#intro to a thing I probably actually will finish eventually

[timeslipcamp]

obligatory theory about the kyklos and what i think is happening.

literally every time i finish an episode i go and jot notes down in my lil mental notebook of theories and laugh like yuri in his lab

spoilers through ep 15

so i've seen this idea tossed out but no one really went in depth on why they thought it so i'm going to list off MY reasons why i thought this is what's happening.

fair warning: this is going to be long, i've got about five million thoughts on this and it's only going to get worse as more episodes get released. get comfy and grab a snack

i think mc and the ghouls are trapped in a time loop

it's a trope that when handled well can be really really cool, and with how many moving parts and ghouls there are to distract from what's happening, it's super plausible. the only reason i'm hesitant to say this is 100% what i think it is is because it's still only episode 16 and we know next to nothing about the clash and anything that happened last year. plus the game's only been out for a year, we've barely scratched the surface of the plot.

that being said, we're getting about 3-4 episodes per every couple months, which means by like episode 20-24 we'll be coming up on a year since mc was cursed. maybe. i'm bad at math. (EDIT: someone else did the math and it will probably be closer to 40 that we hit the year mark lmao) is the story going to be over then? i don't think so. i think the following chapters would follow us through the time loop as we finally work to solve it

if i had to guess, this is how i think the general timeline goes: mc, despite the ghouls best efforts and someones sacrificial jump into flames from a balcony, turns into the kyklos. to stop the teachers/school-aligned ghouls from killing her, someone sends her away--and accidentally sends her back in time instead. taiga, however, has been told by mc that if she were to turn, kill her before she hurts anyone. taiga goes back with her to stop her.

crazy concept: the one eyed sleeping beauty murder was the trigger event. the kyklos has one large eye. this part is still muddy given that we literally don't know shit about any of this, but i think it wasn't a one eyed beauty that was killed, i think the one eyed beauty killed someone while those other ghouls happened to be present. we got the five suspects based on them either being in the wrong place at the wrong time or by reputation (a la alan and jiro.) i think this is how zenji died as well, but i have zero basis for that other than vibes.

future!taiga continues to chase the kyklos, runs into his past self and explains (or maybe he's always known, or maybe whatever's going on with his brain makes him able to remember every loop, OR something is actively working against him remembering all of it) past!taiga does something that triggers the clash, and eventually, the kyklos finds her way to mc on the train. the following chapters would then begin to follow mc at the beginning of the loop again

this is literally all me guessing. i'll make an updated post once we finally know more about the clash and the one eyed sleeping beauty murders. and literally everything else smh

another quick note before i forget: i do think it's interesting that everyone who lost a day to the casino anomaly had their memories replaced of a girl in a tower in the woods. rapunzel reference? orrrrrr in early versions of the sleeping beauty tale, she was said to be in a lonesome tower waiting for someone to wake her up. coincidence? probably! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

anyways

"how did we end up here?"

SUPER compelling that this is one of the opening lines. the whole intro is generally a vague "humans avoiding darkness" spiel, but i do personally think its alluding more to the coming together and working as a team theme than an actual darkness. to me it feels like it's implying (based on the story so far) that working together is the light that can drive away the darkness (her curse)

one of my big things that made me wonder right at the beginning was how it almost immediately dropped the line "if we could do it all again" (paraphrasing). the whole theme about doing it again and would we do it again kinda made me think repetition was going to be a theme in the story, but once i got a few chapters in, i was definitely hurtling towards the time loop theory.

mc starts off talking about how she's sad it's over and we come to see she's talking about a band breaking up, and one by one the group chat members leave until she's left alone with just mina.

now mina itself as a name is an interesting choice. it's a fairly international name with a couple different translations. one translation has it meaning love, one says it's the same word as a mockingbird (a bird that can imitate human sounds) and in japanese, mina is a name meaning lovely/beautiful while min-na is a term sometimes used to mean "all of you", like saying all yall in english. fun play on words there if the time loop theory is correct and the kyklos we see at the beginning is in fact mc (aka all of us)

mina's profile picture is also a red spider lily, commonly known in popular media as the death flower

it's often planted in graveyards to ward off evil spirits and help guide those who have passed to the afterlife. another meaning for the flower is reincarnation: yet another implication of a cycle.

(it's also a popular flower in hanahaki disease fics, which is a fic trope where flowers bloom in the lungs of someone whose love isn't returned, but that's unrelated)

actually now that i'm really staring at that picture, it looks more like a red surprise lily, which is even funnier imo. apparently it's just a sister flower of the spider lily

mina says it must be destiny and that she's been waiting to meet us. spooky. we haven't really seen any other anomalies do anything premeditated like that, they're all mainly reacting to their environment, other than mr long legs i guess. but his felt more like predatory i need to eat intent, not "i'm tracking down this specific person" type of deal. definitely correct me if i'm wrong on that, though. i'm super interested in the "intelligent" anomalies vs the reactive ones. i'll make a post on that later

i've seen a couple other posts talk about how kyklos means circle in greek (aka another point in the time loop basket) but it's also interesting to note that kyklos comes from kuklos, whose root word kukló was often used to describe something that encircles. broke out a couple of my old humanities research packets and found this:

"a group of people...positioned around a central point"

whether that's intentional or not, i do think it is interesting that the whole time loop could be centered on this group of people that are positioned around a central point: the kyklos and mc. everything always revolving around the main character and the curse that started it all.

almost immediately after, mc is swiftly taken to darkwick and told that she'll die in a year (which we later find out is a lie) and sent off to live her life

taiga is the most suspicious person in the WORLD to me. fuck the traitor shit i wanna know what taiga knows

our brief introduction of him (and a scene on campus) tries to convince us he's insane

fairly compelling

but it's in the small cut scenes we see with the other ghouls that really get me.

TAIGA knows something!! the second one really gets me, especially in the context of a time loop, and even more so if taiga is aware of the loop. the second screenshot reads to me as either he's 1. about to make a deal with either haru or whatever he's summoning with a coin, or 2. he's like "fuck it, i've seen this loop a hundred times. there's ways where they survive and there's ways where they die. pick one, we'll try it again and see if it changes anything this time."

i don't think he's actually lost his mind. i think he's putting up an act to throw someone off his scent (namely the traitor and whoever the traitor is working with.) i also get the feeling, especially after rereading the auction chapter, that there's something actively working against taiga having all of his memories. it might be the pact he made with his demon, but i almost wonder if it's someone else's stigma or ability preventing it. we don't know what all the ghouls can do yet, or even the teachers.

maybe it's the time loop itself that's keeping taiga from keeping all the timelines straight. maybe he's done this so many times he doesn't know what's real anymore. additionally, if you pick him in the beginning, this is what he says:

once again, i'm getting the vibes that he's trying to figure out what could possibly be different about this loop that might finally break us out of it.

anyways, those are my basic notes on why i think this is gonna center around a time loop. given that haku's flute can transport and subaru's stigma has to do with memories and we dont even know half of the stigmas yet, i think it's entirely possible. but we'll see!

feel free to comment your own thoughts on what's happening :) ask box and dms are always open

[mamawasatesttube]

hello! Sorry to bother you. My friend somewhat recently introduced me to one of your fics and I've got to say your writing is phenomenal! :) Truthfully, I had never read anything DC before but I fell in love with the way you portrayed the characters (especially Kon) in all your fics! I've been wanting to get into the actual comics, would you say your fics are a good intro to the comics, or is it not worth reading them because of how different the comics are, when it's your version of the character I love? You dont have to have an answer, I know I'm not wording it very well. If there's any tips for someone who hasn't read any comics before who's wanting to get into them I would really appreciate it! I did see the recs you have on your pinned post and am planning on trying to get my hands on those! Thank you so much for introducing me to these characters, I hope Ill love them as much in the source material!

thank you!

as for the question, oh man. please read the comics! everything i write is a love letter to them. 90s superfam comics save me i love you so much 90s superfam comics !!!! my writing is very heavily inspired by what i read. a lot of people in this fandom love to shit on comics and that makes me so sad. i Love comics. i wish more people in fan spaces were actually fans of them!!! because they are so fun and there is so much to discuss and enjoy!!! everything i write is 100% comic canon-inspired (well, specifically postcrisis era for the most part, bc i don't really like current comics, but the 1987-2011 ones i've read... yeah <3).

my favorites are like... of course superboy (1994), which is kind of a dumpster fire at times but it is my beloved dumpster fire (i could go into a lot more detail on how much i have to say about this comic. it has so many layers. it's infuriating sometimes. it tells such a story of exploitation without seeming to realize just how heavy it is at times while seemingly fully aware at others and aughghghh god theres so much to sink my teeth into. karl kesel i NEED to pick your brain). i also really love steel '94 and wonder woman '87 and all of triangle era superman, which i know is a HUGE rec and probably very intimidating to start off with sdkjfhs but it's dear to me!

as far as tips for new readers go... honestly, i still don't consider myself a huge authority! i started reading comics in summer 2022 so it's only been about 3 years for me. i guess i would say: in my opinion, people build up "getting into comics" as a huge and insurmountably difficult thing to do, and then intimidate themselves out of it. sure, it's more involved than just picking up a standalone novel or watching a standalone movie, but there aren't so many hard and fast rules that you have to start here or there or read this or that first.

like, for example, if you asked my personal opinion as to whether to read young justice '98 to get a good read on kon's character, i would say no, his solo run gives you much more insights as to his character than the group comic that focuses a lot more on the characters who don't also have solos. but if you just said hey, yj98 looks fun, and then jumped in and read yj98 first anyway, that's fine too! there is no hard and fast rule or anything.

the first comic i ever read was superboy '94. i didn't know what the hell was going on for the first few issues or why it kept telling me to go read other comics because i was still figuring out how crossovers work. eventually i was like oh wait i should go read reign of the supermen before i finish this book and things will make more sense. but like, i still jumped in at a point most people will say does not make much sense to start at dslkfjdslk and i ended up fine and also having a good time!

so i guess what i'm trying to say is: there is no wrong way to read comics. you really do just kinda go "hey that looks cool" and start reading. and if things really don't make sense you can either google it, ask someone who has read more comics than you, or just go "ok fuck it i guess superman's blue now sure i'll just roll with that" and plow onwards anyway! there is no wrong way to do it. you just start reading and then read what interests you!

[nbwriteschaos]

writeblr re-re-intro...

