufflepuff. Buuuuut, then there’s again the issue with the egg and the Slytherin loyalty, this time towards his boyfriend Velvet who he was willing to join a cult for (relationship goals) but again, you can’t really say Ant is a Slytherin considering how wrecked he was about what he did while in the eggpire when he was released from it’s grasp. So yeah, Puffle boy

Captain Puffy

Oh captain my captain, you are such a Gryffindor. And some of you may disagree on that, stating that she’s a Hufflepuff or something (I did research before this to check what other people think, I know) but naaah, she a lion. Puffy is very motherly and protective towards other people on the server, especially the minors, but in the way that a Bear is protective towards its cub, which is gentle towards them but fierce towards others. Puffy also falls natural in the role of a leader as seen with Pro-Omelette, but that is kinda expected since she’s a past Pirate Captain. But she wasn’t the leader she was supposed to be, as she waited quite a while to act against the eggpire out of fear of hurting her friends, which lead to quite the damage towards the rest of the server. She’s also been shown to act on impulse, killing Antfrost and taking one of his lives after he killed her son. Idk if this is a good explanation of why I believe Puffy to be a Gryffindor, it sounds more like I’m claiming her to be a Slytherin or Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor I promise!

Foolish Gamers

Foolish is a kind and friendly being, if not a bit naive and easily distracted. He’s also not the brightest person, in fact I’d go as far as to call the guy a Himbo, and he can be a bit skittish sometimes if he’s stressed or haven’t taken a break in a while. But despite it all, the guy is someone who’s creative and hard working, with a brilliant mind for his building. The man is an artist who can get grumpy if you suppress his creative aura, and put his heart and soul into his works. He also has a habit of getting wrapped up in big projects, and ignoring sleep or personal care until he’s finished them. This all leads me to say that Mr Gamers is a Ravenclaw, just not the smartest one. But hey, we can’t all be geniuses, can we.

Slimecicle

Slime is very naive and very trusting towards people around him, taking every word they say as a fact. He can also be a bit dark and ominous at times, but quickly shakes it off as nothing important. This all makes him quite childish, which is very hard to sort, so I’m gonna say Hufflepuff for his friendliness and move on.

Purpled Bedwars

I actually started loving this guy the minute I saw him, purely because Purple is my favorite colour, like my man has taste. Purpled, like Punz, is a guy who helps whoever pays him the most. He’s not interested in most things on the server, too busy looking out for number one (And Dogchamp of course). He’s very self reliant and resourceful, but still quite passive. He may not be the most ambitious guy, but Purpled is definitely a Slytherin (It also brings me and my girlfriend Serotonin knowing that the mercenary siblings are both in the same house, we love those two)

Hannahxxrose

I don’t watch Hannah that much, but god I love her voice, it makes my lesbian little heart happy. Hannah is a friendly person who is very naive about the conflicts on the server, thinking it all can can be solved by placing a rose (God I wish). She’s a good decorator and a good hearted person, who unfortunately fell victim to the egg’s influence. I’m going with Hufflepuff on her, but I’m honestly not entirely sure as I don’t know that much about her.

HBomb94

H is a very well meaning person that only really wants people to be friendly towards each other. He had a strict moral code and he keeps to it, as shown where Fundy tried to get his help with blowing shit up. He’s very helpful to those who ask and is willing to back up his friends when it’s needed, which makes me say that the friendly totally not dirty cat maid is a Hufflepuff.

Connoreatspants

I just want you all to know that I’m writing this before Connor’s lore stream that surely will just go against everything I say because fate hates me, just so ya know. Connor is not a person that does stuff on the server with lore and he for the most part keeps to himself, so this is a bit hard. Connor also has this thing where he likes to say things just to confuse him, and also making a bit of cursed lore, but he’s still a fairly humble person. He does lie and steal a bit, and has this habit of moving into other people’s houses, but I digress. I’m actually leaning towards Ravenclaw on him, for some reason, so that’s what I’m going with until I have more of an established character.

ItsAlyssa

I know she has left the server and stuff, but she was one of the original members so it would be a crime not to include her. Alyssa is a bit chaotic, often going on killing sprees, or burning down the trees outside of L’Manburg. So I’m placing Alyssa in Gryffindor, but to be honest I don’t really know at this point.

