#like yes there is the whole corpse thing if it is . part of a timeline where That happens

[ahsterism]

there are so many reasons why michael should not be allowed to work the day shift but i, an agent of chaos, would like to see him work day shifts anyways

[thewertsearch]

AA: the entry point for any bubble is always a memory AA: either a memory of the dead AA: or a memory of the living dreamer come to visit!

Doomed Dave never saw his brother’s corpse, so this must the memory of a 'living dreamer' - presumably, Dave Prime. His dream self is alive, so he can't visit a bubble in person, but it seems like his memories are still accessible.

... actually, this could also be Bro's memory. He's a child of Sburb, just like the Players, so his ghost might qualify for bubble preservation.

TG: i dont remember this AA: thats because it isnt your memory AA: this is alpha dave

Maybe this does still count as Doomed Dave’s bubble. Even though he didn't experience this memory, it's still a memory of a Dave. Perhaps ghosts can recall their other lives, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once style.

In any case, it looks like Doomed Dave can spectate on the session after his death. He still has an opportunity to help his friends, by collaborating with other ghosts and relaying intel to the living.

TG: is TG: bro dead there […] AA: […] yes your guardian did die […] TG: dammit TG: what did i do wrong [..] AA: nothing AA: all is well and as it should be

From whose perspective, Aradia? Because I don't think either Dave is having a good time in this situation.

Maybe she's just clarifying that this event is part of the Alpha Timeline. I guess that technically means things are 'as they should be', but all is definitely not well.

TG: whats he doing TG: alpha me AA: what would you be doing there if you were him […] AA: would you be upset TG: yeah TG: sorta

Dave’s clearly not sure if he would mourn Bro. That single 'sorta' reveals a whole lot more about their relationship than he probably intended.

AA: then maybe what you are doing is grieving AA: in whatever way that comes naturally to you […] AA: i could not for a long time AA: but now that i can again im so relieved AA: because i have discovered there is no reason to grieve!

Aradia's completely ecstatic, and I think I understand why.

Her depression was always tied directly to her fatalism. Aradia was a feather in the gale of Paradox Space, powerless to prevent the deaths of the people she loved. All she could do was watch fate do its work.

Now, though, she's seen the afterlife. She's discovered that even deaths sanctioned by the Alpha aren’t absolute - that everyone she knew was doomed is still here. There was no reason to grieve, because her loved ones were never really gone.

Aradia's first emotion upon regaining a body was joy, closely followed by overwhelming relief. It's the least she deserves.

[the-lonelyshepherd]

Had my ninety millionth rewatch of Yellowjackets because I wanted to work on drawing the girls. Been thinking about Jackie's butterfly shirt and how Shauna later on wears it. Not to mention to Shauna wears other butterfly shirts. any thoughts on if the butterfly symbolism was intentional? -💀

HI YES. i had like. so many thoughts on this all at once. i reasearched a lot of butterfly shit for a personal project before and it all just clicked in yj context. a warning that this is going to be rambley its going to be messy and some of it might be a stretch. yippee!

SOO first off its def like. butterflies are a very common just design for shirts in the 90s so its def just like part of the period wardrobe. HOWEVER. jackie and shauna, as far as i know, are the only characters seen wearing butterfly shirts (and i could be wrong but even so theyre the only characters with repeated obvious butterfly shirts including in the adult timeline). which is very interesting.

so heres shaunas butterfly shirt (note the words)

jackie's butterfly shirt and.. shauna wearing it (note the scene)

adult shauna also wears a butterfly shirt im 99% sure it was like black with a white butterfly design. i need to find a pic rgh

SO LETS START

first off - what is butterfly symbolism?

butterfly symbolism is literally anything you want it to be. its such a common symbol if you look it up theres millions of websites on weird slightly not so slightly appropriating spirit bs and a shitton of vague statements. so lets narrow the question.

what is butterfly symbolism in the context of yellowjackets?

much better. my personal view on it is this - butterflies, in a multitude of cultures, are a symbol of hope. theyre pretty theyre flappy theyre whatever. but butterflies are also a symbol of change, of transformation. but what i think is so interesting about butterflies as change is when we look at how butterflies change.

butterfly transformation is inherently something of horror. its a gorey, bloody transformation where the caterpillar literally dissolves in a chamber of its own making and reforms into something completely different. but the thing i find so fascinating is that its not a whole new thing - its literally a restructuring of the caterpillar. its something that was always there.

and this exact thing is imo one of the central themes of yellowjackets - they were always these people. What the wilderness did is amplified it, twisted it, made it louder and more obvious and definitely more bloody. but the violence and the competitiveness and the drama? was always there. look at allie, look at shauna and jeff. what the wilderness did was give them a stage (a chrysalis, if you will) to transform.

What about the specific shirt designs?

Lets start with shauna. Its a basic design with 6 butterflies of various kinds, but the most notable thing for me is the text. "Lueur d'espoir

yeah i used google translate whatever its not like ive been taking french classes for years. or something. let me live.

so. as you can see its "glimmer of hope" which goes hand in hand with the common butterfly symbolism. but actions overpower words because with a lot of shauna's actions, (ie 2.07 massive girl on girl violence) shes pretty much the opposite of hope. shes giving into the brutal violence that the wilderness is bringing out in all of them and hell she even relishes it. its an almost comedic grasp at imitating jackie when really shes the opposite side of the butterfly symbolism coin - transformation. but specifically metamorphasis. this side of her was always there.

now its number time!!

shaunas shirt has 6 butterflies and jackies has 3. jackie is literally half of what makes up shauna - without jackie she loses a significant piece of herself. i might throw up.

after jackies death shauna does everything she can to get her back. not only does she talk to jackies corpse for months, she literally EATS her. but theres also more subtle attempts to get that part of herself back - like wearing her "missing half" - the butterfly shirt. its all in vain really because its with that grasping at anything she has left of jackie and order and everything she used to know, with that shirt, that she commits one of the most brutal acts of violence in the entire show. also shauna wears it while beating up lottie after wilderness baby dies and wb was basically the last living (rip) thing she has of jackie. ough.

back to shaunas original shirt, the one with six butterflies. 6 is a number commonly associated with nurturing energy, and sometimes maternal. sound familiar?

similarly, jackie(shauna)'s 3 butterfly shirt - 3 in general is a very powerful number symbolically. the birth-life-death cycle, the mind-body-soul connection, things coming in threes. jackieshauna and whatever they connect to be that wilderness baby, jeff, callie, the wilderness in general maybe lottie. who knows!! the toxic homoerotic bestfriendship spares no one.

ALSO the butterflies on jackies 3 shirt are monarchs which are commonly associated with the dead and more specifically remembrance of the dead. throws up.

so overall!

the butterfly shirts could very much be just be time period wardrobing but i do think there is at least some significance given jackie and shauna are the only characters (as far as i know) who repeatedly wear butterfly shirts.

butterflies in jackie's context are almost a satire of the hope theyre supposed to represent - jackie has lost all hope by clinging to a past she can never get back to. in most cases she would be a hopeful character - take akilahs clinging to wiskayok, doing SAT prep and talking about her family. but the difference with jackie is that she clings to it as if it were already dead. she has this passive suicidality because she knows that shes never going back to what was and she REFUSES to transform. a catterpillar who doesnt pupate and dies never changing.

butterflies in shauna's context i think point to the gorey, transformative yet revealing nature of the wilderness. similar to metamorphosis, through a complete restrucuring of what was already there in the optimal conditions for change, we see this violent, bloody, version of Shauna emerge in the wilderness. Similarly to the twisting of butterfly metaphors, shauna also represents a twisted kind of hope through her pregancy. Inherently a birth is supposed to be a symbol of new life, of hope and joy. And for a while the baby is a symbol of hope! you have the babyshower raising spirits etc. but everyone knows it was doomed from the start. in the wilderness a birth is not a thing of hope but a thing of horror - its seeing your teammates mouths covered with blood and its burying your son when you too are still a child.

soo yeah. butterflies. dont know how much of this is gonna make sense but it definately made me think about things

