#i will be with this site until it literally disappears but Still.

[bloodsbane]

i think what ticks me off the most about recent changes staff have been making to tumblr is they keep insisting it's necessary bc they need to draw in and retain new users or they're NEVER going to keep things going, so their solution is to... add a bunch of annoying and unintuitive shit that A) isn't going to appeal to anyone, let alone new people, but also B) piss off the existing user base.

like, im sorry, between the two demographics who do you think is going to ACTUALLY care enough about tumblr to use it every day and pay for things like no ads, or your merch based off decade old memes? i give this site the 5 or whatever bucks it takes to get rid of its stupid ad posts in part bc they're annoying but also because i have been on this fucking webbed site for 12 years! and i don't mind giving it some money to keep it running. BUT. not if that's paying for staff's ability to add more useless/convoluted/unappealing features that dont have MY user experience in mind

[firebirdsdaughter]

As the daughter of a history major…

… Where the hell are so many americans on tumblr going to school???

I just saw a post about how ‘it’s taught in america that the pilgrims were Good and fleeing religious intolerance but they were actually Bad’ which first off, you cannot make those distinctions bc freaking everyone was up to kill anyone who didn’t agree in those days, but also… People claiming to be american claiming that they were definitely taught exactly that??

Maybe… If you never took a history class past elementary school, I guess. Or maybe you were in Florida (oh, gods, get my mother started on people killing each other in Florida).

Bc, resident American here, albeit one in Massachusetts, and… No. We’re not taught that. You get a romanticised version in early grades maybe, but the higher you go, you get taught that the most Puritans had different religious beliefs than the standard in England, so they took the opportunity to ship off to the colonies. There’s no victimisation, it’s just straight facts. And that usually, that was the category of people shipped off to the colonies—criminals, religious differences, poor people… Like no one in their right mind wanted to go off into the ‘wilderness.’ They did it bc they hated being where they were, and England was all too happy to get rid of them. Hell, they were also completely unprepared and many of them died on the way over. Like that shot went super bad for so many reasons.

I’m not going to claim I remember every detail I was taught, and I had a bit of a deeper knowledge bc my mother is, again, a history major w/ an interest in American history bc it is whacky), and I do remember the ‘founding’ being a little simplified, but I also distinctly remember going into higher grades and having teachers outright explain ‘what you were told as kids was a very simplified version, let’s talk about it in more detail.’ We weren’t taught that there were ‘good’ or ‘bad’ guys, we were taught that these people had a difference in belief and that for that reason, they ended up shipped off to the colonies. We talked about the conflicts, the damage, the ugly bits.

I think people claiming to have been taught a sanitised version either didn’t take many history classes, didn’t pay attention, or don’t remember much of what they were taught (which no judgement here, I barely remember). Or maybe they’re just trying to sound Cool on the internet? I can’t know. But I remain baffled by certain myths about the us that alleged Americans come out of the woodwork to claim are true when… Your experiences are not universal???

Like I’m happy to criticise the education system, bc excuse me while I cry about not being able to hold a conversation in Spanish, but like. Unless you were in a very particular environment (I went to public school, btw)… No, you weren’t taught that shit. There’s parts missing, sure, but they did not, at least not beyond elementary, try to claim the ‘Pilgrims’ were blameless. I remember being taught that life was harsh and short, and people bitter and stubborn. I don’t doubt that the words ‘fleeing religious intolerance’ might’ve been used, bc technically, yes, they were. But I am also intolerant of trolls, and mosquitos. That’s a statement, it has no bearing on what kind of people either group was.

[meadowscarlet]

james potter as your boyfriend.

pairings: james potter x fem!reader.

warnings: nsfw under the cut and inappropriate language used.

author’s note: disappearing again after this so enjoy this for now </3 !!! do not copy, post on another site, translate or claim any of my works as your own or you will be reported! nav.

in the relationship

��� he literally fell for you the moment he first saw you, nobody can blame him; you were too incredibly beautiful, an elegance unlike any other, an just overall lovely so it was no surprise how quickly he grew an infatuation with you

• like he could still remember that day (of course he could, bloody sirius would always find a way to remind him) when he bumped into a wall and fell, crashing to the ground, the lens of his glasses cracking from the impact as he passed by you, and he was too enthralled to pay attention to where he was going

• remus would say to him, looking utterly fed up with him, “james, that's the tenth time you've broken your glasses, for merlin's sake watch where you're going.”

• james would argue, “the love of my life was just near me, you can't tell me that i should just ignore her.”

• remus doesn't bother saying anything and simply leaves him alone with peter and sirius, who were laughing hard

• so yes; he did fell for you, literally and figuratively

• at first you weren’t that pleased with him; he literally won’t leave you alone—flirts with you whenever he has the chance and you were simply annoyed by it

• “you have to stop it,” he would complain with a goofy grin

• “stop what?” you asked, confused

• “being so beautiful; it’s distracting me in class, i can’t pay attention to anything other than you, love.”

• even while you occasionally found his antics bothersome, somehow you grew fond of it to the point that you finally agreed to be his girlfriend

• he literally won’t. stop. smiling

• “you’re finally my girl, i mean you’ve always been but this is much better.”

• treats you so GOOD

• worships the ground you walk on (ever since the beginning)

• calls you “love”

• so clingy !!!!!!!!!!!!! but you love it though

• definitely pouts and sulks when you don’t pay attention to him

• needs affirmation all the time. he cherishes it when you kiss his cheeks and reassure him; it helps him feel worthy of you and you would constantly assure him that he is enough for you

• “godric, i bloody love you,” he would say pulling you to him and never having the intention of letting you go

• you’re his lucky charm in everything but most especially whenever he has a quidditch match

• would refuse to play until you arrive

• his eyes would light up once you finally arrived, and he would be immensely motivated to win

• blows you a kiss whenever he scores

nsfw

• “fuck me,” he would groan whenever he sees you wearing his quidditch jersey with nothing under it

• gets turned on so fucking fast

• so needy. literally begs for you, “please, love, i need you right now.”

• moans and whines for you to just fuck him as you grind your pussy against his throbbing dick

• a switch—sometimes he takes control when he’s fucking you but he doesn’t mind you being dominant over him, in fact, he likes it

• he is obsessed with eating you out; he would devour your pussy as if he were a starving man; you laying on the bed, bare before him just like he desires, especially after a long day and gripping your hips down anytime you would whine and beg for more

• you both are just desperate for each other

• “you gonna cum, love? fuck, i could cum just by looking at you all wet for me.”

[hobisstar]

What are you hiding from love?| Yandere!Jk x Reader

Summary: Being in a relationship with Jungkook you’ve always noticed the signs, the red flags if you will. Being so in love with him you ignored them, until the people you loved dearly started disappearing one by one.

Warnings: Murder, Jungkook victim blaming ( like he will say i killed you because you are too stupid or whatever), Possessiveness, Mentions of Smut, Controlling, Locking up YN.

Taglist: vante 🫶🏾

A/N: This is made to be scary! That is all. I honestly dont like mixing smut with yandere because i read yandere fics to be spooked not horny lol.

5 years,

5 long years, of nothing but love and trust but more than that. Of course honesty, right?

Well on yn’s end there was definitely honesty. Jungkook’s? Not so much. You see there is this dark secret that jungkook has been hiding since they met 6 years ago…

It’s so deadly that it could possibly end their relationship if she found out about it.

She was so beautiful, so calm and gentle with him, he loved that side of her. Hes never seen her angry, sad, or even hurt. He never wants to see that side of her.

Jungkook doesn’t want to be the reason he sees that side of her.

Like now, There are siting on their shared bed, in their shared bedroom, in their shared apartment. Telling the truth, would risk him loosing all of this. He cant have that.

Jungkook looked at her then smiled, “ You are so beautiful you know?” He smiled, kissing the top of her head. YN blushed lightly staring up at him.

YN was quite literally everyone’s dream girl. Maybe that was the problem to Jungkook.

She was too good to everyone including himself and he hated. He knows she has a bad side but he never gets to see it so when he knows someone else gets to experience that mean side of her, he’s instantly jealous.

Who got his baby so pissed that she called you a dumb cunt? A fucking bitch? Who dares piss off his queen?

He will deal with them, with torture. Slow, painful, evil, demented, twisted death.

That was the other side of him he need to never be shown to his lover. It scared him that in any means possible she found out about his… hobby.

Nevertheless, Jungkook admires yn. How she can keep it together in every situation. Worships her to be exact.

“Stop calling be beautiful and get ready for work, handsome.” Yn responded while patting his back.

Right, work. Besides his hobby, he works at a flower shop while yn works at a cafe during the weekend. It’s enough to keep food on their table, to the rent, gas but also enough for simply living. Jungkook owns the flower shop so, he makes a whole lot of money.

There are so many things that yn doesn’t know about Jungkooks basically second life. How deadly it is.

jk: I miss you, baby~

I hate this fucking job

What are you doing?

Is bam stilling your attention from my text?

Babbbbbbbbyyyyy

yn

yn

yn

yn answer the phone

yn: sorry baby! I was feeding bam and fixing me something to eat!

I left my phone in the bathroom

yn: j, you just got to work babes 🤨, how do you miss me already?

You didn’t even clock in yet SILLY!

jk: I can’t miss you now?

Since when did you feel like that?

yn: Jeon I never once said you couldn’t, don’t say that.

jk: but you where implying that…

yn: Jeon Jungkook, clock in, put your phone down, see you when you get home 😕🩷

jk: smh, why that face? Why that reply?

He waited for a reply but he never received one, instead he heard someone clear his throat. He looked up and saw it was a woman probably in her 30s, staring at him like he was a snack.

“Hi! JK right? I came in here a few days ago looking for some flowers for my sisters birthday! I doubt you remember me but I want to come back to get some for myself!” The lady bit her lip and looked Jungkook up then down and Jungkook thought he could be sick.

He forced a half smile, “ Yeah yeah, I don’t remember you. You can get them for yourself, I don’t remember the flower you got last time.” He looked back down at the book he was original decorating with different flower pictures but got bored so he texted his lover.

“oh.. I was hoping you could pick them for me, fresh ones. I know you all do that-,” “ we do but not this early.” He interrupted still looking down, knowing he is hurting the poor woman’s feelings for not even recognizing her or remembering the flower or even falling for her shitty attempt to flirt.

“Okay, ah well I’ll go grab them and pay for them.” She said waiting for a respond or even a nod but she didn’t even get that. She walked over there and grabbed them then returning to the register. While she put her things on the counter, she saw a glimpse of Jungkooks Lock Screen which so happens to be a picture of yn and bam sleeping on the couch. “ Your sister?” She asked, hoping she was right. “ My wife actually and our son.” He scanned the flowers and roughly wrapped them. Roses, it’s be sad if he left a thorn on them. He turned around and slightly cut the stem but enough to keep the thorn nice and sharp.