Callahan

How do you sort a person who does not speak, stream, or show like anything of his personality? The answer is, you don’t. Hufflepuff is the house of those who don’t fit in anywhere else, and that’s where I’m placing him.

Vikkstar123

Please log onto the server I’m begging you, I didn’t watch you as a kid and honestly know nothing about you. From what I’ve seen of Vik he’s a very humble person that tries to stay out of it all, instead forming a land together with his bro Lazar. Honestly my instincts say Ravenclaw and I trust my instincts, so I’m putting him in Ravenclaw

Lazarbeam

Lazar was actually a big part of the exile arc which I realized after already have written his, so now I gotta rewrite it. Lazar is fairly ambitious on the server, and has the goal to obtain the most powerful objects on the server just to rival the other strong members of the smp. He’s especially against Tommy, and aims to do a lot to be the opposite of him, aka well respected and not a war criminal that got exiled (Totally fair goal). Despite that, he was able to show some empathy to the British child, even going as far as to give him a disk during his exile. This all makes me say Slytherin on him.

Michaelmcchill

Newest boy. Michael is a very apathetic person, showing little to no empathy towards most people’s trauma on the server. The person he does feel empathy for however is Dream, who of course did nothing wrong and is locked up in the prison which is just horrible oh no. Michael just truly does not care about what you’ve been through (as of now) which is why I’m gonna say Slytherin, because he does have Slytherin loyalty towards Mr Was Taken.

TL;DR

Tommy-Lion

Wilbur-Snake

Tubbo-Eagle

Techno-Eagle

Philza-Snake

Ranboo-Badger

Eret-Snake

Nikki-Badger

Fundy-Eagle

Dream-Snake

George-Eagle

Sapnap-Lion

Punz-Snake

Jack-Lion

Schlatt-Snake

Quackity-Snake

Karl-Badger

Sam-Badger

Ponk-Lion

Bad-Badger

Skeppy-Lion

Antfrost-Badger

Puffy-Lion

Foolish-Eagle

Slime-Badger

Purpled-Snake

Hannah-Badger

HBomb-Badger

Connor-Eagle

Alyssa-Lion

Callahan-Badger

Vik-Eagle

Lazar-Snake

Michael-Snake

So all together we have Seven lions, Ten Snakes, Seven Eagles and Ten Badgers. I think that’s fair tbh

[warnadudenexttime]

Ok so swap aus, love them whole lot!!

Like personality swaps are interesting but the thing that gives sanders sides an edge to swap aus is the idea of the sides swapping traits!

Obvs dark side light side swaps are neat as well but that’s a whole other discussion so

Because I am a hoe for my ships ( that being moceit, analogical, Platonic/brotherly creativitwins ) let’s start off with the concept of

Logan - anxiety

Virgil - logic

Patton - deception

Janus - morality

Remus - light creativity

Roman - dark creativity

Now it’s important to note that listen you rarely see this type of swap, I’ve never seen it atleast??

It’s mostly logicality prinxiety swaps and I get the appeal they’re opposites, so it causes conflict, Same with Logince and moxiety is also a common swap

However!! I do have some ideas :D it’s not a fully fleshed out idea but still a concept!!

Commonly enough when people switch traits for the sides they honestly dont keep a lot of what that side was. For example patton is a hyper, kind hearted sad dad when anxiety he just loses that and just acts like a droopy Virgil yk yk?