...about hello again!! allow me to re-introduce myself. my name is grace, pen name nicole blue! whatever name you decide to associate me with, i'm still the same 21 year old pink haired caffeine drinking writer with a passion for all things strange, spicy and queer :) i've been writing over ten plus years and have finally found the courage to embrace my interests and be who i want to be as a future published author. so join me on my adventure of self-discovery and chaos!!! ...my writing my favorites are almost always changing, but i mainly enjoy writing/reading queer fantasy fiction. my goal is to get a little more spicy and mature with my work rather than stay in my comfort zone built up of young adult content. i tend to stick to mm and ff romances and don't intend to branch much farther out than that, but i will always stay diverse in regards to sexuality, race, gender, etc. there is no place for bigotry in my stories ever!!!! almost all of my stories will be created with the intention of representing the parts of life that a lot of people don't talk about. that includes mental and physical health. there is nothing more that i want than for my readers to relate to my writing and my characters, even if it's just one small thing. some of my favorite tropes and random things in stories are enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort, angst, fantasy creatures and monsters (especially fae!!), actual witchcraft/pagan rules and beliefs implemented into magic concepts, overly detailed descriptions, and sooo much more. this is a lot of stuff that will be a common theme in my stories and blog!! i also enjoy writing reviews from time to time, so i'll be posting those around here too. ((most of my writing will probably contain with darker themes and angst, so i will always leave detailed trigger warnings beforehand and of course advise readers to be 18+))

...my goals - eventually i want to actually finish a wip - i want to leave lots of book reviews and get in touch with indie authors to review their books for free!! - i would love to launch a blog of some sort soon - do more commissions!! other stuff: commissions info | goodreads | original posts/rambles/reviews | open to tag games and lists from anyone <3

[rosewood-multifandom-writer]

What your favorite Devil May Cry game says about you:

Big Disclaimer: These are mostly jokes/assumptions mixed with what I have seen. Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I’m not counting any of the anime since this is mainly focused on the games. I’m also excluding crossovers like Marvel vs Capcom.

Devil May Cry 1: You are one and/or three of these things: You are an older fan who has been a lover of the series since this game’s 2001 debut. You may also be a Resident Evil fan, considering that the beta version of RE4 would eventually be the reason Devil May Cry exists. Finally, you may also be one of the more quiet or chill fans. I will also assume that you were one of the more old school PS2 players that have done some sick combos. And you’re a Limp Bizkit fan who was blown away by the Netflix Devil May Cry intro. You also love to look back fondly at this game alongside RE4 with nostalgia.

Devil May Cry 2: First of all, you are a rare fan that has not said that DMC2 sucks. But secondly, you’re probably one of the very few Lucia fans that think that she deserves WAY better. I will go as far as say, even though DMC2 is not my favorite DMC game that I tapped out from, I love Lucia’s character and her design, and if DMC2 is your favorite DMC game, you might agree with me on that. You may or may not have been one of the few people that talks about how different and even edgy Dante acts in this game, but in a good way. Or you probably made the theory that DMC2 Dante could be Vergil. Even though I don’t think that would be possible due to the fact that Dante’s Devil Trigger is still Dante and he still uses his guns, but I digress.

Devil May Cry 3: Be honest. The cover art of the Devil May Cry 3 case made you simp for Dante. Not only that, but this was also the game that turned you into a Vergil simp. You also maybe felt great POWER playing as Vergil once you unlocked him. I will also assume you were one of the few people that decided to actually play the game in the expected order (DMC3, DMC1, DMC2, DMC4 and DMC5). In the game DMC5, you already knew what the plot twist whenever you played as V.

Devil May Cry 4: Despite the game being unfinished, you still enjoyed playing the game and you came out of this game a Nero fan. You were excited to play as Lady for the first time and wish she was playable again in Devil May Cry 5. You’re also very curious as to who Nero’s mother could be. You are also probably one of the many artists/writers who made their own take on who the Lady in Red could be. Oh and before I forget, you also want the “Nero is a deadweight” joke to stop because it wasn’t funny the first time, and it’s not funny for the 16536th time. Like the DMC3 fans, you also already knew what the twist with V was in DMC5.

Devil May Cry 5: There is a chance that you have played Metal Gear Rising and jammed out to Devil Trigger and Bury the Light. You’re also one of the many fans that is also tired of the “Nero is a deadweight joke” and your eye probably twitched whenever Dante says that line at the beginning when you replay the game. Also, chances are, new fans have played THIS game before playing the previous games. Myself included. I promise to finish one of the previous ones. The chance is made higher with the recent Netflix Anime where newer fans will go to this game specifically.

DMC Devil May Cry (DMC Reboot): You will defend this game with your whole chest. You’re also tired to seeing the same negative comments about DMC reboot whenever you go on here or anywhere else. You may also prefer the aesthetics of this game over the original. Despite all this toxic negativity towards the reboot, you are the chillest fan in Devil May Cry’s fandom. You are also civil in your conversations and arguments when it comes to discourse about the Reboot and do not resort to name-calling or any childish tactics most toxic fans would do, like some of the loudest DMC Reboot haters. You’re kind of like that misunderstood edgy kid in school people like to resort playground insults if you say an opinion they don’t like or express yourself however YOU like.

Devil May Cry Peak of Combat: You’re the average Gacha player who was devastated that this game got shut down, before moving on to another Gacha game for it to suck the money out of your wallet. That’s all I got, lol.

[mirageofadesert]

Looking back on my first year as a c-drama fan!

This year I fell - first down a flight of stairs - and then (because I couldn't walk properly for a few weeks) down a rabbit hole of cdramas!

In total, I have watched 28 dramas since May. I actually finished 17 of them. I re-watched 8 of them at least once. My most rewatched show is Till The End Of The Moon, followed by Love Is Sweet and The Untamed!

Shows I loved

Till The End of The Moon: This drama triggered my hyperfixation, and I still love it so much. Tantai Jin became my new obsession.

Love is Sweet: This one surprised me because I don't usually care for romantic dramas. It made me more open to different genres.

The Untamed: I watched this for the first time in 2019, and now I can appreciate it even more.

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasties: It took me several tries to get into the drama because the political setting was too complicated. I'm glad I didn't give up. Wang Zhi became one of my favorites!

New Life Begins: I was just looking for something light in between and was quite surprised how much I liked the show.

Things I learned as a newbie:

Cdramas are an acquired taste. Sometimes it's worth going back to a drama that you initially gave up on.

To avoid spoilers, it's best to skip the intro and especially the outro.

I love my characters unhinged.

Apparently it is okay to share leaks from filming.

Never believe anything that comes from yxh accounts.

Shippers are toxic in any fandom.

C-drama fans are a bit older than K-pop fans, but they can be just as unhinged and have trouble distinguishing between how to treat actors and the fictional characters they play.

My ADHD is better regulated when I watch shows in a foreign language while reading the subtitles. I don't get bored watching TV, which is rare!

Shows I dropped, and what I learned from it:

Hidden Love: I still don't like romances that have no significant plot beyond the relationship. Especially if I don't care about the characters at all.

Back from the Brink: Sometimes dramas that start well become an unwatchable, rage-inducing mess halfway through, and it's not worth sticking it out to the end.

Beauty of Resilience: I'm a character-driven audience. If the characters aren't compelling and the story isn't interesting, I don't care about the show.

Ashes of Love: I hate childish FL with baby voices and naive personalities. I need better written female characters. I'm on my 3rd attempt to watch this show and I only have a handful of episodes left, so I'll actually make it to the end (eventually).

I've dropped a lot more shows and actually watched some to the end that I didn't like very much in the end, but those are the ones I learned the most from.

What will stay with me:

Tantai Jin: I'm still obsessed with this character. He is everything I need in a fictional character.

Luo Yunxi: This will come as no surprise to anyone who follows me, but my obsession with TTJ soon extended to Luo Yunxi.

Bai Lu & Sun Zhenni: While I appreciate both of them as actors, it's their fun and uninhibited personalities that made me fall in love with them!!

Costumes: I adore the detailed costumes and hanfu styles, and do prefer costume dramas to modern ones.

Food & drinks: I'm now looking into more Chinese foot now and how to cook vegetables in more interesting ways. I also bought "moon cake stamps"... so wish me luck!

New online acquaintances: I have made some new friends online who I can fangirl with to my heart's content!

What I'm looking forward to in 2024:

I'm really looking forward to Luo Yunxi's upcoming dramas, Follow You Heart, Shui Long Yin and Immortality (🤡). I'm also looking forward to Sun Zhenni's first leading role!

There are still many dramas I want to watch, but haven't found the time for. Like A Journey to Love, Goodbye, My Princess, Nirvana in Fire, Then Miles of Peach Blossoms and The Blood of Youth.

I'm not sure what else I'll post here next year. Probably more reviews and content related to my favourite actors. Let's see if something triggers my hyperfixation soon!

Happy New Year!

[wildflowercryptid]

V FOR VALEDICTORIAN character introduction :

DREW DECKER, the junior detective.

i FINALLY finished the first two character introductions for my fancase so now i can actually share them in full! (ya'll can probably see why they took so long now ha ha...)

i had to start with my faves of the cast so here's some more info on drew! i'll be posting j.b.'s character intro next.

( alt text for drew's bio below! ) ⤵

Drew Decker

A precocious young girl who aims to become a world class private detective one day. She is the first person Grimoire & Sally encounter at Chumbridge and eventually becomes an essential ally during their investigation.

Drew takes her goal of becoming a detective very seriously and gets agitated when others make light of her aspirations, especially when they make assumptions on her motivations.

Her ability to pick up on small details most miss, strong sense of justice, and compassionate heart are all great traits for a detective to have, but her bullheadedness and tendency to run blindly into situations could definitely lead to trouble.

J.B. is her aunt and legal guardian after the passing of her parents. The two have always been quite close, but Drew sometimes worries that she causes too much trouble for her aunt (despite trying to avoid doing so.) She respects her a lot, but does question her terrible sense of humor.

While she does miss her parents a great deal, she tries to avoid dwelling on their absence too much. Their unsolved murders are one of the things that motivates Drew to become a detective.

Not having anyone to watch her after school, Drew hangs around Chumbridge’s Library while she waits for her aunt to finish work. (It’s not uncommon to see her exploring the rest of the college, but don’t tell J.B. that.) As a result, she’s pretty familiar with a lot of people on campus.

She was pretty familiar with the victim and got along with her very well, as Victoria seemed fond of Drew. She often asked her how her days at school went and would even help her with her math homework. Drew notes that the brooch Victoria always wore was nowhere to be found at the crime scene.