Jungkook turned back around and handed them to her. As soon as the woman grabbed them she gasped, in pain he assumed. He pretended to be concerned but when he saw the palm of her hand leaking red liquid, he smiled on inside.

“ Oh! Im so sorry! I thought I got all the thorns, out…” he looked up at her then saying “ I guess one snuck away.” giving her the most creepiest blank face the woman has ever seen. She then realized he left the thorn on on purpose. He even sharpened it. “ I can fix that for you-,” “ No! I-It’s fine! Thank you so much! See you!” She some what screamed and hurried out the store frightened.

“ too bad..” Jungkook mumbled and chuckled continuing to put pictures in the decorating book.

“Bam! You just keep growing!” Yn said as she walked into the kitchen smiling while seeing him staring at the spare room. It’s Jungkooks office. “ What’s the matter? You know your dad doesn’t like you going in there.Not even me.” She stooped to his level and petted his back but only received a whimper in return.

Yn stared at the door. It’s taunting her with its unlocked door handle. She looked at the time, it was only 5 pm, Jungkook wouldn’t be home for a few more hours.

“ A peak wouldn’t hurt us right?” Looking at Bam and he barked as if he understood her.

Yn stood up and opened the door walking in. It was a nice little tidy office.

It would be comforting even if it wasn’t so cold. She has to remember to turn on the air for this room once exiting.

She turned around seeing if Bam followed her inside but he was at his bowl slurping up some water.

Looking at the closet door she opened it up and turned on the light. “since when did he make this a dark room?” The red light was a little hard to see in but her eyes soon adjusted quickly.

Spooky wasn’t the feeling that she was feeling but more so unsettled. Yn looked at the photos on the table and quite literally almost vomited.

“ what… what is that?” Stammering as her eyes scanned over the photos laid out on the table.

Pictures of people being hurt, harmed. There were far more worse ones that she doesn’t even want to even mention. Gazing up on the line looking at the ones drying where pictures of, her.

This wouldn’t be weird if it wasn’t of her sleeping, in the shower, getting dressed, even at work.

“Did jungkook take these?… no way…”

Yn was flabbergasted,

Was her boyfriend of 5 years, a serial killer? A psychopath? A fucking weirdo? I mean she saw the signs but thought she was tripping.

Days where he would come home with blood and dirt on his hands and clothes. He would always say it was his and it came from the thorns he dealt with at work.

“yn! I’m home!” Jungkook shouted. As he walked in and smiled when he saw Bam sitting on the couch peacefully sleeping.

It’s where yn and bam usually cuddle so, where is she at?

“Did she leave you by yourself?” He asked Bam who was waking up from sleep. Walking towards the kitchen he saw dinner was made and a note on the fridge door.

“ Welcome home babes! Sorry I couldn’t be home to greet you, I went out to go get a few things but my sister called and said she wanted to have a little sibling time! Ha. Be back by 11 pm! Dinners fixed but do warm it up, then shower and get some sleep! See you later,

Love, Yn <3”

“Ah, I guess she did leave us by ourselves tonight Bam.” He chuckled and took off his jacket. He felt weird though.

Since when did her sister want to hang out so late? This is the first he ever heard of it. Pondering, he grabbed his phone and called yn’s sister.

“Hello? Jungkook?” She answered confused as ever at this late ass call. “Hey, sorry to call so late. is yn with you?” Jungkook asked but his full attention was on his office door.

“What? No she’s not. Why?” Without missing a beat Jungkook hung up the phone right after. He dialed yn’s number. What he wasn’t expecting was to hear her phone sitting right on the couch next to Bam. He watched it ring and sighed. Maybe she just went out and forgot it on accident, no need to panic.

For some reason in the back of his mind he felt as though she found out. She went into his forbidden office. Jungkook chuckled, “ she would never disobey me.” He warmed his food up then sat at the table but he couldn’t eat.

Nor could the feeling of her going in his office go away. He stood up and walked to the door and opened it.

At first he didn’t notice anything out of place until he realized it was warm in the room. He never turns the air on in this room. Jungkook looked around about to leave until something so obvious caught his eyes.

The red light illuminating on the other side of the closet door. With quick steps, he opened the door well threw it open. Nothing was touched but the light alone was a clear sign that someone was in there.

He mentally and physically cursed himself.

“ She knows, she fucking knows.” He calmly stated but boy was he heated.

“ I need to fucking find her…now.”

To be continued…

[sutxdreamwalker]

How the remaining Sarentu would react to a human on time of the month

Summary: So I thought how the Sarentu characters would react to a human on there time of the month. This is based around a thing I read about the Sully kids and Reef trio reacting to a human having a time of the month. I figured this would be a little funny and wholesome!

A/n: this is about that time of the month, sillies being sillies, wholesome stuff, platonic, but implied romance

It was a normal day at the resistance HQ, most of the humans were outside, studying the plants that have appeared thanks to the destruction of RDA sites that were causing pollution.

Y/n was laying on some blankets and pillows reading a book, there wasn’t that many people around the main area except for them and the remaining Sarentu na’vi.

They got along pretty well, after all they were all around the same age. But Nor was the oldest out of all of them.

Anyway, while Y/n was laying down, Teylan was tinkering with some gadget, Nor was in his own world of thought, Ri’nela and the Sarentu we’re having a conversation.

It was nice and calm, nothing being interrupted. Until a shot of a pain went there Y/n which made them drop there book and hug the lower half of there body with a groan of agony “AH!”.

That made the na’vi in the room draw there attention to the human. “Y/n! Are you ok?” Teylan said as he ran to them and kneeled down bedside them.

The others stoped what they were doing and went over to the area too. “I’m fine..just, going threw something” Y/n said standing up still having there arms wrapped around them with a look of pain.

When they stood up Teylan noticed something on the blanket they were just sitting one, it was stained red, by the sight of it he knew it was a blood stain.

“Oh my goodness! Your bleeding!” He screamed in panic and Y/n looked down and now had a look of embarrassment and panic.

“Their what?!” The other na’vi yelled, Ri’nela looked over the human to see exactly where there bleeding. “Guys! Guys! It’s ok!” The human tried to calm them down while slowly dying mentally inside.

“No it’s not ok! Your bleeding! and by the looks of it it’s a lot!” Nor exclaimed in worry. “It’s all fine! Really!” Y/n yelled trying to make them stop worrying but they wouldn’t.

“Your bleeding from your lower area!” Ri’nela said now seeing where the blood was coming from. The other three na’vi had confused and slightly embarrassed looks but went back to panicking.

“W-Why are they bleeding from there?” Teylan said sounding pretty frightened for them. “I-It’s…” Y/n tried to explain but couldn’t find the right words.

“I’ll find something to stop the bleeding!” Nor said getting up trying to find something to help.

“Hurry! Their bleeding out a lot!” The sarentu exclaimed. “I’ll radio the others for help!” Teylan said touching the com on his neck “Teylan no!” Y/n yelled.

“There is nothing around here to prevent the bleeding!” Nor yelled from a distance “improvise then!” The sarentu yelled.

“Hello? Priya! Come here quickly! Y/n’s bleeding from her lower area!” Teylan yelled in to the mic. From the other side of the com Priya just stood there and looked at Anqa who heard the panic na’vi and they just bursted out laughing.

“Why are you laughing?!” Teylan cried and just hung up “oh my god..” Y/n was mostly shaking at this point.

Nor was heard coming back “Ok, I couldn’t find anything that seemed that would help but how about this?” He held up a mop “a thing that can absorb the blood..on a stick”.

Y/n just wanted to die, not literally but more like disappear to get out of this awkward situation. They knew their friends were trying to help but they just didn’t understand that they were making the situation insane and awkward.

“What is going here? What’s with all the yelling?” The sound of So’lek’s voice was heard and Y/n thought this was about to get more worse.

“So’lek! Y/n’s bleeding!” The sarentu yelled and So’lek just looked at the group and with a confused blank expression.

“Disgusting, I mean, it’s not like their dying or anything” is all he said “what?!” The group exclaimed. So’lek looked at Y/n “just let them explain, your making them uncomfortable with your panicking”.

He walked out at all eyes were now on Y/n “are we making you uncomfortable?” Teylan asked with a sad look. Y/n looked at all there friends sad and worried expressions “I..no, um, yes?-” they sighed “just, let me do this thing first, and I’ll explain everything, just wait here” they said and walked out to another are of the base.

“We messed up” Teylan frowned looking down, his ears pinned down. “We didn’t mean too” Nor mumbled sitting down “I’m sure Y/n has a good explanation, and we can talk it all out” Ri’nela spoke in a soft tone.

After a while Y/n came back wearing some sweatpants as the group looked towards them but didn’t get up to give them space.

The human sat down were they were once sitting and took a breath “ok, you definitely have questions” they said as the nodded.

“Ok, so, once a month I bleed from my, you know, and it’s normal, it means I am not pregnant yet” Y/n explained.

“What? So someone’s been trying to get you pregnant?” Teylan asked “is it Nor?” The sarentu whispered “no!” Nor yelled.

Y/n only blushed a little “no, no, no, I’m not with Nor, and I don’t need to pregnant when I go thew this”.

“So, it’s how your humans reproduce?” Ri’nela asked “yes, it helps, cause after my menstruation I can get pregnant, if I want”.

“And I feel cramps during this time, which is a pain” they wrapped their arms around there waist.

“Is there anyway to stop the pain?” Teylan asked “yes, a heat pad, but I can’t really find any”.

“So how long is this gonna last?” Nor asked “for about a week” Y/n replied “any think we can do to help till then?” Teylan tilted his head.

“Since you guys are so big, maybe you could try and be my personal heat pad by cuddling me?” Y/n had a bit of a pleasing look in her eye.

“Of course!” Teylan smiled as his tail wagged and everyone else chuckled.

“Come on guys, cuddle pile” the sarentu said as they laid down around Y/n. Teylan wrapped his arms around them, being a big spoon, a really big spoon.

Nor laid next to Y/n but kept his distance, Ri’nela laid at the near the emergency of the blasted and pillow but was still comfy while the sarentu cuddled up in a bunch of pillows in a corner of the pile.

Everyone was comfy and started to slowly fall asleep being all nice and warm in each other’s presence.

Teylan put his hand on Y/n’s stomach to give them warmth for the cramps. The human put there hands over his with a soft smile on there face.

They looked at Nor with the same expression and he smiled back.

Y/n eventually fell asleep, the only thing they were feeling was the warmth from Teylan and his soft low purring.

[found-family-tournament]

Found Family Tournament Round 1 Part 7 Group 35

Propaganda and further pictures under the cut

The Golden Deer: Claude Von Reigan, Hilda Valentine Goneril, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, Raphael Kirsten, Ignatz Victor, Marianne Von Edmund, Lysithea Von Ordelia, Leonie Pinelli

Mikazuki Villa: Iroha Tamaki, Yachiyo Nanami, Tsuruno Yui, Felicia Mitsuki, Sana Futaba & Ui Tamaki

Submissions are still open!