[gxlds-doodles]

was thinking abt how much i miss the 2014-2015 era fnaf fandom and it's interpretations of the characters (oh vincent purple guy how i miss you.) so new au alert!! lil chibis of my vincent n phone guy <3 designs are very much inspired by the popular designs for them around that time (originally popularized/created by rebornica i believe - though these are completely separate from their au i am not associated with them in any way shape or form) 🎉✧ SUPER COOL EPIC LORE INFO UNDER THE CUT!!!!!!! ✧🎉

general lore ☆ basically a whole rewrite - not because i have issues with the story (i stopped paying full attention after sister location tbh) just for fun!! again very much based on me missing 2010s fnaf fandom that was PEAK to me ☆ i still tie in some pieces of the lore but for the most part. forget what u know abt fnaf this is a whole rewrite (ex. animatronics are sentient but not possessed by children - not possessed at all in fact!! except for perhaps a few exceptions but i'm working on it) ☆ these two have quite a lot of canon lore tie-ins but beyond these two it's different LOL ☆ set in or around 2014, timeline is a wip vincent dorian (formerly afton) ☆ italian on his dad's side, armenian on his mom's side ☆ william afton's only child, born while freddy's was open but doesn't remember it rlly - his father and henry emily were co-owners/business partners but split ways (aka william got fired bc henry found out what he did. why he didn't bring this to the cops i'm still working out) soon after he was born ☆ raised by william as a single father ☆ was forced to help his father kill since he was like 12 this guy's got TRAUMA. ☆ still deciding on why he's purple (boy why you ourple.) but ik that it's william's fault. idk if i wanna go the walking corpse route like with michael in canon yet ☆ cuts off his dad when he's 18 - moves out on his own, etc. ☆ still kills for reasons i am currently working on however he does NOTTTT kill children ☆ starts working at freddy's at 27 as a way to 'rebel' against his dad, even if he hasn't seen him in yeeears by this point ☆ night guard at first, eventual day shift guard and sometimes a technician when needed ☆ his hair is naturally still black - he dyes it purple bc he thinks it looks cool ☆ his red scrunchie matches the red of phone guy's head <3 scott emily ☆ THE DRAWING IS OF A VERY SPECIFIC POINT IN THE AU I HAVE YET TO FLESH OUT it's not the most reflective of his character overall ☆ puerto rican ☆ henry emily's only child - remembers a tiny bit about william, remembers being scared shitless of him ☆ gets caught in a fire set by william when he's 16. he barely makes it out alive ☆ henry makes him the phone head mask thing. it can *technically* be removed but it never is bc it keeps the scars that never quite fully healed from getting worse ☆ head somehow works like a real phone... don't ask i just thought the idea of him ringing when he feels strong emotions is rlly funny (henry makes sentient animatronics in this au he can do anything. everyone say ty plot device dad!!) ☆ has some sort of contacts made by his dad that allow him to see through the phone ☆ grew up with the restaurant, his dad managed the location he's currently at until passing the business and the manager position onto him when he was 25 and henry was ready to retire ☆ henry told scott the full truth about william shortly before retiring - including that he set the fire that he got caught in. it's made him pretty paranoid that he's coming for him or something's gonna happen to him, even if neither of them have heard from william since then and he's essentially off the grid ☆ always at the restaurant during opening hours but rarely ever seen bc he doesn't want to scare any of the kids with his phone head vincent & scott ☆ yes they're dating. everyone cheer!! early fandom purplephone was my SHITTTT i love them so much ugh they r everything 2 me ☆ ngl they remind me of poolverine (deadpool x wolverine). vincent is deadpool (VERY accurate.) and scott is wolverine (less accurate but their dynamic stands) ☆ scott finds vincent annoying at first but eventually warms up to him and now he loooooves him. he's still annoying but he loooooooooves him ☆ scott doesn't know vince is william's son at first since he changed his surname and looks completely different ☆ they're just rlly cute and deeply in love and got some angsty shit going on later but that'll be a surprise oooo

[nonsensicalramblings79]

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and parallels in OFMD

2.7k word meta

If you haven’t read my other post about why I’m talking about albatrosses in the first place, read the first part of this and come back! All of this will make the most sense if you read all of the parts I’ve written – I’ve split them up for ease of reading, because holy shit this is long.

TWs: animal death, blood, eating animals, starvation, emotional abuse, physical abuse, gunshot injuries, suicidal ideation, canon-typical mental health problems

MAJOR OFMD SPOILERS THROUGH S2E03

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let me start out by saying that yes, this is anachronistic – this poem wasn’t written until 1798. I also don’t care: Oluwande is wearing crocs, Stede’s “corpse” is crushed by a piano whose maker won’t exist until 1863, Blackbeard’s got his whole leather-daddy getup, Zheng Yi Sao won’t be born until 1775 – OFMD plays fast and loose with historical accuracy, and I am never going to dismiss an OFMD theory because the timeline doesn’t match up :P

Now that that’s out of the way, a little bit of background information. Long summary incoming.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem written by English poet Samuel Coleridge. The story is told through the words of the mariner, who has recently survived some horrifying ordeals, soon to be told to a poor unsuspecting stranger who just wants to attend a wedding. As the story goes, the mariner set out with his crew of 200-some-odd men, and everything’s going just peachy until some storms pick up and drive them toward the South Pole. Stranded and lost, the crew fear for their lives, until an albatross appears. At the same time that the albatross appears, the storms clear, the helmsman is able to make their way through the ice of the South Pole, and a southern wind picks up, pushing them back north. The albatross follows the ship, but the mariner believes that it is somehow responsible for the mists and fog that now surround the ship, so he shoots the bird with his crossbow. At that point, the fog and mists actually do clear up (by coincidence or otherwise) – and the crew praise the captain for taking down the bird.

But it’s a fickle crowd – soon the wind stops blowing, and the ship is becalmed; the crew blame the Mariner for killing the bird that had been their good luck. They sit in the middle of the ocean for days or weeks, dying of thirst. They cannot even speak, they’re so thirsty – but they make sure that the Mariner knows that he is to blame for this by tying the albatross’s body around his neck and forcing him to wear it like a grotesque necklace. Eventually, everyone on the ship except the Mariner dies (there’s a bit here about Death and Life-in-Death rolling dice to see who lives and who dies – the important part is that none of the crew survives).

Finally, the Mariner is left alone on his ship of corpses, which strangely do not smell or rot. He wishes he could die, but he doesn’t. During this time, he begins to appreciate what there is left to appreciate – the life around him in the ocean, in the air, “all things both great and small” – and the curse is lifted from him. The albatross detaches from around his neck and sinks into the ocean.

From this point on, the story goes about as you’d expect – the curse being lifted, the wind picks up again, setting the Mariner speeding back home (though, perhaps unexpectedly, his crew gets to come back as zombies for a short while to man the ship until it reaches land again, at which point they die again. RIP). As the ship is coming upon the Mariner’s homeland, it sinks like a rock to the bottom of the ocean – a hermit happens to see the Mariner floating out there and comes to pick him up, thinking he’s dead. When the Mariner opens his eyes, the hermit believes him to be the Devil himself (I mention this only because I think the wording of “Demon? I’m the fuckin’ Devil” lines up perfectly with this).

As penance for shooting the albatross (as if all of this so far wasn’t enough), the Mariner spends the rest of his days wandering the earth, telling his story and making random wedding-goers sad.

HOO BOY, that was a lot. (A whopper, one might say.) Thanks for sticking with me so far.

Now, some of the parallels between this poem and the events of OFMD are more neat and tidy than others are. The biggest parallel, obviously, is the link between the albatross and the “impossible birds” that Ed references in S2E01 – the entire reason I started reading this poem to begin with. The links between the show and the poem are not ones that I think the characters in the show (Ed) are consciously making. I think these allusions more reflect the themes and symbols that the writers and directors want us as the audience to pick up on. Therefore, the “impossible birds” conversation in canon is not talking about albatrosses in the sense that they are commonly referenced in literature, as the proverbial weight around one’s neck that represents guilt – but we can still talk about that symbolism outside of canon.

And talk about it I will.

For those of us who have watched the show, it probably goes without saying that Ed’s got a fair amount of guilt, shame, psychological trauma, etc. that he carries around with him. So if we’re going to invoke the albatross metaphor following S2E3, what specifically can we say is Ed’s “albatross?” There are a few candidates that immediately come to mind. It could be his guilt surrounding a) his father’s murder; b) Lucius’s attempted murder; c) the abusive, toxic relationship that he carried on with Izzy; or maybe even d) himself.

That last one is a little esoteric, so let me explain. Ed hates himself – aside from all the self-destructive tendencies as evidence, he admits it out loud in his dream with Hornigold in S2E03. I wonder if the albatross that is hanging around Blackbeard’s neck is Edward – the real Edward, the one that is more than just his fame, his terrifying persona, his violence-as-a-form-of-love tendencies – the Edward that Stede fell in love with. I wonder whether Ed’s guilt surrounds more than just how he’s hurt others, but how he feels he has killed a truer, better version of himself, and that he can never regain it. In line with The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, killing this “albatross” of a better Edward didn’t just kill him – it killed everyone around him as well. And now, after he has borne the blame of others for having gotten them into this situation, he is forced to wear…himself. The guilt that weighs him down is the knowledge that there is a version of him that was loved, that Stede loved, and in his eyes, he has killed that version of himself.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge a post (or several posts) that I saw several months back in relation to season 1. In these posts [Link1, Link2], smarter people than me drew a connection between a metaphorical albatross and the black cravat that Stede gives to Ed – and that Ed continues to wear until he and Stede change into their privateering academy garb. Something both of those posts touch on is how the cravat represents Stede, and I think that is completely true; however, I posit that the cravat represents the fact that Ed is lovable.

Something that’s been pointed out in the past 48 hours since these episodes dropped is that Ed is not wearing the cravat during the first parts of season 2. Only when he essentially decides to kill himself via storm do we see him once again wearing the cravat (the cravat is also noticeably absent from the purgatory dream sequence).