So we are gonna try and preserve those personalities without making them not fit for the trait entirely, meaning we may have to exaggerate some details about them

For example:

Canonly, Patton can sometimes be manipulative so we may have to heighten that up a bit, stuff like that

So back on topic

I think we should still keep C!thomas the same, atleast in the beginning of me writing this, we work around the idea of him staying the same as canon and from there we can change him as needed

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Logan as anxiety

- a bit more confident as hes listened too more than logic!logan sadly enough

- I’d say hes a lot more open about his more negative emotions, while he does try and to still not show them his anger does slip out a bit much whenever he feels like his points are gonna get thomas killed, lmao insert tempest tongue falsehood joke here

- he’d have the look more that of a tired professor

- wrinkled black button up, he’d have a purple tie. Instead of just like makeup eye shadow, he’d have actual eye bags

- probably kept C!thomas up through many college and school nights for studying

- is always anxious YouTube is gonna fail and regrets not putting up more effort for Thomas to go into his chemical engineering degree

- obvs cause I’m an analogical hoe I’ll sneak this in, Logan really does like virgil as virgil too values thomas’ education and just kinda sits there while Logan angrily rants every single possibility of what could go wrong today

- “and there’s a highly probable statistic that we could end up dying participating in this activity! 75%, virgil!!”

- I think when overwhelmed with his mind racing through probabilities he’d end up messing with or loosening his tie, cleaning his glasses a lot, or chewing on the end of his sleeves

- I think he accidentally blurts out a lot of words especially when he’s trying to hold in his anger, like “THATS A BAD IDEA” then slaps his hands over his mouth and just kinda says, “apologies... I need to stop my sudden outbursts as they’re becoming a frequent problem” and hey the outbursts getting even more worse and uncontrollable could lead to Logan doing an ol duck like in AA

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patton as deception

- I think I myself would love a dark side who comes in sickeningly sweet but has “darker” intentions I suppose?

- I think Janus wouldn’t like Patton in the start because he knows how easily manipulated C!thomas can be and to see a seemingly innocent dad try and push some morals on you, he’s cautious

- so Patton when he first appears doesn’t hide himself like Janus did behind a disguise... well sort of?

- he comes in dressed as his outfit in the series, maybe throughout the whole time he’s redirecting the conversation in his favor so no one reveals him, which we’ve seen canon Patton do a good job of being able to distract the sides from fighting so we can say he has that ability himself as well

- maybe like Janus he can stop people from saying words he doesn’t want thomas to know, or well thomas himself doesn’t wanna know

- but instead of the obvious slams hand over mouth it’s more like, Virgil speaks up saying “Thomas, It would probably help you to know that, Patton isn’t exactly-“ and maybe either he tries to finish his sentence and can’t speak, he just lets out air instead of a noise. Or forgets what he was talking about all together, another form of misdirection?

- patton’s whole thing is he came up here, dressed in his lil innocent dad outfit, being sweet as all hell “kiddo, I heard about a certain show you messed of Joan’s? Now we don’t joan hating us do we? We love Joan to death and we wouldn’t wanna hurt them! Can you imagine the look on their face?” Which Janus just says, “are you asking him to lie? You and I both have the understanding that Joan hates being lied to.”

- patton’s like “ehhh I know, but I think saving the relationship is more important! We don’t know if telling the truth could end up hurting Joan more then just a small fib?”

- so blah blah Patton is revealed

- his cardigan is back to his cat hoodie which is the black variety, instead maybe tied around his waist? He could have fingerless gloves that kinda look like cat

- paws? Like, he’s the unlucky black cat. He doesn’t have snake makeup but maybe he has sharps canines/fangs like cats do. And maybe we could keep the polo just make it yellow? Not sure though, but I do wanna have his lil logo go from just a blue heart when first shown to a yellow one with it like, being broken with a claw mark, like someone tore through it

- and why he chose to come in blue in the first place maybe he wanted to show thomas he was similar to Janus or maybe he has a crush on Janus? 👀👀 who’s to say

- but he’s revealed and just ahHhwhaj OH NO THE CAT PUNS, “apawogies Thomas for deceiving you a bit there, I was just trying to help make sure joan is feline good in the end! I do think you should really reconsider- meow I better get on my way then ol’ creativity needs some pasta. Keep my ideas in mind kiddo!” Then leaves lmao

- and that could be a solid set up for Thomas to be like- wait is there two creativities? Yk yk

- I do have some ideas for how svs and svs redux could go but yeah

- overall Janus, not really that known for having an animal trait as much as Patton and Roman but Janus could turn into a snake for svs redux-

I’m getting a head of myself lol

- point is, lmao- Patton’s animal trait is a cat

- he’s still kind? He can be a bit more pushy then canon Patton. But his first method is always just a gentle nudge and, “oh come on kiddo, I think your father would probably agree with me on this one”