Drew is not the Little Girl Grimoire is familiar with, but the two seem to be connected somehow.

Despite frequently getting in trouble at school, her grades are nearly perfect. Math is the only exception, it’s a major weak point of her’s.

Likes to draw, often doodling whenever she can find a pen and paper.

[sagesilentfire]

This is a video I made a while ago. It's the beginning to an animatic of a potential SAMTFOE version of the svtfoe intro. I never finished it, as two huge Computer Malfunctions effectively destroyed a lot of my work, but I'm glad I made it this far. Beneath the cut is my reflection on Star and Marcie and the Forces of Evil, which is also up on AO3. Thank you for reading!

It's unfathomably weird that Star and Marcie and the Forces of Evil is over. I've been working on it nonstop for five years now, posting consistently (except for a few pauses to finish art to post with some chapters), and writing only about these characters and story. And now I'm done. I've finished it. I got to the Key Scenes that I built this fic around, I've introduced every important character and their plot beats, I've done... all of it. It's over. 

You have to understand, this is the first Big Project I've actually finished. My first Big Project was a funny little story about flying superpowered wolves that I wrote with my friends, when I was around 9 through 11. I moved schools and lost those friends and the majority of those documents, so I never finished it. Then there was a Wings of Fire trilogy I wrote to about halfway and then abandoned. And finally, a Gravity Falls fic that I still plan on finishing eventually, but that doesn't really spark joy anymore  – though its first draft is finished, so I can post it; anyone planning on reading it will just have to live with my 16-year-old self's terrible first draft writing. 

But I finished SAMATFOE. I finished it. It's over. Done. Wow. 

Let's talk what-ifs. What would I do differently if I started it now?

I'd definitely rewrite s1. Some of the chapters in it follow the episodes they're inspired by way too closely, and Toffee doesn't have nearly the buildup I'd like. I'd also like to add a scene at the very beginning from Cítalia's perspective where they send the arrow through the window. It would give you much more of a hint at the morality of the series than Sílthéy's ramblings at the beginning. Sílthéy would still ramble, I can't exactly stop her, it would just give you a greater hint at what she's talking about. It would also bookend the series: it starts with Toffee entering Star's life, and ends with them leaving it. I guess it does in this version, too, but this would be a little more effective. 

Explain what happened to Shinjai's siblings. That would definitely add fuel to Shinjai's hatred of Mewmans. She may not be as outwardly obvious about it as her uncle, but she does hate them deeply and bitterly. 

Put more emphasis on the red glass re: Toffee's defeat. As it stands, only Shinjai notices it after the fact, but I think the rest could notice it too. 

More regarding Marcie's life as both a trans woman and a Mexican woman, maybe showing the fit Star threw when they spoke Spanish around her, and Marcie could resent her somewhat for that. And even though Earth is unconditionally accepting, Marcie still would have to send her friends, family, and acquaintances a text or come out to them in person – now that I know I'm trans, I'd like to write that. 

Other things I'm forgetting right now. I'm sure there's others.

Storylines I'd explore if I had the time/the will/the plot wasn't already overstuffed/I wasn't ready to end the story: 

Definitely something surrounding illusions and fake news – but that would probably be another season cleaning up Mina and Glossaryck's mess, with the Pegasi and/or Johansons as the main antagonists, saying Mina's defeat was illusions and essentially fake news. The weapon the Forces of Evil used to defend themself is now being used against them, etc.

More examination of Steelbert's death and the impact it has on Higgs. 

Tiana and Kepler doing wacky shit in Septarsis. They grow a vegetable garden. They learn Septarian. They become potion makers and blow up their house every few weeks. They love their independent daughter.

More with the septarians Star rescued from the tunnels. They're very happy to see Star, but have lost hundreds of years of their lives.

Things that helped me finish this monster of a project:

Friends! It was great to have people commenting on my art and writing every once in a while, even if the svtfoe fandom is dead. Making me feel like I wasn't screaming into the void really helped me out. 

My therapist. Listened to me talk about my projects once in a while. Thank you for your patience. 

4thewords. It's a writing site where you defeat monsters with your wordcount. It's paywalled, but it was affordable when I started, and I had enough runoff when they changed subscription models that I have enough time to decide what I'll do when it runs out. It's absolutely worth the money – it boosted my writing speed and how easy it was to set goals and have fun writing. If George RR Martin got 4thewords, I think ASOIAF would be finished by now. Pspspsps, George, you know you wanna come over here. Com'ere... finish your novel series so I can justify reading it... I know you're rich enough...

Setting aside a specific time for writing: self-explanatory. After dinner is writing time, nothing else. I only rarely had to break it for extremely difficult or time-consuming homework.

Setting a consistent update schedule: If I have to get two chapters out every two weeks, I will. I set a goal, and I mostly followed it.

Including other things I like in the process: I like art, so I involved my art in the process quite a bit. This ensured I could still feel like I was working on samatfoe even when the words weren't flowing, and it tricked my brain into feeling like this was one long arc that I never stopped working on. I dunno if it's an official Psychology™ Hack, I hate psychology (long story), but it definitely worked for me. 

And finally: stubbornness. I am very stubborn, and I was determined to avoid stopping even once. Which, in the end, was the key to victory. It saw me through to the end, and now I promised myself I will not drop a project!

Thank you all for reading. This was such a fun experience. Stick around, because my next project, Unroyal, is being worked on right now. It's a queer YA Romantasy deconstruction, where the Edgy Bad Boi is actually kind of creepy towards our lesbian MC, who is way more interested in the jilted ex-lover and the servant girl. Sílthéy and her siblings are in it, along with a surprise character who will help us later. They are way scarier in this, as Tethalaos, immediately upon being introduced, accidentally murders a guy, and Iako, the MC, spends 90% of her time making sure Edgy Bad Boi doesn't get himself killed. Iako is... well, you'll have to read to find out ;)

But don't just wait for updates here or my personal blog, look for updates on my new art/story blog Other People's Stories (https://www.tumblr.com/otherpeoplesstories), which is the blog for my stories that involve Sílthéy and her family, in any capacity. And I have a youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChPx_eGWPztp1BbQ0jbO8pw)! I've posted a svtfoe analysis video there, but I will also post a lot of cute Bob (my leopard gecko) shorts, art timelapses, and science stuff too. If tiktok gets unbanned I may get one too.

[nevertheless-moving]

Hi! I just wanna say that I think that this Demon of Yunmeng thing has been absolutely delightful. It strikes the perfect balance between humour and heavy subject matter for me :)

I was wondering, will this eventually be uploaded to AO3? I'd like to bookmark it (because I can already tell I will want to come back to this in the future)

Thank you! I'm having a lot of fun. :)

Eventually probably, I just have the tendency to leave big fanfic ideas unfinished, so I'm trying to see if I can build at least a little buffer on tumblr before going to ao3. We'll see. I'm also working on rewriting the intro/ first chapter into something more fic-like.

Actually since starting this reply I finished rewriting the first chapter, but the tenses are kindof wonky since the initial version was in present tense, and now I'm uncertain if it's comprehensible.

Anyone up for beta reading an mdzs intro chapter?

[beelikesbirds]

hi wow i’m finally making an intro post!! my name is jess (or bee or whatever other variation of my url that you want i suppose)! welcome to my blog! it’s mostly reblogging things but i make the occasional original post <3

ok i’m putting everything else under a cut bc i don’t want to be too long LOL

fandoms i’m in/stuff i like (in no particular order)

- the magnus archives/protocol

- my hero academia

- ace attorney

- red dead redemption 2 (i haven’t played the first one yet i’ll get around to it eventually i swear 😭)

- books (especially grady hendrix, ryan la sala, mindy mcginnis, and i’ll give you the sun by jandy nelson)

- bugsnax

- stranger things

- psych

- ducktales

- pokemon

- miraculous

- many MANY other things that escape me at this moment!

i’m also really into biology and nature so you might see a fair bit of that on here

i write sometimes!!! i haven’t actually finished anything in forever but i have a couple of original stories/series/cartoons (???) in the works that i’m sort of obsessed with so those will probably see the light of day at some point (please know that if you ask about them you WILL be opening a can of worms whether you wanted to or not LOL)

i also draw! rn i’m mostly just doodling and practicing and such bc soooo many little people live in my head but alas i do not have the skills to get them out yet. you may see some of that if it’s ever where i want it to be as well! i’m also learning to animate, so that’s been cool.

i’m sort of completely awful at starting conversations (even with people i know well) BUT that doesn’t mean i don’t want to talk to people!! forever the anxious introvert’s dilemma. i’m trying to get better i swear. anyway, all this to say my inbox and dms are always open if you ever want to chat! :))

tags:

art: #bee likes art

writing: #bee likes writing

original text posts in general: #bee likes talking

[yandere-daydreams]

Totally get what you mean with obey me!!! Look I've played older swd games, and I'd been looking forward to obey me release since early 2018 (when there was only a short intro vid). I even played the og beta! And I have been playing the game EVERY SINGLE DAY since its release (which was over 4 years DAILY) and when nightbringer was out I was like, fuck. Neither brought me much excitement and I have stopped reading events for almost 2 years. Now I just logged in to send AP to my friends and quitted. The only thing I'm gonna read is the main story probably.

(Tbh twst is superior is so many ways but I'd argue the gacha system in om is a little better and this is coming from someone with more than 200 UR/UR+ in om despite being completely f2p)

wait am i the only one who played for two solid years and had like,,, three URs total. it was my first gacha game tho so it might've just been a me issue. still requesting peer review though.

on topic though!!! i remember playing a few of shall we date's game pre-obey me and,,, like,,, there were definitely issues with very prolonged story lines and adding on character later one, but at least there were like,,, finished games,,, with routes you could play,,, and look forward to Not playing eventually. i really did like obey me, but there's just,,, too much of it. a good thing can only go on for so long until you're, like, just dangling around its corpse and occasionally dressing that corpse up in a fun outfit for special occasions. i might come back if it ever looks like they're going to, y'know, do an actual final arc with an Ending, but i do not think that's ever going to happen and i feel like it's pretty easy to see why.

[encrucijada]

PÍA RAMBLES #8

you might have seen this post or this wip intro. i'm here to talk about this book because i think it's really cool @teddywriting and i wrote almost 40k words by simply playing dolls with our ocs.