The Golden Deer:

You could technically submit any of the three houses and have them fit but I feel like none of them quite embody the spirit of found family like the Golden Deer. Other than being from the same place, there's nothing that inherently connects them to each other. There are a lot of barriers between them, class, upbringing, trauma. But despite all that they manage to come together in their own messy way. Their route is all about the importance of unity and coming together despite any differences that might exist and they show the strength that comes from embracing diversity.

Mikazuki Villa:

Mikazuki Villa is a boarding house owned by Yachiyo, and previously Yachiyo's grandmother. Yachiyo is a magical girl veteran of 7 years. Over those years, there had always been a group of magical girls staying at the house, whether it be just hanging out or living there. The first person was Mifuyu Azusa, another magical girl veteran who's been a magical girl the same amount of time as Yachiyo. Then Kanae joined them, although she died to a witch sometime after. The next to join were Momoko and Meru. Tsuruno joined after them. The group went out to hunt a witch one day, but Tsuruno couldn't make it. Meru ended up dying that day, but this time she had turned into a witch. Yachiyo started suspecting whether her friend's deaths were her fault becuase of her wish. Since her wish was "to survive" (in refrence to her career as a model) she wondered if her friends has died so that she could survive. Since both Meru and Kanae died protecting her. And then Mifuyu disappeared (she joined a magical girl cult, but Yachiyo doesn't know that), which was the final straw for Yachiyo. She ended up pushing Momoko and Tsuruno away. It stayed that way until Iroha arrived at the city, searching for her little sister, Ui, who she had forgotten about, as all evidence of Ui's existence had inexplicably disappeared. Yachiyo ended up helping her, along with Tsuruno. Yachiyo kept both of them at arm's length though. During the search for Ui they picked up Felicia and then Sana. Felicia was an orphan who's family was "killed by a witch" (she actually killed them by accident and wished to forget it happened, thats a whole other story tho) and would kill any witch in her path out of rage, hoping that she'll eventually find and kill the witch that took her family away from her. She lived as a magical girl mercenary before she was basically adopted by the others so that she wouldn't starve. She loves Dragon Ball (or the pmmm equivalent of it) and cows. That doesn't relate to anything, but I think it's cute.

And then there's Sana, who wished to become invisible. She was always a disappointment in her family, and eventually they disowned her because of it. Her family went on with life as if she never existed, ignoring her. She felt that it would be better off if she just disappeared, so that's why she wished what she did. Iroha and the group found her in the rumor of the Endless Solitude, where she lived with an AI called, uhm, Ai. Ai actually contacted Iroha to save Sana because she knew that she wouldn't be able to stay with her forever. Iroha was the first person to ever say she needed Sana, and after they destroyed Ai, Sana went with them. It seems a itty bit cruel to destroy Ai but it was necessary since her barrier was literally being used as a storage site for witches (thnx Alina. I love her though, Alina is my favorite Magireco character apart from Karin). Sana starts to warm up to the rest of them, and realizes this is what family is supposed to feel like. And then ummmm... Felicia, Tsuruno, and Sana get brainwashed and recruited into the cult by Mifuyu!! Yachiyo, who had started to let her guard down, decides to break up the team. She tries to push Iroha away just like she did the other group. But Iroha pushes back, and promises Yachiyo that she won't die. The two work together to find the others after that. They find Sana and Felicia, whose brainwashing had worn off (Mifuyu has actually helped them escape, as the brainwashing hadn't been her idea), but not Tsuruno. Tsuruno had actually been fused with a Rumor (thnx Alina) and was going to be forced to commit mass murder! Average Tuesday. They eventually find Tsuruno but realize somethings wrong with her. They were told by Mifuyu that, to free Tsuruno from the Rumor, they had to "connect hearts" with her (I forget the exact wording, but basically they had to fully understand her and then connect with her using their magic. "Connect" is actually a game mechanic that lets magical girls combine their magic). But, when Yachiyo tried to do that, it didn't work. https://youtu.be/Hc4ED9TBX18 (watch this) You see, Tsuruno on the surface is very energetic and happy and sunny all the time. She titles herself "The Mightiest Magical Girl" and has the power to back that claim. She's basically a straight A student at school with perfect attendance (until the brainwashing). And shes just a very kind person in general. Except she has a habit of bottling up her feeling and masking her worries. Meru's death actually affected her quite a lot. She blames herself for it, since she wasn't there. She feels pressured to keep up her appearance as "The Mightiest". Yachiyo even fed into it, though it was accidentally (she was going through some shit after Meru died as well). Yachiyo realized this after she recognized Tsuruno's expression as the one she wore after visiting an amusement park with Yachiyo and Momoko sometime after Meru's death. She was able to truly connect with Tsuruno after that realisation. And after that incident, the whole group made sure to support her so she didn't have to deal with everything on her own anymore. Ui was the last addition to the group after Iroha saved her from her state as a "half-witch". I'm not going to try to explain that here as it's unrelated.

Long story short, her best friends from the hospital (she had a heart disease, and Iroha's wish cured her from it) stopped her from turning fully into a witch, but to do that one of them had to erase all memories of her with a rumor. Yeah, her best friend was creating the rumors. The rumor implanted false memories of Touka and Nemu (her friends) trying to save all magical girls along with Alina, an artistic prodigy who was staying at the hospital after to a failed suicide attempt. Their key to saving magical girls was Ui's half formed witch. Which they formed the cult around. Ui got saved though! :D Buttttt her half witch broke into some peices scattered around, which the collection of is basically the main plot of arc 2. They made a home for each other and stuck together through the trials and tribulations of arc 1, even putting their life on the line for eachtoher. And all of this, is why Mikazuki Villa is THE BEST found family. I hope you've watched Madoka Magica before, because if not, this would make zero sense. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BOTH MADOKA MAGICA AND MAGIA RECORD!! Magireco is a lil harder to find, but you find it on youtube at Magia Union Translations. Don't watch the Magireco anime, it sucks.

[butchsophiewalten]

haii i like JUST watched the walten files… idk if this blog is still alive, but im tryin to learn the lore and if u could give me a run-down of like the timeline/lore i would rlly appreciate it ^_^ TY!!!

Well i'm definitely still active, but this is kind of a tall ask! Also pretty complicated since there's a lot of fringe stuff that I care a lot about but probably isn't actually that important for a new fan to familiarize themself with right away, and sometimes it's hard for someone like me to differentiate that from the essential stuff. That said, I've written a lot here so it's going under a cut.

Just to cover all my bases: If you've just watched the series for the first time, be sure that you're also checking out the two hidden videos. They're both present in the Official Playlist in the order you're meant to view them, but there's really nothing wrong with watching both of them last, you shouldn't be that confused. These are technically and literally bonus content, but they ARE lore-important.

Also, a mutual of mine, @gir-posting put together a neocities site a while ago specifically with the intention of helping people who are new to The Walten Files get their bearings with it, and you can find that here:

Just as a note and to add my own pedantic criticism, this page eventually guides you towards the series' companion website, Findjackwalten.com, and provides archived links of all* the iterated versions of that site's pages. It's a LOT, don't worry about catching up on everything, it is literally all just bonus content to make the wait between episodes more fun. The Twfinfo page here also calls it an ARG, which i would not consider it by any stretch of the word's definition. It's just a website.

*some pages were never archived and Twfinfo is also missing the most recent findjackwalten update from August 15th.

I recognize that literally none of this is what you asked me for! This is because I honestly have a really difficult time trying to summarize the events of The Walten Files. But this is the part where I try:

In the late 50s, two college friends named Jack Walten and Felix Kranken came up with an idea for animatronic performers that, through the years, would eventually morph into the concept for Bon's Burgers. Sometime between 1968 and 1972, Jack and Felix's company, Bunny Smiles Incorporated, would partner with a company called CyberFun Tech to assist them in their Bon's Burgers project, providing them with resources and engineering expertise to create those animatronic performers they had envisioned. After lots of work, Bon's Burgers was set to open on June 1st, 1974.

This is the part you probably know. On May 2nd, 1974, Jack asked Felix for a favor he was needing. He was doing overtime at the workshop trying to get things ready for the opening, but his two youngest kids, Edd and Molly, needed someone to drive them to a school party they wanted to attend. His wife, Rosemary, couldn't take them, because she was taking his eldest daughter Sophie to the dentist. Felix agreed to the favor. You know what happened then.

This is where it gets fuzzy. After Edd & Molly's disappearances, the Bon's Burgers opening was postponed to June 28th. It seems like Jack and Felix more or less continued to collaborate on the project until Jack's disappearance on June 11th. We have no idea what happened to him after that.

The restaurant opened. At some point presumably between Jack's disappearance and the 30th of June, the animatronic Bon went strange. The lead engineer, Susan Woodings, decided to examine him after noticing some "irregularities" during his performance during the day, and he violently attacked her, then stuffed her damaged-but-still-living body into the animatronic Banny, where she eventually starved to death.

Bon's massacre would continue with the elusive employee, Charles B., who we continue to know next to nothing about except that he ended up in Boozoo, and would finish with Rosemary Walten, who had been returning to the restaurant regularly with hopes of finding her missing husband. The screams heard during Rosemary's attack and dismemberment were reported by the neighborhood and led to the restaurant's immediate closure. All of the restaurants assets, including its animatronic performers, were relocated to a storage unit in the middle of a nearby forest.

Over the years Felix pulled a lot of cheap merchandising schemes to try and keep the Bon's Burgers and Bunny Smiles brand relevant in the consciousness of Brighton. Lots of toys and direct-to-video cartoons and even a reasonably popular television series. In the late 70s he put forward a plan to fix up all the animatronics and reopen the Bon's Burgers restaurant in a new location. The first version of the plan went really terribly, since they just went and hired some teenaged engineers and put them on crunch time to try and fix everything wrong with four half-decade old complicated machines. One of those engineers, Ashley Parks, ended up poking around in some back hallways she wasn't supposed to see and was killed by Bon for snooping. She ended up in the animatronic Billy, who was present at the old Bon's Burgers location but has been kept suspiciously separate from the other animatronics for years.

Flash forward to 1982. Sophie Walten, the only living member of the Walten family, has been living with medication-induced amnesia for years. This is until her girlfriend Jenny introduces her to the BunnyFarm arcade machine, which has just been installed in the basement of the hotel where Jenny and she live. Through the machine, the spirits of her dead friends and family begin communicating with her, and she learns a lot of the information I just relayed to you. And that's where we are, really.

[maya-chirps]

Leonora

by Sugarcane

New translation! This time I just felt like translating and talking about this song because I genuinely love talking about the little nuances here. It's one of the more recent videos that really pulled me back into OPM. I explain a lot of the nuances and the historical background below + some personal stories related to it too.

