#i'll try to do a timeline post with all the links once there's more. because ive been going backward so far.

[sualne]

their first dinner together

[thefirstknife]

Okay, this is it for Act I and now we have to stew for 20 days, I'm okay and not feeling abnormal at all (lie). But there's SO MUCH that I want to mention.

The mission starts normally, we're just collecting samples for Failsafe, but then Osiris calls us to come help him with Saint. And then shit hits the fan. Saint has apparently walked off alone into Nessus and isn't answering his comms. Normal and cool!

I'll go into the whole thing, under read more for length (long ass post, I'm having normal thoughts and feelings about this whole thing):

Right away, no more lake where we were fishing (only in the mission though):

Strange! The Vex appear to have let Saint pass through here without a fight. Once again, there's a mix of Vex in this area; some are normal Vex units with collars and some are Precursors without (the boss, the cyclops and the hobgoblins are Precursors):

The Precursors aren't collared, but they still participate in this and are also changed ("uplifted choral cyclops" = part of the chorus even without a yoke). This is incredibly strange. And then more strange information:

Okay!!! What is going on! We've seen in the last week's lore page that the Vex are behaving incredibly strangely. In short, they seem to be behaving more like individuals, rather than what we're used to seeing from them. This adds to that. They are developing tactics and changes that they previously weren't engaged with because, essentially, they didn't have to be.

Anyway, we get to finally hear Saint and he's... Talking to himself. About how he's not real. We find him collared and he appears to be hearing a voice talking to him; the voice is only identified as a "Conductor." At this point, I don't think there's any doubt about this being Maya. The same term was used by her in her experiments with the Veil: she needed someone to be a "conductor" to the "chorus" of minds when she was trying to merge fabricate consciousness (which she succeeded in with Lakshmi). Maya died in the "conductor's chair." What we don't know is ... Well. Anything else. What is she doing and why and what state is she in. The assumption right now is that she's using the Vex as a chorus, but why are they allowing this and why are some of them participating even without the collars? No clue.

What's interesting is that she seems to have analysed Saint and knew about him, either from her own analysis of him after observing him during our expeditions or from the Vex themselves. Or both. I suspect a combination of both because he's been involved with what we've been doing so she would've been interested to see why, and then she would've also gotten additional information from the Vex who recognise him. I would assume the Vex also had information about the rest of us, including Osiris and YW, but Saint was easiest to control.

With what she was telling him, it also means that Maya now knows how we saved him. His entire story is directly linked to the Vex and Vex technology so naturally all of this would be recorded with them and would allow Maya to find out about it. She knows that in some timelines he dies and he is saved in this one. She filled his head with the idea that he doesn't belong here, that he shouldn't have been saved. That he's an error that's "corrupting the true timeline."

As a sidenote, when you come into this room, Curse of Osiris music starts playing, again, as it has been playing for a lot of stuff this episode (specifically the Panoptes fight track). I'm super glad to hear that OST again. I'm also insane about them dropping Mercury music and Precursors at me.

Saint has more concerning lines:

And then we reach him:

Totally okay scene to see. Saint in his bubble, with a yoke, Vex arranged around him in their worshipping pose and the mysterious figures hovering above him. Saint continues:

Okay! *cries* He snaps out of it when Ikora reminds him of Osiris. Old man yaoi wins again!!

Then there's the conversation between Osiris, Saint, Ikora and Failsafe where Osiris is desperately trying to convince Saint that he's real and fine and that there's nothing wrong with him. I crode.... Man, they really said "you WILL watch these old men lovingly put hands on each other." But also, Saint confirms that he just heard a voice speaking to him on Nessus and that he couldn't do anything except obey its commands. It wasn't a Vex; Saint describes it as something that "connected to his mind" and called itself the "Conductor."

Failsafe pointed out that the Vex and Exo share radiolaria as a "base material" and that the Vex were perhaps trying to interface with Saint for information about what we're doing. But Saint said that they did not care about that at all. Instead, they "measured" Saint's "humanity" and "legitimacy."

Osiris does his best to convince him otherwise:

Bro. I am crying in the club what the fuck. Osiris had access to other Saints, but he didn't want to mess with them. He wanted to save the Saint he knew. It was the whole deal with the Sundial being so specific to find "the right moment" and "the right Saint" to save him and why it didn't work for Osiris, because of the paradox with the Young Wolf.

Ikora points out that this is all just a tactic against us and Saint does seem to understand that, and Osiris' reassurances, but it's still difficult to deal with. Saint has previously already dealt with the feelings of not being sure if anything he's experiencing is real. He's spent decades in the Infinite Forest surrounded by simulations. It's a hard thing to adjust to, especially with all he's been through since.

He'll need time to process this. He needs to be alone.

Failsafe is normal about it:

You and me too bestie!

But wait! There's more! We still have the radio message which is between Osiris and Ikora talking about the changes to Nessus and the Vex. It's naturally Osiris' way to distract himself from the issues with Saint, but also we really do need to keep researching what's going on so he's got a good idea. Nessus is "changing rapidly" according to Osiris, "moreso than when the Vex first assimilated it, if Red War records can be trusted." Osiris also notes that this isn't just limited to Nessus, but to everything, including our data and the radiolaria that we collected. They're "mutating."

This bit in particular is important and concerning because that's just not how the Vex do things. As Osiris said, when they change, they change because they have time shenanigans so they essentially gather data in the future and transmit it back, then alter themselves from the past, to appear as if they were always that way. But now? They're adapting "in real time." They learn linearly and adapt on the go.

This is bizarre with the utilisation of Precursors because they are the past Vex. However, they do not have the collars so they're not directly "compelled" and yet, they still participate and change alongside all of the other collared Vex. They also send their minds, again, not collared, to control the collared Vex and lead them. This is baffling.

Ikora is linking this to the impact of the anomaly, the echo. While Saint was down there, Geppetto mapped some of it, including the radiolaria around the site; apparently, the Vex are "swirling around the impact site for miles below the surface." It's also "causing disturbances in the planet's EM field." Ikora concludes that the Vex must be doing "something big."

Osiris also mentions the importance of Saint saying that it was a singular voice directing him, not a collective one, like a Vex would be. He reminds us that this isn't how Vex do things usually and this thing with Saint was just a test. He speculates, and Ikora agrees, that the Vex behaviour is like this because they found "a new leader." Obviously, the Conductor.

That concludes Act I. The seasonal activity, Breach Executable, has new lines as well. I've only played one, got some more sad Saint lines and then had to pause to stop crying. Act II starts in 20 days.

But wait. There's MORE! Of course we can't forget the seasonal lore page. And this is also where they went straight for the jugular. The lore page is about Mithrax visiting Saint and finding him not feeling well. Saint is distressed and Mithrax is trying to help him feel better, especially about his feelings of not belonging. Mithrax understands those feelings and he's trying his best to help Saint not feel that way. A little bit of joy in the gloom:

Saint groaned and waved the question away. "Do not say something smart to me now. Osiris does this, and I have had enough of it."

I LOVE when Saint compares Osiris and Mithrax, it's so good and also funny. But anyway, let's get back to the pain. As Saint realises where Mithrax is going with his questions, he relents and accepts that yes, sometimes we feel like we don't belong, but that is clearly not true.

And then Mithrax experiences something strange:

Suddenly, his vision narrowed and darkened. His headache shrieked, filling his mind with blinding pain. He doubled over as a terrifying urge—RULE, KELL—roared through his chest. The pigeons burst away in harried flight, leaving the seed untouched on the ground. Saint was still watching the pigeons wheel through the sky and down into the City. Mithrax wrapped his arms around himself until the shaking subsided and took a deep draw of Ether. "You are good friend," Saint said quietly, his gaze fixed on the City. Mithrax walked over slowly and sat down next to him again. "I try," he said softly.

Hello? Okay. So on top of Saint having massive issues, we're still seeding the future plot of something getting absolutely the fuck worse with Mithrax. Cool. Cool. I'm jumping off a bridge.

And Mithrax doesn't tell Saint about this, obviously. Saint is preoccupied with his own problems now and this is the way of Titan; care for others first, then yourself. Mithax should NOT be copying this from Saint, but alas. Enjoy brewing in this little piece of terrifying information until we get more on it next episode, I presume.

But wait. There's EVEN MORE! For finishing Act I, we got another lore page, from another lore book called Dynasty. We had no clue what this would be until now.

And well. It's a completely separate story from ancient past, about the Qugu civilisation. This is an incredibly packed lore page, one of the longest I've seen to be honest and it features a lot of bizarre alien stuff from an ancient civilisation, but the gist of it, for now until I can truly dive into it; it follows a member of the Qugu species as he's rising in the ranks to become a military leader. The Qugu are ancient civilisation we first learned about in the Books of Sorrow, as they were wiped out by the Hive. We got an update on them in Inspiral, telling us they were Darkness users, utilising the psychic abilities to connect each other's consciousnesses and talk to their ancestors.

In this page, we see some stuff about their culture, their connection to the creatures they're in symbiosis with, the way their civilisation worked in regards to how they ruled and how many planets they occupied. It's a fascinating read, but fairly hard to get through. The page ends with the Qugu discovering the Hive and the Black Fleet that attacked one of their systems and they try to get back to warn the others. I assume the rest of the book will be about the Qugu as well, to further flesh out this plot.

Why this now? I am unsure. Possible setup for something going forward down the line? One other idea I've had is that this will somehow relate to the "ally" of Maya we speculated about when I talked about the lore pages from the seasonal exotic gear. It makes sense that this "ally" is an alien because of Maya mentioning his fascinating origin, culture and biology. This would also explain why we got this lore book for finishing Act I, as it would make it relevant to what's going on. But this is, for now, a really big speculation. We'll need more pages, which I assume we'll get for finishing other Acts, so good look not exploding in curiosity until then (I've already exploded). I'll most certainly analyse this lore page more in-depth because there is NOTHING in this world I am more interested than digging into ancient space civilisations.

[a-memory-a-distant-echo]

ok, i'm being so brave and making the rec post that i told anon i would do like three days ago.

the obligatory caveats. this is not comprehensive—i haven't read all the fic in this fandom, and i've barely looked at anything not in english. my reading habits are pretty broad—i'll read almost any pairing, and am generally willing to suspend my disbelief to do so. i am not usually an au person, though this fandom is doing its absolute damndest to prove me wrong on that point.

also i have…more…fics that i felt i should rec somewhere, so probably this is rec post one, but ten felt like enough and also saying things in public where people can hear me is, it turns out, absolutely excruciating. please no one be mean to me about this post, especially if you wrote one of these fics, because if you are i will simply fill my pockets with rocks and take to the sea, ok? ok.

excited to find out what i manage to do that ruins the formatting, links the wrong fics and/or people, or otherwise breaks things in this post. please tell me if i've fucked up, or if your fic is on this list and you would rather i keep your name out of my mouth, or whatever.

first, a very special mention to the mlc reference guide by @yletylyf. this is such an incredibly comprehensive and generous resource. you want a timeline for this show that does an incredibly poor job of maintaining its own timeline? it's here. you want episode summaries? they're here. you want all the people and places? they're here. if you're writing fic, you want this guide, because it's so much easier and faster than scanning episodes or subs files to figure out the name of one specific guy or whatever. it also means that at least occasionally you work on the thing rather than accidentally rewatching the same scene five times, or hypothetically watching two to four episodes without even really thinking about what you're doing. the reference guide is the unsung mvp of fandom.

beyond porch and portal, difanghua, teen, by willowdream. this is the vampire au that i didn't know i wanted? the author posted it and their note was like 'i'm trying to be the change i want to see in the world,' and i was like ok sure, i'm not really convinced that the change i need is vampire aus, but i'll give it a go, and then i did and was like, oh shit, i'm eating fucking glass about this vampire au, i'm chewing on my own fucking fingers, i'm so fucking normal about this, i need another hundred thousand words of this and also seventeen more vampire aus in my inbox by monday morning. i literally finished reading it and scrolled right back to the top to read it again. i have no idea why this fic hits so hard, but it took me out at the knees. the voices are perfect. something about it is just impossibly compelling.

不安的遠離，再无歸期 | restless distance, without return, fang duobing/qiao wanmian, mature and teen, by @difeisheng. this is technically two fics but they're short and you should read both of them because they're such a brutal, perfect encapsulation of grief, and a really beautiful acknowledgement of the ways that fang duobing and qiao wanmian can be read as reflections of each other, separated by a decade, and it just fucking guts me. i dunno. it's about the grief! it's about the yearning! it's about someone who understands parts of you that you wish didn't exist! i think i've reread this like once a week for the last six weeks and i feel like it gets overlooked because it's not A Ship but like. it could be. it should be.

dance the silence down, fanghua and feihua, explicit, by @momosandlemonsoda. this fic. ugh. ok. i'm breaking my own rules. i had two when i started writing this post: no works in progress, and no reccing things that i haven't left a comment on, like a goddamn grownup. this one fic is breaking both of those rules and i feel bad about it and will hopefully spend like, all day tomorrow just commenting on every chapter or something, but i have to do this. this fic is so good. this fic ruins me. this fic is 63k, still a work in progress, and also if i were losing the whole internet tomorrow and i got to keep one fic in all the world and it was the only fic i could have for the rest of time, it might have to be this one, even as a work in progress. i ignored this fic for so long—by which i mean probably two of the four months since i first watched mysterious lotus casebook—because i was like, i don't like aus, and i especially don't like rock star aus. (or sex work aus, and you're never gonna fucking believe what else this author is writing and what else i absolutely cannot get enough of—this is a sneaky bonus rec for all i wanna do is wrong, another fic that i feel so so so normal about!) but then i was like okkkkkkk but. maybe i'll try it. people seem to be nuts for it. and then i read it and i was like OH HOLY SHIT PEOPLE ARE FULLY CORRECT TO BE ABSOLUTELY UNHINGED ABOUT THIS and normally, honestly, i wouldn't bother posting a rec like this because it's like 'oh haha have you read the five most popular fics in this fandom?' and it feels so redundant, but i know for a fact that a friend of mine who finished watching the show yesterday is reading this post, and even if everyone else has read it, she has not! anyhow as a former music person and a former diner cook, this fic like. i don't know. i feel like it broke me but also fixed me? i literally criticise writing professionally and every time i try to talk about this fic i find myself speechless because it's so perfect to me. i am deeply unwell about this fic. every time a new chapter comes out i sit down and read the whole thing again, yes, all sixty-thousand-plus words of it. some nights you go to bed and you're like 'what's the fucking point?' and then you're like 'no wait, there will eventually be more of dance the silence down,' and somehow that makes things suck a tiny bit less. my wife has made me take out like six sentences from this rec because they're too intense and too weird about it but i need you to understand: you have to read this fic.

