#happy meat farms spoilers

[mduhgv-erbzlih]

don't feed the muse

[cagneyblooms]

you can kill me for this opinion, but confession: i.. kinda/really dislike h0027s design

[vamporphyric]

bonding

[kingsdodecahedron]

drew IT

[ultra-phthalo]

Oh? A fanfic for Skybound already? Color me intrigued

I know right, the comics are so good I couldn't help it :D The Soot Water fic is short and was based on the issue 8 preview. I read the preview and wanted to write a character who survived the attack on the battleship. Thundercracker did a little act of kindness and it just ended up being pointless. So I wanted one character to survive and at least remember that small act he had done. I've fully written it. But need to check out how the life rafts work and if you can easily carry deflated raft around a ship. And also read the issue 8 story to know more about the situation. And yeah there will be blood and death mention in the one shot. Yup... Was also listening to Happy Meat Farm music while writing it. Good music for a terrifying situation.

[eventideluminary-games]

https(:)//www(.)tumblr(.)com/eventideluminary-games/738427285207728128/ask-game-for-someones-ocs?source=share

Is it possible to have🍕❤️🌂🍎🧠💎💀🎓 for everyone including yourself? Please -sarah

Sure! I wasn't sure if by 'yourself' you meant me, as the writer, or the MC, so I just went with MC since I'm not really an OC LMAO

Ask Game for the ROs (and the MC!)

Alceste

🍕 - Alceste's favorite food is probably some kind of roasted game-y meat dish. Think like venison or pheasant.

❤️ - Probably when he went to the Shorelands with his family after Orin was born. He had begged his mothers to take him and his sisters to the Shorelands and they said no, but after Orin was born, they surprised him and his sisters and took them there.

🌂 - I was going to say romance, maybe, but decided against it. He's right where he should be.

🍎 - Fantastic. Claudia and Regina are great mothers to Alceste and his siblings.

🧠 - He's so nuanced, he honestly seems to have a life of his own! Every time I sit down to write him, I learn more about him that I didn't even know about LMAO!

💎 - Maybe if there's demand for a sequel, but not in the first book.

💀 - Snakes. Alceste HATES snakes.

🎓- About... a month or so? He's newer than some of the other characters!

Larisilla

🍕 - Fruity Chocolatey Desserts. Larisilla has a horrible sweet tooth, probably worse than Enyo!

❤️ - When her mother got her her first sword. Larisilla was probably about 12 and she was so happy.

🌂 - Something that involves fighting. A more serious fantasy with more fighting would be ideal.

🍎 - Larisilla and Eunomia get along fantastically. Larisilla and Deimus? Bad. Horrible. 0/10.

🧠 - She's easy to write. Writing for her is so smooth it's like water. Unfortunately, it's easier for me to write her than come up scenarios for her.

💎 - Haha, so... slight spoiler! Larisilla doesn't die, but you can lose her permanently from the group.

💀 - Spiders.

🎓- About the same time as Alceste. They were created together like the worst pair of twins to be thought of ever LMAO

Dionys

🍕 - Honestly, I'm not sure! I don't think Dionys has one.

❤️ - Graduating from the Hall of Scholars or becoming Head Scholar.

🌂 - Dionys would probably work better in a true mystery genre, but he's here so he just has to deal!

🍎 - Eh. Well enough. Dionys wasn't really raised by his parents, mainly his Aunt Erato, so they don't really have any relationship to speak of.

🧠 - Dionys is another interesting character to write!

💎 - Nope.

💀 - Dionys doesn't have any phobias, but he's easily grossed out.

🎓- A little less than Alceste and Larisilla. Probably only by like a week, though.

Somnia

🍕 - Somnia is a fan of any kind of cooking from her home village, specifically her mother's.

❤️ - Probably when her parents took her to go fishing! The Fieldlands sustain themselves on fishing and farming, so Somnia enjoyed the day out!

🌂 - Somnia probably belongs in a true fantasy romance genre.

🍎 - She had a wonderful relationship with her parents! She's still close with her mother!

🧠 - Not sure! She's different than the rest, so it's a bit harder to figure out!

💎 - I've considered it, but decided not to.

💀 - She doesn't really have any!

🎓- Around the same time as Dionys and the others.

Enyo

🍕 - Desserts. There's a reason their knives all are named after them.

❤️ - Probably when Meliae was nice and gave them an orange.

🌂 - I think Enyo's right where they should be!

🍎 - Enyo's relationship with Meliae and Phonus is bad, at best. They don't really view them as parents, but rather employers.

🧠 - Enyo's quite different than the other characters I've written before. I've never written a happy, excitable, childish character before!

💎 - Yes, but I don't. You do have the opportunity to lose Enyo from the group, but that happens at the end of Chapter 8.

💀 - No phobias, but a few fears.

🎓- Similar to the others!

MC

🍕 - Player determined

❤️ - Not sure! Definitely something to do with Adalia though!

🌂 - They're right where they should be!

🍎 - It's described in game, but MC gets along well with their father, but they had barely any relationship with their mother.

🧠 - Like Larisilla, writing for them comes very easily!

💎 - Yes, but I won't.

💀 - No phobias, just normal fears or icks

🎓- It must be at least 10 years now? LMAO! I've had this idea since I was a kiddo!

[angelcloves]

1, 2, 3, 6 (if you're comfortable with answering), 9, 10, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 27, 28, 36, 40, 48, 52, 53, 56, 59, and 60.

1 2 3 already answered

6 What are they like in the bedroom — well-rounded lover or wooden plank? - uhhhhh. well rounded. put lightly

9 Do they cheat to win or play by the rules? - camilla doesnt cheat because she feels like she doesnt have to but she supports eda in her cheating endeavors

10 What do they fantasize about? - how things would have been if she just wasnt born with the fabric of space bunched beneath her fingertips

15 How would they describe themselves? - plain and kind of boring. she tends to understate exactly what shes capable of for the sake of self preservation

16 How would others describe them? - i mean it depends on whos talking. eda views her as someone who is unflinchingly loyal and devoted to her friends. raine thinks shes the most powerful witch theyve ever met and eda is okay with this because shes also seen camilla at hexside and knows that like. yeah. camilla has a unique grasp on magic and it usually means she can outwit anyone with sheer versatility. but darius sees her and knows shes fronting. he knows shes a deeply afraid and insecure person who just wants to be plain and kind of boring

19 How’s their financial situation? - she lives in a wizard tower and farms her own food she needs no money where shes going

20 Who’s their go-to person for advice? - eda gives terrible advice but shes def coming to eda straight away

21 What’s one secret of theirs that could potentially ruin a relationship they have? - ... spoilers for sticks and stones

27 What’s their favorite genre of music? - classical!

28 Who, if anyone, do they dislike most? - i mean belos obviously but at the moment... probably raine. but thats more of an issue of liking the least right now

36 What’s their favorite thing about themselves? - she can cook a mean stew and it makes people happy. she likes it when she can make people happy

40 What do other people find annoying about them, if anything? - she downplays herself ALL THE TIME. and yknow. the whole working herself to death thing she has going on in s&s right now. just a general disregard for her own well being

48 Are they a good kisser? - the consensus among people shes kissed is that shes alright at kissing. she doesnt jam her tongue down throats but theres definitely some shy hesitance there

52 What’s their diet like? - home grown produce and meat she slaughtered herself. she cant stand store bought meat. its easier for her to handle if she gets to make sure her animals are well cared for and loved before being put down humanely and getting every last bone utilized in the cooking process. life is so sacred to her. she puts a lot of honor into what it means to die

53 If they could only eat one thing for the rest of their life, what would it be? - fried rice. shes putting that wok to good use

56 What do they smell like? - cherry blossoms and pink grapefruit of course

59 What motivates them? - the people around her for sure. she has a hard time committing to something if its only for her own benefit. she feels like she owes everyone she meets a debt just for existing

60 What are some of their simple pleasures? - sewing! shes loved to sew since day one so imagine my surprise when any sport aired and hunter started learning how to sew

[alalumin]

I posted 528 times in 2022

That's 509 more posts than 2021!