Leonora

This serenade I'm offering, for the maiden with unparalleled beauty, with the scent of roses If tricky fate would wish it I won't let it disappear

This letter I'm hoping your eyes would read I'm ready to do everything, I'll even court your family I've only now felt such eternal awe All I wish for is

The two of us be together at the end and at the beginning Proving that first love does last

How many poems has it been, why is it getting unnoticed? My only wish, at the end you'll be with me If it's possible, until the end of time I will never let you go forever

Our sweet past relationship, where'd it go? (I keep looking for you, whoa) How come between us, I'm the only one left? (I wish I could still see you) Your beautiful voice, would I still hear it? Ready to go through life[1] even if you're not here anymore

Wherever you are, may you be happy now (let you go free, whoa) Even if we won't be together anymore (I still love you) Just please listen to my wish that you would take care Oh, Leonora my love, ah

Alternative Translations and Additional Context

Ready to go through - this is just the literal translation of the line but contextually it's closer to the lyric I used or something close to "Ready to go through everything".

The song is based on the real-life historical figure Leonor Rivera-Kipping, one of the many lovers of the Philippine National hero José Rizal. The two were childhood sweethearts, however, due to Rizal traveling to Europe to study and Leonor's mother Silvestra Bauzon not liking how political he was while favoring an Englishman named Henry Charles Kipping so Silvestra and Kipping kept the letters that Rizal sent to Leonor. This made her think that she was abandoned and later on married Kipping instead (Quirino, 2015).

On the night of her wedding, she found the letters and in her frustration tore them apart sewing some of them on the hem of her wedding dress and burnt the others. After her marriage to Kipping, she vowed to never play the piano again. She died at 26 in childbirth alongside her newborn daughter, after which Kipping abandoned their only living son and traveled back to England just to die three years later, no mention of Leonor ever being his wife (Quirino, 2015).

Her final wish before her death was to be buried with the silver box that contained the ashes of Rizal's letters (Martinez-Clemente, 2011). Sadly, her grave was a casualty during the war and her remains and her grave site has been lost forever (Quirino, 2015).

Leonor serves as the inspiration for the character of Maria Clara in Rizal's acclaimed novels that Filipinos are mandated to learn at school Noli Me Tangere and its sequel El Filibusterismo. Maria Clara is the female love interest of the series protagonist Crisostomo Ibarra and the two have a severely tragic love story due to the politics surrounding Ibarra and both of their relationships.

From my understanding of the books, Leonor may also have been the inspiration for the El Filibusterismo character Paulita Gomez who abandons her relationship with her lover, one of the leading characters named Isagani, after he was accused of being an insurrectionist despite being innocent. At the end of the story, Paulita marries someone else and Isagani watches the reception from outside her house.

Random Trivia

The place this music video was shot is actually a historical house of another one of Rizal's many lovers Segunda Katigbak! The place is called Casa Segunda and is located in Lipa City, Batangas. My classmates and I visited the place and rented it out for a project a couple of years back.

Another fun fact is that the group most likely didn't actually play the piano in the house because they weren't allowed to considering how old it is. It's an antique and it was already falling apart when we went there way before this video was probably shot. That's the reason for them keeping the camera away from the keys.

They're also not allowed to sit on the antique seat in front of the piano because of how fragile it was and it already was falling apart too when we went there. We ignored this for one of our shoots and did it quickly before anyone could notice, but they may have just positioned the camera so they don't have to show them sitting down on the chair.

We found a random kitten in the house? I don't know what happened to it. It wasn't outside either, it was like inside one of the bedrooms. I don't know if the staff or family owned it but it did look like a stray.

Some of my classmates still hasn't paid me back for the rent we were supposed to split. It isn't a fun fact, I'm just a little salty.

Original Lyrics

'Tong alay kong harana, para sa dalagang Walang kasingganda, amoy-rosas ang halimuyak Kung nanaisin ng tadhanang mapanlinlang 'Di hahayaang mawala pa

'Tong liham na umaasang mata mo ang makabasa Handang gawin lahat, maging pamilya'y liligawan Ngayon lang nakadama ng wagas na pagkamangha Hiling ko lang naman na

Tayo na sanang dalawa ang siyang huli at ang umpisa Papatunayang ang unang pag-ibig ay 'di mawawala

Nakailang tula na, ba't tila 'di napupuna? Ang tangi kong hiling, hanggang dulo ikaw ang kapiling Kung puwede lang, hanggang pangmagpakailanman Hinding-hindi na papakawalan kailanman

Ang dating tamis ng pagsasama, nasa'n na? (Hinahanap-hanap ka, whoa) Ba't sa 'ting dal'wa, ako na lang ang natira? (Sana'y magkita pa) Tinig mong kay ganda, maririnig pa ba? Handang tahaking mag-isa kahit wala ka na

Kung nasa'n ka man, nawa ay masaya ka na (palalayain ka, whoa) Kahit na 'di na tayo magsasama pa (mahal pa rin kita) Dinggin mo lang ang hiling na mag-iingat ka Oh, Leonora kong sinta, ah

References

Martinez-Clemente, J. (2011, June 20). Keeping up with legacy of Rizal’s ‘true love’. Inquirer.net. Retrieved on 5 September 2024, from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/16626/keeping-up-with-legacy-of-rizal%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98true-love%E2%80%99

Quirino, E. (2015, February 17). Leonor Rivera, a Hero’s Sweetheart. Positively Filipino. Retrieved on 5 September 2024, from https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/leonor-rivera-a-heros-sweetheart

[kingkatsuki]

Sero Hanta & @saintokkotsu

How you meet.

You’d left your friends queueing for the bar while you went to the bathroom, and of course when you came back they were gone. Looking around the festival site to try and spot them as you stayed close to where you’d left them, looking through the faces in the line for the bar in the hopes that they were still waiting. But they were nowhere to be seen. Checking your phone to text them you found you had no cell service, much like it had been all day.

“You alright, babe?” You turned around to see a cute looking guy smiling at you, concern in his features as he tilted his head slightly to meet your gaze.

“Yeah, ‘m fine,” You returned his smile, “Just waiting for my friends.”

You didn’t want to tell him you’d lost them, worried he’d drag you off somewhere and have his way with you, or worse— be a serial killer, but your answer didn’t deter him.

“You know where they are, yeah? Hoziers on soon, you don’t wanna miss the set.”

There was just something about this guy that put you at ease, whether it was the friendly expression on his face or the soft, smooth timber to his voice, he had you telling him everything.

“I lost them in the crowd after the last band, so I’m not sure where they are right now.”

“That’s okay, can you call them, sweetheart?”

“Got no signal,” You murmured, wrapping your arms around your chest to stop the evening chill from getting to you. In the sea of people you were fine, but waiting outside as the sun began to set wasn’t quite the same. The wind lapping at your skin as you tried not to tremble.

“Hey, it’s okay. You can use my phone,” He juggled his beer in his hands as he patted his cargo shorts down for his cellphone, pulling it out and unlocking it with a groan.

“Shit, I got no signal either. One sec,” He turned to the group of guys he’d been walking with who were now in the queue for the bar, “Any of you got signal? Got a pretty girl in distress over here—”

His friends pulled their phones out of their pockets to check, most of them shaking their heads no until a hulking red haired guy covered in tattoos came over, “Here.”

“Thanks man,” Sero grinned, handing the phone off to you, “There you go, see if we can find them yeah?”

You were just hopeful one of your friends had signal, calling each cellphone until one connected. They’re drunken voices coming through on the other end as they screamed for you, trying to give you directions although they were clearly intoxicated.

“Get them to take a picture and we’ll work out where they are.” Sero placed his hand on your lower back as he whispered in your other ear, reiterating the plan to your friends on the phone as you hoped they understood what you meant.

When the picture came through you showed Sero, who seemed to know exactly where it was, “I think Denks got a burrito from that place earlier, come on.”

He swung a protective arm over your shoulder as he lead you through the crowds, his friends following behind as you made your way towards the main stage. One of the food trucks sat on the outskirts as you noticed your friends standing in a circle waiting for you. Screaming when they saw you as they almost tackled you to the ground in a hug.

“There you go, safe and sound.” Sero grinned, and you couldn’t deny you were upset when he disappeared into the crowd with his friends. Hoping to stay with him just a bit longer, or at least get his number.

But it wasn’t until after the set when you saw him emerge from the crowd, slipping away from your friends to go and meet him as he gave you a wide smile when he spotted you, “Not lost again are you, babe?”

This time you weren’t going to leave without his number, shooting your shot as he handed you his cellphone to put it in. And he literally texted you the moment he had cell signal again, sitting in the car on the way home waiting for those elusive bars to appear🥺

[died-but-not-dead-propaganda]

Leonard Church Propaganda

he died 10 episodes into the story and comes back as a “ghost” and spoiler-y stuff but he dies again and comes back again multiple times

HIS WHOLE THING IS BEING DEAD BUT NOT DEAD OK he is the most dead guy ever. he spends the first five seasons being a ghost and still managing to die repeatedly. he’s technically a robot but he’s an ai copy of an ai copy of a guy and BOTH OF THOSE GUYS ARE DEAD. HE IS SO DEAD ALL THE TIME BUT NOT BECAUSE HES ALIVE. he is in a constant cycle of dying but not being dead. half of blue teams kill count is just caboose repeatedly killing church on accident. he can’t die so hard that he won’t let his dead wife die either until the THIRD ITERATION OF HIM finally lets her go because he realizes he doesn’t even know her at that point he’s so many degrees of separation away from the original allison. and then he TRIES TO DIE WITH HER BUT STAYS ALIVE BECAUSE HE’S ETERNALLY CURSED TO LIVE. his death count is literally in the double digits he DESERVES a place on this tournament. most alive dead guy ever. ok thank u for ur consideration if he doesn’t win I will burn this webbed site to the ground /j

Iterations of church have died and come back multiple times. In season one he gets shot by a tank and comes back as a ghost. in like season six (it's been a while) it's revealed that he was not a ghost but an AI the whole time and then sacrifices himself. and then a copy of his ai self comes back. it's a meme in the fanbase at this point that church dies and comes back and after the ai copy (epsilon) died they had to devote a whole sub-plot to "WE SWEAR HE IS NOT COMING BACK AGAIN. HES GONE." anyway part of me is still suspicious that they lied about it and there's another part of the alpha ai out there somewhere but like, it's been like five years and i'm starting to think they got us for realsies this time

This dude has died like seven times. It's unreasonable the number of times he's died. Like it's kind of insane. He had a bunch of time travel clones at one point that all died. He sacrificed himself because he was convinced he WOULDNT die because he thought he was a ghost (he wasn't) and couldn't disappear again (he could and did). His SECOND VERSION OF HIMSELF (ai cloning sort of) ALSO DIED. ALSO by sacrificing himself (this time he actually knew what was coming though). The way he died the first time was by getting shot by his own best friend who killed him with a fucking tank. Then the sacrifice. Then the sacrifice again. Not to mention all the other times where he went missing/fucked off somewhere. And also the time that the Epsilon version of him tried to self destruct in another guy's brain. Jesus fucking christ this dude has problems. Please include him. Please.

the original leonard church (the director) made an exact copy of his mind as an ai (the alpha) that he tortured, which in turn made a copy of itself (epsilon) to cope with the trauma, so in total there are 3 Churches.

death count: the director killed himself. the alpha died when he was shot with a tank, then he possessed someone else's body and got shot in the head, then he possessed a robot that exploded so hard it melted all of the ice on an entire planet, then he got erased from existence by an EMP. then he came back as Epsilon who went on to also get erased.