in this dream, there is a lover to share this life with, fanghua, g, by @lianhuajing. alternative ending for the end of episode 27, in which li lianhua—precious man who has yet to discover a hill he's not willing to die on—apologises to fang duobing the only way he knows how, and it's wildly upsetting for everyone (but it's ok and it doesn't end miserably, no one panic). this is a delightfully angsty treat, and i love how conflicted fang duobing is in it—i feel like it's not something that i've seen explored a lot, but this poor boy really fuckin goes through it—his best friend and his childhood idol are the same person but are lying to him about it, and his dad's not actually his father and has been lying to him about it, and his best friend/childhood idol may have killed his father, and—yeah, is lying to him about it. like? someone give this poor man a hug and a cup of tea and a snack and a blankie. i love that we get to see some of his internal conflict in this.

quintessence of dust, feihua, teen, by justthereforit. this plays with one of my very most favourite tropes in the world, which is the one where the heart is a physical object and a physical form of trust and control and surrender and—like. this is so good. it's set in episode 13, which is, for me, one of the absolute peak angst points, and it absolutely nails it. di feisheng who's upset and vulnerable and frustrated and angry, li lianhua who knows he's going to die and can't bear the thought that he's going to take anyone else down with him, and they're both just so fucked up. chef kiss. i love it when everyone is emotionally wrecked and continually like 'ok no, i can take one more knife in my soul to protect someone else', and this absolutely delivers on that.

under moonlight, we change our futures yet again, feihua, explicit, by @thesilversun. the wedding room! obviously we have to have a wedding room fic, right? i'm not going to lie: i'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief for wedding room fics, but in this one, it's actually a wonderfully, horrifyingly plausible setup. it walks a really fine line of keeping people in character, and acknowledging the inherent horror and seriousness of the situation, and also providing some desperately hot sex, and also managing to get the emotional beats of it, too. it has a sequel, which imo really has to be read as the conclusion to this fic, and it's just as good. it's possible that some of what i'm saying here is 'i love vulnerable-inside crusty-outside di feisheng' but like. i do. i love it so much.

what's sealed away, feihua, teen, by @bbcphile. AMNESIA FIC yessssss, a-fei my beloved, fics that handle brain damage/memory issues/amnesia well my beloveddddd. i love the a-fei arc, but i also have had a number of brain injuries and some other stuff that means that my own memory is…not so great, so i sometimes really struggle with how often amnesia in fiction is played off either as nothing to worry about or as a funny thing where everyone's in on the joke except the person who has amnesia. this fic is a great and sometimes very visceral exploration of a horrifying experience, and a really fantastic study of a-fei/di feisheng as a character, as well as the relationship that he has with li lianhua. a-fei trying to balance the trust he has in the sense memory of his body with his understanding of his relationship with li lianhua with li lianhua's reaction to—everything, really—is really well done and wonderful/terrible to read.

我只愿面朝大海 | i wish only to face the sea, g, by foreverstudent. ok so you wanna fuck yourself up some more? go read this. this is canon divergence from episode 39, and fang duobing has learned too well the lessons he's been taught, and sees the shape of things before li lianhua ever touches the wangchuan flower—so he sets about making sure that he won't be able to throw it away. this is agonising and gorgeous and maintains the canon relationships while developing the narrative differently. i wept literal tears. i was like 'ok that's it the worst part is over!' and then i remembered that there was another part coming and then i started crying. anyhow, it is—as ever, with me—about the devotion.

我住長江頭, 君住長江尾 -- i live upstream, you live downstream, fanghua, teen, by @rimbaudofficial. ok so this is Not a fic that i should like, because i am a massive academic failure and despite being in my forties have regular nightmares about having to re-engage with academia for like. any reason. HOWEVER. as noted, i read indiscriminately, even when i'm like 'reading this is a terrible idea and will be upsetting for me personally!', so i was like 'well, how bad of an idea can it possibly be?' and then instead! it was. incredibly charming? it was so fucking cute? the fang duobing characterisation in this is somehow just perfect to me—he's simultaneously confident and vulnerable, and also just so deeply committed to the weird clueless guy who he's decided is meant for him. di feisheng and li lianhua have a perfect weird-bros friendship. i would read another ten chapters of this and i would love it.

[fyeahghosttrick]

GHOST SWAP - the Retroactive Fills List

Scrolling our wonderful prompts, did you perchance see something so up your alley that you already drew it in 2013? The same exact idea that ate up your groupchat in early 2021? Odds are that the person who requested that doesn't know that in some odd recesses of the internet there's already a fanwork that gives life to their idea. And I think that they might want to know! So come self-rec!

Reply to this post with the prompt you're referring to and a link to your work, and on June 19th I'll post all replies in a Retroactive Fills List to give them visibility!

Please keep your replies limited to one prompt+fill each, but feel free to reply more than once. The format is:

"dinner-rol - gt characters going on a hike!" https://archiveofourown.org/works/27150475

with some optional info about your fanwork, for example

"dinner-rol - gt characters going on a hike!" https://archiveofourown.org/works/27150475 (Cabanela/Jowd, 3k, hurt/comfort)

And here's a reminder of the prompts list for convenience:

BLOCK A (this distinction is just because of tumblr's character limitations per block)

dinner-rol - gt characters going on a hike!

dinner-rol - rock jailbird performing to pigeons in the park

okiroash - anything with trashmiel !!

okiroash - (AU) no betrayal and yomiel gains a robot body.. the rest is up to your imagination

doctor-yoshi-soul: Cabanela being addicted to some stimulant drug (Amphetamine, Cocaine, Nicotine, etc.). Caffeine counts if someone doesn't want to write about illicit substances so something like a coffee addiction is just as apt

doctor-yoshi-soul: Kamila and Amelie playdate (either timeline)

doctor-yoshi-soul: Movie Night (bonus: it's a mystery/thriller)

doctor-yoshi-soul: Yomiel desperately trying to feel something while he's still dead

doctor-yoshi-soul: Yomiel's jail time (and/or how other characters deal with it)

doctor-yoshi-soul: What does Jowd carry in that huge coat of his (bonus: same for Cabanela)

doctor-yoshi-soul: How Ray passes the time

Meowdyjac - Sissel picking up Kamila from school

Meowdyjac - Yomiel doing taxes

Meowdyjac - Sissel hiding in Lynne's bag

Meowdyjac - Jowd and Sissel getting reprimanded by Alma

alto-tenure: Ghost Trick x Zero Escape! I would especially appreciate interactions between Akane and Sissel (wink wink) but I'm cool with any crossover material between these two -- with one major caveat that I haven't played ZTD, so please avoid spoilers for it!

alto-tenure: AU where Cabanela adopts Kamila after Jowd's arrest instead of Lynne.

alto-tenure: Lynne and Memry swap with Jowd and Cabanela AU

alto-tenure: Re-prompt from last year -- Lynne, Cabanela, Kamila, and Missile, sometime between Alma's death/Jowd's arrest and canon events in the original timeline.

alto-tenure: Post-canon Sissel leads the effort to solve a case.

caravanlurker - Lynne just finished the last game YOU played and is /really/ trying to convince everyone else to try it --not that that kind of behavior resembles any fandom I know of.

caravanlurker - Yomiel is wearing merch of himself or some other character

caravanlurker - Jowd gets caught smuggling Sissel to a crime scene and has a not-strange-at-all time trying to explain himself.

caravanlurker - Sissel's first few interactions with a recently reborn Missile in the new timeline.

caravanluker - Keyposes of Lynne+Sissel as hypothetical characters in a fighting game

caravanlurker - A little exploration on why Yomiel even chose to rendezvous at Chicken Kitchen.

caravanlurker - Cabanela and Missile conversation teehee

caravanlurker - Something about Kamila's music taste

ihavenohotcocoa - Fiansissel and Memry having a meet up over coffee

ihavenohotcocoa - Fiansissel and Sissel having bonding time

ihavenohotcocoa - Fiansissel and Yomiel's wedding day <3

ihavenohotcocoa - Alma, Jowd, and Kamila going to an amusement park

ihavenohotcocoa - Tiny Lynne chilling in the police department with Cabanela

Post-game Yomiel and Kamila where Yomiel is acting as an uncle figure for Kamila. Could be hurt/comfort or fluffy

Pre-game Lynne taking care of a sick Kamila

Pre-game Jowd introducing baby Kamila to Cabanela

Pre-game Yomiel and Sissel celebrating their first New Years together

Post-game where Yomiel dies and Sissel has to bring him back to life

Apocalypse AU where Kamila is lost trying to find her father and Yomiel finds her and tries to take care of her/help her

Pre-game Kamila and Amelie having a sleepover at Lynne's apartment

Pre-game Lynne discovers Kamila is getting bullied at school and she takes care of it ASAP (maybe with the help of Cabanela as a bonus)

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Old timeline Yomiel watching Sissel go nuts over a catnip toy he got him and smiling

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Cabanela helping Jowd walk as he adjusts to using a cane in the new timeline (fluff shipping)

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Pigeon Man being cute with Lovey Dove

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Any character from my No Deal Yomiel AU - No Deal Yomiel looking sinister or Cabanela suffering at his hands. Anything edgy, cool or dramatic

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Kitty Sissel and Missile cuddling Lynne and Kamila

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - New timeline Yomiel bonding with the Jowd family while in a wheelchair or using a cane with Sissel on his lap or shoulder

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - The interrogation scene between Yomiel and Cabanela

Sunnyaliceart - Sunny Alice - Sissel, Missile, Jowd and Yomiel talking together in the Ghost World in the new timeline (friendship, hope for the future)

samthecookielord - kamila and amelie hanging out together

sissel stuck in a tree

what memry is like when she's not undercover at the chicken kitchen

Genre swap AU! Fantasy, superheroes, classic pulp… how does the plot play out in a setting with different rules?

Your most self-indulgent crossover.

A serious take on Pigeon Man's research.

Characters with different hairstyles.

The inherent creepiness of puppeting your own corpse. Either serious, with Yomiel's time as a ghost, or silly, with Sissel post-game.

Another character gets ghost powers. What are they? If you want, how would they work in the game (or not work, and require a different type of gameplay?)

(Genshin & GT crossover) Kaeya and Yomiel go to a bar together.

Sissel (cat) dressed up in different outfits (ex: Cabanela's)

(CROB & GT crossover) Sissel breaks a ton of Langue de Chat's furniture due to cat + ghost shenanigans (LdC is not happy about it.)

Sissel doing basic cat things (Pushing stuff off, clawing furniture, etc)

Phoenix Wright gets a new case, and the police investigator he has to deal with is Cabanela

In the New Timeline, Sissel and Missile reunite

FianSissel finding out what happened at the park (new or old timeline)

Where did Sissel go in Ray's timeline, what did he do? (Fic)

Kamila has a nightmare, Sissel helps comfort her

Ghibli movie night with the family, Yomiel is forcibly added to the found family and FianSissel is just happy to be there

Jowd recovering from having his leg pierced by a piece of the Temsik meteorite

New Timeline, Lynne dies and Sissel is there to avert her fate

I wanna see a ghost trick/yakuza crossover. Send the cast of Ghost Trick to Hawaii to hang out with the yakuza squad. Let Cabanela chill on the beach with Kiryu. Let Jowd have a watermelon eating contest with Adachi. Let Ichiban show his crustacean friends to Lynne. Whatever. Anything.

post-canon Yomiel and Kamila friendship (Uncle Yomi my beloved)

post-canon Yomiel and Lynne friendship

Yomiel but he's dressed like Pearl in Side Order from Splatoon 3

Jowd giving a spine-shattering bear hug to character of your choice

Lynne drawn in a really old anime style with bishie sparkle

Sissel doing Normal Cat Things and being an absolute pain to deal with

that one mental health meme where it's like "you're not a burden" "it's ok to ask for help" with characters of your choice in the slots but either Yomiel or Cat Sissel are in the "murder is okay" slot

cat Sissel seen up-close through a fisheye lens

(Fic) What-if scenario where Yomiel got to Fiansissel in time before she died

BLOCK B

(Fic) Yomiel’s perspective during the Metro Police Department Siege Case

(Fic) Cabanela dies close enough to Yomiel to get Ghost Tricks. What would happen/change if he joined Sissel in the submarine chapter

(Art) Yomiel in TWEWY Shibuya just casually watching the Reaper’s Game go down from a distance

(Art or Fic) L from Death Note showing up out of nowhere to help Cabanela and Pigeon Man with the Manipulator Case

(Art) Yomiel in the Onceler’s clothes

Human!Sissel

Post canon Physical rehabilitation

Worst timeline

jowd/alma/cabs cooking in the kitchen… downright chaos or synchronized perfection? somewhere in the middle?

yomiel DIY sewing up the hole left in the back of his jacket from the meteor, whether that goes well or badly…

pigeon man and his collection of newspaper clippings about the meteor and related events…

lynne, kamila, and missile movie night!

rindge and memry's dynamic as agents

carnival activities with characters of your choice (carnival food competitions, carnival games [and cheating at them with certain powers], carousels and face painting and cotton candy etc etc!)

ocekhaz - The Ghost Trick cast but they all turned into cats, that's it, that's thre prompt. Preferably art but fanfiction is fine too !

ocekhaz - Yomiel angst….make whatever you want but please break that man…art or fic

ocekhaz- Post-Canon yomiel interacting with the cast during his recovery in the hospital, with the focus being cabanela and yomiel (platonic or romantic), mostly fluff, hurt/comfort is really good too ! Art of fic

ocekhaz - Yomiel teaching Kamila about coding, really wholesome! art of fic !

ocekhaz - Ghost trick but set into the 1930-40s ! Really getting into that noir detective vibes ! Fic or art…other than that do what you want…

ocekhaz - Post-canon yomiel slowly getting used to "life" again, with a strong emphasis on senses (smell, touch, taste etc) that he couldn't feel before, mostly positive but a side of angst is good too…art of fic !

ocekhaz - The ghost trick cast in formal wear, I'd love to see them in fancy suits and dresses, Art !

Cabanela babysitting Kamila, with optional assistance (or added chaos?) from cat.

Jowd and Cabanela, something emotional, hurt/comfort, hugs, tenderness, that kind of thing

Jowd family day out, just pure fluff

Art with Jowd/Alma/Kamila, can be just one or two, even, I just want to see more Jowd family art!