- he’s not so much for thomas’ self  preservation as more so he pushes thomas to help his friends and because he wants to make sure thomas looks good enough for them so they’ll stay he ends up pushing for lying

I have some more ideas for the other sides as well but just wanted to see what some thoughts are before I keep on developing this :D

[zeta-in-de-walls]

Post discussing C!dream’s future storyline and the perils and pitfalls in what they have to do next

Okay guys, let’s not be in denial here. Wilbur’s stream brought up some challenging questions about C!Dream’s imprisonment. He’s had no proper trial and it seems like everyone’s been content to leave him to rot forever. Sure, most of the server witnessed his punishment and offered no dissent but even so, he’s been in there a long time now and it’s incredibly uncomfortable. 

But we are facing a dilemma given how dangerous Dream still is to the characters on the server. The prison was not so much intended to punish Dream so much as hold him secure so he is no longer a threat to the rest of the server. And that’s still important. After all, it’s very possible he’ll resume his former actions once he’s freed. 

This is a difficult quandary to solve. And I’ll be discussing narratively how I could see the story trying to resolve these issues. I wouldn’t say there’s a correct way to go from here, so I’ll just discuss what would be most satisfying in terms of the story’s narrative for me. 

Now firstly, Dream in s2 was abusive specifically towards Tommy. This was explored in great detail in his story arc with Tommy’s character taking the time to show how his character had been traumatised by his actions and explored some very dark themes such as suicidal thoughts which is treated very seriously. This story contained some very powerful messages and I hope these don’t get tarnished by treating Dream’s character too sympathetically - potentially risking uncomfortable messages suggesting because your abusers are people too you should forgive them if they act sorry (this is uncomfortable given how their relationship was shown to be toxic with scenes like Dream insisting he was Tommy’s friend while isolating and hurting him.) Whatever happens, under no circumstances would I be comfortable in any way with Tommy and Dream ever becoming friends again. Same with Tubbo. This should never be presented as good. I want Tommy’s healing arc to continue with him moving on and living his life without letting Dream ever have any more power over him. 

But also, Dream continuing to stay in prison is not acceptable, especially with the narrative beginning to question it. Likewise his character has been tortured in prison. That is terrible and deserves to be shown as very wrong and for there to be some catharsis in the form of Quackity’s eventual defeat. Ideally, it’d be good if Dream was some way involved in this as Quackity’s primary victim. 

It’s gonna have to be a delicate balance to make things work. I don’t really think a straightforward redemption arc is really feasible or that desirable for Dream’s character. His story is a tragedy of a once decent character and his fall and I think it’d be best to lean into those elements rather than pushing for the idea he might change and become better especially after the torture, the god complex he’s developed and the letting go of all his love and attachments. But you can still work with what you got and continue exploring the tragedy and give him a cathartic ending. 

My ideas would have him be released from the prison - maybe under some sort of house arrest deal where he has a lot more freedom but he’s still being watched heavily while he helps with taking down Quackity. (Obvs in minecraft anything less secure than pandoras’ vault would be easily escapable but we’ll say roleplay wise that Dream is out but effectively being watched over such that he isn’t able to go out and kill any kids.) 

Dream wouldn’t exactly be a good guy, but it’ll be a bit of an enemy of my enemy situation where the others convince him to play nice if they let him have his revenge on Quackity (and Sam too quite possibly). This gives him back a little agency and lets him get in some good fighting and might lead to some interesting interactions without forgetting that yeah he’s dangerous and deadly.

The easiest way to deal with his character is to end his story in some way after that. Maybe with him dying after being instrumental in defeating Quackity, giving him a somewhat sympathetic final death. Or have him leave the server forever in some sort of permanent banishment. I feel like it would be way harder to do the scenario of him living on the server as a free man once more. A definite conclusion would be better. 

Before Dream gets to this conclusion though, I’d also like some more closure with some of the other characters. I’m thinking something with Tommy to finally resolve him moving on with his life forever, finally free of Dream. Something with Ranboo to start tackling the enderboo stuff. Something with Wilbur to tackle his issues related to Dream. Ideally something with several other characters like his old friends Sapnap and Bad. 