Well it’s. It’s complicated okay. So hold on alright.

So Dr. Leonard L. Church was initially this guy who was the Director of Project Freelancer (PFL) and he liked to fuck around with AI because the Halo lore is like the background setting for RvB. Anyway the Director made an AI copy of himself, and called it “Alpha”. Well, the Director wanted to have more than one AI for his experiments so he could give them to his Freelancer Agents (all named after the 50 states), so what he did was he tortured Alpha until Alpha split itself into fragments; essentially he gave an AI so much trauma that Alpha developed DID. (Forgive me, even though I have friends who are systems I still know very little and am still learning about proper/respectful terminology). Well anyway one of the fragments of Alpha, Epsilon, was given “memory”. So Epsilon remembered all of the torture Alpha underwent, and when Epsilon was implanted in Agent Washington, Epsilon tried to kill himself, inadvertently almost taking Washington with him. Epsilon was removed and put into storage, and PFL fell apart. The Alpha, under the protocol “AI must not fall into enemy hands”, was sent to a secure location, and was reprogrammed to have his memory of the Project and everything with it removed. He was then implanted in a human, and was told he was Private Leonard Church of the Blue Army. (Side note; the Red and Blue armies are made up simulation armies designed to test Freelancer Agents in the field. The Reds and Blues do not know they are simulation troopers; they think the war is real.)

This whole shit slowly gets revealed throughout the course of the series, but yeah. Anyway. Church (Alpha, important distinction you’ll see why) dies a few times as a running gag in seasons 1-6. Then, at the end of season 6, he dies permanently to an EMP. But, the plot of season six involves our main characters rescuing the Epsilon storage unit, who eventually regains the identity of “Church” as well, as Epsilon was a fragment of Alpha initially, but there are a few tweaks. Alpha and Epsilon are different in a few ways, but they’re both “Church”. So it’s technically a revival. But if that’s too vague and too complex, in season one Caboose (Blue Team Rookie) blows up Church with a tank and then Church comes back as a ghost. It’s funny.

[tomionefinds]

This is such a shameful question so I'm sorry in advance 😂✌ Any smut galore multi-chapter completed fics you can recommend? Thank you!!

Hey Anon,

Absolutely no need to feel ashamed here, you are amongst like minded peers.

I'm just gonna list a fic from a few authors had to set some limits otherwise this would go on and on, but if you need more I recommend using Ao3's search filters too. I put something like over 40k just to try to rein this list in some. LOTS of really great smutty WIPs and oneshots out there.. Check the adultfanfiction site too. To be honest all of these authors have multiple completed multi-chapter explicit works, so I would definitely recommend pulling up their profiles and perusing their other works to see if any other strike your fancy. -JD

Tom, just Tom by Ciule E/Ma | Complete | 121k Lord Voldemort slithered out of the Veil on New Year's Eve in the year 2000. Still bent on world domination, he decided that Golden Girl Granger would be the perfect accessory on his arm.

Nightmare by provocative_envy E/Ma | Complete | 156k A broken time turner shouldn't have sent me back so far. It was unprecedented. Stepping on it--smashing it--nothing should have happened. At most, I should have lost a week. At worst, I should have disappeared altogether. I shouldn't have traveled back fifty-two years; half a bloody century. This should not have happened.

The Prisoner by NerysDax E/Ma | Complete | 182k Imprisoned, Lord Voldemort is considered a threat of the past. His knowledge is desired by many. Yet, his offer is for one person only: Hermione Weasley-Granger.

The Art of Secrecy by mrsren E/Ma | Complete | 63k It had been the perfect one night stand until she, literally, fell face first at his feet and discovered he was her professor.

Bound by Sharkdiver1980 E/Ma | Complete | 59k After a freak accident occurs while attempting to destroy one of Voldemort’s horcruxes that sends Hermione back in time to the year 1947, she finds herself forcefully subjected to a new law put in place by the ministry to counteract the damage to the wizarding population done by Grindelwald. It was no wonder she had never heard of Proclamation no.1682, otherwise known as “The Marriage Law”, since it had obviously been repealed almost as quickly as it was instated. The problem was, she had already been assigned a husband. HG/TMR

Shared Flame by Lady Miya M | Complete | 311k It all started when two normally clever individuals both had a really lousy day.

Dark Seduction by crochetaway E/Ma | Complete | 73k As Tom Riddle is hunting for the diadem in Albania, he stumbles across a strange artifact he's never seen before. Hermione Granger is a lowly Ministry employee on vacation in the mountains of Albania. She's found the perfect cabin for a week of relaxing, hiking and reading. Until a stranger shows up in her living room. Wearing a time-turner. Complete!

Insight & Desire by WildKitsune Series: Every Witch Way [1] E/Ma | Complete | 43k Hermione Granger is the most brilliant witch of her age. This may be why she is arrogant enough to mess with time. Hermione accidentally travels back to Tom's final year at Hogwarts, and on her trip home has a bit of a stowaway. As if one Tom Riddle wasn't hard enough to handle, they seem to be popping up at her everywhere she turns. As Hermione is sucked more deeply into Lord Voldemort's plots, she doesn't know if she will ever escape.

Linen Rope by Brightki E/Ma | Complete | 80k Hermione is an upper sixth student at the highly elite Hogwarts School, and she needs extra hours working in the school’s science labs for her pre-admission to Oxford the next year. However, she has to get the approval from the chemistry teacher, Dr. Snape, as well as the support of the man in charge of the science department - Dr. Tom Riddle.

Pygmalion by Colubrina M | Complete | 178k When Tom Riddle walked through a doorway one fall afternoon everything changed and he found himself in a world wholly unprepared for him. "Something about you makes my brain itch," Hermione Granger said. "As if an earthquake had shifted everything sharply two feet to the left and then back again and it didn't all fit back quite right." Tomione. AU. COMPLETE.

Fated by MiraMain E/Ma | Completed | 136k Voldemort's black gaze stares for what seems like hours. All is silence but my ragged breathing. My bloody lip dripping onto the forest floor. He finally speaks “It shall be a pleasure to bring you into submission Hermione”

[winx-blood-and-bone]

Chapter 4

Word Count: 3512

Warning: Cliffhanger and Long Fights

(Cause I...I keep getting inspired by RWBY fights...I'm sorry if you have to read all that)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Travelling on the Red Fountain Aircraft that the Winx and Specialists were on previously, they were unable to detect the Presence of Cloudstower in the Sky, the Radar systems weren't Picking up on anything and the Winx weren't able to use Zoomix as the Special Wings of Believix can only be used on Earth and they were far from it.

Feeling the Metallic Walls of the Aircraft, Bloom looked out of the Window just by looking at skies and Trees below them the amount of Negative Energy was immense, with each second.

Flora could sense the Treeants below them in a Nature's Call she couldn't understand.

Roxy and Musa could feel the Animals of Magic Dimension both Predator and Prey with their fear, the latter can't hear the Tweeting of the Birds, the light ruckus made by a Fairy Squirrel was not heard and only the Rumblings of the Earth and the Sickeningly Sounds of Wet Roots infecting the Topsoil like some sort of Virus.

They were close to the Site, no one could believe their eyes, yes they've seen the school disappeared once but back then it was just an illusion, a trick of the Eye.It was Gone.

The Winx and Mirta landed on the Bones that once supported the School of Witches, the Ash Gray and jagged Rocks were all that was left. Cloudstower has a Heart, the place was a Living being literally, it felt wrong without the School.They inspected the Area searching for anything that might tell us anything that might have happened,

"Not a single trace of a building being here aside from the Rocks left behind"

Tecna remarked, Aisha checked for any Running Water using her magic she sighed as well,

"No pipes in the area, that Witch must have really lifted the entire School and so not a single piece of Artificial Waterflow is present"

"It could just be because Cloudstower is considered Cursed Lands in accordance to the Laws of Leylines in nature"

"You might be right Flora but it's still a School, there would be something left behind"

Flora and Aisha interacted, the Former was on watch,she was looking out for any Treeants due to the Instinctive connection to Nature, she tried to ignore it at first and was still not telling her friends but though she couldn't understand what Nature was saying, which is a Phenomena that has never happened before, she could still feel this creeping sensation upon that call.

It was like a Spirit trapped....she has never heard such a thing before.

Tecna and Stella looked at the Grounds, one shone light on the Rocks and the other scans, Tecna used the Search-All Droid, given by Timmy, they were detecting Fragments of an Unknown Energy but mostly surrounding areas were of Negative Energy.

"Stella could you shine light on these Fragments, they seem to have an Unknown Origin"

"Unknown? You don't know what that is?"

Stella was a little confused as she used a spell to shine light on the Fragments which looked like Wood chips and Paper bits,

"No idea the Droid isn't picking up anything, there's no data from the Magi-net either"

"That's really strange shouldn't the Magi-ne huh? agh!"

The Energy detected from the Droid that beeping loudly, a trail of Darkness wrapped around Stella's Arms as she instinctively pulled her limb away and shouted,

"Ugh! Ew! Ew! Get it off! Get it off me!"

Stella casted a spell on the Trail of Darkness but it spread and grabbed her other arm, the girls and athe specialists helped but to no avail, until Bloom casted,

"Healing flame"

"I'm free! Oh I just did a Manicure! That really hurt!"

"Stella what happened?"

Bloom asked, there are too many coincidences happening right now but she wasn't sure if she would say this right now because Stella has this Reaction and it has to be connected to something,

"I placed Light on it, Tecna asked me to do it to hopefully find some reaction so that the device can pick something up from it"

"The Search all Droid can't pick anything that's why I asked her to, then all of the sudden the energy leaked as dark trails or vines around Stella"

Stella's nail was healed by Bloom's healing spell, then she shivered abit blas she says to her,

"It almost felt like it was taking over me and absorbing my magic, it feels familiar?"

Roxy took a look at the Energy, then at her White Circle in its Ring form on her index finger, she touched the wood chips, there wasn't an effect but the Paper bits reacted, White Circle protected her,

"Roxy what are you doing?"