Yomiel attempting to re-integrate into society, getting used to just being alive again, and probably being a clumsy dork in the process

Lynne and Sissel hanging out together

Astrofiish- Sissel/Lynne/Missile/Cabs/Jowd/Yomiel crossover with whatever fandom you want! Choose whatever characters you want- have fun!

Astrofiish- Flat Jeego! Flatten that guy make him a metaphorical Pancake 🥞

Astrofiish- Missile and Sissel being the best of friends

ricketricket - Yomiel dwelling on the fact that Sissel has taken on his fate of being Temsik'd?

ricketricket - Final chapter gang (Sissel, Missile, Jowd, Yomiel) thinking about Ray? Either talking with each other, reflecting, etc.

ricketricket - In the fail sequence in chapter 15 where Yomiel notices Sissel, his dialogue implies that he knows this strange ghost is Sissel specifically, and yet chooses to taunt him and shoot Cabanela anyway. How does Sissel deal with that in the new timeline? Yomiel wouldn't remember that happening, does Sissel ever tell him? How does he react when he does?

ricketricket - Postgame Yomiel somehow meeting Sissel Prime (Ray's timeline), lost and alone and wearing the wrong face. Time travel shenanigans, probably.

ricketricket - Sissel bonding with his namesake after hearing so much about her from Yomiel?

ricketricket - Sissel in the far, far future. Is he still a ghost? Still a cat? Or has he changed into something else? A god? A youkai? Something entirely unique?

ricketricket - Postgame Sissel can manipulate his own corpse, which implies he has at least some of the manipulator's powerset. Can he manipulate people? Small animals? Just the dead? How does he feel about this aspect of his powers? How does Yomiel feel?

ricketricket - Alma and Yomiel interacting in the new future. Does Alma remember? If she doesn't, was she told? Does she forgive him? Does Yomiel forgive himself?

siverwrites - Alma/Jowd/Cabanela cuddle pile (nothing NSFW please)

siverwrites - Cabanela and Pigeon Man getting to know each other in the early days

siverwrites - Cabanela and Pigeon Man meeting in the new timeline

siverwrites - Jowd/Alma having a date night that's normal by their standards but weird to others (nothing NSFW please)

siverwrites - Alma knows about Sissel in the new timeline. Adjusting and learning to communicate with him takes some learning but it's something she's happy to work out with him

siverwrites - new timeline: Missile may not have Ghost Tricks anymore, but he can still help Sissel solve a mystery!

Jowd wants some alone time post-game and forgets that a man known to have literally gotten himself killed in the last timeline basically going missing may cause a panic (can include most everyone you want but if you could at least include cabanela that would be good)

Somehow post game cabanela and jowd get themselves killed and in saving them Sissel clues cabanela into the fact that jowd has died and possibly even teaches him about the og timeline

Yomiel and his fiancé :3

Yomiel and sissel hanging out post comet (can be post game or before the game takes place)

Jowd centered hurt/comfort

On a version of events where Sissle isn’t there, Emma learns of the justice minister’s fate

What if Yomiel, undead as he was, DID make it back to his fiancé in time to stop her from dying/how do they (and their new cat) deal with the fact that he’s not alive or dead?

Fiancé Sissle and Alma become friends and work together to try and figure out why their husbands have been acting so strange

Somehow post game Yomiel dies again and Cat Sissle finds it strange to bring him back to life like any other person but at least gets to make sure Yomiel and Fiancé Sissle don’t meet a tragic fate even though the one from ten years ago was avoided

loboazul - Cabanela and his 100 poses

loboazul - Yomiel figuring out new tech after getting out of jail.

loboazul - Outfit swaps! Whichever characters you want!

any number of characters in a trench coat :>

katecattus-Necrobarista AU

katecattus-What we do in the shadows AU

katecattus-Characters from GT as avatars of fears from The Magnus Archives (Art)

BLOCK C

katecattus-VTM AU, characters get assigned a vampire clan (Art)

katecattus-Kamila playing Minecraft. Bonus points for Yomiel teaching her redstone

katecattus-Someone from the human main cast as animals (Art)

fexiled - sissel and missile vs the bissell vacuum cleaner

fexiled - post-canon, someone having nightmares about dying / the original timeline and getting comforted by sissel. can be any character you want but i'd love to see yomiel or lynne the most :')

fexiled - kamila and yomiel building a contraption together

levitanias - (art heavily preferred!) yomiel and my yomiel-inspired oc hotshot (references: https://toyhou.se/24324062.hotshot/24939429.gijinkahuman) (his object form is also okay if you want something simple! available at: https://toyhou.se/24324062.hotshot) interacting with each other in whatever way you can think of, i'd just love to see one of my favorite guys interacting with the character that inspired him!! they could be getting along, absolutely hate each other, whatever you'd like!

levitanias - detective rindge on his stakeout at temsik park pre-death.

levitanias - something which parallels cabanela—spotless and "pure" with his white coat—and yomiel, full of mistakes, misgivings, and a moral compass that has been thoroughly driven into the ground.

levitanias - a family portrait consisting of jowd, alma, and kamila.

The full crew watching fireworks (Sissel, Yomiel, Missile, Kamila, Lynne, Jowd, Cabanela, even Alma and Fiansissel if you want)

azurefishnets - Alma/Cabanela/Jowd (or any /& subset therof, minus subsets including infidelity as a feature) - I think it would be fun to explore what each might plan if they were playfully trying to outdo each other in a specific category of shared date night. Like most romantic, weirdest, best restaurant experience…

azurefishnets - Cabanela & Jowd & Sissel - On-the-job situation where Cabanela knows Sissel's whole deal but still can't speak to him and so chooses to resort to increasingly bizarre attempts at communication; perhaps some kind of undercover work where they all have to pretend they don't know each other?

azurefishnets - Jowd & Pigeon Man - The first time Jowd has to ask Pigeon Man to consult on a case in the new timeline…how awkward can Jowd make it? So, so, so akward, even with a lovely dove there to be a distraction and talking point. You know this to be true. Lean in.

azurefishnets - Emma & Pigeon Man - New timeline Emma attempts to pull gossip from PM at a party, in service of gathering info for her new novel about a romance between rival police officers, but PM is nigh impossible to schmooze with Emma's usual tactics. (Bonus points for Emma getting so frustrated with him her hair blooms)

azurefishnets - Alma & Sissel - Always a sucker for these two finding their own ways to communicate and understand each other! Alma finds herself in the unenviable position of toddler-proofing a house--unlike other moms, she has a unique helper in this endeavour…

azurefishnets - any cast members - hair swap (but not palette swap!) Swap Emma's with Sissel's, switch Jowd's with Beauty's, trade Amelie's for the Bartender's, etc… the funnier and more inconvenient for the pair, the better!

azurefishnets - Pigeon Man & Lynne & Missile - Lynne's walking her dog. PM's feeding the pigeons. Missile recognizes an old acquaintance and doesn't care about a somewhat awkward encounter between a young detective and the irascible old medical examiner who far outranks her and has just been leapt upon by her dog; Missile hasn't done his duty as a top Pom until he can say, "Welcome!" properly.

azurefishnets - always gotta rep the FFVI/GT AU! For more info please see https://archiveofourown.org/series/1196335. Any addition welcome!

laughingmango - the duality of Cabanela, pack bonding with just about anyone in a split second UNLESS they're a nuisance on the job, in which case he's got a short fuse

laughingmango - Cabanela/Jowd hurt/comfort. either way. Physical hurt, emotional hurt, your pick. One of them's having a bad time and the other one's there for him.

laughingmango - What if Alma were more similar to Jowd than her appearance would suggest? Cosmic pessimism power couple? Can Cabanela handle both of them?

laughingmango - Any kind of what-if for the detectives. Timeline reset but it's Cabanela who keeps his memories and not Jowd? Cabanela dies in chapter 15 and his spirit can join the party on the submarine? Ghostly angst in the doomed timeline, where Jowd is executed and Cabanela presumably murdered by Yomiel? Completely different scenario and it's Jowd who must put in the work to prove Cabs' innocence somehow?

laughingmango - Anything Emma. Patron saint of trashy novels and also of doing what she feels is right. Did she know Jowd beforehand? Did she ever try to get through Cabanela? Is she friends with Alma in the new timeline? Who does she meet at a party? Is her new book based on sooomeone? What's her dynamic with her husband when things are good?

laughingmango - Memry as Cabanela's pupil in the way Lynne is Jowd's

laughingmango - Disco Elysium crossover/fusion. I just think Harry would look at Cabanela and get his brain rewired by the sheer power of bisexuality and disco. But what about our GT dancers and Egg Head+ravers, for example, or Sissel pulling off some wild ghost stunt in Revachol? "Ass up and amnesiac" is the name of the game… (I love Harry and Kim but please no other members of precinct 41)

laughingmango - Final Fantasy VI AU, always. any unexplored corner, or just reimagining any character in Yoshitaka Amano's fashion!

T052ther0b0t - (AU) Sissel, Missle and Yomiel become a ghost detective team

T052ther0b0t - Sissle and Yomiel sleeping

T052ther0b0t - Yomiel and Yomiel's wife (either anything wholesome or angsty is up to you!)

scarlette-foxx What is Sissel up to a hundred years later? What is it like to be an immortal Feline?

scarlette-foxx Ghost Trick/Danny Phantom crossover 👀

scarlette-foxx Someone is trying to teach Sissel how to read! I wonder who?

Jowd ball

Sci fi AU

Missile and Sissel character swap

Sissel (either one) meeting Yomiel post game

Sissel cat shenanigans

Amelie and Kamila being friends

Au where Lynne gets struck by the Temsik fragment and lives

The Sissels meeting each other

[nellyofthevalley]

pinned post

➡️ all my links and comms info at Nelly.lol

i'm more active on twitter these days with the NSFW rules :(

💫 tags

nellyposting / asks / my tav

my art / my fanfic

astarion pics / astarion gifs / astarion clips

resources / sometimes I reblog things I find useful for writing/drawing/etc!

💫 asks

I take and love receiving requests for writing and art (bg3). I can't guarantee I'll write or draw it, and I'm slow at it (like, literally months sometimes but I promise I never forget them lmao) because the creativity comes and goes, but I am more than open to them so the ideas are in always the back of my head when inspo strikes. also you can just like ask me stuff but im boring lmfao

💫 content

there's definitely things I won't write or draw but tbh you can request literally anything, no judgment, if I don't like it or feel I can't do it well enough, I just won't do it! there's plenty of things I thought I would never care for and was proven otherwise once I actually put pen to paper.

that said, I tend to do astarion/f!tav/durge content. for writing, i like tragedies and angst/pain relationship dynamic shit with a few cuter things here and there. art is usually cuter stuff but mostly bc I'm still learning to draw and I feel like thats easiest lol. nsfw totally fine and encouraged for both mediums

💫 fanfic list

i havent kept these up to date, i suggest following the ao3 links ❤️

complete

wedding dress | ao3 link | ast x f!tav | explicit | 7k words astarion makes tav's wedding dress and looks back on their life together

bloodlust | ao3 link | ast x f!durge | explicit | 5.2k words porn without plot but with some feelings; astarion's "you'll tell me the next time you need to be tied up, won't you?" dialogue was the prompt for this

edge of the world | ao3 link | ast x f!tav | 1k words a disgusting little sad/sweet scene

swim | ast x f!tav | 1.3k words very short porn literally no plot whatsoever that i wrote at 1am, trying out 2nd person. body stealing (haarlep) + tadpole sharing + facefucking

in progress

ascendant | ao3 link | ast x f!tav x gale | explicit | 17.2k words the study of ascended astarion's emotions turning into dark desires--obsession, possession. tav/ast and tav/gale as past relationships. a super fucked up love triangle, perhaps

spawn | ao3 link | ast x f!tav + cazador | explicit | 9.9k words explores post-game timeline where cazador captures tav; a straight-up tragedy from beginning to end

truths | ao3 link | ast x f!tav | explicit | 20.2k words my first work, a cringe little comfortfic that I'm considering rewriting entirely. there's no big overarching plot, it's just whatever happens really with loose ideas

[halfagone]

Hi Halfa! How would you incorporate Danny Phantom with the DC Injustice Universe?

I actually made a post about this back in April, which you can find here. But the basic gist of the post is that Superman is going down the deep end and when Bruce finds out about Danny and his all too similar situation (this is a post-The Ultimate Enemy timeline where Clockwork didn't reverse time after the Nasty Burger explosion) he reaches out in the hopes Danny can get through to Clark.

I will be the first to admit that I do not like the Injustice Universe. It ruins just about every single member of the Justice League for one reason or another. I could rant about that here too, but I want to stick to the ask for once. lol

For that post I linked at the beginning, I wrote it so that Danny was already an adult so that he's had a long time to think about what happened and come to peace with the fact that he can't save everyone, even the people he loves.

Hell, imagine a Danny that knows how ghosts are treated. Knows that ghosts will probably always be viewed as nothing more than cruel monsters. So he takes one for the team and kills the Joker for Superman. Because he knows that Superman can't come back from this, who knows what he would become if he did. But Danny has no personal stake in the game, other than the target he just put on his head. He can divorce himself from this kill, because he wasn't personally hurt or victimized by the Joker, but he knows if the Joker doesn't die, something far worse is going to happen.

But another way you can incorporate Danny Phantom into this universe could be in a similar vein to what I did with Mandated Reporter, where it happened in the background worldbuilding and the consequences come to rear its ugly head at some point during the events of the show's canon.

If Danny is still early in his hero career, I can see the Injustice Regime intending to take him out before he gets too powerful. He's young, and maybe in other circumstances they could have used this to mold him, but he's also unpredictable and not easily controlled. And for a regime that is all about control, they can't have that. So they would try to wipe him off the map, and if they have to wipe out a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere to do it, then they would. Because they are far beyond caring about casualties and collateral damage (can you tell why I hate the Injustice Universe yet?)

At the same time, however, you can still have Danny early on in his identity as Phantom when Metropolis' destruction goes down. Imagine a little fourteen year old Danny, hearing the news about an entire city's destruction, and he goes and does what any good superhero does:

He goes to help.

I have a whole fic idea for this that I might just have to write today while it's still fresh for me. But a lot of it is based on this clip from the DCAMU movie, Justice League: Apokolips War.

CONTENT WARNING: ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

(I put it in the in-line link because the thumbnail does not pull its punches.)

I'm definitely going to write the fic and I'll have to link it when I'm done.