What exactly this means is still shaky to me – in my mind, Ed does canonically see the cravat as a reminder of his “real” self, and he puts it away and tries to hide it while he’s still…well, functioning is far too strong of a word, but at least not actively suicidal like we see at the end of episode 2. I think hearing Izzy supposedly shoot himself is what pushes Ed over the edge into being actively suicidal; perhaps at this point, some part of Ed is still hoping against hope that he can convince himself not to do it, to wait for Stede. Alternatively, it may be that if he dies here, he wants to take the idea of a “better him” with him.

In the sense of the cravat representing the albatross (meaning the cravat presence is not a choice of the characters, but of costume design), the cravat being missing during the batshit-insane-high-on-rhino-horn Kraken era may represent him not actually feeling the guilt of losing himself during this time. He may have actually convinced himself that a lovable version of himself never existed, and he’s living guilt-free. The guilt comes back when he hears Izzy shoot himself – he’s reminded that he caused this by killing a version of himself that Izzy trusted and even loved, in his own fucked-up way. From then on, the cravat is back on – the guilt is back, and it’s strong enough to induce the kamikaze-type rage we see in the storm.

(Important to note here that while I stand by this interpretation, I’m not sure how it fits with the fact that Ed is wearing the cravat just after the Krakening – the moment when he’s looking back on the island that he just abandoned the Revenge crew on in S1E10.)

I’m leaving this one for myself to come back to later on the off-chance I have some sort of epiphany.

Oh wow, you’re still here?? Probably time for a water break. Go on, the rest will be here when you get back. And there’s unfortunately quite a lot more that still needs to move from my brain to this Word doc.

Ready? Ok.

So that’s one possible interpretation of what Ed’s “albatross” is – I won’t spend time on other possibilities because what I’ve laid out here is the interpretation that I most strongly subscribe to. But all that is only really addressing one part of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Granted, it’s the most important part, symbolically, but there are some other parallels that I want to address that together convince me that the writers of OFMD are actually, specifically referencing this poem.

Obviously, there’s a parallel in that both the happenings of the poem and OFMD occur on actual, physical ships, captained by the man who ends up “shooting the albatross” and being rightfully blamed for it. Both of these ships suffer because of the dead albatross – physically, both ships are taken through devastating storms, and both ships are falling apart. The ship in the poem stops moving indefinitely because of a becalming (all wind and ocean currents stopped); the Revenge stops moving indefinitely because Ed removes the wheel. Both ships suffer casualties – in the poem, everyone dies, and on the Revenge, those crew members may be physically alive, but they are haunted by it. The poem makes note of the fact that the crew died of thirst – while this doesn’t seem to be a main concern on the Revenge, the show does show us, rather graphically, that they were beginning to starve, having to catch and eat raw seagulls to survive (note that dead birds are also a recurring theme in OFMD, leading me to believe even more that albatross references are intentional).

There’s an interesting pattern in the poem concerning dead people – specifically, how they don’t seem to be entirely dead at first. Firstly, the crew that die of thirst drop dead, one by one, on the deck of the Mariner’s ship. However, the poet notes that the bodies did not decompose or smell. Later, these bodies are resurrected by whatever sea spirit chooses to spare the Mariner’s life, using the bodies to man the ship and sail it back to shore. When they are done with this, they drop dead once more, staying on the ship as it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. When the hermit finds the Mariner floating in the ocean, he thinks him dead, before the Mariner’s eyes shoot open (similar to a certain someone at the end of S2E03).

In season 1, I can’t think of any instances wherein someone was presumed to be dead, but actually wasn’t, aside from Stede’s fuckery. However, this theme has come up at least 3 times in season 2 so far: Lucius being the obvious one, then Izzy, and finally Ed himself (and if I’m understanding correctly, Ed was actually, literally, cold-in-the-ground physically dead, not just “presumed dead.” This might be clarified in a future episode). That seems…intentional.

Side note: how long was Ed supposed to have been dead? Days? Didn’t anyone notice that he wasn’t, like, rotting? Especially when “the smell of rot” has been something that very consistently shows up in the show when it’s relevant (see: Lucius’s finger infection, Ed being able to smell Izzy through the walls of the ship).

One more thing: the last thing that the Mariner sees when leaving the shore, and the first thing he sees when he gets back? A lighthouse. Now, could that just be a coincidence, with lighthouses being a very common image in sea-based stories? Sure. But I’m choosing to believe that this poem was chosen (and yes, I say chosen – as in the writers took inspiration from this poem) specifically because it has so much imagery in common with OFMD.

These are admittedly tenuous links between the poem and the show, but they are links, so I’m including them.

The last thing I want to mention about this poem is how its “moral,” if it can be said to have one, is to treat living things with respect – you as a person do not live in a vacuum, and your actions have consequences for others, not just yourself. And I think this sentiment lines up incredibly well with a line that Jim has in S2E02:

…

There was a time when life meant something on this ship. When we lived for each other.

…

According to Jim (and according to literally everything the show has been telling us), the ship was a safe place when the people onboard cared about each other. Fang mentions that Blackbeard didn’t even react when Ivan died; Blackbeard callously shoots his first mate, with the intent of having him killed; he doesn’t even care about his own life and whether he lives or dies. Just like in the poem, this is the issue that needs to be resolved in order for the curse to be lifted – the Mariner (Ed) needs to rekindle an appreciation for life. In the poem, this is a simple “every living thing is special” kind of epiphany – I get the feeling it’s going to be a much more complicated journey in OFMD, especially since the show as a whole is somewhat irreverent concerning the deaths of non-recurring characters. For Ed, I imagine it’s going to be more of an appreciation for his own life – not the value of life on the whole, but the value that his life holds.

So. That’s a lot of words that I just typed – I’m hoping at least some of them made sense. Huge thank you to anyone who made it this far! This is all I’ve got on this particular poem, but I’ve still got more things I want to say about another poem called L’albatros (Charles Baudelaire) and how it relates to Ed and his perception of himself. It’s a huge stretch to say that this poem exists in-universe and Ed has read it, but it makes sense to me and I want to get my thoughts down on (virtual) paper – I’ll link to it in the original introductory post (link to that at the top of this post!).

Let me know what you think!! This silly, stupid pirate show will be consuming my thoughts for at least the next several months, and I’m dying for some reciprocal opinion/info-dumping. Inbox is open!

[a-student-out-of-time]

Why is Wolfs game chapter 3 bad?

//I decided to let Timeline Anon answer this one in depth, and I hope this is the last we have to discuss this ^^;

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Hey, everyone, it’s Timeline Anon! Long time no see. I promise I will finish chronicling the V-Day arc eventually, I’ve been busy with life and my own personal projects. But for today, since Bubbles is too squeamish to answer people’s questions about the world’s worst fangan, he generously agreed to allow me to provide the explanation instead! After all, I'm the one who's introduced him to every non-Another fangan he's ever played, so it's only fitting.

So, my friend, CAN YOUR HEART STAND TO HEAR THE SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT DANGANRONPA: THE WOLF'S GAME?!?!?!?

(I will try to keep this tale as sanitized as possible.)

Danganronpa: The Wolf's Game is a fangan that is written in a text format, but still uses picture sprites (rather like how ASOOT is written). They have videos for body discoveries and executions and stuff, but the rest is as I said. It's on Wordpress for the most part. Also there is a character with Cotard's syndrome just like in that fangan Bubbles sometimes works on and off on, but that's not really important.

The killing game itself is heavily inspired by the game "Ultimate Werewolf," so there are two masterminds hidden among the cast, called the Werewolves. The Werewolves are like the Voids, but with less people and no redeeming qualities. The developer, a fellow by the name of Aquamarino, once said that he wants DRWG to be the darkest fangan ever made, saying that he hopes that it can dethrone even SDRA2 in that department. This will be important going forward.

Now, by all accounts, the first two chapters weren't so bad. I haven't actually read them because I don't have time for this shit in my life, so I don't know how good they were, but there was no Bad Stuff in them. It's Chapter 3 when things took a sharp left turn into pukesville.

Several things happened in Chapter 3. To start with, one character was accused of actually being a famous serial killer in disguise (she wasn't) on the grounds that they looked similar, and she was bullied and gaslit so hard that eventually she actually believed that she was said serial killer. As a result, she became so overcome with guilt that she committed suicide by, I shit you not, throwing herself into a vat of acid.

Then the typical double murder happened, because we will never be free of that curse. One of the victims was found horrifically murdered in a bathtub, wearing nothing but her underwear, and it was revealed that whoever killed her also sexually assaulted her. FUN!

Now we come to the Chapter 3 trial. A trial which, I would like to note, originally had no trigger warnings on it whatsoever and only added these warnings after getting backlash. The fanbase, mind you, was mostly made up of minors, but it's okay because, to quote Aquamarino, "most have a very strong stomach!"