"Bloom these are two different spell...no Ritual Components? I don't know much about Witches and their form of Magic"

Mirta bent down and took a look as well, she replies,

"Roxy's right! These are Ritual Materials but I have never seen ones like these, and not to mention Rituals are rarely used for Magic these days mostly Spells do it for the outcome, so I can't really decipher what's going on...but we now do know for a fact that we're dealing with a Witch and that Phanto-Helberd wielding guy"

When they were discussing, back on the ship Lucy's Eyes opened wide, she lifted herself up from the Healing Rack, tearing off the Vital healing machines, Roy and Riven spotted her,

"Woah! There...There Lucy you're safe"

Lucy wasn't safe. Lucy didn't feel safe. Her left eye was Bloodshot, her right eye grew a huge gem, Riven approached her,

"Lucy... what happened to you?"

"Need..."

"Lucy please sit back down-" "Roy don't approach her....that gem look!"

Riven pointed to her Right eye, the gem grew Larger, her voice became shrill and charged towards them.

Her magic grew wild and Destructive and it covered her body, Riven got out his Phanto and the Prototype Weapons from Linphea College, Roy only got the Latter, they dodged her attack, snake looking Witch bolts came from her hands and Riven slashed them away with a wave of Purple energy.

Roy shot her legs with the Prototype Sword of Thunder, Green Electrical energy struck at her legs, Lucy screamed then threw herself to the Ground, this alerted the Winx, Riven and Mirta,

"What was that?!"

Tecna shouted

"Lucy....it's Lucy!"

"Wait Mirta! We don't know that!"

Musa shouted to Mirta, she's the fairy of Music, audible Sound of Voices are a form of Music and she knows that's Mirta...though not really, as she pulls Mirta back.Lucy burst from the Aircraft causing a huge expolsion, Roy and Riven rolled and landed on their feet before running and dodging beams of magic at them, they are screaming in the Distance.

"Okay yeah you're right It's Lucy"

"GUYS HELP LUCY IS OUT OF CONTROL AND WE DON'T KNOW WHATS GOING ON!"

Roy shouted, Lucy flew down and nearly grabbed him as he defended himself with his Sword, he tried to push her away but she was magically empowered and Roy couldn't find a source of Water to match that strength.

"tch...agh Lucy I'm sorry...for this Rah!"

"Ngh!"

Roy punched Lucy and kicked her off, Riven tried to restrain her but using magic and caused a burst separating her and Riven away, Mirta and the Winx caught up to them, they saw Lucy, her right eye completely taken over by the gem, her hair was failing out, the ends of her fingertips slowly crystallizing, Mirta approached Slowly,

"Lucy.... it's me...Mirta can you see me?"

She got closer and Closer, the Witch before seemed calmer and Calmer, Mirta's hand held Lucy's cheek a warmth of familiarity replaced the desolate atmosphere, Mirta placed her head on hers, everything was at peace.

"There....Lucy...I'm here I'm here shh it's okay"

But only for a moment.

The Gem glowed and burned into her flesh, the moment Mirta held her into a hug, Lucy shot her with blast instinctively her hand moved on her own, shouts of pain overwhelmed both of them, Flora reacted first, she caught Mirta and held her tight,

"Mirta! You're hurt oh goodness!"

"hahh...mgh...Lu...cy?..owe"

Mirta was closing her eyes and Lucy opened hers, the Witch wailed out a soundwave of Destruction as the ground beneath them shook,

"It's an Earthquake everyone off the Mountain! To the Forest!"

Everyone moved, Bloom helped Flora with Mirta, Roy saw a Puddle of Water in the Distance, it was Risky but it was the only option left,

"Flora! Come on! Let me help you!"

"Aisha! Morphix slides on your 4 and make it long"

"Okay!"

Behold everyone Giant Pink Slides that Aisha made, seemingly leading to the direction of the puddle,

"But Roy what are you doing!"

"Trust me on this!"

"Roy! ROY WHAT ARE YOU DO-"

"Hold on tight to each other!"

Everyone screamed and shouted in fear as the slide they were on somehow cartoonishly flung them to the air, Nex's Magic flowed from his Veins to his hands as he dragged water from the puddle nearby, he was close to it and the water formed this landing cushion for everyone, coating their Bodies.

They landed at the Forest it was a safe landing but was it comfy one...no....it's hard as rock, Nex and Aisha landed on a tree, Stella, Tecna, Flora and Mirta on the ground, Musa and Riven in the bushes, Bloom got yeeted to a stream of water and Roxy?....Roxy saved herself via the hawks in the Area, so she comically landed safely and comfortably.

"You guys okay? Aisha you good"

"Been....better...ow"

"Sorry Babe....I didn't think that far"

"No no it's fine...Roy....you did great"

Everyone managed to get back on their feet, Bloom was utterly wet but nothing a Warming Spell can't handle, this wasn't over yet, Flora sensed Lucy's Magic Trail,

"I sense her, we have to follow her!"

"Flora's right! This is getting weirder and weirder!"

Musa replied and Bloom told Riven,

"Take care of Mirta, warn Tecna if any similar signs come up"

"Alright Bloom, though I would need a Hover Bike, it's best I head to Red Fountain then I can come with reinforcements if needed"

Musa and Tecna summoned a Space Spider 4000.v1, Musa replied with a Longing tone,

"I was about to give this to you for a test Drive and our anniversary"

"Oh my stars Musa....I love you"

"I love you too now be safe!"

"Got it! No Reckless behaviour!"

"You better not!"

Riven drove the Hover bike, holding on to Mirta, all the way to Red Fountain, as soon as he left there was growling nearby, the Treeants were coming.Roy got into his stance and held his Sword,

"We gotta go! What's the plan?"

"Bloom what do we do?"

The Treeants came they looked distorted and glitchy looking, quite strange on something so natural, they readied their Vines and Bloom says,

"Let's follow Lucy's Magic trail, we can't deal with these Treeants and so dodge them as much as you can!"

"Then What are we waiting for?Come on everyone!"

Roxy shouted and their Resolve lifted the group's spirits, Bloom smiled a little and says out,

"Alright then, Magic Winx Enchantix!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fairies flew up in the air, Roy followed after jumping off a Treeants, he solidifiy Water Molecules to momentarily create footholds mid-air to jump off, the Treeants shoot out spikes up at them causing them to scatter and dodge the Projectiles before grouping back.

"They are pretty Pretty persistent, Flora, Tecna could you slow them down?"

"Got it Bloom! Flora let's combine our powers and use Fairy Dust!"

Flora and Tecna stopped temporarily and used their fairy dust and spreading it all over the Forest,

"Enchantix convergence! Biophilic Sphere!"

The Forest was covered by an Electrical Shield with Rich red "pincushion" flowers all over bases, its seeds produced Copies of the Winx and Roy to fight and distract the Treeants, Flora remarked while catching up to the group,

"Phew! We haven't used Fairy Dust in such a long time"

"Let's Reminisce another time we gotta catch up before that Magic Trail disappears"

Tecna replied and both of them went to join back with the group, following the Coordinates just send in by Riven back at Red Fountain, Roy took out a magic detector and keyed the Coordinates in,

"Riven send in the Coordinates we should be near!"

"There is a huge Negative Energy coming from this area it could be cloudstow-AH!"

"Musa!"

Musa was shot by a Witch Bolt from behind and Tecna caught her using the Spell 'Digital Web' the Winx got ready to fight, Roxy saw the Witch that shot Musa, they looked like a Freshman as she never seen one of them before, a girl with hair that had a wavy, deep purple with violet tones tied in braids and olive green extensions, her skin Tan and her eyes completely white.

The Witch disappeared into a portal and then reappeared in another shooting a dark purple beam at Bloom but was blocked by Roxy,

"Otter shield!"

A Shield appeared from Roxy's arm and Defended Bloom, the shield took on the beam then burst into two magic balls that turned into the shape of otters and hit back the Witch, Bloom wasn't unexpecting that attack so soon but congratulated Roxy,

"Good Job Roxy!"

Roxy just smiled then appeared before them in an explosion of Hot Air, Cloudstower appeared in all of it Glory, Stella frowned and warned,

"It's not over yet Girls! There are more coming out of the School!"

"Let's take them on!"

Aisha and Roy attacked the Witches before them first, aiming at one with a long blue hat that is decorated with a few gems, a small squad of Mind Controlled Witches were present, the Winx split into Two groups,

"Morphix Tidal Wave!"

Aisha casted and Morphix came from her hands, going against her Target, which formed Lapis gems out of her Morphix and shot it at her, Roy attacked from her Rear and used the flat side of his Sword and tried to knock her out but a Wall of Lapis formed beside her, she twirl the wall around then went against his Sword.

Using the Wall, the Witch blocked incoming attacks from Aisha, and flew up and yeet the Wall of Lapis at her,

"Aisha dodge!"

She moved but the Lapis Wall moved in her direction, the Witch rose above her, before getting strucked by a Lightning strike by a Roy's Sword, he smirked, Aisha gave a small smile then casted,

"Morphix Attack Plasma Bolt!"

This causes the Witch to falter just before they praised each other, the Wall of Lapis in the sky was controlled by the Witch who came back almost as if nothing effected,

"What the-" "Roy watch out!"

They dodged unsuccessfully and Roy got a large cut on his Cheek and Aisha's hand was bruised by the Lapis Wall became a Bullet rain of Gems,

"Uh oh"

It was all they could mutter out as they began to be chased around. On the other side, Tecna and Musa, Flora and Roxy were fighting Senior and Intern Witches of Cloudstower, Flora and Roxy dodged and was on the Defensive and the other two were on the offensive,

"Magic Bass Boom!"  "Magnetic Storm!"

Tecna and Musa fought against  two of these Senior Witches, Nimeria and Pulisatilla, the former  growled upon the Hurt caused by their Partner and transformed into an Ogre, it jumped and was about to punch the fairies away until Flora and Roxy cast the Shields

"Fern Screen!" "Lupus Dome!"

The Ferns and a Wolf's shield covered them, though Halfway of the spells being Casted, Pulisatilla flew behind them and as quick as a Flash, she casts a Soundwave which Knocked the girls a certain distance, even Musa but she was the first to recover from the Spell and save her friends,

"Disco shells!"

The shells covered Roxy, Flora and Tecna, the Second Soundwave was cast on her but Musa was fast enough to catch and absorb it before casting her very own Spell by lifting her hands and basically created an AOE attack,

"Shockwave!"

As Musa and eventually Tecna went to fight, Roxy told Flora,

"Agh Flora! They seemed to be possessed...I-I don't think we can reason with them, we can't hurt them nor can we restrain them..."

"Possessed? I have an idea...Musa! Tecna! let's combine Fairy Dust!"

"That could work!"

Musa Exclaimed and Tecna advised,

"Alright Roxy hold a defense for us and buy us some time!"

"You got it!"