There's a lot you can do with this Universe, loathe as I am to admit it. XD You can always go with the simple route of having Danny go in from another dimension and trash all these fools because "what the fuck is wrong with you people?" But I like to think there can be more to it than that.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Amelia's Zelda Calamity Quintet Resource List

Hi there, I'm Amelia (she/they). You may also know me as Hart or Echo (my old handle was echosound). This is a master post of links for my works as well as all the tags I use on this blog. This post will be pinned on the blog and I will update it as needed so check back if there's something new.

Scheduling is based around Wattpad queuing but chapters are posted to both platforms on the same day. You can find my profiles here: AO3 - Wattpad

Expanding Hyrule Community Discord (16+)

Quick FAQs

Is this a main blog? This is a side blog, my main is @amelias-hart. To keep this blog mostly to fic updates and as a reference tool, I reblog LoZ stuff on my main, to include art and fics.

Can I draw fanart of your characters? Yes, absolutely. I should clarify. You are more than welcome to draw art based on the descriptions in my fics and the resources I put out for them. I work with other artists though for most of my character art. If you are going to use those designs, make sure you're familiar with their opinions on fanart.

What kinds of LoZ fics to you write? All of my fics are fully original legend and long form stories. My average chapter length is 3k and the shortest of my fics (not in a series) is currently drafting to be like 100 chapters.

How adult/mature are they? It ranges, but typically it's pretty tame. I don't really handle gore and explicit scenes, and I'm not a fan of dark fantasy generally as a writer. If fics are rated adult/mature, it's typically because the characters are largely adults.

Is there romance? We're on that Zelink train, absolutely! There are no explicit scenes, again, so the range here is fluff (GoS, RA) to some more mature flirting with some innuendo being about the most serious content (DAD). Maybe a more intense kissing scene once the slow burn gets through to that (MoaH).

How do you write so much? Autism baby. Got that clinical hyperfocus going.

Do I need to read your fics in a certain order? No, all of them are stand alone but they do share a linked timeline in the following: GoS -> MoaH -> RA -> CoL -> DAD (And honestly it's really just GoS and MoaH with any "serious" timeline lore connections)

What's the Convergence? To the previous point, it's referring to GoS any time it comes up. Really only a thing in MoaH and MoaH does try to explain it within the text.

Will add more as they come up. If it's not here, it's probably below. If not, send it as a reply or an ask and I'll add it!

Other Custom Tags List

#originallegends/#lozoriginallegends - Pending community tag for Legend of Zelda fics about original iterations of Hyrule. Check out Expanding Hyrule for more details (AO3 - Wattpad).

#moahmemes - This is for memes and quotes redone with the MoaH cast for fun, mostly for character exploration and cause it's funny.

#moah worldbuilding - In character worbuilding snippets about various topics for the MoaH era of Hyrule.

Open Ask List

I'm always open to asks, but I have a few prompts I figured I'd throw out if y'all want ideas.

Web: Asks for an update to the MoaH Obsidian web

WIPWednesdays: I'll post a snippet of MoaH, very likely will contain spoilers for a later part/book than is out.

Star: I'll give ya a random factoid about something in one of my fics, you can add fic tags if you'd like a specific.

Q: Check to see how far updates for MoaH are queued out

Character asks: I don't have art, but you can absolutely send in character asks for the cast. I love these, they're great character voice practice. Please keep to one question per ask, but you're welcome to send as many as you like.

Fic List

Goddess of Secrecy (Complete on Wattpad, New Edited Chapters On Wednesdays To Both) - #goddessofsecrecy, #gos, #gosspoilers

Hyrule has only ever dreamt of an end to the resurrection of Demise. With the returning of an ancient power, that dream could finally be fulfilled. Can the Hero of the Fourth Goddess save Hyrule once and for all?

Fic Links: AO3 - Wattpad

Mark of a Hero (Updates on Tuesdays & Fridays, 1 of 9) - #markofahero, #moah, #moahspoilers

Hyrule is at peace, or so the Royal Family would have its people believe. Something is afoot in the kingdom, and someone needs to do something about it. Least likely would be Marksmen Link Sayre- a mercenary and monster hunter doing his best to get by. Until a job goes wrong, and he gets roped into the secret plans of Hyrule's princess. Now Link must play the part of the Hero to dive deeper into the mystery, and maybe stumble into a legend of his own.

Fic Links:

Book 1: AO3 - Wattpad

Book 2:

Book 3:

Book 4:

Book 5:

Book 6:

Book 7:

Book 8:

Book 9:

Series Links: AO3 - Wattpad

Arc Progress & Spoiler Reference

Character Reference Page

General Setting Resources Page

Restoration Age (Hiatus) - #restorationage

Hyrule has grown. The fairy tale kingdom that has endured for eons is no more. And while historians argue over what history needs to be preserved, Hyrule endures and thrives in the modern age. With the proverbial guide book gone, where will the kingdom go now? And what would a Hero mean for a country that no longer needs a Hero?

Fic Link: Wattpad - Not yet imported to AO3

Cinders of Life (Hiatus) - #cindersoflife

Hyrule has burned. No more is the vibrant kingdom that was once protected by the Hero. Now is the reign of evil, an evil without end. Hope is a word used without meaning, and hero is all but lost. Could one even stand if the people of Hyrule don't even know what they would be calling on?

Fic Link: Wattpad - Not yet imported to AO3

Day After Destiny (Hiatus) - #dayafterdestiny

Hyrule is beginning its new golden age. The king and queen prepare to hand their crowns to their daughter and her husband. It is a union out of legend, though legend is far from anyone's mind in Hyrule. For who would call upon ancient war heroes in a time of peace? The wars for Hyrule have been won.

Fic Link: Wattpad - Not yet imported to AO3

[icypantherwrites]

Update on AO3 Situation + Final RAINN Support Event

(this is a little long, but please, if possible, read to the end.)

AO3 has *finally* reinstated my fanfiction To Become the Nightmare and in a way this nightmare situation is over. I'm still extremely frustrated and disappointed though with AO3 especially as I am 99.9% certain the only reason my issue was finally addressed was because I tagged their support page on Twitter/X rather than any of my emails and communications to their actual Policy and Abuse team. They also provided no apology or reason for the delay or an explanation for why their staff provided a 1-week timeline that they then ignored for 3.5 weeks. I'm grateful to have my story back, but this entire ordeal has been awful in so many ways.

I will also admit on a personal note it was also disheartening to see how many folks sent me messages, asks (to the point I locked them down on Tumblr) and comments on AO3 stories (of which I'd know there'd be even more if AO3 hadn't made the blanket decision to lock down all guest comments) wanting to know where I'd be updating now, getting upset over the fact I use Patreon as they don't want paywalls to read my works, asking about the status of current stories and former stories, etc. and very rarely, if at all, even taking into account how all of this was affecting me.

I have poured years into posting on AO3, on making it a platform where I have over 2.5 million words worth of stories for everyone to enjoy, and am dealing with AO3 painting me as some villain because I linked to an organization to try to help sexual assault victims, and their complete lack of communication on top of all of that felt intentional. It's put me in a really bad mental health state and coming in daily to see multiple people asking and asking about how will *they* read my stories and making me feel guilty for not updating just... it really hurt. And the answer was I didn't know entirely what was going to happen and was still hoping for the best outcome with AO3. And contrary to some of the accusations I received, I never intended to put all of my new and upcoming works behind a Patreon paywall and certainly never planned to delete any works other than the single one I mentioned (and I explained why that was). I may have used Patreon's platform (because it has better formatting than say Tumblr) and made the works posted there available to the public (anyone can join as a free member, fyi), but that was never the end-game and the fact so many people got mad and angry and posted honestly kind of cruel asks and comments... I'm really hurt. I'm a person too and I share my works with my own time and energy and to have everyone so embroiled in this "me me me" energy when I was really struggling with what AO3 did, just... makes me not want to post anymore anywhere at all. I won't do that because I won't punish those folks who have been supportive and kind, but please, take a moment before you comment to think how it feels to be the recipient of a message like that. That's all the energy left I have to spend on that but please, be kind. Be understand. Be appreciative for what you do have and remember always that authors have feelings too.

Going forward I'll be looking to get back to updating existing stories and publishing some backlog on AO3 during this suspension/lock; however, I will be holding off on that until AO3 lifts their own blanket ban on guest comments as I know there are plenty of folks who prefer to engage that way and/or haven't yet been able to get accounts. You may have seen as well that my account, given that it seems to be AI-bots leading the reason for the guest ban, has been locked down to only AO3 accounts able to read my works. That will remain in effect until AO3 releases theirs and it may be something I ultimately do to protect my account and my works in the future, but for now once the current AO3 situation has been resolved that will go back to access to guest accounts as well.

In the meantime, with To Become the Nightmare restored and the fact my earlier RAINN support events have thus far yielded $2 for me to donate (which hurts in other ways xD Come on y'all, financial support for a great organization and some emotional support and love for the author, what's not to like about that?) I'm going to do one final event to try to raise some funds for RAINN and at least try to make a small, positive difference in all of this mess.

For the remainder of this week, anyone who leaves an engaged comment (100+ words, no quote-backs in that word count, about the fanfiction at hand) on To Become the Nightmare I will donate $2 per comment to RAINN. It would also personally mean a lot to me as this story never really had a lot of comment engagement in the first place AND on top of that it got a really, really toxic comment. I unfortunately get those folks regularly on sexual assault recovery fanfictions I write because they refuse to accept that everyone heals in different ways AND also refuse to take accountability where if they don't like what they're reading they have the power to hit the back button on their browser and just not read it. I left that particular comment up (you can see it on page 2) if you want a taste of some of the people I still encounter to this day. Anyways, it would mean a lot to hear from those who may want to read it, but given that it both a; has sexual assault and b; is an M-rating please do read it at your own discretion. I'm posting the full summary below and please read the warnings tagged on the story. I'll post an update at the end of the week with how much we managed to raise for RAINN (and if you'd like to donate on your own too, please feel free~! ♥)

To Become the Nightmare

Summary: [College AU] “And if you didn’t want to have fun,” nails dug into Lance’s skin as the grip tightened and Dios, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t move, “then you shouldn’t have been such a pretty little tease, freshie. You wanted to hang with the big boys? Well,” he chuckled, “welcome to the real party.” Hot breath wafted over Lance’s face as the upperclassmen smirked down at him. “Now let’s get it started.”

[star-trek-smash-or-pass]

Hey guess what

Did you guess "new blog in the smash or pass ecosystem but this one specialises in trek characters"? I fucking hope so. Because that's all I've got here!

I was inspired of course by @charactersmashorpass / @charactersmashorpass-2 but also @smashingorpassing and especially @ace-attorney-smash-or-pass who put the fandom specificity idea in my head.

Please only interact (this includes submitting characters) if you are 18 or older. If you're part of a system, this has to be true both for all fronters at the time of any given interaction and for the body. All polls will run for a week, if one doesn't I posted it wrong and you're free to point it out.

Rules for character submissions:

(they got a bit long so they're going under the cut, along with the link)

Has to be from a licensed Star Trek medium. Beta canon is fine, OCs are not. Unless it's very funny, then I might make a (rare!) exception.

They don't have to be a major character or even appear more than once but it'd be good if there was enough canon information for people to make an informed decision. Having a canon appearance (that isn't super blurry) would almost always fulfil this requirement but you may have to provide an image yourself.

It is not a requirement for it to be feasible to have sex with them. If you wanna fuck a non-corporeal character, we'll assume you'd figure out a way. It will be assumed they also really wanna try to have sex with you if you choose smash.

Controversially, I will not have a universal minimum age but they do have to pass the Harkness test which includes being of sexual maturity for their species (tho I'll rule they also have to be of more general maturity for their species, some real life humans become "sexually mature" before their teens but that doesn't mean you should fuck them; characters from asexually reproducing species will ofc only be judged on overall maturity). If their age is unknown or it's unknown when their species would be considered mature, I will consider the way the narrative treats them. So TL;DR: Kes is fine, Zero is not.

(As an extension of this, artificial life forms designed to function like adults will not be disqualified based on how long they've been active while artificial life forms designed to emulate children/minors will never qualify. Where this line is drawn in unclear cases will be decided by me on a case by case basis. So the EMH is fine, Lal is not.)

(recently adjusted) If the character is shown at different life stages within one series, I will judge based on the one people are most likely to think of when they think of that character (eg Jake and Nog are not acceptable) and if they are to be considered from another series where they are an adult, they have to be at least a recurring character in it, very small narrative roles and cameos do not count. As a rule of thumb: if someone only watching the show where they're an adult would remember them after, that's probably okay. So Prodigy!Wes is fine, Picard!Wes is not.

That said, you are allowed to submit specific versions of a character, including alternate timeline versions, if they pass all other requirements, eg you can submit specifically Solid Odo or Dilf Harry from the episode Timeless, but you still can't submit adult Naomi from Shattered.

I reserve the right to reject any submission, especially if I have reason to believe it was made in bad faith, but other than that scenario I don't think this is likely to happen.

Here's the link to the submission form:

Have fun! <3

[saveugoodmadam]

Dear Hitch,

I've decided to write a letter or two while you're off tumblr. It's funny, and also I miss you, and maybe these will be nice to read when you get back. Expect some rambling, lol. As of writing this, it's been about a week and a half? since you last were on. Some stuff has happened since then.

I had my 17th birthday, for one. 17 doesn't feel too different from sixteen yet, but once school starts for me I think it will. At least one TGS update has been posted, I won't spoil any of them for you, though. I saw a fun animatic on Instagram Reels of Roman from Sanders Sides so now I'm watching through those videos. I've convinced another person to read TGS (tumblr user getyourpaybackwithsomepayback) and he's OBSESSED, lol.

I've done some writing, namely my first two TGS fics, which are on AO3 now. They shouldn't be too hard to find, since my ao3 account is linked in my bio, so if you want to read them, there they are! If you do read them, lmk what you think. I've also done some work on a vat7k fic that is slowly but somewhat surely progressing. I haven't written for my original stories much lately, not really sure why.

I started crocheting a cat blanket, it'll be a while before i finish but I'll send pics when I do, rest assured. I'm planning an Enjolras cosplay for Halloween, also, and I'll let you know how it goes. I hope you get a new phone soon, and I hope you're doing okay. I hope this isn't a super weird thing to do.

I've been re reading TGS out of order, mainly for fic research. It's hard to write fics in the canon timeline, while still adhering to canon, because so much happens, there's hardly room for background scenes. I think I'm being too meticulous about it, perhaps, as I also went on a google sidetrack for ten minutes trying to figure out what kinds of cookies were invented in the 1800s. Though, the research has always been one of my favorite things about writing, since learning random stuff I never would otherwise is really fun for me!