90 posts created (17%)

438 posts reblogged (83%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@icicledream

@broosepayne

@just-some-normal-jessica

@u3pxx

@alaluminy

I tagged 430 of my posts in 2022

Only 19% of my posts had no tags

#the owl house - 46 posts

#ace attorney - 45 posts

#txt - 36 posts

#stardew valley - 36 posts

#muse arg - 27 posts

#my art - 23 posts

#portal - 22 posts

#don't feed the muse - 17 posts

#happy meat farms - 13 posts

#toh spoilers - 12 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#it depends. if it's someone i know i speak with more confidence but if it's someone else i worry i'm not going to make sense and panic

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

147 notes - Posted November 29, 2022

#4

Mothman!

So I've been trying to post but I can't? Idk why

151 notes - Posted April 29, 2022

#3

See the full post

245 notes - Posted February 5, 2022

#2

See the full post

254 notes - Posted March 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Posting him separately as well because I can't, I love him too munch-I mean much

379 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

For context the longest tag is for the post were I spoke about how awkward I felt speaking english lmao

[youarentreadingthis]

I posted 52,545 times in 2022

631 posts created (1%)

51,914 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@eruthiawenluin

@oscillatedself

@elytrians

@autumn876

@unclefather

I tagged 7,085 of my posts in 2022

#hannibal - 791 posts

#ntn spoilers - 223 posts

#unreality - 161 posts

#the school for good and evil - 49 posts

#tsfgae - 47 posts

#the school for good and evil movie - 46 posts

#tsfgae movie - 43 posts

#sge - 38 posts

#lmao - 38 posts

#sge movie - 36 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#literally the author keeps emphasizing how red her hair is and my dumbass brain is like 'oh their name starts with e? they are now blonde :)

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

like i know it’s not the point but i NEED to know earth’s reaction to ryland sending the stuff they needed to save them all AND that ryland is alive with legit aliens. i NEED IT

99 notes - Posted March 1, 2022

#4

when silverborn comes out i’m injecting it into my veins

127 notes - Posted March 27, 2022

#3

ngl the videos that happy meat farms puts out.... those beats slap

184 notes - Posted January 30, 2022

#2

when you can’t sell an item to the bazaar

464 notes - Posted January 30, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

having the shot where we see aemma’s agony while being cut open without her consent and knowledge because viserys wants to have a son.... very good writing and acting

1,354 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[lenorethequietbookkeeper]

TW: Body horror (applied to an animal), gore, disturbing imagery, spoilers for Happy Meat Farms

-----

I noticed a lot of people couldn't get a good look at that one pig in the first experiemnt trial video, the one that's blurred for being "too graphic". So, being the curious cat I am, I got a screenshot of it from the video! Ain't it just a cutie!

Seriously, y'all gotta check this channel out, it's absolutely brilliant.

[mduhgv-erbzlih]

can anyone tell me what is going on in the third photo? i can't tell what's in it but it looks like there's a brain in the middle maybe. i've included some upscaled different versions if it helps.

it feels like one of those AI generated images where i can't identify anything but i don't think that's what it is. maybe i just need another pair of eyes on it and it's really obvious?? i can't tell, i've been trying to figure out what's going on in it for a while

source ^u^

additionally, the confusing image is called "modification3" with the eyes being "modification1" and the hands being "modification2"

[thestalkerbunny]

Naming

Fandom: Cult of the Lamb

Relationship: The Lamb x The One Who Waits/Nanrinder

Tags: nsfw implied/referenced, the horrible horrible domestication of Nanrinder, the results of being nsfw with each other being that of having children and being in the family way, Post Game Spoilers, Slight End Game Spoilers, just covering my bases

Summary: Lamb and Nanrinder have a conversation regarding names for their future children.

Nanrinder swore as his fingers slipped and the stem of yet another Camilla flower broke in half and was rendered useless under his grasp. He tossed the mashed stem and the now ruined flower head to the growing pile and plucked another from the shrinking bouquet pile. The spring day was crisp and clean. The air was fresh, white fluffy clouds peppering the sky without the slightest threat of rain. Insects of all kinds flitted around the wildflowers that grew untamed on the.....Well Nanrinder wasn't quite sure what to call where he now lived with Lamb and dozens of the Lamb's devotees, Acolytes, Priests and Followers. A community, he would assume. Compound seemed too harsh a word and village didn't quite fit as it lacked any real democracy outside of Lamb's odd gentle totalitarian theocratic rule. Yes. Flowers grew wild within the Community, dotting along the paths, by the houses; only absent near the little farm that kept them all fed when meat grew thin and rare. 

Many of the acolytes of the cult wandered about, it had been a decree of rest for the day. Such simple minded creatures needed to be told to take a break-some of them had come from Groups where the idea of being idle was considered a heretical offense and would choose to work themselves to death. Many sat in little groups chatting away with gossip, some kept company of their own just enjoying the sun and day, a few newly started families fussed over one another in the early bliss of marriage or courtship.

Nanrinder felt no desire to sit among them and chatter away like squirrels. Nothing they said he could ever relate to. Unsure if something they said was to be smiled at or laughed about. Sitting in silence listening and growing restless and uncomfortable. He spent far too long sitting in silence to just be spending his time here doing it all again in an attempt to be social. And then there was the matter of the looks on their faces. He could see their discomfort with him regardless of what he did. If he tried to smile, it felt forced and strained because he didn't FEEL happy among them and they became uncomfortable. When he let his face rest, he apparently seemed annoyed or angry and they became distressed, assuming they did something wrong; upsetting or offending him. They only tolerated him and his presence among them as he was Lamb's husband. It would be rude-offensive-even heretical to object to someone 'Glorious Leader Lamb' had chosen to be their life long companion and spouse.

They would never deny him.

But he knew they wished they could.

So he kept to himself. It wasn't uncommon apparently. Some members just liked their own company. A few had been in such crowded cults that privacy was a fantastic dream and the idea of quiet was a wish that would never come true. Nanrinder didn't want to be alone. He spent so long being alone. He wanted to be among people. He tried. He tried his honest BEST. But each attempt was just more discouraging than the last to the point where he simply gave up trying.

"Fuck." He swore again as another camilla was destroyed at his hand. He added it to the pile and picked up a new one.

The only other noise aside from the distant sounds of the acolytes, the bird song, the sound of the creek not too far from the temple where they got most of their fresh drinking water-was the sound of bone knitting needles clacking against each other.

Lamb sat next to him, on the temple steps, knitting away. They had taken their crown off for a brief time to set at their feet, sticking a large ball of bright red yarn into the crown so it would not roll away again (Nanrinder wouldn’t lie, for all the atrocities the lamb had committed in his name, it was very adorable to watch him frantically chase after a ball of yarn when it rolled down the temple steps). The long strand was gobbled up by the needles and added to the numerous woven rows of a little red shirt bearing a triangle shaped mark. Lamb hummed softly at their task, some odd little tune Nanrinder had heard them hum before. Cooking, sweeping at the temple's steps-even in the odd part of the night when Nanrinder would bury his face into the thick woolen curls around Lamb's neck, his spouse's chin resting on his head, feeling their heart beat and the vibrations in their throat as they hummed. A song with no words, a melody with no meaning, a tune with no real end that could be picked up anywhere and sound just right.

Nanrinder took it back.

He did like Lamb's company. It was why he agreed to marry them.

What better way to secure the companionship of the one creature who tolerated him than to marry them?

"I was thinking.....Maybe Yggshoth." Lamb mused aloud and Nanrinder looked up from his futile task. Ah yes. That. "Maybe Absolom. Abbadon perhaps. An A name would be good." They added. Nanrinder gave a flat sniff at the thought. He hadn't been named. He had simply always....BEEN Nanrinder. Or if someone did name him-he didn't remember who exactly it was. The trouble of being so old is that sometimes the early memories would get hazy.

"Vikoth is also nice. Haar recommended the name Shilveth. Apparently it's a common name in his old home village."

" I don't think we should take naming advice from Haar." Nanrinder finally said. "I saw him eating shit the other day." He could hear Lamb sigh-quietly muttering 'I thought I got him out of that habit' under their breath.

"Well some of them can't help it. Although I wish they wouldn't-there's more than enough to eat here that they don't need to DO THAT again." Lamb grumbled. The one thing that seemed to put their relatively even temper on edge was the acolytes eating shit. Apparently food had been so scarce in some cults, that desperation had driven many to.....recycle what they had excreted for the nutrients. And many regretfully developed a taste for it.

"Nothing a stern talking to won't fix." Nanrinder finally looped the stem around and tied it off before it could break and slip off again. That seemed to be Lamb’s go to methods these days-try reason and negotiation before force. "They adore you. If you decree eating shit illegal, I'm sure they'd obey without hesitation."