Roxy agreed and defended her team mates with her 'Lupus Dome' and 'Otter shield' Spells, Flora, Tecna and Musa joined hands, they spun around and released yellow spheres, which instantly freezes anything or anyone in its way, good thing Roxy got out in a spilt second,

"Enchantix Power!"

The Witches around the Area froze and the mind control over them faded for a moment,

"They're normal again!"

Roxy shouted and flew down to see if it was really true but Bloom sensed something off and warned,

"Roxy don't get too close...something doesn't feel right"

Roxy didn't listen and asked the Witch near them,

"Hey you alright?"

"I... shouldn't...be"

"What do you mea-AH!"

At that Instant, the Witches was mind controlled and a yell was heard, it was Roxy was shot by a Witch Bolt by one of the Witches,

"ROXY!"

Bloom shouted and flew as fast as she could, casting,

"Dragon Wing!"

Roxy was saved by Bloom, the spell floats her back up and heals her,

"H..huh? What...happened?"

"You got hit it's okay Roxy you just need to wat-hnngh!"

One of the other mind controlled Witches tried to grab her leg but a spell from Stella guarded them,

"Bloom, Roxy watch out and stay behind me, Blades of Light!"

Stella's Ring on her Finger and disappeared and Reappeared in her hands as her sceptre, she spun and twirled it like a Staff wielder, Falchions made of Light danced around them, hitting the Witches back, Bloom held Stella's Shoulder and empowered her with the Flame. But even as the Witches were pushed back, they were still standing, all the Winx and Roy grouped back.

Just as they were about to converge their magic, reinforcements arrived. A Squad of Specialists from Red Fountain along with a few Fairies and Witches led by Griselda and Codatorta, they flew and helped fight the Enemy Witches, more of them came out of Cloudstower and Griselda told the Winx,

"Don't just stand there! Go to Cloudstower now! Whoever is controlling the school is also doing the same to the Witches!"

"B...but Miss Griselda...we can..."

Flora pleaded and the new Headmistress interrupted her with a Commander's tone,

"Don't worry about us! We can keep them at bay!"

They didn't reply to anything, just simply nodded and flew to Cloudstower, just as they were about to reach the windows of the School, two Witches held onto Roy, Aisha gasped and shouted,

"Roy!" "Aisha get into the school I'll catch up to you!"

Aisha reluctantly stopped herself, she blast through the Windows just like her team members and they enter the School.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Selina and Thoren were still in the Amphitheatre, the former opened up her Grimoire and flipped through the pages, she chuckled to herself then walked around the latter, who was standing relaxed at the Wall with his Halberd, his Armor polished, his Hair washed and tied back to a ponytail, Selina asked the guard with her,

"Hmmmm"

Thoren sighed and told her,

"Selina you've been walking around me like some sort of madman, what do you want to ask?"

"Oh nothing~ I just wonder what Beast should I pick this time?"

"How should I know? You're the one with a Grimoire"

"Oh Thoren, always so rude but you're right the Flying Basilisk would do just fine-"

Thoren placed his arm in front of her, he clenched his Weapon, and said to her in a low voice,

"They are here"

In a muffled voice outside of the door, one of the Winx spoke,

"There is an outpouring of Negative Energy behind these doors..."

Selina's eyes closed and she let out a Smirk before looking at her Grimoire again, both of them were prepared, one more tense than the other. Aisha and Musa blast down the door, with a slightly annoyed Tecna, the Winx entered the Amphitheatre, the Guard looked down and Selina closed her Grimoire with one hand and faced them head on. Their groups met eye contact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Witch gave a small sinister smile and greeted them, like as if this isn't the first time she will faced them,

"Welcome Winx....we were expecting you"

[xluciifer]

Read you post about internet relationships that become romantic. I agree with it wholeheartedly that it’s more likely to end in heartache. I feel like sharing a tiny bit of my heart that hasn’t fully healed yet. (Tw for disappearance/possible loss)

I met someone online, 13hrs apart. Both of us literally on opposite sides of the world. It was here on tumblr and we met through a fandom. Over the course of a year our mutual standing became more than that. We’d call on discord and video chat, send each other the sappiest messages to wake up to. This online dating lasted 2 delightful years. Until one day, they never logged back on anywhere. None of our friend group nor their followers heard from them or saw them on any other media sites. It was like they vanished off the face of the earth and none of us knew why. I couldn’t even properly look up news reports to find out if something happened. It’s been 3 years, I’m finally allowing myself to be open to finding a relationship in-person. But a large piece of my heart went with them and I’ll never know what happened to take them from me.

My apologies for this super sad and personal story. Your warning about relationships online I felt this may offer another example of caution.

Aww! 🥺 I'm glad you felt comfortable enough sharing your story with me. And I'm really sorry. I resonate with this story a lot because something kind of similar happened to me? Not the part of them never logging back on and disappearing off the face of the planet - but something similar. When I was 16-17ish, I roleplayed in the Kingdom Hearts fandom with friends on FB. We all grew super close the 4 of us, I was the only girl of the group. And I got really close to one of them, we'd talk all the time, roleplay and ship together, call on the phone, everything.

Then one day, I still remember it and have the message. He said he was going somewhere with his dad and he was drunk and his dad insisted that he'd come with and help. That's the last I ever heard from him. We may have dated a year give or take; didn't hear from him in days and a friend from the group messaged me and gave me the hard news. His dad hit head on with a tree and my boyfriend died on impact but his father lived. This happened back in 2011. It's been 13 years - and I'm just realizing that now. He was so young and I think fondly of him often, even if he isn't here anymore. The friend group don't talk to each other like we used to, but every other year or so we reach out to one another again.

So, keep your head up and your heart safe, think fondly of them always. ❤️

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

Archon war anon- No worries about not having answers! I was just curious about that since you do really good worldbuilding! I'm writing this because I decided that Xiao's my blorbo and I'm going the route of him being actually pretty old and getting passed between many gods. With that as a motivating factor in addition to the sense of scale, I needed many gods for him to get passed between.

I ended up getting a map of Liyue and drawing boundary lines and going "Uh, there's another territory that a god holds at the start of the war". I named all of the territories, but honestly haven't gone and named most of the gods. And then I was like "The gods we know from canon are the ones who lasted the longest", so I'm having them acting as the main aggressors, and in my mind they're getting the biggest territories before they get pushed back.

I also decided that Sumeru did have more gods, but because Sumeru was entirely desert at that point they were all with wandering tribes and didn't leave any ruins behind.

I think that Cuijue slope supposedly had different architecture than the rest of Liyue? But honestly, there's so little on what's up with Cuijue slope. The Dunyu ruins supposedly had the fallen star fragment, but also they were apparently underwater until the end of the Archon War?

What you say about a China-split and reunite situation makes a ton of sense though!

One thing that I keep thinking about as I write is that even though Guizhong dies early, her presence is still pretty spread out? Like, she'd got that seat on Mt. Aocang, but she also died 1700 years before the war ended, which I feel like contributes to the split-reunite theory.

Also, yes, I have no idea what's up with Xiao's master in canon, there's just so little information. I don't remember anything about Chenyu's god being Xiao's master, but I might have just missed that?

In all honesty my thinking was that a lot of the ruins we see across Liyue are from Morax's people, but like, mostly after the war, and various things happened that made them leave the ruins? Like, Morax seems to have had control of Nantianmen when Azhdaha awoke there and did a little civilization ruining, and it was apparently Azhdaha's rampage that took out the people in Tianqiu Valley.

On a separate note, I also think that something happened recently that drastically affected the population of Liyue? Mybe the drought in Cloud Retainer's story, but there just seems to be a disproportionate amount of ruined wood houses in Liyue. And given that literally all of the mining sites seem to be closed, including the Chasm, I don't know where the miners are?

Sorry, got a bit off topic because I was having fun.

no worries! this is a wonderful ask

i'll answer under the cut bc the ask is already long by itself,,

xiao being passed around like a hot potato is so interesting actually, and it sounds like such a daunting task to write holy shit it would indeed make sense if the gods we know of lasted the longest, osial sounds like he was a pain in the ass till the very end lmao,,

dunyu ruins were indeed underwater at some point, but it's never explained why or when the water disappeared; idk about the star fragment, i probably just don't remember that tidbit. if it was in one of the books it might even be that we can't be sure if it was real to begin with sadly, though, cuijue slope does not have different architecture. i think the pillars might be what lead people to believe that? but even if you ignore the tomb's inside (which is guili architecture through and through) the little cobblestone ring around the stone slab directly in the center of the slope, outside the tomb, is also of guili design, so.

guizhong's seat in mt. aocang probably predates the war though. like i'm pretty sure there's a good chance a good chunk of the adepti who fought in the war with rex lapis n co all predate the war. either that, or they joined rex lapis halfway through, and the war never made it to mt aocang (even though i'm pretty sure it did make it to huagguang? i'd have to check). also what's funny is that i don't think we have confirmation that guizhong died 1700 yrs before the war ended. like i know we assign her death to that year bc that's the founding year of liyue harbor, but i think the jury's still out for if liyue harbor was founded immediately after she died. i'm pretty sure we have sources in-game that imply it was founded right after she passed, but there's others that imply rex lapis had to like- gather his people? from where they had scattered? after her death?? that could just be that the flood/battle/whatever it was that killed her and likely also ended the assembly (idek if we have confirmation that it was the same event LMAO) made everyone flee for their lives, and so like- rex lapis spent like a couple of weeks or months tracking everyone down to move south. but it also kinda sounds like they had scattered and had started lives already in other places? which would imply they didn't immediately move down to the harbor, and it might've even been generations between the fall of the assembly and the founding of the harbor???????? i don't know, it's all so confusing. what i was trying to get at is that guizhong could've died even earlier than 1700 yrs before the war ended, which is just fucking great. we don't know a damn thing about liyue's history, do we.

on chenyu vale's god being xiao's master- i can't say i remember very well which one is the mission where the dialogue made me think that? it was probably the main world quest with fujin and co, but it could've also been one of the branching sidequests that spawn from that. it was probably the main one though, bc i think it was fujin herself the one with the dialogue that made me go ?????? i remember it being something like- a mention of how chenyu vale's god used nightmares to attack his opponents? maybe? and that fujin and co disapproved and that's why they betrayed him?? i think??? it was something to do with dreams i'm pretty sure, and the only other god we know of that had something to do with dreams was xiao's master, so it just stood out to me as odd. it's also entirely possible that the mention of dream/nightmares wasn't even about chenyu vale's god, but of some other completely different god. idk. i can't remember rn. it could've been about guhua for all i know, wouldn't that be a shock. xiao would be xingqiu's older martial brother under that idea LMAO (p sure it wasn't about guhua tho)

the thing about tianqiu valley is that, to me, that has never looked like a settlement where people lived? like- it looks to me far more like a sort of... temple, or castle, or some big structure that's not necesarily meant for living. it's all on its own and it just doesn't look like houses of any kind? unless you want to argue that ancient liyue had appartment complexes, which- sure. not like there's anything to disprove that LMAO but regardless of if there were people living there and for some reason the village that surrounded the towers was completely wiped from the hollow, we do at least sort of know that azhdaha caused property damage there while fighting zhongli. that he brought the supposed civilization to ruins in the first place, or that he further ruined an already abandoned place – i don't think we know for certain tbh like- the way the tablet says that now those lands will no longer go back to their times of glory or whatever (right?) sounds more to me that... like- they were already not in their times of glory by the time they were destroyed, so now there is no hope for them to go back.