But what's so bad about this trial, you ask? Well, it turned out that one of the victims, the one who was supposedly assaulted, faked her own death/assault and was the actual culprit of the case. and also one of the aforementioned Werewolves. Specifically, she was the Twilight Werewolf, aka the Avatar of Sin, and her whole schtick is that she has committed every mortal sin ever. Yes, all of them. Including cannibalism. And all the sex crimes. And inciting nuclear war?? She has a whole list she goes through. Also, she SA'ed the corpse of the other victim, and while she explained this to the surviving students, she ate his leg right in front of them. Disgusting. Why does she do all this? What is her motivation? Got me. She really likes to sin, I guess. I'd say that this was written by an edgy teenager obsessed with grimdark, but Aquamarino is, like, 28.

(Also, her evil design is just atrocious. She wears a long red hood and nothing else. Her hair covers up the naughty bits.)

She talks about some executions she's done in the past that are so disgusting I will not even tell you what they were. All I will mention is that children were involved.

Here's the kicker: After all that, our heroes get to decide what to do with her. No less than FOUR of the remaining students suggest SA'ing her to death. These are supposed to be the good guys. (Thankfully, that's not what they end up doing, but still!)

And that's Wolf's Game Chapter 3! I'm sure Review Anon can go into a lot more detail if they ever decide to, but suffice to say, there's a reason it's considered by everyone who knows of it to be the worst fangan of all time.

[alternis]

several days ago my brain did some calculations and beamed into my conscious thought "if third eye au tim is parallel to both cass and red hood Jason maybe he should have cotard's syndrome after shiva saves his life. he's self aware that it's an irrational delusion, but other than compartmentalisation and meditative techniques there isn't a lot he can do bc mental health care in the dcu is Real Bad"

(cotard's syndrome is a set of related delusions that the sufferer is dead/missing body parts/etc, sometimes called 'walking corpse syndrome')

its a thematically a blending of cass's death wish and Jason's "I died and came back" thing (since Jason doesn't die in this au so tim fulfills a symbolic parallel of his role as a ghost from batman past reminding him of how he failed them),

except rather than seeking death or revenge it turns inward (since Tim tends to live in his own head when stressed. a withdrawn tim is a struggling tim). like, he isn't seeking death. because on a subconscious level he's convinced he already died and is somehow still functioning. anf he's not going to put himself in dangerous situations because he thinks he deserves it, like cass, or seek revenge for his death like Jason. he's very high functioning. but it means he's also weirdly chill about the concept of dying and accepts that shiva is going to kill him some day and doesn't do a lot to avoid that future since internally it doesn't feel like a big deal.

but he definitely doesn't want to kill anybody ever again, consciously because a) his personal moral compass and b) to him his death and the act of killing zsasz are intrinsically linked. but also, on a subconscious level, being dead is terrible and he doesn't want to inflict it on another person.

it starts immediately after he wakes up from surviving the Very Traumatic Exsanguination where he absolutely would have died if it weren't for shiva's healing techniques and getting him a backalley blood transfusion (and possibly his heart gave out/had to be manually restarted for Symbolic Purposes), and is just. unobtrusively laying beneath every decision he makes going forward. it really doesn't help that death isn't a permanent condition in dc, and the more public resurrections there are the more he's like. well shit maybe this isn't such a Weird Situation.

this idea slowly permeated from the back of my head out into third eye canon

potentially, and I'm still trying to figure this one out, a version of the evil future titans plot happens but tim figures out in a private conversation with one of the evil future titans (via deduction from how they treat him as neither a potential threat nor potential ally) that in their future he's dead, and is just very chill about that concept even when he asks for more details and finds out that it'll be three months from now but none of them will be able to prevent it because none of them know the details. he just vanished, and later shiva admitted to having killed him.

so of course rather than start preparing a daring counter move (he already used up the poison gambit) he just gets his affairs in order and waits for shiva to contact him, and when she does vanishes into the night

except at this point in the timeline danny temple/krait is a reluctant teen titan member, tracks Tim down and interrupts the fight (a very bad idea! that is shivas least favourite thing!) but, unlike Tim, he has actually planned for how to prevent shiva killing his bestie/long time crush ever since he found out that she trains people in order to Duel with Them to The Death when they're at their peak prowess. so he manages to take a wounded Tim back to a secret kobra bunker and after some Dramatic Talk tim reveals the whole. 'doesn't really care about dying because he's felt dead since the day she saved him and every time he looks in the mirror all he sees is his own corpse staring back at him' thing. yes he knows it's irrational and delusional. of course he won't tell the other titans. he figured out the secret identities of half the justice league as a teenager and was trained by the world's deadliest martial artist, he cant let anybody know he's got Flaws or Instabilities bc then he'd become a potential threat (somewhere, batman feels a moment of strange validation over his paranoia towards his allies on the justice league. he shrugs and goes back to spying on green lanterns text messages)

after he finally accepts his condition may benefit from actual treatment he can go ~mad scientist~ and seemingly start secretly researching mind control/brainwashing technology but when the team confronts him it turns out he's just trying to treat his own mental health condition diy style bc he justifiably does not trust the psychiatric professionals of the dc universe. he gets a secret villain lab setup as a treat. as an enrichment activity. he and krait take apart stolen kobra technology to reverse engineer it together instead of going on normal dates

[song-writer-melo-wrath]

97, 45 & 31 for the tav ask list?

Once again, very sweet to send asks for this list.

97. Does Astarion kill Cazador? Does he remain a vampire spawn or does he complete the ritual?

Timeline split moment~

Well first of all, yes, either way, Cazador very much does end up dead. In, uh, let's call it the main timeline, Athmoth convinces him to kill Cazador without taking part in the ritual. They gain a lot of vicarious catharsis from the whole experience.

In the Bloodsong timeline…

…they are doing so, so incredibly well. I'm sure becoming The Absolute to feel like you have equality in your relationship with your partner has no mental or emotional ramifications whatsoever. Definitely not a co-dependent and self-sabotaging relationship. (/S)

45. Does your Tav help Mol win against Raphael?

The best they can, yes. I honestly headcanon for this part that Athmoth proceeded to turn to Gale and whisper something along the lines of “Hey, you know chess”, because Athmoth…does not, haha. They have an aunt who does, but they are fully aware they themselves are bad at it.

31. What does your Tav think of the Underdark and the Myconids?

So, you want to know the ironic thing about Athmoth?

Athmoth has parasitophobia. As you might imagine, when the tadpole is placed into their eye, they react…well. It's something they're secretly panicking over the first few nights. Gaining new abilities and talking with the Dream Visitor helps assuage those fears a lot. By the beginning of Act 3, they're in full “these will help me evolve” mode (though they don't…eat…the parasites. More just absorb their knowledge)

That said. Mushrooms. Mushrooms are interesting territory. They're a bit less worried about those, and though they get rather on-edge around the corpses being taken over by mushrooms…all things concerned, they do alright.

Athmoth, being a half-elf, had never been to the Underdark before the adventure. Being well-traveled surface-wise doesn't completely translate to being well-traveled Underdark-wise. They're intrigued by the darkness and the glowing mushrooms, and then timmask spores explode on them and they gain a concerning amount of emotional stability from briefly losing their mind. They get an absolute shock at—

Athmoth, local reads-about-monsters-but-hasn't-encountered-many: IS THAT A FUCKING BEHOLDER— Wyll, renowned monster-hunter, leaning over: Spectator Athmoth: Oh. Oh, alright. Wyll: … Which is a lesser form of a beholder. Athmoth: AH.

In general? They find it quite lovely, atmosphere-wise. Also, travelling back down to visit the Underdark becomes pretty enjoyable when you're soon joined by a bunch of vampire spawn children you helped to free.

[sntechsupport]

alright so... got session ID attached to the ask, on the whole "where the fuck are the prospitians and dersites" thing, we've been doing some looking ourselves and have a few pointers.

firstly, one of my co-players is a seer of doom, and the ENTIRE pair of moons are fucking blanketed in the stuff. like the whole place looks to be made of death. I'm not sure if that's just part of the "I see dead people" fraymotif but it shows me theoretically they could have been alive at some point.

secondly, all but one of us was on the latest patch, that last one having some... issues installing that have been fixed by now. reloading still means both armies aren't here though.

third, while I can't reach the Prospit I'm supposed to be, got a telescope here to look to the dream moon closely. you know how creepy it is to find your own corpse through a window?

anyway. Best guess is something about the botched install killed everyone there before loading in proper, but I ain't the coder so I'm not even sure if that's a thing.

Looking at your session log, it is super scrambled with activity, but it's very much a mes. That practically means temporal shenanigans: You age going to do a lot of stuff in the past, but since current!you in your timeline hasn't gone to the past, you haven't technically done anything yet.

So yes. Those Carapacians all died in the past - approximately five months before you started playing, but that is an educated guesstimate, so take that with a grain of salt - due to something you and your co-Players are going to do when you get to the past.

Which means you are in for a hell of a ride. Good luck.