"I just worry for their health, is all. Nothing about that is natural or healthy-well. I take it back. I hear the Rabbit folk do that but mainly due to something about their digestion, I don't know." Lamb waved it away. "I don't see what's wrong with my cooking that shit seems to be preferable. I like to think I'm a good cook by now."

It was true. Lamb was a very good cook by now. The meats were always rich and tender-fall apart off the bone, there never was a single stray bone left in any fish meat that could get caught in the throat. The Berries and Vegetables grown on the farm were always fresh and clean tasting-seasoned and cooked in such a way they didn't lose flavor. It could have been the fact he spent so long not needing sustenance that when he took the first bite of what should have been a bland mix of potato gruel and squirrel meat that he found he couldn’t have enough. And it was even better tasting when actual high quality ingredients were used. Lamb could even make gruel taste good. Nanrinder wouldn't lie; Lamb's cooking was delicious and he could understand why everyone loved eating together at such a long communal table in the evenings regardless of the current situation the community found themselves in. 

Good food apparently did make for good company.   

He lightly patted Lamb's thigh with a hand, assuringly.

"Your cooking is fine." He reassured his spouse. "They're just all insane and weird." Lamb smiled at him and resumed their knitting.

"Oothelia is nice too."

"Back on that again, are we?" Nanrinder resumed his weaving. "You know it won't arrive for quite a few months."

"Well-I mean, I know that!" Lamb defended shuffling their hooves in place a bit. "It's just. I'm rather excited is all. I want to give them a good name."

"Then why not a traditional name? Aren't there any Sheep names you'd want to give them?" Nanrinder watched as Lamb's face scrunched up a bit as they undid a stitch and redid it. Lamb was always fond about talking about their people, their traditions. His siblings had spent his entire time imprisoned destroying Lamb’s people, that Lamb didn’t want the memory of his culture to be lost. So they had taught many of the followers to knit, sheep songs, traditions and values that once belonged to their family. Lamb loved their culture.

"I don't know, They all seem so.....old." They remarked. "I don't want my children to be made fun of for having some antique of a name like 'Phillip.' or 'Patience' "

"No one would dare make fun of the child of the leader." Nanrinder tosse another broken flower to his side. His reserves were growing small, he'd probably have to get new flowers. Lamb smiled slightly.

"Well. They can have a little fun prodded them. For humility. I don't want them growing up with an ego and letting it go to their head. An ego should be earned, not gifted by birth right."

"...I like Kainnek." Nanrinder finally complied to the conversation he knew Lamb wanted to have.

“Kainnek is a bit hard to pronounce.”

“And Yggsloth is easy on the tongue then?”

“Well Yggsloth isn’t my FIRST choice of a name. I do want an A name, I just don’t know what yet.” Lamb hummed. “Arandelle, Ayorthelle, maybe Aminstable….” They laid their knitting down for a moment and looked at Nanrinder. “Would you be opposed to the name Aymthall?”

It took Nanrinder aback a little bit. One of his guards-silent and unspeaking, thru all their years together-was named Aym. Nanrinder couldn’t claim that it saddened him when Lamb had to strike them down-Aym and their brother Baal. But he knew they were released finally from their duty, perhaps seeking rest elsewhere in the great beyond that he never was to know or traverse. As it was not the place of death to see beyond the gate of the material and spiritual plane. But rather act as it’s doorman. But he had a soft spot for them both. Even though his imprisonment he felt horribly terribly alone, and neither of his guards ever spoke a word to him not to condemn him or comfort him even once, he found some vague comfort to their presence despite it being one of indifference.

“I….I would have to think on that one.” Nanrinder hesitantly answered. “But I do like it. Keep that one on the back burner if we can’t think of a better one.” He saw from the corner of his eyes Lamb rubbing the curve of their stomach, he could just barely hear them muttering something about ‘almost getting you a name, so you better come when we call for you.’ to the unborn child

It wasn't very visible beneath their cloak or the layers of wool they had. But Lamb recently had one of the acolytes sheer them (a tentative long process that was more crying on the shearer's part, terrified they'd hurt Lamb in the process) resulting in their wool cut short and close against their body. Every now and then their cloak rode up a bit as they tried to readjust their knitting and he could see the small but well defined outline of their stomach that had not been there a few months ago.

It had honestly been such a process, Nanrinder was still unsure of how they even got to this point.

They had been wed a year after Nanrinder came here, a tentative but rather bold courtship by the Lamb who had apparently ‘adored and admired him’ since they first laid eyes on him. So starved for love and attention, Nanrinder responded a bit too eagerly for his own liking to their advances, but nonetheless the outcome was still favorable with a small ceremony witnessed by their followers. They took leave from duties, briefly appointing a highly trusted stand-in and spent most of their time alone in solitude kissing and holding one another; more on Nanrinder's part to be held. It had been so long since anyone had ever touched him with that sort of gentleness that he rarely wanted to relinquish that submission of power. Sweet words and gestures of affection-it completely flew over Nanrinder's head what a pair of newlyweds were SUPPOSED to do on their wedding night. Lamb never pressed him into it-seemingly just as glad to be with him as he was with Lamb. It wasn't until they more or less returned to the normalcy of everyday life when Acolytes asked him if he enjoyed his 'special time' with knowing nudges and sly winks that it actually OCCURRED to him that is what they were meant to do.

Nanrinder spent roughly a week and a half avoiding everyone more than usual out of sheer embarrassment.

A thousand years was a very VERY long time to forget about certain rites and rituals of mortals.

The thought only came back when Lamb began to behave......excessively towards him a few months later. Bleating and prancing around him, rubbing up against him every chance they got. Waggling their poofy nub of a tail at him when they bent over to pick up anything off the ground-casting glances over their shoulder as if to check if he were looking. It was only until Lamb knocked him to the ground after the dismissal from the morning Sermon, whining that they had been neglectful to poor Nanrinder, that he didn't even notice their signs and signals for him.

It would honestly have helped if anyone updated Nanrinder about the courtship and mating signals of an essentially defunct and critically endangered race.

His humiliation streak finally ended when Lamb decided to start a new sort of 'ceremony' to throw during the spring-as a sort of reward for a year of prosperity and full storehouses of food and resources. A Fertility ritual. Many of the followers were young and full of desires, many of which had been tramped down by former cults enforcing chastity and shame for such natural wants that the response to the proposal was resoundingly positive.

"It's high time we start breeding new followers rather than wandering into the woods in hopes of finding more strays." Lamb had tittered after their decree. "And who better to lead the ceremony than us and by example?"

Nanrinder didn't know he'd enjoy the exhibitionism of it so much; maybe it was just the idea that the Lamb-their glorious exalted leader, their god in mortal form-eagerly bent over the alter where every sermon was spoke, bleating hysterically to be bred like some common whore; or maybe it was the noises of the followers indulging their own rapturous coitus with spontaneously picked partners below that egged him on. It didn't quite matter; other than a thousand year long dry spell finally ended and somebody who wasn't him had the rather.....unseemly duty of mopping the temple afterwards.

But to the flock it seemingly worked; the cult leader had done their magic yet again.  A few numbers of the Acolytes did fall pregnant that had attended the ceremony-pleased as anything that they not only fulfilled the purpose of the ceremony, but excited to foster new life into the world. It wasn't uncommon for children to be the first to sacrifice in cults-as they were easy to produce and didn't resist. For many, this wouldn't be their first children having lost many before coming here. This would be the first time they'd be able to keep their babies rather than sacrificing them to a hungry creature or an vast hole or some kind of ritual to please something otherworldly.

And Lamb had fallen in the family way as well.

It probably helped that now Nanrinder understood the bleats and tail wagging Lamb would do at him and comply very enthusiastically. That probably increased the odds.

And now they sat here on the steps of the temple together.

Discussing baby names. And knitting tiny shirts.

The idea flustered Nanrinder at times. Flustered, frightened, confused, rejoiced-so many conflicting emotions all at the same time. But all of them....in a sort of good way. For so long he had been The One Who Waits. The unchanging constant for everyone. Who everyone will inevitably meet sooner or later.

And now he was to be 'Papa Nanrinder.'

"I just had a thought." He said.

"Mn?"

"What will the child call you?" He inquired. Lamb paused in their knitting.

"What do you mean?" They replied, tilting their head to one side, almost puzzled.