(yes i will be using screencaps of before sunrise, 1995 for any and all subsequent updates regarding this project thank you very much)

what's weird about this book in particular is that, despite maripaz and theo taking up way too much space in my brain, it's also incredibly hard to talk about them?? i know every single detail about them down to what they might order to eat at a mcdonald's, and yet i feel no one outside from teddy and i really knows these characters. their lore is weird and a bit convoluted and explaining it feels like i'm trying to explain the plot of a television show with like 18 seasons of character development you just had to be there to witness to understand even a fraction of it.

but first some basics about the actual book

title: babylon boy (book 1 of the home habitat duology)

genre: literary fiction

category: i say adult because there will be no censoring of topics but in this first installment our protagonists are around eighteen years old. you might consider that ya but i wouldn't

a small summary: having independently run away from home for their own reasons, theo and maripaz meet while homeless on the streets and form an alliance of convenience to survive. while theo vehemently denies the drug addiction he’s nursing, maripaz tries to deal with the way both want and revulsion seem to exist in her at the same time. falling in love is probably the easiest thing they do.

teddy and i are co-authoring, as in we both write the words. they will be primarily working on theo's chapters and i will be primarily working on maripaz's chapters but we'll both be involved in fully crafting this story.

talking about your book is hard when all that happens in it is character work so even whether someone gets sick at one point feels like a spoiler you want people to be surprised by.

we created mari and theo in 2020 on a whim. i can't even remember what prompted it exactly. we wanted a new pair of characters to play with and we decided to make two assholes to bicker and be mean to each other. this iteration saw three reincarnations before we put the characters on the shelf and almost resigned ourselves to them being a miss... if not for one important detail... i really, really believed they should have kissed. this first version of them would eventually be known as the homeless au.

looking back it's Wild thinking about how different mari and theo used to be. we moved onto new aus to play around with, landing on a superhero-type beat that became their new canon for a while. we had fantasy and sci-fi and musicians and hadestown and the raven cycle (that last one did so much for us it's insane). every new thing we tried shaped them more and more until they were unrecognisable from their original versions. one day i really want to go through their threads from start to finish and look at that change in real time.

there was a new thesis to their characters and it was no longer "what if two awful guys with issues were forced together and tried to bite each other's heads off". instead we were looking at two characters that through every new incarnation became more sincere and gentle. they had meta-narrative character development.

(every new au also gave us more characters to populate the world including but not limited to theo's twin sister, maripaz's seven siblings, alex, philip, a whole lot of parental figures, a quirky cast of friends... but i'll talk about them some other time)

then i did it again. in the 2.0 version of the homeless au there was one scene i loved beyond words where an argument between our two protagonists resulted in maripaz punching theo right on the mouth. when she tried to swing a second time he stopped her hand and warned her that if she wanted to hit him he would hit back. they fought and the scene ended. i said to teddy: they should have kissed. we laughed and imagined how homeless au would go now that their characters had changed so much. we started thinking about it more and more until we were moving the pieces of their cinematic universe around to fit this new idea... and suddenly we had plot for a book that would revamp that original homeless au... and a sequel too! (but more on that second one another time)

teddy started a rp thread of what came right after the opening scene of babylon boy, where theo and maripaz would shoplift and he would steal the angel necklace she wore (<- this is important)... and we just kept going... and going. we'd already had a few keys scenes to work towards, one those being that punching scene that started it all, as well as the ending. teddy added two new scenes we began calling the halo scene and the church scene, and we moved something we called the pool scene into this book from another au. we just had to fill in the blanks... fill in the blanks we did.

these right here are the names i gave each individual thread of the roleplay-ification of babylon boy. their purpose is not so much to be chapter titles but to make specific scenes easy to find for future reference. though obviously i had to be a bit artistic about it.

i don't know if babylon boy will have chapter titles, and if they will have some sort of theme going on (usually i like just putting two words together to create some imagery). "angel face" is probably what i would title chapter 1, but i also hesitate on that decision because i think i would like to save angel for later.

these threads are less of a draft and more the skeleton of a draft, that's why i called it a draft 0. its purpose is to give teddy and i direction and reading through them i already know how i want to shift the timeline and how i'd rewrite some of the scenes to make them a lot better, but it did give us a great cause and effect look of things. the way teddy and i approach our roleplay threads is more loose than what i do with @on-the-river-lethe (with whom i'm currently roleplaying draft 1 of our book lupine trail and also a giant hunger games au). fluffy and i write responses between 1k-4k words, they are basically chapters. teddy and i instead do a quick call and response, mostly focused on dialogue, we build on top of each other and neither of us really knows where a thread will go when we start.

there are no actual non-roleplay words written for babylon boy thus far. teddy is in charge of chapter 1 as we open with theo's pov but we are both busy or focused on other things. right now we're enjoying the playing around stage of the process (which i don't see going away even once we start seriously writing, i know for a fact we'll probably do various roleplay-type passes to babylon boy).

you've probably noticed the christian imagery is rampant here. it happened kind of by accident and the already mentioned halo scene is entirely to blame for it. like i said, teddy and i have this very "yes, and," approach to storytelling together where we kinda build on top of what the other puts down. teddy gave me the description of one (1) scene where theo sees a halo of light around maripaz's head and i decided "well, this is now i thing that is here to stay". church scene really brought it all together and there is a scene in book 2 adeptly nicknamed the angel scene that is kind of the culmination of this.

the imagery is almost exclusive to theo's pov as mari is more the subject of the imagery than the one pushing it forward. teddy and i will be doing our most to fill this book with visuals: characters lined with stained glass windows, lights shaped like hearts, signs and graffiti that say meaningful stuff.

babylon boy, as the title suggests, is more theo's book. both he and maripaz have meaningful arcs but theo's is really at the core of it, mari takes centre stage in book 2 (titled gossamer girl). i think i talked about this somewhere before but the titles just kind of... happened. gossamer was relevant for that superhero au and it's just a word i really adore so i wanted to use it on the title. you can't go wrong with alliteration so gossamer girl it is. and because i love when books in a series match i had to do something with boy. like gossamer i adore babylon for some reason, and so we got babylon boy. i wasn't sure about that one because while gossamer girl made sense with the theme, what did "babylon boy" even mean, exactly? teddy came in clutch and analysed the title for me. they connected it to theo's drug addiction and now i can't think of any two titles that are more perfect for this series.

like i said, there are no actual words written for this book so sadly i cannot share any excerpts. but i will share

Festival was very much the result of teddy and i having just watched before sunrise, 1995

we watched before sunrise, 1995 because the mannerisms of the two leads reek of maripaz and theo

"until a miracle happens" became a recurring thing said in the draft and it wrecked me

Our Fears is probably my favourite thread both thematically and visually. followed closely by Church Angels, though that one is mostly visually

The Pool is the longest thread with about 90 responses and all of it is beautiful. i would probably consider it the companion to Our Fears

"mutual pining they're both just idiots"

the closing image is probably my favourite one of the book

the core themes are very much trust, love, and communal help. we've got such an array of npcs who simply... help. i love the human race.

i'll probably do another update before we start properly writing talking about maripaz and theo as characters specifically. a bit of a crash course on who they are, really.

anyway. i'm giving you a golden star if you read all of that ⭐ do ask me or teddy about this story!! we'd be happy to talk about it. or even just about the characters.

cheers, pía

[rosiesdisneydrama]

Persona Tales (Better AU Name Pending)

[This au idea includes stuff from P3, P5R (which was my intro to Persona even if I haven’t quite finished it yet), DT17, and PKNE. Double Duck may be referenced, but I’ve never had the chance to read those and have only read what other people have mentioned about it.]

First off, the Persona 3 PC in this is Kotone Shiomi. Igor is unhappy about the end of her story and wants to do something to help her. He’s seen the life/happiness that the other Wild Cards had found in their lives after their respective adventures and wishes he could have seen the same thing for her.

And, after a lot of careful thinking, he thinks he has an idea of how to pull it off. But there are a few hitches that he knows he needs to work around.

Firstly; he needs to find a way to make the Great Seal self-sustaining so that he can get a hold of Kotone’s soul without destroying the thing that she’d given her life to create in the first place.

Secondly; he needs to create a new body for her since her original is long gone. (In the Japanese burial tradition of cremation too.) And being brought back as a ghost wouldn’t really help with living the life she’d missed out on.

Thirdly; he can’t just drop her back in her own world because she’s been dead for a while by this point. And the world isn’t really built for someone to come back from the dead after roughly a decade (probably more).

He needs to find someplace new to let Kotone have the chance to live the life she never got to have. So he uses his connection to Velvet Rooms, the plane between the Mind and Matter, to seek out a new world for his plan. Somewhere that has a connection to the same plane but is different enough so that she can (hopefully) avoid a similar ending.

It takes a bit, but he eventually settles on one that is close to the world Kotone came from while still different.

It’s not a perfectly peaceful place, but it’s full of wildness and wonder and things that would have been impossible in the universe she came from. The rules and its connection to the Collective Unconcious are different too, but there are some similarities that he hopes will allow Kotone to not feel too out of place there.

(He can tell that this world will have things happen in its future. Things that a Wildcard would be able to help with. As both a player and a guide.)

Now, he needs to find someone willing to help her find her footing in this new world.

Making use of his Near-Omniscience, he searches the world for someone who would fit the bill. Preferably, someone of a compatible Arcana. Perhaps even another Fool, who could learn to act as another Wildcard.

(Philemon and Nyarlathotep’s game didn’t exist in this new world, but the tools could still be used for good.)

Since the fate of the world isn’t at stake, he doesn’t really need to follow his usual rules to find a Wildcard. Which means he can shop around more to find someone to take the challenge. He doesn’t need to pick a blank slate, he can find someone more experienced/worldly to take the job.

He makes a list, carefully going over his options as he goes.

But, of course, since there’s so much freedom of choice it’s surprisingly hard to settle on a single person. So many who slot in well that he can’t figure out which one to actually choose.

He decides he’ll just ask, instead of making the decision for them.

He picks one at random, connects to them in a dream, and readies himself to actually ask/pitch his request.

.

Donald Duck is a teenager who's just finished high school and is still trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. Adventuring with his family is fun, but he's not sure he wants to do only that for the rest of his life. (And being a secret superhero doesn't exactly pay the bills.)

As such, he's following grandma's suggestion of taking a Gap year to get some work experience and to figure out what he wants to do for his future. Uncle Scrooge has kind of helped by offering him a few places he owns that need extra hands, but Donald's still thinking about which ones he likes better.

(He doesn’t want to pick one that’ll end in him having to deal with someone sucking up to him to get in Scrooge’s good books or anyone that’ll be a jerk because they think his uncle would pull favorites in a job. He thinks Uncle Scrooge gets that since hasn’t been pushing for him to take any one of them particularly hard.)