Sincerely

SN Tech Support (Gear)

[transingthoseformers]

Sorry to come in here with another AU, but while working on the next part of my "RodiTarn knew each other since Hot Rod was born and dated AU" I realized that I created a split timeline now.

Because Tarn found the Rodimus corpse, the Lost Light 1 never picked it up and because Tarn was in mourning the Lost Light 2 wasn't killed because no Brainstorm call.

So I had to figure out a.) What made Rodimus leave the room? and b.) What happened to the Lost Light 2? And b.) answers a.).

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOST LIGHT 2?

We're gonna say Elegant Chaos happened there instead of Lost Light 1 only with a different cast and this time Chromedome is the one who died injecting to kill Overlord, so no Overlord duplicate. Brainstorm looked at his friend's widow and made the same decision that saving everyone was new goal. But now he didn't have the Dark Cybertron distraction or friends like Skids, Getaway, Nautica, or Chromedome interrupting. Only occasional visits from Rewind.

Only Drift and Brainstorm know that it wasn't an engine accident that Chromedome died in, because Brainstorm made Drift promise to keep it secret to "preserve their memories".

Brainstorm of Lost Light 1, meanwhile, due to the lack of encountering the Lost Light 2 and Rewind reunion immediately ends up making a deal with someone and as part of the payment he includes Megatron's green Spark.

(Yes, Stormy sells children.)

This Spark ends up in the hands of Brainstorm 2, who is in the same place to buy parts but has roped into paying lying about what the parts are for. No the seller doesn't question it, all robots look the same.

Brainstorm 2 is able to pull the trigger in this timeline, and it is Rewind 2 who protests losing him.

Whirl 2 still acts as midwife with Drift 2 assisting.

Temporal shenanigans do not end as smoothly though because the distruction of the cases interferes with the engines and they end up jumping to another dimension though not in the same way as the split rather they rip a whole through a la Astrotrain from Cyberverse and end up in that dimensional deadzone in Cyberverse meeting a version of the Arc who they help get to there place and them to another dimension.

(Percy breaks the locks.)

They spend hundreds of years trying to get back and lose and regain people. Some find places in other dimensions or die.

The Lost Light 2 goes down but Cyb!Astrotrain is recruited to help the reduced crew which ends up consisting of IDW1!Drift 2, IDW1!Rewind 2, IDW1!Pipes, a version of Earthspark!Cons: Starscream, Nova, Skywarp, Soundwave, Ravage, Shockwave, Cyb!Percy, Cyb!Astrotrain, Cyb!Dead End, Cyb!Soundwave, TFP!Soundwave, TFP!Lazerbeak, etc.

They do get back to their home dimension but then see Lost Light 1.

WHAT MADE RODIMUS LEAVE THE ROOM?

Ultra Magnus telling him Drift was back.

Will this ever come up in the timeline?

The next part is from Megatron's perspective, and things are about to get weird. Because LL shenanigans are great and now with a collection of people who decided to stay instead of leaving with Astrotrain to keep exploring the multiverse.

Who exactly I am still deciding, but Megatron did at one point have to interact with three Soundwaves, all of whom were pissed and considered him different levels of traitor.

Wait

Waiiiiit

Waitttttwaitwaitwait

I'm still trying to get a grasp of what's going on because shit goes from 0 to 100 quickly when you deal with alternative versions of the same character/crew

And I'm failing because my neurons are like silly string today

[daz4i]

ok spoilers for chapter 88 and onwards ahead for the 2 followers i have who avoid bsd manga spoilers!!!!!!!

stop reading here I'm warning you

ok so. I've seen ppl discuss whether or not akutagawa will survive post vampire apocalypse thing. and i wanna offer my 2 cents

while i do agree with the people saying his death scene was kinda perfect and super satisfying, i think that's only true when you look at it in a vacuum rather than in the context of the whole story, and mainly his 6 months deal with atsushi. and this is why i think there's no way he will perma die before this showdown happens, or at least when we get close to it in the timeline (which I'm p sure we aren't, it's been maybe 2 months at most since they made that deal i think, and that's me being generous with my calculations)

giving that exact time frame of 6 months is too specific to not have a proper payoff. akutagawa can't die yet (like. if it was some vague promise to last as long as it takes for atsushi to become stronger or smth, this would've worked. but the number has to be important. otherwise it wouldn't have been so explicitly stated and iirc even repeated later on)

so this is established. now I'm gonna get into fanfic territory bc this is what I'm thinking about instead of sleeping

i think being unvampirized - either by bram or dazai or however this'll go down - won't just make him his normal, alive self. tho, this last chapter confirmed the vampires can self heal, so maybe this is how it'll go, but i want the angst of it not counting bc it's also part of the ability or w/e, so if the ability cancels out then so will all of its effects. bc i said so. and this is the only way my idea can work.

so anyway now we've got this more corpse-like than usual akutagawa on hand. and atsushi is freaking out. i wanna say everyone has grouped back up together, ada and mafia even maybe, so they all see him freaking out, too.

some of them are confused - weren't you two enemies? yes, you worked well together, but was your bond really that deep...? - is what they think. some of them get it, tho.

in his panic, atsushi locates yosano, practically begging her to heal akutagawa, he's not dead yet, but he's very close to that, and she can help

there's this moral dilemma for the ada, remembering how some of them were directly hurt and injured by akutagawa, and how the mafia is still very much their enemy, and yosano is also having these thoughts. fukuzawa is still missing and can't deliver the final decision on the matter

but atsushi seems so distressed, over this man who tried to kill him so many times. he is mumbling about how akutagawa hasn't killed in awhile, how he tried his best not to hurt anyone, how he's atsushi's partner now.

if atsushi wants him to live, how can the ada say no? and so, yosano uses her ability to save him. the first thing he sees once he's fully conscious, is atsushi's face above his, tears in his eyes

and. this is all i have for you. they reunite - properly - and it's very sappy. love wins.

[navysealt4t]

HI JAZZY I HAVENT BEEN IN HERE IN AAAAAAGES HELLO!! ^_^

okay so for one. this fic is tearing out my heart. uhm. forgive the Nonsense. this is part of my planning / concepting and it isjust. stuck in my brain. it gets so much worse but like also i just. i feel the need to share this

Mapicc is the first real case of it happening in the group, and it shakes everybody because really, nobody saw it coming. Sure, he was a bit reckless, he didn't always use the safest tech, and had a tendency to get it from shady places, but that didn't explain how or why he suddenly turned on all of them. Zam, Ro, and him, they were close. They were Team Awesome, for god's sake! The first team that Zam ended up with after the M.O.B. went to shit, and Mapicc was one of the two leading the whole operation. Ro was shaken a lot more by Mapicc's disappearance, and when he later on returned, completely acting wrong and not at all the way he was supposed to, nobody really knew what to do about it. Zam tried to talk to him, only to realize he wasn't responding to external stimuli correctly, mostly just staring blankly and not exactly understanding. He looked at them, he was aware enough to know where they were and who they were, but he couldn't, or didn't want to, respond to them. No matter how hard they tried to shake him from it. It was horrible, and it completely tore apart the team, especially since it ended up just being Ro and Zam at the end. Even though they were close and relatively understood each other, they liked each other's company, there was nothing fully keeping them together or in the same space proper. Ro held onto a lot of Mapicc's jewelry and smaller items after he disappeared; Zam didn't keep anything, especially not after Mapicc turned up a month later and was like a rabid dog at his door, begging to be let in but immediately attacking him upon being let inside. It was a horrible, traumatizing experience.

^ i am actively being plagued by this group. ALSO the fact that like. ro doesn't have the heart to kill mapicc (and because really that's the only thing anybody can think to do in these situations) so he just. desperately keeps trying to bring back his friend. he looks at the not-all-there-practically-a-corpse of his best friend and has to make sure he lives through the day. even when mapicc bites the hand that feeds.

it's horrible and i love this and i need to include it more in the main fic but i CANNOT work it in without absolutely killing the pacing and timeline. woopsie. (this is all backstory Things and it shakes the whole story. even if they dance around it.)

OH AND ALSO! unrelated song that i love so dearly that frequently has me in tears ^_^

HAUNT ASK HAUNT SNIP HAUNT SNIP!!!!!n!!

OUUGH??? YES. ohh you just love a group of fucked up traumatizedguys. i’m so eepy to form uhh words and thoughts but something about this is biting my brain…

also i hateee hate hate when i wanna include something so badly but it just. does Not fit in with the fic </3 worst thing ever

[thebonerpit]

I need to talk about Dragon Age Absolution because yeah I’m late to the party but I finally watched it...

First of all, I can’t get over the utter ridiculousness of Hawke failing to kill not one but TWO villains. Like. what the FUCK lmfao. This poor man/woman. And poor Varric too, holy shit. But I am a bit confused because Varric was viscount of Kirkwall at the end of DAI right? Was this already happening and he somehow just didn’t notice?? (There was also some weird timeline fuckery with Hira saying her family was killed by Venatori when she was a small child but now she’s at least 20 and the Venatori didn’t even exist until DAI. DA4 cannot be 15+ years later, that would be bananas.)