There’s a lot of interesting stuff still to do with Dream, it just needs to be handled carefully given how seriously his season 2 arc was treated and the seriousness of the s3 stuff too actually. It’s difficult but should hopefully lead to a lot of conflict and excitement so long as they can manage the balance okay. 

If nothing else, he cannot stay in the prison much longer. His escape may be what kicks off the next (and maybe final) war. 

Anyway those are some of my thoughts! I’m sure its obvious but I’m a Tommy fan first and so I really, really want his character to continue to be handled respectfully above all. But I also find Dream very interesting and the narrative is only going to start questioning Dream’s imprisonment more and more until its finally resolved one way or another. This limbo will end and I hope it does it well. 

[hesitationss]

in a no eugenics, no racist, no poverty, no foster care abuse, no neglect, no oppression world, assisted death before lethal illness with a death date would be alright (compassionate end of life care). but currently it is easier to get medical assistance in dying (3 month wait time) than affordable housing (impossible) or a healthy stable job. and the federal government is currently discussing expanding assisted death for “mature” minors. they want to kill racialized and disabled poor kids basically or let their parents consent on their behalf. this is a country where indigenous women simultaneously are coerced into sterilization procedure, and coerced into not having abortions (also eugenics and white supremacy). so obv the government for sure is going to use this to kill disabled ppl and esp to take advantage of racialized children they stole from their parents in the first place! medical assistance in death is just medical speak for eugenics atp!!

[like-that-one-weird-dog-thing]

If I Could Burn This Down

[1] . . . [2] . . . [3] . . . [4] . . . [5] . . .

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Ok no, but I just have to rant on this. It’s been consuming my thoughts y’all, I just can’t stop thinking about it all.

So, this is about the Dream SMP- I recently got introduced to it through some friends and the animatics by SAD-ist were really what sold me to it. I’ve been trying to catch up on it all(god, it’s so good but also such a mess, I don’t think I’d have it any other way) and I just. So many thoughts y’all.

That ending tho, y’all that’s really what started this train of thought. It was so good. Like, I’ve seen quite a few posts on why it was predictable, not the unexpected twist Dream promised, and just. Not that good of an ending and honestly that’s a matter of opinion so I shouldn’t really care(and I don’t. much) but I still want to rant on the direct opposite side because fuck it I have thoughts!!!

obv spoilers for recent dream smp actions

tw for discussion of death in-universe and indirect discussion of suicidal ideation/possible intention

boi did I not think I’d add those tws to a post about a minecraft rp server of all things, but here I am

stay safe y’all

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This will mostly be on Willbur’s decent, for those wondering, because it’s just. there’s so many things to that ok. I just, this is just gonna be a ramble, just for me to get my thoughts out there.

So, I’ve seen a lot of things about Willbur- his decent into madness being the main thing. Mostly, it all seems to boil down to one thing- his desire for power and his view of Tommy being what led to him, well, blowing up L’manburg. But I personally don’t see that as the full story. Sure, it’s part of it, but it just feels incomplete to me. What would kickstart it? how would he go from adoring Tommy and only wanting L’manburg so that Tommy could be safe, to blowing it all up and betraying Tommy?

How could he go from that to doing the one thing that would hurt Tommy the most?

I personally think the answer is simple. Tommy said it in his recent stream, welcoming ConnerEatsPants to the server, after all. 

Trauma makes people vulnerable.

And Willbur has gone through a lot of trauma.

So, quite a bit of this depends on your view of how the world works. I don’t know if it’s ever been stated as cannon, but the deaths are specifically what I’m talking about.

They die so so much, after all. How does the work in-world? are they actually dying, and there’s a respawn function to the world(as in, it’s been a fact of life in-universe that you can die and come back) or do they just get injured, as a number of animatics/animations have chosen to depict it as? Are they being dragged back home by their comrades, fatally injured, just to heal?

Personally, I don’t see that likely as the in-universe explanation. They come back, after all. Come back and continue fighting, minutes after they’re killed. You can’t just use injuries as an excuse there, to explain it away.