(Or Uncle Scrooge was waiting until he’d gotten his hands on a specific one for Donald to do. Either could be true when it came to his Uncle.)

Right now, however, he's very confused about this strange (but honestly rather pretty) room he’s found himself in and the stranger with the really pointy nose and bulgy eyes sitting in a chair in front of him. He thought he was just heading to bed before wandering around for places that would be hiring tomorrow, but now he's here and that looks like a contract of some kind on the table and he doesn't know what's happening.

Thankfully, the weird man doesn't leave him in the dark for too long.

The stranger introduces himself as Igor and says he's there to request Donald’s help. One that he's free to turn down if he's not interested.

Mr. Igor explains (loosely) that something bad happened to someone he was helping/watching over, and that person was hurt badly. He wants to make it right by giving them the chance to start over, in a new place that won't have the same problems that got them hurt before and he’s thinking of having Duckburg be that place. But they'll need someone to look out for them and help them find their way. They also have special powers that might make the transition a little harder, because it’ll probably make them homesick and they can’t go back due to the thing that happened to them.

And he wants Donald to help.

He says that he'll give Donald some stuff to make it easier (something that’ll help him understand them? Donald’s not sure what that means), but he's not just dropping a random person on him and leaving. There are some more details/explanations thrown in before they're done.

Mr. Igor says he'll give Donald two weeks to think about the offer/request. And he's free to turn it down.

(That gets emphasized. Which is kinda of nice, most people don’t make it an option for him.)

He’s given a blank tarot card (at least, Donald thinks it’s a tarot card. It’s way too tall to be a playing card) which Mr. Igor says will appear in the “Conscious World” with him, so he’ll know this wasn’t all just a really strange dream. And he’ll talk to Donald in a week to clarify anything he wants to know about and then the week after that, he’ll come to find out Donald’s final answer. There’s a loud ringing of a bell, which sounds like the Wake Up bell on a ship to Donald, then he’s jolting up in bed just a few minutes before his alarm clock is supposed to go off.

And, sitting on his bedside table, is the same blank card from his dream. (Which means it wasn’t actually a dream…)

[annakie]

From Broken Bow to Calypso, Check-In #15 - The Next Generation, Season 1

Finally making it into the Golden Age. Goodbye TOS, I do miss you, (and Enterprise, and SNW, and I'd say Discovery but we're not done with you yet) but I'm excited to be getting into the 80's to very early 2000's era Trek.

All Star Trek By Stardate Review Posts

Adding the new Highlights and Lowpoints section to the end starting here, too, after doing everything else I'd reviewed up to that point in Check-in #13.

4/15/25 - Episode 262 - Encounter at Farpoint The episodes starts with only half the crew, and then like immediately brings in Q. The battle bridge never really got the use it was supposed to, but I know that set got reused a lot, especially for ST 5 & 6. How does the saucer keep going at Warp 9.8 or whatever? I guess momentum, I never studied the technical manuals but I'd suppose it has reverse thrusters to slow eventually and then probably its own impulse engines? I just had the realization that the first time I watched TNG, when it aired, I was younger than Wil Wheaton was, and now I'm older than Patrick Stewart is here. Guessing the engineering section didn't meet up with the saucer section just SO Will has to do the re-connection. My brother haaaaated Picard for a long time because he felt like Picard was just a jerk. Now we know a lot more about him, and I like the little bit of vulnerability he shows about Children at the end of his and Will's talk. They do a good job with things like introducing Geordi's blindness, Tasha's backstory etc. The appearance of Bones was so unexpected. This is the last time we'll see (this version of) him, and although I hate all the "boys" at Data, I've got tears in my eyes the entire time watching this. A little sad we didn't see him in Sickbay. Bye Bones. Are we supposed to believe that Will didn't know Deanna was the ship's counselor before meeting her? Watching this just DAYS after Deker/Ilia is like… deja vu. Now we start with "Don't Think Too Hard About How the Holodeck Works" episodes, too. Really hate Deanna getting emotional about Will maybe getting hurt when he tells her to beam up while he and Data check out the little town getting fired on. The Crusher/Picard talk is wonderfully awkward, and vulnerable for him. It's a very Star Trek ending, but the dual spaceship beings was a genuinely cool concept I enjoy. EaF is kind of a slow intro, but it gets the job done. Just also looked and this is episode #262 in my rewatch order. Voyager's Endgame is 782. there are 3 - movies and 2 Enterprise episodes in there, but that's still 520 episodes to go (or 515) to get out of the Golden Age. If it took me 4.5 months to get this far, it will take me around 9 months to finish TNG/DS9/VOY. It's more than half of everything. Especially considering everything else includes 3 animated 30ish minute each series. Crazy. I love it, though.

4/15/25 - Episode 263 - The Naked Now Guys, you're on the Enterprise and they desperately want to connect with the TOS audience, just read up on what happened on the NCC-1701!! Geordi is going around basically inappropriately touching half the people on the ship (especially Tasha.) Social distancing! Also Beverly, start telling people the symptoms so they know what to look for! This episode is embarrassingly horny, as are a few other season 1 (and one infamous season 7) episodes. Honestly kinda feel it's too early in the series for such a hijinks episode, but now that we do actually know the characters better it's pretty funny. Data's "If you prick me, do I not… leak?" speech is so good (and then the falling over.)

4/16/25 - Episode 264 - Code of Honor I have not watched this episode in probably 20 years, as it's pretty much universally panned and is also horribly racist and sexist. But… I told myself I'm going to watch it all this time. So… sigh. Here we go. Yep, it's bad. It's real bad. I'll talk about the parts I like. Look Beverly is abusing her power and relationship with Jean-Luc by getting Wesley on the bridge, but it's a cute scene and I'm happy for Wes. Have I mentioned I love Wesley Crusher and will defend him? A good Data/Geordi scene, basically their first best friend discussion, calling each other "my friend" and such. And Data's attempt at humor is cute. I just.. the rest of the episode… no thank you and I'm glad it's over.

4/16/25 - Episode 265 - The Last Outpost Well, Armin Shimmerman is in this episode, that's a good thing, even if the first depiction of Ferengi is really not great. Thankfully they gave him a chance to play THE Ferengi later. Much of the episode is just damn boring, a few bright spots with Data and the finger trap. Also it's crazy that there's no real Chief Engineer. Worf doesn't really have a defined job, not that he should be CE, but they have a guy on the bridge who just kind of wanders around stations and then NO steady Chief Engineer. So Geordi going down there and explaining things to Riker felt natural and like, the first time we get to see where Geordi SHOULD BE. It doesn't really make sense when he becomes CE in S2 but… it was still the right call. Anyway, this is an All Powerful Being episode, so you know I'm probably going to hate it, and I mostly did.

4/17/25 - Episode 266 - Where No One Has Gone Before Ah episode I like, but a lot of this was probably because it's a Wesley heavy episode. "One of our chief engineers" wtf, guess it takes a season for them to realize how much this does not work. Forgot how big of a dick Kazinsky is. The visuals on the remaster here great. Weird that it's only going to take them 300 years at maximum warp to get home when it would take Voyager 79 years to get halfway across ONE galaxy, and there's a loooot of space between galaxies. Oh right, it's basically the first "shut up Wesley" episode. Blech. Oh yeah and now Picard seeing his mother in his fantasy projection has some really different context since Picard S2. But it's still a nice scene. Anyway, hell yes to "Space, Time and most importantly, THOUGHT!" Gonna be so important in Prodigy. Wes getting promoted to Acting Ensign is so good, genuinely teared up.

4/17/25 - Episode 267 - Lonely Among Us The subplot with the two bickering species and the beginnings of Data's Holmes obsession are the best parts of this episode. The plot itself is pretty slow and boring, tbh. People not recognizing they'd lost time and not reporting it is always annoying, and the senior officers had GOOD REASON to get Picard to stand down way earlier than they did, as soon as Riker confirmed there was a being in Picard. So it's an all-powerful being episode and a transporter saves the day wrap-up. Meh.

4/17/25 - Episode 268 - Justice This episode is so horny, it's embarrassingly horny. And like, Tasha said she had a cultural and legal study done and logged and yet, she didn't catch this extremely important law? Also hate them still calling Wesley "the boy" and say he wandered off when like, they sent him to play with the other teens? Bah. "I'm with Starfleet, we don't lie." Oh, sweet baby Wesley. Also crazy they don't bring Bev down or tell her right away what's going on with Wes. Ends with a decent early Picard Moralizing Speech. Still, there's an all-powerful being, which brings my rating of it back down. But also it DOES have a "Showing a person their planet from the ship for the first time" scene. That person also sees their god, which is like, a bonus! :p But also like, these people really don't seem like they're warp-capable? Did Picard just like… violate the prime directive for some shore leave? Sure seems so, and Memory Alpha agrees.

4/18/25 - Episode 269 - The Battle Actually, this episode is better than I remembered. Still pretty slow, but it's a decent mystery and it folds out at a decent clip. Kind of like Wesley having to learn a bit of protocol. This is the second episode in the last 3 that ends up being about Picard getting mind controlled in some way, but different circumstances and this one is better. Lots of screen time for Beverly and everyone else gets a bit to do, too. I'm now recognizing the Stargazer bridge as the same redressed set for the Ent-A and Ent-B and a few other ships lol. Also liked the First Officers working together in the end. Anyway, Damon Bok has a cool motive and though I question the Enterprise taking so long to figure out what's going on (and needing Wesley to find it), I actually liked this one and I was like "Ugh, yeah this episode" when it started.

4/18/25 - Episode 270 - Hide and Q Yessss, one of the best S1 episodes. Just a classic, awesome time with Q. The Tasha in the Penalty Box scene is great, especially the "tears are permitted" part until TASHA RUINS IT by saying she's attracted to Picard. Ew. Q as Data is also a cool visual. "Adult Wesley" is always a laugh. Riker gets so super smug so fast though, like, just gotta assume that's the Q influence. I could see a Tasha/Geordi thing happening if Tasha had lived based off that one little interaction between them when Geordi wasn't blind.

4/18/25 - Episode 271 - Haven First Lwuxana Troi episode! I love her, fuck the haters. I know she's obnoxious, especially here, but they do some cool things with her eventually. Also a big "Riker doesn't want Troi right now, just doesn't want her to be with anyone else" episode which is a storyline I do not like. This is kind of character development filler episode that I miss in the shorter seasons we have now. It's a middling episode but a lot of fun moments, especially Lwuxana / Jean-Luc stuff. It's got a good resolution, and an interesting premise. Also, Armin Shimmerman was the box! I did not know that, thanks Memory Alpha!