I miss hearing about your ocs, specifically Arthur Buchanan, and your blorbo posting, about Sinnet, and David Jakobs. And it's only been a week and a half, lmao.

Sincerely, Rook :3

Rook I'm going to be honest I did genuinely start crying reading this, thank you so much and a belated happy birthday to you!!! I saw your fics on ao3 and read them and they're so good (let's ignore the fact that i cried reading them because i missed you)

I've read all the updates and omg is jekyll fucked!!!! good news though I have volume 2 pre-ordered and I can't wait for my gifts!!!!

While I've been (not of my own choice mind you) unavailable, I've been more and more obsessed with david 😭😭😭 this has included obsessively listening to the cast recordings of der Glöckner von Notre Dame he's in lmaooo

I also went to Wales for a holiday and had lots of fun!!! I have piccies but I'll put them in a separate post or DM you if they have my face in!

I don't have a new phone per se, I'm using my mum's spare but it's now 'mine' so that's good and I have pretty much everything except my WhatsApp chats and music so all good and thanks be to the cloud lmao!

yours sincerely (and tearily),

hitch

[away-ward]

Note: I think this is "The Will Post" people reference sometimes, but I'm not sure. Here and Here are the links to the original Anon messages.

This was the first time I'd received a message like this and I didn't know how to response. Eventually, it became the norm for people leave me ranty messages about this series and it's characters. I usually got a kick out of them because you guys are hilarious, and then I'd tried to answer seriously because I like discussion and discourse. So, I developed the method of answering that is seen on other posts. I just wanted to make clear why this one looks different. I wasn't trying to single them out or make an entire post about Will. Anyway.

On to the response!

Original response below, edited for grammar, spelling, and word choice. Some rephrasing, but essentially the same thoughts.

I think, first and foremost, it’s essential to get out of the way that to enjoy this series, you can’t look at any of the characters too closely. Because once you do, you’ll realize almost everybody here sucks in some way or another.  

That being said, let’s look at the characters way too closely.  

Anon, I organized your thoughts by character/relationships to make it easier to manage my thoughts and form a response. So, I'll take it individually instead of responding to each part directly as you wrote it. I don’t think I or anyone else can say anything that will change your mind, but as regards to how I approach the characters when writing them, these are my thoughts.

But thank you so much for reading my fics! The fact that people spend their time doing so is always such a big compliment, even if some of the things I wrote...didn't quite sit right with you.

Disclaimer: these are my thoughts and opinions and are in no way meant to be asserted as fact or canon. Thank you.

FYI, this is a long one, folks. Grab a drink before you start.

First up:   

Will and Alex  

You’re absolutely right that Will and Alex only knew each other for about five years when we got to Nightfall. I messed up when I wrote Reality and said seven years. I realized it about two to three weeks after posting it and never went back to fix it. Good catch.  

I see that you have a problem with Alex. That’s valid. I’m not entirely sure if it’s how I portray Alex and her relationship with Will or Alex from the source material that you have a bigger issue with. Still, I’ll try to explain my feelings about her beyond what I’ve said in other posts.   

Feel free to correct me if I get anything wrong because, honestly, I have disregarded most of what Alex has said and done. After all, it hardly ever matters to the plot. Like you, I have the viewpoint that Alex’s involvement in the story doesn’t affect anything and, more often than not, makes a scene worse. I can’t think of a single time when Alex did something one of the other characters couldn’t do.   

I think the timeline is that Will was arrested at 19 and released at 21/22. He would have met Alex soon after his release. It would be just a few months before the beginning of Corrupt. We first meet Alex through Michael. She comes off as confident and self-assured, in complete control of herself. She doesn’t hesitate to let Rika know she’s an escort when the opportunity arises. Her boldness gives off the feeling that she’s world-wise, with years of experience.   

The reality is that she’s the same age as Rika. Given this, she would have only been in this line of work for a few months to a year, if we consider her account of events to be accurate. It tracks that Alex would be reeling from losing her friends and scholarship. She didn’t just lose Aydin when her roommate betrayed her. Alex lost her entire support system, and her plans for the future. Maybe she did figure out how to land on her feet through sex work, but I don’t think she was completely content with it – at least not as much as she tries to appear to be. She always said it was temporary, not a forever job, and she planned on doing more once she graduated.   

Towards the beginning of their relationship, Will and Alex had a more casual approach to each other. While they genuinely enjoyed each other’s company, they weren’t close. But a year passes between Corrupt and Hideaway, and that is plenty of time to get to know someone and develop an intimate relationship. Their friendship deepens over time, but because of how the story is told with the reader only viewing this very narrow window of the character's lives during October every year, we don’t see much of that progress. We don’t know what significant moments these two have shared, what they’ve revealed to each other when it was four in the morning and no one else was around. I believe Will and Alex found solace in each other; peace they couldn’t find with anyone else available to them.  

We can see their progression over the years in small moments

In Corrupt, when Damon is being aggressive with Alex, Will laughs and leaves it alone. I think his feelings are that this is her job and she can handle herself. Damon is his friend. Will sides with Damon.

In Hideaway a year later, Will supports Alex in the shopping scene. His comment to Banks is pretty neutral but more positive than before.

Yet, in the third year of their friendship or relationship (whatever you want to call it), we see Will defending Alex against Damon.

Damon's petty words are nothing compared to the way Damon physically treated her just two years prior. Some might argue that Will is acting out of his anger towards Damon, and using Alex as a prop to do it. That's fair. Will isn't the most emotionally intelligent person at this point of the story.

I think it's a mixture of both. Will wants to hurt Damon by replacing him (with a girl nonetheless. The horror), but it's also that his relationship with Alex has changed. He cares for her more now than he did even a year ago. He won't tolerate Damon saying spiteful things to Alex.

In Kill Switch, when Damon is threatening war, Will is the one who brings up Alex. He sees value in her being at his side.

Anon, you asked how their friendship could be that deep if she didn’t know that Will was missing. I don’t have Conclave on me, so I could be wrong, but weren’t Will’s parents lying for him? First, he was actually globetrotting – posting pictures on social media from various locations. Then the lie was he was with some program to help in third-world countries? Either way, it’s entirely believable that it would take a while to figure out something wasn’t quite right with the story. Should they have figured it out earlier? Sure. It shouldn’t have taken his younger cousin to make his three closest friends aware that Will was missing.   

But in the Horsemen’s defense, they’re married with children and running businesses. And it’s not like they weren’t trying to reach him. 

At the end of Kill Switch, Damon talks about how they got him clean from drugs, but alcohol was a bigger issue. He also mentions that he's been leaving messages often, waiting for a response. Damon was mad that Will missed the birth of his son, and it's not like Damon wasn't trying to make Will aware that it was happening.

Damon tried. Will made the decision to leave without telling anyone and go to a location they wouldn't be able to find him, and then he arranged for his family to lie about his whereabouts. I think the boys have an excuse for not knowing something was up right away, and then for acting when they did.

The way Conclave focuses on other issues is not the character's fault; it's what the author wanted to focus on. But there's nothing to say that the characters didn't eventually get down to business and figure out what needed to be done to get to Will. I agree that that portion of events would have been a more interesting story and would have set us up beautifully for Nightfall, but I've digressed enough.

Getting back to Alex. I find that she tends to lean towards putting her pleasure above all else, unless the situation is dire, or she's been given a direct instruction by one of the other characters. She has moments where she takes things seriously, but for the most part she seems to flounce around with a childish air. And Will does most of the time as well, and maybe that’s why they gravitated towards each other. While Kai, Michael and the others are growing, Will is stuck and Alex is on a similar level. They leaned into each other, and this worked for a while. But then Will was ready to grow, and he knew he couldn't let them carry his weight any longer, Alex included. 

The bottom line, I don’t like Alex. I’ve never liked Alex. I was indifferent to her for a while, but Nightfall did her no favors in my eyes. In reviewing the series, I’ve come to dislike her even more. To use what you’ve said, Alex gives me the "ick." The way she naturally falls into coercing and manipulating people doesn't rub me the right away and never has. I'm not saying she's ever forced someone to do something they didn't want to do, but possibly things they'd rather not?

For instance, in Hideaway, we have this thought from Banks about how Alex coerced her into drinking during the sleepover scene. Banks, while wanting to enjoy a "normal" life, also felt it was important to keep her wits about her when around Kai. So Alex "coercing" her to drink feels like she ignores what people want so that she can have a good time.

Again, in Hideaway, Alex as pulled Lev, I believe, away from his post so that she can try to sleep with him. Same as before, Lev wasn't opposed to the idea of sleeping with Alex, but he had a job to do, and that moment was not the time. Alex ignored that because wanted what she wanted. And like a child, she wanted it there and then.

(I mean, I guess the argument could be made that Alex was the only one who could have helped Banks tap into her femininity because Banks hated everyone else, especially Rika but still. I don’t like the way she behaves in general.)

But when I’m writing about these characters – especially when the setting for a fic is in the canon universe – I don't want to ignore PD intended for their relationship. They wanted Will and Alex to have a deep connection different from what he shared with the others. I’m not convinced it was ever meant to be romantic, but it was meant to be deep.  

I think you’re also correct in saying that Will used his friendship with Alex to soothe and distract from the pain of what happened between him and Damon.   

Which brings us to our next part.   

Will and Damon  

I think it’s a bit harsh to say Damon was always a tool to distract Will from reality. I believe Will quite liked his reality in high school. He was privileged, wealthy, attractive, athletic, popular, and had a good home life. The only thing missing was the girl of his dreams, and he was delusional enough to think it was only a matter of time before she came to him. There was nothing to distract from. Will enjoyed every second of it. He loved the drinking, the partying, the sex, and the camaraderie between his friends and teammates. He lived for it. 

He never wanted to leave it.  

And I think Damon loved Will. He wanted to keep Will “safe” inside this little bubble where nothing could hurt him or take away his joy. Damon wanted Will to be happy, as long as Will's happiness didn't take him away.   

The second Will started talking about Emory like she was different from the other girls was the second Damon began to hate her. Because Emory had the ability no one else had: she could either take Will away from him or destroy Will. And Will would let it happen because he’s full of love, and he's soft.   

And that’s precisely what happened when Emory and Will did finally connect, as Damon knew it would.   

Damon did know Will. He knew what he liked, what he wanted, how he thought. He probably understood Will better than Will understood himself. Which is how he knew exactly what to say and what do to hurt Will.    

That's why Damon was sick at the thought of losing him, completely out of his mind with grief at what he’d done. That's why when Damon thought of leaving, all he wanted was to take was Winter, Banks, and Will.

I’d dare to say it’s Michael and Kai that Damon doesn’t care about all that much. Not that he hates them. He’d kill for them. Walk through fire for them. Go to prison rather than rat them out for a lighter sentence. But there’s something in Will that Damon wanted to protect and keep.  

The problem was Damon's a little control freak in the worst way. This means he goes way too far in doing anything. His whole redemption arc is learning how not to do that with literally everything and still be okay. The little weirdo.  

I’m not a Damon apologist, if there is such a thing. Damon’s trauma and redemption arc doesn’t do anything for me. I also don’t think it's any excuse for his actions before then. I won’t deny that he does add to the series for me. Most of the time, if Damon was there, I was paying attention, whether I liked him or not.   

I’ve said it elsewhere, but I would have loved for his redemption arc to be the last part of the series because it makes more sense as a conclusion. To read Nightfall, not knowing if he was going to be a real villain by the end of the series, would have made his scenes with Emory and the other characters all the more chilling,  

But the story is what it is, and again, I don't want to ignore what PD was trying to do with Damon and Will, so when I write about the two of them, where one is, the other follows.   

On a side note, PD did an excellent job of introducing the potential bond that Damon and Emory would eventually share. They can relate to each other on multiple levels: 

The abuse. 

The love for Will. 

Their artistic visions. 

The way they covered for each other when they didn’t need to. 

Their bond would be much stronger than Em’s with Alex, and I wish the fandom focused on it more.   

Besides

Moving on.

Will   

You’re right when you say that Will was doing all those things before he went to prison, before he almost died, and before Damon left him.   

The main difference is that he was doing it for fun before all of that. He didn’t need to do it; his life didn’t revolve around it. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence but more of an occasional thing. Once Emory broke his heart and his friends left for college, we see him start to spiral just a little   

And that was after only losing Emory.

He needed his life at TBP to stabilize, and once his support system was gone, he couldn’t cope. And I like to focus on that aspect of Will. He was weak and soft before because he’d never faced a real challenge. His privilege, and later Damon, prevented him from experiencing any difficulties, doing him a disservice. When change was on the horizon, Will didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know who he was outside of being a rich teenager. And had things gone along without interruption, he probably would have continued down that path, either never growing up completely or eventually OD’ing.   

Going to prison might have saved his life, and if Damon hadn’t betrayed him, he might have been okay.  

Except Damon did betray him. So, he started spiraling again, this time worse than before, because now he didn’t even have his friends to fall back on. He couldn't go a day without getting drunk or high. As Banks said, he was only sober long enough to get to his fridge. Nothing was good. His two remaining friends didn’t like how he was acting, and they were moving on without him. The girl of his dreams didn’t care that he went to prison for her – she didn’t even call! (Note: I'm not made about this; it's just Will's feelings on the subject). Rika wasn’t the revenge he was hoping for, and now he didn’t even have that to look forward to. All he really had going for him was the approval he received from Alex.   

I haven’t considered how much Alex had a hand in things. I want to think that since they were new friends, she took an “it’s not my place to tell him what to do; his friends will step in if it goes too far” position. At the same time, I can see her encouraging him because it’s what she wanted to do to cover her own pain and fear. Again, because we don’t get moments outside these high-intensity situations, we don’t really know how their friendship works.   

But even so, a person’s early twenties are turbulent, to begin with, and Will had to learn how to cope with losing Emory, going to prison, nearly dying, and losing his best friend all within a matter of a few years.   

The fandom talks a lot about Damon’s trauma, but we ignore entirely that between the four boys, Will comes in a close second for the most traumatized. All his trauma is fresh, and in a short period of time.    

He was an active participant in his own downward spiral. He hid his pain behind a mask of smiles and good times, which carried him through until it didn't work anymore. Furthermore, he knew when Damon came back, he had no more excuses. The thing about relationships is that they require good communication and mutual respect, neither of which Will had. Mainly because he didn’t respect himself. With his friends' help, Will kicked his drug habit. It’s possible that with the clarity that came with it, he saw himself dragging his friends down. His friends were starting families and business, but he was still stuck. Kai said it best when he said Will never did anything on his own, and that was true until Will decided to go to Blackchurch.