So, I’ll follow this along with the ‘respawn exists’ assumption. Still, that brings up more questions. How did Willbur and JSchlatt permanently die, then? do you have to die in such a traumatizing way(your father killing you, all the people who may have once been your friends cornering you to kill you as your hopped up on drugs) that you no longer want to go back? That something deep inside you snaps and your connection to this world breaks, or is it something else? Does someone else pull the strings?

Is Dream the one, in-universe, to decide when you can respawn and when you die permanently? He’s closest thing to a god they have, after all, with access to creative mode and final say over the lands- the true ruler of the world. Is it him?

And still, there’s more questions. What is it like? How does it feel? is the corpse left there, or does it just disappear, leaving your stuff behind? maybe your body crumbles to dust, maybe it fades away before your eyes

Is dying just like Willbur described? Nothingness until you awake, only a taste of true death, a few seconds to experience it, to make you fear it? Is the pain all in the before, or do you feel in the after too, phantom aches and pains as you go about your life, the time you died a memory forever haunting you?

Does the end of your life hurt? Do you feel yourself being brought back to life? Does that hurt?

No matter what you decide, the fact of the matter is, it’s all still traumatizing. Being injured severely enough that you have to drop all your items and flee to heal up, or dying from those that you are always forced to interact with- it leaves a mark. Your left different than you were before. And other people can take advantage of this.

Who fed into all of Willbur’s manic thoughts, who fed into his idea that he was all alone? Him against the world, no one safe anymore. Who let him rot in those ideas?

Dream.

He did, afterall, give him the gunpowder for his eleven and a half stacks of tnt. He made a deal with him, that no matter what, even if he won, even if Willbur took L’manburg back, even if he became president and could make a safer place for them all, make a safer place for Tommy, even then.

The place would be blown sky. high.

He feeds into Willbur’s ideas, his thoughts, he eggs him on and pushes him forward(there is a traitor among you, one that you least expect). What if Dream was the one who ruined Willbur’s button, the first time? Trying to keep him tagging along, trying to drag him through the dirt to really show him, this is how it is, you are alone, no where is safe- no one is safe, everyone is against you. Dream is a sort of god, in the server. The land is his. He wouldn’t want L’manburg to stand, and he would want the one who had started it thoroughly against the rebuilding of it, before he had it destroyed. It would be a blow to morale, after all, for their leader to no longer believe in the dream that he’d once had. It would sow doubt, would make them think maybe, maybe it wasn’t a good idea, Willbur made it and he’s against it now.

They think he’s gone mad, true, but that doesn’t change that fact that Willbur started L’manburg. If the stress of it all was enough to make him lose it, couldn’t the others too?

Maybe it’s not worth it.

He destroyed it.

And here’s the thing, when Phil shows up?

It feels like a catalyst. A kick, a shove. Whatever you want to call it.

One last push by Dream, to force Willbur to do it. 

Before, it follows. Willbur rants, he panics, he shakes. He stresses over it all, stares at that damn button. He made a deal, but should he really do it?

Tommy tried to give him the Presidency, tried to give him the power, a sign of trust. Surely, if Tommy trusted him after all that he’s done to him...

Surely, he can back away. Not ruin it.

Right?

He hesitates.

Then Phil comes. His father. He tries to talk him out of it, tries to get him to see sense. But in the end?

He’s the one final thing that Willbur needed to see, before his resolve hardened. Before the ache settled solid and true.

(Phil is panicking, and Willbur sees it. 

He doesn’t trust him either, does he?)

Willbur is alone, and everyone is against him.

He hits the button.

See, the compound of events, the repeated deaths(injuries) he’s suffered all throughout his life, the war, they all add up. Whether death hurts or not doesn’t matter in the end, whether they’re dying or not doesn’t matter, because it all still hurts. The before hurts.

And you can only be hurt so many times before you can’t stand to be hurt anymore.

L’manburg caused Willbur so much hurt. The war, the suffering- it wouldn’t have happened without L’manburg.

All that was left for him was hurt, and all he wanted was for that hurt to leave.