4/18/25 - Episode 272 - The Big Goodbye First big Holodeck Malfunction episode (if you don't count TAS - The Practical Joker.) And even including TAS this is the first time the Holdeck is used as more than an environment re-creator. Lots of good JL/Bev vibes in this one, which I love. Always feel bad for the historian. I love Picard's enthusiasm in the conference room scene early on and that they let Wes sit in. And then let him help figure out the problem. The stuff in the police station with Bev is especially good, as is "Dixon" with his friend. We never learn if the historian guy lives but I'm going to guess he did. Anyway, this episode is just really good, great story, great costume design, lots of humor and fun moments. A big highlight in the all-to-uneven first season.

4/19/25 - Episode 273 - Datalore Big episode! Hey, there's Tucker Tubes in Data's home! Annnd a brand new chief engineer again. Ridiculous. I do really like in general how everyone treats Data with respect and consideration. But it's a weird situation for everyone to be in. Insane that they're just letting Lore on the bridge and teaching him how to fly the ship like an hour after waking him up, as Data points out. C'mon guys. This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy about Star Trek security issues. This is also where I think we start really seeing Brent Spiner's talent. Maybe also in The Big Goodbye. Anyway, I hate the Shut Up Wesley scene so much. Like, look, Wesley didn't make his report in the way he should have, that's true. He's still learning, but he's RIGHT. And yes that's part of the problem with Wesley is how right he is so much of the time, like in The Battle, anyone else should have caught the brainwave thing. But they don't listen to Wesley when they should, and discount him for being a teenager when a minute earlier they're like "Yeah he's so smart!". Drives me crazy. Even Memory Alpha has a note about it. This episode is good but it does rely on Picard and Riker acting extra stupid sometimes. And honestly, right now, I'm really extra sensitive about the words "Shut Up" for personal reasons. Anyway, "How sad, Dear Brother. you make me wish I were an only child." and "Are you prepared for the kind of death you've earned, little man?" are both great lines of dialog. Also crazy Lore wants Beverly to go, when he could have like, just stunned her. Alls well that ends well, but THEY OWE WES AN APOLOGY.

4/19/25 - Episode 274 - Angel One Well, I liked the last 5 episodes to one degree or another, so it's time for a stinker. Yes, yes women are also just as sexist as men can be and there's all sorts of weird sexism here. Memory Alpha is kind of sad here, discussing how Gene Roddenberry was clearly declining when talking about this episode. Also, mysterious Holodeck virus! Dun dun Dunnnnn!! Didn't we just have a holodeck fuckup episode and… well the next episode is, what it is. I do love that Geordi gets command, it's a good scene. And Worf advising Geordi a little while later (before having to go to Sickbay lol.) You know how I love junior officers getting command. Frakes does look good in the outfit they make him wear. And then he sluts it up as the new Kirk. Crazy that Crusher isn't wearing a mask or any kind of protective gear, and yet she doesn't get sick! Great job with that immunity, Bev! Wait, this was an "it's more interesting on the ship than the planet" episode, haha.

4/20/25 - Episode 275 - 11001001 AKA the episode I can only remember the title of as "Eleven Hundred one thousand and one" I think one thing I'm noticing is that we kind of think of Picard as cold and standoffish but even in S1 he has a lot of warm moments, complimenting the crew, sharing his thoughts, that conference room scene in The Big Goodbye being one instance of that, but even here in the prologue he compliments the crew then Riker individually. There's also some good character moments here. Worf and Tasha's quick scene going to play parercies squares, Geordi teaching Data to paint, Beverly being a nerd about cybernetics + medicine. I know this is just to get them in the episode since they're not going to be in the episode much, but they're good little scenes. Then the episode gets horny and we learn about Riker's love of Jazz. Picard just walks into Riker's holodeck program, you ever hear of knocking, JL? Luckily things in the holodeck didn't get more horny than they had. Crazy for them to have NO ONE on duty in Main Engineering. Guess that's what happens when they're swapping chief engineers AGAIN. Kind of exciting with the ship getting stolen, the evacuation, the self destruct. The science of the data stuff is sketchy, and nobody learned anything since they let the Bynars off with a slap on the wrist. Decent episode. Oh hey, the Admiral in this one was the huge asshole husband in Mudd's women. That's neat.

4/20/25 - Episode 276 - Too Short a Season Well they stopped forcing people to retire at some age like in that final TAS episode with April. A few parallels with that episode, actually. The actor playing Jamison is really good with all the stages of aging. Kinda boring episode, but the twist with the guy on the planet being the bad guy is an OK twist, and the Admiral doing a pretty shitty job and keeping the civil war going 40 years ago. Overall, meh.

4/20/25 - Episode 277 - When The Bough Breaks I watched this episode a LOT as a teen because it was such a Wesley episode. Why are some of the kids taken in school and others aren't? Obvious that Wesley was on the bridge which IS a part of his schooling. I guess maybe kids go to school in the same shifts as their parents work. How could these dummies ever think that parents are going to allow their children to get stolen. Two of these kids are Wheaton's actual siblings, which is kinda cool. It's a great episode for him, he's not only the oldest but ya know, has rank and some training which makes him a natural leader. Also love that Alexandra has a little toy tribble. I have one, too! TBH they should have separated the ship and sent the rest of the kids off to safety. What's also good about this episode is how it shows normal people on the ship live more than any episode we've seen. Lol Radu, to JL and Beverly: Why are you so stubborn about this? YOU can always have MORE! …and those two in particular WILL. Cannot believe nobody caught Bev and Wes's little scanner play but.. hey. Funny how only white human kids were taken (and all the Aldeans are white human-looking.) Hm. The little scene with Wes telling Alexandra why they can't eat is so precious. It's a good ending, the Custodian model is very cool. I still like this episode.

4/21/25 - Episode 278 - Home Soil This episode is cerebral but fairly boring and forgettable. The actor who played Lisa was very good in her crying scene. Ugly giant bags of mostly water is a great human description. Not a lot to say on this one. Not great, not the worst, mostly kinda boring and think-y. Oh hey the older lady Ensign in engineering was in Arena in TOS, I love how much they're putting TOS actors in roles in TNG.

4/21/25 - Episode 279 - Coming of Age A Wesley episode, I really loved this one as a teen. As if this Jake kid could compete with Wesley Crusher. It's really gotta suck for him though, Wesley gets to be an actual acting ensign and bridge shifts and stuff, though it sounds like he got some training, too. The B-Plot is pretty good, with the inquisition, which feeds into Conspiracy, which is one of the big dropped threads in TNG. Riker's a pretty big jerk in this one even though the irritation is understandable. The scene with Worf and Wesley in the Holodeck is VERY good, as is the "social test" where he stands up to the big Zaldan(sp?) guy. The Jake subplot drags on a bit too long but adds some excitement, and it's nice to see Remik get into it. He should have brought up the couple of times they broke the Prime Directive so far though lol. It's SUCH an intriguing setup, though, with the whole inquisition thing and wanting Picard to take over the Academy. Something about Wesley's test always makes me tear up, and how Picard made that choice that had Jack Crusher die. It's a really good scene and Wheaton is really good in it. Also great scene with Picard and Jake, and then an absolutely amazing scene with Wes and Picard. I still love this episode.

4/21/25 - Episode 280 - Heart of Glory The beginning of the episode with Geordi's VISOR-vision is really fun and cool. Weird that they didn't have any security beam over. They're crawling around that ship for a lonnnnng time, but I guess they needed to justify those sets. And hey, Worf finally gets an episode! Vaughn Armstrong as the Klingon Commander! Miss you, Admiral Forrest! Sorry about both of your deaths. Once again, the security on the ship is abysmal as it always has to be for reasons of plot. You can really feel Worf's conflict here, he's enjoying being around other Klingons, and then he isn't. He just straight up shoots Vaugn Armstrong! I should count how many times Vaugh Armstrong dies in Star Trek because this is at least three. Surprised this episode didn't start an incident with the Klingons. Overall, kinda boring, plot's a bit too thin, but at least Worf finally gets something to do. The ending scene is sweet, though.

4/22/25 - Episode 281 - The Arsenal of Freedom Why isn't Wesley the ensign? Just some rando who gets lines here! This is a pretty good suspenseful episode. The "Paul Rice" avatar is a great preview of current AI. Kinda human, but easy to see through. This turns into a bit of a Picard/Crusher episode. It also gives Tasha a lot to do two episodes before she leaves for not having enough to do. Geordi gets to take command, and Worf is second in command. There's a brand new chief engineer… surprise surprise. Geordi gets a lot to do and gets to butt heads with the chief engineer up on the ship. It's a nice subplot, but Logan is an annoying jackass and just wants to be contrary to everything Geordi says or does. This is an all-powerful computer episode but it's funny that the answer is just cooperate with it. YES, WE'LL BUY IT! Anyway, this one is pretty good, lots of action, everyone (but Wes) has lots to do. Kind of exciting.

4/22/25 - Episode 282 - Symbiosis Remember kids, don't do drugs! Some of the worst dialog in the season, especially for Wes. But it's kind of amusing with the dummies on the ship in the beginning, until two die. Definitely one of the worst episodes in season 1, just pretty cringey all the way through. Super preachy and not in the good Star Trek way. It was like fulfilling some Regan-era Just Say No quota. Glad they revisited the planet in Lower Decks though. Also, love Crosby's waving goodbye as the cargo bay doors are closing scene. Oh and David Marcus, how far you've fallen. From Saavik and Spock's hero to drug addict zero. Sad.

4/23/25 - Episode 283 - Skin of Evil Goodbye, Tasha Yar. I hate the fact that you leaving really elevated Worf. I could see a Worf/Tasha thing developing if she'd stayed though. They may have actually given you more development like everyone else eventually got, but they were pretty shitty to all of the women for a long time (plus what they did by replacing Bev with Polaski for a year, ugh.) Also… yet another new Chief Engineer. It's so ridiculous. Also this guy feels the need to introduce himself every time he calls the bridge. "Leland T. Lynch here, Captain!" Nobody cares about your first name, you won't be here next week. They kill Tasha off really early in the episode, too. Also annoying that Bev just sits there with a tricorder and lets her die instead of trying like, anything at all? I hate that. She should at LEAST be doing chest compressions at that point. I love the conference scene after Tasha's death, and I especially loved Worf deciding to stay on the ship because they weren't planning on engage the creature in battle. Feel real bad for Riker (and Frakes) getting sucked into Armus's slime-tar. I like the way they trick Armus at the end and there's no "aw let's help this poor baby", Picard is just like "nope, you're irredeemable, we're out of her and you get to suffer alone, fuck you." The memorial scene for Tasha is SO GOOD, really effective. I always tear up. And it really feels like where the crew truly gels. I hate that maybe overall Tasha leaving is a positive for the show. Not Crosby's fault, and we get a really cool storyline later out of it.