i do think however that all ruins throughout liyue that aren't wood-made have to be from before/during the war. they all hve the guili architecture, and the assembly fell during the war. i don't think any of the stone ruins could possibly from after the war. the way rex lapis moved everyone to the harbor makes it sound like the assembly was the last of the places to come to ruins, when it came to places inhabited by morax and guizhong's people.

you are so right and your brain is so wrinkly for that last part. the amount of mondern ruins/abandoned structures in liyue is honestly a bit shocking – all the houses to the west of mt. tianheng, mingyun village, the village in wuwang hill, the houses along the northern coast jueyun karst, some houses within jueyun karst itself, along the coasts of qiongji bay; they're fucking everywhere. that's not even mentioning the chasm, which we do have some sort of explanation as for its abandonment. i think an incident like if not the drought itself in cloud retainer's story would absolutely be a good explanation as to why liyue seems to have undergone a humanitary crisis fairly recently. wood doesn't take that long to rot and decay – those houses aren't older than a couple of centuries, not in the state most of them are and considering the wildlife of liyue. especially given a good chunk of them have thatched roofs. that shit disappears in no time!!! those are fucking recent!!

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Unorganized RUBY GILLMAN Thought Stew

I originally had a whole post typed out for this... And then it disappeared into the ether, because this fella accidentally hit Control+X... Tumblr, you really gotta work on that, I'm still a little miffed that I lost everything that I wrote here... and I'm rewriting the entire thing verbatim, I know- I should've saved it to a word doc first, which I did with this replacement post... Anyways... Thoughts on the RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN trailer!

Like the "Things I Loved About" posts I did on PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH and STRANGE WORLD, this will be a collection of unorganized thoughts... So, bear with me!

Finally… DreamWorks and Universal reveal that this movie actually exists. I mean, if you looked in the right places, you knew it was a thing. MEET THE GILLMANS was a title you saw, scooper sites had some stuff on it… But strangely, this project was never officially announced to the public until this trailer dropped… A little over 3 months before release. At least with THE BAD GUYS, whose trailer dropped 4 months before it came out, we knew of its existence as an in-development title as far back as the spring of 2018. This is an interesting approach: They’re literally going to marathon-run this film’s marketing campaign. How will it do? Well, I’ll get to that in another post…

First off? Visually? Eye-candy. Colorful as heck. I particularly dig the bioluminescent underwater kingdom, it’s like a mix of sea creature designs and futuristic lightshow aesthetics. Also, that shot of all the jellyfish? Desktop background right there.

You know, to keep waffling on about the underwater world… I’m getting the Aquaria Towers level from SPYRO 2: RIPTO’S RAGE vibes… Heck, I did a whole post on how I’d love to see a SPYRO THE DRAGON movie done in the style of PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH, but that’s another story… But all this neon-like bio-luminescence and the overall design of the architecture is also really making me think of a mid-1990s policy “snipe” for National Amusements theaters. I saw this thing A LOT when I was a child growing up in the late 1990s going to the movies quite frequently (I had seen DreamWorks’ debut films ANTZ and likely THE PRINCE OF EGYPT when they had come out, among others), so it’s burned into my brain. So yeah, this underwater world reminds me of that as well. I dig!

The Krakens themselves have like a squishy, bendy, clay-like look. Almost getting much older claymation vibes, like Gumby.

The rest? The above world has a fun look, as do the human characters. Given that this was directed by Kirk DeMicco, who directed DreamWorks’ own THE CROODS, and then VIVO for Sony Animation, it’s fittingly colorful and vibrant. Some of the human design reminds me of the humans in that movie, too. Lots of unlikely shapes and such. Now if this is still set in Florida as rumored, then it fits, because VIVO was set in Florida as well.

The story itself seems like a cross-genre mesh of different ideas: The mythology of Krakens and mermaids, a teen coming-of-age comedy (DeMicco cited John Hughes influences), a family drama, and a… Kaiju battle action movie? Talk about going all out with your basic premise!

Speaking of which, this isn’t at all like LUCA, which was also about sea monsters blending in with humans in a coastal community. That movie was much more informed by director Enrico Casarosa’s Italian childhood, was set in the early 1960s, and was a much more slice-of-life kind of story. Sorta following the day to day of these three kids in mid-century Italy, with no really larger plot, and stakes that are at their level - which I quite liked about that movie. I also do not understand why a lot of people online are suggesting that it’s derivative of TURNING RED… Did TURNING RED invent the teen/coming-of-age movie or something? Is it because in that movie, Meilin has to hide herself when she morphs into a red panda? That kind of thing has been done before, too. The executions for both are very different, even from this film’s trailer.

The film’s logo is also great. As a graphic designer, I'm gonna nerd out about this for a second: “RUBY GILLMAN” is written in a friendly cursive, almost like the kind you’d see inked onto a high school notebook page. The “TEENAGE KRAKEN” is blockier and bolder, with the “K” letterform forming a tentacle. That is very, very cool and very eye-catching! It’s actually reminiscent of the first logo made for THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES, where the “MITCHELLS” was in a similar kind of written cursive, and “MACHINES” was solid letterforms, suggesting the rigid and mechanic feel of the robots and devices that become corrupted in that movie. The final logo changes “MITCHELLS” to big capital letters, but it still looks like a notebook-like design (like say, that “S” thing everyone drew in the early 2000s), likely in Katie Mitchell’s notebook (as her art and scribbles are all over the movie, visually), but yeah- The RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN logo has that vibe, and I really dig it. Nice visual contrast of the protagonist’s wants to have a normal teen lifestyle, and her background and heritage.

I also find it funny that, on land, the antagonistic mermaid Chelsea disguises herself as a redheaded teenager. Some are quick to assume that’s a jab at Disney, or their upcoming remake of THE LITTLE MERMAID, but… It’s likely not much deeper than “Haha, let’s make her a redhead, like Ariel.” Because of how iconic and well-known the 1989 Disney animated film adaptation is, the first thing most folks think of when they hear “mermaid” is a redhead! I’d imagine the character design was locked a while ago, before it was even certain when this would come out. Even then, it’s little more than nothing.

I also noticed that Ruby’s calendar in her bedroom… May. Is that why Chelsea has come to her school? Because it’s Mermay?

I also find it funny that, on land, the antagonistic mermaid Chelsea disguises herself as a redheaded teenager. Some are quick to assume that’s a jab at Disney, or their upcoming remake of THE LITTLE MERMAID, but… It’s likely not much deeper than “Haha, let’s make her a redhead, like Ariel.” Because of how iconic and well-known the 1989 Disney animated film adaptation is, the first thing most folks think of when they hear “mermaid” is a redhead! I’d imagine the character design was locked a while ago, before it was even certain when this would come out. Even then, it’s little more than nothing.

I also noticed that Ruby’s calendar in her bedroom… May. Is that why Chelsea has come to her school to scope out a Kraken? Because it’s Mermay?

So yeah… I am looking forward to this. It’s nice to see a new original DreamWorks movie. In terms of their NOT-sequel movies, this is their first truly original movie, not based on any pre-existing IP or book or story what-have-you, since ABOMINABLE came out in fall 2019… In fact, of the last eight DreamWorks Animation movies… Only ABOMINABLE and THE BAD GUYS were not sequels to any of their previous movies. The studio's new plan, as I have heard once from the trenches, is to have a not-sequel movie and a sequel every calendar year. Last year fit the bill with THE BAD GUYS and PUSS IN BOOTS Dos, this year it’s this movie and TROLLS BAND TOGETHER, next year… KUNG FU PANDA 4 and… Well, who knows. My non-existent money is on RONAN BOYLE… But that’s also another story…

I’m just happy to see that we are indeed getting two DreamWorks movies this year, and one of them is an original… And the original in question looks like a fun time, a mashup of like 3-4 different genres, and boasting a colorful, vibrant, and neat visual style...

In another post, I'll discuss what I think it's box office prospects are. If that interests you, stay tooned, then-

[timbrrwolfe]

Ok so in my ongoing struggle of my laptop slowly losing its marbles, the worst offender is probably that it's constantly reading the right arrow as being pressed. And I only just now, after a few months of this, thought "Hey, what if I just disabled that key, specifically?" Because I'd considered disabling the whole keyboard but 1) it didn't work and 2) that could have its own problems given the fact that the power button is part of the keyboard. And because the other biggest problem is that the damn screen fell out and is only in place because the top is leaned slightly back at all times. Anyway.

It took me entirely too long but I realized that disabling just the right arrow key would probably be a much better solution than literally anything else. At least for addressing the symptom. Obviously the best overall would be to crack the laptop open and blow it out or otherwise fiddle with it and hope that fixes the root of the issue). But since I'm not gonna be doing that, essentially deleting the key on a software level was the answer. Which you'd /think/ would be something that's doable just. Baked into Windows. I mean, it's certainly a niche function, most people aren't going to be remapping or deleting keys. But still, you'd think it'd be possible to go into system settings and say "hey this key isn't working properly turn it off" But there's not. So you have to download a third party program. First one I tried just. Refused to open. Probably because it's been around since before Windows 2000 (though the site I got it from /says/ it works on Windows 10. Didn't for me). I shopped around, found a different one that seemed legit enough, and even had a page in Microsoft's Store so it's /probably/ less likely to completely ruin my computer. Hopefully.

Anyway excessively long story short I no longer have a right arrow key and hopefully this means I can actually interact with the internet in ways I wasn't being able to for a bit. Including making long rambly tumblr posts (since otherwise it just. Took the cursor to a place that wasn't typeable (definitely a word) and I could only really say anything via tags). Or watching a youtube video properly after opening it from discord or whatever.

Oh right I forgot that half the reason I made this post was that even with that key disabled it seems like my computer is registering....something? Being pressed? But literally nothing is happening. Nothing's being typed, my cursor's not moving around. Functions and locks aren't being toggled infinitely. The only reason I'm assuming it's happening is that my mouse cursor refuses to maintain its presence (because it disappears when I start typing) and stuff like "seeing a preview of a window when I hover over a program on the taskbar" isn't functioning properly. Which is. Annoying. But that's much more minor compared to all of the things that break or malfunction when you essentially hold the right arrow key down forever. So. It stays unless/until I magically figure out what the other "key" being "pressed" is. Or do something to try to address the root of the problem. Which. Eh.