"I mean.....well.....A Male is called a Father. A Female is called a Mother. But you do not adhere to really either labeling of either gender. So what will the child call you?" Nanrinder repeated, being a bit more deliberate and up front. Lamb blinked their large round eyes and knitted a few more lines on the shirt before holding it up a bit, to size it up.

"Well. Traditionally among Sheep, Maaba is a rather gender neutral term for a parent or an older relative." They replied, cinching off the last row and pulling the needles away, stabbing them down into the ball of yarn for safe keeping. "There, that seems about right."

"Seems a bit big. Maaba you say?" Nanrinder mumbled as he rubbed the shirt between his fingers-knitted from the wool of Lamb themself. It was soft and felt luxurious, undoubtedly ideal for keeping a newborn warm in the chilly winter months that would follow their birth.

"Yes. I had two Maaba's growing up, siblings of my mother. And they'll grow into the shirt." Lamb folded up the shirt and laid it next to them. "More room in the clothes means more room to grow and I want our children to grow big and strong like their handsome handsome papa." Lamb tickled under Nanrinder's chin which set him purring, scrunching his eyes closed at the gentle ministrations.  He couldn't help but pout when Lamb stopped but picked up the flower crown he had woven and laid it on his spouse's head. "Aw, for me?"

"Yes." Nanrinder mumbled, feeling red and embarrassed again. Lamb leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"You really are such a wonderful, wonderful husband." They mumbled before snuggling up against Nanrinder. Nanrinder continued to purr as he watched Lamb pick up the knitting needles and start knitting again-another long series of loops into loops.

"Another shirt?" He inquired, confused. Lamb had just finished the first one. Lamb hummed in confirmation.

"Of course. One for each child."

"I'm sorry, for each child?"

"Did you not know that?" Lamb inquired, genuine and confused  at Nanrinder's lack of knowledge. "Lambs usually give birth in pairs. Most every lamb is a twin or a triplet."

"So we're having TWO?"

"Most likely." They patted their stomach as if to check. “I mean, there’s no telling with these things, my mother had expected me to be a twin, but I came out a single….Yes, yes, I ‘m quite sure, two of them at least. Call it an expecting Maaba’s intuition.”

It shouldn't have come at such a surprise, Lamb seemed so much farther along than the others, they'd soon double in size and-

"We can barely pick ONE name, now we must pick TWO?" Nanrinder sighed, rubbing his temples. Being this creative was not their strong suit. Lamb chuckled softly to themself setting to work properly on this new shirt for apparently the second of their impending children that would be there by autumn.

"Well, like you said. We have quite a few months ahead of us. We have all the time in the world." Nanrinder thinly smiled at this, picking up one of the few remaining camillia’s in his possession, twirling it around in between his fingers. 

Yes. 

All the time in the world.

Two immortal beings. And their lovely little family.

[tricoloured-cat]

Happy Birthday Kunikida! As a tribute I decided to read (well, more finish) "Meat and Potatoes" by... Kunikida-sensei HAHA but as I was reading I noticed similarities between that short story and BSD Kunikida's life

parallels between BSD Kunikida and Meat and Potatoes

warning: major spoilers for Meat and Potatoes, the first LN, as well as the manga! also for this essay thing I shall ignore the existence of the anime adaptation of the Azure Messenger (also not proofread too lazy)

Note: Some of these points have been made by others, but here I just want to emphasize these things in the context of Meat and Potatoes.

"But the point is, you can't ideals," said Kamimura, screwing up his face. "Ha ha. Of course you can't. They're not beefsteaks!" laughed Takeuchi, opening his huge mouth. "But that's exactly it. Reality is a beefsteak. Or stew if you like."

As the title of the story suggests, meat and potatoes are compared to reality and ideals. In fact meat can go farther than just reality; it's an implicit description to the hedonistic life.

In the franchise, it can be said that Dazai is very much Team Meat rather than Team Potato. He does as he pleases and wrecks the world of the then highly rigid member of Team Potato, Kunikida.

This was the third day of being paired with Dazai. I knew no peace for even an hour, nor could I focus wholeheartedly on work, and the number of complaints pouring in on the phone continued to climb higher. Whenever I took my eyes off of him, he would say he was going to drown himself and then fling himself into a river, or say to be careful and then go off to drink at a bar, or say he received a divine revelation and run off to flirt with a pretty girl. Quite fittingly for a twenty- year-old man-child, he only did what suited himself and smashed my schedule to bits.

Kunikida's sanity has been compromised since then, yes, but Dazai's erratic personality doesn't deter him from his determination to follow his ideal.

In Meat and Potatoes, there are two major disillusioned idealists: Kamimura and Okamoto.

Kamimura's transfer from Team Potato to Team Meat is, I suppose you could say hardly significant. He switches with a "oh to hell with it" attitude and abandons the ascetic potato-only life for meat-filled enjoyment. Why is it so? Simply put, his desire to be in Team Potato was never serious. His fascination with his Christian faith and scorn for the "fools in Tokyo" were what drove him to his rural potato-farm life in Hokkaido.

"Kamimura and the rest of you were members of the Potato Party at first, but later changed your allegiance to the Meat Party. In other words, you're all weak-willed."

Kondo's words, I believe, mirror Kunikida's initial thoughts of Dazai. I'm not so weak as to give in to someone like him!

On the other hand, Okamoto's disillusionment - but not transfer to Team Meat - was far more serious. This is where Kunikida's own disillusionment can be linked to.

It was the death of the woman Okamoto loved that made him curse the very world he lives in. The intensity of his love had made its loss so great. In Kondo's words,

"[Men] often weary of life and if they encounter love in such a state, they find in it a means of escape. For that reason they throw their whole hearty into the fiery furnace of love."

Okamoto does not rebuke nor confirm this, but we can assume that Kondo hit the nail on the head.

Kunikida, too, loved a woman deeply: Sasaki Nobuko. Now the parallels isn't too surprising since both stories are based on Kunikida-sensei's real life heartbreak with his wife of the same name. Fortunately she didn't actually die (she just left him 5 months into their marriage) but the pain is so immense that her memory is essentially a ghost haunting the three of them.

"I want to have her back again and so intensely do I feel about that that I don't care what happens to me. I freely admit that I've cried over her many times. Over and over again I've called her name and looked up at the sky. Of course I wish that she would come back to life."

This resounds their feelings for their woman so well. Their hopes and dreams were built for and shattered by her - for Okamoto, this was his fall into indecision. He is not Team Meat nor Team Potato. He is not a realist nor an idealist. He is not a optimist nor pessimist. He's just a broken man.

In fact, Dazai alludes to this fall after Sasaki's death.

“Tell me, Dazai! Was it right for her to die? Is this the ideal world I’ve sought for...?” Dazai stared at me and whispered, “Kunikida. There are those who believe in your just, ideal world, and thus they grow to resent this one. The Azure King was one such person. While championing his causes of justice and idealism, he hurt the weak around him.” He looked far off into the distance. “The phrase ‘seeking justice’ is a weapon. Once it hurts the weak, it can no longer be a force of good. This justice the Azure King sought was what killed Sasaki. His accusation wounded me. Seeking a world of justice and ideals, indeed. All this suffering had come to pass by seeking to manifest ideals. “Kunikida, as long as you continue to eliminate those who would thwart your ideals in your quest for the ideal world, the flame of the Azure King still burns inside of you. And it will consume those around you. I have seen this happen many times before.”

There is no "but I'll still pursue my ideal!" in the original text. Kunikida said nothing in reply for he "understood what he said."

Now by the time Atsushi popped up, not much is shown about how exactly far Kunikida's disillusionment had gone. When he was picked up Kunikida proudly states that his schedule was "not just a schedule but his ideal" and from then we are given an impression of his drive.

We are only shown the truth starting with Kyouka's case and Atsushi's kidnapping.

There are already discussions on these scenes, but in the context of this essay thing with Meat and Potatoes what I want to point out is Kunikida's disenchantment. Also note that in both scenes, his facial expression is not shown. He only says these things out of defeat while his idealist self screams something else.

At this point, he has not reached Okamoto's level just yet, but it's possible that it won't take long for Kunikida to find himself in the same place.

It is Atsushi that woke him up from his nightmare.

What made that difference?

Atsushi wasn't abandoned by the Agency because of one thing: love. It's the very same thing that killed both Okamoto's and Kunikida's ideals.

But unlike Okamoto, Kunikida's ideals were not only born out of love but are one and the same; then following Kondo's reasoning, Kunikida's love, ideals, and life are all one and the same.