4/23/ - Episode 284 - We'll Always Have Paris Decent episode, though kind of forgettable. Bring some more humanity and softness to Picard, and I like that everyone involved in that plot acted like mature adults, and there was no cheating going on, just emotional reconciliation and everyone stayed true to themselves and each other. Not the most exciting plot, but well written and emotional without getting overly dramatic. The other main plot with the time variance thing was interesting enough, kind of cool with the time waves, but nothing super memorable. Not bad, overall, just not particularly standout.

4/24/25 - Episode 285 - Conspiracy I don't understand shifts, lol. All the bridge officers are on the bridge, except Picard is asleep. Anyway, this mystery and episode is really good. The scene with Data talking to the computer about talking to himself and even the computer interrupting him is hilarious. Admiral Quinn absolutely kicking Riker, Geordi and Worf's ass is hilarious but also one of Worf's first major asskickings. And Worf starts with the double arm punch. Beverly getting the kill (or at least stun) on the Admiral is great, also, but weird she showed up with a phaser randomly. The little bug practical effect with Remmik doesn't hold up so well when it's little but holy shit the phasering, open rib cage and big bug puppet are all still REALLY gross and effective. Weird that the mother creature took over Remmik, since Remmik and Quinn were two of the first to spot the conspiracy, but I guess it must have moved in. Never following up on the homing beacon in - canon feels like a missed opportunity, but it was explored in the books I believe and in Star Trek Online, so at least there's that.

4/24/25 - Episode 286 - The Neutral Zone Look this isn't the best episode but it is really fun. No contact with the Romulans for so long is a bit weird since we sat a Romulan at Starfleet HQ in ST6, but I guess after that they just withdrew completely. The subplot with the three 20th century humans is goofy but brings a lot of levity to the episode. But also the fact that Oppenhouse can not only call Picard and then get to the bridge is another "WHY IS THERE NO SECURITY!?!" thing that I hate, but you know, plot. Riker also could have done a better job explaining where they are after they woke up and the nature of the ship, even if Oppenhouse is an arrogant dick. Picard is really sweet with Clare and Troi should have been there from the moment they woke up and for their little orientation. Also, I hate that Wes isn't in the last three episodes, MA says he was supposed to have a scene with Sonny, replicating him a guitar, but it was cut. Letting Oppenhouse STAY on the bridge during the first contact in 50 years with the Romulans is super crazy, too. C'mon. But I guess he helps.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Season 1 of TNG is a real mixed bag. Look, there are probably more good episodes here than people want to give it credit for, but there are also a lot of bad and meh episodes.

But considering the absolute chaos behind the scenes, Roddenberry's decline and meddling with the writing, some weirdness with the crew, Crosby's leaving... it could have been a lot worse.

Hate the rotating chief engineers, hate the treatment of Wes in some episodes, the weird horniness in a few of the episodes. But there's so much good too, still a solid foundation of a show with some great ideas poking their heads up. Great cast, some decent acting here and there. It only gets better from here.

HIGHTLIGHTS:

Hide & Q, Big Goodbye, Datalore, Coming of Age, Conspiracy

LOWPOINTS:

Code of Honor (A FRANCHISE lowpoint), The Last Outpost, Angel One, Symbiosis.

[pbandjesse]

Today was a long day. But I had fun. And thankfully I didn't feel sick. I am tired but I'm doing a lot better then yesterday.

I slept okay. I changed blankets and I think that helped. But there was a lot of noise outside again. The recycling truck came at like 6am?? And it felt like it was just parked out front of our house and it was so loud. Not amazing.

But I did fall back asleep. And was able to sleep until 7.

When I woke up James was sitting at our desk and they came over and gave me a hug and it was so nice. We talked about how weird it was that the trash truck came so early. And then I went to get ready.

I wore my short overalls today because I didn't realize how chilly it was going to be this morning. But I did wear knee socks and a sweatshirt (I changed into a fleece when I got to camp) and was pretty comfortable overall.

Other drivers stressed me out hardcore. After I left the house, giving James a kiss goodbye, I got in the car and took my time getting ready to go.

It's always tough turning out of our street. I waited my turn and I was up next and the person behind me pulled around me!!!! It was so dangerous and so incredibly entitled. And worse we would end up next to each other at every single light for the next few miles. And I was so fucking mad but also trying to not look at them because I was just so angry. I just wanted to get to the highway and be away from them because I was shaking I was so mad and also didn't want to feel like that!! I hate feeling so deregulated that early in the day.

The rest of the drive was fine. And I got to camp and went right to art to collect my materials. And decided to drive them over to the trading post where I would be leading the program. And eventually went to the office to have breakfast and chill.

Everyone was supposed to come through at 930. I took a walk over to the lodge to move the table carts since it is probably not the best idea to move the big tables myself. It's hard to balance what I should and shouldnt do these days. But it felt like it wouldn't be a good idea.

While I was over there I noticed that the stove top looked like it was on? But it was actually the pilot lights being very very tall? So I called Heather for her opinion and she told me to check with Joe. Who eventually would tell me they got taller after it was serviced this summer but it seems wrong to me. But he knows better then I would so I left that and walked back to the office to sit with Heather.

Her birthday was yesterday and she said she had a really nice weekend celebrating. We talked about my job plans for the next year. Being available only as needed and not every day. Picking up different job shifts at the museum and other things I may focus on. She made me feel very supported.

And when we saw Gabe from indigo's car I would go over to the lodge to meet him.

I was frustrated that the other puhtok staff were still not there. They were supposed to be in at 930. They would actually roll up after 10. After me and Gabe had already finished setting up the 10 tables and 80 chairs. I was not happy with them at all. But I tried to be chill and told them what they would need to do. I tried to take charge because no one else was going to. Elizabeth is sick and Sarah is stuck in Tampa. Hopefully she's made it out by now, as she left at 2am. But with the traffic jams because of the storm I am pretty worried about her.

The day would go really well though. The kindergartners were so lovely. And I had a lot of fun hanging out with them.

We started in the amphitheater with their normal intro, warming up bodies and giving rules about being in charge of your body and not touching anyone else's. We were originally going to break into 5 groups but the teachers asked to do 3 so they could stay with their classes. Fair but man those are big groups. But it would go early because fine. I just had to talk really loud.

I took the biggest group. With 25 kids and 6 adults. And I think we had a lot of fun. We talked about mushrooms. We identified ferns and spice berries. We pet carpet moss and turkey tail mushrooms. We talked about how we identify dead trees and what termite damage looks like. And it was just really fun. I don't think it was my best hike every, mainly because I don't think the end of the line could always hear me. But I did my best and I had a lot of fun.

When we got to the Glen Gabe took over to lead a scavenger hunt. Half the group had to use the bathroom though so I would take them back up the hill to go to the latrines. And when we were done there we would walk back down to meet the group and then walked to lunch. And I tried to stop where we could to point things out. And then took them to the field. Where I decided to pass off leading the group to Gabe so I didn't have to backtrack to the office and have my lunch. He was chill about it. And I said I would see them after.

My lunch was okay. Could have used a sauce but was fine. I ate and watched some TikToks and sat on the porch. It was warm enough that I could leave my fleece. And would head to the trading post to do my project.

And it was really fun. I made some examples. A girl in a dress, a turtle, a kitty, some butterflies. And the kids were really into it! Not all of them understood exactly and we're mainly just flying down leaves. But overall it was a really positive experience and they looked like they had fun.

We would run out of glue right before 2. Which was perfect and let me clean up and head out. I needed to get out of there by 215 so that I could go home and change and charge my phone before going to the museum. I let Adam from indigo know. And would text Tony. I figured I set up everything, the others could put the tables and chairs away.

But apparently not? I heard back from Tony that he had to leave for his other job too. Okay. So I texted Nick. He was the one driving Tony. So I gave up. I let Elizabeth and Heather know I wasn't sure if things were cleaned up and apologized for that.

But I couldn't stay.

I would get home before 3. Which just gave me enough time to change and charge my phone. I took ten minutes to sit down and fixed my makeup. I felt kind of uncomfortable but I figured I just needed to eat.

My plan was to go to Jimmy John's before the museum. And Im so glad I did. It was exactly what I wanted. I got stuck in a little traffic but I got to the shopping center with plenty of time to eat there. I listened to a podcast and enjoyed my sandwich and felt a lot better.

And I would have a pretty excellent evening. It really would have only been improved by more people coming back to the galleries.

When I got there I gave James lots of hugs and went to set up a chase for printing. I chatted with Meril and Jesse. And later I would get my very own key for the museum and I'm thrilled about that.

But not a lot of people came back to the galleries. Even though they set up a bar back there! So I would chat with the bar tender for a while. I would have about ten or so people come back who were awesome though.

I had like a 15 minute conversation with a couple who were fascinated by everything. By the machines. By the prints and blocks. Even by me. I would print off some of our image blocks special for them. And told them all about my background and how I ended up here. How I get to work with my husband sometimes. And it was just really great. And when no one was back there I just printed or sat on my stool and chilled. Meril would come check on me but mainly I was just hanging out.

I did have one surprising conversation. A man came in and said his wife used to do letter press but she stopped when she was pregnant because she couldn't touch the lead. What???! This was not something I had considered at all. Should I not be in this room?? Like I'm careful, I wash my hands after. I don't put things in my mouth. But I guess the whole room is technically contaminated. I texted James. And they also become concerned. So I would send a message to my OB office to see what they think.

At 7 I would clean up. And hung out talking to Meril about my hopes for my job over the next year. Very similar to my conversation with Heather. And Meril has such similar energy and makes me feel so listened to. I'm really glad we get to work in this department together, she's really great.

She would run over to their office to bring me my new front door key. She made a big show of giving it to me which was super sweet. And soon I was heading out. See you guys in a few days.

I got stuck in the parking lot because people were confused about where the road was. But it was okay. I got out of there. I almost forgot the groceries James bought and left in the fridge for me to bring home but I didn't forget. And I asked James to please have cream cheese wontons ready for me when I got home.