So, they would have no reason to suspect that Will was doing anything other than what he said – traveling the world and figuring things out. But Michael, Kai, and Damon hadn't abandoned him. They were trying. Will was the one who left them hanging.   

To expect his friends to respect and trust him, and to develop some respect and trust in himself, he had to grow up. But his friends cut him a lot of slack. They let his stupid mistakes go unchecked and unpunished because it’s Will. I think in their eyes, he never meant any harm, or he was young and dumb, or he was hurting. They gave him a million excuses because they loved him. They weren’t strong enough to be the firm hand and give him the tough love he needed. Before anyone else, Will realized what he needed, and knew he couldn’t get it from his friends. Beyond that, he was too embarrassed to ask for it, to be seen as weak to them. Because everyone looked at their group and saw Will as the weak link, Will began to see himself that way too. And he was right. 

The Will before Emory and the Will after prison are two different people. I guess it’s up to the reader to decide who is more authentic. I choose to see Will before Emory as the real him, Will after prison, a mask he wears to keep from being hurt again, and Will during Blackchurch as someone stripped down to their barest form. He’s lost before Emory shows up, not knowing whether he can return to the real world and start again. It takes some prompting from Emory to get him moving and feeling like himself. And after Blackchurch, we see the Will from high school begin to resurface. 

I’m not sure where I’m going with this thought. But I think all the things you’ve complained about regarding Will are why he went to Blackchurch. He wanted to quit the drugs and drinking permanently, so he could grow up and be the person his friends needed. Then they wouldn’t have to pull his weight. I hated Will through most of the series because of his actions, the way he treated Banks and Winter specifically. Once I realized he was hiding all that heartbreak and pain, his motives and actions became more obvious. Again, pain is not an excuse to hurt anyone, but we are reading about imperfect characters who make mistakes and rarely, if ever, take the high road.

I’d say that part of the story is that when others hit low, they go lower. They’ll go to hell if it means getting one over on anyone who's pissed them off.  

They’re petty.  

All of them.  

The Horsemen   

  

I love friendships. Especially strong ones. Ones that don’t make sense on the surface. The kind of friendships where you know if it weren’t for unconditional love and loyalty, these people would probably stab each other multiple times, but instead they'll stab anyone who hurts them.

The problem with the Horsemen is that because they are supposed to focus on the four romances, we don’t get much of their friendship. PD gives us small glimpses here and there, and then says, “Just trust me, they’re brothers.” However, that leaves a lot to be desired when the entire plot hinges on them practically dying for each other every other year. 

But I’ve read other books about solid relationships. I’ve watched shows with the same dynamic. The idea of a unique foursome with an unparalleled bond isn’t unheard of by any means. It's an old trope. So, I can fill in the gaps.  It’s sometimes irritating to have to do that when I shouldn't have to. For instance, I have no idea what would happen if I put Emory and Michael alone in a room together. None. They stand in separate corners and don’t talk to each other, and this is because their relationship receives zero development. If you’re going to tell me that this group is a close, chosen family, willing to die for each other; that they loves and need each other, and that each member of the family (everyone from Michael their leader, to Emory the most recent addition) provides something critical to make the family work, then I need to see it. I need to feel it. But if I can't determine how two people in this family would interact, then something is missing.

But I have the ability to add what isn’t there, and to pull inspiration from other sources to fill-in what PD clearly intended. (If there's one thing about Devil's Night, is the potential for Head Canons galore!)

As you said, Anon, there were many times when their problems could have been solved by communication. However, I don’t think communication was a skill any of these men developed. Especially when admitting they were wrong, or talking about their feelings, or showing any sign of weakness in front of each other. Pride is a cruel master; it will trip you up if you give it a chance. But I don’t think their faults were a lack of love for each other.   

Michael was overly cautious where Will was reckless, which often caused disagreements. Michael acknowledged this in Corrupt. I still think there is plenty of evidence that they cared about each other and knew each other on a deeper level. I get why you’d say they didn’t care about Will, but if we only look at the one time Will jagged left when he usually goes right, it’s understandable that they’d be a little slow to react.

I mean, think about them being on a team in high school. If Will always preferred to shoot from a certain position, then Michael and the others would work to put him in that position. They’d get the ball to him. But what if he suddenly decided to be on the other side of the court? Then they’d be throwing the ball to an empty spot, because that’s where Will always was before. Just because Will did something he’s never done before doesn’t mean they don’t know him.

They didn’t expect Will to pull the Blackchurch maneuver for the same reasons I mentioned above:  

Will never did anything on his own.  

He went traveling first, either because he needed to or with the purpose of disappearing. After that, he quickly switched gears without telling anyone.

He had his family lie about it. It was probably his grandfather dispensing information, and who's going to call Senator A.P. Grayson out? 

As I said before, if you look at these characters too closely, you’ll find that nothing is redeeming about any of them. But they sure are fun.

I think?  

I don’t know anymore. Are we having fun? ARE YOU???  

Emory... versus the world?

Emory learned to think on her feet through trial and error with Martin. Unlike Will, she had to learn to survive, which made her think things through before making a decision. Of course, it made her too wary and overly defensive at times. One wrong step and she could have lost her life to Martin losing control.  

Emory had a plan to survive, to eventually escape. It didn't include falling for a pretty boy with pretty words. She knew, as good as it sounded and as much as she wanted it, any plan that Will came up with to save her and her grandma could have gone sideways real fast. She made the decision that had the best chance of succeeding, because it relied on her alone. She made the decision out of fear, but I don’t think that fear was misplaced. Hating her because she was forced to make that decision is dumb.

I will say she gave Will mixed signals. But...she was young and emotional and he was the one good thing in her life outside her grandma. I can't blame her for being human and needing him, but it's not wrong to hold her accountable for that.

Just like it's not wrong to hold Will accountable to the fact that he didn't listen for the three years she tried to warn him to stay away. Just like it's not wrong to hold him accountable for pushing her when she had previously said no.

I believe I’ve said this elsewhere, but I don’t know where. I don’t understand Alex and Emory’s relationship. I don’t get why Alex was so friendly with Emory when they first met and then judged her for not being around when Will was hurt. Either she understood Emory’s struggle, or she didn’t. Either way, one of these scenarios doesn’t make sense.  

As for Aydin - I don’t care about Aydin. I hated him. I still hate him. I hate that he’s barely three years older than Emory, kidnapped her, messed with her mind, forcibly kissed her to make Will and Alex jealous (which is still considered a form of sexual assault, by the way), and she still wanted to consider him a mentor. I don’t care that he was more valuable as an ally. I thought their bond was too strong after a week to be taken that seriously.

I mean, Anon, you’re criticizing the bond between the Horsemen even though they’ve known each other for over a decade, but Emory's known Aydin for all of five days, and that’s all it takes for her to need him and understand him? Because she realized he’d be better as their ally against the families? Because she's smart? I call BS on this entire thing. This was one of the weakest storylines in my opinion and I mentioned on another post how I think it could have been helped just a little bit if Aydin had been older. It wouldn't have fixed it! But I could have tolerated it more. I stand by that.

I still don’t know what Aydin brought to the table that Micah or Rory didn’t. He's there because of only because of Alex, so to favor him while despising her also doesn't make sense to me. They're literally the same.

Anon, are you talking about how other fans treat Emory like she’s the worst character because she hurt Will? When literally all of these characters have hurt each other—all of them. The only characters we don't see taking actions that hurt another are Emory toward any other character that isn't Will, and that's because there isn't time. The series ended before we could see Emory interact with any of them, and all their major problems were over. There was no opportunity, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't have if the series had been ordered differently. So, if people are hating on Emory for hurting Will alone, then they're probably biased toward one of the other girls (probably Alex). Not saying that readers can't dislike Emory for other reasons. She won't be for everyone and I'm sure there are valid reasons to dislike her. For me, she was the one I could relate to the most out of the main four, and I really felt for her struggles. She had the most realistic character arc, and her finding her way back to Will made the most sense over Rika, Banks, Winter, and even Alex with Aydin.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on everything you said. Somewhere along the way, I lost track of what I was actually attempting to say. Regarding my way of writing specifically, since I'm filling in voids and holes that I felt were too unanswered, I tried to remain as close to canon as I could. Not necessarily what was there, but what was intended. I don't always keep them in character as PD wrote them, but I try to get the same vibe.   

This means, even though I don’t like Alex, I know Will likes her. So when I write about Will, she’s sometimes there too, and it's sometimes positive.

***

Anyone is welcomed to share their thoughts...if you're brain's not numb by now. If it is, I understand. Thanks for making it this far and listening to my rambling.

-KO

[popculturebuffet]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Boom! Retrospective: Issues 4 and 5: The Power Rangers Explode!

It's morphin time once again you happy ranger. TLDR iv'e been covering Boom Studio's Power Rangers for my good patron brotoman.exed in between transformers reviews. This will be the last for a while as I have Transformers One Next month, possibly Transformers: The Movie after, and Transformers: More than Meets the eye returns after. But the power will protect us again in 2025.

For now though we wrap up the round of mighty morphin with a giant cliffhanger and a flashback. And get used to those clliffhangers as Mighty Morphin, both during this run and when Ryan Parrot takes over tends to be one big continuous story. But rather than just.. do power rangers then get back to more than meets the eye in a few years, we're going back and forth so expect a lot of cliffhangers from both.

So to breifly recap for those just joining us, i'll collect the link to this arc in one post later, in an arc set in an alternate timeline where Mighty Morphin takes place in present day but green with evil still happened Tommy laser eyeing bulk and skull into a trashcan and all, Tommy is dealing with his ptsd in the shape of a rita ghost haunting him and hid it from everyone, while the real rita plots her hideous revenge using a mysterous black crystal powered by the green energy. As for everyone else Billy and Trini are hanging out and being good buds, Jason has doubts about tommy, Kimberly is thirsty as hell and Zack is

Constantly bitching about "WELL MAYBE TOMMY'S EVIL GUYS". And spoilers despite being called out on it he only gets worse in this one now he thinks he's been proven right. And on top of all of this, Rita has hyjacked the dragonzord and sent it the rangers way. And shit's only gonna get worse as we see how our heroes save the day only to still loose while we find out WHY Zack won't shut up.

So we begin the issue with the dragonzord having wrecked a cruise ship. There were some surivors but scorpina defintely just killed some people. Unless that boat was just haunted then the ghosts are fine.

Point is shit is bad as the dragonzord is headed for land and our heroes head to stop it.. minus tommy who Jason benches.. not unfarily given you know, the untreated ptsd he just confessed to and the fact the one strategy Tommy does have, telport into the cockpit, isn't available.

The rangers strategy after a badass looking half page of the zords

Such a cool panel. I've given this comic's art some crap but it's megazord art is incredible. So their solution is rather than you know, form the megazord since last time they fought the dragonzord it was on par with it they ... use their zords to drag it into the sea to hang out with godzilla and cthulu.

Rita is actually ready for this as she NEEDS the dragonzord to kill people so she has finster... send a bunch of generic shark monsters and make them grow because.. rita can do more than one at a time now?

Look i'm not the kind of nerd who goes nitpicking every minuta of a plot. I like to analize stuff yes, find deep meanings, character arcs, that sort of thing. I'll poke fun at stuff I don't like, i'll call it out but I try not to nitpick. There's stuff in power rangers like "Why don't they just call the zords right away", "why dosen't rita make her monster grow right away" i'm willing to handwave or can be explained in a more grounded take like this. This very comic , in the only issue i've read besides this arc pre-ryan parro, has a great issue we'll get to in a few years i'm sure that explains WHY Zordon picked 5 teenagers with atittude instead of experinced adults. I'm not saying it's not fun to try and fill said holes with your own theroes, but it's weird to mock a show with a pumpkin rapper. Some later power rangers series do deserve more praise and scruitny but mighty morphin is camp personified so it can get away with weird lore swings.

This series takes it seriously.. and thus really can't jus tsay "oh finster could always make more and didn't because shut up" I dont' mind saying he can do that.. but you have to explain HOW. Rita building a new dragon dagger made sense and they gave it the limit of being far more unstable. This is just plot convience and the comic just proved with said dagger twist it can do better.

So with Rita pulling out the cheat codes, our heroes are in a bind, angle grove's about to be attacked and Tommy is getting impatient.. and for the final time has a confrontation with his PTSD Ghost... and it's confirmed that I was right, I had genuinely forgotten but yeah.. PTSD Rita..is just that.

It's a great scene and pays off the PTSD Ghost rita well: doe sit mean all of Tommy's problems are solved? No. It isn't that easy and I don't think the comic is implying "oh well solving your PTSD is just as easy as confronting it". But it is right in that simply burying trauma.. dosen't fix it and from personal experince same with self loathing. The only way to deal with it is to face it head on. It's.. honestly inspired me a bit. I may not like this comic on the whole.. but it has it's moments of greatness.

So Tommy decides fuck it, he's going to ingnore jason's orde rand go to help. Zordon.. isn't so sure, partly because he knwos damn well this will rattle the stick firmly planted up Jason's ass, and partly because he's worried about the ptsd ghost. Granted Tommy could've given him more than "I'ts handled now", but what I like is this isn't Tommy trying to prove something entirely. This isn't a one side thing: Zordon is right this is going against his friend and commander and that's going to have consequences.. but Tommy's right that if he CAN save lives, he has to. No question.

So Tommy ports in directly on top of the dragon zord to try and control it proving Tommy Oliver being the biggest badass of any reality he's in is a multiversal constant. This gets him bucked off the thing but kim catches him in what I feel's also a sweet moment. While Sure Tommy could've just been winging it, given his next step it feels like he KNEW kim could catch him and tells jason he has a plan to just trust him. Jason reluctantly agrees and Tommy... well TOmmy tops himself

FUCK YES. The climax here is awesome as the rangers take down generic shark man while Tommy takes down scorpina. She does the normal villian bragging "It's too late" "our plans can't be stopped" and tommy just.. breaks her dagger stopping the zord while the rangers can this fish.