Here is another quote from Kondo:

"There are many types of boredom. Two of these are particularly tragic and hateful. With one, you weary of life and with the other you weary of love... The first is the most tragic and the second the most hateful."

The current manga arc (ch 104 is the latest release at the time of writing this) challenges Kunikida once more. Being a member of the Armed Detective Agency is difficult, and with all the death and near-death recently happening around him his will had taken several critical hits.

Had Kunikida grown weary of his lofty ideals, with means he's weary of both love and life, that his fate is tragic and hateful?

Fortunately, not at all.

He doesn't give up any of the three. "But what about life???" Well, I would say that here he does not lose life but rather his death. Idk how to explain to be honest, but in short it's rather that he sacrifices his physical life for the sake of living; that is not having a spiritual death. He is able to live his whole life following even only the shadow of the ideal - to him that is his goal anyway.

Kunikida overcomes Okamoto's plight of looking for "surprise" in the world as nothing interests him anymore.

"Life and death and all the phenomena of the universe become commonplace in the end."

He does not fall for this interpretation of Wordsworth's "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting."

We can only hope for the best for him in the upcoming installments.

TL;DR: Kunikida is awesome and needs more love

[mandalora]

Feeling some kind of way after the first two kenobi episodes and putting out a list of things I loved and general observations because I forever cry over Hayden and Ewan not getting their proper recognition at the time of the prequels so I want to do my part in spreADING POSITIVITY FOR ONCE

SPOILERS:

The opening order 66 scene was harrowing, thank you. The choreography there was so good. I wanted that jedi to be my mom. Rip jedi mom

Obi-wan is absolutely miserable on his sad meat conveyor belt and I couldn’t have asked for anything else

I would die for the eopie

Obi-wan lives in a fucking cave. What a miserable dude I’m crying I love him I’m so depressed

The special effects on his little porridge thing reminded me of the inflatable bread from TFA and that’s always a win. We should all be more like the inflatable bread from TFA

Obi-wan having literal prequel flashback dreams tO THIS DAY, TEN YEARS LATER,

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

I swear to god if we don’t see him communing with Qui-gon I’ll riot

Obi-wan leaving presents and treats for Luke is so fucking precious and Owen bringing it back is the sheerest of pain

“I KiLL vErMin oN My FaRm”

Ah finally some dismemberment

LEIA. BABY LEIA. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS

it’s been so long since we’ve seen live action scenery that isn’t sand dunes and seedy limestone towns; Alderaan is such a breath of fresh air, I’m so happy to see it

Special mention to Breha and Bail for being fabulous and beautiful. And of course Bail is the real mvp dad

Obi-wan refusing to go after Leia for so long is just [clenches fist] so frustrating and so good and so pain. What a sad man

Lola better get fucking fixed or I’ll fuckebwnebekrjrkdkfk

Obi-wan keeping both his and Anakin’s lightsabers in a neat little box side by side.

Obi-wan giving credits to the old clone despite how much it probably hurts.

The girl selling drugs made me sad

The Jedi scam artist is honestly such a good concept and gives me mad KotOR vibes for some reason. Also - Kumail Nanjiani?! [beyonce?????.jpg] And Obi-wan being Done all throughout their conversation is so good

The gosh darn meth lab…………… ben broke bad

One thing star wars never fails to deliver on is beating obi-wan up

LEIA WHACKING HIM WITH A CHAIR…………

“Your father sent me” “WHERE’S THE ARMY”

“You’re kinda old and beat up” girl that’s the whole point

Leia is amazing and so is her and Obi-wan’s banter

Always good to see infighting between imps :’)

The new inquisitor lady that the grand inq brought on to replace the third sister is gorgeous and I would like more of her, thank you

“[Lola]’s hurt” “GOOD.” Obi pls

That’s so in character though it’s hilarious. The fact that he visibly feels bad immediately after saying it but doesn’t apologize and just changes the subject asjskskfkfjf

“Inquisiting people”

Obi-wan having to strain to use the Force…..he really hasn’t used it in years……he really felt That Shitty for it to have gotten so far out of reach…………….I am in pain

I was starting to get the impression that the Grand Inquisitor doesn’t want them to catch Obi-wan for a reason, but then he went and got run through. Either he somehow gets back up later, or this isn’t the same guy from Rebels after all 🤔

The ten- or twenty-odd-second close up on Ewan’s face when the sister says Anakin is alive. The micro expressions. The subtlest of changes between said micro expressions. The sheer trauma in his eyes. Jesus

Him trying to get his shit together later on the train and absolutely f a i l i n g

A n a k i n

The entirety of this was pure agony and I couldn’t be more grateful

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

I'm okay with a bunch of disorganized rambling honestly 😂. But if I had to narrow it down then I guess I want to know about main and side characters and how they compare to the original?

I know that tumblr is the Prime Site for disorganized rambling, but I have perfectionism issues. But that is a great question, nonnie, and I will be happy to ramble is a slightly less disorganized fashion.

When reading Maximum Ride as a somewhat-formed adult who discovered they enjoy English classes about 3.5 years ago, I noticed that JP, when writing, doesn't understand consistency. At all. Which means, in many ways, I have a free sandbox to work with.

Spoilers for my rewrite WIP, because I strongly believe that if a story would no longer be good if one had spoilers, then it wasn’t a good story in the first place.

I'm trying to keep the backstories the same, plus or minus the scientific method and a few characters (RIP my OCs. I want to bring you back so bad but it wouldn't fit with the thematic narrative). I've mostly kept their (starting) abilities the same, too. Without further ado, I'm going to introduce some WorldBuilding. (If I'm good at nothing else, I'm good at world building)

First off. Logically.

How are they getting Cable?

How are they getting internet?

How are they getting money to eat and stuff?

JP's answer: handwave it off. Sometimes you need to ignore logistics for the sake of plot. This is an answer I'd accept from an author that I like, such as Julie Kagawa, that makes amazing worlds, characters, and narratives that I will happily handwave a few things that wouldn't work in the real world. James Patterson, on the other hand, did not make any of that; he made a cool concept, some good rough-draft characters, and nothing else, and therefore this is an unforgivable sin.

Wasp's answer: They are not getting any of that.

Introducing Cottagecore.

The house is off the grid. Solar Panels and a wind turbine create electricity. They have their own well. They grow their own food, raise livestock for eggs, milk, and wool, and trap fish for meat. They get money through dumpster diving and pawning. They still have to steal half of the necessities they can’t make themselves. They do have a TV, but it can access about three channels on a clear day. Internet is only a thing when they go to the public library.

Giving the flock a background that’s heavy in farming and livestock rearing shores up the plot holes mentioned above, but in my opinion, ties the flock more tightly to the environment, thus giving them something tangible to lose when they have to leave the E-shaped house. Because they’re not just leaving a house and a safety net— they’re leaving their entire way of life with no promise of getting it back. It also gives them a tangible connection to the earth in case I want to actually pursue the global warming themes.

Main Characters

Maximum “Max” Ride (Birthname: nonexistent)

First off, I'm letting her be Latina, James Patterson.

In the original, Max was very much the headstrong, independent, action girl. Leaning into Strong Female Character (TM), but overall she had a strong, solid foundation and enough character consistency through the first three books for me to not have to just make an entire new character. However, I felt that she was, in some ways, a bit too Action-Girl and Strong and Capable. Yes, Max is incredible and competent, but she’s also fourteen. She’s a child.

In the rewrite, Max’s character is still headstrong, independent, capable, and sometimes not the best at listening to others. All of that’s the same. But she’s that way not because of girlboss energy, but because there’s no one else to do it. She doesn’t want to lead, necessarily. She wants to get some rest and let someone else handle the problems life keeps throwing at her. But she knows if she did that, the responsibility of leader would fall to Fang and Iggy, and she can’t ask that of them. She doesn’t want to place that burden on anyone else (Look, there’s a reason I chose Ayano’s Theory of Happiness as one of her signifier songs, okay?). Her narrative is very much centered around burden, and also around loss. She lost her cultural heritage when she was taken away from her birth family, she lost her childhood to being a leader, she lost a good deal of her friends to the school (RIP my OCs), she lost Jeb, and then she lost her stability. And she’s going to lose a lot more before the end of the story. So a lot of her character arc deals with learning that there are some things she can’t fix, some things that can’t be recovered. She can’t get the E-shaped house back. She can’t get her Little Baby Angel back, even after they rescue her. She can’t get her friends back from the school. And instead of working so hard to recover those or find something to replace them, she has to learn to live with that sense of loss and move on with her life without feeling guilty for leaving things behind. And she has to learn that asking for help and sharing her burden is selfish or weak.