Traffic was bad again and other drivers were terrible. On our block again!! When someone passed around me when I was about to turn into the alley. They are so lucky I wasn't making a quick turn because that was insane and could have been so bad. I had to take a moment to collect myself.

But I parked and came inside and was super happy to see Sweetp and James. We hugged. Then we picked up Sweetp and hugged with him between us and he hated that. James showed me that the other set of curtains came and they would put those up. I'm very pleased about that.

I had my wontons. And came upstairs to sip water. I would eventually go back down to tell James my fears and thoughts about the hurricane. And how it brings up my fears about having to evacuate and what I might grab and take with us. How I want to get a travel container for Crabcake, like we have one for Sweetp. We should have a way to transport everyone in an emergency. It's important.

But now I'm back in bed. Finishing this post. I'm going to take a shower and get ready for bed. Tomorrow I am probably staying home. I told Heather to let me know if I'm needed because if not I have things I would like to work on here. Specifically I want to make more plushies. I haven't made new ones in months and my supplies are low. So wish me luck with that. I hope I have motivation tomorrow.

I also hope you all have a good evening. Sleep well and be safe. Goodnight!!

[the1trueanon]

I FINALLY GOT THESE DONE HERE WE GO:

ACTOR AU SAGE!!!

Fun fact! Actor AU is currently the only WH AU to have a version of Sage instead of Rosemary! :D

Her intro stuff is really long, so I'll put it under the cut (AAAA IM SO EXCITED TO SHARE HER)!!

So, for the Actor AU, Sage actually isn't an actor at all! She's a singer and songwriter who has pretty recently (like, within the past year or two before meeting the WH cast, maybe?) become very popular. Sage's personality and music draw a lot of inspiration from AURORA and MALINDA -- songs that tend to have a lot of deeper meaning behind them. She's eccentric and honestly a bit weird, but she's most known for being open and honest about herself and her music, and for being very caring and sweet. She's able to immediately connect to people and help them see different points of view, which is part of why she's gotten so popular with both puppet and human audiences.

Wally, of course, doesn't really trust it, considering how he thinks and what he believes. He assumes she's probably just another attention-hungry diva, thinking they're the shit, using the whole "lets all be best buds!" schtick to sell out. So he doesn't really pay attention to her or what she does too much, besides taking note of her rising popularity.

That is, of course, until he meets her.

Due to Sage's rising popularity, the show executives decide to have her come on the show as a sort of guest star. Wally doesn't really like this, but they're able to negotiate him to at least try it out for an episode and they'll decide what to do after that. Wally reluctantly agrees, but he's not too optimistic about it. He's really just expecting another one of those "rising star" types, y'know? (Which, fair enough, when you consider what all he's probably had to deal with in his time, plus the fact that all he's probably ever seen or heard of her is in interviews, and he puts on an act well enough for his, so.)

I have a whole actual comic planned detailing this that I'll hopefully finish and get out soon (sitting and writing comics is hard when you have near-zero focus QwQ) but essentially he's outside, before filming for the first day of this, just to get air before having to go back in and start directing things and getting ready and she approaches him and just starts talking with him. And he has no idea who the fuck this is??? (Honest to god, he'll never admit it now but he thought she was an intern or something at first XD) But slowly he goes from just answering her shortly to actually participating in the conversation?? And not just a "how's the weather" sort of thing, but like. Actual deep conversation, about what he's doing out there and talking through a little bit of the stress and stuff. And eventually he kinda like, comes to and realizes he's been talking way too much about way too deep stuff and he's like "hold up who tf are you again?" Which is about the same time her manager (who has been named Savannah and she's also a sweetheart) comes out looking for her and before Sage heads in she fully introduces herself to him, and he's just. Stunned. Absolutely blown away.

Here he was, expecting some diva he'd have to give the shake down to, but instead he's met with just. A girl. An honest, strange, caring girl.

This continues throughout that week of filming, Sage subverting every expectation Wally previously had of her. The whole time he's just more and more startled by Sage and who she is. Her whole team is super sweet and she obviously has very deep trust in them, and jokes with them like friends. She treats his staff with utmost respect (which, admittedly, makes him act on his best behavior every time she's around. He doesn't wanna look bad in comparison XD). She seems to genuinely enjoy her time there and what she's doing. Even more than that, Sage honestly has a very poor filter, so she talks a lot about everything lol, but it can be good! Because this is how Wally learns about her drive to create and how much she genuinely wants to bring people together. He finds out that really, the two of them have very similar visions, just for different audiences. Later, he and the executives and director and stuff are all discussing if they wanna keep doing stuff with her and her team and he's just immediately like "Yes. Absolutely. She has a similar vision to me. We either keep doing stuff with her or I'm personally helping fund her, capiche?" and they're all like "👀Got it" XD

And then, of course, there's her music. Which, after that first day of filming, he searches up as much of as he can and listens to it. And is again absolutely blown away lmao (there's another little comic idea I have for this too hehehe but its much shorter than the other one)

And thus begins Wally's journey of self-improvement, led by Sage's example /j XDDDD

ANYWAY HRGHRGHRGHRHGR THATS ALL THE EXPOSITION IMMA GIVE HERE CAUSE THATS A LOT AND THERE'S STILL A TON MORE STORY IN MY BRAIN BUT AUUUGGGHHH I'M SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS AU (also Frills, I have no idea what spell you've put on me with this thing but I have never made such cinematic art before O-O don't stop XD)

As always, Welcome Home belongs to Clown (partycoffin) and Actor/Diva Wally and the Actor AU belong to the wonderful @frillsand!! 💖💖💖

[old-strongest-soldier-jyl]

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME DONATION ASKS. I am Muslim, I'm hurting about Palestine as much as everyone, and I will reblog campaigns that I see if I believe they are trustworthy and have been vetted by trustworthy blogs. But I won't answer your dono asks. Instead, consider posting your campaign on your own blog so that others can reblog it :3 that way more people can see it (I know we don't do number comparing on this site so I won't give any specific numbers, but my blog is exceptionally small and there are much larger blogs that will see your campaign).

I will block you if you post anything suggestive. It's nothing personal, I promise, that sort of thing just makes me really uncomfy. This includes but is not limited to scantly dressed women or drawings of female characters in very revealing clothes, such as beach clothing.

Also, I edit this intro post frequently :3

Hai I'm Jyl :3

Ok, introductions, hai. I'm Jyl (pronounced either like "Jill," the character, or "Jile," as in "vile" but replace the v with a j). I'm J's strongest soldier, which is where I got the name from :3

I also have a sideblog called FeedTheBeast. It's Murder Drones themed, just like this blog, but my posts there are slightly different (read the pinned post there and see if you're interested!)

My interests and stuff

As you might imagine, I'm an avid Murder Drones fan (and J is my favorite character), which is what this blog is about. I'm also a math major (yes I'm an adult), Doom fan, and I have a dozen other interests and hyperfixations. Feel free to talk to me about them, but this blog is a Murder Drones blog exclusively (probably) :3

What can you expect from this blog?

I'll start by making this clear up-front: This is not a role-play blog. I am not pretending to be J, or even pretending to be an OC that exists in the Murder Drones universe. Jyl is just me, not some in-universe character :3

I don't personally make any fanart myself, and thusly haven't written any fanfiction (though I do have ideas!). If I end up making anything, I'll post it here, but until then, I'll just reblog other nice art and sprinkle my own thoughts in between.

I won't reblog anything that I believe to be raunchier than what is actually depicted in the show (in the show, the most that happens is N and Uzi holding hands and hugging and stuff). Please don't take this to mean that I think the art is bad, I actually think every artist is very talented and creates amazing work, but my sensitivity towards works that make me feel uncomfy is just higher than most people's.

As of right now, the intention is to keep this blog exclusively Murder Drones related, but I guess that might change in the future if I find something really compelling that I want to reblog.

That's for reblogs, but for original posts, there are two main things I'd like to do:

I started posting one line of Murder Drones per day here. Every day, I reblog the previous post and add on the next line. The goal is to eventually finish the entire series :3

Other Murder Drones ramblings. I especially have a lot to say about J (as you might imagine), and will probably occasionally go through the effort of writing the "J rant" again, where I discuss the evidence that Cyn tortured J between the Gala Massacre and the start of the show, which is why J willingly sides with Cyn during the series, and how that makes me sad and how I'm sad about how J is alone and all that. This is something that I feel very strongly about, and yes, I will likely randomly just rewrite it all because I care so much.

Assorted collection of my very best/favorite posts that I've made

The "root post" of my daily-line-of-md endeavor

The original "Mrones Boomer Shooter" post

The sequel to the "Mrones Boomer Shooter" post

Some sadness about how the series is over

The promise of a J mronesfic

J's voice post-ep8

A hint about Jepression that was present in ep1

The entire analysis of FOREVER from the lens of J

"Get tunnel visioned on spooky corpse robot reveal"

Talking about Pen Friend J in Berry Wires

Wanna talk?

I have DMs closed, but I don't mind people submitting Asks, or just saying things in replies. Use common sense, you know the drill.

If you're interested, start an Ask with "(Pen-Friend J)" and then, when I answer it, I'll try to write an answer that I think J would write. Once again, though, this isn't an RP thing, please submit questions, even Pen-Friend J questions, as yourself, and not as an in-universe character. I will try my best to answer "as J," but your mileage may vary, as I'm not an author and probably am not the best at capturing J's voice in my writing.

Also, I'm not very good at this whole Tumblr thing, so if there's something you think I should change, please lmk in Asks :3 I don't mind if there's a bit of culture or common practice that you'd want to inform me on, so I can be a better Tumblrer, just please be nice about it :3

Old intro for the people interested:

I honestly don't really know how Tumblr works but I see most people here make an introduction post so I'll do one too.

I'm J's Strongest Soldier, and you can call me Jyl (pronounced "Jill" or "Jile," pick the one you like more). This is a kind of generic Murder Drones blog.

I don't make much in the way of fanworks but I might post other people's stuff that I like. If I do get around to making any fanfiction then I'll post it here too.

I want to keep this blog clean. There won't be anything raunchier than what is on the show itself here.

In real life I'm a math major and don't mind talking about that too, but I don't plan on posting anything math related here. You can still bring it up to me if you want.

For any experienced Tumblr frens out there, lmk if there's anything I should change. I haven't really changed any of my account settings from the defaults. Please let me know how to use this site. I don't want to do something wrong and accidentally make people mad.