I was kind of spoiled for the Meredith reveal but I didn’t know she was fully aware and talking and controlling red lyrium templars?!?!?! I thought she was just gonna be the red crystal and that artifact was going to wake her up but I guess she’s already awake, so maybe it’s to give her a body again? IDK IDK.

Unfortunately I didn’t love Miriam. She’s just the type of character I don’t generally like... kinda 2edgy4u y’know? I mean she’s basically a female Fenris but the difference is we had a whole-ass game to get to know him and see his personality emerge and see him work through his trauma but this entire series was over SO fast that I never felt like I knew her at all. I knew Hira was going to betray them because there was absolutely no fucking way Fairbanks was the real traitor and if you played Inquisition you probably knew that too. It sucks he died but at least he wasn’t a bastard. Oh and speaking of Hira I just find it so funny that she was like “yeah I asked the Inquisition to go WAR with Tevinter and they said NO can you believe?!” and I’m like YES I can believe, what the fuck? Are you kidding me?? You think the Inquisition - who are already being scrutinized and accused of being power hungry and are dealing with mountains of other things - are going to start a war with one of the most powerful nations in Thedas? I have to laugh.

Rezaren had the personality of a piece of wet bread and I was zero percent interested in his whiny shenanigans. Although I do appreciate how he thought that keeping the reanimated corpse of his dead slave around to chat to every now and then was NORMAL. Horrific. I actually really liked Tassia though! Because for almost the entirety of DA we’ve sort of been told that Tevinter templars are weak as kittens and are basically pointless, but Tassia was a certified boss swinging that hammer around. It was weird that we never saw her use any templar abilities though (unless I missed it?) so maybe that is sort of frowned upon in Tevinter.

The real winners here are OBVIOUSLY Lacklon and Roland omg babessssss. Roland was by far my fave character. Optimistic and heroic with just the right amount of sass so he wasn’t boring. Qwydion was... ugh ok I am on the fence with her. There were a lot of parts where I really did like her but imho they just made her a BIT too silly. Like running away screaming from the demons... girl... you’re a badass mage, what the hell was that?!

Anyway overall I give it a solid 7/10. I think I was just so excited to see something new in the DA world again /sobs, so I can overlook some of the faults. I am both terrified and excited for DA4 because I thought we would be mostly dealing with Solas and his bullshit but now we have Meredith + red templars invading Tevinter which is already struggling to repel constant Qunari invasions?? Things are not looking good for Tevinter tbh and if that means something bad happens to Dorian I will RIOT.

[chronologicalhomestuck]

karkat pov liveblog: hivebent, part 4

karkat sees something very upsetting on his computer while on gamzee's planet. they dont have the viewports yet so this must be his sburb player. wow his hair kinda looks like anime badboy hair vents right now lmao

rip sollux :(

karkats dismay here is really sad when you get to it like this. like oh wow yeah. he tried so hard to make this work. he got so far. but sollux didnt QUITE make it. look he was SO CLOSE. he had his totem ready to make his entry item and everything!

damn thats harsh jack. cmon stop slapping him his bestie just died horribly. check out gamzee's cool rocket unicycle! looks like a wweird fishy guy is bothering both of them...i think we are skipping that from this pov tho.

very understandable reaction from karkat. that corpse looks pretty nasty! but hey at least sollux is ok.

CG: THIS IS AN EMPTY THREAT, BECAUSE IF YOU MADE A BOARD AT ANY POINT ON THE TIMELINE I WOULD BE ABLE TO SEE IT RIGHT HERE AND READ THE WHOLE THING ALREADY. CG: WAIT... CG: OH GOD, YOU ACTUALLY DID. GC: Y3SSSSS! GC: FUTUR3 T3R3Z1 1S LOOK1NG PR3TTY COOL R1GHT 4BOUT NOW >8]

i dont remember how much i should know about this right now (had i read this in the order it is written) but it is fun feeling like these characters trying to deal with this timeline shit.

CG: LOOK I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE FRUITY RUMPUS ASSHOLE FACTORY. CG: WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT GOING AFTER THE QUEEN'S RING. GC: W3LL GC: TH3 TH1NG TH4T 1S 4LL 4BOUT 1T 1S GC: W3 H4V3 TO GO 4FT3R TH3 QU33NS R1NG GC: 1T 1S 4 N3W M1SS1ON CG: BUT WE'RE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF TRYING TO PULL OFF REGISURP WITH JACK. CG: WHY DON'T WE TAKE IT ONE MISSION AT A TIME. GC: Y34H 4BOUT TH4T GC: TH3 WHOL3 PO1NT 1S TO D3STROY TH3 R1NG SO J4CK DO3SNT G3T 1T CG: WHY WOULD WE WANT TO DO THAT, JACK'S AN ALLY. GC: 4LSO GC: TH3 M1SS1ON SORT OF 1NVOLV3S 3X1L1NG J4CK TOO GC: >:|

regisurp is still in progress, but looks like it has been...terezisurped >:]

CG: THIS IS BULLSHIT. CG: WE'RE NOT EXILING JACK, HE'S COOL. GC: K4RK4T, H3 1S NOT TH4T COOL! CG: YES HE IS, HE'S A TOTAL BADASS WITH A FUCK TON OF BLADES AND SHIT, AND HE'S HELPING US OUT.

we did see jack speaking to karkat as his exile a few pages ago, so we know he needs to get exiled...but karkat is not on board with this plan!

CG: THE BOTTOM LINE IS I AM NOT GOING TO EXILE JACK BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN SMELL MALICE OFF AN INTERPRETIVE DANCE. GC: K4RK4T, H3S 4 J3RK! GC: H3 H4S ST4BB3D YOU ON MOR3 TH4N ON3 OCC4S1ON! CG: SOME OF THOSE STABBINGS WERE ACCIDENTAL! GC: >8| CG: OK, WELL I KNOW FOR A FACT THE THIRD TIME WAS ACCIDENTAL.

he has been stabbed by jack several times, and on purpose at least twice. and yet he still thinks they are besties. what is wrong with him.

CG: ANYWAY YOU'VE BEATEN THE SHIT OUT OF ME A FEW TIMES YOURSELF. GC: BUT 1 D1DN'T DR4W BLOOD!

getting a bit blackrom there, eh?

GC: 1 M34N 1 COULD H4V3 TO S4T1SFY MY CUR1OS1TY >:] GC: BUT 1 D1DNT 4S 4 COURT3SY TO YOU GC: S1NC3 YOU ST1LL W4NT TO K33P 1T 4 S3CR3T FROM M3 L1K3 4 P3TUL4NT L1TTL3 W1GGL3R >:P CG: HEY I PROMISED I'D TELL YOU. CG: I JUST CG: WASN'T READY OK GC: W3LL GC: 1TS OK GC: 1 KNOW WH4T COLOR YOUR BLOOD 1S 4NYW4Y >:]

as sweet as this is... very interesting, terezi...

GC: 1 F1GUR3D 1T OUT MYS3LF CG: HOW GC: 1 GOT 4 CLOS3R LOOK GC: R3M3MB3R >:] CG: NO GC: PFFF YOU 4R3 PL4Y1NG SO DUMB, YOU KNOW 3X4CTLY WH4T 1 4M T4LK1NG 4BOUT

...very interesting indeed...!

CG: I CLEANED UP MY WOUND AND CHANGED MY SHIRT BEFORE I EVEN MET YOU, I'VE BEEN EXTREMELY CAREFUL. CG: SO YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO FILL ME IN. GC: 1T W4S WH3N 1 GOT CLOS3 3NOUGH GC: TO SM3LL 1T UND3R YOUR SK1N GC: PL34S3 K4RK4T, DO NOT PR3T3ND TH4T YOU FORGOT 4BOUT OUR L1TTL3 MOM3NT CG: WHOA CG: YOU MEAN CG: DURING CG: FUCK. CG: OK SHHHHHHHHHH SHH SHH SHH...

🤨🤨🤨 now what exactly do u mean by that karkat. 🤨🤨 yall make out? 🤨🤨🤨

CG: WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT IN PERSON. GC: HOW "1N P3RSON" DO YOU M34N?

🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨

GC: YOU H4V3 NOT 3V3N S33N SK414 Y3T CG: HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAKE UP. GC: 1 DONT KNOW! GC: SOM3TH1NG D1FF3R3NT DO3S 1T FOR 3V3RYBODY CG: HOW MANY OF US ARE AWAKE NOW?

its gonna be a while before that happens, buddy. and not under great circumstances, either.