Other changes I made that don’t necessarily fit into her narrative arc, but you asked for rambling so rambling you shall get:

Max hallucinates, because mental illness is also a prominent theme in the rewrite. She doesn’t have a psychotic disorder, but her C-PTSD causes visual/audio hallucinations, especially when she’s stressed or sleep deprived. 

Max ends up having a Gender Discovery throughout the story and goes by He/She pronouns eventually. I don’t know when, but it will happen.

As far as genetic modifications/special quirks go, she can fly faster than the rest of the flock, but not 300 miles per hour. She averages about sixty mph with diving speeds of 240. She cannot breathe underwater or shut down her organs on command. She also has the Super Special Power to predict the weather, but that’s not because of genetics, it’s because she has chronic pain in her right arm that gets worse when weather fronts change.

Her favored weapon is her trusty rebar that she picked up from a condemned building. I think she’s going to name it eventually but I don’t know what yet.

Fang (Birth name: Gabriel Xue)

In canon, Fang is characterized in early books by being the “dark, strong, silent type”. He’s probably the most reserved member of the flock, to the point of falling into the Brooding Mystery Man trope in parts of the book. They care a lot, but they’re not the best at conveying that, especially with the younger members of the flock, and at times their high empathy leads them to making mistakes. Despite the high empathy, he’s often compared to a robot due to his lack of expression and external emotions.

Well, first change is that they’re not a man, so jot that down—

If Max’s narrative is centered around burden and loss, I would probably say that Fang’s is centered around humanity and moving on. None of the flock was treated as human while in the school, but Fang was more often than not treated like a wild animal due to “behavioral issues”, and therefore had and continues to have a difficult time considering themselves real and alive, let alone human. This manifests through a several different ways— where in canon Fang definitely had a ‘fight’ reaction, in the re-write they have a ‘freeze’ or ‘shut down’ instinct. They’re selectively mute for multiple reasons (including derealization, jaw pain, the fact that they didn’t learn how to speak until they were 10, and genuinely forgetting it’s something they’re capable of), a period of Cotard’s syndrome, and a tendancy towards self-loathing and self-sacrifice. In short, Fang is still halfway stuck in the mindset that most of the flock grew out of when they escaped in the school, and doesn’t know how to move past it.

Much of their character arc revolves around not necessarily seeing themselves as human, but learning to treat themselves as human even when they don’t feel like one (or even feel real), and knowing that just because they don’t feel human all the time doesn’t mean anyone else can treat them the same. They never start easily expressing their emotions, and they’re always going to be selectively mute, but they learn to accept that those aspects of themself aren’t character flaws or signs that they’re sub-human. 

Other additions to Fang’s character include:

They don’t get their hair cut in New York. It stays long through the entire series. They have the longest hair in the flock by the end of the series, and they can wear it in so many styles.

Fang uses they/it pronouns because themes of reclaiming the weapons used against it and, more importantly, Gender.

They’re actually really good at spelling compared to the rest of the flock, because they and Iggy communicate with Print-On-Palm when they’re nonverbal, and they’re nonverbal for some pretty long stretches of time. 

They and Max have... zero romantic tension. At all. There is none. The number of times Max calls them her sibling/little sibling in the first arc alone is staggering, and that will not change.

Igneous “Iggy” (Birthname: Jamsetta “Jamie” Griffiths)

I’ve talked about Iggy before. Canon doesn’t give us much to go off of, but from what’s shown, he’s smart, sarcastic, has sharper edges than Fang and Max, and also has a sizable ruthless streak. So that’s what I have to go off of.

The big difference between Iggy and Fang&Max is that Iggy has a much better memory of the School. Most of the flock have areas (months or years) that they don’t remember, or people that they’ve blocked from their mind, but Iggy... doesn’t. So he’s the one that remembers all of the other AVIAN test subjects that were old enough to have names and identities but died due to complications. Max might have the burden of leadership, but he has the burden of memory. And that has lead to both a massive fucking guilt complex, because why did he survive when they didn’t, and, as mentioned above, a ruthless streak that he doesn’t shy away from.

Which is to say, by the end of the story, Iggy has the highest kill count.

I love, love writing Iggy next to Max and Fang. I love writing Iggy next to Gazzy and Nudge. Because, I say this with all of the love of the world, but Iggy is not a good person. He is loyalty and love incarnate, and the world can burn down if he and his siblings are safe. Max and Fang will always try to save as many people as they can. They will wonder what’s wrong with them the first time they kill and don’t have a mental breakdown about it. They are good in a way that Iggy is not. He’s okay with killing Erasers. He’s okay with killing humans. He’s okay with killing people who might not necessarily deserve it, if they show themselves as a threat or are simply in the blast radius. He knows perfectly well that most of those Erasers he’s murdering are four and five and he is okay with that, because a lot of the AVIANs were that age when they died. (Yeah, in the rewrite it’s not Fang who has an issue with Ari; it’s Iggy who wants the 7-year-old wolf-boy dead.) 

And this is, of course, juxtaposed with Iggy being really, really good with Nudge and Gazzy (especially in the beginning). Because, again, he actually remembers being a child. He remembers a lot of kids that died and is therefore fiercely protective of the kids that didn’t, as well as fiercely protective of the innocence that he never got. So he’s the one that cooks their favorite foods when they’re having a bad day, always makes time when they want to talk about something, and convinces Max to let them go to that toy store in New York because, yeah, he Max and Fang aren’t kids. They never were. But Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel can be. (And if he has to be a murderer to preserve that, then he’s perfectly okay with that.)

He and Angel don’t get along very well, though. The telepath doesn’t like hanging out with the person with the most clear memories of the school.

Other additions:

Iggy is trans and says trans rights

He also has paranoid episodes, because C-PTSD. Sometimes they’re very helpful. Sometimes they are not.

I actually decided that he’s one of the flock that doesn’t meet their parents. I know in canon he did, but I always found that very clunky because it didn’t add to his character. He was one of the characters who, until it was convenient for the plot, seemed to care the least about his family. I’d much rather give that to a character whose arc would benefit from it.

Iggy! Gets! Older Sibling Rights! Seriously, he’s two months younger than Fang, he is just as capable.

Iggy does not know braille because Jeb decided it wasn’t necessary for him to know. Iggy is also the best speller in the flock, because Print-on-Palm was the only way to talk to Fang for a solid year. Yes he mocks everyone over this.

Iggy is the only member of the flock that enjoys swimming and can take into the air from water. Everyone else in the flock is incredibly jealous.

Nudge (Birthname: Monique Robinson)

If Iggy is defined by his memories, Nudge is his polar opposite. She was seven when she left the School, but she has next to no memories of it. She is missing a lot of time in the first year she escaped. And that causes... a lot of things. It makes her feel disconnected from her older siblings, it gives her the ability to function in society in a way the other’s can’t, it lets her feel less grief over the ones that didn’t make it and she doesn’t remember, it makes her feel guilty that she doesn’t remember what she’s old enough to know. 

Basically, in order for me to keep the character of Nudge as I saw her (more extroverted, not afraid of the world, fascinated with humans like her siblings aren’t, desiring to fit in instead of isolate), I had to put a little bit of distance between her and the flock. Of course, she loves them— that will in no way change— but she’s old enough that she should remember the school (and her dead friends) unlike Gazzy and Angel, but she can’t, and she very much fears forgetting the flock if anything happens to them. So she’s trying desperately to keep the flock close and wants desperately to experience the world at the same time, and doesn’t know what to do when she can’t have both. That’s her biggest character conflict throughout the series, along with that in-between area where she’s not quite where her older siblings are but understands so much more than Gazzy and Angel, and where she stands in that.

So yeah. Nudge’s journey is that in looking for belonging in the world, in her family, and in herself.

This is why she’s one of the ones that gets to find her parent, James Patterson. 

Other additions include:

She never straightens her hair. Never. Her resources at the E-shaped house aren’t perfect, but she still has learned how to take care of her hair and has a few styles she cycles through.

She becomes the default person Max sics on people when the flock is trying to befriend them. Also their de-facto diplomat around strangers.