With L’manburg in ruins behind him(he survived the blast, did he intend to? He never wore armor), Willbur demands for Phil to kill him. His father.

He doesn’t beg. He’s desperate, it’s obvious by the way he slams his fist down as he screams for it, but he doesn’t beg.

Instead, he eggs Phil on.

Just what Dream did to him.

He throws his arms towards L’manburg, shoves it into Phil’s face, makes him look.

Willbur did that. He is the cause. Phil should kill him, everyone wants him to.

It was just Willbur. Just Willbur, Willbur and all his hurt, just him against the world.

No one was on his side and he was alone.

Willbur works to anger Phil. Instead of begging for death he demands it and throws his sword at his father’s feet. He forces him to make a choice. Him or the world, because that was what it really was. 

Willbur was alone. Him against the world. Would Phil choose him?

Look at me, it seems to scream, look at me and what I’ve done, look at the hurt I’ve now caused.

Where do you stand?

In the end, even if later, Phil seems to be good friends with Techno(another traitor, the traitors Techno Phil, it’s Techno, Phil, it’s Techno and he’s got eight whithers ready to go, you better hurry, run along now, before it’s too late), even if he doesn’t want to...

He chooses the world.

Phil kills Willbur, and Willbur gets to escape the hurt.

Is that what he wanted all along? Is that were his madness stems? The hurt of a boy watching children fight in a war, the hurt of a boy watching what is basically his brother fight and die over and over and over again, all for an idea he’d had...

Is that where it begins? Or where it ends?

L’manburg, the start and the end?

L’manburg, his symphony of hope, with a finale of agony.

It’s a predictable ending, maybe, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t fit. Techno may have been obvious, but that doesn’t mean there might not have been hope for otherwise, hope for a better future, hope for him to change his mind and hope for his affection for them to overrule his opinions and values of government.

I wonder, did Tommy ever see Techno and think of Willbur?

Did Willbur ever see Techno and think of Tommy?

Two siblings, seeing something that could have been(Tommy, lets be the bad guys) and something that will never be(Willbur, do you hear yourself?)

I wonder, did Willbur ever even give real thought to how the destruction of L’manburg would hurt Tommy? Did he?

Or was he too wrapped up in his thoughts, his own pain. Too wrapped up in the thoughts fed by Dream and the ideas burning through his skin.(the button might not even work -do you want to risk that?) 

Through it all, did he think?

And this is not to say that Willbur is absolved of his guilt, of the crimes he has committed. He giggles about Techno killing Tubbo, he pushes for Tommy and Techno to fight in a pit, where Tommy is almost certainly going to die(another death added to hundreds of tallies), and he laughs as they fight.

(It stays in the pit)

He is not innocent. Explainations for his actions don’t erase those actions. It does, however bring even more questions into the mix.

The Pit.

Techno and Willbur’s views on Tubbo’s death(I was peer pressured), Tommy’s refusal to accept that then accepting his own death at Techno’s hands.

Has it become trivial to Willbur and Techno? An expectation to Tommy? Is Tubbo really unfazed, or hiding any emotions over his death? Do you choose to believe he died, or that he was injured to near death by Techno? Which is worse? If death is nothingness, the pain of before gone, washed away, than isn’t it better to die then to be injured? Is Tommy upset about Tubbo learning once more what death is, dealing with the pain of the before, or is he mad that Techno didn’t finish the job and let Tubbo be healed instead of respawned?

Did he die, or just get injured?

Another thought on the broken button, was it Dream, or was it Willbur? Willbur, doing one last thing to try and cling to him life before.(surely, if he broke the button, the urge to run to it would leave him?) Did he ever regret it, when he finally did push it? I don’t think so

His ghost.

Is it the escape he wanted? Did he want to forget it all, everything that led to hurt and was hurt? Is his description of death just what he wanted- wished- it to be? Would it be different for someone else? Does he hate it? Crave to go back to it, to leave the wandering of the world he’s left behind? He’s said he’s wanted to come back to life- does he miss it? Can he feel any of it? The sunlight, the air around him, any of it? Or does the nothingness stick? Is that all he feels?

Does it ache, worse than living ever did?

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