GC: HOW 4BOUT 1F GC: 1 T3LL YOU 4LL 4BOUT TH4T STUFF N3XT T1M3 W3 4R3 "1N P3RSON" >;] GC: 1N F4CT, 1 W1LL T3LL YOU WH3N YOU W4K3 UP! GC: UNT1L TH3N 1 W1LL K33P T4BS ON YOU 1N YOUR TOW3R WH1L3 YOU SL33P L1K3 4 L1TTL3 HON3Y P4J4M4'D PUP4 N3STL3D 1N H1S COCOON CG: WAIT LET ME GUESS. CG: DO I LOOK ADORABLE????????? GC: 4CTU4LLY GC: YOU LOOK K1ND OF L1K3 4 B1G P1L3 OF SM3LLY B4RF CG: WOW, WHAT THE FUCK. GC: OF COOOOUUUUURS3 YOU DO, DUMB4SS >:]

gosh, i love them. i forgot how much i love them

GC: DONT WORRY 4BOUT TH3 R1NG M1SS1ON GC: YOU C4N ST4Y BUSY W1TH R3G1SURP GC: 1 W1LL ORG4N1Z3 TH3 N3W M1SS1ON MYS3LF

and so both missions begin to be carried out simultaneously! regisurp will still be in action, while terezi plans to destroy the ring and exile jack...i suppose they dont conflict yet?

ill be back after dinner with a conclusion to hivebent >:]

[pesterloglog]

Caliborn, Dirk Strider

Act 6, page 5071-5075

uu: BETTER HuRRY uP.

uu: YOu CAN'T ESCAPE THE MILES.

uu: NO ONE CAN ESCAPE THE MILES!

TT: Why do you keep saying that?

TT: Are you trying to turn it into some sort of Thing?

uu: IT ALREADY IS A THING. INASMuCH.

uu: AS FACTS ARE THINGS.

uu: HERE ARE MORE FACTS THAT ARE THINGS.

uu: YOu ARE GOING TO DIE SOON.

uu: YOuR WHOLE uNIVERSE IS GOING TO DIE.

uu: BECAuSE.

uu: YOu CAN'T.

uu: ESCAPE.

uu: THE MIIIIIIIIIIILES.

TT: Sorry, it's not going to start being a Thing no matter how much you say it. Give it a rest.

uu: NO.

TT: What I don't understand is how the attack is making its way here from Derse.

TT: Is that even possible?

uu: WHAT.

uu: JuST BECAuSE THE SAME THING IS HAPPENING THERE.

uu: YOu THINK THERE IS CORRELATION. BEYOND SOME SORT OF CIRCuMSTANTIALLY SIMuLTANEOuS. FuCKRuBBISH?

uu: YOu'RE SO DuMB.

TT: So, you know why this is happening?

uu: YES.

uu: THESE MILES ARE FROM JACK. WAY OuTSIDE YOuR uNIVERSE.

uu: THE MILES ON DERSE ARE FROM ANOTHER GuY. WHO'S JuST. SITTING IN A CASTLE SOMEWHERE PROBABLY.

TT: That doesn't actually explain a whole lot, but ok.

uu: SOMEONE COMMISSIONED JACK. SORT OF.

uu: PuT OuT A HIT ON YOuR ENTIRE uNIVERSE. AND ALL ITS INTERNAL ITERATIONS.

uu: DON'T YOu THINK THAT'S FuCKING AWESOME?

TT: I thought you didn't know much about our story? You usually like to brag about how you don't care about details like that.

uu: I MAINLY JuST SKIM PAST IT ALL WITH DISGuST. EXCEPT FOR THE PARTS.

uu: WHERE PEOPLE DIE.

uu: I COuLD READ THOSE.

uu: OVER AND OVER.

uu: AND ALSO MAYBE THE PARTS.

uu: WHERE PEOPLE "KISS"?

uu: IN THE WAY THAT WHEN YOu CHANCE uPON SOMETHING.

uu: uNSPEAKABLY AND VISCERALLY ABHORRENT.

uu: IT GETS HARD.

TT: Does it now.

uu: TO PRY YOuR EYES AWAY!

uu: YOu DIDN'T LET ME FINISH.

uu: TO PRY YOuR EYES AWAY.

TT: Oh.

uu: HEY.

uu: WHY ARE YOu GIVING ONE OF YOuR HuMAN "THuMBS uP".

uu: INTO THE SKY.

uu: IS IT AN INDECENT GESTuRE.

TT: I guess you would probably think so.

uu: OH YES.

uu: I THINK IT'S PROBABLY TRuE.

uu: KEEP SHOWING ME THE NASTY.

uu: I DEMAND A STEADY DIET OF RIBALDRY AND. *SHuDDER.*

uu: POIGNANT EXPRESSION.

uu: EITHER KEEP THAT uP.

uu: OR MAKE SuRE THAT.

uu: THE CORPSE PILE.

uu: DOESN'T STOP FROM GETTING TALLER.

uu: OR BOTH. IDEALLY.

uu: BOTH WOuLD BE GREAT.

TT: Your staccato babbling is just so choice today. But I really have to go.

TT: Got to escape all these goddamn miles, remember?

uu: AAH HAA HAA!

uu: YOu CAN'T!

uu: YOu CAAAAAAAAAAAN'T.

uu: ESCAAAAAAAAAAAPE.

TT: The miles. Right.

TT: Bye.

uu: BuT SERIOuSLY. WAIT!

TT: What.

uu: I WANTED TO GIVE YOu SOMETHING. A "PRESENT".

TT: What?

uu: IT'S A TOKEN OF. uH. "THANKS". uGH.

TT: For what?

TT: Can we seriously move this along.

uu: FOR HELPING ME. WITH THE THING YOu JuST HELPED ME BuILD.

TT: God, what are you talking about.

uu: FOR YOu IT WAS YEARS AGO. BuT FOR ME. SOLICITING YOu FOR ASSISTANCE WAS QuITE RECENT.

TT: Oh, alright. I remember now.

TT: You're always all over the timeline and somehow expect people to know what you're talking about.

TT: So what's the present?

uu: BEFORE I GIVE YOu THIS TREASuRE. FIRST YOu MuST DO SOMETHING FOR ME.

TT: Man. You really do struggle with human customs, don't you?

TT: When you're about to give someone a gift out of gratitude, you don't then start negotiating with them and ask for shit before handing it over.

TT: Just fuckin' give it to me already.

uu: NO. DO WHAT I SAY FIRST.

TT: Ok, what do you want me to do to collect my awesome prize you're allegedly thanking me with?

uu: YOuR JuJu.

uu: REMEMBER I TOLD YOu TO BRING IT TO THE ROOF.

TT: Cal? Yeah, I remember.

uu: SHHHHHHHHHHH. DON'T SAY ITS "NAME" YOu IDIOT.

uu: NOW TAKE OuT THE JuJu.

TT: Ok. Now what.

uu: NOW THROW IT IN THE FIRE.

TT: Screw you.

TT: I'm not chucking the C-man into a flaming ocean.

uu: IT IS THE uLTIMATE ABOMINATION.

uu: YOuR JuJu MAY BE DEAD AND HOLLOW. BuT SOMETHING TELLS ME.

uu: THAT MIGHT MAKE IT EVEN MORE DANGEROuS.

uu: DISCARD IT AT ONCE. TREASuRE BEYOND COMPREHENSION IS YOuR REWARD.

TT: No.

TT: Keep your treasure.

uu: AH HA HA. AS IF IT IS NOT INEVITABLY DESTINED TO FALL FROM YOuR HuMAN FINGERS.

uu: AND BECOME ERASED AS YOuR uNIVERSE DIES.

uu: DIDN'T I MENTION.

uu: A JuJu CAN NEVER BE TRuLY COPIED.

uu: IF TWO APPEAR TO EXIST. SuCH AS ONE IN REALITY AND ONE IN YOuR DREAMS.

uu: IT IS ONLY AN ILLuSION. EITHER NEVER TRuE. OR SOON TO BE CORRECTED.

uu: THERE CAN ONLY EVER BE ONE.

TT: Well, I'm not tossing him, so that's that.

uu: YOu WILL THOuGH.

uu: ANYWAY. YOu TOOK IT OuT.

uu: I WILL DEEM THAT COMPLIANCE ENOuGH.

uu: AND REWARD YOu WITH MY GRATITuDE.

uu: I THINK INSTEAD OF THANKS THOuGH. I WILL CALL IT. A "BIRTH DAY PRESENT"?

TT: It isn't my birthday.

uu: NOT YOuRS JERK.

TT: Oh. So it's your birthday today?

uu: IT WILL BE.

uu: IF EVERYTHING GOES ACCORDING TO PLAN.

TT: How cryptically meaningless.

TT: And you continue to struggle with human customs. You don't give other people presents on your own birthday.

TT: Anyway, just tell me what it is.

uu: IT IS A "WORK OF FINE ART".

uu: THE VERY FIRST I HAVE EVER ATTEMPTED.

uu: YOu WILL FIND IT SuITABLY CONVEYS OuR SPECIAL BOND.

TT: Let's see.

uu: http://tinyurl.com/DIRKTHISISuS

TT: Uh.

TT: What the fuck am I looking at here?

uu: DON'T YOu SEE?? IT IS uS! YOu AND ME.

uu: WE ARE GETTING PERHAPS A LITTLE TOO. *FRIENDLY.* IF YOu WILL. HAA. HAA.