As in canon, she does take some time away from the flock to expirience ‘normal life’. This does not last long due to the stress of being separated from her siblings/not being able to help them and [REDACTED]

Nudge is... not the only person in her head. I’m not focusing on it much because she doesn’t actually know and neither does the flock (I don’t know if they ever figure it out during the series, either), but she has dissociative identity disorder. She’s not aware of her alter(s?). Her alter isn’t super aware of her, either. 

The alter that I’ve developed is named Oxy and is not super aware of the outside world. In her eyes, she’s still seven and they’re still at the School. She would not recognize the body as her own if she looked in a mirror.

Nudge actually leaves the flock for a while to pursue her dream of living a normal life. She deserves it. She learns how to make muffins and the basics of software development. These things are unrelated.

Gasman (Birthname: No first name, surname “Falk”)

Honestly, writing Gazzy is kind of hard for me. Partially because I’m not great at writing kids, and partially because I feel like he’s a pretty surface-level character in-series that... isn’t super compelling in canon. But even if that’s the case, I try to treat all of my characters with respect, so here we go. In my rewrite, he escaped when he was four, which was half a lifetime ago for him, so his memories are ill-defined. Therefore, he managed to circumvent a lot of the trauma that the rest of the kids have, and not in the way Nudge did, which is by creating an elaborate blockage in her memories. 

Which means Gazzy... really doesn’t know how to deal with all of this traumatic stuff happening. So much of his development turns out to be a coming-of-age narrative. Learning how to deal with the horrors of what his siblings grew up with. Learning the fears that they had the entire time. Losing his innocence when everyone around him never had it in the first place, and being so terribly alone because of it. Because, really, how can you explain such a deep loss to people who never had what he had? How can they help in a way that matters?

Also, relationship-wise, I’m slowly deteriorating the relationship between him and Iggy. Slowly. Or, changing it, at least. Gazzy hero-worships Iggy in-series, and for good reason, because Iggy is super cool, especially in the eyes of an eight-year-old, and especially when Iggy has taken care to cultivate parts of his behaviors to be child-friendly. Part of growing up is seeing the flaws in your heroes, and Gazzy has to learn how to deal with it. End of the series Gazzy is much less closer to Iggy than beginning of the series Gazzy, and neither of them are really okay with that, but they learn to live with it, because that’s really all they can do.

Notes:

I’m keeping the mimickry! It plays a bit of a bigger role because that’s how Gazzy learned to talk. I’m debating whether or not he has his own voice or if he just borrows the flock’s as he sees fit. He also uses it to scream really loudly and occaisonally burst the eardrums of Erasers.

At one point he cosplays as Jessica Jones. No you don’t get any more context than this.

He has a horrible sense of fashion.

I’m changing his name eventually because it sucks. He’s either going to change it to Gannet, Garrison, or Ivy Mike temporarily, and permanently to Zephyr. (I never said I was going to make his name GOOD, because he’s eight, but it’s changing. You’re welcome.)

Angel (Birthname: No first name, surname “Falk”)

It’s just... a completely different character, at this point. I’ve changed so many things about her in an attempt to make her consistent and act like a six-year-old and work in the whole “telepath before she has a solid sense of identity”, so it’s a different character. Also, I’m tired of writing coherently or in paragraphs, so have some interesting facts.

She has epilepsy! Super severe epilepsy! I think she might also develop juvenile MS in the future because her brain has so many scars from being a fucking six-year-old telepath. There’s no way she could get out of that unscathed.

She has more memories of the school than Gazzy, but only because she keeps accidentally reading the minds of Max, Fang, and Iggy. On a related note, she interacts with Iggy as little as possible.

The mind reading means that she has a hard time developing as a normal child with a normal sense of identity or reality. She can’t tell how much people are individual people and how much they’re just extensions of her. Conversely, she can’t tell how much of herself is actually her instead of the thoughts/opinions/identities of someone else. It’s... kinda fucked? But also super not-her-fault. 

She’s albino because white wings. Also, because I thought it was cool. This also means that her vision sucks, though. Also she has the biggest straw sunhat and the most stylish sunglasses a six-year-old can have.

She’s responsible for Max shaving her hair off.

She has the highest swear count because I think it’s funny. She’s the only person allowed to say the fuck word in writing. Everyone else can only say ‘hell’ and the occasionally ‘damn’ but she can say whatever she wants for dramatic and comedic value.

She is NOT THE FUCKING VOICE, J*MES P*TTERSON.

Honorable Mentions

Jeb

I’m skipping Jeb because of how little I care about him. He’s a little bitch, next character.

Ari

STILL HASN’T BEEN REVEALED AS AN ERASER. I’ve been writing for 50,000 words and he’s over here saying ‘nope nope not yet, not dramatic enough’. He’s had speaking lines but has refused to make himself known to Max. I am so frustrated with this seven-year-old wolf-child that I’ve already considered how I would kill him, if I decide I want to kill yet another child in my writing.

So, my main thoughts for Ari is that he... really just drew the short end of the stick in every possible way. While Jeb didn’t sign him up for Eraser expirimentation, he didn’t do anything to stop it, and pretty much cut his losses when he realized this expiriment made a wreck of his ‘perfect, unflawed’ son, because Jeb doesn’t consider children of any species to actually be humans. So, Ari really hates his dad, which makes things complicated, because he also really loves his dad and really wants his approval. 

Which means that he also really hates Max, because she’s the child that always got Jeb’s time and attention, even when Ari was human. I think, on some level, he knows that trying to tear Max down to a less-favored level isn’t actually going to help his situation— infighting for the love of an abusive parent won’t make them any less abusive— but he’s also seven, and his development is already severely stunted due to becoming an Eraser, and he doesn’t see ‘leaving ITEX’ as an option like the Flock does. ITEX is his everything. It’s all he’s ever known, and they tell him he’s doing the right thing, and he wants them to love him. He wants his father to love him. He knows that if he ever questions ITEX, his father will never love him. So it must be his older sister that’s ruining his life and being a horrible child, and once Ari drags her back down to his level, Jeb will realize who the best child is and love him properly again.

Ari, on an even deeper level, does care for Max quite a bit, because she’s his older sister and he wants that to mean something in a way that ‘Jeb being his father’ obviously doesn’t. He wants what she made for herself, and he hates the Flock because she loves them and obviously doesn’t love him. 

Ari, if anything, is the product of neglect, and both loves and hates everyone who shows a chance of caring about him. And he’s seven, so he can’t notice these patterns, let alone break them.

So. Notes!

He doesn’t look like an adult. I thought that was gross and unnecessary. He’s seven, but he looks closer to thirteen or fourteen. Still young enough that he looks like every Eraser’s little brother, and the Erasers high-key treat him like it.

On a related note, he’s the only Eraser who can talk. The others don’t have the mental capacity or vocal structure to replicate human speech, but they can understand language (at about the level of a two or three year old) and are very good at nonverbal communication. This is why Ari managed to climb the ranks despite only having three years of “service” and also looking like a tween.

He doesn’t have an expiration date because that is SUCH a stupid plot point.

I’m giving him a chainsaw! I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but he deserves to have a chainsaw and GODDAMN I will give it to him.

Emergency and Gene

The OCs that I love and also killed pre-series. They don’t have any scenes, because they’re dead, but their deaths greatly effected Max, Fang, and Iggy, and they are very commonly referenced. Their voices are probably Max’s most common hallucination, to the point where she sometimes pretends they’re ghosts that she can talk to. They’re not ghosts. They’re dead.

Dr. Valencia Martinez

I’m actually keeping her pretty close to canon— loving, supportive, the type of person to take in a gsw victim with minimal questions. The difference is that rather than kindness fueling her actions, it’s incredible guilt. She has three goals surrounding Max: Give her as much support in any way she can, teach her as much about chicane culture as possible, and never let Max know that she’s her birth parent.

(She’s probably going to fail at AT LEAST two of those, but it’s the thought that counts.)

Notes:

She has a pet fox named Robin Hood that she rescued from an exotic animal salesman that got arrested.

I think I’m going to kill her. I don’t know yet, but it’s on the table.

Anne Walker

Y’know, the fake FBI Agent. Who’s not actually a fake in my story because I hated that plot point. She’s genuinely an FBI agent who put the Flock into pseudo-witness-protection in order to build a case against the Institute of Higher Living, accidentally got attached to her prime witnesses, raised them for a few months, realized a [SPOILER] and promptly had to let them get the hell out dodge.