Back at the center though.. it's sadly not a happy ending. Jason at his limit with Tommy is pissed he defied him. Tommy does make a valid point: he wona nd had no hallucinations.. but he is being a bit of a dick basically saying "We won shut the fuck up" instead of being apologetic that he broke orders.. but still making his point. Still he does try to walk away, and while dickish it PROBABLY would'e solved things. The divide would've festered a bit... but cooling down and not biting each others heads off was the right call. Jason however.. just can't let it go saying we're not done. Which they arne't, Tommy is being a dick but as i've learned when your getting into a really heated fucking argument sometims it's best to take a break and circle back later. Don't ignore it, running away, as we established in this arc, dosen't help either, but the two of them bickering over whose right isn't going to help anyone. Unfortunately.. SOMEBODY DOSEN'T AGREEEEEEEEE

I will lay into this bitch in a second, but as a DIRECT RESULT OF HIS ACTIONS, Jason and Tommy resume their fight, Tommy is a petulant ass saying jason isn't a good leader, which apart from not adressing the zack thing better, isn't true, and Jason wonders if they really need 5 while Zordon begs his kids to stop fighting.. and as they prepare to throw hands.. the crystal is fully powered. The villians have won: the black dragon.l.. is awake and the comman dcenter explodes as Jason has the rangers put their helmets on and we meet the big bad this has all been building towards , the black dragon

Yeah while he is intimdating to a point... his deisgn is so damn generic and clashing with power rangers as a whole , like the other monsters it feels like a let down. We'll see if he gets better next year.

For now though... let's circle back to why this is Zack's fault and why i'm tired of his bullshit. Tommy was walking away. Tommy was a doucheballon, I havne't sugar coated it, but he was walking away.. ZACK is the one who grabbed him and ZACK is the one whose been doubting tommy, constnatly assuming he's evil, being a prized asshole. Jason's only leadership failing is not recognizing that and reining it in, telling Zack it's okay to have some doubts but to TRY or having the two talk it out. The last part's a bit understandable given how much has been going on, but Jason KNEW Zack was constantly being a dick to tommy, was saying shit behind his back, being passive agressive as fuck did nothing, and then ends up fighting his new friend because of that. Zack didn't START the fight, both tommy and jason share blame, tommy for his ego, jason for not accepting tommy made a good call and sometimes the rangers need to make a hard call by themselves. Being a team means both respecting your leader AND knowing when to break rank if it saves lives. On those two arguing it's well done: Tommy seroiusly rankled Jason by not telling him then disobeying while Tommy solving his issues dosen't solve his tendency to lash out, he just switched targets from himself to Zack, who deserved it and Jason, who didn't entirely.

But Zack's petty grudge against Tommy, his refusal to belelive tommy was a victim and not evil because of his own backstory, his own moment of weakness we'll get to caused it to escalate. It's fine to be wary, tommy was hiding serious hallucinations from everyone and his own doubts, and while he had reason to, he shoudl've been honest. Tommy did get cocky and did defy jason. But Zack isn't doing this because he's jason's friend he's doing this becauasse he WATNS tommy to be evil, wants to pick a fight with him and has ever since zordon recurited him. Billy and Trini have doubts, but genuinely tried to be welcoming: Billy apparently also put Tommy in their group notifications and Trini had that nice heart ot heart last issue. Kim is the most welcoming due to her crush but tried. Jason has clear doubts that explode here, but tried. Zack didn't give a fuck, was a petulant toddler and now the whole team is going to pay for his bullshit. The character gets way better under Ryan Parrot thankfully and will HOPEFULLY get some development from this debacle, but for this first Arc zack is easily the worst part: I don't mind having a ranger doubt tommy, but they take it WAY too far with Zack who spends the entire arc being a giant dick then caps it off by causing the next one. Fuck.. this.. dude.

Now I will say this last issue of the arc proper.. is pretty damn good. The conflict that ultimately leads to the bad guys winning is well built up and I like it more on this read through: Jason has shown to be way too far up his own ass in trying to be leader, and Tommy has shown to have a loner streak, so both's actions, Jason taking Tommy's last ditch move personally and Tommy being a spiteful dick and then getting utterly pissed Jason keeps having Zack's back all feel natural. Zack still sucks, the three sharks thing makes no sense.. but the rest of the issue IS pretty great and does give me hope when we get back to power rangers, i'll enjoy it more. That Higgins simply needed time to sort things out or was building his story slowly.

This first arc.. still has issues but their more structural: boom shoudl've just started from scratch instead of trying to dance between the raindrops of ranger history, though it does a decent job of it and would sustain 100 issues, so it worked out in the end, but I still feel the fresh start their doing now is a good call. Let them use the wide canvas instead of just the most profitable one. But it's not as bad as I remembered.. which I know, it's faint praise, but there's a lot more good character work than I remembered: Zack aside, the other rangers all feel like distinct well built indviduals building their sterotypes from the show out into something: Jason is a scott summers style leader, good at what he does tactically, carring for his men, but also with a tendency to expect military precision and obdience when that's just not always fesable. Kimberly is sassy, won't hestiate to confront her friends on their shit, but warm and kind. Trini is the team's heart, helping both billy and tommy with their self doubt issues and wanting to help the world as a whole. And Billy is the brains but is self concious, knowing he's the only one in the team whose not a trained martial artist or gymnist. Zack is an ass but at the bare minimum the next issue gives us context for that, showing he has a deep well of resentment and is quick to anger. It's not good still, and I hope the character grows and I prefer Ryan Parrot's take, but I appricate fleshing these 6 teenagers with attitude out as people. I've been hard on this book and might be again, but I respect what it does right and hope it fixes what it does wrong.

So onto our last issue. It's a flashback that takes place one month before Tommy arrived. The prime minister of italy is speaking out against Rita.

Now THIS... this is really neat. I like this idea: that while yes Rita tends to target one american town's abandoned warehouse district constantly, other countries probably WOULD have throughts on giant fucking monsters being real. Honestly it woul'dve been neat if we saw how other countries responded, maybe saw some try to make their own rangers, though that last part at least DOES get used much later in the continuity. But this little snippet is still fun as is Rita's response. After sending more generic monsters with no real creativity previously we FINALLY get a goodun.

That my friends is leonado da vinchi's vitruvian man, which I and you likely know better as this

See THIS is the kinda camp we were missing. I'm not asking the monster break tension, but i'm asking for some creativity. Just throwing a generic monster or a shark, and I love me some sharks, at the rangers is boring and you could do better. now throwing a fucking da vinci design at them spouting out generic quotes Squatt and Baboo got off the internet as it attacks italy with twin swords and a crossbow. Fuck yes. And it's still intimdating. Rome is still in deadly danger and this thing still comes off dangerous. But you can have fun and make a threat for your heroes. It's what I love about superheroes; you can have dark gritty stories dealing with police shooting a masked criminal they unleahsed to cover their tracks and getting away with it or a ghostly highway man who hates the poor who has to be defeated by batman using a magic ritual with alfred's help. BOTH of those are plots from the recent series Batman Caped Crusader, which slaps by the way, and both work swimingly. Even in a moody work you can have camp and when your heroes are the power rangers.. it's kinda demanded. It's why I hope while this new reboot seems serious it still has some fun with it.

Our heroes head to italy to fight the giant naked man.The finish is also awesome. The Vitruvian man is about ot kill the prime minister so jason leaps out of the cock pit, also a nice parallel to tommy leaping in last issue, and fucking stabs the bitch. Tommy may be the supreme badass of all power rangers universes, but Jason is easily #2. Carter Grayson is #3 of course.

Zack also gets a moment of triumph out of this, piloting the zord, and I like the touch that it's shown doing so isn't easy, it requires them all working in concert and thus zack filling in for both himself an djason with a killer swipe is impressive. Sadly.. he gets no credit and stews a bit as Jason did the flashier heroics.

So as Goldar admits they already have a sequel in the works, Rita decides nah... she notices Zack's quiet stewing.. and has an idea. So the next afternoon Zack is kidnapped by putties and brought to fog machine dimension from Green with Evil. Rita is being nice.. which can't be good and it's not: She tries to play zack admitting she only did so because he wouldn't likely come to hear her out willingly and wants to show him her place. Which is creepy given she's a grown ass woman and he's a teen, but I feel the predator vibes are intetnional without overplaying them or making them actual text.

Zack to his credit.. dosen't buy her sales pitch that she's misunderstood, the world would be better than her and Goldar's entirley bs claim she didn't start growing monsters until Zordon pulled out zords. Especially since... most rangers are linked to some set of Zords. While zordon didn't build his, most ranger teams are both some sort of ancient force and have zords attached from the get go or linked to them in some way. I mean there are wild ones from wild force wondering the world at this point. So Rita, especially since they fought before, KNEW Zordon had them and Zordon knew she could lkely make them grow. it was an even repsonse and Zack figured it out without any of that evidence.

Rita does try to make a good pitch: that yeah she wants to conquer the world.. but to make it better. Is it really that good without her? It's a great sequence too as she tempts him, shwoing a vision of him and the green ranger. She even sympathizes: she knows what it's like to be an underated second in command, a nod to Zed before he properly debuts after the time skip and something I like: while working in the confines of the original show limits the series slightly... it also means they have the whole map: everything that will happen and things they never built up to because the show was only lightly seralized: having strong continuity but only occasional story arcs before season 3. They ddin't plan for zed, master vile or rito. But they can hint at that, hint at dark specter or other future events and other rangers.

Zack things about it and decides.. nope. not going to betray his friends and tries to yoink the dragon coin away. Zack does go straight to Zordon which explains why the others didn't know during green with evil. I'ts also why again I wish they'd adapte dit: it would've been a decent starting point and while most fans know it, ther'es a lot you could do to deepen the character and stakes. Still it works:W hile Zordon is midlly stupid for not telling them about the power coin.. it makes sense he'd be careful.. and is also being respectful knowing Zack's probably ashamed they came to him. Zack in turn is honest: he WAS tempeted by the power and the good it could do for the world, and Zordon assures him, as a good mentor should that he's only human: of course he considered it, what matters is he didn't and zack honestly wants to DO more, again setting up the peace confrence that'll never happen here. And Zordon to his credit agrees they should, he just has to think it over. Unintended consequences and all that.

So I do like this explination: that zack was offered the coin, reseted and thus resents tommy as he probably assumes he wasn't so easy and is projecting his own insecurties about nearly saying yes. It dosen't fix things: Zack is still a giant ass even with that explination as he's projecting all his bullshit on tommy instead of empathizing with him and using this incident to help assure his new teaamate. Zack still sucks.. but this does show the potetial for the character when given some more depth and that he could be fleshed out well if given the chance.

It ends sweetly though... Zack goes to meet the others who welcome him and praise him for what he did, making it clear their a team... Jason may of gotten the glory but they needed each other. A shame neither jason nor Zack remembered this lesson, but it's some good irony. We also end on another om inous hook, the black dragon talking to rita saying the green ranger will fail.. and when he does.. he'll be waiting as Rita plans to grab tommy.

So now for Bulk and Skull which to my delight is not ending after 6 issues. We pick up from last time as trini and Kim despatch the putty.. as they shoudl've. Like again your martial artists, it's fesable. But they use baskeptball. and spot bulk used some of the same streamers on the putty as he did on himself, so not only are the girls pissed.. but our heroes.. get arrested.

We gloss over Bulk and Skull go to jail sadly, but it's compesnated for by something truly awesome I forgot happened a sthis was the last issue I read monthly before giving up. (I also tried the trade later and thus didn't even get this far). So the judge sentences our heroes to 1993 hours of community service, a bit excessive.. but also a fair punishment given their jackassery would've gotten someone who wasn't a power ranger hurt bad and I like said judge, the principal's brother, 's logic: thedy want to be heroes, they get an actual shot at it. And their officer monitoring this? LT STONE

For those who forgot him, Lt Stone was Bulk and Skull's boss in season 3. Our heroes joined the junior police to meet women, and Stone thus served as their straight man. Stone would actually last a shockingly long time, being their boss still in Zeo and running a juice bar in turbo for some reason. So it's a neat way to get him in early, with Bulk still afraid of him this early, clearly havnig met him before. It's a fun way to bring in a character from later that makes perfect sense and frankly our heroes having a straight man does help their comedy. They work fine without one, but with the rangers kinda busy unless your giving them a bigger story, putting stone against them is great.

So that's MMPR for now. We'll be back I assume next year for more, and i'll see if it improves. For now may the power protect you and thanks for reading.

[aresmarked]

(Clears throat) Villain?! Haha, I’m honored to be remembered out of the blue. At the time of this ask, the full version hasn’t dropped yet, so I’m probably going to mention it after it drops later. But actually, I really should read more card stories. I didn’t realize Shizuku and Mafuyu shared so many Moments in them? Do you have a list of some for me to read or watch? As for Mizuki and Mafuyu, yes!! There are plenty of ways they can have Mafuyu start on that topic, so I’m curious about which they’ll take, especially now. Would this period of living with Kanade allow her to Feel Again? I find it fascinating how she retained the desire to help others as a nurse despite not understanding why. I’d love to see some domestic or at least day to day interactions between them actually.

Mafuyu is already significantly more emotive, just based on the last few events and her talk with her mother, I imagine there will be a bit more 'unification' in her behaviour, or at the very least, a better ability to recognise 'oh this is how I feel about this'. Cause as you say, it's not like she didn't stop caring, it was that she so suppressed her own desires that she couldn't recognise if she was doing something 'because she cared about it' or because 'this is what a good girl is supposed to do'. honestly some of the most satisfying moments is seeing actions on her part that she doesn't even realise she's doing cause she likes it.

And just speaking from an 'objective' point: people who've suffered abuse, and are taken to a safe place away from that? That's always going to be a huge shift. Especially kids/teens. It can be startling, how dramatic an effect having a stable place can be, but you see it a lot.

Gonna be messy (i'll try to order em in the rough 'timeline' of the game) since I don't have vid links, but these are more or less the Shizumafu interactions we've had so far in cards:

Shizuku's init 3 card, which establishes the fact they're at the same club and share a link through 'troubles from how people perceive them'

Mafuyu's Moon Rabbit card, not a huge deepdive but it does give the sense of how they talk to each other.

Mafuyu's Mirage of Light card, in which Shizuku hits a crit perception roll and is the first to note both Mafuyu feeling unwell and wondering if it's from working too hard.

First round of birthday cards, I love when people give those little handmade things, and also go past surface level to offer praise. Esp important in the context of these two.

Mafuyu's card from Tie a Ribbon, when we've got Mafuyu becoming a little more aware of how home feels compared to other parts of her life, she's feeling a little strange and Shizuku once again rolls a crit perception. This is a fun one for me.

Maf's 2nd Anni card, good on so many counts just as a Mafuyu-centric event and her seeing and feeling the difference between her and multiple other folk. I know I'm focusing on SzMf, but you need Shizuku and Emu to triangulate Mafuyu's emotional state, and the latter was a real MVP with Rui this event for that purpose.

Shizuku's 2nd Anni card was just plain amusing and heartwarming. Bit of Hinomori sibling cuteness, with them appreciating each other's shows, and some fun with showing just how much Shizuku talks to Mafuyu about Shiho.