TT: I... really don't see.

TT: What do you mean? This fucking scribbly bullshit is us? Are we shaking hands or something?

uu: WHOA! WHOAAAAAAAAAAA! DuDE. HAHA. FuCK.

uu: YOu HAVE AN EVEN DIRTIER MIND THAN ME. I'M FuCKING OuTCLASSED BY YOuR REPREHENSIBLE IMAGINATION ONCE AGAIN.

uu: I CAN'T SAY I'M SuRPRISED.

TT: So, it's just us? What about The Bitches?

TT: I thought you found a scarcity of The Bitches to be all but unacceptable.

uu: THE BITCHES AS YOu CAN PLAINLY SEE HAVE BEEN FAR FROM NEGLECTED. LOOK.

uu: THEY'RE RIGHT THERE ASSHOLE. THE BITCHES APPEAR TO BE. *AHEM.* RATHER ENJOYING EACH OTHER'S COMPANY???

uu: OOOOOOOOOOOH.

uu: SOO GNARLY.

uu: TO IMAGINE. WHAT FILTH MY OWN HAND HAS WROuGHT.

TT: Yeah. Gnarly is about right.

TT: This is utter shit. You know that, don't you?

TT: Please don't tell me you are actually incapable of understanding how bad this drawing is.

uu: WHAT. NO. FuCK YOu.

uu: IT'S PRETTY GOOD. AT LEAST FOR A FIRST TRY.

TT: If you actually think this even qualifies as a drawing, I'm going to have to say you are literally the worst artist who has ever existed.

uu: WHAT THE FuCK. THIS IS HOW YOu TREAT. MY "BIRTH DAY THANK YOu GIFT"??

TT: That's not a thing either.

TT: You must have some wires crossed between your left brain and right brain. Like a weird perceptual disorder. Or something like that.

TT: It's actually kind of fascinating that you think you achieved something visually coherent or recognizable.

uu: THIS IS OuTRAGEOuS.

TT: Anyway. Got to go.

TT: Your drawing blows.

TT: Later.

timaeusTestified [TT] ceased pestering undyingUmbrage [uu]

[nonsensicalramblings79]

L'albatros and parallels in OFMD

1.4k word meta

If you haven’t read my other posts about why I’m talking about albatrosses in the first place, as well as the literary significance of referencing them, read those and come back! All of this will make the most sense if you read all of the parts I’ve written – I’ve split them up for ease of reading, because holy shit this is long.

This particular post is what I will deem as less likely to be supported by canon than the one talking about The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but I still want to get this out because regardless of whether it’s intentional or not, L’albatros sums up a lot of what I feel Ed is thinking regarding his life and his place in the world.

For future reference, I’m writing this on 10/8/2023, so I’m only working with season 1 and the first three episodes of season 2. More than likely, extra information concerning my theories will come up when new episodes are released – I’ll see about reworking these posts then if necessary.

TWs: suicidal ideation, depression, isolation, canon-typical mental health problems

MAJOR OFMD SPOILERS THROUGH S2E03

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just like in my post about The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, I’ll clarify that yes, this is anachronistic – this poem wasn’t published until 1859. I also don’t care: Oluwande is wearing crocs, Stede’s “corpse” is crushed by a piano whose maker won’t exist until 1863, Blackbeard’s got his whole leather-daddy getup, Zheng Yi Sao won’t be born until 1775 – OFMD plays fast and loose with historical accuracy, and I am never going to dismiss an OFMD theory because the ~timeline~ doesn’t match up.

L'albatros is a poem written by French poet Charles Baudelaire that describes the plight of the albatross – a mighty king of the sea and sky, with massive wings that dwarf other seabirds (no, for real, these things are gargantuan – its wingspan is wider than most humans are tall) – who is well suited to its environment, but only its own environment.

The poem is originally in French, and while there is an English adaptation of it, when I quote from the poem, I’ll be drawing from the original text and translating it. I think that method best captures the original intent of the word choices.

So, the poem starts out by describing a common pastime of sailors – catching albatrosses that fly alongside their ships, bringing them down onto the deck and keeping them from flying away (how exactly they do this is not made clear in the poem). The poem describes the downed birds as pitiful, clumsy, and ashamed/shameful (French: honteux). Their great big wings trail beside them as they try to walk, dragging like oars. Here are the first 2 quatrains, if you want to try to read them or translate them.

Souvent, pour s’amuser, les hommes d’équipage

Prennent des albatros, vastes oiseaux de mer,

Qui suivent, indolent compagnons de voyage

Le navire glissant sur les gouffres amers.

À peine les ont-ils déposés sur les planches,

Que ces rois de l’azure, maladroit et honteux,

Laissent piteusement leurs grandes ailes blanches

Comme des avirons traîner à côté d’eux.

The third quatrain essentially describes, from the perspective of an onlooker, how utterly stupid this bird looks. He is gauche – a word you might recognize from its English usage – which is translated as “awkward,” but I would argue that in the case of describing humans, this word also can be translated as “socially inept.” That’s important, I’ll come back to it later. The bird is veule – a word that translates directly as “weak” or “spineless.” He, who was so beautiful just a short time ago, is now comical and ugly.

Ce voyageur ailé, comme il est gauche et veule !

Lui, naguère si beau, qu’il est comique est laid !

Continuing the third stanza, the sailors poke and prod at the albatross, making fun of how he has been crippled by having landed on the deck of the ship.

L’un agace son bec avec un brûle-gueule,

L’autre mime, en boitant, l’infirme qui volait.

The fourth and final quatrain makes a link between the author of the poem and this albatross that he observed. To me, the wording here is really what drives home the connection between Ed and the poet/the albatross, so I’m going to translate each line.

               Le Poète est semblable au Prince des nuées

               The Poet is similar to/like the Prince of the Clouds

               Qui hante la tempête et se rit de l’archer

               Who haunts the tempest and laughs at the archer/bowman

               Exilé sur le sol, au milieu des huées

               Exiled on the earth/soil/ground, in the midst of jeers/booing

               Ses ailes de géants l’empêchent de marcher.

               His giant wings keep him from walking.

Quick clarification - I’ll admit that there’s a huge assumption that I’m making in that the writers of OFMD decided to reference this specific poem in this extremely tangential way, despite the albatross here representing something entirely different than its normal meaning in literature. For the sake of argument, I’m going to assume for the rest of this post that they did do that, and that this poem exists in-universe over 100 years before it was written in real life. Ok? Ok! :D

So at this point, if you’re familiar with Our Flag Means Death, you may have guessed that the connection I’ve drawn is between the narrator of this poem (the Poet) and Ed. In my mind, at some point in his life, Ed has read this poem, and he has also heard that little factoid about albatrosses spending their entire lives away from shore (and read my first post if you need clarification on that!). And over the course of his life, and especially the past several months, he’s come to associate himself with the views he’s cultivated of the albatross – never meant to leave the sea, never meant to be a part of life on shore (“polite society”), and he would look stupid and silly if he tried. This is a view he’s held since childhood – as we see with his conversation with his mother in S1E06 –

…

We’re just not those kinds of people.

…

And it’s a view that Stede had started to put a dent into during their time together. Where Ed says he’s not a good person, Stede vehemently defends his good character. Where Calico Jack says pirates don’t have friends, Stede tells him that he’s his friend. That Ed wears fine things well, that he’s quite sophisticated. All things that Ed has never allowed himself to believe could possibly be true – until he met Stede, he never even considered that he could “land” – and for a few precious weeks, Ed believes him.

And then Stede leaves. After Ed has laid himself bare, more vulnerable than he has ever let himself be in his life, after Ed has exposed who he really is – the only person who has ever wholly accepted him leaves. And Ed is left floundering, like the mighty prince of the sky trying to walk on the deck of a ship. That fourth quatrain brings a lot of scenes from the show to mind – here are some examples.

The Prince of the Clouds, who haunts the tempest.

The one who is exiled on the Earth.

In the midst of jeers. (recall the use of the word “gauche”? I believe that in this case, the “socially inept” definition applies even better than the simple translation of “awkward”)

His giant wings keep him from walking.

The way this poem describes the plight of the albatross is nigh on exactly how Ed is supposedly seeing himself post-breakup. He just was never meant to have the kind of life that he wants; he’s extremely good at one thing, and one thing only – violence. He will never have any other life.

This is why I think Ed has read this poem – because he references the albatross as a “bird that never lands,” and in the poem, this bird just so happens to also be seen as stupid, ugly, and gauche when it is put into any situation other than what it excels at. And regardless of whether this is actually intended to be a canonical reference or even if it was completely unintentional on the part of the writers, this poem holds a special place in my heart because of how well I believe it captures Ed’s emotional situation.

So, thanks for making it this far – I’d love to hear some feedback if any of you have anything to add! As always, my inbox is open, feel free to DM if you want to do any reciprocal info/opinion-dumping about the beloved Pirate Show!!