I really like the Anne Walker that lives in my head. She is a VITAL part of the Flock’s development, their mental/emotional recovery, and adding to their safety net to fall back on. She serves them as their first adult role model, and is the first adult to show them what parent/child are supposed to look like from a healthy perspective. Though she has several fuck ups, she becomes someone that the Flock genuinely trusts and loves, which makes it all the more difficult for them to leave when [REDACTED].

Notes:

She and Max do butt heads initially, because Max is paranoid and also afraid of becoming uneeded. This ends up being incredibly important because Max needs to learn how to live and find meaning in life without being the designated Leader/Parent/Big Sister

Anne, at one point, sits the entire flock down to teach them about consent, which was something no one ever talked about with them before. She goes in talking specifically about consent in a romantic/sexual sense (because they’re fourteen and that’s something they need to know), but quickly turns into a full-fledged no, people are NOT allowed to do that to you, what the FUCK.

She’s responsible for giving the flock a laptop. It’s because Angel is online schooled (bc telepathy makes actually learning difficult) and was therefore provided with a computer.

Anne is also allowed to swear, but only when it’s funny.

Michael “Grey” Rivers

Aka Grey from the Sewers Aka GR3Y H47 Aka Mike from the Bronx Aka Gifted Child Syndrome Incarnate Aka Would-be-in-MIT-if-his-parents-weren’t-horrible. He’s my son, your honour.

Basically, his backstory boils down to him being a genius, getting into MIT at 14, his (horrible) parents wanting a perfect child who could “make it out” of the Bronx and represent his family/neighborhood/borough to the world. When he inevitably failed their expectations due to stress, a schizophrenic-spectrum disorder that completely alienated him from the rest of his support network, and refusing to take his psych meds because the side effects were horrible and they made it harder to think (and therefore pass his classes), they kicked him out. He fully intends to go back to MIT when he turns 18 and has control of his finances/scholarships/medication/therapy.

So that’s how the flock meets him. 

Mike ends up in a very prominent support role for the flock both in technological persuits (helping them track their parents, helping them get information from ITEX, trying to disable Max’s chip and failing multiple times until it becomes a matter of personal honour—), in helping the older members of the flock figure out how to deal with hallucinations/delusions (because he’s actually been to therapy, unlike them), and in being one of the only people who talks to them and helps them without any ulterior motive. He’s not trying to build a case against ITEX/The Institute of Higher Learning, he’s not double crossing them, he’s not plagued with guilt. He just genuinely wants to help them, and they genuinely want to help him, and that’s their first introduction to a healthy, non-codependent relationship.

My many disorganized notes on Michael Rivers:

He’s from specifically Morris Heights, Bronx, NYC.

He would say that his last name is actually Rivera, but his grandparents changed it to Rivers so it would sound more English, and his family has been in America for so long that he doesn’t know much about any Latino heritage he may or may not have. He identifies as African American, not Afro-Latino. He’s just bitter that his family felt the need to change their surname to have better opportunities in New York.

Nudge aggressively befriends him pretty much the moment she meets him, bullies him into teaching her how to code, and he very quickly adopts her as his pseudo-little-sister.

His delusions in the book seemed to involve government conspiracies, but as that’s the one delusion that is proved correct in the book, I’ve decided it would be best if his delusions and reality intersected a bit less if I don’t want to write him having a manic/paranoid episode in the second scene he has screen time. So his delusions are more based on “none of this is real”, “someone is recording everything I do and setting me up to fail” and “my ill-wishes on people can and will come true if I dwell on them too long.”. Government conspiracies are one of things he is skeptical about because he thinks most conspiracies are either “CIA admitted to this twenty years ago” or “antisemitism”.

He’s taking online free college classes that don’t actually give him any college credit, but they have good information and help him feel like he’s working towards something. He plans to double major in computer sciences and electrical engineering, minor in marine biology. He’s wanted to join NOAA since he was twelve and he is nothing if not stubborn.

There you go. These are my characters, now. I have custody.

[redwinterroses]

Bdoubleo100: ep1, s8

And we’re back at it again at Krispy Kreme -- finally diving in to Bdub’s first episode. I’ve been saving this one -- partly because it’s so long (seriously Bdubs an HOUR? please keep doing this lol) and partly because Bdubs is my favorite feral hermit and I wanted to give him my full attention. 

So without further ado -- spoilers below!

Hold up did Bdubs change his intro music?

“Hi, it’s me -- the cozy fuzzy mossy time king.”

“we sang kumbaya...” *insert mass battle scene*

the death on this server is hilarious and that should be a bad thing but it’s not

Gem just launching herself into the fray i love her

XD The way Scar comes around the corner and is immediately like Oh mistakes were made and they were made by me back away slow

Confirmed: none of the established hermits know ANYTHING about 1.17 except for xisuma but he’s a cryptid he doesn’t count

i love that prox-chat = “shout at them until we’re within range and they finally hear us” XD

I can’t wait to see how Tango’s, Keralis’, and Bdubs’ bases look and who takes over the area first XD

it’s so precious that these guys are SO experienced with the mega, late-game side of MC that they end up derping so hard with early-game survival. Elder Gods pretending to be mortals -- I love them.

Tango: “I love caving with builders -- they choose shears over armor.”

Keralis 100% knows what UHC is

“Put me in the cage, I’m ready.”

“Use your shears!” “Oh that’s shearly a good idea.” “...I hated that, I hated that joke.”

Bdubs: *sees axolotl* *instant panic*

“I’m gonna name him idiot.” Axolotls are the new jungle cats for bdubs

team TBK has one (1) brain cell and they left it in a chest at spawn. 

Bdubs’ dictionary: “bargain” = “steal under threat of violence”

“GEMINIIIII”

I’m like 99% sure that Gem took all her stuff out of that chest and put it in her inventory when she heard team TBK coming. XD Her POV cuts right before that but it seems like a wise move all things considered

Gem seriously sounds EXACTLY like a patient adult dealing with hyperactive children and I just adore her

“Does that hurt every time?” *proceeds to bounce up and down on a spike repeatedly stabbing himself in the feet*

can't wait to see Gem constantly call in the diamonds from episode one like Danny Kaye's character in White Christmas constantly pulling the "I saved your life" bit

these guys are 100% like the doofy trio of villains from a 90s Disney show. Tango is the brains, Bdubs is the muscle, and Keralis is the dumb one they all pick on XD

“BEHOLD THE COBBLE OF SHAME”

only Bdubs would immediately decorate his early-game cow farm with a severed head and redstone bloodsplotches

“Nice piece of meat there”

“I control the time around here”

yoooo I didn’t know you could place deepslate sideways

in chat -- Cub: “Buzz buzz.” Scar: “That is a lie.” wat

wtf Bdubs singing almost sounds like the Patient Is The Night guy from Over the Garden Wall

“I’m so happy-- my dog is attacking my arm.”

“Watch, I’ll end up living out here later-- no. Please no.” *s5 flashbacks intensify*

Bdubs: *gives Gem jungle plants for Aesthetic Needs* “...do you want some TNT as well?” #chaosgremlins

Are you going to hold that clock all season, Bdubs??

yes please I need Bdubs and Gem collabs

“I am the sleep king.” “Are you?” “YES!???!” *punches Scar off a cliff*

“Don’t call me Oscar!!”

Imagine if Scar had had access to moss during the Mycelium War

Mumbo in chat: “praise boatem”

builders helping builders I love them

“Is that an insult??” *Scar snickering*

Scar I’m getting reputation points vibes with your wax-on-wax-off services *squints*

“This is an interesting idea for a starter base... And may I NOT recommend it.”

BDUBS THIS IS BEAUTIFUL???? like I’m not surprised but at the same time I’m amazed

“I’ve lost my mind! Aha!”

“...don’t tell Etho about that. He doesn’t like... hollow.”

“Gotta get [wolves] for my daughter Ari” I forget sometimes that the Hermits with kids probably also make their content with their kids in mind and that’s just the most delightful thing

excellent gandalf impression

Oh I feel so good after watching that, Bdubs is hands down one of my favorite hermits, I just love him so much. Excellent vibes, hilarious jokes, sudden rage -- all my favorite things. 

I am now exactly halfway through the first day episodes. This was a bigger task than I anticipated but I’m going to complete it! And then I probably won’t “liveblog” any more episodes this season lol. It just takes so long literally probably twice as long as just watching the dang episodes.