Second round of bday cards, Maf's not in Shizuku's story aside from the end comments, though it's interesting to me how again, like her Tie a Ribbon card she's reflecting again on the relationship of siblings. That's another post though. Mafuyu's bday story has a bit more, and then some, with this girl gradually having her friend circle open up.

Draw Your Bow. Man. Maaan. This event fed me on so many levels, but fundamentally it's about Shizuku being another person Mafuyu gets warmth from. They did something they don't usually do with card stories here, where all of them are linked and providing a sort of epilogue. Very fuzzy. But especially the second parts of their respective card stories.

Now Mafuyu's Immiscible Discord card, distinctly does not have Shizuku show up. However it's worth highlighting on the note that Mafuyu thinks to herself she's glad her mother didn't stop her from going to club activities, which, hoof. aside from that being in the realm of possibility, and a fear for Mafuyu... well it would've been interesting seeing Mafuyu try to quit and break down over it. Honestly, I wonder if the writers were planning to have that too but it got cut due to the Everything going on with Maf in the following events. But who knows, maybe it'll be coming up again.

Pandaemonium event... them just getting to hang out, Airi looking at Shizuku and just being 'ah, thinking about Asahina-san again'. this really was an event for the second years (sans Ena, poor Ena), they got to have fun here.

[dairy-farmer]

hi! i have posted a few batcest fics but i was wondering if u had any tips on getting more involved with the community, mostly on twitter. i don't have a twitter acc dedicated to it yet but i follow some accs on my priv (yours included obviously) and the way people add onto threads and talk to eachoter abt it is really exciting. i'm nervous tho because i've never had an acc for something my irl friends aren't into and idk how to get mutuals or if it's okay to reply to tweets from people that don't follow you. i hope this made sense i'm just really scared abt reaching out to ppl

hi!!! first, i want to say it's so touching that you'd come to me for advice ❤️❤️❤️ 🥺🥺🥺. i'll do my best to give you the best advice possible!!!!

ive actually only been active on the batcest side of twitter for a few months (august was when i got more active and started following accounts)! before i got into batcest i didn't really go on twitter but so many talented people are on there and make such amazing tweets and au's i basically go on there once a day now haha 😄! that's probably because outside of places like discord there's really no concentrated communities or places to interact with people who like batcest in a way that feels more...active? on tumblr you can go weeks or days without every directly interacting with someone. tiktok is hostile to anyone with a brain plus it can show your videos to complete steangers outside of your intended audience which can be....yeah. instagram isnt bad but it would definitely be a weird way to interact. ive heard that facebook groups can be fun but how that pans out with 18+ content is...

from what i can tell most batcest accounts are pretty chill however i'm only speaking from the perspective of tim centric accounts. in terms of things such as "etiquette" there's only a few things most accounts do to sort of identify and differentiate each other.

- if you're following nsfw account or making nsfw tweets be sure to include that in your description whether that means having 'minors dni', 18+, 🔞, your age and an nsfw warning' it varies.

-you don't have to do this, in fact i don't even do it but it might make it easier to find mutuals, and that's to include your favorite ships in your bio as well! mentioning things like jaytim, jaydick, brutim, brudami, etc. a lot of batcest accounts have multiple ships that spread over different characters so them listing it makes it easier for people to see what they're about!

-inluding the link of your ao3/linking your twitter in your ao3 fics is a good way for people to follow your work! a lot of people might recognize your fics if they click on your ao3 fic and you can become mutuals like that!

in terms of how to interact with other accounts i get being nervous!! i definitely was when i first started posting my tim tweets!!! even now when i interact with mutuals i've been interacting with for a while I still get a little nervous sometimes!

but i do have some tips that I think have helped interact with others and keep it fun for everyone!❤️❤️❤️

- if a tweet talks about 2 specific characters or a specific ship and you really like the idea but don't care for the ship don't directly reply to the person saying something like "THIS but with x- instead would be so good!". i know wanting to give recognition for an idea is tempting but it's rude to try and change the intent of someone's tweet.

instead: you can make your own tweet and include something like "just saw someone on my tl talking about x-topic and now i can't stop thinking about y+z in that situation-" that way you're acknowledging the outside source but also not changing the tune of someone else's tweet

- if a lot of people on your timeline are all talking about the same idea and they're all coming out with their own spins and you have no idea who started it that's okay! twitter can be a bit of an echo chamber sometimes and no one's going to go through all their mutuals and find who tweeted what first. plus the very nature of art is that it often repeats itself.

if you want to join in: you can say something like "my tl is full of people about x and let me just say that-"

- emojis are your friend! i use them a lot because i have a hard time reading tone from text and think everyone else might too. when you're reading something it's hard to pick out whether someone is joking or saying something sarcastically without any indicators (ex. /joke /sarcasm at the end of a sentence, wrItInG LIkE tHiS tO MakE suRe someone knows they're being mocked/made fun of).

adding an emoji can really help change the tone of what you're saying making it sound less like you're stating a fact or making a demand or some other misinterpretation.

ex:

he deserves it.

vs

he deserves it 😈

he doesn't deserve that!!!

vs

he doesn't deserve that!!! 🥺🥺🥺

you just like torturing him don't you.

vs

you just like torturing him don't you 😭😭😭

you can tell there's a few tonal differences between the statements which helps ease the slide of interaction (at least I think so!) by making it clear you're joking or being humorous.

- it's common to see people adding onto each other's threads and while you may be nervous about who is okay with it at first, the general rule of thumb is that on twitter anyone can add on to anyone's thread or respond whether you follow them or not (i don't think anyone will even notice who is following who) but if it does make you anxious you can click on their profile and look at their replies to see if they've replied to other people's threads or been replied to.

you can reply even if two people are already having a convo, you can just split off and start a new one! ive seen and had multiple split off convos with different people from the same original thread who all had different ideas or things to add on.

ultimately a lot of conversations on twitter are people prodding each other's brains for their shared interests and mutuals come about from people seeing that someone has similar interests and is talking about them and so follow because they also like that thing and would love to see more of people talking about that thing!!!

try following people who share a lot of your interests in terms of ships and characters.

mutuals may take a little while (in some cases ive done two scrolls of a person's account and immediatly followed them back without any interaction because we both clearly had the same interests) if you want exact steps of how that might happen you could start with

a. commenting on people's threads. telling them you loved it, reacting to it, sending emojis. etc.

b. send tweets about your thoughts, headcanons, aus, etc. don't feel discouraged if no one likes them yet you're just starting!

c. after you've gotten comfortable with commenting with an account you can start adding more to the interaction, adding on, proposing a direction for the tweet, etc.

these are just a few of the things ive learned and seen and nothing here is fully concrete either so if you feel more comfortable doing something else then feel free!!!

besides in the first conversation i ever had with one of my current mutuals i revealed to them that i'd secretly written an entire fic about one of their tweets even though we'd, until that point, never talked even once 😭

i guess what I'm trying to say is: go for it!! you never know, it might go a lot better than the worst case scenarios you may be thinking of!! ❤️❤️❤️

[letsplayzelda]

Hey Listen!

This is my Zelda sideblog to word vomit about my fav lil guys throughout the series. Here I go by Twilight and use they/them pronouns. I'm currently playing through Tears of the Kingdom rn and may post spoilers about it.

Anyways, here's a list of which games I've played (thoughts and word vomit included):

The Legend of Zelda: I've beaten the first quest! Did not 100% it bc this game was too hard for me to manage that. This forced me to have quicker reactions in games and I'm greatful lmao

Adventures of Link: I cannot for the life of me progress. I'm definitely overleveled for where I need to be, but Death Mountain simply bests me every time. I'm still trying tho.

A Link to the Past: I've played the opening, but that's about it.

Link's Awakening: Finished the Switch version! I wanna play the DX version at some point, but that probably won't happen until I play all the other games in the series at least once. I get a little depressed every time I think about Marin...

Ocarina of Time: I have played this game like three times. First on GameCube, then the 3D remake on 3DS, and then the N64 multiplayer mod. I plan on 100%ing it at some point, but I just dread doing heart containers and skulltulas. I wanna play Master Quest at some point too. Agh Link at the end of this game just makes me wanna sob.

Majora's Mask: Similar situation to OoT (I have the Collector's Edition for GC), except I never finished the original version. I've only beat the 3DS version. Recently started the multiplayer mod, but we've only done like 2 cycles.

Oracle of Seasons: I have the 3DS Virtual Console version, but I haven't played it yet.

Oracle of Ages: I played a little bit of this game, but it's been so long that I'll probably restart it when I plan to finish it.

Four Swords: I literally bought a used dsi to get this damn game. I've beat this game, but I've yet to 100% it. Kinda hard to bc it's not as fun playing it single player.

Wind Waker: Playing this game was such a treat. I played the GC version so sailing took literal ages but besides that, I rly enjoyed Tetra <3 tho Nintendo did her dirty. On the trend of beating games, I haven't 100% this one either. There's so many side quests that I simply cannot invest my time in. Like the Goron one? No clue what's going on there.

Four Swords Adventures: Ik there's a sub-fandom that rly loves this game but that's literally the most ik about it. I've yet to play it but I'll have to hunt down a copy at some point.

Minish Cap: oooo I fucking love this game. I haven't finished it yet, but that's because I got sidetracked by so many different things. I've wasted so much time trying to get all the figures it's insane. Plus this game is gorgeous <3

Twilight Princess: I played the Wii version of this game and honestly, I wished I didn't. Not bc I don't like this game, but because I did not like the motion controls. And this was the first time Link was right handed which is kinda lame. So I'll probably play one of the other versions of this game at some point. BUT, I adore the story in this game. Love Wolf Link and Midna. I literally cried at the end of this game, it was absolutely devastating.

Phantom Hourglass: I'm like halfway through this game I think. I'm not a big fan of it's controls or graphics, but I enjoy the follow up to WW. Also Linebeck's character development is very sweet.

Spirit Tracks: Once I finish PH, I'll play this one. Ik I probably don't need to, but I like following timeline stuff.

Skyward Sword: I played the Switch version and it's probably the only way I would've been able to get through it. I mainly played with motion controls but would switch to button controls for certain fights bc I was sick of struggling. Link and Zelda's relationship in this game is very cute. I also rly enjoyed the dungeons and getting more of Hyrule's history.

A Link Between Worlds: My second Zelda game ever, and I still consider it one of my favorites. Ravio and Hilda are some of the best characters ever. I can't remember if I 100% this game, but ik I got very close if I hadn't. If ALttP is as good as this game, I will probably love that game as well.

Tri Force Heroes: I've played some of this game, but I feel it suffers from a lot of the same issues as FS since no one ik has this fucking game. Have I finished it? No. Will I? If I can find two people to suffer through this game with me. I enjoy that the game doesn't take itself too seriously and has a bunch of fun outfits, but that's all I can rly say about it.

Breath of the Wild: My first Zelda game!! I've spent almost 500 hours in this game and still haven't 100% it. I'm at like 86% with just 150ish koroks left but now that TotK is out, it will be a while before I touch the game again. I fucking adore this game (although I hated it at first) and the relationship between Zelda and Link is just. Mwah. Mipha, Sidon, and Urbosa are my favs from this one <3

Tears of the Kingdom: I've been playing this since release day and have been loving it! It definitely fixes a lot of the weird quirks BotW had, but I'm finding I have more issues with this game so far. I'm at around 130 hours with 3 dungeons done so far, but I'll likely dive deeper into my thoughts once I finish the game.

[ellie-bygrave]

FMP: Progress So Far

My Final Major Project is finally complete! I'll link the final videos on my YouTube channel in another post so they're all easily accessible.

To reflect on the project now it's done, I'm very pleased overall with how it's turned out. The cinematic especially is very close to what I'd visualised at the start of the project. The gameplay isn't quite how I'd like it to go if I continue this in the future but that's mostly due to limitations in my own knowledge and down to wanting to get something interactable that makes sense in the short amount of gameplay that I wanted to show.

I managed to complete all of the "deliverables" that I'd promised at the start of the project in terms of the 3D models I planned out. I also this I've mostly aimed the project towards my target audience. The timeline I'd planned worked well and I was able to keep to schedule and even was a bit ahead a few times.

For my own personal learning outcomes these were the main things I wanted to improve and gain more confidence in. Substance Painter was fairly broad as I’d never really touched it before as I mentioned earlier, but I found that after watching a few tutorials and then having a go it was quite intuitive to pick up. I already had a good foundation of texturing in blender and how to layer textures and use masks etc so it was mostly about transferring to a different software that was the struggle rather than the actual principles of it.

Using trim sheets and atlases was probably the thing I was most apprehensive about, as I had never used them and was a bit daunted by how to plan them out. It took me quite a lot of trial and error with the trim sheets to get to a point where I was happy with the layout for this project but now that I’ve done it successfully here I’ve found it a lot easier to plan out and adapt to changes for other attempts.

Project planning was something I really wanted to work on as I had a tendency to just jump in without really thinking about how much time and effort something would take. Once I’d made the plan I did find it really helpful to refer to, to make sure I was on track for time and didn’t forget any key elements that I’d initially wanted to include. I did fall into my old trap of deciding to add in extras kind of last minute which I’m trying to avoid, so that’s something I need to take forward and work on still.

And finally, asset optimisation. This is something I feel is quite hard to quantify if I’ve improved or not. I tried to make everything with as little “wastage” as possible in terms of extra polygons or blank texture space and it’s definitely helped me get into the mind-set of modelling for a game rather than just to make something that looks nice. I think I’d still find it useful to get more practice on this because there’s not really a right or wrong way of optimising things so I’m still a little underconfident that I’m doing it in the most efficient way or to the fullest extent that I can.

The 2 main things I would want to improve upon if I had time right now would firstly be the bathroom. I didn't plan for it initially and it was a decision I made to add it in fairly late on once I'd already done most of the modelling so it was quite rushed. I added it because I felt that the environment in the gameplay needed the extra little room and I wanted to try and incorporate a mirror. I would have liked to make the models and textures better in this area as I feel it doesn't reflect the quality elsewhere.

The second thing I’d want to improve upon if I were to redo this would be to try and stick closer to the aesthetic of the concept art, as that was what really inspired me and drew me in. Part of the reason why I deviated was because I had quite a clear idea of the how I wanted the short film to go in terms of shots and that didn’t quite work with the layout. Also because of the story I wanted to convey again I felt like I should make some adjustments in terms of colour and the implied materials and wear and tear of the concept art. I’d like to redo this but make it way more run down and almost to the point of full disrepair rather than the fairly new-looking environment I ended up with.